Loyal Opposition (3/6)
Title: Loyal Opposition (3/6)
Author: Iodinemoon
Rating: PG-13 (dark, death)
Summary: Part III - Another Life (Ayel). Ayel is loyal above all - in this life and the next. A series of ficlets looking at the Enterprise crew though the eyes of the people that oppose them.
Author’s Notes: For some very bizarre reason, I think I love Ayel. Probably because mass murder, destruction and genocide have no impact on my judge of loyalty.
Part I - Daddy Issues (Frank)
Part II - The Redshirt Rule (Cupcake)
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Another Life
The crew of the Narada are miners, not soldiers.
But the night they are betrayed, they forget their ship is made for transport and their weapons for protection and follow, unheeding, as their Captain unleashes their pain. Nero orders an attack and Ayel reacts to the commanding voice he has learned to trust more than his own.
The ship that opposes them is small - insignificant in life and breadth compared to the loss of a planet. The attack is uncoordinated, a challenge of brute force not finesse, as the unfettered rock sledges slam into the vessel. Their other weapons cannot give the satisfaction of ripping the ship apart.
The body of the Federation Captain is the only outward sign Nero has felt the loss of Romulus. Afterwards he vows, in measured, calculating words, retribution for all they have lost.
For they have lost. Even as Romulus rotates and those ashen pillars still walk. This universe is not theirs, not real, but it is here to do with as they wish.
Twenty-five years pass quickly for those with singular purpose. Ayel can no longer recall the glowing fields nor the cold, barren tundra of his city. He only remembers Romulus as he last saw her - aflame and burning.
In contrast, the destruction of Vulcan is too simple, too clean. Their revenge is wrought as the Vulcan race is brought down by their own treachery and innovation. Six billion lives lost as a planet consumes itself as though it never was.
It is not enough.
They wait for reprisal, clutching guns to which their labourers hands have adapted, dark eyes tracking the passing of one planet, only seeing the destruction of another.
Where are those who toiled offworld who will come home to nothing?
Where are those who will tear the universe apart for the dead?
Nero senses their discontent and promises more. Their Romulus is dust and ash, but this Romulus will grow powerful and aloof. A race of warriors breeds resistance to loss and Nero is as haunted by ghosts as his crew.
They are the destroyer of worlds and yet death does not occur to Ayel.
Even as blood floods his lungs he resists. He cannot die because he is not a Romulan soldier to be cut down by gunfire and the fledgling human he holds is not yet a hero. Ayel is a miner, doomed to random explosion or a fellow toiler’s mistake. He is not of this universe to kill.
For all history will never know, Nero and the crew of the Narada died above their home planet as she burned. Twenty-five years in purgatory was their penance.
Three decades before this Romulus burns, a Lieutenant Ayel salutes his Captain and vows to follow him unto death.