Solbidyum Wars 3: Pirates of Goo'waddle Canals (30 page)

“Thank you, Tanden,” I said, and then to Kerabac, “I think we all need to be in the house and nearby for this discussion.  Is there something we can do that would justify our presence in the house?”

“I’m sure I can find and excuse for you to be rearranging the furniture,” Kerabac said, just as Padaran appeared at the door.

“Excuse me.  Endina sent me out to tell you that there are some men here to see Kerabac.  They look like Brotherhood goons to me.”

“Yes,” I said, “Tanden just alerted us to their arrival.  See if you can stall them just a short while so we can slip into the house unseen.  Then bring them to the large dining room, where Kerabac will be directing us to rearrange the furniture.”

“Right,” Padaran said, “I’ll see what I can do.  Be careful, though.  This bunch looks dangerous.”

Moments later, as Marranalis and I moved the heavy table while Kerabac barked orders at us, Padaran opened the large doors that separated the dining area from the other rooms to reveal Endina and four large men. 

“Kerabac, these men insist on seeing you.  I informed them you were not taking visitors, but they said they were not leaving until they talked to you.”

Kerabac turned slowly with and, with the most convincing look of disgust and frustration, said, “You have no right to barge into my home to see me.  I’m busy.  I do not know you, nor do I have any business with you.  If you would be so good as to leave before I have my slaves toss you out…”

A tall, lean man with dark hair and slightly finer clothing than the other two spoke up.  “You may not know us, trader Kerabac — or is it pirate Kerabac?  Not that it matters either way — we know you.  You encountered our blockade when you left Ryken and failed to yield to our boarding and search.”

“So what if I did? You have no right to stop or investigate any ships anywhere that I know of and I have no intentions of yielding to the likes of you.”

“That was quite an impressive getaway you made from our ships.  We could make it very profitable to you if you were to let us in on the secrets of your jump drive.”

“Jump drive?  I’m afraid I do not know what you are talking about, and even if I did, I would not be inclined to share or sell anything to the likes of menaces such as yourselves.”

“I don’t believe you realize the powers you are up against, if you insist on opposing the Brotherhood,” the leader said.  “We can be a formidable enemy, or an ally who can open doors for you and provide opportunities that will make you a very rich and powerful man.  We could make it very worth your time if you were to cooperate with us.  We’re prepared to offer you a completely new ship
of the corvette design, larger and vastly superior to your freighter, in exchange for this craft that brought you to Goo’Waddle.”

“Get out of my house.  I’ll make no such agreement with you – not for a corvette or even for a starship, if you had one!  I have no love for the Brotherhood.”

During this heated exchange, Marranalis and I had slowly positioned ourselves so we were right next to the Brotherhood thugs.  We both noted a slow shift in the posture of each of the men, as though they were preparing to reach for weapons concealed within their clothing.

“Too bad,” the leader said.  “We were prepared to make you a good deal, but now we will have to do it the hard way.”

He nodded to his men; but before they could reach for their weapons, Marranalis and I moved quickly to disarm and subdue the two closest to us.  Kerabac walked forward slowly until he was standing nose-to-nose with their leader.

“I fear it is
you
who has underestimated
me
,” Kerabac said with a sneer.  As he spoke, he reached inside the man’s jacket and extracted a knife, which he tossed into his other hand, followed by a gun, which he handed nonchalantly to Endina.  “As you can see, my slaves are quite loyal to me and are
most
capable.  Now, if you and your friends here would like to get out of here alive, I suggest you answer a few questions for me.”

A look of fear suddenly came over the face of the leader, as he looked at his men lying unconscious on the floor.  “I have nothing to say to the likes of you.”

“I see.  Endina, do we have any more slave collars?”

“I’m afraid not,” she answered, “but we have sufficient rope to tie up these men.”

She left the room to retrieve the rope as Kerabac looked back at the leader and said, “Hmm.  Then I fear we shall have to do this the old-fashioned way.”  He slowly maneuvered the knife he had taken from the Brotherhood leader up to his face.  “I understand that you have been looking for a man named Logden.  Why are you so interested in this man?”

“Not that it’s any of your business,” the leader spat, “but he has something that belong to us and we wish it back.”

“It must be something pretty valuable to warrant all the effort that you are putting forth.  What makes you think this Logden fellow is here?”

While Kerabac was talking, Endina returned with rope and tossed it to Marranalis.  We quickly bound the men who still lay motionless on the floor. 

The leader pinched his lips tight and pushed out his chin with a defiant look on his face.  Kerabac grinned and casually ran the side of the blade along the man’s face so that it didn’t cut him, then flipped the blade around and moved it down to the man’s crotch. 

“I’m only going to give you one opportunity to answer before I neuter you.”

“Alright!  Alright!  One of our spies found out he was staying in a room at the Dark Moon Inn.  We’ve been watching, but he must have found out, as he hasn’t returned to the room in over a week.  But we’re pretty sure he hasn’t gotten off-world since then.  You have no idea how much trouble you’re causing yourself by messing with us,” he added.

Kerabac struck him swiftly and soundly across the face, causing blood to gush from his mouth.  By this point, his cronies were starting to come around.  The look of bewilderment and confusion on their faces as they woke to find themselves bound in ropes and their leader spilling his guts made for an interesting scene.  While Kerabac grilled the Brotherhood goons, I quietly spoke to Endina, Sokaia and Kala in the corner, as far away as possible from the bugging device in the next room. 

“Is there any way we can wipe their minds of what has happened?”

“There is, but it would require a learning headband like the ones we use for teaching language and martial arts,” Kala began.  “We don’t have one here.”

“Felenna is in orbit or somewhere nearby,” I said.  “See if you can contact her.  Have a cloaked patrol ship bring one down for us.  They can land in the recently harvested field adjacent to the house, but tell them to remain cloaked.  Tell them to exit the ship using a rope tied inside the ship as a lead to guide them back through the cloaking shield to the hatch.  Tell them we need a learning headband, and if there are any slave collars on the
MIZBAGONA
that Brotherhood had onboard when we captured it at Alle Bamma, we want those as well.”

Kala went out to the slave house where we had hidden our radio.  While she contacted Felenna, the rest of us watched Kerabac put on a terrifying act as he interrogated the Brotherhood members.  It was an hour later when we received word that a patrol ship from the
MIZBAGONA
had landed in the field next to the estate was awaiting confirmation to disembark and transfer the items we requested.  Marranalis and Sokaia went to the rendezvous point and returned a few minutes later.  Sokaia carried a small briefcase that contained the learning headband and Marranalis carried a large box of slave collars.  When the Brotherhood goons saw the collar devices, they immediately began to panic.

“What are you planning to do with us?” their leader cried with a look of horror on his face.

Although Kerabac had not heard my earlier conversation with Kala and Sokaia, he was quick to pick up on my scheme when he saw the collars and headband.  “I think you would better serve this world as slaves than as masters,” he said with a sneer.

“You can’t make slaves of us!  When we tell Shydak of this, he’ll have your balls!”

Kerabac grinned sadistically as Kala began opening up the case that contained the headband apparatus.  “I don’t think you’ll be telling Shydak anything, even if he does find you working in a slave gang.”

Realization settled in the minds of our captives when they saw the learning band.  As Marranalis snapped the slave collars about their necks, they began cursing, screaming and struggling and continued to do so until the last of them were wiped of all memory by Kalana.  At last, all three sat staring blankly at the wall.

I moved to the next room, motioning to Kalana to join me, as I didn’t want the bug to pick up our conversation.

“How long will this memory wipe last?” I asked.

Kala’s expression was dead serious.  “It’s permanent.  They will remember things like how to talk and walk, but they won’t remember their names or anything that has happened to them in their lives.  Everything is new to them.”

I motioned to Kerabac to join us.  I said quietly, “I want them sold in the slave market tomorrow as laborers.  I have no idea how long it will take for the Brotherhood to find them, but when they do, I think they are going to be madder than hell.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“I’m sure word will get out; and if Logden hears about this, it should help to convince him that we are not likely to turn him over to the Brotherhood.  It should bring him to us quickly.”

“We’re taking a big chance, you know.  You heard those goons, they work for Shydak personally.”

“I have no doubt of it; but as long as the Brotherhood thinks we have a jump drive, I doubt they will take any fatal actions against us.”

“I hope you’re right,” Kerabac said.  Then he turned and announced loudly enough so anyone listening with the bug would hear, “Get these new slaves out of here.  Take them to the slave house where they belong; tomorrow, I sell them.  In the meantime, Padaran, get me some food – and you two women join me in the bedroom.”

Marranalis and I took the three Brotherhood men to the slave house.  It was a few moments before Tanden peeped out of the air vent and then climbed out.  The look on his face was full of confusion and question.  At last he spoke.

“What did you do to them?  Has Kerabac made them his slaves?  Why do they look so funny?”

I had to laugh at his confusion and questions.  “We wiped their minds; and tomorrow Kerabac will sell them in the slave market as common laborers.”

When I finished saying this, Tanden slowly walked around in front of the three men, who sat still, looking at him with blank curiosity.  Tanden got a strange grin on his face and began to laugh until tears rolled down his face.  Then, just as suddenly, he began to sob with tears of grief.  I went to him and knelt down.  I put my arm around him, thinking that the idea of the men being made slaves saddened him, even though they had made a slave of him.

“Tanden, we needed to do this.  These are not good men, and many have died because of their drugs and their brutality.”

Tanden’s tears were replaced by mild bewilderment as looked at me.  “I wasn’t crying for them.  It’s just that I haven’t laughed since my sister and I were taken from my parents years ago.  I had forgotten what it was like to laugh.”

At this I felt my heart break.  I held him close to me and said, “Soon, Tanden.  Soon I hope to see you laugh every day — you and your sister both.”

The next day, Kerabac made a big display of taking his captives to the slave market.  Marranalis and I went along to portray the idea that we were there to control the other three, but in their vacant mental state, they posed no problem and went along, humbly looking around them with looks of curiosity and wonder.  Kerabac could have waited and placed them into auction, but instead he sold them to a broker who would no doubt auction them off later.  The broker asked no questions and simply paid Kerabac several thousand credits for each of the men, replaced the slave collars with collars of his own, and then branded a number on each one of them with a laser device.  The buyer looked over both Marranalis and me and asked, “You want to sell these two?  I can get top dollar on them.”

“Not at the moment — they are my best workers and I need them.  Once I finish my business here on Goo’Waddle, I may want to sell them, if you still are interested.”

“Certainly.  Bring them back anytime.  I always have buyers for men of this quality.”

After leaving the slave market Kerabac cruised the canals to seek out buyers of liquor and glean any information that might lead us to Logden.  The small inlets cut from the sides of the canals were filled with small boats on which independent traders and vendors offered their goods.  It reminded me of many of the locations in Asia, back on Earth, where people lived on and sold goods from their small boats.  None of the boat vendors we encountered were interested in buying liquor from Kerabac, as the income from their operations was too meager and the liquor too expensive.  I was amazed at how the boats were tied together, creating entire communities that floated together as a single functioning unit. 

By mid afternoon we gave up our hunt of the water markets and returned to marketing our liquor to some of the clubs on the area
calganas
.  We were able to find four that were interested.  They told us that if we brought the liquor the next day, they would buy several cases.