Febuwhump Day 2: Failed Rescue Attempt
Word Count: 625
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: K+/PG
Characters: Major Miles, Olivier Mira Armstrong
Warning: N/A
Summary: Olivier's been kidnapped by Drachama. The rescue team has failed. Miles is far from happy with this.
Notes: This goes back to a series of one-shots I did for Whumptober and Comfortember 2020. The short version is that Olivier was captured by Drachma and tortured for a number of months before being rescued. The place she was held was called Rura Penthe (which I stole from Star Trek, I admit it) and the name of her torturer was Geograg Sodeset (which I totally made up) and was an awful awful man.
Failed Rescue Attempt
Ephraim Miles stormed into the equipment room, pulling off the white hood and goggles he wore, and hurling them across the room where they clattered and skittered across the floor. The other men filed into the room behind him, giving him space, but looking just as discouraged. Some of them had blood on them, others had burns or other remnants of a fight. No one had been left pure white.
Miles stood there for moment, listening as the men stripped off their gear before he started angrily stripping off his gloves and other equipment. The mood in the room was negative, angry, bitter, disappointed, despondent. They had failed. They had failed their general.
It had been a mission to rescue General Armstrong. Her patrol had been ambushed and nearly all killed a week ago. She had been captured. Everyone knew that time was of the essence. Drachma had wanted to get their hands on The Northern Wall of Briggs for a long time. There was no telling what they would do to her. So, they had mounted a rescue.
And they had failed.
They had the timing of the move. They had the location. They had managed to get men across the border. And yet, it hadn't been enough. Drachma had been prepared for them, and they hadn't been able to get to their general. The last sight anyone had of her, had been her bound and unconscious, being loaded onto a train bound north.
They had only just missed getting her and had needed to hurry out of there themselves. Miles had paused only long enough to grab a Drachman soldier and demand to know where the train was going. The answer had chilled him to the bone.
Rura Penthe.
The name still caught his breath, made his heart thud in his chest, laid a sense of despair on him.
Rura Penthe was deep in Drachman territory. An underground labyrinth by all accounts, built that way to hold in heat, as it was situated in the middle of the coldest region known to man. No one escaped, or if they did, they died from exposure quickly.
Worst still were the denizens of Rura Penthe. Drachama's most vicious torturers were said to work there, including one Geograg Sodeset. The man's reputation was only whispered about even by Drachman forces, and most would rather die than risk his hands.
Miles had no doubt that he was going to get a hold of Olivier.
The room was empty now, the other men having left to go shower off, and, no doubt, to let others know of how they had failed. Miles sat on a bench in there, out of his winter wear, but not ready to go to the showers yet. He buried his face in his hands. If Sodeset got a hold of Olivier, there was no telling what would happen to her. Things more horrific than he could imagine were possible. There was no telling what condition they would get her back in—if they could even get her back.
No. No he couldn't let himself think that way. Buccaneer was gone, and he hadn't been able to do a thing. He couldn't lose Olivier too. He couldn't let her slip through his hands as well.
With a few deep breaths, Miles straightened himself up. Olivier wouldn't have given up on him. He wasn't about to give up on her. He would contact the military, contact her family. He'd find any way he could to put pressure on Drachma to get her back and try every avenue he knew of to find a way to steal her back. He wasn't going to let her stay there.
Miles would get Olivier back. That was a promise.