=/\= Moments after the initial attack… =/\=

Red lighting stuttered along the corridor in broken patterns. Every few seconds, it snapped off just long enough for the hallway to plunge into darkness. Then came the red strobe’s return. The light was harsh, violent and accompanied by the droning howl of the red alert klaxon. Ensign Caaral Topaz-Smythe pressed forward through the distractions. His footfalls echoed against the deck plating as he moved through the chaos outside of Science Lab Five.

He’d been cataloging tissue samples when the jarring alarms triggered. He didn’t even have time to seal the bio-locks before the station shook beneath his feet. Now he moved quickly as he ducked beneath a damaged, flickering conduit. Ensign Topaz-Smythe sprinted towards his assigned weapons locker. His hands shook by the time he reached it. Phaser rifles. Compression pistols. He grabbed a curved hand phaser, unsure if he was holding it right.

Just past the bend in the corridor, the whine of exchanged phaser fire ricocheted throughout the halls. The sounds grew louder as he moved closer. Smoke next billowed and curled around the corner like a beckoning hand. Caaral rounded it through the acrid haze. He was confronted with a broken security barricade. Strewn debris was marked with burn marks. Something slick coated parts of the floor.

“Ensign!” one of several gold-uniformed officers called out. “You’re with us now!”

Caaral didn’t question it. There was no time. He moved behind their formation, breathing ragged. The next ten minutes passed in a blur. Phaser bursts lit the smoke in brilliant red pulses. Ahead of them, from out of broken doorways and ruptured panels, came tall figures in brown tunics clasped by black cords. Vaadwaur. Their weapons spat violet beams with a sharp, splitting pitch. One struck an officer beside Caaral, crumpling him instantly.

Caaral’s vision tunneled. He returned fire.

It wasn’t skill. It wasn’t training. It was instinct and desperation. His beam hit the Vaadwaur mid-charge. The shot caught the intruder in the chest. He dropped with a strangled snarl, pale limbs twitching. Caaral’s chest heaved. He could barely hear shouted commands from a nearby lieutenant. A call for backup resonated over one of the security officer’s commbadges.

The Vaadwaur’s body lay still. His etched, ornate weapon lay beside his corpse. The brown tunic was scorched through, crossed black cords burned to ash above his chest. Caaral had never seen a casualty this closely. He once completed an autopsy, but had never watched life extinguish like this. It didn’t feel like victory. It felt like something hollow had cracked inside his chest. Most troubling of all was the sense of numbness he felt about everything.

Even after the last of the invaders had been repelled, Caaral didn’t return to the labs. He stayed with the security team. They moved through the station, silent and alert. Blood was splattered on his teal-shouldered uniform. Soot covered his spotted caramel facial features. The young scientist didn’t know if he could ever sleep again.

He did know he’d never forget the sound that Vaadwaur made as it fell.