Overload (part 1)

Posted on Sun Sep 14th, 2014 @ 9:38am by Lieutenant Jensen Foster
Edited on on Sun Sep 14th, 2014 @ 9:39am

1,082 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: What Dreams May Come
Location: Lt. Foster's Quarters
Timeline: Evening of Counterpoint & Counterpoint, Part 2

Leaving sickbay in Dr. Quinn's capable hands, Jensen waved goodbye.

"Hope your evening goes well, Dr. Foster," Quinn said, smiling.

"Thank you, I plan on it."

Walking down the hall to the turbolift, Jensen let his thoughts wander. He had nearly forgotten all about his dinner plans with Lt. Nichol, until just near the end of his and Lt. Cmdr. Cattmor's discussion this morning. Even though he was feeling a slight excitement about this evening, he couldn't help that his mind replayed the conversation he'd had with Cattmor - nor the memory that had resurfaced with it.

Shaking his head, he attempted to escape his thoughts, but found it difficult to do so; he was picking up errant emotional states from everyone on the Deck 5. So, he hurried along and got in the turbolift.

"Deck Two."

Once the turbolift got going, he found it easier to breathe and could force away the memories that were threatening to surface. He was able to shut out the emotions, for the turbolift never stayed on one deck for very long - unless it was stopping to drop you off or pick you up.

Finding himself calmer than before, he exited the turbolift when it stopped on Deck 2 and headed towards his quarters. Thankfully, not many of the other senior officers were on Deck 2 at the moment, so it was void of any other emotions. The only ones he was picking up on were the ones from Deck 1 and Decks 3-5. But those were more of a slight humming sensation in the back of his mind than anything else. He just could sense them, not their emotional states.

Entering his room, he took a moment to breathe. He needed to meditate and soon. The day's events were finally catching up with him. As he crossed the room to get his mediation lamp, he noticed a note on the floor near his door; how he missed that walking in was a surprise, but he did allow himself a little credit, his mind had been occupied with other things.

Picking it up, he noticed all it said was his name written on the front and nothing else. Opening it, he quickly read the contents and then dropped it like a hot iron. Grady had cancelled their dinner date for this evening, which was supposed to have taken place in thirty minutes. Normally this wouldn't have bothered him, but he had found himself beginning to like the young, half-Trill and had wanted to see what would have happened.

His shoulders sagging, he went to get his meditation lamp and decided that he really needed to clear his mind. Especially since the humming in the back of his head was steadily becoming more pronounced -- it was on its way to becoming a migraine. And not to mention that he could definitely tell that Ensign Locke down on Deck 5 was feeling rather angry and disgruntled at the moment. His gift was getting to be a little much, and he just wanted to have a quiet evening to himself now. More so that his dinner plans had been cancelled, which hurt his feelings just a bit.

It wasn't like him to just make dinner plans so suddenly, after all. He'd actually taken a chance and now had to deal with the emotional fallout. For everyone else a cancelled date might not have meant anything, but to Jensen, well he didn't exactly go out of his way to go on dates. He normally was a solitary individual. But he'd wanted to change that, as best he could with his ability, and try coming out of his shell. It didn't have to be anything more than a nice dinner with some music and just getting to know one another.

And the emotional fallout wasn't just all about Lt. Nichol, either. With this cancelled date, came the memory of Cadet Gwyn, the young Deltan man he'd fallen for years ago, and Lt. Jason Thomas, his lover on the Zenobia. They had been his only true partners and they'd left him without a backward glance, breaking his heart as one went on to further his career and the other left him for another lover -- one who didn't have Jensen's particular ability.

And then there was Kai Ashke, the Vevarian boy he'd gotten to know and even had found he loved; in a purely Father/Son kind of way, he'd really considered the young boy his own. That memory was fresh and sliced him deeply. Kai's face flashed before his eyes and the memory, one which he really didn't want to relive, threatened to overwhelm him.

Feeling tears welling at the corner of his eyes with the remembered memories, Jensen stormed about his quarters. He knew that he needed to meditate, before he lost it and his control over his ability. Otherwise there would be hell to pay later.

Jensen was reaching for his mediation lamp, when, he was suddenly and abruptly blasted with every emotion from Deck 1 to Deck 10. The force was strong enough that he was sent sprawling to the floor.

Happiness, excitement, dread, consternation, curiosity, anger, jealousy, envy, confusion, frustration... all of it, every emotion possible, all at once. The sensations were all jumbled and twisted, coiling around him, holding him prisoner. He couldn't break free and knew that soon he'd black out. There were too many emotions. Instinctively, he curled into a ball.

Caught up in the throes of the emotional overload, Jensen felt a peculiar sensation. The rational part of his brain, which was trying its best not to succumb to the emotional overload and empathic blast every single person he was picking up on, acknowledged that what had been a humming before was now actually thoughts forming in his mind.

Ensign Cordova? No way! ... but, I thought you and Jason were hap-- ... Ugh! I wanted tomato soup, not tomato soup with gar-- ... I'm upset that you'd think that! You know that's not tr-- ... I love you too, swee-- ...

The irrational part of his brain, the part that was reacting to the overload, was terrified. This had only happened a few times before. Once when he was thirteen, again when he was twenty-one, and the last time was during his posting on the Zenobia. And each time his latent telepathy had activated, his dormant telekinetic and pyrokinetic abilities had exploded forth.

(To be Continued...)

Lieutenant Jensen Foster
Chief Medical Officer

 

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