Once again, she felt the breeze through her hair and smelled the fresh wood and grass. Slowly opening her eyes, Sazra blinked a few times, seeing the sun cutting through the leaves and into her face. It took her a second to realize that she had returned to the place she was trapped in. “Not this again” She placed her hand on her head, slowly sitting up. It felt like the headache had not passed, one second, she was in the mind space of a blood crystalline entity, then back on the bridge of the Damascus, pointing at the Devore ship to give the fire command. Only to pass out again from the damage she had received from the connection. 

“Good, you are awake again” This time, an elderly voice came from Sazra’s side.

She looked in the direction the voice was coming from, seeing a middle-aged man with short black hair and a short black beard. Sazra had no idea who the person was that was now talking. Her dreams were giving her more concern every time she entered them. Now she was seeing people she didn’t recognize. “So the general question of the day is, who the hell are you?” Looking back as she placed her hand back on her head. 

“Well, you just came from our mind, so don’t insult us now that you have forgotten” He gave a soft smile crossing his arms.

Nodding slowly and placing her hand down, not turning her attention to him “Why are you still in my mind?” Sazra finally turned to face him, still sitting on the ground. She could feel the sun on her skin. “Do you need more help with something?” 

The man shook his head. “Your help in our mind space has been a great appreciation to us. We left the grid to reclaim our minds from the effects of the blood dilithium. But…” Looking like he was thinking for a second or two. “We noticed something was off from blood dilithium” 

Lifting her right leg and leaning on it still had her eyes locked on the man. “What are you talking about? You guys are pretty vague when trying to explain yourselves. Just get it out of your system and tell me what you find so weird about the blood dilithium? Because I don’t think I can sustain further damage to my brain from our connection” Sazra was not going to hold back from pointing out her concerns. 

But the man gave her a soft reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, our connection will not affect your brain. The radiation of the blood dilithium will, however. We believe your ship is trying to save the beings on that other ship. I don’t quite understand why they would endanger themselves even more” He was puzzled about it. “Does your species have a desire for a death wish?” 

She rolled her eyes as Sazra looked away, seeing the beautiful landscape in front of her. “It is our principle of life. If there is a possibility that we can help another, then who are we to deny such an opportunity? We will not ask for anything in return. We want them to be safe. So I am proud of my people that they are doing that” Looking back at the man. “But my question remains unanswered” 

“Ah yes, the question” He confirmed it. “Sorry, our curiosity has peeked thanks to your deeds. So we have questions to understand you better. But we are talking about the blood dilithium. We are now further away from this density and can isolate it” He waved his hand as a male figure appeared by a wave of his hand. “This is one of the formed thoughts. A consciousness trying to break through” He looked back at Sazra. “Like we tried, but different?” 

Standing up from the grass, Sazra looked at the man. At first, she didn’t recognize the species. “I have no idea what he is, where he comes from? Do you guys have an idea of what we are dealing with?” Sazra had no choice but to accept the presence of this being in her head, even though they were right. It didn’t hurt as bad as before. Maybe Damascus was moving away from the grid also? Did they succeed in getting the transport survivors?

“They are …classified as Brenari? They also have the telepathic ability and thus hunted down by these Devore beings?” He explained, looking at the Brenari. 

“The Brenari” Sazra repeated the words and crossed her arms. “I remember now. The Devore Imperium enslaved them for their telepathic abilities. They live near the borders of the Devore Imperium. They were prosecuted by them and mistreated” Trying to explain it “But what are they doing in those blood dilithium?” She realized what the being had said before. “Wait. You said their consciousness is trying to break through?” 

Nodding in confirmation, “This being is no longer alive. We can only feel its presence of energy resonating in those blood dilithium crystals. There are more” He pointed out.

“How much more are we talking about?” Sazra blurred out without thinking.

Within a second, the whole area was filled with all Brenari people. Sazra looked around at all the people yelling, screaming, and crying in pain and agony. They were young and they were old, male, and female. It didn’t matter as they were all there. It made Sazra have an enormous surge of pain in her head as she placed her hands against her head and fell to her knees. “MAKE IT STOP!” She yelled as if the sheer pressure on her cracked her head open. 

The people all disappeared as the man leaned against the tree. “We apologize. We were answering your question concerning how many there were” 

She rubbed her head and felt the pain fade away as Sazra took a few heavy breaths. “Next time, please consider a lower being’s mind is not the same as yours. We can’t process so many voices in our heads” The being didn’t respond to her complaint as she sat back on the ground. The amount of stress was gone from her head. “So, can you explain how they came in there….what happened?” 

“Their origin is unknown, but it seems their story is identical. They are all prisoners of these Devore Imperium beings” He was puzzled about something. “Are all Devore Imperium beings bad? They hurt these Brenari for having telepathic abilities. They kept us in control by blinding us and trying to control us to do their bidding” The man looked at Sazra with a neutral facial expression “Do they hurt your people also?” 

“Most likely” Sazra replied without thinking about it “The profile of the Devore people is based on the experience of a few of our vessels had with them. They are very xenophobic and will demand to search the ships while traveling through their space. The blood dilithium’s recent bloom made them expand their borders quickly. Making more of our vessels and civilians transport explain their travels” Sazra points at the man. “Like the transport ship you attacked, I know you did it out of your control because you were afraid and unable to sense your surrounding” 

The man shrugged. “We were acting on our instinct, yes, the Devore made use of that weakness of being overwhelmed by vast amounts of spacial anomalous. We were….in your terms, a living test subject” He showed frustration as an emotion. “We are angry about this…abuse, we think you call it?” 

“It is abuse” Sazra pointed out. “To your earlier question, if they find people with the ability of telepathic or the sensitivity to it like myself. They will be detained and impounded the ship, and the rest of the crew is free to travel back to where ever they came from. I left my crew members that have telepathic abilities. But honestly, I didn’t suspect that the blood dilithium had such an effect on me” 

“What are you going to do if the Devore is going to try to capture your ship and detain you?” The man looked at her with some curiosity in his eyes. 

Sazra raised his shoulders. “I am stuck in this place. Most likely, my Chief Medical Officer has placed me in a coma to minimize the effects of the blood dilithium. Thought the ship shields were most likely holding back most of the signals from those crystals. Wait, how can you even contact me or appear here?” 

The man smiled. “Because we made a connection before, we now can keep that connection on a specific distant active. We are still in debt to you for what you have done for us. If you are in danger, you can communicate with us, and we will do our best to help where possible” He looked at his side suddenly. “You are not safe in this part of space. These Devore beings are patrolling the area after our interaction with them earlier” 

Letting out a deep breath, “Great, don’t invade my personal space, okay? I don’t like these kinds of connections in general” Sazra heard the report about Devore ships being nearby. “If they intercept the Damascus, they will board the ship and find me. I am a liability to their safety!” Standing up and looking at him “Is it possible that you can wake me up?” 

Looking back at her “Wake you up? What will you do? The condition of your body is not good. But your exposure to the blood dilithium can make it easier for us to pinpoint your location. We are on our way” He confirmed “Please hold out and keep them at bay at any cost. We still have that debt to repay” The being transforms into a pile of leaves that blows through the wind.

“What about waking me up!?” Sazra shrugged as she blinked with her eyes and suddenly found herself looking upwards at the ceiling. “What the…” She mutters, feeling the surging pain in her head. “Yea, definitely back” She growled out of frustration as she got up and felt the pain through her body.

“Captain! You are awake?!” A nurse replied in complete surprise.