The Wolves Ch. 027

"So how did you find us, anyways? He said no one would ever know we were here. The door was welded shut from the inside, and the connecting door can only be opened from the other side, which would have made escape impossible."

Esriro had the sense to look embarrassed. "Actually, we didn't know about any of you until a friend started going through everyone's files last night. She found over thirty-seven hundred traitors or spies or whatever you want to call them. A few hours ago we initiated an operation to capture or kill all of them while re-taking control of a number of ships. The Harbinger was one of those ships."

"How was she able to find them so quickly? Aren't there hundreds of thousands of people in the fleet?"

"Millions, actually, and she is one of a kind. Have you heard of Abi?"

"Abi?! You know Abi?!" Beria asked, her jaw dropping.

Esriro nodded. "I met her yesterday, actually. What do you know about her?"

"Not much, just that she's some sort of super advanced artificial being. I've heard boys at the academy say they'd give their left...arm to be able to study her, or learn from her," she replied. "Wait, if she has scanned everyone's files does that mean that she is here?"

"She's very far away from here," Esriro answered. "She has many relays hidden all over the place though, apparently, allowing her to send and receive transmissions very quickly."

"Oh," Beria said, looking a bit down, but continued eating the rest of the food on the tray.

Esriro could tell that Beria would very much like to meet Abi. She couldn't tell her now, but perhaps she could set up a meeting once they had arrived in Pygmaean space.

"All done."

"Great! Ready to go?"

Beria nodded. "I can't wait to be out of this room," she said, visibly shuddering.

"I understand. Let's go."

Esriro led her through the open door to the stateroom, and then opened the door leading to the hallway. "Lead the way back to the ship if you would please, gentlemen."

The men both nodded and turned to head in the direction they had come from. Looking back at Beria, she could see the young woman hesitate upon seeing the two men.

"C'mon, they won't hurt you, I promise," Esriro said, placing her hand on the small of Beria's back. "You can trust that anyone you see will protect you. Abi has rooted out all of the bad people aboard all the ships, and they've all been killed or captured. They can't hurt you anymore."

Beria nodded and grabbed hold of Esriro's hand. The men had stopped just ahead and were waiting for the two women to catch up. When they were reasonably close, the men turned around and continued leading the way to the hangar bay.

[Commander Adidian, what is Omeron Tol's status?]

[We moved him to the shuttle and secured him into the brig. We left all of the cuffs on him and have him magnetically secured to the wall. I've got two of my men watching over him, just in case.]

[Good, make sure it stays that way. If this young woman has to see him again, I'll execute him as well as you and your men on the spot, got it?] she snarled.

[Yes ma'am. I'll send another two men down to watch him as well. Rest assured that they won't so much as catch a glimpse of one another.]

[Alright, we'll be there in a few minutes.]

They continued on to the hangar bay in silence, and soon the men were leading them up the ramp of the shuttle. They stood to the side, letting Beria and Esriro through, before hitting the button to raise the ramp. Esriro led Beria to the cockpit of the shuttle and directed her to the copilot's seat.

"You can sit there. Strap yourself in, and we'll be on our way in a few minutes."

"Okay," Beria said.

Esriro went through the startup process again, and within a few minutes she had raised the shuttle off the hangar floor and turned it around. Easing the throttle forward, the shuttle crept forward until it was about a kilometer from The Harbinger. The ships had all maintained the same position, so it was as simple as following the course she had taken to get here.

Rotating the ship ninety degrees starboard, she used the attitude controls to halt any lateral movement and throttled the engines for a few seconds. As before, she followed the monitor which was able to keep track of the positions of nearby ships, even with all of them being shrouded. At around the three quarter mark to their destination, she flipped the ship end to end and gradually slowed the ship until the computer told her they were just outside of Nira's Revenge hangar bay.

After rotating the ship another ninety degrees, she throttled the ship forward and they were soon entering the hangar bay. When the ship had been parked and everything had been shut down, she turned to Beria. "We're here. Do you want to see Leekah now?"

Beria nodded and quickly undid the harness and grabbed hold of Esriro's offered hand. Esriro led her down the ramp which had already been lowered, and to the closest teleporter.

[Wait two minutes and then transfer him to the brig,] Esriro told Commander Adidian. [Tell Commander Zidis that I will be there in a few hours.]

[Understood, Admiral.]

Entering the teleporter with Beria beside her, Esriro tapped the monitor for the teleporter closest to the room that the rescued women had been placed in, and within a few seconds they had covered the few kilometer distance. When the door opened, Beria followed Esriro, and after a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the room. It was currently being guarded by two women, one of them being Scyftan, and the other actually being a Beastkin of the feline variety.

"Good morning, ladies," Esriro said. "How have things been in there?"

"Relatively quiet, Admiral," the Beastkin woman named Arana Orimys said. "Kylli has been keeping the women calm, and let them know that they will be returned to their families as soon as possible."

"Alright, open the door, please. This young woman has a friend in there that she would very much like to reunite with."

"Yes ma'am," the other woman replied, turning and pulsing her mana to open the door.

"Thanks, Arana, Siruh," Esriro said, leading Beria into the room.

The long room was set up with cots along the walls to the left, and a dining and recreational area over to the left. There were a few women sleeping at the far end, but the majority were sitting down at tables and chatting, watching one of the monitors on the walls, or working out at the small gym. Many of the women looked over at the door when it opened, Leekah being one of them.

"Beria!" the Kobaloi woman shouted, before running towards her.

Beria let go of Esriro's hand and ran toward Leekah, with both of them meeting in the middle. They embraced and each of them started crying.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Leekah said between sobs.

"I didn't either," Beria said.

Esriro decided to give them some space, so she walked over to one of the couches positioned against a wall and sat down. After a few moments, she was joined by Kylli, her assistant.

"That's the woman you went to go see on The Harbinger?" she asked.

"Mhmm. She was found in a room next to the captain's stateroom. The poor thing was wrapped in a blanket and hiding under the bed. Seeing the way she reacted when she saw the two men that had accompanied me makes me want to head down to the brig and rip Omeron Tol's head off. Unfortunately, he may have the answers to a few questions we have, so I can't do that," Esriro said, anticipating Kylli's question.

"When you're done with him, I'd say let her finish him off."

Esriro shook her head. "No. That could make everything worse and I don't want the possibility of her feeling guilty for his death. No, I'll take care of it and let her know when it's done. I think she'll be just fine though," she continued, gesturing over to the two young women who were now sharing a kiss. "I think they'll be just fine."