Interlude – Red
by Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
The flames shot up quickly into the air from the field of vegetation. A small contingent of Cardassian men stood by, some smiling, some with faces as grim as could possibly be. But one stood out among the group.
Gilnn Getal. The man that had robbed this colony of food, of life. Tharek had severed the head of the colony. All that remained was to kill the scattering insects.
"Men, seek out and kill every living thing that sits under a Federation flag!" He yelled. Soon, the group cheered and jogged off into the night. Their thick, black armour making them disappear completely from sight. Tharek himself took off alone into the darkness, his only companion, a disruptor rifle, he hugged close to his chest.
---
“… anything?” Conor said to the woman who knelt by the communication array.
“Nothin’,” she replied. The power was failing and with the turbines broken and the solar panels smashed there was no way left to recharge it.
“Mammy,” Kate reached out an arm as the little girl approached and drew her close, “Mammy, I can’t sleep.” Kate flicked her gaze to Conor, as she turned and drew the child into her lap; none of them could sleep, none of them had for weeks.
“Its alright, Pip,” Kate said holding her daughter tight, “Starfleet will be here in the morning.”
Pip blinked up at her mother. “You said that last night, Mammy,” she said her eyes widening as the dark cracks between the boards that blocked the windows blazed crimson and orange in the night.
Kate reached out her free hand to Conor, “Find out what’s happenin’ Love,” she said as she grasped her husband’s hand.
Conor nodded and moved away, but very quickly he returned and rested a projectile weapon against the array, a primitive shotgun used for hunting in the fields, he leaned down and whispered into Kate’s ear, “If they come, turn it on you both,” he said wiping his eye with the back of a grubby hand.
“What’s happening, Kate?” a woman asked.
Kate O’Hara looked up at her, and hardly had the heart to tell her. But as mayor of this village, it was her duty. “Come and sit, Becka,” she said extending an arm to draw the heavily pregnant woman down without disturbing her own daughter who for the first time in days had finally surrendered to sleep.
Becka’s husband had gone out two days ago to see if there was something that could be found in the fields, the settlers had brought rabbits, and wild fowl, game … this planet had been terraformed so there were no indigenous species for them to disturb, but since the stock had been slaughtered their self sufficiency ceased. People were starving.
Becka’s husband had not returned.
“Starfleet will be here tomorrow,” Kate said wrapping her arm around Becka. With her own daughter in her lap and Becka beside her, her babies ready to be born Kate prayed that this time it was true even as her gaze strayed to the shotgun Conal had left before he went out into the night to see what was happening.
---
Tharek crept onto the brittle, burnt grass just beyond the . His armour scraping against the dirt, which flicked up into his face and hands, covering him in dried mud and spilled blood.
The dirt acted like a camoflauge. The only thing that could really be seen now was the burning fire in his eyes. The burning fire came to rest upon a small building. With faint noises eminating from within. This was his new target. His new prey.
---
Conal swallowed as he stepped out into the acrid air and saw the night ablaze. He knew Kate did not believe her white lie any more than he did, but they had a duty to their fellow colonists, even in these dark times. If they lost the belief that Starfleet would protect them then …
He sighed, there was still time but with the fires fanned by the autumn breeze, there was not much of it. They were getting closer, and still no response, still no aid. They were much too close.
Having seen all he needed to Conal moved back into the building, a construction of stone and wood and in places parts from the colony ship that had delivered them here to Eden. He did not go back to the room where his wife was, but slipped up the staircase. “They’re close,” he said as he entered the room where the youngsters tended to gather, though now they were mostly boys and girls, few of them over the age of fourteen. Becka’s husband Paul had been one of the last of Conal’s own generation, the others were manning defensive posts, just in case the Cardassians came.
It felt so old fashioned for him to say it in this day and age, but they were simple people, that was why they had come here, to live a simple life. “There are Cardassians out there,” he said, “and your mothers, and your sisters are in this building with us. Starfleet will be here in the morning,” he said, repeating the lie, “But until then, I need you to do what you can to protect your families. There is not one of you who has not spent a summer in the fields – just as you have reaped the heads of wheat you can take a scythe and remove the head of one of them. We did not raise you to kill, heaven knows we would not want that, but we have raised you to defend what is yours, and your rights!”
As they scrambled to their feet and grabbed what they could Conal turned away, the shame of deceit burning his cheeks. They were willing to fight, but he doubted that any of them would survive the night. Better they die quickly, these boys and girls than live and be forced to endure the torment the Cardassians would inflict upon them.
---
Tharek had been tought this a million times. Quick execution, no mucking about. In, kill, and out in seconds. This was just another standard mission. The only thing that was different... was that Tharek could kill anyone, and use the universal exscuse that makes everything alright again. It was war, it was neccessary.
He sprinted to the building, careful to avoid the eye of any sentries. He managed to get to the wall just by the entrance, without being spotted. This was it. This was his moment to stand out from the normal grunt.
He drove all his force behind a kick, which landed squarly in the middle of the door. It gave way quickly under his power. There he stood, in a screen of dust and dirt, holding a rifle and pistol. Ready to mow down everything that wasn't Cardassian.
Jenna had listened to Conal and as the reptile had come through the door she held her place. She was fifteen, and her betrothed had already been taken by the Cardassians. It was the scythe she held that now curled around the intruder’s throat, close enough to bite.
Getal wasn't going to make empty threats, or play around before killing her, and everyone else. He had to be efficiently brutal. He made a swift move for the scythe and then used his momentum to take it from her, and drive it into her chest. Quickly, efficiently, horribly.
Becka screamed as her daughter was cut down.
Kate pulled Becka down sharply, waking Pip who began to shriek uncontrollably.
Why had she hesitated? She said in her head or aloud Kate did not know, she had him there, she could have ended it, but Jenna was a starved fourteen year old child. Kate had seen the look that she had given to the room as she had hesitated, Is this what I should do?. They had not raised killers here, they had raised farmers
---
Kate still had a secret, one that she had kept even from her husband. Yes,m she had become disillusioned as many had, she had not gone as far as to join the renegade Maquis, but she had gone far enough to resign her commission.
Beneath her skirt was a phaser. It could not take on the force that was out there, and such resistance would only elicit greater punishment for those who lived. But nobody was going to live.
The shotgun that Conal had left … well, he was a simple man, and that was why she loved him, but Kate would remove the most vulnerable from harm in her own way. She had to.
---
As Jenna fell a swarm of bodies emerged to push the intruder back and into the night , each of them hoping that someone would strike a lucky blow.
None hit their mark. Tharek was well fed, well trained and had superior strength and weapons. He could've taken on the entire colony and probably won. Getal aimed his pistol, and squeezed off a single beam of glowing yellow plasma. It hit someone. Tharek didn't care, as long as one more was down. He fired off two more shots which both managed to find their way into someones chest.
Kate raised her eyes as she tried to comfort Becka and her own screaming daughter. It was beneath pip that she held her wepaon. It was over, Kate could see that it was over as the tears streamed down her face. She could hear the exchange of fire outside as their few remaining men were picked off. All she could do was bring down the building and hope that the explosion killed her fellow colonists rather than the crushing weight of fallen beams.
Kate wanted to get a Cardassian or two, especially that one, the one who had done this to them. She reversed the polarity of the phaser and held it in her fist until it shook, then she slung it and lunged for the shotgun.
Arched over Pip’s unconscious body Kate fired even as the building collapsed around them all.
Somehow the girl survived, and in the morning Starfleet did arrive, but by then it was too late.
By the counsellors found a way to make Pip speak her first words were "The red lizard, he spoiled everything, I don’t like him. He killed all my friends.”
---
As quickly as he came, Getal was gone. Trekking back through the burnt food. Burnt cattle. Burnt blood. He trudged his way back to his camp. The blood of women, of children, plastered across his hands and face. And the sickest part is?
He enjoyed it.
OFF
Slaughtered colonists and one survivor NPCd by Louise.
Gilnn Getal
The Blood-Red Lizard of Eden
by Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal & Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | Red | |
| Mission | Interlude | |
| Author(s) | Cardassian Vi'kar Gul Tharek Getal & Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Tue Aug 31, 2010 @ 7:38pm | |
| Location | Eden Colony - Near the Cardassian Border |
Gilnn Getal. The man that had robbed this colony of food, of life. Tharek had severed the head of the colony. All that remained was to kill the scattering insects.
"Men, seek out and kill every living thing that sits under a Federation flag!" He yelled. Soon, the group cheered and jogged off into the night. Their thick, black armour making them disappear completely from sight. Tharek himself took off alone into the darkness, his only companion, a disruptor rifle, he hugged close to his chest.
---
“… anything?” Conor said to the woman who knelt by the communication array.
“Nothin’,” she replied. The power was failing and with the turbines broken and the solar panels smashed there was no way left to recharge it.
“Mammy,” Kate reached out an arm as the little girl approached and drew her close, “Mammy, I can’t sleep.” Kate flicked her gaze to Conor, as she turned and drew the child into her lap; none of them could sleep, none of them had for weeks.
“Its alright, Pip,” Kate said holding her daughter tight, “Starfleet will be here in the morning.”
Pip blinked up at her mother. “You said that last night, Mammy,” she said her eyes widening as the dark cracks between the boards that blocked the windows blazed crimson and orange in the night.
Kate reached out her free hand to Conor, “Find out what’s happenin’ Love,” she said as she grasped her husband’s hand.
Conor nodded and moved away, but very quickly he returned and rested a projectile weapon against the array, a primitive shotgun used for hunting in the fields, he leaned down and whispered into Kate’s ear, “If they come, turn it on you both,” he said wiping his eye with the back of a grubby hand.
“What’s happening, Kate?” a woman asked.
Kate O’Hara looked up at her, and hardly had the heart to tell her. But as mayor of this village, it was her duty. “Come and sit, Becka,” she said extending an arm to draw the heavily pregnant woman down without disturbing her own daughter who for the first time in days had finally surrendered to sleep.
Becka’s husband had gone out two days ago to see if there was something that could be found in the fields, the settlers had brought rabbits, and wild fowl, game … this planet had been terraformed so there were no indigenous species for them to disturb, but since the stock had been slaughtered their self sufficiency ceased. People were starving.
Becka’s husband had not returned.
“Starfleet will be here tomorrow,” Kate said wrapping her arm around Becka. With her own daughter in her lap and Becka beside her, her babies ready to be born Kate prayed that this time it was true even as her gaze strayed to the shotgun Conal had left before he went out into the night to see what was happening.
---
Tharek crept onto the brittle, burnt grass just beyond the . His armour scraping against the dirt, which flicked up into his face and hands, covering him in dried mud and spilled blood.
The dirt acted like a camoflauge. The only thing that could really be seen now was the burning fire in his eyes. The burning fire came to rest upon a small building. With faint noises eminating from within. This was his new target. His new prey.
---
Conal swallowed as he stepped out into the acrid air and saw the night ablaze. He knew Kate did not believe her white lie any more than he did, but they had a duty to their fellow colonists, even in these dark times. If they lost the belief that Starfleet would protect them then …
He sighed, there was still time but with the fires fanned by the autumn breeze, there was not much of it. They were getting closer, and still no response, still no aid. They were much too close.
Having seen all he needed to Conal moved back into the building, a construction of stone and wood and in places parts from the colony ship that had delivered them here to Eden. He did not go back to the room where his wife was, but slipped up the staircase. “They’re close,” he said as he entered the room where the youngsters tended to gather, though now they were mostly boys and girls, few of them over the age of fourteen. Becka’s husband Paul had been one of the last of Conal’s own generation, the others were manning defensive posts, just in case the Cardassians came.
It felt so old fashioned for him to say it in this day and age, but they were simple people, that was why they had come here, to live a simple life. “There are Cardassians out there,” he said, “and your mothers, and your sisters are in this building with us. Starfleet will be here in the morning,” he said, repeating the lie, “But until then, I need you to do what you can to protect your families. There is not one of you who has not spent a summer in the fields – just as you have reaped the heads of wheat you can take a scythe and remove the head of one of them. We did not raise you to kill, heaven knows we would not want that, but we have raised you to defend what is yours, and your rights!”
As they scrambled to their feet and grabbed what they could Conal turned away, the shame of deceit burning his cheeks. They were willing to fight, but he doubted that any of them would survive the night. Better they die quickly, these boys and girls than live and be forced to endure the torment the Cardassians would inflict upon them.
---
Tharek had been tought this a million times. Quick execution, no mucking about. In, kill, and out in seconds. This was just another standard mission. The only thing that was different... was that Tharek could kill anyone, and use the universal exscuse that makes everything alright again. It was war, it was neccessary.
He sprinted to the building, careful to avoid the eye of any sentries. He managed to get to the wall just by the entrance, without being spotted. This was it. This was his moment to stand out from the normal grunt.
He drove all his force behind a kick, which landed squarly in the middle of the door. It gave way quickly under his power. There he stood, in a screen of dust and dirt, holding a rifle and pistol. Ready to mow down everything that wasn't Cardassian.
Jenna had listened to Conal and as the reptile had come through the door she held her place. She was fifteen, and her betrothed had already been taken by the Cardassians. It was the scythe she held that now curled around the intruder’s throat, close enough to bite.
Getal wasn't going to make empty threats, or play around before killing her, and everyone else. He had to be efficiently brutal. He made a swift move for the scythe and then used his momentum to take it from her, and drive it into her chest. Quickly, efficiently, horribly.
Becka screamed as her daughter was cut down.
Kate pulled Becka down sharply, waking Pip who began to shriek uncontrollably.
Why had she hesitated? She said in her head or aloud Kate did not know, she had him there, she could have ended it, but Jenna was a starved fourteen year old child. Kate had seen the look that she had given to the room as she had hesitated, Is this what I should do?. They had not raised killers here, they had raised farmers
---
Kate still had a secret, one that she had kept even from her husband. Yes,m she had become disillusioned as many had, she had not gone as far as to join the renegade Maquis, but she had gone far enough to resign her commission.
Beneath her skirt was a phaser. It could not take on the force that was out there, and such resistance would only elicit greater punishment for those who lived. But nobody was going to live.
The shotgun that Conal had left … well, he was a simple man, and that was why she loved him, but Kate would remove the most vulnerable from harm in her own way. She had to.
---
As Jenna fell a swarm of bodies emerged to push the intruder back and into the night , each of them hoping that someone would strike a lucky blow.
None hit their mark. Tharek was well fed, well trained and had superior strength and weapons. He could've taken on the entire colony and probably won. Getal aimed his pistol, and squeezed off a single beam of glowing yellow plasma. It hit someone. Tharek didn't care, as long as one more was down. He fired off two more shots which both managed to find their way into someones chest.
Kate raised her eyes as she tried to comfort Becka and her own screaming daughter. It was beneath pip that she held her wepaon. It was over, Kate could see that it was over as the tears streamed down her face. She could hear the exchange of fire outside as their few remaining men were picked off. All she could do was bring down the building and hope that the explosion killed her fellow colonists rather than the crushing weight of fallen beams.
Kate wanted to get a Cardassian or two, especially that one, the one who had done this to them. She reversed the polarity of the phaser and held it in her fist until it shook, then she slung it and lunged for the shotgun.
Arched over Pip’s unconscious body Kate fired even as the building collapsed around them all.
Somehow the girl survived, and in the morning Starfleet did arrive, but by then it was too late.
By the counsellors found a way to make Pip speak her first words were "The red lizard, he spoiled everything, I don’t like him. He killed all my friends.”
---
As quickly as he came, Getal was gone. Trekking back through the burnt food. Burnt cattle. Burnt blood. He trudged his way back to his camp. The blood of women, of children, plastered across his hands and face. And the sickest part is?
He enjoyed it.
OFF
Slaughtered colonists and one survivor NPCd by Louise.
Gilnn Getal
The Blood-Red Lizard of Eden