Chapter 36
West Tennessee Detention Facility
Mason, TN
Well, that could have gone better.
Luke was the last one taken out of restraints and tossed into a cell meant for two. The whole thing had been shitty from beginning to end. The three of them had been tazed, pepper sprayed (in that order), restrained in cuffs, mittens and anti-bite masks after cloths were stuck in their mouths. Then they were sprayed again when they got out of the first van.
At that point it was just torture.
They were processed in some jail facility, meaning their clothes were cut off and replaced with orange jumpsuits. The cold shower they got did not help the pepper spray that much. Then they were loaded back in a van, this time with shackles and other prisoners and spent a day an a half on the roads. At least in the van he could see the other two. They were not doing well. Spencer looked sick, for one. He kept his head down a lot. And Sin, every so often he would flash like a camera. Weirded his seat mate right out there.
They finally got to wherever the fuck this was for another round of processing. Stripped and given the cold hose treatment, impersonally but it left Spencer screaming for some reason. From the smell they gave him another dose of pepper spray for it. Then it was fresh jumpsuits and now they were finally unrestrained and in this cell.
"You two okay?" Luke asked. He felt like ass, sure, but he'd been through worse. He was still functional.
Sin and Spencer had both landed on the floor when they were pushed in here. Spencer slowly got to his feet. He was shaking, literally shaking. "Is there water?" He asked. "Is there any water?"
"Yeah, there's a sink in the corner." It was the standard prison toilet/sink combo.
"Where? I can't see." Luke came over and grabbed him, leading him over to the sink. Spencer immediately started rinsing off his hands. "Soap? Any soap?"
"Yeah, a dispenser." It was that cheap pink stuff but it would do. He put Spencer's hands on it when he started feeling around for it. "What's wrong?"
Spencer rinsed his face then gave it a good wash, along with his hands, and rinsed and rinsed. When he thought he was clean enough he tipped his head back and started probing at his eye.
He came back with a contact.
"Oh shit." Pepper spray under contacts. That was not good. "There's a cup here. Get the other one out." Spencer tossed that one in the sink, it was useless now, and removed the other one. "Put your head here. Come on." Luke helped him lay his head sideways over the sink and then held his eyes open as he flushed them with water, over and over again. "Tell me when it stops burning."
"At least ten minutes."
"Got it. Sin, you good?"
"Good enough." Sin replied. "Take care of him."
Luke poured water over him for at least that long, maybe more, before Spencer finally told him to stop. "Good?"
"It's not burning anymore. But I still can't see anything. It's not the colorful blur I would expect, it's grey."
"Let's see." Luke looked at Spencer's eyes, "Oh yeah, you're going to want to see a doctor for that. Come here and sit down."
"Great." Spencer went to sit but as soon as his backside touched the bunk he jumped up again with a hiss.
"What?"
"Not sure. Ummm…". Spencer felt around a little below his waist band and then peeled it down a few inches. "Feels bad."
Luke whistled, "Looks like a chemical burn. That's got to hurt. It's not deep though. How the hell did that happen?"
"I'd rather not discuss it. I'm good enough, check on Sin. Maybe there was some mistake, they thought we were someone else."
"No. They saw our badges. This is us." Sin was lying on the floor, propped against the far end of the bunks. Luke hunkered down beside him. "You okay?"
Sin swallowed and shook his head. "They hit us with something electrical."
"Yeah, it's called a tazer."
"I keep wanting to splinch." He flashed again, only it wasn't a flash. This close it looked like bits of him were going somewhere else. He groaned through it.
That could not be good. "You going to be okay?"
"Don't know. I can't shift right now. Just need to hang until I can get back to medical."
"Think your people can deal us out of here? 'Cause I don't think mine are going to be here anytime soon."
Sin started laughing.
QSS Ka'naesh
Near Earth orbit
In the conference room just off the bridge, the one with the best view of the large, blue planet below, three people stood, thinking.
The one closest to the view screen spoke first. She was a small woman, younger, a bit stunted in size like so many of her generation, dressed in fairly casual black. "I am thinking of the Eridians." She said at last.
The second woman was considerably older, was dressed in bright colored robes. "How so?" She asked.
The third member of the trio was male. He was easily seven foot tall, broad in the shoulder and chest and muzzle, thick with well earned muscles. The coloring on his short fit and slender tail resembled nothing so much as a greyish tiger. He was the only one openly armed, a broadsword hanging from his belt, although with the size of his paws and length of his claws he did not truly require it to fulfill his duty. "Given an Eridian a corner and they take the room?" He said in clear Quadrainian.
"Exactly." The first woman replied.
"But we do not know if they intend to take the room." The older woman said. "According to the people who contacted the Mrr'tani this is not a government action. This was the work of criminals, bandits. If we held every planetary government responsible for the actions of their criminals we'd be in a constant state of war."
"Point." The male said. "Our intelligence says that the two major regional powers are themselves in a state of war. Based on that intel this might not be the work of bandits. It might be an action of one side against the other. And what do we do if that's the case and that side wins?"
"We don't know that it is a war." The older woman countered. "According to our agents it appears that both leaders are in collaboration. Which would mean that if this is a war we have seen the other side yet."
"Which would put our people planetside in danger in their current location." The male countered back. "As well as affect our decisions as to what technology we share."
The younger woman straightened her shoulders as she made up her mind. "Stout Will, contact the hanger, First Corps and Medical. I want a drop ship prepared, two squads and two medical teams, soon as I can get them."
"All right." The male replied as he started sending the orders.
"You cannot go to war over this." The older woman protested.
"I'm not, Kinara." The younger woman replied. "Computer, ask the Captain to stand down the bridge." The computer chimed an acknowledgment.
"Then what are you doing?"
"Not giving up my corners."
"The IGFP will not approve."
"That's why I'm doing it myself."
"What?! Are you insane?"
"Aren't we all?" Stout Will laughed at that. The younger woman smiled in reply. "If Larun of Boktor doesn't like it she can send me a pointed memo. I'll be back in three hours." The younger woman turned and left the room.
The man moved to follow. "Stout Will". Kinara called to him. "Be sure to mind her temper."
He chuckled. "I'll give it my best."
