Through Fire - Pt 4

Through Fire

By JD1

Rating: PG-13 for some strong language later on, suggested adult situations, and mild violence
Disclaimer: see part 1

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ For Life and Loyalty /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Continued

The shackles dug deep into his skin, sending small streams of green blood down his arms. His arms were tired, practically asleep, from being held in an upright position for so long. The strain on his arms grew, as they had to support his body for a longer and longer period.
His upper body was cold; they had stripped him of his clothes and there was a strong draft. His eyes stun, dried tears on his checks from when they had watered at the sudden bright lights. His voice, he knew must have been hoarse after all his screaming.
The smell of copper hit his nose in steady streams. Thick, green blood covered his torso. Burns had been placed all along his back, glossed with his green blood. His chest was sliced; a sharp knife, he barely recalled, had been repeatedly run across his bronze tinted skin. Light green stained his body, the visible traces of red proving his mixed heritage. The dried blood was becoming uncomfortable, sticking and pulling in certain places.
The taunting voice of Copus hit his ears once again. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine. Doin’ good.”
Copus grunted, hitting Selak hard across the face. “If you have noting to say that will interest me, then I do not want to hear your voice!”
The Vulcan looked down, taking a deep breath. “Well, you’re in quite a mood today.” He chuckled at himself, asking, “Did you wake up on the wrong side of your plasma rifle?”
Copus yelled in frustration, his hand coming down hard on Selak’s shoulder. The Vulcan screamed in pain. He could feel, and hear, his shoulder popping out of its socket. His body titled awkwardly on the chains, pulling harder on his good shoulder.
The Vulcan’s eyes closed in pain, trying to quite his whimpering as he felt waves upon waves of pain burning through his arm and chest.
Selak looked up at his torturer. The Heyta looked almost shocked with his actions, storming off after ordering someone to let him down.

“He dislocated your shoulder?”

“Yeah. I’d never seen him like that before. He was abusive, but he never did something like that, before or ever again. It scared me to death. When I got back to my cell, I had to… repair it on my own. God that hurt. I don’t recommend it.”

Tylus nodded, “Yeah, I’ve had my shoulder dislocated before. But I at least had painkillers, and a doctor, before they set it.”

Selak nodded in amusement. “Other than that moment, there wasn’t much else… substantial. Nothing that I really remember in bulk. Other than that they… broke three fingers once. That hurt a lot too. Other than that… not much.”

“How did you get out of there?”

“Get out? Well… like most days, I was hanging, having been tortured when the place was attacked…”

Selak’s arms were completely numb, not a completely uncommon feeling over the past year. The burning in his wrists had disappeared with the rest of his arm’s feeling. His nerves were spent- they hardly felt the pain as it was given; now it was nearly gone.
His feet were flat, trying to lessen the amount of gravity pulling on his body. The chain swung slightly, tugging harder on his shoulders.
He coughed suddenly, smelling something burning. Looking up, he noticed that smoke was starting to filter in the room. Pulling hard on the chains, his mind spun as he realized what was going on outside the room he was trapped in.
Shouts and explosions filled the room, making it to Selak’s ears. Plasma blasts rang just outside the door. Words in Heyta caught his attention; the few of them he could understand saying that they were to retreat.
His eyes and throat stung, making him cough again. His fidgeting grew more frantic, his arms throbbing with pain as they began to wake up. His feet fought to find the ground, pulling harder on his shoulders- one of which he was certain was beginning to be dislocated.
The door slid open, a four-person team of A’Kesh stormed in. Selak froze as four plasma weapons were trained on him. After all he had gone through in the past two years, he couldn’t believe he was going to die there- like that, shot with an A’Kesh plasma rifle.
His face was completely passive as he watched, waiting for them to fire and finish him off. At least it would end his suffering…
But that never happened. The second man to enter- presumably the leader- straightened from his crouch, lowering his weapon as he stepped forward. His face displayed his shock, his voice mirroring it as he asked, “Are you a prisoner of the Heyta?”
Selak starred at him a moment, tears filling his eyes just as his lungs burned from the smoke. But the A’Kesh seemed unaffected by it, which didn’t surprise the Vulcan.
“No, I just like handing around here. You know- dark, cold, damp, drafty. I’m thinking it could use one small window right there… but you know the Heyta.” Selak would have shrugged if not for the position he was in. And yet he almost flinched knowing that any Heyta interrogating him would have struck him at that point.
The A’Kesh smiled at him, apparently catching the sarcasm in his voice. “Cut him down,” he said in his native tongue to the three commandos. Two ready their weapons, aiming them high. Again, Selak hung, impassive in the face of his enemies’ weapons.
Selak heard the plasma fire almost simultaneously as felt the impact of his feet on the ground, hurting his ankles. He fell to his knees, grunted as he was gathered into the lead A’Kesh’s arms.
“How badly injured are you?” He asked, seeing the condition the man was in.
“I don’t know; I can’t feel much anymore.” He grinded his teeth, deciding that it wasn’t worth correcting himself and telling them how painful it was to have his arms waking up.
“Very well. Take him- bring him to the ship. I want him to have medical treatment for these wounds.”
Selak starred up at the man- he was completely serious. His gray eyes looked the Vulcan over as he helped him stand; he seemed disgusted, but not nauseated, by what he saw. Perhaps he had seen similar things before.
But, before Selak could analyze it farther, the commander turned away, leaving him secured by two of the commandos.

“So you were saved from the Heyta by the A’Kesh?”

“Yeah. The weird thing was… the only thing I really remember about that man… was how much he looked like Leto. Now that I think about it, he had… ridges on his hand,” Selak said, deep in thought as he remembered a face from long ago.

“But, um, anyway. They took me on their ship, gave me some medical assistance. But I was still pretty hurt and scarred. Suddenly… terrified in my own skin. I mean, I had been so… cocky and arrogant and just talked back to everyone else before. I laughed in the face of the Heyta’s punishments, and talked back to Koval without fear no matter how much he threatened me or punished me for it.”

He took a deep breath, admitting, “It was something about how… how caught up everything got. It was like suddenly I realized what had happened to me in the past few years. Like I suddenly had an actual fear of dying. It was terrifying.”

Selak sighed, “The first that happened when we got… wherever we got… they took me off the ship, blindfolded. Then interrogated me…”

Selak glanced around nervously, not able to see anything. The cloth stuck to his mouth as he inhaled, making it harder to breathe. The wooly material made his face itch, driving him insane for he had no control of his hands.
The A’Kesh guard suddenly stopped, pushing down on his shoulders. Selak’s knees buckled, landing him in a chair. He felt his arms unbound, only to have the guard force them in front of him. It felt as if they had been put on a table and strapped down.
Selak struggled against the binds, trying again to free himself, but it was to no avail. He sighed, giving in for the time. It would be useless to waste all his energy.
“Ah, you are the Federation Hybrid my men found in the Heyta prison. It must be quite refreshing to be able to smell clean air once again,” a voice joked. Selak turned his head, trying to determine where the voice was. It sounded like the man was moving- he could faintly hear footsteps.
“I’m not going to ask you many times. Just once, hybrid… what did the Heyta want with you?” Selak sighed, keeping his mouth shut. “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear.” Selak tried to look up at where the voice was, but was occupied by the feeling of a sharp knife being run over his hand.
“Now, why did they torture you? Heyta, though barbaric, have more… effective torture methods.”
“He didn’t like me much,” Selak responded, more sarcastic than he knew the man would tolerate.
Selak’s breath caught when he heard the knife cut into the wood table his hands were on. His one finger could almost feel the metal of the knife’s blade. “Oh, well. I haven’t practiced in some time.” He said, giving Selak the impression that he had meant to stab him.
“ Now tell me!”
“I don’t know!” He flinched as the knife cut into the table again, this time very close to his pinky finger. “They tried other things, it didn’t work.”
“That’s better.” Selak almost heard the smile in his voice. “Now, what kind of things did they ask?”
“I don’t know.” He flinched again, the knife close to his thumb. “They mostly asked about ship designs. I never told them anything.”
“Very loyal of you. How long?”
“What?”
“How long were you there?”
“I don’t know. A while,” he answered. He couldn’t image what they wanted with him. Anything he knew was most certainly out of date.
“Tell me what you know of the new Federation ship,” he demanded.
“Nothing,” Selak croaked. He did not survive the Heyta to tell the A’Kesh what they wanted.
The blade came very close to his finger; this time he didn’t flinch. If the A’Kesh had wanted to hurt him, he would have by then. He was just trying to scare him.
“Tell me!”
“I didn’t tell the Heyta. I won’t tell you,” he said.
“Very well.” Selak took a deep breath. It sounded as if it might be over. He almost smiled with satisfaction.
Once again, he heard the sound of the knife slicing through the air and toward the table. Before he could react, he screamed. The knife had gone straight through his hand.
“Woops, I told you I was a little rusty with this thing.” Selak was panting, trying to catch his breath as the pain shot through his arm. “Now, tell me.”
“No.”
In one, swift moment, the A’Kesh pulled out the knife, sending a new wave of pain through his body. “Tell me!”
“No!”
Suddenly, the A’Kesh began to laugh. “I like you, hybrid. You are very brave… that or foolish. But the Heyta, they are hard to resist. If you resisted them as you say, then I shall never get anything from you. Take him away. And fix his hand, he can’t work with that wound.”
Selak felt the bounds undone as hands pulled him out of the chair, taking him away from the man.

“They stabbed you in the hand?”

“Yeah, you can still see the scar if you look,” Selak explained, holding out his hand for Tylus’s inspection, pointing to the flesh between his thumb and forefinger.

“Then what happened? After they decided you didn’t know much?”

“Well… I’m not really sure. I don’t remember that much. They gave everyone- all the prisoners- implants in the wrists to keep track of us. That’s one of the few things I remember. Scar- one of the guards, he had a huge burn scar on his cheek- was the one to do it…”

“Hello, my dear friend. How are you this fine eve?” Selak looked up at Scar, scowling. Every day for nearly a week, Scar had been by to give him food and generally annoy him.
Scar pulled out a small, triangular device. The Vulcan looked at it in confusion, a stray feeling of fear creeping up upon him.
Without noticing, Scar motioned for another guard to come over. Suddenly, the Vulcan was on his knees looking up at the taller, intimidating version of Scar. But he just smiled, peering down at the young man, enjoying the sight of his prisoner.
Barely noticing what was going on, his mind so focused on the device, a hand snatched his right wrist, holding his now outstretched hand still. Instinctually he tried to pull away, the sudden movement startling Scar but didn’t hinder him.
Turning his attention quickly from his hand to Scar, he watched as the alien placed the machine on his opened palm, just above his wrist. The dark shade of black clashed with his pale skin. Then a sharp pain burned through his skin; the feeling striking him as what he imagined small needles ripping at skin and muscles might feel like.
A few seconds later, the pain had subsided some, the hand releasing its tight hold. Scar bent down to look the Vulcan in the eye. “Have fun. I am sure that we will be seeing each other soon.”
Scar only gave a quick, odd gesture to the guard before leaving, his long, loose fitting clothing swaying with him as he marched away.
Strong hands grabbed the Vulcan, pulling him to his feet and dragging him away…

“After that, I was assigned quarters. That’s when I met Lieutenants Willow and Douglas and Ensign Carter- they were my… roommates, for lack of a better word. That’s also when I found out that I was at a mining facility…”

Selak stepped through the opened door, feeling himself stumble as the A’Kesh pushed him through. He spun around, wanting to glare at the alien, but the door shut closed on his face.
“What do we have here?” Selak’s head shot around, hearing the familiar cadence of Matt’s voice, a man he knew to be dead for nearly two years.
“Look, we got ourselves a Vulcan!” A second exclaimed, a smirk on his face just as it was in his voice.
Selak looked over at him- a brunette with filthy, long hair. He was reclined comfortably on a bunk. The first man to talk was behind him on another bunk. Eerily enough, he looked a lot like Matt, dark hair and crystal blue eyes. Even his voice was too close a match for Selak’s taste.
Looking over the room, he found it was completely bland, owning nothing but four gray wall, a gray floor and ceiling and four bunks.
He saw that across from the Matt look-a-like, sat another person, this one female. She was paler- much like Selak’s skin was at that moment- with short blonde hair and hazel eyes.
“Ah, we’re just teasin’ ya! Sit down, make yerself at home.”
Selak looked up at the ceiling- two light fixtures were built in, making the room brighter than his eyes were used to. Walking slowly, he approached the empty bunk. He starred down at it- he hadn’t slept on anything but the floor for some time.
“It ain’t gonna bite!” Selak looked over at the brunette, raising an eyebrow. That was always his response to something stupid Copus would say. He barely spoke to him, choosing to annoy him with his silence instead on most days.
Sighing, he sank down onto the bed, his body rigid. “Damn yer tense, man. Just relax, lie down, bury yer burdens,” the Matt look-a-like teased. “I’m Roger, but the way.” Selak nodded, vaguely remembering that it was a proper acknowledgment.
“Oh, Daniel.”
“I’m Kathryn. And you are?”
He looked her over a moment, realizing that she was expecting an answer, as were the other two. “Selak.”
“Selak, welcome to A’Kesh prison camp fifty-three.”
He thought a moment, remembering that he had to speak to be heard. “It’s much better than the other places I’ve been to.”
“Ah, been a prisoner long?” Selak nodded, finding he enjoyed Daniel’s soft Betazoid accent. “Just under two years here,” Daniel stated. “Roger’s been here sixteen months; same with Kathryn. You?”
“Twenty seven months.”
“Really? Move around a lot?”
“You could say that,” he responded, feeling more comfortable speaking.
“How many camps?”
“This is my first.”

“There wasn’t a lot that went on there, in the A’Kesh camps. They definably were a lot better than anything else. The occasional beating of a prisoner, but they weren’t random or unprovoked. I mean, if you talked back or something like that were the only real reasons they hit you.”

Selak sighed, maybe that wasn’t the way to phrase it. “Anyway, all we did there was… mine. Nothing else. Just mined whatever it was. Some kind of compound they used for whatever. I don’t remember many things on their own, just a mess of things that happened there.”

Tylus nodded. It wasn’t often that one could tell such mundane things from another. Most of what the mind recalled were specific events that stood out for whatever reason.

“There was one thing I remember quite clearly. My first day mining. I was a little… confused…”

Selak was already awake long before the others. He had slept on the ground that night, not able to get comfortable on the cot that had been left for him. Instead, he was now sitting calmly on the ground, trying to mediate. He had often used his time in the Heyta cell to do just that.
But the others didn’t rise until a bright light filled the cabin, flashing in five-second intervals. Two loud noises followed that. ‘An alarm clock,’ Selak thought, amused.
He opened his eyes, standing only to find that the other three were sitting up in bed.
“Have a good nap, everyone?” Roger joked, standing and stretching.
“Five hours is hardly a nap.”
“Really?” Daniel retorted, laughing at the Vulcan’s joke. He looked up at the Vulcan; Selak could feel the vaguely familiar feeling of someone brushing his mind. Selak couldn’t remember the last time he had encountered someone telepathic.
“Don’t mind, Roger. That’s just his way of keeping sane.”
Selak nodded at Kathryn, startled out of his stupor when she spoke. “So, what do we do here?”
“We mine.”
“Mine?”
“Yeah. Never mined before?” Daniel asked with a smirk. Selak shook his head; it definably wasn’t his forte. “Have fun then.”
The door opened automatically, the three walking out without thought. Selak followed behind, seeing dozens of others walking out of their barracks as well.
Selak got into the single file line, staying behind Roger so that he knew someone he was around. An A’Kesh guard shoved a tool in his hand, not sparring him a second glance as they all squeezed into a turbolift, descending down into the mineshaft.
Selak, surrounded by people and the dark, small shaft, suddenly felt the air forced out of his lungs. His heart felt as if it had stopped. He only knew it hadn’t because of how fast it was beating in his ears. His hands were sweating madly on his tool.
“You ok?” Selak turned to see Roger watching him oddly. He just nodded, his mouth too dry to try to speak.
The car stopped, the doors opening to let everyone out. The Vulcan let out a deep sigh, rushing to get out. But what he found on the other side didn’t do much in the way of making him feel better.
A guard led them forward, suddenly telling them to stop. Selak just looked around- everyone else seemed to know exactly what to do.
“Roger? What am I supposed to do with this thing?”
The man looked at him, glancing over his shoulder. “Shh, there’s no talking allowed.”
“Yeah, but-”
“No talking!” one of the guards yelled from behind Selak, his voice loud and echoing in the quiet cavern. The Vulcan winced when he felt the butt of his plasma-rifle make contact with his back, sending his face hard into the rock wall.
He slid down, stopping only once he hit the floor. The A’Kesh guard kicked him in the back, only adding to the bruise he had created.
Selak moaned; pushing himself up once he knew the guard would not strike again. He reached up to the skin just under his left eye. It stung badly, obviously in pain from scrapping against the wall. Sure enough, once he took his hand away, he could scarcely see the red tint of blood on his fingers in the darkness of the mine.

“Is that how you got that scar there?” Tylus asked, having noticed the scar the minute he saw Selak’s face.

The Vulcan nodded. “Yeah, it scarred rather badly, as you can tell. It got infected and whatever. Then I had no way of shaving, so that hurt. But it did cover it up.”

“Why didn’t you keep the beard, then?”

“The doctors at Starfleet Medical wouldn’t let me. They said it would be healthier if I shaved it and started again later. But I don’t think I’m going to. I… don’t really want one,” Selak admitted.

He cleared his throat, going back to his story. “Um, the three roommate I had, they all remained. I mean, none of them were killed or taken somewhere else. Over the year I was there, we actually became friends.

“Daniel and I talked a lot about Betazed, family and whatever. We found out we’re very distantly related.”

“Really? How?”

“Well, our great-great-great-great- and so many great grandmothers were sisters. They were the great-grandchildren of Deanna and William Riker.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Very distantly related. Um, Roger, I found out, was Matt’s… cousin I want to say. They’re related somehow. And um, Kathryn was… is very nice. She actually is… like a twelfth Trill. The rest Human. So we talked a little about Trill. But we’re not related, though. I don’t think anyway.”

“So, you liked them all?”

“Yeah, they were the only three people I had to talk to for a year, what do you think? I mean, we had our arguments, but working every day we were too beat to argue. Except for the one off day we had, but that was it.”

He took a breath, standing and walking once again to the window. “Anyway, the last… two months we were there, we started to think up a way out. It wasn’t overly complicated… we just found out when and where the transport pods came, to take the shipments away. Then we managed to get certain… distractions to escape the mines and get to the ship…”

His feet felt heavy, his breathing labored. His muscles were tight, barely willing to function. The adrenaline pounding through his system. But his eyes, they were focused on his destination: Freedom.
A mechanical clicking alerted the four; locking mechanism were locking all doors and halls were about to be blocked by barriers. They sped up, their escape dependent on it. Roger ducked underneath the door first, making it to the safety of the other room. And then Daniel, following the first, made it under easily.
Selak looked over his shoulder, waiting for Kathryn to catch up. He beckoned her under, then dropped to the ground, trying to roll under the door to make it through.
He was almost out… almost to freedom…
Hands grabbed his feet, turning him awkwardly under the closing door. A sudden white-hot pain ran through his torso, spreading over the rest of his body. A shriek of pain alerted his friends of his distress. His friends turned, seeing him trapped underneath the door, crushing him to the floor…

“And… that’s about it. They pulled me out and carried me to the transport. We got out and were found. The rest I assume you know.”

Tylus nodded. “Yeah, I’ve read the report.”

“Well, now that I’ve told you,” Selak paused, looking at him. He took a deep breath, finishing, “I think it’s time for you to leave.”

“Oh… right. Thanks,” he said with a nod, shocked by Selak’s sudden detachment. “Um, wow, yeah, it’s getting late. Thank-you for… talking. Telling me. You know if you want to talk-”

“Yeah, yeah. You’ll be around.”

“Right.” Tylus stood, heading for the door.

“Oh and doc?”

“Yes?”

“Next time they send you to record something, hide the recorder better.” Tylus blushed, ashamed, as Selak pointed out the device he thought had been well hidden.

“I’m sorry but-”

“Hey, I know. I didn’t mind.”

“Why did you tell me all that if you knew?”

“Because I want them to know something. I don’t care how court-martialed I might get for some of the things I did. I had little choice- I never expected to be freed.”

Tylus nodded, turning again with the pretense of walking out. He stopped suddenly, turning back to Selak after a moment.

“You know what?” He said, pulling out the recorder. “Computer, erase all data. Just between the two of us, huh?”

With that, he turned and left. Selak just smirked.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Now it’s the end. I swear! For those of you who read this far, I’d like to thank you once again for reading my story. I hope you liked it and please R/R with any comments you have.
Thanks! Love ya’ll!

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Two folks have made comments

Wow, long read... I think my eyes hurt but it was a great story! I want you sending us stories more often now!!!!! Understood?! ;)

More stories with Selak, please? Pretty please with sugar on top?