round 21 Ens. Sienelis: Fear and Loathing

[+ Saveron]

(( Romulan Refugee Ship ))

Kells: You know this place.

::Intimately. Too well. It was a place Valesha would give a lot to forget, and a place that stalked her dreams far too often at night. Areinnye, but the *smell*.

Sienelis: ::Quietly,:: Do you know what we're supposed to do here?

Kells: An -- idea. But no more.

::He sounded uncertain, but he had more than she did. Her head was spinning with memory and heartache.::

Sienelis: I- I can't think. What's your idea?

Kells: We completed my "challenge" by refusing to play through it correctly. It looks like Roshanara's group completed theirs by finding the promised purple flag. ::A moment.:: We may have to do one or the other. The question is, how?

::She closed her eyes, trying to take shallow breaths, trying and failing to regain some control over her thoughts and feelings. Perhaps the so-often scorned emotional suppression of their Vulcan cousins had something going for it, after all.::

Sienelis: I don't know. ::She swallowed, her throat dry.:: We just... survived. Like animals. There wasn't anything more to it.

::She could still hear her voice shaking. When he took her hand, she realised he could hear it too. Whatever stubborn pride she might usually have was long gone, and she gripped his hand like as though it was the only thing keeping her from falling.::

Kells: We'll get out of this. ::A moment.:: But we need to do something. Either to find a flag, or to end this illusion. I know it must be hard to be here again, but can you think of how we might do either?

Sienelis: I- I don't know. ::It was becoming a refrain, and she hated it. She tried to just talk, instead of think.:: The flag, maybe? There was a storage room filled with what little we brought from the homeworld.

::The idea of sorting through mementos of a destroyed home hardly filled her with joy. Perhaps that was the point? Where she had found the Q irritating before, that feeling was swiftly turning into loathing.::

Kells: Where?

Sienelis: It's- ::she faltered, her eyes falling on a pair of young children clinging to a suspiciously still mother. Looking away, she blindly gestured down the corridor.:: That way.

::She continued to cling to Aron's hand, unaware she was doing it. This wasn't a game, this was cruelty for the sake of it.::

Kells: We'll get out of this, I promise.

::Aron walked, she stumbled. They hadn't got far when there was a flash of light, one that seemed even brighter in the dim confines of the ship, and there was two new faces with them. Suddenly hyper-aware of herself, she yanked her hand back, her cheeks flushing pea-green.::

Kells: Gentlemen, where in the universe did you come from?

Dara: Captain! Sir, it’s a long story. Most importantly, sir: Commander Rahman and Core, Lieutenant Fennelli, Doctor Blueheart and I managed to find the purple flag. We were sent back in time to Bluehearts old school on the moon and...

Kells:Slow down, Ensign, slow down. ::He paused.:: I'll let Va-- Ensign Sienelis explain where we are -- and what we hope to do.

Sienelis: It's a refugee ship. ::She paused to catch a calming breath and immediately regretted it, the awful smell sticking in the back of her throat.:: After Hobus destroyed ch'Rihan - Romulus, to you - the survivors fled in whatever they could squeeze aboard.

::There was a collective silence as they looked at her, absorbing the information.::

Sienelis: I think we're finding a flag again. The best place I can think to start is a storage room, down the corridor. ::But she didn't trust herself, since she couldn't exactly think straight right now.:: Unless you have a better idea?

Kells: I don't know that we are.

****

Ensign Valesha Sienelis

Science Officer

USS Invicta