Second part :) Please review, this is my first attempt at fanfic that goes on public display! Hope to upload the end soon. As usual, I own nothing, Gene Roddenberry created much better characters than I could ever hope to!
Talya was floating, not sleeping. She could hear what was going on, but everything seemed far away. She wasn't sure if she had her eyes open or closed because she could sort of see things, but sort of couldn't. She didn't care, she was tired, she'd work this out later…
Suddenly, she sat bolt-upright. Oh God, was she still there? Still in that hell-hole? Was he going to come back?
"Talya! You're all right!"
She snapped her head round and saw Dr Crusher at the foot of her bed, people in blue Starfleet uniforms all around her, and she knew she most certainly wasn't still in 'that hell-hole'.
"Doctor?" she asked. Dr Crusher came closer to her and she nodded.
"I'm right here Talya. How about you lie back and relax."
Talya let herself be pushed back down onto the bed and scans be taken.
"Does anywhere hurt?"
Talya hadn't really thought about it, but as soon as she did she realised that her body ached all over, but otherwise she felt just about intact.
"I think I'm ok," she replied.
"Actually, you're far from it, but you're getting there."
"When did you find me? I don't remember anything…"
"We found you three days ago. You've been very sick, but you have come round a few times."
"I really don't remember…"
She went pale, and she did remember. She remembered everything that had happened since she was taken, the worst memories coming as quickly as the less-bad ones.
"Talya, do you want to tell me what happened?"
She shook her head.
"Ok. Well whenever you're ready."
She stared at the ceiling and tried not to remember. She must have dropped off again as the next thing she knew she was being held close to someone and rocked gently. She realised she was sobbing.
"Shhh, Tally, shhh."
She looked up and saw it was Dr Crusher holding her.
"You had a bad dream," she said to her gently. "I've asked Counsellor Troi to come down, all right."
She didn't have a choice, but she lay back again and wiped her eyes.
"I'm sorry," she said in the end.
"Why would you be sorry Tally?"
"I don't mean to be so much bother…"
"Talya, there's nothing to be sorry about. Nothing. Do you understand me?"
She nodded, but deep down she felt pathetic.
"Sweetie, you're allowed to feel this way. It's very understandable."
Just then the door opened, and Deanna came over to her.
"Hello Talya," she said kindly. "How about we have a chat."
X
Talya told her everything. About how, after the conference, she'd slept for a good long time, been debriefed, then realised that she had to go back to the surface to pick up all of her notes and recordings. None of it could get out to the public. She had no idea what she'd written but if it was sensitive, she'd be in trouble. So she went back down to the planet to retrieve whatever had been left. The aide that had shown them into the room on the very first day showed her where they'd put everything that had been in the room.
"We thought we'd better not just throw it away, Captain Picard said someone would come and take everything before the Enterprise left."
"Thank you, that's perfect. I'll take it all back up to the ship," she replied, sifting through the box a little to see if everything was there that she expected to be there. The aide nodded and held the door for her as she carried the box out.
Suddenly, there had been a bright light. Phaser fire. Talya dropped the box and drew her own phaser, but it was too late. She hadn't got down quick enough. A blast caught her square in the chest and she fell unconscious.
When she'd woken, she'd found herself blindfolded and her wrists tied. She'd panicked, of course, unsure of what to do, and then she realised there was nothing to do but wait. She couldn't move, she couldn't see… Half of her wanted to call out and see if anyone else was around, but half of her was terrified that someone would be around. She didn't have to wait long, as soon enough she could hear footsteps, a door opening with a loud and heavy creak, and the footsteps coming closer. Her breathing became rapid as fear gripped her. Whoever was in the room with her grabbed her by her hair and hauled her to her feet. She groaned with the pain as she was bent backwards by him. She assumed it was a man, the person felt much stronger than she was, and much taller.
"Listen to me," he said in her ear, "you're going to tell me everything you know about the Enterprise. Information on her is worth a lot in this sector, so you're going to tell me all the passwords and access codes that you know. Then you're going to tell me everything that happened in the conference."
"I… I know nothing about any codes," she replied, fairly truthfully. She only had a handful, and they were nothing special, they just allowed access to the terminals and library data that she needed to do her work.
He hit her, hard, her head snapping to one side as she recoiled from the hit across her cheek.
"Don't play games! You will tell me everything, or I will make your life hell. For as long as you have a life anyway," he added menacingly. Talya wished she could see, to stare him in the face so she could convey with her own eyes the fact that she wasn't lying.
"Please… I don't know who you are, but it's not too late to just let me go!"
He laughed a horrible laugh, dropped her on the floor and kicked her. She doubled over, her side aching.
"You will tell me," he said. "Let's see how you like being left alone for a few days."
"Can I have some water?" she gasped.
Her question was met with another kick and she remained silent as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.
X
"I don't know how long he left me alone," Talya explained to Deanna and Beverly. "But I couldn't do anything, I tried so hard to get out… I was begging for water, all the time, and no one came. I had no strength, all I did was lie on the floor. Why couldn't I do anything?"
"Tally, there was nothing you could do," Deanna said kindly. "There wasn't. Not only were you restrained, but there was nowhere for you to go, you were deep underground, and you'd not had anything to eat or drink."
"I just feel like I should have been able to," she replied. "I know it doesn't make sense."
She brushed some tears from her face impatiently.
"And then I thought I was never going to see anybody ever again, when he came back. And that's when he started hitting me, trying to get me to tell him things. But I had nothing to say. Eventually he started with the shocks. They hurt so much, they didn't stop."
"Tally, did you tell him anything? It's ok if you did, we just need to know," Deanna said gently. Talya shook her head.
"I had nothing to tell him. I didn't give him anything, and… I paid for it."
"You were incredibly brave," Dr Crusher said to her. She'd seen the state of her after she'd been found, she could only imagine the pain the torture had ripped through her body.
"Is there anything else you want to tell us?" Deanna asked. Talya shook her head, but she paled even further, guessing that they both knew what had happened.
"I'm tired," she said.
"I know. But Tally, did he hurt you? In… other ways?"
Very slowly, Talya gave a small, barely discernable nod.
Dr Crusher took her hand in hers. Talya held it fast, then a great sob pulsed through her chest and out of her mouth. She wasn't sure where it had come from, but then another came from the same, deep cavity, followed by another and another. Her eyes darted round the room, she wasn't sure what to do. The Doctor took her in her arms again, but one thing was clear to both her and Deanna. Talya needed her family.
X
Jenni Stokesley was sure something wasn't quite right. She didn't know what, but she'd been feeling a little off for a few days. She'd thought she was getting ill, but then she'd got a bit better. She shook her head, she didn't have time to be ill. She was far too busy filling in forms and trying to get organised for her latest venture. She was less than a month away from taking charge of a children's home, and there was lots to sort out. It seemed incredible that even in this day and age, some children still needed to be given a safe place to live because they had no family, or their family couldn't look after them. Jenni had done lots of things in her life, but she felt particularly called to this kind of work now. She wished there had been someone to look after her and her two sisters when their parents had died, but they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they managed to slip through the net.
A message came up on her computer. She had a priority message coming in from Starfleet. Immediately, her stomach flipped over. Talya was never a priority message…
"Captain Picard," she said on seeing the Captain on her screen.
"How are you Jenni?" he asked.
"I'm well thank you sir. Can I help you?"
"I'm afraid I've got some… news," he replied. He outlined briefly what had happened over the past few days, and Jenni's stomach dropped.
"Of course, I'll be there as soon as I can," she said.
"I've arranged you transport, you should be with us tomorrow. I'm sending you the details."
"Thank you," she replied. "Until tomorrow."
The screen clicked off and she went into auto-pilot, packing a bag, calling her other sister Aurora to let her know what was going on. Jenni was the oldest of the three sisters, Aurora the middle one, but she was a rather influential character on the planet Pevon where she'd settled. In fact she was head of the government, so she could hardly just take off whenever she wanted.
"Please, look after her," Aurora asked her sister.
"I'll try Aurry," Jenni replied.
"Will you bring her home?"
"I don't know. I've not had time to think. I'll call you again when I get there, ok?"
"Please do. Give my best to the Captain, he was very good to my planet."
"You sound more like a politician every day, you should watch that. Ok, bye Aurry."
"Bye Jen."
Jenni picked up the hurriedly packed bag and set off for her beam-up point. She was hitching a ride with another starship that would be passing by the Enterprise, she couldn't miss it. She wished she could have gone with her sister to the Enterprise, to keep her out of danger… but then what could she have done? Exactly the same would have happened, there was nothing she could have done. And that was exactly what Jenni hated. The helplessness. Like she was in a foreign place where the spoke a different language. Not being able to do anything would forever be the hardest thing for her to cope with.
