A Little Torture Between Enemies Part 2
Posted on Fri May 17th, 2019 @ 1:03am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Staff Warrant Officer Jennifer Masters - Calhoun & Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Fri May 17th, 2019 @ 11:42am
2,488 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Episode 6 - Old Habits Die Hard
Location: Undisclosed Location Cardassia Prime
Timeline: MD004 1430 hrs
The binder's holding him to the table clacked open and Neil fell to the floor. It took a minute, but he was able to pull his legs up under him and look around, the voices still echoing in his mind as he tried to embrace the darkness that lurked in his mental peripheral.
He looked around for a weapon and when he didn't find anything he decided to just remain where he was, gather his strength and let his training kick in.
~Good,~ the Horta's voice echoed. ~Enemies at the door. Prepare, deal with them then evade and respond. Return, Sgt. Tremble.~
~Oh crap,~ Hoyle's voice sounded in Neil's head next. ~Don't listen to either of... Then that voice was gone too and all he heard was piano music.
Razuul ducked underneath one of the examination tables. There was no need to endanger himself when he had canon fodder that could die for him. He had to make sure that Tremble kept whoever that was busy long enough to get to the escape hatch. "Lieutenant I want you to pick up that disruptor and kill whoever comes through that door." He barked the order to Tremble. On a tray before the Marine sat a Cardassian disruptor along with some other torture implements.
Neil didn’t raise his head right away when he heard the doors cycle open. His mind’s eye twitched and blinked and he inhaled sharply as he felt the air change.
The air had changed when he door opened. Now something had moved within that airflow. If it was moving, most likely it was a life form.
Now he did raise his head, remaining in a crouch as he scanned the room then found the humanoid his mind’s eye blinked as it focused with his vision and he saw a Jem’ Ha Dar moving toward him.
He’d seen this one before…
Mina didn't really like doors, she had bad experiences with them in general. Instead of simply coming through she more or less slunk into the room and quickly found the nearest cover she could regardless of being fired at or not.
Jenn followed the gunny in to the room with her scanner in one hand. She then saw Neil's signal on her tricorder scanner. "Sergeant," She whispered. "It's the Lieutenant." She pointed in to the direction she got his signal from and then headed there.
As he sensed more movement through the door, Neil looked up and opened his eyes. He stood, scooping up the disruptor and aimed it toward Jennifer. "You'll find no easy target here, Jem ha' Dar." His finger began tightening on the firing stud as his peripheral tracked cover options.
Jenn had no idea what they did to him, but he called her a Jem ha'Dar. Which wasn't a good sign. "Lieutenant...Cornelius...Neil," Her voice was stern, but had a slight tremble in it. She hoped it would make him realize she wasn't a Jem ha'Dar. "It's me, Jennifer Masters." She hid her tricorder and phaser behind her back, trying not to come over threatening.
The Vorta was wondering what he was waiting for. Hoyle was muttering about him being dumber than a hat full of feces and that he couldn't see the Fleet for the trees.
Whatever that meant.
Then there was the last order he'd received: Kill whoever came through the door. And Marines always followed orders! Neil raised the disruptor then and hesitated. Something was wrong with his vision, the image of the Jem ha'Dar was fluctuating. He shook his head trying to clear it and wracking pain tore at his eyes: burned his nerves.
"I..." he whispered loudly, "Get out of my head," he yelled and half stumbled backwards seeking the cover of the bench he'd been secured to.
"I am not in your head, Neil, I am here," Jenn shouted back and tightened the grip on her phaser. She didn't want to fire it at him, but she would probably try to knock him out. Somehow in any case, as the marine was quite hefty.
Blinking, Neil's unseeing eyes focused at the sound and he yelled. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!", then he ducked behind the bench leveled the disruptor and bolts of green lanced at Jennifer, bracketing her to either side. Both shots missed by a hair, the smell of burnt ozone permeating the air.
Jenn avoided the shot just in time. "Alright, it is on now." She pulled out her own phaser and aimed at him. She didn't think twice and took the shot. As she watched him go down she looked down to him. "Wilson, can you help me get his body out of here?" He was right. She doubted to take the shot, because he was her friend. She leaned over to him. "Don't hold it over me, Neil!" She wasn't even sure he could hear her.
"Oh, of coarse where being shot at, I Cani go anywhere without getting shot at. I need a vaction." The Gunny was getting rather annoyed at this entire operation. She was accustomed to things not going the way they wanted them to, but this was ridiculous. She ducked and weaved staying low and getting as close as she could to Tremble without being out in the open.
Razuul from his hiding spot gave one final order and then began the emergency transport for himself. "Mr Tremble kindly take care of your ex crew-mates and then join me." His communication device told him that it would be five minutes before his comrades at arms could get him out. So for the time being he remained hidden and drew his disruptor. The Grand Torturer of the Obsidian Order would not be taken without a fight.
Neil's eyes flickered open at Razuul's voice and, swept an arm at Jennifer's legs. She managed to jump over the attempt to trip her and Neil rolled to one side coming up in a four point stance and then hurtled himself at Jenn, looking to get a shoulder block in and take her to the ground.
"Jenn dear? Can yee distract Cornelius for me fer a moment?" Wilson was as close as she could manage and had her phaser at the ready, set to the heaviest stun setting she could manage, but also well aware it might not work. More interested in tackling the 2nd Lieutenant if she could manage it.
Jenn quickly found her ground again. "Alright, Mina. But what ever you are up to make it quick." Getting Neil's attention wasn't that hard. He already seemed focused on her anyway. Suddenly and to everyone's surprise, Jenn jumped up, wrapped her legs around Neil's neck. A bit distracted by her sudden attack, she could feel him tremble under her and together they fell down on the floor. She made no illusions as to his strength. She was no match for the marine. But her unexpected move, got her on top of him. She used her knees to press his arms down. She could feel this wasn't going to hold very long. "Mina??" She called to Wilson.
As agile as they were, Neil had never seen a Jem ha' Dar move that quickly. Then his face impacted the deck. Teeth went flying and his nose broke. One of the probes entered his eye and he gurgled a bloody war cry. Hands scrabbling to get purchase and bring his knees up. Then she kicked his arms out from under him and slammed his head into the deck.
Darkness closed in and Neil's last thought was that at least the voices were going quite.
Rakuul saw the writing on the wall. He knew that Tremble would not be remaining as a spy. However, the Marine served the purpose for the Grand Inquisitor. He stood up and locked eyes with both Masters and Wilson. The look on his face dared them both to make a decision. They would either pursue him, or save their friend. "Seems like you have a choice to make ladies. Save your friend or stop me... What will it be oh and I think I will give you less time to make that decision." In a quick flourish Rakuul placed a hypospray to his neck, which contained the antidote. At the same time the room began to fill with anesthizine gas. Wilson and Masters now had a matter of minutes to decide what to do before they would pass out themselves. Razuul knew that this would be their last chance as his transport should be occurring within minutes.
"Tae heel wit' 'at, Ah can still shoot ye." Wilson leveled the phaser at Razuul and flipped the emitter to a wide setting, firing with the intent to hit the hypospray with the phaser on a lower setting. It might not work, it might not actually do what she wanted but she would be damn if she just let the guy get away. But after one shot, regardless of if it hit or not, she moved to help Masters get out of there, with Tremble.
Mina's shot was a second too late to achieve the desired effect. The antidote was delivered into Rakuul's system. However, her shot did hit the Cardassian and he was thrown back up against the wall and slumped unconscious. This still left Starfleet with a choice. Get the Inquisitor or the Marine.
Jenn was still frozen next to Neil's body as she looked to Rakuul. She was breathing heavily as she tried to comprehend what she just did. She heard the hissing noise in the ventilation ducks. She looked Mina, who took a shot at Rakuul in a feeble attempt. She swallowed as came to herself again. "Mina, forget that Cardassian, I ordered you to help me with the Lieutenant." She took his arms. His upper torso lay heavy in her arms. "Now Sergeant! We have to get out of here."
The room continued to fill with gas and the struggle became critical. However, Rakuul would not know that as he was unconscious. Lucky for the inquisitor a orange transporter effect took it's hold at just the right moment. The Cardassian dematerialized and was gone from the Federation apprehension.
Mina was moving to help even before she had finished getting her orders to help, adding in with a slight couch and just a tad bit off sardonic tone. "Aye sairrr, aam helpin', jist wasnae gonnae lit heem gettae way scott free." She moved to help drag him out of the room, starting to feel more then a bit woozy as they finally got out, thinking that maybe she should have not bothered shooting him after all. "Uh, or maybe I shodda had it on disentegrate..."
Neil's eyes snapped open then. He wasn't seeing anything but Jem ha' Dar though. Using Jenn's torso for leverage, he brought he reared back and head-butted the Intelligence officer, cracking her nose and sending her reeling. Turning, he wrapped an arm around Mina's as she neared him, grappling him and stabbed knife fingers towards her throat, nearly crushing her larynx as the Gunny twisted away at the last minute.
Having knocked them back and down, Neil roared his challenge and turned toward Wilson. Blood streaming from a cut on his forehead, broken nose and shattered mouth, he grinned a gap toothed smile at at Jenn as he charged. "Tell your Vorta friend I'll see them in Hell!"
Jenn was holding her hand over her nose . "That hurt even more than that bull taking me on it's horn. She felt blood coming from her nose. She looked at the dark red substance dripping on her nos as she covered it up again. "Why me?" She groaned. "First a mad cow and now a deranged marine." She had no clue how do this. Maquis scum seem easy enough. She never thought to go at one of her own. Though not long ago she would not hesitate. Then she remember what the Neil had said on the way home from getting Xoica.
She pulled her hand away, she could feel the blood run down her face, over her lips. She narrowed her eyes as she looked to Neil moving in on Mina. She took her phaser and set it to maximum stun. "Neil!" She shouted. As he turned towards her she started to fire at him. Short burst, different frequencies each time, as if she was firing at a Borg. "I don't want to fight you, but you leave me no choice. You will come with us back to the Pioneer, even if it is in a body bag!" Somehow she was holding the phaser straight at him. And she was focused on firing at the marine. She ignored the pain in her nose and the blood that sill seem to come from it.
Wilhelmina did something she hadn't done in a long time, panicked, she definitely felt something in her neck tear, not badly enough that she was unable to breath, but it hurt and when she tried to yell it came out as a croak. She didn't need much in the way of instruction to toss the phaser at Masters. Trying to scramble up onto her feet even as Jennifer leveled the weapon at Tremble. They needed to get this over with, this was all getting rather ridiculous.
Three steps.
Three steps was all Neil needed to finish this threat. Closing the distance rapidly, he felt the stun settings wash over him but in his heart of hearts, he knew that wouldn't be enough.
A little voice was wondering why the Jem ha'Dar were using stun settings.
But, that didn't matter. Suddenly it was the Vorta in front of him and he snarled his battle cry louder. His hands stretched claw like, thumbs grasping for her eyes and he felt the thumbs begin to slide in, even as his periphery saw her catch the second phaser.
His thumb-tips began to slide into soft flesh and he heard a un-Vorta like scream from the Vorta and both phasers went off directly against his bare chest. On on either side of his rib cage.
And then his heart of hearts stopped.
A Joint Post By
Second Lieutenant Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Gunnery Sergeant Wilhelmina Wilson
First Sergeant/Rifle Fire Team 2 Leader, USS Pioneer
Warrant Officer Jennifer Masters
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Pioneer
Gil Rakuul
Grand Inquisitor, Obsidian Order
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