Page 17 of Argen Mate
Chapter Nine
Argen
“I wish I could go with you,” Zoey lamented. “And don’t tell me it’s too dangerous. I think I would rather die with you than live without you.”
She looked up at me, her beautiful brown eyes full of apprehension.
“Nobody is going to die if I can help it.” I slid my arms around her and pulled her against me, just holding her. “You will have plenty to do once we start bringing people up. Time will pass quickly, and I will be back for third meal with you.”
Zoe laid her head on my chest, hugging me as she let out a sigh. “These months with you have been the best of my life. But I still want that house in the country and those kids you promised we would make, so don’t you go get killed on me Argen Trematu!”
As she said the last, she looked up at me and smiled uncertainly.
“I love you too,” I said then kissed her lips softly. “Try not to worry. I’ll be fine.”
Of course, I didn’t know that. I knew there was a lot that could go wrong with the whole operation. I would deal with them as they came. Worry was too close to fear, and fear could paralyze a person so they couldn’t function. I just wanted to get this done so we could all go to Farseek and start our new life together.
It was hard leaving Zoey behind onKurellisto begin my shuttle duties bringing up our people from Deng Yar. We both had jobs to do, and we both knew the risks. But then, as Zoe had said more than once, it could happen anywhere, anytime. One of us could die or be killed, and the other would be left alone.
I didn’t want that for Zoe or myself. In my ten years as a warrior, the possibility of death was always there, though it wasn’t something I thought about much. I was part of a team, and the people I worked with were my brothers and sisters. My younger self almost learned the hard way that I could cause the deaths of my comrades in arms by failing to do my job properly.
It was one thing to take chances with my own life, but not theirs. What I did that day in my fighter almost caused someone else to die in my stead. I would rather die myself than carry that responsibility and guilt for the rest of my life---not that I have a death wish.
My months with Zoey gave me more clarity on what was important in my life than ever before. The time as a slave and then an inmate on Julconi also changed me. I knew the depths of despair. Then I found Zoe and learned about ecstasy. But it was so much more than great sexual pleasure with her. It was exquisite.
Zoe issolmatu,my soul mate. Her love is unconditional, like mine for her. She brought joy into my life and allowed me to put the last two years behind me. We planned a life together to make a family and raise children together.
I had some land on Farseek, and there would be a home for us there when we got back. I refused to think that we might not make it there together. Some might think the life we planned was not that exciting, only Zoe and I agreed that we had had more than enough excitement to last the rest of our lives.
As I walked to the shuttle in the landing bay of Farseek Dreadnaught Four, I was remembering how Zoey and I stood holding each other in front of the door of our cabin before we left for our assignments. I was thinking how I loved holding her like that with her body tight against mine and her arms around me holding me. She pressed her face against my shoulder, and I stroked her curls, savoring the warmth of her body through our clothes. More than that, I knew beyond any doubt that I was loved.
Zoey was the most exciting thing that ever happened to me.
Four of our Dreadnaughts were already in the Deng Yar system whenKurellisarrived. Another four were at the edge of the system just beyond the orbit of Deng Yar Eight. Not long afterward we put into orbit of Deng Yar Five, and I shuttled over to Dreadnaught Four on the shuttle with Commander Maktu’s combat team. They dropped me off on Dread Four and then shuttled down to the planet while I picked up the Sargan shuttle. From there I went down to the planet for the first load of refugees. My landing target was designated number Three at the edge of one of the largest cities called Jarlem.
Commander Maktu’s ground team was running security at my landing spot. The shuttle fromKurelliswent down and dropped off the combat team. People were already lined up by the landing site with bags and bundles of their meager possessions to board either shuttle. They picked up the first load to go back toKurellis.
Most were Uatu, but many were not. We took them regardless. The other shuttle was taking off, and I was coming into land when the local constabulary arrived to try to stop us from “stealing” their slaves. The Dread One combat team easily subdued them. I watched through the hatchway at the loading ramp as a steady stream of people converged on Landing Three.
It appeared that the estimates by the recon teams were considerably lower than the number of people that were arriving. The advance team had done an excellent job of spreading the word.
Being a shuttle pilot going from space orbit to ground repeated for loads of passengers or freight is not the most exciting job among the stars. I reminded myself that it was crucial to getting our people out of slavery. The big Sargan shuttle was not all that complicated to fly once I learned where the controls were. We worked in ten-hour shifts round the clock once the ground teams subdued the Deng Ya security. I brought up about six hundred people on my shift alone.
They had estimated five thousand people originally, but by the fourth day we had brought up more than six thousand. At that point, they were predicting at least another three thousand were still trickling in. With seventy to eighty percent of the rescues being Uatu, Command decided to keep shuttling them up as long as they kept coming.
Every chance I got, I went back to the loading ramp, hoping to find my mother or some of my siblings among them. I saw some people who looked familiar, but no one I knew well. We had no way of knowing who we might find. Even if we didn’t find them, that didn’t confirm they died in the attack. They could be on other worlds we never checked.
Had we not heard from the Consortium, Command had all but decided this would be our last run in the Sargus Empire trying to find our stolen people. Now that we were to be paid, we had discussed among ourselves forfeiting our back pay in favor of making another search and rescue run for our people. At least four other worlds were holding Uatu people as slaves.
As the day progressed, no one wanted to say the operation was going better than expected, but I felt sure that most of us were thinking it. There were still a few hundred people at each site when the first Sargan battle cruiser blinked into the system. No one was significantly alarmed until three more blinked in along with a battle carrier full of single pilot fighters.
As soon as that happened, the additional four Dreads moved in to defend us.
That’s when things started to get interesting.
I still had at least three more runs to get the rescues and Commander Maktu’s ground team. It looked like some of the fighters were making a run at theKurellislanding bay to board it and take over the ship. One actually slipped in, but the security team surrounded the fighter and took him, prisoner, as soon as he climbed out.
The Dreads formed a blockade between theKurellisand the Sargan battlecruisers to protect the shuttles. We knewKurelliswas the prize they were after, but we expected they would attack the shuttles to keep them from rescuing our people.
