Lovely Bracelets

Posted on Sat May 25th, 2019 @ 4:24pm by Lieutenant Commander Aurelia Taylor & Commander Liselle Qwyyn

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: MD 7
1471 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Her hands trembled as she carefully lowered the final plate. The rattling sound it made as it descended atop the others stacked upon the food tray was deafening to her pointed ears. And the sound did not stop when she set the plate down, but only when she peeled her fingers away.

Sandulvar tried to ball her hands into fists, to tap into some righteous sense of anger and rage and focus it into a single purpose: to get this tray back to the kitchen without dropping it. But there was no anger, no growing sense of empowerment there in the pit of her stomach. There was only fear. She spoke to herself in her native Vulcan, willing herself not to drop her dishes. The promise spoken, she grabbed up her dirty dishes and headed --

-- straight into Lia Holmes.

The tray slipped from Sandulvar's fingers and her dishes crashed against the floor, the metal bowls and metal cups clanging against the stone.

"Hey!" A guard snapped. The Romulan crossed the distance to them in a half-dozen strides and grabbed Sandulvar by the arm. "Are you responsible for this?!"

The Vulcan girl stammered. "I - I - I -"

Lia stepped in front of the Vulcan, "No I am, it slipped after I placed it on the stack. I shall tell my owner Erei Riov Khoal, he may allow you to punish me". The guard looked between the women, "Human you play a dangerous game, I do not fear the Erei Riov. And when he hears of this, I will be the one to punish you". He now pushed the young Vulcan aside, "Clean this shit up, then return to you cell". Lia had by now moved slightly back, she wanted to remember this one. The Romulan watched as Sandulvar cleaned up then he returned to his original position, Lia moved forward again and began to help. "All mouth and trousers that one, don't worry to much. Khoal won't like the fact that idiot disrespected him, because that's what I'm gonna tell Khoal". Another little grin crossed Lia's battered face, but this time murder lurked behind it.

Sandulvar's relief was plain on her face. In fact, she seemed more thankful that Lia hadn't held her responsible for the accident more than any retribution from the guard. She dared not look at Holmes even as she continued to collect the metal dishes. "Thank you," she said. "I don't have much to repay you with. I have very few possessions of my own. A hairbrush? Or I can spare one of my bed sheets?"

Placing her hand on the young girls arm, Lia spoke softly. "Hey I'm over here, you can look at me. I'm not about to shout at you, although right now I do look a little rough". Smiling she continued, "As for giving me something, I don't want or need anything". Lia looked at this young Vulcan, how long had she been here? Her demeanour seemed to prove it had been some time, "Keep your hairbrush, and also never give away your bed sheets". She hoped her words got through, everyone needed friends in this place. "My name is Lia, what's yours?"

"Sandulvar," the woman replied, still only permitting herself brief glimpses that fell directly upon Lia. "Why did you do that?" she pressed on. "Why did you help me? You're not supposed to help people in here. You shouldn't trust anyone. Not in here. Shouldn't." She shook her head vehemently with her words. "It's not safe."

Lia shook her head, "No, that's what the Romulans want you to think. If you're on your own, they win every time. Stand together and they lose, because we outnumber them". She looked around, "I'm telling you this, because its true. We will be rescued very soon, our Captain is important to the Federation". She slowly stood back up, "My guard will be here soon, to take me back to my cell. But don't think the way the Romulans want you to think, think logically as a Vulcan should". Lia turned to leave but then spoke again to Sandulvar, "Your a Vulcan, your people are related to the Romulans. But never think like them or become them, Vulcans are so much more than that."

The small woman tensed visibly at Lia's insight into her plight. However much the praise and assurances made her uncomfortable, they were sticking to the insides of her mind, like the prison's breakfast porridge. Slowly, carefully, she looked around herself to ensure that no one could possibly be listening to the pair of them. "You're so brave," she said in wonder. Her voice dropped even lower, as if telling Lia her deepest secret. "I was born here. I've never had any Vulcan training. There are very few of us, and the others like me don't speak. Alza says they talk with their minds. I'm not sure I believe him. He likes to tease me. But even he never said we were related to the Romulans." She reached up slowly to touch the points of her own ears as the prospects of her genetic heritage lingered with her. "Will you truly be rescued?"

Sandulvar's revelation of her birth surprised Lia, "Born here? But then surely your own people should teach you, or are they as scared as you? Have they themselves been taught how to be Vulcan?" As the young girl spoke, Lia resolved to get her out with them, "Yes we are to be rescued, but I don't know when or how. Alza speaks the truth, it is called telepathy". She touched the girls head, "And if they can do it, so can you once they teach you". She watched as the girl explored her ears, "We Humans call those kind of ears, elfin like. Elves are clever mythical creatures on my world, Vulcans are logical and strong people who are very real". Taking a deep breath she noticed her guard point to the ground in front of him, "Sandulvar, I must go now. But we will see and speak again, I promise you that". She took a step back and raised her right hand and gave the traditional Vulcan farewell, "Live long and prosper, Sandulvar of Vulcan". Lia dropped her hand and slowly turned to go.

The Vulcan woman raised her hand, her fingers straining in their effort to return the unfamiliar gesture. She looked over to her own hand, smiling in embarrassment at the crippled fingers bending toward her palm instead of forming the 'V' that Lia had so deftly performed. In that moment Sandulvar knew that despite the woman's protestations, she would find some gift to give to her, some way to show her appreciation for a simple act of kindness. An act of hope.

Escape. Was such a thing truly possible? What was life even like beyond these walls? She had never dared to wonder such a thing before, but now her mind was afire with possibility. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she dared to dream.

"Live long and prosper, Lia."

****

Lia would not come upon the Vulcan woman again. Later that night she would hear whispers between guards talking of the little kitchen wretch who had been caught with unauthorized contraband material: metals removed from the machine shop.

"Making a pair of bracelets," one unseen guard grunted to the other. "Said it was 'only a gift' or some such filthy Vulcan lies. Probably a damn weapon."

The other guard snorted a laugh at that. "The nerve. So, what did you do?"

"I helped her finish."

"How uncharacteristically kind of you."

"You don't know the half of it," the first said happily. "The commandant said one more violation and I was free to punish her however I liked. I've been waiting for this one."

"No more slaps on the wrist, then?"

"More like round the neck!" he laughed. "Put the pair of them lovely bracelets around that fine throat of hers and watched her dance a merry little jig across the kitchen floor. But then she turned blue and stopped dancing all together."

The pair of them shared in a uproarious laugh that echoed in booming peels through the corridor. When their merriment finally died away, the second guard asked through a happy sigh, "Who's going to replace her in the kitchen, then? Didn't think of that, did you?"

"That's not my problem. I work rule enforcement. That's a problem for prison staffing."

"And the metal?"

"I took them back once her dance was done, before they took the body down to the incinerator. I've got a wife and an anniversary coming. And they were lovely bracelets, after all."

OFF

Sandulvar Tal Noratain (via Liselle Qwyyn)
Vulcan Prisoner

Commander Lia Holmes
Prisoner and plaything of the Romulans