Cold Sweats

Posted on Thu Jul 10th, 2025 @ 7:47am by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Commander N'Garzi Zora

Mission: Character Development
Location: Zade's Quarters
Timeline: Pandora's Box - MD8 0126h
2286 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

A faint low of lights at ten percent cast silver outlines over the contents of Zade's quarters. The top cover had been tossed aside, leaving just the sheet under which the Trill shifted uncomfortably. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her hands gripped the sheet tightly.

The dim lighting of the wreckage gave little insight to what lay beyond the shadows. Zade looked around, her breath hollow in the EV suit, as she tried to find someone. The flashlight on her wrist only illuminated a small part of the otherwise haunting planet killer. Why was she alone? Where was her team? Movement in the corner of her vision made her turn fast, then she cautiously approached the half-destroyed door where she saw movement. "Who's there?" she called out, her phaser aimed in the same direction as her light.

"It's only me, don't shoot," the disembodied voice said from the shadows. As the figure drew closer to the dimly lit room it was evident that its usual skin colour was closer to grey and ashy. It held its arms ahead of itself, showing the security chief that it was unarmed, but was surprised at the crack-like veins running up and down them. It studied the arms further, looking for signs of familiarity. The tattoos, the rings, the scars... there was none. Just a feeling of death. "What did you do Didrea?"

Despite the request to not shoot, Zade still kept her phaser ready, especially when the figure came into view. The voice... was it Zora? There was an underlying disjointed tone associated with it that added to the creepy ambience while also making it difficult to identify the voice. The face was blurred, as if unwilling to show her its identity. Whatever, or whoever, this figure was, it send a shiver of dread up the Trill's spine. The room the figure emerged from looked much like the computer access room she, Mason, and Iska encountered in the wreckage. "This-this is the wreckage, I-I brought my team here, I..." she stammered, before hushed conversation behind her made her spin.

Kneeling at the corner were Mason, Iska, and herself, discussing how to get past the trip sensors that the raiders in the room had set up. Despite a faint haze circling her vision, she remembered this. It was moments before they got into a fight with the raiders. Looking down, there was a red line spanning the width of the semi-destroyed corridor. It wasn't visible back then, she was sure of it, but this looked like red string pulled taught from one wall to the other. Turning back around, she could see another red line behind the figure, fencing them inside. "Why are we here?" she asked the figure, her tone hinting to an urgency she couldn't quite identify yet.

"You're asking me that?" Zora asked as she entered the room and inspected the scene they were both in. Her braids floated around her head as though they defined the very gravity that kept her feet rooted to the floor of this godforsaken place. "This is the place where you killed him," she stated without emotion. "Do you plan to do the same to me?" She asked as she eyed the phaser that was still firmly clutched in the security chief's hand. "Or have you done so already?" She added, turning her hands in the light to emphasise their unusual colour.

Killed him? The words felt like they echoed in the barren destruction. Zade looked down at the phaser, then gasped and dropped it when she saw that it was coated in blood. The red stained her glove, and in a second-long flash the glove suddenly showed substantial damage, dust specks glittering the blood, before it returned to the previous state. Her breath came in shallow bursts, leaving a small circle of fog on the faceplate of her helmet.

Phaser fire behind her made Zade quickly turn again, seeing the raiders who came up from behind. A stray energy beam went right for her, but instead of hitting her it passed through her, hitting the ashy figure behind her. "No!" She exclaimed. Her eyes went wide when she saw the figure frozen in time, the weapons blast burning a pit in her abdomen. The figure then collapsed into ash, but before the moment could really process she heard footsteps from behind her. The back-and-forth was disorienting, and as Zade turned around again she was pushed back by her memory self and the team entering the computer room.

She was falling.

Falling.

The scene jolted to a new one when Zade hit the floor. It was still the wreckage, but a different part of it. It looked like a partially damaged corridor, with occasionally sparking conduits illuminating the otherwise ominously lit space. An unidentified urgency made Zade scramble to her feet, her heart racing. She looked around, stopping when she saw a familiar face. "Iska..." she breathed.

Before her was the young Ensign. Part of his face was covered in bruises, his uniform tattered and singed. He was staring at her with eyes wide, as if afraid of her presence. No words came from him, and he didn't move even when Zade took a small step toward him.

"He won't respond," Zora said matter-of-factly. "Would you? Would you freely talk to the person that took your life?" She sneered, her mouth curling into an unnatural shape. The term mouth was a matter of perspective. It was the shape of a mouth and in the correct position on Zora's face, but it wasn't one. It was a hole, a black hole, a void. The unnatural movement from earlier caused the void to grow wider. It was now consuming her cheeks and the lower edges of her nose. "I say person, but a person has a heart and a soul. We are alike, we both have voids, depths of evil that grow the longer we infect this plane of existence. But you can see my void," she raised her ashy hand and pointed at the blackness that now consumed the lower part of her face. "Yours is inside," she turned her hand towards Zade and pointed to the left side of her chest. "You are made of void!"

Zade felt like she couldn't properly breathe. Each breath failed to meaningfully fill her lungs, and looking down, she could see the suit beginning to warp inward, right where Zora had pointed. The void was slowly consuming her, starting with the heart. She looked up again. How did he die? She couldn't remember, all that was there was an emptiness as vacant as the void that took over Zora's mouth. The scenery around them briefly skipped like a broken record, the sight of utter destruction and fire surrounding them flickering into view a couple of times. "No... no, no no... Zora..." she focused on the woman next to Iska, taking a step toward her. At the same time as her foot touched the ground, a heavy unseen weight dropped onto her chest, enough to make her stop to catch her footing. "Zora, please... I don't know what happened!" She clutched her chest, looking down when she felt nothing, even though her hand was covering the distorted part of the suit, scrunching it as if it were her own skin. Was it starting to burn?

"I-I don't know what happened, I can't remember, but I know I didn't want this!" Zade felt like her emotions were slipping, as if tears should have been tracking down her cheeks, but at the same time her eyes felt dry, like she was incapable of crying. Incapable of truly feeling. "I didn't want him to die, Zora." Looking to Iska, she took another step, and dropped to her knees when more invisible weight slammed down onto her. "Iska, please say something! Please believe me!" she pleaded, looking up at him with effort.

No words left Iska's lips as he continued to stare at the Trill, eyes frozen in fear. He stayed by Zora's side, unmoving even as Zade tried to approach.

"He. Can't. Hear. You." Zora repeated slowly. Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. It seemed to come from a long way away but surrounded the space just as the void now surrounded her head. There was nothing recognisable about Zora, the void had consumed everything that once was the women, except her floating hair. The void moved, leaning closer to Iska. It expanded itself to consume him too, starting at his torso and moving towards his head and legs simultaneously. The two forms, the once Zora and the once Iska, merged into one. It turned in the direction of Zade and moved closer. "You're next!"

The urge to try and reach Iska, to try and protect him, faded as Zade felt herself get closer to the void. It wasn't by her choice, she was being pulled in. Her breath now panicked, she used her hands to try and push herself away, to keep herself from getting sucked in. The invisible force continued to drag her toward the abyss.

Around her, the wreckage blurred. Like a shifting mirage, the destruction shifted through various stages of deterioration, from mild damage to debris piles blanketed in thick smoke. Zade clawed at the broken floor, but her fingers scraped against nothing as the void grew closer, demanding more, demanding her. The void in her chest grew, the edges of it starting to appear through the suit's fabric. she tried to scream, to plead, but no sound came out, just shallow, strangled gasps that barely escaped her lips.

She couldn't breathe.

Her eyes rapidly shifted between the distorted wreckage and the consuming blackness. Iska and Zora were gone. It was just her and the vast emptiness consuming everything. It reached her foot, distorting it like a black hole would before it vanished, and a sense of futility washed over her. This couldn't be the end! The void got closer, and the one in her chest got larger, and something in her knew that if they touched, it would be over. In a final desperate inhale, she opened her mouth, straining to try and force the scream past her lips--


Zade abruptly sat up, chest heaving as if she were desperate for air. It took all of five seconds to identify her surroundings as her quarters, but the lingering tickle of a problem prompted her to ask for half lights. The now semi-illuminated room didn't do much to ease the paranoia, and she rubbed her face with her hands, feeling moisture from sweat and wet eyes transfer to her palms. Standing, she began a methodical search of her quarters, the process slower due to the slight limp from her healing leg. Opening the door that led to the main part of her quarters, she looked around, trying to identify just what had her on edge. A few minutes passed while she had walked around the entire space, checking every possible nook to make sure she was truly alone.

There was nothing. Just her.

Stopping at the window, she rested her palms on the windowsill and stared at the stars outside, a dim reflection staring back at her. Closing her eyes, she took a few shuddered breaths as she fought to get control of her emotions. The details of the dream were already fading, but some parts were still there. Iska's terrified face. Zora's body distorting into a void of nothingness. Suffocating.

It was just a dream...

It was just a dream...

Despite the repeated mantra, she remained on alert, overstimulated, scared. Normally, she'd go to the holodeck or the gym to try and get rid of the nauseating energy, but the mandated medical rest added an extra layer of helplessness. Her fingers curled into fists against the windowsill. Logically, she was safe, she was on the Athena, in her quarters and not in the parts of the wreckage she remembered. But the rest of her? Stuck in the dream, struggling under an invisible weight.

Trapped.

No. Not trapped. Turning sharply from the window, Zade's arms wrapped tightly around her body as she tried to identify a way to help her release the tension that refused to let go. A distraction, something to loosen the dream's hold. Her eyes drifted to her desk, where several PADDs were stacked and waiting for her. Perhaps she'd read some reports, something methodical and structured to take her mind off of things. She took a step toward the desk, only to freeze as the corner of her eye caught her reflection in the window.

For a split second, she swore the void was looking back at her.

Her breath hitched. Her chest grew tight with crushing adrenaline.

Zade approached the window cautiously, expecting something to happen, but it was just... her. A fatigued Trill with curls thrown into disarray by sleep, hugging herself tightly. A look into her own eyes made her shiver. They seemed... unfamiliar. Distant. Void.

Stop. Zade shook her head to get rid of the anxious thoughts. It was nothing but a dream, time would fix it. Forcing herself to stop looking at the window, she moved to the replicator and asked for water, then brought it to the desk. A couple quiet taps of the cup against the desk gave away the tremor in her hands, and she glared at her own limbs for betraying her. On the chair was a blanket, and she wrapped it around herself before taking a seat and opening one of the PADDs, the screen's light illuminating her face.