Trial by Ordeal

by Wesa

Series: War of the Worlds

AU: Forbidden Lust

Disclaimer: No major characters are mine. They belong to Paramount and to Strangis and Strangis. All denizens of the base security office and the associated lockup are mine, but are there only to move the story along. Don't ask me more about them; they have no life outside this story.

Category: Angst

Warning: Implied rape; attempted rape scene

Note: While incidents such as I describe here could happen anywhere, even in the US Army, I know of no such incidents, and do not intend to demean the armed services. They have enough problems that they bring on themselves. All such problems are the problems of individuals, and do not represent the vast majority that serve our country with honor and dignity.

By Wesa.

Dr. Harrison Blackwood was finally able to contact the legal office at Fort Streeter, from whom he learned the scheduled date of the sergeants' court marshal as well as the name of their legal advisor. But when he asked for an appointment to discuss the case, he was told that the officer was too busy to see him. He attempted to visit the sergeants in the Ft. Streeter jail, but was told that that was impossible for a civilian, and that he could visit them in Fort Leavenworth after their conviction, before their executions.

"That almost makes it sound like a foregone conclusion," Suzanne remarked with a frown.

"That's the way the military works, Suzanne," Kincaid told her. "They've pleaded guilty, so they must be guilty. Their court martial is just a formality."

"But they were looking for the Colonel!" Debi protested from where she sat beside Ironhorse, holding his hand. "They found all those other people, too. They shouldn't go to prison." She looked to Paul for confirmation. What she found in his eyes didn't inspire confidence.

"The Army doesn't see it that way, Debi," he said, disturbed by his own disagreement with the military. "With me missing and presumed dead, with General Wilson missing and presumed dead, with the rest of the Omegans dead, they fell under the authority of the Post Commander. When they were ordered to report to Fort Streeter, that's what they should have done. By disobeying that order and deciding to strike out on their own, they did actually go AWOL. There are other charges, too, from what I was able to learn when I called. Apparently they're being charged with theft for the supplies they took from the Cottage as well as for the electricity they tapped into at the warehouse, and for trespassing at the warehouse in the first place. Then there are the aliens they killed; some bright boy has decided that since it was an undeclared war, they need to be charged with murder for each of those deaths. And Derriman, Stavrakos, and Coleman have complicated things by pleading guilty to all charges."

"Well, yes, I suppose they are, technically," Suzanne admitted, "but there were extenuating circumstances."

"I can't understand how their lawyer could allow them to plead guilty," Harrison murmured, standing up and going to the window of Paul's hospital room. He leaned on the wide sill and looked out over the city, which was just beginning to recover from the long conflict. "Isn't there anything I can do?"

"Yeah," Paul told him. "Get me out of here."

"Paul, you're not strong enough," Suzanne protested.

"That's why I need your help," he replied. "I'm not up to full strength yet, and I don't have much endurance, either. I won't be much help to them without some sort of transport, and since I don't have a voice-activated roadster, I'll need someone to push."

Paul's gentle reference to Norton had come easily to him; he had learned of Norton's death so recently that he was still in the denial stage of grief. He realized what he had said only when Debi's hand tightened around his fingers. He looked at her apologetically, but she smiled at him. "If he was here, he'd probably have you in one of your own," she told him, "and he would have enjoyed helping you program it."

"It just doesn't seem real that he could be gone," Paul apologized to all of them. "That one of my clones shot him..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault, Colonel," Kincaid growled softly. "Harrison, if you and Suzanne want to argue with his doctors, I'll round up a wheelchair and some proper clothes for him, and Debi, you stay here and make sure he rests in case the doctors want to give him another examination before they let him out."

As the others scattered on their errands, Debi drew the blankets up to Paul's chest, then reached for the control that would lower the head of his bed. He caught her hand. "Debi," he said gently, "Kincaid told me what the clones did that night. I wish I had been there to stop them."

She stared down at him for a moment, then leaned down and hugged him. "If you had been there, you might have been the one who shot himself to save me," she said softly. "You didn't; you're here now, and to have you here, alive, makes everything I went through worth it." She smiled and lowered the bed until it was almost flat, then kissed his cheek. "Try to rest, now. Do you need anything before you sleep?"

His mouth tightened. "Just - stay close, okay? I've had enough isolation for a while."

"I'll be right here, Colonel," she promised as he closed his eyes.

**********

Kasey Coleman sat cross-legged on her bunk, leaning against the wall and blankly staring off into space. Through the three- by six-inch vent in the wall over her head she could hear that dinner was being delivered to the other prisoners.

She was the only woman in the jail. Major Wakabayashi, the officer in charge of base security, had a sense of propriety that had forced him to rearrange cell assignments so that she had privacy, at least in regards to the other prisoners. However, the front of her cell was still just open bars, so that any guard walking past could see whatever she was doing - sleeping, changing clothes, peeing - whatever. She hated that, but had resigned herself to it. She was in jail, after all.

"Dinner, traitors." The guard's taunt came clearly through the vent as he passed their trays through to Derriman and Stavrakos, who had ended up in the cell directly on the other side of the wall. Traitors. That was how the other soldiers saw them. But they weren't, not really. And that wasn't even what they had been charged with.

When the guard delivering trays had gone, Kasey called, "What's for dinner, guys?"

"Something brown. I think it's meant to be meatloaf," Stavrakos replied. "And potatoes with lumpy grease for gravy."

"Little round gray-green things," Derriman added. "Maybe they used to be peas."

"The Jell-O looks edible," Stavrakos said.

"What color is it?" Kasey asked.

"Yellow."

She couldn't tell which of them had answered her. "Damn," she said. "Well, it could be worse. It could be green. Do we get milk tonight?"

Stavrakos chuckled sourly. "What is it with you and milk, anyway?"

"Hey, I grew up on a ranch; we had our own milk cow. We drank milk three times a day minimum," Kasey retorted. "I like my milk."

"Sorry to disappoint you, honey," the guard, Robertson by name, said from the front of her cell as he appeared with her tray. "Best I could do for you was a soda."

Kasey rose from her cot and went to the bars. "Thanks," she said, retrieving the tray. "Don't call me 'honey.'"

Robertson just smiled at her. Kasey repressed a shudder.

**********

Stavrakos looked at Derriman, frowning. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Derriman raised his head and listened. A thin light sound filled the air, faintly musical. "What is that?" he asked. "Is someone singing?"

"I find it hard to believe that any of our fellow prisoners would sound like that," Stavrakos told him.

"Unless it's Kasey."

Stavrakos leaned over the side of the upper bunk and looked at Derriman in the dim glow of the jail's night lighting. Almost as one the two men scrambled out of their bunks and over to where the vent led into Kasey's cell, dragging both of their cell's chairs over to climb up on. The sound was slightly louder here and definitely coming through the vent. "Kasey?" hissed Stavrakos, not wanting to wake the other prisoners. "Kasey, are you all right?"

She giggled in response. "F'l wunnerful," she told them.

"She sounds drunk," Derriman told Stavrakos. "How could anyone have smuggled alcohol in here?"

"And why would Kasey have it?" Stavrakos wondered. "She doesn't drink much anyway. Why would she have risked having it smuggled in?"

Instinctively they both fell silent when from Kasey's cell there came a noise like a key in a lock, followed by the sound of her cell door being opened. "Hi, sweetcheeks," came a male voice. "Ready for some entertainment?"

Kasey giggled again. "C'n m' frens c'm?" she slurred.

"If they're there, then sure, baby," another man replied. "We'll all come. On your feet now. The guys are waiting for you."

Stavrakos and Derriman stared at each other in dismay, then Stavrakos whispered, "Boost me up." Climbing onto Derriman's thighs and supported by his hands and lower legs made Stavrakos tall enough to grab the edge of the vent and peer through it into Kasey's cell in time to see two guards taking her out into the hallway dressed only in her tee-shirt and panties. Robertson and Hoyt were obviously supporting her; she clearly could not stand on her own. Robertson had his hand down the back of her panties, roughly squeezing a butt cheek. "Hey!" Stavrakos shouted. "Hey! Leave her alone!"

**********

"Name?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Paul Ironhorse," Paul replied.

"And you, sir?" the desk sergeant asked Harrison. The name over her right breast pocket said her name was Marcel.

"I'm his driver," Harrison replied, indicating the wheelchair he pushed for the Colonel.

"Blackwood," Paul said warningly.

Harrison grinned; Paul was as easy to bait as ever. "Harrison Blackwood," he told Sgt. Marcel. She must have been close to Kasey's age, but had gone the administrative route instead of into combat.

"We want to see Derriman, Stavrakos, and Coleman," Paul told her.

Marcel checked her computer records. "I'm sorry, sir, but Derriman and Stavrakos have been placed in isolation," she told Paul. "You can see Coleman in a few minutes, however. She should be back from the infirmary any moment."

"Infirmary?" Harrison repeated. "I saw her three nights ago, and she seemed fine then. What's wrong with her?"

"I don't have that information, sir. If you would like to wait right over there, I'll call you as soon as she's brought back." The sergeant gestured to a row of blue vinyl-covered chairs lining one wall.

"Why are Stavrakos and Derriman in isolation?" Paul asked. "Are they contagious with something?"

The young woman shook her head. "It's not medical isolation, sir," she replied. "According to the night guards' report, they caused a disturbance last night after lights out."

"What kind of disturbance?"

"Yelling, disturbing the other prisoners."

"Does it say why they did it?"

She looked at him blankly. "No, sir."

Paul nodded. "Thank you, sergeant," he said.

Harrison pushed the wheelchair over to the row of chairs and sat down in one of them himself. "What are you thinking?' he asked Paul.

"I could see Stavrakos messing up his own chances to have the charges dismissed," Paul replied, "but Derriman? On the other hand, I never would have expected him to go AWOL, either. It seems odd that it should coincide with Kasey getting sick, unless they were trying to call attention to that fact, trying to get help for her. But I can't think that they would be in solitary confinement for that."

"Unless something else was going on," Harrison said. "I think after we talk to Kasey we should see if we can get a look at her medical records."

"It won't happen, Harrison. The Army is very careful about releasing anyone's confidential information," Paul warned. "Suzanne's psychiatric background might get her access."

Harrison frowned. "If anyone is trying to hide something, that gives them too much time to do it before Suzanne could get here. I'll call her, but I think I should try to bluff my way in. I am a doctor, after all."

"Harrison, your degree is in astrophysics."

"Just don't tell them that."

"And how much of what you read in her file are you going to understand?" Paul asked. "Just call Suzanne."

**********

"Colonel!" Kasey exclaimed, rushing forward.

"No touching," the guard warned.

She pulled up short, looking hard at the wheelchair. "Colonel? How are you? Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, Kasey, thanks to my sergeants and other friends," he assured her. "What's this about Derriman and Stavrakos causing such a disturbance as to get solitary confinement?"

Kasey looked at him blankly across the table. "They were in their cell at dinnertime, and I didn't hear any disturbance last night," she said. "There's an interior vent between our cells; we talk to each other whenever we want. If there was a disturbance, I think I would have heard it."

"Unless you were too ill," Harrison suggested.

She frowned. "I don't remember being ill," she said slowly, "but I woke up this morning feeling--" She colored pinkly. "Well, I was sore in places I had no reason to be sore, and I felt like I had a whopping hangover."

"So that's why you asked to go to the infirmary?" Paul asked solicitously. She nodded. "What did they tell you?"

"Nothing really. They asked a lot of dumb questions, took blood, and ... did some other tests," she replied hesitantly, glancing at Harrison.

He smiled. "You can speak freely to us, Kasey," he assured her. "What sorts of questions and tests?"

Once again she hesitated, glancing at Paul, then looking at the table. "I - They asked about my sex life," she replied in a low voice. "I explained that I haven't had time for anything like that for a while, but I don't think they believed me. It - it was a reasonable question, I guess, considering ... but I don't know why the blood tests." She looked up suddenly, her worried eyes meeting Paul's. "Unless they thought - but I've always been so careful."

"You always used condoms?" Harrison asked.

"Well, no, but I only ever skipped them with a man I trusted completely. And beyond that I'd sneaked a look at his medical records." Kasey tried to keep from looking at Paul, but her eyes kept flickering his way.

Harrison decided to let them know that he knew about their affair. "You can stop beating about the bush, Kasey," he told her. "I've wondered for some time, and you pretty much confirmed it the night we found the Colonel."

She tried to pretend to not understand. "Confirmed what, Doctor?"

Harrison cleared his throat. "I don't think either of you want me to say it out loud here, do you?" he asked with a glance at the guard, who ostensibly stood far enough away not to overhear their conversation. Nobody really wanted to take a chance. "So you think they were testing you for STDs?" Harrison asked Kasey.

"What else?" she wondered. "Although I can't imagine what kind of disease would cause me to sleep through the kind of ruckus that could have gotten Alex and Bill thrown into isolation."

"What about the hangover?" Paul asked.

"Well, it couldn't have been," she replied. "Even when I do drink, I don't drink enough to get hung over; but I don't have access to alcohol in here anyway."

"Do you mind if we have a look at your medical records?" Harrison asked. "I can't help feeling that your illness and the guys' outburst are related. I want to know what those blood tests show."

Kasey hesitated only a moment, time for a glance at Paul, then she nodded. "So do I," she told him. She turned and looked at the guard. "Corporal Ford," she called, "Colonel Ironhorse and Dr. Blackwood need my written permission to examine my medical records. Are there writing materials somewhere about?"

Her two visitors stared at her while she went and retrieved the paper and pen the guard offered, and when she returned, Paul said softly, "Kasey, would you pull your hair away from your neck on the right side, please?"

"Sir?" she asked in confusion, obeying anyway, revealing an angry purple mark on the side of her neck. As she pulled aside her hair, her fingers grazed it, and she hissed in pain. "Damn!" she exclaimed, then apologized. "I'm sorry. I don't have any idea how I did that."

"That explains why the medics didn't believe you about not having had sex in a while," Paul murmured sadly. "Who was it, Kasey?"

"Don't jump to conclusions, Paul," Harrison murmured. "Kasey, did they test for drugs, too?"

"I don't take drugs!" she protested.

"I didn't say you did," he soothed, "but did they test for them?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Good. Now I really want to see your records. And if they didn't, I'm going to ask them to. Kasey, what did you have to eat last night?" Harrison asked.

She passed the note she had written across the table. "Standard prison fare. Slop on a tray. The guard who brought it had got me a Coke with it. He keeps calling me 'honey,' 'sweetcheeks,' stuff like that." She shuddered. "I don't know what he thinks he's going to get by bringing me Cokes."

**********

Suzanne looked up from the file. "Is Kasey still in this facility?" she asked worriedly.

"Yes," Paul replied, frowning in concern. "Is that a problem?"

"It might be," Suzanne told him. "Her blood test shows positive for Rohypnol."

"Kasey Coleman would not take drugs," Paul told her firmly.

"I don't think any woman would take this drug voluntarily, Paul," Suzanne replied. "It's a kind of tranquilizer that interferes with memory retention. It's commonly known as the date rape drug."

"Rape!" Paul stood up sharply, overturning his wheelchair. "Who? One of the guards?" he demanded angrily.

"Kasey said that guard keeps calling her sweetcheeks, remember?" Harrison reminded him, straightening the chair. "I think we should take a good hard look at the guard who's been bringing her dinner."

"I want her out of there now!" Paul told him. Fired by his anger, he strode out of the room.

"Bring the file," Harrison said angrily, pushing the chair out through the door as he set off in pursuit of his friend. "Paul will never make it to Major Wakabayashi's office on his own two feet."

"At least he's getting the exercise he needs to regain his strength," Suzanne muttered, giving chase.

They caught up with Paul as he stood gasping at the first corner, a mere twenty feet along the hallway. Harrison held the chair and Paul climbed into it gratefully. "I hate this," he grumbled breathlessly.

**********

Wakabayashi tried to explain to Paul, Suzanne, and Harrison that his guards could not possibly be involved in such a sordid activity, but Suzanne showed him the medical report, with its tests done by the Fort Streeter Hospital. Stavrakos and Derriman were brought to the office and asked about the reason they had started yelling at the guards late the previous night. Derriman had angrily reported that two guards had taken Kasey from her cell in her underwear, talking about entertainment and other men waiting, and taking familiar liberties when she appeared to be in no condition to consent. "She was slurring her words," Stavrakos added, "and the two guards who took her from her cell had to help her walk. One of them had his hand in her panties, sir!" he told Ironhorse in outrage.

Paul turned to the major. "I want my people out of your facility now, tonight. I'll take full responsibility for their behavior, and insure that they will appear at their court martial," he said.

Reluctantly agreeing to the idea, Wakabayashi got out the necessary paperwork. Derriman and Stavrakos looked at each other, and then went to Ironhorse with their concern. "Sir," Derriman said, "what about Kasey? It's past time for them to bring her dinner, and we think it was drugged last night. What if they drug her again?"

Wakabayashi and Ironhorse looked at one another and as one headed for the door, with Stavrakos and Derriman on their heels. Harrison and Suzanne gave chase, pushing Paul's wheelchair. They found Derriman hovering over his colonel; Paul waved him on. "Harrison, go with him. Get to Kasey."

Leaving Suzanne to help Paul into his wheelchair and follow as quickly as they could, Harrison and Derriman ran after Wakabayashi and Stavrakos.

**********

After the discussion with Paul and Dr. Blackwood, Kasey was suspicious of her dinner, and flushed it down the toilet. She could go without eating for a couple days if necessary without suffering more than hunger pangs. If they were drugging her, she needed to know it, and she needed to know why. She waited, still fully dressed. Robertson returned and took away her tray; Kasey sat cross-legged on her bunk and watched him without a word. She waited.

After a quarter of an hour, he came back, accompanied by Hoyt and two other guards, Stanton and Riskin. They unlocked her cell and came in, looking at her oddly. "You didn't eat your dinner, did you?" Stanton asked her.

"Wasn't hungry," Kasey lied. "What's going on?"

"Stand up."

With no proof that they had harmed her, or that they had any intent to do it again, she had no real choice but to obey. Slowly, Kasey unfolded her legs and stood up. "Where are you taking me?" she asked.

"Right here," Robertson said.

"You should have eaten your dinner," Stanton told her as he gripped her elbows from behind and held her immobile.

"Hey!" Kasey protested.

"Guys, she's not drugged," Hoyt worried. "She'll be able to identify us."

"Not if she knows what's good for her," replied Stanton. He bent his head down and bit her ear.

Kasey struggled futilely, planting her feet and trying to free herself from the man who held her elbows. "Let me go!" she protested.

Riskin moved her table over next to the bars of her cell, and Stanton propelled her over to it, forcing her down onto it. He handcuffed her to the bars of the cell, while Robertson pushed her tee shirt and bra up to her armpits. When he grabbed at her tits, Kasey screamed her anger aloud and found her mouth suddenly full of a ball-gag. Her pants were unfastened and, with her panties, pulled roughly down to her ankles. She tried to kick Stanton as he positioned himself, drew down his zipper, and drew out his flesh. "Now, sergeant," he said, his voice velvety and threatening, "don't struggle. You don't want us to hurt you, do you? Hold her, boys."

He was about to shove his flesh into her, when an angry shout interrupted him, and all Kasey's assailants looked up. Stavrakos tackled Stanton; Derriman's fist knocked most of the teeth from Robertson's mouth; and Wakabayashi's face was filled with loathing as he held his weapon on Riskin and Hoyt, who had been holding her knees apart.

Harrison demanded the key to the handcuffs. Stavrakos tossed him the one his captive had carried, and the doctor quickly released Kasey's wrists. She stood up, and Derriman threw a blanket around her, trying to save as much of her dignity as he could.

Kasey ripped away the straps that held the gag in her mouth, then screamed in anger once more and tried to kick Stanton where he lay on the floor, aiming for his naked balls. Unfortunately her pants were still around her ankles, and she very nearly yanked her other foot from under her and went down herself. She would have done so if not for Derriman's strong arm still around her shoulders. Unmindful of her state of undress, she went after Wakabayashi's gun, would have taken it from him and killed all of the guards had Paul and Suzanne not arrived at that moment.

"Kasey, stop!!" Paul commanded. "Major, you had better get them out of here before I decide to help her kill them. She will be pressing charges."

"So will the Army," Wakabayashi assured him. "Derriman, Stavrakos, if you will assist me...?"

At a nod from their Colonel, the two sergeants pulled the two men on the floor to their feet. "Put it back in your pants," Stavrakos said in disgust as he manhandled the ringleader out of the cell.

Paul got out of his wheelchair and went unsteadily over to Kasey. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Did they hurt you?" He reached out to put his hand gently on her shoulder.

Suzanne called out a warning, but Kasey swung out with a foot, and Paul suddenly found himself on the floor. Kasey huddled in a corner of the cell, sobbing and trying to pull her clothing back together.

"It's too soon, Paul," Suzanne told him as she helped him stand up. "She won't want any man to touch her for a while. That you were close makes it worse, not easier." She went to Coleman. "Kasey?"

Kasey choked back another sob and stood straight, though her lips trembled. "I'm all right," she said. "He didn't - didn't -- " She gulped and shook her head. "But they drugged me before," she whispered. "How many of them - Did they all --?" She shuddered and turned away. "How can I stay --?" she asked.

"You don't have to," Paul told her. "You're coming with us."

Kasey looked at Suzanne for confirmation. She nodded. "Major Wakabayashi was outraged that such a thing could happen," she told her. "He had already started the paperwork to release you into Paul's custody when we realized that it might be happening again."

"If you hadn't -- " Kasey couldn't seem to complete a sentence.

Is there anything in here that you need, Kasey?" Harrison asked. She shook her head. "Then let's go get your squad-mates and head home."

"Home," Kasey repeated. "The Cottage is gone." There, she'd done it; she had managed to finish a thought.

"The guest house is still there," Paul reminded her, "and you were going to take me home to it when I was released from the hospital, remember?"

Kasey smiled uncertainly at him and allowed Suzanne to lead her out of the cell. Harrison followed them, pushing Paul's wheelchair.