Rennek
Some of the females sob and whimper. My female does not. She observes, taking everything in. She is smart as well as brave and I am filled with pride at the thought.
I am aware of a sensation within myself… the drumming that began on Ju’toktah’s ship. It has not gone away. I thought at first it was rage within me boiling over because of the horrible things Ju’toktah had done. And yes, I do feel rage. But I now think this drumming is something else, something more. It is caused by proximity to this female. My female. I do not know what it is, but she is affecting me. It is exhilarating and frightening at the same time.
Whatever it is, I need to put it aside for now. We are not yet out of danger.
“I shot into warp after exiting the atmosphere. Sentinels were already trying to lock onto us, but it will be nearly impossible for them to know which direction to go in,” Dax reports.
“The Ju’tup will already be fighting amongst themselves to take over the captain’s position, they may be too busy to chase us. After all, we only stole six… and you saw their cargo hold. Six are of little value compared to what they still have…” Bossan says. The silence that follows tells me we all feel the pain over having to leave the sleeping females behind.
“We need to send a comm.” I say, resolved.
“If they are pursuing us, they will be able to track our location if I engage comms. We can wait until we cross into UPC patrolled territory, it will be safer for...” Kellen says looking at the females.
We all exchange knowing glances. We are in a difficult spot. We are the protectors of these six, it goes against the grain of all we have been taught to put them in a position where they might be at risk. If we contact UPC to let them know of the slave trade, the sentinels could find us and blow our ship to debris before the comm is even complete.
But, the females we left back in the cryo bags? They have no protectors. The Ju’tup will leave the moons of Magna VII and set up shop elsewhere and when those females are ripped from stasis there will be no one to save them. Even if we get the comm out, the Ju’tup might still be gone by the time the UPC can respond. Do we put these six at risk in an effort to help the ones we left behind? I must be the one to decide our course of action and there is no time to delay. I look to my red maned queen and think of how she protected her people.
“Prepare a comm,” I decide. Kellen nods and I begin my recording.
“This is ex-commander Rennek of Thaad, District 17, Unit 2. This is an urgent message. While on a cargo acquisition on the red moon of Manga VII my crew and I uncovered a Ju’tup led trafficking ring. Sentient beings, all females. The Ju’tup are violating them and selling them as slaves. Hundreds are still captive. Requesting immediate response,” a violent explosion rocks the ship. Some of the women scream.
“They have locked onto our signal. Beginning evasives,” Dax reports as Da’vi activates weapon controls.
“The message was dispersed! Everyone in this quarter is going to hear what the Ju’tup have done,” Kellen delivers the news we were all praying for. Hopefully a UPC fleet will soon come and liberate the others, but for now we have to worry about the females here with us.
“Bossan! Can you strengthen our shields?” I shout to my friend, who is already bringing the controls up on his panel. “Kellen, give us a visual. How many do our sensors read?”
Kellen adjusts the view window so we see a rear-view image from the ship. Only two sentinels. We are lucky.
“Sensors confirm. There are only the two, Captain,” Kellen tells us.
“They may have only sent a handful of sentinels out in different directions. The other Ju’tup are probably fighting over their own ship,” Bossan says.
“Can our shields hold up against their firepower?” I ask. Our ship rocks again with another explosion.
“It is a fair match. We have some top of the line stuff… but they have some illegal stuff. We need to take them out before they do some real damage.”
“Agreed. Da’vi, fire when ready.”
“With pleasure,” Da’vi tells me as he adjusts his targets and locks on. The first is gone in an instant. It is as if Da’vi knew exactly where the weak point in the ship was and targeted it precisely. But before he can lock onto the second ship it switches to wrap and vanishes the way it came. The honor-less Ju’tup figured we were not worth the trouble.
“Drop us into warp. Get us out of here,” I tell Dax.
“Happily,” he says as the stars blur and we head out of danger.
Finally, we have a moment to breathe. I turn. All eyes are on me. My crew, the female, but my eyes find my red maned queen and my core seems to march in time with the beat of a faraway drum.