Escape Plan

Summary: When Tarrant and Dayna go too far in their mistreatment of Vila, Avon and Cally back him up, each in their own way. Vila, Avon and Cally friendship. Not so kind to Tarrant.

Tarrant, Dayna, and Vila moved down the corridor of the research facility towards the computer room where Avon and Cally had requested back up. Their bracelets didn't work inside the building so they had had to make their way in from the outside.

The guards that rounded the corner took them by surprise and they reacted on sheer instinct. Tarrant and Dayna started firing, and Vila dove into a nearby open storage cupboard and shut the door.

"You can come out now Vila." Tarrant said sarcastically when the shooting was done.

"Um, don't suppose you could open the door..." Vila said. The cupboard dead-locked from the outside, there was no internal mechanism since no one was expected to be in there.

"I thought you could open anything?" Dayna said mockingly.

"We don't have time for this. Why don't you stay there until we get back?" Tarrant said with a smirk.

"What? Wait! Don't leave me here! There's no air in here..." Vila started to pound at the door in panic.

"I'd be quiet if I were you Vila, there may be other guards around." Dayna advised over her shoulder as she ran after Tarrant. It occurred to Vila that whoever had left the cupboard open might come back at any moment too.

The pounding stopped as Vila realised the truth of her statement. He also realised the truth of his own...storage cupboards were not ventilated.

"We're here." Tarrant announced as though their prayers had been answered. "We need to defend the East Side- they're coming over the wall" Cally directed.

Avon was still hacking the mainframe when he noticed the absence of a familiar sound in the background.

"Where's Vila?" he asked, without looking up.

"He's fine. We're going to collect him on the way back."

Avon noted that Tarrant's response didn't answer the question.

"But where is he?" Cally asked. As usual, in her own way, she was on the same page as Avon.

"He jumped into a cupboard at the first sign of danger. Tarrant thought it would be safer for all of us if he stayed there until we came back to collect him."

Avon frowned. Tarrant had left Vila locked in a cupboard? Their lives depended on relying on each other as a team, and he had left a team-mate behind, alone and vulnerable? And what if Avon had needed Vila's skills?

"Vila hates small, dark spaces! He's terrified of them." Cally said, anger giving an edge to her words.

"Vila's terrified of everything." Tarrant sneered.

"Vila's a coward." Avon interjected sharply. "But even he wouldn't have left a team-mate behind, trapped in a hostile environment."

"Look, we don't have time for this. We can't hold them much longer" Tarrant said above the sound of weaponry.

"Almost done. There! Let's go." Avon took the chip out and secured it in an inside pocket.

Vila started to panic...he really didn't like tight spaces, dark, tight spaces... he could hardly move the cupboard was so small. And since the lock mechanism was on the outside and the door a solid mass of metal ... he couldn't think of any way out. It was not a particularly secure lock - just a simple electronic switch really, just enough to keep the door firmly shut. What a terrible way for a master lockpick to die, he thought.

He'd passed out from hyperventilation and woken in a daze before it occurred to him to examine the cupboard a little more thoroughly. It was pitch black but he could feel his way around. His heart skipped a beat when he realised that it contained weapons - or rather, spaces where weapons clearly lived. But there were still some left. He picked up a small one. He knew blasting the door would certainly kill him, and panicked as he was, he wasn't stupid - at least when it came to opening locks. He had a better idea.

It was pitch black, and the idea was dangerous - Avon would have called it stupidly dangerous, but he needed to get out. He took apart the small weapon, swearing lightly when he dropped part of the casing. He took a breath and focused on the tiny components inside the gun. He needed to swap around some of the wires and get the gun to behave in reverse: instead of shooting out electrons he needed it to draw them in.

If he could find exactly the right spot on the inside of the lock, he could pull the electrons through like a magnet would pull a metal lock across. He'd never tried something like that before, but he was certain that it would work in theory.

His fingers were used to doing sensitive, fiddly work with little help from the rest of his senses, which was just as well because he knew one false move and the whole thing would blow up. He couldn't think about that now though.

He let out a breath when he got the weapon how he wanted it, took a few seconds to let the shaking subside but he was still trapped. He opened the door and stepped cautiously into the corridor. From opening the weapon casing, just under 7 minutes. He had a habit of mentally timing himself; it helped keep him calm.

Almost as soon as he got out of the cupboard he heard footsteps. He looked back at the cupboard but dismissed it quickly - he couldn't face going back in there and anyway, that might be where they were heading. He looked up. Ventilation spaces lined the corridor. He clambered up using the cupboard door and got into one quickly.

Where should he head for...the computer room? Or outside? He didn't trust Tarrant or Dayna. This was the last time he was going anywhere with them. Outside it was then. He could teleport back up to the ship and decide what to do next. He started moving.

He got outside and teleported back up not a moment too soon, as some guards spotted his sudden appearance from the side of the building.

"Thanks Orac." He said when he got back. "By the way I don't suppose there are any decent planets around here are there?"

"What criteria are you using to define "decent" " Orac asked impatiently.

"Oh I dunno, good weather, low federation presence, lots of things to steal, nothing dangerous, good food, lots of alcohol ... just a nice, safe, wealthy, planet."

Orac whirred while he searched and after a couple of seconds said "I have determined the closest to your specifications is the planet Herschel, which is 50,000 spatials from here. A former outpost of no significance to the Federation, Herschel has become a valuable resource for mining various useful elements. The Federation maintains a secure industrial base, but has not exerted authority over the regional governments."

"That could work." Vila pondered.

"If you are considering leaving the ship, I should warn you that your chance of survival will fall significantly."

Vila sighed. "Wonderful." he muttered on his way to his room.

"Where is he?" Dayna wondered out loud as she opened the cupboard door to an empty weapons locker. Avon noticed the gun casing on the floor but there was no blood.

"You locked him in a weapons locker in the middle of a battle. He's probably been captured. Or worse." Cally said, angry.

"Or he escaped." Avon suggested. Vila was, after all, a door-opening expert...and there was no blood.

"There's no way to open it from the inside or he would have caught up with us." Tarrant said. Avon had to admit he couldn't think of a way it could be done...Cally was probably right. They heard footsteps heading their way.

"I'm sorry about Vila but we have to go." Dayna said. "We'll figure out what to do about him back on the ship."

"All right." Avon said neutrally.

As soon as they got outside Avon tapped his bracelet. "Orac is Vila on board?"

"He is."

"Teleport us back."

They disappeared.

"Orac where is Vila?" Cally asked when they were back on board.

"He is in his room." Orac stated with irritation. He didn't like trivial questions, they were lucky he was feeling generous.

"I'll go and talk to him." Cally said and walked off.

"Set a course for the Belt Rim Station. Standard by 12." Avon directed.

"Yes, master. Course set master"

Tarrant wanted to ask why there, but the look that Avon directed at him was indescribably icy and threatening.

"I don't know what you're upset about. Vila's fine isn't he? You were right, he must have escaped. Opening doors is his job after all. "

"I told you before not to bully Vila. I won't tell you again." Avon's voice was dangerous, but Tarrant was cocky.

"Look, I wanted to teach him a lesson. That if he is going to run away and hide in the face of danger he shouldn't expect anyone else to bail him out. He didn't back us up, why should he expect our help? It's the only way to teach a delta."

"You're Federation through and through, Tarrant." Avon said, voice dripping with contempt. "You're trying to condition Vila into behaving just the way you want him to. Remove his personality and turn him into a model soldier you can order about."

"Don't be so melodramatic Avon!"

"I have a particular dislike for those who abuse their power to control and manipulate others. Perhaps you should remember that the Federation have already tried three times with Vila, and failed. From now on you're not going anywhere near Vila unless me or Cally are there too."

Cally re-entered the room with Vila.

They had both heard the last remark and in that moment, Vila decided to stay. He didn't like Tarrant or Dayna, but he'd just heard Avon defending him, and Cally had been worried about him too. They were the first real 'friends' he'd ever had, and he still felt safer with them than anywhere else. He'd just be careful around Tarrant...

"How did it go? Get the data you wanted?" he asked.

"Yes." Avon brought the chip out from its hiding place and inserted it into Orac. "Orac, I want you to analyse this data and tell me when you've finished."

Orac gave a whirr of aloof acknowledgement.

"In the meantime we're going to Belt Rim Station. Depending on the results of Orac's analysis, we may need some specialist supplies, and I know just the place. It will take approximately 15 hours. I suggest you get some rest."

They made to disperse.

"Wait." Cally said firmly. She didn't often make demands so when she did it carried a lot of weight, and they all stopped. "I want to ask Vila a question."

"Me?" Vila asked nervously.

"Vila, why are you scared of small, dark spaces?"

"Oh you know me, I'm scared of everything. A coward, I am." He said uneasily.

"And now, the truth" Avon ordered. He wasn't sure what Cally was up to but he trusted her enough to back her play.

"Please Vila" Cally added.

"Oh...I don't know..." Vila shrugged, looking more and more awkward to be put on the spot. "I suppose it reminds me of the old man coming home, trying to find me so he could give me the sharp end of his belt. I used to hide in the wardrobe mostly. And then of course the Federation found out I didn't like them very much so they used it sometimes in the conditioning sessions...I know memories can't really hurt you, I know it's silly and irrational. Like I said I'm a coward. Maybe next time you could leave me on the ship?"

Avon understood what Cally's idea was now. He looked at Tarrant and Dayna to see if it had worked and the chagrined look on their faces suggested that it had.

They had psychologically tortured a member of their crew. They had treated Vila the same way the Federation had - using his previous trauma of child abuse against him to make him afraid, and compliant. In that moment he loathed Tarrant with a passion for his hypocrisy.

Dayna was young, and Tarrant was a bad influence on her, but she wasn't naturally unkind. She spoke first.

"I'm sorry Vila, we shouldn't have left you there. We had no right to treat you that way."

Cally and Avon were glaring pointedly at Tarrant who was still hesitating, battling internally with his pride. Dayna looked at him expectantly.

"Yes, I'm sorry too. It won't happen again Vila." he said finally.

"It certainly won't." Avon bit out, darkly. Tarrant looked at him with a mocking expression, hearing the note of threat in Avon's voice and knowing it was directed at him. But this was the second time Tarrant's contempt for Vila had nearly got him killed, and it was still the case that Tarrant was far more expendable than the gifted thief.

"How did you get out of the locker Vila?" Dayna asked, breaking the tension. Avon had been wondering that too so he looked at him for the answer.

"I may not be good at much but I can open doors." Vila shrugged. "Anyway. I thought someone mentioned food."

"No they didn't." Dayna said in confusion.

"Didn't they? Well they should have. And now you mention it I'm starving..."

Avon smiled to himself. Obviously Vila had shared enough for one day. He'd ask him privately, at some point.

Besides, Vila was right, they hadn't eaten for several hours.

The moment came later that evening.

"Vila. Out of interest... how did you escape?"

"I've half a mind to let you work it out for yourself." Vila said, knowing Avon would rise to the intellectual challenge.

Avon looked away in thought. He recalled the gun casing...

"The only way I can think of would be to reverse the charge on a laser gun so you could draw the lock across from the inside. But making that adjustment in the pitch black of the locker would have been nearly impossible."

Vila smiled at him, with a sort of shy pride.

"Not to mention extremely stupid." Avon said, looking at him reproachfully. "One small slip would have meant instant death."

Avon admitted to himself that it was indeed, unacceptably risky...but it wasn't a stupid idea by any means. It was actually extremely clever. Vila still impressed him sometimes by his resourceful creativity and understanding of mechanical science. The fact that he had managed to do it in the dark was astonishing...Avon certainly wouldn't have risked it.

Vila shrugged.

"I'm used to opening doors in the dark. I just didn't want to stay there any longer than I had to. If the guards had come back I'd have been dead."

"You could have killed them first, Vila. You were standing in front of an arsenal of weapons." Avon observed.

"I'm no good at that sort of thing Avon, you know I'm not."

"How did you avoid the guards on the way out?"

"I went through the ventilation system, bypassing the security as I went along."

Avon smiled slightly. How Tarrant could think Vila was expendable, or that he was really delta-grade intelligent, was beyond him. Then again, he was used to people around him missing the obvious.

"Avon..." Vila asked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"Tarrant said you told him that you despised me. Is that true?"

"Do you mean is it true that I despise you, or is it true that I told Tarrant that?"

Vila pondered for a moment then caught the implication of what Avon had said. Vila relaxed slightly.

"I don't trust him any more than you do Vila. Get some sleep, we may have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Avon left. He didn't want to be drawn into saying anything that he couldn't deny later. The implication was enough. It always was.