A Lot Has Happened, How Do You Feel?

Posted on Sun Jan 11th, 2026 @ 8:54am by Lieutenant Commander Yy & Lieutenant Rune Thul

2,361 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Shoreleave [3-4]
Location: Yy's Counseling Office

Yy's assistant confirmed that her next appointment was with Lieutenant Thul, the Chief of Security and Tactical. She knew from his records that he was Betazoid nobility, and he had lost his parents in the war with the Dominion. Being the only son of a noble house who had lost so much in the war was plenty to start with from a psychological perspective, but to add all the uncertainty and surprises of their assignment here on Deep Space 13 meant she would have her work cut out for her.

She waited in her chair for the Lieutenant to arrive.

So glad to be out of Sickbay and back on duty, after an evaluation of course Rune was told. He could recall memories, details and knowledge like he always had. Maybe a little clearer thanks to the telepathically healing he'd undergone? He mused as he rounded the corner.

His evaluation was being conducted by Counsellor Yy, he'd not met her before and apprehensive. That's common for counselling. Rune knew all too well and tried to subdue the nerves as he came to her door. "Just breathe," he muttered. One of the common Betazoid phrases that his various trainers drummed into him over the years.

He took a breath in and let it out slowly. Rune reached out and tapped the call button, he adopted a slight smile and waited.

"Enter" Yy called out.

Rune walked in and came to a comfortable at ease stance. "Lieutenant Rune Thul reporting Commander." He greeted, a slight half smile on his face.

"Welcome, Lieutenant. I'm Counselor Yy. Thank you for joining me. If you'd like to adjust the decor to something else, please request it, the room is fitted with holoprojectors." Yy said with a smile, remaining in her seat.

"The furniture is real?" He asked and glanced around the room.

"It's a polyalloy support surface, it shapes itself to what you're supposed to be seeing and feeling. It can be whatever you want it to be, the shape, the feel, the support, all can be optimised through scans if you don't want to make a decision." Yy said warmly, resting her arms on the wide, cushioned rests of her own deep seat. She looked very comfortable, because she'd let the system choose for her.

"As long as it's not hologram," Rune said as he approached the 'whatever', it took on the same chair as his back in his quarters. The one he sat in after a day's shift and many an overnight while working, he'd fallen asleep in it just as many times. A small smile tugged at his lips as he lowered himself into it.

A sigh escaped him and he nodded. "Almost exactly the same," Rune commented, and got comfortable.

"The first question I have for you is maybe the most pertinent one. How are you?" Yy asked.

That was the question, Rune mused as his gaze went past Yy, and he slowly blinked. "I thought I knew," he began, "watching the station, and my family, blow up," Rune attempted a breath, but it caught in his throat as he released it. He coughed a few times, his right index and rude fingers came up to behind his right ear, tapping wildly.

After several moments, he seemed to breathe properly again. Rune sat quietly with simple breathing techniques, the taps slowed as he adjusted his posture to help in the techniques.

"That took place during your first mission, if I'm recalling correctly. How often do you find yourself thinking about that?" Yy asked, her face showing concern as she began to wade into the haze of his radiant feelings.

Rune frowned. "I don't think it ever left my mind," he replied truthfully. "In one form or another, I honestly don't know how'd I live without my family. They helped me get over my parents' death, though Starfleet gave me an outlet to put my pain into productive use. Even though I didn't realise it was." He smiled. "I'd forever be grateful for that."

"The experience of being brought back from a continuity you knew and lived, into one where events unfolded differently is one of the many hazards associated with time travel. You should rightfully be grieving. But you have nothing to grieve for, because your family is there for you to see and touch. The temporal prime directive shouldn't be taken lightly, I may have to have a word with this 'Commander' about his ethics. Have you ever experienced temporal displacement before? Time travel to put it non-clinically." Yy asked, feeling like she may have found a route worthy of investigation.

"It isn't quite that simple to just dismissed that initial painful loss I felt as I watched the station explode, I have a feeling you'd not either in my place. It still aches in my heart. As far as I understand it, the Commander either placed us in another universe where the station wasn't destroyed, or he brought the station from that universe to ours." The talk of multiverse crazy talk caused a new headache to bloom, and Rune brought his right hand up to his pinch the bridge of his nose. His eyes closed for a moment as he sighed.

After a moment, his eyes opened, and he let his hands fall back to his lap. "As for any other temporal experiences, no, thank the Four Deities." Rune denied relief evident in his tone.

"I see." Yy said, nodding, and making a note on her padd. "There's still a few more things I'd like to discuss before I start to consider a fully-formed diagnosis, but at the moment I'm thinking that perhaps this is a case of psychotemporal disruption, commonly called displacement syndrome. Our minds weren't designed to experience non-linear existence, it can be quite harmful. One of the most successful treatments I've used in the past is a process known as memory grafting."

"Essentially, we edit the memory to remove the specific trauma. You'll still remember your encounter with the Dalek and everything since, but you'll no longer remember seeing the station destroyed, or any periods of grief you may have encountered afterwards. It will be cleansed from your memory. If that's something you won't consider, it's best to let me know now so I can focus on alternatives." Yy told him, maintaining a sympathetic pace and manner.

That was some treatment, Rune rolled the possible diagnosis as displacement syndrome and then considered memory alteration. It wasn't a completely unreliable method as far as he knew, but could have unforeseen issues later on, or at least that's what he'd heard.

It was a lot to take in. Rune found himself stroking his chin with his right index and thumb, the rest of his fingers curled into a fist, thoughtfully. Just then he recalled Lieutenant Xa and his telepathic surgery the Talosian already performed on him. It was probably far more a reasonable course of action if Xa did it.

First it was wise to hear the rest of Yy's questions, Rune glanced up at her as he'd been looking at the table between them. "What other things did you want to discuss, Counsellor?"

"When the Atenists came aboard, you were attacked by the Goa'uld Hera. How has your recovery been from that incident?" Yy asked.

It may be because of what Xa did, and the focus on physically working his body back to normal, it was difficult to now recall most of what happened. Rune blinked, he'd not realised his memories of that 'incident' are murky. "I don't..." He began and blinked again as his eyes were open too long while he wrangled his mind to relive the event, it didn't seem to want to come to him. "Know." He concluded a moment later.

"I can't visualize what happened," Rune finished, not completely angry about it but stunned he'd not been told by Xa about it. Then all the ethical jargon flashed through and he relaxed. "Perhaps it is part of Doctor Xa's treatment," he offered, "the physical recovery was challenging, yet time was all I needed to get back to work, I think I noticed more control over myself as a result. Physically," he clarified.

"And do you feel you are recovered?" Yy asked directly.

Rune sighed, his tone became contemplative. "While I like to think so, I still get spasms. They don't last long and not always in the same muscle groups as previous spasms," he trailed off wondering about he has gone through and marvelled at how resilent he is. All that courage Rune mused, and training.

"I see." Yy said, nodding. "I'd like us to schedule another apointment in a couple of weeks. In the meanwhile, I'd like you to do what you can to reduce your stress levels. I realise that might be something of a contradiction for the Chief of Security and Tactical. That's why I think you should consider giving one of those roles away. I understand you took over the dual-position in the early days when crew were scarce, I'm certain there will be talented replacements available. It's not an order, but it's something I'd like you to seriously consider. I'll send you some information, and the wellbeing staff will be available to support you."

To emphasise her point, both Rune's hands and arms musculature twitched downwards from his elbows. Neither side were in sync with each other and the Betazoid sat there observing his limbs behave as if something was moving under the skin.

His fingers all bent at the second knuckle all at once as the spasms appeared and vanished all over his arms. He held them out just in front of him, his expression went through anger, sadness, determination, frustration and finally content as he did attempt to trigger the muscles in his arms to counter the loss of control. Rune slowly leaned back in his chair, his face became bland.

"I will most likely do just that, Counselor. I have in mind who to take on one of those roles," Rune's lips curved in a half smile. His friend, Akaar, is a perfect choice to take Chief Tactical Officer. He'll see the Captain about it as soon as possible.

"Please do schedule a time and day, the computer will inform me," he continued to watch his arms while he spoke. He didn't care to see what Yy's expression was about what his spasms for he faced this new way of being with Courage. Rune began testing his control of his hands and arms, they did as he willed as the twitches seemed to be losing their strength.

"If you would allow me, Lieutenant..." Yy moved carefully out of her seat and forward towards Thul, reaching her hand towards his, but stopping just short of contact.

Rune had never interacted with a Deltan in this way before, he watched her with curiosity as she hovered her hands above his. "Very well," he supplied.

Yy slid her hand into Thul's gently, holding his grip with her own. She let their barriers between their nervous systems drop, and suddenly the storm of seized limbs and joints halved its intensity in Thul's awareness, with Yy's other arm suddenly beginning to manifest the other half of the symptoms. She winced slightly as the sensation seized her unexpectedly, but she took control of it, and her expression quickly returned to one of pleasant calm. She released his hand.

"I'd like you to keep track of these seizures. If they start to worsen at any stage, I want you to speak with someone in medical immediately." Yy said. "Otherwise, unless you have any questions, I think that might be our session for today."

"I'd rather you not experience my pain," he said as he went to check Yy but froze an inch or so from touching her. Rune's face crinkled with concern as he searched Yy's expression. Though the sharing of his spasms had rendered them gone, the fact that they pained her was unacceptable to him. He nodded at her words however, "I intend to and will," Rune stood gingerly and waited for her reply.

"That's the cost of being a counselor, I'm afraid. We cannot seek and find the pain of others without feeling it in some small way ourselves. The Deltan way - as you've just seen - is more direct perhaps, but pain is pain. Every day I feel the pain of those around me Lieutenant, as I'm sure you do too, in your own way. As telepaths we can't escape it. There's an old human concept, the hedgehog's dilemma, that I find surprisingly universal. But I'll leave you with that." She stood up from her seat. "Until next time." Yy smiled warmly, holding her padd with both hands against her stomach.

He straightened and stood, slowly, while being fit Rune was still old in small ways. He slowly tilted his head to the right, "Hedgehog? Sure, I'll look it up." A hesitant smile formed on his lips and eyed her for a moment or two. Rune wanted to make sure she was okay.

Once satisfied that she was as okay as she'd show him, Rune nodded. "Well until next time, Counsellor, thank you." It sounded hesitant as well. He knew much about how Counsellors operate from his training with them on Betazed back when his above-average telepathy rating was discovered. He respected them but still felt mentally weakened after sessions as he had much thinking and adjusting to work on each time.

Rune made his way to the door, a little tenderly just in case another spasm attack decided to kick his buttocks. He glanced over his shoulder. "Have a good night, Commander."

"And you, Lieutenant." Yy said, waiting for a moment after the doors had shut behind Thul to move. She let out an exhale, finally letting the residual emotions from Thul fade from her awareness. She felt the echo of his emotional and physical distress, she hoped she could find the right way to relieve him of whatever parts of it her art allowed. She meditated briefly, and once again reviewed the notes for her next appointment.

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