Introduction

 

In August 1846, Captain William Symonds of the Royal Navy received the following letter:

 

To: Captain William Symonds

From: Lieutenant Seth A. Walsh III

Date: 1-July-1846

Subject: One Year Update

Special Mission "Lost Girls," to wit I am ordered to: a) supply intelligence leading to the capture of the pirates, and b) rescue the passengers taken from the ship by any means necessary.

Sir,

I submit the following for your consideration:

1)   Given that we have...

·      Pursued the villains who sank the USS Friendship and abducted the British citizens known as the Calcutta Five for one year,

·      Established a self-supporting network of agents and informants under my command to support the special mission,

·      Rescued Miss. Victoria Watson and returned her to Calcutta from Mr. Vasily Pavlovich, a Russian citizen, who was holding her illegally as a slave.

·      Located Miss Sarah Barrett in the Saigon palace of General Thao Vu Minh, who is holding her as a slave.
[Note: The Foreign Office has rejected my request that they help to affect Miss Barrett's release.]

·      Attacked the Soolo pirates and their stronghold village of Salangut using a royal navy fleet under your command.
[Note: The pirates repulsed this attack using cannon set on the Klang Riverbank.]

·      Determined that an unknown person or persons helped Miss Catherine Fisher escape from the Soolo village of Salangut and arranged her return to Calcutta.

·      No useful information as to the fate of or the whereabouts of Misses Mary Macdonald, Abigail Burns-Laughton, and their Indian handmaids Madhuri and Taara.

·      No useful information as to the fate of or the whereabouts of the surviving members of the crew of the Friendship (all American citizens).

2)   I propose the following plan and priorities for your approval...

·      Investigate the escape of Miss Catherine Fisher.

·      Surveil Miss Sarah Barrett with the hope that her situation will change such that a rescue attempt is possible.

·      Conduct inquiries with various parties in the region regarding a) the fate and whereabouts of: a) Misses Mary Macdonald, Abigail Burns-Laughton, and their Indian handmaids Madhuri and Taara; b) the Friendship's surviving crew; c) ongoing pirate activity of the Soolo.

·      Continue to report as added information becomes available

3)   I will assume you approve of this plan until I hear otherwise.

Respectfully yours,

Seth A. Walsh

Seth A. Walsh III, Lieutenant

 

A month later, he received this reply from Captain Symonds:

 

To: Lieutenant Seth A. Walsh III

From: Captain William Symonds, commanding HMS Java

Date: 25-July-1846

Subject: Your One-Year Update dated 1-July-1846

Regarding Special Mission "Lost Girls"

To wit: a) supply intelligence about the perpetrators of this act of piracy, and b) find and rescue the passengers taken from the ship by any means necessary.

Lt. Walsh,

Please be advised of the following:

1.    I confirm the accuracy of your status summary regarding the USS Friendship and the fate of its passengers and crew.

2.   Neither I nor the Admiralty has anything of material interest to add.

3.   I have discussed your proposed plan with Admiral Sir Edmund Shovell, KCB, GCB, who now leads IATO (the India and the Orient command of the Royal Navy).

4.   He and I agree that you should execute the plan you have proposed with the following amendment:
Your priority should be the rescue of Misses Mary Macdonald and Abigail Burns-Laughton, while seeking opportunities to rescue their Indian handmaids and members of the Friendship crew.

5.   I am pleased to inform you that Admiral Shovell has promoted you on a sub-rosa basis to the rank of lieutenant commander. We will defer the registration of this action in the Navy's official records until such time as it no longer compromising your secret identity. Congratulations.

With my continuing support and good wishes, I remain,

William Symonds

William Symonds, Captain

Commanding Officer, HMS Java

 

Chapter 1 - Reunions

 

Seth stared at the letter from Captain Symonds then mumbled an epithet and threw it on the floor. His friend, Adi bin Agua, picked it up and smoothed it. Seth had become increasingly irritable over the last few months.

"You may need this one day, Anak-k, to restore your reputation. It might also be needed prove your rank," Adi said reasonably. "What other proof do you have that you are not a deserter; what other documentation do you have that identifies your rank...?"

"My rank...! Did you read the part that says they have promoted me, but they don't want to tell anyone...? How am I promoted if it's a secret? As for my reputation, we both know it is ruined. No one will ever want to serve with me on a ship again...and I don't blame them-I did desert my ship."

"...For good reason," Adi said, annoyed. "Once this is over, you can make the facts public and announce your promotion. To do this now would raise too many questions. You know this. What's wrong with you?"

Seth shook his head.

"You don't know the British, Adi, not really. They are a rigid lot; they think of it as sticking to their principles, but it's really about elitism and discrimination. The navy has never fully accepted me; they see me as a dirty colonial...not that I care anymore.

"Then why are we working so hard for British interests...?"

Seth didn't answer, he just moved behind the Siam girl-one of many in his current inventory-and put his hands on her bare shoulders. She was naked, suspended in a sitting position by a ceiling chain and a silver spine-bar. The spine-bar extended from the blunt hook in her ass to the five-inch-high collar around her neck, curving her spine into a beautifully feminine curve. Two short chains stretched from the bottom of the bar to her slim ankles, keeping her from straightening her legs and standing.

"You see this beautiful girl, Adi. You see how she accepts her punishment, how she hides her pain. One day she will step up on a block and we will sell her for a small fortune. We will add the profit from this sale to our coffers and use it to pay our informants for information. This makes her more contribution to our "special mission" significantly more valuable than mine-I have worked for a year and found only one of 'the Five.' "

"You are our leader, Seth. Without you, there would be no 'special mission.' The Admiralty knows this; this is the reason they promoted you to..."

"The secret promotion...is that the one you mean...?"

Adi remained silent. There was no arguing with him when he was like this, when he was bemoaning the loss of his precious naval career.

Set moved his hand down the girl's chest until his hands were cupping her generous breasts. The girl tried to smile as her trainers had taught her, but the pain in her ass was too great. She just squeezed her full lips together and grimaced.

She was exquisite, with long silky legs, a narrow waist, firm pointed tits, and a face that produced an instant hardon in most men. Seth had ordered his house guard to place her in the spine-bar and to position her as if she were sitting with him and Adi at the dinner table. He was disciplining her for her inability to "maintain a calm and pleasing demeanor."

Adi sat back in his chair and stared at the girl, waiting for his friends pique to end.

"If you think I am angry at Captain Symonds, Adi, you're wrong," Seth said quietly. "I am angry at myself. All I have done in a year is build this despicable business of ours. We are getting rich from the purchase and sale of these girls, but what have I done about the piracy I swore to avenge? PRACTICALLY NOTHING!"

He continued to fondle the girl's breasts as he spoke.

"All I have done is find and free Victoria Watson. That's it...! In one year, all I have done is to get back one out of five-one out of seven if you count the Indians-which as you can see from their priorities, the Admiralty wants to ignore. I have done nothing to help bring justice to the Soolo pirates...NOTHING!"

Adi smiled but remained silent. It was better to let Seth vent his frustrations than to try and argue.

"You think I am wrong, Adi? Case in point, Sarah is less than ten miles from me at this very moment, but she might as well be on the moon. I cannot take her from the general; I will never be able to take her from him. I have failed her and thanks to my failure, we have lost her, we have condemned her to suck that bastard's cock for a lifetime."

He moved away from the Siamese girl and began to pace the room.

"These people have the power here! Rich men like the emperor are buying these girls for absurd amounts so they can make a statement, so they can express their contempt for us, for the British, for colonialism, for white people. By giving her away as a gift to his general after buying her for £12,000 the emperor was making another statement. We have become the pawns in this game...something Captain Symonds and the Admiralty have yet to understand."

He grabbed a nearby tawse and swung it in frustration into the Siamese girl's bare ass. She jumped in pain as a tear fell from her eye, but she remained silent...and calm. She well understood that the purpose of her punishment was to teach her to control her feelings no matter what. Seth laid another painful stroke on her ass then spoke again.

"And forget about the other two Brits-Mary Macdonald and Abigail Burns-Laughton-we are no closer to securing their freedom now than we were a year ago. As for the Indian girls and the surviving crew...forget it. At this rate, we will spend our entire lives pursuing this goal. They are beyond our reach now. This mission has failed; we have failed; I have failed. The only thing I have succeeded at is making this damn slave business a success! In effect, I am adding to the problem, not solving it!"

A servant, another of their Siamese collection, stood nervously in the doorway with a tray of food.

"Come...come," Seth ordered, "We need to eat."

She rushed to the table carrying a tray of boiled fish, sticky white rice, and vegetables.

"Eat...let us eat," he said, releasing the girl's manacled hands from spine-bar.

The girl lifted her chopsticks in trembling hands and began to eat tiny amounts of food. It was obvious that the last thing she wanted at this moment was food, but this was part of her punishment-training, part of the normal discipline demanded by the House of Peniaga Dumadi.

"You will eat everything on that plate," Seth said, noting her difficulty swallowing, "or you will stay on this damned hook. Some man will be paying good money for you; do you think he will want to dine with a sobbing child? Do you think I want to ruin my reputation by selling him a whining, disobedient slave girl?"

"No, Master," she whispered as more tears flowed.

Seth sat down at his place and unfolded his napkin with jerking frustration.

"We will find a way to get to Sarah, Seth. Getting her out of the Imperial City in Huế would have been impossible; getting her away from General Thao is just going to be difficult. We have moved from impossible to difficult."

Set grunted.

"You take this one to your bed tonight, Adi. You teach her what a man wants, what he expects. I cannot get my head around her problem right now.

"We have another problem... Captain Symonds letter reminds me that every day of goals are being redefined. Getting the Calcutta Five back is no longer the objective if you read between the lines. The objective now is to look as if we are getting them back. If the Admiralty can credibly claim that it is doing everything possible then there is no need for spending more money or taking more risk.

"Notice that I get promoted for failing, Captain Symonds gets to keep his command after losing the Battle of the Klang River, Admiral Shovell and the Admiralty get lauded in the Calcutta press for their "persistence"... Everyone is happy with our enormous progress, but our women are still captives and the Soolo pirates are more powerful than ever. I hear that some ships are now stopping in George Town secretly to pay the rajah's tribute. The Company has forbidden it, but ship captains are practical men-the Soolo now own the strait.

"How are we succeeding?"

Adi didn't answer, he just signaled to one of the guards waiting by the door.

"Take the girl to my room and chain her to my bed. I will deal with her later."

The guard didn't bother to remover her asshook, he just unhooked the spine-bar from the ceiling chain and carried her out of the room. Seth watched him work with a defeated expression on his face, ignoring his food.

"Don't let her out of your bedroom until she is ready for the block," he said to Adi. "If slaving is the only thing I can succeed at, then at least let me at least do this right."

Adi nodded and smiled.

"We have made a profit of £50,000 this month, Anak-k," Adi said quietly, finishing the last of his meal. "I would say House Dumadi is now a formidable player on Bui Vien Street."

"We just need you to get your head back into our work, Anak-k," Adi said quietly. "We have leads that require your attention. The spy network you have built is the only way the British have any insight into what's happening in this region."

"Spy network... That's a lot of rubbish and you know it, Adi. We are slave traders, not spies. Slaving is what we are good at. We should stick to that and leave the spying to those who..."

Adi stood up angrily and leaned on the table.

"I have spoken to Father Jacques. He thinks he can get you inside, at least close enough so you can talk to Sarah...find out if there are any weaknesses in her captivity that we can take advantage of, perhaps ones that we can investigate further. She would know best. She is the only one on the inside who will be willing to help us."

Seth stared at him. Father Jacques' agreement to help was a huge break...their first in weeks. Sarah's inside knowledge of the fortress and the harem might give them the information they needed to begin planning her escape.

"This is good, Adi. How did you do it? When I spoke to Father Jacques, he refused to help, claiming that he had to protect the Church's interest. What did you...?"

"I offered him a bribe," he said simply. "The good father is a true believer, but he is also a practical man. It will be years, perhaps centuries, before the Church of Rome has enough converts to have any real power here...and decades before the French can capitalize on their trading investments. He must live in the meantime, like us. If we had to depend on the Admiralty to fund our search. We would die of starvation; the slaving is not just a cover, it sustains us."

Seth stared at him then smiled.

"It is making us rich. As much as I hate to admit it, we are good at this."

"You need to speak with her Seth. A year in a cage without hope is too long. She will be starting to believe that she is a slave; that her old life was a dream, an invention of her wandering mind. We need to keep up her spirits up while we word to get her out."

Seth nodded, but it was obvious that he wasn't convinced. Sarah was special to him; she was the reason he had taken the assignment. They had had a personal connection in Calcutta. It wasn't a substantial one, but it was intense. Would she remember him, he wondered? Even if she did, would she see their connection in the same way he did? Adi knew he was scared, scared that she had forgotten him, scared that the reason for his personal quest was just in his mind.

"You need to speak to her, Seth."

Seth nodded. Adi was right-he did need to speak to her. His thoughts drifted back to the night they had danced in Calcutta, to holding her in his arms, to feeling her hand in his...

"There is something else," Adi said. "Jeet thinks he has found a man here in Saigon who knows something about Catherine Fisher's escape from the Soolo."

Jeet Gazdar was another of Seth's boyhood friends, an Indian, the son of a Sepoy sergeant.

"Who...?"

"He didn't say. He only has a hint of this person's involvement. The man has been asking questions about a white woman and a French mercenary named Sebastian Réhahn. We checked him out, Réhahn has a ship that he hires out to anyone with a large purse. It's possible he played a role in Catherine's escape."

Seth nodded, cautiously optimistic. It wasn't much of a lead. White slave women were rare in this part of the worlds, but they were worth enormous sums. This mysterious man might just be after Réhahn to find white girls to trade...like them. They specialized in exotics-harem slaves from exotic sources like Siam, Burma, Java, China, even Russia-and the occasional white woman, mostly Russians and Eurasians that fell into their hands.

"You follow up with Jeet, Adi. I will speak with the Jesuit, Father Jacques. You're right, I need to be the one who speaks with Sarah if that's possible. She knows me...knew me; we need to confirm that she remembers that she is still desperate to escape."

Adi nodded.

"I will find Jeet in the morning. Tonight, I will have my hands full with your Siamese."

 

***

 

Adi stared at the Siam girl. The guards had left her in the spine-bar but instead of the sitting position, they had put her on her knees with her ankles chained close to her round ass. Seth was right, they were good at the slaving business; by the time this one was ready for sale, she would be compliant...a beautiful submissive.

The truth was that the British girls would be in the same situation. They might offer more resistance because of their privileged and modern upbringing, but eventually they would succumb. This was Seth's real frustration-he knew that the clock was running for them.

He took a chair and positioned it in front of the Siam girl. She raised her eyes to his; the collar prevented her from moving her head. She was truly exquisite, he thought, a stunning beauty from a land where known for its beautiful people.

"May I serve you, Master," she whispered, "...with my mouth?"

He slapped her hard across the face.

"You need to wait, kitten, until you can assess your master's mood. Your pain is irrelevant; your need to escape your pain is unimportant."

He slapped her again...hard, leaving a red mark on her luscious face then he did it again and wiped away her tears.

"Patience," he said slowly. "Patience in the face of real pain is difficult, but it is a necessary quality for you to have now."

He removed a pair of nipple clamps from his pocket and slipped them on her nipples then placed a second pair on her labia. She gasped as the initial pain ripped at her mind then calmed, struggling to bear the ongoing agony without the histrionics. Adi sat back and watched her temperament change. She was beginning to accept her slavery.

Sarah was a year ahead of this girl, he thought sadly. Experts in the Soolo camp had trained her, men without a hint of guilt or conscience, men who accepted the enslavement of captives as a normal part of life. The Soolo had sold her to an emperor, a man with a thousand female slave, then he had given her to a general, a man who had his own exquisite harem. It was probably already too for her already.

He watched the Siam girl's face looking for signs that she was about to lose her composure. He knew how badly the clamps hurt, how much pain an hour on her knees caused, what it felt like to have a hook up her ass. He stood up and unbuttoned his pants.

"Show me what you have learned about pleasing a master with your mouth," he said evenly, hoping she would respond properly so he could take her to his bed.

She pursed her lips and kissed the tip of his penis then licked off a drop of his pre-ejaculate as she stared up at him. He could feel himself getting harder, feel his cock pushing against her mouth. She could feel it too and her eyes changed from a look of supplication to one of arousal.

She was learning, he thought, as she sucked him inside then into her soft throat.