Aftermath....Part 1

Posted on 19 Nov 2015 @ 6:32pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Federation Ambassador Ayren Kelan

1,922 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: M13-C: Shattered Time
Location: Holodeck

Ayren stood in the middle of the empty holodeck, the grid around her, as if waiting for instructions. "Computer, create a Vulcan martial arts training room, 5m by 7m, with a S'harien style sword, for female use. Create Master Shamek, Ayren SH 4. Activate."

"Ayren.... it has been a long time," the Vulcan man said in the typical monotone manner of a Vulcan. He stood hands folded in front of him, observing her. "You are mentally disturbed, we cannot continue unless you quieted your spirit."

Ayren glared at him, "Nope, this is not going to work..." she said and turned away. "Comp..."

"Running away from discipline?" he asked.

She turned back to face him, still glaring, but his quiet authoritative voice drew her attention and she pulled her mouth.

"You did choose to come here first...." he continued. "There must be a reason...". Using the original personality and physical parameters of Shamek, this hologram portrayed the Shamek she knew very well, who also served as a mentor for her the four years she was on Vulcan and later when she was there again during her studies.

In acknowledgement she inclined her head. She was not ready to explore her reasons, but she did need the mental discipline his training sessions offered. "Then let us begin..."

A few minutes later they were sitting crossed legged on the floor a flame between them.

[An hour later]

"Again!" said Shamek, his sword positioned at an angle in front of his body touching hers.

"Again" Ayren repeated in a little frustrated as she moved into position. She was breathing hard, perspiration glistening on her skin, her hard tied in her neck. But she was ready to repeat the intricate S'lau hash ra'shial part 4. She waited.

Once Shamek started the complex form, a rhythm of slow and fast attack and defense was displayed, like a dance of heat and cold, rock and liquid.

Da`nal entered the holodeck and stood quietly observing the display. It was good to see Ayren back to her old self after having faced one personal difficulty after another. His heart began to beat faster with a mixture of pride and desire as he watched her move through the Vulcan form. Klingon forms were similar, but more direct where as Vulcan forms were definitely more graceful...a definite match for her.

Ayren was aware that Da'nal was watching her and she reveled in what she sensed from him.

"You are distracted Ayren," came the matter of fact tone from instructor. "You are unable to separate your desire for your mate and concentrating on your form. We shall continue this at a later stage," he said plainly and moved backwards

"You see what you are doing to me..." Ayren said to Da'nal, taking the sword from Shamek and tossing it towards Da'nal.

The hilt of the sword rotated around perfectly and he reached out and plucked it from the air. Compared to Klingon weapons it had almost no weight. Lifting the sword he examined the design of the weapon. The curve of the handle, opposite of the curve of the blade, made for an elegant weapon from Vulcan's past. It was a shame that Vulcan's greatest blacksmith came into his glory at the same time Surak was bringing an end for the need for such weapons.

Siding with the holographic instructor he baited her with a smirk. "Distractions can take place in battle. Don't blame me for your lack of discipline."

"So now it is two against one?" she said and readied herself for attack, touching his blade with the tip of hers. She never won against her husband, but it didn't matter. She attacked anyway, using her ability to anticipate his moves shamelessly. That and her flexibility were the only advantages she had.

Though the sword was a weapon he had never used before it's light weight allowed him to move with greater speed. He instinctively took in her body position, stance, and movement, blocking her attacks. Her long ordeals had lessened her condition and she wasn't in peak form yet but she continued to exercise and re-hone her physical condition. Going on the attack, she failed to fall for a faint and he knew instantly why. Withdrawing slightly with a grin, he removed his baldric and uniform jacket...never leave his guard stance.

Watching him getting rid of excess clothes, she knew he was getting ready to get into the sparring. That was exactly what she needed, although she used the few moments to catch her breath. Once he was ready, she moved in again. She was attacking, first tentatively, which Da`nal easily countered and blocked. As they continued, she thought less and fought more, her anger and frustration bubbling to the surface, which in turn intensified her assault. It was as if everything else disappeared into the far periphery of her mind, only herself, the swords and her opponent existed.

He was not pushing too hard but allowing her to use the session to vent her frustration. As her attacks became more intense he glimpsed the old Ayren. With that emergence he relished the sparring even more and began pressing her more. Their blades sang as metal collided and slid against metal. Seeing an opening, he turner her thrust and pinned her wrists lifting her arms over her head and have her a little bite to her cheek. Leaping back afterward with a growling laugh.

Ayren jumped forward, on the offensive again, barraging him with everything she had, allowing her emotions to be expressed in her sparring. All the frustration, anger, a version of what had happened to her, even the fear was channeled into every strike. Da'nal simply absorbed her onslaught, allowing her to vent. Then suddenly she was spent, all the energy drained from her body.

Exhausted she sank down on her heels, back against the wall, letting her head drop into her hands as she tried to catch her breath.

Da`nal stepped over to her as she rested. He had worked up a good sweat himself and he was full of pride in her efforts. Even so he was surprised at her simply ending thing as she did. Normally their matches ended in a winning blow, series of them if they had multiple matches, or if there was an injury of some kind. Either she was utterly spent, or she was baiting him in some way....the first seem to be the most likely.

He crouched next to her brushing her sweat soaked hair back. "You almost had me a few times there."

"You are just saying....." she said quietly, pausing as she thought of her next words. "Da'nal ...I owe you an explanation.." she said, acutely aware of how she tensed up at the thought of sharing with him, but it was time. It was the right thing to do, but she was so scared, and didn't even know why. Guilt? The thought of him thinking less of her? She glanced at him meeting his intense stare.

He looked at her questioningly and took a seat as he figured he was in for a long story. "Go on."

"I don't know where to begin... but I am at fault for this whole debacle with Elas..." she started haltingly. Biting her lower lip, she tried to force herself to just say it. Swallowing hard, she decided to start at he beginning. "Years ago, I was part of an away mission to a planet, Turpara, which we had to assess for the last stages of joining the Federation. Basically all the senior staff was joined. However, it went wrong." Somehow it came easier now for her to tell. "New identities were 'stamped' on us, everyone became someone different, with a different name. The Klingon XO was a slave worker in their mines, our engineer was a poor woman, our captain, the wife of a politician. The security chief, well he became a powerful gangster, Cole. And I... well I was the owner of a restaurant and up-market club. My name was Erina Cassen, and the club, was 'Cassen's Why Not Restaurant."

Da`nal was intrigued, he had heard of first contact missions going wrong but for something to go that wrong after a planet had applied for membership in the Federation was rare. Was the 'stamping' of alternate identities a punishment for crimes, was a some of entertainment, a means to extract information, or was there something darker at work? Regardless of the motivations of the Turpara he found nothing wrong in her explanation.

"My life there... I loved it. I love Erina Cassen..." she admitted clearly embarrassed. "She was a businesswoman, singer... I can sing..." she added, realizing Dan'al didn't even know that about her, as she had avoided to sing since her return from Turpara. "Cole protected my business, I gave him information, it was a mutually beneficial relationship. We were friends as well. I thought I was human, but at some point, I realized I could sense people's emotions and of course used it in my business to give them exactly what they wanted. Later, I could even hear their thoughts, which helped Cole again. I loved being an entertainer, but then, because of my psionic senses, my 'stamp' started to be unstable. My business partner and co owner of the club was also my 'handler'. He was a Turparian supposed to keep an eye on me.. we were also lovers. But one evening he became abusive and my martial arts reflexes kicked in and I nearly wiped him out. I was shocked as I had no idea where that came from, but it started to trigger memories, glimpses of my past. I also discovered the microchip he was supposed to use to reinforce my 'stamped' identity. Long story short, I started to remember and started an underground movement to free us all, which triggered a whole series of events. Cole and I captured my business partner and Cole tortured him to get info, eventually I also infiltrated his mind and extracted information from him," she admitted with difficulty. It was unthinkable for a Betaziod to do that. "It nearly killed him..."

He interrupted. "So you were lucky and were assigned an enjoyable alter ego. I see nothing wrong in that. As to your actions...you did what you had to do to gain your freedom. In those moments it is understandable if cultural niceties get set aside."

"I was captured at some point and re-stamped, but it was too late," she said skipping over the abuse and torture she lived through during her capture. "Cole saved me, but I lost my empathic abilities, that was hell... after we were all back on the ship, I went to Betazed for a year to recover, after which I then went to DS5 where I met you..."

Recalling that day and the events that followed, he smiled inwardly remembering the 'match making' of his children's ghojmoq (nanny).

"For all the crew it was traumatic... terrible... I longed for that life again...." she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "I loved it... the singing, the entertaining, the intrigue, the organized crime... " she said, now the tears were running freely. "I dreamt of it often, thought of it and that is where Elas penetrated my mind, he appeared it those dreams..." she whispered. "If I didn't have such strong feelings about that time, he wouldn't have been able to do what he did to me..."


TBC

 

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