The merchant ship Arendelle was one of the largest of its class. Owned and ran by the Telvi family for generations, the ship had served its captains and crew faithfully. It was not a luxurious vessel, that was to be sure, and its age was starting to show after one too many repairs, but she flew like a dream and rarely faltered. Few people in the solar system sector would deny that she was a fine ship, and one with a tragic recent history.
During a routine voyage the ship made an inexplicable diversion, closer to the sun and into some disastrous solar storms. The entire crew perished from radiation before a specialist rescue ship could reach them, leaving a ghost ship to be towed back to Earth to be decontaminated. Left in the hands of the eldest daughter, Elsa Telvi, it was only when she turned twenty-one that she could be officially named captain of the good star ship Arendelle.
"Captain, it would appear that C-Deck 5 is having an issue with the intercom systems. Shall I go down and see what the matter is?"
The captain turned from the screens she had been inspecting and nodded to her second in command.
"Good idea Commander Frost. I imagine one of the breakers has flipped again. If you get a chance ask North to do something about it as soon as possible. As Chief Engineer he needs to be kept informed."
Commander Frost saluted with respect before letting his guard down and grinning.
"Righto, Captain!" He laughed, and off he jogged to C-Deck 5.
Captain Telvi smiled before pushing her fringe out of her face and focusing again on the screens. Her intel had informed her that there may be pirates in this space quadrant and she wasn't taking any chances. Since the day she turned twenty-one, Elsa Telvi had been appointed captain of her late father's merchant ship and it wasn't a title she took lightly. Elsa had grown up riding solar waves and asteroid belts so she knew the job perfectly, but the crew had been nervous of serving under such a young captain. After all, twenty-five was barely a child for some of the species on board! But she had proven her skill over the past few years and the entire crew had readily accepted her.
Suddenly a ringing filled the communications ear piece Elsa wore.
"Yes?"
"Earth bound call, captain."
"I'll take it."
There was the familiar connecting hum as the network managed to link Elsa's ship to an interstellar phone booth on Earth.
"Hi Elsa!"
"Hello Anna, how are you today?"
"Not bad, just busy sorting out the paperwork for the wedding. You are free on the twelfth next month for dress fittings?" Anna asked for what seemed like the fourth time that week.
"Yes Anna, we're scheduled to be docking a couple of days beforehand, just in case there are any issues that make us late."
"Good! Oh Elsa, I'm so excited! It's only a couple of months away now and I think Kristoff is just as enthusiastic, he just doesn't show it like me."
"He ought to be, he's marrying the best person this side of Pluto!" Elsa laughed. Anna seemed so young but at twenty-one she supposed it wasn't unreasonable for her to be falling in love and getting married. As an older sister, she was just glad it happened before she met some good-for-nothing scoundrel.
"Captain, there's a distress signal coming from C-Deck 5 and 6."
Elsa was suddenly alert. It was very unusual to have two areas send out short range distress signals.
"Anna, something's happened on ship. I'll try to call you later okay?"
"Is everything okay, Elsa?"
"It should be nothing, just pipe trouble I imagine." She lied, hoping to ease Annas worry. "I love you Anna, speak soon."
"Love you Elsa, be safe and I'll speak to y-"
The connection cut off. Elsa tried to re-establish the link but it seemed that the entire external communications system was offline. Elsa looked around the main deck. He entire crew seemed at a loss.
"Captain, I'm not able to contact anyone externally."
"What about inside the ship?" Elsa was screaming inside her head but trying desperately to remain cool and focused.
"We still have control over most of the internal communications, but only the speakers. We can't contact individual headsets."
"Damn it." That meant that they couldn't send out anything but ship-wide messages. Anything spoken over the intercom system would be heard all over the ship. If this was a hostile invasion, and Elsa was starting to severely doubt it could be anything but, any plans would be relayed straight to the raiders ears.
"Send out coded message Sierra Tango fifty one. And is someone working on getting the external communication back?"
"Yes captain!" They set about issuing her commands.
"Good the last thing we need is-"
There was suddenly the booming sound of static over the intercom speakers and every crew member, including Elsa herself, had to throw their hands over their ears. When the noise didn't stop immediately, Elsa noticed through hazy eyes that people were actually passing out. Just as she too felt her mind trying to black out from the noise, it stopped.
On the main screen, a face appeared. His skin was pale grey and his eyes a startling shade of yellow set in a gaunt face, all clear indicators to Elsa that this man was a species known as Nightmare. Nightmares were an artificial species, created in laboratories as a form of AI experimentation. But they had gained a level of intelligence which far surpassed humans and they escaped into the stars, building their own colonies on distant moons. Nightmares rarely initiated contact with other species and if they did so, it never ended well.
"Do accept my humble apologises for such a rude entrance. I would have much rather have not an auditory pacifier but your crew members on the lower deck were being rather uncooperative." The camera panned to where Commander Jack sat hunched against the wall, bloodied and beaten. Elsas heart leapt into her throat and it was very difficult to stay calm seeing her best friend in such a state.
"I am the captain of this ship, who is it that I am speaking to?"
"Ah, Captain Telvi. I was wondering if I was going to have the pleasure of speaking to you in person. But then again, if your second in command is down here, lying on the floor like a dog, I suppose you'd have no choice." The disgust in the man's voice was dripping from his words.
"I ask again, who am I speaking to?"
"I wonder," the pale creature continued "if you were aware of us at all. We've been hiding in your ship for days now, waiting for the right moment." Elsa looked around. The few of her crew that weren't either unconscious or moaning from splitting head pains, stared at each other in horror. Not a single one of them had noticed anything wrong with the ship and it was only yesterday that Elsa had been joking with one of her officers that they were actually ahead of schedule for once.
Stoney faced, Elsa gripped the console and looked at her hands. She was at a loss. There had been no indication that there was anyone other than the regular crew, so how was she to have known? Nightmares were not common in this part of the quadrant. Pirates yes, pirates were everywhere and Elsa and her crew were not strangers to a pirate attack, but this was different. Nightmares didn't care for the cargo they carried across the night sky. They were far more interested in the people on board. Elsa asked again, steadily losing her patience.
"Who am I talking with?"
But again, the one she presumed was their leader took no notice of her demands.
"Honestly, I'm rather surprised at how easy all of this was. But maybe I shouldn't have expected too much from a child."
Elsa's face flared red from a mixture of rage and embarrassment. The crew were relying on her; she had to take control of the situation. This creature would regret attacking her ship, no matter what he thought of her age.
"Nightmare," she screamed "you will answer me! What is your name?"
The pale face looked mockingly disappointed.
"You humans, always ruining the fun. Fine, if you're so desperate to know..." The look of smug glee grew on the man's face as he spoke tauntingly. "My name is Pitchiner Black, the Lord High General of this galaxy, The Nightmare King and unfortunately for you Madame Telvi, the new captain of this ship."
Before Elsa could fully understand what was happening, the same screeching static noise filled the air, this time even louder than before. As the rest of Arendelles crew collapsed to the ground, Elsa watched as Nightmares flooded onto the main deck. Soon the noise was too much for her and her own mind started to black out, but before to darkness closed in completely she saw the so-called 'Nightmare King' enter the room and approach her with a malicious grin.
When Elsa woke some time later, she found herself strapped to her chair on the main deck. Looking around wildly, she was horrified to find that there wasn't a single soul in the room. Her first thoughts ran to her crew. Where were they? Besides the pacifier had they been harmed in any way? Jack had obviously been physically attacked if the blood on his uniform served as any indication, and that mam (Pitchiner Black, her mind supplied) had said that the crew of the lower decks had be uncooperative. Did that mean they had been hurt too? Before she could get too lost in her thoughts, she heard the gentle glide of the automatic door, warning her that someone had entered the room. She forced herself into as upright a position as possible, trying to be intimidating while ignoring that fact that she was a prisoner on my own ship.
"I see you've woken up. Pity, I was so enjoying your panic induced dreams."
"What?"
The man (creature, Elsa forced herself to remember. He might look humanoid but there was no humanity in him) smirked widely, barely keeping himself from breaking into a grin.
"You know of the origins of my kind, I'm sure. The persecution we took from you humans, the experiments, the torture and the pain? And I'm sure you're well aware that we vastly surpassed you in intelligence. That was why you mongrels could contain us for long." Pitchiner stopped in his talk to mused silently. He looked at Elsa with something between despise and intrigue in his eyes. The young woman wasn't sure what this mean for her but she was keen to keep Pitchiner talking for as long as possible so that she could work out an escape.
"We suffered for many years, but out of that pain came a great gift. As our mental capacity grew, so did a number of other abilities. The range varies between individuals, but for the most part Nightmares, the hated race, have telepathic capabilities."
Elsa was shocked. She had never heard of such a thing being a genetic trait across an entire species. Some people could possibly learn to harness such powers but to be born with it was unheard of.
"And so, you see, I was vastly enjoying reading your dreams. Dreams are a wonderful part of the unconscious mind, something we only release when we have no control over our thoughts. And yours, Miss Telvi, were delicious. So full of fear…"
Elsa had heard enough. This was her ship and she was not going to allow some experiment take it from her.
"Mr Black, you will release me this instant. If you do so I shall allow you and your crew to leave my ship without harm. If not, I shall be forced to take action."
"Oh, I see!" Pitchiner looked positively gleeful. "Are you waiting for your moment to strike, captain? How truly foolish of me! Where is your crew captain? Waiting for you to give the signal?" The man smirked "I should have expected less of a human, and such a young one at that." His words were cold but the tone he took was playful and mocking. Elsa felt hatred rise up inside of her as the man turned from her, laughing.
"You have no right to be here! This is my ship!"
Suddenly he whipped around, all humour gone from his face. The Nightmare King was inches from Elsas face and she could see her own terrified eyes reflected in his yellow ones.
"Listen carefully, Miss Telvi. This is my ship now, understand. Most of your crew has been consumed by my men, only the strongest have been kept reasonably safe." The young woman felt her heart break but before she could mourn, Pitchiner continued. "You are only alive because we need your voice to pass through guarded patrols and inspection points without too much hassle."
Elsas skin was crawling as the Nightmare came closer and closer to her. He hand reached up behind her head and wrapped his long fingers into her hair, pulling down harshly so her neck was exposed. Despite telling herself that she was better than giving in to his threats, she cried out at the pain but quickly quietened when her captor pressed his face up into the crook of her neck and took a deep breath. A dark chuckle bubbled up from his throat and it was all she could do to stop herself from vomiting.
As Elsa craned her neck to gain as much distance from the Nightmare as possible, she could feel something creeping in at the edge of her thoughts. It was a constricting feeling, like her brain was collapsing in on itself. She started to panic. The tight, crushing sensation only got worse the longer she pushed against the tightening boundaries. She felt Pitchiners laugh against her neck and she suddenly realised that this was his doing. Unable to move in both body and mind, Elsa was having trouble breathing unlike the Nightmare who she could feel drinking in her waves of panic.
And then suddenly it was over. There was no pain or constriction, just her own thoughts whirling about her head. The man (not a man) against her throat was close to ecstasy, but he composed himself enough to whisper coldly in her ear:
"Be aware that if you become a burden, Miss Telvi, I shall eat your mind and then you'll beg me to kill you. That was nothing."
A/N: Sooooo… This happened when I needed a reality break. I adore scifi stuff and I want this one to be sexy and just a little uncomfortable, that's why I'll be rating it M soon enough. Lot of allusions and dark shit to come so if you enjoyed this, please leave me a review! Thank you for reading.