Subject: Grail: "Unexplored Spaces"; "Intensity"

<<<The past truly can come back to haunt you. There really should be no post in response to this, if that wasn't self-evident. I hope you don't find this as annoying as it was to write it! *g* >>>

"Intensity"

By: Lt. Kait Brennan.

<<Jeffries tube>>

Kestra found herself in a Jeffries tube. In front of her was a console that provided access to the field actuators.

Her hands, moving without thought or will, were moving rapidly among the controls, and varying the shield frequencies in a seemingly random manner.

There seemed to be no reason for altering the shield harmonics once, much less endlessly like this. But she had no control. And on top of this, the sense of urgency surged her efforts forward in this pointless task. Panic began to overwhelm her as the sense of foreboding increased. At her heart 92s crescendo, a blinding flash of white light engulfed her and everything around her. Then there was nothing.

Then she was back in the Jeffries tube. Her hands working unceasingly among the controls, attempting to vary the frequency enough to make it random. It was a frightening experience, and she knew the end was coming soon. The light overtook everything, and brought an end to her world.

Again, she was in the Jeffries tube, working with the shield actuators. She was altering them to give them a random nature. To leave those out there guessing. But it wouldn't last forever. It was simply an attempt to avoid the inevitable. Soon it would be all over, but she fought harder against this fate, and changed the shield nutations even more rapidly. The light enveloped the entire ship and its crew. There was no one living. Kestra found herself back in the Jeffries tube. Her hands moving over the console at an almost inhuman speed. The loss of the computer made the needed random and rapid shield variances a very difficult task that only she could perform. There were still some living and she had to fight, for their sake. But she knew it was a futile attempt. An explosion engulfed the ship in a microcosmic supernova. The ship and its crew were vaporised.

Then, she was in the Jeffries tube again with the shield actuators. Rapidly she worked to randomize the shield frequencies. The Borg would soon adapt to all the frequencies and pierce through their shields. Death was inevitable, and in a sudden explosion the ship was destroyed.

The Jeffries tube became her surroundings once more. She knew her attempts to vary the field actuators were worthless. A figure stood beside her. She disregarded the shields, and stood up to see it. Then the explosion took place, and there was nothing.

Back in the Jeffries tube, she worked at changing the field actuators. She worked a little bit more slowly, thinking that it didn't matter how fast she worked, but she still had her doubts. A figure, a man, stood over her. She

looked up at him. It was Captain Terrakian. Her world ended in an explosion.

Kestra found herself, again, in the Jeffries tube. She looked up to see Captain Terrakian.

{{Kestra?}} he seemed to say.

Silence.

{{Wake up}} he commanded.

The ship exploded in a flash of white fury.

She was back in the Jeffries tubes.

"What ye sends forth Comes Back to ye

So Evermind the Rule of Three

Follow this with Mind and Heart

Merry ye Meet and Merry ye Part...."