Shadow Force 1: the Garden Planet (11 page)

“Max, we’re in no position to help them.” I stated what I thought was the obvious fact.

“We can try.” Sara said.

I was beginning to wonder if my opinions mattered at all. “How?” I finally asked, seeing that they were serious.

“All we need to know is their location.” Max added.

“Well, why don’t we just call them up and ask?” I said, as sarcastically as I could.

“That’s more or less what I had in mind.” Max replied, my sarcasm passing right by him

“Oh really!” I said. “This I have to see.”

“You will.” Max responded; then asked me if I could contact Harrod on the com unit.

“Harrod?” Max said once the connection had been established. “Would it be possible to view any other merchandise currently available? We would like to purchase some replacements.”

“I’m sure I could arrange something for tomorrow.” Harrod replied.

“That’s too late; we will be leaving directly after the auction.” I added.

“The only thing I could arrange in that time frame would be a visit to the black market warehouse. Still those girls have hardly been kept in the same condition as what you already have.”

“That would be fine.” I injected. “We only want them for one thing, and our tastes are not as sophisticated as yours.”

“Then I shall arrange it, let’s say at one today.”

“Fine.” I said. “We’ll meet you at the entrance to the spaceport.”

“Until then.” Harrod replied, signing off.

We left the girls to handle setting up the ship to accommodate as many “guests” as possible, and went to meet Harrod.

“There are twelve slaves available at the moment; yet I cannot vouch for their suitability. I think you may find that your tastes have been altered by your current cargo. I know mine has.” Harrod said as the transport whisked us through the city.

“We shall see.” I answered, and we did. The warehouse was located in a rundown residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Khomeini City. There were no obvious defenses that I could identify, a fact I mentioned to Harrod.

“They move the location frequently, that and fear are the primary defense.” He informed us, as we made our way to the door.

We were met by a huge man, who grunted something unintelligible as he motioned us to follow him. The building had at some time in the past been a high end residence. Although now covered in layers of grime it bore more resemblance to the inside of an ore freighter, than a planet side residence. Our guide led us to the second floor where instead of the individual rooms that I had expected to find, there was instead one large room. Apparently all the partition walls had been removed. These details I remembered later, all my attention at that moment was taken up by the scene before me. Chained at four foot intervals along the back wall were eleven women, totally naked, and severely battered. Those that were conscious stared at us with dull almost lifeless eyes. The twelfth was being raped, bent over a chair as the second man forced himself into her.

“Not quite what you’re accustomed to.” Harrod said lightly. “But any one of these should suit your purposes.”

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. How could any human being treat another like this? Or in Harrod’s case arrange it to be done to another. Eventually the second guard noticed us. After finishing he pulled up his pants, laughing as though he’d just heard a great joke, he grabbed the poor woman by the hair and lifted her to her feet. As he pulled her around to face us I was shocked to see that she couldn’t be more than fifteen.

“Her!” I practically shouted. “We’ll take her.” Max looked at me in shock. This was not part of the plan. I just couldn’t leave this child here with these monsters even for the short time it was going to take for Shadow and me to rescue the rest of the women in the warehouse. And rescue them I would no longer questioning my team’s dedication to eliminating this ungodly practice.

“Good choice.” Harrod said, my revulsion at the scene apparently going unnoticed. “She’s young, many years of pleasure left in her.” he finished.

The guard dropped the girl at my feet, where she curled up into a lifeless ball.

“Harrod handle the details, please.” I said. “We must be getting back to the ship. A few minutes later the man who had led us in, dropped a torn and filthy robe on the floor next to the girl who, after a kick in the side, got up and put it on. Harrod then passed over the credit voucher for four thousand credits, the agreed upon price, and we left, taking our purchase with us.

It was almost three in the afternoon when Harrod dropped us off at the ship promising to return with the bidders. When the airlock opened Sara and Izzy were waiting, I was never so happy to see anyone as I was to see them at that moment. The girl we had just acquired had not spoken a word since I’d first seen her. I had absolutely no idea what to say to her. Sara and Izzy had no such problem as they hustled the girl off to the sick bay leaving Max and me standing at the lock.

Chapter Ten

 
“Well, St. Jon, how do you feel?” Max asked.

“Sick.” I replied. “These animals don’t deserve to live.”

“That’s the point we have been trying to get across to you all along.”

“I’ve got it now, believe me.”

“I do.” Max said. As we headed down to the sick bay to check on the girls we found our newest arrival heavily sedated and resting comfortably. After explaining the situation and the circumstances surrounding our acquisition of her to Sara and Izzy, we set the restraining straps so the girl wouldn’t fall out of bed. We then locked the sick bay and headed for the lounge.

“Alright here’s the plan.” I said. “As soon as the auction starts we will have Shadow stun everyone who is not on the platform. We will then move them into cells. After that we depart and attack the warehouse, where we will rescue the other women who are being held there. We will place them in the two vacant cabins. After that it’s off to Macdill; any questions?”

“Yeah, what happens once we get there?” Max asked with a look of foreboding on his face. A look I would eventually be accustomed to.

“I don’t know. Are there any other questions?” I answered, and asked. There were none. So Max and I put the finishing touches on our little set while Sara and Izzy went to prepare to be viewed. Harrod arrived at four thirty with the first group of bidders, none of which we had seen before. After they were seated, Sara and Izzy came into the lounge wearing nothing but cocktail aprons and high heels. As they served drinks to our guests the one seated next to Harrod remarked. “You have not deceived us, Harrod.”

“Has Harrod been telling stories about us?” Izzy said with a playful smile on her lips.

“If half of what he says is true, then you are truly the cream of the crop.” the man who had been identified as Gasser said.

“I can assure you, it’s all true.” Sara said as she bent over placing her lips just inches from Gasser’s mouth. “Just pay the price and we will prove it to you.”

When Anwar finally arrived, we had a room full of dedicated bidders. “Girls it is time.” I announced as the four of us mounted the platform we had erected earlier. A small green light came on over the podium that signaled the force field was in operation.

“Gentlemen, let’s begin.” I said, but there was no one left conscious to hear me.

“Let's go.” Max said, and we began carrying the unconscious men to the holding cells. We divided them up two to a cell. There were now twelve prisoners. The nine bidders along with Anwar’s three bodyguards a full house I thought, and there were still eleven more passengers to pick up.

Once back on the bridge, we lifted off without clearance from the control center of the spaceport. We were ordered to land immediately, an order that we cheerfully disobeyed. It was obvious that we were not going to have an easy time of it, as we intercepted the order to scramble fighters from the control center.

“Shields up.” I ordered, as we settled over the warehouse roof. I had Shadow fire a wide field disruptor beam, rendering everyone inside unconscious. After burning a twelve foot hole in the roof we lowered ourselves inside a cargo container through the hole and into the upper level of the building.

“Oh my God!” Sara exclaimed taking in the scene in front of her. There were now only nine woman chained to the wall. The other two were hanging by their wrists from the ceiling. Both were covered in angry red welts, obviously inflicted by the electric whips that were lying on the floor next to the two unconscious guards.

“Are they still alive?” Izzy asked, looking as shocked as the rest of us.

“We'll find out.” I said. “You and Sara get the others free, while Max and I get these two down.”

They were still alive, for how long I didn’t want to guess. We laid them down as gently as possible in the container then helped Sara and Izzy to carry the other unconscious woman inside.

“Shadow, lift now.” I ordered as soon as we were all inside.

“We are under attack.” Shadow informed us, as the container came to rest in its cradle.

Although I had a good idea of the answer I asked anyway. “By whom?”

“Unknown.” Shadow answered.

“Fire control to automatic.” I ordered. “Shoot to kill” I added having had enough of this cesspool of a planet and it’s degenerate leaders.

“All targets down.” Shadow quickly informed us.

“Destroy that building.” I then ordered.

“There are still two life signs inside.” Shadow protested.

“I know, fire now!” I said giving vent to the anger that burned inside of me. “Where did these fighters launch from?”

“They launched from a base one hundred fifty miles east.” Shadow reported.

“Take us there.” I ordered.

“What are you planning on doing?” Max asked as we hurried to the bridge, leaving Sara and Izzy with the eleven women.

“Exterminating a pest.” I answered. “Screen on wide view.”

As the screen brightened we saw a heavily secured base in addition to the field where the fighters had launched from. There were three office style buildings, four hangars, and five weapons emplacements. What followed was another display of Shadow's power. The base’s shields were quickly overcome. We then leveled the place, leaving no one alive.

“We have more ships incoming.” Shadow announced as the last of the buildings exploded in a giant fireball.

“What type?” I asked.

“Fast attack cruisers, New Tehran space force.”

“Evasive action now.” I ordered, my anger finally beginning to cool. We quickly cleared the atmosphere of Tehran, and engaging the subspace drives we approached the speed of light. As we streaked out of the New Tehran system we left our pursuers far behind.

Chapter Eleven

“Where to now?” Max asked. “We can’t go to Macdill, now that we have created another international incident.”

“I’m sorry Max, I just couldn’t leave those assholes alive and lived with myself, or face Sara.” I said.

“Actually, I’m proud to be associated with you.” Max said. “Still we must go somewhere until the repercussions of our little escapade are known.”

“Any suggestions?” I asked.

“Deep space until we figure this out.” He replied.

I ordered Shadow to take us on a series of jumps that would take us out of the populated section of the galaxy, and we headed down to the cargo bay.

“What the hell have you been doing?” an angry Sara asked when we arrived. “We’ve been tossed about all over the place.”

“Sorry, babe, we had to make a hasty exit from the New Tehran system.” I answered.

“Where are we now?” Izzy asked.

“On our way to nowhere.” I replied.

“Nowhere?” Sara asked, obviously not having gotten the response she was expecting.

“I’ll explain later.” I told her, noticing for the first time that most of the women were conscious. “Let’s get everyone upstairs.”

We took the four women who had yet to regain consciousness to the sick bay. After placing them in the four remaining beds and strapping them in, the rest were given clothes and brought to the lounge.

“What do you want with us?” Asked the tall redhead who seemed to be the most alert woman of the group.

“We don’t want anything with you, except maybe your names and a little cooperation.” I said.

“You’ll never get that kind of cooperation from me!” She said angrily.

I looked up to Sara silently pleading for help. “Please.” Sara said, “We only want to help. You're safe now.”

“Safe! Oh, that’s cute; do you think I’m blind? I saw these two buy that poor girl, why he got so excited watching that goon rape her, he could barely speak.”

“That was part of the plan; didn’t you see the girl in the sick bay?” Sara asked the increasingly angry redhead.

“Sick bay; that’s a good one a sick bay for a sick bastard!”

Sara finally having enough of the other woman’s attitude said, “What the hell is the matter with you? We saved all of you! The least you could do is be thankful.”

All the other girls were staring, eyes wide. “Thankful?” the red head practically screamed. “I watched my family murdered. I’ve been raped so many times I’ve lost count. And you want me to be thankful?”

“Look, I don’t care if you're thankful or not, you're on my ship. And we’ve gone through a lot of trouble to get you here. So do as you're told, and shut your mouth.” I finally injected second guessing my actions that brought them here.

“Or else what master you’ll beat me, rape me? There’s nothing you can do that hasn’t already been done!”

This was unbelievable. “Sara would you and Izzy please see these women to the guest quarters and show them how everything works. Max and I will see to the others.”

Max and I left the women in the care of Sara and Izzy. We then went down to the holding cells where I announced that they were all under arrest. Of course they started clamoring for lawyers, a problem that I would have to find my way around. There would be no lawyers, no trial, if I could help it. After checking on the women in the sick bay, all of whom were doing fine according to the robotic doctor I ordered that they be kept sedated until the next morning. Then bidding Max good night, I returned to my cabin to wait on Sara.