"That's close enough, stay where you are." Neirdith shouted to another small group of disarmed pirates that had entered the adjoining cargo room with their hands raised.
There were now eleven such prisoners in the cargo bay, and they all looked like they had experienced something truly horrid. There was one young man in particular that looked especially haggard, sitting alone with his face in his cybernetic hands. They seemed to weep silently.
She wondered what could have broken them but put it out of mind as she turned her focus back to the main group. None of them had any visible weapons but that didn't stop her from keeping a very close eye on them. One never knew what someone would do if they thought they had nothing to lose. Connecting to Gloom she asked “Gloom, what is the status of the hostages? Where is Skorr?”
After a slight delay Gloom’s voice could be heard clearly through her assistant “Skorr is at the final room now, it has two occupants. There is a possibility of an incident so I don't want to interrupt them. But the rest of the prisoners are headed back to your location. I have them marked so you should be able to differentiate them from the pirates using the microhud in your assistant.”
Judging that Gloom was done talking by their continued silence, Neirdith raised her assistant and activated the microhud using it to see the marks that Gloom had placed on the room's occupants. All but one were marked orange, with the distraught young man being marked in yellow.
She was still looking at him when she heard movement at the entranceway. As she watched a group of rather bedraggled people wandered in and immediately flinched away from the pirates. Seeing that they were all marked green she lowered her arm and hollered at them “Hey! Over here!” At her exclamation the prisoners seemed to gain a measure of confidence, crowding forwards and making a beeline towards her and Seth. There were many different species in the group, humans, slaaveth, even a few razah’vool tottering along on their four legs.
Fearing that they would all try to board at once she held up her hands to stop them and was gratified to see Seth doing the same besides her. The prisoners stopped and shuffled around awkwardly for a moment before a grizzled looking razah’vool stepped forwards and vocalized “Hello. My name is Gruhwl, I was a biologist attached to, well it's not important anymore. The fact is most of us had given up hope. The reality that you are here is still a shock to most of us. Is there a place I could take them to relax a bit, maybe get them something to eat?” Gruhwl asked, their lipless mouth not moving as they spoke.
Seth responded for her “Yes of course Gruhwl, if you would follow me to the mess hall I could prepare some items for them. Neirdith, you will be okay here alone right?” Seth looked at her with genuine concern written across his face.
Nodding sharply and giving him one of her best smiles she said “Of course I'll be fine, Skorr and Gloom will be back any minute. I am the only one here with a gun anyways. Please take care of them, I will be there to talk to them as soon as I possibly can.” With a nod of thanks and a wave Gruhwl and the other prisoners followed Seth further into the depths of the Shining Knight.
Neirdith continued her watch of the prisoners until her assistant alerted her once again to a communication request. Pressing accept on the device she once again heard Gloom's voice "Skorr reports all clear and is heading to you with the last of the prisoners. I will deactivate most of the station's systems and return as well. It will be just a few minutes."
“Thanks Gloom, I'll see you in a few minutes then." She replied before returning her attention to the pirates in front of her.
Of the eleven pirates they had captured, her gaze was drawn once again to the weeping young man and she noticed again his cybernetic arms. She speculated why such a young man would have taken such drastic replacement measures before wondering if they had any choice in the matter. She had heard of facilities on the outer worlds and colonies that would replace broken limbs with crude synthetic replacement instead of using quickheal and stem technologies to heal the damaged limbs. A quicker and more dangerous alternative to conventional therapy.
Any further speculations were cut short by the unmistakable sound of Skorr approaching from the far hallway. The steady thuds of their footfalls echoing through the suddenly silent cargo offloading room. The surrendered pirates found any reason to not look in the direction of the massive cyborg except, interestingly enough, for the young man with the cybernetic hands. The man looked up at Skorr's approach with a look of almost fanatic inspiration, stopping his weeping and standing to his feet. Following Skorr into the room were two figures that shocked Neirdith not because of what they were, but because of how they were behaving.
A young yeown woman walked in with a female swanith. Normally the skittish avians would put as much distance between themselves and the large predatory yeown as possible, but these two were so close as to be practically touching. Indeed as she continued to observe she was again astonished to see the swanith worm her graspers into the yeown's large clawed hand. They walked like that hand in hand till they all reached her position before Skorr halted, the two following suit.
"The station is cleared Neirdith, and the prisoners have been liberated with no casualties. Enemy prisoners have been taken and I shall escort them to their rooms in short order." Skorr reported in their heavy voice.
Neirdith inclined her head towards the titan and smiled widely saying "Thank you Skorr, I'm sure they will be most cooperative with you." Turning her attention to the last two prisoners as Skorr lumbered away she asked "Hello there. My name is Neirdith and this is my ship, the Shining Knight. May I have your names?"
The swanith looked up at the yeown woman's face and Neirdith saw her give a small nod before the larger woman turned her head towards her and replied "My name is Samantha and this is Creesh, we thank you for your timely rescue. I was curious, how did you know that we were here in need of help?"
Nodding to them Neirdith smiled and said "We discovered the location of this pirate outpost from the databases of a certain captain Medrigil's ship, a ship which is now in my possession. As for how we knew about you I will admit that we did not. The security commander at New Dundas felt that the possibility of there being innocents in need of rescue to be quite high however. So rather than waiting several weeks for a big enough Union TEC task force to arrive, me and my new ship's crew were tasked with bringing this station and its inhabitants to justice which you can see we succeeded in. If you have any further questions I will answer them on our way to the mess hall, I'm sure that you are quite hungry." As she finished speaking she saw the confusion on their faces but the yeown named Samantha just looked to her smaller companion and spoke.
"Well Creesh, it seems like our new friends want us to eat something, I for one am all for the idea, you up for some grub, or should I say, some grubs?" Her smaller friend looked between her and Neirdith with a somewhat uncertain expression before she spoke.
With a clear melodic voice Creesh spoke "Yes Samantha, I would very much like that. Neirdith was it? I must thank you for rescuing us, I feared that I would never again be free of this dreadful place." She shifted from foot to foot as she spoke, seemingly nervous to continue "I am not sure what to do anymore, but I do so hope that we can do it together." She finished her comment while grasping Samantha's large hand and peering up into her face.
Neirdith saw a tear leak into the red feathers surrounding one golden eye and was struck by the bond between these two unlikely friends. One huge and muscled, a predator through and through. The other diminutive and delicate, yet possessing a fierceness that seemed to belie her small stature.
Clapping her hands together softly to grab their attention, Neirdith said in a warm tone "Well, I am hungry enough to eat an entire colony of dramcaps, what do you say we retire to the mess hall for some mulch. I'll try to answer your questions on the way."
Beginning to turn away she gave one last look at the pirates and was pleased to see that Skorr had them all gathered into a loose group and seemed to be conversing with them. As she was about to turn she saw the glint of Gloom lumbering into the bay and gave them a quick wave before she led the two into the ship.
The light clanking of her boots and the soft padding of Samantha's furred feet contrasted with the subtle whirr of Creesh's bionic leg enhancements. Looking at the two dubiously, Neirdith asked "Please let me know if I am being too bold, but I am curious as to the nature of your relationship? You can imagine my confusion, but would you humor it?" Seeing Creesh lift her black expression feathers in her species equivalent of a smirk she turned her feathered head up towards her cream furred companion.
It was Samantha that answered however, saying "If we are to be honest, our relationship is complex. I will freely admit that she is my sole motivation for living at this time." This candid admission seemed to surprise the smaller avian and Neirdith smiled.
Creesh spoke up soon after "Samantha is my friend, but she is more than that. She is the wind that lifts my soul to soar, she is the sun that warms my heart. I fear that without her I would have perished in this dreadful place for lack of hope. She gave me the drive to fight on and I am in her debt, but it is a debt that I am glad to owe for it means she will be loath to leave my side till it is repaid." She said with a flash of embarrassment.
"Well I think it's a beautiful relationship, and I am glad that you are soon to be free from this place to go wherever the wind wills it." Said Neirdith as they walked down the corridor. Looking at the two she asked "Do you have any plans? I should mention that New Dundas is primarily a terraforming research colony."
Samantha looked back and seemed to mull over the question before opening her mouth to answer. She was beaten by Creesh who spoke up first saying "It matters little what we do, as long as we do it together." She hugged the larger woman's waist before releasing her.
Samantha said "I must admit that the thought escapes me. I spent so much time thinking about how to escape this place that I never put any thought into what I would do after I got out."
Neirdith saw her seem to lose herself in thought before turning to Creesh. "So Creesh, what are your skills? I may not have much experience but I have a bit of influence in the local government bought by my services rendered, if there is something I can do to assist I would be happy too." She asked the small avian woman.
Creesh gave her a grateful look and fluffed her mane of black feathers in hesitance before saying "I was an information specialist back home, I have a lot of experience in data handling and information tracking."
"So you were an accountant?" Neirdith surmised.
"Not exactly an accountant, er, more like an informant." Creesh replied somewhat sheepishly, her mane standing up in apprehension.
Neirdith scrunched her eyebrows in thought before asking "Informant, what for like a gang or something? Wait, were you a criminal?" Creesh flattened her feathered mane and lowered her head but it was Samantha who answered her question.
"It wasn't her choice just like it wasn’t mine. While we are on the subject of honesty I suppose it's time I tell you who I am too. My name is Samantha, daughter to Medrigil." Samantha said in a defiant way, lifting her head as if daring Neirdith to attack.
Instead Neirdith chuckled, seeming to surprise both of them. She shook her head slowly and said "Well no wonder you two get along so well, you have practically the same backstory it seems. I'm assuming that you didn’t get along with your father well did you Samantha?" In response Samantha simply let loose a low growl, the shaggier fur along the back of her neck and shoulders standing on end.
Neirdith continued "Well you don't have to worry, I am big on first impressions and you made a good one with your charm and honesty. Trust me when I say that Seth and I have no love for criminals, but we understand being stuck with no choice and having to make decisions that you would rather not. Thank you both for trusting me enough to be honest." She said with a wide blunt toothed smile.
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Neirdith stopped and held out her hand to Samantha who looked at it for a moment before grabbing it and giving it a shake. She repeated the gesture to Creesh who wrapped her small graspers around her long fingers shyly and shook once before withdrawing.
Creesh chirped quickly "So what now?"
Neirdith smiled as they continued on their way "Now? Now we go get some food. That was the original plan and nothing has changed it in my opinion."
The two gave affirmatives that they were indeed hungry and the trio continued into the mess hall. They were greeted by the sight of many happy people sharing food and chatting animatedly, as Neirdith and her new friends stood by the door she saw Seth raise an arm and wave to them so she motioned the two women to follow and made her way into the seat next to Seth.
Seth looked askance at the heavily muscled form of Samantha and the delicate avian physique of Creesh and simply said "So who are your two friends?"
Neirdith chuckled at his lack of tact and answered "Samantha and Creesh meet my mischievous first mate Seth. Don't let his droll manner throw you, he's actually quite a nice guy once he stops being a complete goof."
"Hey, I resemble that remark." Seth laughed before taking a bite of the sandwich he was holding. "So Samantha and Creesh, how are you enjoying the Shining Knight? I hope it doesn't remind you of any bad ships you may have seen."
Creesh piped up with her musical voice saying "Now that you mention it it does remind me of this pirate ship I saw with an incredibly tacky name." Samantha giggled in a rather un-yeown like manner at her remark and then sobered before turning to Neirdith.
"I'm assuming that your first mate has your complete trust?" Samantha asked her nervously.
"Of course he does." She replied nodding, turning to Seth, she gave him a placating look and said "I'll tell you everything in a more private setting, but now isn't the time. Just trust that these two are very much on our side and are very happy to be free of that place."
Seth nodded in understanding and asked "Okay, I'm not worried Neirdith, but you are probably hungry. How about I go make up some food for y'all?" Seeing their enthusiastic nods he stood and moseyed off in the direction of the kitchen.
Neirdith turned her attention back to the others and directed her attention at Samantha before asking "So I'm curious Samantha, I know a little about who you were, but who do you want to be? What do you want to do? Please, if there is any way I can help you get on your own two feet I want to help. I know what it's like to have everyone expect you to be a certain way, and the struggle of breaking free from those binds."
Samantha seemed to hesitate for a moment before Creesh laid a comforting grasper on her arm, smiling at her friend gratefully for the moral support Samantha began. "Honestly I want to work on a starship. Even my hatred of my father could never dampen the fire I feel for the great void, it calls to me.” As she continued to speak her green eyes appeared to grow more chatoyant until they seemed to shine “The deep dark is terrifying and unforgiving, and I would be lying if I said that the danger didn't excite me. Truth be told, I am not sure that I am even qualified to work on a starship. All the experience I have is working on an old tritium refinery, and who wants a novice engineer on a starship anyways.” The woman said as she hunched her shoulders.
“A novice engineer and an information specialist huh?” Neirdith said, pursing her lips in concentration, “I'm sure that there is at least one ship looking for those qualities. I know that things will work out, I can feel it in my bones.”
Samantha seemed to perk up at that and asked “You really think so?”
Creesh answered instead “Of course she does Samantha, remember she said that she values honesty, she wouldn't lie to us just to make you feel better.”
“That's right, I wouldn't do that.” Neirdith agreed.
Samantha's reply was cut off by the arrival of Seth and a large tray of steaming hot food. As he set the tray down Neirdith noted that it looked like the countertop oven that Seth had bought was getting a workout. She saw a prepackaged mushroom curry for her and a large cut of some type of meat for Samantha, what interested her the most was the bowl of crispy looking insects that was for Creesh.
“Oh, millibugs! I love these! Thank you Seth.” Creesh chirped happily, taking the bowl from the tray and beginning to crunch on the insects happily. Forgoing the use of a utensil and grabbing small handfuls of the dried larvae with her three fingered wingtip graspers.
“I didn't have any yeown specific dishes but I know that your biochemistry is fully capable of eating both human and vinarfelien rations, so I just made you a steak. I wasn't sure if you wanted any kind of topping or sauce.” Seth said a little nervously.
Spearing the hunk of meat with one of her retractable claws Samantha said “It's fine, this is probably better than what I was used to eating on that horrid station anyways. As for sauce, none is required, though if you have any fish oil extract that would be nice.” She shrugged as Seth shook his head in the negative and in a series of large bites she scarfed down the meat. Neirdith chuckled as she began to lick her chops with her long tongue and turned her attention to her own food as Seth struck up a conversation with Creesh.
“So, you are the first swanith I have seen up close, those dark feathers on your head are for signaling emotional state right? Is it conscious or involuntary?” Seth asked the small woman as Neirdith ate.
Almost as if to answer his question Creesh’s feathered mane stood up in an alternating pattern signaling amusement and she warbled “While it is an involuntary action, I can mask it consciously if I choose too. Such as If I wish to hide my feelings from another, though it takes a great amount of focus to do so. Not many take the time to learn such a skill. It has served me well on several key occasions.” her feathers lowered and she cocked her head to the side to demonstrate the fact.
"That's pretty neat." Seth said, "So it's like your version of a poker face huh?" Neirdith smiled as Samantha laughed.
"Her poker face is awful, she tries so hard to conceal her excitement that she doesn't watch anyone else’s face to see if they let anything slip. She owes me at least one hundred thousand osmir by now." Samantha chortled gleefully.
Creesh raised her feathered mane in a scowl and retorted quickly "Well you cheat." Which caused Samantha to laugh even harder, she was practically doubled over and holding her sides by this point so Creesh just put on an air of haughty indifference, though her slightly fluttering feathers displayed her annoyance.
Seth was grinning and Neirdith leaned over to whisper "I think I have an idea of how to help them both. But I'll tell you when we get everyone else settled in." Seth looked at her and nodded before leaning back in his seat and stretching his arms. Neirdith put her arm on the table and said to her assistant "Call Gloom." After a moment's pause Gloom's ID popped up and text appeared on the small screen.
"Yes captain?" It stated.
"Are all the prisoners on board yet?" She typed to them.
Gloom responded "Yes, Skorr has them situated in the aft-most crew quarters. There should still be enough room for the rescued prisoners to have their own rooms if they wish. I am back in the communication center and ready to depart, Skorr says that they are on their way to the mess hall now."
Neirdith nodded her head and replied "Very good, thank you Gloom." Closing the connection she lifted her head and said to Seth "Skorr will be here in a minute, all the pirates are confined to quarters. When they get here we should have a talk with our passengers." She saw him nod his head in understanding and move to stand. Looking towards Samantha and Creesh she said "I'm going to make some announcements in a bit, feel free to help yourselves to anything in the kitchen." Samantha nodded and Creesh made a small hand gesture in understanding.
**********
Samantha watched as the nerivith finished using her comms device and turned back to her and Creesh.
Her host leaned to her companion and muttered a few words after which he stood and moved off. Turning her attention to them she spoke "I'm going to make some announcements in a bit, feel free to help yourselves to anything in the kitchen." She then stood as well and moved off after her fellow crewmate.
Creesh leaned towards her and asked "I'm not that hungry anymore, but you can go get something if you want. I will be fine alone for a minute."
Samantha didn't want to leave Creesh alone, even on a supposedly friendly ship. She knew that they were out of harm's way, but her instincts still sang of danger lurking behind every hidden corner.
Feeling a bit conspicuous she stood and made her way between the fabricated metal tables and into the small galley. She walked down the narrow aisle towards the refrigeration unit and entered the cold room in the hopes of finding another steak to chomp down. As her eyes played over the exotic looking dishes she saw many types of mushrooms and strange vegetables, including a pile of strange orange spikes that she saw were labeled carrots. Shaking her head she continued to look around and stopped when she saw the meat area, there were so many different types, how would she choose.
She picked up a package of dark meat labeled roast beef and opened it to give it a sniff, scrunching her nose she decided that it was not what she had eaten and set it back down. Next she grabbed a package labeled ground beef and looked inside. She saw a bunch of processed meat of indeterminate type. Assuming that it was for adding to other recipes not eating alone she put it back. Next she reached for a package of small strips of fatty meat. She gave them an experimental sniff and immediately perked up, whatever this meat was it smelled good, very good.
Grabbing a small package of the morsels she clutched it in her hands as if it would try to escape and left the cooler. Walking over to the countertop machine she had seen the others people using she placed her prize on a tray inside and closed it. Wondering how she would get it to cook right she simply hit the meat button and pressed rare. After a few seconds and some flashing lights, she heard a small sizzling sound from the machine but smelled nothing. Growing worried that she may have done something wrong she shifted from foot to foot for a few seconds before the device dinged at her.
Samantha opened the door and was immediately hit with a wall of scent that made her knees go weak. Looking at the now slightly crisped strips of meat with wonder in her eyes she grabbed the tray out of the machine and with saliva pooling in her mouth went to go sit with Creesh. Creesh gave her a questioning look but said nothing as she sat down and placed the tray on the table.
Samantha picked up a strip in her hand and lifted it to her mouth almost hesitantly, feeling that it surely couldn't taste as good as it smelled. She crunched on the meat and its flavor exploded into her mouth like a tidal wave of savory fatty bliss. Rumbling softly in delight she closed her eyes and let the taste permeate into her very mind as she slowly chewed. She sat like that for a short while before she felt a series of taps on her arm and opened her eyes to see Creesh looking at her worriedly.
"I'm sorry wha you said?" Samantha asked her distractedly, her eyes wandering down to the still slightly steaming try in front of her.
Creesh gave a low whistle, her version of a snort, before saying "I asked if you were okay, you almost looked like you were about to pass out for a minute there, hey are you listening to me?" She finished as Samantha started to crunch through another piece.
"Hmmmm… yeah? Hey this is reeeaally good stuff, you want to try it?" She asked Creesh, holding out a partially eaten piece towards her.
Creesh recoiled slightly, flashing her mane in mild disgust and said "No. I think I will stick to my millibugs thanks. I'm glad you seem to enjoy it, do you know what it is?"
"Nah, I didn't see what it was called." She replied while continuing to munch on the crispy meat strips. Her attention was dragged away however when she heard the sound of thudding footsteps from the entrance to the mess hall.
She and Creesh turned their eyes towards the doorway in time to see the large figure of Skorr hunch down in front of it, the buzz of conversations died down to an uneasy silence for a few terse seconds as its glowing orange eyes peered around the assemble people before a voice rang out.
"Alrighty then, listen up. The captain has some stuff to say to yall, and she is only gonna say it once so pay attention." Seth cried out.
After another moment of silence Samantha watched Neirdith step in front of Skorr and begin speaking "Thank you for getting everyone's attention Seth. Hello everyone, I'm sure you have many questions but I'm only going to answer a few of the more common ones here before we get underway. After that I and my crew will be happy to answer any other lingering questions to the best of their respective ability. First, welcome to the Independent Ship the Shining Knight, I am his captain Neirdith, this energetic fellow next to me is Seth, my first mate. I'm sure you have all noticed Skorr behind me, yes they are friendly, no we don't know what they are either. We are bound for the colony of New Dundas, it's a small terraforming research colony orbiting a planet nicknamed Tartarus in the New Dundas system. After we arrive I would advise all of you to check in with the local security precinct and tell them your individual stories. They will do their best to help you get home or wherever it is you need to go. We are not a chartering service so don’t ask us to change course. Yes this ship is minimally crewed but not to worry, we know what we are doing, clearly by the fact that we successfully rescued all of you. Now if that's everything covered for the moment I would advise you to check with our comms officer Gloom about accommodations for the trip, it will be a roughly three standard day trip to New Dundas so I recommend that you get comfortable. Now, I need to get this ship underway, so I bid you farewell for now." And with her long winded speech completed she turned and left followed closely by Seth and Skorr.
Turning to Creesh she muttered "Well it's going to be an interesting trip. I guess we should talk to this Gloom guy about our rooms eh?"
Creesh fluttered her wings and ducked her head before asking in a small voice "We could stay in the same room, if you wanted to, I'm not saying you should, I'm just saying we could." She cut off hurriedly and her feathered mane rose in embarrassment.
Samantha smiled widely and put her arm around Creesh's smaller form saying "Of course we could share a room dummy, I wouldn't dream of leaving you on your own. Let's go see this gloomy guy about a room then."
Creesh raised her head and pushed it into Samantha's chest with a deep sigh. She asked "What would I do without you Samantha?"
Placing another arm around her friend in a gentle hug she replied softly "I can't imagine life without you either Creesh."