Intelligence Nightmare

Posted on Thu Jan 27th, 2022 @ 5:02am by Commander Raiden Kosugi

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Raiden's Quarters
2263 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

It was an exhausting day, but it was a good day as well, with his training going on along with his being raised to full lieutenant. He had gone to get something to eat and drink at ten forward, and headed for his bed. However he had a message he needed to read from his mother. And so he did, it was about his father. His father might be having a change of heart but there wasn't any other details as to what else there was. It troubled him, and also his thoughts went back to the Christmas Party. There had been something that troubled him there, it had danced on the edges of his mind but it hadn't come into focus. Giving a shrug, he went to bed and dreamed, and it wasn't a good dream.

The dream

Once again paying heed to what Captain Hawkins had told him when he first arrived on the Arcadia, however long ago that was, Raiden did do his best to meet more of those on this really large ship. He checked the crew listing and noticed there was another intelligence officer. An Ensign Verelan, not knowing where she would be, Raiden consulted with the Computer to see where she would be. And once the computer did such he'd go in that direction.

Verelan was sipping a hot beverage, a bowl of ‘osol twists’ in front of her, watching various people pass her by in the lounge. She had a writing pad and ink pen in front of her, as she penned various things that entered her mind.

She smiled to some and nodded to others. They had obviously not fully trusted her yet and she expected that. Being a Vulcan, Romulan hybrid the Romulan half of her was what they couldn’t look past.

Raiden stepped inside the lounge, scanning those that were there. At first the person whom he sought was hidden from his view, so he stepped further inside making his way through those that were there. Then he noticed her, the person whom he was looking for, seated at a table and seeming to be people watching. He walked up towards the table, and stopped in front, and asked, "I'm Raiden Kosugi, may I have a seat at your table?" the dark haired man had a friendly smile, and an at ease demeanor.

Verelan snapped her head up from her writing and smiled widely. “Of course Lieutenant. I would love for you to join me.” She popped an ‘osol twist’ into her mouth and quickly kicked her lips.

“Did you want an ‘osol twist’? They’re, to me, sweet but to others they can be something else entirely.”

Raiden took a seat and smiled, "sure I would love one. I've had them before." accepting one and popping it into his mouth, it was a bit sour to the taste then it became sweet which he found strange. "Welcome aboard the USS Arcadia, I'm your friendly chief helmsman. How do you like the ship so far?"

Verelan just looked at Raiden and said not a word, and just smiled.

Raiden looked at her feeling a bit of a shift in his surroundings, "I remember seeing you back at the Christmas Party, not saying much, and just looking at things. And eating Osil twists..."

It just struck Raiden, he had just eaten one and now, his head was feeling strange. "What did you do? What did you have in that Osil Twist?" Putting his hand to his head to hopefully clear it.

Verelan only smiled, and Raiden could see her features start to alter just ever so slightly, looking almost vulpine in nature. "You are a fox spirit a Kitsune. Or have been possessed by one!" he exclaimed, moving out of his chair so suddenly, that he knocked it over, it hitting the floor with a resounding crash. He almost went with the chair, he managed to keep upright.

Verelan rose from where she was at and moved forward towards him, a rather purposeful expression in her eyes. Raiden wasn't liking the gleam in her eyes and backed away, then she leaped at him. Raiden used Verelan's leap against her, redirecting her trajectory away from him and onto a table, she hitting it solid then sliding off it. Raiden however didn't wait to see if there was any other reaction, instead Raiden was out of Ten Forward like a bat out of hell. There were people in the corridors and he was yelling, "Make a hole make a hole!" wondering why there was so many people there. A couple of them tripped and fell and he had to dive over them catching himself with his hands then rolling in a forward somersault and back on his feet continuing to run.

There was a brief glance behind him and he saw her going through another change, her features becoming even more sharper. What, was she a werefox? Raiden saw the lift open and dove into it, it closing before she could get inside. He barked out the first level he could think of, and that was the level with the flight deck. More maneuvering room, for him and equally for her as well. The lift door opened and he was out of there, and he looked around quickly, then headed towards where the fighters were kept.

Raiden wondered how much of a lead he had on Verelan as he neared the area which led into the fighter bay. The area of the corridor was large and spacious, he didn't hear her coming for him, but he 'felt' her. He stepped forward with his weight on his left foot, her claws barely missing his back. He felt the skittering of her claws along his tunic and he thought he heard the sound of some material being sliced.

He swiftly kicked backwards with his right foot, feeling it make contact and the target moving backwards. He felt some give to the rib cage area where his heel hit solid, and the sound of air being pushed out from the were fox's lips, along with a yelp of pain. Raiden didn't stick around for Verelan to swipe at him again, he did a cartwheel out of the way and then faced towards the mutated Intelligence officer.

"First blood is mine" as the were fox said before licked her claws.

"Wait, first blood?" then Raiden felt the sting of his back where her claws had lightly raked him. And he hissed slightly from it. She did get him contrary to what he thought. He was very thankful she hadn't done any deeper damage.

"When I get done with you, I am going to go after your family. Your father, your brother, your sisters, and your mother. And once I get done with them, I will wipe out your whole family." the werefox crooned out.

Raiden felt a rage rise up, no one threatened his family no one! He attempted to wake himself up once more, but that didn't work. He was stuck! He had to finish this. Was this a part of some dark experiment that he found himself stuck in? He had to make sure he didn't die in this dream, it was said that if you died in a dream you would die in real life. He had experienced a death in a dream before and he didn't die but it was probably due to the character in his dream was just a character. This was different, he could feel the difference.

His focus turned back to the were-fox, Raiden staring at Verelan Werefox, his eyes narrowing into a steely glint. She was going to die and not him. Raiden decided he needed something more than what his hands could do. It was time for the tools of his training, and he willed them into existence. A ninjato, a tanto which was a knife used for slicing and killing or digging holes. And two kamas, which back in the day, were in reality scythes used to harvest rice. He also had a pouch and he smiled, looking towards the Were-fox.

Deciding that he was going to be needing something else, he sent the kamas away. He was going to stick with his blades.

The were-fox just yawned showing her white needle sharp canines, "Come on you are boring me to tears." she remarked, then made her move leaping towards Raiden.

This time Raiden didn't move to dodge out of the way instead he moved forward, closing the distance, ducking under her outstretched claws, his blade already having been pulled out of its sheathe. He deviated at the last second to where he passed by her, the blade held in such a way that as he passed by, he sliced at her side.

She howled out in pain, as the blade was sharp and finely honed. Were-fox landed upon the ground and was on her feet in an instant, her eyes all a glow with the rage at being injured. Raiden had skidded to a stop and was facing towards her again, and the two combatants ran at each other once more. The light in the corridor caught the glint of the blade, as it sliced diagonally towards her left shoulder. Verelan deflected the blade away with her left hand and reached out to try to grab his wrist with her right hand, Raiden snaked his arm away from her grasp, and moved away.

Raiden felt the perspiration trickle down his back and the sting of it entering into the claw marks. He can't play around at this game too much longer. With her Romulan strength and her being a kitsune, Raiden was going to lose at a long drawn out battle. She had speed, and she had strength. He palmed some pellets from the bag, and chucked them in her area, they broke on contact with the hard floor and a puff of smoke billowed up. Now the thing of the smoke was that it had red pepper in it, which welled up into her eyes and nose, causing her to cough.

While she coughed and gasped for air, staggering out of the cloud, Raiden took action. He darted to one side and then ran towards her side and hit her hard with his shoulder knocking her to the side and she hit the bulkhead wall hard, and slid down. Raiden moved close and kicked her with his heel, knocking her out. With a grunt he grabbed her by the neck of her tunic and dragged the were fox to the nearest airlock, and placed her inside it. Closing the airlock with her on the dangerous side, he opened it up and she was sucked out. The door was closed and he slumped down to the floor, breathing heavily.

End Dream

That was when Raiden woke up, sitting bolt upright and quickly looked around in a slight panic. What the heck! He felt around his back half expecting to find a wound there, he felt only his unmarred skin. He shakily got out of bed, feeling the need to go wet his head under the water. A few steps from his bed he felt a crunch under his foot and he looked down, there crushed beneath his foot was the remains of an osol twist. He leaped back from it, as if he had just stepped on hot coals.

Raiden felt his stomach start to heave and he raced into the bathroom, where he proceeded to lose what was left of his dinner. He was feeling shaky and his hands trembled, and bathed in cold sweat. He sat on the floor his back against the wall, and just stared off into space. After a few minutes he found the strength to push up off the floor holding onto the wall. He stepped into the shower still dressed in his night clothing and turned it on. The blast of it slowly brought Raiden out of his daze, and realizing that he was still in his pajamas, he peeled himself out and tossed them onto the floor.

A few more minutes Raiden came out of the refresher, pulled on a dry set of pj bottoms and checked his back in the mirror. It was still unmarred. He walked over to where the remains of the 'osol twist' was at, it was still there. He then looked over his quarters, and didn't see anything yet until near the door which led outside, he saw what looked to be like a dark smear of something. Could it be blood?

This made Raiden wonder, he picked up his PaDD and asked the computer. "Where is the location of Ensign Verelan?"

The answer came back. "Ensign Verelan is no longer on this ship."

"When did she leave?" Raiden asked.

"She left 15 minutes ago." came the answer.

With a shake of his head, Raiden was relieved that he hadn't actually killed her. Still, why was she in his room and why was she in his dream? That may end up being a mystery that may not be solved. He looked at that 'osol twist' deciding to pick up the remains of it with gloved hands and place it in a bag. It may need to be analyzed just in case he had actually eaten one early on.

It was almost time for him to start the day and he needed to get this to medical. He also sent a message to his mother to see if things were okay with her and the family.