Chapter 6

Sepia star system, inner system.

Sepia Prime, SLF Sylvis action camp Sygma.

"So, may I ask you why you arguably tried to save the life of one of my men?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow as the woman in front of her squirmed a bit, before looking suspiciously at the equipment that had been strapped onto her. It was mostly a circlet on her head as well as the arm bracelets, the rest of the wires, plates and bits were purely for show. They didn't want people to look too closely at just how advanced their systems were after all.

Besides, it was distracting enough for most prisoners to not realize that they were sitting on a slightly special chair. Special as in there was a directional mine underneath it. It rarely happened, but there were some idiots that really thought they could get to their interrogator and somehow take them hostage or kill them. The mine was there to prevent that. Well, actually, it was there as a cheaper option to prevent that, as the room had two automated gauss turrets, but every time they fired the room had to basically be rebuilt. Hence, the mine, as patching holes and a stain on the ceiling was cheaper than trying to fix chewed through bulkheads.

The woman looked...good, actually. Much better than the mud covered wreck they'd pulled out of the battlefield at least. If she'd been something else than a prisoner -and Sarah hadn't been less of an old cynic- the captain might have given her another look. Then another. The woman was fit, tall at over 2 meters, tanned, and had long, flowing auburn air, and was quite frankly stacked. She also had a general air of....competence around herself.

"What is all...this?" Said the woman as she tugged at the bracelets experimentally.

Sarah took a sip of her hot chocolate, taking her time to answer. She'd made a point to have her favorite drink delivered to her while keeping the woman without any refreshments. Petty power play, but it got the point across. If the woman in question wasn't too dense to understand it. Then again...just because she looked like she was built like an assault tank and worked as some form of technical specialist didn't mean she had the social intelligence of a brick either, although stars knew those professions tended to rob people of that quality.

"It's a lie detector."

That seemed to get the woman's attention at last. Truth be told Sarah could have just drugged her like the others and saved herself the trouble of a 'classic' interrogation, but that woman had saved one of her men, the least she could do was have the courtesy of directly talking to her and not just drugging her into a stupor and extracting the information from her.

"Lie detectors don't look like that." Said the woman bluntly.

"Ours do. So, are you going to answer the question or not?"

The woman vacillated, then sighed.

"I...It's complicated. I'm not going to say that it was out of some grand desire for saving one of the SLF's enemies, or preventing one more murder from these butchers. For one, given the number of corpses you've already stacked here your hands are far from clean either. Besides, honestly I was kind of too dazed to think straight. I just...I hate those bastards. When I saw my chance, I took it."

Sarah nodded as she took a pensive sip. Unlike police lie detectors, hers wouldn't audibly beep when it detected a lie, or some silly stuff like that letting know the person on the other side what was working or not. After all, an experienced individual could find the limits of the lie detector and skirt around the edge with half truths if they were careful. Her lie detector just gave her a rundown through a secure communication channel. And so far, everything was coming up green.

"I see...I'm going to be honest, you didn't look like a prisoner in chains miss. Not the least since you were able to pounce on one of their soldiers. So, mind explaining what you were doing here?"

The woman hesitated.

"They paid me well?"

Sarah didn't even need the lie detector to tell that was bullshit. She didn't bother to grace the pitiful attempt at lying with a verbal response, simply raising an eyebrow at her prisoner.

"They...Held some people I care about over my head. Said they'd kill them if I didn't comply."

Only someone who knew the captain well would have seen her muscles slightly tense up and her fingers close in just a bit tighter around her cup. For all of her callousness and cynicism, she really did have a soft streak. A well hidden one perhaps, but still. It was, after all, part of the reason they'd all ended up in exile. That and pure, bloody vengeance.

"I see..." She took another sip of her hot chocolate. "Who?"

The woman clearly hesitated again, before sighing. Clearly she realized she wasn't getting out of this without answering...And realized that at this stage her best bet was to talk so someone could rescue her loved ones. If any of the terrorists that saw her save the marine made it into the no doubt riddled with illegal communication channels penal system, the report would eventually get back to the SLF...With lethal consequences.

"My parents. And little sister."

"I see." Said Sarah as she tensed up a bit more. Parents and siblings...That brought back memories she'd rather keep buried. "Very well miss...Seria, was it?" The prisoner nodded. "You have put yourself in quite the situation. Associating with terrorists and mass murderers is an automatic death sentence and most worlds. Well, most worlds under the Dominion's Protectorate anyway. And the second you even get before a judge, or one of your erstwhile colleagues gets a message out, your family members are as good as dead."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Seria started to fold over herself slowly as she enunciated quite how fucked the woman was. Sarah sighed.

"But....There is a solution to this." Seria immediately perked up, and Sarah chuckled. "I am a mercenary captain, miss Seria. In those sorts of contracts even more than others I am given a...broad discretionary authority, to say the least. That authority includes little things like dealing with valuable witnesses as I see fit...and whatever deal I make with them will be upheld by the authorities if the contract is completed. So, I'm offering you a deal. I assume that if they went out of their way to effectively kidnap you, it means you had something they really wanted. It also means that you probably know a lot more about their organization than they'd think...and have every reason to tell me everything. In exchange for that information, if it proves of a high enough importance, I will guarantee your freedom and safety." Which was already a hell of a deal, especially when you had been working for terrorists. It wasn't quite immunity, but it was close enough. Besides, given what she'd seen of the government here, their guarantees of safety wouldn't be worth the paper it's written on. Hers would hold rather more weight. "And rescue your family and get them to a safe location from the SLF. In case you are wondering, given your system government's record, that means off-world. Preferably a few hundred astras away if possible. I cannot, however, guarantee that you will go with them. Is that acceptable for you?"

Seria looked down onto the table, clearly thinking the offer over, before lifting her head, and firmly nodding.

"Excellent then!" Sarah gestured vaguely in the air. "Elteria, could you get the young lady here something to drink? Preferably without alcohol."

"Of course captain. Miss?" Said the AI as her avatar appeared in the room.

Somehow, they both managed to refrain from smiling too obviously as the young woman yelped in surprise.

*****

"Mother." Simply said the black haired twin as she leaned back into her seat.

The shuttle she and her twin were onboard of didn't have the greatest security systems, but it had been made to carry the command team of a Dominion Marine platoon, and thus did carry a small room that could handle a few communication and tactical specialists, with the appropriate systems to make sure the enemy couldn't spy on them, plus the myriad of modifications and upgrades they had added to it over the years, some of which Dominion engineers would have sold their souls to get their hands on.

"Annalisa, Allira." Said the middle aged looking woman on the holographic screen. Appearances could be deceiving however, and Annalisa, the black haired twin, knew her mother was well into her fourth century of life. "I've been appraised that there has been...complications?"

"Yes mom. A group of mercenaries arrived a few days ago, and have proven even more competent than even we had feared." Said Allira as she played with a lock of her snow white hair. "They just...Rolled up one of the SLF's major camps. We're not sure how, but we do know they annihilated that camp's main strike force, and captured a civilian cell member. We think they got said cell member to talk. How, we don't know."

"I see..." The older woman sighed. "While I wouldn't like to impede your...relation building operations, I think now would be a good time to withdraw." She held up her hand as her daughters shifted. "I know that the Thaumor Revolutionary Front is our largest client by far nowadays. And I know that handling logistics problems as well as some of the more...delicate issues for them is building up our relationship nicely. But we all know that it isn't just that."

The woman held the gaze of both of her daughters for a few second, before the twins lowered their eyes. The woman sighed. Her daughters had inherited all of her stubborness alright, and then some. Unfortunately, they'd also seemed to have inherited their father's 'white knight for a good cause' syndrome. And they'd found one in the TRF's manifesto. Granted, that led them to do some pretty unsavory things, or help some quite frankly disgusting individuals, but they still believed that what they were doing was for the greater good.

"Look, I won't force you, but...if those mercenaries are moving as fast as they seem to, the SLF isn't going to last long. Not without some major support. I want you out of there"

"We have a shipment of surface-to-void anti ship missiles on it's way." Stubbornly said Annalisa.

The woman sighed. She knew that wouldn't be enough. Gunships expected to face those kind of threats, and given the competence those mercenaries had showcased, she rather doubted they wouldn't be prepared for such an eventuality.

"Very well. I'll let you supervise the arrival of the shipment...I'll even see about some further support if the SLF survives, and dig up some info on those mercenaries to help. If, and only if, you supervise that shipment from the Saltenza, in a nearby system."

Annalisa looked rebellious, but Allira looked almost relieved to some extent. It wasn't the best compromise -and like all compromises, none of the parties were happy about it-, but if the SLF survived, her daughters could sweep in on their freighter and help them finish their job...and if the SLF got flattened, they would just light up their hyperdrives and leave.

"Yes mother." Said Annalisa.

"Good. Now, I'm sure you'd like to know what your dear father has been up to."

*****

"I mean no offense, but...who are you people?" Said Seria as she looked around.

Sarah blinked, and looked over her shoulder at the armorer. Her profession hadn't come as much of a surprise -it was that, a hacker or an engineer really-, but the woman's versatility had surprised her. She'd been caught in the middle of a battlefield, learned that all of her loved ones might soon be executed, then offered a way out, and despite all that she was managing to remain somewhat focused and was still taking everything in stride. Hell, the mercenary captain was impressed even.

"We're mercenaries."

Seria shook her head.

"No. I mean, yes, obviously. But not just that. I've seen mercenaries ma'am. They have ships that range from piles of scrap I wouldn't willingly set foot on to ex-Dominion ships ran by ex-Dominion crews. But you're another level. You have a gunship with a freaking onboard sentient AI, and a collection of gear I've only heard legends about. And well...This." She gestured at the ceiling, and Sarah followed her gaze, and saw the number on top of the entrance to the bridge.

ADN-SOH-933-032-834-635, the Eternal Seeker's hull number. And underneath it was a hand reaching out for a star, the symbol of the Alterian Directorate. They had discussed several times erasing all traces of the ship's original owners, before deciding against it. SOH meant Special Operations Hull, and the Eternal Seeker was meant as a spec ops ship. There were only so few of this particular class to begin with, even less still in service or unaccounted for. It wouldn't take long for someone with enough access to look up it's hull number to simply take a hull scan taken by a spaceport, plug it into a naval database and get everything they wanted to know about the ship. Well, everything the ADN thought they knew about the ship. Sarah and Elteria hadn't been idle in those last 60 years after all, and there was some stuff she was fairly sure she'd managed to sneak by everyone.

"No one has hull numbers this long. Especially not for a ship like this. I might be an armorer, but I got trained on spaceships too. I don't know what half of the stuff you have is, but I speak fluent warship. This ship isn't a fleet escort, or a carrier's parasite gunship. It's an special one off. Built for special operations of some kind?"

Sarah smiled.

"Something like that, but that was a long time ago. Your point being?"

"That a special purpose ship like that with a hull number like this...Only a single group of nations are old enough to have even remotely built that many ships. The Near Verge. Combine that with the sort of tech I've seen here..."

"Right. Well, miss, keep that to yourself. We are a...special kind of mercenaries. The sort that specializes in high paying, high danger missions."

"Well that explains why you're here at least."

Sarah smiled mirthlessly.

"Dear, this is, if nothing else, positively calm compared to what we usually do."

From Seria's face, the woman clearly didn't believe her.

"Hopefully you'll never have to see proof of that." Because it would probably mean the Silver Syndicate had caught up to them on this backwater, somehow. "However, thanks to you, you should get a fair demonstration of our skills in an hour or so."

The young woman had, after all, given them a wealth of data. Elteria was still collating everything with the government's reports and the scraps they had managed to recover from the camp, and the interrogations, but they had a definite fix on the SLF's primary supply hub...and the landing site for their smuggler friends.

Even if the trail ended here -which she doubted, but the SLF had proven exceptionally paranoid-, destroying their primary storage site and resupply base would cripple the terrorist organization. Probably enough for the government to eventually mop them up, or at least get a handle on the situation. If nothing else, it would arguably end the contract. They had, after all, been hired to put an end to the SLF's offworld support, and acquire information about their benefactors, not wipe them off the face of the universe.