Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (23 page)

"Now see here!" the man began. "I will not be spoken to in such a manner! I'm…" the man tried to reply but Ian stopped him.

"Corporal?" Ian called to one of the troopers holding the crowds back.

"Sir?" the woman asked as she stepped forward.

Ian pointed to Herstel. "This man doesn't care for the way he's being treated here. Please see that he is taken to the edge of the camp and released. He no longer requires our assistance."

The woman grinned hugely, but the man sputtered. "Now see here! You can't do this to me! I'll have you arrested and drummed out of the military!" Two other soldiers took the man by the arms and led him away. Ian turned back to the corporal. "Keep an eye on him, and let him back in in twelve hours. You can do it sooner if you think he's learned anything."

She nodded. "Understood, Sir, we'll drop him near one of the guard posts, and they can keep an eye on him."

Ian nodded. "I don't want him hurt; just scared a bit. Make sure he has plenty of water, but I wouldn't be too concerned about food; I think he'll be fine for missing a meal or two."

"I'll take care of it, Sir," She replied and saluted. Ian returned the salute and she took off after the two soldiers.

CHAPTER TEN

While he'd been speaking to Herstel and the corporal, Ian had noticed Serena seemed distracted. He moved over next to her. "What's bugging you?"

"One of the guards over there reminds me of one of my granddaughters. She'd be that age now. The problem is, she was on Premora with the rest of my family when it fell," Serena replied.

"What was her name?" Ian asked gently.

"Jarla. I admit, she was only six cycles old the last time I saw her, but it's really bugging me," Serena replied.

"Not a very common name. It means 'sacred' or 'blessed' in ancient Talosian doesn't it? Do you think she would remember you?" Ian asked.

Serena nodded. "It means 'precious' actually. She should remember me; she was always following me around when I was home on leave. I didn't mind at all, either; she was a great kid."

Ian got Sam's attention and waved him over. "Sam, Serena thinks she recognizes one of the Marines in that group over there," Ian nodded his head in their direction. "The problem is the girl is supposed to be on an occupied world. Think you can find out if her name is Jarla?"

"Not a problem, Sir. What do I do if I confirm it?" Sam asked.

Serena looked up at him. "We'll need to speak with her, Officer. She shouldn't be here."

Sam nodded to her once. "Aye, Ma'am. I'll get her back to the Raptor without causing a scene. I'll backfeed the conversation to you so you know what's going on. May I borrow Lissa? She can get control of their armor faster than I can."

Ian nodded, and Sam grabbed Lissa, giving her a quick explanation while they walked toward the three female Marines. They had removed their helmets, and Lissa nodded her agreement to his plan. She was smiling softly by the time Sam approached the women.

Suddenly Ian and Serena could hear Sam's voice over their comms; "Excuse me, ladies, I'm Officer Sam and this is Officer Lissa of the Raptor
Damocles
. Might I beg your names?" Sam was using every ounce of charm he could muster, and he wasn't an unattractive man. The women responded almost automatically.

"Certainly Officer, I am Sergeant Laorna, this is Corporal Kinber, Private Jarla, and Private Shomes. What can we do for you this day?" The woman smiled at him in a friendly manner.

"Well, Lissa and I just found out about a special shipment the Admiral ordered for the folks here and we're gonna need some help driving the sleds back. If I clear it with your CO and offer to buy you ladies lunch, would you be willing to give us a hand?" Sam asked very politely. "All you'll have to do is drive the sleds back here; no heavy lifting involved, I promise."

"Throw in your contact info and I'll go!" Kinber replied, grinning.

"Kinber, you're such a slag," Jarla replied chuckling.

The Sergeant laughed along with the others and agreed for the group. She gave Sam the name of their CO so he could clear his borrowing of his soldiers for a time. The captain had no problem since they were off-duty anyway, and the group headed for the landing area.

"It's all set-up," Sam replied. "You guys seem close, been friends long?"

"We're all from the same planet except for Shomes; she's from Crellilte III. We met in training and have been friends ever since," Laorna replied. "Where are you from?"

"A small planet you've probably never heard of. It's called Atlas. I'm told that the system wasn't on Talosian charts," Sam replied.

"Officer Lissa, are you from that planet as well?" Jarla asked innocently.

"Not exactly, I'm from one of the moons, so I guess you could say I am," Lissa replied. "Sam and I only met when we began Raptor team training."

"What's that like? We've all heard hundreds of rumors about it, but no one really knows. Your whole sector is like that, really," Shomes said.

"Well, mostly, it's classified. But honestly, it's way harder than basic training was. It even seemed impossible a couple of times, but we made it through," Sam replied, making small talk and flirting with the girls.

Ian glanced at Serena who had a concerned look on her face. "Did you notice they avoided saying their planet of origin?"

Serena nodded. "Yes, they skipped right over it. My question is, who are these women?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out," Ian said and lifted his cuff to access his comm. "Lissa, don't acknowledge. Try to get them to say what planet they’re from and what unit they're with."

While Ian was speaking to Lissa, Laorna asked her what it was like spending so much time on missions cooped up with such a handsome man.

"Well, it's sure isn't boring!" Lissa replied jovially. "Besides, there are four other members of the team, and none of them are exactly ugly or hard to get along with. Besides, I'm sure you know what it's like being stuck on a ship with attractive men! What unit are you guys with?"

"Freise Company, second platoon. We have all women in our squad, so we have to go hunting when we're stuck on the transport. Not that we mind keeping to ourselves, but sometimes a girl just needs a change, you know?" Kinber replied. "None of us have any ranking in our house, so we can do pretty much what we want."

"So you're all from the same House then? Let's see, that's House…" Lissa said like she was thinking hard.

"Harclen, Yes, we're all from the same House. The girls and I are from Rijiz out near the occupied zone. When Premora fell we thought we would be next, but they never showed up, thank the gods," Laorna replied.

After a bit more flirting and small talk, they arrived at the landing area. Of course, there was no shuttle.

"Damn, they're late. Come on ladies, let's go to the Raptor, I can get you that lunch I promised and find out where the hell that shuttle is," Sam said casually.

Lissa and Sam let the women precede them into the ship, and Lissa stunned them as soon as they were inside. All four women hit the floor, unconscious.

Sam picked up Jarla first and carried her into the common area where he removed her armor and put her into the autodoc to scan her body for suicide devices. The machine found two; one was a poison capsule in her mouth, the other was a remote kill device implanted in her chest. The woman was also suffering from radiation exposure. Lissa had the machine remove both devices but held off the treatment for radiation as it was not life threatening at the moment. Sam put her in restraints and placed her on a bunk. Then he carried the next women in. This time, Lissa took her armor off while Sam went for another woman. By the time the last woman was in the autodoc, Jarla was beginning to come around. All of them had the suicide devices and all of them had radiation sickness.

"What… what's going on? What happened?" she asked, fearfully.

Sam smiled at her sadly. "You're being sequestered for the time being my dear. Your grandmother recognized you."

"My Grandmother? I don't have a grandmother, Sam. They all died years ago," Jarla replied.

"Commander Serena is alive and well, Jarla. She would like to speak to you," Lissa replied gently.

"No! She's dead! I saw her ship destroyed!" Jarla replied with tears in her eyes. "She died trying to protect us."

"Shut up you stupid slag!" Laorna said angrily. "What have you done to us?"

"We ran all of you through the autodoc and removed the kill devices you had implanted. We have some questions we'd like for you to answer," Lissa replied neutrally.

"Damn, I told you slags it was too dangerous to meet up," Laorna said. "Now we're really shafted."

"Not really," A new voice spoke from the door. "But if you don't answer our questions you will be, and not in a good way either."

The women all turned to look at the new man. He was young and handsome and they recognized him immediately without needing to see the Admiral's rank on his armor.

"Sam, can you and Lissa take them up to the ship and come back? As much as I would like to be present for their questioning, I need to finish this tour. I'll let Major Eischens know he has guests on the way so he can make the appropriate accommodations for them," Ian said.

Sam nodded, but Lissa answered. "Of course Sir, we can handle this."

"Okay, Lissa, take Sam into the cockpit and seal the door. I need to tell these ladies something I don't want either of you to hear. I'll let you know when you can return," Ian ordered.

Lissa and Sam stepped through the hatch into the cockpit and closed the door, leaving Ian alone with the four women.

"Listen closely, because your lives depend on it." Ian said getting their attention. When they were all looking at him, he used his ability on them. "For the next week - ship time, you will answer any and all questions asked of you truthfully and as completely as you can. You will not try to escape, kill yourselves or each other, or cause trouble for those guarding you. You will obey the orders of your guards and those sent to ask you questions. Do you understand my instructions to you?"

All four women nodded. Ian nodded back to them and knocked on the hatch Sam and Lissa had used. When it opened, Ian smiled at them. "Take them up to the ship, but try to keep it quiet. I'll tell Eischens the same thing; but use only Terran Marines as guards. We don't know who else might have been planted with the Talosian Marines."

"Sir, to that end, might I suggest we also keep them in the isolation cells? These are high risk prisoners," Sam suggested.

Ian nodded. "Major Eischens will take charge of them from you. He'll make the arrangements. Have a safe and quiet trip." Ian said and turned to leave. He stopped at the hatch and turned back to the four women. "One thing before I leave; is there anyone else in your unit that works for the Empire?"

"Lieutenant Boughow gives us our orders, there are a couple of others in other units but I don't know who they are," Laorna replied through gritted teeth.

Ian nodded. "Thank you.” Ian turned back to Sam and Lissa. "Hold here until we can add the Lieutenant. I'll have Jerry and Shannon go get her." He paused and looked at Jarla. "Citizen Jarla, it is my happy duty to inform you that your grandmother, Commander Serena, is alive and well. She has asked to see you after your initial interrogation."

As Ian turned and left, Sam turned and looked at the former sergeant closely. She had obviously tried not to tell the Admiral what he wanted to know, but it was like she couldn't stop. The other two women looked scared and Jarla was crying.

"Whatever the Admiral told you must have been pretty convincing. I would suggest you continue being as forthcoming with your interrogators when we get to the ship. If you do, you might just survive this ordeal," Sam finished. "It is my duty to inform you that as a condition of your incarceration, anything you say or do is being recorded. After your interrogation, an independent advocate will be appointed to you if charges are leveled against you as a result of your information. Since this case involves Alliance security, there is the possibility you may be remanded over into Alliance custody. If that is to occur, and in accordance with Alliance law, you will be assigned an Alliance Advocate prior to your extradition." Sam continued to explain their rights to them as required by law and Raptor Command mandate.

Before the now former lieutenant joined the four women, Ian gave him the same commands he had given the women. Shannon had lured the lieutenant to the landing area under the ruse of one of the girls getting hurt while helping her teammates. When they arrived at the landing area, the Lieutenant had become suspicious and Shannon had stunned him. The action was seen, but caused only a little commotion. Very shortly, the Raptor lifted off with its prisoners.

Ian and his party finished the tour of the camps and returned to their ships. Ian had told T'rolith about the sabotage and the prisoners taken. By the time they returned to their ships, Major Eischens had completed all but one of the initial interviews.

As it turned out, the saboteur had died in the explosion. However, the woman had been one of Laorna's troopers. The Lieutenant had given her the device and sent her to place it. The rest of the squad had gone with her, but had been able to get far enough away to survive the blast. The four women were being treated for radiation poisoning in the detention center Medbay under heavy guard.

In preparation for handing planetary control over to civilian authority, Ian formally dismissed Admiral T'rolith and his fleet, with gratitude. One Alliance battle cruiser would be remaining as a guard for the planet, as well as a Talosian Marine battalion. The Alliance ship would be relieved as soon as the Talosians could send a ship of their own to do so. Admiral T'rolith was invited to the dinner Ian was having as a matter of protocol. To the Alliance, it was a necessary function to have a 'victory dinner' after a major battle.

The dinner went well and the Alliance contingent departed after a short tour of the newly rebuilt
Star Dancer
. The Alliance fleet departed that night for High Command and a new assignment.