A Rivalry Understood

Posted on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 @ 8:32pm by Captain Alistar McKeon & Brex

1,165 words; about a 6 minute read

Brex chuckled as he finished reading his padd and tossed it on top of his desk. After much cost, planning and preparing, his plans for revenge were ready. Silently, a part of him scolded himself for giving in to such a petty ordeal, knowing that it could cost him even more if things didn't go as well, but at the same time it was too much for him to pass up. Brex was a being that counted his life cycles in centuries and millenniums, and the fact that a mere lesser being who might live a little past a century of life had best him and done it so soundly and then walked away burned like a flaming scar that wouldn't heal. The fact that McKeon and his beloved Endeavour had been praised for brining down a large portion of Brex's criminal operations only added to the insult. Brex didn't want to kill McKeon, he wanted to destroy him first. It was under him to add to the pettiness, but Brex couldn't help it. He reached out to the comm and typed in a code.

Alistar walked into his quarters and yawned. A bowl of Mongolian soup, shower and a shave were the first things on his mind, followed by a tranquilizer and some sleep. Normally, his insomnia didn't bother him, he had plenty of things to do to occupy his time, but he wanted to get some rest and that meant getting some sleep. Not just the scraps of naps he normally ran on but a good ten hours at least. So when the comm beeped, he growled and wished he could refuse the call. Knowing he couldn't, he turned and tapped his commbadge. "Yes?"

"Captain, I'm sorry to bother you sir, but there's an incoming transmission for you. It's encrypted and encoded with an encoding I can't identify," the officer on duty at comms reported.

"Put it through," Alistar said as he reached out and tapped the wall mounted comm panel. The screen came to life with the image of the last being he expected.

"Oh good, you're not busy," Brex said with a grin. "Good evening Captain McKeon."

"Brex," Alistar growled angrily at the back of his throat. "What the hell do you want?"

"Well, I fully expected a different greeting, so I'll take it," Brex said as he leaned back in his chair. "Oh, don't bother trying to send a text message to the bridge and order them to track the signal. I've ghosted the channel with three hundred ghost signals that will lead to just about anywhere you can imagine. One of them even ends at the threshold of a black hole. And I have a better and more fitting end for you in mind, so I'd rather you just didn't bother."

"What do you want Brex!?" Alistar snapped, raising his voice.

"I just wanted to check in on my newest, well, honestly we're not friends, but I'm not sure if we can be called enemies either," Brex said.

"I'd call us enemies," Alistar said.

"Well, enemies denotes that a strategic plan is in play. There's no play between us."

"More of a personal vendetta. I can settle for that," Alistar snarled. "And when I find you again, I won't hesitate to end your miserable f**king life."

"My my my my my, such language. Truly unbecoming of a Starfleet command officer," Brex said. "If certain people only knew, why Starfleet Medical might call you mentally unstable."

"They wouldn't ground me over it, if that's what you're planning," Alistar said.

"No, but they would pull the Endeavour, and you, from deep space and place you somewhere safe and mundane until you proved that you were capable of handling high profile missions," Brex said. "And that's not what I want. I have plans for you, McKeon, and I want you to know that my revenge will be sweet when its served."

"Is that why you called, to tell me you're coming for me? Then come out of the shadows and face me head on, you coward," Alistar snapped. "I'll even make it easy for you, meet me somewhere. Just you and me. We'll finish this once and for all."

"No," Brex said.

Alistar almost let himself respond with an outburst, but he managed to control himself. The sheer rage and anger he felt he was trying hard to swallow and control, but it was taking a lot of effort. He stared at the screen and knew his anger was displayed on his face.

"I have something planned for you, Captain. I will have my revenge on you, and your crew. I will destroy you, ruin you, and utterly break and defeat you before I kill you. You and I will stand face to face, but first I will take from you everything and you will know it before the end. And when that end comes, I will make sure you know it," Brex said.

"Then why bother to warn me?" Alistar asked.

"Because. I wanted you to know. To understand. Our rivalry is more than a dislike or a personal hatred. It IS a vendetta. And I wanted you to know where we each stood in relation to the other," Brex answered.

"Is that it? You wanted to let me know where we stood?" Alistar almost laughed hatefully. "I'll tell you where we stand. One day, sooner or later, one of us is going to die and it will be at the hands of the other. I know one day you're coming for me. Just know that one day, Brex, one day, I'm coming for you too."

"I'm glad we understand each other so well. In that case, I bid you farewell for now and good night. Do try to get some sleep, that is if the screams from Elan dying don't keep you awake at night" With that, Brex killed the channel.

The screen blackened and Alistar let his full rage boil forward at last. With an angry, hate filled rage fueled wordless screaming roar, he punched the monitor screen several times until the screen finally shattered and he heard and felt the breaking of bone. Turning, he kicked a chair across the room and held his hand as silence finally filled the room. After several long painful minutes, he sighed.

"Computer, reserve holodeck one for my personal use," he said. The computer beeped to acknowledge the order and he walked over to the cabinet and withdrew the first aid kit he kept there. Puling out the regenerator device he kept on hand, he activated it and held it over his injured hand for a bit. The device was for emergency use only but it would do the job of repairing his hand. Once that was done, he stuffed it back into the first aid kit and stood before he angrily started for the door. He wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, he thought as he headed towards the holodeck.

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