Katabasis

Posted on Tue Jan 12th, 2021 @ 9:16am by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Officer
Timeline: Between "interrogation" and "the way back"
594 words - 1.2 OF Standard Post Measure

P'rel stepped through the door to her quarters and gasped, reaching out for the food replicator to get a drink, she placed her hand on the back of the chair in the biosciences lab aboard the Warspite. She entered her login code to activate the console and removed her uniform jacket, throwing onto the sofa in her quarters aboard the Athena. There was no logic to any of this, she reminded herself, fighting against the will to pull a phaser on the advancing Borg stepping out of their alcoves ahead of her on the Sphere.

The emotional Vulcan looked upwards, similar to how one might look to their gods, in some absent minded gesture to gain strength; "eliminate the impossible" she told herself, pushing past the smiling grey haired starfleet Admiral, "eliminate the impossible" she repeated, stepping past the partition wall between the bedroom and main living area. "Eliminate the impossible" P'rel told herself once more as she crossed the stage in front of the Federation Council, cheering her for her great deed in winning the Dominion War. She retrieved a small Vulcan ceremonial candle from a glass shelf near the bed, and returned to the living area, walking across the openings of a row of holding cells in the dimly lit prison as she did so.

She kneeled, and found a comfortable position as the whirring of the drone's servos came closer - "eliminate the impossible " - and closer - "eliminate the impossible " - until it was stood in front of her; "congratulations!! The human Admiral boomed, "the Jem'Hadar will wipe themselves out for us" he said, with a cruel and dispassionate tone, which hinted at pride in her work. He chuckled as he walked away and sat down on her sofa; a blink later and her colleague, a Tellarite man called Shokan, loudly protested "this is wrong!". Another blink and P'rel was kneeling inside one of the cells - "eliminate the impossible" - she looked up to see herself deactivate the forcefield, her face shrouded in a confusing shadow like a dream, "time for your medicine" the Vulcan doctor told her kneeling self.

"This is wrong!" came Shokan's urgent insistence again as P'rel, having switched places to the standing position in a nauseating moment, pressed the hypospray against the kneeling Jem'Hadar's neck - "eliminate the impossible " - as it roared in pain. The soldier jumped up and shoved P'rel backwards, and she landed hard on her back in the ante-room on Starbase 615, the PADD in her hand with her research proposal grew hotter, and hotter, until it was a searing white hot which burned her hand but still she could not let go - "eliminate the impossible" - she focused intently on the coppery flesh melting away to reveal grey bone in her hand, as her fingers stiffened in the searing heat and her remaining flesh cracked across her hand - "eliminate the impossible". Another blink and her healthy hand was holding the small candle from her quarters on the Athena, turning her attention solely to the single bright flame she resumed her meditative chant - "eliminate the impossible" -, ignoring the others who were vying for her attention; the Admirals, the Borg, the Jem'Hadar, the Council...all of them churning and slipping through different times and places. "Eliminate the impossible, eliminate the impossible..." P'rel repeated, taking conscious note of the feel of the air on her skin, and the carpet beneath her knees; remaining grounded on the Athena in the present, and not amongst the people and places of her nightmares.