ZARED
In the days leading up to the Breskaa mission, I was glad that Harper didn’t let me convince her not to train with her people. I had numerous strategy meetings with my company to plan the mission and sift through the intel. Dread Eight’s recon showed that we would be outnumbered three to one, but security was aimed at keeping the slaves in the mine working, not keeping a team like mine out.
Their defense for an outside attack was almost non-existent. The slaves and overseers worked three shifts in twenty-seven hours days. That meant about one third of both slaves and overseers were sleeping at any given time. It seemed like a simple matter of detaining the guards and herding the slaves into our shuttles. Too simple.
There was nothing I could pinpoint but I have learned not to ignore those feelings. They’ve kept my people and me alive more than once. Even though it seemed like overkill, my people twenty-two men and three women were all suited up in battle armor and carried ion rifles as we loaded up our shuttle. We went down to secure the compound with two more shuttles standing by to come down on my command. Dread One and Eight remained in orbit on opposite sides of Breskaa, so it might appear that only one ship was present.
Dread Eight sent part of their company to the agricomplex dome in the desert to secure the premises and round up the slaves. As I told Guryon back on Halor, we would just take them all and sort them out after we got them to the ship.
My first indication that things were about to go awry was the guards at the corner towers of the barracks compound were dressed in Empire military uniforms and carried ion rifles. The perimeter was enclosed in metal fencing with coiled barbed wire at the top. While there were live guards in the towers at each corner, the rest of the fence was guarded by cameras with motion sensors.
There were two guards at the main gate and my company was spread around the perimeter. While the cameras were being shot out, we took out the tower guards and those at the front gate. One of the guards must have set off an alarm because armed hostiles came out of the guards' barracks and started firing weapons after us. They were in uniform but not armored as we were.
There were at least ten of them that fanned out and firing at us as we came in through the front gate. Before we moved in Baze Segtu disabled the zapper fence so they could cut through it and come into the compound behind the guards that were firing on us. We weren’t taking any prisoners. Our ships would be full enough once we rescued the slaves. Those that surrendered, were bound with zip ties and secured in their barracks.
In addition to the guard's barracks we learned that each unit of the slave barracks had guards in each of four corners of them sleeping in small rooms. The slaves slept in rows of bunks three high with men on one side of the room and women on the other. We determined there twice as many men as women.
After the guard was secured, one of my people switched on the overhead lights and were rewarded with a chorus of moans and groans. I entered at that point, “I am Commander General Maktu of Farseek. We are here to liberate you. How many of you are from Farseek?” I said through the speaker in my helmet. Tens of them sat up in their bunks and waved their hands in the air. Most of them were ours. “We will take those of you not from Farseek with us as well. Do any of you wish to remain here?”
No one answered that question. I didn’t expect it.
“All of you, get up, get dressed and gather any possessions you wish to take. We have shuttle arriving soon to take you to our ships you have about ten minutes to prepare.” As they got out of their beds and gathered a few meager possessions, my helmet com beeped.
“We’ve got trouble Commander,” Gerj Victu related in a calm even tone. “A battle cruiser just came around from the back side of the sun shooting at us and a troop carrier is headed ground side. There could be anywhere from twenty to a hundred hostiles aboard. We’ve deflected their torpedoes and are returning fire… and we have a direct hit! Eight hit them too, but they sent a second shuttle heading for the planet.”
“Received, Corporal, they’ve got troops ground side here. They are armed but no armor. We’re rousting out the recues. Send the shuttles in and have them set down by the main gate.”
“Affirmative Commander…. Commander, Eight took out one of the hostile carriers, only one is heading your way now. It’s out of our range and we can’t get to it before it lands.”
“Excellent, received. Thank you, corporal. Maktu out,” I replied. “Maktu to Shuttle Alpha…”
“Alpha here, sir…”
“Did you get that from Victu?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. Do you want me to take ‘em out?
“Affirmative, Alpha.” I returned. I went to the entrance of the barracks and saw the lights of the incoming enemy shuttle. There was a weapons flash from Shuttle Alpha then the whine of the damaged engines as it dropped like a rock. I sent two soldiers to clean up in case there were any survivors.
I was on my way back into the barracks when I took a hit in the lower right back with an armor piercing shell that came out of nowhere. Fuck! I stumbled into the barracks before I went down, thinking, Harper was going to kill me if this didn’t. Obviously, one of the hostiles slipped my people.
The readout in my suit indicated that only the tip had pierced my flesh, but it still hurt like hell. Soon as my armor was pierced, nanites mobilized to repair the breech in my armor and my flesh and clean up the blood spill inside my suit.
“Commander, you okay?” questioned Avantu as he came over and offered me a hand up.
“I’ll live,” I gritted, and took his offered hand and used the suit to lever myself up.
“I got him, Commander,” cried Ahlia Rejtu. “Are you still functional?”
“Still functional,” I muttered waiting for the pain killer to kick in. Moments later we were herding the captives into two awaiting transport carriers. Eight’s first shuttle picked up less than forty and the other sixty from the mines. We got eighty and polled them to see if any were missing.
While that was in progress Victu commed that the Empire ship was crippled but they still had life support. Degatu had the AI launch torpedoes to finish them. If I felt a hint of guilt at the number of kills that night, it went away when I learned what happened to the twenty that were missing from the rescued slaves.
Fifteen females and five males had been sexually abused and raped then eventually killed by the guards for their amusement. The majority of those bastards were dead when we lifted off from Breskaa. The others were helplessly tied with no one to free them. It was no less than they deserved.
The ship’s AI tapped into the mining company computer and gleaned the identities of those missing as well as information of other Farseekans taken as slaves by the Sargus Empire.
Once the slaves were safely loaded on the Dreadnaughts, we sent teams back down to the planet to collect food, supplies and bedding for them. They also liberated a small transport shuttle laden with ore ready for shipment in hopes we could sell it and reap the profits. They also pulled bunks out of the barracks to set up in the cargo bay for the rescued slaves. They would be more comfortable that way than just sleeping on the floor on blankets for the four-week trip back to Farseek.
We hoped by the time we arrived, the modular housing the Consortium promised would be in place there for them to re-settle.
We were fortunate that none of my forces were killed and the injuries sustained were no worse than mine. The nanites had stopped the bleeding and repaired the damage to my suit. The pain was gone as well.
But I knew Harper had been monitoring our communications from our quarters, so she would know about the hit I took. She would also know I was back in action in about ten minutes. It was my own fault. I knew better than to assume we’d got them all, but I wanted to see the enemy shuttle go down. I was lucky.
I would get to make love to my solmatu at least one more time. I smiled to myself at the thought.