Chapter Twelve
She could suddenly hear her own voice. A deep, piercing wail.
Heidi breathed frantically as the room came back into focus. She tried not to hyperventilate but was not successful. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes shot back and forth, searching for something, anything, to comfort her. But there were only the imperial guards, standing in front of her with their arms crossed and their faces stony. Remarkably, it was a welcome sight compared to what she had just experienced.
The trip back to the palace this time had been much different from her last one. This time she had kicked and screamed and flailed and done everything she could to get free, but it was no use. The imperial guards were stronger than her. This time she hadn’t even ridden in the back seat of the transport vehicle. They had bound her hands and thrown her in the trunk. She had kicked and screamed in the trunk for miles and then concluded that it was a futile waste of her energy.
It was fortunate that the palace was so close to base 65 because Heidi was certain the guardsmen wouldn’t allow her to get out and relieve herself like they had last time, and she was correct. By the time they arrived, she desperately needed to go, so as soon as they pulled her out, she had pissed directly on the guard that lifted her from the trunk.
He had revolted and cried out in anger, but hadn’t dropped her like she had hoped so she could run. The other guards nearby had laughed. The guard she’d urinated on had shoved her violently with a snarl towards the other guards, who caught her, still laughing. She suspected he’d wanted to hurt her more for that indignity and that the only reason he hadn’t was because he was under strict orders not to.
After that, the wet guard went to get changed while the other two guards took her down the hall. They stripped off her clothing and shot her with a hose. She gasped as the freezing cold water hit her. They threw what appeared to be a prisoner’s uniform to her and ordered her to get dressed. She only obeyed because she was shivering from the cold shower. Of course, even once she was dressed, she wasn’t much warmer. After this, they had taken her directly to the torture room. Her heart was pounding and her body started to tremble more and more as they approached the dreaded room. They strapped her in.
“The Emperor said you get one chance to cooperate,” one of the guards had said. “So start talking.”
But she merely pressed her lips tightly together and shook her head as best she could while strapped in the machine.
And then they’d flipped the switch.
This was the first break she’d received and she had no idea how long it had been since the machine also removed the concept of time.
"How can you do this?" she sputtered, sobbing. "Do you know what it's like? Do you know what it does to you?"
The guards exchanged glances, one of them smirked slightly, and then turned back to look at her. She resumed sobbing when she realized they didn't care. Her sobbing became more intense as she thought about how Dexter had had to endure this for days straight—twice.
"Does that mean you're ready to talk?" one of the guards asked.
Dexter... She saw his face in her mind. She thought about how she'd first found him curled up on that cold, metal table with his hands bound having experienced for days the kind of torture she now had to endure. If she talked now, she would be betraying him. Everything he'd endured would be for nothing. His parents' death would never be avenged. Her own mother's death... how much death did there have to be? How could she let all of that death and despair slide?
The tears were still flooding her face, but she set her jaw and breathed hard, glaring at the two guards. Her nostrils flared. Finally she spat across the room and hit one guard on the ear. He made a disgusted face and wiped the spittle from his ear. He looked up at her with intense hatred.
"That's all I have to say," she muttered.
She took a deep breath as they flipped the switch again.
Trist and Dexter sat with their backs against two trees at the edge of the woods next to the palace.
"You know where the release is, right?" Dexter asked. "To release the prisoners into the palace?"
"Yes, sir," Trist whispered. "But you'll be there even if I forget."
"Don't forget, Sergeant!" Dexter replied intently. "These imperial guards will recognize me. I've been here twice before. I met Ezar himself the first time I was here. If they see me, I'm as good as dead. And you'll have to lead this battalion yourself."
"I know that sir."
"I need to be certain you're ready to lead this battalion yourself," Dexter added. "I believe you can handle it. You are fully capable of leading these men to the prisoner release and releasing our men into the palace. But I need to know that you believe it, too."
"I do, sir," Trist agreed, nodding. "Thank you for your confidence in me."
Dexter nodded seriously. It was a point where normally Dexter would have grinned and ribbed with Trist, but it wasn’t in him today knowing that Heidi was trapped somewhere inside enduring God only knows what.
The men gathered around the palace, barely hidden by the trees. Dexter moved quickly toward the palace. He sidled up next to a side entrance that the imperial guard used and ducked down as best he could. He waited until a guardsman exited. He jumped up behind him and brought his weapon down on the man’s head quickly and quietly, knocking him out cold. Two of his men rushed forward to grab the man and pull him back into the woods. Once there, they bound & gagged him
They searched the guard quickly and found the keycard that would allow them entrance to the palace. Trist took it and ran back to the door. He glanced in the tiny window to be certain there were no guards immediately inside of the doorway. When he saw that it was clear, he waved the keycard in front of the key box. The box beeped and the light on it turned green.
Trist pulled the door open and slipped inside, waving to Dexter. He propped the door open with a large tree limb from the forest.
"On my mark," Dexter said to the other men in hiding and rushed up to the door himself. He glanced around once more to be sure there were no guardsmen and waved to the first battalion to come on.
The men rushed forward, carrying a bag of weapons with them, and slipped through the open door to join Trist in the hallway. Trist was already poised and ready to strike any guardsmen who rounded the corner before all the rebel fighters had gotten inside.
Dexter glanced around again and waved the second battalion in.
Trist had to shoot two guardsmen that came around the corner in the hallway. “Hurry,” he said to Dexter. “Someone might have heard that.”
Dexter waved the final group of men into the palace and jumped in himself after them. He left kicked the stick out of the door and back into the outside and then waved to the men to follow him down the hallway.
They traveled down and around a corner as quietly as they could. It was a less used hallway because it was close to the imperial prison. The only reason to be there was if you were transferring a prisoner to and from the prison. However, it was impossible to completely miss any guardsmen and they came in contact with two more.
Dexter shot them quickly and efficiently and then waved his men on down the hall. They reached a place where the hallway split in two. One way led to the prison and the prison release that they had to activate, the other to the torture rooms.
Dexter sidled up next to Trist against the corner where the hallway rounded towards the prison release.
"All right, good work," Dexter whispered to the men and then turned to Trist. "This is where I leave you."
Trist looked at him intensely, his face full of confusion. "What-what do you mean?"
"I'm going after Heidi," Dexter explained. "You're in charge now. You take this battalion and you release the prisoners."
"B-But, sir," Trist breathed. "Commander Trevana's orders..."
"I know what her orders were, Sergeant," Dexter said. "I'm disobeying her orders
."
Trist's eyes widened even more until they were the size of saucers. He opened his mouth to respond, but Dexter cut him off by placing his hand on his shoulder.
"I wasn't just giving lip service out there, Sergeant," Dexter said. "I have complete confidence that you can pull this off and your orders are to lead these men if for any reason I'm not able to. Well, I'm not able to because I'm going after Heidi. If you need me to then I order you to take over. Either way, you have your orders from me and from Commander Trevana. I'm sorry to spring it on you like this but you know I couldn't have told you sooner or you would have been forced to alert the Commander. I had to do it when there was no turning back. Well, now there's no turning back. And I need you to pull this off. Tell me that you can pull it off."
Trist was still astonished but he said: "I can pull it off."
"Good man," Dexter said. He grinned and slapped Trist once more on the shoulder before he turned to the other men. "You follow Sgt. Trist, understand?" They all nodded. Dexter glanced once more at Trist and saluted. Trist saluted back, his face still full of amazement. Then Dexter stood up and took off down the hall.
It wasn't long before he encountered an imperial guardsman. He got lucky and the guard was alone, so he overtook him easily and without much noise. He pulled him into a nearby closet and quickly stripped him of his uniform. Dexter replaced his own fatigues with the guard's uniform, making a mental note to piss on them later when he took them off—if he survived.
He chuckled to himself as he relieved the guard of his blaster. "What have you done to me, Red? I've not only disobeyed orders but now I'm wearing imperial scum garb."
He bound and gagged the guard and left him in the closet and strode with purpose and authority down the hallway to the torture rooms. The steel doors all looked alike and he tried not to be too conspicuous as he glanced in door after door looking for her. His breath caught in his throat when he finally found her. She was strapped in the torture machine wearing a prisoner’s uniform. The machine wasn't on at the moment, but it was clear she was merely being given a small break. Her face was contorted, her eyes closed, and he could see how red her face and the area around her eyes was. It took all of his strength and training not to attempt busting down the door. Unfortunately, the guard whose clothes he'd stolen did not have a keycard and he’d left the other one they had with Sgt. Trist so that he could open the release. The guard Dexter had attacked must have been of low rank and not permitted in the torture area. He cursed himself for not looking for a guard with a keycard and reminded himself that trying to bust the door down would be futile and only draw needless attention to himself.
"Come on, Trist, come on, Dugan," he whispered. "Please hurry."
Sgt. Trist marched the men quickly down the hallway towards the prison door. Half the battalion waited at the edge of the hall where Dexter had left them to watch for imperial guard. As he reached the door to the prison that was connected to the palace, Trist heard blaster fire from back where he’d left his men and prayed that they weren’t overwhelmed—or at least they could hold the guard off until he could accomplish what he was here to do.
He swung the keycard he still had in front of the release box. It beeped, the light turned green and the door slid open.
He ducked his head inside and glanced around. He waved to his men. They dashed inside and quickly and efficiently killed the imperial guard inside who were keeping the prisoners enclosed. Most of them were lounging in the operating room that held the releases for all the cells, though a few had been on the floor and the rebel soldiers had been forced to scatter to overtake them all. Trist quickly pulled down all the releases. One by one, the cells clanged open and rebel soldiers emerged.
“Marco!” Trist called, leaning his head out of the operating room.
“Polo!” came the reply he was looking for.
He grinned and waved to his men to retrieve the bag filled with weapons. More of Trist’s men rushed in with the large bag they’d been carrying and armed all the soldiers within. Sgt. Dugan came rushing forward and stopped, surprised, when he saw Sgt. Trist.
“Reece?” he said, confused. “I thought Hathaway was going to be in charge of this mission.”
“Yeah, but he’s incapacitated,” Trist answered.
Dugan’s eyes widened. “Oh… he’s not dead is he?”
“No,” Trist answered, grinning. “Worse… he’s in love…”
“Dex?” Dugan laughed, astonished.
“Yeah, it’s a long story and we don’t have time,” Trist said.
“Right,” Dugan said, nodding. “If we both survive this, though, you have to tell me about it.”
“Will do,” Trist agreed with another grin.
Dugan waved to his men and they dashed down the hallway and out the door into the palace. “I’m disabling communications,” Dugan said to Trist. “After that I’ll come around behind the main guard’s quarters.”
Trist nodded seriously. “Try to hurry,” he said. “I’d rather not lose any more men than I have to.”
“Understood,” Dugan agreed and dashed down the hall after his men.
He and his men hurried around the corner, blasters blazing. They entered the main communications area and quickly shot all the guard present. Dugan himself took a blaster to the communications headquarters, disabling all communications.
The alarm began to sound.
Imperial guardsmen were running down the hall. Dexter paced and tried to look like he was frantically moving as well, but stayed close to the door. He glanced in and saw one of the guards on the comconsole, trying to discern what was happening. Finally, getting no response, the two guards ran to the door. It slid open and they took off down the hall. Dexter leaped in the room just before the door closed on him. The guards hadn't even noticed him.
Heidi was limp like a rag doll in the machine. Her face was red and blotchy and streaked with tears. Dexter tossed his blaster aside and worked quickly freeing her arms, legs, and head. She fell lifelessly into his arms and he gently placed her on the ground, cradling her head in the crook of his arm.
"Red!" he shouted. "Heidi! Open your eyes! Look at me!" He shook her shoulders gently but she was still completely out. "Come on, Baby, open your eyes! Look at me! Please, Red! Please don't do this to me! Please!" He still got nothing. Tears sprang to his eyes. The first time he'd cried since he was twelve years old. He pressed his lips to the top of her head and held her against himself, rocking her gently. "Please... please..."
"Mmm..."
Dexter’s head shot back and he held her up. "Red?"
She whimpered and her head lolled forward.
"Oh please, no," he moaned. "Red, it's me. It's Dex. Please open your eyes and look at me. Please!" He shook her again while cupping her chin in his hand.
Her eyes snapped open but they stared up at the ceiling, unseeing.
"Look at me!" he screamed. "LOOK AT ME!!!" He shook her again and then decided that was a bad tactic considering that he might do more damage to her brain rattling it around in her head. He placed his hands on either side of her face and forced her to turn towards him. Her eyes were still vacant. He breathed evenly and closed his eyes.
Wake up, Red... wake up... Wake up, please... Wake up… wake up...
She gasped. He opened his eyes. She was frantically fighting him, trying to get free of his grip, but her eyes searched the room, finally aware of where she was.
"No, no, Red, it's okay, it's okay, it's me..."
She stopped flailing and looked directly at him. She stared for a moment, seeing him but not making the connection.
"D-Dex..." she breathed finally.
Dexter laughed with relief and wiped his forearm across his eyes. "Yeah, it's me," he said. "You're okay. You're okay. I won't let them hurt you again."
Her lips parted and she stared intently at him for a moment and then burst into tears. He pulled her
tight against him and she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder.
"You had to endure that for two days," she whimpered. "Twice?!"
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry I let them take you. I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner. I'm so sorry. Show me who tortured you and I'll put them in this wretched, evil machine and leave them there forever."
She laughed ironically and pulled her face away from his shoulder so she could see him. "No, just get me out of here. Take me home."
"Gladly," he said, nodding. "Can you walk?"
"I think so," she answered. She left one arm around his neck and he pulled her to a standing position. They lifted their heads and both froze at the sight in the doorway.
"How touching," Ezar mused.