Chapter Eleven: There may be Trouble Ahead…
Location: Bridge of the U.S.S. Illustrious
Mara was sitting in her command chair, looking out at the stars. The Illustrious’ repairs were almost finished, although she had no idea what she was going to do. A part of her, the officer in her knew what she should do, contact Starfleet and get assistance to help hunt Vox down. The other half however, Severin’s friend wanted to find a way to track him and help him, after all he was alone out here, with only an EMH and a beat up Intrepid class, not exactly a winning combination.
She was brought out of her thoughts when a console beeped, causing her to glance behind her and over to Raines, her Ops officer and raised an eyebrow.
“We’re receiving a message Captain.” He answered her unasked question but frowned before looking back at her “Captain’s eye’s only.”
Mara frowned but nodded, smiling when Raines told her he was patching it to her ready room for her. She tapped the control as soon as she sat down and entered her command code, watching as Severin’s face appeared on the screen; he looked a cross between sad and angry.
“He killed them Mara.” He said softly “100 members of my crew…dead.” She watched as he bowed his head and sighed “I don’t know why yet, I don’t know where he is either. I only know two things. One: He threated to kill the other 100 if I didn’t return to Federation space, but he’ll kill them anyway…”
Mara could only wait and wonder what the second thing was, almost gasping when she saw the anger in her friends eyes when he looked up again.
“And Two: I will find him and I will make him pay for what he’s done.” Mara thought that was going to be the end of the message until she saw his face change again.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next…” Sev began, his image glancing around the room he was in with a soft chuckle “My ship has several holes in it, main power's at about 80%, I used the reserves already and the only other crewmember I have is a hologram. The odds aren’t really in my favour.” He paused again as he tapped a few keys on the console in front of him.
Mara watched as several files began downloading into her personnel database, Sev always had been good with computers, trust him to figure out a way to by-pass security, she had to smile at that.
“Maybe I’ll beat the odds but they sure as hell aren’t in my favour and despite Vox’s luck at cheating death over the centuries even his has to run out eventually I guess…I just wanted you to know that I’m not a traitor.”
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“Goodbye Mara.”
The screen went blank and Mara had to wipe a tear from her eye as she got the feeling that might have been the last time she saw her friend, before opening the files that had been downloaded.
She stepped onto the bridge and walked over to Chiara, her Conn Officer “Scan for this warp signature and follow it once you find it.”
“Yes ma’am.” Chiara replied.
She tapped her Combadge as she headed back to her seat “Bridge to Engineering, I assume the repairs are complete?”
“Just finishing the shield recharge cycle now captain, Warp Drive is online, we’re ready when you are.” Her chief engineer answered.
“Uh Captain?”
Mara looked over at her first officer “We’re going after him.” She answered.
“We should contact Starfleet and get reinforcements before we go after this traitor.” He replied.
“He is not a traitor.” Mara countered.
“With all due respect Captain, I believe your personnel feelings are clouding your judgement.”
Mara glared at her first officer “With all due respect Commander I am the Captain of this ship and it goes where I say it goes, unless other members of the crew feel the same way you do.”
The two glanced around the room, looking for anyone to speak up.
“I’m pretty sure I speak for everyone here when I say we trust you Captain.” Raines said, causing Mara to smile before she turned back to her first officer.
“So either you can sit down, shut up, follow my orders and do your job or I can have you escorted off my bridge, choice is yours.”
She could only watch as her first officer snorted “Don’t bother.” He replied as he walked past her and into the turbolift.
Without skipping a beat she glanced over at Raines “Congratulations Raines, your now acting First Officer.” Raines nodded as he stepped away from Ops, letting another member of the crew take his place as he joined Mara at the Command Chairs.
“Are you sure he’s innocent Captain?” he whispered
“Yes I am.” Mara answered, watching as Raines nodded.
“Then that’s good enough for me.” He said as the two sat down.
“I’ve picked up the Warp signature Captain, ready to follow it on your order.”
Mara nodded “Engage.”
Location: Aeni IV
The Angelwing dropped out of Warp right over the planet, avoiding the security detection grind in orbit.
“Found you.” Severin muttered from his spot at the helm, before standing up. “Same as before Serena, you have the bridge, I’ll keep an open Comm Channel.” He added as he walked past her and into the turbolift. “Transporter room 1.”
He materialised in the middle of yet another reception area that looked identical to the other one.
“This guy seriously needs a new decorator…” Sev muttered as he walking carefully towards the open elevator at the back and entered it, pushing the button to go down.
Considering the lack of people in the reception area, plus the security in orbit, Vox knew he was walking into a trap, which is why he wasn’t surprised when the elevator stopped mid-way, and Tyiana’s face appeared on a screen.
“Well, Well, Well I knew you’d follow me Captain, which is why I have arranged something special for you.” Tyiana said with a grin. “I’ll be seeing you soon Captain.”
Severin glanced around as a gas started hissing into the elevator from almost every direction. He tried to force the doors open but they wouldn’t budge, until soon he found himself fading as his vision blurred and his breathing became shallow. The last thing he remembered was reaching for his Combadge before everything went dark…
“…He’s waking up…” a voice said as he opened his eyes, seeing the ceiling passing by although he blacked out again a few seconds later.
“…strap him…don’t want…like…happen….time…”
“Ah good, I was beginning to think you’d miss it.” Tyiana said as the young man slowly woke up again.
He glanced down at a PADD “Captain Vox, what an interesting selection of lives you’ve lived.” He said as he read through Vox’s file. Before putting down the PADD and retrieving a syringe from the table next to him.
Severin was only half aware of what Tyiana was saying as he was still pretty out of it. All he did know was that he was strapped to a table in a lab somewhere. He tried to struggle free but he was just too weak, whatever that gas was, took everything he had out of him. He caught a glimpse of Tyiana approaching him, with a needle in his hand.
“The Hypospray is so boring, don’t you agree? I much prefer the needle. You get that pinch as it breaks the skin, you feel as whatever’s inside it gets injected into your veins…” Tyiana said as he flicked the syringe as he injected some of whatever it was that was inside it into the air, testing it. “…That slight cold feeling as it crawls up your arm, have you ever experienced it before? Ah no matter you soon will.”
Tyiana laughed as his captive tried to wriggle free of his constraints, but he knew it was of no use. The gas he had used was designed specifically to knock someone out and sap their energy.
“You should save what little strength you have Captain, you’ll need it for later. Oh and just so you know, I have your ship under heavier guard this time, so if by some miracle you do manage to escape again, you won’t be getting away that easy this time.”
“We’ll…see.” Sev muttered.
Tyiana laughed “You’re determined, good, good I like that.” He said as stopped next to Severin.
“I like you Captain, your determination reminds me of my own. According to your bio you’ve had a few close calls with death and got lucky, let’s see if you can do it again shall we?”
Severin tried to break free and avoid the needle, with no success, as he felt it press into then through his skin, feeling whatever liquid it was shoot up his veins.
“There, that wasn’t so hard was it?” Tyiana said as he turned on his heel and walked towards the exit, only stopping when the doors slid open, revealing another metallic corridor.
“Oh and Captain, just so you know what to expect, first your limbs will go numb, then you’ll feel dizzy and nauseous, then the pain will come, but don’t worry, feel free to scream all you want, the lab is soundproof.” He smirked, chuckling maniacally as the doors closed.
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(._.) ( l: ) ( .-. ) ( :l ) (._.) They see me rollin, they hatin.
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