SIM:A Dream of Old
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(( T'Ana's Quarters - USS Thunder-A )) :: The room was dark with only the glow of the stars and the singular sound in the room was the cascade of water from the meditation fountain that she had gotten to keep up her ruse. She had her arms folded across her chest and eyes closed focusing in on the sound trying to block out the thoughts and the urges that coursed through her body. The Tal Delata had spared no expense in training their assassins. She had gone through a rigorous set of physical and mental challenges that turned her in to a lethal weapon, she had passed her Trial by Dagger by carrying out the assassination of a Nausicaan pirate lord with only a stiletto dagger with the odds purposely stacked against her. Her mind had been trained to see exits, angles, paths, and the best possible way to kill everyone in her field of view if she had too. The young Romulan woman was sure that there were even subtle conditioning programmed in to her by the psych officers. It would definitely explain the sudden urges to kill her target without thought. One thing was for sure, she had to keep her distance from Captain Turner for the time being. Her mind began to drift towards sleep, and she allowed it to seize her and carry her away. :: (( FLASHBACK - Tal Delata Insertion Shuttle )) :: Her Counselor had warned her that the Umhi faikaru (Trial by Dagger) was hard and that she would face, but it had become so in a way she never would have expected. Shiarrael gripped the hand rail keeping herself upright while the front hatch began to lower showing the black rocky surface being pelted by a heavy rainstorm. :: Shudal: There is your landing zone. Shiarrael: I shall succeed, Counselor. Shudal: You must, but you must succeed with nothing. For that is the only way you will be sure to carry out your future missions. :: The tone immediately set off her instinct of trouble, but she did not have time to react, the two escorts grabbed her placing pressure on her spine so if she fought, they could easily snap it. She did not resist as the third grabbed a hold of her jumpsuit zipper and pulled it down. :: Shiarrael: Counselor! Shudal: You must succeed with nothing because you are the weapon. :: The young Romulan woman was roughly removed of all her weapons and clothing and left trying to cover herself at the edge of the open port. The icy cold rain stung her bare skin. The guards roughly pushed her out and she fell to her knees on the hard jagged rocks of the planet surface. :: Shudal: Good luck, young one. We'll be here in 21 hours. You have until then to kill Jrak. :: The shuttle lifted, the magnetic repulsors blowing the rain and pebbles her direction. Each piece stung her and she tried in vain to protect herself. Shiarrael watched as the shuttle lifted and vanished in to the sky plunging her in the dark of night. Naked and alone with no weapons, her mind began to work trying to ignore the shivers that racked her body. Walking gingerly toward a cropping of ragged bushes and rocks, she crouched down behind them giving her a reprieve from the blowing weather. The rain still fell, but it eased enough to allow her to think. :: :: The computer that she had been relieved of had the pirate camp about a klick away from where she was to put down. Shiarrael focused on the mental image of the map trying to remember direction and land features. Opening them up again, she found that the ground was illuminated in the dull glow of an orbiting moon. This gave her enough light to pick out peak 132 where the camp was at the base. :: Shiarrael: oO I will succeed! Oo :: Moving cautiously through the rocks and bushes, she did not know how much time had passed before she saw the lights of the camp glowing up ahead. Her body was covered with cuts and scraps from tripping in the darkness, but Shiarrael ignored them keeping her focus on her mission. The death of the Pirate Lord. :: :: Upon reaching the outer camp, she spied two guards, one Andorian and one human underneath a makeshift tent propped between the rocks. Her eyes glittered as she quickly formulated a plan in her head. She quickly moved across the open area bathed in light and the two guards saw her. Then they hesitated. Shiarrael took in to consideration that the lack of clothing would distract them long enough for her to get in to range. She jump kicked in to the Andorian's chest sending him slamming against the rock and then spun on her heel missing the hand that tried to grab her from the human. The move brought her close enough to the human though that she was able to lift the knife out of his belt and using the momentum of her spin she threw it impelling the recovering Andorian in the throat. He fell gasping while the human tried to re-orient himself. The armor made him slow and it allowed her time to come up from behind him, leap on to his back and draw his disruptor from it's holster. As they fell forward from her weight, she placed it against the side of his skull and pulled the trigger washing the side of the cave with his blood. the blast had been muffled from the close proximity and the screaming storm. Quickly stripping the Andorian of his armor, she was about to dress when she hesitated. :: Shiarrael: oO The Counselor said with nothing. Does he mean start with nothing or I must kill him with nothing? Oo :: The Counselors of the Tal Delata were always vague in their mission perimeters to force their people to not only think, but to try to guess what was really meant. The Ambiguity of death they liked to call it. Tossing the clothing down, but keeping the disruptor. She would show Shudal that she was not weak. :: :: Following the path lit by the pirates with subdued lighting, she easily avoided the other guards not wishing to engage each one and weaken herself. Jrak was her target and the only thing. As she closed in on the main encampment, she found them at their dinner with Jrak in the middle of them eating away. In the center of the party, tied together were two human women wearing torn uniforms of a civilian freighter. They were gorging themselves on food from care packages that must have been on the freighter. A few feet away near the edge, a pile of bodies wearing the same uniform had been discarded. :: :: Taking her disruptor, she quickly flipped it over and opened the servicing panel. Tapping a few key codes, she heard the warning beep of an overload. She had thirty seconds, but it was all the time she needed. Sprinting forward, she leaped throwing herself towards the nearest guard with a shriek that caused all to jump up surprised. Landing on him, she drew his dagger swiftly, but also shoved the disruptor in to his armor casing. The other pirates ran forward, but she rolled and then dived behind the confused guard. Giving him a shove, he landed amongst the others who tried to help him up and then the disruptor detonated. :: :: Her roll had taken her behind a few of the crates so she was protected from the shrapnel. Standing, she found Jrak still standing and the others not dead, severely wounded. :: Jrak: What is THIS! Shiarrael: I've come to kill you. Jrak: You? A woman with a knife? You scare me? Shiarrael: Think of it this way, how your name is going to be laughed at because your were killed by a naked woman. :: The Nausicann reached for his disruptor, but she threw the dagger hitting his hand, he roared in anger, but moved his other hand to cover his face. She had landed on him throwing a punch at his throat. It glanced off and he hurled her off. Shiarrael landed hard, her back and legs being shredded on the sharp ground. She stood and found a long gash across her chest. Angered and in pain, she dodged between a crate as the disruptor round hit it. Moving quickly and low, Jrak tried to hit her, but could not keep steady as he kept gasping from the hit. Moving across a dead pirate, she drew his small dagger and crouched hidden in the shadows. :: Jrak: What are you? A hell beast? Are you one of the goddess' messengers? :: Shiarrael remained silent waiting for her opportunity. He took a few steps back in to perfect range. Propelling herself off of the boxes she was hiding behind, she landed on his back and shoved the dagger deep in to his neck. He screeched throwing himself around, but the sharp blade sliced through bone and veins. He fell to the ground twitching and gasping. As the light began to fade from his eyes, she whispered in to his ear. :: Shiarrael: I am death. :: Jrak was dead. She stood, covered both her and his blood. The adrenalin and rage gone, she found herself shaking tired. As she turned to leave, she heard a whimper and saw the two women still tied up. They looked at her with fear. Shiarrael felt different. She had done her mission, but with a coldness she had never experienced before. The emotion that she had been struggling with was gone and now she was one of them. The assassin of the Tal Delata. Walking toward them, she picked up a disruptor and set it to a medium setting and knelt down beside them. :: Annalisa: Please... :: No one could know of her existence. :: Shiarrael: I am sorry. All I can promise you is that it will be painless. :: The look of terror came in to their eyes, but she quickly fired to blasts at close range in to their chests. She caught them in her arms as they fell back and she let them down gently then closed their eyes with her hand. :: :: Quickly vanishing in to the shadows, she made her way back to the rendezvous point and found Shudal standing there with eye brow raised. :: Shudal: You are alive. Shiarrael: I am. Shudal: You found no clothing on the way? :: Looking down at herself, bare as the day she was born, Shiarrael found that she did not care anymore. She had no urge to hide herself. She was a tool, a weapon. That was all that mattered. :: Shiarrael: I don't need it to kill. :: The next few days, the Tal Delata took extremely good care of her, healing the scars and cuts, feeding her. The training was over and she was given the black jump suit with the fading Romulan falcon on it. Shudal treated her different, as a comrade than a pupil. He came to her three days later and plopped a PADD on her table. She picked it up. :: Shudal: We have created your identity. You are a Vulcan by the name of T'Ana. We will be sending you to P'Lem, a small outpost in Vulcan territory to setup your identity. After a year you will join Star Fleet Academy and then you will be stationed somewhere. You will be T'Ana until that time comes. T'Ana: I am ready, Counselor, for I am death. ((END OF FLASHBACK)) PNPC Ensign T'Ana |