Waking Dreams

Posted on Sat Aug 21st, 2021 @ 5:48pm by Commodore Keiben Haistro & Lieutenant Commander Melanie D’BrooNi- Haistro & Commander Peter Horn

2,103 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 3 - Fear Is Fear Itself
Location: ???...???...???
Timeline: Mission Day 4 @ 1710 Hours

ON

The water stung as he lowered himself into the bath, his hair slick to his head from the sweat and exertion in the holodeck while building his garden. The mud and dirt had vanished as he exited the holodeck but the sweat had not been a facsimile. The odour had been strong and Mel had instantly ordered him to the wash room to clean up. He sat upright in the tub, making room for Mel so she could join him. He was sat upright, his elbows over the side of the bath as his fingers played gently with the steaming surface of the water. He could already feel the clag rising from his skin as the warm water worked its magic on him.

"Well you certainly are starting to look and smell better," Mel smiled at him. "Room for one more I see."

She pulled off clothes letting him enjoy watching her strip, then leaned over the tub and kissed him. Stepping over the bath tub she settled down so his legs were around her and she could lean back into his broad chest. "Charlies gone to watch a concert with Minka," she told him. She didn't quite believe it but she couldn't really say no on a feeling. "So you have me all to yourself."

All he gave was a simple grunt in confirmation as she nestled into him, his muscular arms wrapping around her protectively, lovingly and adoringly. This was the moment he wanted to be in right now but he could shake the taste of blood in his mouth... Maybe he had caught himself on something not not realised.

"How long is she going to be gone?"

"Who knows," Mel said allowing her hands to trace up his arms. Leiko was screaming out about her fiances arm muscles. "Long enough I'm sure," Mel laughed. She could already feel which direction Keibens body was going in.

She escaped his arms and turned round moving them both, then straddling him so she could look in his eyes and press up close against him. Inside her head Leiko was purring.

He was intently taking in her gaze, drinking in the colour of her eyes and the intensity of her emotions mixing with his own... Could he smell something burning? His hands took on a mind of their own as they caressed her naked form, arms and hands pulled her closer until he could kiss her, drawing her so close he could smell the flower bouquet of her hair but it seemed off somehow... sour almost... She was also blocking him out telepathically, or was she. It was more than blocking. There was a void where she should have been, but still he couldn't help the way he felt, his emotions building and gently his pushed into her, his eyes closed but when they opened he was confronted with something that caught his breath.

Her skin was burned, mottled with decay and her eyes were glassy. Her skin was cold and the wounds covering her body weeped with a mixture of infected goo and dried blood.
He pushed her away and went to stand but hands caught him and held him in place.

“What’s wrong?” Mel asked. Something felt odd. The others were quiet. And she felt empty suddenly. Her hand travelled to her navel where D’BrooNi would be. Keiben witnessed her slice a cut from her chest to her stomach. Slowly blood emptying into the bath.

“Your going to end it,” hissed a familiar male voice in his ear. “Did you think just because I died you could have my girl? My family. Just step in there and take over?”

He scrambled away but from what? It took a second for his eyes to adjust, this room was dark and foreboding. The little light that was finding its way in was casting shadows from the gothic architecture. The desk before him was equally as imposing with its polished black glass top and leather chair all framed by a large oval window showing a starscape and the familiar throngs of a docking pylon, docking ring, habitat ring and the cross over bridges.
"I'm on the station... Where is everyone else?" he asked not expecting an answer.

Footsteps echoed all around approaching where Keiben crouched, then they became more focused, as they slowly moved even closer. "Well well.. look what the cat dragged in, need a drink, Keptin?" as a shimmering effect became evident and a tray with crystalline glasses showed up along with a carafe filled with a reddish liquid. "Care for a drink?" There was Yelena Sidorov, taking a seat behind the great desk like she was born to be there. "Tell me, Keiben, how are you doing?"

Again he found himself scrambling backwards over the floor, trying to escape what he saw before him but did he really see it? Had he really seen Mel? Was this is dream? The answer came quickly as he was stopped in his travels by two legs that he had collided with in his crab like scuttle away from his dead friend. He could already smell the burnt flesh and feel the sticky warm caress of the blood oozing from the wound on her stomach, the same mottled, decaying form of his fiancée stood behind him. Instinctively he reached out with his mind, trying to touch the twos minds but found resistance, resistance he was all to familiar with... "You are not real... you are in my head, both of you. More of that T'Kon technology!"

"Are you certain I am just an illusion? Are they?" pointing towards two people who just shimmered into view. A boy who looked in his preteens (Connor) and a woman who had a rather surprised expression on her face (Lothian)

"What the heck, how did I get here?" Lothian gasped out.

Connor just stood there, white-faced. Only moments ago he'd been trying to scramble to safety, trying to find his mother, and calling for his brother. None of which had answered his call. And now he was...where? "C-captain?" the boy stammered, "what's going on? Where are we?"

"Lothian... If that really is you see if you can get this door open!" The Captain started to return to his senses but once again reaching out with his mind to brush the two newcomers. This time he could sense them, both on a surface scan appeared real and not part of the illusion. The boy was terrified and his thoughts kept going to his Father and Brother and Keiben could only assume this was Peter's other son. For now though he needed to focus on his own predicament.

"I know they are real and you should have noticed that I am telepathic given you have read my mind and know how to pick at my fears!"

The teenage boy inched forward. "Of course we're real!" he said, his voice pitched with fear, "where are we? What is this place and why are you so scared? You're the captain, you're not supposed to be scared!"

"It is me..." Lothian replied. She was visibly shaking. She had envisioned herself being sucked out into the vast space without an EVA suit losing her breath, feeling herself start to freeze. Lothian thought she had been until she heard the Captain's voice. "Okay..." she pulled the panel from the wall and began working the wiring, it took a few minutes due to her trembling hands, then there was a click, and the door sliding open only partially a matter of inches.

"Ah ah ah..." Yelena responded, sending another nightmare towards Lothian who crumpled to the ground holding her head. "Its so cold!"

"Yes why are you so scared Keiben?" Mel appeared next to him running a finger over his cheek, still in the form from their bath. "You have been in tighter spots than this."

Keiben held his head, a fog or haze of some kind starting to envelope him until he pushed back with his telepathic senses and it started to recede, still nipping at the outer most edge of his mind, but for now it was at bay and the spectre that was Mel had once again gone.

"So part of you is telepathic..." which he instantly knew meant from his crew that he, Peter and Osil would be the only ones with a chance of fighting the attacks. "We beat a machine like you once and we can do it again!"

The Captain lunged at the door, thrusting his muscular arm through the opening to use it as leverage to force the door open fully and went directly to Lothian once the door was open enough for him to squeeze through. Once close enough to Lothian he could see her nightmare, her waking dream which was forcibly manipulating her body to respond as if the dream was reality. He had to break it, so he pushed into her mind with his own, breaking every rule he had been told by not forcing a telepathic scan on anyone but this was the only way he could think of to break her from the dream.

"Come back to us, we need you!" he whispered as he started to force the dream back .

As it felt like she was going to take her last breath, Lothian could hear Keiban's voice and his presence in her mind, latching upon it like a lifeline, She gasped, sucking in a lungful of air, willing herself with the help of Keiban, to the waking world. Her eyes fluttered open, her hand reaching out to his. Color came back to her cheeks, then she croaked out, "Thank you." her throat feeling raw and dry. "Now I am pissed." moving to get to her feet.

Yelena laughed, "You think you can take me on, little man? I will win and you will be my slave, all of you will be my slaves and do my bidding." she looked towards Connor. "Do you think you can resist me? Your father wasn't able to do so. He fell under my spell." a sardonic smile upon her lips.

The boy just stared for a moment, before flying at the woman. "Don't you talk about my dad like that!" he screeched, trying to pound the woman's chest. "My dad is a hero!"

"Connor" Keiben lunched forward, grabbing at the boy to pull him away from the apparition that was the visage of his dead and dear friend. "She isn't real... Your father is telepathic to a degree... Are you? I need you to fight her with all your strength... can you do that for me, for your Brother and Father?"
Keiben had wrapped to lad in his arms and moved back to Lothian, pushing his telepathic defences far beyond what he was accustomed to or even knew he could do.

All he could hear after he finished talking was laughter, dropping with hate and loathing but soon dissipated into an echo before vanishing completely. She had gone... for now, or so he thought before he spotted the decaying form from his nightmare still standing in the doorway... Could the others see this version of Mel? He hoped not.

"Come on, we need to get out of here!"

Lothian nodded, "I agree, and I would love to just slam a hyperspanner into this ghost." giving a frown, "Yeah lets get going."

Connor struggled against the captain's strong hold, still wanting to have a go at the apparition. "I can sense things," he said shakily, "feelings mostly. Not thoughts, not like dad. Ilyas is more sensitive."

"You don't think you can push me away that easily do you Keiben?" Mel appeared as the party exited the door. "This truly is a nightmare isn't it? Lost your ship. Majority of your crew. Me a zombie. I can't try keep people alive for you this time round. Its a repeating nightmare."

Keiben simply glared at the apparition that neither the boy nor the Chief Petty Officer could see and knew that the machine, not the same but something new, was now forcing its way into his mind. He continued on his path, forcing himself to remain calm and collected even if he could feel it wearing down his defenses.

Connor turned his head towards the man who had pulled him back, sensing his weariness. "Just what was that?" he asked, "where are we?" He tilted his head, looking towards the others, though he was visibly shaking. The boy was visibly scared, despite the brave face he was trying to put on.

END

 

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