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"Memories"
[previous post was "Strength of Heart" from the verbosely talented Jessica]
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Setting: SPHINX, Command Deck
Stardate: 30148.0845

Shar'El held with hesitation the hand of Sonja while the ILO tried her best to comply with the task that Doctor Doyanne had given her.  How was she expected to keep the CEO both awake and with her thoughts on something others than the pain that had likely been coursing through every cell in her body?

"Everything will be alright," Shar'El said nervously, glancing to the other side of the Command Deck thinking that Seska or even Eve would have been a much better person to be doing this instead of her.

"Let me guess, you always wanted to be a motivational speaker," Sonja said in return, suddenly clenching onto the hand of the ILO with a grip born of excruciating pain.

"Try to keep her from moving," Doctor Doyanne snapped, "She needs to be stabilized and I can't have her flailing about, since sedation is not an option right now, you need to keep her steady."

The first thought that crossed the ILO's mind had been to knock out the red haired woman, at least that way she would stop moving as well end the need for any casual chatting.  Since that had obviously not been a valid option, Shar'El thought of something else to do, something that would keep the CEO calm, awake and most important quiet.

The ability to look into another's mind and explore their memories had been an ability unique to the Ullians, but this required time and a direct line of sight to be accomplished.  Surface memories, those brought up by the person themselves were easy to pick up, and required little effort from the observer, but deeper memories, those hidden deep inside a person'a mind, were not so easily reached.  With the CEO only a breath away, and her own mind distracted with dealing with her condition, Shar'El figured that this had been the best available way to achieve the final goal.

Sonja felt her mind and memories open as if someone had reached in to scan them all, getting only glimpses of the most personal and private moments of her life.  Powerless to control the flow of her own memories, the CEO watched as events, some separated by years, flew by.

The family picnic at English Bay Beach with her older brother Stephen and younger sister Tiffany. That had been one of the rare moments when the entire family had been together including her grandparents, the sunset over the mountains beyond the water had always been one of her favorite memories.  The gentle waves on the water seemed to move in slow motion, allowing her to take in the sight with even more detail then when she had been there originally.  For a brief moment Sonja even felt as if someone had been there, standing next to her in this memory, but that had been impossible.

The natural scenery of the beach was suddenly replaced by a more recent memory, one that she had actually recalled moments before the crash.  Starfleet Academy had introduced the redhead to many different people and races each possessing a wide range of interest and ideals.  B'Vorkah had been one of the more interesting fellow Cadets even though the Klingon's ways had been worlds apart from her own.  How many times had she sent her boyfriend of the moment to the infirmary?  Many had thought of the exotic woman as a prize to be conquered only to find out in the most brutal of ways that she had not been one to be pushed around or taken for granted.

The next memory to anchor itself into her mind had been the Engineer's own first meeting with the ANUBIS' Avatar. The purple haired android had made a lasting impression with the ship's CEO filling her thoughts with ideas and plans that made ANI as close to a friend as Sonja had hoped to have on her first tour of duty on board the Intel ship.

Without any explanation, Sonja suddenly found herself standing in a white void without any walls, ceiling or even a floor for her to see. The emptiness had been complete and yet it had not left her feeling lost or even uncomfortable.  As her gaze locked onto a single distant point beyond the emptiness, the red haired woman felt a familiar sensation, one that she had not experienced since then, many years ago.

The memory of the event had been pushed back to the farther reaches of her mind, blocked and buried by whatever she could come up with.  Sonja stood in the middle of the emptiness unable to even begin to fight as she felt the memory of that event come closer. There had been nowhere for her to run, nowhere for her to hide, all that she could do was to wait for the memory to overtake her, despite her efforts to never have to deal with this again. 

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Tiffany Reeve

Ensign Shar'El
Intel Liaison Officer
USS ANUBIS