Shock Therapy

[m_k_tksa 0]

Shock Therapy

Daise’Erei’Riovs tr’Valdrin & t’Ksa

 

An hour after her last visitor, the Maenak tr’Paine, Morgana t’Ksa appeared to have na moved a muscle as she still sat silently on the corner cot in her office her arms circling around the knees pressed to her chest, staring sightless at the jaunty holo-picture hanging on the far wall of her office. tr’Paine, having expressed concern about t’Ksa’s non-responsiveness, called the Daise’Erei’Riov for assistance or instructions. What else should he do when the io with all the answers was the io in the most need?

 

Kavek arrived shortly after he'd received the call, somewhat worried after reading the report he'd been given on the incident. No need to ask where t'Ksa was hiding. No less than three medical personnel pointed it out as soon as he entered the infirmary. Frowning, he stepped to the doorway of the Daise'Maenak's office, peering down at the traumatized patient. It was obvious that she was in shock. He turned to tr'Paine beside him. "What have au attempted to bring her out of her lethargy?"

 

tr'Paine frowned, "Everything we could think of. I hesitate using any further medications at this point. The defloxo has finally worked it’s way out of her system," the young maenak held out a ISD for the XO if he cared to review it. "And a sedative was administered during her hysterical state, that itself has weakened considerably and should pass in a short while. Several staff members have attempted to draw her out. Most cases she responds with just a demand that we leave, if io could call it a demand. Although in io incident she took a.." he cleared his voice, "...a...a g'Olf club to the shins of io of our nurses during her manic state."

 

Kavek took the ISD and read through the medical charts before passing it back. "Post traumatic stress is common in these situations. She needs a kheinsa. However, without one aboard, you are going to make do. Leave me with her for a while. I will let you know if there is any progress."

 

tr'Paine, taking the ISD back, responded, "As au wish, rekkhai." He nodded, trying to hide his worry over the situation. If the Daise'Maenak had overheard the conversation or noticed the men darkening the office doorframe, she made na move nor gave any indication she was listening to their conversation.

 

Locking the door behind him, Kavek moved to face t'Ksa, leaning back on the desk directly across from her. He stared at her for several moments, studying the lines of her face and the vacancy in her expression. At length, he spoke, keeping his tone within normal range, neither shouting nor whispering at her. "Morgana t'Ksa," he said. "If au do na respond, I will be forced to take drastic measures to ensure your security."

 

She stayed motionless, staring at io point within the wall. With the same flat emotionless tone she used with her staff who'd looked at her, she uttered the same response "Go away."

 

"I will na," he said harshly. "I am na some young uhlan au may send away as au like. Au are a senior officer on this vessel and are exhibiting behavior unfit for your position. Respond!" He snapped his fingers in front of her face.

 

"And I am na a puppy au call to heal," She answered flatly, drawing her knees tighter to her chest. Only after she'd settled herself again did she draw her eyes from the wall to his face, a delayed flinch in her expression when she recognized the Executive Officer standing before her. "Just leave me alone, fhaen."

 

"Au know that I can na do that." Pushing from the desk, he crouched down to her level and took her chin roughly in his hand, refusing to let her look away. "Au are na the only person feeling what au are feeling. Au are a maenak and have dealt with this in other patients. Au know this is na healthy."

 

After being manhandled by her attackers, t'Ksa had become skittish around any attempts to hold her. With io arm she smacked at his hand holding her chin while simultaneously trying to backpedal further into the corner of the cot. There was na much more room available in which for her to move, with Kavek blocking her path and the corner walls blocking the maenak in. "Leave me. Don't touch me. Just leave me alone!"

 

Frowning, he released her. "Remember, I warned au." Standing over her, he turned and unlocked the office door, closing it behind him. Catching tr'Paine's attention, he waved the maenak over. "Dose her with a mild sedative. Hold her down if au have to. I do na care how much she struggles or fights. Sedate her with just enough to put her out for a few siuren."

 

"What are you going to do, rekkhai?" tr'Paine raised a brow.

 

"I am going to remove her from this office without having to drag her bodily through your patients and the ship. Rest assured, she will be perfectly safe."

 

tr'Paine nodded a little, moving to the dispensary to load up a hypospray with the sedative that the Daise'Erei'Riov had requested. There was more than a small amount of curiosity on the part of the maenak, as he'd never seen the Daise'Maenak forcibly removed from her office, even when she was well. The woman practically lived in that small room, in fact he doubted she knew the way to her personal quarters without the help of the etrehh. So tr’Paine was eager to see what tr’Valdrin had planned. Once the hypospray was loaded, he passed by XO as he entered the Daise'Maenak's office. The sound of a woman's shriek was heard shortly there after.

 

When he returned to the main room, he showed signs of a handslap to the face. It had na gone well. tr'Paine inhaled slowly before speaking. "She is out, rekkhai."

 

Kavek nodded and disappeared inside t'Ksa's office. He reappeared a few moments later carrying the unconscious doctor in his arms with her head cradled against his shoulder. "She will be fine," he assured tr'Paine. Sickbay seemed to quiet as he walked through, all eyes staring at the Daise'Maenak's limp form. Jaw set, Kavek ignored them all and walked into the hallway, heading for the lift.

 

---------

 

When Morgana awoke, the room was dark save for the bright spotlight that shown down upon her chair. Her seat was comfortably padded and cradled her head and neck so that she could not turn them. Though there were no visible restraints, she could not move.Once the fog of the sedative wore off and she became more aware of the situation, t’Ksa felt the panic rise quickly in her chest. “Wh-wh-where am I? What’s going on.” She struggled ineffectually against whatever force field bound her to the chair. “Fhaen, help me!”

 

From the darkness, somewhere behind her, Kavek spoke quietly. "Welcome back, Daise'Maenak. I am sorry it must come to this, but this is something au must see."

 

“Let me go,” she whispered, her strength waning in her struggles.

 

"Soon,” he said. “But na now. Etrehh, begin program."

 

The light about her dimmed and then extinguished completely, plunging her momentarily into true darkness. Sound reached her first. Her own voice, belligerent but slurred, rang through the empty room.

 

"Let me go!"

 

The apparition of t'Ksa screamed, kicking and struggling to free herself from her two captors. One of them, who she recognized as tr'Radaik, held her tightly by the arm. The other, tr'Usten, waved a bloody knife in her face.

 

"Enough of this! Kelton, move her now or I'm done with her! I'll gut her like the other and they can study her corpse for all I care."

 

tr'Radaik stood frozen behind her, eyes wide in shock as he stared at the blade. He released her arm abruptly, shaking his head. "Na… na! Fvadt, rekkhai!"

 

"Fvadt! I've had it!"

 

The blade flashed toward Morgana, but before it could reach her, Kelton let out a strangled yell and jumped forward to knock it aside. Instead, the blade slammed hilt-deep into his chest, emerald blood trickling down the handle to puddle on the floor. Kelton's forward momentum caused him to stagger into tr'Usten, knocking him off balance. Morgana backpedaled frantically, screaming into her communicator for security while tr'Usten made a grab for her again. Though Kelton was clearly in shock and pain, he clung to tr'Usten's leg in an attempt to stop him. The desperate attempt saved Morgana's life as she managed to slip out of tr'Usten's bloody grip. Giving up as the threat of security became imminent, tr'Usten disappeared from view, fleeing.

 

The picture shifted to her valiantly trying not to cry while cradling Kelton's head, trying to stem the bleeding of his wound. "Why? Why did au do this?"

 

"Forgive me," Kelton whispered, his voice thick with pain and blood loss. "It should na have… come to this."

 

The Daise’Maenak’s body returned to it’s stock stiff posture as tr’Valdrin had first encountered her cloistered in her office. But unlike before, io could just make out the muscles working in the woman’s jaw. And where her eyes had been dull and lifeless before, this time her eyes were fiercely focused on the empty space where that little tableau had played out in front of her. Not only did that scene fill in the muddled scenes playing out in her own brain, but it also ignited her indignation at the attack itself.

 

“He had drugs in his system," Kavek said softly. "Defloxo. We accessed security feeds and screened them and it seems tr'Usten had been keeping him well supplied and addicted in order to control him. They wanted au, na doubt for your nanotech knowledge, and they used him to get close. In the end, his loyalty to au was greater than the hold the drugs had over him."

 

"Where is tr'Usten now?"

 

"Dead. He and his accomplice are both dead. Kelton would have doomed au both to the same fate had he na sacrificed himself on the Talon to keep au from their custody."

 

"I trusted him," She spoke quietly. "I treated him differently than the others, trying to make up for the issues with past dishern and look...look what happened. He's lucky he's all ready dead or else I'd kill him. All three of them." She struggled to keep her voice even, to remain in control of her emotions as she sat restrained in the chair.

 

"Would au?" His disembodied voice sounded skeptical.

 

"Okay, so I would na y'ya them, but I would certainly beat the ever living Elements out of them." She snarled a bit, "Would au fhaen let me out of this fvadt chair now?"

 

Abruptly, the invisible restraints disappeared and she found she could move. A table appeared next to the chair with a shiny blade atop it. Three figures appeared facing t'Ksa. tr'Usten snarled and darted forward, his bloodied blade gripped tightly in his hand as he slashed at her throat.

 

Eyes widened, Morgana stood quickly at the sudden appearance of tr'Usten. With a loud squeak of surprise, she darted quickly out of his blade's reach, knocking the chair out of her way in the process. The table being more of a weapon of her choice than the blade resting in the middle, she endeavored to keep it between her and her attackers. "Au said he was dead!"

 

tr'Usten said nothing, but he continued his attack, slashing and chasing t'Ksa around the table. The rest of the room beyond her chair began to lighten and she found herself surrounded by dozens of such tables with a variety of weaponry displayed. tr'Mikels and tr'Radiak were also displaying blades in their hands and worked to cut t'Ksa off as she scrambled away.

 

Think, Khera, think. The Daise Maenak fought off the panic as much as she tried to keep her distance from tr'Usten, tr'Mikels and tr'Radiak by using the tables while scanning the room for an exit. When na doorway presented itself for a likely escape, t'Ksa grabbed a large pike like weapon and swung it in defense of her attackers while groping for her t'Liss to call for help. "Fvadt," Her fingers felt nothing and she scowled. “Khoi-udt, au faelirh ch’susse-thrai.#" She swung in a wide arch, hoping to skewer the villain.

 

The overhead illumination deactivated suddenly, plunging the room into darkness. Footsteps rang loudly on the floor and seemed to be coming from all directions. In the darkness, someone grabbed her from behind. "I failed to kill au last time," tr'Usten snarled in her ear. "But na again."

 

"Na!" t'Ksa jabbed her elbow into the attacker's stomach, while stomping on the instep of his foot at the same time. She heard the grunt, and felt him double over while still maintaining a hold around her. She threw her head back violently where she thought his might be, in hopes of breaking his nose and loosening his grip.

 

He fell back in a grunt of pain, but other hands came from the darkness to grab her. One gripped one wrist painfully while trying to knock the blade out of her other hand.

 

The yelp of pain was involuntary as she brought the blade down on the arm holding her. "Na!" She kicked out where she thought perhaps io of the attackers might be standing based upon how he was holding her arm. She'd hoped to at least connect with a knee cap at best, if na a shin.

 

Another yell of pain sounded and the grip on her wrist loosened and broke. When the lights came back on, tr'Usten and tr'Mikels were both down and bleeding profusely. Only Kelton remained, standing before her. The knife he had in his hands clattered to the floor. "Do au want to kill me, Daise'Maenak? I would let au." He stepped closer.

 

It was an automatic reaction for her to immediately step back. "Why?" Her face wrinkled up as she tried to keep from crying. "Why did au na come to me? Why did au do this?" She kept the weapon between her and the dishern. "I trusted au. I. Trusted. Au."

 

"I was ashamed. I could na control it. I did na think au would believe me. I cared for au too much." He took another step forward, backing her against the wall. "They made me do it. I had na choice. I did na mean for it to come to this."

 

"Liar. Au had a choice." The damn holding her emotions crumbling. "Au had a choice. I could have helped. I could have stopped this. Stop this." She hit the wall. "Just stop this." She let out a sob and slide to the floor, burying her face in her hands. "Turn it off!"

 

"Etrehh, end program."

 

All at once, everything faded away and Morgana was left in the empty holographic chamber. Kavek lowered himself to the floor beside her, but made no move to touch her. "He did have a choice and he made the wrong one, but I think he made it out of fear for au. Na doubt they threatened him with harming au. He obviously did na know what the outcome of this would be, else he would have come to au despite their threats. In the end, however, he made the honorable decision."

 

It took some time before t'Ksa was able to speak again, before she could trust herself to speak again without erupting into more tears. And she did so only after she wiped her face off with the sleeves of her tunic. "I trusted him. I tried...I tried very hard to put my trust in another dishern. He had so much potential. And they...." She left the thought unfinished as she wiped her face again before turning to Kavek. "What happens now?"

 

"That entirely depends on au," he said flatly. "Au can withdraw in on yourself and never trust another again. I have seen that level of personal destruction before. It is na sustainable." His gaze became slightly distant as he looked across the room. "It will eat au away from the inside until au truly are the cold-hearted being au wish to be."

 

"Or au can mourn him, accept his sacrifice, and understand that he did na mean to betray au. There are others au can put your trust in eventually. It may take time, but au will be able to forget the betrayal and remember only that he cared enough for au to give his own life."

 

"That's na exactly what I meant," She smiled ruefully, laying her head back against the wall. "But I appreciate your advice." She inhaled jaggedly from her crying then exhaled slowly.

 

"Take some time," he suggested. He turned to study her. "Take some time away from medical and relax. Your staff has been handling the wounded competently while au were out of sorts."

 

She nodded just a little, then shook her head. "I'm na sure what to do with myself. I've never *na* been in medical while on this ship." She turned her head to face him. "And are we na in an heightened state of alert?" Morgana looked rather puzzled about this, she could na remember exactly if they were or na, she'd been 'out of sorts' as Kavek put it for a while now, na really tuning into reality until recently. She’d thought she’d heard the klaxons earlier, but perhaps that had been the drugs speaking. She frowned again as she wondered exactly how they were able to drug her so effectively.

 

"The battle is over and the invaders driven off. We are in the first stages of the aftermath now, cleaning up and seeing to repairs and the wounded. The ship is out of danger." Rising from his seat, he offered her his hand to help her to her feet.

 

She hesitated, then took his hand and stood. Her first thought was to comment that then they would need her in medical. But on second thought, she knew that in her current state of disarray she would do more harm than good. "Au will call if au need me, ie?"

 

His grip was strong and he didn't immediately let go as she regained her feet. Instead, he drew her close and placed his other hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "I will. If au need to talk -- about anything -- do na hesitate to contact me." He hesitated a moment, studying her with a curious expression on his face. "I must apologize for my harsh methods. It was all I could think of that might help au to realize what happened was na your fault nor anything au could prevent. Au are a strong woman, t'Ksa. Somehow, I knew au could take it."

 

"Hann'yyo, rekkhai," She looked down at her feet, feeling too wrung out to try to decipher tr’Valdrin’s comments. "I appreciate au's concern. Just...na more sessions like that, fhaen?" She looked up again, "They're rather.....tiring, ie?" She smiled ever so slightly, then nodded as she stepped away. "I'll be in my quarters if I'm needed. Hann'yyo, again."

 

He nodded and let her slip away without attempting to keep her further, walking with her to the door of the imaging chamber and standing aside for her to exit first as it opened. "Tiring, ie. Get some sleep. I'll ensure that na io disturbs your rest."

[KhreRiovtRex 0]

Wow....what an amazing log you two, it really grabs you and pulls you in. Hann'yyo!

[Kelton tr'Radaik 0]

"He did have a choice and he made the wrong one, but I think he made it out of fear for au. Na doubt they threatened him with harming au. He obviously did na know what the outcome of this would be, else he would have come to au despite their threats. In the end, however, he made the honorable decision."

 

::inclines his head in gratitude to Kavek from beyond the veil:: Hann'yyo, rekkhai.

 

Excellent, excellent log, you two. :)