Star Trek: Theurgy

Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

May 08, 2020, 03:09:07 AM

STARDATE 57629.81
April 8, 2381
1730 HRS

[CPO Sithick | Public Baths | Vector 2 | Deck 6 | USS Theurgy] @fiendfall

Sithick poured water over the hot coals in the center of the steam room. It was a space the Gorn was not used to having. Black Opal and every Klingon post he served did not posses such luxuries. And even though he preferred the spartan life he had grown accustomed as a slave, Sithick had to admit the little bit of avarice that the Theurgy provided was quickly spoiling him. If he wasn't careful he risked becoming a real lounge lizard.

Finding a comfortably warm bench he stretched out to his full length, allowing for each square inch of his massive scaled body to absorb the moisture in the air. His visits here were quickly becoming routine as it kept his skin healthy and his muscles limber. It had only been a couple of days ago that he had his fight with the Klingon S'Lotlh and his hand had already started to heal. The wound had closed with soft tissue. Eventually, replacement digits would begin to form. His left hand would be weak until the regeneration process was complete. Maybe in a month. Sithick thought about going to sickbay and having the doctors apply a dermal regenerate to accelerate the process but quickly talked himself out of it each time the thought accused. It was filled with residual traces of Lahkeiss. For a Gorn, the sense of smell/taste was extremely heightened. Even after the barrier of Lahkeiss scent was gone, the memories would replace them. No Sithick knew it would be a long time before he would visit sickbay. He would have to heal his wounds physically and mentally in some other way.

Closing his eyes, Sithick slowly settled into a hibernative state.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #1 – May 11, 2020, 05:34:54 PM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

Thank god this ship had a bathhouse. Well, a pool, some hot tubs, and a steam room. Hardly the elaborate and spacious bathhouses of Kinarvon, with hot and cold pools, massage booths, oiling stations, and more recreational facilities. By contrast the Theurgy's offerings were disappointingly utilitarian.

But whatever. It existed at least. She'd spent a full day not realising it was there, just having to make do with the tiny little bathroom in her apartment -- a shower for god's sake! -- and it'd almost driven her perfectly mad. Of course, even when she did discover the bathhouse, its mere existence couldn't make up for her missing slaves -- she'd thought downgrading from her top-of-the-line slave team on Kinarvon to one useless maid on Aldea was bad, but now she was forced to do everything herself! Ugh it was a nightmare.

Still. It gave her a chance to soak and steam, and, more importantly, to be seen, so she'd gone almost every day since she'd found it. She spent hours sunbathing, relaxing under the UV lights. Two nights, one fire -- it gave her the most opportunity to be seen, and let her replenish her energy levels. Plus it was the most relaxing place on the entire ship, even without her serving girls to bring her food and wine, and her bodyguards to stand around looking delicious.

She usually liked to move to the hot tubs once she was done sunbathing, but she'd managed to fall asleep by accident and had napped for rather longer than she'd intended, so today she decided to skip that stage. Slipping into her flip flops -- she refused to go barefoot on this awful ridged ground -- she crossed to the steam room, where she found something very interesting waiting for her.

A Gorn! Just laid out there like a rug! Well!

The rest of the room was unusually empty -- perhaps no one wanted to share it with a brute. And maybe she should follow suit, Gorn were hardly good company nor the kind of attention she wanted to attract. She couldn't have been less interested in talking to it.

And then it shifted, and she noticed something even more unexpected than its existence here. A marking upon its shoulder blade, or whatever it was Gorn had -- a marking she recognised as a property brand. An Orion property brand.

Well now. Wasn't this delicious?

Whatever, she wasn't leaving after all. She stepped into the steam room, picking a spot that was close enough to the Gorn to speak to it without being too close, and laid down her towel daintily to sit on it.

For a moment she just watched the Gorn, and then: 'My my, darling, you're an awfully long way from home aren't you?'

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #2 – May 12, 2020, 05:31:36 AM

[CPO Sithick | Public Baths | Vector 2 | Deck 6 | USS Theurgy] @fiendfall

Sithick's skin absorbed the steam. His eyes closed as he began to drift off in a daydream. It had been this exact steam room where he and Lahkesis bonded. The Gorn's tongue danced across the moisture-filled space in an attempt to absorb any remaining essence of his female. He snorted in frustration of its absence, sinking lower along the bench until he was sprawled across it.

As he lied there, visions began to fill his mind. He was sitting on his knees in his quarters basking under the warmth of a red sun lamp. A delicate hand began to trace his scaled form. The rigidness of his scaled skin softening beneath her touch. Then he felt her lips touch his neck as she moved a hand to stroke the spinal crests along his face and atop his head. The sensation sent a shudder through his body and a pleasant rumble filled his chest.

"I am yours and you are mine. Bonded together for all time." Lahkesis Saugn's arousal could be felt as well as seen. Her hair began to glow and produce light, light that began to generate ultraviolet heat Sithick's endothermic muscles soaked up. The Gorn knew the sensation he was imagining were only the effects of the hot steam of the sauna. But his heart longed for it to be the effects of a night spent with his Lahkesis.

As his fantasy continued to play out he became more and more distant from reality, drifting further and further into the dream. Lahkesis moved in front of him in the dream and began to slowly remove her clothes. Sithick's arousal both in the fantasy and in the real world began to gradually show by the emergence of his reptilian phallus. It didn't matter in the fantasy, He had already imagined Lahkesis removing all but his lower garments. In the confines of the steam room, a pair of briefs and a towel were all that kept his member at bay. Once his dream mate was fully nude, Sithick marveled as the combined heat from Lahkesis, the solar lamps, and steam room created waves of euphoric bliss. Then Lahkesis' petal-like hair began to lengthen past her shoulders, strands billowing in the air, reaching out to caress him. Flower-like blooms began to open down the length of her mane, releasing glittering dust of pollen.

"I love you, Sithick. Breathe me in so I will always be with you."

Sithick, both real and fantasy, inhaled a massive breath of air. His tongue netting the euphoria producing particles from the air. As the first wave of bliss tickled the pleasure centers of his brain, the image of Lahkesis vaporized into a dust cloud. Sithick reached for it only to jerk back in horror at the figure that replaced his mate.

"My my, darling, you're an awfully long way from home aren't you?"

Sithick's erotic fantasy had been invaded by the arrival of a wicked being from the past that he had unknowingly suppressed. The female figure standing where Lahkesis had undressed in preparation for a passionate night was tall, scantily clad, with jade skin, long flowing charcoal hair, and bedazzled with jewelry and piercings. The woman before Sithick could only be described in one word.... Mother.

Sithick snapped his eyes open banishing the fantasy turn nightmare. With the speed of a k'karee viper, Sithick rose to his full towering stature and with laser focus intensity his eyes dilated and honed on the source of the voice. It had not come from his fantasy but here in the real world.

"Wssshsssosss asssrsssesss ysssosssusss Osssrsssisssosssnsss asssnsssdsss hsssossswsss dsssisssdsss ysssosssusss gsssessstsss isssnsss hsssesssrsssesss?" Sithick's lips curled as his native tongue hissed out his words. Not expecting to be disturbed he had left his translator. With a quick snap of his neck a signal of frustration but to the uneducated in Gorn mannerism, a gesture easily interpreted as a precursor to an attack.

Looking at the Orion femme fatale directly, the Gorn Giant switched to the only language he knew she may understand and that he could speak unaided. It was as guttural and sibilant accented as native Gorn but unique to the Orion muni reptilian race. Low Orion or low Kolari as it was known among the slaver race was rarely spoken in the presence of non-Orions but like all Orion languages, it possessed double meanings making it ideal for Syndicate use.

"Whossse arrresss ussse Orrrionsss andsss howsss didsss ussse getsss insss herrresss?

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #3 – May 18, 2020, 07:23:49 PM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

My my, this Gorn was an odd one wasn't it? It was almost like she'd interrupted it out of a dream or a hallucination or something. She sniffed the air; was it on something? Not as far as she could tell, unless it'd taken a drug that stank of lizard feet.

She reclined on one elbow, watching it. Its reaction to her was most interesting -- it was up on its feet in a second, towering over her. What, trying for intimidation?

It didn't not work. Gorn were notorious brutes; she doubted even the Starfleet code of ethics would stop this one from ripping her apart if the bloodlust came over it. Ew. Imagine how undignified her corpse would look!

No, no, couldn't have that. But she wasn't about to back down to it, either. She'd heard of Gorn slaves, although she'd only seen them personally once or twice, and never close up. They needed to be controlled, to be shown they weren't the alpha or whatever it was their little brains thought up. At least, she thought that was what J'Rila had said. She'd been somewhat distracted at the time.

So she held her ground, looking up at the large creature before her with a cool, detached gaze that said 'you wouldn't dare to attack me'.

She could only hope her gamble paid off.

Its first attempt at speech was just as brutish and distasteful as she'd expected, aggressive on her delicate ears. It made an aborted, frustrated movement, and she receeded slightly; was it going to attack her, after all?

No, it would seem not. Instead, it had the presence of mind to switch languages -- she was impressed it knew more than one, honestly -- and moved to the low dialect of Orion. Oh darling. Look at it, it was really trying!

She hadn't been wrong, then. That brand really was Orion in origin. A barbaric practice used only on life-contract slaves -- almost always foreigners, these slaves were truly the lowest of the low.

Lucky for this creature, though, before Xelia had been, well, Xelia, before she'd switched to use the higher dialect as her primary form of speech, she had been someone else entirely. Oh, she might not have spoken Low Orion as a matter of course for some time, but she remembered the slave language perfectly well all the same.

Not that she was going to actually speak it. The languages were similar enough that this creature should be able to understand her High Orion, and she its Low. So long as she used simple words, that is.

'Xelia, darling,' she said magnanimously. 'Here to enjoy everything the Federation has to offer, of course.' Her eyes flicked to the brand on its shoulder. 'Do I call you 28P3M, or do you prefer Ŋiolb?'

---

ŋiolb -> animal, creature, beast (non-canon Orion dictionary)

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #4 – May 18, 2020, 09:40:38 PM

[CPO Sithick | Fighter Bay Operations Office | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @fiendfall

How did she know his Slave Name? Sithick thought. Then he realized it, the laser-etched Orion brand on his shoulder. Easily hidden under his uniform, written in a language familiar only to slavers, to everyone else easily mistaken for a tattoo. He was unfamiliar with any Xelia, but her Orion countenance meant it was likely an alias. He had heard that it was a stereotype to assume all Orion's were part of the Syndicate. She did speak in High Orion but that didn't mean anything. It was filled with as much double-speak as Low Orion. The one thing it did establish was her immediate superiority over him.

In the back of his brain, the Gorn Imperative surfaced... "The weak must be conquered!" He was not weak and he was not a Ŋiolb! Her social elitism would be difficult to contend with. Many saw the Gorn as barbarian brutes. It was a personal stereotype that had helped Sithick survive living with the Klingons. It had kept many within the Federation at a safe distance, a distance that only a few dare close. Among them, Vivian Martin, Jaya Thorne, and Lahkesis. "Lahkesis, he thought. Her memory soothed his anger.

Sithick continued to stare down the Orion. With a tongue flick into the air, he eased back.

"Eyesss isss Chiefsss Sssithicksss. Usssrrre prrresssence ssstarrrtlesss messes." The Gorn new he needed to tred carefully. If this Xalia was a Syndicate enforcer he was in trouble. Leaving the Syndicate was generally done in one way.... fatally. Slaves of the Syndicate earned their freedom in much the same way. His position in Starfleet would only offer him very little protection. He would have to ferret more information about her.

"Itsss notsss thessse parrrlorrr ofsss Risssa, thessse hotsss sssprrringsss ofsss Vulcansss, orsss whatssseverrrsss drrreamsss brrroughtsss toosss lifesss onsss Wrrrigleysss, butsss itsss willsss doosss." Sithick extended a talon to point at the bench opposite him. If he was going to extend dominance over her, he would have to act a lot less Gornish.

"Pleassse," he said in invitation.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #5 – May 24, 2020, 07:16:31 PM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

It spoke with such a heavy lisping tongue that Xelia genuinely struggled to tell what it was even trying to say, and she had to spend a few moments puzzling over its strange accent. But at least the creature wasn't aggressive, and at least it seemed properly deferential to her, as she realised when she'd finally figured out what it was on about. It introduced itself to her politely enough -- not as a slave to its master, but still, the low tongue went a long way -- and she was surprised to find out it was a chief. A chief of what? Hissing?

She smiled at her own joke.

So. Sithick, apparently. Appropriately Gornish. The creature tried to get her to move to sit opposite its own position, as if the seat she'd chosen wasn't to its liking; she ignored it. She'd sat here deliberately, and if the lizard had to twist in its seat to see her, well. That was hardly her problem now was it?

'Well-travelled, are you?' she asked in reply to what she'd worked out was a list of other places the creature would apparently have preferred to be. 'Though the clubs in Kinarvon are better than any of those Federation attempts at entertainment.' She waved a hand dismissively. Though maybe that'd be a good topic for a holo program? As long as the Starfleet Purity Brigade didn't find out and throw her off for rendering a boob or replicating opiates, of course.

'So tell me,' she said, returning to the present and moving to wring out some of the dampness from her hair, 'how does one of Krist Mor's feral attack dogs end up on a rogue Federation ship?' She gave her brutish companion a glance. 'Sounds like quite the story.'

It was a calculated move. She knew who this Gorn was -- even if it'd taken her a moment to remember where she knew that slave ID from -- and there's not much point in having information if you can't hold it over someone else's head. Sithick wouldn't know who she was; even if it wanted to turn the tables on her, it wouldn't know where to start.

Besides. She really was curious to hear what it had to say. Sending a Gorn undercover into the Federation would be incredibly stupid and completely unheard of, but Z'Lexha had sent a man before so clearly the Syndicate would send just any old trash these days. She didn't really think Sithick might be an agent, but it was an awful coincidence for 28P3M to turn up here of all places.

Plus, imagine the look on Y'Lev's face if Sithick really was an agent and it was Xelia who unmasked it! Oh, it would be delicious. The thought was almost enough for her to consider framing Sithick even if it was innocent! Almost.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #6 – May 28, 2020, 08:09:31 PM

[CPO Sithick | Public Baths | Vector 2 | Deck 6 | USS Theurgy] @fiendfall

Sithick returned to a kneeling position in the spot he occupied before his meditation was interrupted. The coming dance would require grace and careful steps. Two things Gorn lacked, including himself.

"How does one of Krist Mor's feral attack dogs end up on a rogue Federation ship?" Xelia asked.

Sithick's primal responses betrayed his efforts to appear more than a giant attack lizard. A rumbling noise emanated from his throat before he responded to the Orion's question. He never knew the name for the man she referred to. Sithick's brood simply referred to him as the Keeper-Handler for that was who/what he really was. The one called Krist Mor fed them, housed them, and provided them with targets. Remembering him made Sithick agitated. Sticking his tongue out in an effort to taste the diminishing residual essence of Lahkesis. Instead the Gorn encountered a different sensation. Another memory. But didn't have time to explore it.

"Through deaths." The answer to Xelia's question was deliberately vague but a hundred percent honest. Many close to the Gorn had perished. Broodmates... Klingon friends... Crewmates... LAHKESIS! Then the trace pheromones in the room swayed his thoughts again. This time toward a memory of Mother. Mor like so many Orion men were puppets to an Orion female dominatrix. Mor's master was the first being that Sithick and his broodmates encountered upon hatching. She was their Guardian Mother, the person they lived to please and protect. It took a great amount of tragedy to suppress the memory of her. Why would it resurface now?

"Manys deaths in mys lifes journeys." Sithick unconsciously flexed his talons while focusing his predator's gaze upon Xelia. He wondered where Xelia fit in the complex tapestry of the Syndicate machine. Was she an assassin? A bounty hunter? An excommunicated? Regardless the answer Sithick was sure she would be an opportunist, taking advantage of any leverage that moved her up the Syndicate pyramid.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #7 – May 31, 2020, 01:02:00 AM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

The lizard did not like her question. It started kind of growling, which was really a bit unsettling. God, it'd better not try to eat her, that'd be such a rubbish way to go.

It didn't eat her, but it didn't really answer the question either. 'Through deaths'? What was that supposed to mean? Did Gorn believe in, like, reincarnation or something? Was it a bad translation? Or--

No, wait, it probably meant it'd killed a bunch of people. That made way more sense.

'So, you killed your way to freedom,' she said, mulling her words over, 'and now you're, what, a Federation lapdog?' She tilted her head to one side. 'Isn't that just swapping one master for another?'

She watched the lizard for a moment, before finally shrugging. 'Whatever. I don't really care. It's just ironic -- I spent days trying to find you for your old master, however many years ago now, but I never would've thought to look for you in Starfleet of all places!'

It suddenly occurred to her the creature might take her words the wrong way, so she quickly waved it off. She wasn't used to watching her words with slave species. 'I don't work for your master anymore, he probably wouldn't even talk to me. I'm not going to, like, turn you over or anything. The Syndicate and I aren't exactly on speaking terms anymore.' She examined the shaping on her nails. 'It's whatever.'

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #8 – June 06, 2020, 05:50:11 AM

[CPO Sithick | Public Baths | Vector 2 | Deck 6 | USS Theurgy] @fiendfall

Sithick focused his eyes on the Orion opposite him. Xelia, represented a potential threat to everything he had accumulated since becoming free. He would not go back. He would do anything, even risking his Starfleet career and standing in the Federation to ensure it.  Even though she says she was no longer working for the Keeper/Handler and was not on speaking terms with the Syndicate, she breaths. Those two things didn't go together. To fail the Keeper/Handler was to fail Mother and failure meant punishment. Additionally, one did not ghost the Syndicate by not speaking when they called. This Xelia was either extremely lucky.... or lying. Sithick's instincts leaned toward the latter.

"Sithicks frees becauses Sithicks survives. Sithicks strongs. These weaks musts bees conquereds. Its is these Gorns Imperitives." Sithick thought on those words. As a slave he was weak. His strength in survival brought him freedom. "Me's nose laps dogs. Eyes makes my's owns choices."

Sithick took pride in Xelia's failures. It meant he was indeed strong and that she was weak. "Keeper/Handlers wastes muches. Sends Sithicks broodmates toos Klingons. Fails us. Tosses outs likes trashs. Funnies he's sends yous toos finds. Causes yous to wastes muches. Matters nots, we's earns freedoms." Xelia's presence was beginning to unlock repressed memories. It was more than just her looks and connections to his past. There was something about her, something in the air that opened a flood gate of memories. Keeper/Handler would punish Sithick and his siblings through a handheld device that would send sharp pain through their skulls. After each tortured session, Mother would come and soothe her Gorn children. Her love secured their loyalties. Why was Xelia invoking memories and sensations Sithick only associated with Mother.

"Eyes familiars withs Orion's whatevers. Flashes a littles latinums and whatevers becomes somethings. Sithicks nose posses latinums. Yous nots Starfleets, whats yous angles? Whys yous aboards Theurgies?"

Sithick knew that with what Xelia had admitted about her past that there was much she wasn't ever going to tell. But it would be interesting to see how much she would. 

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #9 – June 09, 2020, 07:31:52 PM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

The creature insisted it wasn't anyone's lapdog. Poor thing, didn't it know everyone has a master, the Federation just calls theirs something different. 'Sir' or 'Captain' or whatever. It was all the same thing.

She had no idea what it was on about with the whole 'Keeper/Handler' thing. What a weird thing to say. Was that what it called Mor? Although she supposed that would be a more accurate term than 'Master'; Gorn weren't exactly people were they, so they couldn't very well be slaves so much as, like. Attack lizards. Zoo exhibits. Bags.

The story it told -- and she had to assume that's what it was, it was so truncated it was honestly hard to tell what was going on -- was kind of strange. Mor sent it to the Klingons? That wasn't right. Where did Gorales fit in all of this? Ugh it was just as much of a headache as she remembered it being. Investigations jobs were always such a nightmare.

In any case, it seemed like 28P3M had earned its freedom somehow. She had to wonder if that meant it killed everyone with control over it. That would be ironic. The first thing they might have in common.

She wasn't sure if 'Orion's whatevers' was, like, a bad translation? Or what. It didn't make much sense to her, but then it was a miracle she'd managed to get this many words out of a Gorn and had even half of them make sense. At least she understood the bit about Sithick not having any latinum -- and really, she hadn't expected it to! A Gorn with latinum? Whatever next!

She pouted as it asked what her 'angle' was. 'Really, darling, that's so rude to assume I must be up to something! Can't a girl just want to do the right thing every now and again?' She rolled her eyes. 'I may not be Starfleet but I'm not Syndicate either.' Leaning back casually, she watched the creature curiously. 'Why are you here? The whole Gornish "conquer everyone and growl a lot" thing doesn't exactly scream "Starfleet" now does it?'

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #10 – June 12, 2020, 10:25:28 PM

Sithick didn't know what to make of this Orion female. She knew so much more about his past than others. There was an element of caring in her knowledge. Of course, if she was a bounty hunter then there would be profit in it for her. He didn't care if he was being rude or not, she would not bag and tag him.

"Directness is nots always rudes. Mys experiences withs Orions...." Sithick paused not exactly knowing how to finish that sentence. His experience with Orions had been conflicted. He was not wholly trusting of them. Save for Mother. Sithick let out a grunt at the thought of her. "Mys experiences with Orions haves nots always been positives. Soes yous unalignes?" Regardless of her answer Sithick knew her first loyalty would always be to herself and her own interests. He just needed to make sure that hers aligned with his.

"I'ms here's toos protects my fiends. Mys clutches. Eyes conquers alls that's threatens thems." No, conquer the weak was not a manifesto fitting of Starfleet and the Federation. Protect the weak and defeat all that threaten them was more appropriate.  A voice from the past suddenly breaks his thought, 'You will protect Mother and all she holds dear.' A command from his past. One Sithick instinctually could not disobey.

Licking the air stimulated this instinct even more. "Yous ares nots Starfleets. Yous ares nots Syndicates. Yous ares ins these protections of Theurgies. Mines territories." Hopefully Xelia would understand those words, as mixed as they were. Gorn were extremely territorial and she had entered his. "Does yous offers aides ors harms toos its missions ors crews?"

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #11 – June 22, 2020, 11:03:22 PM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

She had to laugh at his statement. 'My experiences with Orions have not always been positive', well of course not darling! You're a member of a slave race, it was never going to be fun for you!

The creature's understatement was so massive it was almost cute. 'Not always positive', bless.

'Poor thing,' she cooed, only half fakely. 'It must've been so very difficult for you.' She rolled her eyes. 'Unaligned, yes, whatever. Not Syndicate. Not Starfleet. All Xelia.' She laughed. 'Much more fun than just doing what someone else tells you, no?'

The beast's explanation for being on the ship was interesting. Protect its friends?. Gorn had those? It was news to her. It seemed to think the entire ship was its personal territory, so did that make everyone aboard a member of its 'clutch'? Interesting.

She was in the protection of the Theurgy, as it said. Did that make her a member of its clutch? Under its protection too?

Oh now this she could work with.

'I'm here to help, darling,' she said. 'I've offered my help to the Theurgy. It goes against my interests to harm its mission or crew or whatever. So.' She shrugged. 'I'm only here to help.' She watched the creature closely. 'What does that mean to you?' With her bodyguards gone, she wouldn't mind having an attack Gorn of her own, come to think of it.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #12 – June 23, 2020, 01:30:52 AM

[CPO Sithick | Public Baths | Vector 2 | Deck 6 | USS Theurgy] @fiendfall

Sithick could do without the condescending tone of the Orion. He didn't expect her to drop it regardless. It was their way of puffing up before a deadlier opponent. "You will protect Mother. You will what is hers. Do you understand?" Came the voice in his head.

"Eyes wills protects Mo..." The words hung for a moment in the Gorn's mouth. "Mys crews. Ifs that's includes these Xelia..." "Mother" "...thens that's means eyes wills endeavors toos prevents yours deaths." The words soured in his mouth but deep within his subconscious something else was at work.

"Good my child. Your obedience makes Mother happy and will be rewarded." The thought sent waves of euphoria through the pleasure centers of the Gorn's brain and a cold chill down his spine. The air in the steam room was becoming sweet and pleasant, reminding Sithick of another time, something repressed deep within the caverns of his mind.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #13 – June 23, 2020, 03:45:54 PM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

Well now, wasn't this interesting! Sithick considered her part of its crew, and therefore under its protection -- at least, she thought that was what it was saying, it was difficult to follow the creature's meandering, halting speech. It had cut itself off to begin with, pausing; she couldn't tell if it had been thinking, trying to figure out how to articulate its position, or just distracted by, whatever, the thought of eating her alive or something.

'Wonderful!' she said when she was sure it had finished speaking. 'In that case I'm sure we're going to get along perfectly.' Obviously it wouldn't attack anyone on the crew, that much it had made clear, but if someone from the Syndicate came calling at least now she had a giant aggressive lizard who would happily kill them, no questions asked. Gorn weren't exactly intelligent creatures, she was sure she'd be able to manipulate it into doing her bidding if it came to that. Oh, this was working out wonderfully!

Of course, it still meant she was completely powerless if someone from the crew tried anything. Well not completely powerless of course, she'd stolen a dagger off Y'Lev after Isel destroyed hers, but she would be the first to admit she'd never really been one for all that hand to hand stuff. Certainly not as much as a Gorn was.

'So,' she said, drawing out the O thoughtfully. 'You're loyal to the crew, right? Adorable. But what if one person on the crew hurts another person on the crew? Really, if someone's hurting other people, do you think they still deserver to be on the crew, under your protection? Surely if someone does something wrong, they're no longer part of the crew, don't you think?' Come on, sweetling, let her do the thinking, she was by far the smarter of the two.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #14 – July 07, 2020, 03:37:20 AM

 [CPO Sithick | Public Baths | Vector 2 | Deck 6 | USS Theurgy] @fiendfall

"Eyes loyals toos these crews, yes. Ifs ones ofs these crews hurts anothers, eyes wills doos whats musts bees dones toos protects boths." Sithick had never considered what to do should a crewmember go rogue. Where they not all rogues in the eye of the Federation. Trators to Starfleet. On the run from the authorities.

"Ifs someones ofs these crews is hurtings others ons these crews unders mys protections, withs intents toos kills, they's forfeits mys protections."

Sithick was unsure if that satisfied the Orion's inquiry. As he thinks about it more, he should have turned the whole crew in that day in Cargo Bay 04. The day he and the Black Opal crew were taken hostage. But no, the Theurgy's cause was explained. There was an external threat that warranted Theurgy going rouge. The Gorn took a deep breath, his nasal cavity filling with the steam in the air. Something in the air was sweet. The herbal incense that normally filled the sauna and bath area was somehow stronger. It reminded him of Lahkesis but it was not her his mind's eye conjured. It was mother and yet not.

Re: Day 29 [1730 hrs.] Steaming Green Beings

Reply #15 – July 11, 2020, 04:16:32 AM

[ Xelia | Public Baths | Deck 6 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @jreeves1701

It was an interesting creature, wasn't it? All about protection and loyalty and territory. Completely uncivilised, of course, but still interesting. She didn't exactly want to become best friends with it or anything but this knowledge could come in handy some time, perhaps.

For now, though... 'Well! You have some understanding of how the world works, at least.' It could be an interesting ally. Well. Servant. Let's not be hasty.

She stood with deliberate grace, looking over the Gorn with what she hoped was semi-friendly disdain. It hadn't eaten her yet, no need to go changing that.

'I suppose I'll come find you if someone tries to kill me then, shall I sweetling?' she phrased it so it was unclear whether she was joking or not. She wasn't. 'Enjoy your bath.' She needed to go do a facemask before her skin cooled and she was not gonna be seen looking like that in public. 'See you around or whatever.'

--FIN