Page 20 of Subchief Flander

Chapter 7

New Base

Base Kasey was going well, with several buildings built or partly built. The new problem was that they needed another base to watch Base Kasey to ensure it wasn't attacked. The choices were a domed base on one of the nearby planets or a location on a mountaintop on the same planet with a view of it. Flander knew that Ranni was having a hard time making the decision. The wrong decision could put lives at risk. These were lives that they had saved once and did not want to have to save again.

Robotics were being built, and Kasey was building a large drone flying over Base Kasey. The problem with this was that any unauthorized flights would be taken down, and someone might forget to get their authorization for a pleasure flight or even inadvertently move into the area the drone was protecting. It might not be an issue with an established drone that had been tested and approved, but this wasn’t one of those. This was new research, and who knew how it might react.

It made them all nervous while they considered what the best thing to do was. The most important thing was protecting Base Kasey. Some other teams were helping get people off the planet and up to the new base. They would have to be sure that the people they hauled there weren't destructive or enemies. It was not an easy thing to do the way that people flooded the shuttle to get off the planet. The robots were patrolling certain areas of Purgatory. It was no longer an easy place to be for gangs or maybe even for anyone at all. Parents were worried about their children, and they should be, but with the state of the planet's surface, they should have been worried about them long ago.

Hel had made a cyborg that Kasey had checked. It oversaw the robots. It did well finding the enemies and sending the robots after them. When they attacked them, it was a bloodbath because they would not give up. Flander didn’t know why they wouldn’t either give up or run. The gang simply dug in and fought until they were all gone. While it reduced their numbers, it was disturbing. It would be better if they left or gave up. That was the plan, but it wasn’t working out that way.

Flander tried not to think about his relationship with his mate. He'd moved her things to his room and made sure someone else was in her former room. He'd not expected the meltdown Hel had. His room was larger and better. What was the problem? It was hard to understand human females. Hel had been angry, and he'd spent two nights in his spare room, but he was done with that. They'd be sleeping together tonight regardless of what she said.

“Sweetheart, are you ready for breakfast?” Flander asked.

“I'll be out in a minute.”

It was almost like she didn't even want to talk to him. All of this over giving up her room? He knew that he was going to have to speak to someone, and he thought that Kasey would be the most helpful and usually the least judgmental. All he had to do was find a time when Hel wasn't around and her sister was available. Yeah, that would be easy, not. He needed to get to breakfast and then move on with his work.

Breakfast was as usual, with the whole squad there and his mate, the last one finishing her food. Now that several buildings were finished, they switched back and forth between Purgatory and Base Kasey. They were headed to Purgatory today to check out the last Mercury facility and load up more refugees. While this wasn't the most populated area, it wasn't totally remoteeither. They would be taking the ship, and there was a good chance it would be filled up completely before they headed to the base.

Hel shot him an angry look, and he knew it was because he was looking at her and trying to figure out what she was thinking. He needed to stop doing that before they were going on a mission like this. He knew that sometimes going into these old facilities influenced her. She remembered the good times and felt a loss over what had been. The squad knew she had mourned the past, and he hoped the others would help him look out for her. He hoped today wouldn't be one of those days.

They loaded on the ship, and it wasn't long before they headed down to Purgatory. He didn't know why anyone would call their home that. There were no good meanings associated with that word. He could only assume that the planet hadn't been easy to live on when they first arrived. His mate was already withdrawn; part of it might have been because they weren't getting along. This was not his fault because he hadn't done anything wrong. Hel was upset about something that needed to happen. They were mated. There were rules. They had to live together. It freed up a room for someone else by ensuring that someone got put in her room. He moved her stuff and ensured she didn't get in trouble for not following the rules. Why didn't she understand that? Flander knew he needed to stop thinking about it because it drove him crazy.

The ship was ready to land, and everyone needed to be prepared. A small crowd was forming outside, and he knew that would cause confusion when they tried to get into the facility. Everyone was aware and prepared, so they headed off the ship and straight to the facility. Havoc ruled as people tried to get close to them even though the robots were holding them back.Brave or foolish people pushed forward anyway, trying to get their children on the ship.

“You will be able to load once the warriors come back, " the Andriod announced, but no one seemed to listen.

All they could do was get into the facility and finish the work as quickly as possible. Hel Remembered everything about this facility as she had about the past ones they had gone into. She put in the codes, opened the doors, and they all entered. This facility didn't seem any more special than the other ones had. She quickly packed things into handy boxes and set them in the middle of a circle with a dot on them. It flashed up quickly. She moved some equipment to the same spot, which also flashed up.

“Are we done?” Flander asked.

“We are," Hel said.

“It's time to get those people loaded and get out of here before we draw even more attention," Flander instructed.

They all hurried to follow his directions. As soon as they left the facility, it was almost like a mob pushing at them. Even the robots were not enough to keep them under control. All of them rushed to the ship, where they would allow refugees to start loading slowly.

“One at a time and no pushing, please," the Andriod directed.

There was no end to the pushing. The crowd seemed almost panic-stricken, and he wasn't sure why. That was answered soon after as gang members appeared and started moving closer. The Andriod remained at the entry to the ship, but the robots took position outside of the refugees and were ready to attack the gang members if needed. The slow andcareful entry that Flander had suggested went out the window. People pushed and shoved as they attempted to get on the ship where they felt safe.

People loaded quickly. Somehow, they managed to get everyone on even though not everyone had a seat. The robots would stay behind and patrol the area since it was obvious that gang activity was high here. The Andriod came with them, although Flander wondered if he might not be better served staying behind and commanding the robots. That wasn't what their orders said, so they shut the doors and headed to the sky.

He could feel the nervous energy as refugees worried if they had made the right choice and what would happen next. A few children cried, sensing their parents' confusion. Their parents tried to hush them as if they thought they would be punished if they continued to cry. Flander remembered many years before when the ship he was on had stopped near Purgatory, and warriors had gotten the opportunity to take a break for two or three days, depending on rank and available leave.

This planet had been so different back then. It had been prosperous, and even though it was mainly a family planet, there had been a small section of the larger towns devoted to entertainment for singles. Nothing like those places where crime was out of hand. There had been a place where the warriors could find female entertainment, a few bars with various types of alcohol, and a place where they could go to indulge in some of the drugs that were labeled for entertainment and legal in certain amounts.

Flander remembered this place as one of the best leaves he'd had the whole time he had been a warrior. He'd enjoyed himself and indulged without fear of being attacked or catching some unknown illness. Ships had docked there in controllednumbers, so the planet hadn't been overwhelmed with visitors. The entertainment areas had strict rules, and the females were there voluntarily and got the best medical care. Hel probably wouldn't appreciate hearing about his fond memories of the old Purgatory. He had never shared them with her. It made him wonder if Ranni had ever shared it with his mate.

The comparison between his first visit and the next one was night and day. The second visit was after the grabbers attacked the planet, and everything was in chaos. There were dead and dying everywhere, and those who lived needed everything because it had all been taken from them. Flander knew at one time that the grabbers had been victims, but after seeing what they had done to several different planets, he felt they needed to be destroyed. His mate might even agree with him because she had been through the worst of it and seen her neighbors victimized.

Two years later, the planet didn't look much better. The attack by the grabbers opened the door for others to come and created even more chaos. Their ship changed direction, and his attention was drawn to the fact that they were landing. About two hundred people needed to be processed and found somewhere to sleep. That was what Hel and a small team of others would do. She was remarkably good at finding places for people and putting them into jobs they could.

His mate had even found a number of trustworthy enough people to work on the ship and fill in on positions of low priority. A few had been moved to squads, but only one per squad so that they could not cause too much discord if they were there to cause trouble. The average citizen would never make a squad, so there was only a small number of people who could even qualify to work on one.

People streamed off the ship in a far more organized manner than when they had entered it. Families went one way, while couples and singles went one another. Families would have priority over any houses, apartments, or even single dwellings because of the children. It meant that they would have more privacy, but they would be crowded, and that meant they might not be any better off than couples or singles in the long run.

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