Page 7 of 7 Tenth Circle:

Created By: Alexander Cole

Ultimate Betrayal

"You know…when you left…I did the only thing I could do. I ran. Not in the literal sense but I just….threw myself into whatever I could think of to keep my mind from grasping what I'd done. And shit, let me tell you a base this size is a big distraction. A dream this size…is larger still."

Hands clutched one another as lips fell silent. For a moment the feline found herself mute. Lips opened as she attempted to speak and her larynx tightened convulsively. Somewhere on the back of her tongue she tasted bile.

Zenia forced herself to look up and face the rabbit sitting across from her, curled in an opposite loveseat, her actions mirroring the felines perfectly. Of course, she wasn't radiating guilt. Ordinarily Zenia's eyes would have been focoused on her completely, for this rabbit was the sole object of her adoration, her affection. She was the reciepient of her love. And thus Zenia's gaze would not have been drawn to the far wall, which bore twenty landscapes and tapestries from as many worlds. She would not have noticed the flecks of fire which sparkled in the rooms central pillar, small semiprecious stones culled from the inner mantle of the astroid itself.

But now she found herself almost having to look away, to distract herself for she was afraid. She feared the guilt, the pain of admittance…but most of all she feared rejection. Again she looked up, the coal black eyes capturing her…and again terror and guilt knifed through her. Somehow she found herself speaking, actual words. Words which were dripping with guilt and sorrow…but words nonetheless. And perhaps that was what was needed now.

"I don't think I've ever felt guilt for anything that I've ever done until now. And I've never known that it could be this raw and all encompassing. My body feels as though it's on fire, I feel pins and needles in my hands…and it dosn't go away at all it just sits there and festers and it…"

She paused to attempt to compose herself as she'd begun to speed up and she knew that her heart was racing. She couldent lose control now. Not when she was here. The thought reverberated like a mantra, that she must not lose control. But again her body betrayed her and she pulled a ragged breath into her lungs before going on:

"I…hurt you. I threatened you. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't stopped myself and that's the horrifying thing that keeps running through my mind. What might I have done to you had I not held back?"

The feline looked up and some part of her wondered if the rabbit could see the yawning emotional chasm that she felt opening within her at that moment. And from it's depths welled up a new feeling. Despair.

"I don't deserve you."

Zenia's eyes were tightly shut now, partially to shut out the rabbit's image and also to hold back the tears that threatened to overwhelm. She waited for what seemed like forever. Finally Rose spoke…

"This is what you deserve…"

A ringing slap. A stream of curses equaling in their fury the anger that she had projected on Rose on that day. All of this would have been expected, and indeed in her heart she believed that it was what she deserved.

Do unto others as they do unto you…

A brief convulsive shock raced through her as hands encircled her head briefly. Soft and gentle were the fingertips as they teased the chin upward. And the lips that pressed against her own seconds later on were softer still.

"How…how can you still….still care?"

Rose answered without words, deepening the kiss briefly before pulling away to speak.

"I… I don't know. All I know is that when I am with you I feel such strength and completion that it outweighs anything you could have done to hurt me."

Still Zenia's eyes pleaded with her to understand. "I need to atone for what I did. Such forgiveness is not guaranteed from anyone. And you mean so much to me…" Her head had begun to lower again when Rose lifted her chin and nuzzled the crook of her neck, murmering:

"Atone by making love to me with a burning passion. Let your attraction for me guide your actions and your speech. Let none threaten my person without your immediate intervention."

The hands of both were almost clumsy, such was their haste to divest each other of their clothes. But as the pair prepared to give in to their rapidly mounting desire Zenia prayed that this moment would be the beginning of a gentler time for them both. But as she would later reflect when their passions had cooled…the gods often saw fit to ignore such supplications.

……………………………………..

"What did you learn of Clarissa?"

"She is a fox of course. Belonging to the Vulpes lagopus genus, if one wishes to use the human species designation. Her height is about five feet seven inches inches and weight is normal for her body type and size. Her eyes are bright green."

Zenia's hand squeezed the rabbit's gently, and her lips whispered the next question in one tall, black furred ear: "Please expound regarding the physical descriptions…my dear…" Rose was moving as if in a trance, the only evidence of her great concentration an occasional twitch in a muscle or a slight pause.

Very few individuals were known to have te ability to shift their brains into the Alpha wave state at will, but it was in this mode that Rose found it easiest to recount information to her lover. There were risks, she knew, each time she used it there was the risk of psychological damage, due to unintended suggestion or even the takeover of her mental faculties by the questioner. In the back of her mind the rabbit knew that with but a paragraph of speech, she could have the rabbit reduced to a vegetative state.

But she trusted her. And so she continued, dreamily arching her neck upward to receive the reward of kisses which would surely be trailed up it's length as she spoke.

"Physically she is strikingly attractive. To both male and female parties she would be considered a viable mate, or sexual partner. Unless one counts the three rings on her right ear there are no redily visible phsycial marks or identifiers on her person. Considering her experiences on the planet…she would have wanted to remove all but a few scars from her body.

She moves with a grace that is uncanny and although knowledgeable of her own beauty, seems unwilling to accept it. She uses it, as she uses many things, as a weapon."

Here the rabbit inhaled briefly and squeezed the feline's hands sharply, Zenia's own spasm was immediate, maintaining the connection between them was crucial.

Another question:

"What of her mind?"

"Her mental faculties are highly developed, mirroring yours on an almost exacting level. From her speech, I guessed that she was well educated up to a point in her life, and her analytical abilities are quite sound. Her tongue is sharp and her temper as quick as a switchblade."

A slight smile crept over the rabbit's face as she continued, breathing in once again.

"She has killed many in her line of work, and while she does not share the same degree of sadisim you do…the potential is still there. There are doubtless, a few who have provoked her ire…and have suffered greatly before they died because of their folly. But it is her memories of the past that made her what she is…and allowed me to deceive her in such a manner.

I sensed, in my time in which I was with her, that if there is any one thing she fears, it is that she was alone in her experiences. She knows that there are others who suffered with ?
her, and who even now languish in the dark corridors beneath the surface. But to be the only one to survive and escape…it has been the knife in her heart for years. And so while her body has escaped it's chains…her mind still lingers…"

And here Zenia detected a note of sadness in the rabbit's voice that would have made her cock her head, had she not been concentrating so completely on her words.

"There is no other reason that an individual with an intelligence equaling your own would belive such falsehoods-unless they were so hell bent upon ending the cycle of their memories that they would do anything to stop it. Even if the end to the means is futile."

The voice trailed off to a brief silence as Rose leaned back against the bedframe in exhaustion. Dark hands covered her face for an instant and a shudder rippled through her body.

"There is…one more thing."

"Yes?"

"She's in love. The leader of their team was injured and I allowd them the use of the ship's sickbay. They… she and Zachary were… kissing. She was holding him and…and he was…"

Her voice caught suddenly and Zenia felt the grip on her hand tighten as the muscles in the rabbit's throat clenched convulsively. Alarm pulsed through her

"He was kissing her…and looking at her as if she was the most precious thing in the world to him at that moment. As if that room was their universe, and that moment the only action in it."

As she spoke her voice seemed to quaver slightly and Zenia felt the grip tighten to a painful extent. And still she continued.

"It was…tender and it was romantic…and wrong."

Zenia had never heard Rose speak like this. The venomous edge seemed to distort the very sound of her voice, and the note of betrayal…some past wrong that was connected to that moment and those words spoken in anger keened in every syllable which issued from her lips.

"Rose…I need to know"

"I…I can't…"

"What did he do…"

It was futile. She would not- or could not speak. All Zenia could do was hold her. Hold her and vow silently that whatever he had done…this Zachary…whomever he was that she would find out. And then she'd make him pay in blood.

………………

"As I look out tonight over those of you who have seen fit to remove yourselves from your duties aboard this station to be here…I cannot help the feeling of pride that wells up from within. For you…small assemblage that you are, are the best technologicial minds that the Galaxy…and the system have had to offer."

Zenia's left hand lifted to enscribe a slow arc as she stood upon the ampitieatre's stage, the limelight making her coat shimmer as she shifted. Looking on from the gloom of stage left Rose saw her lover, resplendent in her business suit of dark red which seemed to glow as the photons showered down from above.

"You come from many worlds, engineers from the Svalvad Cluster, Quantum Plysicists from the D9 Collusion and logistics personell from the Sverian Alliance of planets near the dimensional gate to name a few. Many of you have served the Coaliton in the past…and most if not all have seen it's impact. It is by now obvious the wealth it brings to those who wield it's strength…and the ruin it brings to those who provoke it's ire. Others see the planets held beneath it's fingers…and the awe inspiring military force at it's command."

She paused for a moment to look out over the group and closed her eyes for a beat…gathering herself it seemed. All was quiet. Then…

"But perhaps it was not my eyes but my heart that has guided me in the years past, from the moment I began working for them…to this day. For I look at this organization…and I see an organizim riddled with cancer…rife with disease…and oozing wasted potential from every pore. It is a system which pits brother against brother, and species against species, not in friendly competition but in a persuit for ever greater power and wealth which leaves the main body as a whole inefficient and impotent.

Your rulers accumulate the fat on their backs through manipulation and trickery, pitting you against one another to prevent you from realizing what you are to them…slaves. They exist on every level…and hold all the power.

But I believe that they can be beaten. And obviously so do most of you."

The crowd of technicians were on the edges of their seats now…bound to her every utterance. Rose knew that if she had been showing her true feelings the feline would have been grinning triumphantly from ear to ear…but her body projected an aura of sheer conviction that would have allowed her to command legions with but a word.

"I would not have amassed such funds, I would not have commissioned this base in secret, I would not have hand picked the major staffers for this interprise if it were not possible. Within the next few weeks we will have the main compliment of our defensive forces delivered into our hangar bays and the initialization of the weapons systems will have been completed. Four battalions of soldiers and legions of pilots, mechanics and tacticians will be onboard for the oncoming battle. And once that is completed…the power transfer will begin. However…"

And here she paused abruptly to stare out over the crowd, her gaze now searching the 900 faces arrayed in front of her, accusing them with her eyes for but a moment before continuing:

"However it has come to my attention that some of you have doubts. Some of you belive that it is only a matter of time before this house of cards falls and we are crushed beneath the weight of my ambitions. Some of you doubt my leadership…

Well let me be the first to tell you that although I undestand your fears and sympathize with you….the time for indicision has passed. You signed those contracts knowing that you would be bound to them…and to this vessel. Breaching the documents at this stage would be…ill advised.

Let it now be known that all unaoutherized vessels leaving this station will be disabled or destroyed with all available weaponry, and that anyone seen attempting to escape or found to be transmitting information of any sort to Coalition headquarters will be summarily executed.

For all intents and purposes this vessel does not exist, and the moment you signed on, you as well passed into the ether. High or low on the totem pole, to me all of you are expendable. You are complicit in this affair, and if they come for me, they will doubtless, come for you. Their justice will be swift and painful. Mine will be inventive and protracted-but also painful. The choice is yours…"

She was cold.

She was ruthless.

A true monster. Her words exemplified this, the smile that split her features for the briefest of seconds brought this fact into stunning clarity for all the world. And some part of her recognized this, and was afraid. She knew that this energy which surged through her now, a thrumming heat which begged for blood and the reign of chaos would destroy her.

It would also destroy Rose. In that moment she realized that the very act of loving her was betrayal. And yet as the crowd filed out in a stunned silence…she looked back at the rabbit and found that she couldent stop.

"You've put the fear of god into them my love." Rose said, smiling as the feline stepped out of view of the stage.

"More like the fear of the devil."

And with that utterance the lights went out, darkness descended and consumed all it touched.

7

Page 7 of 7 Created By: Alexander Cole