ops Lt JG Yael - The Finite White Void

[Sal Taybrim]

((Yael’s Studio Quarters - Starbase 118 Ops))

 

Wading into the realm of his memory, suddenly there was Syrsi in her fiery and expositional wardrobe, looming over him with an almost spider-like, predatory expression, her black eyes piercing through him, a delicate finger pushing his hair back from his forehead in a familiar maneuver as she began one of her sessions.  There was an awkwardness… he hadn’t meant to summon this either, and it somehow seemed offensive, what with Kherys doing a telepathic assist now.

 

The direction he was taking was clearly unfocused, and he could feel Kherys gently nudging them in another direction… away from the very sexy alternative telepathic practitioner and the motherly guidance of the awe-striking elephants.  He let the memories fizzle away, as if drops of rain washed them out drop by drop until they washed completely past their feet.  He tried to feel where she wanted him to go, so that he could go there, and not resist the process.

 

Above all, he wanted this to go *seamlessly.*  He trusted Kherys implicitly to do her part… and felt it would be *his* incapacity that would sink the proverbial boat.

 

Yael:  ::quietly, without opening his eye, thinking::  ~ Sorry… I’ll try to stop "helping" so much… ~

 

With his eye shut he didn’t see the small smile that graced his friends features before leading him with more direction.  Her presence alone was soothing… comforting… well in control, and safely so.  He felt her confidence sweeping through him.  It wasn’t his own, he knew, but he liked that she should fill him for a moment with hers.

 

Harper: ~Think of the mission.~  

 

Yael:  ~ The mission… ::trying to focus gently::  Miranda… ~

 

The first memory that came to fruition now was the first that rose to the surface.  He, Sheila, and Alora were gathered together, going over their approach.  Conversing abuot hot to hide their non-Human features,.. And how to keep safe the Human hybrid on the team.  Memory Yael gave Alora a look that could only be described as uncertainty, but the stern streak of self reliance and confidence and “guts” he’d been trying to listen to more won it out.  He said nothing.  The obvious danger didn’t need discussion.  The memory fizzled somewhat, and they were at an unwelcoming bar.

 

There was trepidation now, deeply so, so much that it might indicate a lack of trust in the plan.  But they went with it..  Ashley in disguise, looking very much the rough but fancy guy of the group, taking a place at the bar next to their mark, and taking in a very hearty alcoholic drink in the short span of time it took for her to find him utterly obnoxious and unlikeable.  Bailey leapt in to save the day, making a connection.

 

There they were, the images of DeVeau, Doctor Bailey, and Ashley.  Gathered around, they discussed the matter of Terra Prime.  The scene shifted around the present players, and they were joined by some no-name rebels, now all talking tactics in a secreted away apartment.  They had thought they found allies.  A wave of gratefulness, short lived as DeVeua’s plan took shape.  The air seemed to turn dimmer, as if the color was somehow draining from the memory.  The words seemed a bit odd when spoken, then faded out into silence even as the memory members continued speaking within the confines of that memory.

 

Harper: ~What happened next?~ 

 

Yael:  ~ We agreed… to the plan.  We agreed to get ourselves captured.  On purpose.

 

He was speaking as  if he was having trouble recalling the details, but they did come to him.

 

Yael:  It was to get us to the leader.  Malefic.

 

When he said that name, the imagery around them bathed in black light, sharp gold accents beautiful on the dim pallor.  He’d drawn up the memory of Malefic by focusing on her, quite by accident.  They were sitting at the long table with the ridiculous feast upon it, legs and hands tied to their chairs.  The disjointed memory threw Ashley for a moment, and he tried to turn in his chair to find Kherys.

 

Yael: ::confused::  ~This isn’t what came next… ~

 

Harper: ~One step at a time.  Slow, steady.  Let it just run its course~

 

Taking it as it came, he watched Malefic, her augmented voice droning out in that commanding, domineering tone.  Complimenting the hybrid steaks on their plates.  He couldn’t help the wave of disgust that ran through him… he could still *taste* it now.  If this wasn’t a telepathic field, he might have wretched from the memory.  Malefic stood next to him, speaking to DeVeau and Sheila from across the table.  He heard them attempt deflection, distraction, negotiation.  Even a little begging.  Before Malefic took hold of the back of his head and yanked it backward.

 

It *hurt*... but he kept reminding himself this was *his* mind.  Malefic couldn’t hurt him here.  He pushed that feeling above the sense of helplessness and moarning that had overwhelmed him when it actually happened.

 

The glowing blue and pink orb of viral death held above his face, forcefully dropped into his open mouth.  Malefic posturing some more.  Excising his mind from what was happening, he leaned forward calmly and spit out the glowing bead… the memory continued as if he  hadn’t though.  Alora ordered him to spit it out.  But at the time, he knew he couldn’t take the chance of it breaking on the floor.  Then came more begging and deflections.

 

Yael: ~ We should have been escaping.  Gathering data to help us defeat them.  Instead… this.

 

Ashley smiled sadly at Alora didn’t move as Malefics gauntlet swung for his head.  He just closed his inner eyes to it, and the gauntlet passed through him like smoke.  He stood from the seat calmly as his memories body sprawled on the floor, bleeding, face broken in, his crewmates screaming for various reasons.  He felt a wave of the helplessness he’d felt then… complete and utter powerlessness, and the targeted one, knowing that he would face the violence first.

 

He’d given in to it, in that last moment.  Smiling encouragingly over at Amanda just before the fist hit his head.

 

Yael:  ~ I didn’t remember this.  Is this… going easily? ~

 

He was confused why it had come so easily to him.  And how calm he was seeing it now.  It was almost as if… this wasn’t the part causing the problem.

 

Sure, it was violent, and awful, and he’d been injured terribly.

 

But he was filled with confusion as to how all this couldn’t be the problem

 

Yael:  ~ This isn’t it. ~

 

Harper:  ~?

 

Yael:  ~ I don’t know, this was supposed to be *it.*  But… this isn’t it? ~

 

The thing he hadn’t remembered before?  The trauma?  The source of his vicious dreams and insomnia and injuries still yet to heal?  He was frustrated to get here and still not have an answer… his emotional state flustered.  He lost focus.  The dinner party disappeared, bits of each person and thing melting away this time like heated plastic, deforming and falling until it disappeared.

 

Yael:  ~ I don’t understand… ~

 

The voice of a child echoed his mental statement, this time with a lot more fear.

 

Child Yael:  I don’t understand!!

 

The blond Human woman carried seven year old Ashley down the street.  Just one more street and they were there.  The Earth Embassy was their only hope.  She quickly offered her credentials and passes.  The gate slowly opened, but only just so before an angry voice scrawled up past them from behind.

 

Deneve:  What do you think you’re doing, Lina?!

 

Lina:  I’m taking him to Earth, where you can’t get to him!

 

His mother tucked them through the skinny open door, pulling harshly against her bag, and the child Ashley nearly lost his grip on Feazle the Lemur.  He gripped it close, and gripped tight to his mom much like a lemur might, flinching at his fathers angry voice as the guards stopped him entering as well… a Denobulan needed the proper paperwork to enter the Earth Embassy.

 

Deneve:  Get back out here.  You can’t be serious about this.

 

Lina:  ::with fiery conviction::  I’m not going to let you cut him open!  He could live for *decades* without that hack and slash surgery!

 

While the parents bickered, young Ashley looked up at Kherys’ Ashley, amethyst eyes looking up at them with wide confusion mixed with curiosity.

 

Child Yael:  I don’t understand.

 

Yael:  ::unsure if he wanted the answer::  ~ What don’t you understand? ~

 

Child Yael:  I don’t understand why I ~~~

 

Unfortunately the childs words fizzled out, having no sound even as he spoke, along with the memory as it began to melt away, this time like wine spilling down, splashing round their feet till it was all gone.

 

Ashley chuffed loudly in his mind as it was filled with confusion and frustration.  Focus!  Focus on the mission.  Go back

 

He was actively trying to guide the process himself now, but Kherys remained in the drivers seat.  Around them the open road of Miranda began to form, before both he and Kherys were unceremoniously thrown into the back of a prison transport, the door slamming shut and cutting off all light.

 

The internal of the truck was no truck.  Utterly flat, featureless, no windows, no anything.  Even the door melted into the box of walls encasing them.  It was white, pure white, nowhere near the color of the dirty, dank, stinking truck his team had been thrown into on Miranda.  His team wasn’t even here, it was just him and Kherys.

 

And when the door behind them disappeared, so too did all sound.  It’s absence was unnerving, and Ashley looked to Kherys with the question clear in his mind.

 

Yael ~ What is going on?! ~

 

Harper:  ~?

 

He set his hands against the walls.  They were strong and had no “give.”  There were no edges or seams, no handles, to catches, no imperfections.  It was bright white, featureless, and they were apparently *stuck* here.

 

Yael:  ~ This *isn’t* how it’s supposed to go! ~ 

 

He yelled it out as if someone on the outside would be able to hear him, and his mounting frustration, annoyance, and… fear… compounded as there was no response from outside.  Not one sound

 

Harper:  ~?
 

~*~

Lieutenant JG Ashley Yael

Counselor

Starbase 118 Ops

C238211TZ0