Star Trek Hunter
Episode 27: The Sword of Destiny
Scene 20: jolpat
.

27.20
jolpat*
.

Jennifer Hopper, the freshman flight specialist for the U.S.S. Hunter, was barely aware of being carried through a raging desert storm. Most of the storm was stinging driving sand sparking with massive amounts of static electricity. Sand devils marauded and thunder crashed as the sky grew dark first with sand, then with massive thunderclouds. The rain settled the sand but made progress even slower and more trecherous.

Through it all, the young flight specialist was only spradically awakened by massive lightning bolts tearing through the sky. She occasionally glimpsed the malformed face of an enormous romulan under a heavy hood. Vaguely aware of straps buckled over his uniform - the buckles bruising her flesh as she was carried through the storm. Vaguely aware of entering first a large cavern, then being carried through several rooms almost at a run. As fast as this misshapen brute of a romulan could shuffle. Vaguely aware of crowding into a small chamber with too many other people.

There was no longer enough room for her to be carried - she could not stand but was leaning against the romulan's chest. She had no idea how long he held her there against him. People crowded all around them. Her head rolled and bobbed as she fought to regain consciousness.

Then a roaring sound filled the small chamber and her body was shredded. Jennifer had never imagined such agony - every nerve being burned and separated - her entire body on fire from her toes to the top of her head. It felt as if her brain had been removed from her skull and teams of klingons and jem'hadar were playing rugby with it. She had no idea such detailed pain was possible. Even her hair was hurting. Not just the roots - every inch of her hair.

She tried to scream, but she had no lungs to fill with air, no mouth to form the sounds, no voice to scream with. Gradually, the pain increased and with it she could hear screaming all around her - her own screams tearing her throat as a milion jackhammers pounded her on all sides. Jennifer grasped her head with both hands and groaned in agony - but she was definitely conscious. There was no other way she could feel so much pain.

The room was different, but the same. It was as if they had moved forward a few hundred years in time. The room was identical, but delapidated, the walls stained from condensation. This room had not been maintained.

.

"Welcome to T'Khut, the sister planet of vulcan," said Commander Napoleon Boles. "Please do not open the door. This room has been pressurized, but the atmosphere outside is toxic. Standby for transport."

"You didn't say anything about how painful this transporter would be," Hopper said.

"My father is barely hanging on," said Paul Appian. "He won't last long. This was a dangerous procedure. This transporter has not been used to transport a living animal for more than 500 years."

"I can understand why," said Hopper. "That was torture."

"Legend has it that this was the first known transporter," said Centureon Javel. "But it took centuries for the vulcans to develop a transporter that would take them from the temple on Mt. Langon to this room on T'Khut. Something about the confluence of the storms there with the storms here."

"Dr. Alstars explained it to me," said Napoleon. "But it went right over my head. And I'm a smart man. I understand how transporters work. But not this thing. I'm not surprised they couldn't figure out how it worked for a few hundred years. I'm not even sure Geoff really understands this thing."

"I just hope the next part wor…"

.

Flight Specialist Jennifer Hopper was unable to complete her sentence as she, Commander Napoleon Boles, Centureon Javel, Commander Nikato, Paul Appian and his father, Premiere Messick of the Vulcan High Command in Exile were beamed directly into the large surgery of the U.S.S. Hunter's Medical Department.

.

*jolpat (thlingn Hol - transporter)

.
27.20