Zack awoke to the soft and continuous "beep" of the machine keeping track of his vitals. He tried opening his eyes, but the light above him was too much and his eyes had not yet adjusted. He was sure of something though: he could see. He was relieved, once his eyes had adjusted to the light, to find that the blindness he was experiencing before he fell asleep was only temporary, and it didn't seem that his vision was damaged or impaired either. He swallowed, and noticed how parched his throat was. He looked around the room in search of something to quench his thirst. The room he was in had the distinct look of a standard mothership infirmary, not unlike those he had seen in his later years of Cornerian Flight Academy training. Some of the machines, though appearing different then he remembered, he could identify. The others, he had no idea what their function was. Some of them looked like they could be scanning devices or intravenous apparatuses, but he couldn't be sure. He spent a long moment trying to figure out what the strange machines were, when the full gravity of the events of last night hit him. 24 years had gone by without him, 24 entire years. That meant that there had probably been numerous breakthroughs in modern medicine since the last time he had set foot inside an infirmary or hospital, which explained why he didn't recognize many of the machines.
Zack lay there and tried to process the information the guy named Wolf had told him. Due to pure luck, he had managed to survive in space for 24 years in suspended animation. Meanwhile, Zoness Epsilon's population had been entirely wiped out. He felt a pang of guilt and tried to sit up. He then noticed he was strapped down at the wrists and ankles to the infirmary bed. He had forgotten, until now, one of the key details of his situation-he was a prisoner. He felt even worse. Then he heard what sounded like a door slide open to his left. He glanced over in the direction of the door to see a grey lupine figure standing in the doorway.
"Oh good, you're awake. I didn't want ta hafta wake you myself. Can you see?" Zack instantly recognized the lupine to be Wolf from his voice. He was tall, and had a streak of white fur going from his forehead to the back of his head in between his ears, the colour of which matched his muzzle, eyebrows, and the tip of his tail, which Zack noticed had a slight split at the end. The most obvious distinguishing feature of Wolf's was the cybernetic eye covering his left eye socket, which glowed blue. His clothes weren't too out of the ordinary: a denim jacket covered in patches of logos for what easily could've been metal bands or mercenary groups. The jacket had no sleeves, and underneath was a black jumpsuit that quietly showed off how well-built he was, without shoving it in the face of the onlooker. He wore a spiked collar and shoulder pads, as well as heavy combat boots. To his right side hung a holstered blaster attached to his belt, with a decorative chain connected to the front of a belt. The belt in question was black leather and had a gold buckle of a fierce-looking wolf that lay dead-center of his waist. He was indeed intimidating, but not frightening, and he seemed to Zack to have the air of a man who cared more than he let on. He stepped further into the room, the door closing behind him, and dropped into a stool at Zack's bedside.
"Yeah, I can. You're Wolf, right?" Zack asked, rolling as best he could to face him.
"Yup, that's me. Wolf O'Donnell, leader of team Star Wolf" he replied with as much pride as he could muster, though he didn't sound very convincing. "I thought I'd come check up on ya. Ya know, make sure you're not dead and all that."
"Thanks a lot" Zack said with a sarcastic smirk, though the appreciation was genuine. "Would you mind getting me a glass of water or something? I'm really thirsty."
"Yeah, o' course." He inspected a few of the cabinets in the room before finding a small metal cup. He took the cup over to the sink to the right of Zack's bed, filled it with tap water, and held it out to him.
"Umm…" Zack stared at the metal cup "you're gonna have to tip it into my throat or something, I'm a little tied up at the moment."
"Oh, right. Sorry." Wolf looked away, an ashamed look on his face. Zack opened his mouth and Wolf reached out and tilted the cup towards Zack until the water slowly poured into his throat. Zack swallowed, and immediately felt quite a bit relieved. Wolf continued to stare downward.
"Look, I'm…I'm really sorry about…that. The whole 'prisoner' thing. I wish we didn't have to keep you like this…but…well…" Wolf said, keeping his eyes on the floor. Zack could tell he Wolf telling the truth, at least about the apology. He seemed to be deeply troubled by the idea. When he looked back up, Zack asked
Look, you've probably got your reasons that you'd rather not tell me. But, do you think you could at least tell me why I'm being kept prisoner?"
"Well yeah, I guess so-" Wolf started when he was interrupted by a harsher, higher-pitched voice that Zack also recognized from the previous night (at least what he assumed was the previous night; there was no way of telling in the infirmary). The voice belonged to a short and sinister-looking chameleon in a blue flight suit carrying a pile of green clothes.
"That won't be necessary, Wolf. Prisoner, you do not need to know why you are being imprisoned, you simply need to know that you are just that. Since your blindness has worn off, you're hydrated, and your vitals are stable, you will be moved from the infirmary to the brig. You probably won't be able to walk just yet, let alone stand, but Wolf will help you into your clothes and to your cell. I will go prep the brig for your arrival," the chameleon stated very businesslike. He walked over to one of the counters, dropped the pile of clothes, and left the infirmary, the door sliding closed behind him.
After a long silence, Wolf broke it by saying "That's Leon. He's not really a…people person."
Zack responded "Gee, I hadn't noticed. Ya know, you said you're the leader of this team, but it seems like he's calling the shots..."
"I most certainly am the leader of this team!" Wolf said defensively, rising a little bit out of his chair. He regained his composure and sat back down on the stool. "At least, I used to be. My teammates and I…well, we don't get along as well as we used to. Leon's sorta taken over the team since then, he calls most of the shots 'round here," he told Zack in a bit of a sad tone.
"If you guys don't get along, why doncha just split up?" Zack asked.
Wolf sighed "Unfortunately, s'not that simple. But anyway, I'm rambling here. Not like I wouldn't love to tell ya, but we better get you dressed and down to the cell before Leon gets all impatient and throws you down there himself."
It was then that Zack finally looked down at himself and realized that he was in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts that didn't even belong to him. He blushed and turned away from Wolf, trying as best he could to shy away with what little room for movement he had. "C'mon, don't be like that, s'no big deal, at least you're not naked," Wolf said with a chuckle, which only made Zack blush even more. It didn't help matters when he realized that someone on the ship had to have seen him naked to change him into the boxers he had on.
Wolf got up off the stool he was sitting on and untied Zack's wrist and ankle restraints. He tried sitting up, but got dizzy and immediately lied back down. "Easy there slugger, it's been quite a while since you've used your muscles, you probably won't be in top shape any time soon." Wolf went over to the pile of clothes Leon had left, sorted out the individual articles, and laid them out at the foot of the Zack's bed. "We went ahead and cleaned your uniform because we already know it fits you." Zack nodded, and Wolf got straight to work helping him into his clothes. Every time Wolf's fur brushed against his bare skin, he blushed even deeper, until finally his uniform was on all the way-complete with hat and boots. "Well don't you look official" Wolf said jokingly. "Alright, let's get you down to the brig."
Wolf slid Zack to the edge of the bed and sat him up. He took Zack's right arm and tossed it over his shoulder, and hoisted him by the waist onto the ground. As soon as Zack's feet hit the ground, he nearly fell over, but Wolf caught him instantly. Wolf carried him to the door, which opened automatically, and they began the journey towards Zack's cell. After what seemed like an endless maze of hallways, they finally arrived at the Brig. Leon was waiting for them, and as soon as he saw the two, he immediately spat in his shrill voice "Wolf, you idiot, you didn't cuff him?"
Wolf glared up at Leon "Look at him Leon, do you really think he's going anywhere on his own? Let's just get him in here!" Leon returned the glare, then turned to the keypad to the side of a door with a tiny window of very thick glass. After keying in the code, the door swung inward (unlike the other doors that he had encountered that slid open either automatically or with the press of a button). Wolf helped Zack into the cell and on to the cell bed, which was a bit more comfortable then the hospital bed, but not by much. The cell was larger than Zack thought, but a bit too white for his tastes. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all tiled almost blindingly white. In the back of the cell rested the bed jutting out from the wall, the toilet, and the water fountain. Opposite the bed, the fountain, and the toilet was an uncomfortable-looking gunmetal bench. About half way through the cell were several holes on either side of the room, as well as the floor and ceiling. Zack guessed these were for the electric bars for when a member of the team needed to interrogate the prisoner (which is also what the gunmetal bench was for). Zack slumped against the wall in as much of a sitting position he could muster. Leon keyed in another code and the electric bars activated, but they were different than Zack imagined. Instead of electrically charged metal bars crisscrossing as he had thought would be the case, instead what looked like green lasers emitted from the holes and intersected to form a bright green grid that emitted an audible humming sound. Wolf looked as if he was about to take a seat on the bench, when Leon shouted "Wolf, what are you doing? I need to speak with you and Panther about the prisoner right away!"
Wolf rolled his eyes at Leon, as Leon headed off in what Zack suspected was the direction of the bridge. Wolf gave Zack a sad look before leaving the room, closing the door, and hitting a key at the console. The laser bars disappeared and the humming stopped. Zack saw several locks on his side of the door that he hadn't noticed before lock into place. Zack, feeling extremely disappointed that he had been left alone, slid into a sleeping position and began to doze off.