The Mystery of the Missing Hyper-Drive Element - Chapter 8
A/N: I do not, and will not ever, own the SGU characters used in this story. The characters' names you are not familiar with though are original to me. Please read and review and let me know what you think. On with the story!
Moments later, the lights in the room came back on and revealed a struggling Melissa and Nicholas in the beefy hands of two security guards who had been right outside of the room. Sabinus, who had been punched in the face by Nicholas, spat out, "Bring them here!" He observed them for a long moment before turning to Gallus who was pressing a handkerchief against his hand. "Are you all right?"
"I am," said Phillip. "It's just a scratch."
"Very good." Sabinus and Balbus carefully walked around their prisoners before the former addressed Dr. Rush. "So, why did you come up here? On the behest of the government? Or just to steal the element…" He held up the vial. "And sell it on the black market?"
Missy interrupted, with a furious look on her face, "We came…up here…because…you framed…me and…my friend! I don't…like being…accused of…something…I didn't…do!"
"But we had our colleague who is still in the Scientific Institute send that letter having you released because we wanted to recruit you for our group. You weren't going to be convicted of anything."
She gave him an ugly look. "It would…have still…appeared…as if I…had stolen…it! It's the… same thing…as far as…I'm concerned! And Dr. Greer…is my…friend. She…didn't do…it either." She lifted her foot and stomped it down as hard as she could on his."
Sabinus howled in agony. "You little conia!" He waited while the guard restrained her. "You are much more trouble than you're worth. Maybe we should just throw you and Dr. Rush out the air lock. The government can find your bodies when they come." He noticed the guard and Balbus trying to get his attention. "What is it!"
Pulling up Missy's hair, Colin said, "I saw something silver glinting off the back of her neck. You might want to see this, Lucius."
The other man walked around to where Balbus was standing and examined Missy's neck. A calculating expression came over his face. "That is a memory suppressor. Now, what would someone not want you to remember?" He walked back around to where she could see him and instructed Balbus, "Take it out!"
Struggling in the grasp of the other guard who was holding him, Nick exclaimed, "Leave her alone!"
Lucius yelled to the guard, "Keep him quiet!" Then he looked back at Colin. "Go ahead."
Balbus dug into Missy's neck as she said, "Ouch! That hurts!" When his fingers were able to find a small silver device and pull it out, she went rigid in the guard's grasp, unable to move or respond.
He gave them all a grim smile of satisfaction. "That is much better." He got up in the paralyzed woman's face. "Who did this to you?"
When the device had been pulled out of Melissa's neck, her memory had immediately flashed back to the prison where she and Lisa had been taken after they had been arrested. Unbidden words came out of her mouth in a flat tone. "Brutus…Draco…at the prison."
"I see." He spoke to his accomplices. "Usually, when someone has had a memory suppressor placed, there is also a memory compeller." He faced Missy once more. "Where is your compeller?"
Her mind swimming, Melissa attempted to resist what her mind was telling her to do, but the programming was too strong. "Behind…right ear." She brought up her right hand and pointed at two different areas. "Weak…strong."
Lucius pressed the area behind her ear which she had labeled as strong and felt her body relax. He looked into her eyes and nodded with satisfaction at what he saw. "Okay, what are your instructions?"
With every synapse in her body feeling as if it were on fire, she answered him in a staccato-like voice. "If convicted…Brutus and Draco…will be my patrons…and I will be…their meritricis. Have coitis…with whoever…they say. No choice." She looked around bewilderedly having expected to see someone else. "Where…are…Brutus and…Draco?"
Forcibly turning her face back to his, Sabinus said, "You have been convicted and are in another prison. I am Lucius and…" He pointed to Balbus. "This is Colin. We will be your patrons, and you will have coitus with whoever we say. Do you understand?" He noticed her breathing hard as she tried to resist answering and told the others, "She has a very disciplined mind. It will make it all the more satisfactory when I bed her." He turned back to her and put his face close to hers. "I know you feel like you're burning up, don't you, Melissa? It will be easier if you quit fighting it." He put his mouth against hers and began kissing her barely noticing Dr. Rush continuing to struggle with the guard who was holding him.
Dazed and in pain from the pressure in the back of her head, Missy tried to picture her husband and children in her mind, but the pictures didn't fully form because of the pain. When she heard him say it would be easier if she quit fighting and he began to kiss her, she acquiesced and allowed his tongue entrance to her mouth. He kissed her for a few more moments before coming up for breath with a grin of satisfaction. "You understand now. Very good." Lucius motioned to the guard. "You can let go of her now. She will do as I say." The guard let go, and he put his arms around her. "Kiss me again." Missy immediately pulled him close to her, and they kissed each other passionately. After he allowed himself a few moments of touching the bare skin on her back, he broke the kiss once more. "Does that make the pain go away, my dear?"
Her head swayed from side to side. "Yes, Lucius. Are we going…to have…coitus?"
"Yes, as soon as you have been prepared for your new role on my base." He instructed Ariana and Phillip. "Take her to my room and dress her in appropriate clothing for a meritricis. Colin and I will be there momentarily, and we can all have her." He gazed back at Melissa. "Go with them, my dear. As long as you do what we say, there will be no pain. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Lucius." She followed Ariana and Phillip out of the room obediently.
Once she had gone, Lucius turned back to Nicholas who had stopped struggling and was now staring at him with his eyebrows raised. Nick asked, "So, are you going to tell me what's going on now, or do I need to fill in the blanks?"
The other man chuckled sardonically. "If you're asking did I do that to her, of course not. But there isn't any reason I shouldn't take advantage. This does put you at a disadvantage now though."
"How so?"
"Well, I have a use for Dr. Young now. Because of the memory compeller, she will do whatever I say including broadcasting a statement of support for our cause. What I can't decide though, since I know I can't trust you now, is, should I just kill you or should I put one in you too."
Rush thought for a long moment before deciding not to tell him they had already signaled for help. He wanted them to be completely complacent until the government got there so he could help Everett pound this guy's smug face into the ground for what had happened. "Well, I guess you have to do what you have to do. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other."
Surprised at his lack of reaction, Lucius observed him trying to figure it out. When he couldn't, he said, "I'll think about it while I'm having fun with Dr. Young." He instructed the guards. "Take him back to his room and stand guard outside of it."
One of the guards, a man named Julian, replied, "Yes, Sir." He and the other guard motioned for Nicholas to come with them while Lucius and Colin secured the room once more. When they reached the dormitory room Nick had been using, Julian opened the door and indicated for him to go inside. "Otto and I will be outside. I would suggest you not try anything."
"I wouldn't dream of it," said Nicholas. He entered the room and shut the door in the guards' faces. Going to sit on the bed, he slumped in agony once he had done so trying to think of where things had gone so wrong. He realized that neither he nor Missy should have ever been involved with this as both he and Everett had thought something had been off with her since her release from the prison. Walking over to the closet, he saw his own clothes hanging there and decided to change back into them so he would be ready for whatever was going to happen. When he was finished, he alternated between sitting on the bed and pacing across the room trying not to think of what was happening to the woman he considered to be like a daughter to him. Hours passed. Remembering how long it had taken their ship to fly there, Nick closed his eyes. "Where are you, Everett? If you take much longer, your wife might not be here to come back to you."
At that moment, he heard sounds of shooting and an explosion. The door to the room also opened, and Nick hurried over to it to see two guards he hadn't seen before holding a slumped Melissa between them. He took her from them as one grinned lasciviously. "I understand she was quite good in bed. Maybe I'll be able to have her too once this situation is taken care of."
"You're a bloody idiot!" Rush gazed over at the entrance which was now empty. "What's going on?"
"Apparently, we've been invaded. Sabinus said all hands were needed for defense so I guess the two of you get to stay here."
"Swell." The guards ran off, and Nicholas took Missy over to the bed. Noticing she was in a short leather skirt and a top that barely covered her midriff, he thought, "Oh my God, lass, what happened to you?" He laid her on the bed and saw the cuts, scratches, and blood on her thighs, hips, and waist. "Damno! Everett is going to kill anyone who was involved with this, and if he doesn't, I will finish what he started." He saw her eyes open and try to focus on him. "Lass, it's me. You're gonna be okay."
Melissa tried to focus on the image in front of her. "Ni…ck?"
Tears came from his eyes. "Yes, lass."
She clutched at her stomach. "Hurts…bad. Where…are…we?"
"My room, but I think Everett finally has the troops here. Can you walk?"
"May…be." She sat up and then leaned into him heavily as they made their way to the door. Opening it, Nick saw that no one was there, and they slowly started in the direction of the space port. Five feet later, she said, "I'm going…to fall," and fell to the ground unconscious.
Nick caught her and lifted her in his arms telling her, "I'm gonna get you home, lass. I promise." He started walking a little faster and got closer to the sound of the shooting. After he rounded another corner, he was startled by several men aiming weapons at him. Seeing that one of them was Everett and that Gaius and Mac were with him, he said, "Whoa! Whoa! It's me, guys."
Signaling to the others to drop their weapons, Ev approached them with a look of agony on his face. "What happened? We got your signal, but it took us awhile to get the troops together." He helped Nick put his wife on the ground and caressed her cheek before turning back to him. "What happened?"
"We found the element, but we got caught. Then they found something in the back of her head and took it out. She acted funny, and Sabinus was able to get her to do what he wanted—something about some men at the prison. I think they took her out and assaulted her."
A stricken expression appeared on Everett's face. "Oh my God! The same thing happened to her that happened to Lisa!"
His eyes widening, Nicholas replied, "What happened to Lisa?"
Gaius finished quietly speaking into the radio he had in his hand before answering. "The nearest we've been able to figure out is that both of them were assaulted at the prison."
"Yeah," said Mac. "Lisa's in the hospital in surgery right now. When we left, Dr. Giovanni told us she didn't know how long the surgery was going to take."
"That's right." He touched Ev's shoulder in support. "The rest of the troops are converging on the main body of resistance. We should get her back to the ship."
"We should," said Everett. He gave them a look of firm resolve. "And then I'm going to go back in there and find the people who did this and tear them apart!"
He picked Melissa up and headed back in the direction he had come from with the other three men following him. A few minutes later, they were back at the space port and inside one of the medium-sized shuttles that was sitting there. The pilot turned to them as Gaius asked, "Have you had any problems, Lieutenant?"
"No Sir."
Everett laid his wife down on one of the beds in the med bay. He tenderly kissed her forehead before turning back to the others and addressing Gaius. "How long do you think until this is finished?"
The other man replied, "Not long. In fact…" His voice trailed off as they all heard his radio sound. He spoke quietly into it for a few moments and then told the person on the other end they would be there momentarily. When he finished, he told the others, "That was one of the other commanders. They have found the hyper-drive element and have gathered the remaining terrorists in the two main conference rooms. There are many injuries and fatalities, but there are also several who are uninjured. Do you wish to confront them?"
"Yes, if…" He gazed at Nicholas. "You'll watch her." He indicated Melissa.
Mac touched Ev's shoulder. "You might want to let him come too. You haven't told him yet, and he might want his own confrontation."
Giving them both confused looks, Nick asked, "What are you talking about?"
Everett glanced at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, Nick. I've just been so focused on getting to Missy. When we got your signal, we were actually just finding out about what happened to Lisa. I won't go into all the details, but we had to call a medical vehiculum to the house. Ron and TJ got in the vehiculum with her, and I called Erich to bring the car for the rest of us. He got there ten minutes later. Linda, Mac, and I ran out there with the kids. Linda got in and motioned for Mac to hand her Livvy, but Erich told her to wait—he had just found a black box underneath the driving wheel. When he lifted it up, he saw a timer counting down. It was a bomb. She didn't hesitate—told Erich to drive the car as fast as he could so the kids wouldn't get hurt. And he did—they managed to get about two miles away before the car exploded. It was an inferno. I had the kids stay with Mac, and I got as close as I could. Erich is gone." He struggled not to cry. "Linda fortunately had been thrown clear." He saw the look of horror on Nicholas' face. "She's still alive, but she's in critical condition. We need to get back as soon as we can."
"Oh my God! Who's got the kids?"
"Ron and TJ are camped out with them in the waiting room at the hospitium. And Gaius here called Leia before we left. She and her sister were going to come and help."
"Good." A furious look appeared on Nick's face. "Yes, I do want to come with you to get my pound of flesh, and then we can leave, right?"
"That's the plan." He turned to Gaius. "Are the other commanders going to lock everything else up?"
Gaius nodded briskly. "They are. We should go to where they are holding the prisoners."
"Agreed."
The three of them left the ship and quickly walked to the center of the complex. Moments later, they entered one of the conference rooms where they saw a group of about ten people sitting on the floor. One of the Alterans approached Gaius. "Commander Aurelius, everything is under control here."
"Very good, Commander," said Gaius. He motioned to the people on the ground. "Who are these people?"
Before the other commander could answer, Nicholas spoke up, giving the group a look of disgust. "Those are the leaders of the group—Lucius Sabinus, Colin Balbus, and the other ones are the ones that recruited us on Altera-Phillip Gallus and Ariana Tiberius. I'm guessing the others are members of the group too, but I don't know who they are."
Observing the group carefully, Sabinus smiled when he recognized Everett. "Ambassador Young, I see you came for your wife. I'll have to tell you she was quite good in bed. She did everything we wanted her to do."
Ev walked over to him, lifted him by the shirt, and punched him twice. "That was because of the thing in her head, you idiot. If I have anything to say about it, none of you will ever see the light of day again."
"I quite agree, Ambassador," said Rush, "And I have one additional question. Which one of you planned the vehiculum bombings on Altera?"
Phillip Gallus raised his hand. "That was my handiwork. It really made people pay attention to us." He gave them a grin of satisfaction.
Going over to him, Nick punched Phillip several times until he was lying on the floor holding the side of his face. Then he got up in his face. "If my mate dies, I promise, I will find you and kill you." He stood back up and gazed at Everett and Gaius. "Okay, I'm done."
"Very good," said Gaius. He told the other commander, "Coordinate with the others, and make sure you find everything that's hidden here. And then transmit all the information you find back to Altera."
"Yes, Sir."
The three men left the conference room and went back to the space port. After they had reentered the ship, Gaius ordered the pilot to take off and head for Altera while Nicholas and Everett went to the medical bay where Mac and two medical technicians had been staying with Melissa. He noticed that she was moaning and clutching her stomach like she was in pain and asked, "How is she doing? She looks like she's in pain."
Mac replied, "She's been doing that for the last ten minutes, ever since they put her in the hospital gown."
One of the technicians, whose name was Julia interrupted him, "We've examined her, Sir, and I can tell you that some type of sexual assault occurred. I need to ask you another question. Is there a chance she could be pregnant?"
Barely noticing that the ship had begun its journey back to Altera, Ev wondered how many more things he could be hit with before he would go crazy. "We weren't doing anything to prevent it so yeah, it's possible." He felt Nick's hand touch his shoulder in support.
Nodding briskly, Julia replied, "We'll keep an eye out for that." She pointed to Mac. "Lieutenant McDonald was telling us that she has a memory compeller in her head. That needs to come out as soon as possible."
"I know. The plan is to take her straight to the hospitium as soon as we land."
"Very good."
Everett sat down in the chair next to his wife and laid his hands gently over hers. "I'm here, baby. It's okay. You're gonna be okay." He continued to talk to her as they journeyed towards Altera. A few hours later, her moaning and thrashing became louder, and Julia came back over to examine her. Standing up, he moved so the technicians could examine her more easily and noticed the blood pouring out of the center of her body. When she started making movements that reminded him of when she had been in labor with their twins, he spoke up. "Get a towel or something! Hurry! I think she's going to miscarry." Grabbing a blanket out of a cabinet, Mac handed it to him, and he placed it under Missy just in time to see a very small fetus come out of her body. "No! Oh God! No!"
He started weeping as the technicians cleaned her up. Gaius and Nick ran in from where they had been sitting at the front of the ship with the pilot. Nick asked, "What happened?"
"She miscarried. She was pregnant. I shouldn't have let her touch this thing with Par Pro Aulum. This is my fault."
"It is not. It's that idiot Sabinus' fault and all the other ones who participated."
"He's right," said Gaius. "And I will make sure this is written in the charges that will be brought against him."
Nodding in gratitude, Ev said, "Thank you. I appreciate that. He felt someone touch his shoulder. Turning to see Julia, he asked, "What is it?"
Julia pointed toward the bed where they could see the other technician with Melissa who was now staring at them with wide blue eyes. "I thought you'd want to know that she was awake."
"Thank you." He wiped his eyes and walked to the bed. Going over to the other side of it, he sat down and took her hand in his. "Hi honey. It's me, Everett. You did it. You found the element and cleared yours and Lisa's names."
Missy had awoken in a horrific haze of pain and was now trying to process the images before her. She struggled to talk. "Ev…really you?"
"Yeah, Missy, it's me. How do you feel?"
"Hurts…really…bad."
"I know." He gently stroked her face. "I'm taking you home, and we're gonna get you fixed up." Memories started coming back to Melissa—memories of giving in to the men of Par Pro Aulum to make the pain in her head go away, memories of breaking the vows she held most sacred, memories of the vile things that had been said and done in that room. She turned from her husband in shame, not wanting him to see the tears coming down her face. Turning her face back to his, Everett saw the tears. Ever since they had been together, he had never liked seeing her cry and liked it even less now. He cupped her face in his hands. "Baby, what is it? What's wrong?"
"Broke…vows. So…sorry. Will…you…forgive me?"
Horrified to hear the words come out of her mouth, he realized she must be remembering what had happened and what it must seem like to her. He gave her a determined look. "No Missy, you didn't break our vows. I promise. You didn't. The men at the prison assaulted you—put something in your head that made you…" He choked out a sob and then leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "In my heart, you were raped, and I don't consider it any other way, and I want you to think that too, okay?" She nodded at him, but continued to cry shaking with pain and sadness. Sitting next to her on the bed, Ev gathered her in his arms. "It's gonna be okay. I promise." He started to softly sing a song that had been in the last packet from Earth, a song that, if he remembered correctly, was sung by a young woman who also acted in a television show. His wife had fallen in love with it and had sung it so many times that Katie and Matthew had learned it too. "I don't want to make a scene. I don't want to let you down. Try to do my own thing. And I'm starting to figure it out. That it's alright. Keep it together wherever we go. And it's alright, oh well, whatever. Everybody needs to know. You might be crazy. Have I told you lately that I love you? You're the only reason that I'm not afraid to fly. And it's crazy that someone could change me. Now, no matter what it is I have to do, I'm not afraid to try. And you need to know that you're the reason why." He continued to sing the song rocking her back and forth and then sang every other song he could think of.
A/N: The words that you're not familiar with are Latin. The meanings are easily figured out by the context, but you can use a Latin to English translator if you're curious. Also, the song I quote at the end is a song called 'You're the Reason' by Victoria Justice.
