Subject: Grail: "The Great Brightness"; "So tired..."

<<Stardate 47307.30 - 9:30>>

<<Main Bridge>>

François yawned. The adrenaline from the reunion was wearing off and fatigue

was setting in. He remembered he had hardly slept in the last two days. It was

time for him to hit the sheets. Alone. He had considered seducing that shy

engineer, but changed his mind. She was cute, but he was too tired to play.

Instead he headed for the turbolift with some of the others. Nobody spoke

during

the ride, but even François could feel the tension. The meeting had affected

everyone deeply.

He thought back to the meeting. In his opinion, three things had come

out of

it: First, they had a plan to deal with Kerestria, second, they now all knew

that the Prime Directive was a touchy subject and was to be avoided at parties

and third, they had learned that Torellions were obnoxious mind-reading

know-it-alls. In François' opinion anyway. Ambassador T'Nek had really got under

his skin and François didn't trust him at all.

The turbolift doors opened and François made his way to his quarters. The

doors to his quarters hardly had time to shut behind him and he was already

sleeping on his bed, still wearing his uniform.

-----------------------------------------------------

<<Someplace else, in the middle of nowhere>>

"'tis time! In his tired state he is more open to our mental messages" said Kol.

"Forget about it! Even if he does hear us, it's still hopeless!" Pilo retorted,

discouraged.

"Don't say that, Pilo!" Xara cut in, "Don't even think it!"

Kol spoke again, "We cannot lose hope. If we do, then everything we have fought

for will have been for naught!"

"We have to keep trying!" supported Xara.

Pilo's voice wavered as he spoke, "OK, I'll try again... once."

But it wasn't good enough for Kol, "We'll keep trying until it works." he

said,

"Now, concentrate..."

-------------------------------------------------

François had the enemy plane in his sights. His finger tightened on

the

trigger as he got ready to blast it out of the sky, but his concentration

was

cut short by a faint voice.

"help!" he heard.

His adversary sharply veered to the left, but François' Spitfire kept going.

"What??"

"help!" the voice repeated.

François looked around. There was nothing but blue skies and clouds. Even

the German plane had disappeared.

"Who said that?" he asked, keeping his plane steady as he looked around.

Suddenly, he was assaulted by a wave of emotions. Fear, panic, hatred, all

collided within him, knocking th ewind out of him. But the strongest was

despair. It was overwhelming. François' hands gripped his chest as he tried to

breathe His plane started spiralling downward. The world was now spinning

outside and in. Everything became a blur.

--------------------------------------------------

<<USS Grail - DeMontigny's quarters - 17:15>>

François' eyes flew open and he immediately took a deep breath. He was in

his quarters, lying on his bed. 'The dream again!' he thought to himself as he

sat up on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands. But it had been different

this time. He had heard something and had felt the emotions instead of seeing

them. 'Help'. It had been said with such timidity, yet with an immesurable hope.

Hoping for what? François didn't know. And he didn't care. This weird dream was

really starting to annoy him. Maybe he should talk to someone about it. Naw,

talking wasn't his style. He'd get through it, he always did.

'I need a drink,' he thought as he left his quarters.

Lt(jg) François DeMontigny

Assistant Chief of Flight Control

USS Grail