Subject: FRONTIER: Scanner Trek

SD 70928


>"They will undoubtedly have to take you elsewhere on the ship,"
>added Ishara. "Conventional means of interrogation will certainly not
>be effective."

Keanu looked between Ishara and Houston as they spoke. He interupted 
them, "So, whats your plan?"

Houston thought for a second. "When they come to take me, I will be
deactivated. Then when I am outside the security field, I will wait 
for an opportune moment, then we will try to get off this ship."

"How do you intend to get us back to our Frontier if we don't know how
we got here in the first place," Leana said with a look of confusion 
on her face. 

"Well, we got here by transporter, if I get a look at it I may be able
to use it to get us back," Keanu said with enthusiasm. 

"We have to get to the transporter first," Ishara said. At that point 
the door to the room opened, Patrick and a few other security 
personnel entered.

"Take her." He pointed at Houston. Two of the security people walk 
forward and pulled out weapons. The field was switched off. Houston 
walked forward, Simony walked towards her and pressed her switch, she 
smiled and fell to the floor. Patrick reactivated the field.

"So Mr Trill, we meet again.  I don't like it when people escape from
my brig, I'm going to make sure your death is slow and painful one."  
He flexed his enormously muscled arms in an anticipatory fashion.

A grin spread across his face. "There are no air vents in this room.
And if your friends are lucky I might give them my special attention."
He took a step closer to the field, "I must say Leana, that you are
looking especially ravishing today, although that outfit does not
become you."  He grinned, then turned round and picked Houston off the
floor like a rag doll and the three of them left the room.

Keanu slumped to the floor, "I guess we just wait for Houston's sign."

Leana turned to him, "That's easy for you to say, you're not the one 
that who's been eyed by that overbearing psychopath!"

For a moment, nobody spoke, they waited in silence for a while, and 
then Angus entered the room. He was wearing a pair of black leather
jeans and an oppressively colourful silk shirt, as well as a cheerful
grin.

"Leana, I've decided to get your interrogation over with," He drew his
phaser from his belt, "Now kindly step through the door when I shut 
the field down.  He switched off the field and Leana walked towards 
him, he reactivated the field and gestured to her to leave the brig.

        He followed her out the door and then Keanu and Ishara were 
left alone. 

There was a chill silence in the air. Keanu looked at Ishara, Ishara 
looked at Keanu, their eyes met in the middle. Then they realised 
they were staring and broke eye contact. A chill silence filled the 
cell again.

"It was a mistake," he said. 

"What was?" she said.

"That was not synthehol was it?" he said.

"Synthehol? I thought you said Romulan ale," she replied with a smirk.

"Why?"

Just as she was about to answer the door opened. Caroline and Ruth 
came into the room wearing identical figure-hugging outfits. Keanu had
to make a conscious effort to prevent his jaw from sagging to the 
floor. One thing he definitely noticed was the casual air between 
them, as if... he would certainly have to refrain from mentioning this
to either of the two from his own universe.

His suspicions were confirmed when they drew their phasers from each 
others' belts, deliberately making contact. Caroline moved forward to 
the panel to the side of their cell, and after a few keypresses the 
security field dropped.

"Move," said Sampter. When neither did so, staring in confusion, she 
clarified, "*Both* of you."

They were escorted out of the brig, Caroline walking ahead of them, 
Ruth behind. Keanu would have to make a point of not staring at the 
way Caroline's thighs moved as she walked... especially if he didn't 
want to get a ticking-off from Ramsay. Meanwhile he enjoyed the view.

They stopped at a row of small booths. Keanu and Ishara were both 
phaser-ushered inside one. A forcefield separated both them and their 
captors once more.

"Since you two seem to like each other *so* much," said Caroline, 
"we've decided to torture you together. I mean, if this is going to 
become a long-term relationship, you're going to have to share in one 
another's pains. This, by the way, is an Agony Booth. And shortly you 
will find out the true meaning of pain."

"I already know," said Keanu, "I've been there before."

"Oh dear, I guess we'll have to try something different on you then. 
You feeling up to it Ruth?"

The Betazoid smiled and with horror Keanu realised she was telepathic.
"There's bound to be *something* dark and terrifying buried deep in 
your psyche. Question is, how long can you hide it from me?" she said.

And then Keanu felt a strong force grasping at his mind, probing 
deeper and deeper. He became paralysed with shock as the dark presence
pervaded his essence. And then...

He was dimly aware of some kind of conflict, something fighting the 
darkness, and then as Keanu regained some kind of awareness he found 
Ishara's hands on his face. After what seemed like an eternity, he 
realised that she was trying to fight off the telepath. Almost 
instantly he found something beckoning him within his own mind. He 
couldn't quite fathom what it was, but he followed it anyway. It 
became a distress call, an urgent plea for help, and finally he 
realised that she needed his help. But how...? Suddenly in his minds 
eye he was pushing at the darkness, and there was another beside him. 
A voice said, almost mockingly, *It's your mind, why not try to defend
it?*

And then the darkness was gone, fading from his mind like a bad dream.

Ruth gasped, then drew in several short breaths. A hand went to her 
aching temples, and she realised with horror that she had been beaten 
back by the mere combination of a Vulcan and a Trill. With a bitter 
voice, she said, "Turn the booth on. It's no good trying to get 
through if he's got help."

Caroline's fingers moved over the controls, and there was a hum of 
power.

Keanu's mind danced with pain, his nerves aflame with pain. And 
through the link between him and Ishara, he felt her suffering also. 
Then he heard her voice in his head *Think about good times. Think 
about when you were happy.* But he couldn't think for all the pain, 
searing his soul.

Then it was gone... no, it was still there, but it seemed like it was 
diminished. He tried to comprehend what was going on... and found he 
was remembering something. Something good. The thoughts swished around
in his head, and he realised what he was recalling. And wasn't 
entirely sure if this was happy times after all. Now, he relived that 
fateful night which the alcohol had washed away. And suddenly he 
realised that this would be very personal for a Vulcan, sharing the 
memory of the same event. It wouldn't be normal for them to explore 
this deep in the mind... unless they really did care.

He tried his best not to intrude, but the link was two-way and not 
entirely mutual, even if she was doing it for his own good. Keanu 
found the sharing to be not entirely unlike that between host and 
symbiont in a Trill. His thoughts were becoming immersed in Ishara's, 
to the point where he couldn't tell which thoughts were his and which 
weren't. And still the memory played.

Caroline turned the booth off with disgust. "It's not working at all. 
You want to try them again?"

Ruth gave her a cold stare. "That'll be the day." Then she brushed 
against the Trill's mind, and felt something very primal, powerful
and... erotic? Carefully she pushed her way in, trying to be more 
subtle this time. And she smiled the sadistic smile of a voyeur, 
unwittingly letting her mental defences drop.

"What is it?" asked Caroline. Then, a few seconds later, "Ruth?"

"Open your mind," said the Betazoid, a smile touching her lips.

Caroline lowered the shields that her first officer had taught her how
to build and raise, and felt the onslaught of pleasure as Ruth touched
her mind as well.

Ishara was vaguely aware of what was going on, but enough to notice an
opportunity. Using a simple psycholgy trick, she made a suggestion, 
and watched the two outside the cell.

Caroline's hand skimmed over the control panel, uncontrolled and 
blind. As the captain turned to look at the control panel, she was hit
by still more waves of pleasure. And through her ecstasy managed to 
deactivate the field.

Ishara slowly got up with Keanu, edged toward the doorway. She could 
feel questions creeping up inside the captors' minds, but they were 
muted, disconnected, unvoiced.

The hardest part was fooling them into believing that they were on the
wrong side of the door, especially with their intelligence. Once 
they had fully entered, Ishara reactivated the field.

The next stage was going to leave the Betazoid with a mental disorder,
but it was critical to their escape. Carefully she severed the link 
that the Betazoid had made, and with all her might thought about the 
other woman in the booth.

It worked. She could only sense it peripherally now, but the two were 
essentially caught up in a loop inside their heads. One which was sure
to be very stimulating, she was sure.

Now she attended to Keanu. This was painful, but thankfully she was 
able to separate their two minds even after the extensive period 
they'd been together. But there were always the memories of the 
sharing...

Keanu eyed her with an expression tending to awe, and said, "Good 
answer." He momentarily lost his legs and fell to the floor. 

Ishara helped him to his feet. "Are you alright?" she said with 
concern.

"Yes, I'm fine, just tired. So now what do we do?" 

"I suggest we give Houston a signal," Ishara said.

                       Respectfully submitted:

                           Allan MacLennan
                 [Lt.] Angus Murray, Tac/CSO FRONTIER

                             Dale Forster
                  [Lt.] Keanu Maren, CEO FRONTIER

                            Sam M. Edwards
                  [Captain] Will Ramsay, CO FRONTIER
                 [Cmdr] Caroline Ramsay, XO FRONTIER
               [LtCmdr] Joanna Houston, 2O/tCMO FRONTIER


          "Put your faith in God, but keep your powder dry."
                           Oliver Cromwell

                 "Time is the fire in which we burn"
                          Dr. Tolian Soren                            

      "Rom's an idiot, he couldn't fix a straw if it was bent."
                                Odo