Healer's Touch

Posted on Sun Dec 13th, 2020 @ 11:34am by Lieutenant Anna S. Thesia M.D. & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Lieutenant Aurora Vali

Mission: Healing of Minds
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: A few hours later

{ON}

Aurora slowly started to stir, it had been a few hours since her meld with Savar and T’Pora’s timely intervention. Opening her eyes she lay staring at the ceiling for a few moments before looking around her somewhat confused. She could see Anna and a Vulcan she didn’t recognise.

“Doctor” she offered Anna a smile as she looked towards her. “What happened? Why am I here?”

"You passed out after your meld with Savar", Anna said. "T'Pora, an expert Vulcan healer, assured me you'll be making a full recovery."

T'Pora looked up from the memory anagrams he was studying at the sound of Aurora's voice. He rose and approached the biobed a moment behind Anna.

"Memory loss was not a common side effect of this kind of assault" he said to himself.

“I’m sorry” Aurora looked at T’Pora. “Do I know you? You feel familiar but I can’t recall us meeting before.”

"I am T'Pora, a specialist Vulcan healer here at the request of your Captain." He started, gauging her reaction before continuing. "You were assaulted telepathically."

"You're not remembering any of it?" Anna asked. If so, was that a good sign? Probably a lot less uncomfortable, she figured.

“Assaulted?” Aurora shook her head. “Last I remember Savar and I had returned to the ship after our bonding. I had ... plans to visit the market.”

"An unusual occurrence" T'Pora commented, looking more closely at the brain scans. "I healed most sections of your mind, perhaps something was missed." He seemed almost pissed off at himself for failing.

"It's probably best", Anna said. "Let's hope you won't have to deal with many more cases." There was still the crewman in stasis, of course.

"Unless the perpetrator is apprehended I fear there will indeed be more" T'Pora admitted, sipping the tea that Anna had offered him early. "Your skills as a doctor are well above average - it is to be commended."

"Well, th..thank you", Anna was surprised to say the least. She thought she'd only been demonstrating a lack of skill with this particular problem.

Aurora frowned and lay down. “May I see Savar please, Anna?”

"You can call him, let him know you're awake", Anna suggested. "I'd like to keep you around for a little longer, but there's no reason you can't receive visitors."

Aurora nodded. “Thank you” she tapped her comm badge. “Vali to Savar, I’d like to see you in Sickbay when you have a moment.”

"Do you think it'll be possible to help Crewman Ball in a similar way, so he won't even remember the ordeal?" Anna wondered.

"It will depend on the degree of neural damage" T'Pora admitted "There are some things I simply cannot heal." He held his ability in high esteem but admitted that even he couldn't fix everything.

On the bridge, Savar took Aurora's comcall. He was pleased she called and she sounded well, despite all she had been through. "I will come down on my next break Aurora." He assured her.

"I can pull him out of stasis as soon as you feel you're up for it", Anna said. She didn't want to put any pressure on him, since she could plainly see it was a taxing procedure. And for that to be visible on a Vulcan's face, Anna knew, that meant something.

T'Pora considered his options - he wanted nothing more than for this situation to be resolved so he could return to his health clinic back on Vulcan. He sipped the tea and enjoyed its rejuvenating properties. He did however enjoy talking with Anna, for a non-Vulcan she was most logical and a talented Doctor.

"By the time you bring him fully out of stasis and achieve a stable condition - I will be ready to begin" He stood and replicated himself a plomeek soup.

Anna nodded. "Thank you." She headed off to the stasis chambers. They were often used to hold dead bodies, but she hoped it would not come to that with this one. Getting someone out of stasis wasn't as easy as switching off the field, the body had to be brought up to speed again gradually.

By the time she came in with him an an antigrav tray, still not responding to outside stimuli, almost twenty minutes had passed. "Here he is. He should be awake, but there's no sign he's aware of what's happening." She took hold of his legs, and a technician helped on his torso, together they lifted him onto one of the biobeds.

T'Pora headed to the main scanning instrumentation on the biobed, running a series of detailed neurological scans to ascertain the level of damage before attempting any kind of healing.

"Was he brought in in a state like this? Or has his condition deteriorated? " The Vulcan healer asked.

"He was like this when I first saw him", Anna said. "Unresponsive, walked in here with the assistance of other personnel who found him on the planet." It was clear on Anna's face, for anyone able to read emotions, that she was worried. Anna hated not having the answers, and not even having a means of getting any.

"The damage appears to be more substantial than the last victim, the neurological pathways have been scarred to the point of non-conductivity" T'Pora intoned as his long fingers danced over the monitor, adjusting the parameters and finding more detail.

"See here and here, both these centres have been severely damaged. It is remarkable he was conscious at all."

Anna looked at the data, and she could tell it didn't look good. "I know no procedure to reverse this damage, do you?" she asked.

"Standard Federation medical practice will not save this man. Traditional Vulcan Healing however may. We need to repair the damage then reawaken the mind" T'Pora intoned, standing just a little taller in recognition of his own species' developments in this field. "It is not without risk - to either party. However I feel it is the only option available to us."

"What can we do to mitigate the risk?" Anna asked. "You must not put yourself in danger unnecessarily."

"I believe the options available to us are extremely limited. We either attempt to heal this man with a mind meld - or we accept the alternative in his premature death" T'Pora said simply. He was up to the challenge but this would be his hardest healing to date.

“Would it help to have the strength of another telepath to draw upon?” Aurora looked across at the Vulcan healer. “You helped to save me, it’s the least I can do.”

"Perhaps, this healing will be most challenging" T'Pora admitted, regarding Aurora with a raised eyebrow " Are you suitably recovered?"

"Perhaps it would be best to call some of your colleagues from Vulcan", Anna suggested. She didn't feel comfortable letting Aurora do this so shortly after having barely recovered herself, and Aurora couldn't even draw on the benefit of knowledge of the same kind of encounter.

“I would like to help but ..” Aurora looked at Anna. “If you advise me not to Anna then I will listen. It seems I do have a chunk of my memories missing.”

"I don't think it's safe for you at this point", Anna said, clearly uncomfortable with having to tell her no. "I'm sorry, Aurora."

T'Pora nodded and moved into position at the head of the biobed, taking a focusing breath and placing his hands on either side of the crewman's face. His eyes drifted closed as he sought out the damage and made efforts to repair it.

It seemed as though T'Pora had settled on a course of action. Anna was reduced to monitoring their brain patterns. "Perhaps you can help by telling me if there are any signs of danger I might be missing", Anna suggested.

Aurora smiled and nodded as she stood and moved over by the end of the other biobed. “I’ll keep watch and let you know if I sense anything.”

"Abnormal brain waves, swelling, decrease in neural functions" T'Pora intoned, his voice somewhat distant through his connection with the crewman's mind. Sweat began to bead on his brow as he delved deeper.

Anna readied a hypospray, the same medicine she'd given Aurora earlier, and which the crewman had already received. If T'Pora's vitals showed cause for concern, he'd get a shot as well.

T'Pora's brows furrowed as he concentrated on the worst of the damage, a barely discernible tremour starting within his muscles. The strain was beginning to show but he was making progress and refused to give up.

“Anna ...” Aurora looked towards her colleague and friend. “I don’t like this. T’Pora isn’t going to be able to hold on for much longer.”

Anna nodded. "Let's help him", she said, carefully injecting him with the hypospray. She only hoped it would be enough. She wouldn't be able to give him another dose for at least two hours, and the procedure couldn't possibly take this long, now could it?

Slowly but surely the crewman's neural activity began to increase, his vital signs changing from red to green as his condition improved. Finally releasing the crewman's mind from the melt T'Pora backed away from the biobed, his colour pale and his hands shaking. "It is done."

"Great job", Anna said, taking T'Pora's arm, though careful to touch only his clothes and not his skin, to guide him over to the next biobed. "Rest. Is there anything I can get you to help you recover?" She didn't think tea would cut it this time.

"Just quiet and time. Some tea and plomeek soup in a short while" He eased his lanky frame over to the bed and laid down, his eyes closing almost immediately. To create order in a chaotic injured mind had been most taxing on him.

Aurora moved to sit back on her bed, which was neighbouring T’Pora’s. She could watch him from there whilst resting herself.

Anna nodded and turned her attention to Crewman Ball. "Richard?" she asked. "Are you awake yet? You're in sickbay. Drank too hard on shore leave, couldn't handle Vulcan liquor?" she joked, hoping to get a positive response.

"Ugh." The crewman groaned, raising a hand and rubbing his temples. "Headache."

"What do you remember, before waking up here?" Anna asked. Maybe he was lucky, like Aurora?

"Ahhhh" he started, then a blank expression crossed his face "I was in the markets, then I felt funny, like someone was in my head, then I woke up just now" he offered lamely, shaking his head.

"Okay, good", Anna said, dimming the lights over his biobed. "I'd like you to stay here and rest for a bit, but it looks like you'll be just fine in a little while."

"That would be adequate" he replied, an echo from the logical Vulcan who had just been poking around inside his brain.

“Sounds like a logical course of action” Aurora echoed but her response was purely from her bond with Savar.

"I know, I know", Anna said. "It's all logical. Sadly, some things just have to be done that way. I understand it's no fun. But once you've recovered, I'll happily suggest some fun, delightfully illogical things to do. How's that?"

“Sounds like fun to me” Aurora smiled before lying down to rest. She was looking forward to seeing Savar once he got off duty.

Anna picked up a PADD and drew up a medication plan for her two patients, which would have to be administered on schedule to help them recover. But that was something for the nurses to handle, as Anna had some studying to do in her office. "When T'Pora wakes up, can you tell him I'm in my office and would love to have lunch with him?"

Aurora nodded. “Of course. I’ll have him drop in to see you.”

"Thank you", Anna smiled. "Now rest. You need it." She waved at her and went straight to her office. Now was the time to exhaust her mind over studying a few things she wanted to have the answers to by the time T'Pora woke up.