The Zealots · Part 1 (1/2)
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The Star Fleet
Series
The
Zealots
The Amalgamation Survey Ship
Interloper moved in a synchronous orbit above the third planet of star
C299776. Two women entered the Captain’s office and one said, "Lieutenant
Erig and Junior Lieutenant Mahoon reporting as ordered, Captain."
Captain Goda returned their salute. "At ease, ladies. This ship has been ordered to carry out another search and rescue mission."
Erig interrupted, "Why does the Survey Service keep getting these missions, Captain? Have the Space
Marines been disbanded?"
Captain Goda replied, "It’s just that the civilians have been so touchy about the First Directive lately.
We're the only ones they trust not to contaminate some innocent young culture."
Mahoon snorted, "Hah! If they only knew."
Captain Goda's lips twitched in a cynical smile, but she didn't acknowledge Mahoon's comment. She continued the briefing: "For several years the University of Azoz has had a team of xenoanthropologists working in the Sarex Empire, which is an Iron Age nation that has nominal control over most of a large continent on this planet. About a week ago two of their female graduate students were traveling with a mercenary escort from the university’s base station to Sar, the capitol of the empire. They never arrived, and we received a brief distress call from a personal communicator that one of them was carrying. Sarex law doesn't extend very far outside of the towns, and we believe they were attacked by bandits. Slavery is common in the empire, and the women would bring a good price."
Erig asked, "What are we supposed to do, Captain?"
"Find out what happened to the students, and if they are still alive rescue them. We've minted some gold coins that you can use to buy them out of slavery, which is their likely fate."
"How will we be disguised, Captain?"
"Sarex is unusual in that much of the fighting is done by women, so you two will be posing as mercenary warriors. The Xenologist is off on another mission, but he left instructions with his assistant to prepare your costumes and equipment. Collect it from the Survey Supply compartment. The language transplant is based on a lot of data, so it should be high quality. Get holograms and descriptions of the missing women from the net. The shuttle will launch in two hours. Dismissed."
Erig and Mahoon saluted and left the Captain's office. Mahoon said, "So Thar, your beloved Xenologist, is off on a mission. What's he doing?"
"He's gathering basic data on a newly discovered planet so the language transplant can be prepared.
He has to pose as a mentally deficient mute. He has a talent for it."
"Do you know anything about his new assistant, Ensign Latour?"
"No, we've never met, and for some reason Thar hasn't said anything either."
Erig and Mahoon entered the
Bio-computer Lab, and while they waited for the technician to start the language transplant Erig downloaded the data on the missing students. The transplant took only a few minutes, and when it was complete they were fluent in the Sarex language. This transplant also provided data on the written language, so Erig and Mahoon were able to read and write.
When they entered the Survey
Supply compartment Erig and Mahoon were met by a stunningly beautiful woman.
She was wearing an Ensign's working uniform, but it looked like it had been sprayed on her voluptuous body. She said, "Hi, I'm Zoe Latour. You must be Ms. Erig and Ms. Mahoon. Thar gave me instructions to prepare what you needed for the mission."
Erig glared. "You call Lieutenant
Breg by his first name?"
Latour simpered, "Oh, sorry.
I call him Thar when we're alone together, and it just slipped out." She handed Mahoon a large bag and said, "Here's your costume, and this one with the bigger hips and waist is for Ms. Erig."
Latour put their equipment on a counter and moved away. Mahoon saw the expression on Erig's face and was alarmed. She had seen the same expression before, usually just before people got killed. Talking rapidly, she got Erig involved in the examination of the equipment and kept her distracted until Latour was out of sight.
She didn't relax until they were in the shuttle and strapped in for the flight.
Erig and Mahoon walked along a steep and narrow track. The shuttle had landed them just before dawn, but what was supposed to be a half-day journey on a level road had turned out to be an all-day trek over bare and rocky hills.
Mahoon griped, "If I find out who it was that picked that landing spot I'll slice his guts out. Didn't anyone think to investigate the terrain? And just once I'd like to be on a planet that has horses. I'm tired of being the only beast of burden."
Erig commiserated, "I can relate to that. But it shouldn't be much farther. This trail leads to the main road in the next valley, and that's close to where the distress call came from."
Both Survey Service officers were dressed as mercenary warriors. They wore boiled leather armor and knee-high boots. Each was armed with a sword and a dagger sheathed at her waist, and each had a quiver of arrows and a short, recurved bow attached to her backpack.
The sun was hot on the bare hill, and they were sweating in their armor. They reached the crest and looked out over a green valley with a small river meandering through it.
There were a few trees close to the river, but most of the valley was covered with grass. A road passed close to the base of the hill. Some people on foot along with two large, canvas-covered wagons, each pulled by four oxen, were moving slowly along the road.
Mahoon said, "That looks like a merchant's caravan."
Erig pointed at some men concealed at the base of the hill. "That looks like an ambush." They ran down the trail towards the caravan.
Erig and Mahoon reached the valley floor and were about a hundred meters from the caravan just as the last caravan guard was struck down by the bandits. They dropped their packs, strung their bows, and started shooting. The bandits were taken by surprise; they weren't armed with bows, so they charged their two attackers. Four of the nine bandits were hit by arrows before they could get close to the warriors, and when the survivors did get close Erig and Mahoon dropped their bows and drew their swords.
It was no contest. The bandits were armed with axes or broadswords, and Erig and Mahoon had straight sabers with very sharp points. This weapon was unknown to the bandits, and when one raised his ax or sword for a cut he left himself open to a fatal thrust.
In a few minutes all of them were down.
Erig and Mahoon stood motionless for a few minutes. When their breathing and heartbeats had slowed Erig ordered, "See if you can find any bandits who are still alive. We have some questions that need to be answered. I'll check the caravan."
Erig sheathed her sword and walked over to the caravan, where a middle-aged woman was guarding six young women chained together by the neck. The woman was holding a short sword and she looked like she knew how to use it.
The woman said, "Hail, Warrior.
My name is Elna, and I'm the factotum for this caravan."
Erig replied, "Hail, Warrior.
My name is Zana, and my comrade is Arabella. We are mercenaries, unemployed at present."
Elna smiled. "It has been a long time since I was a warrior. Today I am a factotum, and lucky to be so. Few warriors live to reach my age."
"How many of you survived the attack?"
"Only two of our escort are still alive, and both are badly wounded. Maro, who owns this caravan, is also wounded. Our cook and three of the ox drivers are unharmed, and the other driver is slightly hurt. The slaves are undamaged, of course."
"Is Maro a slave trader?"
"No, his main business is buying goods in Sar and selling them in the provinces. These slaves are peasant girls who were sold by their fathers or taken in trade for merchandise; they aren't worth much. Our main homebound cargo is wine, which is in great demand in Sar."
Erig directed, "Camp here for the night. My comrade and I will stay with you, but for now we need to get some information, if any of the bandits are still alive. I'll be back soon"
Mahoon had found two living bandits; one had an arrow in his thigh and the other had a sword thrust in his chest. She had stripped the men and tied their wrists and ankles, and she and Erig moved them about 50 meters apart. They tied the ankles of the one with the thigh wound to a tree branch so his head was just above the ground. He groaned as his weight was supported by his injured leg.
Mahoon stayed with this bandit while Erig went to the other one.
Mahoon said to the bandit, "We have some questions, and we're going to keep asking them until both of you give us the same answers, so don't bother to lie." There was an agonized scream from the other bandit. Mahoon sighed, "That Zana. She’s so impatient."
Mahoon put the sharp edge of her knife to the base of the bandit’s penis and asked, "Did you use this much? Tell me about the two women who were here about five days ago."
The bandit begged and babbled. He was encouraged by more screams from the other bandit.
When the bandits started to repeat themselves Erig and Mahoon stopped the questioning and met and compared the information they had obtained. Erig said, "Well, they both say that their crew ambushed and killed the escort and gang raped the women for several days, and then sold them to a slave dealer in Pune, so that’s probably what happened."
"It’s amazing that the women survived to be sold. They're just young graduate students, aren't they?
Being raped for so long by a gang that large may have permanently traumatized them."
"You're right, they're likely to be in bad shape both mentally and physically."
Mahoon asked, "Now we have to decide how to dispose of these two bandits. What would a cultured member of an advanced civilization do with this murdering scum?"
"She would deliver them to the judicial authorities so that they could receive the rehabilitation therapy that might some day turn them into productive members of society."
"But to do that here on this planet would undoubtedly be a violation of the First Directive. What would a mercenary warrior of a primitive and violent civilization do?"
"Slit their throats."
It was sunset when Erig and
Mahoon met with the surviving members of the caravan. One guard had his right arm broken between the elbow and the shoulder, and the other had a deep ax cut in her thigh. Maro had a long cut in his left side, just below the ribs. Elna had treated their wounds with considerable skill, and with luck they would all live.
Maro said, "My thanks to you, warriors. If you hadn't been here the bandits would have killed us all. I will reward you generously once I return to my home in Sar. For now, will you accept employment as guards at twice the standard pay, and stay with us at least until we reach Pune?"
Erig replied, "Yes, we will accept your offer."
Mahoon inquired, "How far is it from Pune to Sar?
"About two days of travel for a caravan such as this."
Erig said, "We had better keep watch during the night. I'll take the first watch."
Elna interrupted, "And I'll take the second watch. I may be past my prime fighting days, but I can still give an alarm."
Everyone bedded down for the night. Maro, Elna, the cook, and the wounded guards slept in the first wagon, and the slaves huddled together on the ground underneath it. The ox drivers slept in the other wagon.
Mahoon spread a thin piece of oiled leather on the ground in a sheltered location a short distance from the wagons. She removed her armor, but didn't take off her linen shift or her boots. She wrapped herself in a woolen cloak, stretched out on the leather, and quickly fell asleep.
Mahoon awoke abruptly when she felt somebody pressing against her. She reached for her dagger, and then realized that it was Erig. She whispered, "What are you doing this close? I'm not bi, and I didn't think you were either."
"You and I may not be bi, but people like Zana and Arabella are always really close friends. Elna would be suspicious if she found us sleeping apart."
Mahoon accepted this reasoning and relaxed. It did feel good to be next to a warm body. She slept until it was her turn to take the watch.
The camp awoke at first light.
The cook built a fire and prepared breakfast while the ox drivers rounded up and yoked the animals, which had been hobbled and turned loose to graze during the night. Erig and Mahoon had been up and scouting the area even earlier, alert to the possibility of a dawn attack, but they found only scavengers feasting on the dead bandits. The dead guards had been buried last night in a shallow grave the ox drivers dug by the river.
The caravan was on the move just after dawn. Erig walked in the point position and Mahoon stayed near the wagons. Both women carried their bows and had an arrow nocked and ready.
They were tense and very alert. This caravan was a valuable prize and two guards just weren't enough to adequately protect it.
It was almost noon when Erig changed places with Mahoon so she could talk to Maro. She announced, "I'm going to keep the caravan moving without a noon break. I don't want to be out here any longer than we have to be." When word of this decision spread to the others there was some grumbling, but everyone knew what had happened to the bandits and nobody was willing to argue with Zana.
A short time later the caravan came to an abrupt halt. Erig heard Elna cursing and followed the sound to the back of the first wagon. All of the slaves were sitting on the ground, and the third from the end of the chain was holding her right ankle.
Erig demanded, "Why have we stopped?"
Elna replied, "This stupid slave stepped in a rut and managed to sprain her ankle. I ought to get her out of the chain by cutting her head off."
The slave girl turned gray and begged, "Please, Mistress. Don't kill me."
"All right, I'll spare you this time. But if you think you'll be riding in comfort in the wagon you're wrong."
While Elna was getting tools from the wagon Erig examined the coffle. Each girl was attached to the next by a length of chain about a meter and a half long and made up of only three links. Each link was an iron bar with loops forged in the ends.
The slave girls had loose iron collars riveted around their necks, and the chain loop was attached to the collar by a large iron ring.
Elna returned carrying a hammer and a block of iron with a groove in one side. She made the slave girl lie on the ground, and then put one of the iron rings attached to the her collar halfway into the groove in the iron block. The slave squeezed her eyes shut and put her fingers in her ears while Elna pounded on the exposed part of the ring. Erig saw that the iron ring wasn't solid, but had a split in it that opened up under the hammer blows. Elna opened it far enough to remove it from the girl's collar and then repeated the operation on the other ring. She connected the ends of the chains with one of the rings and hammered it closed.
The unchained slave girl had a smug expression that quickly vanished when Elna produced a coil of thin rope and tied her wrists and elbows together behind her back. Elna helped her climb into the wagon and forced her to stand on the wine barrels.
She tied a rope from the girl's wrists to the wooden arch that supported the canvas cover and pulled her arms up. The girl groaned when she realized that she would have to stand on her uninjured leg for the rest of the day.
The caravan reached Pune in the late afternoon. Erig and Mahoon were very glad to see the walls of the town. They were both weary from the strain of anticipating a possible attack, but fortunately there had been no hostile action. Apparently they had thinned out the bandit population the previous day and no other gang had yet moved into the area.
When the caravan moved through the town gate the captain of the municipal guards saw them and called out, "Elna, what happened to the rest of your guards?"
"Bandits ambushed us a day's journey west of here. All but two of our guards were killed."
"Are the bandits following you?"
"No, they're all dead." She indicated Erig and Mahoon. " These two warriors arrived in time to save
Once inside Pune, the caravan moved down narrow streets until it entered the courtyard of a large inn.
Maro was well known there, and when the innkeeper recognized the caravan he came out to greet them. He shouted, "Maro, is all well with you?"
"No, old friend. We were attacked by bandits and I and two of my guards are wounded."
The innkeeper shouted at a servant, "You! Tell the factotum to get litters to carry the wounded.
Then prepare rooms." It took only a few minutes before litter bearers arrived to carry Maro and the wounded guards into the building.
Elna detached the slave's chain from the wagon and led them to the slave pen behind the inn. The drivers moved the wagons into a parking area and unyoked the oxen. Two drivers stayed with the wagons and the other two drove the oxen into a corral. The drivers found the slave girl with the sprained ankle, and soon grunts and moans were coming from the wagon.
Mahoon got her and Erig's packs from the other wagon and went to the inn. She rented a room and deposited the packs in it, and then entered the tavern and headed for the bar.
A man standing there called to her, "Hi, Beautiful. Can I buy you a drink?"
The Zealots · Part 1 (1/2)
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