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The Heorot - the return of Kara Nakuto

Posted July 6, 2020, 4:59 a.m. by Civilian Kara Nakuto (Consultant) (Sharon Miller)

Posted by Captain Viktoryia Ravenfall (Commanding Officer) in The Heorot - the return of Kara Nakuto

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Peter Sigmundsson (Chief Intelligence Officer) in The Heorot - the return of Kara Nakuto

Posted by Ensign Luna (Security Officer) in The Heorot - the return of Kara Nakuto
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

“ it’s the shadows they won’t let me sleep” Cerenity said.

As she led Crenity towards the replicator, she shot a glance in the direction of the CIO, her expression warning him to be ready for anything now.

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

“ Kara there going to take eveyone on the ship they recaptured dad after him and mommy got into a fight” she said tears streaked her face. “ they won’t eveyone and tryed to take me. They said I’m not human? Why why would they say that?” she said bursting into tears.

Cerenity

Peter looked at Kara with concern in his eyes, he didn’t understand what this child was speaking of but the look on his friend’s face was warning enough. Shadows that captured Loki, he recalled Luna telling him about him once. A crying child was not his forte, he moved his jaw in a clear sign of discomfort “Kara?”

Peter

“I do not know, Crenity,” Kara soothed, pulling the child towards her and cradling her gently. “Sometimes, the things on this ship, they like to say things to hurt us or to upset us. They have a way of uncovering our deepest and most primal fears and then wielding them as a weapon to beat us into submission. But we must remain strong, Crenity. No matter what they say to us, we must close our ears and our hearts. No matter who they take from us, we must keep alive the hope that we will get them back. Do you understand?”

Leading the young girl over to Peter, the half-Klingon smiled. “Crenity, this is Peter. He is one of my dearest friends. And now he is your friend too. That means he will protect you, just as I will. They are not going to take you, Crenity. I promise.”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

“ Kara I know everyone on this ship. And hope won’t save daddy or the others. We have to do something” she said. She had seamed to calm down now.

Cerenity

Kara raised an eyebrow at the child. “Okay then, Crenity. What do you suggest that we do?” she asked, glancing at Peter. If the adults onboard were struggling to formulate solutions, then perhaps this child could.

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

“ what if…” she said thinking. “ if we let them catch us they would lead us right to daddy and the others wouldn’t they. We…We have to find them. Before something terrible happens to them” she said wide eyed.
Cerenity

Submission was not something that came easy to one of Klingon descent. Indeed, seldom could there ever have been a case where it was considered preferable to honourable death. To give herself over, willingly, to the things that plagued this ship, that tormented her constantly, was like a dagger to the heart for the traumatised former captain. But the child’s words rang true - there could be no more avoidance of this situation. No more being suffocated by apathy as the Viking continued to devour their crew.

“Okay, Crenity,” she shrugged. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

Peter blinked in surprise, he wasn’t sure which was worse, the fact that they were taking strategic advice from a child or the fact that it was actually a sound plan given the circumstances. He looked at his glass of bloodline and pursed his lips then pushed the drink away, it probably wasn’t a good idea to drink any more. He then turned to the child and gave her a half-smile and a nod, if she had half the mind her mother did this wouldn’t be so bad.

CIO

bump

“ is it possible to track the people who get cought then we could follow them and get the shadows off guard. Though if that doesn’t work the people how get cought will be on there own” she said clearly at a loss as to what to do in that situation.
Cerenity.

Nakuto settled herself into a cross-legged position on the dusty floor of the Heorot. From here, she could feel the vibration of plasma being continually pumped around the ship, like blood cells rushing forth through a weakened circulatory system. The defective heartbeat of the USS Viking. The picture was growing ever clearer now in her mind - Starfleet’s recurrent attitude of apathy and abandonment towards the Viking and its technical needs, their re-appropriating or flat-out refusing every single upgrade that she had requested during her tenure as Captain, not to mention their disinterest in the disappearance of a large portion of the crew - none of this had been by accident. It was wholly by design that their vessel was gasping out its dying breaths. By design, too, that every man and woman who stepped onboard did so at immense risk to their very lives. The most pertinent question now was, who was the architect?

The half-Klingon’s attention returned to the girl at her side. Poor Crenity. The child had never stood a chance, being born in the midst of such orchestrated malevolence, and to a mother whose own existence had been formed from another, but no less cruel, experiment. Kara ran a hand through her hair as she studied Crenity once again. Had she ever known even a moment of peace? Did the shadows leave her long enough to play a simple game or study a simple toy? These were matters terrifying to even the most battle-hardened of warriors. Was Crenity even aware that, beyond the prison of these walls, the universe held many pockets of sunlight and joy?

“How do we predict the next person taken?” she finally responded to the child’s suggestion. “Or ensure that one of us steps into their place? So far I have seen no patterns to the disappearances.”

Her mind plummeted back to her own vanishing. The portal that had swallowed so many of her friends had appeared without ceremony, without warning. And one year later, after spitting Kara and Loki back into the present, it had simply ceased to exist with the transience of a dream.
“We need another portal.” she heard her voice declare as if spoken by another, one who had not lost everyone and everything they had ever cared about to that damned void! “So far it has been the only tangible interface between our world and…”

Her exhale carried the weight of a hundred wars, the familiar sensation of sinking into eternal night clawing at her once again. Her eyes connecting with Sigmundsson’s own, Kara shrugged. “Am I going mad, my friend? Has this ship finally robbed me of my senses?”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

Peter hesitated as her eyes locked with his, he simply stood up and moved closer, placing his right hand on her shoulder “If you are then we’ll go mad together” He smiled slightly “But no, you happen to be right. So far we’ve been on the run, on the defensive. I think it’s time to do a little attacking of our own.” His words sounded hollow to his ears, as if he wasn’t sure if he believed them himself.

CIO

Nakuto allowed herself a moment of laughter, a tiny, almost insignificant point of brevity. But it was enough to pierce the darkness enveloping her and allow one lsingle sliver of light to shine through. The thought of the child and all that she had endured was too much for Kara to consider. Only with the construction of a plan, a framework under which they could take shelter, would this burden release sufficiently for her to breathe.

“We shall set a trap,” she declared, glancing down at Crenity and then back to Peter, her own eyes alive with a mischievous excitement she had thought lost. “And I shall be the bait. I do not know what will be drawn in there with us, something alien and unknown? Or something agonisingly familiar. But whatever it is, we must be ready for it. Right now, here, is the moment that we stop cowering in the shadows. Right now, is the time when we begin to fight back!”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

“I want to help like mommy I want to rescue daddy” Cerenity said with a smile. She was excited by the thought of seeing her dad again. As well as being brave like her mom. However the adults in the room know very well that if Cerenity were involved and put in danger the child’s mother would be much more frittering then shadows.
Cerenity

Peter gave Kara an awkward expression “Perhaps it’s time to bring in some backup” He said giving the child a glancing look, hoping his implication was clear enough.

CIO

Kara nodded at Peter’s suggestion. This was most certainly a battle she had no intentions of fighting alone. Then, looking down at Crenity, she gave the child her most sincere expression.
“A battle fought with a weary army will be a short battle indeed, little one.” she began. “You are in no position to help us when you are tired and hungry, Crenity. Now, take your hot chocolate back to your bed and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, we will all be in better condition to plan our next move. Okay?”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

“ok Kara” she said finishing her hot chocolate. set it on the tabe the hugged Kara. ” Don’t Leave me like daddy did proms” She said. Once she saw happy she said goodnight to both Kara and Peter then headed back to bed where she belonged. Her mother was left unawaere of the nights events.
Cerenity

Kara returned the hug, clinging the child to her momentarily, as if they were the last two people in the universe. Then releasing her again, she locked eyes with Crenity and said, “I will not leave you. I promise. And neither will your mother. She is one of the strongest people I have ever known, Crenity. You are safe with her.”

Peter rubbed the back of his neck, scratching his nape out of mild relief. He waited a little longer to be sure she was at least twice the distance from a normal child’s earshot, who knew perhaps she possessed superior hearing “Now regarding this plan of yours, you’ve been back for a while now and no move has been made against you, even before you left for the debrief. How do you intend to bait them now?” He asked with clear concern in his voice, an uncommon occurrence.

CIO

Rising to her feet, Nakuto approached the towering form of Sigmundsson and balanced herself against the table at his side.
“Honestly?” she exhaled. “I have no idea, my friend. The last portal appeared in a jefferies tube. We’d been having considerable issues with the environmental controls and the switches were in that area. I remember Lt Ros and myself…”

She trailed off. Ros. He’d been her lover and her friend for almost a year until suddenly, days it seemed before his disappearance, he had changed. Changed into something unnerving and terrifying that Kara could not even bear to consider right now, surrounded as she was by the ever-encroaching dark.

“I don’t know exactly how we triggered it,” she shrugged off the memory. “But…”

“Maybe I can help” Viktoyia said softly as she made her way over to where Peter and Kara were. She handed Kara the padd she held in her hand. “This might help you. Since my arrival I have be keeping track of the disappearances. Time, last known location , any information that might be able to help me determine why my people are disappearing.” She took in a deep breath as she let the two settle on the information she had”

“I would even be the bait” since she started compiling the data she had started hearing things she couldn’t explain. Almost as if voices were calling to her from somewhere else.

Ravenfall, CO

“No!” the half-Klingon roared, the required formality at the appearance of her Commanding Officer usurped by her horror at the thought of Ravenfall submitting herself as bait. “Ma’am, you are too important to this ship and to the crew. We have already had one captain fall by the wayside,” and here she lowered her head momentarily, as her cheeks burned briefly with shame, “We can not afford to lose another.”

But Viktoryia had offered more than herself as bait. She had also offered information and Kara’s interest had been piqued. Reaching for another bottle of bloodwine and offering her CO a cup, Nakuto motioned for them all to gather once more around the table. “But what do you know of the disappearances, Ma’am? Have you been able to establish a pattern?”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant)

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