On Our Own [Part 3]

Posted on Sun May 11th, 2025 @ 7:33pm by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Chiyomi Anzai & Ensign Miyoko Misaka

1,400 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Indivisible
Location: Unknown
Timeline: At least 40 minutes after Part 2

Previously, on Star Trek: Myogi:

"Can't," Chiyomi shook her head as she climbed in behind them. "It's too heavy; we'd be wasting valuable time."

Nodding, Stokh turned and proceeded to move into the vent. The only thing they could do now was move quickly and put as much distance between them and their pursuers as possible.

No sooner had the trio disappeared off into the vents when three Elachi soldiers entered the laboratory. Two of them quickly located their fallen comrades and discovered the two broken chambers, while the third uncovered the open vent. One of the Elachi retrieved what appeared to be a communication device and seemed to report their findings... Potentially letting whoever had dispatched them know of the escaped prisoners...

And now, the continuation:

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With the entire facility now on high alert, Elachi patrols were swarming just about everywhere as they searched frantically for the prisoners. They knew that were lurking in the vents somewhere, but there was no way of telling from where they would emerge- or when for that matter. So for now, they just had to bide their time and inspect every last nook and cranny; after all, it was only three of them, so the odds were clearly in the Elachis' favor- at least for the time being.

In one such nondescript corridor, the second (or was it third?) patrol in the last half-hour had just finished conducting a sweep of the area and had moved on to the next one. As their heavy footsteps faded in the distance, a small grate in the floor was pushed aside and Chiyomi cautiously poked her head out. Once she had ascertained that the patrol wasn't coming back, she proceeded to pull hoist herself up out of the vents and dust herself off.

"Coast is clear," she reported as she reached back down to help pull her three accomplices out. "Let's get a move on."

First through the vent was Stokh, who proceeded to do the same once she was in an upright position. She wasn't sure if Chiyomi had a plan, but right now, the two Starfleet officers were her best bet at survival.

Miyoko looked over at her father, he simply gave her a nod. She smiled back and then proceeded to follow the others.

"I hate to sound like a broken record by this point," Stokh whispered. "But, where are we moving to?"

"Anywhere but here." Touma replied. "We should determine if this is a ground or space facility."

"Ideally, we should try and locate some kind of engineering facility," Chiyomi suggested. "The presence of anti-gravity systems or likenesses thereof will tell us real quick whether or not we're in space."

"I think you'll forgive me if I still don't know which way is up, let alone where an engineering plant would be." Stokh responded. She was still operating under the mentality of working with the Kaiser, and being the one looked to for answers. In this case, answers to questions that (to Stokh) seemed in possible.

"Nor would we expect you to," Chiyomi remarked as she reached out and started to feel along the walls.

"So, that's what we're doing now?" Stokh asked as she reluctantly started following Chiyomi's lead. "Blindly fumbling about like we're children? You're Starfleet, for crying out loud. Surely, you must know something on whoever these people are..."

Chiyomi glanced over at Stokh. "If we did, do you think I'd be wasting my time doing this?"

"Yes?" Stokh said with a twinge of doubt. "Perhaps that's the failings of an all-volunteer military. Information being withheld for personal gain, leaving the ground grunts literally fumbling about in the dark. Not so much an issue in a military with conscription."

Chiyomi, for her part, elected to ignore Stokh's thinly-veiled dig at Starfleet, as there was no point in picking a meaningless fight when they had much bigger concerns right now. Instead, she continued to feel around until her hand came to rest on a nondescript pipe. she paused for a few seconds, then moved it just off to her right.

"Okay, I'm picking up a faint vibration," she replied, pointing in a seemingly vague direction. "If there's an engineering facility around here... I would wager strong money that it's that way."

"Lead the way." Stokh gestured in the direction that Chiyomi had indicated.

Slowly, the four of them pressed onward, moving deeper into the labyrinth of indistinct corridors in what they could only hope was the right direction.

"You know, when we first escaped from the lab back there, I blindly trusted that you had some sort of plan, but now I'm starting to have my doubts." Stokh said. "For all I know, you could be leading us in circles!"

"And for all I know, I may just," Chiyomi answered truthfully as she continued to feel along the walls. "but seeing as we presently lack any navigational instruments that we could be of use to us here, we have to rely on the environment to offer us some clues."

"So, just as I suspected back there:" Stokh said. "You have no plan like I've been blindly trusting you to have. Some help you've turned out to be: That's the last time I ever put blind faith in a Starfleet officer..."

Chiyomi stopped, her hand still resting against the conduit. her fingers were balled up tightly in a fist, as if she were seriously deliberating on letting the Rheuysian have it.

"Miss Stokh," she began calmly, though there was a thin layer of iciness underlying her tone of voice. "I suggest you take good long moment to consider the circumstances; we're in an unfamiliar facility, run by a species whose language we know nothing about; we have no tricorder, no comm badge, nothing so much as a map to point us in the right direction. If you think you can do any better in that regard, I'd encourage you to consider what we're up against."

"It sounds to me an awful lot like RSDF survival training:" Stokh said, the Rheuysian conscript clearly fed up with the excuses from the volunteer Starfleet officer. "Getting dropped off in unknown environs, with no kit, no gear, only your instincts and your unit to get you out to the extraction point. Is this to say that Starfleet has nothing comparable? Or if they do, they only offer it to their ultra machismo security personnel and not to their scientists?"

"That is our survival training program summarized to a T, Miss Stokh," Chiyomi replied. "If it's anything different with your precious RSDF, then I'd pity what they're teaching you."

"Why you spoiled, privileged-!" Stokh proceeded to rush Chiyomi.

Much to her surprise, Chiyomi ducked, spun around, and swiftly pinned Stokh up against the bulkhead.

"Would you care to try that again, Miss Stokh?" she asked as she lifted Stokh's chin up to meet her at eye level. "Because for your information, I happened to grow up in a bad part of New Venice; I had to contend with street rats twice your size on a day-to-day basis; I have literally been winging it on gut instinct since I was six years old; if you'd care to question my survival instincts, Miss Stokh, I would strongly suggest you try walking a mile in my shoes next time before fucking around and finding out."

And with that, she released her grip on Stokh.

"Fuck... You!" Stokh growled. "I never thought highly of those who sit in ivory towers and mock the Kaiser's name, but you? You have a special place in H'el'Kor to rot!"

"Perhaps another day, Miss Stokh," Chiyomi muttered half-retortingly. "But regardless of your preconceived notions, we all need to be working together if we so much as stand a chance of getting out of here alive, understood?"

"...Fine, but one more bad word about the RSDF, and I will personally show you the superiority of conscription over an all-volunteer military." Stokh stipulated.

Nodding, Chiyomi shifted her attention over to Miyoko and Touma.

"Let's get a move on," she ordered. "We're sitting ducks the longer we remain out here in the open..."

To be continued...

 

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