Bane of the Beholder

Posted on Sun Mar 1st, 2026 @ 10:07am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen

364 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Beholder
Location: Sickbay

Captain Marie Batel awoke in the dull ambient lighting of sickbay. Being the only patient the lights were dimmed when she sleeping, which was a fair chunk of time as her body readjusted to it's new old state.

'Least they're not sedating me anymore' she mused as she pressed the control to raise the upper portion of the bed into a more upright position. A glass of water and some light snacks sat on a trolley to her right, a trstament to how much strength she had regained in a relatively short period of time. Maybe, just maybe, there'd be coffee soon. She saw the gamma shift doctor look up at her movement, check her monitor readout, and resume whatever it was they had been working on, unconcerned.

It was quiet, peaceful even. The steady thrum of a starship's engine, an ambient noise she had learnt to love over the years. Starbases were just not the same. This was slightly different though, she felt a pull in her gut, something intangiable, something she couldn't quite put het finger on. It wssn't hunger, although that sensation was new all over again. She'd felt it before, on the Enterprise, before everything changed.

With a sigh she sipped the water, wishing more for wine or whisky now that her brain was beginning to wrap itself up in knots. Something was going down on Vadia 9, she could feel it. She ate the snacks, more out of necessity then desire, feeling as though they were going to challenge her again. Her breath quickened, she fought down the urge to flee.

She had contained them once, she would do it again.

But her mind wouldn't let up. So much had changed, her body was so much weaker than before, and someone had slipped up that afternoon revealing two centuries had passed. 200 years!!

"I can't..." she whispered, almost panicked. "I can't do it again. I don't want to be the guardian for another 200 years..." she didn't care who could hear her.

Her heartrate spiked, adrenaline dumped into her bloodstream, se ding energy pulsing through her veins. On unsteady legs she hopped out of bed and took off towards the door.

TBC

 

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