It's a long way to trip in a hallway, Pt 2

Posted on Tue Jun 3rd, 2025 @ 6:05pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Captain Kevin, Lord Kilbane of Sanquhar & Lieutenant Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis & Commander Milani & Lieutenant Commander Dex

Mission: Delivering on the undeliverable.
Location: USS Thall/Portal planet
Timeline: Current.

"What work do you do for them?" Finchley asked.

"We dig in the dirt for them, many many of us, it is hard, and we are weak from hunger" the young man answered.

"How long have you been doing this for, digging in the dirt for them I mean?" Finchley carried on.

"To many times to count since times the two moons have circled the sky" the youngster replied.

"Two moons?" Finchley queried, "we saw three."

"Yes, that is why I am so happy you have come 'chosen one', the third moon in the sky told us of your arrival, along with your followers."

Karadis sniggered, "Yeah, followers, like that's what we are..."

"You follow Birds orders same as we all do Karadis, so yes, basically, the kids right, you're a follower of his" Kilbane replied.

Finchley heard the comments but chose not to say anything, instead he continued his questioning, "Have these Overseers said what it is you're all digging for?"

"We do not ask, those who have asked have been beaten very badly, some to the point of near death" the young man answered, "nobody dares to ask now."

Finchley looked at his crew, "Ok...'followers', take a seat, eat up, drink some water and get some rest, we need to find out what this place is and who these Overseers are, none of this is making much sense right now but we need to keep our energy levels up and stay hydrated."

Shon sat and took some fruit and ate slowly. "Where do you live?" she gently asked the child.

He looked at her and, deciding that Shon was no threat he walked over to her. she handed him some fruit and poured him a drink. Noting how small and thin he was her protective instincts activated. She had never thought about having children prior to being with Finchley and wondered what he would say if she told him she was pregnant. "What is your name?" she asked gently smoothing his hair from his eyes.

The boy sat next to her and placed his small hand in hers. "It has been a long time since I had a name but my progenitor called me Tannis. The overseers ended them when they became too weak to work."

"I am so sorry." Shon said gently and drew him to her feeling his bones through his skin. She kissed the top of his head and, slowly his hand reached up to touch her ear.

"You are different from the others Seer."

Shon smiled, "yes we are from different races." She pointed to Karadis. "This lady is a Klingon from a proud warrior race. My parent, ...progenitors were from two different races Vulcan and Riasan.."

"you are with the Chosen One" he said his voice full of awe as he looked at Finchley.

"Yes, yes I am." Shon said.

Milani smiled at the interaction Shon was having and, after taking some food began to walk around the perimeter of the cave. The rock surface looked too smooth to be natural, she wished she had a scanner to hand as she felt a slight breeze coming from behind the waterfall. moving behind the curtain of rushing water she found what looked like a passageway leading away from the cave which she followed.

Kilbane, Karadis and Finnigan had pretty much been silent all the time the young man he been discovered. Finnigan, being the curious scientific type, had marvelled at what he assumed was some kind of projection to show their surroundings, he knew it would take a large power source to do it. A large power source would mean a lot of shielding if you were to keep those around the projection safe from harm, and a lot of shielding meant there would be some pulses from the different thicknesses of the projection being shown.

He turned to Karadis and Kilbane, "You're COMM badges, pass them to me please."

Karadis instinctively placed her hand over her COMM badge and asked, "Why?"

"I have an idea" Finnigan said quietly, "I don't have much time to explain, but I think I can help find out a little bit more about where we are."

Karadis looked at Kilbane, he in return shrugged his shoulders, "Beats me, but if he thinks he can help, why not" and he took his COMM badge off and passed it over. Karadis didn't seem so convinced, but if it helped...and she also passed her COMM badge to Finnigan.

"Thank you" Finnigan said. Taking his boot off, he pressed down on the heel and turned it, the turned heel now showing a small group of pins.

"Honestly?" Kilbane said sarcastically.

"What, you never watched any old spy movies from the ships archives?" Finnigan asked, a smile on his face.

"What's a spy movie?" Karadis asked.

"I'll explain later" Kilbane answered her.

Looking back at Finnigan he asked, "So what're you doing?"

"Well..." Finnigan started to reply as he took the back off of each COMM badge, including his own, "...each COMM badge, when it sends a signal out when you're replying to a message, sends a pulse one millisecond before the message transmits. That's to ensure that the message has a clear path, if it doesn't, it stops the message but ensures it doesn't return to the sender. I...am...going to try...and trick the COMM badge into thinking that lots and lots of small messages are being sent continuously so that it sends out lots and lots of pulses. Then we can use the one COMM badge that will still work to see if the pulses get stopped by anything" he finished, finding working on the badges quite fiddly.

"So it'll act like a basic scanner?" Karadis asked.

"Exactamundo" Finnigan winked at Karadis.

"That's brilliant" Karadis said, turning and slapping Kilbane's arm.

"It's not that brilliant..." Kilbane answered huffily, wishing he'd thought of the idea.

Karadis turned back to Finnigan, "Ignore him, he's just touchy, he hates it when he gets outshined, but that is brilliant!"

"The only way we'll know if it is brilliant is to try it out and see if it works" Finnigan replied. He stood up once he'd put the working COMM badge back together, then pressed the badge to open up it's signal output. Sure enough, what sounded a little like low static was heard, "Yes, it's working, now we have a very basic scanner!"

"Where's Milani?' Shon asked.

Milani entered into an open area of what appeared to igneous rock. Signs of a great overflow of lava at some time. A slight glint of daylight broke through a split in the cave wall and she looked out. For a moment she could not believe what she was seeing as six, thin ragged children were being lined up against a rock face.

In front of them stood six tall persons, Milani could not tell sex or species as they were covered in what looked like black body armour. Their helmets were also black with a visor that appeared to move left and right in response to the orders they were being given. For a moment she did not really see what was happening in front of her and, in the moment the weapons were raised she knew that what she was watching was an execution.

"FIRE" the order was given in a mechanical sharp staccato.

"NOOOO" Milani screamed throwing herself forward as they fired. She stopped and look in horror as the beams from the weapons found their targets. The children stood for a moment silent then the screaming began as their bodies began to burn. It was all over in a few seconds as the bodies disappeared leaving a small pile of ash on the ground where they had stood. Milani vomited and, as she bent over the last thing she felt was a hard contact on the back of her neck and she fell into blessed unconsciousness.

"I'm not sure" Finchley said, looking around. He had seen her as he was about to talk to the young man, but after that he'd obviously been distracted, thinking she was still around. "Has anyone else seen Commander Milani?" he asked the others.

They all shook their heads, "No, sorry Sir" Karadis replied, "me neither" Kilbane said, "I was trying to do this" Finnigan answered, holding the COMM badge up, "I'd no idea she wasn't here still."

Concern was now Finchley's primary feeling, there had been no shouts, no raising of alarm, nothing, but one of the crew had simply vanished.

"Ok, everyone spread out, start looking for her" he ordered.

Shon stood and began to program her medical tricorder to search for Milani's bio signs and was worried to see they were unable to be found. Tannis stood beside her

"Has anyone got a science tricorder, I'm, not sure if the properties in these rocks are jamming my med?"

None of the others had a tricorder, and Finchley was now extremely concerned about the disappearance of Milani. He stopped and tried to think logically, where would she be?

The cave area they were in was big, but no so vast that anyone could be out of eyeline, but what about earshot. "MILANI, MILANI, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" he yelled out, but there was no reply. He tried again, "MILANI, MILANI..." but still nothing. He scanned the area, there was the area where they were, an open area behind them but that was easily scanned to the far wall, then there was the area up ahead where the waterfall was.

"Right, my gut feeling is Milani has to be somewhere over at, or near, the waterfall" he said, "Let's try there and see what we find, hopefully there's a clue to what's happened to her."

Shon nodded, "well... who is coming with me?" she asked. "I don't think any of us should be alone."

The crew all walked over towards the waterfall, but it was Karadis who arrived there first. She stood, hands on hips looking up at the cascading waters as they tumbled down. "I doubt very much that she climbed up the waterfall, and I can't think of a reason why she'd dive into the pool down there, so my reasoning is she went round and behind it."

Finchley looked up and down the waterfall, "Agreed, perhaps there's a ledge or something else back there that she climbed onto, only one way to d=find out." He moved along the edge of the pool of water the fall was flowing down into, then saw that they'd be able to move behind the curtain of water itself. He beckoned for the others to follow him, and soon he found himself in the tunnel that Milani had found herself in a little time before. "Weapons at the re..." Finchley automatically ordered, then remembered nobody had any, "...damn!"

He gave thought to the situation and said, "Ok, two up front...that'll be Karadis and myself, Shon, you in the middle, Kilbane and Finnigan two at the the back. We move out in that formation, nobody break it unless we're fired upon or attacked, let's go."

The group moved out slowly Tannis remaining close by Shon's side. "Where are we going?" he asked as Shon turned her finger on her lips. "Shush, we must be quiet and do what the Commodore tells us to do," she whispered. "Just stay by my side."

Milani moaned not sure if she had been dreaming but the throbbing in the back of her head told her this was not so. Then as she opened her eyes she felt the breeze across her skin and, to her horror she knew she was naked. She moved slowly into a sitting position and observed two other women, also naked crouched on the dirt floor. She was suddenly thirsty and at the same time noted dried blood at the corner of her mouth. Taking stock of her injuries she came to the conclusion that her cheekbone was fractured along with the loss of several teeth.

A noise nearby made her close her eyes and pretend to still be unconscious. "UP" a metallic voice said along with a kick to her side. She opened her eyes as a foul smelling sack hit her. "PUT IT ON' the voice said. She looked at the offending article and at the dirt, faecal matter and blood stains. "I'll go naked thank you," she said and stood gingerly on a sore ankle.

The guard shrugged and the women stood and pulled the 'sack' over Milani's head. "It will kill you if you do not comply, do not die for that, there are better things to die for."

"Milani nodded, "thank you" she said. The guard grabbed her arm and pulled her with him. She looked around seeing she was in some king of tented camp around an oasis in front of a pyramid shaped, which looked like a ship. It was cool and fragrant inside and large palm type trees waved in the breeze. The far off sound of music reached her ears. "Tell me," she said. "How come we can understand each other?"

"QUIET OR DIE" the guard said as he reached a tall blue door and knocked. It opened immediately and a veiled elegant woman took hold of her. "BATHE AND DRESS HER AND HURRY SHE IS TO SEE THE OVERSEER!

Milani's headache grew stronger despite the fact that she had been bathed in warm, scented water, her long blonde hair washed and left loose. Her face hurt but the bleeding had stopped. Her side hurt and her ankle had swollen. "where are you when I need you Shon" she whispered. She stood as the water drained and the women began to dry her dressing her in a short diaphanous shift that left nothing to the imagination. the women motioned Milani to sit and partake of the wine and fruits they brought before her. She shook her head 'kidnapping number one, do not eat or drink anything'. She smiled remembering the Federation training on how to get through the situation.

About to begin asking questions the peace was interrupted by the entrance of one of the guards. "IS SHE READY?" it asked. The women bent forward and genuflected obviously frightened and nodded vigorously, "did she eat?" it said as the women shook their heads. They pushed her forward towards him their eyes full of pity. "FOLOW ME" it said.

As Milani walked she looked for an escape route mapping it in her mind. Entering a long hallway she saw her chance and lurched for a doorway. Then here was a sound and she realised she had been hit by something in her back, it felt soft and warm. Her body slowed down until she could no longer move, she felt her heartbeat slow and her brain felt as though what made her Milani was drained from her. "DO NOT TRY THAT AGAIN" the guard intoned and she turned, unable to think independently and followed him through double doors into a wide airy hall.

At one end a glittering dais stood, occupied by a throne like structure in which sat a tall attractive muscular male figure wearing some kind of head dress. four guards stood at each corner of the throne. "Approach" the figure said and Milani walked towards him. As she stopped on of the guards pulled her covering away and she stood naked in front of him. His eyes glittered in appreciation as his hands ran over her breasts stomach and entwined in her thick golden hair. "Beautiful." he said. "Yes, she will bear the new generation." he indicated and one of the guards brought a cup. Milani tried to move, to run away but still felt bound and unable to do so "Drink" he said as she took the cup and downed the contents.

For a moment she felt her strength returning to her limbs and her vision cleared then she screamed. The man's face was scarred and looked like it had begun to melt. His eyes burned into her as his mouth opened a a long prehensile tongue darted out followed by copious drool then, once again she felt relaxed as his face morphed back into the attractive male she had originally seen. "Take her to my bed, I will prepare." he said as she was grabbed and led away.

TAG

The group walked on quietly following Finchley, the sound from the waterfall gradually falling away leaving only silence in which their footfalls echoed against the walls. After what seemed like an age the glow of daylight began to show in the distance and, suddenly there was a beep from Shon's medical tricorder and she stopped to check and smiled. "Commodore I am picking up the Commander's life signs now, she is injured and I have no other information as to where exactly she is."

Finchley had stopped up ahead, now outside in the daylight just past the end of the tunnel. "I'm very happy to hear you've picked up the Commanders life signs, though her being injured is a concern obviously, however, the fact that she's alive is very good news, better news than what's happened to these poor souls" he ended, pointing at the still bodies of the six children lying dead on the ground in front of him.

Shon nodded and felt Tannis close to her leg, she looked down as his face was buried in her thigh his tears seeping through her uniform. She stroked his hair.

"They were my friends, we played together in the camp." he whispered through his tears.

Shon knelt down and took his hands in hers, "Tannis, it is about time you told us what you know about these 'Overseers?"

He looked at her and then Finchley, a scared look on his face. "I know very little Chosen one but it is said they came many aeons ago. This world we are told was once fertile, green, a paradise and we were farmers. Our histories say that the day they came the sun went black and many huge structures came from the sky. They enslaved our people to work, digging the land for strange rocks that made our people ill. The fields died and the trees wept as the lakes and rivers dried up and our animals died. Some were taken and made into soldiers and guards turning against their own people.

Most of us work in the mines, my own father died of the strange disease he caught from the rocks, my mother became a comfort woman for the guards and died of disease and my brothers were killed trying to run away. I ran away at last after I stole some food and then....Our seers talk of a 'chosen one' who will appear with his people and out our world back as it was you are our Chosen One."

Tannis left Shon and approached Finchley. He lay down on the sand in front of him. "You are the last hope of our people and our world our chosen one."

Finchley felt quite awkward at the "Chosen one" tag Tannis kept giving him, and he bent down to help him up. "Listen Tannis, one of my cre...helpers is missing and we need to find her as she's injured. I need you to tell me all about the area up ahead" he said, pointing into the distance where the light was coming from, "and as much as you can about the Overseers and the ones guarding them as you can. Also, if there's a special place they go, a large building, a ship, a palace, any place they guard that is off limits to you and your people, or that they only allow a certain amount of you to go, that would be really helpful."

Tannis nodded, more scared about taking to the 'chosen One' seeming more in awe of Finchley than the Overseers."I remember the tall lady with the sun in her hair Chosen One". He nodded but kept his head bowed. "This cave leads to the centre place between the mines and the Overseers, we live in caves that fan out from here but the guards regularly patrol them. We can always hear them coming as there is a clicking sound that they have. We have never seen what is underneath their clothing and they never take their helmets off.

Their weapons are contained in their hand coverings." Tannis swallowed obviously remembering the death of his friends. "The death fire shoots from them but they also use a sort of..." Tannis was obviously have trouble describing, "....sort of control, they fire something at us which slows us down and seems to make us do what they want.

"The overseers most of us have never seen. Those of us taken inside never reappear. They live in what looks like a giant sandhill made of something that shines. Some of us have seen it move across the sand with a tremendous sound..." suddenly there was a distinct clicking sound coming down the corridor.

Finchley's head turned at the sound of the clicking, from what Tannis had just described, it could mean only one thing, the guards were coming. He looked around, but there was no immediate cover they could secrete themselves, then it struck him as he looked up. "There!" he whispered vehemently, "everyone climb up, there's ledges we can stand on."

Soon, the entire team and Tannis were up on the ledges, about five meters above the corridor, looking down as six of the guards came into view. They marched up to where the bodies of the children were and began bending down to pick them up. It was at this point that Karadis sprang into action, leaping down from the ledge she was on. "What the hell are you do..." Finchley began saying, then realised why Karadis had done what she had and jumped after her.

"What are you mad fuckers doing!" Finnigan cried, but before he could say anything else, Kilbane shoved him off the ledge and down onto the corridor floor. A second later, Kilbane crashed onto the corridor floor beside him, and was on his feet again instantly, turning to the nearest guard and flooring him with a heavyweight champion right hook. Finnigan looked around, and he saw that Karadis and Finchley were rolling around with another two of the guards, whilst the remaining three were taking aim to fire at them.

"Ohhhhhh no you don't" he yelled, getting to his feet and running at them. As he approached, totally taking the guards by surprise, he slide tackled along the ground, taking out all three guards, knocking them over like ninepins. He was back on his feet again and pumping his clenched fist into one of the guards faces time and again. Kilbane wasted no time in running at one guard who had begun recovering himself from being knocked over and as he reached him, he threw himself in a flying kick, planting both feet into the guards chest, knocking him down again. By this point, Karadis and Finchley had dealt with the two guards they'd been fighting with, and were now over by the two remaining guards, one of whom was back on the ground after Kilbane's acrobatic flying kick. A few swift kicks to their heads, and a punches to their faces saw the final two guards lay still.

"There..." a slightly out of breath Karadis said to Finchley, "...now we have disguises to get us into this giant sandhill."

Finchley looked incredulously at Karadis, "You really are a mad fucker aren't you...what if that had gone tits up and we'd been killed?"

"Then I'd have the satisfaction of never hearing you say 'that didn't work, did it'..." Karadis smiled.

Finchley could only laugh at the bizarre logic in what Karadis said. He was glad about her quick thinking though, because now she'd given them a chance at finding where Milani was. "Ok, strip the guards, kill them then put their armour on, let's go!"

Shon jumped down from the ledge with Tannis who had been surprisingly eager to join in the fight. She went over to one of the guards and began to strip him of his uniform. Then she placed her hand on the side of his neck and pressed. His body arched as he died and she began to dress. The suit was hot and the helmet confining with only a slit to see out of, breathing was quite difficult and she came to the realisation that they were not quite human.

"Everyone, there is not enough oxygen in these helmets, either breath shallowly or leave the clip open. Also these weapons do not seem to have any triggers. I think these soldiers are enhanced?"

Finchley clipped the last piece of the armour into place and just before he put his helmet on, he turned to Tannis. "Listen Tannis, I have an idea of how to get into this sandhill, but you're going to have to trust us. I want you out in front with me, and we're going to make it look as though we're taking you into the building. Don't speak unless you're spoken to, leave all the talking to me and the others, you're basically going to be a 'slave', but not if you you know what I mean."

Tannis nodded, not looking at him.

Finchley lifted his chin up so he could look at the young man, "Hey, we're not Gods, we're not Overseers, in fact, we're not anything special. We're just trying to help you and your people out a tough spot, so stop being in awe of us and just be yourself, you'll be fine."

Putting his helmet on, then lining everyone up, Finchley began the march along the corridor, out of the cave and into the light where Tannis had described the centre space. It was vast, with lots of bedraggled slaves slowly moving around, some carrying baskets of dirt away from the mine, some heading back towards it with empty baskets looking to get filled again. Others, chained together, dragged themselves along, pulling heavy logs that Finchley assumed were to be used as props in the mines. The guards there used whips to keep them moving, and hurling abuse at those they deemed to be to slow. Tannis guided them towards what he'd called a giant sandhill, and as Finchley looked up, he saw what it was...a pyramid.

He tried not to be surprised, but a whispered "Whaaaaaat???" escaped him. He carried on following where Tannis was leading them, and as they approached the entrance, a guard moved to stand in front of them.

"Why is this slave being brought here?" he demanded.

"He has information on those slaves who have been causing the troubles in the mine" Finchley answered, hoping that what he said would fool the guard before him.

"I have not been informed of this!" he countered.

"Do the Overseers share all their information with you?" Finchley demanded to know.

"No, they do not" the guard answered.

"Then perhaps you can explain to them why we've been delayed in taking this slave to them so they can question him!!" Finchley said angrily.

The guard stood his ground, looking at Tannis, Finchley and the group behind him. Finally, he relented and stood back, "Pass" he said.

Finchley pushed Tannis into the entrance and said "The Overseers will see to it that you suffer greatly as they question you!"

Once the whole team were inside, Finchley checked that the corridor they were in was empty before he spoke. Turning to Shon he said, "It's up to you now, can you pinpoint where Milani is?"

Shon nodded and looked around before she brought out her tricorder. Scanning for Milani's life signs she nodded, "they are somewhat erratic but this way," she whispered and pointed left down a passageway that took them towards a large room with a fountain. They passed several serving women carrying bowls of fruit, flowers and fragrant water. They avoided them and looked scared genuflecting as they passed them.

They moved deeper into the complex and eventually approached what looked like a guard post. Six guards stood there talking softly and turned towards them, they appeared to be wearing different uniforms.

"Halt" one of them called. "You are not Honour guards, and who is this urchin?" He indicated Tannis. Suddenly Tannis tore himself from Shon's grip and ran forward as he guards lifted what looked like staffs with fire at the end.

"I brought the strangers as the Overseer wanted. She promised me freedom."

The guards now surrounded the group. "Disrobe, show yourself?" he ordered the group now surrounded, he looked at Tannis. "Here is your reward slave he said. "Know that you died saving the Overseer and your people will be enslaved until they all die." He laughed, pointed his staff at Tannis and discharged his weapon.

"NO" Shon shouted and lurched towards Tannis. "He is just a boy..."

Tannis tiny body was enveloped in flame and reduced to ash as Shon fell down in front of what was left of the boy, tears running down her face.

Everything happened like it was in slow motion for Finchley, the guard speaking, Tannis reacting, the guard then reacting to that by killing Tannis, then Shon being next to the smouldering ashes. His initial reaction was to the killing of the young man, then the realisation that Tannis had in fact lead them into a trap, one which he hadn't seen coming. There was nothing he could do, all the guards surrounding them had the same weapon that had turned Tannis to ash, it was hopeless. He raised his hands and turned to his crew, "Ok, do as the guard said, disrobe."

"Like hell I will" Finnigan answered, "It took long enough to put this crap on, and now you want me to take it all off again just because that clown said so!" he added angrily.

"We don't have the luxury of debate Finnigan, may I remind you that it was partially your fault we've found ourselves in this situation thanks to you bringing that package onboard the Thall in the first place, a package that had parts that were Iconian" Finchley replied.

"WAIT!" the lead guard said loudly, "what do you know of the Iconian's, tell me."

"I'm not telling you Jack!" Finchley said, "if you want to know what I know of the Iconian's, I'll tell it to your Masters, not scum like you!"

That got Finchley a backhand across the face, but it was worth it because the lead guard took out a communication device and began speaking in a strange tongue into it. After a few moments of back and forth across the device, the lead guard said, "All of you will come with us, the Masters want to see you and question you on what information you have."

More of the honour guards appeared and took mover where the original six had met them, then Finchley and his team were lead inside to an anti-chamber before being lead through to a much bigger, gold covered palatial room, one where a throne sat on a raised dais.

"You will kneel!" the lead guard said to Finchley, grabbing him by the shoulder and forcing him down, "You will ALL kneel before the throne of the true God!!"

The rest of the crew were forced down onto their knees by the rest of the honour guard, and as they knelt there, a click, click, click could be heard. Finchley knew better than to look up, and as he knelt there, someone passed him by. He squinted up as far as he could without raising his head, and what he saw took his breath away. The person was female, a soft white linen short dress adorned her body, but it was what she wore on her head that took his breath away, a golden crown fanning out around her shoulders above her head. Her make up was such that it drew the attention to her eyes and held his gaze...she looked like Cleopatra!

Shon looked up to see the gorgeous personage before her and she had never felt so dirty and all she wanted to be was out of there alone with Finchley, Milani safe and, she swallowed....she remembered she had wanted to ask Finchley if Tannis could return to the Blackeagle with them. She felt no anger towards him, only pity and she understood why he had betrayed them.

A loud sound like a trumpet blared and the woman stood. holding out her hand. A door opened and a tall blonde woman wearing the same soft white dress walked out. . Her arms were adorned with what looked like golden spiral bracelets and her long blonde hair was encircled with what looked like diamonds on golden ropes. Her ruby red lips screamed passion and the smell of her reached into the corners of the room.

The two females touched hands and they sat down on two thrones.Milani looked at them through unseeing eyes. "I am the Supreme Overseer daughter of the great God RA."

"Milani" Shon breathed.

"This is my partner the daughter of Anubis. We rule this place and the ships beyond the stars, be careful not to anger her of her father will come calling." She laughed a low throaty laugh.

Milani spoke. "Who are you and what do you seek here?" she asked.

Finchley kept his stare fixed firmly on the ground in front of him, "I am Finchley Kerr and these are my travelling colleagues" he said, "one of our number went missing and we were led here by a local boy to try and find her. We were told by the boy that those here were hostile so we...I...decide to try and come inside in disguise to try and and find her."

Milani stood and looked at her partner who nodded her head. She stepped down and approached the group. She began with Shon lifting her chin with a bejewelled scented finger. Then she moved to Karadis walking around the Klingon woman. "This one" she said. "She is aggressive and beautiful, she will make a Captain of the guard and an exciting partner in bed, she may have enough stamina?”

"You have no idea how much stamina I have, I'll break you in two!" Karadis replied, beginning to get to her feet. An Honour guard stepped forward and placed their lightening rod on her back and sent Karadis screaming back down onto the floor. The guard hit her again and and again with several jolts, "You will NOT speak to one of the exulted one's like that you dog!"

Milani stepped back, for a moment she seemed unsure, more aware of the situation. She knew these people, was strongly connected to them. Bending down to touch Karadis she whispered "I'm sorry." then something seemed to flicker across her eyes and she became the daygter of Anubis once again. She stood and moved back to Finchley.

Milani then walked towards Finchley her scent entering the noses of the group. “And you, leader of this group I can assure you the missing traveller you seek is not here, however you may stay as members of our guards.” She bent down and kissed him with her perfumed red lips. “Maybe?” She put a finger to her lips. “Remove your clothes, all of you.”

The daughter of Ra clapped “How delightful.”

Finchley spat after Milani kissed him, "You're right, the one we seek is not here, but she was, and who do you think you are, 'offering' us positions in your guard like we're meant to be grateful for such a thing, you don't own us, you don't have the right to say what we can and cannot be or do!"

The daughter of Ra spoke again her voice harder. "Make no mistake we do own you, your lives are subject to our whims. You can either live in comfort or die in hunger and pain in the mines." She indicated towards them and the honour guards circled them staffs pointed towards them and glowing with fire. "Guards take them away ensure that they are well guarded, give them food and allow them to bathe and rest." she looked at them without compassion. "Be assured we will only ask you once again.."

Again something passed over Milani as her eyes cleared and she looked over towards Shon and Finchley. "Shon?" she said confused, "what is happ....."

"Come we will retire," the daughter of Ra announced "have the high priest sent to us, the Daughter of Anubis needs his ministrations and prepare her for another fire serpent insertion." Her hand closed tightly over Milani's wrist. "There there my love, you are not well but you will feel better soon."

The guards indicated the group to stand and two of them grabbed the partly unconscious Karadis.

"If we're going to join you, be careful with her!" Finchley remonstrated with the guards, "you already almost killed her with those damn sticks of yours."

A backhand across the face was the reply he got, and the guard closest to him replied "You will be next if there's any more insolence from you."

Finchley squared up to him, and stood eye to eye, "You don't scare me just because you have a weapon you can use, throw it away and let's see how tough you really are."

The guard hesitated for a moment, then brought his weapon up under Finchley's chin, the crackle of the electricity it had in it sounding. "The Empress has ordained you be given food, allowed to bathe and rest, otherwise you would be dead right now, MOVE!" he pushed him away.

Finnigan caught up with Finchley and whispered, "What the hell are you doing, do you want to get yourself killed you moron?"

"No" Finchley smiled, whispering back, "But I did want his pass card" he added, opening his fingers out and showing the card in his hand."

Finnigan laughed quietly, "Oh, very clever Bird, very clever, you haven't lost your touch then I see."

"You taught me well Finnigan, you taught me well..." Finchley replied, closing his fingers around the pass card again. Soon after, all of them were shown into a large room by the guards, "Food and water will be brought shortly. Bathing rooms are there and clothing is there. You will be allowed two hours to rest then we will be back again to speak to you, have a decision, join the guard or be worked to death!"

Shon stood, "I am sure Milani recognised us, what in Surak's name have they done to her?" she said touching the food. "unfortunately without my tricorder I cannot tell if this food and drink has been tampered with." she picked up what looked like a very tasty spare rib. "DAMN" she said throwing it down. "Well at least I can go get a bath." She walked over to where Karadis was lying. "How are you feeling?" Shon asked.

"Groggy, but I'll survive, thanks for asking" Karadis replied, giving Shon a wan smile.

Milani lay on the table her ankles and hands tied her head in a cradle. "LET ME GO YOU BASTARDS!" she screamed and attempted to move her head.

"Do not worry," the daughter of Ra stroked her shoulder. The High Priest will soon be here and we will be together again."

"I WAS NEVER WITH YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE, I WANT TO BE WITH MY CREW, MY FRIENDS." She shouted and then whispered "Please let me go."

The high priest entered with a dish in which several scarlet and blue worms writhed about.

"Hurry" the Daughter of Ra said. The Priest looked abashed.

"Emperor we need to have the incantations before insertion?"

The Daughter of Ra flicked her finger and looked at a guard. "Kill him in one minute unless he completes the insertion." The guard twirled his staff and fire began to spit from the end as he turned it towards the priest. The colour drained from his face. "As you wish Emperor."

Milani fought as best she could but the priest carried the dish to the table and removed the cover ant one end. the worm raised its head as if scenting it's prey. Milani screamed as the work made ingress into her ear. To Milani the pain was unimaginable as the worn followed the first channel that had been forced into her brain stem. She stopped screaming and the remaining worm was inserted into her other ear. She breathed more easily as the flickering began.

"Take the daughter of Anubis, bathe and dress her and return my mate to me." She ordered.

Back in the room where the rest of the crew been left to eat, bathe and rest, Finchley listened intently at the door. He heard no sound, but this wasn't time to take any risks, so he beckoned Kilbane and Finnigan over to him. Silently, using hand gestures, he iterated to them what he was wanting them to do once he opened the door. Counting down from three to one on his fingers, he used the pass card he'd stolen to open the door wide and all three of the jumped outside into the corridor, expecting to meet a couple of guards at the least, but there was no-one, not a single guard.

"Now that's very odd" Finnigan said, scratching his beard.

"Definitely..." echoed Kilbane, "Where are they?"

"They didn't think we'd get out of the room, so they probably didn't think it worth while leaving a guard" Finchley replied. He looked back inside the room, "Shon, we need to track where Milani is now, can you use your Medical tricorder please."

“I’m sorry, I don’t have it, they took it from me.” Shon said abashed. “However I can return up to the throne room.”

"Something tells me Milani won't be back in the throne room right now" Finchley replied, rubbing his chin in thought, "I would likely think that she'll be in the Empress private quarters, or very close by. You saw the way she acted, almost like she were in a trance, I'd say she was under the influence of some kind of drug, but not one she took willingly. Ok, Shon, go back up to the throne room, find out what you can from those that are there as to where Milani could be, then report back down here to us, we'll go back inside the room and wait to hear back from you."

Shon nodded and slipped out of the door onto the cold marble corridor. keeping to the painted pillars that decorated each side containing what looked like hieroglyphs. Shon noted they contained a mixture of Ancient Egyptian and another language she did not recognise. Reaching the throne room she was happy to see her med tricorder on the floor in the far side of the thrones. Suddenly there was a noise behind her . As the patter of feet approached she flattened herself between two pillars.

A group of four or five women walked past happily chattering and stopped as Shon joined them. "We have not seen you before?" one of the women stopped and spoke. "I was not informed you were to join the Daughter of Anubis serving women?" Shon's heart jumped. Perhaps this would mean she could see Milani. She bowed her head. "I think it was decided at the last minute. I have a talent with hair and it was thought I could enhance the daughter of Anubis beauty." "Very well, hurry we are late." the woman said with resignation. Shon joined the back of the line and, as they passed the throne she grabbed the tricorder slipping it into her skirt and smiled.

A few minutes later the group, now silent entered a magnificent room containing an enormous gold bed steps up to it. On the wall behind there was an enormous mural that Shon was slightly embarrassed by what she saw. The closer she looked the more she could see the people contained with the mural moving in a twisted allegory of sex. "Stop gawping!" the woman exclaimed, "and arrange those flowers." Shon nodded and moved over to the table. This gave her the opportunity to check her tricorder for Milan's life signs. She was pleased to see they were strong and that she was nearby.

"Bring us wine!" a commanding voice called from what seemed like a side room. It only took a nanosecond for Shon to Pick up a tray containing glasses and wine. She pulled a cloth used to dry the top of the flower table and fixed it over her hair and entered the room. An enormous fire burned in one corner of the room and on a thick pile of fur two naked women lay obviously satiated after sex. The daughter of Ra and Milani lay there laughing. Shon poured two glasses and placed the tray on the floor and bowed. Milani looked right at her, her eyes not recognising her friend. Shon noted Milani's eyes seeing some kind of creatures swimming there.

Two guards had arrived and stood to attention inside the doorway. Shon took an intake of breath thinking that she had been found out, however as she walked out they stood looking forward. Slipping behind the door Shon scanned for Milani's life signs, specifically her eyes. As she was waiting for the results she noted one of the staff weapons discarded against the wall. Grabbing it she ran silently into the throne room and back down the corridor. As she approached the door she elevated the weapon and pressed the trigger. The end of the staff opened and a touch of flame appeared, touching the door nob she pushed it open and jumped in expecting to possibly see guards. However she found herself pointing the weapon at Finchley.

"Look, if this is about who sleeps on what side of the bed, you've only got to tell me..." Finchley laughed, the first time he'd done so in what had seemed like an eternity. He gently pushed the tip of the staff so it was facing away from him, then asked, "What did you manage to find out, is Milani up there, is she with the Empress?"

Shon had the grace to blush as she closed the weapon down and put it up against a pillar. "I found out quite a lot. I managed to retrieve my tricorder so I can check the scans I performed of Mil. Yes she is with the empress in some splendour I must say, she does not recognise me and I think she is under some physical compulsion. when you look into her eyes they flicker green and red, almost as though there is something alive in there. I am able to access the Empress staterooms as someone who can dress Mil's hair, or the daughter of Anubis as she is now called. There is a sizeable guard contingent stationed outside but the staterooms are guard free. I think some of the guards are rather lax and more interested in the serving women hence the staff," she pointed to the weapon. The palace guard contingent wear some sort of ceremonial gear. very little in the way of clothes more of a loin cloth look, Large head dress with a collar and they all carry these fire sticks.

"Let me have a quick look at my tricorder. " she sat for a moment collating her information, "Ahh, so that is it!" she exclaimed. "There is something wrapped around the Commander's brainstem. The tricorder does not recognise it but I am sure that is what is compelling her." Shon shrugged, "some sort of animal? and," she finished "there are a lot of, what look like priests constantly ministering to her."

"Well, if this was some kind of conventional ship, I'd say we would use the vents or ducts to try and access the rooms the Empress is in, however, being as it isn't, we'll have to find another way" Finchley replied. He sat down on a stone bench, deep in thought as to what they would do next, then he looked at Shon, "You said you're able to access the Empress staterooms as someone who can dress Milani's hair, but what if you were to also bring along some kind of 'special gift', by way of pleasure for her and the Empress?"

He then looked at Karadis.

"What?" Karadis asked, then realised what Finchley's intention was. "NO, absolutely NOT!"

"But it's perfect, and the rest of us can act as the Honour Guard, bringing the 'special gift' to them" Finchley answered, his hands open in a pleading manner.

"I'm not prostituting myself for them, OR YOU!" Karadis shouted.

"But you wouldn't be, all you'd be doing was helping us gain access to the Empress staterooms" Finchley replied, "and besides, Shon could help you pick out a costume and do your hair and makeup, it would be fantastic, you'd get a makeover."

He looked back at Shon again, "What do you say Shon, up for the challenge?"

"I will do whatever is needed to free Milani and then get out of this benighted place and return to the 'Eagle' if, indeed it is still there." She looked at Finnegan and then at Karadis. I can play my part easily enough, I know where the robing room is, however where are you going to get honour guard uniforms?"

"That's my department" Finnigan answered, nudging Kilbane. Kilbane looked at him perplexedly, "What?" he asked the Irishman.

"Remember the Argarius trip?" Finnigan replied.

Kilbane blinked a few times, then his eyes went wide, "Oh, you can't be serious, you CANNOT BE SERIOUS!"

"Oh but I am Kevin me boy, I'm being very serious..." Finnigan smiled slyly.

"But that was going to be a one off, you swore we'd never have to do that again!!!" Kilbane complained.

"Ah, never take an Irishman serious when he says something's a one off" Finnigan answered, making for the doorway.

Kilbane looked at Finchley with pleading eyes, "Please don't make me do this again, it's humiliating."

Finchley walked over to Kilbane, and placed his hands on the tops of Kilbane's arms, "We all have to take one for the team Kevin, it's your turn" he laughed.

"But I took one for the team on Argarius, isn't that enough!" Kilbane answered, the pitch of his voice going up and up.

"Then you'll know what you're doing this time" Finchley grinned, slapping Kilbane's right arm, "Think of Argarius as a practice run, and this is the real deal. Go get em' tiger!"

Kilbane's head drooped down and he about turned and followed after Finnigan mumbling, "It's not fair, I was 'it' the last time..."

Finchley continued grinning till both Finnigan and Kilbane left the room, then he turned back to Shon and Karadis. Turning to Shon he said, "Ok, they'll be about twenty minutes or so, and when they get back, they'll have Honour Guard uniforms for me and for themselves. Once we're changed, we'll accompany you and Karadis up to where Milani and the Empress are. In the meantime, it's time for you to make Karadis look beautiful...you'll have your work cut out."

"Hey!" Karadis said, punching Finchley in the arm, "I may be Klingon, but I still have feelings you know."

"Which is more than I can say for my arm..." Finchley replied, rubbing the arm Karadis has just punched.

"I am a doctor not a beautician you know. I don't really see Karadis in anything but leather, let's see what is in these cupboards." Pulling apart the large doors provided views of bejewelled head dresses and a myriad of flimsy dresses. Shon sighed. "Okay sit down let me do something with your hair. I wish I had time to wash it it's beautiful hair Karadis" Shon said as she attempted to comb the curls. "Ahh, this might work" she said as she withdrew a light brown dress banded with a line of soft leather running up between the breasts enhancing them. the surface of the dress was full of glittering precious stones. do you think you could wear this?" she asked the Klingon.

"Thank you" Karadis replied to Shon as she complimented her about her hair. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the bejewelled dress, and though flimsy in it's design and sheerness, that fact was put to one side because of it's construct. She stood up again and held the dress to her body, and though not renowned for being what most would say a 'girly girl', it did look fantastic.

"Let me try it on" she said, stripping away the guard uniform she was wearing. Finchley immediately turned away, "Oh good grief Karadis, decorum if you will please."

"Yeah, like you've never seen me naked before" Karadis laughed.

"That was in the line of duty, and we were surrounded by an overwhelming force so we couldn't exactly say no when they told us to 'strip!'..." Finchley answered.

By that time Karadis was out of the uniform and into the flimsy dress. She looked at herself as best she could as there was no mirror she could see, and she loved it. The way the jewels sparkled, how much the material clung to her body accentuating her curves, and the way the leather straps round her breasts brought them up and showed their fullness.

"If we get out of this, I'm wearing this forever!" Karadis said excitedly. Looking at Shon she asked, "What do you think?"

Shon smiled "okay, now just to finish off." She took a small palm of scented oil and brushed it through Karadis' hair until her curls gleamed . the she took two ruby clips and took some hair at each side and clipped it up. Smiling Shon took some rouge and brushed it on to Karadis lips bringing out their fullness like ripe cherries.

Taking a gold and ruby collar she placed that around her neck, the large ruby lying between her breasts.

"There, I have never seen you look so beautiful Karadis, the dress shows every curve and muscle in your body. Finchley what do you think? I think the beautiful Amazon is ready."

Finchley turned back and immediately jaw dropped, but he quickly recovered and looked embarrassingly anywhere but again at Karadis, "Yes, it's...well...indeed...you...lovely...I..." and he walked out the door.

"I'm going to take that as a yes, he liked the look" Karadis smiled at Shon, "You've done a good job Shon, I think I can grow to like being dressed by you!"

The door opened silently and Kilbane and Finnegan entered bringing three honour guard uniforms, " What do you think of you colleague?" Shon asked.

Finnigan, not normally short of things to say, could only stare open mouthed at the beauty he beheld in front of him. Kilbane was already fantasising about what he and Karadis would be doing if they were ever alone and she were dressed like that. Normally he wouldn't have dreams like that regarding Karadis, however, he'd never seen her dressed and made up in the way she currently was. "Wooooooooowwwwwwww..." was all he could reply with.

Shon handed Finchley a uniform and placed the scarf around her head to cover her Vulcan ears; "everyone ready?" she asked everybody nodding. "Right There are honour guards outside and inside the inner courtyard. Once through there we will enter the private quarters. Milani unfortunately is again fully in Daughter of Anubis mode." Just in case you do not know Karadis Anubis is the god of the dead and she appreciates talk that is quite dark and a lot of bowing and scraping, but do not talk unless she asks you a question, I know it will be difficult for you but, I believe once she sees you....well her heart will be lost."

She smoothed her own dress and checked again that her ears and hair was covered and handed Finchley the staff weapon. "you go first then Karadis with me behind her Kilbane and Finnegan. Once we leave this room we follow the corridor to the end, through the doors into the throne room. There is a door behind the throne on the left. Knock and announce a gift for the daughter of Anubis. Once inside move aside and I will talk. We need to get Milani alone. I am unable to remove the 'worms' for want of a better diagnosis until I get her safely into a medical facility which, I presume they do have one. If she gets you alone Karadis, when you are ready make an excuse to call me and I will incapacitate her. Right, lets go and remember these people will kill you without another though."

They got into formation and Finchley opened the doors. Shon took a deep breath hoping her plan would work she bent low behind Karadis and a shot of desire speared through her as the Klingon's smooth muscular buttocks moved beneath the silky fall of the dress.

Karadis snuck a glance behind her, as she was about to say something to Shon, and saw the Betazoid looking at her behind. "Are you checking out my behind Shon?" she asked.

Shon's cheeks shot red, "you are truly beautiful Karadis, this form of dress really suits you and yes, I was checking you out as, I am sure every red blooded male is and I KNOW Milani will, now, shush and look ahead there will be guards from now in.

The group began to walk towards the throne room and suddenly four guards with set staffs challenged them. "Who are you, what do you want?" the lead guard asked aggressively.

Shon lifted her head but still managed to look subservient. "This woman is a gift for the Daughter of Anubis, as you can see your queen will be well pleased. Kilbane and Finnegan moved aside so the guards could see the Klingon in all her glory. If they could have Shon knew their tongues were salivating and something else was growing.

"You may pass, she is a great gift."

Shon nodded and the group continued into the throne room. "Go left" Shon whispered as they turned towards the double doors.
"Finchley knock four times with the head of your staff and open the doors."

Shon looked at Karadis once again and could not help but marvel at the gleaming sculpted body. 'knock it off Shon' she admonished herself as the group entered the large room. Milani and the Daughter of Ra were no longer naked but barely clothed in their white gowns that left very little to the imagination. Sitting enthroned beside the huge fire they were drinking wine and eating.....'what IS that' Shon thought and then felt sick as she realised it was live bird chicks who squeaked in fear as they were consumed with a crunch.

Shon moved forward still with her had bent. "Mighty Empress I have found a wonderful gift for the Daughter of Anubis to do with what she will even, unto death." Shon smiled inwardly knowing that Karadis would be turning that over in her mind.

Milani who was caressing her companions breasts looked up, down and the snapped back. "for me?" She stood and clapped her hands as she moved towards the group. "Kneel Karadis." Shon whispered.

It took all her effort for Karadis to kneel, fighting the urge to want to create merry hell instead. She knew that to speak would be insubordinate, so instead she remained quiet, but lifting her hand to pull the flimsy dress away from her body to reveal a glimpse of her ample breasts.

Standing back a little from the situation, Finnigan glanced sideways at Kilbane and out the side of his mouth he whispered, "That Colleen certainly gets your heart racing, what a Gal!"

Finchley kicked backwards and connected with Finnigan's shin. The Irishman whinged in pain but didn't call out for fear it would attract unwanted attention away from Karadis.

Karadis meanwhile took some initiative and boldly stood up. Looking first at Milani, then at the Empress, she said "Daughter of Ra, my Empress, I gift to you my undying devotion, and as a token of that, I give myself to you willingly for your pleasure and ecstasy, how my I serve you?"

The Empress smiled, take off your clothes Amazon."

Shon intervened and prostrated herself on the floor. "My Empress, this gift was purely for the Daughter of Anubis, perhaps she could taste this gift in private first?"

"SILENCE!" the daughter of Ra shouted. "How dare you speak to me you who are nothing!" she nodded to one of her personal guard. "show her exquisite pain!"

The staff extended and the guard pressed it into Shon's back and pressed the trigger as a shot of what looked like electricity flowed into Shon. Shon screamed and writhed on the floor. "Again!" the daughter of Ra ordered and Shon's body contracted and shuddered again and lay still. "Remove her." she ordered. Shon, unconscious was dragged into Milani's room.
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