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"Broken Loyalties" by Lady Rainbow
Rating: PG-13 Japanese: Sumimasen (sorry/forgive me). A naginata is a long pole with a blade at the end kind of like a super-sized scythe. In medieval Japan, this was considered a woman’s weapon. It originated as a farming implement before being modified into a formal weapon. Things are coming to a head. Will Travis and Company get to Tanaka in time before she escapes? Twelve “Is this the way, Oneko?” She gave him an aggravated yowl, punctuated by two distinct meows. Travis sighed and raised his hands. “All right, but if this ceiling drops one more time, I’m gonna have trouble fitting in here.” Again, she meowed, this time softer and more sympathetic. They’d been crawling through the bowels of Tanaka’s fortress for some time now. His sense of direction told him east, but how far east, he had no idea. Travis had a rough plan: free Hoshi and Trip, meet up with Bernhard and Malcolm and really stick it to Tanaka. Somehow, someway. You’d make a great Tactical officer, he told himself. Somehow, someway. Well, at least I can score some points on creativity and thinking on the fly. The thought struck him as funny and he stifled giggles under his breath. There was a bend in the tunnel and they headed in a different direction: south. He closed his eyes and checked his mental map. Where were they going? Back to his and Bernhard’s guest suite? Was Tanaka holding Trip and Hoshi in guest quarters? The tunnel opened into a small closet. The sweet smell of sandalwood and gardenias nearly made him sneeze. Travis tried to get to his feet, but found it was impossible in the small space. The soft silk of robes brushed against his back. A line of kimonos behind him swished as he tried to untangle himself from them. “Where are we, Oneko?” he whispered. The cat meowed and scratched at a wooden panel directly in front of them. Cautiously, Travis felt along the smooth inside of it until he found a latch. It clicked and the panel swung open. Oneko stuck her nose out and he followed suit. The room faced south and the sunlight streamed through the shoji. A futon lay in the center of the room, a chest of drawers, a writing desk, and an altar in a niche in the wall. Travis wondered into whose room they’d stumbled, then he realized the silks on the futon were of the finest quality. The altar was inlaid with gold and mother-of-pearl and the chest of drawers decorated with golden characters. He swore mentally. Tanaka’s private quarters. Travis glanced around to see cameras mounted in each corner. It wouldn’t surprise him if the furniture in her room would be booby-trapped. Tanaka might even already know he was here. Then Oneko stepped out of the closet and padded on silent feet. She crossed the room to the desk, jumped onto its top, then pushed what looked like a PADD to the edge of it. It dropped onto the carpeted floor, then Oneko nudged it forward with her nose. She pushed it across the room until the edge of the PADD made contact with the closet door. Travis slowly reached out and grabbed it as Oneko leaped back into the closet next to him. “What’d you pick up?” he whispered. Oneko meowed softly and scrabbled to the back of the closet. Travis tucked the PADD into his Starfleet-issue jacket and followed her. It would have to wait. Finally, they came to an iron grate set at the end of the tunnel. Travis peered through the bars and saw Trip Tucker sitting at one corner of the room, but he couldn’t see Hoshi at all. Travis presumed that they were under guard; where were the guards? Trip’s eyes drifted over to meet Travis’s, and they widened in surprise. Travis shook his head, but too late. “Hey! Someone’s over there!” Trip yelled, but he pointed in the opposite direction of the grate. There were sounds of surprise, then scuffle, the clang of blade against blade. Oneko balled herself into a lump and slammed into the grate at full speed. Travis winced at a loud smack, but he heard the set of bars creak in protest. “Don’t need to use your head, Oneko,” he admonished her. He took a deep breath and rammed the grate with his shoulder, then again, and again. Finally, the grate popped free. His grin widened as he regarded the indignant ball of fur and added, “But thanks for loosening it for me.” The two wriggled out into the room. Trip was sitting on a guard who was the size of a sumo wrestler; the man was flailing about, trying to regain his leverage, but couldn’t. Two other unconscious guards lay in separate corners of the room. Then Travis saw Hoshi and his mouth dropped open. Hoshi stood with one foot on the head guard’s chest, pointing a long pole at his throat. That pole ended in a wicked, asymmetrical blade. Her eyes flickered towards Travis, then back to her opponent. “Sumimasen,” she apologized to the man, before reversing the weapon in her hands and knocking him out with the blunt end of the pole. “Um..Travis, wouldn’t mind a bit of help here,” Trip said through gritted teeth. Travis started towards him, but suddenly, the huge guard shuddered and sneezed mightily. Trip was nearly dislodged from his perch from the sheer force of the sneeze. Then came another sneeze, then another...he and Travis stared at each other, mystified. “Whatever you’ve got...don’t hang around Malcolm too long, or he’ll be sneezin’ up a storm too,” Trip said. He eyed the man suspiciously, but the guard didn’t even notice him getting to his feet. “I—“ Travis blinked and realized what it was. The poor man’s eyes were watering and puffy; he staggered out the shoji, not caring about his former prisoners. Travis stared after him and thought, with a hint of sympathy, The guy’s allergic to cats. He’s in no shape to chase us now. Oneko meowed and sashayed over to Hoshi, who crouched down and petted her. Trip stared at them and asked, “Where’d the cat come from?” “You can see her?” Travis blurted out. “Kinda hard to miss a black cat with white paws, Travis.” Oneko meowed and allowed him to scratch her behind the ears. She gave a seductive purr and rubbed the side of her face on his sleeve. “She’s Travis’s pet,” Hoshi replied with a grin. “We’ll explain later. “ She got to her feet and adjusted her hold on the long, bladed pole. “Tanaka’s been altering documents and erasing evidence, Travis, and I know where to find the proof.” “Like this?” Travis reached into his jacket and withdrew the PADD. He handed it to Hoshi who blinked at the scarlet characters etched into the side of the device. “Oneko found it.” Hoshi grinned from ear to ear. “This is a start. Very good, Oneko-chan.” She tucked it into the sash of her kimono. “Come on, we have to find Malcolm and Bernhard.” The halls were strangely deserted, considering the fortress was under siege. Travis and the others reached the Archives unopposed, and even more surprising, the Archives had been abandoned. Travis winced at the wreckage caused by the bomb hidden in the door's touchplate. Trip said that Kaimaru and most of his men hadn't survived the blast. "More of a reason for us to get Tanaka," Travis said. "Yeah," was all Trip said. It was simple for Hoshi to locate a computer and begin her efforts to unlock Tanaka’s labyrinth of passwords. She carefully leaned the weapon (a naginata, she explained to Travis) within arm’s reach and carefully hooked the PADD to the computer. Oneko sat on the tabletop next to her keyboard, her whiskers twitching in anticipation. Trip managed to bring up a schematic of the fortress’s defenses. “Damn,” he whistled. “Most of ‘em are locked down under Tanaka’s own personal code. I think Malcolm would have raptures over this stuff. One of the power generators is out, but she’s got plenty to spare to keep her island runnin’.” “Think we can tie into the internal sensors and find her?” Travis asked. “I can try. Gimme a minute. Malcolm taught me this neat little trick—“ Travis’s communicator went off and he flipped it open. “Mayweather.” “I see you are somewhat of an escape artist, Travis-chan,” came the soft poisonous voice. “I would like to know how you managed to cut through the ropes.” Travis moved out of the Archives and into the hall. If Tanaka knew where his communicator was, she could possibly beam him, Trip or Hoshi out. “It’s a trade secret, Tanaka.” “Have you thought about my proposal?” “I think you can guess my answer.” Tanaka chuckled. “What a pity. Poor misguided fool. I suppose you want to know where I am, but by the time you find me, I’ll be long gone. I have friends in the shadows, Travis-chan and they will find you like they found your brother.” “You’ll pay for what you did to my family, Tanaka. You talk about duty and honor, but you don’t have any.” Travis raised his head to see Trip gesturing wildly at the end of the hall. The engineer had on one of Tanaka’s com headsets and mouthed, Keep her talking! Travis nodded as he heard her reply. “On the contrary. I will do anything to make sure my consortium survives, Travis-san. Anything. It is my life. There will be others to take my place while I go...elsewhere.” “You can’t run, Tanaka. Running away is the mark of a coward. Aren’t you going to face your accusers? After all, you told me you were innocent of what they’re saying you did. Prove it.” She laughed harshly. “I will prove it, to you and your precious Starfleet, in a manner that will prove my innocence without a doubt.” “How?” “You will find out in due time, Travis-san. You are a worthy adversary and I expect to see you again in the future.” There was a soft click at the end of the line as she closed her end of the channel. “She’s crazy,” Travis muttered as he returned to Trip. The engineer listened to his headset, then grinned again. “We got her,” Trip said triumphantly. “She’s heading towards her private shuttlepad on the north side of the island—“ Travis’s communicator went off again and this time it was Captain Archer, back on Enterprise. Travis reported Trip’s findings to the captain. “We’re trying to lock onto her biosigns, but it looks like she’s wearing some kind of sensor baffle that messes with long-range sensors. She sounds like she’s trying to make a run for it,” Archer said. Another voice broke into the channel, Bernhard Mueller’s. “Captain McKenzie and my teams are surrounding the airfield. If she tries to escape, we’ll stop her.” Archer asked, “Where’s Malcolm?” “He’s currently in the process of commandeering one of Tanaka’s idle shuttles. Quite nice, the latest model. I think some of Tanaka’s turncoats are trying to install a phase cannon on it—“ Travis heard a snort of exasperated amusement from Hoshi, who was still at the computer console. She shook her head in mixed fondness and disbelief. He grinned and addressed Captain Archer again. “Captain Archer, is Captain Sandosh still in orbit?” “He is. Admiral Reed’s with him, and there are other Boomer ships that just arrived in the system. Your mother called, and whoever was still in the area came running.” “That’s Mom for you,” Travis said. He knew that both Paul and Philippe Trieste also had something to do with the fast Boomer response, but appreciated Archer’s caution. Tanaka had ways of tapping into their communications, if she’d been able to contact Travis in the first place. “Can you connect with Sandosh? I have an idea that I want to run by him.” “Just a minute, Travis. Bernhard, you still on the line?” “Yes, Captain. We’re almost at the rendezvous point.” “Check back with me in fifteen minutes, Ensign.” “Yes, Captain. Mueller, out.” Archer came back and said, “Stand by, Travis. We’re hailing the Vhrum now.” “Got it!” Hoshi said with a whoop of delight. “I’m in, Travis! I’m accessing the records right now.” Travis and Trip hovered over her shoulder as information flashed onto the screen. Then Captain Sandosh’s gravelly voice said, “Travis? You wanted to speak to me?” “Yes, Sandosh.” Travis cradled the communicator against his ear with his shoulder. “I need your help with something big.” |
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