Choosers of the Slain
A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction
Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel
Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.
This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.
. . .
Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*
Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!
This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!
Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.
Lisa shivered in anticipation as the alcove for her starsuit opened for her. She swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. Simulations based on telemetry on the holodeck were one thing, this was completely different. Hesitating only a little, she stepped into the alcove. Her formfitting bodysuit had been designed to help her interface with the suit the way Major Annika Hansen did hers, but with fewer of the implants Major Hansen had, she had to use this bodysuit to convey her wishes to her starsuit.
As the metal boots closed around her feet, she shivered. Lisa wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but being encased like this did cause her some trepidation. The metal gloves were extended and she slid her bodysuited hands into them. Gripping the gloves from within, she waited patiently as the alcove's machinery went into high gear, assembling the leg pieces around her shapely legs with blurring speed. The chest piece, custom fitted to Lisa's torso, was mated with the back plate and the two fused together with tiny electrical discharges.
Hip-armor seemed to assemble itself around her and the outer carapace began to take shape as the alcove began attaching the arm braces to her. The chest carapace began assembling itself as the neck seals were attached, the huge framework of the wings attaching with weighty clunks to her shoulder blades. Impulse engines, and the warp coils were attached and armored over quickly as Lisa shivered slightly in the confines of the metal cocoon that was rapidly assembling around her. The helmet swung down, the two halves of the open-faced helm sliding home around her head and making her stiffen. Then the faceplate began assembling itself as the helm snapped shut around her, leaving her in total darkness.
A light flashed into her eyes, a vectorized heads-up display of the other side of the alcove. A progress meter indicated the suit's powering up, using its auxiliary generators. As the last bits of armor were added to the arms and wings, the glowing-blue sphere that was the Omega containment unit slid into place just between the wings on her back. The lights of her HUD got brighter and a soft, somewhat familiar voice spoke in her ear. "Primary power unit installed. Running systems check."
Lisa waited in growing excitement, mentally reviewing her orders. This was her first time donning the starsuit that had been painstakingly customized to her specifications. Her orders had read to don her starsuit and use it in sublight mode to rendezvous with the USS Hood for escort to an unremarkable section of deep space near the Sol system. There, they were to disembark and perform test runs in trios, getting the feel for their suits and the limitations of them, then return to the Hood for transport back to base. As the Hood did not carry alcoves to assemble or disassemble the starsuits, the members of Valkyrie Flight were required to don their suits beforehand. A specialized cargo pod had been outfitted to allow the Hood to transport the suits without the crew needing to know what exactly it was they were transporting. Total time allotted for this mission was 6 hours, as the suits could not be removed during that time.
The HUD suddenly vanished and Lisa felt a moment of panic. Then a gentle coolness on the back of her skull heralded a crystal-clear return of vision. Not just vision, but a sense of freedom from encasement in the suit. The gentle voice spoke again, this time seeming to come from within her own head. "Primary power systems online. Interface at 100%. Propulsion systems offline. Weapons systems offline. Communications systems online."
The clamps holding her feet and hands in place disengaged and Lisa stepped forward. The unfamiliar clank that came from her foot touching the hanger floor startled her a bit, then she remembered she was wearing her starsuit. That caused her to give a little shiver of delight. Something flicked just out of the range of her vision and she turned slightly, realizing that her shiver had extended even to the purely mechanical wings, now slightly unfurled. Testing, she tried to extend the wing, and it flexed as if it were flesh and blood, not a mechanical construct of duralloy and conduits.
Getting used to having two extra appendages was going to take some time, Lisa realized, watching the other wingmen step from their alcoves. Although all the starsuits were the same gleaming brushed metal, it was easy to tell which contained a girl. For some reason, the suits had been formed to accentuate the lithe figures of those within, and their formfitting nature meant they hugged EVERY curve, including the pair on the chest. The boys, however, seemed more powerfully built than the girls, broader across the shoulders, and their faceplates' glowing eyes seemed pulled into a perpetual glare.
Lisa shook her head slightly to clear it, realizing she had been staring at one of her fellow wingmen, and set about figuring out how to open the faceplate. it only took a thought, and soon she had the plate peeling back and disassembling itself to fold back against the top of her head. For a bit, it was very disconcerting, since she could still see through the suit's sensors as well as with her own eyes, a bit like double vision. Another thought, and the sensor data had been reduced to mere data tags on objects in her line of vision.
Smiling at her success, she moved over to where she saw a very tall feminine starsuit standing next to a shorter male version. The two of them turned to face her, their almost featureless faces intimidating at first, until they peeled back and revealed the smiling faces of her friends. M'Lara was grinning like an idiot, flexing her wings almost constantly as she got herself used to them. Gerry was grinning so wide Lisa thought he might split his head open.
Just then, the door opened and the familiar figure of Major Hansen appeared in the room. Despite not being in a starsuit at the moment, she carried herself with such grace and flowing power that one got the impression she could take out a starsuit while unarmored if she had to. The lieutenant behind her called, "AttennnnnSHUN!" and the starsuited wingmen formed into their units.
Major Hansen stood in the at-ease position before the ranks of armored men and women. Her ice-blue gaze reached every eye, even those of the people who hadn't figured out how to open their helmets yet. She spoke in a quiet, but carrying tone. "Our orders are as follows. Report to the upper hanger deck and take up your position in the modified runabout there. We will be picked up by the Hood in 15 minutes. More orders will be issued when we are dropped off an hour after we are retrieved. Dismissed."
The wingmen nodded and began filing towards the exit. A few people banged into each other, not used to the extra space their wings required yet. Major Hansen smiled slightly and moved to her own alcove. It was time to get dressed.
The gutted and hollow runabout lay drifting in space as the USS Hood warped away. The cramped interior was about to very much less so. Major Hansen rolled her eyes inside her faceplate at yet another muffled comment about someone's wing getting in another person's face. "I have received word. The Hood is out of sensor range. We may now disembark. Wingman Thomas, open the doors."
Lisa shivered slightly in anticipation of getting out of this ridiculously cramped space. Thirteen people were not meant to be crammed into the confines of a runabout for 45 minutes at a stretch. She slapped the control to open the doors, the dampening field that kept out prying sensor beams dropping as the sealed door cracked open, admitting a view of gently turning stars. Lisa's breath caught as she gazed longingly out of the runabout.
"Seal your helms. Exit in reverse order and assemble on the underside of the runabout. Make sure your boots are magnetized before exiting, I don't want to have to go hunting after anyone." As the last onto the runabout, that meant Lisa would be the first to emerge. She wriggled in anticipation, waiting for the door to open completely before tucking her wings tight against her back and giving the mental command to magnetize her boots. Carefully, she stepped off the floor and planted her foot on the surface of the runabout.
Within a few more minutes, the wingmen were marshaled on the runabout's underside. Three ranks of four gleaming-silver starsuited figures faced the night-black figure of their commander. Her voice spoke clearly in each of her unit's ears. "We run our drills in trios. The rest of you who have not run a drill will remain attached to the runabout. I will escort you on your first run, then return to the runabout for the next trio. You will wait where I place you until I return, or you receive orders to move. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Major!"
"Good. Now, by the numbers."
Lisa's group was third. She had M'Lara and a Vulcan in her trio, Gerry had been assigned to the second trio. The gleaming-black figure of the Major's starsuit appeared high and right of the runabout, coming in to a stop hovering near the prow of the little craft. "Group three. Disengage your magnetic boots and push off slowly."
Lisa gulped and mentally commanded her starsuit's boots to disengage from the metallic hull beneath her. Then she pushed off gently from the runabout, slowly rising from the surface. M'Lara pushed a little too hard, rising a bit faster than the other two. The Major didn't seem to notice, but Lisa grabbed her friend's leg to keep her from floating too far away.
"I will be issuing the codes to activate your impulse drive only. Once you have drive capability, you will follow me to the coordinates I specify. You will remain there until issued orders to move."
Lisa nodded and waited. After a second or so, a small dial appeared in her lower right field of vision. It quickly filled, and the soft voice of her starsuit's internal computer whispered in her ear, "Impulse drive online."
The black figure of the major's suit turned in space, the woman flattened out in a diving posture, and the rear edges of her wings flared red with impulse light. Lisa, M'Lara and the Vulcan did likewise, and Lisa's heart jumped as she felt the flare of her wings' drive pushing her forward. Within seconds she had figured out the sequence of commands to increase or decrease the power, and flexing her wings changed the angle of the thrust. Shortly she found herself doing barrel rolls and whooping in joy, flattening out on her back compared to the other two in her trio and accelerating to keep pace with the Major.
Annika grinned behind her faceplate. This one took to the starsuit as if she were born to it. Making a mental note to test this one strenuously in the tests, she led the trio to a spot in space about a hundred thousand kilometers away from the runabout. "Wait here." She turned over and her wings flared red as she sped back to the runabout.
A dull 5 minutes later, the call came over Lisa's comm. "We will now begin practicing ordered flight. I will escort each of the trios for 5 minutes and instruct you in maintaining a proper distance between wingmen. Once I am satisfied you can keep in order, I will assemble the Wing and we will practice flying in order."
Lisa waited impatiently until the gleaming form of the major suddenly materialized in front of her. She was so startled she jerked back, her wings flaring and a quick jab of impulse sent her hurtling away from the Major. A soft chuckle sounded in her ear."Come back, Ensign Thomas."
Sheepishly, Lisa flipped over and flew back to the group. "Sorry, Major."
"Don't be. It's a sign you're getting used to your suit. Now, follow me. Keep a minimum distance of a meter between outstretched wingtips, and I don't want any more acrobatics from you for now, Ensign Thomas."
Lisa's cheeks burned as she nodded and formed up with the other two in her trio.
The rest of the next two hours were uneventful. More than once, Lisa had to be told to stop showing off, but it was always with an amused tone in the Major's voice. At last, they were told to form up for a mock attack run. Six of the wingmen were told to remain on the runabout, and the other six were told to scatter about it. "Use your proximity sensors and pick a spot on the runabout. I want you to get as close to it as you fly as you dare. I also want you to do this at as high a speed as you dare. The point of this exercise is to accustom you to the maneuverability of your suit. They can come within centimeters of a hull and flash past at full impulse and do no more harm than scare anyone near a window. But this is important practice. In a real battle, your wingtip disruptors would be firing as you approached. As they're fixed-forward, you need to dive directly at your target and peel off at the last second. I want you to practice doing this at no more than a quarter impulse for now, but by the end of this session, I want all of you doing attack runs at full impulse."
Lisa felt her gut tighten in excitement. She was part of the first wave, and would remain on the runabout as the second wave ran an attack pattern. Pulling back to a few tens of thousands of kilometers, she picked a spot about a foot away from where M'Lara was standing on the runabout. She waited until the Major's firm voice spoke in her ear. "Begin your run."
She arched in a graceful dive, hands outstretched before her as her wings spread and flared ruby, sending her speeding at the slowly rotating runabout. Her lips pulled back in a fierce grin as she saw M'Lara start moving away when she realized some wingman was diving right at her. Lisa couldn't restrain a yell of triumph as she peeled off and almost brushed her friend, speeding past the runabout. She heard M'Lara's voice swearing loudly at the whomever it was that buzzed her.
The last exercise of the day was the most exhilarating for Lisa. Having proved themselves able to handle themselves at sublight speeds, Major Hansen was going to let them have their first taste of warp flight! Lisa's HUD showed a smaller dial on the lower left of her display now, showing warpdrive status, a number to the right of the dial, showing zeros to the third decimal place. "We will be flying for a short while at Warp One. I want you to get used to the sensations in your suit at warp without going so fast you can't keep up with the sensory deluge. Your sensors are designed to give you the data on your immediate surroundings at sublight speeds, but at warp they extend their range towards the direction you're going. This is to give you adequate time to react to something in your path before you run into it. I don't need to remind you what happens when an object moving at warp hits something stationary."
Lisa shivered slightly. She had seen the news holos a few years ago, when a private yacht on a run between two planets in the Centauri system had slammed into a freighter just exiting a parking orbit. It had taken them months to find all the wreckage, and a year to determine which pieces had belonged to whom, and who had been on which ship.
"You each will proceed in a parallel course for five lightminutes, then drop to impulse, reverse, and return. You will be spaced a thousand kilometers apart to avoid complications from minor course inaccuracies. Spread out now." Major Hansen took the central position, the wingmen spread out on either side of her. When she gave the order, Lisa increased power.
The sensation of jumping to warp in her starsuit was beyond anything she had imagined.
The stars began to distort, the characteristic whine of the warpdrive, and a sudden flash from her outer forward wing edges heralded her sudden transition to that otherverse where light travels so very much faster than it does in this one. Ripping along at warp one, Lisa shuddered, inhaling as her eyes widened automatically. Sensory data deluged into her, and she was immediately aware of everything in her path in range, down to the smallest particle that could harm her. Her deflector shields fully charged, she could deflect everything short of a craft her own size. The way light distorted through the warp bubble around her caused the light from nearby stars to streak into a line of color diffraction.
The sensation of speed had always brought with it an exhilarating lift to Lisa's spirit, and here she was. In a craft no larger than her own body, controlling it as an extension of herself, and streaking along at the ultimate speed limit in her home universe! She felt as if her heart would burst, it was racing so fast. Her breathing was ragged as she urged her suit faster, disobeying to nudge the warp factor up higher. The burst of acceleration that accompanied the flare of her wings, the way they folded into the attitude of a diving hawk, brought with it a keen sense of excitement. Her heart had always yearned for this, and now she had at last attained the unattainable, her heart's desire.
Dropping back to impulse was like leaving a home she hadn't known she had. The sense of disappointment was keen, a soul-deep ache as she checked her position automatically. She was half a lightsecond out of place, but a couple minutes at full impulse made up the difference. The return journey was almost as intense for her as the initial jump to warp had been, and she knew she could never again be content with piloting a mere shuttlecraft, no matter how maneuverable.
Major Hansen was waiting for them when they arrived back at the runabout. "We have five minutes until the USS Gibraltar is arriving to pick us up. Secure yourself inside for the trip back. If any of you have to use a reclamation chamber, you'll have to deal with it until we get back, the suits don't have that feature yet." The sound of a grin marked that last sentence, and the way one of the suits moved, someone must have wet themselves. Lisa grinned widely as she realized she hadn't had that misfortune. She and the rest of Valkyrie Flight clambered into the gutted runabout and strapped down.
Lisa sighed as she stepped into the alcove in the hanger bay of Valhalla Base. She had had such a wonderful time, she didn't want it to end yet. But her stomach was a yawning pit, and she desperately needed to use the restroom. She gripped the handholds as she stepped into the harnesses for her boots, triggering the automatic extraction procedure. Within minutes, she was released from her metal-and-circuitry cocoon and stepped out of the metal boots, clad only in her formfitting bodysuit. There was a bit of a line at the women's room, but she quickly took care of that necessity. In the mess hall, she sat with M'Lara and Gerry, as usual, and from the way Gerry was acting, he had been the one to loose control during the last jump. M'Lara was giving him a good-natured ribbing when Lisa sat down, the human girl having changed into her more-normal uniform.
"I hope you didn't wet yourself too, Thomas." M'Lara grinned at the human girl, who winked back.
"Nope. Though..." she lowered her voice to a whisper, blushing as she leaned closer, "I did feel as if I creamed my suit when I jumped to warp."
M'Lara's eyes widen in surprise, then the Klingon grinned. "Now, that, I could see you doing. You've always loved flying more than either of us, so you'd be in heaven."
M'Lara had almost run into another starsuit more than once, and one time, Lisa was still not sure how, she had gotten her port wing twisted and spun out of control until Major Hansen had manually pulled the wing back into position. M'Lara still twitched her shoulders, but then, all the wingmen did after that. They were still getting used to not having wings again.
Lt D'Bonias entered the mess hall at that moment, scanning the faces of the wingmen until he caught Lisa's eye. He grinned and moved over with that easy, rolling gait of his, and stopped near their table. "Ensign Thomas. Major Hansen has requested that you meet her in the hanger bay. You may finish your meal, if you wish, but don't keep her Highness waiting." He winked and moved off to get his own meal.
Lisa looked wide-eyed at her friends. "What do you think she wants me for?" Her voice squeaked upward.
"I dunno, but you'd better hurry and find out." Gerry grinned at her as Lisa pushed her meal toward the half-Betazed. She nodded and rose, quickly heading out of the mess hall.
Annika smiled slightly. This Ensign Thomas was highly promising. She had displayed an almost intuitive grasp of the interface, and had wound up exceeding all of Annika's expectations of her. She would be one to watch, and with a bit more training, she might wind up the first true officer of the Valkyrie Flight.
The doors slid open with that characteristic whoosh, and Ensign Thomas stood at attention. Annika nodded and eyed the young girl. Fit, athletic, eager to please, and driven as no one else in the Flight was, Thomas might make a good second in command.
"I suppose you're wondering why I summoned you. I've been reviewing your telemetry and found a few discrepancies."
Lisa felt her gut tighten as an icy hand gripped her heart. "Y-yes, Ma'am."
Annika's eyebrow rose, allowing herself an inward smile. "You exceeded Warp one. I gave specific instructions not to do so."
Lisa hung her head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I just... It was just such a wonderful feeling, I couldn't help myself. I needed to go faster."
To her surprise, Major Hansen smiled. "Just as I thought. You're a born starsuit pilot, Ensign Thomas. You grasped the interface the quickest of the Flight, you control your motions almost instinctively, and you have no adverse reactions to the piloting experience." She straightened. "I'm going to give you individual tutoring. I need someone to take over command of Valkyrie Flight if anything happens to me, and I need someone who can react instantly in that line, since any situation that could render me out of the fight is likely to be a complete disaster."
Lisa felt her jaw drop and her eyes bug out of her head. "Y-you want me to command the Valkyries?" Her voice squeaked on the third word.
Major Hansen actually laughed. "No, at least not yet. You're not ready for that level of responsibility yet. No, I want to train you to lead the second Wing of Valkyries, and take control of the Flight if it becomes necessary."
Lisa's initial shock over the revelation was giving way to a mixture of sheer joy and trepidation. The combination was gnawing away at what was left of her appetite. "B-but I never took any command classes."
Annika nodded. "I will be instructing you in those subjects myself. In addition, I'll be developing tactics to use the Valkyries as a unit in combat, and I'll need someone else to help coordinate those tactics. You're the most intuitive pilot I've seen, second only to Lt Paris."
Lisa's eyes widened again. Tom Paris had been her idol for the past 3 years, since she had learned all about his piloting in the Delta Quadrant. The compliment from someone who knew him well was just too much for her. Tears of joy began to spill down her cheeks as she beamed up at the taller woman, straightening her spine and saluting with a fierce grin. "I'll do my best, Ma'am!"
Annika couldn't help but grin back." I expect nothing less than perfection from you, Ensign."
Lisa felt as if she could float off the floor.
AN: And another one done! ^^; Don't get used to the rapid-fire updates, though, I'm still a college student, and with my coursework picking up, I'll be updating less. So anyway, REVIEW PLEASE! if you've gotten this far, why not click the button down there?