USS Penumbra Sim Narrative, SD 202101.15 Announcement: . This is the eighth sim in T'Lin's story plot (and there's been a "partial" conclusion anyway). Introduction: . The Penumbra was in still in orbit above the Mirror Universe version of the Kyrathian Homeworld. Damage Control Teams have withdrawn from their repairs of the nacelle to mourn the loss of four of their coworkers when the Evil Vine attacked with the Lightning Plasma. All engines were offline. . An Away Team consisting of several Marine Pathfinders (LtCol. Travis Patterson, MstGny. Derek Hines, Gny. Khal'Gon, and LCpl. Homer Kyle) and a few Starfleet Officers (LtCmdr. Denovan Hawke, LtCmdr. Bevin MacArdry, Dr. Shadow K'Trevala, LtCmdr. Tabeshk Tibris, Lt. T'Lin, and Ens. Jackson Carshel) remains on the surface. They have found the powerful antimatter fusion Core we'd detected from orbit, what we believe the Kyrathians here refer to as "the Heart of the Ancients". Only, it's also the heart of the Evil Vine. Its primary root mass engulfs the Core with massive roots like a centuries-old wooden cage. . On the Penumbra, Capt. Zak Taylor, LtCmdr. Relok, LtCmdr. Jason Carter, Lt. Katarina Hawke, and CfWrnt. "Sandy" Sandoval, along with the AI, MAX, were on the Bridge trying to figure out how they could help the Away Team. The Away Team: . The team hopped down from the Access Tunnel. Hines was in the front of the line. He hopped out and stepped to his right, his WAR shotgun waving as he took in the chamber. Next was Den, who stepped left, a hand phaser in one hand and a rifle on his back. Kyle hopped out and moved just past Den, followed by Tabby to the right with Bevin beside him. . Tabby was first to speak, muttering softly, "Whoa, look at this room! It's covered in vines! And ... is it just me, or is it hot as heck in here?" . Kyle remarked, "Yeah, it's hotter than a tick on a June-bug!" (whatever that meant).
. Shadow and Carshel hopped down and merely stepped forward somewhat to make room for the others. . Carshel looked around the room and muttered, mostly to himself, "I wonder if this heat is caused by that Core? Remove the vine, the Core cools down, we extract. Sounds like a plan." . As T'Lin landed, she actually winced in pain. She'd been suppressing her reaction to a leg injury but it was beginning to wear on her ability to ignore it. . Shadow moved to T'Lin's side to try to help her with her injury. She waved him off, "I am fine. Ignore it." She stepped slightly to the left but Shadow followed her closely as Khal'Gon, and finally Patterson hopped down. . Patterson examined the room with a low grunt, then said, "All right people, we don't have a lot of time here. We gotta get that Core clear of the vines and disconnect power." . Khal'Gon glared at the vines and roots, then turned to the Colonel, gesturing at the Starfleet Officers, "Pat, those EVA suits aren't gonna last longer than an hour, tops ... and our armor will go into lockdown shortly after that." The Marines wore specially reinforced Combat Armor, but the standard Starfleet-issue EVA suits the others wore wasn't as resistant. . Kyle gazed at the network of vines and roots and said, "Dang, lookit the size o' sumdem! I seent trees that big on the Ol' Smokies back home!" . T'Lin asked, "How do we clear centuries worth of vines in less than an hour?" . Den glanced around and muttered, "Well, isn't that a pickle." ==/== . Hines glanced over at Bevin. "How quickly does that herbicide mix we came up with work?" . Bevin answered in her strong Brogue, "Aiboot faive tae tain mainits." . Hines shook his head. "And that was on small vines, not something this dense." He paused then said, "We won't have enough herbicide to clear out all of this crap!"
. T'Lin commented, "The Ivorez will simply regrow if we use the herbicide. We need to kill the Ivorez, not just the vines." She paused then added, "Kill the brain, the body shuts down." . Carshel's hearing was still very bad, but he'd been trying to follow along by reading lips and body language. He suggested, "What if we cut the roots, like the bush back home? Problem is, I am not familiar with vines. I know cacti and succulents ...," he trailed off. . T'Lin gestured at the thick root mass surrounding the Core and said, "That vine is thicker than the Penumbra. We are not cutting through it." She was exaggerating, of course, but her point was well made. . Patterson nodded. "Can't poison it, takes too long. Can't cut our way through, either ... that'll take hours that we don't have." . Kyle suggested, "Ol' Khal'Gon's SAW could cut through it, though, but ... I dunno 'bout shootin at that Core!" . Hines shook his head, "I wouldn't even point a weapon in its direction, Kyle." . Carshel knew what Kyle had said even without being able to hear that well. And he knew what Hines had indicated. He agreed, "Don't shoot! The Core will be damaged. We need the Core intact." . Patterson turned to T'Lin. "What're you suggesting?" . But it was Shadow that spoke up. "That damned thing is psionic, right? What if we gave it all the hell it was giving us?" . T'Lin nodded, "That is what I am considering. But ...," she paused, studying each of the psionically-gifted members of the Away Team, Shadow, Bevin, and Tabby, then continued, "this will hurt ... a lot." . Hines glanced between Shadow and T'Lin. "Can y'all do that?" Then his face furrowed with a frown. "Is it safe?" . T'Lin gave a slight shrug. "It is possible. Safe? Debatable." . Shadow smiled at Hines. "Yes, but, I don't think any Vicodin will take care of the pain easily, once we get this going."
==/== . Even as they deliberated a plan of action, tendrils of the Evil Vine that lined the walls of the chamber began to move towards the Away Team. . Khal'Gon flinched as the vines began to squirm towards them. "No rifles!" he blurted out as he pulled his bat'leth from his back. T'Lin quickly stepped away from a vine that seemed to be "reaching" for her. . Kyle pulled his Marine-issued combat knife, then glanced over at Khal'Gon's bat'leth and with a grin said, "Ain't the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog!" . Tabby grabbed his own bat'leth and stepped beside Khal'Gon. "I think if we worked as a team and cut back the vines coming towards us, we might make more headway." . Den asked, "We got anything like 'cold' grenades or something? Freeze them, then they might just shatter by hitting them!" . Hines studied Den, considering his idea. "Gonna take a cryo-bomb the size of the Bridge just to coat these vines in frost. We don't have that kind of equipment on us." . Carshel muttered, "We don't have many options, huh?" . Patterson glanced between Shadow and T'Lin, then over at the creeping vines. "We don't really have time to consider any other options." He made a decision and started issuing orders. "Kyle, get all the doses of Merasha from Shadow and load hypos with triple dosages. If it incapacitates them ... we'll have to carry the weight. No one left behind." . T'Lin gave a short nod, then said, "Cutting the vine will be useless. Save your strength for the journey back, because I am not sure we ...," she indicated Bevin, Shadow, herself, and Tabby, "will have much left." . Tabby stared at T'Lin a moment, then blushed slightly, "I ... uh ... yeah, I forgot I am an empath. This is still new to me." . Khal'Gon looked to Tabby, his fierce Nausicaan-Klingon features softening slightly. "You save your strength to work with T'Lin and Shadow. I'll keep the vines from reaching us."
. Tabby lowered his head, as if accepting defeat. "I am not as strong and not as skilled as you, so I must admit you are right." He put away his bat'leth and instead drew out the smaller daq'tagh as he went to assist T'Lin. . Den was still searching for a tactical option. "What about secondary coolant tanks or pipes, that wouldn't cut off the mains to the Core. Could see if there are any by the ... thing." He stepped back from an advancing vine as he continued, "Rupture those." . Carshel hadn't heard Den but his thoughts were along a similar line. "What if we freeze the vines by cutting coolant pipes? At the very least, it will stun them and slow them." . Kyle looked at the secondary coolant lines, then over at the glowing, red-hot Core and muttered, " I ain't thankin dem coolants are doin anything. That thang's purty hot right now!" . Hines studied the pipes then looked to the Colonel, "Pat, I can't get a clear shot on any coolant systems, but they're right, it may give us a bit of time if anything ...," he trailed off. ==/== . T'Lin sat down cross-legged on the floor, motioning for the other psionics to do so as well. "This will hurt," she said. . Tabby muttered, "That's not a problem, I'm sore as hell from all this crap!" . Up on the Penumbra, Carter began to sense the desperation in the Away Team. His own powerful psychic perception was just recently awakening, having been suppressed subconsciously for most of his life, until long-term exposure to the powerful psionics of Shadow and Bevin. He sent a telepathic message, ~Shadow, if you can hear me ... what's going on down there?~ . Shadow responded, ~Carter, Relok, we're going to try something down here to get the Ivorez dealt with. It made mean all the psionics go offline for a time until we get back to the ship but, we're going to throw everything we can mentally at it.~ . Relok answered, ~I understand, Shayana. Be careful!~
. ~I will, Shayana,~ Shadow sent back. ~But it seems to be the only way.~ He joined T'Lin on the floor. . Bevin took Tabby's hand as they both lowered themselves to the floor. She stared at him a moment, took a breath, then said, "Aim raidy. Laits dae ait!" . Tabby mumbled, "I am scared about this, but ... I will help however I can." . Patterson watched the psionic team members gather, then looked over at Den and shook his head a little as he mumbled, "Any time now, T'Lin." He raised his rifle, taking careful aim at one of the larger coolant pipes. "Because, if I crack that pipe, that Core's gonna get a lot hotter, if it's doing anything at all." . Den gestured at a smaller pipe, "That's why we suggested the secondaries, Colonel." He gasped for breath in the stifling-hot chamber, still looking pale from his blood loss. . T'Lin began, "All Mother, intertwine our souls with yours." She began, in essence, a Vulcan mind-meld of the four psionic team members sitting on the floor. "Give us the strength to save our friends." . Suddenly, each of them heard a computerized voice from their EVA suits and combat armor. "Warning! Environmental conditions at critical levels. Estimated time until permanent medical issues is 13 minutes, 52 seconds." This meant it wouldn't be much longer before radiation sickness began to induce nausea, and not long after that, vision problems, and eventually, death! . T'Lin continued a soft chant, expanding her "mind-meld like" connection to the others. Then, she started breaking down her own mental walls. As she did, she spoke aloud, "Break down the walls we have so carefully constructed." . Telepaths, and empaths especially, built mental barriers to help protect them from the thoughts and emotions of others that would otherwise overwhelm them every minute of every day. These four would have to shatter their walls in order to do what they needed to do.
. Shadow's powerful telepathy, coupled with the bond forged by T'Lin, and supported by Bevin and Tabby, began to link up, preparing to assault the alien psionics of a sentient plant hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. ==/== . Carshel had pulled out a pocket-knife and began sawing at a junction of two coolant pipes. As he sawed for whatever he was worth, he muttered softly, "I can't freaking hear a damn thing, but the least I can do is saw through these damn pipes. Come onnnn!" . Patterson glanced at Den, a slightly sheepish look on his face as he lowered his rifle. He reached towards Kyle. "Kyle, give me your rifle, I need that Anti-Material to punch those pipes." There was a difference in the type of weapon and ammunition each Marine carried, and Patterson knew that the one Kyle used would be better for his purposes. . "You gots it, Boss," Kyle said as he handed over the weapon. . Patterson lifted the Anti-Material WAR rifle to his shoulder, aiming high up the chamber towards two large coolant tanks he saw there. "Steady, Pat," he muttered to himself, "Steady." . Behind him, T'Lin muttered, "Break his power. Release his power. Let go." She was now guiding their unified minds. Shadow settled into the link, dropping his mental shields to aid in the attack on the Evil Vine. Bevin added all her considerable power as well, allowing her own walls to crumble as she joined with the others. Tabby's barriers hadn't developed all that well, his abilities were only just beginning, after all, but they collapsed as T'Lin nudged them into one force. . T'Lin said aloud, "Friends, I need you to get really angry." . Den snapped back, "I'm already really angry." He was also very sore and very tired. . Hines stepped beside Den and patted his shoulder, producing a hypospray and loading it with the last of their emergency stimulant. "Den, hang on buddy," he said as he injected the dose. . Den sucked in a large breath and nodded at Hines, "Thanks."
. The Vine's tendrils began to shiver, twitching spasmodically. A strange noise began high up in the facility, far above their heads. . Tears began flowing from T'Lin's eyes as she began harvesting the pain and frustration and anger of everyone in the room. She started shaking as she funneled that mental energy towards the Ivorez. . The vines that had been merely twitching began thrashing around. . Inside Den's mind, his sister called him over their Borg interlink, ~Den, Den, can you hear me? You need to move from where you are, you won't survive if you stay there!~ . Patterson inhaled a breath and held it, squeezing the trigger on the AM-WAR, and ruptured one of the coolant tanks. At the same moment, Carshel's frantic sawing managed to break an ancient weld and fluid began spraying into the room. Poisonous super-cooled liquid sprays the Vines' roots ... for about 5 seconds and then ... petered out. . "Well," Carshel said, "That didn't exactly work." . Patterson cursed. "Those things ran dry a long time ago." He coughed a bit, then took a swift breath through his nose. "Air's getting thick." ==/== . Bevin reached up and stroked Tabby's hair, sending the image of a Celtic Warrior Queen standing by her Chieftain ready to go into battle against all odds. Tabby said, "We need to give pain to the Vine. I know a pain I bear greatly." He sent to the psychic melding the image of his dying mother, withered by an incurable disease, and the anger he felt as nothing helped. Tears streamed heedless down his face as he shared a pain he hadn't unleashed to anyone, ever. . Shadow let go of the last of his shields and flooded the link with the pain of losing two wives, and being chased all over the galaxy by a madman who had killed his and his sister's parents, and every death that had happened around him that he could not prevent. Tears streamed down his face as well.
. Bevin sent into the link the pain she experienced from being teased as a failure as a Healer, and from being bullied by others trying to force her into something she was not. Her tears were hot with anger as well as pain. . T'Lin struggled but managed to balance her two souls, her own plus her D'Vir guide. From her guide she pulled painful memories of hundreds of years of her own life and fed that into the link to use against the Evil Vine. She brought her knees up to her chest and squeezed them as her own tears streamed down her face. . As the coolant sprayed some of the vines and froze them, others began to thrash violently. Something closely resembling a screech echoed through the chamber and the psychic team members received a sudden burst of intense pain from the Ivorez! . Den lifted his rifle, planning to shoot some of the frozen vines, but his cybernetic arm still twitched, and his biological arm trembled from fatigue and blood loss. He didn't trust his aim and lowered the rifle, glancing around. . "Cables!" Patterson shouted, "Cables! Cut that Core free!" . Hines nodded and stood, moving swiftly to rig up det-cord. He called for help, "Khal'Gon!" . Carshel saw what was happening and moved to help as best he could, disconnecting any wires and cables he could from the Core itself. "I've got this wire cut, how about you, Khal'Gon? Please thumbs up, I cannot hear." . Khal'Gon nodded at Hines and started swinging his bat'leth, cutting any vines that threatened Hines, as well as just chopping through electrical cables and other conduits connected to the Core. He felt that a safe extraction had gone out the window at this point. ==/== . Suddenly, a thick vine the size of a man's leg bashed Kyle in the head and the man fell out, over cold! . Vines thrashed wildly violent and Carshel devolved into merely ducking and dodging vines, glancing left and right, a look of sheer paranoia on his face.
. Hines finished with the det-cord and noticed Kyle on the floor. "Corpsman down!" he shouted and moved towards Kyle. . Khal'Gon moved towards Kyle as well, waving at Hines, "Go, Hines! I got him!" He lifted the unconscious form and threw him over his shoulder. . Den called, "Khal'Gon, heads up!" As the Klingon-Nausicaan looked up, Den tossed a miniature med-kit over to him. . Khal'Gon caught the kit and stowed it in his pack for the moment. "Pat?" he called out. . A call came over their commlink. It was Sandoval. "Penumbra to Away Team, status?" . Patterson's face lit up with surprise. He opened the commlink and responded, "Sandy! Goddamn it's good to hear you!" He and the other Marines had thought the Warrant Officer had sacrificed himself diving Delta Two into the Vine's shield. He reported, "Severing the Core now. You guys got us up there?" But there was no immediate response. . On the floor, Shadow continued pouring every painful memory he could dredge up into the link, dumping the pain towards the Ivorez. T'Lin cried out from the intensity of the pain from her team as well as what the Ivorez was beginning to suffer. Her willpower was slowly breaking. Tabby had grown motionless, stiffened with the intense pain. Bevin sent a last wave of her own agony back to the Evil Vine, then keeled over, unconscious. . Loud screeches began to echo through the chamber. The Vines not actually frozen began to withdraw from the Core. Crashing noises from the facility above them began to resound through the building, dust started falling from the ceiling. . Patterson dodged and narrowly avoided a chunk of falling debris. He shouted, "Hines! Blow it!" . Hines nodded back and yelled, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
. Den ducked behind a slight protrusion in a wall as Carshel ran away from the Core to find his own cover. Patterson grabbed Carshel as he ran, pointed at Kyle's medkit, then gestured towards the psionic Team Members, holding up fingers for each one: Shadow, T'Lin, Bevin, Tabby. . Carshel nodded his understanding and grabbed the dropped medkit with the Merasha doses. He quickly administered each one the triple-strength doses Kyle had previously prepared. . Tabby was frozen with agony, completely immobile, even as the mind link began to fade from the Merasha. Shadow sent the last bits of his own pain into the link as Merasha began to numb his psionics. Bevin was already unconscious, but her body seemed to relax as the Merasha severed the mind link. T'Lin was last, falling back and gasping for air as the link broke like a frayed cord. . And then, the det-cord detonated, severing many more of the vines. There was another loud screech, and the roof began to collapse. But ... the Core was loose! The building shook, and Hines dropped to one knee, stretching to cover Den as best he could. "Might've put a bit much on that one!" . Khal'Gon dumped Kyle and looked back to the Colonel, "Pat!" he called. . "I know! I know!" Patterson barked back. . Carshel slapped Tabby, "You need to move! Take Bevin, I got T'Lin, go, go, go!" . Tabby shook off the effects and grabbed the unconscious Bevin, slinging her over his shoulder and heading for a wall. . Carshel tried to grab T'Lin and lift her into a fireman's carry, even as he pleaded, "I am sorry, but ... we have to go ... now!" . But T'Lin managed to get to her feet on her own, pulling Shadow up with her, and they stumbled for cover. . Den opened a commlink and gasped out, "Any ... time would be ... great, Penumbra."
. And then, the entire contents of the chamber, Core, Away Team, remnants of the Vine's roots, and some roof debris, shimmered in a transporter beam and rematerialized in the Cargo Bay of the Penumbra! The Bridge: . On the Bridge, Kat was trying hard not to pace at her console. She was not used to waiting to hear from her brother. Their Borg interlink was usually an instantaneous connection. . The Captain was aware of her tension and turned to her, "Do we have any biosigns from the Away Team? Anything?" . She turned back to her console, worrying at her lower lip, then answered, "I'm not getting anything clear. There's too much interference. Though, I am reading non-Kyrathian lifesigns." . Relok moved over beside her. "Non-Kyrathian readings? Logic dictates that should be them, right?" . Kat regarded him a moment, "As logic dictates, yes, but ... without a clear reading I cannot say if it's them or some other non-Kyrathian signatures." . At the Helm, a nearly useless position with the ship parked in a stable orbit and all the engines offline, Carter was beginning to sense the desperation in the Away Team. His newly awakening psionics were powerful but he was still learning how to control them. He straightened and focused his mind to send a telepathic message, ~Shadow, if you can hear me ... what's going on down there?~ . He received a response, shared with Relok over the strange mental bond Relok shared with Shadow after their incident with the soul orbs, ~Carter, Relok, we're going to try something down here to get the Ivorez dealt with. It made mean all the psionics go offline for a time until we get back to the ship but, we're going to throw everything we can mentally at it.~ . Relok answered, ~I understand, Shayana. Be careful!~ . ~I will, Shayana,~ Shadow sent back. ~But it seems to be the only way.~ . Kat's fingers moved over her console as she tried to sharpen their readings.
. Relok said, "Kat, we haven't detected any other lifesigns anywhere near here. Those biosigns must be our team." . Finally, she turned to Relok and gave a nod. "It's them. They're outside the secured area. Can we get a lock on them yet?" . Carter spun his chair to face the Captain, "Captain, I sense a lot of ... something ... coming from the Away Team." ==/== . Kat paced at her console, continuing to chew on her bottom lip. . Relok said, "They're in the Core and making some kind of psychic attempt. We need to figure out a way to get a transporter lock through all that interference." . Kat said again, "The signals are outside the secured area, so we should be able to communicate or ... beam them back." . Relok moved to one of the now empty Science consoles and began doing frantic calculations. "I am attempting to sort through the interference, but ... that Core is superheated and ... the radiation levels are nearly off the chart. Captain, they're going to die if they stay in there much longer!" . Kat sent a desperate warning to her brother through their interlink, ~Den, Den, can you hear me? You need to move from where you are, you won't survive if you stay there!~ . Suddenly, Relok flinched and grabbed his head. "Ahh!" he called out. No-one knew he would be affected by the linked minds down on the surface. His bond with Shadow was almost as if they shared one mind, and now, alone and unprotected by other psionics, he suddenly felt the pain from the team and the Ivorez's response. . And then, the Ivorez's powerful shield that had been around the facility suddenly just ... winked out. Carter blinked and said, "Sir, I've got a massive energy spike on the planet ... and the shield appears to be gone!" . Sandy Sandoval had been standing at the Master Systems Display. He suddenly called out, "I've got biosigns!" just as Relok convulsed in pain and collapsed to the floor.
. At the same instant, Carter also felt the burst of pain and fell from his seat at the Helm to the floor, clutching his head. . MAX's face appeared simultaneously on several consoles and pedestals around the Bridge as he reported, "Confirmed. The Away Team has been locked. They're in extremely high temperatures and radiation, Captain." . The Captain addressed MAX, "Give them as long as you can." He turned his head, "Kat, you decide when they've taken all the radiation they can survive, then beam them the hell off that planet!" Then he noticed Relok and Carter. Reflexively, he chose one, "Relok!" He rushed to the Vulcan's aid. ==/== . Kat rushed to Relok's side as well. She squatted and checked him with a medical scanner. "I don't know what is wrong. His senses are being overwhelmed." . The Vulcan's muscles were locked up as he lay on the floor. He was being overwhelmed by the psychic battle his Shayana was engaged in. . Sandy saw the Captain's momentary indecision and once the Captain had moved to Relok, he quickly moved to Carter. As he did, he tapped his commbadge, "Penumbra to Away Team, status?" . Patterson's voice showed his surprise, "Sandy! Goddamn it's good to hear you!" There was only a slight pause before he reported, "Severing the Core now. You guys got us up there?" . Sandy looked up and called, "MAX?" . MAX responded, "I have a lock on the Away Team." . Zak looked up from Relok and glanced around. "What about that Core? I'd hate to give up if we're close. Kat, how much longer do they have?" . Kat moved back to her console to check then reported, "Not long, mere moments at best ... mere moments." . Lt. Standin, at the Tactical console, chimed in, "Captain ... the large building is beginning to collapse!" . Kat hurried across the Bridge to the console where Relok had been working. "We need to get them out of there now! I'm initiating beam out, directly to the Cargo Bay."
. MAX's face flickered an instant then he said, "Decon in effect, Cargo Bay 1. Good lock on the Away Team and the Core. It's severed, Captain." . Kat nodded and engaged the transporters. . Zak barked out, "Medical team to the Cargo Bay! Kat, go!" . Kat took off like a shot towards the Turbolift and the Captain returned his attention to Relok, trying to remember his First Aid training. He removed his jacket and bunched it up, placing it under Relok's feet, then patted the Vulcan's cheeks. "Come on, Relok, wake up." He looked up, "MAX, did we get the Team?" . MAX responded, "Stand by." A tense moment passed and then he said, "All biosigns accounted for, in addition to one Core, 118 meters of vines, and approximately 0.6 metric tons of debris." . Zak's mouth went slack for a second and then he said, "Wait, they got the Core, too? That's awesome!" . MAX then remarked, "It may be beneficial to open the Cargo Bay airlock to vacuum out the debris." . Zak stared at him a moment before realizing MAX was joking. He could be like that sometimes. His original programmer thought it would be funny. Zak tapped his commbadge, "Travis, I'll get your report when you've recovered." Back Home At Least: . The entire contents of the chamber, Core, Away Team, remnants of the Vine's roots, and some roof debris, shimmered in a transporter beam and rematerialized in the Cargo Bay of the Penumbra! . Patterson collapsed on top of Carshel and T'Lin where he'd reflexively dived to protect them from a piece of falling roof debris. "Ooof!" he cried. . Carshel groaned, "Owww, Pat, you're heavy!" . But T'Lin just grunted, "Oh!" and shoved both men off of her, her Vulcan strength much greater than what a Human her size ought to have. When they were off, she lay there staring blankly at the ceiling. . Den glanced around, "Oh, look, solid deck plating." And then he quit fighting and passed out.
. Hines was also in a pile of debris, covering Den. Khal'Gon was lying on top of Kyle with several pounds of roof debris on his back as well. . Bevin was unconscious but Tabby held her close, her head laying across his stomach as he collapsed to the deck. "That ... sucked," he said, totally drained. . The voice of the ship's computer announced, "Cargo Bay decontamination in progress. All access points are sealed. Estimated time, two minutes." . T'Lin opened the commlink of her EVA suit. "Kat, your brother needs a blood transfusion. I will meet you in Sickbay after decontamination." . Kat responded from the Turbolift, "I'm on my way." . T'Lin struggled to her feet, then grabbed one of Den's feet to drag him off to a decon chamber, not realizing the entire Cargo Bay was currently being decontaminated. . Hines intercepted her. "I got him, T'Lin." . Suddenly T'Lin stopped, swaying on her feet, staring blankly at Hines for a second. She grunted, "Huh?" . Bevin's eyes flickered and she opened them, looking up at Tabby's face. "Hey," he said, "You okay?" He pushed a strand of hair out of her face. She just reached up and gently stroked his face. . The Captain's voice came over the commlink. "Travis, I'll get your report when you've recovered." . They would need several hours of intense radiation treatment, some dermal regeneration, Den would need blood, and Carshel would probably need surgery for his damaged ears. But, it would take much more than that for the psionic members to recover from their ordeal. . Opening up such old wounds, and sharing them at such an intimate level, would likely take many, many therapy sessions. And it wasn't just their own memories and pain and grief they had to deal with. They had taken on each other's pain and memories through the mental link. Each had shared each other's pain as if it was their own.
. But none were as badly affected as the Vulcan who had proctored the melding of their minds. The one whose eidetic memory would never permit her to ever forget any of the details they'd shared. Other minds might block out such traumatic experiences. Other minds could eventually forget. But not T'Lin.