MSNPC Aleatoranna “Tori” Semara - Truth and Consequences

[Max]

(( Somewhere aboard USS Khitomer, en route to Alpha Trionus II ))

The conference was a disaster.  Deep down, Tori knew it was too much to hope for the Starfleet crew would go along with their plan, but it was so much worse than that.  Somehow, she'd managed to break her family all over again in the span of just a few minutes.  At least it was efficient this time.  Then there was the absurd self-righteousness of all the officers in the room, so high and mighty in their sense of right and wrong, so fierce they raged at the very thought of it.  Let them find comfort in their morals when their fleets and family burned.

Her head was still spinning sickeningly from all the emotions - both her own and those of everyone in the conference.

Thank the four for Kael - the one perfect constant in her life.  How could she do anything other than love him?  She softened at his smile and his steady warmth.  Her fingers slipped back into his hand, the warmth of his skin and the strength of his hold keeping her from whirling away into the aether.

Kael: So :pause: that went well.

Tori snorted.

Tori: Our actions, our consequences.  That's what mom said, more or less.

It was always what she'd said any time Tori made a dubious choice as a little girl.  She was too tired to care that her words admitted she'd been talking telepathically with her mom.

Admiral: Response

Kael: I know I didn’t exactly help matters but they are so sure of themselves of their beliefs. It’s blinding them to the reality.

Tori: It's alright... :: Squeezing Kael's hand :: How can they be anything other than who they were?  It sounded like they wanted to go to Alpha Trionus II.  That's a start...  :: Shooting a glance to the Admiral ::

Admiral: Response

The floor felt like it was moving itself under her with each step, rather than her own power moving her body through the corridor.  Maybe that was just a risk of having become weirdly obsessed with relativity at a precious age, but it was unsettling and dizzying just the same.

Kael: Touché. I guess it is a big ask, but if it works then we’re saving not just a few hundred lives. We’re saving billions, whole planets. 

She could still picture the images of fire of overtaking whole continents after Lattice attacks when her empathic senses were just beginning to form.  The sensations she'd felt as a child every time a new planet was hit were tattooed somewhere inside of her.  It felt a little like that now with the nauseating phantom empathic sense of people-who-would-die at every corner.

Tori: We have to find a way.

Admiral: Response

Kael: I promise, cross my heart and hope to die.

A little smile forced its way onto Tori's lips to hear him talk like that and to laugh despite everything.  Then, inside of him, something snapped and banged as it smacked the inside of his forehead, the realization reverberating out of him and up the bones in her fingers and arms.

There was no disguising the worry creasing her eyes.

Tori: What is it, Kael?

Admiral: Response

Kael: That officer, the short blonde woman I know who she was or is. That’s Dad’s first wife! 

Tori sighed, his shame creating a pit of heavy sand for his mind to wade through.  She could almost feel it tugging at her own unsteady feet, threatening to trip her up.  It was all she could do to let her hand go to his shoulder, to try and hold him close.

Admiral: Response

Kael: He never talked about her. He would shut me down every time I asked, and there I was insulting her right in front of him.

Tori should have known something was wrong from the way the walls behind him seemed to warp strangely around them, distorted by the gravity of his feelings, but that same gravity seemed to be the only thing keeping her from careening off thinking about her mom.

Tori: Don't beat yourself up.  We all could have done things differently.  The worst part is over now.  I hope.

Admiral: Response

Kael: Should I talk to her, to Dad? Tell that happens to her if we do t do anything? 

Kael's eyes went down the hall, and Tori followed them to catch the woman disappearing back out of sigh.  The lights seemed to spin around her even faster with each time her head turned.

Tori: I think she's figured out what happens.  :: Beat, then a soft, searching voice :: What else would you say?  What would it change?

She needed those answers for herself and for her mom just as much as Kael needed them for Connor and Talia and Ayemet and Hobart.

Mom was still out there, still hurting, still searching...  For as long as the two were on the same ship, there was no avoiding feeling each other.

Admiral / Kael: Response

Her eyes closed, and her hand was still on Kael's shoulder.  She put a little more weight onto it - he was the only fixed point in a world that seemed to be spinning around her and wobbling under her like a top losing its energy.

Tori: I just think they need some time, love.  Let them tire themselves out looking at us, our past, the physics... Whatever they want. Eventually they'll figure out they need to just make a choice.

Or suffer the consequences.

Admiral / Kael: Response

Opening her eyes again and trying to walk was a mistake.  What had started as some kind of empathic migraine was quickly melting into her vision now, blurring the lights into grating, brilliant halos that forced her to squint.  She could almost swear she was tasting the metallic burrs of one of the nearby security officer's emotions, threatening to cut her tongue or make her puke or both.

Tori: I don't feel so good...

Something gave out beneath her.  It felt like she'd missed a stair step going down, but in reality it was just that her leg simply failed to fully acknowledge the signal her brain had sent it.  Pounding swirling took over her head as the floor rose up to meet her.  She was vaguely aware of Kael's strength - her rock and stone - catching her from falling hard against the floor, but she was still fairly certain her cheek was mashed up against something rough and unforgiving.  She hoped it was Kael's clothing, but it didn't smell like him.  His smell was altogether nicer...

She tried saying something, but just then everything went blank around her.

Tag / End (Briefly, for Tori)

------- λ ψ Ω ω Ω ψ λ -------

Aleatoranna “Tori” Violet Semara

Former Science Officer

Daughter of the Stars

Heiress to the Golden Leaf of Semizad

as written by

Lieutenant Junior Grade Amelia Magnolia Semara

Science Officer - Special Projects

USS Khitomer - NCC-62400

A239710MA0