SYMBOLS

CHAPTER 35

Chakotay struggled for breath. His face slowly turned purple as his windpipe was constricted under the tight stranglehold and his lungs gulped for air. He could feel his dry tongue protruding from his mouth, managing only a muffled groan as the last pocket of air was expelled from his lungs.

Suddenly the room lit up. A guard raced toward him.

"Let him go, or I'll shoot!" the guard yelled. He threw his lantern to the floor and aimed his disrupter through the bars.

Chakotay felt the guard's weapon brush over the top of his head.

The prisoner increased the hold on his neck. The room grew darker. Chakotay knew he was losing consciousness.

The prisoner relaxed his hold. Chakotay wheezed and coughed and sucked in huge breaths with the effort of forcing oxygen back into his lungs. Crawling on his hands and knees, he moved out of the prisoner's reach. He wiped away the blood that was still slowly dripping from his nose. Then he turned to confront his attacker. The outline of the hunched figure was unmistakable and Chakotay gasped at the sight.

The guard turned at the sound. His pale blue eyes glanced between the commander and the prisoner. The guard took a few steps backward. There was suspicion in his eyes. It was the same distrustful look Chakotay had seen when the man confronted him on the tower.

"You said you knew my brother. What's his name?" the guard demanded. He lifted his weapon away from the prisoner and trained it on Chakotay.

Chakotay wondered whether it was the slight noise he'd made, or the instant spark of recognition that had crossed his face which ignited the gaunt-faced guard's suspicions. Either way, he was annoyed at himself and struggled to come up with an acceptable answer to the guard's question.

"He was the Squadron Leader. I never asked him his name," Chakotay responded.

"You're a pilot. Where did you train? The Far North or the Southern Airbase?"

"The Southern Airbase." Chakotay knew there would be a limit to how long he could convincingly play this game of verbal cat and mouse. Responding resolutely, he hoped the distraction might at least provide him with enough time to reclaim his weapon from the ground, but as soon as he spoke the words and the guard scoffed, he knew he was in trouble.

"The Southern Airbase hasn't been operational for at least forty years. There is no way you could've trained there."

"I look younger than I am," Chakotay said. It was a delaying tactic. He knew it, and the guard knew it, and he saw the guard raise his disrupter higher with the words.

Chakotay looked down at his own weapon. It lay on the ground near the guard's feet. It was definitely out of reach, but he could feel the weight of the bayonet that was still attached to his belt. His hand traveled rapidly behind his back and he levered the bayonet from its holster.

Just as quickly, the guard fired his disrupter and dissolved the bayonet in Chakotay's hand.

"Who are you?" the guard shouted.

Chakotay lifted and cupped his empty hands into fighting stance. He and the guard circled around each other.

"My name is Chakotay."

"Your name is not familiar to me. What are you doing here, Chakotay? Did you come here to find someone? A colleague perhaps?"

"Maybe," Chakotay returned. The guard already knew he was an intruder. There was no point in lying.

"And have you found him?" the guard questioned again, moving closer.

Chakotay looked at Tuvok. He could see Tuvok had taken the brunt of somebody's anger. His face was swollen and bruised and he had a long, thin gash on his cheek that was covered in dry blood. Yet Tuvok still sat poised and upright. In fact, it was the stoic pose Chakotay had recognized first, even before he looked more closely at the figure cramped in among the broken pieces of rock and skeletal remains and confirmed he was definitely seeing Tuvok.

"I think you have found him," the guard answered his own question with a peer at the prisoner. "But what I'd like to know is how you got here in the first place. High Councilor Zeron was furious your little band of friends managed to transport onto the planet undetected. That was very clever."

Chakotay wondered why the guard didn't just shoot him. The man knew he was an intruder and had deciphered he'd entered the crypts with the aim of finding Tuvok. But still they circled around each other, Chakotay locked in fighting stance, while the guard slowly edged his feet forward with his disrupter raised.

"Your High Councilor has a weakness," Chakotay replied. "He is easily distracted!"

The gaunt-faced guard suddenly laughed. It was a deep belly laugh, and Chakotay watched a huge grin spread across his lips. The relaxed expression caught him by surprise. But it was the guard holstering his disrupter which really shocked him.

"My name is Masson," the guard introduced. "I am Anawin, but I'm also a member of the Dimar. Have you heard of us? We're known for being a recalcitrant, and somewhat despised, faction of the Anawin people. I'm aware the impure child, Tayna, is with your friends and that the High Councilor has taken your crewman captive. I can help you, if you'll let me."

Chakotay smiled in return. He was relieved his life had been spared and even more relieved the man, who had infiltrated the guards of the Anawin battalion, had been willing to reveal his association with the Dimar.

Chakotay looked at Masson.

"Can you help me get him out?" he asked. He hoped Masson might hold a key that could unlock the padlock and chain combination that kept Tuvok imprisoned, but the guard just stared back bemused as he watched Chakotay tug at the solid lock with his bare hands.

"You'll need the help of a priest to get that open," Masson finally offered.

Chakotay stopped wrestling with the lock.

"Where are we exactly? Are we under the city?" he asked.

The graying guard didn't answer, although he did move away and pull open the solid wooden door to his left.

A damp, musty smell hit Chakotay's nostrils as he poked his head into the next room alongside Masson. All was dark except for one tiny strip of pale yellow light that seemed to be suspended from the ceiling a long way above them. Unlike the light of the sun, the yellow light seemed to travel slightly and it flickered in brightness, giving him the impression it was from a portable light source.

"We can't stay here long. Someone's up there." Masson pointed to the flickering light above them. Then Masson lifted his lantern higher and Chakotay was able to see the outline of another long flight of steps that led to another distant hatch.

Masson pointed at the patch of light that gleamed around the edges of the hatch far above them.

"That's the priory." His hushed voice echoed through the basically empty chamber.

Chakotay wasn't sure where the priory was in relation to the rest of the city, but he was pleased to have a starting point in his effort to rescue Tuvok. Then Masson pushed open the door again and herded Chakotay back inside the crypts.

"I'm going to contact the captain and let her know where to find you," Chakotay said. He bent down beside the prison bars and removed the combadge from his pocket.

"Is that a communication device?" Masson asked. Chakotay nodded. "I'd definitely advise you not to use it. It'll provide a beacon for the High Councilor to find you and your friends. He'll almost certainly be scanning the city for communication signals and foreign weapon discharges."

Chakotay pocketed his combadge. "Then I guess I'll have to find some other way to contact the captain," he said to Tuvok.

"We must go now, Chakotay," Masson said. He walked the length of the room and opened the door to the other set of holding cells.

Chakotay stared at the nightmarish prison cell Tuvok had been locked in. He hadn't been able to release Tuvok, or contact the captain, and he looked on helplessly at the wounded Vulcan who sat among the bones that were protruding through the natural cavity that had formed in the surrounding earth.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chakotay promised. "And next time I'll get you out, for sure."

"I understand, Commander. Thank you for your efforts," Tuvok responded in return, while Chakotay followed Masson through the open door and plunged Tuvok back into darkness.