"Download complete." Rommie reported.
"Good. Now let's see what we've got." Dylan said.
Rommie told him some Coyote Pride history while they made their way to Dylan's quarters.
"Coyote Pride left Sierrea Five twenty years ago after a war with Sula Pride greatly diminished their numbers to just one thousand. They killed their Alpha Craigus and Odius came into power. Odius moved them to Fortuna Prime where they captured the natives and kept them as slaves. I suppose because of the drop in their numbers they desperately needed a new influx of genes for the gene pool so they took in Janet, no questions asked."
They entered Dylan's quarters. Andromeda put a map up on one of the screens. "Because of their small numbers Coyote Pride only have one village. It's here." Rommie pointed to an area on the map. It enlarged and showed a plan of the town. "The slaves were kept in this building here. In the middle of the field. The Alpha and his family live in this building. Other families live in the other houses. The Hangar is situated here and the other buildings around are workshops and storage sheds. The whole area is surrounded by fields where Coyote Pride grow their crops and beyond them is a dense forest."
The door slid open and Beka entered. "Trance told me you were planning a rescue mission."
"Yes. Would you care to join us?"
"Sure." Beka sat down. "That their home?" she nodded toward the screen.
"Yes." Dylan replied and turned to Rommie, "Where are Janet and Harper most likely to be held?"
"There are no imprisonment areas except for where the slaves were kept so I'd say they are there."
Beka looked at the screen. "Are there any clearings where we can land the Maru?"
"The forest is very thick. The clearing that is closest to them is here. If we land there it'll take three hours to get to the village. We have to get in, grab Janet and Harper and get out."
"Tyr might be there as well." Dylan said.
"What makes you think that?" Beka asked.
"He's not here on the ship. He disappeared when Coyote Pride left. He jumps at the chance to prove himself superior to other Nietzscheans. What am I supposed to think?"
"He's also fond of Janet." Rommie commented.
Dylan and Beka stared at her. She stared back said "I detected an acceleration in the heart rate of both of them while they were talking on the Obs. Deck."
"Well", Beka said. "That's their business. Now how do we get them out?"
********************
Tyr, Janet and Harper crept across the fields towards the forest. Dark clouds covered the moon and the stars making the landscape pitch black. They hoped the clouds would stay until they reached the forest. Janet was leading them. They entered the forest and stopped to decide what to do next. Tyr didn't like this at all. "We should have planned what we were going to do before leaving.", he said.
"It would take too much time. Darkness came quicker than I expected. We had to leave before the clouds cleared." Janet replied.
"We'd have been better off with at least an idea of what we are going to do."
"There was no time, Tyr. We have to make the most of the darkness. Those clouds aren't going to be there all night and the moon here is very bright."
"OK guys now's not the time to start bickering." Harper interrupted. There was silence. Janet sighed, Harper was right. "I know some caves in the hills we can hide in. It'll take us all night to get there but we can stay in them during the day.", she suggested.
"Where do you plan to go with this? How are we supposed to get off this planet?" Harper asked.
"They will eventually find out we're gone and come out to find us. When they do that they'll have to follow our trail. We're going to the hills without stopping and it'll take us all night. They'll have to search every nook and cranny trying find us so it'll take them about a day."
"Yeah and this will help us how?"
"I dunno. I'm making it up as I go along. We could circle back to the village, steal a ship and leave."
"Why don't we do that now?"
"Hey you're supposed to be genius Seamus Zelazny Harper. They'll hear us and have a ship after us in seconds if we go now, but with most of them searching in the woods for us it'll take longer for them to send a ship after us."
"Let's stop wasting time. Janet show us the caves." Tyr said.
"Careful. It's rather tricky if you don't know your way especially in the dark." Janet said and walked through the woods. Tyr and Harper followed.
