Star Trek Bonaparte

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Episode Two

Nightmares in a Cloud

Chapter Four

Woods was in a vast space, endless distances in every direction but there were no lights and nothing to see. There was just nothing for every direction. Spinning on the spot, turning her head in every direction, there was nothing.

No, there, she saw something. A form in the distance.

'Hello?' Woods loudly asked, trying to get their attention as she began to ran towards it.

'I'm busy,' a voice answered back. A young voice at that. The voice of a child.

Woods quickly advanced towards the figure which, as she got closer, as the figure became easier to see, she realised was a child sitting at a desk. She was a girl, her hair in a simple braid, and several data pads in front of her.

'Are you okay?' she asked the girl.

'I'm busy,' she shot back, not even looking over her shoulder.

'Are you actually coming to sit at the table today?' an older voice asked from somewhere close by.

'I'm busy mom,' the child asked and, to Woods's shock, she said the same thing, at the same time.

She looked again at the girl and, slowly, dreading what she would see, walked around the girl in front of the desk so she could see the child's face. Not just the child's face, her own face. It was her, the girl was her, thirteen years old.

'I'm busy,' young Jessica angrily told her, still not looking up from the pad she was reading. 'Go away.'

STRANGE ISN'T IT?

Woods spun around on her heel, there was no one behind her, and then she spun back to see that the thirteen year old her was gone as well. She was alone again.

'What's strange?'

YOU HAVE DONE SO MUCH BUT YOU'VE HAD NO ONE TO SHARE IT WITH.

'I have friends.'

CREW MEMBERS, NOTHING MORE. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SPOKE TO YOUR PARENTS.

'They don't want to speak to me.'

THEY WOULD IF YOU DIDN'T DRIVE THEM AWAY.

'They drove me away. I wanted to be in Starfleet, I wanted my own command, I didn't have time for anything else.'

I THOUGHT THE SAME. THE DRIVE FOR POWER, TO NEVER BE VULNRABLE, IT LED TO MY DEFEAT.

'It's not power I want!'

CALL IT WHAT YOU LIKE BUT IT IS STILL POWER. BEING CAPTAIN OF A STARSHIP OR A LORD OF THE SITH, IT'S ALL ABOUT POWER.

'I don't want power, I want to do my duty to the Federation.'

I KNOW YOU DO, YOU WANT POWER TO DO YOUR DUTY. TO MAKE SURE THAT NO ONE WILL HAVE TO SUFFER YOUR FATHER'S FATE.

Suddenly there was an explosion and Woods was somewhere familiar, Star Fleet Command in San Francisco. There were bodies on the floor, men and women dressed in their uniforms with the blue shirts of the science division. A phaser blast tore past her head, fried by a security officer with a rifle, she followed the beam with her eyes to see it strike a Breen soldier who went flying into a wall from the impact.

Woods looked at the bodies on the floor and she recognised one of them, a man with the same nose shape as hers, and it took all her effort to hold back her tears of sorrow.

I DON'T KNOW IF THE BREEN WERE BRAVE OR MAD TO LAUNCH THAT ATTACK ON EARTH.

She was back in the empty space.

'Why did you show me that?' she hissed.

BECAUSE YOU NEEDED TO SEE IT. YOU NEEDED TO SEE YOUR FATHER WHEN HE FELL IN BATTLE.

'I didn't want to see him like that!'

YOU HAD TO. ADMIT IT, ALL YOUR LIFE YOU HAVE FELT WEAK, USELESS KNOWING THAT HE DIED IN A POINTLESS ATTACK THAT HE WASN'T READY FOR.

'He was a scientist!'

AND YOU ARE NOT. AT THE ACADEMY YOU SPECIALISED IN COMBAT TRAINING.

'Because the Federation faces threats from every side! The Dominion nearly wiped us out, why wouldn't I be ready to fight?'

SO YOU WOULDN'T BE POWERLESS.

'To protect the people of the Federation.'

SEEKING POWER TO PROTECT YOUR PEOPLE.

'It wasn't for power. It never was.'

WHY ARE YOU ASHAMED THAT YOU SOUGHT POWER TO PROTECT? IT'S NOBLE, IT'S HONOURABLE. IT'S THE WAY OF THE SITH.

She had no answer to that, she had no response that could stand up to this ancient being. There could only be one.

'Fine. Power, that's what I wanted. I want power, I want to stop something like the Dominion threatening my people again. I admit it! I seek power to protect!'

…

Mainwaring found herself in a smoke filled room, green light trying to push through bathing everything in a sicky glow. Holding back her fear with all her strength, Mainwaring walked forwards but tripped over something, crashing into the ground which, for some reason, was soft.

Why can't I see? Mainwaring thought as she waved her hand in front of her face to clear the smoke only to wish she didn't as she screamed at the sight. She wasn't walking along a normal surface, the whole ground was covered in bodies, men, women and children, young and old, and they were all still alive. Great wounds in their bodies, blood pouring from gashes and burns across their skin, old scars from terrible wounds were tearing open and all these people were in pain, terrible pain.

'I'm a doctor,' she said, overwhelmed by what she saw.

She reached for her tricorder and she scanned the closest person, a girl of about fifteen with burns across her face and scalp. Instead of stating her condition, the device flashed red several times, each light hurting her eyes.

'Just work damnit!'

A vice like grip caught her hand and she screamed as she felt her wrist snap apart. The hand gripping her wrist was female, the flesh deathly white and a metal framework covered it. With terror she looked up at the face and her screams became so terrible that they made her throat feel as if it was being attacked with sandpaper. The woman was wearing a full bodysuit made of black armour, her skin grey and her right eye covered by a bright red mechanical one, glowing down at her, and her mouth, which was perfect for singing the sweetest of lullabies, was clamped shut with a black mechanical rebreather.

The Borg gripped her wrist harder and Mainwaring's tears flowed from her eyes.

'Mom,' she begged the Borg. 'Please no! Please stop!'

'You will be assimilated,' she stated before picking her up and throwing her through the air.

Mainwaring crashed into a wall and then she fell to the cold metal floor. She was no longer on the mess of bodies, now she was in a Borg ship, the room with no features except for a table in the middle, a surgical table. Worse though, a Borg, her mother, was standing by the table.

'Prepare for assimilation,' the Borg said, the voice totally mechanical, lacking any kindness or joy, just a statement of fact, and it was terrible.

'No! Mom, please, it's me. It's Emily, please remember me!'

'Prepare for assimilation,' her mother repeated and advanced on Mainwaring.

Mainwaring tried to run when her mother grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her by her broken wrist towards the table.

'Stop! Please, for goodness sake, don't!'

Mainwaring was quickly strapped down not the table as her mother aimed her hand at her neck, the two tubes shot out into her neck and the pain was terrible as she felt the nanoprobes coursing through her veins. She knew her skin was starting to turn grey as her blood was being corrupted and it hurt, it hurt so much as she felt Borg devices popping out of her skin.

'New Drone designated 4 of 10, maintenance drone,' she stated with no emotion, only efficiency. 'Beginning full assimilation process.'

'Please,' she pleaded with what was left of her individuality, tears in her eyes. 'Don't.'

Without any response, her mother turned away and left the chamber as mechanical arms descended from the ceiling and began to circle over her.

All she could do was scream as the cutting tools went down to her hands and sliced them off, her cries of agony and terror only growing worse as mechanical implements were fused to her flesh, each one ending in a cutting took, the devices of an engineer, not a healer.

YOU FEAR THAT WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE.

'You torture me for no reason.'

EVERYTHING I DO HAS A REASON, YOU'RE JUST TOO BLINDED TO SEE IT.

'Then why did you show me my mom?'

BECAUSE YOU REFUSE TO PROPERLY LOOK AT HER DEATH. YOU REMEMBER WHEN SHE LEFT HOME?

'Of course I do. She was so happy, a crewmember of the Enterprise E, serving under Starfleet's finest captain.'

AN ENGINEER, KEEPING THE FEDERATION'S FINEST SHIP RUNNING. THEN THE BORG CAME FOR HER. IF THEY HAD SUCCEEDED NO DOUBT SHE WOULD HAVE MADE A FINE DRONE.

'How dare you?' she shouted, biting back the pain throughout her body. 'She was a kind woman and they killed her, stripped her of her soul and made her a monster.'

HER DEATH GAVE YOU STRENGTH. I THINK THAT'S WORTH THE TRADE OFF.

'I lost my mother, I lost the best friend I ever had thanks to the Borg. I lost everything to them.'

THEY GAVE YOU STRENGTH. HER DEATH INSPIRED YOU TO GREATNESS, TO BE STRONG. THAT'S WHY YOU BECAME A DOCTOR.

Suddenly the pain was gone, her hands returned and she was standing up in the corridors of Starfleet Medical.

'I became a Doctor to help people.'

DID YOU REALLY? ARE YOU SURE IT WASN'T SO YOU COULD NEVER FEEL WEAK AND HELPLESS AGAIN, LIKE YOU DID WHEN YOU SAW WHAT THE BORG HAD DONE TO HER?

'Shut up!' she shouted, her voice growing painful as she tried to beat down the argument of this ancient being of incredible power.

EVERY MOMENT IN OUR LIVES, EVERY DEATH AND EVERY BIRTH MATTERS, IT SHAPES US, MAKES US STRONGER. WE ARE VERY MUCH ALIKE.

'You expect me to believe we're like each other? You've tortured us since the moment we got here, you trapped us in your tomb and killed two of our men. I am nothing like you.'

Suddenly everything around her changed, instead of the clean, orderly corridor she was in a battlefield, all around her bolts of red and blue energy were tearing through the air while soldiers in white armour fought against those in black while robe figures duelled with blades of shining light, red, green and red. Suddenly a man in light brown robes fell dead next to Mainwaring who quickly stepped away as the mans killer moved onto the next one.

It was her, Darth Imperta, clad in black robes, a cloak billowing off her shoulders and her jet black hair hanging past her shoulders. In her right hand she gripped onto a silver hilt from which emitted a crimson blade which matched the colour of her eyes.

'Force the Jedi back!' she shouted to her followers and advanced on another man in brown robes, this one armed with a blue blade.

They exchanged some blows before, to Mainwaring's shock, Imperta unleashed a storm of energy into the man, bolts of blue lightning leaping with sadistic joy from her finger tips into the man, causing him pure agony and, with all her heart, Mainwaring wished she could help him, do anything to prevent his pain. Imperta slashed her blade across the man's chest, killing him with a single blow. The enemies, "Jedi" she believed, were in full retreat now and Imperta deactivated her weapon, hooking it to her belt.

'Lord Imperta,' a soldier armed with some sort of rifle said as he ran to her.

'What is it?' she lazily asked him.

'Lord Krimon is injured.'

The look of fear on the Sith's face was something Mainwaring didn't think she'd ever see on that cruel, austere face. Imperta raced in a single direction, knocking aside her followers and Mainwaring followed until the Sith knelt in the dirt next to a man, dressed in black robes and his skin unusually pale, but Imperta clutched his gloved hands while a medic tried to treat a burn in his chest probably from some type of energy weapon.

'How is he?' Imperta snapped at the surgeon.

'There's not much chance,' he answered. 'If we get him back to base he could make it but,' he stopped for a moment, clearly afraid of what his words might result in, 'but I don't think he'll survive the journey.'

Imperta looked down at the man and then at the surgeon before reaching out her hand and with a gesture snapping the neck of a nearby Sith, drawing a cloud of black energy gushing out of his eyes and mouth which poured into the form of Lord Krimon.

'Check him again.'

The surgeon did so and nodded at the results.

'He's much more stable. He'll survive until we get back to base.'

'Then get him there you fool!'

Again Mainwaring was in a boundless void with the only company being the voice of Darth Imperta.

AM I NOT A GREAT HEALER? HAVE I NOT SAVED LIVES?

'You killed so someone else could live.'

SO MY BEST LIEUTENANT COULD LIVE. SO MY HUSBAND COULD LIVE. TELL ME, AS A DOCTOR, WHO WOULD YOU TREAT? AN ENSIGN OR YOUR CAPTAIN?

She didn't answer, she couldn't answer.

YOU KNOW THE TRUTH IN YOUR HEART. THAT IS ENOUGH FOR ME, DOCTOR. WELL DONE.

…

Woods staggered out of the chamber and fell to her hands and knees. Again she was inside an empty room, the walls covered in carvings of that terrible woman.

'Bloody egotist,' she growled as she tried to push herself up.

From the door behind her was thrown out Mainwaring, tears visibly coming from her eyes, but she was able to stay standing.

'Doctor are you alright?'

'I'll be fine,' she said and slowly walked away from her, clearly wanting to be alone.

There was a whooshing sound from behind her and Winn staggered into the room, covering his face with his hands and his whole body shaking for a moment until he stood still and stood up tall.

'Commander,' he said, his tone even and his eyes empty.

'Are you alright?'

'Not bad.'

'What did you see?'

'I'd rather keep that to myself.'

Armando Kruge was then thrown into the room, his expression angry, hate in his eyes and his pistols drawn.

'If she was still alive I'd kill her myself!' he roared.

'Calm down,' Woods told him and put her hand on his shoulder, worried that he might tear her hand off.

For a few moments he breathed heavily until Armando had calmed down and then walked away from the room they had just been in.

'What did you see?' she asked him.

'My sister,' he said and shook his head, not saying anything else.

WELL DONE ALL OF YOU.

'What do you want now?' Mainwaring hissed.

TO LET YOU OUT. ALL THE DEFENCES HAVE BEEN LOWERED AND MY ACOLYTES HAVE RETURNED TO THEIR TOMBS. YOU'VE DONE WELL. YOU MAKE FINE STARFLEET OFFICERS, AND IF YOU HAD THE FORCE, YOU WOULD HAVE MADE FINE SITH.

…

'First Officers personal log, star date supplemental. We have returned to the Bonaparte and we have gone through psychological examinations. I have booked in an appointment with the counsellor for tomorrow but I think I will be fine.'

After making her log entry she went to Captain Lewis's ready room for their meeting. He sat there with his mug of hot chocolate as he went through the data pad again.

'Well, this is troubling to say the least.'

'I know it is.'

'I talked to Kruge and he's given me all the information he has on the Force and this organisation, the Sith. He believes that Emperor Palpatine may be one of them.'

'That's not comforting.'

'I know it isn't. If we have any future dealing with Force users we should be as careful as possible.'

'I agree. To be honest, we should try to avoid them.'

'Not completely. Now, we'll be heading to the Tennin System next, we have a possible transport contract there.'

'Good,' she said, not trying to think about what she had seen.

AN: Sorry about how long this took but it's exam time at uni. I've managed to get this done and I hope you all enjoyed it. Join us next time for another adventure of the Starship Bonaparte.

Also, I would like to thank killgore444 for adding the first issue of this series to the community 'The wonders of completion.' Thank you and I hope you enjoy this story as well.