The Underground

Posted on Thu Apr 4th, 2024 @ 8:51pm by Lieutenant Kell Asaa Dr & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Savette

1,591 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Investigate the Chintoka Shipyard Buildup
Location: Earth, Paris, France
Timeline: The Current/Alt-Past Timeline...

Kell decided to check out the rest of the house as the other seemed to be settled down for the evening. On the excuse of looking for the kitchen to clean up after rendering some first aid, she slipped out the side door that the woman earlier had used.

This was a bedroom, with a door to a hallway and en suite bath. The bathroom didn't look like there was a permanent tenant, even though it appeared to be in use. Taking the hallway led to another 1/2 bath, and opened into the kitchen. There was a door that looked like it led outside, complete with extra locks like the front door.

Stepping up quietly, she peeked out the window that was well-covered by a heavy curtain. It would be dark soon, the dusk casting shadows everywhere. There was a small piece of back lot, then all the other buildbings around tightly spaced.

As she was examining the exterior, she heard... something... She looked around, wondering what had caught her attention. Her hearing was pretty acute so she crouched down a bit and closed her eyes. Yes, barely the murmur of a muted voice... female... then a male's voice...

She opened her eyes, narrowing down where it could be coming from. Pantry seemed a likely place so she quietly stepped towards it, noting the voices ever-so-slightly clearer. Carefully opening the door she cracked it first, listening. The timbre and cadence of the voices didn't change so she opened it further.

Average pantry, mostly empty shelves with a few discarded items strewn randomly about. She couldn't see a vent where the voices would be coming from so she looked more closely. Comparing the kitchen floor with this one, it looked just a bit cleaner, as if swept recently. She thought about the way it was oriented and faced the wall that should be a back wall but now she realized it may be a little shorter of space than it should be.

That drew her attention more closely, looking at how it might move, if the voices were beyond it or the access to it. She hoped Isabelle could feel her excitement, mixed with a little fear of getting caught and this not going well... but they were under the gun, so-to-speak, and the timer was running down quickly.

She squatted down to look at the floor more closely. She looked up and that's when she saw where fingers had gripped the middle shelf near the end. Standing, she approximated the position, applying tension in different directions until she felt it release. A section of the back wall now hinged forward silently, kept oiled for obvious reasons. It looked like a dumb-waiter she'd seen in a couple of old-world holo-vids, for taking items between floors, or coal for a burner from the basement.

She saw a ladder in place of any pulley system and peeked down. There was a subtle glow, a candle perhaps. The wall section was quiet, she hoped the steps were solidly secured so as not to make any noise as well. Since she was unsure if the voices below had another exit, she let her feelings radiate out so that Isabelle might pick them up and follow along. She left the handkerchief from her handbag on the shelf and stepped as quietly as she could onto the ladder pulling it shut next to her.

Stepping down one foot, then listening, another foot to the next rung, then stop to listen, she made it to the bottom. Yes, a basement from the look of it, and she could smell what she thought was probably the coal she was thinking of earlier. The light she'd seen was reflecting off a wall and a pile of black rock blocked off the source.

Stepping closer she was just about to step out when she realized the voices had stopped.

'Well, either the jig is up and they're waiting to ambush me, or they've already fled,' she thought.


[ Upstairs ]

Isabelle was starting to wonder where Kell had gotten to, not knowing where she’d gone she could only sit and wait for Kell to return. She just hoped no one came to ask where Kell had gone. Another thing was getting to meet back up with the others, they had to get back.

“Damn Gestapo!” One of the women sitting in the same room looked in Isabelle’s direction. “They think they own the place! Anyone who doesn’t agree with them is taken away and never seen again!”

Isabelle nodded. “Have they taken someone you know?”

The woman looked around before nodding. “Someone...” she wasn’t going to elaborate further until she knew whether Isabelle could be trusted. “News is you’re hiding from a man, a soldier?”

Isabelle nodded. “My own fault, I thought I meant something..” she sighed. “We can’t stay here...if they find me here it’ll put you in danger.”


[ Basement ]

Kell eased around the pile, no longer crouching. The gun extended in the man's hand not unexpected. She took another step so she was fully in view, for the most part. She could see the woman in the shadows beyond him.

"That's far enough." The words, though whispered, were terse.

"Who are you?"

Kell took a breath. "My name is Kell and I'm here on a mission from the United F... States. I was hoping to meet with someone from the resistance. I am not alone and we have stopped a dangerous weapon but we need some local expertise if possible." She opened her hands, palms up, to show they were empty.

“So our suspicions about you two were well founded.” A woman’s voice came from the doorway, along with the shuffle of an extra pair of feet as she pushed Isabelle inside. “You both seemed too good to be true.”

Kell wondered about the phrasing. She was glad they'd gone to Paris initially undercover so she didn't have any technology other than a basic camera if they decided to search her.

Kell shrugged. "Too good to be true? Hmmmm. I didn't think I was that good actually, but we didn't have time to dally around if we're to keep this device from the forces above. I'm not sure what to tell you, other than we also need your help to escape, to get back home, and maybe give you an edge in the process. My mission commander needs to meet with someone who knows what to do with that information. Send someone with me, before we hit curfew and travel becomes difficult. Let them speak and feel free to take it from there."

Isabelle turned to look at the woman, “I’ll volunteer to stay as your guarantee that you can trust us. Speak to our Commander hear him out.”

The shy woman who had brought them remained mostly behind the man and in the shadows. The man seemed intent on holding them at gunpoint so Kell surmised the other woman with Isabelle was the leader, or whatever passed for it at this level, so Kell turned to her.

"So, what do you think? If she stays, you have a hostage, although given what you know about this Gestapo, she won't be worth much and her red hair certainly stands out. Me, the same, minus the red. We're the expendables obviously. But, if we're true as we seem, then you could have an edge in your struggle. In any case, this will be the only chance we have of helping each other. Throw us out if you'd rather, you already know you can't stay here if we're the bad guys so you won't be coming back. If it plays out as we've said, then you still get the safehouse, and the new information..."

The woman considered her options. Kell didn't know just what or where the challenges were in this current regime, but she hoped it went in their favor. And there was still the meeting with Finchley, which could go in any direction as well. At the moment she was more worried the man would accidentally shoot someone.

The woman seemed to come to a decision, although not being Betazoid, she wasn't sure how she meant it. "Carina will go with you."

"Me?" The shy woman squeaked.

"She can speak for me. She doesn't know enough about the cell to compromise our efforts, but she knows enough to see if what you are saying has any merit. She knows where to be, to be contacted by us. We are not fools! Do not take us to be or you will regret it."

Kell kept herself from smiling, she already regretted the whole trip so far. "I understand. Thank you for the good-faith gesture. We will get her to our leader and see where we can go from there."

Kell looked at Isabelle, then at the woman she now knows as Carina.

Isabelle looked towards Kell. “There’s not a lot of time, you need to get going.”

Kell looks at Carina. "We need to get a few blocks, bet back towards inner town."

Carina nodded and they left by the back way, Carina staying quiet but otherwise moving with confidence down back-alleys and carefully crossing avenues, occasionally pausing to let someone, or a vehicle, pass. After a short while they were downtown again and Kell directed her to the building they'd transported to the past in...


OFF:

Dr Kell Asaa, Lt
CMO
USS Blackeagle

and

Lt Isabelle Savette
Chief Counselor
(Infiltration Specialist)

 

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