Future Shock

Treya and Jack were finally leaving Puerto Azul to the tearful good-byes of Mama Rosa and her family, or rather, their extended family now . . . They had insisted going to the space port with him and Treya and waving them off.

“Jack, you promise me you’ll come back with Treya soon!” Mama Rosa said as she hugged him and then dried her eyes on a green handkerchief that she had with her.

“When have I ever stayed away that long?” he smirked.

She pointed at him. “And when was the last time we saw you before this?” she asked in a scolding manner.

“All right, all right, you got me!” he grinned. “How about we try to come back for Christmas.”

“Yes!” she replied with a smile, though she was still trying to dry her tears. “Yes, come back for Christmas, please! We will miss you both so much between now and then!” Rosa then engulfed Treya in a hug. “And you must set a date for your wedding and don’t forget you promised me it would be here!”

“We won’t forget, Mama Rosa,” Treya smiled, revelling in the warmth of her new extended family.

“I want to throw the wedding!” she said.

“We know, Mama,” Jack said as he tried to suppress a chuckle.

Finally, as they left and Jack escorted Katreya back aboard the * Roanoke*, he could sense a change.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’m going to miss them . . .” she replied simply.

Immediately he pulled her into his arms. “We won’t be gone that long . . .”

She smiled and kissed him. “I know . . . It was just nice to feel like I was part of a family again . . .”

He caressed her face. “You are part of the family . . . Just like I am.”

This made her smile brighten.

“Now come here,” he said taking her hand and pulling her toward his cabin. “I want you to see this. There’s barely any walking room.” He grinned and almost laughed.

As she saw, her mouth dropped open. The new bed was installed and it was quite large. It also looked incredibly comfortable. But he was right . . . There wasn’t much waking space. However, she knew it wouldn’t be a problem. There was just enough room to get around. Then, taking them by surprise, Charger bolted in and jumped onto the bed, making himself comfortable on the new green comforter.

Immediately Treya began to laugh.

“I don’t think so,” Jack said to the pooch. But seeing Charger’s brown eyes melted his resistance. “Oh, all right . . . But I’m kicking you off of there later!”

Treya continued to laugh.

“You think that’s funny, do you?” Jack said as he grabbed her and began tickling her.

Charger quickly moved as they both toppled onto the bed; Treya laughing, flopping around like a fish out of water, and screaming for him to stop. Finally, pinning her, he stopped, leaned over and kissed her.

“You give up?” he asked.

“Never,” she smiled, suppressing a laugh.

“Do I have to torture you more?” he replied.

“More tickling? If you keep that up I’ll wet my pants!”

“You’d just have to take them off . . .” he smirked.

“You naughty boy!” she laughed.

As he kissed her again, there was something in their touch that felt like an electric shock. This was different from how things had been before. There was almost a pain as images crashed into her mind.

*She saw them in the bed together in an intimate embrace. There was an alarm. Jack was just getting out of bed when there was more sounds and a couple of intruders transporting in with weapons.*

As the images evaporated, Jack looked at her quizzically. “Are you all right?” he asked.

She shrugged. “The weirdest thing just happened . . .” she said as she explained what she’d seen.

Though his eyes reflected concern, he caressed her face. “You know, it’s probably just anxiety over leaving here . . . especially after what happened when you were attacked in your shuttle.”

She nodded. “You’re probably right,” she said, but her eyes reflected the fact that she didn’t know if she believed it or not.

“Maybe I’d better get us into the sky,” he said gently as he caressed her face. “Do you want to get some rest?”

She nodded. Maybe a nap would help . . . “Where do we go from here?”

“I have a run of medication to take to Parissean III,” he replied. “Shouldn’t take longer than a couple of days to get there. I’ll go get us off the ground and set the course, then I’ll come back here with you . . . But I do think it’s a good idea you rest . . . Give yourself a chance to ease whatever you might be feeling.”

She nodded. “Good advice . . .”

“Okay,” he said, caressing her face once more. “I’ll be back soon.”

She smiled as she watching him get up and leave. She then rolled over and caressed Charger’s head. “What do you think? Am I crazy?”

Charger immediately licked her face. She smiled, burying her hand in his fur and closing her eyes. It didn’t take her long to drift to sleep.

A couple hours later, Jack had joined Treya in the big new bed. His arm draped over her waist, he had fallen asleep himself. But another dream had jarred Treya out of her sleep with such a shudder that Jack woke up. Looking into her eyes, he caressed her face.

“Another nightmare?” he asked. He was calm about it, but the concern he had for her and these nightmares ran deep.

She nodded. “I saw the Temple of Light destroyed and I was standing in the middle of it with no way to get out…”

“Well, at least it was only a dream,” he said gently as he continued to caress her face.

“Do you really think that’s all it is?” she asked, wanting to believe him.

“Until we learn otherwise, yes . . .” he said, with a tender smile. “Believe me; I’m going to be at your side the whole time. There’s no way you’re going to be stuck in a temple somewhere without me.” With that, he kissed her gently.

Willing to lose herself in the moment, they were both taken by surprise when the proximity alarm went off.

“Oh my god,” she said as her vision came back to her.

“I’m going to go check what’s out there,” he said, sitting up.

But before he got anywhere, two aliens transported into the room, weapons raised; helmets on obstructing the majority of their faces.

“Lower the shields around your cargo bay!” one barked.

“I don’t think so,” Jack replied, slowly reaching for the phaser he kept under his bed.

Treya could sense the aliens knew what he was doing and immediately were ready to fire.

“NO!!!” she screamed and without thinking about it, she raised her right hand as if to stop them. But it wasn’t just a gesture as electricity shot out from her. As it hit the first man, she instinctually raised her left hand and another electric bolt shot from her hitting the second man.

They screamed and writhed around for a moment before finally just collapsing unconscious on the deck. Jack looked at her completely stunned, but not as stunned as she was, as she looked at her hands, not believing what she had seen.

“What was that?” he asked with surprise.

“I don’t know . . .” she replied, almost afraid of herself.

Slowly, with phaser in hand, he went to the aliens. “I think they’re still alive,” he said as he pulled off one of the helmets. “They’re Rapanites,” he said. “Why am I not surprised?”

“I take it they do this think a lot?” Treya asked, still shocked over what had happened.

“You could say that . . . A lot of these pirate bands in this area are made up of Rapanites.” He searched one of them and found what looked like a communicator. Figuring out the device quickly, he opened the channel. “Look, your plan failed. I’ll give you two minutes to get your people out of here and get on your way before I light up space with your ship.”

Suddenly, the two unconscious Rapanites vanished in a golden transporter beam. Jack left to make sure the vessel left the vicinity and to report it to the nearest authorities. With that done, he returned to their room and found Treya still shocked by everything that had unfolded.

What she had said to him earlier… her vision. It made him wonder. The events were just as she’d described. All except what she’d done.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded, but pulled the blanket up around her tighter.

“This was exactly like you saw it, wasn’t it?” he asked. “You saw the future….”

She shrugged. “I guess I did . . .”

“You didn’t mention that the Arterians were psychic,” he said.

“I don’t think they are . . .” she replied.

“And what about the lighting you managed to shoot from your hands?”

She nodded. “Some had that gift,” she replied.

“But not the foretelling the future?” he asked.

“Nothing’s coming up into my memory,” she replied. “And something would.”

“Then how?”

She shrugged her shoulders once again. “Maybe it’s the chemical changes in my brain; the combination of my Tanzaran ancestry and the Arterian’s ancestry. Outside of that, I really don’t know.”

He could tell she was troubled and it didn’t take a genius to see that she was worried that Jack was now afraid of her. Going to her, he sat down on the bed and took her hands in his.

“It’s okay, you know . . .” he replied.

“Are you sure?” she replied, her brown eyes meeting his, filled with all of her concerns and fears.

Raising her hands to his lips, he kissed them. “Of course, I’m sure, Katreya. I love you and nothing’s going to change that.”

Taking a deep breath, a tear trickled down her cheek. “I feel so scared . . .”

Immediately he took her into his arms. “You have nothing to be scared of . . . and from what I saw, you can take care of both of us without a problem.”

As she looked at him, she saw his customary smirk and smiled in kind. “I love you . . .” she said, snuggling into his arms.