Chapter 12: The Rescue Fleet

Onboard the Ex-Crytherian mining freighter Hathor, William Odessa led his party of former escapees down the narrow hallway he had found. The air smelled of stale sweat and death, water dripped from one of the overhead pipes in at least a dozen places. One of the electrical panels buzzed as if it had a short and they stayed away from it. Looking at the map he had made, he knew they were getting close as they turned the corner. Up ahead, he could see the bulkhead door. Going up to it, he listened and the cracked the door to look around when he heard nothing inside. He stepped out into hallway that led to the cell area. Slipping along the wall, he peeked around the corner and saw the dozen marines relaxing while inside the thirty cells were the men they were after.

William looked over his shoulder and flashed four fingers three times to show how many guards.

Lisa watched her brother and smiled as she nodded her head. Turning she looked at the other fourteen woman and six men and held up her hand. When she saw, she had their attention, she flashed four fingers three times, and they nodded their head.

David paced the small six-foot cell and then dropped on his bed and leaned back and looked at the picture of his wife on the plastic id tag they had exchanged. He missed her dearly and kissed the picture as he curled into the wall, as he laid down in the bed. Staring at her picture, his mind wandered back a week before and the confusion of the rescue and his incarceration.

0600 December 25^th 2004

Planet Karsakini

Mining station 35

David walked into the kitchen scratching his head and over to the table where he sat down. With a loud yawn, he closed his eyes and popped his neck. Opening them, he looked over at his wife and smiled warmly at her as she sat down with the large bowl.

"I love you Lori," he said as he spooned some of the mush into his bowl for breakfast.

Lori smiled as she rubbed her swollen belly and stood up. Leaning over the table, she kissed him, and whispered as they broke apart, "I love you as well and Merry Christmas, I wish we had a turkey and all the fixing for dinner. It's been so long."

"Merry Christmas to you as well, and I have something for you," David said

Standing up, he walked over to the cupboard of their quarters and slid it away from the wall. Pulling out a small package, he looked at it, and carried it over to his wife where he handed it to her.

Lori looked at David in shock and smiled as she said, "Oh David you didn't have to, and we couldn't afford anything."

"It's okay, I just have to pull a few double shifts, George made it for me."

Lori opened the package with trembling fingers and then gasped in surprise as she saw the carving of California. The major cities were on the four-inch piece of wood and a small diamond was centered for Sacramento.

"It's beautiful, David," Lori said as she jumped up in his arms and gave him a kiss.

"That is the largest diamond I could get out of the mine. I wish it could have been in a ring, but you know the skull heads would take it, since we are not allowed to own anything..."

Suddenly, a large explosion detonated from outside and the door flew open from the concussion. There was a loud voice saying they were here to rescue the entire slave population. Kneeling beside Lori, they waited for the combat to stop, and then they stepped outside.

They were guided over to the vehicles and placed on them with hundreds of other humans and a few Tralcan's, thirty minutes later, they arrived at the space dock, and they were walking along with the rest of the escapees when he was grabbed and shoved against the wall by some of the armored creatures. Lori was ripped out of his hands and someone said she was going on the liner Queen Mary.

"No he is my husband! I am going with him," Lori screamed as she reached for him.

David and Lori held onto each other, and as they were pulled apart, his hand pulled along her arms and her id tag came off that was wrapped around her left arm, as his was stripped from his left hand. Lori held the tag up and kissed it. Davy turned and swung a fist at one of the armored creatures, as his fist hit, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and that was the last time David saw her.

William hefted the club in his right hand. He stood ready to go, as the rest of their party slid out in to the passageway. Running around the corner, William swung the club and caught the first man who was standing up in the chest, flipping him back out of his chair as the rest of his assault team charged the rest of the marines. Even with them enhanced, the former slaves quickly overpowered the guards, and had them hog tied in seconds.

Lisa walked along the cells looking in and finally her eyes settled on the one man she hated to the inner parts of her soul. She stared at him for several minutes and then said, "You're going to die David. Die for what you did to me and my friends, and for what you did to my baby sister."

David Hassenbeck jerked up from the bed and flipped around as he looked at the woman, "Lisa you're alive!"

"Of course I am alive, no thanks to you, you son of a bitch. I am going to see you pay for what did. You murdered my sister."

David shook his head as he looked at the woman and swallowed, and replied, "She's alive! I swear she is."

Lisa staggered back and looked at the man as tears ran down her cheeks, as she snapped, "Don't tell me that shit. I know she's dead. Then you sent me to that hell hole."

"Lisa, I had no choice. Your number and all the rest were drawn at random. Do you think I would send my wife's sister to the skull heads if I could stop it? Ask Lori if you don't believe me. I was given a list of numbers that the computer would spit out every month and told to deliver them," David said as he sat down on his bed.

"Then where is she?" Lisa snapped.

"When I was grabbed by the guards, she was taken from me and put on a ship called the Queen Mary. I swear it, please check. I beg you; don't leave Lori a widowed mother. Oh God! What have I done?" David said as he buried his face into his hands.

"What?" Lori screamed as she tried to get the door open, as she shouted, "I am going to kill you. You fucken bastard you raped my sister."

Davy slid back from the wall shaking his head, "No, never rape, I married her. Old Father John married us. I swear I am telling you the truth."

Lisa wasn't listing as she screamed incoherently.

William looked up from where he was sitting and examining one of the strange weapons. Rushing over to his sister who was screaming, he grabbed her hand, and said, "Lisa, stop! What are you doing?"

"This bastard raped Lori, I am going to kill him," Lisa cried out as she yanked on the lever for the cell door and the alarm went off.

Commander Ricardo Gomez looked up as the alarm sounded and walked over to the internal security panel. Seeing the alarm was for one of the cell sections holding people who were to be tried as collaborators. He activated the monitor and froze as he watched the guards being herded away and then a second larger group of the former escapees came in and stated taking the prisoners away. Activating the internal cams, he watched as they led the hostages and the prisoners to the main cargo hold that been converted into sleeping accommodations.

"Get me the Oregon. We have a situation here."

"Yes, Sir," replied Lieutenant Cynthia Davis.

Captain Theodore White paced his bridge. Around him in hyperspace, hundreds of captured ships from the Crytherian fleet were crawling home with over five million former slaves. Stopping he looked out the main viewer and looked at the USS Queen Mary as she pulled up beside his ship on the starboard side. The seven mile long luxury liner was carrying over a half million refugees. Crawling over the ship's hull were hundreds of spiderbots building defensive stations. While inside her hull, the three hundred marines and sailors he had shipped over to the ship were recruiting new recruits from the former slaves. The most talented had been the Tralcan escapees and already forty thousand of them were manning weapon stations, and hundreds of stations in the ships.

On the portside of the ship, the captured Crytherian space dock trudged along at its top speed. Inside three of its six massive slips, spiderbots were finishing the three captured Crytherian Basilisk dreadnaughts. Already one was finished and to relieve crowding on the ships, he had transferred the two hundred and ten thousand Dralins to the ship and given it to them as their first ship. The giant panda like creatures loved the ship, and they had named it Dralin after their home world. He had set up training simulators throughout the ship and the new crew was being trained to work the mighty ship. When finished, they would have all three of them as the nucleus of their navy, or that was the plan at least.

Commander Shawn Edwards looked up from his communications pad and turned to Captain White, "Sir, I have a report from the mining freighter Hathor, Commander Gomez reports that the civilian population has taken some of the high value prisoners and are trying to get to the rest of them. They want to eject them out the airlocks. They have taken half dozen marines as hostage."

"Contact Captain Sammy Anderson, she's on the Balin, she is to lead her NAT team over there and free them," Ted said as he looked out the window.

"Yes Sir, sending now."

Freighter Balin

Sammy looked up at Kevin as he thrust into her, her legs were wrapped tightly around his waist as he took her to another orgasm as she nibbled on his neck and bit down drawing a spot of blood with her sharp teeth.

Kevin grabbed Sammy's hair and bent her neck back as he kissed her hard on the lips.

Sammy bit down on Kevin's lower lip and sucked hungrily at the trickle of blood as he tried to pull away.

Kevin winced under the bite, and worked his lip loose and looked at his wife, "Damn it Sam. What are you doing?" he asked as she licked the blood from her lips.

"Fucking you, what's it look like?" Sammy said.

She rolled them over on the big bed, and started riding him. Her perfectly shaped breasts bounced as she rode him like a bucking bronco. Sammy gripped Kevin's wrists and pinned them above his head. Bending down she bit his left nipple and pulled on it with a grin as his body arched and shoved him deep inside her.

Kevin looked at his wife, and he could swear she was loosing it and before he could say anything, he started cumming inside her just as the com chimed. Kevin rolled from under Sammy and grabbed the com unit; when he turned to look at her, she was kneeling on the bed, her fingers extended like claws. Her lips had a smear of blood on them and a wild look in her eyes like a stalking tiger.

"Kevin Anderson here."

""Sir, I have a message from the flag. Captain Anderson is to lead her NAT team to the mining freighter Hathor, the civilian population has taken Marines as hostage. They want to jettison the prisoners without a trial. Captain White wants the marines freed and the ship brought back under control."

"Can do, we are on the way," Kevin said as he stepped away from Sammy even as she tried to grasp his cock.

"I want to play!" Sammy said as she crawled across the bed.

"We can't Sammy, business first," Kevin said as he pulled some underwear on.

"You're no fun, you get me all horny, and now we have to go play soldier," Sammy replied as she slipped off the bed and walked to dresser and pulled out a clean pair of panties and slipped them on.

Kevin watched his wife's ass and the tattoos of the T'Lari queen and a marine on it as it wiggled when she walked. It looked like they were fighting. The queen was on her right cheek and on the left was the spitting image of her with battle axes in the air.

Sammy pulled up the soft silk and slapped her right cheek for luck. Grabbing her internal suit she pulled it on and then started strapping on her armor.

"Sammy, why do you do that?" Kevin asked as he pulled on his suit armor.

"Do what?" she asked as she looked over her shoulder at Kevin.

"Slap your right butt cheek," Kevin replied as he pulled the chest armor on.

"Luck, I figure we need all the luck, we can get, and we did kick her ass," Sammy said as she giggled.

"Well you kicked it, I don't remember much."

"Well you did help, if she hadn't gone for you, I wouldn't have had my... " Sammy stopped as she thought back and tried to remember what happened that day, but it was all blurry like it had been erased.

With a small smile, she pulled on her boots, checked her belly to see if there was any sign yet, and sighed. Grabbing the chest armor, she pulled it on. Turning she swung her gun belt onto her waist and then slung her two axes across her back.

"Sammy, I don't think Captain White wants them dead!" Kevin said as he picked up his plasma rifle.

"I know, but I don't go anywhere without them now."

"I ... I know Sammy, here's your rifle," he replied with a sigh as he handed her, her plasma rifle, and they headed out of their quarters.

Freighter Hathor

The freighter Hathor trudged along at minimum warp power. She was one of the slowest ships in the captured fleet and the oldest. Built roughly seventy years before, her hull was wearing out. Commander Ricardo Gomez watched as the civilians held a court in the main cargo hold that had been converted in to housing for the ten thousand escapees.

David Hassenbeck looked at the three women in front of him and listened on how they reported he had raped them and to hide his crime, he then had them sent to the insemination house to be murdered.