Reap the Whirlwind

Time slipped away from her. The land and all that stood upon it—every lonely menhir, every dead and twisted tree—were lit from within by a surreal, dull gray twilight. Her pale skin was the ashen hue of a corpse, and her blood ran black from wounds that refused to heal.

A

Why did I let her go? How could I?

Sprawled on the frigid sands, T’Pry

Weak men she had coerced into peril. A good man she had deceived and ruined. Countless tiny acts of blackmail, fraud, and extortion. Principles betrayed in the name of “the greater good” and an illusory, unattainable commodity called “national security.” Real lives had been lost and real people had come to harm because of her efforts to promote and defend an abstract concept. It had been an illogical, wasteful endeavor.

What am I? What have I become?

His foot slammed into the back of her head.

The impact threw her facedown into the sand, and when she looked up it was because Sten was dragging her by her hair. Jagged rocks bit into her lower back as he pulled her over the ground toward a long, rectangular pit of glowing coals. Around them stood all the ceremonial trappings of the kal-if-fee, from the lirpa and the ahn-woon to the braziers of coals and many other barbaric remnants of a past that would not die.

Scorching fires charred the backs of her bare thighs as she twisted but failed to break free of Sten’s grip. On the other side of the coal pit, he hurled her to the ground. As he kicked at her, she tried to catch his foot, but he was too quick. His foot slammed into her midriff, winding her and cracking her ribs. She doubled over and clutched at her gut. Then his foot struck her under the chin and snapped her head back, flinging a long trail of green spittle from her mouth.

Crawling like an animal, she dug into the ground with her fingertips for purchase. Slithering, unable to rise, she clawed her way toward the weapons, which were arranged together several meters distant. Sten strolled nonchalantly ahead of her and picked up the ahn-woon. He tested the flexibility of the rawhide strap and turned to face T’Pry

The ahn-woon cracked loudly in T’Pry

Sten circled her, putting the strap to her as he went. It tore ragged gaps in her uniform and her flesh. Each strike fell with greater force than the last, wounded her more deeply. She was almost relieved when most of the ahn-woon’s length coiled around her neck like a noose. Tensing her throat to spare her trachea from being crushed, she pried desperately at the strap’s coils, which felt like iron bands around her throat. Sten gave it a firm tug and spun T’Pry

Asphyxia set in, softening her vision, filling her ears with the roar of her own slowing pulse, clouding her mind with panic. Sten gazed down at her with condescending pity.

“Your struggle is pointless, T’Pry

There was a rock in her hand, a sharp and pointed stone. She had no memory of picking it up, but it was as real in her grasp as her fear. A savage thrust plunged it deep and squarely into Sten’s groin. He bellowed in agony and staggered backward, releasing the ahn-woon, which went limp around T’Pry

Dozens of wounds inflicted on almost every part of her body bled copiously, covering her with an emerald sheen.

The last wrap of the ahn-woon fell from her throat. She flicked her wrist, and the bloodstained rawhide strap snapped loudly, commanding Sten’s attention.

“You’ve only postponed the inevitable, T’Pry

And once more he dared to command her: “Submit.”

She looped the ahn-woon around the lirpa’s handle and disarmed him with one pull. His weapon flew into her hands.

Then he had her answer.

“Never.”

The saga of

STAR TREK VANGUARD

will continue

Star Trek Vanguard

Minipedia

DEW: Star Trek Corps of Engineers: Distant Early Warning

HAR: Harbinger

STT: Summon the Thunder

RTW: Reap the Whirlwind

Adams, Lieutenant Donovan—Search party leader, Gamma Tauri IV. KIA. (RTW)

Adjudicator—Member of the Shedai Serrataal. Ally of the Maker. (RTW)

Aen’q Tholis —Tholian warship destroyed by Romulan bird-of-prey Bloodied Talon. (STT)

Age of Grim Awareness—From Shedai history: Time in distant past corresponding to the Tholians’ achieving sentience. (RTW)

Alakon, Councillor—Member of Klingon High Council in 2265; commoner-born, ascended through honorable combat. (HAR)

al-Jazaar, Imam—Religious leader on Starbase 47. (HAR)

al-Khaled, Lieutenant Commander Mahmud—S.C.E. leader aboard the U.S.S. Lovell. (STT) Promoted to lieutenant commander during mission to Gamma Tauri IV. (RTW)

Anderson, Ensign (Brett)—Engineer aboard U.S.S. Bombay. KIA. (HAR)

Anderson, Ensign Jeff—Member of S.C.E. team on U.S.S. Lovell. Lost right arm in action against Shedai sentinels on Gamma Tauri IV. Best friend of Ensign Brian O’Halloran. (RTW)

Anitra, Senator—Junior member of Romulan Senate. (STT)

Anzarosh—Spaceport town on Kessik IV. Shabby, dirty, depressing. (HAR)

Apostate—Second-oldest of the Shedai, leads opposition movement against the Maker. Source of first contact, with Ensign Vanessa Theriault. Destroyed the Jinoteur system, believed to have been lost with it. (RTW)

Archer, U.S.S. —Namesake ship for the Archer class, which includes the U.S.S. Sagittarius.

Argashek, Councillor—Member of Klingon High Council in 2265. Allied with Councillors Grozik and Glazya. (HAR)

Argelian flu—Viral malady that afflicted residents of Martian city of Cydonia in 2266, including Dr. Ezekiel Fisher’s daughter, Jane, and her husband, Neil, and sons, James and Seth. (RTW)

Arinex—Star system within a couple of days’ high-warp transit from Starbase 47. (RTW)