Destined for Greatness

[Kali Reyes]

[Mine]

She bumped her head on something hard on the way down and lost consciousness before she could finish sliding down the tube. It bottomed out into a lower cavern and she flopped onto dust and dirt with naught so much as a whimper.

A pair of gnarled, skeletal hands took her by the ankles and slowly dragged her deeper into the cave.

When she came to, she winced and rubbed the knot on the back of her head. That was how she found herself staring up at a bald woman with sunken eyes and slackened jaw that looked like melted candle wax. Kali seized up in alarm and let out a terrified scream.

More hands tried to grab her and Kali instinctively kicked at them and scrambled backwards only for her back to hit the bars of the crowded cell she was in. A dozen pair of eyes, skeletal features, and boils slowly reached for her.

"No!" She screamed a second time and fumbled around for her phaser. "Stay back!"

An emaciated Marquil woman, held her hand as if in a peaceful gesture for silence. Kali couldn't find her phaser - she must have lost it falling through the shaft. But once she was able to still her wildly beating heart, she recognized the woman.

"You..." Kali scrambled for her PADD and replayed the transmission. She showed it to her. "This you?"

The woman merely stared at her. "Z'tro." The other Marquil murmured in agreement.

Kali fervently tapped at her PADD. "You. Did you send this transmission?"

After a few seconds, the woman slowly blinked. "Ma-hak."

"Yeah," Kali said breathlessly. "I'm Chief Reyes of USS Discovery. You sent this transmission to my subordinate. We've come to investigate why."

"Mahak."

"Mahak is my subordinate. He is here. Somewhere." It reminded her to activate her combadge - at least the tracking beacon. Maybe he could pick up on it. "What's going on here? Why are we in a cage?"

The woman scrunched her nose in frustration, like she was having trouble putting her thoughts together. "Z'tro. All Z'tro. But we will be cleansed. You can be cleansed too."

"Cleansed? By what?" Kali demanded.

Her crooked smile stirred the kind of terror Kali experienced during the massacre of New Canton. "By fire."

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mine]

Calling for her was no use. She had thought to activate her commbadge transponder, but the elements in the gemstones was producing considerable interference. The only thing the tricorder could tell him was that Reyes was below him.

Mahak raised his palm beacon and swept it across the featureless rock all around him. He had no choice but to continue downward, deeper into the mine.

[Kali Reyes]

[Mine]

She tried asking for names, an explanation, simple subtraction, anything that didn't make these disfigured Marquils seem like inhuman. It was difficult; one moment they were coherent for a few complex answers and then horribly unable to even utter the simpler ones.

The only headway was when she kept begging them over and over why they were so malformed. A male that the tricorder said was young, but looked like he was one wrinkle away from ninety shakily pointed at the walls like it would mean something to her.

Kali only came to the conclusion that it was the Rhodochrosite when the woman from the transmission offered her a stone and found that touching it was already blackening her dirty fingers. She scanned her with the tricorder and seriously wished she stole Doctor Cottle for this mistake of a mission. "Don't touch that!" Kali quickly snatched it from trembling fingers. "It's toxic!"

The gaunt woman let out a strangled sob. "Punishment! It is punishment!"

"Why are you mining something that's toxic for your kind?!"

A stronger, but resigned voice answered. "Because it is the only way we can contribute to our me'ta." Curling on the cell floor was the only Marquil that didn't look on the edge of death, but her words sounded like it did. She turned over to lock eyes with Kali, then glanced enviously at the stone harmless between her fingers. "We are Z'tro. I told Ka'sla it was futile. She called for a Mahak and yet the gods spurn us for our insolence by sending us an alien Z'tro."

"How do you know Mahak?" Kali demanded. "And who are you?"

"I am Ly'set. Me'ta mentioned him. She weaved a tale of the starship in the sky that was not our own. They came from the heavens." The girl turned to her side and violently coughed. Kali quickly got rid of her shirt and draped it over her. "Ka'sla heard. Mahak took a Z'tro as his, even if she could not bear him children. Ka'sla thought he would understand - save us. Her mind is long gone now, Z'tro nekra. Those who can't mine anymore are caged. We will wait for our final judgment. We will wait for the me'ta."

A thousand latinum said Al'era. Or D'linder. Someone.

One of the freed Z'tro miners sluggishly passed by. Kali got an idea and waved for him through the bars. "Hey! There's a me'ta wandering the mines! Let him come down and pass judgment."

"You are cruel," Ly'set moaned from the floor. "You would quicken it."

"Shut up!" Kali shot over her shoulder.

The miner did seem to stop himself from shuffling out and turned to her. "Me'ta?"

"Y-yes! Yes! He's new! He can't navigate the mines! You should help him out!"

Hopefully, that did the trick. The miner mumbled to himself and dropped his pickaxe for one of the tunnels.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mine]

The deeper Mahak went the more the veins of cherry red and soft pink stones studded the walls. It was getting warmer the lower he went.

The tunnels seemed to follow the gemstones as they flowed downward. For a long time, the only sound was his own breathing and the scrape of his boots on stone.

"Hello, me'ta?"

Mahak immediately crouched and drew his phaser. An instant later a Marquil man appeared ahead of him.

"Me'ta?" The man had a pickaxe but it was at his side, and his manner was not threatening.

"Who are you?" Mahak asked.

"Me'ta! It is good you have come. Your z'tro mate is with us, she requests you come." The man stepped into the light. He had three nostrils instead of two, one eye was covered with smooth skin, and he made a whistling, harsh sound as he breathed.

Mahak blinked. The miner looked injured or malformed, almost as if his skin had melted like wax.

"Come with me. Your z'tro waits, Ma-hak."

[Kali Reyes]

[Mine]

Kali waited, then played with her tricorder. The longer these miners stayed exposed to Rhodochrosite, the worse they become physically and mentally as well. Ly'set laid there cold and shivering, but at least she was alive. There were a couple in the cage that were unresponsive; one was carefully put in the farthest corner because she was dead.

"The Federation's not gonna like these conditions," she said grimly. "I don't even know if we can have your cellular structures repaired even with our medical technology." No one answered her. Not even Ly'set.

As she pulled and tested the structure of the bars, someone was approaching with a shine of light from one of the interlocked tunnels. She banged at it. "Hey! Mahak!" Or she sincerely hoped it was him.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mine]

Mahak followed at the man's back and was frankly grateful that he didn't have to speak with face to face for the moment. He was a Starfleet officer with a strong stomach, but even the most disciplined Vulcan might blanch at that sight.

Another sight that displeased him was Reyes and a group of these creatures in a cage. Immediately, when he saw her and heard her voice, he went to the door and attempted to open it. To do so was a logical, he realized, because if it could be opened they would've opened it from the inside. Still, he wanted Reyes out.

"Kali," Mahak said, curling his hands around the bars. "What is going on?"

[Kali Reyes]

[Mine]

Kali instinctively jutted her hand out to grab at his shirt. "A repeat of human history." She tried to joke, it failed. "On the plus side, I know what the bonfire's for."

Even worse joke. She shook her head and stuttered. "Get us out of here okay-"

"What is this?" From one of the tunnels came an unfamiliar Marquil man with a lantern. He was dressed lavishly and looked nothing like his fellow disfigured Marquil. The man raised the lantern up to get a good look at Mahak and then paled at the gear. "Who are you?!"

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mine]

Despite her jokes, Mahak could hear the desperation in his lover's voice as she pleaded with him. That and the condition of the people around her made him think that they were in a great deal more danger than they originally anticipated.

"Sir," The Vulcan said to the slightly more healthy appearing miner. "How did these people get into this cage? We need to unlock it and let them go immediately."

"...let them go? They aren't being held against their will." The miner's third nostril made a strange whistling noise when he spoke.

[Mine]

"What is this?" From one of the tunnels came an unfamiliar Marquil man with a lantern. He was dressed lavishly and looked nothing like his fellow disfigured Marquil. The man raised the lantern up to get a good look at Mahak and then paled at the gear. "Who are you?!"

[Mine]

"I might ask you the same question." Gently, Mahak patted Reyes's hand and turned to face the new man.

The Vulcan was six feet one inches tall and weighted only 145 lbs, but it all added up to an awesome physical presence. Just like someone who knew how to manipulate others Mahak was accustomed to using his physicality to get his way. It was something he had done unconsciously for as long as he remembered. Just one look at the lithe, lanky frame and the way he moved so confidently was enough to convey that he was not one to be trifled with.

[Kali Reyes]

The confusion on the Marquil man's face darkened at the Vulcan and the human in the cage. "This will not do," he said, outstepping Mahak's question. "No, no. You must be Starfleet. This does not bode well at all."

"You're damn right, it doesn't!" Kali snapped. "What kind of slavery operation is this? The Federation's not going to stand for this!"

The man said nothing and snapped his fingers. The remaining, active Marquil outside of the cage started to pop up from the different tunnels with their arms outstretched like zombies. "Kill the alien, Z'tros. We will set the other one ablaze on the pyre with the others. They do not leave this planet."

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mine]

The situation went from one quarter impulse to Warp 10 in seconds. But Mahak was ready.

The Marquil were so weakened by work and their condition that few could move very fast. Even so, the phaser was up in his hand automatically. He did not fire.

Instead, the Vulcan lightly jogged down to Reyes and bade her to stand back from the cage. When she did so he raised the weapon and it emitted a concentrated, tight beam. His aim was perfect: the cage's keyhole began to glow a cherry red and soon sparked and exploded, popping the cage open.

Hands were seizing at him from behind, brushing at his hair and tugging at his uniform. Mahak whirled around and hit the nearest ghoulish face with an elbow directly to the cheekbone. The weakened tissue, worn down by rhodochrostie exposure, crumpled underneath the blow. The strike gained him a bit of a reprieve.

"Right now patience is not a virtue, Kali," Mahak said.

[Kali Reyes]

Kali almost tripped backwards over someone when Mahak took out his phaser and blasted the hell out of the cage. She lunged for him once the door popped open, but was suddenly grabbed by the ankle and landed hard on her hip. A wail of pain escaped her throat. She kicked her attacker, be it a victim they were supposed to save or not, and scrambled to her feet from the ensuing hoard.

"It's your damsel that's dragging me back down!" Kali complained. What they needed to do was escape. She practically barreled Lantern Guy over for the tunnel behind him. It looked like their best bet of escaping. "Let's go! I don't want to be a smoked salmon!"

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mine]

Mahak pulled Reyes to her feet. More and more hands were grasping at him. He leveled the phaser at the crowd and fired.

His aim was off. The orange beam hit the mine wall and ricocheted into the back of one of the miners.

"The gem stones appear to reflect phaser energy," Mahak said, stating the obvious. "We will have to be careful with our shots."

There was less and less room to maneuver as the pair ran from the mine. More and more deformed people were clogging their path, weakly attacking them. A few had found pickaxes and other tools.

Mahak felt someone jump onto his back and wrap a pair of small arms around his neck. Reaching blindly behind him, he gripped a pair of tiny shoulders, dropping his phaser. He whipped the body over his head, sending a smaller Marquil male flipping into the mine wall, where he collided with a sickening crunch. The little man slumped against the wall, his chest and arms at a crooked angle.

Though he was three times as strong as a human it had taken quite a bit of his strength and time to rid himself of his attacker. Mahak found himself being overwhelmed with hands, feet, stomps and kicks.

"Kali!" Mahak shouted in alarm, trying to let her know he was being pulled down.

[Kali Reyes]

Kali turned when he shouted. "Get off him!" But then a clothed hand wrapped around her mouth and throat and pulled, sending her keeling back into cloaked arms and hoods when she looked up. She let out a muffled scream at the skull mask of her captor.

There was five of them. They dragged her kicking and shouting, the heels of her boots kicking up dust and dirt, and the further she was pulled away from Mahak, the more she struggled.

"Silence the Z'tro," said a familiar voice. "That one has a large mouth." A shrill whistle later, and the Z'tro miners scattered, freeing Mahak only for him to be accosted by two large hooded men. "Bring them to the back."

Her first thought that they were being dragged outside and towards what was probably a happy witch burning party with her infertile name all over it. Instead they were led to a small area with only one passageway out. They tossed her down and took Mahak aside. The leader took off her mask to reveal flashing violet eyes and sharp features.

"You're really lucky it was us who intervened and not the magistrate," A'lera told them. "I knew you would act on my transmission. I am grateful for that. Now you see. Now you know."

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mine]

The Marquil surrounding him had ceased their attack. Mahak stood and  watched in silence as they departed, sheep like, back to their posts or cages. Something was deeply, deeply wrong with these people.

He couldn't say that he was surprised to see Al'era, but she was still the last person he would have thought to tip them off.

"I find your methods of contacting us illogical, despite your good intentions." The Vulcan said absolutely gracelessly. "Why not contact the Federation with your concerns through official channels?"

With difficulty, Mahak had found his phaser and tucked it away with the rest of his gear. He waited for the haughty woman to answer.

[Kali Reyes]

A'lera leveled Mahak with a disinterested stare. "I'm a businesswoman, Mr. Mahak, not a freedom fighter. I can't very much implicate myself to aliens and my own people. The Z'tro slave trade just happened to run through my own path to profit. My mining machinery is not only more efficient, but its safe, something you bleeding heart Starfleet would appreciate. The problem is my government. They'd rather be cheap and use the free labor. It's really simple. You want justice and I want a magistrate contract with the Council. We'll all be happy in the end."

Kali bit down hard on the hand around her mouth and the cloaked man yelped and jumped away from her. She was livid. "Ever heard of the Ferengi?"

"No."

"Maybe you should." Kali got to her feet. "Well we're here and we're taking the miners into protective custody. We put in a word through Federation channels and you get what you want."

The Marquil woman elegantly shrugged. "These miners can't be saved, Z'tro. They're too damaged and the cage has already left for the Cleansing. It is a shame for them, though the event is quite stunning if you're open-minded enough."