by Lair Arie
(As told by Salvek)
81203.2300
After Holograms From the Heavens
-=Aboard the Romulan ship=-
(As told by Salvek)
81203.2300
After Holograms From the Heavens
-=Aboard the Romulan ship=-
“Come on!” The guard growled, grabbing Lair Arie by the forearm. As is the instinct of most little girls when coming face to face with a Romulan captor, Arie’s first reaction was to shriek at the top of her lungs.
So she did.
Moments ago she had been helping Misses Blakeslee keep her boys calm, as the ship seemed to fall apart around them. Then the room around her had dissolved in the flash of a transporter, and she had found herself here, amongst the Romulans.
“Silence!” The guard demanded. Arie quickly suppressed her fear, by drawing upon her father’s training to focus her emotions. As he dragged her out into the corridor, she took note of her surroundings. The Romulan ship was hot, indicating the environmental systems were malfunctioning. The lights flickered and the power conduits sparked. Arie was wise enough to know that the Romulan ship was not just damaged, but damaged severely.
“Bridge!” The guard called, as he entered the turbolift. She kept a wary eye on the disruptor that was pointed at her chest, and wondered if it was standard procedure for Romulans to keep a weapon on all prisoners, or if he really was afraid a nine year old girl was going to attack and defeat him somehow.
“The prisoner!” He announced, as he stepped out onto the bridge. Arie saw the legs of the woman in the command chair uncross, as the woman rose from her seat, and turned to face her. As she looked upon Taris, she could not help but wonder if it was also standard procedure for Romulan guards to never use more than two words in a sentence.
“Welcome aboard my friend, my name is Taris. You may address me as Commander.”
Arie looked around the bridge. She had seen pictures of Romulan ships, but never had the chance to be on one before. A high pitched whine caught her attention as her hearing focused on the sound.
“You’re EPS manifold is 50 microns out of alignment, at least. You’ll never be able to maintain a full cloak until it’s repaired,” Arie stated, proudly.
“Would you care to tell me how to repair it?” Taris asked.
“No. Without your cloak, it is only a matter of time before my father finds you and destroys you. And if he can’t, Zanh Liis will when she gets back.”
“Zanh Liis is not aboard the Serendipity?” Taris asked. Arie’s bravado faded away, as she realized she had just given away a piece of information Taris did not have. The Romulan approached her, and knelt to look Arie in the eye. “Tell me child, where is Zanh Liis?”
“I don’t know,” Arie said honestly. She assumed Zanh Liis was on Earth, but did not know for sure where she and O’Sullivan planned to spend their honeymoon.
“Then how can she even know you are here? As for your father, we left him and his ship in pieces. There will be no rescue attempt.”
“Then why does your tactical display show the Serendipity in pursuit of your ship?” Arie asked, pointing to the panel on the rear of the bridge.
Taris grinned, knowing she had been bested. Had the guard informed her he was bringing Arie to the bridge, she would have had the station secured. Unfortunately, he had not. That was a mistake he would not make a second time.
“You are a bright young woman, no doubt your parents have told you,” Taris said. “You will achieve great things Lair Arie, if given the right motivation and tools it takes to be all that you can. I can give you a life of power, of pure joy. You will want for nothing and be treated as royalty by the people of Romulus.”
Arie was silent. All she wanted was to go home.
Taris rose back to her feet, “But first, you must learn to respect authority.”
“Shall I place a guard at her quarters?"
“No. Throw her in the brig. Her parents have provided her an envelope of love and comfort that she had existed in exclusively. Let her see that not everyone is so fortunate. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Taris returned to the Command chair, and called her first officer forth. “Tolleth, I’ve heard that there is a 50 micron misalignment in the EPS manifolds. What are we doing to address it?”
“I’m dispatching a repair crew right now, Commander.”
Taris let her eyes wander to the display on the armrest of her chair. The Sera was indeed in pursuit. The battle for Lair Arie was definitely not over as of yet. Right now the race was between the Sera engineering crew and hers to see who could get the most systems online before the next fight. Unless, of course, they could fully repair the cloak, in which case the fight would be over.
She did not need to threaten anyone’s life to motivate them in this matter. Her crew was well aware that between the Serendipity, and the Romulan government, there were more than enough forces out there that would take their lives if they failed.
Taris stalled her visit to the brig for thirty minutes. Enough time to give a young girl plenty to get nervous about, Taris estimated.
“What is that buzzing sound?” Taris asked, as she entered the holding area. The guard shrugged, and indicated that it had started just before she arrived.
“Get a scanner and figure it out. That sound is maddening.”
As soon as he left, Taris lowered the force field. Arie kept her eyes on the floor, and did not move.
“What can you tell me about your parents work?”
Arie still did not move. No eye contact, no body gestures, nothing. Simply still as a statue.
“Answer me.”
The guard reentered the room with the scanner, and flipped it open. As soon as he did, the buzzing stopped.
“Whatever it is, it self corrected, Commander.”
“Very well, you are dismissed.”
The guard once again left the room, and as soon as he was gone, the buzzing started again. Taris roared with frustration and prepared to summon him back to scan once again. She then paused, and listened very closely. Reaching out, she grabbed Arie’s chin, and tilted it up, and the buzzing stopped.
“Amusing. Is that little tactic part of Vulcan philosophy or from the Bajoran resistance camps?”
Arie looked back down at the floor, and resumed her motionless stance. Taris attempted to lift her, but Arie simply went limp. The weight was too much, and Taris had no choice but to let her sink to the floor.
“Very well, so this is how you wish to play it.”
Arie’s parents had both taught her the virtue of passive resistance. She knew from her speech on the bridge that Taris wanted her, presumably, Arie guessed, to get at what she knew about her parent’s research. There was, therefore, nothing for Taris to gain by killing or hurting Arie, and everything to lose. This left Arie with the advantage.
Passive resistance had a way of driving impatient captors mad, and Taris was anything but patient.
“Get up! GET UP!”
Taris once again grabbed Arie, and lifted her up onto the bunk. Arie simply melted back down to the floor. In her rage, Taris drew back her hand and rapidly drew it forth to backhand Arie across the face.
Arie could not help herself, and flinched as the hand came towards her.
Taris froze.
For an instant, she was twelve again, and bracing for her father’s hand across her own face. She had struck a thousand people a thousand times, but never someone that reminded her so much of herself as a child.
“He made me what I am,” Taris began. “He did it because he loved me. Because he would not see his child become one of the weak huddled masses, too pathetic and disgraceful to care for themselves. Every blow hardened my resolve. That is why I command this ship, and your father toils on Zanh’s leash. Shut up!”
Taris rose to her feet and stormed out of the brig. Arie got up off the floor, and laid on the bed, wondering, exactly what she had said.
********************
Lair Arie
Romulan Captive
As told by Commander Salvek
Lair Arie
Romulan Captive
As told by Commander Salvek