Purging Emotion

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 5:13am by Lieutenant Katniss Wakefield
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:20pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: The Holodeck
Timeline: Before Entering the Unknown

After all, she had missed Katniss had finally poked her head out of the clouds. She had introduced herself to several fellow officers, taken the plunge and socialised with people, which was way out of her comfort zone and to top it all off she had exposed raw emotion about the loss of her child, something that she had somehow managed to suppress and keep in check.

However, her recent experiences and socialising had exposed her to the vulnerabilities she sought to avoid, instead of the raw emotion, the frustration she felt over missing so much and the darkness she had managed to keep under control had all coming crawling to the surface. She needed to get these emotions under control and bury them back into the cesspit that crawled from and there was only one way Katniss knew how to do that.

Stood in the middle of the holodeck, she hadn't selected a program yet, but would she get away with this. On her previous posting, she hadn't had to worry about getting away with it, she was in control of the logs, she could suppress what she was up to, but here on a ship, it was completely different and intertwined community like a spider's web, each department interlinked, people relying on other people, departments checking and keeping order, but this was the only way, she had to risk it.

"Computer, seal the doors to the holodeck, no entry without my authorisation."

The computer made its usual acknowledgement tone and the clunking of the locking mechanism echoed around the room before it confirmed the order. "Doors are sealed."

"Computer access my secure database and run program....." she paused for thought, mentally running through which program would be the most suitable, after all, she had several, but on this occasion, there could only be one. "Program Wakefield fifty-fifty."

Again the computer gave an acknowledgement tone and the holodeck shuddered into life, a thick woodland with a waterfall and river, with a ceremonial fighting ring surrounded by an assortment of weapons quickly appeared. The gentle rumble of the waterfall and spray cooled the air. Katniss took a deep breath. 'Excellent' she thought to herself as the fun felt warm on her face.

"Now computer, access my medical and personnel files and based upon my phycological profile and abilities give me an opponent to which I am evenly matched against, any humanoid species."

This request took a couple of seconds, but again the computer obeyed her command and suddenly, a large Cardassian male stood before her. For a moment a wicked smile crept over her face as she circled her opponent.

"Excellent." she said while removing her Starfleet Jacket and throwing it to the floor "Now, for each opponent that I defeat, increase the next opponents capabilities increasing the chances that it could overpower me and defeat me."

Another tone"Acknowledged." replied the computer.

"One more thing, disengage safety protocols."

"Warning. Disengaging safety protocols presents an extreme risk of injury."

"Override, authorisation Wakefield 5179 Alpha."

The computer finally gave an acknowledgement tone as it recognised her security code. "Acknowledged. Safety protocols have been disengaged."

Again a wicked grin came across her face, she looked at her opponent and took up a stance "Begin preprogrammed simulation."

Katniss's eyes widened as the Cardassian slowly came to life, they stared each other for a few minutes before they both dashed for a weapon, Katniss started out with something simple, she ran and grabbed a phaser that was hanging from the weapon rack, she hit the buttons to maximum, before she spun around, narrowly missing some sort of javelin that the Cardassian had just thrown towards her, before she pulled the trigger and watched as the Cardassian was vaporised.

'Too easy' she thought as the weapons for that round vanished and a new array of weapons materialised. Then single beeps from the computer before another opponent appeared, this time a Klingon.

-- 30 minutes later --

Katniss was slowing down, she was bruised, bleeding and sweating, she looked up as her latest opponent hit the floor lifeless, a knife sticking out of the side of his chest. She quickly put her hands on her knees and took some deep breaths, she was well into her reserves and her body was giving up but she let out a loud scream as she the customary three beeps appeared. She slowly looked the computer was indeed making this harder but her next opponent she didn't expect, before her a Borg drone appeared. "What the..." Katniss said but quickly rolled out of the way unable to finish, she picked up a disruptor and rolled onto her back, she fired but the drone didn't move, it's shielding absorbing the blast. 'Shit, she thought." as she scrambled to get to her feet, but it was too late. The drone picked her up by the scruff of her neck, she felt it's cold hands wrap around her throat as it squeezed the life out of her, she was going dizzy at this rate she would lose consciousness in seconds.

Suddenly she was flying through the air, as the drone threw her, she hit what no doubt the holodeck wall but in this simulation, it was a rock front, she fell to the floor in a heap gasping for breath as the drone slowly came in for the kill.

"Co....comp.....computer..." she gasped in a barely audible voice, trying to crawl away. She could feel the presence of the drone behind her, this was it, she had to muster everything, she took an agonising deep breath before yelling as loud as she could.

"Computer, end program."

To her relief and delight and just as the drone reached down to finish her off the computer acknowledged her command and the holodeck shut down, the drone was first to disappear, then the surroundings, until just the yellow lines of the holodeck were visible. She lay there panting, bleeding, dazed unable to move as her body's biochemistry fought against her a build up of metabolic waste signalled she had pushed her muscles too far depleting them of its fuel. The fatigue soon set in and she just lay, looking at the ceiling.

Another twenty minutes had passed and Katniss smiled, the emotion had been purged, the anger, the despair banished back to the deepest darkness cavities it had come from. This is the only way she knew how to deal with the manifesting torment that followed her and what an amply named program fifty-fifty. Fifty percent change you lived, fifty percent chance you died. She slowly sat up and her whole body cried out in pain, it was a good job she was a medical doctor, a trip to sickbay wouldn't be necessary. Finally, she lunged forward and got onto her knees, she crawled for her jacket and groaned as she struggled to put it back on, she finally let out a sigh of relief as she got to her feet. She closed her eyes, all was calm, all was tranquil, all that was left was to get back to her quarters, clean up her wounds, hit the sonic shower and then plan an upcoming meal.

"Computer, unseal the doors."

OFF