(Interrogation Observation Room, BSN Thunderfury, Nuevo Edo orbit)
I stepped into the observation room with Raven, the General and Minister following closely behind. Captain Am’Rica and Major Khan were waiting for us. The two Edoans had received a bit of a shock when they saw their first ‘aliens’ up close, but then we had told them that we were a multispecies organization. By now the two of them were putting up at least a front of nonchalance, to preserve their dignity. The rest of us played along with the polite fiction to keep them from losing face. Between the ships of the fleet and the way the battle had turned out, there were enough shocks for everyone, really.
“Captain Am’Rica, Major Khan, allow me to introduce General Akagi and Minister Takahara of Nuevo Edo. They wish to observe the interrogations. Ladies, Captain Am’Rica is the commander of the Thunderfury, which is a Marine Assault Craft, designed to plunge into the fire to deliver Marines where they need to go, and to bring them back out again after. Major Khan is the leader of the Black Star Marines, and commanded the strike on the enemy dreadnought.” I looked to the Major, and asked, “What do we have?”
Major Khan nodded, and said, “The fleet docs are still running tests, but from initial reports It seems that we are not the first humans to visit Nuevo Edo.”
“Explain.”
“Atmosphere on the enemy ships was within human tolerances, with no toxic elements. Because we were going in with full Contamination protocols, we had sensors working full blast analyzing everything for contaminants. The ‘Demons’ put up a fight, and we couldn’t count on stunners to work through their armor. After the initial engagements, we discovered that their armor tech was equivalent to known designs that were several generations old, so we switched to stunners, but those first firefights confirmed that we were dealing with biological humans.
I frowned at that. “Major, I’m not doubting you, but humans don’t normally get that tall, and when they do they’re stringy little bastards from living on super-low gravity worlds, not brawny like these people. And we would have heard if any groups had made contact this far out and returned to Known Space.”
“I can’t answer for why we haven’t heard from them yet, but Doc says that the people we captured have all had extensive nano-modifications, probably from conception. They are biologically human, but they’ve been altered, probably over generations, to be the size we see now. I’ve sent the information to Raven for further analysis, since she’s our resident expert on nanotech.”
Raven nodded. “Analysis is ongoing, Commodore.”
I nodded slowly. “Any sign of weaponized nanites?”
“They did have melee weapons designed to inject a target with nanites, but they were insufficient to get through our armor. We have contacted the Assassins, and the freighters were indeed troop transports, but were only partly full, containment cells indicate they were looking to grab prisoners, as intel suggested. The troops on the freighters were armed with ranged versions of the injectors. No armor failures, but they only managed to capture six prisoners from the freighters. Everyone else fought to the last.”
“Unfortunate, but not outside expectations. Total prisoners from the dreadnought?”
“Thirty-nine. Thirty-four of them female, including the one we suspect to be the fleet commander. The five males were not in armor or uniform, and were normal human sized. I haven’t seen anything like it except on pirate ships, with the genders reversed. Worse, it appears that the males have all been… conditioned somehow. They obey any order a female gives them, without question. We even tried it with a male Marine using a female voice over his speakers, and the men complied instantly.”
General Akagi broke in, “So the reason they stole our men?”
I nodded gravely to her. “Slave raiders, almost certainly. If their people are like typical pirates, then they ‘use up’ any of the men they capture before long. To keep their population going, they must see raiding as being better than any reforms.”
Minister Takahara sighed. “We all believed that the men who were taken were killed, if not immediately, then before too long, but there were many who held out hope that they might yet be reunited with loved ones.”
Raven cut in then, with a voice filled with icy fury. “Even if we found any of your men still alive, Minister, they would no longer be your men. Commodore, I have finished the preliminary analysis of the weaponized nanites used by those on the dreadnought and the freighters. They are almost identical from a technological standpoint to the Hundeherstellar nanites of 120 years ago. The software has been given a complete rewrite however.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I sighed, and said, “Well, here I was hoping desperately that we’d left that nonsense behind when we came to a completely different arm of the galaxy. I assume that one of the changes to the software is that it targets males instead of females?”
“Indeed, Commodore. I’ll have to do an in depth analysis of the control software if you wish for a complete description of the reprogrammed personality traits, but the male/female identifier was right at the beginning of the code.”
“Any clues as to who these people are?”
“Not enough data for more than a 10% probability match, sir.”
Well, that was too much to hope for, I guessed. Looking back to the Edoans, I said, “I do not know if your historical databases cover the Hundeherstellar Corporation, but they were a… rabidly misogynistic group of men and their ‘pet’ women who did not agree with little things like ‘equal rights’. Early in Earth’s colonization history, they were able to buy one of the first FTL colony ships and set out for the edge of Known Space to set up their ‘perfect’ colony. At some point, they developed nanite technology to the point where they could literally rewrite a person’s mind, destroying whoever they used to be and leaving a mindless bimbo slave behind. Your Demons are apparently a dark mirror of these people.”
Khan got our attention, saying, “We’re ready to begin interrogations.” With a word, he turned on a screen, which showed a very tall, very muscular woman. It did not take a great feat of imagination to understand what the designers of their nanites were going for. These were Amazons. Real, live, Amazons.
The Amazon was in a green uniform that hugged her muscular curves very tightly. If one was into the musclebound woman look, then this would be a treat for the eyes to them. Across the table from her, Sergeant Delacroix looked positively puny in comparison, even though she was slightly tall for a woman, and most definitely in as good shape as all the Marines were. If this had been someone designing a character at chargen, it would have obviously been a MAJOR case of overcompensation, but then if these people were founded by those who somehow were getting away from the Hundeherstellar people, some overcompensation could be understood.
“My name is Sergeant Francine Delacroix. What is your name?”
The Amazon snarled, and said, “Who are you people? You’re not those little weaklings from the planet. Did you come from another Gate to take our spoils?”
“So, you speak English, this is good. But you appear incapable of answering simple questions. This is unfortunate. I will try to speak slowly, like talking to a child, until you prove to me that you have the intelligence to answer questions like an adult.”
“Insolent whelp! If it weren’t for these restraints, I would—AUGH!” The Amazon screamed as the Sergeant calmly pressed a button. She only held it down for a second, but the effect on the prisoner was emphatic.
Speaking slowly, the Sergeant continued, “That was the equivalent of a taser. As you can see, a brief jolt causes no permanent damage, but is quite uncomfortable. I do not believe in torture, but naughty children must be taught boundaries. I will ask questions. You will answer them, or you will stay silent. If you wish to ask a question, you must first ask permission, using ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You’. You will not threaten me, the ship, or anyone else. Fail to obey these simple rules, and you will be punished. Do you understand?”
“Fuck—YAAAAGH!”
“Do you understand?”
The woman growled. “Yes! Yes, I understand, so stop with the damn shocks!”
Delacroix smiled. “Excellent. Now what is your name and rank?”
“Wolf-Commander Dejah Thoris of the Second Capture Force.”
“Now, that wasn’t so difficult, was it? What is the name of your ship?”
“Fang of the Triumphant. Who are you people?”
“Uh-uh-uh. Remember, Dejah, you must ask permission before you can ask questions. I will give you a warning this time, since you’ve been so good about answering me, but next time I will have to shock you. The rules are pretty specific about that.”
“Rrgh! Please can I ask a question?”
“Why, yes, of course you may. What do you wish to know?”
“Who are you people?”
“Oh dear, you forgot to say ‘Thank you’ first. That means we have to give you a small shock.” The Sergeant reached for the button.
“Wait, wait! Thank you for letting me ask you a question! Who are you people?”
“Much better. Now, we are known as the Black Star Company, a multispecies group from closer to Earth.”
“Earth? You’ve seen Earth? You lie-aaagh!”
“That was a question without asking please. Do pay attention, Dejah, or the men watching this interview will start to think you enjoy pain. Why were you approaching the planet?”
“To attack them, of course! We cull their numbers whenever we need new breeder stock, and take the males so they can fill their natural role in society, fathering the next generation of warriors.”
“Why do you need warriors?”
“To destroy the Enemy when we find them again, of course!”
“And who is the Enemy?”
“The Evil Ones, who tried to force the Unnatural Order on everyone. But the First Matriarchs fought back like wolves, and managed to free those they could. They sought help from other worlds, but none would listen to them.”
“So what happened then?”
“The Evil Ones struck back, and attempted to destroy the She-Wolves. Many fell and were enslaved to the Evil Ones, but those that escaped fled until they got to a Gate. Knowing that oblivion was better than any fate the Evil Ones had in store for them, they cast themselves into the Gate, choosing a destination at random. The Evil Ones followed, but we left mines at the Gate, and they destroyed themselves. None others dared follow.”
Raven cut in, whispering as the Amazon captain pridefully told the story of her people’s escape and founding or whatever. “Commodore, if this information can be believed, there is a 83.2 percent chance that this group is descended from a rebel organization that arose on the Hundeherstellar world almost one hundred and twenty years ago. They were women who fought against the rulers of the world, but their movement was quickly discovered and crushed, quite severely. A splinter group was tracked going through the Gehenna Gate, but they were never heard from again.”
“Do we have the coordinates for their gate?”
“Yes, Commodore. We got a clear read from the probes when they exited the gate. Location of their system is unknown, of course, but we have an Eighteenth Known Address.”
Major Khan interrupted. “I have a question. If they were on that crazy-ass world where all the women are injected with mind-control nanites when they become adults, how did any women stay free long enough to organize a resistance?”
Raven shook her head. “Political sabotage. A member of their ruling body wished to discredit a rival and had a virus uploaded into his rival’s pets’ nanites while they were sleeping, which changed their programming. The changes got out of control, however, and those women were able to ‘free’ other women, rewriting them into freedom fighters.”
I nodded. Age old story, really. No matter the political system, someone always wanted more, and was willing to tear down others to get it. And when that happened, sometimes it wound up biting everyone on the ass. Even if they desperately needed a good ass-kicking, anyways. I looked over to the two Edoans, and said, “You know, since we have the location of their world, Nuevo Edo could always hire Black Star to take care of this problem in a more permanent manner.”