ALYX begrudgingly agreed to help with everything. Thanking my lucky stars, I scurried out of the command center and hoped no one had recognized my face.
My next unsanctioned trip was up to the prison wing, where I breezed by security with passive familiarity.
"Working hard or hardly working, Harves?"
Harvey gave me an uninterested grunt, he was staring longingly at the door while other mercenaries ran past the opening, preparing for their roles in the invasion.
Normally I would have poked the bear, teased him a bit for being left guarding the girls, but time was of the essence and the last thing I needed was my visiting privileges to be revoked.
Uneasy, I noticed when I walked in that all of the individual cells were empty. The male Pilots had been moved out of this prison wing, to who knows where. I made a mental note to have ALYX check the ship's manifest so we had an accurate account of where all prisoners were detained.
Luckily the women had not yet been moved, and they sat around the cell as if nothing were amiss, picking at their cuticles and doing an excellent job of appearing bored. A low murmur started up as they saw me round the corner. My little lookalike, Sara, popped up with an excited smile.
"Sir, we did it. We made contact, and we have your friends on the line."
"Oh, thank gods, were you able to explain?"
"Human, your friends have some severe linguistic impairments."
The tinny voice through the radio receiver didn't jog my memory, and I was confused.
"Akara?"
"Oh, thank goodness, no."
I paused. Something in the snide cadence was familiar.
"Melora."
"Excellent job, Sir." The sarcasm was apparent, and I felt dread set in.
"Oh hey, lady, so good to hear from you!" I tried to sound casual, but miscalculated and instead came off like someone with brain damage.
"Is it?" She didn't buy the good will. "I wish I could say the same, but instead I've been inundated with constant calls from you and your little friends."
I glared daggers at the sheepish girls, even though they couldn't have known any better.
"Well, did they convey the urgency of this situation?"
"Oh yes, very. Unfortunately for you, everyone knows Stefin is off gallivanting in the jungle somewhere finding himself. Instead, oh boy, I get to hear these wild stories of how he is with Holly." She said my name like it was a curse, "trapped aboard a space pirate ship."
She laughed rudely.
"If you wanted information on your one true love, you should have just asked me straight instead of making prank calls. He still hates you, by the way."
"Melora." I sighed, migraine forming already. "This isn't about Stefin and I. That's a premise which doesn't even exist anymore. Quite frankly, you can have your man back."
"Wrong again, human. But I'm growing bored of this." She staged a yawn, and then I could practically hear her droll expression change quickly to one of derision. "And anyway, Stefin wasn't just a man to me. Our relationship guaranteed my life, my future," her voice rose into a shriek, "you took that away from me, human. So I took everything away from you."
I rolled my eyes, embarrassed to be airing our grievances with the Pilots staring at me with their wide eyes. Granted, I had no idea whether or not they spoke Cynabarrian, but the tone was enough.
"Go ahead, Melora. Do whatever you want. But I'm sure you and Stefin will be very happy together someday. I guarantee you'll make your way back to each other." Continuing the conversation felt pointless, but we didn't have time to try again to reach someone who could connect us with the village.
"Happy together?! We would have been, yes, so happy. But then you went and left, and now there's no point at all. He's matchless, practically shunned." Her voice increased again to a shriek, "Because of you, Stefin will never be King!"
We were running out of time, and I felt my confusion and exasperation mounting.
"You don't know what you're talking about. I'm not sure if he lied to you too, but before I left Stefin told me the truth. He can find someone as soon as he wants, the matching is not binding in any way that matters. The whole six week thing was just to save face. Now, as I was saying, we are in kind of a life or death situation and all of this is besides the point."
She laughed, suddenly cool and collected. "Oh, the truth, did he? If the fool would bother to tell me he was, I'd bring him here to settle it himself. Your love lied to you again, it seems. You wanted to get out of here so badly, our Prince sacrificed his whole life."
It dawned on me, what Melora was saying. Stefin's truth about lying was actually… a lie itself? I wanted to drop everything and get to the bottom of what that meant, but there were more pressing concerns than the semantics of a failed courtship.
"Great story, but, I know where he is, Melora. He's captured, with Koryn, on the mercenary ship. I know the girls told you enough about what is happening, and if you don't connect us to Akara NOW, everyone in her and Groff's village is going to die."
"Groff?" I didn't expect Melora's voice to suddenly sound so panicked. "What do you mean, Stefin is captured? Why are you bringing my brother into this? He's safe back home, I just spoke with him."
It was hit after hit, and this time I couldn't hide my shock from the Pilots. Groff was Meloras brother? It was clear he had hidden that from me purposefully. The betrayal finally made me snap.
"Listen here, you absolute bitch. I don't want your life, and as for Stefin, you can have him - unless he is MURDERED later today. Akara, Groff, and everyone in the village are in extreme danger. The mercenaries are on their way and they need to prepare NOW. Transfer us, or their blood is on your weak, cowardly hands."
I almost felt bad as I heard the sob Melora let out before the radio clicked off. Almost.
"That ruinous bitch, she is so selfish, I can't believe -"
"Holly?" This voice I recognized, but it no longer brought me any joy.
"Groff. I just spoke with your sister." I kept it flat, not wanting to waste more time with pointless anger.
"Sis - oh, Holly, please let me explain-"
Obviously, I was not interested in hearing any of that.
"Yeah sure, whatever, I forgive you. Now this is important and you need to get Akara."
"No, seriously Holly, please let me explain."
"Sure, go ahead, you explain to me why no one told me you're the brother of the woman who tried to make my life hell. You can reveal all your secret machinations, and while you're at it, let me describe every meal I've had since we last chatted. In the meantime, the mercenaries on the way to your village will torture their prisoners, Stefin and Koryn, by massacring everyone they can on their way to kidnap the royal children."
To his credit, Groff believed me. He absorbed the information silently and didn't push me further, after verifying how quickly everything needed to come together. In the background I heard a shuffle and some urgent yelling. A few moments later Akara picked up the comm device on their end.
"Before you start, Holly, you may have Groff convinced, but I know you joined the mercenaries. Stefin let it slip to Koryn during one of his little drinking binges and I swear to the suns-"
"Oh for the love of everything!" Sara suddenly cut in, grabbing the radio out of my hand. Her Cynabarrian was stilted, but she evidently knew enough to get by.
"Hi miss, it's super nice to meet you, but Holly had to go." She shot a look at me, and one of the other Pilots made the universal 'shut up or I'll do it for you' gesture against her throat.
"My name is Sara and I am a captured Terran Pilot. I have no way of knowing if you are a reasonable person, but unfortunately we don't have any other options right now."
"Captured Terran? Where is this call coming from?"
"The prison ward of a mercenary ship. I was brought here by your traitor friend, but now she's promised to get us out." Sara's tone was commanding and I thanked the stars that Akara listened.
"My understanding is that these mercenaries captured your prince and his friend. They need info, and Holly told them there's people at the village who can be used as leverage, so they're incoming in just a few hours. Don't hate her -" she looked back at me apologetically, "they were going to kill them otherwise. And we have an escape plan, it really may work. But we need your help."
There was silence at the other end of the line. So long, that I began to panic we lost the signal. Finally, I heard Akara take a shaky breath.
"Holly, I know you're still there. Do they have Stefin and Koryn?"
"Yes." I could barely speak, my heart pounded in my throat.
"Look after him for me, just a bit longer. And tell us what we need to do."