Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (Counsellor) in Kingston’s Quarters- Answers Come in All Forms

Posted by Commander Stark Nightstalker (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Kingston’s Quarters- Answers Come in All Forms

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Janna Kingston (Counsellor) in Kingston’s Quarters- Answers Come in All Forms
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

At that Kingston smirked, just a tiny bit. The thought had crossed her mind too.

This time Orvos stood. “What brings you this way Mr. Nightstalker? If you don’t mind my asking, that is.” It was a bit odd for him to show up just as they had considered getting him in on the loop, though he wouldn’t likely be surprised by any answer Stark gave.

-Lt. Commander Orvos Legen, CE

Stark uncharacteristically looked slightly disconcerted by the question. “My first instinct is to lie, but considering the circumstances I’m not going to this time. Recent events have shown that individuals aboard the Athena are in danger from outside forces who have an annoying ability to evade my detection systems. I therefore planted devices in certain peoples quarters to registered elevated heart rate etc that could signify they were in danger…” he actually managed to look sheepish for a brief second, “Obviously they need further calibration to avoid being triggered by… other things”.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Orvos stood frozen for a moment as he considered what Stark said. He looked down for a brief moment and then back up, realizing his minute mistake before straightening his uniform and coming out of it. “Well, I suppose since you’re here…” he said trailing off looking to Janna for her input.

-Lt. Commander Orvos Legen, CE

Stark flinched slightly, a sign that he had noticed the faux pas.

Janna, for reasons unbeknownst to her in this moment, was amused. Highly, highly amused. And thus she starting laughing. A lot.

Tears running down her face, still sitting on her couch, she shook her head and fell back into the soft cushions. “Ahhh, Stark, you should have warned me when I first came aboard. I think your wish for me to not just be a replacement has been realized, but boy did I not see this coming.” She laughed more.

“I must admit to being relieved that you’re seeing the funny side Janna. My heart was in the right place and it’s so much easier asking for forgiveness rather than permission”.

Gathering herself together, Janna shook her head again, letting her gaze settle on Orvos for a moment before shifting to Nightstalker. “So, you remember our little jaunt to the Nexus care of Kivon? Remember the ball, crystal… thing I wielded to contain him? Yeah, about that…”

Intent black eyes waited for her to continue.

Janna finally rose, pacing, tension threaded throughout her body. But her pacing wasn’t going to fix the situation and so, with a sigh, she stopped near Stark, her green eyes (so alike her predecessor’s) afire. “We don’t quite understand how, or the extent, but I seem to have been… imbued with an intuition, knowing, whatever you want to call it. Not quite empathy, but not unlike it either. I’m already very good at reading people. My job demands it. But I’ve noticed that I am aware of more lately. And then when I touched Orvos, it was like waking up from a dream.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Stark desperately fought down the urge to twist that last statement and manfully wrestled it back into his subconscious with a mental slap. “So what you’re saying is that the effect of this thing is also tied to Orvos in some way?”

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Janna shrugged. “Inasmuch as the Nexus is. I don’t pretend to understand it myself, but”-she shot a glance Orvos’ way-“my guess would be that since he’s experienced the Nexus before, and now so have I and yourself, that a part of us recognizes that. For me, the thing channelled all that energy. I suppose we could say it’s left a residue behind.” She blew out a breath. “Who knows.”

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“I’ve researched the Nexus, for a while it was considered to be a threat to Starfleet security. The standing argument is that a part of you never leaves the Nexus. I wonder if that is the case now. A connection of like to like”. Stark flicked out a claw and itched his chin. “Fascinating, I wonder if there are some advantages to be had by this?”

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Orvos sighed. “There are pros and cons. `It is true that for the most part there is a part of the person that never leaves, unless the person is willing. You encountered my other part there from what I hear. It’s when you’re forced out of the Nexus, that a part of you stays behind.”

Orvos started to pace. “On the Enterprise-B’s shakedown cruise, they ended up rescuing El Aurian refugees caught within the ribbon. Transporters miraculously saved them, but not before they could experience some the absolute bliss within. Some didn’t fully recover from that rending. I too was in the ribbon and pulled out at one point in time.”

He paused and looked to the pair. “That’s probably how you were able to get back with that crystal. I and a handful of others are the only ones who know about those. Now that the crystal has become a part of you, there is likely a connection to the Nexus, but not in a very strong sense. You ‘ve been imbued with some of its properties for sure. I don’t know how much time you actually spent in there, so I don’t know whether or not you will need to go back to become stabalized every so often.” He mentioned that last bit without much context, forgetting they were only aware of the effects of the Nexus until now.

-Lt. Commander Orvos Legen, CE

Janna’s brows lifted. “Excuse me?” she said flatly, before beginning to pace. “So, I’m now extra intuitive, with possible other side effects we don’t know, and it might or might not be permanent, and I might or might not have to return to a place I had no wish to be in in the first place, to prevent consequences we don’t yet know. Great,” she said, sarcasm dripping.

As she paced, she began to inhale sharply and quickly realized she was overwhelmed. Bending slightly at the hips, she braced her hands on her thighs. “Guess my rip-cord parachute option of leaving Starfleet if things became too dangerous doesn’t help me out here either.” She shook her head, closing her eyes.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

“Hmmm, looks like there is a lot more to the side effects of the Nexus than most people know.”. One point sparked in his brain that he didn’t mention, if they were to die here, did they return to the Nexus or did the Nexus lose it’s grip? Curiosity burned within him but he thought now wasn’t the time to put that idea in Janna’s head.

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Janna snorted. “So what do we do know? Do we tell the captain? If it was Koraia, I’d say, yes absolutely, because she’d probably have already known something was up. I don’t know about Wallace though. We’re still getting to know each other.” She was loathe to bring more people into this, but it did seem a courtesy to the CO to let her know something was afoot on her ship with her crew.

~Janna Kingston, CNS

Orvos sighed as he considered their options. “In short, your doctor will definitely need to know. I think it may end up being up to you and your doctor as to whether you share this with the captain,” he admitted. “I can’t really stop you if that’s what you wanted. If anyone needs reassurance I could provide them with basic info to help.”

He obviously wanted to avoid having the whole crew know, but the more he thought about it, the more others would likely need to know as well.

-Lt. Commander Orvos Legen, CE