The New Normal

Posted on Sat Apr 25th, 2020 @ 3:56am by Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe & Commander Hans Munich & Lieutenant Lei Shan

1,408 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Food for the Gods
Location: Somewhere Underground

ON

The two women were taken to a two-bedroom room that was fully furnished. Everything was simple and utilitarian with no knick knacks or niceties, but it was clean.

Ronnie walked through the rooms. The door was the only way in or out, and it was guarded.

Shan had to be forcibly dragged by the guards, but they didn't stun her again. Probably didn't want to damage the new tools, she thought bitterly. When she was thrown in, she stood back up, and simply glared back at the guards stationed at the door.

"You are given nice accommodations." The Guard said. "Your first privilege, do not abuse it or there are worst places you can be kept."

Ronnie wouldn't call them nice. She knew help would be coming. She would bide her time, learn as much as she could, and find a way out. She did another lap of the space, looking for anything she could use to get help or get out. But, so far, there was nothing.

Shan snorted at him. "A cage is still a cage, even if it is gilded," she said angrily.

Ronnie had to agree. There was only one way out, the door. No access hatches, no windows, no thin walls. It was definitely a prison.

As though on cue an older male came through the door wearing black pants and a white coat similar to a lab coat. On his side he had a device ; slightly larger than a 2260's style tricorder with a wire attached and a hand held connection.

"Hello our new friends." He stopped a short distance away, the two guards were in the doorway watching. "I am The Doctor for this level." He started his speech. "I am here to make sure you are healthy and not in need of assistance." He stepped closer taking the device in his left hand; opening the flip display and then the derringer shaped connected device in his right hand pointing it at Shan first. "This is a Ultra high frequency Sonic sensory apparatus..." He began. "It will check your vital signs and body but you will not feel a thing."

"My blood pressure is through the roof, my heart rate is elevated, I have adrenaline running through my veins, I haven't eaten recently, and I've been knocked out twice recently by your goons. Now stop pointing that thing at me!" Shan snapped. "I do not consent to a medical exam by you."

"It shant take but a moment." The Doctor said. "It will also be quite maditory if you wish to get food. Can't have you being sick and not get proper care. He said as he read the screen. "You do seem to have elevated levels but nothing to be worried about and your cellular structure is sound enough, you take good care of yourself." He raised the probe and looked to Shan. "Now that was not so bad now was it?"

Shan crossed her arms. "Just one more indignity on top of all the others from today. I'm keeping a list. You're on it. When we get out of here, you and all the others will be held accountable for what you've done."

The doctor point the scanning device at Lancaster and began to scan.

"You see, it did not hurt her a bit." The doctor assured.

Ronnie said nothing in response. She wasn't going to play straight man to the doctor, or cause any trouble--yet. She did study the scanner the doctor used, and how he used it. Information, any information, was useful. What it showed her was that this place they were now in was more technologically advanced than the surface, and might mean they had more leverage to argue their case. "If it's advanced enough, it may also show you that we aren't from here."

"Of course you aren't from here," the doctor said, finishing his scan. "You're from the surface."

"No, we aren't. We came here in response to a repair call from a machine in the temple. We only wanted to repair the machine and leave," Ronnie replied. "Our people will come looking for us."

The doctor sniggered. "No one comes here unless sent by the priests."

"Just wait," Ronnie said. "They will come. We both have mates who will not leave us here. And a captain who leaves no one behind."

He scanned her again. "Perhaps you are mad," he said. "That would not do for breeding stock."

"We are not cattle and I am not mad," the science officer retorted, her temper flaring. "I'm an entomologist aboard a starship." She was clearly violating the Prime Directive, but she wanted him to think, to consider her words.

"One week quarantine while we evaluate these two," the doctor decided. "I will report this to the elders." He was looking a little scared.

The guards nodded, stepping back from the women. The doctor exited and hte door closed. The women could hear the lock slide closed.

Ronnie sighed. "I don't know if that was a smart idea or not, but it definitely ruffled some feathers."

"I wonder if they'll let us go if they think we're crazy. Or sick. Or dangerous," Shan finished with practically a growl.

Ronnie looked at the door. "I don't think so. They may just lock us up and leave us there."

Shan rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, maybe if they were actually convinced we were both going to be uncooperative, our captors would have something more to think on."

"You can be uncooperative. That doctor had some sort of medical scanner. I want to talk to the people in charge. Maybe we can convince them we don't belong here," Ronnie said. She didn't agree with Shan that being uncooperative would do any good, but then, she'd spent a lot of time with Damion and felt being subtle might do better for now.

Shan snorted. "Fine. You roll over and accept your new life as a slave. Maybe they'll give you a cushy job in the kitchen. I'll die first," she said, completely earnest.

"I said nothing about rolling over," Ronnie said, sorry she'd brought it up. "I prefer subtlety. My husband came from an intel background. I learned it can be better to do things quietly than constantly fight. We are dealing with an advanced race down here. One that may be reasoned with. It's worth a try. You can fight and resist. I'm going to talk first."

Shan laughed. "You're right I'll fight and resist. I've been held helpless before, and never again," she said. "This opp went south a long time ago, the emergency extraction plan is shot, and our handlers have lost all contact with us. We're caught, and you just blew any cover we might have had left. In the intel background I'm familiar with, that pretty much nixes the subtle option."

Ronnie chuckled. "Damion and I went undercover once. We were trapped on a ship for months. When the operation went bad, we went to subterfuge and managed to turn it around, but it was close. I think if we'd chosen to fight then, we wouldn't be here now. So, I'm not going to tell you how to handle this, but I'm going to do what has worked in the past and hope it'll work again."

"Last time we were in a position this bad, we ended up fighting a group of terrorists who had taken over a conference center," Shan recalled out loud as she stated to explore the perimeter of their prison cell. "We managed to delay and disrupt them while a special ops team infiltrated the building to rescue the hostages." She shot Lancaster a look then went back to searching the edges of the rooms. "Of course, I wasn't a hostage that time, but delay and disrupt I can still do." She ran a hand though her hair, holding her head for a long moment. She couldn't reach Savar still and it was starting to drive her mad.

"They'll find us. We both know that. The object is to be alive when they do so. And to look for opportunities to get away. Although I have no idea how we're going to get back up that slide. Damion will find a way."

____
OFF

Lieutenant Lei Shan
Chief Operations Officer
USS Calypso

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Calypso

NPCs played by
Hans Munich

 

RSS Feed