ZARED
We entered Halor orbit a few hours later and Admiral Degatu took over the bridge of the Dreadnought while I shuttled down to the planet with Kyanna Guryon and the rescued abductees that were leaving us. Lieutenant Advantu, Rehor Tantu, Mogen Brintu, came with me, along with Harper and the other Earth women. While I escorted Kyanna and Sowia to Evzen Guryon’s estate, my team would accompany the women to the automated clothing supply house to acquire what they needed.
Halor was one of the most affluent worlds in the heart of the Consortium. People here either lived on estates or in luxury apartment complexes. Most everything was automated and run by AI with physical labor performed by robots. I had been here before, and I really didn’t care for the place. It seemed impersonal. Halor had not been touched by war in over a thousand years. I could hardly imagine what their lives here were like. To me it seemed they had little more to do than entertaining themselves, but I am told they work from their homes a few hours a day supervising their business interests.
I have seen smaller palaces than Evzen Guryon’s estate, which housed his entire extended family. His daughter explained that each family unit had their own suite within the estate. Kyanna was his only daughter and betrothed to the son of some magnate to seal a merger. She had been on a last fling with her best friend before she was to be wed. Harper said she seemed happy about it even though it was an arranged marriage. Theirs was a different culture.
The regal looking estate was surrounded by ornate gardens with stone paths between them. We arrived at the Governor’s home by automated hover bus from the Haloressa Starport. The double doors of the front entrance opened automatically as we approached. A metallic android bade us to follow and led us into a simply furnished parlor. The android was built in the shape of a man and walked on two legs but that’s where the resemblance ended. It had camera lenses for eyes and the impression of a nose and mouth in its metal face.
Once we entered the room, it turned and left. A few moments later, Evzen Guryon hurried into the room and swept his daughter in a fervent embrace.
“Kyanna, my baby girl! I’ve been so worried about you. Gavrin has been beside himself ever since we learned you were taken,” he exclaimed.
Guryon was surprisingly well muscled and youthful in appearance for his age. This was the first time I had ever seen him in person, but I recognized him from the holovids. Though his daughter was more femininely attractive, she bore an obvious resemblance to her father. He was as tall as me but with a lighter build. The ridges from his hairline to his nose were more pronounced than those of his daughter and other females of his race.
When he finished hugging Kyanna, Guryon turned to her friend Sowia and hugged her as well. “Your parents are sorry they could not be here to greet you, but they were out of the system and are due back tomorrow,” he told her. “Kyanna’s rooms and your guest rooms are ready for you. Why don’t you refresh yourselves while I settle some business with the commander?”
“Okay, Daddy,” Kyanna said. “Will we see you at dinner?’
“Your mother and I and some of your brothers will be there with their mates. Gavrin should be arriving soon. The ‘bot will direct him to find you.”
The two young women left the room, apparently happy to have a reason to do so. When they were out of ear shot, Guryon summoned an auto cart laden with aurinium coins, the universal monetary exchange for the Consortium and even parts of the Sargan Empire.
“Your payment in cash, Commander Maktu, just as you requested, ten million credits worth. Feel free to scan it for an accurate accounting.”
While I believed it was an honest accounting, I scanned it from my compact tablet which confirmed the count. I then gave him my print to accept the payment.
“Admiral Degatu told me what you found when you returned to your home world,” Guryon stated. “Word did not reach the council until the attack was almost finished. We are investigating the cause for the delay in communication that resulted in the failure of notification to your forces about the attack.”
“We believe it was deliberate,” I told him bluntly. “It wasn’t just an act of war, Governor. They stole our people and sold them into slavery in the Sargan Empire.”
“What would they gain from such an act?” he asked.
“Aurinium, most likely,” I said far more calmly than I felt. “Someone got a big payoff for this betrayal. It’s treason, and they had better hope we don’t find them first.”
“They must be brought to justice,” Guryon said. “We have laws.”
“What justice did they give my people? The only justice they deserve it to be sold into slavery as my people were,” I growled.
“So, you intend to seek whoever is responsible with what I paid you?”
“No, we are going in search of our people. We have data from the slave auction house that at least 200 of our people were shipped to a world on the edge of the Sargus Empire,” I said. “That is the reason we are ending our defense contract with the Consortium. As we search for our people, we will probably find other Consortium citizens who have been kidnapped by slavers.
“You might pass the word to others that the Farseek companies will retrieve their loved ones if they help fund our efforts as you have.” I added. “Without our contract, we must charge for our services.”
“But you rescued a hundred women and I am the only one who paid,” Guryon said.
“It was your offer of this reward that got us there to rescue your daughter,” I reminded. “Slavery is reprehensible! We weren’t going to leave the other women behind. Is that what we should have done because no one paid for them?”
“Of course not,” Guryon admitted.
“We will rescue as many from the slavers as we can. Those who have lost loved ones to slavers may want to consider contributing to our efforts,” I explained. “If we must take other work to support our efforts, it will only delay our primary mission.”
“Were all of those you rescued from Consortium territory?”
“No. We rescued four females from a world called Earth a non-space faring world that no one has ever heard of,” I said. “One of them is my solmatu.”
“My congratulations, Commander. I know what that means to your people,” Guryon said sincerely. “I wish you many years together.”
“Thank you, sir. And thank you for the payment.” I bowed my head in salute and made my retreat with the autocart of aurium coins. We would make it last as long as possible.
I took and autotram back to the shuttle with our aurium and left it under guard at the shuttle and went to meet my team and the women at the Bio Enhancement Clinic. They had finished at the clothing outlet and used their facilities to put on appropriate clothing before going out in public. At the clinic, more advanced chips inserted. The translator chips from the slavers were not removed but would be disintegrated as the new ones became integrated into their memories. The new chips would give them comprehensive knowledge of the main consortium language which was also the primary language of Farseek in a matter of days.
The translator chips installed by the slavers, only allowed them to understand the spoken word which might have sufficed for sex slaves. But they would need a thorough understanding of language to assimilate into our culture. This would give them the opportunity to be retrained and their current skills could be enhanced. They would still retain their memory of their first language.
I am glad I arrived before Harper received hers. The look in her eyes when I walked into the lobby told me she was nervous about the procedure. I stayed with her and held her hand while the technician prepped her and did the procedure. They used a device placed on the forehead to block the pain while the new chip inserted. Each patient received a DNA scan which configured each biochip to their DNA so the body wouldn’t reject it.
Harper was relieved and delighted when the tech finished. She had felt no pain and she began to understand spoken words almost immediately. There were enough technicians on duty so that all the women could be treated at the same time. I noted that my Lieutenant Avantu accompanied Scarlet while she was injected. It appeared that she was attracted to him as well. They were not solmatu, because he would have known that already.
It’s not so common as it once was, and not everyone is willing to wait for a rare possibility. Finding solmatu in Harper could only be an exceptional coincidence, one that has given me hope for the future.