Gray dashed down the halls with her small hands covering the loud noises of shots being fired. Her heart raced and she tried with all her might to keep the emotions inside, like her father had taught her. The ship rocked and Gray stumbled into the corridor wall, it so too much, she started to cry. Just a few more feet and she could make it to sick bay.
The glass tube had shattered and the black figure lie sprawled out in the wet, blue, goo that coated the floor. The door weightlessly opened and little Gray ran inside. She fell on her knees next to the cat's head.
"Draca?" Gray cried. Her voice was shaking. This was the first time in the child's life when she had experienced pure fear. Her father had run out of their room with a gun and, even though she could hear the people, no one was in sight. Gray began to sob. "Draca, please wake up!"
Draca's hand twitched and a deep growling came from the pit of her throat. Finally, she managed to flop over on her back. Draca looked up into Gray's brilliant green-blue eyes. "Hello, Kitten." There was something different about the cat to Gray. Her own eyes. They had once both been red but now they had lightened into a beautiful shade of purple mixed with an icy blue.
"Draca, a bad man is on the ship and I can't find Daddy of Uncle McCoy!"
Draca muttered something evilly under her breath. She wiped the tears from Gray's cold cheek and pushed her dark hair behind a pointed ear. "I'll get you father back, Kitten. But I need your help. Do you see that box on the table?"
Gray turned her head to see a shiny silver trunk on top of McCoy's personal desk.
"Can you bring it to me?" Draca asked sweetly but her voice shrank as her head pounded harder and harder. Shut the hell up it there. This is over, right now. Gray took the case from the desk and carried it awkwardly to Draca, who by this time had dragged her limp body and propped herself up against the curved wall.
Draca unlatched the case. Inside were two small breathing devices attached wirelessly to a machine connected to the case itself. Draca glanced upwards at the young girls face and smiled. In another life she had watched this child come into the world. But that was five years ago. "Kitten, have you ever wanted something so much that you would break every single rule in the book for it?"
"Daddy said that breaking the rules was bad," Gray said innocently.
"I know, but tell something you want. Tell me what you would break the rules for."
"I want you to be better."
"You are so sweet, child. That's what we're going to try to do. With your help, I'll be all better."
"What do I have to do?"
"All you have to do, Kitten, is sleep. It may hurt a bit, but I promise when you wake up, this 'war' you've heard your father talk about will be over and you will live in a better place."
"Will you be there?" Gray asked.
Draca closed her eyes and breathed deeply before answering. "No." She stroked the girl's hair as she gently placed the small device over Gray's nose and mouth then the other around her own. Gray crawled into Draca's arms and cradled her head in her neck. Gray grew tired and her eyes soon drooped.
"Draca, who was I named after?" Gray squeaked as she yawned.
Draca took yet another deep breath. "You were named after the woman who saved your father's and your mother's lives. She was a warrior from far, far away, yet she never truly knew her own home. She knew nothing until the Enterprise found her. This ship became the only real family and home she ever knew."
"Was she nice like you?"
"Calico had the strongest heart and soul then anybody. I see that same heart in you, Kitten. But she was nothing like me." A single tear glazed down Draca's cheek.
"What happened to her?"
"A very, very, bad being killed her."
"Was it the same thing that killed my mom?"
Draca squeezed Gray tighter. "Yes."
"Draca, my head hurts," Gray whispered.
"I know, but it will all be over soon. I promise, Gray, I promise." The small child's eyes closed and soon the black can also fell into a deep slumber. The sound of dying men and lazar beams could not wake them.