"And if we're reluctant?"
"They will, of course, expend the necessary resources to achieve the same objectives, as will Belirand Corporation in cooperation with NaGEK. I'm afraid, Captain Hoffen, there is little you have to say about this. Running will simply ensure the destruction of you and your crew," Turenik said.
"That's pretty much been our S.O.P. for the last several months, Ambassador," I said.
"Your belief in noble gestures is heartwarming, but you are missing information. The Kroerak Empire will likely destroy the current stock in retribution for your actions, should you not comply," he said. "Simply put, you are killing the very people you would save."
"Oh. You completely misunderstood me," I said.
"So, you will turn around?" he asked, brightening.
"No. That, you got right. You mistake our actions as noble. We're simple slavers who have access to FTL drives that are better than anything the Kroerak have. We're just here picking low-hanging fruit. Your mighty Kroerak Empire needs to keep the barn door shut if they don't want the animals getting out," I said. "We have open orders for seventy slaves, so I'd say hang on to your panties, it's going to be a long night. Now, if you'd like to make a bargain, we could probably be talked into taking it easy on the bugs. But I'd recommend keeping them away from our operations. We've more than a few crew with itchy triggers."
"Nick, are you picking up where this is coming from?" I asked, muting the conversation.
"Northern hemisphere," he said. "But there's no obvious civilization there. I suspect they're underground."
"Captain Hoffen. I sense a bluff on your side. I'm looking through a briefing by Admiral Tullas who says you're a zealot who sees himself as a great crusader for truth," he said. "You will turn yourselves in or we will destroy the remaining nursery stock."
"We? Am I to understand you've joined the Kroerak Empire?" I asked. "Believe what you need. If you wipe your stock, that's your business. Let me know if you change your mind on the other." I cut the comm.
"Frak, Liam. That's cold," Tabby said.
"Just words, Tabby," I said. "There's no way we're turning anyone over to the Kroerak. If that means I just doomed thousands of people, then I'll have to live with that. I'm not giving back the people we've rescued. But I needed to make them at least question if killing all those people was worth it. Go silent and fly over another village. I'd like to see if they're still open for business."
"It's a risk," she said. "If the bugs are up and running around, we're no match for their ground forces."
"Seriously? We have missiles," I said, raising my voice to overcome the increased noise of the atmosphere as we dove toward a second village.
As Tabby brought us in closer, I ran through the data stream of the ground assault that had run us off. The Kroerak were not just simple bugs, but rather had substantial, if not unconventional looking vehicles and weapons. Akin to our grav-carts, the vehicles ran on some sort of anti-gravity mechanism that didn't appear to be able to escape the surface of the planet by more than a few meters. These gliding platforms moved quickly and carried loads of projectiles that appeared to be little more than spears, much like the weapons launched from their space-born battleship. On replay, I could see that these spears were launched at supersonic speeds. Simple and deadly. The physics was easy. It doesn't matter what you throw at something, if it's going fast enough, it will either pass right through or transfer all of the energy into the surface it comes into contact with. It was a lesson spacers were rarely given the chance to learn more than once.
"There's a larger force incoming," Marny said as we landed at the fifth village. With Sendrei and the other villagers aboard, we'd successfully convinced sixty people to load and were now approaching a dangerous level of overcrowding. I hated the idea of leaving anyone behind, but we'd barely made a dent in the population.
"Define larger," Tabby said.
"They've scrambled air-borne ships from the north. We have to leave, Cap," she said. "They'll be here in twenty minutes or less. We're out of time."
"Frak, okay, let's get out of here," I said.
"Incoming Hail," my AI announced as we lifted into the upper layer of the atmosphere.
"Accept," I answered. It had been a long night and the inadequacy of rescuing dozens while thousands remained behind weighed heavily on me.
"Your victory is fleeting," the Ambassador started out immediately. "You are now an enemy of the Kroerak Empire."
"Show yourself, Kroerak," I said. "Stop hiding behind your puppet."
"As you wish," Ambassador Turenik replied and the camera panned wider to show the desk where he sat within an underground cavern. A vividly colored alien with a reflective metallic carapace that sparkled in blues, greens and golds stood to the side. Symmetrically shaped, the Kroerak had four upper limbs and side-pinching mandibles with spikes that looked like they would push food into its mouth. Its size was smaller than the warriors and I'd guess it massed about the same as the Ambassador.
"What do you wish to discuss, Liam Hoffen?" The bug's English was perfect, even though its mouth moved mysteriously as it formed the syllables.
"Do you have a name?"
"Not one you could comprehend, Liam Hoffen. You may refer to me as Overlord of Cradle," it said. "Admiral Tullas will be displeased to hear of your breach in protocol. I believe she finds it distasteful to capture more breeding stock."
"Tullas will not be bringing you more people for slaughter," I said. "I'm ending your arrangement."
"You are such a delightful child, but you must know Admiral Tullas will do as we require," the Kroerak replied. "I've always enjoyed young humans. So full of hope and naiveté. You possess but a single piece of technology that we desire. Once we have it, we will enjoy visiting your home-worlds."
"You seem intent on antagonizing me. Is there a point to this conversation?" I asked.
"There was a time when Admiral Tullas resisted us as you do today. I was hopeful you would learn from her example and join with us. With our leadership, humanity could be so much more than mere livestock."
"Not while I draw breath, cockroach," I said and closed the channel.
TRIAGE
"Intrepid, come in," I called over the comm. There was no sense trying to hide our location as we'd burned as hard as possible through the atmosphere to escape the Kroerak airships. Aboard Hotspur, we had sixty-five souls, leaving little more than standing room. The ripe smell of the refugees was almost too much to take as our atmo handling systems strained to keep up.
"Liam, what's your status?" Ada's face appeared on the holo projector between Tabby and me.
"We're overloaded and Hotspur is struggling," I said. "Nick is projecting critical O2 levels in thirty-five minutes."
"Wait one," Ada replied. "There. Execute that burn-plan."
The plan she sent had a significant dog-leg. It was a good maneuver if the Kroerak battleship gave chase. A heavy ship would very likely overshoot. I accepted her plan and Hotspur slowly changed direction.
"We have other issues, Liam," Ada said. "We received a message from Yishuv. Belirand showed up with a fleet. According to Councilman Bedros, they're under siege."
"What about Mom?" I asked. My heart raced in anticipation of what might be.
"Comms are down between Petersburg and Yishuv. Some of the Cape of Good Hope engineers are attempting to establish line-of-sight laser communications," she said, "but they haven't been able to reach anyone yet."
"Frak," I said. "Understood. We can't do much about it now and these refugees are in tough shape."
"What do you need from us?" Ada asked.
"We'll have a better assessment by the time we raft up. Hoffen out," I said, closing the comm.
Hotspur surged ahead under Tabby's direction. She'd avoided hard-burn to allow Ada and me to communicate but her impatience was palpable.
"We're going to spike on CO2 if we don't offload soon," she said, pointing at a gauge on the forward vid-screen I was all too
familiar with.
"Understood. Ping me when we get close. I'm going to help Marny."
She grabbed my wrist as I spun out of my chair and started down the short flight of stairs to the deck of the bridge. "Silver's going to be okay, Liam. She and LeGrande have been planning for this."
"All Mom has is a light frigate," I said. "Tullas has at least two justice class frigates and a normal frigate if she brought everything we've seen so far."
"True. But even a destroyer wouldn't be stupid enough to get close to the cannons your mom has," Tabby said and released my arm.
I picked my way through the crowded bridge. On one hand, I felt good about having rescued so many, but on the other, sixty from an estimated population of ten thousand was a drop in the bucket. A sense of hopelessness threatened to overtake me as I mentally calculated how many trips would be required to rescue the inhabitants of the planet.
"Cap, good," Marny said as I slid through the crush of people on the berth-deck. "This is Jester Ripples." She gestured to a Norigan, who, in addition to the blue and green coloring of Blue Child, had brilliant yellow bands with red streaks flaring back from around its deep black eyes.
"Jester Ripples, it is my honor to meet you." I smiled and held out my hand as if to shake. Jester Ripples, however, took it as an invitation. He pulled up onto my arm and seated himself on my hip with his spindly legs cinching on my waist. My discomfort at hugging was being put to the test.
"Don't fret, Liam Hoffen. Today is a great day." The Norigan's speech was translated by my AI; the sound of its higher pitched voice like a child, babbling in my ears. His wide, semi-circular mouth opened only slightly when communicating. He stroked the hair on the side of my head with his three-digit hand. The radiating warmth surprised me as much as the intimate gesture had.
"Cap, would you take Jester Ripples to the hold and start triaging?" Marny asked, handing me a medical scanner and a mesh bag full of meal bars and water pouches. I couldn’t believe she said nothing about the fact that I held an alien in my arms. "Blue Child and I are working our way through the mess and will head up to the bridge once we're done here."
"Copy that," I watched water pouches being handed between the mostly female passengers.
"Your technology is quite sophisticated," Jester Ripples chattered at me as we slid past the berth deck's occupants.
I raised my eyebrows and nodded. "I understand it isn't on par with the Norigans."
"Your ships and weaponry are significantly more advanced."
"Tell me, are there Norigan males and females like there are humans?" I asked.
"Certainly," Jester Ripples answered. "Blue Child and I are both male. A mistake, certainly, by the Kroerak."
I held my scanner up to the first person I approached in the hold. The woman shrank back from my attention and covered her head as if expecting to be struck. Jester Ripples reached out and stroked her brow, gently pushing her hand to the side. The quandary was evident in her face; she clearly trusted the colorful Norigan, yet was terrified of me.
"It's okay," I said in a soothing voice as I placed the scanner on her chest, just below the collarbone. She jerked backward at the touch of the device but did not resist.
"No patient data found. Subject is fifteen stan-years, in her first trimester of pregnancy, and suffers from dietary deficiencies and parasites. A treatment plan is available," my AI said.
Retain plan. We're triaging approximately thirty patients, organize accordingly.
"Next patient," my AI responded.
Jester Ripples climbed down and held his hand up to me. "I assume you wish to place your device on each of the inhabitants of this space."
"We call it a cargo-hold. And yes." I removed the device from the woman's chest and gave her a reassuring smile, which was mostly lost as she avoided eye contact. I held a meal bar out to her after ripping the wrapper open. "Would you communicate that this is food?"
Jester Ripples pulled the meal bar from my hand and signed to the woman by pinching the fingers of his free hand together and pushing them toward his mouth. Timidly, she accepted the bar but refused to eat.
I moved to the next woman and decided to take a different tack. I opened another bar and nibbled a small amount from the end then handed it to her. I was surprised when she took it from me roughly and bit into it. Her face contorted in disgust at the sweet, but dry bar.
"Everyone's a critic," I said with a laugh and handed her a water pouch, which I opened to allow a small amount of water to freely flow out. Less timid than the first woman, she looked suspiciously into my face, but also accepted the water. "Please?" I held the scanner toward her chest. Initially, she shook her head no, but didn't stop me as I put the device in place.
"Fourteen stan-years. Nutritional deficiencies. Recent pregnancy unsuccessful in reaching full term," the AI read off. I worked to keep the anger from my face. I was starting to understand why the ratio of men to women was five-to-one.
"Give the bag to Selfia and she will help you," Jester Ripples said by the time we'd made our way to the fourth woman. "They're all watching and know what you're doing."
I had yet to catch a pair of eyes looking at me or paying us the slightest bit of attention. I wasn't about to argue, however, and held the bag out to the woman in front of me after removing the medical scanner. She, like two of the others I'd scanned, was pregnant. She accepted the bag, keeping her eyes on the floor as she did.
"Would you ask if anyone is hurt?" I was moving more slowly than I'd have liked. "Perhaps bring them forward."
Jester Ripples communicated my request and a corridor of people opened up, showing a tall, older woman with skin even darker than Sendrei’s. A relatively fresh wound showed across her face, down her neck, and disappeared over her shoulder. From casual observation it had missed the artery in her neck by very little.
"Shite," I muttered under my breath, picking up the bundle of med-patches I'd brought. As I approached, a woman of small stature stepped between us and placed her hand up to stop me. She was the first who was willing to look me in the eyes and I felt the challenge she issued. She pointed at my left hand, which held the medical scanner.
"You want this?" I asked, holding the scanner up, to which she nodded and pointed again at my hand. I tried to give it to her, but she thumped her fingers on her chest, still staring at me defiantly. I looked from her to the wounded woman and back. The hold had grown quiet.
"What's this, Jester Ripples?" I asked. My only interpretation was that she was preventing me from tending to the wounded woman.
"She is concerned that your device will harm her friend, Bliez. The woman in front of you is Flaer," he said. "It is a name she shares with a small, furred predator on Cradle. She is also a healer and has been forced to not participate in the harvest."
I placed the medical scanner on the woman. The AI's diagnosis was poor. She had a long list of curable problems, but left to her own on the planet below, wouldn't have lived long. Unlike the other women, she was neither pregnant, nor had she been recently.
"Forced?" I asked. "Wouldn't that be a good thing?"
"Not when another is required to take your place," Jester Ripples responded.
I held the scanner out and once again pointed to the wounded woman. Without hesitation, she took it and placed it on the woman's chest.
"Infection present, immediate response is recommended," my AI replied. My HUD highlighted no less than three med-patches as an initial treatment. When I moved to apply the patches, Flaer grabbed my wrist. For such a small, frail woman, I was surprised by her grip strength.
"Flaer, this is important," I said quietly and resisted her pull. I placed the most critical patch on Bliez's neck and continued laying the other patches along the length of the deep wound. Seconds after their application, the woman sighed, no doubt in relief from what must have been great pain.
"Any more?" I asked, turning to Jester Ripples.
"Yes, there are several injuries," he replied. "They wil
l come to you now that Flaer has accepted your treatment."
I turned to see a man hobbling toward me, his foot wrapped in a dirty rag. Two more women stood behind him. Both had obvious injuries, one to her arm, while the other appeared to have something wrong with her back.
"Cap, we're five minutes out," Marny's voice came over the comm. I hadn't finished with my task and couldn't imagine half an hour had passed so quickly.
"Set the catwalk up," I said. "I'm not done yet. Are we clear of Kroerak?"
"No. They're forty minutes from our position and still closing. We'll need to be quick," she said.
"Gah," I closed the comm channel.
"Flaer." I looked for the small woman and found her tending to someone who was in tears. She looked up, recognizing her name. "Jester Ripples, please translate for me."
"We're about to dock with our larger ship. The Kroerak are chasing us and we must move quickly. She needs to help coordinate the transfer to Intrepid. This ship cannot process the carbon dioxide that's building up," I said.
Jester Ripples fired off a series of hand signals.
"What would you have her do?"
"We must walk through a tunnel. It will be scary, but my people are on the other side and will make you safe," I said. "I would have Flaer encourage them to move quickly."
After a few more exchanges he finally replied, "She understands and will help."
"We'll go through this hatch," I pointed at the forward hatch. It went against my spacer training to put un-suited people in a cat-walk, but there was nothing to be done about it. "Marny, we're ready. Who do you want to go through first?"
"Sendrei will lead a group from the berth-deck," she said. "He's been in a frigate before and understands the layout. You're next, but I want to keep the hatch to the hold closed until Sendrei’s group is clear - to keep confusion to a minimum."
Give No Quarter (Privateer Tales Book 10) Page 22