Empress Tevet Elain - He promised

[Genkos Adea]

I wanted to showcase this fantastic sim from @Jovenan. She played Tevet Elain as a childhood friend of Genkos in the last leave, then we encountered a youthful version of the character thanks to time-hopping shenanigans. And now we're back in the present, having changed the past - and Jovenan came right out the gate with this compelling antagonist. Five stars.

 

Quote

((Imperial Battlecruiser Sword of Rixx))

 

oO We’ll be back sooner than you think. Be brave, be sensible and go in good faith. Oo

Then he had jumped through the window.

Tevet’s fingernails left a mark to the armrest of her seat. She thought of it often. It came to her dreams; it bothered her when awake. A time traveller enforcing some temporal destiny. A doctor of good conscience. A friend of hers.

And a bloody liar.

 

Tevet’s command centre at the belly of her imperial flagship was entirely silent. The staff dedicated to her personally were in full work by the various consoles monitoring the status of the ship and the empire, but not a word was uttered. The various orders to the bridge and the tactical centre were sent by telepathic means. Tevet would occasionally tap into the transmissions or straight into the minds of anyone in the crew; their natural encryption could not be breached by technological means, but they also had no secrets from her.

Elain: ~ Magnify. ~

The image on the main screen grew larger as the focus shifted to a specific point. A ship with a round saucer and a lower secondary hull supporting two nacelles abreast, it was easy to identify this vessel as Starfleet. There was just one thing that set it aside from the rest of the ships their hunting parties had discovered floating around: It was of a class that had never come to existence.

 

After Genkos and his companions had jumped through the window and into another world, Tevet had stayed. She had promised to stay there and guard the portal until they would return. After all, they had promised they would. For days, then months and finally years had she sat there, staring at a portal that would remain inert. For nothing. Tevet had learnt that promises weight little in the scales of the universe. Genkos hadn’t kept his. Federation hadn’t kept theirs.

Before the Occupation, Genkos’ parents had taught Genkos and Tevet that like doctors, veterinarians would promise to do on harm.

If no one had kept their promises to her, why should she have kept hers?

 

An imperial aide-de-camp twitched on Tevet’s right side. Without moving her head, Tevet eyes darted towards the senior officer who had now readopted the stiff, immobile posture. The aide wore almost identical uniform to her, barring the slightly toned-down honours and insignia when compared to the imperial fleet admiral’s uniform Tevet donned. She preferred the utilitarian yet striking uniform compared to the cumbersome and rather ridiculous robes the Betazoid nobility had had the habit to wear. It signalled the complete shift to the culture of her species she had ushered; they were a vengeful military empire now.

Tevet knew why the aide had flinched; she had sensed the pleasure and wrath that had filled Tevet’s mind upon recognizing the vessel. Tevet didn’t hide it; a wide grin arose to her face as the ship, halted, perhaps even adrift, turned so that she could read the letters painted across its primary hull: USS Artemis. A ship, one of a mission that didn’t belong to their world, had been found and was soon hers. Hers alone.

Elain: ~ Get their attention. ~

 

Genkos and his colleagues had shied away from telling too much of themselves in the presence of her juvenile self. However, they had let slip more than was beneficial to them. It had taken Tevet decades, but little by little she could follow the breadcrumbs they had scattered across the galaxy. Anyone who bore the name or symbols she had seen that day would wound up in one of the camps of her design. Any story that could be expanded by the mean of torture was of interest to her.

Experimental ship in the orbit of Betazed. Attempted attack against the Jem’Hadar by the Old Resistance and their unexpected benefactors. The pathetic attempt with a turret in Ki Baratan. Mizarian, Edo, Vulcan, Galadoran, Dakora, MacKenzie. Artemis. She knew it all.

 

A bright orange beam crossed the dark space, hitting the Federation ship to the wide side of the saucer. Barely able to remain on her seat, Tevet watched the Artemis gain momentum and shake. The starship didn’t respond. For a while, Tevet considered ordering the fleet to open full fire and rid her of the ship and the crew that had caused her so much pain. But where was the fun in that?

Elain: ~ Hail them. ~

After mere seconds, the image of the Artemis adrift in space was covered by another. It depicted an interior space, a bridge of common Starfleet design. And, at the centre of the image and of the bridge, a seat, occupied by a face she had seen once before, decades ago. Tevet felt like she could feast on the familiar tholtren until it would intoxicate her. So little had it changed.

Adea: Tevet? What’s going on?

Tevet smirked. The arrogance.

Elain: Hello, Genkos. Killed any senators lately?

Yellir/Kel: Response

Tevet observed the confusion on the Artemis’ bridge with malicious glee. The mechanics of time travel or the machinations of CloQ the False God were still mostly unfamiliar to her, but by the looks of it, she had caught them their pants down. They – no, he – had been her sole focus for decades, and her obsession was reaching its conclusion.

Adea: Response

Tevet leaned in closer to the screen.

Elain: Do you know how long I waited? Do you know how long I kept my promise and stayed in guard? I still have troops posted before that window, with the sole order to shoot dead anyone or anything that were to come through it.

Adea/Chevalier/Yellir/Kel: Response

Tevet leaned back on her throne and waved her hand.

Elain: I finally have you surrounded, Genkos. Drop your shields and prepare to be boarded. I wouldn’t want to give the order to destroy you; my fleet that surrounds you would be more than happy to oblige. And I wouldn’t want you to jump through yet another window either.

Adea/Chevalier/Yellir/Kel: Response

 

TAG/TBC
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Empress Tevet Elain
Sovereign
The Betazoid Chalice
E239911J11