The Chain Unbound

Chapter 5

'The Sol Welcome'

She was overwhelmed by so many sensations throughout her body.

The momentary exposure to open vacuum burned Mikolo's skin, blinding her eyes, congesting her antennae, and setting her lungs and throat on fire. It was like being trapped in a fire and a flood, the slight movement of her head brought a sound like rushing waves and a crackling buzz. Her antennae felt searing agony and vertigo. There were overwhelming sensations of pain throughout her body. It was muddying the electromagnetic fields she normally sensed around people and things. Every movement brought coursing pain throughout her body. Every breath she drew was like breathing flames.

Hands lifted her up and set her down on a flat surface, setting a fresh round of pain. Now she couldn't move, not to curl up, not to look around, not even to open her eyes. Her body couldn't move. Was it a medically induced paralysis? A force field? She couldn't tell much beyond the flooded distortion of foreign voices and the sensation of moving horizontally while air rushed over her raw, vacuum exposed skin.

A twinge in her neck instantly brought relief, melting away the pain and dizziness. Mikolo felt a euphoria sweep over her next. It must be the medical polyinoculator at work! Every world had their own version of this universal medical tool that did just about everything a doctor wanted. She already felt its drug administration abilities, which felt increasingly relaxing and delightful. She didn't mind when she came to a complete stop, bright lights felt through her eyelids, the seams of her clothes parting, the ruined cloth stripped away.

Her Invigilator short robes and leggings were expensive, non-replicated originals. Damn them!

Mikolo wasn't angry for long. The drugs saw to that.

The prickling of the medical P.I.N. waving over her skin, she guessed, was her skin regenerating. The pain, or the drug suppressed shadow of it, disappeared, leaving a residual tingle. It wasn't long before all of her dermis felt this way. Next, the flooding and fire in her ears and antennae disappeared, clearing up her senses instantly. She felt the EM fields of her doctor on her right, what might have been an orderly on her left, and a couple body lengths in front of her, someone remaining still.

She couldn't confirm until the medical P.I.N. waved over her damaged eyes. Eyelids opened, she saw through blurry but rapidly clearing vision, the doctor and the orderly.

The third person, a stocky, powerfully built male in a dark blue, gray, and black square shouldered uniform. A human, she guessed from the subtle facial features and lack of plates, ridges, or other cartilaginous accouterments. And by the human's stern countenance, he was not happy to see her.

She knew Terran letters as part of her language education on old federation standard. The metal badge on the male's right breast held a light blue glow, highlighting the stylized EDF acronym.

Their local equivalent of Regulators?

Mikolo felt the burning pain in her lungs recede. She noticed the human's bald head and trimmed goatee.

"Hey human... hair's supposed to be on top, not around your mouth." Her words came out as a slightly drunken slur. This she didn't expect, or the urge to giggle. The words kept tumbling out of her mouth. "My thavan does the same, but that's because he's old and he's losing his hair. Are you losing your hair?"

The human might-be-regulator grumbled to the doctor, "At least the drugs are working. Is it supposed to make her this chatty?"

The doctor replied, "We don't normally dose Andorians. Aside from some response issues, it's working as intended."

Mikolo couldn't stop herself. It was as if anything coming up off the top came out of her mouth without restraint. "Oh, they're working very well, thank you very much. I feel wonderful! You wouldn't think so after some rude jerks flushed me into outer space yet here we are! Reminds me of some recreational drugs we used to take during spring break at the University of Freecloud. Those were some gggrrreeeeaaatttttt recreational pharmaceuticals, but they had the annoying habit of making you tell the truth. Because that's what you shot me with, yes? Truth drugs?"

The stern human rolled his eyes, ignoring the Invigilator to speak to the doctor. "Is she good to go?"

"Oh, I'm good to go! But give me some clothes, 'cause contrary to popular believe us shens are a modest lot and I don't feel comfortable being naked around so many aliens. And could you tell me what happened to my necklace? Or my flabjellah? Or my phaser? I have a registered permit for those, unless you like... don't recognize weapons permits from the Emerald Chain. Do you? Nevermind. They're replaceable, the necklace isn't. Can I have it back? The universe literally hinges on me having it back."

The stern human growled, "Please be quiet for five goddamn seconds."

Mikolo counted the seconds. Or was it microts? Microts were seconds. But to what degree were they off? It ate valuable seconds/microts figuring it out!

While Mikolo pondered the slight differences in time measurement, the Doctor explained to the stern human, "She'll be under the effect of the penta drugs for at least one hour. You should feel lucky. Took two officers and twice the dose to subdue the big guy. Thankfully the female suspect taking to it like a duck to water."

"Not a suspect! I'm a refugee and I seek asylum! Now time's up! May I have my necklace please?"

The humans looked at her incredulously.

"And a change of clothes? And please stop gawking at me? It's getting wwweeeiiirrrddd, and fair warning, I got no candy for you. Unless of course you force the issue, which I don't think I could take all three of you on, especially the big angry regulator with the bald head. But I'll put up enough of a fight to make it soooooo not worth it!"

The stern human cracked a smile. "Sorry dear, you're not my type."

Mikolo frowned, her pride wounded. "Just my luck to run into the one human in the universe who isn't a xenophile."

The human officer made a show of his saintly patience when he said, "Give me a second. Then we'll go someplace private and you can talk my ear off. Capiche?"

"My universal translator's malfunctioning because I didn't get that last word..."

"Do you understand?"

"Oh! Yes! Definitely!"

"Thank you!" He returned his attention to the Doctor. "So... can we move her?"

"Yes. We've healed all her injuries and her cerebral maps show she has no hostile intent, which is more than we can say about her partner."

"He can cool off here for a bit while I interrogate the little one. Ready to go... miss...?"

"Mikolo sh'Estihi. May I have some clothes please?"

The human tossed her a bright orange bundle. "Put this on and follow me."

What followed was one of the most polite interrogation sessions Mikolo took part in.

On Andoria, or on any world under Emerald Chain control, the drugs were harsher, the questions more demanding, and the threats freely given, most often delivered. As a member of a powerful clan, she had some measure of protection on any world that recognized her privilege. Outside that limited handful of systems was the usual belligerence, rough treatment, punishing fines or indentured servitude one could expect of Emerald Chain justice.

Initial impressions of the dour variety of EDF Regulator (or Inspector, as tersely corrected by the stocky, bald human asking the questions) was the uniforms and politeness made them look like candy-asses, their sour mood as if they overcompensated for a lack of experience.

And they were also people who didn't fool around, as evidence by her being flushed into open space.

A Tholian silk glove over a neutronium backhand.

She thanked the gods she was too high to care during the interrogation.

Under bright lights and vaguely aware of the itch of her new orange jumpsuit, Mikolo fully disclosed her journey from Andoria to the Sol System. She went into detail about the vessel, Anib, it's illegal cargo of kemocite, and when she learned of its contents well after boarding. She spoke about her clan, her thavan, and Anib's plan to run with the Master and Servant once the kemocite was sold, leading to their fight.

Her scathing assessment of Anib went on at length. She discussed his role as a clan courier, a regulator, and his various character flaws, diverted when she speculated on whether or not he'd ever had consensual sex.

Her story about why she was fleeing from Andoria in a smuggling vessel was a source of much scrutiny from the Inspector. Mikolo was aware of the need for discretion, but the drug was too strong. Her tale continued with the time capsule, her thavan's plan to ruin the artifacts, her contact with the time crystal, her meeting with James Corrigan, the causal loop and her plan to escape with the artifacts. She ended the story with her warning to her family, and the firefight on the Master and Servant.

The inspector made her go over the details enough to tell the story three times over. Even under the penta drugs Mikolo felt annoyed by the repetition.

After what seemed like hours on a dreamy trip, the drugs slowly wore off, their euphoric high receding like the tides. With it, the questions ended, baldheaded Inspector tapped his EDF badge, announced he was finished, then excused himself politely before leaving. Moments later, a lankier, blonde-haired human in a similar crisp EDF uniform asked Mikolo to follow him to the containment cells.

"Am I being detained? And for how long?" Mikolo asked.

The blonde EDF officer replied, "We have to do some comparisons and go over your statement before we determine how long. But yes, you're being detained."

"Am I being charged?"

"That's what we're determining. I assure you, we'll be taking your statement into account."

"But I have done nothing. It's not a crime to hitch a ride on my clan's ship."

The blonde EDF officer halted. He put a hand in his pant pocket and drew out the gleaming blue time crystal and golden chain. "You were asking for this, right? Picked it up before the medtechs threw it out with your clothes. Thought you might want it back."

Part of her wanted to kiss the blonde human officer for his act of kindness, as much out of relief as the lingering effects of the truth drugs. She snatched the necklace out of his hand and squeaked, "I'm glad to meet someone in this solar system who isn't a jerk. Thank you!"

The human smiled, bemused. "No problem ma'am. If you'll come with me, please?"

She tucked the crystal under her jumpsuit. "Oh yes, of course!"

The EDF officer led her to a room with six large rectangular alcoves, each smooth surfaced and seamless. A solid bench protruded from the side of each wall. Its entrance flickered, its force field lowered long enough for Mikolo to step through, and flickered again, leaving a glowing blue light.

Alone in a cell large enough to accommodate a half dozen sentient beings, the drugs wearing off, and unsure what exactly her situation was, Mikolo took the rearmost bench to lie down. Unsure of the length of her detainment, or what part of the orbital cycle her day was on, and feeling relatively safe in her solitary confinement, she used the opportunity to take a nap.

"Well, if that wasn't the weirdest interrogation ever."

He loosened his confining jacket and wiped the sweat off his bald head. What should have been a standard interrogation took three times longer than usual on account of the strangeness of it all.

EDF security assigned him to the little Andorian shen female Mikolo. She identified as an Invigilator, which by her description was a professor with dictatorial powers. A professor of history, if he understood correctly, fleeing her homeworld to protect priceless artifacts.

One of which was a time crystal who caught her in a causal loop, where she inhabited the body of her ancestor and talked to a man with a suspiciously similar name to his own. She used a transport vessel owned by her clan and run by one of their couriers. Or Regulator, the description he guessed was a kind of organized crime enforcer with legal powers. Who revealed his violent streak when he failed to stop the Invigilator from hailing her own people.

And on top of it all was eighteen tonnes of kemocite in six storage tesseracts, easily the biggest seizure of contraband in EDF's post-Burn history.

It was a story straight out of the holodecks!

Then again, weirdness was the theme of the year 3189. Months earlier, he was part of an inspection team who boarded a Starfleet vessel. The incident triggered a diplomatic incident and almost started a shooting war with Titan Colony.

The Starfleet vessel brokered a peace and left the Sol System more stable than it's been in years. Nonetheless, United Earth was wary of outsiders, the legacy of a century of fending off raiders. One major incident was enough to send the EDF into panic mode. Two in one year felt like the first drops of a torrential rainstorm of trouble.

Earth did not like weirdness. Weirdness meant disruption. Weirdness meant danger.

Insufficiently caffeinated to process all his thoughts, he ordered a coffee, a Java blend with two cream and sugar from the replicator. While reviewing the interrogation logs, Mikolo's neural scans and biometrics on display, he drank his coffee. His face twisted in sour dissatisfaction. The coffee tasted off. Maintenance messing with the replicator resolution to save even more power.

After this new case, he resolved to take it up with the union.

Or join a police force willing to splurge on a decent cup of coffee.

While immersing in his work, he saw another officer entered the room from the reflection of a polished plastic panel on the wall. By the blonde side part and shaved sides, he identified the man as his superior officer.

His superior went straight for the replicator, ordered his cup of coffee, and relished its contents.

"No accounting for taste."

The bald Inspector turned his chair to face his colleague. "Mathers. See your interrogation's done."

"That's Lieutenant Commander Mathers." Visibly annoyed, he added, "Respect the protocol, Lieutenant Corrigan."

Before he turned his seat around, the Inspector rolled his eyes. "Come on, Sir. This is me you're talking to. How long have we known each other? Since the academy? Don't you think years of working together allows for a certain familiarity? A certain relaxation of protocol? You know, to facilitate the no-bullshit candor and trust essential for the work relationship of two Inspectors partnered together?"

"No, it does not." Mathers, frigidly final in his declaration, tapped his badge and flung a packet of information to the holoprojector. "And frankly, your irreverence is the reason you're still a lieutenant and I'm your superior officer."

Corrigan knew why Mathers was his superior. The scion of a prominent London family, Mathers joined the United Earth Defence Force out of noblesse oblige. Not that Mathers was an innately caring, responsible gentleman. A family tradition of service was another tool to assert his dominance over others.

Corrigan, the product of Newark slums, made his name through hard work and harder fists, while Mathers used a mind perfect for the Byzantine inner politics of the Earth Defence Force.

Both officers been paired together a handful of times since graduation, though only recently paired as Inspectors. Mathers and Corrigan weren't partnered up by their superiors out of any kinship. It was because both officers possessed a rare quality lacking in the rank-and-file; creativity in solving problems and flexibility in interpreting rules and regulations.

Corrigan did his best to keep within the spirit of the law and do well by others, sometimes at his superior's inconvenience. Mathers was purely results oriented. Mathers saw an objective and completed it, making any lapse in regulation adherence EDF command to ignore.

Didn't take an Inspector to investigate who gets promoted first.

"And here I thought it was because I was a literal and figurative dick." Corrigan quipped.

A smug Mathers chuckled, "Should have thought of that before you choose the military policing option on your recruitment form."

He faked a laugh while thinking, "Sit and spin on one yourself, you upper-class twit of the year." He continued, "Just saying a little lightening up will do you some good. Now how'd your interrogation session with the big guy go?"

"About as well as expected. Took another dose of penta drugs to gain his co-operation, then he sang like the proverbial songbird. He claims to be double-crossing his boss for a bigger payday. Doesn't have very fond words for the girl though."

"Shen, sir." Corrigan corrected. "And yeah, her story matches, only she didn't clue in until they got near Sol. Sounds like she's got her own agenda. Nothing illegal though."

"What, you mean that nonsense about the time crystal and her ancestor? Jabbering on about some fellow with your last name? I can see how one would fixate on that. It's an inventive story, I must confess, but a total fabrication. One tailored for you, though god knows how. No matter, between your sloppy interrogation and your compromised impartiality, I do believe any testimony you record is suspect at best."

Lieutenant Corrigan felt the heat rise to his cheeks. He did circle back to the story of the time crystal, a lot. Curiosity had him linger on the Corrigan connection, but there were too many James' in his family tree for it to matter. To insinuate he was botching the interrogation left him with the suppressed urge to punch Mathers in the mouth. "Yeah? The penta-drugs are practically foolproof and there's nothing in her biometrics or her neural scans to suggest she's lying. I didn't botch the interrogation. She's telling the truth."

"Oh please!" Mathers waved off the biometrics and neural scans from Corrigan's holoprojector. "You know what I found when I scanned her 'time crystal'? It's monoammonium phosphate. Children grow them in science kits for god's sake!"

"Yeah?" Corrigan rose out of his chair and loomed over the smaller Mathers. "Well, her story matches up with events. What smuggler blows their subspace silence when they're less than a light year away from the authorities? Certainly not on purpose! But it'd explain why there was a firefight on their bridge! Come on, Mathers! Use your brain!"

"Lieutenant Corrigan, I'm not convinced. As far as we know, we're dealing with a new form of interrogation resistance. Drug resistance, a psychic, who knows. Therefore we can't assume our methods are foolproof."

"I get that, but you're kind of reaching, sir."

"Therefore, I am employing other methods of information gathering."

Richard's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'other methods'?"

Smug in anticipation of an argument won, Mathers replied, "The Robert Maynard found their co-conspirators. Two of Wen's Raiders, at co-ordinates the big Andorian supplied. We're bringing them all down to the cells for a little reunion."

Mathers directed Corrigan to his holodisplay, projecting the cells. They could see Mikolo laid out on the bench on the far wall of the first communal cell.

And at the force field, two unkempt humans being led by a guard, shoved through the flickering force field of the only occupied cell. Their indigence was momentary. So was their surprise to find an Andorian shen as their roommate

A soft elbow jab to the ribs from one human to the other, and the swagger of their step set off Corrigan's internal alarm.

This was not a good idea.

Rousing her out of her nap, Mikolo's antennae sensed the shift of electromagnetic fields from the toggled force field, then two humanoid EM fields join her in the cell. She opened her eyes and rubbed the fatigue out. Her vision cleared to see two humans looming over her, each easily have a third of her height over her.

They were both sorry looking specimens, and Mikolo seen some sorry-looking humans in the Emerald Chain. Each outweighed her, their orange prison jumpsuits hung loosely on skinny, pale, and wiry bodies. She saw scars on their sallow faces, pockmarks from plasma burns on the cheek of one, and a jagged cut along each cheek on the other. Their greying hair was greasy and lank. Their chins and cheeks displayed rough black stubble. They stank of body odor, industrial lubricants, and close confinement, until the stink saturated their skin, their breath, their very souls, to places the lingering smell of medical-grade disinfectant couldn't permeate.

The filthy, ragged nature of the two humans, which a fresh sonic shower and a new jumpsuit couldn't disguise, was most apparent in the way they acted around her. Leering eyes, as if appraising an unexpected treasure landing in their hands. Jovial jostling of elbows to celebrate. Minds swimming with sinister possibilities.

She'd seen humans like this among Freecloud's poor. Ravaged, or toughened, by malnutrition, manual labor, and hard living.

And the EDF guard, with five other communal cells to choose from, threw in two humans an Emerald Chain Regulator wouldn't trust alone with a targ.

It was their neutronium backhand, and it was filling her with dread.

The slightly older and larger of the two, the human with the plasma burn scars on his cheek, sat to her right. The human with the cut scars to her left, his leer more obvious.

The human with the plasma burns was first to speak. "Well, don't you look out of place here."

She quickly retorted, "Is it my skin? Or my antennae?"

The human chortled, emboldened by her wit. "Your fancy-ass accent. Reminds me of a friend of mine. So, what'd they pick you up for, miss...?"

She hesitated to answer as the gap between her and the humans decreased. "Mikolo. Vagrancy." She answered back, inching away, only to find nowhere else to go.

The humans laughed far more than her wisecrack warranted. When it stopped, the older of the two spoke. "What a coincidence, Miss Mikolo. We were picked up for vagrancy too. Whole lot of that going on in Sol, huh?"

"Wouldn't know. Just passing through."

The humans chortled. "Well, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Mikolo. I'm Roj, and this is my associate, Mick."

"Ma'am." Mick inched closer.

She tucked her knees to her chest as the men came close enough to smell their fetid breath. She felt the bump of Mick's shoulder on hers. Roj whispered in her ear, sending a fresh course of panic through her.

"You sound like a friend of mine. Wouldn't happen to know Anib, would you?"

She cringed at the change in tone, from joviality to menace. "Like I said, just passing through."

She felt the heat of his breath, smelled its stink, when he said,"And I'm Kahless reborn, honey. Better start gettin' real honest real quick, 'cause in a minute we may not be so friendly."

"You can't mix genders in the cells! Regulation 2046 of the United Earth Penal Code..."

"...does not apply since they are not United Earth citizens." Mathers retorted. "As such they're detainees. Besides, subjecting the Andorian girl to stress will give us a more accurate neural mapping picture and tell us what methods they used to fool our penta drugs."

Corrigan shouted, "Which, for the last time, ARE ACCURATE!"

Unruffled, Mathers replied, "I'll be the judge of that. Fact is, we have statements that don't match with reality. I mean to find the truth. All of it."

"Yeah? For a bunch of people who are supposed to be co-operating they're not exactly treating her like an old friend. Are you listening to this? They don't know who she is!"

"But they suspect she's someone they should know, ergo connected in part to this conspiracy, Lieutenant. Think about what the big guy said. He suspected the little one of being a plant from his employer. And if we can prove she's the brains and a link to an even larger criminal enterprise, to which I suspect..."

"Oh for god sakes! You're really reaching!"

"Am I? Well let's see how it plays out when we introduce the big guy to the equation."

On the holodisplay, another guard marched Anib past the forcefield and closed it back up. The guard left the prisoners to their own reactions. Anib saw his partners and Mikolo. His antennae flattened and face turned to a twisted sneer.

If the biometrics were tense before, they were spiking now. There were weaker reactions to dropping a photon grenade in the cell.

And it made Lieutenant Corrigan's heart sink to his stomach as he dreaded what would happen next.

Flattening his antennae to the top of his head, his face frozen in pure hate, Anib growled, "Well, if it isn't my so-called partners and thavan's little princess. Good, save me time. I'll beat all your asses!"

Mikolo pushed herself into the wall, wishing to sink in and escape, a ridiculous notion as the unyielding hard surface stopped her. Part of it was panic as all her red alerts rang at once. Back to the wall, surrounded by Roj, Mick, and Anib, she didn't like her odds. Any single one was within her ability. Two was difficult. All three at once? She wasn't so sure, not when her brain disobeyed her commands to move.

"Now hold on a minute." Roj rose off the bench, with Mick following, arms crossed, looking Anib in the eye. "You didn't say nothing about a traveling companion, but I'm pretty sure it's your fault we're in here, so if anyone's gonna get their ass beat, it's you!"

"WHAT?!" Anib spat out, indignant. "This karskat shax is the boss's daughter. If I refused, he'd have scrubbed the trip or given it to another courier. Then who'd deliver your damn kemocite?!"

"Well, we don't have our damn kemocite anyways, 'cause someone landed us in fuckin' jail!" Mick shouted.

"And guess who's to blame!" Anib pointed to a shrinking Mikolo. "She snooped around, found the kemocite, and tried to tell my boss about it. Ended up breaking subspace silence. That's how we got caught."

She wanted so badly to push through the wall and escape. Under the eyes of her cellmates, she found herself surrounded, and alone.

Roj whistled. "Someone'd have to be profoundly stupid to pull a stunt like that."

Anib sneered. "Considering her escape options were losing me on Titan or hopping the EDF defense grid to Earth, and she had the escape pod prepped and everything, you could say what she doesn't know could fill several databanks."

"YOU SON OF A..." Mikolo lunged at Anib. The rough hands of Roj and Mick hauled her back to the bench and slammed her back to the wall. She struggled, her anger and fear blinding her from considering the most basic of counters.

During all the wild twisting and shaking, Mick pulled on Mikolo's collar. The rough fabric fabric tore, exposing the time crystal.

"Welllllll..." Mick's eyes caught the bright blue crystal on her chest. "Somebody's pulled a fast one on the guards. What you got there?"

"What's that she has there?" Corrigan pointed to the display.

Corrigan already figured out Mather's plan, but it didn't stop his superior from explaining. "In case betrayal didn't cause enough stress stimuli, I figured incentive to rob the young woman would."

"So you violated regulations and let her take a foreign object into the CELLS?!"

Mathers, smug, replied while observing Mikolo struggle against the human smugglers. "Yes. We had to supply proper motivation. Besides, look at these readings. Not an anomaly in sight. You should feel vindicated. You may be right after all."

The struggling Mikolo's cries for help were tinny and low through the holoprojector, but at fully defined by quark-level holographic detail. He turned his back to Mather, his hand close to his badge. "They're assaulting her, you idiot! That's it, I'm ending this right now!"

Mathers clamped his right hand on Corrigan's right shoulder, clawing in tight. "You'll do no such thing."

"Are you insane?!"

"What I am is conscious of the big picture, Lieutenant! I've fought raiders and subversives for much of my career, just like my father and his father before him. What you, and every self-loathing, permissive, weak-willed recreant will never understand is the only reason Earth stands is through our dedication, our resolve, and our willingness to leave our enemies fearing us. Months ago it was a starship. Today it's criminals and smugglers. What of tomorrow, an invasion fleet? Would you and your kind be so quick to welcome them when they destroy our way of life?! So no, I will not tolerate your insubordination this time, Lieutenant. We must instill fear into these foreigners, make Sol unwelcome to them, so that we may live in peace. Stand down, or consider your career over."

"Is that a promise?" Corrigan asked.

Mathers, flummoxed by Corrigan's question, sputtered, "Of course, you moron! What do you think?"

Corrigan's left hand clasped Mather's right wrist, his fingers digging into median nerve and trapping Mathers' hand in a wristlock. Corrigan leaned in, widened his stance, and bent his knees in one motion. Then he pulled Mathers' arm forward while locking the elbow with his neck and jaw.

Mathers' complete surprise made it all the easier for Corrigan to use his stocky frame to unbalance his superior officer with his hip and throw him over his shoulder.

In retrospect, he underestimated his strength, and overestimated Mathers' ability to counter it, for he flung his smarmy superior officer through the holodisplay and back first into the nearest wall.

Mathers landed, shoulders first, on Corrigan's workdesk. Gravity, and Mathers' dead weight, took him the rest of the way to the floor. Mathers wasn't unconscious, judging by his weak groans, but he was in no condition to fight back.

"Just so we're clear, schmuck. Excuse me."

Corrigan tapped his badge twice, brought up the co-ordinates to just outside the dampening field, and transported himself to the cells.

"GUARDS! GGGGUUUAAARRRDDDDSSSSS! HHHHHEEELLLPPPP!"

Mick laughed as Mikolo's arm fought his grip. "Don't you know? Guards ain't payin' attention. You're ours now!"

The humans strained to keep Mikolo restrained for all her wildly bucking and thrashing. Roj needed both his hands to restrain Mikolo's arm. His grip was tight, she felt his fingernails dig in through the fabric. "Don't matter what you do, little miss! We're gonna take what we want. Best bet it's gonna happen. And guess what? You'll end up enjoying it!"

"ANIB!" She screamed, fighting, and often failing, to keep Roj from closing her mouth and Mick from squeezing her lewdly. "Everything you've done, everything you were about to do, your betrayal to our clan... I'll forgive it all! We're Andorian, Clan Estihi! Save what honor and dignity you have left... STOP THESE TWO!"

It was a desperate attempt to appeal to the craven Anib's honor.

His words, directed to her human molesters, froze Mikolo's heart.

"You would like it you tezha slut. I'm gonna watch. Leave some for me after you two finish."

As Roj pinned Mikolo's arm to the wall in one hand, he freed his other hand and reached down between her thighs.

The situation hit her with such clarity. She was in custody in a foreign star nation. No allies, surrounded by depraved people and moments away from being subjected to the most traumatic and disgusting of treatments. Counting on civilized conduct wouldn't save her. Guards weren't coming to her rescue. Her own sense of panic made her body betray her, vulnerable to their lustful groping. Not even the bonds of clan affiliation, supposedly unbreakable even among enemies, would save her.

Unlike humans, when Andorian's emotional states heightened, their thoughts gained more clarity. Fight off three males? The odds were well against her.

But no matter what happened she couldn't lose the time crystal.

Fight hard, at least until the crystal was in her stomach.

Her arm twisted out of Mick's grip. She closed her free hand around the crystal.

A flash of blue and white light blinded her.