[Back Log/Plot] JL | Empress Xue'Daio, Captain Vokar - "Falling Stars"

Posted on Thu Apr 21st, 2016 @ 11:57pm by Commander Almar Dahe'el & Xue'Daio Nox

2,058 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Resurgere
Location: Apsha

Observing the battle from the surface of Apsha would have been quite impossible without powerful telescopes, however the aftermath was proving to be something intensely beautiful. Debris from a now destroyed ship were caught in the planets gravitational pull and dragged, screaming, through the upper atmosphere - burning and streaking through the air as it disintegrated under the heat and pressure.

One such field of light was a huge collection of some of the larger parts of the wreckage and looked as if it were going to produce the same light show, the same beautiful patterns in the sky.

As it began to light, tinting the atmosphere with an orange glow, one piece of the debris seemed to slow dramatically and began to alter it's own trajectory, thrusters began to control it's descent somewhat, nothing denoting full control but enough to stop it from burning up on re-entry.

----

The sensitive nature of the injured Princess's ears had been, perhaps, her one saving grace when it came to her resurrection. The constant onslaught of sound, of voices, of the tingling crackling essence of electricity as it rolled through the sanctity of her veins -- it all kept her from slipping away into the gross and perverse silence of the grave her mother had intended to send her to. In another room, she could hear her father discussing the future with Maec. Outside her window, however, there was commotion. Commotion that begged for her to open her eyes and test her strength enough to crawl to the sill on shaking legs, opening the blinds and pressing upon the glass with trembling silver fingers. Her eyes, so weary and begging for sleep and escape from the burning pain of nearly being electrocuted, widened at the visions filling Apsha's beautiful night sky.

It was falling.

At least that's what it would have seemed. She knew better. She knew that the 'stars' that had flung themselves upon the planet's atmosphere were nothing more than the memories of either a Romulan or Federation ship. People had died, and Apsha's fate solely rested upon who had proven victorious.

Unless... Her elegant head tilted slightly, allowing her a quick glance over her shoulder in the direction of Maec's hushed voice. Still there, he'd prove to be very much the savior he'd never intended upon being whether Tr'Bak's misery would prove infectious or not.

=\v/= Escape Pod =\v/=

It had been close, too close.

The back of his right leg still twitched with pain as the burnt flesh stuck to the melted remains of his pants. His hands were steepled before him and his face was as solid as a rock, meditating through the tumbling and arcing nature of the escape pod's descent through the atmosphere. A carefully calculated route had not been possible, there had not been enough time and the Vulcan had only just made it inside before the ship had gone critical. That combined with the shockwave meant that he had very little control over where the pod would land, the only thing he knew for sure was that it would land on Apsha.

--- Apsha ---

The brightly shining rose of Xue's eyes watched as that final piece of debris fell further and further from the heavens. She knew what it was, feared it for what it could bring to the already turbulent society, and as such failed to flinch when she felt fingers close over the nearly bare expanse of her shoulders. It was a hand far too large to be Maec's, too heavy. The Romulan touched her as if she were made of porcelain or an artifact far too precious and forbidden from caress. No... The hand that touched her was far more familiar. "Find it." She said, her voice rough and rife with pain, "If someone is alive within, bring them here and do it quietly..."

Kiv'Watt merely nodded and allowed his hand to slip away from his daughter's form. She was well enough to give orders, and therefore well enough to defy being put back to bed... Far from being a child.

"Unless..."

He paused as she spoke again, wordlessly waiting for her to continue her line of thought as they both watched the pod plunge into the shallows of the sea near the palace.

"Unless it's Vrith tr'Bak. If it contains him, you're to kill him at once. Sever his head from the rest of him to be sure of it."

"Yes, your Grace."

---

The descent had been hard, the impact even harder and as Vokar began to come around, he shook his head a few times and reached out for the handle next to the hatch, pulling himself up so he could reach the breaching bolts, specks of copper blood splashed against the pitch black bulkhead. A minor cut to the forehead dripped blood down the scarred side of his face and pooled in the pits before streaking down towards his chin.

Activating the bolts caused the hatch to explode outwards and the pod to be flooded with the early evening sun, it washed over the Vulcan as he pulled himself out and placed a careful foot down on the ground, it was scorched by the heat from the pod as it had landed and a trail of debris made him look back at the pod in surprise.

It was destroyed, nearly complete destruction, the only thing left intact was the passenger compartment and even that had been bent and twisted slightly. Turning to look around himself again, Vokar lowered himself to the ground, folded his legs beneath him and sat for a moment, meditating as he attempted to balance his volatile emotional state.

The raucous sound of one of the great Makta reptile-mounts blowing a heavy and wary snort was quick to permeate the humid air. Next came the jingle and clang of its armor as it shook it's long, slab-like head and its rider collected the reins and lines necessary to keep the beast from proceeding forward towards the meditating Vulcan. "You're a new face." Kiv'Watt greeted the morbid looking fellow with a degree of curiosity -- a reprieve from the task he'd been bent on completing had it been a Romulan in the busted, washed up capsule. The lizard's tongue snaked out towards the bleeding man, resulting in having its face snatched back and away by a single, shrewd hand. "We don't eat our guests, Mirok... At least not until they give us reason to." The Makta chuckled lightly and returned his attention to the Vulcan, "Before I decide on what your fate is to be, Vulcan, I need to know where your allegiance lies. Federation or Romulan Star Empire?" He asked, leaning slightly over the pommel of his saddle.

Vokar didn't open his eyes, he remained sat on his knees as he replied, "My allegiance is to the Federation, though they do not agree with my methods." his words were slow and deliberate as he continued to focus himself, "Please excuse my demeanor, I feel that I bear internal injuries, if I do not meditate, I would risk further injury."

"The Federation?" Kiv'Watt considered the man's answer for a moment. He bore not a Federation uniform, but the pod, while destroyed, was distinctly Federation in nature. "Come. We'll see your wounds tended to and then you can explain just what in the Hell is going on."

"Lead the way, Stenellian." Vokar replied simply as he opened his eyes slowly.

---

It wouldn't be until a good day later that Xue'Daio would make her first acquaintance with the Vulcan that had survived such an ordeal. It would seem, immediately, that they had both overcome intense odds against their very existence and that alone tempered how the albino received news of the man's arrival. Still weak, even gaunt from her own critical brush with fate, she sat tucked beneath the heavy blankets of her bed and watched as her father lead the scarred and jagged man to a chair near the foot of where she rested propped against pillows.

"You'll have to forgive me," she began, "I normally wouldn't dream of inviting a stranger into my chambers, but you have me at a disadvantage and these are pressing matters."

"I had expected that someone would locate me after I made landfall, I did not anticipate that it would be your father, Princess." Vokar replied as he cast his good eye over the young woman carefully, "Given what has occurred here recently, I can see that they are indeed pressing."

Xue nodded in quiet agreement and understanding, "We saw your fall from grace." She felt the need to explain, "Giving someone else the chance to recover you and perhaps take their frustrations out on your existence wouldn't have been a viable option." Her lips twisted into the slightest of smiles, "And had you been someone else..." The expression soured slightly, twisting into something darker, "We'll just say that we had to be prepared to remedy that possible situation as well and keep a certain brand of poison at bay completely. I'm sure you understand."

He was a strange sort of creature, not at all typical of his breeding by any means. In him she could see the rawness of his nature, not to mention the fact his penchant for a fight had been wrought well over the crater-like scars across his face. As tired as she was, she couldn't help but take interest in him.

"Vrith Tr'Bak fled like the dog he is, he might choose to fight when he can ambush a ship on a diplomatic mission, but he will not fight when the fight is balanced." the Vulcan replied as he ran his hand over his face and flattened down his hair slightly, both his head and his leg ached from the injuries he'd sustained and that combined with the natural pain from his leg meant he was slightly on edge.

"I see." Xue mused and toyed with a single silvery strand of hair, "Pity, that. Well..." She sighed heavily, "I suppose there are things you and I will need to attend to or else you wouldn't have stormed my palace or demanded my attention. Am I correct?"

"I neither stormed nor demanded anything, Princess," Vokar replied with a light chuckle as he regarded her closely, "I was bought to the city by your father from my crash site, treated, albeit briefly, by your physicians and bought before you." he added as he ran a hand down his thigh and rubbed at the niggling pain in his knee, the one that gave him the pronounced limp when he was walking without his cane.

"Ah... Right..." The Albino hummed in response, reaching to pinch the bridge of her nose. "You'll have to forgive me, Captain Vokar, last night was a very long night for me as well. Nevertheless, I suggest we both give ourselves a day or so to be put back together better and then attend to what we both know must be accomplished."

"No forgiveness necessary, I understand completely," the scarred Vulcan replied as he forced himself to his feet, shaky for a moment, he steadied himself and placed a hand on the back of the chair, "We have much to discuss, you will be glad to know that the crew of the Vindicator escaped from Tr'Bak's trap with help from my ship and crew, the Vindicator herself was lost so your people may experience some debris being pulled into the atmosphere."

Tired as she was, Xue found herself perking up at the mention of the Vindicator's escape. "They're alive?" She asked incredulously, "All night we've seen the debris burning up, heard that the ship had been destroyed... Many of my people have begun mourning for the dead." She spoke softly, her lips pulling into a small sort of smile, pleased that Tr'Bak had failed on almost all counts, "With problems being what they were on the surface we were unable to send support. Thank you for rescuing them."

"I will fill your head with details when I return, for now, as you say, we both need to relax and recover." Vokar responded with a respectful bow of the head.

---

Empress Xue'Daio Nox
Empress of the Stenellian Ascendancy
Queen of Aleine
Queen of Apsha

&

Vokar
Vanguard Commander
VCD Pendragon CO

 

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