The Short Song Of Shadi Zatra

Posted on Tue May 15th, 2018 @ 4:23pm by Captain Remas McDonald & Lieutenant Commander Shadi Zatra

1,155 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: S1:2: Rubicon
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 19

"I hope ya don't mind if I come visiting?" Remas asked, poking his head through the thin door of the sickbay berth. He held up a bottle of amber liquid, its wide spherical waist wrapped in a parchment band affixed with twine. "Though perhaps a drop of Saurian Brandy might speed things along in the process of healing?"

Shadi looked up from her claws folded in her lap to Remas in the doorway. At the sight of the familiar bottle, Shadi felt her pulse quicken. "Captain, I would be honored. The Ragolar clan always celebrated with drink and merriment after a glorious battle." She looked around at the sparsely furnished and populated Sickbay. "Just you and me, it ssseems."

“As sickbay should be. As a Captain I long for bored doctors and nurses with more time for hobbies than bodies,” he intoned with mock severity. He wheeled over a tray table that had been pushed off to one side, and used it as a makeshift drinks cabinet. “You often mention your clan when you speak about yourself. Can’t say I’ve ever had a chance to visit Sauria. Are they a big family?”

The Saurian fell back against her bed in a fit of hissing laughter. "No, Captain. We are the family." A faraway look came over Shadi's face, her gigantic eyes glistening with the wonder and glory from the days of yore.

"Many moons ago, before our world was united, the Nameless Ones who knew not the scales of their mothers roamed to and fro, killing and devouring at will." Shadi raised her webbed claws in an animated pantomime. "Over many generations, two dominant broods grew large enough to resist the Nameless -- the clans of Lykasti and M'Tezir." Her tongue poked through her lipless mouth. "Eons passed, with the invincible Nameless horde oppressing the M'Tezir and Lykasti who in turn focused on development of commerce and technology."

Shadi's tone turned low at this point in the tale, a solemn horror rife in her voice. "Many Saurians fled our world at that time, for the might of the Nameless could not be denied. It was not until first contact with another race some 300 years ago that the Nameless were forever changed: they called themselves the Ragolar clan, for they had subdued the world to which they were born and came to rule it uncontested."

A grin overtook Shadi's face which beamed with pride. "We have never suffered invasion, nor shall we ever. While the Ragolar clan does not trade brandy or compose sonnets like our savvy M'Tezir or Lykasti kith, our homeworld, labeled Sauria or Psi Serpentisss on Federation star charts, is called N'Ragolar by all Saurians to this day. What it means to be Ragolar is to be pure Saurian."

She clacked her claws together in expectation of Remas' accolades.

"Huum," Remas said, holding out a glass of the amber brandy to her. "And yet a proud and noble Ragolar helps run the Operations Department of a starship of exploration. Not Tactical, or Security or even a Marine. Pretty sure I hired you on because, and I am paraphrasing a smidge here, 'there is no fault in a wire that cannot be seen by her eyes'. How is that to be Miss Zatra?"

The question made Shadi's shoulders slump. "What song would you sing for this, Captain?" She slid the blanket away to reveal the stub of her leg fitted with a harness for a prosthetic that had not been attached yet. "Times aren't what they used to be. My ssspecies is known for commerce and artistry now. The age of warriors has faded. If there is to be a song for me, it will not be for my strength in battle, but for my ability to keep the ship from falling apart."

"Very nearly sang you a very short song," Remas said, and tapped the empty stretch of bed where a leg would be. "You cannot keep the ship from falling apart if your first instinct is to throw yourself bodily into harm's way. Noble death makes for fine songs, the Lament Of The Mendicant Navigator is a favourite for the Rish on Compass Day. But no one remembers the name of the heroes, just the deed."

He mused for a moment, before reaching into a hip pocket and pulling out a small black plastic case.

"I didn't hire you on to my crew to make a martyr of you," he said, popping open the case and looking into its contents, before setting it down beside your glass. "I hired you on so you could become the leader every performance evaluation says you can be."

A single black pip rimmed in gold shone in the case.

Shadi blinked her large eyes several times in disbelief. "Is... that for me?" Saurians had no tear ducts, but Shadi's face still scrunched together into a cry. "Oh, Captain, I don't know what to say. I love this tasty ship!"

She snatched the case up in her webbed talons and clawed the pip free with both hands. Trying and failing to affix it properly to her collar, she grinned sheepishly at Remas.

"Must be the painkillers," she by way of bashful apology.

In truth, she had applied and failed twice to become a commissioned officer. It took several years of enlisted duty where she did every dirty and hazardous job out there for Shadi to even make Ensign. Shadi had thought that was the defining achievement of her life.

Looking at the pip, she knew she was wrong. The rank of Lieutenant--even junior grade--made her feel more than proud. It made her feel honored. And apparently honor made her hands tremble.

"It ain't no song, and there will be times that pip will feel like a lead weight around your neck. But you lead an away team in more than trying circumstances, and to the best of your abilities got everyone back to the ship. But a team is only as good as its leader, and leader cannot be so if they are dead," he said and handed her a glass of the brandy. "The Song Of Shadi Zatra is one of many small verses, each detailing a part of her life without any grand flourish of foolishness."

Shadi lowered her head. "But... my leg. We don't even know if it will grow back straight!"

"It'll grow back," Remas said, and polished his brandy off with a single tip of the glass. "Besides, if it doesn't just means the rest of us will have a chance to catch up with you. Now I order rest upon you."

He then reached over, snagged her still full glass.

"Forgot, you might be in need of a medical procedure."

"Fear not, Captain!" Shadi lurched upright, full of bravado. "I shall be back in fighting form before you know it, and then I will... calibrate ship systems..."

 

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