The Corruption of Lyie
Posted on Wed Apr 21st, 2021 @ 8:50am by Colonel Loval
Edited on on Wed Apr 21st, 2021 @ 9:33pm
3,075 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 11 - Family Matters
Location: Tavea IV Settlement in Romulan Space
Timeline: MD000 2300 hrs - MD004 2130 hrs
It has been nigh on two weeks since she saw her dormroom at the Academy, and her friends. Since those strange Romulans came and without a word whisked her away. In that time Lyie tr'Hwersuil had learned a lot, and doubted even more. There was only one thing she knew for sure, and that was she needed her brother, she needed Vaebn. And for the life of her she had no idea where he was.
It all began as she stepped out of the sonic shower, Commander Ptak's Xenobotany class managed to be both boring and informative at the same time. A long sonic shower after class always eased her mind. As she affixed her comm badge to her uniform a crashing noise came from the common room that she shared with Erax her Orion suitemate. "Erax did you hit the table aga...." Lyie was cut off as a hand clasped around her mouth and a disruptor muzze pressed to her back. Erax lay bleeding on the floor a disruptor blast to his chest.
"So much as blink and you are nothing but a streak on the wall..." The disguised voice said. "...If you cooperate you wil live and will in fact return to this place. Is that understood..." The voice continued. Lyie allowed her muscles that up until now had been fighting to go slack as a sign that she would acquiesce. In one swift motion the captor released her mouth and grabbed her about the waist with the muzzle of the disruptor pointing at her chin. With his free hand he tapped a device on his arm and a transport sequence began to spin up. In that split moment Lyie tapped her comm badge and gave the emergency signal. The last thing she saw of that room was her comm badge spinning in the air as the captor tore it from her chest.
When they materialized she found herself in a cell, She turned from her captor to investigate and she felt a sharp blow to the back of her head and pain intense pain. Her thoughts were on Erax and why he may have died as everything went black and she thought she was dead herself.
The blurriness swirled for a moment and then the image congealed into a solid colorless room. For the briefest of moments Lyie believed that she may have dreamt the attack. However, now she knew that was incorrect. She groaned as she sat up in the barren room. The distinct sound of a male clearing his throat could be heard and she turned to see a Romulan male wearing ambassadorial robes. He smiled and tented his fingers but remained silent as he allowed her to get her bearings. She felt woozy and of balance, like she had been laying on the ground for some time.
It was only when Lyie stood up that he began to speak. "Hello, you may know me as Ambassador Loval, however, you may address me as Colonel Loval. Before you say anything you should know that this is not a kidnapping, it is a restoration. You are being returned to your people, your family and your homeland."
"My family is de..." Lyie began to shout.
"Dead?" Loval finished her statement. "Well sadly yes most of them are dead. However, the one survivor, your brother, he will be with us in due time. Won't that be something a family reunion. Tell me when you decided to return to take to the stars. Why did you join Starfleet? Why not return to your people, assist us in returning to our rightful place in the galaxy."
Lyie was about to recite what she had been trained to recite in this situation. Name, Rank, serial number etc... However, something he said had struck a small cord within her. Besides if Vaebn was coming it would not hurt hearing this Loval out, so she played along. "At the time the Empire and all of its assets were in disarray. I did not want to be a part of politics and I felt the best way to assist was to join Starfleet. A decision that I have not regretted. I am a scientist, an explorer. There is little place for me in an empire that is rebuilding its past instead of forging its future." She made sure to keep her tones even an keep the anger out of her voice. Lyie felt it best to keep Loval talking at least for the time being.
Loval could appriciate her position and nodded his approval and agreement with her words. "However, now all of that has changed. The Empire has a direction now. It is a return to somewhat of the old ways. What is the old human phrase. 'If it isn't broken do not fix it'" Lyie had to stifle a laugh at his miswording but she allowed him to continue. "The Empire was one of the strongest entities in the galaxy. However, we were misguided run by squabbling interlopers. So all of that is going to change. No more Senate, no more arguing amongst ourselves."
Lyie's mind raced and she paced her cell to keep up with it. She understood in principle what he was saying but logistically it would be a nightmare. "But what are you going to do, just crown a supreme ruler and call it a day. Some will not accept that, then what, then you have civil war that's what..." She ranted and Loval held out his hand to quiet her. "All information will come in due time. For now eat and relax you will be educated soon."
Loval stood up and handed her a pill through the bars. Lyie was leery about taking it. "It would serve no purpose to kill you yet. That is a nutrient pill. It will give you everything you need for sustenance." Loval said flatly and then popped one into his own mouth to show her that it was not poisoned. "Until next time..." Loval nodded and was gone. Lyie was hungry and thirsty for that matter. She devoured the pill and within moments felt sated. Before she could fully process everything Loval had said the blackness returned and she returned to a dreamless sleep.
When Lyie awoke she was unsure if she had a dreamless sleep or if she had dreamed of the Romulus that could be. Was it even a dream or did I converse more with the Colonel... she thought. Her throughts dwelt on Loval for a moment. On the one hand it felt like they had just met and on the other she felt like she had known him for quite some time. As if they had been old friends.
She was laying on the floor again, except this time it was a different floor. Instead of the cell that she seemed to have gotten used to this room had a carpet. It was still a cell and there was still a lack of furnishings but it seemed a bit more comfortable. She also seemed to be wearing a Romulan uniform although she did not remember changing. On the other side of a forcefield was a desk, a chair and an odd looking helmet with leads coming out of it. She rose to her feet and took stock of everything. Lyie realized that she had no idea what day it was or how long she had been from Earth, what was worse was she was not sure if it really mattered.
Loval entered with a tray of food and a smile. With the touch of a button on the desk the field was lowered. "Good morning my dear here have some breakfast." He set the tray down and sat down. Lyie came to the desk and sat in one of the smaller chairs her eyes still darting about as she looked for something to say. "What happened? Why am I here?" She started. Loval for his part simply crossed his legs like he had done countless times before. "My dear do you not recall your deprogramming. You have been undercover all this time and we are bringing you home but first you must be reacclimated." The tone of his voice was as if to say this happens all the time, and there is no change.
Lyie had a vague memory that what he was saying was truth, but there was another part of her a deeper part that fought against these words. That screamed it was all a lie...
“We sent you to Earth to keep tabs on what the Federation was doing in the aftermath of Hobus. The idea was to keep Starfleet in the game while we rebuilt. However, it seemed that the Federation abandoned us and we lost sight of you. It took us this long to find you.” Loval began to relate the entire story that they had planted in her head. As he set out a breakfast for them. “Eat… Eat I am sure you are famished.”
Lyie composed herself and rubbed her temples. Her head was pounding and there seemed to be a bruise on the sides of her head. She observed the bruises as she looked in the mirror. Of course she remembered getting the bruises as she tried to escape Starfleet custody. She shrugged off the fog as she sat down to her breakfast. Lyie was happy to see that he had laid out a Romulan morning meal as opposed to a human one. The idea of food from Earth turned her stomach at the moment. She took a few bites and then sipped her tea.
“You will have to forgive me as my memory is still fuzzy. I know that it is coming back to me slowly. I seem to remember that I had a partner undercover with me…” Her voice trailed off as she tried to place it the face was clear as day in her mind. But she could not think of a name. “Ah yes your brother Vaebn. He is on his way here I believe. But there have been some complications.” Loval interjected. Lyie gave him a quizzical look as she continued to eat.
“Your brother did not believe me when we tried to get him out. In fact he thinks that we have kidnapped you and is on his way here with his shipmates to rescue you. It is imperative that we get him to realize the truth. The information locked away in his head is imperative to the success of the Empire. You must not allow him to sway you from your mission.” Loval could not impress upon her enough, everything hinged upon when Lyie and Vaebn met up. This was an all or nothing scenario and Loval knew it. However, if this mission failed he had his escape plan and return to Port Royale already laid out.
Lyie nodded as she swallowed another sip of tea. Resolutely she set the coffee cup down. Her demeanor was extremely serious despite the warmth of the beverage and the happiness that the food gave her. “If he does not realize the benefit of rejoining the Empire then he will die. We cannot allow the information that he has to fall into Starfleet’s hands.” Lyie had no idea what the information was. Just that she had to make sure it was never released. Loval leaned back in his chair satisfied and impressed with the progress made with Lyie.
Lyie turned toward the table next to her bed as she sipped her tea. The silver helmet with two leads going into a computer panel on the wall that sat on the table had caught her eye. Try as she might she could not figure out what it was used for, but she felt that it helped her sleep.
The next morning Lyie awoke to find Loval already in her room sipping a cup of tea. She had become accustomed to his presence so it was not too alarming for him to be there now. “Good morning my dear, I trust you slept well. Today is a rather grueling day unfortunately; you will have to spend much of it on the machine gaining your memories back.” Loval poured tea as he spoke. He had to act quickly before her initial conditioning wore off. To make matters worse he had to get back to Port Royale to attend another of Martinez’s blasted council meetings.
Lyie sat up and donned a dressing gown, the ideas of modesty seemed to be a thing of the past. Something that lingered needlessly in the back of her head. She sipped her tea impatiently, Lyie wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. She sat down in the large steel recliner and put her feet up. Effortlessly and without any prompting she placed the silver helmet upon her head and the two wires came out of the top of the helmet and gave her the image as if she had antennae. They connected to the computer system on the other end.
Loval keyed in the relative commands into the computer terminal and looked up expectantly. He waited for her scream that always came to subside. “I will be gone for the next few days. You will remain here on the machine. The Centurion will bring you meals etc… I will return as soon as I can.” She acknowledged him with a simple mumbling of words, that no one save for the people that were now in her head understood.
As Lyie closed her eyes the image of the real world dissolved into that of her mind’s eye. However, this world was no less real to her than the one of flesh and blood. She saw her brother and the rest of her family. They all sat around a table and it seemed that they were eating a meal together. In front of each of them was a plate with a dome lid over it. When the lid was lifted the meal was revealed. It seemed that the food for everyone except for Vaebn and herself was burned. In unison her family began to scream that it was Starfleet, and the Federation that burned the meal. That it was they who would pay for their starvation. This went on for what seemed like days and the only one who said nothing was Vaebn. Lyie was startled to find that whenever she looked over at her brother his face was blank. No eyes, nose or mouth was present.
The more that Lyie believed the vision the more she felt her subconscious fighting to disbelieve it. Just as the young woman began to make sense of everything the image changed. There was a startling explosion of bright white light and then everyone at the table save for herself and Vaebn were dead. On the plate in front of her this time was a menu card that said ‘what is happening’. The card in front of the faceless Vaebn said ‘what could happen.’
The visions continued in this manner on endless loops. The more she saw the more she felt disconnected from herself. Her mind backed up everything that Loval said, but her emotions just felt wrong. She tossed the helmet off in frustration and looked about the room. A stack of trays with consumed meals lay on the table next to her. Loval strode confidently into the room.
“How long have I been on that thing?” She asked with a shaky dry voice. Lyie began to gulp the water that was next to her.
“About three more days. Thankfully I am now all yours as I have completed the other tasks that I had to do. Tell me how do you feel?” Loval sat down and crossed his legs. He tented his fingers as he leaned back. This would be the moment of truth.
“I know that I am Romulan and that the life I was leading on Earth was for the return of the Empire. I know now that it was all a lie to get the information we needed. Which for the record I do not believe I have yet…” Lyie began to answer Loval until he cut her off. “That is simply because we took you out too soon. You will be sent back in due time. When you are sent back you will be reporting to me on a regular basis. In fact I am going to try to get you assigned to the Federation station that believes that I am an Ambassador.”
“My only question is why is Vaebn’s face blank. For the life of me I cannot remember what he looks like and the machine does not help me.” Lyie asked in earnest. The question troubled Loval it was something that he had not expected. He exhaled heavily through his nose. “Perhaps it is because you have not seen him in some time and he has not come around and out of his operation. No matter, you will be reunited with your dear brother shortly. When you are you may have to assist in subduing him.” Loval smiled at the thought of her fighting her brother and his friends. It amused him to no end.
“Of course Colonel, I will make sure that he comes around or I will kill him.” Lyie responded without the slightest thought. “Excellent, now…” Loval’s voice trailed off as an alarm sounded. Loval tapped a wall panel. “What is going on up there?” A voice responded that a Federation starship has been spotted in orbit and they have sent down an away team. Loval turned to Lyie. “Well my dear it seems that then is now.” He tossed her a disruptor.
“Vaebn will realize who he is or take his secrets to the grave.” Lyie said grimly as she followed Loval out. Something in the back of her head screamed that everything about this was wrong. A part of Lyie still fought, and still hung on against the torture and the programming. Lyie tr'Hwersuil’s subconscious hoped that she could hold out long enough to come to her senses.
A Joint Post By
Cadet Junior Grade Lyie tr'Hwersuil
Cadet, Starfleet Academy
Colonel Loval
Commanding Officer, Tal Shiar
RSS Feed