Tempest

9 - Epitaph

There was no hope.

They were everywhere; there was no way to hide, no way to run. Mercilessly, people were massacred. They ran through, slaughtering anything in their path towards brutal and utter domination.

He watched as one hazy form enveloped another. He could not see what was happening; he could only hear the gargles and choked cries of pain as the victim was-

... Tobias ...

He spun around, looking for the voice, his one source of strength in this hell. But while his ears gave him courage, his eyes took it away. There was nothing around him but dunes of sand and treacherous terrain.

The sky was red, a disturbing red. Then-

He was sliding down a snow-covered hill, tumbling over rocks and ice. He knew not what was behind him, only that it was coming fast-

-Tobias!

As he fell into the bank of snow below, it became water. Plunging deep into its depths, he floundered upward towards the surface. Something roared beneath him, but what he couldn't see in the dark of the ocean. Just that it was big ...

His head broke the surface, and he quickly saw that he was in a hole of some kind in the water, a deep one. Struggling with his armor on, he began to swim towards the edge of the hole-

-TOBIAS!

With a jerk and painful clang of his forehead against metal, he woke up. He looked around frantically, half expecting to see himself surrounded by water or snow, but found that he was safe on the transport ship.

Or, at least as safe as one could be while on a suicide mission.

Rubbing his forehead gingerly, he looked to see that he'd been lying his head on the console of the bridge as he sat in the pilot's seat. He must have hit his head on one of the levers or switches that adorned the area. Fortunately, it seemed that he hadn't disturbed any of the systems.

Tobias, are you okay?

He yawned tiredly. "Yeah, KT. I'm fine."

Another nightmare?

He sighed. "Yeah."

She was silent, waiting for him to talk about it. He looked around, seeing that there wasn't much for him to do here. Sighing, he gave in.

"Alright. Hold on, I'm coming down."

There certainly wasn't much to look at in warp-space, and talking things over with her might help. Giving one last check to ensure that the systems were functioning as intended, he stood up from the pilot's chair. He wasn't really piloting, but he liked the feel of sitting in it. Turning around, he headed through the corridors down to the lower levels.

After a few minutes of walking, he came to the large doors that allowed entry to the hangar. Flipping a switch, they began to move away from each other. Inside, KT was sitting in the middle of the floor. Probably a habit that she'd picked up from watching him.

He meandered over to her, and in front of her. She focused on him worriedly with her optics.

"I could sense it through our link again. I don't know what it is that you see, but it scares me how much this is affecting you."

He shrugged. "I'll be fine, Kay. Besides, it's not like there's a lot I can do about it."

She made a displeased hum. "Still, it can't be healthy for you to be having nightmares like that so often. The stress will take its toll on you, eventually."