***TW for language, violence, torture***

Jim could barely contain himself. He found himself looking over his shoulder and all around them as he and William made their way to the fourth coordinate point. Even Will noticed how on-edge he seemed, "You good?"

"Yeah! Just…keeping an eye out for…anyone following us," Jim tripped over his own words. It had been two days and he was anxious to see Sidon again, so much so he was surprised at himself. But...it felt nice too. He wanted to see him so badly. Get to know him. Every time he thought about how they were soulmates a stupid smile went across his face and he felt heat in his cheeks.

He nearly ran straight into William and he looked around before checking his navigation device. They weren't at the next point yet…"What are we doing?"

"It's…it's getting dark out? I thought we would make camp here," Will looked at him as if he were dense. Jim's eyes went to the sky. Stars were quickly becoming visible in the velvety blackness sweeping overhead. Oh.

William had already settled himself in a tucked away spot against a fallen log and was slowly chewing on something. Jim started to find a spot as well, but he whipped around and stared at William, "What the hell, you have food?! Why haven't you shared?!"

It had been eleven days - ELEVEN WHOLE FUCKING DAYS - since he'd even had a scrap of food and Jim was starving. Subsisting on water and the distant memory of food was, for lack of a better phrase, shitty as hell.

"Oh, shit, here," Will held up his handful of berries.

Jim stared at them and then at him. He hadn't been expecting that. Jerky? Maybe. Purp leather? Sure, that's feasible. But berries? "Where did you get those?"

"Found 'em while we were walking here. I tried to point them out ot you, but you were halfway across the galaxy with that stare and didn't respond at all, so I figured you were-"

"You found them and you're just eating them?!" Jim slapped the rest of the berries from William's hand. Will jumped and tried to find them in the dark, "What the fuck?! Why'd you do that?"

"What if they're poisonous?"

Will spared him a glare as he continued to grope blindly in the dark, "I've been eating them all day and I'm fine!"

Jim's jaw dropped, "You stupid son of a…well, there's no saving you now. Good luck. You wanna give me your coordinates so I don't end up wandering in circles for the rest of my life trying to find whatever it is the Navy's after?"

"Shut the fuck up, Jim."

Normally he'd have some clever quip, but he didn't right now. He was too distracted by his stomach.

Maybe I can convince Sidon to bring me something to eat…

Jim woke to a rustling in the underbrush near him and he blinked dazedly for a moment. His heart went into his throat and he jerked up from where he'd been lying to meet the intruder head-on.

Dammit, Sidon! You didn't give me any time to put distance between us and William-

He slammed head-first into a tall boar-like alien and fell back with a yelp of shock. They stared at each other for a moment, both in slack-jawed surprise, and Jim scrambled to his feet.

Unfortunately, he didn't get anywhere.

The other man grabbed his arm and wrenched it painfully behind his back while simultaneously grasping for his other arm.

"WILLIAM, RUN!"

It was the only thing he was able to get out before a gag was forced into his mouth. Jim kicked and jerked his body as wildly as he could, but the boar-man had him in a tight grip and he felt ropes going around his wrists and tightening to the point it hurt.

There was the sound of a fight back where he and William had made camp; shouting, thrashing, snarling, cursing. Only a few minutes later another scaly, lizard-like alien came into view. He dragged Will behind himself, equally bound and gagged as Jim was.

"You two have been quite a pain in my ass," A woman's voice came from behind Jim and the man holding him and he craned his neck to see who it was.

"We've had one hell of a time tracking you down. Seems you're on a dedicated mission to find something," There was no mistaking the figure that came out of the tree cover. Jim had only seen hundreds of Naval reports on her and even more newspapers with her face plastered all over the front page. Raith placed her hands on her fists and looked first from William to Jim and smirked, "And now you're going to take me to it."

Like hell we are.

"Bring them back to camp. We're going to have some fun with these little Navy boys."

It didn't matter how hard Jim fought and dragged his feet, there was no slowing or stopping what was coming. He and William soon found themselves thrown roughly onto their stomachs in the middle of a wide clearing.

Jim looked around quickly. There was a firepit in front and to the left of him, tools and crates and weapons were scattered haphazardly around the space as if a group of messy teenagers had been tasked with setting up the camp. The grass was flattened and beaten down to bare dirt in several places as if they'd been set up here for many days. With how close it was to where he and Will had camped the night before it was a shock they hadn't walked straight into the pirates.

The feeling of the ropes loosening on his wrists had Jim struggling again. He got one hand free and swung his fist as best he could, but it was snatched again and the cold metal of shackles replaced the rough scratching of the rope. Jim spat out the gag as it was also removed and he gnashed his teeth to try to bite anyone whose hand got too close.

Someone pulled William up first, grabbing his hair and yanking up. He howled and thrashed as he was dragged away.

"Where are you taking him?!" Jim twisted around as far as he could to look, but someone caught a handful of his hair next and pulled him to his knees. He gritted his teeth together as hard as he could to not cry out.

"You should worry about yourself," Raith stroked a surprisingly soft-furred finger down his cheek. Jim flinched as a cold steel was clamped around his throat as another shackle was fastened into place. Raith tugged on the chain and drew Jim to his feet. A wicked smile went across her face, "Look how easily trained he is. Now…what is the Navy so keen to get their hands on, hm?"

Jim spat in her face and snarled, "Fuck you."

She stood frozen for a moment before drawing her arm back and slapping him square across the face. One of her claws hooked into the skin right next to his lip and Jim felt a dribble of blood slide down his chin as his head whipped to the side with the force of the slap.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way," Raith licked the blood off her claw and grinned at Jim. "Perfect."

She snapped her fingers and Jim was thrown onto the ground again, this time on his back, and his legs were grabbed before he could kick out.

"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!"

The men pulled his boots off and then his socks and his ankles were swiftly bound. Before Jim had a chance to even begin to feel relief at them not removing any more of his clothing, he felt a sharp, stinging, burning sensation across the bottoms of both feet. He sucked in a sharp breath and had to grit his teeth to keep from screaming at a second blow from the cat o' nine.

Five lashes and Raith raised her hand to stop them continuing. Jim let out a shuddering breath.

"What is the Navy after?"

Jim's gaze refocused on Raith's stupid smug grin. Anger welled up in his chest, "Fuck you."

She bared her teeth in a wide smile, "Whip his feet to shreds."

It took every ounce of willpower not to cry out at the pain as his feet were whipped over and over. But after a while he found that was able to block out the pain, just as he had for days trying to avoid facing how he'd lost Morph-

"Had enough, Navy boy?"

Raith dragged her claws along his jaw and he jerked his head away. I won't break that easily.

"Fuck you."

While earlier she had seemed excited by his defiance, now her expression was far less amused. With a sigh, Raith waved to one of her men and he cut the binds on Jim's ankles. Jim kicked reflexively and nearly cried out at the agony that shot from his foot all the way to his hip when he connected the kick with the man's throat.

The man coughed and responded by punching Jim in his ribs. It forced a small, unstoppable sound out of Jim's throat as the air rushed from his lungs and he curled to protect the hurt spot instinctively.

"Lock him up for a bit. Let him stew."

Jim found himself getting slammed against a tree trunk and the chain attached to his neck shackle was hooked around it.

This interrogation is weak as hell…

Considering that they'd only whipped his feet and not done anything else was nothing short of a miracle. Or inexperience dealing out effective punishments for an interrogation. He'd expected more from Raith; there were so many stories of her ruthlessness that this just seemed…weak. Jim almost felt put out.

A cold chill went down his spine when he heard William's scream break the air behind him. He tried to pull against the chain to look around the tree, but it was too short and he couldn't see where they had William.

His friend cried out again and began to beg and plead for whatever they were doing to stop.

It continued for several more minutes before the sound of an especially loud snapping could be heard and William's scream rose in pitch and desperation.

Jim let himself fall back against the tree and winced at each following blow he heard. His eyes met Raith's gaze and she smirked at him.

So that's your game. Trying to break me by making me listen to my friend getting tortured.

He felt a scowl going across his face and he jerked out his chin defiantly.

Guilt grew in his stomach and chest as he listened and his glower only deepened as he concentrated on not breaking. He couldn't break. Neither of them could. William was being strong by refusing to give up the coordinates even as he begged for the pain to stop.

It was becoming unbearable to listen to and Jim very nearly gave in when-

"Get off me…"

Jim whipped around and leaned as far as he could to watch as Will was chained to the tree on the opposite side from him. He couldn't see anything other than William's foot sticking out to one side.

"Will?"

There was a soft clinking as William shifted to lean around too and Jim could just barely see his face. They made eye contact and Jim winced at how pale he looked, "You ok?"

"I'm fucking great…the hell do you think?"

Jim felt a chuckle rise in his throat even as he grimaced, "Alright, smartass. Just…you can talk to me, ok?"

William offered him a weak smile, "Thanks, Jim-"

"Awe, just look at these precious boys."

Raith crouched in front of Jim and gave him a mocking look, "Why, I'm going to get cavities from how sweet the two of you are."

She slapped one of Jim's feet, then grabbed it and pressed her thumb hard into the bottom of it. Jim had to fight the urge to wince and he held her gaze.

"Ooo, he's a tough one. We haven't gotten a single peep out of you at all today," She raised an eyebrow.

"'Cause what you've done is weak shit."

Her other eyebrow rose and she made a 'hmph' noise, "Oh, so you like it rough then?"

"Is there any other way to do it?" Jim pushed his foot harder into her thumb on his own and smirked right back at her, "What can I say? I'm a kinky boy."

"Heyo, Bigs, I've got a new friend for you."

Jim's eyes followed the motion of a very large alien - a Desandron - standing up from where he crouched by the fire. He grinned excitedly back and flicked one of his hands at the man that had been sitting next to him.

They popped up and trotted over while Raith unlocked Jim's neck shackle. Bigs' friend grabbed Jim's arm and yanked him up and the two of them pulled him around to the other side of the tree so he could face William.

The first slap came as a surprise; Jim was too busy glaring daggers at Will in a silent warning for him to keep his mouth shut.

Motherfucking OW!

"That all you got?" Jim turned his head back and looked up. He could feel the bruise starting to form, "I thought a big guy like you'd pack a little more of a pu-"

He saw the wind up for the punch before it came and tensed reflexively before it connected with his gut. It was probably good because otherwise the air would have been knocked out of him. He didn't even have a chance to say something else sarcastic before his other side of his face received a hearty open-palm smack.

At least he's not punching me in the face, otherwise I'd lose teeth…

His lip was split, right under his eye was starting to swell around another cut, it was so hard to breathe he was sure that his ribs were broken and if they weren't then they were heavily bruised. And try as he might, Jim couldn't seem to stand on his own between the shaking of his legs and the searing pain in his feet. So he wavered between the two men as they literally smacked him around and gasped for breath.

He lost track of how many times he'd been hit when he vaguely heard William make the desperate plea, "Leave him alone-"

Another slap split his lip more and Jim spat out a mouthful of blood, "Shut the fuck up, William…"

"Jim-"

"SHUT UP!"

He turned his eyes up to gaze into the Desandron's face, "Harder."

The next punch knocked his legs out from under him and he groaned softly. That's gonna hurt in the morning…

Jim felt hands go to his arms again and he was yanked back to his feet and Bigs hit him again, harder than he had before. Jim knew he'd been holding back the entire time, otherwise he would be a bloody mess on the ground a long time ago, but now it seemed like he was ready to let loose.

"Calm down, Bigs, can't have him dying on me yet," Raith picked herself up from where she'd been watching casually, as if it were some sports match and not someone getting the absolute shit knocked out of them. Jim panted and watched her moving closer, "You ready to give me those coordinates, little boy?"

Jim tilted his head to the side and did his best to give her a smarmy grin, "Depends…you gonna turn up the heat or are we gonna go about this pathetic song and dance for the rest of forever?"

"You-" Raith's tail flicked in a way that made Jim think it wasn unconscious. "What are you playing at?"

"I told you, I'm a kinky boy," it hurt to laugh, but he did it anyway.

"Alright, you cocky little shit-" Raith made a spinning motion with her finger to the man gripping Jim's arms. He dragged Jim to his feet and forced him to walk forward toward the fire at the center of the camp. It was pure agony, but he refused to let them know that he was in pain, so he gritted his teeth and glowered and snarled at anyone who met his gaze. Raith turned back around and gave him a cruel smile, "You're lucky I'm feeling so patient today. If anyone else had given me even a fraction of the lip you have they'd be long dead."

"Awe, does that mean you like me, sweetheart?" He smirked back at her. Even as his legs were kicked out front under him and he was forced to kneel he smiled.

"Don't flatter yourself," She reached one hand toward a metal rod sticking out of the fire. Her eyes went to the man behind Jim and she didn't even have to say anything for him to know what to do. Jim felt a hand tighten in his hair right before his head was yanked back and his shirt dragged up so his chest and stomach were exposed.

Raith lifted the long slender piece of metal from the fire and Jim could see that it was a branding iron.

You fucking bitch…

She weighed the tool in her hand and looked over at Jim out of the corner of her eye, "Last chance before you're mine . This mark with tell everyone who you belong to, body and soul. You want that? You willing to give everything up for the Navy?"

Jim's eyes tracked the movement of the brand as she swung it in a slow arc in front of herself. There was a flash of anger in her eyes as Jim hesitated in his answer, "You're running to the end of my patience, boy."

He let out a deep sigh and would have hung his head if he'd been able to, "Fine…I'll give you the coordinates…"

Raith's face broke into a wide smile and she dropped the brand back into the fire.

"01000110-" Jim's eyes went to the robot navigator and they started wilding punching in the numbers he spit out. "01010101, 01000011, 01001011, 01011001-"

Everyone was starting to look very confused and the robot stopped punching numbers into their keypad to stare at him. Jim fought the urge to grin as he finished, "01001111, 01010101, 00100001."

"What sort of coordinates are those?!" Raith whipped around and looked at the navigator. He brought his hands up to defend himself. His eyes darted over to Jim, "Th-they're…it's not coordinates…it's binary…"

"What?! Speak the common language!"

"B-binary! Computer code- like a robot language-"

Raith grabbed his shoulders and shook him, "What does it mean?!"

"Fuck you."

She and the robot turned to look at Jim and he set his smirk free, "It means 'Fuck you.' I thought you were supposed to be smart."

The alien shrieked in rage and snatched up the brand. Jim barely had a chance to brace himself before she thrust it roughly to his chest right over his heart. A scream wanted so badly to rip out of him, but he clenched his teeth so tightly together and let out a hissing breath instead. It was unbearably hot and it instantly made his muscles spasm as his body fought to escape the pain.

Jim had to drag his eyes open to look up at Raith. She pulled the brand away and dropped it back in the fire and then slapped the mark.

Tears jumped to Jim's eyes. It hurt. It hurt so bad. He realized he hadn't been breathing and he sucked in air.

His voice came out as an indistinguishable murmur.

Raith leaned in closer, "What?"

Jim cleared his throat and felt a smile go across his face. He knew his eyes were wild, and he must look completely insane, and honestly he felt a little crazy. But he was getting to his breaking point. He was tired. He was in pain. And he was PISSED. These bastards were the reason Morph-

"I said 'that all you got, bitch? '"

She simply stared at him for a moment. Her face was a mask of both shock and fury. Raith snapped her fingers and motioned and Jim found himself getting yanked backward again until he was slammed against the tree from earlier. The shackle was closed back around his neck. Jim spat and bit at the closest of the men.

"Holy shit…freaking human…"

Jim didn't let himself relax until no one was looking at him at all. He carefully stretched his legs in front of himself so the soles of his feet were no longer grinding on the ground. Everything hurt…

"Jim?"

William's voice was soft, as if he'd just woken up, and Jim leaned around as far as he could to look over at him. Will was doing the same so they could see each other in the dim evening light. His face was pale, face lined with exhaustion. He looked like he wanted to speak, but Jim beat him to it, "Get some rest, Will."

"They're going to kill us…"

Jim's expression softened, "I know."

"I don't want to die, Jim…"

"I know…" Jim whispered back. Neither do I.

How had it all come to this? What was so important about what the Navy was after? What the hell even was it?

"If…if I look like I'm going to crack and tell them…kill me," William found and held Jim's gaze.

"Only if you make me that same promise."