Beforev the Storm

Posted on 05 Aug 2011 @ 10:53pm by Captain Derek Longwinter

1,703 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: M8: The Kzinti War!!!!
Location: On the suface of Mercer

[Refugee Camp]

Timothy made his way back to the refugee quarters without incident. The guards assumed the boy was just exploring due to sleeplessness. They had lost sight of him as he crossed into the darker shadows on the other side of the camp. When he resurfaced, there was nothing else to think for most of them. He slid back into his space a few feet from Thomas' position.

The next morning, light from the first sun crept slowly up their thin boyish bodies warming them. Timothy awoke hungry and wondering if his brother had noticed his lack of presence the night before. He sat up and stretched. A few moments later, Thomas rising with a gaping yawn. It was then that Timothy realized he had been noticed.

"Where'd you go last night?" Thomas asked.

"For a stroll in the night air."

Thomas thought about the response a moment. It had to be more than that his brother was their tactical officer. He had to be looking for a way out of the camp. The boys rose to their feet and rolled up their beds and placed them inside their gunnies. Morning play was the order now, but it became more than that as they came nearer the grate he had found the previous night. Light debris began ot float in the air and everyone's eyes were cast skyward in hope. It was the perfect time, this was their chance.

"It's time, brother." Timothy told Thomas.

"Time for what?" Thomas asked.

"To go," Tom simply said,"lets get some breakfast before we go."

There was an ulterior motive to this for which Tim hoped that their movements would not be noticed. They would grab something quick, a bit of fruit and bread and some water. In the far distance explosions spoke loudly as the star fleet marines edcged closer to the camp. It would be harder to get out safely then, it had to be now.

"You got enough," Timothy asked his brother.

Thomas nodded affirmatively, his mouth full. He looked like a little chipmunk. They slipped out as effectively as they had slipped in. In moments the pair was in the yard and inching toward their escape. After a half an hour they had reached a place where they would not be noticed. The explosions were now eve closer and no one was paying attention to the tiny humans that sat by an in consequential grate in the wall.

"My kingdom for a srewdriver," Timmy said.

Tommy took a closer look. That was the wrong tool. They needed a microspanner for a grate like this. Tgomas searched through his pack. After a few moments he found it a the bottom and pulled it out.

"What are you doing?"

"You want the wrong tool," Thomas said passing the device to him, "for this grate you want a microspanner."

"How did you know?"

"Dad taught me once when it was your time with mum," Thomas said handing his brother the spanner.

They were lucky. No one had noticed them as Timothy removed the gratew and moved it aside. Was it that they were hard to see with the crowd outside, or just that the Romulans standing guard thought they were insignificant? Whatever the reason they wriggled their way outside the walls. They looked back every ten paces they got away. by the time they hit the forest both boys were out of breath and hunger and thirst poked at them. The suns were going down so they laid down and went to sleep to the sound the explosions in the background.

Timothy was awakened by the sound of the leaves rustling about them. It made him curious to see what lay beyond them. He spread some away from his view. There were soldiers everywhere. One turned around and he saw the insignia on his shirt. A marane, he thought, I wonder if dad is here with them. He went back to jostle his brother awake.

"Hey, Tommy wake up! There are marines here."

Thomas roused with a weary voice, "What? Marines? Ours or theirs, I don't trust Romulans other than mum."

Thomas rolled over and rose, "they're ours," Timothy said.

"Do you think..."

"Maybe, I don't know. All I know is we can get where we're supposed to be. You in."

"Yeah, but i'm hungry."

"Whenare you not?"

"When i'm sleeping, or when I have to eat broccoli."

They took a couple of minutes to woof down some more food then hurried to get through the bushes wher ethey were. The leaves scratched against their skin ad they tripped over a root and ended up on the ground behind a Major or some officer like that. Neither boy could tell for sure as they wondered if they had been seen or heard. It didn't look or feel as though they had as Timothy fiddled with the microspanner. He finally go it and pulled the bolts out. His held breath released as Thomas pulled the grate from the wall. It was only after only after that they were heard. The centurians rushed to catch them, but were too late. One of them caught Thomas by the shoe, but couldn't keep a hold as he pulled hard and turned over. It hurt for a second but it worked. He was free.

"You okay, Tommy?" Timothy asked.


"Yeah, it just hurts a little. Let's get out of here." Thomas answered.

Timothy helped his brother up and they as fast as they could following a stand of foliage untul they came to a place where they heard voices and stopped to rest. They spread the bushes to get a look at whose solgiers these were. To their surprise, everyone was wearing a starfleet marine uniform. It looked like they were getting ready to move out. They gathered their stuff and ran through the bushes. At the last second Thomas' pant leg got caught on one of the bushes and he fell flat on his face releasing a quick breath.

"Ouch," He yelled out.

A small group of officers turned to see him just rising to dust off. Thomas gave a fearful smile. They looked at him as though they knew him in some way.


[At the same time - Somewhere Inside the Refugee Camp]

"By now you must be ready to submit"

The words were faded, distant, almost non existent as they were washed away from consciousness by gently sloping waves of dull, searing pain drowning out almost all thought, rational or not, as the pain receptors were almost completely overloaded. Every tip and trick trained by Star Fleet to help resist torture had been exhausted, all resistance, defiance, had been snuffed accept for a tiny flame trying to combat a ever increasing wave of darkness yet Captain Derek Longwinter had not surrendered: maybe he was just to damn stupid to give in, to finally say "I've had enough" or maybe the side of him that still believed in Star Fleet and his fellow marines fueled that flickering flame of rebellion, either way the Marine Commander had only spoke his name,rank,serial number and date of birth like a broken record despite how much it displeased his captors.

His eyes opened slowly to the familiar darkness he had been in since the beginning, for an undetermined amount of hours, he saw nothing as he tried to focus his eyes and clear some of the dried blood trying to cake them closed, it took a second for his pain addled mind to recognize the voice of the Romulan traitor who had been the main interrogator since his capture, though that moment of clarity was washed away by the pain from the rest of his body as his cognative ability increased and he could start feeling pain from the rest of his body, the dull soreness of his shoulders from his arms behind stretched above his head and chained completely immobilized to the wall behind him, the hundreds of cuts of varying length and depth that crisscrossed across his exposed upper body were left open to the air to let his own sweat and filth as well as added pain enhancing chemicals added into the open wound, especially an anti coagalant to keep the wound from scabbing easily. Suspended a foot from the ground with legs completely bound, they had done their homework on him and knew his background and took no measure to make sure there was no way for him to escape: he was no more useful than dead meat carcass hanging up and bleeding out before it was butchered.

Derek's head slowly rising from where it was hanging down limply, not in shame but from the lack of any strength left in his body, the cuts and lacerations across his face from being beat were not pretty, you almost couldn't identify the marine commander, thank god he wasn't all to pretty anyways. A hand coming from the darkness, a dainty romulan hand that forced his head up some more, Derek could only see the man's eyes as he was forced to look at them. Using what strength he had to eject a mixture of saliva intertwined with blood, it splattered across the man's face and was answered with a closed fist in anger. It was a dull smack as it hit flesh but the man might as well had been hitting a punching bag because Derek couldn't even feel the strike: what was one more punch when he had received hundreds?

"I'll take that as a no" The voice said as it started to become faded, as the figure must had been moving away from him "You will break and when you do, I will be here, enjoying every minute of it" You could almost see the man's evil smirk in the tone of his voice "Abandon all hope Longwinter, no one is coming to save you" the words echoed in the darkness of the now empty room as the marine commander hung his head again, unable to hold it up anymore, his eyes closing as he tried to picture somewhere better.

"Abandon all hope" the words echoed with what seemed like a sense of finality....

 

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