45

Orion was taken to a smallish room with only a chair with straps on it, a desk, and a chair behind that.

They sat him down roughly in the strapped chair and began to tie him in.

At this, Orion snapped, and stood abruptly up. he had a severe aversion to being bound in any way shape
or form, and understandably so. The soldiers fought him back down, forcing him to sit, and strapped him in.
"No!" Orion cried, losing control of his fear. "No, don't bind me in!"

But the soldiers paid him no mind as they finished, making sure he could not get loose, and left.
The commander, who was actually of the lion clan, with a short buzz cut to his mane, watched the
security camera in the interrogation room. he hadn't fought until they'd tried to bind him in. maybe he'd had
plans for escape, and being bound had thwarted them. or maybe he was trying to cooperate for whatever
reason, but something made him snap at last, unable to do so any longer? Conditioning, or maybe even his fear
getting the better of him. His arms were still behind him, only there was a strap around his chest and arms now.

The cat seemed quite young, barely out of his teens, if at all. He was breathing rapidly, trying to control
his fear, it seemed. Lionthrar had to admit, he didn't seem like the kind who would be a spy. Plundaarians did
not usually tolerate weakness. but still... it was obvious the cat had been on Plundaar a very long time, as he
was indistinguishable, accent wise, from any Mutant. he had come in on a Plundaarian military ship. Granted it
was about ten years old and had no markings, but still.

And the cat did not seem to know how to fly it. Very odd.

Well he would get no answers standing around here, it was time to go and question the feline.

Orion looked up, trying not to look as terrified as he felt, as Lionthrar entered the room, looking grim.
The commander sat down behind his desk, his hands clasped on top of it, and simply looked at Orion for a
moment. "What's your name?" he finally asked, pushing some kind of button under the desk. A low hum
emanated from it, and Orion frowned in confusion. "Recording this of course." He smiled humorlessly. "For
the records. Tell me your name."

Orion flashed back to his first week on Plundaar, when Blackmoor had smacked him each time he
would not give his name. Orion shook his head, growling mentally at himself to stop thinking about Blackmoor. "O-Orion," he stammered.

"Clan name? Thunderian name?"

Orion blinked at the first question, and realized with a sudden deep sorrow that he didn't know his clan
name; he had forgotten it. "I..." he whispered, "I...'ve forgotten it."

"Forgotten it?"

Orion nodded, biting his lip. "I don't think I had a Thunderian one..."

For now, the commander let that go. "What IS your clan, cat?"

Orion shrugged. "D-don't really have one... I've got so many different breeds in me..."

The commander nodded once more. "Very convenient, not remembering your name, having no clan. Makes for difficult identification."

He ignored the look of half indignation, and half shame on the cat's face and continued. "Where were you born?"

"O-on Thundera. I don't remember the town." Suddenly being quizzed on all of this, Orion was saddened to realize how little he remembered of Thundera. how much his mind had blocked out during the course of his enslavement.

"I see. How old are you?"

"T-twenty."

Ho long were you on Plundaar? You talk just like them."

Orion felt a blush of shame rising in his cheeks, and he knew why, too. he had just realized during the
trip here that her was more Plundaarian than Thunderian now. "S-Since I was five." he whispered.

"And what are you doing here on Thundera?"

At this, Orion looked up at the man in shocked surprise at the question. Why had he come to Thundera?
Did the commander think he wanted to be on Plundaar? Surely he didn't think he was on their side! But even as he thought this, he wondered. After al, he had more Plundaarian friends than Thunderian. "I...I wanted...to come home," he finally said.

"Really. So you moved there when you were five, then? Just when the fighting started here, how coincidental. So. your parents were stationed there, were they? Who are you spying for, then, now that you're old enough to be in the military?"

At this, Orion absolutely gaped at Lionthrar. Spy? Parents stationed? Military? He actually thought
that Orion was a spy, that his parents were traitors! The cat felt a hot anger rise in his cheeks. "They were not
stationed!" he said, the first words of anger he'd spoken the whole time. The commander only looked mildly at
him, having been trained far too well to look surprised.

"Then where are they?" he asked in a tone of polite curiosity.

"Probably dead!" Orion felt tears in his eyes and blinked them furiously away. he had waited, more than
a decade, wished more than anything during his childhood, prayed every night to be back on Thundera. And
now that he was here, they treated him like no more than the enemy, a prisoner! There was no difference!

"And why do you think that?" Lionthrar went on calmly, making sure the recorder was working.,

Orion willed himself to at least speak rationally, and only managed a furious growl. "Our town was
attacked," he said, clenching his fists behind him. That day he would never forget, not as long as he lived.
The fires, the laughter. The pain and the fear. The terror he'd felt when he was torn from his father and carried
away. "The filthy Mutants attacked my village, burning houses...shooting people, right in the streets!"

The commander only nodded and waited for Orion to finish. He was only too glad to oblige.

"They took my parents! They took them, and I never saw them again."

"And...you were not taken with them?"

"No." Orion's teeth were clenched as he further fought to calm down. Finally, he managed a civilized
level of speech, and went on. "They took me to a different ship."

Lionthrar raised hi brows and sat back in his chair, which looked a good deal more comfortable than the
one Orion was in. "Where were you taken then?"

"To Plundaar." Orion suddenly found himself unwilling to say he'd been made into a slave. He was
ashamed of that.

"And why was that?" the commander said. Maybe this Thunderian would rat himself out, if he let him
talk. He seemed very much an amateur.

Orion sighed and slumped back in the chair, at least as far as he could. "Don't you get it/" he said to
them. "I was taken prisoner I'm sure you know what Plundaarians do with their war prisoners, they're
either sent into death camps, killed outright...or enslaved." his face began to burn red as he said it, and he was
trying to keep any memory of that day out of his mind. He bit his lip yet again, vaguely noticing it was bleeding. "I was enslaved," he said, turning his face away to stare at the wall.

"Indeed..." A slave. Perhaps he was doing this to earn his freedom then? that is if he was a slave at
all. They would need to go through this with him a few more times, have him take a few lie detecting tests, maybe some truth serum.

The commander asked a few more questions, things like how he had gotten a hold of the ship., and how
he'd gotten away to steal such a ship. When Orion said he'd escaped long ago, he asked how long, and how.

Orion told him of his and Hyder's escape.

The commander was a little skeptical at this information. he knew of Blackmoor, and knew he was a
sadistic bastard that Lionthrar's people wanted bad. he also knew of his reputation for keeping his prisoners.
Few escaped from there, especially not two children.

But for now he said nothing, only continued his interrogation.

When Orion got to the part about "a friend" helping hi get the old ship, which was about to be put to auction
anyway, Lionthrar nodded. "Who?" he asked.

But Orion refused to answer that. He did not want to get Hyder into any trouble, even the chance of
getting him into trouble was unacceptable.

Lionthrar narrowed his eyes. "He was Thunderian, though?"

Orion shook his head. "No, he was Plundaarian.. A Mutant."

Lionthrar growled, standing up and slamming his hands into the desk. "You are working with them
then, you miserable traitor!" he snarled.

Orion flinched out of reflex, as if Lionthrar was going to hit him, but he did not. "I-I am not!" he said,
frustrated. "He helped me because we're friends!"

The lion looked disgusted. "'Friends'," he said. "A cat that makes friends with a Mutant is a traitor,
cat."

It was Orion's turn to growl. "They are not!" he said. "Just unbiased." he narrowed his eyes.

The commander leaned forward and said, in a low, deliberate tone, "Are you calling me a bigot, cub,"
he said, emphasizing the word "cub".

"O-only if you think that all of Plundaar is the enemy," Orion stammered, not taking his eyes off of the
commander. Seeing that he was only angering the cat, Orion sighed in sheer frustration. "We were best friends
in childhood!" he said.

"Ha! And there's a discrepancy right there. You said you'd been enslaved as a young child."

"I was," Orion said quietly. "And so was he. We went through the whole thing together, he's the one I
escaped with, damn it!"

The commander stared at Orion, settling back once more, his expression unreadable. In truth, he was
mulling everything over. He hated traitors with a passion, but was this young Thunderian a traitor? Or
simply someone who had been taken as a child and learned Plundaarian ways more than the ways of his own
people? The cat seemed to yo-yo between fear and timidity, and defiance and anger. Both were laced with uncertainty.

Finally, he spoke. "You will be put in a cell, cat," he said. "Until we determine if you're lying or not.
Your belongings, if any, will be kept until we do decide...if you are as you say you are, they will be given back.
If not, then you really won't be needing them."

Orion bit his lip, and said nothing.

"You fight me, and you'll regret it,' Lionthrar added as he stood and began undoing the straps that held
Orion to the chair.

Orion had no intentions of fighting, since the commander was taking the straps off of him. he watched, shying away a little bit, as the commander finished, and pulled him to his feet.

Lionthrar frowned, noticing Orion's limp for the first time, and once his full attention was on his
prisoner, saw that there was some blood spreading on the clothing on his back. he frowned. "Did my men do
that?" he said, poking insensitively at the blood.

Orion winced at the commander prodded a not-yet-healed spot. "N-no..." he said. well they had
probably re-opened it, but he did not say so. he bit his lip, and then decided to go on. "I...I ran into m-my
mas-into Blackmoor," he said as he was prodded down the hallway. "One reason I had to leave; I wasn't safe."

"I see." Lionthrar wished he'd had the recorder with him, one of the portable ones, to record that.

"What did he do?"

Orion didn't answer at first, but when he did it was in a resentful whisper. "B-beat the hell out of me."

Lionthrar lifted his brows. He frowned, stopped the cat, and wrestled his tunic up in back. Hissing,
Orion tried to jerk away form him, but the cat held him still. "Take it easy, cat, I'm not going to hurt you."
Orion stilled, tense, and Lionthrar whistled when he saw the damage done. "All right,' he said. "You know
half that bandaging is falling off, don't you" he said, and Orion nodded miserably. "I am sending you up to the
infirmary; they'll have you put in your cell once they've tended you."

Orion only nodded as the lion urged him along, more gently now. Was it his imagination, or was the
lion's demeanor towards Orion less harsh? Maybe, maybe not.

Lionthrar brought Orion up to the medical room, and told the medic on duty what was going on. "Go ahead
and unbind him," he said. "And you can have a piece of his clothing brought to his cell if you want so he can
change." he turned to Orion and looked at him seriously. "We are going to find out if all you've said it true," he
said to him. "I would advise against causing trouble, It would go very badly for you.," He looked at Orion a
moment before turning away and leaving the room.

Orion sighed and looked finally back towards the medic, a young man who looked barely old enough to
have learned his trade. He was smiling at Orion, waiting until he was ready. when he turned, the medic said,
"Why don't you go ahead and sit down on the bed," he said, coming over to help Orion with it. Feeling
dejected, Orion simply let him, but did breathe a sigh of relief when his arms were unbound. Rubbing them, he
waited for what the medic would want him to do next.

"All right, will you please take your shirt off? I would like to look at those injuries a little better." Orion nodded, and obliged, and heard the medic take in a sharp breath. "Are you hurt on your legs too?" he asked, and Orion nodded. The next question was, "Do you feel comfortable taking your breeches off?

Orion hesitated a moment, before finally sighing, and shrugging his shoulders. "I-I guess so," he said. It
was a medic, for crying out loud.

The young man smiled. "Just take your time. I know what it feels like to disrobe in front of a medic, or
anyone else for that matter." He turned his back to take some things out of the cabinet while Orion undressed.

When he turned around again, Orion was nude and looking rather pathetic, and somewhat bloody. it had
been a while, but the injuries had been serious.

The medic took off the bandages, cleaned the wounds ("Brace yourself a bit, this is going to sting") and
bandaged Orion up again. He re-splinted his hand, and gave him a shot of painkiller upon Orion's consent. The
young man frowned, as he checked Orion's hand to re-splint it. He lightly fingered the scar on it, while Orion
looked away. "I'm sorry," he said simply as he finished with the hand, and put on the new splint.

Orion only nodded. He did not want pity. But he said nothing.

"All right," the medic said once he was done. "I am going to give you one of the medical robes from
here until I have some of your clothing brought in, all right? I've got to put you in a cell now though. Are you
going to give me trouble?"

The young man had a condescending way about him, Orion decided, but guess he did not really mind all
that much. It was better than a cruel demeanor. he only shook his head. "Good," the medic said brightly.
"Come on, then."

Orion was led down a few more corridors by the medic, and down a row of cells that made Orion
shudder. At least it was light, and the cells were bigger than at Blackmoor's He bit his lip, but said nothing.

The medic opened a door to one of the cells, and Orion stared miserably inside it. "Go on," the medic
said quietly, giving Orion a little shove.

Clutching the robe around him, Orion stepped in, and heard the door being locked behind him. When he
heard the medic leave the are, he crept onto the bed and collapsed there exhaustedly, wanting to cry but not being able to. maybe he already had cried too much...and his heart was too tired to do any more.

Orion managed to go to sleep, and largely suspected the painkillers. He didn't care how, he was just glad
that he did.

Chapter 46

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