OOC>> The following may be considered dark by some, so be
advised. Also be advised that it is kinda long. :)
=Starbase 234 - Unity=
It was early afternoon and Rick had told Lieutenant Commander
Utley, his deputy, that he was going to surprise Mai and Rachel
and take the rest of the day off. The last six months had been
almost non-stop at times, and any time one could take off was
a rare commodity.
He walked into an area of the starbase that had no foot traffic.
That's when he thought he heard footsteps behind him. He
turned and look, but saw no one. He turned and continued to
walk. Moments later, he felt something heavy slam into the
back of his head.
Everything quickly went dark.
Rick slowly opened his eyes, sitting in a chair and feeling a
sharp pain throughout his head. When he attempted to move
his arms to rub his head, he realized that they were in some
sort of restraints. His waist and legs were also tied to the chair.
He struggled, but was unable to budge.
"Ah, good ... you are finally awake," Rick heard as a figure
approached. He recognized the man as a security crewman
who had served numerous shifts guarding the Chimera-B
engineering department. Rick had even made small talk with
this crewman on a couple of occasions.
Arnold. His name was Arnold something. Or maybe that was
his first name. He couldn't be certain. But whoever he was,
he had a smile on his face.
"What ... what's going on?" Rick asked, trying to ignore the
pain.
Just then, another person approached out of the darkness. This
man was also wearing a starfleet uniform ... this one medical
department blue. He, too, Rick recognized.
"I have looked forward to this day for a long time, commander,"
the security crewman said, then his smile turned into something
else. Something dark. "A long, long time. Scream if you want,
but no one will be able to hear you."
"What's this about?" Rick asked. "Why have you done this?
Why am I here?"
The security crewman let a sadistic grin cross his face.
"You're still under the assumption that I'm a starfleet crewman.
Let me assure you that I am not, though I have had to wear this
uniform for more than a year."
"Then who are you?" Rick asked.
"Let's just say I'm an old friend of the family," the crewman said.
"Perhaps you have heard of me. My real name is Hoack. Your
brother knows me well. Well enough to have destroyed my life."
'Hoack, Hoack ... where have I heard that name before,' Rick
thought.
Then he remembered. It must have been seen on his face as
Hoack smiled again.
"Good. It seems you do know who I am," Hoack said as he
knelt toward Rick, nodding. "I've gotten to know you real well
for the past year. I've followed you routines. I know quite a bit
about you, commander."
Rick remembered that Hoack was a Nenon, head of their special
forces, the Nex, and a man responsible for killing his father. That
resulted in sanctions and an embargo placed against the Nenons.
Trent had later suspected an assassination of a council member to
have originated from Nenon space.
When Trent went there to investigate, he learn that the Nenons
were secretly working with the Romulans. Trent was captured
and tortured by Hoack, but managed to escape and warned the
Federation of the Nenon-Romulan union. The Romulans, not
interested in confronting the Federation at the time, pulled out
of Nenon space, ending their dealings. The Nenon population
had no idea this was taking place and rallied against the
government who, in turn, exiled Hoack from Nenon space in
disgrace.
In an alternate universe, Hoack had managed to kill Rick. It
looked like this Hoack would accomplish them same thing here.
Rick knew that Nenons took out their revenge on family
members. That's why the Rick in that other universe had been
killed, even though Trent had been the target.
"So, you're going to kill me. Is that it?" Rick said, wondering
why they hadn't just done so already.
"No, commander. If I wanted you dead. I would have done so
a long time ago. Killing you would have been easy. No, I have
something else in mind. Something that I have been waiting
for the right moment to use."
Hoack nodded to the medical crewman, who returned to the
darkness.
"By the way, that's Duvoro, my most trusted ... as you would
say ... right-hand man. You are probably wondering how I look
like your Crewman Arnold? You see, there was a real Arnold,
but he's dead ... as is a medical specialist Hoff. We took their
identities with the help of a nice little gadget we acquired
from the Romulans. I won't bore you with the technicalities,
but lets just say that it's flaw is that it doesn't work with the
Romulan anatomy. Nenons, on the other hand ... well, as you
can tell, it works with amazing results. We are almost exact
copies. Even medical exams can not tell the difference.
Unfortunately, there's one side effect ... it's permanent."
Durvoro returned, rolling in a large device of some sort.
"No matter. In a moment, I will have gained my revenge
against your brother and returned an honor oath to my family
name."
"What ... you're going to torture me?" Rick said, laughing.
"No, no ... it's much more than that," Hoack said as he slid
his hand along the surface of the device. "This is something
that my people have been working on for years."
He removed an attachment from the device.
"We don't have a name for it, but such a device doesn't need
something so trivial as a name. What it does, though ... that's
what matters, is it not?"
He placed the attachment to Rick's head, right on top of his
left temple.
"No, Commander Rodgers, I'm not going to kill you. I'm
going to do much worse. I'm going to take away the one thing
that makes you who you are. And there's nothing your brother
can do about it."
He placed another attachment on top of Rick's right temple as
the engineer began to struggle.
"This takes away your memories, your knowledge. Everything
you have ever learned in your lifetime will be erased. It's a
slow process. Painful from what I've been told. But, in the
end, you will have the mind of an infant. You will know how
to breath, but that's about it."
Hoack took another attachment from the device. This one with
a long needle-like appendage. Rick's eyes widened at the sight
of it.
"Why?" Rick asked, worried.
"Your brother ruined me. He ruined my name. I was an
important figure among my people. Now, I am nothing thanks
to your brother!"
Rick struggled some more as Hoack moved behind Rick, then
inserted the needle-like appendage into the back of Rick's head
just below his skull. He screamed in pain as the needle was
inserted into the back of his brain.
"There, that should do it," Hoack said calmly.
"When my brother finds out about this, he will hunt you down
and ..."
"I'M COUNTING ON IT!" Hoack screamed. "But he won't find
me and you will be a living reminder ... a living reminder of
his inability to protect his family ... of how weak he truly is.
Revenge shall be mine!"
Hoack turned on the device and slowly turned a knob. The pain
in Rick's head increased. He tried to fight it. He tried to ... to
remember. But in time, he knew that he was forgetting things.
He was forgetting things he had learned as an engineer. But,
more importantly, he was forgetting personal things.
Memories he had with his brother.
Memories he had as a child.
Memories he had with Rachel ... with Mai.
Then he started to forget their names ... and names of all of those
he had met throughout his life.
His own name.
'I love you, Mai,' was his last thought of her as a tear streaked
down his face.
Then, their images began to fade from his mind.
Simple mathematics and vocabulary went.
Basic skills such as walking.
And the whole time, there was this pain ... both physical and
psychological. He tired to hold on to something, anything, but in
the end, it was of no use.
After about three hours, Hoack turned off the device. Rick just
sat, drooling, not even knowing how grateful he was that the pain
had ended.
Hoack removed the attachments and returned them to the device.
The Nenon then had his aide to remove the device. It would be
easily dismantled in minutes and taken off the station.
"Commander?" Hoack said.
Rick looked up at Hoack, only because he was reacting to the
man's voice.
"Good. Very good," Hoack said, crossing his arms, looking
into Rick's eyes.
Rick felt fear. He didn't know why. He didn't understand what
fear was, but he felt it. Hoack scanned Rick's brain with a
specialized medical tricorder that had been configured for
this purpose alone.
"Very good indeed," Hoack muttered.
After a few minutes ...
"The device is dismantled and has been transported to our ship,"
Duvoro said.
Hoack nodded.
"What about him?" Duvoro added, motioning to Rick.
"We will program the door to this room to open once we have
left the system and are on our way to Romulus. Someone should
have no trouble finding him."
Hoack took an isolinear rod he had used to record the whole
event and placed it on a table next to Rick. Hoack then turned
and the Nenons left the room, closing the door behind them.
All Rick could do was watch the door close, leaving him alone and
frightened.
Commander Rick Rodgers
TF Engineering Adviser
and
Chief Engineering Officer
Starbase Unity
and
Hoack (npc by Rick)
Former commander of Nenon Nex forces
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