Chapter 9
Melgara stepped outside, her pockets heavy and laden with more than a few things she had prepared lately.
As she got that fresh breath of air, more than a few eyes settled onto her, though she had expected as much.
She stood there staring into the sky, letting a few people circle around her before she turned to address them.
Three humans, a kikai, a liche, and even a sanguafae circled around her. Just ‘watching’, they would certainly claim as she played through a quick branching scenario of what would happen when she confronted them. However, she knew that wasn't true.
“What are you doing loitering around here?” Melgara said distastefully.
"I don't know what you're talking about, lady," one of them said, kicking off the wall. "But if you want to go somewhere, I'm sure we could find you somewhere more comfortable than that to stay." He pointed his chin at the building Melgara had just come from.
Perhaps he knew the former occupants.
"Oh, that's fine." She smiled. "I find that place to be actually quite comfortable.
I have no need to change. However, you"—she pointed at two of the humans—"were at the market stalls today.
And you"—she pointed at the liche—"are ugly enough that you should never take on urban scout work, much less do so to deal with someone like me. "
She eyed them. "I am Melgara Nagaree." She said her full name, staring at those who were so clearly keeping an eye on their group, and gauged their reactions slowly.
She noted that as she said her full name, there was no reaction.
They weren't here for her, and she wasn't sure if that was a relief or not.
"Listen, lady, we're just idling in the street. There's nothing wrong with that. We also live here, so what if you saw us at the market?" one of them insisted.
She stuck her hand in her pocket, smiling. "Of course not, if you were just idling here. But I suppose there's no way I'm going to convince you to admit otherwise, is there?" She paused. "You want to know something interesting?"
They shifted; now all of their focus was on her by the way their hips and shoulders moved. It was a subtle sign of aggression. It didn’t matter what race you were, focusing on the target was just a basic instinct before a conflict.
Melgara felt one of the objects in her pocket and settled her decision on it.
"Most sentient creatures share some level of biology.
Things like carbon being the perfect foundation.
Most species have a carbon base. And almost all genetic material is presented in a helical format on a nitrogen backbone. "
"Listen, lady, we're not here for a biology lesson."
"Oh no, it's just interesting. Because when there are enough similarities, there are of course concoctions that can affect a far range of species, though in very different manners."
Several of those present began stepping back and away from Melgara. Not that she blamed them. She continued to play with the objects in her pocket.
"Just grab her," the sanguafae said. Like the rest of her species, she was beautiful enough that Melgara didn't want to get the captain involved. He seemed to be rather quick to fall in love, at least if Liliana was any example.
Though at least this one needed a wash and a new set of clothes—there was no saving them after those stains.
As they all moved, many of them reaching for blasters at their hips, Melgara was quicker, dropping a vial of compressed neurotoxin.
There was enough CO2 in there that it was a miracle the vial hadn't spontaneously shattered in her pocket.
The second it landed, a small cloud of vapor exploded in every direction.
Several of them jumped back, trying to cover their mouths, but Melgara just put her hand back in her pocket as the world began to sway gently.
As they coughed, several stumbled, and then the sanguafae lurched forward fast enough that Melgara wouldn't have been able to do anything if the sanguafae had acted before she had begun her plans.
The sanguafae froze several inches from Melgara's face, hands stretched forward as if she had been ready to take a swipe at her. Blood blades grew from under her nails that would have ripped Melgara’s blindfold and exposed her eyes to such a foul creature.
"Did you not listen to me before? So many of our species share similar biology. It's honestly fascinating." Melgara pulled a syringe out. "Unfortunately for you, I'm not in the mood to take any chances with a sanguafae."
She jabbed the vial into the sanguafae's neck.
"Your species is utterly fascinating. The ability to assimilate any female of any race is a biological miracle.
" She squeezed the plunger down, dark liquid flowing in.
"However, I often find your people have a very strange reaction to a few chemicals.
Whatever you do during the assimilation makes you quite susceptible to anticoagulants to the point that your body goes as far as to lose cellular cohesion if a high enough dose is applied. "
The sanguafae let out a strangled warble as her throat went first. Her beautiful face suddenly sagged, and fluid sacs began to deteriorate as her body began to break down. “Who… a-are you?” the sanguafae asked as she fell to her knees and continued to come apart.
"I informed you when you first arrived," Melgara said, "because I was concerned you were here for me. I don't take great pride in announcing myself at every turn."
Melgara only smirked as the sanguafae crumpled to the ground, her body losing cohesion.
In the next several minutes she would likely become little more than a puddle inside a flesh sack.
A brutal fate, and not one that Melgara necessarily wished on anyone.
But she also didn't much care for people watching them.
"Wait—" one of the humans said, through chattering teeth. "We aren’t here for you. We are here for the kikai."
"Which kikai?" she asked, though she already had a good idea.
"Tiri," one of them said. "Green hair. We've got a job to put her down."
"And for that, my friend, you will be allowed to survive.
" Melgara smiled. Brutally killing that sanguafae really loosened their lips. So as the captain suspected, Tiri’s communication with her company would have a negative effect.
The question now was: had someone intercepted her communication and sent these thugs, or was the whole company against her?
There was a relieved sigh from the human that pulled Melgara from her thoughts. "However, I do not know if you will entirely thank me for that later." She pulled out another syringe just as Lily came out the front door, closing it behind her and scowling at Melgara.
"What are you doing?" the helivore said with narrowed eyes, and the thugs flinched back from her. There was a time that Melgara had wished she possessed such a physically imposing presence. However, that desire was a childish one and long gone.
"Lily, I don't believe I have any need to explain myself to you," she said, then looked at the people before her. "However, I will do so if you help me carry a few of these back to the ship."
"Ship?" Lily’s frown deepened.
"Yes." Melgara turned to the human, took another syringe out, and plunged it into his neck. He spasmed, twitched, and fell to the ground.
Lily didn't so much as react. The others would have been running for their lives if they could move. But it seemed she already understood the situation. Once again, Melgara found herself enamoured with Lily and what she was.
"I assume you heard everything," Melgara said, staring back at Lily.
"They're here for Tiri. And you want parts for the experiments? I assume these are the ones we discussed previously?" Lily asked.
"The very same, though we'll start with small things, of course. Liver, kidneys, oh, we can’t forget the heart. I think their brains are a waste, though." Melgara shook her head.
"Of course," Lily said, in complete agreement. "Then I can assume the women and non-humans are no longer necessary?"
There was a slight edge of jealousy in Lily's gaze as she grabbed the human woman and put her up against the building.
Paralyzed as she was, there was nothing the woman could do as dark tendrils of mycelial network reached out from the wall, shifted some of the planks, and slowly began to drag her inside.
"Do as you wish." Melgara waved. "Just these two.”
Lily kept moving. “Good. I need plenty more energy. Burrowing underneath so much of this ground has been troublesome. Too many foundations to work around."
***
Duchess Calise Lofroyt still found herself stuck in the small Wolf's Cave station as she reviewed the Veritas systems. More and more holes could be poked through the records, not to mention her secondary goal of looking through everything related to the members of her fiancé's ship.
She ran a hand through her golden curls, catching one lock and twirling it around her finger while she read.
Calise looked up from where she had been reviewing information to stare at the two nobles chained before her. "So you have no idea who or what this is," she said, pointing to several images floating behind her.
"As we said before, there is no connection between the people he has hired to run his ship and us," Gret Valcrest begged with snot running down his face.
The duchess needed to understand everything before she could report to the empire, and there was one massive hole in her understanding.
Primarily, she needed to explain the figure shown.
Silver hair, a pale complexion, and pointed ears was a combination that didn't match any known race, not to mention black sclera and glowing irises.
The duchess found a headache forming every time she looked at the image.
A completely unknown race was troubling, to say the least.