Sanity Check
Posted on Thu Mar 7th, 2024 @ 10:46am by Lieutenant Commander Sofia Nikedoros & Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason
1,545 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Pressure
Location: Counselor's Office, Hospital
Timeline: After 'Echos'
As Sofia was tidying up after her last appointment, her comm chirped. She sighed inwardly - after a particularly contentious couples therapy session she'd been looking forward to some time for quiet meditation - but she dutifully tapped it in response. "Nikedoros. Go ahead."
"Arnason. Are you free?"
She smiled at the familiar voice, there was an uncharacteristic tension, but it had been there to greater or lesser degree since Luka had disappeared, and at this hour he most likely comm-ing to ask about dinner. "Yes, come over and - "
The door immediately slid open and Gunnar entered, PaDD clutched in both hands and wearing an expression that could only be described as haunted. "Sorry to come by so late, but I... I need to talk."
"No need to apologize." There really was not - if not for concern over whatever had affected him so, she'd be internally lifting hands in grateful praise that he'd both recognized a need to talk and acted on it. "Please," she waved him toward a chair as she keyed the door closed for privacy, "tell me what's happened."
Advancing into the room, he ignored the seat, instead pacing as everything he'd kept contained the last two days, and especially the last few hours, began pouring out in near stream of consciousness. "Look, I know I should have come sooner, told you sooner, but this is going to sound strange. Very strange. Like I've spent too much time with with Romulans. And maybe I have - I moved into Kali's empty room a couple days ago. Caithlin was worried - maybe I shouldn't have said anything, but she's on the Council, so I thought she should know. And I... I suppose I imagined anyone else would think I was paranoid. So I told her, and once she knew - not that we knew this!" his hand tightened on the PaDD, "but I'd kept imagining I saw things, just at the edge of vision. And now, I can't think of any other explanation, any other to way to -"
"Gunnar!"
He stopped short, and seeing her there with hands and brows raised, realized that it had probably not been the first time she'd said his name.
"It sounds like there's a lot to unpack here," she said more quietly. Moving in with the with the t'Leiyas, in particular, was news, and somewhat surprising. He already spent enough time there that there was speculation that there was something going on between him and Caithlin (though only from people who clearly did not know either of them in the slightest), but he had until now kept his 'temporary' Starfleet quarters and some measure of distance as a buffer against Caithlin's assumption that he should count as part of her household. The change in that, however, was a symptom. Given the way he was holding it, she suspected the cause was on the PaDD. "Let me take that," she said, gently tugging to get him to loosen his grip. "Before you crack the case, eh?"
"Yes. Sorry." He let go. "This has all... it's been playing on my mind, and..." he pinched the bridge of his nose, and expelled a long breath. "I should explain. A bit more coherently."
"That would be helpful," she agreed, and placed a hand on his shoulder with a sympathetic smile. Keeping her voice calm, she guided him toward the sofa. "It's been a long time since I've seen you this agitated, so I know this must be serious. But take a seat, gather your thoughts. Do you need coffee?"
Dropping into the seat, he nodded mutely, though there was a small swell of comfort at the offer - only someone who knew him as well as Sofia did would offer coffee when he'd come in so keyed up. When the cup appeared, he took it gratefully and inhaled the aroma of strong, dark roast, focusing on the scent and then savoring a sip to help center himself. "Thank you," he said finally, lifting his eyes to hers. "I needed that."
The Counselor nodded. Everyone had a comfort object. Gunnar's was very strong black coffee. In fact, that the PaDD he'd carried in had seemingly displaced the mug usually nearly as attached to him as his comm badge spoke volumes about its import. "Now," she said, settling beside him and tapping the screen. "I see lab results here, but I don't understand what they mean. Perhaps you could begin by explaining who they're from and why you ordered them."
He sat back and closed his eyes a moment. A medical report - that he could give, calmly and dispassionately. As Sofia well knew, which was undoubtedly why she had cast the question that way. "You've heard that Haechi was found?" Getting a nod, he continued. "When they brought her in, there was blood caked in her fur. It proved to be Luka's, and another Starfleet officer's - James Matthews, listed KIA over a year ago, on a ship halfway across the quadrant."
"That's when you decided to talk with Caithlin." It wasn't so much a question as piecing things together out loud. After all, if you suspected someone's death had been faked but hadn't evidence to make that case without sounding like you were chasing a wild theory, who better to talk to than a Romulan familiar with every such subterfuge the elite of the former RSE might ever use.
"Yes. Though 'decided' might be too strong a term." He pursed his lips slightly. "It was more that I couldn't sleep and went walking and wound up at her door. We talked ...possibilities... and she felt it would be best if I got the dogs and moved into the room Kali isn't using. Which, given the state Luka's quarters were in, I couldn't disagree. Her intention, I think, was to protect me, but if anyone hit the residence, it would be good to have a medic on hand. And I'd know what had happened." Or if he was the one taken, someone would.
"Okay, so you had a disturbing mystery with blood from a year old KIA," Sofia summarized. "I assume you considered that KIA isn't definitive. Shortly before you were finally recovered, Divash was actively arguing with bureaucrats planning to change your status to presumed dead."
"I'm aware. That's why I requested the full report." Reaching over, he tapped the PaDD to bring up the document. "There's nothing presumed about it. There was a body, and an autopsy - he's as confirmed dead as someone can be." He felt a residual chill at the words and took another steadying sip of coffee. "So, the next step was to check for any markers that might indicate cloning. None, nor evidence of any other genetic manipulation. So, I ...asked for everything. And threw it over the wall to Science and asked the same."
"And these are the results," Sofia concluded, closing the death report, bringing up the original lab report, or as she saw now, reports, with some sections were highlighted. "Indications of variation in quantum signature of..." Her head rose, eyes lifting to his.
Despite the shock in Sofia's expression, Gunnar felt a measure of relief. She saw it too, and Sofia was sanest person he knew, which meant how he'd read those results wasn't crazy paranoid. "Alternate quantum realities... I wanted so badly to figure out where Luka had gone, but now..." He swallowed, combed a hand over his hair. "I keep looking over my shoulder for human supremacists, or that version of me with a bat'leth..."
"One crossing doesn't mean a rift, only that there's a proximate reality where this Matthews didn't die," she observed in her best tone of reasoned reassurance. "There may have been violence involved in however Luka crossed over, but that doesn't mean the alternate is a mirrorverse. The other version of you that I remember was a Counselor." She placed a hand on his, giving a gentle squeeze. "And a good one."
He nodded. "And also a pacifist." A corner of his mouth twisted upward. "Though Caithlin might be happy to trade me for the one with the bat'leth."
"I doubt it," Sofia chuckled. However much Caithlin might wish he was more willing to fight, she suspected that part of what made him so trustworthy around the children was his firm principle against causing harm. "But the primary issue is whether this information can help us identify the breach and find Luka."
Gunnar thought a moment, then flipped to another page of the reports. "There were also trace particles indicating possible exposure to temporal flux - in his blood and Luka's. But they also tested some bits of Haechi's fur and found the same. If she'd crossed into whatever quantum reality they're in, it would explain why we couldn't find her for so long." He paused a beat, almost fearing to voice the hope that suggested. "And if she somehow shifted back, there should be a way he can too. Or a 'doorway' we could use to get him."
"Excellent." Sofia stood, drawing him up with her. "We will talk more about how this is impacting you, but right now, I think we need to take that to the Captain."
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