Nekokami: Rising

Chapter III

"What's the situation?" I asked one of the lead captains on the bridge.

"Slave transports. It seems as if the covenant thinks we won't open fire on them if they have slaves on board."

"Slaves?"

"Yes, the covenant may be warmongers, but they are also an empire seeking to expand their rule. They will capture prisoners and make them slaves to their war machine. We use to try to rescue some, but that only made our casualties grow."

Looking at the hostile fleet, there were two greatly different cruisers; one was long and thin, with large rods that came out on each side. An obvious command bridge was showing off from the top of the cruisers. The other ship was large and box like, but mimicked the designs of the others. Seeing as to how there were less of these it's safe to assume they're the slave transports.

I'm not looking to kill any Kesk, especially not right after an alliance has been formed with the Medhog. "Can we board their slave cruisers?" I asked as I tried counting their fleet. Three slave transports and two assault cruisers.

"Sure, but not with their battleships up, we could never get close enough."

"And if we managed to take out the battleships?"

"Well it wouldn't be unlikely for us to do so, we greatly outgun them, but say we do manage to take them out, then what do you plan to do?"

"We're going to board them. I won't allow them to get away. I want a full boarding team at the ready to invade their slave ships. We're going to liberate as many Kesk as we can." I could feel the words bark out of my mouth, a deep anger rested in each breath I took; a sensational power overtook my ignorance to this threat. "And I'm going in too. It's time I finally see what this covenant is all about for myself."

"Sir, you can't-"

"I'm not going to debate. Have all cannons open fire on their assault cruisers. Prep all transport ships immediately."

Doing as I instructed, the captain opened coms with the rest of the fleet and gave the order. Seconds later, both cannons and lasers lit up the empty void that separated our two fleets. It took only an instant for them to respond with returned cannon fire, but with little success. One by one their cruisers got torn apart, leaving their slave transports open for boarding.

~~~~~~~~~~~

One character flaw about me: I'm too emotional. Sitting in the transport ship on my way to my potential death is proof of that. Eleven royal guards sat within the same transport as me, so once we boarded their ship I should be safe, but getting there is rough beyond words. watching our other transports implode from the Covenants defenses was a terrifying site. Realizing our transport could be shot down at any moment just added more fear, and I think everyone in the cabin shared the same thoughts.

Looking out the only portholes on the ship, bombers could be seen flying towards their remaining cannons. Each cannon that went off in smoke took a bit of tension off of me. 

As our shuttle entered the slave cruiser, one of my royal guards approached me, with the handle of a gun at my chest, "we'll be landing momentarily sire, take this handgun and stay behind us." 

Doing as she instructed, I took the gun and exited the vehicle, and was met with more transport shuttles landing and dropping off more soldiers. The inside of the ship appeared much larger than outside, but it's appearance was much more...unappealing than our cruisers. Unlike our shiny, white and black corridors, everything seemed to dark, with brownish walls and the floors covered in what appears to be dried up blood. "What the hell is this?" I gasped as my eyes met those of a deceased kesk. 

"This is the work of the Tosae." Amy responded. A young and beautiful Cahtan, probably too young to even be here. 

"The Tosae?"

"One of the many races that serve the Central Covenant. They are the primary slave captors for the covenant and are always taking our people." Gun shots immediately broke up the conversation. Looking up on a ridge were two doorways that led to a surprise attack from a squad of these 'tosae'. Rifles on both sides let loose, taking out both Kesk and Tosae soldiers. The surprise was dealt with quickly, but still gave a few casualties.

"We need to act quickly. They know we are on board and we can't leave until we rescue as many slaves as we can." An older Medhog captain said. Looking to be in her late twenties, it made sense why she was a captain. She certainly had the face for it, not a hint of a smile was even shown.

At her command, Kesk all around the hanger scrambled to search the cruiser. Gun shots were heard coming in from every doorway, but no Tosae ever emerged, a sign that we were winning at least. "Captain, do you know where the slaves are kept?"

She remained silent for a moment. The seriousness in her face turning to fear and sadness, she finally spoke, "most are kept in cells down on the lower decks. Those that are unlucky, or served in the military are sent to the torture chambers. If they are being tortured, we need to save them immediately." Her face was lit up again with a serious fire of passion. 

"Then let's head there right away." 

She gave a nod of affirmation and we proceed though the dank corridors of the ship. 

~~~

We hardly ran into any hostiles through the halls, and when we did we easily took care of them. In fact, we ran into more slaves doing jobs like cleaning the halls than we did actual enemies.