ZARED
We won the war but lost everything we ever loved. We stood fast for the Consortium. Some of us even laid down our lives for them while they left our home world undefended. As I stand looking at the ruins of what was my family’s home, I scream in rage, but there is no one to hear my pain and utter disgust.
Farseek Brigade should have been here defending our homes and families instead of light years away defending the Consortium stronghold. Those with the most power and wealth still have all they hold dear, while we have nothing left to fight for.
As I stand looking at the desolate landscape, I am not ashamed of the two tears that slide down my face. Mother, Father, brothers, and sisters all gone and those high and mighty Consortium executives never let us know. They let us come back and find our world in ruin and our people gone.
Were they killed or taken? There was no way to know. The thing I did know was that slavery was rampant in the Sargus Empire. They bought and sold sentient beings as if they were meat animals. Their whole economy depended on slave labor, where the Consortium relied on robots and artificial intelligence. They relied on the warriors of Farseek Brigade and other like us for defense.
Had we been here when those Sargans attacked, we could have protected them with our elite ground force and our star fighters. From the carnage in front of me, I surmise that many of our people were killed---maybe most of them. I can only guess that the Sargans would have taken the rest as slaves to any of hundreds of different worlds.
Someone somewhere knows something, and I will find them.
The com in my ear buzzed. I touched my ear to hear Lieutenant Pyrr Avantu’s voice. “Commander, I’m getting reports of children being found living in the wreckage. So far about a dozen.”
“Do any of them know what happened to the others?”
“Those not killed were herded into shuttles and taken away,” said Lt. Avantu. “So some of our people were taken alive after the attack, but the children don’t know more than that.”
“Did anyone find any adults?”
“A few elders,” Avantu replied.
“They should come with us when we leave. I doubt they would survive the winter here alone,” I told him. “I’ll clear it with Admiral Degatu. At least we know they were not all killed. Finding them is not going to be easy. I think our best bet is to go after the slave trader’s in Sargus Territory. I will speak to the admiral and get back to you.”
“Yes, sir,” Avantu said. “We will keep looking for survivors.”
My heart was not as heavy after I talked to Avantu. I let myself entertain a small hope that some of my clan might have survived. I’m sure others in our division felt as I did after they saw the destruction of our world. From that day forward, I would no longer honor my pledge of service to the Consortium. My only allegiance would be given to the Farseek Brigades, and to the Uatu people.
I didn’t have to wait long for Admiral Degatu to descend to the ground of our world. In our defense force, there are two lines of command. I am Commander General of the ground forces, and Admiral Degatu commands our Starship fleet. Our combined forces make up the Farseek Division of the Sovereign Transtellar Consortium Defense Force. Our division is known for its prowess on the ground and in space. That’s why they sent us to the front.
They had to know our home world was completely vulnerable, but they were more worried about themselves than the families of the warriors defending them. They deliberately blocked our communications about the attacks on Farseek so we wouldn’t desert them. And it would have been our right, per our contract. Farseek came first.
We weren’t the only force defending the heart of the Consortium against the Sargus attack. Some of our ships could have gone to aid Farseek. To me, that nullifies any obligation we have to the Consortium. They are nothing but a bunch of wealthy tycoons and politicians who maintain and run the Consortium for their own gain. To them, we are just an expendable subclass of inferior beings whose clans are unimportant to them.
Since we were so insignificant that they left our home world defenseless. I saw no reason to continue to defend them. Now I just had to convince Degatu.
Admiral Degatu arrived about an hour later just outside of our village. He had seen the imagery of the devastation in the holovids, but it just didn’t quite capture the horrific scope of the destruction.
Degatu was a native Farseekian of the Uato people as I am. Our race comes in a variety of skin tones from light to dark blue-gray, reddish brown to pale beige to almost white. I am a light blue-gray, and Degatu is medium reddish brown. We do not favor any color over another as the colors are only skin deep. Most of the males of our race are tall and well muscled and of varying body thickness. Warrior training keeps us fit unlike the echelon of the Consortium. Females may not be as tall and muscular, but those who are unmated train as warriors as well. Most can hold their own in battle where we all wear special protective body suits.
While the females may not be quite as strong on their own, the body armor augmentations are equalizing their strength. It is also good for morale to have females among us. Our customs allow for sharing sex with unmated females as long as we do not give them our seed. That is only for our fated mate; it’s how we claim them.
I already know my fated mate is not in our division. My hope of finding her now is fading with all our people dead or taken. That could be part of why I feel so angered by this all. But I am also angered for all of my comrades who fought so bravely and came home as I did to find all of my clan is gone.
“They did this Garvan! They kept the news of the attacks from us when they knew we had the right to come defend our people,” I murmured in a grim, quiet tone. “So far they’re about a dozen survivors, who say the Sargans rounded up the survivors and took them away.”
“And you want to go after them,” he stated.
“Don’t you?”
“I do. There is hardly a man or woman in our division who hasn’t lost someone in this attack. We have to be smart about this,” he said. “We can’t go into Empire territory as Defenders of the Consortium. Once we nullify our contract with them, we are on our own. They won’t finance us for it.”
“Even if we pool our resources, it might not be enough to get the job done,” I said, as I followed his train of thought. “We will need backers.”
“Exactly my thought, so I took the liberty of letting certain governors of the Consortium know what we must do. I was told that Governor Evzen Guryon’s daughter Kyanna was taken by Ursagans from the Sargan Empire with a group of women from Plotain Pleasure station. The word is they are taking them to Ursaga slave auctions.”
“You think Guryon will back us?” I started to see a plan forming.
“He will. He may be a pompous dick, but he loves his daughter, and he will pay whatever it takes to get her back,” Pyrr said.
“We could find some of our own people there, too.” I nodded. “I guess that means we’re now the Farseek Mercenary Division.”
Garvan nodded grimly. It also meant we we--re on our own.