The Prisoners of War – Identity
#2 of Prisoners of War (BDSM/Chastity Themes)
The Prisoners of War - Identity
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The lion extended his paw at a low, tentative angle.
"Gantan," he said in a low voice. Everything seemed oddly loud in this room, where it was so quiet after the noisy flight. "That's Marine Sergeant Gantan. 26thRegiment of the Mighty Yellers. I was stationed onboard the Telespearre before all went to shit at Esilos."
The weary-looking tiger glanced at the paw before offering his own orange and black-striped one for a quick squeeze and a shake. They did not linger at it.
"Sardo," the tiger said, "194th Pioneer Corps. Formerly of the Esilos Home Command Support Staff. Lieutenant. "
The lion seemed somewhat surprised, hearing the tiger's higher rank. He pulled his paw up into a salute.
"Lieutenant," Gantan declared.
"At ease," Sardo replied, "and from now on, too. I don't think it matters much while we're here. And we shouldn't really talk about it, either. We're being listened to, undoubtedly."
The lion growled, but eventually nodded in agreement.
"I can't believe it," the lion hissed, his furs spiking up, "They've signed up the treaties - "
"What does a piece of paper mean when they're the winners?" the tiger shrugged, with obvious bad temper at the prospect of imprisonment at the General's estate. "We lost. We got busted. Now we're here."
Gantan growled. His paws clenched into angry fists. His tail batted the floor.
"Fuck!" the lion shouted.
"Save your breath," Sardo rumbled. "There'll be time for that."
"For what?" the lion sounded incredulous.
"For whatever happens to warlords like this General Rei," Sardo noted in a stern tone.
"Primitives!" Gantan yelped, his tooth flashing with anger. "What kind of a culture allows prisoners of war to be given as prizes like...like cattle?"
"A jingoistic shitpile like the Confederation, and we got invited as guests indefinitely," the tiger said.
Gantan began to pace the room - the cage that it literally was. The tiger watched with only mild interest, for a moment. Then he walked over to one of the beds and sat down.
"You should rest, too," Sardo said, "we cannot know when he'll put us to hard labor."
"Fuck that!" the lion hissed in nearly full-on rage. "My legs and back hurt after being cooped up on that fucking transport!"
The lion's shoulders and hips rolled under his exaggerated, swaying gait, desperately trying to get blood to flow into all of his deep muscles again. The tiger rubbed his wrists where they'd been slightly chafed by the cuffs. He kicked off the slipper-like shoes he'd been issued with, and pressed his footpads onto the soft carpet. He appeared to draw comfort from the gesture, and drew a deep, relaxing breath, paws against the bare mattress. The lion continued his hissing fit.
"Weeks on the prison ship," Gantan muttered, "months on that fucking camp, no idea of what is going on anywhere. And now we're stuck here! GRAAAAH!"
"We're alive," Sardo said, "and when the peace comes, the armistice treaty our governments sign will include prisoner exchange, and we'll be shipped back home."
The lion made a face that exposed his teeth. One of his canines was missing - an untreated injury that marred his maw.
"How can you be so FUCKING PRAGMATIC about this whole shitty thing?" the lion yelled at the older male.
The tiger's ears bounced down and then returned to their usual angle, after a pause.
"It's what you're supposed to do," Sardo rumbled. "Game is over. You take your losses and try to gather your pieces for the next round."
"Next round..." Gantan growled. "Over what? Is the war even going on still?"
"As far as I understand, yes," Sardo said. "The guards do like to boast about the latest successes. Last I heard there was fighting in the Korta Sector."
"Korta..." Gantan muttered. "When was that?"
"Maybe a week ago," Sardo replied. "I am not sure. It is somewhat hard to keep time, when they don't give us the date."
"Korta...just one stepping stone away from the home systems!" Gantan snarled.
"We don't know what the situation truly is, Gantan," the tiger said.
For the first time he was using the lion's name, and it did have the effect of making the golden-furred cat look over at the striped feline sitting on the bed. "For as far as we know, it could be a counterattack. The fighting might be going back to Esilos anytime. It might even still be going on, too. What do we know? Nobody is telling us anything."
"Where were you captured?" Gantan asked.
The tiger appeared reticent to answer. The lion saw that on his face and sneered.
"Fuck it, even if they're listening, they do know where we were captured," Gantan pleaded, "but I don't, so sir, where were you captured?"
"Timdoon Alfa," Sardo replied.
"That's a Confed system!" Gantan yelped. "I didn't know we were there!"
"We probably aren't," the tiger huffed. "The Fleet took their installation on Timdoon Alfa 5 and my unit was there to fix up the deuterium processors. They mounted a counterattack and my unit was left behind on one of the refineries. That's where we were captured while trying to set the whole place to blow up."
"Did you manage it?" the lion sounded enthusiastic about that possibility.
"Got stormed before we managed to rig the reactor to blow," the tiger swiped his ankles with his tail and sent the flippers scattering along the floor.
"Fuck," Gantan grunted.
"Esilos, then, you?" Sardo questioned.
"Fucking Varonal," the lion sneered. "They were landing mechanized troops, the Confeds. We dropped in hot - there was so much fire - "
The lion spun around. He sounded excited over the prospect of battle.
" - but we made it down to the ground and we're going in with the tanks and a mobile battery, and they've got these spinners firing everywhere and we call in orbital support - "
He slammed a fist against a paw and yelled "BANG!"
"Up in flames goes that Confed dropship but then some bastard nailed my ass with a blazer and I'm spilling my hydraulics everywhere and I have to eject my suit and - "
"And you got your ass on a POW ship and now you're here," Sardo commented.
"Fucking thing," the lion stomped the floor," lots of good men lost. Not even sure how many. They separated most of us, so I didn't see everyone afterwards. Maybe some of us even got out...not sure....I hate not knowing. It fucking sucks."
The lion seemed to deflate once he'd related his story. His shoulders slumped and the tip of his tail assumed a limp position on the floor.
"I didn't hear anything about it, at least," the tiger said. "Not that it matters anything. It's all rumor and hearsay beyond what the commanding officers get to know. For us...what does it matter? We're just supposed to concentrate on the battle at paw."
"That's officer talk," Gantan grumbled.
Sardo snorted loudly. The lion gave him an aggressive look.
"It's soldier talk," the tiger replied. "And I am one. Even if I was hauled in cuffs from that stupid refinery and have been rotting in dank containment pods since and now it looks like I'll be shoveling muck for the time being."
Gantan shook his head.
"Screw it," the lion growled. "At least we were doing something at Varonal and Timdoon Alfa. Now we're just sitting around - "
" - in a clean, warm room with clothes and a shower that doesn't look like someone died in there the other day," the tiger rumbled. "Unlike at the camp."
The lion looked genuinely angry now, glaring at the seated tiger.
"You can't be serious!" he yelled. "You can't be saying that this is okay with you!"
Sardo shrugged.
"I'm just conserving my strength," he said. "You do know what this all is, do you?"
"It's a cell," Gantan stated.
"And we are prisoners," the tiger commented, "and we have a new warden with black stripes and a lot of pips on his collar. A man whose life has been that of commanding others to do his bidding. I've no doubt that is what he plans with us as well. So we might take whatever we can when we can, because at any point he has the power to take it all away."
The lion hissed, and rubbed his fingers through his messy mane.
"Aren't you worried that he's listening?" Gantan glanced up at the ceiling panels, as if expecting to see a camera sensor cluster protruding from among them.
"He's a soldier, we are soldiers," Sardo said. "He knows what we are taught about resisting captivity and interrogation. He knows how this can be played to his advantage."
"And thanks to you, he knows that we know?" the lion sounded unimpressed. "Well done."
"Don't underestimate him," the tiger clicked his tongue, "you may hate him now but you've no idea yet what he can do."
The lion stared at the door, paws clenching into fists while his tail lashed behind him. He looked like he was planning to storm against the transparent door and try to smash it with his bulk. Eventually, he contended with the glare, and then he stomped across the room and slumped over the bed not yet occupied by a tiger.
"...who knows, he might just lock us up here for days with no food and water, " Gantan muttered with his eyes towards the ceiling, paws and tail moving to find comfortable positions on the unmade bed. "...see what we do."
_ _
"Who eats who first..." the tiger said.
General Rei chuckled roughly.
He sat upon his massaging seat and enjoyed how it relaxed his muscles throughout his body while he observed the several camera angles upon the display in front of him, on the desk. Both the lion and the tiger had starring roles on their own views, and the audio from the multi-channel system came through crisp and in perfect fidelity. Every word was picked up with ease for the white tiger's listening pleasure, in his air-conditioned study. It was a relatively austere room, in two floor levels and minimally decorated by the desk and the chairs, and a sofa seating group by the windows that offered a spectacular view of the sea bathing in sunlight, the opaqueness adjusted for comfort for the moment.
"Their psychological responses to captivity are divergent, sir," The Overseer spoke from behind the white tiger's seat.
"Isn't it fascinating?" the General commented, eyes still on the screen. "Two very different kinds of resistance...one physically aggressive...one passive aggressive..."
"...I doubt he has us for simple torture here, Gantan," the tiger on the screen said. "It is more likely he has other purposes for us."
_ _
"Yeah," the lion replied with a chuff. "Watch us wallow in our misery."
"Is it a problem that they presume they are being constantly monitored, sir?" the mechanized black panther asked from his master.
"No," Rei sounded dismissive. On the screen, the lion was boredly looking at his own fingernails.
"...maybe he'll make us work these fields. Let the bots zap us if we stop pulling weeds from his precious shit."
_ _
"Perhaps. At least that would be traditional."
"Of course it's not a problem", the white tiger mused. "And it was to be expected. They've already been in captivity for several months. The Military Intelligence has interrogated them like any other prisoner of respective status. They have been monitored at all times. This is nothing new to them. Spying on conversations that are perceived as private is a well-proven method of intelligence. They would have been told to watch their tongues. We tell our soldiers that. They are not different."
"But they are not here for the purpose of gathering military intelligence from them," the Overseer said, "as far as I dare to understand, sir."
"No," the tiger murmured softly. "They are here to perform the tasks I set for them, as per the convention of their placement here by the Headquarters. They are my responsibility, to do my bidding as I please."
"That is what you told them, sir."
The tiger sitting on his bed yawned on the live feed image on the display.
"They seem to expect harsh treatment," the black panther noted, "especially Prisoner Sardo."
"He will be getting exactly what is coming for him," the General said, "they both shall, of course. They are mine."
"Yes, sir," the black panther said. "What of Prisoner Gantan? He showed several signs of anxiety and aggressive behavior. His pulse rate is elevated and he was showing raised levels of stress hormones during his earlier outburst describing the battle of Varonal."
The white tiger chuckled.
"I trust you to keep an eye on the biomedical channel," Rei mused.
"Yes, sir, it is part of my function as your service," the Overseer replied.
The white tiger chuffed.
"Thank you for your input," he said. "I did see this as well, in his body language. I am sure you noted it, too."
"Yes, sir," the black panther said, "I simply sought confirmation from the biomedical data acquired by the scanner in their quarters. It provides sensory data beyond your biological capabilities, sir."
"I know," Rei said.
"I did not doubt that, sir," the polite android said.
Rei looked at the lion who now laid flat on the bed, still squirming to try to find a comfortable position. He had not thought of moving the toiletry bag which was now digging onto the small of his back.
"...the bed is real shit..." the lion said.
"Gantan..." Rei enunciated the foreign name of the prisoner with ease. "Yes...aggressive. Resenting of his fate and his treatment. He is young. He has aspirations. He is a marine. Maybe a true believer, perhaps."
"A believer of what, sir?" the black panther inquired. "I do not have a record of religious faith for prisoner Gantan."
"It has nothing to do with religion, though the mechanism is similar," Rei spoke. "A strong sense of duty. Sardo feels that too, perhaps even stronger than young Gantan. But Gantan has...fire. He is a marine, after all. To be dropped down from the sky upon his enemies and to bring destruction and menace among them. He feels great pride in that. It drives him on, it burns him to do that again and again, in search of glory and honor. To fall his enemies..."
"Are you suspecting that he may attempt to use physical violence against you, sir?" the Overseer asked.
"I do not only suspect it, I expect it," the white tiger flicked his ears. The orange and black tiger on the surveillance image was yawning.
"The insubordination deterrence implants provide a safeguard, do they not, sir?" the android questioned.
General Rei shrugged.
"Physical torture with pain," he said, "incapacitation through the inhibition of voluntary muscles. Rule by fear. They expect it. They may even be ready for it. Any sane person fears both things, and they know that I am capable of inflicting both at will without the need to raise my paw in violence against their fur, skin and bone."
"You are entitled to discipline them, sir."
"Discipline..." the white tiger said. "Such a military word, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir. Is it not the essence of any functional military organization?"
"This is not a military organization," Rei said. "This is my home. Those men are a reminder of my other life, the one that I lead outside. A result of it, too. They expect the General...they expect me to be hell bent on seeking to further my hatred of their people. They want me to hate them. I do not. I respect them as soldiers, as any soldier should. Treating them otherwise will not bring respect."
"Do you expect them to respect you, sir?"
"...I tell you, that guy's gotta be deeply paranoid if he lives here in the middle of nowhere with only bots around him..." the lion was saying the screen just then. Rei raised a finger to quell further questions from his servant while he concentrated on eavesdropping again.
"Perhaps he values his peace," Sardo commented from his side of the room.
"Or expects that someone is out there to blazer him on the back the moment he turns it," the lion proposed.
"I suppose it's possible he has enemies within his own ranks as well," the tiger noted, "yet if he is well respected enough to receive us as gifts from his superiors...he must have friends in high places."
_ _
"Couldn't they just have given him a medal or something?" the lion groaned.
Rei chuckled at that.
"Oh, no," the tiger spoke to himself, "you will be more useful than medals. I have enough of those already."
"Yes, sir," The Overseer said.
"Have the kitchen units prepare them a meal and have it delivered to their quarters," Rei spoke. "I think after the generous hospitality of the Confederate Navy Detention Organization, they deserve a small respite."
"Yes, sir," the black panther replied. "The order has been given."
"Excellent," said the white tiger.
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