It had been Klingon night again at Soma. The Klingon's heavy metal music had prompted Paul to leave slightly earlier than he normally liked to do. Another odd thing about tonight, he left with some one else... a woman!
Paul smugly walked down the station's "night life" area, arm in arm with this dazzlingly beautiful Bajoran woman hanging off his arm, destination, his quarters.
As the doors to Paul's quarters hissed open, Paul stumbled in, clearly more drunk than his new found friend. She giggled and helped him to the large, comfortable sofa - obviously meant for occasions such as this, although never used. Paul smiled as she kissed him deeply. He slowly took off her top and the two of them began working at the task at hand.
Paul woke the next morning on the floor of his quarters. He groggily sat up and looked around finding no trace of the woman from the night before. Coming to the realization that this was only another one night stand and wouldn't have ever been anything else, he walked into the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, then went and got changed.
After breakfast, he made his way up to Ops to review the overnight sensor logs and to run his morning diagnostics on the sensors. He took the scenic route up through the promenade. The turbolift was designed so that it would slow down while going through the promenade and enter a glass tube, so that the passengers could look out upon the massive town center like bay. There were six different levels with shops and restaurants and other businesses filling every room in the place. People were walking back and for along the walkways as the shops opened up for morning business, the large fountain in the center of the bottom level shimmered into life, and the large lights on the ceiling made it look almost like sunlight. Paul was genuinely feeling good this morning, there was something about the woman from last night.
It wasn't just her beautiful blonde hair, her peachy soft skin or even her perfect figure that made Paul notice her. As soon as he saw her, he seemed drawn to her somehow, and while she was there, he could think of nothing else. But now that she was gone, last night seemed nothing more than a distant memory... as though he had imagined it all. Had he?
As the view of the promenade left Paul's view, the turbolift quickly sped up again and swiftly deposited Paul in Ops. The Ops center of this new station was far larger than the old one. It was a good job docking control wasn't also incorporated into Ops or it would have truly been huge! Paul walked over to the far side of the room where the science controls were located. This station had so much, that there were nine different stations devoted solely to science. Paul sat at one of the sensor stations and quickly reviewed the previous nights sensor readings... nothing showed up, as expected, as was normal.
Paul then initiated the sensor diagnostic, this usually took a few minutes so he leaned back in his chair and spun around watching the crew bustling about the command center.
"Lieutenant, I gotta congratulate you for last night." said a crewman approaching Paul. "That was a fine woman you found there sir."
"Thank you mon amis." At least now he knew he hadn't imagined it.
"Funny how she ended up going home with you" said the young ensign.
Paul would have retaliated with one of his usual sarcastic remarks, but today, he decided not too. The computer bleeped indicating the diagnostic was complete. Paul checked the monitor, all systems were green, so he got up and headed back to the turbolift.
Paul relaxed in his new science lab, studying a hologram of the remains of some prehistoric creature found on New Canada, which was rotating in the central display table in the room. As he watched the hologram rotating, the image of the woman from last night jumped into his mind. Then just as quickly, vanished. Five minutes later, it happened again.
Paul at first didn't think much of it, but when it kept happening every now and again, he started to think a bit more about it. She was standing on a beach, a long sandy beach, one he had never seen before, the planet didn't even look familiar. She was holding something... something Paul couldn't make out and she was speaking, but Paul couldn't make out to who.
Zhis is gettin' weird Paul thought, after the vision hit him for the tenth time. He walked over to the replicator and ordered a cup of coffee. He thought and thought about the woman, but the more he thought about her, the more distant the vision became. Eventually he gave up on it and went back to work, hoping that the vision would come back to him. It didn't, reappear for the rest of the day, so Paul dismissed it.
His dreams that night however, were a little more disturbing. That woman appeared again, only this time, she was bound to a wall, in chains. Her lip was bleeding and she looked beaten and bruised. A figure passed by blocking the view, and the image changed again, to her on the beach again, beckoning for Paul to follow her with her finger, then walking off down the beach. Just as suddenly, the image changed again. She was running, running in fear down dark corridors in what looked like some kind of alien ship. As she rounded the corner, a scream was heard, and blood... her blood, splattered across the wall.
Paul woke with a start and sat up. He was dripping with sweat.
"Lights, 50 per cent" he gasped.
Before, him, the Bajoran woman was standing, but slowly dissolved out of view. Paul jumped out of bed. There was only one person he could d think of that could help him right now - Kassia!