SIM:Della Vetri - Memory Discharge

((USS INDRIA-A – DECK 7))

Even distracted as she was, Della couldn't miss T'Lea tucking a folded document into her jacket pocket. Whatever it was, she didn't seem too bothered by others knowing of it's existence, but that didn't really mean anything...

T'Lea: I do. Walk with me.

She glanced back at the Counselor as they moved down the corridor.

T'Lea: You look a little pale, have you seen the Doctor yet?

oO I do? Well, that's hardly a surprise. Oo

Vetri: A couple of stops ago. Probably all this running around...

oO Okay, that's a lie, but what am I going to do? Admit to random memories coming out of nowhere? Oo

((TURBOLIFT))

The Romu-Vulc stepped into the lift, waiting only briefly for the Counselor to occupy the same space before ordering up the Bridge.

T'Lea: What's on your mind, Counselor?

She looked directly at Vetri's eyes, waiting to see if she'd flinch, or turn away. A Trill host's spots may change but the symbiote always stayed the same. That was one of Intel's little pearls of wisdom given to her when being briefed on the Counselor... and the symbiote.

oO Shut UP Rynn! Now is not the time for your memories to distract me... Oo

Vetri: Just underwhelmed by the flood of appointments being booked. Thought I'd take a leaf out of Lt. Jarak's book and hunt people down instead.

Great. There would be no dodging this one, T'Lea thought as Della met her stare.

Meeting T'Lea's gaze dead on, she could feel her face slipping into the lop-sided grin Rynn always seemed to wear when dealing with officials.

Vetri: Your name just kinda floated to the top.

T'Lea: Any particular reason?

Vetri: No, no reason that I can think of.

oO That I might actually admit too... Oo

T'Lea: I wouldn't do that if I were you. Lying is not going to earn your patients trust.

Sighing, Della accepted the rebuke. She didn't like it when others did it to her, so why the hell should she do it to them.

Vetri: Yeah. You're right, sorry. Okay, let's try this one. No reason I can actually articulate.

T'Lea: There's a professional answer.

Vteri: Thanks. I think. Can we get back to business now, before I manage to embarrass myself even more?

T'Lea: Let me guess, I'm at the top of your list, because Tash is at the top of your list.

She patted the data padd softly in her palm a few times. Maybe she was slightly worried, but most definitely annoyed with the thought of him.

T'Lea: What's he done now? Did you find out why he was absent from the briefing?

Vetri: In reverse order, Yes I did, and I'm not at liberty to say.

T'Lea nodded. The good old quack-patient confidentiality cop out.

T'Lea: Well, I haven't talked to him since…

She was about to say, since the "beat down". But tripped over the words and replaced them. That wouldn't go unnoticed.

T'Lea: … in a while, so if you're looking for answers to his behaviour. I'm the wrong place. Anything else?

Now who was lying? She had dirt on Tash that would give the Counselor a field day.

Damn this turbolift was slow, T'Lea mindlessly thought.

Vetri: His behavior? It might be helpful, but that's not why I came looking for you. I'm here because of what you just didn't mention.

Holy dren. That gave T'Lea pause. She wasn't expecting a blunt response like that. Actually, she kind of respected the bravery of it.

Nonetheless, up went the Vulcan brow, and T'Lea's jaw muscle tightened. What she "just didn't mention" would betray Tash's trust. Then again, it'd serve him right. So would a kick in his nether region.

T'Lea: Really.

Ah, yup. That was the best she could do at the moment. "Really." Really pathetic was more like it.

Vetri: I know the basics of what happened between you two, but not any real details.

Oh wait, Della was talking about the assault, not the other part, which T'Lea didn't mention to anybody ABOUT the assault. How could Della know about the OTHER part -- the part where the psycho-telepath Armeni revealed that Tash had murdered for her. The memory of Tash killing a girl had, accidentally or not, been broadcast in T'Lea's mind as well.

But there was nothing to worry about because that's not what Della was referring to… on second thought… better start worrying.

Della shifted in the lift, deliberately blocking the door.

Vetri: And I don't care about them. What I care about is you, and how you're dealing with it.

There was a little part of Della's mind that was screaming at her to back off, that she was pushing too hard, too fast. She knew that, but she was annoyed, and so she attacked. As she focused on the other woman, she didn't notice the way that the turbolift seemed to dim slightly, as T'Lea took on a matching glow.

T'Lea took a bold step forward, just on the verge of invading Della's personal space. Her only thought was keeping Tash's secret, which only pushed it to the front of her mind even more while she tried to reject the Counselor with a heavy dose of Vulcan steel.

T'Lea: I'm dealing with it as any Vulcan would deal with it. Through mindful meditat--.

((MEMORY FLASH))

Perys: She's using you, Tash. I hacked her personal files. Her grades shot up when she met you... yours have plummeted. Why are you even taking Neuro-pathology? You aren't in the Academy to be a medic, or a counselor, or a biologist. You're working yourself to death, and you can't even see it.

Tash: ::completely unsure:: ... you're wrong... you've got to be wrong....

Perys: Please, just look at my data. When you see it for yourself, then we can find someone to stop this.

Something there, in the dark, switched... a switch flipped. Green eyes darkened, but in the emotion of the moment Perys missed the change. The trigger had been hit. Armeni had planned for such a moment... planted a suggestion, knowing of this `secret' meeting beforehand.

The suggestion was more of a demand. Exposure was not an option. Any threat of exposure was to be ended.

With finality.

Perys: Here, Tash. This data padd haURK!?

His hands went round her neck, locking and squeezing hard with strength that was beyond him. His body acted, and what it did was so terrible that his mind couldn't accept it, and so shut down. His open eyes were blind as his friend struggled to wrangle his hands away from her throat.

His name, garbled from her crushed windpipe, escaped frantically.

She gasped twice.

Her hands reached up, grasping at his face as her legs went out beneath her.

In the dark of the night, they fell out from beneath her, her body crumpling to the ground as she gave a final effort to escape.

A last twitch ran through her body... and her clawing, desperate hands fell away from his face... his apathetic expression didn't change as her eyes stared blankly up into the early morning darkness.

((END MEMORY FLASH))

With a jolt, T'Lea backed off, cringing and touching her head a little. E-4. Della was an E-4, she reminded herself. And T'Lea was an E-3. A mind-melder. Their signals must have crossed in the heat of the moment. She should have gone with the telepath inhibitor implants that Intel. offered -- screw the side effects.

T'Lea: What the frell... The frell did you do?!

Della's only response was a wide-eyd, utterly blank stare. Slowly, her head tilted to one side, almost quizzically, then the glow receded from her vision, everything returning to normal, no dimness, no glow, no sense of drawing everything into herself.

oO Oh, WHAT! What the frak was that?!? That's not meant to happen! Oo

T'Lea looked up and saw the woman's face, probably as shocked as her own. Immediately, she reached out and slammed a fist into the "halt" button on the turbolift panel, right next to Vetri. She was going to say something, but then stopped cold, turned, walked the few steps to the back of the lift and stayed. Thinking.

Vetri: ::unsteadily:: Wha...What...?

That was about all that she could actually make herself say, her mind still reeling from the assault it had just sustained. Feelings, emotions, those she was just about able to handle sensing, but this was something else entirely, a massive leap above what she was normally able to do.

T'Lea: I'm trying to figure out if I can trust you.

T'Lea turned to face the Trill again. More composed this time, in a scary way.

T'Lea: But I suppose I don't have a choice. So there are two things that you should know. First, whatever you THINK you just saw was not of Tash's own free will. Second, breathe a word of this to anyone and Rynn's past will come back to haunt you.

She hit the continue button, hit a Vulcan stance, and then clasped the data padd in both hands behind her back.

Della was scared now. Scared by the raw power of the vision she'd just had, scared by now-impassive T'Lea standing before her, scared by what was hidden in her own, in *Rynn's*, memory. Actually, no. She wasn't scared. That word didn't begin to cover what she felt right now.

Vetri: I-I understand...nothing...didn't see it...I get it...I'm gonna be sick...

With almost perfect timing, the lift doors slid opened, and with a degree of self-control she'd never imagined, Della quickly stepped out and headed toward the nearest restroom, ignoring T'Lea completely as she went. She didn't see the looks, if any, she received from the other crew on the bridge, intent only on getting into some kind of privacy. She barely slowed down to let the restroom door open, but managed to wait until it had closed again before emptying what felt like everything she'd ever eaten into the basin.

T'Lea crossed the bridge, a picture perfect Vulcan and tapped Captain Assanti's door chimes. While she waited for an answer, she briefly glanced over her shoulder toward the restroom doors, and uncharacteristically sighed.

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