11: The Good Fight

The Good Fight
Zanh Liis
71204.15
Soundtrack: The Night Sky, by Keane
-=Fourteen Hours after "Point of Decision"=-


Liis thought she heard distant music.

It piqued her interest, and she strained to hear it better.

What seemed at first to be random notes playing out of key converged and mingled until they began to resemble an actual song.

Yes, music was playing somewhere, she was certain of it. The melody was haunting, and familiar.

She tried to process the words, which, to her confused mind made little sense at the moment.

The tune became muffled; overcome by static-like white noise as Liis' hearing faded in and out. She was frustrated, struggling. It was almost as difficult as trying to tune in a radio frequency while flying a plane through the mountains back at home on Bajor- the signal impossible to lock on to and hold steady.

Again the song returned. Growing louder, demanding to be heard.

A voice- so well known to Liis that she was sure her heart would break at the sound of it- was singing the words in her ear.

She fought to open her eyes, only to see a faint light in the distance. Determined to discover the source of the voice, she focused all her energy on her vision, and finally she could make out a woman's face.

Liis was able to feel the warmth of the woman's arms enclosing her, even though when she reached out to return the embrace, the woman was somehow just out of reach.

The music continued getting louder, and the voice clearer, until finally Liis felt a gentle hand press against her face.

She turned toward the pair of kindly eyes that gazed at her so lovingly. It was when her stare met those eyes that she remembered where the song had come from- and realized who her visitor was.

It was her Grandmother.

The Grandmother who used to sing this haunting melody to her when she was a small child, as they sat by the fire in the hidden camps. Nights spent on the run, desperately trying to avoid the Cardassian patrols that scoured the countryside after dark.

Brutal packs of soldiers of the Occupation forces, who sought out those who would dare oppose their rule by refusing to perform manual labor, serve as comfort women, or suffer some other fate worse than a merciful death ever could have been.

Liis was too young to understand then. It was only years later that the reality of their situation caught up with her; the elderly woman had managed to hide her and keep her safe from the Cardassians for more than three years, until she was near death. Even then she made sure that Liis would be cared for, handing her over to the monks at Altaan.

That woman had surely saved Liis' young life with her bravery, and that was something that to this day, she could not begin to fathom. She could barely remember anything of her early childhood, with large spans of time simply blank in her mind, missing entirely.

She'd been told by her old friend, and Salvek's older brother, Sacul, that this was "perhaps her mind's way of protecting her from things that were too dangerous. Too destructive to the living Katra, or Pagh, or soul, if you prefer, to recall."

"Do you remember the words, my Liis?" The woman, whose proper name was Anian Naloy asked her gently.

Liis felt tears flood and burn her eyes. "I. . .can't."

"Of course you can. I'll start for you." The woman's voice was not special, or splendid or lovely as singing voices went but to Liis it was the sweetest sound she'd ever heard.

*It's been so long,* Liis thought, *How I have missed the sound of her voice.*

"Come on, my little Liis. Sing it with me." Naloy insisted, holding Liis' hands.

She nodded to Liis, encouraging her to continue on. A memory as clear as day overtook her senses, the sound of the explosions rumbling off in the distance as members of the Resistance fought for their freedom.

The way that the rocket-launched torpedoes would blaze a trail across the sky, streaking away toward their targets before the resulting detonation would light up the night, almost as bright as day.

Liis tried to clear away the lump in her throat, but it was impossible. She whispered the words, not even attempting to set them to their music. That she remembered at last seemed to please the woman, who nodded gently in approval as she spoke.

Liis felt out of breath suddenly, and tried to inhale deeply, but was unable. "Are you really here, Grandmother?" She choked the words out slowly. "If you are, then I must be dead."

"Dying," Naloy replied, sadly, but truthfully.

Liis shook her head. "If you're a Boryhas here to guide me to the next life after all, I am going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do to the Prophets," As she thought the last word, suddenly an image of Jariel appeared in her mind, so real to her that the resultant emotions caused searing pain in her chest.

"You have a choice to make now," Naloy informed her. "Come with me, or fight for him."

"But the Romulans." Liis objected, but the old woman seemed to have no interest in that subject.

"Come with me, or fight. For him."

Liis looked at the woman and reached out to brush tears from her soft, wrinkled cheeks. "You know I love you, Naloy," she paused, "But for him, I must always fight."

"Then fight, Liis," the old woman encouraged, as she seemed to flicker and fade from view. "Fight."

The music dimmed along with the woman's form, and Liis drew a gasping breath at last.

She tried to scream but no sound escaped her lips.

She tried to move, but her body felt like dead weight.

"Quickly, tighten the restraints!" a deep male voice insisted, and Liis felt straps tighten around her wrists and ankles. "If she pulls the equipment loose, she'll code again! We might not be able to get her back this time."

"You have to keep her alive," the familiar female voice of the Ferengi, Spilva, insisted. "If she is not alive when the Romulans arrive to pick her up in twelve hours, then we are all dead, do you hear me? DEAD!"

"She is not going to look very well, by any account," the male voice warned. "She will barely be able to stand and perhaps take a few steps in another twelve hours, and that is if everything goes as well as it possibly can between now and then."

"She will stand," Spilva hissed determinedly. "She will walk into that room, we will conclude the transaction and if she dies the moment after we beam out, I don't care! As long as we fulfill the letter of the law of the contract we made with the Romulans, all will end well for us and that is all that matters!"

Liis tried to speak, but her mouth and lips were too parched to allow it. She struggled to swallow, and a moment later felt a drinking tube being pressed against her lips. Weakly, she took in moisture, gulped hard, and then slowly opened her eyes and glared at Spilva.

"Fool," she rasped. She began to feel dizzy and closed her eyes once more. "What makes you think that the Romulans ever hold up their end of a bargain?"


=/\=Captain Zanh Liis
Seeing Boryhas in the dark
Somewhere near Feringinar


NRPG2:A wish to go along with the song: may humanity finally find the first steps on the path toward peace on Earth in 2008, so there will be no more children of war. ~ZL