Castle's Tanks
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: Tanks, but I don't own Castle. Rating: K Time: Several centuries into an AU future.
The night and the next day passed without any problems. The problems began, innocently enough, the next night.
'Movement. About two kilometers out. Heading this way." Rifleman Minkis, training to be a tank commander someday, announced over the radio. That brought Castle and Sergeant Saava to the tank as fast as possible. Castle had been given training as an armored cavalry officer, among many other duties, and Saava had years of experience with human technology. They were the best armor crewmen in the platoon.
Castle examined the newcomers through a night vision scope.
"Four people. Humans, I think. Two are damned small. What would children be doing out here at night?"
"We could send a patrol out, sir." Saava suggested.
"Get Sergeant Gorad and his people ready. Full chameleon suits, just in case."
Gorad led his five teammates away from the defensive position and towards the newcomers. They showed up clearly in the Tarkais' night vision goggles.
"They aren't trying to stay hidden." Gorad whispered into his radio mic.
He decided to spread his team out and let the approaching humans come to him. When they were no more than ten meters away, Gorad spoke to them in English.
"Good evening. May I enquire as to why you are out tonight?"
The four stopped and looked around.
"I someone there?" The voice sounded female and young.
"We are scouts and have on chameleon suits, so we are nearly invisible. Can you answer my question."
"We ran away."
"Ran away from whom?"
"From Miss Victoria's Bordello."
"Why did you run away, exactly?"
"Krissy and I are whores there. Our families sold us several years ago, but Nancy is only ten years old, and her brother Michael is only eight. They're too young for this. Miss Victoria was going to send them to the Polite Man."
"Who and what is the Polite Man?"
"He teaches you to be polite no matter what someone wants to do with you. He hurts you."
"I think you should see our commander."
Gorad noticed that the children had no shoes on and that their feet were bleeding.
"My males will carry you, so your feet don't become more damaged."
And up the hill they went.
The oldest girl was sixteen and was called Misty, which wasn't her real name. She explained that they were sex slaves for the bordello. Slavery was apparently common outside of Rendezvous City. She had decided to help Nancy and Michael escape, but the three had been caught by a guard. Before the guard could do anything, Krissy hit him over the head, and they all ran away.
"Slavery is illegal in the United Kingdoms and as far as I'm concerned, their laws apply to anyplace held by my troops. You'll stay with us." Castle said. He turned to Sergeant Saava. "They need to be fed and clothed. All they have on are some kind of thin nightshirts and no shoes."
He turned back to the children.
"Any other problems?"
"Little George is hurt." Michael said, holding out a teddy bear whose arm had been nearly torn off.
"I believe I can help him." Said Corporal Whaan, the Tarkai medic. "A few stitches and he'll be as good as new."
"While Whaan is taking care of his newest patient, I'll get some food for them." Saava said.
Little George was made whole again, the children were fed and sent off to sleep in sleeping bags.
The next morning Castle found that the children had been clothed in camouflaged fatigue clothing cut down by several Tarkai who were handy with scissors, needle and thread.
"The problem is shoes, sir." Saava said. "We can't really cut combat boots down to size like we can fatigues. We're experimenting with wooden soled clogs now." Saava lowered his voice. "A lot of our people have families back in the UK, sir. The rest have families on Tark, including sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins and just friends. They don't like children being enslaved. We have enough firepower to do something about that."
Castle thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Take a look at what they call Outside. It's a slum with cheap buildings crammed together and filled with people, slave and free. If we attacked, we'd kill people indiscriminately. And there are farms and ranches further out. I'll bet they have slaves, too. More people we'd end up killing. We can report this to Colonel Schram, and he can send it to the UK government. Maybe someone can do something."
"Do you really think the government would do anything?"
"Probably not, but there are non-governmental organizations that oppose slavery. They might be able to fund a small special forces team, a supply of weapons and hire a ship to get everything here and start a nice anti-slavery rebellion."
"Do you know of any anti-slavery NGOs. Sir?"
"No, but I believe they have well known offices all over the UK."
Saava smiled.
"I'll tell the men, sir. That'll keep some of the hotheads from doing something stupid. I hope."
A bit past noon, they got another visitor.
"Vehicle coming. Flying a white flag. They must want to parley." Called a sentry.
Castle and Saava ran to the command tank.
"Sergeant Saava, load a round of canister, please." Castle said.
"Are you going to shoot?"
"I'm going to be ready. For all we know that's some suicide bombers and a car bomb."
If it was a suicide bomb, it was an expensive one. The car was large, brightly painted and clearly had room for more than the four people in it. The roof of the car was unfolded and stowed in the trunk. There were four people in the car. One, male, was tall, and a bit overweight, but very well dressed. Garishly dressed, Castle thought as the man stood up in the car. He had on bright pink culottes. A frilly green lace shirt, a blue claw hammer coat and a wide brimmed hat.
Next to him sat an attractive blonde. She was making sure everyone new she was attractive by freely displaying her assets. She was dressed all in white and wore many expensive looking diamonds.
Behind the man was another, truly huge man. He was at least seven feet tall and was solid muscle. He wore only a pair of leather shorts and body oil.
Behind the control of the car was a young man with a perpetual sneer on his face, wearing a cheap blue suit and two pistols in shoulder holsters.
"Good day to you, Lieutenant Castle. I'm Big Jim Demming. You might say that I run Outside. If you did, you'd be right. I'll cut right to the chase. You're harboring four people that work for me. I want them back. Now you have two options. Option one is to hand them over now and we both are happy. Option two is for you not to hand them over. Now I don't have anywhere near the firepower to take them back, but I do have trained snipers, mortars and rockets and a few other weapons. My people will be in among the residents of Outside, so you really can't shoot back without causing a massacre. Bad publicity for Black Jacques Schram and the UK. Eventually, you'll decide the four aren't worth the trouble. Any questions?"
"Just one." Castle said.
"What is it?"
"How do you plan on getting out of here alive?"
"What? I came here under a flag of truce you can't…"
Before Demming said another word, Castle told Saava to fire. Hundreds of titanium squares, ten millimeters by ten by ten roared out of the cannon and shredded the vehicle and its passengers.
"He was here under a flag of truce, sir." Saava said.
"Sergeant, I spent two years in an officers' school, and I had to learn many things. Among them were the Laws of War. Flying a white flag isn't enough. You have to stop, declare you want a truce, and have the truce accepted. They didn't do that. In addition, the truce seekers should be aware of what the Laws of War don't allow. You can't engage in espionage, sabotage or attempt to bribe or suborn the other sides' troops. In general, you can't do anything forbidden by the Laws of War. That includes threatening to disobey the Laws of War, such as threatening to use civilians as shields. In short, I decided they weren't under a truce as stated in the Laws of War. Besides, I hate slavers. They got what they deserved."
"I suppose we're lucky you're so well educated, sir." Saava stopped for a moment. "What will we do with the children, sir?"
"We'll take them with us. When we get to the UK, we can ask Father O'Dowd to look after them. He runs a school and an orphanage. I've known a number of people who were sent there, and they were very happy with their lives there. That reminds me. We need to know how much or how little education the kids have. I'm guessing education isn't prized by slaveowners."
"I'll look into it, sir."
The rest of the day went quietly until just before sunset.
"Automatic weapons fire from Outside, sir." Saava told Rick.
"Coming towards us?"
"No, sir. It seems the people in Outside are shooting at each other."
All through the night there was not only automatic weapons fire, but mortar and rocket fire. There were over a dozen fires burning in Outside and there appeared to be no effort to put them out. The fighting continued into the next day.
"Helicopter coming to us." A sentry called out.
Rick soon got a radio message from High Sheriff Tillis asking to land. When he did, Tillis looked very angry.
"Look at what you've done, Lieutenant!" he yelled.
"It seems to me you told me that you had no jurisdiction out here and that I was on my own."
Tillis' face turned red, but he managed to control himself.
"It's a damned good thing that you're part of a large, powerful mercenary unit. And that you work for the United Kingdoms, he most powerful star nation in the Europa Cluster, otherwise you'd be in real trouble. Do you know how Big Jim Demming managed to control Outside?"
"I have no idea."
"He never let any of his subordinates, the underbosses, get too powerful. Now we have sixteen, maybe seventeen underbosses all fighting for control, plus other trying to set themselves up. This'll take months to resolve. All of this over four damned children."
Castle smiled.
"I guess I just like children more than I like slavers."
"Stay out here until your ship comes and then leave as soon as possible."
Tillis turned and stomped back to his helicopter. Then he was gone.
The days passed by and the fighting in Outside continued, but never came near to Castle's command. The they finally got a call from the spaceport.
"Lieutenant Castle, the Blue Heron, Captain Yamaguchi, has arrived for you. They're sending a dropship down to pick you up. Return to the spaceport by the shortest way possible."
Castle loaded up his command and made sure they were ready for anything. He didn't think anyone would start anything, but he wanted to be prepared.
As the column turned onto Spaceport Drive, they found yellow police tape blocking the street. A police car was by the tape with High Sheriff Tillis. He still looked mad.
Castle dismounted and walked over to Tillis.
"Is there a problem, High Sheriff?" He asked.
"The road is being repaired and can't be used. You'll have to wait. In the meantime, you have been invited to have lunch with Executive Vice President DeRuyter of Seven Provinces Interstellar Trading."
Castle looked beyond Tillis. There was no sign of work on the road.
"I have the feeling the road won't open until I have lunch with this DeRuyter."
"That's right."
TBC