Inside the gorns heads

Posted on Tue Jun 2nd, 2020 @ 8:54am by Ensign Lunara Hol & Commander Sthilg

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Lunara's Office
965 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Sthilg wasn't in a good mood as he waited outside the counselor's office. A few of his own staff had passed by and he'd managed to brush them off with a scheduled check-up, but he could tell they were concerned about him. Still, he needed to get this seen to. He was the chief MD of this ship and if he was compromised he needed to get it seen to.

Lunara stepped out of her office a few minutes before the scheduled time and quickly settled her gaze on the massive Gorn. He was hard to miss. "Ah, you must be Doctor Sthilg," she said with a smile. "Please, come in! I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

" No, you haven't lept me waiting. It's good to sssee you. Thank you for ssseeing me at sssuch ssshot notice. " The gorn said politely.

"Don't worry about it, it's my pleasure." Lunara smiled at him. "Come in, let's see what I can do for you."

" Thank you. " The gorn said as he walked in and waited " I'm terribly sssorry for bothering you with thisss, but I've not been able to get thisss out of my mind." He said even with his reptilian vocal pattern the concern was noticeable in his voice. " It'sss jussst that during the promotion ceremony I ssswear i could sssee my wife."

"Don't worry about it, that's what I'm here for." She followed him in and closed the door. "You say you saw your wife? I assume she's not on the ship then. Could you see her directly? Out of the corner of your eye? Or something else?" She took a seat behind her desk and gestured for him to do the same.

The gorn was silent for a while before he replied. The pain in his voice was visible even from one of his species. " My wife has been dead for over two hundred and nine yearsss, yet I could see her looking at me in the crowd. Clear asss the lassst day I held her."

"...I'm sorry." She looked upset - even if it was over two centuries ago, it still probably seemed insensitive. Lunara had never seen an upset Gorn before - even if she didn't know how to read all the subtle cues on his face, she could still see how much pain he was in. She paused for a few moments, thinking the whole thing over. "What... what was she doing?"

" Jussst looking ssstraight at me. One sssecond ssshe was there then sssomeone walked in front of her and ssshe had vanished." The doctor replied honestly.

Lunara nodded slowly, thinking it over. "And... was there anything or anyone where she was standing before?" She didn't know what could be causing this, better to try all avenues.

" No jussst empty ssspace." the gorn said as he rubbed the top of his head.

"Let's take a step back, if that's all right." She leaned forward a bit. "Has anything like this ever happened before?"

The gorn shook his head. " I only sssee her in my dreamsss along with are daughter. "

"And... your daughter?" She was uncomfortable bringing it up, as she most likely knew the answer, but she didn't see what else she could do. "Is she still with us?"

" Ssshe wasss ssstill born. No matter what I did ssshe just wouldn't ssstart breathing. " The gorn replied weakly. " Her mother dies giving birth to her."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know..." She looked away for a second. But he wasn't here for sympathy, he was here to get fixed up. "And... have you been thinking about them more, recently?"

" I think about them every day, but no, no more than i usually do." the lizard replied.

Lunara was puzzled. What could be causing this? "I see... well, something has obviously changed, unless you've seen them before? Have you had any lifestyle changes recently?" Supernatural entities were another possibility... they'd run into many noncorporeal aliens capable of influencing thought aboard the Legacy, after all.

" None that I can think of. I had the computer run a full ssscan of my brain and it couldn't find anything wrong with me. Though we have encountered aliensss that can bypassss federation tech before." The gorn replied breathing n a few times to steady his nerves.

Lunara patted the hypospray under her desk, making sure it was still there in case he needed it. Probably not, but it never hurt to make sure. "Yes, they're not exactly rare in my experience either. It seems like a likely possibility to me, but I'd rather find something that I can treat."

" I underssstand. I have ssset up a few apointmentsss with my team to sssee if they can sssee anything I may have missed." the gron responded.

"I think that's a good idea," she nodded. "If it's all right, I'd like to prescribe you some anti-hallucinogens. Compounded with regular appointments, of course."

The gorn nodded. " I underssstand. I'll keep a log of any timesss i see her."

"Thank you, that would help me out too. Could you also note what you were doing and feeling at the time? It might help us narrow things down."

" Off courssse. any data can help." The big gorn replied.

Lunara nodded. "I think it would come in useful in our following sessions. This won't disappear right away, but if you keep seeing me, we can fix this."

" I hope ssso." the gorn said as he stood up. " Thank you for your time counselor."

"Always. Do you think you could see me next week?"

" Off courssse. I'll ssssssee you later." He said heading for the door.

"Take care of yourself." She smiled as she watched him go.

Lieutenant Commander Sthilg
Chief Medical Officer
USS Elysium.

Lieutenant J.G. Lunara Hol
Counselor
USS Elysium