Chapter 15

“How many, Zed?” Dusty asked.

“One hundred and twenty-two humans are located in this area. Thirty-nine are males over sixteen, fifteen are boys, twenty-one are girls, and fifty-three are females over sixteen.”

“The second group of thirty-two are currently located in this area,” he said, and a new area was highlighted on the map.

“Twenty are males, and the rest are females. The twelve females are pregnant. Twenty-two of the other females are also pregnant. Mistress, I believe this an unusual number of pregnant females for a human community.”

“Yes, Zed, it is. We believed the people in the first compound are being kept as slaves. It doesn’t look like they are looking after them very well, either. How can you say that many of the females are pregnant and how old the people are?” Dusty asked.

“We have access to their server. Thankfully, their doctor has been keeping a record of successful inseminations and the people in the compounds. The regimen of drugs is most unusual. Most of the people are all being given a drug called Napper.”

“The doctor’s data says Napper is addictive and makes the person very docile. It also dulls the pain receptors. It is not a good drug to give pregnant women as it can cause brain damage in the foetus, and the mother wouldn’t know the child is in distress.”

“Even worse, Napper can cause miscarriages,” Que added. “The longer they are taking the drug, the more damage it does. Many addicts miscarry at around seven months.”

“Oh, dear! Of the thirty-seven pregnant females, ten of them are in their sixth month and eight are getting close to this time. Only three are more than seven months old. Two of the females who are very pregnant are in the smaller compound in a room with four of the other women.”

“I believe the room is being used as their medical ward, as the doctor’s terminal is in the room beside it. She has recorded four miscarriages in the last two months. She is trying to reduce the dosages of Napper to the other woman,” Zed told Dusty.

“So, the doctor is pregnant too,” Dusty observed.

“Yes, Mistress, very, but she doesn’t have Napper in her system,” Zed replied.

“Well, I think that solves our dilemma. It doesn’t matter whether they are pirates or not. They are practising slavery, forcing pregnancy, which probably includes rape, and they are feeding life-threatening drugs to foetuses. That’s more than enough to get them spaced if they were on Luna.”

“It looks like we will have to do a rescue mission,” Dusty informed the team grimly.

Dusty looked at the map again thoughtfully. She then turned to face Chris.

“Chris, see this spot here. If we go down cloaked, we should be able to land here. It’s about the closest we will get, with the forest being around the camp and the swamp to the north. This puts us roughly four klicks from the camp. We will offload the bikes and the shuttle.”

“We should take two yellow housing containers, blue cube number Five and one of the green cubes; probably number Four would be best. We will also take the red cube that Que put her spare medical supplies in, as it has the spare tents, cots and blankets in it.”

“Once you take off, we can go and have a chat with the pirates on the ground. Just remember, team, we have four to one odds if the males in that compound are the pirates.”

“It’s also possible that the good doctor and maybe some of the pregnant females are from the crew, too. We will need to be cautious with the women in the pirates’ compound until we identify them.”

“They may have guards or overseers in the second compound, and they can be of either gender, so no one takes any chances, as we could have odds as high as six to one. Make sure your dart guns are loaded. I want to take the pirates alive. However, if you get into a firefight, swap to real ammo.”

“I estimate the compound will head into nighttime in two hours. If we head down just at dusk, we will have enough time to get to it before full dark. Zed, zoom in here for me, please?” Dusty said as she pointed to a spot on the map.

“Can you spin the map slowly, so the compounds stay the centre of focus,” she asked.

The others joined her, and they all looked hard at the way the camps had been set out. At one end of the small compound was a small, old freighter that looked like it had crashed when it landed. It appeared it was being used to house the pirates.

They had built a prefab room on low stilts that was attached to the freighter over what they assumed was an old hatch on the ship. That room was where the pregnant women were. A ramp led down to the ground and around to the end of the ship.

Over what would have been the access ramp to the ship was an awning. They could see people moving around. Some going under it and others were wandering away to a second awning that came off the other side of the ship.

Smoke lazily wafted up from under one side of the first awning. A second small building was behind the second awing, and Dusty assumed it was an outside latrine for the pirates.

“Dinner time,” Bindy commented.

The others nodded in agreement.

“Move over to the other compound, please, Zed,” Dusty asked.

They couldn’t see any smoke here. Eight large army tents were set up, with four in a line and four facing them. The two lines were about twenty metres apart. Two 10m by 12m dilapidated-looking, open shelters had been erected in the middle.