Bad Dreams

Posted on Sun Feb 8th, 2009 @ 9:16am by

498 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Restricted Independent Operations
Location: Larkin's Quaters
Timeline: The morning of Larkin's first full day aboard

ON:

Kevin Larkin sat at his desk, perusing the files of the Archimedes scientific crew. He needed to form a coherent team from these personal, a task he'd never had to approach before, and was finding it more difficult than he'd expected. The sound of the door chime pulled him away from his thoughts, "Yes? Come in."

In what seemed like slow motion, the door to his quarters slid open, and a man strode in. He wore a command red starfleet uniform, and he was someone with whom Larkin was very familiar. His gray hair was tussled, his uniform singed with ash and stained with blood. His skin was ghostly pale, and his eyes seared holes into Kevin, but they seemed to have nothing behind them. He raised his hand slowly, bringing it up to point at the Archimedes' CSO, and he spoke in a dark tone. "I know what you are."

--

Larkin bolted up out of his bed, struggling against his tangled sheets. His breathing was heavy and labored; sweat poured down his skin. Impulsively, he searched the room, but soon concluded, with a sigh of relief, that he was very much alone. For a few minutes, he could do nothing but sit on the edge of his bed and wait for himself to relax. Nightmares had an unpleasant tendency to stay with him for a while upon waking from them, and those that pertained to the Dragoon were ten times worse.

Slowly, Larkin managed to force himself up, and he made his way to the sink in his bathroom. After cleaning the remaining sweat from his brow, he leaned in against the sink, and stared at himself in the mirror. He'd thought he was past all of this. This was the first dream he'd had about the Dragoon in months, and even in the first weeks after the ship had been destroyed, they had never been quite as vivid or disturbing as the one he'd just had.

What was it Commander Daniles had said? "I know who you are," he muttered under his breath. No, he hadn't said "who." He’d said "what." Larkin shook his head. 'Just a dream,' he thought, as he walked back into the primary room of his quarters. ‘Stress of taking on a new job.’ Unable to face his bed just yet, he plopped himself down at his desk, and began sifting through the first reports that he would read as the Archimedes' CSO.

He glanced at the ship's chronometer, and saw that it was 0432 hours. He figured he'd kick himself for this later, but doubted that he'd be getting any more sleep that night. 'Might as well try to get some work done.' he thought to himself. He had an idea he wanted to run by the ship's botany specialist, and that was only one of a hundred things that would need his attention in the coming days.

OFF:

Ensign Kevin Larkin
Chief Science Officer
USS Archimedes

 

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