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" Troubled "
(Previous Post was Francois' "Red Tape")
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Setting: VALLA ROYAL, Ambassadorial Quarters
Stardate: 63077.0230

The young woman lay on the bed wide awake… her gaze locked on the PYTHRON decoration that hung overhead… the light from the distant stars that had managed to find its way into these quarters had almost made the sculpture seem alive.  The redhead slowly turned her head to see the Pythron youth asleep by her side, apparently exhausted from the events of the last several hours.  The lack of decorum in his current pose had only reflected the man's general attitude towards his own position within his world's hierarchy.

Trodat did not appreciate the unique status that his role as the Ambassador's son had granted him, nor the responsibilities that this same position had demanded of him.  As far as the PYTHRON youth had been concerned the universe owed him respect and praise for simply being who he was.  Unfortunately the son of Gerran had apparently made some powerful friends what had only strengthened this twisted and delusional vision of his importance in the universe.

Rikar sighed and returned her attention to the shifting shadows that surrounded the overhead decoration, her thoughts lost on people and feelings that did not belong to this time and place.  Dulcinea, the new Dabo girl had been prominent on the young woman's mind mainly because the redhead could not understand how she could feel how she did towards her.  The anger for her having come in to replace Kamlia had been natural, almost logical, but had she felt this sense of familiarity with this woman?

Unable to get any rest… be it of mind or body, the young woman pushed her legs over the edge of the bed and sat up.  The redhead paused for an instant as her eyes caught a glimpse of the PYTHRON battle cruise against the darkness of space beyond the station… a ship captained by a dear and close friend of the youth peacefully sleeping nearby.

"What are you up to Trodat?" Rikar quietly inquired of the slumbering youth as she gazed back over her shoulder at him.  "The presence of that battle cruiser here and your increased arrogance, even with me is just the tip of the iceberg… you're up to something and I am afraid of what that might mean… for all of us."

The sound of strange, out-worldly whispers drew the young woman's attention to the shadows on the other side of the room that would have been large enough to house an entire platoon of Starfleet Marines.  Slowly, carefully, the redheaded woman moved closer to where she had thought he sound had originated from, not at all bothered by her own vulnerable nakedness.

Years of training and experience, none of which the woman responding to the name of Samantha knew she had, countered the young woman's natural instinct to flee and hide.  There had been some sort of mystery at play and the redhead had every intentions of getting to the bottom of it.

The whispering had grown louder for a brief moment before it had completely stopped… the absolute silence urging the young woman on even more than the strange sound had.  From the corner of her eyes Rikar saw what she had initially believed to be six small specks of lights… like tiny stars that held in them a coldness that originated from another world… another dimension.

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Setting: Dreamscape

The shadows that the young woman had been walking through had been replaced by complete darkness, a void that not only reached into the realm of light but also touched dimensions and time.  Wherever *here* was… the only way to accurately describe it had been with a single world… nothing.

"I have a headache."

"You should… you got hit pretty hard."

Samantha had heard herself speak even though her pink lips had not uttered the words.  Likewise the young woman had heard the man's reply despite no sound having breached the complete *nothingness* that had surrounded her.

"What was that sound?" The redhead inquired, barely able to recall the strange noise that had somehow led her to be here… wherever here had been.

"Whispered thoughts from another world?  An imagination gone mad or a madness exploring its imagination?  Maybe it was the sound of your own thoughts trying to get back into your head."

Samantha wanted to argue with this unknown yet all too familiar voice, but she could not form the words or the thoughts that would have been needed to form the words before hand.  That voice had been with her before… when she ha ben alone… it had always been there… helping… guiding.  Having accepted the situation for what it had been, all that the young woman could do was to continue exploring the thoughts that this strange place brought into focus.

"What were those lights?  Six of them… so small… so cold… as if I had been looking into the abyss itself."

"Some claim that the shadows are alive… if they are, should they not need eyes to see into the souls of their prey?  Maybe what you saw was them looking into your soul or you looking into the darkness to see just how cold and empty nothing is."

A sudden surge of pain forced the young woman down to her knees, only now making her realize that she had been standing.

"This headache is KILLING ME!" Samantha said as she clutched her hands to her head as if trying to prevent it from suddenly exploding.

"Relax," a woman's voice said, this one having come not from within but from somewhere beyond the nothingness.  "There is still a lot for you to understand, right now though you have more immediate matters to be concerned with."

The young woman forced her eyes open despite her expectation to see nothing.  Instead Rikar was surprised to see someone looking back at her… someone who appeared very much like herself but also at the same time very different.

"Sa… Sabrina?"

"Not yet… you are not ready… just relax and know this… your friends are here."

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Sabrina Jones

Samantha Rikar
Dabo Girl
VALLA ROYAL

Once known as...
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501