Revelations from the Mind: Part II
Posted on Sat Mar 21st, 2026 @ 6:47pm by Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone MD/DSAPM & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD & Captain Remy Johansen
Edited on on Sat Mar 21st, 2026 @ 9:39pm
2,761 words; about a 14 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Holodeck 3 - USS Astrea
Timeline: MD11 0700
Alex looked to Jezra with a questioning gaze, debating for a moment whether she should voice her thoughts but decided to do just that anyway, watching Jezra the same way. "Without having access to Sickbay currently I can not confirm my thoughts here; however... I believe that the Ambassador's death stems from some sort of telepathic attack."
Oh, right. She was supposed to be mad at Alex. Jezra matched her stare for a couple seconds before turning to Remy, and in doing so they took a sidestep to make space. "Her death certainly wasn't by any pathological means," they confirmed. "In two and a half lifetimes of medicine, I've never seen a neural scan conflict with a bioscan. The physiological vitals --pulse, oxygen, stuff like that-- were pretty consistent with someone going into neural shock, but her neural activity was more erratic, as if she were vividly dreaming. That combination alone rules out a significant number of causes. Add in the lack of injury from a weapon, no toxins in her system, and no concerning health issues... it's very plausible that the ambassador was killed through telepathic means."
"Reports indicate that no one was touching her before she collapsed," Remy recalled. "It was maybe a half hour after her speech, she'd been in the green room. The area was staged with higher security because they were concerned. She'd just come back out into the public."
"Could a person be powerful enough to do something like this?" the Captain asked. "Or a weapon? What could do so much harm but no one else be affected?"
"It would hardly be the first time that such effect has been borne of some person with malintent and the physiological means to do so... and it would not even be the first weapon of similar ability that Starfleet has encountered, Captain. We are treading in waters more dangerous than they appear." Alex reflexively lowered her voice as she look, despite the fact that they were completely alone inside the holodeck and its doors were closed behind them.
"I'm aware of telepathic weapons," Remy countered. "But the ones I know of... Well, the Romulans have used ones that were targeted to individuals, but they usually had to have someone in their custody, implant a device, or so we thought," she said. "And the ancient Vulcans... well what they had were considered weapons of mass destruction."
"You think, or are we aware of something that can be used to target individuals?" the Captain asked.
"I am running on a large measure of speculation, though I feel that we are on the right track." Alex tilted her head slightly and glanced around the holodeck. "There may be more clues to discover in this."
"There may be?" Remy responded quizzically. "You don't know what all is here. How do we properly comb through it to find out?"
"Think of this as a sort of meditation paired alongside mental exercise. When I was working through this information I was meditating but because the memories are not actually mine, my brain was still working on processing everything here... however my research enabled me to track and 'record' the memories that I was working through by the rig reading the synaptic activity... honestly I am surprised in some ways that the simulation didn't come out in some form of format similar to how Captain LaForge's visor allowed him to see" Alex explained, her words concise but detailed and she gestured around their surroundings. "Everything in this simulation is recorded the way that Ambassador T'Varel remembered it in her last moments as her experiences flashed rapid fire through her mind as her neural activity began to fall off. Some of this stuff I only caught glimpses of that were much too fast for me to know what is here. We will simply have to explore"
"Alright then. How do we get to work?" Remy asked. The scientist inside of her was fascinated by the intricacies of a mind meld alone, but how Alex had managed to put it into a program that even she didn't know what it contained was something else entirely.
"To an extent we should be able to interact with everything here as though we are extensions of the Ambassador. Anything we touch or read should appear and feel exactly as it would if we were her. I cannot say how things will shape up as I brought this to both of you immediately without checking it out myself... just in case we should try to maintain focus on the objective at hand. I am unsure if stray thoughts will affect the program."
Alex stepped away and perused the shelves along one side of the Ambassador's quarters, looking for anything that might give some clues.
The Captain walked over to the desk where Commander Seya was setting. Remy shuffled through the PADDS and papers that were on the desk and found that most were blank or had non-descript scribling on them, but one thing stood out to her.
"Here is the Ambassador's agenda," Remy announced. She picked up the PADD and offered it to Blackstone. Remy then activated the holographic LCARS terminal in front of Seya.
"Do you think the Ambassador's passcodes are in here somewhere?" She asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised if they were; I don't think it is likely we will find a written note with them.... but if this mirrors a meld as closely as I expect it will there will be some form of clue to them..." Alex trailed off, turning to take the PaDD before returning to perusing the shelves. After a few moments she tapped a book and pulled it free. "Try this one... it concerns the ancient rituals of Vulcan... but the Ambassador was not a follower of them."
Jezra also wandered around, but they were looking for anything that could help explain why the ambassador died. They inspected the PADD that Alex had set down, the one that detailed the threats ahead of the Accords, but it didn't contain much of interest to them. It read more like a security report. The wander was now looking for anything that may have been out of place in the room, but with so much preserved from T'Varel's memory, it would take time.
"I'm wondering about the timing," Remy stated. "Did the person want her dead sooner, but this was the first opportunity? Or did they want her to get her speech out, then make their move?" She proffered. "No actual work had started yet, just the motivational message."
"What if we had T'Varel here," Remy suggested. She was just thinking out loud at this point. Their search hadn't turned up much more than an agenda that they already had access to and a computer that they still had yet to access. "Maybe she could tell us something, or lead us to the clues."
Alex looked at Remy as if she had grown a second and then a third head for a moment and then brought her hand to rub at her temples. "Captain... I don't claim to be a genius but why in the bloody hells did I not consider that?? I have a portion of her psyche still riding around in me and some of that may actually be coded into the chip used to create this hologram, enough to create a reproduction of her from her last days at the least." She paused to breathe and consider it further and hesitated before she went back to the archway panel. "There is one thing to consider though... does doing that further complicate the situation with the investigation?"
Remy paused for a moment. "I don't know that it could get more complicated. What is the point of risking a mind meld, if we aren't going to use what we have from it?"
Alex nodded and began to insert commands into the console. After a few moments the image of T'Varel flickered then disappeared momentarily before re-establishing itself. Alex turned toward the others and motioned toward the Ambassador. "I don't know how accurate it will be but the T'Varel of the program should now contain everything that encoded itself onto the chip from my mind. Shall we?"
"Can we ask her questions?" Remy asked tentatively, uncertain of the limits of the program
Alex shrugged before turning to examine the program as it flickered momentarily and adjusted itself to the new information. "I don't see why we wouldn't be able to."
"Were there any visits, any warnings before you arrived at Barisa Prime?" the Captain asked. "Anything that we wouldn't find here?"
The holodeck setting change didn't take them out of the suite entirely, but and image formed in a haze, a memory inside of a traditional Vulcan home, the door opening and a hooded figure walking in.
He greets the person at the door as if he knows the person he is speaking with. They are watching through her her eyes as the memory moves. The man is a Romulan, thin, though features not distinct.
T'Varel's voice breaks the air. "Saipok, You arrive without prior notice."
"Yes," he replied, and there it was--just the slightest hitch before the word dropped. "I judged it... preferable."
The memory skipped, the man she called Saipok now deeper into the room, sitting on a stiff sofa as the three officers's perspective shifted.
"With all due respect, Ambassador"--he suddenly stood and began slowly pacing the room again--"you fail to see the danger here. I am not just speaking of the Tal Shiar."
He stopped and turned on his heel, now facing T'Varel from behind the chair. "There are factions here... on Vulcan," he continued, lowering his voice. "Old ones. Disciplined ones. They do not speak publicly against the Accords. They don't protest. They prepare."
The room seemed to chill, not in temperature, but the memory itself darkened as the perspective shifted again. They were now watching him move closer to the door.
"So you understand that my coming here outside of diplomatic protocol is a serious offense for which I am prepared to face punishment..." He shook his head, as though resigning himself to some cruel fate.
His voice was now lower, weaker. "T'Varel. I have it on good authority that your life"--he looked up at her now, "is in danger... should the Accords proceed. A triad of interested... parties... will attempt to thwart your cause."
The memory didn't fade, but instead froze, stuck in a wispy haze, as a stronger image of the reception hall appeared around them. They were now surrounded by T'Varel's security detail, the crowd of diplomatic guests just ahead, when a blinding green light suddenly wiped out everything, flashing briefly, then black.
As the program went black Alex stepped back, rubbing at her temple. The blinding light was eerily familiar and prickled something in the back of her mind. "Hmmm.... let me adjust one more thing and take us back to the scene between Saipok and T'Varel." She stepped back to the control console and went back to work; this time the image moved as she added information and commands. When the image resolved itself fully they were back in the room where Saipok had come to the Ambassador without notice; this time though the landscape and details beyond the room through the handful of windows were fully visible and much sharper. "Okay.... lets go back over this and then let it play out; we should be able to get a more complete picture of the events.
The tan and muted orange hues of T'Varel's home became clearer, the high vaulted ceilings creating an open air feeling. The image of Saipok visible on a viewscreen window. It was twilight, the landscape darkening. She opened the door the doorthe same hooded figure walked in.
"Ambassador," He greeted her by title, though warmly a sense of familiarity bettween them. The man is a Romulan, thin, though features not distinct.
T'Varel's replied bluntly, "Saipok, You arrive without prior notice."
"Yes," he replied, and there it was--just the slightest hitch before the word dropped. "I judged it... preferable."
"Enter," she replied, before the memory jumped again. Saipok was sitting, leaning forward slightly, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped tight enough that his knuckles had gone white. "But failure, Ambassador, does not weaken belief," he told her, his voice grave. "Those who survived Hobus without learning its lesson are now telling themselves a different story. It's a story where Romulus fell not because it was arrogant, but because it was soft."
His gaze lifted to T'Varel. "Unification terrifies them."
T'Varel walked toward Saipok, tea service now in her hands.
T'Varel was silent as she carefully poured tea from a bowl while simultaneously straining the leaves that brought out a deep purple color. She poured two cups, placing one in front of Saipok before she sat down.
"Accords of one type or another are inevitable," she stated waiting a moment to take a long draw from her tea. "If not peacefully scheduled on Barisa - a neutral location with Starfleet's awareness and proper time to prepare, then in the streets in protest on Vulcan and in the Romulan colonies where we already have enough tension. Is it not better to give them a voice now?"
"With all due respect, Ambassador," he stated, then suddenly stood and began slowly pacing the room again. "You fail to see the danger here. I am not just speaking of the Tal Shiar."
He stopped and turned on his heel, now facing T'Varel from behind the chair. "There are factions here... on Vulcan. They don't protest. They prepare."
The room seemed to chill, not in temperature, but the memory itself darkened as the perspective shifted again. They were now watching him move closer to the door.
His voice was now lower, weaker. "T'Varel. I have it on good authority that your life"--he looked up at her now, "is in danger... should the Accords proceed. A triad of interested... parties... will attempt to thwart your cause. They believe Vulcan to be the final vulnerability."
"So you understand that my coming here outside of diplomatic protocol is a serious offense for which I am prepared to face punishment..." He shook his head.
"Surely they have better means to thwart the cause than taking out an old woman," T'Varel's voice was defiant.
The memory jumped again, Saipok now near the door. He spoke ominous words as he lifted his hood, "Live, Ambassador," he said simply. "Whatever else you do... live."
The door sealed behind him with a soft whirr and the house returned to stillness.
Alex' brow rose unconsciously and she looked around the room again before meeting Remy's and Jezra's gazes. "Well... that puts a few things in perspective I suppose."
The light flashes and the changing scenery did not help the nausea, and Jezra forced in some steady breaths. "Remind me to take some anti-nausea if we ever go into this program again," they commented. Pushing through it, they mulled over what the group had just seen. "It certainly strengthens the case for a weapon that can be used remotely."
"We've got someone to look into," Remy added. "Maybe someone with more information."
"If I might recommend that we keep this information under lock and key?" Alex posited, her face a mask of warning.
"Agreed," Remy replied, nodding. "If this Saipok is still alive, it seems his life is in danger. Our intelligence department can handle it."
Alex gave a curt nod, seeing no reason to offer further thoughts on the matter though she did look to Jezra for a brief moment before settling against the wall.
Lieutenant Alexandra Blackstone
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant J.G. Jezra Siv
Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
& also
Credit for references made fromA Warning to the Curious to:
Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil (as Romulan Diplomatic Attaché Saipok)
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea
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