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Star Trek Chapter 13
Carly sat cross-legged on the thick blue carpet in the observation lounge. Above her stars were drawn into rainbow colored streaks outside the dome. She looked up from her tablet at her new friend, Paul.
Paul was a few years older-he was sixteen and really cute. He was the only other person under age 30 among the passengers. Carly knew he was only being friendly, boys his age never paid attention to little girls like her unless they were alone. Anyway, he was cool and was making the trip to see her grandparents a lot less boring than she'd anticipated.
They'd been in space for two days and would arrive on Gupper tomorrow. Carly was being looked after by one of the flight attendants, a friendly woman named Donika, who even shared her stateroom with the ten-year-old. Crew's quarters weren't as luxurious as passengers but, to a youngster, the utilitarian room with bunk beds was pretty neat.
She looked up at him and her heart sped up-for some reason he made her feel special. She'd been surprised at how nervous she'd been at breakfast, waiting for him to come in to the cafeteria. But, he was REALLY cute. He seemed to always be pushing a lock of dark hair back off his forehead and she loved his smile. Last night, as they stood on the observation deck that overlooked the ship's operations bridge, she'd leaned against him and he'd put his arm on her shoulder-she'd thought she'd died and gone to heaven. It also made her feel funny. It made her have a tightness in her stomach and made her feel like she wanted something but she couldn't figure out what.
Later that night, when she was alone in the stateroom (Donika was working) she couldn't sleep and she'd started to think about him. She was a little surprised when she realized she was thinking about him while she was rubbing herself to relax-she'd never thought about a boy before like that. The idea shocked her but it seemed right and after the feelings got really strong and flowed up into her tummy she'd imagined what it would be like to have him touching her that way.
This morning they were playing a game of Contrabans on their linked tablets. Carly had just played her Squark and knew that, unless Paul delayed his attack and took immediate defensive action, his left flank would collapse in two moves and she'd be able to zero in for the kill. She looked up at him with an evil grin as he studied his board and, suddenly, his head disappeared.
Her mind failed to register what she was seeing as a red mist seemed to puff away off to his left and two spurts of blood shot out from where his neck used to be, only to fall back onto his shirt and be followed by two more, these less energetic. Then his torso fell backwards, the tablet he was holding landed in the middle of his chest and his hands twitched beside it.
Carly's mouth opened to scream, only then did she hear the wavering hum of the disruptor that had disintegrated her friend's head. Three Cardassians had materialized near the door way-Paul had been the unfortunate target of their introduction.
One of the other passengers, an elderly retiree from the old Earth Alliance, charged them, yelling with rage. The area of her body roughly delimited by her rib cage seemed to atomize and dissipate as her arms and head fell onto her lower torso and legs. A Cardassian took two steps towards Carly and picked her up by her left shoulder, wrenching it out of joint and breaking her collar bone. The pain overwhelmed her and she lost consciousness as she was carried down the corridor, her feet dragging behind the large bipedal insect.
The child regained consciousness laying on the floor of the ship's cafeteria. She was staring into the face of one of the crewmen. He blinked, then raised his finger to his lips telling her to be quiet. Carly's shoulder ached horribly and she moved her good hand to it. Somehow it felt wrong, there was a hard bump in the front. She turned her head and felt a strange crinkle in her chest, then a sharp pain. She moaned and let her head fall back onto the deck. Again darkness came over her...
"I think she's waking up now," a voice said through the gloom.
"Oh deary,...Carly, are you there honey?" she heard Donika say.
She opened her eyes. The flight attendant's hair was a mess, pulled out of its usual bouffant and laying in shapeless strings across her face and shoulders. Some of the blonde strands were stained red and there was blood oozing from a dark cut just above her hairline.
"What happened?" the little girl said as tears came to her eyes.
"We were attacked by some Cardassians, they've taken us prisoner."
"Prisoner?" the child cried, not really understanding.
"You just lay quiet dear," Donika said. "You've hurt your shoulder, if you try to move you could injure yourself more."
Carly's left shoulder still ached but not a bad as before. She still had the strange popping in her chest.
"I've reduced the shoulder but I think her clavicle's fractured," a man said, standing over them. He leaned down and handed Donika a cup. "See if she wants some water but be careful of her shoulder."
They helped Carly sit up and she took a sip from the cup. When she tried to lift her left arm there was a sharp pain in her chest. She looked around.
There were a few dozen people milling around the room. Her head cleared and she remembered what had happened in the attack. For a moment terror rose in her. She remembered the beige insectoid creatures firing disruptors into the room, Paul, that woman being killed, being lifted up by the claw that tried to crush her...
Cardassians...her father had told her about Cardassians...
Thinking of her father caused a calm to spread in her mind...it spread and the fear and shock seemed to dissipate. She still felt the pain but it didn't seem to matter much...Her mind seemed to clear as she assessed her surroundings and then herself. Her father taught her the rituals, taught her the mind drills, taught her to let her Vulcan part take over at times of stress. Before it had been a conscious act, it helped her on exams in school and made her a better soccer or basketball player but this time it happened on its own.
Only once before had she been like this. She and her mom had been in a car. Something had gone wrong and it had collided with another. A man in the other car was hurt...her mom was crying...there was blood on the seat.... She had used her jacket to stop the blood, squeezing the fabric against the man's head where he was cut. She had thought of her father, as if he was there.....
She was little, a tiny girl, maybe when she was three years old. Her father had taken her to a place, it seemed like a church but it wasn't. He had talked to her, using strange words, talked calmly while she sat on his lap. He had put his arms around her, it made her feel warm, safe and loved. He held her head to his chest and she looked up at him, into his eyes.
He had a calm smile, it was strange to see her daddy smile, and she seemed to be drawn up into his eyes, into his mind. Her thoughts began to be his thoughts as their minds melded. His mind was vast but it was warm and loving. She didn't understand most of his thoughts but she did feel safe, she felt his love and, she felt his sadness.
Their minds were one for several minutes. She sensed he was amused by some of her thoughts. Some he found...not disappointing because they were natural, but thoughts he wished she didn't have...not that she shouldn't have them, they were part of her. She remembered him thinking that he could never understand the thoughts and feelings of a little human girl.
She sensed in him a great sadness and aloneness but now a joy that he could share with her, and then regret that he shouldn't.
He placed in her a calmness, the calmness that she now felt...he had put it in a deep and special place where she'd only find it when she needed it. She had also come away with a lot of his knowledge...things she didn't understand but sometimes she discovered she knew things she didn't realize...
Cardassian's...an insectoid race. Four limbed exoskeleton, excellent chemo receptors and hearing but with rather poor eye sight. Physically very strong but vulnerable if their carapace should be damaged. Dangerous because of their lack of any empathy for other beings, arrogance, and an unusual commonality of purpose when working together.
The door which led to the ships main passageway opened and two Cardassian's walked in. A third who had been guarding the passengers went to the newcomers. Their language was a series of clicks and rasps, sounds made by their mouth parts rubbing against each other, not by air being expelled from lungs.
Carly recognized that two were Beta and one was an Alpha. Betas were the stronger of the three sexes, the workers and warriors while the Alphas were the creators and organizers. There was a third sex, the Carriers, whose only purpose was reproduction and caring for nymphs.
They were dressed in some sort of plastic armor, probably a carbon fiber laminate, which protected any of the vulnerable parts of their bodies. Still, Carly knew she might be able to confuse one by spitting on his antenna. Her taste would overwhelm, disorient for a short time.
One of them talked into a device strapped to his forearm and, almost instantly, the buzzing sound of a transporter filled the room. One by one, a series of blue metal and glass canisters appeared along the far wall of the hall. The Cardassian again talked into his wrist.
"You will all be placed in stasis for transport. Cooperation is required or you will be left on this ship. It will be destroyed once we have unloaded the cargo."
"What are you doing with us?" a woman asked.
One of the Beta's took a threatening step toward her, raising its arm but was stopped by a crunching sound from the Alpha.
"That will be determined by the Legate. Cooperate or die."
"We're all going to die anyway!" a Bajoran man said as he rose to his feet and charged the Alpha.
He didn't get three steps before a disruptor fired and his head and shoulders sprayed back across the room in an orange mist. His torso and arms fell to the floor. A piece of green bone bounced off of Carly's right arm.
"Cooperate or die."
One by one the prisoners were put in the stasis canisters. Some didn't move fast enough and were shoved, one woman was hit across the face and an ugly gash was opened on her temple. When one of them grabbed Carly to pull her to her feet pain shot through her and she screamed. The Cadassian was about to hit her when Donika put her arm out.
"She's hurt you bastard!" she yelled. "She's only a child!"
Another crunch came from the Alpha and the Beta let Carly go.
She walked to the chamber but, as she turned around in it before the door was closed, she reached up with her right arm and grabbed the Cardassian's antenna. Her spit missed, landing on his eye.
The insect jumped back and slammed the door but her arm was in the way and it bounced open. She pulled it in to see a cut. The door slammed again and then she felt a sudden cold.
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