The two exchanged looks, and then stood. Moon and Star were identifiable mostly by their shirts in this case, as they’d chosen to wear otherwise identical outfits, with shirts that bore their names… in reverse, of course. It amused Evelyn.
“Yes, we did,” Moon said, looking around the table, then bowed at the waist, though it was a half-bow. “Thank you all for having us aboard, we both deeply appreciate that we’re able to join you on this trip. Especially you, Evelyn.”
“Agreed. This is an opportunity that even a graduate from the university couldn’t hope for, and you saved us from a fate worse than death, at least in my opinion,” Star said, smiling nervously as she took a deep breath. “I don’t know where we’ll be going from here, but… thank you. Thank you very much.”
Evelyn laughed softly, inclining her head as she murmured. “Well, ‘where we go from here’ is rather the reason for this meeting, so it isn’t like you won’t have the chance for input.”
“First, I just want to say that I’m glad you came back,” Ilyra chimed in, a little nervously. “While I like Vaneryth and Zelirana well enough, it’s nice to have other people who’re… well, normal around. I didn’t have much of that, growing up.”
“You don’t think Evelyn is normal?” Fya teased, then broke down giggling within seconds. “Damn it, I couldn’t keep a straight face for even a minute!”
“If I was ‘normal’, I’m fairly certain that the entire galaxy would be in flames at this point. Or ashen wastelands,” Evelyn added, smiling as well.
Laughter came in response to her comment, as almost everyone relaxed, which Evelyn thought was a good sign, looking around at everyone in the room. Vaneryth and Zelirana hadn’t changed much, at least in regards to one another… though Zelirana was definitely more relaxed than she had been before, and Vaneryth wasn’t glaring at her quite as much. Fya’s hair was a bright, frizzy pink, which indicated she was in a good enough mood, at least as far as Evelyn was concerned. The twins definitely looked like they’d relaxed, and she saw Moon give Ilyra a friendly smile. It amused Evelyn that a noble like Ilyra was happy to have normal people around, though it said something that they were the closest to her of anyone on the ship. It just figured.
“Regardless, I believe it’s time to call this meeting to order… or as much order as it’ll have,” Evelyn said, forcing the smile off her face as she sat up straight. “Now, we’re currently in orbit around Nald. In case anyone isn’t sure of things, we’re currently in the Mathrin Cluster.”
With a thought, the holographic projector sprang to life, a much more potent one than had been aboard Daggerhound, revealing a stylized starmap of the surrounding cluster, and their position began to blink softly. The others looked at it curiously but didn’t interrupt.
“The issue, such as it is, is that I have no idea what I want to do, specifically,” Evelyn said calmly, tapping her fingers together restlessly in front of her. “We could go toward the rim easily enough. At this point, that’s likely about a hundred AU from us, or about… oh, call it fifteen days travel away. Less, really, but that’s beside the point. A thought I had was to follow the route of the ship which my parents disappeared aboard toward the core worlds as well, but that’s unlikely to bear much fruit. I’m afraid that it’s been long enough that the trail will be cold, if there’s a trail at all. The question is, do any of you have anything that you’re wanting to do?”
For a moment there wasn’t a response, as almost everyone looked at each other in surprise. It was Fya who spoke first, grinning. “I’d say get more people for your harem, but I know how you feel about that. It’s just Zel at the moment. Aside from that, I don’t really care? You know me, I like excitement.”
Evelyn nodded, and Zelirana spoke calmly. “As for me, you know what I want. I’m perfectly happy to go wherever you’d like to go, so I have no preferences.”
Vaneryth opened her mouth, then shut it, frowning. Evelyn raised an eyebrow, then asked gently. “Yes, Ryth?”
“I… don’t know. I mean, I want to redeem myself, but I’m honestly not sure how I can do that,” the angel admitted, shrugging uncomfortably. “If it was just my primary offense, I suspect that I’d already qualify by this point, but as I haven’t recovered… I suspect there’s something more to my lesson. Who knows when, or if, I’ll regain my powers. As that is the case, I will refrain from any requests, save that they not be… overly destructive?”
“Ah… what about Nebula Runner?” Ilyra asked, looking at the angel in concern.
“Overly destructive without reason,” Vaneryth corrected herself, blushing a little. “I don’t want to participate in a massacre of the innocent, really.”
“If I kill someone, I sincerely doubt they’ll be anything approaching innocent,” Evelyn told the angel, a flicker of amusement rushing through her. It was obvious to her that the angel didn’t think she’d kill innocents, even if it wasn’t obvious to other people. The question was, what had the angel done to end up down here? Part of Evelyn suspected that someone was trying to redeem Evelyn. If so, she wished them the best of luck, as she had no intention of actually going along with the attempt.
“That’s what I hope,” Vaneryth said, smiling back at her.
Evelyn paused, looking at Ilyra, Moon, and Star as she raised an eyebrow. None of them spoke immediately, but eventually Star let out a soft sigh and shrugged.
“I don’t think either of us have anything in specific, no,” Star admitted. “Our parents want us to stay safe, but aside from that…”
“Mm… and you, Lyra? I can see how you’re glaring at the hologram,” Evelyn said, smiling at the young celestine, who blushed, straightening slightly.
“Well… there are two things I’d like to do, but I don’t know if they’re reasonable,” she admitted. “It doesn’t feel right to ask about things that are more… personal?”
“If you don’t ask, you won’t find out,” Evelyn told her, resisting the urge to sigh at the young lady. She didn’t want to think of any of them as girls, as they were certainly all in their twenties, at the very least. That was the one saving grace about whoever she’d rescued them from, they didn’t have a thing for girls, at least.
Almost as if she were reading her mind, Ilyra replied, blushing. “Well… both are brought on by us nearly being enslaved. In my case, I was just thinking… what if I want to prove my identity someday? If the person who bought us has all my data, I’d like to get it back if possible. I don’t know if they could do anything with it, but I don’t like the idea of them having it.”
“Mm… a definite possibility,” Evelyn agreed, sitting back in her chair as she thought about it. She didn’t like the idea of going to hunt someone like that down. It struck her as requiring far too much effort for her taste, but it was a possibility that she was willing to consider. “And the other?”
“I’d like to rescue other people who’re in a similar position,” Ilyra said, her voice tiny, and she looked down, fidgeting nervously. “I know that’s not what you usually do, though, so… I understand if you say no.”
Evelyn paused, studying Ilyra for several seconds, then let out a soft sigh as she glanced around the room. Aside from Fya and Zelirana, she thought most of the others agreed, and she raised an eyebrow at the twins in particular.
“I… well, it would be nice, yes. We found out that a bunch of other people have gone missing from the university over the years… at least a half-dozen each year,” Moon said, looking uncomfortable. “I mean, we weren’t going to ask you to do it, but… if we could, I’d be happier.”
“I think that you have the wrong impression about things,” Evelyn said after a moment, letting out a resigned sigh. “Oh, I’m powerful, but do you honestly believe that I could make a dent in the slave trade?”
“Not that it’s a logical trade,” Zelirana murmured, shaking her head as she clicked her tongue in distaste. “Undead are far better for most purposes… but based on what I’ve seen, if you were to throw everyth
ing you had into combatting it, all you’d do is make slaves a bit more expensive in the cluster. And probably get yourself killed.”
“Most likely,” Evelyn said, reaching up to rub her forehead. “Let me put this perfectly clearly. Unless someone I care about ends up in a slave market, I’m not attacking one of them. While I’m willing to do a lot, that is a good way to get all the assassins in the cluster on my tail, and if they shoot down the ship, even I’ll have a hard time surviving. I’d do a lot of damage, but at a certain point there are limits to what I can do.”
“Though I’m sure she’d be willing to hit slave ships,” Fya said, a startlingly reasonable note to her voice, which caused Evelyn to eye the djinn in suspicion. She was up to something, she just knew it.
“Yes… though if you’re going to tell me you just happened to come across the itinerary of one, I’m going to hurt you,” Evelyn said, glowering at the djinn.
“Found the itinerary of a slave ship, oh of course not!” Fya said, grinning broadly. “No, I got a message from my cousin while we were in port, she found out about something interesting!”
“Gods save me,” Evelyn said, raising her gaze to the ceiling. “Please don’t tell me this has anything to do with the slave trade.”
“Nope! She found out that there’s an old space station that’s been abandoned just into the next cluster, one in a pretty metal-rich area,” Fya said, and a dot appeared just past the border of the current cluster, heading away from the core worlds. “It looks to be fully intact, and has quite a bit of magic on the external structure. She told me she’s selling the info to a bunch of people, but if you’re looking at making up for some of the expenses, it seems like a good opportunity.”
Evelyn eyed her warily, her suspicion growing still stronger. Anything to do with djinni had a tendency to get far more complicated than she liked to think about, but with how much her bank account was hurting, she had to admit that she wanted to make up for some of her losses. Sure, the others might consider her absurdly rich, but compared to any dragon she could think of, she wasn’t.
“Mm, unless there are any objections, I think that’s the best opportunity at the moment,” Evelyn said after a few seconds, fixing her gaze on Fya as she continued. “However, if you want to make yourself useful, I suggest that you put out a few feelers to find out just who bought the ladies, hm? If we’re going to get Lyra’s data back, we’re going to have to find out who bought it, and we never did learn where they were taking them to.”
“I can do that,” Fya said, grinning like a cat who’d gotten into the cream. “We could wish that they’d put in a flight plan, but unfortunately not. Really unfortunate, but what can we do?”
“Thank you,” Ilyra said, smiling at Evelyn, though she thought the young woman was a bit disappointed. “I know I was asking for a lot, but… thank you for doing what you can.”
“It’d take a concerted effort from most of the myriad nations to wipe out slavery, and I doubt that’d do the job either,” Evelyn said, shrugging helplessly. “Even the dragons only push it underground with their rules on slaves. It means that only the very wealthiest choose to take slaves through the wyrmgates, and those individuals are often powerful enough that I can’t challenge them. If someone has a dreadnaught or monitor…”
Ilyra nodded as Evelyn’s voice trailed off, but didn’t say anything else, instead looking at the others.
“I think everyone has spoken their piece,” Zelirana said after a few seconds, and smiled. “Shall we set out, Milady?”
“Evelyn, Zel,” Evelyn said sternly, pinning the succubus in place with a look. “I put up with Fya using that term, but only because I know she’s damned stubborn and she saved my life. You don’t have that advantage.”
“As you wish,” Zelirana said, her smile widening a little.
Evelyn stood up, sending the coordinates to the bridge as she spoke. “Regardless, it appears our course is set, at least for the moment. We’d best go. Settle in, everyone, at best speed it’s going to be about a week until we get there.”
“Um, if we may… we’d like to talk to you privately,” Moon said, a trace of anxiety in her voice.
Evelyn looked at her, then at her sister before nodding, curious what was making them so nervous.
“Just wait until we’re away from the station and underway, then we can have a chat.” Evelyn told them, and they nodded, both looking both relieved and more nervous.
With that, she headed for the bridge. When they pulled away, she wanted to be available in case someone was especially stupid.
Chapter 40
Leaving the station didn’t take long, and as much as Evelyn was tempted to have her meeting on the bridge as they left Argon behind, she knew better. Fya almost certainly would be eavesdropping, but she wasn’t willing to anger Evelyn by bugging her bedroom or the other private spaces Evelyn preferred, so she sent the twins a message and headed to the observatory, resisting the urge to hum as she moved. She didn’t want to make it too obvious that she was looking forward to getting to look at it properly.
The observatory wasn’t a large room, though it was big enough for eight people to sit in the couches that circled the domed room. More important to her, it had special gravity controls that weren’t hooked to the entire ship, allowing her to go into microgravity if she wanted. Additionally, while the ceiling was also part of the outer hull, it was a very special flavor of hull.
Evelyn barely gave the cushions a glance before she sent the appropriate commands, and with a shimmer, the entire ceiling turned transparent, allowing her to see not only the station quickly falling behind them, but the depths of space, the wyrmgate, the planet, and all the starships flitting through the sky. She paused, watching for a few seconds as her smile widened a little more. She’d tested the systems while docked, but it wasn’t the same when the ship was docked. When it was off on its own, going into the unknown… oh, that was when it was truly glorious.
She didn’t move for a minute, just watching the stars, which burned with clear, unwavering light in the far distance, then Evelyn let out a soft sigh of happiness. This was something she’d wanted for a long time, she realized. Even better was that the floor could mirror the opposite side of the ship, though it wasn’t quite as perfect, in her opinion. She had exacting standards, though.
The door behind her hissed open, and Evelyn quickly forced the smile off her face, especially as she heard gasps. Turning, she saw Star with a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide, and Moon was looking around, paused in the middle of the doorway.
“You aren’t in any danger of floating off into space. The hull is translucent one-way, not both, and it’s still a good half-meter thick,” Evelyn told them, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
“I was just… surprised. I could hardly tell that the hull was there,” Star managed, her gaze fixed on the ceiling. “For a second I thought I was going to get sucked out.”
“Mm, don’t stay here in the middle of a battle. The rest of the time, though? You’ll be fine,” Evelyn said, a slight smile crossing her lips as she admitted. “I do love this sort of thing. The systems can highlight constellations, stars where colonies are, and more, assuming they’re loaded into the ship’s database.”
She stepped over to one of the couches and sank down into it, watching the two women. She really needed to get them proper armor at some point, Evelyn reminded herself. Oh, she could delay if she wanted to, but she’d really rather not. The point of having armor was for emergencies, and it wouldn’t do them any good if they didn’t have it yet.
“That’s… I think I remember Mom talking about these sort of rooms before. She showed us a planetside one, once upon a time,” Moon said, a smile flitting across her lips as she admitted. “Back when I thought I was going to be an astronomer. That didn’t work out, of course. I didn’t want to follow in her footsteps.”
“Yup,” Star agreed, moving into the room and almost gingerly taking a seat. “This will take some getting u
sed to. I’m not used to this sort of tech.”
“You’ll manage. Almost anyone can, given enough time,” Evelyn said, looking the two over as she considered, then asked. “So, you wished to speak with me privately. What about?”
The two looked at each other, and she wondered how much information they passed along through it. They didn’t use their implants, she’d have detected any message, but based on what she’d seen out of some siblings, they didn’t necessarily need to use implants. Especially if they’d discussed what they wanted beforehand.
Moon moved over to sit next to her sister, inhaling, then paused and laughed. “I don’t know how to approach this. Not really.”
“Me neither,” Star admitted, grinning, then looked at Evelyn, looking like she was screwing up her courage before she spoke. “So… the question is pretty simple. We were thinking about the whole harem thing. I know you’ve slept with Zel, I don’t know about anyone else… Fya, sure, but not the rest. We… like you. The question is, is the offer open? Not from Fya, are you okay with it?”
Evelyn’s eyebrows rose as her attention was fully drawn away from the view above her. The question was… not entirely unexpected, she had to admit. It certainly wasn’t something she’d anticipated, though, so she had to think about it for a moment. It didn’t help that Fya had been teasing her about it for a while. Part of Evelyn was digging in her heels because of how much the djinn wanted it, but another part of her was… no, that wasn’t the important part.
Chosen of Chaos (Eve of Destruction Book 1) Page 27