A Prisoner's Tale - Doctor Lesley Fowler

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Or if you don't want to click: (I leave it up to Drizzt if he want's to add additional chapters as well as to where in Doctor Fowlers's timeline this is, before or after ending up with him.)

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Doctor Lesley Fowler was reasonably happy the way his medical tent was set up. It was placed snugly alongside an ancient ruined wall, a last reminder of the people that had at one time lived in this rotting jungle on this rotten world. The wall afforded some small cover against shrapnel, at least more so than the canvas of the tent itself. The sides of the tent where open to keep air circulation up as much as was possible. Not that there was any wind to facilitate the circulation. At least the smell was as bad inside as it was outside; a mix of rotting vegetation mixed with the acidic smoke coming from the main warzone miles to the west. At least the tent had a roof, preventing the small droplets of water coming from the overhanging leaves from falling on the bunk beds set up for patients, as well as the doctor's head. Wooden planks on the floor provided some respite from the spongy mud and rotten leaves mixture one had to walk through to get anywhere.

At the moment it was reasonably quiet, only the occasional sound of an explosion from the far away warzone penetrated the thick leave cover. It was enough to make Lesley wonder which side had lost another warmachine, theirs or ours. It had been going on and off again for days now. Apparently the main force had been making some headway, but at a terrible cost to its own forces. His own team had been deployed on the flank, to prevent sabotage teams from coming though and wreaking havoc on the supply lines. In this jungle it was an almost impossible job, you could barely see 20 meters ahead, so how were they going to spot and stop a small team of enemy soldiers trying to break through?

Part of the squad was on patrol, another part was on sentry duty and another part was still resting after last night's patrol. The camp was reasonably quiet, some soldiers where grumbling over a small fire where they where heating something that was supposed to pass for coffee. Some were cleaning their lasguns. The soldiers on patrol occasionally spoke to each other, but there was none of the friendliness and upbeat vibe there had been before landing on this planet. The jungle had sapped their morale faster than any enemy could have done. That, and the fact men had gone missing on previous patrols had everyone on edge. There was no doubt about it, there was an enemy squad operating in their area.

As was usual with these things, it started without warning. A bright blue-tinted flash temporarily blinded Lesley, which was closely followed by a loud bang, which in turn was followed by a monotone screech while his ears tried to recover from the noise. The shockwave moved the flaps of the canvas, but the wall stopped the worst of it. A sound of rain followed as clumps of dirt, wood and bits of human rained down on the roof. Judging from the direction of the explosion there was no doubt in Lesley's mind the explosion had taken out at least one of the sleeping tents. And judging from the composition of the 'rain' it had not been an empty one. When his ears had fully adjusted he could easily make out the sound of gunfire; the loud crack of the lasgun mixed with the electric zing of Tau pulse weaponry.

Not being one of those doctors who won't fight on account of 'preservation of life' he grabbed his slugger from his holster and headed towards the fighting. While running he checked the old and heavy model and made sure it was loaded. It wasn't really standard issue, but it packed a punch for sure. A pulse round passing overhead alerted Lesley that he had arrived where he needed to be. He quickly scanned the line and when he found a hole he headed straight for it.

He crouched besides a haggardly looking private who had taken cover behind a large tree trunk. Two others were lying prone and were hardly moving. He squeezed of a few rounds, more to discourage the assaulters from charging their position than to hit anything and turned towards both of the prone men. A quick look told him enough. Lesley opened his medical satchel and pulled out a syringe. He then quickly stabbed one of the men in the thigh with it an pushed down the plunger. With a jolt and a cough the man sat back up. Lesley handed him his rifle.

"You are on some powerful painkillers right now, and you are going to pay for that later when the pain returns twofold, but right now we need you on the line." Lesley gestured him towards the enemy.

"What about him?" the soldier asked shakily.

"He's a T4 case, nothing I can do for him, he's a gonner. Now shoot!" The now three of them started to add to the cacophony of sound already assaulting the senses and for a few minutes they seemed to be holding off the enemy.

"Fall back, fall back!" The shout came from their right and it did not take long for them to figure out the reason. Disc like drones came speeding in from their flank. Their weapons spat blue energy as they started gunning down everyone caught in the open. Lesley raised his gun and squeezed the trigger. It hit one of the drones full in the disc, sending it crashing down into the mud sparks and smoke flying out of the hole the bullet caused. The rest responded immediately, sending streams of hyper-energized plasma pulses at him. Most missed, atomizing dirt as they hit the ground but some hit one of the soldiers next to Lesley. He fell to the ground as both his feet where reduced to smoldering humps of flesh and bone. The doctor in Lesley quickly and calmly deduced the man would never walk again. The soldier in Lesley grabbed the man by his collar and started dragging him back towards the relative safety of his medical tent, while firing wildly with his pistol. He nearly fell when one of their supply Chimera blew up behind him, flipping over on another tent and crushing all who had been inside, but he remained on his feet, forcing bile back down his throat as the smoke rolled over him.

In the cover of the smoke he made it back to the tent. He dropped the soldier on one of the beds and cut away some of the fabric clinging to the charred legs. Even though the fight outside was still going on he had a patient now, and that was all that mattered. He stabbed a syringe into the man, quickly sending him to sleep, and grabbed a bonesaw.

When he was done the soldiers legs, or rather what was left of them, and had them bandaged he looked up. The fight outside was dying down it seemed. That the fight was nearing its end was confirmed by another patient walking into the tent.

"Doctor Fowler, you must...." Lesley stopped him mid sentence after seeing the man's injuries. Blood was streaming out from under his body armor, but the hand was even worse. No flesh remained on it, and all that was left of it was bloody bone. Surely the soldier was operating on adrenaline alone, or he would have passed out already. Lesley was already prepping for another amputation when the soldier stopped him,

"You must go doctor, they have overrun us, they..." This time he was stopped by another individual stepping into the tent. However, this time it was not a new patient.

"You are a doctor." The Tau soldier spoke. While it was in heavily accented gothic it was clear it wasn't a question. Lesley thought about going for his gun, but the sight of the Tau's large carbine stopped him.

"I'm doctor Lesley Fowler," he answered the non-question.

"Good, we have need of your services, would you please follow me." Again, not really a question and it was clear to Lesley that if he refused he would be shot. Still, something was holding him back.

"What about my patients?"

The Tau soldier quickly glanced at the two heavily injured soldiers lying on the bunk beds. "We have no need for them. Now come."

There was clearly nothing Lesley could do, so he followed the Tau back out. He was determined not to show it, but inside he felt as the camp looked now; destroyed and defeated. Still, he lived, and while alive he might be able to do some good. With that thought he lifted his head high and followed the Tau back into the jungle.

OHHH!!! I'm going to KILL you!!! What a cliff hanger! It is NOT fair!!!! Someone PLEASE finish it! What happened?!?! I'm dying here!

Magnificent! Engaging enough to make me angry at not know what the Warp the Tau needed! BRAVO!

Very good. Is there more? Why does the Tau want him? Is he going to save an important human or something? I want to know!

Somebody better post something before there is a world-spread riot!!

OK, I'm not a writer, but here's something about what I would use my prisoner for;

After weeks of interrogations, Tau administration described Dr Fowler as neither blind follower of the "Emperor" or his antagonist's agent, and found reasonable enough to make a deal; they need someone who would survive long enough in jungle, and be valuable enough to not get killed fast, to spy on their own allies - Kroots.

Some Tau commanders were aware that Kroots have too much independence, as fighting across the universe as mercenaries, or get rumors that they're trying to settle colonies, try to break the alliance as few other worlds do. They send him as a mercenary, to join one of their hunter packs, to gain their respect and trust, as they never would let Tau agent to obtain.

As a doctor, he proved himself as skilful surgeon and gifted xenobiologist, saving many officers from disabilities and death- after years, he becomes one of the Shaper Vok'trach's advisors, giving him access to much information, some tactically important, others just impressive for him as a doctor. And a few making him sure, that Kroots aren't as straightforward as many thinks. And he was drawn deeper.

Hidden stashes of weaponry, looted on every race in the universe, secret colonies, and what he found most disgusting and amazing at the same time- a captive distribution system: samples of tissues, selected from most powerful or most intelligent creatures across the galaxy, sent to chosen colonies, as breeding program pointed.

Program, that allow Kroots to gain extremely strong and tough warriors joining genes of Orks and Space Marines, making super intelligent commanders due to Eldar and Tau prisoners, and what could change much in the current balance between the forces- powerful Psykers.

His little part in this picture was to keep captives alive, to let the power of Kroot empire to rise. He was safe. Very safe. For now.

He knows, that he's not essential, and creators of the whole system (he didn't know them... yet) would sacrifice him easily to keep their secrets ssfe, and after moths of efforts he convinced his commander/overseer, to sent him to other mercenary squad, which allowed him to take care of the captives from the beginning. And the orders from Shaper was clear- Fight through the galaxy, found new enemies, new preys, gain information and resources for the clan.


"We heard something about weird human females with strange and powerful powers. An inmate of such kind would be a great addition to our current supplies..."
And may be the only possibility for Lesley Fowler (dr) to run away. He would not wait until they come up with an idea of medical corps.

Correction of my part of the story would be welcome

Great story!
Was a very nice read on a boring work day!

And there probably would be more.. if you like it.