Earth

Algonquin Park Dungeon, Ontario

August 15, 2019

15:29 EDT

“Let’s roll off this cloak first and then we’ll talk about the halberd. You’ll probably get it, but I need to ask my mom something. You’ve all taken a look at the cloak?”

“Yeah, Mason passed it around,” Ben answered.

“Alright, let's roll it off then,” I replied, taking my phone out and waiting for everyone else to do the same. When I saw that they all had their phones out, I navigated to our team profile and hit the roll button to initiate it. While waiting for everyone to hit roll, I took a look at the cloak.

Lesser Enchanted Fur Cloak

Uncommon

+8 Intellect

+5 Endurance

5% increased Intellect from all sources.

A chime drew my attention back to my phone and I looked at the results. I rolled 11, Mason rolled 11, Ben rolled 45, Anja rolled 85, and Sonja rolled a 67.

“Congrats, Anja,” Ben said.

“Yeah, congrats!” I added, passing it over to her.

“Alright, give me a minute. How about gathering the rest of the stuff out of the chest while you wait.”

“You got it,” Mason said.

[Hey, mom, you got a minute?] I sent, while watching Mason hand the halberd over to Ben while he got the bag used to hold Mana Crystals.

[Yup. Nice fight, by the way. I knew it would be a quick one as soon as you started shifting. I assume you had Abi make you those weapons?]

[Yeah. At that size, my normal weapons would be nothing but toothpicks, and the shields wouldn’t offer much protection. She took a few minutes to make them and then stuck them in dimensional storage so I could access them.]

[I’ll see what we have in inventory that would be suitable for your Seotross form. If we don’t have anything, then I’ll get our blacksmiths to put something together for you. Now what do you need?]

[I was wondering how weapons work with our armor. Can we put weapons in the dimensional storage of our armor and get the benefit from any stats, or do we have to equip the item itself?]

[It works similarly for weapons, but you need to put a weapon of the same type into the small dimensional storage of one of the weapons that were in your rooms. Mason is the only one with a halberd, so tell him to place the halberd he pulled out of the chest into the halberd he has been using recently.]

[Okay,] I said, before looking up to Mason. “Hey, Mace, put that new halberd into the dimensional storage built into your collapsable halberd.”

“What dimensional storage?” Mason asked. “I didn’t know there was a storage built into them as well.”

Nodding, I replied, “There is one there, but it only works with weapons of the same type.”

“Oh,” he said, unholstering his halberd and channeling his mana into it. After a moment, the new halberd disappeared from his left hand, and his collapsable halberd started to change in appearance. After perhaps ten seconds, the halberd looked like an exact copy of the one Mason took out of the chest. “Awesome!”

[Now you see,] my mom said. [It can be done with any weapon below artifact quality, but remember that it has to be the same weapon type for it to work. So if Sonja ends up looting a longbow, she would need to place it into the storage of her longbow, not her recurve or other type of bow.]

[Got it. Thanks for the help.]

[No problem. Good luck with the rest of the dungeon.]

“What were the stats on that thing anyways?”

“Take a look,” Mason answered, collapsing it down and then tossing it to me.

I tried to extend the halberd, but it wouldn’t respond to me whatsoever. I was able to see the stats though, and my jaw dropped as I got to the last few lines of stats..

Berengar’s Halberd

Epic

18 Weapon Damage

+10 Strength

+8 Constitution

+7 Endurance

10% increased Strength from all sources. Stacks multiplicatively with other effects.

Reduces the cooldown of all melee abilities by 20%.

When I looked back over to Mason, he had the biggest, most shit-eating grin I had ever seen in my life.

*****

Somewhere in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy

The Indomitables’ Flagship - Nira’s Revenge

07:32 SET (15:32 EDT)

August 16, 12610 (August 15, 2019)

This was the busiest Esriro had been in months, but she was very happy with how well everything had gone so far. There had been no injuries to any of the teams that boarded the ships with the highest concentration of spies working for Dhir, nor any collateral damage on any of the ships in the fleet.

Ships often had inhibitors built into the hull, as there were certain spells that could easily damage ships if someone wanted to do so. With the inhibitors active, everyone was on a level playing field which made it much easier for the teams to apprehend the spies and traitors. All of the sweeps were well underway at this point, and they would probably continue for the entire journey to Pygmaean space. All three thousand, seven hundred thirty-three targets were captured or killed, and now only the thirty-seven kidnapped young women had to be taken care of. Esriro was on her way to see the young women, who had been escorted to Nira’s Revenge, when she felt someone tapping on her shields.

[Lieutenant Commander, what can I do for you?] she asked, lowering her shields after recognizing the man’s mind.

[Good morning, Admiral. Sorry to bother you, I’m sure you’re busy. Commander Chaxl asked that I contact you. We were performing a sweep of The Harbinger and found a room adjoining the former captain’s room. Inside, there is a young Pygmaean woman wrapped in a blanket hiding under the bed. She appears to be sleeping and we didn’t want to frighten her. What would you like us to do?]

[You don’t have any women on your team, correct?]

[No, ma’am.]

[Alright, tell your commander to continue with his sweep, I’ll be over there in a few minutes. Exit the room and secure the door, will you?]

[Affirmative. I’ll let the commander know and then wait for your arrival.]

[Thank you, Lieutenant Commander,] she said, raising her shields once more and turning around, heading the way she had just come from. [Something came up on The Harbinger. I’m heading over there to take care of it. Can you ask Kylli to keep the women preoccupied until I get back?]

[Sure,] Xigios answered. [What’s going on?]

[A young Pygmean woman was found in a room adjoining Omeron Tol’s former stateroom. Omeron was completely naked when he was teleported to the brig, so I have a feeling that he was in the process of raping her, or about to. She wrapped herself in blankets and is hiding under the bed, apparently asleep.]

[Have Omeron transported here after you bring the woman over. Interrogate him, and after you’ve got all you can out of him, execute him. I’ll let Kylli know now.]

[Thank you,] Esriro said, closing the connection.

By the time she was done speaking with her father, she had arrived at one of the many teleporters located around the ship. Stepping into it, she tapped the button for the hangar bay, turned around, and waited. As soon as the door closed, she disappeared, reappearing a few kilometers away, just outside of the hangar.

The doors opened automatically, and she quickly made her way into the hangar.

“Commander Adidian, you and your team is with me,” she said, not slowing in the least and continuing on to her shuttle.

He ran to catch up and fell in beside her. “Where are we going?” he asked.

“The Harbinger. When we get there, leave two of your men with me and take the rest to the brig. I want you to collect Omeron Tol and bring him back to the shuttle. You’ll probably make it back before me, so I want you to put him down below, out of sight. And if the guards give you any problems, contact me, alright?” she commanded before pulsing the ramp controls with her mana.

“You got it. Gezrix, Krazk, you’re with the Admiral. The rest of you, you’re with me,” he said, following Esriro up the now open ramp.

Esriro made her way up to the cockpit of the medium-sized shuttle followed by Commander Adidian, while his men sat in the back. Esriro sat in the pilot’s seat and started going through the start-up procedures.

“So what has you heading over to The Harbinger on such short notice?” Commander Adidian asked while sitting down in the co-pilot’s seat. “Usually you give plenty of warning.”

“I just got word that a young woman was found in a room that adjoins Omeron Tol’s stateroom. She is currently hiding under the bed, asleep, and the state Omeron was in when he was teleported to the brig suggests that he was about to rape her, if he wasn’t already. That’s why I want you to get him and stash him down below before I get her back to the shuttle. I’m not sure how she would react to seeing him, and I don’t want to frighten her anymore than she has been already.”

“I’ll contact you when we have him so we make sure they don’t see each other, then.”

Esriro had finished starting up the ship while they were talking, and after getting clearance, began piloting the ship through the soft shield that kept the hangar bay pressurized, but allowed ships to come and go. As soon as they were through the shield, Esriro rotated the ship and throttled forward for a few seconds before cutting the engines completely.

After a minute or so of drifting, with slight attitude controls to make sure the shuttle didn’t collide with any of the nearby ships, she rotated the ship end-over-end and began slowing down. By the time the ship came to a full stop, all she had to do was rotate the ship ninety degrees port, and throttle the ship forward slightly. Within a few seconds, the shuttle had entered The Harbinger’s hangar bay, and Esriro piloted it over to one of the vacant spots reserved for high-ranking officers.

Upon exiting the ship, the two groups split up. As she was walking, she saw the unmistakable look of Tala Telar’s shuttle. She knew that Tala had come over in her mech, which meant that the shuttle was probably here with many of her officers. Not knowing whether the sweep team had informed Tala of her arrival, she decided a courtesy call was in order.

Tapping her earpiece, she initiated a call back to Nira’s Revenge, “Hey, Anuna, put me through to Tala Telar’s mech, would you? I’m pretty sure she’s wearing it right now aboard The Harbinger.”

“Sure thing, Esriro,” the woman responded. “Give me a moment and I’ll patch you through.”

“Thanks.”

Esriro, as well as the two men accompanying her, continued towards the stateroom that previously belonged to Omeron while she waited to be put through to Tala. After a minute or so, a loud voice in her ear made her cringe.

“Esriro! Are ya here for yer paddlin’?!”

“What?” Esriro asked, totally confused.

“I told Xigios that the next time I saw ya tha’ I was goin’ to give ya a paddlin’!

“What! Why?!” Esriro asked, knowing that Tala was serious about it. She had done so once before in the past.

“Ya didn’t put me on the list for any of the ships! Ya know how long I’ve been waitin’ to move up to somethin’ like this.”

“I’m sorry, Tala. We couldn’t chance the possibility of a transmission being intercepted, so my plan was to limit that possibility by using Mindspeak.”

“Ehh, I’ll forgive ya. I finally got me dream ship, so I’m happy. I assume you’re stoppin’ by to pick up the woman they found near Omeron’s old stateroom?”

“Yes. I wasn’t sure if you had been notified about it or not, so I figured I’d let you know.”

“I appreciate the thought. Xigios called ahead and let me know ya would be takin’ Omeron off me ship as well. The less o’ those bastards on this ship, the better.”

“I agree. Well, I’m almost at the stateroom, so I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay. How ‘bout comin’ to see Marra before ya leave?”

“I don’t know how long this will take, and we’re getting awfully close to the jump window. How about we wait until we get to Pygmaean space. We’ll have dinner.”

“Works for me, and I’ll hold you to it. If ya bail on me, I’ll give ya tha’ paddlin’! See ya later,” Tala said, ending the connection.

“Good to see you, Khach,” Esriro said, greeting the man who had alerted her to the situation.

“You too, Admiral. No one has been in or out since we last spoke.”

“Thanks for watching the door. You’d meet back up with your squad. You know how cranky Commander Chaxl can get.”

“That I do,” he responded with a chuckle. “Good luck with the woman.”

Esriro watched him leave before turning to the two men who had accompanied her here. She glanced at the names on their chests and their ranks on their shoulders so she knew who was who before addressing them, “Thank you for accompanying me, gentlemen. Petty Officer Adartir, I need you to head to the closest kitchen and grab some food for the young woman. Petty Officer Srax, I need you to visit the ship’s quartermaster and see about getting some clothing that will fit a Pygmaean woman.”

“Yes ma’am,” they both said at once, turning and heading in different directions.

Esriro turned back to the door to the captain’s stateroom and pulsed her mana at the locking mechanism. She was happy to see that she had been added to the list of people who could access this door, and she wouldn’t have to wait. After the door slid open, she walked inside and closed it behind her. Once in the room, she quietly made her way to the adjoining room. The light was still on, and after kneeling, she was able to see the head of the young woman. She was lying on her side, and had the large blanket wrapped around her.

She quietly moved forward into the middle of the room and sat down with her legs crossed and her hands folded in her lap. She looked at the sleeping woman for a few moments before she decided to wake her up.

“Hello?” she called out in a soft voice. After waiting to see if the woman would react, she called out, a little bit louder, “Hello?”

*****

The young woman’s eyes slowly opened, and she yawned sleepily before her eyes shot open. Rather than seeing the man who had been abusing her for the last few weeks, she saw a Scyftan woman sitting in the middle of the room. Not recognizing the woman, she stayed where she was, clutching the blanket tighter.

“I’m not going to hurt you, and neither is the man who brought you here. Can you come out from under there?”

The woman shook her head.

“How about we introduce ourselves? My name is Esriro Dhugal. What’s your name?”

*****

They remained in silence for a while, the young woman trying to decide whether or not she wanted to answer the question of the woman she now knew was named Esriro.

“Beria,” the woman said in a barely audible voice.

Esriro smiled. “It’s very nice to meet you, Beria. You’re from the Pygmaean Academy on Veria, aren’t you?”

Beria nodded. “How did you know?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“We have found thirty-seven other women who were being abused just like you were, and all of them were from the Pygmaean Academy.”

Esriro saw Beria perk up at the mention of thirty-seven other women being found.

“Was a woman named Leekah one of them?”

“I’m not sure, but I can check if you like? I was on my way to see all of them when some people told me that you were in here.”

Beria nodded emphatically.

“Alright, give me a minute.”

[Hey, can you check with Kylli and see if a young woman named Leekah was found on one of the ships?]

[Sure thing, give me a few minutes and I’ll get back to you,] Xigios said.

“I asked someone to check for me. They’ll let me know in a few minutes. Who is Leekah?”

“My best friend,” Beria said after a few seconds. “We were on our way back to our rooms when two men came out of nowhere. I felt a pinch in my arm and the next thing I knew I was in this room.”

“If she’s here, we’ll find her…” Esriro said, being interrupted by knocking on the door. Beria had loosened her grip on the blanket, and with the knock she saw her grip tighten once more. “Don’t worry, that is just food and clothing for you. Be right back, okay?”

She nodded and Esriro stood, walking back to the stateroom. Opening the door, she saw Petty Officers Adartir and Srax.

“Thank you gentlemen,” she said, putting the clothing under one of her arms and then accepting the tray filled with assorted foods.

“If she doesn’t like the food, let me know and I’ll go back for something else.”

Esriro nodded. “Hang around outside the room, and don’t let anyone through without verifying with me first, alright?

“Yes, ma’am,” they both said.

Esriro hit the button to close the door with her shoulder, and then turned back towards the room that Beria was hiding in. As she turned, she saw a small glimpse of some turquoise-colored hair. With a smile on her face, she walked back to the room, finding Beria sitting on the middle bed with the blanket still wrapped around her.

“It’s nice to see you out from under there,” Esriro said, placing the tray on the small table and then turning back to Beria and walking towards her. “Here are some clothes. They’re meant to fit Pygmaeans, but they might be a little big. I’ll wait in the next room so call when you’re done getting dressed, alright?”

Nodding, Beria accepted the clothes but made no move to start putting them on. Esriro turned around and headed back to the stateroom. It wasn’t more than a few seconds after she had sat down on one of the chairs that her father had an answer for her.

[I just spoke to Kylli. There was a woman named Leekah found on The Harbinger and transferred to Nira’s Revenge about an hour ago. The interesting thing is that she’s a Kobaloi. You don’t often see them outside of Confederation space.]

[Well, they’re just as smart as Pygmaeans, so it makes sense that she would be a student at the academy. Apparently the young woman found in the quarters adjoining the captain’s stateroom is friends with Leekah. Best friends, actually. She said two men appeared out of nowhere and she felt a pinch in her arm. The next time she woke up, she was in the room she was found in.]

[They couldn’t have been captured too long ago then. We only gave everyone time for some R&R a little more than two weeks ago. I’ll do some digging. What is the name of the woman with you now?]

[Beria. I don’t have a last name.]

[That’s fine, I should be able to figure it out. I’ll let you get back to it.]

[Alright.]

Beria hadn’t called for her, and she had heard the bathroom door open and close, so she took out her tablet to finish some paperwork while she waited.

“Esriro?” she heard from behind her. Standing up, she turned around and saw that Beria was finished changing and was standing in the doorway between the two rooms. She looked much better now that she had cleaned herself up.

“I have some good news,” Esriro said, tapping the screen of the tablet a few times before putting it away again. “Leekah was indeed one of the women found. She was actually on this ship, but she was found about an hour or so before you were. She’s with the other captured women on my ship. As soon as we arrive there, I’ll take you to see her. Would you like to eat first?” she asked, gesturing to the tray she had placed on the table.

Beria eyed the food and then nodded before walking over to the table the tray had been set upon. “I’m starving.”

“Take your time. We’ve got about thirty minutes before we have to leave, though anytime before that is fine, too.”

“Why thirty minutes?” Beria asked after swallowing what was in her mouth.

“In forty minutes the fleet will be executing a hyperspace jump that will take us to Veria. All the ships need to sync their computers for the jump, and all hangar bay doors are closed five minutes prior to a jump. We need to leave here in thirty minutes to make it in time, or we’re stuck here for the rest of the journey.”

Beria began eating a little quicker and Esriro couldn’t help but laugh.

“You don’t need to eat that fast, we’ll have more than enough time. Take your time.”

“So how did you find us, anyways? He said no one would ever know we were here. The door was welded shut from the inside, and the connecting door can only be opened from the other side, which would have made escape impossible.”

Esriro had the sense to look embarrassed. “Actually, we didn’t know about any of you until a friend started going through everyone’s files last night. She found over thirty-seven hundred traitors or spies or whatever you want to call them. A few hours ago we initiated an operation to capture or kill all of them while re-taking control of a number of ships. The Harbinger was one of those ships.”

“How was she able to find them so quickly? Aren’t there hundreds of thousands of people in the fleet?”

“Millions, actually, and she is one of a kind. Have you heard of Abi?”

“Abi?! You know Abi?!” Beria asked, her jaw dropping.

Esriro nodded. “I met her yesterday, actually. What do you know about her?”

“Not much, just that she’s some sort of super advanced artificial being. I’ve heard boys at the academy say they’d give their left...arm to be able to study her, or learn from her,” she replied. “Wait, if she has scanned everyone’s files does that mean that she is here?”

“She’s very far away from here,” Esriro answered. “She has many relays hidden all over the place though, apparently, allowing her to send and receive transmissions very quickly.”

“Oh,” Beria said, looking a bit down, but continued eating the rest of the food on the tray.

Esriro could tell that Beria would very much like to meet Abi. She couldn’t tell her now, but perhaps she could set up a meeting once they had arrived in Pygmaean space.

“All done.”

“Great! Ready to go?”

Beria nodded. “I can’t wait to be out of this room,” she said, visibly shuddering.

“I understand. Let’s go.”

Esriro led her through the open door to the stateroom, and then opened the door leading to the hallway. “Lead the way back to the ship if you would please, gentlemen.”

The men both nodded and turned to head in the direction they had come from. Looking back at Beria, she could see the young woman hesitate upon seeing the two men.

“C’mon, they won’t hurt you, I promise,” Esriro said, placing her hand on the small of Beria’s back. “You can trust that anyone you see will protect you. Abi has rooted out all of the bad people aboard all the ships, and they’ve all been killed or captured. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

Beria nodded and grabbed hold of Esriro’s hand. The men had stopped just ahead and were waiting for the two women to catch up. When they were reasonably close, the men turned around and continued leading the way to the hangar bay.

[Commander Adidian, what is Omeron Tol’s status?]

[We moved him to the shuttle and secured him into the brig. We left all of the cuffs on him and have him magnetically secured to the wall. I’ve got two of my men watching over him, just in case.]

[Good, make sure it stays that way. If this young woman has to see him again, I’ll execute him as well as you and your men on the spot, got it?] she snarled.

[Yes ma’am. I’ll send another two men down to watch him as well. Rest assured that they won’t so much as catch a glimpse of one another.]

[Alright, we’ll be there in a few minutes.]

They continued on to the hangar bay in silence, and soon the men were leading them up the ramp of the shuttle. They stood to the side, letting Beria and Esriro through, before hitting the button to raise the ramp. Esriro led Beria to the cockpit of the shuttle and directed her to the copilot’s seat.

“You can sit there. Strap yourself in, and we’ll be on our way in a few minutes.”

“Okay,” Beria said.

Esriro went through the startup process again, and within a few minutes she had raised the shuttle off the hangar floor and turned it around. Easing the throttle forward, the shuttle crept forward until it was about a kilometer from The Harbinger. The ships had all maintained the same position, so it was as simple as following the course she had taken to get here.

Rotating the ship ninety degrees starboard, she used the attitude controls to halt any lateral movement and throttled the engines for a few seconds. As before, she followed the monitor which was able to keep track of the positions of nearby ships, even with all of them being shrouded. At around the three quarter mark to their destination, she flipped the ship end to end and gradually slowed the ship until the computer told her they were just outside of Nira’s Revenge hangar bay.

After rotating the ship another ninety degrees, she throttled the ship forward and they were soon entering the hangar bay. When the ship had been parked and everything had been shut down, she turned to Beria. “We’re here. Do you want to see Leekah now?”

Beria nodded and quickly undid the harness and grabbed hold of Esriro’s offered hand. Esriro led her down the ramp which had already been lowered, and to the closest teleporter.

[Wait two minutes and then transfer him to the brig,] Esriro told Commander Adidian. [Tell Commander Zidis that I will be there in a few hours.]

[Understood, Admiral.]

Entering the teleporter with Beria beside her, Esriro tapped the monitor for the teleporter closest to the room that the rescued women had been placed in, and within a few seconds they had covered the few kilometer distance. When the door opened, Beria followed Esriro, and after a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the room. It was currently being guarded by two women, one of them being Scyftan, and the other actually being a Beastkin of the feline variety.

“Good morning, ladies,” Esriro said. “How have things been in there?”

“Relatively quiet, Admiral,” the Beastkin woman named Arana Orimys said. “Kylli has been keeping the women calm, and let them know that they will be returned to their families as soon as possible.”

“Alright, open the door, please. This young woman has a friend in there that she would very much like to reunite with.”

“Yes ma’am,” the other woman replied, turning and pulsing her mana to open the door.

“Thanks, Arana, Siruh,” Esriro said, leading Beria into the room.

The long room was set up with cots along the walls to the left, and a dining and recreational area over to the left. There were a few women sleeping at the far end, but the majority were sitting down at tables and chatting, watching one of the monitors on the walls, or working out at the small gym. Many of the women looked over at the door when it opened, Leekah being one of them.

“Beria!” the Kobaloi woman shouted, before running towards her.

Beria let go of Esriro’s hand and ran toward Leekah, with both of them meeting in the middle. They embraced and each of them started crying.

“I thought I’d never see you again!” Leekah said between sobs.

“I didn’t either,” Beria said.

Esriro decided to give them some space, so she walked over to one of the couches positioned against a wall and sat down. After a few moments, she was joined by Kylli, her assistant.

“That’s the woman you went to go see on The Harbinger?” she asked.

“Mhmm. She was found in a room next to the captain’s stateroom. The poor thing was wrapped in a blanket and hiding under the bed. Seeing the way she reacted when she saw the two men that had accompanied me makes me want to head down to the brig and rip Omeron Tol’s head off. Unfortunately, he may have the answers to a few questions we have, so I can’t do that,” Esriro said, anticipating Kylli’s question.

“When you’re done with him, I’d say let her finish him off.”

Esriro shook her head. “No. That could make everything worse and I don’t want the possibility of her feeling guilty for his death. No, I’ll take care of it and let her know when it’s done. I think she’ll be just fine though,” she continued, gesturing over to the two young women who were now sharing a kiss. “I think they’ll be just fine.”