Lt Commander Cayden Adyr - Haunting Echoes of the Past

[Jarred Thoran]

((Holodeck, USS Blackwell, In the Caves))

 

::It was all she could do to keep firing. Thankfully, she’d gotten quite a few lucky shots and the ones on the other side didn’t seem to get any. With the thought that she might actually end up hurt or dead in this exercise, she felt a kind of fury well up within. How dare anyone put the crew at risk, especially without telling them that.::

 

::Her mind scattered as her body went into autopilot mode. Faster than she could keep track, she fired arrow after arrow making sure to stand between the counselor and the weapons pointed at her. Somewhere nearby, she knew the rogue was fighting just as hard. With hair flying and blood spattering around them, Cayden found herself lost in the moment. It threatened to drag her down to a place she wasn’t sure she wanted to visit. At least not then, and not in the middle of the chaos.::

 

::Nevertheless, fury clouded the best intentions and soon she found herself fighting an entirely different fight. Though she was there in the holodeck, fighting the goblins and robed figures, her mind saw the Jem’Hadar. Around them blood was spilt and the warriors of the other side fell. In her mind she saw both sides falling. Friends, comrades, partners in so much more than just a class project.::

 

::Cayden was there in the holodeck, but her mind was far away, in the body of Jazra, on the surface of Betazed. And Betazed was just about to fall.::

 

((Flashback, Medara Betazed, 2374))

 

Jaxx: Saraa!!!!

 

::The blood curdling scream drew her attention regardless of how much she was trying to look at what she was doing. They had been given no warning, no time to prepare, and just like that, Jazra Adyr had absolutely no time to process what was happening.::

 

Adyr (Jazra): We need to get out of here!

 

::She grabbed his arm and pulled desperately, and yet he held on to the lifeless body of his betrothed. Looking back later, she knew she couldn’t have blamed him, but in that moment they needed to move. The hulking forms of whatever was bombing them were coming. She could see their shadows dancing in the courtyard below where they stood now.::

 

::There were no words to be said. Jazra could see the blood and the gash on her best friend’s head. But there was no time.::

 

((End Flashback))

 

::Somewhere off to the side of the room, Cayden half expected to see Jaxx, along with the lifeless body of the woman he was to marry. Her own stint on Betazed had been to school there, which had been a high honor. She’d become as much a member of society and of her own little family as possible. Then they came and took it all from her, including her life.::

 

((Flashback, Medara Betazed, Not Long After the Invasion))

 

::Flickers of light lit the path of the resistance fighters as they moved through the shadows of the nearly abandoned outer neighborhoods. The roads stank of death and burnt flesh that had been left behind by the murderous troops that had been through there. Some of those who had once lived there were mercifully put to death, but others were now prisoners. It was those prisoners that she now lead the small team towards.::

 

::The mission was considered to be suicide, but Jazra, who had joined the ranks of a small group of rebels who fought against the Jem’Hadar after the death of her best friend, knew that if they did succeed, they would potentially turn some things in their favor. Though the chances were extremely slim, it was that tiny percent that she held to be the truth. They would win this night; they had to.::

 

::In her mind, the face of Jaxx flickered in the firelight of their hideout, the one place where they found respite from the war. It was a safehouse where the rebellion came together to plot and plan, and one that moved often, but it was one that held all of the few good memories that she had left. The days that had followed the initial invasion had been difficult, but even moreso for the man who now led the Medara resistance cell she was a part of. He had lost the girl he was to marry and she had lost her best friend. In the wake of such devastation, the two had clung together to remind themselves just why life was worth fighting for.::

 

::The memories of his touch brought an inexplicable smile to her face as her small team moved into position. It was that touch that she longed to feel again, and that touch that would bring her home.::

 

::As her eyes rose to meet the imposing building in front of them and the troops standing guard outside of it, she suddenly felt lightheaded. Half of her wanted to run back to that house now, and back to the relative safety of his arms, but her mind held her firmly where she was. A voice whispered in the darkness behind her, having seen the initial reaction.::

 

((End Flashback))

 

::Her fury only grew and she lashed out on the creatures – every single one of them – with everything that had been stowed away following Jazra’s death. She could feel herself moving faster and harder than she thought she could, and for the moment, she let go of any control and let her adversaries face the hatred of her past.::

 

::Somewhere in the back of her mind she could see the creatures dropping until there weren’t many left. And then suddenly, perhaps it was an arrow or maybe the daggers the rogue wielded, all that was left was a puff of acrid smelling smoke where the so-called ringleader used to stand. When Cayden came to, all she could see was a pile of tattered robes and a strange looking claw on top of them.::

 

::It took her a long moment to catch her breath, all the while she stood in place.::

 

Jolara/Mandak: ?

 

::Standing and putting her bow back on her back, she shrugged.::

 

Adyr: That was something I don’t necessarily want to do again. Hopefully that’s something important.

 

Jolara/Mandak: ?

 

::As if they hadn’t already been through enough, the cavern suddenly shone bright like a star had just been born right there in front of them. Blinking and trying to regain her sight, Cayden could feel the energy of something now. Around them, the bodies of the fallen seemed to fade into the dirt itself as a strange wall of dark light, if that made any sense, descended from nowhere right to their feet.::

 

::All she could do was look at it strangely.::

 

Adyr: Well, either somethings coming out of it, or we’re going in it. If I had half a thought I’d say let’s roll.

 

::Especially considering the re-emergence of thoughts she didn’t want anything to do with.::

 

Jolara/Mandak: ?

 

TAG/TBC

 

 

Lieutenant Commander Cayden Adyr
Chief Intelligence Officer (Executive Officer)
Andaris Task Force

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