Please note that none of the characters in this story belong to me. They, along with the show Star Trek Voyager, belong to Paramount. They are merely being borrowed for this fic. I am making no money from writing this so please don't sue me!
StoryTuvok let out a very un-Vulcan like gasp as he awoke from his slumbers. He immediately noted that his heart rate was abnormally high and cold sweat trickled down his forehead. For a few moments he remained silent, pushing the fear that he felt as a result of what he had seen into the recesses of his mind. He was puzzled by the fact that he was feeling fear intense enough to make him sweat, usually emotions such as this would automatically be subdued by his mental barriers, but his current state would suggest that they had not subdued his fear on this occasion. It only took a few seconds to re-establish his emotional control, after all he was Vulcan. Slowly he pulled himself into a sitting position and when he spoke aloud no trace of any emotion could be detected in his words, once again he was the calm, emotionless Vulcan.
"Computer, lights. Half illumination."
The computer complied and the room lit up. Tuvok blinked for a few seconds, allowing his eyes to adjust to the sudden change in lighting. Once more he spoke.
"Computer, what is the time?"
The artificial voice calmly replied.
"It is currently 0300 hours."
He had not been asleep long, he had only retired to his bed at quarter past twelve after finishing his tactical review, which he would be submitting at 0800 hours the following morning. After listening to this response he pulled the covers from him, by the state of the sheets that covered him whilst he slept he assumed that he had been tossing and turning in his sleep. After extracting himself from the tangled covers and re-arranging them so that they were once more neat and tidy he made his way over to his bathroom. Once in the bathroom he proceeded to the sink in the far corner of the room. He filled the sink with cold water and lowered his head into the water, washing away the sweat that lingered on his skin. After a moment he raised his head from the water and reached for the towel placed on a hook near the sink, he dried his face with the towel before walking over to the replicator and recycling it, he then returned to the sink and drained the water. Whilst it drained he looked into the mirror which was hung above the sink, he stared at the image of himself that was reflected outwards, thinking of what he had seen whilst he slept. What had he seen? Was it a dream? If it was a dream it was more intense than any dream he had ever experienced, it had felt as if he was truly there. It was then that he heard them. Voices rang out and echoed throughout the small bathroom, at first they were almost whispers but they slowly grew in volume until they were at normal speaking level.
"Internal scans show no lifesigns in Engineering........Brace for impact.........Hull breach on Deck ten!"
Tuvok turned and looked around him cautiously before calling out.
"Who is there?"
No response came, Tuvok tried again.
"Is there anyone there?"
Once again there was nothing but silence, after a moment he realised that it was probable that he had been imagining the voices, it would be illogical for any crewmember to sneak into his quarters at 0300 hours merely to shout phrases at him. Slowly he turned back to the mirror intending to once more stare at his reflection and reflect upon what he had seen. Yet when he looked into the mirror it was not himself that he saw, instead he saw the face of the Ensign who had been caught in the console explosion during his dream, once more the Ensign's face was charred a deep red. The face stared out at him with the charred cinders that rested where its eyes had once been. It was horrible to look at. Tuvok took several steps back from the mirror, his face blank as always apart from his eyebrows which where raised almost into his hairline, yet his body betrayed the emotions that he felt within his mind behind all the emotional barriers he had in place. The mere fact that he was retreating from this sight indicated that he was afraid. He continued to stare at what was being reflected. Then came another voice, however this one was louder and angrier, it did not sound as it had in the dream.
"HE'S DEAD!"
Tuvok spun round this time to face the empty quarters.
"Identify yourself."
Once more the room fell silent and after several moments Tuvok left the bathroom and moved into the main room of his quarters. As he crossed his quarters his eyes roamed the room, searching for anyone who could have spoken those words but after several minutes investigation he found no-one. He reached the windows which looked out into the blackness of space and reclined on a chair which faced them. Whenever he was troubled he would stare out of those windows into the space that surrounded Voyager, the peace of space calmed and comforted him. In the silence he began to reflect upon what he had seen in the mirror and the voices that he had heard. He must be imagining things, logically none of what had happened was possible. Dreams did not follow you to reality. The hallucinations were probably caused by his lack of sleep that night. He merely needed to lock the dream away where he would not think of it again.....but had he not already done that when he was in his bed? He had attempted to push the memories into the recesses of his mind, that should have been enough to subdue them until he wished to study them further, however this attempt had been unsuccessful, his thoughts continued to linger on the dream and the result of this was the hallucination he had seen and heard. After a few moments he came to the decision that he would once more attempt to push the dream to the back of his mind where his thoughts could not linger on it. Slowly his eyes closed whilst he concentrated on pushing the memories to the back of his mind. After several minutes they re-opened, his attempt to subdue the memories had been successful, at least that was what his mind seemed to indicate, he no longer felt the fear in the depths of his mind that he had felt upon his awakening. His mouth opened and he yawned loudly, it was then that Tuvok realised how tired he was, he had gained little sleep that night and he had had a busy day running training simulations to keep the security personnel in shape. Slowly he rose and made his way back over to his bed. Once he reached it he climbed inside and arranged the covers so that they covered him comfortably, his eyes flickered closed as he spoke.
"Computer, lights off."
The computer complied and the room fell once more into darkness and silence. For the remainder of that night Tuvok slept peacefully.
"Sorry I'm late Captain......"
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!
NOTE: Please read and review everyone. Thanks to anyone who has already done so; your comments can only improve my writing.