You took the fall for us pt I; JDL Capt Neyes Cmdr Ivanova - PLOT

Posted on Sun Jul 20th, 2014 @ 6:15am by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Captain Landon Neyes

1,710 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

The shouts of angry men filled the stone passage ways, echoing and reverberating across the nearly frozen stone. No longer were the sounds of dripping ice water a constant source of sound and irritation -- now there was only the promise of death looming mere steps behind.

Rochelle cried out as her bare foot landed in a puddle that was deeper than she expected, tearing the ground out from under her as she fell and effectively giving away her position as she hit the floor with a slap of palm against rock. The shouts got louder. They knew where she was, knew to turn down a different path, and she couldn't waste any more time. The escape had taken every ounce of cunning her drugged mind could muster, she'd killed the two men, cracked their skulls with a piece of shale she'd noticed was loose in her holding cell. She'd baited them, challenged them, allowed them to come in to attack her -- and in her hate and rage she'd snapped. There wasn't remorse to be found, not even a single shred of it, she'd run like a jack rabbit out into the halls and raced towards what she perceived to be light.

Picking herself up, the sounds of screams changed. She could hear the octaves rising. Fear? Panic? Surprise? She didn't care as she forced herself to limp/run towards a cold gust of air -- towards freedom -- towards life. To Hell with the barbarians on this planet, their secrets, the people they cast away and left for death and insanity. To Hell with them all.

A fire lit shadow flickered across the slated cave walls ahead of her. The shouts were followed by thudding hits and whistles, something cutting the air with unerring force. A Essurient man hobbled out from around the corner ahead of her, muttering injured nothings, and bleeding from his head. The blackened leathers of his shredded garment hung loosely on his battered frame. He'd been in some kind of fight and come out of it with his own share of serious injury. The man's furious eyes were wide and feral, not different from normal for his people, but now the dark orbits of his eyes outlined the unmitigated fear.

"RuUUuuUuunnnnnN." He choked at her.

She could hear it. See it. Smell it.

Freedom.

Run? She ran as best she could on an ankle she was sure was broken.

The cave took a subtle turn, curving left toward what Rochelle had perceived was the exit. A few more hitting sounds jarred the calm in the tunnels, and a few weapons clambered against the rocks. Against the tunnel wall, the shadow stopped and stood, blocking the majority of the light . Its silhouette grew larger, as the earlier banging and noise subsided into a threatening silence. Dripping water echoed through the cave as the figure moved, slowly at first, then it picked up speed. Before she could react, the shade from the fire had been replaced with a tangible shape.

"Are you The First?" The figure asked, his voice familiar but different.

Rochelle hit the brakes as she came around the corner and saw the fire light. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart hammered in her chest as she came to realize that she was trapped between the roaring panic and the quickly impending figure. The sudden silence made her flinch, made her wheel backwards in an attempt to escape -- but it was hopeless. The figure was atop her far too quickly.

The woman stood then, tall as she possibly could, ready to fight once again --however hopeless it would have been to do so... and then that voice. She blinked, fighting to focus on him.

"Landon?"

"Neyes", he corrected her.

Without hesitation he moved at her, putting an arm at her back and another at her knees. Lifting her up, her weight didn't seem to slow him at all. His eyes looked forward emptily, unconcerned with her aside from removing her from the cave. The movement of his stride was also different. Faster, more jagged.

Rochelle shied briefly, confused, hurt and exhausted. Her tiny half frozen frame was no match for the powerful motion of the Trill as he grabbed her and hoisted her up, her tattered sleep clothes either hanging or soaking up the man's blood.

"What do you mean?" She asked, torn between fighting him to carry herself and resting against his relative warmth as they moved swiftly along.

Neyes didn't respond. The cool and boyish energy she was accustomed to with Landon was all but gone. His movements were swift, direct, and full of purpose. He didn't turn his head unless she could tell he heard something, and even the placement of his arms and hands against her seemed to radiate a sense of efficiency. Normal personal touches were lacking, and he was more like a hyper-intense machine than the touching Captain she had grown to know. This wasn't Landon.

The mouth of the cave grew larger as they came to a straight-away, and Landon's pace quickened. "They will be waiting for us." He warned. "I will protect you if you cannot fight."

It was sterile, the connection almost lost by something different... Something almost robotic. Her mind screamed red warning flashes that they'd never make it, that they'd falter and fade. It wasn't Landon. It was... The symbiont. The one he was joined with. Yes. Her mind on to target and agreed- it didn't matter. He had come... And they were about to fight to the bitter end.

Her face buried against his neck, shielding her troubled eyes from the light and the savage gust of snow that greeted them as they burst through the opening of the cave and out into the world of Notura. "I can fight." She spoke, eerily aware of the foreign heat of blood smearing her cheek. His. She was covered in it. Her hands, her cheek, her body as he cradled her frailty to him.

"Neyes," she said, lifting her head, "we need to run. We have to. Once we get back to camp we can fight them. Call in... help. Help will come and..." Rochelle shivered, trying too keep her mind sharp against the drugs. "and we'll be ok."

"I witnessed eating methods. These creatures are Noturans, changed somehow. Cooked and gnawed corpses inside that tunnel. Noturans. If they catch us we may suffer like their bug-food peoples."

He set her down, letting her legs swing down to prepare to move. Icey wind licked at their hair and clothing, pushing Rochelle's across her dirtied face. "They are here." He pulled out a phaser with a small attachment. "The Engineer's addition will allow you to fire unimpeded." His breath was quickening as they stood for a moment, the effort of carrying her catching up with him. "Due northwest. The Vindicators patrol there--"

Neyes instantly spun on a dime, his movements not allowing warning of his action. Before Rochelle could see, he had drawn a dagger and swung it hard diagonally. Sparks flew and a sharp slice of metal preceded the broken pieces of a harrowing looking hand-axe that fell uselessly into the snow. The dagger had entirely cut the axe into divided sections, a clean line incision separated the head.

"Run!"

"No!" She screamed as the cold winter wind tore at them both. It's icy fingers threatened to rend the flesh from her bones and her legs threatened to give out as she grabbed him, looping her arms around his waist.

She didn't care that it was Neyes in control, Landon was buried in there, scratching at the surface and she wouldn't simply run without him, wouldn't dare leave him behind.

"I won't..." The Commander's words were cut short and twisted into a yelp of surprise and pain as a crude blade delved deep into the flesh of her thigh. Her body twisted, it's grip loosening and slipping from the Trill's solid form as she staggered back, wrapping her cut and tattered fingers around what was left protruding. She could hear them advancing, a hoard of them screaming their crazed cries. "I won't leave him, Neyes." She gasped, her shaking hands leaving the blade as she realized that removing it would end all hope. The femoral artery had been pierced, pulses of crimson oozed from around the instrument and consumed the big flakes of snow that fell into it's stream.

For the first time in so very long, Rochelle Ivanova felt fear. It courses through her veins, cutting off reason and threatening to consume her as those shaking hands, covered in a mix of their lives, reached for him again. "I won't leave him. We have to run. Together."

Neyes looked at her with a hint of disdain, his eyes bore the cold ice-blue they always did, but an intrinsic intelligence was shimmering inside. A thousand thoughts hammered away inside his mind as the calculations of their potential survival ticked away. Landon was a skilled warp physicist, and a determined Captain. She was injured, badly, and he was not capable of carrying her the entire stretch of their escape while effectively defending their flank or rear. The symbiont Neyes was far less personable and far more pragmatic than the man who held him as host.

750 odd years of living had hardened the lifeform, making him cold to the attentions his hosts often found worth their time with him. Studies, knowledge, strength and purity were all that mattered to him. Having a powerful knowledge of the world had given Neyes a jaded perspective on his hosts' lives in general. See this young woman however, bent at his knee and fighting off injury just to save the man who walked their life...

A twinge ticked in his left eye. "The little bugs will be fast. They will attempt to cut us off from the Vindicators. We must head North." He picked her up again, with slightly greater care than before, and held her face-to-face against him in a bear hug. "You will need to defend us with your weapon. I will run."

So he started running.

---

to be continued...

Captain Landon Neyes
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR

Commander Rochelle Ivanova
Executive Officer
USS VINDICATOR

 

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