We lost one of our best men to this rather skilled matriarchy patrol. I was really pissed imagining Carl collared and controlled. That was no life for a male warrior. We decided to extract a little revenge. To an outsider it looked like we had gotten sloppy. It didn't hurt that most matriarchy military commanders held dim views at to our intellectual capacity.
It was always a shock for the women of the Southern Matriarchy to discover that the men of the Northern Republic were just as smart as they were. I've seen too much of their abilities to claim, like some Northern Republic commanders do, that the women are not as sharp as we are. That is just not true. All the same they CAN be duped.
We camouflaged our forward observation post to make it look like we had abandoned the base in a hurry. To an enemy it looked like it was full of intelligence. It was too tempting to ignore. We had also discovered a flaw in their drone cameras. At the right angle we could replace its camera's views with our own. We sent a signal indicating that FO Post was strewn with cast off codes and trash that did not burn. ANY soldier would have been interested in investigating. Had they thought a bit deeper they would have realized that it was too perfect and too tempting. But because we had spent the last couple of days looking like we were preoccupied and careless, we sold the illusion perfectly.
The Lieutenant who had caused us so many problems and had sprung the trap that captured Carl was third over the hill, just behind her sergeant and her corporal. We were on them before they knew what hit them just three of the ten woman squad escaped. Victory was ours.
I, as ranking officer took possession of the Lieutenant. She fought mightily and I had a devil of a time slipping the collar around her neck. Once I got in in place however, it sapped her strength and she collapsed at my feet. She fell face first. I rolled her over bared her smooth, muscular tummy, and placed the controller in position. I never get tired of watching those things burrow into the skin. Ten minutes later her life in the matriarchy was over and her life as a Northern slave had begun.
I tied her hands behind her back and helped her to her feet. "Quite a fight you put up there lieutenant. You have no idea how happy we are to have finally captured you. Think of it as revenge for your capture of Sergeant Carl Johnson a month ago. Look around we have almost your entire squad."
The Lieutenant' eyes were hot with defiance but there was nothing else she could do. She looked mournfully as he comrades, all collared and controlled like herself.
Initially I had hoped that we could trade her for Carl but upper echelon thought, if we DID captured her, she would prove too valuable to the South to be allowed to be repatriated. We would probably have to trade three or four of the seven NCOs and enlisted who we captured to get Carl back. That hardly seemed fair but if we could negotiate to get Carl back at all we would be lucky. That was not my problem, however, only generals and high ranking members of the diplomatic corps on both sides were responsible for repatriation talks. We put in our request on Carl's behalf; what happened to it once it went up the ladder was anybody's guess. I've been to the peace village on the border. Its the only place where North and South meet as equals. The place gave me the creeps.
I took a look at the Lieutenant's dog tags. "First Lieutenant Raven Riley" it said. At last we had a name for the recent thorn in our side. She was quite beautiful. Long brown hair, angelic face and huge blue eyes. As far as I could tell she had a fine body under that uniform. I would find out shortly.
Because we operated deep in enemy territory, often at the very outskirts of The Matriarchy Fort Hera we put in a request for several speedy air transports. Technically they were not supposed to operate this deep in the matriarchy, at least not according to treaty. But since we were evacuating and not attacking we thought that we could get away with it. The best thing about springing this trap is that it bought us three months of home duty. We had been deep in Matriarch territory for a long time. We had learned a great deal about our enemy and the trick we had learned about their drones promised a massive influx of fresh slaves. At least until they caught on.
My men and I lined up our captives and marched them toward the LZ. All of them were crying. There was always something enjoyable about seeing them tear up. If the shoe were on the other foot and I were in their place I would be just as upset, but I would not cry. At least I hoped not. Slavery was the hazard of EVERY soldier North or South. It was the great unifier and dreaded fear of both sides. There was probably not a soldier on either side who had not lost a good friend, a bunk mate or a comrade or all three. War was a nasty business, even a limited but endless one like the battle between the Southern Matriarchy and the Northern Republic.
The pilots must have thrown their every kilogram on their throttles because the air transports arrived in record time. They flew low over the landscape to avoid radar and forward drones. An incursion of Northern air transports could get our commanders in serious hot water so we got the women into the transports as fast as we could climbed in after them and flew like bats out of hell for home.
Home base was abuzz when we landed. Word of our success had preceded us. I spent the next two hours being debriefed by my Colonel and the commanding general. My unit was up for a commendation. The drone duping trick was already being pulled off all along the front. As a consequence we were lousy with new slaves.
Lieutenant Raven Riley was marched into HQ we spent the next three hours debriefing her and pumping her for intelligence. You can't lie very effectively in the collar and controller. Together they pick up hidden stresses and, attached to the right equipment, function as a remarkably accurate lie detector. The Lieutenant was a bad liar.
As we finished with her the General announced, "We've gotten all we can out of her. She certainly is a fine specimen, you may have her Captain. I understand you are currently slaveless."