[USS Charon]
Elsewhere- 10 years ago
"Riov."
Shiarrael twisted around and threw an irritated gaze at her RS (XO) "Shiarkek, why are you still standing here?" Her eyes narrowed dispassionately. She hated repeating herself. "If you have enough time to dawdle perhaps I can find you more to do?"
The edges of his lips flinched as his muscles worked overtime to prevent him from scowling at her "I do not approve."
"Oh?" She was interested now, what nonsense did he plan to spout this time? "Since when do I need your approval? You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I care what you think. You are here to serve me- not the other way around Shiarkek. Tend to your duties before you draw my ire. It is something you may regret."
"No- I will not. Riov Yhisu is dead- she died aboard the Saeihr'llaiir! You are not her; you are a coward who failed to do her duty when captured. You do not deserve to be here. You should be dead." His face was hard as he spoke, his eyes were wide- anger or perhaps it was simply adrenaline for releasing his tongue. Either way- there was no going back from those words.
Shiarrael was quiet for a long moment. She simply stared at him and it was a deep piecing stare as if she were gazing into his soul. He was right. In part at least- she could not contest the fact that she should be dead but that didn't matter here. Here she was the law. How dare he utter those words? She bit her lip for a moment and then slid a hand to the hilt of her honor blade "I'm not sure I heard you correctly. Perhaps you will repeat yourself?"
"I said you are not…"
"What right do you have to utter such nonsense?" Shiarrael cut him off and unsheathed her blade pointing it at him "what do you know of it other than rumors? Yes, I should be dead- but I am not. It is the will of the elements for they wrenched death from my hands twice. I should be dead- but I am not. I am here and I am your Riov. Shiarkek- you will obey me or you will die. I do not have time for nonsense and I certainly do not have time for you to question my authority. If it means I have to toss you out an airlock to solidify my authority- so be it. It must be easy to spout nonsense and hide behind the power of your kin but they will not arrive here fast enough to prevent you from floating into oblivion." She took a deep breath "I will say again. I am not sure I heard you correctly. Perhaps you will repeat yourself?"
He stared at her- wished her dead but knew he would foolish to continue this with her. Falling to his knees he bowed his head "forgive me Rekkhai. I misspoke." Standing up he turned around "I will do as you ordered and tend to my duties."
"Good." As the doors closed behind him Shiarrael sheathed her blade and turned around to look at the passing stars. "Damn the elements" she cursed. Why had they kept her alive? The humiliation was almost unbearable. "What purpose does this serve?" She asked. It was silly- fate was such a ridiculous notion.
Shiarrael sat up and took a deep breath- she felt numb and hot. As the blur that encompassed her vision began to take shape an intense orange blob at the periphery of her vision quickly turned into fire. It was the control panel- the flame was radiating up towards the ceiling and a large smoldering column of smoke had nearly filled the entire lift. She coughed suddenly and tried to move but her limbs were still numb from the shock. Am I going to die here? She wondered. How truly ironic that would be- to survive everything only to die in a turbo lift accident. If the situation were not so dire she would have actually laughed at the predicament.
Her lungs began to burn as the thickest smoke filtered down to her. It would be a slow death Shiarrael knew. She would likely die from smoke inhalation before she burned alive- at least Starfleet uniforms were fire resistant. She cursed her luck in both Rihannsu and standard. Her head started to feel light as the cough became more constant. Her eyes were becoming heavy and her breaths strained between fits of coughing. She smirked- in her dreams she always imagined herself dying with a wide smirk to irritate her enemies.
A loud bang shook the lift. She looked up suddenly as the turbo lift doors were ripped open. Her mind could barely digest what was happening. Several officers shouted down at her but the toxins from the smoke were overtaking her; it felt like a distant memory.
"Captain!?" One of the security officers shouted. "Someone get this damn fire out! Captain, can you hear me?" Another security officer rushed next to him with a fire extinguisher and lowered it into the lift spraying the flames. Smoke poured into the corridor "get sickbay down here!" He said and jumped down. A moment later he slid a limp arm over the threshold and the other security officers pulled Shiarrael out into the corridor.
"She's alive!" Someone shouted in relief as medical personnel converged on the scene.
Inhaling the clean air Shiarrael's mind began to clear slightly. She weakly pushed one of the medical technicians aside to look at the security office "what happened?" she wheezed as other technicians pressed her down demanding she 'remain still.' Doctors, she grumbled mentally as she was restrained.
"I don't know everything Captain but it seems the lift was sabotaged- someone tried to fool the computer into thinking the Charon was docked and attempted to release the turbo shaft bulkheads- Captain Savant noticed and was able to stop the process but then the culprit overloaded the lift's control panel using power from a nearby EPS relay…we're not sure who is responsible yet but they are actively looking. Don't worry Captain, you're safe now."
"Unhand me." She struggled against the medical personnel as anger began to build in her "I will find the fool and kill them myself."
"Captain- stop, please!" One of the medics implored her to remain still. As she continued to struggle the cold tip of a hypospray was pressed against her neck and she was ushered into sleep.
[End]
Captain Shiarrael Rehu
Commanding Officer
USS Charon
