As
soon as she was sure the link had been established the Malinche's
logistics chief withdrew from the mental connection as fast as she could. She
hardly felt the hands of both Lieutenant O'Shea and Counselor Lee steadying her.
Even through the filter of Captain Veal's mind the presence she had briefly
touched sent shivers down her spine. While the contact had lasted for no longer
than a second her memories of it would probably haunt her dreams for a long
time.
"Is
everything alright, Chief?"
The
Senior Chief wildly shook her head. "No! Nothing is alright!" She
shook off the hands that steadied her and straightened. "I could get a
glimpse of your Lieutenant Hagen's mind and it was the strongest telepathic
force I have touched in my whole life."
Again
she shook her head, slowly and deliberately this time. "But whatever I came
in contact with, it was not the mind of a Betazoid. It was so – alien
– that I couldn't start to describe it." She pointed at the open door and
the glowing mists wafting through it. "If this woman were to wake up I
would be afraid. I would be very
afraid and so should you."
* * * * *
Tarin felt the sedative take effect and a mind that was not hers reached out to her, but all it did was push her consciousness towards a presence that was both stronger and more alien than anything she could have expected.
Suddenly
she fell through a glowing green mist. There was no point of reference to judge
her speed, but to Tarin it seemed she was falling at an incredible pace.
Through the haze glimpses of different scenes and places caught her eye, all tinged in the greenish light that illuminated the mist.
A
blazing sun collapsed on itself, only to explode outward a second later in the
gigantic plume of flame that marked a supernova.
An
alien landscape briefly appeared before her, so strange and yet so stunning that
the sheer beauty of it nearly drove tears to Tarin's eyes before the image
disappeared again, as fast as it had shown up.
A
wind-swept valley, surrounded by snow covered peaks. Hundreds, no thousands of
people, stabbing and hacking at each other with spears and swords, their blood
running like rivers, and the image changed again.
"RISHANA,"
Tarin shouted at the top of her lungs.
There
was no reply, but the impression of tremendous speed increased and the images
flashed before her eyes faster and faster.
Tarin
closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. With all the willpower she could
muster she called out again, not with her voice, but this time with her mind.
'RISHANA!'
* * * * *
The
feeling of forward motion stopped and Tarin slowly opened her eyes.
Again
she was only surrounded by glowing green vapors, but then a shadow appeared
through the mists, a dark blot at first that came slowly but steadily closer. As
the dark shape took form a wide, elongated structure became apparent, turning
ever so slowly into a Galaxy-class starship.
The
ship came to rest and Tarin's movement stopped. As she hovered over the starship
she could finally make out the writing on the saucer section - 'NCC-72500 –
USS Valkyrie'.
For
a moment that seemed to stretch into an eternity nothing happened, until Tarin
realized this was still an illusion, or maybe a dream, and if it was, she might
have a chance to exploit that knowledge.
She
tried to will the ship to come closer, but nothing happened.
Of
course, the ship was part of Rishana's dream, not hers.
Again Tarin gathered her mental strength, this time concentrating on moving herself closer to the ship and after a few seconds she noticed that it worked.
Gently
she drifted through the hull of the Valkyrie
and found herself standing in a nondescript corridor.
While
there were doors on both sides of the corridor at regular intervals, the hallway
itself seemed to stretch into infinity without any other distinguishing marks.
Tarin turned around, but behind her it looked just the same.
Picking
a direction at random Tarin started to walk down the corridor.
* * * * *
Each
of the doors was marked with runes that appeared to be etched into the metal.
While Tarin had never paid much attention to ancient Terran runes before, she
recognized the subtle signs that identified the markings as Aesir writing.
Most
of the doors had two words written on them and as she paid closer attention to
it she realized that there was only a limited number of the first words
appearing above the second ones.
She
picked a door at random and hit the keypad that, on a real Starfleet ship, would
have opened the door.
Much
to her own surprise the door slid into the wall and revealed a starkly beautiful
snow-covered landscape on which a great battle was unfolding.
Andorians
clad in leather and fur attacked each other ruthlessly with swords and daggers,
the frontlines between two hardly distinguishable armies moving back and forth
across the frozen battlefield.
Tarin
squinted her eyes and tried to make out a few details of the bloody spectacle
unfolding before her, however much she wanted to avoid looking at it all. There
had to be a reason she had found this gruesome scene on the surreal travesty of
her ship.
Her
eyes were drawn to a single figure at the center of the bloody field of battle.
He was too far away to recognize his face, but just as she realized that, her
point of view rushed forward, bringing the Andorian into sharp focus. His left
hand held a battle-standard while the sword in his right hacked at his enemies
in a fast and constant rhythm. It took her a moment to recognize the face, but
Tarin knew she had seen him before.
It
was Petty Officer Molak, one of the Valkyrie's
enlisted system engineers, but right now he was unaware of it. Right now all he
was was an Andorian warrior, his blood seething with the fury of a fight that
could only end in his death or the death of his enemies.
Tarin
averted her eyes from the grisly spectacle of death and hit the keypad again.
Only when she heard the hissing sound of the closing door did she look up again.
* * * * *
Again
she studied the writing on the door that had just closed and while Tarin
couldn't make much of the upper line of letters the lower line was just five
different characters that could spell out the name 'Molak', but there was no way
to be sure. She tried to memorize the first line of runes and started to jog
down the corridor.
Yes,
now and again the same set of letters appeared again and after a while she
stopped. While there was no way to be absolutely certain those runes could mean
'Petty Officer'. At least their frequency came close to the ratio of Petty
Officers in the Valkyrie's crew, compared to the doors with different markings. If
that was the case than each door was a representation of a single member of her
crew and their minds, the runes spelling out rank and name, much like the door
labels on the real Valkyrie did.
If
her theory was correct it still didn't help her much until she managed to
decipher the Aesir markings and opening over 600 doors and hoping to stumble
upon Rishana's dream could take much too long.
'Now
wait a minute', Tarin
thought. 'If this is a dream I may be able to exert some control over it
again.'
She
breathed deeply and exhaled slowly as she tried to shut off her conscious
thoughts, except for one.
'Lieutenant Hagen'
Nothing
happened.
Again
she concentrated.
'Rishana'
Still
nothing and it probably wouldn't work. Rishana Hagen was at the center of
everything that happened here and surrounded by 650 different minds she would
not be so easy to find. On the other hand there was no reason to give up trying
just yet.
Tarin
took another deep breath and closed her eyes as she concentrated on another
thought. At least she could try to find out how far her control over this
dreamscape went.
'Commander Tucker'
* * * * *
The
sensation of air rushing about her stopped as suddenly as it had begun and Tarin
opened her eyes again.
She had faced down the corridor when she had concentrated on Ben Tucker, but now she was directly facing a door. As she studied the writing on the door Tarin briefly wondered if she had turned around without noticing it or if the whole scenery had moved around her, but she didn't dwell on that thought. The lower line of runes consisted of six characters, so it could mean 'Tucker' and the fifth character was the same as in the inscription she had assumed to read 'Molak', but there was only one way to be sure. Tarin touched the controls and the door slid into the wall.
She
recognized the room behind the door instantly. It was her quarters on the Eclipse,
or rather her old bedroom. Ben was there, sitting on the edge of the bed, and
Tarin was there too. As she studied the face of the woman leaning against the
bed's headboard she noticed how miserable and distressed she looked.
"I
don't belong here," Ben stated and Tarin heard the pain and sadness in his
voice. Making this confession must have been quite difficult for him, but in the
end he was Ben Tucker and he had no choice but to be honest, as it was part his
nature.
"How
can you say that?" It took Tarin a moment to get over her initial shock,
but when she went on she sounded pleading. No, Tarin realized, the woman on the
bed didn't just sound that way, she was truly pleading him to be close to her,
to lend her his support. "Don't you remember how happy we both were when we
finally got a chance to serve on the same ship? Do the last two years suddenly
mean nothing to you? We have both been so good for each other – how could you
doubt that you belong here, with me?"
Ben
slowly shook his head, more to himself than in reply to her questions. "I
don't know." He took a deep breath and exhaled in a sigh. "It's all so
strange, but my memories of the last two years are rather foggy and during the
last few weeks nothing has felt right." He ran a hand through his hair and
started to rub his neck. "It's almost like I am not the Ben Tucker everyone
else knows, as if I have stumbled into a parallel universe without even noticing
it."
Tarin
wanted to move, to be close to him, but she couldn't. One of them was stopped by
her emotional confusion and the other by an invisible force that blocked the
doorway.
"BEN!"
she shouted, but he couldn't hear her.
"Ben,"
Tarin softly called out his name as she finally moved closer and gently place
her hands on his shoulders. "If there is any explanation for what you are
feeling we will find it - together." She wanted to cry, but she knew Ben
needed her support now more than ever before and she forced her own feelings
back.
Ben
took another deep breath before he turned his head to look at Tarin and he could
see her love for him in her eyes, even if some doubts remained. Maybe she was
right. Maybe they should try to deal with his personal crisis together. After
all, whatever was wrong with him, she loved him just as much as he had always
loved her and she didn't deserve to suffer by his own confusion.
He
gave in to her gentle pull and fully turned towards her, their lips meeting
before Tarin drew the covers over them and blocked Tarin's view.
Captain
Veal took a step back from the door and touched the keypad. As the door blocked
her view she started to smile. The vision Rishana had mentioned in her personal
logs had been vague on the details, but it had clearly predicted that Tarin
would one day find Ben in bed with another woman. Now it seemed the vision had
come true and Tarin couldn't be angry with Ben at all. Another woman indeed!
Still,
she had to find Rishana and now that she had been able to find Ben, Tarin was
certain that she could will herself to the Betazoid as well, if only she found
the right way to do it.
When
she had first called out to Rishana with her mind a vision of the Valkyrie had
appeared and the images of the corridor and the doors seemed to be based on the
same mold. If Rishana was at the center of what appeared as a spaceship the
choice was obvious. Again Tarin tried to block out all other thoughts and
concentrated on the location she wanted – she needed – to reach.
'Bridge.'
* * * * *
As
the impression of movement subsided Tarin opened her eyes once again and a
sudden vertigo nearly overwhelmed her. What she saw in front of her wasn't so
bad as what she caught in the corner of her eyes and Tarin sat down on the floor
as fast as she could, lest she would fall down.
She
glimpsed at the walls of the chamber she had found herself in and quickly
averted her eyes, trying to fight down her heaving stomach. At least looking
behind her showed her the same endless corridor she knew, but everything else
was simply impossible.
After
a few deep breaths Tarin felt a little better and she looked forward again. The
door she saw was at least eight meters high and completely covered with glowing
runes, but she didn't dare to look away from it at the walls or the ceiling of
the chamber.
The
memory of the writhing and heaving walls was enough to make her sick again and
Tarin was grateful that part of her subconscious mind blurred the memory of the
angles and curves that were simply impossible in three-dimensional space. If
what lay behind those massive doors was anything like it she would never be able
to accomplish what she had come for, but Tarin Veal wasn't ready to give up yet,
however disturbing this chamber might be. The life of one of her friends was at
stake and Rishana needed her help.
Slowly
she stood up again and kept her eyes on the floor. Taking one step after another
she advanced towards the gigantic doors, but it was like moving though molasses.
Each step took more and more energy and she seemed to advance little, if any,
towards her objective, however much she tried.
At
least now she was certain that behind those doors was something – or someone
– that didn't want her to get any closer. As far as Tarin could tell that
someone could only be Rishana Hagen.
"Rishana,"
she called out loud, hoping that whatever tried to block her advance was now so
close that it wouldn't take much concentration on her own part to reach that
person. "I need to talk to you Rishana. It's a matter of life or death, so
please, let me get inside."
For
a few seconds nothing happened, but then, suddenly, Tarin stumbled forward, as
the force that had blocked her advance a second ago vanished.
Without
a sound the enormous doors swung out-of-the-way and wisps of green mist drifted
at Tarin like hands beckoning her onward.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7