*****************************************************************
Scarab Nebula
Chalandra carefully wiped the blood and sweat from Dar’s brow. She carefully held up a canteen of water for him to drink. Despite himself, Ousanas lapped up the water as best he could. Most of it splashed against his cracked lips and dribbled down his chin. She dabbed the water off his chin, as tenderly as she once had when they were much younger. “Where was I?” Chalandra asked, lost in thought, among other things.
“The mines…” Dar said sadly.
“Yes,” Chalandra’s voice grew cold, bitter. “They cast me into the mines, among the Reman vermin. But you know what I learned? The true monsters weren’t the Remans like we had been taught, but our own fellow Romulans.”
“I…know,” Ousanas shook his head, thinking of the Norkan campaigns. But Chalandra wasn’t even listening to him.
“My overseers they visited all manner of violations upon me, to defile me, to disgrace and humiliate me,” she paused, clutching herself as she rocked back and forth.
“Chal,” Dar began, softly.
“They didn’t see me as waste, they treated me more than less than. I never loved them for it, I still hated them…but I was grateful, and in time, I came to respect them.”
“I could never imagine.”
“And in time, the most unspeakable thing happened, I came to find affection for one…Volus, the chieftain of our tribe. He took me under his protection and even the Romulan guards began giving me a way berth. Thraex was our only surviving child.”
“My nephew,” Ousanas shook his head, still unbelieving. He had tried to put his family in the past, for their own protection. He knew if he contacted them the Tal Shiar might punish them to get at him, or use them as a lure to bring him back to Romulus. Dar had to pretend that his relatives didn’t matter so that they could live in peace. But the damned Empire hadn’t even allowed that.
“Yes, your nephew,” Chalandra was now looking at him with a painful intensity. “A child consigned to a life of slavery before he drew his first breath, all thanks to you.” Chalandra threw the cloth in a bowl.
“I can never be sorry enough,” Dar pleaded. “If I could make it right, I would.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” his sister spat. “Because you would never put your family before your personal honor and your damnable conscience.”
“But without those things, what would we be?”
“Alive, prosperous, free,” Chalandra said, “But you locked us all in chains, even yourself, in your ‘free’ Federation. How has it been living among a people who despise our kind?”
Dar was silent. Chalandra nodded. “That’s what I thought. You have been an outsider for decades, in the Federation, in the Empire. You are a man without a country, and without roots. Was the price truly worth it?”
“Sometimes…I…don’t know,” Dar admitted, turning away, his face burning with shame.
“And that doubt has always been there, hasn’t it brother?” Ousanas couldn’t answer again. “With this doubt, with this bit of foreknowledge of what might happen to you, you still chose the path of exile.”
“Yes.”
“You exiled us all,” she spat. It hit his cheek and seared almost as much as his shame. He turned back to her, his eyes flashing.
“Well, aren’t you going to start torturing me again?”
“No,” Chalandra shook her head. “That’s what you want isn’t it? You want to feel pain, you want the agony to wash away your guilt, but I will not accommodate you. No, I find it more fitting to let you lie here and let the guilt and shame devour you.” She pulled back, took the bowl, and hobbled away, leaving Dar with himself. The last place he wanted to be.
****************************************************************
USS Monarch
Main Engineering
“Damn it Demetrius!” Sofia said, ducking a blow from the larger man. “What is this about?”
“You tell me, Romulan spy!” Nash said, righting himself quickly. But he caught a deft kick in the stomach. He sank to his knees, clutching his midsection.
“Romulan spy?” Petrov stood over him. “What are you talking about?”
“I know about the coded communiqués,” he charged. Sofia’s heart fluttered. “All of them, going back at least several months,” he added.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” he said, glaring at her as he slowly got back to his feet. He kept his eyes on her, and the two began circling each other.
“You’ve got things terribly mixed up, Demetrius,” Petrov said smoothly. “I’m not a Romulan spy.”
“It’s a bit coincidental that we were attacked by Romulans, don’t you think? Shortly after I discovered the coded messages.”
“Yes, it is a coincidence,” the engineer said.
“I just don’t know how Captain Walker is tangled up in it, but I’m sure you’ll tell me once you’ve spent a little time in stir.” Petrov worked overtime to keep her emotions in check. She wondered how much of the messages Nash had decoded, and she was beating herself up for being so sloppy. Or for underestimating the Security Chief’s doggedness.
“Listen Demetrius, I’m trying to save Lt. Hoss. I could use your help.” She chucked a thumb behind her. “I don’t know how much longer he has.”
“Admit the truth, and we can get to that,” Nash promised.
“There’s nothing to admit,” Sofia said. She stepped back. “Now, I’m going to help Hoss. After that, maybe I can take a look at these messages you think I sent. It’s possible that I’ve been framed, perhaps?”
“Even with the recent intraship message the captain sent to you,” Nash stated. “That was a frame job too?”
“I’m going to help Hoss now,” Petrov said.
“Don’t move,” Nash warned. “I’m not going to give you another chance to hurt another member of this crew.”
“I’m not going to stop,” Petrov said, chancing turning her back on him. Despite the hard crackling flames, she heard rustling behind her. She whipped around with a spin kick, expecting her right boot tip to connect with Nash’s jaw. The boot cut through air. The canny Security Chief went under her, grabbing her ankle and crushing it, while heaving her off her feet. He threw her backwards and Sofia’s back cracked against the railing.
While she struggled to right herself, and to overcome her pain, Sofia saw Nash cursing before rushing over to the still prone Hoss. He checked the Tellarite’s pulse. The gesture of kindness gave her the opening she needed.
Though Nash was wrong about her true loyalties, his suspicions might uncover her real presence if he was allowed to continue digging, or at the least, his charges would taint her reputation and make her a liability to the Section, and that’s the last thing she would want to be. Switching off the discomfort in her back, Sofia rushed Nash. The man scrambled back to his feet, but by then she was already in the air. This time, her boot smashed into his chest, slamming him into a wall. Thankfully, the man’s head smacked loudly against the unyielding bulkhead.
Sofia leaped on the dazed man again, laying surgical strikes on him, but Nash was able to prevent her from getting a killing blow. He moved with the punches and kicks, igniting the woman’s frustration along with her anger. And the furious action was sucking her oxygen. She could see the gauge dropping quickly.
It gave her an idea though. Petrov ripped the man’s breathing mask off. Nash gasped, before yelling in anger. His mass torpedoed at her, the unorthodox, desperation move, caught her off guard. She fell on her back, and Nash jumped at her. Petrov threw up her knees, in a desperation act of her own. The air gushed out of Nash’s lungs. The engineer strained as she pushed upward, flinging the man over her. She heard a painful clanging against the guard railing.
She turned around and saw that Nash was hanging upside down, tangled in railing, almost like she had been minutes earlier. Noticing the gauge on her mask had hit red, Sofia took a big gulp before ripping off the mask. The heat seared her nostrils, but she held onto the air puffing her cheeks.
The Security Chief had flipped over and was on his knees. Sofia charged him, but Nash rushed to meet her. The two crashed into each other, a collision of muscles, skin, and teeth. Their heads bumped together and on woozy legs, locked in a fatal embrace, they stumbled toward the railing, both still struggling for advantage as they fell off the gantry.
*****************************************************************
Scarab Nebula
Chalandra carefully wiped the blood and sweat from Dar’s brow. She carefully held up a canteen of water for him to drink. Despite himself, Ousanas lapped up the water as best he could. Most of it splashed against his cracked lips and dribbled down his chin. She dabbed the water off his chin, as tenderly as she once had when they were much younger. “Where was I?” Chalandra asked, lost in thought, among other things.
“The mines…” Dar said sadly.
“Yes,” Chalandra’s voice grew cold, bitter. “They cast me into the mines, among the Reman vermin. But you know what I learned? The true monsters weren’t the Remans like we had been taught, but our own fellow Romulans.”
“I…know,” Ousanas shook his head, thinking of the Norkan campaigns. But Chalandra wasn’t even listening to him.
“My overseers they visited all manner of violations upon me, to defile me, to disgrace and humiliate me,” she paused, clutching herself as she rocked back and forth.
“Chal,” Dar began, softly.
“They didn’t see me as waste, they treated me more than less than. I never loved them for it, I still hated them…but I was grateful, and in time, I came to respect them.”
“I could never imagine.”
“And in time, the most unspeakable thing happened, I came to find affection for one…Volus, the chieftain of our tribe. He took me under his protection and even the Romulan guards began giving me a way berth. Thraex was our only surviving child.”
“My nephew,” Ousanas shook his head, still unbelieving. He had tried to put his family in the past, for their own protection. He knew if he contacted them the Tal Shiar might punish them to get at him, or use them as a lure to bring him back to Romulus. Dar had to pretend that his relatives didn’t matter so that they could live in peace. But the damned Empire hadn’t even allowed that.
“Yes, your nephew,” Chalandra was now looking at him with a painful intensity. “A child consigned to a life of slavery before he drew his first breath, all thanks to you.” Chalandra threw the cloth in a bowl.
“I can never be sorry enough,” Dar pleaded. “If I could make it right, I would.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” his sister spat. “Because you would never put your family before your personal honor and your damnable conscience.”
“But without those things, what would we be?”
“Alive, prosperous, free,” Chalandra said, “But you locked us all in chains, even yourself, in your ‘free’ Federation. How has it been living among a people who despise our kind?”
Dar was silent. Chalandra nodded. “That’s what I thought. You have been an outsider for decades, in the Federation, in the Empire. You are a man without a country, and without roots. Was the price truly worth it?”
“Sometimes…I…don’t know,” Dar admitted, turning away, his face burning with shame.
“And that doubt has always been there, hasn’t it brother?” Ousanas couldn’t answer again. “With this doubt, with this bit of foreknowledge of what might happen to you, you still chose the path of exile.”
“Yes.”
“You exiled us all,” she spat. It hit his cheek and seared almost as much as his shame. He turned back to her, his eyes flashing.
“Well, aren’t you going to start torturing me again?”
“No,” Chalandra shook her head. “That’s what you want isn’t it? You want to feel pain, you want the agony to wash away your guilt, but I will not accommodate you. No, I find it more fitting to let you lie here and let the guilt and shame devour you.” She pulled back, took the bowl, and hobbled away, leaving Dar with himself. The last place he wanted to be.
****************************************************************
USS Monarch
Main Engineering
“Damn it Demetrius!” Sofia said, ducking a blow from the larger man. “What is this about?”
“You tell me, Romulan spy!” Nash said, righting himself quickly. But he caught a deft kick in the stomach. He sank to his knees, clutching his midsection.
“Romulan spy?” Petrov stood over him. “What are you talking about?”
“I know about the coded communiqués,” he charged. Sofia’s heart fluttered. “All of them, going back at least several months,” he added.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” he said, glaring at her as he slowly got back to his feet. He kept his eyes on her, and the two began circling each other.
“You’ve got things terribly mixed up, Demetrius,” Petrov said smoothly. “I’m not a Romulan spy.”
“It’s a bit coincidental that we were attacked by Romulans, don’t you think? Shortly after I discovered the coded messages.”
“Yes, it is a coincidence,” the engineer said.
“I just don’t know how Captain Walker is tangled up in it, but I’m sure you’ll tell me once you’ve spent a little time in stir.” Petrov worked overtime to keep her emotions in check. She wondered how much of the messages Nash had decoded, and she was beating herself up for being so sloppy. Or for underestimating the Security Chief’s doggedness.
“Listen Demetrius, I’m trying to save Lt. Hoss. I could use your help.” She chucked a thumb behind her. “I don’t know how much longer he has.”
“Admit the truth, and we can get to that,” Nash promised.
“There’s nothing to admit,” Sofia said. She stepped back. “Now, I’m going to help Hoss. After that, maybe I can take a look at these messages you think I sent. It’s possible that I’ve been framed, perhaps?”
“Even with the recent intraship message the captain sent to you,” Nash stated. “That was a frame job too?”
“I’m going to help Hoss now,” Petrov said.
“Don’t move,” Nash warned. “I’m not going to give you another chance to hurt another member of this crew.”
“I’m not going to stop,” Petrov said, chancing turning her back on him. Despite the hard crackling flames, she heard rustling behind her. She whipped around with a spin kick, expecting her right boot tip to connect with Nash’s jaw. The boot cut through air. The canny Security Chief went under her, grabbing her ankle and crushing it, while heaving her off her feet. He threw her backwards and Sofia’s back cracked against the railing.
While she struggled to right herself, and to overcome her pain, Sofia saw Nash cursing before rushing over to the still prone Hoss. He checked the Tellarite’s pulse. The gesture of kindness gave her the opening she needed.
Though Nash was wrong about her true loyalties, his suspicions might uncover her real presence if he was allowed to continue digging, or at the least, his charges would taint her reputation and make her a liability to the Section, and that’s the last thing she would want to be. Switching off the discomfort in her back, Sofia rushed Nash. The man scrambled back to his feet, but by then she was already in the air. This time, her boot smashed into his chest, slamming him into a wall. Thankfully, the man’s head smacked loudly against the unyielding bulkhead.
Sofia leaped on the dazed man again, laying surgical strikes on him, but Nash was able to prevent her from getting a killing blow. He moved with the punches and kicks, igniting the woman’s frustration along with her anger. And the furious action was sucking her oxygen. She could see the gauge dropping quickly.
It gave her an idea though. Petrov ripped the man’s breathing mask off. Nash gasped, before yelling in anger. His mass torpedoed at her, the unorthodox, desperation move, caught her off guard. She fell on her back, and Nash jumped at her. Petrov threw up her knees, in a desperation act of her own. The air gushed out of Nash’s lungs. The engineer strained as she pushed upward, flinging the man over her. She heard a painful clanging against the guard railing.
She turned around and saw that Nash was hanging upside down, tangled in railing, almost like she had been minutes earlier. Noticing the gauge on her mask had hit red, Sofia took a big gulp before ripping off the mask. The heat seared her nostrils, but she held onto the air puffing her cheeks.
The Security Chief had flipped over and was on his knees. Sofia charged him, but Nash rushed to meet her. The two crashed into each other, a collision of muscles, skin, and teeth. Their heads bumped together and on woozy legs, locked in a fatal embrace, they stumbled toward the railing, both still struggling for advantage as they fell off the gantry.
*****************************************************************
