Ludus Incipit, Part 2

Posted on Sun Dec 2, 2018 @ 7:52pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Major Victor Crowe & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers

8,165 words; about a 41 minute read

Mission: Plaga Navis
Location: Heouron IV

{Previously...}

Alec looked at Rhea, "Go! I'll stay here. Nicole may need some assistance to get back to the ship. besides more guards may be coming and I can slow them down."

The Captain nodded, “Don’t be late.” She cautioned. Then, with a jerk of her head for the rest of the strike team to follow she headed to the rendezvous point hoping to find Crowe and Nathan there ready to make their exit..

{And now, the exciting continuation...}

[Cell Block]

Nathan jerked back, dodging the baton being swung at his head, and then lunged forward to tackle his assailant with a full body hit. As he drove his attacker back into the wall, grabbing hold of the aliens feather-like tuft on the top of its head (Nathan wasn’t honestly sure if he was fighting a male or a female or..what) and began to vigorously slam the alien beings cranium into the hard surface. Out the corner of his eye, he saw his erstwhile ‘rescuer’ ..whats-his-face... gaining the upper hand in his own fairly energetic fight,

Some damn fool had opened ALL the cell blocks and as a result, rather than doing what any rational being would under such circumstances and making haste to get the hell out of the prison.. the inmates had immediately turned to inner squabbles and the desire to tear their perceived enemies to bits.

Of course.

With his opponent stunned or else knocked out, Nathan’s instinct was to get the hell out of there..but he needed What’s-his-Name since the muscled goober was the one who clearly knew how to contact Katrijn, and known HER as he did Nathan has no doubt at all she’d get them out of this prison and off Heouron without question.

Crowe was busily struggling with a large Klingon, normally not a problem for a Marine since Klingons were utilized in Klingon training regimens. But this particular specimen was proving a tad bit troublesome as he calmly deflected most of Vic's punches. Hit with a flash of inspiration, Vic pivoted on his left foot and slammed a roundhouse kick into the side of the Klingon's temple, sending him to the floor.

A reptillian creature suddenly grabbed Vic by his throat and began to squeeze. Crowe tried prying the being's clawed fingers open, but the grip was incredibly strong. Vic looked over at Torrance and shouted, "Little help?"

Heaving a sigh of long-suffering resignation Nathan picked up the broken remnants of a chair and then proceeded to use it as a weapon, slamming the chair back into the neck and shoulders of the being currently grappling with What’s-his-Name.

The tall reptilian being stopped mid-fist pounding on his current target ( aka What’s-his-Name ) and turned with an annoyed hiss toward Nathan.

Whoops.

Nathan smiled, shrugged and then swung the chair remnant again.. only to shortly find himself gagging, unable to breathe more than two quick gasps beforen his airway was cutnoff because a really big green scaly reptilian humanoid with breath that smelled like it ate a mix of rotten meat and shit was choking the hell out of him!

Crowe decided enough was enough and pulled a hidden pocket phaser from his trench coat and blasted the reptile, taking it's head off. "Motherfucker!" Crowe cursed. "Let's go, Shithead!" Crowe shouted.

Arriving at the cell block, the Captain wasn’t a bit surprised to find the space a scene of chaos. There was after all, a reason these beings were locked up. Crowe was in the midst of fighting off an odd looking little alien being with orange stripes along its skull and seemed to be handling it, though he looked as if he’d taken a bit of a thumping.

She spotted Nathan. He was getting his ass kicked by a large, scaled reptilian humanoid currently with its clawed, six digited hands locked around his throat, it’s claws digging into his skin drawing blood. Typical.

She couldn’t shoot without hitting Nathan,,and while that thought was a rather pleasant one.. she had need of his knowledge so, shooting him regrettably would have to wait. Using the combat knife she carried instead, Kennit attacked the reptilian from behind, its scales hard enough surprisingly to blow for the most part, she cut into it but not nearly as deeply as she’d expected. The massive being turned and hissed at her, baring sharp teeth and breathing out a cloud of funk so bad it was truly without description. The creature grabbed at her, clawed hands going for her neck, at the same time Kennit attacked again.. and this time it’s tough scaled hide was no match for the Borg Assimilation Tubules which glided out of her left hand with lethal speed, slicing through the creatures hide with no resistance at all to embed deeply into the creatures brain, one tubule penetrating through the skin and bone of its temple while the other sliced through its right eye and penetrated through the eye socket. Killing the creature instantly.

“BORG!”

The cry went up from over a dozen throats in several languages.. the combative prisoners forgetting about one another entirely in the urgent scramble for self-preservation..fleeing from the slender female whose pale gray continence was a stark contrast with her deep auburn hair.. the tell-tale grayish mottled color along her neck and up partially into her face combined with the manner in which she’d killed the reptilian being sending them running.

Nathan, coughing and gasping air back into his lungs had been on the verge of blacking out when he’d been released. Still shaken, his gaze was on her. “Doesn’t Starfleet feed you,,” was the first thing out of his mouth. “You look like you’ve lost 13 kilos...and you were too skinny last time I saw you.”

She looked at him, “You still talk too much. Get on your feet we have to go and I am not going to carry you.”

Turning from him, Kennit said “Crowe, are you all right?”

"Yeah!" Vic replied, irritated with the captain for not disclosing mission details. "I think we're ready for phase 3!" Putting a hand up to his ear, Vic shouted "SORT Extraction in six minutes!"


******************************

Meanwhile Alec was keeping the oncoming guards at bay while he waited for Nicole to finish her snack. He fired a few more well placed shots and was pleased to hear corresponding moans of pain as he glanced at the still closed door Nicole and the prisoner had disappeared behind. "Hope she had the good sense not to play with her food." He grumbled and waited.

Suddenly a panel dropped from the ceiling behind two guards, flattening a third. Nicole dropped down and grabbed the two men by their neck, ringing both their bells by hitting their skulls together. As they dropped, she looked around and inhaled deeply, then looked at Alec. "You stayed behind?"

Alec favored her with a look "Obviously."

"Well that was a damn stupid thing to do," she grumbled. She grabbed the guards' weapons and tossed them to him. "Forty meters behind me, then make a right," she said. "Take point."

"Try to do something nice." Alec mumbled under his breath. "Um, your welcome." He snapped back. He caught the guns easily, slinging them over his shoulder. "Wait, why am I taking point?" He questioned.

"You have the gun, you need to take point," Nicole said.

"Yeah, well that's true but you have um, your special skill set." He stopped seeing her look. He shook his head,"Never mind I'll take point." He moved to take the point, stopped and looked over his shoulder at her. "Shouldn't I be behind you? Protecting your back? You know from any guards trying to sneak up on us."

"I don't need you protecting my back from them," she snarled. "I need you up front protecting them from me."

He resisted rolling his eyes at her statement. "I personally think they deserve anything they get if they get in our way. Now isn't the time to worry about their feelings." Still he moved to take up the point.

Alec moved cautiously ahead, his eyes sweeping right and left for any obstacles. After a moment they reached the door and found it bolted. He turned to face Nicole. "Bad news. The door is bolted, we have to find another way out of here."

"Let me try something," Nicole said. She stepped back and got a few steps running start and slammed into the door. Meant to withstand a prison riot, it shook hard, and its restraints squealed, but it held. Meanwhile, Nicole got the third law of motion applied to her body and was thrown backwards a few feet to the floor. "Okay," she coughed, "let's find another way."

******************************


Arashi was covering the team that went in to extract Crowe. "Everyone ok so far." He said firing a few stun shots from his phaser rifle. "Watashitachiha ikubekida (We should get going.)" he said slipping in to japanese.

Speaking quickly with her Marine commander, the Captain easily agreed to his suggestions so far as current situational response and nodded, “I’m not interested in the other inmates. If they get in our way that will be their folly. Our only goal is to get back to the ground level and exit this facility. As soon as we reach the surface level, send the extraction signal to the Rascal, have the ship launch and retrieve us via transporter during fly over and then we can get the hell out of here.”

"Not a problem, boss." Vic tapped his earpiece. "Initiate phase 3!"

By this time Nathan had regained his breath after nearly being choked unconscious by mini-Godzilla. His neck was bruising up, with streaks of blood smeared over his skin from the reptilian’s claws. “Katrijn!” He called out, scowling in some self-motivated (mostly) concern to see again how thin and lean she’d become compared to the last time he’d laid eyes on her. She was still absolutely years had not changed her in that regard but she looked much more muscular, very lean and in his opinion too damn skinny. “You planning on telling me why you’re here... as much as I’d like to believe it’s out of emotional concern for my well-being I strongly doubt it..”

Her eyes locked on his face, full of fire, dark and completely unreadable. Not at all a good sign he knew full well. The mottling of her skin flat out scared him, to see so much of her neck and face shifted pale and gray like that ..along with the same discoloring visible on her hand and wrist told him something else, it told him the Borg part of her was active and THAT was dangerous as hell! “Now is not the time. We have limited time before the over rides on the computer systems are bypassed and the prison administration regains control. We will be out ere by then, or we won’t get out at all. Now move!” She answered, her last words targeted at the entire group.

Moving fast, they headed back toward where Cmdr Hunter and Dr. Anderson had last been seen. They met little resistance on the way, the inmates they did encounter had heard of the ‘Borg’ who had attacked in the cell block, and wasted no time clearing the area..

It wasn’t long before they reached the area where Hunter and Anderson had been last seen. Now, there was no sign of them. “Now what?” Nathan remarked.

Using her cover name, the Captain said “Sixx to Number 1 and Doc. Where are you..what’s your situation?”

As Alec and Nicole pondered a new route, They heard Rhea contacting them. Alec replied, "Seven to Sixx." He shrugged his shoulders at Nicole's making a face. "We've run into difficulty. Original route blocked. Currently looking for an alternate route."

“Shit.” Kennit snapped in response, “Understood. Stay in contact..”

Alec heard Rhea's expletive and he knew Nicole did as well. "Will do." He answered simply as the connection snapped closed. "Lets see if we can go back the way we came."

******************************

“You did have some sort of plan to get out of here right?” Nathan said, leaning over close to speak to her.

“Still talking too much...” Kennit retorted. Then, activating her comm she said, “Penny.. how much longer can you keep the computer systems offline?”

"Pardon me," Penny said politely as she lifted a man off his feet and tossed him aside like a sack of laundry. She reached past where he'd been standing and ripped an alarm off the wall, tossing it aside and pulling out her wand, scanning the computer junction behind it. "The computer's really upset," she called over her shoulder. "And the guards are trying to override us. I can scramble it and buy us maybe five more minutes but if you need more than that we're going to have to crash it beyond repair."

******************************

“You have five minutes..” The Captain said via comms to her XO and the Doctor. “We are heading for the pickup point..”

Alec and Nicole were still looking for another route when the Captain's clipped message came through informing them they had five minutes to get to the pick up point. Both knew Rhea wouldn't wait one second past five minutes. He looked at her, "Five minutes." He repeated, knowing they would never get there in time. He sighed, "Well, let's get moving. don't want to waste any more time."

Nicole rubbed her sore shoulder and followed behind. "It's a prison," she said. "It's designed to keep us in. We're not going to be able to just walk out of here."

"Thank you Doctor. You need to stop with all these negative waves." Alec said over his shoulder, "I realize it's a prison and what it is designed to do. However I would much rather be on the upper levels then down here and who says we can't just walk out?"

The door in front of them flew open and three guards came in, weapons drawn. Nicole butted Alec to the side as a projectile grazed her arm. She hissed in pain, then growled, but the hail of bullets overrode her anger for a moment and she stayed in front of Alec, shielding him from the gunfire as they ducked around a corner and took off down another corridor. "We need an elevator shaft," she said.

Alec looked at her, ignoring her statement for the moment. "Let me look at you. See how bad this is," he said as he took hold of her arm. "I appreciate the concern Doctor but I can take care of myself." He looked at her arm. It was a flesh wound and it oozed blood. "Where's your medkit?" he asked. Then continued, "You know, what we need instead of an elevator shaft are to come across some of those maintenance ladders. Make our way out using them."

Nicole shook her head. "Prison won't have multiple points of entry and egress. The elevator was the main transportation between floors because it is a confined, controllable space." She winced as he pulled her arm. Her little black bag was gripped in her other hand, but she wasn't going to have him rummage through it. "My arm please," she said. As he let her go, she gingerly tapped the back of her glove and pressed her fingers to her own neck, numbing the pain. She opened her bag and looked inside. "Cloth," she said, then reached inside and pulled out a handkerchief. She wiped the blood from her arm, revealing new lily-white skin and sighed with relief.

"All right," she said, putting the handkerchief back in her bag and snapping it shut. "If we can get to the elevator, I can get us to the first floor. Think you can shoot your way back down that corridor?"

Alec's eyes gleamed with devilish anticipation. He hefted the phaser rifle in his arms. "Ready when you are Doctor. think you can keep up?" He bantered.

"Easily," she said, dryly. Two feedings had left her stronger than usual and recently healed or not, she had energy to spare. "Go."


Alec nodded, jumped to his feet. "Do try to keep up." He jabbed and then was gone back into the corridor. It was empty the first few feet then they ran into the guards they had dealt with earlier. Luckily surprise was on their side as the guards had been caught flat footed. Alec's rifle was up and he wasted no time, a quick series of shots and the guards were down. They moved further down the corridor where they encountered another patrol. This made up of two guards who were moving toward them, firing as they came. Bullets ricochet off the walls around them, gouging chucks out of the walls. He motioned Nicole back as he fired a steady barrage at them barely giving the rifle time to recharge until they fell. "Come on!" He urged.

"You are enjoying this a bit too much," Nicole said, flattening herself against the wall. She gripped her black bag tightly, blood pounding in her ears. Once the path was clear, she kept on his heels, following him towards the elevator. "If you see more, hold back. We need one alive," she said.

Alec didn't bother answering Nicole, He simply moved forward as he was busy looking for any guards that might come springing out of the woodwork. Years of training were once again brought to the forefront. Alec didn't talk about his past. Rhea knew it but he knew she would never divulge what she knew. The Doctor may or may not know but she probably suspected especially with the contacts she had. They drew closer to the elevator, only then did he acknowledge her words. "Roger, keep one alive."

******************************

“Let’s go..past time to get out of here..” was all Rhea said to the group with her.

"Those bolts are being thrown manually," Penny said. "There's nothing to override. If they close enough of them we'll be cornered. I can possibly punch through but it'll take time."

“Well then, the simplest answer is we get the hell out of here before they can accomplish that little task..” Kennit answered. “We’re wasting time debating it..”

Her gaze swiveled to lock onto Nathan, looking him over in a hard assessment as she asked “You gonna live?”

His voice a little rough from the recent abuse to his throat, he replied “To your unending regret I have no doubt.”

“You stay close to me. I didn’t come here to deal with this just to have you wander off at first chance. And so we are clear, if you try anything I’ll break your legs, then take a risk and get the information I need from you in a far more invasive manner..”

“Don’t start ..” Nathan retorted. “If you were going to do that you’d have done it by now. I wasn’t afraid of the whole ‘Borg’ bit before and I’m not too concerned about it now.” Making a mocking bow, he added “Lead the way Your Highness..”

“I must have lost my damn mind to have come for you..” she muttered as she set out heading for the junction where she knew they’d find an access way which bypassed the elevator systems and would grant them a means of getting back up to the ground level by combing construction ladders now used primarily for access by maintenance crews.

“Oh come on..you missed me... “. He answered, delivering tweaking her even in the midst of their current situation.

Rhea ignored him, locating the sealed access. “Penny..” she said turning toward the navigator. “We need this open..”

Penny pulled a panel off and stuck her arm inside. Her eyes crossed briefly and she shook her head. She ran her wand over the control panel and sighed. "No go. Computer access is cut off. They lobotomized their own system."

Upon being told that the control function to open the hatch using conventional means had been disabled, the door motor system had been completely shut down, the Captain answered simply “Get the locks disengaged and we’ll manually force it open.”

"Aye, Captain," she said, grabbing a bundle of wires and digging into the guts of the locks. She grumbled and gave a yipe as she tried routing power and got a nasty shock, but a minute later, she'd rewired the system and the bolts pulled back. "Yippee!" she said.

When a mute but audible sound of the locks disengaging reached them in the form of a distinct ‘ka-CHUNK’, the Captain just smiled. “There’s the Penny we know and love..” while reaching to the door edge, placing both hands against the age roughened painted surface and began to push hard in a direction to slide the hatch to the left and open the access way. Even dressed as she was in jacket and top, the sense of her true strength was unmistakable as her Borg-enhanced muscles tightened with effort. The door began to grind slowly open, its gears and the guide rail rusted and dirty from decades of disuse and poor maintenance. Moving to her side unbidden, Nathan slid his fingers into the slowly opening gap and added his strength to hers with a grunt of effort. He was fit and strong, incarceration had left him little else to do but exercise and stay in top form as self-defense against other inmates..

The proximity to him annoyed the hell out of Rhea, she didn’t want him this close..adding extra strength to her own effort and in short order the two of them forced a gap wide enough to allow the strike team to make it through and into the maintenance passage. Once they were all through, the Captain closed the hatch. No sense making it obvious where they’d gone.

Brushing her hands against her pants, before she spoke Nathan leaned close and said “Just like old times..” Prompting an immediate retort, “No..it isn’t..” from the Captain. “This way, they should be a ladder at the next junction point..” she said, setting out toward their way back to the surface.

******************************


Meanwhile in another corridor, Summers was trying to retrace her steps. " Go 'that' way, he said... Be careful, he said...." Summers took a ragged breath. She hit her combadge. " Anyone on this channel? I've 'lost' Gunny, or rather he's lost me...what are my orders?" Summers swore in a language she thought she'd forgotten. " Crazy humans.." She muttered to herself.

After a moment a reply came. The Captain, sounding annoyed. Which she was, though not with Summers but instead her irritation was related to the handsome, blue eyed man they’d come here to retrieve. “Summers.. forget finding the marines.. they can handle themselves. Head for the exit point, we have acquired our target and are on the way out..”

Summers nodded to herself. " Roger on that, Captain. Heading for the 'exit point,' will be there soon. "

Ahead of her, the lights in the passageway were malfunctioning, it was dim and flickering disconcertingly. Movement indicated she wasn’t alone. One of the inmates had found her. Standing at nearly 2.3 meters tall, his towering form was hard to see in the odd light. As he stalked her, coming closer the brutal gleam of his eyes however colored a contrasting yellow and orange was easy to spot. As was the deep blood red crimson of his skin, marked with black tattoos in distinctive patterns across his cheeks, over the top of his hairless skull and down his neck. His voice, when he spoke was a thick deep rumble and whatever it was he said the universal translator was unable to decrypt. The tone of his voice however was enough convey a definite sense of danger... Summers trudged down the passageway, looking every which way she could. She rounded a corner and came almost face to face with ' what ever it is..' and stopped. Summers took a few breaths and looked at the whatchamalcallit and proceeded to talk.. She said ' Hello?' in English, then Romulan, then Vulcan. Finally, she just shrugged her shoulders and spoke. " Stay right there, tall dark and ugly..I'm outta here..." And began to back away, all the while keeping her eyes on the thingamabob..As she walked backwards, her pulse quickened, and she began to reach for the short sword attached to her inside right pant leg. She slowly pulled it out and scratched herself. Green blood spotted her right leg. Summers' eyes took on a darker color....and she began to smile.

Seeing the weak creature before him inexplicably injure herself, Malleus sneered. He’d retrieved a weapon from one of the guards normally used against him..now he planned to enjoy himself as he made his was to freedom. Retrieving a slender tube from where it had been secured tonhis belt, he thumbed the activation port on the device and instantly with a low hum of power the ends extended out to create a staff weapon 2.4 meters in length. Plasma energy raced across both end points in a deep purple tinged display of energy. Capable of causing extreme pain, stunning a victim into temporary paralysis... even death..

If this little creature wanted to feel pain... he would oblige her.

A stroke of his thumb on the control setting the staff for the administration of pain, Malleus struck! The staff slashed through the air with enough speed to create a hiss of sound followed by a sharp snap and sizzle it struck, purple plasma energy dancing along his new playthings form making her muscles spasm .. he struck again...and again..and again...

Summers felt pain coursing through her body; her mind reeling...she raced forward feeling her body slowing with each pace. She reached the creature that was torturing her and slammed her long knife deep into it's chest, withdrew it quickly and proceeded to slash down onto it's hand which was wrapped around a control(?) or whatever, slashing deeply until it and the creatures hand dropped on the floor. She then restarted slashing into the creature's chest. " Die..die..die! " She shouted, her eyes blazing with a fury unknown to her for a long time. The creature struck Summers in her chest, slamming her back and into the wall behind her. If he felt pain, he gave no sign as he stared at her for a moment. Then, clearly deciding this small female was unworthy.. the towering alien being simply turned and left her there ... walking away without a backward glance.

Summers shook her head to clear it. Then she hit her Com badge. " Summers to Captain, just vanquished some weird creature, now heading to exit point. " Summers shook her head again, then looked down at the vanquished foe. She put her sword back in its leg holder, and then proceeded to the ' exit point ' to meet with the humans...the crew.. It took a bit, but she soon spotted the Captain and others... " Summers reporting, Captain... "

******************************


Meanwhile, the Captain’s group had reached the last level before they’d reach the ground level and the way out. Moving to stand just behind her, Nathan said “The facility is made with a mineral content that prevents transport. How do you plan to get out of here, across the courtyard and to this ship you have waiting..”

“We aren’t,” she answered. “My pilot is going to set down in the courtyard and pick us up.”

“What did you fly here in.. a life pod?” He retorted. “Have you seen the courtyard space out there?”

“Do you ever shut up..” Kennit fired back. “Penny!” She barked out. When Penny looked her way, Kennit tossed a device roughly the size of a book to her and said, “When the indicator LED at the top flashes green, the connection is secure. Fire up Rascal's propulsion and get the ship here via that remote, the space port is too far for us to make it on the ground. It will be a tight fit but the ship can set down where we need it...do not scratch the paint..”

"Heard!" Penny said. She pulled her wand back out and scanned the box quickly. She looked at the readouts, scanned again, then flipped a few switches and held up her wand, ready for the light to flash.

Hearing Summers voice as she arrived, the Captain took in her battered appearance and said, “what happened to the marines you were with..”

Summers looked at the Captain before replying. " They thought it better if we split up, they went one way and I another, I ran into some whatever it is and had a fight. He knocked the heck outta me even after I gave him/it/whatever a few licks." Summers brought her right arm up to her chest. " But, I survived. "

The Captain immediately looked at the Major. "Mr. Crowe, your people need to be at the rendezvous point on time.. we can't wait.."

Crowe gave a curt nod in response, turning away slightly to contact the errant marine troops and advise them to get a move on.. time was short. "Make damn sure you watch your biometric monitors!" Crowe snapped.

The small group pressed on, soon reaching the ground level where only a small group of prison staff posed no difficulty in getting past them and out of the facility. Once outside, the Captain looked at Penny and said, "Now would be a good time .. get the ship here fast.. "

"On it," Penny said, holding out her wand. The lights flashed and the box lit up. She waved her wand like she was beckoning the ship over and nodded at the Captain. "On its way," she said.

It shouldn't take more than a few minutes for the ship to reach their location, the Rascal was a swift vessel in space and within atmosphere. Once it was on location they'd be aboard and gone.. With her XO and Chief Medical Officer both missing as well, the Captain tapped her comm badge and said "Number One. You and the doctor have less than 6 minutes to reach the rendezvous point.. we aren't going to be able to wait.."

Crowe took his cue from the captain. "Penny, let our fake SORT Team access the lift. Team Lead, once your in position get in here and stun anyone not wearing a transponder," Vic took an air pistol from his coat and shot Nathan in his neck, embedding a transponder under the skin in a less-than-friendly fashion. "Confirm all signals, including the new one!"

"Penny flicked her wand like she was conducting an orchestra. "Lift operational again," she said. "And someone's entering."

"Good deal! Crowe to all hands and shitheads, better hunt a hole. Our escort will be here soon! Captain, I would strongly advise securing your smoochy-poo." Crowe wiped fresh blood from his face and glared at Nathan.

For a split instant, Kennit seriously considered breaking Crowe’s already somewhat battered nose in response to his remark. She refrained, barely. As it was, she turned to him with her expression ice cold and her voice a soft, lethal warning. “Remember who is in command here.. and mind your tongue Mr. Crowe..”

Vic couldn't believe his ears. He was about to snarl a reply when he saw the team get ready to move. "Crowe to Marines, new plan. Execute ROE Golf-Foxtrot-Yankee-one-three-niner. Secure the Rasacal for departure!" He gave the captain a final look of disgust, then moved punching, shooting, and cussing like a wild man.


******************************

OPERATIONS AREA

One of the the duty officers looked with interest at the screen in front of him, which showed guards on regular patrol routes. The biometric sensors next to the monitor were spiking and blaring silent alarms, but he paid no attention to them. After a moment, he reached over to the control panel and pulled the gel-pack processors to the prison's biometric scanners, hoping that his assistance would reassure the young lady trying to circumvent the systems that she had assistance. He quickly put the gel-pack in his pocket, hoping no one saw him.

"Mr. Holbridge, I need you to visually inspect the fourth level of the detention facility," the senior watch commander called. "Biometrics in that area are offline."

"I'm on it, boss!" Jim smiled as he left the control room. Once he was in the passage, he quickly took the purloined gel-pack and dumped it into a recycle bin, then walked quickly towards the runabout landing pad. I don't know what the hell is going on, but those people are gonna need help. he thought to himself as he made his way towards his ship, the USS Washita, the latest next-gen Arrow-class combat runabout, or "gunabout". It was time to blow this dump anyway.

***********************************

Alec looked at Nicole as the Captain gave them the bad news. They had less than six minutes to get to the surface. "Don't wait for us Captain." Alec replied stiffly. He hated the idea of Rhea being with her husband? Her ex? However he wasn't going to endanger the mission. He and Nicole would find a way back to the Victory.

"Quiet," Nicole said, her ears pricked up. The lift was on its way up. She grabbed the doors and grunted as she forced them open. An empty shaft greeted them, but they could hear the car rising up to their level. "Hang on," she said, jumping into the elevator shaft. The sound of metal clanging reverberated up the shaft as she pulled the emergency hatch and dropped into the car as the lift passed by. There was a bit more pounding, then after a moment the car came back down to their level. The door opened and Nicole was leaning against the wall. The guard was standing next to her, his eyes glazed over and his face blank.

"This kind gentleman is going to escort us out," she said.

"Hang on, she says and then disappears." He grumbled even as the Nicole jumped into the elevator shaft and pounding could be heard. Then suddenly thr car was back and the door opened and lo and behold Nicole was leaning against a wall and guard was standing there with a blank look. Alec looked and the guard and then Nicole,shrugged his shoulders and got into the car. He wasn't about to question Nicole's methods as long as they got the two of them out of here. After a moment of silence he looked at her, "I'm glad he's so agreeable not to mention helpful."

Nicole's eyes blazed red as she looked at Alec. "I'm glad he was male," she said.

As Alec stepped into the car, the doors closed and Nicole looked at the guard. "Take us to a way out of this building."

The guard took a key off his belt and put it into a slot by one of the lower buttons and pressed it, standing in front of the wall as the lift dropped down.

Nicole took a deep breath and rubbed her shoulder. The new skin was itching still. "Think they'll wait for us?" she said.

Alec didn't answer her right away, he was thinking on what this mission meant and weighing in balance what he and Nicole meant. "No." He finally answered "I don't think the Captain will wait. Torrance means too much. She won't sacrifice the information he has and what it means to the security of the Federation by waiting for us. But hey, we'll get back to the Victory don't you worry." He said reassuring her or maybe even himself.

The elevator reached the bottom floor and the door opened again on a dark basement. The guard walked out and wordlessly marched to a set of ground vehicles. He stopped in front of one and stayed blank, waiting for his next instruction.

Alec was out, giving a quick look around the area, then satisfied they were alone he slung his rifle over his shoulder as he approached one of the vehicles. He looked at Nicole, "These just might make a difference in us getting out of here." He gave a glance at the guard, "Anything you need to tell your friend?"

Nicole spun the guard to face him and looked him in the eye. "Forget this and sleep," she said. He yawned and his eyes closed and he laid down on the ground, curling up. "Let's go," she said. "Do you know how to operate one of these things?"

Those were the words Alec wanted to hear as he was already sliding behind the steering wheel of the vehicle, "Doctor, I'm the Executive Officer of a starship, I can operate this." He replied even as he looked over the instrument panel. Staring for a few seconds until he saw a key hanging out of the steering column. Turning it he was rewarded by a low thrum coming from under the hood. Turning to look at Nicole he flashed a bright smile, "See?"

"I'm overwhelmed with confidence," she drawled, grabbing what looked like a hold bar and clinging for dear life. "At least with a lack of proper restraints I won't have long to dwell on it if something goes wrong."

Alec shook his head, "Really Doctor, your lack of confidence is most distressing." He quipped as he looked at the instrument panel and after a few seconds found what he hoped was the gear selector. He was rewarded with a jerk as the vehicle lurched forward. "Ah, there we go," He said as he looked for a way out. Spotting a tunnel he drove towards it. "Here we go Doctor! Hang on!" As he pressed on the accelerator and they entered the tunnel. Headlights coming on automatically Alec floored the accelerator and they bounced down the tunnel at breath taking, bone jarring speed, both knew they were racing the clock to get to the rendezvous point and not be left behind. If they missed being picked up it wasn't because they didn't try.

******************************

Penny's wand flashed and she put her fingers to her lips, giving a shrill whistle. "All aboard!" she shouted as the Rascal came over the wall and began to land.

“Don’t scuff the paint.” Kennit warned as she watched the Rascal glide into position and begin to drop down to land. The access hatch opened as the ship neared the ground and touched down, and Kennit wasted no time urging those with her to board. “Let’s go people... move it!”

Penny raced ahead, jumping into the pilot's seat and taking over the controls manually. "Ready to launch," she said.

She reached a hand to Nathan, fingers firm on his arm to ensure the man did not attempt to break away. He had no intention of trying to leave..not yet.. that ship was his ticket out of here. Leaving Starfleet's care would come soon enough, once he was well away from this system!

Behind them, two guards of a side door and shouted at them to stop. Kennit pulled Nathan hard in front of her just in time.. the guards opened fire and if not for her body providing cover he’d have been shot by their energy weapons! As it was, she felt the hits tingle through her nerves, the Borg shield system forever melded into her body absorbing the energy blasts. She shoved Nathan aboard the ship, but didn’t follow. Instead, she turned... the Borg part of her fully in control and in offensive mode, she had one thought in her mind..

And wasted no time fulfilling the overwhelming command surging through her consciousness..

Then guards where charging toward the ship, still shouting though they were so close to the Rascal’s atmospheric drive that all sound other than the powerful rumbling sound was lost. She let them come, striking swiftly and in an instant she’d assimilated both men, their minds instantly overwhelmed and taken, torn apart and assessed for knowledge, information sorted, cataloged and stored into her neural node even while she was caught by a sensation of nearly pure pleasure... as well as the sense of being whole once more...

But...

“What the hell are you doing Katrijn!?” It was Nathan, his shouted voice reaching her though her comm badge, barely audible over the roar of the ship’s engines...

What indeed.. her eyes locked on the drones connected to her. Hate stuck then and she hissed, “Unworthy...”

Both drones jerked, blood began to run from their ears and nose...the nanites in their blood had swarmed to the brain and then self-destructed, liquefying the brain and terminating the drones instantly.

She didn’t head to the ship however, every part of her was in combat mode..

It was Nathan who got her moving, shouting at her in a language which the universal translator could not identify. It got a reaction from her however, she responded in a clearly outraged voice in the same language. He retorted, which got her moving to the ship and aboard.

Penny's internal timer was going off nonstop warning her of the time. They couldn't wait any longer. She fired the engines and they rose up swiftly, passing over the wall and spiraling up to orbit hard and fast.

Once everyone was aboard, Penny was able to lift off and head for orbit, meanwhile the Captain and Nathan were embroiled in a fierce argument still in that alien language which the universal translator could not identify, so exactly what they were arguing about was a mystery.

"Language!" Penny said, dipping the ship hard, gaining altitude quickly.

Forced to brace herself with one arm looped through a bulkhead support, the Captain snarled out clearly “You’re here to fly the ship Lieutenant.. focus on that!” and then resumed her tirade with Nathan, shifting back into the untranslatable language easily and smoothly, the language it self was elegant in tone and form ... or.. would have been if they weren’t arguing fiercely with one another..


Just as the Rascal rose and passed over the wall the vehicle containing Alec and Nicole roared out of the tunnel in time to see the ship bank, gain altitude and rocket out of sight. Even though Alec had told Nicole that Rhea wouldn't wait for them, even though he agreed and understood the decision it hurt to be proven right. He felt as if he had been stabbed. A strangled cry of "NO!" tore from his throat and then he was quiet as he focused on the here and now and the number one priority of getting out of here and back to the Victory.

"For what it's worth, I'm going to kick Penny's ass for leaving us, too!" Nicole shouted over the roar of the engine. The vehicle was still traveling too fast for her comfort and she held on tight. "We need to secure alternate transportation! Any thoughts?"

Alec gave a last look at the empty sky before turning to Nicole even as the prison brought it's defensiove systems to bear on them. "Spaceport. Find a puddle jumper to get back to the Victory." He shouted over the roar of the engine as he wheeled the vehicle around and raced away from the prison and any sensor scan as he dodged between blasts finally taking shelter beneath a rock overhang that also contained the same material as the prison and would prevent transport back to the Rascal.

(Tag Nicole)


—-

Aboard the Rascal, once they had successfully cleared the immediate hazards of being fired on by the prisons defensive systems the Captain paused in her heated discussion with their guest and, after menacingly making Nathan sit down she turned to the cockpit. “Lieutenant, scan the prison with sensors..see if you can get a lock on the XO and Doctor and beam them aboard...”

"Already scanning," Penny said, her hands running over the controls at light-speed. "No sensor readings available. They must have hid somewhere shielded, because I'm not reading any human lifeforms or otherwise. No hit on their combadges either. Oh, we've got company." She dipped hard as they were fired at and swung around, pulling up higher, rapidly.

With no other option available, and a number of ships from the Heouronian Military force now rising in pursuit there was no other option. They could not fight and defeat the ships coming at them.. "They're on their own then.." Kennit said, her voice flat. "Get us out of here."

Penny hesitated an eternity as she considered their options, including incapacitating the Captain and taking over herself. After two seconds she realized that even their best options only had a twelve-point-three-two percent chance of succeeding. "Aye, Captain," she said. She fired the engines full on and took them into the upper atmosphere and away from the planet.

****************************************

HANGAR DECK

Vic watched as the Rascal roared into the air. It was one thing to improvise under fire but to try and pull rank in combat, and address him like a three-year-old was simply out of the question. He would find his own way back to the Victory where he would put in for immediate transfer. In the meantime, he had to get his squad home.

=/\=Operations to Prisoner 4049,=/\=

Vic's angry face broke into a tired grin. "I know that voice! Where the hell are you?"

=/\=Runabout Pad 7. I have a ride for you and your guys if your're interested!=/\=

"Ten-four, chief! Crowe out. Squad, head for Runabout Pad 7! Sniper cover!" Vic took a fallen rifle and began blasting away at the enemies blocking his way. He rose to his feet and began backing towards the concourse, Woodard and the squad hot on his heels. Vic quickly got his bearings and made his pay towards Pad 7. He suddenly felt the familiar tingle of the transporter and found himself in the co-pilot's chair of his friend's gunabout.

The smiling face of Jim Holbridge greeted him. "Long time no see!"

Vic nodded. "Let's get the fuck outta here!"

"One minute. We should let those goons get past us first!" Jim pointed out the viewport of the gunabout Several squads of soldiers were busily moving along the landing pad's concourse. Every so often a quartet would peel off and check a ship, then return to the formation. Jim watched as four troopers started towards the Washita only to stop and rejoin their formation and double time it back to the detention center entrance.

Jim grinned and began the startup sequence. "You're girl, Penny, is good, but I put a couple surprises in the system that will keep the boys here hopping for a couple hours. Holbridge to Kennit, the way is clear. I advise best speed back to your ship. Your Marines will rejoin you in a day or two."

After a moment, the answer came in a cold, emotionless voice “I don’t recognize your name, identify yourself.”

Jim looked at Vic and grinned. "I took the liberty of deactivating your transponder and cloning it aboard my ship. I will lose these bozos and rendezvous with you near the Arcturus Cluster n thirty-six hours."

“Identify yourself.” Was the only response, while aboard Rascal the Captain was already bringing the vessels weapons online.

Jim smiled. "Why ma'am, I'm Jim Holbridge, Starfleet Intelligence! Have a nice day, captain! Holbridge out!" Jim turned to Vic. "Let's get those idiots on your captain's tail to chase us! "Computer, begin program Holbridge Three-Zulu-Four!"

The Washita's computer beeped and began broadcasting the Rascal's purloined transponder code as it rose into the air. "Holbridge to all hands, find a seat, it's gonna get crazy!"

Summers looked around the group, silently wondering if she'd ever be fully trusted by all again. She sighed, a bit too loud it sounded, and eyed the others to see if they had heard. She then looked at a crumbled message she had received before the mission, and read it again. ' Sweetheart....hoping to see you again very soon, making trip plans now.....it's been a *long* time! Love, Mom & Dad..'
Summers re crumbled the paper and stuffed it back into a pocket, looking again to see if anyone noticed.

———

Aboard the Rascal, Kennit said “Set course for the Victory..there’s nothing we can do here. If we go back we won’t get clear... we’ll find another way to retrieve them..”


TBC in Part 3

 

RSS Feed