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Interlude: Detainment

"Trunks!" Armada called out at the sight of her comrade falling helplessly to the ground. Only seconds after Trunks had fallen unconscious, the leader of the group had succumb the same fate as he, and after being shot in the back with a stun ray, collapsed to the ground unconscious as well.
"What?!" Laiserta shouted and turned to see that the two powerhouses of their group had been taken down and Rieve members were running down the hall after them, gunning for the other three members as well.
"Lai!" Marice shouted as another set of Rieve's soldiers approached them from the front of their caravan, effectively sealing them with nowhere to go in the tunnel.
Laiserta turned and reached for her pistols, only to never pull them from their holsters. She too, was shot with a stun ray, and fell to the ground within seconds.
"Marice," Naya called to the youth, pulling her close as Rieve closed in on them. "Surrender," she whispered, "don't fight. And if you get the chance," she spoke hurriedly as the soldiers inched closer, "tell the others not to struggle." Naya then stood upright and as soon as the Rieve soldiers came into view underneath the lamp the two stood under in the darkened hall, Naya, too, fell victim to a stun shot.
"I-I surrender," Marice raised her hands above her head, looking down to her fallen comrades. How did anyone know they were in Ceva?

***

Trunks slowly opened his eyes to find the colors of the outside world incredibly blurred. He blinked a few times, finally seeing a set of blue eyes staring down at him from only inches away. To whom they belonged, he wasn't sure. At first he thought it was his mother, then he thought maybe Armada? And then...
"It's me, Trunks," he heard an all-too-familiar teenager's voice speak. He clenched his teeth as he started moving, and after feeling restraints on his arms which had been forced behind his back, he charged his energy, hoping to destroy them. However, instead of incinerating, the device bit into his arms, sending a shock through his body. He tried once more, and after a repeat of the previous result, he gave up, feeling blood start to flow down his hands.
"Let me help you," he heard the voice once more, still trying to make out his surroundings. He felt a pair of careful hands help him sit upright, positioning him to lean backwards against a wall...that moved? No; wherever they were, it was moving-some sort of vehicle. There was one small light above, in the 'ceiling.' And...
"Marice," he spoke, though pained. "What..."
"We were attacked," she answered, knowing what he was going to ask. "Rieve found out that we were in Ceva somehow," she spoke softly, which he found that he appreciated, since his ears still burned. "They snuck up behind us when we were headed for the ship. They took out everyone."
Trunks, confused and enraged at Marice's last comment, charged his ki once more, hoping to break off his restraints with one giant blast. "Ahh," he cried out as his body become home to another electric shock. The devices contracted on his arms even tighter, nearly breaking the bone, and letting enough blood out of his body to completely cover his hands.
"Don't struggle!" Marice reached over and placed a hand on his face to calm him. "They said something about special gauntlets for you and Armada; that it had to do with your ability to manipulate life energy," she finished, trying to make sure he wouldn't resist any longer.
"Where are the others?" he managed through ragged breaths as his vision started to sharpen a bit.
"In separate transports," Marice answered. "There's four; Armada's in the front, then Naya, then Lai, and finally us." She brushed some of the hair out of his eyes as he blinked furiously to try and regain his vision. "They put me back here with you because they figured I wouldn't cause any trouble."
"Are they okay?" Trunks continued through heavy breaths, closing his eyes with his latest question as a wave of pain went through both of his forearms once more.
"They were all shot with a stun-ray, like you," she replied, "except for me. Naya told me to surrender, so I did."
Trunks opened his eyes to see that his vision had mostly returned. He looked at Marice who sat next to him, and noticed that unlike himself, her arms were not restrained behind her back, but in front of her.
"If Rieve has us," Trunks took a breath, trying to calm his nerves-which felt as if they were on fire at the moment-"then why haven't they killed us?"
"I'm not sure," Marice admitted, her head falling as she had failed to have accurate information for her comrade. "I think someone said something about taking us to see Rieve himself."
He could barely make it out, but it seemed to Trunks as if Marice's mouth was shaking. She threw her arms around his neck and held him tightly. "Trunks," she whimpered, "I'm scared. What are they gonna do with us?"
"I don't know Marice," Trunks replied, tears of regret starting to fill his eyes. "I'm scared too."

***

The door at the back of the small transport cubicle that Trunks and Marice occupied was deftly opened. Several guards in black and violet uniforms stepped in, one leading Marice out and two helping Trunks to stand before leading him out as well.
"Looks like this one struggled," one guard said to the other upon seeing the small pool of blood left behind Trunks where his arms had bled from his restraints.
"When are they ever gonna learn?" the other guard jested back, causing them both to laugh. Marice only looked on at Trunks's apparent wound gravely.
Trunks and Marice soon found themselves standing next to the front of the transport train they'd taken to wherever it was they were now; presumably a spaceport somewhere on Ceva. Apparently they were the first of the prisoners to be brought out, and stood by themselves in the front of a soon-to-be line.
The pair then saw that Naya was to be next, as she was dragged up to stand behind the couple. "Naya," Marice whispered, "are you okay?"
"Just a bit of a headache," Naya shook her head, "but I'm all right."
Finally, Laiserta, and then Armada were dragged out of their transports and placed at the rear of the group. "What's goin' on?" Laiserta questioned, keeping her voice down so the guards wouldn't hear her.
"We're being transferred," Trunks answered, as he had picked up from what the guards had said while retrieving the other three mercenaries from their transports, "into the custody of Taydr."
"Taydr?" Laiserta raised an eyebrow. "I thought Rieve wanted us dead?"
"They do, but Taydr will want to interrogate us first," Armada answered plainly.
"Quiet," one of the guards barked out, showing off the metal shock-rod he held.
"Lai," Armada whispered, "do you realize what that is over there?" she asked, motioning towards the glass doors ahead of the group.
Laiserta nodded. She turned to Armada and blinked long and slowly, twice, before she smirked. Armada nodded, blinked, and smirked in return.
"Move out," one of the guards in the front shouted, and Rieve's men left, leaving the group with only the Taydran soldiers escorting them to a shuttle to head for their prison that was to be on Taydr.
As the crew walked, Armada mouthed two words silently to the one shackled Taydran of the group to her left without looking her direction-'You ready?'
Laiserta mouthed two words silently in return-'As ever.'
As soon as the group reached the doors leading to the spaceport, the two Taydran soldiers in front busied themselves with entering the right passcode to board their private Taydran shuttle that would lead them directly to the heart of the empire, in Hrimth. It was then that Armada spun around to the six guards behind the group and let out the biggest blast of energy she could muster, knocking over all six guards.
"Ahh," she cried out, cringing as she dropped to her knees from the electric shock she received. Like Trunks, the gauntlets bit down on her forearms, causing blood to trickle down her hands.
"Hah!" Laiserta shouted, kicking away the first two guards that stood.
"What the?" the two guards in front turned to see the spectacle, only to receive powerful kicks from Trunks and Naya, knocking the men unconscious. Marice bent down and picked up a shock rod from one of the guards, along with a small ring of metal spokes.
"Get out of here," Armada shouted through clenched teeth at the other three from where she knelt on the ground.
"Go!" Laiserta shouted, kicking away another of the guards that had risen since Armada had knocked them all down.
Marice elbowed the number pad on the side of the door, causing it to malfunction and automatically release the door. "C'mon!"
Trunks, Naya, and Marice ran through the door, turning to wait for their two comrades left inside. "Hurry!" Naya shouted, moving in the doorway to stop the door from shutting as it threatened to do.
"Let's go spider-head!" Laiserta shouted to her comrade who still knelt. Armada finally pulled herself up from the floor and started running for the door with Laiserta. However, the shock she received for trying to use her energy earlier proved to be a bit too much, and she fell forward, landing face-first into the metal floor.
Laiserta stopped by her comrade as the guards reassembled and ran for the pair. She turned to the other three-fifths of VDD. "GO!" she commanded them, standing her ground by Armada. Within seconds of her command, she was tackled from behind, landing on her face not far from Armada. The remaining soldiers turned toward the door and headed for the other escapees.
Naya nodded and stepped backwards, releasing the door to close once more. "What are you doing?!" Trunks shouted at her.
"We'll come back for them," she elaborated, "once we have the ship. Let's go!" With that, the three mercenaries took off to find the Verdandi and salvation for the two they'd left behind.
Laiserta grimaced as she felt a knee press into the middle of her back harshly. Good luck, guys, she thought, watching the disappearing forms of her three friends.

***

"Hey," a soldier called out as he and his lone partner came running out from underneath a nearby Taydran ship. Marice grinned, and within moments, the two were lying on the ground unconscious as well, after having felt the full force of a shock rod.
"Here," Marice turned to her comrades, dropping her weapon and holding up the metal-spoked ring. "Keys," she smiled. She slid several of the spokes into Trunks's gauntlets until she finally found the one which released them from his wrists. The sight that greeted the three of them, however, was far from pleasing. The gauntlets had been slapped on over Trunks's jacket, and thus, his jacket was embedded into his forearms where the device had cut into them, and the blood started to run once more as well without the pressure of the gauntlets stopping it.
"We can deal with this later," he reassured his comrades. "Release Naya."
Marice nodded and did as told, and doing so she released her own restraints as well. With all three mercenaries free, they finally took in their surroundings. "Where's the ship?" Marice questioned upon seeing only one spaceship in the hangar.
"It's not here," Naya observed aloud. "We'll have to take what we've got," she turned towards the black and violet spacecraft sitting before them.
"That's a Taydran ship," Trunks shook his head, "we don't know how to pilot that thing."
Naya turned to him and smirked. "As officers in the Tyrian army, we were required to learn how to pilot enemy craft."
"They teach you guys how to steal?" Marice questioned with wide eyes.
"I wouldn't call it stealing," Naya replied furtively.
"I think now's the time to go," Trunks spoke hurriedly as he noticed soldiers from inside other areas of the spaceport were headed their direction. The trio ran towards the ship, hoping to get off the ground before the soldiers could stop them.
Naya navigated through the ship to the bridge and quickly took the helm, firing up the engines and preparing to launch. "Naya," Marice looked to her comrade worriedly after looking out the ship's windows, "they're gonna close the doors on us!"
"Not if I can help it," she quickly responded, working as fast as she could to get the ship off of the ground. "Take a seat everyone," she called as she pulled back on the lever controlling the ship's main thrusters.

"Get the damn door closed, now!" a captain of the latest group of Taydran soldiers shouted as the stolen ship's engines roared to life.
"We can't," one of the foot soldiers called back, "it's an automatic door and won't close once any ship inside has been identified to take off!"
"Damn automatic doors," the captain cursed as the ship took off out of the hangar and into the Cevan sky.