“What’s the hard part?” she asked.
“Well, as far as I know, the cities themselves are centralized areas of homes and businesses where the slaves aren’t allowed unless they are owned by someone,” Mersi said. “Those are the free-citizen only areas. Guards, merchants, managers…”
“And their families,” said Rhylie. She had a sudden pang of doubt. “Their wives and children and pets. What will happen to them?” She could see Isaar returning with Konii and Vorle in the distance.
“It probably won’t be very pretty I’d imagine. The slaves aren’t treated very well,” Mersi said, quirking the corner of her mouth down in a half-frown. “And there’s not a lot we can do to stop it.”
“We can ask that those that are innocent be spared. I want them taken as hostages, if possible,” Rhylie said. “Can we issue a reward for them, alive and unharmed?” Mersi shrugged.
“I don’ t know if it would matter, Rhylie,” she said. “Isaar might go for it. Quasar too…I mean, we really don’t need any more bad publicity.”
“Good,” Rhylie said. It was the best she could hope for, she supposed.
“Isaar would probably go for what?” he asked as he walked back up with Vorle and Konii.
“Rhylie wants a reward issued for all of the those in the cities that are innocent,” Mersi piped up before Rhylie could say anything. “She wants them taken hostage for their safety if possible.”
“It could potentially end up being a lot of money,” he said. “But that is not a bad idea. I expect either way, few will survive, but this could save a few more. Some of these races have been enslaved and oppressed by these families and businesses for countless millicycles. Their hatred for them is…generational.”
“I don’t want to be a part of something that murders innocent people and destroys families,” Rhylie said stubbornly. She was not a monster. She would not be a monster.
“Rhylie, their lives are built upon luxuries paid for by the lives and deaths of millions of slaves,” Isaar said sadly. “People that have never been enslaved for a day in their lives, lording over those that are denied even the opportunity to be free. They stopped being innocent a long time ago.” Rhylie looked down at the grass beneath her feet uncomfortably.
“Just try to save the children then,” she said softly.
“A reasonable compromise,” Isaar said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
His grip was weak, and his hand trembled as he tried give her shoulder a squeeze.
31
“That is enough Rhylie” Isaar’s voice came through her com device. “You need to slow down and take a break. Get some rest before we head to the next target.”
“Why?” she asked. “I’m not tired.”
“You will never grow tired like you used to,” Isaar said. “But you still need to sleep and take breaks. Otherwise, your body will drive your brain until it shuts down from exhaustion. In extreme circumstances, your cyberbionic skeleton can even cause your brain to cook itself.”
“Whatever. We only have one more target and then we’re done, right,” she said. “Are the slaves being evacuated?”
“Yes, everything is going well on that end. This planet will be well on its way to finishing liberating itself by the time we are done here,” Isaar said. “Some people will want to stay, this is their home and it always has been. But I would say at least sixty percent wants to get out of here in any way possible. They know they will just be enslaved again when the planet is retaken.”
“Well then, let’s just finish this and call it a day,” Rhylie said.
“I agree,” Konii’s voice came over the com device. Vorle just stood there in silence, covered head to toe in dull gray metal. He could be very stoic at times. Both were flanking her.
The mission had been easy so far. Too easy. Those in control of this planet had not been prepared for any kind of assault, much less one this brutal and of this magnitude. It was just a matter of taking out the signal intensifiers first, so the guards and soldiers couldn’t send out a warning or request backup from outside of the star system. By accessing the control terminal through Konii, Mersi had been able to shut down the entire communication system across the planet on their first strike. The rest of the cities fell like dominos after that. They were all really just glorified exchange hubs where slaves were herded on to ships and taken to their new owners.
As the streets came alive around her with violence and looting, Rhylie had to remind herself that the men she cut down had enjoyed a life built on the blood and death of billions of people. Coordinated strikes on each city between her, Vorle, and Konii had been devastating, and lightning quick. Most of them never knew what had hit them, and they were merciful in their slaughter, except for Vorle. He almost seemed to enjoy leaving them behind him to die slowly. Rhylie decided it was probably out of vengeance for what had been done to him, so she decided to leave him alone about it. They all had their issues.
“Next set of coordinates incoming,” said Mersi’s voice. The final target, Rhylie thought. Good. She leaped into the sky, followed by Konii and Vorle. They had been exceptional teammates, though they were still learning how to manipulate the nuances of their new gravity wells too. It felt good to have someone at her side, actually. Someone she didn’t have to worry about, anyway.
The planet itself was barely habitable anymore, poisoned, filthy, and grossly overpopulated outside of the cities to say the least. It was really just a massive holding pen for slaves, as well as a breeding ground for them. If you wanted a slave, this is where they were shipped from after you ordered them.
The streets outside of the cities were filled with trash and refuse, if you could even call them streets. They were really just muddy, rut filled paths that stretched between an endlessly expansive field of poorly-constructed shanties. Bodies didn’t last long in the slave fields, the living consuming the dead nearly as soon as they had taken their last breath, and sometimes before. They were fed bowls of unidentifiable sludge with dirty water twice a day, after waiting in long lines for them. The whole planet smelled like piss and shit. She could almost taste it in the air.
Most of the slaves were already broken mentally and emotionally, and they were ignorant and uneducated as well. Most still practiced primitive and naive superstitions, such as believing in magic and sorcery. Many were infirm and sick. She didn’t know what kind of rebellion they would make, but that was Quasar’s problem.
“So the last target is an area of massive population that’s more heavily guarded than the rest,” Mersi said over the com channel. “Shouldn’t be a problem for you guys, but be careful anyway.”
“Revolt is really beginning to spread across the planet now,” Isaar’s voice followed. “Knocking out the main shipping ports has allowed the freed slaves to basically run the show. This is actually going better than I had thought it would.” Isaar almost sounded like himself again. Maybe things are turning around, Rhylie thought as she landed in front of the gates to the city.
Artillery fire rained down upon her as she sauntered up to the gates. Vorle and Konii alighted behind her. All three were covered from head to toe in their atomorphic skin, dull gray harbingers of revolution. They could have just landed inside the city walls, but she’d always had a flair for the dramatic, ever since she was a little girl. It was time to make an entrance. She reached out to touch one of the massive gates. They would have to open them from the inside anyway to allow the slaves to flood the city.
Her hand began to pool on the door, sending out slender tendrils that wriggled and pulsed as they grew and spread, spanning the immense gates with an organic fractal of dull gray. She fanned them out into a large semicircle as Vorle and Konii stood back, watching her. The arched web covering the doors began to glow with white hot intensity, sinking into the crude metal of the gates.
The entire area beneath the tendrils began to melt, flowing to the ground in molten streams and pooling around their feet. She pushed the tendrils deeper, cutting thro
ugh to the other side with them.
The entire mass slopped to the ground in a pile of glowing slag. She withdrew her hand and stepped through the massive hole, the molten metal sliding from her skin harmlessly. She lifted herself up off the ground with her gravity well and began to hover down the street silently as suppressive fire continued to rain down upon her.
Wherever she saw flashes from artillery, she darted to them, skewering and eviscerating them with her finger-blades. If there was just one of them, she would send out a tendril and drag them out into the streets to be gunned down mercilessly by their fellow guards. Sometimes it was easier to just let the work do itself. She cackled wildly at the thought, but it was drowned out by the overpowering sounds of conflict around her.
They proceeded clearing the streets as slaves began rushing in through the gates behind them. The slaves would take care of anyone that they left behind. Rhylie knew they would eat well tonight. The thought disgusted her, but it was far from the worst thing she had contemplated recently. She wondered what Siirocian tasted like. Maybe one day she would find out. She cackled again, madly this time.
The slaves flooded the city, spreading through the streets and dragging people from their homes as the three of them continued on. Her, Konii, and Vorle were hit with explosives, fire, anything the people of the city could throw at her. Someone even threw a bottle at her. As they drew close to the palace at the center of the city, a single ship launched from it, streaking into the sky. She could just let Quasar handle it, but they were busy hijacking the dockyards across the planet and loading slaves onto waiting transport shops. Quasar was in charge of making sure no spacecraft left the planet, but Rhylie had a feeling this one was special.
“Vorle? Would you take care of that?” she asked over the com device. The sound of gunfire was too loud to communicate otherwise.
Vorle nodded his head once in response and launched into the sky, giving chase to the fleeing ship. Rhylie had a pretty good idea who was on it. Vorle was actually the best out of the three of them at controlling his flight; he seemed to have a natural affinity for it. One of the benefits of being born with wings, she supposed.
She and Konii continued working their way up to the Palace. Once they were inside, however, it was strangely empty. Either all of the guards had already been deployed to stop her or the palace had been completely evacuated. It had an uncanny sort of peacefulness to it, compared to the violence raging outside, like the eye of a hurricane.
Through the grand foyer and between the two double staircases she walked quietly. The further she went, the more cautious she became. Konii hovered silently on her left side; her lower half was now tentacles. It was a frightening and unnerving site that had sent many people running from them.
“Rhylie?” Isaar asked over the com channel.
“I’m just doing some sight seeing,” she replied.
“Okay. We are officially done here,” said Isaar. “There is no way they can recapture the planet before we load up the ships and vacate it.”
“Lord Jascon has been captured,” Vorle’s voice came over the com. “I have him in my custody. What do you want me to do with him?”
“Execute him,” said Rhylie coldly as she continued through the palace. It was really nice, if crude. It was obviously built by hand, probably by slaves. It reminded her of some of the stately old buildings she had seen in London. She wished now that she had paid more attention on those school field trips. The contrast between the luxury around her and the slum fields the slaves lived in made her even more angry.
“No, hand him over to Quasar,” said Isaar.
“Fine. Take him to Quasar,” said Rhylie. “I don’t care.”
“Um, Rhylie,” Mersi said over the com. “Maybe you two should get out of there.”
“Why?” asked Rhylie.
“Because there’s a direct feed from a Siirocian channel connected to the throne room,” she replied. Rhylie stopped just in front of the two large double doors in front of her.
“I thought there was no way to get a feed out?” Rhylie asked.
“They must have a shielded feed for emergencies that we didn’t know about,” Mersi said. “Something completely separate from the entire planet’s network.”
“Fuck.” Rhyile said. Her face flushed with heat as she stood there for a long moment. Finally she raised her hand and pushed the door open.
In the center of the throne room stood a hologram of Vorcia. She looked different now. Rhylie realized she had breasts, which made her angrier for some reason.
“I’ve been expecting you,” she said warmly, smiling. Rhylie took a few steps towards her. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you,” Vorcia cooed. “Look at you, all grown up. I love your outfit.”
“Fuck you, cunt,” Rhylie spat out at her in frustration. She wanted to throw herself at the hologram and claw its eyes out.
“Oh my sweet little Gota, is that anyway to treat one of your closest and dearest friends?” Vorcia asked sweetly. “I know all of your secrets, all of your fears. All of your dreams and hopes and your darkest nightmares. You could even say that I have lived some of them with you.” She smiled at Rhylie, showing her mouthful of teeth. “I know what it takes to really push you over the edge. And when I do, you’ll take all of your little friends down with you. I have an offer for you.”
“What do you want, Vorcia?” Rhylie asked as she stared daggers at her.
“I want to open up negotiations. You have put me in a precarious position, Gota,” said Vorcia.
“That’s not my fucking name and you know it,” said Rhylie. Vorcia smiled.
“It will always be your name,” said Vorcia. “I will have it emblazoned upon your grave.” Rhylie clenched her jaw.
“Is this how you negotiate? With threats? Because I have a few of my own,” she said coldly.
“I’m sure you do,” said Vorcia. “But mine are not empty. I have the power and authority of the entire Siirocian Empire behind me, the most powerful military in the galaxy. You have a slave whore, a traitor, and misguided fool. And whatever that thing is over there,” she said, motioning to Konii disdainfully.
“All the fodder in the galaxy won’t save you from me, Vorcia,” Rhylie said coldly. “I will hold you accountable for all you’ve done to me and everyone else.” Vorcia snorted derisively.
“It will take more than idle threats to scare me, child,” Vorcia said. “Especially coming from someone as naive and trusting as you are. One day you will open your eyes and see the truth around you.”
“What do you mean?” Rhylie asked.
“I’m sure Isaar hasn’t told you all of his dirty little secrets,” said Vorcia. “How he’s a tech pirate that got his lover killed stealing the very atomorphic tech you’re wearing. Or at least, the mother tech. He has had someone make some interesting modifications to it, I have to admit. I am truly impressed…but, you should ask him where it came from sometime.” There was something queasy about Vorcia’s half-smile that Rhylie did not like.
“I’m sure he’s not half the lying piece of shit you are,” Rhylie said. “If I ask him, he will tell me.” Vorcia laughed condescendingly. That was the question that she’d forgotten to ask. Part of her did not want to know. Part of her knew now for sure. She pushed it aside. She didn’t need another internal conflict right now. She could worry about all of that later.
“Oh dear, sweet, child, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” she said. “You’re still so naive, even after all you’ve been through.”
“I think you’re going to be surprised at how much I’ve grown,” Rhylie replied menacingly.
“Surrender yourself, and your motley band of misfits, and no one else has to die,” Vorcia said. “I will even allow the lot of you to live out the rest of your lives in isolation in separate Chambers.” Rhylie narrowed her eyes.
“I’ve seen how your negotiations work first hand,” Rhylie said coldly. “It’s a shame you didn’t wait another hour before destroying the
earth. I would have been on it.” Vorcia flinched as though Rhylie had slapped her.
“A minor oversight. My overall point was made, I believe,” Vorcia said, recovering quickly. “Make no mistake, Gota. My people will find you. And when they do, you will wish you had turned yourselves in. I will force you to watch your friends die if you make me hunt you down.”
“If you harm a single one of them, I’ll fucking gut you like a fish,” Rhylie hissed angrily. “I’ll fucking drag your body through the galaxy and put it on display as a warning to anyone that would dare-” The feed cut and Vorcia’s fabrication vanished before her eyes, melting into the floor.
“Fucking cunt! Fucking CUNT!! FUCKING CUNT!!!” Rhylie screamed in rage. “Tell me where she’s at, Mersi, I need coordinates now.”
“I couldn’t trace the feed, Rhylie, sorry,” said Mersi over the com. “It was piggybacked through multiple networks. She could be anywhere in the galaxy.”
“Just come back to the ship, Rhylie,” said Isaar. “We will figure something out.”
“Fine,” said Rhylie. She launched herself through the ceiling, and into space, leaving a massive hole in the roof. Whoever lives there next can fix that shit, she thought.
When she arrived back at the ship with Konii, Mersi and Isaar were waiting for them in the main compartment.
“We need to act fast,” Isaar said. “Before they can put some contingency plans in place.” Rhylie sat down at the table.
“So what’s up next?” she asked.
“We have another enslaved world in a different quadrant that we are scouting right now, but Quasar will not be finished on Dargh for another ten nanos,” Mersi said.
“Just enough time for you two and Vorle to get some rest,” said Isaar. “The three of you have had a long day.” Rhylie nodded her head in agreement. She wasn’t physically tired, but mentally she was exhausted.
“I could probably use some sleep,” she admitted reluctantly.
“Let us head back to see if Sora and Reskle are doing alright,” said Isaar. “And we will all get some rest while we wait for Quasar to prepare for the next liberation.”
Nascent Decay (The Goddess of Decay Book 1) Page 22
