Rene nodded as Solae’s order cut through the confusing and rapidly altering situation. Years of training and service conditioned him to respond to an order in a chaotic situation. There was a brief buzz of 2mm gunfire up near one of the higher windows where the security reinforcements had lifted away. That had to be by Solae’s command but since she hadn’t mentionedit there was no point in worrying about it right now.

Kalrio and his Syshin were still standing more or less as he had left them. Some of the females looked nervous but the males were as impassive as though they had been carved from sandstone. The maid had been in contact with armistice. That meant that they could have Gids here within minutes, fast deployment troops by jumper if not heavy vehicles. Rene knew that the deployment of troops was always more problematic than that. Authorizations would be required, commanders would need to be convinced, troops rounded up and briefed, all of which caused delay. He also knew that a single cracker jack with enough skill and drive could cut through all that with a shouted word.

“Kalrio, get your people to start loading supplies,” he ordered. Most of the Syshin flinched at the barked command, too similar to the curt yells of their former masters. Rene blushed with shame, paused and offered a formal bow.

“Please,” he added and then rushed back up the ramp. With a flick of his thumb he safed the mob gun and then tossed it underhand into the cockpit. Lips curling in disgust he made his way into the communications station where the last two crewmen had died. The stench of blood and punchered entrails made him gag but he steeled himself and dragged the slick offal into the back up airlock across the hall. It was a difficult task, but he managed it as well as he could. Once that was done he went back into the hold and did the same for the first man he had killed, piling all three bloodied corpses in the airlock where their stench could be contained and they could be easily spaced once they lifted.

As Rene suspected the hose his gunfire had cut had shut down after amount of run time. He sliced the ruined section off with a stroke of his knife and reengaged the pump with a jerk of a stiff lever. As quickly as he could he hosed the blood and viscera into the drains built into the hold and shut it off. At another time he might have taken a grim satisfaction in the blood of the slavers following the fear of their victims but just at the moment it was all he could do not to wretch. The place still stank but at least the worst of the abattoir reek of blood and feces was gone. He couldn’t imagine that the air on the Bonaventure was going to improve after a couple of days in space though so he might as well get used to it.

Two Syshin banged down the companionway carrying a box of foodstuffs between them their large nostrils flared at the smell of the hold, doubtless even more offensive to them than it had been to Rene. The looked around in panic until Kalrio shouted something at them in Sysi. His voice echoed off the metal bulkheads like the beating of a great drum and the younger Syshi all but dropped the box and fled. The Syshin leader stomped into the hold carrying two large containers of medical supplies one under each arm. Rene remembered Oanh Park’s warning about protecting Solae from shock and felt a surge of gratitude towards the alien. He supposed he wasn’t doing a great job of following her advice, but Solae was tougher than Oanh had imagined.

Rene had a sudden and uncomfortable feeling. If the Gids were in bound, then finding Kalrio and his companions here would lead them back to Amber Horizions. Rene didn’t want to place bets on just what the Gids would do at that point but once it came out that they had sheltered Solae, it wasn’t likely to be anything Rene wanted on his conscience. Kalrio set the boxes down with a clang and started back towards the landing hold. Rene caught the Alien by the forearm.

“You need to take your people and go,” he told the scarred old Syshin, speaking slowly and clearly so that he would understand with his limited Imperial. Kalrio responded with a stream of angry Syshi.

“He wishes to know if you are a superhuman who can carry the remaining ten boxes by himself.” Rene spun and cursed before he remembered that Mia was in the process of being uploaded into the system. Dimly, he recalled Solae mentioning that Mia had been helping to refresh her Syshi, ergo, the AI could speak it.

“I don’t think he meant it politely but my Syshi vernacular is seven decades old,” Mia added, there was the hint of an inappropriate giggle in her voice.  

“Mia, tell him that we might have the army coming to get us and that he and his people need to be long gone by the time the get here, they can't be linked to us or the Gids will burn Amber Horizons. The AI sutifully trilled out her own string of alien syllables. The alien grunted a couple of words, one of which was recognisable as Solae, and then turned and strode from the bridge.

“He says he will discuss the matter with Mistress Falia,” Mia advised. Rene shook his head in exasperation. It was probably just as well that he hadn’t ended up in the diplomatic corp. Sucking in air he jogged back to the entry hatch where he met another two Syshin manhandling a second crate of food.

“Leave it!” Rene snapped, “Leave it and go!” The pair dropped the crate to the deck and scurried off as Mia translated. Rene put his boot against the crate and shoved it hard to the side of the companionway and then followed them down the gangplank.

The mansion was well and truly on fire now, smoke poured from the upper story windows and bright tongues of flame leaped skyward like hungry Gwa lizards. The heat of it radiated off his skin and he squinted into the light and picked out Solae’s unmistakable figure hurrying back towards the landing pad. Kalrio was striding towards her. It was impressive, given how the alien had been tortured, that he was so willing to approach such and inferno. The remaining supply crates were stacked haphazardly by the corner of one of the unburned warehouses, just inside the door so they would be out of sight of the descending Bonaventure. He pushed passed the confused Syshin and seized one of the crates of weapons and a smaller box of medical supplies.

“Forget it, there is no time, you need to go,” without Mia to translate he had limited success getting the point across but several gestures in the direction of Solae and Kalrio got the group moving. Sweating and straining he lugged the gear to the ship and up the ramp, dumping it without ceremony in the access way. They would be low on food, but it was going to be much easier to find food than it would be to find medicine, plus he could always hope the Bonaventure had something in its galley, if such a chamber existed on the filthy scow.

“Mia does the ship have an air defence board?” he asked, using the Marine term for an anti aircraft tracking suite.

“I am unfamiliar with this model of houseboat,” Mia responded sounding like a clueless bimbo who needed someone to rescue her. Rene rolled his eyes and headed for the cockpit, climbing into the jump seat attached to the central console. He punched it live and brought up the sensor suite and then, with a little difficulty, set it to display local air and space traffic. The blank return of the monitor showed clear skies. He blew out a quick breath of relief.

“Mia if anything new shows up on this display, call me over the earbud I’m wearing,” he ordered and then raced back outside to join Solae.