"Flamboyantly Failing at Following"
[previous "Frightful"]

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Setting: MASQUERADE DREAMS, Inner decks
Stardate: 30152.0430

After seeing the First Officer make a rapid retreat, Doctor Doyanne turn to face the motionless OPS officer.

"Jayson?"

He knew that Shar'El had not done it on purpose. All she had done was to relay what she had seen in the mind of the man she had been after. Looking into other's memories being what a Ullian did by natural design. The problem was that the simple mentioning of explosions had been enough to trigger something in Jayson that he had not expected.  After countless hours of psychological sessions and the aid offered by Counselor Dalziel, he had truly hoped that this part of his life had been something out of reach.  Yes it would forever hurt and cause him pain, but he had done so much to being able t live in the present instead of reliving that moment over and over again.

"Jayson?"

Lillie came to stand directly in front of the OPS officer, trying to draw his attention on her instead of on whatever had been on his mind.  From getting no reaction, the CMO finally got a single blink of his eyes, followed by another a few seconds later.

"Sorry. I was just lost in a memory. The one where I lost..."

The Doctor quickly placed one of her fingers on his lips to stop him from saying what she knew would only be painful.  The gesture had also served to show him that he had not been alone and that she understood.

"Do you want to go back to your room?"

The question had been asked out of kindness, the Doctor trying her best to help in whatever way she could.  The truth thought had been that she had hoped he would refuse, showing the CMO that he had indeed taken the necessary steps to place his painful past behind him.

"No. I think it would be better if we went after whoever it was that put Shar'El in that state.  Maybe we can figure out what happened and find a way to help."

Lillie nodded her approval of the plan as well as the happiness in Jayson's attitude. Given what he had suffered through, it would have been easy for him to fall back into the dark abyss of his past ignoring the thrills and challenges of the present.

Moving as fast as they could without actually running, the two undercover officers did their best to retrace the man's path.  When unable to seeing him ahead, they would turn down the closest corridor having expected that he had done the same and hoping to see him further down.  So it was with great surprise that after turning another such corner the two of them came face to face with the man that they had been after.

"Looking for me were you?

The Rutian's words had not been pleasant one leaving Lillie stunned and unable to move for several seconds.  When Lillie finally managed to look to her side to see what Jayson had been up to, she found him frozen in place, his gaze lost in the eyes of the raven haired woman he knew as Shae.

"Jayson, can you hear me?"

Lillie quickly asked hoping to avoid the man from falling once again under the woman's spell, but the smile that appeared on the woman's lips made it perfectly clear; she had been in control of Jayson once again.

"Sorry sweetie, he's mine."

Her eyes and smile were all that he could see. Her tender sweet voice all that he could hear.  The voice in his head screamed for him to run away or even better still to strike out at the enchantress standing before him.  The more he gazed into her eyes though, the more he felt his strength being drained from him. All he could do was to stand there and wait for her to speak, to command him as she wished and to have him obey without hesitation or question.

Like a man falling into a bottomless pit, he felt his grasp on reality slipping from him leaving him powerless to resist her.  With a simple word from her lips he would lie for her, betray his friends and uniform but worst of all he knew that he would feel no remorse in doing so.  It was only a question of time before her hold on him became unbreakable.

For a split second he found himself wishing that the Doctor had brought along a hypospray to use on him, to severe the hold Shae had on him and save him from saying or doing something that he would sadly in time not even be able to regret.

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Jayson Sousa

Ensign Jayson Stark
Chief of Operations
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501