CW: nightmare, death, zombies
Total darkness. Serene peace and quiet. Then... All that changed. Flashes of light... Before it all became a bit clearer... Into a nightmare. It was a rogue faction ship... One Essen couldn't quite make out. But all of a sudden... She felt herself being restrained. Being held back. By whoever or whatever it was... Until she then saw a figure in front of her. It was... Kaylee? Screaming... And crying... Also being held back... Restrained... By an organic life form... And being taken away. The words 'let me go' emanating from her mouth, while Essen screamed, but no sound came out... She had a mouth but could not speak... She could only watch as Kaylee was dragged away...
And then, the nightmare changed. It was in the middle of a Starfleet vessel. It looked like Starbase 777, but it was... Different? The areas seemed differently laid out, almost as if Essen had imagined them. But in the center... A long, rectangular prism shaped box... With the letters VALKYRIE emblazoned on it in gold leaf. A voice rang out. It was Kaylee's. 'Why couldn't you save me?' Over and over again... Progressively getting louder... Turning into a scream... Until the box opened, revealing a zombified Kaylee inside, reaching out to spring forwards at Essen, aimed right for her, in a screeching squealing scream, almost inhuman!
And then... A blood-curdling feminine scream, this time more human-seeming, as the nightmare ended, and Essen jolted awake, sitting up in her bed. Panting, huffing, out of breath, as tears ran down her face. "No... No, that wasn't real... IT WASN'T REAL!!!" She said aloud. "Computer, status of Lieutenant Junior Grade Kaylee Valkyrie, engineering." The computer would respond that Kaylee was perfectly fine, elsewhere on the starbase. Phew... That wasn't a good nightmare at all. She'd have to tell Kaylee about this. But it was 4am... Was it too early? She didn't want to wake Kaylee up!
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