Monomania and friends

Posted on 21 May 2017 @ 3:09am by Commander Marisa Wyatt & Ensign Miraj Derani
Edited on on 21 May 2017 @ 9:27am

1,707 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: USS Chaka - Sickbay
Timeline: MD 40, 1100

[ON]

Miraj stared around the counselling suite on the USS Chaka. It was really just an office with an ante room, but after the hardships of the last few weeks, it was positively luxurious. But Miraj was oblivious to it. The only thing that took up her attention was the spectre of being deprived of her pilots license for the rest of her life, which since she had turned twenty one just a few months ago, was a hellishly long time.

She had arrived early for the session with the counsellor, and now sat waiting, picking at the fabric on the arm of the chair whilst waiting for Lt Sandoval to be ready to see her. The USS Chaka's counsellor had determined that their shared experience might be beneficial, so had suggested that Sandoval be the one to deal with the burgeoning anxiety.

Marisa finished with her appointment and walked the young officer to the reception area. When she saw Miraj, she smiled. "Hi. Come on back."

She led Miraj back to her temporary office and indicated one of the chairs. "Have a seat." She took the chair opposite and smiled. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine." It was the normal response, except..."Worried about the injury. And how much trouble I'm in for the mutiny." Miraj scratched at her arm. The implant had been removed but she still scratched at it when reminded of the mutiny.

"From what I heard, you shouldn't be in any trouble over the mutiny," Marisa assured her. "You were in a difficult situation, and your actions saved lives. If you hadn't done what you did, they might have succeeded." Indeed, Marisa wouldn't be surprised if she got a commendation for her bravery.

Miraj looked at the woman. She remembered talking to Marisa about random stuff on the Klingon ship, but she couldn't put the woman she remembered to the face in front of her. A rush of anger was zappping through her stomach and she didn't know what to do with it. "I don't know who you've been talking to, but they're wrong." It came out a little sharper than she meant and she swallowed, softened her tone. "Being scared for your life and those of others isn't a defense. I'm not sure what's going to happen. I'm facing a board of Inquiry at least. To be honest, right now I don't care." Her lip trembled slightly. "I'm more worried about the brain damage."

Marisa raised an eyebrow at the anger, but maintained her air of calm. "Why do you think you'll be facing a board of inquiry, and what brain damage?" She'd heard nothing about Miraj having a brain injury.

"I can't recognise faces," Miraj explained. "I mean, I know we had lunch on the Klingon ship, and you stood up for us on the Romulan ship, but I don't recognise you. You don't look like either of the two women I picture when I think of those times. Which is bad enough. But the doctor thinks there's also damage to the part of my brain that helps with spatial relationship processing."

Marisa nodded while she absorbed the information. Her first question was going to be if Miraj had seen the doctor. So now she asked her second. "What is the prognosis?"

"There isn't one yet." Miraj twisted a finger around the bottom of one of her pink bunches. "There needs to be tests and scans with more sensitive equipment than they have here." She stared at the floor, not knowing i that was a good thing or not.

"You're not one to wait, are you?" Marisa asked. It was fairly obvious. But as Miraj was a pilot used to quick action. Waiting may not be one of her strong suits.

"I hate waiting. I'd rather get it over with. " Miraj admitted. "Theres nothing worse than time to think."

"Agreed. But sometimes you don't have a choice. In those instances, you find ways to help pass the time." Marisa eyed her carefully for a long moment. "What do you like to do when you have some time off--besides fly?"

Miraj looked a little embarrassed. "I read pirate novels. Or play pirate holodeck games. Or read about pirates." She shrugged a little bit. "I like pirate stuff. But mostly I fly. Normally I do at least two hours in a simulator if I'm not doing a shift on a ship."

"I like fictional pirates. The historical ones are too barbaric for my taste. The problem with studying history is that it can bring a little too much reality to my fiction. However, I still love Robin Hood." She grinned at Miraj for a moment, then asked. "How often do you use the holodeck to fly? Do you prefer starships or do you fly older machines?"

"When I'm on shift? every other day or so. Daily when I'm not. I'll fly anything. Capital ships mostly. and I fly anything, ever Starfleet class in use, some of the older ones like Excelsior and Constitution. Romulan and Klingon and Cardassian. I don't like fighters. They're cocky bastards who are totally full of themselves."

"They are, but I find that the best ones aren't the ones you have to worry about." Marisa had dealt with her share of fighter pilots both in the Academy and during several of her deployments. "So, basically, if you can't fly, you'll have little else to do with your time, correct?"

"Oh I didn't mean the pilots. I meant the ships themselves." Miraj explained. "They all think they're too clever by half. And no, I don't do much else. Its a bit sad I know, but I don't really like anything else."

That was an interesting perspective Miraj had about fighters. "So, if you're going to have to avoid flying until the doctor can correct the problem, you're either going to have a very difficult time or you're going to need to find something to help the time pass more quickly. Would a pirate ship be okay? Or will you have the same problem that you do with flying? If not, I suggest replacing flying on the holodeck with sailing. Or spend time with friends. Either way, it's going to be difficult. However, when you're back to normal, you'll appreciate flying much more than you do now." She hoped it didn't sound too harsh. "I can help, but a lot of the work will have to come from you. Perhaps we can find some new hobbies for you while you let your brain heal?"

Miraj looked miserable. "But I can't do anything else. I mean, I can fly anything you put me in. But I've always struggled with everything else. It took me forever to do even the basic stuff. Nothing makes sense."

It was impossible for one person to try 'everything,' but Marisa knew what she meant. "What have you tried?" Perhaps the two of them could come up with something to pass the time. Miraj didn't need to be good at it, she just had to enjoy it enough to not go nuts.

"I suck at everything. I was lousy at shooting, no good at sports. I can't throw, I catch like a horta, running is boring. I can put a frigate through a gap with less than meter clearence all round, by eye, at a significant portion of the speed of light, but I can't hit a ball with a bat. How does that even work? I never got science. I wired everything wrong in ops training, was just as bad at engineering. I dont like climbing, i keep thinking im going to fall. The only thing that i can make play recognisable music is a stereo. I can't draw." She paused to draw a breath, continue the list, then realised it was probably more than enough and fell silent

"You like pirates," Marisa said. "And you would probably like the early days of flying on a multitude of worlds. So there are two things. Have you ever tried to make something? That requires a different set of skills from sports, science or drawing. And there's always dancing."

"Dancing?" Miraj asked. It hadn't occurred to her as an activity, she'd never really tried it. She didn't fancy her chances with it. It sounded too close to a sport to her.

"We can try it and if you don't like it, fine." As a dancer herself, Marisa appreciated the benefits of dancing. But not everyone felt the way she did. "If you like hiking or taking walks, we can try that, too."

"I dont like walking. Why walk when you can fly?" Not to mention the last time she went for a hike, she’d ended up running through the jungle of an alien world in fear of her life. "Dancing sounds okay. Like allemande or a courant?" She knew those from her pirate novels, social dancing of the Golden Age of Sail.

Marisa nodded. "Yes. I don't personally know many of the dance forms that didn't make it out of the 20th century, Earth, but I'd love to learn. If you don't mind, we could do it together." She paused for a moment before leaning closer to Miraj. "I want you to know that I believe you will regain your health and be able to fly again. I'm just trying to help you come up with a few things to try so you don't go stir crazy while you wait for your brain to heal."

Miraj nodded, but her real fear gnawed at her. "And if it doesn't. What if I'm never normal again?"

"If that happens, we will come up with something you can do." Marisa smiled encouragingly. "However, we won't cross that bridge until we come to it."

Miraj looked doubtful. She had another assesment with Allyndra in two days time. She was probably going to reach that bridge a lot sooner than she wanted. "So for now we dance?" Whilst my world falls down around me?

"For now, we dance." Marisa smiled. "And we hope."

[OFF]

--

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval
Counselor
USS Galileo

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