Chapter 2: Captured

Basic training was hard but not as bad as I thought. The officers course was a lot different than I thought, but I finished third in my class. My ensign assignment was with a company that did a lot of scouting and recon. I fit in extremely well and left a year later as a lieutenant JG (or junior grade).

I fired as the enemy attacked again. “Second pull back, third cover.”

My platoon was facing at least three companies with almost no support. I had lost three men earlier and barely managed to evacuate them. I heard the platoon sergeant. “Second is set.”

I nodded. “First pull back, second cover.”

I shifted and rolled to my feet and moved back before kneeling behind a tree. I moved again and then shifted to drop beside the last man in third squad. “Second, we need smoke.”

I started firing again as several smoke grenades exploded behind us, and first squad came on, “first set.”

I glanced to the left, “third pull back, first cover.”

We were trying to move back to break contact, but the enemy was pressing us hard. Suddenly, artillery began impacting in front of us, “about damn time, FO.”

I gestured as I rolled to my feet and backed into the smoke with the rest of third squad. I do not remember the explosion that threw me back or the company of enemy soldiers that found me. I remember waking up in a room with a thick bandage around my head and another bloody one around my left hand. I looked around and saw other soldiers in narrow cots, and then I saw the guard watching me.

I tried to sit up, and it took a moment for the dizziness to pass. He grinned, “You have a hard head, lieutenant.”

His accent was not bad, but I recognized it, “Where am I?”

He shrugged, “You are a prisoner in our field hospital.”

I looked down and saw all my gear gone. I was just in my filthy uniform and boots, “For how long?”

He turned and pushed a button, “Well, now that you are awake, we can send you up, and intel can talk to you.”

Four hours later, I was aboard a ship in a small, empty room. I was restrained to a table as a tall captain walked in. One of the things I had been able to determine was that they had not found my tiny synth knife. The captain sat across from me, “Good afternoon, lieutenant.”

I nodded, “Sir.”

He smiled as he put a comp screen on the table, “I know this is a waste. Line officers of your rank do not really have information we can use. I was looking at your capture report, and you impress me.”