Imperial Star Story

Posted on 26 Jan 2022 @ 5:43pm by Commander Indi Hawk & Lieutenant Commander Cintia Sha'mer

1,974 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Past Prelude
Location: Mirror Universe, the past

The ship which formed around them was decidedly not a standard type courier vessel. Everything about it screamed 'alien', from the design to the type of lighting (slightly brighter than the standard light on Union ships) and the gravity (slightly lighter than standard). "Welcome to the Imperial Star," Sha'mer said, waving her free hand. "You're the first person in this quadrant who has ever stepped foot in it."

Before they disappeared from the bar, Indi had managed to quickly grab the bottle of vodka. She wasn't about to leave it behind. As the ship formed around her though, she almost dropped it. No ship of the Union was this sleek. She'd never been on a ship that, indeed, looked more alien than this. It was that impressive that she even momentarily forgot what had just happened. "This is nice," she whistled, taking a few steps in every direction to explore what she could see.

"It's not the one which is docked with the station," Sha'mer said. She looked at home here, more relaxed than she had been at any time before. "Even that one could've been bugged. I'm rather attached to my privacy. Especially with what I'm going to tell. There's… a significant gap between what is known about me and what's real." She smiled that rare smile which few others had ever seen, but which always seemed to come so easily with Indi. "Would you like to have a tour of the ship first? It's small, so as tours go, it's a quick one."

"Sure, that works," Indi nodded. She didn't know why, but it felt like the longer she could delay hearing Sha'mer's story, the better it was. But it was a feeling that didn't make sense. Then again, if the tour was indeed as brief as indicated, it didn't matter all that much.

The ship was indeed small, but the interior was very efficient and surprisingly spacious. Though it was hardly larger than the courier ship Sha'mer had used to get here, the engines were packed away in the bottom of the ship and barely seemed to take up space.

There was a fairly large living area which opened up into the cockpit, though that part of the ship could easily be sectioned off. There was a separate bedroom, surprisingly spacious. The walls lit up as they passed, and a wave of a hand activated and deactivated pictures and symbols, glowing green on a grey background, a completely alien alphabet. There was a small bathroom cubby that could be easily accessed from both the bedroom and the living area. At first it seemed to be a small, featureless room, but when Sha'mer pressed a few of the flowing symbols on the wall things morphed out of the wall and took shape: a basin, something that was probably a toilet, a wider basin which might double as a shower and a bath.

"The bedroom can be split into two if there are guests," Sha'mer said. "There's equipment there which can turn it into an impromptu sickbay. The ship has an autopilot mode and a limited AI."

The alien look and feel of the ship made Indi realize just how alien Sha'mer herself yet. Thus far, she'd never really seen her that way. Sure, they'd talked a bit about it. Sure, she knew she had tricks up her sleeve. But this technology was impressive. The ship was impressive. The Union wouldn't be ready for any of this for centuries to come.

By the end of the tour, she had no idea where to look first anymore. Everything was fascinating. It was such a capabilities to morph into anything you needed that it was scary. "Thanks for showing me," she nodded. What else was there to say?

"You're welcome." Sha'mer sat down on a shapeless blob in the living area which looked like a small, gelatinous beanbag, but which morphed around her into a chair and gestured to a similar blob. "If you want something other than vodka, or a refill, touch the centre of the table here and state your preference. It's like a replicator, but free-standing." She leaned back in the chair and stretched her leg with a wince. "Remind me to stock up on painkillers while I'm here. Works better than the Union stuff… obviously," she added, half to herself.

It felt weird to Indi to sit down on a blob than reshaped itself so she would sit comfortably. Looking down at the chair that had formed, she shook her head. "I'll try to remind you," she agreed. This entire process felt both elaborous--a way to stall for time, and nice at the same time. It felt nice to be trusted in this way, and yet, would it mean she would have to trust in return?

Sha'mer eyed the bottle of vodka. "I'm going to need a drink for this as well," she muttered. Instead of touching the table, however, she actually got up, touched the wall and opened the cabinet which appeared. From it she took a bottle with a pale blue liquid and a slender glass, considered for a moment, took out a second glass. When she closed the cabinet, it became part of the wall once again.

"Romulan ale," she said once she sat down again and poured herself a glass. "Would you like some?"

The choice because vodka and Romulan ale wasn't hard, so Indi smiled slightly. "I'm not saying no to that."

Sha'mer filled the second glass and handed it to Indi. She draind half of her own glass with a few quick swallows, took a breath and released it slowly. What in the name of all the stars and the spirits had prompted her to reciproke Indi's story with her own? A tentatively growing bond and the strength of an inner voice, that's what. She hoped her instincts held true. If not- She didn't want to think about the 'if not'.

"So. As you can see, I'm not from around here. My origins lie more or less on the other end of the galaxy, way in the back of what is called the Delta Quadrant here. There's a pretty big empire there. The emperor is a man called La'Garn of the house Go'dral. My name is Sha'mer Go'dral Fin. Yeah. He's my father." She smirked. "Not one of his legitimate offspring, thank the stars. The man must have over a hundred little bastards running around the Empire. The lucky ones are the ones he has discarded as useless. I was not so lucky." She paused and took another sip of her drink. The blue fluid burned down her throat and countered the chill which raking up her past always brought about. From over the rim of her glass she regarded Indi.

So far, Indi hadn't run away yet. So far, she hadn't heard anything yet that would make her run away. As the story was obviously far from finished, she just sat quietly and gave Sha'mer the time she needed.

"The less lucky ones were children he could use. For marriages, to cement alliances, or just as pawns in whatever he was involved in. But once they had fulfilled their uses, they were discarded. I wasn't that lucky either." Sha'mer rubbed her forehead with her free hand.

"You know a bit about my mental powers. I have… Well. Even amongst my people I'm a strong one. Nowhere near the strongest, I mean, compared to my mother I was-" She shrugged. "But strong. Strong enough for me to stand out and be deemed useful to my father. So when I was old enough, he started to send me out. I became what he needed me to be. A troubleshooter. An enforcer. A general. On rare occasions, a diplomat." She stared into the distance, through the bulkhead. A distance which crossed thousands of lightyears and an unknown number of actual years. "A punisher. Assassin. Murderer."

Suddenly her eyes focused on Indi again. "None of this is surprising to you, I know. Not after what you told. But… I've stood on the bridge of battlemoons and watched entire planets being sterilised or destroyed in punishment. Heard the death cries of millions of people at once. Others on the moon could close their minds against it. I could not. I sometimes hear them still."

As she listened, fear grew within Indi. She couldn't help it. She couldn't stop it. She could barely keep it at bay. Hardly something you'd expected from someone who was in charge of overal Security readiness throughout the fleet. But, here she was. When Sha'mer's eyes focused on hers, she couldn't help but look away.

But, if Sha'mer had been capable of all these things, had actually done all these things, then why hadn't she hurt Indi yet? Obviously, something was stopping her. Whether it was Indi herself, or the fact that she wanted to leave all those atrocities in the past, or a combination of both, or something altogether, she hadn't hurt Indi yet. And Indi didn't get the sense she ever would. She'd expected a heart-breaking story, but not quite this one. "I'm sorry you've had to go through all of that," she finally spoke.

"I still count myself luckier than my half-siblings, his legitimate children. They have no chance of getting out from under him. Though I've had to go through some drastic lengths to get away. Distance isn't relevant. If he wanted me, if he knew where I was, he could send a battlemoon to pick me up and it'd arrive here tomorrow. But he doesn't. As far as they're concerned, I'm dead. And I hope half a galaxy distance is enough to make it stay that way." Sha'mer finished her ale and immediately refilled her glass. She held the bottle over Indi's glass as well, asking without words if she wanted to have it topped off.

Holding out her glass, Indi contemplated that meaning. "That sure makes you live with a gigantic sword hanging over your head all the time. What do they think you're dead?"

"In all fairness, I nearly was. There was a battle, a nasty one. The ship I was on crashed. I barely made it out of there alive. If it hadn't been for one person I would've died there. She was the only of my half-siblings who didn't think La'Garn was… what's the expression here? The best thing since sliced bread. She got me to the Imperial Star – this ship – and made sure it couldn't be tracked. I ended up here more or less by accident." She picked up her glass again and was surprised to discover it was half-empty once more. "To be fair," she added half to herself, "Go'Lucu isn't bad either – he's the youngest. If Go'Shut can keep him out of daddy dearest clutches long enough to develop a sense of self, there's hope for him yet." She shrugged. "For all I know, they're all dead. I have no idea. There were a lot of unhappy people back there."

Their stories were so different, and yet so alike. They were enough to have made them into the people they were today. Then again, didn't that go for every person's life story? Indi contemplated it for a moment longer before realizing no more story was forthcoming for now. "Thank you for sharing. I know that's a hard thing to do."

Yes, of course she knew. After all, she had done it just now, hadn't she? Sha'mer sighed. "Yeah. I've created a new life for myself here. New name, new appearance. Obviously I couldn't fight any more, but I still have my expertise. Tactical insight. And some other tricks, but I prefer to keep them hidden for the most part." She shrugged.

So now they both had shared their stories. Now what?

 

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