Captive

Posted on 12 Oct 2016 @ 1:41am by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast & Commander Thiago Teixeira & Ensign Katniss Sutherland & Lieutenant Hannibal Owens & Lieutenant JG Ian Starkweather & Master Warrant Officer Karyna Fordyce

1,803 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Confederation Holding Facility 2187 - Detention Block AA-23
Timeline: MD8 || 0600

The pain in his head was the first thing he noticed. Mostly located at the base of the neck. Bast groaned, and his hand immediately went to the back of his neck, where he felt a bruise. His fingers came back dry - at least he wasn't bleeding.

He felt the ground underneath him - hard and cold, harsh and rough, definitely uncomfortable. His fingers recognized the texture of damp stone.

He slowly opened his eyes, and tried to see something in the darkness. He could hear rustling sounds around him - he wasn't alone in.... whatever this was. There was a faint yellowish light coming from the rock surface. Not enough for them to get a clear view of where they were, but at least enough to get them from bumping into each other. He guessed the light night be coming from some sort of phosphorescent reaction to something on the rockface. There was the faint sound of dripping water somewhere in the distance.

He got to his feet, and took a few hesitant steps. He could see the sprawled shapes of his crewmates on the ground. Some were beginning to stir.

Katniss's eyes slowly began to open, this was the second time in two away missions that she had woken up on the floor. But this one was cold, hard and damp. The last thing she remembered was asking to see whomever was in charge, then someone must of hit her from behind. From behind her she could hear movement, she gently pushed herself up.

"Who's there?" she asked a little groggy.

Hannibal Owens heard the voice of the young ensign as he slowly awoke to the damp stone floor. The ringing in his ears began to subside as he stirred. Unfortunately, the headache had not subsided and his ribs still ached from having been repeatedly kicked. He slowly pushed himself into a seated position as he tried to talk to his crew mates.

"Lt. Owens, reporting for duty," he wryly noted.

"Welcome, Lieutenant," Thiago replied. "Who else is here?" he asked, raising his voice, hoping it would carry. He wanted to get a sense for their situation. It was the only way they could begin to formulate a plan.

Karyna heard Teixeira's voice. "Warrant Officer Fordyce here, Commander," she said slowly, her breathing slow and deliberate to help her handle the pain of her fractured leg.

He could hear the pain in Fordyce's voice. "Your leg?" he asked. He'd seen her laying on the deck of the bridge with her leg at an unnatural angle before he'd been dragged away.

"Yes, sir."

"Sutherland," he called, having heard the nurse just a few moments earlier.

"Sir." she yelled back getting to her feet

"See what you can do for Fordyce." He knew that without medicines and tools, the acting Chief Science Officer was going to suffer. But anything, even just going through the motions as best they could, might offer some comfort.

"I'm here too, Captain," Dr. sh'Eshaatraq chimed in. Her antennae had helped her locate Teixeria in the darkness. She begin to make her way towards where Fordyce was, using her voice as a beacon. "Give me a hand Ensign," she said to Sutherland.

"Aye sir." she said, hesitating for a moment, she didn't have a tricorder, a medical kit or anything, all she could do was take instructions from the doctor and hope that they could someone help the injured. Without the use of a sickbay or equipment, people were certainly going to have a tough time.

Helen stirred around, but didn't bother to open her eyes. The pain she felt inside her head was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. In fact, if she could allow the darkness to reclaim her, she would. The last thing the middle aged woman remembered were intruders on the ship, then she rushed one of them in an effort to protect her people. Sadly, that didn't go as she'd planned. She brought a hand up to her head and winced when her fingers came in contact with blood. That didn't matter. What mattered was the rest of the crew. Pushing herself upright was a chore, but she managed. "Hello?"

Bast heard the voices around him, even as his head cleared and his eyes got adjusted to the low light. He saw the form of Bennett pushing herself off the floor, and reached over to grab her shoulders and help her up. "Careful there," he said.

He thought he'd heard Teixeira's voice, but couldn't place him in the small group of people who'd regained consciousness. "Commander Teixeira?" he called out.

Jane Marley groaned where she had been put but didn't stir; the twin shots to her back had did a number on the Acting Flight Chief and she felt as if she were paralyzed even though she was regaining consciousness.

Thiago recognized Bast's voice. "Yes," he began, though he fell silent immediately. He'd thought he'd heard a noise.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Bast of those around him. Without waiting for a response, he carefully made his way to where Teixeira's voice had come from. "I think I recognized our attackers. They looked like the species of Hunters who were on Deep Space Nine, a few years before the Dominion War."

Hannibal stood up, clutching his ribs. "They did look like the hunters, but as I recall, Hunters are only preoccupied with their hunt of the Tosk." He paused for a second. "There weren't any Tosk in sight. Most unusual for them to be acting like this."

"I know," replied Bast, worry creeping into his voice. "Remember the readings we got on the Bridge. Things seem to be different around here."

He helped one of the crewmen regain her footing, and looked around in the darkness. "Is anyone hurt?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Hannibal said while clutching his sides and taking a couple measured breaths. "Or at least I'll be fine."

Ian said, "I'm fine, Sir...if a bit battered and bruised. I think I will survive though."

Teixeira thought about what Bast said. He'd read the briefing materials when he'd first been assigned to the Gamma Quadrant. Both Tosk and Hunters had been covered, albeit briefly as there had been little Starfleet or Federation interaction with them. The Hunters got their name from the fact that they hunted Tosk, in some sort of sport or ritual. When they'd arrived on Deep Space Nine, chasing a Tosk, they'd caused quite a stir, and shown how capable when in pursuit of their prey. Starfleet Intelligence had no evidence that they were members of the Dominion, though it was thought the Hunters were allies, or at least party to a non-aggression pact with the Dominion.

Before they could talk further, a door at the far end of the room opened, flooding the cavern with a blinding light. Having been in the darkness for so long, the sudden light hurt their eyes, and blinded them even more. Hunters stormed in, and began examining the captives. The Hunters were followed by a tall, cadaverous-looking alien. Bast's blood chilled as he recognized one of the Selamat, the telepathic aliens the Consortium had used to brainwash him into working for them.

The Selamat walked gracefully into the room, his thick red robes dragging in the dust behind him. He lifted a long, twisted and gnarly finger, and pointed at several crewmen - Teixeira, Bast, Owens, Taggert, Bennett, Starkweather, Marley and Sutherland, the Cochrane's senior staff. Hunters grabbed them by the shoulders, and dragged them out of the room, separating them and placing them in individual cells.

Marley screamed when she was grabbed and dragged out, but her legs didn't seem to want to cooperate with her and all she could do was hang limply between the Hunters before she was put in the cell where she lay.

The Brazilian Commander saw a look of recognition on Bast's face. He knew, from mission records, that a Selamat had been part of the Consortium plot to take over the Black Hawk. That plot had involved telepathic manipulation of Bast at the hands of that Selamat.

"Hands off my crew," Thiago shouted when Marley screamed. "Take me! Leave them!"

Hunters continued to advance on the others. When a pair of the now helmet-less yellow-skinned reptilian humanoids approached him, he struggled briefly, as much as he could given his still hurting ribs. He knew it was a fruitless effort, but he needed to show the captive crew that he was still fighting, that they could, and should, still fight. As they started to drag him out of the cavern, he looked at the Selamat. "They need medical attention," he said, thinking of Fordyce.

Lieuteenant JG Ian Starkweather struggled with two of the Hunters. He clawed at the air in a desperate attempt to escape, but to no avail. They tossed him in a cell as if he were weightless.

Katniss tried to put up some resistance, she kicked and she clawed and tried her best to put up a struggle, but it was futile, the hunters were bigger than she was and she was soon overcome as they dragged her out "Someone is going to pay for this." she yelled as they dragged her off to god knows where to do god knows what to her, her heart started to beat faster as panic set in at the realisation of what was happening.

One of the Hunters came up to Hannibal, grabbing his hands and placing them forcefully behind his back. Hannibal tried to shake off the attacker, but his ribs painfully reminded him that he couldn't. Another Hunter came up and punched Hannibal in the midsection, forcing him to comply. Hannibal glared at the Hunter, silently vowing revenge upon his captors.

Helen blinked when she was yanked violently to her feet, the motion doing absolutely nothing to ease the pressure or pain she felt in her head. She felt like she was going to be sick, but resisted with everything she had. The Lieutenant had no way of knowing what kind of punishment such an act would result in. The middle-aged woman didn't think she had any fight left in her, but that didn't keep her from trying. She shouted a curse at the Hunter who had his hands on her, then struggled against him, balling her fists and aiming at his mid-section.

Bennett wasn't going anywhere without a fight, and the rougher the larger individual got with her, the more angry she got. Sadly, her fight was short-lived and large hands came down to grip her head, then a violent twist was given. The woman collapsed to the ground in a lifeless heap with her head resting at an odd angle thanks to the fatal break in her neck.

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