Diclaimer: It's all Paramount's, cept for Verla, T'Valk, and a few others.
A/N: Just a little something written years past. I was quite fond of it when it was written, verging on 6 years ago. Voyager was in its early incarnation at that point, and Deep Space Nine was still running. This was composed not long after the DS9 episode involving Thomas Riker was aired. Enjoy, and leave a note at the door!
Prologue
Tasha Yar stepped forward. The Rihannsu guards knew enough to decide to stay back from the general, especially since he was mad. Tasha then stood in front of General T'Valk. The man who had, four years ago, fallen in love with her. The man who was the father of her young children. The man who was now going to kill her. And Sela was watching.
Why is this happening? Her mind demanded. I haven't had this dream in years!
T'Valk unsheathed his ceremonial, but deadly, dagger, studying it in his hand for a moment. Considering what Rihannsu justice, principles that had always ruled his life, was forcing him to do.
Sela began to run toward her mother. No! Don't! She tried to scream, but no words left her mouth. Frantically, she tried to stop the inevitable from happening - but her feet seemed to have a mind of their own.
Tasha pulled Sela into her arms, and began sobbing. Sela was scared. Her mother never cried. Not even when her friend Richard was killed, only a year earlier. Sela's mother whispered, "I love you very, very much! Don't . . . " Tasha tried to hold back another sob, but found she couldn't. She controlled herself after only a minute. "Don't forget me!"
Tasha stood up again. She sent her daughter back to Verla, who was T'Valk's younger sister. She wiped her face off with the enormous padded sleeve that was a part of her Rihannha attire. Sela watched her mother stand there, hiding her fright. Even though Sela knew her mother was facing death. Or did she really know? Did I understand? Sela questioned herself.
T'Valk took a deep breath and raised the deadly blade to strike. But suddenly, he was no longer Rihannsu General T'Valk. It was Captain Picard, holding the dagger high in triumph.
Tasha shrieked at the same time as her daughter. The blade gleamed in the dim light and struck Tasha in the chest. Picard grinned viciously . . .
. . .And Sela awoke screaming. She took a deep breath, trying to stop trembling. It was unfitting for a Rihannsu Commander to be scared by just a dream! But it was so real . . .
Sela hadn't dreamed of her mother's execution in so many years. It had always been the same, a flashback of the real event, like a shadow of the past. Always the same: her father hesitating, and then refusing to kill her. He had broken out into tears - the first time, and the only time, Sela had ever seen her father cry. T'Valk had really loved her.
Tasha had come forward to help him - and had discovered that she loved him too. Or so it seemed to Sela and her family. But the Praetorial Council executed her anyway. Sela had loved her mother very much, more than anyone could ever know. And she had been forced to watch her mother die, over and over in her dreams.
Then, Sela relived the funeral. They buried Tasha's body under the big tree that she thought looked like the great oaks of her homeworld. The nameflag, a traditional Rihannha custom honoring the dead, still hung on the tree, announcing that a loved one of the Khaeillterrh clan lay buried there.
Many times, Sela had dreamed exactly that. But this time it was different, and Sela had no idea why. Her last encounter with Picard had been two years earlier. What did Picard have to do with her mother's execution? Did it mean nothing at all? Or was the dream a prediction of the future?
A/N: Just a little something written years past. I was quite fond of it when it was written, verging on 6 years ago. Voyager was in its early incarnation at that point, and Deep Space Nine was still running. This was composed not long after the DS9 episode involving Thomas Riker was aired. Enjoy, and leave a note at the door!
Prologue
Tasha Yar stepped forward. The Rihannsu guards knew enough to decide to stay back from the general, especially since he was mad. Tasha then stood in front of General T'Valk. The man who had, four years ago, fallen in love with her. The man who was the father of her young children. The man who was now going to kill her. And Sela was watching.
Why is this happening? Her mind demanded. I haven't had this dream in years!
T'Valk unsheathed his ceremonial, but deadly, dagger, studying it in his hand for a moment. Considering what Rihannsu justice, principles that had always ruled his life, was forcing him to do.
Sela began to run toward her mother. No! Don't! She tried to scream, but no words left her mouth. Frantically, she tried to stop the inevitable from happening - but her feet seemed to have a mind of their own.
Tasha pulled Sela into her arms, and began sobbing. Sela was scared. Her mother never cried. Not even when her friend Richard was killed, only a year earlier. Sela's mother whispered, "I love you very, very much! Don't . . . " Tasha tried to hold back another sob, but found she couldn't. She controlled herself after only a minute. "Don't forget me!"
Tasha stood up again. She sent her daughter back to Verla, who was T'Valk's younger sister. She wiped her face off with the enormous padded sleeve that was a part of her Rihannha attire. Sela watched her mother stand there, hiding her fright. Even though Sela knew her mother was facing death. Or did she really know? Did I understand? Sela questioned herself.
T'Valk took a deep breath and raised the deadly blade to strike. But suddenly, he was no longer Rihannsu General T'Valk. It was Captain Picard, holding the dagger high in triumph.
Tasha shrieked at the same time as her daughter. The blade gleamed in the dim light and struck Tasha in the chest. Picard grinned viciously . . .
. . .And Sela awoke screaming. She took a deep breath, trying to stop trembling. It was unfitting for a Rihannsu Commander to be scared by just a dream! But it was so real . . .
Sela hadn't dreamed of her mother's execution in so many years. It had always been the same, a flashback of the real event, like a shadow of the past. Always the same: her father hesitating, and then refusing to kill her. He had broken out into tears - the first time, and the only time, Sela had ever seen her father cry. T'Valk had really loved her.
Tasha had come forward to help him - and had discovered that she loved him too. Or so it seemed to Sela and her family. But the Praetorial Council executed her anyway. Sela had loved her mother very much, more than anyone could ever know. And she had been forced to watch her mother die, over and over in her dreams.
Then, Sela relived the funeral. They buried Tasha's body under the big tree that she thought looked like the great oaks of her homeworld. The nameflag, a traditional Rihannha custom honoring the dead, still hung on the tree, announcing that a loved one of the Khaeillterrh clan lay buried there.
Many times, Sela had dreamed exactly that. But this time it was different, and Sela had no idea why. Her last encounter with Picard had been two years earlier. What did Picard have to do with her mother's execution? Did it mean nothing at all? Or was the dream a prediction of the future?
