Lt. Commander Sevantha Saa - Whats Behind Curtain Number 1?
Sevantha Saa
((Main Office, Administrative Building))
Trying to negotiate with someone who considered themselves all power was fairly futile. Sevantha knew this. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe she could truly negotiate with but she had to stall. If in that stalling she could get something Starfleet on the Astrachthoni they could use, then all the better. Tam and Wyatt needed cover, which meant she needed to talk while her crew worked.
She was the distraction.
Saa: I want a hard copy. Your choice of archaic paper or maybe a PADD? I had one in my uniform if you could give me that back instead of this wedding dress. That’s the proper attire as Starfleet Officer makes a deal in.::She glances back:: Theirs too, we three made the original deal, we should be the ones to oversee it.
Tam: I've always been partial to papyrus. It has a unique feel and satisfying crinkle.
Ral: Shouldn’t be a problem for you seeing as you can produce anything.
Sevantha actively had to work to keep a straight face at the remarks. Maybe she should have given orders for the two of them to stand down, let her handle it, but they were in a helpless situation. It was really only natural scenarios where one had a total loss of power that they used their words to bite back. To suppress their voices, after only the Four knew how long they were each experiencing time, she chose not to stop them.
N37W02K: You have a lot of demands for people in your position.
Sevantha opened her mouth to speak before hearing a piece of armor drop to the floor, clanging loudly and interrupting the talks.
Tam: Oops. I didn't mean to do that.
N37W02K: It seems your people can not keep themselves together.
Saa: ::defensively:: Cooking us under bright lights while she wears hot metal is fairly close to physical torture. She’s keeping herself from burning.
Tam was up to something, Sevantha was sure of it, but she couldn’t allow N37W02K to realize that. Focusing on their situation with the lights, their treatment, she performed with a sincere defensiveness any doctor would for a patient, and a friend would for a friend.
Tam: Sorry. Sorry. I'll get that.
N37W02K: You demand terms, and yet you are metaphorically and literally falling apart.
Amusement filled his voice at Divya’s antics while he directed his comments towards her. How little he thought of them standing before him. Sevantha worked to keep herself calm, reminding herself that they were in the jaws of the beast itself, and to act rashly were only served to damn the entire crew to years more of service.
Saa: Your people need us, without us, they are unsatisfied. ::She tilted her head:: And you need compliance because…
More metal clattering stalled Sevantha from responding. Her head turned slightly to express concern that masked the curiosity over the Operation Chief’s actions.
Tam: Really sorry.
Ral: You need a hand there Divya.
Unable to resist, Sevantha’s gaze followed Ral for a moment as he joined Divya, before turning to face the N37W02K. She couldn’t afford to give away their game even as more metal clanked together and a muffling weight dropped.
N37W02K: Clumsy oafs, unworthy of a starring role. The first terms will be that Ral and Tam will never be in a mainstage production. They haven’t the star quality.
Saa: …and you get to decide what someone’s value to the universe is? ::Glares:: Do none of your viewers disagree with your assessments? Divya and Wyatt are some of the bravest individuals I know…
Here, she was entirely truthful. Her mask and walls slipped momentarily, revealing her sincerity of her statements to her empathic friend. The three had served together on the front lines of Frontier Day together, enduring changeling assassins, Divya’s assimilation, and the rescue of those within the station above Earth.
They had known the shy Sevantha, the one who kept her head down and walked through sickbay trying to avoid causing any ripples. The girl who loathed aspects of herself as she dealt with the transition of Betazed society to a non-telepathic society, and neither had ever expressed any fear of her. There was a time they had not served together, and maybe, one day there would be days their paths split but they were here and now together.
And like hell was she letting a wannabe god devalue her friends and officers.
Tam: Response
Ral: Divya, are you ok?
Lights around them pulsed with the syllables of the words, bringing Sevantha to question if breathing was not the only thing the machine was doing for the creature. Yet, she didn’t believe the being itself was mechanical, yet. The Astrachthoni she had glimpsed were biological beings with technology that was vastly superior to the Federation, but not one of them had ever appeared mechanical. Nor were any of them truly Qs.
N37W02K: She will be relegated to Studio 1224. It is a far higher position than she deserves, but I will make that as a concession.
Ral: ::to Sevantha:: ~ Keep it talking. Whenever you challenge it the power requirements increase. ~
Saa: How gracious of you… They are both very capable in their fields. ::to Ral:: ~Something is strange about the biology of this being. Machine breathing, lines synchronized with speech, part of this feels like life support systems.~ ::to N37W02K:: You’ve scarcely seen what they can truly do.
Tam: Response
N37W02K: Performances require endurance and perseverance. Taking her on would truly be a detriment. I have already made that concession. Your male is not much better.
Her male? This sounded like slave trade. Her stomach tied itself in knots, Morro hadn’t shown her much in his mind on the subject, but he’d spoken a little about his life before.
Saa: A detriment? ::fist clenched her eyes narrow:: On what basis, this interaction?! Our talk isn’t an audition, it’s a negotiation, which we have agreed upon nothing.
Ral/Tam: Response
N37W02K: You forget, you are not in your territory, you are in hours. I am the N37W02K. I am the authority. What I say goes. I rule here. I am the law. If you are unwilling to accept my merciful concessions, then I will simply throw you into the archive.
Saa: The archive? When people do not agree with you, you simply archive them? You spend resources to stash them over just releasing them so they can live their lives? ::tilts her head:: You waste resources just to hold them captive and deny their existence any stories, even their own, which they have every right to experience.
Disgust crossed her features as she came to understand the N37W02K’s viewpoint further.
Ral/Tam: Response
Again the temperature increased, and Sevantha shifted uncomfortably even in what remained of the tattered wedding dress. Grabbing at more solid pieces of the dress attacked, Sevantha tore at the dress to cool herself, even as beads of sweat formed at the roots of her hair on the back of her neck. With the black curtains, the heat was only going to intensify if they didn’t find a way to stop it.
N37W02K: There is nothing beyond me. I am the end.
Then she recognized his words, the voice in which it spoke, the beings were not the same but their purpose and intent were.
The Herald: Beacon. You are mine. You will serve, or you will be undone.
Anger and defiance burned bright as she took two steps forward, challenging N37W02K as the memory of her previous oppressor surfaced.
Saa: …Do you think you’re the only being in this quadrant of the universe that has wielded its existence against the stars and cosmos, as the beginning and end, the ultimate holder of our fates. ::to Ral and Tam:: ~ Tear down all the curtains~
Sevantha tried her best to contain her anger, shield them both from her rage, but she couldn’t focus well enough to avoid letting them both feel it. Reaching up, she pulled one of the heavy metal pins from her hair, and then the other one, clutching them in her hand.
Ral/Tam: Response
Saa: A being once destroyed my body, reprinted it, burned its image into my eyes before I could think. ::She tilts her head:: Do you think we fear you? That Starfleet will not send more? ::she smiles brightly:: And there are faaaaar more problematic officers than these crews you’ve taken. You think you have problems now, wait for the Butler to arrive, then just wait until we team up and experience true devastation Starfleet can cause a self-appointed god and tyrant.
The very idea of the crew of the Octavia E. Butler crossed her mind and earned its own bit of a laugh. Their AIs would infect their technology and immeasurable havoc for the dependent species. There could be a complete case study on a society all forced to cut off from their addiction simultaneously.
Maybe she had cracked, maybe it was all for show, or maybe it was the catharsis she could never get from telling off the Herald for what had happened to her, what it had taken from her.
Ral/Tam/N37W02K: Response
They were running out of time.
Saa: ~NOW!~ ::wincing at the heat:: Beings who encase themselves in shadow must have something to hide. If their visage is not terrifying enough, they must rely on mystery and enigma. Divya!
Waving her hand outwards, she smirked.
Saa: What’s behind curtain number one!?
Ral/Tam/N37W02K: Response
Curtains around them came tumbling down. The intense light remained, but the reveal shared walls of machinery actively working. With machinery present, it meant Wyatt could start developing some understanding of the systems, rudimentary as she didn’t expect the man to develop a mastery of fifth-dimensional technology during a hostage situation.
The gold rings of her eyes burned with excitement as she spun around and saw the truth of N37W02K.
Behind it all was a large container filled with liquid containing a large, four-lobed floating brain with wires connected to both it and the container. These wires didn’t just stop there. They ran down and out, into the walls and floors. Their captor was not a regular Astrachthoni at all, but a piece of one that segmented itself and lived separated from its physical body.
Saa: So this is a life support system ::her eyes danced around before settling on N37W02K:: And you’re a brain, a rather remarkably pristine example of preservation, who’s clearly given up their body for some reason. A friend of mine would love to study you, and me without my tricorder-
N37W02K: Response
Again, Sevantha winced as the heat, sweat beads rolling down her cheeks.
Saa: I must have struck a sore subject….::She looked to Tam and Ral:: ~See if you can identify the defense systems in here and disable them, then we’ll work on figuring out if we can disconnect him, he has committed several crimes against Federation officers after all. ~
Ral/Tam: Response
[[To Be Continued…]]
