The Belly of the Beast (Part I)

Posted on Mon Nov 28th, 2022 @ 3:46pm by Commander Grace Vetur & Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara & Lieutenant Amanda Rose

1,358 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Bandits of Black Rain
Location: Pirate Ship

ON

The two women materialized on a dimly-lit ship, surrounded by a dozen armed pirates.

Amanda looked around and tried to ascertain her surroundings. One minute she was on the Ontario and the next she found herself surrounded by armed men. Guns facing at her was not new. She had seen that in her past. However, what was new was being beamed off into some other location against her will. Why would anyone want her? She was just a counselor and she was not even certain that half the people on Ontario wanted her there anymore after Percy's reign of terror against her.

Well, just because she thought that she was a poor target of kidnapping, did not mean that the pirates thought that she was. Rather than acting as nervous as she felt, she countered the armed men and asked, "Just what do you think that the meaning of this is?"

She got no response from the guards.

It took a few moments for Haruna to realise she was no longer at the Engineering console on the bridge. She also noted that Amanda was here too.

"Erm counselor..." she said tugging on the other woman's sleeve. "There's no need to transport me for one of your 'head doctor' sessions" she stated. "Although... this doesn't look like the Ontario, are we on the holodeck?"

"Computer. Arch!" Haruna said. However, nothing appeared. She then noticed the other people standing there with weapons. She then realised that this wasn't a holodeck at all and was rather real, but Haruna being Haruna couldn't resist the opportunity.

With her index and made finger up, she waved slowly in front of their faces. "These are not the Starfleet Officers you're looking for...".

One of the men raised an eyebrow, but he knew better than to engage the prisoner--either prisoner--in any sort of conversation.

"I said; these are not the Starfleet Officers you're looking for..." she snapped her fingers. "Ah of course, wrong franchise... duh Haruna!"

A tall man stepped forward and indicated a door nearby. "This way."

The other guards lined up, creating a path to the door.

"Haruna," Amanda urgently whispered, "this is not a game. Someone brought us here and we need to find out why. Just let me take the lead on this, please."

Obediently, Amanda walked in the gesture of the tall man, wondering what might be waiting for her. "Do you have a name?" she asked as she approached him.

There was no response to her question.

The two women were lead down several corridors. The guards stopped outside a door that opened on their arrival. "Inside."

Amanda stopped in front of the guard, "Despite kidnapping us, it would be polite to give us a name. How will I know what to call you, otherwise?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Inside."

Haruna smirked as she walked into the room and looked around. Was this really supposed to hold her? The girl genius who spent more time in between decks than on them. She looked back at Amanda and beckoned her over with her hand.

Amanda walked in, smiling. "Thank you, Inside. Hopefully we will meet again soon."

"Give me three minutes. I'll get us out of here, look at this place. It's a walking wreck. I'll even fix some stuff for them; I'm embarrassed for them..." she whispered into her ear softly.

Amanda sighed lightly at Haruna. The woman was still a child and she did not understand one thing about subtlety.

"Nobody puts Haruna in a corner! Especially a rather dirty one!" Haruna said out loud.

The pirate put a hand on Haruna's back and pushed her into the room.

"Haruna," Amanda whispered urgently. "You're going to have to follow my lead. I'm very glad that you're embarrassed for these people. Keep that knowledge to yourself. We might be able to use it to escape. But in the meantime, we need to find out as much as we can about these people and look for opportunities to escape. Then we can get the information to the Captain. Understood?"

The pirate escort began to glare at the two women.

Amanda looked at the escort and smiled sarcastically back at him. "Do you see something that you like, Inside?"

Amanda was summarily pushed into the room, followed by Haruna. The door closed behind them.

"Well, I guess it is just you and me for the moment, Haruna...."

Haruna looked around the room, found a corner and sat down in it. She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knees. "Well, this is boring..." she complained.

"The universe is not all fun and games, Haruna. I'm most certain that being kidnapped is not meant to be fun, either." The Counselor sighed. "Now, look, Haruna," Amanda told the childish engineer as she approached her. She began whispering in Haruna's ears. "We have to assume that we are being watched and that they will hear our conversations. So, no discussing anything important without speaking in a code that both of us would understand. Do you get it?"

"Do you want me to speak in Harunaish?" Haruna asked curiously.

"This is not a time to be childish, Haruna," Amanda whispered urgently. "You need to follow my lead and grow up quickly."

"Pft..." Haruna replied simply. She looked away before reaching into her uniform. "Wait..." she began to fumble around, suddenly unzipping her tunic and searching the pockets she had installed. "They... They took my favourite hyperspanner!" she wailed loudly. Small crystals of tears began to form in the corner of her eyes as if she was about to burst out crying.

Haruna's eyes began to narrow, as her facial expression changed from being upset to angry. Her cheeks began to blush as she rose up from the corner. "Rokudenashi! Rokudenashi!" she kept repeating as she stormed over to a nearby panel.

"Rokudenashi! Rokudenashi!" she continued as she began to tug at the wall panel attempting to dislodge it from the wall. However, her strength was not enough to remove the wall panel. "I need to get it back!"

Amanda closed her eyes for a moment, praying that whatever divine entity that existed could give her some strength to deal with this girl-child that somehow managed to get into Starfleet and become a Chief Engineer. Walking over to Haruna, slowly, with a sympathetic voice, the Counselor put her arm around Haruna's shoulder. "It is going to be alright, Haruna," Amanda assured the engineer. "When we were kidnapped, they probably filtered it out. It is probably on the Ontario. So, I'm certain that it is safe."

She sighed gently. "Right now, we need to just focus, alright? Can you do that for me?"

Haruna seemed to calm for a brief moment. "It's obvious they are watching us." she said in a hushed tone. "This ship design is obviously Klingon. So, I only guess they either stole it or took it by force. That’s not an easy thing to do considering it was once manned by Klingons," she seemed to ponder for a few seconds in silence.

"You want focus. I need you to focus Counsellor. We need to find a way to trick them into letting us out, or opening that door," Haruna explained simply. Her hazel eyes locked with Amanda's a certain fire and determination sparkling in them. She then began to look briefly around the room. "There's a camera in that corner, at seven 'o' clock. Don't look at it. They probably think that we've not noticed it."

"Haruna," Amanda replied with a practiced non-rolling of the eyes, "I'm a Starfleet Officer and I have been in more than one dangerous situation, whatever you may think of me. I'm well aware that we are being watched. The fact that you mention that actually harms us. Do you not remember the rules about what to do when there are hostile parties observing?" Before Amanda could remind Haruna of always speaking in code, Haruna prattled on.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Amanda Rose
Chief Counselor
USS Ontario

Lieutenant Haruna Mizuhara
Chief Engineer
USS Ontario

Lady Scarlet
Pirate Captain

 

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