Old But Not Helpless

Posted on Wed Sep 9th, 2015 @ 11:09pm by Cadet Senior Grade Eli Ziyad & Cadet Senior Grade Chance Conradi
Edited on on Wed Sep 9th, 2015 @ 11:40pm

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Enara Prime
Timeline: Several Hours After The Lapidus Departure

“Maran?” Irina’s voice broke the silence in the dark room and she hated how shaky it sounded. She also knew, as soon as she regained consciousness that some time had passed but she had no way to know just how long. The last she recalled was Loran and Reed entering the house and then….nothing. She hoped desperately that the boys and Iggy had managed to get to their shuttle. Even though she was in total darkness, she knew Maran was here. She could sense his thoughts though he still seemed out of it. The room itself felt small and the echo when she spoke told her it was completely empty. She felt along the wall behind her, realizing she was in a corner. It was a good place to start and she began to feel her way along the wall to the left.

“Maran?” She called again. Maran?

Shhhushh, came his response. He was awake, though barely and certainly unwillingly. "Shh, not so loud, my love. Where are you?" He couldn't see a damned thing and when he felt a spider crawling on him, he screamed before batting it away. As he did so, he realized it was Irina's hand. "You! Oh!" He grabbed at her arm and pulled her close.

“Are you alright?” she whispered as she hugged him tight. In the dark, she felt him over quickly, satisfying herself that he was uninjured and had only been stunned. Finally, she took his face in her hands and kissed him. “Thank the gods you are awake,” she whispered.

"Now if only I had a light," he said ruefully, holding onto her as if afraid that she might slip away if he released her. "I hope Eli is safe," he whispered into her hair.

Irina nodded. “I think that if they had captured them, Reed wouldn’t be able to resist gloating about it. I hope that no news is good news,” she replied. “I also wish I knew how long we’ve been here. That might help. If it’s been hours or a day at least, then I think they got away. I suppose we’ll know soon, since they’ll realize we are awake.”

"By the way my stomach is growling, at least a few hours," Maran replied. "Perhaps that's why it's so dark - past sundown?"

“Or no windows.” Though that brought a ray of hope. “If there is….” There might be a way out of here.

"Ugh, I dislike basements," Maran said. Let's see if there's a window. I'll go left, you go right and we'll feel our way around the room. He touched the wall behind him and put Irina's hand on it. He shuffled to his left.

She moved off to the right, slowly in case there was something to trip over and slid her hands lightly along the wall. It didn’t take long to reach the corner and she had been right, the room was small. Nothing yet. Moving down the other wall.

Yup, nothing here. Oh, wait! Door! He felt around it, looking for the handle. He found none. Moving along a little, he felt around for a door panel. Instead, he found a light switch and flipped it. The room lit up. "Let there be light!"

Irina blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light, then took a look around. She saw what Maran had felt - no door handle. Also no window. She felt tears sting her eyes, then mentally berated herself and squared her shoulders with a huff. That would solve nothing. Anger rose in place of the tears and she dashed at the door, intending to test its strength. Surprisingly, the door opened just as she bent down to ram it and she slammed right into Reed. He hadn’t been expecting a female cannon ball and toppled over.

Hearing the scuffle, Maran turned and, though surprised by the open door, the toppled Reed and his cannonball wife, pounced on the other person just outside the door. The element of surprise gave him an advantage; he took a good hit, but after a moment's tussle, downed the man. He looked over at Irina, "You okay?"

“Never better.” She gave Maran a wink, then looked at Reed, still sprawled beneath her. He had hit his head on the stone wall behind him and was thoroughly knocked out. She climbed off him and after searching his pockets, came up with a set of wrist restraints. “Turn that one over.”

He did and waited while she manacled the guy. "No keys?", he asked and patted the guy's pockets. No keys there, either. "Darn," he whispered then motioned at a set of stairs. "Looks like our best option." He headed up them first.

She followed and it occurred to her that neither of the men had a weapon. She passed that thought onto Maran. They obviously didn’t think they had any need of them and there is no one upstairs. That will teach them to think we are old and useless.

Yes, indeed! Hustling up the stairs, he looked around. "Old, phht. Come on," he held out a hand to her.

She took his hand as they reached the top of the stairs. Taking a second to sense the house, she knew she was right. It was empty. Turning around, she closed the door to the stairs and locked it.

“That should keep them secured for a little while at least. What now? We need to get out of here, but I don’t know who to trust and Loran may be back any time.”

"Maybe... Let's get a message out to Eli, see if he's away." Maran went to a console to search for Eli. "Their ship is gone from the spaceport, Irina. I'll take that as good news." He smiled at her.

She clasped her hands together and nodded. “At least we have that. Now let’s get out of here. It’s night and that will give us some cover. Once we are away from here, we can figure out where to go and call the starbase.”

Nodding, he led her to the door and took a quick look outside. He didn't see any guards so he stepped out, leading Irina down the street. "Think we could trust Coroli?" Coroli was one of their oldest friends; Maran was sure he wasn't part of whatever Loran had gotten involved in.

Irina nodded. “He is honorable and wouldn’t betray us. Come.” Tugging on his hand, she slipped down a side street that would lead to their friend’s neighborhood. It was darker here and she knew it would be more safe. “You know we have to leave, don’t you?”

He stopped and looked at her, sadness radiating from him. "Leave our home? All we've built here? The boys.... They've... By their choices, we suffer." He sighed and began walking alongside her again.

“Neither has chosen the way we would have but they are grown men. We cannot choose for them anymore. Eli only wants to live his life as he chooses, while Loran seems to want to choose how others live their lives. Which is worse in your eyes?” she asked.

"Choosing for others," he answered easily. "I didn't mean that I would choose anything for either of them, simply that they have made choices that cause us problems, Irina. Eli in that we cannot have him here with us; Loran's means that we must leave our home."

“And where will we go?” A smile settled on her face finally. “Perhaps we will be with Eli after all.”

"Life on a Starbase? Yes, we could." He held her close as they walked.

“At least until we are safe. Perhaps Archadia? It’s close enough if we want to live down on a planet.” Up ahead a house at the end of the street came into view. Light shone through several windows. “Good, he’s home.”

Maran reached out, mentally, and tapped at Coroli, asking him to come to the door. He did and they embraced as he and Irina entered Coroli's home. "Glad to see you, old friend," Maran said. "We're in a patch of trouble." He passed on the memories of the past few hours as explanation.

Coroli paled. "Loran? Why?" He led them into the living area.

“He seems to be caught up in some idealist group that thinks the old, pure ways are best and that change is anathema. Even his own brother is now an enemy in Loran’s eyes, as are we since we tolerate it.” Irina sighed. “We need to get a message to Starbase 900.”

"Use my console," Coroli offered, pointing to it.

Maran nodded to Irina. "Go on, dear." While she contacted the Starbase, he talked with Coroli about where to go and where to hide from Loran and his group.

It was a good twenty minutes later that Irina returned to join the men. “They haven’t gotten home yet but I did speak with Jackson. The boys and Iggy are on their way home. I told him what happened and he said, and I quote, ‘get somewhere safe and we’ll be there as fast as we can’. At least I think that’s what he said, I have trouble with his accent.”

"Okay. That's what Coroli and I were just talking about - finding a safe place. He recommends the caves to the east of town. We can head there in the morning."

“Very well. We should be able to keep out of sight for the time it takes them.” She looked to Coroli and smiled once more. “Thank you so much. I know this may put you in danger but we’ll be out of the way soon enough. Once we are safe, we’ll send word.”

Coroli nodded. "I'll show you the guest room and have some things ready for you in the morning." He stood and led them down a short hallway to a room. "If you need anything, you know where the kitchen is." Maran nodded and clapped Coroli on the back.

Irina hugged Coroli and closed the door after he left. “It’s going to be an interesting few days, my darling.” She smiled as she crossed to wrap Maran in her arms. “We better enjoy the bed, we won’t have another for some time to come.”

"Hmm, yes. Let's sleep like the dead," he grinned then his stomach growled. "After we raid Cor's kitchen."

***********
Maran Ziyad
Irina Ziyad
On The Run