Saving Mar

08 OGRE

Mar's eyes warmed up again and her smile was slowly resuscitated.

"I just might, Captain," she said softly, taking the PADD. With one last shy glance cast his way, she turned and headed for the other side of the platform, towards the rooms they rented.

Jon needed a moment to regroup. He stood where she had left him, watching the white-clad curve of her body sway to the rhythm of her steps. He was beginning to feel lightheaded, as two opposing emotions were battling inside his chest. Relief, that when they did finally say goodbye, it wouldn't be the end; and fear, that it would just prolong the torture of lust without release.

Still caught in his private bubble of unfulfillable desires, he watched absentmindedly as a huge, green-colored man beamed down onto the platform and charged at Mar. He grabbed her, but she kicked him in the shin with enough force to provoke a stream of obscene curses.

At that second, Jon finally shook off the brain-haze and reacted.

He lunged forward, beelining through other visitors of the station roaming the platform, heart stuck in his throat, head throbbing, adrenaline overloading his system... Breathlessly watching Mar struggle, but fail, to break the Orion's hold.

The slaver moved to press the command for transportation on the pad fastened to his wrist; there was no more time. Jon pulled out the phase pistol he had taken just in case his fears proved founded and stunned the giant.

The Orion slumped onto the floor with a loud thud, which was expected. For some reason, though, Mar let out a pained yelp and ended up in a heap next to her would-be captor.

Jon slid the last two meters of distance on his knees and covered her with his own body while frantically searching their surroundings for more attackers.

He couldn't see any, but he heard distant screams. Mar's crew were scattered all over the station, having lunch, buying souvenirs with the money they took from their slavers, checking up on the repairs.

Jon looked up with a sinking feeling: the enormous Orion slave-ship they had fought a while ago was parked just above the Enterprise. They must have scanned the whole place and picked out each woman's location. There was no way anyone of Jon's people could get to them in time, unless they were already together.

"Protect the women," he yelled into his communicator, hoping at least some of them would be safe. He felt the need to add: "But don't get killed!", as most of his crew weren't armed.

Then he finally let his gaze travel back to Mar, who was conspicuously quiet.

His heart nearly stopped when a horrifying thought crossed his mind: she was dead.

Taking a closer look, he could see her chest rise and fall slightly, and released the panicked breath. When he tried picking her up, though, an ugly cracking sound made him put her gently back down.

Her left shoulder, where the Orion had held her, was quickly coloring with various shades of purple, like a garden of violets blooming. He must have broken a bone with his powerful grip as his muscles spasmed, hit by a stun beam, and the damage, pain and shock had rendered her unconscious.

"Phlox to the main platform, medical emergency," was his next order.

The Orion next to them flickered and disappeared. Jon figured the slavers got what they'd come for, and now they were leaving. His first instinct was to beam back to the ship and follow them, but he couldn't leave Mar to lie here, defenseless, surrounded by all kinds of strangers.

"Archer to T'Pol," he barked into the communicator.

"T'Pol here, Captain," the Vulcan's soothing voice responded calmly.

"Follow the Orion ship, disable it if possible, don't let them escape! They took Mar's crew."

"I will do my best." Jon could hear the sounds of hasty movement around her. "But I'm afraid it will prove futile. If Orion ships were easy to catch, they wouldn't have managed to steal and sell so many people."

"We have to try," Jon exhaled and ended the call.

Phlox did what he could for Mar down at the station's infirmary while they were waiting for a report from the Enterprise.

Her collar bone was broken; but what disturbed Jon was the revelation that it had been broken before, as well as several other bones in her body. Phlox told him that her skeletal structure wasn't as sturdy as in most species known to them. Fragile or not, Jon had to force himself to believe that the injuries occurred throughout her renegade years, fighting questionable characters in a hostile universe, and not as abuse from whoever used to own her.

His hands clenched into fists on their own accord anyway, chest filling with muted rage. It wasn't the time to make a scene. He would save that rage and use it later, against whoever harmed her and her loved ones. This was not the end of it.

Hoshi was sitting on the bio-bed next to Mar, swallowing tears. Travis managed to wrestle his girl from the Orion tasked with retrieving her, but Hoshi got knocked out and woke up long after her partner was already gone. Now she was nursing a nasty cut and trying to stay strong in the face of despair.

"I'm so sorry, Hoshi," Jon uttered hoarsely. "I should've armed all of you and kept a closer look at incoming ships."

"We can't go everywhere armed and paranoid, sir," she sniffed.

"We can if we know someone's after us," he pointed out.

"Fair. But still. We just wanted to enjoy the few last days together," she wiped her eyes. "I didn't expect a Federation station to have such poor security, so I relaxed. As, I'm sure, did everyone else. No point in collecting all the blame yourself, sir."

"I'll have to talk to the Chief again," Jon uttered darkly. "But for now –"

His com beeped, asking for attention.

"Archer!"

"Captain, we've failed," T'Pol's voice sounded glum. "The Orions got away."

Jon let out a heavy sigh. He hadn't expected much and that was what he got. The rage in him flared out, but he breathed through it. Not yet.

"Then we're just gonna have to track them the hard way. Come back to collect us."