From: Jamie LeBlanc (plainsimplegarak_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jan 29 2008 - 17:35:10 PST
"A Long Walk Through the Pain" (Continued from "Two by
Two")
~*~*~*~*~*~
Location: NOCTURIA
Stardate: 2.80129.2030
Scene: Citadel Control Chamber
~*~*~*~*~*~
Zipa Pleo watched as Rharn Alcedo and her
stinking offworld friends disappeared into the gloomy
of the tunnels just outside the citadel. Slowly the
elder Nocturian clenched hiser fist, until finally
he/she slammed it into the control panel for the
viewscreen. The picture sizzled and died behind himer
as he/she turned to face hiser captives.
T’Nennet coughed lightly and raised his head to
face his elder. “Feeling a little vulnerable, Zipa?”
he asked quietly.
The dark skinned Nocturian narrowed hiser eyes
and barked an order for Thal to come over. Turning
he/she fixed the younger man with an even stare.
“Your friends may think they’re smart, but I assure
you they won’t get what they want.”
“You always did underestimate the Alcedo.”
T’nnent murmured, shaking his head.
Zipa crossed the room like a flash, taking the
lighter skinned Pleo by the throat. Nearby, Aerdan
Jos struggled sliently against the guards who held him
back. Staring down into T’nnent’s face, Zipa’s voice
was like glass being shattering across gravel. “I
would give my life to save our species. To preserve
who we are. Fortunately I don’t have to.” He let go,
flexing his fingers as T’nnent’s body was wracked by a
rattling cough. Spinning he/she caught Thal’s face as
the younger alien walked in. “Thal, take T’nnent into
the dungeon… and kill him.”
A slow smile of sadistic pleasure crept over
Thal’s face. He/she turned towards the guards and
then back to Zipa. “What about the offworlder?”
“I am going to keep him for awhile. He should
make a good distraction to give you the time you
need.” The elder Pleo gave a fanged grin back.
Thal nodded, pleased at the responsibility he/she
had been given and gestured for the guards to move
forward. They pulled – nearly dragged – T’nnent
through the room and back towards the dungeon. It
left Zipa standing there with his remaining guards
holding Aerdan back. The Andorian stayed stubbornly
silent.
Zipa Pleo turned, indulging in a smile. “So,
it’s just you and me, offworlder.”
~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Underground Control Chamber.
Kiros had his tricorder in his hand by the time
Peter stopped next to him and mere moments later he
looked at the Commander and grinned, “I’m in.”
Peter leaned over, watching the vast array of
readouts scroll down the screen and gave a soft sigh
of relief. “Good. First things first… can you find
the security grid?”
Kiros bit his bottom lip as he worked, punching
in commands as fast as he dared go with the alien
technology. “I think so. I can tell you that all
their major systems route through this relay for their
power source. Some of them have backups, but I don’t
think their security system does.”
Peter allowed himself the first smile he had
indulged in since being separated from the Captain.
“Excellent.” The Brit stood up and looked about the
room. “Can you shut off the power to all security
systems.”
Kiros searched a bit further before replying. “I
can enter in the command, but I think it will also
require a manual override to completely shut off such
a large system. They have several fail safes built in
to the program.”
“I think I can guess where the manual override
is.” The XO mused, walking over to a large shielded
panel. “How about you drop the shields and I break
in… then you enter the commands and I shut off the
override.”
Kiros grinned a little; working through the
security files until he could pinpoint the room they
were in. The battery cells flared as the shield
whined and slowly flickered out. “Sounds like a
plan.”
~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Underground Citadel hallways
"On the plus side." Phia began slightly
disconcerted at being the one looking for a positive.
"We're moving incredibly quickly…" The words still
hung in the air, despite the silence that had followed
them.
It had been fifteen minutes since anyone had
spoken, and Phia was starting to feel oddly
disconcerted about this whole affair. Ahead of them
Izzy was working mechanically, getting her color
changing down to a system. The architecture had
changed, getting noticeably more regular and
aesthetic. Even though they were still traveling
through organic tunnels, there was the distinct
impression of architecture to them. They were now
hallways, with doorways instead of random forks, rooms
instead of caverns. As they came to a large room
dimly lit with fungal lamps, Rharn held up heris hand.
She/he waited until Izshlana and Phia turned their
eyes to herim and spoke in a whisper.
“We are within the boundaries of the Pleo
citadel. We must be very close.”
The counselor tensed, her innate paranoia of such
situations kicking in. “Close means we’re probably
being watched.” She muttered back.
All three officers tensed, and suddenly a static
crackle went through the air. “What the hell was
that?” Phia muttered, checking the room for people
they might have missed. Izshlana tensed, peering down
the back hallway.
“I think it is a fluctuation in their power
grid.” Rharn murmured, watching as the display panels
in the room flickered and sputtered before flaring
back to life. Well, most of then anyways.
“A fluctuation that turns off security sensors?”
the tiny Alterain asked, suspiciously.
“Well, either they are inviting us in for a
rumble, or our intrepid engineers have finally proved
themselves useful.” The counselor assessed, folding
her hands in front of her chest.
Izzie didn’t say anything, she merely narrowed
her eyes and let her skin drop to a dark dull grey,
blending in with the dank shadows around them. As she
crept forward, through the room, Bast followed her,
ears twittering.
The assistant security chief peered out of the
door in the back wall, and almost immediately pulled
herself back in, flattening against the wall. The
movement caused both Phia and Rharn to duck down
behind one of the tables in the room. Even without
the keen Nocturian hearing, footsteps could be heard
coming down a stairwell. Rharn frowned deeply, her
ears bringing her the minute details of one set of
feet being dragged, and the ragged breathing that
accompanied them. At the Captain’s feet Fest suddenly
started shaking, skittering forward before running
back. There was a nervous silence hanging in the air
uintil the footsteps died down an adjoining stairwell.
Phia stood first, casting a gaze over at her
friend. “What was that?” her words were clipped.
The little Alterian frowned. “A few big dark
Nocturians were dragging a smaller, light green youth
down the stairs.”
Rharn’s heart leapt into her throat, a feeling
that was only confirmed by Fest’s mad dash for the
doorway and the creature’s worried chittering.
“T’nnent…”
Izzie blinked, the concern etched on her
Captain’s face was plain to see. “So… are we going up
or down?”
Rharn paused, feeling heris senior officers’ eyes
upon her. Bast ran out of the room, coming back to
Rharn so fast that the little rodent nearly crawled up
heris chest. She/he winced when she heard the report.
“What is it, captain?” Phia asked dryly,
expecting the worst.
Rharn shook heris head a bit. “Bast can track
Aerdan to the upstairs citadel. I think you should
both go find him… but I cannot leave T’nnent.”
Izshlana Vort’s eyes, one of the few landmarks on
her body that stood out in the gloom, narrowed
slightly. “They could be trying to split us up,
Captain.”
Rharn shook her head firmly. “Get doctor Aerdan.
Bast can find me, so follow Bast when you’re done.”
There was the implied tone of ‘don’t make me order
you…’ hidden in heris voice.
Phia broke away, walking quietly across the room.
“Come on, Izzie. The faster we get this done, the
faster we regroup.”
The Alterian didn’t speak; she merely slipped
away into the darkness.
~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Pleo Control room
Zipa Pleo fully intended to take hiser time, but
hiser anger was getting the best of himer. “Thal
tells me you are not as stoic as you pretend,
offworlder. Why don’t you ask for mercy?” Hiser
taunting tone was met by a stony stare, and he/she
decided that he/she liked the aggravating blue
creature better with a fat lip, so he/she punched him
for the third time. Blood pleased Zipa, not as much
as compliance, but at least it meant he/she was
winning, so he/she allowed himself a chuckle. “You
will speak sooner or later.”
Aerdan glared at him.
Zipa’s guards were used to this. They did their
duty of holding down who or whatever displeased their
elder. Some day they hoped they would be able to be
in his position of control. Today was not that day.
“For Pony, you little bastards.” Was the first
(and incidentally last) thing they both heard before
their consciousness was consumed by a phased energy
overload. Twin arcs of blue phaser fire sliced
through the open room, catching both Nocturians in the
back. The CMO blinked, rather surprised at his sudden
freedom, even more surprised that Zipa first reaction
was to lunge at him. He pinned his antennae flat
against his head, far too lightheaded to make a proper
dodge and found himself whirled around, captive as
Phia stood up, brandishing her phaser like a six
shooter. Zipa Pleo never even saw the tiny dark form
slinking around behind him.
“Don’t move, or your stinking offworld doctor
dies.” Zipa growled, pulling a large knife from hiser
belt.
The counselor shrugged and put her phaser back in
its holster. “Can’t argue with you there, he does
smell pretty bad.”
Aerdan brows furrowed in irritation, but Zipa’s
mouth dropped open slightly. “Are you going to fight
for him?”
The Bolian hybrid pondered that a moment. When
she replied, her voice was soft and slightly sweet.
“But you just told me not to move.”
The elder Nocturian had obviously not counted on
compliance from this odd offworld female; and Aerdan,
for his part, just shut up and stayed still. “Then
drop your weapon.” Zipa commanded.
Phia furrowed her brows, with a faintly innocent
look. “These weapons are pretty dangerous when
dropped. Design flaw – prone to overload.”
The dark green Nocturian grit hiser teeth in
anger and gesticulated wildly with his knife hand,
shaking the CMO like a ragdoll. “Stop stalling,
alien! Drop the wea-” he never completed his thought.
Moving out from the shadows that clung to the
wall, like a chameleon rising from the underbrush,
Izzie grabbed hiser arm and wrenched it backwards so
hard even Phia could hear the pop as the shoulder
rolled out of its socket. Zipa winced and went down
backwards, rolling on the ground. Izshlana had just
enough to leap backwards before Phia redrew her phaser
and caught the elder Pleo square in the chest.
“Alright, so your plan worked, are you happy?” the
counselor asked, reholstering her phaser.
“No.” the Assistant Security chief frowned,
walking up towards the CMO. “Are you alright?”
Aerdan Jos had caught hold of an edge of a table,
and was steadying himself on his feet by leaning most
of his weight into the furniture. Very slowly his
vision was clearing to a point where he though he
could walk. “I’m alive…” he muttered.
Phia walked up, her dark brows furrowed together
as she took in the spotty tufts of remaining white
hair, the fat lip, the dirt, the bruises and the
general unkept nature of the normally cleanly man.
“You look terrible,” she summarized evenly.
As his dizziness passed he looked up, curling
both antennae in dismay. “Thanks. So do you.” He
continued to lean on the table, his brow creased,
trying to remember something important.
Iszhlana went back over to the unconscious elder,
frowning down at himer. “Who is this?” she asked in a
dry tone.
“Zipa Pleo. As far as I can tell he/she’s behind
all this, or at least most of it.” The Andorian
replied, shaking his head a little.
“So we shouldn’t let himer get away then.” She
decided firmly, pulling out her own phaser and
training it at himer.
Regaining both feet and some modicum of clear
thought Dr. Jos blinked a bit. “Where is the
Captain?” he asked, wiping a small smear of blood off
the bottom of his cracked lip.
“She/he went off following Fest, she said she had
to find someone… T’nnent I think?” Izzie replied,
crouching to see if anyone else was coming down the
hallway.
Aerdan’s blue eyes went wide. “T’nnent…” his
thought trailed off into a rather ugly Andorian curse
and he turned towards Phia. “Do you have my medkit?”
She didn’t reply, but merely pushed the small case
into his hands. “And a phaser?”
She leveled a cool look at the CMO. “You’re not
getting my weapon, doctor. I assure you I have better
aim.”
“Fine, then you follow me.” He gathered up his
medkit and started off for the stairwell.
“Excuse me, but we can’t just leave this elder
guy here unguarded.” Ensign Vort reminded in a solid
tone.
The frustrated silence that followed was cut by a
sharp squeal by Bast. Phia blinked a little,
following the noise and poked her head around a
service panel. She she looked back, she grinned
wickedly. “Alright, we could follow the rodent’s
suggestion ad lock him in a closet.”
“Will that work?” Iszhlana asked.
“Do you have another idea?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Underground Control Chamber.
Time Index: Less than ten minutes after the last
Peter/Kiros scene.
It looked like engineering equivalent of a
mischievous cat unwinding an entire roll of toilet
paper across the house had been unleashed into the
control room. Wires hung everywhere, and control
panels were going haywire. Despite Peter Aspinall’s
worry for his commanding officer, there was a place
deep down where he admitted that this sort of sabotage
was actually… fun.
“There, the malfunctions in the system should
take them at least a day to sort out.” Kiros
assessed, punching in his last few keystrokes.
“Allrioght, we should get out of here. I’m sure,
even despite the roadblocks we set up, we have a group
of angry Nocturians out for our blood. Did you locate
the Captain’s biosigns?”
“I could not isolate Captain Rharn from the other
Nocturians… but I did find Alterian, Andorian and
Bolian biosigns.” The Cadet replied, double-checking
the citadel layout.
“I’ll take that. Come on.” Peter waved Karn on,
as the two engineers slunk out the back doorway and
into the citadel proper.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Dungeon
Thal ignored the chaos above himer. Even if
hiser ears registered something out of the ordinary,
he/she wouldn’t let anything ruin hiser enjoyment of
the moment. In fact, he/she was planning on savoring
every last second that he/she got to watch the life
drain from the eyes of the abomination that called
himself T’nnent.
As the guards came to a stop they hauled the pale
green man up to something resembling a standing
position, and Thal selected the longest knife on hiser
belt. He/she ran it against hiser palm just enough to
draw a tiny bead of blood. Perfectly sharp. He/she
was pleased. “Are you ready to die, T’nnent.”
The young Nocturian sucked in a breath, hearing
blood rattle in his lungs. “You are destroying your
own future, you know that.”
The knife raised, poised in midair, hanging and
ready to strike. “You will never be my future.” Thal
spat back. “You are a blight to our race.”
“And your future is increasingly dim.” The voice
that spoke it was calm and clear, without the rattling
cough. Thal blinked, turning his head around just
quickly enough to catch a foot in the chest. Rharn
had dropped to all fours, leaping at the young Pleo
from a cat-like stance. The impact sent the knife
clattering to the floor and skidding over by the door.
The two Nocturian’s rolled, and during it all
Rharn had the presence of mind to enact her plan. She
dug into Thal’s belt, pulling out hiser sonic weapon.
When they came to a halt she raised her head, firing a
few quick bursts at the guards until they collapsed.
T’nnent sank to his knees beside them, groping for a
soft landing.
For her efforts, the CO of the STONEHENGE earned
a punch in the face. Thal glared at her with hatred
in hiser eyes. “So, the other half arrives to save
the day?”
Captain Alcedo gave Thal back an equally piercing
stare. “I won’t let you hurt T’nnent.”
“Fine.” The young Pleo crowed. Pushing off from
the back wall he/she sent the two figures rolling
again, and when they broke, Rharn found herself pinned
to the floor, Thal’s thick hands wrapped around her
neck. “I will enjoy draining the life from your body.
It is a rare pleasure to be able to kill both of
you…” hiser voice had a soft hissing tone to it.
Rharn’s words were strangled, spoken through
gritted teeth. “You’re a fool, Thal Pleo.”
Thal grated hiser teeth together, swallowing
hiser fury. He/she picked Rharn up by the neck and
tried to smash her head back down into the rocky
floor. “Shut up, abomination!” Thal’s eyes clouded
over in irrational hatred, trying to pound Rharn’s
head into the stone with each shout. “Shut up! Shut
up! Shut up!”
A stream of blue light caught Thal in the back.
Phia regretted having set her phaser on only light
stun just in case he shifted and she accidentally hit
her Captain. She stopped forward into the room,
muttering, “Yeah, I didn’t even have to diagnose you.
You’re completely crazy.”
Izzie ran in next, heading immediately for her
CO. “Are you alright, Captain?”
Rharn rubbed the sides of her neck and blinked.
She felt dizzy and brusied, but overall in one piece.
Bast gave a worried squeak and rushed to its master’s
side. “I’m fine. Check on T’nnent.”
Dr. Jos had slipped in last, casting a critical
glance around the all too familiar dungeon before his
gaze fell on T’nnent. Even before Rharn spoke he was
heading towards the center of the room, where the
guards and T’nnent lay. “Stay with the Captain.” He
murmured towards Izzie.
The little Alterian brought Rharn to a sitting
position, and watched in concern until Rharn’s vision
cleared. The CO took in a long breath and shook her
head lightly. “I’m ok, just a little shaken… is
everyone else alright?”
“We haven’t seen Peter or Kiros yet, but were’ as
alright as we can be at the moment.” Phia replied, her
hands on her hips.
Rharn’s eyes were drawn to where T’nnent lay,
breathing shallow breaths. “Will he make it, Doctor
Aerdan?”
“If we can get him to sickbay he’ll make a full
recovery, but the longer he stays down here the more
damage his broken ribs will do.” The Andorian replied,
his face set in a stony expression.
“Who did this to him?” the Nocturian Captain
asked in a tone halfway between worry and fury,
drawing herself to her feet.
Aerdan’s voice was dry and grating. “Thal.”
The young Pleo stirred, trying to drag himerself
to hiser keens. Iszhlana turned, kicking himer once,
solidly in the gut. “I didn’t give you permission to
get up” she muttered angrily towards himer.
Thal spat a little blood onto the dungeon floor
and stared up at Izshlana. “Every ounce of pain you
offworlders have suffered isn’t enough. You owe us
for your meddling. I should watch as the life drains
from your eyes, and lap up your blood for my victory.”
He punctuated it with a shirt, barking laugh.
Something seemed to snap in the Assistance Chief
of Security, and she flew at Thal’s throat, as if she
would tear it out with her bare hands.
Rharn cried out, but it was Phia who physically
caught her friend by the chest, dragging her backwards
before she could kill the Nocturian. “What do you
think you’re doing?” the Bolian hissed.
“He’s one of them! He’s one who killed Llandwyn…
he’s part of it all!” Her voice was thin and taught,
like a string stretched too tightly and beginning to
fray.
“This isn’t our planet, we don’t get to choose if
he lives or dies.” The counselor argued back harshly.
“It may not be fair, but you can’t fall to his level.”
Very slowly the Alterian took in a breath. She
held it for almost half a minute, tears welling in her
eyes, held back by her own force of will. Across the
room Aerdan pulled himself to his feet, confused. He
turned towards both women and whispered one word.
“Llandwyn?”
Izzie turned her large dark eyes towards the
doctor as a single tear escaped her floodgates and
rolled down her cheek.
“He deserved everything he got.” Thal’s dry voice
was punctuated by a cough. In her arms, Phia could
feel Izzie shake.
Aerdan dropped his empty hypospray into the
medkit and wordlessly walked over by the door where
Thal’s knife lay. As Phia attempted to calm her
friend the Andorian medic walked up to Thal, eerily
calm and silent as the grave, pulling the young Pleo
up by hiser long ponytail.
“What will you do, offworlder?” Thal spat,
finding the idea of his prey facing him somewhat
amusing.
Aerdan cracked the slightest smile. “Showing you
only the respect you have show others.”
The knife flickered and Rharn tried to get to her
feet. “Doctor Aerdan, don’t!” She had feared he
would kill the young Pleo, the actual result both
calmed her and made her far more uncomfortable. In
one swift motion, with the skill of a surgeon he had
sliced off the vast majority of Thal’s hair. Leaving a
small cut at the tip of his forehead so just a small
trail of blood ran down his face.
Aerdan Jos’ words came out in his whisper thin
voice like a knife cutting the silence. “Now your face
reflects your honor, too, Thal Pleo.” He tossed the
ponytail into Thal’s lap and turned his back on the
stunned Nocturian to tend to T’nnent.
~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Citadel Control room
Time Index: About ten minutes later.
“The scanner said that they were right here.”
Kiros protested, looking around.
Peter stepped over one of the unconscious guards
and tried to peer down the stairwell. “I would guess
that they were here, they seem to have left.”
“Should we go after them?” the Trill asked,
knitting his brows a bit.
Peter paused for a few seconds still lingering
around the stairwell. He could faintly hear voices.
“I think they might be downstairs.”
“Peter, is that you?” Captain Alcedo’s voice
traveled lightly up the stairwell.
Hope rushed into the XO’s face. “Yes Captain…
are you injured?”
There was a few seconds pause before a face
appeared. Phia stared dryly up at the two engineers.
“We have a wounded Nocturian and a pissy captive who
we better get out of here before either Dr. Jos or
Ensign Vort kill himer.”
“We’re coming down!” Kiros shouted back, almost
running down the stairs. More composed, Peter decided
to walk briskly at the back of the line. The
executive officer hit the bottom landing just as Phia
was instructing Kiros on proper protocol for
transporting a dangerous prisoner and how to keep his
phaser trained on Thal at all times. He blinked at
the disarray of the dank dungeon room.
“Dear God, you guys look terrible…” the Brit
murmured, heading over to help carry T’nnent.
Aerdan looked up and fixed the XO with a
perturbed look and a faintly sarcastic smirk.
“Thanks. So do you.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
NRPG: ahh, together again! I left it very open to
build from for you, Margie.
Hope y’all like this one. I’m in tech week for the
theatre so it was a little difficult to get this out
>.< You can repay me by liberally posting ;)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jamie LeBlanc
Lieutenant Aerdan Jos
Chief Medical Officer
USS STONEHENGE
"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"
~Julian Beck
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