Chapter Twenty-one:
Nathan set his hand-held device down; he had finished writing the program to make the Commander think Jason and Celestia had left the ship. Celestia’s program had been easier to modify than he had originally thought. At the last possible moment he would upload the program into the ships computer so it could make use of the ships own projectors to support the hologram. It would only fool them briefly but it would last long enough for them to be picked up by the ship waiting for them and make their escape.
Nathan sighed. He only hoped that Anna wouldn’t be to hurt when she found out he was a member of the resistance. It was a good thing no one knew about Daniel. He had heard that Daniel had been assigned his own command. If it were ever found out he was his father it wouldn’t matter if Daniel was a member or not. High Command was very unforgiving towards families who had members in the resistance. The fact that most of them were unaware of it didn’t matter to members of the High Command. Nathan started getting ready for bed, now that they had actually left Earth they would arrive in sector fourteen in just two days. He needed to be ready when the time came.
Jason couldn’t help but feel uneasy as Jared was escorting him and Celestia to their quarters. Jared had left him alone after the brief incident when he was assigned to the new quarters, but today he seemed different to Jason. Was it because they had left Earth a short while ago to head to the next system? Jason hoped so. He didn’t want to think it was because Jared was planning to do something to him.
When Celestia had entered her quarters and the door locked behind her Jared told him to come with him as they had something to discuss. Jason cringed at the thought but did as he was told. When Jared opened the door to another set of quarters Jason hesitated as a feeling of dread filled him. Jared didn’t give him a chance to do anything as he shoved Jason into the room and when the door closed behind them he grabbed Jason from behind wrapping his left arm around his neck choking him!
Jason reached up with both hands forgetting in his panic that Jared had threatened to hurt Celestia if he resisted. Frantically he tried to pull free of Jared’s grip but he was far too strong. Jason gasped as he felt something sting his right hip. What had Jared done to him? In the next moment Jared wrapped his other arm around Jason’s chest pinning him against him. Jason thrashed madly trying to pull free. He thought he had been afraid before, this was ten times worse! Part of him remembered Celestia but it was overwhelmed by the other part of him that was panicking.
He began to feel faint from Jared choking him, and as he also began to feel dizzy he realized Jared must have drugged him. Jason tried but found he couldn’t even hold his arms up anymore. As the drugs continued to rob him of the ability to resist he found he couldn’t even stand anymore. Jason cried inwardly in his mind, wishing, hoping it was just a dream and yet knowing it was not.
Jared whispered in Jason right ear, “How do you like it? By now you must be starting to feel the effects of what I gave you.”
Jason shuddered as the whisper set off goose bumps through his whole body. It was the thing he had feared most. Jared had given him one of the drugs they had used during his interrogation. The one that because of how it stimulated you he would have rather died than be anywhere near Jared while under it’s effect.
Jared continued, “I’ve improved upon the formula used for interrogations. Rest assured I’ll be sure to demonstrate.”
Jason wished he were dead. He couldn’t even resist as Jared carried him into his bedroom. Jason couldn’t stop the tears that flowed down his cheeks as Jared started to remove his clothing.
Sandra had barely lain down to sleep when the console beeped indicating there was an incoming transmission for her. She sat up and turned it on. It was Commander Daniel and his sub-commander Kim. They appeared to be in sickbay.
“Ah Commander Sandra,” Daniel spoke. “Sorry to disturb your rest but I have something important to tell you. I’ll send you the details but first you’ll want to secure this channel.”
Sandra raised her eyebrow but did as Daniel requested. Once the report he sent was downloaded into her hand held device she took a few moments to read through it. Daniel waited patiently while she read the report.
Sandra finished reading and said, “I see, interesting. Go ahead and start searching for the base. I had suspected that we have a traitor on board, but there hasn’t been any concrete proof.” Sandra sighed and continued. “Keep in contact as I may need your help in exposing the traitor.”
Daniel replied, “Yes Commander.”
Sandra shut down the transmission and got out of bed. Regretfully this would have to come before sleep. Based on Daniel’s report it was highly likely that the resistance had planned on either leaving something for the resistance ship to pick up or they might have even thought of a way to attempt to get Celestia and Jason off the ship. Based on what was in the files they recovered it was likely that the traitor on board her ship was an officer. Security was tight. Only an officer would have the necessary clearance to be able to pull it off.
For them to have known the precise location and time they would be arriving in sector fourteen meant it could only be one of ten people who had that information. Eleven if you included Nathan. He wasn’t an officer but he had the information, security clearance and the skills to have pulled it off. Sandra opened a link to Jared’s quarters. She knew he had planned on entertaining himself with Jason for a while, but this was more important.
Jared heard the beeping of the console in the main room indicating he had an incoming transmission. Jared sighed, of all the times to be bothered! The drugs he had given to Jason and himself had finally started working in full force. He had been enjoying himself and was on the verge of making Jason his. Reluctantly he got up and went into the next room to answer the call. Jared had a reputation for what he did to others when he was annoyed. So he knew that no one would bother him unless it was really important. He turned the screen on to see that it was Commander Sandra. She raised her eyebrow when he appeared on the screen, as Jared had not even bothered to get dressed.
“Ah Jared, It pains me to interrupt you. Read this report I’m sending you. Be sure to secure the transmission at your end first.” Jared was puzzled but did as he was told. He sat down in front of the terminal, not because he cared if the Commander saw him naked but because the drugs made him feel just a tiny bit dizzy. When he finished reading the report he knew that his fun with Jason would have to wait. This was far more important.
“I understand Commander, I’ll get to work on this immediately.”
Jared shut down the transmission and immediately gave himself an antidote to the drugs. As much as he hated postponing making Jason his, this had to come first. Jared sighed, at least he had gotten to have some fun. It was almost maddening how things kept interfering with his plans for Jason. Never had he been thwarted so many times in getting what he wanted! It was a good thing he had other diversions or he would be seriously angry. Still the chance to catch a resistance member was in itself quite thrilling. He hadn’t had the pleasure of a full interrogation in a long time. Jared smiled. He would find the traitor and when he was finished with them, they would beg him to kill them.
