Dimming Last Light

Posted on Tue Aug 1st, 2023 @ 7:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov & Lieutenant Sovas Nyseth & Lieutenant Dr. Daniel Brasken & Lieutenant Commander Yana Petrova & Lieutenant JG Corvin Hartjin

Mission: S1 Episode 5: Ex Post Facto
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Date 2371-08-23 at 1230
3212 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

The turbolift doors opened to the Bridge and Andrei gestured for Lyra to exit first. This moment, he knew, would be therapeutic for her. To see vengeance enacted so completely was a rare and sweet thing. All of the bridge crew were gathered there with a number of Banean and Numiri present as well. All of the Terrans began to applaud as she exited the lift, sharing their happiness that she had been successfully rescued. It had been a testament more to her survival skills than any of their efforts.

Lyra had lived a life where she had purposefully avoided being in the spotlight; too much attention and too many eyes made it difficult to make moves undetected and play the non threatening nobody. Here though she supposed she didn’t need to do that quite as much anymore; even if she did, her position - both professional and personal - made that quite difficult. She didn’t smile as she took the few steps forward out onto the bridge, but she did offer a gracious nod of acknowledgement and acceptance of their welcome and praise.

Andrei walked up beside her and gave a thin smile as she was applauded. He wasn’t a man who loved to share the spotlight, generally, but Lyra seemed to be an exception to that rule. He felt a swell of that same feeling he’d been managing since she went missing: a certain devotion to someone other than himself. He’d never felt it before. Since he was a boy, he’d learned he was the center of the universe and he’d always assumed there was only room for one in that position. Perhaps there was some small room for one more. As long as they didn’t get too big.

Corvin looked up from his position at the Tactical station as the doors parted, watching as Lyra and Andrei stepped onto the bridge. Though his blood boiled a bit at the sight of him being so present and attentive, he knew it was for the best given the truth of things. He was just happy to have Lyra back where she belonged and he was looking forward to punishing these mongrel aliens for their transgressions. He was currently holding the target locks on the cities of the planet below, waiting for the order to sterilize those portions of the planet with the ship’s phasers.

Sovas was seating behind his station, feeling mostly himself if feeling a little out of sorts as he felt that he was seeing double outline around people. He suspected it was something to do with his unwelcome guest living inside of his head as the outlines shimmered. His attention was drawn to Lyra as she stopped on to the bridge and her outline was dark and fractured in places, while shining vibrantly in others as if there were portions of her that had been made more intense by what she had been forced to endure. He kept himself busy monitoring local space, waiting for the Banean and Numiri representatives to be shown what was in store for them.

The Captain himself stepped forward, an irreverent grin on his face.

“Welcome back, Lieutenant.” He said clearly, his voice booming.

“Thank you, sir.” She replied lightly, a sharp contrast to Ivan’s voice. “It is good to be back.”

“You know Chief Minister Syr already.” Ivan said, putting his hand on Lyra’s back and leading her over to the two alien delegations. “And this is Supreme Commander Dhas. We’re preparing to sign a treaty with one of these species. One of friendship of a certain…unequal nature. The other will, of course, be totally destroyed.”

Ivan smiled a warm, fatherly smile, no hint of the man who had laid waste to worlds in the name of the Empire. He was no monster; he was a patriot who employed monsters.

“They hope, of course, that we can put this nasty business of your mistreatment aside in the name of good-will and mutual benefit. I was curious what you would think about that, Lieutenant?”

As soon as her dark eyes settled on the delegates, Lyra tensed. It took every piece of her sundered control to not immediately lash out. She wanted nothing more than to drain the life from both of these creatures standing before her. Instead of rage, she reined it in to blatant annoyance while looking at the hideous aliens. Was Ivan really planning on sparing one of these wretched races? Surely not. She had to trust that of him and besides, Andrei had said she would like what he was bringing her to see up on the bridge.

Mercy wouldn’t suit her.

She ran her tongue over her upper teeth behind her lips and then spoke, “Perhaps we might. I might be inclined to grant forgiveness were apologies to be made.”

“Ah, very reasonable. Very reasonable.” Ivan said, looking at the aliens mirthlessly. “Apologize to Lieutenant Cassiel for kidnapping her, falsely accusing her, implanting false memories in her mind, using her as a mule for classified information, and torturing her repeatedly in order to extract said information.”

Despite having been mortal enemies mere days ago, the two alien delegates blinked and then looked stupidly at each other. Surely there had to be more to this? They then looked back to Ivan, then finally to Lyra. Syr was the first to speak, hesitant but willing.

“Lieutenant Cassiel, I wish to apologize on behalf of my people for what transpired while you were on our planet. Our system failed you and the fact that we did not allow you to speak and treated you as one of our people was a mistake that I humbly ask for your forgiveness for making.” She bowed her head respectfully.

Dhas really didn’t exactly have a good position to apologize given his people were the hand behind the entire incident. He cleared his throat and looked at Lyra with his beady black eyes. “For our part in this, I also apologize to you, Lieutenant. In a time of war, desperate measures were taken. You were never meant to suffer and I am sorry that you did.”

Lyra looked between the two aliens and moved her hands behind her back. Her left hand clutched her right wrist hard which seemed innocuous to most, but Andrei’s patch could give him a much more accurate reading of his lover’s current feelings. He could see the small muscles twitching in her hands and shoulders. She really, really wanted to kill them and it was taking every bit of her control to not do it right then and there. She took a slow, deep breath in and then looked at Ivan, not even acknowledging the aliens anymore.

“You’ve decided then, captain?”

“First things first. Let’s make sure we’ve gotten what we asked for.” Ivan said, winking at the woman with a slight smile. He turned to the Ops console then. “Lieutenant Nyseth. Have the new additions to our fleet arrived and been accounted for?”

“Hm?” The half-Vulcan blinked, having been fascinated by the way Lyra’s outline was scintillating, even the broken parts seemed to be pulsing with her emotions before clearing his throat and focusing on the sensors. “Yes Captain, two Banean and Numiri ships have taken position with the rest of the fleet, they are both fully crewed.”

Ivan tapped his combadge and put his hands behind his back.

“Petrov to Commander Petrova. Have received the slaves we’ve been promised?”

Yana was in cargobay one with several enlisted officers and slaves of her own processing their new arrivals. She looked up from her PADD at the sound of her husband’s voice and tapped her own commbadge.

“Yes, my love. 120 Baneans and 120 Numiri have been processed and are being relocated for reconditioning and training. Everything is good down here.” she said, her voice pleasant and calm.

“Good.” Ivan said simply, then switched to his next project. “Andrei, did we get our payments?”

“Yes, Captain. 50 million crowns worth of precious jewels from the Baneans.” Andrei answered, placing himself near Lyra in order to give the comfort of his presence without being seen to calm her. “And security has reported receipt of extensive information on the Numiri shield technology and three experts to help us install them on our ships.”

“Bridge to Sickbay. Dr. Brasken, have you gotten everything you need on the Banean memory-implant technology?” the Captain asked next.

“Aye Captain.” Daniel looked around sickbay at everything that he had been reviewing. “I have an implant device, full schematics and a few of the local experts in the technology.”

Ivan turned to Lyra then and nodded.

“I’ve decided. Jonathan. Put Banea on our viewscreen. Wide angle.”

Just a split second was needed for the helmsman to change the viewscreen to a view of Banea. It was a cloudy world that was known for its occasional torrential rain, and the clouds obscured most of the world’s land mass. Yet, in thousands of places along the surface of the globe, blips of light shone through; signs of life.

“Mr.Hartjin. Fire.” Boomed Ivan’s voice.

“Order received, sir.” Corvin replied back as he pulled up the first series of targets as streaks of bright red-orange energy lanced out into the darkness of space. It took a few moments before they kissed the surface of the planet below, with Corvin pulling up a map of the first city to allow them to see the path that the beam of scouring energy took while a counter was showing the death toll quickly rising. The first set of targets were quickly seared from the face of Banea like cancer being cut from a body, though the second series of targets soon suffered the same fate, over and over again until there were swathes of burning land that could be seen by the naked eye from orbit.

It wasn’t until there came a final chime that Corvin turned his attention to Ivan and the others. “Captain, all targets have been eradicated and the sights sterilized per purge protocols, the projections show that 112,642,503 Baneans were cleansed in the purge.”

Syr watched in horror as the Vengeance began to raze her world. Her full lips were parted, her feather brow knit deeply in sadness. Her strange yellow eyes became watery, and a few tears slid from them. She had done everything asked of her and still it wasn’t enough. She didn’t say anything, what good would words do at this point?

Dhas lifted his head, a smug expression appearing on his face for just a moment, then he looked at Ivan. “An excellent decision, Captain. I knew you were a man who could see reason and respect our motivations for what transpired.”

Lyra had watched in silence, flashes of gold popping in her dark eyes that were so focused on the scene playing out before her. If she focused enough, she was quite sure that she could hear the screams of the Baneans below. Despite the death and suffering, it was a hollow vengeance. She would have to slake her thirst for Banean blood on the gifts her love had promised her. When Dhas spoke, her head snapped around toward him with a terrifying speed, and behind her back her hand opened and closed into a tighter fist. Her perfectly manicured nails dug into her palm.

Ivan looked at the Numiri, his face perfectly neutral. He was giving nothing to the man but intense eye contact that held a hint of what he truly felt. He raised his hand in the air and the terrible bombardment stopped.

“Helm, break orbit. We can return to Banea once we show the Numiri a sign of our friendship. Set course to their world.”

The journey only took a few minutes at full impulse, during-which the Bridge was deadly quiet and the grieving of the Baneans was becoming harder and harder to hide.

Lyra was restless and she was having trouble holding still. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other and brought her arms back around to the front of her, crossing them and staring at the viewscreen. She didn’t dare look over at either the weeping Baneans or the gloating Numiri. Not yet, at least. Perhaps she could kill them when all of this was said and done.

Finally, they arrived and stopped before the world. Ivan stepped over to Lyra and placed a hand on her shoulder again.

“You belong at tactical.” he said simply before releasing her. “Load one thelaron torpedo into tube one.”

Lyra’s muscles jumped slightly when Ivan touched her shoulder and her head immediately turned to him to give her attention. There was a brief question in her eyes, and then there was understanding. She simply nodded and moved from where she was back toward her usual station. Her dark eyes commanded Corvin to remove himself and like a good hound, he obeyed without her even having to speak. She moved behind the console and gave the signal for the torpedo to be loaded.

“What is the meaning of this?” Dhas frowned deeply and turned toward Ivan.

“When we first came to this quadrant, brought here by the entity known as the Caretaker, our crew members were kidnapped by the Ocampa and experimented on; interfered with. We taught them a lesson that I thought would echo through the black of space and stand as a warning to anyone who would do us harm. Harm a hair on a Terran head, any Terran, and face absolute TOTAL DESTRUCTION!” the Captain bellowed, his low voice now filling the Bridge. “But some aliens are either hard of hearing or aren’t very bright. So I will teach the lesson again! For the crime of kidnapping and using my security officer for your own political purposes and then conspiring to manipulate this fleet into supporting your side unfairly, I sentence your entire society to death. I choose Banea as an ally, begrudgingly, and your people, I choose to die. You lose!”

He turned from the image of the Numiri homeworld, raising his hand, covered by his uniform leather glove, toward the security station.

“You heard, once, of Ivan, the Butcher of Rakal V and Ivan, the Butcher of the Ocampa. Now I give you, Lyra Cassiel, Scourge of the Numiri.” he said, smiling, that wild look in his eyes coming back again. “FIRE!”

“WAIT!” Dhas exclaimed desperately.

Lyra liked the sound of that.

With the simple press of a button, the genocidal weapon was launched and took a dramatically lazy arc toward the planet. She’d drawn it out instead of it being a straight line from the ship to the planet just to enjoy the moment of watching Dhas look on in horror. She leaned forward on the console, her hands folded in front of her and her eyes dancing between the Numiri and the torpedo.

When the torpedo finally made impact, it did so without any visible indication at first. After a few seconds of tense waiting, however, a circular wave of something green billowed out from the place of impact and spread to slowly cover the entire surface of the planet.

“Thalaron radiation destroys biological material on contact.” Andrei said, stepping up to Dhas with a grin made of perfect teeth. “Besides you, our slaves, the crews that joined our fleet, and a handful of scientists and military officers on your moon, your entire society has just been liquefied. 3.4 billion lives…in a flash.”

Corvin did little to restrain the feral grin as he watched the sickly green wave of radiation wash over the alien planet, he wished he could have seen a ground view of first confusion, then watch as it turned to fear, finally panic as they realized what was about to happen. He felt a thrill run through him at the thought of so many aliens so quickly wiped away from the galaxy like a mess with a rag with so little evidence of their existence left behind.

Sovas had been intently monitoring the sensors as the thalaron weapon was set off and he was able to watch the devastating effects the weapon had on the environment below. Though his attention was drawn back to the bridge as he looked up at the Numiri man, the leader of an orphaned people as he felt the shock, the anger, and then boiling rage. It was a feeling that he felt mirrored within himself, reaching out to tightly grip the console as he waited to see what the alien man would do.

Dhas turned on Andrei and brought his fist up to strike the Terran, blinded by rage and sadness. What creatures would do such a thing as this?

Andrei grinned as the Numir raised his fist, the last twitch of a nearly-dead man. His hand found his dagger and he had it out in a flash.

“Do it, Dhas. Hit me. Join your family.”

“Commander.” Lyra called to Andrei before he could finish from where she was and stepped away from the console. The tone was strange to anyone else on the bridge, but Andrei would remember the last time he had heard that tone though the voice had been different and had been referring to a different person.

Please don’t break my toys.

She stepped to the auxiliary console behind the command chairs, looking down at the men below. Her eyes held promise and question both. They could play with him together.

Andrei replaced the dagger at his side and looked to a group of security officers.

“Get these Numiri to the pens prepared for new slaves. We will deal with them later.”

The security officers moved to comply, passing Lyra as she made her way down the steps again. She came to a stop next to Andrei. With ice in her voice, she spoke. “You, Banean.”

Syr turned to face both Lyra and Andrei immediately. Obviously she was extremely conflicted; her people had suffered greatly… but at least they still existed. Tears were still on her face and she looked like she had been through the longest day of her life.

“Kneel and show your thanks.”

Not having to be told twice, Syr sank heavily to her knees. “Thank you for… sparing my people.”

She lowered her head and then her whole body, deciding to do everything she could reasonably think of to placate these Terrans. She kissed the top of Lyra’s boot, then Andrei’s next to her, and then turned to do the same to Ivan. She stopped there, prostrating at the captain’s feet.

“Thank you.”

“A Terran Lord Can be most generous, even if it isn’t deserved.” Ivan said, his chin held high as he looked down at the feathered woman. “Now, rise. We will take you back to your homeworld where you can tend to your people. Just remember…when we call on you again, you’d better answer.”

“We will, Captain.” Syr assured after she stood, looking down in a mixture of fear and shame. “You have my word.”


END