Reflections (part 2)

Posted on Wed Jan 23rd, 2013 @ 11:42am by Commodore Samantha York & Senior Chief Petty Officer Helga (Hel) Lowe

912 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: The Enemy Within: Lying in Wait

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Malcolm walked into his office a few moments later raktajino in hand."I apologize for my tardiness Chief, waffles just don't eat themselves ya know. " he then sat down and set his cup of raktajino down on the table in front of him while grabbing the PADD lying in front of him."So, Helga, do you mind if I call you Helga? Explain to me how you've been coping since your Borg experience."

[NEW]

She shook her head. "No, you may call me Helga. How am I coping? Well, it's a lot quieter now and I find myself wanting to give everyone tea..."

"Its been reported that people that break away from the collective tend to inherit traits from others in the hive mind. Do you like tea?" Malcolm asked, then it hit him, 'I wonder if that tea lady from the Typhon was assimilated. Maybe that explains her urge to serve tea to everyone.' he shook that thought though before he said it aloud.

"Not generally. But when I first became an Infiltration Borg, I gave everyone tea laced with Borg nanites," she said.

"Thank goodness I'm not a tea drinker." Malcolm said it before he could stop himself."Sorry about that, anywho. So knowing you assimilated as many people as you did does that bother you a lot?"

"Of course it does. I don't like to think about it," she said. "I like to think of it as someone else taking over my body and doing all those things, so it wasn't really ME."

"That's one way to justify it, and it makes perfect sense. You could not control what the nanites in your blood steam and ultimately the hive mind told you to do, you were basically under their control no matter what you did. All traces of individuality erased. So you should not blame yourself for those actions as they were not you in even the slightest sense."

Helga started out feeling pretty good, but the more the counselor talked, the worse she felt. "You're not helping much."

"That feeling of my not helping much is actually the feeling of me helping a lot, your coming to terms with your inner demons of your experience. Its ok to cry." Malcolm said trying not to remember the battle between the Borg and the Calypso.

Her lower lip quivered and she bit down on it. "Have you ever been in a position like that? I doubt you've been assimilated, but have you ever lost control of yourself?"

"Of course I have, several times as a matter of fact. Its normal to lose control physically and mentally were only humanoid in the end. I'm trill, for instance, and sometimes I can't control the memories of the symbiate. They rush over me like a tsunami of remembrance and I can't control my actions from that point on until the waters recede." Malcolm could feel one of those said tsunamis slowly encroaching into his emotional harbor and he didn't like it, he was trying to fight it off but it wasn't working very well.

"Oh? I've never talked to a Trill about their symbiont. Do you constantly hear voices in your head?" she asked.

"Constantly, sometimes it gets unbearable to the point you want to put your head through the nearest bulk head, but thats just part of the life of a trill." Malcolm said trying to play it off cooly.

"It sounds like the Borg," Helga said. "But there were hundreds of voices and no personality. Just voices droning on."

Malcolm's lip quivered a little but as he thought about how close they all came to being Borg. He didn't reply to his patient out of fear of breaking down.

Helga looked at him compassionately. "Doctor, I'd offer you a cup of tea, but under the circumstances I don't think that would be appropriate." She stood and gave the counselor a hug. "I'll schedule another appointment for tomorrow."

====

Shade sat in the guest quarters as he read over the reports from the Rhombus. They had lost someone who had been with the crew since the Orion, their Marine CO. Tiberius IV hadnt been fun for him and he had been scooped up with the rest. He had been crashed there on his way to the Calypso, and luckily had been saved by the very people he was supposed to be working with.

Grabbing his gray duty jacket, Anthony Benge made his way to the heart of the ship, the Captains office. Making sure everything was straight he rang the chime and waited for his turn to make the Captains acquaintance.

"Come in," Sam called, wondering who wished to speak to her. She didn't mind talking to her crew; on the contrary, she enjoyed getting to know the men and women on the Calypso. Today was an unusually busy day for visitors.

Lieutenant JG Benge stepped inside and nodded. "Ma'am, Lieutenant Benge reporting. And thanks for the pick up off that dust ball." Stepping forward he laid his padd gently on the desk after pulling it out of his right pocket. "I'll be part of your Intelligence Division unless you need me else where. And I share my condolences over your Marine Commander."

(To be continued…)

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant Malcolm Hoffman
Chief Counselor
USS Calypso

Lieutenant JG Anthony “Shade” Benge
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Calypso

Senior Chief Petty Officer Helga Lowe
Nurse
USS Calypso

 

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