Lost in Darkness

Posted on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 @ 6:01am by Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe & Lieutenant Lei Shan

1,142 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Food for the Gods
Location: Unknown
Timeline: Unknown

ON

Ronnie woke with a pounding headache and an odd taste in her mouth. She was lying on a dirt-packed floor in pitch darkness. All she could remember was being separated from the others, then a sharp prick on her arm. Drugged? Probably. She'd been walking beside Lei Shan. Was she here, too? "Lei?" she called, surprised that her voice was hoarse. "Are you here?"

Shan had regained consciousness slowly; she was disoriented enough that she didn't try to do anything at first, not even move or speak. Instead she fell back into her own mind- she hadn't been mated to a Vulcan for all these years to not know a thing or two about mental discipline and mental tricks. She was able to banish the headache fairly easily, actually, and was working what had happened to her.

When she heard Lancaster's voice, she remembered. And remembering that she had been knocked out and taken captive did not sweeten her mood. "It's Shan," she snapped irritably and started levering herself up into a sitting position.

"Yeah. Well, that's not something I want to repeat any time soon. Any idea where we are?" she asked, slowly moving her muscles to work out some of the cramps. When she could, she got to her feet and slowly began to feel for a wall. It felt like stone. Old stone by the smell of it. She began to feel her way around, sliding her feet along the packed earth do she didn't trip over or into anything.

The room was relatively square, with a hole in one corner for a toilet. There was a door, but it was shut tight, the hinges on the outside. "Looks like we're going to be guests of somebody for the next little while."

"Well, if they wanted to kill us they could have done it already. So they want us alive. At least for now. That'll give us time to be found." She reached up to feel behind her ears, then flexed her jaw in the way that would activate the subdermal comm she'd had implanted, and another flex to activate the tracking signal enhancer. "Shan to Calypso," she tried, then waited. "Shan to Calypso," she tried again, then swore colorfully in three languages- English, Chinese, and Vulcan.

Ronnie listened to Shan, then tried her own combadge earring. All she got was static. "I get nothing, either. Damion won't rest until we're found," she said. She knew he would find her sooner or later. She really hoped it was sooner.

Shan shook her head, even though it couldn't be seen in the darkness. "So long as we can hold out for a little while, I'm not worried about being found. I'll happen, we'll be found," she said, more than confidently. Savar would already know she was in trouble- he would have felt it the moment she was knocked out. And he'd be able to find her. She could still feel him, after all, though not as clearly as usual. Her Mate's mind was like a part of her, like a hand or a foot. Now it was like she'd been sitting on that limb wrong, and it was tingling and numb. That wouldn't stop him- Shan knew. As long as she was breathing, Savar could find her.

"We'll be found."

The sound of a door sliding open could be heard, followed by something sliding into the room.

She snapped into motion the instant the door started opening, launching herself towards the sound. She couldn't see, but she could hear, and she was fast- always had been- and she had no intention of sitting around like a good little girl to wait patiently for a rescue.

She actually got her fingertips on the edge before it was pulled out of her grasp.

Then the door closed. "Eat up. It's almost sunset."

"No," Shan said belligerently to the now closed portal. "I will not cooperate."

"What's sunset?" Ronnie asked.

"You'll be told."

Shan hauled herself to her feet and pounded on the door. "I will not cooperate!" she shouted furiously.

Someone on the otherside of the door laughed.

Ronnie went over to the door and felt around until she found a flat wooden slab with two small loaves of bread on it. "Food," she said.

Shan snorted. "Don't tell me you're actually going to eat it?" she asked and reached towards the other woman's voice. "They leave anything else, or just the bait?"

"Nothing. I'm not hungry now, but I may stash it away in case they decide to stop feeding us," she said. "I want my strength when I have a chance to get out of here." But she knew Shan had a valid point. There was no telling what was in the food. And so, waiting was a smart idea.

"I wouldn't eat it if I was hungry," Shan muttered, and finally found Lancaster's hands with her own. "What's this?" she asked rhetorically as she found the plate-like slab. "This I do want. It's not much, but I'll take it. You mind?" she asked as she tried to take it.

"Not at all," Ronnie said. "Hopefully they'll give us another one before much longer." She still wanted to keep the bread. She knew from experience that when you got hungry enough, you'd eat anything. And the bread didn't smell too bad.

Shan took the plate in one hand so she didn't lose it in the dark, then with the other started feeling out to find the outline of the door. "Don't suppose you know how to pick locks? I've got a couple little tools tucked into my hair, but I have no idea what to do with them, even provided I can find you a lock to work with..." She made a mental note to correct that deficiency when they got back to the ship. You never knew what skills would come handy, and it would have been better to be prepared.

"I do," Ronnie said. "Damion taught me. I never thought I'd need one down here." She felt her way around to where Shan stood by the door.

"Great. We find a keyhole, and you can give it a shot," Shan said absently.

Ronnie felt around the door. "Hinges are on the outside." That was something she'd discovered before. She found no keyhole. "Steel-bound wood with no keyhole. Must have a sliding bolt on the outside." She knelt down to inspect the smaller food door. "Can't get out here, but you might be able to do something with that plate if they feed us again."

Shan's grin was fierce, almost vicious, and could be heard in her voice even if it was too dark to see. "Oh, I will," she promised.

____
OFF

Lieutenant JG Lei Shan
Assistant Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster
Assistant Chief Science Officer

 

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