Lt. T’Fearne - Coming Up for Air
Teayl Thorn
((Tactical Clam, Unity Cortex, Central Dorsal, Narhelion))
The fissure yawned in space before them like an ocean trench opening into unknowable darkness.
T’Feanre had swam in the oceans of Betazed since she was a child. Except for a near drowning in a subsurface stream beneath the ruins of an ancient Bajoran temple, water had never frightened her. The unknown behind this anomaly worried her less than what was pursuing them.
Just Three minutes to the fissure.
Through Narhelion's vision the anomaly didn’t feel dangerous. It felt familiar and more like a beacon along a migration path remembered by instincts older than civilizations. What its ancient call meant, T’Fearne didn’t know, but she could see the route clearly through the cosmozoan’s sensorium as Nary locked her course back onto it.
T’Fearne: ~ We have to go through. There is no time to stop and disembark. The Ronin is in no shape to survive an encounter with that ship. Whatever is on the other side...we face it together. ~
Venn: ~ I don’t believe she’s paying us much attention, anymore. We’re there. Just hold on, T’Fearne, because I think this is going to be a close one. ~
A system within Narhelion seemed to be awakening, siphoning energy, nearing a critical point.
Power flowed through organs T'Fearne still had no names for, gathering into harmonic resonance. A sound rose in the shared mind link, but T’Fearne thought she could also hear it with her ears, a strange archaic sound that she had never heard the like of and likely never would again. The song of an ancient race of space dwelling lifeforms. As the song came to a climax, T’Fearne felt the exaltation as the fissure pulsed in answer, its edges flaring in reaction to what she realised was a key.
And then everything went very wrong.
A spike of Sencha radiation erupted from the approaching leviathan-class. Through Narhelion's senses she watched its trajectory. Not towards Narhelion, but towards Ronin's vulnerable hull.
She felt herself losing composure, coming apart at the seams as Narhelion made the choice to become the sacrifice.
NO! Narhelion will not lose any more Caretakers!!
The great creature turned, thoughts leaked through the link and T’Fearne knew the moment the Sencha hit. Its malevolent beam punched through armour and hull-flesh like it barely existed. Her arm was severed…no, Narhelions dorsal fin was severed clean through. T’Fearne felt the loss, the throbbing in her shoulder, the pain and loss of a limb echoed through both of them until she no longer knew whose body she inhabited. . She was past screaming. Only a low, furious groan escaped her lips.
PAIN
A shiver ran through T’Fearne as kilometers of skin that wasn’t hers blistered. T'Fearne could tell she was too close, too deep in the mind link, too entwined and too inexperienced with the telepathic side of her heritage. The alien’s tactical network flowed through her as smoothly as her own nervous system. She knew, with a terrible certainty, that if Narhelion died, she would go down with her, with no way to extract by herself.
With a silent snarl she turned the polaron beam weapon toward the large attacking ship. Unleashing the violet lightning at the attacker. She felt Narhelion turning deliberately to shield the Ronin as they crossed the threshold together.
And then they plunged through what felt like a bath infused with an analgesic. She stared transfixed, her body still as she stared at the inside of a spatial anomaly through the sensory organ of an ancient space dwelling alien. Energy streamed past her in striations of colour and she looked back to see the Leviathan-class bearing down on her aft until a contemptuous pulse from Narhelion snapped the fissure closed behind them. The darkness of space winked out, replaced by streams of energy.
Abruptly the trip ended, the colour shredded around her as they burst into a new space.
A place that Narhelions stellar maps returned a simple designation.
Home.
Venn: ~ Thank you, Narhelion. You’re safe, and we’re safe. Rest now, you’ve earned it. ~
Venn’s mental voice startled her and she managed to open her eyes to focus other woman with her real eyes. Venn was already withdrawing from the link.
She noticed the other woman's physical signs of connection to Narhelion. The glowing blue tracery winding around the Intelligence officer's hands pulsed and began to fade.
Venn: T’Fearne. It’s time. You were correct, we were too close. And…
The Tactical Caretaker stared blankly at Venn’s face through her mutated blue lashes. Narhelion’s tactical network felt more real than the room around her. She could feel the weapons cooling down. She could feel a sense of sanctuary.
oO Why disconnect? Oo
Her thoughts didn’t quite follow. Narhelion still needed protection. In that moment the battle fog of mental fatigue, using telepathy in a way she never had before, T’Fearne couldn’t really think of a forward or an after. She would rest and she would keep serving as Narhelion’s tactical/security caretaker…or officer…?
Venn: And, thank you for your encouragement when I was getting overwhelmed. It helped.
Something about the woman's uncertain gratitude put a crack in the complacency that wrapped around her mind. T’Fearne blinked. Blinked again. Was this her duty? To Protect…protect the crew…Ronin, not Narhelion. She had given enough…now it was time to come back.
The brilliant blue glow flooding her eyes began to fade, the familiar dark obsidian clearing as she looked at their mission specialist. With visible effort she peeled her hand away from the living console. She swallowed, her voice coming rusty from disuse.
T’Fearne: You…you are… welcome, Lieutenant. That's what we do for each other. :: slight smile :: I’m glad Starfleet sent you…whether you wanted the assignment or not. It seems like you arrived where you needed to be.
Around them she became aware of the Cortex again. The semi transparent barrier of the tactical shell still surrounded them. T’Fearne could hear and sense the others, their voices and occasionally their heartbeats. Everyone was alive. Some were injured but alive and that was enough for now.
[End Mission for T’Fearne]
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Security Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
R240107T14