Suffer the Little Children

[Nijil tr'Korjata 0]

Suffer the Little Children

A joint production of Chirakis Kirel, Jylliene Kital, and Nijil tr’Korjata

Suffer the little children

At the hands of evil men

No baby dolls, no teddy bears

No lullabies for them

Every mother's nightmare

Will it ever end

Suffer the little children

At the hands of evil men

Captain Chirakis paused in the doorway as she emerged from her office behind Mr. Roberts and SubCommander Jorahl. Her jaw was set in that all-too-familiar look of determination and her eyes darted instantly to the tri-sector tactical display that dominated the central monitor of Aegis’ control tower. “Situation report, Lieutenant Kital,” she said as she stepped into the operations arena and approached the console.

Pulling up the recent activity, Jylliene ran down the most recent entries into the system, and the scheduled arrivals and departures. She gave the report almost robotically, feeling inwardly numb - by choice - as she could not bear the thought of what might have happened to Annisha. There will be time later to grieve the possibilities. Duty for now, she thought. She blocked the memory of the little girl asleep in her room, so long ago. Focus. “Nothing else from the sector,” she said in conclusion, adding, “It seems to be a dead end for now.”

“A dead end," Chirakis mused, her eyes still studying the board. No, she was scrutinizing it, like there was something buried in the data that only she could see. A faint but ominous orange glow highlighted cartel territory and several cartel insignia marked probable landing sites for the Tecora, the ship that was supposed to take Annisha to A’Tari. “Is there any unusual chatter coming from that area of space?”

Jylliene pulled up the communications display, and ran through the frequencies. “Hm. Nothing unusual for the area, though I can bring up a display of which areas peak.”

“Do it.”

Pulling up a graphic of the subspace communication ranges, she displayed the peaks in each frequency over each possible landing location. “The current activity is in blue...the red outlines are the averages over the previous year.”

“Display a complete communications graph, including stardates, over the previous year for that area of space.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jylliene replied. With a few commands to the console, she added, “Displaying now.”

The captain’s eyes narrowed as the graph took form. Conspicuous peaks formed on certain stardates. They began just before the destruction of Romulus and increased beginning on stardate 2387.086, when Aegean and Revenge departed for Maasune. They peaked again on stardate 2387.116 when the ships returned to Aegis, and again on stardate 2387.175: the beginning of the investigation of Mist Station 3. There they plateaued, remaining at that peak until the present.

“Curious,” she murmured.

“Would that there were more to glean from it,” Jylliene said with a frown.

“Oh, that information is quite revealing, Lieutenant. Quite revealing.”

“Is there anything to be done?” she asked.

The captain’s intense gaze softened as it dropped from the screen. “Anything to be done concerning what, Lieutenant?”

“This,” she replied, with a glance back at the screen. “And Annisha,” she added quietly.

Captain Chirakis’ eyes studied Jylliene for a long moment before responding in classic textbook fashion. “Lieutenant, the mission of this station is to monitor and report information from this area of space and to protect and defend those who are aboard, those who take refuge here, and those within our sector. The rescue of those children and incursion into cartel territory is not within our purview. We have reported the information and will continue to report it, but that mission is now in the hands of others.”

Jylliene nodded. “Understood, Captain.” She looked back at the display and sighed inwardly. Taking another glance toward Chirakis, she saw her disappear back into her office, the door sliding closed.

 

* * * * *

Nijil could not concentrate. He thought leaving main engineering and working on the more comfortable flight deck would help. No. Overhearing the Captain’s communication, especially Jylliene’s voice, about Annisha’s ship not arriving at its destination troubled him more than he realized. This dire news would explain why she never wrote to him. No, no it did not really explain anything. What happened to the ship? Perhaps the contacts in that sector simply don’t know. Actually there was no confirmation either way. What if she was hurt or the ship was in distress? Many frightening possibilities went through his mind.

These unending questions weighed heavily on his concentration and threatened to collapse it. The shuttle’s lateral sensors needed testing. Simple enough to center his thoughts. Nijil shuffled up the ramp into the shuttle, moved to the front and sat at the helm.

He stared at the console.

He typed in a sensor diagnostic.

He stared out the viewport into the distance.

He...stared.

Nei’rrh’s interior gave him no comfort. The walls seemed to be closing in. He began to panic. This was all his fault. He should have taken Annisha in. No trouble. She’d only have taken up a small corner in his quarters. She’s nearly self-sufficient. She could see the Captain on weekends and Jylliene on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Annisha seemed so happy to go and the Rihan couple seemed to have everything she would need. A space station was not the ideal location for childhood. A child needed open spaces. Elements how Nijil missed open spaces. His favorite spaces were now long destroyed.

Nijil’s head was now squarely on the console; a single tear ran down his face and splashed onto the communications membrane. “Centurion tr’Korjata to Lieutenant Kital. Come in please,” he sniffled as he swiped the tear from his cheek.

“Jylliene here, Nijil.” She paused as she walked the corridor toward her quarters.

“Is there any news? I overheard the communication to the Captain and I...” his voice trailed off.

“Where are you?” she replied, a concerned frown on her face at the tone of his voice.

His voice sounded weak. “I’m in the Nei’rrh...just sitting.”

“On my way,” she said, closing the comm and picking up her pace toward the shuttle.

The knowledge that she was making her way to him helped, but the guilt overwhelmed his spirits. The tears stopped; the numbness continued. Perhaps Jyllliene’s closeness to Chirakis meant she’d know of a plan of rescue.

Jylliene passed into the shuttlebay and proceeded to the Nei’rrh. Arriving at the hatch, she boarded, passing through the craft to the forward seats. Standing behind Nijil, she placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

* * * * *

*Credit lyrics to Pat Benatar from her song “Suffer the Little Children”