Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in CSO’s Office/Lab

Posted by Lieutenant Dr. Solomon Kane (Chief Science Officer/Research & Development) in CSO’s Office/Lab

Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in CSO’s Office/Lab
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snips)

Dira nodded slowly. “I think Oscar will be intrigued with the whole thing. You’ll have to let me know how the next stage go. . I can prepare for more alarms too,” she deadpanned before taking another sip.

“You know, just something to think about… what you saw as a lack of self-preservation might actually have been a measure of trust, or at least an attempt at it.”

Kane shot her a look that screamed ‘Oh, please’ and said “She had zero idea what was going on, never bothered to ask, and just stood there while I blew up a warhead four feet in front of her. What you say is ‘trust I say is ‘lacking the forethought to ask a simple question and take the proper precauutions’.” and he took a sip.

She shrugged. Dira didn’t know- she hadn’t been there.

Myqian eyed the drink. “How much of this do you figure I can drink before I need to nap the rest of the day?”

Commander Myqian, XO

Kane grinned and said “You? Oh, I think that glass and maybe a quarter of another will likely put you out for the duration.”

Kane, CSO / R&D

Dira laughed openly. “Okay, so I’ll be good and stop half way. I do actually have to do work today, even if it’s just hiding out in my office or quarters. Though I have taken to doing daily rounds around the ship and used the last few days to go places I don’t always have time for. It’s been kind of nice.”

She wasn’t sure if she should say anything, but already a few sips in and she could feel warmth in her cheeks. “I took your advice. Sort of. Such as it was…”

Inhaling deeply, Dira blew out a breath. “I’m doing a bit of an experiment of my own right now. Today’s the last day, thank all the gods that might exist in the Universe,” she said before taking another sip. “After some melting down and some discussions with therapists myself, we’re testing whether my telepathic abilities are playing a role in my emotional overwhelm. Haven’t decided the verdict yet, except that outside of emergency use I will never opt to use a neurosuppressant again.” She shuddered.

Commander Myqian, XO

Kane was silent a moment and then said “And? How is that going?”

Kane

A dark look passed over her face and she took a larger sip. “Both fascinating and terrible. It’s hard to explain properly what it’s like to very suddenly lose a sense but disorienting is a tame word for it. When I’ve done it before, it’s been an emergency situation where I need to focus and there’s so much chaos I can’t filter.” She tapped her head with two fingers. “I can’t block everything they way most others can. There’s a portion of thoughts and feelings that leak through even when I’m intentionally shielding. Most of the time I just exist with it, but in a crisis it can be paralyzing. So when we had the fungal hallucination crisis on the starbase and more recently with the refugee Romulans, I opted for a small short-term dose. It’s awkward but I’m focused on something and honestly by the time it starts to wear off, I’m in a position to handle input again.”

“But right now? I’m on light duty because distracting myself with the larger tasks of running the ship is preventing me from dealing with trauma.” Dira shrugged. “I had dealt with one aspect of it, but the other… I think I pushed it aside so I could move on and be here on the Ogawa without all that baggage.” She chuckled. “If there’s one thing we are told over and over again as therapists, it’s that you can’t do therapy on yourself. We lie to ourselves,” she said with a grin. “So I’m sitting with stuff and being really honest. And it sucks. Not the least of which because I’ve truly realized how much being psi-positive informs so much of my interactions with people. Even subtly. Without it, I…” She shook her head again.

Commander Myqian, XO

Kane watched her and listened, rocking slightly back and forth in his chair. “Ok, here’s a thought. Instead of dosing you with nerosupressants, what if you had something you could wear when you needed the extra filter, take off when you didn’t?” His eyes looked off in the distance for a moment and then he noddrd to himself before focusing again on Myqian and shrugging. “I bet I could make something like that. Would help our empathic and telepathic crew and patients, too. Bit of quiet in an otherwise noisy existence. Shouldn’t be too complicated.”

Dira was slightly taken aback, but mostly because she was trying to process what exactly he was suggesting, how it would work.

He paused and said “And yes, I did hear you. I can’t guess what it’s like, but I do know how life can suck when you don’t have control over things.”

Kane, CSO / R&D

Yes, he did know that. She exhaled slowly. “Filtering for a few minutes, rather than a few hours could be useful. Like taking a quick mediation break.” Her dark eyes shifted elsewhere as she worked through what it might entail. “Most telepathy and empathy works on a frequency that the brain structures of most psi-positive people can detect and process, and it works though what they dub the telepathic medium. The frequency can shift so not all people can read each other equally at all times, but a neurographic scan can detect the frequency that an individual works on. I suppose it wouldn’t be unlike blocking a comm signal, or alternatively isolating to allow only specific ones through. But biological signals are more tricky than artificial ones. We’d have to be exceptionally careful.”

The possibilities were suddenly staggering, and excitement lit up her ebony eyes. She was a psychiatrist by training, a doctor, but she was also a scientist first. A student of the observable world. It was just that she had focused primarily on behaviour. She hadn’t had a project in so long and this was not only interesting but practical.

Commander Myqian, XO

Kane waved off the ‘careful’ comment. “No no, nothing like that. Blocking or isolating signals could be detrimental. No, what I’m thinking is taking a nerugraphic scanner from a medical tricorder, coupling that with a algorithmic frequency duplicator; but switching the programming so it doesn’t uplicate, it generates an opposing frequency that will mask the telepathic medium of the wearer. Basically, we drown out the frequency that the subject’s brain receives with a crap ton of white noise. The signal can’t reach the brain because the device is issuing a competing signal. So instead of making someone deaf… we just turn the sound around them off. Noninvasive, no surgery or implants needed, and we can fit it all into something as small as a headband. Or maybe a tiara for the little girls.” and he gave a crooked smile and took a drink.

Kane, CSO / R&D