Deja Vu?

Posted on Thu Sep 24th, 2015 @ 9:49pm by Lieutenant JG Seras & Lieutenant Commander Ethan Chaparral MD & Lieutenant JG Karina Sha’ha’zen

Mission: Where Angels Fear to Tread
Timeline: [backpost] immediately following "Operations Inspection"

As Sinek left the Operations center following his surprise inspection, Lieutenant Seras had a strange feeling as she watched him go. He shouldn't be going away, weren't they just on their way to Lieutenant Sha'ha'zen's office? The Cairn woman turned, then noticed Karina was standing right beside her. She recognized the Hiigaran woman from her profile picture, but couldn't recall having spoken to her before now, although she did seem far more familiar than a profile pciture. Had they already spoken? Was this part of the pheromone-memory thing mentioned in the Lieutenant's bio? Seras' heart raced as she tried to recall anything that had happened since she rang the chime at Karina's office door, but it was all a blank. Then she really started to panic when she felt at her pockets for her orders, but found that the PaDD was gone. Oh no! Seras stared at Karina for a moment. She felt lost and confused. Had she already reported in? She must have, her PaDD was gone, not to mention she was standing right next to her with Sinek walking away which must mean that the inspection was over.

The Hiigaran was busy rubbing the back of her neck. A migraine, likely caused by that damned Vulcan and his questions, had just begun to set in. Closing her eyes for a moment while her fingertips searched for the best spot, Karina sighed audibly. "I always knew that Vulcans were assholes on the inside, but a surprise inspection? Really?" She muttered, half to herself and half to the Lieutenant standing across from her. When Seras didn't respond right away, Karina opened her eyes and stared at her. Recognizing a quizzical look, Karina sighed again.

"You alright?" Karina asked.

"I... do not know," Seras replied, her synthetic voice quivering in her confusion. "I seem to have lost my PaDD," she added absentmindedly as she looked down at her empty hands. Star above, what was happening to her?!

At first not sure what Seras was talking about, Karina reached over and picked up the PaDD -- the only PaDD -- she'd seen Seras come into her office with. It was, of course, the one containing her orders. As the Hiigaran was about to speak to her junior, she stopped, and reminded herself that both were technically the same grade. Even though Karina was still in charge of Ops, and thus Seras superior officer, she felt that adding a little more eloquence to her words were best. "Do you mean this one?" She asked, speaking with a tone that sounded more peer-to-peer rather than senior-to-junior.

Seras recognized the PaDD right away. "My transfer orders! Then that means..." That meant she had met with Karina and had already forgotten about it. But that wasn't right, Seras was under the impression it took a while for people to forget because of Karina's pheromones. "I cannot recall giving that to you. I'm sorry, I do not think I am reacting well to your presence," she said awkwardly.

Karina's freckles dimmed. It usually took at least several hours before people began to forget even just subtle details of an encounter with her. For Seras to already begin to lose track after just a few minutes... while they were still in contact? It was unheard of. Standing up, Karina walked around her table and leaned against it, crossing her arms. "During the inspection, Commander Sinek asked if I'd reported a crewman late to his shift. Do you know who that was?" She asked, deciding to test.

Seras opened her mouth to speak, looking for just a moment that she might know the answer, but then her jaw snapped shut and she looked focused and frustrated as she tried to recall the memory. "I remember walking up to the office door with Commander Sinek, I remember him telling me about the inspection, and I remember ringing the chime, but then after that nothing is clear," Seras finally replied with a hint of panic in her tone. "What you say about the crewman, I feel like I should remember it... I am trying to remember, but it is fading so quickly."

"Relax, Seras." Karina said, even though she was just as confused at the situation. Her brow rose in a fashion that would make any Vulcan proud. For a second, Karina considered grabbing a tricorder and scanning Seras, but it would do little good since she wasn't a doctor or even overly familiar with how her pheromones worked. "Maybe we should get you to sickbay," the Hiigaran said next. If things like memories could be affected so easily, it was best to make sure that no other complications might arise. They could figure out how to make official business work later on.

Seras simply nodded and headed out of the Operations center for Sickbay. It was a good thing that Karina was going with her for she wasn't even halfway there when she realized that she had no idea where she was or where she was headed. "Wha- I... Where am I?" Then she noticed Karina beside her and she tried to shake her disorientation. "Lieutenant Sha'ha'zen? I was just coming to report in, but I seem to have lost my PaDD with my transfer orders..." She didn't sound panicked anymore, just really confused.

The Hiigaran's brow furrowed even further as she took Seras lightly by the elbow and continued towards sickbay. Nothing in her not-so-many years of life could have led her to believe that any of this was even possible. Was it truly something with Seras alone? Or had Karina's own pheromones... evolved? As a defense mechanism that protected Hiigarans against persistent hunters more than several eons ago, it seemed possible in her mind for that to be the case. She hoped not, otherwise her career in Star Fleet could end up being very short lived.

"You've already completed those tasks, Seras," Karina informed her subordinate, keeping her tone matter-of-fact. "Unfortunately, your body doesn't seem to like my pheromones," she glanced at Seras. "Do you know about my species?" Hey, after seeing all this, Karina couldn't just assume Seras hadn't forgotten that as well.

"Y-yes..." Seras said uneasily. "I tried to familiarized myself with the pertinent crew before I arrived, and as my superior I paid particular attention to your file. I knew of the pheromones, but I had no reason to believe they would affect me differently, I thought I would at least have enough time to write things down..."

That's good, at least... Karina thought. Had Seras not reviewed her personal jacket prior to meeting with her, odds were she wouldn't even recognize her by now. "Good call," Karina pointed out as the two rounded the corner towards sickbay.

"I'm sorry if I've forgotten you already," Seras said softly as they entered Sickbay. She found an empty biobed and took a seat. "It must feel terrible having people forget about you all the time..."


Ethan smiled as he walked out of his office into sickbay, he'd spent an amazing evening with Dylan the night before and it hadn't even involved any sex. So he was feeling good. "Hello," he asked as he looked at his patient, "What's going on?"

"I can't seem to remember my superior officer," Seras replied bluntly. She had been keeping her eyes on Karina now that she was aware of this issue in the hopes that focusing on the Hiigaran woman would prevent her from forgetting her so quickly. "Apparently I have already met her, but I do not recall doing so."

Ethan looked at her quizzically, "so tell me more about yourself," he asked, "Have you had any memory issues in the past, or is this the first time for it?"

"I don't think there is any connection, but four years ago I was taken hostage by Cardassians. I was of course rescued, but there were some things about the incident I had repressed. It was wholly psychological and I did my counseling, took time off to recuperate, and as far as I can tell there's been no further issues with memory since then," Seras explained, her vocal synthesizer replicating quite well the quiver in tone associated with unease and anxiety. She didn't like talking about the those final days of the ill-fated Stargazer, but she had blocked a great deal of it for the longest time. "And I'm Cairn, the only one in service. The others who attempted to join Starfleet couldn't adapt to the need for verbal communication."

Karina shrugged, looking to the doctor she'd just recently met. "I've never heard of this kind of reaction before," Karina admitted. "It usually takes days, even weeks before people even start to lose focus of affected memories; what's happening to her is happening in seconds."

"Well then, we definitely need to take a closer look. Why don't we start with just a general work up, see what that turns up, if anything. Then we'll do a more thorough neurological workup," Ethan said.

Seras nodded to the doctor. She would, of course, submit to any testing necessary to figure out what was going. "I'm sorry," she said to Karina. "I can't imagine what it must be like for people to forget you all the time, and I'm so sorry I'm unable to hold onto the memory of you," she continued, having already forgotten that she said something similar earlier. "If it's not too much trouble, could you contact my husband? Lieutenant Tito in Security, he should know I'm here."

Karina nodded, resisting a chill that traveled up her spine and into her shoulders. "Sure," looking to the doctor, Karina smiled tentatively before turning to leave.

As Karina walked away, Seras lay back on the biobed so that the doctor could start those scans. Her first day on the job certainly wasn't working out how she thought it would...

END