The Abduction

Posted on Sun Jan 16th, 2022 @ 12:10pm by

1,395 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Not All Changes Are Welcome.

The deck plates rumbled, followed by the sounds of weapons fire. RJ dislodged herself from the panel she had crawled into when trying to boost emergency power on the abandoned ship.

“What the hell was that?” She asked though the look on her crewmate’s faces revealed that they were about as clueless as she was. Before anyone could respond, the ship rocked violently. RJ was flung into the air and halfway across the room, a stream of light surrounded her. She silently gave a note of praise assuming that the Agincourt was pulling them out.

Reagan’s expression went from one of relief to confusion as she reappeared in an unfamiliar transporter room. A single figure stood silently in the room and said nothing as she fully immersed from the energy beam.

“Uh, hi. I think there may have been some sort of mistake. I’m Lieutenant JG Regan Quinn. I’m guessing you beamed us out thinking we were someone else. Unfortunately, none of the original crew is left on the vessel you took me from, but if you don’t mind beaming us over to the Agincourt, we can work together to figure out what happened.” RJ stated with a cautious smile.

The doors to the room opened and a man walked in, clad in black, a scar on his face that left him with a permanent, almost sneering grin on his face flanked by 4 others. There was an air about him, a feel to him that radiated danger and control. "I think not." He spoke. "You are my prisoners, you will be our guests for the time being. The men walked forward with weapons drawn and snatched commbadges. "I'll make this simple for you Starfleet, if you try to escape, I'll kill you. If you cause any trouble, I'll kill you and let me be abundantly clear."

Without so much as a hint of hesitation drew his weapon and fired, vaporizing one of the security team. No measure of remorse to be seen, the act done as if common place and practiced to him. "Take them away."

He walked out having handed over the badges to be destroyed. What was left of RJ's team was split up and put in holding cells for what was to come next.

Internally RJ raged with fire as she saw one of her security team members vaporized into thin air. Who the hell did this man think he was? To capture them and then kill one with no provocation. Her mind raced to think of solutions. Careful ones that would keep all of them alive.

"Did you notice any vulnerabilities as we were taken here?" RJ asked her cellmate once their captor had left.

"I didn't see very many personnel. That should make things easier. Everyone I did see had a weapon though. I didn't get a very good look down adjacent corridors. There isn't much light in this place," Elliston replied.

RJ nodded in response. "Can you guys hear us?" She asked into the corridor hoping the others in separate cells could hear them, but no sound returned. "I'll take that as a no. I guess these are soundproof."

"Looks that way," Elliston sighed as he finished his look around the room, "and from what I can tell there's not going to be an easy way out of this cell." He slid down the back wall to sit on the floor.

"I think our best course of action, for now, is to sit and observe. Keep an eye out for any details and try to find an opening to get out," RJ followed suit with her companion and sat on the ground. "I wonder what they want with us."

The wait was a brief one as the door opened and in walked three men, all armed. Each of them built in size, obviously capable in a fight and had scars to prove it on two of them. Two drew blades and both of them looked sharp and brutal in design, made for maximum damage in one stroke or thrust. "Her."

All three looked at RJ, there was no grin, no smile, no hint of pleasure or enjoyment at what they were doing, no emotion at all. A guard pointed his blade at RJ's companion. "Try something, and she dies, then you."

Two grabbed RJ and hauled her out of the cell before closing it behind them leaving the sole Starfleet Officer alone. RJ was taken to a room, a well lit one with a recliner chair with restraints, a table, a few chairs. It was clear what this room was for from the coppery smell, the stains on the floor, the cuts and tears in the fabric of the seat she was unceremoniously shoved into before being restrained.

Two guards walked to stand in the corners of the room behind out of view. About 30 seconds later another walked in, it was the same man that killed one of the security officers on the transporter pad. He dragged over a chair and sat it on front of her a meter or so away before sitting in it.

"Who I am, does not matter." He spoke, his voice held an accent, the way he spoke hinted at an education or other such treated upbringing before his fall. "What you want, is to stay alive." He knew it was true, nobody wanted to die before their time. "What I want, is information. And you're going to give it to me." He put his hand up as if to stop a reply. "Before you decline, consider, I am not a nice man. I have killed because I had to, wanted to, felt like it. I have harmed many people, men, women, even the young, other species too, after soo long you become desensitized to the suffering of others. I will hurt you if you don't tell me what I want and I will feel no different about it than the previous occupant of that chair."

"Do you understand everything I just said?"

Her instinct was to lash out with some witty or derogatory. Anything but pure cooperation anyways. Yet, there was a survival instinct inside that told her he wasn't playing around and any wrong step would end poorly. She'd have to play her cards very carefully.

"I understand, though I should warn you that I doubt I have the information you're looking for," RJ paused for a second. "Will you believe me if I say I don't know? Or will you hurt me anyways?" It was a fair enough question and something about her captor seemed cultivated enough to possibly answer.

"Let's find out shall we?" He spoke in reply leaving the question unanswered. "A gold uniform, denotes Operations, Security or Engineering. Which one would you fall into?"

Information was had value and he had means in which to extract it. He'd already made his position clear that he would if required, but there was merit in letting the prey make it's own bed.

"Engineering." RJs response was short and simple. Her assignment was common knowledge and anyone could access her basic Starfleet profile. Hopefully all of his questions are this easy, she thought as she mentally prepared herself for what might lay ahead should he ask something she didn't know or couldn't tell.

"I disabled the ship I took you from, I can only assume you came from the U.S.S. Agincourt which I crippled, being the only other ship in the vicinity." The man spoke. "My information tells me that there is another much larger vessel. Tell me about it, I want to know about it?"

"I'm sure there are quite a few vessels in the area that are larger than the Agincourt. Which one you are referring to? The abandoned one that you abducted me from?" Her tone was straightforward as she looked at him and tried to maintain as innocent an expression as possible. Though she knew the Dreadnought was really the vessel he referred to.

There was a visible drop to the shoulders, clearly hoping to gleam more information before having to resort to more unpleasant measures. He stood up and walked to a darkened wall and rolled out a table. It held several containers but the most disturbing detail was the table top was covered in darkened and dried blood.

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