Chapter Text
She fell. It was dark. Darkness held no fear for her. Darkness was a blessing, for didn’t they operate the best in darkness?
She fell. It was cold. She remembered screaming. That was…wrong…somehow. Zhat Vash do not scream. And yet, she remembered it.
She fell. It was hard to breathe. She knew she was not reacting correctly, her mind sluggish, unresponsive. There was something she had to do, something important. She needed to do it now. Now. NOW!
Narissa’s hand slammed hard into the emergency transporter bracelet. She could see the Artifact’s outer hull plate getting closer and closer. If she knew how, she would pray for the transporter inertial dampening field to absorb as much of her momentum as possible before she rematerialized. She felt the transport begin, knew that had she waited even half a breath longer it would have been too late. She closed her eyes.
-o0o-
Narek held his breath, unmoving. He could hear the voices of La Sirena’s crew on the walkway above him. His personal vital signs cloak was working well, but the darkened cubby he had hidden himself in would remain safe only for so long. He needed to find somewhere more secret, more concealed. He had a feeling there must be hidden compartments on a ship like this. Even an ex-Starfleet freighter captain couldn’t be legitimate a hundred percent of the time. He could hear Soji, sounding as near to normal as he had ever heard. She was talking to the xB. Listening to them, he controlled his revulsion at the half-meat thing. The xB sounded almost compassionate, if that were possible.
“We all have demons, Soji. There are parts of my past I haven’t shared with anyone. You don’t have to tell anyone anything, least of all Jurati.”
Soji sighed. “I wouldn’t care, but she’s always so nice about it. Every time it’s just, ‘no pressure!’. I can tell she wants to beg to understand how falling in love works for me, but I really don’t want to relive it. Especially given that it turned out so…”
“Abusive? Painful? Disastrous?”
Narek could hear the pseudo-care in the xB’s voice, and he resented it. How dare she. She was barely more than a basic synth herself. He controlled the urge to step out of his hiding place and slap the small smile from her face.
“Any and all of the above.” He heard Soji reply. “Never trust a Romulan, I guess. Especially the ones who mysteriously turn up right when your job starts getting interesting. God, I should have anticipated it.”
He heard the xB putting her arm around Soji.
“It’s okay, some things you can’t anticipate. If she keeps bugging you about it, let me or Raffi know. We’ll get her to back off.”
“Thanks, Seven.” He could hear the smile in Soji’s voice, and he hated it.
-o0o-
Even with the inertial dampening field absorbing much of the force, she hit the deck hard, the breath leaving her lungs with an ‘oof’. Narissa thought she might have cracked a few ribs. The pain lasted long moments, overwhelming her ability to think clearly. She curled into a ball, wincing as she did so, then forced herself to straighten out and lie flat. She focused on the mantras of her training, pushing the pain down, away. She listened as she did, hearing the occasional sound far in the distance. Now it was landed, the Artifact creaked, groaned and popped. She was sure she could hear the movement of xBs on the decks above.
As silently as she could, she moved through her brother’s former quarters. She dug through his belongings, looking for his mobile holotransceiver. She needed to contact Oh.
It wasn’t here.
-o0o-
Hours had passed. He was sure that the misfit crew were sleeping. It was time to act. He crept through the hold of the freighter, moving silently on bare feet. He had methodically scouted most of the space already, but hadn’t tried the back left corner. He avoided lit spaces, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. He moved carefully along the hull, looking closely for anything unexpected. He saw something that he knew to be a concealed opening next to a bulkhead and tucked himself down next to it, behind a crate. He pulled a small jamming device from his pocket, attaching it to the hidden door. A light flashed red, then green, telling him that any alarms or traps had been disabled. He felt around gently for a release catch and, finding it, pressed gently. There was a quiet hiss and a grate moved slightly away from the hullplate, revealing a hidden compartment. It wasn’t large, but was more than big enough to hide him.
Narek crawled into the smuggling compartment and checked the inside of the doorway to make sure he could open it from the inside. There was a small interface point, with a camera. He cursed under his breath, pulling out the small jamming device once again. He attached it to the interface, knowing he could only hope it hadn’t activated when he moved past it. The light blinked red again. And stayed red.
-o0o-
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been moving through the Artifact, never stopping in place for too long. She had lost track of time, but was certain it had been at least days. She knew that if the Fleet had been able to destroy the synths she wouldn’t still be here. They would have glassed the planet rather than allow even the chance something might have survived. Something must have happened, the synths somehow tricking the Romulan Fleet into leaving them alive.
She heard another xB patrol moving through the corridor ahead of her and silently ducked into the room she had been passing. It was dark in here, but something was familiar about this space. Narissa could see discarded clothing, pictures, a smashed plant pot. She remembered; this was the synth’s living quarters. She felt the hate rise in her, the blood pounding in her ears. It had been the one to destroy everything. It was in its name, after all. The Destroyer. And It had started by destroying her brother. He was never so WEAK before It had got its talons into him.
She breathed, allowing herself to feel the hate, the loathing, the disgust. She let it flood through her, washing away any uncertainty, any complacency. And then she let it go. This room, too, needed to be searched.
Carefully, she picked her way around the room. The synth’s possessions she disregarded as irrelevant. They were all fabricated anyway, a life of lies in pictures. She moved towards the bed in the centre of the room, spying a small, familiar bag under the corner. Quickly, she snatched it up and moved back into the shadows. She could feel something small and solid inside the bag. She reached in and pulled out a holotransceiver. At last.
She pushed the button to connect.
-o0o-
Cursing silently to himself again, Narek pulled himself out of the smuggling compartment, careful to take everything he had brought inside with him. The last thing he did was remove the jammer, slipping it back into his pocket. He moved, as quickly and quietly as he could, back to his previous hiding place. As he pulled a crate back into place, he heard the sound of voices and running feet.
“I don’t know what the hell it was, the pickup didn’t get a good look. There was some kind of interference.” Raffi, the ops officer. “Anyway, since when does this ship have secret compartments? I thought you flew legit?”
“I fly legit.” The captain, Rios. “They were there when I bought her and I’ve never seen the need to get rid of them. Anyway, I thought they maybe could be useful, someday.”
“Yeah, useful for a stowaway.” Raffi again, sounding amused. She continued, her tone of voice shifting to frustrated. “I can’t imagine any honest traveller wouldn’t just announce themselves. It’s not like we don’t have the room. Anyway, we’d have caught them as soon as our O2 supplies started to run lower than expected. Unless they’re a synth, I guess.”
Narek heard Rios grunt. “Go wake the others. I want everyone searching. Work in pairs.”
He could hear Raffi heading towards the crew quarters. She called out, “I don’t know if you noticed, Captain, but there are seven of us.”
“You and Seven, Picard and Soji, Agnes and Elnor.”
“And you?”
“This is my ship. I know her better than anyone.” Narek heard the whum of a charging phaser. “Anyone that thinks they can steal a free ride is gonna answer to me.”
-o0o-
The holo sprang to life with an unfamiliar face.
“Report, Narek.”
“It’s not Narek.”
“Narissa. We were led to believe you were dead.”
“I will not allow some filthy half-meat to kill me.”
“Good. Report.”
“This planet is somehow, inexplicably, still populated. I can only assume that there were failings at a high level.”
“Decisions were made. Regrettably, it appears we may have been…wrong.”
“Impossible! Where is Oh?”
“Under guard.”
“You dare!”
“Not I. The Continuing Committee. Misuse of resources.”
“Misuse…!”
“You and your…division…are to stand down until the investigation has been completed.”
Narissa snarled, stabbing viciously at the disconnect button. How could they do this? To her? She had been loyal, so loyal, for so long. To be shuffled aside as if she were some mistake!
She had to prove that the Zhat Vash were right, had always been right. Clearly, her disappointment of a brother had somehow failed at the only task she had asked of him. She would find and confront Seb-Cheneb herself.