Of nightmares and compliments...
Yes yes yes... All Characters are owned by and all that felgercarb...
Just read it.
Deep inside the dark forest he felt it...
He was being stalked!
From hunter he had now become prey, and the predator hunting him had a clear advantage on him now. It could see perfectly in the dark. While his own eyes could barely even make out the surroundings, the creature hunting him would be seeing everything as clearly as if both the suns of Acheron were shining.
Fear now raced through his veins. And no longer the adrenaline of hunting a deadly creature. Every sound, even the ones made by himself, made him jump and every shadow became a target for his Phaser rifle.
Wasted shots...
The creature was there. He could feel it. He sensed it. And sometimes he could even hear it's deep growl as if it was right behind him.
But this creature could be anywhere. In the trees. Hiding in bushes. Anywhere.
Then Richard Kane made his second mistake. His first being that he had given the creature the chance of turning the roles around. This second one was worse. He began to run. Confirming that the creature now hunted him!
The running didn't last long though, because in no time some groundvegetation grabbed a hold of him and made him fall. A sharp pain shot through his left shoulder as it slammed into a treestump, and that made him all the more aware of the fact that during the fall he had lost hold of his rifle, which he saw dissapearing into the thick undergrowth a few feet away.
The mud in which he had fallen immediately drenched his clothes, and the smell of ancient earth and rotting leaves numbed his sense of smell with a foul, sickening odor.
For a few moments he just lay there.
Waiting...
For the inevitable...
Which didn't come. Because all he became aware of was the silence that surrounded him. It seemed that all the creatures that inhabited this forest were just like him holding their breaths for something that didn't come.
Slowly, and still not breathing, Richard turned his head and looked over his aching shoulder.
Nothing...
Just darkness and shadows. But not the glowing red eyes that he expected to stare back at him.
After a while he dared to move, and slowly managed to get up, using the treestump to lean on.
Rubbing his painful shoulder he drew in his first breath. It was as if the creature had been waiting for that, because the moment he did the creature attacked.
Richard screamed in terror and agonising pain when the claws of the huge beast dug into his chest. He could feel how the claws grabbed a hold of his ribs as he flew backwards by the sheer force generated by the beast hitting him. And when his fall ended, the weight of the animal crushed most of his ribcage, pushing sharp pieces of bone through almost all his vital organs.
Strangely enough the pain disappeared, as if it was switched off. And all Richard could do was lie there. With the creature on top of him. Staring into those glowing red eyes. That came closer. And closer.
Until he woke up and there was nothing but darkness.
he said, with a voice that sounded as if he had just eaten a pound of sawdust.
The lights in his living quarters slowly came to life and Richard, breathing and sweating heavily, sat up in his bed.
No more forest. No more monsters. No more fear. No more pain.
He was awake. Very awake. And the nightmare now brought him back to a time that he had been alone in the woods.
He shook his head. Clearing it.
No!
No memories. Not now.
He threw away the blankets and stood up from the bed. Naked, because that was how he slept since childhood, he walked into his small bathroom and used the toilet. After that he washed his hands and his face with cold water and stared at himself in the mirror above the sink.
No longer the seven year old kid lost in the woods.
No longer afraid of monsters.
Again he shook his head, clearing it of memories of his mother.
Dead.
Of his father.
Dead.
Both killed by the monster. The creature that had lived in the woods. The creature that did not exist, according to the Colony Council.
Richard smiled.
No. It had not existed. Until it had found it's way to and into the council building. And one by one the council members found out that the creature DID exist!
No more council.
But nightmares.
Yes.
Every night.
Richard would not sleep anymore that night, so he did what he would usually do. He got dressed, left his living quarters, and took the turbolift to deck 2, where he walked into the completely deserted mess hall. Now the domain of that freaky Talaxian Neelix, who was added to the crew after some mission long ago.
Not that Richard usually ate there. Because he didn't No, he and his friends usually had breakfast, lunch and dinner on deck 9, in a storage area that they had converted in sort of their own mess hall. But sometimes he went there. For a drink. Or, like now, in the middle of the night. When nobody was there. Just to stand there in front of the panoramic windows, that gave a beautiful view of space and everything in it.
In this case a planet that the USS Voyager had orbited for quite some time now and where most crewmembers had already spent some much deserved R&R.
But not Richard. Because most of this planet was covered by forests. And forests had monsters in them. Monsters that didn't exist.
It seems I'm not the only one who has sleepless nights... said a familiar voice behind him.
Richard swerved around, and if he would have been wearing a phaser, he probably would have drawn it.
I'm sorry... said the woman standing in the semi lit doorway. Did I startle you?
It was Captain Janeway.
Richard grinned. Stupidly.
What was it again that ensign Jane Fall had said to him?
Oh yes.
Richard... One thing's for sure if you keep reacting like that when there is a woman around... You'll never get laid in your life.
said Richard.
Excuse me? said Janeway, stepping into the dark of the mess hall.
Nothing, sir... Ma'am... Captain... stumbled Richard. I was just...
Never mind. said Janeway. It's hard to make out who you are in this darkness, ensign. Do I know you? You sound... Familiar.
Richard grinned and said: No, Captain... You don't know me. Well... It might be that you know my face, but no more than that. My name is Richard Kane. I'm a microtech. Or at least, I try to be.
Janeway smiled.
And what is it that keeps you awake, microtech Kane? she asked.
Bad dreams. he answered.
Of what?
Things that go bump in the night and then some.
Ah... I have those sometimes. With me usually some hot milk helps.
Bad idea in my case. I can't stand hot drinks.
Nothing hot at all?
He had almost replied with something naughty there.
To drink I mean. said Janeway.
They both laughed.
Janeway stepped closer to the window and staring at the slowly rotating planet she asked: It is a beautiful place, isn't it? Or haven't you been yet?
It took a while for Richard to answer, because he was staring at something else than she was. It was her silhouette. Drawn beautifully against the light of the reflecting planet. Her hair strangely glowing with the blue light that filtered through the glass, and her shapely body a dark sculpture that was only surpassed in beauty by her eyes...
HER EYES!!!
She was staring at him!
Ehm... No... I haven't been yet... he said, blushing invisably for her eyes.
Strange... I believe the letter K was already in group 2 to be beamed down... Yes... I'm sure of it.
It was, Captain. But I declined.
Declined R&R? Why?
The planet. Woods. Forests. I hate them.
She looked at him, puzzled by that statement.
Hate them? Why?
Long story...
Short version?
Richard laughed, and shaking his head he said: In a nutshell: I was born and raised aboard Starbase 88. But my parents decided, when I was five years old, that we would move to a Acula Rim colony called Acheron, where they were stationed as members of the colony council and attaché's to the local Federation Ambassador. It wasn't much of a colony when we arrived, and I can hardly remember what happened in the first years there, but... When I was seven. There was this rumour. About a creature that lived in the woods, and that had killed some colonists... The council however, would not listen to the colonists.
Richard sat down in one of the many chairs in the mess hall, and Janeway, intrigued by this story, sat down right across of him.
At one time my parents had to travel through the woods to get to one of the towns on Acheron. And when we were deep in the forest, it attacked. Both my parents died. Slaughtered by the beast. This nightmarish thing.
I heard about this. said Janeway, thinking back of the many tales that she heard throughout her life. Didn't this creature kill the entire council too?
And there you have it... said Richard. And the moral of this story would be: Those who don't listen...
I always wondered how the creature got into the council building. said Janeway. The way I heard it... It was pretty far away from the edge of the woods. Wasn't it?
It was... Yes. I always wondered about something else though.
Why the creature killed both my parents, but left me alive.
Janeway pondered that for a moment.
And that's the sad tale of microtech Kane. said Richard.
Yes... Why not. said Janeway.
Richard got up and walked over to the replicator, where he ordered two cups of coffee. He walked back to the table where the Captain was sitting, put one of the Federation mugs in front of her, and sat down again.
Janeway picked up the mug, took a sip and stared at the young man sitting across of her. Puzzled. Intrigued. Wondering.
she whispered.
What is? asked Richard.
I never heard of a survivor. The way I heard it. The child had disappeared. Never to be seen again.
Richard grinned.
Kids can be very versatile.
A seven year old?
Any age.
Janeway dripped with cynisism when she looked at him.
Richard shrugged.
The planet outside started to clear the sun, and it filled the mess hall with a red glow, that reflected in Janeway's eyes.
Red eyes.
Richard shivered.
I guess everything is possible. said Janeway.
It is far more simple than you think, Captain. said Richard. A colonist family found me. Covered in blood, but not harmed. Not even a scratch or the tiniest of bites. The creature had completely torn my parents to shreds, and eaten most of them. But me... Nothing... And so this family, the Kane's, took me in. Adopted me. And took me back to Earth.
Where you joined Starfleet Academy... Janeway filled in.
Richard laughed. But slowly shook his head.
No. Actually I learned my trade in the Skynet Corporation and got my first job on board the USS Mariachi.
Oh my lord... Yesss... Now I remember what I know you from. You were one of the technicians that we picked up on that training mission. It was you who repaired EMH projector, while none of our own techs could!
Richard smiled and nodded.
Yep. That was silly old me.
Janeway sat back in her chair and slowly shook her head.
she said. That I never... No... It would be an impossible task to get to know all crewmembers...
said Richard. Again he admired the beauty of his Captain, while she sat there. Drinking her coffee.
A gorgeous woman.
And she stood right before me... he said, when again he was reminded of something long, long ago. A woman who's beauty was only surpassed by the beauty of the sunset behind her.
Excuse me? Janeway asked.
Richard stood up from his chair and said: Just something my father said about my mother at one time... Excuse me, Captain. I'd better get going. In a few hours I need to get back to work. A microtech's work is never done aboard a ship like this.
Nor is a Captain's... said Janeway, while she watched him walk away and leave the mess hall.
She sat there, drinking the rest of her coffee. Thinking about what he had said. And then she came to a conclusion.
He made me a compliment. she whispered, smiling. And it had felt good.
End???