[2006: JAN-FEB] To Return you have to Leave

[Estantia]

OOC: The weirdest thing is that this was my dream only this morning and it fit...

To Return You Have To Leave.

“Dr. Peters?”

“Ready sir.”

“Ensign Tia?”

“Ready and waiting Captain.” The captain quietly checked that the crew he had

managed to rescue from the crash were all present. When he did so he said quietly,

“Now remember, we’re headed out the city towards the mountains, we cannot fail to

escape first time, otherwise we will probably be killed, is that clear?”

The crew nodded, they all knew how important it was they weren’t kept to be offered as hostages, they all knew how important this world was in the scheme of things. “Let’s just be grateful we found someone working undercover for the fleet, otherwise we would never escape,” came the mutter from their captain, “and don’t wait for me.” He paused, “Good luck everyone.” Murmurs of luck quickly subsided as they approached the edge of the park-like complex that was their prison, the captain at the head of the group with the counsellor a metre behind him and to his left, checking the slip of paper that counted as a pass here.

Their capture had been terrifyingly, humiliatingly meticulous, the people had ensnared them and brought them to crash almost exactly a kilometre from their city. As soon as they had time to get out of the wrecked ship they had run into the waiting arms of the military. Not a single person on the ship had been able to detect beam or town until it was far, far too late. From there all they had thought of were plans to escape, and that had let them get to this scrubby piece of grass in he permanent grey twilight.

As she was looking down at the pass that would get them past the guards and tilting the paper to check for a missing watermark when something moved at the edges of her vision. She resisted the urge to look up but instead remained intent on the paper, a chill of certainty running up her spine as the movement resolved into figures wearing the same dark grey as the buildings.

Trap.

“Run!” the terran woman shouted as she jolted forwards and past the single guard

posted, out of the corner of her eye seeing the captain punched under the jaw hard and fell backwards. A phaser beam split the air behind her as she moved, going into a full sprint almost instantaneously. Some people overtook her as she ran, Starfleet uniforms melding almost completely into the shadows of the alley they, and she, shot into.

From then on all she saw was a maze of dark streets and houses, barely four people in width and warren-like, splits turning off every few hundred yards, corners cutting her vision off from anyone ahead or behind, not that she ever looked back, she needed to keep her eyes on the gutters that ran down the centre of these back-alleys. Darker grey, lighter grey, it made no difference as she dashed.

A left, a right, left, right, the ensign realised she was being too predictable and tried to change her path, right again, left, right... Her instincts had complete run of the game as she fled like a wild animal. Suddenly she had the feeling of something chasing her, an officer coming closer with every step she took.

She took a right out of the pattern and instinctively jumped to the left at a t-split. Her mind screamed the sense of hiding in the deep shadows that were everywhere in this... dead end? Unthinkingly she skidded into the furthest corner just in time as she felt her pursuer turn the corner. She stilled, completely blind in the blackness she had hidden in, barely daring to breathe. She nearly panicked when she thought of not being able to see an attacker approach, she’d got too used to the dim twilight! Reason dictated to her continually that her sight would return and she’d see anyone approach because of the light, she barely heard, too wrapped up in the animal fear.

Then her vision started to clear as she made out figures moving in both back corners of a long alcove opposite her, she wasn’t blinded! However at that point she heard what sounded like an old man speak, “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he said in a wheezy sing-song voice. The ensign couldn’t tell who was in the bay-like thing opposite her... Then her attention re-focussed fully on the old man with sickening dread as the voice came, “Little idiots, all ran into the same place...” there were noises of him going past one junction and then returning as the old man came into her side of the closed square, pushing a short, almost crazed man in front of him.

She could barely make out what he said to the prisoner, only noticing the rolling white eyes in the white face looking at her. The wheezing old man’s words became clear through the panic as he pushed the delusional person towards her, “Go on, touch them with your dirty feeling fingers...” Ensign Tia braced herself and punched the person squarely in the forehead, feeling the weak impact she winced, she needed to train more, but still the blind man’s eyes rolled up and he collapsed onto the floor.

Knowing she was discovered the ensign stepped out of the shadows and faced the old

man, noticing unkept grey hair puffing around his shoulders as he sneered. “Got

courage girly, but that was a pathetic punch.”

“I know,” the woman replied, and tried to hit him on the arm that was reaching for her. It felt like her arm was moving through water as she failed miserably to hurt him. Her mind was still dizzy from the flight, auto-pilot was on now though, and that was what she mostly used in crazy situations like this anyway. The man instead shook his head,

“Pathetic,”

She dazedly caught the leg that flew up towards her chest as the crew in the alcove behind him stared at the pair of them. Time seemed to slow as Ensign Tia stared at his supporting leg, it took a century for her thoughts to blink and her foot to sweep behind the supporting leg. She briefly caught the look of surprise on the old man’s face as he vanished backwards and his head met the ground with a thump and he stilled.

The crew left the alcove slowly to approach her, crew-mates became clear, one

shadow resolved itself into Dr. Peters. There was a silence as they all stood and

watched her for a minute, the doctor standing closest, looking at the ensign like he had never truly seen her before. After the pause she finally spoke, turning as she signed for them to start moving.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Edited January 6, 2006 by FltAdml. Wolf

[Estantia]

i'm sorry, this entry IS complete,I just put the wrong symbol and can't edit, please can someone change that?

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Done.

[Estantia]

Thankyou.