Arana's Tale - Chapter 2
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.
Disclaimer: The Dungeons and Dragons Roleplaying System is owned by Wizards of the Coast and no infringement of copyright/trademarks is intended. The only thing I would like to lay claim to is the original D&D character used in this story.
Rating: R for mention of torture, rape.
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.
Revision History: 7/4/04; 7/24/04; 9/11/04; 02/08/05; 01/21/06
Summary: Seven rescues Arana
The senior staff had just finished their briefing when a shudder ran though the ship; glancing at each other they rushed from the briefing room to their various stations. Seven hurried with Lt. Torres to the turbolift, stepping off on Deck 8 for Astrometrics while the Lt. continued to Deck 11 and Engineering.
Seven began scanning immediately and was surprised momentarily by the readings. She opened Astrometrics communications channel and reported "A small spatial rift is opening almost directly in front of us; I'm reading high amounts of neutrinos and chronotons in the local area which are being emitted by the rift."
Suddenly the ship rocked again and Seven heard and odd sound in front of her. She looked up from her console toward the raised dais where the astrometrics viewscreen was located. An oval area of rippling energy had appeared upon the dais. The outline of it was colored midnight blue which shaded into black toward the central area. Seven quickly grabbed a tricorder as she said, "A localized anomaly has appeared in Astrometrics, scanning now."
Janeway replied, "Seven get out of there now and take your readings from a safer distance."
"It is a wormhole Captain, I suggest we stop so I may determine where and when the other side of it is located," said Seven as she continued scanning the anomaly, ignoring the Captains order to leave Astrometrics.
Seven heard Janeway order the stop and the sound of the engines faded away as the ship came to a halt in space. The wormhole remained stable, resting on the dais. Something about it bothered Seven. The movement of the ship should have affected the wormhole's location, but from its behavior the terminus seemed to be attached to Astrometrics itself.
Seven carefully began moving up and around the dais. Her calm Borg façade broke for a moment, a look of shock registering on her face as she saw the other side of the wormhole. She was looking directly into a large room; several men wearing dark clothing were clustered about a figure hanging between two posts at the far end of the room. The room's walls were composed of grey, rough looking stone blocks and the floor was made of smoothed rectangular grey flagstones. The only sources of light in the room were small windows high up on the wall and smoking torches that were fitted into holders along the walls of the room.
A statue of a woman dominated the far end of the room past the cluster of men, depicting a cruel faced woman holding a whip and standing with one foot atop the figure of a dead man. She appeared to be looking down on the figure between the posts. A large symbol on the wall behind the statue showed a many tailed knotted black whip on a white background.
Seven focused on the figure and gasped, then moved quickly around the wormhole to her console and grabbed the phaser that was located there. "Seven to Bridge, I am entering the wormhole. Erect an intruder forcefield around Astrometrics and send a security detachment."
Seven was on her way back around the anomaly when Janeway responded, "Seven you can't enter a wormhole and survive. The gravitational forces would kill you."
Seven paused, "This is not like any other wormhole we have encountered, it possesses qualities of a wormhole but the end terminus is positioned immediately after the boundary in Astrometrics. I will be stepping directly from Astrometrics into wherever this other end is located."
"Seven do not go through the terminus. That is an order; you have no way of knowing if the terminus will remain stable. Wait for security to arrive and take further readings, I will be down shortly and we can come to a decision on whether or not to explore the other side," replied Janeway.
"I am sorry Captain, but I cannot wait, she will die if I do not stop them. Please erect the intruder force field and prepare for an immediate transport to sickbay's bio containment area when I return," said Seven, right before she stepped through the wormhole.
"What? Seven? Lt. Torres, are those intruder forcefields in place?" said Janeway, the last directed to Engineering.
Lt. Torres was shaking her head at Seven's outright disobedience of the Captain as she erected a series of forcefields to cordon off Astrometrics from the rest of the ship. "Yes, Captain they are up, I'm getting readings from the other side of the terminus in Astrometrics. Seven was correct, this isn't like any other wormhole I've seen; I'm getting clear readings from wherever the other terminus is located. It appears to be inside some type of stone structure; I'm reading several other humanoid life signs including Seven's." Lt. Torres touched more controls and said in a rising tone, "I'm detecting phaser fire, Seven's bio signs appear to be stable."
"Can you get a transporter lock on Seven?" asked Janeway.
"I'm trying Captain, but the wormhole is interfering. Phaser fire has stopped though and Seven's bio signs are still stable." Lt. Torres kept an eye on her readings and in a few minutes she reported, "Two life signs appear to be moving back toward the terminus, one of them is Seven's."
"Bridge to Sickbay, Doctor prepare for potential casualties," said Janeway.
"Casualties of what kind, Captain?" came the reply back from the Doctor.
"I have no idea Doctor," replied Janeway, "Seven mentioned something about a woman who might die and asked for an immediate transport to sickbay's bio containment field when she returned. I'm headed down to Sickbay now."
"Understood, Sickbay out," said the Doctor before closing the channel.
Janeway stood up and turned to Chakotay, "You have the bridge Commander." Inside she was fuming at Seven's disobedience, but she was also worried and intensely curious as to what the she had seen on the other side of the wormhole that would cause her to act in what was, for her, a rash manner.
Seven stepped through the terminus and experienced a brief sensation of disorientation as her feet settled on the stone flooring of the room. She immediately began aiming her phaser at the nearest of the men clustered about the bleeding woman and fired. Quickly, but methodically she aimed and fired at the men until all of them were rendered unconscious. Hurriedly she approached the still figure of the woman that she had seen being brutally whipped, hoping that she was still alive.
Seven paused in front of the pale skinned woman; she could not see her face, for her head hung limply and her long black hair hung down obscuring it. Her chest was mangled and torn, blood streaked down it, dripping onto the bruised and broken thighs and legs. Suddenly the woman drew in a gasp and looked upward meeting Seven's eyes. Green eyes the color of emeralds met Seven's grey blue ones. Seven had the feeling of being evaluated and then the woman said weakly "Blessings of Torm and Ilmater upon you milady."
Seven was confused by the words, but she knew that she needed to quickly get the woman to Sickbay. She bent over and grasped the spike that impaled the woman's left foot with her Borg enhanced arm and forcefully pulled it from the post. A weak groan accompanied her effort and Seven glanced upward and saw that the woman had passed out from the pain. Seven repeated her action with the other foot and then gingerly supported the woman with an arm wrapped around her waist as she freed her wrists.
The sight of the woman's back as she slumped over her arm caused Seven to feel ill. She had been beaten so badly that the white of her rib bones could be seen among the mangled flesh. Seven decided that carrying the woman over her shoulder would cause the least additional damage and kneeled to position her shoulder under the woman's waist. With an exhaled breath at the woman's weight Seven stood and began walking toward the terminus.
As soon as Seven stepped back through the terminus into Astrometrics she felt the transporter beam and was relieved to see that she was in Sickbay a moment later. Seven saw the Doctor on the other side of the biobed from her and was reassured; he immediately began scanning the woman. Opening doors and a shocked gasp heralded the arrival of the Captain.
Seven turned her head and looked at Janeway who had a hand held to her mouth. Her eyes met Sevens and she said in a low voice, "The people on the other side of the terminus did this to her?"
Seven nodded and Janeway activated her combadge, "Janeway to Engineering, what's the status on the wormhole terminus in Astrometrics?"
"It disappeared as soon as Seven stepped through it Captain, I can't determine why though," reported Lt. Torres.
"Scan the entire ship for similar wormholes, and let me know immediately if you find anything that looks like another one." Janeway cut that channel and opened another, "Janeway to Bridge, Commander get us at least 10 thousand kilometers away from that spatial rift and then maintain that distance. I don't want to take the chance of another wormhole forming inside the ship to the same place without knowing more about it."
While the Captain was talking Seven and the Doctor were conversing in low tones about the woman's condition. Seven was hesitant to lay the woman down on the biobed with the condition her back was in and the Doctor agreed. He spent a few minutes running the dermal regenerator over the woman's back, repairing the worst areas and then assisted Seven in laying the woman down gently onto the surface.
The woman gained consciousness briefly and gazed at them dazedly before the Doctor administered a sedative. He then extended the clamshell like sensors from the bio bed and began taking detailed readings of the woman's condition.
Orders completed for the moment, Janeway glanced at the two people huddled over the woman's form on the biobed. Seven's biosuit was stained with blood where the woman's body had rested on her shoulder and the Doctor had a concerned expression on his face as he examined the readings from his medical sensors.
"What is her condition." Inquired Janeway as she stepped closer to the force field and examined what she could see of the woman. The one glance she had had of the woman's deeply lacerated back and the wounds in her wrists had shaken Janeway. The woman's wounds coupled with Seven's earlier words had made it clear to Janeway that what Seven had witnessed had caused her to ignore her orders and go through the wormhole to rescue the woman. Janeway did not blame her now; no decent person would stand by and watch another person be tortured to death without acting to save them.
"I've managed to stabilize her life signs, her most severe wounds are the lacerations on her torso, internal bleeding and injury from what looks like blows to the torso followed by the broken femurs in both legs. She also has internal injuries and semen traces consistent with sexual assault. I don't see any indication that there is the possibility of pregnancy, so she doesn't have to worry about that." The Doctor looked briefly at the Captain with this last statement then turned to Seven.
"Seven, if you would take care of some of the more minor flesh injuries I will finish healing the lacerations and take care of her internal damage." The Doctor handed Seven one of the dermal regenerators as he said this. She accepted it and began working on the wounds in the woman's hand.
The Doctor and Seven worked for nearly an hour before the Doctor was satisfied with his patient's condition. He looked at Janeway for a moment, knowing only too well why the Captain hadn't left sickbay yet; she was waiting for some answers. The Doctor said, "Computer lower security forcefield and biofield." He smiled at the Captain briefly, "There is no danger of any contamination indicated by my scans. If you will move closer Captain and look at her ears and the shape of the eyes and eyebrows." With this he parted the long black hair to expose one pointed ear, "She's not a Vulcan or Romulan hybrid as you might guess from her physical features. The bio scans of her DNA indicate that she is part human but I'm not familiar with what the rest of her genome could be. I don't have anything like it on file."
Janeway moved over to stand beside the biobed and examined the features of the woman. As the Doctor had indicated she looked similar to a Vulcan and human hybrid with delicately slanted eyes and upswept eyebrows in addition to the pointed ears, but unlike a Vulcan her skin was pale and had almost a bluish undertone to it. Her face had not been damaged and Janeway admired the beauty of it, the exotic tilt to the eyes and brows only added to the appeal of her features. From what Janeway could see of the woman she looked to be physically powerful with well developed muscles in her shoulders and arms that spoke of an intensely physically active life.
"Did she say anything Seven?" asked Janeway.
Seven repeated what the woman had said to her as she moved over to a supply drawer and pulled out one of the silver blankets there and moved back to cover the woman with it now that her wounds were healed.
"Computer, begin a database search on the words Torm and Ilmater," requested Janeway.
Seven looked up at her and nodded, "The manner in which she mentioned those names indicated that she considered them deities."
"So they might be mentioned somewhere in our database, which would give us an idea where she is from," finished Janeway.
"Match found," stated the computer.
"Details." ordered the Captain.
"Torm, reference found in source material of a twentieth century game called Dungeons and Dragons owned by Wizards of the Coast. Torm was originally a human male who was made a god by Tyr for his loyal service to Rendros first High King of the fictional realm Faerun and for his self sacrifice in assisting a woman and her children to escape while he fell in battle against their attackers. In the game he is considered the god of duty, loyalty and obedience, his moral orientation is lawful good. He is also known as the god of paladins. Symbol is the gauntleted hand. Serves Tyr as his war leader." The computer finished and the three of them stared in surprise at each other.
It continued, "Ilmater also found in reference material for Dungeons and Dragons, youngest child of Chauntea and Malar, known as the Crying God because he was tortured by his elder sister Lovitar as a child. Known as the god of endurance and suffering, moral orientation is lawful good. Allied with Torm and Tyr in a group known as the Triad. Symbol is crossed hands bound by a blood red cord."
"Symbol of Lovitar," Seven queried acting on a 'hunch' as Janeway would call it.
"Lovitar reference found in same source material as Torm and Ilmater, goddess of pain and torture, symbol is a nine tailed whip," stated the computer.
Seven paused and said, "In the room where I found her there was a statue of a woman, the symbol just described was on the wall behind the statue."
Janeway stared at Seven for a moment, "Computer, detailed information about Lovitar."
"Lovitar, reference found in source material of a twentieth century game called Dungeons and Dragons owned by Wizards of the Coast. Lovitar is the eldest child of Chauntea and Malar. Known as the goddess of hurt, pain and torture, moral orientation is lawful evil. Mention is made that priests of Lovitar will seek out priests of Ilmater to torture and kill. Symbol is a nine tailed whip," the computer fell silent.
The Doctor stated, "What does this game have to do with my patient?"
Janeway looked at the woman and said, "I'm not certain, but from what Seven said it's not a game to the people who were torturing her. And I would guess it's not a game to her either."
"I've finished healing her internal injuries," said the Doctor as he moved down the woman's body, "Now to fix her femurs, the bones are crushed. Do you have any idea how these injuries were made Seven? There is extensive bruising around the site; it looks like an impact injury."
Seven glanced at the Doctor, "I believe they were broken intentionally to prevent her from being able to stand. I remember seeing a hammer resting against one of the posts that she was fastened to."
Seven continued around the woman's body she had healed both of the wounds in the woman's feet and was now healing the remaining hand.
"The injuries to her hands and feet?" questioned Janeway looking pale.
"Crude iron based spikes that were driven through her feet and wrists to fasten them against two wooden posts." answered Seven.
"What type of barbarians are these people?" asked the Doctor in an outraged tone.
Seven looked at the Doctor, "I have completed healing the wounds to her hands and feet, what injuries should I heal next?"
"Actually," said the Doctor as he lowered the medical scanners, "Nothing else, physically she's fully healed. Though, with her physiology I can't be fully certain of that, she has some organs whose functions I don't understand, and the results of her brain scan are…puzzling." The Doctor stared at some of the readings again, shaking his head.
"Can you wake her?" asked Janeway.
The Doctor looked at his patient for a moment and then said, "I would prefer if she could rest a few hours after the trauma she has been through."
"I understand Doctor, but I need to ask her a few questions about where she comes from. I'm not certain if she would want to be trapped here with us or returned to her own planet if we can find another wormhole to return her through." explained Janeway.
The Doctor nodded and prepared a hypospray.