by Commander Salvek
90315.0400
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continued from part three...
-=/\=-
90315.0400
-=/\=-
continued from part three...
-=/\=-
“You,” Kellyn said in shock, as she saw T’Pryll in the room with Salvek and V’Drea.
“I knew you would come.” The old Vulcan woman said.
“Come forward, Lair Kellyn of Bajor,” V’Drea ordered. Kellyn kept a wary eye on T’Pryll, expecting big guards with bigger axes to enter the room at any moment to haul her away. As she drew closer to Salvek and caught his eye, she knew immediately that he was still in agony.
“Haven’t you helped him?” She asked incredulously. “He’s been in here for almost a day!”
“Welcome, Lair Kellyn,” V’Drea replied, ignoring her anger fueled question.
“Welcome? I haven’t heard that word since I’ve been here.”
“How did you find your way here?” Salvek asked.
“I’ll tell you another time,” Kellyn replied. “You still haven’t told me why you have no helped him.”
“Because, they cannot,” Salvek said.
Kellyn’s shoulders sank in frustration. If she had come all this way, climbed to the mountain top and through the caves, only to be told her husband would forever be imprisoned by the spirit of Taris, then she wished the Prophets would simply strike her dead where she stood.
V’Drea approached her rapidly, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I told him returning to a life fully devoted to logic is the only way to help him, but in truth, it is too late even for that and he refused, besides. He said he would rather die the man he was then live a life where he is emotionally disconnected from you.”
Kellyn reserved her comments for the moment, and waited for the Vulcan to finish.
“Only his passion can save him now. It is the only logical choice, as it is too late for logic itself to be used to save him.”
“He is dying,” T’Pryll said, joining the conversation.
“Then I must save him,” Kellyn declared.
“That will not work,” T’Pryll replied.
V’Drea spun on her, his own face filled with curiosity as to why T’Pryll would make such a statement. “Lair Kellyn has fueled his spirit, it is she who must rekindle the flame, is it not, T’Pryll?”
“She loves her husband,” T’Pryll said, her ancient eyes looking into Kellyn’s from beneath her dark hood. “But in her devotion to him and his Vulcan heritage, she has lost a part of herself. She will never find Salvek, if she cannot even find herself."
“Who the hell do you think…” Kellyn began.
T’Pryll made a virtually imperceptible motion with her hand, and a guard entered the room, carrying two staffs with large round clubs on either end. He set them down on the table, and left the room. V’Drea took the first, and handed it to Salvek, and the second to Kellyn.
“This is ridiculous. I’m not going to fight my husband. How is that supposed to help?” Kellyn threw her staff to the ground in disgust. T’Pryll grabbed her wrist, and pressed a device to her.
There was a hiss and Kellyn drew her arm back. “What did you do to me?”
“The effect is only temporary. It will strengthen your lungs, for what is to come.”
Kellyn drew a deep breath, and felt air fill the bottom of her lungs for the first time in years. There was even a twinge of pain from an area she was not even aware existed, at the base of her lung where she had been injured on Lethus.
T’Pryll lifted her bony, trembling old hand as high as she could, to rest on Kellyn’s shoulder. “He is Vulcan, but his heart is of this place, and Bajor. You are Bajoran, but your heart is of Vulcan and your home. Neither of you can deny what you are. It is illogical to pretend to be something you are not. Only your strength can save him. If you are suffering alone, and he does not understand, then you will not have the ability to destroy Taris.”
V’Drea returned Kellyn’s staff to her hands. The two masters retreated to the far side of the room. They had no more they could offer to make Salvek and Kellyn understand. It was now up to them to restore themselves.
Salvek rose to his feet, and spun his weapon effortlessly in his hand. Kellyn saw the cold empty stare on his face, and felt fear inside of her. She knew Salvek would never hurt her, but she did not know if he was still in there, controlling the body she saw before her.
He took up a defensive posture, and Kellyn passively swung her club at his. He deflected it off to the side with ease. She still failed to see what this was supposed to accomplish.
“I’ve missed you,” she offered, as she swung weakly again.
“How so?”
“I don’t know. We don’t talk much. Seems like I see Reece and Dengar more often than you.”
“We talk every day.”
Kellyn sighed, and swung a bit harder, unconsciously.
“You know, talk. Personally, romantically.”
“Events have been tumultuous on the ship lately.”
“Events are always tumultuous Salvek. We have always made time around them,” Kellyn swung again, a bit harder once more. Salvek blocked her shot, and swung back. Kellyn knocked his blow to the side.
“We will make more time.” He promised.
“To do what? Eat more root stew?” Kellyn felt her Bajoran blood beginning to burn as fire, and stepped into her swings with ever increasing strength.
“I’ve made every effort to play the Vulcan wife, and I love sharing your culture with you. But could you ever meet me halfway?”
Kellyn jabbed the right end of her club at him, and then the left, Salvek stepped backwards, having an increasingly difficult time deflecting her attacks.
“When was the last time you came with Arie and I to one of Jariel’s classes?”
Salvek felt himself becoming defensive under her strikes, and began swinging back into her staff, rather than just laying back and deflecting her blows. He was not sure how to answer her question, other than by saying, “Never.”
“When was the last time you came down to my lab for a plate of Schezuan at lunch? And when was the last time you swept me up in your arms and made love to me just because you wanted to!”
Kellyn slapped his staff to the side with surprising strength, slipped the end of her club behind his ankle, and upended Salvek, sending him toppling to the ground.
She roared with pure aggression and swung her club down. Salvek barely had time to tighten his grip and block the shot.
She felt her heart pounding, and dropped her staff. Her hands trembled with adrenalin. She could not remember the last time she had exerted herself so fully, as her lung capacity had always held her back from doing so.
“You are right.” Salvek said softly. “As my responsibilities have increased, our time together has paid the price.”
“There are times Salvek, where, you know what? I really don’t give a damn if the Alchemy is going to be ready for its next test run, or if the Captain expects you to turn in a report in the morning. She may be the Captain, and the ship may be our life’s work, but I am your wife.
“Do you wish me to resign as First Officer? Work with you full time?” Salvek asked, as he drew himself up to sit.
“No! I wish for that man that put me before everything else in his day, and would do anything to get to me.” Kellyn kneeled before him. “I know he is there. I still see him in your eyes, when we are alone, but, I can’t help myself. I just want more. I want all of you. It’s the Bajoran in me. It is who I am, and if you can’t love me for the woman I am there is nothing left of Lair Kellyn.”
Salvek grabbed her by the front of her shirt, pulling her down on top of him, and kissing her deeply.
“Forgive me if I have slipped away, my wife. I adore you as I did the day we met, and I will prove it to you in any way I can. Believe me when I say there is no me without you. It is my fault I have let my duties to the ship around us creep further into our lives and monopolize more of our time. I am sorry.”
His eyes were contrite, and sincere, despite all the forces working against him inside his mind. She believed him for no other reason than knowing if she could not, there was nothing she could believe in.
“But,”
Kellyn’s heart sank immediately as she heard the word that potentially would negate everything he had just said. What he said next was not an excuse, but a plea for help.
“That man you wish for, Kellyn, is dying inside of me as we speak. I cannot save him alone. We are of one mind, and one flesh, and only as a whole can we force Taris from my mind.”
Kellyn’s eyes filled with tears that ran down her cheeks and onto his face. She feared to touch what was inside of him, but feared losing him even more.
“Will you fight for me?” Salvek asked.
She needed no other encouragement.
Commander Salvek
First Officer
USS Serendipity
First Officer
USS Serendipity