A Life According to Hoyle - Part 3
Posted on Tue Sep 4th, 2018 @ 5:37pm by Gunnery Sergeant Flarn & Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Wed Sep 5th, 2018 @ 12:30am
2,044 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4 - The Sum of Our Parts
Location: Choral Tai Station
Timeline: MD002 0330 hrs
The Vulcan's face smiled even wider at Neil's sigh and she slid her hand up one of Am'ma'tar's arms, over his shoulders as she walked around him and down the other, her fingertips tracing lines as she said.
"See, Crewman Hoyle. You DO recognize our dear Cordelia Tremble, don't you?"
Neil started then. He stared and felt his jaw drop and there wasn't much he could do about it as his vision tunneled.
"I am sorry, Jay. But, did you REALLY think you had a chance with me when you attempted that bribe and mentioned your network?" his alter ego in this universe asked him, smiling an evil smile.
May 29 2394 0330 hrs (relative time)
Lances of pain, stabbed into Neil’s subconscious rousing him from the depths of wherever it had been hiding and his own screaming brought him back to consciousness and he heard a whoop of…excitement?
“Yes. I KNEW there was more to you than the records. Even if T’marra and Cordelia were of different minds thinking that exhibition in the arena was luck.”
Mustering enough energy to raise his head, Neil looked around. He was in a rather cliche looking torture chamber. Sighing he moved his eyes when moving his neck didn’t seem like a good idea. The figure dressed in equally cliche black leather studded leather, some sort of clingy red material and impossibly high heeled shoes.
Grunting, he managed “Nice. Now I’m in some sort of boots wet dream?”
The figure cocked it’s head at him, then slugged him in the jaw. His vision swum and he felt cartilage crackling in his neck and the dark threatened to claim him again but he was able to come back to center again after a few minutes.
“My my, Jayden. You speak of such strange things. There are many things I would like to know, but there just isn’t the time right now.” She stalked about seemingly aimlessly, teasing at him with the tip of a baton like length of wood.
He tried to get his wits about him. She was calling by Hoyle’s name, so he was still in this Vulcan huggers dream of a universe and things obviously had jumped again. Neil had a vague recall of drinking something and denying it all, amidst the laughter and taunting from T’marra and his alter self, Cordelia.
That was something he didn’t want to think about right now, but it was hard. Especially that kiss and the ghost memories he had of…other things. Tightening his now swollen lips, he said “Alright. Where are the pickups you’re prancing too and what is this game all about?”
Tisking, she slashed at his chest with the baton causing him to suck in his breath in pain but he kept silent, sagging from the cuffs he was leashed to the wall with. “Now now, don’t get presumptuous. I paid for this and I’m going to get my money’s worth, Jayden. She lashed at him again and he took the cut this time: was ready for it and didn’t stop looking at her and she whoop’d again.
“See, there it is. I knew there was more to you. But it has to be switched on, doesn’t it.” The black leather mask regarded him and he could make out a gruesome visage of some sort of creature he didn’t realize. The figure paced again and then stopped in front of him, close. At the angle he was hanging, he was face to face with her chest and he sighed. Sweet thraggling universe girly, go put some clothes on. You’d make your father blush if he could see you.
She laughed and hit him again, spinning and pirouetting back before stopping again. “Oh dear dear, Jayden. You think you are amusing. And I must admit, you are providing the amusement I had hoped. But, I don’t dare damage you too much or I will have to pay for the merchandise. Plucking a hypo spray from a nearby table that appeared to be a functioning rack, she gripped her mask by the chin and shoved it up on the top of her head. He didn’t recognize her.
She was red haired with a delicate, pale complexion and deep green eyes. She grasped him by the jaw and kissed him, then punched the hypospray into his neck and he grunted as she bit his lip and whatever she had injected him with burned into his neck and into his system.
The burning continued as she cast the hypo-spray away and sauntered away from him, plucking a bottle from the rack and taking a pull from it as she walked through a hatch that irised open. “So far, I’ve gotten my money’s worth dear Jayden. Don’t let me down!”
Whatever she had injected him with continued to burn through him as the door closed. Six heart beats later, the cuffs holding him disappeared and the room faded. He hit the deck on his hands and knees and breathed hard.
“Holosuite.” He ground out, spitting on the floor as he felt strength flooding into his arms and the pain he’d been feeling fade. “Bloody games,” he muttered as he rolled to a sitting position and regarded the empty room.
Flarn while wearing the Trill suit managed to pry himself away from the Vulcan task master while she slept. He didn't care who was in charge or what he looked like. There were three things he knew. The first was that he was a Marine, not a Vulcan's plaything. The second was that somewhere in this hell hole the El T was in trouble. The third was all universes would end before Flarn left without the El T.
He made his way through the station, trying to lay low. Flarn did not know how many people would recognize him. After a lot of false starts and dead ends he found out that the one they called Hoyle was taken to the holosuites with someone who purchased him.
When Flarn arrived at the holosuites he found the Lieutenant on all fours in an empty room. "So is this how officers get their kicks." Flarn laughed out the words as he leaned on the wall.
"You know the old saying. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains are just part of the side show." Climbing to his feet, he felt the room tilt somewhat then things solidified and he joined the Sgt.
"I blacked out for a while there. Again. How did things fair with the Overseer? She seemed to be taking quite a shine to you?" Neil asked, looking the Trill over.
Funny thing about Tellarites they are incapable of blushing. However, Trills on the other hand can blush. Flarn did not know this and after Tremble's remark the Trill turned a nice shade of pink. "Well sometimes a Marine has to do unspeakable things to survive. The Overseer has indeed taking a liking to to this Trill. We might be able to use that to our advantage to get the heck out of here and back to the Pioneer. I have already parlayed this advantage into getting us some time to look around." Flarn reached down and helped his CO to his feet.
Snorting he led them out of the suite and into the corridors, looking for quiet. There was no way to be sure they weren't being watched, but they needed to talk.
"I have no idea what happened or why we're here wrapped in these skin sacks. At least we'll 'maybe' avoid a run in with Temporal Affairs if we can find a way back. I think we need to get a firmer grasp of when we are and try to match it up and see what else is going on around here."
They let their feet guide them for a short time before he continued, "After that, I have no idea. I'm no science officer so feel free to chime in and watch the Corp references. My playmate earlier was talking about our being not what they expected and I get the idea it was whetting her imagination to find out why."
Flarn acknowledged to order to watch his tongue. "Perhaps a stop at a local pub would be in order. We can listen to the rumors and see if we can figure out what to do. I think the first order of business is to find a scientist that we can trust. At the very least the pub will allow us to get a desperately needed drink."
They found Flarn's drink. In fact they found several. The pub was a combination sports bar, casino run by an Orion but staffed by Ferengi. The Ferengi were efficient, and more than willing to talk. Neil learned that Flarn and his wins in the arena had been 50:1 odds.
Some beings had made a lot of money on them. Certain of those customers were present and the two soon found piles of drinks stacked in front of them and a particularly talkative Bolian freighter captain.
Flarn seemed to roll with it well enough, but Neil was having a hard time concentrating on the problem at hand by the third drink. And by the forth, he didn't care and had slumped into a funk
Which it did. When the Cardassian guards found them and proceeded to berate Neil and drag him off to the stable area. As he was half pushed, half stumbled into an ante room he saw Cordelia staring at him and he grunted.
"Just thraggling wonderful. What are you going to do this time? Drain all of my blood and sell it to an Andorran for war paint?" he cracked. She surprised him again by walking forward and slapping him hard, then grabbing his jaw and kissing him nearly as hard.
"Well, you're a commodity now, rather than just a smuggler of one Jayden. What do you expect?" she asked him, looking him over.
"It's hard to know exactly what to expect when curve balls keep coming at you," he grunted, getting a twinge in his belly and wishing his alter self would quit kissing him.
He had no doubt that it would replay in his dreams in years to come, if he lived that long.
"Oh my dear, but don't hold a grudge. It's business after all and you're turning into so much more than just fodder for the arena. There's talk of taking you and your Trill friend system wide, if you survive a few more fights. And the side offers have even started coming in: you have been requested for a private exhibition tomorrow. So, no more booze and make sure you eat something darling because afterwords, you have another date with Amelia."
She walked out, the doors reacting to her presence as he turned and asked, "Who in blazes is Amelia?"
She laughed and cast a look back over her shoulder as she turned onto the walkway, "Why dear, you met her earlier. I guess she didn't take the time to introduce herself. She's a fairly important member of the State Science Authority, so do try and be whatever she desires, yes?"
All Neil could do is watch the doors close at that and he felt his fists ball and he said, "Computer. End simulation."
When nothing happened he swore and sighed, slumping against the far wall and muttered to himself, "Well, it was worth a shot. Maybe I'll wake up and it'll all be a bad dream."
A Joint Post By
Second Lieutenant Cornelius Tremble/Crewman Jayden Hoyle
Marine Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Staff Sergeant Flarn/Am'ma'tar
First Sergeant, USS Pioneer
PNPC Malbrooke
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