Author's Notes: There will be scenes of torture, character death, and violence in this chapter. Lard Nar's memories are starting to come back. Now you can finally know what happened after the Resisty's ship was shot down. Also, beware the italics used for dream-text.
A Haunting Dream
"Somebody help me... gah!"
"Where is the captain!? Someone needs to find the.. argh!"
The sound of lasers firing and bodies hitting the ground were the first noises he heard when he regained consciousness. Lard Nar blinked as he slowly came out of his haze. He was lying on a pile of rubble inside the burned-out interior of his ship. He coughed on the smoke and rolled over so he could clamour to his feet.
His first reaction was to panic. When he saw the bits and pieces of the ship's monitors, walls and ceiling lying scattered all over, his heart-beat quickened. "Spleenk?" he muttered. His throat hurt and he grimaced. "Shloonktapooxis...?"
The screams and shouts were coming from outside. He held his head and staggered forward. His crew was out there...
"We've got another live one!" someone shouted. Irken soldiers filtered in through a large hole that had been created by the impact. At least a dozen Irkens filed into the remains of the control room, and they surrounded the captain with their guns drawn.
Lard Nar felt someone snag him by the shoulder. He tried to fight back, but he was still suffering from the shock of the crash. He felt dizzy and nauseous, and even the simplest movements were enough to throw him off balance.
"The Tallests want this one alive," one of the Irkens spoke, and Lard Nar was shoved roughly towards the jagged hole in the ship. "Capture the rest of them! Don't shoot them all! The Tallests want some entertainment!"
Only three soldiers remained with Lard Nar while the rest set off to find the survivors. They were taking him to the Massive he realized. This would be his last chance to try to escape before he was killed.
"Oof!" One of the soldiers crumpled when Lard Nar planted a well-aimed kick in his spooch area. The other two soldiers quickly moved to grab the Vortian, but Lard Nar ducked and managed to take off running. His vision began to blur.
There were fires around him from the shrapnel of his ship, and they glowed a bleary orange. He ran only a short distance before he tripped over the corpse of one of his members. It was Spleenk, he realized much to his horror. The navigator had been shot in the head.
He paled and nearly threw up at the sight of it, but he swallowed back his revulsion and managed to crawl to his feet. Then he heard the sound of his pursuers who were closing in on him. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head before everything became dark.
"Hey... boss...? Boss are you ok...?" the weak voice of Shloonktapooxis spoke through the heavy darkness. Lard Nar opened his eyes only to be greeted by more darkness. His head was aching quite badly, but he managed to prop himself up.
"What happened...?"
Shloonktapooxis didn't answer right away. "We're all going to die..." he whimpered. "They did terrible things to that cloaked alien girl... and now only you, me, and Givian are alive..."
The other Resisty member remained silent.
"I want to go home..." Shloonktapooxis admitted sadly. Lard Nar could hear the tears in his voice, and it made the captain both upset and angry.
"When we are about to be executed Shloonktapooxis...don't show them any fear," Lard Nar told his crying friend. "It will make them angry to think that they weren't able to break us. We have to resist them until the very end. Do you understand?"
"Uh huh," Shloonktapooxis sniffled.
The door whirred open and light spilled in. Lard Nar shielded his eyes as the Irken soldiers came in. They grabbed hold of Givian who let out a frightened cry as they hauled him out.
Lard Nar watched them approach, and he growled in defiance. He wasn't going to go willingly. When they reached for him, he lashed out and caught one of the Irkens in the face. The startled soldier reeled back and clasped his injured jaw while his partner jabbed a shock stick into the Vortian's side.
The captain collapsed and ground his teeth in pain. The Irkens snagged him by both arms and dragged him out of the room. From behind him, he heard Shloonktapooxis wailing. "Remember what I said!" he shouted to his companion.
This was it; their final moments alive. It was also their last chance to resist the Empire.
He couldn't show his enemies any fear. He had to be strong.
The Irken soldiers forced them into a brightly lit room. There were a couple metal tables with straps hanging off them. One of these tables was covered in dark purple blood.
Lard Nar was dragged towards one of them with enough force to nearly dislocate his shoulder. Givian was the first to be strapped down. Almost instantly the civilian turned rebel began begging for his life. He brought up his family; that he had a wife and an unborn child. The Irkens didn't care.
"Wait, let the Vortian watch," the soldier standing behind the captain said chortling to himself.
The other soldiers agreed, and they held Lard Nar in place, forcing him to watch as a guard came into the room with all sorts of different implements. The large Irken first took out a small laser and used it to burn the alien's flesh. Givian screamed and fought against his restraints before he began muttering 'no' over and over again.
It was sad to watch, but the Irken soldiers wouldn't allow Lard Nar to look away. The smell of burning skin made Lard Nar bite his tongue as he tried to keep himself from getting sick. Over Givian's cries, he heard the door open and the soldiers shoved Shloonktapooxis into the room.
"Don't kill them too fast," one of the soldiers spoke. "Remember, the Tallests are watching."
Where were Irk's leaders...? Lard Nar glanced around the room. He noticed a mirror on the opposite wall. That could be it...
WHACK
Blood dribbled down the side of his head. Lard Nar cursed under his breath.
"Pay attention!" a soldier demanded. "Remember, you're next."
"Bite me Irken scum!" Lard Nar snapped. He was going to die anyway, so he might as well let them get an antennae full. "Just wait until you've angered enough people! Then you'll see! One day all of you will be standing in line for execution!"
Another blow to the head got him to stop.
"Boss, are you ok...?" Shloonktapooxis asked worriedly.
"Fan-bloody-tastic..." Lard Nar muttered.
"PLEASE STOP!" Givian hollered. Tears were streaming down his face. The guard had abandoned the small laser in favour of a regular sharpened blade. The large Irken began cutting into the alien's mid-section without any reaction to the cries of agony or painful squirming. Blood began spurting out. "I BEG YOU!"
Lard Nar flinched and bit his lip. This was too much... there had to be a way to stop it. Clenching his teeth, he suddenly jumped backwards, bashing the soldier behind him in the face with his horns. The Irken yelped and crashed to the floor.
"Ahh dlarn it..." Lard Nar remarked clutching his head with both hands. He was grabbed by two other soldiers who began beating him into submission.
"Boss!" Shloonktapooxxis yelled, mustering up whatever courage he could find to slip out of his captor's grasp and rush to his captain's aide.
ZZZT!
A soldier fired a high-powered gun, and Shloonktapooxis fell to the floor dead.
Lard Nar didn't see it happen because he was busy trying to fend off the Irken's blows, but he heard everything. His heart froze at that moment, and his whole body became numb. This was really the end... the resistance never had a chance.
Before he knew what was happening, the Irkens had hauled him back to his feet and they began leading him towards the bloody table. They strapped his arms and legs down so he couldn't move while Givian continued to bawl and shriek.
His mind began to think much faster than he could keep up; flashbacks, possible ways to escape, his friend's lifeless body lying on the floor, and of course he could picture the Tallests laughing at his desperate situation.
'Lard Nar...' the captain blinked. The voice sounded so real... but he knew he must be imagining it. There were no females in the room.
'If you do not find favour with the present Tallest, you can always mention one from the past.'
The Vortian bit his lip. Miyuki had told him that a long time ago.
"I hope the ghost of Tallest Miyuki returns to smite you all..." Lard Nar growled bitterly. One of the guards struck him again. "How dare you speak our previous Tallest's name Vermin!" But the guard looked a bit surprised... to use the former Tallest's name reminded him that Irk and Vort had been allies until not long ago.
Yet nothing but the current Tallests' orders could stop what they were about to do.
Another soldier crammed something into Lard Nar's mouth, so he wouldn't be able to say anything else, or scream.
Givian's cries had stopped. Lard Nar tried to turn his head to see if his poor comrade was dead, but the restrains around his neck kept him in place. His whole body started to tremble as his eyes watched the guard approach him with the same instruments that were used on Givian.
Oh dear Vort... he didn't want to remember... he didn't want to remember what happened.
Flick.
"What the...?" Lard Nar's eyes snapped open when he felt something tap his forehead.
"At least you're easy to wake up," Purple mumbled sleepily. The Tallest rubbed one of his eyes and yawned. "You woke me up easily enough..."
The former captain of the Resisty sat up quickly and brought the rejected clothing around him like a blanket. His heart was pounding in his chest from the dream, and his eyes widened when he saw the Tallest so close. He recoiled in revulsion.
Purple blinked. "Well... ok then. I'm going back to sleep." He stood up off the floor.
"For an Irken, you sleep quite a lot..." Lard Nar muttered.
The Tallest smirked. "I'm the Tallest, so I can do whatever I want."
"Do you dream?"
"Of course."
Lard Nar clutched the garment tighter. "...What do you dream about?"
"Not what you're dreaming about, that's for sure," Purple replied in a roundabout way. "Maybe I shouldn't have told you about the torture." He rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, your leg was almost completely severed... that would be enough to freak anyone out."
"I said I wanted to know..." Lard Nar grumbled, turning his back to the Tallest. "I'm going back to sleep."
"Fine fine," Purple replied. He yawned again. "Try not to wake me up this time."
"You drugged me didn't you?" Lard Nar suddenly asked, frowning. "After I was tortured?"
"Yes... why are you asking this now?"
"What else did you do?"
"Other than having your leg patched up, stopping the bleeding, and getting you back to your current condition, nothing," Purple responded. "There was no brainwashing, force feeding, poison injection, organ removal, or anything you might be thinking." The Tallest scowled at the Vortian lying huddled under his desk. "You should at least look at me when you talk to me."
"I don't think I can at the moment," Lard Nar admitted wearily. "Shock me if it makes you feel better, but I can't look you in the eyes. Not right now..."
Purple thought about this quietly for a while. He sighed and crouched down so that he could see Lard Nar better. "Lard Nar..." Purple's voice was cool and void of emotion. "Look at me. This is not a request."
Compelled by the Tallest's strong words, the former captain lifted his head and managed to meet eyes with Purple. He expected to see this distrust reflected in the Tallest's expression, but instead he saw only concern.
"I can't say I'm sorry for what I did to you or your crew, because I'm not sorry at all," Purple told him firmly. "You lost and we won. It was fair play, but you are still a player. You have another chance to win. Do you understand?"
Lard Nar stared at him. "But in order for me to win, you would have to lose."
"And if or when that time comes, I will accept my defeat," Purple responded sounding every bit as serious as he looked. Having said his piece, the Tallest stood up and simply crawled back into bed. The room became quiet, and Lard Nar was left to muse over the Tallest's words.
His mind fought to stay awake, but the nightmare left him feeling exhausted. No, that hadn't been just a nightmare... those were memories coming back to him. He curled closer to himself and shut his eyes. The Irkens had hurt him quite badly.
He didn't want to remember.