Escape - Part Two

Posted on Sat Apr 9th, 2016 @ 2:07pm by Indra Nyyar & James Holbridge

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Cardassia

* Two Hours Earlier *

Jim came to in a cell. He was laying on a bunk while Maxim was in a heap on the floor. He reached behind his head and rubbed the spot where he had been clubbed, it hurt like hell.. He made sure all of his limbs worked, then went to check on Maxim.

“I am fine, Jim. My head aches, but I will live. Where are we?”

“Sorry, I missed the tour.” Jim replied as he sat back on the bunk. “I think we are going to finally meet the asshole pulling Paxx’s strings.”


“I hope it’s soon, I am starting to dislike Cardassian hospitality.” Maxim said with heat.

“After you did so well as a gul? I’m shocked!” Jim grinned, needling his friend to pass the time as much as keep Maxim’s morale up.

The Cardassians arrived, fed the duo a surprisingly good meal, then politely asked them to accompany them to “the Director’s office.” Jim and Maxim, in clean clothing, followed the Cardassians to the office. Jim recognized one of the Cardies from his capture. “Pretty sweet kick in the gut, huh?”

The Cardassian smiled thinly and nodded, then walked away. “Very interesting,” Jim said to himself. He looked at the office with a practiced, trained eye. Hidden cameras, hidden spike mics, two-way mirrors, transport inhibitor. This sumbitch is dug in! he thought.

Maxim had looked around the room as well. “He doesn’t want anyone to leave, does he?”

“Nope, and you can be sure he has a couple hidden doors with armed troops behind them,” Jim mused.

The office doors opened and Orion Paxx entered the room. “Think you are pretty funny, don’t you? Let me clue you in; you are starfleet officers caught in classified Cardassian spaces! None of your families will see your bones again!”

“Why don’t you shut the hell up and point me to the Cardassian who actually runs this joint?” Jim said, holding up his hand in a gesture of disgust. “I don’t deal with Bajoran underlings.”

“I AM AN OFFICER IN THE CARDASSIAN MILITARY AND YOU WILL SHOW ME…” Holbridge quickly backhanded the man and shoved him hard into the wall behind him. The portly Bajoran landed on his butt with a thud. A hidden panel opened and two Cardassian guards emerged and levelled their weapons at Jim and Maxim, who both raised their hands quickly. “Not so big and bad without your guns, are you?” Paxx huffed and kicked Holbridge in the gut. Jim doubled over, grasping Paxx’s ankle for a split second, then letting it go as he slid to the floor.

“That is precisely where you should be,” a deep voice intoned. The man had entered the room seemingly through the wall and whatever door he’d used was no longer visible. He was tall and broad-shouldered, pure muscle. He stepped over Jim and settled in behind his desk, then steepled his fingers together.

“It has been a long time since I’ve had Starfleet visitors,” he said. “And now is too soon. What are you doing here?”

“Sightseeing,” Jim replied, rising to his feet. “Someone said that they saw a Cardassian humping a Breen hooker and naturally we wanted to see it. Well, Max here did; me, I am recently widowed and…”

“You liar!” Maxim huffed. “You told me it was a Cardassian gul giving a mule a blowjob…”

The Cardassian behind the desk moved his hand slightly and the two guards introduced both Jim and Maxim to the business end of the short metal sticks they held. A searing pain blazed through them until finally the man nodded. The guards stepped back and he cleared his throat.

“Care to try again?”

Jim rose to his feet slowly, staring steadily at the Cardassian. “Using pain sticks on someone you want to recruit? Not very conducive to the response you are hoping for, fella! Besides, I am sure you know who I am and what I have done to several Cardassian dickheads just like you. So let’s just cut the good-guy, bad-Cardie bullshit and get down to it, okay?” Jim was gasping in pain, but his words were steady and sure. Damn, they have those things dialed up to maximum output! “Plus, just so you know, we aren’t really Starfleet anymore, we just dress up in the uniforms to piss off our old bosses.”

“Perhaps that was a test.” The Cardassian smiled. “I am Boroca. I am the bad Cardie who decides if you live or die. Sit down if you can make it into that chair.”

Jim nodded to Maxim, who took the chair. Jim remained on his feet. “I am Jim Holbridge, and this hairy Russian bear is Maxim Kamarov. We belong to an outfit called Team One, kind of a private spec-ops unit i put together. I haven’t heard of you, are you a part of the military?”

“He is the officer who is going to bring down Starfleet, Bajor, and all the Alpha Quadrant!” Paxx said admiringly.

Both Jim and Maxim rolled their eyes. “Has he proposed to you yet, Boroca?” Jim asked.

That got a hearty laugh from Boroca. “No, thank goodness. That spot was taken by a woman who was on your station in the Delta Quadrant but is now home where she should be. As for me? Let me clarify. I am Legate Boroca. Cardassian Intelligence Bureau, officially. That satisfy your curiosity?”

“I guess it will have to do,” Jim said, rubbing the back of his neck, and making a mental note of the comment about Boroca’s fiancee being on 900. The fact that Boroca knew Jim and Max were from 900 confirmed Jim’s theory. “What do you want with me?”

“I know you are former Fleet. I am also aware of your part in a certain prison break on Bajor a little over a year ago - an Enaran was removed. Several others were concerned, and we know all of them of course. Ring any bells?”

Jim knew what Boroca meant, but decided to play dumb. “I have been involved with a lot of things in the past year. You will have to be more specific.”

Maxim watched his friend and boss very carefully. When being questioned by Cardassians, or anyone, it was customary for Fleet and Intel personnel to play dumb, but Jim was playing another card altogether. Holbridge’s right hand was gesturing along with the cadence of his speech, but he was holding his left against his chest, as if in pain from the guard’s earlier shock treatments.

Paxx looked at Jim with disdain. “He doesn’t believe in you, my legate. May I please have the honor of terminating his existence?”

Boroca spared a withering glance at Paxx before turning back to Jim. “Specifically, the rescue of one Enaran, Starfleet intel. Zikar got to know that one very well, as I’m sure you know.”

“Oh yeah, I remember that one. It was a doozy, let me tell you! But, before we get into that I wanna know why you are bringing that up, and why in the hell I’m here or I don’t think we will have much to talk about. Oh, and if your boys hit me with those pain sticks one more time, I am going to kill them.” There was a look of cold fury building in Jim’s eyes as he stared hard at Boroca. As he stared at the Cardassian, he quietly worked a small transmitter loose from a hidden pocket in his shirtsleeve and quietly activated it. A small jolt of current in his hand let him know the transceiver was operating normally. “So, feel like playing it straight with me or is there gonna be a lot of human and Cardassian blood on the walls?”

Maxim looked at Jim with uncertain eyes, knowing his boss had made a reputation as a man and officer who never took insane chances. Pissing off a Cardassian who looked to be in charge of a fairly large and complex operation definitely fit the bill of insane chance, “Jim, my friend, perhaps we should just…”

“Just what?! Answer his fucking questions so he can kill us? Or maybe he will let his slobbering Bajoran loverboy do the honors! God only knows what that sonofabitch will do! He sold his own people out to the Cardies during the occupation!” Jim’s face was red as he rose to his feet, glaring at the two guards in a silent dare to make a move on him. “You don’t think I don’t know what this is? Wake up Maxi-Pad, this is the rebirth of the fucking Obsidian Order and Boroca here thinks that he is the head honcho!” Jim turned to fix his furious stare on Boroca. “Guess what, asshole?! I am declining your offer! Beam us up now, Sam!”

A hum of a transporter cycle filled the room as Jim, Max, and Orion Paxx vanished in a transporter beam.

ABOARD THE SPECTER


Jim and Maxim quickly walked off the transport pad and onto the Specter’s spacious bridge. “Take weapons station,, Max! Sam, is the holographic simulation ready?”

“We ran tests and the constructs would fool the Founders! Ready to activate on your command.” Elliott replied from Tactical

“Good. Matt, I want you to be ready to jump to warp 8. Once we run the program, we will need to get the hell outta dodge in a big hurry!”

Jim looked at Paxx in annoyance. “Somebody lock this asshole up!”

“With pleasure, boss!” Amanda Fulton said as she shoved Paxx into the turbo lift.

I’ll keep her together, Jim, Matt replied over the intercom.

That would be much appreciated, Mr. Collins EDDIE’s disembodied voice added emphatically.

Jim had to smile at EDDIE’s concern. “Okay, activate hologram and let’s piss-panic the new Obsidian Order!”

Boroca watched as the three men disappeared, a sly smile on his face. It had been a most entertaining morning this far. He pressed the panel on his desk and issued several orders.

* The Present *

The morning had been filled with briefings on one hand and social visits on the other, friends and colleagues dropping in to congratulate him on his union with Nyyar. There was also quite a lot of kissing up, now that Boroca was the sole director of the new Obsidian Order. He had called home to check first with his staff to see what Nyyar was doing, then to talk to Nyyar herself. Finally, it was time to go, get home get her for their afternoon out. All the years of waiting and hoping and now he finally had everything he wanted. He stepped out of his office, locked the doors behind him, and departed.

****************
Jim Holbridge
Maxim Kamarov
Orion Paxx
Boroca