The Battle of Arengosh
Posted on Wed Oct 14th, 2020 @ 11:43am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen
Mission:
Diplomatic Masquerade
Location: Bajor
Timeline: Vision set during the Bajoran resistance
Show me your hands
Are they cleaner than mine?
Show me your face
Did you cross the line?
Show me your eyes
They any drier than mine?
Your soul survives
But peace, you'll never find
(Credit Mumford and sons - If I Say)
The Bajoran woman entered her quarters, thankful that when she stepped through the doorway her rank and responsibility vanished. The uniform no longer held her entire being - every thought, every nuance of her personality. The facade of always being in control, of always being the one to solve the problems dropped and was replaced with the true personality. It was something she had worked hard on, not letting the ship’s business or her professional life affect their private one more than absolutely necessary.
Today the rooms were dark and quiet when she entered and for an instant she felt lonely. Remal was probably off doing something he enjoyed. Cooking, talking to people, or just being the amazing kind hearted person that he was. She loved him for his simplicity in all things. Everything was reduced back to its bare essentials with Remal. He had this uncanny ability to know exactly what was troubling people before they could figure it out for himself. Truly a gift from the Prophets themselves.
She felt drawn to the small shrine in their quarters - now getting more use than it had ever done. Lighting the candles on either side she knelt before it and closed her eyes, letting her mind focus on communing with her deities and receiving any messages they may choose to send her. Most of the time it was quiet meditation, the occasional glimpse of possible futures or times past. Her last major vision had been on Starbase 234 when she had really reconnected with her faith. That had been some time ago now.
Eyes closed she let her mind be still and quiet, thanking the Prophets for their blessings and for what they would bestow on her within the next few days. The peace was darkened as a black cloud descended over her mind, a vision of times past, of a darker more desperate time.
*vision*
Smoke and weapons fire filled her senses, the darkness punctuated by energy weapons and fires that littered the small town. The Cardassians were enraged by a recent raid on their command centre, retribution was being meted out in the form of murders and arson on the local village. 10 Cardassians had been killed in the raid the night before, a raid Rhenora’s resistance cell had a part in. Arengosh burned, the flames licking the farm houses like a dragon tasting flesh for the first time before dancing on the thick thatch roofs. The townfolk had left screaming in a blind panic when the oppressors descended - hunting out anyone and everyone after a day spent on the Kanar in mourning of their fallen comrades.
Rhenora’s cell had moved out of their mountain hideaway, leaving the safety of the caves to fight once more - to protect the innocent people of the village. Her rage burned as she saw what was left for the first time, bodies in the fields and houses burning. Innocent people who had no part in the resistance movement slain in their own homes. This was revenge - pure and simple. They were being punished on a massive scale.
Weapons fire to her left made her duck behind what was left of a stone fence, rising only enough to get a better view of the immediate situation. There was no logical sweep of the town, just a brutal killing spree - men, women, children and the elderly.
Once again they were outgunned, scrambling to make a difference and to save lives. They harboured those that had fled in the mountain caves in which they lived,tending the wounded and providing what food they could. All the able bodied were in the village doing what they could.
Another energy blast whizzed past her head, chipping the stone and forcing her down again. Someone had noticed her position. Time to go. Keeping her head down she darted along the line of the fence, hoping the ancient stonework would provide enough cover to get her out of trouble. Overhead more weapons fire lanced, pulverising some of the trees behind her.
A shout was heard from around the corner, it caught the young Rhenora’s attention and she took a risk leaving her cover and running forward, weapon charged and in front of her. A Cardassian stood before a young family, weapon raised as his companion set fire to the house.
“Stop!” Her voice was stronger than she had anticipated, diverting the attention away from the family for a few seconds. She fired her weapon, killing one of the Cardassians and enraging the other.
“ Run!” She ordered the family, who scooped up their small children and fled as fast as their legs could carry them. Hopefully they would head for the safety of the hills and the resistance camps there.
“You will pay for his death” The Cardassian Glin sneered, raising his weapon at the scrap of a Bajoran woman before him. Starved to within an inch of their lives the Resistance fighters were nothing if not tenacious and quick. Light on their feet they could be there one moment and gone the next, unhampered by uniforms, defensive armour or the weight of multiple weapons.
“ You will pay for the deaths in this village this night” Kaylen echoed his words, raising her own weapon. Who would fire first? Would either stand their ground or would they flee to fight another day? She knew her weapon had a few shots left before the power cell was completely drained and she preferred not to waste a kill shot on this vile creature before her.
She holstered her weapon in one move and ducked low, stepping forward and inside the Cardassian’s weapons effective range. In close quarters she could more than hold her own in a fight, she just had to get rid of his weapon. He seemed caught off guard for an instant, all that was necessary to drive an elbow into his groin and drive the heel of the opposite hand into the underside of his chin. The move worked, his head snapped back and the weapon clattered to the ground. He stumbled, trying to regain his balance and go after his prey despite the headache she’d just inflicted.
Rhenora scooped up the weapon and bolted, tucking the disrupter into her belt for later use as she fled and tried to find cover. She was tackled from behind, slammed facefirst into the crushed rock path that ran from the front door towards the street. Blood erupted from her nose - broken but not debilitating. Her heel found home in his leg, giving her an opportunity to twist out from under him, unsheathing the knife from her belt as she did so. He came up with his weapon in his hands, having pulled it from her waistband in their short struggle.
It was one of those moments when time seemed to slow down. Each breath became a minute, each minute stretched far longer. ‘Act now or die’ was the thought that appeared in her mind. Before he could raise and aim his weapon she darted forward one last time, her knife finding home at the top of his hip. He dropped in pain, grasping for his leg and howling like a wounded animal. Brown blood pulsed between his fingers, sluicing towards the ground in a volume that only spoke of one outcome.
“Help me” He whimpered, knowing his time was running out and the only person who could indeed save him was the one who had just stabbed him.
The young Rhenora hesitated in her flight, the raw plea in his voice striking a chord she hadn’t even known existed. How could she look into his eyes and leave him to die a lonely death, despite what he’d done? There were two options, help him, or finish him.
It was as though the battle stopped for that moment and there was just the two of them, the plea in his eyes and the indecision in hers. She knew what to do - but could she after all he’d done?
She applied pressure to the wound, his dark brown blood mixing with her own bright red blood as it dripped from her broken nose. It was almost surreal, she was helping a Cardassian, some primal need to help another being having forced its way past the hate and the anger.
Weak as he was he saw the opportunity that presented itself, his own blade pulled from its sheath even as she tried to help him. She recoiled as the blade barely missed her flesh in his dying moments. He died before her eyes, weapon still in his hand, her own still embedded in his hip. For a few moments she sat on her haunches, his blood still dark on her hands. She had done this with her own hands.
Shaken the young Rhenora backed away, unable to take her eyes off the man she had just killed.
"Rhen!" A shout came from outside, snapping her forcefully back to the present. She grabbed the disrupter again as well as her blade and ran outside. Flames began to dance down the walls, the roof was on fire and soon the house would be a pile of rubble on the ground. Only she would know what happened there that night.
“ Brother!” A young Cardassian nearly bowled her over as she fled, seeing the dead man on the ground with blood still oozing from the wound. He retreated as the heat from the flames threatened to scorch his skin. His eyes followed the scrawny Bajoran as she took off down the street. They had called her Rhen - he would find out who she was and make her pay for his brother’s death.
Rhenora's lung burned as she ran through the street, the chaos of fires, screams and weapons fire allowing her to be lost in the seething mass of terrified people.
She paused beside a stone building, thankfully alone for the moment to assess her situation. Her nose although still very broken was no longer bleeding, but other than a few minor scrapes she was mostly intact. A miracle the way the night was going.
It was hard to see who was who in the streets, villagers and resistance fighters blended seamlessly with one another becoming a single moving mass of people. The Cardassians were a little taller and held the vast majority of the weapons. If she could find a strategic location she could pick them off one by one. Her own weapon was nearly discharged but she still had the Cardassian one, the charge in it was unknown.
That thought was forgotten when a scuffle broke out behind her, a Cardassian fighting with a strong Bajoran youth. The young chap was nearly holding his own against the taller Oppressor. Rhenora skittered out of the way as they tumbled towards her, a tangle of limbs and sharp blades. Picking her timing with more skill that she gave herself credit for she used her weapon to strike the Cardassian on the back of the head, dropping him unconscious to the ground, sadly on top of the lad. With a grunt she rolled the Cardassian off him, pausing just for a moment to see if he were injured.
Their eyes connected for an instant before the moment was shattered by a weapons blast missing their heads by millimetres.
She swore, the expletive raising the eyebrow of her new companion.
Despite his large frame he rolled up and onto his feet in a flash then took aim and fired a covering shot. He had seen her broken nose and momentarily dared to mend it before moving on but his services were needed elsewhere at that moment. Gentleman that he was, he at least had to say "thanks." Before he fired another shot and dashed away. In his wake he left a solid image of a medical field kit on his back and a pistol in his hand, a doctor not to be trifled with.
Would she recognize him or his voice like he did her? Only time would tell.
For an instant she watched him as he vanished into the chaos of the night, backpack and weapon at the ready. He was a field medic by the look of the backpack, but one who could more than hold his own in a fight.
The scene shifted again, morphing and rematerialising at the house where she had killed the first Cardassian. This time, she was watching everything unfold from another perspective.
The smoke, the weapons fire seemed a little different from a taller perspective. The raised weapon was aimed at the fleeing Bajoran family and the young scrap of a woman standing up to a fellow Cardassian.
"Finish her Brother!" He encouraged as they scuffled on the ground before him. Blood erupted from her nose, staining her clothes leaving a trail behind them.
"Maccet!" A Cardassian voice echoed from behind and the perspective turned to address them.
"Go, I'll finish this one off" the deep voice resounded from the house walls. Turning his attention back the scuffle continued however a knife was embedded in his brother's side, he was bleeding now.
"Brother!" He screamed as the scene unfolded before him, the movement was confusing, was she helping him? No, no Bajoran would ever help a Cardassian. Surely she was finishing him off. The roof started to burn, showering sparks and flame onto the two.
"Rhen!" A shout came from nearby. He watched her head snap up and she bolted, pausing only long enough to steal his brother's weapon and wipe his blood off her blade. His brother's blood coated her hands. He made a promise to coat his hands with her blood in retribution. He would not rest until he made it happen.
******
Rhenora emerged from her vision with a shocked gasp, her hands covering her mouth in a silent scream. She understood why the Prophets had shown her this part of her history again, and she knew now the implications of her actions. Rising she sought out Remal, the only other who would truly understand.
