Don't Look Away
Chapter 4
"How soft this Prison is
How sweet these sullen bars…"
Emily Dickenson
Frank Giotto and his men stiffened to attention. Jim saw Giotto's hand go to his phaser as did Carver's and Bardoli's. Jim looked at Giotto and shook his head slightly. He felt Bones put a light hand on his arm and he drew in a deep breath to hold on to his temper. This was, after all, a diplomatic mission and he must try to salvage it. There was no way in hell that Bones was going to stay here, and if this two bit diplomat thought he could keep the Enterprise Captain and his officers here against their will he had another think coming.
Jim pasted on his most diplomatic face and counted to 10 before he responded. "Tareem. Let me be perfectly clear. We're only here, and at your invitation may I remind you, to help Beta Niobe transition into a Federation planet and assist you in that process. Threats and intimidation by you or anyone else on Beta Niobe will not help you with what you want to achieve. Star Fleet frowns on anyone who tries to threaten its officers. You don't want to bring down the might of 11 other Constitution ships captained by very angry starship captains who will take a very dim view of a threat to one of their own. Trust me when I tell you that there wouldn't be much of your planet left if you were to keep us here against our will." Jim felt Bones quiver beside him in a well concealed snort. Jim was bluffing. Star Fleet mostly left each ship alone to take care of their own problems unless there was an invasion or a confrontation with Klingons or Romulans and one ship needed assistance from another.
Jim saw Tareem's shoulders slump and Marack fold in on himself.
"Now," Jim said, "my entourage and I are willing to forgive and forget your threat, but we'd like to know what brought this on. We came here in good faith and to be perfectly frank, I don't understand your aggressive attitude."
Tareem sighed. "Please forgive me, James, would that things could be different, but I, as the head of Beta Niobe, must do what is required of me. Would that things were different. If you will go with Marack, he and the guards will escort you back to my domicile. I will take the healer Leonard with me to the medical facility."
"No!" Jim said.
"You have no choice, James. Marack?"
Once again, Marack toggled something in his sleeve and four guards, fully armed appeared as if my magic.
Jim didn't bat an eye at their appearance. "I don't understand, Tareem. My entourage and I are perfectly willing to cooperate and assist you in any way we can. Why would you think it would take a threat to have Leonard help you? He is a healer first and foremost; his oath, which he takes very seriously indeed, is to help when he's needed." Beside him Bones nodded to Tareem.
Tareem nodded too. "I understand perfectly, James. That is why we wish to keep him here. I have noticed that you hold the healer Leonard in very high esteem. Let me assure you that we too, will do the same."
Jim gritted his teeth. He hated passive aggressiveness with a passion. Give him a good rousing shouting match or fistfight any day.
"Tareem, if we don't check in with the ship soon, the rest of my entourage will know that something is wrong. They won't take kindly to what you're doing. However, I'm willing to withhold judgement on your actions for the present and we'll wait for a while until you decided to confide in us." Jim stood and opened his communicator. "It's time for me to report to my ship," he told Tareem.
Tareem nodded to Marack, who once again toggled something in his sleeve. Jim felt Frank Giotto twitch beside him, obviously retraining himself for reaching over to see what was in Marack's sleeve.
"James to Enterprise. Come in Enterprise." There was only dead air on the other end of the communicator. "James to Enterprise," Jim said again.
Still no answer from the ship.
"They will not answer you, James. Your communicator devices are useless here. There is a field surrounding the planet that cannot be penetrated unless we allow it." He nodded at Marack and the guards. "Please escort James, Frank, Carver and Bardoli to my domicile. Keep them inside their rooms, and stand guard at the doors. Healer Leonard, you will come with me. Do not be concerned, James, I will return him to your rooms in due time."
"No!" Jim said angrily, and stood in protest.
"It's alright, James." Bones spoke for the first time. "Let me go with them. I'll see what it is that has their panties in a twist. You all go back to the rooms with the guards and wait for me." He gave Jim a hard stare which clearly said, 'stand down, Jim. Let me do my job.'
Jim saw the determination on his face, "Tareem, I would like to speak with my Second in private for a minute."
Tareem nodded. "It is allowed."
Jim clutched Bones' arm tightly and drew him a little away from the others. "Bones, no! I'm not comfortable letting you go with Tareem. Who knows what he has in mind." Since Sansora, Jim had been very vigilant about Bones' health and well-being, albeit very discreetly. As he looked into Bones' blue eyes, he tried his best not to let his rampant worry and protectiveness show. Bones was fiercely independent and would not appreciate it.
"Jim, I'll be fine. I don't think he's got any nefarious plot in mind for me, and it's the only way we're gonna' find out what the hell is goin' on around here. We're missing somethin' and I for one want to know what it is. Don't fret, Jim, I'll be back in one piece."
Jim looking at the mulish look on Bones' face knew it would be useless to argue; he nodded in defeat. "You better be, Bones."
They walked back to the group. "Very well, Tareem, I will allow Leonard to go with you, but I expect my Second to be returned to me unharmed. I will not take it well, if he is not, do you understand?"
"Of course, James do not be concerned. We would not dream of harming a healer. I will guarantee his well-being," Tareem told him. "He will be returned to you as you see him."
The guards nudged the other three men. "Come with me, James, and you others. I will escort you to your rooms to await the healer Leonard. Your food and refreshments will be brought to you," Marack told them.
With one last glance at Bones, who nodded at him reassuringly, Jim and the other three men followed Marack. Jim took note of the four guards; they were large, burley men, and that they carried heavy duty weapons, yet he was sure the four of them would be able to subdue and take them down. After all, they were all highly trained in hand to hand combat. But after that, what? Bones was not with them, and they had no idea where Tareem had taken him. What was so dire, so important that the Beta Niobians chose to jeopardize their progress toward gaining membership in the Federation? Jim shook his head in frustration. He hated it when things didn't make sense.
They reached Tareem's domicile and Marack stopped them in the entry way. "We have moved your belongings to the second floor, James. Tareem thinks you will be more comfortable there. The rooms are larger and quieter."
He and the guards led them up a long and steep flight of stairs and took them directly to their new quarters. One of the guards opened the big double doors and ushered them in. Marack stayed at the entrance. "James, do not fear for your Second's safety. No one will be allowed to harm him. Tareem will return him to you before too long." With that he closed the door, and they heard the click of the outside lock.
The four men looked at each other. "What the hell is going on here?" Jim asked. He pushed down his worry about Bones and focused on the problem at hand. They all looked around and saw their belongings had been left on the floor. Everything had been neatly repacked. One large bed was in the middle of the room. They looked in the adjacent room and although larger, it was laid out like their previous room, four beds for the entourage were arranged side by side. The only difference was that there was no exterior door in this room. So effectively, there was only one way out and that was through the door in Jim's room. He went to the window and looked down trying to orient himself. They seemed to be in back of Tareem's domicile and it was a very long way down to the bricked courtyard.
"I think we can say that this first contact mission has gone to hell in a handbasket. Somehow I don't think the Beta Niobians are ready to join the Federation. "Giotto said.
Jim snorted. "I would have to agree with your assessment, Frank. Let's check our communicators and phasers, although I'm pretty sure they're not going to work." The four of them pulled out their phasers, set them on the lowest setting and aimed at the floor. None of them even flickered. The same with the communicators. There wasn't even static and Jim's repeated calls to the ship were answered by nothing but dead air.
"As I thought," Jim told his men. He went over to his large window. "Okay, as soon as Bones comes back with his report, and we find out a little more of what's going on, we'll make a decision whether or not we have to get out of here. I imagine that we'll have those four men guarding the door all the time….and it's locked from the outside, so no joy there," he added thoughtfully.
"There may be more guards, Captain, since there are five of us, Tareem may have decided he needs more men."
"So it looks like the only way out is going to be through that window," Jim told them.
Carver went to the window and looked down. "It's pretty high up, Sir. It will take some doing to get down from here."
Jim sighed. Just once, he'd like for an away mission to be routine and trouble free. Since his becoming Captain, that had yet to happen, and although he loved a challenge and the excitement of difficult first contacts, it would be a nice change of pace for them to just enjoy a nice quiet mission on a new planet once in a while.
"Well, there's no rush yet. Let's wait to see what Bones found out." He walked to the door and knocked. It opened a few inches and one of the guards' face looked in.
"Yes, James?"
"We're getting hungry and thirsty," Jim told him. "Tareem told us our food and beverages would be brought to us. Will you see to it, please?"
"I will let Marack know, and your food will be brought to you."
"Thank you," Jim said, craning his neck to see outside the door. "How many of you are out there?" he asked. Sometimes the direct approach was the best one.
"There are 7 of us, James." He closed the door and locked it again.
Jim looked at Giotto. Five to seven were not bad odds and he thought it wouldn't be difficult to overpower the guards, but Jim wondered if they had been ordered to shoot if they tried to escape. He wasn't yet ready to take chances with the lives of his men. Things were not desperate by any means and Jim had certainly been in much worse prisons than this one. Several sprang immediately to mind, the Vians for one.
"Frank, we need an escape plan, just in case. I'm leaning into staying here for a while longer, just to find out what the hell is going on with these people, but it won't hurt to have a plan in place."
Giotto nodded in agreement.
There was a polite knock at the door and it opened. There were two new Beta Niobians carrying food trays. Three guards followed them in, and stayed in place at the door while the two placed the trays on The side table. "We will pick up your food trays in one hour, James. The healer's tray will be brought to him when he returns," said one of the guards, who Jim thought was the leader.
"How do I know this food is safe to eat? Jim asked.
The guard made a noise which in a human would have been a derisive snort. "Please pick any two trays of your choice and I will taste whatever food items you wish," he told Jim.
Jim nodded and opened the lids of two of the trays and pointed to two separate food items at random on the two trays. The guard took a spoon from the utensil pile and ate from both trays. He stood silently while the four men looked at him. "Are you satisfied that I am still in good health? We do not want to harm you or your entourage, James, we are grateful for your presence, but it is necessary that you remain here."
"Holding us against our wills is not a sign of good will on your part," Jim told him, "but I'm satisfied the food is safe. By the way, what is your name?"
"Jarros," the guard replied shortly. He motioned to the other two guards and the two helpers and they left.
The four men sat down to eat hungrily. "At least they're not going to starve us, "Carver said, as he happily munched away at the delicious food on his plate.
Giotto and Jim exchanged amused glances and Jim smiled to himself. Carver was just a boy really, he couldn't be more than 20 or 21 and his young body required regular fuel, same with Bardoli. He himself didn't have much appetite. He was worried that Bones hadn't come back yet, and he only stopped himself from pacing by utilizing his self-control.
They finished their food and set the trays down on the floor by the door. He drew Frank away from the other two men. "Frank, I want you to work on your phaser to see if you can modify it to break through the dampening field. I'll work on the communicator. I was a pretty good engineer back at the Academy. If I hadn't gone for the Command track, I would have gone into Engineering."
"I'll see what I can do, Captain. I'm not sure anything can be done, but I guess it's worth a try."
The door opened and one of the guards escorted Bones through the door holing him by the arm. "Get your hands off me, you pip squeak. I can walk by myself, and I ain't goin' anywhere." Bones' southern accent was pronounced, a sign he was angry, upset, or stressed.
"Bones…Leonard." Jim drew in a breath of relief that his CMO was back with them. He had been getting more and more worried at his prolonged absence. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, James, and I'd be even finer if this idiot would let go of me." He growled at the young guard, blue eyes fierce.
"I will release you, Leonard, now that you are with your First once again. You will have your meal brought to you in a few minutes." He sounded exasperated. Jim could relate, he thought in amusement. Bones could exasperate a saint sometimes. He nodded at Jim and closed the door behind him.
"Bones, come sit down," Jim pulled him gently to the sofa. "You look angry. What happened?"
"Let me catch my breath, Jim. I'm tired. Tareem had me at that hospital for hours. I have a lot to tell you, but first I have to get out of these clothes and these boots. Also, I'm really hungry. Haven't eaten a thing since breakfast."
"Alright Bones, you go ahead," Jim said. "I can wait."
The door opened again, and again a tray was carried in and set on a table. The guard looked around carefully before closing the door behind him.
"Come sit down, Bones." Jim said, as Leonard appeared again dressed in his sleep pants and a t shirt. His feet were bare, and he sighed tiredly as he sat down to eat.
"They're all crazy around here," he told the four men. "I don't know what the hell they're thinkin' doing this, but I can tell you that things are real bad here Jim, real bad. Now I know why they want to keep me here."
"That's not happening, Bones, ever, but let's hear your report.
Leonard sighed. "First off," he said, "Tareem took me to their hospital, which by the way is comparable to something like a mid-twentieth century facility, not nearly up to Federation standards."
He looked at the four of them his eyes bleak. "So we went into the hospital and the first thing I noticed, is that once again there were no women anywhere on our way there. I bided my time with questions, had to bite my tongue a couple of times I can tell you, until we went to the wards. It was filled, totally filled with women, and every one of the women was takin' care of a child because apparently, the men don't take care of children here."
"Children!" Giotto exclaimed.
"Children," Bones said bleakly, thinking of his Joanna. "Mighty sick children from the little I got to see. It was that way all through the hospital wards. Somethin' is making these kids real sick; and according to Tareem, it's only the children who are getting sick, 'cause the mamas have been with them and not one of them has gotten sick. He wants me to find a way cure them, and I haven't got the faintest idea what is makin' the children sick, or how I'm gonna go about finding a cure."
