Lend me an ear?
Posted on Mon Aug 13th, 2018 @ 4:45pm by
Edited on on Mon Aug 13th, 2018 @ 5:43pm
1,806 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4 - The Sum of Our Parts
Location: Rura Penthe
Timeline: MD002 1100 hrs
"I don't want to be here or do this either", Varaldyr said. "We cannot fight our way out of here, we need information." Of course, once Varaldyr was out, she could simply forget about Darf. Only, that wouldn't be the honourable way. "I will have some after this shift."
"Very well." Darf said as he turned to head back to work. Part of him glad he wasn't alone in this, part of him sad to see what had happened to his people in this reality, part of him wishing he would wake up and this would be over. The whole of him set his mind on blending in for the rest of the shift and hope his new fr...acquaintance kept her word.
May 29 2394 1100 hrs (relative time)
At the end of Darf's shift, Varaldyr approached him. "You, come with me!" She didn't want to draw undue attention, fraternisation with the prisoners wasn't something the other Klingons around here would look kindly upon. There were exceptions, for the prettier ones that caused certain desires, but with how Klingons liked to do it, that usually turned out badly for them. However, this wasn't what Varaldyr had in mind. "You will follow me to my office." As an engineer, she needed her own workstation, and it was a warmer room than the main holding pen. And they would be able to talk in private there, she hoped. At least, her sweep earlier had revealed no surveillance equipment. She wasn't important enough to warrant it.
Darf did as he was told with his head down. He was tired, he had not done that much manual labor in many years. He didn't say anything to Valaldayr as to not break the act that he was her subordinate. He just followed along looking up from time to time to keep track of where they were going and make mental notes of the layout of the mine.
When they arrived in Varaldyr's office, the first thing she did was take off her fur coat and place it on the back of her chair. The air inside was warm, breathable, and it didn't reek of prisoners, whose options for personal hygiene were even less than those Klingons traditionally enjoyed. Varaldyr, having spent some time among Federation citizens, was the exception to the rule. She did not like to stick, and she actually showered regularly.
The second thing she did was place her gravity controller on the desk in front of her, as a show of trust. "There is no surveillance in this room, I have made sure of that", she stated. She sat down, brought up the information she had collected on her terminal and turned it around for Darf to see. "This is what I found. It's not much but it's a start."
Darf took a seat keeping one uneasy eye on the gravity controller. He started to read over the data she had collected. As he thought they had not just been placed somewhere else, this was an alternate reality of sorts. Once he was done looking, he sat back and looked at Varaldyr.
"While I was banging away on the wall, I started to think about what could have caused this. The Pioneer was responding to a Cardassian Science outpost that had sent out a distress call. Once we had dropped out of warp in the system, we got an update from the Head of the facility. He said that the Chronometric experiments they where doing had gone critical and were about to detonate. I had gone to my office and contacted officials on Cardassia because we didn't know how big of a blast wave this station would put out." Darf paused and pondered for a second. "What if the explosion caused a temporal anomaly and threw us into an alternate reality?"
"It would explain why we both remember things differently from our surroundings", Varaldyr agreed. "I have put out a request for a small Bird of Prey to come fetch me off this place", she started. "I intend to take you with me, as well as a few others to make this look legitimate. I need you to state you want to trade your freedom for knowledge of high grade dilithium deposits near your homeworld. Make it sound convincing, tell them what they want to hear. Someone will come interview you, someone who is not me to double-check the validity of the information." Varaldyr realised she had put him on the spot but while thinking and planning earlier that day, she hadn't had time to wait and double-check with him. "Once we're out of here, we can go where we need to go."
"I can do that." Darf said. "Anything to get us off this rock, we can't do anything to get back to our reality while we are here." He said, starting to form in his mind how he would give the information.
She looked at the giant of a rock in front of her, nodding with approval. "Do you have any other questions? I can access more data if you need it."
"No, I think I will be ready. When can we get the interview done?" Darf was obviously quite anxious.
"Someone will come for you", Varaldyr said. "I cannot guarantee it will be pleasant."
***
Darf spent the time he was given getting ready for what he would say. He wasn't waiting for too long, really. As soon as powers that be had heard that one of the Brikars had broken down and was willing to share some information for a false sense of freedom, they sent in one of their best interrogators.
A woman entered the room where he had been brought. She was shorter, more compact and less clean than Varaldyr, with a meaner expression on her face. The first thing she did was reduce the effectiveness of the gravity compensators by 30%, only then she spoke up. "Tell me something good, and make it convincing." She did not feel the need to introduce herself.
Darf was so deep in his own thoughts when the compensators where altered, it was a severe jolt to his being. He looked up in pain as the increase in the gravitational weight wasn't painful but very uncomfortable. "I know where an almost unlimited supply of dilithium and latinum can be found. My people have mined it in secret for many years, that is what makes us... made us so self-sufficient." Darf offered up the data hoping the Klingon would take it. Since it was true the Brikar had an asteroid belt that they mined in secret it sounded good coming out of his mouth.
"And why would we need you?" she asked. "We have access to the Brikar archives." She sat down behind a large stone table that was decorated with an equally large Klingon symbol. "Your willingness to betray your own kind isn't enough. You must offer us something of value."
"I designed the security systems that protect the mine from scum like you. Only a handful of Brikars have the knowledge and ability to turn those systems off." Darf said with an evil grin. "If any of the others are alive I would say good luck finding them in the mine. As for why I would betray my kind is because unlike most I value my life and freedom over some dumb sense of loyalty to some foolish pride."
She increased his gravity again, then produced a hammer shaped to chip off pieces of rock. "You will learn to bite back your insolence." She chipped away at his ear, carefully controlled violence designed to inflict pain but not debilitating injury, but to leave a mark for all to see all the same. "Your freedom cannot be bought with insults."
Darf tried his best to suck it up but the chiseled hammer was very effective at creating pain. He was no warrior like most of his species. As the hammer slammed down time and time again Darf finally could not take the pain. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Was all he could get to come out through the pain. After his ear was chiseled off and laying on the floor there was a tan colored ooze coming out, which was his blood. He finally caught his breath and in a whimpered, beaten down voice. "I am telling the truth. I can get your people more minerals than you can dream of."
"If you are lying, this was only the start of what will await you", the Klingon said with a satisfied smile on her face. She enjoyed inflicting pain, it made her feel strong. That was the way of the thug, after all. She put her tool back where it belonged and without another word, walked out of the room. She didn't bother re-adjusting the gravity compensator.
Darf didn't even notice his inability to move as he was dealing with the pain and trying to keep himself from slipping into shock.
Several minutes later, Varaldyr walked back into the room. "You did it, they're allowing us to leave Rura Penthe on the Bird of Prey. We're talking three more of your people, and several guards. We'll proceed to..." she stopped. "Didn't you have two ears?"
Darf strained to look up. He still had some blood oozing out of the spot where his ear was. He looked at Varaldyr and then to his ear on the ground.
Varaldyr picked up the ear, looked at it and was unsure what to do. "Will this heal on its own? Too much medical attention will looks suspicious." She walked around the desk and looked for other things lying around but found none. Then she saw the indicator on the gravity conpensator and immediately restored it to its normal setting. "That was not part of the plan."
"Just get us off this rock." Darf grumbled having a hard time looking at the Klingon without lunging at her in rage. "I will prepare the others going so we can over power the guards once we have left."
Varaldyr nodded and gave him his ear back. "Here, this is yours. We'll leave in two hours. Take only people you can trust, if you've found out who that is. We need no more surprises."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Commander Darf Krackden
Executive Officer, USS Pioneer
Varaldyr of the House of QIr'aS
Klingon Ambassador to Cardassia, Empok Nor
PNPC Niall
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