I hope you enjoy the inclusion of my Romulans! The Romulan, Jikain, I see having the body type of the Romulan Admiral Valdore of Star Trek Enterprise but the face (minus tattoos) of the Romulan Ayel as seen in Star Trek 2009. This takes place prior to the Earth-Romulan war, though just barely, so things are leading in that direction. Enjoy!
The following morning Elonat felt much more herself and much readier to face down whatever hellish treatment the bastards threw at her today. Her grandmother had always been a spitfire, though kind as well, and she'd been told her mother had had her own share of grit and gumption. Elonat always assumed her more volatile nature and her desire to fight against any effort to control her had come from her human ancestry, while her sense of long-term thinking and calculating nature came from the Vulcan side. Regardless, Terra Prime would find that she was going to be much less compliant now and it was reassuring that she felt much less vulnerable now that she had a friend in this century.
Also, it seemed that the rest had done her brain some good as well. For now the sweeping consciousness' that shared her brain had settled into two different "corners" of her mind. The weaker one had taken place further away from her own ready consciousness and it took greater effort on her part to interact with it and share memories from it. The stronger one was closer to the front of her mind and had, throughout the night, shared a dream with her that was most assuredly a memory of faces and places she'd never been and all that were alien in nature. She still didn't the hows and whys of it, but Elonat was grateful for their presence. It bolstered her spirits, reminded her of where she came from, and gave her an extra oomph that she knew she'd need.
Terra Prime been at an advantage before, having taken her directly from her cryogenic pod and immediately hooking her up to devices that kept her incapacitated in some fashion. She'd never been given the chance to fully recover her strength until last night and she would make sure they regretted their negligence. The food Mr'ish had shared and the restorative sleep had done much towards giving her the strength she would need to exact revenge against these xenophobic monsters. Of course, all in good time. She was still weighing the pros and cons of continuing to act the damsel in distress in regards to health and strength versus displaying her Augment influenced strength levels. She didn't want to endanger Mr'ish, or even the Andorian ambassador she'd yet to meet, with any of her antics. And she would prefer to act out only if she had a goal to acting out, namely an escape route. Right now, escape would be illogical as she had no place to go and no one to go to.
Elonat brushed her palms over the length of Mr'ish's coat once she stood at the edge of their basin cage, waiting for him to join her. They'd all been let out of their basin cages only a few minutes prior with instructions to follow their guards to the main building. They were to wait until both the Andorian ambassador and the Romulan commander joined them before proceedings to the building. Elonat tugged at the coat hem; it barely reached past the rounding of her rear. Mr'ish had offered her his trousers, stating that nudity was not seen as unpropitious for Caitians since many on his planet were fur covered like he was. She'd declined his offer not out of a desire to continue to flash herself at all these people but more so because she had a sinking suspicion that her captors would soon enough rob her of the coat (power play) and she'd rather take off just the coat than have to bend over, flashing more intimate areas, to rid herself of the pants too. This whole ordeal, including what was being done to Mr'ish and the Andorian, was really grating on her nerves and she felt her stomach roil with discontent.
She'd never thought of herself as a violent person and in the time prior to her cryogenic sleep she'd only gotten into perhaps a dozen physical fights. All of those had been because of a misunderstanding of intent from others to herself (she would not play the victim, she knew she was part of the problem), and she had won all the fights (even against the much larger opponents) but once she'd gone through puberty her emotional turbulence had rectified itself a bit (and thankfully she'd understood the danger her Augmented strength posed to others if she wasn't careful). She was more prone to emotional outbursts than her father had been, and most assuredly more than her grandfather, but the Augment serum didn't influence her emotions, as far as she could tell, and it was merely the balancing out of Vulcan emotional strengths with humans that had caused such turbulence. She was more pragmatic and practical when it came to emotions than her peers had been, and that too had been a barrier between her and members of the opposite sex. She had her desires, strong ones too, but her father and grandfather had taught her how to meditate through them instead of allowing them to overtake her.
But the serum did come into play whenever she grew emotionally unstable and lashed out physically (which in her adult years had not happened much). Elonat had had to repair more than a few pieces of furniture which had borne the brunt of an emotional outburst. She was a skilled carpenter and engineer in some rights because of that. Her grandfather had "scared the truth" of her strength into her when he'd melded with her and showed her some of the things he'd seen other Augments do (they'd not allowed her to leave the ranch once it'd turned into a makeshift refugee camp) and how they were always associated with emotional outbursts. "Being Vulcan does not mean one does not have feelings," he'd told her, "Vulcans have strong urges and impulses that humans would define as feelings only they have had to purge themselves of these to rise above their violent natures. Understand that a sandstorm of violence lurks behind every controlled movement a Vulcan makes, and that is why they are so controlled. Do not press against that control, and seek to find some for yourself."
Elonat looked to the main building which housed most of the "nice guys" who had orchestrated all this hell. Yes, she did not see herself as a violent person but that did not mean she would not gladly exact some violence on those individuals responsible if given the chance. She'd exert control over her violence, but it seemed that violence would be necessary before too long in order to rectify this situation. She'd inherited her grandmother's gumption for justice more so than she'd inherited her mother's sense of empathy.
Crunching footsteps from her left had her swinging her attention in that direction just in time to catch sight of twin blue antennae curving down and inward and pointing directly towards her. She'd never seen anything like this Andorian and hoped her blatant surprise was not interpreted as offensive. Elonat actually found the combination of blue skin and white hair to be attractive, though the present scowl on the older woman's face marred the attraction level.
"What is THAT?"
Elonat didn't even flinch at the terminology. She'd heard worse and had been treated accordingly. Her friend, however, did take exception and Mr'ish stepped closer to Elonat and waved a paw in front of her torso, "She is not a 'that', Ambassador Atharia, she is a 'she' and should be addressed accordingly."
Elonat couldn't help but smile at the look of incredulity the Andorian ambassador leveled at Mr'ish. Her smile froze right off her face, however, when the Andorian antennae swung back in her direction, followed by the gaze of the female ambassador. It felt as if the ambassador could see beneath her skin due to the combined perusal of both eye and antennae. Elonat refused to shift uncomfortably on her feet, though she was in fact uncomfortable, and instead maintained a neutral expression as she waited for the woman to satisfy herself with her observations. As both ambassadors appeared preoccupied either with perusal or preparing for a defense of said perusal, Elonat noticed a third individual escorted by guards coming their direction from an even further basin cage. That must be the Romulan commander.
"You are perhaps the worst looking human I have ever encountered." Ambassador Atharia narrowed her eyes even more as she continued to stare down Elonat. "Tell me, are you always this unkempt or is that unique to this time and place?"
Amused and far from offended Elonat smiled, "I can assure you that this is not how I usually garb myself whilst in public and neither do I have a propensity of self-harm in order for my face and body to sport these particular colors." She pointed to the green and bluish bruises still visible on her face. "Truthfully, I like to wear a variety of colors in my wardrobe but not directly on my skin." The antennae twitched and Elonat saw some of the tense lines around the ambassador's eyes soften, but only a smidgen. "And I am not the worst looking human you've ever seen. The only reason why I'm here, privileged to meet both yourself and Ambassador Mr'ish, is because I am a human-Vulcan hybrid, and that I'm sure you have never seen."
The Romulan commander and his guards stopped just beside Atharia as Elonat finished speaking. It was uncanny, how similar his features looked to her grandfather's race, yet Mr'ish had been right, there were also distinct features that set the Romulan as different from a Vulcan. And it was not merely a skin color variety. It seemed, at least at this initial observation, that Vulcans were kinder in the face (but Elonat recognized her bias due to her limited exposure), their features more elf-like and elongated, whereas the Romulans were a strange mixture of rounded squareness. In addition, and it again could be due to limited exposure to Vulcans, it seemed the Vulcans had lithe svelte power and build while the Romulans were barrel-chested, with thicker arms and thighs that belied great strength (aggressive strength). Everything about the Romulan, that she'd seen thus far, confirmed what Mr'ish had said, and what her grandfather's consciousness had implied, that Romulans were far more violent, less controlled, and most assuredly not trusthworthy.
Elonat didn't bother averting her studious eyes when the Romulan commander took in her entire personage in the same blatant way she had him. He showed no physical reaction to her presence or her earlier words and it made her wonder if Romulans were perhaps better at controlling their emotions than she'd earlier assumed or if it was that their culture was so duplicitous that they had been trained from an early age to refrain from showing outward interest to a new situation.
"Actually," the head "nice guy" spoke up from behind her and they all turned their attention towards him, "she has seen a human-Vulcan hybrid. They all have. The child's existence was broadcast from the Mars colony to all of Starfleet space." Elonat's heart sped up at the thought that there might be others out there like herself, for we all seek to find others we can call kindred. "We wanted all to see the abomination that would result from further inclusion of non-human species in what is rightfully human space." Eloant blinked. "Sadly, our leaders involved in that incident were overwhelmed by the crew of the starship Enterprise, but our point was made and will not long be forgotten." The smile he gave Elonat had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.
"Because now you have me."
"Correct." The man stepped to the side and gestured for them to move forward. Elonat was the first to start forward but had to stop when the man moved back into her path. "The Ambassador will be in need of his coat."
Elonat didn't bother protesting and reached for the coat fastenings. Mr'ish held out his hand to stop her, "I insist that she keep it. I have no need for it."
"Ah, but I say you do. You will be making another transmission to your people in a few minutes and I want you looking your very best." The man held out his hand towards Elonat.
She was glad for her earlier decision to not take the trousers as this was indeed far easier to do than it otherwise would've been. She undid the coat with deft fingers and a neutral expression and handed it off to the man without comment. Her chin tipped up in silent defiance at his look of mixed disgust and delight at the sight of her bruised naked body. She heard a hissing sound of disapproval behind her and since Mr'ish tended towards growls, purrs, and mewls she figured that was Atharia. After another moment, a power play again, the man stepped aside again and let them pass.
Mr'ish pressed close to Elonat's side just long enough to squeeze her hand and give her a nod before his guards made him veer down a different corridor. She was momentarily left alone with Atharia and her guards as the Romulan commander and his guards were still close to the door
"I must say I am impressed." Elonat raised a singular eyebrow of question at the ambassador's words and earned another hissing sound. "I've always hated that expression on the Vulcans and it certainly doesn't look any better on your more human-like features."
Elonat chuckled and resumed a more open expression, "What, may I ask, has you impressed?"
"It certainly isn't your physique."
Atharia looked Elonat up and down, her antennae wagging. Elonat chuckled again. She was a little over average height for a human female (due to the Augment DNA). Her mother had had an athletic build suited towards gymnasts, with her father lither like her grandfather, and she'd fallen right in between with her own body type (though the Augment serum didn't rely on body build to manifest itself). Her hair had taken after her grandmother, thick and wavy, but her cheekbones, ears, and eye color were all her grandfather: fully Vulcan. Her eyebrows did not grow upward in the same way of her father and grandfather but there had always been a strange curvature to them that lent to her overall sylphlike look. She'd never been classified as beautiful but always as striking, and sometimes that term had been used in a positive and other times a negative way.
"I've always known humans to fight tooth and nail for everything, being stubborn nearly to an Andorian level." Atharia sniffed. "Yet you acquiesced to his demands without a fight."
"I take it you are not positively impressed then."
Atharia's antennae flicked upwards in a quick dismissive gesture, "That is yet to be determined on whether or not you had a long-term motive for playing the seemingly compliant or if you really are without spine."
Elonat could not comment as the man came to them with the Romulan commander in tow. "Ambassador you will also be sparing a bit of your leisure time to talk to your people right down this corridor." He gestured in the same direction as Mr'ish had disappeared.
Atharia nodded and, without another look at Elonat, swished her robes and herself away down the corridor in between her two much taller guards. Elonat returned her gaze to the man, ignoring the Romulan for the time being. The man turned to the Romulan before he addressed her.
"It seems that there have been power fluctuations in our shield mechanisms that my people attribute to sub-space communication. Both ambassadors have been thoroughly searched and re-searched and neither are the type to risk their lives and their missions to have a hidden communication device still on them. This thing," he pointed to Elonat, "doesn't even know what I'm talking about and as you can clearly see she would have difficulty hiding a receiver." He smirked at her and Elonat had a very human response of rolling her eyes. "So, I will ask one time, where is your communication device?"
The Romulan gave his first hint of an expression, a subtle smirk, "I don't know what you're talking about either." His voice was of a low timbre and Elonat couldn't help but shiver. She'd always had had sensitive senses: scents, sounds, taste, touch. This tall, dark-haired Romulan had just made himself more mysterious and interesting to Elonat and from a mere few words. This did not bode well on the logic front.
"Very well." The man signaled the Romulan's guards at the same time that he turned to give her his attention. "It seems you'll have company for our next round of discussions."
Elonat gritted her teeth against a curse and instead maintained as neutral an expression as the Romulan commander by her side, "Two is always better than one, though I'd hate to invite anyone else to this particular discussion."
The man huffed and flicked his hand, signaling their guards to lead them, side by side, down the corridor and shove them inside a room. As their two guards, and soon to be torturers, set about strapping them into their chairs, the man took to circling them one by one.
"You will tell us where you've hidden your device and where your people are." The man spoke to the Romulan, and was met with silence. He turned his gaze to Elonat. "And you will tell us about your origins and your unique DNA."
Elonat waved her right hand, in an effort to raise it, "Wouldn't it be more logical to have us in separate chambers?" The man glared at her so she continued. "What if this man starts to divulge his information at the same time I do mine and then with us both talking at the same time you have difficulty catching it all?"
"I will not divulge anything. For there is nothing to tell." The Romulan spoke to her for the first time, giving her a side glare since he was unable to turn his head now.
"Apologies." Elonat blinked her eyes at her, her only way of nodding at this moment. "But you understand what I'm trying to say, right?"
The man laid his hands on either side of her and leaned in until their noses nearly touched, "I would rather keep the unclean together than risk infecting any other areas with your filth." He looked down between them, taking in her nudity, and sneered. "The things I'll do to you," his voice sent a chill through her, "it'll be my greatest moment." He stood up straight again and nodded to their guards, leaving only after the "discussion" began.
The discussion ended up having very little talking. Oh, of course they did ask more questions she refused to answer (apparently many of the records that would have told them more detailed information about her aside from the name plate outside her cyrogenic pod had been destroyed in the wars), but aside from that there was no discussion. Every bit of discomfort they exacted to her they did the same to the Romulan, who had been placed in a similarly designed chair to her own. It seemed that Romulans were made of stronger stuff than humans, having that in common with Vulcans, and he managed to hold back many a roar of pain as time ticked past.
Elonat closed her eyes when they increased the dial another notch. They'd superseded all previous sessions now and she felt as if every nerve in her body was vibrating with fire. It was as if they were unmaking her from the inside out. She was gasping at air, unable to keep it in her lungs for long, and she knew she was crying, moaning, and slick with sweat, tears, and maybe even blood. Desperate for a buoy in her pain, she reached into the consciousness of her grandfather and sought solace in his memories. Though she still felt the pain an image of her grandmother, still in her youth, came to mind. She saw her grandmother riding on a horse somewhere nearby the ranch, watching her through the eyes of her grandfather. She momentarily felt the morning breeze on her face and felt the horse's movement between her legs. Elonat, no, not Elonat, but her grandfather sharing the memory, felt contentment in that moment.
This false contentment was shattered when the door hissed open and a panting and panicked looking solider tumbled inside. "We're under attack."