Just a Flashback

Posted on 09 Jul 2012 @ 1:53pm by Ensign Im'er Mor'an

1,355 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: Lake of Ach'thur'uss, Arun R'lantha
Timeline: 2374

ON

Happy shrieks filled the air surrounding the majestic Lake of Ach'thur'uss as a dozen girls from the Order of Ban'kina splashed and swam in the water. They didn't get many days to do nothing but play, but today, for some reason unknown to them, their mentor's let them free. Fourteen-year-old Im'er Mor'an was especially happy because she was training harder then the rest. On the brink of the first Romth'kin'gar, Mor'an should have been home preparing her mind. Instead, she was here, frolicking in the lake with her friends.

"Mor'an!" Tur'eth Ar'tin called her friend's name with glee. A year older then Mor'an, she had already completed her first Romth'kin'gar and therefore had nothing to worry about in the coming days. "Mor'an it is your turn!" Mor'an shook herself from the stupor she had been in and glanced up the cliff at Ar'tin.

"Alright!" she yelled back, "I am coming." She shimmied up the tall over-hanging cliff beside her friend in preparation of her dive. Looking down to make sure there was a spotter watching her, Mor'an leaped off the edge, her long dark hair streaming out behind her. She felt the exhilaration of jumping from a high place and loved it, as she did every time she jumped. Making contact with the water in a seamless dive, Mor'an immediately surfaced. Swimming to the spotter's rock in the middle of the lake, she pulled herself up on top. "I will take over," she said to the girl, Ja'veer, already there. Nodding her thanks, the girl swam off. A spotter did one single thing while on the spotter's rock. Whenever someone dove off the cliff, they used their infrared vision to ensure the diver was alright after the dive. If they didn't see the diver surface immediately after hitting the water, they assumed something was wrong and went in after them. It wasn't a rule or a requirement, but simply something the girls did to ensure each other's safety as diving from high cliffs was not the safest pastime they could have chosen.

Ar'tin was standing on the edge of the cliff, ready to make the plunge. Something about the way she held herself made Mor'an wonder if she was alright. It was difficult to see from down below, but Mor'an thought she saw her friend slightly bent over, with a hand on her chest. Do not jump, Ar'tin. You do not look right. Mor'an tired to get the message to the girl, but whether she didn't hear it or chose to ignore it Mor'an never knew. A moment later, Ar'tin stood straight and jumped, creating a graceful image on her way down. As soon as she hit the water, Mor'an knew she wasn't going to resurface. Call it paranoia or call it intuition. Either way, Mor'an was right. Mor'an saw her friend's heat signature floating below the water and dove in. As clear as the water was, Mor'an still used IR to find Ar'tin as quickly as possible. Swimming through the signatures of the fish and other aquatic animals around her, Mor'an hoped it was her imagination when she noticed the signature of Ar'tin was slightly faded. When she reached her friend, Mor'an blinked away the IR, gripped Ar'tin and shot to the surface.

As she broke the surface, Mor'an saw a few of the other girls swimming rapidly towards her.

"What happened?"

"Is she alright?"

"Her signature is fading!"

The girls shouted random lines that Mor'an only half heard as she hoisted Ar'tin up onto the spotter's rock, her form limp. The top of the rock was big and flat enough for about five or six girls to sit comfortably on. By now the rest of the dozen girls had been alerted to what happened and had swam out to the rock, gathering around the edge. Mor'an knelt over her unconscious friend and felt for her pulse. It was very faint.

"Give her room to breathe!" Mor'an said loudly as girl began to press closer, trying to figure out what had happened. The girls drew back, whispering amongst themselves. Mor'an leaned down and listened to Ar'tin's breath. From the gurgling sound coming from her throat, she had water in her lungs that had to be removed or she would suffocate.

Because of the pelagic nature of their planet, everyone knew how to remove water from the lungs of another. Mor'an did just that, placing her hands on Ar'tin's breastbone and concentrating hard. One frightening moment passed as nothing happened. The girls remained silent, waiting and watching. Mor'an felt Ar'tin's body respond to her neurocontrol and a second later the girl was coughing up the water in her lungs. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. The joy was sort-lived, however, as Ar'tin remained motionless after her coughing fit.

"What is wrong?" asked Ja'veer, the spotter whom Mo'ran had replaced. Her voice was gentle, as though afraid of hurting Ar'tin should she speak roughly. Mor'an shook her head in disbelief as Ar'tin's signature began to fade.

"I...I am not sure," Mor'an whispered. "She is cold. Look at her signature." She looked around at the girls and saw them focus on Ar'tin, knowing they were examining her body heat.

"Her heart has seized." The voice of Lai'tar, Ar'tin's mentor, came to the girls from a ways off, towards shore. The girls around Ar'tin looked up and saw Lai'tar wade through the water towards them.

"What do you mean?" Mor'an asked, not wanting to believe her friend's signature was fading because of a seized heart.

"I mean she is dead." The words were spoken without emotion, as though they were nothing more than a necessity that had to be communicated. The air around Mor'an suddenly dropped in temperature as she started at the woman, wondering how she could possibly know that.

"No," Mor'an said, "She is not dead." She looked back down at Ar'tin, hoping to see a leveling out in her decreasing signature. She didn't.

"How are you here?" asked one girl at the back of the group.

"A mentor knows when their student is in trouble." Lai'tar looked at Ar'tin sadly. "I did not arrive in time." Mor'an made eye contact with Lai'tar, horrified at a sudden realization.

"I could have saved her," she whispered, "I saw her up there. I was the spotter. I knew she should not have jumped. I should have tried harder to stop her. I should have --"

"Child." Lai'tar interrupted Mor'an with a gentle voice. "There was nothing you could have done. She knew, but she jumped anyway." She broke eye contact with Mor'an and looked around the group. "Look at her heart," she said to no one in particular, "Look at the veins. What is wrong with them?" Even is such a dire situation, a mentor never misses an opportunity to teach.

Along with everyone else, Mor'an peered at Ar'tin's heart with IR vision. Horrified at the bluish color she saw in her friend, she ignored it to focus on the chest and noticed a dark patch where the heart should have been. "What is it?" she asked, knowing that everyone else saw it as well.

"Her veins burst, causing her heart to seize."

"Why?" Ja'veer asked. Lai'tar shrugged delicately.

"That was how she was created," she said, "She was warned that overstimulation of the heart, such has diving, could cause serious damage. She jumped one too many times and now..." She didn't need to finish the sentence.

Mor'an closed her eyes as a sudden wave of sorrow came over her. Thur'eth Ar'tin was the only child of her parents Fa'shi and De'lar. How could they possibly cope with losing their only child so suddenly? Unless, like Lai'tar and Ar'tin, they knew what might happen. Mor'an was suddenly angry at her friend for withholding such important information from her. How could she? They shared everything. She felt tears build under her eyelids, but she refused to cry. Standing suddenly, she dove off the spotter's rock and swam for shore, heartbroken, confused and angry.

OFF

Cadet Senior Grade Im'er Mor'an
Red Squad Intern
USS Galileo

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