The Chains of Slavery

The Chains of Slavery

Prologue

He woke up with a start. Something had woken him from his restful dreaming. Some part of his subconscious was warning him of danger that his conscious had not yet recognised. He lay on his bunk slowing his breathing and his hammering pulse so that he could hear. As he calmed himself down the familiar hum of the ship around him came back to him. He was at the point of drifting off to sleep again when he heard it. It was the sound of a woman’s muffled scream drifting through the ventilation system. His heart hammered again as he leaped out of the bunk almost out of instinct to help that as his bare feet slapping on the cold metal floor as he landed. He move quickly to the hatch leading to the corridor and opened it slowly reducing the squeaking hinges as much as he dared. Glancing out to make sure it was clear before he stepped out into the corridor. The scream came again louder and clearer again from down the corridor. He moved as silently as he could as he headed towards the scream. He reached an open hatch ways leading into a cabin and peeked in. He could see the three occupants in the cabin. Two were woman; one was crouched on the floor with blood streaming from her nose with the other holding her protectively. The third was man who did not look like the crew. He was a large man wearing some kind of grubby uniform which he could not make out. The man was laughing evilly as he slowly advanced muttering profanities under his breath. He launched himself at the man slamming his fist deep into the man’s kidneys. His momentum as he crashing into the man through him hard against the cabins bunks. He heard a thud as the man’s head connected with the side of the bunk and felt him go limb as they crashed to the floor. He dragged himself off the man and gave him a sharp kick in the ribs as he stood up. He looked at one the woman who was looking past him as he heard something behind him. As he tried to turn something hard hit him in the back like a sledge hammer. The pain as excruciating and he cried out as he dropped to the floor. Another caught him along his ribs as he tried to curl up into a ball to protect him. The mersey of the blackness took him after two more hits and his consciousness faded from the world of pain that his body was being subjected to.

Road to nowhere

Passenger Ship Corridor

He heard a soft voice him his ear and something cool pressed against his face. He opened his eyes slowly as they hurt from the lights in the room. He tried to move but a gentle hand held him back and the voice spoke again. He turned and looked at the speaker. He blinked a couple of time to get his eyes to focus as the image cleared. He was looking at a woman in her late twenties with brunette shoulder length hair which was matted and clumped with dry blood. What took his attention were her green eyes which seemed to sparkle with a hint of mischief which he found a bit strange in the situation that they now found them selves in. As they talked quietly she introduced herself as Arya, she explained that when he was knocked out by the leader of the boarding gang and the leader had told the other that they were not to be harmed as it would affect our sell price. She had thanked him for saving her from the boarder and he made a silly comment about saving damsels in distress. Along with the other passengers they had been taken off the ship through a boarding tube that had been cut through the hull and placed in the large cargo hold that they now found themselves in. As he took time to take in his surroundings Arya went to find something that passed as edible food. He looked around the cargo bay and guessed that there were about two hundred people crammed into the cargo bay with them. There did not seem to be any way out accept a large cargo hatch at the far end of the cargo bay which he suspected led to the space. There was a gantry that ran along the walls of the cargo bay high up near the ceiling and he could see armed figures roaming along them keeping a close eye on what was happening below them. As Arya returned with some kind of ration pack she told him that she thought that she had overheard that they were heading for a dilithium mine so be sold as slave labour.

Down the Pit

Asteroid Dilithium Mine

The trip took a few days from what he could calculate but he was not sure exactly. Suddenly the cargo bay gave a shudder as something clamped onto it. There was a sound of equalising pressure and then then large cargo hatch squealed open on complaining mechanisms. A voice came over a loud speaker system which was imbedded into the ceiling telling them to move out of the cargo bay or they would be spaced. It also told them that they were now the property of the Black Vipers and that they were on an asteroid to mine dilithium and to work their miserable lives until they died which was expected not to be long as there was a very high attrition rate. He and Arya got up and moved with the others out of the cargo bay and into what became obvious as they approached was some sort of processing facility. They were all process under armed guard who shot and killed the first two people that did not comply. After then everyone did as they were told. He and Arya were processed and attached to one of the drill teams and put to work deep in the body of the asteroid.

They had been working in the mines for about a week when it happened. He and Arya was near the asteroid’s core working on a large deposit of dilithium when suddenly alarms began to sound along the mine shaft. He had heard alarms before mainly for explosive decompression since he had been here but this one was different. They put down their drills and began to make their way to the surface. This might be the chance that they were looking for to escape. They had not made it very far when they came across their first Black Viper. He was armed but luckily for them facing up the tunnel towards it entrance. Anya took his legs from under him as he grabbed for the phaser rifle that the Black Viper was carrying. As he brought up the weapon to scan the tunnel he heard the sickening snap of bone before Anya got up. He gave her a quick glance and realised that this woman who he had been with for the past week was not all she seemed. They hurried forward as they zig zagged their way through the tunnels as they tried to find the quickest way to the mine’s entrance. There had been fewer Black Vipers then they had expected and they made good progress out of the tunnels. As they emerged it became clear where they had gone. The habituation, command and dilithium processing part of the facility were under heavy attack. from what he could make out as he glanced across the battle raging around him was that the Black Vipers had been attached by Starfleet ground forces but there was no way that they could get to them directly so they would have to make a large detour and hope not to get shot in the process.

They had crept through a couple of cargo bays and a small part of the massive processing plant when they reach an obstacle. The Black Vipers realising that the asteroid was going be taken over they had decided to start setting charges to give them more time to regroup and counter attack. This meant that they had decided to vent outlying areas of the facility into space hoping that this would force the Starfleet forces into the middle of the facility which was more densely packed with equipment and machinery. Unfortunately for him and Anya they were in one of the outlying areas and as the gravity stopped and the air began to be sucked out things were going badly for them. Suddenly in a far corner a hatch opened out of the wall. It belonged to an escape pod which had been part of the original design as the people who built the mines and the facility had wanted to survive any disasters misfortune that the facility came under and had placed escape pods throughout the facility. They hauled themselves through the zero-g corridor that they were in; they slid in side and slammed the hatch shut as the air was drained for the area they had just been in. The pod realising that it had occupants automatically launched its self from the station and powered its self into space. He leaned against a bulk head on the pods wall and looked at Arya and grinned. He then suggested that they reintroduce themselves.

Epilogue

Jay stood on the bridge looking at what once saw the Black Vipers mining facility spinning in space in front of her. The mission had been successful much to her relief. Insertion of the operatives had been the easy part of a risky operation. A lot could have gone wrong from their original capture to transit and then their time in the mining facility. Serenity had been shadowing them all the way and then launched the final assault on the facility. The Special Forces and Marines had managed to secure the facility before the Black Vipers had wiped its main computer core or blown the facility up and the information that they had gathered on the operations had been a used to quickly formulate new missions which were already in motion. The slaves had been freed and were being transported back to their home planets in grater luxury then when they had arrived. She glanced down at the PADD she held in her hand which had the report from Lieutenant Commander Bill Grayjoy and Senior Chief Petty Officer Arya Snow who had been inserted by Special Forces without Jays knowledge. They had been picked up by the Serenities sensors as the escape pod had raced away. They had been taken to sickbay and were now making a recovery. She had made a request for Snow to be assigned to the Serenity and she hope that Snow would accept. From what she had heard from Greyjoy she was a very capable woman. She ordered the Serenity on a new heading as they had received new orders and another starship would arrive soon to take charge of the situation.