ILLUMINARRPG: (06–0810) tlha'nISta'

[Frank Truelove]

PLEASE DISREGARD THIS POST. IT IS WITHDRAWN.

On Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 10:25 PM Frank Truelove via illuminar-rpg <
illuminar-rpg at startrekfreedom.com> wrote:

> Mission: For Honor
> Day: 6
> Stardate: 2446.04.29
>
> (Qo'nos — Main Hall — aCSO LT tlha'nISta' — 0810)
>
> Lanista entered the 'alcove' in which the assassin had embedded himself.
> On the Observation Gallery level of the Main Hall, such positions of
> concealment were few and far between. Under ordinary circumstances, these
> alcoves were for the Highly Placed spectators and these private boxes would
> be heavily guarded, both outside in the hallway and within the space
> itself. That there were no guards in the corridor suggested the
> machinations for the foul play were deeper than just placing a sniper on
> scene. More to the point, that these rooms of seclusion were not occupied
> by observing dignitaries suggested a very well-orchestrated malfeasance…
>
> "You have two ways out of here," Lanista announced confidently as she
> entered the alcove with caution. "You can jump down to the floor below and
> hope you don't break your legs, or you can come along quietly and state
> your case before the Houses Major."
>
> A man practically erupted from his position of concealment, but not to
> attack Lanista. His back was to her and his movements were frenetic. He did
> not have his sniper rifle at-the-ready. In fact, he nearly dropped it more
> than once in his urgent haste to recoil from … something. Lanista was
> observed this phenomenon with some consternation but nevertheless prepared
> to engage the man in combat. She very much intended to subdue and arrest
> him but she was prepared for the fact that the "enemy gets a vote."
>
> The man staggered away from whatever-he-perceived. He was quite obviously
> responding to a stimulus that Lanista herself could not perceive. Lanista
> approached him swiftly, fully intending to take advantage of his obvious
> though inexplicable impairment — but Klingon tradition reared its backward
> head: «quvHutlhHoHboghtlhIngan 'ach qabDaj 'angbe'bogh.» ("Only an enemy
> without honor refuses to show himself in battle.")
>
> ~Damn you, Dad,~ she thought. Lani's father QolloH had always wanted his
> only child to be as Klingon as possible despite the fact that for someone
> who was only half-Klingon, "as possible" was precisely half! tlha'nISta''s
> mother Ti'amah had be frustratingly logical in always pointing out: "Since
> we live among them, we should observe their ways."
>
> "Fine, I whirl him about and only THEN stab him in the neck," Lani'
> grumbled. In the final analysis, she wouldn't do exactly that. She closed
> swiftly and nearly silently, grappling with the man from behind and hooking
> her warhammer around his throat. She spun him about so he could see her
> face before she acted more decisively against him. She was shocked by his
> expression, a rictus of genuine and all-encompassing fear.
>
> "Oh, come now," she quipped, "I'm not all that bad." Her joke fell on deaf
> ears and it was immediately obvious that the man couldn't even truly see
> her. Something was affecting his mind that was very much different. But
> being twirled around as he had been brought the warrior to his senses once
> more and he began to raise his weapon.
>
> Once he'd been turned about to face her, Lani's warhammer was no longer at
> his neck but the two combatants stood close to each other. Lanista was more
> than a foot taller than the man, but his weapon was longer than hers. This
> weapon — a sniper's rifle — was equipped with a bayonet. The would-be
> assassin demonstrated that he knew well how to use a rifle with the blade
> accoutrement and the two began a dance of death!
>
> "You insult me!" the man asserted.
>
> "I'll do far more than that if you don't do the sensible thing! Surrender!"
>
> "You think a mere replica of the Hammer of Kahless will be sufficient to
> prevent your demise?!"
>
> "It is, like me, sui generis. It is unique, and I assure you it is the
> genuine article!"
>
> The assassin hurled a vulgar epithet at Lanista as he lunged with the
> bayonet. The blade was an unnecessarily savage looking thing, with a saw's
> edge. It seemed, frankly, pathetic matched against the «qeylIS mupwI'» —
> the Warhammer of Kahless!
>
> In response to the man's attack, Lanista gave ground but not because she
> had to. She wanted to. She was leading him out of the private box and into
> the corridor of the Observation Gallery. This battle, she reasoned, must
> have witnesses! And, since she wore not only a Starfleet uniform but a
> Class-A Dress Starfleet uniform, Lani' believed she could not be seen as
> the aggressor in this conflict.
>
> Objectively, the man's longer weapon but Lani's greater reach prevented
> either from having the clear advantage … but Lani' was, as she had
> asserted, sui generis. She was half-Vulcan and she had spent more than a
> century perfecting a martial art form that was as much a marriage of Suus
> Mahna and moqbara as the union between QolloH and Ti'amah — Lanista's
> parents!
>
> Lanista was never able to use the Vulcan «talu-krik» or "neck pinch" nor
> the «kash-nohv» or "mind-meld" without causing her subject and herself
> considerable pain. She had resolved to never use these … except in combat.
> She prepared for the killer to lunge once more and she planned to sidestep
> the attack and apply the talu-krik as the man passed onward. His momentum
> would carry him further along his chosen trajectory, permitting Lanista to
> apply the quintessentially Vulcan subdual maneuver.
>
> The man screamed as the neck pinch inflicted as much pain as an agonizer.
> Lanista yelled out too, but she attempted to pass it off as a sort of
> martial kiai rather than an impulsive (almost instinctual) outburst of
> agony. Below, those who observed the fracas had burst out into an
> enthusiastic ruckus even as warriors finally rushed to the location of the
> duel from either side of the Observation Gallery.
>
> As the man dropped unconscious to the floor, Lanista rested his rifle from
> his grasp. She held the weapon aloft and cried out, "Qapla'!"
>
> More than one of the men now on scene leveled disruptors at the fallen
> would-be killer, ready to disintegrate him.
>
> "NO! He must be questioned!" Lani' insisted.
>
> (Reply any)
> (Posted by Frank)
> --
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