USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202011.13 Announcement: . This is the third sim in T'Lin's story plot (though it hasn't actually gotten into high gear yet!). Bridge, Flight Deck, & EVA: . The Penumbra took some serious damage from several polaron-based disruptors and a high-yield quantum torpedo, and then from bouncing off the walls of a Slipstream Corridor. The Chief Engineer, LtCmdr. Bevin MacArdry, had damage control teams all over the ship, and they had managed to restore Auxiliary Power, and rebooted the warp core generator, but the starboard nacelle was still damaged, making warp drive and slipstream offline. She had even recommended to not even engage impulse engines with the engines out of balance. . They had established Standard Orbit over the Kyrathian Homeworld (albeit the Mirror Universe version) to make repairs. It would have been nice if they had access to an Aslan repair station, but in the Mirror Universe, it seemed the Terran Empire had conquered them and they were not friendly allies here. . While they waited, the Captain had decided they could pursue the Kyrathians' problem of "the Evil Vine" (which is likely the Mirror Universe version of the Ivorez), and perhaps figure out what they had meant by the phrase "Heart of the Ancients". . Lt. T'Lin entered the Bridge from the corridor, having avoided using the Turbolifts since some of the shafts were still blocked. As she entered she asked, "How is everything?" . Capt. Zak Taylor was in the Command Seat (still decorated with a seat-cover with a pattern resembling swarming cockroaches - thanks Bevin!) He was trying to seem relaxed, but wasn't pulling it off very well. . In one of the airlocks, LtCmdr. Bevin MacArdry, the Chief Engineer, was suiting up in an EVA suit to go outside and get a first-hand look at the damage to the starboard nacelle, so she could get a handle on how best to effect repairs without access to a space dock.
. At the Operations Console, LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris was still trying to track down all the various kinks in their power distribution problem. The generators were up to 75% production, but distribution was falling short at only 60% availability. . MstGny. Derek Hines was standing in the Reconnaissance area of the Bridge, dividing his attention between two stations and multiple monitors. "Still no luck finding that 'Evil Vine' yet." . Zak turned his chair to face the Sciences area. "Carshel, can you and T'Lin find anything that might be that 'Heart of the Ancients'? It might be some kind of power source, or something." . Ens. Jackson Carshel looked at T'Lin, slid over to the Tertiary Science Station, then waved his bandaged hand, "Uh, Boss, can you do what the Captain needed, because, I did a stupid with my hand." He fumbled around, best he could, with his other hand to pull up some scans of the planet. . T'Lin approached the Secondary Science Station and discretely tried to wipe off the face-print from where LtCmdr. Relok had impacted with it during the bouncing. She said, "I am trying, but we have been ... preoccupied." . Tabby rose from Operations and strode over to the Primary Science Console that Carshel had broken with his fist. Although Bevin had already repaired it (and it seemed to be working), Tabby wanted to inspect the wiring underneath. As he crawled under it he said, "MAX, please keep me updated on power distribution while I fix whatever needs to be fixed on the Bridge. Thank you." . MAX, the Artificial Intelligence they'd brought with them from their days on the Darmok, didn't respond since he had most of his attention down in the Flight Deck helping the Artificial Intelligence of the Cerberus, AEGIS, re-balance the tiny craft's singularity core.
. Suddenly, the Penumbra's orbit brought it into view of a sunrise over the tiny planet. It showed a very bright and very hot sun. The main viewer had to actually darken slightly to avoid over-burn on the screen. . The door slid open from the corridor and LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke stepped through, having come up from Sickbay. He relieved Lt. Standin from the Tactical Station, "Thank you, Lieutenant." . Zak turned to his Tactical Officer, "How's the Colonel, Den?" . Den gave a slight shrug, "He'll be okay, and being as stubborn as ever." . Zak grunted and then asked, "And ... Carter? Did he get to Sickbay?" . Den's face slumped slightly. "He's there, though from what I overheard, he's not in as good shape." . Zak sighed, "Yeah, I wouldn't have wanted to be in a Turbolift when we went bouncing like that." . Tabby, lying under the Science console, tapped his commbadge, "Tabby to Pat, hey, sorry it took a bit getting you. Hope you're okay. Oh, by the way, should fill you in that the Turbolifts are kinda messed up right now." . LtCol. Travis Patterson had just entered a Turbolift after leaving Sickbay. As the doors slid shut, he tapped his commbadge and replied, "Least you guys managed to figure something out. I'm on my way up there. Pat out." . Tabby slid out from under the Science console and said, "Okay, let's test. Come on power on primary!" And then, the lights flickered brightly and went completely out! . "Well," Tabby grunted, "kinda figured." . Den glanced up in the darkness, "Really, Tabby?" . Zak mumbled, "Hmm ... Tabby, I'm guessing something wasn't quite ready." . "Yeah, I'm on it," he responded. . Patterson, however, riding a Turbolift that had almost reached the Bridge, suddenly came to a stop and went dark. "Great," he muttered as he pried open the maintenance panel and toggled it into manual mode, headed up.
. Tabby was coming into his perceptions of psionic ability and felt Patterson's frustration. He tapped his commbadge again, "Tabby to Pat, sorry, trying to fix the Primary Science Console. I blew a fuse, as expected, but ... hey, no zappys!" . Den glanced around, "At least that's all that went out, right? Just lights?" . Zak glanced around as well, and noticed most of the monitors were still on. . Tabby answered, "Yeah, just lights." He didn't mention the Turbolift Patterson was in. . Zak said, "Yeah ... so, can you get the lights back on Tabby?" . "Yeah," the half-Klingon said as he moved to the Ops station and reset the circuit. All the lights came back on, and Tabby kept the power at the reduced level for now to keep from blowing the fuse again. . Den glanced at his console. "All right," he said, "let's see if I can find that Vine." . Suddenly T'Lin cut in. "Captain, there is a large fire on the sensors. Part of the war against the Ivorez?" . Zak turned and glanced at his Assistant Science Chief, "Put it on the main viewer. Let's have a look." . T'Lin transferred the image showing dense foliage that covered the tiny world. As she did, she touched her monitor and created ping markers on the main viewer that highlighted two masses of dark smoke with flashes of fire within them. "There is a fire here ... and here." She pinged the two obvious forest fires, one large and one small. . Zak studied the screen. The dense foliage and thick smoke obscured most of their view. He grunted, "How the heck are we supposed to see through that?" . Den suggested, "Switch off the IR spectrum of the sensors." He knew that would dampen the flares caused by the fires. . But T'Lin had another idea. "Easy," T'Lin said, "Sonar." . Zak turned and stared at her a second. "Sonar? Like ... the old sailing ships? Do we still use that?" . "Yes!" T'Lin said. "It is actually one of the most reliable technologies ... especially in an empty vacuum such as space."
. Hines looked up from the Recon console, glanced at T'Lin, and raised an eyebrow. "Good points." He pressed a few buttons as he said, "Disengaging IR spectrum, and using seismic mapping, we could get a good idea of the geography in real-time." . The Captain looked to each one, Den, Hines, and T'Lin, then glanced at Tabby. "Um ... let's not blow any more fuses, OK? But, T'Lin, Hines, let's see if we can see better with the old-fashioned methods." . Tabby grunted, "No guarantees, Cap. I'd rather blow fuses than get electrocuted ... again!" He turned, "Okay, should I try to reboot again, Cap?" . When the Captain gave a silent nod, Tabby moved back over to the Primary Science Station and crawled back underneath to access the wiring and fuses within. . They switched sensors to sonar and seismic readings and the scene on the main viewer altered, showing the two raging fires and dozens of insectoid creatures swarming around on the branches near the fire. . Den remarked, "Are you catching this, Hines?" . Hines nodded and slid back to the rear Recon console. "Yeah. Think we can do an analysis of the fire's fuel source so we can omit that?" . Zak stared at the viewer and then asked, "Are those Kyrathians near the fire? That leader said something about any Kyrathian near the Ivorez would be turned, but .... weren't they trying to fight the Ivorez ... with fire?" . "Maybe," Den answered. "It might be. There are dozens of creatures swarming, insectoid. There should be a trail, or the hottest source would be the epicenter."
. They had been working to sharpen the resolution, and finally it began to show a distinct difference in the foliage. Within the fire was one type ... beyond it another. Zak stood from his seat and walked closer to the main viewer. "Look!" he said, "Is that ... the plant is different!" . Suddenly T'Lin dropped a notebook she was holding. Tabby also flinched. They were the only two members of the Bridge crew sensitive enough to pick up a psychic scream with varying degrees of anguish in it! Outside, Bevin in her EVA suit, all the way back at the nacelles, felt it too, as a searing headache that she had to try to work through. . Patterson finally stepped out of the Turbolift, just in time to see T'Lin drop a notebook and then lower herself to the floor, cross-legged, and closing her eyes. He glanced at her, "Lieutenant ...?" . Tabby turned to look as well. "T'Lin?" . "Wait." T'Lin held up a finger without opening her eyes. "Carter is panicking." She did her best to send a wave of calming emotion down to Sickbay, in an effort to keep Carter from panicking further and making things worse. . Tabby waved off Patterson and said, "Shh!" . T'Lin continued to focus on gently coaxing Carter's emotions, trying to dim his panic and helping him focus on his breathing. She was a powerful empath, and could easily detect his situation even though she was on the Bridge on Deck 1 and he was in Sickbay on Deck 5. Whether she could project emotion that far was yet to be known. She broadened her influence to try to send a wave of peace throughout the whole ship. . Outside, Bevin felt the calming and her headache diminished and she was better able to focus on her work. . Tabby also could feel that Carter had calmed. He murmured to himself, "He's okay, that's all that matters, he's okay." . Hines slid back over to the Primary Recon Station and started running a comparitve algorithm between the samples they had for the Ivorez and the Wild Growth.
. Carshel moved to watch over Hines' shoulder and offer whatever knowledge he could based on T'Lin's research. . Zak turned to Hines. "That has to be the Ivorez. There's two kinds of plants along that fire line. So ... we found the edge of the Evil Vine. Now what?" He pondered a second and then said, "Den ... can we fire phasers into the Evil Vine? Help the Kyrathians cut it back?" . Den considered, then answered, "I suppose it's possible. If Hines or T'Lin can get a good reading on the frequency, then I can modulate the phasers to it." . But Hines interjected, "Can't be too certain we've got the right target though. We don't know which one is good and which one isn't in this place." . Finally, T'Lin felt like Carter was stable and opened her eyes, pulling herself to her feet at her station. She asked for clarification, "Frequency inside of the fire, correct?" . Den clarified, "The Vine, Lieutenant." . T'Lin gave a small nod, "The Vine? Very well, give me a moment." . Den nodded, setting up the phasers. "Let me know when." He glanced over at her and added, "Are you okay, T'Lin?" . Without turning from her work, T'Lin responded, "I am fine, why do you ask, Den?" . Den raised an eyebrow as he responded, "Because it looked like you about collapsed a few minutes ago." . T'Lin said, "Carter was panicking in Sickbay. I assisted him to regain control." She continued her work as if nothing important had happened. . Den responded, "I see. I hope he's okay." . Tabby finally slid out from under the Primary Science Station. As he stood up he said, "I fixed your console, T'Lin, to the best of my abilities, but the problem is the core, and only Bevin can fix that." . T'Lin gave a small shrug. "I am fine over here." . Suddenly, on the main viewer there was a huge gout of steam as the smaller of the two fires quickly went out.
. Patterson had quietly stepped over to the Master Systems Display and was manipulating various content on several small panels. He murmured to himself and rubbed his chin. Finally, a louder hum caught Hines' attention and the dark non-comm finally realized his commanding officer was there and Hines was amazed that Patterson had remained silent so long, and that the Captain hadn't yet given him a thorough dressing-down for his actions with the Cerberus! . The Captain had been standing in the center of the Bridge staring at the main viewer. Suddenly he announced, "Den, T'Lin, Hines ... I'm going to make a call here. I think the plant beyond the fire is the Ivorez and the one outside it is the ... what did they call it? The Wise Growth. Target the line of that fire and burn it back a half a kilometer, make a ... fire break." . Den responded, "I get it, fight fire with actual fire. Since sometimes that will actually burn out both. Setting it up sir. Just a moment." . Then Carshel said, "Huh ... is that a power source?" . Zak turned and asked, "What was that, Ensign?" . Carshel cleared his throat and said more clearly, "I found a power source." . Zak gaped at him, then said, "A power source? Down there? But ...," he trailed off. . Carshel looked mildly annoyed as he answered, "Look, Captain, I can't do much physically, but my eyes don't lie." . Zak closed his mouth into a thin line and then said, "Carshel, send that power signature to Den and Hines. Is it in the Ivorez area?" . Carshel nodded. "I'll pull it up for you and circle it. Here." He transferred the imagery to various work stations and to the main viewer. It showed a distinct high-energy pulse coming from several kilometers within the fire area. . Den reviewed the data on his Tactical overlay. "Hmm ... I'm not sure but ... is that an antimatter fusion reaction?" . Hines moved back to the Secondary Recon station, again. He called, "MAX, need you up here."
. A second or so later, the face of the AI called MAX appeared on the pedestal near the Recon stations. "You call-," He cut himself off with a startled exclaimation, "Oh! Oh my!" . Zak was catching up. "Antimatter? On this primitive ball? Wait! That's gotta be it!" . Carshel mused, half to himself, "I wonder if that would help open the Rift? I'll continue looking into it." . Den finally said, "I've got the frequency ... calibrating." He paused a second and then reported, "Ready to fire. I switched to quantums, because of the antimatter nature of the warheads. So, this is going to do one of two things: stop it, or make it worse." . Zak whirled to face the Sciences area. "T'Lin! What did that Kyrathian leader say about the Heart of the Ancients? Something about how the Evil Vine stole the Heart of the Ancients and they lost their strength?" . "That is correct, sir," T'Lin answered. . Hines raised an eyebrow, then tapped his commbadge. "Flight Deck. Sandy, might wanna get the Deltas on Alert One. May have some atmospheric work that needs to be done, and a cargo retrieval mission. Standby for further. Out." . On the Flight Deck, CfWrnt "Sandy" Sandoval received the orders and tapped his own commbadge. "Khal'Gon, Alert One. Report to Delta One immediately." . Gny. Khal'Gon was in Sickbay, having just delivered LtCmdr. Jason Carter there a short while before. He responded, "Acknowledged, on my way." . Zak continued his thought process. "Maybe the Ivorez took over their power plant? An antimatter core!" He pondered a moment, then turned to the Tactical Officer. "Den, hold your fire, we don't want to risk some catastrophic explosion. We need to assess the situation." . Den nodded, "I should not want that to happen either, Captain. Weapons on standby." He powered back the weapons a notch. . The Captain looked over at Patterson, who still stood quietly by the MSD. "Let's send the Pathfinders to find us a path, Colonel." Sickbay:
. Sickbay was nearly cramped! LtCmdr. Jason Carter was on Biobed 4. When Gny. Khal'Gon beamed in with him he was in bad shape. He'd had several broken bones in arms and legs, ribs, and even a skull fracture. He'd had several lacerations and many bruises. He'd had a serious concussion. But, with the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, and the Assistant Chief, Dr. Katarina Hawke, giving him priority attention, most of the physical injuries were quickly repaired using various bone and tissue regenerators. But he would still need a lot of recuperation time. He remained unconscious on the Biobed, though his vitals were stable. . Gny. Khal'Gon, the Klingon-Nausicaan hybrid Marine who had recovered Carter from the damaged Turbolift near the Flight Deck, still stood nearby, just in case he was asked for assistance. . Also in Sickbay was LtCmdr. Relok, still recovering from a pretty serious concussion he'd received when he face-planted into the Secondary Science Station on the Bridge when the ship did it's bouncing along the Slipstream Corridor walls. The Vulcan Chief of Sciences seemed to be over the worst of it and was trying to work from an auxiliary terminal in Sickbay. . LtCol. Travis Patterson was also still in Sickbay after his escapade on the Cerberus drawing off the Golem's Warbird (and taking heavy fire in the process). Though his Combat Armor was smoke-stained and he was sweaty from wearing it through a fire, he seemed none the worse for wear, but had not been cleared to return to duty. He grumbled impatiently under his breath. . LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke, who had quickly realized the need to evacuate Patterson from the disabled Cerberus using the independent transporter of one of the runabouts (since the main transporters of the Penumbra were offline due to power outages), also still stood nearby. He cleared his throat and said, "I should probably get back to the Bridge, am I clear?"
. Dr. Katarina Hawke gave Carter one last look before turning to face Patterson with an arched eyebrow. Dr. Shadow K'Trevala continued working with Carter using his deep empathic abilities. He hardly even looked up as he answered, "Go ahead, Den, and thanks." He found a small but growing subdural hematoma on Carter's skull and tended to it. . Kat glanced at her brother too, giving him a quick tricorder scan to be sure. She nodded, "What Doc said." . Den gave a curt nod. "Thank you, and ... you're welcome." He quickly turned and headed out of Sickbay. . Kat turned her glare back to Patterson. Patterson stared back at her. He spoke first, "There are a hundred more important things I could be helping with than standing here waiting to be evaluated. I'm fine." . Relok's voice came from the other side of the room. "This terminal is inadequate. There is significant lag trying to access the sensor feed." . Kat ignored Relok and continued scowling at Patterson. "Then go! You clearly aren't concerned with your own health, and I have things to do!" She turned away from him and stepped back over to Carter. . Patterson gave a silent nod at Kat's back. He felt he didn't need to explain the choices behind his actions. Without another word, he turned to leave Sickbay as well. . Kat also knew, without saying it, that Patterson didn't have to explain his choices or his actions, especially not to her, a mere Lieutenant, even if she was the Assistant Chief Medical Officer. But, that didn't mean she wasn't still angry with him for putting his life at risk. . Khal'Gon turned to face Patterson, giving him a stern once-over, but said nothing as his commanding officer exited Sickbay. . Shadow turned to the Assistant Chief Medical Officer, "Kat, do you feel confident to check him over by yourself instead of having me overseeing everything?" . "Yeah," she responded, noticing the readings for the subdural hematoma and setting to work on it as well.
. Carter's right hand exhibited a few mind tremors. While it wasn't clearly obvious, that right hand was an artificial prosthetic, produced by the same renowned Tralerian Colony Cybernetics Research Facility that had built Ambassador Adam Android, the finest creators of prosthetics in the galaxy. . Shadow went back to work, first by giving Relok another quick scan. Relok glanced up at him and said, "Shayana, I need to be on the Bridge. Am I released? I promise to take it easy. All the heavy thinking can be done by T'Lin and Carshel." He gave a small smile. . Shadow smiled back, "Go ahead, Shayana, just ... if you feel dizzy, let me know." . Suddenly, the lights flickered and went off. A second later, the emergency generators dedicated to Sickbay kicked in to restore their power. . At almost the same moment, Carter began convulsing, rolling onto his side and vomiting! This could have been brought on by the concussion, or the hematoma, or even just the delayed motion sickness from riding the haywire Turbolift. . Kat grabbed a wet cloth and wiped Carter's mouth as Shadow grabbed a hypospray with an antiemetic, and a fresh bucket to catch any further vomiting. . Carter, regaining consciousness but not full wakefulness, reached out with his new-found psionic abilities (he'd been suppressing them most of his life), ~My hand ... I can't open my hand. Help me with my hand.~ . A confused look passed over Shadow's face as he glanced at Carter's hands. Carter's left hand was opened and relaxed, as was the nearly perfect prosthetic right hand. . Kat saw the expression on Shadow's face and asked, "Shadow, you all right?" . "I'm fine, Kat," Shadow replied. . She smiled at him, "You always seem to be fine." . Shadow smiled back at her. "Well, it's a lot easier to say that than to admit you're downright petrified with terror!" . "There's truth in that!" Kat agreed.
. Carter's mind reached out again telepathically, ~My right hand ... it won't open! What's wrong with my hand? I can't fly with one hand!~ He started to convulse again. . Kat quickly held on to Carter as he convulsed, trying to prevent him from hurting himself. She began to pant slightly from the exertion. She looked over at Shadow and said, "I've fixed the subdermal hematoma what do you think's causing the seizures?" . Quickly, Shadow grabbed a hypo loaded with an antiseizure medicine and injected Carter to help relax his muscles. But ... it doesn't seem to help. . Shadow could sense Kat's divided attention. He turned to her and said, "Kat, I'll stay here with Carter if you think you're needed up with Patterson." . But Kat responded, "Why do you think I'll be needed on the Bridge? Besides, power's down. Lifts aren't going to get me to the Bridge right now." . By this point, Carter's psionics had begun to go haywire as panic began to pump adrenaline into his system. He was practically screaming telepathically in anger ... and agony! . Even Relok, not exactly a powerful telepath or empath, could sense his excited state, mostly due to proximity, and his connection with Shadow. He glanced over at Carter, then to the two doctors, and said, "Seizures? In his hand? Which hand?" . Shadow scanned the Biobed readings and also reached out with his empathic abilities, trying to find out what the problem was, but all he got was the overwhelming adrenaline bordering on panic from Carter. He produced a hypo with a small dose of Merasha to try to calm the psionic center of Carter's brain for a moment. . Khal'Gon, still standing idly nearby, noticed the two Doctors and the Vulcan Science Officer, trying to figure out what was wrong with the Chief of Flight Operations. He stepped over and placed a firm hand on Carter's chest to help hold him down. "What's going on?" he asked.
. Relok nearly shouted, "Doctors! Which hand?" The screaming in his mind was only slightly diminished by the small dose of Merasha Shadow had given Carter. He continued in a slightly lower volume, "He only has one living hand, look. His right hand is a prosthetic ... a really good one, mind you, but ... artificial." . Shadow had begun singing a soft song to try to help catch Carter's attention and ease his nerves, while he continued to try to find out just what the heck was wrong with the man! . Up on the Bridge, the highly sensitive Vulcan Science Officer, Lt. T'Lin, also felt Carter's psionic agony. She did her best to send a wave of calming emotion down to Sickbay, in an effort to keep Carter from panicking further and making things worse. . Outside, in an EVA suit near the starboard nacelle, LtCmdr. Bevin MacArdry was trying to assess the damage the Slipstream Corridor had done to her ship. She, too, was a powerful telepath and empath, and even from that distance, Carter's psionic screaming affected her by giving her a pounding headache, though she didn't identify the cause of it. . Kat didn't have any psychic abilities, other than the Borg interlink she shared with her brother, Den. She couldn't hear or feel Carter's telepathic cries. But, she did finally catch what Relok was saying. "His prosthetic arm!" She pointed at it, then looked up at the Biobed monitors. "The convulsions are coming from his right arm, the prosthetic one." . Carter continued to scream telepathically, the Merasha dose unable to overcome the adrenaline and panic powering it. His eyes were squeezed shut as he shouted psionically, ~I need to see my hand! I can't see it! I can't control it if I can't see it!~
. Shadow called back telepathically, hoping to get through to the panicked man, ~Calm down Carter, we're working on it.~ He started checking the leads where the prosthetic arm connected to the living tissue near the elbow, trying to find where the problem might be. The whole time, he continued sending calming emotions to help soothe him. . Suddenly, Khal'Gon, also totally ungifted with any psionic powers, blurted out, "I know what the problem is! It's PTSD!" With a grunt and scoff and the clueless doctors, he moved over to Carter's head, grabbed it with both eyes, and forced the man's eyes open, glaring into them. . Kat's jaw just dropped at the Klingon's aggressive actions. . Shadow looked up at Khal'Gon and said gently, "Gunny, that probably won't help him." He turned his attention back to the connections in the arm and found one burned-out connection that he reworked to bring it back to "life". . Carter's panic had nearly reached the fight-or-flight mode. He was shaken with panic, anguish, and fear. With the Klingon forcing his eyes open, they darted around the room rapidly before focusing on the glare from the man standing over him. His heartrate accelerated tremendously, but the tremors and convulsions slowed to a stop. . Khal'Gon nearly bellowed, "Look at me, Carter! Look at me! You're fine, you're safe. Stop fighting your friends, there is no glory to be had!" . Kat reached for a sedative. "If his heartrate accelerates any further, he's going to have heart issues next!" . Up on the Bridge, T'Lin had continued to focus on gently coaxing Carter's emotions, trying to dim his panic and helping him focus on his breathing. She was a powerful empath, and could easily detect his situation even though she was on the Bridge on Deck 1 and he was in Sickbay on Deck 5. Whether she could project emotion that far was yet to be known. She broadened her influence to try to send a wave of peace throughout the whole ship.
. Shadow's influence finally began to seep into Carter's panicked mind as well, and combined with Kat's sedative, Carter slowly relaxed. He spoke in a coarse voice, "Lift my arm up ... I need ... to see my hand." . Kat took the prosthetic arm and lifted it so Carter could see it. Carter groaned and lifted his other arm, closing each finger on his left hand, then did so with the prosthetic one. After this, he opened them all again, one finger at a time. "I can feel ... my hand itching, but ... it's just a prosthetic, it shouldn't itch! I ... should have it looked at in Engineering." Calmer now, he propped up and took a look around the room. . Kat agreed, "I suggest you do that first chance you are able to, for now though, you're not cleared to leave Sickbay." . Shadow nodded, "I'll get Bevin down here to look after it. The rest of her family are physicians, and she also does a lot with prosthetics at their behest." . Kat turned to look at him, "We're kinda in a situation, Shadow, you can't just call Bevin down here when she's needed in engineering can you?" . Shadow responded, "I'll get her to when she is less busy, Kat. That okay with you, Carter?" . Khal'Gon helped Carter sit up, and then looked up at the doctors and Relok. With an odd expression on his face he said, "Don't ask me why, but, I studied psychology in the Academy. Granted, I never passed ...," he trailed off with a sheepish look. . Shadow smiled at the odd Klingon-Nausicaan with training in psychology and said, "Thanks, Gunny." . Carter reached out with his living left hand and grasped Shadow's shoulder. "Thank you," he murmured. Then he gave a nod, flexing his prosthetic hand again. "It's functioning properly, just ... feels itchy. It could just be psychological ... there's no way to tell this soon. When she has free time, I'd like to get it examined, but it's not a priority."
. Kat smiled and gave a soft shrug, "I'm sorry, I can't help you with the psychological side of things, I'm just a Human ex-Borg, I'm not telepathic except through the Borg link to my brother." . Relok turned from Carter back to the terminal where he'd been working, but muttered, "I've heard of phantom pains from amputees, but .... never have I seen its effects." . Carter moved to sit up fully, wanting to swing his legs over the side of the Biobed. He said, "I don't think anyone can begin to imagine unless they go through it themselves, Relok." . Suddenly, Khal'Gon's commbadge chirped. It was CfWrnt Sandoval on the Flight Deck, "Khal'Gon, Alert One. Report to Delta One immediately." . Khal'Gon tapped the commbadge and responded, "Acknowledged, on my way." He gave Carter a squeeze on both shoulders, then turned and left without another word. . Shadow addressed his patient, "Carter , I'd like you to stay here till she sees about that," he gestured to the prosthetic, "But, if you think you can handle it till then, okay, just come back if it starts giving you trouble."