[Round 20] MIRROR Ayelet: The Stars Aligned

[Alleran Tan]

((Engineering, the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance ship Gav'ot toH'va))

::The heat of engineering on a Klingon attack cruiser was uncomfortable to say the least. The radiation from the added Cardassian high-powered plasma coils was just an additional hazard of working in the bowels of the ship. Fortunately, the Klingons and Cardassians had slaves like the Terrans to do most of the dirty work.

Ayelet and Charlie were two such useful Terrans. Both had been recently acquired from a market at the ship's last port stop. Charlie had always known life as a subject of the Alliance. Ayelet, however, had enjoyed a bit more independence until late.

Born into the Alliance as well, she grew up to be a rather attractive young woman, which was quite unfortunate as that meant she was destined to serve as another comfort woman to the Cardassians. Yet, strange, freak accidents seemed to befall her Cardassian suitors one by one.

The next Cardassian who acquired her was often too blinded by infatuation to care about such morbid and mundane details. This process seemed to repeat itself for several years until finally one of the Cardassian men's wives grew suspicious of the "odd Terran comfort woman." Shortly afterward, though, this wife died as well in a mysterious accident herself. As inventory was taken of the estate for auction, it was discovered that Ayelet had disappeared.

She was eventually recaptured a few years later, this time by the Klingons. What she had been doing since her escape was neither known nor did the Klingons particularly care. Unlike their allies, they found Terran women to be repulsive, and the woman was just another set of hands that could be used to scrub the grime off the radioactive plasma coils.

However, after carefully studying the Klingons' routines since she was brought aboard, the ever attentive Ayelet had begun planning her escape. Finally, the stars had aligned in the universe, and everything was perfect. Today was the day Ayelet would get to enjoy her independence again.::

m-Sampi: Just think of it. One day, when the resistance wins the last battle of this struggle against the Alliance, our people will be free beings... able to live as they wish!

::Ayelet rolled her eyes with a sigh. Her fellow Terran was going on again with one of his daydreams... he really was quite the bore. If she weren't chained to him, she'd gladly find another place to work. ...if only so she wouldn't have to smell the wretched stench coming from him.::

m-Ayelet: ::sarcastically:: ...quite the vision you have their, Charlie.

::The man turned his head and smiled, seemingly unaware of his companion's complete lack of interest in the subject.::

m-Sampi: We weren't born to be slaves, Ayelet. Humans... centuries ago, we ventured out into the stars ourselves to seek out new worlds.

m-Ayelet: Yes, to conquer them.

::She returned a playful smile, which caused him to frown.::

m-Sampi: ::waves off the comment with his hand:: That's not the point. The point is we had ambition. Dreams.

::A Klingon engineer came and grabbed the chain connecting the collars around the necks of Ayelet and Charlie.::

Klingon engineer: Enough talking! Get back to work!

::The Klingon threw the chain back.::

m-Ayelet: Thanks for the words of encouragement, boss.

::The Klingon raised his rifle and struck Ayelet hard across the side of her face, knocking her to the deck. She groaned at the impact, brushing her hair off her bloody cheek. The Klingon then knocked Charlie down as well with his weapon.::

m-Sampi: Agh! What was that for?

::The Klingon struck Charlie again.::

Klingon engineer: Silence, petaQ!

::Charlie just nodded as the Klingon walked away. Ayelet winced as she rubbed the side of her face.::

m-Ayelet: oO Well, at least the Klingons found one way to shut him up. Oo

::As Ayelet went back to work, she looked around to see the key to her escape. The ship's massive plasma manifold glowed brightly as it channeled energy from the warp core to the rest of the ship. The heat and radiation coming from the device caused the two Terrans to sweat even more.

As the two stepped closer to it, Ayelet took a breath and positioned herself in such a way that Charlie stood between her and a section of the manifold.::

m-Ayelet: Hey, Charlie?

m-Sampi: ::whispers:: ...what?

m-Ayelet: I'm sorry.

::There was a pause.::

m-Sampi: About the Klingon?

m-Ayelet: No, about this.

::Ayelet quickly pushed back against the man, shoving him face first onto the hot machinery. She felt the heat on the back of her neck as he screamed in agony. He was quickly silenced again as his body melted against the component, and along with it, the chain connecting him to Ayelet.

The disruption in the energy distribution caused alarms to go off as the overhead lights flickered, and the Klingon shouted from afar.::

Klingon Engineer: What have you done, you Terran Sli-Vak!

::However, before he could charge after her, the ship was suddenly rocked by weapons fire. Orders were yelled over the comline from the bridge in Klingon as engineers worked frantically to deliver adequate power to the ship. Smoke started to rise as the computer warned of a containment failure in progress. The ship was now a fragile egg just waiting to be crushed by a lucky torpedo.

Ayelet ran past the other slaves, not bothering to free any of them. They weren't part of the plan.

As she ran towards the corridor, she shoved a few of the other chained Terrans behind her to stall the Klingon guards chasing her. They ran fast, but she ran faster.

Quickly, she made her way to the escape pod she had noted from a few days ago. She pried the access hatch open and rolled in before slamming it back down just in time to see the face of a Klingon on the other side of the port hole. She gave a playful wave, which the Klingon answered with a shot from his disrupter, but it was too late. She had already begun the launch of the escape pod.

As the pod was moving out of the ship, however, it suddenly rocked violently, and Ayelet could see through the port hole a massive fireball racing down the corridor, incinerating the Klingon guard before bursting through the hatch and erupting into space. A few moments later, the escape pod cleared the ship right before the entire vessel was engulfed in flames. The shockwave sent the pod tumbling into a nearby nebula.

When she finally regained control of the damaged pod, she realized she only had enough life support for a few hours. She was tempted to send out a distress call, but additional Klingons could be nearby investigating what happened to their ship. She hadn't planned on its destruction after all, no matter how highly she thought of herself.

Fortunately, it seemed the stars of the universe were truly aligned today. Suddenly in front of her pod was an unknown ship that looked vaguely Terran. And as if that weren't a sign, she smiled at the name painted across its hull: Independence.

Independence: RESPONSE

TAG! TBC...

Ayelet

Odd & Mischievous Terran

Mirror Universe