A Mission Post by Lieutenant Commander Jin Rha-Yaleii
Mission: Coil of Darkness
Location: Vulcan
Timeline: 2410
Author's note: This story picks up where Shiarrael t`Rehu's journey as a Starfleet Captain ended; and its own beginnings lie in the Quantum Fury backlog set in orbit of doomed ch`Dabhae. One of only two survivors from that planet, 10 year old Nveid became attached to Captain Rehu's first officer, the "thaessu" (Vulcan) Sakarra, whom he considered his rescuer thrice over.
In the following months the USS Charon would become entangled in webs of intrigue, eventually forcing t`Rehu to attempt and stop her own cousin, the Vaek'Riov tr`Sahen, from destroying Vulcan. While successful, the Captain's desperate gambit exacted a heavy toll on her ship and crew - and on Shiarrael.
[Vulcana Regar Spaceport, Vulcan]
25th Day in the month of et'Khior, YS 9022
She was alive. Oh Elements, alive.
He repeated the words in his mind like a mantra, a prayer, a song that drove him onwards even as his body protested the lack of sleep and food. When was the last time he had eaten? He didn't remember. It had to have been in some cold, dark corridor on poor Charon, with Nohtho the faithful Fvai sniffing at his elbows and the giant Russian marine standing guard lest the demons came for them. The demons who had invaded the ship that had become his home, killing the crew who had taken in the lost orphan and made him feel welcome.
They had survived. They had won. But the boy's relief and joy had been short lived. Not only because of the terrible price the kind crew of Charon had paid – in blood and lives and pain – but because she was nowhere to be found. His thaessu. The one who in his mind would forever be the warm light that staved off despair, a gentle voice that chased away the nightmares of a doomed planet and dead parents.
Nnihkolh'ai would worry. The marine Nveid had been so frightened of at first had ended up caring for the Rihannsu boy like a grouchy old bear who'd found himself with a stray, fretful cub following him. A bit bewildered at first, but he had adopted the little 'medvezhonok' without hesitation.
Fire and Air, what a pair they'd made, fighting the Gai'Shian in the ship's dark bowels, holding out until all Areinnye had broken loose and they'd retaken their home.
So much death.
Nveid was heartily sick of it.
The fussy healer patching up his bumps and bruises had explained that they'd saved his thaessu's homeworld and destroyed the demons in the bargain, but no one had been able to tell him of one very specific Vulcan's fate.
'They' had taken her away. To one of the demon ships, blood-green birds with cruel beaks and filled with the stench of death.
Coughing into his sleeve, the bedraggled boy squinted into the harsh light and realized his appearance was drawing curious glances. Oh, nothing so overt as actual looks, but he knew. Knew the polite 'almost attention' leveled in his direction by the travelers floating through the wide open terminal in dignified clouds of billowing robes or clean-cut tunics. Soon it would turn to concern when it became obvious he was all alone, and questions would be asked.
Fvadt.
He ducked behind a potted plant – a curious thing with feathery leaves and smelling of … well, like nothing he had ever smelled before but it was rather pleasant – and planned his next move.
He had to find her. It was the only thought left in his overwrought mind, the only thing that kept him going.
Nveid hoped that the big Russian would understand.
'They' had taken her, along with every other thaessu they could find, but this time Nveid had not cowered in fear and grief. He had snatched her sword from those warm, peaceful quarters where he had found solace and healing after he had believed all light in his life to be long gone, taken the data chip the demons were after – oh, how he would have loved to see their faces – and hidden in the ship's crawlways. The plan had been simple. Listen to the demons from hiding places known only to Charon's pack of lively children, learn what you can, find allies, strike back. A silent, covert war, waged by a little boy and a rambunctious Fvai – for Nohtho would not be left behind.
Sometimes Nveid still wondered how he had survived those dark, terror filled days.
Hugging the sword to his chest under the by now quite ragged cloak he'd borrowed from his friend Mh'olly, he remembered the day two Gai'Shian had nearly caught him scavenging for rations in the ship's galley. Odd, how the scent of chef's 't'shllei' seemed to tickle his nose for a moment.
He had shivered like a Llurh when the Mogai flies overhead, hidden behind the wreckage of chef's prized pots and pans. Those cruel, harsh voices. Laughing, always laughing, reveling in the suffering they inflicted. But these two had only been after food for once.
Nveid had nearly jumped and given himself away when he'd realized the thaessu they spoke of while they rooted through cabinets and sniffed in disdain at scattered vegetables … was her. It had to be her, the one their Commander was so obsessed with that the troops were gossiping about it, speculating in vile detail just how much 'fun' a thaessu could possibly be. Even an admittedly very pretty one.
He'd known. Ah, he'd known all too well how intrigued, even fascinated the Galae'Krha-Sei Commander had acted around her when first they'd met. Like a mantling raptor, for the moment prevented from going after the prey he desired, but watching. Waiting.
Even now, the realization of what she'd suffered at the Vaek'Riov's hands burned in Nveid's veins like acid.
How he had wanted to kill the loathsome creatures, but his grandmother's raspy, tired old voice had surfaced in the back of his mind, urging caution, wisdom. Ever patient and of enduring strength his grandam had been, like Earth. Avilh – the quietest Element and maybe the most taken for granted, but possibly the most powerful. It had saved him that day. It would serve him well now.
The painfully bright sun seemed to rise higher in a sky of blazing white and hammered copper, but still the bustle at this vast spaceport continued undeterred. Apparently thaessu-a found heat that would have sufficed to slow-roast a hlai no good reason to stop going about their business. Nveid couldn't quite see the logic, but then he was parched and his tunic was beginning to give off a distressing scent of sweat.
Shi'has. Hospital. He had taken care to remember the word, and burned the symbols that spelled it into his mind. But when the chance to hide onboard a shuttle that the indomitable pilot L'hee-onn somehow had procured had presented itself, any further research had been abandoned in a heartbeat. Without doubt the kind human was already halfway through his first drink at the nearest bar by now, and Nveid hoped it would help with the haunted shadows he'd seen in the man's eyes, but Elements - he could have used his help. If only he could have risked to ask.
Where would they have taken a mortally wounded thaessu?
No, not enough that the despicable Vaek'Riov had tormented the lovely creature he'd stalked for so long once he'd had her in his talons; they had shot her. Or so the nurses had whispered when a distraught Riov t`Rehu had returned to the ship, never realizing that a Rihannsu boy's ears were not this streamlined for aesthetic purposes. How his thaessu had fought the demons in that last, desperate battle, Nveid could imagine. After all, he had seen her defend her ship, her crewmates, like a fierce little Le-Matya … it seemed so long ago.
What it must have taken to bring her down, he did not want to imagine.
Sniffling quietly into his sleeve, Nveid held on to the memory of lambent black eyes and a voice like velvet and water, resonant and melodious. To the scent of hot soah as she sang the nightmares away.
Somewhere on this planet, she was still alive.
Oh Elements, let her be alive.
[to be continued...]
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