Chapter 22: Ch. 022 – Do You Want to Play a Game?

Mimic's warning on the holo-deck had stayed with me. We had managed to avoid a lot of the early dangers that the Voyager had faced through my knowledge of the episodes rather than confronting the situations. While it was helpful for the Voyager and the crew, it also meant that I was missing the point of my time here, so when it was mentioned that we were approaching Botha Space, I kept my mouth shut.

The episode featured Janeway a lot because she was targeted by Botha with psychic attacks that caused her to have hallucinations. They started off simple and only affected her, but the closer that the ship moved towards their territory, the stronger the hallucinations became, and the rest of the crew also started to be affected. By the end of the episode, only Kes was not lost to the illusions, and she had to save everyone with a little coaching from the Doctor.

He was able to dig up people's fears, desires, or regrets to trap them in a fantasy world within their minds, unable to do anything in the physical world. If Mimic was to be believed, this was a chance for us to encounter a challenge, and mental abilities were the weakest of my powers. Katye had been focusing more on psychic-related abilities for the past month, so with Kes's plot armor in the episode, there was not too much danger posed towards the ship... at least, I hoped not.

I told Katye, Raven, and Echo about the Botha, so that they could prepare themselves. The beginning events of the episode started to play out four days later as Janeway began seeing characters of her holo-novel outside of the holo-deck. Thankfully, Kes seemed to still have the 'mirror' ability that she demonstrated in the show which allowed her to reflect the illusions back onto Janeway and cancel them out. I was called to Sick Bay, but there was not much that I could do without giving up the episode. Katye was there when Janeway had her second large hallucination, so she confirmed that it was a mana-based psychic attack, but she only told me that privately, or it would likely tip off the crew to the source of the problem.

"...I think Neelix can help you. No one knows much about the Botha, but he has some information. I know he's been doing research. I'd check with him, and you'll want him on the Bridge with you when their ship arrives," Janeway instructed as she paced around Sick Bay. 

"Good idea," Chakotay replied.

"I'm not sure how Torres's and Kim's project is going. You both know they're trying to find a way to transfer the Doctor out of Sick Bay. It's not a priority, but I'd like you, Rebecca, to stay on top of it."

"Of course, Captain," I agreed.

"Let's see... There was a problem with one of the deflector shields. Chakotay, you should follow up on that. And Stellar Cartography was hoping for a review of their latest report. I think Tuvok wanted to discuss something about weapon storage..."

Chakotay and I shared a look because it was clear that she could keep thinking of things that needed to be done. The Doctor had requested that she stay in Sick Bay for more detailed tests, so she had spent the last five minutes going over everything that she could think of that was on her plate. While neither of us had a problem helping her out, everything that she had mentioned so far were things that we knew about. This was more about her displeasure of having to give up control, than us needing direction.

"Captain, you've trained your crew well. We'll be able to do without you for a few days. In the meantime, we're continuing diagnostics on all of the ship's systems. There's a reason for what's happening to you and we're not stopping until we find it," Chakotay assured as the Doctor, Kes, and Katye entered the room from the Doctor's office.

"Thank you both," Janeway said with true relief on her face.

"My patient needs to rest. No doubt the two of you should be getting back to the Bridge," the Doctor said.

Chakotay nodded and replied, "Give us a call if there is anything that we can do to help."

We left Sick Bay and headed for the turbo lift. There was not a lot for us to talk about, so we rode the lift in silence while I tried to figure out what I would likely experience. The fear of losing control was my first thought, but with the seal from Mimic, I did not think Tori would let me be put into a situation like that so quickly. I did not have any major regrets these days, as things had been good onboard the Voyager, and I really did not have any secret desires like what trapped B'Elanna in the episode.

We reached the Bridge and took our seats with Chakotay in the Captain's seat, and me in his usual chair. I kept an eye on the long-range sensors, waiting for the Botha ship to appear. About an hour later, it entered the sensor range and was speeding towards us, fast. As soon as it was within fifty thousand kilometers of us, I felt a unique Domain engulf the ship, but then, everything froze in Time.

"Well, I'm surprised that you two aren't working closer together. I get that you wanted to play along with the fantasy, but I can hardly think of a time that you two were apart. In fact, let's change that," someone said from behind me followed by the sound of a cane tapping the ground.

Before I could fully stand up, there was a Q-like flash of white light to my right and Katye was suddenly standing next to me, looking confused. I still turned around, but it left me stunned by what I found. The man wore a black, shiny top hat with a red band that had a long crimson feather sticking out of the band. He even wore a perfectly tailored, black silk suit jacket with a red collar shirt under it and a red rose poking out of the breast pocket. Why I was so stunned by his appearance was not really because of his clothes, but rather, the fact that he was a red-scaled naga with a thin silver cane. His head was at the same general level as a human while his lower half, which was a thick snake-like tail, extended several feet behind him.

"Ah, it's good to see you together again," he said with a smile.

"Who are you? What did you do to the crew?" I demanded.

"You haven't changed in the least Dystina, despite the rebirth," he chuckled as he slithered around the railing and joined us on the main level of the Bridge.

"My name is Rebecca!" I growled.

"If that is how you wish to be addressed, I will comply. To answer your questions, I am Sancu, and I simply pulled the both of you out of the Space-Time Axis of this universe, so that we can have this little chat. We noticed that you decided to confront this... episode instead of avoiding it. Commendable, but if he was strong enough to affect the two of you, there would be no chance that anyone, but you could protect the ship, and that would mean those two women who followed you here would have no chance of gaining anything from this event. Instead, I have a counteroffer for you."

"We're listening," Katye replied.

He stood in front of us and placed both hands on top of his cane, giving us a smile that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise. "Do you want to play a game? I promise that even if you die in the scenario, you will simply return to your body with no damage but the memories of what you experienced. Even if you do die, I promise that you will still gain something from this."

"I watched the Saw movies; this is a trap," I growled.

He chuckled, "It's not a trap, per se, but the chances of you actually surviving are quite slim and, if you agree, I will pop in several times throughout your journey to give you new challenges. Star Trek: Voyager does have a lot to teach you, but you need to figure out what the most important things are for both of you, because they are not the same."

"So, you know, but aren't going to tell us?" Katye questioned.

"I could, but lessons like these are better learned through trial and error than instruction. What the two of you need cannot be handed to you, so it is better for you to start learning on your own and lay your own path forward," he replied.

"What are these 'scenarios' that we would be undergoing?" I asked.

"Difficult situations, complex problems, or just a dangerous fight to the death... Each time will be different, so I can't say for sure what you will face, or even if you two will be together," he said with a shrug.

"How could you not know what we are facing?" Katye retorted.

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He lifted a hand and made a grasping motion. A gold coin with a human face on one side and a snake's on the other appeared in his hand. I knew something about this coin, and it was rooted in the same instant connection that I had towards Katye, but anything other than that gut instinct eluded me.

"Chance is a tricky thing, and while I like to think that I've learned its mysteries, nothing is ever laid in stone until the actions have happened," Sancu replied.

"And what will happen to the people here while we are undergoing this game?" Katye asked.

"They'll remain like this, so that no one will notice your disappearance, and then you'll be free to save the Voyager yourselves or allow Kes and your girls to do it."

"What do we get if we do survive?"

He chuckled, rolling the gold coin across his knuckles, "Do you really wish to ask for a reward? If you have the chance to gain, then there must be the possibility of something to lose."

I looked to Katye who was weighing the options in her mind before she looked back at me and nodded.

"Ha! It's good to see that your spirits are still just as strong as ever. We'll make it a small reward this time so that it's a small penalty should you fail. Now, Chance will make it's choice, easy or hard, for our first little game," Sancu said with a big smile then flipped the gold coin. He snatched it out of the air with one hand then held out the other and opened it to reveal the gold coin with the human head facing up. "Luck is smiling on you two today."

Before either of us could ask what he meant, everything faded to black. My head started to pound as new information was crammed inside, foreign yet familiar. I had been traveling for months across this barren world, trying to recover from a trap that a group of Dragon Hunters had lured me into a trap. Ban'kon poison was still coursing through my veins, preventing me from healing my broken wing, as it took all of my natural regeneration to fight it, and the lack of food was only making things worse.

Under a red sun, I laid out on a boulder, enjoying the sun on my scales. The poison was like ice slowly trying to freeze my body from the inside out, so the sun could provide a bit of comfort. I kept a lazy eye on the gray sandy wasteland, not expecting to see anything, but today was my lucky day. As there was a trace of movement off in the distance.

My hunger rose at the prospect of food, and I got to my feet. I kicked off the boulder, my talons leaving ten long gashes on the rock, as I shot forward at high speeds. Stressing my body like this would allow the poison to do more damage to me, but I could not let the chance of a meal pass me by.

I covered a few kilometers within minutes, so the animal that I had spotted had no chance of escaping my clutches. I pounced on the beast and wrestled it to the ground, but upon seeing it up close, I felt a sense of dread. It was a white tiger with crystal blue eyes, yowling in submission. An overwhelming desire to bite down on the cat's neck engulfed my mind, but there was also a part of me that did not want to hurt the animal. I could tell it was young by the scent of its bloodline, but it was also a bloodline that opposed my own. If I let it go, not only would I lose a meal, but it had the potential to grow into a threat.

My jaw constantly flexed and relaxed as I struggled with the decision of whether to eat the tiger or not. It was a primal urge to kill this beast while another side of me warned that this creature was not a threat to me. It looked up at me with those crystal blue eyes, and suddenly, I remembered 'who' I was. I released the tiger and it ran off while I fell onto my butt, looking over my body.

It looked like I was in my Dusa form, but somehow, I knew that this was my true body rather than a fusion of Soul Power and mana. The red and black silks that normally covered my body while in the form had been reduced to rags, barely concealing my body. My scales had also lost their luster, but I knew that, that was due to the poison.

Now that I was back to myself, I could not help but look around with confusion. I remembered Sancu saying that he would put us into some kind of scenario, but Katye was nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only living thing I could see was the tiger that was running away. There did not seem to be any danger to myself other than the poison in my veins and the hunger gnawing at my mind. Stranger still were the memories of a fight that 'I' had not fought, but it was the source of the poison, so I could only guess that was the reason for the memories.

I glanced at my left wing which had three of the four fingers broken and the webbing was torn to shreds. The limb ached, but I had dealt with a lot worse over the years. With I sigh, I sat down where I was and tried to heal myself, but quickly realized that I could not. I could feel Yang mana in both myself and in the environment, but despite circulating it through my body, the healing spell never activated.

It did not feel like I was prevented from using it like how my Chaos had been sealed, but rather, I had lost the assistance that Tori had granted me for the spell. Despite knowing that I was here because of Sancu, a gut feeling told me that my lack of a healing spell was not due to him. With a wave of my hand, I conjured up a few different spells, each more powerful than when I was onboard the Voyager, and I could even call up my Chaos Storm Clouds with greater ease than when I had battled against the Disciples. Something about the situation was strange and I could not shake the feeling that this place was familiar.

While I did not have the assistance of the spell that Tori had given me, I had used it countless times, so I had an idea of how it felt. This was a perfect chance for me to learn how to cast it on my own rather than rely on outside help. I spent hours sitting under the red sun while channeling Yang mana through my body, simply trying to purge the poison from my body.

Before I knew it, night had fallen, so I stopped my efforts and stood up. I had not had any luck so far with recreating my healing spell, but that did not bother me too much since Katye had been trying to develop her own version of the spell for over ten years with little to show for it. With the sundown, it would take more of my stamina to keep using Yang mana and I got the distinct feeling of dread at the idea of resting.

Since sleep was unavailable to me, I decided to wander the gray wasteland that I found myself in. Hunger still gnawed at my mind, but when I had looked into that tiger's eyes, I could see true intelligence. I knew that I could survive without eating the animal, so I let it go since I had little desire to kill anything, even to save myself.

Without realizing it, I had followed the path that the tiger had taken which took me to a crack in one of the plateau's bases. It seemed like a cave at first, but after three hundred meters, it opened up into a hidden grove that was half a kilometer wide and full of Life. Green grass, small berry bushes, and a large tree with three violet fruits hanging off it.

The scent of the fruits reached my nose, and I could hardly suppress the urge to drool. Two of the fruits were not ripe, but the third was just on the edge, so I knew what to do. With a flash, I was in front of the tree and started channeling Plant mana into the tree. This was not like the orchard that I had grown in Eden and took far more energy from me than those, but I knew that this tree was worth it.

The fruit ripened with my energy, but when I went to pluck it, the tiger revealed itself. It leapt at me, but I was easily able to dodge it by shifting to the side. I knew that it wanted this fruit, so much mana was packed inside this tiny plant, but I needed it, or the tiger would be my meal instead. Before it could come at me again, I conjured a wall of fire that kept it at bay. I took a bite and felt energy rush into my body, purging the poison from my body. I ate half of the fruit while the white tiger yowled as it paced outside of the ring of fire.

Although I wanted to keep eating it, I felt regret since this was likely the tiger's only source of food judging by the wasteland outside of this grove. I released the flames and set the remainder of the fruit on the ground then backed away. The tiger slowly approached and carefully grabbed it with its teeth then ran away.

"Compassion is rare among the Endless Firmament. Dystina developed her own, but it took centuries for her to overcome her natural instincts. She was already five hundred years old during these events and simply killed the tiger when she first encountered it. Its mother was not too happy with her and chased her for nearly a year while she had been trapped on this dead world. You may think that you are lacking in comparison to her, but the truth is that you are doing far better than you know," Sancu said, appearing next to me.

"Then this is her memory?" I asked since this whole scenario had felt familiar to me.

"In a sense, but as I stated, you have changed things by resisting your instincts."

"Then I succeeded?"

"You did, but the next time that I appear, things won't be so easy. Your reward," he said, flipping the gold coin to me.

As soon as I caught it, the hidden grove was replaced with the Bridge of the Voyager and Katye nowhere to be seen. Everything around me was unfrozen and playing out just like the episode had, to the point that I questioned whether or not anything had happened. It was only the gold coin in my hand that confirmed that I had lived through it.

A/N: Thank you everyone for your patience. I'm sorry this was not out on time, but I hope it was worth the wait!

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