This Is The Way It Must Be

[DervtRahks 0]

As Jastus carried her over toward the bed, he felt her take on an entirely different posture, one he’d have never suspected from a woman so strong of will, but she literally curled up into a ball in his arms, a sharp intake of air between her teeth much as one did when feeling a sharp pain. Then she began whispering under her breath, for him to Fhaen na to do this. He felt her cringing through the touch of his fingertips against the hard muscles in her back almost as if his very touch was hurting her, and he began to worry that perhaps she had been injured down on the planet. The other dheno said that she had refused to be looked at by the maenak staff when the command staff had suggested it.

 

Gently setting her down, he moved to kneel in front of her, to put her in a more relaxed position, with him at her feet. Reaching up to take her hands into his, “Be’Luh, tell me if I have injured au in any way, au pulled back when I picked you up, au sounded as if au were hrrau pain.”

 

Thinking to herself that she would na have to worry about it much longer anyway, she shook her head, “Na, there is na wrong with me, I was just feeling apprehensive. Au know I can na do this thing with au Jastus. Au are my friend, and a friend is what I need right now.”

 

“Na, what au need, is someone who is hrrau jol with au. Now….I’m not going to hurt au, I just want to have a look at au back to make sure au are alright. tr’Valdrin ordered me to take au to medical if au needed to be taken, and they’ll have my head as well if I let au sit here and suffer. Now, just sit still, I’m going to lift au tunic, just to look at au back.”

 

“Na. Na, au may na, I order au to stop,” a slight panic in her voice, pushing him from her.

 

“Na, sit still, I ‘will’ look for injury, unless au wish me to either drag all of medic up here, or me carry au down there,” he answered back, a look of determination on his face.

 

Sighing, she leaned forward, resting her face into the palms of her hands, “Fine, but I still refuse any form of medical treatment. Take au look, then fhaen, leave me to sit in peace until they decide my fate.”

 

Jastus, na committing to anything, walked around behind her, and gently lifted the back of the tunic, appalled at what he found. “What is this? How did this happen?”

 

She sat there in silence, na moving, na speaking, just resting her face in her hands, her eyes shut, trying na to bring back the memories.

 

“Be’Luh, au must let me get au to medical, and let them look at this. Surely they could do something to fix this, to make it less painful. How did this happen? This, is obviously na accident!” The woman continued her silence as he looked at a pattern of old scars, and newer healing wounds, where a sharp blade had been drawn across her skin. Other places, were what appeared to be burn marks, the impression of the side of a kaleh blade obviously present. Many were older and scarred, but a few still showed a tender shade of green where the skin was trying to heal itself. “Be’Luh, I’m sorry, I did hurt au picking au up. I’m taking au to medical.”

 

‘“Na! Au promised na to!!” she snapped at him.

 

“How did this happen? Who did this to au? Why, did they do this to au?”

 

“Isn’t it obvious why?” She looked up, almost a tear coming to her eye, but she was able to hold it off. “I told au I had ‘handlers’ to make sure I stayed and did what they wanted. They wanted my command ability, knowledge of the area, contacts from the days of the Dominion War, and any secrets they could try to pry out of me. But I would na give up Galae secrets, nor who had sent me. I made an error in judgement early on, and got caught. They decided to use me instead of killing me. Did au really think I turned against our people for the fun of running weapons and drugs? Na, they made an example of me to others, they forced me to do what they wanted. And they told me if I were to yy’a myself, tried to escape or try to contact whoever it was that sent me, be that Galae or the Tal Shiar, as they were unsure, that they would make sure that the same thing that they were doing to me, happened to everyone of the people that I cared for back on the homeworld. Au know of whom all I speak, and I could na let these animals do this to my friends, loved ones and their families, so I made the decision that I could endure the pain.” Shrugging out of his grasp and pulling the tunic down. “This stays between us, au promised.”

 

“Tell me who did this, I will yy’a them all. I will na let these animals get away with this.”

 

“Do na worry, I got rid of several of them already. Sadly I had to blow up my nice new ship to do it.” she momentarily cracked a slight smile. “Ie, may they rot in Areinnye. But at least I made it look as if the Lloann’na ship blew them up, and that should keep those I care for back home, safe for now.”

 

“What did tr’Valdrin and tr’Vat’rix say when au told them about this? A look of pity on his face, that bothered her even more and made her start to be angry with him.

 

“They said nothing, for I did na tell them,” she snapped at him. “And neither will au. Ssuaj?”

 

“What!!? Why na? This may help au chances to get out of this.”

 

“Jastus, I already told au. I must play my role for the Empire. What I do, I do now for our people, and au may na like it, but I pray to the Elements that au will let me do this. I need to do this. My choices I made, were poor. By deciding to live instead of killing myself when they started to do this to me, well, that was my choice. And because of that choice, many innocent Rihans have just died in today's battle that took place. All due to my selfishness, I chose my friends instead of protecting the Empire.”

 

Jastus stood and walked to the desk, opening the drawer and returning with a dermal re-generator. “You must say something, they need to know the lengths that these people will go to. This is barbaric, na even Kll’inghannsu would stoop this low. And, while we’re here, there is na reason for au to have to hurt this badly, let me help au a bit with those burns. And au know it’s my duty too, to report this.”

 

“Na, this is the way it must be. Au promised me. I’ll make it an order if I must.”

 

“Au are th’ann, au can na give me orders right now,” he replied matter of factly, as he waled behind her, and lifted the tunic again to heal some of the burn marks.

 

“Na Jastus, this is the way it must be. However, I will ask, that au get a message to our friends io day, and let them know the truth. Do this for me, fhaen?”

Edited September 16, 2011 by DervtRahks