Turtron regained consciousness some time later, immediately
noticing that he was lying on a cold, tiled floor. The vibrations coming
through the floor were instantly familiar to him, and told Turtron that he was
aboard a ship that was currently in flight.
Turtron hurt all over, and he could feel and
smell blood drying in several places around his body, matting his fur together.
He tasted more blood in his mouth, and realized that one of his sabers had been
shattered. He cursed inwardly as it meant he would have to get the stump
extracted when he got home, and have the growth of a new saber induced. Turtron
groaned a little, thinking of the pain of the extraction procedure, always
having felt that it hurt worse than any battle wound he had ever received. His
wounds, and the stress of his capture had put his rut-lust at bay for now, but
he knew that it would soon be back, and would eventually reach levels that
would make him seriously ill if it were not properly relieved.
Turtron took in his surroundings, and saw that
he was in a holding cell. He didn't kid himself that he had any chance to
escape. Turtron knew full well that he would never get past the force field
across the front of this cell. No, it was better to wait, and plan as best he
could. Perhaps he would have the opportunity to escape, and kill his captors as
soon as they made their first mistake. Until then, Turtron would carefully
watch every move that they made. He didn't have to wait long until the first
human approached the front of the cell.
A woman in the uniform of an Imperial First Lieutenant
appeared at the front of the cell, and she spoke to him in the Huntercat
tongue, which startled Turtron. The woman had longish red hair tied back in a
bun, not a strand out of place, in order to conform to Imperial regulations
with regards to hair length. Turtron also noticed that she had purple eyes, and
a wide, honest-looking face with milk colored skin, and freckles splashed
across her cheeks. She spoke quickly, saying Turtron's name first in Emvarian,
and barely loud enough for Turtron to hear. The woman's voice was lightly
accented, and the accent placed her as a high society Emvarian, as far as
Turtron could tell. She then switched to the Huntercat tongue, and was
surprisingly fluent in it.
"Turtron." He started a little that
she knew his name, but she continued, and the seeming urgency of her words made
him listen intently, "I spoke with Preacher, and I know what the situation
is. I will do my best to help you escape. He’s given me orders on what to do
and to get you out of here. He couldn’t come, something to do with another one
of you.”
Turtron snarled a little, hearing the name of
the human who had so recently humiliated him, but the woman held her index
finger in front of her mouth, in a gesture Turtron understood was a human
command to be silent. Turtron didn't make another sound. "Look, Canes is
on his way here at this moment, and I can't do anything more right now. I think
he is going to torture you. Please do your best to not let him get the best of
you. And don't tell him anything!" At that moment, Canes turned the
corner of the corridor, walking purposefully toward the cell. The woman quickly
spoke to Canes, perhaps a little too loudly, "Sir, he has finally just
come around. I believe that he should be ready for your interrogation at any
time now."
"Very good, Lieutenant Larissa. Thank you
for alerting me. Would you go and get our friend a little food, while I ask him
a few simple questions? Raw meat is what they eat. There are plenty of Smiley's
rations in the frozen stores. About five kilos should take care of it; I don’t
want to be accused of starving the critter, especially when I’m sure he has
lots of information for us." Canes gave an ugly smile. Larissa bowed her
head, and said, "Very good, sir. I will be back momentarily."
Canes turned to Turtron with a bright smile, and
Turtron snarled in return. "Now now
now. Let's not have any of that, shall we?" Canes spoke to Turtron in the
Pruchovian tongue. "I am perfectly capable of having a nice, pleasant chat
with anyone. Even a baby-killer such as yourself." Canes' voice hardened,
and his eyes took on a brittle glint, like cheap rhinestones. He had mastered
even more of the Pruchovian language over the last week, and he could now
fluently render the hisses and spits of the angry words, and the curses, fully
understanding the nuances of the most potent Pruchovian insults. He continued,
his voice starting to take on the hisses, spits, and yowls of vulgar
Pruchovian, which made him sound for all the world like an angry, fighting
tomcat in an alley somewhere. “Coward, couldn’t do your own dirty work could
you, you had to let one of your sub-dominants do all the killing, hmmm?” Canes
said all this in Pruchovian, insulting Turtron in such a way that made it sound
like his sub-dominant males were braver. “Allowed your underlings, your subdominants
to do your dirty work. The best word for beings such as yourself in my
tongue is simply coward,” Canes repeated, stressing the final word.
“But, even cowardly beings deserve some civility, I suppose." Canes wiped
a small trace of spit from the corner of his mouth that had formed while
speaking, "So, let's get started, shall we?"
Turtron had remained silent, smoking in rage,
raising a snarl only when Canes threw two of the unforgivable insults at
him. Turtron understood torture and manipulation more than Canes realized.
Canes reached for a keypad, and punched in a
short code, and the force field in front of the cell momentarily shut down,
allowing him to enter. It re-formed behind him, and he moved towards Turtron,
his eyes still glittering like cheap rhinestones, in a look that many, both
friend and foe, in the future, would view with sheer terror. An exceedingly ugly
smile formed on Canes' face, and he bit his lower lip without realizing it,
causing two thin rills of blood to ooze onto his chin. Upon Canes’ entry,
Turtron leapt to his feet with a snarling roar, and launched himself at Canes,
ignoring the pain that shot through his body from his multiple injuries. Canes
merely raised his hand, and Turtron flew backwards, slamming so hard against
the back wall, that his body left a dent, and he could hear, and feel something
inside his body crunch. Turtron let out a yowling scream, and tried to get to
his feet again, finding that he couldn't do it. He would get his paws
underneath him, but as soon as he tried to stand, he would fall to the floor
again.
Canes slowly advanced, and said, "That's
right. You want to kill me, Turtron, don't you? Well, here’s your chance. I
have no weapons, and a big, strong, dominant male such as yourself should
easily be able to split a filthy, hairless ape, such as myself open like
a pea pod. But wait, what’s holding you back? Coward!” Canes yelled the final
word.
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