Post 477: Women and Children First

Stardate: 71007.1915
Title: Women and Children First
Author: Lt. Commander Lair
Scene: Tunnels below the surface of Yensul V
Time: Following "Angels in the Snow"
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Salvek checked his tricorder. He had been afraid that the severity of the cold would cause the unit to cease functioning properly, but had the forethought to put it into the internal pocket of his parka, in order that the heat of his body might help protect it from the elements.
He was pleased to see that it had not only continued to function within normal perameters, but it had recorded every step of their journey. He was certain that he could use it to find his way back to the Alchemy's crash site, with or without their host as guide if necessary.

Little was said by anyone as they all trudged, exhausted, drenched, and hungry, down through the spiraling tunnels which seemed to go forever beneath the surface of the planet.

As they went, the temperature seemed to increase slightly, and finally Kellyn took the scarf from around her face, her expression saying it all as she glanced at Salvek. He nodded to her, and she began gently questioning Andara Maffe as they moved.

"You said before, Andara, that you all live here. How many is 'all'?"

"Our camps are divided into segments. We did this after the. . ." she looked away, "accident."

"Accident?" Kellyn asked gently, as Salvek took in every word walking just a few paces behind her. Biggs and Xhian were just a step behind him, with Reece and Grace next and the rest of the small crew of Alchemy's junior officers following last.

"The number of us has always varied here, and it has always only been the strongest that survived," the woman seemed as if the weight of the world were upon her shoulders as she spoke. "Most of those who are abandoned here do not survive a day and a night, unless we find them right after they have been discarded here. This is why we check as much of the surface area as we can every day, to try to monitor if there are any new arrivals."

"But you didn't answer my question," Kellyn asked, aware that this woman was likely reluctant to give up their true numbers so easily. "Andara, if we're going to help you, we have to know how many people we're talking about helping."

"Tybelle." Maffe replied, "Lair Kellyn, please call me by my given name. It would honor me." Kellyn smiled gently, thinking how she was in the habit of telling her officers in Engineering the same thing.

"Thank you, Tybelle. You must also call me by mine then; Kellyn."

Maffe nodded in agreement. "Kellyn, we lost many of our people in the accident. That was six revolutions ago."

"Revolutions," Kellyn tried to pin down the meaning of the phrase. Months perhaps?

"Six revolutions ago, the main and largest cavern in our underground collapsed without warning in the middle of the night. While," her voice faltered, "while everyone was sleeping."

"By the Prophets," Kellyn breathed, "I'm so sorry."

"We lost half of our number in that cavern. Elder matrons, young sisters and even children," Maffe's eyes gleamed with tears in the light of her torch. "My own mother among them."

"I am so very sorry," Salvek added his sympathies, and Maffe lowered her eyes in thanks. "How many were lost?"

"Five and fifty."

"Fifty five?" Kellyn frowned.

"No, no," Maffe realized that their number phrasing was perhaps different than those of her visitors. "Five zero and fifty."

"Five hundred fifty?" Kellyn's heart sank. "How many of your people are left now?"

"By our last count, there were four zero, ten and seven."

"Four hundred," Salvek began, his eyes and his wife's locking, "and seventeen."

"Oh Salvek," Kellyn whispered, "What has been done to these people?"

"What was done to us," Maffe replied, her eyes filling with raw hatred, "was this. The males of our world decided that this was the way to carry out the wishes of the Exalted Ruler."

"Who is this Exalted Ruler?" Salvek asked, "Is he the head of your government?"

Maffe laughed bitterly. "If only he were a man of living breathing flesh, I would have found a way off of this rock to strangle the life out of his body myself by now. No," she quickened her step, leaving the couple behind, "The Exulted Ruler is our Divine Patriarch."

"They think that their God told them to abandon a bunch of women and children on this frozen wasteland?" Biggs spoke softly, unable to help overhearing. "That's so sad."

"People will go to great extremes to do what they think is the will of their deities, Simon," Kellyn replied. "Believe me, growing up on Bajor, I saw many things done and justified in the name of the Prophets. It is easy for people to be misguided in their wish to please any entity whose will is primarily interpreted by imperfect, flesh and blood beings."

"Exactly so, Kellyn." Maffe rejoined the conversation now having regained her composure. "They believe that they are doing the right thing and that is why they persist so loyally and thoroughly in doing it."

"But why these women, and only the female children?" Grace asked softly now, as the line became more of a group walking together as the tunnels grew wider.

"We are the women who have no men," Maffe explained. "Women who have lost their husbands to eternal sleep, and the female children of these marriages."

"Widows? Fatherless girls?" Salvek's voice took on an edge that everyone noticed save their host, who had no idea that this was quite a display of emotion for the Vulcan.

"In our society, it is common for men to live in excess of two hundred years." Maffe elaborated. "It is seen as a sign of weakness if a man does not attain this age before dying. It is believed that it is the fault of his wives, and that the females born of such a failed union should not be allowed to carry on their curse to succeeding generations."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Reece tried to wrap his brain around what she was saying. "If a man dies from some health problem or failing of his own body, how could his wife help that?"

"Wives." Maffe corrected him, "Each man has far more than one wife. It is believed that wives who have Divine blessing can care for a man in a way so as to extend his life. If they fail, then they are worthless- no, worse. A liability which must be discarded like refuse. A plague upon the Yensuli people."

Reece turned red. "Having once been a woman," he snarled, "I am highly offended by this."

"You were once female?" Maffe stammered. "How is that possible?"

"The same way it is possible that I was once male," February replied. "Not us, exactly. But we are Trill. We are a joined species, and the symbiont beings that Reece and I carry have lived for hundreds of years, within several different hosts. Some of each gender."

"That is unbelievable."

"Believe it!"

"We can all share our genealogy later," Kellyn tried to redirect the conversation at this point. "How long has this expulsion of the females without husbands been going on?"

"Four and twice zero seasons."

"Four hundred years!" Kellyn was the one stuttering now. "There must have been thousands,"

"There are countless sisters of my planet who have fallen asleep here, in the ice and snow and wind," Tybelle Maffe whispered sadly. "It is my purpose to make sure that not another one dies here while I live. If you'll follow this way, we are almost to the camp."

She stepped up her pace again, and spoke with the members of her looting party in order to remind them not to tell any of the other women what they had seen aboard the Alchemy, as Salvek had requested.

"She's quite a leader," Biggs observed, noting Maffe's strength of character.

"It is horrible, what has occurred here," Xhian remarked sadly. "So many lives lost. So many people suffering."

"It's no wonder that the Yensuli are hiding this place," Biggs added angrily. "If the Federation knew of it, there is no way that they would even be considering their application for membership."

"Indeed," Salvek concurred. "It is our job to be certain that they will know. We must contact the Independence. Not only for our own rescue should we be unable to repair the Alchemy, but before the recommendation is made to the Federation Council to approve Yensul IV's petition, should Captain Zanh decide to recommend them."

"Captain Zanh," Lair Kellyn smirked now, "Can you imagine what is going to happen when she shows up to meet these guys for that hearing?"

"I just hope that she does not start an interstellar incident," Salvek replied, knowing his old friend Zanh too well.

"I do not understand, will there be a problem with your Captain speaking to the Proconsul?" Maffe inquired as she returned to them once again.

"Only," Kellyn said, rolling her eyes upward and wishing that she could see the looks on the faces of the Yensuli delegation when Zanh strode into the room, "that she's as female as you and I, Tybelle."
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Lt. Commander Lair Kellyn
Acting Chief Engineer
USS Independence/USS Alchemy