The purification

Posted on Tue Aug 16th, 2022 @ 7:36am by Lieutenant Commander Timia Svidi

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Unknown
2572 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Captain Tayla d'Jax cracked her eyes open and slowly turned over, the feeling of a thin padd under her, with a hard slab of rock below that. To say she was uncomfortable was an understatement. She pressed her hand to her growing belly, "You alright in there?" she asked quietly. With all she had been through she feared for her babys life, and constantly needed reassurance.

Of course the child didn't really respond to her voice in a way Tayla could tell, so she poked at her belly until she found a hard spot, which was likely the babys rump. After a moment of poking at it she felt some wiggling inside. Tayla let out a breath of relief, and rubbed her stomach comfortingly. "Good... keep that up kiddo. Your daddy will find us, I promise. If not we both die and we'll haunt him together." she said as she started to sit up slowly.

"Big pain in my ass, he better find us." she muttered as she swung her feet down to the stone floor. She stood up and smoothed the dress she now wore. They had removed her clothing from her, and provided her a dress, covered in bone like beads. She suspected it was hand crafted.

Tayla padded her way to the small vanity with basin of water and a mirror. She washed her face and looked in the mirror and tried to smooth her hair down a bit. At this point she was losing track of how many days she'd already been here, but it had been long enough for her to start having a routine. Wake up, wash up, sit and wait, be visited by an old priest like man droning on and on about some ancient text, food, waiting, then sleeping.

She didn't understand it, she had no idea why she was here, why she was alive. They didn't tell her either. She'd be more aggressive, but she had a child to protect. For now she had no choice but to comply, day after day. Soon she hoped she'd find an edge, a chink in their armor she could exploit to escape.

She glanced up when she heard a noise at the metal door, rather than the old priest walking in a group of young men walked in, all of them with nervous eyes. in unison they all bowed to her, and then parted, motioning for her to walk between them. Tayla frowned and hesitated, her hands instinctively covering her stomach. One of them looked up at her and motioned again. Suspiciously Tayla started to move forward, her bare feet silent on the smooth stone floor.

She darted her eyes around, knowing she had a damn good memory and seeing all the routes around her would help in her eventual escape. They were clearly underground, and there were dozens of carved halls, each of them lined with other cells, and in them were varius prisoners. She tried to angle towards one where she swore she spotted a Federation uniform, but the four young men around her tightened their formation and kept her moving straight down the hall.

As they passed another cell she heard a voice cry out. "Captain!" She turned her head and spotted a security office from Gladiator. He was a bit of an older man and had been with Tayla when they captured her. She had thought he'd fallen defending her.

"Kex!" she said and pushed towards the cell, ignoring the men surrounding her. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine Captain, are you...?" Kex started, but his brow furrowed and he yanked on the cell door, "Don't you touch her!" he growled.

Tayla felt one of the men take a hold of her arm and drag her back to the center of the hall. She resisted, but his grip tightened, making her wince in pain, and Tayla could take a lot. She'd been shot more times than she could count, and she'd dragged herself and her team out of some dark and terrible places. His grip was strong enough to shoot pain down her arm and in to her hand. Angry she spun and punched him in the nose. His grip loosened and anger crossed his face. He muttered as he spat out blood and advanced on her.

Tayla had no issues defending herself and she balled up her fists and shifted into a fighting stance. She could hear Kex behind her struggling to get out of his cell, but to no avail. They were locked down and no keys were just hanging around like some old movie. The group of men could not stand back, all four advancing on her now. She managed to hit two of them before one managed to get behind her and grab her arms, another sweeping out her legs from under her. The tightness over her abdomen with the sudden movement made her keenly remember that a full fight right now would put her child in danger.

She fell back in to the man who held her arms, who then rightened her on her feet again. "Walk, or we will carry you." the man with a bloody nose growled at her.

Tayla pressed her lips together and nodded as she steadied on her feet, and felt her arms being released. She rubbed her side, willing her stretching muscles to calm down. She looked at Kex and held her hand to him, "Bide your time. Be smart." she said in a firm tone. With that the four men tightened around her again and pushed onward.

She returned to watching as they now more tightly escorted her. Being able to remember routes in unfamiliar territory had helped her many times in this life. Hell she was better at it than John. Idiot always thought he could get them out of places where they were lost, but in the end, it was always her memory that got them out. She'd been on dozens of spec ops missions with him over the years. She didn't believe this would be too difficult to get out of, she just needed time, direction, and freedom. A weapon would be nice too.

She was walked out of the detention area, and up through larger open rooms, all of them sell furnished and filled with people, most dressed like the men around her. It wasn't so much a uniform, as it was a style, leathers, beads, and hand woven fabrics made up most of it. She had hoped to see an exit, but none was obvious before they were dumped in to a massive room.

Tayla paused in the entry way and looked up, the top of the cave was so far above, with out lights up there, she'd never be able to see it. Hundreds of glowing orbs bounced and bobbed along the ceiling, casting light to the cavern below. There seemed to be scattered stations with technology but also scattered stations of stone cut benches and piles of pillows and blankets.

As the men urged her forward her eyes were drawn to a massive dias, at least ten steps leading up to it. On top was a chair, a throne would be a better term. Coming from the back of the chair were pipes, or ropes, Tayla really could not tell. They traveled from the thrown, moving high up in to cavern. Honestly it was rather breath taking. The lines moved up in to an arch, which was a brilliant red color. The red swirled and moved with every moment, and the bobbing orbs made it seem almost alive.

"What is this place?" Tayla wondered as they neared the dias. The men did not answer her as she felt the floor below her change. She looked down and saw they were crossing over a pattern carved in to the floor, in narrow low trenches. She looked around and saw dozens of connected symbols, each one of them clearly the mark of the trinity. Her eyes a little wider Tayla looked back up at the arch and realized the Red arch was filled with liquid. It was blood.

She froze, unwilling to walk any further. If they didn't sacrifice her on the Gladiator, they must have been planning on doing so here. "No." she said as she started to back away. The men grabbed on to her and easily, with four them, dragged her forward and up the stairs. At the top of it was the priest who had come to see her so many times. He looked utterly horrified as he watched her struggle on the stairs.

When they reached the top, they spun Tayla around and pushed her in to the chair. She fought, but within seconds hard straps swept up from the arm rests and locked her hands down. She gasped as she looked at the restraints, feeling another pair wrap around her ankles before she could even think to move her feet away.

"Try to relax... no harm will come to you" the priests said in a soothing tone.

"Oh Harm is going to come to you! Let me go you son of a bitch!" Tayla growled as she jerked against the restraints.

The priest looked surprised, "I am afraid that is not possible. You are far too important as I have been revealing to you from the scriptures for days."

"Oh your cultist gibberish! Spare me." Tayla growled.

The priest shook his head and touched his bracelet, clearly technological. A soft toned but loud sound echoed through the caverns, and people scattered through the cavern started to move closer to the dais. Through various entry ways dozens of people began to filter in, including lines of dirty and beaten men and women chained together. It looked as if they were working in mine shafts and were being dragged up in to this cavern.

"What the hell is this?" Tayla demanded as she flexed her fingers and tried to narrow her hand to slip from the restraint, the more she moved the tighter it got. When she relaxed it loosened, she scowled in frustration.

"It is the first day of worship. The cleansing is coming." the priest said.

It took a while for people to settle in around the dais and stare up at her in wonder. She searched the crowd for familiar faces and spotted a few. Members of her crew who were clearly being worked and hardly cared for. Survivors. She had never known of survivors before when they encountered the Trinity.

Her attention turned to the priest when he began to speak to the crowd, more of his rhetoric. He droned on about the call of the Trinity, and how purity of the universe was coming. Those who had done wrong before were now cleansed and the Trinity had been found among them. The goddess was coming. Tayla frowned, trying to figure out what he was meaning. It seemed every one else was in the know, but she was rather confused.

Was she a part of this Trinity? It seemed like it was starting to fall into place in her mind when her attention was drawn back to the priest. The four men who escorted her were kneeling in front of her now. The priest moved closer between them, "These men volunteered for the sacred duty of bringing the Trinity before us. They understood the risk, and that the Trinity would test them. They were tested, and failed. It is written, no hand shall be laid upon the Trinity upon the first day of cleansing." the priest announced.

"Wait what?" Tayla demanded leaning forward a bit, "What the hell are you talking about?" she demanded.

"They are impure and have no right to touch the divine." the priest said as he pulled a large knife out from his belt. "None shall touch until the day of emergence comes. And only those who have been purified and are holy can touch the divine and assist in the emergence of our Goddess."

"Now wait just a damn minute!" Tayla said her eyes getting wide, but the priest did not pause.

He approached the first man as Tayla protested. The man lifted his head and looked at her. "For the purification." the mans said before he lowered his eyes but kept his head up. The priest quickly sliced his throat.

Tayla gasped, "No!" she cried as blood sprayed upon her bare feet, and the man dropped, his blood pooling around her. "Stop this! This is not purification, you are all fucking insane!" she cried struggling against her restraints. The priest did not listen as he continued to the next man, who said the same words before he willingly died as well.

The last man was the one she had blooded his nose. He looked at her with shame, "I failed the test, Trinity. For the purification..." he said before he too died at her feet.

Tayla was shaking now, straining with effort to get free, but the restraints were holding her so hard she was losing feeling in her hands. Below her the dozens of people began singing a song about purification, as drums began to play in the corner. Soon dancing was starting to pick up among the crowd. The bloodied men at her feet were moved and shifted by servants. They were moved to stone slabs on either side of the throne, and tubes were attached to their wounds, extracting the rest of their blood while so many others celebrated.

It was barbaric, and disgusting, but no one seemed to care about her opinion, except maybe the terrified chained slaves in the back of the cavern. Tayla slumped back in the chair and felt the restraints loosen up as tears pricked her eyes. It was starting to make sense now and she wanted no part of it. She didn't want her baby to have any part of it, but it seemed that neither of them had a choice.

The priest returned to her and smiled brightly, "The Trinity will now begin the cleansing. THe purification has begun." he said. He touched his bracelet again, and suddenly several more straps moved around her arms, holding her arms fully still and pressed against the arms of the throne. Seconds later she felt sharp pricks in to her arms.

"What is going on?" she demanded.

"To prepare for the cleansing of the universe, the Trinity must purify the blood." the priest said waving to the massive arch way.

Tayla tried to move her arms, but couldn't, however the small tubes she'd not noticed before, lining the gilded chair soon filled with red on one side of her arm moving towards her, and on the other the tube filled with red, moving away from her. "Purify the blood?! I am not some blood filter! My body filters only for my own needs!" she cried. "You'll kill me!" she screamed.

"No my dear... The Trinity purifies the blood... when the emergence begins, the goddess will cleanse the universe with purified blood." he said happily. The Trinities every need and hunger will be met. The time has come, once the blood has been purified the goddess will come... only a few weeks now. " he said with tears in his eyes. He turned to the crowd and cried out in a loud voice, eliciting an echoing cry from all the people below.

"PRAISE BE THE GODDESS!"



~Fin