Chapter 33
I am suddenly brought back to reality by the voice of Mother.
"Lilith I would like you to not be so fatalistic." Mother's voice carried a bit of melancholy and depression.
"So you aren't going to deny that you'll destroy this ship if I am killed?"
"No, I am not going to deny that. I would sooner die than hand over this void ship to anyone other than you."
"Well I guess I can't say I wouldn't do the same if I were in your position. Anyways we can discuss this later. We need to get to Orenthia Primary quickly. The sooner we get there the sooner we can start developing the system."
My change in topics was rather obvious but I have things that need done. Things a little more important than talking to some human about the Astro Dawn.
Muscle memory took over as I set the FTL drive to start powering up. It would take less than half a minute to arrive. So I just continued to sit on the command chair.
While I waited my mind kept thinking over what the rear admiral—whose name was never revealed—had to say about my lack of crew. I should probably start looking for people who qualify—if only as a cover. Fortunately, if any of those mentally deficient idiots who covet my void ship tried to insert agents onboard; they'll soon be double agents.
Mother discovered while researching what made the thralls blood taste so good, that the method of enthralling was extremely addictive. It should also be capable of instilling a rather severe withdrawal, but we aren’t sure how long it takes to develop. Mother hypothesized that the symptoms Liza started to show while I was away were only the beginning of the withdrawal.
I'll make sure to make a request to the freelance guild to look into anyone willing to join the crew. I will have to interview anyone they pick. Anyone that passes will just be enthralled just in case.
At that thought I was alerted to the FTL lowering us back into stable reality near the station. I then went through the process of landing when once again I was told someone wishes to speak with me.
'What in the world does Ryder need from me now?!'
Despite feeling extremely frustrated I played calm and asked if it was urgent; the answer to that turned out to be no. I stopped grinding my teeth now that it was clear I could do my errands first. I made sure to download the codes that would give me a temporary permit to land on Orenthia.
After handing off the landing procedures to Mom I decided I would take the thrall with me. She has been rather annoying as of late; she was trying to always be around me whenever I was not in the CIC.
Luckily her eye seems to have lost the bruise which made things much easier. Alerting her to come with me to the station I was sent a message agreeing almost creepily quickly.
'And now there's a chance I'll be inducting two more people who will probably act like her… on second thought maybe I’ll wait before getting more people onboard.'
Anxious thoughts aside, I walked over to the personnel lift. The thrall arrived a moment after me.
Soon we were riding the elevator down to the floor containing the Freelance guild and the local ISCA branch. Hopefully the one running this branch will be like Temlic which is to say, very skilled and knows when to not ask questions.
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TIME:
6 HOURS LATER
LOCATION:
ORENTHIA PRIMARY
CARGO LIFT #05
"Okay now would you please tell me what is happening in our hangar. You have not told me a thing about it since I negotiated with the ISCA, and that disgusting degenerate they call the branch manager." My voice sounded calm but the thrall could probably tell I was rather frustrated. She was constantly looking around glaring at anything she thought I would be annoyed by.
"Yes, we have a delivery that is marked as coming from Ryder and Simeon. The contents are detailed as gifts that appear more like bribes than gifts. Overall it was a rather good cover. After all, any governor would be worried about another governor revealing how they were almost killed in their territory."
My eyes narrowed at the choice in operative word, "What do you mean by cover? Did they try to sneak something onboard?"
"They—as in the Orenths—haven’t sneaked something in, but rather someone else I believe. The crate is shielded from scans. I was able to identify a life support system. It was rather clear that something was living inside. I would recommend reporting this to Simeon after we dispose of the gift."
I smiled at the news. I could use some good old fashion violence after dealing with a pair of powerful, arrogant, and lecherous individuals. Maybe I could take whatever is in there alive.
"So what's the plan: crack it open outside the ship or bring it on board so the warbots can help?" I ask excitedly. This caused the thrall to look back in confusion, probably experiencing emotional whiplash as I rapidly switched from angry to excited.
"I would recommend bringing it onboard the ship and using the generator activating to stun them long enough to restrain. Though it does pose the risk of the gift carrying an explosive. Though the chances of that are close to zero if this person was sent by someone wishing to acquire your void ship."
The cargo lift's door grinds open revealing an empty void ship hanger all besides some stacked metal containers. There was one large box however, that was sitting close to my ship clearly meant for me. It even had wheels attached to move it easier—though it was more of an annoyance to me.
I ordered the thrall to stand in the corner behind the containers while I approached the gift. I stared at it with caution. I heard the extremely faint thrum of life support fans keeping the air safe. I took my time looking for any possible hidden weapons, but found none.
I reached to grab my tablet that can connect to the Astro Dawn's various features. I look back at the thrall covering her ears out of sight, already being warned by Mother of what's about to happen.
"I hope whatever they gave me as hush money is worth the bother of being almost killed." I voiced an honest albeit decidedly undeserved complaint as I lowered the lift.
I also found the position of the warbots near the lift ready to jump down at a moment's notice. They stood just at the edge of being hidden probably due to paranoia on Mother's part. Though I appreciate their presence as you never know what might happen.
I reach over to grab the handle, already starting the timer for the generator to roar back to life. As I grabbed the handle bar on the crate I felt something stab into the bottom of my hand. I stepped back grimacing from the numbing spreading slowly through my hand and up my arm.
'Neurotoxin, probably a fairly strong one if it's affecting me despite the differences between our two species.'
A few seconds pass as the lid of the box lazily opens. Someone wearing clothes that covered everything while leaving little room for any form of identification. Stretching while they get up. Though they quickly look at me with a sadistic glint in their eyes. I stare back as I wince despite my annoyance, I had to act hurt despite the neurotoxin having already started to fade as it failed to latch onto anything other than rudimentary sensory nerves. It was annoying, but I wanted to see the surprise when their plan falls apart before their eyes.
The person finally spoke revealing the sex of this particularly well covered assassin. Her voice was smooth like velvet and drenched in venom.
"Oh do you not want to fight, miss, I heard you were quite skilled, maybe I just got the wrong person~? Or maybe you can't, that was a fairly sizable dosage I’ve given you."
She slowly stepped forward as I just pretended to be struggling to stand. She seemed all too certain she had succeeded. After a second spent swaying her hips while walking towards me finally stopping a meter away from me.
I finally fell to my knees in a moment of "weakness." I still glared up at her making it clear I was still very much alive. An act that caused her to burst out into laughter.
As she opened her mouth to surely hurl more annoying prattle at me. I prepared myself to be ready to jump at her.
'Any moment no–' I was interrupted as a faint roar made my bones buzz like a tuning fork. I immediately jumped at the woman who staggered and hunched over in pain from the sudden and extreme source of sound. I restrained her rather easily only having to fight her at the end as she returned to reality.
I saw a look of pain and regret and her heart slowing. I quickly pried open her mouth just as she was about to close. Keeping it open I ended up using too much strength, I felt as her jaw dislocated from my lack of care. I still ripped out her back right molar that had a tiny pill the size of a speck of sand.
I saw her face turn to fear but quickly resolve. She scrunched her eyes. I became frustrated realizing what she was probably doing. I would need to prepare to clean up her body soon to be dead body. But just as I was about to look away from the living corpse; I noticed her face pale several shades, her eyes flaring open clearly displaying her severe confusion, disbelief, and pain.
"I have shut down her MID. Thankfully her Mind Interface Device also had some wireless capabilities. It seems she was planning to cause hers to overload which would have caused her brain stem to overheat leading to a rather quick death. Now what do you plan to do with her?" Mother's voice returned, the generator being silenced in an instant.
I thought for a few seconds as I contemplated the many options available to me. She had by now stopped resisting her heart was racing as she no doubt realized she was in for some rather "advanced interrogation."
She still refused to make a noise having at least the clarity to not sob and beg, she probably knew it would not have changed her fate.
"Well what do you think is the best way to get her to talk?" I spoke to her gaze looking back at the thrall, who was slowly approaching with more than a little hatred directed her way. "I would recommend you enthrall her. We can just put her into a coma to stop her from killing herself before the Odontoamygdalo sedatioservilis can take root and complete the process."
I decided that would be the best plan to get workable intelligence. After all humans tend to agree to whatever you say while you torture them, often leading to the intelligence gained being rather suspect and likely false. Even I would struggle to tell if it is a lie if we decided to torture her. And plus I only tortured those who crossed me as long as they weren't important. Sadly this system's colonel was on the very much important list.
I dragged her onto the Astro Dawn looking back at the Thrall who had kicked the assassin in the ribs as she walked beside her. Her response to my unimpressed look was to find a sudden deep fascination with the hull plating of the Astro Dawn. Eventually she just claimed she kicked her by mistake. I just chuckled at her obvious lie.
With the thrall's help and a healthy dose of a rather strong sedative—I borrowed from Aria—I dropped her onto a bed in the Medbay quickly inserting an IV needle to keep her from dying of dehydration. We luckily had a few bags that were made for humans. It was all thanks to Temlic's incredible paranoia at the mere thought of Aria dying—leaving nothing to chance.
I flicked my wrist in a motion. The thrall knew that she was to leave the room and do something to appear busy. And slowly and carefully as I could be I brought my fangs to her neck. With a bit of mental effort to not drain her of her blood I injected the personality controlling bacteria that would enthrall her. The process is oddly instinctive if I focus on not drinking.
After the groundwork was finished I decided to also drain a liter of blood from her. Double checking that her restraints were in order I walked out of the room.
'Now should I mention this to Simeon and/or Ryder or keep it a secret. I should also plan some way to “reward” her for hurting me.'
'Simeon wouldn't care and Ryder would be more than curious to hear how bad you were hurt, but he wouldn't try and force you to include him. That human I suspect would prioritize you staying genial out of a selfish desire to attain more knowledge. Your Mother has been enjoying testing their increasingly complex cybersecurity which during one particular moment in time she saw him begging his brother to allow him to visit you. He seems to treat you as a priceless font of ancient knowledge. It doesn't help that you could actually answer his many questions.'
I groan as my emotional exhaustion worsens at that revelation. It doesn't stop me from quietly thanking Mara who despite being an MID has been assisting me in profiling others. Though it's a job I would believe Mother would excel at, but Mom might not always be available.
Soon I was shuffling forward dragging my emotionally exhausted self to my room. I left Mom with the task of sending Ryder and Simeon the details of what occurred and notifying them I will visit soon. I asked Mom to leave it unclear on when exactly soon was.
I found it amusing as according to Mara it would certainly annoy Simeon. From the dossier Mom and Mara worked together to produce I knew where the line was before, and this didn't even get close to crossing it.
Most of the things we know about Simeon ironically came from his brother who was rather loose lipped about his many eccentric personality traits. Ryder only told me when he wanted to air his complaints for some unknown reason, or tell stories relating to it—even though I never asked him to. Simeon seemed like the type to need exact, not nebulous imprecise language. Something I deeply understood, Noblesse Runethari purposely lacked many words with vague meanings, that was for the more widespread Runetharis dialects.
With a total loss of energy I fell onto my bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be less exhausting...
'What am I saying, I'll probably end up answering questions for hours. I can’t wait to leave this system…’