Disclaimer: Obviously I do not own nor have had any input in this series that started a cultural movement. I'm just a huge fan that got inspiration from another artist.
Serena's sleep was plagued with nightmares. She often woke up with the intense urge to double check that everyone was in fact still breathing. After the third time she simply sat up and stayed up. Spock's breathing went back to normal which gave her hope that he was in fact healing. Time passed without her even noticing it. She could not say how long she stayed up but when Spock stirred and opened his eyes she didn't care.
When Spock tried to get up she didn't let him this time. "Hold it, can you speak?" she asked a hand keeping him from sitting up. He wasn't really fighting her restraint which she knew she would lose if he had. "I am better." He said his voice raspy at first. Serena ran through a few quick tests of his motor skills before she allowed him to sit up. The relief threatened to spill over but she kept herself from flinging her arms around him. "Can you tell me what happened to you?" She asked as she kept her from hovering over him, the doctor in her wanting to run more tests to ensure his healing. Spock looked at her and then at her cheek where she sported a nasty bruise. "What of you? Are you well?" Spock said not answering her question immediately. "They just slapped me around a bit but my injuries are less severe than your own. In the end they wanted me to treat some of their sick and wounded. From what Sharick said this is a colony of sorts, they work alone and have for many months. I assume their medic has either passed or is missing which is why they wanted my knowledge and skills." Serena stated, pointing over to Sharick when she mentioned him since Spock would not know him. She kept silent of the two other nasty bruises showing on her stomach and thigh. She knew what she had gone through and how to treat herself what she didn't know was to just what extent Spock had gone through and how far she should take his treatment. Luckily Spock explained without her asking again although his eyes kept straying to her fractured cheek every now and then like he wanted to do something.
"They took me to a room and asked the basic questions; name, rank, mission parameters. I believe this offshoot of the Romulans is testing out a new machine that uses telepathic waves to control ships. They had me hooked up to it with a shuttle in front of me. I of course was not fully cooperative and suffered the consequences for it." He looked at his hand as he said this, it was already time to change the bandages Serena noted but allowed Spock to finish first. "It seemed that my telepathic abilities did not correspond with the technology of the machine. They believe this has to do with my control over my emotions and mean to break my mental barriers to try again." "And that was what they did from then until they brought you here." Serena finished as she now understood everything. "Precisely. I highly doubt they are through and I am unsure how long I will be able to keep in control. Even now I feel my mental barriers weakening." Spock stated as if he hadn't just said that there wouldn't be much hope of him lasting another round which would surely come that day. "Then we will have to find a way out of here." Serena stated.
Now that Spock had finished explaining what he had been through she went and got her supplies and came back to sit by Spock. As she spoke she redid his bandages and checked his wounds. "As I was taken out of this room I tried to make a mental image of where they took me. I've been in two separate rooms. One was the interrogation room and the other was where they kept their sick." "I too recall the layouts to the areas I was taken. If we are to escape this will have to be a two prong plan, escape and destroy. It would be unwise to leave such a device in their hands. While my abilities were not sufficient if they were able to find a good enough species for telepathy then they would be able to control any ship even one like the Enterprise." Spock said as he allowed her to change the bandages. "I had heard of theories about this technology but I thought it was impossible." Serena had taken the absurd theory as unrealistic but if Spock said the machine had some possibility of working then the danger was there that this unrealistic theory just might be a fact in the near future. "You guys were supposed to give them all the bad qualities of Vulcan not any of the good." Serena tried to joke but Spock did not seem amused.
Very soon they were both drawing a map in the ground of what they knew of the layout. They both explained any detail of their captors that they could think of, trying to formulate a weakness. Sharick and Dalera woke up and came over to them to add in their amount of knowledge, Dalera writing in the ground and Sharick adding his experiences to the mix. Sharick's knowledge of the Romulans' behavior in their previous capture was valuable. They had to quickly erase their drawings when they heard sound outside their cell. Serena was afraid they would take one of them away but they only tossed in some food for them and left.
As they ate Spock spoke to her, his voice low for only her ears. "Serena, if I am taken again I will not be suitable to rely on for much support. You will need to have a backup plan in case I cannot maintain the original plan." Serena looked at him and wanted to argue with him, to say it would all be fine but she knew better. "Assume the worse but hope for the best." She settled with instead. "Precisely. We will need a diversion and we will need to find a way to gain a communicator so we can at least attempt to contact the Enterprise. My initial scans of this planet and its terrain reported that there were systems like this all over the planet so I do not believe we have been transported off world. I think that with the amount of sick and wounded you treated that they were forced to take refuge here to recuperate before continuing their mission." Serena nodded. "I will see what I can do. Out of all of us I am the one who has the most access to equipment. I will try to see if I can get anything the next time they take me." Spock didn't say anything just finished his meal in silence, it almost seemed like he was uneasy by the concept but it was hard to tell with the Vulcan.
Serena prepped herself after she ate; making areas on her outfit that she might be able to stash anything away in quickly. She was glad for the dress she had put on at that moment, easy to make ruffles that appeared to be just to free her legs for more work instead of making pockets. As she knew they would they came for her but they also came for Spock. Everything in her wanted to fight them off of Spock but they both had known this would happen. Serena watched Spock's retreating form, his broad back almost concealed by the flanks of guards around him. As she faced forward she steeled herself from the emotions welling up in her and settled herself on the task at hand. She had to do things perfectly or she could ruin everything.