Waking

Posted on Thu Apr 7th, 2022 @ 6:01am by Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant JG Kassandra Selin

Mission: S1 Episode 2: Caretaker, Part II
Location: Caretaker Array
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 1200
1339 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Kass woke slowly as she always did, but she could not feel the soft bed beneath her, or the warmth of Johnathan beside her. Instead she felt... cold... and ... her legs,.. she could not move her legs. She kept her breathing regular, not wanting to react until she knew what was going on. She slitted her eyes open and saw a cold stark white room. Her form was covered in a white sheet. And she could see as she slowly turned her head, her feet, chained to what she believed to be a metal bed. Her right arm felt heavy, and she could feel the pain of a needle in her arm. What the hell was going on? She let her eyes open more so she could try and figure out where she was.

Besides the wines and beeps of instruments and computers, the sound of the automatic door swishing closed and slightly audible footsteps filled the room. An elderly-looking woman with a plump kind face walked toward a cushioned stool in a white medical coat. She moved silently, her face trained on the computer readout next to the metal bed. Low, she began to hum a lullaby-like tune. Her voice was thin and high-pitched.

Kass considered the IV tubing and eye'd the woman's neck. She waited until the woman was close and sat up and reached out to grab her from behind.

The elderly woman yelped, dropping the syringe in her hand, causing it to shatter on the floor.

"Oh....you're awake." she said with a sweet voice. "And none to happy, I imagine."

Kass used her free hand and spun the woman around to face her, even though she could not move her legs, she still had full use of her arms. "You imagine correctly." She said coldly.

"And, please don't take this the wrong way, but..." the woman started, pausing for a moment. "we can get what we need from a corpse as well as from a live specimen."

"oh yes no way NOT to take that the wrong way. Kill me and my father will rain destruction down on you that all they will find is atoms." Kassandra replied, her tone cold but certain. "I am not going to lay here and let you do whatever you want."

"Deepest respect, dear. I don't know who your father is, but perhaps you'll remember that we had the power to drag you across the galaxy. I wouldn't be so confident in his ability to 'rain down' anything." she said. "In the end, we'll get what we need and, if you kill me, he'll never find out what happened to you."

The woman blinked, though she was putting on a confident face. She'd lived a long life, of course, for her people, but she wasn't hoping this would be the way she died.

"We will let you go once the tests are completed."

"And I am supposed to believe you?" Kass snarled. "I am not some dumb slave who has no clue."

"My dear, you have no choice but to believe me." the woman said, and then looked at the patient with growing calmness.

Which was doing nothing but push Kass's buttons. She yanked the IV out of her arm and slashed at the woman's throat.

The older woman felt the feeling of warmth at her neck and, by instinct, she jerked back, somehow managing to pull herself from Kassandra's grip. She stumbled back and saw the blood on the front of her coat. It wasn't a mortal wound, but she was very lucky. She placed a hand over her bloody neck, putting pressure on the wound.

"Are you insane?!" she asked rather loudly, leaning toward a blue-hued button on the far wall.

"Lieutenant Kassandra Selin, Terran Intelligence. And No I am not insane." Kassandra replied as she watched the woman as she shifted so she was kneeling on the bed, her legs still chained.

She pressed the button and backed up against the wall, blood still glistening on her hand and the front of her garment. Within seconds, the door swished open again and two soldiers of her same species came in with weapons in hand, pointing them directly at Kassandra.

"No, don't kill her!" the old woman exclaimed, putting her free hand up. "She's only afraid for her life. She doesn't know what's at stake, please."

The two men hesitated, their weapons still trained on Kassandra.

"There's no need for further bloodshed...just...restrain her completely." the woman said, turning to exit the room.

The two soldiers seemed to debate the order for a moment, as if they didn't take all of their orders from the Science Directorate. The one in the lead mumbled for the other one to cover him and placed his weapon down far away from Kass. He approached her and grabbed her by the hands, pushing her down on the metal bed and working to shackle her hands along with her feet.

"We've got ourselves a fighter." he said to the other soldier. "Dr. Trelum is going to be very unhappy with you.."

Kass didn't go quietly and bucked and tried to whack him with her head, and pull her hands free. She didn't care who was unhappy with her. "No!" She yelled and began to scream in a high pitched way, trying to make their ears hurt.

"Stop it!" the man shouted, wrestling her hands into the cuffs and clamping them tight. "You're embarrassing yourself and your race."

Now that she was secure, he back up and grabbed his weapon again, sighing deeply due to the stress of the situation. He didn't particularly like what he had to do, but he was at least glad he hadn't had to kill her.

"What do you know of my race!" She screamed "You know nothing!"

"I know you behave like a bunch of Ranalian Razer Bears from the looks of you." he responded.

"Release me and I'll show you a bear you άσχημος πλατύποδας!" She cursed him in her native tongue.

Before the man could respond, he heard footsteps behind him and turned around to see who it was. The old lady doctor from earlier was standing before them, her throat totally healed and her white coat replaced with a new one. She offered a saddened grin and placed a hand on the soldier’s shoulder.

“I think the two of you should remain, but stand against that wall.” She said. As they complied with her orders, she walks slowly over to Kassandra, looking down at her with sad eyes. “What unpleasant business that was.”

"Unpleasant is being kidnapped!" Kassandra snapped.

“So, Kassandra…” the woman said, ignoring the apparently younger woman’s words. “Tell me about your Terran Empire. Is she vast? The word Empire means very little these days. We call ourselves an Empire, but it is barely true anymore.”

"No doubt caused by your kidnapping of people" Kass retorted. "Do it often enough and people get offended enough to take you out"

“We happened to notice something on the members of your crew wearing uniforms; a device meant to deliver a special electric charge when triggered by an outside control. I assume this is some form of torture device.” The old scientist said, grabbing Kass’s are to get ready to return the drip there. “As many moral and ethic rules as we might break to reach our goals, we would never do something so barberous. All of your crew have it as well…even your Captain…”

Kass chose not to respond verbally instead she tried to jerk her arm free of the woman's grip and the chains that held them down.

“Hold still, girl!” The woman exclaimed, clamping down on Kass’s arm and inserted the needle into her arm at the vein. She then grabbed the syringe and walked over to the clear bag a step away.

“Any final words before you go under?”

"Ты будешь гореть в аду" Kass snarled in the language of her birth father. Then she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.