Title: Star Trek-Infinity: Shattered Illusions [PG] (MISC)

Author: Charles Rando (trando@worldnet.att.net)

Series: MISC

Rating: [PG]

Part: NEW 1/3

Disclaimer: Paramount owns the whole Star Trek franchise and Peter David
owns the Selelvian race (see his book, "Strike Zone"). I'd like to think
that the characters I've invented and the story are mine. :-)

Summary: Commander Witherell and Counselor Kassal must unlock a secret in
Captain Rando's past before it kills him!


CHAPTER ONE

Lieutenant Commander Neddek paused outside holodeck two. He quickly checked
to make sure that it was still the one using the holodeck. Indeed, it was
still there.

The Romulan chief engineer scanned the area around him. It was no where to
be seen. Then again, the vast open fields in front of him seemed to go on
forever, and there was no telling how far away it had gotten.

"Looking for me, Commander?" asked a voice behind him. Neddek turned to face
Doctor Nanci McDonald.

"Yes, Doctor, I am," Neddek replied. "I believe we are ready to begin
testing your mobile emitter."

The Doctor clapped her hands together in excitement and looked up at Neddek
with anticipation. "I'm ready whenever you are!" she exclaimed.

Neddek watched the holographic doctor's emotional display with something
akin to displeasure. "Doctor, you were designed to be a medical tool, were
you not?"

McDonald nodded. "That's what is says in my program description," she
replied. "However, I was designed to be more interactive with the medical
team and any patients I might encounter. That is why I was designated as an
auxiliary medical holographic program, as opposed to an emergency medical
holographic program."

"I see," Neddek replied calmly. Truth be told, if the Captain hadn't
specifically asked Neddek to develop a way for the holographic doctor to
leave sickbay, he most likely would not have been interacting with it like
this. In his eyes, Doctor McDonald was a highly advanced computer program,
and he failed to see why many of his fellow crew members attempted to treat
her as more. It was like talking to a tricorder. "Shall we begin?"

McDonald nodded. "Computer, end program Remley-five," she ordered, and the
open field was replaced by a plain, holographic grid. "Lieutenant Remley
made this program right after the ship was trapped at the beginning of the
universe," McDonald explained. "When he first showed it to me, he said
something about spending too much time in the Jeffries tubes. With all the
time I spend in sickbay, I could understand."

Neddek held out a tiny device that fit in the palm of his hand. "I have
managed to incorporate a holographic projector into this device, and I have
installed a compression program that will allow your entire program to be
stored in its memory. You will maintain direct access to your medical
database... however, your personality protocols will be stored until such a
time that you are transferred back into the main computer."

McDonald looked up at the engineer again, literally. The holographic woman
was almost half a meter shorter than the Romulan. "So you'll be transferring
me into that emitter... but it won't be all of me?"

"That is incorrect," Neddek responded. "Your entire program will be present,
you will simply be unable to access your personality protocols until you
leave the emitter. Now, are you ready for the first test?"

"What does it entail?" McDonald asked. She was beginning to look worried,
although Neddek would have dismissed it as just another one of her
protocols.

"I will transfer your program into the emitter and attempt to project your
holo-matrix."

McDonald sighed. The idea of being shut off from her personality
protocols... in truth it scared her. She knew that whatever Neddek would be
loading into that tiny emitter, it wouldn't be her. But he had worked hard
on it, and if it did work, she'd finally be able to get out of sickbay and
the holodecks. "Ok, let's try it."

Neddek nodded. "Computer, transfer the A.M.H. program into the mobile
emitter," the engineer instructed. McDonald's image shimmered once and then
disappeared as her program was transferred. "Activate A.M.H. program,"
Neddek then ordered, and McDonald's image re-appeared.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," she stated flatly.
Beyond that, she did nothing.

Inwardly, Neddek congratulated himself on another success.

******************************************************

Commander Kevin Witherell, first officer of the Infinity , checked the
ship's status as he sat in the command chair. The Infinity would rendez-vous
with the U.S.S. Explorer in just under two hours in the Keti Alpha sector.
The ship would be receiving a new head of stellar cartography after the last
one, Lieutenant Monroe, had transferred off the ship a few weeks ago.
"Anything besides the Neutral Zone," he had said, and Witherell hadn't been
able to keep himself from chuckling. The Infinity had spent months "mapping"
space along the Romulan Neutral Zone; its real mission had been to keep
track of Romulan fleet movements across the border. With the events of the
past month, the Romulans were no longer much of a threat and Starfleet
Command had reassigned the Infinity to a new region of space... but Monroe
had had his fill already.

Witherell looked up as Counselor Sonja Kassal entered the bridge. Even from
where he was, he could sense that she was very disturbed. Something was
definitely bothering the counselor, and he wondered if she had come to the
bridge to talk to him, or to talk to Captain Rando, who was currently in his
ready room.

"Commander, could I have a word with you?" Kassal asked.

Witherell nodded with a slight inward smile. That answered that question.
"Mr. Remley, you have the bridge."

The big security chief nodded, but stayed where he was. Lieutenant Evan
Remley felt more comfortable by his tactical station than in the command
chair.

A few seconds later, Witherell and Kassal were in the ship's conference
room. The long, rectangular table where the crew would hold its bridge
meetings was empty, but it always felt like the senior crew was still there.
The conference room was not only used for bridge meetings, but for smaller,
personal meetings as well.

"What can I do for you, Sonja?" Witherell asked as soon as the doors had
slid shut behind them. "I can sense that you're bothered about something."

"I'm picking up some very strange feelings," Sonja said. "They woke me up a
few minutes ago, and I'm still picking them up."

"Well, ever since you acquired your telepathic powers two months ago, we've
had to go one step at a time to determine just how strong they are,"
Witherell said. "You're probably picking up someone's thoughts without being
aware of it."

"I can feel... great anticipation... no, it's more like dread. These
feelings are very strong, Commander, but it's almost as if they're being
repressed. They can't be healthy for whoever is having them!"

Witherell nodded. "Unfortunately, I am not picking up any such feelings with
my empathic abilities. It could be that your abilities have a greater range
than mine, but we have no way of telling if that's the case yet. We should
use this opportunity to try and determine that. I want you to keep an
updated log of any changes you pick up in the intensity of these feelings.
Let me know if there's a major change, ok?"

Kassal nodded. Commander Witherell was not only the ship's first officer, he
was also a full Betazoid and an excellent tutor. In fact, ten years ago, he
had taken leave from Starfleet to earn his Master's degree in history
education. He had tutored Cadet Robyn Blanchard briefly during her stay on
the Infinity in J.W.'s alternate timeline, and now he was tutoring her in
the use of her new telepathic abilities. While Selelvians, or elves as
humans called them, had slight telepathic powers, none of them had ever
experienced what Sonja had. "Thank you, Commander. I'll do that. I just wish
I didn't have to feel the intensity of these thoughts so... so intensely!
It's very disconcerting!"

"After a while, you'll learn to block out thoughts and emotions that bother
you. Believe me, it is possible. If it weren't, we Betazoids wouldn't have
gotten off our planet. We probably would have committed all killed ourselves
first!" Witherell joked as he headed towards the door.

Once on the bridge again, Commander Witherell took the command seat again
and Counselor Kassal headed for the turbolift. She still had two more hours
of free time before her first appointment of the day, and she was going to
relax as best she could.

CHAPTER TWO

Fifteen minutes later, the door chime to Counselor Kassal's quarters rang.
She put down her French horn. "Come in!"

The doors opened to reveal Captain Charles Rando, with a very concerned look
on his face. The instant he saw the French horn in her lap, that look turned
to one of guilt.

"I see that yet again I have disturbed your practicing," Rando said. "I'll
come back later."

Kassal smiled. "Charlie, I'm sure you wouldn't have come all the way down
from the bridge if you didn't have something important to say. Now what is
it?" she asked as she stood.

"Kevin told me you were picking up some strange feelings... and that they
were disturbing you. I wanted to make sure you were all right," Rando said.

"Charlie, sometimes you do worry too much!" Kassal laughed. "I can take care
of myself, you know!"

"You almost died a few months ago, Sonja. It's hard enough for a captain to
lose someone under his command, but it's even harder when that person is
such a close friend."

"I know," Kassal said, taking his hand, "and I appreciate it. I really do.
But if you...."

Before Kassal could finish her sentence, the captain had collapsed on the
floor, holding his head in pain.

"Charlie, what is it?" Sonja asked, her voice heavy with concern. When she
received no intelligible answer, she said, "Kassal to transporter room.
Emergency transport to sickbay!"

Seconds later, the telltale sparkling of a transporter beam was around them
both, and when it had dissipated, the setting had changed to sickbay.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," commanded Doctor
McDonald, the ship's emergency medical holographic program. Chief Medical
Officer Calabretta was not present for some reason, but Commander Neddek
was.

"There's something wrong with him, Nanci," Kassal said. "I can feel that
he's in great pain!"

McDonald quickly swept a medical tricorder over Captain Rando and then
lifted him effortlessly onto a biobed. She quickly attached two small
devices to his head, which, when activated, took the pained look off his
face.

"He is asleep now," McDonald said. "The cortical repressors will prevent him
from feeling pain."

Kassal paused for a second and studied the hologram. There was something...
off about her. Something that wasn't quite right. It was almost as if....

"Better wait for me!" called Doctor Calabretta as he ran into the room. For
a being who had lived over seventy years, Calabretta looked barely over
twenty. It was one advantage of being a member of a race that aged
backwards, another being his physical stamina. "Now, what happened?"

"He came to my quarters to see how I was doing," Kassal said, deciding to
concern herself with Doctor McDonald later. "I had been sensing some very
strange feelings, very negative feelings, and he wanted to see if I was all
right. We were talking, and then he suddenly collapsed!"

"There seems to be nothing physically wrong with him," Doctor Calabretta
reported. "We'll have to run some more tests on him. You'd better go tell
Commander Witherell."

Kassal nodded and was inside the turbolift when she realized what had
happened. Calabretta had told her to go to Commander Witherell to get her
out of sickbay. Something was very wrong, she just wished she knew what it
was.

CHAPTER THREE

"Commander, I am afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to leave as well,"
Doctor Calabretta said as he began gathering equipment from around sickbay.
"Nanci, can you get me a neural-scanner?"

"Yes Doctor," McDonald replied flatly. She stood still for a second, as if
she was thinking about something, and then disappeared from the room.
Seconds later, she walked back in with the appropriate tool. "The
neural-scanner, Doctor."

"Thanks," Calabretta replied, moving too quickly to notice McDonald's
calmness. He did, however, notice that Neddek was still in sickbay.
"Commander, I thought I told you to leave."

"I would do so," Neddek replied, "if I was not under the Captain's orders to
test my new holo-emittor."

"New holo-emitter?" Calabretta asked, stopping long enough to notice his
holographic assistant for the first time. She seemed... detached, like she
wasn't sure where she was, but at the same time, she didn't really care. She
seemed to be waiting for more instructions.

"That is correct," Neddek replied, holding up the portable emitter in his
hand. "I have designed this device to project the A.M.H. program anywhere we
desire. It still maintains full access to its medical database."

"But what about her personality protocols?" Calabretta asked.

"In order to conserve memory, I have compressed the A.M.H.'s personality
protocols. It will be unable to access them until it is transferred out of
the emitter again."

Calabretta nodded. "I see," he replied. "Computer, transfer A.M.H. program
back into the main computer and activate."

There was a brief chirp of confirmation from the computer, and then Doctor
McDonald's image shimmered in and out of focus. When the transfer was
completed, McDonald looked around herself in surprise. "I'm back in
sickbay," she noticed.

Calabretta nodded. "I've transferred you back out of the portable emitter,"
he told her. "Now, Commander, if you don't mind? You can continue your
experiment another time."

The Romulan nodded. "As you wish, Doctor," he replied, and calmly walked out
of sickbay.

"Nanci, are you all right?" Calabretta asked once Neddek had gone. The tiny
doctor definitely didn't look it.

"I remember being in the portable emitter... but it's almost like it wasn't
me," McDonald replied. "I couldn't feel anything, or act on my own volition.
I could only do what I was told." She shuddered. "It was quite
disconcerting."

Calabretta smiled sympathetically. "I can imagine," he said. "But right now,
you're back to your old self, and we have a patient to deal with."

McDonald nodded. "I'm ready, Doctor."

"Then let's get to it, Doctor."

******************************************************

"Lieutenant Remley, you have the bridge again," Commander Witherell said.
"Tell Counselor Kassal I'm in the Captain's ready room."

Remley nodded without question. Over a year of working with the Betazoid
first officer had prepared him for many of Witherell's intuitive commands.

Indeed, as if the next few minutes had been planned out in advance,
Counselor Kassal stepped onto the bridge.

"Where's...?" she started to say before Remley interrupted her.

"He's in the Captain's ready room," Remley answered without looking up.
"He's waiting for you."

Kassal turned on her heel and headed for the ready room. The door opened for
her, and Commander Witherell was seated at the Captain's desk.

"Something tells me I'll be in command for a while," Witherell said.

"I didn't even think when Matt told me to come up here and tell you," Kassal
replied.

"You're under a great deal of stress," Witherell said. "It was, however, a
good idea to come up here."

"What do you mean?"

Before Witherell could answer, the ready room doors opened and Lieutenant
Commander Neddek stepped in. "You wanted to see me, Commander?" the chief
engineer asked.

"Yes, I thought it would be a good idea for all of us to have a talk.
Please, sit down, both of you," Witherell said.

Kassal and Neddek took seats on the Captain's couch. Commander Witherell
stood and walked over to them.

"Commander, you probably don't know this, but Captain Rando is currently in
a coma," Witherell said.

"Actually, I am aware of that, Commander. I was in sickbay when he was
beamed in with the Counselor," the Romulan replied coolly.

Witherell released a brief "Ah!" of understanding. "Well, what you might not
know is a short while ago, Counselor Kassal detected some very deep,
uncomfortable emotions which she thought were being repressed. I was hoping
that you, as a member of another telepathic race, might be able to find a
connection between these two occurrences."

"Commander, if a Vulcan were suppressing deep, uncomfortable emotions, it
could cause brain damage. However, I do not see how one's repressed
emotions, even if they were a Vulcan's, could effect another person. I
assume these emotions were not coming from Captain Rando?"

"I don't really know," Kassal said. "I can't tell."

"Of course, Commander, there is one other matter," Witherell said, "and
that's that I'm not picking up these emotions, which seems to indicate that
the Counselor's telepathic powers are stronger than mine. What if it wasn't
just her power to read thoughts that's stronger?"

"Are you suggesting that Counselor Kassal is somehow able to project these
thoughts onto another person?" Neddek asked.

Witherell nodded. "Projecting them so strongly that it's sending people in
comas."

Kassal shook her head in dismay. "I can't believe I'm responsible for this!"

"If you're responsible at all, Sonja, it's indirectly at best," Witherell
said. "We still don't understand everything about your new telepathic powers
you've acquired. This lack of knowledge could be our problem."

"Then what should we do?" Kassal asked.

"If this were a Vulcan suppressing emotions or memories, the favored
practice is to enact a mind-meld to assist the patient. The patient could
relive the suppressed emotions or memories and accept them as true. However,
I'm not sure if this treatment would work in this situation," Neddek said.

"Not only that, we don't know who is repressing these emotions," Kassal
said.

"Captain Rando seems to be our best bet," Witherell said, "and until a
better theory comes along, I think we should start there. Neddek, would it
be possible to initiate a mind meld with the Captain?"

"Of course," Neddek replied. "However, the mind meld's purpose is to lead
the patient through the repressed memories. While I have the ability to
initiate the meld, I am not certain of my abilities to determine what is
wrong."

"What if I tried to initiate the mind meld with Charlie?" Kassal asked.

"Although you have recently achieved a greater level of telepathic powers
than most Selelvians or other humanoids, those powers are not yet
disciplined. You might inadvertently damage the Captain," Neddek answered.

"What about me?" Witherell asked.

"I'm not sure I understand, Commander."

"It's not that tough, Neddek. I do have disciplined telepathic powers... I
could initiate the link," Witherell said.

Neddek considered this. "Although I am not an expert in using telepathy to
heal the body or the mind, it sounds like a logical idea."

"Then it's settled," Witherell said. "Meet me in sickbay in ten minutes. I
want to start this as soon as possible."

"Yes sir," Neddek replied. With that, he left the room.

"Commander, I'd like to go with you," Kassal said once Neddek was gone.

"Counselor, I would think that you would especially know that this is not an
away mission. Going into the Captain's mind is dangerous enough, for both
myself and him. I'm not sure we should risk another person in this venture."

Kassal shook her head. "Commander, no one knows Charlie better than myself.
When we were... involved at the Academy, we formed a mental link that has
kept us connected across the galaxy. If he's repressing some memories that
are causing all of these comas, we need to find out what they are as soon as
possible. And I think that my presence will definitely speed up the search."

Witherell sighed. "Very well, Counselor, we'll both go. But I suggest you
prepare yourself for this. Go down to sickbay and try to relax as much as
you can. I'll be down in a few minutes."

Kassal smiled for the first time since all of this had begun. "Thank you,
Commander," she said gratefully.

Witherell sat back down in the Captain's chair, his head in his hands. He
wasn't sure what exactly he was going to encounter in his Captain's mind,
but he knew, somehow he knew, it was not going to be pleasant.