Last Confession

Posted on Fri May 24th, 2024 @ 6:16am by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant Commander Yana Petrova
Edited on on Fri May 24th, 2024 @ 6:16am

Mission: S1 Episode 8: Resolutions
Location: CoS Office; Gamma Eridine II
Timeline: Date 2371-11-16 at 1430
2492 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

A sigh left Lyra’s lips as she lowered herself down into her chair behind her desk. There had been a certain pall that had settled over the ship since they had been ordered to resume their course for Terra and leave their ailing comrades behind. She had lost several of her own assets to the alien disease and while they were not irreplaceable, she certainly felt the sting of their loss. She lifted the cup she had been holding in her hand to her lips and closed her eyes as she took a sip of the tea. Out of all of the people on the ship, her beloved was suffering most of all.

In the span of a month, Andrei had lost his entire family; he finally knew the loss that nearly everyone else on this ship had suffered since they had been thrown into this godsforsaken quadrant months ago. Of course he was outwardly showing nothing in public, but in private she could see the cracks. She wanted nothing more than to actively help him, but the last time she had tried that, it had only irritated him and she had learned her lesson quickly. She always learned those lessons quickly. Instead she had remained very attentive to him, keeping herself open and available were he to seek her comfort in his own ways and making sure he was taken care of and that his space was kept clean. She knew with Andrei it would always be a razor’s edge between too little and too much where either would end with unreasonable anger from his part; right now, she was balancing well enough, she just had to hope she didn’t slit her own throat if she fell to one side.

Despite Andrei’s best efforts, is was his subconscious betrayed him more often than not when they were in bed together. Where it had once been dreams of the Kazon and the Lovarr that had him drawing near to her, now it was fear of loss. Over the past two days she had been woken several times by his massive, strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her to his body if she had shifted too far from him while he slept; were she a slighter woman, he may have actively crushed her. A few gently spoken words of reassurance and touches of physical comfort were usually enough to soothe him. She found herself wondering if he dreamt of her now. Of course she would never ask and he would never tell.

Realizing she had let her mind wander while she sipped her tea, she finally lowered it and let her eyes settle on the monitor before her. She needed to rearrange patrol shifts again.

She had been at it for about fifteen minutes when a particular beeping sound came from the console. Immediately, she frowned and swiped away what she was working on. Someone was trying to contact her on a secure, encrypted line. Her frown only deepened as she worked with her typical quick precision to match the frequency and encryption so the call would be completely private. She tapped a button on the underside of her desk to frost over the windows, and then with another simple tap she established the connection while moving to sit back in her tall, comfortable chair.

“Yana?” She questioned immediately, her surprise making her completely disregard formalities of any sort.

The screen was unnaturally dim for a transmission being sent from a lighted room, and it soon became clear that Yana Petrova’s face was framed by dark trees and the nighttime sky. Her dark hair was barely tamed, and several strands were strangely out of place. She was beautiful in the moonlight, and her lack of makeup only underlined the natural attractiveness of her face. Her silver eyes were piercing and secretive as usual, and her shoulders were exposed in a lime green spaghetti-strap shirt.

“Lyra. I was hoping to get in contact with you before the Fleet was out of sensor range.” Yana said, her expression serious. “We need to talk. But I need you to promise me, no matter what I tell you, that it will stay between the two of us until the time is right.”

Lyra didn’t answer the woman immediately, and from the expression on her face it was clear she didn’t take such a proposition lightly at all. Surprisingly, Lyra tended to keep her promises to anyone she gave them to, so she was always very careful who she gave them to. Making a promise to someone like Yana, especially one like this, was a dangerous favor to give.

But she was trapped on a planet never to return again.

The screen flickered slightly and she reached out to stabilize the connection on her end given she had more means to do so.

“Alright. Go ahead.” Lyra nodded.

Yana watched Lyra with a hint of skepticism in her gaze, but she breathed slowly and started to speak. When her voice left her lips, it was shaky and hesitant, two traits that were quite rarely associated with Yana Petrova.

“Do you remember when I was telling you about my early marriage with Ivan and the circumstances that lead to …Kassandra’s conception?” She asked, furrowing her brows and speaking quietly. “How I was busy and unavailable for him at the time?”

“I do.” Lyra confirmed succinctly. Her dark eyes shifted and moved around Yana’s face. She was outside… away from the settlement? That was a risk. She looked back to Yana’s face, watching the silvery eyes she had given to her son that greeted her near every morning - well, one did now.

“What I’m about to tell you is classified at the highest levels. It’s so secret that even the Imperial Hierarchy doesn’t know. If you tell, there will be blood. Not mine, now, because I’m stuck here. But Andrei’s.” she said, looking serious and less cold than Lyra had ever seen her. During the short period of time Ivan and I were courting and up until we were pulled into the Delta Quadrant, I was an undercover agent for Imperial Intelligence. Nearly thirty years of service began with a…very special assignment..”

Lyra’s brows lifted just slightly and she leaned forward a little as Yana began to speak, her attention wholly on the woman and the secret she was about to spill forth. Obviously this were a secret that if the situation were not what it was, Yana likely never would have shared.

It took less than ten minutes and a bit of back and forth between the two women for the important details to be explained. There was… much to consider… but time was too limited to give thoughts to the matter in that moment.

After her long pause, Lyra chanced another question. “Andrei mentioned that you occasionally went to visit the Ivers family over the years. What was the purpose of those visits?”

Yana‘a eyes sparkled as she looked into Lyra’s eyes through the screen. She was interested, but more guarded than before.

“Has he?” She asked, smiling gently. “If I told you we only went for the Brazilian cuisine, would you believe me?”

Lyra simply lifted her brows at that. They had a limited amount of time after all, and she didn’t want to do this particular dance with Yana. Perhaps she had been interviewing Christoph’s younger sisters as potential candidates for Andrei or maybe even Christoph for Mika, but she doubted it was anything that simple. “No, I wouldn’t, but it would be beneficial for me - and by extent Andrei - to know anything about those people that I can.”

“It’s natural for you to be curious about the Ivers family. They are, after all, responsible for irrevocably altering your life. But I can assure you that nothing I know will do anything to alleviate your suffering or make you safer.” Yana said, licking her lips. “I visited many lords and ladies, sometimes as a representative of my husband, and sometimes as a representative of…shadier forces.”

It was enough of an answer for Lyra to surmise - correctly or incorrectly - that Yana had likely been sent by Nazar to make sure the Ivers family was staying in line and not looking for Aurelia and her children. Her mother had always told her that she and Nolan had a certain affection for each other and that he was a man who would protect her. She doubted that would stick though if Revana continued to push and pick to the point of action being required.

“Is there anything else you feel like I should know that would help Andrei to achieve his goal? People I should know that owe favors or need to be cautious of?”

Yana shook her head slowly.

“There’s nothing like that. When he left, he was just a Junior Lieutenant and, up until the last moment, the son of a disgraced Admiral. He hasn’t made himself a name, and I hadn’t acted to help him do so either. Any goals he has will start from the bottom at this point.”

That wasn’t really what Lyra had wanted to hear of course, and truthfully she was a bit surprised that Yana hadn’t laid some kind of groundwork to propel her son forward when he was ready. Perhaps her work in intelligence really had commanded the majority of her time. She could understand that, but it was rather unfortunate. She nodded slowly and sat back in her chair.

“Is there anything that you would like to ask me before we lose our chance?”

Yana let the question settle over subspace for a while as her eyes searched the dark eyes of her son’s beloved. She felt she understood Lyra a bit better than other people, but they weren’t so different in the end.

“I’m curious to know what you want; who you want to be.” Yana started, “You’ve been who you needed to be almost your entire life. You pretended, you hid, and you fought. But what do you want from your future?”

“I want to be remembered in Terran history and not just simply as an errant note or paragraph in someone else’s story.” Lyra replied honestly, holding Yana’s gaze through the monitor. “I refuse to be common and forgettable.”

“Have you considered finding someone mediocre to stand at your side then?” Yana asked, clear and quick. They didn’t have time to waste with tiptoeing. “If you want an equal partnership, it is difficult to maintain where he is going. What’s to say you won’t be a footnote in his story…or he won’t be a footnote in yours?”

Imperial Intelligence generally burned the need for a legacy out of its agents. A spy who wanted to be remembered, after all, wouldn’t be very good at their job. Yana’s legacy was her son, and this was nothing short of obvious. She had imagined she would be there to keep an eye on Lyra and make sure her considerable strengths didn’t become a threat to that legacy. Now that she knew she would likely never see them again, she wondered who the younger woman would sacrifice to make her name ring through history.

“Difficult, but not impossible.” Lyra noted “I do not need to be on the highest rung to make my legacy, the second highest would suit me just as well if I am second to a worthy man with whom I can build my legacy - you need both man and woman to do so, after all, and mediocrity can so taint a bloodline be it from the mother or father.” She sighed at the thought and then shook her head slightly.

“We will have individual and joint pursuits that will give us both what we desire and we will leave our mark on society that will carry to the last generations.”

Yana pressed her lips together, but it didn’t seem to be frustration in response to what Lyra had said. Instead, a mother’s grief fell obviously on her typically stoical features. She was beautiful in a biting, superior way, with perfect skin and the cheekbones and eyes as sharp as knives she had given her son.

“If Mika has anything to say about it, we’ll find a cure and I’ll be there to see it.” she said, offering a tired sigh. “But, just between you and me, I’m not optimistic.”

Lyra’s impenetrable visage gave slightly with a slight frown and knitting brows displaying some level of commiseration. “I understand… I wouldn’t be in your place either,” she started honestly, “but Mika is an intelligent and driven young woman, she may surprise us both. I’m sure Doctor Brasken will continue his efforts here too, and Andrei and I both will always be looking for leads.”

“I’m sure.” Yana said, standing up and seeming to force those meddlesome feelings away as quickly as she could. “Perhaps we’ll see each other again, Lyra. You’re very close to the edge of communications range and..I’d rather end on purpose rather than having it cut out.”

“Perhaps we will.” Lyra nodded, watching Yana as she stood against the inky backdrop of the night sky. “I promise I will take care of him, Yana.”

Yana smiled and nodded, seeming as satisfied as she could reasonably be considering the circumstances.

“Thank you.” She said in a low voice, her eyes filling with the same maternal grief as before . “Until next time, perhaps.”

“Do svidaniya.” Lyra bid the other woman just as the transmission began to distort. Seconds later, it cut out completely and Lyra immediately leaned her head back on her chair and closed her eyes. Her own heart was heavy with the shadow of grief. Andrei’s situation had of course brought up her own heavy feelings regarding the recent anniversary of the murder of her father. He had shown her loving care and walked with her through the moment just as she walked with him and cared for him now. The secret Yana had shared with her only added to the weight she was feeling. It wasn’t because it would be a difficult one for her to keep until the appropriate time, but it called into question the future of her relationship. She would have to have faith and trust, but in matters of legacy, could she ever do that?

She opened her eyes and reached out to the console, logging off and then immediately standing from her desk. She would finish the work tomorrow, but now it was time to return to her beloved.

END