Voices In The Dark - Part III
Posted on Mon Jan 19th, 2026 @ 6:25am by Captain Thorrin & Commander Marisa Sandoval & Lieutenant C'Mila Juli & Major Hastios Eilfaren
Edited on on Wed Jan 21st, 2026 @ 1:07pm
1,840 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
In The Nick Of Time
Location: Deep Within Kroat
Timeline: MD004 2200 hrs
"There are no burn or scorch marks." Hastios remarked. "I'd say she's only stunned."
After learning that Marisa was only stunned, Juli went to check out her own injuries. Her heart was still racing as she turned to look at the seared uniform on her left arm, the wound on her arm was thankfully just a few centimeters long, but it was bad enough to leave her skin discolored - milky white, turning to a ruddy brown. It didn't hurt much at all yet, she just felt a slight sting pulsing from the phaser burn.
Hastios spared a second to check Marisa again, fingers at her neck, eyes scanning her face. The stun had done its job and nothing more. Relief flickered through him, brief and sharp.
Another energy blast hissed past the edge of the rock.
Hastios shifted his stance, placing himself squarely between the two women and the threat. He leaned out just enough to catch movement — a flicker of motion disappearing behind a stalagmite.
Nagla.
Running. Not retreating — repositioning.
“Of course,” he muttered.
He lowered his voice again, pitched so only Juli could hear him. “When you can move, get the data. Don’t rush. I’ll keep her busy.”
"I'm good to go, Sir," Juli replied nodding to Hastios as she repositioned herself into a low crouch ready to spring to her feet at his signal.
He drew in a slow breath, centring himself. The cave wasn’t built for a firefight — which meant terrain mattered more than firepower. His eyes traced fractures in the ceiling, the way the rock had grown over centuries, the stress points a trained eye couldn’t miss.
Hastios stayed where he was, body angled to keep both Marisa and Juli covered, phaser steady but not yet firing. His breathing slowed, deliberate, controlled. He didn’t rush this. Rushing was how people got hurt.
“Nagla,” he called out, voice carrying just enough to reach the shadows ahead. Calm. Even. Not a shout. “This doesn’t have to go any further.”
He shifted a half step, enough that his silhouette was visible but still protected by stone. A calculated risk.
“You’re a scientist,” he continued. “Not a soldier. You don’t want this to end with someone dead in a cave that never sees daylight.”
His eyes tracked the darkness, listening more than looking. The faint scrape of movement. The tension in the air that hadn’t been there minutes ago.
“Lower the weapon,” he said. “Step out where I can see you. We can still talk this through.”
A beat. Then another.
“I give you my word,” Hastios added, quieter now, but no less firm. “Starfleet will hear you out. Whatever you think you’re protecting — whatever you’re afraid of — this isn’t the way to do it.”
He didn’t threaten. Didn’t bargain. Just held the line, phaser still trained forward, finger resting near but not on the trigger.
“Your move.”
Nagla muttered something in her mother tongue that translates to "Well Shit!" She had made the wrong decision, she should have fired at Hastios first. But that was in the past, and if these events told her anything it was that she could not dwell on the past. "You don't understand, you never will. Without this we will all be dead in a cave never to see daylight." She raised her head just high enough to see where Hastios was and opened fire. Her shot sailed high and struck just above his head.
Hastios held his position, phaser steady, breath slow and controlled.
“Stand down,” he said, voice calm but carrying through the cavern. “No one else needs to get hurt.”
The answer came as a flash of light.
Nagla fired.
The beam struck the rock just above his head, stone exploding outward in a spray of fragments. Hastios dropped instantly, rolling back into cover as the cavern rang with the impact. Whatever line had existed between negotiation and violence vanished in that moment.
“So be it,” he muttered.
He leaned out and returned fire — not at her, but at the cave itself. The beam cut into a narrow fracture in the stone overhead. With a sharp crack, a section of stalactite sheared free and slammed down between them, dust and debris billowing up and forcing Nagla to shift.
Hastios moved with it, using the chaos. He dragged Marisa further into cover with one arm, positioning her where falling stone and stray fire wouldn’t reach her, then rose back into a firing stance without hesitation.
This was Juli's chance. She slipped away while Nagla was distracted, back toward the draft in the cave to finish getting the data that they needed.
Another shot scorched the edge of the rock where Hastios had been a second earlier.
He adjusted his angle, advancing a step, then another, firing in controlled bursts — not to kill, but to herd. Each shot narrowed Nagla’s options, collapsing cover, driving her away from any clean line of fire.
“This ends now,” he called out, voice firm and unyielding. “Drop the weapon.”
Nagla wanted to drop the weapon, she wanted this to end. But, then she thought about her family and how they would not exist if it were not for the device. She raised her weapon to take the one clean shot that she had but hesitated. She leaned to her left which would have given her access to the cave proper and an escape route. However, as soon as she had the military man fired and collapsed the stone next to her there was nothing for it now. She would fight, and win or die trying.
Hastios pressed the advantage, using the cave itself as his ally. He fired again, striking the stone beside her position, sending more rock crashing down and cutting off retreat. Dust thickened the air, shadows jumping wildly with each flash of energy.
The firefight was fully joined now — close, sharp, and unforgiving.
And Hastios did not give ground.
The cavern shook again as another blast tore into the stone. Dust rolled through the air, thick enough to taste, and Hastios felt the tremor travel up through his boots. The ceiling answered with a low, ominous groan.
Nagla fired again.
The shot went wide — hurried, panicked — and struck a load-bearing column near the wall she’d ducked behind. The impact spider-webbed across ancient stone already weakened by centuries of pressure and the recent exchange of fire.
Hastios didn’t hesitate.
He shifted his aim upward and fired once — precise, controlled — into the fractured seam above her position. The beam bit deep, cutting cleanly through rock that had no business being disturbed.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the cave answered.
Stone screamed as it gave way. A massive section of ceiling collapsed, tearing free in a thunderous roar. Stalactites shattered, rock sheared off in slabs, and the air was swallowed by dust and debris.
Nagla barely had time to look up.
The falling stone crushed the space where she stood, the impact brutal and final. The ground buckled, the sound echoing through the tunnel long after the movement stopped.
Silence followed — heavy, absolute.
Hastios held his position for several seconds, phaser still raised, eyes scanning through the settling dust. His breathing was steady, but his jaw was tight. There was no satisfaction in it. Just finality.
When the dust cleared enough to see, there was no movement. No weapon fire. No figure rising from the rubble.
He lowered his phaser.
The cave creaked again, smaller shifts settling into place, as if the mountain itself had decided the matter was over.
Hastios held his position a few seconds longer, phaser still raised, eyes cutting through the thinning dust. When nothing moved, he finally lowered the weapon. His shoulders dropped a fraction — not relief, just the release of tension that no longer had anywhere to go.
He turned back toward Marisa and dropped to one knee beside her, checking her again with practiced hands. Steady pulse. Even breathing. Stunned, but alive.
Good wasn’t strong enough a word for it.
He shifted his stance slightly, keeping himself between the two women and the collapsed section of tunnel, then looked up toward Juli.
“Juli,” he said, voice calm but edged with urgency. “Are you all right?” A brief pause. “Did you get what we came for?”
He glanced back at Marisa, jaw tightening just a touch. “If you have it, we move. I want us out of here and back to the Herodotus — now.”
He stayed where he was, grounded, watchful, ready to move the moment Juli answered.
Juli had pressed herself against the back wall and was staring at the collapsed pile of rubble. Her face and uniform were dirty, covered in the dust stirred up from the collapsing rock during the firefight. She nodded hesitantly, her head barely. She was still in shock by everything that had unfolded and the fear that the entire cave was going to collapse on top of them.
"Yeah," she whispered, her voice cracking. She cleared her throat and spoke again, this time her voice came out a little stronger. "I'm okay. I've got what we need. Let's go."
Hastios nodded once, a small, decisive motion. He didn’t waste the moment.
His hand rose to his chest. “Eilfaren to Herodotus.”
There was a beat of static, then the channel opened.
“Emergency transport requested,” he said evenly, the steadiness in his voice doing the work of reassurance. “Lock on my signal and transport immediately to Sickbay.”
His eyes stayed on Marisa as he spoke, one hand already braced at her shoulder, ready to move her if the cave shifted again.
“We have two injured officers. Commander Sandoval is unconscious from a stun discharge. Lieutenant Juli has sustained injuries but is ambulatory.” A pause, clipped and precise. “Situation contained. Request priority beam-out.”
He glanced back to Juli, giving her a brief nod.
“Stand by,” he added into the comm, then lowered his hand, body angling protectively between them and the damaged tunnel. “Hold on. They’ll have us out in seconds.”
He didn’t move until the transporter field began to form.
A Joint Post By:
Captain Thorrin
Commanding Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Major Hastios Eilfaren
Chief Security & Tactical Officer
Second Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Lieutenant C'amila Juli
Chief Science Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
Commander Marisa Sandoval
Executive Officer
USS Herodotus DTI-30656
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