Chapter Twenty-Five
***Kyllian***
The day the ship was due to dock finally rolled around and Kyllian and his operatives, mostly derelicts, congregated together to forge a plan on how they would get onto the ship. There was an undisclosed number of women aboard the ship and Kyllian had no way of knowing if they could save them all, but he was intent on trying. He grabbed a drab, charcoal gray robe and pulled it over his head, taking care to wrap his orange hair up to keep anyone from recognizing him. The disguise worked well and seemed to align with what most of the space pirates would have worn, which set off a light in Kyllian’s mind when it came to ideas.
“The best way I think to do this is to pretend we are part of the crew,” Kyllian looked at Tann, the undercover space officer who had agreed to bring the derelicts to him for the venture.
“Right, that’s what I thought we would do,” Tann replied.
“How many planets do you think they’ve trafficked them from?” Kyllian asked, trying to get an idea on how many women they were going to move.
“I’m not sure. They’re saying something like eight or ten. I imagine they’re all going to be different and some might not speak English,” Tann said.
“Yeah,” Kyllian agreed, “Okay, guys, does everyone have their disguise worked out? It’s about time to get to the port,” he said. Tann raised his hand and waved toward the crowd.
“It’s time to move out, guys. Everybody, suit up!” he encouraged, as the rest of the group adjusted their disguises and lined up. Tann and Kyllian took the lead, and they all began to walk toward the port with one thing on their minds: saving the innocent women who were being sold like cattle.
Tann and Kyllian approached the port and noticed the vessel in place, watching the pirates walking around and in and out of the ship’s hull closely before they decided to approach. “Hey,” Tann called out to the first pirate he noticed: a burly and tall man with a shining bald head.
“Hey, what?” the man called.
“Where you need us for unloading?” he asked. “The mayor sent us down,” he added for good measure. The pirate scoffed and wiped under his nose, looking over him and Kyllian with suspicion and annoyance.
“Head inside. Davos will tell you what he needs you to do,” he said. Tann and Kyllian walked into the hull, acting like they owned the place with a cocky demeanor to their walk, but it was all part of the act they needed to put on to succeed at what they were about to do. Tann finally found another pirate standing at a wrought iron gate where the cargo was kept.
“Who are you?” he asked, looking over them both with a sneer.
“Mayor sent us down to help with the shipment transport,” Tann said with an air of authority in his voice.
“Ah, okay, well let me show you to the first compartment then,” the pirate said. “Name’s Davos. What’re yer’s?” he asked. Tann looked at Kyllian as if to say don’t say anything and piped up.
“Goff and Trae. I’m Goff, this here’s Trae. He doesn’t talk much,” Tann said, giving Kyllian the privilege of keeping his mouth shut and maintaining his secrecy.
“Oh, I know one like that. One of these girls in here. She had her tongue ripped out of her mouth for getting bratty, but I don’t think she will do it again.” He chuckled as he opened the door to the first compartment. Row after row of cages lined the walls, and inside of each of them, at least two women sat. It took everything in Kyllian’s power not to just start ripping the doors off each cage, but he knew he had to maintain his cool in order to successfully accomplish his mission.
“Oh, yeah? Do you have to do that often? I sure hope not. I don’t like blood all over my hands for no reason,” Tann said, trying to level with Davos.
“No, we make an example of them. ‘Sides, if we did it all the time they wouldn’t be too good for the client,” he said matter-of-factly. “You know how it is. Some of us like a good tonguing from time to time, eh?” Davos remarked, elbowing Tann playfully as Kyllian scanned the rows of cages. He counted the girls mentally and realized there were twelve of them altogether, which was a little less than he had expected, but then he recalled this was just compartment one.
“So, what you need me to do?” Davos asked them.
“Oh, you can go watch the front. We’re going to get them out and bring them out in a line to get into transport,” Tann said. Davos nodded and scratched his head.
“Well, don’t get too hands-on with them. They’re ‘spose to be as unmarred as possible. Mayor’s instructions,” he said, winking at the two. Kyllian nodded and knelt to unlatch the first cage that held two pretty girls who couldn’t be much older than sixteen or seventeen at most. They both had matted black hair and almond-shaped eyes and one of them inched further toward the wall behind her as he opened the door.
“Come on, come out,” he said, offering his hand to the closest girl, “What is your name?” he asked her. The girl looked back at him and nervously spoke up.
“Hivana. I am from Brackys,” she said, in an accent that Kyllian could not quite place.
“Brackys?” he asked, uncertain of the name or if it were a planet known by a different name in English, “Is that an English-speaking planet?” he asked. Hivana shook her head.
“No, but I was an interpreter in my country,” she said. “I interpreted for my statesmen to forge diplomacy between English-speaking planets and ourselves,” she said. Kyllian looked back at the girl behind her and nodded.
“And what about her? Who is she?” he asked.
“She is my sister,” Hivana replied. “She does not speak English, but her name is Isana,” she explained.
“Hivana and Isana. What happened to you?” he asked, looking back at Tann who had opened the cage directly across from him to begin speaking to two other girls, each who looked entirely different from the other, but both spoke English.
