Chapter Nine: Escape

That Night.

One by one the men were escorted back to the dungeon.

Trip, Jon and Travis all stood up as Zeus tossed Malcolm back into the cell and the door slipped closed behind him. Malcolm fell to the floor. Jon and Trip hurried over and picked him up and helped him to the concrete bunk where he'd been sleeping. The marks of fist and whip were livid on his face and body.

"Damn it Mal, what they do to you?"

"Just a spirited work out," Malcolm said wearily. "She's alive, Trip."

"Who's alive?" Jon asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"The lovely woman who was obsessed with me and tried to kill me more than a few times," the brit replied.

"No!" Trip said incredulously. "Are you sure it was her? Could it have been anyone else?"

"I think I know Comrade V'Shele when I fight with her."

"You mean the Romulan operative, Allison Wells?" Jon said horrified.

"One and the same," Malcolm replied, shifting on the hard bunk in the vain attempt to get comfortable – bruises were coming out on him that he hadn't known he had up till now. "And she was quite well, fit and possessed of incredible stamina, for a dead woman."

"Well then, I guess I'm not the only one who had an encounter with a ghost," Travis spoke up. "Gannett's alive too. But I've kinda got the feeling that you two already knew that."

Malcolm and Trip exchanged glances.

Jon looked at Travis, then at his two officers. Neither of them returned his stare.

"Alright." He held up both hands. "I think we'd better all have a talk. Sit down Travis, Trip." They did as they'd been ordered to, though their glum expressions told him they knew what was coming and none of them were looking forward to having to spill their own particular portion of beans. "Okay, we need to know what happened when we were separated. Down to the smallest details. Anything could be important." He blew out a long sigh. "I'll start."

The other men watched silently as he got up and started pacing around. "I was taken to a room and after waiting a while, Rajiin came in."

"Rajiin!" Trip said. "You gotta be kidding me. We got V'Shele and Gannett, now Rajiin! What did she have to say for herself?"

"She said she brought me here because she wanted to see me again. Said she loved me and if I played my cards right, I'd get to see my son again. Then she went and got him, brought him into the room. I sat there and held him, touched him, kissed his little face. He called me daddy."

The other men had listened intently, and their tense expressions eased as Jon smiled a bit. But they could see the deep sadness on his face. "Then, I got a really bad pain in my head. I got dizzy and I hit the floor. And just like that he was gone."

"She took him away?" Trip asked.

"He was never there in the first place. It was just Rajiin up to her tricks again. She created an illusion to hurt me. Said she wanted to give me a glimpse into what could be."

"I'm sorry to hear that." There was quiet sympathy in his old friend's voice. "That was real cruel."

"What about you, Trip?" Malcolm asked tiredly. "I'm guessing Kaitaama was there waiting for you."

"Yeah, it was her. Off her meds and crazy as ever. But she did tell me that the parasites were a new strand, that they wouldn't cause me brain damage like before. And, she said in a in a few days, when they mature, that I wouldn't ever be able to resist her again, that she'd have complete control over me."

"Gannett told me something similar," Travis interjected. "She said in a few days we were gonna be together whether I wanted to be with her or not, and that I was gonna like it. That there was nothing I could do about it either. She said I was never going to leave here, but I wasn't gonna want to."

Jon then turned to Malcolm. "What about V'Shele? What did she tell you?"

"We didn't do a lot of talking," Malcolm replied. "She was too busy whipping my arse. Literally and metaphorically." Deftly turning the subject away from what else V'Shele had done to him, he continued, "What I don't understand is how she's alive. She died over two years ago, on that godforsaken planet where she was holding Hoshi."

"We just thought she was dead, Mal," Trip replied. "Guess Gannett was right after all. We shouldn't have left her body behind. It's just that when she went over that ledge and fell into that ravine, I just thought there was no way she could have survived the fall."

Malcolm sat up straight, wincing at the punishment for the unwary movement, and stared at Trip. "What do you mean, when she went over that ledge? That's not the way it happened."

Trip frowned at his friend. "Mal are you crazy or something? We all saw it, the whole thing. Me, T'Pol and Gannett!" Travis shot him a look, but he went on undeterred. "You guys were standing on the edge of that cliff. She ran at you, and you kinda just stepped aside and she went over."

Malcolm shook his head; maybe the parasites were affecting him more than he'd thought, or maybe the beating he'd taken had left him dazed and confused. "Trip! I killed her! I had to, she left me no choice. I – I snapped her neck!"

"Look Malcolm, you were pretty out of it when we found you," Trip explained. "You'd survived a pod crash, you'd been freezing your ass off in that cabin with little food for over a week. To top it off, she'd just injected you with that kai-ya venom." Jon and Travis just sat silently through this exchange, watching their colleagues. "So I can understand you not remembering what happened."

"I broke her bloody neck!" the Englishman exclaimed. "You think I could forget something like that?"

"No Mal, you didn't! Maybe you were hallucinating from that venom. But you didn't break her neck. Looks like you did kinda take hold of her when she ran at you, but ultimately you just moved out of the way and let her run over that cliff. I don't know, maybe you did help her propel herself on over it. Anyway, like I said before, Gannet wanted to go down and retrieve her body, ensure she was dead. But I wanted to get you back. Turns out we shoulda listened to her."

Malcolm looked at the floor. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. All this time, he'd thought he'd killed his greatest adversary yet. But she had survived. She was alive, to torment him even more.

"So, Gannett was with you guys out there when you went to rescue Hoshi, huh?" Travis said, with a look of deep anguish on his face. "No wonder you didn't want me to go. You didn't want me to find out!"

"That's not true, Travis, I didn't even know myself at the time," Trip replied.

"Yeah but you found out soon enough. And you never thought I needed to know, that I'd want to know … deserved to know."

"It wasn't like that," Trip said holding up a hand, trying to calm him.

"Yeah? Well what was it like? You guys run off to play the spy game. Lie to everyone, me, your CO. Then you just keep on lying; keep playing with everyone's lives?"

Trip looked bewildered. "C'mon Travis! You know we had to do what we did!"

"Does Hoshi know about you, Malcolm? I mean does she know everything?" Mayweather smiled bitterly as Malcolm just looked down without answering. Then he turned to Jon. "Admiral, did you know?"

Jon's eyes widened slightly, then he shook his head. "No, Travis, I didn't," he said. "You see, it's been a long time since Trip and I were close. He doesn't tell me things like he did in the old days. I didn't know about Gannett, didn't know about a lot of things, still don't."

"Not you too Jon," Trip said miserably.

"You guys only think about yourselves," Travis snapped, his anger spilling over. "Have you thought about the reason any of this is happening – that it could be because of your actions?" No one said anything. "Have you thought about your wives back home…that they could be in danger right now, because of something you've done?"

"Look, mate," Malcolm replied, his voice flat and hard. "We didn't plan for this to happen, it just did. We've all got some shady ladies in our past, else none of us would be here."

"You calling Gannett shady?"

"She's a bloody spy!" Malcolm snapped. "A damned good one at that, one of the best I've ever seen. She did what she did because she had to. I know you don't understand that and you probably never will understand people like us. People like me and Gannett, like Trip."

"Like Trip?" Jon said with a wrinkled forehead.

"Yes," Malcolm answered, and for a moment it seemed that some of the color drained from his face. He sighed and sat back against the wall, hesitating for a moment as if wondering if he should reveal what he was about to. Then he forged on. "All right … the fact is, we're all a part of an elite black ops squadron called "Excalibur". Trip didn't set out to become a part of it, he kind of fell into it. But he's actually become pretty good at it as well.

"But listen," he went on, turning his attention squarely on Travis.

"Gannet was on a mission, and she knew it was something bigger than herself. That's why she left you, Travis; it wasn't because she didn't love you, she did. She agonized over you a lot. But she knew she had to cut you loose, else her relationship with you was going to cause her to compromise herself, or someone on her team. More importantly, her actions could make you a target and get you killed. So, she left. Then, when she saw an opportunity to go deep undercover, she did. And I wasn't about to jeopardize her cover, perhaps even her life, by telling anyone who she really was or what she was doing. Any breach of security on this could have got her killed, or someone on her team, or even someone she loved."

Travis didn't respond to that. He just got up and went to the far corner of the room and put his back to the wall. Then he slid to the floor, just looking straight ahead.

"So, Trip," Jon began, shaking his head. "You're into black ops. T'Pol know?"

"T'Pol is one of us," Trip said. "At least she was until well... until we thought we were going to have a baby. She was already a trained operative, but you knew that."

There was silence for a few moments. "Alright," Jon finally said. "Since Travis and I are obviously out of our league, I'm going to defer to your expertise. What should we do to get out of here?"

"That depends a lot on what these women want with us," Malcolm said.

"Well that's easy," Trip interjected. "Kaitaama wants good ole Trip. Just like before, as a boy-toy. She loves forcing herself on me; just got finished doing just that a few hours ago."

"Yeah, well, tell me about it," Malcolm replied, grimacing. "But I think V'Shele wants more. I think she wants revenge. Also, she's a Romulan operative, you can't ever forget that fact."

"We haven't worked it all out yet, sir, but we're gonna get out of here," Trip said. "Malcolm knows what he's doing. Now that we know what and who we're dealing with, he'll come up with a plan and we will get out of here."

Jon nodded. "Alright, then Captain Reed, I'm officially placing you in charge of this mission. But, is there anything else I need to know or should know? Just so that I'm not blindsided – or him," he said gesturing at Travis.

Trip and Malcolm looked at one another. "Well," Trip said hesitantly, "when I was treated for my brain injury last year, you know with the alien gene therapy ... something happened to me."

"Oh? Something like what?"

"I experienced some side effects from that treatment. And now, I'm like, incredibly strong."

Jon just stared at him. "You mean, strong like Vulcan strong?"

"Even stronger than that," Malcolm replied with a smirk.

"Is that why you keep messing with the door, trying to see if you can pry it open?"

"Had to try," Trip said with a grin. "But that thing's like nothing I've ever seen before. I think I'm making progress with it though." With that, he jumped up and moved toward the door. He positioned himself in front of it and started to push it with all his might. He did this a couple of times, then all of a sudden, something happened. The door moved.

Everyone jumped up. As Trip pushed at the massive door again, and again, it moved ever so slightly. He didn't even have to ask, they all raced over and began to push the door.

Finally, it opened.

=/\=

In Another Part of the Compound.

It was about 2:00 am when Gannet slid out of her room and hurried along to the med bay. She had contacted Yuris and asked if he could see her under the guise of some medical issue. If they were caught, this would be their cover. At this hour medical was not being monitored, so they could talk.

"Doctor," the ex-SI officer said as she entered the room and hurried over to the bio-bed.

"Ms. Brooks," Dr. Yuris replied.

"I told you a thousand times, it's Gannet," she replied.

"As you wish," the doctor said in turn.

"How were they, after getting that blasted so-called treatment I mean?" she asked.

Dr. Yuris shook his head and leaned on the bio-bed for a moment. It was uncharacteristic of the Vulcan. "Those creatures are very dangerous," he began.

"I thought you said the new strand wouldn't cause any brain damage."

"No, they won't. Not actual brain damage. But the psychological effects…"

Suddenly, the med bay door slid open. Gannet and Yuris looked up, a bit startled.

"Sorry," Rajiin said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No problem," Gannet replied. "Doc here was just about to explain some things to me."

"I cannot believe this is happening," Rajiin said. "All over again. Kaitaama, V'Shele and those goddammed horrible, little creatures! And this time, Jon's infected…and I still don't know where my child is!"

"Hey, hey," Gannet said reaching out and taking the distraught woman's hands in hers. "You gotta hold it together, okay. You've been doing great for a long time. But you can't let your guard down now. If V'Shele and Kaitaama find out we're not really infected, they'll kill us."

"Yes, it is imperative that they believe you are under the influence of the parasites. That you are in consort with them," Dr. Yuris interjected.

"It's just a good thing you were able to infect us with a weak strand," Gannet said to the doctor. "Oh, I mean, infect me."

"The creatures you were infected with were already dying," he replied.

"Do you have to remind me?" Gannet said as she made a disgusted face. "And it's really a good thing that those bastards never had any effect on blondie here."

"Yeah, good for me," Rajiin said. "Do you have any idea how hard it's been to pretend like those things have control over me? I've been play acting and lying for so long that sometimes, I don't know what the truth is anymore."

"The truth is that V'Shele and Kaitaama are both deeply disturbed individuals," Yuris chimed in. "And they will stop at nothing to get what they want. They have kidnapped me and brought me here to help carry out their diabolical schemes. It's not so much that I am so concerned for my life…but that of my clan members."

"Doc," you don't have to explain," Gannet replied. "We know you're being held against your will same as us. And we know you're trying to protect your family. I'm just glad you were gracious enough to find a way to keep me from being screwed up by those things."

"And you have done well not to reveal yourself," Yuris replied.

"It's what I do doc, it's what I do. But you were gonna tell me about the condition of the Starfleet officers."

"I saw what those things did to Trip before," Rajiin said. "He became angry and aggressive. Kaitaama hated that."

"Yes," the doctor started. "As I stated, this strand of the creatures are very dangerous as well. While I was able to eleviate the side effect that causes its host to become violent from the creatures, there are still many others. Memory loss, confusion, the loss of self-will, and eventually insanity. Ultimately, the recipients will lose themselves forever. They will become mindless drones, responding only to the will of their masters."

"That's awful," Rajiin replied, lowering her head. "I wouldn't want anyone who didn't want me. If that were the case, I would have never left Earth. But I saw that it wasn't going to work between me and Jon. And I-I hated deceiving him earlier. Using Johnny, the one thing I knew would really hurt him. It was cruel."

"Not any more than I hated deceiving Travis," Gannet said. "I've already hurt him enough. It tore me apart to do what I did to him. But I had to put on the dog and pony show for the cameras, so did you. It's not like we had any choice."

"What is the plan of action going forward?" the doctor asked.

"We need to try and get to Malcolm or Trip," Gannet said. "They're spies. They know how to play the game. If we can get one of them alone, where we can talk, let 'em know that our heads are straight and we're just pretending. Try to convince 'em to fight against the parasites' influence. To get the temporary antidote to them so Rajiin can do her thing. They need to know they can trust us and we're just trying to figure out how to get the hell away from here."

"Not without finding out where V'Shele is hiding Johnny first!" Raijin said in a raised voice.

"Sssshhh!" Gannet replied. "Hold it down! Of course we're going to find out where he is and rescue him. I promise you that. But, first we've got to get to the men and let them know what's really going on."

"In the meantime, I will continue to work on the antidote," the doctor said. "I just wish I had Dr. Phlox's notes. The longer they stay infected, the worse it will become."

"You know I can help with that," Raijiin said. "Just like I did with you Gannet."

"But I wasn't as badly infected as they are," she said in return.

"I can do it," the young woman said.

"But Captain Tucker was badly infected before," the Vulcan said, "and suffered brain damage upon having the cure administered. He above all, is very vulnerable to the creatures. If a cure is not administered soon, he may not be able to be cured. And Captain Reed has suffered two nasty concussions within a short period of time. He is at serious risk as well."

"Then we better hurry," Gannet said and jumped off the bio-bed. "Let's get back to our rooms. You never know who's roaming the halls, creeping and snooping around."

With that, they exited the med bay.