An Idea...

Posted on Fri Jul 3rd, 2015 @ 5:00pm by Lieutenant JG Heather Quinn

2,106 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: A Civil Act
Location: Sickbay/Quinn's Quarters/James Foster's Quarters (USS Jardin)
Timeline: during the interim between What Dreams are Made Of & A Civil Act

ON:


Tossing the PADD in her hand on the desk with a rather loud thump, Heather closed her eyes wearily and clenched her hands tightly, hoping to ease her frustration. Opening her eyes a few moments later, she turned and looked out upon the main area of Sickbay, taking in the lone figure laying on the main biobed. Nurse Sito was busy performing a physical of one of the newest crewmembers to transfer to the Ranger. The crewmember in question was a handsome Bajoran man with blonde hair and blue eyes. They'd had a minor crew rotation after the last mission and the medical team had been doing their usual business of physicals and what-not.

Turning her gaze away from the two Bajorans, Heather focused again on Foster. Worry had her brow creasing and she thought for the thousandth time, What am I to do?

Shaking her head, she quickly tapped her combadge and said, "Ensign Rehema, please report to Sickbay."

"On my way, ma'am."

She tapped her combadge again ending communications. She then busied herself with medical reports and crew files while waiting for the ensign to arrive. She really needed to get away from Sickbay for a bit and was hoping that Rehema wouldn't mind taking over for her for a little while.

About ten minutes later the ensign walked in, nervously pulling at her sleeve-cuffs. In spite of her mood, Heather couldn't help the smile that flickered across her face at the sight. Finishing up the report she was working on, she quickly motioned for Rehema to enter the office and for the woman to sit down.

"Ensign, I know that your shift doesn't start for a few more hours, but I was wondering if you'd wouldn't mind coming in a bit earlier?"

Rehema's deep brown gaze looked concerned for a moment. "Is anything wrong, ma'am?"

Sighing, Heather figured it would be best to just be honest. "I need to get away from Sickbay for longer than eight hours, ensign."

"I see." Heather noted Rehema's gaze travel to where Foster lay on the main biobed. "Does this have anything to do with Lieutenant Foster?"

Suppressing a groan, Heather nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Yes, ensign, it has everything to do with Lieutenant Foster."

At the quirked eyebrow from her fellow medical officer, Heather realized that she had just sounded very annoyed and particularly grumpy. Giving the ensign a half-smile, Heather said, "I've sedated him for the moment, but even still I feel that tingle at the back of my head. His empathic ability has gotten rather intense since our last mission and everyone's been feeling while he's away from his quarters."

"I can relate. His ability has been affecting me in an adverse way here lately. But since I know how to separate his feelings from my own, I haven't had as rough of a time as the rest of you." Rehema looked at Heather with an almost apologetic look.

"I've never been affected like this before and while at first Jensen would realize he was doing it and stop it, now..." Heather trailed off, not sure how much to say. She didn't want to seem like she didn't respect the CMO or anything, but it was just getting so hard to differentiate her feelings from what Foster was projecting onto her.

"Lieutenant, I can cover the rest of your shift, if you want to go and get away. I'll be fine. I'll also keep an eye on Lieutenant Foster. I'll even have Zorja come in to relieve Sito. I'm sure he and I can handle Foster's abilities if they become too much."

"Thank you, Ensign. I'll be back at the start of the morning shift to relieve you."

"Not a problem, ma'am. And if you don't mind me saying, get some sleep."

Heather smiled at the ensign before heading out and towards the turbolift. She really could use some sleep and some time to figure out if there was anything she could do for Lieutenant Foster. Maybe the databanks onboard the Ranger could give her a clue as to how to help her friend.

// Quinn's Quarters

Heather sat at her personal desk in her quarters, feeling a little better now that she'd changed out of her uniform, let her hair down, and dressed in a simple, cream-colored nightgown and matching fuzzy slippers. Staring at the screen of her console, she looked over the data presented to her about psionic mental abilities. After about ten minutes of looking through all available data, she leaned back in her chair and sighed, hitting a button to shut down her console. So far she'd found barely little on how to help Lieutenant Foster with his abilities, let alone how a non-psionic person could stop the mental intrusion.

And that was the gist of it all. Jensen was unintentionally intruding upon everyone within a ten-foot radius. Heather didn't think he realized it, but yet, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that he did know. And still, she knew he must be doing his hardest to keep himself from causing someone to react to his emotions or reacting to someone else's emotions. At that moment, she was glad she was just a human. She didn't want to know what it was like to have mental powers of any kind. She had a hard enough time dealing with everyone as it was, she didn't quite think that she would be prepared to deal with thoughts or feelings from everyone else on top of the normal stuff.

Getting up from her chair, she paced for a bit, thinking things out. She already knew that Jensen's attempts with Commander Cattmor hadn't done any good and that he had had a dampening field installed in his quarters. And while she almost wanted to suggest it to the Captain, she wasn't quite sure if Jensen would want a dampening field installed in Sickbay. Huffing out a sigh, Heather just shook her head. What she needed to know was how she could help Jensen. So far, he'd asked to be sedated a total of five times since leaving the gas cloud. The linger effects of the aliens on his mind were troubling...

And just like that she had an idea. They were still in communications range of the USS Jardin and that simple fact had Heather sitting back down at her desk and placing a call to someone who might be able to help.

//USS Jardin, James Foster's Quarters

Lounging on his couch with a book of works by Edgar Allan Poe, fulling engrossed in The Fall of the House of Usher, James was thoroughly startled when his combadge tweeted at him. Setting the book down after marking his spot, he tapped his combadge. "Foster, here."

"Sir, we've got an incoming transmission for you from the USS Ranger. It's flagged as important," the smooth voice of Ensign Harper replied.

"Send it to my quarters, Ensign. Foster, out."

Getting up from his couch he sauntered over to his desk and quickly turned on his console. At once insignia of the Federation vanished, only to be replaced by the image of a rather attractive, dark-skinned woman with interestingly shaded green eyes. "I'm Lieutenant Foster, to whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking with?"

James noted the woman's smile and found her to be even more attractive than he originally thought, just as she answered, "My name is Heather Quinn, I'm the Assistant Chief Medical Officer aboard the USS Ranger."

At once the half-Betazoid's face darkened. He'd been curious as to why his brother hadn't contacted him since their impromptu telepathic meeting a few weeks ago. "Am I correct in assuming this is about Jensen?"

James got his answer the moment he saw the woman glance away, her gaze looking concerned and troubled. After a few seconds, she looked back at the screen and answered. "Without going into too much detail, Lieutenant, since our last mission his empathic ability has gotten rather... unstable. He's taken measures with his personal quarters to help, but while on duty..."

"Let me guess, he hasn't had much luck?"

The woman nodded her head in affirmation and continued. "So far, he's had to be sedated five different times. Each time it's due to a different cause. He either acts out upon what he senses from someone or he influences them empathically with his own emotions." At that the woman looked downward, apparently trying to get her emotions in check. "Even I've had a hard time coping with him myself," she whispered at last.

Sighing, James settled back in his chair and ran hand over his face. Since he'd last spoken with Jensen, during their telepathic meeting, he'd been wondering how his little brother was doing. Apparently having the dampening field installed wasn't helping as much as he thought it would. If only he could somehow get assigned to the Ranger. After all, their bond was the only thing that seemed to help when it came to Jensen's abilities.

At that James sat up straight. While he knew he couldn't help exactly, maybe someone else could... "Lieutenant, do you have any telepathic crewmembers onboard?"

Blinking for a moment, it look the woman a bit to respond. "We've... got a couple crewmembers who possess telepathic abilities. Some in a greater capacity than others. Why?"

"Do you think any of them could possibly be open to the idea of creating a telepathic or empathic bond with him? I know he tried with someone named Cattmor, but it didn't quite work out well from what I remember."

"Yes, he and Commander Cattmor did try to help one another with their abilities, but it only ended in disaster."

"I have an answer for that, Lieutenant. It's because Jensen's mind can't handle being a telepathic or empathic conduit. He's too powerful. If I may explain?"

He noticed the woman shuffle a bit and then she nodded for his go-ahead.

"I'm a normal half-Betazoid individual. As such, I can only sense people and their emotions and can only communicate telepathically with either half or full Betazoid persons. My brother is the exact opposite of me. He can communicate with and influence others be they telepathic or not. When we were younger, we bonded telepathically. I became the grounding force, or conduit if you will, for his abilities. Since, I cannot be with him, you have to find someone onboard who can be a surrogate grounding force or conduit for him. In essence, someone who can take in all that he feels and make it seem trivial and unimportant."

The woman looked at him for a second, before slowly a smile began to spread across her face. "I think I understand, Lieutenant Foster. I do believe I know how I can help Jensen now. Thank you!"

Smiling back at her, James responded, "You're welcome, Lieutenant. And if you can, update me on any progress concerning my twin."

"I most certainly will." And with that the woman's face winked away to be replaced by the Federation's insignia. Still smiling, James turned off his console and went back to his book. He had a feeling that somehow his little brother was going to be all right.

// Quinn's Quarters

Getting up from her desk, Heather paced for a moment, feeling restless. Yet, she now had an idea to help Jensen. All thanks to his brother. A bubble of a laugh escaped her lips and Heather did a tiny jump while throwing her fists in the air. After calming down a bit, she quickly sat back down at her desk and pulled up all medical files on the crew, she needed to figure out which ones were telepathic and if they might be likely candidates to help Dr. Foster with such a personal matter.

After a few minutes of narrowing down the possible candidates, she had a list of five individuals. Now all she needed to do was figure out how she was going to get them to help Jensen without knowing it... A sly smile crossed her face as she thought and she knew she'd need help from one other person... Lieutenant Eden Zayra.

Still smiling, Heather began to work on how she could enlist the Chief Engineer's help, while at the same time not let a word escape to the crew about their plans.


:OFF


Lieutenant JG Heather Quinn
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Ranger

Ensign Juliet Rehema
Medical Officer
USS Ranger

Lieutenant JG James Foster
Chief Operations Officer
USS Jardin

 

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