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By a Star Trek captain not me... very interesting.
A Dark Influence. Do you feel it? The cold… that glacial breath against your back.
… that grip on your insides, tightening until it feels like it’s been ripped out of you.
… the fear that begins to snake through your body.
You look over your shoulders, feeling your armor drop.
Cadaverous creatures protrude from the hearts of the innocent;
Stretching out their mouths so they can crawl out and corrupt their will.
The world begins to decay. Bodies putrefy.
The stench of deteriorating flesh and withering skin floods the air.
Shadows begin to engulf the horizon, blanketing the surface of the Earth.
The Darkness has come.
Captain James T. Kirk has had this dark, terrifying dream before. It feels as if an eternity has passed since the Darkness was first born - a negative energy absorbed by the Pandorians during a battle in the atmosphere of their planet due to the power-lusting Romulans. Now known as Pandora’s Box, the dark energy released has spread across universes and worlds, influencing the worst in every living and breathing entity.
The goal of the Federation when the Darkness first arrived, was to restore the Pandorians to their former glory - pure, positive energy. However, there are groups that separated themselves from the Federation that is against such restoration. They prefer to just wipe them out completely. Unfortunately, that is not the way of Starfleet, and since Starfleet’s arrival to the Pandorian planet is what triggered the arrival of the Romulans, Starfleet feels partly responsible.
This was not the only darkness that Kirk has come into contact with. Prior to their awakening, Kirk was in the hands of a blood-lusting alien race known as the C’Thele.
Tortured, and nearly bled to death, Kirk was ultimately saved from further physical torment. However, he had no completely escaped their grasp:
Even after ten years, the C’Thele still held him captive. He still felt vulnerable, especially when he was alone, because he was alone with his thoughts and his memories, much like now. He was still a slave to his past.
The Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise now suffered from a serious form of PTSD, and sometimes, lost himself mentally and emotionally. Only a select few on the ship knew of his condition, and Kirk controlled it to the best of his abilities.
Four days prior, Kirk received a message from the Yorktown base of a growing dark influence rapidly increasing on one of their long range interdimensional scanners, a device that was invented not too long after the Darkness was first widespread. Kirk’s ship, the Enterprise, was one of the very few that was equipped and capable of interdimensional travel. This next mission will take Kirk and his crew to Earth of a different dimension.
“ETA, Sulu.”
“We will be entering Earth 022 in sixty seconds, sir.” Sulu replied promptly as the Captain took his seat in the middle of the Bridge.
“Red alert.” the Captain ordered, sending the rest of the ship a message that things were about to get rough on board the Enterprise. In every interdimensional jump, the ship suffered some variation of minor distress.
“Thirty seconds.”
The ship began to shake.
“Twenty five seconds.”
The stars in front of them began to distort.
“Preparing for interdimensional jump.”
“Brace yourselves.” Kirk warned the Bridge crew as his fingers tightened around the front of the arm rests of the Captain’s chair.
“In three… two… one…”
On cue, the Enterprise was whipped through a vortex of psychedelic colorations and distortions. However, the trip did not last long. Within seconds, they arrived at their destination as the red lights of the alert system disappeared, and the Enterprise stabilized itself.
From space, Earth looked normal. However, on the surface, it was far from normal. Due to the high concentration of the dark influence caused by the presence of the Darkness.
With a small away team, Kirk materialized into a discreet location, hopefully, away from any witnesses who would report the sighting as ‘strange and unusual.’ They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves.
“We’ll split up, and look for any signs that the Darkness penetrated Earth, which wouldn’t be too hard to spot. Do what you can to neutralize the issue.” After Kirk gave his orders, each member of the away team went their separate ways.
❖ - Captain James T. Kirk.
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