Hybrid Saga 01 - Hybrid by S M Briscoe Read Free Book Online Page A

setting down in the docking ring. “That’s not a military class transport with them. It’s a freight hauler. The Sect doesn’t do a lot of supply cartage during their raids and I doubt that it’s just come along for the ride. Whatever it is they’re here for, it doesn’t look like they plan on leaving anyone behind to talk about it.”
    The woman looked towards the large freighter and her eyes grew wide as she seemed to reach the same conclusion.
    Jarred turned around and began to pull Mac away.
    “Wait!” the woman cried, Jarred stopping to look back at her. “Take us with you.”

Chapter 3
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    The large freight hauler set down heavily on an open area of the docking ring’s platform, numerous troops moving into positions around its entry hatch as the boarding ramp slowly lowered to the ground. A contingent of soldiers emerged from the opening and descended the ramp to stand guard at its base, surveying the area before signaling an all clear to their high profile passengers.
    Durak, the large, Gnolith, High Commander of the Sect Dominion’s military, waited at the top of the ramp, looking out over the docking ring. He was taller than the average Gnolith; most standing well over two meters; and massively built, the personal body guards standing to either side of him nearly dwarfed in comparison.
    Just behind the group, and even more out of place because of his much smaller stature, Traug stood with his thin arms folded behind his back, his personal mechanical assistant at his side, as it always was, as he observed the commotion in the docking ring.
    His Trillian race was, by no means, seen as being even remotely physically intimidating, but their skills in negotiation and deceitful nature, in regards to anything profit related, made them a species most feared doing business with. A fact which Traug took a great deal of pride in. One did not require great size or physical strength to be threatening. Real power came from the ability to outthink, outwit and outmaneuver one’s opponents in any situation, whether it be in business, or on the battlefield.
    The High Commander barked an order at the surrounding troops, sending them off down the ramp to pass his command on to the other groups of soldiers.
    “I hope you are not wasting my time here, Traug,” he warned, as he began walking slowly down the ramp.
    Traug followed, speaking confidently. “I assure you, I am not. The one you seek is here. You need only find her.”
    “If she is here, I will indeed find her,” Durak returned, flatly.
    Traug looked out at the mass of pilots and refugees being rounded up into groups. “And the rest of these humans?”
    “You can have them,” Durak replied, in a dismissive tone. “As was our agreement.”
    Traug looked over the groups of what were soon to be his latest slave acquisitions, his fee for delivering the expected whereabouts of one supposed anti-Sect revolutionist and heretic. How one being could be a threat to the Sect’s power, he didn’t know, and what she had done to somehow offend the High Commander’s Gods, he couldn’t care less about. Traug wasn’t vaguely interested in the ridiculous religions of other beings, or the reasoning behind them. What he did care about was making a profit. After all, he was a Trill, and in the world of business, currency was God, whether it be credits, goods, or in this case, information, a most valuable commodity.
    Profit aside, it was always good to have the Sect High Commander in one’s favor. His employers’ current building contracts with Durak had kept their military shipyards running quite profitably, and the High Commander’s overlooking of their bending of certain profit-negating laws, including those that prohibited the use of slave labor, more than compensated for the discounts he received.
    After all, it was technically illegal to enslave any legitimately registered citizen or refugee in Dominion controlled space, an