Title: The Uniform, Part Four
Stardate: Unknown
Location: Elsewhere
Setting: Sickbay
The doctor loaded the hypo. He lessened the dosage and administered it. If
it were up to him, he wouldn't have wasted the ampoule and risk losing the
prisoner in the process. Security protocol required certain high security
level prisoners to be sedated with this new drug prior to transfer. He knew
that this man, who drifted so easily in and out of consciousness, wasn't
going to be ambulatory for quite some time. The CMO begrudgingly monitored
the man for a thirty Terran minutes since he knew that it was risky to give
the prisoner the drug at all.
Confident that man was not going to die from it and ruin his personnel record,
he motioned to the three waiting guards. The guards took the prisoner away
on an antigrav stretcher. The doctor headed to his office and the replicator
there to grab a quick dinner before the next scheduled attack.
The guards left quickly and carried the prisoner to his new cell. He was
to stay there until the attack was over, or if he recovered more, then he'd
stay there until they were done with him. It was several minutes before they
arrived at the designated cell. When they did, one guard left the others
and opened the cell. He aimed his weapon at a large, burly Nausicaan prisoner
and entered, motioning her with the weapon to move away. He spoke to her
as he entered.
"We need some information from him and an object. You can kill him after
that when we verify the information. We will tell you when," the first guard
said. "Don't hit his head. It was fractured in three places and he's not
gotten back all of his memory yet," he added.
"How many of my crew ..." the Nausicaan started to ask, trying again to bargain
for her crew's lives.
"None, unless you can get the information out of him. He had an object the
boss wants very much and thinks he hid. It's possible he carried out his
threat to destroy it before he was captured, but the boss won't like that
at all - if you get my meaning..." he said.
"Understood." ~I hope then he did not destroy it or is clever enough to deceive
them,~ she thought not wanting her enemies to prevail in even the smallest
thing.
The other two guards tossed the man into the lower of bunks. They were careful,
unlike the many times they had done this before with other prisoners, not
to hit the man's head on the posts.
"Enjoy your stay," one of them said.
The man was barely conscious and didn't have a lot of trouble feigning being
totally unconscious. The cruel words were lost on him in his current condition.
He heard the guards leave, something shut and a forcefield activate.
The eight foot alien loomed over the Human and sized him up. Humans never
looked like much, but she knew they could be very clever and deceitful.
The Nausicaan growled. The man heard that and an alien voice that had trouble
pronouncing Federation Standard. The voice of the surly alien spoke to him
out of the dim void. "They are gone. Stop pretending. That is my bunk, Hewwmahn,"
the voice announced. The Being belonging to the voice wanted make sure
the Federation scum knew who was in charge of the cell. She really didn't
know if the man was conscious or not, but always started this way with each
new cellmate. None of them lived for more than a few days, so it was important
not to waste time setting rules.
"No problem," the man said. He tried to move, but was too weak to succeed.
He rolled weakly over to the edge of the bunk, unable to sit up to make it
out. He tried to throw his legs off the bunk, but only managed in getting
one foot over the edge. His leg remained bent at the knee unable to go further.
"Hmmm," the man said wondering why his body would not obey him.
The impatient Nausicaan dumped him out, trying to making sure his head did
not hit the deck first. And so it was the second part of him to hit the deck
instead.
"Aiyeee," he groaned and grabbed his head. "No problem. I'll take other one,"
he said gritting his teeth. ~Assuming there was another,~ he thought,
but he didn't really care. He just wanted to sleep.
"They are both mine," the Nausicaan growled.
"Even better," the Human mumbled weakly. "I'll just sleep here," he said
barely able to talk anymore, trying to be accommodating to his new "host".
He tried to roll over, but that didn't work either.
The Nausicaan turned him around with her soiled booted, foot to get a better
look at the face of the Human.
"Do you know who I am?" the deep husky voice boomed.
"I don't recognize your voice, but can tell from the sound of your voice
that whoever you are, you are taller than a Human," the man said opening
his eyes and staring blankly ahead. He squinted hard trying to make out the
difference between the deck and the bulkhead. He could not. He did however
see a large shadow towering over him. He sniffed the air for further clues.
Even a dull Human nose could pick out the unmistakable scent of a Nausicaan
or some close relation to that race.
The Nausicaan was puzzled by this and waved her large hairy hand in front
of the Human's face.
The man did not react. That was very hard since one of the guesses he had
for her was that she was Nausicaan, a race not known for getting along with
Humans - and vice versa. It took a lot of discipline and training not to
react as he guessed she moved towards him with her hand. He hoped it wasn't
balled up in a fist to hit him. If it was, he wasn't sure if he'd ever
wake up again.
"Blind?" she asked.
"They tell me I am blind and going to stay that way for now so I don't escape,"
he muttered weakly. He was carefully repeating back what he heard on the
way to the cell. He couldn't remember anything else yet.
"Escape!" she laughed heartily for the first time since being captured. "There
is no way to escape. No escape but death," she said. "There must be
something big about to happen for them to put you here in this cell in this
condition. Is it another attack? Do you know what they are going to attack?
Sometimes they talk in Sickbay and you can learn a lot that way," she said.
She had learned a lot about the ship since her time onboard.
"No, but I don't remember being in a Sickbay," he said truthfully. He didn't
remember anything else but waking up on the way to the cell.
"I am Nausicaan. I am Ja'aarn'ell," she announced. Then she rattled off an
impressive sounding linage, impressive if you knew Nausicaan history. "I
hate you Federation worms for many things and even more for keeping me here"
Ja'aarn'ell, announced.
"This.. this is a Federation facility?" The man asked in disbelief.
"Facility! It is a ship you fool. It will transport us from wherever it took
you from to a 'facility'," she used that word disdainfully, " . . . if they
permit us to live that long. Leave it to a Federation officer to euphemize
words like that," she snarled staring with hatred at his uniform.
~Federation officer?~ The man could not remember much, but had a vague feeling
that was correct. He was on the top of the line ship named after something..
. ~What was I on before? What was it's name? A poem? A sword? No, that was
visit..A flying animal? A pterendinator? A shavokth? A hawk? ...No, a something
er...whatever it was, it sounded nothing like this ship did,~ he thought
confused and struggling to not drift off to unconsciousness.
"This ... this is a ship?" he stuttered on purpose after the pause. He was
trying to get more information but trying to not look like it.
"Yes, and they call it the USS Vanguard," she replied.