Into the Light

Posted on 13 Feb 2017 @ 8:03pm by General ('aj) Ko'raH House of G'Iogh & Sub-commander S'anara Valdran

1,992 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 13 - Rogue
Location: Kreanus Colony - Guest Quarters
Timeline: MD 01 - 0050 hrs

[ON]

Lirha's eyes began to flutter open as she slowly regained consciousness. Darkness nibbled at the corner of her blurry vision which prevented her from seeing any discernible objects except for a few blurs of nearby light, but she could tell she was oriented on her back and laying atop something soft. She began to take a deep breath through her nose, but a sudden blossoming of pain in her lower ribs jolted through her causing her body to tense. The tensing, in turn, caused her legs and hips to shift, and suddenly more pain could be felt in her lower body. Her waist was painfully sore and her right leg throbbed. A weak groan escaped her lips just before she squeezed her eyes shut again. The feeling of warm sheet fabrics across her naked skin was a sign that she was in a bed of some type.

Suddenly, memories of recent events came flooding into her head. The battle between the Klingons and Galileo, the distress signal, the nebula...the auto-destruct activation. She suddenly wondered if she was dead and this was some sort of purgatory state within the afterlife. Opening one eye again to try and take in her surroundings, she noticed a blurry figure sitting nearby. The best Lirha could do was to whisper something incoherent to make sure her voice was working.

"Shhhh..." the Romulan woman whispered gently in Lirha's ear as she gently stroked the Orion's hair. "You're safe...everything will be alright."

The voice was unfamiliar yet soothing. The sensation of a hand running across her hair sent a calming tremble through Lirha who took a shaky breath. Her other eye opened yet her vision was still blurred and unable to recognize the woman speaking to her. "..Where am I..?" she managed to ask.

"You're safe." S'anara repeated, continuing to softly caress Lirha's hair. "Just relax," she soothed "everything will be alright."

Lirha could smell a distinctive humanoid scent in her nostrils. She wasn't sure why, but in the absence of her other compromised senses, she was more alert with only the few she had. She breathed slowly yet deeply -- the skin of the person next to her seemed familiar. Romulan... she slowly began to determine. It was an attractive scent but also one that she had only known once in her prior life. Just as all Humans released certain pheromones and chemicals from their skin, so too did every other species. The Orion painfully swallowed a dry lump in her throat and grimaced. "...Where am I...?" she repeated with a whisper. "Who are you? Please."

"You're on Kreanus, and are safe. My name is S'anara, and I'm making sure your wounds heal."

"...Kreanus?" What? she wondered incredulously. She tried her best to think of any such starship or location by the same name and came up blank. Thoughts of Galileo and her crew were making it hard for her to focus. "...Where is my ship and my officers?"

S'anara's gentle stroking ceased as she answered truthfully. "The auto-destruct system was activated, and we rescued as many as we can. Your crew are now safe on the planet and are being well cared for."

The Orion didn't remember a planet. Only a freighter that had been used as a ruse to lure her starship into close-quarters with a Klingon task group. She couldn't recall any worlds in the nearby vicinity from the astrometrics files she reviewed prior to the mission. Her eyes glanced around the room briefly to take in more of her surroundings while more clarity slowly returned to her vision. "This is a...planet?" she wondered out loud. "We detected no such thing anywhere nearby."

"Kreanus. It's a rogue planet that ended up in the heart of the Paulson Nebula." S'anara explained, and then reached for the hypospray on the exam tray nearby and gently pressed it against Lirha's neck. "This will help clear your senses."

The injection quickly snapped Lirha to her senses. The world around her seemed to bend then quickly come together like a jigsaw puzzle she was trying to complete. She blinked and looked closer at S'anara, then around the room. It was dingy and sparse but also cozy with the dim yellow light illuminating the area. S'anara herself was one of the most striking Romulan women she'd ever seen. With beautiful features including large green eyes and plush lips, Lirha paused to stare at her for a short moment. "You are not Federation," she said, looking over her attire. "Why are you -- this planet -- in the Paulson Nebula? What is the meaning of this?"

"Relax, Admiral." S'anara replied coolly, "As I said before, you're safe. As for the planet..you're on a world filled with lost souls looking for a safe place."

Frustration began to fill Lirha's thoughts and make it hard to discern her next question. She gritted her teeth for a second then tried her best to sit up in the bed. A balloon of pain quickly encompassed her midriff and lower extremities similar to before, but she closed her eyes and pushed through it to prop herself up against the headrest. The bed sheet covering her body slipped down to her waist but Lirha let it be for a short moment while she regained her senses.

While her head lolled down to chest, her eyes scanned her belly. Her eyes went wide and her breath caught in her chest. Her heart stopped beating momentarily while she processed what she was seeing -- what her body was telling her. The blood drained from her face and her green cheeks went pale.

"...Where are my children?" she whispered, now suddenly reaching down with a trembling hand to touch her flat belly. Where there once was a large, fruitful and warm bulge of new life inside her, there was now nothing except a firm and flat stomach.

Any hint of a smile faded from S'anara's face. "You received an abdominal wound prior to transport. We were unable to save them."

A mixture of anger and despair suddenly boiled up inside the Orion. She moved her mouth to speak but for some reason couldn't find any words to convey her feelings. Her throat became dry and her body rippled with painful nausea. Tears began to drip down the bridge of her nose as her breath became ragged with sobs. It was like a nightmare, but instead of waking up into reality, she was slowly descending into it. She crossed her arms across her stomach, still searching for some hope that this had all been a terrible joke. They pulled tight across her slim abdomen. Then she wailed in anguish.

S'anara lowered her head as the Orion mourned. There was nothing she could say or add to the moment that would help the situation so she remained quiet and nearby.

Many minutes of emotional distress passed. Lirha didn't know exactly how long. Her sense of time and anything else relative to life was now skewed and consumed by her loss. Had she not been recovering from her injuries, she probably would have broken everything in the rooms she could get her hands on. Instead, she sat upright in bed and cried until no more tears were left. When the room became quiet again, she stared blankly at sheets between her legs, disconnected from the world around her.

S'anara watched the Orion. The grief, sorrow, the pain...the void all the swirls of emotions she witnessed Lirha display were all too common for her. When she got news of Romulus's destruction, when the revelation she was all that was left of her family, she broke down had a moment very similar to the Orion's. "Remember the pain." she whispers breaking the silence that had befallen them.

Remember the pain. Lirha could and would never forget. It was almost unbearable. But to what avail, she sadly pondered. "...Who did this to me and killed my family? Where is that Klingon who attacked us?" she finally whispered in a dangerous voice. She remembered his name and face from the viewscreen conversation aboard her vessel's bridge. Ko'raH of the House of G'Iogh. "Is he here?"

"He is." S'anara replied, waiting for her reaction.

"Bring him here and give me a weapon," Lirha said. "I will kill him for what he has done to me any my people." She'd never known what vengeance really felt like. Her memories of her father's death at the hands of Nausicaan pirates was but a fleeting recollection from when she was a child, but now...her feelings were consumed by revenge and a need for justice. It didn't matter to her that she was a member of Starfleet. Her starship had been destroyed and she wore no uniform now. She was an Orion and a woman first and foremost -- a woman who had just lost that which she cherished the most. "Bring him here now so I can see his face."

S'anara looked at her and shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't arrange that. Even if I could, I wouldn't. You are in no shape to face a Klingon. First you need your rest."

Lirha looked up at the Romulan with damp and bloodshot eyes. "You expect me to be able to rest after...this?" She motioned to her lower abdomen. Her jaw clenched. "If you can't bring him here to answer to me...then what is your purpose?" she added angrily. "You want to keep me company, I suppose then? Or spy on me?"

"I saved your life." The Romulan replied simply. "But that is beside the point. The Klingon is the least of your problems, Admiral. You have no ship, your crew is scattered across the compound, and the planet you're on is deep inside a dangerous nebula."

The Orion's mind continued to work to find a meaning for everything she was being told. She wasn't sure whether or not it was the truth, but that was secondary at the moment. "You saved me...why?"

S'anara leaned back in the chair before responding, "Because you are important to your crew."

"You want something from me?" Lirha asked, although it was moreso a recognition of the Romulan's admission. "What?"

"You're right, I do." S'anara began "The people on this planet need help, we're struggling because of Klingon raiders..."

Lirha looked down at herself. She couldn't even move mere inches in the bed before pain overtook her. Her starship had been destroyed and her crew was no where in sight. Her bare body and lack of a uniform was a staunch reminder that what she had once devoted her life to was no longer present. "I am an Orion," she whispered with a scowl. "Klingons will not listen to me. There is nothing I can offer you. What I once had, your people just took from me."

"You're a Starfleet Admiral, you have more than you realize. Especially when it's the Klingons violating Federation space." S'anara added looking the Orion over. "But first you need to rest."

Saalm again wondered how exactly she was supposed to do that. Not only was she in physical and emotional pain, but she had no desire to simply lay in bed on a strange world while the uncertainty of her future consumed her thoughts. Not only for herself, but for those she'd served with. S'anara had told her they were safe, but she wasn't willing to take her word for it. It seemed, however, that there was only so much the Romulan would tell her at present. "If I must, I suppose," she conceded.

S'anara watched her for a moment, "Admiral, I promise you'll know more in time. In the meantime I'll get you the names of your surviving crewmembers."

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC Ko'raH]

SCDR S'anara Valdran
Administrator
Kreanus Colony

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