“If we’ve stalled in the Titan system, what’s next for the fleet?”
“I don’t know. I hate to say it, but I’ve been told by a reliable source that some politicians back home are talking about entering into negotiations with the Kurgans.”
“Father, they can’t. If they do, all of this will have been for nothing. Did they not learn anything from the last war? All the people the Kurgans have taken will be forced to become citizens of the Empire. I for one don’t want Tarina to be brainwashed into becoming my enemy. Hell, you and I both know it, we’ll end up fighting them again in a few generations. We have to end this war on our terms.”
“Michael, you and I serve at the discretion of our civilian leaders. If they tell us to pull back and let the Kurgans keep what they’ve already taken in exchange for peace then that is precisely what we will do.”
Sheridan bit his lip. “What does Admiral Oshiro think about this latest development?”
“I honestly don’t know. I suspect that this is something we will discuss when he calls.”
“Can I come by later? I’d love to hear what the admiral had to say.”
Robert Sheridan smiled and sat back in his chair. “Michael, after my teleconference, Captain Killam and I will go over what was said to make sure that we understand what it is Admiral Oshiro wants us to do. You may be my son, but until I announce what is going on at the morning staff briefing, you’re going to have to remain in the dark like everyone else.”
Sheridan felt foolish for pushing his luck. His father was right; he would have to wait to learn what was going on.
The admiral said, “Look, why don’t you and Sergeant Cole sneak in the back of the morning brief and listen in. Most of it is routine fleet business, but there may be a new tidbit or two you may find interesting.”
Sheridan nodded. “Thanks, Dad. Any news is better than listening to the rumor mongers spinning their tales every time you go to eat in the mess hall.”
“Oh, before I forget, Captain Killam was speaking to the head of fleet personnel and has asked that you and Cole be assigned to a raider battalion. Looks like your stay with us could be coming to an end.”
Sheridan tried not to look too happy; however, a position with a deep space raider unit was something he had been agitating for with Killam for months. “Any idea when the transfer orders may come in?”
“No. Why don’t you speak with Captain Killam after the brief and see if he’s heard anything?”
“Will do.”
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” said the admiral as he stood up. “I want to meet with Killam in the ops room. We need to go over our notes before the teleconference begins.”
“Yes, of course, sir,” replied Sheridan. He held out his hand to shake. “I’ll see you in the morning after the briefing.”
“Sounds good. Perhaps we can have a coffee together. You, me, Cole, and Killam should be able to find a quiet corner to chat in.”
Sheridan turned and left his father’s quarters. He looked around to make sure that the hallway was empty before jumping up into the air and letting out a triumphant cry. After months away from a combat unit, he was finally heading back into the fight with Marines under his command. He could not have been happier.
Chapter 9
Tarina fought back the tears as she sat down on her bunk. Her entire body ached. She had bloody scars across her back from being struck by the guards. She let out a whimper when she brought up her right foot so she could look at the bottom. Ever so slowly, she unwrapped the blood-and-sand-caked cloth that she had put there earlier in the day after her sandals had fallen apart. Tarina gritted her teeth when she saw that the bottom of her foot looked like raw hamburger.
“Here, let me clean that up before it gets infected,” said Wendy as she poured some water over Tarina’s feet to clean the dirt and sand from her wounds.
Tarina grimaced in pain and tried to block the agony from her mind. They had only spent two full days in the mine, and she was already beginning to doubt that she could last another week.
“Let me see the other one,” Wendy said, lifting up her friend’s left foot onto the hard, wooden bunk. It was as bad as the first. She got to work cleaning and bandaging Tarina’s bloodied feet.
Angela walked over and sat down. She made sure no one was watching before reaching under her shirt and bringing out two pairs of wooden clogs. “Put these on your feet. If you don’t, you’ll both fall behind and be targeted for punishment by Travis and his goons.”
Wendy took them and tried a pair on her feet. They barely fit, but they would have to do. She left the other pair on the bed beside Tarina. “Let your feet heal a bit more before putting these on.”
“Thanks,” said Tarina to Angela. “Where did you get these?”
“I took them from a couple of dead workers. They don’t need them anymore and I knew that you two would. That’s how I got mine,” she replied, pointing down at the clogs on her feet.
“How ghoulish,” said Wendy.
“You do what you must to survive.”
“Yes, you do,” said Tarina. “And we’re both grateful to you for your help.”
Around them, the other prisoners began to stir. “Food’s here,” announced Angela. “Stay where you are. Wendy and I will get you something to eat.” With that, the two women hurried to get as close to the front of the food line as possible.
Tarina laid on her side in the bunk and closed her eyes. She tried to recall the past two days moving through the tunnels on their way to and from the mine. So far, she hadn’t seen a prospective escape route and if one didn’t materialize soon, she knew that their chances of successfully getting away would lessen each day. She was not about to let that happen. She would rather die trying than allow herself to succumb to their jailers. It was all just a matter of luck and so far, she had only experienced bad luck. Tarina heard her friends coming back. She sat up and forced herself to smile as Wendy handed her a bowl of soup.
“Bon appetit,” said Wendy, trying to lighten the mood. “Only the best food is served at this five-star resort.”
“Yes. I’ll have to recommend it to all my friends when I get back home,” added Tarina.
Both women looked at one another and broke out laughing.
“You’re both nuts,” said Angela. “Has anyone ever told you that?”
“Yeah, I can think of a couple of people who have over the past year,” replied Tarina.
Wendy devoured her food. When she was done, she looked over at Tarina and said, “I wonder what the colonel and the rest of the squadron are up to?”
“It’s been over four months since we were captured; they could be anywhere by now. Hell, they could even be back home on Earth for all we know.”
“Thinking about such things won’t do you any good,” interjected Angela. “Forget about your past lives and worry only about today. It’ll help you from losing it down here.”
Tarina nodded. “Sound advice.”
“Give me your bowls and I’ll return them to the wagon,” said Wendy.
Tarina and Angela handed her their empty bowls and watched her hobble over to the food cart. On her way back, one of the older male prisoners reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “Give me a kiss,” said the man as he leaned his head down toward Wendy.
“No,” she replied, struggling to break from his hold.
Tarina tried to stand up, but the burning pain in her feet almost made her black out. She fell right back down on her bed. Unable to help, she cried out, “Somebody, do something!”
Not a single prisoner moved to help Wendy. Most of the men who had seen this kind of thing before sat quietly or turned their heads away pretending not to see what was going on.
Wendy’s attacker grabbed a handful of her long red hair and pulled her close to him. He reached under her shirt and groped her. She cried out in fear. Panic quickly took hold of her. She looked over at the Chosen guards standing nearby, praying that they would help her. They smiled a
t her and began laughing at her predicament.
“Don’t move or say another word,” warned Angela to Tarina. A second later, she was on her feet. She walked toward the man holding Wendy. “Anderson, let the girl go!”
“Screw you. You’re only here because you want her for yourself. Well, you’ll just have to wait until I’m done with her.”
“Wrong answer.” In a flash, Angela pulled a wooden spoon that had been sharpened into a weapon from behind her back. She jammed it hard into the man’s side and twisted it. A second later, she pulled out the bloody shank and prepared to thrust it into his ribs once again. The assailant gasped in pain and released Wendy from his arms.
“You pig!” yelled Wendy, shooting her right foot into the man’s crotch, doubling him over.
Angela grabbed Wendy by the shoulders and hauled her back to Tarina’s bunk. “You’ll be safe now. No one will ever try that with either of you ever again.”
“What about him?” asked Wendy, looking over at the man as he rolled about on the ground in agony.
“He’s no good to anyone anymore. When Travis hears about this incident, Anderson will be taken outside and flogged to death. You’re not the first woman he’s tried to have his way with.”
Tarina could tell by the sound of Angela’s voice that she hid a pain deep inside of her. She also knew better than to ask about it. Instead, she placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder. “Thank you for saving Wendy’s life. I owe you.”
“You don’t owe me a thing. Just be more aware of your surroundings from now on.” With that, Angela left them and climbed up into her bunk.
“How are you doing?” Tarina asked her friend.
Wendy sat there staring at the man who had tried to rape her. Hate filled her eyes.
“Wendy, I said, ‘how are you doing?’”
“I’m okay,” she lied. “I’ll be good once they haul him out of here and kill him.”
Inside Tarina cringed. They had been together ever since the beginning of the war and she had never heard Wendy talk so coldly. It was obvious that life was cheap in the mines. She did not want to lose her dearest friend. She vowed to herself that every waking minute from now on would be dedicated to getting them home safely. Tarina did not know how or when, but she knew that she was not going to let her friend down.
Chapter 10
Sheridan and Cole quietly slipped into the back of the briefing room and took a seat. The room was already full of high-ranking officers and chief petty officers busy chatting with one another. Sheridan wasn’t familiar with most of his father’s staff. He knew there would be people there representing the fleet’s personnel, operations, plans, training, communications, intelligence, logistics, finance, and civil liaison sections. A full colonel from General Denisov’s forces on Illum Prime sat at the table as well.
At precisely nine o’clock, Captain Killam and Admiral Sheridan, accompanied by his aide, Commander Roy, walked into the room. Everyone stood and waited for the admiral to take his customary seat up front before sitting down themselves.
“Good morning, everyone,” said the admiral.
“Good morning, sir,” replied the group.
For the next hour, the section heads brought everyone in the room up to speed with what was happening. For Michael Sheridan, it was as much fun as having his teeth extracted. He knew it was important, but he figured some of the people in the room liked to hear the sound of their own voices. Thankfully, Killam would speed a person along if the presentation was starting to drag.
Just as Cole was beginning to rubberneck, Admiral Sheridan thanked everyone for their work and stood up. He moved over to a podium. Commander Roy reached for her tablet and activated the holographic projector. An image of the Titan system appeared.
“Ladies and gentlemen, for reasons of operational security, what I am about to divulge to you cannot leave this room,” said the admiral. “A stalemate has developed in the Titan system. Both sides are worn down. Our forces there are leery of starting another action which could further deplete their limited number of capital ships. Skirmishing and raids, however, do continue on a daily basis. Intelligence intercepts indicate that the Kurgans are in as bad a shape as we are and are also taking this pause to rebuild their strength.”
“Sir, would this not be the ideal time to strike the Kurgans while they are weak?” asked the captain in charge of the Sixth Fleet’s logistics.
Admiral Sheridan shook his head. “The forces there need to save their strength for another day. Only ours and the Fifth Fleet are in any shape to conduct offensive operations. Fleet headquarters has made it clear to me that until a new strategy can be found, we are to restrict ourselves to economy of force operations and avoid anything that could bring on a major fleet engagement.”
“Sir, what of the news that the Federation Council was deliberating a motion to begin exploratory talks with the Kurgans that could lead to a negotiated peace treaty?” asked another officer.
“Admiral Oshiro was called to the federation president’s office yesterday and told that if a bill was brought before the president asking him to authorize a peace mission that he would personally veto it. Even though there’s a war on, the political machinations back home never stop. We are about to go into an election year and the president wants some good news to give to the voters back home, and we are the people who will give it to him.”
A loud murmur ran through the room.
Admiral Sheridan raised his hands to quiet the room. “Folks, the president has authorized Admiral Oshiro to conduct a raid inside Kurgan territory. The reason for this action will become clear during Captain Killam’s presentation.”
Killam stood up and moved over to the podium while the admiral took his seat. An image of the Kurgan border was brought up for all to see.
“Ladies and gentlemen, approximately two weeks ago a Kurgan directive relating to the treatment of prisoners of war was intercepted by one of our long-range satellites deployed along the border. From now on military personnel taken in battle will no longer be sent to re-education camps. Instead, they will be flown directly to a prison on a planet called Klatt to mine perlinium. Until the planet was mentioned in the intercept, we had no idea that such a place existed.”
“Captain, I can’t find Klatt on the star map,” said one of the staff.
“That’s because until a few hours ago, we had no idea where the planet was located. During a recent investigation into a crashed Kurgan ship, a veritable treasure trove of information was discovered. It’s taken days to sift through everything, but we have been able to pinpoint the exact location of Klatt.”
A planet appeared on the chart.
“Sir, that planet is deep inside enemy space,” pointed out one of the chief petty officers sitting at the table.
“I know. That’s why logistics, not combat power, will make or break our attempt to free our personnel currently being held on Klatt.”
Michael Sheridan nearly fell off his chair when he heard the news. His heart began to race. After months of wondering where Tarina was and if she was still alive, he was being presented with a chance to find out. His transfer out of the fleet could wait. There was no way he was going to miss out on this mission.
“When are we planning to conduct this operation?” asked the fleet’s logistics officer.
Admiral Sheridan looked at the faces of his staff. “Ready or not, we go in five days’ time. I’d go earlier if I could, but we need that time to prepare ourselves. Don’t be under any illusions; there will be no one coming from Earth to help us. We go with what we have.”
“Sir, no one has ever penetrated into Kurgan space,” pointed out the Marine colonel. “What do we know about this prison?”
“Or the Kurgan strength in that sector,” added another officer.
“All valid concerns,” said the admiral. “That is why orders were issued last night for satellites to be positioned in orbit above Klatt.”
Michael knew that only one outfit in the fl
eet had the ships and the experience to pull it off. It would be Tarina’s friends flying into the unknown.
“Sir, how many prisoners are we looking at rescuing?” ask the Marine colonel.
“If the intercepted reports are correct, the prison population is just shy of fifty-two hundred.”
A commander leaned forward and looked over at Admiral Sheridan. “Sir, with all due respect, an operation like the one you are proposing will take weeks, not days, to plan and outfit properly. Why the rush?”
Captain Killam cleared his throat, telling everyone that the discussion was over. “If we had the time, Commander, we would take the time needed to plan this down to the last detail. However, time is not on our side. An additional piece of information recently fell into our laps that has forced our hand. It would appear that eleven days from now the Kurgans intend to use some of the prisoners during a Kahtak ritual.”
Michael bolted out of his seat. “Lord, no!”
The room turned silent as all eyes turned to look over at the younger Sheridan.
Admiral Sheridan shook his head. “Is there something you wish to add to the discussion, Mister Sheridan?”
Michael could feel his cheeks turning red. He had opened his mouth without thinking. All he wanted to do now was shrink back down onto his seat.
“Way to go, sir,” murmured Cole with a wink.
“Captain Sheridan, can you elaborate on the Kurgan Kahtak ritual?” asked Killam, giving the young officer an opportunity to make up for his outburst.
“Yes, sir, I can,” replied Michael. “Kahtak is the ritual by which a young Imperial Guard warrior moves from the ranks of the Young Guard to the Old Guard. It is a bloodletting ceremony in which a soldier thrusts his knife deep into the bowels of his enemy, killing him. No one can gain admittance to the Old Guard without performing this ritual. In the past, this was a conducted right after a battle. The prisoners would be rounded up and brought for execution by those young warriors chosen for their bravery in battle or by family connection to join the Old Guard.”
Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) Page 7