“They are too hard to train,” one of the junior grade ladies argued.
“For every human male we use we must provide armed guards, restraints, and be ever cautious to their poor quality of work,” another lady agreed as their entourage moved to the shuttle bay to watch the unloading of a new group of prisoners.
As the hatch opened, the group of lady officers all let out a groan and stepped back as the air around them was inundated with the smell of humans.
“Only the smell of these men is worse than their attitudes!” a more senior officer declared as several other ladies laughed in agreement.
To the Karduan nose humans smelled like the fat of animals. They were greasy, smelly and often made the average Blue’s stomach want to rebel. It was probably from their shocking diet of animal flesh and fats. To the race of vegetarians, the thought of eating raw or even cooked flesh was almost as repugnant as the smell of a human male.
“Why must we watch this?” a new lady to the fleet mistress’ staff whispered to a nearby comrade.
The staff grade officer shook her head as she looked to Mar-Odon who stood near the ramp of the shuttle.
“She is rumored to have unnatural tastes?”
The other officer’s face looked confused for a moment, but then her pale eyes widened as she realized what she was saying. Some of the upper caste used humans as fighting slaves or for practice to test their patar skills.
Many were sent to mining planets or were used for the Great Game. Others were being forced to operate captured human machines or ships while still others were left for the amusements of those who chose to indulge in such crude pleasures.
Fleet Mistress Mar-Odon of the House of Mar generally ignored the rumblings and rumors of her staff. At the great age of twenty cycles she was older than all around her, so old that she was next in line for a council seat. Though it was true that she had an insatiable lust for pleasure, a large stable of male companions and had even recently broken a human male to her will.
Her purpose this day was not one of diversion, but of intelligence. She like her mothers before her was one of the Prendere, a thought-seizer of her house. The human word was telepath and yet from her research the humans had no such thought-seizers. The humans were like her own race’s males in that they were dumb or at the very least ungifted.
Her people called those unable to use their minds to speak or look into another’s mind as Dolaz. To a Prendere, a Dolaz simply meant stupid.
At their prior stops they picked up prisoners from the more compliant human breakaway worlds. From these worlds she had already picked out a half dozen interesting males from the mix. They were common servicemen and officers of mid to lower grades.
Her staff had already turned the senior grade human leaders over to her interrogators and was gaining a great deal of useful information. Yet, sometimes these lower grade males were hiding information or in fact had something useful, but didn’t know that they even had it. She had even uncovered a senior officer trying to hide amongst the common men.
She was not looking forward to seeing or smelling the humans any more than her staff was yet it was a necessary chore that only she and four others in her fleet could perform. The other Prendere were already preoccupied with questioning and breaking down the defenses of the captive human civilian officials and senior military leaders.
Some of the humans even though they were Dolaz had managed to create ways to block or even mask their thoughts. In her study of this phenomenon she had found that like her own males some of these Earth men had discovered that they could hide their surface thoughts by using complex thinking, extreme emotions or advanced mathematics.
A few of them had formed more advanced blocks to their minds through religious or martial meditations. Unfortunately for the humans they like the inferior Karduan male could only mask their thoughts temporarily and were completely vulnerable to deep probes beyond the surface of their minds.
Taking a deep breath, Mar-Odon focused her mind and started her search of the thoughts of the new group of prisoners. It was difficult to scan in such a large group without touching them especially with so many emotions of anger and fear that were seeping from them.
Beside any signs of deception, she was looking for specific information. A Confederation cruiser called the Star Wolf had escaped from this very planet just a few months earlier. Since then there had been numerous sighting in this sector of this mysterious warship, but no one had been able to stop or find her.
This lone cruiser had managed to single handedly attack and destroy an entire fleet’s worth of ships including a squadron containing a star destroyer and a battle destroyer. Either of these ships let alone together with escort ships should have easily been able to defeat this lone and inferior enemy ship yet they had all lost to this single human cruiser.
The destruction of this mystery ship was her primary mission, one that was proving to be a mounting task. She was sure that this lone ship had to be getting help from other human worlds and that someone amongst these prisoners had to know where this rogue ship was hiding.
Austro Prime had been the world where this cruiser had escaped from and it was within the general vicinity of the sector that the ship had been operating in. The Council of Matrons could ill afford to lose another ship to this enemy vessel let alone spare an entire squadron to hunt it down.
The humans had finally halted their advance into their space and the battle lines had been stabilized. In the brief time that Kardua still held the advantage they needed to finish off any rogue worlds that were noncompliant and annihilate any remaining enemy ships trapped behind their lines. As soon as the prisoner transfer was completed her real mission would start.
As the prisoners were being unloaded she started her first step of her analysis. This step had nothing to do with her gift, but with her training in body language and observation. How did they stand and walk, what posture did they have, where were their eyes looking and the angle of their heads?
Once she acquired a likely candidate she would then send out her mind to touch his and exam his surface thoughts. Usually at this point the chase was over as the guilt or attempt at deception would be too overwhelming to effectively hide. If she found someone whose mind was clouded or whose thoughts were too erratic she would then move closer and touch that prisoner establishing a stronger link while probing deeper into his mind.
Her search was proving fruitless at first. These prisoners had been sitting around in confinement since the sector had been cut off during the initial offensive and the subsequent treaty. As she scanned likely candidates all she sensed was a common feeling of dread and fear. These men knew that their fates were now in the hands of their enemy, an enemy that was both foreign and alien to them.
The Fleet Mistress was about to take a break as her head was pounding and the overwhelming smell of humans was making her stomach rebel, but that was when she spotted another candidate.
What made her notice him was rather odd, he walked as the others did with his shoulders slumped down and his head angled towards the floor, but his posture was still seemingly defiant. Most captives by this point were either broken in spirit or had already tried to escape in a fit of fear and rage.
He seemed to still be a warrior, one who was just waiting for an unguarded moment while trying hard not to be noticed. Looking around her she saw that none of her fellow Karduans had even noticed him let alone observed his subtle bearing of character.
The second thing she noted was his age, he was young and in human terms handsome in a rather rough way. He was dressed in a dirty and torn Confederation navy uniform with the rank of a full lieutenant on his collar.
For one so young the rank was impressive or it noted how desperate the humans were to promote children so high. His arms were bound behind his back as were the other prisoners, but his left arm was encased in a crude white cast. Such casts she had seen before on planets that had lacked more advanced medical facilities.
; Reaching out her mind she sent her probe across the bay towards the young officer fully expecting to sense the normal fear and loathing like that of most of their other captives. To her surprise she sensed nothing at all. It was as if the young officer didn’t exist and was not even standing there.
Thinking that she was just tired, she once more attempted to seize his thoughts and scan the surface of his mind. Again she found herself feeling emptiness as her gift failed her. Panicking a little that her powers were at fault she turned to the man standing next to him and reached out with her mind. To her relief she quickly felt his thoughts of dread and doom.
“Bring that man to me!” she commanded as she pointed with her crook of office.
Two guardswomen in full body armor and armed with needle rifles rushed to do her bidding and quickly returned practically dragging the injured young man over to her.
Taking a step closer as the guards held him fast she grasped the sides of his head and she stared into his blue eyes. Unseen to both human prisoners and Karduan onlookers was the battle going on within the elder lady.
She mentality surged forward diving into the young human’s mind. After a moment she released her hold and took a step back as she involuntarily gasped for breath. Her staff looked to each other in confusion, as neither their lady nor any other Prendere had ever had such a reaction to a deep probe.
“Impossible!” Mar-Odon declared in shock as she reached to grab onto his head again.
It was like slamming into an immovable wall. Undaunted she once more reached out to try again. As her hands went to the sides of his head she saw the smallest of smiles start at the corners of his mouth. Hesitating she looked into his eyes and saw a twinkle of knowledge.
“You knew I’d fail,” she said in English as his smile broadened.
The young officer said nothing and quickly wiped the smile from his face returning to his former stoic continence.
One of her aides rushed to her side and grabbed her arm as she wavered on her feet for a moment. She had thrown so much of her energy into the failed probe that it left her momentarily weakened.
“My Lady, are you all right?”
Regaining her balance, she patted the younger woman’s arm signaling her to release her hold.
“Yes, I’m well, but have this one taken to my shuttle and keep him well guarded. Also find out as much as you can from the Austro officials as to his background.”
The aide nodded as a guard took the young officer away. She watched as he crossed the freighter’s bay to her personal launch. He was special, never had she been stopped from a deep probe not even by another thought-seizer.
She had once heard that a rival house had captured a human male that could resist their gifts, but she had dismissed it as a wild rumor. Now she was not so sure, but in any case she was looking forward to breaking this young man and finding out the extent of his ability to resist her. Turning back to the offloading captives she tried to return to the task at hand even while she struggled to put the strange young officer from her thoughts.
What more could go wrong? Mike thought as he was dragged to the Karduan shuttle. The old Karduan woman was not only a telepath, but from the silver vine and leaf patterns on her robes she was also a Fleet Mistress, the equivalent of a Confederation admiral. She had somehow spotted him in the crowd and his own gift of being a psi void was once more confirmed as he defeated her attempts at intrusion into his mind. His lack of any kind of surface thoughts had betrayed him as well as his own stupid smile.
The guards had forced him into the back of a Karduan shuttle and had thrown him into a rear cabin that was entirely empty. The hold even lacked seats and he finally sat down on the floor to await his captors’ pleasure. He was tempted to remove his false cast and fake cuffs, but decide that now wasn’t the time to make his move.
If he prematurely jumped the gun he might ruin it for the rest of the Werewolf teams. He also dismissed the thought of using his sub dermal comm. link. The neural communication’s unit was for after the shooting had started and would equally give him away if he used it prematurely. The only thing to do was to sit down and rest as he waited for the right opportunity.
Over the next two hours, six more prisoners joined him. They had come in one at a time as the door was opened and they were ungraciously tossed into the rear hold. Two of them were navy commanders, one was a civilian official, and two others were marine sergeants that were bound with heavy chains. He saw why they were also restrained as one of the sergeants turned to look back at their guard and call her a Blue bitch.
On the back of his neck was a cyber-jack neural interface. Both of these men had been hardwired and were either fighter pilots or commandos. Due to their branch and rank Mike correctly assumed that they were commandos.
The sixth man was no surprise, as he was dressed in a midshipman’s uniform. Gustov Jansen was unsmiling and lowered his blond head in shame as he tried not to meet Collin’s questioning eyes.
Before Mike could say a word the civilian official seated down from him pulled himself to his feet and rushed over to the young middy.
“Son!” Carl Jansen cried as he and Gus had a moment of joyous reunion.
A moment later the shuttle lurched as it powered up and left the freighter’s shuttle bay. No guard had entered or prepared them for take off and all seven men had to fight to keep from rolling or losing their balance.
As the shuttle steadied out introductions were made all around in whispered voices. Mike had been right about the sergeants they were both marine commandos who had been taken at the outbreak of Austro’s defection.
The two navy commanders were ship officers, the first was the former captain of the ISS Varuna and the second was the original first officer of the ISS Star Wolf. Both men had been taken captive while on the planet where they had been stationed while awaiting for their ships to be repaired. It was no surprise that they had been grabbed for interrogation by the telepath.
Once the father-son reunion was over, the two Jansens released each and turned to find Collins staring at them.
“Mike, I did what you said and tried to imagine I was in pain,” Gustov declared as he hoped that he hadn’t revealed anything to the enemy.
The other captives looked to the middy and then to Collins.
“What’s going on?” one of the marine sergeants asked.
Mike looked around the hold trying to determine if they were being listened in on. Signaling them to gather in close he spoke in a whispered voice.
“The old Blue that pointed you out is the Fleet Mistress or what we’d call an admiral. She is also a telepath and probably picked up something from your surface thoughts that made her think you were either hiding something or that you were important enough to be interrogated.”
“How do you know this?” the former commander from the Varuna asked, sounding a little skeptical of the young officer’s information.
In response Mike smiled and looked him right in the eye.
“I’ve had some experience with Blue telepaths lately and in fact I have had training to mask my thoughts from a navy commando.”
“Sir, then what are you doing here?” the other marine said still skeptical.
Collins let out a sigh, “I’m a what’s called a Psi Void and instead of reading anger or another strong emotion from me she sensed nothing at all and decided to examine me further.”
They seemed to be confused at this information and he decided to continue before they asked another question.
“Did the Fleet Mistress touch any of you?”
Their heads all shook no.
“What would that have done?” Carl Jansen inquired.
“It’s called a deep probe and would have penetrated your mind to look into your most deepest secrets and fears.”
This bit of information made them all grow quiet and it was almost a minute before someone spoke. The former XO of the Star Wolf broke their quiet contemplations.
“You said you have had tr
aining to block their scans?”
Mike nodded, “Yes sir, what you need to do is focus on something, a prayer or an old memory. Try to think of something painful or just plain get angry. You can also use complex math to block their scans, but the trick is keeping it up no matter what method you choose to use.”
“What about you?” his onetime rival Gustov asked.
He shrugged his shoulders in response, “I trust in my gift to hold out as long as it can. The real thing is for all of us to be ready to move when the time comes.”
The huddled group looked to each other questioningly.
“What do you mean sir?” one of the marines said in a lowered voice as the others anxiously waited for his answer.
It was in that moment that Collins had to make a decision.
“I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on, but let’s just say that other operations are currently in the works.”
As they looked at him oddly as he released his trick shackles and brought his arms to his front. Once there he worked the release clasp on his cast and opened it in front of them.
Inside the hollowed interior they could see that the cast was lined with a thin layer of aluminum looking metal paint. What they also saw was a miniature palm pad, a pocket automatic pistol and the metal cylinder of his extension sword. Other members of his team had similar setups some with two part inert explosives. One team member in each group was outfitted with a full torso cast and multiple weapons.
“Holy Shit!” Gustov exclaimed, even as his father told him to be silent and watch his language.
Mike quickly moved behind each of them and opened their binding using either his palm pad or the Karduan implant in his right hand.
Martin had figured out the override frequency to open enemy shackles and had implanted them with small crystal chips.
“Put out your shooting hand,” he commanded in a quiet voice. Moving amongst them he pricked each man in the palm of their hand with a tiny needle taken from the side of the palm pad. The Werewolves had also been fitted with weapons recognition chips, which would simulate a Karduan DNA signature and allow them to fire captured weapons.
The Log of the Gray Wolf (Star Wolf Squadron Book 1) Page 47
