==========
" Changes "
(Previous Post was Jessica's "Keeping Little Eyes on a Very Big Problem")
==========

Setting: VALLA ROYAL, H-0101
Stardate: 63077.0330

The young woman slowly opened her eyes, the grogginess of her thoughts having finally dissipated enough for her to regain some level of control and awareness of her surroundings.  A cold chill swept across her skin to make her realize that she had been completely naked… and her inability to immediately cover herself in any way had been the only indication the redheaded woman had required to know that she had been bound.

"Trodat!" Rikar began as she forced the last of the fogginess from her thoughts, "this isn't funny.  If you wanted to tie me down to play, we could have come up with an easier way to do this," the captive Dabo girl continued, her efforts to free herself from the tight bounds keeping her on the lonely chair amidst the empty room having been pointless.

Although the vulnerable young woman had hoped that this had indeed been some sort of game initiated by the PYTHRON youth, the securely bound redhead had feared that this situation had been about something far more serious.  The single spotlight that shun down on her and the obvious echo of her earlier words had made it clear that she had been taken to another location… where she had been set to be alone in the middle of a large vacant room.

"This is no game," a deep male voice calmly uttered from beyond the darkness… a voice that held within it a level of anger and loathing that could have only belonged to a single individual onboard the VALLA ROYAL.

"Ambassador… this is all a grave misunderstanding," the young woman pleaded, her voice as soft and delicate as silk… echoing a despair born out of innocence… yet her hands continued to search for a weakness in the rope that held her body firmly against the chair.

"Spare me your platitudes," Gerran hissed… the venom in his words having been almost tangible.  "You are nothing but a tramp and once you have served your purpose here you will be disposed as the trash that you are," he added as the back of his imposing hand reached from beyond the darkness to strike the bound woman so hard that the chair was knocked off balance o the ground.

"I am no threat to you," Samantha tearfully gasped in a desperate attempt to regain some level of control over the situation… the taste of iron had already begun to fill the young woman's mouth, her pink lips clearly displayed the stain of the crimson liquid that had been set free by the brutality of the strike against her face.  Whatever angel the Ambassador held against the redheaded Dabo girl had not been held back in the slightest and would likely only grow as this continued.

Unseen hands promptly brought the chair back to its original position at the center of the beam of light, as if insuring that the young woman's humiliation would be complete and absolute.  Before the redheaded woman could offer anything in her defense, the same backhand reached once again from beyond the darkness, this time striking from the opposing side.  Although the chair remained in place, a shower of ruby droplets was made to paint the darkness for a few eternal seconds.

"Why?" the young woman forced out through the pain of the latest assault that she had been the target of… not that she had been given a choice to the contrary.  Tied as she had been, the Ambassador had complete freedom to do with the Dabo girl as he desired and with as much force as he cared to use.

"Because my *associates* are more than happy to help me in whatever ways I desire… because they want to see me happy," the Ambassador admitted with glee, "and because causing you pain makes *me* happy."  Without any further warning the Ambassador's hand emerged from the darkness once more and caused another spray of red droplets to erupt from between the young woman's lips.

Dizzy from the repeated strikes made against her, the young woman had to fight against the growing desire to allow her consciousness from slipping away.  Once unconscious it had been very likely that the Ambassador would lose his perverse interest in the Dabo girl and that she would be made to forfeit her life at that point.  As strange as it seemed, Rikar figured that in order to stay alive she needed to endure this treatment for as long as possible, testing her will against that of the Ambassador.

What the captive redheaded heard next made her soul freeze as thoughts of her last moments alive filled her mind… the sounds of bones being crushed into nothingness filled the entire room followed shortly afterwards by a last breath.  When the young woman realized that this last breath had not been hers, she forced her eyes opened to see the broken form of the Pythronian Ambassador at her feet.  The expression of complete terror that had engraved onto his features had insured that this moment would forever remain in the nightmares of the prisoner.

Confusion filled Rikar's mind as she desperately tried to understand what had just happened… so many questions and so few answers… all of this made no sense and yet here she was… bound to a chair with a dead Ambassador at her feet.  Who or what had been behind all this and more important why?  Out of the darkness that had embraced the Ambassador before his brutal death a form began to appear and thorugh it some of the questions that had haunted the young woman were answered without words having been spoken.

The alien shape of the Locustat stood against the darkness that had engulfed the room almost as if the two had been one and the same.  The unexpected yet not entirely surprising presence of these inter-dimensional beings had explained a great many things, but still something had been missing… that was until another puzzle came to be added to the solving of this mystery.

"Nasty," an all too familiar voice playfully offered, "very nasty… I love it."  As the form of the Ambassador's son emerged from the shadows next to that of the Locustat, the Dabo girl became even more puzzled.  The expression on the young woman's face actually amused Trodat who leaned in to admire his father's handy work on Samantha's face.  "Bet you are wondering what just happened.  Tell you what… since you and I had so much fun together, I'll explain it all to you," the man said almost laughing.  "I doubt you will actually understand… after all you are but a Dabo girl and your type is only good for one thing… pleasure."

The faint hope that she had reach the end of this ordeal instantly vanished as the redheaded woman began to piece together some of the events that had taken place.  The PYTHRON youth had not been her savior but likely the reason for this entire drama.

"You see," the PYTHRON youth began as he knelled down over the shattered body of his father, "a couple of years ago daddy dearest made a deal with some very powerful friends… actually they like to be referred to as *associates* as Mister Mortan refers to them.  They promised my father wealth and power by making him an Ambassador and in return all he had to do was to get some key people in positions of control back on our homeworld.  As an Ambassador he was able to act to save me from a rather unpleasant situation.  Once back home I quickly realized that these Associates could do a lot more for our family… and mostly for me, so I started dealing with them directly. I would help them take care of certain things and position *my* people where they were needed the most… in return my new found friends would give me everything that I wanted."  Trodat paused for a moment as he gazed down at the body of his father, obviously not at all troubled by the fact that he had just been killed in a most gruesome way.  "Gerran was a fool," the PYTHRON youth continued.  "To be satisfied with the minor glory of being a simple Ambassador… my plans were much bigger and *my* associates were very happy to help me in whatever way they could."

"Trodat," Samantha began with the hopes of getting the youth to talk more thus increasing the odds of her being ale to find a way to get out of this situation.  "You are a good person at heart, I know this.  You always said that you despised your father for what he did… for the type of person he was."

"I did," the youth grinned.  "He was a small man with a small vision of his role in the fate of the galaxy.  I am nothing like him… by the end of today the *Ambassador* will have been found guilty on two counts of murder; those of some poor innocent Dabo girls on the VALLAY ROYAL, and I will be acclaimed as the hero that brought down our corrupted government of which my own father was a member of.  By the time the dust settles and all remnants of the old government are disposed of, I will be sitting at the head of the grand council table as the new Supreme Chancellor."

"You… you killed Kamlia?" Samantha gasped in disbelief having held on to the fact that Trodat had said his father would be held accountable for the death of *two* Dabo girls.  How could she have been so blind?  How could the one responsible be so close to her without her knowing?  Guilt quickly filled the young woman's soul as she considered herself responsible for the Dabo girl's death… a death that Rikar believed she could have stopped had she been more than what she had been.

"*Killed* is such an unattractive word," the PYTHRON youth countered, his voice as cold and smooth as ice.  "Let's just say that her last moment were *eventful*… and I assure you that yours will be equally as much."

A purely evil smile came to grace Trodat's features as he leaned in to gaze into the redhead's fear filled eyes before his hand took hold of her delicate throat.  Unable to fight his hold of her, all that the young woman could do was to feel her lungs cry out for the air that they had been deprived of and to see her vision become increasingly blurred as her consciousness faded into nothingness.

==========
Setting: Dreamscape

"How could I have been such a fool?" The woman dressed as a seductive Dabo girl asked of her twin dressed in a Starfleet uniform.

"Because you never thought of the consequences," Sabrina replied without emotions.

"Don't tell me that your way was so much better," Samantha spat.  "How many people died because of you?  How many people suffered because of actions you took or even those you failed to do?"

"Too many," the Starfleet Officer agreed.  "But as much as you want to believe that you and I are completely different, think about this… you failed to see Trodat for who he was and because of that Kamlia died."

Samantha had been ready to offer a rebuttal but in the end the seductively dressed redhead remained silent.

"Maybe she still would have died had you been more like me… but I know that we would not have fallen into this trap and face our own death like this… naked… alone.

"We are not alone," the Dabo girl said suddenly as a sparkle of hope appeared in her eyes.  "You said it yourself.  Our friends are here."

"Yes," Sabrina calmly agreed as a smile came to dance on her pink lips.  "Now all we have to do is hope that Eve and the others will actually want to save us.  You were less than friendly with her the last time you saw each other."

"She will come for me," the Dabo girl said allowing her hope to lace her every word.

"I know she would have come to save *me*," Sabrina corrected.  "The question is will she come and risk the others to save *you*?"

==========
Sabrina Jones

Samantha Rikar
Dabo Girl
VALLA ROYAL

Once known as…
Captain Sabrina Rikar
Commanding Officer
USS ANUBIS, NCC-18501