Therapeutic Talk

Posted on Fri Mar 3rd, 2023 @ 10:51am by Captain Elijah Rutherford & Lieutenant Lily Marlow & Lieutenant Orin Sempton

Mission: A New Beginning
Location: Lily's Massage Therapy Office
2942 words - 5.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Both Lily and Orin arrived in her Massage Therapy Office, the shimmering effect of the transporter depositing them upon the soft dark green carpet. Lily hadn't taken account of it happening with them in their other position, her crouching next to Orin and him seated upon a chair. Lily dropped to to the carpet with an oof.

"Sorry Orin, I felt this to be an emergency. I've read the reports as to the discussion you had with our Counselor Zacci, who ended up being transferred. Now you are stuck with me or with Jasmine Rutherford. Hope you don't mind it being me for now." reaching out with a calming touch. She then pressed a button to bring to life the image of the peaceful sound and image of pine trees gently moving in the breeze, and the scent of pine wafting its way in the air.

Orin drew his legs up and hugged them, burying his head behind his knees. His face was almost a crimson red, in stark contrast to his left hand which was clenched so tight, the white of his knuckles matched the white scar tissue on the back of it. "W-well, I've made a complete mess of things." He finally said, every word split between hyperventilated breaths.

"What do you mean by that? I don't see you having made a mess of things." Lily responded, reaching out to curve her own hand over his clenched fist. "Just breathe Orin, just breathe. In through the nose and out through the mouth. Slow and steady." Lily doing the breathing exercise as well for a couple of minutes working by example for him to follow her example.

Orin made an attempt to follow the breathing exercise. Each breath he released eased some of the tension in his body, until finally he looked back at Lily back in control, the emotions from before shunted to the back of his mind. "That was..." He took a second trying to find the right word. "Unfortunate? No. Sub-optimal? Closer. Inappropriate? Understatement. Well, lets just leave it as, that wasn't good."

"Orin, are you speaking about, having a moment of PTSD in front of Guardian and those there talking about him?" Lily was slightly confused but felt this could get sorted out. "Sorry I may sound slightly dense here."

He nodded. "Indeed." He chuckled with no hint of mirth in his eyes. "It's surprising that twice now that planet has accidentally come up when I haven't allowed it into the forefront of my mind in years. I buried it deep in the fileroom." He said and tapped his temple. "Speaking of, we'll have to inform the Captain that we'll have to be careful when finding the planet. The Lensing Effect created by the cloaking system could have disastrous effects if we're not cautious. I can supply a copy of the after-action report from the Renegade's visits to the Bliss planet for review considering the similarities."

Lily nodded, "That would be a really good idea. Elijah, I mean Captain Rutherford would definitely like as much information as you possibly can give him. He's a man of action as well as one who likes to be prepared." she paused to think a moment then said, "Maybe the reason why that particular planet came to mind, is perhaps to make us more prepared for the next part of this journey. I've faced dire circumstances before I joined up on this ship, but not to the extent of what you had experienced. I can empathize on a small level."

"Maybe?" Orin shook his head and rubbed his face with both hands, letting his fingers rub his eyes and temples. "I honestly don't know. It was my first ever away mission after the academy and everything that happened is seared into my memory like a brand. I can still hear the wind and rending metal as we crashed to the planet. The absolute feeling of belonging that planet made us feel. The horror as we all watched it burn. I can smell the fires, the sulfur and the ozone." He dropped his hands and leaned back, looking up. "My father always said that we needed to be impartial recorders of history. 'Stick to the facts, son. It's up to the reader to decide how they should feel.' And that was fine when I wasn't on the receiving end of history. I just hope we don't make the same mistakes."

Lily placed a gentle hand upon Orin's shoulder. " I hope we don't either. I am really glad that you're here and even though it is a horrible experience to have gone through, there is the fact of also being more prepared, approaching this with more caution. You could put this as an opportunity to utilize the knowledge you have. If it weren't for you and the connection you have with Guardian, we wouldn't have gotten to where we are at now. Not even having escaped that awful station we were trapped on." her eyes were filled with conviction as to what she had said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

"Yeah, lets not do that again." Orin chuckled. He closed his eyes and sighed wearily. The humor a momentary blip, before evenness set back in. "Well, we might as well go get this done. Time's wasting, and who knows what else the others were able to uncover while I had my meltdown." His eyes focused on hers for a moment. "Thank you."

"Or they may have taken a well deserved breather." Lily remarked with a slight smile. Her heart skipped a beat when his eyes met hers. "You are welcome, Orin. " hoping that the coloration in her cheeks didn't give her away. She rose from the carpet and held her hand out to Orin as an assist. "Shall we go speak to the Captain as to what you've told me? Probably be a good idea."

"I agree. Let us speak with the Captain." Orin took her hand and uncoiled himself, stretching his legs and back as he reached his full height, extracting a few pops and cracks. He looked down at his hand still in hers and quickly drew it back. His ears colored red as he mumbled a "Thank you." With another deep breath he turned toward the door. "Yes, speak with the captain, then a long Holodeck exercise program." He glanced back over his shoulder making sure Lily was joining him as he reached the door. "A very long program..."

Lily was behind him when Orin looked over his shoulder. "I shall make certain not to interrupt your exercise program this time. I wouldn't want to cause you any injuries." she referring to when they first met. "That was quite the interruption there." she remarked as they headed on their way to speak to the Captain.

Orin's hand flicked up to his chest as the memory of the shield bash to the chest crossed his mind. "No. Zama has been temporarily removed from the exercise regimen. I believe the computer input too many variables for the size, which led to the increase in difficulty level. For now, I'll likely stick with smaller skirmishes like Stamford Bridge or basic gladiatorial combat." He looked over at Lily, a half smile playing on his lips. "And this time, I will lock the door with a passcode to minimize the chances of someone accidentally stumbling into a battle."

"Unless you invite me sometime, though I probably would cause you some damage with me not knowing how to wield a sword properly." giving a light chuckle. "But yes, locking the door with a pass code would be wise. You must have thought me to be rather strange that day, when I stumbled into your program. I know that I gave you a bit of a fright though." grinning at the memory. "I can laugh at that memory now, as it is a fond memory. The foe you were battling and my squealing at facing those men. Oh my goodness!"

"I'm happy you can look back on that and laugh, though you were about to get feel pain akin to a phaser on stun 2." Orin squeezed his eyes shut in a momentary show of frustration, Mental note, set passcode locks on any difficulty level over 4. "You are welcome to use the Ludus program whenever you would like, though. It's an open training program. Each weapon hits about as hard as a padded stick. Good for training."

"Okay that sounds great, however, would you be available in being my instructor from time to time?" Lily looking up towards Orin's eyes. They were a very lovely rich brown color, definitely showing the signs of his intelligence. He did seem a bit shy as well. Lily found Orin to be a very interesting man, and pleasing to be around. She said not a word though, wouldn't want him to run away.

"Okay so lets off to the Captain and let him know what we maybe facing." Lily said instead.

"Yes. To both." Orin stopped walking and looked around for a second, his eyebrow knitted in concentration or frustration. "Also, I currently have no idea where I am. I cannot seem to pull up my mental map of the ship."

"We are actually not far from Medical. I had requested that my area, the one we were in, to not be completely right in the thick of things where medical was concerned. " Lily blithely replied. "When it comes to massage therapy, there are those who get a bit stressed when they go to medical, and when they come to this area set apart from Medical, they tend to relax more." she guiding Orin towards the hall which led to the turbo lift. "We are not too far from the lift."

"Oh good." He quickly saw the door labeled 'turbolift' ahead of them. They didn't have to wait long before the doors opened allowing them inside. Once they were both inside, Orin said "Bridge" and leaned back onto the lift wall, rubbing his temple to stave off the beginnings of a headache he could feel coming. The ride was blissfully short, and soon the doors opened onto the bustle of activity that was the bridge of the Majestic.

Lily looked with concern at Orin, "I completely forgot to ask when was the last time you've eaten." She remarked. He was certainly giving the tell tale signs of a headache, but could also think it could be a result of their previous subject. Besides being hunger.

She and Orin arrived at the ready room and she rang the chime, then heard Elijah's call, "Enter." the door opening at his voice command. He looked with surprise at seeing both Orin and Lily there.

"What can I do for the two of you?" Elijah asked.

"Captain, I apologize for interrupting. As you know, we've been talking to Guardian in hopes of finding answers about it, Lieutenant T'Seng and Myneer." He paused for a second, steeling himself for the next part. "We found a lot more than we bargained for sir. After it examined T'Seng's amulet, it accessed a program. Guardian found a star chart and coordinates, its home. And it um..." He swallowed hard, feeling the fear begin to creep up again. "T-t-there is a p-p-p-problem, that I've enc-c-c-countered before, sir."

The blonde haired captain looked with concern as to Orin began to stutter, "Lieutenant, are you alright? Here let me get uyou some water." Elijah stated quickly pouring the science officer some water and handing it to him.

Lily reached out and placed her hand upon Orin's shoulder, in a calming mannter. "Just have a drink of water and then just breathe."

Orin accepted the cup, and quickly gulped it down before closing his eyes and taking a few measured breaths. "My apologies, Sir. There are a few similarities between this planet and one I was trapped on during my first away mission when assigned to the Renegade. The planet has a cloaking device which hides it, while a holoprojection of a lifeless planet is put in its place. If it's anything like the Bliss planet, scans will detect nothing, not even a power source or fluctuation, and we cannot use any type of directed energy weapon, even at the lowest setting, without the possibility of direct and possibly catastrophic harm to the planet."

A concerned furrow developed in the captain's brow. "Thank you for that warning. I am wondering just how we'll be able to contact the inhabitants when we get there, as we will be taking our, refugees home. I don't know about you, but I would love to be able to get back into good ole exploration of the stars and meet new races, and make discoveries." He rubbed his temple for a moment. "Though in essence meeting those who are on that planet, it will be sort of an exploratory mission."

Seeing that Orin had calmed down, Lily moved her hand and placed it in her lap. "Okay so, I guess you will be getting more information from our guests and then we go from there?"

"It's possible that proximity to the planet will allow Guardian to access another subroutine, much like how the necklace allowed it to access the data concerning the planet and its coordinates." Orin scratched his chin for a moment, his eyes flitting about as if looking at multiple incoming data streams. "It is also possible that allowing Guardian or any of the others to send subspace communications when we arrive at the location of the planet may trigger something. After all, it'd be a resident communicating that they're home, right?"

"That sounds like a plausible thought. Okay then we'll need to make preparations get a meeting put together and get these entities home and also find out more about Guardian. I am very curious about where he came from." Elijah steepling his finger tips and leaning forward on his desk. "Thank you for your information Orin, this has indeed been quite enlightening. I will formulate a plan of action and get with Commander Aldrich. Soon we will be on our way to take them home. Thank you both once again. And you are dismissed." he then turned in his chair to look out the window becoming deep in thought.

Lily rose up from her chair, so that she could leave, as they had been dismissed. She headed for the door and waited for Orin before she exited the ready room.

Orin quickly followed her out, and stepped to the side of the Ready Room doors as they closed behind him, leaning against the bulkhead, suddenly feeling extremely drained. He took a long breath and exhaled deeply, taking his glasses off with one hand, while rubbing his eyes with his other. After a few seconds, he dropped his fingers while keeping his thumb pressed into his temple and looked over at Lily. "My apologies. It feels like it's been a overly long day, and all the interaction has left me with a headache and feeling very drained. It is not often that I interact with this many people in a single span."

Lily nodded in understanding, "It was a lot to take in, but you know Orin, you've been great. I feel if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have gotten as far as we have. I thank you very much. Now though, I think its a good time for us both to go take a break and get centered. Some dinner is in order, I don't know about you but I think it is way past dinner time. Maybe sometime you and I can have dinner together. Something nice and quiet." giving a one shoulder shrug.

"Food... Yes." He agreed. "That would be a good idea. And maybe a drink." He took pressure off his temple but kept the eye closed and replaced his glasses. He started walking back to the turbolift, and suddenly froze mid-step, a pinkish tint appearing on his ears as he half turned back to look at Lily. "I, uh, hmm... Yes, a quiet dinner would be... nice."

"Would you... like to come to my quarters and have a bite to eat- tonight?" Lily, decided to ask. "I'll cook, I just need to know what you like to eat and what you would like to drink." Lily felt that she was being rather bold in asking Orin this. It could be way too soon but it would be lovely to cook for someone, besides herself. "It won't be a bother if I cooked for you. In fact it would be lovely to cook for someone besides myself." there her thoughts were verbalized.

Orin stared back, blinking slowly for a few seconds as he tried to process everything, his mental faculties locking up. "That, um." He felt the heat beginning to creep up his neck and closed his eyes, taking measured breaths to center himself. When they opened them, he felt a sense of calmness that his beet red face did not share. "That would be lovely. As for what, I enjoy a wide variety of cuisine." He scratched his chin for a second in thought. "Ah, why don't you make something you enjoy for dinner, and I'll bring a dessert."

Lily gave a nod, "Sounds good. I'll see you then." Lily was going to let Orin head to the turbolift first, just to let herself take a moment or two to let things settle in her mind. Her brain was just catching up as to what had just transpired. Orin was going to have dinner with her tonight!