Intermission – The Other Side of the Gate
by Commander Karen Villiers & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin
Post Details
ON
Pip paid no attention to the security officer who saw her through to the brig, none was required anyway.
Just like the institute, she thought recalling the impersonal home that she'd been taken too at the age of five, barely a year after the colony had been destroyed. It would have been sooner that she saw that building of matt yellow stone, a similar tone of beige to the endless impersonal corridors of the starships that turn by turn bore her back to earth. Only difference is the lock's on me room, not the outside door, she mused feeling the hard edge of the flask Trellis had allowed her, glad that she had a little comfort.
Pip said nothing as the officer departed, she didn't even bother to test the field that held her in. It was there and she wasn't stupid. She was about to move back and lie in the relative comfort of the low bunk when she spotted someone, glowing yellow in the cell opposite and one to the left.
"What're you doing here?" Pip asked.
Yolanthe looked up, not realising she had company. Then she saw the young girl who'd come looking for a job a few weeks ago. She blushed amber across her whole body. "I, er, lost my temper."
Pip leaned her shoulder against the bulkhead. Looking at Yolanthe she could not feel anything approaching guilt for what she had done. She was the one who chose to sleep with a murderer.
"Me too I suppose," she replied.
The bokkai shifted round so she could lie on the bench in her cell. Her restraints clinked against each other. "Its not like me. I don't lose my temper with boys. I've never hit one in anger. Not before now."
"Mebbe that's why they felt the need to tie you up," Pip said. She waved her own wrists to show that aside from the field, she was free.
"I think when you punch the so called head of security, they take it pretty personally."
"They fixed him up good then. I didn't notice he'd taken a smack, but I guess my notice wasn't really on him. Why'd you hit him?"
Yolanthe hesitated. "er, he was...I was..." she lapsed into silence. "he wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know. Stars Above that sounds lame."
Pip managed a genuine smile at the comment but her heart was still heavy, "What did you ask him?"
"About the consulate explosion. If he knew what had happened. I mean, why would he tell me? I just kind of saw white. kind of a racial trait really. My people get very upset when boys are hurt.
"Hardly a boy," Pip replied with a sage nod. "I guess they can't just go handin' out information to anyone," she added. It wasn't like she was family.
"They're all boys." Yolanthe scoffed. "I guess they can't" she admitted to Pip's last statement. "Especially not to the mad woman who's looking for someone to gut like a fish."
"Why does it matter to you so much?" Pip knew they were having a fling but like anyone else who'd been in touch with that bastard she should be greatful someone had tried to remove him permanently.
Orange became grey. "Its hard to explain."
Pip shrugged. "If you want to talk I've got the time," she said. Neither of them were going anywhere in a hurry.
Yolanthe fidgeted with the restraints, "My race is dying. We aren't having boy children. We've tried embryo selection, DNA manipulation, nothing sticks. The only thing that seems to work is just good old fashioned sex. So we do it, lots. But not like humans get to do it. Its all arranged. There aren't enough men to go round for free choice. So its organised. Different tribes do things slightly differently but it all boils down to a rota. Every night, or other night."
She rolled on the bench to face Pip. "It doesn't matter if you like whoever is sent. It certainly doesn't matter if the boy likes you. You both just have to think of your species, and do your duty." And the next night, or whatever, there's a new boy at your door, and you both go again. Until you get pregnant. My mother is probably on her fourteenth or fifteenth by now. When I left I had twelve sisters, and she's determined to have a boy."
"I've never even been with one, let alone a dozen," Pip said as she ran the scenario through her mind, "i've never felt that close to anyone, or even felt the desire to. I suppose there've been chances, but none I ever wanted to take," she admitted, the woman's experience was so different from her own.
"I've never had a choice. Never had control over who or when. When I... left home, I was glad to be done with it. Not that plenty of men didn't want to. But I didn't. Until I met tharek. He's mine. The first one I got to choose. He's boisterous, I know, but I've had my fill of nice obedient, passive harem boys. No one organised this, no one forced it. He's my choice. All mine, nothing forced, nothing arranged. Does that make sense?"
"That's the bit that doesn't make sense," Pip said, "if you've waited all your life for free choice why choose a killer."
The older woman turned sea green, and even looked confused. "But lots of Alpha quadrant men are killers aren't they? Your dominion war, and even while I've been here, security has killed people who've threatened the station. Besides. What is it you humans say? People in glass houses should not sin or something?"
"I wouldn't know about that, I'm not a priest and what the peddle is bull, but the bastard who slaughtered my family before my eyes shouldn't expect mercy, should he?"
The sea green became a vibrant teal. "You're talking about Tharek?"
"I tracked down every possible one, and it was Getal who I saw. I saw his face when I lay under me mother's body. Nowt about it has changened, not since I was four years old."
The colour shifted again. This time to swampy green. It was a long time till The woman spoke. "I lost someone important too. And no. Should I ever be able to take my revenge, then no. No mercy."
Pip watched Yolanthe as she struggled through her silence. Weird the way her skin changed, she thought. When she did speak it didn't surprise Pip that her gaze seemed to be focussed somewhere in the middle distance.
"Its nothin' personal," Pip said, "You've been good to me, but a bastard is a bastard. I'm sorry he's not died, and more sorry that others got hurt. But you should know the nature of the beast, I got no reason to lie now, not one."
"Nature of the beast?" the tone was guarded, uncertain. "If you're about to tell me he's not very nice at times, I am aware."
Pip shrugged, it wasn't her business if the woman wanted to ally herself with a thug, "Don't expect any understandin' from me when he turns on you."
Yolanthe sat up, leaning forward towards Pip, shading to peach tones as she did so. "I don't think I have your understanding now. And should Tharek turn on me, in that unlikely event, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. Until then, should i worry about you and him when we both get out of here?"
"I'll not be gettin' out. I'd try again if I could, but I hurt people who shouldn't've been. They'll not let me out, nor should they," Pip said her tone solemn. "someone else'll come for him though." Pip was certain of that even if it was the authorities.
"Again?!" The bokkai's peach coloured skin and hair paled to the colour of butter as the penny dropped. "You bombed the embassy?"
Pip nodded. "I should've stuck with going after him with a knife," she mused, "but when that fella suggested the bomb ... well, he made me feel I'd be a fool not to."
"A fool not to," the bokkai repeated. Her voice was frozen cold, her colouring was arctic white to match.
On balance it was probably a good thing that they were in seperate cells.
The bartender got to her feet and approached the force field as close as she could. "On my world, a woman even tries to kill a man, she's executed in very very creative ways."
"Yeah, and on mine if some murdering bastard tries to kill all the men, women and children anyone left alive hunts him down and erases the worthless scum from whatever shithole of a planet he's taken refuge in, along with anyone who stands in between," Pip's ire was showing, any regret she had felt at the civilian's deaths forgotten for now.
"No, I'm not like that." Yolanthe looked the girl in the eye, her irisless eyes seeming even more blank than usual. "I'm just going to kill you."
Pip shrugged, "makes no difference to me. I'll have another pop at him if I get a chance," she replied, "but then I'm not getti' out of here, so good luck with that."
Yolanthe laughed. There was no humor in it. "You may be surprised. Federation justice is rather progressive. Until a trial, you may just be allowed to roam free. If so, take another pop at Tharek. Please." Her unspoken words hung between them: Go Ahead. Make my day.
::OFF::
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner, the Box of Delights
Pip Sullivan
NPC by Louise
by Commander Karen Villiers & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin
Post Details
| Title | The Other Side of the Gate | |
| Mission | Intermission | |
| Author(s) | Commander Karen Villiers & Alderman Yolanthe Ibalin | |
| Posted | Mon Sep 30, 2013 @ 7:13pm | |
| Location | The Brig | |
| Timeline | SD71. 16:30 |
Pip paid no attention to the security officer who saw her through to the brig, none was required anyway.
Just like the institute, she thought recalling the impersonal home that she'd been taken too at the age of five, barely a year after the colony had been destroyed. It would have been sooner that she saw that building of matt yellow stone, a similar tone of beige to the endless impersonal corridors of the starships that turn by turn bore her back to earth. Only difference is the lock's on me room, not the outside door, she mused feeling the hard edge of the flask Trellis had allowed her, glad that she had a little comfort.
Pip said nothing as the officer departed, she didn't even bother to test the field that held her in. It was there and she wasn't stupid. She was about to move back and lie in the relative comfort of the low bunk when she spotted someone, glowing yellow in the cell opposite and one to the left.
"What're you doing here?" Pip asked.
Yolanthe looked up, not realising she had company. Then she saw the young girl who'd come looking for a job a few weeks ago. She blushed amber across her whole body. "I, er, lost my temper."
Pip leaned her shoulder against the bulkhead. Looking at Yolanthe she could not feel anything approaching guilt for what she had done. She was the one who chose to sleep with a murderer.
"Me too I suppose," she replied.
The bokkai shifted round so she could lie on the bench in her cell. Her restraints clinked against each other. "Its not like me. I don't lose my temper with boys. I've never hit one in anger. Not before now."
"Mebbe that's why they felt the need to tie you up," Pip said. She waved her own wrists to show that aside from the field, she was free.
"I think when you punch the so called head of security, they take it pretty personally."
"They fixed him up good then. I didn't notice he'd taken a smack, but I guess my notice wasn't really on him. Why'd you hit him?"
Yolanthe hesitated. "er, he was...I was..." she lapsed into silence. "he wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know. Stars Above that sounds lame."
Pip managed a genuine smile at the comment but her heart was still heavy, "What did you ask him?"
"About the consulate explosion. If he knew what had happened. I mean, why would he tell me? I just kind of saw white. kind of a racial trait really. My people get very upset when boys are hurt.
"Hardly a boy," Pip replied with a sage nod. "I guess they can't just go handin' out information to anyone," she added. It wasn't like she was family.
"They're all boys." Yolanthe scoffed. "I guess they can't" she admitted to Pip's last statement. "Especially not to the mad woman who's looking for someone to gut like a fish."
"Why does it matter to you so much?" Pip knew they were having a fling but like anyone else who'd been in touch with that bastard she should be greatful someone had tried to remove him permanently.
Orange became grey. "Its hard to explain."
Pip shrugged. "If you want to talk I've got the time," she said. Neither of them were going anywhere in a hurry.
Yolanthe fidgeted with the restraints, "My race is dying. We aren't having boy children. We've tried embryo selection, DNA manipulation, nothing sticks. The only thing that seems to work is just good old fashioned sex. So we do it, lots. But not like humans get to do it. Its all arranged. There aren't enough men to go round for free choice. So its organised. Different tribes do things slightly differently but it all boils down to a rota. Every night, or other night."
She rolled on the bench to face Pip. "It doesn't matter if you like whoever is sent. It certainly doesn't matter if the boy likes you. You both just have to think of your species, and do your duty." And the next night, or whatever, there's a new boy at your door, and you both go again. Until you get pregnant. My mother is probably on her fourteenth or fifteenth by now. When I left I had twelve sisters, and she's determined to have a boy."
"I've never even been with one, let alone a dozen," Pip said as she ran the scenario through her mind, "i've never felt that close to anyone, or even felt the desire to. I suppose there've been chances, but none I ever wanted to take," she admitted, the woman's experience was so different from her own.
"I've never had a choice. Never had control over who or when. When I... left home, I was glad to be done with it. Not that plenty of men didn't want to. But I didn't. Until I met tharek. He's mine. The first one I got to choose. He's boisterous, I know, but I've had my fill of nice obedient, passive harem boys. No one organised this, no one forced it. He's my choice. All mine, nothing forced, nothing arranged. Does that make sense?"
"That's the bit that doesn't make sense," Pip said, "if you've waited all your life for free choice why choose a killer."
The older woman turned sea green, and even looked confused. "But lots of Alpha quadrant men are killers aren't they? Your dominion war, and even while I've been here, security has killed people who've threatened the station. Besides. What is it you humans say? People in glass houses should not sin or something?"
"I wouldn't know about that, I'm not a priest and what the peddle is bull, but the bastard who slaughtered my family before my eyes shouldn't expect mercy, should he?"
The sea green became a vibrant teal. "You're talking about Tharek?"
"I tracked down every possible one, and it was Getal who I saw. I saw his face when I lay under me mother's body. Nowt about it has changened, not since I was four years old."
The colour shifted again. This time to swampy green. It was a long time till The woman spoke. "I lost someone important too. And no. Should I ever be able to take my revenge, then no. No mercy."
Pip watched Yolanthe as she struggled through her silence. Weird the way her skin changed, she thought. When she did speak it didn't surprise Pip that her gaze seemed to be focussed somewhere in the middle distance.
"Its nothin' personal," Pip said, "You've been good to me, but a bastard is a bastard. I'm sorry he's not died, and more sorry that others got hurt. But you should know the nature of the beast, I got no reason to lie now, not one."
"Nature of the beast?" the tone was guarded, uncertain. "If you're about to tell me he's not very nice at times, I am aware."
Pip shrugged, it wasn't her business if the woman wanted to ally herself with a thug, "Don't expect any understandin' from me when he turns on you."
Yolanthe sat up, leaning forward towards Pip, shading to peach tones as she did so. "I don't think I have your understanding now. And should Tharek turn on me, in that unlikely event, I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. Until then, should i worry about you and him when we both get out of here?"
"I'll not be gettin' out. I'd try again if I could, but I hurt people who shouldn't've been. They'll not let me out, nor should they," Pip said her tone solemn. "someone else'll come for him though." Pip was certain of that even if it was the authorities.
"Again?!" The bokkai's peach coloured skin and hair paled to the colour of butter as the penny dropped. "You bombed the embassy?"
Pip nodded. "I should've stuck with going after him with a knife," she mused, "but when that fella suggested the bomb ... well, he made me feel I'd be a fool not to."
"A fool not to," the bokkai repeated. Her voice was frozen cold, her colouring was arctic white to match.
On balance it was probably a good thing that they were in seperate cells.
The bartender got to her feet and approached the force field as close as she could. "On my world, a woman even tries to kill a man, she's executed in very very creative ways."
"Yeah, and on mine if some murdering bastard tries to kill all the men, women and children anyone left alive hunts him down and erases the worthless scum from whatever shithole of a planet he's taken refuge in, along with anyone who stands in between," Pip's ire was showing, any regret she had felt at the civilian's deaths forgotten for now.
"No, I'm not like that." Yolanthe looked the girl in the eye, her irisless eyes seeming even more blank than usual. "I'm just going to kill you."
Pip shrugged, "makes no difference to me. I'll have another pop at him if I get a chance," she replied, "but then I'm not getti' out of here, so good luck with that."
Yolanthe laughed. There was no humor in it. "You may be surprised. Federation justice is rather progressive. Until a trial, you may just be allowed to roam free. If so, take another pop at Tharek. Please." Her unspoken words hung between them: Go Ahead. Make my day.
::OFF::
Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner, the Box of Delights
Pip Sullivan
NPC by Louise