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Prisoners of War - Hide and Seek

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"Look at it yourself," he indicated the slowly spinning sphere, "tell me what you see."

The lion frowned again while he studied the mirage of a map quietly. He appeared intensely thoughtful - something that pleased Rei, because it was in pleasant contrast to the usually hotheaded and spontaneous, unfiltered behavior the lion had been prone to. The General had often wondered whether he had always seen so quick in his movements, or if the captivity had brought these qualities out of him, in some sort of a primal, primitive response.

"Can you make it larger?" Gantan conceded, finally.

"By all means," Rei smiled.

He gave his control panel a tap and the spherical map expanded so that more detail could be seen upon its semi-solid surface. Gantan looked at it further.

"Can I control the rotation in anyway?" he nodded towards that languidly spinning planet between them, over the table.

"Of course," Rei replied, "I am activating the tactical interface. You may now rotate and change perspective and magnification as you wish."

Gantan extended his paw experimentally, and swept it slightly to the left. The planet immediately obeyed, and spun about to show a different face for the lion. Gantan let out a small, pleased smile at this.

"It seems to be working," he said.

"This is a conference room," Rei said, "all the equipment here is up to full functional specifications. I would not compromise important meetings by having my projector stutter on me."

The lion's technocratic pride amused Gantan, whom let out one of his characters harrumphs while he played around with the map again, testing all the features the General had mentioned before. He seemed to find it an interesting pastime, and spent some on it, simply to get his feel on the controls.

"The fighting has been going on for three months now," said Rei, "neither of the sides has managed to establish complete space superiority in the system and hence the planetary operations have not had maximum orbital support."

"So they're dug in..." Gantan mused. "Neither side gaining the upper hand."

"Both the Union and the Confederation have mobile surface to space missile units available for deterring enemy landings, making orbital attacks and resupply difficult," Rei added another morsel of information to the mix.

"Living off the land then," Gantan said.

"Eskiltune is an industrialized world, there is infrastructure for maintaining armed forces over the entire planet," the General said.

"And this reflects the situation...when?" the lion asked.

"I received it yesterday," Rei said, "with the communications delays, it shows the latest situation report from approximately six days ago."

"I see."

"Couriers have to be used due to the communications blockout," Rei mused. "It is certainly not the fastest way to acquire information from the front to the headquarters."

Gantan nodded.

"It would be standard procedure, but I guess you know that," he said.

"Naturally," Rei said," It is a standard operative procedure for both parties involved. It is to be expected. Radio mines have been deployed by both sides to amplify solar fields to reduce gravity radio efficiency."

"I don't know too much about that," Gantan said, "and even if I did..."

Rei chuckled.

"You would not tell me, because you've already been interrogated," he said.

"Yes."

The General smirked once more.

"You don't have to tell me your military secrets," he said, "I just wish you to put your mind into this current issue at paw here and consider it. I find it an interesting activity even when I am not directly involved in the actual strategic planning."

The lion snuffled.

"So not trying to make me do your work for you then?" he stated.

Rei shrugged.

"You are but a one man," he said, "the General Staff has a thousand heads considering our every move...and yours, of course, besides the computers and the best AI available. Everything is carefully weighted there before decisions are made. But this...this is a more personal consideration, like the decisions a soldier has to make on the field, individually, without officer support."

"We're talking about a whole planet here," Gantan retorted, "Eskiltune has a population of...what...50 million?"

"50 million Union colonists, spanning all continents and thousands of settlements," Rei said. "A jewel of a world with nearly endless potential, natural resources..."

Gantan's tail began to bristle up.

"And not so easy to steal, isn't it now?" he declared. "If the fighting is still going on and you attacked first time, what...over a year ago?"

"Approximately so," Rei nodded. "Our first land assault ended in a stalemate and the current situation is less than static as well. The front keep moving."

"With millions of lives at stake, and it's all your fault."

"Do you blame me personally?" Rei stated. "As if I was the one directly responsible?"

Gantan was silent.

"I did not choose to fight this war," Rei said. "I am but the soldier who is given orders to fulfill, and throughout my career and through my honor I have tried to do so, to my utmost."

The lion did not react well to this. He was obviously about to speak something response, but was silenced by another sharp wave from Rei.

"That includes trying to spare lives, whether my own men, the opposite side, or the civilian population," the white tiger said. "Anything else would be sheer butchery."

"I never heard of a war that spared lives," Gantan huffed. "Unless you count not having a war in the first place as one, of course."

Rei poured himself another drink and tasted from it before he spoke again after having savored the flavor to the fullest.

"Yet you chose to become a soldier, even if you think so," Rei challenged him simply.

Gantan snorted.

"My very existence is a deterrence," he said.

Rei raised his brows.

"Do you believe in that kind of a doctrine of fear?" the white tiger asked. "That more weapons you have, the less likely someone is to attack you?"

"Fuck right I do," the lion hissed.

"I fail to understand the significance of the spatial orientation of sexual intercourse, General," the Overseer said.

Gantan looked at the black panther, with his muzzle turning into a gawk. The Overseer returned the look with his usual mild gaze. The lion turned to look at Rei, who was smirking openly.

"What do you find so funny?" Gantan asked.

"You," Rei said, "you make me laugh a lot. It is a rare gift you have."

"Maybe I should aim to be a bit less gifted," the lion grumbled.

"You do it without trying," said Rei, before another sip on his strange drink.

Gantan wondered whether the white tiger intended to get drunk. He didn't appear intoxicated yet. He was a large man, after all, and perhaps the drink wasn't quite as strong as the lion thought at first. He decided to try another sip later, after seeing if the General would get more woozy from it.

"So, really," Rei mused, "you believe that if a nation builds up a veritable arsenal of weapons, men, ships...all tools of war, really...that their very existence does not encourage the more hawkish political elements to deploy them offensively?"

"It has worked so far," the lion said.

"Until this war."

"You attacked us, remember?" Gantan stated." Is there any doubt of that?"

"I believe that our government believed it was a justified preemptive strike," Rei leaned back on his seat. "Considering the buildup of tension and the situation at the Reach..."

Gantan glared at the floating sphere of a planet over the table, a reminder of the circumstances they were in, with its two different colors.

"So you decide to fight a fire with fire..."

"And we shall both burn until they've had enough, the governments," Rei said. "And one simply has to make the best out of it, whatever the circumstances."

Gantan sneered.

"Is this the part where you try to tell me that things aren't as bad as they seem and that I should try to...make the best out of being here? Kept in a room and told around and...physically violated!"

Rei shrugged. The white tiger did not appear to be keen to hear complaints about the prisoners' treatment.

"Your current quarters are adequate," he said, "you are provided with nutrition, physical exercise, hygiene, and activities. Infringements to this are of course to be punished, as you have experienced."

The lion growled.

"You know what I'm talking about," Gantan hissed.

Rei flicked his ear in a sign of curiosity.

"Well, then you are free to talk about it, of course," he said. "I am always open to hearing your suggestions about how your circumstances could be improved."

The lion smacked the floor with his tail, audibly so.

"I think you called it 'by the balls', when you announced our little...additions," Gantan stated.

Rei nodded.

"They have proven their worth to me already, indeed," he said.

"I don't think there's any part on the articles for the treatment of prisoners of war that says that you're allowed to do something like that!"

"The Articles state that every prisoner has the right for their dignity, and for respect of their sexual identity," the white tiger retorted immediately, without raising his voice. He knew that would only goad the lion further. "Have I shown your sexual identity anything but respect? Have I done anything but respect you as a male, in your expression of your masculinity?"

"You've locked us up!" Gantan growled.

"There is nowhere on that Article that states that a prisoner has a right for _expressing_their sexual identity," Rei noted. "Nobody says that a prisoner, whom by nature may be subject to limitations, should have an unlimited ability to jerk their meat at leisure."

Gantan was almost shocked by the statement, and it was shown in his face enough that Rei chuckled.

"Why do you look at me like that?" the white tiger asked. "It is not like I do not know that simple manly pastime myself."

"I still don't think you have the right to - to stop anyone from doing what they want to!" Gantan argued.

"I think I do, if it brings the results I want," Rei said. "It does not cause you physical harm, after all. The cages are adjusted to measure and cause no physical injury to your private parts. Their effect appears to be only psychological."

The lion huffed.

"The Article bans psychological torture," he said, "I know that much!"

Rei leaned towards him a little, sturdy arms supporting his torso while his paws touched the surface of the display table.

"Are you ready to say that the increasing sexual tension you are experiencing counts as psychological torture?" the white tiger stated. "That this throbbing, uncontrollable feeling you can't do anything about is occupying your mind at all times? That you've been forced to think about it? That you have no choice? There is always a choice...you are more than capable of opening the devices, as per my instructions."

The lion snorted.

"I think you've forced us to touch one another quite enough already even without anything of that sort," Gantan said.

"Is that really so?" Rei said. "You both seem rather keen to relieve your basic needs in the most neat manner possibly as provided by your arrangement."

Gantan bared his teeth.

"You enjoy it," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"I bet somehow you enjoy it, thinking about it or watching it, or something," said the lion. "I'm not sure, but I think you do."

The white tiger chortled. He both sounded and appeared bemused.

"Do you seriously think I have a particular sexual appetite for viewing males urinating?" he stated the fact.

Gantan gave him a crooked look.

"I don't put anything past you, really," he said.

Rei nodded.

"You are allowed to have your own opinions, of course," he said. "Let it be stated, that I am mostly interested in power...in its many forms."

The lion snorted.

"Why else would you have this all?" he flung his paw about the room. "It all smells like cock waving to me, even if you don't have anyone here to see it."

"Is that so?" Rei tilted is head curiously.

"Oh, yeah," Gantan said, "this huge house, this holographic toy, your constant working out...you just want everything to impress and make everyone else feel worse in comparison. Wanna make them feel small."

"Do I make you feel small?" Rei sent the question back right away.

"Not a chance in a hundred years," the lion sounded resolute in his opinion.

Rei simply smiled.

"Good," he said. "That is good."

The lion ruffled his paw through his mane in displeasure.

"I don't get you," Gantan said.

"You don't have to," the white tiger said, "at least not yet."

"Hmmmph," the lion vocalized.

"And there it is!" Rei sounded gleeful.

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