6
Chapter 42
"Whats going on here!?"
David's loud voice echoed through engineering.
The technicians and enginners averted their eyes; several hid behind consoles and bulkheads.
David stood in the center…looking around at each and every one of them.
He glared profusely…a snarl on his lips.
"Sir,"
A young officer standing in a corner stepped towards him; it was one of the officers from the mess hall. The one who asked for his autograph.
He was trembling as he walked.
David's eyes pierced through him; the young officer looked up at him…hoping to see his hero again.
"WELL!"
A look of devastation crossed his face. He looked down at the floor…crestfallen.
David felt a pang of guilt…seeing the innocence in the boys eyes.
The young officer pointed towards the warp core…his finger vibrating.
David glared at him one last time…then glanced towards the core.
He took a few paces forward…then a few more.
He spotted a figure sitting on the railing.
He quickened his pace and circled the core.
It was Ed.
David grabbed him by his shirt.
"Eddddd," he snarled.
Ed's face looked defeated; his eyes looked hopeless. He said nothing…and moved not an inch.
"TALK TO ME DAMMIT!"
"I can't do it," Ed whimpered.
"CAN'T DO WHAT!?"
"I can't fix it,"
"GOD DAMMIT!"
"Its too much…its too broken,"
David slapped Ed across the cheek.
"PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!"
"I couldn't fix it all…I couldn't do it all,"
A chill ran up David's spine; he thought of the argument they had years ago…back at the academy.
All Ed could think of…was that time he collapsed into his desk chair.
Unable to do everything.
Unable to do anything.
He started to feel a dormant anger from long ago rising up. He couldn't contain any longer.
"What the hell has happened to you!?"
It was so simple…yet such a strong sentence. Ed's eyes were the most genuine David had seen from him in years; the rage seeping from his pores terrified him.
It shook him at the core.
David let Ed's shirt slip out of his hands; Ed slowly slid to the ground.
"Where were you when I needed you,"
His words shattered David; shattered the illusion he'd built around himself.
"You'll never be like me…"
David slowly walked away.
He wanted to run…but he knew he couldn't anymore.
It was going to find him; it was going to get him.
He couldn't stop it anymore.
He looked around at the numerous faces; the young, innocent faces.
David felt like a ghost to them; an empty shell of a human being.
They couldn't see him; they couldn't really see him.
Because there was nothing there.
"You have partial phasers, you ass!"
David glanced back at Ed…not even comprehending when he said.
He then slowly stumbled out of engineering.
David slowly stumbled onto the bridge…the same look on his face as before.
The bridge crew instantly notice; they glanced at each other…feeling a great change in him.
"David," Wong said.
"You actually tried,"
David slowly glanced at him; his eyes were ghostly and vacant.
"Yes,"
"I'll give you props for the effort, boy,"
"Sir…they're here,"
David couldn't understand.
"But from the moment I laid my eyes upon you…"
"They?" David asked quietly.
"I knew you didn't have the guts,"
Wong glanced at Theuma…then shot David an odd look.
"The ship! The aliens!"
"You'll always be living in my shadow…until the day you die!"
"Oh,"
David looked down at his hands…completely broken.
He had nothing left to give.
"What the hell do you want me to do?"
David heard the words; they echoed through his head over and over again.
He heard them a million times…he'd pondered them a million times.
There was only one answer.
"Nothing," he said quietly.
"DAVID!"
The alien ship moved swiftly; it circled the Republic like a wolf…hunting its prey.
It circled closer and closer…until was right on top of them.
In a dazzling show of force…it unleashed a barrage of sparkling green lights across its body…stem to stern.
Ripples of flames spread across the once beautiful ship.
Even the name did not survive.
Only a shredded metal remained.
David watched as the bridge around him erupted into chaos; the ominous red lights bathed him; screams of fear and pain surrounded him.
A fire erupted around in the far corner…the blazing heat beating down on his face.
Sparks showered from consoles; bulkheads collapsed.
The smoke collected like a haze…a chorus of coughs echoed.
David watched the whole scene unfold…having no fight left him.
He was ready.
He heard a loud crash and someone scream; he glanced upward.
A chunk of debris collapsed onto of him.
He felt himself slowly drift to unconsciousness.