Warning! Some horror elements do exist in this story.

Chapter Twenty-two

Travis looked up from his panel, rubbed his eyes and then looked back down, questioning his readouts. "Sir, the other ship has dropped to impulse."

Jon stood up and walked over to Travis' console. "How long before we intercept them?"

"Approximately, seventeen hours, sir," replied Travis.

Jon stole a glance at Malcolm who was upgrading the tactical alert.

They were pounding on her mental shielding, taunting her to come out and play. There were so many and they were sneaking into her self-imposed solitude. In the recesses of her mind, she ran from them, afraid.

They picked up the scent like bloodhounds, a few of them even howling in amusement.

"We know you're there, little girl. You can hide all you want, you'll surface as soon as he starts cutting on you."

Hoshi could feel the cool air against her skin as they prepped her for surgery and she slowly became aware of the glaring lights above her. She was naked, not a strip of cloth on her body. She slammed her eyes shut, as she had worn a blindfold for days, and now her eyes were adjusting to the bright light.

They clamored as they saw her eyes open. She was wide open and ready to feel pain.

"Harvest a non-essential organ, first. Make her pain last," suggested one voice. "Like the spleen."

Numerous voices shouted in agreement.

Hoshi struggled against the bindings, fighting against the voices in her.

"They've promised me I get to fuck your dead carcass after they are done tearing your insides out. I have to admit, I wanted to fuck a live woman, but a pussy is a pussy," a young voice menaced.

"They say if you drink the blood of your enemy, you'll inherit their power. I've been promised a cup of your blood. I love the taste of human flesh. Maybe they will bestow some flesh to me," a raspy voice chimed in.

Hoshi cringed, surrounded by the voices.

Another voice resonated behind her and she could feel somebody pulling on her hair, the sound of scissors, slicing through the strands. "I get my reward right away. Your hair is quite lovely."

An external voice brought her back to her physical body. "Be careful of her uterus. If we fail to harvest her eggs properly, all of our heads will roll."

"Keep the brain intact. They'll want that for research purposes," the assistant informed them.

"Please…" was all she could say.

Malicious laughter filled the room and her mind.

"I love it when they beg," chimed in yet another voice.

"We'll have plenty of begging when Enterprise catches up to us. After all they have no mental shielding. It's too bad that we couldn't kill them when we stole her. But now…well…we've got time to enjoy her and plenty of time to get ready for the blood-letting ahead."

Horror filled her as she heard mention of Enterprise. They were closer. She could feel them. Laughter filled the room as they picked up on her thoughts. She had to warn them.

"Time to intercept?" Jon asked again.

"Approximately ten hours, twenty-two minutes," T'Pol replied.

Em looked at the time and made adjustments to her sidearm, her trigger finger itching. She was going to enjoy getting Hoshi back.

Malcolm stood on the bridge double-checking, no, triple checking the targeting scanners. He was going to have to disable the ship, and hope that his shots didn't cause any hull breaches. He was going to have to…

He grasped his head in a soundless gasp and collapsed to the floor.

"Stop coming for me, Malcolm. It's a trap! They'll kill all of you!" Hoshi screamed over the acerbic voices.

Malcolm scrunched down in front of her, unable to bear the link she had established.

"They've already started the harvest. You're too late!" Hoshi cried, then evaporated into the mist.

"Malcolm!" Jon jumped from his seat and rushed over to his armory officer, helping him into a sitting position after he had collapsed onto the floor

Malcolm straightened, blood trickling from his nose.

"Sir, we're dropping out of warp," Travis called out.

Jon continued to help Malcolm into his seat, tilting the younger man's head back to stop the flow of blood. Malcolm's eyes were shining as though he had just overexerted himself. Ensign Collins approached the scene with a first-aid kit, and took over tending the armory officer's injuries.

Before Jon could access a comm panel to contact Trip, the engineer's voice rang out. "We blew a plasma relay. We'll be back to warp five in fifteen minutes."

Malcolm moaned, holding his head. "Sir, it was Hoshi," he said, trying to explain and dabbing at the trickle of blood that still dripped from his nose. "She says it's a trap!"

"Well, it's not a trap any more. They've lost the element of surprise. Standby weapons," Jon stated. "As soon as we are in range, target their weapons and fire."

"Aye, sir," Malcolm replied crisply and stood to man his station.