Plans and preparations had been made. To decide the best way had not been easy. Attacking directly may bring harm to those they sought. Kern decided that he would go to Tralor and find his friend Blaznar. They needed a legitimate reason for them to visit Is'nul. It was hoped that he would have the means to be able to aid them. Even though he was a friend of Kern's there was, at times, when he was known to associate with the wrong crowd. His little establishment had many kinds of patrons. All they needed was one who would be willing to take a slave to Is'nul. Shepa'lai had offered her services to be the one to infiltrate the moon and learn of there friends. Ully'anni had been severely scolded and would not even be on any kind of ship. She was to stay on Cendarla. The Jericho was back in Rellon and had brought additional troops. Although they were hoping that they would not be necessary if they were to have someone on the inside. Kern was glad to see Omega again. Even though he was not with them, they were still a part of him.
Blaznor's associate set his ship down on the moon of Is'nul. He had several slaves with him. Rather than sell them at the market in Dyh. He had been persuaded for a hefty price to dispose of them on Is'nul. Shepa'lai was in her usual disguise of a Threxis. Hopefully she would be able to blend in easier and the Threxis was a strong person and would be put to good use in the mines. All slaves arriving were shackled with chains and immediately put to work. All she had to do now was establish where Eliza and the others were. Kern had made her aware that there were five in here unit. If they were all alive then she should be able to find them. What no one had realised is that the mines were so vast. From the air it looked like it was nothing more than several open pits across the surface, but what they didn't realise, that you were unable to see from the sensors, is that mines led down below the surface from each pit. Thousands existed on the moon. There were so many more slaves than there were Ictarans. Yet no one had ever escaped from here. You came here you died here.
Shepa'lai started off with one work detail, but soon noticed that with there not being guards literally everywhere that she was able to move from detail to detail. It was not possible to move from pit to pit. It took her a few hours to cover the pit that she had been assigned to and then decided that she should move underground. At the surface end the tunnels were wide and allowed for slaves and ore to be moved from below to the surface. Navigating the tunnels would prove to be a challenge. She would have a hard job remembering where she had been. The first day came to an end and she had found no one. It seemed that you slept where you worked. There was no place that slaves were housed over night. The Ictarans were not that kind. You at least had some sort of food. If you were able to hold it down.
Shepa'lai worked her way back to the surface the next day pushing a cart up the tunnel and back to the pit so that it could be collected. Again, she changed details grabbed some equipment and then travelled in the direction of another tunnel. She was about to go down one tunnel when she thought she saw a human exiting a tunnel on the far side of the pit. She was about to change direction and move over to it, but an Ictaran was on guard and pushed her hard down the tunnel.
"Back to work."
Then struck her hard in the back with the blunt end of his spear. She had made a mental note of which tunnel. All they had to do now was gather some materials load up another truck and get it back to the surface. Easy really. Except that would take time.
Eventually she was back in the pit. There was no sign of anyone coming out of the tunnel she had watched before. She moved in that direction and entered. Slowly she worked her way down. Shepa'lai had to check each person. Faces were dirty some were easy to identify as their build was wrong. The humans didn't have three legs or four arms, or multiple eyes. Her eyes were getting better at assessing two legs and two arms. She was going lower and lower. Then she thought she saw the human that she had seen earlier. She moved over and started to work alongside the female human. After a while and when there seemed to be no Ictarans around she decided to speak.
"Trox," she said, touching her chest and looking at the human.
Shepa'lai didn't know if she would understand a conversation or not. Eliza looked and stared and ignored her. She had learnt to survive here and that was by minding your own business and not talking. Shepa'lai needed a different approach, but had no idea how to get a reaction.
"You human."
Still no response from her. A hand clamped on Shepa'lai's shoulder.
"Your annoying my friend."
It was a Vegran. They were dark green and had scales on most of their body. The head was large with a prominent forehead that extended forward. The eyes were on the side of the head. The hands had three fingers and an opposable thumb. They walked bare footed as they had large feet that needed to feel the ground in order to grip irregular surfaces.
"Its fine Broge," said Eliza. "Who are you?"
"Trox," was all Shepa'lai would say for now, until she knew who she was.
Eliza stared at her and looked at his face. To her she saw a male Threxis.
"Eliza," she eventually said.
Before coming here, they had to work out a way that Eliza would know that she was a friend. Something that the Ictarans would not know something only Sentians would know.
"Little one said to say she misses you."
Eliza took a step back. It was not something that she had expected. She had been here months. Her hope was almost gone. If it had not been for Broge she would surely have given up.
"Broge have the others watch for Ictarans."
He nodded and passed word up the line to end of this part of the tunnel.
"Can you trust them?" asked Shepa'lai.
"More than I can you. Considering I don't know you. We have come to trust each other. Broge is the one who brought us all together. We help each other survive. Some have died, but we survive."
Knowing it was safe she transformed to her normal form.
"I'm Shepa'lai. A Mirrial."
"So that would mean your a changeling. I've heard about you."
Shepa'lai smiled. "From Kern no doubt."
She changed back once Eliza knew who she was, just to be safe that no one else knew that she was not a Threxis.
"The others are waiting to get you off the planet."
"They can't."
"Why?"
"Its a trap. I'm the bait."
She explained about her time on Is'na'gulle and what was said. It took a while. The others around her kept working so that no one passing would realise what was happening. It was unclear whom you could trust here. The Ictarans may have spies amongst the slaves.
"I've overheard more since being here. A fleet is being assembled on Psion Four. They will be called here and attack. We can do nothing until we are able to disengage their communications."
"I only have a beacon on me that will tell them you are here. They will then affect the escape."
"You can't it will mean their death. I need to think. For now keep working."
They continued to work. Eliza started to have a conversation with Anton.
"Are you able to sense anything in orbit."
"Not from underground."
"What about your communications? Do you think you are able to send a message?"
"Let me run a few tests and see what I can do."
Anton went quiet. "My broadcast is weak. Your friend has a beacon. It must have the range. Can you hold it so that I might inspect it?"
Eliza asked Shepa'lai for the beacon and told her what had been said by her AI. Shepa'lai hadn't been told that she was equipped with an AI. Being apart of her they would never have found it on inspection. Shepa'lai had the beacon under her skin. It was tiny and would not be detected unless you prodded the exact spot. She removed it and gave it to her.
Anton was able to use the beacon to boost his signal.
"Any one I should try and contact."
"Eloise," she said.
Shepa'lai put her hand on her arm.
"You can't."
Eliza looked at her with concern.
"He was badly hurt in looking for you. His AI does not function as it did before. It was how I found him. Try Raven, his sons AI. Reen is also a very close friend of Sara."
"Seems a lot has happened in my absence. You heard her Anton try Raven."
"As you wish," he responded.
"Reen, I have an incoming communication for you."
Reen was surprised to hear that he had a communication. He only ever got official military requests.
"Who is it?"
"He says that he is Anton."
"I don't know an Anton. Do you?"
"It is Eliza's AI."
Reen didn't hesitate he was in his quarters on the Jericho. He bolted out of his room and started to run for the bridge.
"Move, he called. Make way."
Running was not permitted and not necessary on the Jericho, but he realised the importance of this message. He ran on to the bridge without hesitation. The Colonel was in a conversation with Kern.
"My apologies Colonel," he blurted.
The Colonel was about to scold him for the interruption, but Reen threw his holo-disc into the centre of the room before his words left his mouth.
"Connect us Raven."
"Eliza are you there I'm on the bridge with the Colonel and Kern."
Now the Colonel and Kern were the ones to be surprised. The image of Eliza appeared before them.
"I can't believe it," she said. A tear was forming in her eye it had been so long.
Before either of them could say anything, she stopped them.
"I don't have much time so listen carefully. Me being here for you to rescue is a trap. As soon as you appear a message will be sent to Psion Four and they will despatch ships to take you down. We will try and disrupt their communications once we have a way. I will let you know then. I can't stay on now it isn't safe."
She paused for a moment.
"Thank you for not giving up on me."
Eliza ended the communication. Broge had warned her that Ictarans were patrolling in the tunnels.
"Reen, let Sara know," said Kern.
"And the others," he asked.
"Eliza never said. For now, only tell Sara and tell her not to mention it to anyone else until we have all the facts."
Reen nodded and left the bridge.
"Well Colonel, now we wait," said Kern.
He was pleased his friend was still alive.
Eliza and the others were trying to find a way to be able to get close enough to the main area of that the Ictarans used as their main camp. The problem was that it was situated outside of the area where the slaves worked. There was a fence to prevent slaves being able to access that area. It was also where any ships arriving would land. It wasn't that the mines were fenced, just the camp was. It was to keep slaves out. Turrets were placed facing outwards, not inwards on the camp. It would be easy for the Sentians to be able to land and attack within the camp, but they could not get near enough for Anton to be able to try and interact with there systems. It was impossible for them to be able to get close enough let alone have time to allow Anton to attempt to do anything to disrupt communication.
They waited until they were back underground and were able to communicate with the Jericho.
"I'm sorry Colonel I don't think that we can do anything about communications. The camp is heavily guarded. What we were able to ascertain, that may help when you do affect the escape, is that all turrets are facing outwards towards the mines. It would be easy enough if you landed a ship as if you were bringing more slaves. You could then take control of the camp and eliminate the turrets. This would allow the slaves to be able to attack the guards."
"Do you think that you can get enough to start an attack against the Ictarans?" asked Colonel Kchetsky.
"We can try. Those I have befriended are only a small number. If we try and let others know too soon it could work against us. It's believed that the Ictarans deliberately put spies in amongst the slaves to learn of any form of treachery."
"We will have to scout Psion Four or see it we can disrupt the communications another way. Or hope when we land that we can take control of the camp quick enough. We will have to let you know what we are able to learn."
"Understood Colonel. I need to go so I'm not caught."
The communication ended.
"Ensign, get me Colonel Matthews and Raynes on the double," ordered Colonel Kchetsky.
"Sir," replied the ensign.
Matthews and Raynes were both found and headed to the bridge.
"Thank you both for coming. We need to see if we can find anyway of disrupting communications on the surface from up here.
"There is a possibility that the Ictarans may have a communications array orbiting the planet. We can send out scouts to look," said Major Raynes.
"Do that."
"Sir," said Major Raynes and left to organise it.
"Major Matthews we need eyes on Psion Four. It is imperative we know what we are up against. If we fail to block their communications then we need to go ahead with the rescue and need to know what we are up against."
"Understood, Sir. I will go myself."
The Jericho had landed on a moon and set up sensor disruptors to ensure that they were not seen. They were close enough to get to Is'nul when needed. It seemed that it would not be a straightforward rescue, but they knew that they could not leave Sentians in the hands of the Ictarans. The communications with Eliza had been short and brief. They still hadn't been able to establish the condition of the other members of her unit.