The Nightmare
::walks along Voyager's decks, into the Delta Flyer, and flies it toward the Shuttle Bay doors, shooting past Voyager's Warp nacelles.::
::suddenly, the core on the Flyer's gone critical, about to blow!::
::Tom runs for the EVA suit, opening the storage case, but there's nothing inside, the case empty.::
::Desperately, he programs his beam-out coordinates for Voyager into the ship's Transporter, and sets it to beam him out, barely noticing that the coordinates malfunction, sending his destination outside the ship!::
::Beamed directly in front of Voyager's Bridge, yells, struggles to breathe, then finds that he can...in space?!::
::Looking in through the front wall of Voyager's Bridge somehow, sees and hears the crew talking to each other.::
::Janeway looks toward the wall.::
"What happened?"
::Chakotay replies without looking back, looking dead ahead.::
"Tom's gone."
::Kim replies too, looking directly at his console, unemotional.::
"Sensors show no lifesigns."
::Seven looks right at her board, replying as well.::
"A search would be futile."
::Tuvok looks dead ahead, almost unmoving.::
"A wise course of action would be to continue to head for the Alpha Quadrant."
::B'Elanna looks right at her console like Kim and Seven, unmoving.::
"Engines are good to go."
::Neelix stands like a statue next to the others, looking dead ahead also.::
"Oh well. Goodbye...Mr.Paris."
Tom can't believe what he's seeing and hearing, and yells, shouting at the Bridge until his voice is cracking, his throat raw.
"I'm HERE! WAIT! Don't LEAVE me HERE!"
::He winces as the ship spins in a 180 degree spin right next to him, and watches in horror as it raises its nacelles.::
"NO! WAIT! DON'T leave ME!"
::Voyager's nacelles hum, then blast as they launch Voyager off into the distance, a flash left in its wake.::
::Tom falls to his knees in space, completely in shock, left in its empty corners, abandoned, left to die alone by his shipmates, his crew, his Captain.::
"NO....."
::slumps downward, the weight of the world on his shoulders, along with a bitter emptyness inside, his soul feeling ripped from his body.::
"No....."
::tears well in his eyes, tears float free, and freeze in space's zero degree atmosphere.::
"N...."
::silent, feeling utterly defeated, with nowhere to go, noone with him.::
Alone.
::he feels a hand on his shoulder, and looks up, Hoshi standing there, looking down with not a sarcastic or angry look, but a sympathetic one, extending a hand to help him up.::
::he takes her hand and is helped up, looking her in the eye, she extends her arms outward, and he collapses into her open arms, crying, relieved that he's not alone, that someone's there somewhere, no matter what time or place.::
::all of a sudden, he feels her push him away, and a slash flies across his chest, slicing through his uniform like tissue paper, slicing his body, gasping in pain, shock and suprise. Looking at his cuts, he sees four almost foot long slashes, already starting to bleed.::
::he looks up from her feet, his mind unable to comprehend why Hoshi would do such a thing, and looks slowly upward, her blue uniform now a black one, with blue shoulders, no longer Hoshi, but Linnis, her right hand covered with three inch nails made of surgical scalpels made of stainless steel.::
No! Wait!
::he glances down at his chest, dabbing at it, wincing at the pain, then looks back up, her blue shoulders now maroon/red, the face his own, but with Lieutenant Commander pips.::
WAIT!
::he watches with horror as his double slams his fist right through his stomach, through his spine, exiting his back, impaled, slumping, footing unsteady, but unable to fall, yelling at the pain.::
::his double looks him in the eyes, voice dripping with evil and malice, dark and moody, almost the voice he expected Satan to have.::
"You won't need to be lonely anymore."
::his double raises the right hand, now from the elbow it melds into a blade, almost resembling a Klingon dagger, and raises it level with his head.::
No!
::his double grins ferally.::
NO!
::his double strikes, the blade piercing right through, pain lancing his head and abdomen, then blacking him out.::