Frightened and alone
Captain Holden held a crying cadet in her arms, and tried to comfort her. She tried to act of a pillar of hope and strength in the face of certain death, even to the point where she lied to the cadet and to herself.
She did not tell her the awful truth she knew. Once prisoners become useless, execution would soon follow.
She reminded the captain of the girl's mother. She too was literally a child thirty-or-so odd years ago. A bubbly, cheerful young woman with an unstoppable sense of curiosity. And very courageous ...
Holden recalled a story of when she served with the young Rika Ashley and the adventures they had until she was interrupted. The metallic mini-orb on the older woman's neck started blinking, setting off a sinking pit feeling in her stomach. "Be brave child." she said.
Small electrical sparks ran from the mini-orb to her neck, paralyzing her. Pain welled up between her temples and she felt consciousness slipping away. Captain Holden disappeared moments later in transporter haze, leaving the young woman behind and alone in the utilitarian room that served as their jail.
Torment
He drifted in a state of numbness and bliss for what felt like days. Unable to cope with so much rest, his body released chemicals to awaken him. Stryker opened his eyes.
PAIN!
He then quickly shut them tight. The chemicals in the nutrient bath burned tremendously. The insides of his eyelids felt like they were on fire. The gel that he floated in was warm and thick. When he realized he was submersed, his hand flew to his face. Over his mouth and nose, he found a mask that was providing him with breathable air.
He tried to swim up to the surface only to have his head hit something solid. He felt along the object. It was smooth and artificial. His fingers found a corner that angled straight down. The wall he felt formed a circle around him. He was in some kind of glass cylinder. Around his body was a harness of some kind, keeping him anchored.
A single click thud was heard. The liquid began to drain away. As the gel drained, the cylinder wall slid down. His feet found the bottom of the cylinder. When the gel had drained below his head, he removed the mask and tried opening his eyes once more.
He could see nothing. He was blind. Panic gripped him and he thrashed around in fear, floundering like a dying beast. The Romulan monitoring him heard Stryker's cries as he yelled repeatedly that he was blind and could not see. The scientist sent two shocks to silence him. He complied.
"Total sensory depravation phase incomplete. 68 Effectiveness, " said the person. The voice was small and ranged in one of the upper octaves. This told him a woman was speaking. "Feed that thing and prepare it for an extraction session," was the last thing Stryker heard when a shock blasted through his body.
Stryker was semi-coherent after the shock. Someone stuck a hypospray in his neck. Stuck in an altered state, he was vaguely aware of being moved from one room to another. He then started quivering uncontrollably.
One of the senior medical techs noticed, her tricorder told her, his blood pressure was plummeting, "He's in shock. That idiot Nemaik overdosed the alien."
"Redirect to the infirmary. High priority."
Gentle fingers brushed Stryker's neck. Willing his eyes to open, he saw his own gaze reflected back at him, his own mouth curved in a closed, familiar smile. "Datheile," he said, forming the word with an effort.
"It's all right," said his mother, tightening her arms around him. "It's over now. You're safe now. We've come to take you home little one."
Unfamiliar ceiling, Stryker thought looking up. His eyelids felt heavy. He remember something about his mother talking to him. Strange. I am not hungry, yet I do not have remember eating anything.
He blinked a few times, making a half descent attempt to gather his thoughts. I died. But now I am alive again. Why ? Why did someone revive me ? I don't want to live.
He found himself seated in a peculiar chair. The chair was doing something to him; he couldn't move. His arms lay on the armrests, but he couldn't lift them, the same could be said for his legs.
But he was aware of a familar voice. It was Mouse, she was trying to get his attention. She finally had someone to talk to after sitting alone in this brightly lit room. A pair of tubes dangled from their left arms.
" ... Hey lizard breath, you look like a targ who got his tongue stuck in an EPS conduit ... "
" ... are you listening to me ? ... "
" ... don't you dare ignore me ... "
" ... dammit why are you doing this to me ? ... "
" ... common, I promise I will be nice to you if you talk to me ... "
Still delirious several minutes later when he knew he somehow started moving again, being moved down a corridor. He wanted to stand up and kill his captors, however found himself too tired to even stand up if these forcefields failed somehow. Normally he'd be alarmed that his body felt limp as string, but right now; Alice was dead, and nothing mattered to him.
Stryker passed out again.
Stryker's first sensations were of a cold, numb, nerveless lump of meat that he somehow knew to be his body. Light shone on him, very strong, but he couldn't even squeeze his eyes more tightly closed, let alone move an arm to shield them.
Indeterminable time passed. Shadows moved across the light from time to time.
Then came the pins and needles, merely uncomfortable at first, but they quickly grew in strength all over his body until it was closer to pain. The prickling of Stryker's skin surged, becoming like splinters all over his body.
Instinct would have had him rolling, massaging the blood starved tissues, forcing some sensation upon them beyond the sharp waves. At the least, he would have gasped or groaned, but Stryker couldn't do any of it. He could feel himself breathing, but could not control it, could not make any sound.
Then the pins and needles started fading, but not nearly fast enough. He opened his eyes, but the light was too bright and they closed again involuntarily. He become aware of something holding his head and neck securely, leaving him staring at the brown ceiling and six high power lights.
His body strength regained, he fought against the restraints with all his strength. He realized he was on a table with devices of some kind on his temples. "What are you doing ?" he shouted.
"Finally." someone muttered. "I am glad you are awake."
"I prefer my patients to be awake for the procedure." said the voice. A Romulan male walked over and looked Stryker in the eyes, "You might call what I am going to do, a mind probe."
"But I prefer to call it by another . . . more descriptive term." the Romulan explained as he activated the device.
An enormous bellow of pain escaped from Stryker. He tried to arch his spine, his head slumped back. His eyes were wide from the burning pain in his mind, it felt like every pain nerve lit up. He tried to catch a breath and swallowed hard as his eyes glazed over. "Living hell." the Romulan said with a smile.
A square of numbers and information scrolled on the lab's monitors. The Romulan was pleased with the information he found and adjusted the mind probe's output level to maximum power.
Stryker's body and face painfully contorted. His mouth was open wide, and an endless scream emerged, filling the room with the sounds of his suffering. After a minute of torment, he fainted, mercifully blinded from the pain as his nerves become numb from the sensory overload.
Your warmth
He started to regain conciseness. He had lost his hearing to a sourceless ringing. The ringing faded slowly when he heard his name spoken softly from somewhere. "Stryker," a voice said.
No response. "Stryker." the voice said again, shaking him.
"STRYKER!" the voice yelled again. He awoke with a start, accompanied by a dull ache in his side, and a pounding headache.
He groaned, "Ow, that hurt."
He opened his eyes and sat up straight. He noticed his sense of smell seemed missing altogether and he found himself squinting a lot in a futile attempt to get his eyes to focus properly. "Alice ?"
"Yes ?"
He felt that his very soul was on fire and trembled slightly, "ALICE! I thought I lost you. Oh Light, I thought I lost you."
"What is going on ?"
He whispered, "A bad dream."
"Do you dream of me ?" Alice asked, wrapping her arms around him, warm body pressed against his cold one in a comforting embrace.
"Yes I do."
"Are you okay ?"
They were sitting in the middle of the room. "I'd be lying if I said I was."
Stryker noticed he was wearing dirty pants only. He looked at Alice. Her undergarments were the same sickening blue-green colour of the gel he was floating in earlier. Her hair was caked together as well. Stryker laughed quietly, passing his hand over his bald head. "No bad hair days."
"Oh, be quiet!" she playfully scolded. Alice patted it with her spare hand, and found it was like a drifting cloud around her head.
He looked around, this is not the same room he was earlier. This room is smaller and much emptier. Only Alice and himself was present he far as he could tell. Only the center of the room was properly illumilated, the surrounding areas shrouded in darkness. "How are you holding out, Alice ?"
"Having a lot of fun, but the food is horrible." she answered with sarcasm.
Stryker chuckled despite the agony he was in. "Seriously Alice, how are you doing ?"
"I feel nauseous and scared. They took the captain." Alice added mournfully, ". . . and rumour has it Commander Ciro is dead."
He remained silent. She tried to cheer up, "Great words of comfort eh? And this is a great way to spend my birthday."
"I promised you a special time . . . "
"This isn't exactly what I imagined."
He looked up at her beautiful face, "Me neither."
"I wish I knew what the hell is going on." Alice said with an angry tone in her voice.
Stryker yawned unexpectedly, "Romulan Mind probes."
She stared at him in shock, "What ?"
"See the green stuff on your clothes and hair ?"
She nodded. Stryker continued, "They put us in liquid tanks of some kind."
She was slightly confused, "Why can't I remember anything ?"
"I am not sure. What is the last thing you remember ?"
"I was sleeping. We were in a different cell, not this one. And you were holding me. Then I was with Deanne and some of the engineering staff. They told me the Romulans started killing the command staff. Then I was beamed to this room. Talked with Captain Holden before they beamed her away. I slept and when I woke up, you were beamed in. Why ? What do you remember ?"
He touched the scar on his temple and remembered something. A little dried blood flaked off. "The bastards used mindprobes on us. Memory extraction I think. Directly from our brains, much more effective than torture." he said in a grim voice.
Alice was alarmed. "Why ?"
Corrupt, divide and conquer. "Romulans have a vendetta against every empire in the Beta and Alpha Quadrants, including the Federation. Besides Tal'Shair agents fear no one except their own people and the Empress."
"Uh, no." she whispered. "They must be doing this to everyone."
"Six hundred databases of information, freely giving them information." Stryker replied. He paused as another memory resurfaced. "Speaking of Mouse, I saw her earlier. I think she was talking to me, but I do not remember much."
"I hope she is alright, " Alice sighed in frustration. Stryker had another, more alarming thought. Oh no, Wiuen and I have detailed tactical information on the Dominion and the Edenian Federation of Worlds. That makes us very valuable to these bastards.
In the shadows behind Alice, a small figure moved. Stryker did not notice until the figure was almost in front of him. "Specky!" Alice exclaimed. The two friends hugged.
"How are you two ?" she asked, still feeling a little crushed from Alice's hug.
"Not good." Stryker replied.
MRess and the girl
Shrouded by darkness, MRess awoke. His hearing picked up the voices of his friends, sitting in the center of the room.
He looked around, his excellent nightvision providing him with a good idea as to where he is. He got up from his cott when he noticed a woman sitting on the ground, her back turned to him. Her knees were drawn to her chest, arms wrapped around them as she stared blankly ahead.
She smelled like a human. But not one familiar to him. He gently touched her shoulder and said, "Hey."
The woman shrugged with her entire body. "Sorry," MRess whispered as she recoiled from his touch.
He smelled fear coming from her. She turned around to face MRess and pushed the black hair out of her face. She looked at MRess, "It's okay."
"My name is MRess. Who are you ?" MRess asked.
"I am ... um ... " she paused and looked at MRess for a second. "I can not remember."
"Come sit with us." MRess said to her. She got up and hesitantly followed MRess.
MRess and the young woman sat down near Alice. Like the others, the woman's uniform and shoes was removed, she was wearing a blue shirt and black pants only.
Lucida and Alice smiled at the new arrival. "Hi MRess. Who is your friend ?"
"We . . . hmm. She doesn't know." he answered.
Stryker finally recomposed himself enough to sit up again. "Hi." he said to the woman. "I recognize her. Street."
"Who ?" the mystery woman asked. Alice and Lucida shot confused glances at each other. "I don't remember you. I do not recognise any of you."
"You ran into me that one day at the Academy, remember ? Bowled me right over."
Her memory drew a blank. Lucida shook her head slowly, "Concussion, brain damage and memory loss, thanks to those damn Romulan monsters." Lucida said, her voice tone venomous. "I am starting to wonder that they injected us with."
Stryker looked at the woman as he recalled her name, "Ensign Juliet Street. Warp plasma specialist."
The woman shook her head in confusion, "I don't remember anything."
Escape Plan
"Lets escape this dump!" MRess said suddenly.
"I am with MRess." Stryker agreed.
"Let us be reasonable. We are in no shape to put up a fight in our current states." Lucida said. "Not to mention we are very likely outnumbered, nor do not even know where we are."
"Well, I hope you know that's not very reassuring." Alice replied, sarcastically.
"I say we attack them head on and take our changes." Stryker responded.
"We need a plan here." Lucida shot back. "Remember what Sharon Edwards taught us. Brains over brawn."
"No, this is a time to stand and to fight." Stryker interjected.
"We need to think of our way out of this. We need a plan." Lucida said as she raised her voice.
Stryker had enough of sitting around, not pleased by the fact what the Romulans did to him. "Planning takes too long. I say if we go out, we go out fighting."
Alice looked at Stryker. "I hate to admit it, but I would not mind kicking in a few Romulan skulls."
"You have all GONE INSANE !" Lucida yelled at the top of her lungs, her eyes a bright crimson red. Alice, MRess and Juliet stared at her in shock. She crunched down in front of Stryker and waved her left hand before his face. "How many fingers am I holding up ?"
Stryker angrily brushed her hand aside. "I am fine, Specky. Really."
He was shocked to find Lucida's face a few centimeters from his own. "Liar." she snapped. "You clearly forgot who are you talking to."
"What is your point ?" he spat, his face was twisted by a scowl.
"My point is, something is wrong with your eyes. We need to make a blind fold for you so you can rest them and allow them to heal. Otherwise you will proberly go blind."
"Not on your life, " Stryker he said gravely. "I don't need to hear this."
"Too late," Lucida said, repeatly poking him in the center of the chest with her index finger.
He raised his arm and made a fist, but Alice held his arm tightly. "Please . . . don't, " she pleaded.
"Listen, I don't know you people !" Juliet yelled, her face pale. Brave, yet scared. "But, can't we just make the best of what we have got instead of fighting each other ?"
"She is right. Stop it, all of you. We have to work together at this." Alice's voice was surprisingly fierce to their ears, especially Stryker's.
He felt tired, withered, his mind running furiously on an insane treadmill as he lowered his arm. Shame bringing a dark flush of colour to his face. "Look Specky, I didn't mean ... "
Lucida looked darkly at him and bit back venomous words. "Save it," she spat. "I think all our nerves are frayed beyond measure."
"Literally ... " Alice muttered to herself. Lucida turned and walked away. He looked away disgusted with himself but still visibly angry.
They heard noises coming from the door. Stryker rallied Alice and MRess to stand up. "Get ready to fight."
The trio was standing near the door, ready to attack as the door opened. His eye sight was not that great, but he ignored it. He relied on hearing instead, his Guardian training coming in handy right when he needed it.
Three or four figures stood in the open doorway, one of them gasped and said something incomprehensible as Stryker rushed forward intending to put these three in a lot of pain. The sound of their necks breaking would be nice, he thought to himself.
But MRess grabbed his left arm while Alice grabbed the other. He snarled, wondering why they are restraining him, "Let me go!"
Alice raised her voice, "Stryker, they are Starfleet!"
Three officers walked in, "What have those bastards done?" the first one said.
The second one tapped his combadge. "Awayteam to Bridge. Medical emergency, I want every officer on the medical staff to report on Doctor Lehne RIGHT NOW. Tell her to convert guest quarters and shuttlebays into the intensive care units. We are looking at 400 casualties minimum."
"Right away Captain, " a mystery voice replied.
Next Chapter
Hope ...
Back to fiction