Slave Empire - Prophecy

Tallyn was taken by surprise when the girl bumped into a man. The spy-cam only spotted the stranger when it exited the building behind her, by which time she was in his arms. Tallyn opened his mouth to order his weapons’ officer to protect her, then shut it when it became apparent that she was pleased to meet the stranger.

  After the officer assigned to watch her had been distracted and missed the store guards’ chase, only returning to the screen in time to see her stepping over four corpses, Tallyn had taken to watching her himself. He had thought she was unarmed, yet she must have acquired a weapon since her confrontation with the mutants. Even so, killing the men had been quite a feat.

  He asked Marcon, “Our girl’s guardian? What do you think?”

  The first lieutenant nodded. “Looks like her brother, sir.”

  “Yes, he does, doesn’t he? I wonder if he is.”

  The new man was another excellent specimen of humanity, but more importantly, someone she knew. All his instincts told him that now he should bring her aboard.

  “Deploy the transfer Net,” he ordered. “Put them in the isolation cell in sickbay, full quarantine. Use a mild tranquilliser gas and start decontamination. We don’t want to give them too many shocks at once.”

  Marcon signalled to a crewman, who touched his console’s crystals. The spy-cam’s screen went blank as the tiny floating camera was recalled, and moments later the main screen filled with an image from one of the ship’s on-board cameras.

  The energy shell’s glow faded as the Net dispersed to reveal two confused humans in a pale room. They clung to each other, their eyes wide, then relaxed as the tranquilliser gas took effect.

  “We’ll let them recover for a while,” Tallyn said.

  On his way to his quarters, he wondered how they would react to their translocation. The tranquilliser gas would calm the male’s aggression, so his primitive projectile weapon did not pose a threat. Tallyn was more concerned that the transfer’s shock would make the girl overwrought.