Darkened Stars - Chapter 7

Darkened Stars - Chapter 7

Stardate 27612.6 - August 12, 2350 - 14:22:00

Rain stared hatefully at the name being displayed on the monitor by her identification chit, wishing nothing more at the moment to hunt down the Cardassian that had misspelled it and dropkick him between the legs so hard his descendants would feel it.

“Are you sure there’s no way to get it changed?” She begged Jel’ang, the Klingon woman having thankfully waited for her at the landing area of the Klingons New Tokyo stronghold.

“Not without much effort.” Jel'ang informed her with a pitying shake of her head. “Cardassians may be lacking on many areas, but when it comes to recordkeeping they eclipse us on several levels.”

“It could be much worse though.” She continued clapping Rain on the shoulder. “It could have been Chal'biq instead of Raine, and then everyone would be calling you little puddle instead.”

It annoyed Rain greatly that the woman had a point, because she had learned enough Klingon over the years to know that Chal'biq, while the closest noun they had to her name, actually translated to 'puddle of rainwater’.

That said, she still didn't like it. Her name had been all she had left of her original self after all. And even if it was pronounced functionally the same, that spelling just made her think of the Tales of Symphonia character instead of herself.

Which was probably the last thing Rain needed given the Asari was pretty sure she already had a dangerous level of disassociation going on.

“Now come.” Jel'ang insisted as Rain pulled her chit out of the reader and walked through the security field. “My family has a small compound nearby, and I suspect we both could use a good meal and drink after the day's battles.”

“As long as it's not Gagh.” Rain muttered, trudging along after Jel'ang as the woman began walking.

Nearby turned out to be a good twenty minute walk though the very 'forbidden city’ style fortress the Klingons had constructed smack dab in the middle of New Tokyo. A trek made all the more awkward by the fact the normally boisterous Jel'ang seemed to get more and more sullen the closer they seemed to get to their destination.

“If we are met upon entering do not speak until I have had a chance to explain your presence first.” Jel'ang ordered tiredly as they stood in front of the entrance to the squat hexagonal building.

That didn't exactly sound encouraging to Rain, and she almost made the offer to try and find someplace to stay on her own before deciding that at least here she had someone that seemed to generally like her. 

“All right.” Rain agreed with a nod. “But if someone tries to stab me I reserve the right to try and stab them back.”

“As you should.” Jel'ang accepted with a wane grin before pushing through the door into the structure proper.

“A daughter of house Palkar returns!” She announced with a thunderous yell couched in ceremony as she stood in the entryway.

The silence that greeted Jel'ang's call felt more than a bit sad to Rain, and looking around the all but abandoned interior the Asari was left to wonder just how much of a great house Palkar actually was at this point if the inside of its compound looked liked it hadn't even been dusted in a year.

“It appears we are in fact alone.” Jel'ang finally admitted in a surprisingly relieved tone after a full minute had passed.

“At least I'll have enough work to keep me busy with my new job as your shuVak.” Rain joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit now that there wasn't a potential stabbing imminent.

“That was an excuse for those who needed one.” Jel'ang offered with a sigh as she led the pair deeper into the building. “You need not actually serve me in such a manner.”

“I figured.” Rain returned as they entered what had to be the Klingon equivalent of a living area. “But I got to talking with this old warrior named Kogen on the way over, and I could honestly do a lot worse.”

And she was being bluntly honest about that, because as Kogen had explained it, a shuVak was a combination of respected guard and butler. Which honestly made it the gold star choice for her at this point in her life, given her other options were being a self employed street rat or trying her luck on whatever ship might take her money.

“I suppose that is true.” Jel'ang offered after a moment. “And as I owe you my life I will not object if that is what you want.”

“I didn't–” Rain began.

“Do not.” Jel'ang interrupted turning to Rain with an annoyed look on her face before the Asari could get more then two words out. “I may not know what you did to save our lives from the blastwave, but there is little question in my mind that you did something. And while I will respect your desire to keep the details of how you did so a secret, the fact that you saved my life however is not in question.”

Rain flinched, feeling oddly chastised by the Klingon woman's words even though she knew hiding her biotic abilities was for the best given her very real desire not to turn into this universe's version of John Crichton and get hunted across the galaxy by random beings in fetish gear.

“All right.” Rain acknowledged with a sigh before turning an accusing stare to the other women. “But on the subject of things we're not mentioning. Third daughter of a noble house?”

This time it was Jel'ang's turn to flinch, and for a moment Rain thought the Klingon woman might try to dodge the question entirely before her shoulders slumped slightly and she began speaking.

“I am an embarrassment to my house for a number of reasons. And many times they are an embarrassment to me.”

That honestly just sounded like family in general to Rain, but she supposed it might be different for Klingons. Or maybe just Klingon noble’s, not like she would know either way given the only real experience with Klingon home life she had seen was Worf’s, and he was anything but the typical Klingon.

“So you mentioned food?” Rain asked hopefully as her stomach once more reminded the Asari that she had yet to satiate it.

“The Kitchen is this way.” Jel’ang answered with an amused smirk as she made her way over to one of the room’s doors.

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Stardate 27618.4 - August 14, 2350 - 17:11:00

If there was one thing Rain disliked about her new lot in life, other than a good portion of the food choices, it was the fact that it came with a Klingon dress code. 

Oh, the armor wasn't that bad, surprisingly comfortable, even taking into account the boobwindow. But something about being told she had to dress a specific way just rubbed the Asari in a way that sort of thing never had in her previous life.

And she wasn't just thinking that because being in Japan had awoken a sudden desire in her to attempt various Asari cosplay.

“Asari battlemaid could totally be a thing.” Rain muttered to herself as she worked to polish one of the many displayed weapons in the entryway back to a state where it didn't look like it was made of aluminum.

“Of course, then I'd have Leck warning me about…” She trailed off with a flinch, once more having forgotten that the Ferengi wasn't just a couple rooms away.

The horrible truth was she didn't even know if he was still alive at this point, but it wasn't like there was much she could do to try and find out with the Alliance actively cutting off all communications to the North American continent in their attempt to keep the AI the Terran Rebels had found from further disrupting their hold on the planet.

“And it's all my fault.” Rain muttered to herself, resisting the urge to find a dark closet to curl up in.

She didn't for sure of course, how could she be when the Alliance's public information sources were being so vague about what had actually happened. But graviton weapons plus AI only brought one thing to mind, though she supposed there could have been another weapons factory with a recently repaired subspace communications link.

Or at least, that's the small hope she'd been clinging to the past two days to avoid blaming herself fully for all the people that must have died during the attack.

The front door chose that moment to slide open, and Rain stood up to greet Jel'ang only to blink in surprise at the older Klingon woman she found standing in the doorway instead.

“My daughter.” The woman demanded in a tone that suggested she would brook no argument. “Where is she?”

“If you mean Jel'ang, probably on her way back from her duty shift.” Rain offered, still more than a bit surprised they had been able to fold Jel'ang in that quickly.

“Then I will wait.” The woman declared as she strutted past Rain and into the living area.

Rain followed along, honestly not sure what she should be doing here given she hadn't really gotten past the domestic upkeep portion of the data files she was studying.

“The state of this holding is disgraceful.” The Klingon woman stated as she looked around the medium sized chamber.

“You'll have to take that up with whoever was supposed to be taking care of the place before we arrived, Lady…” Rain trailed off questioningly at the last word, not having made looking up the names of Jel'ang's family one of her priorities.

“T’ahan.” She offered in a clearly annoyed tone as she took a seat in one of the large almost throne like chairs that dotted the room. 

“And you would be the 'halfbreed’ my daughter brought home.” T'ahan said, giving Rain a disdainful look.

“My species doesn't have halfbreed's.” Rain corrected, getting the sense from the way T'ahan had said the word, that her usual play of letting people make assumptions about her species would just make things worse in this case.

“I suppose that would be something if true.” T'ahan stated as she waved Rain off. “You may return to your work.”

“Would you like something to drink while you wait, Lady T'ahan?” Rain asked the woman.

“Are you capable of preparing Bahgol?” T'ahan inquired in a tone that suggested she considered the possibility that Rain actually did rather remote.

“I am.” Rain confirmed with a nod as she headed to the kitchen, having learned how to properly prepare the tea during her time around the Glimmering Reach.

It was kind of amusing just how excentric her list of skills was at this point, though she supposed it couldn’t be helped given the only schools around had been one’s run by Terran’s that, even if the Asari had been able to, she very much did not want to go to for a number of reasons. 

Seriously, even just the thought of what the bullying would have been like horrified her, especially with the high likelihood that she would have accidentally ended up killing someone when it inevitably came to a physical confrontation. Which it almost assuredly would have given even on her original Earth normal teens could be utterly horrible when they thought they could get away with it.

It took her a good ten minutes to prepare everything to properly serve the tea. Because woe be unto whatever idiot attempted to serve a Klingon replicated bahgol, as that was a quick way to end up with a steaming hot cup of liquid thrown in your face. Something she had actually seen happen to two rather unfortunate Terran women that had briefly worked for Gemma.

Returning to the living room, she set the tray with the pot and cups down on one of the small tables strategically placed around the room, before pouring a cup and offering it to the woman.

She held her breath as the woman took a sip.

“Acceptable.” T’ahan admitted, giving an acknowledging half nod.

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The sound of the door opening alerted Rain to what was hopefully Jel’ang’s return, as being silently judged while cleaning had gotten old after the first five minutes.

“I return!” Jel’ang’s announced as she entered, only to stop dead as she spied the older woman sitting primly in the living room.

“Mother.” She continued in a less than enthused tone then her greeting from seconds ago as Rain did her level best to disappear into the woodwork lest she get dragged into what was almost surely a family dispute of some kind. “What are you doing here?”

“There was no answer to my communications.” T’ahan answered, glaring at Jel’ang like only an utterly disappointed mother could. “And then I discover your barracks were destroyed by graviton weaponry.”

Which Rain suspected translated in non-angry Klingon mother speak to something like, ‘I heard the place you lived was destroyed and was worried when I couldn’t get in touch with you’.

“I was given special dispensation to live outside the barracks after my presence was deemed an unacceptable detriment to unit readiness.” Jel’ang returned, crossing her arms under her breasts and matching her mother’s glare with one of her own.

Those members of her former unit had honestly deserved the d'k tahg induced trips to medical Rain knew, though the Asari still wasn’t sure why Jel’ang had gotten so much more focus compared to the other women in her unit. 

“I am not surprised.” T’ahan offered with a disappointed shake of her head as she got to her feet. “Your dalliances with that Cardassian woman were well known. Though at least you didn’t dishonor us further by losing.”

Well, Rain supposed that could certainly explained the disgraced part, though she was left wondering whether it was the fact that it was with a Cardassian, or the fact that it was with another woman that was the sticking point.

“At least your newest one seems to know her place.” T’ahan continued with a brief glance over to Rain that left the Asari blinking dumbly as her brain tried to process the insinuation.

“We are not together!” Jel’ang spat out, stalking over to her mother to the point where she was mere inches away from the older woman. “I took her in to pay back the debt for saving my life during the evacuation!”

“Anyways.” She continued with a growl that made the younger Klingon sound almost like she was offended at the very idea. “Rain is far too small for my preferences.”

Rain felt her eye ridge twitch at that, okay sure, compared to the pair of 180 plus centimeter tall Klingon women her 150 centimeters wasn’t all that impressive. But she knew for a fact she was still growing, and as far as she remembered there hadn’t been any particularly short Asari.

“Well.” T’ahan mused, looking more than a bit relieved at the knowledge that her daughter wasn’t bedding Rain. “That is something I suppose. Very well daughter, you have my permission to keep her.”

“Now tell me.” She continued, somehow looking down on Jel’ang even though they seemed to be the same height. “What’s this I hear about you finally challenging your commanding officer?”

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Authors Notes: Rain’s not wrong, in a few years she really would be able to rock the Asari Battle Maid look. Sadly, unlike the Prime universe, the Mirror Universe doesn’t really have a cosplay scene.