Chapter 20 – Signs and Symbols
By the time Lili could truly begin to assess what was happening, time had gone by.
She was unsure of how long they'd been in captivity. It felt like weeks, but it could have been longer, or shorter, than that.
First, she tried counting their meals, reasoning that their captors might have been feeding them once per day. But that soon proved impossible, as the feeding schedule was all over the place. Sometimes, she was climbing the walls with hunger, chewing her fingernails to the quick and practically chowing down on her dirty chef's whites. At other times, she was almost full, and then they were fed again. It was as if their captors were new at it, or maybe they were doing it all deliberately, in an effort to make them not follow the passage of time, or give up hope all the more quickly. It was impossible to say.
The main thing that would have made it easier for her to give up hope was the fact that they were not together. She was alone in a cell, but the front was transparent, with a kind of force field that stung her if she touched it, and felt like burning if she lingered at all. Jay was also alone, and his cell was across from hers, but at least they could see each other.
On the first day they were there, once they were separately incarcerated, he attempted to communicate with her by tapping the force field in front of his own cage in a rhythmic manner. She realized that he was trying Morse code, but she didn't know Morse, so she shrugged, palms up, a universal gesture meaning – I don't understand.
And then Lili had tried, as she knew the Manual Alphabet for the Deaf, although she was slow and rather rusty. It was one thing that her grandmother had taught her, as Grand-Mère had run a day care center for Starfleet and had had to learn all manner of languages, and sometimes learned different bits of others for fun. Hence there were lullabies in not only English and French, but even Spanish and Portuguese in her repertoire. Plus there was the Manual Alphabet, meant to teach little human and Vulcan and Denobulan fingers a bit of finesse and dexterity.
Lili went slowly, but either Jay couldn't see her fingers that well or he couldn't follow what she was doing, even after she would point at him and make the sign for a J – her pinkie finger extended and moved in the shape of a semi-circle. It was his turn to roll his shoulders a little, palms up in supplication – I don't understand.
And so they had communicated rather primitively, nodding or shaking their heads, thumbs up or down, or a hand, held horizontally, with the fingers waggled, a sign for meh or half and half or in between. They would point at themselves, or at each other, and would make an okay sign – are you okay? And the answer would be a nod or a horizontal hand or, for Jay, it was getting to be more and more frequently – a shaking head or a thumb down.
For he was far from all right. The Imvari kept their translators off unless they were temporarily deactivating the force field on a cage to toss in food or take out a prisoner for questioning. And then the questioning, naturally, would be translated. But otherwise the translators were off and Lili and Jay just heard muffled gibberish from their captors.
But Jay was taken out, and taken out more often than Lili was, and they questioned him. What species are you? Where is your ship? What are its specifications? Where are you going? And he would answer, as he had been taught, with the usual – my name is Jay Douglas Hayes. My rank is Major. My serial number is 42753.
And now their questions were changing, and it was harder for him. They would beat him, and Lili was shocked, seeing him in such a state. He had a blackened eye, and there always seemed to be a little blood on the side of his mouth, some sort of internal injury making itself sickeningly manifest.
The questions were now about Lili. Is that your female? Don't you want to make life better for her? We could free her if you tell us what we wish to know. Don't you want to see her freed?
And Jay would keep in mind what he had been taught, back in the earliest days, even before MACO training, back to West Point – it was the first rule of conduct as a prisoner – don't give them anything to work with.
=/\=
On the NX-01, they scoured the area. It was not easy. The larger Imvari ships were slower, it seemed, but they were not in the area. To add to the difficulty, their warp trails were well masked. It was almost as if they had never been in the area, but of course they had. As for the smaller ships, they were too fast for the Enterprise to follow them.
Jonathan held a meeting of the senior staff. Taking the place of Jay was Julie McKenzie Mayweather. And for Lili, Brian and Craig served the refreshments and tried not to think about their missing friend.
"Ideas?" Captain Archer asked.
"Didn't the Ikaarans say they were mining dilithium somewhere?" asked Tripp.
"Yes, but they didn't give us coordinates," Hoshi said.
"Still, how far away could they be?" Travis asked. "I mean, the Xyrillians told us that the Ikaarans were being nabbed by the Imvari, right? So if we find the Ikaarans, how far away could the Imvari really be?"
"It's a start," Jonathan nodded to T'Pol, "Figure out anything you can, any trace of a warp trail of any sort."
"Might also want to work with the tracings of trails from the Ikaarans," Malcolm suggested.
"Good idea," praised the captain.
"Sir?" Malcolm asked.
"Yes?"
"I'd like to put together a strike force. A dozen men, from both the MACOs and Security. I wouldn't take any of the women or any of the fathers, of course."
"Agreed," said Julie.
"Get that started," Jonathan commanded, "There's no time to waste."
=/\=
In their prison – which was really an Imvari ship – Lili sat and waited. The force field on her cell buzzed a little, so she knew it was being deactivated briefly. She stepped back, expecting a shallow bowl of food to be tossed in, but instead an Imvari came over and pulled her out.
Jay was being put back in his cell and so they had a brief moment where they were both out. He was being held by two Imvari. He looked at her as she was dragged by, and she could see the concern in his eyes. He stayed still, watching, doing nothing, for there was nothing he could do.
=/\=
Lili was led to an interrogation room. She'd been taken there before, but the Imvari had been disappointed in her answers, too. Unlike Jay, she wasn't as disciplined, but it didn't matter. She quite literally had nothing to tell them.
"Your ship – where is it?"
"I didn't come in a ship," she said.
"No ship?"
"Nope, I flew in, all by myself. I've got wings that you can't see."
An Imvari thug hit her, hard, in the face. She staggered, reeling, seeing stars. "The truth!" yelled the Imvari interrogator.
She blinked away tears. "And what will you do if I tell you, huh? You won't let either of us go, I'm sure. And you won't make anything easier for us. So why the hell should I bother telling you anything?"
"I can make things even more unpleasant for you. Or, wait – I can make them more unpleasant for the male. Is he yours, by chance? Our catchers heard you speaking to one another before they grabbed you. Were those words of love, perchance?"
"Actually, we were swapping recipes," she responded.
"What does your ship run on?" the interrogator asked, trying a different tack.
Lili looked at him. He was huge – they all were – a good two meters tall. That was a bit of an advantage for her, as they were not interested in her body. She was far too small for any of them. But they were menacing, with textured blue faces and light orangey-tan curved horns around the perimeter of their heads. She decided on a different tack of her own. "Cilantro," she replied, "the ship has a cilantro drive."
"What is that? What does it do? How fast can you go?"
"Oh, we're fast. Incredibly fast," she was almost flirty with the lie, "you'll never catch them. I mean, we're the only two of our species that you'll ever see. And you're damned lucky you even got us."
The thug hit her again, this time on her left shoulder. She felt it give a bit, and it felt just like when she'd crashed into Jay during the play at the plate during the ball game. That seemed like it had happened a thousand years before that very moment. She could tell; the left clavicle was fractured again. She winced a little, trying not to show a reaction.
"Where does this cilantro come from? Answer me!"
"A place you'll never see," she seethed, all false bravado, "Mexico."
=/\=
In his cell, Jay paced. What the hell can they possibly be asking her, he thought.
There was some work being done by the guards that he couldn't see, and he couldn't understand them anyway. He did his best to hide his worry. Don't give them anything to work with.
=/\=
In the gym, Malcolm talked to both the MACOs and the personnel from Security as Julie looked on. "I need a dozen volunteers to rescue Ensign O'Day and Major Hayes. And before you step forward, I have to say – despite how unfair or sexist it may sound – no women, and no fathers. Your places are here. I'm sorry, but it has to be that way. This is; we don't know how hazardous it will be."
"And," Julie added, "It's entirely possible that this mission will stimulate the Imvari to try to board the Enterprise. So staying behind doesn't necessarily mean you won't see any action."
Frank Todd stepped forward first. "Let me be the point man for the MACOs."
Julie nodded. Then Victor Brown, Gary Hodgkins and Ramih Azar of the MACOs stepped forward.
Then Tristan Curtis and Billy Dane in the Security Department stepped forward. Malcolm nodded. Mario Lattimer and Mark Reilly came forward, too. Then Rob Slater and Tony Vittorio; they came forward, too.
MACOs Eddie Hamboyan and Eric Forbes stepped forward as well.
"That's our twelve," reported Julie.
"All right," Malcolm confirmed, "now, Corporal Todd and I will be the point men. We'll go in two shuttles. He'll be in one, and I shall be in the other. Aside from our two pilots, that will be everyone. It'll be a bit crowded going, and more so coming back with the Major and the Ensign, but I'm not taking any chances."
=/\=
The thug hit her again, and this time, she got a ringing in her right ear that wasn't going away quickly. Her right jaw hurt, too, and she felt like at least one tooth had loosened.
"There is a sales value to females," explained the interrogator, "even to old and uncooperative ones such as yourself. But I grow tired of this. You will tell me about this cilantro drive, or the male will. And we have far fewer qualms about harming him."
"He's just a soldier," she fought to keep the impassive face that Malcolm had taught her while he'd taught her chess. Don't let the opponent see what you are thinking. Think four, five, a half a dozen moves ahead, but don't even show that you're doing something as abstract as all that. Give forth the impression that you're just musing about the weather.
"He could know things," said the interrogator.
"He doesn't," she replied, fighting the impulse to hold her aching jaw or her painful shoulder.
"Then why were you talking to him just before you were netted?"
"We were discussing inconsequential things."
Another hit, and she could tell she was getting a black eye.
"Enough for one day," decided the interrogator. There was a communications chime. "Ah, we have more to do."
She was thrown back into her cell.
=/\=
"And we'll follow whatever Ikaaran warp trails we can find," Jonathan reiterated, "or any indications of dilithium ore anywhere in the area."
T'Pol peered into her scanner. "There is a system not far from the Paradise System. It appears to have intense concentrations of lithium, which is often found with dilithium."
"Let's go there first," Captain Archer commanded.
"They are most likely on a ship," T'Pol pointed out.
"True," Jonathan allowed, "but those Ikaarans have been dealing with them longer than we have. I figure it's worth a shot. Otherwise, we've got no leads."
=/\=
Lili knew how terrible she looked, sitting in her cell by herself and, at times, holding her left shoulder or the right side of her mouth. She gazed at Jay, who looked as bad, with bruising all over his face, a bit of blood dried on the side of his mouth. They were both filthy – her chef's whites were white in name only. She couldn't quite tell how long they had been there, as she couldn't perfectly see him, but he had beard growth, and it was far more than a five o'clock shadow. It was coming in, for the most part, steely grey.
She thumped her own chest lightly when he looked up, a signal to tell him – I am talking about myself now.
And then she made the thumbs down gesture – the sign for – I feel awful. Then she pointed to him, the gesture for – let's talk about you.
He thumped his own chest lightly, and cringed. There was some injury there. Perhaps it was a fractured sternum. He, too, made the thumbs down gesture.
There was the sound of scuffling, and the guards came over with four new prisoners, all male. They threw two into Lili's cell, and the other two into Jay's. Just as the force field was warming back up to full strength again, she heard one of her new cellmates say, in awe, "It's a woman."
=/\=
There was a Minshara class planet in that system; it was the fifth planet from a sun that was somewhat smaller than Sol. "Life signs?" asked the captain anxiously.
"None," replied T'Pol, "but there is wreckage, and evidence of some industry, which could be mining."
"Take us in closer, Travis. Aidan," Jonathan addressed the Tactical Lieutenant as Malcolm was still in the gym with his strike team.
"Yes, sir?"
"Check for weapons fire and anything else you can think of."
"Right away, sir."
=/\=
The translator, Lili knew, stopped working the moment the force field was at full strength. So she could not understand the two other prisoners as they clicked at each other. They were humanoid, and had dark hair and eyes, and notched noses. On any other day, she'd have thought them handsome. But at that moment, she was just scared.
Jay was still gazing from the other cell, mainly ignoring his two new cellmates, endeavoring to maintain an air of control and power.
She about lost it when one of her new cellmates touched her elbow.
This caused Jay to spring to his feet, and he shouted, but all Lili could hear was a muffled sound. Trembling, she turned to the one who'd touched her. He was patting his own chest. When she looked at him, he smiled a little. She continued to regard him with suspicion. He finally said, "Jeris." Then he pointed at their cellmate.
The cellmate patted his own chest and said, "Jobiram."
They both pointed at her. "My name?" she finally asked. "You want to know my name." She thumped her chest lightly. "Lili." Then she pointed at the cell across the small hall. "Jay."
Jeris gazed at her, inspecting her closely, and it was unnerving. He was on her left side and touched her shoulder. She winced and cried out involuntarily.
She then noticed that her shoulder glowed a little, as did his right hand – the hand he was using to touch her. The glow traveled up his arm to his chest and over to his own left shoulder, and then it traveled back, all in the space of a few minutes. When the glow returned, her shoulder was hot for a second. And then there was the tiniest aroma of – Lili couldn't quite place it – it seemed a little like roasting a bone for the dog's dinner.
Then Jeris moved his hand away, but he pointed at her shoulder. She rolled it slightly. It felt a lot better. "Did you, did you fix it?"
He did not understand her. This time it was Jobiram, who touched the right side of her face. Again, there was a glow, which moved down his arm. This time, it went to his face and jaw, and then it returned to her. There was the same smell, mixed a bit with the aroma of roast chicken, and suddenly her cheek and eye area felt better and her tooth didn't feel loose anymore. The ringing in her ear stopped, too.
She gazed back at Jay's cell and he smiled his lopsided half-smile and pointed at her and made a thumbs-up gesture – you're all right. His two cellmates set upon him and performed similar tasks, but they were less successful. The superficial outer wounds were healed, and Jay's bruises disappeared. But there was still something internally wrong. One of his cellmates had placed a hand on his abdomen. The glow had traveled, but then it had ping ponged around, unable to find, perhaps, a comparable organ on its host. And so that injury – which was most likely Jay's worst – was not cured.
She pointed at him and he responded with the horizontal hand with waggling fingers gesture – half and half okay.
=/\=
T'Pol and Diana beamed to the surface and inspected the wreckage. "It was a firefight," Diana concluded.
"So it would appear. Let's see if we can access any data or records at this facility."
They found a communications room and downloaded the information quickly. From on board the Enterprise, Hoshi confirmed that they had gotten all of it. They beamed back.
Hoshi gave the Bridge Communications station to Maryam to handle and she and Chip went to the situation room to work on the alien database. After an hour, they had something. "Captain," Hoshi reported through a communicator, "your hunch was right. This was an Ikaaran mining facility. And it was attacked by Imvari maybe a day ago."
"Can you give me any idea where they went?"
"Yes," replied Chip, "we've got coordinates for a way station where the Imvari are undoubtedly going. They seem to go there before they get to the Orion slave market, in order to spruce everybody up before sale." He gave the coordinates out.
"All right, Travis," Jonathan commanded, "maximum warp."
=/\=
It continued like that for what felt like a few more days of captivity. Lili or Jay would be beaten for a while. The Imvari were interested in interrogating them, but not their cellmates. It was during one of these beatings that Jay heard the Imvari refer to his cellmates as Ikaaran scum. But that was all he knew about them.
=/\=
They got to the coordinates, which was a large agglomeration of ships not unlike a Suliban helix. Ships came and went. Even T'Pol couldn't recognize many of the configurations.
"We're being hailed," Hoshi said.
"By whom?" asked the captain.
"The station itself."
"On screen."
"May I help you?" asked an unfamiliar alien who was bald, with solid silver arms.
"We were wondering if perhaps you could help us," Jonathan began, "I'm Jonathan Archer of the starship Enterprise. Two of our people were captured by Imvari, and our understanding is that they would be sold into Orion slavery."
"And?"
"And we'd like them back."
"A moment." The alien turned behind him and asked someone off-screen, "Please check."
The report came back less than a minute later. "The Imvari haven't been here for several months. We do, though, expect them back soon."
"Can we wait? Or can you at least let us know when they're back?"
"We can let you know when they return, but you'll have to work your differences out directly with them. We don't judge here, who is on which ship, and whether their presence on a ship is voluntary," explained the alien.
"Surely you don't support kidnapping," said Captain Archer.
"We try not to impose our values on other species. One species' kidnapping may be another's redistribution of excess population."
"This wasn't redistribution," Jonathan responded, a little angrily.
"Understood. We will let you know when the Imvari return." The connection was unceremoniously cut.
"I guess we wait," the captain said. "Let's head back toward the Paradise System."
=/\=
The guards were chattering about something in their unfamiliar language, so Lili pricked up her ears. Then the force field was cut. "What's going on?" she asked.
"I can understand you," Jeris said.
"Only when the field is cut," she explained, "so it's not for long."
The Imvari guards held two large sticks in front of them and menaced them. "What's this?" asked Jobiram.
The Imvari guard didn't answer; he just demonstrated on Jobiram, who got a nasty shock to his midsection. He fell back toward Jeris and Lili.
The other force field was deactivated, and the other two Ikaarans were thrown in with them. Jay was separated out from the others, and forced back to the interrogation room.
"He may not survive another trip there," said one of the Ikaarans just before the force field was fully reactivated. The remainder of his speech was a series of clicks.
The five of them – four Ikaarans and Lili – sat in the cell and waited.
It was hours later or at least it seemed that way, and Jay was finally thrown in with them. One arm hung useless at his side. One eye was completely shut. The side of his face was badly swollen. The Ikaarans set to work on him and fixed his broken arm and his blackened eye, and healed his jaw. However, as before, any internal injuries he had could not be healed by them.
Lili looked at Jay as he half-sat, half-laid on the floor of the cell. He shivered a little, and she realized it might be shock setting in. She took off her filthy chef's white jacket and placed it around him. He was still shivering so she placed her arms around him, sitting behind him, letting him lean on her. "Shh," she whispered, "just rest."
"I'm supposed to be protecting you," he said softly.
"You can get the next one," she said, equally softly.
"Take my nickel. You can … have it. It's all I have."
He laid his head back and nestled against her body. She offered warmth and softness, and it was the only feeling of pleasure he'd had ever since they had been captured. If I die here, he thought to himself, at least I had this.
=/\=
Malcolm drilled with his team any chance he could. They would be as ready as any strike force ever could be, in the history of strike forces. There would be no errors.
=/\=
On the Bridge, T'Pol noticed something on her screen. "I have Imvari readings," she reported, "off to port, bearing three one nine mark four zero six mark eight two."
"Travis?" Jonathan asked.
Travis turned the ship, and there was a ship ahead at the specified coordinates. They weren't quite at the Paradise System yet, at least.
The ship was large and had what appeared to be ten arms. Eight of these arms were occupied by smaller shuttle-like craft. The other two were vacant. As they watched, one of the arms retracted into the larger ship, thereby bringing the smaller craft inside and locking it in place, perhaps to prevent damage or prepare for a jump to warp.
"Hail them," commanded the captain.
"Right away, sir."
=/\=
The force field was temporarily disengaged as two shallow bowls of food were thrown in. It was as much as Lili and Jay had had when it was only the two of them.
Knowing they would understand each other briefly, Jeris asked, "Is anyone in the other cells?"
"I haven't seen anyone," said Lili. "Why do you suppose we're now all together?"
"They must figure they're going to pick up more prisoners," replied Jobiram.
"Shut up, Ikaaran scum!" yelled one of the guards, "There is a ship there – we'll soon get more of her kind."
The field returned to full strength and they could no longer understand each other.
=/\=
There was a communications chime in the gym. "We can see a way in," said Jonathan, "get suited up and ready to go. Get to the launch bay as soon as you can."
"Got that. Reed out." Malcolm closed the link. "You heard the captain. Five minutes."
He rushed out, too, and got to his quarters on B deck. He stripped out of his sweats and donned a uniform jumpsuit. Then, as he thought of it, he quickly turned on his PADD and dictated.
I, Malcolm Reed, of a sound yet troubled mind, do hereby alter my will as follows: I leave all my worldly possessions, such as they are, to Lili O'Day and any descendants she may have, either natural or adopted. I make this change as she is the person who I care about more than anyone else and I hope, by these presents, to finally tell her what she means to me.
He shut off the PADD and left, hightailing it to the launch bay as the members of his team began to join him.
=/\=
Jeris offered Lili a plate of the food. She was starving – it had been quite a while since her previous feeding – but the portions were clearly limited. She first stuck her dirty fingers in and took some out. It was a kind of wet gruel. She offered it to Jay. "No," he said, "you … must … stay strong."
"And you have to, as well. I am not gonna let you starve."
"I've, I've … failed you, Sparr – uh, Lili."
"No, you haven't. Now eat this before I have to resort to blackmail, or something."
He took what she offered. She offered a little more and he shook his head. "No, Lili. I won't take your … share."
"Very well," she licked her own fingers. Everything tasted awful and she was tired and her hands were filthy, but there wasn't anything else. She offered the remainder to their cellmates, who divided it up as fairly as possible and ate.
"Yanno," she said as Jay laid against her chest, "it would be really helpful if I were to get a hot flash right about now."
"Yeah," he said, "it's … so … cold." His teeth began to chatter and she got even more worried, for it was not that cold in there.
"Stay with me, Jay," she murmured to him, holding him closer to try to warm him up a bit.
=/\=
Travis was all set to go to the launch bay to pilot one of the shuttles when Jonathan held his arm. "No, you don't go," said the captain, "I'll pilot Shuttlepod One."
"Sir?"
"Julie and Paul, they need you," Jonathan explained.
"But –"
"But nothing. T'Pol, you're in charge. We'll, uh, be back before you know it."
The last thing Jonathan heard on the Bridge was Hoshi speaking in communications. "Diana, come and relieve T'Pol at the Science station."
=/\=
The launch bay was crowded. Jonathan got behind the controls of Shuttlepod One. Malcolm divided up the teams. "Corporal Todd," he said to Frank, "you'll go with Captain Archer. And so will, uh, Private Hodgkins, Mister Curtis, Mister Vittorio, Private Azar and Private Hamboyan. I'll go with Christian Harris as our pilot on Shuttlepod Two, and will take Mister Slater, Mister Dane, Mister Lattimer, Private Brown, Mister Reilly and Private Forbes."
"Remember," Jonathan said, as the shuttle hatches were closing, "no fancy heroics. Just get them back."
=/\=
The Imvari didn't even bother to pick up the empty bowls; they just kept their posts or rushed to what was apparently an entrance.
"What do you think is happening?" Lili asked.
"Our guys are … coming."
"Don't try to talk anymore," she said, worry crossing her face. Their cellmates were almost as concerned as she was. Jeris nodded, and the four Ikaarans took places in front of where Lili was holding Jay. And they waited.
=/\=
Once docked, the two teams began running down the arms of the big ship. There were eventually some doorways, all adorned with not writing but, apparently, pictographs. "Any idea what this says?" Frank asked Tristan Curtis.
"Huh, a rectangle with a lot of Xs in it. Weapons storage? Bunks?" asked Eddie Hamboyan.
"Only one way to find out," grunted Frank, smacking the rectangular panel.
=/\=
On board the Enterprise, they were under attack. "Ready about!" yelled T'Pol as Aidan followed her orders. A couple of the smaller shuttle-like vehicles broke off from the main Imvari ship and attempted to jump to warp. Aidan was able to take out the engines of one of them, but not the other, which managed to flee the scene.
For the two arms of the Imvari ship that were now empty of their shuttles, the arms retracted and pulled so that they were closer into the main body of that ship. The Imvari ship now seemed to be a bit more maneuverable, and so it turned, but that exposed its underside.
"I'm seeing a fluctuating energy reading!" Diana said.
"Where, Ensign Jones?" asked T'Pol.
"Port side, that orange panel," she reported.
"I see it!" yelled Aidan. "Locking on phase cannons. I think we could do a lotta damage hitting that."
"On my signal," T'Pol said, "get us some distance, Lieutenant Mayweather."
"Aye."
They were a bit clear. The spot was near where there was an Imvari shuttle parked, but not near where the NX-01's own shuttles were. "I can't tell where our people are!" Diana said, "It's like they put up a dampening field or something."
"Delay the order, Mister MacKenzie," T'Pol turned to Hoshi. "Get me Engineering."
"Go ahead."
"Commander, is there any way to bypass a dampening field on the Imvari ship?" asked T'Pol.
"Not without takin' it out," he replied, "and I'm not so sure where the origination point is."
"Start checking. T'Pol out." She then turned to face Diana. "Ensign Jones, do the same. We need to take out that field."
"Aye."
=/\=
Malcolm and his team were making their way along an arm of the Imvari ship. They could hear sounds of hydraulics. "That way," said Malcolm as his team followed.
=/\=
Lili was scared but also exhausted. She closed her eyes for just a second.
She saw Jay fall, dead, in front of her. Malcolm burst in, alone, and he was hit by an Imvari shocking stick enough times that it killed him. Somehow, she survived the raid and was back on the Enterprise, standing, sobbing, as twin repurposed torpedo tubes were shot off into space and there was no one there to comfort her during the dual funeral of the two men she cared about the most.
Troubled, she snapped awake in an instant. Terrified, she put her hand under Jay's nose, and was relieved to feel his breath. But it was ragged, sounding like he was weakening, as opposed to how his snoring had sounded, so many days before. Jeris looked back at her and at Jay, concerned. It was obvious to anyone that Jay didn't have a lot of time left unless things changed rather rapidly.
=/\=
After hitting the panel with the Xs on it, Frank and his team saw a control room. There were four Imvari in there. Phase pistol fire didn't dispatch them immediately – Frank and his team learned they had to be hit twice. One of the Imvari managed to get one of their shocking sticks and attacked.
The team worked together, but the stick hit Gary Hodgkins several times. It took quite a while before the four Imvari were finally down and the shocking stopped.
Hodgkins was lying on the ground, not moving much. Frank knelt down next to him. "Hang on," he clicked his communicator open, but only got static. "Something's jamming the signal." He looked down at Hodgkins, who looked pale and weak. "Stick with me, Gary."
"Frank," Gary managed to gasp out. "I need to, to tell you."
"Save your strength. Don't talk."
"N-no," Gary was as insistent as he could be, given his condition. "I gotta … tell you."
Frank just looked at him. This was not good. "Tell me what you need to."
"Didn't mean … to hurt … her. Or … scare … her. Just … had to … touch a, a woman."
"Who? Who did you have to touch?" Frank asked, struggling to hear Hodgkins.
"Frank, we better go," said Ramih Azar. "I can hear; there are footsteps approaching. Lots of them."
"P-Patti," Gary said, "had to, to touch …. It was … was wrong."
"Who else did it? Do you know?" asked Frank.
"Frank, we gotta go!" yelled Tony Vittorio.
"Some … Security … some … Make – MACOs."
"Who? Who was it, Gary?" Frank asked, getting desperate as they could hear pounding feet.
But there was no answer, as Gary's eyes clouded over, and he was dead.
=/\=
There was a panel near Mario Lattimer's left as that team stood near a closed door. It was rectangular, with several circles on it. "What's this for?" he asked.
"Access to this room or hall, I'd say," Malcolm opined.
"Should I try it?" Malcolm just nodded, so Mario hit the panel. The door slid open and they saw a corridor. There were Imvari guards with sticks, who came at them.
Stun didn't seem to work. "Set to kill!" yelled Malcolm, quickly adjusting his phase pistol. He fired, and it still took two tries to get an Imvari to fall.
Slowly, firing as efficiently as they could, his team began to progress into the hall.
=/\=
Lili could hear the sounds of weapons fire just outside their cell. "Hear that, Jay? The cavalry's almost here!" she exclaimed, trying to give him some hope. He just looked up at her, stunned and weak. She cradled his head, hoping he'd make it.
The four Ikaarans stayed in front of them. They waited, watching the Imvari rushing to the right of the cell's force field. "They're almost here," she said, trying to be soothing, but her heart was pounding.
=/\=
Frank's team ran and met at least a dozen Imvari. Phase pistols and rifles rapidly lost their charges as they realized just how many shots they needed to dispatch the enemy. Frank was a big guy – almost as big as an Imvari although not as tall. He called over, "Hey, Eddie, get the other end!" He was referring to a shocking stick, and they were able to wrestle it from the enemy.
The Imvari were far from immune to the shocking, and the stick held its charge. They were able to rush at the other Imvari, turning the tide of the battle. Between the stick and the remainder of their phase rifle charges, they were able to defeat the Imvari who came at them.
When they could see straight, Tristan saw a panel that was similar to the one that had been on the door. He hit it and a control panel on the wall slid open, revealing a board with several switches, labeled with the same pictograph writing. "Uh, what should we do with this?" he asked.
"Something's bound to work, and help us out," Frank reasoned. "Can you figure out any of them?"
"This, here," Eddie indicated at label with a rectangle with a lot of circles in it. "Maybe that's prisoners."
"What the hell," Frank said, "And try that one, over there," he said, indicating a rectangle with asterisks on it. "I'm hoping that's the jamming signal."
=/\=
As the Enterprise swooped and turned, and fired at the Imvari vessel, the Imvari ship rolled over, possibly trying to shake loose its two unwanted docked ships – the shuttlepods. The Imvari were apparently incapable of retracting the docking arms while they were engaging in these maneuvers, so the shuttlepods stayed where they were. Jonathan and Chris, the pilots of the shuttles, sat at their posts and did what they could to maintain their docking seals.
Chris hit communications, but it was staticky. The dampening field was affecting the shuttlepods as well.
=/\=
Outside the prison cells, the battle raged. Malcolm's men threw stun grenades, but that only seemed to anger the Imvari. "Get their weapons!" Malcolm yelled.
Beside him, Eric Forbes noticed that one of the cells was occupied. "Eric!" Lili yelled, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. He did seem to turn – perhaps he just heard a muffled sound. She frantically pointed to the right, where she had seen the Imvari work the force field's controls.
Eric fired back at Imvari and then set to work on the controls. "Forbes!" yelled Malcolm. "Behind you!"
Eric turned and fired again, this time, finally, felling an Imvari. He went back to hitting the panel and trying whatever he could to make it work. He finally ended up just shooting it.
The force field shimmered and then lifted. The four Ikaarans got up quickly. Jeris helped Lili up as Jay leaned on both of them. Jobiram put an arm under Jay's arms to hold him up better.
Malcolm's team was forced back and Eric and the others fell back a bit.
The Imvari turned back to the cell and set upon the prisoners. The two other Ikaarans – the ones who had been in Jay's cell initially – received the full brunt of their fury. Repeatedly shocked, they succumbed quickly.
As the Imvari shocked them, Malcolm and his men pushed through again and finally dispatched the Imvari.
"Get Jay out of here," was the first thing Lili said when she saw them.
Malcolm clicked his communicator open again, but he still got static. "Let's get back to the shuttle. Dane, Brown, take the Major. Lili, can you walk?"
She nodded, still a bit shocked at what had happened and trying to get her mental bearings. "Take them, too," she indicated Jeris and Jobiram.
"Of course," Malcolm said, as they departed and he went ahead, jumping and turning at every little sound.
=/\=
Eddie smacked the rectangular panel with the asterisks, hard. He then clicked open his communicator. "Enterprise!" he yelled.
"You're coming in!" yelled Hoshi, "but just barely."
"We don't know if the other team was successful!" he yelled back.
Frank opened his own communicator. "Todd to Reed."
"Go ahead." Malcolm said, still walking point. "We've got them but we need the transporter."
"Get someone on the transporter!" yelled Eddie.
T'Pol nodded to Hoshi, who hit controls and nodded back. "Commander!" yelled T'Pol, "Get someone on the transporter!"
In Engineering, Tripp yelled, "Jenny! José! Work the transporter!"
They ran over to the machine.
=/\=
Malcolm's communicator chirped again. "Yes?"
"Get Jay in position. We can get him now," it was Jenny.
"Over there," Malcolm indicated. There were Imvari coming, so Billy Dane and Victor Brown acted fast. They put Jay down, leaving an open communicator on his chest.
Jay looked up. "Get her home," he whispered as the transporter took him away.
=/\=
Frank's team rushed back as quickly as they could. "Captain!" Frank yelled as soon as they saw the shuttle. "The other guys have 'em."
"Where's Hodgkins?" Jonathan asked, looking them over.
There was no time to explain as Imvari appeared. Frank just said, "He didn't make it."
Jonathan gunned the engines and the docking clamps were torn off their supports as he took off.
=/\=
They ran to Shuttlepod Two as fast as Lili and the Ikaarans could run. They crowded in, cheek by jowl. "Mister Harris, as rapid as you please," commanded Malcolm.
He, too, did damage to the Imvari ship as he took off.
Malcolm found himself right next to Lili. He was able to get a good look at her and saw that she could use some medical attention herself, not to mention a bath. But he was still relieved. He moved closer to her for a second, ignoring the others around him. Very, very quietly, he said to her, "May I call on you?"
She nodded twice and he turned away, to attend to other matters and help Chris get back to the NX-01.
=/\=
On the Enterprise, José called for Andy and Phlox. Andy ran over with a stretcher and he and José got Jay on it. They departed as Jenny called into her communicator, "Commander T'Pol, we have the Major."
=/\=
The shuttlepods docked as soon as possible, and Jonathan hit the wall communicator in the docking bay. "We're in," he said, "You know what to do."
"Acknowledged," responded T'Pol.
Malcolm ran past, to get to his post on the Bridge. He got there as Aidan had hit the fluctuating panel that Diana had spotted earlier. "We're all back, save for Hodgkins," Malcolm reported, "Captain's on his way."
"Take out their engines," T'Pol commanded.
"With pleasure," he replied, firing more torpedoes at the fluctuating panel on the main Imvari ship.
=/\=
In the docking bay, Frank took one look at Lili and the Ikaarans. "Let's get you to Sick Bay, too," he said.
Very compliant, Lili followed him, and beckoned for Jobiram and Jeris to follow her. Nobody even bothered with a universal translator – there just wasn't the time. There was a little clicking between them, some sort of minimal conversation.
=/\=
As two of the arms of the Imvari ship were torn away by explosions, Jonathan returned to the Bridge. "Time for us to go," he said, "set a course back to the Amity System. Maximum warp!"
Travis hit switches and complied as fast as he could, and they made the jump to warp. The Imvari vessel was unable to pursue them as they put some distance between themselves and their enemies.
=/\=
Frank got Lili and the Ikaarans to Sick Bay and was about to go when she said, "Do you have a UT?"
"Uh, yeah," he said, handing it to her. "I, uh, I need to talk to the MACOs, tell them we lost someone today."
She nodded as he called for Deb to come to Sick Bay to relieve him and then left. She then turned the UT on and said, "Jeris, I need for you to talk a bit."
He looked at her, puzzled. She then made a gesture with her left hand, putting the thumb together with the other four fingers and then quickly moving it apart. It was the universal sign for chatter.
He seemed to figure it out and began speaking. A few unintelligible clicks later, and he was suddenly speaking. "I don't know how to thank you," he said. "Are you understanding me?"
"Yes," she said.
Diana walked through the Sick Bay doors. "I was relieved by T'Pol and ordered to Sick Bay in case I could help at all."
"Another woman!" exclaimed Jobiram.
"Let's deal with this first," Lili said, "I'm, I'm probably okay. They may be, too, probably just underfed. It's Jay who's in trouble."
"Understood," said Diana, "but let me check you out quickly all the same." She ran a hand-held scanner over Lili as the Ikaarans watched. "Huh, you've got a lot of grime on you but no injuries. How?"
"Them," Lili said, indicating the Ikaaran men, "They have some means of healing through touch."
"But it's not perfect," Jeris explained, "we – our internal organs evidently don't perfectly correspond to your own. So we were able to heal Jay's external injuries and anything with his bones or his muscles. But there was something internal, and we could do nothing."
"That's why Phlox and Andrew are here," Diana said. She ran a scanner over the two Ikaarans as well. "I'm guessing you're both all right, although I haven't the slightest."
=/\=
On the Bridge, they watched as the familiar Amity System came into view. "That's a welcome sight," sighed Jonathan. He looked at Malcolm. "Stand down," he said, "let's get Karin in here for Tactical."
"Thank you, sir."
Malcolm left and he only had one destination in mind.
=/\=
Lili sat on a bio bed. She was starving but she wasn't going to leave Jay, no matter what. She remembered to click open her communicator. "Brian," she said, "guess who?"
"Oh, thank God," he said, "Where are you?"
"Sick Bay," she said, "uh, and we're starving. Can you, uh, bring enough for four?"
"Four?"
"Yeah," she said, "we have company."
=/\=
In the gym, Frank stood at the front. "MACOs worked hard today," he said, as his preamble. "Forbes got the prisoners freed. Brown helped get Major Hayes out. Hamboyan helped us figure out where to go when we were in the Imvari vessel. And Azar helped make sure we got out of our first engagement safely. All fought bravely." He paused for a moment as the men acknowledged their accomplishments. "But we lost one of our own. Gary Hodgkins was felled by an Imvari weapon; it looked like a spear but it emitted an electrical charge. I am guessing that it interrupted the electrical impulses in his cells but we brought one back with us and the Science and Tactical people will study it."
"Let's give a salute to our fallen comrade," Julie said. "Hoo-rah!" they all yelled, as one.
"But there's another thing I have to tell you," Frank said, "Gary confessed to me, as he was dying. He said he was one of the men who attacked Patti Socorro. He said there were Security personnel and MACOs there." That part he spat out angrily. "The Major isn't well, but when he recovers, I will share all of the information I've got with him. And I suggest that whoever here is guilty – you might want to fess up as well. Because if you don't, and this investigation has to continue, lemme tell ya, it is only gonna get worse for you. I don't dispute Hodgkins's heroics today. I don't deny the man that. And I appreciate him telling me as much as he did – and with his dying breath, no less. But we didn't come here to shelter rapists. And we didn't do what we did today in order to bring Ensign O'Day home just to endanger her again. Whoever you are, you will be caught, and you will be punished. That is all."
=/\=
Brian arrived with sandwiches for the four of them. "I, oh, I didn't realize," he said when he saw the Ikaarans. "Do you eat meat?"
"We do," said Jeris.
"Chicken salad, right?" Lili asked.
"Yep," Brian said, "plus there's extra. I can't really make desserts like you can but I did try my hand at making brownies."
Andy finally emerged from behind a curtain, where he'd been helping Phlox with Jay. "She's already feeding you, eh? Welcome back, O'Day."
"Thanks. How is he, Andy? And I mean, really?"
"He'll be okay," Andy said, "but it'll take a little while. He's got a bruised liver and some peritonitis. I don't think he needs surgery, but that's Phlox's call and not mine. I understand you are totally okay, though, which is amazing."
"He protected me," Lili said as Malcolm walked in. "Jay made sure I didn't get hurt any more than I did."
Malcolm came over. "How are you? How is the Major?"
"We're working that out right now," Andy said, "but the Ensign here is fine and ordering takeout."
"I was so worried," Malcolm said softly. "You'll, I suppose you need to get some sleep."
"And a shower, oh my God," Lili said.
"She's staying here overnight," Andrew said.
Phlox parted a curtain. "Ensign, come here a moment."
Lili came over, a little trepidatious. "Yes?"
"Where is she?" it was Jay's voice, a little faint.
"I'm right here, Jay. I'm okay," she said, "We're gonna be roommates tonight. Andy says I have to stay here tonight."
He smiled that same half-smile to her and she could tell it was a supreme bit of effort. "And … the Ikaarans?"
"Jeris and Jobiram are here. The other two didn't make it."
"No more questions, Major," Phlox said, drawing the curtain again.
"I'll, uh, I'll see you soon," Malcolm said, seeing how tired she really was.
"Malcolm, thank you for everything. I will, I, will, uh …." She said.
"Go to sleep," he said, "whatever it is; we can discuss it later. All I care about is that you are – you both – are all right." Jonathan came in, and checked on them as well as Malcolm departed.
=/\=
Malcolm Reed's Personal log, October eighth, 2039
Thank God.
=/\=
Jonathan Archer's Personal log, October eighth, 2039
We got them back. And we suddenly have two guests. Phlox tells me that we are going to want to keep them around.
=/\=
Franklin Thomas Todd's Personal log, October eighth, 2039
I've never witnessed a deathbed confession before. It's unnerving.
=/\=
David Constantine's Personal log, October eighth, 2039
I am in love with the bravest man ever – Frank Todd.
=/\=
Daniel Chang's Personal log, October eighth, 2039
Hodgkins better not have named names.