Prologue

Yes, A new story has indeed Appeared but for those of you worried about my main one, then don't be. This is a slow burn story folks, and its update will be slow while my focus remains on DAW. That said, I hope this one interests you.

Inspired by Hiver's "Always be Yourself" over on Spacebattles, you should really go check it if you like Trek stories AND dragons.

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The first thing I noticed when consciousness came to me were pulsing deep red lights. The second and third thing was I was in some warehouse if all the strange crates and boxes were anything to go by and that the place sounded like it was being attacked. Large booms were heard and the entire place shook with each one, maybe a military storehouse? Really everything looked strange.

"Ugh, looks like I sleepwalked again… Is that my voice?"

I grimaced at the growling rasp that my voice now held as if I swallowed glass. I lifted a hand to rub my throat and froze upon contact. Immediately I knew something was wrong. I felt only four fingers on the hand and each had the feeling of long nails on the tips. Then there was what those fingers were feeling, a thick leathery material was wrapped around my neck. My… abnormally long neck. My mind thought as I swallowed hard, my hand traveling up and down it. I pulled my hand away breathing heavily, my eyes locked into a far wall in this low, green light. I didn't want to look. I really didn't want to… but I had to know. Slowly I lifted my left as I looked down, a movement that felt far, far too easy for a human. The moment my hand came into view, both my heart and mind seized. Before my eyes, there was no ordinary hand… and there were four fingers tipped with… claws? I think that was the proper term with one in the place you'd find a thumb and I could move them each pretty well already. Probably due to the fact it was close to a human's. Said talons were ebony in color and each were connected to scaly digits which were red on top and fading to white on the palms. The color pattern continued up the arm, which was shorter than a human's, and to the rest of my body. I closed my eyes while my claws touched my chest and moved upward, letting my mind's eye paint a picture of what I felt. A neck, longer than a human and with a much wider range of motion. I felt the small holes that were my ears, only marked by a ring of slightly raised bumps. There were my eyes, set to the sides of my head and gave me a farther view around me. And finally the long mouth or was it a muzzle now? Long, narrow, and very decidedly carnivorous if the jagged teeth sticking out were any indication. I sighed, the sound coming out as hissing chitter and my eyes snapped open in shock. That sound, I knew that sound! How could I not? The movie it was in was one of the first my friends took me too when my feet touched homesoil. So, I was an Indoraptor, A genetically designed killer. Yet not the one my friends called Ripper. I mused. 'Ripper' was black with a gold stripe and I was a blood red fading to a dirty white on my underside and judging by my tail, had a black stripe.

"Hmph.. no slinking about in the shadows for me." my rasping voice echoed in the storage room. I had taken to tapping my hand claws on the cool metal floor when another thought hit me. Wait.. back up! I had a new body! Does that mean…?! Because I was laying on my right side facing what I assumed was the door at the other end of the room, only my left side was exposed. Issuing a nervous chitter, I closed my eyes and moved a trembling left claw down my new form and steeled my nerves when it reached my left hip to slide it down. When I found what I was looking for, I followed the limb to its end. My tears renewed this time out of joy.

I had two…

Two legs, two powerful legs and feet.

Letting a shriek of happiness and not caring who heard, I curled my body up tighter, grabbing my right leg with both claws to hug it the best I could. I no longer cared what I was or where I was. I'll face anything that will come to me with a furious fervor.

For I was whole again.

I laid there for a long time, the phantom memory that stole from me. Of shouts and cries, the sounds of mortars raining down, explosions and gunfire… And the click of a mine just before a searing heat and a brief flight. The battle of ghosts drowning out the booms and shaking of the present one.

That is until the door slid open with a soft *whoosh* I could easily hear and cause my brain to short circuit as three actual aliens wearing either a feather headdress or it was actually a part of them stepped in. They were each carrying a device and what resembled a pistol of sorts. The three wasted little time, splitting to clearly search for something within, their eyes locked on the devices. As I crouched further in my corner my mind could only give one response.

….What?

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A/n: So.. yes it is short but this is just the Prologue to get it out there. By all means give me your feedback. Also a note to know, In this story Teleporters do not exist. TY Hiver for the idea. Yes I understand that'll be difficult because Voyager relied heavily on it for a lot of things but I did a lot of research, Voyager had a few dozen shuttles stored throughout her holds. So I am putting what I saw in layouts to use.

Huge thanks to Undead and Jordan for glancing this over