SIM:T'Lea - Memory Rewrite

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((ALPHA QUADRANT))

((UNKNOWN DEEP SPACE FACILITY))

Consciousness. By definition it meant the critical awareness of one’s own situation and identity. Pretty words for what could often be a cruel state of being.

As the young Romulan hybrid began to emerge from sedation, the memories immediately came flooding back. She had betrayed her mate, plotted his murder, seen to the death of a friend, and killed a Sentinel who had a Warrant for Vengeance out on her head. Yes. She was definitely conscious, and yes, she was fully aware of both her situation and her identity. She was a thug, a drug dealer, and a power hungry murderess -- and she liked it.

Loyalty. Morals. Ethics. Remorse. Guilt. Those words did not exist in young T’Lea’s vocabulary. Those words were signs of weakness.

But who was the weak one now?

She had survived a deadly betrayal only to run like a coward. Run like one of the hundreds of pathetic scabs she’d brutalized in the past. And just where had she run too? Back to the safety of her nest like one of the millions of Bogon Rats that plagued the city -- and that nest of safety belonged to her guardian, Zadok.

Since she’d burned her bridges in the city, Zadok was the only one left alive on the planet that T’Lea could turn to for help – that is, if she could traverse the harsh deserts of N’Dallis Prime on one good foot and find the excavation site Zadok called home. He would be able to get her out of the system before bounty hunters found her. He was her last best chance of escaping this hell.

Blinking and squinting up at four bright lights directly overhead, T’Lea turned away and began to focus in on her surroundings. This was not Zadok’s camp site and this was definitely not his cargo ship.

Strange equipment beeped and flashed along the walls, there was a smell of chemicals brewing in the air, and a weird maze of tubes and beakers bubbling in the corner. Where the hell was she?

She tried to sit up and that’s when she realized that she was strapped down to a cold metal table like some kind of lab experiment.

Thoughts of capture raced through her mind. Had she been caught by the Chief Magistrate and handed over to Kreez’s family for torture? Was she even still alive?

She winced, trying to break her restraints. The sharp pain in her ankle confirmed that she was very much alive. Pushing the discomfort aside she gave one more ferocious pull against the metal bands that were restricting her hands and feet, but her efforts were wasted. Brute force was not going to get her out of this one.

T’LEA: Hey? Anybody? Hello?!

VOICE: Please remain calm.

The man’s voice bounced off the left side of the room. T’Lea turned her head and saw two figures standing by a doorway, but she couldn’t make out the details of their faces. All she could see was that one was tall and thin, and the other was short and plump.

T’LEA: Who are you? Where am I?

VOICE: You are at a medical research facility. You have been here for three days recovering from multiple injuries, so please restrict your movements.

Medical research facility? No. No way. Kreez’s family had sold her to frelling organ harvesters?!!

T’LEA: Frell that! Let me out of here!  :: she thrashed:: Whatever you paid them to buy me, I’ll pay you double to let me go. Do you hear me? Double! That will get you two specimens to hack into instead of one! Are you listening!!

VOICE: We’re not that kind of facility. My name is Shev. You are not in danger here.

Moving towards the table he dimmed the overhead lights and she was finally able to see his face. He had short upswept eyebrows and two large bulges on either side of his head. She wasn’t familiar with his race and she wasn’t impressed.

SHEV: I am Ullian.

T’LEA: Good for you. ::pause, sizing him up:: If you’re not here to cut out my organs, and you’re not going to torture me, then you’re going to let me go, right?

SHEV: I cannot. You are unstable.

T’Lea huffed.

T’LEA: Let me rephrase that. Let me go, or I will reach down your throat and puree your liver with my bare hands. Got it, freak!

Shev tilted his head at the violent visual and then casually checked her pupils. She, of course, resisted.

SHEV: Your threat makes no sense. In order to perform such an act I would have to release you and therefore you would have no justification to attack me.

T’LEA: I’m a complicated girl.

Shev glanced back at the tall thin figure waiting in the shadows.

SHEV: You are correct. She is quite illogical for a Vulcan.

He waved another scanning device over her head.

T’LEA: I’m Romulan, frellhead. Rom-U-Lan! “Vulcan” is nothing more than a religious brainwashing. Do I sound like the religious type to you?!

SHEV: The skull fracture has healed nicely. No swelling on the brain.

He checked with the tall thin figure lurking in the dark again.

SHEV: Her head injuries no longer pose a problem for the procedure. Shall I begin?

T’Lea tensed.

T’LEA: Procedure? What the frell is that supposed to mean?

SHEV: Memory reconditioning.

T’LEA: WHAT!

SHEV: The procedure has a fifty-five percent success rate. That is up by seven percent since last year.

T’LEA: Frell you! You’re not touching me!

SHEV: If I rehabilitate you now, you can live a non-violent, productive life without the burden of painful memories.

Her steely gaze narrowed. Her usual smoky voice turned menacing.

T’LEA: I enjoy the painful memories. Just like I’ll enjoy the painful memory of tearing your flesh from your bones if you don’t stay the hell away from me! Understand?!

She snapped against her restraints.

TALL-THIN-MAN: Let me speak with her.

That voice. T’Lea knew it well. It was emotionless. Monotone and never wavering.

Out of the cover of darkness emerged her father, Zadok, ramrod straight in posture with a stiff, stern face. He was proof that she had been successful in locating his camp. But now, T’Lea wasn’t sure it had been such a good idea to seek his help.

ZADOK: I have a proposal for you.

T’LEA: And I have one for you. Drop me off at the next civilized planet.

She watched Zadok stop at the side of her metal bed and stand there with hands clasped behind his back to show complete control. How she despised him and everything he stood for. Seeing him again was a hard reminder of why she had fled to the city when they arrived on N’Dallis Prime. To escape him and all his Vulcan statutes.

ZADOK: My proposal is simple, willingly give up your current lifestyle, return to Vulcan with me and embrace Surak’s teachings.

T’LEA: Or what? You’ll sic your little mind-freller on me? Frell you! You know nothing about my lifestyle…

Her hard-lined face disintegrated like ash when she saw Zadok’s eyebrow arch in a all-knowing superior fashion. In an instant she understood.

T’LEA: You melded with me?!

ZADOK: It was necessary.

T’LEA: It was necessary to invade my privacy?

ZADOK: When my Hires found you unconscious at the camp you were severely wounded and near death. A meld was necessary to determine how you sustained your injuries, and then properly assess your condition.

T’LEA: So while you were in there you thought you’d poke around and see what I’d been up to the past four years?

ZADOK: Images, thoughts, and feelings were inadvertently divulged during the meld. It is to be expected.

T’LEA: You violated me, you bastard!

Zadok flinched at her sharp tongue. Her words and hatred often had a way of cutting straight through him.

ZADOK: The situation you created for yourself on N’Dallis was life threatening – had I not initiated the meld we would still be there and you would still be in great danger.

She scoffed and twisted around at him.

T’LEA: What do you want, a thank you? Gee, thanks for saving my life and holding me hostage, drenhole!

With a slight frown, Zadok shook his head and backed away from the table. She was too far gone to rationalize with. Logic and wisdom were not found here. It was sad.

ZADOK: I had hoped your logical Vulcan side would prevail in this matter, but I see that it does not yet exist. I will not fail you in this manner again.

He nodded towards Shev, who then placed his finger tips on T’Lea’s head and began to apply pressure while chanting in his native tongue.

T’LEA: No! Don’t you do this to me!

She screamed. It felt like Shev’s fingertips were drilling holes straight through her skull and into the soft tissue of her brain. Zadok flickered with emotion at the sounds of his niece writhing in agony. It was killing him to do this, but he knew that if he did not, T’Lea would continue down a lonely path of death and destruction.

ZADOK: The more you resist the more painful it will be.

The Ullian pressed his fingers harder and grimaced at the fight T’Lea was putting up.

ZADOK: Shev is preparing your mind to be more receptive to Vulcan discipline and the logic of science. Certain memories will be rewritten to facilitate your rehabilitation into normal society – other memories will be completely blocked. He has assured me that scarring of the soft tissues will be minimal if you do not fight the process.

Still screaming and fighting, T’Lea managed a string of swear words directed at Zadok. Shev obviously didn’t expect her to be this strong willed and he had to stop for a moment to regroup, and then begin again. It was even more excruciating the second time.

ZADOK: When the procedure is complete, your personality and behavior will be altered enough so that you will have a second chance at life.

T’LEA: I’ll kill you! I WILL KILL YOU BOTH!!!

Unable to take much more of the screaming, Zadok turned and left the room. His only consolation was that she would not remember any of this, and then they both could start over, mistake free, on Vulcan.