Matthew watched the corpse of the last sailor flying overboard and kept up his guard for a few seconds longer before Aea’s report sounded out over the local net
[Confirmed, Hostile takeover completed, M1, R1 move to secure the slaves, Haliea-001 inbound to vessel 1 in 120 seconds]
Matthew lowered his coil rifle and let out a sigh before he made a hand signal to the combat androids before he sat down on the small boat and started the engine, the small inflatable raft boats weren’t all that great as transport, but they did their job as improvised shooting platforms better than he had expected, still there was room for improvement even in this calm weather the accuracy of the combat androids weren’t all that great
‘Still, it might have some potential… Make a note for the development of a deployable stabilization module for these boats at the end of the queue’
[Noted, added to the end of the current queue]
The 30 combat androids followed Matthew’s lead and the group approached the 3, now mostly devoid of life wooden sailor ships, as they did Haliea-001 passed overhead, the giant aircraft’s wings opened up as extended air brakes as it engaged reverse thrust on both engines the VTOL quickly came to a halt and hovered over the first vessel for a few moments before it maneuvered down and lowered the back ramp to the upper deck of the ship
[I am bringing the slaves up now, they are acting nice for now]
Matthew leaped from his raft boat and landed on the deck of the ship, where he checked the magazine on his rifle as he asked Aea
‘Aea, how does the scope look?’
[Radar and surveillance drones indicate no further contacts at this time]
After a few silent moments passed Ripper stepped up from the staircase followed by the first group of slaves, her optical camouflage suit were still lit up in cartoonish outlines of her figure with a neutral expression displayed on the helmet, however once she laid eyes on Matthew it turned into a smug cat-like smile as her voice sounded out over the local net
[It felt great to cut up some people again, thanks for having my back with the last guy]
‘No problem, let’s get these people loaded up, I’ll prepare the next group while you round trip with these’
The slaves, well at this point they were former slaves, silently followed the orders of their rescues despite their fear of the Haliea, combat androids and as well as their collectively newly discovered fear.
The fear of flying.
[Eh… Major, one guy just puked all over the floor]
Matthew kicked off the ground and a moment later the deck of the wooden ship as he propelled himself into the air with a great leap, after sailing through the air for a few seconds he landed on the 2nd wooden ship to the sound of the wooden deck straining under his weight
‘Get some bags for them then and have the maintenance droids mop it up before take-off’
[Roger… Ugh… the smell of stomach bile on polished metal isn’t exactly my favorite...]
‘Yeah I know what you mean… It brings some unpleasant memories with it…’
Matthew made his way down towards the hold, he stepped over the deceased sailors and eventually arrived down at the hold where he snapped a glow stick and shock it before he dropped it on the wooden floor before he looked at a particular slave and spoke
“We meet again”
Silent followed for a few moments before the slave, the former Forge guardian spoke
“...Major Rockwell… Wasn’t it..?”
“Yep, I didn’t catch your name at our last meeting”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“...What does it matter… Our home… Is gone… Our people scattered…”
Matthew remained silent, so did the slave for a few moments before he spoke
“My name is… Ruki, disgraced champion of… Our forge…”
Matthew nodded and took a moment to look around at the other slaves, they stared at him silently behind the metal bars that a made up their prison, he gathered his thoughts before he spoke
“I am offering you two choices, however I am not interested in hearing your response for now… If you challenge me anyway, you will only throw away your lives needlessly”
Ruki remained silent for a few moments before he spoke in a language foreign to Matthew, after conversing with the other slaves for a bit he spoke again
“We are not blind to your help and mercy… Our life is in your hands”
Matthew nodded before he stepped up to the metal gate and grabbed the handle before he pulled the metal gate off the hinges and threw it to the side
“Then let’s go”
Ruki spoke to the other slaves again before they all followed Matthew to the upper deck
“We have to wait for a bit before our transport arrives… While we wait, I have a question for you Ruki”
Ruki and the other slaves had sat down on the deck, Ruki knew what Matthew wanted to ask, so he simply closed his eyes and spoke in a somber tone
“The Turman kingdom launched a large invasion force, their forces were unrelenting and after an extended siege our walls failed us”
Matthew let out a sigh, the worst of his fears were cleared by Ruki’s answer
‘Well, the Turman kingdom isn’t exactly a great thing to have to fight, but it’ll have to happen eventually anyway… At least it’s not some sort of new cosmic horror that showed up which we have to deal with…’
[Haliea-001 inbound to vessel 2 in 2 minutes]
Matthew snapped out of his thoughts and gave the next sets of orders to Aea
‘Have the combat androids board vessel 1 and bring everything in the storage hold topside and ready it for transport, loot vessel 2 and 3’s cargo decks afterward and bring everything back to the outpost later before sinking the ships… A couple incendiary grenades should do the trick’
[Orders confirmed]
“Major… Rockwell”
Matthew looked over at Ruki that had called out to him, he seemed to been appointed to speak on behalf of the slaves while Matthew were confirming the looting details with Aea
“You mentioned… Two choices…”
Matthew narrowed his eyes before he spoke curtly
“I said I am not interested in having you make your choice now, you just need to behave yourselves for now”
“Then when… Will you… Have us make… Our choice..?”
Matthew let out a sigh, he was slightly irritated, not at the questions mind you, it was the attitude of not only Ruki, but the rest of the slaves, their spirits had been thoroughly shattered and their bodies broken… It reminded him of himself… So he answered in a way his past self and the group of slaves would understand
“Slaves are not capable of making choices… I will have all of you make your choices once you are no longer slaves and not a moment before then, now shut up and behave”
Ruki shut his mouth, so did the rest of the slaves, not that any of the slaves had said anything Matthew could understand so far anyway… But despite Matthew’s harsh words and abysmal social skills, he felt like the mood of the slaves had increased a bit from his words despite his cold tone
‘...Now it’s up to them’
A few minutes of silence passed before the roar of Haliea-001 echoed out before it stopped and parked next to the 2nd vessel, Ripper stepped out after the ramp lowered and Matthew spoke to her over the local net
‘I want you to scour the vessels for intel, heads, maps, books, notes, letters, gather everything, but don’t sink the ships afterward, the drones will clean them of their cargo and take care of that later’
[Roger, I’ll get to it Major]
Matthew ushered the slaves aboard Haliea-001 before he tapped Ruki on the shoulder to get his attention, due to the engine noise they couldn’t speak so he simply gestured for him to follow him back out onto the deck
‘Go ahead and take the 2nd group back to the outpost, Aea then send Haliea-001 back to get the rest’
[Confirmed, Haliea-001 taking off]
Matthew watched Haliea-001 fly clear of the wooden ship before it turned and quickly picked up speed back towards the outpost, then he turned to Ruki and spoke once the engine roar had died down
“I was hoping you could help smooth over the situation with the last group”
Ruki nodded before he spoke
“I will… Assist you… Major…”
Matthew nodded before he picked him up over his shoulder and leaped to the 3rd vessel, where he and Ruki went down the hold, while Ruki spoke with the final group Ripper’s voice sounded out over the local net
[Major, I hit the jackpot, I found a stash of maps in the captain's quarters of the 2nd vessel, some of them got covered in blood during our assault, but the captain’s head is mostly intact so we should be able to make up the lost data with a quick data harvest]
‘What about the 1st vessel?’
[No luck with that one, I found a few letters in the personal belongings of the sailors on the lower decks, besides that there was nothing of note besides the 38 intact skulls]
‘Okay, go ahead and harvest the captain’s head before we lose any more data… Secure the rest and pack them for transport then meet me on vessel 3, the androids will take care of the rest’
[Roger, I’ll be done in a few~]
“Major… My people… Have agreed to… Follow”
Matthew nodded and looked over the 3rd group before he spoke
“I am not sure what Ruki told you, but I won’t hesitate to strike if any of you try and pull a fast one, so behave yourselves for now”
Matthew looked over the faces of the slaves for a few moments longer before he tore the door of their prison and lead them, up on the deck Ripper waited for them, a secured case leaned against the same mast she sat up against, this contained all the intel she had collected, besides this there were 2 large 2 by 2 meter blocks of ice which were dyed back to obscure their grizzly contents
“Intel secured, Major”
“Good job, did the harvest yield anything?”
“Yep~ We got what we needed~”
Matthew nodded, a few moments passed in silence before Aea’s report sounded out over the local net
[Haliea-001 inbound to vessel 3 in 30 seconds]
Ripper stood up and stretched before she reached up and removed her helmet, then she walked over to Matthew and raised her closed fist to her chest height with a cat like smile on her face as she asked
“Nothing like a clean mop up, isn’t that right, Major~?”
Matthew showed a grin before he agreed
“Yeah, I was afraid we had gotten rusty”
Then he gave her a fist bump as the two shared a grin