“I’ve come across space stations before, but my time on them was always brief. Normally, I was only aboard a station for long enough to perform a blessing or receive a request,” Vaneryth said, shrugging uncomfortably as she added. “I must say that experiencing them this way is… unsettling. I believe that is more due to the fact I’m more vulnerable than I have been in… longer than I care to think about.”
“You’re still more powerful than ninety-five percent of the people here, if not more,” Evelyn replied calmly, giving a couple of nearby security guards and their robotic backup a thoughtful look. They paled a little, which amused her. “Either way, at this point much depends on what position you’ve chosen.”
“That’s something I’ve struggled with, especially since Zelirana is aboard,” the angel admitted, frowning a little as she drifted slightly closer to Evelyn. “I originally was thinking maybe I could be a medic, but… I feel like that wouldn’t help my discomfort. What about learning navigation, as well as some more common combat skills?”
Evelyn examined the angel, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips that she suppressed. If she smiled, some of the people watching might take it as an invitation, and she did not want that. She preferred that they be nervous about coming anywhere near her. But she had a thought of why Vaneryth wanted to learn navigation.
“Let me see… based on that, and how you lost your wings… you’re wanting to learn piloting so you can fly again?” Evelyn asked, arching an eyebrow curiously.
Vaneryth colored slightly, but she nodded, not trying to deny it. “Yes… that’s right. I miss being able to fly under my own power. It isn’t like I could fly as far as your ships can, but the wind ruffling through my feathers, the chance to feel the sun against my skin while flying… I miss it. It was freeing, and even if it wouldn’t be the same…”
Evelyn laughed softly, nodding in agreement. “I believe I understand. I’ve only flown a few times, and that was via magic, so it’s a different situation entirely. However, that means getting a few piloting and navigation teaching programs. They shouldn’t be too difficult to find, or that expensive… but let me think…”
She pondered for a few more moments before nodding firmly. “I believe that what you need is a proper flight suit along with a couple of other outfits. Armor for combat isn’t a concern, fortunately, but it’ll take some time to fit you for one properly. Do you prefer lighter or heavier armor?”
“I… hadn’t considered that, to be perfectly honest. I didn’t really use armor most of the time, since I didn’t need it,” Vaneryth said, a frown flickering across her face. “Unlike now. But whichever you think is best?”
“Excellent,” Evelyn said, using her implants to find the stores they’d need for the flight suit and training programs in question. One of them wasn’t too far, but she glanced at Ilyra this time as she smiled. “And you? I’m guessing that you either want an escort to find where to enroll in a university, or you’re planning to stay aboard the ship.”
“I… did want to stay aboard, yes,” Ilyra said, flushing as she cleared her throat. “If the experiences with leaving Brightdawn taught me anything, it’s that even places I think are safe aren’t. The others would’ve taught me that, too. I mean, Tianna was going on vacation when she was taken!”
“This is true. You were also rather… valuable,” Evelyn said, resisting the urge to sigh. “So… what role are you looking at?”
“Magic. I want to learn magic, like what you can do,” Ilyra said promptly, and Vaneryth let out a soft choking sound.
Evelyn examined the young woman for a few moments, a little surprised. Not too surprised, of course… she imagined many magi wanted her power, but it wasn’t something most of them would be able to gain in any reasonable time. After a few seconds she came to a decision and spoke softly.
“Ilyra, that is likely a vain hope,” Evelyn said. “My power is inborn, and my magical talent is… immense. I’ve never heard of anyone in the last two centuries having been born with a similar talent, so the odds of you managing to get to where I am in a short time, even with years of practice, is vanishingly small.”
“Oh, I know that! I’m a good mage, but what you do… it’s what I’ve heard of Archmagi doing, not someone like me. I want to learn, and I know that I can’t now, but… not many people focus on magic anymore. It’s something different, and I want to become an Archmage, someday. To show my family that I could do it, even if they thought I couldn’t,” Ilyra said, flashing a smile at Evelyn. “I’d be happy to learn other things, too! I could learn to cook, or do other stuff, but what I want is to learn magic, to eventually get there.”
“Hm. As you like. Fortunately, we already have a high-quality cooking program, as Beatrice shoved hers into the ship’s buffer,” Evelyn agreed, considering for just a moment more, then internally winced as she decided on another store. While she didn’t care for someplace like Celestial Designs herself, the clothing there would almost perfectly suit the two women, and she wasn’t going to shortchange them by getting low-quality clothing or things that weren’t appropriate for them. “We’ll get you a shipsuit and a couple of changes of clothing as well. Beyond that, anything you purchase has to be from your own funds. While I’m willing to pay you if you’re going to be part of the ship’s crew, that’s going to have to wait until I look at contracts.”
“Sure!” Ilyra chirped, smiling widely. “Where are we going first?”
Vaneryth nodded, edging away from a couple of young men who’d come closer than most others, one of them with a leer on his face. Evelyn fixed a hard glare on him, pausing to focus fully, and when his gaze shifted to her, there was just an instant of derision in his gaze before it turned to caution, then fear. He and his friend vacated the area rapidly after that, and Evelyn watched them go, then spoke.
“Astral Space Supplies,” Evelyn answered at last. “They’ll have the suits we want, or at least can manufacture them on-site, and the teaching programs. Then Celestial Designs, which is up on the third floor. Not my sort of clothing, it tends to be all bright colors, but I suspect it’ll suit the two of you better.”
“How do you do that?” Ilyra asked, staring at the thugs.
“Hm?” Evelyn asked, arching an eyebrow at her.
“Make people who’re nasty run like that,” the celestine explained, waving in the general direction of the retreating thugs.
“Oh, simple. They’re small-time scavengers at most, maybe even minor predators. However, when they come across a bigger, more powerful predator, they realize what they’re facing and… leave,” Evelyn said, smiling slightly. “In my case, it’s likely because I am willing to kill them if they step out of line, and they could tell.”
“I’ve never felt that way about you. Not even when you’ve threatened me and Zelirana,” Vaneryth said, frowning.
Evelyn laughed and patted her on the shoulder, smiling as she explained. “Simple, Vaneryth. You didn’t deserve it.”
With that, she led the way through the crowds, which parted before her like a school of minnows before a shark. Who said that people didn’t have survival instincts?
“This is going to give me heart failure,” Amy said, inhaling slowly as she unwrapped the stick of gum. This one was the type that contained a sedative, for when she needed to calm down. She had stimulant versions as well, but the gods knew she didn’t need them right now.
“Don’t give me that shit. You aren’t one of the poor sods having to watch her up-close,” Commander Hadriak replied, the orc watching the screens in the security center from just behind her. “If it goes wrong, they’re the ones who’re going to get ripped to shreds.”
Half the screens in the Promenade Security Center displayed Evelyn Tarth from different angles. Some of them were operating off passive scans, as the computers tried to gauge how much of a threat Evelyn really was, but they didn’t have much to go off of. Either the woman had some incredibly quiet cyberware, aside from the implants in her nervous system
, or she didn’t have any additional cyberware. Based on the reports Amy had seen about the woman’s conquest of Peldra, she doubted that the latter was the case. No one who could toss a light mech a dozen meters lacked physical cyber enhancements.
At least someone had finally shut down the mana detector that’d been trained on Evelyn. Hearing it beep loudly had been headache-inducing, and they really didn’t need to know that she had more mana than about half the station’s population put together. It was terrifying, but after the first report, there wasn’t much reason to dwell on it.
That was why half the department was on standby while Evelyn was aboard the station, including the squad that normally dealt with, oh… mercenaries who decided that they were going to take the station over. With anyone else, that would’ve been enough to set Amy at ease, yet she found herself wondering if it’d be enough. Even with Evelyn unarmed.
“Won’t help if she blows us to hell and back.” Amy said after a minute, inhaling slowly as she started chewing the gum. “What’re we going to do if she goes hostile, boss?”
“Depends on how tough she really is. If she’s as nasty as rumors make out? Die, mostly, then the fleet will get involved.” Hadriak replied, though he didn’t seem that worried. “Doubt that’ll happen, though. I’ve gotten a couple of security briefings about her from NIA, and they’ve been keeping an eye on her for years. She never starts trouble, which is why we’re trying to keep the idiots away from her.”
Amy nodded, glancing at the other screens, then focused on the two women beside Evelyn, and shook her head in bewilderment. They were pretty, and the halo above the one blonde’s head looked natural, which was a shock, but based on initial reports it made some sense. Even Amy knew that angels didn’t end up on the slave market often, and she could only imagine how someone had gotten their hands on one. She had to give a tiny bit of grudging respect that Evelyn had freed the slaves… even if only when relaxed by the sedative. That didn’t answer the most pressing question she had, though.
“Have to wonder… why in the hell is she taking them shopping?” Amy asked, raising her gaze to the ceiling for a moment. “The amount of overtime this has to be costing is ridiculous!”
“I don’t know, and don’t care. As long as she doesn’t cause trouble, the Council will be happy. If they object to the operating costs, I’ll just share the list of damage dealt in Rakal the last time she got upset and ask if they’d prefer that,” Hadriak replied, then clapped Amy on the shoulder. “Keep an eye on her and let me know if we need to intervene before someone pisses her off. If she leaves without incident, I’ll consider that a resounding success.”
“Alright, boss,” Amy agreed, and turned back to the screen, relaxation easing her nerves as the sedative started kicking in fully. “If we manage it, I’ll buy you a drink, alright?”
“Hah, on your salary? Nah, I’m going to buy the whole department a round,” Hadriak replied with a laugh, then wandered away.
Amy sighed, wishing that her boss wasn’t denser than a rock. It was probably just as well, though… if he wasn’t, she might have to change departments.
Pushing the thought aside, Amy focused on watching one of the most notorious tyrants in known space walk into a crewman supply shop and wondered what would happen next.
Chapter 24
“Well, crap,” Star said, prompting Moon to look up from the data pad she had on the table. While she could read the messages they’d gotten back on her implants, she found that looking at them helped her absorb the information better. Not that she disagreed with her sister’s sentiments… what she’d read so far turned her stomach.
It was late, by shipboard time, at least, but they’d gotten responses when the next draconic ship had come through the gate, which didn’t surprise her at all. That was why they were in the cabin they’d decided to share, going over the letters they’d received. Moon was mostly surprised they hadn’t gotten a video message from their parents instead of letters.
“What is it?” Moon asked after a second, running her fingers through her hair. “I just finished getting through the letter from Mom and Dad, and was starting on the one from Uni.”
“Don’t bother with that one. They’re horrified to hear about what happened to us, blah, blah, we’ve lost our scholarships, blah blah, but they’re happy to transfer our records to a new school if we so desire. They don’t want us back, we’d be living reminders that a couple of their students got shipped off to slavers,” Star said in a tone that could’ve curdled milk, a mulish look on her face. “I say we send a message to the media, talking about what happened to us and what their response has been.”
“That… sounds like it might be a good idea,” Moon agreed, grimacing. “Mom and Dad want us to come home, of course. They’ve said stuff about therapy and getting back to school, but I’m noticing they aren’t giving lots of details.”
“I’m not surprised. That’s why I started with the university and what Uncle Erwin sent me,” Star said, grimacing slightly. “He says that they’re in… pretty bad shape, financially. They’ve been putting every last credit they could spare into trying to find us ever since we went missing, and more besides. They’ve taken several loans against the house, too, and are barely keeping their heads above water. He didn’t say that they’re refusing help, but… you know how Mom is.”
“Dammit,” Moon said, reaching up to rub her forehead as she thought about her mother. Her stubborn, independent mother who’d rather die than request help from anyone. She thought for a few seconds, then asked. “How bad is it?”
“Pretty bad. Based on what he’s said, they’re probably about twenty thousand in debt. But that’s coming from Uncle Erwin, so it’s probably worse than that. Based on the exchange rates, call it a minimum of two thousand and fifty mythrite in debt,” Star said, looking up from the data pad unhappily. “I’d guess that it’s probably much worse than that. Even if we get back… neither of us has finished school. I’m betting we can get some financial aid, and if we save as much as possible, we can probably give them nine hundred and eighty mythrite or so, but…”
“But we’re still going to be in terrible shape,” Moon said, rubbing her temples again as she grimaced. “With my skills, I’d guess I could get a decent job instead, but not a great one. What… fifteen thousand creds a year? You?”
“Maybe you could do better, but as an entry-level accountant… yeah, that’d require certifications, though,” Star said, sighing. “I’d guess something similar. Not great, and it doesn’t take into account living expenses, how hard it might be to get a job, or anything like that. We’re missing three years of job or school experience, and even if we were in stasis…”
“Yup. Fuck, we never should’ve gone to that party,” Moon groused, flopping backward. “Did Stacey get kidnapped too?”
“Nope. According to Uncle, she’s working on her doctorate in AI Computing,” Star replied, a note of disgust in her voice. “It just figures.”
“Yeah, she invited us, and she got out just fine,” Moon replied, squirming to get into a more comfortable position on the small sofa as she thought for a few seconds, churning through possibilities… then paused. “Um, did Evelyn ever say how much she was willing to pay? She said she was willing to pay us if we stayed on as crew, right? I seem to remember something like that.”
“Yes… she didn’t say how much she’d pay, though,” Star replied slowly, looking at Moon skeptically. “What’re you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that we need to examine all the options we’ve got. Do you have any idea how much removing the control chips or paying the hacker cost?” Moon asked, raising her head to look back at Star. She found this ironic, since she wasn’t the one going into accounting.
“Not off-hand, no,” Star replied, her gaze growing distant for a moment, then she focused on Moon again. “But assuming it was close to the local rates, surgery and healing of that type would run about five thousand credits, which is right around five hundred m
ythrite. Expensive, especially with any increase for it being a dangerous world, but she gave each of us double that.”
“Ah, then I know something you don’t,” Moon said, smiling slightly more. “One of Doctor Inda’s assistants said that they were being paid five times the normal rate to come to the ship and do the work. Then add that hacker’s rate.”
Star paused, seeming to be doing the math visibly, and her eyes widened a little. “You’re saying she probably paid… twenty-five or thirty-thousand mythrite to free all of us, on top of the ten thousand she paid the hacker?”
“You do math better than me, but I’m guessing closer to fifty thousand or so. Let’s call it sixty, actually. If you divide that by the ‘bout fifteen we might be able to make… that’s like forty years salary at what we were talking about starting at. And she didn’t even blink,” Moon explained, causing Star’s expression to turn thoughtful.
“That’s… yeah, that’s a good point.” Star admitted, pausing for a few seconds, then let out a sigh. “That doesn’t mean she’ll pay well, though. Or even help us.”
“It doesn’t. It doesn’t mean anything at all… but I think we should talk to her,” Moon said, shrugging. “It isn’t like she’ll do anything worse than tell us no, right? She’s been nice, and… well, I like her.”
“We both like her. She’s sexy and dangerous. Not dangerous like Mike, but actually dangerous, but nice if you aren’t an enemy,” Star said, referring to an old crush of theirs, watching Moon thoughtfully. “Question is, are you looking for excuses to stay?”
“Sort of. I… I’m a little scared to go home, honestly,” Moon admitted, a shudder rippling through her as she paused, then sighed. “Everything will have changed. It has been three years, and even if we didn’t experience it, Mom and Dad have been grieving for us, while everyone else has moved on. Plus, how’re we supposed to know it won’t happen again? That one of us won’t walk down the wrong alley and zap, unconscious and off to some slow freighter out of the system? I doubt we’d be lucky enough to have someone like Evelyn rescue us again.”
Chosen of Chaos (Eve of Destruction Book 1) Page 15
