Misery Loves Company

Posted on Thu Jun 3rd, 2021 @ 9:46pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard

Mission: A Dark Looking Glass
Location: Mirror Universe

Shran entered the detention area with a vile smile on his face. He looked into the cell and saw Samantha and Jon both resting in their cell. He motioned for the guard to lower the security field on the cell and then entered, walking towards Jon and stomping on his chest. "Wake up Terran!"

Jon reacted with a groan as he scrambled to his feet and stood glaring at Shran. It was all he could do to keep from punching the Andorian.

"Good, you are awake and mobile again" Shran sneered. "You companions have given me some interesting information, and I believe you can provide me with more. Let's go Terran." Shran pushed Jon towards the guards who stood just outside the cell.

Jon resisted, "Not without Sam. She's a doctor and I'm sure she's concerned about my recent wounds.''

Shran laughed sinisterly. "You wish to include your friend here? Very well." He motioned for a guard to grab her.

The guard was rough with her, taking hold of her hair as he dragged her to her feet. Shran chuckled as she gave a yelp in sudden pain. He walked over to Jon and smiled, then leaned in and whispered into his ear, "you Terrans never learn. Always so willing to bring others into your misery." Shran stepped away and then began to march out of the detention area, leading the guards and prisoners to a new location.

They walked past the security desk in his office to a door on the opposite side of the room. He hit a security terminal key which opened the door. He strolled inside and seemed to revel as he did so, the guards a bit hesitant as they slowly brought Jon and Samantha inside.

The room was freezing, the temperature somewhere near the freezing point. The room was dimly lit, the smell of blood filled the air. Shran pointed to two metal restraining areas. The guards moved the two to the restraining tables, clamping their wrists and ankles in place so that they were restrained. Shran smiled as the two Terrans got the opportunity to feel the cold metal against their bodies, along with the dampness of the blood that was now pressing against them. "You'll excuse the mess" he said with a smile, "but your comrade, James Phoenix I believe he said was his name, yes, your comrade wasn't the most forthcoming of information. I had to use certain techniques to convince him to speak." Shran looked to a table which had several blades on it. He picked on up, a curved blade with an inner serration that looked a bit like a sickle and held it up for them to see. "I had to use this blade to convince him to speak, along with a few other items I have in here" he said as he showed the blade to them, a few drops of congealed blood slowly dripping off the tip. "I may have to use a similar technique to get you to speak, but I'm fine with that." He looked for a long moment at Jon, then turned to look at Samantha. "So, shall we begin?"

Jon didn't look right or left. He just looked straight at Shran. A Shran that was so different than the one he and Sam knew and called friend. "Where are Ensign Phoenix and Commander Stratton? What have you done with them."

Shran smiled. "Yes, Phoenix mentioned he was part of a group known as StarFleet. And your female companion, Cmdr Stratton, she was the first to provide me information thanks to a telepathic scan. Interesting thing about having a Betazoid scan you against your will, it causes all kinds of nasty problems." Shran walked over to the wall and grabbed a Klingon painstick. "I used this to loosen you friend's tongue. He had an equally defiant look on his face in the beginning, but that soon changed." Shran jabbed the painstick into Jon's ribs and was visibly giddy as he heard Grayson wail in agony. "Yes, this will do nicely." He walked over to Samantha and traced his finger down her cheek, "As for your friends, don't fret. They are quite alive. Not unharmed, but alive."

Jon screamed but didn't say word. He sagged against his restraints but to no avail. the clamps were too tight. Yet his defiant look remained on his face.

Sam fought the wave of panic that threatened to bubble up from within and overtake her. She calmed her breathing, focusing her attention on the feeling of her breath on the tip of her nose. It took her mind away from the sensations of cold and the foul stench that filled the air. She knew the torture would come - there was no point resisting it. She winced as she heard Jon cry out from the painstick. Once again powerless to help him. It was demoralising, inhumane and brutal. But that's what this place was at its heart. She only hoped they survived the experience.

Shran looked at Jon while he stood next to Samantha, the painstick still in his hand. "Commander Jonathan Grayson of StarFleet, and Commander Samantha Howard of StarFleet. You are not from our universe. You are from that other place. Don't be surprised. Your Mr. Phoenix told me what I wanted to know, though I admit, he endured a great deal before he did, more than most honestly. He gave me identity information, but he was unable to give me more. The Intendant, she rewards those who are useful, and she kills those that are not. She dislikes Terrans, especially after they betrayed her and caused her and Bajor so many problems, problems that started when people like yourself crossed over. So, as you can imagine, when I inform her of who you and your companions are, the things she'll have me do will be quite unpleasant. But, I don't have to tell her about who you really are, that is if you are able to provide me with information."

Shran walked over to Jon and once again jabbed the painstick into his ribs, holding it there for several seconds as Jon wailed in agony. "Every time you people cross over you seem to help the Terran rebels. The Klingons and Cardassians are gone because of the Terran rebels, but I'm not about to let the Terrans reform their Empire, allow them to enslave my people again. So, you will give me information, technical information, tactical information, something that I can use to save my people, and perhaps even advance myself. You will tell me what I want to know Mr. Grayson or I will show you how truly good at my job I am, with a demonstration on you friend Samantha here."

Shran slowly walked over to Samantha and jabbed her in the ribs with the painstick, her wails of agony far more pronounced than those of Jon. Shran smiled deviously. He placed the painstick down on a table near her and then picked up a blade and then slowly sliced carefully into her uniform, sliding the blade down cutting the tunic open exposing her chest and abdomen to the harsh cold, her skin instantly beginning to show a reaction to the harsh temperature. "So Mr. Grayson, will you speak, or shall I preform my own surgery on your doctor friend?"

Sam's mind flashed back to several missions ago when they were in a similar situation, they'd managed to escape that time, there was no reason why they wouldn't do the same this time. She had to believe that - to have hope would be the shining light she would cling to when all other lights went out.

"You can't help them Jon," Sam hissed towards the XO "No matter the cost"

Jon's mind was awhirl with conflicting thoughts. Did he give information to the enemy they may never have contact with again if they managed to escape. Or did he take the high road and condemn Sam to horrible torture. He gasped through the pain and through clenched teeth he addressed the mirror Shran. "Hurt Sam in any way and you can forget getting any information from me."

Shran laughed. "You seem to be under the illusion that you have a choice here. Let me assure you, you don't." Suddenly he slipped the blade into her belly near the left hip and began to bring the blade across to the other hip, the blade cutting just deep enough to expose her insides. "You see my dear Mr. Grayson, if hurting her doesn't make you talk, I'm sure I can find someone that will. Perhaps that Estella woman. She seemed quite taken with you."

He smiled in a sinister fashion, then looked back at Samantha. "I do apologize my dear that your friend thinks so little of you. I hope you didn't want children..." he spoke in a devilish voice, one mixed with sincerity and vile delight. He placed his hand into the open wound and began to grope around. "Now, where are those Terran female reproductive organs?" he mused aloud. "I think your friend might want you to start talking very soon Jon."

The blade was one thing, the line of white hot agony that now spread from one side of her body to the other radiating outward like a stone dropped into a pond. She didn't scream, clamping down on her lip until it bleed and tears dropped mercilessly from her eyes squeezed tightly shut. The hand however, the feeling of rough flesh inside her abdomen was enough to darken her consciousness to a point of passing out. She wasn't going to beg, she wasn't going to surrender, strength through adversity.

Jon bucked against his restraints. The table shaking at the violence of his assault. His anger white hot at the the torture Sam was going through and Essie and Phoenix had already gone through. he knew that if they made out of this alive, Sam would undoubtedly hate him for what was being done to her. One thought ran through his mind. *Kill this Evil Incarnate version of Shran.* First though he had to save his friends and himself.

"You don't seem very talkative Jon" he said, his hand still rummaging around inside Samantha. He pulled his hand out, the normal pale blue now stained and dripping with Samantha's blood. He walked over to Jon and gripped him by the face, prying open his jaw and seemed to look inside, "You do have a tongue, for now at least. Are you certain you don't wish to give me any information?" He smiled as he considered something sinister.

As he was about to proceed with his plan, the comm chimed. He looked at it, an angry expression on his face. "Always a call while I'm working." He walked over and hit the comm panel, "Yes?"

A voice came over the comm, one that was both familiar and yet not. "The Intendant wants the Terran doctor and the other prisoner brought to her chambers immediately."

Shran was irate at this disturbance, but he wasn't about to disobey this order. "Very well Celes. I will have them there shortly." He hit the comm panel once more to deactivate it and then walked over to a sink of some sort and cleaned his hand. He looked to the two injured prisoners, "It would seem that you have been reprieved. And just when we were starting to have a good time and begin a dialogue. Ah well, perhaps we can continue this later."

He walked over and picked up the dermal regenerator and activated it, closing the wound on Samantha. Once the wound was closed he motioned for the guards to return. "The Intendant want's these two. We shouldn't keep her waiting."

With that the guards unshackled Jon and Samantha and escorted them out of the torture chamber, Shran walking closely behind. As they walked he began to whistle, the tune upbeat and yet somehow just as demented as he appeared to be.