Clidepp Deja Vu
Page 29
By the next day, most of the women freed from slavery at the factory had recovered from the initial shock of finding themselves free. It would take a long time to recover from a lifetime of beatings and punishment, but if they hadn't been as strong as they were they wouldn't have lasted this long. A few would take much longer to accept that they were really free and acclimatize to a new lifestyle, but with the support of the stronger women, they, too, would make it. It would just take time to put all the misery and fears of their past lives completely behind them, if that was even possible.
Blade spent a lot of time the next day walking and thinking about the mindset of the most recently freed women. The women from Sanctuary had already seemed to be fairly well adjusted, although that may have just been a mask, while the women rescued from the auction market seemed strong and were making good progress towards a reasonable recovery. This made him wonder if there was anything he could do to help the newest women along. He knew that whenever he approached any of them, they cowered and pulled away, as if expecting he would harm them. Once the Marines had removed their black armor and changed into fatigues, the fear seemed to lessen. But when all was said and done, it would just take time for the women to learn to trust the Marines in the embassy and understand they were not like the overseers at the factory. Perhaps it might have been easier if there were more females among the Marines, but only two of Blade's Special Ops team were female, and only five members of the four fire teams from the Denver were female, not counting Lt. Kelly MacDonald.
Blade tried hard over the rest of the morning, but he just couldn't let go of his animosity towards the Yolongi slave owners over what he had seen at the factory and the fear he saw in the eyes of the women they'd brought back. He wanted to hit something, or maybe a lot of somethings, but knew he couldn't release his anger in the embassy bunker because it would further frighten many of the women who had lived a life of fear. So he decided another attack was definitely called for. He knew that freeing more slaves while destroying the property of people who engaged in slavery was the best catharsis for him and many of his Marines.
* * *
The next attack went off as well as the first, but since priority had been given to the factories with the highest slave count, the number of freed slaves from the second raid was lighter. Still, every slave rescued from the Yolongi slave owners was considered a victory, so freeing eighty-six women in the second raid was considered cause for celebration. But Blade announced that any celebration would have to wait until they had completed their tasks.
Unlike the first time when Blade had tried to allay the fears of the freed women after returning to the embassy, he just got out of the way and let the previously freed slaves take over.
* * *
Over the next few days, the Marines conducted two more attacks and rescued a total of sixty-one more slaves. The rescued count since they had started the operation under the guise of being an organization called the TFC was two hundred seventy.
On the afternoon following the most recent raid, Blade called the entire Marine contingent together in the shuttle bay to address them.
"Everyone has done a tremendous job, and we've accomplished a great deal. While it's true we've only put a very small dent in the slavery business here on Yolongus, we've shown people what can be done, and I'm confident we've scared the bejesus out of factory owners who buy slaves for their companies. Every one of them on this part of the world is probably thinking their factory is next. And none of the four factories we visited will be producing anything for a long time, if ever. Maybe they'll try other methods in the future instead of relying on cheap slave labor, although I'm not counting on that. They'll probably need to learn a harsher lesson than the one we've delivered to turn them around.
"I think we can put this down as a great victory, but it's time to end our efforts now. I don't want to stop, but we have to be practical. We're going to be stuck here for perhaps as long as two years, and we can't afford to have the food shortage problems they had aboard the Justice. In addition to we in the military, we now have over five hundred former slaves to feed, a number of whom are pregnant. Our food stores are naturally finite. What we've got is all we'll have, unless we raid grocery markets or something, and I'd prefer not to do that.
So tonight we're going a eat a hearty meal, then perhaps drink some of the embassy's alcoholic beverages which were no doubt intended for honored guests. Tonight, all of you are the honored guests. I thank you for your efforts and I know you are all rightfully proud of the remarkable job you've done."
* * *
"So, the count now is four factories in three different cities and two hundred seventy slaves?" Plelillo said.
"Yes, and not old slaves. The factory owners always trade in the old ones when they become less productive because they can't work as hard as the younger ones, they take up just as much space in the cells, and they eat almost as much. The older ones make better house servants, unless the owner there is still looking for sex."
"How can they have pulled this off without leaving a single clue to their identities?"
"They have identified themselves," Mewaffal said. "They're the TFC."
"I'm talking about personal identification. We can't find the ones responsible simply by knowing they're part of the TFC unless we learn who's behind the TFC. We need to get an informant inside and learn who's running the operation."
"But I can't get anybody into the inside until we find someone— anyone— who knows something about this phantom organization," Danttan said.
"How can they be operating without at least one of our operatives hearing something?" Plelillo said as he began pacing around the room. "It's neither logical nor reasonable."
"That's why I've said it involves the Rebels," Mewaffal said. "We haven't been able to infiltrate that organization or even learn who is masterminding the group. It's as if they've infiltrated us because they know our moves and countermoves before we even make them."
"I still believe the Blenod are somehow behind this," Danttan said. "It's taking more and more of our resources away from confronting them. They pull a few small raids and we devote our limited resources to tracking them down instead of going after the invasion fleet that has taken a huge part of our territory."
"It's not the Blenod," Plelillo said. "I don't know how I know, but I know. It's someone else. Someone powerful."
"Which is why you kept your APCs stationed outside the GA embassy for months," Mewaffal said. "And what did you learn? Nothing."
"I still think the GA is behind it."
"Why?"
"I suppose it's because I don't believe it could be anyone else. And no, I have no proof. It's just a gut feeling."
"The attacks on the factories are an annoyance," Danttan said, "but that's all. It's time to take down the enemies we know."
"Okay, we'll make one last major effort to learn who's behind these attacks, and then we'll take on our other enemies. I want every member of the Metawasa, Riwaxgo, and Qummuc on alert in all large cities tonight. When these TFCs attack again, we need to catch at least one of them. And when we do, we'll squeeze him like a Chileeka fruit until his eyes pop out of his head and we learn everything he knows."
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Four
~ May 9th, 2287 ~
For the first time in months, Sydnee had been able to relax as the Justice headed for GA space at Light-9790, even though she knew she had to do whatever was necessary, and agree to whatever her superiors required, in order to return to Yolongus to recover the people she had left at the embassy. While leaving them behind certainly wasn't her fault, she still felt responsible for their situation because she was in command of the mission.
Looking for some activity to help her pass the time each day, Sydnee began spending time in the nursery, helping to feed and change the babies, or just hold and rock them while their mothers caught up on their sleep. It was the best experience she'd had since they'd arrived at Yolongus mont
hs earlier.
Can it really be just four months since we left GA space? Sydnee thought as she fed one of the babies. It seems like a year.
As she lay the sleeping infant down in one of the improvised cribs while intending to pick up another, she received a message via her CT.
"Captain, please report to the bridge," she heard Lt.(jg) Olivetti say.
Stepping outside the nursery area before touching her Space Command ring, she said, "I'm on my way."
*
Less than two minutes later, Sydnee entered the bridge. Lt.(jg) Olivetti was the Watch Commander and started to rise when she saw Sydnee, but Sydnee waved her down.
"What is it? A problem?"
"You might say that, Captain. We just received a strange audio message from the embassy. In the clear."
Turning to the com chief, Sydnee said, "Play the message."
It was definitely Blade's voice, although a little garbled, that said, "Sierra-Leader to Juliet-Leader. We're all alone down here. Can we please come home now?"
"That's all of it?" Sydnee said to the com chief.
"That's all we received."
"And it wasn't encrypted?"
"No, ma'am. It was sent in the clear."
Sydnee frowned. "Blade knows we left the Yolongus solar system days ago," she said to Olivetti.
"Aye, Captain."
"I don't like this. Why would he be asking to come home, knowing we've already left?"
"I don't know, Captain."
"Better turn us around."
"Aye, Captain." Raising her voice slightly Olivetti said, "Helm, reverse course."
"Aye, Commander, disengaging the drive and turning one hundred eighty degrees. Now resuming course under full power. Estimated time to Yolongus twelve days six hours and fourteen minutes."
"Carry on," Sydnee said, then turned and walked to her office. The muscles in the back of her neck, which had finally begun to untwist as she began to relax following the departure from the Yolongus system, were retying themselves, and they seemed even tighter than before. The delicious feelings of relaxation that had begun to spread through her body had disappeared completely. As they headed back towards Yolongus, she knew that once again she would be unable to think about anything other than the mission.
The package was still aboard, although she could have had him dropped off using the same transport system used to retrieve Winston. But his sudden appearance following two attacks on the capital would certainly have resulted in the Triumvirate once again turning an eye towards the GA as the assailant. So they would have to take him all the way back to the Denver and return him to Yolongus in a few months. If the Triumvirate then tried later to publicly associate his sudden reappearance with the attacks on the capital months earlier, they would appear foolish.
* * *
"Sierra- Leader," Sydnee said as she recorded a vid message that would be sent to Blade now that they had reached the Yolongus solar star system, "we've returned. We received your last message twelve days ago, but we were confused by what you said. Please acknowledge this message. Juliet-Leader."
After encrypting the message, Sydnee had the com chief send it, then she sat back to wait.
About ten minutes later she received a reply. It was a vid message and was properly encrypted.
"Welcome back, Captain. I'm sorry for the confusion of the last message. I'll explain when I see you.
"The APCs pulled out a couple of days after you did. I've had my people up on the roofs every evening and they swear no one is watching us. The power is back on in parts of the city near its center, but it's still dark here, and the locals go to sleep early. If any were watching us, we'd see their thermal heat signature moving around the house. If you approve, I'd like to bring the four shuttles, fully loaded to your location. We would depart this base five hours before dawn.
"Sierra-Leader out."
Sydnee released the breath she had been holding. She hadn't even realized she'd been holding her breath until the message ended. She had been expecting dire news, and it was nothing of the sort. She immediately sent another message in which she gave Blade permission to come to the ship after dark when he was sure they could leave the compound without being seen.
* *
Some eight hours later, four shuttles approached the Justice and began their docking procedures. Sydnee was waiting by the airlock hatch where Shuttle One had docked. When the hatch opened, there was exuberance both in the shuttle and in the Justice."
"Permission to come aboard?" Blade said with a smile.
"Granted, Major. Welcome home."
"Thank you, Captain. I'm glad to be home. We're going to need some help here. For this first trip, I've brought all the women who are in their second or third trimester. We couldn't bring them if they had to stand up, but we folded the seats and rigged the shuttle for ambulance mode for the women closest to delivery. We had midwives standing by, but fortunately none of the women went into labor during the trip up. The others all had a seat with room to stretch out. Shuttle One has the women closest to their delivery date, with Shuttle Two having the next closest group, and Shuttle Three having the third closest group. Shuttle Four contains all of the women who have delivered, and their babies."
Sydnee turned to the ship's medic and nodded. He stepped past Sydnee and Blade and entered Shuttle One.
"So you still have to return to make another trip?" Sydnee said matter-of-factly."
"Uh, actually we need to make two more trips."
"Two?"
"Yes, Captain. Uh, it's a long story."
"Summarize it."
"Well, uh, we were only able to bring sixty-six on this trip because of their physical condition. So, including the Marine personnel, we still have four hundred fifty-six in the embassy bunker."
"Four hundred fifty-six? How did two hundred five former slaves and their children become almost five hundred?"
"Well— as I said, it's a long story and I'd prefer to tell you over a cup of coffee once we've completed our trips."
Sydnee sighed and then said, "Very well, Major. Get those people up here and then we'll talk. I can't wait to hear this story."
"Thank you, Captain."
* * *
By the time the last of the people from the embassy had been brought aboard, the Justice crew had run out of places to put them. Every spare space, including the mess hall, was being utilized. In the morning, the people sleeping on the floor of the mess hall would have to vacate the area so food could be prepared and meals served. Food for the people in the habitat container that had originally held satellites would be delivered there because there just wasn't enough space to feed everyone in the mess hall. The final group from the embassy would live, eat, and sleep aboard the shuttles.
Once Sydnee was assured that everyone from the embassy was aboard and the embassy bunker had been resealed to prevent access by anyone not authorized to be there, Sydnee gave the order to again head for GA space.
She was in her office when Blade knocked.
"Captain, I want to thank you for coming back for us. I thought I would go crazy in the bunker with all those women and with babies crying constantly. I need to apologize for the message I sent. After we learned you were leaving and we understood your reasons, we believed we would be there for possibly as long as two years. It was maddening. I knew you would want to come back for us, but I also knew that once Space Command learned what we had done they probably wouldn't want you to ever enter Clidepp space again. So we'd have to wait until the pickup was authorized and someone else could be found who would take on the mission."
"Tell me how two hundred five slaves became four hundred ninety-three."
"After you left, we pulled a few raids with the hope we could make the original attacks appear to have been the work of a new Yolongi insurgent group called the Terran Freedom Coalition. That's how we came to have more slaves than when you left."
"A little more detail, please. I need it for my report."
"The discussions got more and more serious every day and finally I decided that rather than sit on our sixes for the next two years, I would try to make a difference. I also believed we might be able to make the Yolongi believe the earlier attacks were purely a domestic effort.
"We named ourselves the Terran Freedom Coalition. Most of the slaves had been slaves their entire lives and knew about slavery all over the planet. Pooling their information, we identified some of the worst slave owners and decided to do whatever we could to help the slaves at the factories owned by those bastards. Once the APCs left, we had free run of the planet.
"One night, the night of our first raid, we dropped flyers where the TFC took responsibility for the two attacks on the capital and asked the population to support us in our efforts. We used the shuttles to fly to the city where the slave owner with the worst reputation had his biggest factory. We landed on the roof, as we did in your plan for the capital, and stormed the factory. We had been told the slaves were kept in the basement. We took out the overseers, guards, and a few employees, then herded all the slaves into the shuttles. A few of the slaves were literally paralyzed with fear, and we had to carry them into the shuttles.
"And that's basically the story. In all, we burned down four factories and rescued about two hundred seventy more slaves. As with your plan for the capital attacks, we collected a ton of data from their computers before we burned down the factories."
"And you were never identified?"
"I don't believe so. We never lost a man on a mission, and the APCs never showed up at the embassy compound again. After the fourth factory, we stopped the raids. We just couldn't continue to grow the size of the groups in the bunker in case it took longer than two years to be rescued. As you know, survival often comes down to simply having enough food.