Rune #10

Part 1/3 chapter 4

Sorry for so many of these stories, thanks for sticking with me!

Rune sat in the midst of half a dozen sarsh, all of them facing him, the barrels of their guns directed at his face. There was a scowl fixed on his face, pulling the scars into white lines. The metallic blood had dried on his face, A Major had wound a bandage around his leg, stemming the flow of blood. They left Earth, Rune was immobilized by half a dozen men. In other circumstances, Rune might have laughed at the comical sight. Not today. He didn’t say a word, staring straight and ignoring the guns pointed at him, ready to fire the instant he made one wrong move. Having taken their weapons from humans, the sarsh only used handguns and rifles, that all shot bullets, not some kind of fancy energy that only rendered the target unconscious. So, Rune stayed still, his ears flat against his head in anger. His mind was full of confusion and anger, but this was not the place to fight back no matter much he wanted to sock someone in the face at the moment.

When they flew into Zenith’s docking bay, Rune considered fighting briefly, but now that he was back, there would be no point. It would only cause more trouble for him. He resisted slightly when the soldiers pushed him from the transport and surrounded him; they rewarded him with a gun barrel to his already sore ribs. He swore under his breath and kicked half-heartedly at the Major who hit him. Now he held his ribs and winced at the new bruise blooming on his cheekbone. He had been right, fighting would get him nowhere.

The Colonel led the circle of soldiers to the meeting room. This was where trials and leader meetings took place. When they entered, Rune raised an annoyed brow. The Admiral and nine of the Generals were seated, their eyes trained on the muddy group that entered the room, Rune in the center of them all.

“Lieutenant 682.” Admiral Gallas called, his voice booming and angry. Rune sighed, exhausted and swaying on his feet. He hated meetings, they bored him. He said nothing in response to Admiral Gallas. Normally, he might have snapped to attention, but he stayed in one position and glowered at the floor, ignoring the many pairs of eyes on him. “Lieutenant!” Admiral boomed rising to his feet. Rune looked up, small black spots floated in his vision and his head swam. He favored his left leg, still aching from the gash. Seeing Rune’s condition, dull eyes and swaying on his feet, Admiral Gallas pursed his lips and shook his head. “Take him to the infirmary, we will speak to him later.” The Colonel nodded and turned to his men, signaling for them to leave.

Rune stumbled slightly as he turned away from the Admiral, one soldier next to him caught his forearm, gripping it tightly. He was a Captain. He didn’t have the same hostility and anger in his eyes as the others. Rune nodded his thanks and tried to push away, but found he couldn’t. He had weakened considerably and his vision continued to darken. “Captain?” he whispered, even his voice weak. The man’s eyes fixed on him. “Yes?” He asked. Rune took a minute to gather enough strength to reply. “You may have to carry me the rest of the way.” he finally said with a hint of amusement. Not a minute after he spoke, he collapsed, the Captain struggling to hold the Lieutenant up. The Colonel heard and turned. He frowned at the Captain supporting the Lieutenant much larger than he. He sighed. “Somebody call the paramedics.”

Captain Leto allowed the paramedics to take the Lieutenant from his support, he watched as they carried him away. He turned to Colonel Hale. “will he be alright?” The Colonel nodded. “he may be less so once Admiral Gallas has time to talk to him. Going AWOL is a serious offense.” Captain Leto nodded, snapped a salute to the Colonel and the two parted ways.

Rune slept for twenty-four hours straight before he finally woke. The overhead lights stung Rune’s eyes as he cracked them open. The room was still and silent, no one there. The lieutenant shifted, but he realized they had restrained his limbs, trapped against the bed. He groaned and strained against the restraints, hoping to break them as he had back on Earth, but the sarsh knew how to contain a cybersoldier. His wrists were trapped, another strap crossed his chest and his forearms, his legs were strapped separately. Though it was frustrating, Rune knew why they did this. When a cybersoldier was not completely in control of their new limbs, they could be a danger to people around them, which Rune had learned the hard way. When frightened or stressed, they could lose control of themselves, a hazard of becoming the most powerful soldier in the sarsh ranks. Because he had learned nothing of his cybernetic limbs, he was dangerous. Still, he wanted to get out. He tried to quell the anger rising inside of him.

When Rune had woken, a small beeping alerted the nurses. They came into the room, ignoring Rune’s angry eyes and set back ears. One of them brushed his ribs as they checked his restraints and he hissed in pain, swearing loudly. The nurse jerked back, frowning at him. Rune glared at her, wanting to protect his aching ribs, his cybernetic arm strained against the straps, there was the quiet sound of separating fibers. The nurse’s eyes widened and turned to her companion, whispering something in her ear. She nodded and left the room. “will you be alright?” she whispered to the first nurse. She nodded. The second nurse left.

Rune stared hard at the first nurse, slowly twisting his wrist under the straps until his fingers were upright and he could reach the strap. He focused, now watching his own cybernetic arm. The sarsh followed his gaze and her breath caught. Rune’s fingers melded to form the gleaming black blade he had discovered on Earth, it easily sliced though the restraints. They obviously hadn’t expected him to know anything at all about his cybernetic limbs. Rune smiled grimly as he sliced through the straps. He stayed seated, though. His head, ribs and leg still throbbed with pain. “I hate being stuck in one position.” he told the nurse in a conversational tone.

The nurse swallowed. “Stay there or we will have to take drastic measures.” Rune frowned. He highly doubted the woman could do anything, women were not trained to fight. Still, he stayed where he was, sitting against the soft pillow and watched the nurse. A few moments later, six armed sarsh burst into the room, the other nurse following behind them. Rune watched them with an incredibly bored expression. “seriously?” he complained, gesturing to the soldiers now circling him. They all said nothing. Rune raised an eye and dropped his head against the pillow, turning his back on the sarsh. A few minutes later, he felt several of them grab his arm and yank him upright. Rune cried out at the pain that speared his ribs and head. All the sarsh instantly whipped their weapons to him, trained on his doubled over figure. “You really should learn to be more gentle,” Rune wheezed.

“When did you get so sarcastic?” one sarsh mocked, swinging his gun at Rune. Rune dodged, hissing in pain again. “when I learned stern and stoic life sucks.” Rune retorted, laughing slightly despite the pain ripping through his body.

The sarsh soldiers shuffled closer to him, Rune sighed, his cheer gone. Moving slowly, he sat back on the bed. Just by standing up, his vision had gone dark again. He was exhausted and every part of his body throbbed. He crossed his arms and glowered at the gun barrels surrounding him. So the nurse was correct, they had taken drastic measures.

After a few tense moments, one sarsh split from the rest and left the room, soon returning with a doctor. The nurses and doctor spoke quietly and urgently, the nurses began preparing something out of Rune’s view, while the doctor pushed through the soldiers surrounding Rune. “Lie back.” she ordered, her voice steely. Rune raised a surprised eyebrow, but obeyed and watched her with bright eyes as she passed a small screen over his chest, which was swathed in tight bandages. Then she turned away to study it.

“You have four fractured ribs courtesy of their violence,” she finally said, pointing the pen she held at the surrounding soldiers. “though I heard it was partly your fault.” she finished. Rune shrugged, followed by a grunt of pain. “It wasn’t my fault they jammed a gun in my ribs.” he responded. The doctor cast him a strange look over her shoulder before turning to the nurses. They spoke quietly, then the nurses approached Rune. They too gave him odd looks. He ignored it, sitting up curiously as they asked him to. One of them gently wiped a spot on his arm and fetched a length of fabric, binding it around his arm.

“What are you doing?” Rune demanded, his body tensing. The nurse gave him a blank look. The doctor turned to him. “orders from Admiral Gallas say to keep you sedated until you are healed. He wants no incidents.” Rune’s jaw clenched, he furiously scrubbed at the scar on his jawbone, it had become his anxious habit. At his movement, the sarsh started forward, fingers tightening on the triggers. Rune frowned at them. He had no desire to be sedated, but being shot would be worse, so he cooperated. For the moment. Rune set his jaw as a nurse slid the needle under his skin, the white liquid felt like fire spreading up his arm and neck, until it reached his head. The surrounding sounds fuzzed and his vision dimmed. He felt as his body hit the bed, heard the nurses affirm the soldiers he was almost unconscious. Then he sank into oblivion.

When he woke, the nurses didn’t speak a word to him when his weak voice groaned or asked how long it had been. The doctor had left, taking the only kindness with her. Rune felt like he had been smashed and blown back up, his mind was muggy and his limbs weak. He wondered if they meant for this to happen, for the sedative to weaken him enough so he couldn’t function. If so, they had succeeded. The nurse administered another dose of the sedative, the only words she said were telling him when he woke again, it would be time to see Admiral Gallas. Rune slipped into slumber with dread coiled in his stomach.

The overhead lights buzzed on. The nurses, three of them this time, darted around Rune’s still figure. He was still unconscious because of his last dose of sedative, but he was mostly healed and Admiral Gallas was asking for him. The nurses collected items and one of them injected a dark liquid into Rune’s left arm. A few moments later, he sucked in a breath and his eyes popped open. He winced at the blinding lights above him. A nurse’s face came into view, Rune couldn’t help glaring at her, but he found he couldn’t do any more than narrow his eyes. His limbs refused to obey. His breathing was labored and his stomach roiled, his jaw clenched.

The nurse’s face was blank as she watched his obvious discomfort. “You will experience some mild nausea and stomach pains, but it will pass. I need you to stand and dress yourself to properly meet the Admiral.” Rune groaned as he slowly sat. “I am I supposed to feel like I’ve been stepped on by an Anarii?” The Anarii was the overarching word for a beast, and most them were incredibly heavy. The nurse pursed her lips. “It will pass.” she replied tersely. Rune frowned, but pushed his thoughts away as the nurse passed him a black tunic and pointed to a narrow door to her left. Rune sighed and stood, swaying. His head swam, but he clenched his hands into fists and stumbled to the door.

Ten minutes later, a more presentable Lieutenant followed Captain Leto through the corridors. The Captain had arrived at the medical bay to bring Rune before Admiral Gallas and the Generals. Rune huffed and stopped for a minute, holding his ribs. His chest was heaving, making his ribs ache. The nurses might have kept him in the medical bay for longer, but Admiral Gallas insisted he was well enough to talk. No one went against his orders.

Captain Leto turned back to Rune. “Are you alright?” he asked anxiously. Rune hissed in pain, his head still swimming, this time from the sedative. “For this moment, no.” Rune answered, but he pushed away from the wall and strode past Captain Leto, emitting a string of colorful language as he passed.

Rune entered the meeting room with Captain Leto, the sarsh stationed himself by the large maroon door as Rune stepped forward, flanked now by two muscular sarsh with their weapons at the ready. The lights overhead stung Rune’s eyes. He stood before the crescent table where nine of the Generals and Admiral Gallas sat, all eyes on him.

“Considering your current condition,” Admiral Gallas began. “we will keep this short.” He looked as if he expected an answer, but Rune gave none. The Admiral frowned, but continued his thought. “I will ask you only one question; why did you flee after becoming our most recent cybersoldier?” Now Rune’s brow furrowed.

“I didn’t.”

“You did.”

Rune sighed in exasperation. Now was his chance to tell Admiral Gallas the truth. “General Aspen came to me after you released me from work, said you ordered for me to be ejected. But he made a mistake, he didn’t take my rank chain. You weren’t even there, I think something went wrong.” Admiral Gallas gazed at him, confusion evident. “I never ordered for you to be ejected, why would I eject you after spending three months arranging for you to become the next cybersoldier?”

“That’s exactly what I said!” Rune exploded, quickly retracting his arms and doubling over at the pain in his ribs. He wheezed, his breath ragged. “Sorry.” he coughed. The Admiral raised an eyebrow. It had never been part of his soldiers’ training to apologize, even to their commanding officers. Then, the Lieutenant’s words clicked. General Aspen. He had been missing from duty the same day Rune went missing, it was he who told Rune they ejected him, but now he was in the medical bay with no memory of that same day.

“I believe you’re right, Lieutenant.” he said. “Somebody call the medical bay and tell them to keep a close eyes on General Aspen, I think we may have a traitor.” Rune caught his breath and his head rose. “I don’t thin-” The Lieutenant spoke, but the Admiral interrupted him by shouting to the Captain by the door.

“Leto! Take Lieutenant Samarvir to holding cell 62 until we confirm this recent information.”

“What!?” Rune cried, his cybernetic arm still tight against his ribs. “Why?”

The Admiral held up a hand, gesturing to the two sarsh on either side of Rune. They grabbed his forearms, dragging the pressure of his ribs. He grunted and winced. The two of them roughly restrained Rune. With Captain Leto in the lead, they left.

The two sarsh left Rune in the holding cell and the door locked after them, Rune watched after them, his heart twisted and anger rising inside him. In the silence of the brig, a curse echoed through the room.