T'aehm nam-tor riolozhikaik
Posted on Jan 20, 2017 @ 11:22am by Lieutenant Cantor Von
Edited on on Jan 20, 2017 @ 11:25am
Mission: Holodeck Havoc
[/\]
"T'naehm nam-tor riolozhikaik"
(cont'd from "Damsels in distress" written by Alix)
- Translation from Vulcan: "War is Illogical"
[/\]
LOCATION: Holodeck 9, USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.17]0120.0608
SCENE: Main Operations, Sentok Nor
---
The tell-tale buzz of spiral-wave disruptors. Cries of pain and roars of determination. The machine smell of the newly constructed Cardassian station used by the Dominion after the invasion of Betazed.
"Computer: freeze program."
Lt. Cantor Von sensed the smell of burning flesh immediately dissipate as the the Holodeck froze the moment in time. Before him, as if displayed in a hastily built piece of artwork, Cardassian soldiers and Jem'Hadar exchanged fire with Betazoid freedom fighters that had infiltrated the seat of Dominion power in the Alpha Quadrant. From this station, created in the image of other Nor-class space stations such as the original Deep Space 9, Jem'Hadar troops had been created. The infamous Dr. Crell Moset had performed horrific experiments on Betazoids.
In a few short years, the entire peaceful - some say oblivious - culture on Betazed had been altered forever. Sure the planet's infrastructure and populace would recover. But it had so scarred the culture that subsequent generations would look at the invasion as a division point between naivety and good sense. Happening long before his birth, he had only heard whispers of it mentioned by elderly folks in his life. He had known it had been a "bad time". He had felt the dark place in the minds of all who had been there, walled off from his teenage explorations by the strongest of barriers. Von supposed his teenage rebellion against what was denied to him is what sparked his interest in the First Dominion War, and his eventual study of the Dominion in general. It was an arc that had eventually taken him to the Gamma Quadrant itself - in a Romulan vessel, no less.
The tableau before him featured freedom fighters who's names would never be known. The historical records from this period in Betazed's history was spotty at best; and the retaking of Sentok Nor was the most incomplete of them. Von knew that a Starfleet task force had just arrived in-system in apparent coordination with the Betazoid Resistance, but - in his professional opinion - the resistance fighters aboard Sentok Nor had never known whether Starfleet had fulfilled their end of the plan or not. Two previous liberation attempts had failed with great disaster and loss of life for the Federation. They had no idea whether this attempt would end any differently.
No, this once peaceful people had been driven to the point where they had begun using their telepathic ability with as much ferocity and primeval intent as an animal might bite or a claw an aggressor. The holocaust of billions of Betazoids, the experimentations, the atrocities - they had forged a generation who would pass down the premise that their innocence had been taken advantage of. Von remembered his grandfather always subtly pushing, whether telepathically or verbally, to stand up for himself, to never be taken advantage of, to be wary. This all came from a dark core - a dark wound - that he never revealed to his young grandson. Von had only known to fear it and feel sorry for his grandfather. Something bad had happened to his grandfather. Something a young mind was not allowed to be shown.
Sure, he had eventually learned the nuances of the Dominion. The culture formed by the paranoid outlook of its changeling Founders. The subjugation of the Cardassians, the Vorta, the Dosi, the Karemma, and many others. The creation of their military servant race, the Jem'Hadar. And while he intellectually understood the Dominion's first contact with the Federation and the beginning of the First Dominion War, he still came here to bear witness to the selflessness of the Betazoid freedom fighters. That despite being recreated in as much detail as possible, their names would never be known. Their names would be lost in time forever. Their lives had ended, violently, long before his had begun.
Cantor Von knelt down and touched the harsh metal deck of the operations center. Was it morbid curiosity that had him return to this moment in time again and again? Was it the insatiable need to know if he could do the same as these freedom fighters, if called to? He had spent his life before Starfleet studying the Dominion and the history of the First Dominion War. It had eventually put him on a Romulan ship in the Gamma Quadrant studying the "boogey man" of his youth. The very same people that had forged the dark core he had always sensed in his grandfather's mind. And he had come away learning as much about the Romulan people as he had about the feared Dominion.
Yes, he had been ordered to put this holodeck through its paces. But to be honest, this is often what he would do when he had access to a holodeck or holosuite. He had been without either for seven years and he had forgotten the hold this moment of the past had on him.
"Computer: reset time sequence and start again."
---
NRPG: Boom: grimdark.
[/\]
Marko J. Sertic
aka
Lt. Cantor Von
Chief Operations Officer
USS PHOENIX
--
Marko J. Sertic
