OSN Corsair

Corsair class Carrier

In Transit

There was only darkness when Rela opened her eyes. She thought she might have been dead. But then the hood was lifted from her head.

The bright lights forced her eyes to close again. Four lights or five? She couldn't tell, being so bright that the orbs made all the light bleed into one bright orb.

A voice behind her shouted a loud command. "Open your eyes!"

"Turn off the lights first and I'll think about it," she replied sarcastically.

A slap over her head suggested to Rela that the command was exactly that. She opened her eyes and saw Tetro standing in front of her, one hand on her Romulan-issue disruptor, and the other clenched in a fist.

"Nice weapon. Type 3, right? Pre-Hobus Rei Karansu? You don't see those very often," Rela commented.

Tetro took out the disruptor and clubbed the handle against Rela's skull, breaking her nose and sending a spew of green blood into the deck plate.

"Ouch. That wasn't nice," said Rela, daring to be sarcastic.

Tetro flipped the thumb switch, setting the weapon to full power, and leveled the barrel at Rela's skull. "You do not speak unless I allow it. You do not breathe unless I allow it. You are no longer a person, Vile Creature. You respond to my questions and commands precisely when I tell you to, or you will die. Do you understand, Creature?"

"No, not really. One more time?"

Rela's sarcasm earned a disruptor bolt to her leg. The weapon was set on stun, but still burned through her MDU fabric and her left leg.

"Hnaev!" Rela shouted, "Let me out of this chair so I can kill you!"

This time, Tetro slapped Rela's face, hard enough to draw blood. Restrained with laser cuffs, Rela thought better of trying to mouth off again and instead focused on calming her breathing to deal with the pain in her leg.

"I hate Romulans," Tetro cursed, "I wish that your entire vile little race had burned with your star."

"What the hell did we ever do to you?!" Rela shouted.

Tetro holstered her disruptor, seized Rela by her throat with one hand, and lifted her bodice with the other, exposing her scared stomach.

"You took everything from me, Creature. I wasn't always like this, you know. I was happy once. I had a wife. I had a family. I had a life. And then your people came and took it all away!"

Tetro slammed Rela into the deck plate and put a knee across her throat as she continued her story. "Orais IV was like any other world. A simple little Colony. And then your collection of filth came to retaliate for the Klingons failing to finish the job. We don't start fights you see, so we had no way to defend ourselves."

"Have you heard your family scream, Creature? I have. You'll never forget that sound. Think of the most primal, hateful feeling you can imagine, and you might begin to understand. That's what I had to hear for three days. First, the warbirds bombed us from orbit. And then they sent the Remans. Unchecked, unchallenged, and running from house to house. They raped, they killed, and they devoured men, women, and children. And if you were very fortunate, they did it in that order."

Tetro stood up and faced away. "I could do nothing but watch when they came for my family. It took hours before they finished. And when I ventured out to the street again hours later, Romulan infantry captured me. Oh, but I was no normal slave, Creature. I was an object to be used for their disgusting pleasure. And when I became… incapacitated," she pointed at her scarred stomach, "That's when they took the knives to me."

Tetro kicked Rela hard in her stomach. "Twenty years! I survived twenty years of it. And don't think I forgot even one second of it. And don't you worry. I'll make sure your kind is repaid in full for my misery."

Tetro feigned drawing her disruptor again, but instead she smiled. "Have no fear, Creature. I won't kill you. Oh no, I need you very much alive. Because we have some lovely new tools to play with. And I'll use every single one of these tools to inflict all the punishment on the Republic that I suffered. After you watch your people die… well. The boys have been particularly lonely of late. Enjoy their kindness."

Rela listened to the footsteps of her red boots as Tetro left the compartment. When the door was closed, she let out a gasp of pain, but kept her mind focused. Tetro wasn't the only one with old scores to settle.

Before she was taken in by Kayla Kaimeao, the earliest memory Rela had was crying into D'Tann's arms, watching Orion Pirates blowing apart the AhkDhael that her parents served on. Their sacrifice was enough to save the flotilla, for all that meant to a lost little girl.

Rela swore to D'Tann that she would grow up to be a fighter, just like ri'nanov u' eneh. And that she would kill every Orion she met. As much as her leg hurt, Rela wasn't afraid. She let something far more powerful than fear drive her. Hate.

─•~:~•─

USS Alexia

Alexia Class Strike Carrier

NCC – 61667

Captain's Cabin

Rei sat at her terminal and stared at the blank screen. It wasn't as though she didn't have anything to do. The Academy had done a reasonable job of warning her, but a part of her admitted that she wasn't fully prepared for the amount of paperwork that came with being a Starship Captain.

Mission reports. Log entries. Transfer requests. Competency reviews. Personal questions. R&D sign offs. More and more things she had no patience or energy for.

She threw the PADDs away and stared for a long time at the screen. Finally, after the eternity of thirty seconds, she opened a secure QC channel. "Hey Mom, how are you?"

Alynna Nechayev looked exhausted, but she still offered her daughter a friendly smile. "I'm beat. I've been up all night going over everything Starfleet Intelligence and MIS has on the Orion Conventional Forces to help you."

"Anything useful?"

"Not really. Tetro has half a dozen expired warrants in half a dozen systems. Corsair was apparently spotted in engagements with the Miradorn and the Tholians, but of course there's nothing official or on paper about any of it."

Rei sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Mom, I screwed up. Everywhere I go, Tetro seems to get the drop on me. One of the Sharkies got captured, and she nearly melted an entire pre-warp civilization. You were right, I should have come back."

Alynna shook her head. "Wouldn't have accomplished anything. You started the job, so it's your job to get finished. So, what do you plan to do to get your missing Marine back?"

"Well, we do have a little bit of support. A Klingon BC showed up, and wouldn't you know it, another one of Kaimeao's sisters happens to be in charge. We'd probably be screwed without her, but its still our two ships against the entire Orion Navy."

"So, you can move faster, fight smarter and don't have to worry about coordination. What's the problem?"

"There's something weird about this whole op Mom. What's so god damn important about this cargo that the Orions would risk starting a war with the Milky Way Alliance? Did Admiral Hathaway say anything more about it?"

"He didn't. I trust Scott, but between you and me, I think there's a little bit more in those cases than just computers. I'm gonna tap into some off-the-books stuff and see if I can find out more, but you don't need to worry about that. What do you need from me?"

Rei sighed again. "Backup, if you can spare it. I think we can catch Corsair, but if she keeps throwing ships at us like she has, we'll need help. And… well, I could use some advice about, well, a girl."

Alynna smiled brightly. "A girl, eh? What about her?"

"Well… I don't know. I thought maybe something was going on. But then, she almost kissed someone. And I just can't get over how jealous that makes me! Even though I know I shouldn't. So… what?"

"Why don't you just kiss this girl yourself then?"

Rei stared at her mother for a few long seconds. "It can't really be that easy?!"

Alynna laughed. "Why shouldn't it be? One thing you'll learn at my age Rachel, life is a lot easier if you just keep things simple."

Rei flashed a weak smile. "Well, I guess you can't be wrong. Thanks Mom. I should probably get some sleep."

"A Captain won't do her crew any good if she's half dead on her feet. Sleep, real sleep, not that knock out magic from sickbay, will do you all the galaxy of good. And maybe after you can kiss that girl. I'll see what I can do about back-up. Keep safe and use your head."

"I will. Thanks Mom. Love you," Rei said as she stretched her arms out.

"Love you too, Rachel. Off to bed," Alynna replied as the channel closed.

Rei switched off the monitor and looked around the cabin. Her original cabin in Middy Country had been re-assigned to Logan, while she took over the Captain's cabin, as was her right as the new CO.

It felt like she was sleeping in someone else's coffin. Shyvax didn't have much in the way of personal items. Mostly clothes, some hard-copy books from various Vulcan scholars, a few pieces of jewelry. There was one item that disturbed Rei though. On the nightstand, in a brown leather book, Shyvax kept a journal of his dreams.

She hadn't read too far into the book, but what she had read suggested to Rei that Shyvax was a deeply philosophical man, someone who spent as much time commanding a ship as he did questioning himself.

Rei slipped off her boots, undid her jacket and let herself lay flat on the bed, feeling the exhaustion hit her muscles like a tidal wave. She stole a look at the nightstand display just before closing her eyes. The Stardate read 87260.15.

Eighteen hours, she thought to herself. Barely a day and a half had gone by. And it wasn't nearly over yet.

Rei closed her eyes. And the last thing she thought of was to grab Kayla by her red hair and kiss her.

─•~:~•─

USS Alexia

Alexia Class Strike Carrier NCC – 61667

Mess Hall

"I should have punched Rei in the face," Kayla grumbled, slamming her fork into the strawberry cheesecake.

Both Kayla and Eyos quickly took over the empty Mess Hall and filled the table with replicated strawberry cheesecakes, the same cakes both girls had eaten every single birthday – or the days they agreed with Rain to call their birthday – and proceeded to vent their sorrows with sugar.

"You know exactly what would have happened if you did."

"Yeah! I'd feel a whole hell of a lot better, and we'd be on our way to rescue Rela!"

Eyos pointed her fork at Kayla. "No. You'd have been tackled by Starfleet Security, thrown into the brig, slapped with a dishonourable discharge notice, had your pension taken away, had General Marshall scream in your face, and had Miss Rain be very, very, disappointed in you."

Kayla stabbed her fork into the cake. "I hate that you have to be right all the time."

Eyos calmly took another bite of the cake. "What is it that really has you upset?"

Kayla poked her fork around before she answered. "Rei… found out. About me, I mean. I guess in hindsight I probably wasn't as careful as I should have been. But then I met Solanna, and it turns out she was an Augment too. And I didn't really mean to, but I…"

"But you what?"

Kayla dropped her fork and buried her head in her hands. "I almost kissed her, and Rei caught us. And she's really upset for some reason."

Eyos stared blankly at her sister for a long moment before she shook her head. "Are you really that stupid? I thought those augmentations were supposed to make you more intelligent."

"What?!"

"You know what happened to me before my father rescued me from Pragg. I've seen attraction enough times to know it when I see it, Kayla."

Kayla sighed. "Eyos, what happened to you… that's not the same thing as love."

Eyos shrugged. "Isn't it? Those men may have paid for it, and they may not have been as… gentle, as a Starfleet Captain. But for those hours when they had me, it was my job to make them feel loved. Everyone was different. They had their own ways of feeling love. Some would want me to hold their head in my lap and stroke their hair like I was a mother. Others… they'd hit me."

Eyos again decided to point the fork at her sister. "The point is, little sister, Captain Rei is obviously infatuated with you. So, make a choice. Her or the Romulan. And if it were me, I'd choose Rei."

"That's just because you don't like Romulans. Did you forget your other sister is a Romulan?"

"Whoever said I liked Rela?"

Kayla couldn't help but laugh. She nearly spilled her cake in doing so, before she eventually brought herself back under control. "You're almost as funny as Grampy Mor was. So, who wants to tell mom about this?"

Eyos shook her head. "Not me. That's your job."

Kayla grumbled but opened her wrist comm and selected Rain's personal frequency.

A few seconds later, her hologram appeared beside the table, sitting next to Yue Tanaka.

"Girls," Rain said with a smile, "Wasn't expecting a call so soon. And where's Rela?"

Kayla sighed again. "Well Mom, that's part of the problem. I managed to get Rela captured by the Orions. Eyos showed up to help, but I couldn't stop it."

Rain straightened herself up. "Then what the hell are you calling me for, Little One? Get after your sister already!"

"That might be kinda hard. There's a few hundred Orion troops and ships and our way."

Rain rolled her eyes. "As if that should stop you, Little One. I went up against far worse odds against myself. Kinshya, Borg… you know the rest. Besides, Eyos is there to help you."

"They shot through a Thor, Mom. I think this is gonna take a little something special."

"I suppose your right then," Rain said as she whispered something into Yue's ear.

Yue stood up from the couch. "I've got to check on something. I'll call you later Kayla."

Rain looked at Eyos next. "Eyos, do you know what frequency that drunken bastard Salimov is using these days?"

"287," Eyos replied quickly.

"Right, I'll see what he can do to help us. As for you Little One," Rain said, pointing at Kayla, "No more moping. Gear up and get your sister back. That's an order."

Kayla rolled her eyes this time. "We're the same rank now, Mom."

"TIS, Kayla. Now get going!"

"Aye, Major!"

Rain's hologram faded out of existence. Eyos stood up and with a free hand she pulled Kayla up from her seat. "Come, little sister. It's time for bed."

"Yeah, yeah," Kayla grumbled again, "There's one place I gotta stop at first though."

─•~:~•─

The Crucible was the final exercise that a Baby Shark had to undergo before he or she could be commissioned as a Federation Marine. The day after running the 30 Miler, the recruits were rousted awake and given their assignment.

Camp Nath had been seized by an enemy force. The recruits were tasked with retaking the camp. They had four hours to complete the assignment, or they would be permanently washed out of the service.

They would have no help from their instructors, and the enemy had all kinds of unfair advantages. Satellite tracking, communication taps, cloak fields, and more. There was also a zero-tolerance policy for casualties or damage to Camp Nath's facilities. The graduating class of 2403, which included Ginny Tatum and Jack Marshall, had managed to accomplish the mission in three hours, forty-two minutes. Kayla and Rela did it in two.

When a class recaptured Camp Nath, they were then ordered to immediately march up to the top of Reaper Hill and back down again in two hours, still in full battle rattle. When they made it back down, the recruits were met by Lazy-Boy chairs and portable replicators and were told they could eat any meal they want, including ice cream and liquor.

Except for being captured by Section 31 and subjected to forcible genetic augmentation, the Crucible was – to that point – the hardest thing Kayla had ever done in her life.

Except for pushing the damn call button to Rei's cabin.

Why is this so hard?! She thought to herself. Just push the button and talk to her. It was literally that simple.

She raised up her hand, slowly, very slowly, and after forever, finally hit the button.

Seconds later, Rei answered back with a friendly but tired-sounding voice. "Door's open, come in."

Kayla took a very long, very deep breath, and stepped inside the Captain's Cabin.

Rei was lying on her back on the bed, staring blankly up to the ceiling. She had stripped down to her underwear, and Kayla took a careful effort to keep her eyes straight ahead as she walked forward to the couch.

"Hey," she said, taking an effort to be calm as she sat down.

"Hey," Rei replied, sounding half exhausted.

"Hows… it going?"

"Well, I was trying to sleep until you knocked on my door, so to speak."

"Sorry. I'll come back later," said Kayla as she stood up again.

Rei instead rolled over and weakly tossed a pillow at Kayla. "You came this far. Might as well stay for a bit and talk to me."

"Yeah… yeah, okay, talk."

Kayla was suddenly panicked. The "monsters" on Tranbir Nine. Being kidnapped by Section 31. Dealing with the near end of the universe. None of that compared to the amount of dread in her chest of just having an honest conversation with Rei.

"Talking. A string of words forms a sentence. String of sentences forms a paragraph. Paragraphs form a thought," Rei replied sarcastically.

"I knew that," Kayla scoffed, "I'm just… trying to organize my thoughts. I'm not really good at this stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Talking to people. Socialization. Kinda like… raising a dog badly. I didn't have a normal childhood. I didn't even really go to school. So… I guess, dealing with people? It's a challenge."

Rei smiled. "What would you call a normal childhood?"

Kayla shrugged. "You know. Parents. Christmas dinners. Birthday parties. That sort of thing."

"Rain didn't throw you birthday parties. I find that hard to believe."

"Rain isn't my real mom."

Rei went wide eyed. "Come again?"

Kayla dipped her head. "I wasn't born on Earth. I was born on Tranbir Nine. Ever heard of it?"

"I heard stories in the Academy about a Task Force Outer Heaven or something like that, but that's all it was, stories."

"I… don't really know what I can tell you. A lot of it is still classified like top, top, secret. But I was there. Monsters were there too. And my mom and dad, my real mom and dad… the monsters got them. My last name… my real last name, is Landsidal. Kayla Landsidal. My dad was Scott Landsidal, Provost Marshal. Mom was Michelle Landsidal, Starfleet Commander, and Chief Biologist."

Rei in turn lowered her head. "Wow. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Its alright. You wouldn't have known until I told you. Rain rescued me from all that. I was stuck in a closet, and she was the one to open it. I was scared, as you'd imagine most six-year-old little girls would be. And I'll had was this little stuffed penguin toy, Mr Pingu. He warns you if monsters are around, but you have to be very quiet, or you won't hear him."

Rei's eyes went wide in shock again. "Wait. Not the Mr Pingu?! As in PFC Mr Pingu?! The Little Guy?! I always thought that was just Force Recon and XOF pulling our legs!"

It was all Kayla could do not to laugh as she buried her face in her hands again.

"Don't laugh! They all swore he was real!" Rei shouted.

Kayla cocked her head to one side and smiled. "Colonel Bagsley always said he was gonna make it a legend. I guess he finally won."

Both girls sat in long silence. Somehow, being around Rei put Kayla at ease, despite everything. It was a different feeling than what she experienced with Solanna. It was a warm, comfortable feeling, rather than the feeling of overwhelming desire.

"Are you mad at me?" Kayla asked softly.

"I want to be. I don't know why, but I just got so jealous…"

Kayla, in another display of bravery, got up from the couch and sat down beside Rei on her bed. "I didn't mean to make you upset."

"Well, you aren't the only one with a weird childhood," Rei explained, lying back down, "Try growing up with the most loved and most hated Admiral in Starfleet as an adopted mother. We'd never stay anywhere longer than six months. And people would always ask me questions about her or ask to meet her."

"I just… liked the idea of something that was mine for once."

Suddenly, Rei sat up and drew closer to Kayla, extending her right arm and putting it around her shoulder. Kayla watched closely as Rei drew just a bit closer.

Before the overhead comm beeped loudly. "Bridge to Captain. We've got an unidentified contact on sensors. We need you up here on double."

Eyos was the one speaking, and Kayla threw another pillow into the bulkhead, landing just beside where Rei threw the first. "What is it with my god damn sisters and ruining good moments?!"

Rei laughed as she hastily threw on her jacket and boots. "Come on Major. I'm sure we'll find another moment."

─•~:~•─