by T. J. Quinn
“When I asked Froidun for this recording, he knew exactly what I was looking for,” Suriak said. “Apparently, this small group of Paklyors is well known in this sector. They stop at nothing to get what they want. They’ve attacked most of the people coming to and from Endora and the nearby planets, even people of their own planet.”
“So, we’re up for quite a ride,” Kyor said, rubbing his hands together, excited.
“I would say so. Froidun also told me they’ve spread the word about their new human female slave. They want to sell it, and they’re looking for the right buyer,” Suriak informed them.
“Perhaps we could use that to get to them,” Korben suggested. “We can pretend we want to buy the female and lure them into showing her to us.”
“That won’t work. The Paklyors are planning an auction. They definitely know how valuable she is and they want to get the highest price possible for her,” Suriak said, shaking his head.
“Can you track them down using your new device?” Korben asked, with a slight frown.
“Yes, I can and will. There are enough visuals of the Paklyors’ vessel for me to fully identify it and run a full scan of Pakly to find it. Fortunately, it’s a very big vessel, and that makes it easier to find,” Suriak assured them, with a pleased grin.
“Perfect. How long will this scan take?” Korben asked.
“Not more than an hour. I’ll send out the probes as soon as we get to Pakly’s orbit and we’ll get live feed from them,” Suriak explained.
Rhyos patted Suriak’s back. “You’ve been working hard, haven’t you?” he said, with a mocking grin.
Suriak shrugged. “I guess farming is too boring for me,” he admitted.
Korben chuckled. “How long for us to get to Pakly?” he asked Kyor.
“We’ll be there in six hours.”
“Even if we find the vessel, that doesn’t mean we’ll find the Paklyors,” Suriak warned them. “Frodiun told me Pakly is little more than a huge jungle. They clear enough terrain to land the vessels, but they usually don’t live near the docks.”
“Do we know how they live?” Tulyn asked, curious.
“In lairs, deep underground. That might make it hard for our scanners to find them,” Suriak informed them.
“I believe they’re hot-blooded, right?” Tulyn said, thoughtful.
“Yes, they are,” Korben confirmed it.
“Then, I have the right scanner for the job. It can find any creature that emits heat, no matter how deep in the ground they are,” Tulyn said, confidently.
“How close do you have to be?” Kyor asked.
“At least, a few yards from the ground.”
“I can fly us over the tall trees. Is that close enough?” Kyor asked.
“Close enough,” Tulyn nodded. “Any idea how many Paklyors we’re up against?” he asked Suriak.
“Frodiun didn’t know, but he did tell me they live in small groups, not larger than fifty individuals.”
“That’s a huge disadvantage,” Rhyos said, scowling.
“We need to surprise them. The Paklyors can be vicious, and they are definitely the cruelest creatures I’ve ever met,” Korben assured them.
“We’ll have to sneak in and sneak out,” Tulyn said. “They’re strong, and their tentacles can be lethal, but they are a bit clumsy. We can use that to our advantage.”
“Very well. Take the rest of the trip to rest because we do not know when we can do it again,” Korben advised, jumping to his feet, ending the meeting.
His friends agreed, and a few minutes later, they were back to their own work stations. Korben joined Kyor in the main control room.
“Why don’t you get some rest? I’ll take over the ship,” he suggested.
He was too restless to lie down. Flying the ship would keep him busy enough.
Kyor shook his head. “I’ve rested enough for a lifetime,” he said, with a self-deprecating scowl.
“Bored at the farm?” Korben asked, dropping his large body into the nearest chair.
“I wouldn’t say bored… just lonely. I’ve hired a few people to help me out, not because I needed them since I had more than enough androids, but because I missed having other people around,” he confessed. “People I can actually talk to, that will answer me back with a bit more than just logic and reason,” he added, with a heavy sigh.
Chapter Seven
Korben nodded. “I know exactly what you mean. I should try that… or we should get together more often, like once every week or every fortnight. We don’t live that far apart.”
“That’s a great idea. I don’t know why we haven’t thought about it before,” Kyor said, with a bright smile.
“We let ourselves get caught in our lives’ routine and forgot to make time to have fun,” Korben said, shrugging.
“You’re right. We really should get together when we’re back home.”
“We will…” but there was a hint of concern on his tone.
Kyor picked it up. “You’re still worried.”
“I am… perhaps we should go back to Endora and hire a few mercenaries. If things go wrong, we’ll be outnumbered,” he admitted.
“We’ve faced similar situations before,” Kyor reminded him.
“Indeed, we have. But the Paklyors are more dangerous than they look.”
Kyor shrugged, resting importance to Korben’s words. “You know you can trust Tulyn to have plan A to Z. By the time we get to Pakly, he’ll know all there is to know about the Paklyors, their weak spots and the best way to attack them. They won’t stand a chance against us, even if they outnumber us.”
Kyor’s confident tone ripped a chuckle from Korben.
“You’re right,” he agreed.
“We’re not suicidal, Korben. If this were an impossible mission, we would tell you so. We still might, if we find out there are more males than expected, so don’t worry about it.”
“I just want to rescue the female as soon as possible. No one deserves to be enslaved by such creatures.”
“We’re doing all we can. Have faith. We’ll be in Pakly in a few more hours. With Suriak and Tulyn looking for them, they won’t be able to hide from us.”
“I know…”
Kyor changed the subject, and they spent the rest of the journey discussing their farms and all the challenges they had faced during the past rotations since they settled down on Gaeshlai.
They summoned the rest of the crew to the control room a few minutes before they reached Pakly’s orbit.
“Does the planet have any security radar?” Rhyos asked.
“No… it’s a very primitive planet. They only use technology on their vessels,” Tulyn informed them. “They seem very confident that no one will ever try to attack them in their lairs.”
“Is that confidence real?” Korben asked.
“No, it isn’t. The Paklyors basically trust their reputation to keep their enemies away,” Tulyn replied.
“So, it’s feasible to surprise them?” Kyor asked.
“Definitely,” Tulyn assured them.
“Let’s find these bastards,” Suriak said, with excitement. “Kyor, the probes are ready to be launched. Just tell me when we enter the planet’s orbit to hit the button.”
“Just a few more minutes.” They all watched the green planet as they approached it. “Go ahead.”
Suriak approached his console and punched a few keys, launching the probes. “We’ll get their feed as soon as they get close enough,” he informed his friends.
They waited impatiently until they started getting images from the probes. At first, all they saw was luscious woods, with tall trees, but after a while, they started to find small clearings with vessels in them. The probes scanned all of them, but it took a couple of hours for them to find the ship they were looking for.
Setting course to the vessel’s coordinates, they entered the planet’s atmosphere, on high alert, just in case they were spotted by the Paklyors they were looking for or by any othe
r group that might feel threatened by their presence on the planet.
Once they were close enough, Tulyn activated his scanners, and just a few minutes later he was showing the rest of the crew the Paklyors hideout.
“Can you tell how many of them are there?” Kyor asked.
“Not an exact number, but I would say there aren’t more than thirty,” Tulyn responded .
“Do you think you can locate the female?” Korben asked.
“We might… they are known for being a lot hotter than most aliens so her signature should be stronger… though this planet is quite cold…” he mumbled, more to himself than his friends as he examined the infrared images he was getting back from his scanners. “Here… there’s a strong possibility this is her,” he finally said, pointing at a small, quiet, red form, away from the others.
“Can you tell us where the lair’s entrance is?” Suriak asked.
“No, not with these scanners. Send one of your probes but keep it high enough so they can’t detect it,” Tulyn told him, as he sent him the lair’s coordinates.
“Let’s see… there we are. It’s just a huge hole in the ground…” Suriak pointed out.
“If that’s the entrance, then we have two guards posted there,” Tulyn said, overlaying both feeds, signaling two red dots separated from the rest.
“Can you send the probe down the hole?” Korben asked Suriak.
Suriak aimed the probe at the guards. They were chatting and didn’t seem very focused on their job.
“It’s risky. If the guards see the probe, we’ll lose the element of surprise,” he warned him.
“See if you can find any other entrance,” Korben suggested.
Suriak moved the probe away, and after a few minutes, he finally found what looked like a chimney.
The small probe entered the lair and staying as high as possible, the probe looked around the area, avoiding the chambers with the highest concentration of Paklyors.
“Go to the chamber where we think they are keeping her,” Korben instructed him.
Suriak guided the probe, but it was too dark inside the chamber to confirm the identity of the small figure huddled on the ground, covered with what looked like a furry blanket.
“Do you think that’s her?” Rhyos asked, looking at the screen attentively.
“I believe so. Paklyors don’t wear clothes. They wouldn’t curl up like that,” Tulyn said.
“What’s the plan, Tulyn?” Korben asked.
“We should go get her tonight. As it seems, there are only two guards we need to get rid of, and barely any other Paklyor on our way to this chamber,” Tulyn explained. “I brought silent weapons, capable of killing these beasts without alerting the rest, so we should be able to get in and get out without being noticed.”
Korben nodded. “Kyor, I want you here, on the ship, ready to take us out of here in case we need to escape,” he instructed.
Kyor agreed. “We should disable their ship. They had no guards watching over it. Although disabling it permanently would take too much time and make too much of a fuss, we should make sure they can’t come after us.”
“How can we do that?” Korben asked.
“I can take care of that,” Rhyos offered. “I just have to hack into their fuel system and drain it into the reserve tanks. Then, I can make a huge hole in their external tanks. They wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, for a while.”
“That leaves us to go down and rescue the female,” Korben said, addressing Suriak and Tulyn.”
Tulyn nodded. “In this case, it will be better. A small group will go unnoticed more easily.”
“How much time do you need to disable their ship?” Korben asked Rhyos.
“One hour tops.”
“Drop us as near the lair as possible and then, get to it. We’ll meet at the drop off point in two hours,” Korben told them. “If we’re not back at the agreed time, go to the nearest planet and get as much help as you can.”
Kyor nodded as he turned his attention to the terrain around them. “I can’t land the vessel in this place. There are too many trees.”
“We can go down using the transporting tubes. We can be lowered to the ground in them,” Korben suggested.
“Even to use them, I need a place with more room for maneuvering,” Kyor explained.
“Should we make our own clearing?” Rhyos asked.
“No… that would be too noisy and we might attract the Paklyors’ attention,” Korben rejected his idea. “Let’s use their own clearing. And instead of two hours, we’ll meet in three.”
Kyor nodded. “Just make sure to keep in touch with me at all times and to let me know if you need me to pick you up at the lair’s entrance,” he said.
“Of course. Let’s get this show on the road,” Korben said, jumping to his feet. “Suriak, Tulyn, let’s get our weapons.”
A few minutes later, they were lowered to the surface, next to the Paklyors’ vessel, emergency backpacks hanging from their shoulders, just in case. Rhyos walked to the Paklyors’ship to work on disabling while Korben, Suriak and Tulyn headed to the lair, using a narrow trail that led away from the clearing.
The vegetation was so dense, they would have trouble walking through it if it wasn’t for the trail. It took them almost half an hour to get close to the lair. Once there, the three of them split up and took positions to attack the guards and knock them down.
The attack was precise and flawless. Korben walked up towards the guards at the entrance. Before they could react to his presence, Tulyn and Suriak shot them twice. Their weapons set to stun, the guards were crumbling to the ground, unconscious in just seconds.
Rapidly, they tied them up and hid them in the woods, making sure they wouldn’t be able to free themselves or call for help, at least for a while.
They entered the lair guided by the map they drew up with the probe’s input, and a few minutes later, they got very close to the chamber where the Paklyors were keeping the human female.
There were two guards posted at the entrance. Due to the chamber’s location, they couldn’t surprise them the way they had surprised the two at the entrance.
“What’s the plan?” Suriak whispered.
“We have to attack them aggressively; otherwise, they will have time to alert the others. The Paklyors can scream very loud,” Tulyn warned them.
“Get your weapons ready and shoot at the first moment you have a clear aim. Fast and silently. I’m not in the mood to fight a small army of them,” Korben told them with a scowl.
His friends nodded, and after a few moments, they attacked.
The Paklyors only had time to raise their weapons before they were attacked at the same time by the three friends. Despite their swiftness, they couldn’t stop them from falling to the ground with a loud thud.
“What’s going on?” they heard a voice, not far from where they were.
Korben cursed in silence.
“I’ll take care of that,” Tulyn offered, in a low tone, and disappeared down the hallway, looking for whoever had spoken.
“Go help him, I’ll meet you back in the clearing,” Korben ordered Suriak, as he entered the chamber.
Suriak nodded and followed his friend.
Once inside, Korben raised the blanket and confirmed the small figure hiding underneath it was indeed the human female.
She was naked and covered in bruises. She was also shuddering, clearly cold. She seemed unconscious, so Korben quickly wrapped her in the blanket and threw her over his shoulder then ran out of the lair.
He managed to reach the exit, without being spotted. For a moment, he considered waiting for his friends. When he didn’t hear anything, he assumed they had solved the problem and should come out in a few moments. There was no sense in wasting valuable seconds when he wouldn’t be as fast as they since he was carrying the female.
Carrying a dead weight over his shoulders while running down a narrow trail, wasn’t the easiest thing he had ever done. He could barely see w
here he was going, especially because he had to dodge the lower tree branches, so they wouldn’t hurt him or the female.
At some point on the way, he must have made the wrong turn. After running for a solid half an hour, he still hadn’t found the clearing where the Paklyors had their vessel.
Cursing his luck, he looked around, but there was nothing to see, other than the dense woods and the narrow trail he had been following. He considered going back and trying to find the place where he had left the right trail, but his instincts advised him against it.
There was a great chance the Paklyors had discovered they had lost their precious merchandise, and they would come out looking for it.
Going back might mean running into them and carrying the female, he wouldn’t stand a chance against them. He had to continue until he could find a safe place where he could call his friends and ask them to pick them up.
He resumed his way, running as fast as he could, but the trail seemed to take them nowhere. With no other option, he continued forward for a few hours. He was about to give up and go back when he finally reached a small stream of what looked like clear water.
He ran a little longer along the stream’s bank, to avoid any possible threat before he lowered the female into the smooth sands. He needed to test the liquid before he dared to cross the stream or run through it. So far, all around them was in silence, so he trusted he could take a few moments to check it. He had had some nasty surprises in the past with other planet’s streams.
Picking a small scanner from his backpack, he scanned the stream and found a least three species of fishes and a lot more small animals. Using a leaf, he collected some liquid and used the scanner to determine the chemical composition of it. Fortunately, it was just water.
He was about to pick up his load, when the female moved and sat up, startled.
Chapter Eight
“Hi, there,” he greeted her, with a low tone.
She looked up at him, confused and with a deep frown.