Breathing Underwater

[Angel Ryder]

"I dunno if I wanted quite that much of a promotion. You know rank never quite made that much of a difference to me, at least once I made Captain." Angel replied as she glanced at the holographic displays. "Rexi has been fairly unhappy being so Terra Alpha bound of late, we gave her that brand new ship and it's barely seen action. All I know is that raising three children... I can't do that on a starship. Byron maybe, but they're kids, they should be on a planet. Especially since I don't have dad and Alice or Jack and Kinsey around to watch them." she looked at Yoshi. "Besides, I have a brother I would like to get to know better. Considering one's dead and one's finally found a way out of the cycle."

[Ang'Jhu t'Radiak]

Meanwhile --

"Oh c'mon, you can do better than that! All you've been doing is cycling between hitting me and making me mad!" a thin woman in a metal mask and rags wrapped around her body said as she staggered to her feet.

"You are an obstinate one aren't you?" a black armored trooper said as he wiped the blood off his gauntlet. "Now I see why they kept you here."

"Maybe it's because I'm too tough to kill." She replied and wrapped her hand in fabric that was once her uniform's sash. "So did you get enough or do you want me to see if I can peel that armor off you?"

"Hah... some other time maybe." He put his own helmet back on and picked up his sidearm. "Hey orders were orders... you get to eat.. but you get beat first. Mush in a baggie with a straw... yum yum." he laughed and closed the door.

"Idiots." she muttered and slumped down against the wall and picked up the cannister and rolled her eyes as she looked at her left hand and what was left of her fingers, three of them were missing the tips and her middle finger was still bent and twisted from giving the finger to one of Dominus' goons." feeling the mask she opened the small slit that let her use a straw. The clone troopers had thought it amusing to conceal her face behind the helmet of a training droid and weld it up. Her hair had burnt slightly as they welded it shut, but it had since started growing around it, giving her a little bit of a cushion. Didn't mean that blows didn't literally rattle her brain. She suspected they were using her finger prints to keep the Romulans off their backs, as they had full access to her personal database and were able to create false records.

For nearly two years, ever since she was yanked out of her reality, she was kept a prisoner, demanding critical knowledge, she suspected that her counterpart must have been killed because the codes she gave them under some very heavy mind control and drugs, were rejected and they unceremoniously came into her cell and took one finger tip, followed by another... and then weeks later another... she realized they were looking for the security lock chip implanted under her fingertips that would allow them to access her database. Still, she didn't give up hope of getting out, although they made it incredibly hard to escape, as much as she fought against the pain, the nails they drove into her feet when some sadistic bastard wanted her to 'tap dance' for him, had made walking painful, so running was nearly out of the question. The surgical scars in her belly had been opened and closed and reopened that exertion was incredibly painful, but she didn't let them see it. Didn't let on that she was in pain. She gave the full Romulan-Vulcan stoic attitude and they hated it.

Although ever since they moved her to this ship and near Romulan space, she had suspected that something was up, they crashed or made a rough landing and for weeks they weren't moving, yet they maintained everything was 'as planned.' Whatever that meant.

[Tomarah t'Sei]

Tomarah t'Sei, senator of the Romulan Star Empire stirred from the shadows of the corner of the cell. Her senatorial robes were filthy, but mostly intact barring a few tears.

Kneeling next to Ang she took in the sight of her. "Some one really does not like you," she spoke in her native Romulan tongue the universal translator long damaged beyond repair.

[Ang'Jhu t'Radiak]

"Oh I'm their favorite plaything." Ang'Jhu replied in Romulan. "So how long have they had you? Must not have been too long since you're mostly intact. I am beginning to utterly regret telling my counterpart's father 'oh sure I'll help with planetary security...' I was going to go to a nice Romulan colony with my sister and her counterpart and her husband but nooo..." she rolled her eyes. "I'm assuming that in this reality I'm dead right? Nice that Bell's Theorem of infinite realities is true."

[Tomarah t'Sei]

"You're Romulan," Tomarah stated simply. "I couldn't tell through your mask, though I suspected." She slumped next to Ang'Jhu and sighed. "I've been here far too long. So long I couldn't tell you. At least a year, but honestly most likely longer than that. The difference between you and I is that my usefulness has yet to be determined. Senetor Tomarah t'Sei of the Romulan Imperial Senate. I believe I am in the future. To me the Hobus Supernova was less than a decade ago."

[Ang'Jhu t'Radiak]

"Oh I would say it's the future for you." Ang replied and chuckled lightly. "You were my FCO, after a fashion. My out of time and space crew on the Alth'Indor both hated and loved our Alliance fleet. You kept ordering my ship to be used for... boring missions. While I was commanding Starbase Byron." she pulled down part of her robe and revealed the broken Romulan/Terra Alpha communicator that was fashioned into a crude nipple ring. "So I suppose you have no idea what the Terra Alpha Alliance is do you?" she pulled the rags back up. "And... I'm... only part Romulan. I'm Terran by birth. Romulan parts inside... somewhat." she pointed to her scars. "I was a teenager when I was in a bad accident and the doctors had to replace some of my internal organs, my liver, my lung, part of my heart are Romulan. Only recently did I have some of it repaired properly, but my heart is all Romulan. Perhaps you know my genetic parents... Nicholas Ryder and Julie Lei?"

[Tomarah t'Sei]

"Yes, I am familiar with Admiral Nick Ryder, but I never met his daughter's mother. Angel's step-mom and I go back to the Dominion War, and we've been close since. She saved my life."

[Ang'Jhu t'Radiak]

"Which one? He's been married a couple times since... in my timeline he just married this tiny blonde thing, another pyro like him, younger than I am." Ang chuckled and took a sip of her mush in a bottle and sighed heavily. "Since I'm not making it out of here alive, I'm pretty sure about that... one word of advice, don't compete with your counterpart. I considered mine a sister, even though I hardly think of myself as Terran, my foster mother and her family raised me since I was a child. If you could see under this helmet, I have the ears and ridge, my mother thought it better that I look Romulan. In my reality the Federation fell on hard times and Earth joined the Romulan Empire, we softened it to the Earth-Romulan Coalition. I made my way up the chain... was promoted to Colonel and got command of a beautiful ship... and then... I got sucked through a rift with my fleet. Luckily Romulans and what was left of the Federation in that reality were on good terms."

[Tomarah t'Sei]

"Commodore Sandoval... well, Ryder now."

The Romulan sighed and let silence fall for a moment before speaking again, "I doubt I will make it out alive. In fact I suspect you stand a better chance of getting away. You know, this reality has a magic or something. I can't understand it scientifically, but the people who captured me, the counterparts to our mutual acquaintances, had it, and for some reason I now have it." She took Ang'Jhu's damaged hand between both her palms and a soft yellow light glowed healing the wounds.

[Ang'Jhu t'Radiak]

Ang looked at her hand and chuckled. "You're a Jase'dasis or at least an Iljuna user." she replied and flexed her hand a little. "Commodore Sandoval married to President Ryder? Seriously? Our version of her is more like a sister to him. He's married to this skinny little model of a pyrokinetic. He was married to the Secretary of State in another lifetime of her's... don't ask me any more of that it confused the hell out of me." she chuckled lightly. "Apparently my adoptive mother was his Vice President for a time and my Aunt is or was a diplomat, not sure what she is now. Aunt T'Kir was always fun, she let me use her sniper rifles." she closed her eyes. "I'll tell you what, as long as we've both got an ounce of fight in us, we make it out of this alive, if nothing else to spite them. Like the old Romulan proverb... 'we'll live longer and prosper out of pure hate and spite for our enemies.' The pain reminds me I'm still alive."