Group Therapy

Posted on Sun Aug 15th, 2021 @ 6:10pm by Captain David Hawkins & Commander Liala Ziyal & Lieutenant Commander Mel Torma & Lieutenant Commander Timia Svidi & Captain Brenda Sinclair & Commander Raiden Kosugi & Lieutenant JG Eira Cortez & 1st Lieutenant Kyle Walken

Mission: Global Lockdown
Location: Holding Room, Succaro
4635 words - 9.3 OF Standard Post Measure

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"We have the Starfleet people in the holding room, Mr President." A Succarian guard reported.

"Any trouble?" Meeran asked.

"None so far, they have been told they are there for their own safety. I suspect they will soon realise otherwise. The woman in red is in Room 1. Man in green has been separated from his animal and is in room 2."

The room the group had put in a fairly large room with no great decoration. There was a table in the centre, couple of chairs but again no windows and little ventilation.

Above on the surface the planet had descended into chaos, light sounds of weapons fire could be heard, muffled explosions and shouting. Right now anything could happen.

---

Brenda was pacing. Not out of anxiety. Out of a slowly building frustration. Locked in a room. A war - from the sounds of it - going on top-side. An Officer in the Starfleet Marine Corps, and she couldn't do a damned thing. Keeping the Away Team alive was her job. Her responsibility. All she could do was pace around the damned table. There had to be a way out. Had to be. She just had to think.

"Dia's knees, that's exhausting to watch." Mel commented from her spots off to the side. "I mean, I'm sorry." she immediately retreated politely. A few moment's later, "But, I mean, does it help you think?" she asked, honestly.

"Dalacari don't pace. It's uncomfortable." she explained. "And I know that other races do it, and I think I know *WHY* other races do it, it's just..." she paused, then her other twin picked up, "... something that really only makes sense from the pacer's perspective, I imagine. So, I guess just idle curiosity while we wait for whatever's going on out there to..."

"... calm down." she paused again, "I could tell you a joke, but it's a math joke, and I don't think you know who Mella Riallii is." now she just felt weird for bringing it up. Way to go Mel.

"I pace, because I need to do 'something'." The Marine replied, not altering her momentum. "Stuck in this room, a battle being fought. I am trained to fight. Trained to lead a Company. Trained to engage the enemy, and protect civilians. I'm not a god-damn rat to hide from danger."

Brenda forced herself to stop, to take a breath. She had snapped, and it wasn't the Lieutenant Commander's fault she was stuck down there. "Sorry. We have two missing, and it's my job to make sure everyone gets back to the ship. I get my hands on those responsible for keeping us locked up, I'm going to rip knee-caps off." She was partly hoping there were bugs around the room, so their captors knew what was coming. You don't piss off a Sinclair, and walk away.

"No no, it's alright. We're different people, entirely. You and I. I internalize all the concern, you externalize it. You pace, you fidget, you have to move. As for me, I..."

"... sit here, and worry, and think, and wonder. I mean, they work well together, and I'll certainly let you know when my worry for our missing friends helps me..."

"... conjure up a plan." she said with a pair of nods. "But just, no, I'm sorry. I should have recognized a coping mechanism when I saw one." she stated. She wasn't trained to look for bugs, or listening devices, or anything of the sort. What she was... was a scientist. It took a marine to look for subterfuge but it took a scientist to look for...

"Hmmm... you know if I had access to the right materials, I could get us out of here with only minimal hearing loss." she mused aloud. "Though, I don't see what I..."

"... need right away." and with that, the twin forms of Mel Torma got off their collective tails, and actually started to explore their confines.

Kosugi was seated in lotus position maintaining a semblance of calm for a moment or two, his eyes closed. He said quietly, "We could see what all of us have in our pockets as it were. You never know what we have or do not have." Opening his eyes, and looking at Sinclair and Mel. Then looked about at the others.

"Hmmm, let's see. Assorted rank pips, comm badges, a... oddly shaped bit of pocket lint." she mused before her other form checked her pockets, "A *singular* piece of..."

"... oddly shaped pocket lint." she shook her head. "Dalacari claws are mostly vestigial. Good for painting and fashion but not much else. Got a good kick, though, since..."

"... some of us opted out of plantigrade. Though, I can't kick down a door or a wall." a pause, then she muttered something about not liking when something weird touched her paws.

Noah pushed from against the wall where he had been leaning, and checked his pockets. He produced a small deck of cards. "We could play a game while we wait this out... Or we could make some noise and try to get the hell out of here?" he offered. He didn't like that Liala and Hayter had been taken away, it made him very uncomfortable. He could only imagine his boss being here. She'd be screaming like a banshee.

Kyle walked the room, "Could be worse, could have gone what I went through with the Gorn." He places his hand on the door.. "Doubt we could pull it open." Running his hands along the edges of the door searching for anything. "I agree with..." He pauses and points over towards Noah, "Sorry still working on the names of everyone haven't really met anyone but if we make the right noise we could draw someone inside."

Mel looked conflicted. "Okay, so if we get a guard in here and, I don't know, waylay them... now we've got enemies on both sides AND possibly hindered the addition of an entire people..."

"... into the Federation while the proverbial ink is still wet on the agreement. Not to mention there's a whole... whatever that is going on out there. Worst case, it's a ..."

"... revolution or an uprising. Last they saw us, we were being friendly with the person they might want to depose. So, not a good trade to be out there caught by them..."

"... presuming they don't fire first and check targets second. I think the safest place for us, right now, is here. We're well defended, one way in or out." she pointed out, motioning to the lack of windows. Very droll in here.

"Now, do I *WANT* to go and free the others? Yes. Do I have a plan? No. And I'd love a plan before we go getting ourselves shot." a pause, "Have you tried knocking on the door..."

"... to see if there even IS a guard? We can ask for a status update? Maybe we're not even prisoners." she mused, before turning to Noah, "I'd love to learn a card game. I was..."

"... terrible at poker, cause I kept getting excited over the cards. Also, they kept dealing me two hands. Can't imagine why."

"Non-violence in a situation like this will only get us so far, we were forced here for a reason. The two ranking officers were pulled out from us for a reason, if I was a betting man I wager we arrived in the middle of a revolution against the current government. Things aren't as peachy as they claimed and now they are gonna hold Lieutenant Colonel Hayer and Lieutenant Commander Ziyal in hopes to leverage Starfleet into assisting them." The young Marine spoke his mind. "But we can always try the knock on the door trick, see if we can learn anything."

Mel thought about that, "You know, it never occurred to me that the entirety of the Federation talks might just be a call for military aid." she mused. "You know, you make a..."

"... damn good point." she stood up, dusting herselves off. "D... do you want me to knock? Don't worry too much, I'm tougher than I look. Dalacar's a 1.3 gravity world, afterall." she said, no loss of pride in her voice over a characteristic of her world that she had no hand in contributing to.

Then she thought about it. "Which, I guess just means... I can knock heavy? I can help any guards that ARE there move the door?"

"Well these people tend to respect rank over everything, so I doubt they would open the door if I knocked or called out." The NCO shrugged. "But then again since we are the security detailed this could put you at risk Lieutenant Commander, so it might be best if one of us knocks."

"No no, I'll do it." Mel said after taking a breath to steel her courage. "I'm one of the highest ranks present, and honestly I'm absolute garbage in a firefight. So if something does happen I'd... I'd honestly rather it happened..."

"... to me." she confided, as the binary form of the complete Dalacari walked up to the doors. "Plenty of time to talk me out of this." One form said with a smile towards Kyle, while her other form simply banged her fist against the door. "Excuse me!" she called out, emulating the battle cry of entitled prisoners and patrons from an era long past.

"Not enough time I guess," Kyle whispers as he positions himself nearby the body of the Dalacari that was knocking.

"They sure do talk a lot." Guard Gie spoke to his partner as they stood by the door.

"They call that diplomacy." Guard Serb replied with a scoff. "Talk things out, come to an agreement... that's why we are in this problem now. Up there is a mess because we pander to the population when we should rule them."

Gie opened the small hatch of the door as it was knocked. "What?" He asked. "You are there for your own safety. Behave."

"Yes, of course. We appreciate that." She started, "But speaking of safety, there are a few of our original team that came down here that are, well, unaccounted for and..."

"... we're awfully worried about *their* safety too. I'd like to know their status." a pause, "Please." another pause, "Also, there's a lot of activity out there, is everything..."

"... alright? Is there an immediate danger?"

You show 'em, Mel...

Kosugi had moved to an area to spring into action when needed, however he was going to see how Mel's plan worked, but also can't let her get hurt either. Casting a glance towards the others.

Eira had been sitting on the ground watching everyone and listening to everything that was going on and being said and kept silent. She had a feeling that things weren't as good as they seemed and for the first time, she was right. From the sitting position, she managed onto the feet in a low crouch, ready for whatever happened.

One other thing that Kosugi was looking at was, just how the door was made, and which side the hinges were on. And did the hatch open like a small door or did it slide to one side. There are so many variables that could be looked at to get them out of the room. Also... were there cameras watching them? Raiden looked around to see if he could spot something like that.

In a low voice Raiden asked. "has anyone noticed any cameras in here? They maybe observing us like lab animals. If so we need to take those out."

Brenda made a non-committal noise at that remark. "Maybe... I would recommend against any overt action until we are ready to pull off a plan. Acting preemptively may tip off our captors." If there was surveillance equipment, they had already let loose enough. Dumb, Brenda realised too late. Very dumb.

"The other two officers are being kept in separate locations for their safety, do not worry. They are being kept company by some of our guard." he said with a sly smirk. "The surface has became quite volatile, the celebrations can be quite 'colourful' and the populations enthusiasm can get carried away." he said in rather vague terms.

"Well I have a question for you, when can we get something to eat? Since you are acting as our protective and gracious hosts how about a little bit of food. Would be a rather nice thing for you to do so." Raiden putting on a rather charming smile.

Noah leaned in to the center of the room so the guard could see his face as well, "You know we are very much interested in cultural events. I understand if you feel its unsafe for us to join, but would you be so kind as to tell us about it? Or even give us some sort of written summary so we can learn about it?" he called. "As well as some food and water?" he tossed in.

"My stomach thinks its being neglected something fierce and I am not a nice person when I haven't had my Snicker's Bar." Raiden added, referring to an old Earth commercial he'd seen back in the day.

"We will get you sustenance." the guard spoke. "It will be nothing fancy as I am sure you are accustomed to on your space ship but you will receive something." he said as he nodded to the other guard to go and fetch it.

There was a moment of silence.

"I am not supposed to tell you this but I do not believe in keeping you prisoners let alone blind to information that may help you get your people and leave." he spoke quietly. "The festival is simple. We have no laws for the next 27 hours. None. So for us this imprisonment will cause no reprisal from anyone here but some may use it for their own gain."

The one thing that Raiden hadn't seen was a place to take care of bodily business. Its not that he needed it at the moment but, hey perhaps it could help to get them out of here.

"Excuse me, I do have another question, you've got us here to protect us but.. we've been here for a little while and there is no way we can take care of the basic needs of bodily functions as in, a bathroom? This is supposed to be civilized area, and in good faith how about taking some of us to use the latrine?"

Brenda's eyes blinked with an almost audible click. No laws. Her mind started racing. No laws. Shit. No laws meant no rules, no rules meant ... what? Anarchy. She cast a furtive look to the ceiling. No rules meant... revolution. Were these people insane? You couldn't just... abolish all laws, and not expect absolute chaos.

On the other hand... no rules meant... no rules. "Also, if I may. Since there are no laws for 27 hours. Why do you have to stay? No laws means you don't have to follow orders. You could just... unlock the door, and go do whatever you wanted. Your superiors can't punish you can they? What law would you have broken?"

"You know she does have a point there." Raiden spoke up, "You can just unlock the door, and just walk away as there are not rules to be followed." Raiden though was also getting slightly tired of just chewing the fat here. While that guard was being occupied with the conversation he was now examining what the walls of the room they were in were made of especially the one right near him. It looked like there had been brick and mortar but a metal plate had been placed over where the locking mechanism or maybe even the circuitry for the lights could be.

Raiden moves away from being in front of the door over to the right side and acting like he is dejected, sits on the floor. He pulls his knees up to his chest one hand over his knees, the other moving towards his left boot. He wasn't going show that he had something there, not yet. He was waiting to see if they are able to get the guard to open the door, if not another plan will come about.

Discounting all that, Mel looked over at what of the guard she could see. "So, if there are no rules, then we should be able to just walk out, and you wouldn't get in trouble. Since no rules. So, if I ask you nicely, in the spirit of..."

"... diplomacy, to let us out and let us reclaim our missing crew, is that something you could do?" ever the diplomat. Also, never send a pacifist to intimidate the door guard.

"I don't want anyone else to have to get hurt. We just want to leave, at this point, and that will let you focus on something far more important than this door."

While they were distracting the guard and keeping his attention, Raiden slipped his knife out of his boot, and moved to where he could work on that metal panel. With how small that window was, he figured that he was in a blind spot of that guard. He carefully started loosening the metal plate, using the edge and point of his blade.

"True, there are no laws but I am not stupid." The guard threw through the door. "This is my ticket to a promotion and more security for my family. If I go against my superior even on this day he will find a way for me to suffer and then next festival I will not survive, nor will they." He added but paused for a moment. "However, if he were to unfortunately meet his end then I would possibly be overlooked in the scramble for his position..."

Kyle paused for a moment, he could use that greed of a promotion. "I hear you, get me my phaser rifle I will kill him. Hell, I'll even let you pick if I walk in and phaser him up close in personal or all sneaky beaky like and take him out from a distance." He folds his arms and stares at the door he was not about to let a chance to get his weapon back and stun the guard by blowing it. He needed to sell it completely.

"Oh no no no." Mel put her hands up, mildly defensively. "I'd never hint at such, but can't blame a girl for trying. I'm a pacifist by nature, so I'm looking for a way out of this..."

"... where no one gets hurt, no one gets unfortunately'ed, and everything goes back about their business. I never meant to insinuate." oh man Mel was giving Kyle *SUCH A LOOK* with her other form, but then the light clicked. She caught what he was throwing, she was picking up what he was putting down. A patsy, a ploy, a scheme even. So she didn't want to blow it.

"That being said, I'm the *only* pacifist. Maybe you and my friend here should speak?" oh man this felt so dirty. So ... criminal. Though, no laws meant no crimes, but she hoped Kyle was just playing along. She was still pretty sure 'Political Assisted Suicide' was a crime somewhere. Especially in the Federation. They had crimes for everything...

Raiden managed to quietly pry the metal plate that covered something. He was careful not to make much noise. He smiled, for there was wiring for the lights behind the metal plate which was 3ft by 3ft, choosing carefully the conduit that held the wiring, he cut the power, the lights shutting off suddenly. The only light there was now, was from the window the guard was talking through.

Raiden's next move was to move the wiring to one side, feel around, inside where the wiring had been, and finding what he felt was a 'soft spot' in the wall, he punched it, channeling his chi, his fist going through sending pieces of the wall just larger than his fist clattering in the hall outside. Raiden punched again, last move he kicked through, and went feet first out the hole he made.

Brenda's eyes widened ever so slightly. Moving in next to the Gunny, she turned so her back was to the door. "Maybe hold on the flat-out murder?" She suggested in a quiet voice that she hoped only he would hear. "Self-defense is one thing, but cold blood is quite another."


The Guard who had been talking, noticed the room being plunged into darkness. "Hey, what happened to the lights!" then he looked to one side. "What was that?" his face disappearing from the opening. It reappeared, "What are you doing in there, get away from the door now! I'm coming in!"

The sound of the door being unlocked was evident and the door began to open inward....Right as Raiden went through the wall.

The twin forms of Mel gave a bit of an eeeep as the lights went out. "Oh! I.. I don't know. Maybe something outside?" she pondered, honestly not knowing what calamity her crewmates were working on behind her back. Backs.

"Oh um, yes please. Hold on, it's dark." she fumbled a little as she moved out of the way of the door. "Sorry, just don't want to trip." was she really this clumsy, or was it a clever ploy to buy time for her crew?

There was slight silence before a low growl was heard. The clutter-clatter of sharp small nails were heard racing down the hard concrete like floor as yelling and shouting was heard from the hall way. The sound of a loud echoing bark was heard before what was a deep strong voice erupted in sounds of a torturous and deep agonizing yelp coming from the man guard. Another guard yelled in fear quick was heard chocking, before silence... then the sound of a full body dropped to the ground. The guard yelping and crying out in pain was cut off short by the sound of something causing him to gasp for air, before dropping to the ground himself. A voice was heard and a panting animal was heard before the door before the sound of cold solid metal was heard scraping across the door.

"Hey there," John Hayter's voice was heard as the small peep hole was cracked open. "Is it ok if I just creepishly star at you all through this hole?

"Fine..." John muttered as he slammed the peep whole closed and messed with the door before finally unlatching it and pushing it open. "... consider this a get out of jail card from me to all of you. I expect at least gift basket," the mouthy marine explained. The light shined on him showing that blood had come from several places on his his face, and cut up uniform, along with some dark bruising.

But what was even more sickening was that Meeka, his four legged companion showed signs of torture and even had dried blood on her. But unlike her owner, the blood found on her was hard to figure out if it was from some of her cuts or from someone else as the blood wasn't all the same colors. Once the door was opened she paused for a moment before entering, somewhat limping sniffing and looking around the room before she found the twins forms and started to wag her tell in excitement. To show that she had found something, a simple low bark was heard.

"Sounds like we are good, we need to get our gear, and get the Sam hell out of here," the colonel expressed as he checked his alien weapon.

Brenda stepped past the canine form and into the hallway ahead of the group. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, Sir... But how did you get out? Any sign of the Commander?" Getting out of there was fine, but no way in hell was she leaving the ship's XO behind.

Mel was just happy to be free from the two-star accommodations they had been kept in. "Well, I'm happy to see you Toto, AND your little dog too." she stated, confident. Then a pause, then she slumped, "Let me guess, Toto *was* the dog?" she brushed it off though, Earth had so many references.

"Thank you for the rescue." the binary form offered. "And I agree, let's get out of here." she knelt down to give Meeka some gentle attention. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt her more, but she was such a brave girl, yes she was. Yes she was. And good brave girls get scritchies, yes they do. Yes they do.

Mel Torma was an accomplished officer, with a number of accreditations and degrees under both her belts. She was well educated, well mannered, and liked by her peers. A woman in high standing, and highly respected. Around a cute dog, though, she was a mush face baby.

"Well, glad you got out of where you were being held at, Hayter. And yes lets go find the others." Kosugi said from behind the marine. "I'd like to get us out of this place."

"Well it looks like we came just before a city wide rebellion, a coup d'etat, if you will. They busted us out. Our gear is just around the corner. Not much but they gave us their word that we are off limits to their people. But if we get in the middle of their uprising, they can't promise anything," John explained as he looked over at Commander Ziyal. I recommend we go by foot. Got a better chance of not being a quick target in their transportation vehicles in the palace area. Get out of the area and 'procure' a civilian transport to take us the rest of the way."

"I agree. I have had enough of this world and in such a short time as well." Liala sighed. "It is just sad that an encounter such as this has ended in this way... but yes, let's go and get our equipment and get to the shuttle."

With that the group set off, their peaceful mission ending in quite the opposite. There was a pang in Liala's heart that it had failed, she felt she had failed a little but knew this was an unforeseen circumstance. Starfleet Intelligence, the Diplomatic Corps dropped the ball here and they should have known about this before they arrived and they would have not been here around the festival time. She would be contacting them both when they were safely home.

Brenda fell into place, a half-step behind and to the side of the Commander. She cast a glance to the Colonel, and then looked back at her Marines. "Gunny, keep an eye on our Six. Colonel, Commander, I recommend our first port of call is getting armed. I realize we have a few... non-combatants, but I strongly recommend we arm everyone. As this is a godamned war, no one should be unarmed."

"I'm a bad shot, I know, but..." Mel paused, "I.. just don't give me anything fancy."

Raiden looked around to make sure everyone was there, checking to see how Nathan was doing, as well as the diplomat, Cortez. His head went on a swivel and also said to Brenda. "I will agree with you, everyone needs to be armed."

"Alright ladies and gentlemen... Sounds like we are all on the same wave link. How about less chatter and more us getting the hell out of here. Shall we?" John finally cut in as he waved them out of the room. "Really don't want to be stuck on this damned planet longer than we need to be."

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