The defenses weren’t going to be enough. Quinn stood back and looked at what the small group had managed to build. They were rudimentary at best, crude barriers constructed from the remains of beds and other debris they’d found in the cells. 

Power… just a thought away. Here. Bright, shiny mind. Take. 

He grit his teeth, avoiding the thoughts swirling around his head he knew weren’t his own. His gaze slid sideways, assessing all the people around him. All the telepaths. 

It wasn’t any of them, he was sure of it. They were broken down, beaten. Only those from the Resolute crew would meet his eyes. Some even shied away from him. His stomach soured. What had they been through here? 

Pain. Agony. Misery. Hopelessness. 

The wash of emotion almost brought him to his knees. They weren’t his emotions but he felt helpless all the same. 

Couldn’t help. Minds are wrong. Can’t touch. Couldn’t STAY!

He felt the frustration as keenly as if it were his own. 

“Incoming!” Harrow warned from the other side of the room. “Arm yourselves and hold your positions!”

They will die, the voice in Quinn’s head warned as he readied the chair leg he was using as a club. It was scant protection against the energy weapons and prods the guards had but he at least had hand to hand combat training. He looked at the young girl next to him, seeing her clearly in that moment. 

She couldn’t be more than nine years old. The age he’d finally escaped his tormentors. Her eyes were wide, bright green, with purplish bruises beneath that told the tale of mistreatment and lack of food. Her hands were too tiny to go around her own chair leg, identical to the one Quinn held. 

Let me help, the voice whispered and Quinn shook his head, finally speaking to whatever was in his head. And what if I do, and you kill everyone? 

Amusement washed over and through him, and in the next second, his mind… expanded. He grunted as the momentary glimpse into the consciousness lodged in his brain drove him to his knees. It’s journey to become trapped in this place when the mind that had hosted it died. 

Misery and pain. Alone. Helpless. Watching them die. Watching them be killed. Killed. Killed. No MORE!

“No more,” Quinn agreed, rising to his feet as he let down his guard and let the thing in his mind in. 

“They’re coming!” Harrow bellowed and the sounds of fighting and weapons fire reached the duo that had been Quinn’s ears. 

“NO MORE!” he snarled, turning and lashing out.  

The shockwave took Talia off her feet as all around her the Devore guards screamed, dropping their weapons and falling to the floor to clutch their heads. 

She blinked, looking at Harrow, who shrugged. The other prisoners milled around, confused at this turn of events, until, one by one, they all turned to look at… 

“It’s Allen,” she breathed, watching the tall science officer. His hair was a wild mess of blonde spikes, his eyes blazing with fury. 

Harrow leaned in to murmur. “He’s human, right?” 

She nodded. 

“So his eyes shouldn’t be glowing like that?” 

She shook her head, watching as Allen lifted his hands. “That’s not just Allen in there. There’s something else in there.”

Harrow grunted, hefting his makeshift club. “Something dangerous?”

A soft snort escaped her. “Considering he just dropped the devore with a thought and none of us are affected, I’m going with not.”

There was a clatter behind them as Bennett and his team arrived, the look on the big engineers face confused as he looked around. Instantly his gaze snapped to Allen and he started to lift his rifle. 

“No!” she gasped, getting herself between him and his target, hand shoving the rifle down. 

“What the hell, doll!” Bennett snapped, a huge hand snaking out and yanking her to the side before she could do anything else. “Don’t ever get yourself that end of a rifle!” 

“Don’t hurt him,” she hissed, even as she was forced to clutch at the big man for her balance, he’d pulled her so hard. “He’s not on his own in there.”

“Glowy eyes? No shit,” Bennett grunted, pushing her behind him to approach the science officer. 

“Allen, dude… you mind ratcheting it down a notch? You’re going to kill this lot,” he said, motioning to the guards writhing on the floor. Talia stepped out from behind him, her hands out so she didn’t appear threatening. 

“Quinn… you’re hurting them.”

His gaze snapped to her and his lips curled back from his teeth. “They deserve it. Every one of them. Do you know what they’ve done? How many innocents they’ve tortured and killed?”

He curled his hands into fists and the guards on the floor screamed. 

“No,” she whispered, walking past Bennett to approach him. “But if we do the same, then we’re no better than them, are we?” 

He looked down at her, the eerie green glow in his eyes almost making her whimper. Whatever was looking out of her from behind his eyes was ancient and more powerful than anything she’d ever encountered. More powerful than anything she’d ever even heard of. 

“He’s not this…” she begged whatever it was. “Please don’t give him new nightmares on top of the old. Please let him go.”

“Bright shiny mind,” he rumbled, reaching up to touch her cheek softly. “Too shiny to stay, to hold onto. His is bright, but the scars give me purchase.”

She shook her head. “Don’t give him more. Please.”

The entity tilted Quinn’s head to the side. She could tell there wasn’t much, if any of Quinn, in control now. “He hated you, yet you protect him. Why?” 

“Because he is my crew. My family,” she said, honestly. “Family doesn’t always get on, but we always look out for each other.” 

“Family…” Then it nodded, and the screaming stopped. There were gasps behind her as the guards all got to their feet. Moved one after the other, marching out of the room toward the cells. 

“They will suffer in their own way,” the creature controlling Quinn said, its voice softer. “Every innocent they hurt, they will feel that same pain. Feel the knowledge and weight of that. Over and over, for the rest of their days.” 

She tried to feel sorry for them, tried to feel horror at that sort of unending torment. But then she remembered the cells whose occupants would never leave this place. Her expression hardened and she nodded. 

The clang of cell doors shutting and locking reached them, and a second later Quinn gasped and collapsed. She managed to reach him a second before he hit the floor, his taller form almost crushing her. 

“Help me!” she gasped, looking around for the Resolute team. “We’re going to need to get him to sickbay! Now!”