Star Trek PBEM Sim / Star Trek RPG
OUR STAR TREK PBEM STORIES: REMEMBRANCES PAST
Title: Remembrances Past, Part Six
Location: Pandora's Box, CO's Stateroom
Flashback Setting (Saldar/Kamranov): Takharesh X
Similarly in his sleep and thanks to the chemical interventions of the CMO in
trying to stop and reverse the damage done by recent memory blocking drugs, some
of Captain Kamranov's older memories began to return. While his old partner
dreampt of one of their earliest missions together, he recalled in his sleep his
part in that mission as Saldar in the evacuation and rescuing of the crown
prince of Takhareshi people.
-------------------- Dahria Temple, Inner Keep --------------------
Saldar stopped waiting for back up and went in further. He knew the chances of
getting any help with all the new fire they were taking were pretty non
existent, but still he hoped. He could tell that something back there had gone
wrong but he could not tell what. He knew that the odds of him making it in and
out safely alone with the prince weren't good either. ~Two more people would
have really helped, even one,~. Saldar thought ruefully.
Silently, he moved in further and further by both instinct and training. He
carefully used the alien scanner on passive mode, hoping there weren't any
energy sensors that would pick it up. He stopped for a moment to try and read it
before entering the next chamber. He would have given a lot right now to be
using even a poor quality Starfleet scanner in Federation Standard than trying
to rapidly make out the alien symbols. When he was assigned this sector, he had
worked very diligently to learn as many of the languages here as possible and
had done quite well, but reading them was a lot harder.
The man who taken the identity of Saldar, had a gift for languages when spoken,
but reading them was much more challenging for him. He had learned several
languages verbally at a young age and also multiple styles of sign language, but
he had not learned to read and write until he was near his teens.
Satisfied he had picked out enough nouns and verbs to proceed, he did. He slowly
checked the threshold, jamb, mullion, architrave and every part of the door to
the next chamber and looked around the corner. He saw no one. Saldar let out a
sigh of relief and moved again slowly trying to keep in range of good places to
hide in the immense room. He silently reached the third pillar and paused for a
second to be sure he was crossing the room in the right direction. He saw the
large door on the other side and that confirmed his route. He knew it was easy
to lose your bearings inside a building that was built in a maze like fashion as
the Dahria Temple.
Suddenly, Saldar heard voices and a heavy door open. He quickly ducked behind
the pillar and hid the tiny scanner in one of his long sleeves and resumed the
posture of a beggar of the Mardakain Caste. If he was discovered, he hoped they
would buy his cover. He'd act as a holy fool who had somehow wandered and gotten
lost, but it still wouldn't go well for him. The Mardakain caste was treated as
dung. If they didn't kill him immediately or beat him unconscious on principle,
he had planned to spin a story that would hopefully get him to see the High
Priest of the Temple. He was fairly sure that that the Priest was not in on the
kidnapping plot. At this point, Saldar was beginning to believe that it was a
very inside job with some help from near the top.
Saldar couldn't prove anything yet, but he did think something was very wrong
with the information that Starfleet had received a few months ago. He thought
initially that the group that he was told that had taken the young prince had
done so and hid him without the main party's knowledge. Being a veteran spook,
he knew in the realm of conspiracies, lies, palace politics, murder and
kidnapping that anything could happen and to never trust anyone or any
information. His gut had been telling him that someone from the main party was
certainly involved a month ago and ever since he spoke to that commander back in
the bunker the feeling only grew stronger.
The voices got closer and closer. Saldar imagined himself empty of emotions and
feelings and as cold and lifeless as the pillar he was behind as he listened for
any clues that might help him find the prince and escape.
The men spoke in an obscure dialect belonging to the ancestors of the royal
family. It took several sentences before Saldar was able to recognize enough to
figure that out and to work on translating it. He had made an effort to learn
some basics of Rahndarain before he met the ruling family of this planet a few
years back. As he slowly translated parts and tried to commit the rest to
memory and risked keeping the scanner on to catch it, he recognized one of the
voices.
~Oh no,~ Saldar thought. ~If I am right, we've been compromised at the highest
level and there is no hope to keep the child alive as planned even if I can get
him out.~ Saldar continued to listen and record since he could not risk moving.
If he was able to get back to the others, the voice could be analyzed and the
identity confirmed.
Five Earth minutes later, the men left and Saldar believed that he had
identified another of the voices. He went forward with he plan he had formulated
earlier to escape from the Keep. He had ideas for changing the last part of it
later when he hoped he'd have a small bit of down time to work more on the
details. There was no way he would return the prince to those who were keeping
him now and follow the orders that Starfleet Intelligence had given him.
Several more chambers and near mishaps later, Saldar found the room where he
thought the prince was being held. He slid the scanner into one of the pockets
of his garments and took out a small device, leaving it behind a pillar. He
reached behind his ears to grab the cord to which his breathing plugs were
attached, hoisted up the plugs and inserted them in his nostrils. He readied a
canister of toulemyne gas, moved out of sight and pushed a button on his wrist
band.
Click! Clack! Pop! The sound was heard several meters from the guards. One of
the four broke off to investigate.
Saldar tossed the padded canister towards the remaining three from the opposite
direction of the sound. It landed silently right where Saldar wanted it,
obscured behind a statue. The three men started to get drowsy and lost their
sense of perspective and identity as the gas did its silent work.
The fourth man returned having found the device that made the distraction. "It's
a decoy. We are being set up..." he started to say before succumbing to the gas
and becoming disoriented. His comrades finally fell to the floor. Then it was
his turn and he fell as well.
Saldar quickly disabled three of the crakstows and took their energy packs and
the fourth disruptor with him along with the pocket device that had made the
sound. He aimed his scanner at the door carefully, passively at first then
actively. It did not register any signs of traps. Knowing that was no guarantee
it was indeed clear, he tentatively opened the door and peered in. He saw a cot
in the corner and scanned some more to confirm that there were no surprises
hiding in there. He turned the scanner on active again to find out the identity
of who or what was under the blankets. Satisfied that there was a person there
and that the DNA matched the young prince, he approached.
"Your majesty," Saldar said in Rahndii language and in the manner of someone
respectful of the prince's position. "I would be exceedingly honored if you
would accompany me out of this place and to somewhere safer." Saldar waited,
fully expecting that once the prince saw his beggarly guise and identified him
with the lowest caste, that the young captive would voice his royal objection to
Saldar's mere presence in the temple and forbid him speak or touch his royal
person.
Rahdemi, the crown prince whose father had been assassinated and was soon to be
ruler of the dynasty until he was kidnapped, peered tearfully under one of the
blankets to see who was there. He saw a man from the Mardakain Caste, worn,
beaten, and disheveled. As he coughed, he searched the beggar's eyes. The beggar
looked directly at him and Rahdemi no fear or loathing of him, just compassion.
The young prince felt the same. He also saw an unexpectedly bright intelligence
and fierce determination burning behind the beggar's eyes.
"You may," the little prince said bravely.
Saldar was relieved. ~That went better than he expected, now the harder part,~
Saldar thought. ~How am I going to get him to let me touch him, carry him and do
it quickly?~ he wondered.
Rahdemi crawled out from under the blankets. Saldar was moved further with
compassion for the boy and disgust at the captors. The child didn't look like he
had been fed properly in a long time. Saldar tried hard to push his anger aside.
Anger could cloud his mind and color his decisions. It was a good tool to
provoke for the enemy on occasion to help them make a mistep but should be
avoided personally as it took away from the business of getting things done
right.
"Come," he said. "We must hurry."
The prince got out of the bed as fast as he could, but he was very weak and his
little legs shook. They gave out and he flopped back on the bed.
Saldar moved forward, working on his next speech to persuade the prince to let
him carry him.
As he did so, Rahdemi made the universal child's motion of putting his arms in
the air to be picked up. Saldar was relieved. That was much easier than he
thought based his research into how the royals were raised and what he
experienced in an earlier meeting with the ruling family.
Saldar scooped him up quickly in his strong arms and held him. He could feel the
boys emaciated but tense body beginning to relax as the boy started to feel
safe. Saldar held the boy gently but tighter for a moment as if to say
everything will be OK.
"I have a mask for you to help you breathe," he started to say shifting to
holding the boy in one arm and reaching into a pocket for the mask.
"Will it hurt?" he asked.
"No," Saldar said, "it will just feel and look funny." He had a fair idea of how
to speak with children in these situations as he had rescued many before the
prince. Search and Rescue was one of his specialities before he became Sector
Chief. He also knew what it was like to be on the other side, that of a child
being rescued out of a war zone.
The prince didn't say anything but looked at him expectantly, so Saldar slipped
it on. Saldar left the cell quickly with the child after rearranging the cot to
look as if the prince still cowered beneath the threadbare blanket. Saldar
peered out behind the door. Satisfied it was safe, he shut the door and
rearranged the bodies of the four guards to make it look like they were still
awake on duty.
Then he and the little prince disappeared from the Temple and into the night.