Page 13 of Shavin's Mate
CHAPTER TEN
SAHVIN
I couldn’t blame Nora for being worried about our next mission. Things could easily go wrong at every turn. After being taken and enslaved myself, then saved by the mercenaries I could not hesitate to help them free more of their people.
Since I was mated to one of the Earth women as Pyrr Avantu and Commander Maktu were, I had been drawn into their inner circle. They gave me the rank of Lieutenant because of my experience and skill which I demonstrated through testing and performance. I was placed in the armored company and fitted with a superior full body armor suit and weapons array. That was one advantage of defending the Consortium, Pyrr told me. Their technology was the best in the sector.
Even though I officially finished my training, I practiced in full armor almost daily with my team. Lives would depend on my ability to fight as though I were born to it.
As we neared Julconi, Commander Maktu called a meeting of officers and team leaders after our regular training session.
“Dread Eight contacted us while we were in training. In addition to some three thousand Uatu in the slave camp on Julconi, there are also several hundred Uatu among the general population.” Commander Maktu began.
“Lieutenant Commander Prevatu is sending down a team to seek out those people and direct them to a rendezvous point where they can be picked up.”
“Is that even feasible?” Pyrr asked. “It’s chaos, down there. Over 100,000 inmates free to wreak havoc.”
“But, they have no modern weapons. They are relegated to using bow and arrow, spears, knives, and swords. Our warriors will be fully armed, but not armored.” Maktu replied. “They went in as new prisoners with their weapons concealed. They’ve been there for a week, now. We should know by the time we get there how many additional Uatu they ferreted out.
“Between the eight Dreads, we will have in the area by the time we get there we will have twenty-four shuttles landing and taking off in succession. If each shuttle makes two trips, we should be able to get our people off-world with no more than two trips each.”
“That’s going to take every spare pilot we have plus the civilian pilots from theKurellis,” Pyrr said.
“It will take almost forty hours to transport almost four thousand more or less, plus our forces,” Maktu added. “While we are down on the planet we will have four Dreads in high orbit patrolling and scanning for battlecruisers. There are no new ships bringing prisoners for at least a month.”
“Are the females going to be helping with loading passengers like they did at Tegliar Station?” I asked.
“No,” Maktu said, “while they are more than capable, we cannot afford to risk any of our females on a mission like this. It’s risky enough having them on the Dreads, but soulmates must not be separated for long periods.”
“Plus, we have a shortage of females to males, two to one,” Pyrr said. “We don’t have enough to repopulate at this point. We may have to seek them elsewhere.”
“Perhaps there are some females imprisoned that we can liberate as well,” I suggested. “We have enough room and supplies on Kurellis to support over ten thousand people.”
“That’s a good suggestion,” Maktu said. “I will send word to our teams to liberate as many females as possible.
“But what quality of female will we get from a prison?”
“There are probably many men and women who haven’t really done anything,” I replied. “People like those who started the revolution in the Earth women’s story---dissenters.
“The Sargan people are as much slaves as we were. Most of them just don’t realize it. The Empire rules their lives, but by providing slaves to work for them, they were under the illusion they were in charge. They have been indoctrinated since childhood to dedicate their lives to the service of the Empire. Anyone who dissents and tries to turn others against the Empire can easily end up in prison.”
“Well, said Sahvin. AI is sending that story out continuously at intervals,” Maktu said. “It might take years to have any effect, but it’s certainly worth doing. That’s all I have for you today. Dismissed.”
