From: Ranjani Sabarinathan (rantrek_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Feb 17 2008 - 16:27:50 PST
Chapter 7
********
Location: QUEEN ELINA
Scene: Ballroom
TI: Occurring simultaneously as the previous scene
Weron whispered, her voice tinged with worry. “We
should have heard from Ana by now.” A waiter stopped
by the couple, carrying a tray holding five glasses of
wines in different colours. Kalaia quickly picked up a
glass containing a royal liquid and took a sip.
Hansel sighed, briefly glancing in the direction of
the private dining rooms. “I wonder what’s taking them
so long.”
The Bolian hybrid gulped before speaking with a panic
filled voice. “Oh no, it is not possible Anaqueen
could’ve been captured?” She peeked over the shoulder
of another waiter, who was holding the appetizer tray.
Kalaia grabbed a little cube shaped delicacy, drenched
in melted mozzarella cheese and tossed it into her
mouth. “Hmm…this is delicious. I need to get a recipe
for this.”
Hansel tapped his right cufflink. “Tomel to Spankryz.”
No response. “This is not good. She’s not answering,”
the Trill murmured, becoming worried. Sighing, he
touched his cufflink again. “Tomel to Telara.” Instead
of hearing the Romulan/Andorian’s voice, the scientist
heard only static. “Something’s really wrong,” he
concluded, glancing around to check on Tomney and
Ermila, who were seated at a table in grim silence.
Weron inquired, raising an eyebrow. “Problems with
communication?”
Her husband shook his head. “That’s my guess. I
believe someone’s jammed the signal.”
“This operation’s turning into a disaster,” Kalaia
commented, sighing as she turned her attention to the
couple, who was anxiously awaiting news of their
kidnapped children. She grabbed a handful of
mozzarella cubes, when the waiter passed by her again.
Chrystoph was standing by the ledge that overlooked
the lower section of the ballroom, staring at his
childhood sweetheart in sadness. Zarina, a tall Trill
woman with long black hair and wearing a lovely, green
gown, was busy chatting with her oldest daughter,
Sarena and two other Trill females, all of whom shared
aristocratic backgrounds. He took a sip of wine and
glanced away from the women towards his younger
brother, Jaroud Pentar, a well-known politician. Tebro
felt a deep pang of jealousy towards the slightly
younger man as he was discreetly flirting with a
Risean woman no older than his youngest daughter.
**That shameless fool. Why doesn’t Zarina leave him?
** Chrystoph took another sip, watching Jaroud leave
the young woman and head his way.
“Chrystoph, a pleasant surprise,” Pentar greeted,
displaying his perfect white teeth.
Tebro rebuked his brother. “You disrespect Zarina by
continuing to dally around with other women.” He
glared at the other man.
Jaroud sniggered before offering a snide reply.
“You’re just jealous, Chrystoph because I got
everything you wanted, Zarina and the family
inheritance…all because you got enchanted by that
unjoined witch.”
“Zarina doesn’t love you,” Chrystoph pointed out
bitterly. “She never will.”
Pentar mocked. “Doesn’t matter whether she does or
not. I succeeded, where you failed in bringing the two
families together.”
As members of the aristocracy were embroiled in their
own affairs, four human teenagers were busy having the
time of their lives at the bottom of the staircase.
They were standing in front of the golden Ferengi
nagus statue, which suddenly blinked.
“Wow, this is so totally cool,” a red haired girl of
sixteen years commented, giggling as she studied her
surroundings in fascination.
Her companion, a shorter and a slightly curvy girl
with curly blonde hair remarked as she stared at the
gigantic Rixx statue. “Emily, I agree, except for that
big ugly statue at the top there. So totally eww.” She
scrunched her face in disgust.
“Oh Sally, don’t be fussy,” a dark haired boy with
pink cheeks who looked to be about seventeen and the
oldest in the group teased. “That statue portrays Zane
Rixx, rumored to be this powerful crime lord.”
Sally replied, blowing a raspberry at the boy. “Which
George, makes it even more gross. Eww.”
“Guys,” the fourth member of the group interrupted.
She was a tall girl, also sixteen with short, bright
cyan hair and big red earrings dangling from her ears.
“Look, just be happy we’re fortunate as former
contestants on Federation idol to be attending this
amazing ball.”
Emily shook her head. “Juliet’s right. We should be
having a blast at this totally awesome ball.” Her
companions gave each other high fives and cheered
loudly, annoying the other patrons. Unbeknownst to
them, the eyes of the Ferengi statue suddenly glowed
red.
Upstairs, Tomney approached Weron and Tomel and
inquired, his hands shaking in fear. “Any word from
Ana?” Ermila followed, glancing around anxiously.
Hansel and Kalaia looked at each other briefly,
wondering whether they should share their fears of
Anaqueen’s predicament with the other couple. Tomel
returned his attention back to his old friend and
answered calmly. “No, we haven’t heard anything yet.”
“I don’t understand.” Ermila stared in disbelief at
her friends and queried indignantly. “How long was
Ana’s meeting supposed to take? Was there a particular
time when she should contact you regarding news of my
babies?”
Weron bent her head, looking downwards, feeling a bit
guilty. Lifting her head up, the Bolian/Trill/Betazoid
hybrid assured, her voice cracking a little. “Tomney,
Ermila. Maybe the meeting’s taking longer than
expected. Ana will come through, I am sure of it.”
Tomney sighed, scratching his blond head. “It’s not I
don’t believe Ana can do it.” He shrugged. “Just that
I am worried she’s taking a risk walking inside the
lion’s den as the Terrans put it to save my little
ones.”
Hansel nodded, placing a hand on his childhood
friend’s shoulder. “It will all work out in the end,
Tomney. Arlis and Nelia will be back with you in…” The
Trill scientist’s flow of words got interrupted by a
blood curdling scream. The three full blooded Trills
and one hybrid tilted their heads downwards, becoming
shocked at the chaos that began ensuing in the
ballroom’s lower section.
Kalaia gasped, holding her hand in front of her mouth.
“What in the name of 88 hells is that?” The part
Bolian witnessed the two Ferengi statues had moved
from their positions and began attacking everyone in
the vicinity. The boy, George was the first victim,
his shoulder suffering from 2nd degree burns and was
quickly carried away by his three friends from the
scene. The statues’ eyes glowed bright red as they
sent out laser beams, aiming for anyone, unfortunate
enough to stand in their path. All the patrons,
unaccustomed to finding golden statues of the current
nagus suddenly attacking them, took to the doors,
eager to escape from the room.
A Tellarite yelled as he kept banging the door with
others crushing him from behind. “The door won’t open!
We’re stuck!” At the sound of these words, panic
rushed across the area like a tidal wave.
“We’re all going to die!” An elderly Betazoid woman
wailed as she struggled amidst three other patrons,
who were all Andorians to get away from the statues.
“They’re robots.” Ermila, watching from above at the
chaotic scene, commented angrily. “Smells like Valyris
Xersax’s handy work to me.” She felt Tomney’s hands
wrap around her shoulders.
“Ana has fallen into that old man’s trap and is
likely captured,” the tall Trill stated, thinking
sadly of his younger sister. He wondered depressingly
whether he would see her and his children again. But
the 36 year old man chided himself for having such
negative thoughts even if it was just for a second. He
noticed his father stand beside him and Ermila.
Chrystoph inquired. “Have you seen your mother and
sister around?”
“I don’t know where Elina is.” Ermila shrugged,
pulling behind a red strand. “As for Ana, I haven’t
seen her at all this evening.” Some of the guests
began running up the stairs hoping the doors leading
to the private dining rooms corridor was not locked.
Others took refuge under the tables, behind pillars
and some foolish ones held onto the chairs to ward off
the robots’ advances, which ended up futile for them.
Hansel warned, taking a couple of steps back and
grabbing hold of his wife’s elbow. “We need to get out
of here.” He cocked his head in the direction of the
staircase, where one of the robots was heading up.
Tomney, Ermila and Chrystoph took the brown haired
scientist’s warning in heed and began walking away
from the ledge in the direction of the exit to the
private dining room corridor.
The nagus statue had already reached the upper level
and randomly attacked everyone there without care for
whom or where they originated. “Why isn’t security
here?” Tebro grumbled under his breath as red laser
beams were sent across the room behind him, hitting a
waiter’s leg. The waiter dropped the tray holding wine
glasses and fell to the floor, yelping in pain. The
glasses slipped off and broke in many pieces. Purple
liquid was splashed on the carpet. The statue’s next
victim, a Ferengi was not as lucky as it managed to
knock him over a chair and hit the table with great
force, knocking the patron unconscious. The golden
nagus rotated its head to the side and then turned
around, its eyes streaming out another set of laser
beams aiming for the backs of those dashing towards
the exit.
Ermila screamed. “Tomney! Look out!” She watched in
fear as her husband was found to be right in the path
of the red beams. The rays came within a mere inches
from the blond Trill’s head, when suddenly someone
pushed him out of the way, thereby allowing the beams
to hit the wall. Tomney was sprawling on the floor,
elbows held high to cover his face.
“You okay?” a familiar voice inquired, feeling
concerned.
The Trill put his arms down and to his great relief
saw a dark blond haired man standing above him.
“Matthew…” He was lifted up to his feet by the half-El
Aurian, who carried a type 2 phaser.
“Glad I could be of assistance,” Matthew said,
grinning at his brother in law. Phaser in hand, the
security officer leapt after the statue, which was
chasing Sarena and her younger sister, Rimni, who was
in her early twenties. Nilanti tripped over her dress
and dropped to the floor as the golden Nagus stopped
within touching distance of the diplomat’s feet.
Sarena stared calmly into the statue’s glowing red
eyes, preferring to maintain her dignity in the wake
of death. Her sister whimpered, tears beginning to
flow down her pale cheeks.
Haley dived to the ground, his phaser raised to aim
for the attacker’s eyes, knowing they were the source
of the laser beams. The El Aurian hybrid fired two
shots and successfully took out both eyes, which
neutralized the robot’s weapons. Matthew fired again
at the golden Ferengi and managed to damage the arms
and knock its head off. The statue went offline and
was no longer a threat. Nilanti slowly got up and
turned to face the Starfleet officer. “Thank you,” she
said, unemotionally and then walked away to meet up
with her two frantic sisters and mother who were just
relieved to see her escape death.
Matthew heaved out a huge sigh as the doors parted to
allow two members of the liner’s security personnel to
enter the room. Spotting the commotion at the bottom
level, where one statue still remained at large, the
officers, comprising of a human man and a Bajoran
woman, sprinted down the stairs to neutralize the
threat. More weapons’ fire was heard, until everything
went quiet. One of the patrons, a young Risean man
looked over the railing and cheered in delight. “They
did it. They stopped the other statue!” Haley cocked
his head over to Tomel and Kalaia and produced a weak
smile.
Weron remarked, out of relief. “You came in the nick
of time, Matthew.” The couple surrounded the young El
Aurian hybrid.
Hansel inquired, glancing with interest at the fallen
statue. “Did you find Anaqueen?”
Matthew nodded, wiping the sweat off his brow and
panting. “Yes, she’s with Elina right now and should
be out here soon.”
“Is she okay?” Kalaia asked, sounding concerned as she
noticed the half-El Aurian’s eyes were fixed on the
door.
Haley nodded. “She’s doing fine, slightly injured and
angry.”
Tomel inquired. “What happened during the meeting?”
Matthew sighed as he quickly explained everything that
happened till the events in the ballroom.
Anaqueen entered the room and studied the chaotic
scene with a heavy heart. When Valyris made the threat
about the Orkovs getting destroyed, an all out
patrician attack did not cross her mind. The Trill
Captain’s expression darkened, wishing the old man did
not die so that she could strangle him right then. Ana
estimated there were a lot of wounded amongst the
victims and probably a few dead. Medics were pouring
into the room and Ana sighed, knowing the medical
facilities on the liner were not good enough to deal
with a situation like the one in the ballroom.
“Ana,” her brother greeted with relief plastered on
his pale face. “I’m so glad you’ve made it out
alright.” His wife came beside him and inquired.
“What happened? Did Valyris say where he is holding
the children?”
Ana replied, using a cautious tone. “Valyris reneged
on the deal and set up the meeting to kill me.” Ermila
gasped in shock, while Tomney closed his eyes.
Spankryz paused a moment to take a breath before
continuing. “I fought him back and as a result of an
accident, he died.”
“Well, I’m relieved to hear that monster’s dead.” Her
brother sighed heavily. “And that you survived.”
Ermila nodded, concurring with her husband. “I feel
the same too.” Shaking due to nervousness, the Trill
scientist questioned. “What about our babies?”
“Valyris never mentioned anything about them.”
Anaqueen informed. “But Telara managed to locate them
two decks above this one and Nicole is heading there
right now, mounting a rescue.”
Ermila clutched her chest in happiness and turned to
her husband. “The children are here!”
“I know, dear,” Tomney stated, pulling his wife into
an embrace. “Let’s just hope they’re okay.”
Ana sighed, taking her attention away from the couple
to the fallen robot, lying beside a table. She
wondered how long the late Xersax patriarch was
planning the attack. The Trill suspected he was not
alone in the plan and knew his associates had a big
hand in it. She watched Weron heading towards the
robot to inspect it. Kalaia minored in Engineering and
had great expertise in cybernetics. Ana hoped the
Bolian hybrid would find a clue that would shed light
to the whole mystery surrounding that day’s attack.
[[Telara to Spankryz,]] the welcoming voice of the
Romulan/Andorian intel agent was suddenly heard by the
Trill Captain.
Ana responded, pressing her earring. “Spankryz here.
Report.” She had sighed with relief knowing
communications had been restored.
Telara reported. [[Source of the jamming came from the
ballroom.]] The agent had already known of the attack
in the ballroom, due to her having access to all of
the ship’s holocams, placed for security purposes in
all public areas.
“The robots?” Spankryz queried, eyeing the examination
Weron was conducting on one of the statues.
[[Yes Captain.]] The Romulan hybrid confirmed. [[My
sensors picked up noise interference sent by the
Ferengi robots.]] With the statues deactivated, the
jamming stopped, thereby restoring all forms of
communication to and from the ballroom deck.
Ana questioned, glancing at Tomney and Ermila. “Heard
anything from Lt. Townsend?”
[[She’s in the first class deck,]] Telara replied
before pausing. Five minutes later, the hybrid
informed. [[Townsend contacted me stating ‘Little ones
safe’. She’s proceeding to my location.]]
Upon hearing the news of the children, Anaqueen
smiled with relief. “Thank you, Lieutenant. Spankryz
out.” The Trill walked over quickly to her brother and
sister in law. Matthew was already there, comforting
them. Ana announced, sounding relieved and happy.
“Tomney, Ermila. I was just told by Telara that the
children were found unharmed and are currently en
route to Telara’s cabin.”
Ermila questioned, sounding eager. “When can Tomney
and I see them?”
“Soon, I hope,” Anaqueen assured, clasping the older
woman’s hands.
Tomney sighed, feeling grateful. “I just don’t know
how to thank you both.”
“You don’t have to,” Matthew stated, smiling as he
patted his brother in law’s back. “We’re just happy
the children are safe and you will be reunited with
them.”
[[This is Captain Jeikor speaking,]] the voice
belonging to the liner’s captain blared in the room.
Everyone grew silent, anticipating for news. One of
the patrons muttered angrily, ‘about time.’
Jeikor informed calmly. [[In the past half-hour, all
communications to the ballroom deck was blocked and so
we had no idea of the attack that took place there
until after it ended.]] Gasps, complaints and
grumblings were heard amongst some of the guest. One
patron, an elderly human man threatened to sue Orkov
Enterprises. [[Rest assured,]] the Queen Elina’s
captain assured. [[A request for help has been sent to
any nearby vessels.]] The cruise ship was currently
approaching the Sol system. [[Two Starfleet vessels
have responded to our hails and will be here in five
minutes.]]
“That’s excellent news,” Kalaia said to herself as she
worked on examining the circuitry inside the robot’s
head. She could hear Jaroud accusing his elder brother
and rolled her eyes. **Stupid aristocrats. **
Jaroud accused. “Are you trying to murder me and my
daughters in order to steal my wife and inheritance?”
Chrystoph denied angrily and at the same glancing at
Zarina with a pleading look in his eyes. “I had no
part in this attack and neither did Elina.”
Sarena stepped forward, standing next to her father
and questioned in an icy tone. “You dare claim that
unjoined commoner wife of yours and her family is
innocent in all of this, considering she owns this
liner?”
Tebro defended. “Look, my wife may be a very ruthless
woman, but even she wouldn’t go this far and
jeopardize others’ lives.”
Jaroud announced sardonically. “Well it looks like
that witch has finally decided to show her ugly face
to us.” He watched with disdain at Elina striding into
the room, looking cool as a cucumber.
Having heard her brother in law ridiculing her, the
blonde matriarch retorted, using the same tone.
“Didn’t get someone aside from your wife to warm your
bed tonight, Jaroud.” Elina was fully aware of
Pentar’s extramarital dalliances and often taunted the
aristocrat regarding his affairs.
Sarena challenged, feeling outraged. “How dare you
accuse my father, a very honorable and
well-accomplished man of such malicious lies?” She
stared angrily at Ms. Orkov.
Elina’s response was loud laughter. “Sarena, you’re a
naïve little girl to believe your father is so
perfect, just because of his lineage,” the blonde
derided. “Get back to the children’s playground where
you belong or run crying to your precious granny.” The
older Trill was referring to Sarena’s grandmother,
Marin, whom Elina felt a burning hatred for. “In fact,
I have it on good authority that the Xersaxes were
behind this attack,” the Orkov matriarch blurted out,
clearly frustrating her daughter, who did not want
Valyris’ death to be known until after the Starfleet
reinforcements, arrived.
“Oh, of course you will blame the Xersaxes,
considering they’re your sworn enemies,” Jaroud
disparaged his sister in law’s claim.
Ana jumped in before her mother blabbered everything.
“Certainly, Mr. Pentar, inflammatory accusations
against my mother are unwarranted, considering an
investigation into this entire incident hasn’t begun.”
“Oh, Elina’s long lost daughter finally comes to her
mother’s defense,” her uncle mocked. “Believe
me…what’s your name. I don’t need an investigation to
show that your family is behind this whole attack and
that pinning the crime on Valyris Xersax isn’t ever
going to force us to accept your family into our
fold.”
Ana responded sarcastically. “You think I want to be
part of a close minded group out of touch with the
present.” Her comment received fierce looks from both
Jaroud and his eldest daughter. The Trill decided to
walk away from the group and headed to check on
Kalaia’s progress with the examination of the robot.
Sarena insulted, her eyes shooting daggers at
Spankryz’s back. “I never could understand how the
commission deemed you fit for joining.”
Hansel came up behind Anaqueen and informed sounding
worried. “Ana, Telara told me her sensors pick up an
energy build up from this room.”
“Did she pinpoint the source?” The Captain questioned.
Tomel nodded, running a hand through his short, brown
hair. “Yes.” Alarm showed in his blue eyes, despite
the scientist’s calm tone. “And we need to immediately
evacuate everyone from this room.”
“Where is the source?” Spankryz demanded, her eyes
growing wide in fear. Before she could get an answer,
a loud shriek was heard from the ballroom’s lower
level. Everyone’s heads suddenly turned in the
direction of the stairs and their eyes fixed on the
giant Zane Rixx statue, looking horrified. The marble
structure raised its right hand until the fingers were
aimed at those unfortunate enough to face it. Tiny
black darts poured out of the statue’s finger tips and
sent across the room, randomly hitting anyone caught
in the projectiles’ path. The situation became
chaotic, where everyone dashed off in panic, forming a
stampede in their desperation to leave the room.
Matthew alerted, running towards the trio with his
phaser aimed at the Rixx robot. “Get behind the
table!” The half-El Aurian dived to the side, firing
at the statue’s right hand in particular, narrowly
missing its target by an inch. The security officer
kept shooting at the Bolian crime lord replica again,
while Ana, Hansel and Kalaia took refuge behind the
nearest table. A minute later, the attacks stopped and
an eerie silence took over the room. No one dared to
leave their hiding place for fear the robot would
strike again.
Kalaia observed, keeping one eye on the marble Rixx.
“The robot has been pre-programmed and likely set to
attack again.”
“Telara,” Ana spoke, tapping her earring. “Assuming
you’ve witnessed the entire attack via the security
cams, do you know if the robot is being controlled
from another location?”
[[Negative, Captain,]] the Romulan/Andorian hybrid
promptly replied. [[I can pick up no signal being sent
to the robot.]]
Matthew suggested, glancing at his wife. “Well the
only way to stop the robot attacking any further is
shoot it down.”
“He’s right,” Tomel concurred, picking out a tricorder
and quickly scanned the giant statue. “The robot has
no built in shielding, making it susceptible to heavy
weapons firing. So we do have a chance of stopping it
but as to how long we have before the next wave of
attack, I’m not really sure.”
Ana took a minute to consider Hansel and Matthew’s
proposal and decided with a sense of reluctance in her
voice. “Alright.” She turned to her husband. “Matthew,
gather the liner security team and take position on
your mark.”
“Right,” the half-El Aurian stood up, gently squeezing
his wife’s hand and quickly moved away to speak to the
head of the security team.
Anaqueen sighed heavily, watching her beloved starting
to converse with the security team leader, a middle
aged Trill man. She then turned her attention to
Elina, who was barking orders at Smi’gh to obtain the
services of a medic and at the same time, rubbing the
back of her shoulder. It didn’t take long for the
young woman to realize her mother was hit by the dart.
She also spotted Zarina watching Rimni anxiously who
was lying on the ground, whimpering in pain. Tara
Lores, the middle daughter, who was also a doctor, was
busy attempting to treat her little sister. Ana
groaned when catching Jaroud marching towards the Rixx
statue.
“What is that stuck up idiot doing now?” Weron
questioned, staring flabbergasted at the crown prince
of the Deimor family. She could hear Sarena stepping
forward.
“Father, don’t,” Nilanti warned, looking warily at the
statue. “This is not…”
Pentar ordered. “Go back to your mother and sisters,
Sarena.” Nilanti reluctantly backed off and returned
to her family. Jaroud, scratching his salt and pepper
hair, puffed his chest out and began smugly addressing
Chrystoph and the entire Orkov family. “Admit it!
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that your
family is behind the attacks. I mean…after all Elina
Orkov does own this cruise ship.” Chuckling, the man
blared on. “I mean isn’t it obvious? Ms. Orkov
conveniently invites all of us for the QUEEN ELINA’s
maiden voyage on the pretense of showing off. I mean
just look at the Orkov family history…a bunch of
unjoined commoners with criminal intentions.”
Elina croaked angrily, wincing in pain from the dart
but her voice could not carry more than a few feet.
“Jaroud, you fool, I never invited your family. You
just decided to come here as usual due to a morbid
curiosity of watching us the unjoined amusing
ourselves.”
Tomel whispered in a warning tone. “Energy’s building
up again inside the robot. It’s going to start again.”
Ana urged, watching her uncle in annoyance. “We need
to get *him* out of there, now.”
[[Well, we will have to forcefully carry Mr. Pentar
away, if he doesn’t cooperate,]] Haley stated, feeling
miffed Jaroud had decided to show boat during an
extremely critical situation.
The Trill woman agreed. “Understood.”
Kalaia whispered hoarsely. “Uh oh. We’re about to
enter the 77th hell.” Her remark drew her husband’s
and Captain Spankryz’s attention towards the robot,
whose marble mouth opened, revealing a black hole,
where one could sometimes have the impression it was
the gateway to perpetual darkness.
The liner’s security team leader yelled at Jaroud to
get away from the statue. Pentar refused by hurling
insults at the Trill man. Matthew aimed his phaser at
the target and the rest of the security team followed
suit ready on the half-El Aurian’s mark.
“LOOK BEHIND!” A woman’s voice was heard from amongst
the crowd yelling at Pentar. Jaroud immediately turned
around and froze as he was struck in the abdomen by a
green laser beam that jetted out of the robot’s mouth.
The last thing he saw was the evil eyes of the Bolian
crime lord statue blinking and closing its mouth. For
a minute, everyone in the room stood in silence gaping
at the fallen Trill man and the marble statue in
horror. Haley shouted and the security team began
firing at the Rixx robot.
“Telara said she has pinpointed the robot’s control
center,” Weron informed, checking the readings on her
tricorder.
Ana inquired, her eyes fixed on Rixx. “Where?”
“The bridge of Robo-Zane’s nose,” the blue woman
replied, stifling from snorting. “Hit that area and
the robot no longer functions.”
Spankryz tapped her earring. “Did you get that
Matthew?”
[[Copy that,]] her husband acknowledged, barely able
to hear his wife’s voice due to the sounds of phaser
firing.
Robo-Zane’s eyes gleamed in bright green and responded
by sending out darts from its right hand. This time,
most of the people in the room were prepared and took
refuge under or behind chairs and tables. The ones who
tried to escape the ballroom ended up getting hit.
Chrystoph, using a chair for cover, spotted Zarina out
in the open, standing above her husband’s body. The
former Trill diplomat left his hiding spot and rushed
towards his sister in law, just when Robo-Zane’s mouth
started to open again. Tomney noticing his father run
towards the statue forced the blond to leave the
hideout and race after the elder Trill. Ermila yelled,
following her husband. “Tomney, no!”
Ana turned around, upon hearing her sister in law’s
scream and then shot up to her full height, narrowly
missing the darts. Hansel tugged at the Captain’s arm
to pull her back down but she stubbornly refused. Two
of the liner’s security team members, a young Risean
man and a red haired human woman rushed towards
Pentar’s body to get the four Trill civilians out of
harm’s way. The next few seconds went by in a flash,
when the green beam from Robo-Zane’s mouth struck
again. Ana became paralyzed on the spot and was hardly
able to breath, when faced with the sight of her
beloved brother, along with the two security officers
who had managed to push Chrystoph and Zarina out of
the way, getting hit by the laser beam.
Matthew pulled a struggling Ermila, screaming at the
sight of her husband, before the beam could touch her.
The El Aurian hybrid pushed her behind the table,
where his wife, Hansel and Kalaia hid and returned to
assist the remaining members of the security team to
fend off the robot’s attacks. Weron comforted a
visibly shaken Ermila, who remained in shock. At that
moment, four teams of Starfleet security officers and
two groups of medical personnel materialized in the
room and joined liner security to put an end to the
Rixx statue’s reign of terror. Within two minutes,
Haley managed to target the area above Robo-Zane’s
nose and successfully struck it, rendering the robot
off-line.
After the chaos ended, Ana was shaken out of her
trance and at the sight of Tomney’s limp body, felt
disheartened. Matthew stood beside the Trill woman and
wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Both of them
watched the medics place the bodies on a stretcher and
transport them to the Starfleet vessels.
*/~/*
Epilogue
********
Location: Southern France, EARTH
Scene: Outside the villa
TI: Present
When a tragedy had occurred to a person or her loved
ones, she would feel her life was over and there was
nothing left anymore. But that was not always true, at
least not in Anaqueen Spankryz’s case. Tomney Orkov,
the Trill’s elder brother, suffered a brutal attack at
the hands of Xersax and his associates and was lying
comatose in Starfleet Medical HQ. Ana wished Valyris
wasn’t dead because she wanted to witness the justice
served to him for all the harm he had caused to her
family.
The medical officers, handling Tomney’s case, were
grim about his chances of recovering. The projectile’s
impact on her brother’s head had resulted in a shut
down of most of his internal organs. He was placed in
stasis till a medical solution was found to reverse
his condition. Ermila took a temporary leave of
absence from the Trill Science Ministry and decided to
take up residence with her children on EARTH to be
near Tomney. Chrystoph also decided to hang around to
support his daughter in law and grandchildren for a
few days, instead of returning back to TRILL to attend
his brother’s funeral.
Elina recovered from her surgery and planned to stay
on EARTH for a couple of days to deal with business
issues at her company branch in New York City before
heading back to TRILL to deal with the ramifications
regarding the incident on the QUEEN ELINA. While Orkov
Enterprises had to deal with law suits from many
disgruntled patrons caught in the attack, it did not
cause permanent damage to their reputation. Starfleet
Security immediately cleared Elina Orkov and her whole
family of the crime; however investigation was still
underway on Valyris Xersax’s involvement in the
orchestration of the attacks.
The Deimors in particular were angered over the tragic
death of their family heir. Unlike Tomney and the two
security personnel, Jaroud was unable to survive
because the symbiont died on impact with the laser
beam. The Trill homeworld were still in mourning over
Pentar’s murder. Since symbionts were very few and
precious to her people, Ana knew the death of even one
of those creatures would trigger a wave of sadness
amongst her people more than the hosts themselves.
Some local news agencies were already bashing Jaroud,
branding him as a failure for letting Pentar die.
Anaqueen stood on the patio of their villa, which
stood a few kilometers from the beach. Watching the
sun setting in the horizon and the waves of the
Mediterranean Sea beating against the white sands, the
Trill hoped to feel at peace, but instead wallowed in
guilt and melancholy over the last few days.
“There is no need for you to be standing alone out
here,” Matthew stated, announcing his presence to the
Trill woman. The handsome, athletically built man
stood beside his wife and held her hand.
Ana shrugged, glancing at the half-El Aurian. “I just
needed to do some thinking.”
“It’s not your fault, Ana.” The security officer
assured. “No one could have foreseen an attack of that
magnitude.”
“Well I should have.” Ana stated slowly, looking
downwards. “We’ve already received a warning about
Xersax planning something to ruin my family.” The
Trill Captain raised her voice, anger building up
inside her.
“You did the best that you could.” Matthew comforted,
gently pulling his wife in an embrace. “Besides you
and I weren’t even supposed to be part of the
investigation. Arlis and Nelia’s kidnapping pulled us
into the whole thing. And from what I hear Telara’s
team had eventually managed to complete their mission
successfully in the end, despite the tragedy in that
ballroom.”
She whispered sadly a few minutes later. “I don’t know
how I am going to live with myself if Tomney never
wakes up.”
“Tomney refused to heed your request to stay away from
the cruise ship,” her husband reasoned. “You did
everything you could to protect him and Ermila but
they were just too stubborn to stay behind.”
The Captain sighed. “Perhaps I should have locked them
in a room.”
“Well, I suggested that idea and you turned me down,”
Matthew pointed out, producing a wry smile. The couple
remained silent for the next ten minutes as they
stared at the evening sky in each other’s arms.
“What are we going to do next?” The El Aurian hybrid
inquired, ending the silence.
“We head back to the COMMENDATION tomorrow morning,”
the Trill Captain answered, breaking away from her
husband. “I have received a communiqué from fleet
command that we will head out with the 13th fleet in
two days.”
************************************************************************
Ranjani Sabarinathan
Speaking for...
[/\]o..
Lieutenant Commander Kathryn MacNeil, MD
Chief Operations Officer
GATEWAY STATION- 2
and
[/\]....
Captain Anaqueen Spankryz
Commanding Officer
USS COMMENDATION, NCC-10021 (Non RP ship)
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