WARNING: The true nature of the Exhibit Housing is revealed in this chapter and it might be a bit disturbing to read. I can assure you the contents of this chapter do not dwell on that disclosure much and are only included to explain the 'why' humans were being held - which in the scope of the story is necessary. I tried very hard to not make this uglier than necessary. Can you skip this chapter and pick up knowing what's going on in the next one and not miss much? Eh, maybe, maybe not. There are pieces of the puzzle in every chapter and why they were held is a piece that gives their captivity scope - it isn't the story though. Please consider this warning as I do not EVER want to purposely cause anyone distress while trying to entertain. Thank you - Rachel M. Moore

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Root CGD: Earth Day 619 in captivity, 8:44 PM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing Complex
I wasn’t sure how to feel about seeing Cheryl or her reaction to how I must appear to her. I wanted to rush over to her, hug her, thank her, cry, and ask her how it was she’d even…

“Dee, confirm the sensor reading on Ferris,” Cheryl asked.

“I’ve got Captain Ferris right there with you; is there an issue?” Her question rang out clear as if she were standing here with us through the standard wrist communication device on Cheryl’s arm.

“No, just confirming… You locked on Dee?” Cheryl asked.

“Yes, locked on you both…”

“Convey, now,” Cheryl said calmly, appearing to keep any emotions out of being in charge of the situation.

“Belay that order!” I shouted, taking a step into the room, but noticing as I did that Cheryl leveled her weapon at me. Either she’d noticed the explosive device in my hand or still didn’t trust I was who she’d known going on seven CGD years.

“What’s happening down there? Who’s that woman, Cheryl?” Dee asked.

“Captain Ferris, I think. Standby,” Cheryl replied.

“It is me, just… I know what this looks like, but I know what you were doing just now. The blade you were conveying, I did something like that to you once in your quarters with your hairbrush,” I stated, trying to prove I was who she thought I was and confirm the ship's sensors were correct. “I conveyed your brush from one side of your sink to the other just to mess with you, right? You remembered that and just did that to get my attention so I’d figure out a way to be alone before you conveyed down here to get me out of here. Our ship, the Barrow Gar, she’s in orbit above us, right? And it sounds like Dee’s at the helm?”

Cheryl nodded a couple of times, still pointing her weapon at me.

I slowly squatted, set the explosive I’d been holding and my rudimentary knife down, and then stood, taking another step towards her.

“Mind lowering your weapon?” I asked softly.

She was about to do that when behind me Liam, Garrett, and Zenia appeared quietly in the doorway—their weapons pointed in Cheryl’s direction caused her to raise hers while she moved for cover behind a table in the room.

“STOP!! Everyone lower your damn weapons!” I screamed. No one moved, so I yelled the order again, “NOW! Liam, Garrett! I know this woman; she’s the first officer from my ship!”

I had both arms extended out towards the two parties in this standoff and was looking back and forth between them, hoping no one decided to pull their trigger, especially since I was in the middle of them and likely to get blasted first. Silence hung heavy in the air, but the tension was thick enough to likely cloud everyone’s resolve if anyone moved in a threatening manner.

“Cam, is this Cheryl?” Garrett asked.

“Yes, my first officer, Cheryl Palomino. I told you about her. Tell her something I told you about her,” I requested.

“Ah, like what?” Garrett asked, but I gave him a pained look that said to just say something meaningful. “Oh, I know, the, ah, the time she saved you in that cantina on Emery Prime, that story?” he asked.

There was a laughter coming from the communicator on Cheryl’s wrist; Dee was laughing and said, “We were always saving his ass. Cheryl, do you need me to even the odds down there?”

That could be accomplished in a number of ways. Convey the threats from here to someplace else in the complex or even outside or send armed crewmembers down. Fuck!

“No, we’re not escalating this,” I said as calmly as I could.

“Until I really know who you are, lady, I’m not listening to anyone but my first officer,” the tiny speaker announced across the room from me.

I watch Cheryl stand up and holster her weapon before saying to those behind me, “Your turn…”

I turned to Liam and Garrett. “Put your weapons away; she’s here to get us out of here…”

Root CGD: Earth Day 619 in captivity, 9:15 PM
CinT Ark Loc: Exhibit Housing Complex
“That’s basically the story, one big zoo facility; that’s what this place is,” I told Cheryl, with Dee and the rest of my ship’s crew listening in from orbit above us.

Everyone from the Exhibit Housing had joined us by this time in the armory, and the questions were flying faster than Cheryl could answer them. What’s the date? Where are we? Are you really here to get us out of here?

She gave up and looked to me, “Orders, Captain?”

Now everyone was silently looking at me. I was being thrust back into a role I didn’t feel comfortable sliding back into and had no interest in assuming so quickly after being away from it for so long.

“Dee,” I asked.

“Captain,” was the reply from a second wrist communicator Cheryl had given me and now on my arm.

“Any other ships out there?”

“The Guild light cruiser and a few support ships. They’re trying to figure out dealing with pockets of resistance and are in mop-up mode; they have been for a couple of weeks. Nothing in this sector, though, sir,” was her reply.

Made sense; the bombing we’d felt a few weeks ago had to be the Guild attacking military targets on this planet. Thankfully, this place was either missed or not interesting enough for them to drop some ordinance on with us in it.

What did we need to gather up to get out of here? Was there anything? Wait, do we take the remains of those who’d been reduced to liquid in those tubes? Probably…

And what did we do with this place? The Barrow Gar had no weapon systems. Could we plead our case with the Guild and have them vaporize this facility? Did we still have that one Argonic torpedo hidden in the hold we’d salvaged after the conflict on Wetz during the rebuilding of that planet and their civil war? Could Vesal and Liam figure out a way to detonate the torpedo remotely?

“No weapon systems on your ship?” Liam asked, guessing where my train of thought was trying to get to from his military-slanted brain.

“It’s a freighter; we don’t do battles,” I replied, looking at Cheryl, who nodded her head; she knew what I was thinking without having to ask it out loud. Her nod told me we still had the torpedo somewhere in the auxiliary hold, so that was an option to wipe this place out.

I looked at those gathered; okay, priority one—we get out of here. Then figure out wiring that torpedo and send it down here to level this place for good.

“Dee,” I began saying.

“Captain…”

“Lock on the group and convey them out of here. I’ve got something to organize and will convey it up in a couple of minutes with Cheryl,” was my order.

“Aye, Captain…”

I watched as everyone from the Exhibit Housing was conveyed from the armory, and only Cheryl and I remained.

“You alright?”

“You’re not exactly how I pictured finding you, Cameron,” Cheryl replied.

“Yeah, well, my journey did take a few unexpected turns after that hormone injection.”

“There’s no chance one injection did all of this,” she said, waving a hand lazily in my direction.

“That’s true… We think they’ve been pumping us with stuff to enhance their breeding program.”

“That’s insanity,” she complained.

“Tell me about it. Look, let’s get out of here, and we can talk all about this new version of me. I’d like those tubes over there,” I pointed towards the cabinet behind her, “Brought aboard.”

“What’s in them?”

“Friends of mine…”

Root CGD: 4039.72
CinT Ark Loc: Z8RBF.37.T (estimated position - uncharted Guild-controlled space)
The reunion on the ship was chaotic and confusing for the women of my crew who knew me before having been abducted. I could see it on their faces, them trying to get their heads around me looking very much like a woman, sounding different, and certainly acting differently. Gone was the cocky young man with quick wit looking for any opportunity to prank someone. He’d been replaced by a woman how didn’t look very sure of herself, looked uncomfortable in her own skin, and looked to be trying to remember how to lead.

The new male crew members Cheryl had hired were a bit leery about having to answer to a new captain, a woman who’d once been a man. I was sure it was going to pose a problem later on down the line, even though they’d been functioning under Cheryl’s leadership for a couple of years. I’d meet with the entire crew later, try to level set my expectations as their captain and majority owner of the Barrow Gar. If needed, give them an out from their contracts to work on my ship at the next space station or wherever it was we were heading next if they wanted out or weren’t interested in working for me.

Everyone from the exhibit housing was dealing with their own form of shock once safely on the ship. In shock we were off that planet, in shock we were no longer prisoners, and confused as to what was going to happen to them next. What was difficult for me, besides experiencing everything they were feeling, was that they were now looking to me for answers and to lead—though I’d not been that person back in the Exhibit Housing. I was happy to let the men, Liam, Mike, or whomever, call the shots, but now I was that person needing to step up.

We’d all thought about what it would be like to get out of that place, what might come next, but with as bleak as our existence in the Exhibit Housing had been, I don’t think anyone thought today would ever come and certainly not like this. We went from zoo animals with dangerous hosts to fending for ourselves and facing a finite amount of food to sustain life that, through rationing, might have lasted two CGD months. Full recovery from our experience to being in control of each of our own lives again would take time, lots of time, and I mentioned that to everyone after being brought up from the planet’s surface with those tubes and Cheryl.

“We’re safe, for now,” I’d told them. “Everyone’s going home…”

I directed the crew to make everyone as comfortable as possible—getting everyone situated with a cot in the wardroom and anywhere that offered even a little privacy. Then made sure everyone was fed real food and drink from our stores replicator, showers and toiletries were provided, and whatever clothes were needed from the milling printer in the ship's stores pantry. Clothing choices would be limited, but at least they’d be new and less of a reminder of those uniforms we’d been wearing while being held captive.

I was personally looking forward to wearing shoes again! My boots! I couldn’t wait to put them on!

Those orders initiated, I excused myself, heading to my small stateroom with Cheryl to discuss what came next. I felt bad I hadn’t said more to Garrett after the initial celebration with everyone once all our feet were firmly planted on the Particle Conveyor floor in the ship's hold. Everyone had shared hugs and a few tears after I’d arrived. I’d openly kissed Garrett without giving that act a second thought as soon as I could get my arms around him. When we broke that kiss and embrace, there were a few interested looks from my crew, and I don’t think it came as much of a surprise to anyone that we were together.

Before I retired to my stateroom, I’d hugged him and said I needed a few minutes to figure out what we were doing, and I’d find him in a bit. Thankfully he accepted that without much protest—unlike Liam, who demanded access to our sat-link array to reach out to the Guild warship stationed on the other side of the planet. My orders regarding his request were that we’d work that out after I met with my first officer, but for now he was to get cleaned up, eat, and relax until I was ready to consider his request. He wasn’t happy with me, and in the scope of the decisions I needed to make, I didn’t care what he thought of me or felt.

My ship, my rules; I’m in command here, not you, was the attitude I gave him. I don’t know how confident I appeared, but I didn’t give a damn right now.

“I want to rig that torpedo and blow that place to oblivion,” I stated as soon as Cheryl and I walked into my stateroom.

“I can understand that, but we’re talking about a half-million-credit torpedo on the open market… Why not reach out to the Guild? They know we’re here and that we’d come to retrieve you,” she replied.

“Were they the ones who found us? If so, why didn’t they come get us earlier? You said they’ve been on station for a few weeks; I mean, we felt the bombing…”

“They didn’t find you actually, and that’s a longer story. Why didn’t they pick you up sooner? My understanding is the planet still has regions that are holding out, even though the heavy bombing had beaten most of the planet into submission. Militarily speaking, you’re a civilian and a low priority,” she said. After a moment of considering her next words, she said, “Do you know it’s been seven hundred and fifty-one CGD days since you were pulled from this ship?”

That was difficult to hear, that I’d been away for that long. Zenia had said I’d probably been captive two CGD years; guess she was pretty damn close in her estimate.

“I’m sorry I left you with all this,” I said softly.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t have prevented them from taking you or finding or getting to you sooner,” Cheryl replied.

“How could that even happen from inside the wormhole? That’s like impossible,” I complained.

“Obviously not, and that tech… Well, from everything I’ve seen thus far, it’s why the Guild is here; they want it and badly.”

“Walk me through that. I’m in the stasis tube in the med bay, and you come check on me at some point, and I’m gone?”

“Pretty much... There was a power spike ten minutes after you’d been made comfortable, and the monitors on the stasis tube went crazy on the bridge. By the time we got to med-bay, they’d already conveyed you off the ship. Nothing we could have done, and believe me, we turned the ship inside out thinking maybe you’d just been moved elsewhere and not been taken—because, yeah, wormhole and getting conveyed outside of it? Not possible.

“And to add to the confusion, there were no ships, signatures, or cloaking; no one was around us. Since the ship was dead out there and we were waiting for the cup-link back to Libat III, all we could do was report it. After a few weeks of nothing from the Guild, I made a few discreet inquiries and found out this had been happening randomly for a couple years. How we’d never heard about that is beyond me given some of the seedy people we deal with on occasion.”

“There were only eight of us in that facility,” I complained.

“There were other facilities like the one you were in, I think; at least that’s the rumor.”

“That makes no sense, there were more of these zoos on that planet? Okay, wait, wait… So how’d you end up here knowing I was down there?”

“A Lorian bounty hunter with an array scanner was looking for escaped prisoners on a flyby of the planet. They don’t abide by Guild rules when it comes to unsecured space. Anyway, he got a reading from the Maretic implant in you last year; he’d looked you up, saw our reward for information on your whereabouts, and passed on where you were for the eighty-thousand credits reward. Then we had to fight the Guild to be allowed out here and then wait for them to target the planet trying to get their hands on that tech, which really slowed us getting to you.

“They knew about the abductions even before we reported it, and I guess they eventually tracked one of those people to this planet somehow—even though we’d passed on you being here long before they made their move. They hit the planet about a month ago to beat them into compliance, and now it’s all about stealing that tech, rebuilding for the Guild, taxing them into servitude, and raping the planet,” she offered, shaking her head in disgust given what the Guild would likely do to the planet and this race of beings.

I guess having that implant still within me was a good thing after all. Not that I’d ever go back to Maretic willingly, but at least I wasn’t on their list of people to bring back to their prison.

“Am I going to have any problems with any of the male crew members?” I asked.

She stared at me, “They’ll adjust, or we cut them loose. You’re likely to have as much trouble with the female crew as the men.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, surprised.

“Have you seen yourself? You’re more than pretty; you have to know that…”

I felt flush and wasn’t sure I wanted to have this kind of conversation with Cheryl right now or ever, so I switched topics: “The torpedo… Can it be rigged to blow on a timer or remotely?”

“We can figure that out, but the Guild might not like it if we do that without them getting a look at the site first.”

“That species of alien was trying to breed us for, I’m not even sure what for, but I want to flatten that facility before we leave the sector. I want to bury it so fucking deep…”

“You’ve got a Corps guy in your group; why not let him do the military monkey dance and convince them to flatten that place? I’d have thought you’d want to get out of here as soon as possible and get back to your old life.”

I’d moved a hand over my belly, turned, and looked around my room. Nothing had changed; even the papers I’d had out before being abducted were still on my small desk where I’d left them. What am I supposed to do now? Yeah, I want out of here, but I want my pound of flesh for what they did to us. I turned back to Cheryl; she was looking at me differently.

“What?”

She shook her head. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

Root CGD: 4039.83
CinT Ark Loc: Z8RBF.37.T (estimated position - uncharted Guild-controlled space)
Cheryl listened as I told her the full story, from when I’d first woke up to being impaled and to being ‘gifted’ a fully functional woman’s reproductive system via a transplant by the beings from the planet below us. I glossed over my relationship with Garrett, talked briefly about experiencing my first period, and finally told her I was a little over thirty days into being pregnant.

“Whoa… That’s a bit scary. How do you feel about not getting a choice in any of that?” she asked.

“It’s been different… And yes, it’s been scary, but parts of it have been… I don’t know, good, I guess.”

She chuckled, “Good? I think you’re holding out on me, but I’d probably do the same in your shoes with a couple of those guys you were holed up with.”

“I’ve got things I’m going to need to figure out, but they can wait. Where are we go...,” I watched as she pulled a small card from her pocket, and my question about our next destination was paused. She handed it to me. “What’s this?”

“Your DNA pre-hormone injection. I’m not sure how you’d use it now, but it’ll get you close to where you were pre all this if you should decide to get this reversed. I’m betting the Guild will likely cover the procedure costs since they’re going to want to keep it quiet they’ve snagged this alien conveyor tech that works regardless of any space/time/positional parameters.”

The idea that the Common Galactic Date—CGD—was on a continuum unless one was porting between various galaxies or executing a quantum jump to a mirrored universe via a wormhole could be circumvented in some way by this alien tech—that was big. What was the Guild’s goal? Control time with it? Mind-bending enough in theory, but I didn’t want to get lost in that black hole right now. Focus!

I looked at the tiny card in my hand. Yet another decision I needed to make at some point. I didn’t want to do any of that right now—make a rash decision without thinking out every option. I wasn’t even sure what I wanted going forward. Her comment about the Guild did make me wonder if we had any leverage to bear.

I set the tiny card on my desk and looked back at Cheryl.

“We can’t clear the sector without Guild approval; we might as well see if they’ll level your zoo for you. If not, we can adjust,” she said, smiling.

“Okay, can you patch me into whoever is running this show for the Guild on their cruiser? I’ll offer their one soldier back and make a case for blowing that place to oblivion,” I asked and then added, “If you wouldn’t mind, can we keep the pregnancy diagnosis between us? I’d appreciate that.”

“Garrett the father?”

“Kind of obvious, huh?” I said, blushing.

“Maybe a little… I’d have chased that boy,” she said with a tiny giggle. “He looks very into you; not sure what you’re going to do about that, but you might want to give it some thought, along with the baby inside of you. I’d keep him though,” she said finally with a sultry smile.

“Yeah, yeah… I have been thinking about those things the past couple of hours, but I’ve got other things to deal with first.” I replied.

“Understood… I’m happy you’re back, and I’m here for you, alright…,” she said, taking the few steps that separated us, and hugged me.

“Thanks, Cheryl… Thank you for not giving up on finding me and keeping the ship and business operating.”

“Don’t thank me yet; I gave myself a pretty big pay bump last year,” she said before turning to leave my stateroom.

“Worth it,” I called after her as the door slid shut.

Root CGD: 4039.98
CinT Ark Loc: Z8RBF.38.T (estimated position—uncharted Guild-controlled space)
“Captain…”

“Thank you for getting back to me Vice Admiral Leland, I know you’re busy, so I’ll make this quick. As I told your XO, we’ve got one of yours from the zoo facility we were being held in, and he’d like to get back to the Corps, sir.”

“Sergeant Liam Moser, yes, we’d like to get him back in the fold as well. He’ll need a full med workup, but we’ve got that facility on board. I’ll get that transfer arranged; we can convey him in the next hour if that works. My executive officer said you had a request for me, though, let's hear it.”

“I’d like that zoo facility we were held in gone, like never to be used again by those beings to house and display humans. If the Guild is running a rebuild protocol over this species, maybe they keep this kind of thing from being repeated in the future.”

There was a long pause before Leland spoke again, “Do you know what the facility was, Captain?”

“We assumed it was some kind of zoo, a breeding program of some type for who knows what reason,” I answered him.

I suddenly felt unsure I knew what that facility really was based on his questioning me. If it wasn’t a zoo, then what was it?

“This is not something you’re going to want to hear, I’m afraid, but there were a number of those facilities on the planet.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that; Cheryl had said that was the rumor. Guess as large as the planet was, maybe having a few of those exhibits might make sense or be of interest for those beings, especially if they were trying to breed us.

“The survivors of that place, including me, lost a few friends, children, and people they loved down there, sir. I’d like to give them the news that that place and any others like it have been wiped from the planet. Anything else you care to tell me about it might help us understand why we were being held; it might even help in the healing process.”

Another longer than expected pause this time before he spoke, “It wasn’t a zoo…”

“You’re sure about that?” I asked.

“Yes, it was more of a farm. The purpose was the production of human babies for their species consumption…”

I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly, but I started to feel warm and faint, dropped to a knee, and proceeded to throw up the contents of my stomach all over my small stateroom floor.

Root CGD: 4039.98
CinT Ark Loc: Z8RBF.35.T (estimated position—uncharted Guild-controlled space)
I hadn’t fully recovered from the news that the facility we’d been held in was solely focused on ‘specialized food production’ for that alien species, according to Vice Admiral Leland. I’d seen alien beings eat all kinds of crazy shit while traversing space, but never had I heard of one consuming humans, let alone human infants. Leland had told me they had no interest in the consumption of adults, but premature babies to those just having been born, were considered delicacies.

It made no sense, and even after I’d found Garrett later and brought him back to my small stateroom, I was struggling with that idea. He’d asked what was wrong, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell him, though I did say I’d tried to convince the Guild to level the facility.

“So they didn’t say they’d do it?” he asked.

“It is being considered, but I think I’ll push a little harder tomorrow.”

“I’ll bet they’d do it… Is something else bothering you?” he asked while hugging me as we lay in bed together.

“I’m, it’s just been a long journey, and I’m a bit overwhelmed by needing to step back into a command role on my ship to tell you the truth. I’ll be fine, though…”

“Any chance I could maybe distract you?” He said nibbling on my neck, getting his hands beneath the t-shirt I was wearing and onto my breasts, while rubbing his hips into my ass.

“I’m counting on it,” I said, reaching down to pull the shorts and panties I’d been wearing off.

I needed to escape, to feel alive, loved, and get out of my head anything related to having been held on a farm…

Root CGD: 4040.34
CinT Ark Loc: Z8RBF.36.T (estimated position—uncharted Guild-controlled space)
“We’re being hailed,” Dee turned to inform me.

“Put it on screen, please,” I asked, and when Vice Admiral Leland appeared, I stood. “Good morning, sir, my apologies for yesterday.”

“Well within acceptable parameters, Captain Ferris, what can I do for you?”

“Back to my original request, sir, wipe that facility from the planet or allow my crew to do it,” I replied.

“I’m not one for rogue operators, and I’m hoping you’re not telling me you’ve got ordinance aboard your ship that would make something like that possible,” he said, a brief look of concern flashing over his face.

“We’re a merchant freighter, sir, no armaments on this old girl. There are, though, enough explosive compounds within the facility to bring it down permanently, and we’d be willing to make that happen if you’d allow it.”

“You’re an interesting woman, Captain Ferris, but let me save you the trouble. We sent some personnel out there, and there isn’t anything within it we care about. We’ll dispatch a few fighter craft to put that farm into a big, big hole. Fair enough, Captain?”

I cringed when he said the word ‘farm’, but quickly spoke so those on the bridge might not focus on that.

“Thank you, sir. Can I ask that you give all those facilities the same treatment?”

“We’ve destroyed all but fourteen of them,” he said, looking at an officer behind him who nodded he was correct about the number that remained standing. “Our orders are to modify this species behavior, and within the hour you should be able to see a very big hole where that facility was.”

Garrett was the only person who’d been held with me in that ‘farm’ facility and on the bridge to hear Leland call it such. He gave me a curious look, and I ignored him because I was feeling sick to my stomach again just thinking about what those beings were doing with us. Of course Cheryl, Dee, and two male crew members—Tommy and Alex—also heard what Leland said, so word was sure to spread to the others. Shit! I should have taken Leland’s call in my stateroom.

“One more thing, Captain Ferris: Guild Chancellor Nory and I spoke; she would like everyone held on the planet medically cleared and debriefed before you’re off to parts unknown. You could do that on my ship or Carillion V, whichever option works best for you and your crew.”

“I think we’ll head to Carillion, sir. I think getting us back to civilization will speed up the healing process,” I replied. There were smiles on the faces of the crew members on the bridge with me – guess I could still make decisions people liked.

“Very well, safe travels then, Captain…”

“Thank you, sir. Barrow Gar out…,” I nodded at Dee to cut the feed, and then I looked over to Cheryl and said, “Let’s get eyes on that facility and everyone up here to watch it get torn to pieces.”

Forty minutes later, with everyone in attendance on the bridge, we watched as two LIT class star-fighters made lazy passes over the Exhibit Housing facility. Two heavy ordnance bombs made contact with the facility we had been held in, and the explosive flashes, even filtered, washed out the view on the screen. Ten minutes later, when there was barely any smoke remaining, we could all see there was nothing left standing, and a very big hole remained. No one cheered or said much of anything, though there were a few hugs shared and some quiet conversations between a few of the survivors.

I later sent a message to Vice Admiral Leland thanking him for the assist from all of us who’d been held there. That part of our nightmare was behind us, thankfully. I felt some satisfaction, but given what that place really was, I had less issue with the Guild subjugating that plant or making it unbearable for those beings for an eternity.

Now we just needed to figure out getting to Carillion V, getting medically cleared and debriefed by the Guild, and maybe even getting in some sightseeing on arguably one of the more lush planets this side of the known universe. Then, Beck, Turpin, Vesal, Syn, Zenia, Garrett, and I could get on with our lives – wherever that may lead us.

Root CGD: 4040.61
CinT Ark Loc: Z4MMR.01.D (estimated position - uncharted Guild-controlled space)
“What the fuck, Cameron!” Turpin barked at me.

“A farm?! We were meant to be eaten?! Are you shitting me?!” Syn yelled right after Turpin’s outburst.

Garrett had raised his hands to try and squash the outbursts, to bring some order to the questions flying at me, but it had done little to calm anyone down. I looked at the faces of those gathered in the galley and knew they were angry at hearing the news Leland had let slip from someone on my crew and not from me—one of them, a survivor of that nightmare, and the captain of this ship. I’d hoped it would have been kept quiet or not caught, but it had gotten out and was now something I needed to deal with.

“Cam, is it true?” Zenia asked.

“Yeah, were they breeding us to feed their kind?!” Turpin asked angrily, though not as loud as he’d been a moment ago.

"How long have you known?" Beck shouted.

"Look,” I shouted, “I was told by the vice admiral that the facility wasn’t a zoo; he said it was a farm yesterday.”

"Why are we just hearing that now?" Turpin complained.

I ignored the question, because I could feel Vesal's stare boring into me.

“So it is true?” Vesal asked calmly.

“Yes,” I state softly.

“But the remains in those tubes, is that how they went about consuming us? Why hadn’t they consumed those people?” Vesal asked before anyone had a chance to yell over the top of her.

“No,” was all I could say, because I couldn’t bring myself to answer her second question.

“What does that mean, Cam? Just tell us,” Syn complained.

“Hey! Alright! This isn’t Cam’s fault, people!” Garrett yelled, and he doing so next to me made me jump slightly. “It wasn’t a zoo; there were multiple of these across the planet, and the Guild has handled them all, just like we saw with the one we were held in. Those facilities are gone now, and that shit isn’t going to be allowed to continue under the Guild’s rule.”

“How many of them were there?” Beck asked.

“They destroyed some of them in their initial attack on the planet, but before they flattened ours, there were fourteen remaining,” I stated calmly.

“So, potentially hundreds?” Beck surmised, not really expecting an answer.

“They didn’t tell me how many they found,” I complained.

“That’s pretty fucked up they were trying to breed us though, right?” Beck countered.

I couldn’t help but look to the floor as the tears welled in my eyes.

Garrett got his arm around me before saying, “They weren’t interested in us according to the Guild; they were after the babies we’d conceived…”

The galley erupted into a series of swearing men and crying women. I found myself hugging Zenia, and a moment later Syn and Vesal were joining in to make it a group hug. All four of us were crying, and it went on for far longer than I’d expected. One of us would start to get their composure back and lose it as soon as one of the others broke down. Twenty-five minutes later, people in the room were somber, had aching hearts, were cried out, and were still angry—but at least that anger was focused at those beings from the planet we’d escaped and not me any longer.

Root CGD: 4044.28
CinT Ark Loc: Y3CAL.77.A (Carillion V Space Port – South Bay 11)
Upon arrival to Carillion V, from the planet we were being told was called Lyone, we were required to remain on the ship until summoned by a Guild representative. Once summoned, a single person was escorted to the city of Oenic and the premier hospital for the planet to undergo a medical evaluation. Afterwards they were to be questioned by two different Guild agents and then returned to the ship. I would be notified who was free to return to their lives pre Exhibit Housing. And the final instructions were no one was to discuss their interview process with the rest of us.

That wasn’t going to happen if I had anything to say about it.

I felt like I was looked at differently the four days it took us to get to Carillion after everyone found out about the purpose of the Exhibit Housing. I’d see one of my fellow captives somewhere on the ship and they’d barely acknowledge me. The other women barely were talking with me, each processing the news for what it was. Those that had miscarried realizing their child had been… Ugh! Fuck that!

The door of my stateroom chimed.

“Come!” I shouted. “Who’d they take next, Beck or Turpin?” I asked Garrett as he entered my stateroom.

“Turpin… Goes pretty quick; it might be longer for you women just because you had a lot more going on than us guys did,” he said, raising a brow.

“Haha, you’re welcome to take over being pregnant for me,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him. I was happy Garrett had stuck with me and hadn't stopped wanting to be around me or shut me out.

“Yeah, I’ll pass…”

“Anything else?”

“Not really… They asked questions about our abductions, our stay, and any interactions we’d had with our hosts. Pretty generic stuff, actually—I thought for sure they’d have asked more questions. Oh, and afterwards they told me I was free to go, saying I would be compensated to the tune of two hundred thousand credits! That’s a bonus I hadn’t expected,” he explained.

Guess they'd changed their minds on letting me know who was free to go.

“What did you have to agree to for those credits?”

“Keep my mouth shut about my experience.”

Garrett had volunteered to be the first from the group to go through the process after the journey to Carillion V. I was happy to hear the Guild wasn’t going detain him and that they were compensating him, but I was curious as to his health evaluation.

“What did the doctors say?”

“I’m all good, lacking in a few elementary compounds like calcium and magnesium, but other than that I’m fit.”

“Nothing was said about the crap they were pumping into us?”

“No, all my testosterone levels were normal, blood pressure spot on, and truthfully, I thought I’d be having some kind of withdrawals, but I feel great.”

“But they were giving us stuff to keep us aroused, right? They didn’t say anything about that?” I asked.

“I mentioned it—they didn’t find anything in my system out of the ordinary.”

“How about the visions thing?”

“Yeah, that got me a few odd looks, but they thought maybe something in the food—a hallucinogen of some type—might have made it seem as though I was foreseeing some past memory.”

“You told them you saw those things, right? All the guys had them to various degrees,” I complained.

“Yes, I told them. And we did, but not like constantly. They didn’t seem to care about it when I told them.”

“So, you saw me as I am now, and the other guys saw what?”

“Pretty sure Beck saw Cekoo, maybe Vesal. Turpin knew Syn was coming, and Mike saw Ali... We didn't really talk about it much because it wasn't a big deal or happened very often.”

“Jessie?”

“Not sure, but he said he’d seen being with someone… Maybe that was you?”

Damn it! I’m not going to say anything about Jessie and I having been ‘together’! I didn’t care that Garrett had been with other women, Zenia before me even! What the hell were my 'remembrances'? They weren't Garrett...

Ugh! Would this craziness ever end?! Would I ever get my life back?!

::: --- :::

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Rachel M. Moore