Allegiances 4 – The Pit
by Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Marie St. Helene

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Title   The Pit
Mission   Allegiances 4
Author(s)   Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Marie St. Helene
Posted   Sun Sep 04, 2011 @ 8:48am
Location   Engineering
Tag   Marie
Marie was thrown across the corridor she was running along. With Deck 4 venting atmosphere this was not a good place to be. She had two choices: run away or do something. Life on Nouvelle Caledonie taught her the first lead nowhere so the second was the only viable option. So.... Where does a thief and a liar best help out? That one was easy. In Engineering she could bluff and bluster her way to at least being able to do something constructive.

What greeted her was not good news. Tell was out cold and slumped up against the bulkhead. There was a gash on the right side of her head and blood trickled down to her neck forming a small pool there by an old scar.

Marie put a thumb to Hope's neck. Good, she's got a.... Something tried to bring itself to Marie's mind. She thrust it back; there were more important things going on. I have to get the engines back on line. That's my main priori.... "I don't have a clue how to do so!" she yelled.

Hope.... I need Hope. Maybe it was just that – hope. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe it was... Thank Regulations for Health and Safety, she thought.... She leant down and placed fingers to Hope's throat. This time the pulse was very faint. You idi.... She cut herself off. Now she knew what she had to do. There were placards all around the ship about Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. Let's give it a go!

She was only slightly aware of something but Tell's subconscious told her that she was in a black pit. When she opened her eyes all she could feel was the rough hewn rocks about her, slippery and wet with moisture. She tried to climb but the walls were steep and she couldn't get a grip. She tried to call out but there was no-one there to listen to her and the darkness forced her eyes to close once more.

She couldn't tell how long she had been there; time was irrelevant. There was just this dammed annoying voice at the base of her skull that kept insisting she wake up. Try as she might it wouldn't go away. There was a smell of burning that irritated the back of her throat along with the taste of metal.

Tell let out a yell as her eyes suddenly opened but she had trouble focussing. After a few short moments her vision settled. She saw Marie's face mere inches away from her own. Marie's mouth was open and getting closer. "What the hell are you doing?" she gasped

"Only saving your life," Marie snapped. "I gave you mouth to mouth resuscitation. Now you're going to tell me how to get these damned engines back on line because, if you don't, we're all dead."

Tell was racked with pain but she forced herself to focus. The engineer took one look at the engine and even from where she was she knew there was no hope of repair. "It's as dead as a Pluverianne door mouse." That was saying something as they were at least three foot high. Tell eased her self up. "I need drugs," she told Marie. "I'm in pain and I need drugs. I can't think straight."

Does she know I always keep a stash on me? Marie thought. No, how could she? "You're in luck," Marie said, trying to sound innocent. "I happened to be loading some and a box opened. I put some in my pocket and haven't had time to deliver them to Hichop yet." She patted herself down as if trying to remember which pocket they were in. "Ah.... Here they are." She handed a sachet over. "Oh, by the way. You're going to have very sore ribs for a few days. I had to give your chest a good thumping to get your heart going again. And your breath stinks!"

Tell pulled a face at the mention of bad breath and knew Marie was just having a dig at her. "Are you wearing lipstick now?" she asked wiping a small indistinguishable mark from her mouth. Still she was grateful to Marie and would have hugged her if it wasn't such a girlie thing to do. "Thanks."

Marie just shrugged the gratitude away.

"Where are we anyway?" asked Tell as the pain started to ease away. "On another god forsaken hole in the back end of beyond again? Why can't it ever be somewhere nice."

"We've crash landed somewhere. Don't ask me where because I don't know. Seems that full-of-himself new flyboy isn't quite so flash as he makes out."

"Don't be too hard on him, Marie," said Tell in a sing song voice. "He has a young, bloody stubborn mind and fresh, irritating, annoying ideas."

Marie decided to ignore that. "All major systems are down.... Yes, life support included. If we don't get power back – and soon – we'll all die here and no-one will know or care."

"There's not much we can do here." stated Tell "Lets go find the others and see if they are faring any better."