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Unexpected Saviour - Bobthemanofsteel - 02-25-2010
//SBS *coughing fit* I advise that the following contains some themes that may not be suitable for children.
Tia threw another shirt into the suitcase, trying to ignore the photos of friends on the walls as she packed her life into the bag.
Move your ass Tia! her father shouted, If were not at the docking port in an hour, theyll leave without us! Tia remained quiet, and closed the case, locking it. She took one last look around her small room, realizing that it would be the last time she ever laid eyes on it. Picking up the suitcase, she made her way to the door, stopping only to pick up a photo of her best friend, Mara. Her father had told her to leave anything that reminded her of Leeds behind, that it would only serve to slow her down, but she couldnt resist. She dropped the frame, the glass shattering on the floor, and picked up the picture itself, sliding it into her pocket. With a deep breath, she stepped out into the family room, and her waiting parents.
***
The Albatross was cramped. Fairly well lit for a cargo pod, and clean at least, but cramped. Tia hated it, but as her father said, it was better than being gunned down by and invader. Not that she was sure the Kusari would even reach Planet Leeds itself. She began to worry about her friends, especially Mara, hoping to god they would be okay. The trip to Pittsburgh took weeks, said the captain of the transport, but apparently the famed Deep Space Engineering was offering jobs in mining for Bretonian refugees. Tias father said it was too good an opportunity to pass up, given the circumstances.
It was a few hours after the announcement that they had entered the Cortez system that things began to go wrong. The hum of the tradelane around them cut out, and Tia could feel the rapid deceleration as the ship as it returned to sublight speed. It was too sudden to be the end of the lane; even she with her rudimentary knowledge of space travel knew that. Soon after the ship began to shudder, People whispering in fright. Then the internal comms crackled to life.
Attention Passengers, this is Captain Langley Weve been waylaid by some sort of pirate vessel, please stay calm while I deal with the he was interrupted as the ship shook. The comms were still active, and the refugees could hear the commotion on the bridge.
Captain, shields are down, theyre targeting the engines!
Damnit! Full stop, lets hear what they want, andCrap. The captain had obviously realized the comms were on and cut them, leaving the refugees to wonder what was going to happen. Someone began crying, families shuffled closer together. Tia was motionless, straining to hear anything other than the people in the cargo pods. Twenty minutes went by, with no word from the captain and only a thud to be heard.
Suddenly the doors connecting the pod to the ship opened, one on each side, and men her were clearly not part of the ships crew strode in, armed to the teeth.
Alright you scum, you belong to Durga now! were the only words uttered, before the men began systematically separating the refugees. Their sorting process was simple, even to a terrified Tia. Anyone that looked weak or too old was shot, the rest forcefully herded together. Women and children were targeted moreso then men, a process that seemed to be down to the slavers personal choice. Tia watched as a boy was ripped out of his grandmothers arms, the slaver grinning at the boy and then killing the old lady.
Tia had never been more scared in her life. Shaking, she leapt to her feet and began to run away from the slavers, forgetting her parents entirely. She was scooped up by a slaver who had come through the opposite door. He grinned at his prize.
Ooh I might keep you girly, youre a pretty one! he said with a laugh, his breath rank as he pressed himself against her. A yell from behind him drew his attention.
Over my dead body! her father shouted at the slaver, standing firm, staring the large man down.
Actually, the slaver laughed, drawing his pistol, That sounds like a good idea! he fired a trio of shots into her fathers chest, laughing even more when Tia let out a strained cry and screwed her eyes shut.
Dont worry girly, Ill take good care of you! the man said, with another laugh. Tia felt his tongue slide across her tearstained face, and faintly heard her mothers cries before they too were silenced.
In a bout of sudden will, Tia began beating her assailant, punching him in the face. The man simply grunted and threw her to the floor, pinning her with his knees.
Thats no way to treat a man! he leered, raising his gun Youll learn soon enough. He brought the gun down on Tias head, and she lost consciousness.
***
Tia was cold. She lay on the icy metal floor, trying to pretend she was asleep. The shivering gave her away. Not that the other dozen members of the bare cell noticed, they were all in varying forms of numbness, both mentally and physically. Tia had lost track of the days they had spent on this ship. The only way of keeping track of it was by the one regular occurrence in her life at the moment. The same man that had captured her came into the cell every day for his own pleasures on her. At nineteen she was in no way a virgin, but she had never been taken so forcefully. The others looked on with some sort of pity, for they were mostly male, but never made a move to assist her in any way.
She bled from various places on her body, from regular beatings when she went limp when the slaver wanted a struggle, but the tears had stopped. Instead she just laid there, shivering uncontrollably. In an effort to warm herself, she hugged herself tighter, ignoring her ripped clothes, a least until she felt something unexpected. By some small miracle, the slaver had neglected to notice the small piece of photographic paper in her shirt pocket. She took it out in small movements, so as not to attract notice, and stared at the faces smiling back at her. She was so used to seeing death and grim faces, that the two smiling back at her seemed almost alien. The photo had been taken at their High school graduation, and had been quite possibly the happiest moment in Mara and Tias lives to date.
Tia slipped the photo back into her pocket, and let the tears fall again, wishing for it all to end.
Unexpected Saviour - Marcus Lindberg - 02-25-2010
"Lieutenant Kanai, we have recieved a report from an IMG mining group stating that they had seen a Slave Liner pass by on the coordinates I'm sending you. You are to intercept the slave liner and rescue the trafficked passengers at once, over."
"Copy, command, I am moving my squadron into intercept position, suggest sending in a company of marines so that we can board the ship, over."
As the marines aboard the Battleship Yamaguchi boarded their troop transports, Lieutenant Daisuke Kanai busily determined the coordinates at which his squadron would intercept the ship. As he flew towards the point along with several fighters and bombers, he gained visual confirmation of the ship and picked up his comms.
"Unidentified liner, halt your vessel immediately...DIVE DIVE DIVE HIT YOUR THRUSTER PILOTS!"
They had gotten too close, and the liner faced them and rushed in the squadrons direction as if to get themt o crash into the liner. A light fighter had its wings cut off as it hit the ship whilst the rest raced underneath the liner. The bombers cut their engines in synchronization and fired their torpedoes, disabling the shields. Daisuke couln't believe how much action he was seeing, it was comparable to the Leeds front where he experienced the horror of seeing transports caught the line of fire. As he pushed his thrusters to full speed and aimed for a docking bay, he finally understood how the Colonials were able to survive this long, in a harsh environment like the Taus. A small nation, caught in the line of fire between two superpowers, it had remained a mystery to him which he wished to find the answer to after his service to the Emperor by attending security analysis course at the New Tokyo University. There was no more of a need to do so.
He fired his mini razor towards the docking bay of the dock, the shields were down and the docking bay was damaged enough for the troop transport to smashed straight through without consequence.
"All pilots evade the turret fire! The marines are in, focus all firepower on their engines!".
Once again the same synchronizing stunt was pulled by the bombers, only one torpedo managed to hit the engines. It wasn't enough to stop the ship from moving, but the marines then managed to storm the bridge of the liner whilst the pilots outside heard the intense gunfire from within. It was blietzkreig, but on a smaller scale, but nonetheless terrifying.
"This is Captain Oganawa, the marines have the ship under our control, all slavers have been shot. Three civilian casualties."
Daisuke did not like how the marine captain stated the casualties as though they were a statistic, but there was nothing he could do about it now. The slaves were freed, that was all that mattered.
"Wait...these slaves are Bretonian!"
Unexpected Saviour - Bobthemanofsteel - 02-26-2010
Tias captor was in the middle of his daily fun when the ship began shudder. He apparently didnt find it important enough to worry about, and continued his business on her, as she lay silent and unmoving as the man grunted on top of her. It was only when the explosions began and sirens went off that he hurried along, finishing before springing to his feet with a sneer at Tia. He threw a rag down to her.
Clean yourself up, whore, Ive got man business to attend to! he said, turning to leave the cell. He did not expect to see a heavily armed Kusarian man holding a rifle at his head.
Worthless slaver! the man spat before firing a burst of shots into the slavers head, causing him to fall back next to Tia and splattering her with blood and what appeared to be brain matter. The Kusari marine had a cursory look around the cell, before leaving down the hall.
Tia lay there shivering, covered in various fluids from the slaver, the rag now useless as it was just as messy as she was, and the appearance of the Kusarian barely registering in her mind. She could hear the sound of battle over the sirens, machine guns and pulse rifles going off in bursts, as well as the irregular shaking of the ship from attack on the exterior. It didnt take long however, before all sounds stopped, even that of the ships engines, as the Marines took complete control of the heavily damaged ship. Within hours transports had arrived, taking the now liberated slaves to Kyushu, where they were told they would be processed for release.
***
Welcome to Hiroshima Detention Facility. The man said with a thick Kusari accent. Here you will be detained until such time that your foolish Queen negotiates for your release. You will not be harmed. Despite what you may have heard in propaganda we are not barbarians, you will be well nourished and clean.
All the slaves from the ship were now gathered in a large hall, freshly fed and clean, but still rather grim. It seemed they wouldnt be set free as theyd hoped, but used as bartering chips in the Tau War. Tia sat knees to her chest amongst the crowd, not even listening to the man drone on about the rules. She rubbed her face, still sore from the earlier encounter with a Kusari soldier. The man had decided to take her photo away, and Tia had reacted with a fierceness that surprised herself and the soldier. He had reacted with a backhand to the face, knocking her to the floor. Luckily for her, it was enough to show his superior that she might as well keep the photo, and ordered it returned to her. She had thanked him feebly, and didnt even notice that he wasnt wearing normal Army fatigues, yet some sort of Navy flightsuit.
And finally, we will not tolerate any trouble. Start it, and you will be put into lockdown until you are deemed fit to return to camp! I dont need to remind you that all guards are armed, and have clearance to use deadly force if necessary. That is all. With that, the speech was over, and the detainees were left to do what they wished. There was very little to do, and most just dispersed outside into the sun. Tia stayed, staring blankly forward. Wondering how her life had been turned upside down so quickly. It wasnt that long ago that she was back on Leeds, enjoying life to its fullest, barely even thinking about the war. Now she was a part of it, even if it was a quiet role.
She rested her head on her knees and closed her eyes, trying to empty her mind of the melancholic thoughts.
Unexpected Saviour - Marcus Lindberg - 02-26-2010
He looked around, inspecting the refugees, all Bretonian. The government was using them as a bargaining chip; something he couldnt condone but knew had to be done. If the refugees were released, it would look weak on the governments part, the people, or rather, the men did not want to look frail in a time of war. As he walked pass, he shoved a marine to the side after looking at a young girl fighting for something.
This photograph must be confiscated; it is the orders of-
I dont care; I hold a higher rank here. Go complain to your superior, but hand the photo back.
The marine scoffed at his direction, but followed his order anyway. He then asked for a Doctor to check the girl, she looked rough and bruise on her face did nothing but enhance her cheerless expression. As the doctor came and check she backed away with her cheerless expression having disappeared but replaced with the viciousness that got her the photograph back in the first place. Daisuke moved into the scene and told the doctor he didnt have to check her, obviously she didnt want anyone to check her. As the doctor and lieutenant walked away the girl began to notice the man in the pilot suit. Daisuke had already noticed her, but judging by what the marines told him of what happened to her during her trip on the slave liner, he chose not to make it public.
Daisuke went to the cafeteria of the camp and sat with the fellow pilots he spent the last few months fighting, or rather surviving with. The food was nothing special, but it was better than what the refugees were given. He went to where the girl was sitting with her arms at her knees. He bowed down and left the hot dish there.
Take it, you need it more than I do.
He walked away quicker than she could react. The other pilots looked at him strangely, as if it was unexpected.
She is gaijin, lieutenant...
No, she is need of someone to turn to
He glanced back at her. He knew what she went through in the slave liner was much more different and devastating then the war he had fought in the past few months. He had lost pilots, some due to his commands. His worldview was irreparably damaged whenever this happened, but he felt that had lost her worldview