Crimson Sky

Posted on Sat Jan 16th, 2021 @ 1:32pm by Lieutenant Dessame Sar

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Personal Quarters, USS Athena
796 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been an exceptionally long shift. In of itself it was not actually any longer than usual, but it felt as if time itself stretched to a point where it was teasing her.

Her relationship with Savin had grown and she found herself feeling more again. It was nice but she had closed herself off many years ago after the loss of her parents and attack she suffered as a young girl. Understandably so as a Betzoid they feel more, a wider range of emotions and access to the minds and thoughts of others can be quite shocking at times.

Dessame rubbed her neck as she entered her quarters, the tiredness of the day telling in her body. She undid her uniform jacket and threw it over the back of the chairs by the dining table as she heard a faint whimper. It took her by surprise as she lived alone.

It was subtle, quiet as if not wanting to be found but there all the same. Dessame leaned lower, as if trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. She sensed nothing in her quarters, so it was strange to be hearing noises, or imagining them. She moved into the bedroom, the whimper becoming a little more persistent, a little louder and it was coming from her closet. Opening the doors with a quick motion she was shocked.

Ubil, her sister.

She was younger, 12 years old and looking terrified.

“Oh no…” Dessame said out loud.

She closed her eyes tightly; this was not happening. Not again.

As she opened them the stars outside her room were replaced with red light. The crimson death that the Orions brought to her world 12 years ago. Her quarters shifted to somewhat mirror her home on Kolacia but still have the familiarity of the Athena.

“Ubil, stay in there. I will not let him hurt you. I am your big sister, and I will always take care of you.” She said to her sister as she nodded in compliance.

Dessame closed the doors of the closet and turned to hear the deep belly laughs, the jeers of the man that would be her abuser, her captor. Smoke began to slowly creep across the room, the entrance effect that he waddled through before.

“Dessame, my how you have grown…” he said as eyes and a smile appeared through the smoke. “You come back to see me? Miss our time together?” the sinister, disgusting voice rippled.

Once again, she scrunched her eyes closed. “You are not here. If you were, I would kill you where you stand!” she said in a raised voice.

“Oh child…” he said as Dessame felt actual contact on her face. His warm, sweaty hand as it clasped her cheek in some form of sleazy affection.

Dessame opened her eyes to see him directly in front of her face, inches away. It made her stumbled backwards and fall over the corner of her bed.

“You know your thing with Savin is nothing like what we had…” the green giant remarked with a sneer. This bed looks a lot more comfortable than the kitchen counter, and the table back on Kolacia.”

“I am not afraid of you anymore!” she yelled as she reached for her Cresana from under the bed.

“And yet your pulse is erratic, the fear in the room palpable. You think your stick will protect you? I will snap it in two, bend it to my will just like I did you.” Green Giant said as he reached out to her once more. A small tattoo of a bird noticeable on the back of his hand, she had never noticed that before.

“Never!” she screamed as she leapt forward and slashed at her target.

There was a crash, a smash of glass as the destruction of a vase hit her face. The surprise from this seemed to wake her, shock her to her senses as when she opened her eyes her room was back to normal.

The stars had returned, no red light. All that remained was a shattered coffee table as she had moved into the living section. The downward swish movement of her Cresana had smashed clean through her table and thrown glass back up from the ground. She bled a little, her hand coming down from tiny cuts on her face from the debris.

Her hands shook, her blood pressure high but slowly dropping and her breath becoming steadier. She had felt instances of fear across the ship, now she knew why.

It truly was a nightmare. However, from it came hope.

The tattoo on his hand. She had never noticed that before and was it real? Could she use it to track him down where previously she had been unable too?