The Death of Aeryn Tigan (Part 3)

Posted on 22 Feb 2020 @ 5:12pm by Elesa Zal

1,620 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Empty Creche
Location: Starfleet Medical, San Francisco, Earth
Timeline: ED2 0430

Elesa trembled as she lay on one of two biobeds in the Starfleet Medical operating theatre. As the ambient temperature in the room had recently been increased by Doctor Ulla to accommodate the Zal symbiont’s imminent removal, the President surmised that the only reason for her uncontrollable shaking was nerves. In a matter of minutes Zal was going to be surgically removed from her, effectively ending her existence as Elesa Zal; or more simply put, ending her life.

Joined Trill were not unaccustomed to death. Zal had, after all, experienced death three times before. Xolani, her first host, had died at home surrounded by her husband, friends and four generations of her family. Without a doubt, Xolani’s passing had been the most peaceful of Zal’s experiences; the memory brought subsequent hosts an undeniable calmness when it had been their time to die and pass on the symbiont. It was this memory that Elesa held on to as she prepared to add one last experience of her own to the ever-evolving Zal tapestry.

Zal’s next experience of death had not been nearly as peaceful as her first. Lana, Zal’s second host, had died at a relatively young age by Trill standards: she was only in her mid-forties when she was attacked and wounded during an attempted robbery in the bakery that she owned in the Trill capital city. Elesa could still remember the pain she felt when her assailant fired the illegally obtained Klingon disruptor at her when she tried to run to safety. The last thing she remembered, as Lana, was falling face first onto the terracotta tiles that adorned her little bakery shop, passing out as she watched her murderer empty the shop of anything and everything of worth.

Elesa felt a tear glide down the side of her face as she thought of Lana, and the senseless murder that took place over a hundred years ago. Zal had always wondered, after that day, what Lana could have achieved had she been allowed to live a little bit longer. Like Xolani before her, Lana was a kind-hearted individual who had a passion for life; a kindness that, for a time, died along with Lana.

“How are you holding up, Madam President?” asked Doctor Ulla as she, and Doctor Innerness, continued to prepare the operating theatre for Elesa’s imminent separation from Zal. Ulla’s eyes were warm and welcoming. Of all the Starfleet Officers who were currently fussing around her, Elesa knew that Ulla, a fellow joined Trill, was the other person who could understood the mix of fear and excitement that was engulfing her right now.

Drawing on what little energy she had left, Elesa drew a smile across her face. “I am fine,” she said, not quite sure if there was truth behind those words.

Ulla responded with a knowing smile and then walked off to continue her preparations. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Doctor Inverness preparing Lieutenant Tigan for surgery on the other biobed.

Elesa allowed her mind to wander once more, this time focusing on the life and death of Zal’s third host: Azan. Azan was a brilliant warp-field theorist who spent most of his life secluded from broader society, living away from the big cities and spending most of his time developing new theories into faster-than-light propulsion. Like Elesa herself, Azan had never married; the memory of Lana’s death had made him pathologically distrustful of others and so he never settled down. It was only in his twilight years that Azan started to engage with organisations, such as Starfleet, to further his research into transwarp engines.

Azan’s death took place on board Jupiter Station while he was working with Starfleet to develop the engine that would eventually, over thirty years later, become the first protype for the transwarp drive on board the USS Redemption. Having lived for a hundred years or so, Azan died when his heart started failing and he stubbornly refused to have an artificial replacement inserted. Elesa always suspected that Azan had grown tired of being alone and was therefore ready for Zal to move on to a new host. Whatever his reasons, Azan underwent surgery in a Starfleet surgical bay not too dissimilar to the one Elesa now found herself in, and the Zal symbiont soon found itself transplanted into a young security officer serving on board the USS Majestic – a Starfleet vessel docked at Jupiter Station.

The name of that officer was one Lieutenant Elesa Zahne. And the rest, as they say, was history.

In Trill society, death and rebirth were synonymous with one another. Elesa still trembled, but she now knew that it was as much out of excitement as it was nervousness. Nobody ever wanted to die, but death was just another part of the journey for joined Trill. Having looked back on her past lives, and the one that was now ending, she knew that she would forever live on in the young woman now lying beside her in the operating theatre – not to mention all future hosts of the Zal symbiont. Elesa now understood that her death was more than the ending of her life: it was a gift to the future generations of her people.

Zal moved suddenly within Elesa’s abdomen, making the host place a weakened hand over her symbiont one final time. “Don’t forget me,” she said in hushed tones.

The hairs on Elesa’s arm pricked up and she instantly knew that the electrostatic surgical field had been activated in preparation for surgery. She glanced over at the adjoining biobed and caught a glimpse of Lieutenant Tigan waiting nervously for the procedure to commence. It was not uncommon for Trill’s to meet their successive hosts on the day of their joining, although this was the first time that Zal had the experience. She found it both comforting and a little unsettling.

“Ma’am,” Ulla said, stepping into view, “are you ready?”

Elesa inhaled deeply one last time before responding. “I am,” she said succinctly.

Twenty-two years of joining was about to come to an end as Ulla stepped towards Elesa and administered an anaesthetic. Elesa had been quite clear to the doctor before they entered the operating theatre: she wanted to be fully alert during the procedure to remove the symbiont. With some objections, Ulla had eventually agreed to her request. Zal had not been afforded the same courtesy when it was Azan’s time to be separated – something that Elesa had come to regret for her former host.

As the anaesthetic began to work, the President felt her extremities tingle before all sensation was lost. Ulla checked that she was completely numb before commencing the incision that would give her access to the symbiont within her. Elesa allowed the memories of her former hosts to swell to the surface one last time before they were taken away: Xolani giving birth to her eldest son; Azan creating a stable transwarp conduit for the first time; Lana meeting her future husband for the first time on a breezy spring afternoon at Dixon Park in the Trill capital city…

…then it was all gone.

Elesa stifled a gasp as she felt more alone than she had ever been in her life. She fought the overwhelming sense of grief that overcame her as she watched the symbiont – her symbiont – as it was carried across the operating theatre to the waiting Lieutenant Tigan. Her eyes stayed open for as long as she could muster, clinging on to life just long enough to ensure that Zal was safe.

She didn’t know if it was a few seconds, or a few minutes, before she lost consciousness. It didn’t matter, Elesa’s task was complete: she had kept Zal safe long enough to see it passed on to her successor.

There was no higher honour for a Trill.

*

It had been twenty-two years since Zal felt the cold, dry sting of the outside world. Its senses were minimal, but it always felt a shock when exposed to atmosphere. A sharp sensation could be felt along its neural cord, and then Elesa – Zal’s fourth host – was gone. Zal was always saddened by the passing of a host, but that was the order of things in Trill society.

The symbiont always outlived its hosts.

Sometimes, after removal from a host, Zal would enjoy the freedom of being unbound for a number of days, weeks or months. After Lana’s death, Zal was taken back to the symbiont pools beneath the Trill capital city where it helped for a time breeding. This time, however, Zal knew that it was to be immediately re-joined with another; without the healing properties of this new host, it would likely die before returning to the Trill home world. Zal accepted this.

The cold gave way to warmth and Zal could tell that it was no longer moving. Using its rudimentary senses, Zal sensed a nearby symbiont pouch and started to wriggle its way inside. The effect of the virus on the symbiont was apparent, as it worked hard to move into the correct position within the pouch. Immediately, Zal positioned its neural cord adjacent to the receiving end of the Tigan host’s cord, and…

OCC: To be continued! Also, this is one of the hardest things I have had to do! Zal was the CO of the RPG I ran 15 or 20 years ago! So sad! But I felt it would make for a good story, and an interesting character, for Zal to be transferred into a new host! Been working on this, literally, for years!

 

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