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What was the plan? It was all Alex could think about as he was led through the corridors. Tristan had a plan, he always did. They could have taken them on. It would have been painful, but Alex had no doubt the two of them could have decimated them all.

Maybe Tristan's concern had been with Baran being there? There was a chance he could have gotten hurt. Fighting got chaotic, even under the best circumstances, and those had been less than ideal, he'd admit that.

Then all he had to do was survive this and not reveal anything. If Tristan had wanted Baran to know about the other part of the plan, he would have mentioned it.

They came to a stop, and Alex noticed they were in a large room with--whoa, that was one impressive view. Half the ceiling and going down the curved wall was transparent and he was looking at the distant stars. Normally he only saw them through a screen, or through the atmosphere.

This was a lounge, or had been, before it had been taken over by the mercenaries. The view was unobstructed, but every other wall had been taken over by lockers and tables. At one end was what looked like a makeshift kitchen. At the other, cots were arranged in rows. He counted eight rows of twenty each. A hundred sixty mercs, if they all slept here.

Alex didn't believe it. They had access to the comfort of a cruise ship, and they all slept on cots in the lounge. He paused and reminded himself that he mostly slept on floors. Even on Tristan's ship, about the only time they were on the bed was if sex was happening.

"So, the boss wants to know why you're here."

Alex turned to look at the man. The two of them stood in the middle of the lounge. The space had been cleared of couches, tables and anything else that might have been here. What did go in a lounge? Other than chairs to watch the stars?

"You already know, we here to take Baran home."

The man swung at Alex, and he didn't even have to think about how to respond. He caught the arm pulled the man toward him, spun, taking the man off balance, kicked him in the back of the knee to get him down and had a knife at his throat.

Alex opened his mouth, but before he could speak something touched his back. There was the sound of a small explosion then he was on the ground, jerking out of control. It reminded him of before he was caught, except this time he didn't have the benefit of falling unconscious.

He felt the hands on him, saw through fluttering eyelids as they took his knives away. He was so going to kill them. By the time Alex had some control over his body he was without weapons, except for his hands. He could still do a lot of damage with those.

He pushed himself to a sitting position. He was now at the edge of the clear space instead of the center. A man stood before him, this one was lean where they other had been all muscles. He had a black stick resting on his shoulder.

"Gotta say, those are impressive reflexes you have. Where did you train?"

"Nowhere you'd want to go." Alex's jaw felt sore.

"I guess that's one secret you can keep." He smiled. "Well, by the time we're done with you, I'm betting you'll be happy to tell me that too. You already know the question the boss wants answered."

"And you already know the answer. Doesn't matter how often you hit me with that, It's not going to change it."

The man looked at the stick. "Oh this? Nah, that's not part of the interrogation. It's only if you break the rules."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "There are rules?"

"Of course, here in the fifty-eighth division there are rules for everything. Isn't that right boys?"

A variety of sounds of agreements erupted.

"Fine," Alex said once they quieted down. "What are those rules?"

"The only one that matters in this case is this. You don't get to hit back."

"You expect me to just sit here and take whatever beating you want to give me?"

"No, I expect you to be standing." He motioned with the stick.

Alex stood. Looking around he saw people marking the edge of the open space. At least fifty of them, and half of them had sticks like the man before him. If he fought back, anyone of them could take him down.

"Fine. So you bunch of sadist get to hurt me for no reason. How about you get on with it."

"Oh no, we're not sadists. Sure, we don't mind inflicting pain, we're mercs after all, but we have strict standards in the fifty-eighth. We don't let in the sickos. And how much pain you suffer is entirely under your control. The moment you tell us the truth, we stop."

"Somehow I don't think it's how this is going to go. I already told you the truth. But you don't want to hear it."

"Have it your way."

The man swung and Alex stepped out of the way.

* * * * *

He woke up, his body still jerking. He barely had the memory of the stick touching his stomach before he was sent flying back and crashing to the floor.

The man leaned over him. "Right, I forgot that rule. No dodging. Nothing that keeps you from getting hit. You break the rules and you get zapped. The nice thing about these is that for as painful as they are, they don't actually cause any serious damage. I could keep it on you all day and except for the raw throat from all that screaming, you wouldn't have any indication it was used on you. I think that's why the Royalty of Aderon loved them so much."

"No dodging," Alex barely managed to say. "Got it. You want to kick me while I'm down, while we're at it?"

The man smiled. "Now how sporting of me would that be. Come on, you can talk back, so you can stand." The man guided Alex back to the center of the open space. "Here's how it's going to go. One of these fine gentlemen is going to step forward. He's going to ask you the question. You lie, he hits you. Only places that are off limits is the throat and balls."

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"I told you, we have standards."

A man Alex's height stepped forward. He was dark skinned with graying wire-brush hair and beard. "Why are you here?"

"To take Baran home."

The man punched him in the jaw.

Alex opened and closed his mouth, moved his jaw from side to side and watched the man's back. "Really? That's all you have?"

Another man stepped forward, short, but thick. "Why are you here?"

"To date your father."

The man punched Alex in the stomach. Alex straightened. "Who taught you how to punch? Your dad?"

The hit in the face sent him reeling sideways, almost falling, but he caught his balance.

"No, that's not impressing me all that much. My lover hits me harder than that."

Another man, another hit. After the twelfth Alex stopped counting. He even went back to saying they were bringing Baran home. He didn't stop commenting on how weak their punches were.

To be fair to them, they did hit hard, but after suffering under Tristan's teaching methods for more than five years, pain was something Alex was intimately familiar with.

Alex's face was bloody and bruised when he motioned for the next men to stop. He looked at the lanky one, who always kept the stick ready. He approached.

"Ready to finally tell me the real reason you're here?"

"I don't know, are you ready to get serious about this? I'm getting bored."

"Excuse me?"

"You have all these guys and not one of them can throw a real punch. I'm thinking you're not exactly trying."

"Is there something wrong with you?"

"Probably. If I were to tell you about my love life you'd see that--"

Stars exploded around him as Alex hit the ground. "I thought the stick was off limit." He rubbed the side of his head where the tube had hit him.

"I didn't zap you."

Alex got to his feet, and wobbled a little. "I guess that's true."

"Was that hard enough for you?"

Alex shrugged. "Passable. The fact you had to use a tool makes me doubt if you pack a solid punch."

The man stared at Alex. He shook himself and stepped back. "Okay, obviously we need a change of tactics. McGree, Mahuinen, hold him. Everyone, feel free to tenderize him."

Two sets of meaty hands grabbed his arms. Alex looked up at two of the biggest humans he'd seen. They hadn't hit him, because he knew he'd have remembered those fists.

The hitting began again. This time they didn't bother asking questions. Alex laughed. He even began rating each punch, aloud at first, then mentally as speaking became more and more difficult.

He didn't notice the hitting had stopped until someone grabbed his hair and lifted his head.

"Ready to talk?" It was the lanky stick wielder.

Alex took his time responding. "Oh? Did we start? Sorry, I think I fell asleep."

Alex's head fell down. He was proud of that reply. It really showed how he didn't-- His scream covered up the sound of his breaking bone.

"Are you feeling funny now?" Another hit, another scream. "Well? Is this enough to keep you awake?" again. "You really think you're so tough?"

Alex felt the stick hit his arm, but the pain was uniform now. The bone was probably powder at this point. He fell to the ground and screamed again.

When he ran out of breath, he thought he heard a new voice. A woman's voice.

"Let go of me."

"Lady, if you don't shut up I'm going to hit you."

Alex growled and forced his eyes open. The lanky man was holding a woman by the arm, shaking her. He tried to get his arm under him, but it wouldn't respond. The slightest movement made him whimper. Mentally he cursed himself for such a show of weakness. Tristan would kill him for it.

He tried again, and this time he managed to push himself up, which caused his other arm to dangle down. He fell down, screaming.

"What have you done to him?"

"What I've been told to."

"Who told you to torture a man?"

"Who do you think? Now go perform your magic on him."

Alex felt the shadow fall over him. She grunted and when she spoke she sounded closer. "What do you expect me to do? He's... by Jefrio, what happened?"

Alex opened an eye. He thought he recognized her from somewhere. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She seemed surprised.

"Did he hit you?"

"What? No, but I'd say they hit you a lot. Jefrio, what did they do to your arm?"

"You don't hit a woman."

"Excuse me?"

"My Grandma taught me that. You never hit a woman."

She laughed. It didn't sound quite right to Alex. "I think you might be in the wrong line of work with thinking like that."

"Mercs aren't women, they're mercs. You're not a merc, right?"

She shook her head.

"You're not Law either, right? Shouldn't hit women who work for the law, but don't always have a choice."

Now her laughter sounded amused. "No, I'm certainly not Law. You shouldn't speak. You're in really bad shape."

"S'okay. If he hurts you, you tell me and I'll kill him."

"Alright, now you stay still."

Alex might have blacked out for an instant. When she spoke again she was further.

"Look, his arm is almost certainly destroyed beyond anything I have access to here to repair. He sounds like he had a concussion, and I don't even want to guess at the kind of internal damage he has. The only thing I can do for him is give him some powerful painkiller so the shock itself won't kill him."

"No painkiller. He can take a little pain, he said so himself."

"Look, I don't know what you're hoping to gain from this, but this man is going to die if you keep hitting him."

"How sure of that are you?"

"As certain as the mix you're currently breathing is mostly composed of nitrogen."

"Huh? It's air."

"Never mind. I am entirely certain that if you keep hitting him he will die. At this point I'm pretty sure he's going to die anyway."

"Fine. Garret, take her back."

"Wait, you can't continue with this, didn't you hear what I said?"

"Lady, I don't give a damn what you're saying."

"You can't be that much of a bast--"

The sound of a hand hitting a cheek snapped Alex's eyes open. The woman, her name was Mary, looked beyond surprised. Her cheek was red with the imprint of a hand. The lanky man's was still in the air.

"I told you I don't give a damn." He raised his hand higher and she shrunk. "Good. Garret, take her out of here, the boss is going to be pissed if I damage her and right now she's really making me want to do more than slap her."

The man who took Mary away didn't grab her, he guided her out and seemed to be speaking in quiet tone with her.

The lanky man moved and Alex glared at him.

"Hey, you're still conscious. I told her you were tough." He crouched next to Alex. "I could probably kick you a few times before you felt it, right?"

"I'm going to kill you." He didn't know if the man heard him. He wasn't even sure his mouth had moved, but the moment he was well enough to move, he was tracking this bastard down and killing him slowly.

"Still, I can't really risk that you'll die here. The boss is strict about when people die on his ship. Until he gives the order to kill you, I can't have you die while I'm still trying to get information from you." He took the stick and made adjustments at one end. "Looks like I get to break one of my own rules, isn't this fun?" He pressed the other end of the stick against Alex's side and fire erupted through him. "I can do this for hours," the man said.