The Time Voyager's Obsession

Impression- II

The morning found Hana’s mood little improved, and she slept in later than usual in an effort to delay a confrontation with Tiberius. When she emerged, the camp was bustling with activity, and the Voyager was nowhere to be seen. Stranger yet, Hana could not spot Captain Jael either. She sat down by the smoldering fire, unsure of what to do next, cut adrift amid a sea of strangers. When she recognized one of the soldiers from the beach, Hana stood and held up a hand in greeting. He stopped what he was doing immediately and bowed so low that Hana thought his nose might be touching the ground. She clasped her hands to her elbows, shifting on her weight awkwardly. It would take a lifetime to grow accustomed to such deference.

“To what do I owe the honor, Your Divine Eminence?” the man asked, addressing the ground.

“Please, rise. I did not mean to distract you from your duties. I was wondering if you might know where Captain Jael is this morning?” she asked nervously, wondering if the man she was speaking to had ever met Tahlia. Hana wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up her royal charade. Her fear of exposure was increasing with each interaction, threatening to develop into full-blown paranoia.

“Yes, my Queen,” the man replied, raising himself only slightly so that his knee was still bent to Hana. “He left for the beach only a few moments ago to spar with the Voyager. Would you like for me to carry him a message, or tell him that you are in need of his presence?”

Hana frowned. What was Jael doing sparring with Tiberius? To her eyes, they had seemed to loath one another only yesterday.

“No, thank you. I will go and speak with him myself,” Hana said decidedly.

“If it pleases Your Eminence, I can escort you to the captain. It would ease my mind to know that you arrived at the beach safely,” the man offered.

“Thank you but that won’t be necessary, Hana replied. “The way is familiar to me.” The soldier nodded in concession, and Hana started for the shore.

She made her way slowly through the jungle, her side aching without the aid of Tiberius’s medicine. Hana had been too proud to ask him for assistance, even when the pain had become fierce during the night. As she crested the dune overlooking the ocean, she stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes growing wide with rapt interest at the scene unfolding below.

From Hana’s many recollections of fight pit matches, she could tell that the two men were not merely sparring. Of them, Jael was undoubtedly the worse for wear. Half of his face was swollen and bloodied, his right eye so damaged that he could hardly open it. He panted as they circled each other, spitting out crimson onto the black sand. Tiberius’s injuries seemed to be less severe, a few bloody welts maring the blue swirls of his bared chest. To Hana’s horror, they dueled with ball-headed clubs. As she watched on in confusion, Jael lurched forward, swinging the weapon at Tiberius’s head savagely. Hana clapped her hand over her mouth, hardly daring to watch the attack. Just as she was ready to close her eyes to the impending violence, Tiberius evaded the assault. Dropping to the ground, his leg swung out in a swift counterattack, successfully knocking Jael off balance. As the captain stumbled, Tiberius launched up with a burst of tremendous speed, cracking the club across the captain’s jaw.

“Stop!” Hana cried out in shock as the man fell. Tiberius spun around, noticing her presence for the first time. His heated gaze burned holes into her forehead as his opponent writhed on the ground in pain. “What have you done?” she exclaimed, hobbling forward as quickly as her injury would allow. The Voyager said nothing, eyeing her cooly as she crouched in the sand next to Jael. The captain’s jaw was obviously broken, his words garbled by blood and unintelligible to Hana’s ears. Even so, he held up a hand, halting her attempts to comfort him.

“Do you yield?” Tiberius asked cruelly, staring down at the captain with a stony expression etched into his chiseled features. Hana gaped up at him in disbelief as she tried to lift Jael’s head into her lap. He resisted her attempt, patting her hand gently in reassurance.

“Yield,” he gargled, extending a hand towards Tiberius. They gripped forearms and shook on his victory.

“I accept your yield,” he told Jael, adding with a smile, “from one captain to another.” He helped the injured man into a sitting position, and only then did he turn his attention towards Hana.

“Your Divine Eminence, I’d like to present myself as your new captain of the royal guard,” he said, giving her a formal bow.

“That’s what all this was about?” Hana asked hotly, her glare scalding.

“It was necessary in order to prevent disputes over power within the guard, which could have eventually put your safety at risk. You need a united front acting in your service.”

Hana scoffed and Tiberius shot her a warning look. “How united will my front be with you bludgeoning those sworn to protect me?” she asked furiously, throwing caution to the wind. “You broke his jaw, Tiberius!”

“He will heal quickly in sim, my Queen. You know that this is the way our guard handles its internal disputes,” Tiberius replied with forced composure, his eyes daring her to push him further.

“We still have to get the captain back to the ship for him to enter into the sim! The ship that’s on the other side of the island, Tiberius! This was not the time or place to do this!” Hana seethed, refusing to submit to him. Tiberius regarded her with thinly veiled animosity.

“Apologies, my Queen, it was not my intent to cause you offense,” Tiberius recovered for Jael’s benefit. He turned his back to her, helping the injured man to his feet before wrapping a steadying arm around his waist.

“A party left this morning to collect speeders from the ship. I will secure one for Jael and we will be on our way,” Tiberius informed her icily before embarking into the jungle with the injured former captain.

Hana hung back on the beach, sinking down onto a sand dune to stare blankly out to sea. She hadn’t felt so lost since they’d first arrived on Hausafan. It seemed as though a lifetime of experience had passed since Tiberius had come for her, though Hana knew they’d only been together for a matter of days. The Voyager had quickly become a steadying force in her life, but everything had been thrown off kilter when Jael and the other Naphans had arrived on the beach. She hardly recognized the man before her now. Admittedly, a majority of the blame lay with Hana for giving him her trust so quickly. In her heart, she’d desperately wanted him to care for her. Aside from Filo’s twisted obsession, Tiberius was the last person in Hana’s universe to truly hold affection for her, or so she had thought. She’d longed to connect with another human, to feel for a single moment that she wasn’t terribly alone. It had been presumptuous, and naive. Tiberius had been serving his own ends when he had come to rescue her, she should have seen that. He’d told her from the very beginning that she was to be his redemption. Hana just hadn’t realized the part that the Voyager had intended for her to play.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but one that Hana would have to muddle through all the same. She needed to start looking out for herself, and adapting accordingly if she ever hoped to act independently of Tiberius. Going forward, Hana’s trust would be reserved for herself, and herself alone. She stiffened at the sound of footsteps at her back.

“Hana,” Tiberius addressed her roughly, the use of her true name indicating that they were alone. She ignored him, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the horizon. She could feel him glaring down at her, arms crossed over his bare chest. She looked up, matching his anger unflinchingly. Tiberius sighed, his features softening as he crouched down beside her.

“There is much you do not understand,” the Voyager began gently, trying to close the chasm that had grown between them.

“There are things that I do not understand, and things that you choose not to divulge. Do not talk to me like a child, Tiberius Var,” Hana snapped irritably.

“You’re right,” he conceded, raising his hands in surrender, “I’m sorry I did not share the extent of my plans with you. It was wrong of me, but I’m asking you to trust me now, Hana. Trust that I’m working in your best interest.”

Hana snorted at the absurdity of his words. “The only person whose interest you’re working towards, is that of yourself. I’m nothing more than a tool for you to wield so that you can get what you want. In the interest of getting off of this planet, I’ll follow your lead, but our exchange goes no further than that. So, don't ask me to trust you.”

He looked away, and Hana saw with satisfaction that her words had cut him. “I am trying to right my wrongs, Hana, to save my planet, and you in the process. I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”

“You never asked me for my help!” she fumed. “You just decided that I was the right piece to fit into your broken puzzle. Don’t pretend that you ever cared about my safety! You never cared about me at all!”

He looked up at her with a pained expression. “That’s not true, Hana. You know that isn’t true. Of course I care about you, and it was never my intention to cause you pain or doubt. I was trying to protect you. That’s why I challenged Jael. I put too much pressure on you to lie, and I was trying to correct my mistake. He knew Tahlia well, and he is a perceptive man. It would only have been a matter of time before he discerned your true identity.”

“Truly, was that your reasoning? Because it doesn’t appear that way to me,” Hana snapped, her eyes flashing defiantly.

“And how does it appear to you, Hana?” Tiberius asked lowly, his stormy eyes growing blacker by the minute.

“I think you supplanted Jael as captain so that you could be free to use me to gain power and take back your old position,” Hana snapped pointing an accusing finger at the Voyager’s chest.

“Is that so?” Tiberius sneered, “Well, I guess that since you bear such insight as to my motives, I don’t need to waste my breath justifying my actions to you,” he rose suddenly to his feet, stalking past her as he headed towards the clearing without so much as a backward glance.

Hana’s jaw trembled with rage, the emotion threatening to consume her, just as it had at Mala Fide. She wanted to hurt him, to cause Tiberius the same pain he was inflicting upon her own heart.

“You may think that you’re above approach, Tiberius, but you’re no different than Sano! You’re cold, selfish, and callous, and whether you’ll admit it or not, you stole my life from me! I didn’t ask for this, for any of this! I never consented to act as a placeholder for your dead Queen,” Hana lashed out, whipping her words at his back.

Tiberius turned around to face her, eyes ablaze. He closed the ground between them with two great strides, grasping her roughly by the shoulders.

“You want your life back? I’ll gladly give it to you. I’ll take you back to that godforsaken prison and leave you there to rot if that’s what you want. Poor Hana, forced to play royalty against her will. I’m giving you the chance at a future, everything we never had! Can’t you see that?” Tiberius demanded, giving her a shake.

“I don’t want it! All hells, I said the very same words to Filo! I want my own future, the one of my choice! Can’t you see that you’re taking that from me?” Hana cried out in frustration.

“This is bigger than us!” Tiberius snarled. “It isn’t just our own fleeting happiness on the line, a world that is home to billions stands in the balance! So you think I’m like Sano? Well, I have news for you, Hana Dari, you’re nothing but a spoiled, selfish, child. You’re exactly like Tahlia!” His eyes sparked with fury and his chest heaved with labored breaths. Without warning he swept her to him, his mouth crashing down upon hers with urgent need as he crushed her to his chest.

Hana’s elation quickly turned to that of revulsion. Tiberius wasn’t kissing her at all, he was kissing Tahlia. Just as Hana was to be an understudy for his Queen, he was using her body as a surrogate for the one that was lost to him. Hana tore away from his embrace, a strangled sob wrenching from her chest.

Tiberius’s remorse was instant, his hand reaching out to her apologetically. “Hana, please, I- I’m so sorry-” She recoiled from him, tears trailing down her cheeks uninhibited. “Hana,” he croaked, his voice laden with pain. She shook her head, turning away from him as she retreated back towards camp.