Pyres of the Past

Posted on Sat Aug 8th, 2020 @ 10:32am by Sasha Vieers (Deceased) & Ensign Dorian Rochester (Deceased)

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Hesiod Green - Mountains

ON:

Sasha Vieers stumbled across the rocky surface of Hesiod Green, her feet losing grip amongst the treacherous terrain. In front of her, Ja-Bo seemed to navigate the path with ease, something she had been used to doing after a lifetime of living in this region of the planet. Sasha cursed as she fell into a rock wall next to her, only somewhat grateful for this breaking her fall. It didn't help that she was feeling light headed too, forced to ration her oxygen supply to make the long journey from the Mountains to the Colony, where Ja-Bo was going to present Sasha to the other Hesians as definitive proof of the existence of their higher power. To Ja-Bo, Sasha was a "Child of the Stars", powerful beings who were prophesied to solve all of their planet's problems. This explained the spring in Ja-Bo's step as she skilfully crossed the desolate terrain.

"Come, come!" Ja-Bo sang out, as she jumped from one small boulder to another. "We haven't much time left."

"You're going too fast!" Sasha complained, out of breath.

"But you are a supreme being." Ja-Bo replied gaily, though there was a hint of impatience in her voice. "You come from the stars. You should move in and out of our world with ease."

"This is not with ease." Sasha retorted to herself.

Soon they came back to the location where Sasha had initially fainted and was discovered by Ja-Bo, amongst Hesiod Greens's strangely hypnotic crystal formations. The crystals hummed with energy, the only signs of life and colour amongst this dead world. But they also had a physical effect on those who passed through. Ja-Bo had mentioned the crystals were a common place for Hesians to visit to become "one with the planet", seemingly a place where they could freely commit socially-approved suicide. She also believed the voices of the deceased could be heard here, and it was a sacred site despite it's otherwise morbid use. The further they reached into the patch, the crystals grew massively tall, some towering over Sasha at several feet high.

The Starfleet inside the former Ops officer had not completely disappeared, and now that she was back amongst the crystals, she was keen to find out what was it that made them so significant to the planet. She paused and reached into her supply belt, pulling out a tri-corder. Eagerly, she ran the device over one of the tall crystals and awaited the results. Ja-Bo had not noticed that her guest had stopped so she kept walking, unwilling to spend any time with the voices herself. Ja-Bo was on a mission to prove that her lifelong faith was actually warranted to her otherwise disbelieving community; so she had no time to waste. She continued to sing happily, encouraging Sasha to follow her, despite her company falling behind.

Meanwhile, Vieers stared at the tri-corder. "Minerals. They must penetrate deep below the surface, to the tectonic plates, causing them to vibrate and create harmonic resonates."

She turned the tricorder around her in a circle, dedicated now to her exploration of the phenomenon as she moved further amongst the formations. She stepped down into another level, where the crystals were a brighter green colour. The readings indicated the crystals were refracting the light from gases in the atmosphere and charged by moving electrons in ground, like an aurora borealis trapped in glass, but they were too dense to achieve a complete explanation as to how or why this happened. They gave off bright hues of light, but the exact source of that energy was unclear. Sasha could only believe that the crystals were an end-product of the planet's volatile conditions. Given the state of the nearly-dead surface, it is likely that these crystals were remnants of a far more interesting world, which was possibly covered by the crystals at one point. Their formation was unique to Hesiod Green; hence why some in Starfleet had been keen to use this planet for their experiments. The energy radiating from the crystals were something special; they should have been preserved and safely monitored instead.

She moved to where there was a flowing mist in the air, taking cautious steps to analyse it. "Gases." She murmured. "Carbon monoxide and particle dust."

"Is that all I am to you?" Came a voice.

Sasha looked around her, seemingly only surrounded by the tall crystals. She couldn't hear Ja-Bo anymore. She was alone. And yet, she had heard this voice.

"Is that how you've forgotten me?" It said again, seemingly whispered from the crystals themselves. The tone was sad, and familiar.

"Who's there?!" Sasha demanded, spinning around. She felt like a fool for doing so.

"You moved on." He said again.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" She demanded, raising her tricorder as if it were a phaser.

"There she is." He replied. "That's the Sasha I know."

From within the foggy mist, a shadowy figure stepped forward into view. Dorian Rochester, complete in his old Starfleet uniform, was standing before her.

"Dorian?" Sasha cried, shaking her head. She stepped backwards, "No. No. This is an hallucination. I've been here too long."

"Come now," Dorian held out his hand. "We're going to get through this."

Sasha's eyes widened as she recognised the words. The words he had said before she killed him.

"If we just work together." Dorian sneered now, his face screwed up in hatred.

"Go away!" Sasha protested, holding her hand over her eyes. She used the other hand to desperately search through her utility belt, hoping to grab an oxygen can. She knew that there was nothing real about Dorian's presence on Hesiod Green, it was the gases playing tricks on her mind, but seeing him there, wretched from her guilt-ridden subconscious, was causing her to panic.

"You don't even care that you killed me, do you?" Dorian asked menacingly. "It was all about you, Sasha. You decided to meet with the Breen. You decided to cover up the deaths. You decided to turn on me. You justified my death long before you pulled the trigger!"

"STOP IT!"

"Did you even grieve me, Sasha? Even for a moment?" Dorian continued, moving forward towards her. "Or were you too busy trying to convince yourself that everything you did was worth it, just to reclaim some sense of respect from the Pandora?"

"I DID!" She protested, still not finding that oxygen. For some reason she couldn't move, she felt glued to the spot, paralysed in fear.

"I had a family. Parents. Sister. A baby nephew not two months old." Dorian hissed, pointing his finger with every attack. "And you still ended my life. Why?! Because I didn't want to be with you? Because I wanted to tell Captain Temple what you did? For that, I deserved to die?"

Sasha collapsed onto the ground, trying to hide her face from the vision that was confronting her. She scrambled around her belongings trying to find the breathing device that would hopefully restore her sanity.

"I'm sorry!" She called out to Dorian, weakly.

"Oh you're sorry now?" Dorian laughed, "Like that makes it all better? No." His tone turned cold. "You're going to die out here, Sasha. Alone. Forgotten. Unwanted."

"NO!"

"You know that's why Temple sent you out here." Dorian shrugged. "Because no one cares whether you live or die. After what you did to me, they want you gone. Out of the way. Dead. I'm just glad I get to see it happen."

Sasha started throwing her stuff at the vision - her communicator badge, tricorder, supplies, everything. Of course it had no effect on Dorian, who stood looking over her with pitiless, cold eyes. She could feel the knitting needle she had stolen from Ja-Bo's cavern in her sleeve, so she pulled it out and started slashing at the empty air.

"This is your grave, Sasha." Dorian simply said. "The Pandora's going to take off and leave you here. Captain Temple will merely say you escaped and were left behind. No one's going to miss you. You'll be just like me."

In a fit of rage, Sasha screamed, burying her face into her hands, trying to drown out the voices. She clawed at her hair, squeezing her eyes tightly together.

"What are you doing?" The voice asked.

Suddenly, Sasha propelled herself forward at Dorian. She couldn't stand to hear his voice any more, so rushed at him with eyes closed, swinging the needle out in front of her.

"STOP!" The voice protested in alarm.

She was surprised when she came into contact with something solid. She plowed right into his body and felt his solid mass take the impact with a surprised yell. Dorian was real. he was actually there. It wasn't just the gases driving her crazy; she realised this as she felt his body against her own. Sasha screamed as she tackled him to the ground. She pummelled her fists into the surprisingly soft chest, taking wild slices to his skin with the needle. She could hear him cry out loud in a high, shrill scream as her attacks hit him hard. Sasha couldn't stand to look at him, even through the surprise of realising he was actually underneath her. She was lying on top of Dorian now, using every bit of her last breaths to silence his taunts. She wouldn't stop until he was gone.

"Please stop!" He cried out, clearly hurt. His voice sounded strange and distorted.

"I'LL KILL YOU AGAIN!" Sasha screamed at the top of her voice, drowning out Dorian's protests as she continued to attack him with her fists. She put her hand over Dorian's dry mouth, but he resisted. A part of Sasha couldn't believe how easily she was winning this fight, feeling like she was ready to make the final blow and end this torment.

"STOP!" Came his muffled cry.

Sasha raised up, holding the needle above her head and preparing to strike it down into Dorian's chest. She opened her eyes to see where to hit him and immediately froze.

Ja-Bo was lying underneath her, bruised and bleeding, tears welling in her shocked face.

Sasha had not tackled Dorian; but Ja-Bo instead, who had come back to find her after noticing she was no longer following. So terrorised and confused by the vision of Dorian Rochester, Sasha had blindly attacked Ja-Bo, and was about to kill her. The elderly Hesian woman lay on the ground, whimpering in fear and pain.

"Oh my god, what have I done?" Sasha gasped, as she rolled off Ja-Bo and crawled across the ground away from her victim. "I'm sorry!"

Ja-Bo covered her face, feeling the blood trickling down from where she was slashed by Sasha, descending into tears.

Sasha crumbled against a rock, curling herself up into a ball and breathing heavily, "I'm sorry."

"Well now, look what you've done." Dorian's voice returned, mocking Sasha. He stood over her again, shaking his head in faux disappointment. "You just can't help yourself, can you, killer?"

"What... what did I do?" Ja-Bo cried out, dazed by the attacks and frightened by the ferocity.

"It's the gases." Sasha weakly replied, trying to ignore the vision. "It's causing hallucinations, I thought I was attacking someone else." Sasha looked over and saw the elderly Hesian touching her wounds. She reached out across the distance to her. "I'm so sorry, Ja-Bo. I'm sorry!"

"You were punishing me?" Ja-Bo asked. "For leaving you?"

"No!" Sasha protested. She stumbled to her feet and moved over to Ja-Bo, who winced and curled up defensively. "I need to get out of here. The voices are making me do things."

"But the voices are our people." Ja-Bo explained, looking up at Sasha through tears and blood. "Why would they do that?"

Dorian laughed. "Because she's a killer."

Sasha closed her eyes and tried to drown him out. "Please, I'm sorry. We need to get out of here. Now!"

Ja-Bo slowly got to her feet, not accepting any help from Sasha. She groaned, feeling the blows against her body and wounds on her face. She limped away from Sasha, "This way."

Vieers quickly tried to gather up the rest of her belongings before silently following after Ja-Bo. She found the oxygen canister she had so desperately searched for and inhaled quickly, hoping the hit of fresh air would calm her intoxicated mind.

As she left the crystals behind, Dorian's misty image just shook his head. "It's only a matter of time, Sasha." He voice called out to her, as the vision started to fade. "You'll be dead soon enough." He warned.

Sasha and Ja-Bo limped out of the crystals, Sasha feeling somewhat better the further away from the toxic gases that she got. Ja-Bo groaned and winced with every step, and she was quietly crying to herself still. Sasha had no idea how they were going to make it to the Hesian Colony now, or what would happen when they arrived and the others saw Ja-Bo's wounds. Would she be believed? Would she be arrested and detained? Would she be able to make it back to the Pandora? Too many questions now swirled in her mind, but all she could do was keep walking.

OFF