Sæll Burðardagr II

Posted on Wed Sep 27th, 2023 @ 4:38am by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov

Mission: In-Between (S1:E5-S1:E6)
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: Date 2371-08-30 at 1730
4576 words - 9.2 OF Standard Post Measure

The naked Numiri man had taken a slightly different route than the rest of his doomed group. It was keeping him closer to the “start”, but he was banking on the Terrans following those who were frantically sprinting away. He himself was moving quickly, but he had the good sense to try and be quiet and careful about what he was doing. His adrenaline was fueling his every move and every little flutter of a leaf or snap of a twig was drawing his attention every which way. He stuck close to the trees so he could quickly use them as cover if necessary.

He had no part in the plot against these Terrans, and yet here he was made to suffer from the mistakes of his government - he had always hated the government. He’d played sports for a living and political ambitions had never once been on his radar because of nonsense like this - the people were idiots. Frowning and gritting his teeth, he stopped under one of the larger trees he had come across to catch his breath from the initial desperate sprint away. He looked around, he listened carefully, but he didn’t look upward even once.

Andrei had managed to move from branch to branch in the dense part of the trees, leaving only swishing sounds to indicate where he might be. On the strong branches, he was able to place his booted feet, but on the once that were weaker, he used hands to grab whatever he could hold. He was stalking prey like an animal, and he knew who he was after.

Suddenly, he was out of the tree, free falling on his prey. He fell on the Numiri man, solid and strong, and pinned him to the earth.

“You aren’t as fast, strong, or clever as you think, Numiri.” He said low over the man.

The man grunted as he fell to the earth, rocks and sticks digging into his scaled skin. He squirmed under Andrei and worked himself out enough that he could throw his sharp elbow back into Andrei’s side right under his ribs several times to try and unseat him. The Numiri was stronger than his physique gave him the appearance of and this allowed him to put up a decent but ultimately futile struggle.

“You stupid fucking animal.” Andrei said, recoiling from the strike and stepping back several feet. He reached for the hilts of the swords Lyra had just got him and activated them. The blades rolled out to his sides and he smiled with them both poised. “Soon this will be a slaughter, but I like to start off slow. Put up a good fight, would you?”

The hideous reptilian man regarded Andrei for a long moment and it seemed like he was really considering fighting Andrei, but he was more intelligent than one might have thought. Instead of engaging the man holding two swords with nothing but his bare hands and naked body, the Numiri turned and began to run away again.

Andrei chuckled then and shifted Botha swords to one hand. With the other, he grabbed his dagger and gripped it by the blade. With a precise toss, he sent the blade flying into the Numiri’s spine. The man dropped instantly, unable to move any further. Andrei approached and shook her head.

“I would have preferred the fight.” He said, jamming the sharp blade of his sword swift through the back of the man’s neck. Then he turned, retracted his blades, and pulled himself back into the trees.

——

His heart was pounding in his chest. He was a sprinter on Banea, and actually had a career traveling the world entering races and decathlons. It was something that made him happy, but now he found himself doing it in someone else’s game and the prize was his life. He easily outpaced the crowd and made his way to the front of the pack with a bunch of panicking Numiri. Perhaps, he thought, they could outrun their captors and leave the slower ones to suffer the deadly fate.

“Get out of the way!” Came a scream from a man behind him, full of terror and agitation. No sooner than he heard the voice did he feel a shove on his back. It was hard enough that it knocked him off balance and he reeled, tripping on the gnarled root of a great tree and falling hard on the soil. His head spun and he felt the sharp pain of an impact which knocked the air from his lungs. All went black.

When he came to, his eyes blinked as blood from his head ran down his face. The crowd of panickers had gone and he was alone now. He stood up, the sound of birds and distant panic ringing in his ears.

Lyra had decided to follow the pack with the most idiots who were still running away as fast as they could like it would get them anywhere. They didn’t know that of course, but she didn’t particularly care. She wasn’t in a hurry, keeping her pace easy; she was much better off than she had been a week ago, but she didn’t want to tax herself too much. Not on this at least. She heard the shouting ahead and the cracking of foliage as the aliens ran haphazardly through the forest in front of her. They weren’t making this much of a challenge, but she hadn’t really expected them to in the end. As she got closer to the sounds she slowed and began to move silently and slowly while using the trees for cover.

Her eyes found the Banean standing there already bleeding from the head. She was behind and to the left of him and readied her spear to throw, though truthfully she craved a bit of a chase so she waited to see if he would start running again or if he was just going to stand there and stare into nothingness long enough to annoy her into killing them there.

He heard the crackle of underbrush behind him somewhere and he turned, seeing the beautiful sight of Lyra standing there immediately. Her body appeared around the wolf pelt, drawing his eyes. He gave a gruff sigh and picked up a heavy branch he’d seen on the ground.

“Please, I don’t want to kill you. But I will defend myself.”

Lyra rolled her eyes in a rather childish way. “Yes, please do try it makes it more fun.”

Without warning, she hefted the spear into her hand and threw it toward the Banean in front of her. It soared at an incredible speed toward his center mass and he would have no choice but to deflect it with the branch he was holding. She had surged immediately after the spear, so when his attention was turned at deflecting the spear away from himself, his moment of success was immediately stolen as she was now standing before him.

She grabbed him by the wrist, squeezing the pressure points though she could swear she felt his hollow bones giving to her strength. If they’d break so easily for her, Andrei would be able to turn them into dust with little effort. The prospect excited her and she grinned sadistically. Her free hand grabbed her dagger hidden in the belt and fur of her loincloth and without any hesitation she shoved it up under the Banean’s ribs where his heart was. While Andrei had chosen to hone his strength, she had opted to further hone her speed. While she was incredibly strong for a Terran woman, she would never match the strength of a trained Terran man; her speed and agility leveled the field considerably, usually.

“You didn’t try very hard.” She noted, using her hold on his wrist and the hilt of her dagger to lower his body to the ground.

——

Azan, though older, was still quite fit for his age. He had run a distance, but he hadn’t kept running. Instead, he had ended up ambushing one of the holographic Viking warriors and killing it with its own weapons. He’d pulled on the bear hide hood and the rest of his clothes in an effort to blend in and wielded the ax the program had. He had intended on blending in and perhaps tricking the Terrans into thinking he was simply a program - as long as they didn’t get too close to really get a look at him.

He moved as quietly through the forest as possible while trying to maintain awareness of what was around him. He wouldn’t underestimate the Terrans again - especially not the woman. Though he had not missed the look in the man’s eyes when she had informed him that Azan himself had orchestrated her fall.

Andrei had been stalking Azan for a while, having abandoned the other aliens for later. He had a particular interest in this man. He had been present in the trees above, always hidden, and always watching. He had seen the man dispatch the program and put on the bear hide and the rest of the clothing. Even without his ocular implant, he would’ve been able to tell that the man was no Viking, yet he saw an opportunity for fun and had managed to steer a Numiri woman into the clearing where Azan stood. Seeing the Viking, the woman turned and tried to make her exist from the clearing, but indeed up collaring with Andrei just as he fell from the heavens, her naked body slapping against his bare chest and causing her to fall back into the ground, she backed away from him and toward Azan.

“You.” Andrei said, gesturing to Azan without looking at him. “I wish to see what a Numiri woman looks like on the inside. Show me, now.”

Azan blinked and looked down at the woman who had backed up nearly to his feet. His dark eyes went to Andrei, and then he tried to bring the ax down onto the woman’s center. She shrieked and began to bleed, but since Azan was wielding a holographic weapon and the safeties were at the level they were on, it didn’t do any real damage other than leaving a number of deep cuts on her body. Cursing, he pulled the bear hide off of his head and looked to Andrei.

“You Terrans won’t even give us weapons. Cowards.”

Andrei grinned and tossed one of his swords to the ground directly atop the panicking woman so that it rested in front of Azan. She didn’t know what to do, and simply shook her hands in front of it.

“Pick it up, Azan.” Andrei said. “I have received warrior training with these blades since I was thirteen years old. In this room, I have faced the best warriors who have ever lived and won. Let us see who the coward is.”

Azan reached down and snatched the sword up from the woman before he kicked her out of the way. “Get out of here! Go!”

He adjusted his grip on the sword, not really looking at the blade and instead focusing his eyes on Andrei. He hadn’t fought with a blade in a long time, but how skilled could this man really be? He was confident in his ability to make a stand.

Andrei approached with no pretext, beginning his attack, with vicious and swift swings of his sword, left and right, left and right. He was testing the alien’s abilities, seeing how quickly he adjusted to an attack when it was on. His movements were quick, but we’re predictable. When it seemed that Azan had come close to knowing his game, he would change it up with a side slash. He smiled wide. There was no way this man would touch him.

“You captured my woman and you brought her a great deal of pain. I have pain for you in return.”

Azan deflected the side slash for the most part, but the tip of the blade caught him in the side before he fully deflected it. A trickle of his black blood started to flow down his scales, but he didn’t take his eyes off Andrei.

“Well you made it rather easy, you know.” He taunted.

With a quick and powerful swipe of the sword, Andrei knocked the weapon out of Azan’s hand, his face turned in anger. When the man went for it, Andrei delivered a swift boot to the man’s temple to knock him down. He rushed forward then and lifted the large Numiri man by the collar and carried him, as if he were something light, to the tree. With a look of rage on his face, he activated his dagger and drove it so fast and hard through Azan’s shoulder that it dig deep into the wood of the tree as well, pinning the man in place. He went and recovered the sword he’d leant Azan and danced the top around the man’s body slowly knocking him.

“I’d castrate you, but I see there's nothing down there that makes you a man.” Andrei said. “So what do you say we see how far this Shashka can go up your cloaca?”

Azan knew he was going to die, but he refused to show fear. He’d played the game and he lost, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be defiant until the end. As his obsidian blood poured from the wound Andrei’s dagger had inflicted and from his temple where Andrei’s boot had split his skin, Azan just grinned.

“Did I hit a nerve then?” He mocked. He knew he wouldn’t die quickly, but in his final moments he would enjoy getting under Andrei’s skin.

“What you did to her was terrible. But I’m planning on being the one to hit nerves today.” Andrei said, his teeth set. “I might be bothered by your proding, you disgusting creature, but you have already lost in every way. Your wife, your children, your family, your friends. All dead. Soon there will be no more than 400 Numiri left in existence, all under my direct command. Your mockery is the dying light of your hope. But it’s nothing. You’re nothing.”

“You’re right, I lost, but so did you.” Azan leaned toward Andrei, ignoring the pain as the dagger went deeper into his shoulder. “I wonder what they did to her while she slept, don’t you?”

Andrei looked down between the man’s legs and grimaced. He had been with Lyra many times since she had returned and her medical report made it clear nothing physical had been done to her. She hadn’t been violated.

“Apparently not much.” Andrei said, and drew the sword into the man’s stomach several inches. He removed it and then jammed it through his leg. As Azan slumped, his sounds of pain increasing, Andrei sighed. “It will take you hours to die. It will be painful.”

Andrei reached for the dagger and ripped it out, causing Azan to fall from the tree, no longer able to bear weight with his one leg.

Azan fell to the ground at Andrei’s feet. He was breathing heavily now, though obviously no sweat left him, it wasn’t in his physical make up. He pushed himself up as best he could against the tree and looked up at Andrei. “Are you sure about that? How would you know? We don’t have the same anatomy as you Terrans.”

Andrei put his hands up in mock surrender.

“All of us are actually in a single room on my ship, Azan. If you’re alive at the end, I’ll just patch you up and find another purpose for you.” He said, leaning forward a bit then, his eyes wide with the one produce an emerald green twinkle. “In fact, I’m hoping you do survive. You can’t imagine the terrors that await you if you do.”

“As you said, my people are dead. What else could you do that would terrify me?” The man shook his head and sat back, looking up at Andrei since it seemed the Terran had decided he wasn’t going to die right now. “If you leave me alive, I’ll make you regret it someday.”

Andrei’s smile grew. This one would be fun to break.

“Oh Gods, you really lack imagination.” He said. “Computer, site to site transport to the Lovarr for the new Numiri man directly in front of me. Protocol Legionnaire.”

Azan disappeared in a haze of blue light at the command, defiance still in his eyes and the essence of it lingered even after he was gone.

When Azan was gone, Andrei turned in the direction that woman had run off to. She was certainly next on his kill list.


——

Naiva was no athlete, and she was fairly certain she couldn’t really outrun any of the athletes the Terrans had gathered for their sick hunt. She ran a bit and managed to get out of sight, but ultimately she knew hiding was her only real choice. She found a particularly thick bush and slid herself inside, suffering the roughness of the twigs on her delicate naked body. If she was lucky, perhaps she would make it to the end and be spared.

Lyra was now strolling through the forest at an easy pace. It wasn’t like their prey would escape and they’d all been too stupid to even consider banding together it seemed. Her hands were still covered in the bright crimson blood of the Banean she had killed, though a swath of black Numiri blood was splashed against her skin from arterial spray of another she had killed very soon after the first. Now she was quite interested in finding Andrei to hunt together, though her eyes were always searching.

She almost missed it, but out of the corner of her eye she caught the pale color of skin through the leaves of the bush. She kept walking though and gave every indication she was continuing past whatever Banean had decided to try and hide themselves.

Naiva stifled a gasp. The Terran woman was close enough that should could tough her if she wanted to. The image of the man, strong and beautiful, fucking the woman roughly against the glass door in the rain popped into her mind; the way she had stared at him, and the way Lyra had regarded her. It occurred to her that was why she was here. The absurdity of it shocked her; there was no way their species would be able to mate together anyway. All she would have even been able to do for him would have been with her mouth or her hands, and she would have been willing and eager for that anyway.

She crossed her arms over her breasts in a protective stance. All she had to do was keep quiet and pray the Terran would leave without noticing her.

For at least a full two minutes, Naiva was left alone until she was just beginning to feel like she had successfully hidden herself from Lyra’s eyes. Then suddenly, Naiva felt a weight hit her on the back and strong arms wrapping around her. Lyra’s larger breasts pressed into Naiva’s naked back and she used her weight to bend the woman forward so she couldn’t escape. Since Naiva had her arms wrapped around herself, Lyra’s arms around her had no trouble restraining her.

“Now what are you looking at?” Lyra whispered into the Banean’s ear in the same way a lover would. It was low, seductive, and utterly terrifying.

“Ah!” She yelped, bending toward helplessly. she gave no answer but to panic. She had no stomach for battle and lived as a civilian, her whole life. “Nooo!”

“Oh shut up with your screeching, you wretched little harpy.” Lyra growled, her arms tightening around Naiva. “I asked you a question. I expect an answer.”

“Uhh..” the woman exclaimed, confused. “The ground?”

“Are you sure? I thought you might have been trying to look at what was mine again. Lusting for things that most certainly don’t belong to you.” Lyra’s voice remained soft, but the threat was rising. “Tell me what exactly you were hoping to do with my man, little bird.”

“I… I was just looking at him, ma’am. Honestly. I wasn’t going to do anything! I just thought he was handsome. Is that some kind of crime? I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Don’t lie to me.” Lyra whispered into Naiva’s ear. “You weren’t just looking. I know just looking, I look all the time. You wanted to do things with him; tell me what you wanted to do, Naiva.”

Naiva’s eyes widened at the suggestion. No good could come from telling this woman the truth.

“Sex for us is just an act of touch. The only enjoyable part is the beginning. Being together; touching. We have mammals on our world and I remember seeing some of them, our farm animals, copulating the way that you and he were doing. Honestly, it seemed like the two of you were having fun. I was fascinated…and I suppose I was a bit jealous of you. I wondered what it would be like to be you.”

“I believe you. Mostly. I also believe that isn’t the whole truth.” As Naiva sat there on her knees, one of Lyra’s arms left its grip around her and there was a slight delay before Naiva would feel a searing pain blossom between her toes as Lyra cut into the overly tender skin there with her dagger.

“Tell me everything, little bird, or I will let my man hunt the rest of you on his own and take my sweet sweet time making you suffer. I’d enjoy it, really.”

Naiva screamed loudly, her hope leaving her as hot tears poured down her face.

“Noooo! That’s it, I swear. I just wondered what it would be like to be with him. To have a man…inside you. Nothing more than thoughts. Please!”

She squirmed, trying her best to get loose, and when she pitched herself forward, she threw off their balance and the women went tumbling out of the bush. Now on the ground and free for a moment, Naiva tried to scatter away sloppily across the ground.

Lyra wasn’t shaken by the sudden shift, simply annoyed. Naiva barely got six inches away when Lyra literally pounced on the smaller woman and immediately laid down on top of her, crushing her down into the soft ground. “No that isn’t all. You wanted to touch, kiss, taste… why would you lie to me, little bird? Did you think that was the intelligent thing to do after all my warnings? I’ve been quite nice to you, you know.”

“Because…because you're scary..” the woman said, her tone and word choice both a regression to childhood. She breathed heavily, her eyes full of fear. “Please please…just make me a slave. I’ll serve you the rest of my life; I’ll do whatever you want me to do. Just…just please don’t kill me.”

“Now why would I want a slave who wouldn’t tell me the whole truth when I asked many times? One that has lusted after my man and who - unfortunately for her - my man lusted after for a moment?” Lyra asked as if she were really going to give Naiva a chance to plead her case. “I gave you every chance to do the right thing and you squandered it.”

“Is that what this is about?” Naiva asked, beginning to realize pleading was useless for her. She felt a sense of finality come over her; something like peace. Her heart beat even slowed. “He wanted me too, and you’re insecure about it? How could someone so beautiful be so fragile?

She cleared her throat.

“Yes, I wanted to touch him, to hold him, to kiss him, to taste him. But he was with you and I was doing my job. That’s the whole truth.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Lyra sighed. “Your petty little jabs of insecurity and fragility mean nothing, because if you understood the world we came from you would know it has nothing to do with that. It is a threat to my legacy, plain and simple, and I won’t let anyone threaten that.”

“I know nothing of your world or your ways. I only saw a beautiful man, so I looked and dreamed.” The woman said, blinking hard. “There’s nothing I can do to change it now. But if you’ll spare me, I’d rather spend my life making it up to you. I could learn to serve.”

Lyra paused, her mind working. She had every intention of killing this woman since she had first caught Andrei leering at her and her leering back, but now knowing what she did about the Baneans and Numiri, she stayed her hand. In Lyra’s life, she had never been in a house that allowed slaves inside of it. Her family paid for servants - Terran and alien alike - treated them well, and they were extremely loyal for those two facts. Slaves were used for mundane work of course, but they were never given a position that might allow opportunity to compromise or hurt the family. Lyra had always presumed she would do the same in her eventual household; the problem was it was likely her “household” was going to be this ship and servants weren’t exactly an available option. It would only be slaves, and she had doubts that any man would be thrilled by the idea of male only slaves.

So perhaps a female slave broken by her hand alone who also had no physical use to the man she would end up calling husband might not be the worst idea in the world.

Slowly, she lifted herself off of Naiva and sat back on her calves. As she moved, she pulled Naiva back with her by her shoulder. “Death likely would have been the better option for you, you know.”

Naiva breathed deeply, her intelligent and lively eyes looking into Lyra’s. Fear lived there now, and it might never go away.

“No…I don’t know.” She said, shaking her head. “But a person has to try and live..”

“I’ll leave this as your parting lesson, little bird. You aren’t a person, not anymore, and in reality you never were.” Lyra’s voice was cold, her dark eyes matched it. “Computer, site to site transport to the Lovarr for the Banean female in front of me, Protocol Servitium.”

She watched as Naiva disappeared before her eyes. The alien was lucky that the Banean doctor had paved the way for a new protocol or she would have joined the legionnaires and been met with the horrors there… though Nals wasn’t faring much better.


TBC