"Shades of Black"

[OdileCondacin 0]

There was something decidedly wrong, and it wasn't just the fact that Agincourt felt as though it was being torn apart at every seam. It wasn't that her ribs still felt like they were on fire from being smashed against the Engineering console, and it wasn't just that red alert Klaxons were ringing in her ears.

 

The drive had worked -- but gods damned, it had deposited them at the boundaries of the solar system -- at Pluto. Pluto! The name of the planetoid was harbinger enough, but then... one didn't have to look to ancient Terran mythologies to recognize trouble.

 

It had taken time -- time they hadn't had -- to determine the enemy trajectory, and Odile was already starting to feel pangs of guilt. Guilt for how long their measly attempts at tracking down the Soltans' course had taken, and guilt for the time (now, she feared, wasted time) they'd spent trying to learn the alien technology they'd needed to maneuver their boat.

 

The humans were home, but it seemed they were home just a little too late. And it was taking all Odile's concentration not to start blaming herself for it.

 

Odile's mind began to wander as she slipped into the (still-functioning, thank gods) turbolift. Home. She'd very nearly convinced herself that she'd never see Federation territory again. Xenex. If they made it through this last leg, she could see her home again.

 

Holodecks couldn't do it justice. Not the dust, nor the heat... not Xenex.

 

Exiting onto the Bridge, she felt another sharp stab of pity for her human colleagues. Watching a hostile fleet sailing viciously to Earth was painful enough, but to see such an armada en route to one's homeworld... O'd'yl shuddered at the thought. If Xenex was the world being assaulted...

 

She couldn't imagine it, didn't want to.

 

Odile's thoughts quickly reorganized as she took her station. Her stomach knotted further when she saw the fleet's readout on her screens, and she cringed.

 

Xenex or no, for everyone, now there would be darkness. Horrible darkness, darkness O'd'yl had never wanted to have to face, but Odile the Starfleet soldier was compelled to.

 

Odile took a breath, and prepared for hell.