Tag: sto tos

I’ve survived. 
A hollow victory against an unfeeling foe. Time will eventually win this war, but for now, I seem to have won the battle. Now, I stand alone in this hellish place, above the battlefield that took my entire crew and the colonists with them. 

Time. 

The wind whispers it to me even now as the binary stars dip toward the horizon.

I’ve seen more time than anyone ever should. In flashes and grabs, in gasps and punches. In a non-reality that stands at once before my eyes, and then shimmers away and stands, glassy, in the eyes of my crew. In the seconds that tick away their life as they fall, phaser pistols still hot, dropping from their hands.

Still, I am standing here. I failed to go mad; to succumb to the illusions and mania that caused the slaughter in the valley. A few of us did, somehow immune to the panic in a way that the others weren’t. The captain and I, a medic, two science officers, several others. We were studied until the rest fell to the hands of the others. Then, in a brief moment of lucidity, I managed to drag the captain into the hills, away from the glazed eyes and phasers and bloody fists and makeshift daggers. 

Time is cruel. It twists good people into monsters. 

The captain is nowhere to be seen. I fear that he, too, has now fallen victim to time. There will be no one to bury him, or the others. No one to stand over us and mourn. Only a warning beacon that we managed to release, if it should even be discovered, will stand as legacy to our fate.

As it should be. 

Lieutenant Jones personal log: 

The Realm Jewel has been tasked with ferrying colonists to their new home on Borealis III. It will be the farthest known colony from Earth that we have, and it is a tremendous historical honor to be a part of this journey. I am, however, starting to wonder about the wisdom of undertaking deeper and deeper forays into space without the consideration of what lies ahead. This may be uncharted territory for us, but we have found that we are hardly alone in the cosmos. Are hundreds, thousands of lives worth the pursuit of science? Or have we simply transferred our race’s inborn greed to another form of currency…knowledge? 

I suppose that I am not the first person, nor the last, to have such thoughts. You would never think so to speak to the rest of the crew. Starfleet has indeed turned out fine people, cool-headed and honorable. I will be proud to serve alongside them on any mission, no matter what the fate. 

Our course will take us very close to some areas of spatial distortion which are said to be quite beautiful. I do look forward to seeing them in person. 

End log.