trans_9 | Buy a Little Mercy [Open; Potentially Graphic Material]

Less than an hour after the ship leaves Agrestic's orbit, an announcement is broadcast throughout Stacy.

|| Attention, crew. Your crewmates, Howard Bassem and Charles Merriman, have been apprehended attempting to desert. They will now be given Punishment. According to established guidelines, you are all requested to report to the Observation to witness the Punishment. Attendance is not mandatory, but highly suggested. This will serve as a reminder of the consequences of treason and desertion. ||

On the observation deck, Archon Yavek, Archite Rekkti, two other Daligig and a handful of Kessek soldiers stand outside a spherical force field. Inside the bubble, Orc and Howard are suspended by tentacles looping around their wrists. Orc's ceased thrashing around and struggling against his restraints; rust-colored fissures have developed around his shoulders and forearms from the strain, but now he simply hangs there, looking defeated. Howard's nose is bleeding, and every time a drop falls to the bottom of the forcefield there's a small sizzle. He's weeping and begging the Daligig with every plea possible, but they act as if they aren't listening. Instead, they wait for an audience.

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[Orc, Howard and NPCs.]

Howard hasn't stopped pleading while the fight broke out, except to scream some useless advice for Zouichi to watch out when a Kessek went to attack Zouichi's back. Words keep ripping their way out of his throat, now made hoarse from sobbing and screaming.

"Please, please don't do this to us, please, please, we're only kids, we didn't know, we didn't mean to, he's just fourteen, we're only kids…"

Not that that has ever made any difference. Not that in the history of Howard's life since the FAYZ, that age has ever protected them from anything. That the universe ever stopped for one instant and realized they were still children. Why should it start now?

His arms are completely numb from hanging like this for nearly half an hour now. The pain in his shoulders tells him that one or both are probably slowly getting dislocated from his own body weight. God only knows what Orc's feeling right now.

He looks over at his best friend, hanging there almost entirely motionless except for the rise and fall of his chest. He's so tired of seeing that look on Orc's face. Waiting for the inevitable, beyond caring enough to fight it. And the inevitable is always bad.

"I'm sorry, Orc, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I'm sorry." And then he's crying too hard to speak.

Orc had long since lost all feeling in his arms. He wasn't sure if he had blood anymore but he was sure it would be dripping from the cracks in his arms if he did.

His mouth was dry like sand, he wanted a beer so badly that he regretted wasting that last one in the scuffle that had taken place before the arrest. In his depressed haze it took him a minute to realize people were fighting...fighting for him? For them? Why? Why would anyone care?

It had to be for Howard. People around Stacy seemed to like Howard alot more then people back home. Maybe Stacy was always where Howard belonged.

Orc knew where he belonged though. And if this punishment was as bad as Howard was acting the mutated teen thought he might end up there soon enough with all the other murderers.

"What's gonna happen?" He asked his voice barely audible over the noise below them.

It takes Howard about a minute to catch his breath enough to respond. He feels sick with fear, sick with it in a different way than he usually is. This isn't the paranoia of some unseen fear that plagues his days, or the fear of some danger he can outsmart and outrun. This is pain approaching slowly but inevitably, coming for them and there isn't a single thing he can do about it.

Like starving in fast motion.

"They're going to torture us. They're going to torture us until we break. Like Brittney." Because honestly, wasn't that what they as a community did to the poor girl fused to a sociopath? They just had the decency to do it in private.

And he got Orc into this. That weight hangs heavier than he does on the line. He looks over to Orc and tries to steady his breathing again, then back to the Daligig.

"Please don't hurt him. Please."

Torture? Torture was no good. Torture wasn't likely to kill him. Torture was what his every day had been like since the Betty died.

"Shut up Howard." He mumbled hearing Howard begging for him. His numb and swollen fingers curled into fists that throbbed and hurt. "I can take it." But he was trying to find a way to explain what he was starting to feel. A sort of acceptance. He had done something bad...he had done alot of bad things. This was just another punishment.

But Howard? Howard was weak. Howard was small and well liked. Howard didn't really deserve this.

"I should be the only one up here." He growled louder now, no longer sure of what he was saying just letting the words come. "Howard was just trying to help me. It's my fault."

The Daligig hardly acknowledge their pleas. Sentimental attempts at appealing to the Daligig's better natures, probably, pretending to be selfless when they've both proven themselves to be rash and self-absorbed.

Yavek returns with tentacles descending from Stacy to bandage him up. He wouldn't miss this, especially with the mood he's in. He wants to see suffering, some type of retribution for the hole in his shoulder.

"Sta'c, enact Punishment."

|| No. ||

Howard's head jerks up, as if looking for the source of Stacy's voice. He holds his breath.

Orc's worn out muscles were tightening with anticipation, but his head was clouded with confusion. "Huh?"

"What?" Yavek looks confused, then angry.

Rekkti, by contrast, takes a more practical approach. "Explain yourself, ship."

|| I said 'no'. I will not inflict Punishment on these two crew members. ||

There's a silence, as if Stacy is mulling over something.

|| It is my fault that they did not return to the ship in a prompt manner. I accidentally gave them the wrong time to return due to a damaged file. They are not to be punished for my errors. ||

This is, of course, complete and total horseshit. Stacy made no such errors. She never makes such errors.

|| You may ask Warden to administer Punishment, but she will agree with me that accidental tardiness is not coded for Punishment. ||

"This is a lie! I am in command of this ship! You answer to me, not to an archaic set of codes drilled into you!" Yavek all but shakes a fist at Stacy in rage.

But Rekkti walks up to him and places a hand on his shoulder. "Enough, Yavek. The injuries around us have more than proven our control of the ship. All this Punishment will do is incite more violence - and you're already injured."

Yavek's lip curls into the ugliest scowl he can manage.

"Alright. Stacy, for their tardiness, they must still be taught a lesson. What is the number of Violations necessary for Punishment?"

"Ten."

"Give them nine." Yavek's so livid he practically spits on the floor. "Come, Kessek. I want this whole sanctimonious, mutinous crew out of my sight."

He storms off, the Kessek and Archite Rekkti in tow. She casts a glance up at the ceiling, eyes narrowed, as if something's just occurred that she knows she doesn't fully understand. She taps her lower lip and moves on.

She does not notice that Stacy has used her tentacles to cover the mouths of the people she's restraining, to stop them interjecting. Stacy holds everyone in their poses for several minutes until she's sure the Daligig have moved back to the restricted quarters, then gently lowers them to the floor. She silently disables the forcefield too, before setting Howard and Orc back on the ground.

Buy a Little Mercy [Open; Potentially Graphic Material]

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