Like Thunder and Lightning

Posted on Tue Jan 21st, 2025 @ 6:57pm by Lieutenant Jayden Meran

1,290 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Prelude to War
Location: Councillors Office
Timeline: TBD

Ensign Parker Rapp was walking the halls of the vallient, his shift on the bridge had just finished. He looked like hell warmed up and that was putting it mutely, Bruised, scraped and mentally done in. The last mission had really taken it out of the young ensign, Parker was still nursing his wounds, mental and physical. The Physical wounds could be taken care of with ease, the mental scarring of the ordeal however that could only be handled by one person, the ships councilor. Parker stepped into the turbo lift. Tapping his hands against his arm "Deck two please computer" he spoke in a hushed tone, the turbo lift sprung to life as he arrived at deck two.

Stepping out there was a throng of people, trying to make a hole through them. Panic and anxiety piling into his body, catching his breath. This was new feeling for him, the anxiety of crowds and small spaces. He had been on the valient for a long time and had never found the claustrophobic nature of the ship and the large crowds a problem, but since the incident he had definitely been avoiding large crowded areas and small gang ways a lot more than usual.

Stepping up to the door he pressed the chime as the throng of young ensigns breezed passed him, setting his anxiety and panic on edge, tapping his foot to the beat of his own heart, he waited patiently for the door to blast open so he could arrive to relative safety.

Jayden pressed the button to open the door to his work area. "Come in, Ensign," he said with a hushed tone and then closed the door behind him. He pointed to a chair. "Please have a seat. Can I get you anything from the replicator?"He offered.

The door whizzed open and so parker whizzed into the room a ball of anxious energy and worry. Trying to steal his emotions, he breathed in and out and for a minute he calmed "Thank You Liutennant Meran" he said scratching at his arm as he took a seat "is a strong whiskey out of the question doc cause I think I need one?" He said with a slight nervous laugh "If not whiskey an Irish coffee will do in a pinch" he said as he tried to stiffle the scratch to his right hand.

"Well as a doctor and psychiatrist, I wouldn't recommend alcohol when going through mental trauma, but, given the situation..." He opened a cabinet under the replicator and looked through the glass bottles in there. And then put a bottle on the table between and them and two glasses. He smiled. "This was a gift from my uncle, Captain Natan O'Donnaghue, He told me I might need it. I believe my aunt has been a great influence on him." He laughed as he pored the drink in the glasses. "So, what troubles your mind, ensign."

Parker Laughed a little if liutennant meran kept this up, the stoic outershell might break "Well thank god its the real stuff" he said relaxing back into his chair, trying to clear his mind of the the days troubles and trying to find the night time worries that plagued him like death "Jamesons Whiskey? The Irish Stuff now your uncle natan has clearly been around the O'Donnaghues" He said with a slight laugh, no cutting edge to it, humor just dead pan "Well I suppose you could see its my sleep lieutenant tr the lack there of these constant discombobulated nigtmares" he said swallowing hard "Sometimes I'm lucid other times I have no control over the flow of the dream those are the ones that scare me the most" he said taking a sip from his drink, biting back the urge to sink the whiskey in one, not like he hadn't sank bottles before now but that would have to be a different appointment for when they got back to normallity.

Jayden had taken out a padd and started make notes as he took a small sip form his glass.He put the glass down and leaned back. "So have you had this before, or is this a recent occurrence?"

Parker Steepled his chin on his hands "Ive always had nightmares of some form or another but these....These absolute terror trains I've never had something so jarring and scary I'm a hard man to scare lieutenant but I'm constantly on the edge of my seat there effecting me that much I now have to draw a red dot on my hand to know I'm awake in the real world the line between reality and my dreams are blurring" he said taking another sip from the drink as he pensivly swished the Irish whiskey round looking at it hearing the red alert klaxon sound off in his head like a domm bell that just wouldn't relent.

Jayden nodded. "So tell me, can you describe your dreams, are they always the same or are they different?" He carefully observed the ensign as he talked. He noted down every movement on his padd.

Parker readjusted in his chair as he tried to recall some of his dreams "Often Lieutenant they are different but they are trying to tell me the same thing" he said taking a sip from his whiskey "The situation is always the same, me on the bridge just as the pirates attacked, the klaxons going off like a Hell scene, the destruction on the bridge it always Comes back to the bridge bit there is this weird destroyed door off to the edge bridge that isent there that's the only constant theme that whole memory and the weird destroyed door" he said slumping back into his chair.

"Can you tell me more about this door? Can you describe it aside from it being destroyed? Does it have any significant meaning to you, have you seen it in the real world before?" Jayden made notes on his padd.

Parker fixed his posture "It was a door that my grandma had in her house" He said taking a Sip from his drink "The door was in the Barn and it had lead to a packing shed that was just destroyed in a hurricane"

Jayden nodded as he noted it down. "And how often do you dream about this door? Is there anyone with you in the area?" He couldn't make a connection yet, as he needed to have more information on the dream themselves to make definitive conclusion.

Parker tried to recollect the last time he had dreamed about this door fo longer than a few days "I used to dream of it only once or twice a year" he tapered off as he sat forward "Since the attack though its been every day and each time the door gets more and more broken" He said with gulp "No one else is there with me but no matter what in that dream I constantly feel this sense of impending doom and like I'm being watched by eyes that I cannot see"

Jayden looked at his pad. He had asked a few more questions and then he put the padd down. "It seems to me, you have some underlying anxiety, probably stemming from what happened during the hurricane, which amplified after the attack. I will make a note in your medical file, and schedule you some more sessions to dive deeper into the issue. In the meantime I will prescribe you some medication to help you sleep."

Jayden replicated a hypospray and handed it to Parker. "If there is anything at all that can't wait till our next session, let me know."

End

Lt. Jayden Meran CC/2XO

&

Ensign Parker CFCO

 

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