Surefoot 10: Fast and the Furriest

"Indeed, Friend Eydiir. Also, there is something of interest to them just now that has arisen that they wish to keep from us."

Eydiir frowned. "Do you know what it might be?"

Kit looked out at the Ferasans. "It might be nothing, something routine occurring onboard - except that there is a growing excitement. If it had been something boastworthy, I would have expected them to brag about it to us."

Eydiir looked out as well; there seemed to be a growing feeling among them, words being whispered, and some of the Ferasans were leaving the group. It could have been nothing - but Kit had in the past proved to be a highly effective observer. She tapped her combadge. "Eydiir to Surefoot. Commander T'Varik, please."

The Vulcan's voice replied. "Yes, Cadet?"

"Commander... is there anything of note occurring that you are aware of? The Ferasans appear distracted, or even disturbed by something."

"The USS Impala is here; Captain Arrington is curious as to our reasons for visiting the Ferasans."

"Yes, we encountered her earlier."

"Do you believe you or the other cadets might be threatened in any way?"

"I don't know," the Capellan admitted. "I will investigate further, and keep you updated. Eydiir out." She noticed several Ferasans departing from the Promenade into an establishment that resembled nothing more than a tavern, getting more crowded by the moment with Ferasans. "Come on, Kit."

The pair approached, unnoticed by the Ferasans, most of them towering over even the tall Eydiir, and too distracted by a large screen set up in the corner of the room, as they excitedly talked amongst themselves, or downed large flagons of what passed for beers and wines among their people.

Kit was struggling to look over the heads and shoulders of those in front of him. "What is it, Friend Eydiir?"

"They are displaying some sort of circular pit, with bloodstains on the walls. It is suggestive of some form of entertainment involving combat. I see Ferasans and- Gods, it's the Captain!"

She turned along with Kit to depart, when they ran into two of the young Ferasans who had approached them before, the pair of them snatching the combadges off of the cadets' uniforms. "No, Little Ones, you are not going anywhere, not until the match is over."

"What is going on?" Eydiir demanded, tensing for the inevitable. "What are you doing with our Captain?"

The male of the pair grunted. "He will fight SecondSon of R'hewann to the death. Why not stay and watch?"

"Please stand aside, Respected Opponent," Kit snapped, his skin flaring an unaccustomed crimson. "Or return our combadges! I must insist!"

The Ferasan growled at him. "Stay back, Bug Eater! Crushing you will not grant me much honour, but I will do it!"

The Qarari tilted his reptilian head as he continued to regard the male. "Friend Eydiir, I have studied Ferasan physiology, and noted that the genetic augmentation they underwent to produce heightened agility has also produced large saphenous nerve clusters on the outside of their knees. These offer major vulnerabilities."

"Understood," Eydiir said beside him, tensing.

The Ferasan sneered now. "You talk like a scientist!"

"Thank you." Kit ducked, and kicked his leg out, connecting with the outer side of the Ferasan's right knee, making him screech and collapse, before striking out again and hitting the side of his head, sending him sprawling, even as Eydiir was performing a similar feat on the other Ferasan, allowing the pair of them to retrieve their combadges and escape back into the Promenade, trying desperately to hail someone, without success.

Eydiir rushed up to Giles and gripped his upper arms as if she was about to kiss him, before slapping his own combadge. "Eydiir to Captain Hrelle! Eydiir to Counselor Hrelle! Eydiir to Sasha Hrelle!"

Giles stared wide-eyed. "Eydiir, what the hell are you doing?"

But she just smacked his combadge again. "Surefoot! The Ferasans have Captain Hrelle in some fighting arena! I can't reach him or the Counselor or Sasha!"

Giles paled as he listened, and T'Varik responded immediately. "There is a disruption field in place now, preventing transporter use. All cadets are on Red Alert: stay together, protect yourselves-" The rest of the transmission was lost in static.

The other cadets drew together, questions and demands thrown about in the confusion.

Eydiir looked into Giles' eyes, before the pair of them look out to the Ferasans currently beginning to surround them...

*

USS Surefoot, Deck 1, Bridge:

"Commander McMahon, the Ferasans have abducted Captain Hrelle, the Counselor and Squad Leader Hrelle, are not responding to my hails, and have set up duonetic fields to prevent the use of transporters or communicators."

The man's mild, hairless face creased in confusion. "What? Why would they do that?" He turned to someone out of sight on his bridge and barked some orders.

T'Varik felt her expression tighten - a reaction akin to exasperation in a Vulcan. "Perhaps we can ascertain that, after my crew and cadets - and your own Captain - are back onboard this ship and safe? The Ferasans have acted aggressively; we must take appropriate action."

McMahon looked back at her. "It appears they are blocking transmissions and transporters to and from their vessel."

T'Varik summoned her reserves of self-discipline. "Yes. I told you this already. As you are senior officer, you are required to take command and make an immediate response."

He nodded. "Leave it with me. We'll continue to try to contact them and work out what's going on."

"With respect, Commander, that is not acceptable."

"And what more would you expect me to do? Launch an attack without knowing all the facts?"

"Of course not, but-"

"Just sit tight and take no hostile action against them - consider that an order. I'll keep you informed. Impala out."

The viewscreen returned to the image of the Bloodstained Shroud.

T'Varik sat silently in the Captain's chair; since taking a position as First Officer onboard the Surefoot, her first actual ship's posting after a career spent at the Academy, she has had prior occasions to take Captain Hrelle's place in his absence - and appreciate the burden that a commanding officer faced at times like this.

She looked to the Tactical station. "Lieutenant Abed, run a tactical scan of the Bloodstained Shroud. Identify the source of the generator blocking our transmissions and transporter beams, and determine the amount of firepower required to disable it without causing further damage or injury to those onboard."

Prakesh Abed turned in his seat, his hazel eyes narrowed. "Um, Commander, Commander McMahon ordered-"

"I am aware of what he ordered. This is merely a diagnostic exercise of our tactical systems. Agreed?"

Something like a smile lifted his goatee. "Yes, Ma'am."

T'Varik tilted her head slightly, not looking behind her at Ops. "Mr Gorman, take us to Yellow Alert - a diagnostic exercise. Ready a security team to stand by in the Transporter Room - another diagnostic exercise. Lt. Velkovsky?"

At the helm console before the First Officer, Irina Velkovsky turned to look at her. "Commander?"

"Lieutenant, you will lead the Security team over to the Ferasan ship."

The other woman offered a sly grin. "You mean, in the diagnostic exercise?"

"Precisely."

*

Kami finally stopped struggling with her cuffs; they were designed to completely immobilise Ferasan wrists and forearms and prevent use of their claws, and obviously they were equally efficacious with Caitians.

The cell was long and narrow and open at one end, and Kami could her and smell a guard just out of view. Sitting opposite her, Sasha fidgeted in place, identically manacled, the three parallel claw marks from Treshek on her cheek having stopped bleeding but looking raw and ugly. She didn't look up at Kami, but kept trying to do... something... with her own cuffs.

"It's no good," the Counselor assured her grimly. "They're especially designed."

The younger girl grunted. "What's going on with my Dad? There's more than either of you have told me." There was more than a hint of rebuke in her tone.

Kami didn't blame her, she supposed. "There always will be, Sash. We all have our dark secrets. In your father's case, this was one he never wanted to revisit. One of the hardest aspects of his ordeal in captivity."

Sasha nodded. "Being forced to fight, to kill-"

"No. That wasn't the hardest part for him. It was the times... when he wanted to kill."

Sasha stopped what she was doing and looked up at the other woman.

Kami paused, knowing she was breaking the confidentiality between her and Esek, but also knowing how much the girl deserved to hear, especially given what she had undergone already - and what might still happen. "Yes, they forced him... at first. Pain implants, drugs, hunger.

But then he began to... look forward to the matches. Not just because his Orion master would treat him better. Not just because it gave him the illusion of control over his life, his fate, even for the few moments when he was in the Pit. Not even just because it was an outlet for his trauma, his rage.

He looked forward to it because he wanted to kill. He embraced the Beast they had dug out of him, unleashed it onto anyone who stood against him."

Sasha paled, and for a moment Kami feared perhaps the blood loss she suffered earlier was affecting her. "No. That's not him. He doesn't want to kill."

"Sasha, a part of all of us wants to kill, no matter how much we might embrace our civilised sides or our faiths or whatever else we use to suppress those parts. That's one of the hardest things we all have to accept about ourselves - and seeing how far we've risen from our own Beasts can be one of the proudest things we can accept. Your Dad, however, was dragged down to his Beast, lived with him. And the Ferasans want to force him down there again."

Sasha stared a moment longer, before resuming her struggle - abruptly stopping.

"What's wrong?"

The girl looked up again, nodded towards the open doorway and mouthed Someone there?

Kami nodded silently.

How many?

One.

Sasha swallowed, and in a whisper admitted, "The worse part of all this is that my Season started today, and I never took my suppressant. And that male standing out there is affecting me. Strongly."

Kami frowned. What in the Seven Hells was she doing, talking like she was Caitian in heat instead of human? "Sasha, no-"

But the girl continued, whispering, "I'm hoping he doesn't scent how much I want to mate with him right now. Maybe they don't know much about how humans work and he won't notice?"

Then Kami understood. "Sash, shut up, you don't know what you're doing, it's too risky-"

The guard stepped into view, shutting down the force field and stepping inside, staring hard at Sasha as he approached, his own arousal clear to Kami's nose. "Hello, human. Looking for company?"

Kami looked to Sasha, who shifted on her bare seat to face him - allowing Kami only to see that she had somehow freed her hands from the manacles, and was holding the solid piece of metal like a bludgeon.

Her heart was racing inside her chest; the girl was putting herself at terrible risk. But they had to get out there and help Esek, and it was too late for Kami to do anything else... but assist. "Leave her alone! She doesn't know what she's doing! Humans' Seasons leave her helpless!"

"Shut up, Old One," the cub sneered, reaching out and stroking Sasha's throat. As Sasha tilted her head back in response, her eyes closing and her panting increasing. "I've never even seen a human female before today, let alone had one. I've heard you're all shameless whores."

"P-Please," Sasha gasped heavily, mouth opening, almost panting now. "Please don't make me do this- I can't help myself- I- I want- want you- want you to- to take me-"

He chuckled, his hand reaching down and cupping one of her breasts. "Oh, I think we have time for that-"

Until Sasha drove the manacles into his groin.

He doubled over, falling backwards further as Sasha rose and kicked her boot into his knee, making him howl and fall backwards. She leapt onto him, bringing the manacles down onto his head.

Kami rose and approached, as Sasha set as her manacles and retrieved items from the Ferasan's belt. "Sash, how did you manage to get out of those?"

The girl examined a disruptor pistol, before continuing her search. "It was an old trick Dad taught me with a pair of Caitian cuffs; they don't work as well with human wrists." She lifted up a black cylinder and pointed it at Kami. There was a click, and Kami felt the manacles release her hands; she caught the metal before it fell and hit the floor and made a noise. She set it aside and reached for the girl, embracing her. "Come on, girl, let's go find your Dad before this cub wakes up."

*

The enclosure was remarkably like the Orion Pits: a sunken circular arena carpeted in sand and littered with various assorted melee weapons. Above the surrounding wall, large monitors sat between cameras capturing every angle of the imminent fight to the death below, and Ferasan spectators filled up the monitors.

From one end of the Pit, a door slid open, and SecondSon strode in, wearing a ceremonial tripartite gold kilt, his thin tail swishing excitedly behind him, his eyes wide with anticipation and his claws extending and retracting repeatedly.

From a door at the other end, Hrelle entered, wrists still bound behind him, followed closely by Treshek and a guard. Hrelle looked across at his opponent, swallowing, knowing what he had to do, ignoring the eager faces overhead. His heart continued to pound, and he didn't dare speak, in case his stammer returned in full and he collapsed.

Treshek made a sound as if he sensed the feelings in the Starfleet officer. "Don't worry, Captain. You'll give a memorable performance. I'll see to that."

Hrelle never took his eyes off of SecondSon, but he muttered, "I'm killing you today, Treshek."

"No, Captain. You're not."

Hrelle winced and pulled away at the sharp stab and hiss he felt and heard against his bicep, looking to see a hypospray in the Consul's hand. "What did you just give me?"

Treshek pocketed the medical instrument. "Something you'll remember from your younger days, Captain, something to get those aggression levels racing and the heart pumping: hypocordrazine."

The breath caught in Hrelle's throat. "N-No-"

"Yes." Treshek stepped back. "Just a little.

Well, a lot.

Actually, it was a lethal dosage." He shrugged. "I can't really have you running around causing me trouble after this match."

Hrelle moved after him, restrained by the guard. "Y-You lying b-b-bastard!"

"Save it for the match, Captain. Remember, I still have your wife and cub."

Hrelle froze - even as he recognised that Treshek wouldn't let them live, either. He'd concoct some story about how they all died, and even if it wasn't believed, Starfleet and the Federation couldn't touch him because of his immunity.

Treshek looked to SecondSon. "Make your challenge before your Pride!"

The cub nodded, stepped into the centre of the Pit, even as Treshek withdrew, the guard releasing the manacles from Hrelle and stepping back, disruptor pistol raised as he and Treshek left the Pit. SecondSon looked up at the Ferasan faces watching as he bellowed, "I stand before my Pridemaster and my Pride, so they bear witness my victory over the warrior they call the Beast, and the winning of a Name!"

Now he looked at Hrelle directly. "Across the Trackless Veld I have journeyed to stand before you! I challenge you, Esek Hrelle! In the name of the Patriarch, I challenge you to fight me!"

Hrelle could feel the drug pumping through his bloodstream, making his heart quicken, making his fur stand on end, as he strode closer to the Ferasan, eyes fixed, fighting the urges building up inside him. He knew what he had to do. He knew how this had to end.

He dropped to his knees, hands clasped up in supplication, mewling, "Please don't kill em! Please! I'm not a fighter! I never was!"

SecondSon froze in place, face creased with confusion. "What?"

Hrelle was sobbing now. "Please, it's all a big mistake! What am I doing here? I want to go home! Please! Please, don't hurt me! I'll do anything! I want my wife! I want my mother!" He collapsed onto all fours, still sobbing loudly, his fists pounding the sand beneath him as he looked up at the Ferasan.

And the monitors around him, as the witnesses... laughed.

SecondSon looked up at them now. "No! He's lying! He's not like this-"

But one heavily-decorated grey-furred Ferasan glared with naked hostility. "You present us with this wretched specimen, and expect to earn your name by slaying him? You insult our Pride!"

"N-No, Pridemaster! It's a trick!"

"You expect us to believe he would willingly grovel like this, debase himself? You dishonour us, cub. You dishonour me."

And the screens began to go dark and silent.

And Hrelle stopped sobbing. He could feel the drug suffusing him, galvanising his muscles, making his heart pump at a cadence reserved for races the likes of which he had not undergone since his Academy days. And he could feel his teeth grinding together of their own accord, as he heard a door slide open again, and two Ferasans enter. "What's going on?"

Standing before Hrelle, SecondSon mewled, "He's ruined it! You said he'd fight, but he ruined my chance! Now I'll never get my Name! I want his whore wife and daughter ripped apart by your males! I want to hear them scream!"

"You first," Hrelle growled.

His right hand, claws extended, shot up under SecondSon's kilt, finding exactly what he was looking for.

And ripping what he found away.

The Ferasan staggered back, screeching in agony as blood spurted out from beneath his kilt as he clutched his groin, his eyes saucered as he crumpled up into himself like a wad of paper, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Hrelle felt the soft, amputated parts in his hand, and flung them aside, before looking over his shoulder at the horrified faces of Treshek and the guard.

The Beast crouched and chuckled at them, teeth bared, his voice carrying over the screams of the cub. "I had to admire his balls. Your turn now, Treshek."

A now-terrified looking Treshek started for the open doorway, as the guard struggled to get the disruptor pistol from his belt.

Hrelle launched himself at the male, slamming him backward towards the doorway, where the door was sliding shut. He jammed the guard into the opening, preventing it from closing completely, before driving his claws into the male's eye sockets, ignoring the blood and the screams as Hrelle left him behind and pursued Treshek.

*

On the Surefoot bridge, T'Varik was growing as agitated as she had ever felt before, though she believed she was adequately concealing it from those around her. "Mr Gorman, hail the Impala again. They must respond."

A few seconds, and the young man replied, "Sorry, Commander, they're still not responding."

She nodded to herself, her decision made. She raised her voice. "Attention, please: I am about to violate a direct order from a superior officer, because I have a genuine belief that our Captain, crew and cadets are in danger. Should you follow my subsequent orders, you may find yourselves subject to the same sanctions that I will undoubtedly face. Should you wish to avoid this and withdraw from duty, please do so, immediately."

The bridge went silent for a moment.

Then Chief Grev at the Engineering station announced, "All systems at full power, Commander."