Chapter 13: Freighter Hathor

Sammy heard the girl cry out, and her eyes locked on the falling container. Her eyes followed the rope up over the beam, and down to the floor. She saw the man being jerked up. Whipping her battle-axe up and over her shoulder, she hurled the flaming blade, and watched it spin as the man began to fly up into the air. The blade spun through the air, twirling over and over. It hit the rope, and the titanium blade sliced through its weaves like butter. The battle-axe then slammed into the wall, burying itself into the bulkhead above some of the escapees who were on the third tier. The container, no longer tethered, slammed into the decking and shattered with a loud boom.

Whipping up her .44 caliber Desert Eagle, Sammy fired one round at the roof and yelled, "That is enough of this crap. We have more important things to worry about than murdering one of our own."

"Who are you to say its murder? It's JUSTICE for what was done to us," Lisa screamed from the main floor.

Sammy walked to the edge, looked down at the woman, noticed she was an older version of the one behind her, and shouted down at her, "What is your name? How can you say this is justice?"

"My name is Lisa! This bastard raped and murdered my sister, and raped and murdered fourteen-year-old Olivia Ferndale. He sent hundreds of us to the Crytherians to be used as hosts for their spawn. And it is justice, justice for the ones who were killed," Lisa shouted back.

"Your sister, is her name Lori?" Sammy asked.

"Yes, my sister's name was Lori; before this bastard murdered her, after he raped her."

"You keep saying he murdered her. How do you know this?"

"Because he murdered Olivia Ferndale, after he raped her, too."

"How do you know this?" Sammy shouted down at the girl.

"Richard Newman testified he saw him dispose of my sister's body."

"Who is this Richard Newman? Let him step forward, and say this to me!"

Lisa looked around and saw Richard and pointed to him, "That's Richard."

Sammy followed Lisa's pointing and her eyes settled onto an older man in his forties, pointing her pistol at the man she waved him forward.

"You! Come out and be taken notice of."

Richard looked around nervously and shouted, "I already told what I know."

"I didn't tell you that. I said get your fucking ass out in the center of the room, or I will blow your fucking leg off!"

Richard looked at the big gun, and started inching out until he was standing by Lori, "Okay, I'm out here. What do you want?"

"Tell me what you said to this court?" Sammy snarled as she took a quick glance behind her.

"I said that I saw David Hassenbeck dispose of Olivia Ferndale's body, after he raped and murdered her."

"Did you tell anyone?" Sammy asked as she started walking down the stairs.

"Tell who? The fucking skull heads did not care. They knew there were more slaves to replace them."

"So you say he then killed Lisa's sister Lori?"

"Yes he raped her, and then murdered her..."

"Liar! You are a fucking liar. It was you who raped me! If David hadn't chased you away after you slammed my head into the floor to knock me out, I would be dead now," Lori screamed from the second tier.

Richard staggered back as he looked at the woman he thought was dead, "You're dead."

"Not hardly, you fucking bastard!"

Richard turned to run.

David had come up behind Richard. When Richard turned, he had pulled his fist back. He slammed the massive hand into the man's jaw, knocking Richard onto his ass. Jumping on the man, David started pummeling him with his massive fists, which had been hardened from working for years in the mines. Pulling back his fist, he slammed it into the man's chest cavity. He felt the bones break. Sitting up he swung his fist again at the man's head and ripped his ear off when he moved his head.

Sammy came onto the floor, and heard the man's ribs break under the pounding he was receiving. Walking over to them, she started to reach down to separate them, when Lisa set her hand on her arm.

"Let them fight, if this bastard raped my sister, then he killed Olivia, too. He deserves what he is getting."

Richard tried to fight back, his fists pounding the man's arms, but he was stunned from the hit to the jaw. Kicking hard he knocked the man off of him, and he rolled to his knees.

David rolled with the kick and came right back at the man. Pulling back his fist, David swung it with all his force and hit the man in the jaw and everyone in a twenty foot radius heard the man's jaw shatter as blood and teeth sprayed across the floor.

Sammy watched the man lying there and then lifted her com unit, "Hey, doc, we have an asshole that needs sewing up."

Hearing footsteps on the ladder, Sammy turned and was almost bowled over as Lori flew by her, into David's arms.

Lisa stood there in shock and then started forward to hold her sister.

"Don't touch me, Lisa! I can never forgive you for what you have done," Lori snapped as she saw her sister's hand.

"But ... Oh God what have I done?" Lisa said as she buried her face into her hands and wept.

"Go to fucking hell, you..."

"LORI, stop this, right this minute. She is your sister. She thought you had been murdered. Now forgive her," David said as he lifted her chin.

"But... " Lori's lip started quivering as she pictured the crate falling, and she buried her face into his shoulder and wept.

David held Lori as she broke into tears. She then looked at Lisa, who was standing there, crying. David reached out and pulled Lisa into his arms. He held Lisa as she cried, with her sister also in his arms. The two women turned and hugged each other. David kissed the tops of both of their heads.

"I thought you were dead," Lisa gasped out between her sobs.

"I thought you were, too, but I didn't blame David. After the first time the Crytherians handed him the list, I saw how it hurt him. He would cry every night. He tried to refuse the next time, after they took you, but they threatened to take him, his mother, and me. He would have gone himself, but he couldn't do that to his mother ... or to me, knowing I was pregnant."

"Where is his mom? I haven't seen her, since we were put on this ship."

"We don't know. They took her three weeks ago, and we haven't seen her since."

"We will find her ... and David, I am sorry."

"So am I, David. I misjudged you, and I apologize," William said as he held out his hand.

"It's okay, William. I just wish I hadn't had to call the numbers, like they told me to. After they took my mom, I was trying to figure out how I could get Lori out of there, before the next calling."

Doctor Jenny McGregor knelt by the man who had received the beating, and was administrating first aid to him. Injecting him with nanobots to help the healing she shook her head at the damages. Five broken ribs, a busted nose, shattered jaw, three broken fingers, crushed testicles, six teeth missing, damage to his right eye, and an ear torn off.

"Shit! Who did this?" Jenny asked as she injected him with antibodies to help fight infection.

"I did," David said as he looked at the beautiful woman attending to Richard, and continued, "let the bastard die."

"Sorry, I can't do that. I took two oaths ... one to the medical board, when I became a doctor; and the second to the Federation medical board, when I joined the Space Service. I must try and save his life."

"I understand, Doc. If you want to leave for a few minutes I can take care of the problem," David said as he looked at Richard with loathing.

"No! David, just take me away from here," Lori said.

"I agree. I almost killed you for what I thought you did to Lori. Now that we know you didn't I am horrified by what I almost did. Take Lori away from here, go back to the Queen Mary," Lisa said.

"Only if you and William come with us. I cannot separate you three like that again. I was forced to when I called your numbers, and you were sent away. I do not know what all they did to you. I hope that one day you can forgive me."

Lisa shivered as she looked into David's eyes, nodded her head and replied, "I don't know how you could forgive me, for almost murdering you."

Lori watched the two and then said, "Kiss her, David, and take her as your wife."

David's eyes flashed to Lori and went wide, "What? I can't do that. I am married to you. It's ... It's illegal and a sin."

He stood there listening to the three of them talk, then stepped forward and said, "Not in the Federation it isn't. You can have as many spouses in your household as you want. As long as you love each other, that is all we want."

Sammy heard the voice and turned, and saluted, "Captain."

Ted smiled at Sammy and returned the salute.

They stood there staring at the man wearing the black uniform with silver trim.

"David whispered to Lori, "Who is he?"

"I am Theodore White, captain of the USS Oregon, and second in command of the battle fleet that rescued you all."

"You heard me? It was just a whisper," David asked.

"Yes it was as clear as a bell for me, with my enhancement. And as I was saying, in the Federation you can have as many wives or husbands as you want," Ted said and then raised his com and started speaking into it, "Everyone, listen up. My name is Theodore White, and I am the Captain of the USS Oregon. I am second in command of the battle fleet that rescued you all. As you can tell from my accent, I am an American. Now I come to you not as an American, but as a citizen of Terra and the Federation.

"We are a fledgling new world government that has come out of the ashes of a destroyed one from the year 2500. Yes, you heard me, from five hundred years in the future. The flagship of this fleet was thrown back in time, fighting an alien race that wants to eat every one of you. Her entire crew was killed along with every living thing on Earth, when they fired thousands of nuclear and biological weapons onto the planet.

"The T'Lari considers all races to be food and will hunt down and destroy worlds to do so. Some of you, the Tralcan's, know of them. You call them the flesh eaters. Ask them how their race has been fighting them for thirty-five years. They decimated fifty of their colony worlds until they were down to three core worlds.

"Now, I ask you ... no, I beg all of you, to think of joining us. I am having our spiderbots install video terminals on each ship so you all have access to the information of what happened to the Earth in the future. I am also posting the laws and duties of every citizen of the Federation. If you wish to join up, you can. If you decide you want to go home, we will deliver you to your homes.

"Now before you learn it from the database, one of the laws in our society is that anyone over the age of fourteen is an adult. That means if you sign up, and you are between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, we will defend your right to do so. We will train you in any job you want. If you want to fly a fighter, pilot a mech, work in engineering or even be a computer specialist we will train you. If you decide later you want to do something else, there is no problem there. We will cross train you at no cost. You can get the equivalent of a four-year collage education in less than a month. So think about it.

"We need all of you to join. Not because we need you as troops, we need you as citizens of the Federation. Eventually, we want every government to join us. We do not care about religion, or your political views. What we care about is the individual. I will let you all think about it, and leave you this last reminder.

"Every government on Earth, or someone high up in your government, knew about the kidnapping of all of you. Unfortunately, they could not do anything about it. Well, we did! We came, we saw, and we kicked their asses! We will be going back as there are still over five million humans missing. We want full accountability for all of the humans taken. They must be on other Crytherian worlds. We will free them, but to do so, we need a powerful military.

"The good thing is. We don't need money ... I know. What how can we live on no money? Well, the answer is, credits. For every hour you do something for the Federation, be it a captain, a medic, or even a pilot, you earn so many credits. These credits can be exchanged for money to spend on Terra, or in restaurants. The credit is like money, and can be spent like money. But in your homes you will have replicators that can make anything you need. The only thing you need to do, is expand your mind, and help the Federation to grow and survive.

"As to military service, there was a five year draft for all, but Admiral Thompson has suspended it, he would rather have you all join up of your own free will. So I will leave you all to think about this, and please no more trials. Forgive them, because they were forced to do most of what they did. If not for them, then for their families. So, when you think of going after one like you did David here, think of how you would have reacted if the Crytherians said 'Do this, or we take your wife or daughter and send them to be implanted with Crytherian spawn."

"KILL THE CRYTHERIAN'S," shouted a voice and then the rest of the people in the hold started chanting.

Ted looked around at the ex-slaves chanting, and he could see the hate in their eyes.

As the chanting got louder, he spoke once more, "No! We will deal with them but the main enemy is the T'Lari. We must deal with them first. I have seen first hand what they are capable of, and they are the main enemy. They must be exterminated down to the last one, otherwise no civilization will ever be safe from their hordes."

"NO! DESTROY THE CRYTHERIANS FIRST! NOTHING IS WORSE THAN THE HELL THEY HAVE PUT US ALL THROUGH," shouted the same voice.

"When we get home to Terra, I will prove it to all of you. Let me show you the piles of chewed on bones and the destruction of Terra, and millions of hours of what they have done. That's all I ask of any of you," Ted said into his com unit.

"YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THEM, IF YOU ALLOW THEM TO GET AWAY WITH THIS."

Ted's blood was boiling at the constant badgering, and he shouted out, "COME TELL ME THAT TO MY FACE."

Augusta Hamilton walked out of the crowd, the bullhorn she had made hanging from her hand, and she looked the man in his face, "All right, I am here, and I say you're no fucking better than them."

Ted looked at the young girl who couldn't be more than fifteen years old. Her hair was just starting to grow back from where it had been shaved off by the Crytherian's, and he blurted out, "How old are you?"

"How old are you?" Augusta said with a snarl in her voice, as she stood there with her legs separated and her hands on her hips. She was wearing short shorts and a tube top that barely covered her breast.

"I am twenty years old, and you look like a whore," Ted said.

"DUH! That's what I am! I have been one for five years! I was forced to become one at eleven. Why, you want a blowjob? I am told I give the best," Augusta said with a giggle as she shoved her hand inside her shorts and started rubbing herself, and continued, "or you can fuck me for some pizza if you have some. I haven't had it in five years ... and a coke."

Ted staggered back at the vulgarity from the girl and replied, "You should have your mouth washed out with soap. Or have your ass tanned by your parents."

"Well ... my mother is dead, and my father used to fuck me every day when he came back from the mines. I haven't seen him in five years so you want to be my new daddy? I am really horny."

Sammy giggled at the brashness of the young girl and walked over to her. Standing there, she looked at the girl and smiled.

"What are you looking at? You want a piece of me. I will let you ride my carpet," Augusta said as she looked at the woman with all the guns on her.

Sammy roared with laughter and said to the girl, "I like you. You're spunky. Come with me, girl. I will teach you about the T'Lari. You see, I saw one eat an eight-week-old child! I know for a fact that Captain White is telling the truth. As for pizza, how do you like it?"

"Everything but fish! If I never have to eat another freaking fish, it will be too soon."

"Good. I can't stand fish either," Sammy said as she draped her arm over the girl's shoulder and led her away.

As they walked by Ted, Augusta reached out, groped him, and whispered, "If you want a good time, come look me up."

Ted turned bright red and slid away from the hand, as he sputtered out, "Umm ... I'm married."

"That's all right captain, I am sure Jenny wouldn't mind. Look at Ken, he has four wives," Sammy said with a smile.

"Four, huh? He must be a vigorous man in bed. Is he taking something that makes him that way? If so, Captain, you should take some when you come to see me," Augusta said as she smiled, and they walked out of the room.