Save'ena - First Weekend - Meeting of the Minds

Posted on Friday 18 May 2018 @ 23:50 by Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix & Lieutenant Colonel Kachiko Bayushi
Edited on on Sunday 20 May 2018 @ 09:05

Mission: Academy Days
Location: StarFleet Academy - Admin Buildings
Timeline: 1030 hours, August 26th, 2389 SD65327.05
3853 words - 7.7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Sav sat on a bench seat, semi-sideways, and waited to be called into Captain Bayushi's office. She had wondered why she had been called in on a Saturday, well, her first Saturday at the Academy, but in seeing other Cadets going in and out of Kachiko's office, realized that this being the first Saturday was a great way to check in with first year cadets to see how they were doing.

To tell the truth, with her nightmares and lack of sleep, she had been at the chow hall at 0530 hours, the Library when it opened at 0700, and then here in Advisors' Foyer at 0900 hours. There wan an assistant at a main desk, then a hallway with multiple doors leading to Advisor's offices. She had checked in for her 1030 appointment, then sat on the bench reading her Mom's latest romance novel. She wondered if anybody here at the Academy had connected the dots that Koreanna Tillatix and Save'ena Tillatix... well, Saveena Tillatix according to the records, were related.

She was just glad to see other students coming and going among the offices. She already was in the cross-hairs of Kachiko and Chen over their investigation on Apollonia. She knew they knew she was 'lying' about what happened, but she could never tell the truth as the Imprints kept her from it. She only hoped that this visit with Kachiko was standard and not more probing. As a first year Cadet, she did not have access to a Runabout or other starship yet, and so her anchor for keeping her sane was missing.

"Cadet Tillatix, Captain Bayushi will see you now," said the Assistant, a third year Cadet at the Academy.

Sav stood up and curtsied to him, saying, "Thank you, Sir." She went up to the door, gently knocked, then opened it to enter. She already knew that Kachiko was alone as she had seen the previous charge leave the room. She entered, saying, "Morning, Captain Bayushi," and shut the door behind her.

"Good morning, Cadet Tillatix," Kachiko returned almost cheerfully. She rather enjoyed this assignment, as she was working with some of the most interesting and adorable Cadets.

Sav went over to the chair and noticed it has a swept frame design to allow for tailed races. She churred loudly as she sat down, shifting her tail under the curved frame and settled into the back support. She smiled broadly at Kachiko, saying, "This is nice. Thank you... you wanted to see me, Kachiko?"

"Why yes, Sav," Kachiko smiled. "I have been looking through your file and noticed that your people are telepathic, yes?"

Sav's entire demeanor brightened. The visit was one of discovery about races and cultures, not anything dealing with her 'incident', well, at least right now. Her churr's now underscored her voice, producing a very exotic lilt. "Why, yes, yes we are. Mephetians are Telepathic and Telekinetic, with some being born with other abilities, but those are very rare."

Kachiko nodded slowly as Sav spoke, "Well then, I myself am a telepath through means unknown. Humans aren't normally capable of mind speech or mind reading. Our species never evolved with the paracortex needed."

Sav shifted, her tail and ears flicking in excitement. "Oh, you're telepathic. That is so Coolio, Kachiko." Sav paused a moment, then asked, "So, have you ever thought of getting into telepathic discourse with someone Telepathic?"

"Yes, actually," Kachiko remarked. "I have spent a good bit of time on Betazed. I have also employed my ability conducting my duties, in various ways."

"Most of our communication, you and I, will be the usual verbal, but having the ability to speak otherwise could be very helpful," Kachiko gestured with her hands, pointedly avoiding the stereotypical 'knife hands' that so many Jarheads were known for.

Sav churred again, singing out, "I would love that," her voice showing a lyrical quality found in highly acclaimed singers. However, now she dampened a little, and said, "Umm, but... I... was born with my psi abilities stunted and wrapped upon themselves. That is why... umm, if you were to try and initiate contact now, you would find a very dense mind shield in place of the usual communication fore mind compartment."

Kachiko arched an eyebrow, "That explains why you are hard to read. Is there a way to open yourself up to someone else?"

Sav snorted in light humor, "Yeah, I'm kinda hard to read, that is fer sure. There is a way for me to open up to you, but first, a little background about what I know about telepathic races." She shifted herself to settle into her seat and show she was getting ready to enter a discourse with Kachiko.

"The telepathic races I know of are from the L'Tandrey Protectorate. All of us have multicompartmented minds. We have a specific compartment for everyday telepathic communications, and as we converse, we use our body language as well. L'Tandrey themselves have full truespeech, as in emotions, sights, smells, nuances, and all that are transferred in telepathic communications. As far as Mephetians go, we transfer emotions and some nuances in our telepathic speech. The rest of my compartments are shared friends, close family, my specific self, outside influence recording, locker storage, then myself, and my very core self. Interesting, huh?"

Kachiko smiled as the Cadet described how her mind worked, "I was trained to compartment my mind as well. Mostly to be able to properly resist interrogation and torture."

"So can you open up?"

Sav churred, "Oh, that is so awesome. Okay, so, while I'm stunted with my telepathy, I can still get going as long as the Telepath will touch me. You see, direct nerve touch telepathy bypasses mind shields, and thus I can get to know you and get a reading of your psychic signature. With that done, then you can initiate Telepathic contact anytime as My mind will have your reading and when you telepathically search for me to find a unique beacon signature keyed to your psychic signature. So, ifin you agree, after a touch telepathic session, any time you want to talk telepathic, you can then initiate. Just, I can't initiate, you have to do it."

Kachiko nodded, "Like a Vulcan." She held out a hand, "Would you like to try?"

Sav gladly reached out and took Kachiko's hand into hers. While the insides of her fingers and palms were without hair, the hair on the back of her hands was short, soft and silky. She softly said, "Now, focus on where you're touching my hand and telepathically send to that... it should.."

~.. initiate contact so we can speak Telepathically. Hey there, Kachiko, how's it going? *churr-giggle*~ Now having ingress to Sav's mind, the two now were seeing each other in a spherical room with a floor. There were no doors or windows, nothing about except for the two. ~Welcome to my telepathic room, Kachiko. I guess my mind helped show you how to form yourself.. you must be a strong telepath. Most, except for L'Tandrey, are just a head or psychic imprint with words and emotions. Now, realize, this is only during touch telepathy. Regular telepathy will have us sending words and emotions back and forth because I cannot initiate, but you can now. *pleasure/safety* Only my family has done this with me, especially my younger sister. She say's I'm lucky in that I cannot initiate contact.~

'~You have a very pleasant mental voice, Sav,~' came Kachiko's voice, the tiny Marine offering soothing feelings across their connection. 'Did you learn the compartmentalization back home, or?~"

~*giggles* I was born with the compartments as, all Telepathic races I know of have them. However, for races not normally telepathic, they don't have compartments, and so their minds are really messy with weird and unusual thoughts here and there. My sister did some telepathy with some friends to help out on a camping trip, and Mom had to show her how to do a mind purge from the detritus she had picked up. Since I cannot initiate, everything is always in my compartment for talking, so I don't get any of that. So, while I love you stroking the back of my hand, it feels good, you need to release my hand for a moment so we can talk without touching, mm'kay?"

Kachiko blinked, not having even noticed what her hand had been doing. Releasing Sav's hand, she let her hands fall to her sides, '~Testing! Testing!~'

~Yippers, we're still connected and talking. even though you no longer sense my 'formed' self. Think about what your finding in talking to me... yeah, that signature your now sensing, that's me. Now, whenever you're needing to talk to me telepathically, reach out and sense for that, then start talking at it and we will connect. Coolio, right?~

Kachiko smiled, '~My species may be new to telepathy, but I am not. I am enjoying having someone to talk to like this.~'

Sav grinned at Kachiko and said, "Thank you, it is nice to speak telepathically for a bit. Now, want to hear some other cool facts about Mephetians? *Churr-laughing* I think I might know someone who knows a little bit about them."

'~I'm fairly certain I know this someone as well,~' Kachiko chuckled aloud.

As Kachiko remained talking telepathically, Sav went back to that form of communication. Since her's was stunted, she didn't miss it like her siblings and parents did, but, still, it was nice to talk flowingly like this. ~I like this... kind of like speaking to my family... thanks.~ She shook herself in pleasure, then continued. ~Okay, Mephetians. First off, believe it or not, we are tree dwelling. Our tails, musculature, and brain structure are all tuned to being in the tree roads, and thus we love heights and climbing around. Because of this, we make great gymnasts, as long as the equipment takes into account our tails, of course. So, to help with that, we have claws.~

Kachiko nodded her head, "~I figured as much, considering how similar your build is to a Caitian's.~"

Sav put both her hands upon the desk, along with one foot. She grinned, sending, ~I trust you implicitly, Kachiko. So, check, prod, discover.~ With that, Sav extended her climbing claws from both her hands and feet. The reason behind keeping on foot on the floor was to be able to shift to get the other leg positioned with her hands. Long, curved, three inch long claws extended from between her fingers from her hand, and from between her toes as well. They were wickedly sharp, and the curve to them would allow keeping the hands open and using the fingers to help in climbing. ~We use them, of course, for climbing in the trees mainly, and secondarily, well, self defense. And speaking of self defense, when your done with mah claws, there is my tail.~

Kachiko just arched an eyebrow at the display.

Sav noticed that Kachiko did not reach out to prod and discover more about her claws. So, she removed her hands from the desk, stood up, and lifted her leg up and off the desk, balancing perfectly on her other foot. She brought her tail around and then sat down upon it. The tail was now laying across Kachiko's desk so she could check it out.

Sav sent, ~My tail is wide inside, as well as some thickness to it. That is because it also has other purposes due to our planet, so there are extra organs inside the tail. You see, we have nasty predators who hunt by sensing organs that senses life force and by smell. So, when I am frightened or feel threatened, my tail can produce a mist that effectively removes the scent in the air of whomever I am protecting and myself. We... love helping others. It's in our nature. And then, umm, you may not believe me, but it produces a field that hides from those predators.. and from tricorders, life scanners, and etc. A transporter cannot lock onto me when that field is active.~

"~I find myself somewhat envious. I am very proficient with my hands and feet, but having natural claws like yours would be helpful. Not to mention the ability your tail has got, which would be useful in my usual line of work.~"

Within her recording compartment, Sav wondered about 'usual line of work', but didn't let those thoughts intrude into their discourse. If Kachiko wanted her to know more, she would say something. As Kachiko did not reach out to play with her tail and find its inner appendage through the dense fur, Sav stood up and shifted her tail to back behind her, then sat down.

Back to being in her chair as when she first came in, Sav once again reached out with her hands and sent, ~We are sociable people, with families of 1 to 5 moms per dad, so, ifin you want, I wouldn't mind holding hands with you again as we continue talking about Mephetians, alright?~

Kachiko nodded again and once more grasped ahold of the Cadet's larger hand in both of her small hands. Normally, this would be considered fraternization, but Kachiko was expected to help acclimate Cadets to Starfleet life. Sometimes they need a shoulder to cry on, sometimes a hug or holding of hands.

~Okay, my other senses. Most Mephetians can hear really well, our sense of smell is really good, and our touch is good. Umm, equivalent... ahh, similar to a fox on Terra, not quite as good. And, well, I say most, as since my incident on Apollonia, all of my senses have never fully come back. I don't know why. Just, not there, but still a little better than a Terran, I think. Okay, final piece of the puzzle, remember I said my psi is stunted? That includes my Telekinetics.~

"~Telekinesis?~" Kachiko's interest was piqued.

A Padd on the desk lifted, then moved over to land between their hands. ~I did that by one of my mind tentacles. That is what I call them. Most Mephetians have two to four mind hands to move things about, out to about a hundred meters and can lift twice their body weight. You see, they can be used in the tree road as well. Mine.. are more like a, umm, cat's tail, and I have three. My range is about 15 meters and I can only lift about five kilograms. Like I said, stunted.~

"~I should get you in touch with a dear friend of mine, Commander Shandris. Her species is very telepathic, but she was born with absolutely no telepathic ability beyond being able to shield her mind. However, she has very powerful kinetics,~" Kachiko relayed, impressed at the Cadet's ability. "~Shandris can punch a hole in a Defiant's hull if it ever became necessary."

Sav both smiled and churred at hearing about Shandris, but then her lower jaw opened a bit as her eyes grew wide at the last. She blinked in getting her mind around this 'little' fact about Shandris, then said out loud, "Whoah", while her expression grew astonished. She shook herself, then returned to telepathic contact. ~That is very powerful kinetics, indeed. I have only heard of first in scouts having a lot of force, but nothing like that. She must be special indeed. I even bet she could lift a person and throw them, having that much force.~

"~Oh she certainly has!~" the Marine chuckled again. "~We were both together on a Starbase out on the Neutral Zone for awhile. We ended up with both some saboteurs & the hostages they took behind security forcefields. When one of them was about to cut a hostages' throat, Shandris picked him up from the other side of the forcefield and pulled him into that forcefield at about 200 kilometers an hour. The impact knocked the guy out and broke his jaw.~"

Sav's face grew incredulous once more, then she beamed as she sent, ~COOLIO!! Telekinetic Energy Control asa sub-discipline. I have only known of one other, an L'Tandrey by the name of Larn Sain Isan. He had Telekinetic Force Fields with sub of Energy Control. Those are rare, unique, and outside the norm, well for real Psionics, anyway."

Sav churrlaughed a little. ~Well, one thing that is different in real life over holo-vids of tk is that force fields normally stop them, and those fields include the body's natural aura generated from their life force inside their body. Sentients' auras are more powerful than animals. So, while a Mephetian can swing his body in an arc with his TK, smacking a body down takes more energy than that. A shove away, yeah, doable. So, because of holovid movies, I don't use my TK in group areas. I learned the very hard way after being pounded with questions about me killing someone by squeezing their heart, along with some body pounding to make sure I was telling the truth. *pause* Happened in high school, past is past.~

"~High School?~" Kachiko was curious. "~What were you interested in studying?~"

Sav churred slightly. ~Well, I was taking anything related to Mathemathics, Physics, Electronics, Thermodynamics and Fluid Flow Mathematics. I had just entered High School at 13 and was a little naive, oh, so early cause I'm a faster learner Being Naive caused the misunderstanding with the rest of the class. Anwyays, later, the L'Tandrey came and tested me, and they held a Q and A session so my classmates wouldn't be afraid of me. L'Tandrey always use their minds hands in all tasks. So, I graduated at 15, went onto college and graduated at 18. I enjoy dancing, playing the synthetaur, and flying ships. Any ship, doesn't matter, I'm a decent pilot.~

"~Pilots,~" Kachiko sighed. "~My closest friend is a fighter pilot, or was. Now she's the Executive Officer of Starbase Obsidian. She's almost as small as me and she is oh-so very green. Did you bring your instrument with you? We like to encourage the arts here at the Academy.~"

Sav blushed, a mist slightly showing in her eyes. ~I no longer have it. My synthetaur, a gift from the Duke Ashata estate, was destro... destro (A pressure is felt into Sav's mind, as though another is fighting her to keep from finishing that word).. was lost during the incident on Apollonia, as were most of my personal keepsakes and belongings. It's not good for a sla... *presence* this is ramblings of a raver teenage girl seeking attention. Pay them no mind */presence* .. anyways, it's all gone. My only true happy time is flying ships.. being with my companions as we fly through the atmosphere or cosmos... *sigh* Umm, when do Cadets get a chance to fly a runabout or trainer? I.. do really miss flying.~

"~That usually comes in your second year,~" Kachiko sighed aloud. "~Until you're cleared, you're not even supposed to pilot flitters. However, I own my own modified Danube type runabout. You would be most welcome to accompany me the next time I take her out.~"

Sav's entire demeanor changed to an Eagerness while a need was within her, a need to fly and be one with herself again.. a slightly strange feeling, but there. ~I would absolutely love that, Kachiko, Ah really would. Flying with a companion helps me... um.. truth, tell truth.. center myself as I can be me. So, please, just let me know when and I will make sure to get there, ahraght?~ She had a sudden thought, then brought out a data crystal. She smiled to Kachiko as she asked, ~Would these help? I was a Lieutenant in the Merchant Marine with all flight qualifications from Worker Pods to Class 3 Stardrive vessels.~ The data crystal held Sav's certs for Class 9 (Maintenance Pods), Class 8 (Shuttles, runabouts), Class 7 (small ships, Anteres class, etc) through class 3 (Up to battle cruiser size, Oberth Class, Enterprise E). (Enterprise D is a class 2, and civilian ships are not that large, hence why only to class 3 qual).

Kachiko quickly brought the data up, her desk terminal accessing the crystal wirelessly. She nodded silently noting her qualifications, "Well, it looks like you should cruise through qualifications. I recognize that you're very qualified already, sweetie, but Starfleet requires qualifications being conducted by Fleet personnel in Fleet equipment. The joys of bureaucracy."

Sav churred lightly, ~I know, I was just letting you know your Danube would be in safe hands.~ She raised an eyebrow, ~And, your friend, oh so green?~

~Yeah, you would definitely love Commander Lylyl-Llytherraias,~ Kachiko smiled. ~She's almost as small as me and half-Orion. Like me, she fought the Dominion during the War as a Fighter pilot at both the Battle of Vulcan and Cardassia.~

~She's not comfortable or happy unless she's in the cockpit,~ Kachiko grinned at her memories of the Green Goblin's squeal of glee launching off of the Bonhomme Venture so long ago, Save'ena seeing & hearing the memory as clearly as if it were her own, their mental connection still strong.

Sav gladly followed along with the memory, churring loudly at the joy of launching and flying the fighter. This brought up a memory of her own with her in an Asteroid Mining shuttle, zooming through an asteroid field, just missing asteroids and always finding the openings at just the right time to get through without crashing or getting crushed. In this memory, Sav suddenly seemed more there, more alive, more of a presence, full of life, vigor, and emotions. In behind this, there was a sense of actually flying among the constantly moving asteroids, as though being the shuttle and its sensors being sensed directly. That memory quickly faded, but Sav was still churring as she felt more at ease with Kachiko now. ~Thanks for the memory of your friend, and bringing up my own. That was nice.~

"I~I have this thing, where I don't forget ANYTHING, at all. It's helpful for sharing specific experiences with others the way I just did with you,~" Kachiko was smiling at the tall Cadet. "~I...~"

The chime on Kachiko's desk sounded. Her next Cadet had arrived for his appointment.

Now Kachiko spoke aloud, "Well, we'll talk more later, doll. I have my next appointment in two minutes."

Sav stood up, grinning, as she switched back to speech. "This was an outstanding meeting, at least, for me, Kachiko. Thank you again for wanting to know and learn more about me. I look forward to our next session, and of course, flying in your Danube when we get the chance."

Kachiko nodded, "My Danube was modified by Commander Lylyl-Llytherraias. Fighter thrusters and propulsion. In addition to flight controls."

Sav's entire body, from tail to ears, perked up at this news. She said in one breathless word, "Awesome."

"Dismissed, Cadet Tillatix," Kachiko stood.

Sav saluted, performed an about face, and left Captain Bayushi's office, her day, and year, definitely looking much brighter.

OFF:

Cadet Save'ena Amilia Tillatix
Apollonia Sponsored Cadet
San Fransisco StarFleet Academy

(Marine) Captain Bayushi Kachiko
Academic and Student Life Advisor
Starfleet Academy, Earth