Kiera informed the rest of the crew of their new mission to aid the Scandians against the monsters plaguing their world, including Uller’s warning not to have women doing any of the ground based fighting. Like Kiera, Alyxia was annoyed at the warning, asking how would these monsters know if she and Riley were women if they were in their power armor. Kiera didn’t have an answer.
“Locke is getting more information from Uller about what these monsters do to women in their camps. He flat out wouldn’t tell me other than it was depraved enough that the women who were in the camps asked to be killed and the men who liberated them had to be pulled from the battlefield. I think we would be fine in our mecha, maybe the power armor as well.”
The crew dispersed to get ready to depart Sarlassa. After giving the announcement and telling everyone that even the liberators were disturbed enough to need counseling made her uneasy about the contract. A red light began to blink on her PUC, indicating that she had a message.
“You, my darling younger sister, have made it quite difficult to contact you. I had to have Talbot put a transmitter in the bottle package with the Jiaxing Xho gold Ems asked for. He’s also working on trying to isolate and find the signal that her message came in on. I told him to have fun with that.”
Kiera’s eyes went wide as she saw Tamariel’s image appear and heard her voice. A Transmitter in the package she sent. That would make it possible for Tamariel to communicate directly with her, but it also meant that the signal could be traced. Kiera had no doubt that Emily had used one of Skorv’s encrypted frequencies to contact the family. She resumed the message.
“I am relieved that you are okay, well relatively okay. When I find you I will strangle you. Em’s message said to send love to mom and dad and that you couldn’t go home because you were wanted for treason. I don’t know where you got that from, but you’re wanted for questioning. Such as the question, what in the Void happened at Ithyca? We have records of you and a Tara Simmons arriving on the station with a work order to examine the Red Moon ship and mecha that were recovered. That work order included taking the ship out to examine its Faster Than Light drive, crewed by your classmates from the Pantaurus incident. Finally, there was a request to bring Arun and Dalton Snowden to Ithyca to assist with the mecha examination due to genetic locks.
“The Red Moon ship with two criminals aboard goes through a gate, followed by your ship and an unknown ship and you leave the Empire! Uncle Jassok said not to worry. Dad said not to worry.” Tamarial sighed, “I’ve been worried sick! You can access the secured communication channel I’ve set up. Call me as soon as you get this. I have personal news for you, too. I love you, Kara. Chalice and Talbot send their love, too.” The message ended.
Kiera replayed the message. They were wanted for questioning. Admiral Snowden had contacted Locke and told him that they were wanted criminals in the Empire for treason. Stealing an impounded ship, freeing known criminals, and firing upon an Imperial patrol ship were the reasons for the charge. They didn’t have any reason not to believe the man; he was an Admiral in the Imperial Navy. Kiera accessed the channel Tamariel had set up.
It took five minutes for the channel to be established. It rang four times before disconnecting. Kiera frowned and tried again. Tamariel made it seem urgent to contact her, why wouldn’t she answer? The connection was established again, and this time the channel opened on the third ring.
“Kara,” Tamariel mumbled, “Calling me at 0200.”
“You said to call you immediately,” Kiera said, “and it’s like…1030 here…I think. I don’t think we ever figured out time here. But Xho always makes you sleep late.”
“You have me there. No, go back to sleep. Kara. Yes, I will tell her. Go back to sleep, love you.” Kiera heard Tamarial open and close a door, “Sorry, Chalice woke up.”
“Do you want me to call you later?”
“No, apparently you live in the land without time. So what happened?” Tamariel asked.
“I…can’t tell you,” Kiera said.
“Please tell me you did not run away and join the mercenary band that is trying to kill you,” Tamariel groaned.
“How—” Kiera sputtered.
“I heard what you said to Tib at Lily’s funeral,” Tamerial interrupted, “Hearing you were on board a mercenary ship with two idiots that wouldn’t give you or your friends any trouble, there was only one conclusion.”
“They killed Lily. They killed my friends, they’re trying to kill me! How could I just wait for someone else to find them and let them kill more people,” Kiera said.
Tamarial sighed, “Kiera. Come home. Please.”
“I can’t, Liri. I may not know who the client is, but there is someone I can bring to justice. I’ll need your help, though.”
“Who?” Tamariel asked.
“Balthazar Snowden.”
“Kara, Snowden was investigated. The reassignment of the bridge crew for the Everlight followed procedure. The ship you were on was assigned at the start of the quarter. Why are you trying to go after him?”
“He’s an Admiral in the Red Moon Mercenaries. We broke his sons out of jail to earn his approval to join. He is directly responsible for Lily’s death!”
Tamerial was quiet for several minutes. Kiera couldn’t feel her sister’s emotions through the channel, wasn’t able to read her body language or the expression on her face. An accusation like that likely shocked her. “That is quite the accusation,” Tamariel said. “We would need proof before we could make a move on him.
“I have some, I’ll get more,,” Kiera said.
"Be smart about it," Tamerial said. "Stay safe, Kiera. Come home when you have it."
"When I have the name of the person who hired the Red moon. In the meantime, I'll write up a report detailing what happened at Ithyca. You can choose what to pass onto Uncle Jassok. I love you, Liri. Send my love to Chalice and everyone else."
"Wait, I have news. Chalice is pregnant. We found a Qwylan willing to help us."
“That is amazing, Liri! I am so happy for you! Are you going to tell Gloriana?”
“I haven’t had contact with that bitch in seventeen years. There is no way I would resume contact now.
Gloriana was Tamalyn’s birth mother. When she found out Tamalyn was an Aasimar she wanted Amadeus to exclusively have children with her to make more. She had been opposed to Chalice, also an aasimar, being made Tamairel’s retainer and tried to get Amadeus to force Tamariel to marry and aasimar man. He had refused. Gloriana gave up her status as a consort and walked out of Tamariel’s life when she learned that Tamariel and Chalice wanted to get married and Amadeus gave them his blessing. Elise was there for Tamariel after the rejection, supported her marriage and Tamariel considered Elise her real mother.
“Tell me how you really feel, Liria,” Kiera grinned, “But seriously, congratulations! Give Chalice an extra big hug from me. I love you both!”
“Tell Emily and your harem that I said ‘Hi.’ Keep in touch, Kiera and I’ll get Talbot to stop trying to track the signal and I promise I won’t try to find you. Love you, little sister.”
Kiera looked at the transmitter after the communication ended. She immediately found Tara and gave her the transmitter. While Talbot would have a field day with trying to trace the signal, she couldn't let the Empire find them. If they did she knew Tamariel would come to drag them home and that would blow their cover. If not her, someone else might. They'd never find the person who hired the Red Moon to kill her and Lily. It only took Tara a couple minutes to ensure that any signal that was traced would be scrambled.
"You okay?" Tara asked once she was finished. She took Kiera's hands.
"Yeah, just trying to figure out how we're going to gather proof that Balthazar Snowden, Imperial Admiral, is also an Admiral in the Red Moon Mercenaries. More importantly, he used his position in the Empire to kill Lily and the others," Kiera said.
"It's simple, in a way," Tara said. "We just need to find out where he operates his mercenary fleet from and get onboard. There should be some kind of record. In fact, there might be something in the ship's database. This was the ship that was on Pantauras. I'll check after we leave Sarlassa."
Kiera threw her arms around Tara, giving her a tight hug and then a quick kiss. "Tara, you're a genius!"
"That's what I keep being told, but I think the word has lost a lot of its meaning," Tara smirked.
Kiera rolled her eyes and kissed the red headed engineer again. "Let me know as soon as you find something."
=+=
Three days after being given the contract, the Sunset Eclipse landed outside of Halsink the capital of their assigned world, Sumi. This was the second world to face the monstrous invasion. The Scandians were unsure how the monsters, which they were calling 'geitwight,' had traveled to another planet. The only explanation the Scandians could come up with was some kind of mystic travel. The Eclipse wasn't the ship in the landing field. There were three other Red Moon Mercenary ships, two that belonged to Snowden and another one of Uller's, the Forest Sabre from the Axtellion Legion, a sarkosian cavalier, and a ship that had seen better days called Impact IV. Their transponder identified them as part of 'The Steel Brotherhood.'
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The only information that Tara had been able to recover from the Eclipse's databanks was its former assignment as part of the Crescent Moon fleet. The former captain kept a log of all of his contracts including the one to kill Kiera and Liandra. That contract included a list of cadets that would be recruited into the Red Moon. Kiera recognized some of the names of the Special Forces cadets who survived the planet. It was good information. With it all they would need to do was confirm that Snowden was the Crescent Moon admiral at the time the contract was given to the previous captain.
Kiera disembarked the ship with Locke and Isaac. The men were dressed in white t-shirts, red jackets that had patches identifying them as members of the Red Moon Mercenaries: A white outline of a moon with a gleaming diamond in the center, Benjamin's symbol. Kiera wore her normal tight jeans, black leather jacket and green tank top. She wanted to hear the briefing for herself, and since women couldn't be members of the Red Moon, her being in their colors would attract unwanted attention from Snowden's captains. Kiera assumed that she would likely attract unwanted attention regardless, but she didn't need to jeopardize the ship.
As they entered the building where their briefing was to take place, Kiera noted the number of soldiers. There were men with various tattoos on their arms, some that were much larger and stockier than others, slender guards with long pointed ears, and squat barrel chested guards that were shorter than Kiera. She got a few curious looks from the guards, but no one stopped her.
They weren’t the first to arrive, but neither were they the last. Kiera saw the Red Moon military uniforms worn by Snowden’s men, easily identified by their patches: A white snowflake on a red moon. Uller’s other captain was present as well, wearing a greatcoat similar to the admiral’s. The Axtellion Legion members were present also. One who looked human wore a dark green tunic with black slacks and a belt. The other was from a race that Kiera had never seen. The purple uniform tunic caught her eye, and the man himself caught her attention. He was easily as tall as Gargax with brown-orange skin. A pair of armored tendrils grew from his chin and ended in a diamond shape at his belt. He had several pentagon shaped cranial plates starting at his forehead and cresting over his skull to the base of his neck, several of them were chipped and broken.
“Someone caught your eye?” Locke teased when he noticed Kiera slowed down.
“Hm?” She turned to Locke, tearing her eyes off the man. Kiera grinned when he repeated the question. “Yeah, the one in purple. I’ve never seen anyone like him before.”
Isaac turned to see who she was talking about and almost tripped over his feet. “Really, Kara? He’s got chin tentacles!”
“Kara doesn’t judge based on appearance, you shouldn’t either,” Locke said. “Snowden‘s goons are headed over.”
“That’s my cue to go over and chat with the Legion,” Kiera said, turning and heading over to the Legionnaires.
She sat next to the alien in purple who gave her an appraising look as she sat down. He returned the smile she flashed at him, but didn’t start a conversation. She assumed that he was keeping an eye on the Red Moon, since his head was turned in their direction. All members of the Red Moon sat in a reserved section for them. Given the standing contract to steal from the Axtellion Legion, it wasn't surprising that the man would rather keep tabs on an enemy rather than chat up some pretty girl. Kiera felt tension spike from the man in green. She was keeping her empathy active but was consciously reducing the area so she could get some of the reactions of people around her. She resisted the urge to turn to see why the man had tensed. She didn't need to.
"Pelendelar, is that Larat Kor?" the man asked in a harsh whisper.
The man in purple turned his head, pulling his tendrils in so they wouldn't hit Kiera. "It is, Damask Kreel is with him. How do you want to handle it, Prefect?"
"Keep an eye on them. Any interactions with the moon, then we intervene," the man in green replied.
Once everyone was seated a tall man with shoulder blade length crinkled blonde hair walked onto the stage. He was lean and muscular and wore a chainmail hauberk with thick leather pants. An axe was strapped across his back with a pair of smaller axes hanging off a girdle on his hips. He strode over to the microphone and activated a holoprojector as he reached it. Next to him appeared a creature with the lower legs of a goat covered in shaggy black hair. His torso was humanoid with large forearms covered in the same shaggy hair and fingers that ended in claws several inches long. The creature had a pair of curving goat horns on his forehead, sharply pointed ears and a goatee that reached the base of the neck. The creature was grinning, its mouth filled with fangs and its eyes were two dark red orbs.
"This is the geitwight, what you all have been hired to kill. They are brutal, fast, and very aggressive. They can heal injuries caused by mundane weapons within minutes and any other injury in hours. They hunt in packs from five to fifty and are actively attacking our villages to make off with any woman that they see. Those that have been captured by these creatures are enslaved by them. Those we have rescued beg for death, along with the few men that are enslaved. They are strong, brutal and deadly. We do not know how they were transported here, and will pay extra to whoever learns their method. Questions."
"That's a satyr," a sarkosian near the front scoffed. "Are you telling me that the clans, who are infamous for raiding other ships and being among the fiercest fighters in the galaxy, our real galaxy, can't handle satyrs? You can dismiss the rest of the mercenaries here. My crew will eliminate them for one hundred gold latinum coins per head!"
"If they were a simple foe then we would not need to ask for aid, especially from those that can be considered to be our enemies and others who are antagonistic to us." The man's gaze went around the room, briefly pausing with a slight scowl at the Red Moon group. Kiera felt his stare on her and felt a spike of surprise and confusion before he continued speaking. "Call them what you wish. Do not think that the clans are going to watch you fight our enemy. You have been hired to fight alongside us as reinforcements."
"How much do you want to bet the Scans hired Sark mercenaries just to reduce their numbers, Laike?" Pelendelar mumbled.
Laike let out a short laugh, "Wouldn't surprise me."
"Especially considering a sarkosian is a quarter of a fighter than your average scandian marauder is. I doubt the clans are sending marauders against those satyr things," Kiera added.
Pelendelar stifled a laugh, "Use one enemy to get rid of another. That's clever. But then, why hire competent mercs?"
"To get the job done," Kiera said. "The Clans aren't the type to unleash a monstrosity on their own people just to trick their enemies into dying while fighting it. There is a legitimate threat here. You can see the tension on that man's face, and the soldiers in this room that are preventing anyone from fighting would rather be out there culling those things. They've put away their pride to get outside aid."
"You've come to the same conclusion that we have," Laike said.
Before Kiera could reply the man on the stage spoke again. "You will receive your regional assignment in two minutes. Review it and depart immediately." he turned and abruptly left the stage. It was the shortest briefing that Kiera had ever attended. The Scandians didn't mince words, didn't try to inspire anyone. They reviewed who the enemy was and when there were no questions about what needed to be done, they were told to get to work. The mercenaries started to rise.
"Laike Malchivan, Prefect of the Axtellion Legion, Forest Fleet. This is Captain Pelendelar Osk of the Storm Fleet," Laike offered his hand.
"Kiera Sol, Commandant of the Sunrise Eclipse currently contracted with the Red Moon Mercenaries." She took Laike's hand and then Pelendelar's.
"How in the Void does a beautiful woman like you end up contracted to work for one of the most misogynistic xenophobic guilds in the known galaxies!?" Pelendelar asked.
"That is a long, complicated story," Kiera replied. "Maybe if we get to know each other better and start working together on this campaign I'll tell it to you. From the numbers that we received just scanning the planet on the way in, this isn't going to be an afternoon walk."
"Maybe we can lure you away from the Moonies and get you set up to work with the Legion," Laike said. He took out a small chip chard and handed it to Kiera. "That has our transponder information on it. Consider me very curious about that story."
Kiera took the card with a grin, "Consider me very curious about you two as well," Kiera said. She turned her gaze on Pelendelar, "Especially you." Kiera's PUC beeped at the same time as a pair of wristbands on the legionnaire's arms. "That's the assignment. We have coordinates two thirty-four point one nineteen point forty-seven."
"We have point forty-eight. Let me know when you're done fighting for the day and maybe we can satisfy some of that curiosity," Pelendelar said, giving her a wink. Both men said their goodbyes and left the room.
Kiera watched them go while waiting for the room to thin out. She especially wanted to make sure that the Red moon had left before going back to her ship. Her PUC beeped again, displaying a message from the Scandians. She read it twice and then opened a communication link with Locke. <<"Ivan Olafson and Astrid Olafsdottr have requested to meet with me. I have an idea about what this is about.">>
<<"Do you want me to come back and escort you?">> Locke asked.
<<"I'll be fine, Lucky. I just wanted to let you know so you wouldn't get worried when I didn't come back to the ship immediately.">> Kiera ended the communication then made her way over to the nearest guard, one of the tall robust men.
With a grunt he led Kiera through the building and into a small conference room. Inside was the man who had given the briefing on the stage. Now that she was close to him, Kiera saw that he was nearly seven feet tall. The other person in the room was a blonde haired woman with snow white wings and the same ice-blue eyes as the man. She was dressed in a metal breastplate and a leather skirt; a valkyrie. As Kiera entered the room the woman walked forward, extending her hand. Concern was draped around her.
"Hallo, I am Astrid Olafsdottr, you likely recognize my brother, Ivan Olafson. When we sent for mercenaries, we specifically said to bring only men. Why are you here?"
"Kiera Sol," she greeted, taking the hand. Astrid's grip was firm and for a brief moment she thought the valkyrie was going to pull her into a hug. "I'm here because that sounded strange to me. After hearing what thes geit…goat…satyr were doing I thought there could be other ways that we could help without having my majority female crew fighting. You hired my entire ship. I have warriors in power armor, pilots that can fly mecha which I doubt the satyr could get to. I'm also empathic and have a truly miracle worker of a healer to tend to the wounded, both physically and mentally.
"What is 'mecha'?" Ivan asked.
Kiera tapped on her PUC, pulling up the image of the Sprite Darter. "A sixty to eighty foot tall humanoid vehicle that can be equipped with various kinds of weapons and armor. They're more precise than a star fighter and the weapons they wield can be augmented so they have a smaller ordinance. I have two ladies that wear power armor," Kiera tapped the PUC again. "You won't be able to tell who they are once they are suited up. If you don't want the mecha flying around the countryside, then we'll serve as guards in the camps. One mecha can protect an entire camp long enough for it to be evacuated."
Ivan had knelt down to get a better view of Kiera's PUC. Curiosity and fascination rolled off of him in waves. His sister was feeling the same thing. They exchanged a look. Astrid flipped between the images that Kiera had on her PUC, looking at the various mech and the readouts of the individualized power armor Kiera's team used.
"As long as they understand the risk, then I see no reason why they cannot participate with these vehicles and armor," Astrid said. "Healing and mental assistance will help ease the burden from my Valkyries."
"Father will not like it," Ivan said, standing up. "I will approve this on a trial basis. Send me a message when your zone is clear. I will go personally to get your report."
"You have too many reports to review," Astrid argued. "I will assign myself as the Valkyrie in that camp zone. Then I will see for myself how these mecha and power armor perform. If I do not like it then I will put an end to it." She looked up at her brother.
Ivan stared at her for several seconds before nodding once. He gave Kiera a nod then walked out of the room. He was certainly a no-nonsense brusk man. He was also fighting a war against a creature they had never seen before and was pouring over a system with unknown numbers. Kiera imagined that she would be brusk as well.
"I will travel with you on your ship, Kiera," Astrid said. "We will need to delay our departure by half an hour so my skald, Ivan Unfrid, can be diverted to travel with us." She paused for a moment. "That is, if that will be acceptable to you."
Kiera grinned, "Your boyfriend? Not a problem, Astrid. I am looking forward to working with you. Welcome to the crew of the Sunrise Eclipse. Even if it is just temporary."
Astrid's face turned red and she shook her head quickly, "No, no! He is a skald, a healer that I work with. There is nothing romantic going on between us!" She took a breath, closing her wings which had opened during her outburst. "I am looking forward to working with you as well. Now, tell me more about these mecha."