Gabatrix: The Violet Wave

Chapter 5: Prisoner

"War can be an unpredictable environment. It is possible that the soldier will be captured. However, it is the goal of the prisoner to adapt to the circumstances, resist, and never give up. Those that survive from it are ten times stronger than any warrior alive." Shira, 2348 AD.

It was like a nightmare. Javier could hear the distant sounds in his head. His eyes were closed. It must have been a dream. It had to be a dream. Battle and carnage......death and valor. His home was under attack. He felt afraid but did the right course of action. He was no coward, but at what cost? Cason.....

"Cason....." Javier whispered. "My friend is dead......others are dead......no.....it was a dream......it was a dream......."

The sounds in the distance grew louder. He felt pain in his neck. The pain.....

"God, please let it be a dream......" he whispered.

The voices were getting closer and closer as he saw nothing but black all around him. The daze in his head felt like it was fading, but it was rough. He remembered getting slammed to the ground and then getting knocked unconscious.

"No......no......it was real......NO!" he yelled.

His eyes opened up as he saw the light above him. He could feel it. The environment was completely different. The air felt new or artificial in nature. The walls were different than anything he had ever seen before.

Javier was strapped to a lab bed. Held in position, he turned his head to look at the environment. The first thing he noticed was that he felt very light. It was the feeling of zero gravity as the straps held him in place to prevent him from floating away or escaping. He noticed other things. He was mostly naked and only had his underwear on. Stripped of his uniform, his bare chest was exposed to the open air.

"I must have passed out and had a dream of the battle....." he said, trying to calm himself down. "Yeah.....that's it....."

His eyes continued to scan the room. The walls had some sort of blue veins that circulated. Was it water? It seemed to have aquatic life of some kind that swam through it. Occasionally, there were chambers in which the veins connected as they led to other veins. It was somewhat similar to the reports he heard about regarding the Itrean vessels. The T'rintar ships had organic vines and branches that grew in the hull. Food could be plucked from the walls and devoured by the crew. It was like......

"No......it can't be......it is real......" he said. "I'm on board an Itrean warship. I'm onboard a Shal'rein clan ship. No......fuck......."

The reality set in like a hammer blow. He suddenly realized that he had not only survived a battle but had also been captured by the enemy. But it felt.....

Javier's mind was in a partial panic. He began to struggle as the straps firmly held him in place. His mind began to picture the worst. The T'rintar clan reported that the Aksren clan was taking prisoners at Cipra. Millions of prisoners were experimented on horrifically and then executed, at least if the stories were true. He realized that the Shal'rein must be doing the same thing.

His heart and adrenaline surged. He turned to scan more of the environment on one wall that led to an overhead digital screen. There was a table that had various surgical instruments of mixed design. One of the sides of the room was a door. Another door on the other side led to a smaller place.

As he turned his head, he could see other beds strewn about. It appeared to be some sort of medical lab or even a sickbay. The ceiling had large overhead lights that beamed down to his face. He started to recognize that more and more instruments around the room were medical equipment, but they looked slightly different than what he had seen before.