Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 2 - Hidden Menace (24 page)

‘Likewise Freya, now how many injured do you have here? Also has the Fenshilla commander offered any assistance or explanations for his attack? As for our injured we have some medical staff with us and I can see you have medical supplies.’

Freya supplied answers that were bleak about the Fenshilla and their motives, before she listed the number of injured. She then sought further information by providing an opinion of her own.

‘All our survivors were in suits trying to survive and expecting to fight Jerecab if we were boarded. The Fenshilla were a total surprise and we found them difficult to stop.’

Paul noted that the majority of Freya’s group were not marines before he made his sincere reply.

‘Well your group must have made a good defence even if you had few marines on your destroyers. We fought hard to prevent ourselves being captured despite both supply ships having marines involved in the rescue operation after they were originally disabled by the Jerecab. Commander Joel Everson escaped with his three destroyers, several supply ships and two of our sneak ships. Trader Captain Narindestat also escaped, but his ship was heavily damaged and four of the Fenshilla heavy cruisers later took up pursuit of her.’

Paul watched with Freya for a moment as the two groups of humans began to slowly introduce themselves and talk softly. Freya approached one of the other Barede women who also had long blonde hair, and handed her a length of plastic cord to tie back her hair. The Barede commander had ensured that he looked all the naked women in the eyes as a matter of setting an example to his own group of survivors. Paul knew that Freya was an attractive young woman commanding under very difficult circumstances. He noted the respect that Freya commanded with her own survivors, but he knew that it would be difficult to maintain this discipline under the savage treatment of the Fenshilla.

                                                                     ***

Omerio paced the deck of his cruiser and slowly rubbed his furry shoulders as he contemplated recent events. He knew subconsciously that the Barus all experienced an urge to rub or scratch their plain brown fur dating back to when they were conquered long ago by the Zronte. The Barus race had all once had patterns of gold stripes on their furry shoulders with the stripes denoting both class status and breeding. The commander made a forced effort to both stop his rubbing and to ignore the direction his mind was taking him with the association. He knew that it was futile to brood over their indentured status as vassals after their gene pool had been tampered with long ago by both the Zronte and the Fenshilla.

Tamerio could see his friend was deep in thought and he silently waited for several moments before he spoke two brief sentences.

‘Captain, the humans should have completed an ambush over the last day or so. If we search the next three star systems we may encounter damaged Jerecab ships.’

Omerio looked over the navigation display as he curtly replied.

‘We will only search the next two systems as they are the most likely return routes that the damaged ships will take. We will know in three hours when we make the next hyper jump if our plans are valid.’

The allotted time went by and the Barus squadron took the next hyper jump on the long journey towards Earth. Fortunately the star system was rather compact and consisted of a small red star and three smaller planets, so Omerio knew that their time here would be brief. He watched the navigation screen update with the latest sensor information before he gave his orders.

‘All ships are to try and run down the lone Jerecab frigate running away from us at speed. The four more distant frigates are obviously damaged and in lose formation.’

The Barus captain watched in a detached manner as his sixteen much larger cruisers slowly overhauled the first frigate and blew it into atoms with a single broadside from their powerful lasers. The four damaged frigates were also quickly overhauled and destroyed, before the Barus squadron moved on to the next hyper jump location.

After three more hours Omerio cancelled the next hyper jump as the squadron arrived at the location and he sat back still worried. The captain knew that the humans must have done damage to the Jerecab, but he could not help feeling that he had overlooked something. Omerio turned to Tamerio standing at his own console nearby and sought his opinion on his main concern.

‘Now we know that Admiral Baunrus brought with him nearly three hundred ships, but the question is now of how many other frigates do the Jerecab have elsewhere?’

The two friends looked at the generic map of the nearby star systems and quickly revised their plans. The Barus squadron then took up a patrol across the three likely star systems that Jerecab reinforcements would have to cross to reach Earth.

                                                                     ***

Eight hours had gone by after the last group of survivors had arrived, and the Fenshilla guards had earlier taken selected human males to one side and had then given them another solid beating. The beaten men, including Paul Burgess, were now being tended to by medical staff. Freya had noted at the time that only the larger Fenshilla males had been present during the beatings.

Freya now watched with suspicion as six of the smaller Fenshilla females, who appeared to be slaves, now walked into their prison. The alien females, all with minor injuries after being beaten themselves, stood quietly in a line several metres in front of the naked and seated humans. The accompanying Fenshilla males now positioned themselves at either end of their females and their stronger odour made the humans gag. She noted that the female slaves were young adults and that they did not respond to the jeers of the Fenshilla males.

The commander watched as the alien females took off their own assorted belts and the kilts around their waists. She also noted that senior Fenshilla officers, including their commandant was watching from the window above their prison. The Fenshilla overseer stepped up to the females and inspected them for several moments before he summoned five other male Fenshilla forward. He gave them a curt order before taking his kilt and belts off, and Freya watched as the rest of the selected males also dropped their kilts.

The overseer selected a female for each of the male Fenshilla after making his own choice first. The females promptly offered themselves to the males, and a muted buzz came from the assembled humans as the Fenshilla couples noisily mated.

After several minutes the Fenshilla overseer was sated and still naked he walked over to the humans. The women drew back from him by reflex as he struck at two men with his short whip and pulled them forward. Two other Fenshilla males came forward and each selected two more men that were pulled forward and struck a few times.

The Fenshilla then selected six women, including the injured Emma and one of the female Barede colonists. Freya watched in rage as the men were each assigned a woman, with Phil Peters trying to protect a distraught Emma. The human couples were then pushed roughly into each other’s arms.

The couples all looked at Freya, and Emma, the smallest and youngest woman selected, now began to whimper in both pain and fright. Freya stepped forward and gestured to the overseer in what she hoped was non threatening manner. The overseer sneered at her for several seconds as she slowly moved between Emma and Phil. Freya kept her back straight and her eyes on the rest of the crew as she gave her orders.

‘Back you go Emma and try to remain calm. The couples each will comply with the Fenshilla’s commands. The Fenshilla cannot be reasoned with and our humanitarian ideals are alien to them. Remember that this does not change who we are or our respect for each other’s rights.’

Phil started to object, but he promptly knocked to the ground by a blow from the overseer’s stout whip handle. Freya placed herself between the overseer and the now sprawling Phil, and the alien obviously had orders to not strike her, as it stepped back several paces. The other couples were watching as Freya laid Phil on his back and promptly sat astride him.

Freya carefully cradled his injured arm as he regained his breath from being struck down, and she was relieved that it was not broken. She also noted the large bruises over his large dragon tattoo were the coarse Fenshilla guards had played something called ‘beat the Vorinne’. The commander leant forward and spoke softly to Phil, who was trying to pick her off him with his uninjured arm.

‘Phil, it is okay for you to do this as we have to save the lives of our crew. Now we must lead the way for the other couples selected. Fortunately all the female crew have skin implants so conception is impossible for years.’

To add emphasis to her instructions, Freya now ground herself firmly into Phil’s crotch, and he flinched in both surprise and arousal. She knew that they were both married with a family each back on distant Earth, but she also knew that only their immediate survival mattered for her fellow prisoners. The commander noted that the five other couples were slowly touching and reassuring each other, as she placed her mind in neutral and concentrated on Phil.

Freya knew that she could not think about what they were doing as she wanted it over with as soon as possible. Phil was still recovering from being knocked down, so she went about the forced coupling with savage vigour and after several minutes Phil was spent underneath her. The commander noted that the other couples were also active even as Phil stammered his apology in acute embarrassment.

‘Commander, I am sorry for this and I hope you have not suffered by my lack of control….’

Freya merely smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before standing again. She helped Phil to his feet and tried not to look at her bewildered crew standing nearby. Three other couples had also mated, and after several minutes they now stood and moved back to join the other prisoners. The remaining two human couples attempted to break off their efforts and return to the huddled group. But the Fenshilla overseer merely prodded them back together again.

Freya again left the huddled prisoners and slowly walked towards the two couples, as she tried to ignore the fluid now running down the inside of her thighs. The Fenshilla sneered again at Freya and considered pushing her away as well, but she pointed out the obvious injuries to the two couples now standing nervously in front of her. The overseer glared at her and the two couples for several moments, before he turned away and finally sought out his kilt and equipment belts.

Freya quietly motioned the remaining two couples to return to the huddled prisoners. The Fenshilla overseer then led his troops and the female slaves out of the hold. Two of the Fenshilla females first ensured that all the males had left, before they slowly came forward and gave full bows of respect to Freya. The commander considered this gesture of respect stonily as the last Fenshilla female left the hold. Freya then walked quietly into one corner to be alone for a few moments.

Paul Burgess slowly limped over to check the welfare of the Barede woman who had just managed to mate successfully with a total stranger. Phil eyed Commander Burgess cautiously as the Barede officer now regarded him in turn. But Paul merely shook Phil’s shoulder, and the two large men talked quietly amongst themselves in a sombre manner for several minutes.

Freya now buried her head into the corner of the hold and tried to fight back tears of rage and humiliation. She was already missing her husband and her two young girls, and her recent act just highlighted the desperate plight they now found themselves under. Rebecca and another woman from her own crew came over and gently laid their hands on Freya’s shoulders as she wept for several minutes.

Much later, Paul and Phil came to sit with Freya and Rebecca and the four officers carefully began to lay out a plan for their next course of action. By silent mutual understanding, no one made mention of the recent events in the hold, though Paul did later commend a still shaken Freya on her courage and self sacrifice before he slowly moved away.

‘Commander, we are both of equal rank and your actions have highlighted the quality of your leadership and courage. I am prepared to follow your leadership and instructions as this will help retain discipline within our group of survivors.’

Freya took in his words and sat back in her spot to further consider her plans for the survivors. She was feeling very subdued as she knew that they could remain Fenshilla slaves with no possibility of returning home for the rest of their lives. The commander knew that they would not accept this situation without a fight, plus the latest risk of providing human babies to the Fenshilla for their own purposes was unacceptable. The commander coldly reviewed the desperate plan she was considering, before she stood to rejoin the other officers talking several metres away.

                                                                     ***

Chapter 12

In nearby slave quarters, one of the female Fenshilla slaves who had been mated in the hold quietly told the other slaves of the courage of the female human. The Black Claw faction had employed more savagery than was usual, and the slaves all knew their captor’s obsession with the ‘Fountain of life’ was a big part of the human’s current misery. The female Fenshilla were all members of the Silver Guards that had been captured several weeks earlier by the commandant’s ships. The slaves all agreed that they would look out for the humans and attempt to communicate with them as soon as possible.

On the bridge of the flag ship, the Fenshilla commandant watched the navigation screen with renewed interest. His four damaged cruisers had made another standard hyper jump on their long slow journey home. The screen showed three smaller disabled ships nearby and he gave a series of orders.

‘Stand by for further boarding operations and we will use the same methods as before. Note that these ships appear to have been damaged several days ago and there should be minimal resistance. Any survivors from these ships will be kept separately for the other humans we have already captured.’