Dawning as a Soul [✱11]

Posted on Tue Apr 29th, 2025 @ 7:42am by Captain Rovak & Ambassador Oriath Velt & Commander Alex Flynn & Lieutenant Rune Thul & Lieutenant S'Lace & Mana'i & Doctor Intharia T'Zor & SubCommander Saa & Lieutenant JG Akaar Zuul & Senior Chief Petty Officer Gaz & Polyphron & Mars & Hekate & Lieutenant Onda Duros & Captain Nemo & Heracles & Lord Akhenaten & Lord Typhon & Lady Hera
Edited on on Tue May 13th, 2025 @ 12:40pm

3,443 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: The Serpent's Tooth [3]
Location: Great Hall, Civilian Sector
Timeline: 1900 - MD08

After two days aboard, it seemed that the few Jaffa who were brave enough to wander off their ships were almost familiar. Other than some Klingons, nobody really stared at the tattoos on their foreheads anymore, unless there was a particularly intricate or unusual one.

While asylum had been granted, they still awaited further word from Earth. Starfleet Command’s standing orders said that nothing from the other side of the anomaly was to leave the Dreizhen system without their say-so, not even Intharia T’Zor.

Though it wasn’t totally clear how, Ambassador Velt had somehow diverted the Needs of the Many off its course to bring him back to DS13, ensuring he did not miss all of the ceremonies with their first guests to cross the anomaly’s threshold.

Against Rovak’s recommendation, he’d declared that there would be a treaty-signing ceremony. It would take place in the great hall, the largest space on the station not intended to have spacecraft or stored resources inside it.

Velt had insisted all the senior staff attend, but it had not been made an order.

After performances from Starfleet musicians, a Romulan acrobatic troupe and even a haunting and lurid Goa’uld choir, Velt gave a speech that was probably longer than it needed to be. One side of the room was the Atenists, the other was Starfleet.

The Atenists had agreed to come fully unarmed, and all seemed to be having a good time. Hera herself and many of her highest-ranking forces, including Mars, Hekate and the engineer Polyphron wore a large golden medallion the size of a dinner plate, an apparently plain but bright piece of metal joined by chains over their shoulders. Security had been briefly suspicious, but the scans showed they were nothing more than base metals.

Akhenaten spoke next, and gave a speech that wasn’t rambling exactly, but said the same thing in several different ways a few times, referring to the Aten his father, how he had received instructions to build the city of the horizon, and how he would not consider alternatives, not dissimilar to what he’d said at the luncheon the previous day. It went on long enough that even Velt couldn’t pretend to keep his attention on him.

As the Pharaoh seemed close to finished with his speech, beginning to thank the Federation, and the station’s crew. Suddenly, the room went dark.

“Everyone remain calm. Engineering, report.” Rovak called out through the darkness. Anyone who tapped their combadge found it unresponsive.

Before any could respond to him, Hera’s booming voice called out through the darkness, “Jaffa, kree!”

There was a rapid sequence of noises that sounded like something metallic energizing and locking into place. “Tal shak!” Came Hera’s voice again, and suddenly the hall rang out with an unfamiliar modulating activation noise, as blue energy bolts lit up the room.

The blue beams caused the targets they struck to fall to the floor surging with the same blue energy, and there was a minor panic as the Starfleet crew and Atenists not involved in the surprise attack tried to flee in the darkness. The rapid fire of the weapons meant that rows of Starfleet had fallen stunned to the floor.

Suddenly the lights returned. Those who fled for the door found it would not open.

In the light it was clear that only Hera and her forces were participating. Typhon, Akhenaten and their entourages looked just as shocked, but both the male leaders had been ensconced by their Jaffa, forming a human testudo around them.

Hera had some sort of ribbon-like device on her hand she did not have before. It wrapped around her wrist and attached to the end of each of her fingertips. It looked like jewelry, there was a large red stone in the centre, similar to the healing devices they had seen in the pyramid ship’s infirmary.

“Remain where you are. I have control of your station. Obey me, and we will soon be on our way without further harm to any of you. Defy me, and you will watch your friends and loved ones die screaming.” She told all present, her eyes flashing. She turned her gaze back towards her fellow Goa’uld as well. She removed the medallion from around her neck and dropped it, as did many of the others who wore one.

They would be completely puzzled by it, but anyone outside the room would soon discover that some sort of override had entered the station’s systems, it was no longer responding to anyone’s commands, but most automatic functions remained.

Rovak had been struck by one of the weapons and was in a state of painful semi-consciousness on the floor. Velt had scampered, having been on the hall’s balcony when the firing started.

Flynn too had been struck by one of the early volleys. She hadn't lost consciousness, but she felt like she was being tasered.

A Starfleet officer attempted to move towards other officers. Mars' eyes glowed with menace as he called. "You were warned not to move." Mars announced in his echoed voice and raised the Zat'nik'tel, fired at the moving Starfleet officer.

They collapsed. Mars gently aimed the weapon at the remaining scared allies in the room. "Jaffa kree!" He gestured for their forces to tighten around the Starfleet/Klingon/Romulan group.

Rune had been lucky that he didn't get zapped, but he was now at the edge of the group and watched as the Jaffa soldiers closed in. Options had been lost, especially since the blackout when he attempted to call for security teams.

He noticed that Captain Rovak and Commander Flynn were 'stunned' and not quite aware of their surroundings. Rune began to consider how best to open a dialogue, though he looked around discreetly for Ambassador Velt to see if the Caitian was going to take the lead.

Among the now rounded up group was Akaar as well, he'd managed to get a shift off for the event. He had made eye contact with Rune and both had nodded to each other about many of their training scenarios, though one thing was important. Why did Hera want to go somewhere? And where?

Gaz had avoided the barrage of stun-shots. He moved along with the others, not wanting to do anything that might provoke any further shots.

Polyphron moved quickly to the nearest wall terminal, where she entered a series of commands to activate the subroutines she'd embedded. Behind them, a crate of Jaffa weapons appeared in a blue transporter's shimmer. Across the station, the transporter systems were bridged with those of Hera's Ha'tak, and squads of armed Jaffa began pouring out of the transporter rooms. In the hall, Hera's Jaffa moved quickly to arm themselves.

Akhenaten pushed his guards aside, roaring from the balcony, "Hasshak Hera! What is the meaning of this outrage!"

"Be silent, old man." She responded sharply. "You have what you desired. I would not deny you that. Do not deny me that which is mine by right."

"If you - " Akhenaten began again before Hera unleashed a visible directed shockwave at the balcony from the device on her hand, causing all present to duck, and the impacted area to buckle slightly as the force of the shockwave impacted it. The strange weapon vibrated loudly as it operated, and the impact was as an explosion.

"Lady Hera, please. This isn't necessary, we're willing to help you with -" The Diplomatic Chief Lieutenant Onda began, hands outstretched in surrender, but Hera reached out her palm towards him. The gem in the palm glowed brightly, as though ready to unleash another shockwave. Onda was silent.

"I will speak only to whomever is in Command. I will accept your surrender, or my Jaffa will continue firing until whoever remains in command offers it. Their weapons are only non-lethal the first time one is struck. A second strike will kill. This can be done by harming none of you, but it will be done by killing all of you, if so required." Hera looked among them for one to come forward.

Thari remained silent, watching cautiously from within the throng of corralled DS13 residents, surrounded by the grey-armoured Jaffa. Her instincts told her that she could probably resist more than a few shots of their stun weapon with her biotics, but the device Hera wore on her hand was a different story. But there was no way to act against them without endangering the others. Hera had them.

"You will fail Lady Hera." Rune called out. "The Federation, Romulans and Klingons and the rest of the galactic powers that you know nothing about will crush you and your Jaffa before you even attempt to navigate our known space. We outnumber and outgun you, even if we surrender. You know nothing about this universe's physics, your vessels can't even use your FTL drives. What do you expect to achieve when so much is foreign to you?"

Hera scoffed at the impudence before finally turning to face the man. She gestured to the people standing either side of Thul, then spoke. "Tal shak."

The Jaffa fired their serpentine weapons at the four people standing either side of Thul, then another four behind them. The crew writhed on the floor in agony.

Rune did spare a second's glance at those around him on the floor, before he looked back at Hera.

"What is your name, Betazoid?" Hera said, moving towards Thul and the crowd, but still a few strides away.

"What do you care?" Rune countered with a narrowed-eyes expression, he was now preparing to jump to his self-defence.

"I don't." Hera responded to Thul dismissively, raising her palm towards him. The jewel in the centre glowed, and all could hear the device activating. Instead of a shockwave of force, only a single gauzy ribbon of orange energy emerged, passing from Hera's hand device into Thul's forehead a couple of meters away. She did not want to kill the man, though it would only take an errant thought to do so, she wished them all to see the suffering that could be inflicted. She sustained the beam, expressionless. She was intending to take her time. The strange pulsating sound filled the room.

The moment the red gem flared, Rune knew this wasn’t just a physical assault—it was a psionic intrusion, a little of both in reality. A yellow ribbon of energy surged straight into his forehead. Pain erupted through his skull in waves, each layer distinct and punishing. His thoughts shuddered beneath pulses that seared, burned, compressed, and echoed in irregular rhythm as it fractured his perception, but his core remained intact.

His training surged to the forefront, anchoring him—but he chose something different, from the Goa'uld themselves enjoyed theatrics, so he drew on that. He'd throw performance back at them through his torment. He let the pain twist his features, slackened his jaw, and allowed his tongue to hang with mock inertia. His eyes rolled into a vacant, glassy stare. Groans poured out in rough, guttural tones—moistened by saliva, heavy sounds that carried the weight of something that had moved too far beyond life to care about agony.

Rune stood slowly, limbs drawn with uncooperative stiffness. His hands lifted slightly, fingers curled—not reaching, but suspended mid-thought. He didn’t step forward. He simply existed in the space between dread and defiance, form slackened, posture broken in all the seemingly wrong ways. He loomed there for a moment, blood dripped and then flowed slowly from both his nostrils. He let his head dip forward, jaw unhinged, neck surrendered to gravity. And then, through the haze of raw pain and calculated theatre, his voice emerged—low, hoarse, and spiked with menace, a single line of blood fell out the corner of his mouth and down. His now redish eyes snapping to glare at the Goa'uld.

“You’ll have to try harder than that, parasite!”

Hera grinned widely, his defiance was amusing. She withdrew the beam for a moment, as much to see his reaction as relax her hand. As if unable to stop it, a laugh escaped from her, she was genuinely tickled by the sight of him. It took control of her for longer than anyone expected. As her amusement subsided, she reached her hand out once more, and extended the ribbon of energy at Thul. The thrumming noise was noticeably bassier and more audibly and visually intense. Residual energy crackled at the point where the beam intersected with Thul's forehead. She would think fondly of this as she departed on their ship.

As the energy ribbon ceased, the pain began to retract radially from his limbs inwardly--Rune's body seized up as the pain withdrew, and he felt his muscles lock. A strange sensation but akin to the acid from a heavy workout yet far more powerful, none of what he experienced could withstand the gigantic headache. It now consumed his full focus, as he was awkwardly trapped in his performance stance. He felt a groan escaped his open mouth, but he couldn't hear it.

Just ahead of Rune, he watched in a hazy vision, Hera's eyes alit with delight. Clearly she was about to torture him some more and began to. Upon contact with the second energy ribbon, he could tell--far more concentrated than before, the pain intensified in a downwards radial flow from his head. Luckily, locked in place, he stayed that way. His silence fractured only by a single, guttural scream. Brief. Sharp. Then nothing.

Intharia unconsciously put a hand to her mouth as she watched Rune endure the torment of the strange energy weapon. The urge to interfere continued to build within her, but she knew it was still too dangerous, moreso now that all Hera's Jaffa were armed.

Like the rest of her marine squad, Nemo had attended the event unarmed but in full battle dress in the capacity of an honor guard. But even without weapons, the orca’s two-ton, mechanized bulk had the presence of an armored mini-tank. The pinwheel of Jaffa staff weapons that had formed around her were forced to give back three steps as she took a single, menacing step toward Hera. “If he dies, you die next,” she warned.

“Wait!” The alarming level of confidence in Nemo’s threat had made Saa’s mind up for her. Still recovering, she hobbled forward on her damaged gravitics until Jaffa lances told her she’d come close enough. “Release him. I’m in command here—I think.” She spared a glance toward the Captain and XO, unable to tell if they were alive or dead. “You talk to me.”

Hera looked between Nemo, Saa and Thul, then released the Betazoid from the weapon's grip. "A wise decision." Hera told the engineer.

As if a switch had flipped, the agony vanished. Rune exhaled sharply—more reflex than breath—and collapsed in a limp heap to the floor. Blood and saliva spread slowly beneath him, pooling from mouth, nose and the strain of psionic overload. His chest barely rose.

Akaar was beside him in seconds, dropping to one knee, fingers pressing to Rune’s neck. A moment passed—then the Violanari smiled, relief softening his features. Rune was alive. Barely. But alive.

Nemo tensed with frustration as she watched Saa bargain their initiative away. Her tactical judgment was sound, she knew. Their enemies had no way of knowing what a cetaceanoid combat suit was, and wasn’t, capable of. At any aggression from her, they’d be forced to focus their fire on her alone, and her shields would hold long enough. The numbers Hera could throw at them made no difference, since Hera herself had been obliging enough to put herself out in front, in harm’s way. As soon as she was incapacitated, the fight would be over. Arrogance, she realized. The Goa’uld’s need to personally display her prowess had undermined her tactical position.

Inaudibly to the invaders, Nemo’s voice stole over Saa’s dataport. “What’s your status, Subcommander?”

Saa responded in kind, needing only part of her concentration to carry on the second conversation simultaneously. “Nonconductive shielding burnt out, partial mobility.”

“My shields will hold up. Advise you step back, ma’am. My team can handle this.”

Propellerfish. She really meant it! The trigger-happy marine thought she could take on an army.

“No,” She repeated emphatically, then closed her dataport and addressed the Goa’uld. “We’ll surrender,” she said, wobbling closer. “But why do you need our surrender? Unless you’re planning to steal something.”

"We will require a vessel to convey us to our new home. I understand the recently arrived one is significantly faster than anything else your people possess." Hera said. She tried not to look at the large mechanical being, she wasn't entirely sure what it was, and she didn't trust the modifications Polyphron had made to her kara kesh well enough to save her from it.

Saa recoiled physically. “That ship’s experimental,” she blurted. “I helped build it. It could fall apart at any moment!” Indeed, her mind was already spinning with recollections of all the times that the pride of Vulcan had disintegrated into a cloud of expensive confetti in simulations she’d been in charge of running.

"I see. Well then, we shall take the other. Excalibur, I believe you call it." Hera said.

Saa bit back on her first, instinctual response as an internal voice cautioned her against it. Not for the first time in her life, she was glad for the fact that humans, and presumably parasites infecting them, could read nothing in her facial expression.

Hera turned away, looking to her Lieutenants. "Kree ta-Goa'uld. Begin your task. I will be along shortly."

Hekate had taken her own silver hand-device from the crate, as well as the zat-stunner she'd somehow acquired with the others earlier. She also carried what looked like a canopic jar, the image of a cow's head shaped into it's top. She led the group out, commanding Jaffa with a glance. They gave their mistress and the large tank-like being near her a wide berth.

Polyphron followed Hekate, armed only with a zat. She had untucked the reflective necklace she wore again, holding it with her free hand, as if by nervous compulsion.

Mars bowed slightly at Hera's command. "My queen," he said and with his Zat'nik'tel at the ready followed the other two out but kept part of his vision on the Federation prisoners. As he passed the Jaffa he quietly reminded them. "Protect her or..." He said menancingly then was gone.

With a squad of now-armed Jaffa with them, Hera's three Commanders left through the doors, which while unresponsive to Starfleet personnel, opened swiftly for the departing group.

"Thallistra, secure their command centre." She told her First Prime, who took a dozen Lion-helmed Jaffa and left swiftly. For all the forces who had now left, Hera still had all her originally armed Jaffa who had worn the golden amulets, and then some. She turned back to Saa.

"Now, I shall depart. In a few minutes, my Jaffa will join me, and you will remain here. If there are any attempts at heroics, my Jaffa have orders to eliminate all of you indiscriminately. The entirety of my army is no doubt beaming aboard already, at present they have no orders to come back here. That may change if any of my people should fail to report in or become uncontactable. The only reason anyone shall die here is that you are unable to heed this warning." She looked back to the throng of Jaffa, where her almost comically large son waited. "Kree Heracles." She told him, and he crossed the room to her. He carried a staff weapon, and passed her one of the serpentine stun-guns.

"Please confirm that you understand. In the event of ambiguity, my Jaffa may become hostile." Hera asked Saa.

“I've said that we surrender. But if anyone dies, surrender or no surrender, Starfleet and High Command will hunt you down,” Saa replied, levelly.

"Your terms are acceptable." Hera said. She gestured to one of the Jaffa near a wall-terminal. "Open a channel to the entire station. Once she has finished announcing the surrender, close it and make your way from here to your appointed destinations." Hera told the Jaffa, who took a moment to do so. By the time the channel was open, Hera was out the door.

RSS Feed