Chatting with Dodd

Posted on 19 Jun 2017 @ 2:15pm by Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd
Edited on on 19 Jun 2017 @ 9:44pm

1,822 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: S02 Episode 2: Once More Unto the Breach (Incidental Posts)
Location: Corridor/Chief Engineer's Office
Timeline: Day 30

[ON]

- Corridor outside of Engineering -

Dodd had just finished his Engineering staff meeting. He was all excited, that he got to relay to his staff how proud he was of them. He'd acknowledged their hard work and dedication to the ship. He was going to work the schedule, so that in a coming couple of weeks; they all could rotate getting two days off back to back.

However, deep down his incident on the surface really was eating at him. He had never reacted to his telepathy this way before. Being Betazoid, he was aware of his abilities but the Ullian side of his telepathy kicked in and let him probe deep into memories of the Orion that messed with his mind. He left the Orion a bumbling idiot but he got the necessary information on the mission.

He was heading back to his quarters when he passed Lt. Walon in the corridor.

"Counsellor, can I get some of your valuable time?" Dodd asked. "I have something I need to get off my chest and help me get back to my normal self. If not now, let me know when would be a good time for you."

It had been a very slow day for counselling standards, at any rate, and Iria had decided she'd had enough of just sitting there in her office and taken to her feet to talk a walk about the ship. She didn't intend to go as far as she had realised she was near engineering when the CEO spoke to her, she stopped and looked up at him, with a wry grin. "I am not busy at all right now. I was passing through and getting exercise at the same time." she waved her hand to the corridor where she'd walked to the direction of the nearest lift. "We can go to my office or if you wish to talk elsewhere that works fine too. Whichever is more comfortable for you."

"Great, my office is close by and we could go there to talk." Dodd offered as he was relieved she was able to talk with him now. "I am sure talking to you will help."

Dodd then walked with Walon along the corridor towards his engineering office. Which he only offered to go there because it was clean and presentable thanks to one of his staff.

Iria followed along wondering what had happened to shake Dodd, he had been so calmly solid the last time she'd encountered him. Whatever it was she hoped she would be able to help.

The pair entered Dodd's office in engineering and Dodd had locked the door so they could talk in private.

"Would you like a beverage?" Dodd asked of Walon. "I am going to get myself some green tea as it helps me focus."

"A hot chocolate will be nice thank you," Iria replied lightly, with a gentle smile.

"Computer, one green tea with sweetener and one hot chocolate." Dodd requested of the replicator.

He then offered Walon her beverage and directed her to his desk chair. He then sat on the stool next to his desk.

"Thank you for meeting with me. I have to talk it out so I can resume my normal daily life and feel better about myself. I am hoping you have read that I am half Betazoid and half Ullian and because of this I have the full Ullian abilities but until recently have only been using telepathy at the level of a Betazoid." Dodd stated with a sense of relief that he would finally be able to get it off his chest and move on with everything. "I did something I didn't realise I was doing at the time but now I know I need to never do it again unless directed to do so."

Iria nodded as she took a small sip from her cup, at his question of her having read his background history and such. "I have not had any first-hand experience with Ullian telepathy issues but a few with Betazoids, Why don't you tell me what happened so I can get a clearer picture of what is the problem, please?"

"I feel so guilty that I may have damaged Zlur's mind so much that he will never live the life he should. I just lost control with what was happening around me and I also felt I was helping him from getting tortured that I snapped in my mind." Dodd stated.

'So while trying to do the right thing you got carried away and now Zlur's mind is no longer the same?" she asked softly, trying to get more details as to what actually happened. The more information the better she would be able to help. Iria took a small sip from her hot chocolate; as she regarded Dodd, listening to his words.

"I was supposed to be a good cop and Donovan was the bad cop. Zlur refused to talk to Donovan at all. So I stepped in and I guess I was so upset that Zlur held to old views and did not consider women to be equal to men. So as I talked to him, I used my abilities to reach into his mind to find the data we needed. I didn't hold back and stirred up lots of his memories. I got the much-needed information, but in the process, I scrambled his mind without meaning to do so." Dodd replied. "I feel guilty about it but I also don't go around do this to just anyone. I mean I sense things all the time from the crew or so. I mean I got a lot of telepathic readings from the ships during the battle but I have learned to keep my mind busy with focusing on my duties and other busy thoughts to help me not randomly reach out to another's mind. I really don't know what came over me and I just had to get that out in the open."

Iria nodded, she was quiet choosing her words with care after Dodd paused in his recount of the encounter with Zlur that brought them to this point. "There are risks to going into anyone's mind even with proper training." She paused to look at him with a curious tilt of her head. "If you haven't had any training for such digging into another's mind, I can say I am impressed that you are not having flashbacks of the memories to stirred up or emotions that are not your own." she took a sip from her hot chocolate before she continued still speaking gently and honestly. "it is little wonder that you are feeling guilty but knowing that you did not mean to go as far as you did with your going after the needed information, I see no reason that with some extra training and precautions that this should not be an issue in the future. Provided of course you either intend to go into another mind for information again if required or just to be certain you do lot loose control from now on among our shipmates?"

"I don't actively go into the minds of my shipmates. I do tend to keep the random thoughts of my shipmates in the background. I try to focus on my thoughts and will only pick up thoughts of those I am immediately near but I don't actively try to address the thoughts of others. So I do meditate and do mental exercises to help me maintain focus and to not let my mind wonder with all the input I pick up on every day. I am wondering if maybe there was something wrong with me or maybe it was a side-effect of the atmosphere of the planet that triggered the situation?" Dodd added.

"Meditation is an option of course but I think it might be better to actually exercise your gifts within gentle reason, listen without making note unless of course, you find ill intent to the ship and crew. With enough practice the things you hear should drift to the background on their own, something else you can try would be to practice sending thoughts with another telepath on the ship. In essence flexing all your mental muscles and once this becomes a habit it should allow you more control. There may be other options as well but to be certain I will need to do some research before I can recommend it with full confidence." Iria said as she regarded Dodd with a gentle smile.

"Thank you so much," Dodd replied. "I truly feel better getting this off my chest and sharing it with you. I do like the idea of a routine of telepathic communication with another telepath on the ship. I would be open to getting a list of all telepathic crew members as I typically don't socialise with them but I do miss that sort of interaction as I had just lived on Betazed most of my life and it was common so that likely is the issue."

"I will get you a list and once I completed the research I mentioned I will tell you about it as well. Is there anything else you wish to talk about?" Iria asked lightly, she had grown up talking in telepathy with her whole family but that changed when she was just six years old. She had not really talked with telepathy since. Sure she would get random thoughts from folks at times or the occasional loud thought when a person was really pissed or hurt or excited. She missed it too but she was pretty sure that there was another on the ship that could help Dodd better than she could besides using her telepathy with folks that were not Isisian was difficult for her and caused her migraines if she pushed it too much.

Dodd stood up to thank Walon and bid her farewell from his office. He was much more at peace and knew he could move onward and take better control of his abilities because he truly felt it was the lack of telepathic communication that triggered his episode. He felt like there was a deeper connection between Walon and himself but he was not able to read her, so maybe Isisians are not readable by Betazoids or Ullians.

"Have a nice evening and again thank you for listening and your time to counsel me," Dodd added as Walon prepared to step out of his office.

Iria smiled, "No problem at all, I am always up for helping or listening when needed. If you need to talk more or anything let me know."

Walon exited the Chief Engineer's office and resumed her stroll as Dodd walked over to the replicator and ordered a hot chocolate extra rich.

[OFF]

Lt. j.g. Iria Walon
Counselor
USS Tomcat

Lt. j.g. Remington Dodd
Chief Engineer
USS Tomcat

 

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