Chekov and Kelly sat next to each other in a corner, talking in low voices. Spock was contemplating ways to escape and winding up at the same conclusion each time, they were trapped. Havarii paced the length of the cell turning when he got to the end and repeating his steps. O'Connor watched him irritably as he turned for the 100th time, then she said angrily "will you stop that, it's hard enough waiting for that psychopath to come back and do god knows what, without watching you walk a hole into the floor while we wait."
Havarii stopped pacing and turned to O'Connor and said "will you shut the hell up and stop your whining, I—"
He fell quiet, as they all heard a muffled sound. It sounded like a phaser being fired then a loud thump. They stood up unsure of what was happening. They had gathered together, when the door opened allowing light to spill into the dark cell. A woman appeared, behind her they could see other figures.
"Come we don't have much time" The woman said gesturing for them to move, as she gestured her face came into the light allowing them to clearly see her.
"T'Kas?" Spock said recognizing her, and feeling faintly surprised.
"Yes, Spock, I couldn't go along with this plan. It's entirely wrong, my grandfather would have agreed as much" She gestured for them to leave again as none of the crew had moved. "You have to get out Silkar will kill you if you stay. I can't get you to your shuttle there's to many guards near there, but I know a hiding place few people know of."
"You're Silkar's sister. Why should we trust you?" O'Connor said defiantly not moving, as she crossed her arms.
"Because you don't have any other choice" T'Kas replied reasonably.
Spock moved forward stepping out the cell door. He glanced around. Three other people were with T'kas, 2 Vulcan males and a Vulcan woman. Lying on the ground were three unconscious Vulcan guards. The other Enterprise crew members left the cell. Havarii and Chekov quickly checked the unconscious Vulcans for weapons and started passing them out to the rest of the crew. Spock noticed out the corner of his eye that Chekov took a worn looking knife from, one of the guards and tucked it into a pocket, then stood up a grim look on his face. Spock remembered seeing the same knife when Silkar had the guards take their weapons the knife wasn't Starfleet issue, but regulations were the least of Spock's worries right now.
T'Kas told one of the males and the woman to watch the cell and stun anybody that came to check so they would have long enough to get away. Then she and the other male which she introduced as Sunil set off, leading the group down a circuitous route through the various underground pathways. They had been walking for barely two minutes, when three Vulcans stepped in front of them. The Vulcans were surprised, but reacted astonishingly fast raising there disruptors. Instead of firing they instead said "drop your weapons and we'll take you back without harm"
They were the smaller group in numbers but apparently felt they were in control. Havarii snarled "you point-ears have a lot of nerve, you're the ones outnumbered. "
Before anybody else could speak, they all heard a yell in Russian and a torrent of swearing. Spock noticed three more Vulcans had come up behind them and grabbed the two youngest members of the party. One was holding a struggling Chekov, the other had Kelly. The one holding Chekov gave up attempting to restrain him, as the boy elbowed him in the ribs and in one motion the Vulcan standing opposite fired on the young navigator. Without another word Chekov collapsed.
Kelly screamed and struggled against the one holding her. Havarii raised his weapon and tried to fire. Nothing happened. The first Vulcan who had spoken, said coolly "not working right? Those weapons were made to be disabled in the event that they fell into the wrong hands, a useful mechanism in the case of an uprising" As he said the last comment he glanced at T'Kas , and told her "A lot of us always thought you weren't on our side. You're weak, and now you'll die for your weakness."
He gestured for them to drop their weapons. T'kas and Sunil dropped there weapons, but the Enterprise crew was more reluctant. The Vulcan holding Kelly pulled a weapon out aimed it at her, "Hand them over."
Spock and the others began to set there weapons down. Nobody was paying attention to where Chekov lay. Havarii who was the closet to the Vulcan man holding a weapon on them , gave Spock a signal that the Vulcan recognized from academy training. O'Connor saw the sign also, both her and Spock waited, watching Havarii carefully. When Havarii moved Spock and O'Connor were ready. When Havarii quickly rushed the nearest man , Spock moved toward the other. The Vulcans had apparently anticipated the attack, O'connor was quickly knocked aside. When Spock moved in to neck pinch his opponent the man twisted aside.
Havarii was grappling with his own Vulcan without much success, the alien's superior strength would soon overcome the strength the human had gained from anger. It had been seconds and any moment Spock expected to feel a disruptor blast at his back. The Vulcan hissed as Spock tried to choke him, "Kill them R'nak" . Spock heard the sound of a disruptor firing twice but the searing heat he expected to feel didn't come instead Spock felt a warmth pass perilously close to him then Spock's opponent fell backward, half his side was burned away.
Spock straightened up and twisted around. T'kas and Sunil had each neatly dispatched a Vulcan, but Havarii was still grappling with his attacker. Spock moved toward the two figures intending to render the remaining Vulcan unconscious with a nerve pinch. A figure beat him to it Spock had one second to be shocked as he watched Chekov neatly come behind the Vulcan that was trying to strangle Havarii. Before the man could react Chekov had grabbed the man's head and tilted it backward, without hesitation in one fluid movement he took the knife and sliced the Vulcan across the throat. Green blood flowed out and the Vulcan fell to his knees then his eyes glazed over.
Chekov wiped the knife off on the man's clothes, slipped the weapon back into his pocket and dropped the disruptor he had in his hands. Then he went to Kelly who was trembling. "Shh- it's okay" they heard him murmuring to her tenderly. He gave no indication that moments earlier he had killed three people, as he stroked Kelly's hair. The other Enterprise crew was still staring at Chekov. Even Spock was surprised, and if he wasn't a Vulcan the cold look in the Chekov's eyes as he had killed the Vulcan would have shocked him to the core.
They didn't have much time to be stunned the sound of fighting had alerted others, and voice yelled out "they've escaped" from behind them they could hear footsteps rapidly approaching. T'kas , Sunil set off at a run the others following closely behind. They made it several feet before a phaser blast sizzled out catching Kelly in the arm, she gasped and stumbled. O'Connor pushed her out the way and continued past not stopping to help the fallen girl. Havarii reached out and caught Kelly's arm before Chekov could reach her and pushed Kelly into the alcove which the Vulcans and O'Connor had disappeared into. The others squeezed in after them. They could hear footsteps from both ends of the corridor now and disruptor blast scorched its way down the hall at irregular intervals pining them down.
"We're going to die" O'Connor wailed her face twisted with fear as she stared at the blood welling from the wound in Kelly's arm. "we're going to die" she repeated her voice whiny.
"Vill you shut up?" Chekov snarled, looking up from where he was bandaging Kelly's arm.
Behind them T'Kas and Sunil crouched by a seemingly plain stretch of rock. They conversed in low tones running their fingers over the panel searching for something.
"We're going to die. We have to leave before they get close. If they catch us they'll kill us!" O'Connor said hysterically
"Calm down" Havarii said glancing back at her as he watched the corridor and tried to keep the Vulcans from advancing any closer. T'Kas and Sunil had found what they were looking for, they had exposed a panel revealing a keypad. T'Kas fingers raced across the keypad, rapidly typing in a sequence.
"We're going—to die—if we stay- here' O'Connor said hyperventilating and before anybody could stop her. She bolted forward past Havarii leaving the relative protection of the alcove.
"O'Connor don't!" Kelly shouted
O'Connor didn't stop. She made it several feet down the corridor before a phaser blast dropped her. Whether she was dead or not, they couldn't tell, but her prone form didn't move.
Kelly moved to go after her and Havarii and Chekov stopped her. "You can't go out there it's suicide" Havarii said.
"We can't just leave her!" Kelly replied
"Ensign, she's probably already dead judging by the strength of phaser blast they are using" as he spoke another blast ripped down the corridor landing on an outcropping of stone. The stone crumbled falling to the ground in blackened pieces."The death of more of us in an attempt to recover her corpse would be illogical" Spock said.
Havarii glanced backward at Spock's words and gave Spock a malicious glare that nobody noticed because T'kas had just finished keying a the sequence, and a small piece of rock pushed inwards from below the keypad she was typing on revealing a tunnel. It was just small enough to walk through if you bent over almost double.
"Come one" T'Kas said gesturing for them to follow her. They walked into the dark tunnel the only light provided by, a small emergency light that T'Kas held. Sunil brought up the rear of the group, closing the door behind him.
They walked for several minutes in the cramped tunnel, before it ended in another door which T'Kas pushed open. They followed her out and found themselves, back in the corridor. Without a word they set off again. The path she took was winding. They travelled for several more minutes before T'Kas stopped at another seemingly random and repeated the same process they had earlier. This time the rock revealed a tunnel so small that they had to crawl or their hands and knees to get through. They had gone only a short distance, when the tunnel dropped off , into a large cavern. The cavern was lined with stone ledges. Stalactites and stalagmites festooned the surfaces and the cave dimly lit by two emergency lights that were propped on one ledge. In one corner a pile of containers was lined against the wall.
"What is this place?" Kelly said looking around, and shivering in the cool air.
"This is the cavern where my grandfather, used to teach me and some of the other colonists the true Vulcan ways. Nobody but me and a few others know of this place" T'Kas said looking around the cavern. She continued "There's food, water, blankets and other supplies stored here. This room is actually quite close to the main passageway, but if you are quiet , nobody should be able to find you. We'll try to find you a way out in a few hours, once it's safer."
Spock said "thank you"
T'Kas looked at him the ghost of a smile on her face and said "one does not thank logic." Then her and Sunil made the familiar V-shape with their fingers and said "live long and prosper" Spock replied in a similar manner, then the 2 Vulcans disappeared back down the tunnel.
Next chapter update will be February 8th. This chapter was kind of hard to write and it feels a little out of sorts to me, a bit stiff I think. but I don't know, tell me what you think. As always reviews are appreciated guest reviews and otherwise. Thanks to all my readers.