A Child's Demands

Posted on Sat Oct 13th, 2018 @ 11:16pm by

Mission: Mission 8 - Shattered
Location: ISS Fenrir
1430 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

As Alex made his way through engineering he could hear voices begin to quiet. Strutting towards the master display table, he could see Chief Zeti standing there leaning over the screen, seemingly confident in her supremacy over her domain. With barely concealed disgust about the realities of the fleet, not the least of which was the fact that he was now suppose to kowtow to some subhuman scum, he tossed the bloody phaser and knife onto the table. “There appears to be an opening in your department,,, Ma’am.” he said leaning on the table, smearing Caloda’s semi congealed blood on its surface, “I can get to work as soon as you get me a set of nice new shiny set of Lieutenants pips.”

Halan Zeti was a Bajoran in a command level position on an ISS ship, she very smart, absolutely ruthless and used her innate technological skill to do whatever she had to to stay ahead. It irritated her to no end when someone decided to be so brutish that they got blood on her table. "Do you even have the skills to handle the job of the man you just killed, or should I save myself the trouble and toss you out an airlock now?"

Fear and doubt gripped Alexander's heart. This wasn't at all like the holoadvenures he grew up on. I killed that monster with my bare hands! his mind screamed, ignoring for the moment that the Quartermaster and the Bosun did most of the work. They were supposed to salute him, praise his victory and give him a half a dozen Orion slave girls for the night. He'd at least expected the the Bajorian to swoon at his feet. Instead, the looks of shock and interest were quickly turning into callus smirks, with two engineers in the corner appearing to place a bet with each other, and another one acting like he was choking. As for the 'Chief' her eyes just kept boring into him, sweat begin to bead up on his brow Too late he remembered the Quartermaster's advice.

After it's done go to engineering and present Caloda's weapons to her. And BE RESPECTFUL" He'd warned, "Explain to her how you did her a favor for getting rid of a lousy engineer. And that you'll serve her loyally and work hard to learn your trade,,,,,"

Alexander almost laughed at the Quartermaster at the time. Pike was human, Chief Kane was Rigellain, a species more useless than even the Vulcans. Not to mention the fact that with the last of the midshipman's funds, the subhuman was bought and paid for. But Kane wasn't here, and the Bosun wasn't here. Now all Pike could do was feel the heat on his face as it turned beet red, stinging tears threatening to well up in his eyes. None of this was fair! he thought. He didn't even want to be an engineer, he just drew the short straw in the gunroom when he and the other midshipmen decided to kill Caloda, that sadistic bastard. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be! his mind screamed as it fell back on the Citadel's axium, 'When in doubt, Attack, Attack, Attack'

With a look of disgust on his face he laughed at Zeti, "The man I killed had no engineering skills, so doing whatever shit job you gave him will be easy," he yelled throwing his chin out at her, then turning to the room "As far as anything he owned, it's mine! His slave detail? Mine! His cabin? Mine! His equipment? Mine! Anything he STOLE from me? Mine again" he insisted in what he thought was a threatening tone, but came out more like the panicked squeals of a desperate child. Then turning to Zeti, he sneered, "As for you, you subhuman bitch, you should be on your knees thanking me for removing an embarrassment to your department!"

Zeti didn't flinch a muscle, she wasn't the Chief Engineer of an ISS vessel because she was easily intimidated by children. Instead she waited for him to finish, before she took a step towards him and gave him a look through her lashes as she stepped close, giving just a little bit of sway to her hips. When she was only a couple of inches away, she grabbed his shoulder and dug into the pressure point there and sent him to his knees, her blade to his throat, blood already starting to trickle from a small wound she'd created.

"This is my engineering department, you just killed a cog in a very well oiled machine with no idea how that would change the machine," Zeti snarled. "Nothing of his is yours, it's mine. This engineering department is mine. You have twenty four hours to prove you can do his job or this blade..."

She got a sickly sweet smile as her dark brown eyes bore into his, "This blade will feast on your blood, you see she's a vampire knife, really likes the taste of blood. In fact she's begging me to bathe in yours."

It was at that moment Alexander Pike, a child of earth, the scion of a great and noble family filled with Senators and Provincial Governors, pissed and shit himself right there, on his knees, in the middle of engineering. Tears that he'd been fighting ever since he came into this room welled up as his hands shook in fear. Fear of someone who should have been his inferior. Fear so paralyzing, the thought of reaching for either his knife or phaser was an impossibility. Looking up into Chief Zeti's eyes, the odor of his own urine and feces filling his nose, all he could see was his own imminent death. He closed his eyes and turned away, trying to shrink from the blow, but death never came.

Instead he found himself on the deck in a puddle of his own foulness, with Zeti walking away from him, disgusted. Looking around the room he knew he had nothing, less than nothing. Most also turned away, getting back to work, some exchanged money for bets placed with the winners giving him mock salutes. And then there were the last few, who looked a Pike with sadistic glee, remembering their training cruises where you either learned to fight or died weak and afraid. Not caring where he fell in that spectrum, Pike pushed himself to his knees and begged, "At least give me back the food for the midshipmen's mess!" he wailed at Zeti, holding out his hands that now dripped with a brown ooze.

"Get out of engineering and clean yourself up," Zeti snapped harshly, she'd already clean her blade and replaced it in it's sheath. "Pathetic child... When you're finished you will return and clean the floor and then you're going to prove you can do the job or I'll kill you. Food should be the last of your concerns."

Alexander sat there on his knees his hands dropping to his sides. Ziti had already returned to her work, the rest following suit. He knew that he'd just been reduced to an invisible thing, an annoyance to be avoided like a grease stain on the floor. He was supposed to be going back to the gunroom a conquering hero, Dispencing food and stolen money to the other midshipmen. Instead, he was returning with nothing.

No that wasn't quite right, he was returning something. The first lesson, the first real lesson he learned about being an officer. Power, and what it means to lack of power. Right now he had no power. So he was going to clean himself up. Come back and clean his own piss and shit off the deck. He's going to learn how to be an engineer. Learn how to actuality accumulate power through favors and friends. To rise through the ranks. He promised himself he was not going to die a weak frightened child and his rack. He had a found with you to survive. Hatred.

Hate to sustain him, to warm him. Hate to carry him over the corpses of everyone in this room if need be. Getting up Pike left engineering to clean himself off, to come back, to start his new career in engineering, to work for the day when he'll see life leave Zeti's as he slowly choked her to death with his own hands.

OFf::

Alexander Pike
Midshipman
ISS Fenrir
(NPC Deacon Kane)

&

Halan Zeti
Chief Engineer
ISS Fenrir
(NPC Tucker Youngblood)