Chapter 52
Good guys and Bad guys
Gerhy’s men had disembarked from the second flier. Pep told them they could go home after she and the girls left. If they used the tractor and the trailer the girls were going to use they would be able to make it back in just a few hours.
The girls climbed aboard the flier silently. Pep noticed a few of them were frightened. It wasn’t very likely any of these girls had ever been off this compound. The only reason any of them would leave is if they were bought and went to live with their new master.
The flier was a large floating barge like vessel. It used standard repulsory lift technology to lift off the ground along with a simple propeller drive and rudders to maneuver. Pep had gotten lucky by the flier arriving. It could carry all of them and was faster than the tractor and trailer.
Pep was the last one of the women to be standing on the ground. She looked around at the compound for the last time. This is where she was born and raised to be a slave. She was taught to be submissive and to obey the masters. She watched as the flames from the big house raged into the sky. Rizor was dead at last. He was her father; he was the father of most of these girls. It was him that had brought them all into this world just so he could sell them and make himself wealthy.
Suddenly an idea sprang into her head. Without saying a word she took off and ran to the house. Around the back was a door leading into the cellar where the girls gave birth. She ran down the stairway and kicked open the door. The cellar was full of smoke but she knew what she was looking for. She quickly found the box that she had seen earlier while helping the girl deliver her child. Pep grabbed the box and ran back outside and over to the flier reaching it just as the house collapsed into the cellar.
Pep gave a last look at Gerhy and his men who were standing and watching the whole scene dumbfounded. She nodded at Gerhy and jumped up onto the flier. “I’ll leave the flier at the spaceport to the north. I think the area is called Frettas Bluff.” She hollered down to him.
“They changed the name to Cercy station, but I know where you mean.” Gehry called back.
Pep wasn’t sure why but she smiled back at him and waved as she turned the flier northward and started off in that direction. It may have been that he seemed to be a good man that just was in the wrong place. Maybe she smiled because he didn’t do something stupid and make her kill all of them.
“Everybody make sure you’re covered up good. Get close together to keep warm.” Pep pushed the throttle forward making the big flier go faster. She wanted to get to the spaceport before it got dark. She was going to have to find a large ship and steal it so Pep wanted to get a good look at the ones at the spaceport before it was too dark to see them.
Nynee came up to Pep’s side and gave Pep her clothes back.
“I got them back from the tractor before we all climbed on board Mistress.” She said holding the bundle out to Pep.
“I’m not you’re Mistress Nynee, I’m your sister.” Pep smiled at her. She knew from her own experience that it would take a long time before Nynee would stop calling others Master or Mistress. Nynee wasn’t even able to comprehend that she was free now. Pep thought about Matt and she understood how he must have felt when talking to her the first few months they were together.
“I was frightened for you when I saw you run back into the cellar, I thought you would be killed.” Nynee said.
“I had to get something very important from inside the cellar. It is in the box I brought out.” Pep patted the box that she had placed on the control console.
“Do you know what is in this box? Have you ever seen one like this?” Pep asked Nynee.
“No my Mistress.” She replied as if she had done something wrong.
“It is our future Nynee. In the box is the Medicine they give us so we can have children. There are hundreds of those pills in that box. For the first time we can decide when we have children and with who we have them with.” Pep said smiling and stroking the box as if it was a family pet.
“That is forbidden.” Nynee said.
“Not anymore, from this day on I will decide what is forbidden and what isn’t.” Pep said staring at the box.
“How’s that?” Ceecee asked Matt. She was test fitting the exo-skeleton legs she had fashioned for Matt.
Matt stood up with surprising ease. “They work fine.” He said.
“I made them from a Feloid scout droid that was left behind from one of the ships after the war.” She said proudly.
“How’s our Prima Donna doing? Is he going to be able to dance in the big show tonight?” Ragg asked as he walked into the room.
Ceecee grinned like an idiot when she saw Ragg. She had become quite enamored with him.
“He’s fine, I do great work.” Ceecee said jumping up and throwing her shoulders back.
“I can see that.” Ragg said smiling.
“When can we get underway?” Matt asked.
“I made the legs out of an old droid the Feloids had laying around.” Ceecee said looking at Ragg.
“You’re pretty good at what you do aren’t you?” Ragg said.
“I’m good at a lot of things.” Ceecee winked and elbowed Ragg playfully.
“I said, “When can we get underway?” Matt repeated.
“You can get underway right now.” Ceecee said through clenched teeth. She pushed a button on her workbench and Matt suddenly lurched forward and the exo-legs walked out the door taking him with them.
“What the Hell are you doing Ceecee? I can’t control these things damn it.” Matt’s protests trailed off as he was carried down the hall by the new legs.
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Ragg asked.
“Naw, those legs are durosteel. They’re practically indestructible.” Ceecee replied.
“I meant is it dangerous for Matt.” Ragg asked.
“He’s fine, he’s fine.” She replied waving her hand as if it was no big deal. “So what leads do we have on Pep?”
“If Pep started here at the base and was later spotted here,” he said pointing at the holomap, “that would make her course heading to be in this sector about here.” Ragg said.
“What’s out there?” Ceecee asked squinting at the map.
“From what I can gather having talked to some of the Feloid pilots there isn’t a lot of anything out there. It’s considered a backwater type area, unregistered settlements and smugglers, that kind of stuff. It does look like there is a habitable planet along her trajectory so I figured we should check there first. Besides if she decides to come home we’ll pick up her signal if she takes the same route back.” Ragg said.
“You’re pretty good at what you do aren’t you?” Ceecee said referring to Ragg’s talent for figuring out these kinds of problems.
“If we find her where I say she is then yeah, I guess I am pretty good at what I do.” Ragg smiled.
Adda had continued down the path being much more careful. The run in with the creature was a surprise to her to say the least. She was so focused on the necessities of life like food, water and shelter she had failed to realize she was now a part of the natural world around her. Things kill and eat each other in the natural world on a daily basis.
The path had circled down around the mountainside to a point on the opposite side from where she had been dropped off. She found a pile of stones that stood about waist high. An intelligent creature had erected this pile here. It was meant as a marker or a warning of some sort. She couldn’t tell if it had been put there recently or not. It was just a pile of rocks and not much more to go on than that.
Adda had to decide if she wanted to try and make contact or go back and set up her camp. If the people were hostile then she would need a place to go to where it might be safe so she might have to set up the camp now. If they were friendly they might invite her to stay with them so setting up the camp would be a waist of time.
Adda turned too her left. She heard something move in the underbrush on that side about fifteen feet away. Instinctively she took a defensive stance and prepared for an attack. She felt a sharp blow to the back of her head and everything went black.
Adda woke up in the dark. She was on her knees with her arms tied behind her back around a pole. Her wrists were tied to her ankles to keep her from standing up. Her eyes were blindfolded tightly by a piece of leather that was also tied to the post. A thick stick had been forced into her mouth holding her jaw clenched tightly around it. She was helpless and at the mercy of whoever had captured her. She started to panic but was able to get herself under control. This was no time to loose control, she needed to think. She smelled smoke, it smelled like burning wood. She was warmer than she had been earlier that probably meant that she was inside some sort of structure. Was it a building? She felt dirt under her knees so this was a simple structure or a tent of some kind. This was good. She knew something about her captors. She hadn’t been killed outright so they wanted her alive. She was being kept inside and out of the elements so they most likely felt she had some usefulness. If she was seen as useful that meant she had a chance at being kept alive. If she could convince her captors to release her she could then use her Jedi skills to help herself. Bound as she was she couldn’t speak or use her hand movements. She couldn’t even see her target this way.
The panic had begun to subside. She was thinking things out and this had given her a chance to plan her next move. Adda heard several people come in. Her plans had just gone out the window as the people started to beat her as hard as they could. The beating only lasted about five minutes but it seemed like hours. Her assailants never spoke a word. When they were done they left as silently as they came. They never asked her any questions about who she was or where she had come from. They had just kicked and punched her without mercy. After they had gone Adda began to cry. She had thought herself stronger than this. One beating and she was done. They say nobody knows what they will do when they are tested in such ways. She knew she had failed herself. The fear of a slow death through this type of savagery was overwhelming to her. She had thought she knew about pain and suffering. Adda had spent her life aiding and comforting the sick and injured but now she was the one in need of help. She couldn’t even slump forward because her head was still bound to the pole.
She received three more beatings that day.
Tarin opened fire first. Her rocket twisted towards the lead jet bike and hit the driver in the ribs and exploded. The bike hit the ground a flipped end over end until it broke into pieces. Everything went crazy after that. The jet bikes had laser cannons mounted underneath of them. The riders all began to fire at once. Bronski thought that this was the end, there was no cover to hide behind, they were sitting ducks.
Za’sha quickly fired a small canister into the ground in front of them. It exploded with a popping sound that was quiet anticlimactic. A glittering shower of particles flew into the air and floated in front of the oncoming laser blasts. To Bronski’s surprise the blasts hit the glitter causing a flashing light show and nothing more. The glitter must have been a highly reflective material that defused the light beam and reflected the light energy throughout the cloud. Bronski had never seen anything remotely similar to this devise, he was impressed.
It was Remha’s turn to show off now. She ran forward to meet the second jet bike. She zigzagged avoiding the shots fired at her. Remha dodged the bike by a split second and grabbed the collar of the rider pulling him off the jet bike. He spun in the air like a rag doll thrown by a child and slammed into the rider of the next jet bike.
Three down and two to go.
The last two peeled off in separate directions to regroup. They realized they were outclassed in this fight.
There was the sound of tearing metal again from behind them. It was the droid. He had made it on board and had torn the ship apart looking for them before he realized they had escaped through the rear of the ship.
Za’sha screamed in horror when she saw her favorite dress ripped and torn snagged on the droid’s arm.
“That was a Drollian original you bastard!!!” Za’sha yelled as she fired a barrage of missiles at him.
Bronski limped as quickly as he could over to the wreck of the first jet bike. He grabbed a metal bar from the wreck and holding his ribs with the other arm he beat the wreckage until the laser cannon broke loose. He knelt on one knee and picked up the weapon and examined it closely, it still worked.
“Oh yeah.” He said smiling.
The droid’s armor absorbed all the rocket blasts that hit him as if walking through the rain. Za’sha looked in amazement seeing that her weapons had no effect. The droid jumped out of the rear of the now burning ship and landed heavily on ground below.
He gave a creaking yell and grabbed the energy ax off his back and started towards them.
A bolt of energy struck the droid knocking him back causing him to fall. The thing screamed it’s nightmarish electrical scream at them and got back up. Bronski fired over and over again knocking the mechanical beast back with each well placed shot.
“Go! Get out of here. I’ll hold him off.” Bronski yelled at the women.
“I’m not leaving you!” Tarin yelled.
“Get her out of here.” Bronski yelled at Remha.
“You are handy aren’t you?” Remha said to Bronski as she grabbed Tarin by the arm.
“Za’sha give me a hand with her.” Remha called.
Za’sha ran over and took Tarin’s other arm. They began to pull Tarin away.
Tarin looked at Bronski. She couldn’t understand why he was doing this. Why was he trying to save her after everything she had done?
“Why?” Tarin yelled to Bronski.
He turned and looked at Tarin. “Because I’d miss your big fat ass always getting in my way.” He said smiling.
At that moment she realized he felt the same way she did, he always had.
“Okay Hudd, I’m only letting you work for me because I don’t want my helper distracted. I’m sending you on a simple parts run. One of Lionette’s lesser clans has some engine parts they stole from somebody else and so they sold them to us. The deal has already been made so you shouldn’t have to worry about any trouble. It’s a good thing for you because those Feloid bastards would cut you to ribbons. You humans are to slow too take one of them fuzz heads on.” Granic said insulting two races at once. Timtam had warned Hudd about Granic so his comments didn’t faze him at all.
“How am I getting there?” Hudd asked.
“There’s a new YT-1300 all ready to go on the lower landing pad. The YT-1300 is faster than your ship and the controls are a little touchy so take your time with it until you get used to them.” Granic said.
“Who’s my engineer going to be?” Hudd asked as he looked at the flight co-ordinates.
“Isn’t going to be one, nobodies available. Don’t worry the ship’s been checked out and as long as you stay on the prescribed flight path you won’t have any trouble.” Granic said. He sounded angry. Maybe Hudd was asking to many questions.
“Okay Granic when do I leave?” he asked.
“You have two hours before take off so if I was you I’d get my stuff and get going.” Granic said.
“No problem. I’ll be ready.” Hudd said as he left.
Hudd wanted to say goodbye to Timtam but he knew she was working for Granic now. He would stop in just before he left and say his farewells.
Hudd made his way to Timtam’s apartment to gather his things. Once there he realized how few possessions he had. The Empire had taken everything from him. All his worldly goods could fit in a backpack.
He wanted to check out the ship before he went to see Timtam so he went there first. He was beginning to learn his way around the base and found the lower landing pad without any trouble. The ship looked to be in good shape, almost new. It was funny he thought, in twenty years this ship would be thought of as a piece of junk most likely. He walked up the ramp and into the cockpit to take a look at the controls.
Someone had left a leather jacket in the copilots seat. It was well worn and had a few patches sewn on it. It meant a lot to somebody since they would rather patch it up than throw it away.
Hudd looked the ship over. It had more cargo room than his ship but there were three cargo bays unlike Hudd’s ship that had only one large one on the bottom.
Hudd noticed the time and hurried back to Granic’s work area. He saw Timtam working and ran up to her. “Hey baby, I’m just about ready to leave.” Hudd said.
Timtam gave him a big hug and a kiss then laid her head on his chest. “I’m going to miss you Hudd.” She sounded sad.
“It’s just for a few days, after all I don’t want you to get tired of me.” He said joking.
“No, I’d never get tired of you Hudd…you’re all I think of.” She said very seriously.
“I was just joking Timtam. You’re all I think about too.” He laughed.
“The Clan you are going to is dangerous so please be careful. I was there with Lionette a few years ago, they can be tricky.” Timtam sounded concerned.
“Don’t worry about it honey I don’t have anything they might want. The only thing I have worth anything is you and you’ll be here.” Hudd said.
“I’m not worth anything anymore, I’m a freeperson now.” Timtam said correcting him.
Hudd had forgotten her past and the culture that she lived in.
“Well you’re worth something to me, you’re priceless.” He said.
He could tell Timtam wasn’t quiet understanding his meaning completely. “Look baby I have to go, I want to do a good job for Granic since he gave me this chance.” Hudd said kissing her.
“Please be safe and come back.” Timtam said smiling.
Hudd waved and ran back to the landing pad. He could hear the ships engines warming up. He hadn’t turned them on. It must be the guy with the leather jacket. Hudd walked up the ramp and into the cockpit. Sitting in the co-pilots seat was an auburn haired woman. She was busy priming the ship for take off. She turned towards him and smiled. “You must be Hudd, Timtam told me about you.” She said.
Hudd looked at the woman. She had a strength about her. He sensed she hadn’t had an easy life but she had survived it by using this strength.
“I’m Mykala, I’m going with you on this run.” She said.
“Granic didn’t tell me I was going to have company.” He said.
“Just so we’re clear on this, I don’t take orders from Granic. I’m a Jedi but I didn’t fight in the Clone wars. Timtam told me you fought with the Separatists, is this going to be a problem for you?” Mykala asked bluntly.
“I was a medic, and as far as the war goes I just wanted to do my part. I never hated any one on the other side.” Hudd said.
“So we’re good?” she asked.
“I am if you are.” Hudd smiled.
“Okay, the ships all yours my friend.” Mykala said.
Adda was in agony. Not only had she been beaten severely her muscles had begun to cramp up. She heard her captors enter the area again. She knew what was coming next and began to cry.
“You see sisters, you see her weakness. Now you see the weakness of the Jedi.” A woman said. Her tone was cold and contemptuous.
“Take her to the pit”. The woman said. Adda was untied from the post and dragged outside. They had left the blindfold on her and the stick was still tied in her aching jaw. Adda tried to stand as she was dragged across the rough ground. She felt hands hitting her and grabbing at her scant clothing tearing them loose. There seemed to be quiet a few tormenters around her now and Adda suddenly realized she didn’t notice any men’s voices. It seemed her captures were all women. They stopped for a moment to tie her hands behind her back again. Once that was done there was a quick shove and she found herself falling. Adda hit the floor of the pit on her feet but twisted an ankle as she fell down. The floor of the pit was dirt but at least it was dry. She didn’t have time to do anything before she heard something crawl across the floor towards her. Adda curled up into a fetal position and waited for the animal to sink its teeth into her flesh.
“Don’t make a sound.” said a hushed voice. “I’m going to untie you now. Don’t be scared, I’m a prisoner too.”
Adda blinked as the blindfold was removed. She saw a dark haired Feloid woman crouched next to her untying the stick from her mouth. The woman looked just as bad as Adda felt. Apparently she had gone through the same greeting as she had.
“My name is Zellina Pokta, I was marooned here like you I suppose.” The woman said.
Adda stretched her jaw. “My name is Adda Beddo and I thank you for helping me.” She said.
“I’m just glad to have someone to talk to Adda Beddo. I’ve been down in this stinking hole for over two weeks.” Zellina said.
“What are they going to do with us?” Adda asked.
“They’re Wytches of the Sith, so whatever happens next will most likely be worse than what they’ve done so far.” Zellina said.
Kllair and her crew had kept a low profile. They had heard that Adda had been exiled and they knew it was just a matter of time before the ax would fall on them. Adda had been honorable enough to take the blame for what they had done but now that she was gone Kllair had no misgivings about their fate.
“So what’s the plan now Kllair? Have you picked out a new home for us?” Novuh asked sarcastically.
“We’re not going anywhere Novuh. This is just a minor set back. They all might hate us right now but the fact that remains is we stopped a war. They all know that, why do you think they punished Adda and not us?” Kllair said.
“Maybe they just haven’t gotten to our punishment yet.” Elith said sheepishly.
“They know they have a very powerful weapon with us. They also don’t want us on their bad side, not now. I don’t think they know just what to do with us.” Kllair said to Elith stroking her face to reassure her. The twins were sitting on the top bunk again curled up holding each other. They new this trouble had something to do with them but they couldn’t understand in their twisted minds just what that they had done that was wrong.
“So what happens next? Do we just sit in this fucking ship and wait?” Novuh asked.
Kllair looked at Novuh coldly. “Well while you were complaining about our situation I was doing something about it. I found out where they took Adda.”
“So how does that help us?” Novuh asked.
“We’ve played the bad guys in this little opera so now we can play the good guys. We’re going to go get Adda and since she has nowhere else to go now she can work for us.” Kllair said smiling.
If you have enjoyed these stories please check out my first all original book series at Amazon.com. The title is Beyond the Crystal Heaven.
Once again thank you for your support.
Last Updated (Tuesday, 10 September 2013 02:10)