<USS Avalon> They call this harmless?

By Joshua Garrity, Li Vilya, Elijah Dareth, Patrick McEntire, 
Sussanna Jameson, Nikkole Archer, and Annabelle Chase 

 
Josh had just begun to key in the final sequence to drop the shields when Nikki 
bounded out of the corridor where the bathroom was contained, nearly bowling 
him over in the process. "Oh, sorry," she said, grinning in embarrassment. Josh 
looked at her as though he'd seen a ghost...
 
Be invisible, a voice he almost remembered whispered inside his head. You can't 
let them see you. You can't let them hear you. Do you understand? You can't 
exist. You have to be INVISIBLE...
 
"Garrity?" she asked, as he stared at her intently.  That gaze was far away and 
penetrating at the same time... almost like he knew her.  Really knew her.
 
Josh blinked, dropping the PADD he'd been working on, tranfixed to the point of 
not noticing when Vilya picked it up and passed it to Mac, her eyes filled with 
worry at what she saw there. Mac nodded from her to him, indicating she should 
try again to talk to him, while he looked over what Josh had done, Dareth 
looking over his shoulder. 
 
"I'll handle that," Dareth told him, taking the PADD and reinstating the field, 
adding encrypted safeguards to prevent anyone from trying to lower them again 
before Sussanna okayed it. "You help handle him." 
 
Josh's complexion had taken on an oddly bluish pallor, his breathing coming in 
short, painful gasps. His gaze remained transfixed on Nikki. It couldn't be...
 
The screams resounded inside his head as the smell of smoke and burning flesh 
surrounded him..."Call them off...please...for God's sake make them stop"...He 
saw her before him as she had been, her body fused with another's as both were 
incinerated in a ball of flames...

Slowly his eyes rolled back, his body going limp. Vilya jumped and grabbed his 
arm, dragging him back in her direction as his limp form fell toward the alien 
field, throwing them both off-balance. 

Mac caught them easily, righting Vilya as he gently eased his friend to the 
floor, praying it wasn't too late. He glanced up at Anna, eyes pleading for 
help, then turned his attention back to Josh's unconscious form, tapping his 
cheek lightly. "Dammit, Bean, don't you do this..." he whispered. "You didn't 
survive the Ana to go out like this."

Nikki covered her mouth in surprise or horror, she wasn't sure, as the scene 
played out in front of her.

Annabelle had been standing on the side of the hall. She'd watched a slow 
change come over Josh, and the pained __expression on his pale face nagged at 
her. She watched as he inched towards the force field, taking out his padd and 
tapping away on it. By the time she'd figured out what he was doing and tried 
to reach him, he'd been knocked over by Nikki. It wasn't until she saw the 
white hot fear flash in his dulling blue eyes, that she finally realized what 
was nagging at her. She'd seen that look in his eyes before. She hadn't 
understood where it was coming from then and she didn't understand where it was 
coming from now, but she knew what had caused it back then. 

A few hand selected cadets had been picked by the head of the Academy to 
accompany her to a reception for visiting big wigs. Commodore Crusher had 
picked both Annabelle and Josh, but only Annabelle had excepted. During the 
reception the Commodore had asked Annabelle to once again accompany her while 
she gave the big wigs a tour of the academy. It had been while the group was 
touring the engineering lab that they'd run into Josh. Both Annabelle and the 
Commodore knew that Josh didn't like crowds, and to her credit the Commodore 
tried her best to spear him interaction with the guests, but one of them moved 
towards Josh. 

The man was short and almost lizard like, with bright eyes and a warm smile. 
Annabelle had found him funny and delightful but Josh must have seen him as a 
threat. He had backed away as the fear flashed in his eyes. The Commodore had 
seen it or sensed it, Annabelle couldn't be sure since the little redhead was a 
telepath, but she'd quickly moved the group on with a grace that Annabelle was 
sure came from years of "handling" admirals and the like. Once the room was 
cleared Annabelle had looked around for Josh, she'd wanted to see if he was ok, 
but he was gone. 

The sudden movements that were playing out in front of her eyes, brought 
Annabelle back to the here and now. For a moment she could feel her body 
jerking into a motion to reach out for Josh and comfort him, but then it dawned 
on her that he was hitting the floor and that Vilya and Mac were helping him to 
the floor. 

"Josh!"

"He was dropping the forcefield," Eli told them to warn.  "Had to have been 
delerious."


                
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'

Other related posts: