Betazoid Problems: I Can Hear the Tribbles Thinking

Posted on Sat Jun 13, 2026 @ 9:00pm by Lieutenant JG Ellen Washington & Lieutenant JG Minh Nao Psy.D., BSc, SFPC(Xeno-Psych), Psi-Track

1,575 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: S03E01 - Something about Tribbles
Location: Langley Hospital
Timeline: MD02 - 15.00

Walking about the promenade she was being tugged all over. It was relatively late. She kept hearing whispers, not outloud, but in her head. There must her neural inhibitor, used to calm her psionic and telepathic abilities must be out of whack.

She blamed her Psionic Neural Pathways, they were firing up... after catching up with her grandfather. Her stress hormones must've been through the roof. Could she be going through the Phase? It is the biological cycle of her species. Either way her head was going to explode, or, someone was going to be thrown around like a ragdoll.

The doors swooshed open and she looked around, she didn't realize she had wondered into Sickbay.

Having just finished with her last patient, and working on update the patient file Ellen looked up when the door had opened and a Betazoid woman entered. As the woman looked around like she wasn't sure where to go Ellen saved the record and walked to the woman from behind the desk. "Goodafternoon, can I help you with something."

"Uhm perchance you wouldn't know of a Psionic Specialist would you?" Minh asked steadying herself, "I am not sure what the protocols are to seek a specialist, or if you could do it, I need my Neural Inhibitor adjusted."

"We do have a Psionic specialist on the station I can refer you too, but if I may, I'd like to examine you myself first." Ellen asked. "Let go to a examination room over here where we can talk a bit easier then out here."

As Minh followed suit, she could hear more and more thoughts, of possible imprints of patients past. This was unique as she had not had this before. Beads of sweat started to run down her sides, her eyes darting side to side. She sat down on the bed and looked forward to Ellen.

"Take a seat," Ellen said as she directs the Lieutenant to the biobed and grabbed a medical tricorder. "When was the last time you had your neural inhibitor adjusted?" she asked.

"It was adjusted once at the Academy." Minh said. "It went from 1.5 to 2.25... I think it needs to go way higher. That was atleast 5 years ago." pausing she took a deep breath and noticed the Psionic Cat return....

"YOU! Go away cat!" Minh Screamed.

"Five years?" Why didn't you someone sooner Ellen said as she grabbed a hypospray with a cortical suppressant. She couldn't help but look around to find the mentioned cat before grabbing a medical tricorder and started scanning Minh's neurotransmitter levels, looking for feedback loops and psionic bleed.

As the medical officer continued the scan, the pressure became evident in Minh's mind. It was extreme yelling, her eyes started to blur... a tint of red appeared, she felt something running out of the socket... putting her finger up to it and whiping it away, she looked and realized it was blood.

Trying to keep calm her hand outreached to the Doctor, and put the scanning device down. "Please tell me, you have your data."

Luckily Ellen indeed had the needed information. "I'm no expert in the field of Psionic Medical, but what I am seeing here makes me believe you're on your way Neural Rejection Syndrom. The suppressent should have lowered your synaptic baseline down with 40%. I'm still seeing spikes in your neural activity, like your brain is actively rejecting the dampener. I would need to emergency disable the unit for a few seconds to let your brain "breathe," and then manually override the frequency to match your current state."

"What do you think? Or we go find a specialist, which we recently received here on the station actually. I can set your device to harmonic neutral in the mean time to alleviate the pain." Ellen asked.

"I have heard of it, I think we should proceed with your action plan. Anything to make this stop." Minh said.

Ellen walked to the controls for the biobed and activated the cerebral differential field. A blue shimmering appear around the bed which would prevent spikes of pain from Minh once the device was turned off. They didn't want her to broadcast pain to the entire deck. "Authorize bypass for medical diagnostic equipment and authorized bio-signatures only."

Once confirmative was given, Ellen connected her tricorder to the inhibitor's external port behind the ear. "Initiating a Phase-Shift Bypass. I'm decoupling the primary dampening crystals from the neural interface."

Minh went to her happy place, an eatery on Earth, it served Ice Cream, double decadent swiss chocolate and a touch of mint... she was a foodie... she became lost.

"Minh, you're going to feel a cold sensation, after which you'll hear a rush of sound." she explained as she started ramping down. Looking at the lowering numbers on her tricorder, hoping there wouldn't be a neural backflow. Once the numbers were at zero she removed the device using a laser scapel.

It wasn’t sound.

It was presence.

Thoughts slammed into her—not as words, but as emotions with shape, texture, temperature. Panic burned sharp and electric somewhere down the corridor. Someone nearby carried a dull, heavy grief that pressed against her ribs like a physical weight. There was laughter too—bright, chaotic, splintering across her awareness like shattered glass.

Minh gasped.

Her hands flew to her head.

“It’s too much—!”

But it kept coming.

The room dissolved.

She could feel him—Dr. Washington—before she could hear her. Her focus was steady, controlled, but beneath it was concern, tight and coiled. It brushed against her like a steadying hand she couldn’t quite grasp.

Then deeper.

Further.

The ships in dock—no, the station—unfolded inside her mind like a map she had never been allowed to see. Dozens. Hundreds... Thousands of minds. Each one a star burning with its own gravity, its own storms.

And she was suddenly aware—

They could feel her, too.

A ripple moved outward.

Confusion. Surprise.

And then—

Her breath hitched as something inside her expanded—not outward, but inward, like a door she had never known existed suddenly thrown open.

She wasn’t just receiving anymore.

She was touching them back.

Gently at first—instinctively—but even that was too much. A stray thought brushed someone and they flinched. Another mind recoiled. The feedback hit her instantly, doubling the noise, doubling the chaos.

Minh cried out.

“I can’t—shut it off—how do I shut it off?!”

Recognition.

"This is why they classed me the way they did." Minh pipped up.

"What do you mean?" Ellen asked as she put a comforting hand on Minh's arm.

"They didn't know what a disgrace I was." Minh began to cry into her hands.

"Hey now, you are not a disgrace. I don't care what anyone told you, and I don't really know you beyond the readings I just did, but someone who can handle what you have been dealing with for the last several years is not a failure. The settings of your neural enhibitor were so off balanced that I am seriously amazed that you were able to function as you have." Ellen said encouragingly.

Looking towards Ellen, Minh asked, "How do we move forward?"

"Well," Ellen started, happy minh seemed to have recovered. "I'd like you to tell me what you feel around you. Is the patch working?" She grabbed the tricorder again to see if the devise would tell her the same as the patient was.

"It is kind of feeling alright, no pressure on the roof of my head. Just a lot more voices." Minh looked over, "Also, an unnatural hunger?"

Ellen chuckled. "That hunger is easily fixable," Ellen said as she read the readings on her tricorder and came to a similar conclusion as Minh said.

“No,” Minh’s voice grew into a whisper, as she hopped off the biobed, “their in the bulkheads, in between the Jeffries tubes… May I?” Minh didn’t wait for the answer as she walked towards a station to run a scan.

"Off course," Ellen said as she was rushing after her patient. What the peep was happening? She continued to do reading, but they were not telling her anything abnormal. "Who are in the bulkheads," mentally trying to make a list of what she could do next. Call a counselor?

"Oh no Doctor, perhaps we should warn Command, we have tribbles." Minh looked over to Ellen.

"No that is not possible. If there were Tribbles on the station we would have known. You must be confusing the voices and feelings for other people on the station." Ellen said dismissively.

"But -" Minh feeling like a child again, " - it's not." she looked down and held her hands tight.

Seeing the disappointment on the lieutenant's face Ellen couldn't help but feel a bit bad for having to say it. She pushed her feelings down. "How are your pain levels? Better? Do you need some more pain relief?"

"They are..." Minh assessed, blinked one eye at a time, burped, "...fine. I am fine. Please make an appointment with the other Doctor?"

"I'll make sure she'll sees you as soon as possible." Ellen said putting a hand on the lieutenat's hand. "I did all I could, but I think Doctor sh'Valankov can help you further."

Nodding Minh took her leave.

OFF:

Lieutenant Junior Grade Minh Nao
Counselor
Langley Station

Lieutenant Junior Grade Ellen Washington
Medical Officer
Langley Station

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