Kinsley had learned how to be patient from a young age. Her father was a smuggler and he’d take her with him when she was four years old. The key to waiting was to keep yourself quietly occupied. Kinsley would do math problems and later physics problems to keep herself occupied. She learned to take apart and put together a blaster and when she could, would practice her shooting. Her father was proud of how smart and dedicated to learning she was. Now she was sitting in a rather nice brothel room playing a card game with one of Admiral Skorv’s robotic companions. Felicity made it clear that she was a companion and would happily do anything Kinsley wanted, even if it was brushing each other’s hair or talking.

Kinsley could hardly believe this woman wasn’t flesh and blood. She was friendly, charismatic and her flesh was warm to the touch, just like a person. Felicity said she was a Self Aware Machine, or a SAM. She could learn like any other person, and receive information by connecting to a network and downloading it. Felicity was something of a hacker and enjoyed getting into the various ship databases and was working on getting into Sanguine Luna’s systems. Tara would have loved the brown haired SAM.

“I call,” Felicity said.

“Full House: Three swords, two cups,” Kinsley said, putting down her cards.

“Damn, I only have a pair of Emperors, Staff and Star. Good thing we’re not playing for money. Are you sure you don’t want to play for kisses?”

Kinsey’s ears turned pink. Felicity was very attractive, which wasn’t surprising given her profession and Kinsley had to admit that part of her was tempted. But she was on a mission, and you had to keep a clear head and a steady focus.”

“I’m sure,” Kinsley said unconvincingly, which earned her a look. “I’m on a mission. In another half hour Astrid and I need to escort two women who were captured to a transport ship and take them back to the clans. Speaking of, I need to go check on them. Thanks for the games.”

“Anytime, Kinsley,” Felicity said, gathering the cards. “Thank you for teaching me!”

Kinsley left the room and found both Valkyrie and the Norn waiting in the lobby. She had been the only one to take up the matron’s offer to visit the rooms.

“How was she?” Astrid asked, standing up.

“We didn’t do anything but play cards,” Kinsley said. “Felicity was perfectly delightful. You could go talk to her if you’d like. If you want to do more than talk, Kara won’t mind. We can message her.”

Astrid shook her head, “We are on a mission and cannot afford to be distracted or wear ourselves out. I didn’t think this place would be so nice.”

“The brass always has the best things. This level is for commanders and higher. The seventh floor is a lot nicer, and you all saw the eighth.”

“While few of the Admiral’s crewmen take advantage of our brothels, we do like to keep them comfortable. Our companions take great pride in that, especially Nadia, our resident nymph,” Matilda, the brothel’s matron said. She ran the four highest floors.

Kinsley was about to reply when the Norn stood up. Her eyes had turned white and started to glow. “There is trouble. Dalton has been found by his younger brother.”

All attention went to the Norn. It took Kinsley half a moment to realize what she was talking about. Dalton Snowden had delivered them to Admiral Snowden’s private quarters. Kiera had knocked him out and tied him up in Snowden’s bedroom. She had charmed him to fall asleep and get some rest before they left.

Kinsley pokes her head out onto the promenade. She saw Dalton come out on the eighth floor, desperately looking around. They wouldn’t be able to move now. As long as he didn’t—

<<“Attention, this is Station Security. Everyone is to remain where you are. There will be no ships docking or departing until our investigation is complete. If anyone knows the location of any Valkyrie, feather winged women, report it to us immediately.”>>

Kinsley swore. This was the worst thing that could happen. Kiera was on the ship with two of the Valkyrie and the other slaves they’d rescued. If security found her then everything they were doing would fall apart. They had stealth generators. Kiera would wait until security searched their ship before instructing the Valkyries to use them. She would do the same. All they had to do was wait for this to blow over. But then what? She still had two Valkyries to get to the ship.

“How slow do you have to move for the stealth generators to function?” Astrid asked.

“Walking speed,” Kinsley replied, “Why?”

“Sigrid and I can both fly faster than we can walk. We would also avoid most of the ground traffic. I looked at the layout of this station with Rae, and we could probably reach the ship in ten minutes. Depending on how large the area it conceals, we could carry you and Ashlyn.”

“We can try that once things calm down. Doing it right now would lead security to everyone. Speaking of…when security gets close to us, go find a room. It will be the safest place for us to hide.”

“You just want to spend more time with Felicity,” Astrid said with a grin.

“Absolutely, but we’re on a mission.”

=+=

The announcement sent a spike of panic through Kiera. Dalton must have woken up and somehow gotten out of the manacles. Security would no doubt head straight towards the ship once they reviewed the footage and saw them. She felt panic come from the ship as well. Kiera stood and walked to the crew quarters, releasing her Radiance. As soon as she stepped inside she felt a rush of determination was over her. It wasn’t as potent as Astrid’s, but it helped.

“Looks like we hit our first hiccup,” Riley said. “We have the stealth generators. When security arrives we can have the Valkyries use them. Maybe hide them with the ore as well. There should be a couple boxes that have a second lid so we can hide them.”

Kiera nodded, “Honestly, I’m more worried about Kinsley. It’s going to be difficult for them to come to us.”

Security arrived thirty minutes later. With Tara monitoring their communications and watching the cameras, they were able to get the Valkyries hidden and ready to use their stealth generators before they arrived. Security wore red jumpsuits with a white patch of the full moon with a red wolf paw print on it. They were curt and ordered everyone to leave the ship. Kiera stayed quiet and did as she was told. They might look like men, but if any of them, except maybe Brunhilde the troll, spoke their disguises would fail.

They were able to re-enter the ship after three hours of searching, and found that everything had been pulled out and strewn about. Ore covered the floor of the ship, crates were overturned, several of them were broken. The hammocks had been torn down and everything in the meager kitchen had been pulled out and left wherever it landed. Security didn’t find the Valkyries, making the mess acceptable.

They had been smart, turning their stealth generators on when the men came close and creeping elsewhere in the ship where they could turn them back on to conserve the battery. Kiera hadn’t thought about doing that at all; she would have turned it one and left it on for the duration.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

She assumed it wouldn’t be security’s last search; they had even found and opened the empty smuggler’s hold. Kiera had her team fill the hold with the ore. With everyone helping out, it didn’t take long. They set up the crates the best they could and waited for the next security team.

Riley had the idea for the Valkyries to sit in the pilot and copilot seats. When they heard the cockpit door open they could turn on the stealth generators and wait for the men to leave. The cockpit wasn’t large and had no storage space, the men would do a cursory search and then leave.

On the second and thir searches, Riley’s plan worked splendidly. Security didn’t bother to interview them; they had all the evidence they needed from the security cameras.

On the fourth search, Kiera noticed that only their ship was searched again. They were taking longer because the security guards had to clear out the smuggler’s hold of the ore to search it. There was another ship nearby which was also a transport ship. Tara checked the manifest and saw that it was shipping crates of weapons to one of Uller’s ships. When the search ended, Kiera had the Valkyries head to that ship to hide. It would make any other searches have a lower risk of discovery. If it left without Kiera, her team, and the other former slaves, they would contact Skorv and let him know what happened.

In between searches, Tara went back to Skorv’s office and took apart Kiera’s wing harness. She repurposed the components into voice synthesizers. Everyone knew that Skorv had more cyborgs in his fleet than anyone. Her foresight proved to be their salvation. Instead of searching the ship a fifth time, Security took them back individually to be interrogated. By that time Tara and Riley had brought different clothes for the women so they were all dressed differently from the security cameras. They kept anyone from leaving the station, but failed to keep anyone from leaving the areas they were in; there simply weren't enough security guards and the mercenaries quickly grew bored.

To make things harder on security, Kiera had her crew go to the same ship that the Valkyries were hiding in, claiming they didn’t know who was on the ore transport ship. Kiera suggested they had left to go get a drink. She could certainly use one.

After another four hours, security told everyone to stay where they were and passed out water and hard rations. No one was going to go anywhere until the Valkyries were found. There was nearly a riot at that. The mercenaries in the hold had deadlines to meet and they were not willing to piss off Skorv. A bunch of livid cyborgs made security reconsider until Lupin himself arrived on the docks.

The man was easily seven feet tall and ninety percent cybernetic. He had the appearance of a humanoid wolf, from his feet to his hand and even the cybernetic muzzle he had. In many ways he looked like a large robot overt wolf Moreau. Flanking him were a pair of robot wolves. One was red with Lupin’s symbol in white, and the other was the exact opposite.

“Someone in this room has stolen from Admiral Snowden! He received a delivery of five slaves today. Not only are they missing, but a dozen others! We have video footage of two Valkyries being led into this docking bay. No one leaves this room until I say so! Anyone who disobeys will be torn apart by my wolves. We will find the culprit."

“If you haven’t found them by now, what makes you think they are still here!” One of the dockworkers shouted. “That ship probably left hours ago!”

Kiera half expected the man to lose his life for the outburst. Instead, Lupin titled his head and then turned to face his security officers.

“Recall all ships that left Sanguine Luna in the last twenty-four hours!” He turned back to the workers, “Do not leave this district!” Lupin left the room, his security guards trailing after him. The mercenaries followed him, all of them were angry and did not want to remain in the docking bay.

<<“Kins, Lupin has recalled all ships that left within the last twenty-four hours. One of the workers made the bold claim that whoever took the Valkyries was already gone. If I knew who he was I’d buy him a drink. We’re not to leave the district",>> Kiera reported.

<<“He must really not want Snowden to find out. Hey Tara, Ashlyn came up with an idea. She thinks she can use her Oracle abilities to help us avoid all the patrols, could you take over cameras one at a time to stop recording for a few seconds so we can get Astrid and Sigrid to you?”>>

<<“Yes,”>> Tara replied.

=+=

Kinsley, Ashlyn, Sigrid, and Astrid made it to the transport ship without raising any further security alerts. Kiera and Riley brought food for everyone while Tara guided them. Tara had also contacted Skorv.

<<“Lupin. Has always. Been afraid. Of. Snowden. He is better organized. More charismatic. Lupin thinks he will. Take the moon. Stay where. You are. I will. Get you off. Sanguine. Luna.”>>

The message was audio only, but Kiera could visualize the cyborg’s face as he spoke and could hear the steam vents and grinding gears when he paused in his stilted speech. Astrid had covered her ears and flinched the entire time he spoke.

An hour later the ship powered up. They heard the docking clamps disengage and the thrusters pushed it away from the station. They began to move with the impulse engines, navigating through the waiting ships and headed towards the slingshot that would take them to Skorv’s territory.

<<“Attention Transport 296-3! This is the RMS Snowstorm! I am ordering you to return to your dock or you will be fired on!”>> Dalton’s voice came over the comm.

The transport had minimal guns and heavy plating, but it was no match for the light cruiser that was moving into an attack position. The autopilot would attempt to take evasive maneuvers only when it had been hit.

Kiera disengaged the auto-pilot. She ignored the repeated message and engaged the engines, Bering from the path the transport would have taken. Phasers fired in front of them, dissipating before they hit anything. It was clearly a warning shot.

“Want me to return fire, Sunbeam?” Riley asked, sliding into the co-pilot’s seat.

“Not yet. The autopilot won’t fire back until we’re hit. I’m going to try to avoid that and reach that slingshot.” Kiera answered.

She maneuvered between two other transports. One of them veered out of the way, but the second began to fly in the same direction as her. The transport was unmanned but was clearly not using an autopilot. It was either Skorv helping them, or Tara hacking into the ship. She was surprised to learn that she was wrong.

<<“Hey Kinsley, I noticed that you're in some trouble and since I’m bored I’m going to help you out. I enjoyed our time together, maybe I’ll get Mother to let me leave the station so we can spend more time together!”>>

Kiera and Riley exchanged a look and then looked over their shoulders at Kinsley. Kiera wore a curious expression while Riley was grinning ear to ear.

“Those searches were taking hours, we were safe,” Kinsley said, her cheeks turning red. “I broke the rules!”

“We had what, sixteen people in those brothels? I’m glad someone got laid,” Riley teased, causing Kinsley to blush more.

The shaking of the ship from a phased blast reminded them they were still in danger and needed to focus.

Riley returned fire, striking a glancing blow. The attack reminded them that the transport was weaker than the Shining Dawn in combat. The transport acting like their wingman also fired, with the same minimal damage. Kiera hit the boosters, and shot through two other ships that were approaching the station from the slingshot. The bottom of the hull scraped against the ship under her which slowed them down. The ship shook again as the Snowstorm fired, disabling the engines.

<<“You should have listened, transport. No autopilot maneuvers like that. I’m going to board your ship. I expect to see a familiar face, and this time I’ll make sure your collar works!”>> Dalton called.

A grapple beam fired out from the Snowstorm. Instead of latching onto Kiera’s transport, it was intercepted by the one Felicity was flying. A third transport rammed into Kiera's, sending the ship spinning towards the slingshot. The slingshot sent out its gratuity tether, latching onto Kiera’s ship and pulling into the transport field. It also stopped the ship from spinning. Kiera, Kinsley, and Riley were all piled together on the floor of the ship. The sling shot through them backwards, causing them to crash against the back of the cockpit. All three of them groaned.

Kiera was the first to disentangle herself and looked up at the view screen. Mechanus was in front of them. So was the Sunrise Eclipse. She hailed them.

<<“Hey sexy, can we get a lift?”>>

<<“If I had a chip for every time that a beautiful imperial princess called me sexy, I’d have two chips. It’s not a lot, but it’s amazing it’s happened twice!”>> Calvin said, his voice cheerful. <<“Standby, we’re picking you up.>>”

Kiera laughed.