A Story of Paradise
Chapter 3 Stranded
Station log, stardate 47578.4, aboard the runabout Rio Grande. Kira and Dax have beamed down to the surface of Orellius IV, meeting with a family of colonists seperate from the colony Chief O'Brien and I met while on the surface. Alixus Riley and her son, Vinod Masters, have been detained aboard, and we monitor the conversation Kira and Dax have with the Clark family.
Ronald continued his recounting of the crash landing on the planet. "As we emerged from our cabin, Lerius and I could hear loud calls for help from a couple of the passengers, sounded like from the bridge."
Kira, sensing what he was implying, bluntly stated, "Alixus and her son." Ronald nodded, continuing; "Alixus and Vinod kept shouting at the Captain to lie down, and we began hearing Commander Bartles shouts for help."
Flashback
Captain Bartles, between laboured breaths, cried out, "help me!" As Ronald and Lerius advanced down the dark corridor, the captain cried for Alixus to get away from her.
Her cries grew more faint as Ronald and Lerius quickened their pace, and could clearly hear Lt. Gerrick ask, "what's going on here?" before sounds of a struggle began.
As the Vulcan-Human couple approached the hatch to the bridge, the low level red emergency lighting gave them some vision, although they couldn't yet see the mother and son or the Captain.
Present, in the Clark's home cavern
"We didn't see exactly what ensued after Commander Bartles' weakened shouts, but could hear the sounds of a struggle, followed by a loud thud, like a body falling onto the floor," Ronald recounted, just as Lerius appeared at the table with 4 bowls of a thick, red-ish colored soup.
"It's mealtime, and the children are eating in the cabin. We would be pleased if you would join us out here," Lerius said invitingly to the officers.
Kira and Dax, examining the offered soup, each took a bowl and spoon. The mild aroma gave away the dish. "Plomeek soup?" Dax asked. Lerius, setting a bowl in front of her husband and taking one for herself and sitting in the same motion, nodded, saying, "correct."
"I think you'll find Lerius makes a very fine Plomeek soup," Ronald informed the Starfleet officers as they began tasting it. Kira, curious, asked, "how did you get plomeek here on Orellius?" Lerius replied, "we brought seeds from Vulcan with us in our personal cargo, knowing Gemulon V colony would only have limited amounts of vegetables on hand edible by Vulcans. The replicators would need adjustment, as I would have been the first Vulcan colonist there."
As the four of them steadily ate the soup, Kira prompted the Clarks to continue their account of the first moments after the crash landing. Lerius, having fresher vocal chords, received a nod from Ronald, indicating that she could continue the story.
"As we came into the foyer to the door to the bridge, we saw in the dim emergency lighting commander Bartles laying motionless off to the side, and Lt. Gerrick had emerged from the bridge, with Alixus and Vinod holding him, and he appeared to be struggling with Vinod."
Flashback
Ronald and Lerius quickly sprang into action, seeing the struggle between the helmsman and Alixus and Vinod. Ronald, grabbing Vinod from behind, applied a Vulcan neck pinch to the teen, causing him to collapse on the floor. Alixus, continuing to hold Lt. Gerrick as he appeared to be suddenly convulsing and asking, "what did you do to me?"
At that moment, Alixus saw her son lying motionless on the floor and advanced towards Ronald, angrily shouting, "what have you done to Vinod?" She raised a hand towards Ronald, apparently to strike him, which caused Lerius to grab her by the shoulder, applying her own neck pinch, rendering Alixus unconscious.
Just as the action was ending, the chief engineer, Joseph Tice, came into the foyer from the corridor to engineering. Just as he emerged, the emergency lighting suddenly blinked out, throwing the entire scene into darkness. He asked, "what happened here?"
Lerius replied, "it seems that Alixus and Vinod arrived here first and had some type of struggle with the Captain and Lt. Gerrick. They're all lying here somewhere." Joseph, confused about the incident, quickly said, "please, get back to your cabins." Other passengers, hearing voices, had evidently came to the sounds and were now crowding the corridors leading to the foyer.
He asked Ronald, Lerius, and another passenger named Stephan to get Alixus and Vinod to their cabin while he tended to the stricken Captain and helmsman. Ronald, using a foreman's carry technique, carried Vinod while Lerius and Stephen picked up Alixus by arms and legs to their cabin.
Following Joseph's instructions, the 3 deposited the mother and son into their cabin. Stephen left to find his way to his cabin, while the Clarks exchanged puzzled looks. Lerius spoke first, asking Ronald, "can you hear that?" Ronald replied, "yes, some kind of device is operating in here, somewhere." Conducting an impromptu search, they looked for anything that would account for the faint noise they heard.
Joseph, checking the cabins, found Ronald and Lerius in Alixus and Vinod's cabin, and told them, "I have to insist you get back in your own cabin. There's really nothing more we can do here until daylight." Ronald and Lerius, exchanging glances again, complied; both seeing the same knowledge in each other's eyes: too many mysteries to solve.