Rene nodded his head and marched the blubbering maid out of the room. He doubted that the man would give her any real trouble. Even if he were insanely brave, he had to know that there was no practical way out passed the drowns and the Syshin. The took the corridor out of the command center and up a flight of stairs to what were living quaters. Argon guided him in much the same way Mia had done with the occasional blink of led light. This AI was less subtle than Mia had been but the basic process of locating the room best suited for Solae’s instructions was the same.

“Please sir,” the maid begged as Rene guided her through a slightly recessed door and into the bed chamber. The place was luxurious with tables and benches of polished stone and a thick carpet of expensive natural fibre. Rene had a momentary and irrational flash of embarrassment to be tromping dirt across the carpet.

“Please you can’t leave me here for the Chooks! They will kill me!” she begged turning to face him and falling to her knees, palms pressed together in supplication. Rene inwardly cringed at the embarrassing display but his face remained blank and impassive. In his mind's eye he was seeing the Syshin chained to the roasting furnace, his back cracked and blistered from the heat.

“AI identify yourself,” Rene stated his voice flat and emotionless.

“I am Argon Master Quentain, how may I serve you?” the computer responded. The maid leaned forward and grasped his trouser legs. Rene stepped back quickly slipping from her grip with revolution. The heavy set woman toppled to the flow sobbing wretchedly. 

“Identify this maid please,” he instructed Argon.

“Gyni Cafran, chief maid, date of birth…” Rene made a chopping motion with is free hand cutting the computer off in mid sentence. The biographical details and employment history were hardly relevant to him at the moment.

“If Mistress Cafran leaves this room kindly add her to the list of drone targets,” Rene instructed, eliciting another wail of despair from the woman.

“That would have already been consistent with Mistress Falia’s directive Master Quentain,” the AI responded as emotionlessly as it might have if it were discussing dinner plans. Rene had the sudden realisation that if he had ordered the maid and the butler out of the house, rather than holding them in the reception room, the drones would have cut them down as mercilessly as they had the guards. Well it hadn’t happened that way and if it had, well, worse things happened in war time. That was a maxim of the Imperial Marines which made a lot more sense in the few days he had been fighting for his life. Without another word he stepped from the room and sealed the door. Argon assured him that it could not be opened without his or Solae’s permission. Rene wondered what would happen to the woman when they left. Well she would have to look out for herself, the stars knew the rest of them had to.

Rene headed back towards the command center but paused to look out through one of the broad windows that overlooked the front section of the plantation. A score of Syshin were gathered in a loose knot, several of them looked hurt, though none so badly as the burned male Rene had rescued. The coffee warehouse continued to burn, through the fire was only evident by the slight shimmer radiating off its metal walls and the plume of smoke trailing from the triangular exit Rene had cut in the side and a pair of smaller streams escaping through what were either ventilation systems of electrical fittings that had been burned out by the heat. The grass and scrubby bushes surrounding the building were withered and shriveled as nature itself seemed to try to lean away from the blaze. Rene was no expert but he didn’t think the fire would rage too long. The buildings structure was steel and concrete and the only fuel was coffee beans and old timber, both of which would burn bright, hot and quickly. He wondered how many thousands of credits had just been converted to so much ash, but the thought was a fleeting one. He would have burned down the whole plantation in a heartbeat if it meant keeping Solae safe.

They needed to organize food and treatment for the liberated slaves, come up with a plan for dealing with the ship if and when it arrived. They also needed to figure out where they would go if they could get off planet. Rene’s mind felt glassy, the facts and demands sliding against one another without getting any real purchase. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and then opened them again. He went down the stairs and through the door to the command center and gave Solae a quick nod to assure her that the maid had been safely contained.