==/\== Down Town- San Francisco - Warehouse ==/\== SD240401.24 [15:06]
'Pppphhhtttsshhhhhhh'
Nathanial had always wondered why phasers made that noise, after all we could fly through space, speak with thousands of different races, so why couldn't we pick a different sound for our phaser fire. Nathanial couldn't believe that his last thoughts would be about the sound that a phaser makes. Nathanial couldn't feel any pain, he always believed that a phaser shot would hurt 'maybe its because I'm so close to death' he thought to himself.
He looked up at his killer... Dennis. He had expected some cold smile of superiority but instead was greeted with a blank look.
Dennis tried to say something but couldn't, the phaser he held fell out of his hand and he fell to the floor. It was then that Nathanial noticed a large scorch mark in the back of Dennis. He glanced up at the metal platform, just in time to see the Chief Inspector slump back down unconscious.
Nathanial looked to Josh, Josh looked at the Chief Inspector, then to Nathanial, and then to Dennis. Then they both looked towards the phaser.
Josh screamed, blinded by rage he ran for the phaser. Nathanial did the only thing he could do, with his adrenalin fuelling his movements he stood up and charged for Josh.
Josh got to the phaser first, he bent down to grab it just as Nathanial barrelled into him. They both hit the floor hard, Nathanial still had his hands bound behind him but from the previous fight and this tumble the bindings loosened just enough to allow Nathanial to get his hands free.
Josh continued to scream incoherently, he grabbed Nathanial's hair and yanked as hard as he could. Nathanial felt the sharp pain of his head being pulled in a direction it was not meant to, he retaliated with an elbow into Josh's ribs. They both pulled away in pain faced each other squarely. Nathanial noticed the phaser in the corner of his vision, it was just out of reach of both of them, having been knocked in the tumble.
They both stayed motionless, staring into each others eye's, a Mexican standoff. Josh screamed again and made a grab for the phaser, Nathanial was ready this time, he jumped up and swung his right leg with all its might connecting squarely with Josh's head. An abnormally loud 'Thunk" echoed throughout the warehouse, Josh screamed in pain and fell to the floor on top of the phaser.
Nathanial stepped towards the unmoving body, he leaned down and placed his hand on Josh's shoulder to turn him around, like some automatic reaction Josh spun of his own accord, 'how the hell was he still conscious' Nathanial thought to himself. He then noticed that Josh had the phaser in hand.
With a disturbing cackle Josh fired.
The Phaser lit up, but instead of firing a pulse of energy it grew brighter, a spark and then a second one flew off the phaser, realizing the horror of what wast happening Josh tried to let go, too late it made a final whirling noise and exploded.
Nathanial was thrown back by the blast, he felt so much pain, more pain than he had ever felt before, he tried to let out a sound but it felt like his lungs were on fire and all that came out was a half hearted choke.
He could hardly see, his vision was a blur, his body wanted nothing more than to shut down and he was about to let it too, but then they flashed in his head, Sara and Arianna, he had to push himself, through the pain, they needed him.
He tried to stand, his legs buckling not once, but twice, finally on the third try he was able to stand, his vision ever so slowly started to come back. The first thing to de-blur was the blackened charred body of Josh, it lay on the floor unmoving, still smouldering. Nathanial took a step forward, his body trembled with pain from the action, he shook his head and took another step forward, again pain shot up through his body, slowly he made his way over to the table, one painful step at a time.
He didn't know what he was looking for, he had just expected something to be there telling him where Arianna and Sara were, but instead he was greeted with some PADDs, a set of tools and notes on the latest astrometrics exam.
He needed help. he turned and began to walk towards the inspector, reaching the steps he took the first, and then the second, and slowly he worked his way up the stairs, the constant pain forcing him to submit his entire willpower to stop himself from missing a step and falling.
Finally he arrived next to the inspector, leaning down and he checked for a pulse, it was steady! A murmur came from the Inspector, followed by his eyes opening.
A flash of recognition appeared on the inspectors face.
Painstakingly the Inspector reached into his pocket and pulled out a comm badge activating it "This is C..Chief Inspector Dorian... I, I am... in need of backup, and... a medical unit... to my location" he said in-between breaths.
He turned to Nathanial. "The... girls?"
Nathanial shook his head at a loss.
"C..check the c..crates and c...containers" he said to Nathanial before slipping into unconsciousness again.
He didn't want to do anything anymore, his body was screaming at him, yet he persevered, he slowly took the steps back down into the warehouse. He headed towards one of the walls witch had crates and barrels, it was then he noticed the red writing on the barrels. Three of the five barrels had names on them, Cassandra, Arianna and Sara! His heart skipped a beat, he hurried as fast as his pain ridden body could take him over to the barrels.
He reached the barrel marked Sara first. He tried to look for a latch but found the lid had been nailed into place. He turned and headed back to the table and picked up a hammer from the set of tools. He began to rip out the nails, ripping out the last one he removed the lid. He was greeted with an aroma of body sweat and blood, and the sight of Sara, unconscious in a murky coloured liquid. He reached in, pain shooting down his arms at the movement, he began to lift Sara out of the barrel. Just as he had her body clear the barrel he stumbled, falling to the floor with Sara in tow.
He hit the floor on his back, knocking the wind out of him and sending new streams of pain throughout his body, a second later Sara's body landed on top of him, sending a second wave of pain. He tired to move but his body had given up. His vision began to blur again, and the last thing he heard was the distant sound of sirens.
Light and pain came back in a flash, a small torch was being shined into his eyes, Sara was no longer on top of him, he got scared "Sara" he said.
"He's coming to." A voice said above him. "She is ok" The voice said to him. 'Arianna' his head screamed. He tried to get up but collapsed as soon as he tried.
"Hold still, you need to hold still" The voice said back.
His vision began to clear, he was on a stretcher, and there was a man standing above him, by the clothes he was wearing he was part of a medical response team.
Nathanial looked past the man to the barrel marked 'Arianna', there were two men standing around it, removing the nails. As the last nail came off and they began to remove the lid one of them yelled "Oh my god" and covered his nose, the other also raised his hand to cover his nose. It took a few seconds for the stench to reach Nathanial, and it made him want to dry heave, it smelled of decay, sweat, urine and god knows what else. Nathanial tried to stand, and medic attempted to restrain him.
"No" Nathanial said pushing the medics hand away, as he slowly came to a seated position. He watched the two men put on gloves and reach into the barrel, pulling out a pasty green and yellow body.
The smell increased.
"We need to move you" The medic said to Nathanial, and without waiting for a reply placed his hand on Nathanial's chest to indicate to lie down, while two other men picked up the stretcher.
He was able to get one last glance at the body, all he needed to see was the hair, the long golden hair, and he knew it was Arianna.
==/\== Outside the Warehouse - San Francisco ==/\== SD240401.24 [15:17]
Nathanial saw lights flashing everywhere, he spotted another stretcher, this one had Sara on it, it was being loaded into an ambulance. He spotted the Inspector, he was sitting on the back of an ambulance, conscious and arguing with someone.
Nathanial heard a familiar voice over the noise "Where is she? Where is my daughter?" It was the Commandant, he tried to push his way towards the warehouse but was stopped by two police officers.
Nathanial looked back at the Inspector just in time to notice the inspector force himself up and begin to walk towards the warehouse entrance. Nathanial tried to sit up to follow, but found he couldn't move. The inspector disappeared from his field of vision, he tried to look around for any sign of Arianna, or the other girl, Cassandra?
He heard a shout, it was the Commandant, Nathanial shifted his view. The Commandant was looking at something or someone, it was in the direction of the warehouse, he screamed out "Nooo!" And pushed his way past the two police officers. They turned to restrain him. Nathanial noticed the sign of tears begin to form on the Commandants face.
The two officers grabbed the Commandant from behind stopping him in place.
"Nate" A voice from behind him said, Nathanial shifted his head and noticed the Chief Inspector heading his way and saying his name again.
"Arianna?" Nathanial asked. He didn't need to hear a reply from the Chief Inspector, he could tell by the change in his face that the news was bad.
"Arianna?" He asked again, the Inspector looked at him and began "Nathanial, I..." but before he could finish the sentence a loud shout forced them both to look towards the Commandant. He was engaged in what seemed to be a brawl with now three police officers. Nathanial looked back to the Inspector just in time to catch him heading off in the direction of the brawl.
Nathanial started to feel weak again, he slowly began to slip into unconsciousness again, the world becoming a blur. The last thing he heard was the Commandant crying out "Why god, why!"
A figure looked on the scene from a distance, it was angry. It had just lost its two protégée's and three years of work to a cocky boy and an overpaid inspector. "You will pay" it said as it turned and walked around the corner and away from the scene.
[End]
Ensign Nathanial Doyle
Chief Science Officer
USS Charon
