Project - Prometheus Ch. 46

"I agree! Moderating our use with this power seems like the sensible thing to do!" Korsa interjected, earning a round of nods from everyone. Still, this news encouraged everyone there to start practicing more with their respective abilities. Just then, the door to the lounge opened, admitting Priya into the room.

"Oh! Good to see that everyone is awake and all right! Ooohh! Snacks!" Priya said as she skipped over to where the crew was sitting and grabbed a few nibbles for herself.

"So, how did the battle go?" Alex asked, as Priya ate. She swallowed her food and gave a basic rundown of what had happened during and after the battle. The group was impressed to hear of the outcome, especially with how Inari had forced the remaining Confed forces into a surrender.

"She must have enjoyed shutting that loudmouth up!" Natalya chuckled.

"Oh, you have no idea!" Priya giggled.

"Still, a surrender from the Confeds? That opens up a lot more options for Prodosia!" Korsa commented.

"Oh, they know! Credits, newer tech, more food, possibly even some equipment to speed the healing process of the soil!" Priya stated, as she also rattled off Inari's idea of ransoming the Confed officers and crew back to the Confederacy.

"Smart! Selling those officers back to the Confeds is going to make Prodosia a tidy sum of money, to be sure! From what I understand, good and competent officers are difficult to find in that world cluster!" Alex smirked as he continued to stuff his face. "What is everyone else up to?"

"Well, Inari is directing and helping in the recovery effort, while Talon is busy trolling through the databanks of the ships for any information that could be helpful. Stanley is assisting with this, while Jaesa is digitally accompanying Tahral and Aesha on a spacewalk to aid in recovery efforts," Priya replied, filling them in.

"While I check everyone's vitals and record them, so we have a baseline to go on after heavy Aetheric use," Zuzanna stated.

"You want some help there, Zuzanna?" Korsa offered.

"Doctor, right now you are a patient! Being a doctor while you are also a patient can skew results a little, which I'm sure you know! So please, let me work!" Zuzanna replied good-naturedly. Korsa grumbled a little, but she had to agree with the doctor's assessment. No sense in being the doctor while you were also the patient.

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The Artucian were traversing along the hull of the Lee's Vengeance, heading along to a signal they had picked up. There were other teams on the ship, but they were the closest to the signal, making them the team assigned to go for it. The pair were in no rush, as the signal was coming from a massive airtight compartment, so whoever was there had plenty of air.

The two of them were taking their time since there was no hurry, making sure to dodge any obstacles that could damage their suit's integrity. Plus, having Jaesa guide them down a less hazardous path was always welcome. It was strange how Jaesa could go from her physical avatar to a digital presence in their suits. But this was the world that Tahral and Aesha inhabited now, one of splendor and wonder.

"Aesha? Are you all right?" Tahral asked as he turned and noticed that Aesha had fallen behind.

"Yes! Yes, I'm OK! It's just... amazing!!" the woman told him.

"What's amazing?"

"This!! Everything we have done and everything we are doing! Look around you, man! Is this here, right now, not a wonderful moment?" Aesha questioned.

Tahral stopped and turned about, taking in the surrounding scene. He saw the star that Prodosia orbited, the floating wreckage of the Confed ships, and even the brownish blue marble that was the planet below. How the stars surrounded this, and with everything in their respective places, there was a certain level of wonder to the moment.

"You're right! It is a wonderful moment!" Tahral replied, taking in everything he saw with a smile.

With so much to take in, there were times Tahral had forgotten to just sit back and enjoy just being where he was. It wasn't every day that someone from a forgotten civilization like his, got to see all the progress the galaxy had made in their absence. In its own way, it was therapeutic to just stop and take in such things. It made him appreciate everything here even more now.

"C'mon! We should get to those people who are stuck inside the ship, before they run out of air," Tahral told her, reminding Aesha of their duty.

"Yeah, yeah! I'm coming!" Aesha huffed, wanting to stay in the moment a bit longer. Life as an honor guard left her little to aspire to beyond her duty. Now that she had time for herself, Aesha found there was so much more that she wanted to explore! She would have the time, but she had to be more selective of her moments. The woman knew they had a job to do and followed Tahral towards the source of the signal.

"The signal is coming from just ahead!" the man told her.

"Ahead? But that's the hangar that has no atmospheric shields! How could a signal be coming from there?" Aesha queried.

"I don't know, but the closer we go, the stronger the signal gets! Let's keep moving and see what it is we find!" Tahral told as he kept going.

"Be mindful of your footing, Tahral. There are several hull ruptures that dislodged many of the armor plates here!" Jaesa reminded the man as he neared the hangar entrance.

"Thanks, Jaesa! I'm being careful, don't worry!" Tahral reassured the AI.

The pair finally overlooked the entryway into the hangar and, like Aesha had said, it was open to space. There was no atmosphere in it and many bodies littered the space, floating about like they nothing more than trash.

"Something happened here!" Aesha stated as she looked at the bodies.

"What makes you say that?" Tahral asked.

"Look at these people! Many of them sustained wounds, yet no one went to help them! Some even look to be reaching out for something, but I don't know what," the former honor guard told her friend.

"Think they might have been asking for help?" Tahral wondered.

"Begging might be the more appropriate word. Whoever they were begging help from, was disinterested in helping them. From what I can tell, these people might have been left here to die!" Aesha finished, thinking this may have been the case.

"I think you might be right! Look at this!" Tahral told her, pointing at the decking. On it was a trail of blood, crystallized from the cold. They followed the trail, heading towards the door it led to, and as they neared, they could both tell the beacon was getting stronger.

"Think there might be someone on the other side?" Tahral asked.

"I believe so! Try any of the frequencies that Inari told us about! See if we get a response!" Aesha told him. Tahral nodded and tried raising someone on any of the channels. It took four different attempts, but they finally found a signal where someone was asking for help.

"Mayday, mayday! Can anyone out there hear us? This is First Lieutenant Ruusa Chari! We are aboard the Confederacy cruiser Lee's Vengeance! We are in a sealed compartment and need help! Is anyone out there?" came a desperate, feminine voice over the frequency.

"This is Tahral, from the frigate Darkstrider. Can you hear me?" the man asked, hoping the signal was strong enough.

"Oh, thank God!! I was starting to think no one would find us! Are you on your ship close by?" the woman asked.

"I'm in the hangar just outside of your signal's range. My companion and I are wondering if there is any way we can get inside and retrieve you," Tahral told her.

"I... I don't know! I... wait one!" Ruusa told him. Moments later, a male voice came over the frequency.

"Is this the kid outside the door?" the voice asked.

"It... is. May I have your name, sir?" Tahral wondered.

"No need to call me 'sir', kid. I work for a living. Name's Dravek, engineer second class. Do you think you can turn on the atmospheric and gravity field in the hangar?" Dravek questioned.

"I am someone who does study much in the manner of science and how things work, so it shouldn't be too much trouble. How different are your systems compared to those of the UCW?" Tahral asked.

"Not that much different, kid! Stick with what I tell you, and we should be all right!" Dravek stated.

"Hold on! I'm going to let you talk to Aesha, my team member here. You tell her what needs doing and she will relay it to me. The power of your frequency requires one of us to stay close by to be able to hear you!" Tahral told him.

"Fair enough! Ma'am?" Dravek queried, hoping that he wasn't being duped.

"I am here! Just tell me what you need done and I will tell Tahral what to do," Aesha answered.

The trio worked in tandem, with Tahral carrying out his orders and doing what needed to be done. While there were a few hiccups in the transmission of information, it went well enough. Nearly fifteen minutes later, Tahral had completed the bypass needed and reactivated the atmospheric shielding. He then activated the gravity field, and it worked, but he saw the shield protecting the hangar start to fizzle out.

"Damn it! I need to kill the gravity field!" Tahral exclaimed as he disconnected the relevant wires.

"Why? What's happening??" Aesha asked, relaying the question from Dravek.

"It's drawing too much power! If I turn both on, the containment shield will fail and we won't be able to get you out!" Tahral replied as he ambled back to the door.

"Damn! I guess it was a bit much to hope that we'd get the gravity back too! I ain't going to complain, so long as we can get out of here!" Dravek replied.

"Stay there for now! We need to make sure the field will hold long enough for the transport to get here!" Tahral told them.

"Are they coming?" Ruusa asked, worried that they'd be left out there to die.

"I signaled one of the ships out there and they're on their way here now! They'll arrive in six minutes!" Aesha told the woman.

The transport that responded was slowly getting bigger as it neared the hangar. While the containment field was flickering, it held, for now. The ship then turned about and backed into the hangar, slipping through the field with ease. Once it was all the way through, the rear loading ramp lowered, and a transmission came in on the frequency.

"If you kids are ready, bring those people out here before this field fails!" came the voice of Captain Johnson.

"Ruusa, Dravek, open the door! Your ride is here!" Aesha called out. Seconds later, the door slid open, and they came out. Behind them were a group of nearly fifty people they had fished out of collapsed passageways and who had been wounded in the ship's explosion. There was some startlement at the fact that Tahral and Aesha were aliens, but no one focused on it for long.

"Come on, you lot! That field won't hold forever! Move!" Ruusa barked, as she helped a wounded Dravek out. They used the zero gravity to bound into the ship and to safety. Every other Confed soldier, officer and crew member did the same, wasting as little time as possible to get to the ship. It was nearly done when Tahral saw the field was collapsing. He pushed everyone to hurry, hoping that there would be enough time!

"Aesha, help me!" Tahral told her and she nodded. They seized the last four people who were lagging behind because of their wounds and launched them into the ship. Their aim was spot on, as some of the more able-bodied Confeds helped pull them in.

"Close the hatch, captain! We have everyone!" Tahral stated as he checked the compartment and found no one left behind.

"Copy that!" the man over the line said as he closed the rear loading ramp mere seconds before the field collapsed. The pair were fine, as they still had their suits on, so them floating about in the airless void of space was fine.

With the people onboard, Tahral and Aesha were glad that they were able to save those people's lives. They may have been their enemies earlier that day, but that didn't mean they could be just left out here to die. No one deserved such a fate. Soon after, the pair launched themselves towards the waiting ship and latched onto it. They headed for the airlock and, after a word from the captain, let themselves into the ship.

"Damn! That was some quick thinking, you two! Any longer and the containment field might not have held!" Johnson told the pair.

"I'm just glad that we were able to save some lives today!" Aesha stated with a smile.

"Ummm... excuse me? Captain?" came the voice of Ruusa Chari. The three of them, along with several crew members, turned to face the woman. Some glared at the woman, while others fingered their weapons, looking to gun the woman down. A few even went so far as to growl at her, but she wasn't fazed, knowing full well the hate there was for the people and ideology she served.

"Yes? What is it?" the man questioned, fixing the woman with a look of wry amusement.

"I have some information that you and those above you will want to know," Ruusa told him.

"What kind of information?" he asked.

"Information about someone who got away."

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"Hold on a sec! What?!? Oh... my... FUCK!!!" Inari cursed as she listened to what she was being told over the comms line.

"Love?? What is it? What's the matter?" Priya asked as she hurried over to the woman.

"Apparently, someone got away!" Inari blurted, sharing the information with everyone there.

"Who? Who got away?" Alex questioned, his face one of puzzlement and worry.

"Sawyer. He apparently grabbed a bunch of people who could still stand, had them get on a frigate and bailed from the Lee's Vengeance!" Inari fumed, angry that someone like him had slipped through their fingers.

"Oh, fuck me!!" Zuzanna sighed as she put her hand to her head, processing this information.

"This Sawyer character getting away is bad, right?" Matthias asked, not fully aware of what the man had been up to.

"It's pretty damned bad, since he was the man that Sargol reported to! Everything that Sargol knew, he knows!" Alex told him.

"Oh... shit!! I'd say what you said accurately sums up the situation!" Matthias said to Zuzanna.

"Yeah! I'd say that Sawyer getting away could very well prompt a direct response from the Confederacy!" Natalya groused, not liking the situation one bit!

"Sounds like we're going to have to be careful at neutral ports for the foreseeable future! Was at least hoping we'd stay off the radar a bit longer!" Alex grumbled.

"Well... I think you may well be off the radar. In an official capacity, at any rate," Zuzanna told them.

"What do you mean by that?" Priya asked.

"My knowledge of Sawyer is dated, but from what I understand and going by the story that Lieutenant Ruusa told us, he hasn't changed much," Zuzanna suggested.

"How has he not changed?" Inari asked, hoping this was going into an avenue they could handle.

"According to the lieutenant, with what the engineer told her, Sawyer is a ruthless and efficient machine. He does things he wants at his own pace and expects no one to stand in his way. Sawyer was the very same way back when I knew him. The only real change is that he's become more direct, dropping the niceties. At least in the field," Zuzanna told them.

"And this helps us... how?" Shazza asked, her concern about being hunted apparent.

"It means that if he hasn't changed, then the information he has, he will likely keep to himself. If this is the case, then the Confederacy itself won't be hunting you. At least, not before he starts his own hunt," Zuzanna told them.

"So, you're saying that he won't inform his superiors about this? About us?" Alex asked.

"About the Darkstrider and your ship's capabilities? That cat is out of the bag. The Confeds will come after you and your crew, but only for the tech and the advantages it will bring. They will likely have no idea about the powers... can I call them powers?... that you lot have access to. That little tidbit of information he will be keeping for himself," Zuzanna replied.

"Why would he do that?" Korsa asked.

"Simple. Sawyer was all about being the one who knows the most and holding all the cards he wants and needs. He'd rather be the one who could manipulate his way to the top, rather than anyone having the same advantages he does. He never liked a level playing field on anything," Zuzanna informed them.

"So, our abilities are safe for now. What sort of methods do you think Sawyer would employ to get to us?" Kasumi questioned, wondering what sort of fight this was going to be.

"Mercenaries and bounty hunters are the most likely route he'd take. With the connections that he and his family have, it is likely that he is probably assessing who to send after you," Zuzanna stated.

"Well, if he's going to send hunters and mercs after us, then we may have a bit of time. Last I checked, hiring such people can be quite expensive," Inari said, breathing a little easier.

"I'm afraid that's not the case," Zuzanna told them with a wince.

"What do you mean?" Korsa questioned.

"The Sawyer family, they're rich. When I say rich, I mean ruinously rich! Like, enough to buy an entire solar system rich!! Being one of the founding families of the modern day Confederacy has allowed them to consolidate their wealth to such a level where few in the galaxy can hope to match their level!" Zuzanna replied.

"Damn it! Well, this certainly complicates things! With what the Confeds will learn about us, you know that information like this won't stay secret for long. Knowing that, it won't be too long until it's not the just the Confederacy that's after us," Alex growled.

"Do you think the other groups might come for us as well?" Shazza asked, not liking where this train of thought was leading.

"They probably will! The tech alone is worth any sort of risk! You remember what happened at Veldhern? With the Collective?" Alex put forward, reminding everyone there of the cluster fuck they narrowly avoided.

"He's right! If the Collective went to such lengths to try to get their hands on... what we have, then who knows what the others would be capable of, just to get to it first?" Natalya agreed, backing Alex up on this point.

"Wait, wait, wait!!! Are you telling me that the rumor about the Collective being involved in a plot to take Veldhern was real?!?" Zuzanna gasped, shocked that such things happened.

"Yup. Lot of people there who the UCW thought were trustworthy turned out to be traitors, loyal to the Collective!" Inari informed her former girlfriend.

"Fuck!! I thought that shit only happened in the holovids or those spy novels that are out there!" Zuzanna breathed, still coming to terms with the concept.

"Well, it happens in real life, Zuzie. A shit ton more than people think!" Inari told the woman.

"And... and you... all of you... were there when it happened?" Zuzanna asked, looking over all of them with disbelieving eyes.

"Yup! Gunned down quite a few of those turncoats who tried to kill us!" Alex rumbled as he remembered the fight they faced not too long ago.

"Regardless of what's happened, and who may or may not be against us at the moment, I have an idea on how to lessen our problems somewhat," Priya piped up, catching everyone's attention.

"Well? Let's hear it!" Alex demanded.

"Since Inari and I are hunters, we can go and see a local guild magistrate and hope that we can get ourselves an audience with the Council," Priya suggested.

"Hold on... OH!!! You know, I think that might work!!" Inari said with a grin as her mind put the puzzle together.

"The Council? Who are the Council?" Kasumi wondered.

"The Council are the ones that run the entire Guild of Bounty Hunters. They are former hunters themselves, all of whom are not only seasoned warriors, but cunning negotiators and skilled diplomats. If we can get an audience with them, we might be able to convince them to Blacklist us and our ship from being accepted as a bounty," Inari informed them.