Deals with God

Posted on Thu Jul 7th, 2022 @ 1:20am by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Remal Kajun

Mission: *CD*
Location: DS9 - Bajoran Shrine
Timeline: BACKPOST

The situation remained tenuous at best, Patin's grip on her emotions was fragile and could be lost at any given moment. Rhenora had an idea though, one that would possibly give answers where previously there had been only questions.

"Come, walk with me and you can ask your questions" she said simply, extending her hand and waiting for Patin to grasp it. Remal nodded as though he understood and ushered Zio and her children to their accommodations.

Losing his grip on the situation Chalmers watched as his targets separated from one another. Holding fast to the primary target, however, he moved to follow the Ma as she comforted her friend. He did hang back a bit to show his presence was still a natural result of his orders to show her to their quarters.

Patin was still angry, but allowed Nozzie to usher her away from the wormhole and down in the lift to the main promenade. She didn't really desire answers from her friend, but from the beings who held some level of control over Bajorans. Therefore she tried to exercise some emotional control when in reality all she really wanted was a good stiff drink.

Rhenora led Patin through the upper promenade then down to the main Promenade, moving past the plethora of shops and stalls with only one goal in mind. The arched entrance of the Bajoran Shrine appeared before her, and she knew within was housed one of the orbs. A few words with the clerics meant she would be granted time with the Orb. She didn't like to use her status to request such things, but this time she felt drawn to request a direct audience with the Prophets for Patin.

"Wait here, I'll be back in a minute," she said quietly as they entered the serene shrine, the orb housed within its arc under the protection of Bajoran security as well as the clerics. She was half-conscious of the fact Patin may do a runner but hoped for the opposite.

While Rhenora was gone, Patin in turn looked around the temple. It was simple, nothing ornate or noteworthy to speak of. Just the Orb, in its cradle at the focal point of the room. It was Bajoran architecture wrapped in a Cardassian shell from a time nothing truly Bajoran was being created.

She understood why Nozzie had brought her here. She was trying to share a piece of herself and her compassion for the Prophets. Biting her cheek, Patin decided the least she could do was indulge her friend and who knew, maybe, just maybe, she would have her chance to punch one in the jaw for putting her through her pain and suffering.

A few minutes later all was organized and she returned from the cleric's office. Without waiting for Patin to say anything she strode towards the arc and rested her hands on the ornately carved timber doors. "You wanted answers to your questions, well now you can ask for them". She threw open the doors, bathing them both in the brilliant blue light of the Orb of Contemplation.

Patin’s eyes went wide even as she tried to block the light as it was soft but brilliant. And then everything went white. There was nothing. Just a void of white. She looked around, expecting to see Nozzie, but there was nothing. “Great. Even in my afterlife I get nothing. Flippin fabulous. If you won’t come out and face me, can you at least show me the exit?” She shouted into the void.

“This one is angry, she seeks retribution” A disembodied voice came from nowhere in particular.

With no thing, no marker, no body to direct her rebuttal all she could do was be frustrated. “I have every right to be angry. And you know it. For almost fifty years you stood by and let the people you protect succumb to unimaginable pain and torture yet now you decide to meddle in our affairs, why?!”

There was a silence that seemed utterly pervasive
“Your time is linear, ours is not.” The answer was more a statement than the declaration of misdoings that Patin would have wanted.

“Damn right we are linear. We live, we breathe, we love, we die. You’ve got to have something better than that to explain your in-action. And for flips sake, show yourself so I can tell you in person how I really feel.” Her irritation level was reaching a peak when from the mist a blurry version of Nozzie (Rhenora) came walking up to her. “Ah, now that ain’t fair.” She complained.

The Prophets conferred amongst themselves, trying to understand how to explain their existence to one with a limited view. They were eternal, they had seen the birth of Bajor, many many joys of their children, as well as the darker side, the occupations, the natural disasters, the floods and the famines. Millenia had gone by, yet this one was only concerned about a small time period in which there were injustices.

They chose to appear as Patin’s long dead friends and family, in the hope of bringing comfort to this lost one.

Rhenora knew this wouldn’t go down well and moved closer to Patin. “Why is it not fair?”

Patin eyed Rhenora, unsure if she was real or an illusion created by the beings which lived in the wormhole. She had heard stories. In either case she wasn’t going to allow them to twist her mind away from what she had come here to do. She decided to test the illusion. Without giving Nozzie a chance to react, Patin punched her in the nose, landing a solid hit. “It’s not fair to use my friends against me!” She yelled.

TBC