MSNPC Lieutenant JG Arianna Sokova - you are gold/like that you're bound to return

[Justin Partridge]

((Interior. Hab 1.))

Grumm: Not things, people! Our friends and crew mates. The Sokova I met a few dozen times before, would have done anything to save those people!

Arianna felt herself stop with a start. 

Her hand gripped the haft of the disruptor tighter. Sending the white of her knuckles into a blushing, tense redness. What made her the most furious was...he was right. More right than she could even articulate in the moment. She couldn't look at him. If she did, she might shatter completely. Either in rage or just pure despair. Or was it shame? Sometimes it all just felt like one big miasma of emotion, roiling just behind her eye and optical unit. 

The first days and weeks of her..."indentured servitude" had been consumed with the thought of escape. Even going so far as to explicitly stand with Grumm and his own various escape attempts. As they failed, more and more of Arianna had been chipped away. Shown just how pointless their efforts had been. How prepared the Sheliak were for every eventuality. 

Those weeks quickly turned into years and unlike Grumm, Arianna had turned inward sourly. Curdling her skills and eventually her resolve. Had the time started to eat into her sanity too? Ironically enough, only time would tell in that aspect. But first...she had to get away. Had to find some slice of solace amongst the stars to even begin to consider any of that...or this...

She darted up the corridor, not even taking the time to look back to see if Grumm had taken the opposite corridor. She stacked slightly before the junction to take her into the next hallway. She whirled and glanced down both sides of the hall. Clear on both ends. She pivoted, shifting her weight to her left back foot and-

Something! Someone! Behind her! She almost brought the disruptor to level...

Grumm: It's just me.

She gave an angry, yet slightly relieved huff. Turning her eyes back to the adjourning antechamber. Like the rest of the complex outside of the cells, it was almost too clean. Too shiny. Too boring. A too neat rejoinder to the controlled brutality of the inner and outer mines.

But again, those were questions for after. For freedom. 

Sokova: Decided that I'm right?

Grumm: No, if you really want to leave that's on you. I owe you my freedom, and my mobility. The least I can do is get you to the shuttlebay in one piece.  

She gave another grunt. She couldn't control what he did. She had realized that ages ago. But she wasn't about to look this particular gift horse in the mouth. She simply nodded tersely and turned outward once more to move. 

Sokova: Alright. Fine. But I'm not stopping for anything.

((Interior. Hab 1. "Company Archives".))

The very next room made her a liar. She was aghast at what she and Grumm walked into. Encased in large, semi-clear display cabinets were...personnel files, log entries, and mission reports...all from their time on the Arrow.

More than that, scattered around the large room were more display "cases". Each one holding a blackened and well-preserved Arrow uniform from each department. Ghostly figures of each type of officer stood a silent vigil across the whole circular room. In squat, waist high encased tables sat tools and personal effects stolen from the hands and holds of their former peers. 

The main attraction, however, was the thing that dominated her eye and optical housing the most though. A sheared off, grey-black section of the Arrow's hull. Mounted perfectly in the center of the wall and backlit with ghoulish bright display lighting. 

She turned to Grumm, her face a grim mask of confusion and horror.

Sokova: I don't...what the hell is this?

Grumm: RESPONSE

Sokova: But does this mean...they were TARGETING us? How could they have even known we were out here? We never had any contact with the Sheliak until...

Grumm: RESPONSE

Arianna shook the intrusive thoughts from her head, but too many still remained for her to focus. 

Sokova: New plan. We find a Manager's Office or the Foreman's Chambers itself. Someone knows something...I can't...I can't leave until I know for sure.

oO Even though the Arrow is still coming...Oo

Grumm: RESPONSE

To Be Continued...

Lieutenant JG Arianna Sokova

Sheliak "Miner"

Former Security Officer

U.S.S. Arrow NCC-69829

As simmed by 

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Lieutenant Commander 

Quentin Collins III

Chief Science Officer

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U.S.S. ARROW NCC-69829

ID: E239512QC0

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