"Color Blind"

[Jamie Kroells 0]

“Color Blind”

 

Jamie had almost laughed out loud. He cared. Cared about the people on that damn ship. Cared about what they did, about who they were, why they died. How did they repay him? By taking over Main Engineering, and holding everyone hostage, if they hadn’t already killed them.

 

His mind froze for a second. Kairi was with them...what if? No...she isn’t. But what if...His mind collapsed in on itself. He couldn’t think, couldn’t feel, couldn’t move. What would he do if she was gone? It was almost lugubrious.

 

His mind quickly came to rest though, since the feeling only lasted a moment. Rage quickly replaced it. His hand formed a tight fist, as his teeth unknowingly bit his lip. That copper taste brought him back, but only so far as to picture what he’d do to them. The writhing bodies, the pleas in Rihan, the knife slowly twisting the insides like spaghetti on a fork.

 

Those artificial muscles in his leg clenched, ready to sprint for that door before Harper could knock him out. Ready to somehow find a weapon and avoid the security down there. Ready to take down a Romulan strike force, all for the one he loved. His bionic leg was cool like that.

 

He froze for a second, forcing the words into his mind. “You’re not a gray shirt, not a gold shirt. Your a God Damned Blue shirt!” Inside he collapsed, a lot like his mind had 3.14 seconds ago. It hit him like a pile of bricks. He wasn’t a covert agent, he wasn’t some expert killer, he was just starting to become any good at Hand to Hand thanks to the Colonel. The time on the Ironclaw, the firefight on Arkanis, they really hadn’t done anything other then damage his psyche.

 

He saw his reflection in the a dark part of an LCARS display. There was no Romulan, there was no murderer, there was just a scared scientist. He let out a sigh inside, signaling his internal defeat. He couldn’t save Kairi, at least not with brute force. But he could help. He would fix those internal sensors. He would fix them like he was fighting those Romulans. He would fix them like he would pick Kairi up and carry her away. He would fix them, because for the first time in a very long time, he knew it was what he was truly the best at.