Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (34 page)

"I am certain the message will still take them by surprise, Colonel. They are not expecting company, and we have not tripped any sensors as yet," the AI reported.

"I am certain it will once we open this airlock, right?" Jana asked.

"If I allowed it," Gouyen replied smiling softly. "I do believe there is a manually activated warning chime on the inside door that is not part of the computer system. Once we cycle the lock, the chime will sound."

"Either way, we need to let them know we are here and are not a threat to them," Jana said.

"I will take care of it, Colonel," Gouyen replied and paused a moment. "The Matriarch was startled by the message, but will assemble her advisers and meet us inside. She understands that, while we are military, we are not a threat to her or her people, and are not here to arrest them."

"Thank you. That was pretty fast for all that to be passed back and forth," Jana replied.

"I simply called her on the internal comm system. I think they have been worried about the military eventually showing up here," Gouyen replied. "She sounded somewhat resigned."

Jana only nodded and the team opened the airlock to enter the prison.

When the team finally made it through the slow cycling airlock, they found themselves in a large open area that used to be a storage area of some type. Possible for the storage of the supplies that were brought here to feed and clothe the guards and prisoners. There were a couple of beings near the far bulkhead; a Croanian and a Tyrne that looked to have been taking an inventory of some of the crates still in the room. When Jana and her team had entered, the two simply stopped and stared at them. Slowly, both beings knelt to their knees and put their hands on their heads in a very human gesture of surrender.

Speaking in Alliance common, Jana said. "You do not need to surrender, we are not here to arrest you. Only to meet with the Matriarch. Please, resume your duties, citizens."

The two workers looked a little confused, but stood while they did seem to go back to work, they kept a close eye on the group of armored soldiers. In only a few minutes, another group of beings arrived. Two Croanians, two Tyrne and two Frellic. A Croanian female led them over to Jana and bowed. "Colonel Cromwell, welcome to Echelon Prison."

"Thank you Matriarch. It is an honor to meet you," Jana replied.

"Forgive our rudeness, Colonel, but we have no knowledge of your race and do not know the proper customs to observe. If we seem to offer insult, know that it is not our intention," the Croanian women replied. "My name does not translate well into common, but you may call me Tr'ellhandress." She gestured to the group that had come with her. "These are my advisers and friends." She introduced each being, who in turn bowed to Jana.

Jana introduced her team. "We are all human from a world I am sure you have never heard of. Standard customs will be fine; we do not anger easily." In Croanian customs, among the military caste an insult was an open invitation to a duel; like on the Croanian ship in the Rataak sector. By saying they did not anger easily, Jana was telling the Matriarch that humans did not consider a verbal insult worth the effort of killing someone. "Forgive me, but is there a better place we may speak, Matriarch? There is an issue that will affect your people we need to discuss."

"Of course, Colonel, please follow me." The Matriarch replied and gestured back the way she had come. "All of our people are presently here, except for those on one of our freighters that is patrolling the system looking for Imperial ships and sending messages, and those of us who are mining for trade materiel. Eight are on the ship, and twenty-three are at the mine."

Jana nodded as if she had not known that already. "We will bring them back to you shortly, a situation has arisen here that requires both operations be suspended." She stopped the group a moment. "Matriarch, before we proceed, is there anything your people require? We have a replicator on our ship we can use to generate emergency supplies for you if there is need."

The female visibly relaxed at Jana's words. "Yes Colonel, there is a great deal we need. That is the reason for our mining operations. We had hoped to be able to use the ore to trade for the goods we need. Some of our food was contaminated, and we did not know it. We are also short on food, fresh water, and several other basic items. If you could see your way to assisting us with these, we would be very grateful."

Jana turned to her AI. "Turn the Apache around and move it closer to the airlock. Once we have a list from the Matriarch, begin replicating supplies for a week, if they will need more than that, we'll use the big equipment at the base and one of their freighters to get it here. Give priority to the medicines and any other critical items followed by food and water." She turned to one of the other officers with her. "Grab a scanner and get a solid scan of their food supplies. Get rid of the contaminated stuff."

Tr'ellhandress was surprised, but responded well. She turned to her own people. "Gather a crew to assist unloading the supplies. Hergran, get the Colonel a list of everything we have need of right now. You can drop the weapons and other military equipment; I have a feeling we are not going to need it any longer."

The Tyrne being bowed to her. "At once, Matriarch." The being then turned to Gouyen and indicated they should continue in a different direction.

The Matriarch then turned to face Jana. "I feel I should tell you that my people have branded us as pirates. By assisting us, you will be considered our accomplices."

"I do not believe so, Matriarch. The message I received from your people was that I could do with you what I pleased. I feel that while they had to brand you pirates, they understood the nature of your raids on their shipping. Croanians are not forgiving people. But the fact that you made sure no one was harmed in those raids did much to mitigate the charges against you. In all likelihood, you would be tried and convicted if you returned to your people. That being said, we do not intend to let that happen to you simply because you did what was needed to survive," Jana replied.

"We are indeed fortunate that it was you that has discovered us, Colonel. Thank you for assisting us," Tr'ellhandress replied.

"Matriarch, the Alliance has decided to put a base here in order for us to make strikes against Imperial bases and outposts. To that end, the Croanian Magistrate, through their Ambassador to the Alliance, has given us this system. Because of that, there is a very strong possibility that the Empire will be taking more interest in this system and the facilities here. We need to relocate you and your people or they will get killed.

"I know that you have been trying to find a better place to live, but your requests have been at best ignored. I will be contacting my superiors to see what can be done about that. I can't promise that you'll end up anywhere near Croanian or Tyrne space, but I can promise it'll be far safer than remaining here," Jana explained, once they got to an office.

"Colonel, as you say, we have been trying to find a better place. In the latest batch of missives we've sent we've appealed to a few of the other Alliance Ambassadors to allow us to take refuge away from here. We did not hold much hope, as we are a mixed race group and have been labeled as pirates. If you could find a safe place for us to raise our children; if such a place even exists in our world, we would be forever grateful. However, there is a point I would like knowledge of, if I may?" Tr'ellhandress asked.

"If I can tell you, I will, Matriarch," Jana replied.

"My people do not give territory to other nations under any circumstance. They feel it would dishonor those that gave their lives in its acquisition. So how is it you are in possession of this system?" the woman asked.

Jana smiled sadly. "I was made a Croanian citizen and given this system to, and I quote, 'Do what was needed to support and defend the Alliance and the Croanian people'. I'm not certain of all the legal particulars since the message was passed to me through a third party, but that is how I understand it."

"You must be a very great warrior; the magistrate rarely adopts one not of our race. I have never heard of them making such a person a noble as well. That is unheard of." The woman nodded. "Colonel, by Croanian law, we are now your subjects as we were living here when ownership was passed to you. Because of your position, you do not have to address me as Matriarch, as I am your social inferior," the woman said and knelt as if Jana was royalty. When the rest of the group heard Jana's explanation, they too knelt.

"Please, don't kneel to me. I understand that is your custom but it truly makes me uncomfortable. The society in which I was raised taught me that we are all equal regardless of rank or position. Matriarch Tr'ellhandress, I address you as such because of the work you have done here and continue to do for these people. You deserve my respect and should not be forced to bow to me," Jana asked gently. "I am a simple soldier who has found herself in an unusual situation, that's all."

Tr'ellhandress looked up in surprise. "You're female?"

Jana blushed. "Forgive me, I thought you had knowledge of my race. I am human; and yes, I am female." Jana turned and gestured to one of her remaining team. "This is a male of my race."

"My apologies, Colonel. It is that we are not used to seeing female soldiers. The fact that you have been adopted by my people and given this system means that either our leadership has changed radically, or you are indeed a very special soldier. I mean no rudeness by this," Tr'ellhandress replied, trying to regain her composure. "As you can imagine, we have been out of contact for some time. We do not even have access to the datanet here."

Jana nodded. "This system is rather isolated from the rest of the Alliance. Setting up the equipment needed for real time communications would be dangerous because of the proximity to Imperial space." Jana looked thoughtful for a moment. "I hate to ask this, because it may be insulting to you, but I know I will be asked by my superiors. What are the chances that there may be an Imperial spy in your group?"

"I can understand the concern, Colonel. No offense is taken. I will freely admit that the possibility exists, however, I know every being here personally. I would find it very difficult to believe any of them would be working for the Empire. Of our population only five have ever been under Imperial rule. The latest of those was more than ten years ago and she is Frellic. I would find it very hard to believe she was a spy; the Frellic are as indifferent to the Empire as they are to everyone else," the Matriarch replied.

The Frellic adviser with the group nodded. "That is very true; to my people, the Empire are simply another race struggling with their place in our universe. The Frellic have accepted their place, what would be the point in taking on someone else's struggle?"

"I was going to ask about that. If the Frellic are indifferent, how is it you find yourself in this situation?" Jana asked. "Why would you flee an oppressive government?"

The Frellic nodded. "Fair questions. We will continue as we always have regardless of who governs. We are here because our friends brought us. They did not wish to see us put to death. Word has reached us that the Empire has little use for those of our race as we will not serve as slaves nor will we follow laws not of our own choosing."

"I am sorry for your losses. We had not heard such a thing, but then again, I am sure there are many such atrocities happening in this war," Jana replied. "I know you do not see it as such, but I believe that each of us has something to contribute to the whole; even if that something is only our existence."

The being bowed slightly. "Your condolences are accepted in the spirit in which they are offered, Colonel."

Jana smiled at the being but spoke to the Matriarch. "Now, as I've said, I'll contact my superiors and see what arrangements can be made for you and your people. Do you have transport available for your entire population?"

"We did when we arrived, but it was crowded. Our numbers have grown some since that time. I think we could still fit on our ships, but it would be very tight," the Matriarch replied.

"Okay, now that I know what is needed, I can see about making it happen," Jana replied. "I will see if I can get an extra ship out here to assist in your relocation."

"This facility is an old one, Colonel. However, it was built very strong and will make a fine base for you to work out of," the Matriarch replied. "I will make the complete schematics available to you so you may better plan out how to modify it for your needs."

Jana grinned at the large female. "Matriarch, the base is already built and functioning. We've been in this system for almost two weeks getting it ready."

"Two weeks! We have detected nothing! How… where… Uh, never mind, I don't need to know." The woman replied. "So, if you have already built your base, what is to become of this facility?"

"Nothing, it will remain empty. That is what we want the Empire to find if they come here looking," Jana explained. "It may be that they will come here, and simply blow this place to hell when they don't find anything. We just don't know, but we don't want to risk your lives on the chance they won't do it."

"Are you certain they will come here at all?" one of the other advisers asked.

"The reason for this base is so we can perform military raids in Imperial space. They are already looking for us, but in a different place. They will eventually look here as they know this is one of the places we could be hiding. We want them to find exactly what they will expect to find; an abandoned prison facility and nothing more," Jana explained. "So, we need to make sure you are taken to safety as soon as arrangements can be made."

"Colonel, you have done much for us already. I can see that you actually care about our people here. However, I think there is one thing you have not been truthful about," the Matriarch said with a half-smile.

Jana was surprised. "What would that be, Matriarch?"

"You are far more than a simple soldier." Behind her, the other advisers nodded agreement.