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Comfort Food

Dessert

Victory.

Gabriel Lorca inhaled the scent of the ISS Charon's throne room, reveling in the acrid smell of the recent battle. He smiled, satisfied, as he spoke to the Kelpien officer aboard the USS Discovery. "If I thought for a second that any of you were capable of relinquishing this cult-like devotion to the Federation, I'd enlist your skills today."

Disapproval dripped from every word that Saru spoke. "We are not interested in your sentiments. Where is Specialist Burnham?"

"She's fine. You don't die today because she chose to stay by my side."

"I would like to hear that from her," Saru said. "You are not a reliable source."

As per their agreement, Michael stepped into the conversation and performed admirably, convincing the weak-minded alien to let her stay with just a few words. While he was certainly a good warrior, in the end, he probably would have been better off meeting the fate that awaited Kelpiens here. No doubt he'd have been an admirable slave; it would've been worth ruining his suitability as a meal.

That was the last coherent thought he had before he found himself abruptly under attack on the Charon's bucking decks. He allowed himself a single second of disbelief. The Discovery had actually attacked the Emperor's flagship! And, thanks to the treacherous guards, it was working!

He'd been so close to winning everything, so close that he'd been able to taste the victory dinner that he'd imagined as he writhed in the agonizer booth. Clinging to the memory of well-prepared Kelpien had been one of the things that kept him sane amidst the pain. He hadn't had a chance to request it since he'd been here, but it would come soon.

"We would have helped you get home if you had asked," said Michael, and her tone was almost sad. "That's who Starfleet is. That's who I am. That's why I won't kill you now."

In the end, she was proving to be weak too.

Before he could say so, though, there was a clatter from behind him. "But I will." And then his body erupted into an incredible pain that was worse than any agonizer ever had been. Ever could be. While the pain was incredible inside one of those booths, it was widely understood that it could never quite be as intense of the pain of death, which he was experiencing now.

He'd been so close.

"We…" he sputtered toward Michael. "We could've..."

But he fell before he could finish the sentence.

We could've had everything. We could've ruled everyone. We could've been the ultimate power and reached the ultimate destiny. We could've enjoyed that victory dinner of freshly-prepared Kelpien, for which I never found a proper substitute, and which I never got to have...

Author's Note: Some dialogue in this scene is from episode 1x13, "What's Past is Prologue," which was written by Ted Sullivan and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. Transcript obtained at chakoteya dot net.