Shared dream or shared nightmare?

Posted on Thursday, 4 February 2021 - 6:49pm by Commander Soral & Lieutenant Alex Kingsley & Lieutenant JG Adrianna Eberhardt

Mission: Operation: Trail of Tears
Location: Dream
Timeline: 2394

ON:

Petty Officer Baciami wandered down the halls of the ship, heading for her quarters after a shift. It was eerily quiet for a shift change. Neverthe less, the woman didn't care much, her bed called her. A lighting panel flickered above her and she looked around. Perhaps it was just her being overtired.

Adrianna suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Did she just finish shift or was she just starting? That was an odd thought. Equally, why was she unaware go which corridor she was even on? How did she get here? Her heart started to pound and she looked around a moment. This must be a dream.

Overhead the lights flickered again, for a moment the entire deck going completely dark. And then as the lights came back to life, a familiar voice came from the far end of the corridor.

"There you are!" the relief in Lieutenant Kingsley's voice was palpable as she hurried towards her friend. "I've been looking everywhere. Where did you go? Never mind... You have to hurry, Soral is looking for you and he's so angry with you. You have to hide. Find somewhere he can't ever find you. Hurry!"

Adrianna flinched at the sudden distraction but was relieved to see Alex. The Italian looked confused, "I thought him and I were good now." Adrianna looked around again, "wait, is this because of the grappa?"

"No silly," Alex chided her, almost as if she were having to explain something to a child. "He's angry because you let me die."

"Let you die? You survived Italy and no person has died from a hangover, only ever prayed for death. I saw you a few hours a-," Adrianna looked back to Alex.

As she looked back the lights flickered and died again before the emergency lights came online, a faint red glow filling the corridor and illuminating what had once been her friend. Now her skin was deathly pale, blemished with bruises from their fight for survival in the streets of Italy, her eyes lifeless and shrouded by a film of white cloudiness which muted the normally bright blue iris. And dead centre of her forehead was an angry red dot which revealed the path a fateful shot had taken all the way to the exit wound in the back of her skull.

"Run!" Alex screamed at her.

Adrianna felt like she was being suffocated by the hands of anxiety. Her eyes darted about the rotting corpse, as fate ate away at the very being in a gradient of horrific tragedy. Adrianna felt like she couldn't move.

Wait.

That sound.

They were footsteps. A hollow, purposeful, rhythmic sound echoed through the corridor. Oh gawd, was it Soral?

Adrianna stumbled backwards, unable to tear her eyes from her late friend. This was her fault. All her fault. Adrianna screamed in animalistic grief, uncaring about her own fate at present. She just felt guilt and devastation.

"Adrianna, come on!" Alex's voice again, only this time further along the corridor as the lights flickered again, the corpse disappearing from view and reappearing further along the corridor. "If he catches you, he will kill you!"

The omen rang in Adrianna’s ears and spurred her fight or flight to kick in. She scrambled to her feet and began running at full speed in the opposite direction of the foot steps. She breathed hard. Her chest felt tight and her heart tried to make a break for it out of her chest.

Soral bounded down the hall way. Rage unlike he'd ever felt before. Adrianna had been the cause of it all. Because of her Alex was dead.

Adrianna looked back over her shoulder and could see his shadow stalking her. He was hot on her heals. The woman came to a junction. Each of her options looked the same. She chose left, but couldn't run anymore. The woman hid behind a bulkhead.

The woman felt around to see if she was armed. Only her dagger. She pulled it out, shaking. Adrianna tried to control her breathing, but hearing the footsteps nearing, she decided to put her free hand over her mouth to try and muffle her pants.

"You have to keep moving," Alex warned as she appeared beside her friend, once more looking like her normal and alive self. She tugged on Adrianna's arm, "you don't understand, he will kill you if he finds you. Come on! This way."

Adrianna almost dropped her dagger and looked to Alex, "why should I trust you. I let you die. I don't deserve you being -" she paused. Who was Adrianna kidding. Her options were limited, and barely even existent. She reluctantly agreed and followed where pulled.

"He is being so unreasonable really," Alex observed as she hauled Adrianna further down the corridor. "And such a temper! I know you still have your dagger but you wont hurt him, right? He really can't help it..." she suddenly stopped, tilting her head. "I can't hear him anymore, can you?"

Adrianna didn't want to make a promise she couldn't keep. Growing up in the family business, fight or flight responses were encouraged. A Baciami would never back down or surrender. It's what made them lethal.

Adrianna froze.

Her eardrums isolated the noises outside of her our heartbeat, breathing and perspiration drips.

Silence.

"Come on," Alex whispered, giving her arm another tug.

Adrianna waved her hand to silence Alex. She needed to double check that it was indeed silent. The Italian looked back to Alex and nodded, maintaining the silence a bets she could.

Soral had been quicker. He'd anticipated the route. Suddenly he stepped out from behind a corner. "Hello Petty Officer."

Adrianna blinked. She stood still, catatonic in fear for a few moments. She tried to hide a gulp, "Sir."

"Oooh, that's not good," Alex mused as she stepped right up to her husband, who seemed entirely oblivious. She glanced over her shoulder, "the veins in his forehead are ready to burst... better start running...."

Adrianna stared into his eyes, feeling like a deer in headlights. Alex's warning felt more like Adrianna was being toyed with. She needed to get away from both of them. The Italian flinched as if to run round Soral but instead turned on her heels and bolted back the way she had come. Her adrenaline kicked in as she ran at full speed navigating the endless maze of corridors, hoping to find a familiar point or even somewhere to legitimately hide to work out a plan.

In her head, Adrianna could hear her father shouting as he had once done, he screamed in anger and frustration, "Baciami does not quit, we do not fun, we live without fear. Watch the life drain from his eyes and be the one to cause it. You need to protect yourself."

No. One life was enough to feel guilty about.

As she rounded a corner she almost hit straight into Alex who stood in path. Almost, because rather than impacting someone solid, someone real, she just passed straight on through. "I'm just trying to help you," she called after Adrianna who after a few stumbles carried on running. "I thought I was your friend!"

With a look of almost fury, Alex disappeared only to reappear ahead of Adrianna this time. "Is that why you let them kill me?" she demanded. Without waiting for an answer she peered over Adrianna's shoulder. "Here he comes..."

"I came back for you, I tried to save you. I fought back but it was too late," Adrianna screamed in protest, "I told you it would be dangerous. You didn't take no for an answer, you had to come with me. You couldn't leave me. Your death is your fault. I did everything in my power to keep you safe but you had to play the damn hero." Adrianna grabbed the corner of a junction, almost drifting round it in doing to as she continued to run down the corridors but ran at full speed straight into Soral.

The door behind him opened and they both tumbled into an airlock. It shut behind them. Soral recovered and stood in fighting stance. "Right were we should be."

Adrianna just held up her hands slowly and reluctantly. She was surrendering. Something she'd never done willingly before but she knew she would never win against a Vulcan, "Soral, please!" The woman begged, in an out of character fashion.

Soral sighed. "There is one option." He walked to the control panel. "Alright. Let's do this. Computer open air lock."

Adrianna turned rather pale, "wait, Soral, wait. You are hurting. You're not thinking straight. Take a breath. There's no need to do this."

He entered the final sequence and then the door opened pulling them into the coldness of space.

"Sor--" Adrianna screamed.

***

The Italian woke up gasping for air and feeling cold. She looked around frantically as she came to her senses. Adrianna didn't get back to sleep after that. She couldn't. It was far too close to reality, and the woman genuinely believed it was a possibility. By morning, she would be exhausted. The woman was walking from her quarters to her office. The Italian felt zombie like as she walked through the corridors trying to regain composure. The nightmare was ingrained in her mind and her anxiety walking through the hallway made her heart race. It was just a dream, she told herself.

***

Soral sat up in bed. Everything felt so real. He looked over at Alex who seemed to be locked a nightmare of her own.

“Soral no!” Alex awoke with a start, sitting up even as she turned towards his side of the bed, reaching to make sure he was there. Relief flooded through her as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I went,” she whispered, already falling back asleep.

Soral was caught off guard. He held her and as she fell back asleep he laid her down and then lay beside her unable to sleep. He wondered the dream Was it just stress?

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