With the Admirals occupied elsewhere and Tara in control of Sanguine Luna’s systems, reaching Skorv’s district was effortless. There were three Valkyrie, four aesyr, three einherjar, a pale haired woman with shimmering multicolored eyes who was best described as ethereal, and a statuesque woman with burnt umber skin, a pair of horns that grew from her forehead and curved around her ears, and a lion-like tail. She was pretty and six and a half feet tall.
“She’s a troll,” Astrid replied when Kiera asked her the tall woman’s species. “There are beast trolls that aren’t as smart and as large as a jotun with more robust regeneration abilities. Some of those ones will turn to stone in the sunlight, but they are rare. The ethereal woman is a Norn. They can glimpse into the future, some have the gift of prophecy.
The brothels were the only part of the station that didn’t have security cameras. This gave the men privacy for their activities and let the most ‘human first’ mercenaries be hypocrites. Every other location, except for the Admiral’s private residences, was under constant surveillance by Lupin's men, as evidenced by the recordings of Lupin and Snowden discussing the contract. Their heist would become much more difficult once they left the eighth floor and the brothels. They led the dozen captives through the brothels and into Skorv’s office. It was similar in layout to Snowden’s. The ‘trophy’ room was used for storage, and the bedroom was set up like a workshop with a twin sized bed pushed against one wall.
“I think I found a flaw in our plan,” Riley said after they reached Skorv’s quarters. “We have those stealth generators, but they only last five minutes. It will take us longer than that to get to the docks and we don’t have any mercenaries to escort us.”
“We thought of that,” Kinsley said, taking off her wing harness and taking the hidden stealth generators from it. “Skorv is supposed to have our next disguises in his closet.
Kiera and Riley went into Skorv’s walk-in closet and found over a dozen pieces of clothing, mostly red jackets and shirts, jeans, cargo pants, and boots. The jackets had Skorv’s symbol on them: a white moon with the waning crescent in red and a gear superimposed over the moon. There were also wigs, fake mustaches and beards, along with several dozen prop prosthetics that could be worn over an arm or leg, or placed on the body with an adhesive.
“Hopefully none of these are breakaway,” Riley commented, taking down one of the pairs of jeans, “These are cute.”
Kiera gave a weak smile, Not all of the costumes were, there were some cute dresses that didn’t have anything that would cause a wardrobe malfunction.”
“Maybe we can get the name of Snowden’s tailor,” Riley remarked, taking off her slave garb and dressing in one of the uniforms. “How are you doing, Kara? Be honest with me.”
“I’m livid. I want to blow this station apart with Lupin on it. He’s threatened my family, he’s plotting to kill my little sister! I want Father to destroy this guild like Snowden said he would. That man deserves Tartarus. I’m afraid for Liri. Snowden is competent, and Chalice is pregnant. She’s due in early Nebula.”
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“Tamariel is an amazing captain, once she learns about this plot to kill her, she’ll stop it. Lupin won’t be able to touch Nikita. You don’t seem to be worried about Percy.” Riley pulled Kiera into a hug.
“Because anyone dumb enough to go after Percy is in for a world of hurt. He’s fighting the Botanicals on world. He chose the ASF for his branch and has been training with Father, Galad and Cael Feren all his life. He could probably defeat Ben.”
There was clothing and disguises for everyone, but the Valkyrie’s wings prevented them from taking advantage of them. They still had the stealth generator belts, and could give each Valkyrie three of them, increasing their total invisibility time to fifteen minutes. It would take longer than that to reach the docks.
“I think it will only be a problem if we start out by trying to hide the Valkyrie,” Kinsley said. “A dozen random women would have looked suspicious, but four Valkyrie boarding a ship won’t look odd. Let’s move in groups. Kiera and two of our rescuees will take two of the Valkyrie from the seventh floor. Tara and Riley will take a small group each, and I will bring our other two Valkyries and anyone else from the sixth floor. Everyone else will leave via the lower floors and stagger ourselves so we don’t look too suspicious,"
It was a good plan. That was the reason that Kiera brought Kinsley along. She was going to specialize in stealth and infiltration at the intelligence academy, and she was good at it. Kiera’s group included two of the aesyr. They were all quiet as they moved through the brothel levels, which were mostly empty. Skorv didn’t spend much time in Sanguine Luna and neither did most of his crews. There were still some that frequented the base, so the brothers weren’t completely empty. No one attempted to stop Kiera as she left the seventh floor brothel and went into the elevator.
They navigated through the shops and workshops with ease, making sure not to rush as they made their way to the docks. Unlike the rest of the district, the workshops and dock area were busy. Ore was being brought aboard to be worked or shipped out. Weapons were being manufactured and then sent to other fleets, and those who were willing to pay for Skorv’s cyber surgeons were getting their prosthetics installed or were having maintenance done on them.
The ship they would be taking back to Mechanus was a transport ship with a cargo bay full of ore. The ore was already loaded and Tara had set the departure time for late that night to give them plenty of time to reach the ship with their groups. Kiera’s group made it without incident. She got her charges settled in the crew quarters, really just a bay with hammocks strung from the beams, and made her way to the front of the ship to familiarize herself with the controls.
<<“Group one has arrived without incident,”>> Kiera reported to the team. Riley’s group would be next to arrive in a few hours, giving Kiera too much time to herself. Tara refused to let her hold onto copies of the evidence. She didn’t want Kiera to work herself into a frenzy by watching the Red Moon actively plan her and Liandra’s deaths.
The next two groups arrived without incident. Kiera felt better with familiar faces joining her. The women they were rescuing weren’t inclined to talk; each one wore a mantle of shame and embarrassment from being captured, even the Norn who wasn’t a combatant. Kiera chalked it up to Scandian culture, although she would feel the same way if she was captured.
She glanced at the time. Kinsley and the last four of their charges would arrive in a couple hours. Kiera hopes that the trend of no issues would continue. There was something nagging her in the back of her mind, like she forgot something. She pushed it away for now and did what she hated doing the most: waited.