DZ relays a polite expression of thanks to Artha, then, and they can load into the SLAYER.

"I wish you good skill."

Shreya plugs back into her SLAYER.

Its muscles flex and its reactor ignites.

Devika watches the forward wall as it flickers from blank white cushioning to holographic starscape.

"Here we go."

Yup.

Deskyl keeps a mental eye on Shreya, and when she's got the attention to spare for it, she floats up into a conversational position.

    "Would you like a debriefing of what's happened already, Ma'am, or shall we get right to the planning?"

Shreya thinks back to her earlier slip with the word 'turncoat' and shakes her head slightly.

"Debriefing first, please."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Back on Procyon Station, you probably recognized that the soldiers we encountered were colonials; we didn't, and to Deskyl's emotion sense they weren't hostile - they did genuinely believe that they were rescuing Culamine's vassals from her - which let them trick her into assuming that they were Culamine's vassals, until she was on their ship and learned where it was actually going. This was fairly disconcerting, and she wanted to understand the colonial perspective on the Draco territories, which would help her avoid the problem in the future, especially in case the colonials notice this weakness and try to take advantage of it. The team on the ship was too intimidated to be useful, by the time she got it turned around, but when Devika was sent to retrieve us, she saw the opportunity to get another person's viewpoint, and took her captive. It turned out not to be that simple, though; when we brought her aboard, Deskyl noticed that she had brain damage affecting her memories. She healed it, later, in Saru's habitat, but went to sleep before learning what the healing had revealed: Most of the memories Devika had before she was healed were false. - Devika, would you like to explain from here? I'm not sure that Deskyl has told me all the details."

"They told me I grew up in Outpost 2, with a good coven and dozens of friends, and got apprenticed to the Pilot Academy at a young age. They told me I excelled in my studies, as did my bunkmate and best friend Adita Kaur, and that this brought us to the attention of a Secessionist Spy embedded in the academy staff. She became our instructor, groomed us, and then one degree attempted to abduct my friend and I so as to forcibly relocate us to the Draco Territories."

"They say the capsule I was being carried in lost atmosphere after the secessionist dropped me, and that I suffered brain damage from asphyxiation. My muscle memories remained sharp, I could still pilot better than most other students apart from Adita herself, but everything else got blurry."

"That's not what actually happened to me. My earliest real memories are of a clandestine facility, in which I was trained and indoctrinated up until about ten cycles ago. At that time, I was delivered to the same Pilot Academy that I'd attended in my false memories and graduated from there and entered the Colonial Armed Forces."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

    "Deskyl would like to find out, among other priorities. But they need to be shut down, no matter what their reason is."

"That makes sense."

The SLAYER picks up speed, accelerating along a course that takes them even further from the inner debris ring where the rest of the Draco Territories are located.

"So, what do I need to do?"

    "Hopefully, Devika can direct us there. If not, Deskyl can use magic to find it - that's not ideal, though, Ma'am, she'll need to read your mind to do it and she's reaching the point where she'll have trouble stopping if she does much more of it."

"Just give me coordinates and I'll get you there."

"Anything else?"

Deskyl considers.

    "It depends on what we find when we get there. But ideally - she'd like information, and the best way to get it is to talk to them; she can probably convince them that Devika talked her into switching alliance, at least briefly. She expects there to be more victims there, and ideally we'll be able to evacuate them and destroy the facility. She's interested in taking some technology, too, if the opportunity presents itself. If that goes well, she intends to take the victims to where Culamine's vassals are being held, and propose a trade; even if it doesn't, she's going to want to visit a colonial habitat, to drop Devika off and to demonstrate to them that she can come and go as she pleases - hopefully that will discourage them from trying to kidnap her again."

Shreya listens intently, takes her time considering what she’s just been told and then nods firmly.

“I have a full load of fission charges available for my SLAYER’s flash plates. If you anticipate a minimal amount of combat maneuvering between now and our next resupply, I can burn through a few of them to get there faster?”

    "Do the colonials have any weapons that aren't kinetic in nature?"

“Their modular support platform, the DEUS, mounts laser-based point defense weapons.”

“Right, yeah.” Shreya forgets lasers are a thing sometimes. “But those are mostly just for clearing off Orcs, right? No threat to a properly armored SLAYER.”

“Orcs?”

“Oh, huh, you colonials have a different word for them don’t you?”

“We have the word ‘orc’ for a type of mythical creature featured in the National Opera. But orcs don’t actually, y’know, exist.”

“Then what do you call the critters you use the lasers on?”

“Devastator Drones.”

“Huh.”

”Well, that’s kind of a dumb name.”