Disclaimer: Blake's 7 and its characters do not belong to me. Please don't sue.
Rating: R
Author's Note: Written for the B7 Ficathon.
Asta Matrika
By Andraste
I.
The first thing Cally killed on Saurian Major was a plant.
Admittedly, it was a large and rather dangerous one, and it was attempting to devour one of her comrades at the time, but it wasn't how she had imagined her first victory. All new recruits to the rebellion were trained to avoid the carnivorous flora - only a recent arrival like Jaris would be silly enough to get caught by one. He was a native of this world, but he came from the mountains where such things did not grow.
"Thank you," he gasped, dragging himself away from the plant's flailing limbs as Cally's blasts destroyed it.
She smiled. "The Federation troops won't have much trouble capturing you if the jungle can manage it."
"I've got plenty of experience with the Feds – it's the trees that'll get me," Jaris said, smiling in return.
Cally shook her head. "Don't worry, I'll protect you." She looked at her fallen foe with a grin. "Something of an anticlimax as first kills go, after all that training."
"You'll get your chance sooner or later," Jaris said, expression unreadable.
II.
When she had first come to this planet, Cally had been afraid of the jungle, but over time she had grown comfortable with it. The strange plants had a texture that was almost like human flesh, and human flesh was what they most liked to eat. Yet the rebels had learned to use this to their advantage – beneath the bizarre canopy of the jungle, they were safe, protected from those who hunted them.
On the day of the raid, Cally hesitated for a moment before stepping out from under the cover they provided. During her year of training she had grown almost fond of their strange sentinels, and she wondered now if she would ever see them again.
III.
Cally killed her first man – she supposed it was a man – almost by accident.
Her task during the raid was to work in communications, supporting the troopss and relaying messages rather than fighting herself. It was only by chance that an outlying patrol discovered their encampment. Cally raised her gun and fired on the scout without thinking about it. He – probably a he – fell down.
She took cover behind a rock, and the rest of the brief skirmish was over soon without her intervention. She was pleased that her training had proved effective. She didn't know whether to be pleased that she'd killed someone or not.
IV.
After the raid, the others wanted to celebrate, an impulse Cally understood but did not share. She was restless in a way that disturbed her; she suspected that she had wanted the raid to be more complicated, that she had wanted to kill more people.
She fought against the Federation to protect others, not to kill. Or so she believed.
Alone, Cally made her way into the jungle, and found a quiet clearing. It was a good place to begin clearing her mind. She had once found the silence of this place oppressive, an all to sharp reminder of the silence that had filled her mind ever since she left Auron. Now it seemed restful.
She was so successful in shutting out the world that she almost didn't hear the Federation fliers overhead. It was not until the mist began falling and she heard the trees hiss in response that she even bothered to open her eyes.
V.
At first, she was simply confused by the sound – it didn't rain on Saurian Major the way it did on Auron – and the crackling as the moisture touched the trees took a moment to identify.
The she realized that the trees were melting, and heard the first scream from the direction of the camp. Cally started running.
VI.
By the time she reached her goal, her lungs were burning, and for a moment she suspected that the poison was working on her.
Her comrades were the same shade of pink as the trees. The lucky ones were already dead. The ones who were unlucky were under cover when the mist fell; they had inhaled it instead of absorbing it through their skin.
Everything organic is melting and dripping around her.
Cally sees now that the trees are not alien at all – the trees and the people of Saurian Major are of the same flesh. It is she who is the alien.
VII.
They had medicine, but there was no medicine for this. The screaming had mostly given way to strangled gasps, but even without telepathic contact Cally could sense their pain.
Without thinking, she reached for the nearest weapon – metal, and therefore safely solid – chose the nearest writhing body, pressed the barrel to its temple. /This won't hurt, she sent telepathically, not knowing if it was true or not.
If the first kill is always the most difficult, then the rest would be more than easy.
VIII.
Cally considered burying them for all of two seconds. She was one woman alone, and to dig a grave for them all would take her days. Better to save her time and strength for something more productive.
Instead, she dragged the bodies into a rough pile and burnt them. It took a long time – their raw flesh was wet and difficult to burn, and she had no supply of tinder. To begin with she was nauseous, but in the end it all gave way to impatience.
She set out for the communications facility with no clear plan in mind except to kill the first thing that she saw, and then the second thing, and to go on until somebody killed her. She did not carry communications equipment or supplies to weigh her down. There was nobody left to talk to, and she would probably not live long enough to become hungry. She wondered if her death would be painful.
She only knew that it would not be silent.
The End