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."
