What It Could Have Been...

Posted on Fri Jul 14th, 2023 @ 10:30pm by Captain David Hawkins

Mission: Just Another Day on Gladiator
Timeline: Backpost
2336 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

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The subtle breeze kicked up as the wind flowed past the couple trees in the distance surrounded by a sea of flowing green and gold grass. Among the field of grass were wooden fence posts sectioning off large pastures and breathtaking majestic horses grazing. The Earth based horse was a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed animal which had long tails, typically short hair, long slender muscular legs, with deep torso build, long thick necks, and large elongated heads. With time, the grazing of the horses would keep the grass maintained and offer up great natural nutrition for the land.

The naying from the horses were subtle but could be heard from where David was sitting. The rhythm of the wood against wood rubbing from the rocking chair on the porch was even and soothing as he relaxed with a glass in his hand. The two fingers of whiskey subtlety swayed, within the glass, with the same pace as the rocking. It settled ever so slightly as he raised it to his lips and enjoyed the liquid with each sip. A robust and rich flavor with notes of oak, spice and vanilla with a hint of musk could be tasted as it was allowed to settle in his mouth and over his tongue, before the slight burn was felt as he swallowed the liquid. The aroma escaped his lips after excelling and teased his nostrils, along with the fresh air all around.

In the distance, two figures came from the barn and headed for the grazing, majestic beasts in the pasture near the old wood fencing. The tall adult female carried a saddle and Girth while the younger figure carried the saddle pad over the shoulder. As they came up to one of the animals, they raised their heads to face the new arrivals as they chewed on the mouth full of grass they had plucked only moments ago, all seemed well as they padded and rubbed their necks and bodies. With every touch that the adult did to the horse, the child shadowed behind her and did the same thing, learning with every step.

All seemed well in his eyes, as he enjoyed the bliss and joy before him. As he took a sip of his glass, he watched them as they made their way around the animal. The female waved as she peeked over the opposite side. He couldn’t see her beautiful smile, or hazel eyes, but knew she was smiling. Deep down, in the back of his mind, he knew all too well. So when a gust of wind kicked up, the echo of laughter could be heard from the two figures as her brunette hair was caught in the wind, along with the horse’s mane and tail.

As he focused his site on the younger figure, a sense of pride and happiness came over him for a moment, but was soon met with sadness as he tried to make out details of the person. The child waved and laughed with the adult as they started to have the other horse come up rub their horse and strong neck on the figures as the breeze started to pick up more and became more steady.

Dust kicked up and slapped him in the face as the rhythm of the rocking chair stopped while he tried to protect his eyes and face. He closed his eyes tightly, as he knew the feeling of debris in his eyes was not a comfortable or healthy thing to deal with. The focus changed to cover his glass, so the dust didn’t ruin that as well, but all that didn’t matter as he soon started to hear screaming, and a new rhythm came to life. The wind was now the feeling of the hot steam blowing near him and the dust was settled.

He slowly opened his eyes as the view of the pasture, beautiful muscular mammals and figures was before him, but the sight was not the same. The breeze and the dust storm picked up but he was not there anymore to feel it. But the laughter also changed to screaming and yelling, yet it wasn’t the same, but different voices and volumes. Soon, the sight of the pasture started to become almost like snow and static as the view changed to straight screen static.

The flash of red glowing lights flickered all around him as he gripped the chair as he yelled no, but he didn’t hear his own voice, or even felt his legs stand up in defense, or an offense to stop it from dissipating. His labored breathing became tachypneic as he gripped the chair while he felt light headed. But after he started to hyperventilate, his mind worked overtime from the training he had received. He slowed his breathing and tried to focus.

Soon the rhythm was known as the flashing glow as in tandem with the flashing klaxons. The glow of still working consoles around him helped before the emergency lights kicked in. The air around him was heavy and filled with the smell of burning wires, smoke, and scorched skin, which was the worst smell of them all. The loud klaxon alarms seemed to almost vibrate though his core as the audible alarms screamed. But nothing was more chilling to the core was the screaming of the crew around him.

He looked around to locate the individual owners of the screams, to find a couple but were being assisted by comrades leaving him to assess the status. Several severe level 2 and 3 burns but were quickly being cared for. He saw what looked like a couple lacerations and one possible individual with a broken leg, the way he leaned and favored the opposite side as he groaned in pain laying on the floor.

Power was lost, and now the ship. He looked back up at the view screen and quickly noticed that the static and snow as now replaced to show, between flickers of power and snow, was deep dark waters lit up by only the flickers of the beacon lights. The feeling of being bottled up and in an inescapable scenario started to overflow him. The weight was now not only on his mind, but it was now affecting him physically as all he could do was stare at the view screen.

This was not happening… This couldn’t be happening. This was in the past, he had gotten past this, didn’t he? What was going on? Was this the work of the all knowing, all powerful Q continuum? Had he now been picked to be treated like a pawn on one of their boards they call their life? Had he fallen into a pocket dimension that had overtaken his mind and was pulling him apart in some way to torment him? Did the past finally catch up to him, in order to deal with everything he had done to others?

“Help!” a female voice screamed over the ship wide intercom.

His focus came as he felt the chair and floorboard shiver and shake below him as an explosion was felt, rocking the very core of the ship he was on. With all of the strength and might that he had now, he mustard to take control of his limbs. The grips on the arm rest made his hands go white as he jolted to his feet. As he prepared for the possibility of having to maneuver around a multitude of injured crew members, he soon found that he was the only one. The hissing of the damaged exhaust vent above had disappeared and no more power surges from consoles. The room was clear of debris and even injured bodies. Not even blood stains could be found.

“David! Help!” the voice yelled once more, causing him to redirect his focus on maneuvering the catacombs of the starship he was now on.

The defiant class starship wasn’t large, so finding the female in need should not take as long as intended. But as he exited the bridge, time seemed to almost slow down and even his view started to become distorted. He soon started to feel lethargic out of nowhere causing him to grip onto the cold metal of the corridor framework. The voice again echoed and yelled for his help, as the ship’s voice came up repeating his order of ‘all-hands, abandon ship’.

It seemed like forever and soon his heavy labored breathing and the increased beating of his heart was almost the only thing he could hear. The normal reaction of shaking his head, to clear his focus had little effect but that didn’t stop him from trying. But soon, he lost his footing as he fell to his knees, slamming down on the carpet floor, which only caused a slightly soft landing. Still the massive amount of pain that came from slamming down on the floor was still a minor complaint as his was still focused on drowning out his breathing and heart beating in his ears as he now continued to crawl on all fours to the end of the long corridor where he could hear the voice.

With every breath, he could feel his soul wanting to slowly leak away from his body, but at the same time, his heart was now the protective guardian reinforcing the barrier, reminding it to stay and fight just one more second. Just one second… and another… and another. Soon it was a minute, fighting back the pain, the desire to give up, the drive to pull forward just a little bit more. It seemed like it was dragging on, until all of it his a wave of focus as the ship jolted once again and a bright beam of light came from the end of the corridor.

The seasoned officer was able to look up to see a shimmer of light as the door opened. It was almost blinding, before his eyes finally were able to focus. From where he was, the door had opened to show the same dark haired female figure from earlier. A massive sigh of relief came over him as he gathered all the strength he could and slowly stood. Soon he was stumbling forward, as the woman breathed hard and gripped below her round abdomen with one hand as she gripped the frame of the corridor as fluid had soaked between her legs.

“David… it's time,” she fought to say between her labored breathing. “... You have to save us.”

“We have to get out of here!” David called out as he lost all strength in his legs, locking him in place like a statue. “I can’t do anything… Why can’t I move? We can’t stay here. We have to get out.”

“Structural integrity, failing. Hull breach imminent,” the female voice warned, before the klaxon came back to life flashing and a new town overread the solid tone of the tactical alert.

“Damn it! We have to go!” David yelled once again, now feeling useless as all he could do was try and reach out to her. So close, yet ever so far away. Just out of reach of his arms.

“David!”

“Get out of here! I can’t get to you. You need to go!”

“… I can’t! I need you here…”

What he thought was an explosion was soon met with the computer’s voice. “Hull breath on Deck 2.”

“... David! Save us!”

“I can’t… I…” his words were cut off as watched as a crossing corridor, water rushed through from either side, and quickly engulfed the woman. Her grip of stabilizing wasn’t good enough to hold her in place, as the massive wall of water took her off her feet.

“NO!!!!” he yelled as he reach out with both arms unable to do anything else.

“HELP!!!” the pregnant woman screamed as the ocean crashed between them and washed her back through the open door behind her. The bright light deemed quickly as it engulfed her as she yelled.

“NO!!!!!” David yelled once again, but this time. He found himself jolting forward so fast, the sheets fell to the floor as he stumbled from a laying position, to a sitting, finally a standing position, reaching out in the dark. As he stopped, the doors from his sleeping section of his quarters, to the living quarters swished open and a beam of light forced him to race his arms and force him to look away.

Beads of sweat started to run down his forehead, back and shoulders onto his arms. His labored breathing soon came back under his control and he once he felt he had taken back control of his body, a long deep breath soon helped him even more to calm down as he stood in his dark sleeping quarters. He looked back into the living quarters, the light was coming from his small working desk where he had a resting table next to that where glasses and a couple bottles of whiskey was stored.

The Captain slowly walked over to that, and poured himself two fingers before picking it up. Taking another breath to calm himself down, he stepped over to the view port behind the long couch and a couple coffee tables on either side. Coming from one of the tables was a holographic clock which showed the time, just after 0340 hrs. He took a deep breath and sighed before taking a sip of the whiskey. He looked out the view port as the stars streamed by. There was no doubt about it, he was awake and wasn’t going to be able to fall back to sleep. He took in a deep sigh before gulping down the whiskey.

“Shower it is…” He remarked to himself. He needed to figure out why, out of no where, he was having these dreams, before he was relieved of command. “Computer… start the shower, and prepare a fresh pot of coffee…”

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