Forge, Chapter 2: Fires In Which We Burn

Posted on Sun Oct 11th, 2026 @ 2:15am by Lieutenant Zachary Addams
Edited on on Sun Oct 11th, 2026 @ 2:16am

1,761 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Younger Years
Location: Vulcan's Forge
Timeline: Just over 14 years ago

The following night, Zach’s comm terminal lit up. He figured it was one of his friends and checked it, but was surprised to find a message from an unknown source.

Good evening, Zachary. I have decided to take you up on your offer. Please meet me at the gardens by the trel’hytha bushes in three hours. I look forward to seeing you. Siral.

Zach was overjoyed; however, three hours was a bit past his curfew. Then again, he’d snuck out before to go spend time with friends. He was relatively sure he could do so again, and the image of Siral in his mind, and the potential of a kiss under the moonlight, was a siren song he was having trouble ignoring. So, his plan set, he took a quick shower and put together something sharp to wear. He said goodnight to his parents, and waited to hear their bedroom door close. Once he knew he was in the clear, he walked down the hallway and silently crept down the stairs and out the front door.

ShiKahr may have been the capital city, but it was designed for pedestrian use. The mass transit system was only a quick walk away and Zach soon found himself whisking back through the center of the city. A few adults gave him a sideways glance, curious why a boy of his age was traveling alone, but kept their own counsel. He ignored the glances and stepped off the tram, walking towards the gardens, the low street lights illuminating his way.

The entrance to the public gardens was wide and inviting during the day, but looked shadowy and intimate at night. There were soft foot lights along the paths, but very little illumination, so as not to add much light pollution to the night sky, and allow for any nighttime plants to bloom and show off their luminescence.

The set of trel’hytha bushes was towards the western edge of the gardens. They were not a night plant, and when Zach got there, he was disappointed that there was no ambiance, but then again, he thought maybe a dark corner would offer some chances to look up at the stars while they--

Too late, he realized it also offered places for someone to hide. He only just registered the fingers on his neck and shoulder when his eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground.

Zach was a fairly normal teenager, but he had one odd gift: the ability to instantly wake up. Even while in the deepest of sleep, snoring like a buzzsaw, if his mother whispered his name, he’d immediately sit up, ready to ask what was for breakfast. So, the sound of an animal crying out in the wilderness was more than enough to jolt him back to consciousness.

He realized he was lying on a warm, rocky surface. There was virtually no light, and, at first, he panicked he’d gone blind. However, as his faculties sharpened, he realized that there was a faint beam coming from nearby. He stood up on shaky legs and looked down at himself in shock. Whoever had dumped him there had evidently stolen his clothing, leaving him naked on the ground. Seeing that modesty was impossible, he made his way towards the light, emerging from the mouth of a cave. The desert spread out in all directions, and Zach felt a slight, warm breeze when he stepped out of the mouth of the cave as the heat of the previous day rose from the desert sand.

He wasn’t sure how far he was from the city, but he was relieved to look to his right and see a glow on the horizon. If Zach had paid more attention in xenobiology, he’d know about the dozens of predatory species that lived in Vulcan’s Forge and how much danger he was in. If he’d paid more attention in safety classes, he’d know that his best bet for survival would be to stay where he’d woken up, safely sheltered in a cave. And if he’d been less angry, he might have come to those thoughts on his own. As it was, he decided to use the one bit of desert knowledge he had, which was that it was best to travel by night. He figured he could steal something to cover himself when he got back to the city, or simply tell the peacekeepers what happened and borrow a robe. He focused his gaze on the glow of city lights on the horizon and began walking directly towards it at a brisk pace. With luck, he’d be back in a couple hours, make his way home, and his parents would be none the wiser.

As he walked, he tried to figure out how he got in that situation. He realized that the message could have come from anyone, and he just assumed it was Siral. He also figured it was one of the boys who was with her when they met. Perhaps one was an overprotective brother. Zach had a kid brother and baby sister, and he figured he could understand the big brother impulse. Still, he wouldn’t leave a guy naked in the desert….

His thoughts circled over the next few hours as he walked. He kept his eyes focused on the light in front of him and he kept up his pace. He was tired and warm and thirsty, but he did his best to ignore it, knowing once he got home he could replicate all the cold water he wanted. Time stretched and he began to wonder just how long he’d been walking. He’d been singing a few songs in his head to pass the time, so he knew he’d been walking for at least a couple hours, and he was beginning to wonder why he hadn’t seen the walls of the city yet.

That’s when it appeared: T’Khut, Vulcan’s sister planet, coming over the horizon to fill the night sky. He suddenly realized, to his horror, he hadn’t been walking towards the city’s lights, but rather the reflected light of planetrise on the horizon. He couldn’t recall what direction T’Khut rose, but it hardly mattered, since he now had no idea which direction the city was in from his position. He immediately realized he should have stayed in the cave, and wondered how he could get back to it. He turned and tried to see where he’d come from, but the cave was no longer in sight, and his footprints were hard to see in the dim night light. Nonetheless, he turned back towards the few footprints he could see and set off again.

By the time the suns began to rise, he knew he was doomed. He thought he’d been going in a straight line, but as the light of T’Khut illuminated the ground, he realized he’d deviated from his original path, and it was nowhere to be found. With no other options, he pressed on, figuring if there was one cave, there’d be more. He walked the rest of the night and into the morning, knowing that being exposed to the Vulcan sun with no protection wouldn’t end well, and he had precious little time left before the suns were up.

Finally, he came to a ridge that was nearly perpendicular to the sun, and he saw his salvation: a series of caves pockmarking the side of the ridge. He quickened his pace as best he could to the nearest one, just beginning to feel the fire of the first sun rising over the horizon as he stepped into the cave’s shadow.

It was merely warm inside the cave, but Zach knew it would be an oven shortly. Still, it was better than the outside. He also realized he had no way of telling anyone he was there. He quickly gathered up some of the dark stones on the ground and stepped back into the light.

The sun was already burning and he felt his fair skin prickle at the feel of it. He quickly set the dark stones on the light sand in the form of an X and rushed back into the relative safety of the cave. He sat down against the rear wall as far from the entrance as possible, and closed his eyes to rest.

Unfortunately, as the morning progressed, he realized he was in serious trouble. The sun was encroaching into the cave, which was far more shallow than his previous shelter, and the temperature was rising rapidly. Thankfully, there was enough room in the cave that direct sunlight didn’t reach him, but he could still feel the heat of it nearby, and knew he was in trouble.

Over the next few hours, Zach went through four out of the five stages of grief simultaneously. He told himself someone was looking for him; that by now, his mother had seen his empty bed, called the peacekeepers and a search party was under way. He pounded a fist against the wall of the cave in fury at his predicament, begged any gods listening to help, promising never to ask a girl out ever again, and cried, his tears mixing with the sweat running down his face, begging for his mom to just hug him and tell him it would be all right.

He fumed at the sheer injustice of it all. All he’d wanted to do was go on a date with a girl, maybe sneak a kiss under the stars, and, who knows, maybe get a girlfriend out of it. He didn’t think that warranted a death sentence.

When he realized he’d stopped sweating, he knew enough to know that wasn’t a good sign. He was delirious, and he licked his dry, cracked lips, but to no avail. He had no saliva left. He was curled up in the fetal position, eyes closed, and resigned to his fate. He wondered what his sister would grow up like, wondered what his brother would do without him, wondered what death would feel like. He assumed it would be dark, cold, and lonely. “Oh well,” he thought, miserably, “two out of three of that is an improvement.”

Then, as if validating his predictions, a cool breeze washed over him, and the darkness closed in.


A Flashback Post by

Zachary Addams
Chief Engineer
USS Tokyo

 

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