Posted by Lieutenant Commander Brenna Neenna Atoded (Chief of Pets & 2nd Officer (COP)) in Unearthing which Uniqueness Correlates

Ch’otok had left early being called away to the bridge. He’d woken her gently, carefully, to tell her he was going. The uniform confused her. He’d had to explain again that he’d been requested to take a lateral move to Star Fleet as a favor for the Klingon chancellor, Ch’otok’s brother. She remembered Ke’dass. She liked him, she remembered meeting him, years ago. His sense of honor was true and strong. She’d fallen back asleep after he left. Physcially she was healed of her major injuries, but the more primitive medical facility on Delotha wasn’t the same as Star Fleet, and the holographic medical program on Opaka was only as good as the medicines it had access to. But it was the mental trauma the forced her to sleep more often than normal, forced Ch’otok to request sedatives to allow her to actually rest without the flashbacks that haunted her.

She came to again and looked around, groaning in pain and confusion. She pulled her arms only to be stopped by the restraints, the same with her ankles. There was no sign of the icy voiced woman. They had worked her over severely. None of these thoughts were really formed but more understood by instinct. She pulled at her wrists again…her bracelet. She glanced down at it. It was important, but she didn’t know why. The sound of foot steps coming down the corridor nearing the door…her heart started racing, arms jerking against restraints and she screamed…

The sound of foot steps nearing her door woke Cassandra from the night terror and memories, she woke screaming pulling against no longer real restraints, her mind and terror rocketing across the ship. Where was she? On a ship? The Opaka? No, this…where was she?! She looked around the room, there were familiar things. The wall to her right held Ch’otok’s weapons, his bat’leth, his d’k tahg and hers, Ch’otok’s mek’leth. Cassandra moved slowly to the wall, picking it up…she remembered this, he gave it to her years ago. Made her promise to keep it with her. This was familiar. She knew every nick and blemish. She could remember sharpening it by hand.

Down on deck 21 at the pet emporium, inside her hidden intel office, Brenna was hit with waves of terror and a mind unlike any other. It was one she was extremely familiar with and only her own intense training stopped that mind from knocking her out cold. Ch’otok had warned her, the report sent by the Admiral had warned her…she stood up closing the hidden door to the office and waved Geri and Fekri away. “Stay.” Cassandra didn’t handle the dogs well. She left taking the Klingon only turbo lift to deck 3 and hurried down the corridor.

She turned and looked across the room, Star Fleet quarters, huge though…Through the door to the bedroom was a stand holding Ch’otok’s traditional Klingon armor, and on a smaller stand her sash with the emblem of the house of Ke’dass. The book shelf behind the desk held…she sat down hard on the floor, she couldn’t remember, they were familiar things but she couldn’t identify them, and trying was like a knife to her brain…

The door chimed…

Cassandra

There was no answer to the chime. Brenna knew Cassandra was in there. She could feel it, the terror, the confusion, the rage bubbling under the surface, the jumbled thoughts and disjointed memories. Brenna reached for the control panel and over rode the lock and stepped in. She took in the sight of Cassandra, deep red almost black hair, crumpled on the floor, clawing at her head, crying horribly. A mek’leth discarded on the floor next to her. Brenna hurried over, kicking the large bladed weapon to the far side of the room. She knelt down taking the form of her friend into her arms. “Cassandra…ssshhhhh…breath…” Brenna, unashamedly, reached delved into Cassandra’s mind to try and find out what was causing her such distress. It was the small items, the ones that meant so much to her, on the shelf. Brenna knew what they were, but not the significance of each. She’d seen them in passing over the years, but Cas never talked about them, but they were precious to her. But the memory was locked up behind that wall Cassandra had created. “Cassandra stop you’re hurting yourself.”

“I WANT TO REMEMBER!” Cassandra lashed out wickedly fast and deadly at Brenna. Brenna didn’t want to hurt her but she was forced to put her in a full body hold until Cassandra calmed down. It was only by the grace of the pain Cassandra was in, that Brenna was able to subdue her without hurting them both. “Tell me, Brenna, please. I don’t understand, it’s…nothing makes sense.” Cassandra went limp the fear and confusion swamping her.

Brenna sighed, “Cassandra, I can’t. You have to let it come back on its own. You have to give your mind time to heal.”

“Ch’otok would tell me. Where is he? Why isn’t he here?” He was the only person she really trusted where was he? “I can’t sense him, or you.”

“He’s on the bridge, remember, he’s captain of the Constellation now. He’s on duty, so I stay with you until he can. Remember? And you can’t sense us because of the telepathic inhibitor. You have seizures remember?” And that scared Brenna because even with the inhibitor Cassandra’s fear, confusion, and mind was still rocketing across the ship when it overwhelmed her, and it shouldn’t. “Shhhh....he’ll be back as soon as he can. I’ll stay with you, okay?”

Atoded

Cassandra nodded, yes she remembered now. She had to take a hypo every day. Her telepathy…something was wrong with it. “I…I was injured…My paracortex…using my telepathy causes seizures.” Brenna sighed, good she at least remembered that. “But you are healing. Remember you saw Dr Laursen two days ago. She said there is improvement, but you have to be careful.” Brenna squeezed her shoulders, “Do you want me to braid your hair?”

Hands, cruel and harsh, belonging to a deep snake like voice, but a face she couldn’t see, touching her hair, over and over, and pain. Intense sharp burning pain, everywhere. Cassandra shuddered and pulled away. The idea of someone touching her hair made her physically sick. “No.”

“Why don’t we go for a walk? Show you more of the ship? You can’t stay locked in here all the time.” Cassandra sagged, defeated, and deep inside she hated herself, this weak person that had taken over herself. “You mean I’m only locked up when I’m alone.” Cassandra snapped, her voice practically growling. Brenna watched her but breathed calm and steady. “You can go whenever you want, Cas. Ch’otok is just worried about you going alone, incase you get confused. That’s all. He doesn’t want anything to happen to you. Come on, it will help to move. You used to enjoy running, we could go to the gym and go for a run.” Run? She didn’t run from anything. No, not that kind of run, really listen to yourself. Run, as in exercise. Yes, exercise, move, get out of this room.

“I think I’d like that.” 20 minutes later Cassandra and Brenna, both in comfortable clothes and shoes, were running the track in the gym. Cassandra slowly stretched muscles and filled out her gait and fell into a ground eating stride and a pace that was obvious she could maintain for a great length of time. Brenna fell into stride to the side and just behind her.

Cassandra Klrin