Reaching the cells, I coerce both of them to place their palms on the panel, to test if they have access to the cell locks. As expected, the panel flashes red and the cells remained locked. With my weapon aimed at them both, I pull out my knife and quickly relieve the dead Wokan of his two right hands. The grating sound of flesh and bone being sawed causes the two Wokan's and Quroken to become unnerved at my actions.

Separating the flesh, I cauterize the stumps with the heated blade. I then place my new keys on the panels opening the cell. With my weapon I force the two engineers into the cell and lock them in. I then turn to Quroken and give the man a knowing smile. I promptly release him from his confines, the happy Pintonian stands next to me strangely acting subservient. Perhaps it's part of their culture, something to ponder later. The both of us dispose of the bodies via the airlock after stripping them of everything valuable. Both I and Quroken are seated in the main common room. For a few cycles he assists me in the Shahnese language and placing the ship into standby mode.

With both of us seated my grasp on the Shahnese language increases to the point of being able to carry a conversation with the Pintonian. I learned he is a subservient race under the rule of the Shah Star Empire. The Shah is a powerful imperial civilisation originating from the Baltok Star cluster. They have since moved into the Oran Star Belt to harvest resources and claim territory. There society seems to be structured around the racial trinity as ruling factions of the Empire. The Shah of course acting as the Imperial species. The two other races are the Demthesan's and the Yarlankin's two of the first subservient races in the Racial Hierarchy. There process is to claim star systems and bring less developed species into the hierarchy. They are brought in as subservient races either by diplomatic or aggressive means.

The Pintonians and the Wokan's are two such species under the Shah. The Wokan's functioned as a militarist faction under Demthesian control. Seems this Wokan vessel may have turned pirate along the way. The Pintonians seem to be a servant species of the Shah, something many Pintonians take pride in. This excludes Quroken who desires more than servitude to the Imperial Species, with aspirations to become a pilot. He intended to get some experience aboard a Wokan vessel as a deck hand. This ship called the Hellmak which is apparently named after an indigenous predator of the planet Woka. Two legs, long scaly tale, two arms with clawed hands and an elongated face with sharp teeth.

The Hellmak was originally sent along with its accompanied fleet to survey potential planets for settling. Until a mutiny occurred within the flagship, against the Demthesian officers. Following this the Wokan took control of the fleet, of around six small cruisers and one flagship frigate.

Quroken did not agree with the mutiny and did not want to be a part of it, He was instead imprisoned, he is friends with one of the engineers who advocated on his behalf. Lucky, I didn't kill Zerg as that would have been awkward but also tactically disadvantageous. After some time, a plan began to form in my mind. I first made a deal with Quroken that I will assist his ambition to become a pilot. If he helps me command this new vessel we have acquired. Next, I must interrogate the two Wokan's on their fellow pirates' locations, weapons and tactics. Perhaps gaining them as allies would be beneficial. Skilled technicians are in short supply so far. Before I can ascend to my feet a thought occurs, that conversation between I and Quroken was sorely lacking on details of my new pilot. With this thought I descend to my seat and begin probing my new ally.

After speaking with him I find his history truly fascinating along with the culture of the Pintonians. As a species the Pintonians existed in relative peace on their planet of Pintos. After the establishment of a peace treaty between the several clans that dotted the planet. Each clan valued different facets of servitude. The greatest need the Pintonians had was to serve something greater than themselves. This caused conflict between the clans as they had different objects or concepts to serve, from religious deities to the community itself. They were united some four hundred major cycles ago under the great pillars of service. Where they served concepts and ideals rather than tangible beings or obscure religions. This peace and tranquillity were shattered by the invasion of the Shah Star Empire. They enslaved the populace twisting their values from each generation into servants of the Shah collective.

Quroken here was quite the rebel in his youth as he tells it. Leaving his families business of serving one of the Shan noble families to explore the galaxy. As he tells it, rather enthusiastically, he has seen many different species. Many worlds that defy expectations, each dead-end freighter job and merchant vessel straightened his resolve to become a pilot. He succeeded only it be beaten down by Wokan rebels over a disagreement of ethics.

I am quickly growing fond of this Pintonian and place my hand on his shoulder to convey comradery or at least attempt it. The gesture seems to be well received as the Pintonian smiles happily. He then turns his head to the corridor leading to the cells and gives me a concerned look. I recognise the similar expression of sympathy and pity. My people had that during those video archives of the brutal history of my planet. Words were not necessary as I immediately stood up and made my way to the cells. Quroken followed behind quietly, reaching the cells my eyes spot the frightened Wokan's. They are sitting down with their backs to the cell wall.

With the small chair to my left, I drag it towards the cell door and seat myself in front of these two imprisoned Wokan. A silent moment passes by as I glare at them with an intent gaze. I then speak in better Shahnese then I was capable a few minor cycles ago. The surprise on the two Wokan was apparent as I continued my statement. Asking them various questions about their ships mission, there species and the events of the mutiny.

With a nervous voice Zerg began explaining past events. After some time and I believe some facial excretions along with intermittent grunting from them, the picture became much clearer. This Wokan vessel was part of a survey fleet as Quroken described. Seventeen major cycles ago the survey fleet discovered a habitable planet. The planet had a large native populace that spanned across a large continent. The fleet commander, a hated Demthesian by the name of Jikar'ma planned to send a communication back to the main colony about the new find. Before that can occur, a dispute erupted between the Wokan captains and Demthesian officers. A fight broke out on the flagship, many died in the conflict but in the end the vessel was seized by the Wokan. The Demthesian officers were then executed one by one quite brutally I might add. The Wokan captains then proceeded to land on the fertile planet. They met with the natives that referred to themselves as the Garuda. Initially the first contact was peaceful as the Wokan's planned to lull the tribal like Garuda into a false sense of safety. Quickly that tactic failed as the Wokan's became impatient and began enforcing their desire to mine the resources. This led to a bloody conflict, a single tribe wiped out overnight from laser fire. Leading to the forceful occupation of the planet.

These events are as I suspected, further enforced by the information about their species was revealed to me thanks to Quroken and Zerg's input. The Wokan's are of course a subservient species under the Demthesian's a subset of the Shah Star Empire. Apparently the Wokan's were once a warlike race that battled for the meagre resources of their planet, a trait like my own people. In the end a victor was born from the bloodshed. The Wokan's were united and took to the stars to ravage the universe and take their enemies as slaves. Of course, they met the Shah and were intern subjugated by force and bound in utter obedience to the Demthesian militants.

Of course, the story of slavers being enslaved was expected it seems their rambunctious spirit has yet to be crushed. It doesn't seem this mutiny was planned by some galactic wide rebellion. Still these Wokan's may have a part to play in a much larger revolt... perhaps.

After they finish their tirade about the injustices, they endured under Demthesian rule. Rather hypocritical considering they themselves oppressed others. Oh, how quickly the past is ignored once they become the victims. The Martop Imperium had the same problem they never seemed to look back on the flaws of their people. They continued placing the Samsiran Empire as the great enemy despite the brutality the Imperium committed long ago against the Samsiran's.

My pondering thoughts aided by the hyper accelerated thought function of my implant ends when a single word piques my interest. "Kargoma." The Wokan Zerg mentioned this word, translated it means cargo and it seems the patrol mission this vessel was bound may have had dual purpose. Curious about this supposed cargo, Kuma the second Wokan hushes his comrade and begins speaking harshly to Zerg in an unfamiliar language. "Bloseten gemdul." With a hushed voice he spoke those words eyeing me cautiously. He then turns to his comrade and then back to me perhaps to confirm my inability to comprehend. The Wokan's were correct in their assumption, even with my implant recording every word, the meaning of his words remains a mystery.

Suddenly Quroken chimes in with a few words of his own. "Asecgan us baldor faerm?" He asks them in an accusatory tone of voice, his initiative surprised me but it is welcome. The two are visibly stunned by his actions leading me to think they are unaware of his language skills. I turn to Quroken for an explanation and without hesitation he replies. Explaining the two are speaking Traderian or more commonly known as "Trady" the merchant language.

Curious about a language created by merchants, I ponder asking for more information but leave that for now and stay to the task at hand. Turning back to the frightened Wokan's, I step forward, conveying my intent and causing Zerg to melt under my gaze. Afterwards his mouth would not stop talking from requests to live in exchange for service. Confessing he skimmed a few imperial credits from there last job and his concerns over the cargo below. His comrade Kuma remains silent and stubborn keeping his mouth shut, that one will be trouble.

As it seems after sifting through the melodic tone of his begging and pleading Zerg managed to reveal that their captain brought a large cargo container aboard the vessel. The now dead captain did not explain the contents to his men but ordered them to not look inside under penalty of death. This intrigues me and without hesitation I turn to the corridor and make my way to the main common room, Quroken follows behind me eagerly. Reaching the common room, I turn back to Quroken and ask him the location of the cargo hold. Quroken turns to the right side of the ship and points to the third corridor leading down to the bowels of the ship. Nodding in acknowledgement I head down to the cargo bay rather amazed at the size of the ship now I've seen its interior. It looks smaller on the outside; the thought quickly leaves me as I come across the cargo bay doors.

The doors lock is clearly seen preventing access, my eyes cast to the dual panels to the right side of the door. The answer to this conundrum is clear as I grasp the small bag I have been carrying for a while now, withdrawing the severed hands and placing them on the panels. Quroken visibly winces at my actions, seems such displays are difficult for him to accept for now, I will have to work on adjusting his sensibilities.

With the cargo bay doors open, I step into the cargo bay with curiosity at the contents. Looking around I spot several small cargo containers to the right side of the reasonably large space. But with prominence a huge cargo container to the left taking nearly the entire cargo space. I narrow my eyes pondering the contents of such a large container, moving towards it, my ears pick up faint sounds of scratching.

I briskly move towards the container with shallow steps coming close to the container door. Inspecting the door and its familiar locking mechanism of a dual panel, I turn to Quroken who nods in acknowledgement to continue. I withdraw the organic keys as I call them now and place them on the panels. The sound of a faint click can be heard as the doors release and open slightly allowing the cargo bay lights to cascade inwards.

Pushing the doors open I and Quroken peer into the darkened container, the first experience is the grotesque smell wafting towards or sensory organs. Quroken moves his hands to his face to protect his sense of smell from the bombardment. Well, this confirms that his sense of smell's organ is located on his face, like my own species, perhaps there is some form of convergent evolution. Well, that is a thought for another time as I turn my gaze back to the dark and dank container, the scent not bothering me in the slightest.

Curious at the contents I step forward a single step as my eyes adjust to the pitch-black darkness and the contents are revealed. Several humanoid aliens exist in the container each contained in cramped metal cages, my eyes cast upon the nearest alien. To my left, the being is quite tall making the cramped cage even smaller, its skin is a dark shade of green with tribal tattoos covering the arms. The noticeable twin bulges on the chest may indicate the alien to be female like my own species female mammary glands used primarily for nourishing the young. The alien looks towards me and against my expectations I see no fear nor defeat in her eyes, I turn my gaze to the others and only witness such a gaze upon the adult males and females excluding what seems to be the smaller children.

The composition of these aliens is around twenty, five children and fifteen adults with six females and nine males by my estimations. My gaze further downcast to two specific denizens, the first female I locked gazes with on the left and a large burly male in the centre. His eyes are like a predator judging me as prey, quite the rambunctious fellow even caged.

From what I can gather I believe these Wokan pirates have been abusing their position as surveyors of planets for the Shah, likely the mutiny on their frigate has prompted such action. Slavery such an ineffective method to control a populace, despite my misgivings of my own Empire they abhorred slavery, of course they suppressed their people via another method. Of course, the Martop Imperium continued the practice of slavery thus allowing the Empire to have a method to ethically condemn them as a means for war. It seems these pirates may have taken liberties with the locals of a surveyed planets perhaps there is some form of Galactic market for slaves, will have to investigate this later.

Now with my thoughts finished I step forward another step and kneel onto one knee and place my arms across my chest with me head slightly lowered. My mouth parts and I speak in my native tongue, a long-forgotten custom of my people to present yourself as equals to another to prompt reasonable discourse. Arms crossed to signify no I will intent, lowering your body to their current height and lowering one's head in respect. "Talandoana safo lamunta safena." Which means in the ancient tongue. "Let there be no lesser amongst us." My words obviously unfamiliar to him my posture seems to relax the glaring two aliens as I continue in the only known language I have. "Salvoko maktha Shahnese?" I ask in a neutral tone before shifting my head to spy each of their faces, the two adults before me sharpen their gazes as a third much younger of the two's eyes shine recognition. I turn my gaze to him and ask on final question. "Ralvo ko maluranta falheti?" Translated simply asking a question that all caged denizens want to hear. "Do you want freedom?" Recognition passes across his face as it seems my words have reached him prompting a smile to cross my own expression.

The young aliens face is a light with what I can deduce is a joy I suppose he is now fumbling over his unfamiliar tongue to his fellow prisoners. There are expressions barely changing with his words, there gazes denote an understandable amount of scepticism. Realising this maybe a long process I turn to Quroken and request him to go to the common room and bring some food and blankets. The young Pintonian abruptly nods and scurries off to fulfil such an order. Nodding to his quick acknowledgement of my order I turn back to the young alien and continue speaking in Shahnese to not only convey my intentions but probe the young man's skill with the language.

After a few sentences I explain to the alien I was imprisoned by the crew of this vessel and have since escaped my bonds and have control over this ship as of now. I then asked him to convey my intentions to release them and aid there journey back to their people. The young alien nods frequently in acknowledgement, impressively understanding my words, quite an intelligent young man he is. He then conveys my words to his fellow brethren who then begin whispering in their language between each other. The larger alien speaks back to the younger alien with a harsh gravelly voice, prompting the young alien to not frequently a lot more.

After some time, he turns back to me and conveys the words in Shahnese. "Our leader asks why we should trust you to honour such a pledge for our freedom?" The large aliens' eyes narrow further to almost slits sizing me up, truly a predatory gaze this one has.

I ponder for a moment before replying. "I will pledge to grant you freedom upon the honour of my people." I speak these words as I tighten my crossed arms and gaze intensely at the large alien without blinking. He turns to the female who speaks to him with only a few words before he turns to my little translator, agreeing to my pledge. Excellent those three looks are all I require from them, and just like clockwork, my associate arrives with a large crate of blankets and food. Placing it on the ground just outside the cargo container I pull out my two keys and place them on the side container panels. The familiar sound of several locks disengaging can be heard like music to my sound receptors. I step back a few steps outside of the cargo container and gesture my hand to the crate of food and blankets.