#34 Too High A Cost

Posted on Mon Feb 5th, 2024 @ 5:54pm by Captain Rogue Green {Meji}

Mission: Hijacked
Location: Starbase Danvers
Timeline: current

ON:

Ro, Kara, and Sheyla had greatly reduced the number of live Orion marauders. Some had been diced and sliced, some ran through, and some had been peppered with particle bolts from various weapons. In the ensuing battle for the amphitheater they had come across Sergeant Cristina Scabbia, still wearing her boyshorts style bikini, but having found a pair of combat boots she had switched to as she did all she could to take up weapons from dead bad guys and join the fray. Then, all of a sudden, Orion marauders started disappearing in transporter signals. It was being done quickly, as if they were under some kind of threat or, knew they were losing.

As the last of them were whisked away Ro, Kara, and Sheyla realized their stance slightly, starting to breathe easier now that the enemy was on the run.

"Sarge! Commander! Over here!" A marine called out from the main entrance to the amphitheater. As the three ladies came over the marine chinned towards the sky, his eyes looking up. "I think I can guess why they are fleeing!"

The three women followed his gaze and saw, to their delight, an Orion Blackguard vessel careening through the atmosphere, clearly in dire shape as it trailed smoke and debris as it plunged unceremoniously into the atmosphere. And, better than that, was heading away from the population center. "Damn good sight to see!" Scabby voiced.

Kara nodded her agreement. "At least we know that others are fighting for the skies."

Green went to say something, and as he mouth opened she caught herself. Images of friends and family were suddenly thrust into her mind, and she could feel their pain and suffering; and their palpable fear and sorrow. "I have to go," she said. "Kara, stay with the Sergeant and the Doctor and continue to aid these people. This I must do alone!" With that said, and the order given, Ro hooked her saber hilt to her belt and ran outside and across the open square towards the beaches and the carnage there. The toppled towers and debris that had come from them still smoldered in places.

The broken tower to her right Green already knew held the bodies of her loved ones, her family. But, the one more to her left was where she had felt the pain and sorrow from Nira, and her weakened state as her life force was ebbing away. Skidding to stop so quickly that she left divots with her heels she looked at the massive sections of tower crumpled and crushed before her, reaching out with the Core to find her friend and a person she considered a sister. There, weak but alive. Extending her hand out Green used the Core to lift a massive section of broken structure, and after it raised ten meters off the ground she could then see the lavender skin she was seeking. With a throwing motion of her arm Ro tossed the section of damaged structure to the side where no one was, running in and dropping to her knees next to the Puazi woman, her knees and calves now in the surf.

Nira was on her back, laying up against a metal partition, her right arm cluthing her daughter to her breast. Her left arm was shattered and had been torn off from the bicep down, her blood mingling with the surf and sand. "Nira! No, no!" Ro reached to take Sera from her mother's grasp but the arm that held her tightened.

"No, Ro!" Nira hissed out, her pain obvious as she looked up with half opened eyes; eyes that were trying to not roll up into her head from the lack of blood and needing to pass out. "She die with me!"

Glancing all around Nira quickly, Green discovered that Nira's lower half from the waist down was crushed beneath another large section of structure. Even the best, and most immediate medical care would not be able to save her. It was a hard acceptance, one she knew well at having to accept the death of her own children, whom she had yet to recover from their own grave of destruction. With tears rolling down her face she got in close, planting her own bum in the two inch deep surf as she arranged Nira to lean back on her upper body. She stroked the wet locks from Nira's eyes, her tears mingling with the sand and seawater on her friend's face. "I'm so sorry, Nira. Had I done more..."

"No...," Nira said weakly. "They try to take Sera..as slave. My fate was...already...written. She--is--free."

As Nira stated that fact her face scrunched up in a wince, and then as quickly as it had started she went slack. Her eyes stared up at the pristine blue sky and her grip on her daughter's body slackened as her spirit left her body and the flesh was all that remained. Her hand shaking in sorrow, Ro reached out and closed the Puazi's eyes and dropped her face forward as the sobs took hold. "I'll come back for you, Sister. I will not leave you in this place." Easing out from beneath Nira's broken body and laying her back, allowing the waves to lap at the body, Green got to her feet and looked down. A plethora of emotional content swirled around within her, but Ro did not let them take hold. To give in to the base emotions would turn her into something the entire galaxy would fear, and in turn, have her hunted down. No. She would not sully Nira's memory, nor dishonor her by acting in a way that Nira would chastise her for. Again, she spoke to Nira. "I'll come back for you. I need to see to my mate and my children."

Ro walked away, each step feeling like a fifty pound weight had been tied around her ankles with the ebbing sorrow in her heart. Heading for the tomb of her loved ones, Green let the tears cease on their own and dry on her face. It took quite a bit of Control for her to maintain that composure, but for the benefit of the personnel around her, and her Knight Apprentice Kara, she had to show strength and resolve. With the Orions suddenly retreating there were groups of unharmed people now attending to the dead and the wounded even as Green walked over to where her own family were. Ro would be taxed this day, as she would use the Core to move heavier pieces of structure and debris to get to the people inside for recovery. As for her own spirit, her own soul, there were stress fractures. It would take a long, long time for those fractures to fully mend.

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