MSPNPC Rossk Shes Ar-Dev — Unfulfilled Aspirations
jkpbem
(( OOC: Here comes the science bit. ))
(( Overgrown ruins, Aspiration Colony ))
Shes could feel His livers struggling. Sharp, undulating pains shot outward from the twin organs to his entire centre mass, a good sign that they were overcome by poison and beginning to shut down. Ironic that His livers, through which His loyalty and His discipline was channeled several times a day, would fail Him.
As He lie paralyzed on the open ground, His breaths grew increasingly laboured and His thoughts disturbingly fuzzy. The breathing apparatus was either malfunctioning, not mixing sufficient methane into the air, or its supply was depleted. Shes didn’t know how much time had passed since Koas had taken him from the Federation ship, but this couldn’t continue indefinitely. Eventually the poison would kill Him or He would suffocate.
He had never actually stepped foot on the planet that the Thama called Aspiration before today. The colony had been aptly named, and it was only further irony that this place, in which the hopes of Thama and Nascaik alike had been placed, would be where He breathed His last.
(( Flashback – Tactical Interceptor 219 – Seven years ago ))
Holding position just outside the star system, the tactical interceptor had just launched a probe on a direct course for the planet. Shes kept His eyes trained on the view cube, watching as the probe grew increasingly dim against the blackness of space.
Ar-Dev: Where is it on course to land?
Crewman: An uninhabited plain on the southern continent, Avssk. On the opposite side of the planet from the settled areas.
Ar-Dev: Time?
Crewman: Not long now. Less than two clicks.
Ar-Dev: Good.
The Thama’s connection to the planets they inhabited was inexplicable, some might characterise it as supernatural. Even if their technology couldn’t anticipate the probe’s arrival, the people themselves would feel it when it lands. Shes squinted as the probe arced behind the planet and vanished from sight, trying to keep it in His vision for as long as possible.
Crewman: The probe has entered the upper atmosphere. Impact in thirty clacks.
Shes nodded and turned His attention to the row of data cubes lining the bulkhead, each of them spitting out telemetry from the probe. He wasn’t a scientist by any means, but as the conversation about the dearth of Hypermales grew in urgency over the years, He had retained words and phrases He’d been exposed to. Certain chemical and mineral compounds, which ordinarily would mean nothing to Him, became scorched into His memory as the Nascaik’s understanding of them, and their potential importance, increased.
So far, the probe told them nothing new, but Shes hoped would change in just a few clacks when it landed on the planet. The Nascaik had been aware of the Thama’s unique relationship with nature for many years, but they never fully understood them. They seemed to have similar expansionist goals to the Nascaik, but their motivation was foreign. Why colonise a planet and leave it undeveloped?
Crewman: The probe has landed. It is boring through the crust now.
Ar-Dev: Then we don’t have much time. The Thama will detect its presence soon.
Shes looked again at the data cubes, hoping to find the magic combination of words appear before Him. Still nothing. Still nothing.
Crewman: The probe is approaching the mantle. ::beat:: We’ve found something, Avssk. Veins of frangicite throughout the inner crust. This could be it.
The excitement in the crewman’s voice was distasteful, but Shes couldn’t help feel a bit of the same. If this planet contained even one missing piece of the puzzle, it would put them another step closer to the completed picture. Shes and His wife had discussed having another child, the long awaited Hypermale son they had both desired. Perhaps His own aspirations would come true before then.
Ar-Dev: Good. Keep going.
Crewman: The probe has entered the mantle. ::beat:: Avssk, something is wrong. The probe’s power generator is overloading.
Ar-Dev: Order it to shut down.
Crewman: I can’t. Avssk, it’s not taking my commands. Overload is imminent.
Shes looked to the view cube, disregarding the garbled telemetry now coming back from the probe.
Crewman: The planet’s magnetic field is amplifying the overload, directing it outward in all directions.
Through the view cube, Shes saw a brief, almost imperceptible planetwide flickering, like sparks of static electricity caused by separating two pieces of fabric.
Ar-Dev: What happened?
It took the crewman several seconds to respond.
Crewman: A thermal shockwave. The colony’s fusion generators failed.
Ar-Dev: The colony?
Crewman: Incinerated.
Shes considered the situation for a moment. The discovery of the frangicite would no doubt please Unified Command, and the sudden disappearance of the planet’s population would facilitate the Administrative Corps establishing its own colony. The sum of all things is nought. This loss was the Nascaik’s gain. Shes might even get the Rossk ribbon He’d wanted for so long.
Ar-Dev: Take us to the far side of the planet. Blast the probe’s landing site with disruptors and sweep it over with baryon radiation. Then get us out of here.
(( End flashback ))
The Aspiration incident ended well for Shes–he was promoted to Rossk shortly thereafter–but results for the Nascaik as a whole were mixed. The Thama could never prove the Nascaik had anything to do with Aspiration’s destruction, but the loss of the colony and its inhabitants had only strengthened the aliens’ attachment to the planet, and in the ensuing years, it had taken on an almost religious significance to their people. The long-awaited Nascaik colony never materialised, and so neither did the frangicite.
Shes looked up at Ashal Koas, and as His limbs grew numb, He thought again about the lesson all Nascaik schoolchildren learn: the sum of all things is nought. To gain, someone else must lose. For the first time in His life, Shes was on the losing side of the equation.
Ashal walked slowly over, the hatred burning in her eyes matched only by His own. As she stood over Him, He silently spoke the words He had said several times each day of His life. Daps. Until He breathed His last.
TBC
MSPNPC Rossk Shes Ar-Dev
Military Commander, Nascaik Planetary Expeditionary & Defense Forces
Diplomatic Representative, Nascaik Defense Coalition
simmed by
Lieutenant JG Yogan Yalu
Helm Officer
USS Resolution NCC-78145
Justin
D238804DS0
As you liberate yourself in metaphor, think of others, those who have lost the right to speak.
— Mahmoud Darwish