The Survivor

[Cptn Corizon 0]

The room was darkened. Corizon watched a piece of debris float by the hull of the Excalibur and bounce harmlessly off the hull of the Sovereign-class vessel. Putting the glass to his lips, he let the coarse liquid flow past his lips and tongue to this throat and down to his stomach with a slight wince.

 

In war, he reminded himself, there were always innocent victims. It was an inevitability. One he'd become all to comfortable with. Not just from the stand point of the casual bystandard, but because he'd caused his fair share of civilian deaths, though usually more cleanly than the Al-Ucardians. A fact he was neither proud of, or wanted to discuss with anyone—save for the open bottle sitting on the window seal. Reaching to refill the glass, the chirp of his communicator interrupted his motion.

 

“Go ahead,” he said softly.

 

“The survivor's awake sir,” the voice of a medic came through the speaker. “Doctor Pilot told us to tell you the moment he was able to talk.”

 

“Yes,” Corizon said as he brought his thoughts to focus. “I'll be down shortly.”

 

He sat the bottle down and twisted the lid closed. Reaching for his jacket, he shrugged it on and headed out into the much brighter corridors, blinking as his eyes refocused to the brighter illumination. A lift ride and a short walk later, Corizon found himself in the lonely isolation bay they'd placed the survivor in to rest.

 

Waving off the security detail he proceed into the room. The boy, Ja'i, was just starting to orient himself. Corizon stood just inside the door for a moment before speaking, looking the alien over.

 

He was of moderate build, young, likely no older than 18 or 19 standard years. His skin was soft and milky, decidedly humanoid with a very thin crest along his nasal ridge. Ear length brown locks heightened the paleness of his skin.

 

“Care if I come in?”

 

Smiling slightly, Ja'i nodded. “Of course not.”

 

“I suppose I should introduce myself,”Corizon moved further into the room. “I am Captain Ah-Windu Corizon of the USS Excalibur...”

 

“Of the Federation,” Ja'i said with a wide-eyed look. “I've heard stories about your people...never thought I'd get the chance to actually meet you.”

 

Corizon returned the smile, letting his ears drop to either side. “I wish it could be under better circumstances.”

 

Ja'i nodded, his eyes turning to someplace distant and removed from the room. “It all happened so quickly.”

 

“It's okay,” Corizon said warmly.

 

“I've never seen anything like that before...”

 

“No one should ever have to see something like that...” Corizon's voice was distant for the first time.

 

“It's strange. When I was younger...something like this...it wouldn't have ever happened. The Dominion has always kept us safe. But now...”

 

Taking a deep breath Corizon looked towards the young man with a softness in his eyes. “I know it's hard, but I need you to tell me what happened. Tell me everything you can remember...the rest will come to you.”

 

Ja'i nodded once more, and took several shallow breaths. Closing his eyes, he started to speak. “My brother and I,” his voice faltered, but regained strength, “we were headed home from our third cousin Han'oli's wedding. Most of the people on the ship were traveling.”

 

“What was the freighters origin and destination?”

 

“Most of the people got on a Kanii V, though a few got on before at the Yumari system. I am not sure if there was another stop before there...but we were all headed to the Lati system. That's my homeworld.”

 

“What happened?”

 

Ja'i was quiet for a few moments, visually recalling the events and collecting himself. Corizon was surprised at the strength of the young man, and listened intently. “We were on our way to stop over at Newel for a few hours...something about dropping off cargo..I don't remember.”

 

“It's okay...go on.”

 

A tear started to form in the young mans eyes and wiped it away. “They came out of nowhere. I'd never seen ships like that before.”

 

Corizon lifted an ear. “What did they look like?”

 

“They were black...”

 

And then the other ear.

 

“They were sharped almost...almost like daggers.”

 

That was some good news. Corizon let himself sigh inwardly. His worst fear had went unrealized. The Scorpiads remained unmoved.

 

“The freighter didn't have any weapons or shields to speak of,” Ja'i continued. “With in minutes they had us surrounded. The Captain offered them his cargo, but that wasn't what they wanted.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“They boarded us...” Ja'i's voice faltered again. “It was like something out of a nightmare. They were...they were demons of darkness. They were pale...and their eyes...they glowed in the darkness of the lifeless ship.”

 

Corizon moved closer putting a hand on Ja'i's shoulder. “It's okay...”

 

Ja'i sniffed several times, looking up at Corizon. “They kept asking where the ghosts were...were the ghosts were.”

 

“They killed everything.”

 

“And how did you escape?”

 

“My brother and I,” he started sobbing softly. “We ran from the hunter that was chasing us. He throw some sort of weapons at us...one hit my brother in the back...and me in the stomach I guess. We managed to limp into one of the cargo bays and seal it shut...I guess they forgot about us...”

 

Corizon was mentally filing all of this away.

 

“I...I don't know what happened next...”

 

“Shhh,” Corizon said softly, letting the boy cry into his chest. “It's going to be okay...”