"Fascination"
[previous "Failure"]

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Setting: MASQUERADE DREAMS, Deck 29
Stardate: 30153.0625

His head hurt in more ways than he could count. The feeling had been as if his head had been smashed against the side of a ship before being used as a ball by a bunch of pissed off Cardassians, and that was just the outside pain. His mind hurt just as much as he tried to piece together what had happened to him. Vague visions tried to come into focus, while disjointed memories attempted to reorder themselves in a sequence that made some sense.

He could easily recall her eyes and voice, two heavenly items that he wanted to sample once again at all cost while at the same time to never again see or hear.  Whatever powers Shae had used on him had been far more effective than he could have ever expected them to be, leaving the confused and disoriented Terran man to question what he had said or done.

"Who do you work for?"

That had been the last question he remembered her asking, a question that she had repeated time and time again because somehow he had managed to fight back the urge to answer.  Normally this would not have been an issue, but while under her spell, he had been ready to tell her everything he knew about the ANUBIS, the NEW ALEXANDRIA complexe, and all of the other ships operating from the secret base.  It was true that his knowledge had been limited, but he knew enough to endanger each and every officer working for the shadow operation organization.

He felt the cold hardness of the floor against his chest. How had he made his way to being in this position. The last thing he remembered was Shae asking him the question while he stood, or had he been sitting? That one detail continued to elude him but one thing had been for sure, he had not been face first on the floor when she had asked him the question last, or when he had answered it.

Panic flashed through the OPS mind as he struggled with the realization that he had answered her question. Despite all of his efforts not to, her hypnotic voice and gaze had broken through his resolve, how ever weak it might have been, granting her the prize she had been so bent of getting. Jayson tried to push himself up but found himself too weak to do so. Somehow the pain in his head has travelled to his entire body making it impossible for him to move as he wanted to.

The cold air from the floor filled his lunges as he took in a long breath of disappointment. How could he have betrayed his friends and fellow shipmates? Thinking back to the woman and the effects her eyes and voice had on him, the OPS officer wondered how he had been able to deny her wish for as long as he had. The enchantress could have asked anything of him without a second thought on his part, yet something had held him from answering hat one question.

The more he tried to identify the reason for his unexpected strength against the charms of the enchantress, the more he found himself focussing on the eyes that had enslaved his mind. Each time he tried to push that image away, they would return as if they had been the answer he sought and not the cause of his question.  There had been something about those eyes that had been more than what he believed them to be, something familiar about them than extended to a part of him that had not existed before his arrival on board the ANUBIS.

The sounds of rushing heavy footsteps made his look up as best he could, but in his current state Jayson had been unable to identify the source of the sound.  By the time he looked again, the feet had been almost close enough for him to touch, not that he had the strength to do so.

He felt himself being turned on his back and when he reopened his eyes, he saw another set of eyes looking down at him. Although they had the delicate features of belonging to a woman, the gaze had no been that of the haunting enchantress, something that he found to being a disappointment and relief all at the same time.

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Jayson Sousa

Ensign Jayson Stark
Chief of Operations
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501