[color=darkgray]
The artificial sheen of white danced across the eyes from the omnipresent flicker of the lighting fixture above. The floor space felt almost gargantuan when compared to the tight crew quarters of the Lincoln. Trapp moved over slowly to the edge of the bed running a hand across the white sheet leaving bloody marks in his wake. It had been freshly cleaned and crisp in its texture... pressed with starch. It was certainly a change from Lhant less dirty feces ridden hole in the ground and more minimalistic hotel well of course hotels did'nt have shielded glass walls but the feeling was still there. Of course though those were the merits of having been caught by actual Coalition forces and not angry and half starved guerrillas willing to go beyond the point of no return if it meant the liberation of their planet and the fulfillment of their ideals. The Coalition forces at least had a seeming shred of decency left in their bodies. They weren't driven by loss and rage, they were just stuck in a long war just like the UEE. It was a shame though that Trapp would have to exploit that common decency to survive

He moved from the bed to the toilet peering down into the water. A face was reflected back at him caked in an all too familiar mixture of blood and sweat. Having an actual amount of work that he could work with he could at least assess the damage better. He was no doctor or even a medic but like everybody else he was taught basic field medicine and dressing, you know the basic things needed to keep you or your body alive maybe for a couple more hours. While some may frown up the idea of washing one's face with toilet water. It came from the same place that the glorious liquid coming out of your faucet did so it was at least sanitary and even the most basic of toilets these days had cleaning measures to make sure that no bacteria lived inside of them after business was done. So unless somebody actually defecated in it the water was serviceable. Cupping the lukewarm liquid in his hands he brought it up to his face with a gentle splash. He methodically began to scrub away some of the blood caked onto his face with a focus on the head wound moving gently around it to at least clean any dirt or other foreign bodies away. Even as he worked more blood slowly trickled out but he could at least see the problem better. A large laceration across the skull from the impact upon crashing into the lake. He was lucky enough not to have gone out completely but the pain and the ever present feeling of lightheadedness was still there. 

Finishing up he turned his attention back across the way to see how Maki was fairing. Much to his surprise or well rather lack of surprise at this point she was already half dressed and fiddling with what appeared to be  quasi prison shank of sorts. Well that would explain the whole "underwire" incident when they were being processed in words. Smuggle your weapons in hidden in places most decent men would have problems searching, one of the oldest tactics in the book but we'll still seemed to work. For all the copious amounts of shit she has thrown his way Trapp could at least appreciate that she was smart. And she did try to save him from plummeting to his death. The smile she threw his way though reminded him why she made him feel uneasy, to do this well enough you had to at least be a minor functioning sociopath but she seemed to revel in it all with the ferocity of something more akin to a devil than a soldier. Well at least she was on his side.

[indent][i]"Care to wager how long it takes for those sorry asses to come get us?"[/i][/indent] 

He couldn't help but laugh to himself despite the pain. At least she was frank about it. He contemplated the question in his head and thinking of the situation they were currently in. Having Alice's broadcast signal sent out they at least knew that was at least something they had in their pocket. Ardin wouldn't want to loose valuable UEE technology especially Alice in the hands of the Coalition engineers. But UEE missions were not short burst of sudden energy but long and drawn out affairs. They liked their plans and they liked to make sure that all the boxes were checked off twice before anything got done. Prepare for every option and opportunity. Though with hostages and a recovery mission of valuable technology? Well maybe their time scale would be pushed up a bit. Well it didn't really matter in the long run away even if the span was five hours to five weeks they still had the same mission until then. Stay alive and stay quiet. Content he spoke allowed his answer.

[color=lightgreen]"Oh you know, long enough to make it inconvenient."[/color] He explained to her with a smile on his face as he stepped back towards the wall slouching down with his back against it till his knees met his chest. He began to whistle an old UEE marching cadence as he waited for the opportunity to escape.

[i]"Cuz one early morning 'bout zero-five!
The ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky!
Don't you worry, don't come undone
It's just my ghost on a PT run!"
[/i]
[hr]
He couldn't figure how much time had passed since they were put into the cell, the expressionless white walls and the lack of proper windows to the outside world not helping resolve the issue. Maybe an hour or maybe more but there was a soft hum of activity as a door opened on the far side of the cell block. Flanked by two guards on either side was what looked to be a doctor of some sort and his assistant pushing a large white cube and heading down the way towards them. Trapp looked up from his mental contemplations as they stopped outside of his glass pane. The doctor was an older man most likely of southeast asian heritage with a wrinkled face and head long gone of hair and his assistant was a tall caucasian female with long red hair. The man seemed to be arguing with his escort judging from his hand gestures but finally the guards relented and the pair walked inside unaccompanied. As they did one of the guards still posited outside swiped at a panel and the glass went opaque Maki and the rest of the outside world vanishing beyond the edge. 

[color=aba000]"Apes they all are, expecting me to do my job with their eyes over my shoulder."[/color]The old man muttered in a tone of annoyance that displayed that it seemed to at least be a common occurrence to his assistant as they approached Trapp. Trapp looked at the pair confused as the woman knelt down beside him and took his hand helping him up and then sitting him down upon the bed with his feet firmly on the floor. The old man seemed preoccupied with entering commands in his white box as the woman produced a medical scalpel. Trapp reflexively clenched his fist ready to strike out as she neared close but the voice of the old man filled the void.

[color=aba000]"I suggest you let her do her job pilot. We are not Coalition interrogators or even members of their armed forces. We just fix people for them and you young man need some immediate fixing before your brain spills out of your head. Coalition interrogators went your mind intact No?"[/color] His voice was chastising in its tone akin to a parent talking to a young child. He sounded sincere enough and his assistant met Trapp's eyes and they seemed to reflect the same idea. These people weren't soldiers, proabably just from the local town or something conscripted by the Coalition forces. So while he was still tense he let the woman approach him and with steady hands she swiftly cut through the fabric of his flight jacket down the center, prying it away to expose her chest and abdominal muscles. He wanted to protest but he supposed he could just get another jacket. 

The man finished entering in some commands in his white cube and with a soft whirr it expanded as an array of medical instruments on trays were released from within. The man produced a series of wires tapered on one end with ads that he handed over to the assistant who began to stick them across Trapp's body. The man flipped a switch and a soft electric beep was sounded as a strange tingling sensation ran from Trapp's head to his feet. As the doctor looked at the readout he hummed in interest as he looked down at his console and back up at Trapp. It was a face mixed with a sad sense of understanding and amazement as he walked over picked up what looked to be some sort of clamp along the way.

[color=aba000]"Well that explains it. Upon seeing your wound, I thought only a man of iron could have stayed awake after something like that. Well it would seem I'm right. You've put your body through a lot of stress over the years pilot. Unhealed bones still fractured within, torn muscles never healed properly, cartilage worn away. Your body is held together by steel and flesh fused together beneath the surface. It's a miracle you have made it is a far as you have without major organ failure at the least. Let alone put the weight and stress of piloting a MAS." [/color]The old man explained as peered at the wound on Trapp's head with the precision of a hawk using a finger to poke and prod about the wound sending flashing of pain through Trapp's body.

[color=lightgreen]"May be so old man but I have to keep fighting it's my job."[/color] Trapp explained and the man nodded in agreement as his assistant handed him a cloth which she had dipped in antiseptic pressing it against Trapp's head. The pain crashed again but the old man held it firm content it making sure that it did its work even as Trapp's hands seemed ready to swing out at him at a moment's notice. 

[color=aba000]"Of course, of course the soldier's burden. [i]Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.[/i] Doctors such as myself are all too familiar with little boys running off to war unafraid of the damage that may be done."[/color] Trapp couldn't help but laugh to himself at the truth of the statement as the Doctor brought up an enchantment glass to his head flicking a switch and turning it to x-ray mode as he viewed the damage from a closer perspective. 

[color=lightgreen]"Yeah.. So if that's why you're helping a UEE dog like me. Why is she helping?"[/color] Trapp asked his arms wandered back to the doctor's assistant who remained stark and silent her eyes still displaying emotion even if her body and voice did not through the conversation as she handed the doctor his tools. There was something about her, about the look in her eyes that spoke volumes even if Trapp couldn't read what it was. He knew those eyes though the pain, the loss glossed over by a sense of work and duty. An all too familiar gaze.

[color=aba000]"She grew up on a border world with the UEE. In an attempt to flush out the Coalition forces hiding in her village the UEE dropped gas bombs. Terrible things they burned the throat and destroyed the lungs in mere minutes of inhalation. Her entire village died except for her. She was by the river when the bombs hit and managed to dunk her head in the water right after she was supposed to help neutralize the toxins. Though the damage was already done, the toxins too great destroying her throat and vocal chords and heavily damaging her lungs. I was one of the volunteer doctors sent in as part of the relief efforts on the planet when I found her. I helped save her life and in return she has followed me around ever since."[/color] The doctor explained in a matter of fact way. Trapp couldn't help feel guilty in a way. Gas it was more of a common occurrence than one would think. It was an easy way to suppress ground troops and route enemy forces. He'd proabably provided covering fire from such bombardments dozens of times and never once thought about the other people affected by such attacks.

[color=aba000]"Don't feel too bad pilot. She holds no grudge against your government or the Coalition she just wants to help people. Now let's seal up that wound of yours. Bite into this and don't spit it out until I say otherwise. I would prefer to perform actual surgery on the wound but we will make do with what your captors will allow "[/color] The old man explained as he shoves a bundle of rags into Trapps mouth. The smelled and tasted of a sicking combination of antiseptict and old scented candles. The odd combination doing its job long enough to distract Trapp as the old man pressed the clamp against skull and with an adjustment forced the two halves together rather brutishly. He was thankful for the rag because if it wasn't there he would of proabably bit through his tongue. With the fractured piece held together he produced a small medical torch. A high precision flame based instruments used to melt and reseal wounds and even bone as needed. Real doctors prefered actual methods of sealing and the like but out on the field a medical torch could be the difference between life and death Looking at Trapp with a flash of sympathy he turned the torch on tilting it downward about eight inches away from Trapp's head as he pressed the ignition. The gag keeping him from severing his own tongue also muffled any sound of pain coming from the commander as the hot plasma danced across his skin. Ten minutes went by before the entire process was done and the wound was at least sealed. Trapp's body was reeling with pain but at least know he would not die of blood loss.

The old man removed the rag from Trapp's mouth letting his staggered breathing fill the room as the pain continued to persist. The old man reached through his instruments producing a syringe filled with bright green liquid of some sort and before Trapp had a moment to react he drove it into the side of the commander's neck. Trapp flinched but as the liquid intermixed with his bloodstream the pain began to subside as his body slowed down. Now in silence the man and woman began to clean up before Trapp and their equipment. Finishing promptly they left Trapp sitting on his bed the pain medication still coursing through his system leaning back against the wall. But not before the man whispered something in Trapp's ear.

[color=aba000]"We are not all bad people pilot. Try and remember that."[/color] And without another word the man left his cell. A swift gesture of a hand and the opacity faded letting the light back in and the world around them. Trapp watched as the doctor and his assistant were escorted down the hallway and out of the cellblock and all he could do was shake his head. He drew his attention back across the way towards Maki who must of been wondering what the hell was going on and could only give her a thumbs up as he returned to his position sitting against the backwall. Looking up though he did speak one thing through the glass.

[color=lightgreen]"I wonder how the others are doing right now."[/color]
[/color]