All the Nightmares

Posted on Sat May 13th, 2023 @ 2:18pm by Lieutenant Sky Jansen-Carey

Mission: Starship Side Quest
Timeline: Directly after "Sky is Falling."

***Warning Potentially Disturbing Content***

{ON}

Sky sat in a chair in the darkened, shielded room she’d been in since her arrival. Her senses were still cut off from any and all input besides that of the person who’d entered her mind before. She didn’t know how long she’d been in the room, time had just seemed to run on and on, there was no day, no night.

She sensed the familiar presence of the person in her mind but had lost the will to put up much of a fight.

“You disappoint me Betazoid--” Kara remained in the shadows of Sky’s mind. “I thought you’d have more fight than this-- I’ll admit you’ve led me a merry chase but not anymore, now we get down to business...” She sighed. Danced around momentarily toying with Sky as she delved brutally deep into Sky’s mind, leaving no corner unseen.

Old nightmares flooded Sky’s mind, one she had time and time again when she was growing up... Now Kara deeply into them as though Sky's mind was merely a file cabinet to be rifled through.

Click, click, click.

The constant clicking of the manual pen rattled Sky. It mimicked the ticking of a clock. Click click click. The nurse's vibrant red pumps, that certainly weren't comfortable, clicking against the green and white tiles off matched the beat of the clicks. Clack clack clack.

Sky sucked in her breath, choking on a bit of mucus that had formed in the meantime. Cough cough cough

“Poor little Sky, dealing with the mentally ill, choking on a phlegm globber,” a voice cackled through her ears. “Wittle baby canna even swallow a snot.”

“You’re not a nice lady!!” Young Sky gave a scowling look. “Go away!, I hate you!!” She ran to the nearest corner where she could hide away.

"Little diapie baaaby," the black tongued woman taunted. Her blackened eyes followed Sky as she ripped clumps of her decaying hair. "Having a widdle baby tantrum wittle Sky?"

The woman began pulling out her fingernails one by one and dropping the bloody stubs on the floor. Click, click, click.

"Wittle SKKKKKKKYYYYYY."

Sky watched in horror, this was a memory she didn’t remember, one that she’d buried so deep she’d forgotten all about it... until now. “GO AWAY!!!” She crawled along the floor trying to find a new place to hide, to get away from the crazy lady. “LEAVE ME ALONE!!!”

With a powerful force, that voice echoed. Sky screamed and clutched at her head, memories of being in Soran’s mind and the sights she saw there ruthlessly invading her mind over and over again.

Kara grinned. “It’s a shame to do this, you could have proven useful to us, but I’m afraid by the time I’m finished in your mind you're not going to be of much use to anyone.”

With a cackle, Kara clenched her jaw tighter and closed her eyes. Sky let out a crashing scream that filled the room, from pain and hopes that Soran could hear.


"Stand behind us, we protect you………………………..



Fight beside us, we respect you…………………



Stand against us, we will end you………………….



The Sentinels of Angosiana stand fast!"


Sky shuddered. She knew that soldier's credo and lamented whatever she was about to see.

It was a dark moonless night, there the young trainees formed a line in front of the obstacle course. A man in a lab coat handed rifles to two men in black fatigues who took positions at the end of the line. The trainees looked at the man in the lab coat. The man was… Joth Mangoth… The Sentinel Programs Chief Physician.

“You will be injected with a mind-enhancing chemical, then you will have thirty minutes to complete the maze. There will be physical, mental and psionic components to this test, don't disappoint me, children.”

Sky looked around in abject horror at what was going on around her as each soldier took a dose of some viscous drug straight into their necks.

Soran moved toward the maze and one of the riflemen shot a dart into his arm, his vision blurred and he stumbled, he could feel somebody holding him. “Gotta Babe,” Thatha said in a quiet tone. He could feel that the footing was unstable as well so he released her.

The gate behind them closed with a bang, the walls a smooth dark alloy and too tall to climb. They made their way forward. Each took a small handled razored weapon. They were going to be armed? During a training mission? Drugged? Without as much as a goodbye, they each were released into the maze, like hounds to the hunt.

"What are they looking for?" Sky said.

"What indeed?" Joth breathed in her ear. "If I were you, I'd run child. My dogs are very good."

This was a dream, of a memory, this wasn't currently happening. Panic flooded her. Joth touched her hair. "I assure you, this is happening... you better run girl."

Frenzy shot through to her feet, Sky ran through the others had not. The maze itself was more akin to a jungle now, in this dream like state. Large soursop trees covered in moss that reached into the atmosphere creating a murky fog half way up itself. She knew it was a memory. But the trepidation she felt in her stomach was entirely real. Howls from the other side of the jungle maze, were they okay? What sort of torture was this?

Sky paced herself. Keeping herself silent and low to the ground. I need to feel them around these corners. Unfortunately, their brains were so jumbled that the only thing she was able to get was loud pscionic squealing when she attempted to reach out. The man had said to put their guards up, she didn't think the guards would sound like a broken microphone feedback loop.

...Has it been hours? Has it been days? Sky couldn't tell anymore. She shook her head quickly.

"tugh ghu'vam yImuhqangchoH!" Ren said from the shadows. Sky couldn't see him, but she was thankful to hear a familiar voice.

"What?" Sky didn't recognize what he said. Was that Klingon? Why would Ren be speaking Klingon?

"Êtes-vous ma cible?"

Sky looked at the shadows in utter confusion at the trash language. French? Here? What horrors would be here next? "Ren, it's ...well someone you don't know yet. I am your friend."

"Rends tes armes!" Soran shouted.

Still with the French? This is a nightmare. Sky thought. Suddenly the ground started to shake below her as blood began to pool at her feet. She tried to run, but it had already begun to coagulate around her, freezing her to the spot. She needed to get out. Stretching her mind, she bent her will as hard as she could. Instead, she sneezed and all of her teeth fell out.


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She spat them on the ground. Blood discharging from her mouth in a waterfall around her making an Olympic sized pool. Sky swam in it. She had no other choice. Her body felt caustic. The pool kept becoming deeper and deeper, and try as she might, the current was pulling her down. She wanted to scream, but she had no mouth. Sky kicked, tossing her body ferociously.

This isn't real.

"Oh but it is," Kara cackled uproarious.

THIS ISN'T REAL!

THIS ISN'T REAL!

THIS ISN'T REAL!

THIS ISN'T REAL!

Sky galvanized herself and stopped fighting the current. Letting herself sink to the bottom. Her breathing slowed. When she opened her eyes again she was in the gray room on the ramshackle holding cell. Kara's nose was bloodied, her eyes blackened from an immense blow. Sky's hand went to her belly, her twin beats steady and true. She calmed herself, even though her head and feet were strapped to a table.

There was a shadow, one lurking near the table. As he stepped forward Sky recognized the man from both Soran’s mind and their arrival. “Ichatha...”

The orange skin man leaned on his cane as leered at Sky his lipless mouth twisted into a cruel grin. He brought his close enough to hers that she could smell his rancid breath. “Your fear is delicious.”

Sky would have moved away but while she was strapped to the table she had nowhere to go. “What do you want?”

“If you want to go just get up and go,” he opened the door and pressed a button. The straps unfastened and Ichatha moved so Sky the light from the open door. “You’re free to go.”

Sky saw the light, at first it hurt her eyes but as she tried to move to reach it she couldn’t. Her fear spiked as she struggled to move her limbs, it didn’t matter what she did she couldn’t budge even a little. “I can’t move! Why can’t I move!?” She looked at the light longing to reach it, to get out of the dark.

What the matter? Get up and leave. She could feel Ichatha inside her head.

Sky closed her eyes, focusing hard on what she could, grabbing hold of the memory she’d seen in Soran’s mind she immersed herself in it trying to hide from Ichata, to force him out of her head.

Ichatha blinked and his hands began to shake he stumbled backward toward the door.

Sky opened her eyes, finding she could move she quickly jumped off the table and darted for the open door. She had no idea where she was going, or if she’d even make it out of the cell. All she knew was she wanted the hell away from this nightmare.

As she got to the door and the Orion woman grabbed Sky by her hair and threw her back into the cell. “Where are you going cow!?”

“Just leave her in there Maris!” Ichatha shouted as he left the room.

Sky scrambled to her feet as the door shut in her face, she cried out as she sank to the floor. Hopelessness and despair were becoming her permanent companions as she sank to the floor.