PLOT - JL | Arrain tr'Verelan, Empress Psy'Daio, Princess Xue Daio, Kiv'Watt - "Once Upon A Dream" Pt II/II

Posted on Sun Nov 15th, 2015 @ 11:27pm by Xue'Daio Nox

2,467 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Agua Mala

Light as a feather, the vermillion clad Princess had followed the guidance of the Cimmerian one while the rest of the great ballroom shifted its weight uneasily and began to murmur back and forth to one another. She could see the gold and green shimmer of the human Commodore’s gown from the corner of her eye, half-heartedly watching as the woman quieted two ships of Federation officers with nothing more than her poise. It was an act that made the star-dust regent smirk. The rest of them? They waited, torn between watching their future and the reaction of their present. “They don’t exist…” Xue whispered with a smile, the ultimate veil to the dissidence to come, “Not tonight, they don’t exist. Tomorrow? Tomorrow they’ll come collecting, but not tonight… Not tonight.” She didn’t need to lay eyes on her mother to know, or feel, the hate and discontent that lurked within that harrowing gaze – nor could she have given a single iota less what the woman thought or felt. The freedom she had found was empowerment enough, and while she knew that they had flung wide the gates of Hell, she knew it to be completely and utterly necessary.

Let roll the tides of revolution.

He nodded, quietly understanding and curling his fingers into the fabric folds of her gown. At first it was a political maneuver – just enough to bring offense to the Empress. Remind her where her place was in the galaxy. Now, as emotions started to seep into his psyche Maec felt less engaged to the politics and more entranced by his dance partner. It was strange to him. After all, this woman was an alien. He should have been contemptuous and suspicious of her. One could not trust others – inferior creatures that were not Rihannsu. But there was something about this inferior creature that appealed to him.

“Hwi hhaetn iunnh.” (You seem troubled) The fair Princess spoke, her tongue and lips wrapping around the foreign Rhiannsu words with astounding precision and ease. Even she nearly paused to second guess herself, to second guess whether or not they were awake or simply dreaming this fantastic and disturbing dream. None of it, aside from her mother’s heavy ire, seemed real. The oil-black of Maec’s eyes glinting in the dimmed ballroom lights, and the steady thrumming of his heart, however, preached and championed the fact that they were very much awake. Even the sensation of his fingers kneading against her hip gave way to the surge of adrenaline laced heat that screamed she wasn’t dreaming. The sentence meant more than just the disturbance in the political force, it reached to encompass the way he looked at and seemed to study her. To one another they were nothing more than trivial, venomous insects meant to be crushed under the boot heels of one another’s societies, and yet somehow the bond forged between them had demanded more. More than just compassion. More than just understanding… It seemed to demand… Attraction… Magnetism… Love.

"You know my tongue." He said, casually as his eyes cast dispersion towards the woman's mother. He felt hatred of her – he didn't know why, but the queen sitting on the throne... He loathed her. Murderously. "I am troubled... Ever since our encounter my mind had been... Turbulent. I'm not certain why..." but he was, at least to some extent. Passion – something he had never felt before was being stirred in him. Was this a result of that shock? These dangerous creatures with deadly touches. He should be wary of her – so close and in her embrace. Any moment she could kill him – but yet he didn't feel fear, only enthralled by this game. Pulling her against his chest he twisted around allowing the frills of her dress to spread.

With a small gasp at the sensation of being drawn closer to the Romulan, Xue nodded in acknowledgment and a small measure of pride. "You wouldn't be the only one." She finally allowed herself to exhale, following his movements further across the dance floor. The sights and sounds of the party could be damned, including that of Ael'Riov Tr'Bak working the same ballroom floor with a very tense, though elegant, Commodore Ivanova. None of them mattered. Not the hateful Queen, not the Makta guards, not the rest of the Federation -- none of it. She'd finally found her element. "I swear at times I'm stuck in some dream where things..." She shook her head slightly, "Just don't make sense... And I don't think I ever want them to again." Of course she alluded, thinly veiled, to the way the two of them had fallen together in spite of genetically embedded points of contrition. If she were honest with herself, and she usually was, she'd have admitted that she wanted the dark Prince for her own – regardless of the cost or injury it would cause to the royal lineage she controlled with her choices.

The sound of the Ael'Riov being thrown to the floor by his guards as a measure of protection combined with the sudden death of the music and the gasps of people all around them broke Xue from her reverie. She gripped Maec's arms, torn between trying to protect him from danger and trying to see exactly where it was coming from. The wide rose of her eyes quickly scanned the dimly lit ball room to find the source of drama; a tall Trill stood between the Commodore and the downed Ael'Riov and both Federation and Romulan officers alike had converged in a circular standoff, each waiting and testing the merit of the other, each waiting for one to fire first -- but the shots wouldn't come. She could hear the Commodore calling for an emergency beam out over the hushed and excited whispers of the rest of the court, and see her mother bristling dangerously from where she sat. "No good can come of this, Maec..." The young Princess whimpered, keeping him close and her small self between him and the fray. There was murder in her mother's eyes, a glint of hate that made Xue's blood run cold.

"YOU!" Empress Psy'Daio screeched, her long talon like index finger outstretched and pointing towards the dark Prince while the Federation officers beamed safely away and the Ael'Riov was helped to his feet now that the 'threat' was over and done. "You planned this, you lecherous little whelp! Destroy the party, corrupt my daughter, and ruin our chances with the Federation!" She boomed much to Xue's horror. "I'll have you hung by your disgusting green neck!"

Xue, releasing Maec and slipping from his embrace, stepped out to confront her approaching mother. Her shoulders square and her head held high, the Princess was a sight of power to behold, shining as she was even in the half-lights. "The Arrain did nothing of the sort, mother, you're placing blame everywhere but where it belongs." She retorted strongly.

Psy'Daio was quick to sneer, pausing merely a foot or so from her delicate blossom of a daughter. "You always were the weakest link, Xue'Daio," She hissed, shaking her head, "Unworthy of the blood in your veins or the crown you wear. Consorting with a Romulan? How low."

"What makes it any different than what you do with the Ael'Riov in your own chambers? You sold our souls." The Princess retorted with a sniff, not bothering to look to see what the Romulan officer's reaction would be. She didn't care -- or perhaps it was more to the point that she didn't have time to care.

The sensation of burning was bright and painful. It seared along her every nerve ending, starting from the center of her chest where her mother's hand had been pressed through the thin, metallic material. It caused her body to go rigid, her eyes to squeeze shut, her breath to still, and her mouth to fall open in a wordless, soundless scream. Even behind her eyelids, the entire world went white and quickly mixed with the brightest flashes of color she had ever seen or felt... And then darkness. Darkness that pervaded every inch and fiber of her being. Darkness that blotted out the eternal sunshine of her emotions as she fell, limp and broken, to the ball room's marble floors to land in nothing more than heap of sanguine and silver; the spitting image, indeed, of blood pooling over freshly fallen snow.

Psy'Daio's savage hand stopped the sudden rush of the guards that rose to protect the Princess. Paused, they stood in confusion - desperately torn between saving the girl and obeying their Empress as she slowly began to close on the Romulan boy. "Look what you've made me do. Are you happy now? Have you served your Praetor well?" The blue-haired noble crowed. To her right, Kiv’Watt looked between the Romulan boy, the Empress, and his fallen daughter. Now would be the only chance at freedom they’d ever find, and that was only if the boy’s intentions were true.

He wouldn’t be disappointed.


Maec watched Xue’Daio’s collapse silently before slowly turning cold eyes towards the approaching Empress. He inhaled deeply and smiled at the woman. This lowly creature dared to address him in this manner? Some mad wench from a third rate Empire? “I do not serve the Praetor.” He slowly walked over to Xue’s body and knelt down, placing a finger against her neck – a pulse. Relief. “Of course a vile creature, such as yourself, would bed the livestock.” He glanced at tr’Bak. Standing up he shook his head disapprovingly “fair Empress I only serve the agency.” He threw his hand out and from his sleeve a disruptor slid into his palm. Her guards moved but, Maec was faster – before they could reach him the hot green bolt of plasma sizzled past them and hit the Empress squarely in the face. They all twisted in time to watch her body flail into oblivion as the energy of the weapon melted into her flesh in hot emerald brightness until only a thin wisp of ash remained.

Inhaling deeply Maec smirked savagely and then knelt down taking the Princess into his arms. “My friends – your Empress is dead and now your Princess belongs to me.”

Outrage quickly washed over the crowd in screams of horror and anger – yet Kiv’Watt only wore the faintest of smiles as he stepped towards the Romulan cradling his daughter’s body. The massive guard’s hands were held palm up in a show of neutrality. “Silence!” He called, “I can’t hear myself speak, let alone hear what the boy has to say.” Only the briefest chortles of protest lingered, mostly voicing concern for the Ascendancy’s future given the dramatic presence of the Romulans.

The Ael’Riov, however, with his hand still smarting and the brand of a Starfleet Delta becoming more and more readily apparent on his palm, couldn’t have cared less about the death of the Empress or the cur that held the Princess. They’d managed to escape their deaths later that evening by the grace of one, stupid, territorial Trill that had a skewed taste for revenge. Sooner, rather than later, they would all be dead if he had his choice. “Leave him. He’s not our concern,” Tr’Bak sighed, shooing his guards away as they attempted to stand for the Praetor’s foolish nephew. The smirks they wore as their postures relaxed spoke volumes of their allegiance. “The party was fun, while it lasted. Pay my respects for the Empress when you lay her dust bunnies to rest.” He drawled briefly before the green beam and whir of a transporter removed his presence, and those of his guards, from the vicinity.

With an eyebrow arched on his domed skull, the gold plated Makta guard simply shook his head at the retreating figures of Tr’Bak and his men. “Fool.” He hissed with contempt, already well aware of the battle that would be waged in the space above Apsha. Pride had been wounded, and pride, it seemed, was everything for a Romulan – which brought his attention back to the one holding the unconscious Princess.

“And where is it that you’d take her?” He asked the Arrain, both brows lifted as he pointed towards the heavens, “Hell is about to unfold there between the Federation and the Romulan sects. Both may die, and you certainly wouldn’t put the two of you in harm’s way having gone through all this trouble.” Kiv’Watt’s head shook to emphasize the point. “Staying here may be your only option, boy. The way I see it, you deserve a hero’s welcome for rescuing the Princess and ending an age of darkness for the Stenellis people. The choice is yours, but… I caution you to choose wisely.”

"Hell?" There was disinterest in Maec's voice. He didn't care about that. Let them fight it out- fools, both of them. Instead he gestured to the frail figure in his arms "I don't care to be a hero for your people. I only care about one thing."

For awhile their was uneasy silence as Kiv'Watt hung his head and considered the flippant Romulan's words and actions. The boy cared about one thing. One thing resonated over and over in the massive Makta's skull - beating a sound tattoo against his already throbbing temples until he finally looked up to study his daughter's face as it lay carefully tucked against the green blooded vermin's chest. The soft snow of her skin was a violent contrast to the bronze and darkness of his robes... It simply didn't belong there. The boy could be slaughtered long before he'd be able to remove her from the planet, it was always an option, but then also came the dawning realization that Xue had readily defended the Romulan against Psy'Daio - and he had turned in kind. Taboo or not, there was something there. "Your bravery is commendable," He finally began, holding out his hand to usher the Arrain away from the room full of eyes. "Let's get her tended to and figure it out from there. You have my oath that you will both be safe from the shtaka storm your brethren have created."

The dawn, he knew, would begin a new era in Stenellis history.

---

Arrain Maec i'Ahaefvthe tr'Verelan
Chief of Security & Tactical
Exchange Officer
USS Enterprise

&

Psy'Daio Nox
Empress of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Queen Dowager of Aleine
Queen of Apsha
Deceased

&

Xue'Daio Nox
Crowned Princess of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Lady of Aleine
Regent of Apsha
Stenellian Ambassador to the Federation

&

Kiv'Watt
apb October
Royal Guard
Stenellian Ascendancy

 

RSS Feed