The Sensation of Being Shot
Posted on Sat Oct 19th, 2024 @ 6:06am by Lieutenant Narin Valen
Edited on on Tue Oct 22nd, 2024 @ 10:33pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
Episode 16 - Silent Cries
Location: Quarters of Narin Valen - Deck 3 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 0300 hrs
“Quite suddenly Dori, now at the back again carrying Bilbo, was grabbed from behind in the dark. He shouted and fell; and the hobbit rolled off his shoulders into the blackness, bumped his head on hard rock, and remembered nothing more.”
Narin slipped his bookmark into place at the beginning of Chapter V of The Hobbit and closed the book, setting it on his nightstand. The words remembered nothing more echoed in his mind as he laid in his bed, the room dark and cool around him. He found himself relating to Bilbo - still unable to grasp why he had woken up in such a state the night before.
He yawned, his eyelids growing heavy as he struggled to keep them open. Moments later, he drifted off into a deep sleep. For the first few hours, he slept peacefully, but then, just like the night before, his eyes began to twitch beneath his closed lids, moving rapidly. He was dreaming again.
Narin found himself on the shattered streets of a city. A foreign city. A place that wasn’t home. The buildings were alien in their architecture, twisted, and unfamiliar. Sky choked with thick smoke and fire. Besides him stood Liora. Her face streaked with soot and panic. Both looked around, searching for any sign of life, but the city seemed empty, abandoned.
“This isn’t Betazed,” Narin thought.
They were on an alien planet that seemed to echo with an unspoken despair. Sky was filled with an eerie, unnatural light, casting shadows across the surroundings. The air was heavy with the scent of burning.
“We have to find someone.” Narin said, his voice trembling with urgency. “There must be people here. Anyone who can help us.”
Liora nodded. Her eyes darting from side to side.
As they moved forward, the landscape began to shift, the streets stretching longer and twisting into unfamiliar shapes. Through the smoky haze, a figure started to emerge. At first, it seemed small, but with each step it took, the figure grew larger. The outline revealed a tall, muscular form. As it finally stepped out of the haze and into clear, Narin and Liora's eyes widened in shock.
The being had grayish skin with a textured, scaled appearance. Bony ridges ran along its forehead and down the bridge of its nose, and its eyes were set deep within those ridges, filled with a cold, predatory gaze.
“A... Jem'Hadar,” Liora whispered.
They stood frozen, staring at the Jem'Hadar that had appeared before them, neither able to move nor speak, paralyzed by the shock of seeing a Jem’Hader.
It wasn't until the he lowered its gaze to the rifle in his hands, grip tightening, that the reality of the threat set in. With a swift, deliberate motion, he raised the weapon and aimed it directly at them.
"Run!" Narin shouted, yanking Liora's hand as he turned to flee the way they came.
Out of the corner of his eye, Narin thought he saw a group of figures sitting on the ground in the distance, their gray skinned hands raised as if trying to shield themselves. Surrounding them were more Jem'Hadar soldiers, their rifles trained on them.
Without warning, one of the Jem'Hadar fired, then another, and another, until all their weapons were discharging into the defenseless group. The screams that followed were bone-chilling. Narin's head snapped in that direction, but when he looked again, there was nothing there. Just empty air.
Narin tightened his grip on Liora's hand, his focus shifting entirely to her. His legs moved as fast as they could, his heartbeat pounding in his ears as he tried to pull them both away from the Jem'Hadar who had turned its weapon on them.
A blast from the rifle struck the corner of the building just as they disappeared around it. Narin didn't dare look back, nor did he risk slowing down. He knew they were in serious trouble. Clutching Liora's hand, he kept running, urging her forward with every ounce of strength he had. The sound of heavy footsteps echoed behind them. Distant at first, but growing closer with each passing second.
They zigzagged through the streets, turning right, then left, another left, and then right, desperately hoping that each corner they rounded would reveal someone. But there was no one in sight. It was just the two of them, alone, with the sound of heavy footsteps behind them, drawing ever closer.
They skidded to a halt in front of a dead end, trapped with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Narin quickly moved in front of Liora, shielding her with his body, his eyes locked on the approaching Jem’Hadar. The soldier had stopped running and was now advancing on them with measured steps.
Narin glanced back at Liora. “Run,” he whispered, turning his focus back to the towering figure before them. Without a second thought, he charged the Jem’Hadar, throwing punches with all his strength, knowing full well he couldn’t do any real damage. He just hoped to buy Liora a few precious seconds to escape.
But the fight was over almost as soon as it began. The Jem’Hadar grabbed Narin by the neck, lifting him effortlessly off the ground. Narin's feet dangled helplessly as he felt the grip tighten, squeezing the air from his lungs. Panic washed over him as he struggled in vain.
Then he heard Liora’s voice, strong and commanding. “Let him go,” she demanded. To his surprise, the Jem’Hadar obeyed, releasing him and letting Narin drop to the ground. He collapsed, coughing and gasping for air, his vision blurry from lack of oxygen.
Suddenly, he heard the blaster fire. Narin’s head snapped up just in time to see Liora falling backwards. Time seemed to slow as he watched in horror. As she fell, her features changed. Her head changing into that large, bulbous shape he had glimpsed before. She laid there motionless.
He was filled with rage, desperate to find the strength to fight back. As he looked up, expecting to see the hulking Jem’Hadar looming over him, he was instead greeted by a towering figure that seemed featureless. It was a shadow given shape. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the everything had changed. Everything had vanished except for him, sitting on the ground in front of the shadowy figure, surrounded by gray smoke.
He glanced down at his hands, horrified to see that they had transformed just like his sister’s, the skin now a sickly gray. As he looked back to the shadowy figure, helpless and defeated, he saw it lift the butt of its rifle. In one swift motion, it brought the weapon down hard, striking him in the head. Pain exploded in his skull. He crumpled to the ground, his vision going dark. He tried to scream, but no sound came out. It was as if he had no mouth at all.
He heard rifle firing again. The shot hit him directly, and it was like nothing he’d ever felt before. The impact sent a shockwave through his body, intense and disorienting, like being struck by a bolt of lightning. A searing heat spread out from the point of contact, burning deep into his skin, as if his very cells were being scorched from the inside out. The agony was so overwhelming, he could feel every nerve in his body screaming.
Just like the night before, he jerked awake, sitting upright, drenched in sweat, and screaming at the top of his lungs. But unlike the previous night, fragments of the dream remained in his mind. He remembered the chase, the haunting figures, and most vividly, the sensation of being shot.
He quickly threw off the sheets and lifted his shirt, staring at the spot where he’d been hit. There was nothing there, no mark or wound, yet he could feel a strange heat radiating from the area. Pressing his hand to his skin, he was startled to find it warm to the touch.
“What the hell was that?” Narin muttered to himself, lying back in bed and staring up at the ceiling. He spent several minutes replaying every detail he could remember from the dream. Finally, just like the night before, he threw off the sheets and headed for the shower. There would be no sleep tonight, again.
Lieutenant Narin Valen
Assistant Chief Science Officer, USS Pioneer
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