Part Fifteen added on 17 Jun 2002
Disclaimers are in part 1.
Rating: NC17
Part Fifteen: Well of Souls.
Some Notes For Part 15:
1: This chapter was written many months after part 14, which is why it looks and perhaps reads differently then the other chapters. Apologies.
2: I'm well aware that Tiny resembles Chuckles in some ways. I just couldn't figure out a way to call him Wooden Guy ;)
Empty...
It was the only way to describe how was she was feeling when she woke up. Empty, and confused.
Pain shot through her body as she attempted to sit upright. And yet she was sure she hadn't been harmed in any way, at least not during this lifetime. Or perhaps she had...the cold steel-plated floor she had been lying on didn't seem that much of a comfortable place to take a nap on.
Quickly she scanned the small room, which appeared to be some kind of office, for anything she could identify herself with. Any reflecting surface would suffice, but her shoulders sagged as she found no such thing.
Her hand involuntarily reached up to touch her own face, caressing the soft skin as if she was touching another person. Her other hand weaved through her soft hair, pulling a couple out to see what colour they were.
Still black...some things didn't change.
A knock on the door interrupted the woman, and her blue eyes immediately opened wide in surprise. Unsure what to say or do, so contemplated on opening the door. Mentally she slapped herself as she remembered the small room was probably an office or something alike it.
"Ehrm...come in," she said, her voice sounding strange to her own ears. Frowning she quickly moved around the wooden desk, and sat down in a black chair behind it. Appearing completely at ease.
"Commander, the Captain is waiting for you to deliver your report. He says it has been way overdue, and he's really pressing on having it on his desk without any further delay. Also...you look kind of pale, and there's some blood above your right eye, are you okay?"
"Yes I feel fine uhmm," the woman's eyes frantically looked at the Asaytan standing in front of her. His green-black uniform was tight fighting and looked very smooth and clean. Luckily there was just the smallest of name-tags attached to his uniform at chest-height. "Lt Kesser, I guess I fainted earlier."
"Damn, you should get yourself checked by Doctor Xoller, you've been working at that report for quite some time now."
Wiping away the small trickle of blood above her eye, she stared at her hands in an annoying fashion. Shrugging she grabbed hold of a small towel-like piece of cloth and wiped the blood off her hands with it. "I have to just wrap up a couple of lines more for this uhmm..."
Kesser stared at his superior with confusion. It was like she was an entirely different person all of a sudden. Then again she had worked her ass off translating ancient texts, working many more hours then she was officially allowed too. "Well..the last time I checked you were half-way through with translating those texts. I suppose that last paragraph and sequence of symbols was a really tough nut to crack huh?"
"Yeah, a real challenge there. Finally something worth my time too," the woman said, rummaging through some of the papers.
"Uhuh...well I uhm..." Kesser stepped inside the office for a second, looking behind him if there was anybody other present. Satisfied he would not be interrupted or overheard, he stepped towards the Commander and gave her a sloppy kiss on her red-chapped lips. "Are we still on for tonight? I can understand that this work's keeping you busy but...well I was just hoping you'd like to spend some time with me tomorrow when we have shoreleave."
The woman nodded. She had been completely taken by surprise when Kesser had kissed her, but had tried her best to hide it. Luckily he hadn't pressed any further, she was unsure if she would've been able to keep herself from throttling him if he had.
Pictures of a knife slicing through her skin, through her chest-area and through the muscle that fed her being, flashed through her mind. Unbelievable amounts of pain threatened to consume her as she felt beside her body for just a moment. But then everything snapped back into place again. It still left her drained of energy, and the phantom pains coursed through her body, made it very hard for her to focus on the situation inside her office.
"I'm not only very occupied with my work at this moment, I also got a splitting headache. I suppose I'll go see Xoller first thing after I deliver this report, then we'll see afterwards, okay?" The words came so easy to her. Even though her heart was still somewhere else, her mind had already cleared somewhat. Her job however could pose another problem, she could barely translate her own handwriting, let alone translate ancient writings.
The hand of Kesser had drifted off towards her butt, and the woman found herself surpressing every single urge she had to knock him flat on his ass at that moment. She couldn't believe anybody would undergo such manhandling willingly. Nevertheless she just smiled at the guy, while inwardly wishing he would fuck off.
"Well yeah...okay," Kesser said, a slight look of disappointment in his eyes as he bend down to kiss the blue-eyed female sitting in front of him. He hesitated for a few seconds more, moving one of his tanned hands through her soft silky hair, before he quickly stood up and moved through the door.
"I'll see you later."
Kesser nodded. Noticing somebody was walking their way, he glanced towards the woman once more, winked and closed the door behind him.
The Commander immediately stuck a finger in her throat and started to make gagging noises. "Yech," she wrinkled her nose. "I must really be all over this guy, or perhaps it's the other way around..." she shook her head at that, and rummaged through the huge stack of papers and sheets again.
Finally she found what she thought she had been looking for. A thankfully already finished report about some findings when 'she' had been translating another set of slates with hieroglyps. Looking around her eyes settled on one of the pale-white walls, adorned with several paintings, photos and even rock slabs that had been put in a special casings.
"The council of prime scientist in the highest most order, wishes to congratulate Kirian with her completion of the course biogassal translation and abstract identification of unknown lifeforms," the woman read. Her eyebrows reached her hairline as she tried to comprehend what the parchment that had also been put in a special casing, was all about. She assumed the person she was now was named Kirian.
Sighing, she looked at the report in her hands. Nothing made any sense, and she was really having a tough time trying to figure out a way to escape this predictment. She should have been tossed into the well of souls, but instead found herself in another body. Sure...it had happened before, but why did it have to happen to her? The only thing she could come up with, was the fact that either she had been sucked into this body by accident somehow. Or there was something wrong with the well of souls, or most importantly the Latai society. The woman didn't dare thinking what would happen if the latter was the case.
Time was ticking however, so taking a deep breath, and trying to mentally prepare herself for anything, she walked out of 'her' office. The small hallway she ended up in made her frown in surprise. She immediately knew it was a Dark Alliance style vessel, yet there were some irregularities that really irked her. There was however the nice feature that every door had a small metal name-sign on it. She only had to walk around for a bit, trying not to act too suspiciously, to find the right door.
Captain Deager, the name tugged at her mind. 'Kyrian' was sure she had heard the name before, but where?
She knocked at the door, waiting for a slightly slurring voice to tell her to come in, before she opened the door. The figure sitting in front of her surprised her in such way, she had to prevent herself from dropping on the floor right there and then.
A split tongue moved out of the Captain's mouth as he studied Commander Kirian, "You bring me the report finally?" he said his piercing green eyes trained on the woman in front of him.
"Yea...yes," she stammered. Quickly she shook herself out of it, and walked forward, laying the report down in front of her superior.
"It took you quite some time. But I've been informed of how hard you've worked the last couple of days," Deager said rubbing the bridge of his ribbled nose. "I'm very satisfied with your work. You're one of my more competent crewmembers," he smiled slightly as he spoke the words. "I've decided to give you some shoreleave tomorrow. Serpia knows you've got more unspend vacation leave then anybody else onboard. Get some rest."
"Thank you..Ma'Tok," she spoke, the words sounding Alien to her own ears. She had not called somebody that for the longest time. Her friend...her eyes clouded slightly as she thought about the past. Her friend had never demanded or perhaps not wanted her to call her by that designation. 'Kirian' would have to get used to it for as long as she was onboard this vessel though.
"No...by Serpia no. I should thank 'you' for all the work you've done the last couple of weeks. The translations really prove to be interesting. Even though the subject of these writings has proven to elluded our grasp until now," his face became a dark mask as he knitted his eyebrows in frustration. "Nevermind...our scientist-team on Terra Prime has uncovered even more slabs from one of the collapsed temples. I want you to be rested and focused when they arrive. Dismissed."
'Kyrian' gave a curt nod, before spinning on her heels and leaving through the door again. As soon as the doors swished closed behind her, she let out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding. Her facade had held, she had no idea why Captain Deager had not detected her uneasiness and discomfort, but she really didn't give a fuck at this time why this was.
Without pausing once she stalked back to the relative safety of her office. She was already mentally overgoing possible ways to inform Lt. Kesser she would not be present tonight. However tomorrow would pose an entirely different problem. Ignoring a direct order from her superior was bound to have some raised brows as a result.
Sighing, 'Kyrian' looked at her office. She hadn't really noticed the small closet in the back of the small room yet. Curiosity got the better of her, and she started searching it for any information of who she really was. Or rather who she had been. Her hands abruptly halted when she found a small metal box with a very smooth surface. Trembling she raised it and saw her reflection.
"Asper..." she mumbled her name just once. Tasting every syllable, locking up every memory of who she had been, in the deepest recesses of her mind.
"Kyrian..." the voice was still not her own. But it was who she was now. It was who she would be for an indetermined time...
Closing her eyes, she allowed some tears to fall, before swiping them away again angrily. "Asper is dead...and burried." Sighing she continued familiarizing herself with her new body. The last memory of the person she loved, as well as the daughter they had never left her vision as she did so.
~~~~~~~~~
"Ma'Tok," Morai called out, frowning slightly as he stared at his console. "We got a incomming transmission from Tiny."
"Put it on screen," Jaylin commanded.
"Hey Jay."
"Tiny...I was just going to hail you, your ship..."
Tiny interrupted the person who had been his superior at some time. His eyes were very dark, and his expression betrayed something was really bothering him. "I have to leave you, old friend."
"Why?"
Jaylin frowned, pacing slightly up and down a small patch of her bridge. They had departed hours earlier from the backwater planet they had taken refuge at for 12 days. Truth to be told, she was glad to leave it's cursed ground. Not only had she lost one of her most dearests friends, she also betrayed another one in every meaning of the word. The memory of the image that had shot through her mind 3 nights before, made her blush and at the same time feel agitated.
"I was informed by a very close friend of mine..." Tiny hesitated, biting his lips as he tried to come up with the right way to formulate his findings. "They desecrated one of my people's planets."
"They what? Who?"
"Who do you think?"
Jaylin sighed, rubbing her forehead in frustrated way. "I just can't believe this. They don't give up, do they?"
"Not until they have her Jay, not until they get their dirty paws on her, and unlock her power. Promise me you'll keep her safe."
"But..."
"Promise me," Tiny said. His voice was actually not all demanding or even commanding. In fact it sounded more like a desperate plea then anything else.
"Okay...I promise to keep her save Tiny, on my honour."
Tiny nodded satisfied. "I will send you a small starmap. It might take you several weeks, unfortunately, to get there. However my mentor, the person who taught me my beliefs lives on one of those planets. I can't tell which one, my apologies for that, but I'm sure you'll be able to find it out by yourself. Bring Lae'la...bring the Chosen One to him and allow him to teach her. He will also be able to help you with finding a way to have somebody share her powers."
"Wait...hold on," Jaylin raised a hand, her mind was spinning with everything Tiny was telling her. "What do you mean share her powers?"
"You need somebody to bond with her...to mate with her. That's why the Dark Alliance wants her."
"For what purpose?"
"I'm not sure," Tiny said staring at a far off spot in the distance. He smacked his fist down on the panel in front of him, scaring the officer that sitting at the station. "It's not good Jaylin...I'm going to Terra Prime."
Shaking her head, Jaylin pondered over what Tiny had said. "Do you know what they are hoping to find in the temples of your people?"
"Information I just send to you. It's a star system at the edges of known space. The source of the prophecy."
"Sounds like the ideal place to take a vacation..."
Tiny arched a eyebrow at that. Until he saw the woman at the other side smile ever so slightly. "You're really something, you know that? Nevertheless I have much confidence in you...as always. Don't get into trouble, I'll see you soon."
"Me into trouble? You've got to be kidding me. You've probably swalled a whole container full of trouble magnets, the times I've pulled your ass out of the fire," Jaylin remarked a smug smile on her face. She folded her arms and gave her old friend the best stern look, but failed miserably. "Be safe..."
Tiny nodded, winked and then broke off communication.
"I still think he's a weird guy," Morai said, grinning.
"Yeah...he's build like some brute, and you'd expect him to be able to loads of damage. But when it really comes to it, he even walks around a simple fly then risk the chance to crush it."
"How long did he serve under you?"
"Too long," Jaylin replied laughing. She shook her head again and walked towards the doors that led to the rest of the ship. "You've got the bridge, I'm going to study the starmaps in the privacy of my quarters if you don't mind."
"Nah...I noticed you pulled a double shift again this morning. Get some rest, Captain's orders," Morai said, immitating Jaylin's voice whenever she was commanding a crewmember.
Jaylin arched an eyebrow, but just left without saying another word. Her mind was already occupied with entirely different things.
"Computer, state location of Lae'la."
chirp
"Lae'la is in the recreational bay."
"Hmm...I guess she took my advice then," Jaylin remarked amused. "Guess there's a first time for everything."
Without giving it much thought she walked towards the lift, and hit the button for the deck where the recreational bay was situated on.
Her relationship with the mysterious white-haired girl had changed considerably ever since Jaylin had found her on the prison planet. She wasn't even sure how she would describe what was between them.
What she did know was how she had felt when Lae'la had wanted to leave the planet they were hiding on without even consulting Jaylin. It had angered her, and at the same time she knew she was acting irrational. Lae'la was growing up quite fast. From the girl that didn't wanted to talk, to the person who healed Asper's daughter, and winning from an more experienced warrior.
She had been very surprised when Lae'la has suggested a sparring session, holding a lot back when they hard started, because she had been afraid of hurting the Mossarian woman. Yet, Lae'la proved to be more battle-hardy then Jaylin had thought at first. In the end the blonde had even won the sparring session, although only by a meager amount of points.
Jaylin still believed that the only reason the other woman had won the small contest was because she herself had been distracting by Lae'la's nicely swaying figure. Everytime their bodies had touched, she had to surpress the urge to rake her fingers across the soft-looking albaster skin. In the end it had come to the point that Jaylin let out a involuntary moan when she felt Lae'la's form spooning her from behind as they wrestled on the soft forest ground. Luckily she believed the blonde had never noticed that slipup. It was bad enough that the image of an arching Lae'la, that had flashed through her mind, when Jaylin was playing with herself late at night, still caused her to blush every now and then.
Standing in front of the door from the recreational bay, Jaylin frowned, wondering how she hadn't noticed she had arrived at her destination until now. Shrugging she was looking at which program was being run. Her eyebrow shot up a notch as she determined it was a program run of a certain planet. She couldn't remember ever setting foot on it though.
She hit the button the open the doors. Her eyes immediately taking in the scene in front of her.
Lae'la was sitting in the distance, on a cliff. She wore a soft blue dress, extra accentuating her liquid blue eyes. Her shoes laid discarded next to where she was sitting, hugging her feet, as she stared at the vast sea stretched out in front of her.
"Lae'la..." Jaylin whispered. She wasn't sure why she did so, but she just didn't want to raise her voice above the soft cool breeze that blew all around her. The peace and serenity of this place really got to her.
The blonde moved her head up for a moment, her eyes locking with Jaylin's as she showed her sadness in all it's nakedness. Then she averted her gaze again, but not before a tear had dropped down on the grey coloured rocks she sat on. "Why did you come here?"
"Why did you start this program?" Jaylin questioned in turn.
"I don't know...I needed a place to sort my thoughts. I needed to be trully alone for a litle while."
"I'm sorry for disrupting then," Jaylin said apologizing. She was already turning around, ready to leave again when she heard Lae'la's voice.
"Please stay."
Jaylin hesitated for a few more seconds, before she nodded ever so slightly and moved towards the position Lae'la was sitting at. Without another word, she also removed her shoes, and dangled her legs into the foaming water. "I like this scenery."
"I do too, it reminds me of something..."
"Of what does it remind you?"
Lae'la's eyes watered again, and she moved one of her hands covered in blue lines towards her eyes to wipe the collected liquid away. "I do not know," she admitted in a small voice. "I 've seen clouds in my dreams. A city build on clouds, and then a bright light. A beam that shone down to a destination unknown. I was at the other side, but then I remember nothing but that big blast. Darkness, so much darkness afterwards, I wish I knew what happened exactly."
"I'm sorry for saying you were just a child 2 days ago, and for avoiding you ever after that," Jaylin admitted, biting the inside of her cheeks as she did.
"It is okay. I will not forget that incident, nor will I forget the fact that I was too be sold as a slave. But as you've told me before, I would be still inside that small cell, without any knowledge of the outside world, had you not come to fetch me. I should be grateful you did not hand me over to that...guy," Lae'la's expression darkened slightly as she said the last word.
"I knew he was nothing but bad news," Jaylin said, fidgeting with her thumb as she eyed her companion for a moment. "Tiny contacted me earlier. He has send me a small starmap to a system. It will take several weeks for us to traverse there, but he has assured me it will be worth the trouble. Tiny also mentioned we could find out even more about your past there."
Lae'la smiled at those words. A smile that really seemed to light up her face, even the blue lines were glowing slightly. Without warning she stretched out her hands and allowed energy to course around her body in ever greater speed, revelling into the beauty of the motion.
Jaylin stared at what was transpiring in front of her eyes, her jaw almost hitting the floor. Sure, she had seen it before, but it would probably take many more times for her to see it, before she got used to it. "You're so beautiful..." she gasped as soon as the words left her mouth.
Blushing furiously, she left her shoes lying where she had discarded them, and ran for the exit. Only to find Lae'la standing in front of her.
The blonde stretched out one hand and touched Jaylin's face, pulling away one of the stubborn black strands of hair. "You ment that?" she asked, disbelief sounding through in her voice.
"Yes, I suppose so," Jaylin admitted, the blush leaving her face slightly. "It's just..." she sighed, closing her eyes.
"Just what?" Lae'la questioned curiously.
"You appear very innocent...but still you..." Jaylin paused unsure what she was trying to say, so she just moved away from the other woman and stared at the waves that rolling over the unruly sand of the beach.
"I wish I was innocent. I feel so...empty Jaylin," Lae'la admitted, a sad look on her face. "I try to distance myself from you...your friends. From Asper...I caused her death, I cause the deaths of some of your enemies. But they still died...at my hands. I wish it would all stop."
"I've told you that..."
"That does not matter," Lae'la shouted. She turned towards Jaylin, her eyes full of anger and sadness. "When I...when I dream I still see her. When I look at my hands, I feel her blood soaking my hands. I see the red liquid staining my clothes when I look into a mirror. I hear her voice as she calls out for help. But...when I feel, when I reach out and think, I still see her. I feel as if she's still here. Her spirit has not left."
"Lae'la," Jaylin bit her lips. Determined, she grabbed one of the hands of the other woman and spun her around. "It was 'not' your fault she died. Asper would never blame you for that. She knew more about you, then she ever let on. And although we will perhaps never find out exactly what she knew. She wanted me to take care of you for a reason."
"I just want to be normal," Lae'la said, collapsing on the beach, as tears streamed down her face.
Jaylin stared at her for only a split second, before she moved down as well. She grabbed the blonde and pulled her on her laps, kissing the Mossarian's forehead, before cradling her and whispering soft comforting words.
They sat like that for the longest time, each lost in their own thoughts. In the end it was a blast to the ship, and the red alert a second later that broke the moment.
To be continued....