In Defense Of Life - Conclusion

Posted on Thu Mar 15th, 2012 @ 8:15pm by Captain Li Hawke & Commander Sakkath & Commander Oralia Zeferino & http://starbase900.info/index.php/personnel/character/23 & Commander Patrick Leroy & Lieutenant JG Quentin Dobry

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: USS Takei

***** USS Takei - Main Science Lab *****

As Sakkath turned away from the Ensign and Petty Officer, Iggy came into view, clinging to his back. She quickly waved a pair of legs at the two, much to their surprise and horror.

Li watched the exchange, noting Sakkath's casual approach to the command console. When he refrained from touching it, she relaxed a little, giving S'angla a nod. She stood her ground as he approached, crossing her arms. "Everything alright?"

"The ship is fine, and there are no telepaths aboard. We should proceed with haste," he responded, holding out his arm as if to indicate that Li should lead the way back towards the Science lab.

She hesitated, then shook her head, her tone full of regret when she spoke. "I'd rather follow you." She waved him on ahead, unwilling to have Rhys behind her and out of her line of sight. "Just go. Please."

Sakkath pursed his lips and went, steepling his fingers in front of him as he walked. Though he held his tongue, the thoughts that this was precisely why Li should be nowhere near him right now bubbled furiously beneath the surface. He was honestly angry with her, something he had never before experienced... though he could think of someone who had, and wondered if this were little more than another side effect of his too-crowded mind.

As Sakkath passed Li and led the little procession back to the Science Lab, Iggy focused on Li. Will you be part of the mind meld this time? She could feel Sakkath's irritation; indeed, she was affected by it.

Li considered the question. It would be dangerous, but then again my being here is a danger as well. Dobry is here to assist you so likely not unless he weakens and needs me. What do you think Sakkath? It was such a natural habit to speak to her husband mentally that the question was out without a thought. His lack of answer drove the point home once again, but it also afforded her a moment to speak to Iggy. If I am needed, you must tell me, Sakkath will not.

Will do, Iggy dismissively answered as they entered the Science Lab. She peered over Sakkath's shoulder and saw McKinney, Leroy, and Dobry waiting for them. Without any warning, she scrabbled higher onto his shoulder and scraped her back legs against her abdomen, flicking a cloud of urticating hairs back at Li and S'angla. Before anyone could stop her, she buried her fangs in Sakkath's neck, injecting him with a heavy dose of venom.

"Iggy!" Li exclaimed as she reached up to her neck. The hair had lodged there and was reacting already, the area growing red. What was her real concern however, was Sakkath. She surged forward, no clue why Iggy had done that but knowing something was off.

A growl erupted from the Vulcan as pain shot through his neck. Though the venom could not immobilize a human, let alone a Vulcan, it did have the effect of enhancing the sensation of pain both in his newly acquired puncture wound and his fractured hand. Instinctively, he began to reach up with his uninjured right hand in an effort to forcefully remove the offending arachnid, swatting to send Iggy to the floor.

Getting rid of a tenacious Ignatius - and all twelve inches of her spiderly leg span - wasn't that easy. She wrapped legs around Sakkath's neck and clung to his clothing. Come on, Rhys! Show yourself now!, she challenged the cause of their congress.

As Iggy entrenched herself, Sakkath laid his hand over the unmistakable hairy lump on the back of his neck that was her abdomen and began to squeeze her exoskeleton, gritting his teeth in a furious grimace as he applied pressure. "Bath'pa," he hissed in his own tongue, an ancient Vulcan curse, one that only S'angla might recognize in the confusion.

Li's Mate! Let go! Iggy screamed as she disentangled herself and twisted around till she could bite Sakkath's hand, forcing him to stop squeezing her. She quickly dropped down his back to the floor and dashed for the relative safety of... Connor. But Connor wasn't safe - though she could feel his shock and ...anger..., he was already moving toward Sakkath; he was held off from any action, though, by Li's next move. The spider, knowing that Li and Sakkath were distracted, paused and assessed her options; the floor wasn't an option: down here, she was vulnerable to stomping feet. Then she saw the glow of the crystal, felt its pull. Drawn to it, she headed for it.

The Vulcan woman distracted from my mental readings... an excuse to remove you from this body... Bug, with enemies like you, I need no friends!

As Li approached a malicious grin spread over Sakkath's face, his knee already lifting to connect with her stomach, and hopefully wind the one person here Rhys reasoned could stop him from making a break for it.

His knee hit its target and Li's breath left her in a rush. Now, her training took over and her hand darted to his throat, pushing him back against the table. "I was always far better at this than you, Rhys," Li hissed.

"Hey! What's going on here??" a surprised Leroy asked looking up from his terminals. Without a second thought he stepped forward to get a hold of the Vulcan officer as Iggy darted past him towards the table where the crystal stood flaring.

"Doctor!" he yelled to McKinney "Mr. Sakkath is losing control!"

Dobry saw the oversized arachnid moving to the crystal and his attention was drawn to the Tholian crystal as she made contact. It began to glow a soft blue, slowly deepening in intensity. Immediately, his own canar came to life beneath his fingers, also a deep violet blue,the first time it had shown such a color. Before he could speak, his mind was drawn in, along with Iggy's, to a shadowy space where....

...a male figure stood waiting.

In that shadowy space, Ignatius was a creature to behold. In place of her usual black and purple-furred exoskeleton, she had armor of blue crystals that shifted and sparked with light as she moved. "Rhys," she called, a challenge in her tone, "To take over Li's Mate and ruin Li, you'll have to take me on."

Rhys was not so easily distracted, intent on fleeing from here, finding a way to start over. With a new face, the possibilities were endless. But first, he had to deal with the woman who had thrown him back. His sick, twisted smile seemed to enjoy saying the word "Imzadi" to her, even as he lifted a hand to strike at the side of her head.

Moving quickly, Connor pulled out the hypo he'd prepared with sedative. As Li and Patrick struggled with the stronger Vulcan, the doctor placed the hypo to Sakkath's thigh and depressed the trigger. In a moment, the OPs Chief should be down. "Got him!", he announced and hopped back, nearly knocking S'angla down. She had gotten the worst of Iggy's urticating hairs: her eyes were swelling and watering. He turned quickly putting an arm around her to pull her back, never taking his eyes off of Sakkath.

The Vulcan’s body relaxed as the sedative started to make its way in his bloodstream. Leroy strengthened his hold on Sakkath. “I don’t think the sedative will have much more effect than stun him for a short time in his condition Doctor,” Patrick assessed, dragging the Vulcan to the table in the center of the lab between the crystals.

"That's because I gave him a partial dose, Cobber." Connor said, placing S'angla in a chair. He pulled another hypo out of the med kit, and placed it to her shoulder. She nodded at him a moment later, feeling the antihistamine do its job.

“Mr. Sakkath do you hear me?” Patrick asked as a slow groan came from the Vulcan’s mouth. Taking his chin Leroy forced Sakkath to look in his eyes “We need your help Sakkath. I can’t have you unconscious during the treatment and I will not lie to you: it will be painful; at the same time we cannot afford to have you lose control of yourself.” Leroy paused for an instant to let his words sink in, hopefully in Sakkath’s mind. “I’m sorry Commander but I’ll have to strap you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Sakkath's body managed only a short nod... if anything at all. His muscles seemed slack, and what could have been assent could simply have been a reflexive reaction to another force. All of his thought and will was bent on wresting control of his mind back from a presence that had proven his better on far too many occasions. After that, the physical would follow.

Connor joined him, checking on the neurocortical monitor still attached to Sakkath. "How much the sedative will affect Rhys is yet to be seen..." he said, not underestimating the many complexed layers of a Vulcan brain. His demeanor focused and serious, he moved over to a nearby console, and worked his fingers to bring up readings of Sakkath's neural activity.

"Don't expect it to do much to Rhys, even alive the poison I hit him with on the Berkeley took a while to act." Li rubbed her stomach gently, knowing it would sport a pretty bruise later but for now, she had more important things on her mind. "Time to get moving." Now that Sakkath's body was calm, she took his hand, knowing that the mental blocks he'd erected to keep her out would fall. Now, she could assist Dobry and Iggy and get this over with. With a nod to Patrick and Connor, she closed her eyes and sought once more the link to Sakkath's thoughts.

The space of Sakkath's thoughts was dark, like shifting shadow and only the briefest, swirling flashes of light. The mindscape was barren, but for two figures grappling with one another, a representation of a struggle that had no physical form.

I won't... let you! Rhys was shouting, pushing, grunting from the exertion.

Your permission is not required! Sakkath had matched his adversary's pitch, his face contorted in rage. If he had needed anything to tear down the barriers that held back the maelstrom of Vulcan emotion, to harness them for his own benefit, harming Li had been it. He would kill Rhys, or die trying.

But not alone. As he pressed some small advantage, he was drawing Rhys towards that place where he had heard Iggy's challenge. Whatever had possessed the spider to bite him, he did not know, but no ancient Vulcan traditions demanded he face his opponent alone here. He would gladly accept the unbalancing of odds, and in his effort to force their psyches elsewhere, he drew Li in as well, as yet unaware of her presence with his mind so solely bent.

Into the mindscape came other figures - one, the armored Ignatius, moved forward and, by her advancing presence alone, made the two grappling mental masses coalesce into separate entities. Like the surprise hunter she was in the real world, the spider sprang forward and snatched up Rhys, moving faster than the eye could follow, and sank venomous fangs into his form. Venom flowed from her to him and, as quickly as she'd grabbed him, she released him, pushing him away from her. "This is your end, Rhys."

Rhys writhed in agony... he had suffered this mental assault before, but it was no less trying. The crystal, he reasoned, was making Iggy ever more of a threat.

But if she wanted to reach into her bag of tricks, so could he. He showed her Sakkath's body, moving with his will, tossing the crystal into a wall, shattering it. He showed her the life she could hope to lead, of wondering when the next pink hand might grace her with a meal. He showed her Li, awash in a pool of blood, her mate standing over her, the one real connection of a spider to the wider world.

"Oh, that might have worked before, Rhys," Iggy hissed and stalked along behind him as he retreated, "But not this time."

Li moved closer to Dobry even as Iggy approached Rhys. Reaching out, she joined hands with Dobry and both closed their eyes. In an instant, a force field circled around the figures in the mindscape, shimmering blue.

"That will prevent his escape Iggy," Li's voice whispered among them.

"A barrier? You think to contain me with THIS?!" Rhys was howling. "I've already broken your Vulcan, and without him, what are you, Li? Just a husk. You can't hold me back!" The echo of Rhys' consciousness poured the full effect of his will against the field, testing it, stressing its weakest points in a bid to escape.

"Maybe you have, and maybe I can fix him. Either way, it's over. You always did underestimate me, Rhys." Closing her eyes, she squeezed Dobry's hand and the point where Rhys made contact with the shield began to glow, brighter by the moment, hurting their eyes. A current seemed to flow from it through Rhys, enveloping him in a vivid blue glow. Breaking contact was impossible and it held him captured there, unable to move. "NOW, Iggy!" Li screamed.

"Now?" Iggy wasn't sure what Li wanted her to do - she'd already envenomed Rhys. Now it was just a matter of time as his innards - the mental energy that held him together - melted. It was a step Iggy hadn't used before. She watched as Rhys writhed in the glow of the shield the other two had created. Shifting slightly so that her primary eyes could take in Li and Dobry, she tentatively reached out one leg and took hold of Rhys with her claws. Yanking him towards her, she sank her fangs into him again, draining him of his presence.

Li's knees gave way as Iggy once more bit into Rhys. The link to Sakkath had apparently linked to him too, and sudden pain washed over her. Dobry slipped his free arm around her, pulling her up to his side.

"Hang in there Li, not much longer." He hoped that was true.

The pain was beginning to erode Rhys' mental presence, but Sakkath suffered with him, as did Li by extension. Even as the concentrated malice that was the late Commander lost cohesion, and with it the ability to control the Vulcan host, its presence was not being excised... simply weakened, and that weakened darkness spread like shapeless poison in Sakkath's mind.


***** In the Lab *****

Tightening the last strap over Sakkath’s body Leroy watched McKinney: “I have to ask your help Doctor, we have not much time.”

Connor nodded, he was in full agreement. They were definitely running out of time. Leroy moved behind the console and started to type commands quickly. “I’ll start by bombarding Commander Sakkath with Theta waves of increasing intensity and the two crystals close to him will start to resonate almost instantly. It will hurt him, and our ears too, but we can’t stop the process until we’re sure we’ve imprisoned this ‘essence’ in him in one of the crystals. If at any time your medical readings show critical condition give me a warning and I’ll shut down everything”

Connor gave him one more nod; he had already decided if Leroy didn't shut it down when Connor felt it needed to be, he would himself. His brows together, his own stress levels rose as he continued to lean in and stare at his own console. Running a hand over his mouth, he watched the neurological activity of five separate brain wave patterns within Sakkath's mind.

Her histamine levels normalized, S'angla walked around those within the dreamscape, monitoring their vitals.

Without further waiting Leroy started the procedure. A single tap of his right hand on the LCARS while with the left one he increased the beam intensity coming from the projector. A slight twitch of Sakkath’s lips was the only clue to the pain he was beginning to endure.

“I’m sorry Commander,” Patrick muttered to himself pushing his left hand to the yellow range intensity of the console as the crystals, positioned on the tables to the sides of the vulcan, started to sing their tune a high pitched sound coming from the depths of space or so it seemed to him.

“How’s your reading doctor?” Patrick commented looking at McKinney, “Would give my right hand to know what’s happening inside there.”

S'angla's readings showed on his console. "Rhys is weakening," Connor answered. But so were the others. Connor was growing concern over some of the readings of their vitals, most notably Sakkath's and Li's. He looked over at S'angla, her in turn to him, and he nodded, purposely not speaking his concerns aloud.

After laying her tricorder down, S'angla moved quickly to Sakkath and strategically placed sensitive finger tips on one side of his face. Ancient words filled her mind and she spoke, "My mind to your mind... my thoughts to your thoughts...

***** Realm of Shadow *****

A deafening crack followed by rolling thunder held the combatants still while a sharp light dug its way in the shadow and something akin to a giant maelstrom formed above them. Connor's words reached Li's thoughts and she echoed them.

He's weakening! She held tight to Dobry, hoping that Iggy heard her. Just a few moments more. Sakkath was suffering horribly as Rhys tried to take his last stand. Hurry!

Hurry? With Rhys' neck trapped on her fangs, Iggy shifted to look at Li. As she did, a wave of energy washed over her. It was Dobry, offering a renewal of spirit and strength. Iggy wrapped around Rhys' shadowy form tighter and drew him into her belly through her fangs, absorbing his energy, his presence, and turning it into her own.

From a distance S'angla delved into Sakkath's mind, searching for him within the darkness to offer herself to him in whatever manner he needed her; whether it was for strength, or to assist him to that place every Vulcan held within their mind to go for inner peace.

Even as Rhys approached death, Sakkath felt his own life ebbing. They had become too entwined, too codependent in the time Rhys had spent entrenched in the Vulcan's mind. It was all he could do to keep building up barriers, torn down almost as quickly by the intense pain generated by the crystals' resonance and his parasite's impending doom. Still, he struggled, desperate to hang on, to not be beaten, and to put the late Commander behind him once and for all.

Blithely unaware of Sakkath's struggle, Iggy continued draining Rhys, continued even when the feel, or 'taste', of him changed. Not realizing that she might just be feeding on Sakkath as well, she shifted and dug in deeper, strained to reach further into Rhys, further into Sakkath's psyche.

***** The Lab *****

Leroy looked at the readings on the console furrowing his brows. “There’s something wrong here Doctor,” he said addressing McKinney. “The Theta waves are flowing through Sakkath’s body and to the Crystals… Though they rebound oddly as if some sort of dispersion field was in effect. Very strange…”

“Sakkath’s readings are near critical condition,” Connor responded, eyeing him as if foreseeing Leroy’s intentions.

Empasse.

Leroy’s mind ground numbers while his eyes darted to the scrolling readings on the monitors of the console. Sweat pearled his forehead as he calculated in few instants dozens of possible actions and outcomes. striving to take at least one of the many possible way out… And finding all of them barred.

Leroy watched the slight twitch in Sakkath’s fingers as instants passed by without change in situation. The yellow range of the Theta wave generator caught his eyes again pulsing brightly on the LCARS. The sensation that something was about to deteriorate beyond repair was strong in his mind.

And Patrick decided to do what he hated most… He took a risk.

“I think we need some more power on the beam Doctor.”

Discipline and honesty had compelled him to advise McKinney but he had no real intention to wait for the answer that would have surely come. His fingers ran the way on the console from the yellow to the red intensity.

“NO!” Connor shouted extending his hand an instant too late.

Sakkath’s body arched, restrained from the straps, on the bed. The crystal's song shifted to ultra-sound plunging the lab in a very odd silence.

Broken only by Sakkath’s agonized cry.

***** Realm of Shadow *****

Sakkath's cry sliced through Li and Dobry, cutting deep. Her cry mingled with that of Sakkath, and even Dobry let out a bellow. The image of Rhys that had hovered before them grew fainter, almost transparent. He drifted to Li, hovered before her. His hand reached out to brush her cheek. He was silent, but the look in his eyes was both hateful and desirous. She dodged the hand and with one final hiss, he vanished. Li collapsed at Dobry's feet even as he muttered words of relief.

Before them, the image of S'angla was visible now, only a moment, then blended with Sakkath.

Confused by her sudden empty-legged and bereft feeding status, Iggy paused and glanced about the shadow realm. Silent, she moved to Li and brushed the woman's cheek with the tip of one leg. The spider didn't yet have the capacity to sort out what she felt and moved away from the bi-peds. We are done, then? She knew the answer to that: she, at least, was done.

We are done, Iggy. Dobry could not have been happier.

***** The Lab *****

Having done all she could, S'angla pulled away from Sakkath, having ended the meld. Connor ran a medical tricorder's peripheral scanner over Sakkath, and then moved over to her. "We need to move him to sickbay now," he said, the tone of his voice making it sound like an order.

********

Lt. Commander Sakkath
Lt. Commander Connor McKinney
Lt. Commander Li Hawke
Lt. Commander Oralia Zeferino
Lt. Commander Patrick Leroy
Lt. (jg) Quentin Dobry