Matt was desperately following along. The others were simply jogging, and Xar cheated by being on Krovukk’s shoulder, but he was left basically running after them, and sadly, he wasn’t in very good physical condition. They all had much longer legs than him, it simply wasn’t fair.

The earlier display of violence actually helped drill into him the seriousness of the situation and the ensuing adrenaline did help make running after them bearable, but he could feel his lungs failing to draw in enough oxygen for his muscles. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up for much longer.

But Matt didn’t want to slow the group down, so he gritted his teeth and pushed along a bit more. Was he secretly hoping someone would notice and make them slow down? Maybe, but also, he simply didn’t want to be a burden. Warring with his fatigue and his pride both, he continued for another minute. Then another.

At some point, he did start falling behind despite pushing himself to his maximum. It was the new girl who noticed and told the others. The new guy also said that they might want to hole up in a room to talk anyway, and guided the group through some corridors before stopping before opening a door.

Surprisingly, it was a storage room for cleaning products. Matt was surprised brooms were a thing considering magic, but apparently it still was. He saw a load of other products in something akin to plastic containers which he had no idea about what they did.

“I take it this is as good as any other place?” The new guy said. It was rather large. He had a shaved head and a desperate look in his eyes. Not exactly a good first impression, and apparently he was a wanted man. Which in Matt’s mind meant he probably wasn’t up to anything good. But right now Levy didn’t seem to care and had clearly made the decision for the group, which if he guessed right, hadn’t made the others too happy.

He could notice Krovukk frowning at the two new additions to their group, albeit temporary ones. Plus even he understood that it might not be the smartest thing to take strangers in right now, but on the other hand, they didn’t have any other kind of lead.

“I guess it’ll do for now. It doesn’t look like they followed us.” Levy said while peeking out in the hallway.

“Alright, so who are you looking for?” The man asked. But before anyone could answer, it was Xar that jumped in the conversation.

“Wait, guys, how do we even know we can trust them? I mean come on. Sure he looks wanted by the whole ship, but that doesn’t mean he won’t turn his coat on us later.” The ratman spoke up and the bald man actually nodded along.

“That is exactly right, I wouldn’t trust myself in your shoes either. Now, you don’t need to trust us by any means. We can help you, and you help us. In this current situation, we actually do not have the power to betray you in any meaningful way, you see, so you really aren’t taking any risk.” The man explained and while it made a weird kind of sense to Matt, he thought that couldn’t be completely true now, could it?

“Look. I’m all for helping you out too, all we want is to free the slaves and leave this ship with them. Safe and sound of course.” It was the new girl that had tagged along last that said it, and when she said free the slaves, the others seemed to perk up at that and the four of them started to whisper among themselves.

Matt was actually not included to his dismay, and waited with the two strangers. He understood he didn’t have a say in things, but still, it would have been nice to be included.

“Alright, actually, we are looking for someone who has been taken as a slave on this ship so, if that is your goal as you say it is, we do have every reason to cooperate together.

“Well, that’s perfect! I’m Kali by the way.” The girl introduced herself. She was pretty in a cute way, average height, which meant she looked rather small in this gathering.

“As you already heard, I’m Philip.” The man said.

“Xar, Krovukk, Levy and Stan.” Levy said quickly as he pointed at each of them in turn. It was Kali who then pointed at Matt with a questioning look.

“And the kid?” She said, curious.

“That’s Matt, and well, it’s complicated.” Krovukk said as he grimaced.

“He wasn’t supposed to join us on this rescue mission but with the whole… thing, we couldn’t really leave him on the ship. Which might not even work anymore as we crashed into this ship.” It sounded like he was justifying it to the two strangers.

“Alright, also, who are you trying to rescue exactly?” Kali asked the group. Krovukk and Xar turned to the two brothers, seeing which one was going to answer.

“We are here to rescue our sister.” The captain said as he pointed to himself and levy.

“They are part of our team. We are adventurers.” He finished explaining who the others two were to them, and the reason why they were here too.

“Oh, I get it.” She paused and turned to face Philip.

“So, genius, got a plan for us to free the slaves and get off this ship yet?” Her tone was half-sarcastic and half-serious. It was hard to tell for Matt. But the word genius had definitely been pronounced with a kind of mocking tone. It was strange if she didn’t think he was smart to actually ask him, but he didn’t know any of them yet so who was he to know?

“Well, as a matter of fact, with these four strong adventurers, we might not really need a plan now, do we? Didn’t you see him cut down the guards like a farmer reaps wheat?” He told her like she wasn’t the smartest person around. They had a strange dynamic going on, but somehow seemed to get along just fine despite the jabs at each other.

“About that, it seems you might not know, but the [Admiral] arrived on the ship roughly at the same time as us.” Xar interjected smoothly, and they both turned to look at him with a frown.

“Yeah. So if you have any good ideas, now’s the time, otherwise I suggest we just hurry the hell up before he gets the whole ship organized to run us down.” The captain’s tone was final, and after a pause in which he looked at Philip to see if he actually had a good idea, he peeked out in the hallway again, before turning around.

“Where is the slave quarters from here then? I think the longer we wait, the worse our chances, so plan or not, I suggest we get going.” He added.

“Oh, yeah of course.” The Philip guy said.

“It’s, uh, complicated to explain, just follow me.” He added before taking the lead. Everyone followed and so did Matt. They were out in the hallways, jogging about. People turned to look at Philip, some looked shocked to see him about, but when they spotted the huge Karkaris towering behind him, they just moved out of the way.

Still, after only a few corridors, Kali suggested she take the lead, as everyone seemed to recognize him and it would alert the [Admiral] for sure. This way they wouldn’t alert him as fast if he was hidden in the middle of the group instead. To Matt it seemed too little too late, but it didn’t cost them anything, so why not.

Everyone agreed and she took the lead. They still got looks, but a lot less of them. They spotted some guards from time to time, but to his dismay, they ran away from them instead of trying to stop them, which was almost more terrifying.

That meant that not only did they give their position to someone else, it meant that they weren’t going to even try to take care of them. And there could only be one reason the guards weren’t going to take care of them.

Someone else was. And it didn’t take a genius to guess who this person might be. Even Matt, who wasn’t from this world, and hadn’t heard about this famous [Admiral] person before, couldn’t help but take him seriously when he saw the faces the others made at his mention.

Still, he wanted to believe in Krovukk and Xar. He had seen Krovukk fight and he was strong beyond what should be possible. They all had shields against bullets and that forced the others to move into close combat with them, and he didn’t really believe this [Admiral] could be that much stronger than them at all.

Despite his better judgment, Matt opened his mouth for the first time, as the tense silence in the group was gnawing at him.

“How strong is this [Admiral] guy?” He asked Xar. He wasn’t the one who responded, instead it was Philip who did.

“I reckon he is as strong as any good level twenty warrior. But that is not what makes him dangerous.” The man explained. The others listened intently while still moving and looking about. It seemed they might not know much more than his reputation themselves.

“What makes him dangerous is how good he makes others at what they do. He is an [Admiral] you see, not a [Fighter] or [Warrior].” Philip continued. Matt furrowed his brow. So he made the others better at stuff? That didn’t sound dangerous at all? Why were they so afraid of him them?

“Why is he so dangerous then?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, you see the guards on the ship? Most of them aren’t even level twenty, because most of them have another class and aren’t only guards, you see. The [Admiral] could probably round up a few of them and take us on. Because he would make them strong enough to contend with every single one of you.” He said as he looked at Krovukk, who nodded his head in understanding.

“Then why hasn’t he done that?” Matt asked. It didn’t make sense to him. If he could take them on, why not just do it?

“Well, because of how he operates. Which is the number one reason people do not like to go against him.” Philip said all mysteriously. He didn’t add anything but simply continued walking while everyone was clearly hangin on his words.

“Really?” Kali said, bursting out.

“You leave us hanging and don’t explain?” She admonished him. Matt kind of liked Kali. She had that fierce personality he wished he had. She looked so free to him, which was ironic if he knew who she was.

“He doesn’t take risks. He is ruthlessly efficient. Meaning, he could take us on with guards, but it wouldn’t be a done deal. He might have to retreat, might lose some guards, who knows. Too many unknowns. Understand? That’s why the few guards we do see flee us. He is probably coming with his personal cadre.” Philip finally explained.

“Which means we are fucked if he finds us.” Xar added for clarity, like anyone had any doubts about what would happen if they clashed.

“Oh.” Matt said, as who this [Admiral] finally sank in. Apparently they were probably going to die. Great. Maybe he should have listened to Levy and stayed on the ship despite everything. Taking his chances of going solo after all.

With this new information, he looked at the group he aspired to truly be a part of and was impressed. Not one of them even looked nervous. They looked calm and collected as they simply continued towards where the slaves were. From his understanding, this mission was now probably certain death, unless they could miraculously avoid this [Admiral], but not one of them had even suggested leaving.

“Uh, by the way, I think I should tell you just in case.” Kali spoke up as silence had finally settled down on the group again. She didn’t look comfortable as some turned to look at her before she continued.

“There was an incident where the slaves tried to escape, and a number of them died.” She looked down and seemed kind of ashamed as she said it for some reason.

Levy looked at his brother and they somehow both nodded at each other before Levy spoke up.

“Nothing can be done about that now, we can’t abandon her if there is a chance. You said a number, so what, like twenty percent? Thirty? There is still a good chance she is alive and well then.” He simply shrugged as they kept walking along.

Matt thought it also would be stupid now that they were this committed to just leave because she might be dead already. Even if that was the case they would want to confirm it. He knew he would. Of course he didn’t have a sister, but if it was his mom or dad for example.

They continued in tense and concentrated silence. Kali guided the group and Philip didn’t get spotted outright by anyone, or at least no one called him out in front of them.

Soon they arrived in front of the slaves quarters where a group of guards were now standing. Matt didn’t know about the earlier event in detail, but even he could see that it seemed to be a bit much for some prisoners that supposedly couldn’t get out.

The group however didn’t slow down in the least. The guards spotted the group advancing determinedly on them. One of them, who looked in charge, quickly tried to take control of the situation.

“Stop right there, you don’t look like crew, and even then, no one is supposed to be here without us getting a notification from the bridge.” The man said in a confident voice.

When the group ignored him, the guard captain pushed some of his men that were falling asleep to wake them up. He took out his weapon and aimed it at them. The other guards only had some pistols, nothing with any penetrating power.

“Last warning.” He said in a stern voice as all the guards got ready beside him. The four members of Dust in Pieces looked at each other and naturally took positions on the front. They seemed to know exactly what to do.

Krovukk was at the front, Xar was rummaging through his back and had stepped down from his shoulder to be on his back, not in the guards line of sight. Levy and the captain were both slightly behind Krovukk, but clearly ready to pounce.

It was strange to Matt that none of them seemed to use any ranged weaponry like he would have assumed. Levy had what looked like a short sword and a dagger in hand, while the captain simply held a strange looking cylinder in hand. It must be a weapon, and the first thing that came to mind was a lightsaber, only not turned on yet.

The guards, seeing the group get ready, didn’t hesitate and started shooting. The noise wasn’t as bad as guns back on earth. It wasn’t that loud. But still, there were almost ten pistols and a rifle shooting at them, all being blocked by their shields.

After the first salvo of shots did nothing, the guards didn’t panic. Instead the leader shouted for them to switch to melee and they all drew various weapons, most having some kind of baton that glowed slightly.

Most of the guards were human, but the other species were all as tall or shorter, so when Krovukk got closer and closer, he towered over the whole group. He naturally became their focus, which Matt thought was probably exactly what they wanted.

As they finally were a few meters apart, Krovukk accelerated while swinging his huge axe. The leader of the guards barely blocked it, but he did stop it from killing anyone, while going flying into the wall.

Xar lobbed some weird kind of balls above Krovukk’s head, and the two blonde brother’s didn’t move in yet. Standing slightly behind Krovukk still. Making sure he didn’t get surrounded maybe? Matt didn’t know.

It became clear a few moments later, when the weirds bombs exploded why they hadn’t gone in, because they obviously didn’t want to blow up. Only the leader and another guard managed to come out unscathed from the explosions as the three taller members of Dust in Pieces pushed into the confused enemies with their weapons swinging.

The guards honestly didn’t stand a chance. Some blocked a strike or two, but instead of them being able to use their numbers as an advantage, it looked like they all got ganged up on instead which was strange. They went from one to the next as a group and crushed them completely before they could get their bearings and work as a group against them.

Of course some used skills to survive the first swing, only for there to be a second and a third. Blood started to flow as the guards got cut down one after the other with brutal efficiency. Most were still trying to recover from the explosions, dazed them and pushing them to the ground when they got cut up by an axe or a shortsword.

The captain’s weapon activated only when he swung, a magical blade that looked like a standard straight sword and disappeared as soon as he didn’t swing, making it hard to judge the length and reach of the weapon, which might actually not be the same every time.

As half of the guards were finally down, the rest haphazardly rallied together to stand against the adventurers before them. But just like before, Krovukk suddenly swung his axe so fast it almost looked like he hadn’t moved. Two of the guards looked down and saw a huge part of their stomach spilling out of them, the two surviving guards didn’t stay in place and simply ran away, leaving their two comrades to die.

It was clear they didn’t stand a chance, and Matt would probably have done the same. It was Philip that vomited first at the gruesome sight. And Matt’s stomach threatened to follow suit. He didn’t manage to resist long and emptied his lunch rather quickly.

Wiping at his mouth, he followed after the group as they finally got into the slave quarters.