Essential Stories (Nikolai)

Nikolai Pereshenko wasn't the most literate person in the world but he kept a journal of events in his life. Some things in the journal are memories but the others are nightmares. Instead of trying to separate reality and the illusions he decided to write them down in one journal.

All Quiet on the Port Side
Nikolai looked out of the observation deck on the port side of the Back with a Vengeance. He looked at the stars fly by one at a time. He recalled that he requested this duty from the Captain as soon as the battle was over to sort out his thoughts. They would be arriving at Yoth soon and he needed to be perfectly stable to handle the horrors he would no doubt encounter.

In the midst of his thoughts he could barely hear a voice call him.

Nikolai "Hello? Is anyone there?" No response.

He got up and turned around. His feet took him forward away from his post. He could hear a faint whisper but couldn't make out the words as he approached the door. He walked out of the observation room but it seemed as though the closer he got the farther away the voice sounded. Nikolai thought this was odd because the ship was in slipspace and the only things awake were the other watchmen and a small portion of Kipling.

Nikolai "Hello? Is anyone out there?"

He continued down the dark hallway closer and closer to the ominous noise. The spartan walked past a room and the whispering got quieter. He turned around and put his ear to the door. The words were finally clear.

"nikolai....nikolai........nikolai......" It continued on like this. The soldier backed away from the door. He read the sign on the door. It read "Morgue". It put a shiver down his spine.

Nikolai "Is anyone in there? Open up!" No response was given. Nikolai stood outside the door and contemplated what he should do. He knew that the flood trolls could raise the dead and that the Chat had used them as weapons before. It was his duty to clear any possible threats from the ship while the crew was in cryo.

Nikolai decided to do his duty. He opened the door and saw the morgue exactly how he had left it. The whispering got louder. Nikolai slowly made his way across the room.

"nikolai....Nikolai.....NIKOLAI!!!!!!!!!!!" Nikolai whips around. The scream had scared him. He found himself looking at the late spartan, Lillian. Nikolai looks at the corpse. It was suspended in cryo in case the crew ever found technology to bring her back. Nikolai moved closer to it until his face was right next to him.

When his helmet hit the glass he had an awestruck realization. Clearly the helmet's audio was malfunctioning. Nikolai grimaced at his own stupidity and yanked his helmet off. He put it in the crook of his arm and turned. But almost as soon as he turned he saw Lillian's lips move out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't walk away."

Nikolai stopped dead. He swore he saw the dead talk to him.

Lillian "Look at me."

Nikolai turned his head. Nikolai "What do you want?"

Lillian "I want to have a little chat with you, team leader." Her tone was cold and sadistic.

Nikolai "I can't have a conversation with a dead person."

Lillian "Oh death is but a doorway. But you already know that.  How many times have you 'Died' only to be found again?"

Nikolai "Too many to count." It was clear now that his dead teammate was talking to him.

Lillian "And did it ever occur to you that people you were supposed to protect died while you were 'on vacation'?"

Nikolai "Of course it did. But soldiers are not made to be in combat all the time.  We need rest or we lose our minds."

Lillian (eyes fly open) "LIAR!!!! YOU LEFT BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO SEE THE PEOPLE DIE!"

Nikolai "NO! Why would I do that!"

Lillian "Because you thought they were spoiled! You were tired of protecting ungrateful people!  So you let them die!  You are a worthless human being!"

Nikolai "NO! Your wrong!"

Lillian continues to scream at Nikolai.

"LIAR! MURDER! TRAITOR!  LIAR! MURDER!  TRAITOR!"

The corpse continues to yell at Nikolai. The man can't stand it any longer and he opens the cryo tube. He pulls the lifeless corpse out of the tube and lays it on the ground. Nikolai straddles the screaming body and pulls out his knife. He cuts out his own spartan's mouth. The blood was cold so it didn't bleed.

The chanting got louder and louder to the point it was unbearable.

Nikolai "SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU STUPID BITCH!"

He cuts out its jaw and then its heart. He keeps mutilating the dead body with his knife. When this only makes the screaming louder and more shrill Nikolai cuts off the head. Nikolai can hear silence.

Nikolai "Thank god."

To his dread he hears quiet laughter gets dramatically louder.

Lillian "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA! Do you even know how to kill me?!"

Nikolai groans in anguish. He rolls around on the medical floor next to the mutilated body as he hears Lillian chant "LIAR! MURDER!  TRAITOR!"

Nikolai keeps wishing it is another nightmare but it doesn't end. It keeps going on and on and on. Nikolai slowly gets up. He drags the body out to an escape pod and sends it down. The noise subsides for now. The man goes back to the morgue and cleans up his mess.

24 hours latter in the cryo room.

Captain Lee has just awoken from cryo.

Captain "That was the kind of rest that I needed. Say Nikolai.  How was the observation deck?"

Nikolai pauses for a moment giving his captain a cup of coffee.

Nikolai "All quiet on the port side."