The young Private first class awoke abruptly, his hands and feet where bound and his back side was set securely on a hard metal surface, he could only guess that he was now a hostage and that he was tied to a chair. He could hear shouts somewhere of in the distance but could see nothing on account of the blindfold nor could he shout out as a foul tasting rag was wedged firmly behind his teeth. As the shouting grew louder the words became more distinct, Pergull was being interrogated about something he knew nothing of.
“Why where you near that factory!” this followed by a smacking sound and an “oof!”.
“I told you we crash landed! Our pilot was hurt, we needed medical aid”. For as long as Drex had known him, Pergull had never sounded panicked until now.
“Well your persistent with that story, we'll see how long you keep that up!” the clicking cock of a rifle sounded of.
“Enough!, I think the other one is awake, lets see what he comes up with”.
“Aye sir, sorry sir”
Drex took note of the two sets of foot steps coming his way, he could hear rustling and twigs snapping which meant they where still out doors, they came to a halt, he guessed just in front of him. Drex felt a large hand swipe across his head.
“You awake!?”
Drex nodded, he could hardly do more.
“Take of the gag and blind, lets get some questioning done”.
A manhandling hand took Drex by the back of the neck and forced him forward, another hand yanked the fold away so Drexhel could now see his feet, a bandage wrapped tightly round his ankle,
they treated my injury's?. His head was then whipped back and the gag was pulled out, He took a deep breath of clean air the rag had tasted like old potatoes and cotton. The man who took away the rag and fold had a large bleeding bite mark on his hand, perhaps Pergull had been less cooperative, the other was a large man, around six and a half feet tall and built like an ox, he stepped forward and spoke.
“Let us see if this goes any smoother than your friend, speak when asked, and speak with truth and this can be over quickly, why are you here?”.
Drexhel looked the man in the face “we where passing over the planet when we saw an energy signal, I thought it could be a distress beacon so we where landing to investigate”.
“Ok that sounds plausible” he pointed off in what seemed like a random direction and the smaller bitten man scurried off.
“So how did you come about these injury's?”.
Drex's memory flew back tot he torpedoes “your orbital defence shot us down!, we had to carry our pilot for miles looking for help!”.
“That's impossible! Our orbital defence was knocked out over a week ago by an emp!, are you sure it wasn't another ship?”.
Drex considered this for a moment, this new notion calmed his boiling blood “ it could have been, we never saw what fired at us”.
“Al-right, so why that factory?”.
“We saw rising smoke, like I said we crash landed and needed medical attention”. Drexhels voice was now calm and collective, coming to the conclusion that these men may not be the enemy.
The man sighed “I am Thain Hollis, commander of whats left of this army, I believe your plight but we must be careful”
Drex pondered for a moment “spy's?”.
“It wouldn't surprise me, the last week has been a strange one, first our orbital defence and communications are taken out by an unknown EMP, then all these ships start landing, droids all over the place shooting down the population”. He paused a moment collecting his thoughts “That factory was up within a few days, well, we have a camp set up near here with four squads worth of men, that's our entire military”.
“It may seem out of place or rude to ask this right this second but can you untie me, the ropes are chaffing” Drex sensed the man's vulnerability, hoping that asking politely would merit his release.
“Hm, I want a full name and identification”.
“Private first class Drex Helban of the vast empire army” saying this made him feel accomplished, for the first time in many years.
“Vast empire army? Your a soldier then? Well ok I can untie you but walk with me to our camp”.
Drex pointed at Pergull who sat bemused staring at what just transpired.
“I'll have him fetched shortly, he was much more trouble than yourself” he begun fumbling with the roped binding Drexhel “I am armed and you are not, try anything and I'll corpse you”.
The walk to the camp was silent dawn was breaking and the twittering of birds came to life,
this place was probably peaceful not so long ago. Drex shook his head, things where looking up and getting in his own head wouldn't help matters.
“What happened to our pilot?”
Thain turned and looked with raised eye brows “Hm? Oh, you mean Cryon, he's back at base being treated, he'll live”.
“You know him?”.
Thain chuckled “I've dealt in weapons with him before”.
This confirmed two things for Drexhel, one that bad feeling was right and two Pergull was like a bad luck charm.
They reached the camp, several barrack sized tents where set up around a large clearing with lightly armoured men doted around. A high standing desk stood in the middle with a few rows of fold away seats placed in fornt, Thain walked over to one of the man and pointed in Pergulls direction, Drex assumed he was to go collect him.
“Drex take a seat” Thain motioned over to the rows then stepped up to the desk.
“Men! Fall in” the gaggle of soldiers moved in and took seats waiting for the announcement.
“We have secured and identified the men from the crash site, I believe them to be none hostile for the time being, Drex Helban of the vast empire army is in attendance his friend will arrive shortly, as you all know our weapon supply is short, leaving only one quarter of you wielding a weapon with ammo, enough to last possibly one clip, the droid outnumber us at least six droid to one man, the situation is dire”.
Drexhel couldn't help feel that this speech was for his benefit.
“Drex, I would ask you to step up for a moment”.
Drexhel stood and walked to the front of the desk knowing what was coming.
“I would like to ask your aid at this time, in return should we survive I will provide payment and a ship so you may take your leave”.
Drex sighed “in other words help or I'm not leaving”.
Thain smiled in a sinister fashion “exactly”.
