No Parlay, No Surrender, No Quarter

Posted on Sat Oct 10th, 2020 @ 5:29pm by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Commander Sthilg

Mission: SEASON 4: Episode 1: Know Thy Self!
Location: ISS Elysium
Timeline: MD4
2108 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

The mercenary doctor grinned as the door to his quarters opened as his huntress returned with there new prize. This was being rather plentiful in the term of slave gathering. " Welcome to your new home my dear. " He said to the Human/Boslic hybrid as his huntress dropped the bound officer on the marble floor. "I hope you like it you'll be staying here for a while."

Miraj rolled over, scrambling away from the gorn as fast as she could manage, trying to watch him and Neri at the same time. The departing woman was terrifying. Not just because she'd made such short work of her, she expected that from an Andorian three times stronger than her, but that she'd been brain washed so quickly. "I hope not." she muttered. She didn't want to end up like the others.

"What was that?" the gorn said as he stood over her. " Does Starfleet teach it's personnel to insult their hosts?"

She moved again, squirming away from him. Her injured foot left a trail of red over the white marble "Gaoler." Miraj pointed out, wishing her feet were free. The marble was cold on her bare feet. "Captor." She didn't want to end up like her crewmated. "Stalker." Poor S'hib, seeing Naxea like that. "Not host."

"My my you do have a potty mouth don't you? Anyone would think I'm going to sell you to the terran flesh pits." the gorn said as he grabbed her by the feet and began pulling her towards the agoniser.

"You're not?" What was he going to do? The young woman thrashed in his grip, but there was not enough give in her bonds, and nothing on the smooth marble to get a grip on. She'd seen what those things had done to the Captain and she was damned if she was going in without a fight.

"My dear do I look like one of those terran savages I work for?" The gorn said stopping to look at her.

"Yes."

A scowl came across the gorn's face as he grabbed Miraj holding her up by the neck. "My my, you do need to learn your lesson. Your lucky i'm such a nice lizard or i'd feed you to raptors."

"Nice?" she rasped out as her throat was squeezed, her body weight strangling her as much as his hand. She grabbed at his arm as best she could to relieve the weight, but it wasn't much help with her bound ankles dangling free, "What have you done that's nice?"

The gorn simply laughed in her face. It was a mocking laugh only made by one so sure in his rightfulness. "Oh my dear Taraa i'll show you horrors that of this universe that can make even the terran emperor sick. You did cost me one of my huntress. " he said carrying her towards the chamber.

Sheer panic gave her the strength to keep fighting, though she could do nothing more than wriggle. "I've literally been held prisoner eight hundred years in the past. You may need to work at that." Inwardly she groaned. Why did she say stupid things under stress. This was how she ended up in the Tower back then.

The gorn paused before letting out a slight laugh. With that he clipped her into the agoniser via a massive metal collar. " Oh Taraa you do tell some tales." He said slamming the agoniser door closed.

"You're the bilge spewing scut sucker." She shot back, though there was a lot less venom, and a lot more fear, in her voice. "I was there. In the Tower of London. I saw the gibbets at East India Dock and I heard the screams from the Clink." She was babbling now, not wanting to think about what would happen next. "Its all on my record."

"Your reality has time travel? Then why's my counterpart a ball less cripple?" he inquired his hand hovering over the controls.

Miraj wasn't sure what to say, what would buy a few more seconds before he switched it on. What would Blackbeard do? Well, he'd kill his way out and that wasn't going to happen. "I've done it!" Might as well spin a yarn. "And Doctor Sthilg is a better man than you'll ever be."

"He's a ball-less cripple still moping over a dead Orion whore, but how does your ship time travel? " the gorn said pushing a few buttons to record this.

"And you're not? I saw what you did to Neri and the major. Someone's got issues." She needed time. What could she tell them that wouldn't do damage, or help the enemy.

The gorn said nothing other than to switch on the agoniser. "Your ship how does it time travel?" he barked.

Miraj had been hurt before. But she'd never really known pain until now. It was like something was ripping at her, all of her, all at once. She screamed until she couldn't breathe, and collapsed down onto her knees, pulling at the heavy collar as if it could get her air. "The QSD." She managed to get out between blasts of pain. It wasn't entirely true, but it was what they wanted anyway, she wasn't exactly giving them anything new.

"Very good." the lizard said switching off the agoniser. Hopefully, she'd learned her lesson. " Now Taraa how does the QSD allow you to time travel?"

Miraj knelt on the floor of the agoniser, now thoroughly smeared with blood from her weeping foot, trying to think. Trying to make it up. She was panting heavily, and none of it was acting. She wanted to curl up and cry. How had the captain endured this? How long for? She was already ready to give things up. "What does Taraa mean?" Maybe she could put it off a bit longer.

"It's your name, you silly girl." The gorn said injecting a little of the mind control substance that he used. He had no idea what it was made off. It was a tightly guarded secret of the syndicate, but he knew it was effective. " Now how does the QSD allow you to time travel?"

"My name is Miraj, Miraj Derani." Her head seemed to swim, and the pain seemed to lessen. "The QSD is all in the timing. You can feel the moment in the slipstream." She thought of what had really happened. Of the gravitational wave that smashed them like a rock. She needed more bilge and blarney. "Or, I can. There's not many people who can pilot a QSD. Its all done on instinct. Its like trying to harpoon a kraken."

"Your name is Taraa." the gorn barked giving her another dose of the gas.

"I'm Miraj." she coughed, and started retching. "Sometimes I'm Roger. But not normally with other people." She found herself giggling. Why was she giggling? She was in pain, she was alone, she was going to die . And now she was caught between dry puking and laughing.

Now that shouldn't be happening the gorn thought to himself. He gave her another small dose to see if that would fix it. " What is a roger?" he asked

Miraj was hoarse with screaming, with puking, and now laughing. It hurt to laugh and she was curled on the agoniser floor with the pain of it. But she couldn't help it. "He's a character in a holonovel. The pirate captain's cabin boy. Like a steward and a servant. He's my favourite character, even more than Bloodbeard." She was babbling now, she knew, but she couldn't stop, like there was a pressure inside her to tell it all. "Easier to be a boy, you see, then one of the others. Because I can't fight. Or shoot. Or do any of the cool swashbuckling stuff. If I'm Roger, I don't have to be. And-"

"Oh I can make you fight and shoot if you'll let me Taraa." the gorn said flicking a few switches to give her some water to drink via the collar.

The water was such a relief. It was cold and soothed the burning in her throat, the acrid taste of bile in her mouth. She tipped her head back and let it run from the collar into her mouth, not caring it was going down her front and into hair. "Miraj." She countered, because that was the truth. "And I don't want to fight and shoot. I want to fly. And meet my mother. But mostly fly" And that was also the truth.

"I like flying. And I'm really really good at it. The best in a generation, maybe more. Its why they sent me to Elysium. The QSD is a retrofit, so its going to be crankier than on a dedicated build. And it is. Its a fussy bastard of a navigation system. It really needs to be on a stick." Why was she telling him this. she shouldn't be saying a word. "But its also fun. We did Spacedock to DS9 in twenty minutes, which normally takes months, and for the first time in ages I felt like I was actually doing something at conn because-" her empty stomach, sore from retching, lurched. She put her hand over her mouth, then tore it away, and rolled to her knees again, vomiting up the water in sad, pain filled little splashes

For once the slave master was speechless. The insane babble was something he'd never encountered before especially from the drug. Pumping in a little sedative the gorn looked to see if that helped along with some protein paste via the collar feeding tube.

Miraj hadn't been expecting the food as it was squirted into her mouth. It tasted like gravel, and she spat it out. Then her stomach revolted a third time and she coughed up bile and stomach lining. She looked at the pathetic lumps, and couldn't help it, she was laughing again, though it was tired and pained. "What do you want? Can't you just leave me alone?"

"I want to help you, Taraa. I want to make you strong and beautiful. So that you'll never have to worry or be afraid ever again." The gorn replied as he turned the machine onto the minimum pleasure setting.

Miraj thought of Neri and Naxea, changed from the people she knew. Deprived of who they were. She'd hated being even fully human for a day or so. "No!" she protested, "No. I don't want it." Then the machine went on, and she shuddered, her back arching and letting out a desperate groan. It was like a fire was lit inside her all the way from her neck to her groin. She'd never felt anything like it. It was like drowning, except she was breathing. It was overwhelming. "Stop, please!"

"Are you sure?" the gorn said as he increased the setting for a few seconds before bringing it back down.

Miraj lost the ability to think, the feelings running up and down her body. It was strange and alien, it felt good but too much. "Stop. Please!" was all she could say.

"Why, would you prefer this?" he said coldly as he flicked it to the complete opposite setting.

And then the pain was back, charging through the same pathways till she was racked with agony. She twisted and spasmed while the agoniser did its work, shrieking and sobbing.
When it ended, she curled up into a ball, gasping for breath. "I don't want any of it," she choked out. "Please, just leave me alone."

"What you want, Taraa, is not in consideration. Now stand up and say your real name or i'll leave you in there for a whole night on maximum setting." The slave master barked.

She was shaking, and sick with fear, and pain. Her foot hurt throbbed and her muscles ached and her throat burned. She didn't have the strength to rise. "Miraj." She said dully. She meant to give in, and was shocked to hear her own name. She tried again. "Miraj." She couldn't tell that simple lie, she realised. Whatever he was dosing her with was falling foul of her weird biology. She started laughing again; she couldn't help it, of all the things, to happen. She was on the verge of hysteria, sobbing even as she laughed. "Miraj."

With a grunt, the gorn flicked the machine to maximum setting and began walking away. " let's see how funny you find it in the morning." he hissed back at her. With the press of a button he had it broadcast to the area. Let the horse spend a night listening to his friend suffering.