Release From Rehab

Posted on Thu Jan 25th, 2018 @ 4:51pm by Lieutenant JG Siobahn Fallon

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Timeline: Two Days Before Mornin'

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since that day at the bar when she had worked hard on drowning her ghosts in a bottle, but how.... "My name is Calypso Skyie, I'm an alcoholic. I have been sober for thirteen days." She said softly, adjusting her uniform, then ruffling it again and trying to adjust it again. "Thirteen days." She looked over at the other woman in the room.

Siobahn smiled gently, watching the other woman as she fiddled. "You have done amazing," she said softly. "Just remember, you're in control now. Relax, take a deep breath and tell yourself you're in control." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Are you sleeping better now? And have the voices subsided?"

"No... They haven't, but they're more bearable... I talked to Jerry's parents a couple days ago, they didn't blame me." Cally shook her head, "They understood, they didn't hate me. And that helps. Shelly's husband died, I... I can't get his forgiveness.. But no, the voices are still there, just... One of them's missing."

Nodding, Siobahn watched her carefully. "Of course they don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself. It was a tragic accident, nothing more. How are you dealing with it now? Do you think you're ready to walk out there and face the world?"

"Do I have much of a choice?" Cally asked with a wry smile, "The two week leave is up as of this morning and I have to get back to work. If I don't, people will talk and I can't keep this much more than a secret if people start asking me where I've been, what I've been doing. I have to get myself past the voices, somehow, at least during the day."

Siobahn fell silent for a long moment, biting down on her bottom lip. "Cally, there might be something that can help," she said softly, very hesitantly. "It's... well... it's pretty unorthodox, and to be honest, I'm not sure if it's even really the right thing to do... and there is a chance it may not help at all... but I was looking at your medical file and it gave me a little idea..."

"Right now, I'm willing to do just about anything." Calypso admitted, "And since none of you will let me drink, at least not without having some sort of massive guilt trip from the time you have spent making me less dependent on the booze, I have to figure something out."

"You've been through the worst of it already... once you walk out those doors no one can stop you doing anything you want, except you..." Siobahn shook her head slightly. "But it is possible that the 'feelings', the 'voices' are amplified because of your Betazoid physiology. There might be a way we can 'turn it off' or at least turn the volume down a little..."

That put a thoughtful look on Cally's face, "You're thinking an inhibitor." She stated definitively, a shudder running through her, "Usually a sign of a mental disorder or a criminal. Not really the sign of a functional Betazoid, but you know what? It's not a bad idea."

"I don't know," Siobahn replied quickly. "Like I said, it may not work at all... but it might help... at least for long enough that you can build some strategies to help cope better on your own. I wouldn't say lets rush in and do it right now, I think I want to do some more research on it first..." She paused momentarily. "Maybe you should speak to Hailey about it as well, she is probably a lot more experienced in this area."

Cally snorted in laughter, "No, I would say that she isn't. She's not a psychological type, unless you're thinking Psy-Ops against someone. Yes, she's a doc and I wouldn't want anyone else operating on me, especially when it's crunch time, but she's the ice queen. She smiles, she's friendly at times, but she has no emotion when she's operating or when she's in the field. That's how she does it. How she gets through it."

"Okay..." Siobahn said quietly. "Well... think about it... let me know what you want to do... I'm happy to research it further if you want me to."

"Let's just do it." Calypso said firmly, "I can use any advantage I can get right now."

Siobahn watched her for a long moment in silence. "Cally, you need to be sure... you need to be really sure... this isn't something to take lightly," she said quietly.

"I'm not taking it lightly." Cally's right hand turned into a fist, not as a threat, but just as a counterpoint, "If it'll get all this out of my head, I'm sure. Really, really sure."

With a nod, Siobahn stood up. "Well, I guess we should go to Sickbay then," she said quietly. "I can replicate the device and we can talk about it there."

*** A Few Minutes Later in Sickbay ***

Cally sat on the biobed waiting. Yes she was absolutely sure this was a good choice, the right choice, the choice to keep her from going insane. She watched Siobahn as she worked.

The device had been replicated and sat on a tray on the trolley next to the bio bed. Siobahn sat on the stool next to the bio bed, reading through the PADD in her hand before she set it down and looked up. "Are you really sure about this Cally?" she asked softly.

"Very sure." Cally said, "The voices go away."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk to someone else first?" Siobahn asked again, trying to just make sure that Cally was aware of everything she was agreeing to.

"No, I don't need to talk to anyone else..."

"Okay... so..." Siobahn started speaking quietly. "This is going to interrupt your neural patterns and block or at least decrease any psionic activity in your brain... because, basically, it's going to mess with your head, there may be some side effects that you are going to need to be aware of..." She paused, taking a breath. "You may feel dizzy and disorientated, you may feel nauseous... you may just feel 'odd'. I will give you some basic analgesic in advance to help cut off any headaches, and I can give you an antiemetic that will help with the nausea, just as a precaution, but I need you to promise me that if you feel any side effects that bother you, you need to come straight back and see me... okay?" The tone of her voice made it clear Siobahn was concerned about the woman.

Calypso nodded, "I'll come straight to you, only to you and no one else has to know, right?"

"I won't tell anyone else yet..." Siobahn said quietly. She picked up the device and held it up. "This is a temporary psionic inhibitor. It's relatively a relatively new design, but I don't want to go with a full implant until we know if it will work. This part here," she pointed to a small rectangular section about the size of her thumb nail, "is going to attach near your temple, I'll try and hide it in your hair. Then this wire will go around your ear and attach to this bit which will sit behind your ear. It should all be relatively unobvious to anyone else, unless of course they are right up close and personal. I think going with the temporary one is the best choice for the moment. Okay?"

"I can get a new hairdo and keep it over there too, to hide it." Cally gave a brave smile, though to be honest, it made her nervous. Her empathic abilities were a part of her and she didn't know how it would feel to be without them.

"Okay... are you really sure you're ready?" Siobahn asked, giving Cally one last chance to change her mind. A nod from the Betazoid was her only response.

With a deep breath, Siobahn leaned in, carefully attaching the first part of the device above her temple, winding the cable behind her ear carefully and then setting the receptor in place. "Cally, I'm going to turn it on, okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah." It made her ear feel heavier, but not significantly. If she hadn't known it was there, she probably wouldn't have even felt it. She closed her eyes.

With a nod, Siobahn activated the device and stepped back, watching Cally carefully. She grabbed a medical tricorder and flipped it open, observing her closely. "How do you feel?" she asked after a few long minutes.

It was as if a light switch had been flipped, she felt Siobahn one moment, the other medical personnel in sickbay, the pain from the one with a broken arm, the child running around outside the medical area. Concern from another one, the ghosts in another, the faces staring at her with hollow eyes. Then nothing. And Cally just sat there, revelling in the quiet, but part of her mind panicked, told her that something was just WRONG. So she just set to a smaller battle within herself. "I feel, rather, I don't." Her eyes opened and looked at Siobahn, "The voices are gone. All of them."

Siobahn nodded and swallowed hard. "This is going to be a shock to your system, a lot of Betazoid's don't cope when their psionic abilities are taken away... while the voices might be stopped, it doesn't mean it's going to be easy for you," she said softly. "I'm going to give you two shots now, okay?" She reached for the two hyposprays that were sitting on the tray. "This first one is a basic analgesic, it will help prevent any headaches that may pop up. It will only last for about 4 hours, so if you have problems after that you will need to let me know..." She pressed the hypo to Cally's neck and pressed the button. Once the dose had been delivered she grabbed the second hypospray. "This is a simple antiemetic. It will stop any nausea that you might feel. It lasts for about 8 hours, if you have any problems after that you're goin' to need to come see me." Again, she pressed the hypospray to Cally's neck and pressed the button.

Sitting back down on the stool, Siobahn watched Cally in silence for a long moment. "Cally, I need you to promise me unequivocally that at the very very first sign you don't feel right you will come straight back to me, I can't even begin to express how important that is..." she said softly. "Even if it is just that you feel confused or lost or anything else you might pass off as being irrelevant, okay?"

"I will." Cally promised, "And if I get 'lonely', I'll be in here as soon as I can." Cally smiled, "Thank you, Siobahn, I owe you big time for this."

"I just hope it works," Siobahn said quietly. "How long until you're due on duty? You should ideally take it easy for a little bit, just to adjust."

"Tomorrow at 0600, but we're probably sticking around here for a few more days, so it's just a matter of sitting and being bored unless some emergency happens. It should be rather sedate until we actually have some mission to go on."

Siobahn nodded. "Just, take it easy until tomorrow morning, give yourself time to adjust to this thing... and if you need me, day or night, just come find me, okay?" She finally smiled vaguely. "Now go enjoy your down time."

"If that's an order, ma'am?" Calypso chuckled, "Then I will."

Watching as Cally almost jumped off the bio bed and left sickbay, Siobahn sighed softly. Something about the entire situation just didn't sit well with her, and she really wasn't sure if it had been the correct course of action to take, but now all she could do was wait and see.

OFF:

Lieutenant Calypso Skyie
Chief Flight Officer
USS Wellington

Ensign Siobahn Fallon
Medical Officer
USS Wellington