In The Darkness

[1stbestdestiny]

At first, he wasn't sure he was even awake. When he opened his eyes, a pitch black veil was all he could see. It was the sound of his own labored breathing and the pain in his chest that convinced him of his own consciousness. Panic threatened to rise. Had something happened to his eyes? How did he get here? Where was here? He forced the feeling down as best he could. It wouldn't benefit him in any way.

Dropping his head, he struggled to recall his last waking memory, to hopefully give some context to his present predicament. He remembered leaving his temporary quarters and exiting out into the hall. From there, the events flooded back. He'd heard a commotion. Someone yelling, fear giving volume to their cries. He'd rushed through the corridor and around a corner. Three men. All dressed differently. One in the uniform of the Babel conference security team. In their midst? Amanda, wife of the Vulcan Ambassador and mother of his First Officer. Clearly being held or dragged against her will. He'd thrown himself into the fray without pausing to question. Her safety and possibly her life had been at risk. Of that much, he'd been sure.

How he'd finally been incapacitated was not amongst his memories.

A sudden thought struck him. What of Amanda?

"Mrs. Sarek. Mrs. Sarek?" he called out in the darkness, hoping a response would be forthcoming.

Comments

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

Sarek. Spock. Help. I can't... Sarek. SAREK!

Amanda suddenly awoke with a gasp, her head pounding. All she could see around her was darkness, and for a moment, it was like she was floating in nothingness. But then she remembered being assailed in the corridor while on her way back to the quarters she shared with her husband, three men trying to take her against her will. She had screamed for help, hoping that getting someone's attention would scare them off. But when Captain Kirk had arrived...

Suddenly, she heard him calling for her. Pushing herself up, she tried to focus in the direction of the voice, but she still couldn't see anything.

"I'm here, Captain," she told him, her voice a bit rough from whatever they had held over her mouth and nose after they had subdued him. "Are you all right?"

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

Relief washed over him.

"I'm fine," was the knee-jerk response, regardless of the truth. "But I can't see anything. Can you?"

He hadn't moved yet from his spot on the sandy floor.

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

Her first reaction was to shake her head - something that she immediately regretted as she felt a bit light-headed, even without being able to see anything. Groaning, she rubbed her head and took several deep breaths before answering.

"No, I can't see a thing," she told him. "I'm cold, but I'm not sure whether that's because of where we are or because of what they used to knock me out."

Somehow, she had a feeling it was a bit of both.

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

Her groan caused him concern. "Are you hurt at all?"

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

"Not hurt as in injured," she assured him. "But my head's spinning a bit, even in the darkness. I'm sure I'll be all right."

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

"Rest and I'll see if I can't get a feeling for our prison cell here."

If he could discover something about the space in which they were being held, perhaps they could find a way to escape. Slowly and carefully, he struggled to his feet. At least his head didn't hit the ceiling.

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

Amanda wanted to protest and offer to help, but standing up wasn't an option at the moment. So she took several deep breaths to try to continue to clear her head, not sure exactly why she was feeling this way.

"The ground doesn't feel like flooring. It feels uneven," she told him. "And with the chill...do you think we're in a cave of some sort?"

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

He reached out blindly and eventually he brushed his fingertips against the nearest wall. Deep valleys and jagged peaks forced him to move slowly. His other hand curled protectively around his left side. Each breath brought pain.

"That's what it feels like," he confirmed.

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

She nodded, wishing she could see. Fighting against the nausea, she pushed herself off the floor.

"This must have to do with the conference," she surmised. She couldn't think of another reason why they would have come after her now. She was otherwise just there as a spectator, but as the wife of the Vulcan ambassador.

Suddenly, she frowned, putting her hand to her head. "I can't sense Sarek."

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

He suddenly stopped his slow path along the wall and looked over his shoulder at her. Or at least in the direction of her voice. Both comments made sense.

"The two are probably related," he told her. "Whoever attacked you will try and use you to influence the Ambassador."

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

When Kirk said that, she let out a soft sigh, hating the idea of being used to try to make Sarek do something against his principles. "That's what I'm afraid of, captain. I suppose it would have been foolish to believe the conspiracy was stopped when you stopped the assassin on the ship."

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

He leaned his weight against the uneven wall, his gaze dropping to the floor. "It's been my experience that if someone wants something badly enough, they'll find a way to do it. The Orions have a lot to lose if Coridan is admitted to the Federation."

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

Frowning at the sound of the captain's voice, she starts moving carefully forward. She can barely make out his outline in the dark now. "Then we can't let them use either of us against the Federation," she said as she reached him. "Captain, are you all right?"

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

Immediately his head rose and his posture straightened. He was glad his expression would be hidden from her. "I'm fine," he lied again, struggling to keep his breathing even. "Let's find out what the rest of the perimeter feel like."

If they didn't find a way out, his health wouldn't be an issue.

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

She wanted to believe that he was telling the truth, but part of her still worried. Those men had been vicious. However, she nodded at his request and moved across to run her hand along the wall, slowly following it.

"It feels like we're in a rounded chamber."

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

He began to expand his search higher in hopes of finding the overhead. His reach was severely hampered though by the pain in his chest. Despite being several inches shorter than he, he realizes she might have a better chance.

"Can you touch the ceiling at all?"

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

She frowned into the darkness at his request and carefully stretched up onto her tiptoes as she ran her hand up the wall. She had to extend her fingers as far as she could before her fingers brushed the ceiling.

"Just barely," she told him, "but I can feel it."

[1stbestdestiny.livejournal.com]

"There has to be a way in and out," he said with conviction. Transporting them into a sealed space wouldn't have made sense. As bargaining pawns, they wouldn't be any use to anyone if they died due to lack of air.

[thyla-amanda.livejournal.com]

She nodded in agreement. Getting them in meant that they had to get them out. They just had to find the way.

"I don't think they dropped us in. Otherwise, why keep us in the dark as it would be impossible for us to climb up to get out. So that means there must be another way that they don't want us to see."

Crouching down, she started to feel along the wall, searching with her hands for something that might indicate an opening or other kind of escape route.