Chapter 24. Survivors of the Mandela?
Tiny walked through the corridors of the Republic with a technician from the engine room. She walked briskly, and the fat man struggled to follow her. She held a data tablet in her hand and quickly browsed the data on it. A lot has happened since I started working in the teleportation room a few months ago. This work makes her very happy. She quickly learned how everything worked. Her talents are very helpful in this regard. She was almost on par with the colleague who was supposed to be teaching her, and he had nothing left to teach her. Sometimes, she can even give him some advice. Of course, she'll say it in a sheepish or critical way. After all, she didn't want to criticize him. Her colleagues are now her friends and she doesn't want to hurt the feelings between her colleagues.
When Tiny finished reading the data on the tablet, she handed it back to the engineer. "What's going on with the fluctuations in the teleporter energy levels? We checked everything, but the teleporter itself seems fine. So the problem could be in the cabin."
"We haven't determined the exact cause yet," the man replied breathlessly. "There may be something wrong with the energy coupling. We need to replace them. However, Mr. Dancho has adjusted his priorities, so the repair will take two days." Gavin is Daisy's cabin deputy. "But these fluctuations are within tolerance," he added casually.
Tiny's eyes widened. How could an engineer say such a thing? "Maybe. But if we need to do large-scale transfers and the system is under heavy load, these values could change quickly," she warned. "If something is not 100 percent effective, it means nothing." This is her principle and her code of conduct.
Tiny stopped at an intersection and looked at him seriously. She was furious at his attitude. "Our rescue mission is not complete yet," she said clearly. The Republic is indeed still parked at the location where they picked up Charles, and has not yet returned to the orbit of the planet Kuafu IV. "And large-scale transportation may need to be carried out at any time. If this happens, I will ask Mr. Gavin to let you go through the portal first. Do you understand?" She felt anger rising inside, so her words changed Gotta be more direct.
"I'll talk to Mr. Gavin again," the man whispered. It was impossible to tell whether the blush on his face was from the effort or her reprimand.
Out of the corner of her eye, Tiny saw Pike walking down the corridor. She didn't want to drag him into this again. There's no point in having the two of them work together to lecture the poor guy. All she had to do was report what happened to Pike. So she dismissed the man with the words, "So be it. Say hello to Mr. Gavin for me."
The engineer nodded curtly and moved on. Although Tiny is not an official member of the crew, word of her abilities has spread throughout the ship, and everyone respects her. And she's the captain's daughter.
Pike rushed to her side after the man left. "Hi Tiny," he greeted and gave her a kiss. "What's wrong?"
"No big deal," Tiny said with a wave, briefly describing to him what had happened.
He looked at her appreciatively. "Not bad. You made him sweat," he grinned. "I don't want to mess with you."
"I'd advise you not," she said seriously, smiling at him. She noticed that he was coming from the direction of the teleportation room, her destination. She had thought they would meet there. "Where are we going?" she asked.
"I was asked to go to a senior management meeting," he said with some uncertainty. He had never been to a senior management meeting before. Typically, Daisy is also responsible for the delivery technology area. However, Gavin isn't exactly good at this area, so Pike has to participate as well.
"I'm in the president's office," Tiny said sarcastically. "There is hope for promotion."
"If this keeps up, I'll be captain soon," he joked.
"Then I have to apply for a job transfer," Tini grinned, teasing him.
"I don't believe that's the case," he replied cheerfully. "But I have to go. By the way, would you like to have dinner with me tonight? A candlelight dinner, just you and me. At my place."
Pike stared into her eyes, and she felt a pleasant shiver in her back. "Of course," she said excitedly, and hugged him.
Pike hugged Tiny tightly. "Then let's meet at my place at nine," he said, and then let go of the hug.
"Okay, see you then." Tiny took a few steps back and smiled at Pike. Then she turned and left the hallway.
Pike looked at her back. He loved watching Tiny walk. Her ass is really nice. Then, he also hit the road. He must never be late for meetings.
He wasn't the last person to enter the room. The last person to enter belongs to Captain Noah himself. Everyone else has arrived. As captain, he sat at the top of the conference table. On his left sat Charles, Celia, and Vida, and on his right sat Jeffrey, Ingmar, Ted, and Pike.
The captain glanced briefly at everyone. "I'm glad everyone showed up on time for such an impromptu meeting," he said. Then he first gave some explanations about Charles' situation. Not everyone already knows this person. "Mr. Charles was once a prisoner of the Demon Flame. He managed to escape and now requests our help to free his imprisoned compatriots. I am well aware of the complexity of such a task," he quickly added before any objections could arise, especially Coming from Jeffrey, who often quoted Starfleet rules and regulations on such occasions. "Mr. Charles is willing to provide us with all the information he has about the Demon Flame. I think we should at least hear his story. This does not mean that we have decided to go on a rescue mission." He looked around everyone, But no dissent was heard. So he turned directly to their guests. "Now, Mr. Charles, please tell us what you went through."
Charles took a deep breath, as if gathering the courage to tell the story. “I’ve always been a miner,” Charles begins. "On my home planet, Pisces. Our planet is rich in mineral resources, and we mine all over the planet. These raw materials are important needs in daily life. Without them, we cannot maintain our economic level and cannot continue Development. Especially space research requires a lot of resources. However, our space exploration has not yet reached your level. We have not even been able to leave our own solar system. But we are about to make a breakthrough in interstellar navigation. Then the magic flame appeared. They destroyed our most important cities and military bases from space, leaving us with no chance to defend ourselves. We lost our government and military and were completely incapacitated. When they landed on the planet, we had almost no ability to resist. There was only a small attempt at defense, but it ended in massacre. I'm not sure, but I believe not a single Demon Flame was killed during the conquest of our planet. That was about a hundred years ago. ” Charles was silent for a few seconds, trying to stay calm.
"The Demon Flame allows us to continue living normally, provided that we no longer establish governments and armies, and the minerals we mine can only be supplied to them. At first, we thought we were lucky, so we complied. Scientific research projects were stopped, and we Just working hard for the new master. However, after a while, we understood the true intentions of the Demon Flame. Whenever they need slaves, they will come and take away thousands of our population. We must keep enough Successor power. In this way, our children may one day be kidnapped by the Demonic Flame and sold in the slave market. We are actually a slave breeding base. And the Demonic Flame controls countless such planets."
"Why don't your people resist?" Celia asked in shock. "I mean, why don't your people refuse to have children? It's much easier not to get pregnant than to get pregnant. And if the Demon Flame kills your people as punishment, that's still much better than knowing that your children will become slaves." Xi Leah is deeply shocked by Charles' statement. She is extremely compassionate towards others, almost the most compassionate of anyone on the ship. It may be that this level of empathy is only possible because of her youth. And her attitude towards others also makes her an excellent doctor.
"That's what we thought at first," Charles went on to explain. "But later, the demonic flames sent out supervisors to perform cruel, painful and humiliating artificial insemination on every unpregnant woman. In our culture, the life of the unborn is above all else. A pregnant woman will give birth to a healthy child Giving up everything to give birth to a child, even under circumstances like this. On my planet, there are rumors that before the coming of the Demon Flame, centuries ago, our people used to be cruel. We hurt each other, even with our children. Show mercy. To prevent this from happening, the government decided at the time to alter our genes so that we at least would no longer cause harm to our children. So even if we wanted to fight back, we couldn't. Today, it's our curse . We cannot harm fetuses and children." He paused, trying to collect himself.
"One day," Charles continued. "The demonic flames appeared again. They discovered new mineral deposits on an asteroid and needed slaves to work there. And I, as a miner, was also brought to the place where the mine disaster occurred. It was hell. There was no light, no freshness. Air, and no clean water. People who don't work hard enough will be punished. Making noise during working hours will also be punished. Meeting natural needs during working hours will also be punished. There is only punishment. The Demon Flame will use any excuse to punish Slaves. They tortured slaves, causing them as much pain as possible without letting them die. It was a pleasure to them." He sneered a little at the suggestion that torture could bring pleasure to someone , which is an extremely one-sided and morbid fun.
"The smell in there is disgusting," he continued slowly. "The smell was really bad because there was no sanitation. There were so many different creatures in such a small space, it created a stench you couldn't imagine. But, strangely enough, people get used to it. When I first started, I It’s almost hard to believe it. But it wasn’t until I breathed the fresh air on this ship again that I really realized how bad it was.” He paused again to keep his cool. As he told it, he was almost overwhelmed by memories. Additionally, he was considering whether there was something else important to tell.
"The maximum lifespan there was only half a year. But almost no one could survive more than half a year in slavery. At least not in the mines. Most died from malnutrition or lack of water. And if a disease broke out among the slaves, it would Kill all the slaves immediately, do a full cleaning, and procure new ones. It's cheaper and can be done in a matter of hours. So, the mining of the ore will only stop for a few hours."
"Those who survived more than half a year under slavery would be taken away by guards and never seen again. We speculate that these people may have been killed. In this way, the magic flame prevents someone from proclaiming himself a leader and calling on other slaves to start an uprising. .”
"It was so horrific there, words can barely describe what happened," Charles ended his account softly. "Without Joan, I certainly wouldn't have survived as long as I did."
"Joan?" Dr. Celia asked in the same low voice.
"She was a slave I met and fell in love with there."
Dr. Celia raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Did you leave her and escape alone?" Before that, Charles had always given a very kind impression, but how could he escape without abandoning his lover and handing her over to what he had just described? What about cruel fate?
"I had no choice," he argued feebly. "Someone took me away. Probably to execute me. But on the way, I managed to overpower the guards. Then I got lost in the corridor and finally found a rescue pod. That's how I escaped."
"How many guards did you subdue?" Jeffrey asked before the doctor could ask any unnecessary emotional questions.
"How much?" Charles was confused. "Two. What's wrong? Does it matter?"
"In your weak state, you were able to subdue two demonic flame guards?" There was a trace of doubt in the voice of the calm and ruthless Vulcan.
Noah was happy to have such an official. He himself was still too shocked by Charles's account to notice this detail. But Vulcans can't be shocked by anything. And it’s possible to see logical holes in a narrative.
"Yes, I did," Charles confirmed. "Please don't ask me how I did it. Maybe one has special reserves of strength in situations like this. Or the guards were overconfident and totally unprepared for a slave to try to escape. I don't know. The fact is, I succeeded , otherwise I wouldn’t be here now.”
"Jeffrey, you can acknowledge this fact." Noah said. But he believed the Vulcans were not entirely convinced.
"Please, Captain," Charles requested, turning to Noah. "Save the others. Free the mine. Save Joan."
Noah hesitated. It is within his power to make decisions. However, Charles's narrative is not without effect. Could he really tolerate a creature being treated like this? Regardless of the rules, this is illegal. And will a rescue operation really inevitably lead to war? The Demon Flame and the Federation did not yet know each other, and diplomats could explain it as a misunderstanding when the diplomats made formal first contact later. "You haven't told us how powerful Demon Flame is." He avoided answering directly. "What's their technology level? What's their weapons like? What's their defense technology like? Those are all important factors if we decide to conduct a rescue operation."
Charles hesitated. "I don't know exactly," he admitted. "They are much more advanced than my race. It's not a standard." He thought for a moment. "But they are definitely not as advanced as you." He said with confidence. "I've never heard of them being able to disassemble and reassemble people." He was referring to teleportation technology. Teleportation seems to be a very special and powerful technology for many races.
"That's not a lot of information," Noah mused. He wants real help, but that requires more information. "Where exactly is this mine? How many defense measures are there?" He tried to get information from another angle.
"I don't know," Charles replied quietly. He knew he wasn't helping much. "I was lucky enough to survive my escape," he defended himself. Then an idea occurred to him. "But the rescue capsule's sensors record a lot of information. If you can analyze that data, you might be able to get all the information you need."
"Mr. Jeffrey," Noah turned to the Vulcan. Needless to say, Jeffrey knew what he was going to do. After the meeting, he analyzes the data and works until the last bit of information is mined from the storage system.
"You said Demon Flame was a slave trader," Noah asked Charles again. "Do you know anything more about their slave trade?"
"Not a lot. And just what other people say." Charles was clearly uncomfortable with the topic, but he did his best to answer the question. "There are some companions who are first sold into the slave market. Then they serve some wealthy families or are forced to do farm labor. Those who don't work hard enough are punished, just like in the mines. And if they continue to behave after that Not good, because they are not suitable for this kind of work, they will be punished again. These punishments depend on the mood of the master. Either he sells the slaves to the market or executes them directly. Or provides them to medical research laboratories. Some slaves The Lord may have other methods of punishment. As far as I know, the Demon Flame has no rules governing the treatment of slaves."
Noah just nodded. He heard enough. But in order to make a final decision, he still needs the most important data. Regarding the defensive ability of demonic flames. And this information must be obtained from the rescue capsule.
"I think Dr. Celia would agree if I said you should take a break," the captain said at last. He was convinced that no more important information could be obtained from Charles.
"Yes, I agree," Dr. Celia agreed quickly.
"Captain, you must rescue that mine." Charles said firmly. "Not just to ease your conscience. But to free all the prisoners. To free the survivors of the Mandela." He played his final trump card.
Everyone was shocked. The faces of the participants were all full of differences, and some even took a deep breath and exclaimed "ah". No one expected this. Even though Dr. Celia was already about to take Charles out of the room, she looked at him in surprise, forgetting for a moment the state of his health.
"What?" Noah asked again. "Survivors of the Mandela?"
