Needlessly Cruel
Posted on Thu Nov 6th, 2025 @ 10:18pm by Captain T’Kal & Ensign Emmanuelle Larose & Senior Chief Petty Officer C'Hira Summers & Lieutenant Commander David Erickson & Lieutenant Karane Inda & Lieutenant Megosho Gehente & Ensign Siat-or-iian Elkovais & Chief Petty Officer Chloe Delacroix & Petty Officer, 2nd Class Ozias Nikolaidis
2,147 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
ARYL 1X05: Nightmare on Ark Royal Street
Location: Lounge
Timeline: SD 8983.3 (31 October 2290, 21:45 hours)
Last time on Star Trek: Ark Royal
Cas remained silent, brushing himself off before turning to Annika. "I will be at our quarters, you enjoy yourself. Keep an eye out for more Gorn."
“What? You’re leaving?” Annika gave Cas a worried look. “I’ll go with you.”
Cas paused, "No, I will stay." He turned back to Annika, "Perhaps I am not as over the Gorn as I thought I was."
Annika offered a loving hug before letting go. “I just thought it was someone in a very well designed costume, I didn’t think it was a real Gorn.” She shivered. “Just thinking about what could have happened…”
And now the continuation...
David weaved through the crowd in uniform rather than a costume, and walked up to Torii and Karane standing by the punchbowl. "You're both dressed quite differently," he observed.
Torii’s nose twitched, intentionally, as she tried to maintain the habits of one of the Tchachi that she was dressed as, but her smiles became one of confusion as she saw David still in uniform, “What a umm… spooky costume?” she asked in confusion, then leaned over to whisper to Karane. “Did he not get the message? We’re supposed to dress up as something scary, right?”
"Obviously not. Probably too busy looking at stars and stuff." Karane smirked. "And the point is to look scary! Or at least something spooky! Come on David, read your damn memos!"
"Was that the purpose?" David said. "Is that why you look injured?" He regarded Karane. "This is a rather bizzare custom, isn't it? What's the point?"
"What do you mean, it's a custom from your own world, isn't it?" Torii was confused at his apparent non-sequitur, "I don't know why you all do it, but I figured that I'd join in and have some fun while doing it!"
"I'm dressed as a zombie obviously! You know, those undead things that walk around after being killed and want to eat people's brains!" Karane explained to David. "Surely you've seen zombie movies before?"
"I'm not from where you two are," David said. "I have absolutely no understanding of this custom." He looked around. "It is very strange."
He looked at Torii. "You believe you're frightening others?"
"Well, if I were back on Feixeia, this would be a terrifying costume." Torii offered up, "I mean, okay, I didn't really go for full accuracy, but still, aside from a more full body, this is pretty close."
David looked at Karane for a long moment and her fake wounds, and then at Torii. "I suppose the fear is because underneath this appearance, you're much more...svelt? Is that the word? Femininely attractive."
Karane simply blushed, she wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "W...Wh.. Whats that supposed to mean?!"
"Well, yes," Torii agreed, smoothing down the loose bodysuit in a motion that did emphasis her body much better before the ambient pressure released and it stopped clinging to her curves, "But I don't think that's a real-" She got cut off.
David smiled and leaned over, giving Torii a kiss. "It's an unusual thing to be afraid of," he commented. "But I suppose I understand how it can be appealing."
Karane's eye twitched at the sight of him kissing Torii. "Hey..." she said giving him dagger eyes, her hands starting to form into fists. "What are you doing...?"
"Participating," he said, his arm around Torii's waist, forcing a view of her figure. "Isn't that what really scares you? That someone with a more girlish appearance will steal your boyfriend away?"
When he kissed her for a second time, Torii flushed an even deeper red than she had the first. She'd never have done this herself, David had clearly been taken by Karane and she wasn't that kind of girl, but she did find him quite attractive. She just wasn't prepared for this and didn't react quickly.
"P..p...Participating?!" Karane stuttered. Her hands were now clenched into fists. "Get away from her you JERK!" she said swinging a punch at David, making contact with him. She began to throw punch after punch, trying to break him free of Torii.
David put his arms up to defend himself from the onslaught that launched at him. He finally rolled away and stood up, his long legs putting distance between him and Karane quickly. "You people are extremely confusing," he said, somewhat angrily. "But fine, I'll try to change to something 'scarier' as you say." He disappeared into the crowd quickly.
"Come back you coward!" she called as she ran after him, dodging around people to try and catch up to him. However, he dipped behind two people and when she came around them, he was out of sight.
"Wha-what just happened?" The red-faced Feixeian asked the empty air around her, "I think I need a drink."
'That was quite the reaction to that Gorn costume,' Ozzie said as he shifted himself from in front of Cid. He rolled his shoulders, trying to get rid of the unsettled feeling in his stomach from what had gone down. Normal party fare if someone's drunk enough, he reminded himself.
Cid nodded, looking around. "Yeah...someone went all-out with authenticity," she said, unable to find them. "I guess they bailed on the party. Probably a good idea." She hefted her sledgehammer and gave Oz a playful hit on the arm. "Okay, Bronzie, let's find something to eat!"
David popped up towards the other end of the room and walked towards Emmanuelle. "Are these social interactions always like this?" he said.
Emmanuelle gave him a sideways glance and smirked. "You'd know better than I. But the occasional outburst at least keeps things interesting.
David stared at her for a moment. "I see," he said. "Well, I have no doubt the Captain would be proud of how well you have emulated her."
"T-thank you?" Emmanuelle asked. "Actually, I'm not sure what you mean by that."
"You have modeled yourself to be a perfect officer, the same as the captain," he said. "No doubt she's flattered by how well you're doing to be like her."
"I'm..." Emmanuelle cocked her head and unconsciously took a step back. "I'm learning from an excellent teacher. That's all." She looked away from David and furrowed her brow as her mind worked through what he was saying. I'm learning. You need to emulate to learn. She's one of the best. And I can be one of the best...
David watched her stare into the distance and shrugged, moving to avoid Karane's searching eyes. He next ran into C'Hira and regarded her carefully. "Your attempt to frighten others is unusual," he said.
"I'm not trying to frighten, nya!" C'Hira cheered. "We're just here to have fun, nya. Scariness is part of it, but I wanted to be a pretty princess, nya!"
"Well, I would have thought you'd focus more on your feline qualities to instill fear. Unless that would have too many people treating you as just another pretty kitty." He gave her a scritch behind her ears and continued to walk around the room, observing.
Making her way over to the Captain, Meg tipped her hat in her direction. 'Captain you sure know how to make an entrance,' she said lightly, though her eyes darted to her periphery every so often. Seeing the large, lumbering crewman in Gorn costume had been disconcerting. What she had not expected was the reaction, and the following hubbub. 'When did you decide on the costume?'
"To be honest, I thought of it the moment the party was announced," T'Kal admitted. "As for the entrance, I wanted to do something big, but the scale got away from me." She studied the Orion's costume and nodded approvingly. "I visited the Emperor's tomb many times during my years serving in Paris. An excellent choice."
'I don't have a particular attachment to the man - I know who he was, of course, but mostly thought the colours were, well, were pretty if I'm honest,' Meg replied cheerfully. 'Pre-twentieth century military uniforms were so much more elegant on Earth. Nothing really matches them in Earth history til you get to the 2250s if you ask me.'
T'Kal cocked her head slightly to the side and nodded approvingly. "I agree. Of course, early Starfleet had to be practical more than stylish, but I do believe that something has been lost compared to older naval uniform traditions. You should look into Pre-Awakening Vulcan military apparel. Napoleon would have been jealous."
'I'll make sure to look them up,' Meg replied with a smile, 'it may not look it, but military history, particularly that of the evolution of uniforms, is a niche interest of mine.' Her smile widened, 'wearing them is just a bonus.'
Behind her comms chief, T'Kal saw Larose and Summers looking upset. "Excuse me," she said, as she went to speak to them.
Glancing behind her, Meg turned her head back to T'Kal and nodded, 'of course, Captain.'
“Captain.” Emmanuelle shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Her hands were clasped tightly together. Nervousness and anxiety threatened to overwhelm her. She found that holding her hands in front of her helped to ground her.
It always seemed to work for T’Kal. That’s how she always did it—
Oh, non. She ripped her hands away from each other, hurting her fingers as they caught on each other. Instead she held herself near the elbows, trying to soothe herself by stroking her forearm. She tried to remain composed, collected…Vulcan? The thought suddenly made her shrink back into herself.
Next to her, C’Hira’s eyes were darting about the room. Something had put her tail in a twist–or, had raised her hackles–no, no, had gotten under her skin.
“It’s about David, nya,” she added, wincing as her verbal tic asserted itself. “He’s nyot himself.” Her tail curled up around her leg.
“He’s not in costume,” Emmanuelle said. “He’s just wandering the room…being mean, I suppose.”
“Where is he?” T’Kal asked.
C’Hira found him on the far side of the lounge. He noticed and called out to her. “Here, kitty kitty! Pspspspsps!”
She turned away sharply and closed her eyes tight. It wasn’t just what he said, but how he said it. Like he knew exactly how to hurt her. “I don’t like it, nya,” she said, a quiet mewling cry following her words.
T’Kal looked across the room and scowled at him. “I’ll talk to him."
David was observing the green-skinned officer when he heard voices behind him, seeing Larose and C'Hira talking with the Captain. She looked over in his direction and walked over to him, looking as displeased as most Vulcans could. "Captain T'kal," he said.
"Mister Erickson," T'Kal said. Despite her control over her feelings, her tone made clear the anger that was churning underneath. "My crew have been telling me of the awful things you've said to them."
"I have been engaging in conversation," he said. "I'm trying to understand this communal insanity you are all joining in on."
"And that gives you an excuse to speak to them like that?"
"Perhaps there's been a miscommunication," he said. "That is one of your failings, is it not? At least according to your husband?"
All three took a step back at that. T’Kal’s eyes went wide. The audacity. The impudence. The–
‘Perhaps he is not wrong,’ said a voice within her head. A voice with which she was all too familiar. The voice that told her to speak only when spoken to in his presence. ‘There are good reasons I have you stay quiet. You would not want to embarrass yourself further.’
In her mind, she saw Sten’s eyes. To call them unfeeling would be generous. ‘Uncaring’ would be more appropriate.
‘I will determine what Mr. Erickson wants. You just stay here, look pretty, and try not to get yourself into any more trouble.’
She fought the urge to look down. To direct her eyes to the floor and wait for someone to ask something of her.
But fight that urge she did. Instead, her nostrils flared in an anger she neglected to control. "How dare you," she said. "It is time for you to leave."
David's eyes narrowed at her reaction and he shook his head. "I do not understand any of you," he said. "But perhaps I'm not getting the right perspective." He turned and blended back into the crowd leaving them behind.
To be continued...
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