Freedom Flight (Space Rogue Book 3)

by Jay Toney

  The video came back on, restarting when the file ended in a continuous loop. I couldn't tell if it was humans attacking humans, or another humanoid species attacking them.

  "Persephone, playback at half speed and enlarge the image."

  I studied the image. I still couldn't tell. The only thing I could make out was that the attackers were not using any weapons when they swarmed the human ship, nor were they wearing spacesuits. Identifying the ship as being human was easy. The basic characteristics of human ships hadn't changed much since our colonization was established here.

  "We will stay here for the night, in the morning we will decide whether to investigate further or move on."

  In our excitement, no one cooked dinner in the officers mess. It must have been Doc's turn to cook. Had it been Rosie's shift, we would all be eating a warm meal together. Amber, Jewel, and I would have to get by with the premade meals we had in our pantry.

  I was sound asleep when Char'nox's voice woke me in the middle of a pleasant dream.

  "Captain, we are receiving an invitation to visit a colony on the first planet,"

  "Give me a few minutes, I'll be right there."

  I carefully extracted myself from Jewels welcome arms and legs, so as not to wake her. She grew use to entangling me in her embrace, to help me sleep. It was automatic for her now. I turned off my cabins comm system, dressed, and headed to the bridge.

  Char'nox opened communications with the planets colonists.

  "I presume, I am speaking with the ships captain?"

  "I am Captain Roberts of the Persephone. Whom am I addressing?"

  "I am Chancellor De'ville. The people of our colony bid you welcome. It is rare that we get the opportunity to entertain guests. We have the means to service your ships, and provide any necessary repairs."

  "Thank you for your invitation. We can use reaction mass, and ammunition to replace what we have expended fighting with the Alliance."

  "We can accommodate replacement of most ammunition, except for your missiles. We do not have any missiles in our inventory. We are a peaceful people able to defend ourselves without the need, or desire, to conquer others. What or who are these people you call the Alliance?"

  "They are a militaristic organization that impose a totalitarian form of government on the worlds they press into their service."

  "May I ask why you engaged them in battle?"

  "Both they and the Crimson Tide, another totalitarian organization, have joined forces as allies. They bombed a peaceful, friendly system with asteroids, killing off most of the worlds population and destroying their entire society."

  "Such a waste. All those people lost forever. Please be my guest here. We will prepare a special banquet for you and your fellow officers."

  "On behalf of my crew, and fellow ship captains, I accept your generous invitation. We will arrive tomorrow evening."

  "That will be perfect."

  I ended out communications and went back to my cabin, and my two wives. I slipped between Amber and Jewel. Jewel snuggled up to me, pressing her body against mine, before returning to sleep.

  The next morning, I felt well rested, we were scrubbed clean, and dressed for the day. Rosie had left us breakfast, but today it was different. It included some type of sausage that she and Doc had been experimenting with for awhile. It was delicious. I didn't know if we were being given a special treat, or if she was experimenting on our taste buds. Either way I didn't care as long as we got some more with tomorrows breakfast.

  We got to the bridge early. I missed having Natty as a helm officer, so I appointed the only other member on board that had the necessary experience for that position. I was assured by his wife, when I gave her the interview, that her husband would follow my orders. There were times he questioned her orders in the past, but she felt that she had broken him of that habit. If for some reason my new helm officer was hesitant in following my orders, I only needed to let her know. She assured me that she would take care of it, and I wouldn't have any further problems.

  Sultan made it to the bridge on time. I was amazed. I heard Beverly giving him is marching orders long before reaching and passing their cabin. She didn't want him screwing things up for her again and let him know it.

  After taking his place at the helm controls, he began plotting the course I gave him. While he was doing that, Jewel gave Red and David their morning calls, and let them know where we were going.

  "Nathaniel, are you sure we need to stop here? I don't have anything in our files about this system."

  "This is one of the few systems that have been friendly towards us. My 40 mm and 30 mm ammo packs need to be filled before we find ourselves in another battle. These people have offered to help us with that and replenishing our reaction mass. They are in the process of hosting a banquet for us. We still have two months left before our feet of refugees leaves us. We are only days away now with our new engines and hyperdrive."

  "Alright, lets hope they are as friendly as they sound."

  "Did you enjoy the sausage we made?" Doc asked.

  "Doc, it was horrible. What did you make it with? It tasted like you used some type of fish, or eel, then tried to disguise the flavor with left over spider meat. Even the niffids wouldn't touch it."

  I hoped I didn't insult the sausage to much. If I told him we enjoyed it, we wouldn't be getting healthy portions of it with our breakfast anymore. We would have to share the sausage with the other officers.

  "The first batch tasted fine to Rosie and I. I don't know what went wrong with this batch."

  "I got him. We were assured a healthy portion of sausage with our breakfast, until the current batch was gone, and they had the guts to taste the next batch."

  "How did you know we used eel and spider meat?"

  My stomach turned a little, but held its ground. "I was right, that was what I was tasting. It was hard to tell though. It tasted like rancid meat to me." Sold! We were guaranteed our breakfast sausage.

  The planet grew large enough on our viewscreen to make out orbiting repair centers. Some of them were large enough to even house the Vengeance, with room to spare. Flood lights illuminated three of the waiting docks. Asking for docking clearance would not be necessary with our hosts giving us a second invitation.

  Sultan definitely had the touch for handling the helm controls. He expertly guided the ship into the waiting docking berth. Clamps locked our ship in place, and suited up docking crew fastened umbilical cables and hoses to our ships receptacles. Fresh air began circulating into our ship.

  Instead of opening the Lucy up for business, David shuttled all of his working girls over to my ship for their annual examinations and recharging their birth control implants. This also gave his guest services employees a chance to socialize with Sally's workers. I didn't mind. I figured everyone deserved a holiday now and then. I hoped David didn't expect his girls back anytime soon.

  Mike, Rose, Jewel, Amber, and I took the first shuttle down to the planets surface to visit our new friends. The planets surface was very dark, dark enough that our shuttles searchlights didn't reveal any details. We followed the course we were given to the colonies landing field.

  When we were close to the ground, dim lights turned on outlining the space port and its landing field. There was a ground car waiting for us, and I did my best to land as close to it as I could. I shut the shuttle down, leaving on the interior lights. Each of us grabbed a flashlight.

  The flashlights of today had changed very little over the thousands of years that they have been in use. Its power cells held power for years, some even decades, replacing the ancient batteries that use to power them. Its light bar used a similar technology to light
emitting diodes, but were more efficient, using less power with greater illumination and full spectrum lighting.

  We turned on our flashlights, and exited the shuttles passenger hatch. The ground car was parked only a few meters away. The driver remained in the car, and a chauffeur held its waiting door open for us. We didn't need a spacesuit on the planets surface. The air was breathable, and odorless, but very cold. Even though we were wearing heavy jackets to protect us from the cold, we didn't bother to hesitate, but hurried into the waiting vehicle and its promise of warmth.

  The interior of the ground car was plush, and warm. We rode in comfort to what looked like an ancient medieval castle, lit with modern lighting. We stopped at a large ornate entrance after passing through the castles portcullis. Whether it had been erected to keep its inhabitants inside, something menacing outside, or as a ornament I didn't know and didn't want to find out.

  The driver stopped and the chauffeur let us out. We hurried to the castles open door. Chancellor De'ville stood at the door holding it open for us. There were several beautiful ladies waiting to take our coats in the grand foyer. I thought I felt a slight nibbling sensation on my neck as one of the ladies helped me with my coat. I completely forgot about it as we were led into a ballroom, with an elaborate dining table set off to one side.

  "Please be seated, all of you must be hungry after your journey. My cooks have prepared a meal that I hope you will enjoy."

  The count shook Mikes and my hand in greeting. He bit the back of Rosie's, Jewel's, and Amber's, hands during the introduction. That couldn't have been right. They didn't react as if they were bitten. He must have been kissing the backs of their hands, like they did in ancient times.

  "I hope you all will be my guests for tonight. My men and women will see to servicing your ships tonight, also doing any necessary repairs. I have arranged to have meals sent up to your ships so everyone can enjoy our feast."

  I thought I felt another nibble on the other side of my neck. My imagination must have been playing tricks on me. It was only the hair of my hostess brushing my shoulder while she leaned over me, helping me get seated. The meal was fantastic. It was some type of meat that the cook prepared over hot coals in the fireplace, slowly cooking it as the embers died. It was served with some type of tuber, similar to a potato, and a dark red vegetable that I couldn't identify. We also had a dark red wine with our meal. I slowly sipped mine, limiting myself to two glasses of the dark red drink.

  After dinner, a band started playing classical music. A few men escorted Rosie and my wives out onto the dance floor, and began ball room style dancing. I didn't know they knew how to dance like that. Perhaps the men they were dancing with were giving them instructions. It looked like they may be whispering in their ears, with their hair pulled away.

  The people of this planet must have been a lost colony of earth, establishing themselves here thousands of years ago. The men looked like they had either come from Anglo American stock, or possibly Anglo European breeding. The woman were the same. Their genealogy must have been from very good hosts. All the men I saw were handsome, and the women equally beautiful.

  While I was mulling this information through my head, a few of the ladies approached Mike and I, leading us to the dance floor. I felt like I was in a trance dancing with the lady. She had her head on my shoulder nuzzling it while we danced. I hoped she didn't have a jealous husband.

  When the music changed, so did our dance partners. Somehow my shirt was opened, and like my last dance partner, she too nuzzled my shoulder. We all danced well into the night, changing partners with every new song played. It was a blur to me. I danced, but didn't have any real memory of it. It was dreamlike to me, vivid while it was happening, but forgotten the moment I woke.

  A hostess led the five of us to sleeping chambers, where we could rest for the night. The furniture and plumbing were modern, but the room was lit by candles. Jewel, Amber, and I collapsed onto the bed, in a tangle of bodies, totally exhausted.

  ****

  "Chancellor, do we take their ships, while they sleep, or do we let them go?"

  "We will allow them to leave in the morning. If these people somehow survive our impregnation, they will send others to us very soon, if not, our offspring will return to us when they are ready. Either way we will have the means to cross the stars once again, ending our exile. The humans will be like sheep ready to slaughter. From the information Captain Roberts offered me, I believe the Alliance will make perfect hosts for our offspring. They have the infrastructure and technology we need to spread our people throughout this sector of the galaxy. We will journey to their territory, and begin our expansion from there."

  ****

  When we got back to the ship we were starved. Fortunately, we had plenty of frozen meals to choose from. After eating breakfast, drinking juice and coffee, we made a mad dash to the bathroom. The three of us fought each other for position over the toilet bowel. After pour stomachs settled, there was no argument from either of us about needing to visit Doc.

  Doc already had two patients he was starting to treat, Miranda, and Nord. Miranda didn't look that bad, but Nord looked like he was bitten all over his body. Nord took one look at me and said, "Looks like you had a good time too. You have nearly as many love bites as I do." I didn't know what he was talking about. Doc positioned a mirror in front of me and I saw that I was wearing a tattered, blood soaked shirt.

  Neither Amber or Jewel noticed my shirt until Nord addressed it. Doc had me remove my shirt and lay on an examination table. He counted the bruises surrounding the punctures on my body.

  "You got Nord beat. He has 23 bites on his torso and neck. You have 27."

  "Captain, sounds like you and I must have had a good time with those ladies. I remember being with several of them throughout the night, but little else."

  "Nord, all I did was dance, until late in the night. Nothing happened between us."

  "How do you explain all those love bites?"

  "I don't know. I didn't even realize I was bitten until you told me."

  Jewel and Amber came out of their fuddled thinking and started looking at each others bites. The each had much fewer bites, totaling eight each. All of their bites were located around their necks, arms, and the back of their hands. Neither one of them remembered being bitten.

  Mike and Rosie entered sickbay next, while Doc was still examining me. He looked as much a mess as I did. His shirt was torn to shreds, and blood soaked too.

  "Looks like he has us beat, he must have 30 or more bites," Nord commented. He was close. Mike had 29 bites, outnumbering both of us."

  Doc couldn't find any reference for what he saw. He was going to have to rely on technology to make a diagnosis, like it or not. The seven of us removed our clothing and were placed inside of the autodoc units. That left just five units for other patients.

  The machines did not take long to come up with a diagnosis. Every diagnosis was the same:

  Patient status: pregnant with multiple fetuses.

  Doc keyed in a command to abort the pregnancy.

  Unable to comply.

  Doc wasn't about to let the machine give up so easily. He had the machine put me to sleep, then he opened me up to go after the fetuses himself. He worked for hours, every time he got near one of the fetuses, it moved deeper, wrapping themselves around the spine as a means of defense. He managed to get two of the 27 fetuses before giving up and closing the incision. He put the foreign material into a specimen jar, before sealing it tightly. The two fetuses he removed looked more like the larval form of some type of parasite. The only thing he could tell by DNA analysis was that the larvae he removed were genetically programed to be female.

  Instead of searching for a way to abort
the pregnancies, he started looking at ways to remove or kill alien parasites, without killing the host. The one treatment that he kept being referred to was Pharmakon. This form of treatment had been outlawed for thousands of years. It was a treatment that had three phases; remedy, poison, sacrifice. It wouldn't do much good to kill the parasite along with the patient. He looked at our medical inventory for something that may work, and keep the patient alive. Surprisingly, we had enough Pharmakon to treat the fleet. But needed to keep the patients alive.

  After thinking about it for awhile, he figured that maybe he could use the artificial life support integrated with the autodocs, then use their blood filtering technology after the larvae were dead. Then he would be able to remove the dead larvae safely, he may even be able to program the autodocs to do it in phases, while he monitored the progress.

  Beck, Jane, Randolph, Kim, and Red were next into the units, filling all of the autodoc units. Walk ins filled his waiting room, and his message boards were full of people seeking treatment. So far, the crew thought it was just an outbreak of some type of illness. Doc did everything he could to foster that thought. If it were known that an unknown parasite was invading them, they would panic.

  He examined Amber's pregnancy. It looked like a normal pregnancy, with 8 fetuses tucked safely inside of her uterus. The autodoc unit still couldn't abort the pregnancy. He would have to go in himself. It took a little work, the fetuses fought to evade his forceps, but he managed to get hold of one of them.

  He examined the fetus, and it was worse than he imagined. The DNA from her egg was stripped of all human DNA and rewritten with an alien DNA by some type of seminal fluid. The only thing he could tell from the sample was that the parasite was designated to be male. With the stripping and rewriting of the DNA, he couldn't tell if the parasite was natural, or some type of genetically engineered species. The one thing he learned from his examination was that these creatures could infect any humanoid species.

  He would have to take comparative samples from his other patients, but he believed that the male host would bear only female offspring, and females would give birth to males. The women had a chance to survive by giving natural child birth. The men, having no means of delivery wouldn't. He was sure they had some means to erupt from the abdominal cavity when they were ready. He would either have to abort the pregnancy, or loose the entire male population.