Doom, Despair.......

Posted on Sat Jun 8th, 2019 @ 8:32am by Captain Gary Taylor & Commander Liselle Qwyyn

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Cell of Liselle and Gary
Timeline: MD 7
3759 words - 7.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Gary paced his cell, he was still bound with his wrists securely pinned behind his back and nude but his gag had been removed. He looked at Liselle she was in the same predicament as he was. She was also bound and nude and her gag had also been removed. Just as she had been since being stripped naked by Mishka when they arrived at the prison. However he worried about her. It seemed Mishka had decided that to break him she would concentrate of torturing Liselle. He walked over to where she leaned against the wall. Her head turned facing the front of the cell. "Liselle, I promise you, we will get out of here. Please don't give up. Stay strong and faith. I WILL get us out. Look at me Liselle, do you believe me when I say I will get us out?"

For the first time in a dozen hours or more Liselle's eyes focused, the spark coming back into them again. They fixated on Gary first, snapping over to the place where he stood. Then she turned her head, better to see him straight on. "You keep saying that," she said coldly. Her eyes narrowed. Each word she spoke was bit off one at a time from her thoughts. They tasted like acid. "And they keep beating me."

Gary's eyes were haunted as Liselle spoke. He heard the cold fire in her voice and saw the spark in her eyes and as happy as he was for that he hated it had to come with her getting mad at him. His head dropped and after a moment it rose to meet her gaze head on. "I know Liselle, I know. Their using you to break me. We will get out. I will get us out but I can't do it while we're still on the ship. When we reach this prison, I'll do it then. Just please don't lose faith in me Liselle."

"No!" She snapped at him. And even as the word left her she shuddered against her bonds. The loss of control, the sense that anything could happen to her. The need to move. The need to stretch. To feel freedom. Taste fresh air.

She thrashed against her bonds again. And again her arms did not move more than an inch. There was a thick blackness closing in, rising up to drown her. "NO! NO! I can't do this! Stop telling me I can do this! STOP IT!!!"

He moved closer to her, his voice hard. "You CAN do this! You will do this Liselle! There is no other option. You've gone through being joined you can and will get through this. You think I like this? Being naked and bound." He jerked in his own bonds and the result was the same as Liselle's. Nothing gave or changed." I don't but I'll bide my time and endure whatever torture they decide to use on me. I won't give them the satisfaction of breaking and neither will you. Because if you do they've won. Get mad, plan revenge, struggle to get free anything to keep you from giving up. Because I'm not giving up on you."

She stood toe to toe with him, looked up into his eyes, her anger and her rage blistering raw in her own. "What in the four hells can you possible do to help us?! It's your fault we're here! You're the one they want! We're here because of you! They did this to all of us, to me, BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Gary took it. He took everything Liselle said, staring her in the eye as she did. When he replied his voice was calm and controlled. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't know they stripped you naked, bound you and tortured you, Lia, the Captain for their own enjoyment to embarrass all of you? It's in my thoughts constantly not a minute goes by that I'm not thinking on it and what you have suffered and knowing it's me they wanted. You are all a bonus." He took a deep breath, "I'm so very sorry for what you've suffered and will suffer Liselle. I hope you can one day forgive me."

Her eyes held his, frozen and unblinking, as if her whole being had been hardened into stone. Finally, slowly, she began to shake her head at him. Her words were barely louder than a whisper. "I will never forgive you."

Gary blinked at that. Saw how Liselle held herself rigid and it wasn't because she was bound there was an inner rigidness that had harden her to him. However if it was what she needed to be angry and hate him to survive. This was a small price he was willing to pay. He nodded, "No, I don't suppose you will Liselle."

"Good," she said, nodding now. "Now, I want to know how you are going to stop them when they come back to have their way with me again." She made a move as if to lurch at him, her bonds rattling against the attempted movement. "Well, Commander?"

He took a half a step back as Liselle made a move toward him. Her bonds rattling but she remained firmly,securely bound. "It's simple." He replied looking at her, "I'll tell them they've won. When I do they will leave you alone. As you so correctly pointed out, it's me they want."

They stood there, neither of them saying another word as his last promise echoed in the room. Liselle projected murder at him from the very core of her being. The hatred she felt so intense, so white hot that it blocked out all other thought.

When she heard the first sniffle she was utterly confused. It took her a moment to realize that the sound had come from her. And then there was another one. Another. And before she knew it she knew that she was listening to herself crying. "They broke me, Gary," she managed to get out. "You keep telling me that I can't let them break me. But they've already broken me. The things they did to me. I -- can't -- I can't process it."

Gary stood there as Liselle cried. It broke his heart to this beautiful proud woman reduced to tears. He took a step towards her and leaned in so his shoulder was touching hers. He couldn't hold her not bound like they both were and considering how mad she was at him, there was a good chance she would punch him. "Sshhhh." He said softly as she continued to cry, "It's going to be alright,. You think your broken but you aren't. Oh you may be a little scuffed up but you aren't broken, Your getting angry proved that."

She placed her head against him, using his body as leverage to keep herself from falling down to the floor. "I've been having conversations with people that don't exist anymore," she said, thinking on the visions of her previous host that had begun with her first torture session. "I can't make them stop. Listen to me, Gary. Something has snapped in my mind. If they push me any further I don't know what will happen next."

He stood there letting Liselle place her head against him. "Your wrong Liselle, they do exist, they are a part of you." His eyes closed as she mentioned her torture session. Use them to help you Liselle, use their various strengths to help you cope with this." He kissed her forehead. "You're stronger than you think Liselle. These talks are keeping you strong you might be able to see it but they are. I know it sounds strange when your standing there naked and bound but you are."

Mishka stood just outside of Gary's and Liselle's eyesight and listened, her two pet projects were arguing. Timing was crucial, as the tears flowed she now chose to appear. "Is our little pet getting emotional Taylor? Have you finally discovered that only two of you count for something? Thr'ill you count for nothing, so you are expendable. The only reason you are here, is to amuse Ildair. Taylor will survive because I have chosen it to be so, you are worthless and so can be disposed of. Just as the pilot was, your Captains idea. Kill us she said, so we shall". She now walked further into the holding area, "Oh one more thing Taylor, it would appear Khoal's blonde pet has disappeared. I do hope you know nothing, for once she is found she is to be executed". Leaving the pair to now think about what she had said, Mishka turned and left.

Gary glanced over his shoulder as the proverbial bad penny Mishka showed up spewing more of her venom. It was just what he didn't need. Liselle was emotional already and Mishka's little speech was going to do anything to settle her nerves. Yet he wisely held his tongue even when she mentioned Lia had disappeared. He strained against his bonds but to no avail. He remained securely bound. He watched her leave and once he was sure she was gone he turned his attention back to Liselle. "Liselle, don't let her get to you. Don't let her push your buttons. She wants you to react. Don't play into her game." He knew his next statement was foolish and the result but be futile but he wanted to give Liselle something else to think on other than her helpless hatred of him. "Your bonds, can you loosen them?"

She looked up at him, the motion requiring her to lean back for the metal brace around her throat. Her eyes were daggers on him. "Are you kidding me?"

His eyes met hers unflinchingly. Gary saw the anger and hatred in them and knew it was directed at him. He knew Liselle blamed him completely for her present situation of being bound and naked. He knew it as assuredly as the sun rising in the morning and he also knew that when Liselle said she would never forgive him that she just wasn't speaking in anger she meant it. "It was just a suggestion." He answered weakly.

Her lips formed around her next two words with deliberate intention. "Suggest smarter."

"Sage advice." He answered yet he knew his suggestion had been foolish so he couldn't blame Liselle for answering as she did. At least she hadn't tried to kick him. and considering her current feelings for him maybe it was good her hands were bound behind her. She couldn't strangle him that way. He looked over her bonds and had to grudgingly admit the Romulans hadn't taken any chances in binding her or himself. Their binds were tight and secure.

A new wave frustration overtaking her, Qwyyn thrashed against her bonds once more. And once more all she managed was to make a great deal of noise and cause herself yet another fresh round of pain in all of her joints. She let out her breath in a Trillian swear. Somewhere deep inside she knew that she had lost control with Taylor, had said Gods knew what to him, unleashing all of her pain and anger upon him. He probably hadn't deserved nearly half of what she had said. But she wasn't ready to visit the truth or implications of what she might have spoken aloud. Not yet. "You know these people," she said to him, her voice almost pleading now. "The Romulans. You know them, right? You know something. Some way of getting out of this. Please, Commander. Think."

Gary watched as Liselle launched into another futile attempt to be free. After several moments she stopped. Frustration and anger clear on her face. Nothing had changed, she remained tightly bound. Her fingers fluttering helpless behind her back. He heard her question more importantly he heard the plea, the hope that he had answer. He nodded his head, "Yes, your right I do know them. Pig especially well. He's sadistic. I don't have to tell you that but rash. If I can goad him into a rash move we can get free of these bonds."

She nodded, almost frantic in the gesture. "Yes. Yes, okay. That's good. That's very good," she said. Her eyes searched the empty air between them for a time before settling on him once more. "What do I have to do?"

Gary watched as Liselle nodded frantically, a desperate hope that what he said would free them. He knew he had to keep Liselle's hopes up. He heard her question and heard the formalness of the speech. it was no longer Gary but Commander a sign their friendship was damaged perhaps beyond any hope of repair. He cocked his head to one side as he thought on her question. "First and foremost stay out of the way. Next when I start you can yell at me. That should be easy.." He quipped then continued. "Saying to Pig not to hurt you. That you warned me about talking this way but I wouldn't listen to you."

Her eyes narrowed a moment, and then she nodded. "I can do that."

She turned away from him, walking to a nearby wall. Once there she turned to press her back against its cool surface, and she slid down to the floor to watch the door.

"Yes, I'm sure you can." Gary agreed as he watched her eyes narrow in response to his answer then Liselle turned and walked to the nearby wall. He was silent as she slid to the floor. He knew that whatever lay ahead, whatever his destiny might be above all else he had to keep his friends safe no matter what sacrifice he had to endure or make.

"He's going to get you killed," Juntis said.

She turned sharply to see the ghost of her previous host sitting next to her, his back against the wall. Her eyes widened with the realization that she was slipping further into her psychotic break.

Juntis, unconcerned with the gravity of his own reappearance, waved a soundless hello to her. Bracing his hands on the floor behind him, he slid himself closer. "He was married before. Remember?" The young Trill thrust his chin up at Gary. "You think maybe he told her the same thing he just told you. 'I'll get us out of this. Trust me.' I wonder if she believed him, too? What was her name again? Cathy? Carey? Carley?"

"Catlin," she told her ghost aloud.

Gary's head jerked as he heard Liselle speak Catlin's name.(as much as it was able, bound as he was) "What about Catlin, Liselle?" He asked confusion evident in his tone. Without waiting for her reply and not knowing of the conversations she was having with a ghost of a past host. Gary walked over to her until he stood above her awkwardly peering down at her. "Why did you mention Catlin?" He asked.

Qwyyn nearly jumped at the question, feeling no less surprised by Gary's presence now than she had been by Juntis' a moment ago. Which of them was real? It was getting harder and harder to remember. "He's back," she said. "My previous host is here again. He says that --" she closed her mouth suddenly, thinking better of repeating his thoughts aloud. "Nevermind. It doesn't matter."

Gary stared down at her an aggravated sigh pushed it's way past his lips. "I don't know why you would mention Catlin. She was never in a Romulan prison, She and the others got to the escape pods, made it back to Federation space." He paused and said in a quieter tone. "She died in a hover car accident. I told you that."

"No," Juntis whispered to her. "He's lying. She died in a prison just like this one. And he told her that he was going to save her. Just like he's telling you."

Qwyyn shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. "You're lying," she repeated the accusation of her previous host. "You let her die. You told her you would protect her, but you lied to her. And now you're trying to do it to me, too."

Gary stared at her in open mouth shock. "Liselle." His tone now glacial but there was an under current of hurt and disappointment to it. "I'm not lying. I and a few other junior officers got Catlin and the crew that wasn't dead to the escape pods. Catlin was there for me when I was released. I told you all this." He repeated stubbornly.

"Of course he told you all this," Juntis insisted. "He also told you he'd get you out of here. He promised you. But then the guards came back. And then what did they do to you?" Her former host scoffed. "He didn't even try to stop them. He just watched."

"I -- I don't know what to believe anymore," she said in a small voice.

Gary shook his head in a mixture of disappointment and hurt. He never thought in a hundred years Liselle would question his word. It was his sacred trust and she had basically called him a liar. "I see." He replied taking a steadying breath before answering through clenched teeth. "Well whether you believe me or not. I will get you out Liselle."

"He won't," Juntis affirmed.

"Be quiet. Please. Just be quiet."

"He's going to stand there and watch them rape you and then kill you."

"QUIET!!!!" she screamed. She thrashed against her restraints, struggling in vain to cover her ears from his taunting words. She screamed louder, thrashed harder, desperately trying to block out his voice. "QUIET! QUIET!! QUIET!!!"

Standing there Gary was stunned by Liselle's violent thrashing against her bonds. It was a futile attempt as her bonds didn't budge an inch, her fingers clawing air in an attempt to reach the bonds that held her. . Then she screamed and struggled harder, her restraints just rattling louder from her explosive efforts to be free.... though she remained tightly, securely a captive. "Liselle!" He snapped, "Get a hold of yourself." He commanded.

Her screams quieted almost immediately as he took control, dying away into muffled sniffles. She did her best to look up at him. Juntis stood beside him. With her back pressed against the wall, she made her way back up to her feet to look at the two of them. Her eyes were swollen red from her crying, making it hard to see. "Which one of you is real?"

Gary took a step toward her, closing the gap between them. His heart was shattered seeing Liselle, normally so in control, so positive reduced to screaming and tears. Her eyes swollen, an emotional wreck and worst still that she blamed him for all she had suffered. He leaned his head towards hers so their foreheads touched, "I'm real Liselle, you can feel my body next to yours." He replied quietly.

The words were not enough for her. She needed the physical contact, the reassurance that he was there. She needed to know that even if she was going crazy, even if the most horrible things were yet to come, that she wasn't alone. She pressed herself against him. And as the image of Juntis disappeared, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. "Don't leave me."

Gary didn't answer immediately, he just let Liselle press into him. He could feel the tenseness flow from her body. Heard the relief in her voice. She was still scared but more in control of her emotions. He kissed her forehead. "Never." He promised.

"Well, well, well". Mishka's voice sounded hollow, "Our two little pets are getting all passionate, Taylor, should we release you pair to have your wicked way with one another?" She was laughing as she now entered the cell area once again, "When the guard told me our Thr'ill was getting highly emotional, I didn't think about it getting this emotional. Can it be the Thr'ill has feelings for you Taylor? I may get Ildair to relieve it's pent up passions, I'm sure we have something we can use to take your place Taylor". She looked at the pair with utter disgust, "I thought better of you Taylor, a Thr'ill of all things. That blonde whore Khoal likes so much, I thought she was more your type. How wrong can someone be?" She signaled a guard, "Separate these two, tell Ildair he can use the Thr'ill to death if he so chooses". She turned to Gary, "I have other more exciting things to do now, you will be moved to my vessel before we leave for Romulus. Make the most of your time that's left, for the Thr'ill it won't be long". Spinning on her heel, she walked out.

Gary seethed at Mishka's words but held his tongue. He waited for Mishka to leave. Sending Pig was exactly what he wanted. An inner smile on his face. He just had to provoke the sadistic guard into rashness, then he and Liselle could escape. He looked at Liselle, "When Pig gets here, I'll make my move. You remember what to do?"

She bit her lip, tensing at the notion of another encounter with the one called 'Pig.' Nonetheless, she forced herself to nod her agreement.

A guard walked in behind Mishka, when she ordered the pair separated he nodded. As she left he moved towards the cell, but once she had left he looked at the two. "Stay as you are, the Thr'ill is to die soon. And to die alone is something I will not inflict on anyone, not even a Thr'ill", he turned and left the couple alone.

As the guard left, Gary returned his attention to Liselle, " Don't listen to them Liselle. No ones dying. Unless you want to count Romulans." He assured her.

Whether she really did trust that this would work out or not, whether she truly believed they had any hope, she was too scarred right now to decide. What she did know beyond a doubt was that there were no other options. It was this or nothing. Either Gary's plan would work, or they would soon find that their living hell was not nearing its end, but its beginning. "I'm ready."

OFF

Commander Liselle Qwyyn
Chief Flight Control / Second Officer
USS Elysium (Currently - Romulan Prison)

Commander Gary Taylor
Executive Officer
USS Elysium (Currently- Romulan Prison)

Riov Mishka Valdran
Romulan Vessel Havraha