Mission 5 - It's All in Me Head

[Amanda Rose]

T'Pani, a Vulcan cadet waited at spacedock for America to arrive. While there, she struck up a conversation with merchant, Timion Smythe who informed her that Captain Kelly Jean O'Connor was infamous. T'Pani was informed that O'Connor had her XO picked out for her and she had a temper that would make ears burn. The speaker also told T'Pani that he believed that O'Connor was mentally unstable. Timion and T'Pani haggled over the price of a ring but no sale was consummated.

When America arrived at Starbase One, she granted 72 hours of shore leave. She and Sinclair escorted Jamison off the ship and O'Connor looked at all the cadets, annoyed at their eagerness. O'Connor then reported to Admiral Kent's office. Once there, O'Connor was introduced to her new Assistant Chief of Security, a Romulan named Lieutenant Macenta Serentis, "daughter" of Admiral Serentis. O'Connor opposed a Romulan's appointment to America and Kent told her that she had no choice. He then informed O'Connor that Young was retiring to a desk job and she would need a new XO. He also told her that because the Admiralty was impressed with her choices during the Huanni mission that they were giving her a chance at a diplomatic mission to Betazed, a planet that wanted to join the Federation. She was to report on and investigate this telepathic and empathic race of people.

T'Pani introduced herself to Wells and Wells said she should report to the Captain. T'Pani thought America was a cadet ship based on its age and appearance and Wells hastily informed T'Pani that she should not tell the Captain that.

T'Pani then met with O'Connor's Yeoman, James Mattison. Mattison did not believe that a cadet was assigned to America. She then called America antiquated and Mattison jumped down T'Pani's throat for that classification and told her to learn tact. She was assigned a temporary room as no orders had been received regarding a cadet being assigned to America. O'Connor got a call from Mattison regarding the unusual Vulcan, so she and Serentis went back to America to investigate.

First O'Connor informed Mattison that he was to get quarters for Serentis and informed him that if America could handle a Huanni, they certainly could handle a Romulan. Serentis, thinking that O'Connor was too serious, determined that her mission was to make O'Connor laugh out loud. Serentis told O'Connor that friends called her Mac.

They met T'Pani in her assigned room and looked at the orders. O'Connor asked Mac to investigate the orders if she did not mind starting early. She agreed. In response, T'Pani offered the Captain a dermal massage. Mac yelled at T'Pani that this was a first day not first date. T'Pani then claimed that she did not know who signed her orders to America, raising Mac and O'Connor's suspicion more. O'Connor then left T'Pani in Mac's hands to do with as she wished. She immediately sent T'Pani to the brig.

In the meantime, Brian moved to his new quarters to meet his new roommate. Inside, T'Pruk was meditating. Brian was surprised because he did not expect a co-ed relationship. T'Pruk was also surprised because she expected a Brianne Pendragon. She asked if Brian had an issue with the arrangement or error. Brian suggested rigging a sheet up to separate them but before any response could be had, America's alarm went off.

T'Pani escaped and then went to the controls of America and started depleting the ship of oxygen. Alarms went on all over spacedock and Mac went after T'Pani. She was stopped by America's security who did not know she was a member of the crew. A Caitan named Kah'tan stopped her and then called O'Connor back to the ship. O'Connor straightened out the mess and told Mac she had to investigate everything about T'Pani. Kah'tan and Mac made plans to go out after the shift.

Shortly thereafter, Pendragon ran into Mac and unlike anyone else, Brian asked Mac to see her credentials. After exchanging pleasantries, Mac invited Brian to a rodeo and told him to invite the crew in her home state of Texas.

Kah'tan then went out for drinks with Mac. They played pool and Kah'tan tried to take Mac back to bed but ended up only playing pool with her.

O'Connor then met with Jessie Kirk, explaining that Young would not be coming back. Jessie said that she hoped the new XO was not so thick headed. O'Connor responded that from what she could tell, the new XO could be a rather huge pain in the ass, lacks some diplomatic skills and had Klingon aggression tendencies; but one always knew where you stood with her. Jessie replied that she thought that was exactly what America needed and that she would get along with her fine. O'Connor answered that she would hope so since Jessie looked in the mirror at herself every day. Again they battled over the superiority of the Excelsiors and Jessie defended the America/Constitution classes. Kirk then was told about the Romulan security officer. Jessie said "once a Romulan always a Romulan" and the moment she screwed up, she would have her in the brig or off the ship. Later, they would toast her becoming XO. Jessie, knowing she was pregnant, initially refused a drink but O'Connor guilted her into one. O'Connor also suggested that Jessie marry a Klingon due to their similarities.

O'Connor went to once again meet with the Delaney family with the precise intention of luring Cian to America to bed him. She informed Tegau about the cadet and Romulan now on America. She also told Tegau that she promoted Jessie to XO which meant that she had to replace her 2XO. She asked Tegau for suggestions and Tegau suggested Wells, Pendragon or Sinclair. O'Connor shot back that neither Sinclair or Pendragon were heads of staff yet and Wells was still intimidated by her. Tegau stated that knowing O'Connor, she already had someone in mind. At dinner, O'Connor announced that Tegau was being promoted to first lieutenant, would have to enroll in Command school and now would be O'Connor's 2XO. Tegau was left speechless for the first time since she was an Ensign. After dinner, O'Connor took Cian to the ship and Cian rejected her advances, infuriating O'Connor.

The next day, Tegau sat with Mac for breakfast. She revealed that she was rescued at 7 after a battle, that she was from Texas, loves horses, the color purple, has a size ten shoe and her pet peeves are anything that annoys her. They then went horseback riding at the Delaney farm.

Later, Mac met T'Pruk in the cafeteria for dinner. T'Pruk was confused by a Romulan being on board but learned Mac was adopted by Admiral Serentis at 7 years of age after a battle with the Romulans. She considered herself Texan ever since. Mac said T'Pruk should be pleased to see a Romulan in Federation uniform to which T'Pruk responded she was neither pleased nor displeased because Vulcans do not function off emotion, only logic. Mac answered that giving into emotion frees her. T'Pruk offered to teach Mac logic, meditation and purging herself of emotions. Mac said she would accept two of the three. When Mac invited T'Pruk to the rodeo, T'Pruk found the practice to be barbaric.

Delaney then met with Kirk who revealed her last cycle was prior to the time travel mission. She did not know how she got pregnant and Jessie confessed that she was scared. Delaney implied that Jessie could terminate the pregnancy but Jessie took offense at that thought. Jessie was told that she could work as normal until a couple of weeks prior to her due date.

A hearing was then held regarding T'Pani's behavior and her reason to sabotage America. O'Connor and Mac testified but during testimony they learned that for some reason there were no recordings, logs, or videos supporting Mac and O'Connor's version of facts. Furthermore, Delaney's scans showing that T'Pani had something similar to Bendii Syndrome were not there. Rather scans of a normal Vulcan were in their place. Therefore, all charges were dismissed. T'Pani approached the Captain and Mac advised T'Pani to stay away. Mac told O'Connor that if T'Pani got near her again, she would rule T'Pani suicidal and a danger to herself and put her in the brig. This forced O'Connor to laugh, causing her to lose her bet with Mac.

Pendragon entered his and T'Pruk's room, finding the lights off, the room solely illuminated by a candle. Pendragon tried to tip toe past but T'Pruk heard him and invited Pendragon to meditate with her. However, as Pendragon tried to concentrate, his thoughts wandered to his attraction to Mac and the issues with T'Pani. Pendragon committed to studying meditation with T'Pruk more.

O'Connor, in the meantime canceled all shore leave for the engineering staff to repair T'Pani's damage. She wanted to leave Starbase One as quickly as possible. After canceling their shore leave, she started drinking Romulan "Beer" with Mac. Wells joined them and they informed her about T'Pani, enraging Wells. The Chief Engineer then told O'Connor they were not leaving for five days and O'Connor yelled at Wells, stating that they would be leaving tomorrow and she needed to perform a miracle.

O'Connor left the party, now quite drunk. Mac insisted that she continue the drinking contest but O'Connor refused, her Irish accent now coming through loud and clear. Mac tried putting her arm around O'Connor and she ducked out of it. Still walking the Captain down the corridor, the Captain cried as she insisted that she be left alone.

The next day, O'Connor and Jessie talked on the bridge. Jessie expressed her distrust of Mac since she was placed there by an Admiral. Both stated they did not trust T'Pani. When Jessie asked O'Connor when she wanted to leave, she said, "Yesterday." Jessie quipped that she was not interested in time travel and O'Connor responded that if Jessie mentioned those words again, she would personally phaser her.

T'Pruk met with T'Pani and T'Pani stated that she was feeling emotions. T'Pruk suggested that T'Pani meet with Delaney to look into this problem as well as the fact that no squadron existed as T'Pani claimed did. T'Pani insisted on a Vulcan doctor, but America had none. T'Pruk met with Delaney about these concerns and made Delaney promise when T'Pani was examined that T'Pruk be present. T'Pani also believed that she was confined to quarters by Mac but Mac insisted that was not true. T'Pruk concluded that T'Pani was likely suffering from a mental disorder.

Before the rodeo, O'Connor caught up with Mac and told her that she saw nothing last night. Mac told O'Connor she had a pretty accent and O'Connor revealed that it only came out when she was upset, tipsy or both. Mac assured O'Connor nothing would appear on the Ticker Tape and that Engineering, including Wells had been working around the clock to meet O'Connor's demands. Mac revealed that she too had helped with repairs (including a cute post where she helps Pendragon (#701 on the yahoo group)).

At the rodeo, Tegau and Ainsley Delaney cheered on Mac. Pendragon tried to get his eyes on her but a pretty girl was thrown off an animal and into him. The woman introduced herself as Mary Jo Redding. When Mary Jo learned that Pendragon was there to see Mac and had a crush on Mac, Mary Jo put a guilt trip on Brian and eventually coerced him into kissing her to keep her mouth shut about his crush on Mac.

Just before America left, now Junior Grade Lieutenant Ridika Meyers hailed America. She requested a transfer. O'Connor was shocked that she had not been promoted to Chief Engineer on another ship. Apparently she disobeyed an order regarding the ejection of the warp core of the Drifter and kept it intact without ejection. She was busted down to Junior Grade Lieutenant for disobeying a direct order. O'Connor told her to catch a cargo ship to meet the America at Betazed.

Once America left, O'Connor felt better. She called a briefing and explained that because of the Huanni mission, they were thought to be good negotiators. She advised everyone to keep their eyes and ears open and to report to her what they learned or found. A common expression of concern was shielding their thoughts from the Betazoids. Jessie stated that they likely had prohibitions against reading unwilling subjects but Delaney responded with doubts as to trustworthiness. T'Pruk noted that she had telepathic abilities and nobody distrusted her. Jessie stated that Vulcans are touch telepaths and not as much of a threat.

O'Connor again asked if anyone could determine a way to block the Betazoids from reading their mind. Wells suggested implanting a chip that acted like white noise. Delaney said that as long as it did not interfere with normal neural processes, it could work. O'Connor decided to lock down the ship's systems with Wells and that if any tampering occurred, to shut it all down but no chips would be implanted in anyone's brains. However, Delaney would work on a jamming device, just in case.

After the briefing, Delaney told Kirk privately that she believed Kirk's pregnancy was caused by parthenogenesis.

When Pendragon got back to his quarters, there was a message from Mary Jo telling him that if he did not respond in 12 hours, that she would tell Mac about the kiss. Pendragon responded with 15 minutes to spare and they conversed.

Despite Mary Jo's promise, she contacted Mac and told Mac that she planned on keeping Pendragon as her boyfriend and to look after him for her. Mac then forwarded the communication to Pendragon warning him of who he got involved with. Pendragon wondered why the women he liked hardly even
noticed him, but the weirdos homed in on him like iron filings to an electro-magnet. Pendragon and Mac met and Mac admitted she liked Pendragon and invited him out for drinks.

Tegau met with the Captain to find out why the Captain was acting so angrily towards her. O'Connor revealed that she thought Tegau knew that Cian refused her and it was the first guy ever to refuse her. She also stated that she expected command, whereas Tegau did not. O'Connor further stated she could never see becoming an admiral because she could never take a desk job. She then discussed the unusual marriage rituals of the Betazoids where everyone came to the ceremony naked, calling them hedonistic and barbaric but likely leading to a good time.

O'Connor and Wells met for breakfast the next morning and O'Connor confided to Wells that she did not trust the Betazoids or T'Pani but she could not figure out the problem because not "enough of the game had unfolded." Wells stated that the one good thing that came out of leaving earlier was she got to meet Mac and learned to trust her from the assistance.

When the ship orbited Betazoid, they were greeted by Ambassador Xenobia Kartikaya on the view screen. O'Connor stated that she did not care for winter. Xenobia looked as if she had the wind taken from her sails and O'Connor was shocked that she may have surprised a telepath, causing her to wonder if they could only do it with their own race. Xenobia reaffirmed that Betazoids were prohibited from reading other's minds without permission and arranged for them to meet in a tropical location instead.

O'Connor, Delaney and Kirk all beamed down to Betazed to meet with Xenobia Kartikaya. Wells was left in charge on America. A girl named Lwaxanna passed by the party and told Jessie congratulations.

That evening, O'Connor confronted Jessie about her pregnancy. O'Connor also was shocked that Jessie was a virgin and found that Jessie did not have many urges when it came to men, further shocking O'Connor. Jessie claimed this was her own business but O'Connor insisted that all crew and personnel, including that of Jessie's unborn child were her business and this might affect Jessie's future away team assignments.

In Engineering, T'Pani wandered in and was met by Drak'nah and Pendragon. T'Pani pulled a phaser on Pendragon and held him captive and took him to Transporter Room 2. She put the teddy bear on some consoles. Pendragon called to the bridge for assistance but T'Pani was beamed off the ship. Nearly simultaneously, the teddy bear exploded and engineering was left a mess. After the explosion, Wells had two shuttles tow the America out of orbit and into space. Wells then looked at Mattison and asked how she might deal with the Captain's temper once the ship was safe. In the aftermath, Mac was killed by a collapsed roof.

T'Pani found herself in a mountainside on Betazed and was greeted by a Romulan. She informed T'Pani that her memory had been altered and that the ring was a method of communicating with T'Pani. She instructed T'Pani to project the picture of a cybernetic male wearing XO pins before O'Connor the next time that T'Pani saw O'Connor.

After breakfast, the next day Xenobia granted America permission to send crew down to Betazed for shore leave and R & R.

Jessie went on a tour of Betazed's manufacturing facilities after breakfast. However, O'Connor saw the cybernetic man, Roger Frankson, she chased him and then found unconsciousness. When she woke, she was alone with T'Pani, stripped of her communication devices. T'Pani explained that she implanted the image of the man, Roger Frankson, in O'Connor's mind.

Meanwhile, Caitan Ensign Shikiri and Pendragon beamed to the mountain area, searching for T'Pani. Shikiri called Clarabelle disgusting but Pendragon defended her. They reached an overhang and then fell onto a cushion. They were greeted by a female who already knew their names. Whatever they thought about appeared before them. When Pendragon pulled out a tricorder, the Romulan pulled out a disruptor, making Pendragon drop it. Pendragon asked what the woman did with T'Pani and she informed Brian that T'Pani had never been herself. Another woman started talking telepathically with Pendragon, mocking him. Because he defended Shikiri, he was strapped into a chair to learn his new future.

Brian, however, saw the Captain first. He tried to address the Captain but a Romulan slapped him in the face to quiet him, complaining that the Captain's business was hers alone. O'Connor tried to tell the Romulan to let Pendragon be. She would order him to remain quiet because Pendragon followed orders well and the Romulan laughed saying that would make Camille's treatment all the more effective. O'Connor attacked the Romulan, felling the Romulan and ordering Pendragon to run. He tried but Camille caused Pendragon to feel blinding pain in his legs and he fell to the ground. She determined to have more fun with him. She then told Pendragon that when he would wake, he would believe that he had a sordid affair with Shikiri after an avalanche sealed them in a cave. The tricorder would be altered to prove that it happened, as well as finding no trace of the captain. Brian woke up, kissed Shikiri on the forehead and asked to return with her to America since they could not find the Captain. When he returned, Pendragon was a ladies' man, confident and secure. The old hesitant, insecure Pendragon was gone.

However, by this time America had regained its warp capacity through the efforts of Ridika Myers.

When O'Connor was awaken by T'Pani and the Romulan, O'Connor learned that Camille was a special Betazoid. She could send telepathic thoughts, visions, and sensations. She also learned that T'Pani was bred to do the same things. Apparently the Romulans had captured a Vulcan in pon farr over a hundred years ago who bred with a Romulan. Those offspring were carefully selected and bred with captured Betazoids, resulting in individuals like T'Pani. T'Pani then contacted O'Connor telepathically and asked for help. O'Connor promised she would if she got her out of captivity. That night, T'Pani tried to get O'Connor and her out but failed. Both were told they would cooperate or die. T'Pani was told she would be sent for reeducation on the following day. However, T'Pani was able to get a message to T'Pruk on the America.

After Jessie's long day, she called on the communicator to check in with O'Connor but received no response, so she asked the ship to try and hail her. Tegau had been enjoying herself visiting the medical facilities and learning social norms for Betazoids. However, Tegau also could not find the Captain. However, she found Jessie for breakfast the next day. Nobody could get through to her.

Jessie and Tegau contacted America and sent out search teams via shuttles since the transporters were not working. Tegau immediately headed to Xenobia who told Delaney that the Captain had been kidnapped and herself incapacitated. The Captain was calling out to someone that Xenobia could not see. She said that O'Connor was calling out to someone named, Roger.

Kirk was then told by the kidnappers that they had O'Connor and they would have to comply with their demands if they wanted O'Connor returned safe and sound. T'Pruk was sent down to Betazed to try and locate T'Pani and the Captain. After sometime, Pendragon and Myers were able to locate the Captain's bio signs from the America. Myers then found herself facing the other side of a phaser from the Captain's Yeoman, James Mattison who revealed that he had her transferred off America. Mattison beamed both of them off of America and to the Romulan. She complained that she should have killed Myers but Mattison explained that firing a phaser on America would have set off the internal alarms. He then stunned Myers after revealing that he had been in love with the Captain for years and this was his way of getting her to himself.

T'Pani and O'Connor continued to try to escape. T'Pani continued trying to contact T'Pruk and Camille revealed herself as T'Pani's true mother. Myers was thrown in the same room with O'Connor and T'Pani. O'Connor told Myers that they had to escape and prevent T'Pani's mind from being wiped. Camille then came down to take the Captain away while Myers and T'Pani were arguing with one another. T'Pani took some scrap metal, threw it at Camille who deftly stepped out of the way but allowed the springs to strike O'Connor, knocking her out.

T'Pani and Myers then MacGuivered some bed springs to short out the forcefield, escaped their quarters and started searching for the Captain. They ran into Camille who instructed T'Pani to tell Myers to return to her room so T'Pani could be reprogrammed. A Romulan strode up to Camille and told her to just take T'Pani and she would deal with the human. T'Pani became docile and left with Camille, leaving Myers alone with the Romulan. The Romulan wondered aloud what to do with Myers. Myers took a pipe and charged the Romulan who shot Myers' arm with a disruptor. She informed Myers that disruptors had wonderful anti-coagulant properties and now, sadly, Myers would bleed to death. She tried to run away but the Romulan shot Myers again in the leg. The Romulan then beamed away.

Camille took T'Pani to the reeducation room. There, T'Pani could see the Captain strapped and bound into a chair. Her eyes were closed and her teeth grit. The chair was facing upwards. The Captain begged T'Pani to fight Camille and not allow her brain to be reprogrammed. T'Pani tried killing herself but Camille saved her and erased her memories. She then woke the Captain, who she had psycicly put to sleep and T'Pani. T'Pani did not know who O'Connor was. Camille told T'Pani that O'Connor was her Captain and that they needed to take Mattison and beam back to America. Camille then beamed away.

T'Pruk started her own investigation on America and discussed with Pendragon his search. She determined that Pendragon was not himself because when he spoke of the search for the Captain, his eyes went blank and his responses seemed recorded. Also, the fact that the tricorder broke seemed rather odd because they were not usually so fragile. Pendragon demanded a scan of his own brain patterns, given the mounting evidence that he was not himself. However, when nobody in sickbay attended to him, he left.

In the meantime, American was able to find Myers fading life signals and they beamed her up. Delaney started working on her and Myers said they had to go back and get the Captain.

T'Pruk learning that Pendragon was not in sickbay called to security to escort Pendragon back to sickbay as she believed he was a threat to himself and the ship. Surprisingly to Pendragon, Jade Drak'nah had transferred to security and started escorting Pendragon to sickbay. Shikiri, hearing the alert, also headed to sickbay, angry than a mere Ensign would accuse her Junior Grade Lieutenant of such horrible atrocities. Stroking Brian's hair, she asked if her mate, Brian, was alright. T'Pruk arrived and explained why she believed that Pendragon, Shikiri and the tricorder were inaccurate. The longer that Shikiri was near Pendragon, the more his feline allergies acted up. He now believed T'Pruk and asked to be "fixed." Shikiri initially protested the tests but saw that she was likely to be sedated if she did not agree and relented.

What Delaney found, astonished her. Both Shikiri and Pendragon had implanted memories that came from psychic traumas inflicted upon them. Worse, the parts of the mind associated with the memory seemed to have been branched so that there was a disassociation with their normal personalities. Surgery would a risky option because of the synaptic entanglement of the two personalities. Delaney knew that a mind meld could have a chance of sorting the two out, perhaps quicker and possibly combined with surgery, could disentangle and sever the implanted personality permanently.

T'Pruk mind melded with Pendragon and the womanizing Pendragon asked T'Pruk to dance with him while a voice from the darkness stated that T'Pruk did not desire that. The voice from the darkness tried to encourage T'Pruk to go and save the Captain. T'Pruk decided to take the dance and told the womanizing Pendragon to disburse. It disappeared, leaving a tired Pendragon alone with T'Pruk in Pendragon's mind. Pendragon said that T'Pruk could now call him Brian and he relayed the true memories to T'Pruk, including the coordinates to find the Captain.

Jessie, Hemd and a security team readied to beam down just after O'Connor watched a Romulan War Bird cloak and leave Betazed. Before the away team could beam, O'Connor came on the screen and explained the base was about to detonate. They were beamed up and a special diplomatic envoy came to relieve the America.

At a banquet, thereafter, T'Pani was promoted to Acting Ensign. Myers was re-promoted to full Lieutenant and Assistant Chief Engineer. T'Pruk was promoted to Junior Grade Lieutenant. Jade Drak'nah confided to Myers that she transferred from Engineering because she was uncomfortable being near Pendragon because new women kept ending up in his arms. Myers discovered that Drak'nah was likely jealous and a transfer was not going to solve the problem for her and left the door open for a transfer back to engineering.