Bare These Bones
I Dare You
Vahl'Sai had a new respect for her past teachers as she sat at the desk in her office, trying to ignore the pain that was beginning to envelope her head from the roots of her hair. She never knew how much work the professors had to go through during the end of a term. When she wasn't teaching classes, she was marking and sorting cadets through the different options of starships, or was organizing for the new language class she was due to start teaching the next term. Sighing softly, the Sahvarian pulled her hair from the tight bun that it had been tugged into. The curls fell down along her neck and shoulders, the strands that were usually waved holding a curl because of the tight twist she kept it in all the time.
Some of the pain in her skull receded with the now freed strands, no longer being tugged at an awkward angle. No matter how long she lived on Earth, there were just some things that her body could not adjust to. Running her fingers through her curled hair with one hand, she continued to fill out the form for one of the cadets to a starship, listing off her reasoning. Her work was interrupted a minute later when the door to her office gave off a chime, alerting her to someone wishing access to her office.
"Allow entrance," she ordered the computer, lifting her eyes from the PADD. The door slid aside to reveal Commander Spock, the science officer looking mildly curious over her appearance. "I was not expecting this visit," she admitted, rising to her feet out of respect to the other Commander.
"It was not planned," Spock returned as he approached her desk, his eyes dancing over the loose strands of hair. There were very few at the academy that had seen her with her hair out of its bun, and even less that actually remembered. Pike had seen her several times without her rigid appearance, but there had not been any cadets that were lucky enough to see the more at ease side of Commander Vahl'Sai when she had first been attending.
"What can I do for you, Commander?" she asked curiously, blinking owlishly with large jade eyes.
"A proposition," Spock began. "Concerning our…rematch." Nodding her head in understanding, Vahl'Sai tapped the screen to save what she had done before she turned it off, so that she could have her full attention on her conversation with Spock.
"What is it that you propose?" she asked as she motioned for him to sit in the seat available across from her. Spock nodded his thanks as he took the seat, watching her resume her own as she leaned back, tipping her had to one side out of natural reaction so that her hair would fall back over her shoulder and out of the way; the action also revealed several small piercing holes from earrings she had worn before starting at Starfleet. He watched the movement with interest before raising his eyes to hers once more.
"The term ends in days and many of the cadets will be leaving for the vacation period. I understand that you are not so open with your true heritage," Spock explained, once more looking over her hair. "I had belief that you would appreciate the privacy."
Vahl'Sai's eyes softened at the suggestion, her pupil's dilating slightly as her lips turned up in a smile. Although people often compared her to Spock—and his 'Vulcan tendencies'—she was also very different from him in many ways.
"Thank you, Commander, I appreciate your consideration and I would agree that during the vacation is an ideal opportunity," Vahl'Sai affirmed as she nodded her head. A curl of snowy hair fell over her shoulder, Spock's eyes snapping to the lock before he returned his attention to her eyes. She had caught the snap of his attention, but she didn't show that she cared as she continued to look to him with an appreciative gaze.
"I will contact you on a later date so schedule a time," Spock said as he rose to his feet, the white haired woman doing the same. Vahl'Sai rivalled him in height, but he was far broader than she was, and not only shoulder-wise.
Nodding her head in understanding, she felt strange for Spock to be looking over her hair so openly since it was rare for anyone to see it. "I look forward to it."
Her office was empty of any other people than herself a moment later, the locks clicking back into place behind Spock's retreating form. Tugging self-consciously on her white hair, she fell back into her chair and looked at the work scattered on her desk. She almost missed the years of being a student, when she didn't have to worry about the fate of other students. She never was cut out for teaching, even though she had taught fight classes on Sahvariah as well.
Working for an hour longer in her office, Vahl'Sai soon packed her things up and made one quick stop at her apartment/dorm to change and drop off her things before she headed back down to the large gym. Students were quickly dispersing, adamantly speaking of what they were planning for their vacation time. Vahl'Sai was relieved when they didn't pay her much attention, most students having gotten used to her presence since she had been upgraded from student to commander.
Her hair once more in its tight bun, the Sahvarian stepped into the deserted gym and paused only a couple of steps inside. Looking around, she tried to consider just what it was she should do, trying to get her energies spent for the night. Deciding, she moved for the weight room. Taking the weighted bar from the bench press, she placed fifty pounds on either side to begin with and placed the bar on the ground. Disliking the using of the bench, knowing that she could easily remove herself from beneath someone in a fight should she wind up on her back, she hefted the bar up and began doing arm curls with it, strengthening her biceps.
"Come off your arrogance, Vahl'Sai," Ranza said as he crouched on the high standing stone wall, a yard above Vahl'Sai's head. "You cannot jump the distance. Even I pull myself up." He was issuing a challenge, though he may not have known that he was. Vahl'Sai, still standing on the ground below, smirked up at him with a grin full of teeth.
"I will wager that if I can jump the wall without pulling myself up or using any other assistance, you have to allow me to use you in my demonstrations for the younger ones," she stated defiantly. Cocking her head to the side, Ranza sighed loudly before agreeing. Nodding her head, Vahl'Sai turned and made her way away from the wall, hearing Ranza's mumblings about her behaviour.
Turning sharply on heel once she was a sufficient distance from the stone wall, she bounced on the balls of her bare feet before taking off at a dead run, not bothering for a slow start. Ranza moved out of her path to give her enough room, but there was doubt in his grey eyes that she could actually be able to make the leap. Once she was close enough, Vahl'Sai pushed with all of the power in her legs, simultaneously twisting her body around as her back arched. The ground became distant as she soared over the wall, the sky and trees the only thing that she could see, before she flipped over to once more land on her feet in the shallows stream on the other side.
Ranza swore loudly as he slammed his heel down on the stone, the hard material luckily holding against his angered assault. Laughing for her victory, Vahl'Sai kicked the water in the stream as she spun on the spot with celebration. It was a small victory, but a victory none the less.
Vahl'Sai was beginning to perspire when she finally dropped the weights back onto the ground, the floor shaking slightly at the impact but built with the intent to withstand the treatment. The pains of missing her home great within her chest as she leant down to retrieve the bar and place it back where it belonged. Glancing to the wall on the far side of the room, covered entirely in mirrors, her green eyes took in her form.
So unlike who she used to be. Her hair was always brushed through now, pulled up and out of sight. Her dark skin seemed to have become much paler since she had first arrived on Earth and the dark clothes did nothing to help. Long sleeves and long pants, high collared shirt and well worked shoes. She felt like she was being swathed in material and could barely breathe.
Looking down at herself briefly before returning her eyes to the mirror she quickly stepped away from the bench-press and pulled her long sleeved shirt over her head, exposing the markings along her forearms that had grown darker over the years. Next, she slipped off her shoes and placed them beside her shirt on the bench nearby. Contentedly cracking her toes that were now free of their constricting prison, she rose up onto the balls of her feet and stretched her arms up until her spine popped and cracked in several places.
She felt slightly more at home this way.
Her arms were long, though slender, but taught with muscle. Even without flexing the curve of definition could be seen in both of her arms and along her shoulders. The tank-top she was wearing kept her shoulder blades visible and showed the sharp angle of the bone.
By the time Vahl'Sai had finished her workout, it was after hours and students would already be in their dorms. Deciding to forgo pulling on her shirt again, since her exposed skin had a fine layer of sweat on it anyway, she simply slipped her shoes on and tossed her shirt over one shoulder for the trek back to her room.
However, when she returned to her building there were students huddled about on the bottom floor chattering excitedly as they tried to see around each other to something going on further inside. Vahl'Sai could clearly hear the sounds of a struggle and quickly pulled on her uniform shirt once more, covering up her markings. Whistling sharply through her fingers, several cadets took off running while others turned to her, scared.
Stepping through the parting students with an irritated frown on her face, Vahl'Sai could see, surprisingly, that it was two women that were fighting further up the hall. "Enough!" she yelled, her voice carrying throughout the hallway and down several others. Some students leaned out of their dorms at the familiar voice and curious to see what she would do. The two girls stumbled apart, their hair a mess and one looking on the verge of tears. Vahl'Sai recognized her as Cadet Moore. "You two, remain where you are, everyone else remove yourself from the premises. Back to your rooms, wherever that may be. Go!" she yelled, not in the mood to show any kindness toward the lingering Cadets.
"Comman-"
"I will not hear it!" Vahl'Sai snapped, turning deadly green eyes on the two women that flinched and directed their eyes to the floor. "Something must be in the water here because was it not only days ago that you both bore witness to what happened when your peers fought on school grounds?"
"Sorry, Commander," the mumbled together, both glared at the other afterword.
Growling lowly, the women once more snapped their eyes back to the ground at the clearly dangerous sounds that their Commander was issuing. "Come with me," she ordered, turning her back to them but keeping an ear out for them. "Do not speak a word, or look anywhere besides in front of you. I will not have you two acting like children."
She only took them outside, where there were no students sure to be eavesdropping through their doors or around hallway corners.
"Now, Moore, you first. What happened?"
"She said that Sahvarians were savages and did not belong on Earth!" she began in a desperate tone. "I was trying to defend you, but she said that you were just meant to kill and nothing more-"
"You stupid bitch, that's not what I said!" the brunette beside her yelled, cutting off Cadet more as she looked at her with a dark glare.
At the second growl both girls paled and looked to the ground once more, trying not to look at the angered Commander. Vahl'Sai's eyes were narrowed and her jaw was set with her fangs clearly visible. The rumble that came from her chest left them unsettled and reminded that she was not human; no human could make such a sound.
It was the sound of a beast, just dying to be freed of a confining prison.
"If I have to stop either of you one more time, this will be taken to the Board and you will have to fight it out there, while it will be placed on your record. Am I clear?" Waiting for them to affirm her warning, she continued, "Moore, though the words you say in my defence are appreciated they are not needed. If you hear something of the sort, come to me or to one of your other Commanders." Nodding her head silently, Moore still did not look up. "Now, what do you have to say?"
"I was not saying that you were just meant to kill. I did say that I don't think your species belong on Earth, considering the violent tendencies, I didn't get anything more than that out before she started screaming at me in the middle of the hallway!" Once glance at Vahl'Sai and the Cadet lowered her voice and softened her tone. "I swear, I never said that you were just meant to kill but I admit that I wouldn't feel safe with Sahvarians in Starfleet."
"Thank you for your honesty," Vahl'Sai said calmly. "Now, the two of you need to learn that no one will have the same opinion on a matter. I am sure that there are many students and even Commanders that do not wish for my presence here, or the presence of my kind, but that does not mean that a fight must begin. Keep opinions to yourselves. Because I am not in the mood to deal with this right now, as it is late and we all have classes tomorrow, I will leave you both with a warning but only one. There is no second strike."
"Yes, Commander," both women mumbled before she dismissed them. Standing outside alone, she let out a great sigh. She was much too young herself to be speaking with grown adults as though they were children.
Vahl'Sai's irritated state was still obvious to the people of Starfleet the next morning, all of the Cadets parting in the halls whenever she was walking passed as the towering female passed through with a set to her face that left her with a pissed off visage. Luckily, her classes were not busy now that the tests had already been run and the students were left in a limbo of not knowing their fate.
"Not looking so hot, Commander," Kirk said as he moved over to her while she was supervising the Cadets practicing the skills they had been taught over the semester. Dulled green eyes looked over to him a moment before siding back toward the mass of red uniforms. "Oh, come on, what's wrong?"
"Not your concern, Cadet Kirk. Please return to the class," she ordered calmly, a slight tick in her jaw that Kirk could see clearly. Staring at her a moment more, he realized that she was down-right pissed. He hadn't seen someone bottle up anger the likes of hers in a long time and with what he knew she was possible of doing he almost found it concerning.
Backing off, he wisely returned to his sparring partner.
At the end of her classes, Vahl'Sai had said few words and made fewer actions. The students knew better than to further press her into a bad mood and instead wandered off quite quickly once they were dismissed from class. Remaining where she was, Vahl'Sai found that she didn't want to wander out into the halls, hearing the insufferable noises of the Cadets or the wretched stink of fumes and technology.
"Vahl'Sai."
Looking up to the doors of the room, Pike stood at the entrance.
"Come on, I want to show you something."
I decided to give a bit of a peek into her life on Sahvaria, though it was only a small one I admit. I updated my other story 'Arise' so I felt that it was only fair to update this one as well.