Chapter 203: Chapter 203

"Good luck with your pa Miss Jaycee," Cammie said as we all headed down the Demeter's ramp and out into the open air. The catgirl's ears and tail all drooped when she added, "I'm real sorry about your ma."

The brunette responded with a sad smile, "Thanks Cam. You be careful now ok? I'll see you later on, I'm coming back to the Demeter so I'll be here for Nyssa when she's done."

With that Jaycee set off for home, while Cammie and Jenna headed west to have a look at the catgirl's workshop. We knew it got hit last night, but we weren't sure how badly damaged it was, and whether or not it was salvageable.

Finally Rebecca and I turned towards the VDF field hospital that had sprouted up overnight next to their landing craft.

"You two keep in touch," Sarah said from the top of the Demeter's ramp. "Let me know if you need anything."

The boss nodded, "Thanks Sarah. Just keep an eye on the ship, and the comms. We're still expecting a delegation from the capital city, they'll probably be arriving within the hour."

"I'll let you know if anything else comes up," the cute engineer replied.

Then she hit the controls to button up the ship, while Rebecca and I headed over to the military camp. We'd barely covered a dozen meters before a Vysalis officer came running up to meet us. She snapped to attention directly in front of us and saluted, "Good morning your highness."

"Good morning lieutenant," Rebecca replied. Then she added, "Amanda this is the Tullrohane's chief of security, Rose Maguine. And Rose, this is the Demeter's first officer and one of my girlfriends, Amanda Voss."

The lieutenant remained at attention as she responded, "It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Voss."

"At ease," the boss added. "And please, she's Amanda and I'm Rebecca. Save the formalities for when Gwen Magniveen's around."

"Yes ma'am," the officer responded as she shifted to an at-ease stance.

Rebecca rolled her eyes, "Anyways what's the news? You said on the comm you have some numbers for me?"

Rose sighed, "Yes your highness, casualty numbers. There were nineteen locals wounded last night, and nine dead including the mayor. Those figures include the entire militia force, plus a number of civilians who were caught in the fighting. Our own forces suffered seven casualties during last night's action, including one fatality."

"The attackers took the most damage by far," the officer continued, "We believe there were a total of seventy enemy combatants involved, of which forty-one are confirmed deceased. Twenty more were wounded and have received medical care, they're now being held under guard. The remaining nine surrendered outright, and are also being held under guard."

The lieutenant wrapped things up by adding, "The enemy materiel consisted of two troop carrier grav-sleds which were both captured intact, and four smaller gun sleds of which three were destroyed. One was damaged but appears serviceable. Finally we also seized a large quantity of mixed small arms."

Rebecca ran a hand over her forehead as those numbers sank in. Meanwhile I asked, "What's the status of the wounded? How many are serious, and are they being evacuated to a suitable medical facility?"

"Our six injured soldiers have already returned to the Tullrohane ma'am," Rose responded, "Along with our one fatality. In addition, four seriously injured locals and three enemy combatants with life-threatening injuries have also been evacuated to the Tullrohane. Our doctors will do whatever they can for all the wounded."

She gestured towards the large grey tent behind her, "Most of the injured locals have been returned to their homes, but we're tending to six of them here. And four prisoners are still receiving treatment."

Rebecca asked, "I assume you've been keeping records? Do you have a list of names, of the dead and injured?"

"Of course your highness," the lieutenant replied. "Our field medics have all that information on their datapads. For the locals and our troops I mean. Our information on the attackers is understandably incomplete. I can get you one of those datapads immediately if you'd like to review the details? Or I can have that information transmitted to your ship."

My girlfriend sighed, "I'll have a look at one of your pads in a minute. Or have it sent to my ship, that's fine. We're going to need to talk to the prisoners. We need to find out where they came from, and who was behind all this. It seems a little too organized and way too well equipped for a group of random bandits."

Lt. Maguine nodded, "Agreed. I've already had some of my men interrogate the uninjured prisoners, and a tech extracted transit logs from the two seized troop sleds' nav computers. Sergeant Brogan has that information if you'd like to speak with him?"

I glanced at Rebecca and found her looking back at me. She looked stressed, and despite it only being mid-morning she already seemed tired again too. But she nodded, and a minute or two later we were introduced to another of the VDF soldiers.

Sergeant Charlie Brogan was a tall muscular young man in his late twenties, and like all the other troops I'd met so far he was clean shaved and absolutely professional. I had a feeling that all these people were part of the Vysalis Royal Guard, but instead of being all about fancy uniforms and stuffy ceremonies they appeared to be equally at home on active duty in the battlefield.

"Most of the prisoners refused to talk," the young sergeant explained while he stood at-ease in front of his superior officer and the princess. "A few of them were willing to cooperate though. Obviously we can't trust everything they gave us, but their information did match the data we were able to extract from the troop sleds."

He continued, "They're working for a guy who calls himself General Sidex. Allegedly he's been trying to gain control of as much of this continent as he can, before the interim government's had a chance to establish proper law and order out here. Sidex's main camp is based in a community called Moorefield Station. That's about a hundred and twenty kilometres south-west of here."

Rebecca and I exchanged another look as she commented, "That sounds familiar. Isn't that where those raiders came from, back when we first visited here?"

"I think so," I nodded slowly. "And you said last night, this attack was a lot like the one we fought off back then."

Brogan interjected, "Actually ma'am one of the prisoners said something about that? Apparently the attack was at least partially motivated by revenge, General Sidex wanted to make Ganvis Station pay for a costly defeat last year. Consequently the primary objective last night wasn't to secure the settlement, it was to kill Mayor Wheeler and destroy the local militia. Capturing the town was a secondary goal."

My eyebrows shot up while my ears angled forward and my tail twitched from side to side. Rebecca looked just as wary about this new information as she asked, "You got all that from the prisoners?"

"Yes ma'am," the sergeant nodded. "The ones who were willing to talk made it clear they're not loyal to Sidex, and it wasn't their choice to fight for the man. They said at least half of his forces are conscripts, forced to take up arms for him under the threat of death. Their own, or more often than not, he's holding their families hostage."

Brogan looked like he was struggling to maintain a professional demeanour as he shook his head, "This Sidex guy sounds like a real piece of work, forcing people to do his dirty work by threatening their families. And using those same innocent civilians as human shields. He's keeping them as prisoners in and around his camp as insurance against air strikes."

That led to a look of disgust on my girlfriend's face, which matched my own feelings pretty accurately. It also explained why the bandits suffered such high casualties. They were probably inexperienced, and maybe they weren't even that well trained. Meanwhile the local militia had loads of experience, and the VDF troops were all professionals with training and experience. So once we'd eliminated the bandits' air cover they lost their one advantage, then it was just a matter of picking them off until they gave up.

Lieutenant Maguine spoke up, "I've already forwarded this intel to the Tullrohane. I believe Captain Magoda will want to get some detailed scans of that location."

The boss responded, "Thank you lieutenant. We're going to do something about this General Sidex and the rest of his forces, but not until we've had a chance to talk with the local officials. Do you have an ETA on that? I know they were sending some people out here."

"The Deveronian delegation should be here any time now your highness," Rose replied. "I'm also informed that Lady Magniveen is with them."

Rebecca's shoulders slumped at that news, "Great. That means I'll have to deal with her nagging me to stay behind when we move on Sidex."

The lieutenant and sergeant both looked a little awkward at that comment, like neither of them knew how to respond to their princess being eager to head into combat. Then again I wasn't especially happy about it either. I kept quiet, but I was pretty sure Sarah would agree that both of us would rather have our girlfriend stay safe.

That was about it for the briefing. Sgt. Brogan was dismissed and returned to what he was doing, while Lt. Maguine led Rebecca and I into the field hospital so we could check on the injured locals that were still in there.

I recognized two militia men laying in the cots, but there was no sign of Finn. I hoped he was ok though. As much as I didn't especially like the man I knew he was important to the town. Then I came to a sudden halt when I noticed the person laying in a cot in the far corner. He was just a kid, and my gut lurched and my ears drooped while my tail hung down to the floor behind me, because I recognized him.

He couldn't have been more than twelve years old, and I distinctly remembered giving him and his little sister a couple darrowberry bushes before we set off to rescue Nyssa from that bounty hunter. I left the lieutenant and my girlfriend then headed straight over to check on the boy.

"Hey there," I greeted him with a soft voice and a friendly smile as I crouched down next to him. "You're Troy, right? How are you doing?"

He replied sadly, "Hello ma'am. My legs hurt. And I don't know where my parents are, or my sister."

My gut twisted a little more but I did my best not to let him see any worry on my face as I told him, "You hang tight ok? I'll see what I can do for you." Newest update provıded by novel⸺fire.net

I straightened up and headed for the nearest medic, then asked the young woman "What can you tell me about that boy? What's his condition? And where's his family, why isn't someone here with him?"

Corporal Sheehan, according to the markings on her uniform, had a quick look at her datapad then replied quietly, "He's got burns to both legs, and his right wrist was broken. Mother and sister were evacuated to the Tullrohane with serious injuries. His father..."

She sighed and shook her head, "His dad didn't make it."

My ears folded back while my tail twitched. And with both my fists and jaw clenched I almost growled, "Those bastards attacked children? Families?"

Fortunately the young woman knew my anger wasn't directed her way. And she looked just as unhappy about the situation as I felt when she replied, "Their home was destroyed, we pulled the three survivors from the rubble."

I took a deep breath to calm myself a bit then asked, "Can you find out his mom's and sister's status? Do you have to contact the ship or something?"

"No ma'am," the corporal replied as she tapped a few more buttons on her pad. "Looks his mom and sister are both out of surgery, they're both expected to make a full recovery."

That was a relief. I thanked her then added, "The kid's in pain, can we do something about that? And I'd like him on the next shuttle up to your ship. He needs to be with his family."

"Yes ma'am. I'll take care of that right away," she stated.

That actually made me hesitate. My eyebrows crept up as I asked, "You don't need to clear that with your superiors or anything?"

Corporal Sheehan smiled slightly as she shook her head, "No ma'am. Unless there's another foxgirl around here, we all know you're with Princess Rebecca. And you're not asking for anything unreasonable, you're just looking out for an injured child and his family."

"Thank you corporal," I replied with a sad smile. "I'll let you get back to your duties."

Then I headed over to the boy's side again and let him know, "Hey Troy. That nice lady there is going to give you something for the pain, ok? Then you're going to get to fly on a ship. Your mom and sister are in a hospital up in space, you'll get to go and see them soon ok?"

"Thank you miss Amanda," he smiled weakly. "That sounds really nice."

I smiled back, before I finally left him to go and see where my girlfriend and the lieutenant had wandered off to.

It turned out Rebecca was already meeting with more officials outside. And Ganvis Station's little landing area was getting kind of crowded. While I'd been talking with the kid and the medic another craft arrived. The Artemis, the Demeter, the VDF troop carrier, and the field hospital had all been joined by a sub-orbital shuttle from the capital.

Lady Magniveen was now standing next to Rebecca, along with Lt. Maguine and Sgt. Brogan. Across from them were two men in Deveronian military uniforms, along with a handful of men and one woman who looked like bureaucrats. And from what I could tell, the conversation was already starting to get heated.

I was almost tempted to go see how Cammie and Jenna were doing, or maybe check on Mr. Wheeler and Jaycee. But in the end I knew my girlfriend probably needed me at her side, so I headed over there and squeezed myself in between her and Gwen. And when I realized how tense the princess was, I slipped an arm around her waist and wrapped my tail around her thighs. I knew that sort of thing was probably against various rules of decorum, and maybe that's partially why I did it. But mostly it was to let Rebecca know I was there for her.

There was only a brief pause in the debate as the two military guys and a few of the bureaucrats looked startled by my actions. That only lasted a second or two, before the conversation resumed.

"Sidex has been a thorn in this planet's ass for the last three years," one of the Deveronian officers grumbled. According to the insignia on his uniform he was a general named Kimble. "He used to be one of Taggart's men. He was actually a general if you can believe it? He deserted during the first year of the drought, and he took a bunch of his men with him. Along with a significant arsenal and a load of equipment."

The man continued, "Sidex has been doing his best to grab as much territory out here as he can get his hands on. And since Taggart's government fell, Sidex has been working overtime. Our intel suggests he's trying to solidify his hold on this continent before the interim government has a chance to establish law and order on this side of the planet."

One of the bureaucrats added, "I've heard rumours that Victor Sidex also has political aspirations. If he can establish control over enough land and people out here, he might try and get involved in the elections President Arun promised."

"Bullshit," the other Deveronian officer stated. According to his insignia he was another general, named Myers. "The man's a traitor and a two-bit criminal. Thanks to you folks we finally know exactly where Sidex is hiding, I say we take out him and his whole damn crew. I'm sure that cruiser of yours can handle it, right? Orbital bombardment is quick and decisive. That'll solve this problem once and for all, and nobody else has to get hurt."

That immediately got almost everybody talking, with some arguing against an orbital strike while others seemed to think it was a good idea.

Then Rebecca raised her voice and cut through the chatter as she stated firmly, "Out of the question. Moorefield Station is more than just a military camp, there's a civilian population. And Sidex may be holding prisoners there too. The Tullrohane will not open fire on innocent people, and that's final. And frankly I'm not going to stand by and let you bombard the place yourself either, general. If you think so little of your fellow Deveronian citizens then you're no better than Taggart or Sidex."

That shut General Myers up pretty quickly. Meanwhile Kimble looked like he had mixed feelings on the subject, but he didn't seem eager to argue the point either way.

Instead he had something else on his mind, "I understand what you're saying ma'am, but the problem is we're still picking up the pieces from our civil war. We simply don't have the equipment or the manpower to deal with this kind of situation, on this side of the planet. And Sidex knows it too, that's why he's out here. And that's why his recent actions have been so bold."

"I understand that General," my girlfriend sighed. "I'll speak with Captain Magoda. This is well beyond the scope of what she and her crew have already committed to, but I'll see if she'd be willing to lend a little more help."

Rebecca took a deep breath then announced, "Mayor Ella Wheeler was a personal friend of mine, and before she died I promised her I'd settle the score with the people who attacked Ganvis Station. I'm going to keep that promise, even if I have to do it myself."