A/N: Apologies for this taking so long, but it's been hell trying to find the time or motivation to write lately. But now I have! And it's back! Rix is back! We're all good!
Many thanks to Kretolus, who has no doubt been waiting impatiently for this update, and who is just an awesome friend and person.
As soon as she materialised on the Romulan vessel, Rixadi advanced forwards, her phaser rifle pulled tight against her shoulder. She paused to check her tricorder, locked on to Samman's biological signature, and turned down a corridor.
A pair of Romulans were too slow to raise their disruptors, and they collapsed with phaser pulse wounds in their chest. Rixadi pressed on, eager to find her quarry.
It wasn't long before her objective got tougher.
Spurred on by intruder alarms, teams of Romulan defenders filled the corridors, building barricades from broken bulkheads and fallen debris. Rixadi pushed her telekinetic abilities hard, using them to smash the defences apart and charge in among her opponents, using her superior speed to punish them up close.
She drove the butt of her rifle into the face of one Romulan, kicking backwards to drop his partner, before swinging her phaser around to put a volley of shots down the hallway and killing three more. She put a pulse into both of the Romulans on the floor beside her and advance down the corridor, heading for an intersection at the far end.
As she advanced, a torrent of emerald beams and pulses tore down one side of the intersection, the burning orange of phaser weapons firing back in response, and Rixadi grinned. Captain O'Neill had obviously acknowledged her request - but what pleased her even more was who led the reinforcements.
As a group of Romulans surged into view from the left, Lieutenant O'Dairn charged into them from the right, a drop-kick taking them all by surprise and smashing one Romulan off her feet. She pushed herself into a flat spin that knocked several more Romulans down, as well giving herself the momentum to get back to her feet. She rose with a furious uppercut, smashing into the jaw of another Romulan before she grabbed hold of him and slammed him into the wall. Pushing away from him, Keeva delivered a punishing pair of reverse roundhouse kicks to a couple more Romulans that still stood, snapping back into a forward kick that took one of them in the stomach. As he doubled over, Keeva grabbed his weapon and executed him, pivoting on one foot to put another shot into the man she'd shoved against the wall. She grabbed his weapon as well before he fell, firing down both sides of the corridor intersection - the fresh emerald shots coming from the left suggested her team had been ambushed, and she switched to firing down the left as the last of her previous targets fell.
Rixadi rushed down the corridor to reach her newest friend, but something caught her eye - a small device arcing through the air, the light on its cap flashing furiously.
Rixadi slid to a halt, her hand extended as if demanding a stop, and she reached out with her telekinesis.
The plasma grenade stopped in midair, and Rixadi focused all of her ability on it as she slowly moved towards Keeva.
"Get...back…" she hissed through gritted teeth, closing the fingers of her outstretched hand as if taking hold of the grenade itself. The device whined loudly, before its casing cracked, bright, bale green flame licking out from its surface. Rixadi snarled in agony, dark purple blood seeping from her nose and the corners of her eyes, the reflective surfaces turning crimson as she held the detonation in check.
"Behind...me," she rasped, moving to face the Romulans who had thrown the device. Their faces were masks of awe and fear, as they witnessed a power few possessed in their universe, giving Rixadi the opening she needed.
She pulled her extended hand back in, closing her fingers as much as she could, extending the other as she raised a telekinetic barrier.
In one final, powerful move, she threw her hand forwards and opened her fingers - and the grenade detonated, the resulting fireball surging back the way it came to immolate the whole squad of Romulans.
The Tkaathan collapsed, the effort of stopping a grenade's detonation more than she had ever done. Keeva caught her instantly, dropping her stolen weapons and gripping the Lieutenant in a comforting embrace.
"It's okay, Rix, I got you," she purred, easing Rixadi down to the deck. "My god...I never saw anythin' like that, girl."
She gently caressed Rixadi's scalp, coated in sweat from her exertions, before moving to wipe the blood from her friend's face.
"Never...used it...so much," Rixadi panted, closing her eyes and letting her body regain its strength. "We...we're told...never...to overdo it...but I...I couldn't-"
"Hush," Keeva told her softly, "you can tell me over a beer at C-Forty-Seven."
Rixadi smiled weakly at the mention of the officer's club on Earth Spacedock.
"Tha's...a good plan," she sighed, shaking her head gently to try and clear the fatigue from it.
"I reckon you finished off the entire crew at this rate," Keeva said with a giggle, and Rixadi pushed herself up.
"No," she said, grabbing a fallen plasma rifle and wobbling slightly as she straightened. "No...not all. Come on."
She led a concerned Keeva onwards through the corridors, heading for the bridge - and her reckoning.
Keeva had over-estimated - there were still plenty of Romulans between them and their target, but not enough to stop them completely. They blasted their way into the bridge with a photon charge, shooting the captain on sight before running after Samman as he tried to escape.
Rixadi was faster. Her natural speed, coupled with a fury borne of a need for revenge, sent her down the corridor at unparalleled speed, and with a burst of telekinetic force she sent him veering into the wall, before slamming into him herself with a force that drove the wind from his lungs.
She dragged him around roughly, driving a knee into his gut twice before delivering a downward smash with her fist. As he tried to rise she kicked him hard in the knee, the crunch of breaking bone echoing in the corridor just a second before Samman's screams.
"You betrayed my trust!" she shouted, driving another kick into his ribs. "You killed our friends!" Another kick, this time across his face, and Samman spat dark green blood onto the deck. "You betrayed Starfleet!"
Samman's wheezing cackle halted her next strike, and he glared at her with bloodshot eyes.
"I never swore any oath to Starfleet, Rix," he gasped, "I was always loyal...to the Tal Shiar." He began to laugh again, before descending into a coughing fit. "You want...you want justice? Then claim it. You've already got me...where you want me. Put me down like the ailing Sehlat you think I am, and live...however you like." He cackled again, breaking down into another coughing fit, and as she sensed Keeva arriving she held a hand out for her rifle. The Irish officer reluctantly agreed, and Rixadi took a deep, shaking breath as she levelled the weapon at Samman's head.
He looked up at her, his eyes reflecting his fatalistic grin, and her finger eased over the trigger.
There was a moment of tension in the air, until Rixadi broke it -
- by dropping to one knee, slamming the butt of the rifle against the deck by Samman's head.
"By my authority as an officer of Starfleet, I am placing you under arrest," she said formally, much to Keeva's shock. "You will be taken into custody aboard my vessel, where you will be held until you are released to the proper authorities."
She straightened up and tapped her commbadge, and prayed her crew would forgive her.
"Rixadi to Puma, one piece of traitorous trash to beam directly to sickbay, and ensure we have a security team there."
"Are you serious?!" Elasha snarled, and Rixadi cut off any further objection.
"Yes I am - we are Starfleet officers, not executioners," she stated firmly. "Hail the Admiral Kassai, and tell her we have a...peace offering for her. I'm sure Starfleet Intelligence would love to interrogate this traitor."
Elasha growled but declined to object further, cutting the link before she swore at her captain and friend. A moment later, Samman disappeared in a blue haze, and Rixadi heaved a heavy sigh.
"You did well, Rix," Keeva said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "The boss would be proud of you."
Rixadi snorted derisively.
"Like it matters. I've ruined my career already, just figured I may as well go out with some semblance of integrity."
Keeva laughed, moving her hand to Rixadi's cheek.
"You'd be surprised," was all she said, before tapping her own commbadge and calling the Relentless to beam her back.
Rixadi hit her own badge again and called for transport, and a moment later she was standing back on the deck of the Puma
She knew her crew would have a few words to say to her - but she knew she had at last done what was right by the laws she swore to uphold, and that gave her more comfort than she expected.