The Recurring Nightmare

Posted on 20 Apr 2026 @ 11:57am by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & 1st Lieutenant Gavin Ross Dr.

3,600 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: S04 Episode 02 The Hackers Backdoor (Incidentals)
Location: Captain's personal quarters USS Tomcat
Timeline: Current

[ON]

Jasmine had just finished her shift and had handed over to the duty officer. They had tested the Phasers, and all worked out adequately in her eyes. Now, she put on her sleep undies and went to bed. She found it hard to settle down, but when she did, she was back in a frightfully familiar setting.

- Dreamscape -

Jasmine was back in the torture chamber once again. She was naked and again covered in old wounds that were still fresh scars, her face was swollen, she could barely see out of her uncrusted eye, she was once again covered in grime and dried blood, her hair a matted and tangled mess, right there and there, she silently swore that she would make her tormentor pay if she survived.

Her thoughts were inturrupted as her breath left her as a boot landed solidly in her stomach and she collapsed onto her side, her tormentors had stopped asking questions, probably because she had answered them all and only repeated the same answers, so now it was just beatings. Her back was covered in welts, half of which had scabbed over from where they broke. Next thing, she screamed in pain as she felt a whip strike her back and side, then she was unceremoniously picked up and spread-eagled with her back up and on her front.

For untold times, she was whipped, then it stopped; she was half-conscious, and she looked up through the pain and saw a figure with a white aura around her, then she spoke. Jasmine could see through blurred vision.

"Who are you, really?"

"What is it you want to do?"

The blond-headed female asked Jasmine to look at her, puzzled, and could have sworn the mystery woman sighed, a little vexed, "You know who you are, Jasmine, you know in the waking world that you are no longer here, but you still exist in this!" she exclaimed, waving her arms at the torture chamber. "Knowing it is a nightmare is one thing, but you have the power within yourself to end all this, but as you have not yet done so, I am beginning to think you like being here!" the apparition said, disgusted.

"Why are all you Somers women so bull-headed?" She asked no one in particular.

"You know of us? What are you, really?" Jasmine said, turning the question back on the woman.

"Wow, so you still have some spine. This is good, but to answer your question. Did Alex ever mention her longtime friend who was killed in a semi-botched Black Ops mission decades ago?" The figure asked, and recognition flashed on Jasmine's face, as much as her face could move. "I f-f-forgot the name!" Jasmine said in a croaked voice.

"Graves, Annabelle Graves, I used to visit Alex during her downs, that was usually around the Eleventh day of the Eleventh month when the loss she suffered was memorialised along with past dead, it is strange that I am assigned to her cousin, whom I have never met, but you share Alex's stubbornness, that is sure", Annabel said.

"Alex told me that for a long time she had a crush on you, and if you had not died, she would have likely gotten together with you", Jasmine said and saw the woman's eyes swell with tears.

"Yes, I know, I have seen her husband and kids and think of what I will never have", she sighed, then stepped back as the tormentors returned. She looked at Jasmine, " You have the power to free yourself from this hellscape. I cannot intervene," Annabelle said, with discomfort on her face.

Once again, the beatings started, and the mental pain became so much that she screamed.

- Reality -

Jasmine woke up screaming and in agony. Once again, her body was covered in bruises and cuts; the psychosematic effect the mind had over the body was in clear evidence. She activated a specialised hologram that could help to a certain extent. Jasmine stood and took her top off, which made her topless; her firm muscles and generous breast size still held up even though she was in her forties.

She sat at the table, but only after taking out a large bottle of Bloodwine, which she knew would allow her to get drunk fast; she just wanted to numb the pain for a bit. The hologram attended to her cuts. "A doctor is recommended", the hologram would only say.

"Thank you, end program", she said. When the hologram vanished, she opened the bottle, poured herself a glass and knocked it back, then another. She was halfway through the bottle and was drunk. She fumbled for her Commbadge, clumsily activated it and concentrated hard to speak normally.

=/\= Somers to Ross, report to my personal quarters with trauma First Aid and a derm-dermal regenerator =/\= she said, noting the brief slip.

Dr. Gavin Ross hurried down the corridor toward the Captain's quarters after hearing her com. Medkit slung over one shoulder and the dermal regenerator tucked under his arm. Her comm had come through a bit slurred, and that alone had his gut twisting already.

=/\= Captain. I am on my way right now, hold on, Ma'am. =/\=

- Captain's Quarters -

Ross had chimed the doorbell.

"Enter Doctor"

He hit the chime and waited a beat before the doors hissed open. The second he stepped inside,e the thick smell of Bloodwine hit him hard, along with this heavy, tense vibe hanging in the air like fog. Captain Somers was at the table fumbling to pull a loose robe over her shoulders, but she wasn't quick enough to hide the bruises and fresh-looking sores dotting her arms, chest and back to her slender, soft figure.

Ross felt his stomach drop. Damn, this wasn't right.

" Captain," he said, in a soft voice full of real worry, as he took a slow step in. "I got here as fast as I could. You asked for the trauma kit and the dermal regenerator."

"Yes, you have anything to sober me up?" She asked, "The Bloodwine rid me of the memory for a short time, but it has not worked, so getting drunk does not hide the trauma!" She then made a mouth-smacking sound, "How the hell does Alex cope drinking Bloodwine>" she asked, pushing the half-empty bottle to one side.

He set the kit down carefully on the edge of the table and popped it open. Blue eyes flicking over the marks she was still trying to cover. His brow creased deeply. He knew psychosomatic stuff when he saw it, especially after everything she had been through, but she was still his Captain. His colleague. His friend. He could not just dive in and start prying.

As he kept assessing her visually, he slowly reached for the dermal regenerator and began gently running it over the worst-looking bruise on her arm, then moved to a raw sore on her shoulder.

Ma'am, those bruises," Gavin added, keeping his tone gentle and respectful, not wanting to offend. "They look quite bad. What happened? Are you okay?"

He didn't have his usual casualness to him, Gavin was concerned not only as his Captain, but also his good Friend. Trying to keep it light, even though inside he was already itching to step in more. I'm here to help, no questions asked, beyond what you wanna tell me. But if something's going on, you don't gotta hide it from me." He then lent a soft glimpse of mercy for her.

Ross stayed put, waiting for her lead,d not pushing. He was not about to overstep with her, no matter how much it killed him to see his CO like this.

"Got that Oxy Gavin? Getting Drunk is not working," she said.

Gavin scoffed a bit at the mention of oxy-dehydrend TX XR, a higher pain medication, in restricted usage. Especially not to be used with hard real alcohol, especially with the blood wine. He was concerned inside, shuddering at what would bring the captain to such pain, and the need to release the stress she was under.

“Captain.” He continued to work on the bruises, asking, “Please stand up without your gown.” Gavin stated so matter-of-factly.

Now taking a thorough scan around the captain’s body, he had shaken his head, Dr Ross’s forehead creasing at his forehead in utter confusion. As he ran the dermal regenerator and then paused to place a total pain reliever medication, a powerful medication, but one that would not interact with alcohol. Ross had synthesised the type of medication himself in the lab. It was an overall body reset on psychological, physical, and neurological pathways.

She looked up at him as she felt the injection sober her up. She started to think clearly, her hands were shaking, "You missed a spot" she said dropping her cover, her topless bruised and lacerated body was in full view "there is a wound between my breasts too, also all over my lower body, you might want to check my stomach as well as my nightmare had my tormentor kick me there too" she said.

Ross had checked, placing his hands on the Captain's bare chest, taught and gently warm.

She showed no embarrassment in being topless. Despite her wounds, she was proud of her still fit shape, lean and muscular, but not enough to look like a bodybuilder on steroids; she had a warrior's lithe and toned body, she thought she looked good for a forty-something. She waited till Ross had finished his treatment.

He felt the swelling under her chest skin and shook his head.

“You have two broken ribs!” He gawked, pushing back a moment to look straight at the captain’s eyes. “Ma’am. Who has been doing this to you? This psycho-somatic dream expression can only explain your bruising… And these, lacerations… “Gavin had begun photographing the clear slices into her skin. “This is horrible. How long has this Tormentor?!” Ross was science, this was psychosomatic medicine screamed it.

But everything else proved a Tormentor. “Captain!?” His breath hit a hard swallow, anger enveloping him, Doctor. For the Captain, his friend.

When he had said, "Please have a seat, Gavin, I will tell you what I feel like I can speak of", she said, looking up at him.

Ross sat down calmly once he was satisfied that the Captain’s ribs were safely solid from the deeper regeneration unit he had used. He was ok, for the moment, but he would be beaming the Captain to Sick Bay after this private talk. And she would have a private room in sickbay; nobody would know. But he had some serious medical state-of-the-art equipment he was ready to use on the Captain, A.S.A.P. He was her doctor.

She put her top back on "Can I offer you a cold glass of water? I know I want a glass," She asked, standing and walking over to the replicator

Ross could have been chided not to rush up to his feet to help the Captain get a glass of cold water. “Thank you, Ma’am,” Ross replied, concern in his voice. This was his chance to see her gait, her walk, and assess her pain level to get to the replicator.

Replicating the water, she brought the glasses back over and placed one in front of Gavin and the other next to her, then, inhaling, she began.

"I am not too far gone as to know that my PTSD puts me on the borderline of my CMO benching me, but I am not that far gone to know I cannot keep commanding the Tomcat in this state, for the moment it is not affecting my duty, but there is always that slim chance it may at some point in the future. So I have spoken to Starfleet to sort things out, before I recount my experiences of my capture, the stuff which haunts my sleeping hours *yawns* sorry. *pauses* This Shakedown cruise will be my last as Commander of this vessel. I have requested and been granted command of Starbase 51 at the rank of Commodore. What I am telling you, Gavin, is confidential, understood?" She asked, "and you are now wondering who will command the Tomcat in my absence, it will not be Commander Dodd, he is not ready, yet", she added.

Dr. Ross knelt beside Captain Somers’ table chair in the dimly lit quarters, tricorder steady in his hand despite the knot of dread twisting in his gut. He kept his voice low, professional, the calm mask never cracking even as worry for her clawed at him. This… He never experienced any medical situation in his career.

“Captain… these chest fractures and bruising patterns show repeated blunt-force impact, yet there’s zero external contusion or defensive wounds. It’s as if the trauma is… internalising from within.” His eyes flicked to the fresh scan results. “When did the pain first manifest during your sleep cycle? Any recurring nightmares preceding the fractures?” Her declaration of her status as a Tomcat was almost an afterthought at this point. She needed care, and needed it seriously at this stage.

Todd stayed at her other side, gentle as always, one large hand resting feather-light on her shoulder—nothing more, honouring her fierce need for privacy. In his head, the possibilities churned: Xeno polycythemia flare? Psychosomatic conversion from buried trauma? PTSD psychosis manifesting somatically? None of it fit. The readings made no sense, and the confusion only tightened his jaw as he fought to stay composed for her.

"Ma'am. Captain Somers..." He smiled slowly, but cautiously. "Jasmine. I am very happy about your promotion. This... This is good news. I won't do anything to stop that." As CMO, he easily could, but the Captain needed this. At least at the Starbase, they had Toglicylic Photon Therapy (JFT - TP Therapy), which specially handled this type of Starfleet officers' psycho-social demons. It was a trend seen in senior positions within the ranks of the fleet, and there was a cure for it.

"Are you ready for this, Jasmine?" He gave her another pain sedative to calm her ailments, but it would not cause her to be groggy. He then began to work on two of her fractured rib cage limbs. "You have a chest fracture. I will fix it. The pressure on your chest will release."

"You're leaving us..." Ross whispered. It was a loss. He let the words linger, hoping Jasmine would speak.

When the fracture was fixed, she found it easier to breathe "I will only be switching positions, Gavin, I will still be around, but I need to be in a post that has considerably less stress than a Starship Captain", she said.

*inhales*

"Sometime ago, my cousin Alex was acting CO of the Tomcat. I was a TFCO at that time, and I went to see the launch of the Poseidon, the mission undertaken by Alex and the Tomcat Crew dealt with a zombification of a planet where all colonists had to be killed as they had gone too far to be saved," she inhaled.

"The perpetrator of this poisoning escaped. He was a deluded scientist whose valid research had disastrous results, and instead of accepting his failure, he doubled down on his failed research and thus poisoned a planet, the result of which was that Lieutenant Colonel Somers had to show proof and get permission for a Base Delta Zero. In case you are wondering, that is glassing an entire planet, killing all Flora and fauna, and the colonists. Some colonist ships managed to escape, but they were full of infected and thus were destroyed. Her actions saved a neighbouring planet with some newly arrived colonists on it." She paused again to let what she said sink in.

"It was the hardest order Starfleet gave and the hardest thing Alex had to do in her short command career, I am sure at that moment she wished she never started command training, it was a dark day, but it would pale in comparison to what would come next" she paused again to breathe and let Ross absorb what she said before she would continue.

Dr Gavin Ross leaned forward, eyes steady with deep empathy and quiet shock. A profound sadness settled in his chest-for Alex, for the Captain, and for the lives her actions had torn apart.

“Jasmine,” Gavin said softly, voice rich with feeling as he wet his dry lips... “I’m taking this in. Alex’s choices carried real weight, rippling far beyond what anyone expected. This transfer from the Tomcat to Starbase… It’s clear you’re still carrying the aftermath.”

She looked at him, "ya Think!" she said suddenly with grim humour.

He paused, then asked pointedly, “How did her actions first hit you personally? Was there a specific moment when trust fractured? How did it change the ship’s atmosphere, the Captain’s leadership, and your sense of belonging?”

Ross held her gaze, compassionate yet searching. “I feel the sadness of it, too. Tell me more about the ripple effects on the crew, on morale, on you and how it led to your decision to leave the Tomcat?”

He waited fully present. “I’m here. Keep going.” He never let his eyes leave her weary face, now sober.

"The person only had the name Somers to go by, so he thought that it was me, Alex was affected and had guilt, she probably still carries that guilt and always will, but she is a practical person with her own specific PTSD, her PTSD is nothing like mine, her trauma is from a loss of a close friend, a fact that she has come to terms with, but me, my trauma is more viscerial in nature" she paused.

"This person had Nausicaan Mercs on his payroll, and while he did the nastier stuff, the Nausicaan Mercs just used fists and feet. It went on for some time, but to omit some of the stuff which would only be a repeat of what I have already said when a team from the Tomcat found me I was naked, fully covered in dirt, sweat grime and other crap, hair matted and dirty, a swollen face and lips and eye I had a lot of cuts and bruises. In short, I was a traumatised mess when the reports of my state and actions of killing my tormentor without trial were reviewed by Starfleet HQ, which reviewed all information and put it down to extreme trauma suffered, but I had to do a lot of Counselling Sessions before I was declared fit" She paused.

But I was cleared, but personally, I knew I would never make Vice Admiral; the highest I could ever hope for would be Commodore, even though I got off lightly due to my condition. My actions were not without consequences, but something also tells me they were too eager to grant my transfer and new rank, as it would serve their agenda. It would have seemed harsh had they seriously punished me in light of the evidence supplied and my traumatised state, so they waited for a time, and I have a feeling this is why my request for a transfer was so quickly agreed on, for every action, there is both an equal and opposite reaction, well that is it" she finished.

Dr. Gavin Ross helped Captain Somers settle back onto the sofa, supporting her carefully as she rested. He sat beside her, tricorder still active, monitoring the fluctuating readings.

“Captain,” Ross said quietly, shaking his head as a wave of anger and sorrow tightened his chest. He paused, thinking of everything she had endured — the torture, the bruises, the broken ribs, and the deeper scars that refused to stay buried. Jasmine was a fighter who never relented, who gave everything for the ship and her crew. Now she truly needed to step back.
He met her eyes. "How were you saved?"

"A rescue team from the Tomcat, I cannot remember the exact details, trauma, you know! But I know it was a team from the Tomcat," she answered.

Ross gave her a small, reassuring nod and reactivated the tricorder for one final quick scan. The odd formation in her lower thorax still refused to resolve clearly.

"Perhaps we can deal with this at a later date, Gavin! I am tired, and thanks to you, my physical injuries are all healed, but should anything happen, you will be the first to know," she said.

“Thank you, Captain.” He replied. “I am not done. I will need you in Sick Bay tomorrow afternoon at any time of your choosing. I have tests, as I said. I need to run some.” He had some suspicions and concerns regarding her PTSD condition. It was beyond.

“Ma’am. Is this ok for you?” Dr Ross offered an open-ended question, yet it was not open-ended.

She looked at him as he stood and gathered his med-kit "it is Gavin, sorry for waking you, try to get some sleep, I know I am" She said.

"Understood." He nodded. "I will get out of your hair. I am certain you have a busy day. But take it easy, fair warning." He winked.

*Smiles and watched him leave her quarters.


[OFF]



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