ACT I : SWEET DREAMS

They came at her in waves. Each group, their red, glowing eyes fixed on her.

"I CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN." They chanted in unison. Their arms were outreached, trying to grab at any piece of her that was close.

Trying to find any way to subdue her.

"I heard you the first time!!!" Jann cried out, sending a roundhouse kick to the closest zombie. It was a Vulcan lieutenant, possibly from Sebastian Winslett's starship. But at that moment, it didn't matter. At that moment, he was the enemy. The kick sent the Vulcan falling backwards, taking three others with him to the ground. Jann knew she couldn't fend them all off. She had to find a place to gather her thoughts and figure out her next move.

Hands tore at her clothes, sending her backpedaling, until she slammed into a storage locker on the far wall, opposite the entranceway.

"JUST TELL ME AND I'LL TAKE AWAY TO PAIN." They chanted again in unison, by now only a few feet away from her.

Jann quickly jumped and threw her hands up, until they cupped the edges to the eight tool storage locker. When she was satisfied she had a firm grip, she used all her strength to lift herself off the ground. Pushing her legs up over her head, she managing to roll backwards and upwards until she found herself resting on top of the locker.

The hordes crowded themselves around the locker, trying to find a way to tip it over.

"Go to hell, people! I like my pain, and plan to..."

And that's when she saw their familiar faces. Within the giant waves of bodies, Mia and Tash could be seen in the distance.

"Jackpot." She said as she pulled out her modified 'tag' gun.

Steadily she aimed the small tube at her crewmates. The shots were swift. The automated transporter tags hit them square in the chest. They disappeared instantly.

As she started to turn the gun on herself, she felt the harsh grip of an arm wrap around her neck.

"NO MORE PAIN." Lieutenant Meg Houston said, her hot breath washed over Jann. The gun slipped from her grasp and fell into the mass of bodies below.

She knew there was only one thing she could do.

"Sorry Meg." Jann said gasping for air. "This is gonna hurt!"

Using Meg's forward momentum, Jann pushed the both off of the locker, and crashing toward the floor below. The hordes converged on them...

---

"DO YOU WANT THE PAIN TO GO AWAY?" the monster asked softly.

"Please..." Ian Rojeti whimpered, feeling the greatest pain of his past life, pulsating through him.

"ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TAKE MY HAND, AND I WILL TAKE AWAY THE PAIN."

At that moment, he knew to take her hand would be a mistake. But the pain was horrific. His heart felt like it was ready to exploded. And to stop the pain, was his only goal.

He took her hand....

She slowly pulled him close and softly kissed his lips. Almost immediately, Ian felt the pain in his heart quickly start to fade away. He then felt a numbness wash over his body, causing him to go limp. It was pure bliss. His worries, hopes, fears... everything was nonexistent. There was no reason for being. His consciousness was swimming in a sea of redness and it was complete utopia...

The creature let him go, and his body fell limp to the floor. A vague grin running across his face.

"ABSOLUTELY... DELICIOUS..." She exhaled in ecstasy."I CAN ONLY HOPE THE OTHER TWO ARE JUST AS SWEET AS YOU, DEAR BOY."

That's when she caught the sound of a faint 'beeping' coming from Ian on the floor.

"WHAT IS THAT?" She asked, bending over at him.

Ian opened his eyes, the red tint glaring brightly.

"No more pain..." he said with a wide smile. "There's no more pain."

The creature slowly turned him on his side, to reveal his small tricorder with the phrase 'SEQUENCE ACTIVATED' blinking...

Without warning, the tricorder emitted the subspace disruption program. The creature, stumbled back grabbing her head in pain. "WHAT IS THAT?!"

Instantly, the reddish tint began to dissipated from Ian eyes. For a split second, he gained a moment of clarity.

"MAKE IT STOP!" she screamed retreating to the shadowy corner.

Ian didn't waste any time. He quickly scanned the floor until he found the 'tag' gun nestled under the conference table. Although weakened by his ordeal, he frantically crawled under the table.

At that moment, the tricorder signal went silent...

"PAIN!!!" the creature screamed, now angry and gliding for the table. "I WILL SHOW YOU PAIN!!!" She was tired of playing games. In her true form, she stood a little over eight feet tall. Her naked body was obese and translucent with the reddish glow. She resemble more a ghostly figure, than anything corporeal. With no arms or legs, she appeared to float in midair.

With the power of her mind, she commanded the table to move. The large conference table, was uprooted from floor and thrown into the far wall of the room. But when she looked down, she saw that Ian has somehow disappeared. She scanned the room, but found no one.

She mentally commanded here minions to find him...

"PAIN..."

---

Ian Rojeti had turned the transporter gun on himself just as the creature had uprooted the conference table. He closed his eyes tight, just as the transporter beam washed over him. And now as he opened them, he found himself in the Helix's main cargo bay.

Smiling, he leaned over and saw Alex, Kyle, Mia, and Tash lying beside him.

"What's that saying about The Mother of Invention?" he called out.

The others responded. "I CAN TAKE AWAY THE PAIN."

Startled, he jumped to his feet. "That's not the answer I was looking for. "

Ian stumbled his way to the command console, just as the others were rising to their feet. He placed his tricorder on the console.

"Computer, transfer the tricorder's program settings to the database."

'SETTINGS TRANSFERRED.' The computer responded immediately.

"Run program 'JAXA-34' and route the disruption field to the internal sensors for ship-wide disbursement."

After a few seconds. 'SETTINGS COMPETE. TRANSMITTING SIGNAL'.

In a matter of seconds, the other stopped their chanting, and fell to floor unconscious.

---

Jann and Meg hit the ground hard.

The voices were no longer in sync. A large sea of mumbles surrounded her as she tried to reach the 'tag' gun resting ten yards away from her. She crawled on all-fours, Meg stratling her back and clawing at her face. Everytime she would get a good stride, one of the zombified masses would trip your up, causing her to fall on her face.

"Prophets help me!" she scream, fighting the onslaught of automaton around her. But through the masses, she could see the gun. Now, only a yard or so away she directed all her strength into one good leap. She pulled herself up to her feet and propelled as far as she could go. In the air, she saw that the gun was within her reach. But as she came down on top of it, the ravenous masses kicked it out of reach.

"No!!" She cried out, falling face-first into the floor."

"NO MORE PAIN!" Meg mumbled in her ear.

"F*@# you!!!" Jann called back, send a back-elbow to Meg's jaw. The blow just made her grasp tighter.

"Is a miracle too much to ask for?!" she called out...

...just as the transporter signal washed her and Meg.

"uh... thank you?"

---

When she appeared in cargo bay, Jann immediately shook Meg Houston off of her back and gave Ian a big hug.

"You, all right?" the boy said, running the tricorder over her.

"I'm fine. Just a little banged up." She replied, seeing the unconscious bodies of their crewmates. "What's the situation?"

Ian finished his scan. "It looks like you haven't been infected like the rest of us."

"Infected? The Rest of us? That doesn't sound good."

"There's some type of non-corporeal entity that feeds on fear and pain. She sedates her victims with some type of telepathic suggestion."

"The red glow?"

"It's a byproduct of the process. We all have it."

Jann looked close in her friends eyes and saw the faint tinge of redness.

"Then how come you're... normal?"

Ian made his way back to the command console. "The creature needs physical contact to infect you. I set my tricorder to create a disruption field before it could finish the process."

He check the ship's sensors. "I have the disruption field enabled throughout the ship, but it won't hold for long."

"Then we need to find help..." Jann realized there was only one person she could turn too. "..and we need to get him before the others do."

"Not me." Ian said. "Somehow we're adapting to the disruption patterns. I won't be in control much longer. I'm afraid you're on your own."

"Understood." Jann replied leaving the room. She stopped outside the cargo bay entrance. "Computer, erect a level 3 security barrier around cargo bay 1. Security lockout, authorization: Jaxa-Epsilon-Beta."

The blue defense shield sprang to life in the cargo bay.

'SECURITY BARRIER ENABLE'

Ian knew where Jann was going. "Be careful." He said, starting to feel weak. "He's dangerous."

"I know."

"You don't even know if he'll help you, let alone try not to kill you."

"I know. But I don't have any other choice."

Ian heard the others starting to stir. "Then make it quick. Between Tash, Mia and myself, we'll be able to override your lockout in a matter of minutes."

"Wish me luck." Jann said as she sprinted for the nearest turbolift.

That's Ian began to grow weak. As he leaned against the wall to catch his balance, he noticed the others had risen to their feet.

With their red orbs fixed on Ian, they spoke: " ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ASK ME ... ."

And Ian chimed in. "...AND I WILL TAKE AWAY THE PAIN."

---

ACT II : THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

Jann Jaxa reached the security levels of the ship. "Computer. Override security lock on holding cell -2A. Authorization: Jaxa-Epsilon-Beta."

'COMMAND OVERRIDE INITIATED.'

The door slid open to reveal a pitch black security room. And in the middle of that room, one figure laid unconscious surrounded by a circular defense barrier. He had been in the vegetated state for almost a week since the last time she checked on him. Although he'd never spoken to her about it, she knew the voices in his head were getting worse. It had gotten to the point where he could barely function on a day to day basis.

But she had to try. She needed an ally. The irony being, the only person she can ask for help is the one man who has sworn to kill her.

She slowly turned him over. "Eric. Wake up."

He didn't move.

She checked his pulse, and then tried to shake him.

No response...

...and that's when she heard the explosion. At that instant, the power throughout the ship went off-line.

She tapped her combadge, as the emergency power systems activated. "Computer, what just happened?"

'ENVIRONMENTAL POWER CUP-LINKS IN CARGO BAY 1 HAVE OVERLOADED. ALL POWER SYSTEMS ARE OFF-LINE.

Jann caught her breath. "They're loose.." She whispered. She turned her attention back to Eric. "Please, wake up. We need you. I need you."

No response...

Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps faintly in the distance. She speculated that the others were using the Jeffrey's tubes to get to her. She knew she had less than a minute to hide.

She had to leave Eric.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, making her way in the dim light to the nearest maintenance tube. She quickly climbed in and resealed the entrance grate, just as two figures entered the room. She couldn't tell who it was. All she should see were their glowing red eyes in the darkness. The two automaton took a moment to stare at Eric's unconscious body, and then made their way out of the room.

Jann went deeper into the maintenance tubes...

---

A half hour later, Jann kicked out the grate-cover which lead to one of the sub-primary weapons lockers.

Climbing out quietly and making her way to the nearest locker, she could hear people scurrying outside. She speculated that more people had come over from the station to search for her.

Eric was a lost cause. She knew that now. All she could think about was getting to The Betty and going for help. She couldn't fight all of them alone. But she could fend them off long enough to escape.

She quietly pried open the weapons locker and pulled out the nearest rifle.

"YOU'LL BE DISAPPOINTED." A voice called from the darkness.

Startled, she dropped the phaser rifle.

A pair of red orbs appeared from the otherside of the room.

Frightened, she reached down for rifle.

"IT WON'T DO YOU ANY GOOD. THE POWER CELLS HAVE BEEN REMOVED."

She immediately recognized the voice. "They got you."

From the darkness, Sebastian Winslett stepped into the dim light with a blank grin on his face. "I KNEW YOU'D COME HERE." He walked to her until they were a few feet apart. "WE'RE ALIKE, YOU AND ME. FIRST PRIORITY, WEAPONS DEPLOYMENT."

"Bastion.." She said, her voice cracking under fear. "You have to fight this."

"FIGHT WHAT?" he replied, almost laughing. "COMPLETE BLISS? CONTENTMENT? WHY?"

"It's not real! That Thing is doing something to you! Draining your life-force. You've seen the others. The malnutrition bodies walking around like zombies."

"THERE'S ALWAYS A PRICE, MY LOVE." He said slowly caressing her cheek. "LIKE YOU, I HAD SO MUCH PAIN. I LIVED WITH SO MUCH ANGUISH. I CAN'T GO BACK TO THAT." His caress, then then became a chokehold. "AND NEITHER WILL YOU."

His grip was incredible. Jann started to feel herself leaving her feet.

"YOU WILL GIVE YOUR LIFE YOU HER. OR YOU WILL HAVE NO LIFE."

Jann tried to kick him in the groin, the stomach... anywhere to weaken him. But he didn't budge....

...that is, until the butt of a phaser rifle struck him in the back of the head. He released his grip and Jann when flailing to the floor.

Bastion regained his composure just in time to see another figure emerge from the darkness.

"Hand's off, Merc!" Eric said wielding the rifle like a bat. "She's my property!" The edge to the gun struck Bastion in the jaw, sending him stumbling into the wall.

Through the dim light, Eric could still see his enemy smiling back at him.

Bastion stood up, blood pouring from his nose. He smiled. "NO PAIN."

"No gain!" Jann said appearing from the side with a roundhouse kick to his back. Bastion stumbled forward, and Eric caught him in a chokehold. He flailed violently.

Bastian started to go limp, and Jann became nervous.

"Don't kill him!" she called out. "He doesn't know what he's doing!"

Eric stared at her, making out her frightened gaze in the dim light. And for second, it made him flinch.

He let go of Bastian, and the body fell lifelessly to the floor.

"Lucky you said something." Eric said, in a cold tone.

Jann ran to Bastian's body and checked his pulse. "He's alive. He should be out long enough for us to get away." she looked up and saw him disoriented. "Are you o.k.?"

She approached him and started to touch his shoulder, but he caught her hand in a vice-like grip.

"Don't touch me!" he pushed her hand away. "Can't control what I'll do from one moment to the next."

"The memories?"

He nodded. "They're becoming more managable, thanks to your treatmens" he shook his head as another migrane headached attacked him. "What's the situation?"

"There's people on board that wants to turn us into 'things' just like Bastian."

Eric gained his composure. "Where are the others?"

"Under alien control. We're all that's left." she quickly checked the hallway to make sure it was clear. "It's gonna take both of us to get to the shuttle."

Eric thought for a second, and then grabbed her arm as she started to walk away. "Wait. What is this we business? I saved your life, but that doesn't mean we're together. I can move faster on my own, so what makes you think i won't just leave you here?"

She looked up into his eyes, and then wrenched her arm back. "Well... I guess I'll have to trust my heart."

"You're boyfriend was a lie, Doc. I'm not him."

Slinging a phaser rifle around her should, she turned to him in the entranceway. "That's not what i meant."

---

MISSION LOG: JANN JAXA RECORDING….

Eric and I are the only crewmembers left not under the thrall the alien entity inhabiting the spacestation. After trying to reach all three shuttlecrafts aboard, including The Betty, we've discovered that Alex and the others have fortified all the escape routes.

We've currently fallen back to the Astro-Metrics lab in the hopes of gathering some type of information that'll help us escape.

END TRANSMISSION

Jann watched Eric Beckett in amazement.

In five minutes time, he had managed to route a series of offline systems in the Astrometrics Lab into her medical tricorder. His hands worked like a highly skilled technician.

"Wow." she whispered. "I didn't know you were so versed in Starfleet technology."

"Neither did I." he mumbled without looking up.

"Can you please explain what you're doing?"

He scratched his head, trying to find the right way to explain. "Well, since they've taken the entire ship offline, there's no power to run the diagnostic systems. So, I'm routing the programs in through your tricorder."

"Will there be enough power?"

"We're about to find out."

After a few seconds, the main console's viewscreen dimly flickered to life.

Jann went to work. She quickly ran a series of tests on the environment.

"I'm picking up a subspace signal eminating from the spacestation. It's some type of psionic tether."

"How come we're not infected?" Eric asked.

"There needs to be a catalyst. There's some type of chemical present in the others. Probably introduced into their body from contact with the alien."

Eric made his way to an adjacent console. "So, we take the ship away from the station. The spell wears off."

"No. The tether exists in subspace, so it exists everyplace at once. You can go 100 lightyears away, and it would still have control over you."

Eric's fingers raced across the console. "Then we find a way to cut the cord." Jan looked over his shoulder as he continued. "The alien seems to be feeding off of psionic reactions of negative emotions. The subspace tether induces some type of venom which numbs it's victims. She drains them until they're corpses."

"So how do we stop her?"

"YOU DON'T." a voice called from behind them.

The two survivors turned to see six sets of red orbs glowling in the darkness.

"Alex." Jann called out.

"YES." he replied. "AND I SEE MR. BECKETT IS CONSCIOUS. GOOD." he smiled blankly. "SHE WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN, TOO."

Eric's hand slowly tapped a few buttons on the tricorder. The data from the astrometrics computer began to download.

"I won't become one of you!" Jann yelled. "I'd rather die first!"

Only a faint chuckle came replied.

As most of the 'mind puppets' began to show up at the door, Jann moved in closer to Eric.

"This doesn't look good." she whispered to him. "I hope one of us comes up with a plan quickly."

"Actually, I do have a plan." Eric replied, grabbing the Tricorder and putting it in his pocket.

"Please share."

"I'll cause a distraction, and then I'll head for the Jefferies Tube."

Jann nodded. "Sounds good. But what type of distraction?"

Eric smiled. "In a word? You."

Jann swung around to see Erics wide grin.

"Sorry..." he said grabbing her shoulders. "I told you not to trust me."

Eric shoved Jann away, sending her stumbling uncontrollably, and into the arms of the enemy.

"No!!" she screamed, trying to wrestling away from her captures, but they were too strong. As they began to drag her away, she could see that the cover to the Jefferies tube was already locked and sealed.

Eric Beckett had betrayed her... for a second time.

Jann was led to the transporter room and then beamed over to the space station by the 'captive' members to Team Helix. . When she materialized, she found they were at the one end of a long corridor, which was lined with red-eyes zombies on bother sides. They slowly led her down the the narrow hall, the many red orbs fixated on her as she passed by them.

She looked over at Alex walking alongside her.

"Hey." she said to him. "You wanna hear something bad? This is actually the hightlight of my friggin' day."

"IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE." Alex said with a smile. "YOU NEED NOT BE AFRAID. SHE ONLY WANTS TO HELP YOU."

"Yes, I know... She takes away the pain."

"YES!" Mia said from behind Jann. "SHE TOOK AWAY MY PAIN."

"And what pain was that?"

Mia pulled alongside her. "I CARRIED THE PAIN OF LEAVING MY ROMULAN WAY OF LIFE; OF BETRAYING MY PEOPLE. I NEVER KNEW IT WAS THERE. BUT SHE FOUND IT BURIED WITHIN ME. SHE PULLED IT OUT OF ME."

"Well that's... very nice." Jann turned back to Alex. "How about you? What was your pain again?"

Alex looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I... BLOW UP THE UNIVERSE..."

"Ah." Jann replied with a chuckle. "On yeah, Iforgot about that one."

---

At the end of the corridor, the massive door slide open to reveal a giant chamber. Malnutritioned and decomposing bodies littered the floor. And in the center, levitating a few feet off the ground was the red translucent alien being.

Jann stared upon her, yet tried not to show any signs of fear.

"Incredible..." she called out.

"YES." the alien called back.

"No, you don't understand me." Jann smiled. "I just can't believe that all this damaged was caused by a giant floating jellyfish."

The smiled back, and then started to float toward her. Jann started to back away, but was caught by Alex and Kyle.

"DO NOT BE AFRAID..." Alex started.

"...SHE WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN." Kyle finished.

Jann struggled, to no avail. Before she knew knew it, the creature was eye to eye with her.

"What are you?" Jann asked.

"A FRIEND WHO WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN." It replied.

"But what if I want to keep my pain?"

"WHY?"

"My pain has made me what I am. It's made me stronger, smarter; it's taught me how to fight. It's a part of my very soul. Without it, I'm just a mindless drone like the others."

The creature did not listen. "I WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN." She gently brushed Jann's cheek. "REMEMBER."

Suddenly, a glowing red mist washed over Jann causing her to start convulsing.

"No..." she cried. "I don't want this!"

"HUSH, CHILD." The creatured replied, nodding to her puppets. "I WILL TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN."

What seemed like an eternity to Jann, only last a few seconds. Within the deepest, darkest regions of her mind, the alien probed. It ripped apart any and all little secrets she had buried inside her.

The deaths of her family...

The murders she committed...

The atrocities she endured to protect her people...

They rose to the surface of you conscious mind in one enormous volley of psionic pain. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she screamed for mercy.

And in an instant, the mist disapated and Jann fell to her knees. Blood ran from her lips, where she had bitten down on them. Her body trembled as she tried to shake off the guild and anger from ten years of her life.

"POOR CHILD." the creature said in unison with all the others. "SO MUCH PAIN."

"So much pain..." Jann whispered.

"DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE AWAY THE PAIN?"

Jann slowly looked up at the creature and nodded in agreement. "I... can't take this... I can't...."

"IT'S ALRIGHT, CHILD. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS TAKE MY HAND AND I'LL TAKE AWAY THE PAIN."

Jann's tembling hand reached out for the alien. "Help me."

The creature pulled her to her feet, and brought her in close for a kiss.

"STEADY, CHILD. THIS WILL HURT NO MORE."

Jann closed her eyes and waited for the creature to take away her pain. But suddenly she felt someone slam hard into her, knocking them both across the room and out of harm's way.

"No..." Jann said frantically. "She has to take away my pain!" And as she looked up at the man who tackled her, Eric's face stared back down at her.

"Stay down!" he said rising to his feet.

The mass of zombies began to converg on him, when the creature haulted them.

"LEAVE HIM BE." She said with a smile. "HE CAN GO NOWHERE." She closed her eyes and seemed to inhale deep. "AND HIS PAIN IS INCREDIBLE."

"Yep." Eric replied, with a smile. "That what you get when a lunatic turns your brain into mush. A world of pain."

"YET YOU ENDURE IT?"

Eric slowly started to walk toward her, shrugging his shoulders. "What the hell else am i going to do?"

"YOU CAN GIVE THE PAIN TO ME!" She slowly started to approach him. "I CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN."

"And what would I get in return?"

"BLISS!" said, almost euphorically. "COMPLETE CONTENTMENT."

Eric stopped a few inches away from the creature. "Sounds too good to be true. But I'm willing to take that chance."

"Noo..." Jann said stumbling toward them. "She must do me first!!! I'm was here first..."

Whithout turning around, Eric backhanded her sending her spinning to the floor and bumping her head.

He kept his attention on the creature. "I hate being interrupted."

With that, he put his left hand into the creatures translucent hand...

...and placed his right hand in his pocket next to his hidden tricorder.

He smiled. "What are you waiting for? Do it."

She smiled. "REMEMBER."

In an instant, the hundreds of false memories were ripped from Eric's mind and psionically absorbed into the Creature. At first she was overwhelmed flood of pain, which swirled into her systems.

"ABSOLUTELY... DELICIOUS... I NEVER KNOW ANY ONE BEING COULD EXIST IN SO MUCH PAIN!!!"

...and that's when she realized something was wrong.

She opened her eyes and looked down and Eric Beckett. She expected to see the rush of redness washing through with eyes, and the look of contentment on his face. But what she saw, was the bald man's blood-shoot intent glare staring back at her, and a fiendish smile.

"SOMETHING... NOT RIGHT..." the creature said, trying to contain herself. "PAIN... TAINTED..."

"More like amphlified." Eric said pulling the tricorder from his pocket. "Have some more, bitch!!" he then violently jammed the it into her gelatinous torso.

The creature screamed, and the hordes of her controlled followers screamed along with her. '

Eric, who was partially drained from the experience, stumbled his way over to Jann and covered her, just as the creature let out one last scream, and then exploded.

When her crimson essences finally disapated, the tricorder fell to the floor, as did the controlled masses.

After a few seconds, Eric rose to his feet and slowly surveyed the area.

Unconscious bodies lined the floor. He made his way to the tricorder and did a quick medical sweep.

He smiled when he finished, just has Jann made it to her feet.

"What... what happened..." she said stumbling around. "Where is...."

"She's dead." he replied. "She... it didn't have enough psionic power to hold itself together." He tossed the tricorder to her. "I rigged the tricorder to amplify my expenditure of negative emotions."

Jann smiled. "Her eyes were too big for her stomach." She started to walk toward him. "I thought you had left me to die."

"I did..." he replied. "...at least at first."

"But then?"

"But then I came back. I figured I owed you that much." he then pulled out small phaser, his face cold as ever. "Now... we're even."

He fired the phaser at her....

---

Jann felt like she had been sleeping forever. She slowly tried to open her eyes but they were extremely heavy.

"Alex, she awake." she her Mia call out.

And as she opened her eyes she saw the two of them, along with Captain Jessica Tandem standing over her.

"Welcome back." the captain said with a smile. "How do you feel?"

Jann groaned. "Like I've been shot." she sat up. "What... where are we?"

Alex handed her a cup of water. "Aboard the U.S.S. Raleigh. The captain's been gracious enough to lend us a hand getting the Helix up and running."

"How long have I been out?"

"Two days." Mia said, running a tricorder over her. "It looked like that... creature's effect on you was pretty intense."

"Yeah. Well, that and the phaser shot i took from Eric."

They all looked at each other.

"Where is Eric?" Jann asked.

"Gone." Alex replied. "We woke up and got everyone off the station. When we made it back to the Helix, we discovered rations, weapons and one of the Flax-Shuttles missing. The logs say he left 18 hours before."

"He saved our lives." she looked up at Alex nervously. "He could've left us to rot with that creature. But he came back and killed it."

"He destroyed the creature?" Mia asked. "We assumed it was you."

Jann sighed. She slowled laid her head back onto the medical bed. "We have to find him." she whispered. "He out there... alone..." she looked up at Alex. "We have to find him."

"We will." Alex replied. "Kyle and Sabastian left a few hours ago to try and get a lead."

"Good."

And that's when she saw the look on Alex's face.

"What?" she asked.

"Tash has been doing some intelligence work with some contacts in the field." he pause. "It seems we're not the only ones aware that Eric has left the team..."

Jann's eyes widen. "No..."

---

The Chimera Trade Station near the Orius colonies was the perfect place to get lost. Owned and regulated by the Orion Syndicate, it had been a safe-haven for the galaxy's de-generate populations.

Eric loved the place. No matter how horrible your crimes were, you could easily find ten others more 'horrible' than you. And at that moment, he needed to feel 'less' than what he was. Although the 'mind-sucking' creature, somehow stablized his schizophrenic state, it also made some of the more horrendous memories clear in his thoughts. He shuttered at the thought of just one of them being real.

He scanned the area until he saw the person he was looking for. A figure in the shadows waved him over.

As he made his way to the man's table, he took the opposite seat, gently sliding his hand to his phaser... just in case.

"Beckett." the man spoke, his face finally moving into the light. He was a young Betazoid man, donning a bandana, which seem to conceil a bald head. "I'm glad you thought of me in your time of need."

Eric gripped his phaser. "Always a pleasure, V'Dikk. I see you're going for a new look."

"A few... minor adjustments. That's all. Now, tell me why I'm here?"

Eric leaned forward. "I need passage to Earth. Non-Federation passage, if you know what i mean."

"No problem. May I asked why?"

Eric chose his words carefully. "I just need to keep myself hidden for he time being."

"Not a problem. Anyone else with you?" V'Dikk asked leaning back into the shadows.

"No. I'm flyin' solo these days."

"You'd think your team would be close by. Are they?"

"No. I told you I'm..." Eric felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention. He stared into the eyes of the man sitting across from him.

V'Dikk smiled. "What's that matter, friend? You look nervous."

"How'd you know I had a team?"

V'Dikk's smile widened. "You told me, of course."

"Wrong answer!" Eric said thrusting the table upward until he pinned it against V'Dikk with his feet. He quickly drew his weapon and fired repeatedly into the table.

By this time, the station's bar was in chaos. People scattered for the exits trampling anyone in their way.

When V'Dikk's body went limp, Eric quick jumped up and made his way toward the back exit.

He quickly found a damp alley and sprinted in retreat, until he found himself on the outskirts of the asteroid forestry. He had to think quick.

"Stop!" he call from behind him.

He swung around and whipped out his phaser.

"What the hell?" Eric said in shock.

A few feet away, stood the man he had just tried to kill.

"Surprise to see me up and about, are you?" V'Dikk said with a smile.

"Didn't I just kill you?" Eric said firing the man again. The phaser been was met my large, green defence barrier.

"Phasers aren't going to work, my friend." V'Dikk replied, as he removed his bandana. "I had a few brilliant minds make a few alteration to me."

The bandana fell to the ground to reveal a large cybernetic half-band attached to V'Dikk's bald head.

"What the hell have you done to yourself?"

"I've evolved!" he replied slowly pacing. "You see, I ran into an old friend of yours. He knew I was a bounty hunter and agreed to help me enhance my Betazoid telepathic abilities... in exchange for you."

Eric then dropped the phaser. "Too bad, V'Dikk. I don't nead a weapon to put you down."

"Don't make me hurt you, friend."

"You and what friggin' army?!"

V'Dikk smiled widely. "This... army..."

And that's when Eric first saw them standing at the edge of the darkened woods. At first it was just the four red targeting beams that came into view. But as they walked into the light, Eric's jaw dropped.

Drones...

Borg...

"How do you like my new friends, Eric?" V'Dikk said as the four drones stood alongside him. "This device on my head allows me to control these drones. I see what they see. I can control them at will. They're my new team."

"You sick bastard. Who did this to you?" Eric said.

"Who do you think?" a familiar voice called from behind him.

He swung around just in time to see the phaser beam hit him.

He fell unconscious to the ground.

And as V'Dikk approached his old friend, he had to ask his employer a question.

"I know i've never asked before, but why the hell would you want this guy?"

Chapel stared back at him and smiled. "Because he's the key to my salvation."

---

THE END

 

NEXT:

Team Helix... Chapel... AXIS...
The Series Finale...
The End...

 

EPISODE 15:

What They Leave Behind...