Star Trek: Theurgy

Curiosity Killed Them Both

Stardate: 57563.34
MARCH 15, 2381
0600 HRS.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts | Anomaly Tracking | Double shifts suck] Attn: @Kinvarus
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True to her words Sorlas had managed to make Hi'Jak question if his life was actually worth the amount of agony it had been put through lately. He had been positioned in the KDF Listening post, a lot of his job was just catching various transmissions monitoring the flow of traffic, re routing ships that got too close with an authoritive klingon tone, it was exactly the kind of safe desk work he had always wanted.

So why did he hate every single second of it? Why did he want to shoot himself in the foot with a disruptor rather than go back to Sorlas? Why did he feel like he was still wearing a leash and collar? well the later was probably due to a personal visit he had gotten from Jaya, that had been the only pleasant surprise he had gotten in the past few days aside from the return to his hybrid body.

He once again had ridges, with every breath he took on the aldean surface he felt all three lungs swell up giving him the first full breath of air he had taken in days. He felt stronger thanks to denser muscle tissue and more durable. He felt the rhythmic beats of two hearts in his chest, and for the first time since he had been caught, beaten and tied up (and not in the way he liked) on the sabine a week ago he could actually feel a small spark of hope.

Adapting to life with one arm had not been easy, for one it was his right hand that remained Jack had originally been left handed, though he carried with him a klingon disruptor he knew for a fact he wasn't actually going to hit anything with it unless his target was within ten or maybe fifteen paces. He had a Dk'Tahg on his person as well but loosing an arm had put him off balance before he was at least okay with handling the large hunting knife, now he was less sure of his skill. With the reconstructive surgery however, the theurgy had given him a parting gift, a new arm, and eye.

He had been a boxing pro at one time, but boxing just like most other physical fighting styles didn't work if you lacked an arm. and with the new arm it still felt slow sluggish and heavy. He had thought he would adapt to a prostetic instantly, but the truth was the metal parts irritated his skin, and were heated by aldean sun making them even more annoying and painful to touch.

So with all those things why did he come down to the surface of Aldea alone? Why was he the one trying to be of assistance? On the station he could have commanded a few people to help him, but no he had come down to the edge of the city  though he wasn't sure why.

He had been monitoring the com flow, and got one from Vivian Martin, a woman he knew for all of a day, and whom had kicked off the events that had lead to his later expulsion from the theurgy.

She had come down here for something, and then she had failed to check back in with the rest of her team. That did not bode well. This place was peaceful, but had plenty of problems.

There was a lot of Aldea not open to tourists, ghost cities, pirates, and of course Klingons among other things. So he had set himself to beam down nearest where he could get her com signal, and started to hunt for his old boss.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Aldea Prime ]   Attn: @Masorin
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It was far too early for this, Vivian thought. 6AM, she should be back on the Theurgy, in her quarters asleep. But nooo life with all its pain and suffering and stupid issues that it had decided to throw her way, all of which she had for the most part been successfully ignoring had spent the last several nights digging their way out from where she had buried them all in the far recesses of her mind to the forefront of it every time she tried to sleep. The result being her stupid brain keeping her awake for those last few days trying to process it all at the expense of said sleep, which in turn had led to her deciding to beam down to the surface and take a walk along one of the beaches. A simple thing, a walk along the beach, which she hadn’t done in…well she couldn’t actually remember it had been that long ago and maybe catch the sunrise.

Somehow however, she had gotten lost inside her own head thinking about one of the many things currently on it and had lost track of where she was going, eventually finding herself near the outskirts of the city. Cursing to herself, she was simply going to pull out her Tricorder to see if she had at least been walking in a straight line or not and then following her path back. However, before she could do that, her Tricorder had detected some unusual energy readings coming from just outside the city edge. The smart part of her brain had told her to ignore it and go back, contact someone in charge and let them deal with it. Another part of her brain told her to at the very least contact the Theurgy but the scientific part of her brain told her to go investigate it, and since she was as tired as she was, scientific brain won out.

As she had gotten closer and closer to the source of the energy readings, they had become more clearer as some kind of power signature but not one that she had recognised as either Federation, Klingon or Aldean, which had actually managed to jumpstart her brain into a more alert condition, her scientific curiosity perking up. Vivian managed to follow the signature to an old building, that looked like the potential entrance to one of those old ghost cities she had read about in the Aldean briefing but she couldn’t be sure. Either way the signature had died just before she had reached the building but it had definitely come from in there.

Tapping her Aldean version of the communicator she contacted the ship, telling them where she was and to contact the Aldean’s to let them know, unaware that her comm signal had been lost and no message would get through before deciding to make her way inside. She had only taken a few steps into the building when a forcefield had shot up around her, sealing her inside of it. Taking a quick look around, she could see the emitter off to the right-hand side of the door, a few paces in, no doubt to stop anybody who might have followed whoever placed it there in the entrance. 

Well done Vivian. she thought to herself, how stupid could she possibly have been to walk into such a trap? If she had been more awake, she would have spotted it before she had triggered it. If she had been more awake, she would have been scanning the place as she entered. Tapping the communicator again, she tried to call for help, only to get silence in response and cursed under her breath.

And if you had been more awake, you also would have realised that there is now a dampening field around this place you silly girl. she thought. Now to figure out how she was going to get herself out of this mess beyond hoping that somehow, someone had noticed that she was missing.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts | Anomaly Tracking | Double shifts suck] Attn: @Kinvarus
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He picked up on the dampanening field when it started to mess with his eye, the thing had a lot of features, one of which being that the eye was a recording device. It could record holovideo of pretty much everything and then transmit it wirelessly back to a consol or holodeck, it was the later function the wireless transmission that winked out of existance as his human hand moved to slap the side of his head thinking that the thing was just having technical difficulties.

His arm beeped. He blinked for a moment as he looked it over, why the hell did it beep? he was pretty sure the thing didn't have an alarm clock in it. He looked it over for a moment trying to find the functions. His arm was a piece of scientific technology, it had sensory tools in it like a tricorder, he was still learning how all of it worked, but he had to admit that was neat. The trade off was that the arm wasn't exactly light, or sturdy for that matter, it wasn't delicate, but he didn't want to get into a fight any time soon.

Walking to where the sensors picked up, he found a sight that was kind of amusing.

Vivian Martin, his old boss, locked behind a force field. He walked up to the door for a moment amused by the sight. He waved at her. "Hello commander, do you enjoy getting stuck behind force-fields or something?" He chuckled the last time the two of them had met had been the discovery of the omega particle where they had both been sealed inside a room.

Jack went to the force field emitter on the door looking it over. "Your lucky i noticed this dampening field from my office, and came down to investigate, otherwise who knows how long you would have been trapped for."

He pulled out his knife, and started to pry a panel off of the emitter to get at the wiring. "I'll have you out in a few moments, but you know aldean's don't really want people peeking into their ruins, what brought you out here?" The lands beyond city one were not tamed, they were a hive of criminal activity. Which actually brought him to looking at the shield emitter, this thing seemed kinda... new.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Aldea Prime ]   Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian sighed as she paced around the area she was in. She had tried to find a gap in the forcefield, nothing. She had tried interrupting the forcefield with her Tricorder, nothing. Then she had tried causing interference between the field, her communicator and her Tricorder, to no effect. She'd really screwed the pooch this time. She was completely, utterly stuck. All she could do now was hope that someone found her, preferably before whoever had set this trap came back, or that if said people did return first that she could talk her way out it.

So for now all she could do was stand around, wait and hope for the best. At the sound of footsteps coming from the entrance behind her, she thanked her lucky stars, somebody had noticed she was missing and had come to find her! Her joy was short lived however when she saw who it was that had found her. Somebody she couldn't quite believe and yet somehow did.

Her eyes narrowed at the man who stood on the opposite side of the forcefield, having the audacity to grin, albeit slightly and wave at her. "You! Did you have something to do with this Hi'Jak?" was her immediate response, ignoring his joke. While the irony wasn't lost on her that the last time the two of them had been together, they had been sealed in a science lab when they had discovered the Omega particle, that was then. That was when he was her subordinate and not a traitor. A traitor who had threatened her life even more so.

Vivian watched he made his way around the forcefield, towards the emitter. It wasn't hard to notice that Jack had a new eye and arm, not that she cared too much what had happened to the old ones. As far as she was concerned it was just a shame that whatever had taken them hadn't killed him outright. "Oh you just "happened" to notice this from your "office" did you? How convenient." she asked, her voice laced with skepticism, watching as he pulled out his knife and started trying to pry the panel off. What was he up too?

If this was all part of some plan of his, Vivian had yet to figure out what it was. For one thing how could he have possibly known that she was going to be here? Also if you had successfully captured someone, why would you immediately go to let them out? It was possible that he knew the Theurgy had docked at the shipyard and his trap was to capture someone from the crew but not necessarily her specifically but again, why go to immediately let them out? Of course he could just be making it look like he was letting her out. Still he did have a point about the Aldean's and hoped that she wouldn't get everybody else in trouble for her little...excursion.

Staring at Jack for a moment she sighed. Whether or not this was some kind of trap, he was...as much as she loathed to admit it, was her only way out of here and if on the odd chance he wasn't responsible for the forcefield, then somebody else was and that could be a problem in and of itself. "If you must know, I went for a walk along one of the beaches and I wandered a little too far. I got turned around and was checking my Tricorder to find my way back when I detected a strange energy signal, it led me here and I got caught in this forcefield."

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts | Anomaly Tracking | Double shifts suck] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Vivain's suspicion was warented but he shook it off. Everyone regarded him like that when they learned he was a traitor. No one ever seemed to care about why he had betrayed the crew. He put his knife back where it was held, and started to look at the wires. He wasn't an engeneer and he was hoping he was identifying the parts correctly, but it was a bit of a mess for this sort of stuff, thankfully he had a hand that was shock proof.

"Well I am stationed in a listening post that periodically scans the planet for anomaly's so yeah I noticed cause it's my job, and then I came down here to check it out." He sighed as he looked up at Vivian he was on his knees but he patted his current uniform. "Don't know if you noticed, but I'm currently with the KDF."

He let out a sigh, shake it off, but her accusation that he was doing this to kidnap her was amusing. "really Commander Martin, what would I gain from trying to kidnap a member of the Theurgy crew? Think it through logically, I'm already in shit with the captain of your ship so why would I invite further action when there are already a number of people who want to kill me aboard Aldea prime, and Theurgy."

He sighed. working out the make of the shield. "Besides if this was my trap why would I bother showing up so quickly? your locked in, so it's not like I'd need to hurry, I could just spin my heels wait for you to get hungry and desperate, than I'd make whatever demands of you i'd please instead."

He pulled some circaturey and the shield burned out for a second before falling down. "I'm trying to be a nice person."

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Aldea Prime ]   Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian remained watching Jack, like a hawk. Even if and it was a might big if as far as she was concerned he hadn't been the one responsible for the trap, she sure as hell didn't trust the man. Even if he hadn't threatened her, he'd betrayed them. She couldn't exactly see what he was doing with the emitter and she also knew he wasn't an engineer but if he could get her out of this thing, that was all that mattered. Not that she would shed a tear if it fried him in the process either, just as long as it happened as the forcefield dropped and freed her.

"Oh I noticed the KDF uniform. You're either very smart, very stupid or very desperate to side with them. You do know they're far less forgiving when it comes to traitors than the Federation." she smirked. Something you might want to consider before your have another change of heart about where your loyalties lie."

She listened as he tried to explain to her why he wouldn't have set the trap, and while he made some fair points, she could think of a few reasons as to why he would and shrugged. "I can think of a few. You want back on the ship for some reason, being one. What better way to do that than by heroically showing up and saving a member of the crew who just so happened to wind up caught in a trap off planet." She answered.

Internally she did have to admit that Jack had a point, he could very well had left her in here for a while had he wanted too, yet he didn't. "Time limit maybe? For all I know you do want back on the ship, maybe your new KDF Masters want something from the Theurgy for all I know and you can't afford to wait. Or like you said, the Aldean's frown on people being in their ruins. They find me here, they learn about you, who happened to work on the Theurgy and then end up at Aldea at the same time as the Theurgy only now for the KDF for some reason? Would look just a little suspicious to me." Vivian countered, rather pleased with herself that she'd actually managed to come up with a logical reason.

She watched Jack pull at some of the circuitry and noticed the field flicker and burn for a second before it dropped. Letting out a sigh, she heard Jack tell her that he was trying to be a nice person. Maybe he didn't set the forcefield after all, not that it meant she trusted him. "Thank you." she told him honestly. "If you being here was just a coincidence and you are trying to be nice then I appreciate you getting me out of there." She added before looking around the room. "However if you didn't set that forcefield up then somebody else did in which case, what are they doing here?" Although whether or not she was asking Jack specifically or just thinking out loud was anybody's guess.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts] Attn: @Kinvarus
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"Enough with the propaganda!" Jack shouted for a moment stomping his foot against the sandy ground raising a small dust cloud as he did. "First off lets get some of these facts straight before they haunt me for the rest of my life. I was a member of Imperial Intelegence before I joined the crew so technically I never betrayed the Klingon Empire I was maintaining my cover."

"I did betray the crew, but only because I refused to follow an order that was at the time neglagent and against the better interest of the crew at large." He said with a huff. "You weren't at SuD Lang, you didn't have your arm and eye dissolved in the stomach juices of a giant acid spewing spider. So don't pretend to know all the information."

"I made a questionable choice." He said softly looking down at the ground for a moment, his eye itchy from the dust, a small amount of blood trickled down his it was still recovering from surgery after all, and irritation just did that while his eye was recovering. "I didn't trust the crew, and they wanted me to send a letter to the chancellor that at the time I thought would spark a war between the Federation and Klingon Empire." It didn't matter that she was right, he did want to go back to the theurgy, but Ida had made it clear that he wasn't welcome.

"So I denied it, and then things escalated, a gun was pointed at my head, and only once I thought there was no other choice for dipolamacy in the matter, did I end up subverting the order and jepordizing the crew of the away team." He rolled his one good eye, as he wiped the blood off of the bad one.

"And of course I want on the ship, at least than I'd have a supervisor that didn't beat me half to death, in the four days since i got here I've been sent to medical ward three times, but no one wants me there, and no one wants me here, so i'm shit out of luck with what I want."

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Aldea Prime ]   Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian was taken back by Jack's shouting, although she immediately had to bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing when he stomped his foot against the ground, she couldn't help but think that he looked like a child throwing a tantrum although she did at least listen to him as he spoke although she did wonder why he was telling her that that he technically never betrayed the Empire, he was a spy. Why would she care if he betrayed them or not?

As he continued to tell her about what had happened on SuD Lang that lead to the loss of his eye and arm  a part of her felt sorry for him, it certainly sounded awful, but then she remembered that he had threatened her once and all that sympathy went right out the airlock. "If you're looking for sympathy you're talking to the wrong woman Jack or have you forgotten that time you threatened me? I'm just sorry that spider didn't dissolve the rest of you along with your arm and your eye." she told him, her eye narrowing into a glare as she remembered the fear and subsequent anger she felt back then. "No I wasn't there and I don't have to pretend to know all the information, what I do know is that as far as I and everybody else were concerned you were one of us and you betrayed us! After everything we had gone through, the threat that we face and you didn't even have one of those things inside you! That's all I needed to know. That's all any of us needed to know."

Vivian watched Jack as he said something about making a questionable choice while looking down at the ground. She spotted the blood trickling down his face but remaining silent as he started speaking again and regaled her with the rest of his tale. Reluctantly she had to admit to herself that if she was given an order that might have started a war between the Federation and the Empire she might have disobeyed that order too, on the other hand however from the sounds of it and based on what she had seen from Captain Ives H/she would never do something that would plunge the two factions into war, especially not with the infestation in Starfleet.

"Do you really think that Captain Ives would do something to sent the Federation and the Empire to war when we're already fighting one against these parasites? Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe that letter was a test of your loyalty? One you clearly failed." she asked and pointed out with a shake of her head.

And there it was. She was right, he did want back on the ship and while she could certainly see why he'd want back on the ship after his experience, she had very little sympathy for the man. "Some might say you deserve everything you get Jack and even if you did make it back onto the ship, you'd either end up in the brig or waste reclamation if you were lucky, although I suppose you are right on the whole not being half to death thing...maybe." she replied, knowing full well that with a Gorn, a Klingon and a few others on board would would very much be happy to do such a thing, if he stepped one foot out of line. Not that Vivian expected he had much chance of getting back on the ship anyway, like he'd said nobody wanted him there, she certainly didn't, even though he had just freed her, one good deed didn't make up for that bad ones he'd committed.

Before she could say anything more however, she heard what sounded like footsteps coming from one of the passaged behind her. "Somebody is coming!" she whispered.

 

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Jack let out a sigh, why did everyone think he wanted sympathy? He just wanted one person to actually listen to him rather than holding him with disdain and dismissing him. That however was probably never gonna happen. He was a marked man, that was fine he had to deal with that, he couldn't really say or do much in terms of convincing others that he could be loyal and that was entirely his fault for not being so in the first place. He looked at the ground for a moment as she called him out for not recognizing the letter as a test of loyalty, for not having belief in their captain.

He had to retort that. "I knew Ives for exactly three days, the only interaction I had with the captain was when they dismissed me from the omega project, and from that single interaction I'm supposed to know immediately that they are on the level? My last commanding officer was Hawthorne, I think I get a pass at thinking it's a little suspect when I'm being told to commit treason at gun point. So yes I didn't trust them, and yes I failed my loyalty test. How could I not have? All i could think of in the moment was that if I went through with their orders millions would die."

The comments about waist recycling or the brig compounded to his misery. Currently he was lowest on the shit list at his current job, he had already gone and done sanitation duties, and several things. He was being worked like a dog, and a part of him knew that he would never be a scientist again. He was manning a listening outpost a desk job, the irony was that it was the exact type of job he had always wanted, and now...

Well he hated his life for a number of reasons.

For a man who loved the sound of his own voice he shut up at her commentary. He was tired, tired of running from his problems, and tired of being a coward, he had made a bad call, and he understood now that it had been a bad call, but with the information he had at the time how was he supposed to know that? It wasn't like Ida was a diplomat, the talk they had was poisonous and only stoked the fears he had about the coming war. "Of course~"

He was cut off from his arguement when she said more people were coming. he ducked behind the nearest natural cover his mechanical arm grabbing Vivian to pull her with him as he hid behind the door way. He used his right side to grab his gun, he did not trust the mechanical side of his body at the moment the implants were too new, his body was still adjusting to them, and his shoulder shook every single time he tried to lift the arm to a 90% angel.

He looked out from behind the cover, the guy was armed. He could see the glint of a disruptor rifle, his left eye tracked it for a moment he could see a little more clearly out of it but it was starting to itch really bad, he was only supposed to use the thing a few hours a day under sanitary conditions while it adapted, and it was not used to the glare of sunlight. He looked to Vivian. Unsure what to say.

Without speaking he passed his disruptor pistol to Vivian, honestly the thing would do no good in his hands.

The man that entered was human, or at least looked human, he wasn't dressed like the Aldean's and he lacked any official kind of uniform, if Jack had to guess his bet was a pirate. The man pulled out a comlink and spoke into it.

"Someone definitely tripped the force-field, alarm went off, but the things down now. I'm gonna start looking around for whomever tripped it." As he put down the com link he powered up his rifle.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Aldea Prime ]   Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian took a moment to look around the room while Jack let out a sigh. Barring a few support pillars for the building and some waist high walls that seemed to have no real reason for being beyond adding to the aesthetics..unless they were for tactical reasons? The scientist, having absolutely no information on the building or it's layout didn't know, it was all speculation, either way the walls themselves provided no answers to any of the questions she currently had in her mind.

She turned her attention back to Jack when he started speaking, listening as he tried to explain to her his reasoning for his actions. "While I can...understand your suspicion based on Hawthorne, what about the Captain's actions? Everything Ives has done since the whole mess started has been to expose this parasite threat. Yes that's been primarily Starfleet and the Federation right now but they won't stop there, assuming they haven't infiltrated the other Quadrants power bases already, either way exposing them protects everybody in the galaxy, not would anybody in their right mind willingly start a war with another galactic power, especially the Empire when facing such a threat. she countered "Even then there are the new Wolves that joined the crew, I bet some of them haven't even met the Captain yet they still trust him. As...noble as your intentions may have been, it doesn't change what you did, both in that moment and especially with the away team." Vivian concluded.

A silence descended between them as he seemed to consider what she had said about ending up in waste recycling or the brig, it might have been harsh but it was true. Even not, Jack was a scientist and Vivian was pretty certain she didn't want the man who had once threatened her working in her department at least not full time as if nothing had ever happened.

She was pulled out of her thoughts again, only this time literally as Jack grabbed her and pulled her behind one of the waist high walls, crouching down behind it with him. She turned her head to look at Jack as he pulled out his gun and followed his gaze over the wall, spotting the Human looking figure enter the room from a room off to the right, a disruptor rifle in hand. The man wasn't wearing Aldean clothing nor any official looking room, not even an Aldean communicator from what she could tell, not that she had the best angle to see.

Glancing back at Jack, she caught the man looking back at her and frowned when he wordlessly handing his own pistol to her, giving him a look that clearly asked What am I supposed to do with this?" Although it didn't require an answer, if she were to hazard a guess and based on the fact his cybernetic eye was still bleeding that him and his body were still adjusting to them and he didn't trust himself to use the weapon accurately.

Not that she herself would be any better. Like every Starfleet officer she had had basic weapon and combat training but she hadn't fired a weapon herself in a long time, still she supposed that she might at least be better at it than Jack currently might have been....maybe.

"Someone definitely tripped the force-field, alarm went off, but the thing's down now. I'm gonna start looking around for whomever tripped it." the Human said as he powered up his rifle and slowly started making his way towards them, his eyes scanning the room as he went.

Vivian glanced over at Jack again then down to the disruptor pistol in her hand and finally back to the man currently searching the room. Slowly but surely he was getting closer and closer to them and they didn't exactly have anywhere else to hide. Vivian, not being entirely too confidant in her own skill waiting for him to get as close as possible before popping up behind their cover and firing at him.

The beam hit the man square in the chest, dropping him instantly. Glancing over at Jack she gave him a brief nod before slowly making her way over towards the, what she hoped was just unconscious man, having not checked to see what setting the pistol had been on. Giving him a nudge with her foot, he didn't move, which was a relief and then bent down to pick up the man's rifle and communicator.

"We should check the other rooms and see what they're up to, if we don't and go to get help instead, they might be long gone by the time we get back." she whispered. While not the best strategy, it was certainly possible that once this guy's companions hadn't heard from him they would come looking for their pal and flee and they would have nothing beyond the fact that the two of them were somewhere they shouldn't have been and who knew where that would go.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Jack looked over the mans body, lowering himself down and pressing two fingers to the man's neck he felt for breath or signs of life. He hadn't checked what setting the gun was on before he had handed it to Vivian and so he hadn't been sure. Thankfully he felt signs of life which meant a high stun was most likely the case. He pushed the man over onto his stomach, gabbing his arms, before checking his pockets and pulling out some ties securing the mans wrists and ankles so that he couldn't come after them.

Once he had finished tying the man up he looked to Vivian a small smile on his face. This was probably the most action he was ever going to get in his life now. "Look I know I got what I deserve okay, I made a bad call, and it cost a lot of people their lives. Based around the information I had at the time, it was the only call I felt I could make that wasn't going to get me killed, and that's my deepest regret. I let other people die instead of me, because I'm a coward." His voice was a bit low as he looked at the ground for a moment, he didn't really have a defense for his actions anymore, they were after all at the end of the day his actions. "That's why I'm gonna spend my life trying to fix the shit I did."

He looked at Vivian for a moment letting out a low sigh, he was fighting an uphill battle with that. He shook his head for a moment. "I'm sorry I threatened you, I was scared shit-less on the Theurgy, and I took it out on you. For what it's worth you were probably the best CO I ever had. I always kinda regretted our first meeting."

The suggestion that the two of them should go deeper into the compound made him blink, that didn't seem like a great plan, but at the same time the two of them didn't have much of a choice. They had to get something out of this otherwise they were both just trespassing on private property, and they couldn't haul this guy around with the dampening field in place, they would have to walk back through the hot sun carrying an unconscious man, that seemed like a good way to get themselves dehydrated and killed.

"Okay I'll go first." He said taking the lead down into the hallway where the guy had come from. He put his back to Vivian because he knew she didn't trust him to walk behind her, and he was only mildly sure that Vivian wouldn't shoot him. "I'm pretty sure though that this clears me of the prior accusation that this was somehow my trap."

He couldn't help but point that out as he opened the door and started to walk down the staircase, it was a steeper tunnel than he had originally anticipated, was colder down here, the walls were wet from condensation, if he had to guess he was willing to say that this place went rather deep underground.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Aldea Prime ]   Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian breathed a sigh of relief when Jack had checked the man's pulse and that was when she spotted the man's chest slowly rising and falling, relieved that she hadn't actually killed him, although kicked herself for not thinking about tying the man up herself, not that she didn't think the stun wouldn't last awhile, they generally did.

She listened to Jack as he spoke and for the first time since they had encountered each other in this place, she actually believed him when he admitted to his mistakes and regretted what he did, going so far to say that he was a coward, his voice going low as he started at the ground briefly before saying that he was going to try and fix his mistakes with the rest of his life.

"That's good to hear." she replied and looked at him for a moment. "Although I wouldn't go so far as to say you're a coward, I do recall you saving me once...before you threatened me that is, but still it doesn't change the fact that...bad things would have happened to me at the hands of the Devoted had you not intervened when you did, I don't know many cowards who would have done that over saving their own skin." she added, although she wasn't sure why she was trying to cheer the man up. Maybe it was because she felt sorry for him, or that it was simply because what she said was true. Those devoted could have beat her, raped her, killed her or all of the above had he not been there when he was, so there was some good or at least bravery in him.

Vivian watched as he looked up at her and apologised for threatening her nodded at him with a small smile at the best CO comment "While being scared and taking it out on me isn't exactly a good reason for threatening me... she began, pausing briefly as she looked him in the eye, seeing nothing but honesty in them "...I can tell you you genuinely mean that so I accept your apology for what it's worth."

At Jack's statement that he would go first, she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that considering the reasons she suspected he had given her his pistol, fat lot of good he would be if they ended up in a fight and he couldn't hold his own during it. Then again however, the only other options were either side by side, which tactically would be stupid since they could both get shot at the same time, at least with one in front of the other the one behind would have a few seconds more to react and the other option was for him to be behind her, which she definitely did not trust him enough to be. At least in front of her he was less likely to try anything.

Vivian nodded at his next statement about it clearing him from her accusation that he was behind this trap, not that he could see the nod being in front of her. "Yes I suppose it does, although you can't exactly blame me for thinking so given the circumstances and your timely arrival given everything that happened." she replied.

As the two went through the door and started walking down the staircase, Vivian noticed how steep the tunnel was as well as how cold it was compared to the where they had been and wondered just how far down the stairs went and how deep whatever they were heading down into went. What she wouldn't give for a scan of this place and her own tricorder.

"I don't suppose Imperial Intelligence has any information or scans on these places do they?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She had barely gotten the words out when she caught sight of a beam of light emerge from the darkness a few paces below them, coming up the stairs, maybe they were reaching the bottom of them, although if this was the bottom of the facility or not was another question entirely.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Hi'Jak shook his head. He didn't blame her for suspecting him. Had their positions been reversed he would probably have accused her of the exact same thing. He was just tired of being the villain but he couldn't take that out on anyone considering she was right he had been the villain. He chuckled slightly when she told him that he had been heroic enough to save her at one point, which was true. When they had first met the devoted had beaten her, and had surrounded her, he was pretty sure things would have gotten a lot worse if he hadn't stepped in.

It hadn't been a hard choice to step in back then, but he had completely blown all the good will out of the water with what had followed. He closed his normal eye for a moment checking something as he looked through his mechanical one, he could have sworn he had just seen a shadow or something, but he could just be jumping at sand in his eye.

She asked him about scans of the area, and he put a hand on the wall for a moment trying to follow it. "They probably do, but if so they are above my clearances. Imperial Intelligence doesn't actually like me. I basically just sit at a desk, monitor a few things. I've been assisting with the theurgy cover up, by listening in on going and coming transmissions."

If he could have done so without feeling an itch he would have rolled his eyes at the comment. It was like regardless of what he did he was never once put on a job that he actually wanted. He was a scientist, and they used him like one of the old communications officers.

"Like I said it doesn't matter if I'm posted on the KDF, The Theurgy, Starbase 84, no one wants me around so I get shit jobs. You mentioned latrine duty, I already got to do that yesterday. At least if I was back in the brig I'd be able to requisition a few books, who knows I could get my third PhD, maybe I'd actually get to use that one."

They hit solid ground and it was darker than he thought it would have been. A lot darker. The lighting down here was faulty, flickering florecent tubes barely cast light among the creeping walls, wires hung loose, and the entrance split off into several hallways. He shook his head. "There's still a damping field, my eye can't upload any footage to the cloud. Though at this point that could be the fact that we are deep underground."

He checked the corners, Three hallways, one extended forward, one to the left one to the right.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian had to admit she did feel a little sorry for Jack. Not much granted but a little. There was a time when he was a good man, at least when he had saved her from the devoted at least and while the letter to test his loyalty was indeed that, could she really blame him for not knowing and not wanting to do something to start a war? She probably would have refused to send the message too under the same circumstances for the same reason. On the other hand however he'd also put the away team at risk on that planet, which was far worse than not sending a letter. It was complicated just to see things from her perspective and try to figure out how she felt about the whole thing, yet alone being the one who actually had to live with it.

When he told her that Imperial Intelligence probably had scans but were about his clearance she sighed, they could have in real handy about now. The next part however caused her to raise an eyebrow "You've been helping cover up the Theurgy? I bet you loved getting that assignment." she said. Imagine being kicked off of a ship, only to then have to help cover it's presence especially with everything that had happened. Sometimes the universe had a twisted sense of humour. First that and then having them meet here like this.

She was a little surprised that he had already had to do latrine duty, she had partially meant it as a joke but still it seemed like nobody did really want him around. "It could be worse, at least you have a job to do and your freedom in Intelligence regardless of how bad it might be. In a brig you might be able to read, and maybe even get your PhD but that would be assuming you ever got free and managed to find a job somewhere, which in the Federation would be highly unlikely, perhaps in the KDF too if the Federation/Klingon alliance holds strong. At least this way you might eventually earn back some trust with them to rise in position." she replied, keeping her internal thought about not particularly wanting him back in her Department on the Theurgy after everything that had happened, that wouldn't have solved anything. Not to mention the odds of him ever stepping foot on the Theurgy again were slim to none at this point.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs it suddenly went dark, very dark. A lot darker than it had been a few moments ago. At Jack's announcement that there was still an active dampening field she cursed. "It could be both." she added

As she waited for him to reply, Vivian followed his gaze around, spotting the same three hallways that he had. Glancing at the Aldean Communicator, which also doubled as a Tricorder she wasn't entirely surprised when that function didn't work either. "The dampening field is even affecting the scanning function in the Aldean Communicator. How are we going to figure this out? All these corridors are like a maze and we have no idea where it even started. Even if we don't encounter whoever brought us here, we could very easily get lost for days down here." Before Jack could reply however, she saw two beams of light coming from the hallway to the right but had no time to react before being struck by the beam and the world went dark.

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OOC: Not sure if it's mentioned anywhere but AL did tell me over Discord that the Aldean Communicator did also double as a Tricorder. 

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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The bolts happened so quickly that it blind sided Hi'Jak, this was the third time within a week that he had been stunned, he was starting to get familiar with how it felt, which was not a good thing. His body dropped to the ground, and the world went dark as his nervous system was overloaded with a sudden sharp pain that ran through his chest and up and down his spine.

Coming too he felt light headed, the first thing he noticed was the smell. It was clean, the air was cool, and sterile, with the familiar scent of cleaning supplies. His nose twitched at the scent. He groaned and moved his arm to swat his face.

Heavy cold metal slapped jack across the face as his artificial arm jerked unnaturally responding to his command with the over exhubrerance that reminded him he didn't have full control over the limb or his reflexes with it at the moment. Hi'Jak groaned softly as his eyes opened for a moment he was completely confused a soft sort of panic setting in as he checked that both his eyes were open.

when did he loose his right eye? As the sleep faded from his face he realized that it wasn't gone just that it wasn't actually seeing anything. His left eye had recording abilities, but also apparently night vision, the room was completely dark with no source of light around him, so his left eye had automatically adjusted leaving his right eye blind till it adjusted to the near complete darkness. He looked around for a moment moved his leg to feel it pull on something at his ankle.

That something was the body of Vivian. The two of them had been cuffed together at the leg. Inconvienant for movement as the two would have to work together, and of course it was his left leg that got tied up in all of this. That was his leading side, and the one that was constantly getting damaged. If he had to guess why he had woken first it was probably because she was human, his half klingon genetics made it so that he was a bit tougher than most of the nerds in the science division.

Well tough enough to survive acid falling directly on his face. God he was so happy to be back in his 'own' body now.

His hands moved along his body, his knife had been taken, and he didn't see the disruptor that he had given Vivian anywhere on her body, they probably took all their equipment.

Whoever the heck they were.

Jack's remaining flesh hand went to Vivian's shoulder, he bumped her softly, shaking her to see if she would wake up. "Wake up, wake up, grab a brush put on a little make up. Hide the scars that fade away the shakeup." No one ever appreciated his little jabs at human culture, but he wasn't about to stop now, he basically dealt with his nerves by cracking jokes even when he was scared.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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"Wake up, wake up, grab a brush put on a little make up. Hide the scars that fade away the shakeup." was the first think Vivian heard from some far away distance in the darkness of her mind. With a grumble she lazily swatted away the hand resting on her shoulder. Wait that was an odd thing to say. Also who was that? She didn't remember going to bed with anybody, least of all somebody who would say something so...ridiculous. That realisation caused Vivian to immediately snap her eyes open and bolt upright with a gasp.

"Huh? What?" she muttered, her head snapping around, not seeing anything in the darkness of wherever she was, the panic starting to settle in briefly before everything came rushing back to her. The signal, the trap, Hi'Jak and then getting stunned. "Jack?" she asked as she looked around the room, relieved as her eyes slowly started to adjust to the reduced lighting, not that she could see much. "Where are we?"  she muttered as she pushed her feet, taking a step before hearing a clank, a tug on her leg before falling over. "What the...?" the scientist mumbled.

Spotting the chain glinting off of the small amount of light coming into the room, she followed it from her leg to Jack's and cursed. "Well shit." the woman cursed. Even if Vivian could empathise with Jack over the predicament he found himself in to an extend, she certainly did want to be chained to him.

"I don't suppose that shiny new arm of yours can just yank this chain off without taking our legs with it can it?" she asked. Besides the obvious lack of desire to be chained to the man who had once threatened her life, getting out of this place and away from their captors would be a lot easier if they weren't chained together at the hip...or leg in this case.

While she would listen to Jack's reply when he answered her, Vivian had already stared looking around the room now that her eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness. A quick glance down at herself had already confirmed that she was unharmed and that to no surprise she had been stripped of her weapon and the Aldean Communicator too. Granted with that dampening field in effect the communicator was useless, the scanner would still have been of use, at least to help them navigate, they would have to get that back.

It was pretty obvious that they were in a cell, although who would build a cell underground? Unless this was one of those research facilities she had remembered being briefed on when they had first arrived? Unfortunately being as mentally and physically exhausted as she had been the last few nights? Evenings? Days...days would probably be more accurate she couldn't exactly remember what they were for, some kind of genetic research or something? She vaguely remembered something about something and cursed herself for being unable to jog her memory into some actual remembrance.

Turning her attention back to Jack she sighed "I'm afraid I don't have too much experience in breaking out of jail cells. Any ideas?" she asked as her eyes glanced down over Jack's arm. Maybe they could use it's power to overload the forcefield on the door to their cell? Not that she was entirely sure if that was possible, or if his arm would then be usable afterwards, which if not would be bad, they were already handicapped without willing adding another one to the list stacked against them.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Jack looked over the chain connecting them, it was a good question, but the answer was no. His arm alone didn't have the sheering strength to break some other kind of metal on it's own. So breaking the chain was out of the question, he pressed his fingers to the cuffs trying to see if he could slip a finger under the metal that restrained them, and couldn't put so much as a finger under the band. There was one option, but it wasn't one he wanted to do.

"Sorry Vivian, but the only way I could get out of this thing would be to break my own foot. No offense but I don't like you enough to break my own foot just for the convenience of you being able to walk freely." He looked around the cell for a moment his eye getting a little more lay of the land, it wasn't like the holding cells on the theurgy, it was more cramped, there were no proper beds, the air here was stale which meant that the room was properly sealed from the outside world, no Co2 scrubber, but no ventilation shaft either which meant that aside from their own breath nothing could actively poison themselves. Considering the size of the room he would estimate that it would take a few days before Co2 poisoning was an actual threat.

"If I was able to perform a jail break why wouldn't i have done so when I was being held in the theurgy's brig?" He posed the question for a moment, but thought about it.

"Things are however a little different than the last time I was in a jail cell, my arm doesn't have many functions, but it does have one feature I requested." He looked over his arm for a moment.

Vivian would hear him shift about for a moment as he moved himself around, his leg would tug at hers pulling her along awkwardly for a moment as he sat up, he let the robotic arm go limp for a moment as he grit his teeth. "I figured sooner or later I would end up back in a jail cell, so I kept some things in storage just encase. They took my knife, but they didn't remove the arm which means the compartment hidden inside should still have some stuff... but to get at it..."

He pawed at the arm for a moment there was a sound like a pressure lock being pressed for a moment, Jack took a deep breath, and bit down on his shoulder for a moment, reaching into the compartment for a moment gripping the release.

There was an audiable crack, Jack tried to muffle his scream as the nerve connections to his artificial arm were broken, it felt like he had his arm torn off all over again, there was a heavy thud as the mechanical arm dropped to the ground, jack twitched, and felt like he was gonna puke for a moment he breathed heavily feeling his eyes well with tears.

The compartment fell open, a flashlight, a bag of targ jerky, an engineering tricorder, and a small duristeel bar rolled out of the tightly packed hidden compartment.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian sighed, not that she was surprised at the answer "I figured that was the case but It was worth an ask." she muttered and started working her brain to try and think of a way to science her way out of this. "I would never expect you to break your foot." she added as she glanced over at him, glaring at him in the darkness as if she suggested it just for the convenience of being able to walk free.  "We'll at least not now, we can save that for a last resort. After all they already replaced your arm and your eye, I'm pretty sure they could replace your foot as well." she added. Yes she knew it was a low blow but she honestly didn't really care. Being stuck to him was bad enough but the assumption that she would want him to break his foot and just for convenience had annoyed her, regardless of whether he was joking or not, which she didn't know.

Glancing around the room, she too had done the maths on how much oxygen they would have in the room, at least they had some time before they Co2 poisoning kicked in. On the other hand it would mean being contained and chained to Jack, which wasn't very appealing and the sooner they got out and free the sooner she could get back to the ship and put this whole thing behind her.

At his comment about why he didn't escape from the Theurgy's brig if he could she shrugged. "Self-Preservation and cowardice. Even if you had managed to get out of the brig you would have been contained with a forcefield or more than likely shot before you made it to a transporter pad or shuttle." she answered.

She could hear Jack shuffling about before being pulled slightly as he sat up, it wasn't enough for her to say anything but it was enough for her to really hate being chained to the man, getting out of here would not be easy. Vivian remained silent and could just about see Jack across from her, watching as he started fiddling with his arm, hearing what sounded like some kind of pressure lock release.

It didn't take a genius to know based on the fact he bit down on his shoulder that whatever Jack was about to do was going to hurt him quite significantly and sure enough the cracking sound she heard followed by the muffled scream coming from the Klingon/Human hybrid was more than enough to confirm it as the arm dropped to the ground with a loud clank.

First she snapped her head around towards the door, taking a few seconds to see if anybody heard the noise before turning her attention back to Jack when nobody came. The man was still twitching slightly and breathing heavily but was still concious at least. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked before her attention turned to the contents in the compartment.

A flashlight, that would come in handy. A bag of targ jerky..she wasn't sure if she'd want to eat any of that, hopefully they would be free and back on the surface long before food would become an issue. The tricorder and duristeel bar however would be very handy. They might just be able to use the tricorder to drop the forcefield on their cell for and the bar would make a good weapon in Jack's hand...or hands if they could reattach it, it might also be possible to use the bar or to trick their captors into dropping the field and entering the cell.

"Some good things there, I have some ideas." she smiled.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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"Pain's par for the course." Jack panted for a moment trying to breath through the pain of what he had done because what came next would be just as unpleasant as what came before it. He felt sweat run over his body and a sense of tiredness as he tried to pull himself back up to sitting down. He flexed his flesh arm for a moment trying to breath and feeling out the numbness. Jack reached and grabbed the bag of Jerky, cracking it open and grabbing the sweetened dried meat and biting down on the rough texture of the jerky. It wasn't about rations it was one of his favorite treats. "Want some?"

He said offering the bag towards her now that it was open, before shivering. "The problem is that while the arm detatchable, It takes two people to reattach it. Each time taking it on and off disconnects from the nervous system so it's a bit like ripping off my arm again and again. When I submitted the design for the arm I thought the smuglers hole would be easy to work out, but the only way I could make an entrance to the compartment was too.... put it below the nerve connections. call it unpleasant design, but anything else could be searched. The dense metal hides from just about anything but a close proximity scan, but It's no good for hiding weapons."

"The space is too small for a type 2 phaser, and a type one stored incorrectly could end up firing a discharge while still inside my arm. Hide's a tricorder nice enough though." He moved his stub of an arm towards her, picking up his arm. "Help me re-attch this thing." He took a moment to bite down on some jerky so he'd have something pleasant to chew on while he worked on reconnecting the arm to it's source.

The feeling of reconnecting it was like a shock through his entire body, he twitched for a moment feeling his flesh arm seize up before he finally breathed out, and started to check over his arms movements. Once his body settled for a moment he started to stand up, and checking his movements with the arm to make sure that it hadn't been damaged in removing it or putting it back on. "Yes the arm and eye are useful, but I miss the old ones. These ones are heavy, slow, and." He looked down at his hand for a moment. "It's cold. My left was my dominant hand. It's like it's numb constantly, there is no feeling to it, just movement. No prosthetic could ever replace the real thing. The eye itches, and bleeds every now and then, muscles still need to get used to moving metal instead of flesh."

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian watched as Jack panted through the pain. Even in the reduced light, she could see the man sweating and looking pretty exhausted, although given what she had just witnessed that wasn't much of a surprise, although it clearly took him some effort to manage to get himself back up to a sitting position. She remained silent as he reached over for the bag of jerky and opened it, taking a bite before offering her some. She'd never had Targ jerky before and part of her really didn't want to try it but it had been a while since she had eaten and who knew how long they were going to be down here for.

[color=DarkCyan}"Thanks."[/color] she said as she made her way over and took some, biting down on the rough textured snack. Surprisingly it didn't taste too bad.

As the two ate, Jack explained to her how his arm worked and that it would take two people to reattach it again, the scientist finding herself wincing at the fact felt like getting his arm ripped off every time it was removed. "While I understand the premise behind the idea, surely there were ways you could have done it without that much pain involved? There are plenty of people who have artificial limbs that can have them changed without causing that much pain. she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Well a phaser would certainly be handy right about now, but I wouldn't want to take the risk of a type 1 going off inside my arm either. The tricorder should come in handy though, at least we might be able to find our way out of here assuming we ever get out of this cell." she replied. However when he asked her to help reattach his arm, she obliged and held the limb for him as he did the actual work reattaching it.

Vivian watched his twitch and his flesh arm seize up before eventually settling down again once the limb was reattached before eventually the man managed to stand up and move it around, checking to make sure everything still functioned.  She had to admit she felt a little for the guy, not much but a little. Having to adjust to a cold hand that felt numb all the time and the eye too, she would have a tough time adjusting to all of that as well.

Still she didn't really know what to say. "Well hopefully with time you and your body will adjust, it won't be the same but at the very least it won't bother you as much or bleed and be as itchy." she said before glancing down at what was left from the compartment. The engineering tricorder might be able to help them lower the force-field and the pipe, while being a good melee weapon, could also theoretically used to overload the conduit powering it instead, assuming they could find and access it.

"First we'd need to get out of this cell. I wonder what they were doing down here? Why build cells?" she asked and wondered out loud. She had a lot of questions and no answers. She hated that.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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"It's a hack job, maybe with some time, and effort put into it I could get a model that doesn't sever the nerve links when removed, but that require someone to care enough to make those adjustments." Jack sighed. "I was rushed into the medical bay under armed guards, had multiple medical procedures performed on me, and then shoved back out the theurgy airlock all within the span of half a day, I had genetic structure rearranged, grew a lung and a heart a urinary tract, and several pounds of muscle tissue in the better part of an afternoon,  and the doctors didn't even spare some time for observation."

"I'm not worth peoples time or effort to make a version of these limbs that don't hurt, and the Klingons, well they look at my arm and sneer at it, they seem to think that I'm cheating, and that I should just tie off the arm, wear an eye patch, and pick up a Mek'leth." He sighed as he got to his feet, he tested the accuracy of his fingers for a moment touching his tumb to the tip of each as he stretched out. "I get it, I'm no ones favorite person."

Cosmically he had to admit that his life was more or less spent being the punching bag of other peoples jokes. He didn't trust the captain of the theurgy, hadn't tursted the crew. Tried his best, and wound up getting smacked down every single time. "A good part of that is self inflicted which is why I'm not gonna cry about it."

"My actions put me into the hole i'm in, but I was saved... my head should have rolled and yet with a word someone else finally put their reputation on the line for me, So I'll be damned if I end up dying in a ditch." He picked up the tricorder, and waited for Vivian to join him as he walked up to the door giving it a scan.

"Whomever built this cage, they didn't do a very good job... Check this out." He pointed to wall, his eye could see in the dark, but Vivian would need the flashlight to see. "There's corrosion around the walls, the metal is..." He ran his organic hand against the metal door frame and came away with some sharp dust. He touched it for a moment scanning over his fingers.

He looked to Vivian. "Nitrium..." That made sense, it was used a lot in old dylithium chambers, life support systems, and other areas where energy was abundant. So a force field made sense, but it had been retired after it had been proven to be a little over reactive.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian listened to what Jack had to say and couldn't suppress the look of shock for showing on her face. Even with what Jack had done he had deserved better treatment than that, especially from the Federation regardless of his crimes. To do such a thing after such complex procedures were barbaric. "I'm sorry to hear that, you should never have been treated that way after such an operation, despite what you'd done." she told him honestly.

As he went on to tell her what the Klingon's thought of his appendage she rolled her eyes and shook her head "Of course they do, typical Klingon attitude. What about you? What do you think?" she asked as he stood up and tested his fingers before adding that he was no ones favourite person. Granted she couldn't exactly argue with that and given what he had done combined with what they had been through, she couldn't exactly blame certain people. Hell she felt the same way about him to an extent but hearing what he'd been through since then it was hard to not feel a little sorry him.

Almost as if he had heard her thoughts, which she knew was impossible for him at least, he seemed to echo her thoughts to an extent and nodded. If he wasn't going to cry about it then neither would she and smiled when he said that he wasn't going to let himself die in a ditch. "I'd say we're in something a little more than a ditch but I agree entirely, neither of us will die down here, so let's figure out how to get out of here."

With both of them on the same page, she followed his finger with her eyes over to the wall, although she had to use the flashlight to actually see whatever it was he was pointing at and nodded. "I see it." spotting the corrosion around the walls, seeing the dust fall away from the frame as Jack ran his hand over it.

At his statement that the metal was Nitrium she nodded "That makes sense, it's a metal that can handle a large amount of energy going through while not exactly being the most expensive thing out there to purchase, the only downside being the fact that it has a habit of blowing up if too much current goes through it. she said aloud, unknowingly echoing his thoughts and smiled "So all we have to do is cause a power spike in the force field and that should short it out. That's an Engineering Tricorder right? That could probably do it. Or there's the more brute force method and use the durasteel bar, it might be able to carry just enough current through it to cause a spike if we could find a good connection point, although there's a higher risk of electric shock from that." she added. Either way they had options and a possible escape...well at least from the cell at least, the rest of the facility they were in was another story entirely.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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"I'd rather not brute force this." Causing an explosion was dangerous enough with the two of them on this side of the wall, blowing it open could have consiquences from caving in the ceiling to just turning them into piles of goo. He also didn't want to test out how insulated his arm was today. The thing had a smuggling compartment so he knew that it was at least partly hollow, it was light so probably plastic, but it was also directly hardwired into his nerves just a bit above the area where his elbow had been.

He looked at the tricorder she was right, it probably could be used to cause a power spike. It was also their only mapping tool once they got out of the prison, but it seems they would need to use it now. Better to use a tool to improve there situation now. "I should have smuggled in some tools." He shook his head for a moment.

Getting to work the two of them had to find a quick way to get at the tricorders components, the only thing Jack could think of was just smacking it with the bar. Breaking open the components they needed which was some wiring, a power source, and a few buttons.

Since he could see partly in the dark he tried to do most of the work at first, but found that his robotic hand had issues with fine motor skills. "Ah this thing is frustrating. I still can't get the pressure sensitivity right. I've crushed like six glasses unintentionally."

He picked up the flashlight. "I'll hold the light steady, you work out how to actually make the bomb."

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian agreed that the brute force option wasn't the best one for them to try, there were too many variables that could go wrong however if was an option for them should they try other things and none of them worked, which was why she had suggested it more as a last resort if anything and nodded when Jack said that he would rather not use brute force either.

Seeing him glance down at the Tricorder, it was clear that he was thinking like she was that they could use it instead. However doing so would most likely mean taking it apart to use some of it's internal components, which would mean they might not be able to use it to find their way out of here, which would be a problem. They had no way of knowing how far down there were now after they were stunned, or even how long they had been unconscious for.

"At least you packed somethings and some of it can help us." she replied to his comment about smuggling in tools, after all who expects to be captured and locked in a cell god knows how many feet below ground every day? Vivian knew that she certainly didn't at yet here she was.

The two decided to take apart the Tricorder and use the components to free themselves from the cell, after all what good was having a device to help show you the way out if you couldn't get out of the cell you were stuck in first to use it? Vivian watched as Jack tried to do it but seemed to be having problems with his hand. "Better glasses than something way more valuable...or someone's arm." she replied as he reached down to pick up the flashlight.

Nodding she took the Tricorder and started examining it under the light. "Well I've made them before so it shouldn't be too hard, with a bit of luck I can make something that won't destroy this thing in the process and we can still use it to find our way out of here, otherwise we better hope there's a console around here somewhere that has a map. I don't fancy our chances if we have to guess our way out of here."

Spotting the tiny screws that held the Tricorder's external case together she put down it down and reached up under her shirt. Fiddling around for a few moments until she managed to pull her bra down and out from under her top, thankful that she had learned that little trick when she was younger, even with her reputation nowadays the last thing she wanted to do was be topless in front of him.

Holding the upper underwear into the light she twisted and pulled on some of the wiring until several pieces snapped off and tied them together, bending the end to make somewhat of a point that she could use to unscrew the case and get at it's insides. It was a slow, frustrating process but eventually she managed to unscrew and remove the case.

Some electrical wiring, power supply and several buttons was all it would take, all she had to do was rewire it a little, put this wire there and that wire there, bypass this circuit here....and that should do it. Now all they needed to do was introduce a higher electrical energy to complete the circuit and one explosion. Say like the energy of a force field for example.

"That should do it" she said as she powered it one  "All we have to do is turn it on, slide it into the beam of the force field and it should go up. We might want to be as far back on the other side of the cell as possible, in one of the corners preferable before we do it." she said as she gave her work the once over, making sure that every wire was going where it should, the power supply was hooked up correctly, satisfied that everything was and carefully wrapped it in her bra, tying the cloth in a knot around it. Just so that would hopefully help contain the pieces of the Tricorder when it exploded and to make it easier to slide along the floor into the energy barrier. 

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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"I'll move it into position." He took the device with his robotic hand. It felt oddly heavy for a moment. Not that he could tell it's exact weight but just that it was difficult to move or maybe that was his arm trembling slightly from fear of getting blown up yet again. Still it was better that he moved it into place than someone who would be missed, and if something happened that detonated the device early than at least he would have his false arm to take the brunt of that explosion. "My left side is already mostly artificial so really what's there for me to loose at this point?"

though it was a bit of glib humor to try and lighten the situation it was also kind of true. They had two options risk being harmed in an explosion, or stay underground for the rest of their lives. "take up a corner behind me."

He let Vivian get to as much safety as they could be allowed in the dark cell, and moved the modified homebrew explosive into it's proper position. Pushing the button to activate it.

The room was aglow for a moment, sparks ran along the edge of the door as the shield caught in a feedback loop, and the metal coating caused various shorts. Loud cracks, and creaks echoed through the room as the shield gave a vibrant display of various colors, the two would probably need a radiation scrub after this as Jack wasn't sure exactly how much energy or in what type was being released that caused a normally invisible force-field to suddenly turn violet, and green. heated metal sparks and flares continued for a few more seconds before the loudest pop finally took place, and the power grid for their cell fell with a violent display.

However the metal beams that supported the cell, and the far wall where vivian had been standing were all for the most part in tact, with the walls sustaining a few cracks in their supports but nothing that could cause the entire facility to cave in.

It took a moment or two for emergency lights to turn on illuminating the hallway outside of their prison and giving them some idea of where they had been stored. The prison facility was small, a narrow hallway that ran five feet across, exited their cell. It was likely they had been put in some sort of crawl space or extra storage area when they had been abducted.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian watched as Jack took the device and moved it into position, hoping that it wouldn't detonate prematurely, yet alone might it kill both of them but even if it didn't they had no second chances with this, it's not like they had the parts around to make another one unless they started pieces of Jack apart in the hopes of cobbling something together which was highly unlikely.

When he mentioned that most of his left side was artificial there was less for him to lose, she knew that it was a bit of glib humour to lighten the mood a bit in this we-might-be-seconds-away-from-dying moment but also it was technically true, assuming any shrapnel hit only his left side then he should theoretically survive without sustaining too much damage all being well.  When he instructed her to take a corner behind him, she did just that.

She just about saw him push the button to activate it, the room glowing for a brief moment or two as sparks ran along the edge of the door. She could see the shield flickering in a feedback loop, so far so good. Numerous loud cracks and creaked echoed through the room as the shield flickered in a rainbow of colours, it was looking like it was working, they just needed the big finale to send them on their way. Vivian tried not to think about the fact that she would need a radiation scrub or two after this, god only knew how many rads they were absorbing right now.

The metal that lined the door started glowing as it overheated, the sparks and shield both growing brighter, causing Vivian to cover her eyes before the loudest pop echoed around the room. Uncovering her eyes she saw the shield flicker one final time before dying. Taking a quick look around, she was relieved to see that none of the actual walls had started caving in, although there were some very noticeable cracks in some of the rocks that she knew hadn't been there before.

It took a few moments for the emergency lights outside their cell to flicker on revealing a hallway that looked more like a small corridor made up of...well closets basically, clearly not an actual prison facility but one that seemed to have been made up on the fly, that might be a good thing.

"Well that worked, although I imagine if anybody was nearby they certainly didn't miss what just happened, we should get out of here and keep our guard up." she said, picking up the durasteel bar and handing it to Jack. "You should probably have this. You're stronger than me and with that metal arm of yours behind the swing even stronger, better for you to crack anybody over the head with than me."

 

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Jack took the bar of steel in his robotic hand, understanding the logic behind the choice. He walked forward slowly not wanting to provoke anything that they could be hunted by, as he did his eyes turned towards the rooms that lined the room, and he let out a sharp half shriek as he put his organic hand into his mouth to shut himself up. He jumped back for a moment his two hearts beating quickly as he did.

Shocked and disgusted he pointed towards had startled him in one of the room. A large vat with a glass opening displaying a creature being half grown. The thing, was half grown in a vat of glowing green slime, why was biological tampering always accompanied with horrific green slime? The thing inside the tube had the distinct features of a human skull, though it currently had about a quarter of the flesh as it should have, more a loose connection of fast grown deformed organs and genetically tampered sinew and bone than an actual human being.

Jack shivered knowing for a fact that his eye had recorded the thing in full detail. His mind was going to be able to recall that image for a while. "I guess we know what this place is for now." He pointed down the hallway, each door led to another chamber with another clone in some state of growth or suspended life. "Why the heck is biological tampering always so... slimy."

The thoughts and places were bringing back the uncomfortable memories of the versant. He gripped the bar, but headed for the end of the hall.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian nodded as Jack too the device in his hand and told her to take a corner, which she did on the far opposite side of the room, hopefully it was be safe enough to avoid any shrapnel..and that the whole place didn't come down on their heads, not that there was anywhere to hide in that case, not that the scientist expected that to happen but it was still a possibility.

Once he had pushed the button on the device, Vivian watched as the room lit up briefly as sparks ran along the edges of the door, the forcefield flickering as it found itself caught in a feedback loop. Loud cracks echoed around the room and she hoped that whoever had captured them wouldn't hear it and come running, it would be nice to at least have a brief window to escape before they were flooded with guards. Speaking of flooding, they were probably being bathed in radiation at the moment and would need a serious radiation scrub once they were out of this mess, not that it would be the first time for her but still.

The forcefield flicked a violet/green colour before the loudest pop rang out as it finally couldn't take it anymore and blew, killing the power for their cell. A few sparks of electricity still crackled around the frame of the door, but luckily the structual integrity of the surrounding area seemed to have remained intact, they were free...well free from the room at least.

After a few brief moments the emergency lights flicked to life, revealing the hallway outside of their cell. From the looks of it, it wasn't actually a prison facility and more a small storage area that had been converted into a makeshift holding area but whoever had caught them. That could have been both a good thing or a bad thing.

Now all they had to do was figure out where the exit was, avoid as many of their captors as possible and flee back to the city, how hard could that be? "Well that worked, now we just have to hope that we aren't too far underground and have a somewhat quick escape route." she said as she made her way across the room and stepped out into the corridor.

She couldn't see anybody or hear any footsteps coming, so at least for the moment it seemed their escape attempt had gone unnoticed, not that she necessarily expected that to last for very long. Glancing over at Hi'Jak, she let him take the lead as he was the armed with their only weapon for the moment, hopefully however they wouldn't need to use it yet. With a bit of luck, their captors had left them alone going on the assumption they would never be able to escape from the cell.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Walking up through the hallway of the storage area, he had to wonder exactly what was going on. Each of the rooms they passed was about the size of the jail cell that they had started in, however each one was taken up by equipment he wasn't familiar with. Each room held a container illuminated holding some form of body horror, a half formed or malformed body that was completely suspended in a gooey green fluid, each one made Jack's stomach churn as he looked at them. The single thought running through his head was that he hopped they didn't end up like these things, or worse inside one of those vats.

Storage was definetely the point of the hall they were in. He had guesses. "It's a cloning facility." He said with a hushed whisper wanting to keep his voice down for a moment, but unsure why. Maybe it was just cause talking lower meant he would have less of a chance at freaking the hell out, but he wanted to panic.

Of course panic would not help them, he had the only weapon between the two of them, and further more he had the eye that could see in the dark. Those were two very good factors that kept him in front. It also meant he was a target for anyone that came down this side of the hallway. Reaching the door on the far side of the hall he noticed the door wasn't locked down. "You know for an illegal building that was willing to shoot us, they have shit security."

He opened the door, and immediately had his foot forced down his throat, as opening the door sparked a building alarm, that immediately started blaring. The lights started flashing intruder alert.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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Vivian followed behind Jack as they made their way down the hallway. Each room had been the size of the cell they had been in, filled with a container of some gross body horror of formed and unformed body parts in a green fluid. It made Vivian wince at the sight. Even without seeing any tech she had a rough idea what it was, something that Jack had deduced himself with his statement. "Yeah it is. Looks like they haven't had much success though. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing though." she whispered back.

As they continued walking down the hall, she wondered what they were trying to clone and why? Her scientific curiosity piqued despite the situation she found herself in. Although that thought soon lead her to another one. "You don't think they took samples from us to clone do you?" she asked, before pulling up her sleeves to check her arms for any needle marks. Trying her best not to freak out at the idea of somebody cloning her and doing god knows what with it.

As they continued the scientist also couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of security in their area, yet another thing that Jack pointed out. "I was about to say the same thing. Maybe they figured we wouldn't be able to escape so why bother guarding us?" she whispered. It was as sound a theory as any other.

That being said however, the second he opened the door, an alarm started blaring out and the lights flashed. "Or maybe that's why. Fuck!" she cursed. "Well I guess we're either running or making our way back and pretending that we did not short out our cell and escape. Personally I vote for the first option if that's the only choices we have."

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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All of the pods were distinctly human, he didn't feel any fatigue in his arm or leg or any other exposed patch of air that would have denoted a sample being taken from him. He couldn't be sure, but the odds of them taking samples from him were unlikely. Trying to think of what this could all be connected too, he swore there was some report in the listening post that he was supposed to be familiar with.

But in the moment it was impossible to say anything. "It won't matter if they took anything from us once we get out of here I'll bring in the KDF, and Aldean government Everything here will be taken into custody and clones, and genetic samples will be burned. The klingon government does not look well upon genetic tampering, It lead to a deformity that some families still suffer from to this day." He could go into details, but frankly the Klingon empire did not talk about it with outsiders. Partly because it was the fault of human genetic research that created the problem in the first place.

Contfronted as they were with the options between running or pretending that thier forcefield was not in effect, Jack reached his flesh hand back and grabbed hold of Vivian's hand. "We run." In the moment his logic for taking her hand was that he could see better in the dark, his artificial eye could adjust to the dim light and give him some semblance of dark vision It wasn't a complete field of view, and his brain was still struggling to filter the information as half his vision was darker than the other half, it was disorienting but he could run, and so his feet started to pound the pavement quickly. Though he was hampered by one significant detail, he was still chained to Vivian at the ankle forcing the two to run in unison, another reason he had taken her hand.

He was so glad that he had back his Klingon features, the third lung helped to fuel his stamina. Two hearts beating in his ears just sounded so much more pleasant than the time he had spent with only one of them.

But wow was he out of shape. He didn't realize what a life behind a desk had done to Jack. He had once been the pride of the Federation academy boxing team. He had been a competent long distance runner when he had been in the academy of the first city, and yet three years aboard starbase 84 had put him at a major disadvantage, follow that up with all the trauma his body hadn't fully recovered from, and Jack felt like he was gulping down knives with every breath as he ran.

Add to that the fact that outside of their imprisonment hall, the doors that they had gone through were still dark winding tunnels with various curves turns and splits, and the two of them were running blind through an underground facility. The only thing they had going for them was that these buildings didn't seem to have any cameras, but he could also hear the echoes of footsteps that did not belong to him or Vivian.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Masorin
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As she continued to look at the numerous, obviously human pods of clones she felt herself shudder again, her mind instantly running back to a bunch of old holo-movies she'd watched that featured similar scenarios and nodded when Jack spoke about the Klingon's not being a fan of genetic tampering. She had head the odd thing or two about that but the Klingon's didn't speak much about it, hell Human's too had their own views on genetic tampering, especially after the Eugenics Wars, it was still technically illegal with the Federation to this day. "I certainly won't disagree with that." she muttered in reply.

At least the two agreed that running was the preferable option, what she hadn't been expecting however was for him to reach back and grab her hand. Something that caused her to tense up for a brief moment before the two took off running. She rationalised it by viewing it that given the night vision his artificial eye gave him, it would make sense for him to lead.

Of course they were still chained together at the ankle so while separation wasn't an issue, they needed to remain close as to not hinder the other and slow them down, plus they had to move pretty much in unison so she would leave it be.

As they sprinted down corridor after corridor, Vivian was glad that she had kept somewhat in shape so that she could keep up and run for some time. Granted she was nowhere near as in shape as the security officers or anything like that but she could run a bit before getting tired or have her lungs burn with the exertion too quickly.

Jack on the other hand she wasn't sure about considering all he had been through lately, although perhaps the fact he was fully Klingon now would help alleviate some of that now with the extra organs and everything, she didn't know.

What she did know was they they were running through this place with no actual idea of where they were or where they were going, although the logic was simple enough find an elevator or some stairs and head up back towards the surface. Of course finding said elevator or stairs was in and of itself a challenge and that was before you added avoiding being recaptured again to that list. Admittedly their odds of success were pretty low given their situation not that that would stop them from trying to escape regardless.

Rounding several more corridors, the alarm was still going off and she could hear the echoes of footsteps in the distance, ones that certainly did not belong to either herself or Jack. As they rounded another corner the brief flashing of light revealed what looked to be a flight of stairs just ahead of them, at least Vivian certainly hoped it was and that they lead up, that at least would mean they were heading in the right direction.

"Please tell me that's a flight of stairs I just saw." she whispered as they ran.

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
[Show/Hide]"I would certainly hope so," said Jack and turned the corner towards the flight of stairs, sprinting as best as he might despite how he was cuffed together with Martin at the ankle. He had also heard the footsteps, like an off echo to their own, and he had no interest in a confrontation whilst being at such a disadvantage. Their best hope was flight, and he focused entirely on that.

The stairs, thankfully, led to some kind of upper level, which appeared to be a storehouse for trading. Since they emerged through a dirthy cloth that served to conceal the opening, Jack could only figure that the place they'd been in was hidden from the public. Certainly no official function on Aldea. Looking around the dim light of the quite stacked storehouse, he searched for the exit, and a door could be seen in one corner. They just had to round a lot of the shelves to get there, and it was likely locked. One thing at the time.

"There!" he called and set Martin in motion with his arm behind the top of her back, pointing towards the distand door with his artificial one. "Hurry!"

The shelves they whisked by seemed to hold everyday items of varying nature, likely being a legal operation covering for what was happening below ground. The noise of their pursuers could still be heard, along with muffled voices as they called to each other. Likely, they knew that they'd escaped, and were about to get out. Were they torn between evacuating the underground area or giving pursuit? There was no reason to stay and find out. Jack needed to get in contact with any KDF officer so that a detail could be sent to the storehouse.

The door was just ahead, and he preserved his pace so that he mightn't outrun Martin. They had to be in sync in their step if they were to get out, lest they'd fall.

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OOC: With @Masorin gone, and me finding this thread today, I decided to NPC Jack so that this loose end can be finished up and you can get your Story Tokens. :)

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Auctor Lucan  @Masorin
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Running right behind Jack she certainly hoped it was a flight of stairs. The two seemed to be managing somewhat okay despite being shackled together at the ankle, although the scientist was pretty sure she'd have to visit sickbay to get her ankle looked at once she got back, only imagining how much skin she was losing from the chafing. Right now however, the footsteps rapidly approaching them from behind had her attention more focused on running and getting away as soon as possible.

Thankfully, it was a flight of stairs that she had seen and it led up. Up was good. The duo emerged on a level into some kind of storehouse and based on the filthy cloth they had moved through, it was clearly hiding the entrance down into whatever the hell that place below was. Taking a look around the dimly lit room, Vivian couldn't tell exactly what was stacked on all the shelves but most of them were fully stocked so whatever it was, it was certainly being used frequently.

Her attention was drawn to the door when Jack pointed it out and let out a soft gasp as he started making his way towards it without warning, feeling the chain around her ankle shift at the sudden movement and was pretty sure she just lost a layer of skin or two there. Still they were being followed as the two ducked and weaved their way through the various shelves. Clearly whatever this warehouse was being used for was a cover for the real work being done below, although what exactly that was, she had no idea. Well it was some kind of cloning experiment or something but for what reason, Vivian didn't know. Wasn't sure she wanted to know even, but that wouldn't matter if they didn't manage to get out of here and back to the safety of the city or even better the Theurgy. Although Jack might now feel the same way about that last location.

Vivian did her best to keep up with Jack, but knew that the Klingon was holding back so that she could remain in sync, even as the voices of their pursuers although the words were hard to make out. She imagined they were trying to decide whether to stop them or start packing up, although that could take some time based on what she had seen downstairs, if she was them, she'd probably prefer to capture the escapees than abandon their place, or simply kill them and save some time.

Reaching the door, she reached for the handle and turned it. Locked. Of course it was. "Don't suppose you can just knock it down with that arm of yours could you?" she asked in a whispered tone. "I mean they already know we're in here so it's not like we need to stay quiet anymore. Plus the sooner we get out of here the better."

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Underground malfeasants facility| Holding Cell ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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Jack couldn't hide the elation at finding the door they would be back outside soon, and then they found that the door was locked and Jack's elation became frustration. Jack looked at the door, it didn't look particularly well kept, but he doubted he could knock it out of it's place with just his arm. The arm wasn't a combat model, it was heavier than a human fleshy arm sure, but it was also programmed to reflect his natural strength so it didn't end up shattering a glass in his hand or something like that. On top of that it was connected to the parts of his arm that were still in tact. That meant his shoulder and elbow essentially had a middle connection which actually weakened the strength of any punch he would try to throw.

So the arm wouldn't be enough to break down the door, but he still had the metal rod. Looking at the hinges of the door and doing a quick assessment. "I'm gonna say maybe."

Hi'Jak jammed the rod into the frame and used his metal arm to push and work it in as hard as he could. leveraging his weight and strength against the metal rod, the door and the frame it took a lot of work to get the thing to budge but between the panic he was in, the need and want to get out of this hell hole, and the adrenaline pumping through him as he heard the people catching up to him, the door frame cracked slowly, and then broke giving way as the door hinges broke off their resting place and the door fell forward.

Jack panted for a second, but as the two crossed out of the room, they were back in the sun of the outskirts of the first city. "Fucking yes!" Looking back he saw the first few guards taking aim and grabbing Martin he pulled her into the desert. They just needed to get far enough away from this place that his badge started to work again, then this whole nightmare would be a distant memory.

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Auctor Lucan  @Masorin
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While Jack examined the door, Vivian had turned away from it and was keeping an eye out for their pursuers. The sounds of their voices and footsteps were echoing through the warehouse. It was hard to tell exactly where they were but there was no doubt in her mind that they were getting closer. The fact that Jack's response was a maybe to him being able to open the door didn't exactly fill the scientist with hope but she did turn around in time to see him use the metal rod and his arm against the frame.

At first it didn't look like it was going work and was about to offer her own assistance to help get the thing open, luckily however she heard the frame crack. The sounds of people behind them getting closer and closer. Luckily however the frame eventually gave way and the door fell forward.

The second the door feel the two crossed through it and Vivian winced as the sunlight assaulted them, still she grinned and nodded in agreement with Jack's exclamation "I've never been so happy to see daylight in my life." she said. The moment was short lived however as Jack grabbed her and started dragging her into the desert. "Gah!" she managed to squeak out as the started running.

Glancing over her shoulder she could see several of the guards, Aldean's by the look of it chasing them. "Those guys never seem to give up." she muttered as they ran.

Although they were free of the facility the fact they were in the desert and not somewhere near the entrance to the building they had originally entered was a little disconcerting, making her wonder just how big that underground facility was. They also had to get clear of whatever dampening field was shrouding the facility. At least Jack still had his badge so that he at least could contact someone once they were in the clear. Their captors had taken her own communication device when they had been captured.

"Well there doesn't appear to be much else out here so the odds are the field protecting that place and hampering our communications probable doesn't cover a large area, that's the good news. The bad news is we have no idea when that will be." she said as they kept running, doing her best to ignore the fact that sand had gotten into her shoes. color=darkcyan]"Nice work with the door by the way."[/color] she said before glancing over her shoulder.

"Looks like our friends are dropping back, either they're giving up or they don't see the point of chasing us out into the desert for some reason. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." 

[ Imperial Intelligence Agent Hi'Jak (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Hi%27Jak) | City Outskirts| Aldean Surface ] Attn: @Kinvarus
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"They probably are scuttling their facility. If we don't get a strike squad in soon they may clear it out before we get a chance to make any arrests." Which did mean that if they were packing up and leaving that they could be taking their genetic samples with them, which did mean that if they got away there could be a few Vivian clones in a few months to years depending on how fast grow the clones were. It wasn't a thought he really wanted to humor.

"For now the fastest way out of it's radius is a straight line." He said pointing out into the desert he could see the aired heat come off the surface in waves as he walked. This was going an unpleasant walk to be sure he wasn't sure exactly how long the two of them would have to be stuck together before they could get a transport off the surface.

"I don't really remember the planet side briefing but I don't think there were many if any predators out here." He glanced upwards at the sun, it had reached a little higher, honestly in the caves and being knocked out it was hard to judge how many hours had passed since he had come down to the surface. "I think the worst thing we have to worry about is heat stroke and sun burns we should be out of range before anything extreme happens."

He tapped his communicator and got a wave of static as the two of them walked still chained together he stumbled in the sand. He would have to clean his arm something fierce after all of this. "Lets agree not to check out any more anomalies just for the fun of it."

Lt. Cmdr Vivian Martin (https://uss-theurgy.com/w/index.php?title=Vivian_Martin) | City Outskirts | Underground Malfeasants Facility | Holding Cell |Aldea Prime ]  Attn: @Auctor Lucan  @Masorin
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"You're probably right and based on what we saw down there we should probably find out what they were up to..well I mean they were cloning obviously but what for, not to mention whatever else they might have been doing." she replied as they continued sprinting. Her thoughts trying not to think about the possibility that they too had had samples taken while they were unconscious. If she were to have little her's running around the galaxy they would be her own biological children and not clones of herself. She imagined that Jack would feel the same too.

As they continued running, Vivian couldn't argue with his logic, running in a straight line would mean they would certainly reach the end of the field eventually, and a lot quicker than diverting, especially if the field curved around an area, meaning it covered a larger area in one point and a smaller area in another, which could extend their time in it and thus increasing their odds of being discovered.

"I don't remember reading anything about predators either, then again I'd never planned to be this far outside the city either." she muttered. As she took a moment to run the back of her hand across her forehead she briefly wondered if she had been sweating just because of the running or because of the heat. When Jack mentioned being more worried about sunstroke she figured it was the heat or a combination of the two.

"I don't think we'll be out here that long." she replied. "At least I hope not." she added with a sigh. After a while they slowed down to a walk, pretty certainly that their pursuers had given up the chase, at least for now. Not to mention with the heat baring down on them it was hard to do so and keep your breath. The fact Jack's communicator responded with a wave of static didn't fill her with much hope. At his comment about not checking out any more anomalies for the fun of it she couldn;t help but chuckle "On that I can agree with. Think I might just stay on the Theurgy for a while and send others out to do any such exploring." After a little while longer of walking Vivian couldn't help but wonder just how much further could this dampening field go on for?

As if to answer her question, she felt the familiar tingle of a transporter beam and before she knew it she was standing on a transporter pad that looked very much like the station in orbit of the planet and let out a relieved sigh.

"Oh thank god." she muttered. [darkcyan]"I was starting to think we'd be walking in that sun for so many more hours."[/color] she added before noticing that there was a rather large Klingon standing in front of her and beside him a rather smaller in comparison Human in a Starfleet uniform beside him.

"Commander Martin, it's great to see you! When you didn't return from the ship we started to get worried." the officer said, taking a quick glance over at Hi'Jak warily before returning his gaze to Vivian. "Are you alright ma'am?" he asked, glancing over at Jack again.

Vivian knew Jack had a reputation and evidently this officer had heard about it too. He didn't really think that Jack had played a part in her disapperance did he? Well he probably did thinking about it. "I'm fine for the most part, thanks to Jack." she replied.

"That's good to hear ma'am, the Captain will want a report right away, I'm sure." he said, clearly imply they should leave immediately.

Almost as if to agree with the officer, the tall Klingon who had been silent spoke up "Yes I'm sure that is the case, much as Agent Hi'Jak's superiors will want to hear from him too."[/color] the man said while looking at Jack in what could have been anger, or disgust Vivian couldn't tell.

"But we haven't told you about the...." she began, before the Klingon interrupted her

"I'm sure you can tell your Captain all about it Commander, just as Hi'Jak and inform us of whatever it is, especially considering where we found you., outsiders aren't particularly allowed out there, it could cause and incident."

Well that could be a problem. she thought before the security officer pulled her out of her thoughts by informing her that they really should be going.

"Thank you Jack." she said sincerely with a glance over at the man who had no doubt saved her life today. "For what it's worth, I'll be sure to tell Captain Ives what you did for me today." 

- FIN