The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 1: Eye of the Beholder
Scene 18: Relapse

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Relapse

"I have confined General Krank to medical under suicide watch." Dr. Tentis Uto did not appear any more concerned about the general's condition than he was about what he might order for lunch.

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Uto was meeting with Captains Skip Howard, Yui Song, and a clearly exhausted and drawn-looking Rhonda Carter in his office in the U.S.S. Beagle's medical center. Captain Carter looked like she had aged several years and the gray in her hair was somewhat more pronounced. She sat forward in her chair and kept working and massaging her right shoulder.

"He was doing so well," Carter said.

"It is quite the setback," said the bald, betazoid doctor. "But I had anticipated something like this. While I have reversed much of the physical damage, the psychological damage will take much longer to address. Sooner or later he was going to be faced with the need to kill and find out that he had been psychologically blocked from killing - or even fighting to protect another person. I am impressed he was able to take action to save your life. That, alone, is quite the breakthrough and he should be made aware of it. By you."

Captain Carter nodded her head. "I owe him my life." She continued working her shoulder.

"Don't be too aggressive with that shoulder," Uto chided. "That's reconstructed tissue and it needs time to bond into your existing tissue. You can separate it if you're not careful and if you do it will never grow back as strong as you need it to."

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"What treatment do you think Krank needs at this point?" Captain Yui asked.

"I still need to completely rebuild his fingers and his sex organs," said Uto. The nerve damage in those areas is quite severe. I'm frankly astounded he had sufficient sensation in his hands to throw his knife so accurately when he killed Lieutenant Commander Straiv. A testament to the quality of klingon martial arts training."

Dr. Uto paused for a drink of sog. Simply lifting the cup disturbed the foul-smelling betazoid drink sufficiently to cause the three captains in his office to wince. "I will need to be in his mind while my team is working on repairing those nerves. The torture to his fingers and particularly to his sex organs were the key moments in his reprogramming. I am going to have to relive those moments with him - help him turn defeat into victory."

Captain Yui grimaced at this, but she could see both Captains Howard and Carter nodding as if this additional psychological torment made perfect sense.

"nentay," said Carter.

"Exactly," said Uto. "A klingon who fails nentay, but survives, may take the ritual again and again - as many times as needed to turn defeat into victory. I think each of you should speak with him before we get started. Help him understand what he's about to experience in its proper light."

"I will do anything, anything at all to help him beat this," said Carter, some of her native aggression returning to her expression. "I owe him my life."

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