Mind Palace

Posted on 03/15/2022 @ 3:08pm by Commander Aer Feshau-Patton & Captain Cara Letsul

1,914 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mini Mission: Lighting Up Shadows
Location: Cargo Bay, Deck 175-A (Inside Aer's Mind)
Timeline: After 'Blink Once'

Aer found herself in a dark, murky environment. She half recognised it as being the corridor outside the cargo bay she'd went to investigate but it wasn't right.

On the walls were random wordings, 'Jack', 'Tia', 'Poseidon', and some with mixed up spellings of words that did not make much sense. They sat aside the doors, and on the console panels that littered the walls.

Aer felt a sensation on her stomach and brought a hand up to show blood, but she felt no pain. She was quite confused as to what was going on.

Cara had taken over holding Aer's hand pulling up a chair to sit beside her injured friend. With the permission given by Aer, Cara made the connection with her mind. Her breathing going into one of a meditative state. She subconsciously shivered, as she could feel the pain that Aer was feeling, her empathic ability coming into play. Cara lessened that sensation to something more like a slight nagging headache. She found herself next to Aer, in her mental mindscape form holding Aer's hand,

"Ahhh we are now in your mind, your memories." Cara spoke softly. "I need you to tell me, to show me, what transpired. Stefan wasn't able to figure out what you were trying to say."

There was a pull, Aer felt it as she leant a bit to her side. As she turned she felt a presence in her hand and looked over to see Cara next to her. She spoke, but no words came out. Frustrated by this she let go of Cara's hand within the almost ethereal corridor. She walked towards a wall panel, there were slowly floating pieces in the air, much like dust or particles dancing in the wind.

Aer pressed a button on the wall and a loud klaxon fired. The air was filled by the red alert sound as it blasted its way from environment to eardrum. There was the sound of air rushing back, but in fact it was sound returning to what felt like a vacuum for Aer.

Now silence returned, but she could hear Cara, feel her more. "This isn't right?" she asked. "You weren't here..." she brushed her hands over a jumbled up word. As she did so it began to rearrange to form the words 'Cargo Bay, Deck 175-A'.

"I know I wasn't there-here. Show me what happened, this is the only way right now to find out who hurt you. And what sort of warning you were tyring to tell Stefan. Play the scenes and let's walk through them." Cara gently responded.

She stepped away from Aer to look around, "Cargo Bay, Deck 174-A? Take us there Aer." Cara turned to look at Aer. Walking back to place a hand upon Aer's shoulder. "Or are we already here?"

They spun. Much like how your eyesight would be if you spun too fast on a merry-go-round but without the dizziness.

Now they were behind cargo crates. Aer looked up and saw herself looking back down at herself from the ceiling. Cara was there too, the ceiling was a copy of the floor they were on. She shook her head and the ceiling returned to normal.

"I came here... why did I come here?" she asked herself out loud. "I got a... a tip? About illegal... something..."

In the background muffled talking could be heard. Words that were not the common tongue of Aer's people.

Cara tried to figure out what the language was in the background, listening closely to what they were saying, she knew several languages and perhaps she could decipher what was being said. She went over the languages, that she knew. Was it Klingon? Orion? Cara was quiet as she sought to listen in.

There was a flash, almost like lightning but it filled the whole space. Aer rubbed her eyes, the sound of electricity in the back of her mine dubbed the voices but still she tried.

There was a confident Human, he was talking in Terran so it was easy to follow. He spoke of being in security, working for the quartermaster. Something about quantum torpedoes.

Then a bellowed laugh that filled the whole cavernous room. It seemed to bounce, to echo around the containers so loud you felt as if your eardrums may burst from pressure.

A large Klingon appeared from behind a container, his larger entourage following. Hers breathing began to quicken, but why? She was safe, a considerable distance away. Confusion settled, she wasn't sure why she felt fear.

Cara caught Aer's worry and fear, she could feel her own pulse quickn and her own heart beating rapidly. She reached out and touched Aer's shoulder giving it a squeeze, "You are not alone for this memory. Just breathe." her voice low and gentle. Having these sorts of memories, it was trying for someone to relive them and caused those that have them to once again be in the moment of when they faced trauma. She also noticed the reference of Quantum Torpedo and, a human security working with Klingons, were they making a deal of some sort?

Cara's hand on her shoulder made her jump. Aer had forgotten she was with her. In all this she still felt alone, with no control.

Further away the talking had became boastful, the arrogance of Humans never did surprise her, nor the aggression of Klingons. The Human asking for more money and then the Klingons slicing him up.

Aer looked to her right and saw a figure, a woman of slight build. She went to warn her but no sound came, and it was too late. The small kick of a discarded item caused a rallying sound around the room. The figure now gone Aer felt a compulsion to move.

Loud footsteps began to approach. A shadow began to form.
The Klingons began to shout.

Klingons, the steps coming closer to where she and Aer were at. Something about this, was triggering a memory of Cara's. She had to clamp it down, this was Aer's memories she can not allow her own to bleed into this. She had to see what happened, or do they really need to. "Aer, you do not need to go through the whole memory, it can be stopped right here. "

Aer noticed an aura form around Cara for a moment, a brief glimpse into something strange... well stranger. Aer nodded and opened her mouth as a hand sprung from a solid container and lifted her by the neck. Maniacal laughter could be heard. The glint of a blade in the lights of the bay and the whoosh of its movement towards Aer's stomach.

The yelp from Aer as it sliced into her caused the room to shift. A light so blinding you'd think a sun shone directly in their faces, but it wasn't the sun...

Cara gasped as a memory buried beneath others sprang to her mind, that slice of the knife sent her sort of back in time. It brought up the memory of Fernandez and T'mar. Fernandez being a deep cover agent. The killing of his wife by Klingons, while taking a small break at a seedy space port. This was from a report, a very personal log that had found its way to her counseling desk. The emotions from that personal log had sent her reeling. And it still did. She sank to her knees just to get herself more centred.

Aer dropped to the ground, again her wound bleeding profusely but the pain not being as bad as she remembered. She held her wound, crimson blood escaping through her fingers, and placed a hand on Cara's shoulder.

A little breathlessly, clearly in some form of mental pain, she said "Cara, are you alright?". Weak words, but still they were said with genuine worry with no regard for her own. "I felt pain... from you..." she added being a bit confused. She was no empath.

Cara could feel the pain of Aer, "Just hold on for a second" the dark haired woman gasped out. Then she paused as she saw the hand of T'mar touch the temple of Fernandez. Scene switched to that of Fernandez lying injured in front of what looked to be an ancient gateway, him bleeding from severe wounds. Cara feeling the pain from his injuries, tears were streaming down her cheeks. T'mar's ghost asking Cara to take her into her mind. Cara doing so, her being there when Fernandez died, then his return to life.

"I'm sorry Aer." Cara making an effort to turn off the memories. Then a woman with long golden hair with tints of copper appeared almost out from nowhere, her ears were slightly pointed, her beauty almost ethereal, her eyes were a brilliant emerald green. She knelt down beside Cara, "Shhh... let your head rest easy." kissing Cara's forehead.

"Ione??" Cara gasped out, her emotional pain disappearing.

The woman smiled slightly then turned to Aer, placed a finger against her own lips, then faded away.

Aer had no idea what she had just seen. All she knew was that it wasn't from her memories. She was sure in her short 74 years that she hadn't faced these two beings before. And the golden haired woman, she'd have remembered her for sure.

There felt like an undeniable force pushing this pageantry, this memory. Aer moved towards Cara and wiped the tears from her face with the cuff of her sleeve. "Are you okay?" She winced, "What in the hells was that? Who were they?"

"The man you saw, was my former love interest, his dead wife T'mar." pointing towards the two she had named, "And the woman whom you just witnessed, was Ione." Cara said with a shaky breath, "I am sorry, my memories leaked into yours, just that...what happened to you triggered the memories that I thought had been blocked, and buried."

Aer grimaced as she gave Cara a one armed tight squeeze, an attempt at comfort. "Sorry, my minds a bit of a mess... Guess ours both are..." she had no idea, and why would she. If Cara had these buried then she too wouldn't have known they'd surface.

In the background the sound of a shuttle taking off could be heard, but not seen. As Aer had lost consciousness at the time of their departure this was a true representation of the end of her memory. The dream began to fritz, like a bad tape in an old vhs machine. Aer found herself twitching, her head making some involuntary movements as the scene began to teeter out. "Cara... what's happening?" She asked, worried that this was her dying.

"It is time for me to back out of your mind to let them finish their job, you are not dying but you were injured very badly, of course you already know of this. And yes, our minds do have their jumbled mess to work through. Thank you for the comfort, and you get some rest." Cara withdrawing from Aer's mind.

Aer watched as Cara phased out of her mind. It was an eerie sensation, being inside your own mind like she was. Light enveloped her and was replaced with different surroundings.

Her eyes flickered, opened slightly. She saw Stefan, the voices still muffled but she could tell he was quizzing Cara on what happened.

---

Lt. Commander Aer Feshau
Chief Intelligence Officer
Poseidon Station

Commander Cara Letsul
Poseidon Operations Commander
Chief Counselor

 

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