Chapter 550: We're Getting Out
The moment the guy hit the ground, Mara was flying towards me and I found myself being lifted off the ground and flung away.
I thought she wanted to finish him off or something when the ground near the supposedly unconscious guy suddenly collapsed into a crater, its size large enough to cover where I had been and also where Mara was.
"We have to leave, Captain…" Mara whispered.
"What's happening with him?"
"It's one of our instinctive defensive abilities that my family has trained us in. If any of us is knocked unconscious, we create a gravitational bubble around us that crushes anything inside it. While that happens, we're practically invulnerable as even laser weapons would have their paths diverted. If you don't kill us immediately, you'll need to wait until we regain consciousness again to try again."
"So your brother…"
"He's doing that right now, yes."
"But that's fine right? He's unconscious?"
"We don't stay unconscious for very long, Captain… He'll probably wake up in a minute or so… And I believe he will not be letting you go after he wakes up… We need to leave this station right now."
Great… I should have insisted he transfer the Credits to me first…
Mara flew towards the other girls who were still hiding in the bushes and landed there with me.
"Time to go, everyone. We need to get out of here! Once we get to the ship, set a course for that system on that treasure map!" I ordered.
They didn't need me to say it twice before they were on their feet and we were sprinting towards the lift to bring us down to our ship.
We were a few metres away from the lifts before a roar came from behind which was then followed by an explosion of debris being flung in every direction.
That guy must be pretty pissed that we ran away.
When we got there, it seemed like we weren't the only ones trying to get out as there were several people crowding around the lifts. I'm assuming these were the residents of this Ring who were awoken by the sounds of fighting and decided to escape.
The guards were also facilitating everyone's evacuation as they ushered everyone into the lifts.
Some of the residents were demanding to know what was going on and the guards simply told them that there were Nobles fighting in the garden and they shut up really quickly.
Even with all the money you have, if a Noble decided to kill you, there was absolutely nothing anyone could do.
Thankfully, there were enough lifts so we didn't have to wait long before all of us were stuffed inside an elevator with several others who were wearing their pyjamas.
They got off at the second Ring while we remained inside, the lift carrying us down to the Ring where our ship was docked.
News seemed to travel pretty fast because we already saw some station guards moving around and several of them warning people that the first Ring was off limits right now.
We ignored everyone and headed directly for our ship, squeezing past the crowd while keeping our heads down.
I was almost sure that we would find that guy tearing through the lift and appearing behind us suddenly but that did not happen and we managed to reach our ship without any other incident.
I climbed out of the power armour and immediately ran for the bridge with everyone else, taking my place at the Captain's chair as the ship powered up and we began undocking procedures.
"Captain?" Mara suddenly called out.
I turned to see her giving me a worried look, "What is it?"
"You might want to give Valiea a call, Captain… I just remembered that you were told to feed her a drug, weren't you?"
"Yes?"
"My brother… I believe you overheard our conversation but he's known for being able to control the minds of other people… I should have seen this coming… Deviminio is his pawn, that's why his thoughts were the way it was since he was simply thinking what he was commanded to think without being able to think for himself…"
I blinked at her, "What? You mean… That guy was being mind controlled? Were we working for a puppet all this while?"
She nodded, "It does seem to be the case, Captain…"
"So what's this about the drug?"
"The drug is actually a cybernetic implant that will attach itself to the person's body and functions as a sort of Psionic enhancer that allows my brother to directly send his thoughts into their minds while suppressing their own thoughts. He most likely wanted to add Valiea into his little army of puppets and have her be his personal bartender or something…"
I made a face at her, "You're telling me your brother travelled all the way out here just to do that?"
"You heard him… Anyone who isn't a Psionic are just toys to him. He sees this as some kind of game where he captures people like he's playing a collection game…"
"Great… I suppose I should give Valiea a call then…"
I tapped on my Codex and maneuvered to the call section to dial Valiea's number.
The screen popped up in front of me and it rang twice before the call connected and Valiea's face appeared on the screen.
"Hey, Tera! Where did you run off to? You're missing the celebration party we're throwing for your victory!" She chuckled.
"Valiea, I'm calling to warn you and this is not a joke. Your life is in danger."
She immediately sobered up and gave me a serious look, "What's going on?"
"Remember the drug I showed you? I went to meet with the guy who tried to bribe me to feed it to you and it turns out it was a Noble. That drug was supposed to implant itself into you as some kind of cybernetic thing that would have allowed him to mind control you. And now he knows that I didn't feed it to you."
She frowned, "You're telling me… That a Noble is trying to brainwash me?"
"Yes. And we're currently running away from here after we escaped from the Noble so he might be coming after you after he knows we're gone."
"Do you know which family is this Noble from? And who this Noble is?"
I wondered why she needed to know but I turned to Mara.
She came over to answer for me, "The one after you is Desmond Keydew."
Valiea looked off to the side and Ragbar's voice came from off screen, "Ah shit… Yeah… He's known for collecting servants… Guess we got to move too."
Oh right, Ragbar's from the Inner Colonies so I guess he has heard of that guy before.
And I guess now I know what her family name is since I never really bothered to ask.
Valiea turned back to me, "Thank you for the warning, Tera. I guess we'll be leaving this station after all. What are you planning to do?"
"Well… We have other commitments as you already know. This station has always meant to be a temporary stop for us so we'll be heading to our next destination. Are you sure you'll be ok?"
"It's fine. It's certainly sad that we'll be leaving our home behind but the bar can still function without us. In fact, the timing couldn't be more perfect. I could use the fact that I lost to you as a cover up for our departure. Probably say something like I'm going on a journey to train myself or something. Then we can just work on the go and gain more fans that way."
"How are you leaving the station though? Do you guys need a lift?"
She shook her head, "It's fine. We can just charter a ship to another station and we'll get ourselves a ship of our own there. We have enough money saved up at least so you do not need to worry about us. I would say that you girls have a bigger problem since I assume you came into direct conflict with that Noble? He's probably going to focus more on you than me, Tera."
If only she knew Mara was that guy's sister…
"Boss, undocking complete! Setting a course for the location!" Ries called out from the pilot's seat.
I nodded at her before turning to Valiea, "I suppose we'll be going now. If fate wills it, we might even meet each other out there."
Valiea gave me a wry smile, "I don't doubt it. May the light of Terra guide you."
"You as well, Valiea, Ragbar."
I shut off the call and focused my gaze back towards the front, just as our ship pulled out from the station.
Our thrusters engaged and we sped away from the station, away from the crazy Noble that was trying to kill us.
Hopefully… This treasure map that we got actually led us somewhere good… Because I'm still upset I didn't get that money from this guy.