The Star Eagle Adventures: EVS-2 - Crossing Over

[CeJay]

Lif Culsten wasn’t surprised to find that neither Locarno nor Hajar were in attendance for their briefing session the day after the holodeck incident.

What he hadn’t expected however was that nobody had come. Not Sito or Albert or any of the other twelve cadets which comprised Nova Squadron.

They had sent him a clear message.

He sat down in the first row of the otherwise empty lecture hall and waited, hoping that all they had decided to do was to come in late and not blow off the session all together or worse, boycott a squadron with Culsten as it’s leader.

It gave him some time for reflection.

The truth was that he had no idea what had come over him after the holodeck exercise and it all felt oddly out of place now, as if those had been somebody else’s words being channeled through his mouth.

When he looked up at the chronometer again he realized that twenty minutes had passed. He also realized something much more significant. He had failed as Nova Squadron’s new flight leader. After years of yearning for the position, he had managed to lose it all after just a week of being in charge. And he knew perfectly well what this would mean to his future career.

Without leadership experience at the Academy he didn’t stand much of a chance to ever hold a position of great responsibility after graduating. Without being able to lead a small group of cadets, nobody would ever have the confidence to put him in charge of a group of officers, not to mention a starship.

His dreams would end right here.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

Lif jumped onto his feet. But his shoulders slumped visibly when he realized that the voice belonged to Terrence Glover and not, as he had hoped, to one of his squad members who had finally decided to join him after all.

“Sir?”

“It’s an old human adage,” he said as he stepped up to the front of the lecture hall and then leaned against the podium to face Lif. “I’ll give you a penny and you tell me what’s troubling you.”

“What’s a penny?”

Glover sighed. “Forget it. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he said and made a sweeping gesture towards the empty room. “I messed up big time.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

The silver-haired cadet gave him a quizzical look.

“From what Jaxa told me you did a terrific Terrence Glover. If this whole Starfleet thing doesn’t pan out for you, I suppose you may always make it as an impressionist.”

But that was clearly not what he had hoped to hear and he appeared to deflate even further.

“But I have to say that I’m quite hurt to find out that you think that all I do is yell at people,” he said absentmindedly. “I mean there is more to me than that. Sure, maybe I get a bit heated sometimes but that is hardly my best quality.”

“I didn’t mean to impersonate you,” Culsten said. “I was just trying to … take charge.”

Glover nodded and walked over to him to sit in a chair next to the cadet. “I know what you were trying to do and maybe this is partly my fault. The day you came to see me in my office you were looking for some help to be a good leader and I didn’t pay much attention to the signals I was sending you. To be fair, you really did catch me at a bad time. I was angry and frustrated about this program I’ve been trying to get in and all the tedious bureaucrats trying to put obstacles in my way.”

“I’m frustrated.”

“I know you are,” said Terrence. “And nobody ever said that being a leader was easy. It wasn’t for Ryan when he first started out and it sure as hell wasn’t for me back in my Academy days either. But I do remember my own academic advisor who actually gave me some brilliant advice which seems perfectly appropriate here. But of course what else would you expect from a Sulu,” he said and then stood. “Don’t try to be somebody you are not. Everybody has their own command style, make sure you find yours and everything else will fall into place.”

Culsten nodded.

“Wise words from a wise woman,” said Terrence and walked towards the exit.

The cadet stood. “But, sir.”

Glover stopped and turned to look at him.

“Isn’t it a bit late for that? I’ve lost my team.”

He smiled. “There is something you get at the Academy that no other place will ever give you. Second chances. Make the best out of yours, Lif,” he said and then walked out.

He didn’t understand what he had meant by that right away. That was until every single member of Nova Squadron walked into the lecture hall and quickly took their seats. He didn’t miss the fact that many didn’t make eye contact with him and decided to sit in the back rows. Among those were Jean and Nick.

Sito sat in the front however and gave him an encouraging smile.

Culsten took a deep breath and then addressed his squadron. “Thanks for coming everyone.”

There were some murmurs in the back rows.

“First of all let me start out with an apology. Especially to the pilots who were part of the holodeck exercise yesterday. I was out of line and I sincerely hope you can forgive me for my outburst. All I can say is that I have been … frustrated lately. Ridgeway was a great leader and taking over for him hasn’t been as easy as I imagined. But I think I now understand what I’ve done wrong. I’m not Ryan and I’m certainly not Terrence Glover but I am Nova Actual and as such I’m going to be your leader for the next semester. Some of you might not like this but sooner or later, you’ll have to get used to the idea and more importantly you will have to get used to taking my orders and following them. If you can’t do that, I won’t yell at you, I may not even throw you off the squad,” he said and made eye contact with Jean and Nick who seemed relieved to hear this. “But I will make damn sure that your records will reflect your lack of discipline and you’ll be lucky to ever set foot into a real cockpit again. Not to mention graduate from the Academy.

I’ve recently become a firm believer in second chances so I’m willing to start over. But at the same time I cannot overlook what has happened between a couple of pilots over the last few days. Nick, you needlessly endangered another cadet during an exercise. Jean, you were in your right to be upset and angry for what has happened but you were out of line and should have found other ways to deal with your grievances.

I’ve learned that your Sopwith took some serious damage after the incident in the Oort Cloud. I’ve decided that you’re both grounded from all exercises until any damage has been repaired. By the two of you.”

The two cadets were speechless yet again.

“You will have to work together to get her space worthy again and you will have no help from the ground crew either. So the smoother you work the quicker you get back into the cockpit. And if it turns out you can’t work together than you probably don’t belong there in the first place.”

Hajar and Locarno looked at each other but offered no protests.

Just beyond the glass doors to the lecture hall, Terrence Glover nodded with apparent satisfaction. Lif Culsten and his Nova Squadron were finally on the right track and with a team of such skilled pilots and dedicated leadership, maybe they’d even manage to challenge the records which once upon a time he himself had placed into the history books.

As he walked away to leave Culsten and the other cadets to their own devices, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that many of them would make great officers someday. For now, his work at the Academy was done and he couldn’t wait to face his own challenges life still would hold in store for him.

_ _ _ _ _


Stay tuned for 'The Confession' featuring characters from TheLoneRedshirt's Tales of the USS Bluefin​

 

[DarKush]

CeJay,

You write a pretty good Terrence Glover. I like the idea of a Sulu being Terrence's advisor, and of a possible Terrence-Ridgeway tie. Could lead to future stories.

Thanks for showing Glover in a mentoring role. It was neat to see him during this time in his career and with Nova Squadron. New territory and you covered it well.

 

[CeJay]

CeJay,

You write a pretty good Terrence Glover. I like the idea of a Sulu being Terrence's advisor, and of a possible Terrence-Ridgeway tie. Could lead to future stories.

Thanks for showing Glover in a mentoring role. It was neat to see him during this time in his career and with Nova Squadron. New territory and you covered it well.

Thanks DarKush, I'm glad to hear that you liked my interpretation of Glover here. He may actually make another appearance in a later story. We'll see.

 

[Mistral]

I said Red Squad-I meant Nova.

That said, Wow, Terrence Glover both believable and (almost) likable. Well done. I look forward to what you have in store for the Bluefin.

 

[CeJay]

Author's Note: The following story contains spoilers to All The Sinners, Saints. If you haven't read that story and you still wish to do so, you may want to skip the following story.

The Confession
Featuring T’Ser from TheLoneRedshirt’s Tales of the USS Bluefin
​

This story takes place four months after the events of All The Sinners, Saints.
January 2375



Despite or perhaps because of its frontier location, Star Station Echo had always been a busy hub for traders, merchants, travelers, Border Service personnel and various other individuals with both legitimate and less reputable ambitions.

Since the war had broken out the place had become even more crowded and Lieutenant T’Ser from the border cutter Bluefin felt like a fish trying to swim against a relentless current as she tried to make her way across the main concourse.

She didn’t understand why the station had attracted so much more business lately. The predominant perception appeared to be that the Star Station was the safest place to be in case the Dominion decided to invade the sector.

T’Ser knew that to be an illusion. Echo’s defenses had never been designed to hold of an attacking fleet, not to mention a Dominion incursion. All the people who sought refugee here would have been much safer if they returned to their sparsely populated frontier worlds which surely made much less of an inviting target than a packed space station.

In a particularly frustrating moment - she had just almost stumbled over a careless group of Packleds - she felt like shouting from the top of her lungs for everybody to get the hell off the station or at the very least, out of her way.

She took a deep breath and remembered the calming meditation techniques she had learned only recently. The anger and frustration melted away and she continued to squeeze through the crowd.

She reached her destination a few minutes later. Thankfully the place T’Ser had chosen was in one of the less frequented parts of the station and she had little trouble to see that the person she was meeting was already waiting for her.

“Ashley, it’s so good to see you again.”

The raven-locked woman smiled as she spotted the Vulcan. “It’s good to see you, too,” she said and the two women hugged briefly.

Too briefly, thought T’Ser.

A few months earlier Doctor Ashley Wenera from the starship Eagle and herself had been kidnapped by a group of rebels on a planet near the Cardassian border. They had spent time together in captivity and as far as she was concerned, the horrible experience had led to a bond between them. They had spoken a few times since then over sub-space, due to the war not nearly as much as she had liked and now, the first time they’d had a chance to meet in person, Wenera appeared guarded.

T’Ser decided not to be pushy and pointed at the restaurant in front of which they had met. “Shall we go grab a bite? This place is one of the best kept secrets in the sector and I promise you, you won’t find better King Crab legs anywhere outside of Alaska.”

Wenera nodded. “You should know, that’s your neck of the woods, isn’t it?”

“Born and raised in Seattle,” she said as they walked into the Starside Restaurant. “Don’t let those ears fool you,” she added with a smile.

The maître d’ seemed to know T’Ser well and they were swiftly led to an empty table for two right by a large panorama window which allowed for an impressive view of the surrounding space.

“You look well,” said the Vulcan who hadn’t missed that she looked fuller in the face than the last time she had seen her. She took that as a good sign. Wenera had been a very slender person and while T’Ser wasn’t a psychologist she knew that traumatic experiences tended to lead to restlessness and a loss of appetite.

The doctor didn’t seem like she wanted to purse the topic however. “How is Commander McBride?” she said as she took her seat.

“Dale? He’s fine.”

“Things working out with him?”

T’Ser’s face turned a slight shade of green. “How do you mean?”

Ashley shot her that look that made it immediately clear that she knew what kind of game the other woman was trying to play. And that it wasn’t working.

They gave their orders to the waiter and once he had left again, T’Ser glanced at the doctor. “Was it really that obvious?”

“Plain as day.”

T’Ser nodded. “You know, the funny thing is that before … you know, all the things that happened, before all that I wasn’t even sure if Dale and I were going anywhere. It seemed more like an innocent fling but that all changed afterwards. If anything good came out of that episode it’s that our relationship really took off. It’s been … fun.”

“I’m glad for you,” said Ashley. “It’s good you have somebody to talk to.”

Their wine arrived shortly thereafter and T’Ser immediately took a sip as if to give herself some courage for where she was thinking to take this conversation next. “To tell you the truth,” she said. “ We don’t talk much about what happened on Tiaita. And it’s not his fault. God knows, he has tried to bring it up but it’s been really hard for me to talk to him about it. I’m glad Eagle happened to be in sector.”

Wenera simply stared at her own wine glass.

“How about you?” said T’Ser. “You have the luxury of having access to some seriously gifted counselors on Eagle, don’t you?”

She looked up slowly. “I had a couple of mandated session after coming back but with the war going on counselors are in heavy demand.”

T’Ser nodded. “Listen, if you don’t want to talk about this, that’s fine. I’m sure I can think of much more pleasant conversational topics,” she said.

But Wenera quickly shook her head. “No, it’s fine. And I’m sorry if I’m coming across tight-lipped today. I’ve been wanting to see you and talk to you about what happened for a while now, it’s just much more difficult than I thought.”

T’Ser could certainly understand that. She had been viciously tortured by a sadistic woman during her captivity. It had been the first time in her life she had been exposed to that kind of pain. She had been brave and endured it, trying to tell herself that as a Vulcan her pain threshold would allow her to deal with the situation. But in reality the experience had nearly destroyed her and the anguish still lingered in the back of her mind.

But the worst of it came well after the torture sessions when she came to face her tormentor on a more even playing field. She had come apart then, fully intending to repay her everything she had dished out and then some. She had nearly killed the woman and if Dale hadn’t stopped her, she hated to think what she may have done.

“Try the wine,” she said after taking another swallow. “It’s the real thing, not replicated. It helps.”

But the doctor made no move for the beverage. Instead she locked eyes with the Vulcan. “I keep thinking of what I could have done differently back there. I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for what happened. While I was out treating those rebels, that sick woman –“

“Don’t do that,” T’Ser interrupted. “I told you before that you have nothing to feel ashamed about. You couldn’t have known what was happening and I was the one telling you to go in the first place. And I’m glad I did. Things could have turned out much worse if you had stayed behind.”

“I can’t really see how.”

“Listen,” said T’Ser, and reached across the table to take her hand. “The last thing I want is for you to keep blaming yourself for what happened. There is nothing you should be sorry for. None of what happened was your fault.”

Ashley blanched slightly causing T’Ser to suppress a sigh. It had been apparent from the moment they had returned from the surface of Tiaita that she was suffering from a serious guilt complex and she hadn’t figured out yet how to help her overcome it.

Their food arrived and they began to eat.

Or at least T’Ser did.

Ashley had a few bites of her vegetables but mostly ignored the crab legs. She kept staring at her food as if she was trying to find a deeper meaning hidden within it. She hadn’t touched her wine.

T’Ser put her own crab legs down and wiped her hands on a napkin. “Let’s talk then.”

Ashley looked up with an asking expression on her face.

“Well, you’re clearly not interested in eating and you said you’ve wanted to talk to me in person, so talk to me.”

She nodded slowly. “I have been wanting to,” she admitted. “But I’m just not sure how to say what I think I need to say.”

“You could try with the beginning and work yourself towards the end,” she said with a small laugh.

It didn’t help matters.

“I’m sorry,” T’Ser quickly said. “I know this isn’t a laughing matter but you’re not exactly making it easy for me here.”

“I know. And it isn’t easy for me either. I value our friendship and I would hate for it to come into jeopardy.”

“In jeopardy?” she said surprised. “Why would it be in jeopardy?”

Ashley took a deep breath and glanced out of the viewport they were sitting by, catching a glimpse of Eagle hovering over the comparably tiny Bluefin in its shadow.

“Do you remember Balik?”

T’Ser nodded. It was difficult to forget the imposing man. He had been the leader of the rebel group which had captured them but unlike his sadistic partner, he had been against their abduction from the start which had eventually led to a fall out between them and had indirectly led to their rescue. Balik had been the polar opposite to the woman who had tortured her, charismatic and somewhat idealistic, he had intervened and disrupted her torture, possibly even saving her life.

“After we were separated I got to know him better. He is an interesting man and I believe the best chance Tiaita has for a future without war.”

“I can believe that.”

“We spend a lot of time together while we were hiding from government troops and trying to figure out a way to get you back.”

T’Ser nodded. “I’ve read the reports. You helped raid a government depot to get your hands on a communications device to try and find me. That was very brave and couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“It wasn’t. And I could have easily sat the whole thing out. There was no real reason for me to take part in the actual raid but I felt as if I had to. After leaving you behind I knew I owed you that much.”

The Vulcan frowned. “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

“It doesn’t matter now. And that raid is not why I feel as awful as I do.”

T’Ser looked at her expectantly.

“There are things I’ve done I didn’t put in my report.”

She was actually surprised to hear that because she had read the report quite thoroughly and it not been a pleasant task. Besides the raid in which she had been forced to watch Balik execute a soldier in cold blood, she had also included an episode in which she had killed a man herself. It had been in self-defense but the way it had happened, so close and personal, she knew it must have been a terrible experience for somebody who valued life and whose job it was to preserve it at any cost.

“I said before that I got to know Balik better. Well, that’s not the whole truth.”

T’Ser was starting to suspect where this was going. She reached for the wine glass almost subconsciously.

“We were intimate,” she finally said after a long pause and was unable to look T’Ser in the eye while she spoke. “And I think I may have initiated it.”

Neither one of them spoke right away.

T’Ser finally put her glass down again. “I’ve heard about this. It’s a psychological condition called Stockholm syndrome in which hostages develop positive feelings towards their captors. From what I’ve read it’s not unusual for –“

“It wasn’t just positive feelings, T’Ser, I’ve slept with him,” she interrupted so loudly that a few heads at neighboring tables turned her way.

“While you were being tortured by a mad woman I let myself be seduced by a person who was at least partially responsible for what happened to us. For what happened to you,” she continued in a softer but still forceful tone. “Instead of trying to move heaven and earth to try and find and rescue you I behaved like a salacious teenage girl. There is no excuse for it,” she said and once again avoided eye contact.

T’Ser tried hard to think of her next words. She couldn’t quite deny a certain amount of shock over this revelation. She had to fight the rising anger that was building up within her. She didn’t want to be mad but she wasn’t exactly excited to learn that while her face was being used as a punching bag and she had feared for her life Wenera had been enjoying hers. And then some.

“Do you care for that man?” she finally said.

Ashley looked up with an expression on her face as if T’Ser had just lost her mind. “What does that matter?”

“I’d say it matters a great deal. You’re right, this is not something that I liked to hear but if you tell me that you have genuine feelings for him it makes it easier than if it was nothing more than a spur of the moment kind of thing.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure. Mostly I feel guilty. But I know that I wouldn’t have done what I did if I didn’t feel very strongly about him. I’m not that kind of a girl.”

That made T’Ser laugh out loud despite of what she had learned. Maybe it was the wine, she thought and promptly took another sip. She needed it.

“This is not funny.”

“You won’t let me laugh about the absurdity of this situation? Either I’ll laugh about it or I’ll cry. What would you prefer?”

“You’re upset.”

T’Ser thought about that statement for a moment. “If you had told me all this back then maybe I would have been mad. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not crazy about the idea but I think I understand. Maybe it’s because of what I have with Dale or maybe because of the things I learned about myself while meditating with Commander Xylion but I think I can live with knowing what you did. And you will have to as well.”

But Wenera didn’t look relieved in the slightest. In fact, if at all possible, now she looked even more concerned.

“Oh please, you’ve cleared out your closet, I haven’t leaped over the table to strangle you, we may as well lighten up and have a drink,” she said and reached for her nearly empty glass again. “I mean what else could you possibly tell me? It’s not like your pregnant.”

Ashley’s eyes shot up to stare right into T’Ser’s.

The Vulcan noticed the pain there. She also noticed that Ashley’s wine glass had still not been touched.

“No,” she said slowly.

Wenera said nothing.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded gingerly.

“I don’t believe it,” she said and studied her closely. “Does he know?”

She shook her head. “Nobody knows.”

It took her a moment to get over the shock of this new revelation which just seemed to keep coming. Pregnancies were of course not uncommon within Starfleet even if probably more so in the Border Service. Keeping it a secret however was dangerous when serving on a starship. She couldn’t claim any experience in the matter but she knew how disruptive having a child could be. Even more so during a war and with the father being a man who kidnapped her.

“Quite frankly I’m not sure what to say,” T’Ser said accurately.

“I found out after I returned from the surface. I was mad as hell and then I spent about an hour crying. I was all but ready to terminate the pregnancy straight away, in fact I had the entire procedure set up that same night inside an empty lab. I was holding the instruments in my hands but in the end I just couldn’t go through with it.”

T’Ser nodded.

“The truth is I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“You have to tell the father. He deserves to know,” she said.

“And how do you suppose I do that? After that whole mess it’s not as if Starfleet maintains any communication links with Tiaita. The planet is in a remote part of space and even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t get permission to leave the ship while there is a war going on.”

“Then you have to come clean,” suggested the Vulcan. “Tell your captain what happened, I’m sure he’ll understand and will find a way for you to deal with this.”

But Ashley looked unconvinced. “I don’t know if I can do that. It was hard enough to open up to you. Besides what do you think he will do? ‘No problem, Doctor, don’t worry about the fact that we are fighting a losing war, here, take a shuttle and take care of your family problems first’.”

“I suppose not.”

“I should have just ended it and be done with everything,” she said and looked out of the viewport again.

“You had that option but the fact that you couldn’t go through with it then tells me that it isn’t something you could ever do. But keeping it a secret won’t work either and you will still need to have a plan of what to do once your child is born.”

She had a pained expression on her face when she looked back at the Vulcan. “That’s just it, I have no plan. It’s all so confusing.”

“Let me talk to Baxter,” said T’Ser, referring to Doctor Calvin Baxter, Bluefin’s current CMO and retired chief of Starfleet medical branch. “He still has a lot of pull with Starfleet Medical. Perhaps we can arrange some sort of emergency leave. That way you can have some time to think about this and decide what you want to do. Perhaps you could even try and see the child’s father.”

Ashley quickly shook her head. “I don’t think I want to tell anyone.”

“Don’t be silly. Besides there is no risk talking to Baxter about this, he’s bound by doctor-patient confidentiality and he is not the kind of man to take that lightly. If you do nothing and just keep ignoring this your crew will eventually find out and you will have to figure out how to deal with this on the fly.”

Wenera sighed heavily. “I wouldn’t mind going home for a while to clear my head but how can I justify doing this while the Federation is fighting for its existence?”

“It may not be the most appropriate thought but I doubt our fate will rest in the hands of one pregnant Starfleet physician. If we lose the war than we’re probably all going to die and your situation won’t really matter. But if we get through this, you need to start thinking about that little person inside of you.”

T’Ser saw Ashley smile for perhaps the first time they had sat down together. It was actually a relief. “That little person inside of me,” she repeated. “You know I’ve never really thought about it that way until now. All I could think of was that horrible mistake that I’ve made and all the consequences and complications it has caused for me. I suppose I’ve been rather selfish about the whole thing.”

“Nothing like a Vulcan to put things into perspective for you, eh?”

Wenera laughed.

“Don’t worry, Ash, you are going to get through this and I will try and help you the best that I can, alright?”

“Thank you, T’Ser. For everything, I mean it. You had every reason to hate me for what I’ve done but instead you’ve only shown me kindness and support. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.”

“Don’t mention it,” she said and flagged down the waiter. “Can we have this warmed up a bit?” she told him, pointing at both their plates. “And get the good doctor some ginger ale.”

The waiter nodded and took away the half finished food.

“I couldn’t live with myself if I brought you here without you ever tasting these fantastic crab legs. I think you owe me that much,” she said to Wenera.

Ashley smiled. “To tell you the truth, I’m starved. Feels like I could eat for two.”

_ _ _ _ _ _

Stay tuned for 'One Toke Over The Line' featuring characters from Sam Redfeather's Star Trek: Gibraltar​

 

[DarKush]

CeJay,

Good character work there. Wenera seemed like she was in a real pickle, but I think T'Ser's advice will be of great benefit to her.

 

[mirandafave]

Yipes! Talk about a guilt complex and then the complicated matters atop of everything else. Well, things are going to get interesting for some members of the eagle crew. Nice to see a follow up to the events of All the Saints, Sinners CeJay and no more appropriate choices for study than T'Ser and Wenera. Now what awaits?

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

Great follow-up to "All the Saints, Sinners." That had to be hard for Winera in more ways than one. T'Ser showed remarkable maturity and wisdom in her response to Winera's revelation and the story ended on a happy note.

On a personal note, thanks for the great job you have done in writing the Bluefin characters. You've captured them brilliantly, particularly T'Ser.

And I love the title for your upcoming Gibraltar crossover: "One Toke Over the Line." I suspect I know how Capt. Sandhurst deals with stress.

 

[Mistral]

That was cool. You played out one of my favorite characters very "spot-on". It was an interesting moral dilemma as well and that's coming from a guy who likes rockets and rayguns a lot more than sob stories! Looking forward to the next one!

 

[CeJay]

Thanks for the great feedback, guys.

I have to admit, T'Ser is a fun character to write. Maybe I'll try to steal her away when she gets fed up serving on a century old starship with a knack of getting its crew to the brink of destruction every other day. It will have to happen eventually, right?

 

[CeJay]

One Toke Over The Line
Featuring Pava Lar’ragos from Sam Redfeather’s Star Trek: Gibraltar​

October 2367


Now

It was just after midnight when the bats first appeared.

Pyrithian bats, she thought. Of course she wasn’t overly familiar with the nocturnal creatures and would probably have been hard pressed to distinguish any kind from another.

They were huge and their high-pitched screeching along with the sounds of their flapping wings was mind-numbing. The entire room was filled with them now, a tornado of black swirling with her stuck in the middle.

She felt too weak – or perhaps it was indifference – to fight them off. She sure as hell wasn’t going to move for the goddamned creatures after all this was her room. It may have been shabby but she had paid good credits for it.

She didn’t know how long the world had been upside down and she cared little. She faintly remembered arriving here a few days ago – or had it been weeks? The details of why she had come and what she had sought to achieve here were a fading memory now.

She had long since stopped caring at the oddity of starring down at the ceiling and up at the floor. The laws of gravity had become the last of her concerns.

The colors, however, she liked. Yes, they were pleasantly soothing. Never mind the mass of black bats as beyond it shimmered a soothing field of cadmium orange mixed in with an electric purple. A streak of bright heliotrope with a hint of lavender rose. A bright tangerine orange and pulsating periwinkle and a stroke of burnt sienna.

Sienna was her favorite. It reminded her of the sunsets on Trill.

The dark, ugly creatures were ruining the effect.

She had tried to close her eyes earlier, tried to think of places she’d much rather be than this dingy little room gone insane. Walking bare footed in the soft sand of a Risan beach, taking in the stunning view from the top of the Tenarian Ice Cliffs, hells, even smelling recycled air on a starship had to be better than this.

The incessant roaring above her – or was it below her – wouldn’t let her mind wander.

The three salt statutes, one massive and two of seemingly medium size, were watching her from afar, entirely unimpressed with the madness all around them. Their stares were uncompromising and accusatory. Their soundless judgments perhaps even worse than all the insanity surrounding her.

“Leave me the hells alone!” she heard herself cry. But she couldn’t be sure if she had spoken those words or merely thought them.

If only those bats would let her think.

* * *​

One Day Ago

“Not many people fully appreciate the fact that Tongo and business share a number of very important similarities. Amateurs and those who know little about the intricacies of the nature of commerce, often mistake those similarities as the pursuit of profit. But this is not so. Profit is only one of the man aspects of the game. The true purpose of Tongo as well as of running and efficient organization is control. Control and loyalty.”

Denka Decqour was very much in his element. The fair-skinned, long-haired man with the sharp white business suit very much enjoyed the game of Tongo but even more so he enjoyed being the center of attention. He enjoyed sitting at the head of the Tongo table with the eyes of all others transfixed on him. He enjoyed hearing the sound of his own voice.

They had come here in hopes to either work for him or do business but very few would ever prove to be worthy enough to do either.

Another reason why he loved this game. It would allow him to distinguish those he would allow into his inner circle and those whose fate would be far worse. There was no better way to judge a person’s character than a game of Tongo.

He gave the wheel another spin, not happy for it to come to a stop just yet, while he placed his other hand on the thigh of the stunningly attractive woman sitting to his right. The human wore her blonde hair openly over her shoulders and a dress that revealed enough of all her best assets and making overt promises to all those who were looking for a good time.

And she didn’t seem to mind his intrusive hand. On the contrary she shot him a wicked smile in response.

“It is a lesson I believe you have already learned, my lovely,” said Denka as his eyes met those of the enticing young siren at his side. “You have begun to understand the principles behind a successful business partnership,” he said all the while his hand moved further up her thigh with little resistance. He tore himself away from her beautiful face to look down the table. “The question that remains is, have the rest of you?”

Denka studied the other players carefully. There were eight of them; Humans, Ferengi, Romulans, Farians and others. But he had already spotted the most promising ones out of the bunch. The brutish Nausicaan would come in handy just for pure muscle value. Then there was the beautiful woman with the plunging neckline and the barely noticeable but undeniable playful smile on her lips, asserting that this Vulcan was treading the line between cold logic and hot passion. But by far the most interesting player at the table was a man who at first glance appeared rather unassuming and entirely unimpressive.

He wasn’t as tall or as muscular as the Nausicaan and he certainly didn’t have the looks of the Vulcan. He appeared human but after a couple of hours at the Tongo table Denka was certain that he wasn’t. In fact he was certain that there was much more to the man than a first impression could reveal. Those deep brown eyes simply didn’t belong to a man who seemed to be thirty-something. No, those eyes belonged to somebody who had seen and done much more than three decades would have allowed for.

Denka focuses on the man just as the Tongo wheel finally came to a stop. “Your turn.”

The man held his host’s stare with blatant confidence, never even once looking at the outcome of the spin. “Confront.”

 

[DavidFalkayn]

This looks like it's going to be an especially dark and grim tale--but given the protagonists, how can it be anything else? I'm definitely looking forward to more.

 

[Mistral]

Oh, this wheeler-dealer is in for a rude awakening. Good start!

 

[mirandafave]

Indeed. An interesting start. I sure hope the casino doesn't try to cheat on Pava for example! But the caves? Hmm ... interesting.

 

[CeJay]

Three Days Ago

The eastern continent of Farius Prime was miserable this time of the year. It was raining almost constantly, so much in fact, one might have mistook it for Ferenginar in the summer. It was the cold that bothered Tazla Star the most.

She looked herself over in a mirror and hardly recognized herself. Her Trill spots were gone and her fire-red hair had been dyed so effectively, she looked like a natural blonde. Next she checked her weapons. Once she was happy that they were all working perfectly, disruptor, hidden phaser, and sharpened dagger she stepped out onto the warehouse floor.

Her assignment for the day had been an easy one. She had been tipped off that a rival organization would be making a move against the shipment tonight. It would prove to be a terrific opportunity for her overall agenda.

“This place is freezing,” one of the thugs protecting the shipment was moaning loudly. “If I stay here a moment longer I swear I’ll turn into a popsicle.”

“There is a tavern down the street,” another one said. “It’s warm and it has plenty of Saurian Brandy.”

“Finally a good idea.”

The four thugs were in agreement and already on the way out of the door.

“Where the hells do you think you are going?” Star said. “You’ve been ordered to stay here and protect the shipment.”

“Listen, girly, just because you are Denka’s newest pet doesn’t mean you are the boss of us. You better learn your place or I’d be more than happy to show it to you,” said the main thug with a lecherous grin on his lips.

“I want to see you try.”

The group of henchmen erupted in laughter but the lure of burning ale had them drifting towards the exit. “Maybe when I come back we can play,” he said, laughing heartedly and following his comrades out of the warehouse.

“Terrific,” said Star to herself as she watched them go. She hadn’t shared her knowledge of the impending attack with the others or anybody else for that matter. It had been difficult enough to convince Denka to give her a few of his thugs for the evening. The idea of course being that she alone would have been credited for the foresight to protect one of his more valuable shipments and thereby improving her standing in the organization.

The idea had not been for her to fight off the attackers by herself.

She found a phaser rifle and checked its settings. If she had to do this by herself, so be it. In the end it would only make her look better. Defending his shipment single-handedly was sure to catapult her into Denka’s inner circle and possibly even make him trust her enough to introduce her to the upper echelons of the organization. And that was exactly why she was here.

The next couple of hours were quiet except for the streaming rain outside, never endingly pelting the thin roof of the warehouse.

Star had found an elevated spot in the shadows which allowed her to observe the entire floor without being seen. The attackers, she knew, were not expecting the shipment to be guarded.

She allowed her mind to wander as she awaited the raid. Not for the first time she realized that she had come a long way from being that bright-eyed Starfleet cadet with nothing else on her mind but to become a Starfleet captain one day, just like her childhood heroes.

After her joining with the Star symbiont, her drive and ambition had become even more focused and she had impressed a great many superiors with her strength, intelligence and determination. And even though she had been moving through the ranks at a good pace, it hadn’t been fast enough for Tazla Star.

That was when Altee had approached her with an offer she simply couldn’t refuse. Using her talents in the intelligence field and becoming his apprentice, he had promised her a command of her own within a few years. All she had to do was to volunteer for the most dangerous and challenging missions one could think of, including infiltrating the notorious Orion Syndicate.

It was a dirty and corrupt job but it was one that needed to be done, she had convinced herself. And the cause was just and the reward well worth the dangers.

It was a Nausicaan who cut short her reminiscing and forced her to focus back on her current objective.

He was surprisingly stealthy and had it not been for large shadows of his massive frame she probably would not even have noticed that he had entered the warehouse at all.

With little hesitation, she lined up her shot until he was square within her crosshairs. She didn’t think twice before pulling the trigger.

She knew immediately that it was a hit but she didn’t wait to make sure. Instead she swung her rifle over her shoulder and slid down a nearby ladder to get back down onto the warehouse floor.

She reached the large Nausicaan just as he was coming around again. She had expected this, the stun setting didn’t work particularly well on his kind.

Star quickly reached for her rifle again and grabbed it by the barrel, not unlike a bat. “Nappy time, big boy,” she said and then hit him squarely across the head with the butt of the weapon.

Nausicaan’s possessed famously thick skulls but they were no match for duranium polymer and the massive alien flopped down onto the floor again and this time would not awaken again for quite some time.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Star whipped around, not quite able to believe that she had allowed somebody to sneak up on her.

And then she froze. She was looking at a Nausicaan. That alone of course would not have been surprising. Except for the fact that the second one looked identical to the first one in every way. Not just his arguably hideous face with its razor sharp teeth and protruding fangs, but even in height, mass and clothing, this Nausciaan was the spitting image of the first one.

Star knew enough about their race to know that this was rather unlikely and she couldn’t help herself but look back down at the first man she had disposed of, if only to make sure that her mind was not playing tricks on her.

It wasn’t.

And the momentary distraction was all this double required.

He reached out for her phaser rifle and then shoved her so hard, she went flying backwards only to impact harshly against one of the large cargo containers. The impact forced all the air out of her lungs and she sagged to the ground.

But Star forced herself to remain conscious and through half open eyes she watched the Nausicaan checking on his partner. Once he was sure he was merely stunned, he raised the phaser rifle and approached the seemingly incapacitated blonde-haired woman.

“What the hells … are you?” she asked as the Nausicaan stepped closer. “A twin? Clone?”

He smiled. Or at least Star thought that he did, it was difficult to tell with Nausicaans.

“Your mission ends here, Tazla Star.”

That gave her pause. She had been discovered, her cover was blown. And by a Nausicaan of all people. Not that it matter a great deal but it did sting her pride. After all these people were not exactly known for their sharp intellect.

But she had one last ace up her sleeve. Literally. She raised her arms meekly in what looked like a gesture of surrender, causing another grin-like facial expression from her opponent. “I have to say I’m a bit disappointed you’re giving up this quickly,” he growled.

“Don’t be,” she said and a tiny device shot out from hidden underneath her right wrist and landed in her waiting hand. It was a small phaser.

The Nausicaan’s eyes opened wide but he was too slow to evade the incoming blast which caught him right across the chest and send him flying onto his back.

Star jumped back onto her feet, now that she’d had time for her strength to return and quickly kicked away the phaser rifle the Nausicaan had dropped. Surprisingly she found that he was out cold already even though her phaser had only been powerful enough for a single stun blast, usually not enough to knock out a creature of his size.

She reached into her boot and withdrew a dagger. She had not intended on killing these intruders but that was before she knew that they had exposed her. The only problem. She had never killed anyone in cold blood before. Not like this.

She put her knife against the Nausicaan’s throat. A simple slash with the sharp blade would probably do it. It was going to be an easy kill.

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

She looked up and immediately cursed herself that she had not made sure that there weren’t any more intruders. A mistake which could easily have just costs her her life.

The thin man with bushy black eyebrows stepped out of the shadows. He appeared to be unarmed but if Star had thought about making a move against him, she quickly changed her mind when he walk right up to the phaser rifle she had so thoughtlessly discarded a moment earlier. He didn’t pick it up off the floor however. Instead he simply put his foot on it.

“I don’t think you are a killer.”

“You don’t know the first think about me, Mister,” she said and left the Nausicaan to get back onto her feet in order to be on equal footing with her newest opponent. But there was something about this man that greatly disturbed her. She couldn’t tell if it were those eyes which appraised her quietly or his body language which was impossibly too relaxed for this kind of situation.

“I know that your name is Tazla Star. I know that you work for Starfleet. I know that you are a Trill even though they’ve done a fine job to hide those marvelous spots of yours. I know that you look a lot better with red hair. Forgive my bluntness, but I think the blonde just makes you look like a common street whore,” he smirked when she gritted her teeth and took a confrontational step towards him. “How is that for starters?”

She was mad. Mad as hell in fact but she kept her piece, fully realizing that while he was standing above that rifle, she was at a clear disadvantage. There was no way she could get to him before he could pick it up from the floor.

“I also know that there is still some fight left in you. I think you want to get to my throat quite badly. How about it? You think you can take me?”

“In a fair fight you wouldn’t stand a chance,” she said. “Too bad that you’re too much of a coward to ever allow for one.”

Star was going for the oldest play in the book. She held out little hope for success. But to her utter surprise, the man kicked the rifle away and out of both their reaches.

“Your move,” he said and glanced at the knife she still held in her hand.

For just a moment she thought about keeping it but it didn’t seem right. Besides she was quite confident that she’d be able to easily defeat this rather unassuming opponent. She threw the knife away and approached. “I’ll give you credit for your guts,” she said. “But if you really knew me as well as you say you do, you wouldn’t have been so stupid.”

She attacked first, trying to dispose of him quickly by aiming for his head and solar plexus with lightning fast moves. He blocked her but the forcefulness of her attacker forced him to stumble backwards.

Star smirked. He had been entirely overconfident and now he would pay the price.

She was certain of her victory. That was until she caught a glance of his face. He didn’t show the slightest sign of effort, not a pearl of sweat even while she was giving it her all. This man simply continued to block every attack she could think of.

And then came the counter-attack and Star quickly came to realize that she had been entirely ill-prepared for it.

He went for her throat first and the blow was so intense, she found herself unable to breathe. He didn’t stop there. Before she even knew what had happened, he had gone for her eyes, blinding her and then immediately for her kneecaps, forcing her to drop to the floor.

It took a couple of minutes for her vision to return and the pain to fade. She immediately understood that he could have caused a lot more damage if he had wanted to. She also understood something else as she looked up at him, towering above her. “You … you don’t fight fair.”

He grinned at that. “A long time ago, somebody told me that the only unfair fight is the one you lose.”

“Who are you?”

Surprisingly he held out his hand for her and after some hesitation she took it to allow him to pull her back onto her feet.

“His name is Lar’ragos.”

Star turned around to see that the second Nausicaan had come back around and was picking himself off the ground. But what happened next was much more interesting. In front of her eyes, the Nausicaan transformed into the form of a shapely Vulcan woman.

“Shape-shifter? That would have been my next guess,” said Star.

“Name is Galven. Starfleet Intelligence.”

The disguised Trill looked at Lar’ragos. “You are SI?”

He merely shrugged.

Star looked confused which quickly turned into anger when she realized that she had been fighting fellow Starfleet officers and nearly killed one. “What is the meaning of this? This is a deep-cover mission and your blatant interference is risking to destroy months of hard work.”

Galven checked on the Nausicaan. “Maybe if you had given us a chance to talk instead of jumping us like a rabid bitch we would have been able to explain.”

“What did you just call me?” Star was furious.

The woman didn’t pay her any attention.

“Listen, Galven, or whatever the hell your name is, I was setting up a trap for a rival organization. I had it on good authority that they would try to make a move on this shipment.”

“Yeah, I’m afraid we spread that rumor,” Lar’ragos said.

She shot him an angry glare. “Why?”

“Professional courtesy,” said Galven who had managed to wake the Nausicaan. He was clearly in a bad mood and upon seeing Star he growled angrily. Galven kept him in check before he could show his displeasure more physically.

“I don’t understand.”

“We’re taking down Denka,” said Pava Lar’ragos. “We thought it be a good idea to warn you so that you can stay clear for next few days.”

Star shook her head. “You can’t do that. I’ve been working for months to get close to Denka and he has only now begun to trust me. A little more time and I’ll be able to meet those above him in the organization and eventually take down the entire thing from the inside.”

“You really think Denka will be stupid enough to introduce a nobody he’s picked up off the streets to the most powerful crime boss in the sector after just a few months?” Galven said. “Much better agents than you have tried. It’s not going to happen.”

Tazla Star smirked. “You mean you have failed.”

Galven stepped closer to the other woman. “I’ve heard about you and your mentor. You guys don’t like to play by the rules, do you? You see yourself as some sort of fix-it-all intelligence outfit somehow superior to the rest of us. Let me tell you something, the only thing different between me and you is that I still have a conscience.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” Star shot back, “we’re a long way from the core worlds. You have a conscience? Well, congratulations. But in this place that’s a liability because guess what? Our enemies don’t have one. So if you can’t stomach the job maybe you should start making retirement arrangements and leave the ugly work to somebody who is willing to get theirs hands dirty.”

Galven glanced at Lar’ragos and then back at Star. “You know what, you’re right. Go ahead and be Denka’s little toy. Because that’s what it’s going to take. You’d be nothing more than his servant, an object for him to call on whenever he feels like it,” she said and carefully looked Star over. “In fact, I think you would make a great sex toy.”

Star quickly realized that she couldn’t stand this self-important wannabe intelligence operative masquerading herself as a Vulcan. She would have liked nothing better than to show her exactly what she thought of her but the burly Nausicaan had now stepped up next to the shape-shifter, quietly inviting her to make a move she was sure to regret.

“It won’t end there.”

Star needed a moment to compose herself before she turned to glance at Lar’ragos.

“Even if you do go ahead with this and decide to sell out your body and soul, it won’t end there. If you really want to earn the trust of the syndicate bosses you will have to get the Mark. And that will stay with you for the rest of your life.”

The Trill intelligence agent walked over to one of the cargo containers and opened the large doors, ignoring the foul smell that greeted her instantly. Then she turned to look at the others. “There are twenty-seven girls crammed in here. And about twelve more containers just like that. Every day Denka and his organization move dozens of these to buyers all over the sector and beyond. The lucky ones become slaves. The rest are harvested for their organs which are used for as delicacies and aphrodisiacs. Most of the girls aren’t even women yet.”

Galven stepped forward. “That’s why we’re here. We’re shutting Denka down.”

But Star shook her head. “If we keep going after the lieutenants we’ll never really shut this down. These people are replaceable as easily as spare parts. But you get to the man at the very top and we get a real good chance of ending this once and for all and saving thousands of lives.”

“There is no ending this, Tazla,” Pava said. “This is a never-ending cycle and the best we can do is continue to go after them and making their lives and their work as difficult as possible. You can’t bring them down yourself. And even if you do, you simply open up room for the next opportunist scumbag to take over the reins.

You have to pick the battles you can win. This is not one of them. I can tell you have great potential. Join us and I promise together we can make a real difference for these people. Trust me, if you go at this alone you’ll end up in a very dark and lonely place from which you won’t be able to return.”

Something in his tone made her shiver. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that this man had seen and done things she couldn’t even begin to fathom. Maybe he had even been down this path before. He wasn’t like Galven. When he spoke he did so with such sincerity it simply couldn’t be ignored. He knew what he was saying and he genuinely didn’t wish for her to perhaps make the kind of mistake that he had once made.

In the end all that didn’t matter to her. She was committed and had to try to do this her way. For loyalty to her mentor, for her career and because as far as she was concerned, it was the right thing to do.

She turned her back to Lar’ragos and walked towards the exit. “Just stay out of my way.”

 

[Gibraltar]

Yeah, Tazla has never been one for taking advice. I’ve always thought of her as one of your most compelling characters, more so because I’m never sure what she’s going to do in a given situation. Star never ceases to surprise.

And here I find myself wishing she’s surprise me by actually listening to Pava.

Terrific stuff! You’ve captured the quintessential Lar’ragos here my friend.

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

I really enjoyed the juxtaposition of Star against Pava. There are certain similarities between the two, but the differences are stark. Pava is the voice of experience, trying to steer Star away from a life of regret. Too bad she doesn't listen well. One senses that Pava is all too familiar with bad choices and must fight against the demons each day.

Really good stuff, CeJay!

 

[CeJay]

Thanks guys.

While it might be a leap, I've always felt that Star and Pava are not so different from each other. Sure, not in the 'present' but I wouldn't be surprised if Pava sees a little bit of himself in her some 300 years ago. Considering Tazla is a Trill and should have a similar length of experiences to draw upon, it is perhaps ironic that she still makes so many questionable decisions.

I do think there is a big difference between Tazla the woman and Star the symbiont, however.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Mistral]

Fascinating. You got Pava cold. Not sure i understand everything that's going on but it's fun to read. What's The Mark?

 

[CeJay]

Thanks Mistral.

I admit the structure for this story is less straight-forward than on the other stories and in hindsight I probably should have posted everything in one go instead of in pieces. I usually think that it is easier on readers to post small chunks, just maybe not this time.

A quick recap: We find a woman in a dingy little room seeing bats and apparently having lost her grip on time.

The day previous we meet a crime boss named Denka playing a game of Tongo with an attractive blonde, a mysterious man, an alluring Vulcan woman and a Nausicaan among others.

Two days earlier we meet a blonde Tazla Star working undercover in Denka's organization trying to work herself into his graces. She faces off with a mysterious man, Pava, a shape-shifter called Galven who's going as a Vulcan and her Nausicaan associate. Pava tries to convince her to help them bring down Denka but she decides to go at it alone and try to bring down the entire syndicate.

As to what the Mark is. We'll soon find out.