Bini Filters (Backstory)
Chapter 11: Bini Filters (Backstory.)
Year: 2358: November 22.
Amanda Filters POV
I felt a wave of relief as I heard my little girl come into the world and cry her little heart out. I relaxed against the hospital bed as exhaustion hit me. My husband gave me his usual sweet smile as he squeezed my hand as we watched the nurses wrap her up. She was so small.
I suppose that is what I can expect from a five-month early baby. The important thing is that she is alive. The nurse slowly handed her to me. I brought her close to my chest as I watched her blue eyes look around the room as she tried to touch everything.
Not that she could see anything at the moment. She was just born less than five minutes ago. My husband leaned down towards me as we looked at our little girl.
"What is her name?" The Doctor beside us asked. I smiled up at him.
"Bini Faustina Filters."
-----
Year: 2367: November 3.
Bini Filters POV (Age 10)
I walked down one of San Francisco's streets as I thought about my day. It was dumb. School is useless. They make fun of me all day and I never learn anything that would improve my life. It is all about Math. I hate math. I can't do it.
Mommy thinks I am not trying hard enough. I am doing the best I can, daddy...Daddy...I miss him.
Daddy went to Starfleet HQ two weeks ago, he told mommy he had to be the first officer of USS Bonestell. I never heard of it. He hasn't come back. Now...now I found out yesterday that he is fighting a scary creature in space. I want Daddy to come back. I heard it ended today.
I picked up my pace down the street as people cast curious glances in my direction. I ignored them as I entered our apartment complex. I hurried up to our house on the 4th floor and ran into our house.
Mommy was watching FedNews as I entered. Her eyes were glued to the screen. Unusual considering she was normally in the kitchen listening to it from the living room instead. They were talking about the battle again. She didn't look towards my direction as the front door hissed closed. I hesitantly stepped into the living room and looked at the TV.
---FEDNEWS---
"39 ships were destroyed at Wolf 359 today. We have just received the names of those ships. They are as follows:
-USS Bellerophon
-USS Buran
-USS Bonestell
---FEDNEWS---
The USS Bonestell...
Daddy's ship?
My throat tightened up as I got closer to the TV and moved past slumped Mommy as I looked at the picture of his ship flash on the screen than the next ship and the next and the next. I finally looked at my mother, now in front of me. Her eyes were bloodshot as silent tears rained down her cheeks as she was silently shaking. The usual light of life in her eyes was gone as she kept looking past me at the screen.
If it wasn't for the fact that she was shaking one might think she was dead.
"Where is Daddy?" I whispered. I already know the answer. I need to confirmed.
She didn't answer me.
"Where is Daddy!?" I snapped.
She looked up at me slowly.
"Dead." She replied like those Vulcans at school. Those Vulcans never show emotion. I opened my mouth to speak but realized I had nothing to say. Tears started to run down my cheeks as the reality of the situation really hit me. Daddy was dead. I was never going to see him again.
I let out a small sob as I ran out of the living room and into my own room. I collapsed on my bed and cried and cried. Daddy was gone!
(Next Day.)
I walked into school, everyone either stopped to look at me with pity or decided it was best to ignore me as I stormed through the hallways to my class. Lots of kids weren't in school today, I suppose that was because of their...own loss. I wasn't going to be like that. I need something. Anything to distract me right now. Even getting picked on would be better...better than what I am feeling right now.
I watched as my usual tormenters couldn't make eye contact with me. They also gave me the pity look. Just like everyone else. I don't want this.
"Just stop." I snapped at them. The leader of the little clan, Miranda Morris. Looked up at me in confusion, at least she can look me in the eye.
"What do you mean?" She asked. I waved my hand around. Indicating at the entire group.
"This! The pity act. I don't need it. Knock it off. Just stop! Torment me as usual! Do whatever. Just stop!" I snapped. I felt tears overwhelm my eyes again as I heard my daddy's voice in the back of my head say.
"That wasn't nice, Bini."
Of course, it wasn't nice. This entire situation isn't nice. I am not even sure if I am making sense anymore as I continued towards my class just a few doors ahead. Now everyone moved out of my way as if I was an admiral at Starfleet.
(One Week Later.)
I stood beside my mother, wearing a black dress with a winter coat as people gave us a whole bunch of "I am sorry for your loss." comments. Being sorry isn't going to bring him back. Being sorry isn't going to make Mommy stop acting like a Vulcan, being sorry isn't going to make me feel better about the fact that I am standing next to my Daddy's empty coffin.
I mumbled thanks to the people as they passed for my mother, who couldn't stop staring at the ground in front of her like she was in some sort of trance.
An Admiral Paris walked up. I recognized him as the man who ordered my daddy on that ship. He was one of the many reasons my daddy is dead. I glared at him as he shook my hand and looked down at me with pity. Like everyone else.
"I am so sorry for your Father's loss." He said. I couldn't even say thank you, I knew that if I tried I would end up saying a lot of things I shouldn't say. He was still an Admiral after all. He moved beside me to my Mother. She finally looked up at someone. Pure hatred was in her eyes as she reached out, gripped his wrist and pulled him closer+down to whisper in his ear.
"You, Alynna Nechayev, and J.P Hansen killed him. Never forget that Owen Paris." She spat into his ear. Loud enough for people nearby to cast us confused looks as this was the first time my mother had spoken to anyone that they knew of in a week.
Admiral Paris slowly pulled back and nervously nodded. Cast me one more glance and left to join a larger crowd at the side.
"Mommy, what was that-"
"You are ten years old, Bini. Show me respect." She snapped at me. I caught my grandmother (Father's side.)give me a sad look. It wasn't quite pity. I couldn't place what it was. It didn't matter anyway.
I looked down at the ground and nodded.
"Of course...Mother."
-----
Bini Filters POV (Age 12.)
Year: 2369. January 3.
I carefully glance over the bend of the wall to watch as my Mother spoke to some...scally skinned...person. I think they were Cardassian. Yeah, Cardassian. We learned about them in school the other day. Why was one at our house? I haven't ever seen a Cardassian on Earth unless there was an important event going on.
I carefully listened to what they were saying and held up my padd to record. After a few minutes of mumbled whispers, I quietly headed back to my room.
The door hissed open and I rushed to my desk. I quickly turned on my computer and downloaded the info. Something I had learned from my father a few months ago. It doesn't hurt so much to think about him.
It only took a matter of seconds before a series of dialogue popped on the screen.
---SCREEN---
Cardassian: Hello, Mrs. Filters. I am Gul Camet. I have a job opportunity for you.
Mrs. Filters: I am not interested in doing business with a Cardassian.
Cardassian: Hear me out before you dismiss me. Keep in mind I can make your life...very difficult if you refuse this.
Mrs. Filters: Is that a threat? Just what I would expect from a low levelled-
Cardassian: Watch your tongue, Terran.
Mrs. Filters: What are you going to do? Kill me? Trust me, that is a lot better than living right now.
Cardassian: How about I just kill your daughter? Much more effective I believe.
Mrs. Filters: How dare you! How dare you just show up and...and threaten me and my daughter.
Cardassian: *Sigh.* Like I said before. I have a business opportunity. I know that you are in major debt since your husband's death.
Mrs. Filters: I see I have no choice. Go on.
Cardassian: We are hiring terrans to become Obsidion Order Agents. We find they are the most effective species in getting information from others.
Mrs. Filters: I assume I have to leave Earth for this?
Cardassian: 'We'. Your daughter will also be joining. She will be very useful. Everyone trusts ten-year-olds.
Mrs. Filters: No! No! I am not dragging my daughter down-
Cardassian: Like you said before. You don't have a choice in this. You will leave for Cardassia in three days time. Someone will be waiting for you with a ship at docking bay 4 at San Fransicio docking station. Don't even think about refusing. We will find you and kill you if you do.
Cardassian: We have done it before. Pack very light.
Mrs. Filters: Alright...Alright, you will see us there.
---SCREEN---
I switched off the screen and relaxed against my chair. I felt the air brush against my back from the hallway and the mutters from FedNews from the living room. Which only meant one thing. My door was open, my mother was standing at the door.
"So, you know now."
I nodded without looking back.
"Plan what you are going to pack. For now on I will home school you...It should only fit in your school bag. Alright?" She added.
I nodded again. I heard soft footsteps retreat and the door hiss closed. Maybe this is a nightmare. Am I imagining all this?
I pinched my arm hard in an attempt to wake myself up.
I am not dreaming.
I got out of my chair and looked at my room as a whole. I knew what to pack. Wasn't that hard of a decision.
-----
Three days later.
Bini Filters POV
I packed a few sets of clothes, my sketch padd, pencil case (I prefer drawing the old way.) and my teddy bunny. A stuffed animal I have had ever since I was three. It fit almost perfectly in my gray school bag. I looked at my room one last time.
Then after a few minutes, left my house on Earth forever.
As my Mother and I exited the apartment complex, I noticed a few kids from school watching us across the street. I guess they expected this since according to them I had gotten more withdraw. It wasn't like my Mother told anyone we were leaving.
They watched us all the way down the street as we walked towards the docking bay. I could feel their eyes watching us as my Mother roughly pulled me along to catch up.
I wonder if anyone would notice I was gone? Would they look for me?
-----
Year: 2369. December 25. Christmas Eve.
Amanda Filters POV
Most families would be home, celebrating with those around them as Christmas had finally come. Not with my family, at least what is left of once a happy one at least. My Christmas night is filled with terror and fright as I ran down the mostly empty streets of Mars with my daughter falling behind as I held a tight grip on her wrist. She doesn't know what danger we...I am in.
They wouldn't dare hurt her, as she is the best person that they have for hacking into Starfleet. She wasn't really good at anything else and barely passed the fighting courses but hacking. She went above and beyond.
I suppose I kept her around me these days as a security blanket. They would have to kill her to get to me. I know. Not a very 'loving' mother approach but we had grown distant since her father's death.
She had become increasingly more annoying over the recent months as she became more and more restless, sitting in a room, hacking into different networks and communication. Earning a decent salary for her work and yet that spoiled brat wasn't satisfied.
She wanted to join the Maquis. That little resistance group that had growing support. Fighting against the Cardassians.
She just had to screw up. I tried to fake reports of her little mistake that she leaked private information to the Maquis. That didn't go over well and now they are coming after me. To kill me. They think I leaked them. Not her.
"Mother! Let me go!" She demanded as I pulled us into a nearby alley to catch my breath as the storm raged on above us and rain pelted us hard.
I sagged against the wall. I heard them coming closer. They can outrun us. But, we can hide. It was really a game of cat and mouse. Hopefully, the shadows in the darkness hid us from...the enemy, I suppose. There really no hero in this story.
Bini sagged and slipped to the ground beside me. Too occupied to catch her breathe as she brushed her tangled hair out of the way that had long since fallen from its usual ponytail as before hours ago.
She looked up at me with those blue eyes that now haunt my nightmares.
"Why are we running?"
"Reasons." I snapped.
"That isn't an answer, Mother." She snapped back.
"I can't tell you."
"Of course not." She mumbled but silenced as heavy footsteps reached just outside our location. I stiffened and somehow hopped I would just blend against the wall and fad away like a hologram could as Bini didn't dare move.
"They are in the alley, Gul!" One of the two soldiers said to a Gul.
Bini and I both swore under our breaths as they started into the alley. We jumped to attention as they spotted us. The Gul held his solders back, behind him as we backup up against the back wall. Dead end.
The Gul was, of course, Gul Camet. Sort of fitting in a way, really.
He grabbed his weapon from his holster on his belt as I kept a sturdy grip on my knife. Hidden in my jacket.
"You have made a lot of mistakes, Amanda. But this. By far. Is the worst."
Bini took a few steps backwards as I stepped closer to him. I don't know why but I still wanted to protect her, even though I know I am the one about to die.
"Stay away."
"You have no weapon. You are in no position to threaten me."
Something in me snapped. I screamed in rage and lunged forward, yanking out my knife in the process. Suddenly a loud bang went off a few short centimetres away from me. From Camet. Unimaginable pain ran through my body like poison as I collapsed to the ground. Blood started to pool out of me and travel on the water on the ground. I struggled to breathe as I gripped my stomach that had a now gaping hole in it.
Bini let out a muffled scream of horror and shock in the background that was almost drowned out by the ringing in my ears from the blast. I watched as the clouds above me swirled and the vision faded. Bini was shouting something.
The last thing I saw was Gul Camet grinning down at me with that damned evil grin.
"Really. A pity."
I took one last shuddering breath as I imagined my husband coming towards me. No. No, he was really here.
"Josh?"
"It is time to let go, Amanda."
-----
Bini Filters POV (Age 13?)
My mother collapsed to the ground with a gaping hole from where she was shot. The last remaining light that had stayed in her eyes flickered away and died. I would be lying if I said part of me died too like most people do when they see a loved one die. I won't lie.
I was mostly horrified, to be honest. Too frightened to allow any other emotion in.
The Cardassians did one thing right when they brought me into their little group. They taught me how to let the adrenaline kick in and all rational thought fly out the window. I took steady deep breathe as my fear vanished and my mind emptied despite the fact that the Gul leaned over my mother and muttered something to her as she let out her last shaky breath and let go of life. She went limp on the cold wet street of the alley as the rain continued to pour down.
I swore a couple of times under my breath as I quickly picked up my mother's knife and held it up towards them. The Gul actually laughed as he stepped over my, now, dead mother's corpse. The two guards also grinned near the end of the alley as he got closer.
I back up against the cold wall. Unsure of my next move. I didn't dare look at my mother's body.
"What do you think you are doing, Dash?" Camet asked in one of those "I don't take you seriously enough to care that you are holding a knife towards me." look.
Agent Dash was my code name in the Obsidian Order. I have always had mixed feelings about it.
I gripped it tightly and yanked myself forward. The Gul looked alarmed as I ran towards him. He yanked his gun toward me. I ducked his blast as it grazed and burn my arm. I hissed in the pain but honestly didn't really notice or care about it right now.
His guards snapped to attention as I yanked the gun from the Gul's grasp and fired at Camet. He cried out in agony as it threw him against the wall and he slid down. Unconscious or dead. It doesn't matter.
I ducked one of their fists as I kicked another in the gut before he could grab his gun. The other guard yanked the gun away from me and tackled me to the ground. As I hit the ground, I managed to slip my knife back into my uniform belt as the guard attempted to grab it. I struggled with him for a moment as the other one went to go check on the Gul.
I finally pulled out my knife again and stabbed him right in the stomach. His eyes shot open in shock and pain as he quickly scrambled up at I did it again.
He held his wound and back against the wall in pain as the other guard yanked me up and slammed me against the nearest wall. I saw lights go around my vision as my head snapped back and hit the wall with my body.
The adrenaline had started to wear off as the pain my body was under really hit me. I screamed in pain as he punched me in the face and I collapsed from his grasp and fell down to the ground.
I heard gunshots again.
I expected to meet the same fate as my mother.
A body dropped just in front of me. I looked slightly up to see a dead Cardassian just a meter away from me. His blood had quickly pooled around him and had a stream that drenched my hand in Cardassian and human blood.
My vision started to fade as my head thumped in mu skull and pain-racked through my body as I struggled to breathe.
I heard heavy and soft footsteps. Someone lifted me up into their arms. There were two people looking down at me. I could tell one was female and one was male. They were speaking to each other as everything faded to darkness.
-----
Year: 2370. January 4.
B'Elanna Torres POV
I watched as the little girl we found in the back alley at Mars, sleeping in empty crew quarters. Recovering. After a routine supplies mission, we didn't expect to find a dead woman, two dead Cardassians and a little injured girl a couple of weeks ago. Yet we did.
Chakotay concluded that the girl's mother was the dead woman in the alley. How he got to that conclusion was beyond me. Something about a feeling and how similar they look.
He suggested that we keep her with us on the ship. She had no identification on her. I don't trust her. I haven't actually even met her yet.
She, once in a while, opened her eyes. Muttered something no one could understand and fell back asleep. Today Lon Suder. that creepy Betazoid assured as she would wake up today. She had a pretty nasty concussion, I assume that is what has kept her grounded.
"Has she woken up yet?" Chakotay asked as he entered the small room.
"Obviously not. Just your head Chakotay." I snapped.
Chakotay raised an eyebrow at me as he stood beside me as we watched the girl and Suder. Suder had a small emergency medical kit we had taken from a Federation transport ship last week.
Suder ran the tricorder over her head and looked towards us with his usual stone expression.
"She is starting to wake up now."
Just then, a small moan escaped her lips. Her eyes fluttered open. It took her a moment to adjust to her surroundings as she looked at us in confusion and pushed herself up with much of a struggle. Suder quickly packed up and left the room as Chakotay and I moved forward.
"What? What is going on?" She asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and leaned against the bedframe.
"You are on the Maquis ship Liberty. I am Captain Chakotay." He introduced warmly and held out his hand towards her. She glared at him suspiciously.
"Oh, so you are Chakotay?" She muttered. Chakotay awkwardly pulled back his hand and clasped them to the back of his body. Much like a Starfleet officer would.
"I see you know who I am?"
"It wasn't that hard. Security on this ship sucks."
"What is that supposed to mean?" I snapped. She looked towards me.
"It is better you don't know. Trust me." She replied. I rolled my eyes and placed my hands on my hips.
"Why do we have any reason to trust you?"
"Because you are lucky to have any info about the Cardassians at all, thanks to me."
"I really doubt that, midget."
Chakotay's eyes widened with a gasp as he stepped closer to the girl. Causing us to stop our bickering and look towards him.
"You are Agent Dash."
She shrugged.
"I am, what I am." She replied. I was having trouble believing this. Someone inside the Obsidian Order had been sending us info about Cardassian movements for months (All where correct.) and I am supposed to believe it was some...kid!?
"There is no way that the kid is Agent Dash!" I snapped. Hopefully, bring Chakotay back to reality.
"Says B'Elanna Torres. Daughter of Miral and John Torres. Born at 2349, Kessik IV. Quite Starfleet academy and joined the Maquis as an engineer but has several different jobs across the ships as well." She snapped. Chakotay looked at each other in surprise than back at the girl.
"How did you-?"
"Know? simple. Like I said, your security measures on this ship when it comes to hacking suck. Why I choose to give my info to this ship is beyond me. Sometimes I like to think I was insane but that doesn't even cover it." She ranted.
"How would you feel about joining our crew?"
"WHAT!?" I barked. Chakotay gestured me to follow me. He held up his finger towards her to wait a minute as we entered into the battered corridor.
I opened my mouth to protest but Chaklotay stopped me.
"B'Elanna. She is the hacker. She could help us get intelligence on Starfleet also."
"She worked for the Obsidion Order! How can you just blindly trust-"
"We will keep a close eye on her. Alright? Just...Just give her a chance." My klingon temper was flaring but I did my best to push it away as I simply nodded at Chakotay. He gave me that damned beautiful grateful smile as he reentered the room.
I didn't follow after. I growled and punched the corridor wall. Leaving a dent and some bruises. I stormed off towards engineering. The crew better make sure they stay the hell away from me today.
-----
Notes: Important events is the timeline:
Time: 2358: Bini Filters is born in a Federation hospital in San Francisco.
Time: 2367: Wolf 359: Borg attack destroying 39+ Federation ships. Bini's father is killed. Bini Filters was age: Ten.
Time: 2368: Amanda Filters (Mother.) joins the Obsidian Order because of the pay. (+ Bini Filters by order.)
Time: 2369: Amanda Filters is killed. Bini joins the Maquis.
Between 2370-2371: Bini is with Maquis and in prison with Tom Paris.
Time: 2371: Voyager lanuches+Lost in Delta Quadrant. Bini Filters was age: Fourteen.
Sources: Battle of Wolf 359: Memory Alpha.
---End of Chapter 11. Next: The Phage.---
AN: Based on recent events on AO3. I thought it was time to cover my OC (at least the important details.) of her backstory.