Loving Mary

Chapter 12

When the yellow lights faded, Asonia found herself in a closet. She looked around, trying to find either the light switch or the door. Instead she found a phaser pointed at her back.

"Who are you? Are you one of them?" Someone said. Asonia recognized her voice immediately.

"Fareilah?"

"Asonia?" Her friend quickly wrapped her arms around Asonia, only to jump back when the baby let out a little whine. "You had your baby! Let me see her!"

She handed her the baby, and then found the light switch. She noticed her friend looked exhausted. She had obviously been in there for a while.

"Fareilah, how long have you been in here?"

"Since the day before the attack. Some guy in black locked me in here, then ran away. Oh, Asonia, she's just precious! Look at her hair!"

"Is there any way out?"

"I managed to finally get the door open, but by then the palace had been completely overrun with the enemy soldiers." Fareilah said, her eyes wide.

"But Caa've told us  it was safe..." Asonia whispered, cracking the door open. She saw a few men in strange uniforms, and quickly closed it again. She turned back to Fareilah. "We have to find Pavel."

"We can't go out there, Asonia, they'll shoot us,or capture us... It's too dangerous, especially now that you have her."Almost to prove Fareilah's point, Laila let out a tiny whine, realizing she wasn't in her mothers arms.

Asonia dug in the bag she was given, and pulled out a baby sling. Carefully, she positioned Laila, and put her in it. "Well, what do you suggest? We've got to leave his closet sometime..." The two began to pace until Asonia got an idea. "What if we surrender?"

"Are you crazy? We can't just give up!" Fareilah exclaimed, a defeated look in her eyes. 

"But we're not really giving up! We can hide your gun underneath Laila in the sling, and strike when the time is right." Asonia said, her golden eyes lighting up as she formed the plan. "We can demand they take us to Pavel and Caa've. Then we can ambush them."

Fareilah seemed to think for a moment. This was too risky. So much could go wrong. She was the one who had to protect the empress. She was the one responsible for keeping her safe. Now that she'd found her, she wanted to do something dangerous.

There was the risk of death. For herself, the empress, and the princess. She couldn't risk that.

" I'm sorry Asonia. But that isn't a good idea. Too many things could go wrong..." She began, but then quieted when footsteps echoed behind the door. Who ever was walking stopped suddenly.

"Hey! Who's in there!" A voice yelled, the man began to turn the knob frantically.

The loud noise scared Laila and her face began to grow red. Soon she let out a loud wail as the man began banging on the door.

"Fareilah! What do we do?" Asonia asked, trying to calm her child.

Mind racing, Fareilah raised her phaser and began walking to the door. The pounding was getting louder and louder. Taking a deep breath she placed a hand on the doorknob.

Suddenly, a phaser was shot, and the found of a body dropping to the floor echoed in the closet.

There was a quiet knock on the door. "Hey. It's okay, you're safe now. We just cleared this hall..." A familiar voice said. He knocked again.

Suddenly Fareilah unlocked and opened the door, phaser pointed straight at Jim Kirk. "Fareilah?"  His eyes widened. Then he noticed the woman behind her. "Asonia? How are you here? I told Sulu to take you to earth!"

Laila let out another wail, and Jim's eyes widened. "And you brought your baby! That is so reckless!"

"Jim! Where's Pavel? And Caa've?" She asked, walking closer to him.

A sad look crossed his face. "We... We don't know. He disappeared shortly after you called yesterday. We've been looking for him since, but the entire other half of the castle is overrun, as well as the city. A lot of citizens are taking refuge here, but we're having problems getting them to fight. They think you've abandoned them."

Asonia's eyes hardened. "Take me to them."

"Asonia, we'd have to cross possibly dangerous areas... " Jim tried to argue. Then he saw the look in her eyes. He knew then and there she wasn't going to let the issue drop.

With a sigh Jim kirk ushered them from the closet, and began leading them to where the others. "Dammit, that baby is adorable though." He grumbled.

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The dungeons underneath the palace were, to say the least, gross. Very gross. There was mold, and Zindakian rats, and there was the suspicion of dead bodies somewhere.

From his position against the wall, Councilman Kail was hunched over himself. His eyes closed in meditation. Beside him, the other members of the cabinet were in the same pose. Each of them were silent, the only sound their shallow breathing.

The quiet was disturbed by the entrance of Halio soldiers. Kail peeked open an eye, and frowned when he saw they were carrying in another man. He felt a cold trickle of dread go down his spine when he recognized the blond curls.

The soldiers were cruel, and just dumped the emperor's limp body in the middle of the cell. Not even bothering to check the others. They were the useless one's. Thrown out like garbage. Apparently they had decided Pavel wasn't of worth either. 

As soon as the echoing footsteps were no longer audible, Kail stood up, his round body had lost some of it's plumpness thanks to little food. The younger members of the council had all agreed the elderly members needed the food more. Besides, Kail didn't mind losing a few pounds.

He was at the emperor's side, and he immediately checked him over for injuries. Nothing too severe, he had a big cut on his forehead, and his arms and chest looked severely bruised. Whatever they had done to him, it looked painful. Suddenly the young man let out a wet sounding cough. "Nnngh..." He groaned, opening his eyes. "Where am I?"

"You're in the dungeons, your Highness. Myself and a few other councilmen are here as well.  Can you sit up?" Kail spoke softly, his voice sounding very different from his usual angry yell. Gently, he helped the younger man to a sitting position, leaning him against the wall as well. Kail went to speak to him again, only to find him unconscious again.

Signing, the older man sat back against the wall, next  to his emperor. He closed his eyes again. And just like before, he let his mind clear, and he focused solely on the breathing of those around him. Taking Pavel's harsh breaths into account.

Okay that's it for this chapter! May take another two days or so for the next chapter, but I'll start working on it immediately.

Please me know what you guys think! Until the next one...

~Clieo