spears of Uu'kata (CLEAN(ish) Version)

Chapter 17 - Blood in a Box

"Where the fuck is it?" Ben demanded as he shoved through the sliding door before it was fully open. Vasquez was on his heels.

"Yeah, let's see it. We know you got something," the shorter man said.

Dr. Himura put her hands up and said, "Slow down, boys. The D.N.A. is still being tested. We don't know anything for sure and... and how the hell did you even find out?"

"That dip-shit Ragans was sent to retrieve the package and he has a big fuckin mouth. Did you really think any of us would keep it a secret? Now show me, Himura. Now."

The doctor sighed and shook her head. She went to a cabinet and pulled out a metal box, which she set on the table in the middle of the room.

Inside the box was a large leather pouch, obviously of Uu'k'asht make, and a huge knife with a bone handle.

Ben reached for it and Dr. Himura smacked his hand.

"Gloves! For Christ's sake!" she said in exasperation.

Ben blew an irritable breath out his nose, and snatched a pair of disposable blue gloves from a box on one of the counters near the door.

Once he had them on, he lifted the pouch out, pulled it open, and upended it on the table.

The little disks tumbled out, clattering softly to the tabletop, followed by a piece of flimsy material.

"Oh, my god," Vasquez breathed, reached out his own gloved hand and lifting the material. "That's..."

"Yes," Dr. Himura said gravely. "It's a bio-suite haptic garment."

Ben picked up one of the disks. It, and all the others, were sliced down the middle, leaving only a tiny piece in place to hold it together. They were all covered in brown, dried blood.

"They cut her implants out," he said, his voice sounding strangled.

"It... would have been agony," Dr. Himura said. "They are connected with the nervous system so it would have felt like having your nerves pulled out, unless they put her out."

"They tortured her," Vasquez surmised.

Dr. Himura nodded, then shook her head. "It's easy to assume that. But they could have put her out. We don't know the whole story."

"But you said her," Ben said. "You think it's Char."

"All I know is that the blood is female. We don't have a match just yet."

"Bullshit. You know any other Bio-mech pilots who are female? You know it's her," Ben accused.

A small beeping sounded being Dr. Himura and she huffed a breath before turning around and checking some charts on the computer.

"Well fuck," she said.

She turned around and nodded. "It's Charlotte."

"So," Ben said, hate burning holes through him. "This is what they did to her."

"No," Dr. Himura said, shaking her head. "This is what they are doing to her."

"What do you mean?" Vasques asked.

Reluctantly, she pressed a button on her compter and a video feed came on. It was the CCTV camera outside the entrance to the factory where their entire squad had been killed. Everyone but Ben and Vasquez.

A line appeared in the air that widened into one of those cursed gateways the Uu'k'asht used, and a huge brute of motherfucker stepped out. He took the pouch off his belt, then stabbed it into the keycode plate with the knife. Then he turned looked straight up into the campera and said in English, "We have her."

"Fuck me," Ben whispered, running a hand through his hair.

Beside him, Vasquez's face deepened in color, his upper lip curling slightly in a silent snarl.

The video feed cut and the room was silent for several long moments.

"Be honest with me, Himura," Ben said quietly. "There are no plans to get her back, are there."

She shook her head.

"What the fuck?" Vasquez said through his teeth, hands balling into fists at his sides.

"The cost of resources alone would cause the Brass to abandon her. That aside, we have no idea where she is. They were thorough in cutting out and destroying all of her implants. There is nothing left to track her with. And even if there was, the most likely outcome would be a bomb instead of a rescue. If anything just to make sure she doesn't divulge military secrets."

"She wouldn't do that. Char is one tough bitch there's no way she'd talk," Vasquez said.

"She's been a prisoner of the Uu'k'asht for over a month. Depending on where they took her, it could have been a lot longer. A month for us could be a year for her for all we know. We don't know what they're doing to her. We don't know what kind of torture they use. But I can tell you, she's already talked," Dr. Himura said.

"How would you know that?" Ben asked.

"How else could an Uu'k'asht know English?" she asked right back.

"When humans first started trying to communicate with the rest of the universe, we used an ancient, dead language. It was easier to control communication that way and ensure if any of our people were captured, they wouldn't be able to press them for information. But that Uu'k'asht spoke in English and that tells me he's been able to get her to talk enough to pick up some of our language. If he can communicate with her, he can torture information out of her. Hell, even if we did somehow get her back, she'd be black bagged and probably tortured by our own people to find out what she told them and after that they'd either stick her in a hold for the rest of her life and drug her into oblivion, or execute her."

Ben scrubbed a hand over his face and groaned. "What the fuck, what the fuck," he mumbled.

"This is too much. This is... this is bullshit!" Vasquez bitched beside him, pacing back and forth.

"It's the truth, Vasquez. I don't like it either. I liked Charlotte. We all did. But the fact is this. It is better for her that we never find her. There is no proof here that she is being harmed. It's likely, sure, but not definite. If she returns, she'll definitely be harmed," Dr. Himura said. She looked wrung out and Ben could see this truth hurt her just as much as it hurt him.

Ben took a deep breath and swallowed, feeling like he needed to puke. There had to be a way to solve this. There had to be a way to get her back and make sure she was okay. Hell even he agreed she was better off dead than in the hands of those trolls.

He remembered the last time he saw Charlotte. Standing, practically naked, facing an army of beings twice her size.

"She did it for me," he said quietly. "She sacrifced herself for me. To save my life. She could have just taken the fuckin research data and recalled. But no, she..." Ben swallowed and blew out a breath, his fists clenched and unclenched. His eyes felt upon the contents of the box.

"I want the knife," he said.

Dr. Himura shook her head. "It's evidence, Ben. I can't—-"

"I'm not asking," Ben said, swiping the blade up out of the container. He stalked from the room before the doctor could protest with Vasquez trailing after him.

"Tell me you got a plan, brother," Vasquez said.

Ben swallowed. "Yeah, Vas, I got a plan. It ain't gonna work unless we can get on the next patrol detail though. Think you can make that happen?"

"Yeah," Vasquez said. "I can make that happen."

"Good. I may not be able to get Charlotte back to us. But I can give her a way out."