PLOT - Cmdr Valeese, Lt Dai'xun | "Octopus Implants"

Posted on Mon Apr 2nd, 2018 @ 7:09pm by Captain Aine DiAgessi & Commander Valeese Stacker

Mission: Lacuna

“Commander?”

Such a little voice. Little and pleasant, like a song bird on a soft spring day. It seemed miles away, so very far and distant.

“Commander?!”

Closer now… She Heard the song trilling, felt the wind pushing against her shoulder warm and light and airy. She wanted to wake up, to open her eyes – but Valeese’s head refused to allow her to surface to consciousness for sake of a simple song bird.

“Please wake up, Commander Valeese!”

Only it wasn’t a song bird at all. It was a young, frightened Stenellis woman whose pregnant system had metabolized and processed out of the sedatives she’d been given far faster than anyone could have imagined. The buzzing zip of frustration and fear only helped send the urgency across to the Vorta who was now determined to wake up, to rise and fight for another round – because no doubt that other round was coming swiftly down the pike with both of them awake and cognitive. “Si’a…” Valeese groaned, willing her sore body to roll onto its back and her eyes to open at least to slivers by which to peer out of, “You need to stay calm…” Oh her voice sounded rancid, like gravel being skid over and kicked up. Something awful. And it sure as hell well accompanied the flavor of drying blood in her mouth.

“I thought they’d killed you!” The Stenellis chirped, grabbing one of the Vorta’s hands and squeezing gently. At least she wasn’t alone and the Vorta was a somewhat familiar face. She was kind and gentle. Easy to get along with, and while she wasn’t Anaxar, at least she was someone who could get a job done! “You’ve been making such awful noise in your sleep, do you hurt badly? Who is James? What do you mean we’re stuck here?” Oh heaven’s child, stop talking and just let the poor woman wake up! She’s been beat the hell and back and here Si’a was yammering away as if they had all the time in the world. Her cheeks colored as she realized her mistake and carefully patted the hand she held by way of apology. “I’m sorry. I’ve just heard all the things. Some were frightening, others not so much. I couldn’t tell if they were real or not just based of the fact your head is hurt.”

Valeese’s eyes opened a fair bit wider to accommodate the surprise of Si’a’s sudden barrage of questions, and finally she simply groaned and nodded, “It’s ok… I hurt, but will live. James is a friend, and intelligence officer. We’re stuck here because trying to escape is too risky for…” She trailed off, considering the turquoise maned woman with her large oceanic eyes peering down at her with concern, “for us… We should wait until we get to where they’re taking us and then we can steal a ship and head home.” She nodded, saving herself from having to explain that Si’a counted for two voices in this plan. Her ear flicked towards the other woman, carefully listening until she picked up the strong and steady gallop of the fetus’s heartbeat. Nice and strong, safe and sound. So far it didn’t seem to be impeded or injured at all by the sedative used to control Si’a, and for that Valeese was thankful. Somewhere there was an Andorian scientist probably climbing the walls and he’d likely want to know that his partner was doing alright and the life they’d created was even better.

“Oh.” Si’a replied, tilting her head to one side in consideration, “That actually makes sense since we don’t know what shape their escape pods are in or where we are in relation to anything.” Her head bobbled in perfect understanding. She didn’t like it, didn’t have to like it, but at least she understood it and would, for now, accept it as being what it was. “You sure you’ll be ok?”

“I’ll be ok.” Valeese nodded, “I promise I’ll be ok… But Si’a…” She groaned, forcing herself over and up to her knees, gripping the little Stenellis’s shoulders and demanding her full attention, “Listen to me… They’re going to try and sell us off to the highest bidder as pleasure slaves. They’re not going to wait or demand ransom for us, just dispose of us into someone’s collections.” The Vorta was shivering now, anxiety and the cold joining forces to wreck at her life with savage claws. At least Si’a was warm and the Vorta wasn’t necessarily injured by the cold. “We have to save our strength and get ready to make a break for it once we’re there. It’ll be so much easier when we can gauge our bearings and get the hell out based on fact rather than speculation.” Babbling. She was babbling as a distraction, holding the doldrums and nightmares a bay for both of them… All three of them.

Si’a, for what it was worth, nodded in agreement, “I’ll follow your lead.” She replied, chirpy as ever even if she was genuinely beginning to feel uncomfortable with her surroundings and the reason why she was being held within them. “Whatever you say, I trust and will follow. We’ll be ok together and we’ll get home."

"Yes." Valeese nodded, meeting the other woman's eyes, "Yes we will. We'll get home and everyone and everything will be back to how it should be." More nodding, because the Vorta knew she was a hair's breadth away from coming completely an utterly apart at the seams with the urge to do something to get away, to protect this young girl and her child. Stacker, or was it him? Couldn't have been him. He... She'd stick to it being him, for now... He'd said not to be a punching bag, to be smart and use her brain - and this was the best she could come up with given what she'd been left to work with and the time constraints considered. Figuring out just how to accomplish that, without anyone else getting injured, was a hell of a lot easier said than done... This was the best she could do; wait, watch, and prepare to move as soon as she felt they had a decent shot.

"Anaxar will be looking for me. For us." The Stenellis shared, hoping to instill and bolster just a little more hope in the obviously struggling doctor. Her weight shifted until she was seated more comfortably, her stomach turning into a knotted mess and the minutes continued to tick on. If she could relax, she'd be fine. Vomiting wasn't an option, not in this area. The best she could do was rest and focus on the things she valued most, Anaxar chief among them.

"Anaxar?" Valeese's head tilted, "Oh! The Andorian guy with the..." Her fingers tapped and the bridge of her own nose and gestured across her eyes as she tried to force her brain to connect and work when all it wanted to do was go to sleep and stay that way until the chance for their escape came.

Si'a bobbled her head, "Octopus implants, yes." Ocular, sigh. Did it really matter that she screwed up a word? Wasn't she owed a break or something after everything she'd been through? Certainly she was. "I was supposed to join him at dinner and I never made it there." Si'a explained, tilting her head towards a particularly interesting noise. Something had squeaked, almost like a rubber soled shoe against a well shined bit of flooring. Nothing like that even existed on this ship, as far as she could tell. Dirt existed. She could smell it along with see it encrusting almost every inch of everything, including the injured Doctor in front of her.

"Right. Octopus implants." Valeese nodded, eyes narrowed as she tried to study Si'a for signs of a hidden head injury. Of course, she was in perfect form. Rested, still well groomed, but something in the depths of the Stenellis woman's oceanic eyes told Valeese that she was growing more uncomfortable, concerned, and worried in rapid succession. Any second, Si'a was going to enter full panic mode - and then they were screwed. "Listen... This is good." She nodded, "It means that they're searching for us and then they'll be on their way." More nodding, though her neck protested. "We just have to stick to our plan, ok? Just stick with our plan." Carefully she began to guide the girl back down to a prone position, back to sleep. Her ears straining and twitching with the sound of inbound foot steps.

"Stick with our plan." Si'a parroted and nodded, allowing herself to be brought back down and onto her side. The last remaining bits of sedatives calling to her senses, begging her to close her eyes.

Valeese nodded, "Yep. Stick with our plan. Now shush, someone's coming." hopefully the cavalry sooner rather than later.

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Commander Valeese
Chief Medical Officer
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170

Lieutenant Si'a Dai'xun
Stellar Cartographer
USS VINDICATOR, NX-78213-F