Post 563) Showtime

Stardate: 71123.1333
Title: Showtime
Author: Fox Margolis
Scene: The Planet Below
Time: Following "The Invisibles"

Fox was used to having other people watch her...but she was used to being able to see them in return. And even though it was Biggs and N'Dura, it was still creepy that only they could see her.

Still, she knew her top concern was not them, but to make her performance work. And for that, she had to appear as if she were trying to recover after their crash --- though given their bumpy flight down, this was not terribly difficult.

Walking around the shuttle, only half pretending to see what was actually salvageable from the wreck, she asked, "Where are you guys?"

"I'm over here," came Biggs' disembodied voice. By instinct, Fox turned around to face the voice, but of course saw no one. "This is going to drive me mad!" Fox bemoaned.

There was a soft thump on the metal plating of the shuttle near the door, which must have been N'Dura reentering, because it was she who commented, "Quiet, they're coming."

Taking a deep breath, Fox said, "It's showtime."

Fox walked to the entrance of the shuttle and saw the approaching sentry team. It consisted of four men, each heavily armed.

Seeing her, one of the men leveled his rifle at her and said, "Freeze!"

"Oh thank goodness you found me," Fox gushed, taking a step or two forward.

"I said freeze," the man declared again.

Fox stopped, an innocent woe-is-me looking on her face.

This man, clearly in charge, indicated with his head for two of the others to check around and in the shuttle. To the third man, he silently ordered the soldier to bring Fox forward.

"This is not quite the welcoming committee I had imagined when I landed here," she babbled, "though I'm not even quite sure where here is." She put on her award-winning smile. "But still, you're here, and---"

The two men checking out the shuttle came back out, and one reported, "Lieutenant, there is no one else here."

The lieutenant, the man in charge, though clearly not completely immune to Fox's smile, bore down on her with his gaze. "Where are the others?" he demanded.

Fox promptly frowned. "Oh, them. They left."

The lieutenant's gaze became harder.

"Seriously," Fox continued, "they bailed out over the sky." She used her arm to point flimsily upwards. "Sorry, all you've got is little old me."

Now the man in charge smiled, and it was a terrifyingly cold smile. He handed off his rifle to another soldier and stepped toward Fox. He pushed her arms out and began to give her a very thorough body search.

"Hey, watch your hands!" she complained, but the man took no heed.

Satisfied that she was unarmed, the lieutenant stepped back.

"What a welcoming committee you make," she continued.

Without a trace of hospitality, the man replied, "Welcome to Ikiia." Grabbing her arm and pulling her forward, he ordered, "Now, move."

"Yes, sir," she mumbled as she marched, surrounded by these guards and, she hoped, also surrounded by her real saviors.
------------------------
Faustine "Fox" Margolis
Operations Officer
USS Independence