They Talk To Me

Posted on Tue Jun 3rd, 2025 @ 7:17pm by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Liha t'Ehhelih

Mission: Shackles
Location: Coterie
Timeline: After "Shairo"
1890 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure

"Liha..." Jake called after her once Gregnol and Burnie were no longer in earshot. In some ways it wasn't a conversation he wanted to start. In almost all ways, in fact. But there was still the niggling notion in the back of his mind that it was one that probably should happen. At least for the sake of honesty. "I know we agreed to keep our distance, and I respect that. But, uh, I had something that I needed to discuss with you. If you've got a few minutes to talk?" He kept his tone neutral, if a little diplomatic. In fact, he had already subconsciously checked her hands to see if she was about to knife him, but thankfully that wasn't the case this time.

She did her best not to react, but there was an instant tightness in Liha's posture that would explain why there was a colloquial phrase in Romulan almost directly equivalent to the human 'got her back up'. However, he was a crewmate, so she responded with an elevated eyebrow and a forebodingly neutral expression. "That depends on what you want to discuss."

"Me...sort-of." He grimaced, knowing that trying to express things in a way that wouldn't have her ripping him a new one. "I need to explain something that happened to me. After we...switched." He remained guarded, watching her movements intently for some sort of clue as to her reaction. "I know I agreed not to discuss it, but I feel as though you deserve to hear it from me directly. There was...a complication. After things returned to normal."

"A complication?" It was less a question than an expression of distaste at whatever this issue was, especially as it was plainly something that happened to him and that she might well go her whole life without having to know. she strongly suspected it was less something she deserved to know and more something Jake wanted to get off his chest. But she'd spent enough time around humans to know that you could seldom get them to just let go of that sort of thing. "Fine. Tell me."

He half-relaxed when he heard her answer. "Okay. So, according to...let's call it some sort of science, there was something left behind when you returned to your body. I think Cassie called it a 'merge remain'." He let her process that a second before continuing. "It sounds ridiculous to even try to explain; as if a tiny fragment of you - your subconscious, maybe, imprinted on my brain and left something there. And, well, I think I can speak to it sometimes."

She crossed her arms, an eyebrow slanting upward. "So, you think there's some part of me still living in your head." The tone was more than a little sardonic. "And you fantasize about talking to it?"

"Fantas-" Jake caught himself before he fell into the trap. "It's no fantasy. Cassie and I, we managed to uncover it - her during a mind-meld," he explained. "She calls herself 'Kilhra'. She appears as a Romulan female, though not exactly like you. Sort-of a mix of both of us, actually..."

"Uh-huh." She eyed him skeptically. The 'merge remain' thing sounded like typical Vulcan BS to cover for going off the deep end. And this sounded a lot more like the crazy in some of Burnie's old earth stories... what had they called it? Split personality? "So, a Romulan female who isn't at all like a Romulan female, but more like ...you. If you ask me, after being in my body it was such a let down to be back in your own that you created this whole alternate personality so you could imagine being Romulan again. Except you can't actuality deal with real Romulan attitude or emotion, so you made this figment of denial that's more like you personality-wise." She smirked. "Which I know because a real Romulan who was a separate entity trapped in your head would've found a way to either shove you aside and take over or kill herself by now."

"Not a 'real' Romulan then," Jake shrugged. Liha was being her typical sarcastic and inflexible self, he figured. Why change the habit of a lifetime? Besides, she hadn't complained too hard about being in his body. At least, not out loud. "I don't know what exactly she or it is. I know that part of her came from you; she has some tiny fragments of your memories, she speaks your language. But she's not an exact copy of you, that's blatantly obvious." He sighed, torn between the relief of talking about it and the stress of navigating interactions with Liha. "I don't care what you do with the knowledge, either. I just thought that if there were tiny fragments of my brain floating around in yours that I might want to know too."

"Well, there's not," she snapped back. "If any of you had stuck in my brain, I guarantee you'd know because I'd have been to any and every specialist on FreeCloud who could rid me of it." Typical human - thinking their BS was something others 'deserved' to know. Just she'd first thought, it was a Jake problem she might well go her whole life without having to know. Unless, he really had had some sort of psychic break. In which case, an unstable XO was something everyone needed to know. "Have you told the Captain about this ...alternate personality... you think is living in your head?"

"He's aware," Jake confirmed. "Medically speaking, I'm fine by the way. Probably slightly better than fine in some respects; no doubt a little of you rubbed-off." It was a slightly underhand way of rubbing Liha's ego, he figured, to say so. At the same time in his own mind it was something of a dig at her need for superiority in all things. "I know what you're thinking, and I don't sense any threat or ill-intent. If there were I'm sure I would follow your sage advice and deal with it."

She smirked at his naivete - if there was anything of her in whatever was in his head, she would in fact give zero indication of threat or ill-intent. Until there was no chance to counter it. He clearly still knew nothing about Romulans, which made her all the more skeptical of the claim that anything of her had magically rubbed off on him. It was surprising that Gregnol was okay with it, but then he was only human too. "You should still take my sage advice. Medically isn't the same as psychologically, and last I heard none of our medics were qualified to assess whatever delusion or dissociative disorder you've got lodged in what passes for a brain."

"Well, I suppose that means you're not qualified either..." he countered, surprising himself with how quickly the riposte came out. "Maybe no-one is. But perhaps it's an indicator of trust that I'm actually telling you up-front about it and not letting it slip out later. Call it...part of the terms of our truce, or something."

"Up front," Liha scoffed. It had been how long since the body swap? If he was finally telling her now it was only because enough other people already knew that he figured it would slip out in her hearing before long. Or someone had already assumed he must have told her and it had scared him into this now. "It's been almost a year, and a lot of that was spent hanging around Hysperia will the ship was upfitted. But honestly, I could have gone my whole life without knowing you had invented some quasi-Romulan to keep you company in that empty human head. My only concern is that the XO on my ship seems to think there's another personality living in his head, one that's semi-Romulan, but he's either too crazy or stupid to see that as a problem."

"In my defence I only worked out how to properly communicate with it a couple of months ago..." he grumbled. What was frustrating was that she could out-logic him like a Vulcan, but with a lot more spite behind it. "And I never said it wasn't a problem, either. As much as I'd like to be rid of it completely, I'd figure that wouldn't be the most straightforward thing in the world. So it's contained, which is good enough for now." A pause fell as he tried to formulate the next part of what he needed to say. "Liha, I've not spoken to Cassie or Reuben about it, but...if it did end up trying to plot out a coup in my brain...I don't know if either of them would be willing to, well, you know."

"Kill you?" It wasn't really a question so much a prompt for affirmation of what she expected the ask to be, since it was the contingency that she'd want in place. "Sure. But I'd like something in writing so I don't wind up charged with murder."

"What? No, not kill me. I meant more...just 'stop' it. Non-lethally." He frowned, knowing that he ought to have been perturbed by the rather quick and relaxed attitude she took to the idea, but recognising that it wasn't a surprise at all. "Goes without saying that out of anyone on the ship you're the one I suppose I would trust to do that without any lingering damage."

Liha frowned back. "Given that whatever split personality is hiding in your head probably knows you're relying on me, if she's Romulan, she'll be looking to take me out. So don't count on 'no lingering damage', because I might be facing a kill-or-be-killed scenario there." Her eyes narrowed, frown deepening. "Or do you know that and that's why you're asking me rather than Cassie to stop it?"

He didn't answer. In some ways, he left it unspoken. Perhaps open to her interpretation; though it was also a circumstance he wasn't interested in fully describing in detail. "Consider it a challenge then. One you should be capable of, if you're as good as you claim," he finally muttered.

That got a dismissive eyebrow shrug. "I take challenges if they interest me. Not maiming you if your alternate personality comes for me, doesn't interest me. Ending the threat with minimal effort and no evidence tracing back to me..." she eyed him speculatively. "...Now that might be an interesting exercise."

"As interesting as guerilla warfare against a group of invading Orions?" His mouth finally curled up, sensing it was a subject they could at least agree on. "I mean, if I've taken any part of your brain, we're at least aligned on the idea that it'll be just as fun to see how many of them we can drop..."

Liha puffed a laugh. "I doubt you're any match for me even with that help." Then her eyes narrowed, more serious, as she considered that this conversation might have been the human trying to offer warning with the whatever was in his head shutting him down. "But stay in front of me. I don't fancy being dropped from behind."

"Funny," he remarked, checking his phaser. "I was just thinking the same thing."