Page 26 of Argen Mate
Chapter Thirteen
Argen
I knew Zoe was safe on theKurellisbut the nights were endless without her. I spent a lot of time at the observation portal since Dread Four sent the shuttle to pick us up in the middle of nowhere on Deng Yar. We were only stranded for a couple hours, but it was already too late when I was knocked out of orbit. I got to seeKurellisblink out as I was spiraling toward the planet.
As Zoe would say, it plain sucked being separated like this. Then to learn that the Alliance was demanding the return of the Earth women. Commander Eldiotu assured me that the Consortium would negotiate to let the women choose whether they wanted to go back. I knew Zoey wouldn’t go unless I did.
“Trematu, I thought I’d find you here,” said Zorem Pegitu. “I’m glad you made it out.”
“Me too,” I said. “Except now I’m separated from mysolmatu.She’s on theKurellis.That’s where I met her, the day I got off Julconi.”
“Eldiotu thinks we’ll catch up with them once we get back in Consortium space.”
“I sure hope so. Otherwise, it’s going to be three months,” I said. “I feel like it’s a sentence.”
“I can’t say I know how you feel, because I don’t. You did a good thing though. They’re saying they didn’t think anyone could have put down that piece of Sargan junk the way you did. You saved fifty lives and your own.”
“And I lost my second ship in a row.”
“Not like it was your fault. That Pican slaver was a piece of junk, too. It couldn’t even get out of its own way,” Pegatu said. “But that landing on Deng Yar was spectacular.”
“Thanks, I’m just glad it worked. I wish I could have gotten picked up in time to get back toKurellisbefore it blinked out,” I said. “Zoey probably freaked out when she heard the Alliance was demanding their return to Earth.”
“They’re not going to let that happen. You said one of them was Commander General Maktu’ssolmatu.You all declared it.”
“Yes. It’s just bureaucracy. We’ll get it settled. All they need to know is the women aren’t being held against their will. It’s just a matter of time.”
“And it’s just a matter of time before we catch up with theKurellis. Go get some sleep. I’m going to,” Pegatu said.
“Might as well try.”
We didn’t hear back from the Consortium for almost a month. In the meantime, we were busy planning the logistics of getting everyone transported from theKurellisdown to Farseek once they put into orbit there.
They had only three shuttles and five pilots. There were over ten thousand people to move down to the planet from orbit. Everyone was not going to the same town, and those who were not from Farseek were still finding out where they were going.
It took less time than expected to make repairs on Dread One so we could all head back to Farseek. There were still some sections that remained closed off for repair. But the stardrive was back online. I never made it back to Dread One. There was no need to get out a shuttle to send me back when I was not needed. All of my close friends were onKurellis. I was just marking time until we got to Farseek.
We had the same information asKurellison where we would be taking people on Farseek so we could work on the logistics of moving them all. Each shuttle trip could take an hour or more depending on where in orbit around Farseek theKurelliswould be at any given time. We had thirty shuttles to move over ten-thousand people if all the dreads make it back in time.
Each shuttle could carry fifty people. As yet there was still no mass transportation, so they needed to determine where people were going on the planet. Even before the raids, mass transportation on Farseek was limited. Most of it involved moving agricultural products with most people using their personal fliers to get from place to place on the planet.
We were limited on how far we could go with the actual schedule because we didn’t get the complete roster beforeKurellisblinked out but we determined that we could get it done in a few days without the pressure of worrying about the Sargans attacking us.
We finally heard back from the Alliance via the Consortium regarding our Earther mates. The Alliance accepted oursolmatudeclaration, requesting Zoey and the other women complete vid-forms for the record so they could notify their families. We got that news just days before we arrived to orbit Farseek.
We already knew it wasn’t the Farseek of our memories, and it would never be again. Although I hadn’t been back as Commander Maktu and the rest of the Brigade, I’d seen the vids of the aftermath. Seeing it in person could only have been worse.
The cities were gone. We’d only had one large city Waseytu which was now just a village. The rest of the planet was lush and green, but weeds had encroached on much of the farmland in three years. Villages had been rebuilt in what had been the five largest population centers of Farseek. Homes had been replaced on the farms of the Farseek Brigade.
Not knowing who they would be bringing back to Farseek, not all of the people they were returning would find homes rebuild on their original property. They were given a choice of villages where homes were available and assigned a house that matched their needs as closely as possible. Farseek natives got the first choice. Other immigrants were given the second choice and generally chose, homes near the Farseek natives they befriended.
I had received vids of my family’s property and the new home that replaced mine. That new home was the only one on the property because none of the rest of my family had been located.
A third communiqué came in from the Consortium just days before we reached Farseek. They had an updated list of captives taken from Farseek by the Sargans. The Alliance sent in Defense Force battleships and Law Enforcement ships to track down people stolen from their territory and assist the Consortium in taking down the Sargus Empire. Combined forces set up a blockade of the Sargus System and sent in ground teams to bring down the Emperor Arbentine Sargus and his tyrannical regime.
The Consortium had formed a treaty with the Alliance to squeeze the Sargus Empire into submission. That news alone was fantastic but in addition to that my mother, sister and one brother were on the list of captives from Farseek. The two interstellar entities would be sending ships to various systems to retrieve the various people who had been enslaved and transferring them back to their own worlds. We all cheered when we heard the announcement.
We thought the Consortium betrayed us, but they didn’t. It took them long enough to figure out what happened, but now they were trying to make things right.
