"She was… supposed to be there only a few months. She… and our grandmother got mad with each other, and… Well, you know how she is."
"Calm down. You are not making any sense." Sara and Lila were now on the ample kitchen of the first, as the redhead offered the mokshan some sophoxian tea. "Have some. Those pusillanimous philosophers are surprisingly good with relaxing beverages. And will make you a little warmer."
"T-thanks." Lila answered taking the cup between her hands, still titillating even without her wet clothes, and in a warm bathrobe.
"Good girl. Now take a moment to relax, ok? I will be back on a moment."
"Ok."
Just as Sara left the kitchen, she found Mavuto on the hall, putting on his jacket as he finished dressing before departing.
"Sorry to kick you out this way. But something has obviously startled my friend a lot, and she is not comfortable around strangers. I have called Xabarín to lead you to one of my safe houses. You could sleep there for what remains of the night."
"Oh, it's no problem. I understand. And I understand that you don't want a complete stranger putting an ear on your private dealings. So no polite lies are needed."
"Well, now I don't know if that makes me feel worse or better about it." Sara joked.
"Was that Lila Mhasalkar that you lead to the bathroom when you told me I had to leave, by the way?"
"Oh, wouldn't you want to know? That kind of information requires a price."
"I already had been paying it, haven't I?" said before grabbing her by the waist to kiss her.
"Hey, hey. Don't assume that because you have given me a night of incredible carnal pleasure I'm going to be soft on you." she said half jokingly, but palpating his biceps without dissimulation. "Leave now before I change my mind about how I feel about this night."
"Well, then. Until later, Miss Ferreira. It has been a pleasure."
Just as Mavuto left by the door to the club, Sara sighed, and went back with the young rich lady.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"Good." said sitting to her side on the stools next to the counter. "Now, tell me more calmly, and chronologically. What has happened to Nisha?"
"Well, it was… it began just the day after we last saw you. When you were called out of our…" she blushed, just as Sara dedicated her a charming roguish smile. "Our last meeting. The thing about those scratches, I think I heard? Anyway. After that, I think grandma Kamala might have started suspecting something. I don't know what, because I wasn't there when she and Nisha started arguing. All I know is from the word of one of the servants on the villa. Apparently, grandma had decided that it was time we learned to be "more responsible", as she always likes to put it. So she sent Nisha to Rodina for a time. So she could learn the dealings of the executive branch of the company there. To "value discipline", our grandma said."
"Weird she didn't send you with her."
"That's the other part. She also said that we needed to learn to not depend so much in one another. So she simply put me under her own surveillance and tutorage. That's why I haven't contacted you in the last weeks. Sorry. My grandmother didn't…"
"Don't worry about it, pequerrecha." said moving a lock of hair out of Lila's face. "Tell me about your sister. Did something happened to her?"
"That's… that's why I came here as soon as I could. We… we just heard the news. The… the video call from the company, and the note… the note from the kidnappers."
"Kidnappers?" Sara said with concern.
"Yes, they… Someone entered into her apartment on Rodina. No one on the company knows how. They said the door hadn't been forced or anything, but… I didn't care to listen, I…"
"Chist. It's ok." said sweeping away the tears on Lila's cheeks. "What else?"
"Then… then we received the message. Well, my grandma did. From one of her private channels with the company. They… they said they were the kidnappers. My grandma wasn't sure to believe them, but there was a photo in it, and…" she could no longer talk without interruption of her tears. "Nisha… be banaia."
Sara moved to her feet, and simply hugged her, trying to bring comfort. Even if she wasn't very good at it and, quite frankly, she felt almost as distressed as her friend right now. It took various minutes of Lila's sweeping before Sara could set herself apart from her, and let her talk again.
"I'm sorry."
"It's ok. But tell me? What was on the picture? Did they hurt her?"
To Sara's mind, came horrific images of what she had seen done to young men and women by human traffickers on Moksha. Never had she done deals with one, neither had she forgiven their lives. If these kidnappers had done something even remotely similar to Nisha, they wouldn't die. They would live. As long as was medically possible to keep a human body breathing.
"No, no. She seemed… scared. Confused. But she didn't seem harmed. And the note said they wouldn't harm her as long as our grandmother…"
"Money, isn't it? How much?"
Lila denied with her head.
"No. No money. They only want two things. For my grandma to resign as CEO of the Aurora Trade Company… and to sell and divide her shares among the board of directors."
Sara angrily clenched her fists. She loved Moksha. Vaikunta allowed for more personal freedoms than any other place of the GTU. But for other things, that lack of supervision completely revulsed her.
"A hostile takeover then."
Lila's silence only corroborated the answer. Sara let out a tired sigh, trying to keep herself composed.
"How many time did they gave you?"
"They… they simply said until the next meeting of the board for the financial assessment of the ATC with the Department of Interstellar Trade representatives. That's the only moment when the positions on the high board can be changed, with the joint authorization of the Aurora Commissariat and the DIT. And… that's not until after six terran months."
"Good. So. What's Kamala's plan?"
"How… how do you know she had one."
"Because I know two things to be immutable truths about her. First, she is ruthless, and second, she loves her family more than anything else. I guess since this is from inside the company, she can't send her usual operatives, or word could get out to the responsables. She probably has already her own suspects on the board. People that might had tried to struggle control off her before. But she also might be wrong. The smart thing would be to assume anyone could be involved, and trust no one. So, she will need new agents for that. I can provide you a list, if you want. I don't have contacts on Rodina, but…"
"No, that's not needed. That's… that's the reason why she sent me here."
Now, that was a total surprise.
"She sent you here? To me?" repeated, still confused, but sure that Lila would not joke about something like that in a situation like this. "Why?"
"Because she wants you to go and rescue Nisha."
"I thought of you, exactly because of our animosity. No one will think I would dare to trust you with something like this. But at the same time, I know you have grown… close, to my granddaughters. And you tend to keep your word on deals. So I also know you would be the last person to betray me… to betray Nisha, if things got complicated."
Sara could not believe this. Just after giving Lila a place to rest, and after the morning reached its peak, Kamala Mhasalkar herself had come to her closed club just as the workers were finishing cleaning up the place, accompanied only by her more trusted bodyguard. A human guy as tall and broad as Xabarín, being both of them now waiting behind the seats of their respective bosses, just as the two women talked on Ferreira's office.
Kamala had a very young appearance, even for a person in her eighties. Granted, now that life expectancy for many was around more than a 120 years, that also meant that she had the equivalent age of a person of pre-Tyrum Terra in her early fifties. But even then, the old woman had seemingly taken care of her appearance.
The obvious age lines on her face were softer than most. Her light brown skin battered by the inclement suns of Vaikuntha was clean and polished. And her short hair tight on a braid only started to show now a few lines of gray hair. That was the first clue for Sara to realize that woman wasn't even using makeup to hide her age. Only to look well. She had kept her good appearance by sheer force of will, and a high healthcare level. But even then, not even said makeup was able to hide the utter dead coldness of her eyes.
Sara would actually be enjoying having a Mhasalkar begging for her help, if it wasn't for Nisha's situation.
"Don't worry with the explanations. Lila already gave me the details. But what I'm getting from this?"
"I thought you wanted to save Nisha." Kamala said with an almost condescending tone.
"And I do. But you big business types always liked getting people to work for you for free. And that's simply not happening with me."
"Then you will get paid. That's not an inconvenience." an interactive holoscreen lighted up from Kamala's wrist band, as she started making transactions through it. "I can also provide you with any means necessary to carry out your investigation. Being credits, or…"
"I need a new smart. Full with a false identity, and a false high citizen tier. My tier is high enough to travel off planet to practically wherever I want, so it would not be against my rights to be found on Rodina. But as you said, it would be better to be discrete."
"Permit me to put in doubt your tier proclaim." Kamala said expressionless, without moving her eyes from the screen.
"Hey, what can I say? Down here, you only need to make Terra a couple of services form time to time, and your criminal record keeps mostly clean. But can you provide?"
"Absolutely." said closing the screen. "My bodyguard will deliver you the smart and the physical documents needed as soon as they are ready. Not later than midday. I can also give you a ticket in a cruiser…"
"No, thank you." Sara denied. "I would also prefer a more discrete means of travel. The one kind that would allow me to leave planet unnoticed, so sharks don't start swimming around my territory smelling blood that isn't there. That, I can get myself."
"Very well. If that is your desire. But before anything else, I must ask: how is your russian?"
"I grew up in military and private academies. I know all six main languages of Terra. Spanish is my second native tongue. Like anyone living in Moksha, I have become quite accustomed to hindi. And I have a lot of practice with english due to my time along Ryan's Raiders. Russian, I lack practice, but can defend myself in it."
"Good. It would be an embarrassment if I sent you there without knowing a thing. I don't think we have anything more to discuss here and now." Kamala said moving to her feet. "But I will say this. You will bring my granddaughter without harm, and without tarnishing my family reputation more than you already had done so. And this is a fact, not a suggestion, neither an order. Because if you don't, your name will be the next one to be forgotten. Along your remains."
"I guarantee you. If something happens to Nisha because my inadequacies." Sara looked up, smiling. "I will come to you myself."
In a weird moment that Sara thought might had been an hallucination, she saw the old lady smile to her, just as she and her bodyguard were departing.
"Xabarín, accompany them to the exit, please. Oh. And take Lila to home when she wakes up."
Her loyal wessari enforcer did as asked, just as he always did. Just then, Sara pulled out her smart, and made a call, destined to solve her transportation problem.
"Kaur? It's me, Sara. I needed a favor, if you could… Thank you. Tell me. Are any of your art smugglers departing to Rodina soon? Like, today soon?"
A metallic knock on the sliding door of the passengers cabin. Sara waked up on the last day of that small ship route to Rodina, in a tight cabin reserved for passengers. Finally, she had learned to remember to keep her head low when moving out of the bunk.
"Time to move, pretty. We are passing the orbit of the exterior planets soon."
Sara groaned in acceptance. She still hadn't grow accustomed to the stench of the ship, or the liberal use the crew made of the word hygiene. But Kaur said they were good at their jobs, and that's all Sara needed.
Also, now she owed Kaur a favour. A favour that the mokshan had made Sara promise she would pay up with a night on a casino in Lobha, and a weekend on a resort lost in the mountains, but with the hope of never getting out of their room. Sara thought to herself that if keeping up with the stench for a couple of weeks was all she had to do effectuate that kind of payment, then she had a pretty sweet life.
And just as you think your life is getting nicer, that's normally when the hull of the ship you are traveling in start shakings with heavy impacts, and the illumination goes off just as only the red emergency lights remain lit.
"Merda."
Angry at having her moment for a shower interrupted, but in part thanking it due to the previously mentioned lack of hygiene, Sara simply calmly got dressed up, and picked her guns from the place she had kept them hidden. Them, simply turned over the metallic desk on the room to its side, making a shield between her and the door.
Because she recognized the "boarding party attack" signs when she heard them.
With the emergency lights up, there was a possibility the door was locked, so she prefered to make her stance there. Just as she was finishing her preparations, and after a heavy clank over the hull, the gunfire and cries of terror started. Then, rapidly started dying out.
A couple more of minutes later, she could heard the steps at the other side of the door, and the voices of people talking in a language she didn't understood, but that even then, sounded familiar.
After the sound of a burst of electricity, the sliding door opened. Sara was still hiding behind the table, only knowing what was happening by ear. But just as she heard the door moving, she just closed her eyes and covered her ears, right as the characteristic sound of a flashbang grenade filled the room.
She opened her eyes, feeling the steps of at least two individuals speaking in that unknown but familiar voice coming closer. And as she counted their steps, and thought they were close enough, she kicked the table towards them to call their attention to it, and fired once each gun.
For all that well that those black stylized armours and space helmets may had protected them before, they were like butter to Sara's guns. More so at this short distance. Before the two bodies reached the ground, Sara jumped over the turned table, pulling her guns back to their holsters, and taking a closer look at their rifles. They were of an unknown model to her. Probably xeno. But they would work either way.
She was relieved this was neither a patrol ship of the local police and customs officers of Rodina, or the ICA. Still, they seemed extremely well equipped for normal pirates, and she didn't knew how big was the ship that had captured them, nor the size of the boarding party. But big or small, she had clear she wasn't going to sell her life cheap. And if that didn't work… well. She can try negotiating later.
Sara picked up the gun of what seemed to be the male pirate, and looked at the indicator of the munition level. It was full. He either didn't shot, or he loaded up just before entering the room. Either way, it could not be better for her.
Sara could feel the steps running down the hall. So she put her back against the frame of the door, waiting for them to turn around the corner at the end of the short corridor. She could hear them running, and probably cursing. Suddenly, the steps stopped. Sara thought they were just taking positions, so she prepared herself, and pointed towards the corridor. Just as an armored head leaned out of the corner to take a quick look, a short burst of bullets shattered the glass plate of her helmet. Then Sara took a step inside the room, and waited for the sudden shoot out of her comrades following.
This was bad. They seemed well trained, and disciplined. They didn't waste too much ammunition on suppression fire, or in shots that they knew most probably wouldn't hit any targets, and didn't seem to run headfirst in situations of danger, even if they might have been worried for their companions. Also, if they had the same equipment as their dead friends, they could flush her out of the room easily with another flashbang, or a shock grenade. So, she needed a new plan.
Just as that first round of suppressing fire ended, and could hear their muffled voices in that unknown but familiar language again, probably discussing if they should try to advance or not, Sara grabbed one of the bodies by the arm, and dragged it near the door.
She let it sitting on the floor, with it's back leaning against the wall. Then, she prepared to shoot with the rifle again, but this time, without leaning out the door to aim, and without worrying about hitting a target. Instead of a controlled burst like before, she kept shooting until almost emptying the gun, with the objective of preventing them of looking down the corridor.
Eventually, as she expected, one of them also shooted without looking, trying to suppress her own fire, or to land a lucky shot. When that happened, Sara stopped shooting, and after a moment, let out the most convincing groan of pain she could.
"Uhnnn..."
Sara loudly let the heavy rifle fall of her hands against the metallic floor of the cabin. And to make surer, pushed the body she had moved with a kick, letting it fall against the floor again, making a heavy enough noise thanks to the armour.
She contained her breath, hoping her deception had worked. After a few orders were exchanged, she felt the coordinated and watchful steps of the assault group moving down the hall. It was difficult to known how many were they without seeing them directly, or to have time to count with how short the corridor was. But by the sound of their feet, they seemed to be three. Four, as much.
She hidded herself behind one side of the door, hoping the bodies would call the attention of whoever entered first too much time for their own good. As that happened, with the first man entering pointing his weapon low, she extended her arm, and another bullet went through one of those stylized opac helmets.
But that was as far as she went. Because as she moved out of position to shoot at the objectives following him, probably remaining a man and a woman due to the distinct form of their armours, the second one moved her head out of the way with almost lightning like speed, and thanks to the short distance separating them, moved forward to push the other pistol of Sara, now pointing at her companion, out of aim.
Slightly impressed by her skill, and before she could react back, the end of the back of the hand of the female pirate went up against her chin, making her almost bit her tongue, and feel the iron like sabour of blood in her mouth.
But Sara got to recover before the next side punch, covering her head with her right arm. With the only important effect being that she got her ribs exposed for a kick from the same side. Before the redhead could get her breath back, the pirate enwrapped Sara's left arm with her own, painfully pressing it backwards to make her drop the gun. Angered, Sara simply moved her head forwards, hitting the black glass plate of the pirate's helmet with the forehead.
Now her head hurted, and the glass only got cracked and not shattered. But it was enough to cloud the pirate's vision. Wanting to return the favour, Sara kicked her near the ribs with the knee. But with the space combat armour, Sara only hurted her knee, and to get the pirate out of breath for a moment. That's all she needed.
With her other gun somehow still fiercely gripped by her right hand, Sara pointed the end of the canon against the helmet. But before she could pull the trigger, another one of those helmets flew through the air, to hit Sara directly in her now bleeding head.
It didn't knock her outright, but was enough to get her to drop the gun, dizzy and struggling to keep her feet. Just as she was about to fall backwards, someone grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her near before enveloping her by the waist.
"We finally got you."
With her vision still dizzy, Sara got to see a face. Wearing the armour of the pirates, a beautiful man with sharp thin features, long black hair, pointy ears slightly covered by it, clear and shining blue eyes with black sclera, and that smelled really good. And in her state, after that hard hit to the head, her response almost seemed proper for a drunk person.
"Yes. You got me. Let's go to my room." said before finally passing out.
