@AGENTDELASI ❛I . . . they—❜ she hesitates, knowing they will punish her by telepathically inflicting excruciating pain on her if she tells the truth, so she shakes her head. ❛No. I am most content here.❜
— woman offered, her voice trembling. There was something frightening about this specimen. Vina couldn’t tear her gaze away from those golden eyes, though she couldn’t quite read his expression.
❛Don’t hurt me. Please.❜
Was he dead? Had she come too late? No. No, they wouldn’t just let him die. They couldn’t! That wasn’t what they had lured him to Talos IV for. But perhaps death would be a more favorable fate . . .
Her heart was racing as she attempted to pry a sign of life from the alien’s —
Wake up.
I can help you.
Come with me.
In Maul’s skull, concussed with pain and the violent grasp of unconsciousness, all he could register were vague syllables. They belonged to an unfamiliar voice in an unfamiliar place—and though they promised salvation, —
— her but, no matter how carefully she watched him, his sudden movements still surprised her.
Vina found herself pressed against the bulkhead, unable to move, trapped.
❛My name . . . is Vina,❜ she said once she had found her voice. ❛Please . . . I can help you,❜ the —
She is sitting outside, atop the rocks. Her silver dress glows in the moonlight, almost making her look like an illusion; unreal.
There is no sound except for the faint singing of the flowers. She catches herself wondering how such a cruel place can be so beautiful . . .
On her birthday, remembering Susan Oliver, who played Vina in the first #StarTrek pilot, "The Cage" (which aired during the show's first season as part of "The Menagerie"). She was also a pilot, and the fourth woman to fly a single-engine aircraft solo across the Atlantic.
Sometimes, she catches herself wishing that a ship would crash on Talos IV again, just so she doesn’t have to be alone anymore, but she banishes the thought as quickly as it appears. Truthfully, she wouldn’t wish such a fate on anyone.