POSTS ALONG THE BEACH
Disclaimer: I do not own SeaQuest or it's characters. I'm just borrowing them for fun.
The rain hit the sand on the beach with a patter as it poured from the sky. Twelve sets of bare feet trudged along the sand weakly, each between the boot-clad legs of two soldiers.
The sound of the chains on the captives’ legs and wrists clinked along to the sound of the rain hitting the sand and the waves crashing nearby.
Lucas shivered with cold and fear as he trudged along the sand. The two soldiers gripped his slender arms tightly. He had no chance of getting away.
They had been taken from their UEO accommodation on the small island three days ago. It seemed that they had been picked at random. Lucas was the only UEO officer from the SeaQuest to be taken. They had been held in dirty concrete holding cells and fed very little while their resistance was beaten out of them. Lucas had not seen as much of a reason to fight them as some of the others. But he had his fair share of bruises.
They had not been given much information about their capture, but from what they could gather, the soldiers were part of some kind of resistance against the Island’s current government and the UEO. Lucas assumed that the UEO were currently negotiating their release.
But now, as they were led bare foot in the rain towards large wooden posts sticking out of the sand, Lucas had a terrible feeling that the resistance fully intended to execute them just to make a point.
Unbeknownst to any of the soldiers or their captives, several UEO hovercrafts hovered over the sea a couple of thousand meters in the distance.
“There they are there!” one of the men on watch called out as he looked through the microscope.
At the front, the pilot adjusted the settings on the craft so that it stayed in the one position.
Commander Ford scuttled over to where the man was looking out of the craft.
The soldier looked at him quickly and then back into the microscope, “I see your boy, Commander.”
“Where?” the SeaQuest XO asked him.
“Forth from the back,” he said as he moved over and let Ford take a look.
Through the microscope, Commander Ford watched them as they got closer to the posts on the beach. He zoomed in on the figure that looked like Lucas. The boy looked haggard and it was obvious they’d been treated badly, but he was alive.
“We don’t have much time,” the Commander says, “I think they’re going to kill them right now.”
The other officer nodded, “We have orders not to go in too soon.”
“Too soon!?” the Commander was surprised and somewhat miffed, “There is no ‘too soon’ in this circumstance!”
The officer shrugged, “Just following orders, Commander.”
Lucas stumbled slightly as he was led towards the post. The wooden posts had the same diameter as a telegraph pole and had silver clips attached to it, which looked like a pulley. The soldiers stopped the men at a different post and made them face the sea, with their backs to the post.
“What are you doing!?” Lucas heard one of the men demand.
Lucas winced as they heard the crackle of the tazor and the man scream in anger and pain. Several other men started struggling.
Lucas’ wet dirty blonde hair fell into his face as the two soldiers pulled his arms forward and start connecting chains to his shackled wrists.
“Aren’t you at least going to explain anything to us before you execute us?” Lucas asked them boldly.
The soldier on his left looked at him while the other continued with his work, “Smile. It’s for a good cause.”
He spoke with an accent but Lucas couldn’t quite place it.
The soldier who was working on Lucas’ shackles pulled the chains up and attached them to the post. Lucas’ arms were pulled above his head.
The other men were being shackled the same way. Lucas heard the other pulley chains begin to move and some of the other men cry out as their arms were stretched above their heads holding their own body weight.
“Killing someone is never for a good cause,” Lucas told the soldier.
The other pulled on the chain and Lucas felt himself lift off the ground. The pain in his chest intensified and he winced at the pain the ripped through is arms back and shoulders. He was having trouble breathing already.
The man who had spoken too him unclipped his tazor from his belt and smiled at Lucas. Lucas watched him, gasping from his position on the post.
The soldier activated it and shocked Lucas in the stomach for a few seconds. Lucas screamed at the pain it caused him.
“Leave him alone! He’s just a boy!” the man next to him screamed at them.
Lucas heard several other men cursing at them too. He was surprised by the strength in the voices while they were hanging from their arms in such a way.
Lucas groaned after the initial pain had worn off. Being shocked in the stomach when his body was stretched out the way it was made the pain worse.
The soldier pulled a box over with his feet for him to stand on and got up so that his face was level with Lucas. He leaned toward Lucas, watching him gasp. He then kissed him on the lips.
The teenager pulled back and struggled. Pushing his lips closed tightly.
Several other soldiers started cheering, while the other captives kept cursing at them.
“Son of bitch!” Commander Ford yelled from where he was watching on the craft, “We gotta get them out of there now!”
The other officer grabbed the Commander’s arm, “Commander! Calm down!”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! Did you see what they were doing to him?”
“Yeah, I saw!” he responded, “But listen,”
Commander Ford looked away angrily.
“Listen,” he said again, “They wont shoot them, okay? They intend to leave them like that. They want them to die of suffocation. We have a while before we can go in.”
Commander Ford sighed, and the officer let go of his arm, “I don’t see why we need to wait.”
“Once most of the soldiers are gone we can take them out easier without risking the lives of our men.”
Commander looked at him stiffly, “Lucas is nineteen. He won’t survive as long as the other men.”
The officer nodded, “I know. He is a priority.”
On the beach the captives had silenced considerably as they tried to get as much air into their lungs as possible, while at the same time ignoring the pain in their bodies.
A black jeep rolled up and several older men got out. Several of the soldiers walked over to greet them. They surveyed the captives hung up on the posts.
“How long will they take to die?” the leader asked them in the strange accent.
“A few hours,” one of the soldiers told him, “We estimate that it should take at least a day before the UEO can locate them.”
The man walked towards the captives and then began to walk along surveying each of them, “Have they given you any trouble?”
“Yes, but it’s been taken care of,” they heard the response.
The man stopped as he got to Lucas, “Quite the pretty face. Did you have any fun with him?”
The soldier behind him smiled, “Not as much as we would have liked.”
Lucas could hear the conversation, but he was already in a great deal of pain. He squeezed his eyes shut against it and gave a small gasp again.
“Shame,” he commented, “Where have I seen him before?”
“He’s from the SeaQuest,” the other man informed him.
The man straightened, “The SeaQuest? Why didn’t you tell me?”
The soldier looked at him, “I’m sorry, sir.”
He nodded, “Nothing we can’t fix,” he looked over at some of the other senior men standing near the truck, “We have one from the SeaQuest!”
They all looked up. One of them trudged over, “Why weren’t we informed? We can’t treat members from the SeaQuest like this,” he gestured to the writhing teenager on the post.
The other man nodded in agreement.
“Fix it,” he told him, and then walked back to the truck.
The first senior officer looked back at the soldier, “You heard him. Break his legs.”
The soldier nodded and pulled out the heavy baton from his belt.
Back on the craft the other UEO officer with Ford jumped, bringing his fingers to the earpiece in his left ear.
Ford looked at him, “What is it?”
He looked at Ford, slowly turning pale. Wanting answers, Ford scuttled over to the telescope on the side of the craft.
The officer immediately put a strong hand out to stop him. Ford stared at him and he put his other hand up for the Commander to wait.
“Sutton?” the officer demanded, “What’s going on?”
Ford darted back and switched on the communicator to hear Sutton answer, “They just dealt several blows to the legs of the teenage boy. We think they broke the bones.”
Ford was mortified, “Jesus!” he swore.
He tore out his communicator, “Get me Captain Hudson!”
The UEO officer made to stop him, “Commander!” he spoke quickly to the men on the other end of the communications line, “Just a second.”
Commander Ford began to speak with Hudson on his PAL, “Sir, we need to send a team in now. They just broke both of Ensign Wolenczak’s legs.”
“Commander!” the officer called to him.
Hudson sighed heavily on the other end, “What does the Chief there say?”
Ford looked at the only other man in the small craft loathingly, “It seems they’re trying to drag this out for as long as possible, sir.”
The other officer shook his head irritably, looking away.
“Let me speak to him,” Hudson asked him.
Ford hesitated angrily for a second and then handed the PAL over to the Chief.
The Chief took it and spoke into it, “Captain Hudson? This is Chief Andrew Watson. We’re concerned about going in too quickly in fear that they could kill all our men.”
“Chief Watson,” Hudson responded calmly, “What’s the problem with sending in a quiet ambush and surprising the terrorists. Come in from behind?”
“Well, sir we are also concerned about attacking the resistance on this island. They’re methods may be inappropriate but they are the only opposition to the government in power. If we want to promote democracy…”
"They are holding our men!” Hudson spoke firmly and loudly, “Commander Ford told me that they just broke the legs of one of my officers!”
The Chief stuttered slightly, “Yes, that’s true.. but we can’t always get through this without any casualties. You understand.”
“What I understand, Chief, is that none of those casualties will include my Ensign. Lucas Wolenczak is a valuable member of my crew and the UEO. You will do everything in your power to see that that innocent young man he comes to no more harm.”
“Captain, I..”
“Not only that,” Hudson interrupted to continue, “You understand that anyone who chooses to take hostages and torture any officer working to protect them cannot do anything for democracy.”
He paused for a second, “Even in principle.”
“I do understand that, Captain but you will have to speak with someone higher than me…”
Hudson huffed, “Let me speak with my Commander.”
The Chief hesitated for a moment and then handed the PAL back to Commander Ford, “I see you’re contending with idiots, Commander.”
“Thank you, sir, I see that too,” Commander Ford was quite a bit more distressed than he was when he handed the PAL over.
“Commander, what about the other hostages?”
“They seem okay, sir,” Commander answered.
Hudson was surprised, “They only broke Wolenczak’s legs?”
Ford nodded as he looked into the telescope carefully, “Yeah, looks like they have a bone to pick with us.”
Hudson was silent for a moment, “That could work to our advantage.”
“Sir?”
“How’s Lucas?” the reference to the young officer by his first name somehow made the Captain's voice seem softer, gentler.
Commander sighed, and zoomed in. Lucas hung from the pole more severely than before. His eyes were squeezed shut and body shaking in sobs, pain, or cold. Ford couldn’t tell.
His voice shook as he answered, “He’s uh.. still conscious.”
Hudson pursed his lips, “I’ll call a meeting in the ward room for all senior staff. We’re going in ourselves.”