The Devil's Advocate. Part of The Voyager Memoirs.
Between a rock and a hard place.
"Where am I? What is this place? Kathryn asked as she came to her senses.
"Think of your worst nightmare, then quadruple it." A not unfriendly voice answered.
The air if you could call it that was hot, rank and felt as if it contained no oxygen, just dust and grit filling her mouth, nose and throat in seconds, drying the mucous membrane and making her voice croaky.
"Here put this on, it will help protect you from the floating debris" A mask was thrust into Kathyrn's hand and she put it on hastily just to get some respite from the hot particles and the feeling as if sandpaper was scrubbing her tonsills and adenoids raw.
It did not improve on her bodies thirst for more oxygen, but it did at least stop unwanted fragments from entering her orifices.
"Thank you, thats much better, my name is Kathryn". She held out her hand gratefully to her benefactor in the hope of finding an ally and answers to how she got here, where ever and what ever here was.
"I'm Tulamina, and you're in what has unaffectionatly been nick named by the inmates as the devil's cauldron, which is in fact a budding volcanoe waiting to happen."
"How did i get here?" Kathryn asked, rubbing the bump on her forehead, trying to recall her last conscious moments. The guards who had dragged her from the Proconsuls office were non to gentle as they pulled her roughly along the corridor before pounding her head hard against the wall when she tried to struggle from their grip.
Her thoughts were abruptly interupted by a push from behind, sending her sprawling to the rock floor on hands and knees.
"Stop talking and get to work, the faster you dig the quicker you get out." Kathyrn turned to look at her attacker with contempt, but held back from saying anything as Tulamina was shaking her head as if to say don't give him any excuse to use that weapon he is carrying.
Tulamina helped Kathryn up and directed her towards the rock face where several people were unhitching a container loaded with boulders from the digger. She looked around for B'Elanna and was relieved not to see her, hoping that she was still in a safer place, even if not out of the clutches of the Proconsul's guards.
Oh what she would give right now to be back in her ready room, cup of coffee in hand going over the ships manifesto with Chakotay and discussing the food and Dilithium shortages, but thousands of light years away from this sector. Meeting the representative of the Tagorian Empire, Proconsul Vazul, who was lording it over the planet they orbited, had turned into a nightmare, he seemed to be openly helpfull and friendly in a sickly sort of way, that sent warning bells to Kathryn's sharp intuitive mind, but her need for Dilithium was dire, and so against her better judgement she had gone to the planets surface with B'Elanna, to negotiate a deal.
The sound of a klaxen broke into Kathryn's musing and brought her back to reality.
"Whats thats for?" She asked in alarm.
"Time for some cleaner air and food, its shift change." Said a familier voice to her right.
Kathryn looked at the girl who was the spitting image of Tulamina. The girl grinned, "Tula is my twin, I'm Temora.
"Are we getting beamed out? Kathryn asked hopefully.
"No such luck, we eat sleep and work here, even the dead never leave, they are just tossed in the lava pit." Tulamina piped in.
"Lets hurry to get in line, sometimes the food is not enough to go around thanks to the guards stealing our rations for themselves and to give to their whores and lackeys".
Kathryn fell into line between Tula and Temora as they took their places in the queue, looking at the dejected sad faces of the people around her with concern and also curious by the machinery that was just visible beyond the line of hungry prisoners, through a narrow passage leading to another cavern.
"What's through there? Kathryn asked, looking towards the passageway.
"The engineers and scientists use it as a work come store room, it also holds the emergency back-up transporter which is only active during the day while the maintenence crew is here, communications, the oxygen generators and air purifiers, don't go anywhere near there, if you want to stay alive, the guards shoot to kill, no warning given, no questions asked."
Kathryn reached the front of the queue and was told to put her hand on the scanner, she hesitated.
"You're new here I see" Said one of the guards. 'You've been allocated an identity chip embedded in your left palm, it's a way of keeping track of how many workers are down here and to make sure you don't pick up more rations than you're allocated"
Kathryn nodded acknowledgement and complied. She scrutenized the guard who at least did not use force to get his point across like the last one, maybe he would be of use for some information she thought, and filed the idea away for later.
The food dispenser deposited a package of what looked like Starfleet emergency nutritional packs and a half litre bottle of water. She picked them up and went to join her co-workers, who were already sitting down munching hungrily while trying to make the food last and feel as if they had eaten a three course meal instead of a bag of dry grit.
"Don't drink all your water at once, we won't get any more til we go back on shift in eight hours." Tulamina advised.
