Comeuppance (part 1)

Posted on Tue Dec 30th, 2014 @ 1:37pm by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Lieutenant Jensen Foster

869 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: What Dreams May Come
Location: Captain's Ready Room

ON:

T'mpest was feeling agitated due to the increasing unease of her crew. To be able to work, she spent more and more time working in her Ready Room and in her quarters where she had some relief from the increasing telepathic noise. When she got news of the destruction of holodeck 2, she immediately asked for Rylie and Jensen to come to her Ready Room.

She paced back and forth while she waited for them to arrive while she processed the information in the report, what little there was.

Before they'd left Deep Space Nine for Maridius, T'mpest had ordered a similar dampening field installed in the ready room as what was already in place in her quarters and the Intelligence offices. This was one of those times when Cattmor wished she hadn't co-signed the requisition; not that T'mpest was the easiest person to read at the best of times or get any kind of mental imagery from, just smatterings of words--it was like listening to a recording played backwards while hanging upside down. She paused as she pressed the button to announce her arrival, getting an barely audible 'Come' from the other side before the doors parted. Rylie slowly stepped over the door threshold half expecting half hoping to see Mister Foster in the room as well, but her hopes were dashed as she just caught sight of Commander Michaels about to rise up the steps toward the window looking out into the cloud. She stepped forward to just behind the visitor chairs by the desk and stood there motionless for a few seconds barely regarding T'mpest's presence, hands clasped behind her back before, "Lieutenant Commander Cattmor reporting as ordered, captain."

T'mpest turned and carefully assessed her First Officer. "Come in and have a seat, Commander," she said quietly. "We will wait for Lieutenant Foster before we begin."

"Thank you, captain," Cattmor said without moving a muscle, "but if it's all the same to you, I'd rather stand."

"As you wish," T'mpest said quietly. It said a lot for the state of her First Officer that she wasn't comfortable sitting.

Since having been released from sickbay a few hours ago, Jensen still was having trouble acclimating to the fact that his emapthic gift was still on the fritz. Not to mention that his memory of the events prior to his awakening in sickbay had revealed to him just how much damage he and Rylie had done to Holodeck Two. Sighing, he exited the turbolift, stepping onto Deck One cringing at the intense and nearly numbing emotional cascade that overwhelmed him. Rubbing his temple slightly, he approached the Captain's ready room, pressing the button and waiting for the expected answer. He really wasn't looking forward to this meeting, but knew it had to take place. He just hoped it would go smoother than the last time he'd been in a ready room due to his gift.

The door opened. "Welcome, Lieutenant," T'mpest said. "Please have a seat." She waited for him to be seated before continuing. "Now please, explain."

Rylie fidgeted ever so slightly, not really wanting to be the first to answer. She made a quick glance down to Foster and sent telepathically After you... but otherwise remained silent.

Jensen began, "Well, captain, Rylie, that is Lieutenant Commander Cattmor, and I decided that we would attempt to help one another with our respective psionic gifts." He paused just long enough to glance at Cattmor, before finishing, "Unfortunately... it didn't go quite as planned, ma'am." He was suddenly and intensely glad in that moment that his empathic ability was silent. If there was one thing he could be thankful for, during this entire meeting, it would be the fact that his commanding officer was a 'wall'. Though the snippet of nervousness he was picking up from Cattmor didn't help anything; it only added to his own nervousness, making that much harder to ignore the urge to get up and run for the door.

It was hard for anyone not to pick up Foster's nervousness which she realised that her own was amplifying his at least a little, and it didn't matter that T'mpest was not an empath, with her experience she would be able to pick it up as well. He was doing well as far as descriptions went, but she couldn't just let him hang himself. "Commander, you know since we spoke just after our mission to Landreah and the Gamma Quadrant, that I've always been uncomfortable with my abilities, ever since they surfaced." She took a short breath before going on, "Since the after effect of that mission, the situation with Petty Officer Vahn and the casual meet and greet, I've asked the question, is there anything else that can be done. Since I've already tried most of the conventional means to control my capabilities, and with Lieutenant Foster comping aboard, he presented the latest, and possibly best opportunity to contain said abilities. The hope was for this control to also work both ways; that I might help Mister Foster in tempering his own talent."

(To be continued...)

Commander T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Jensen Foster
Chief Medical Officer

 

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