A single small vessel that appeared to be one of the most common models made in the Dramid Alliance floated through interstellar space in between two systems.
Yet, if one looked past the surface, they would find that the interior of the craft was filled with luxurious furniture and high-quality systems that were at the cutting edge of technology.
Inside the cockpit of this ship was a single alluring woman with long blonde sat in a plush seat and had fresh food and quality wine being served to her by a pair of floating spherical drones.
"Hm, it should be around here sowhere." Delilah said as she glanced around her viewscreen.
The lights coming from her vessels were illuminating the otherwise pitch-black area, but there did not seem to be anything within sight.
Of course, she was not out in the middle of nowhere for no reason.
Her ship was currently emitting a signal on a special frequency only known to those that were associated with the sa organization as she was.
Eventually, what she was looking for appeared before her.
A cloaked vessel that had been hidden around four hundred thousand kiloters away suddenly beca visible.
It was around five hundred ters long and would be classified as a light cruiser. One that originated from the Vanmir Republic.
Delilah knew that this just so happened to Rook's personal warship, and the more heavily ard twin to the one that the Alliance Police had recently seized.
"Oh, he's clearly in quite the bad mood." Delilah said, wearing a devious smile despite the harsh words of the ssage she had just received.
Rook had not wanted to et with her despite her coming all this way to see him.
The only reason that he had dropped his ship's cloak and bluntly ordered Delilah to quickly co aboard his vessel was because she was close to getting into sensor range where she might detect them and there were still hundreds of Alliance Police patrols looking for them.
He could not risk her giving his position away out of spite and knew that she was the kind of person that might do so if he continued to not respond.
With only a press of a single button, Delilah activated her ship's docking procedures and allowed the main computer handle the rest.
Soon she was inside the hangar of Rook's light cruiser with a contingent of scary looking guards having co to get her.
Yet, while most of them were trying to be intimidating, the man in charge knew of her and her reputation and could not hide his visible fear.
He understood that she was far more dangerous than she appeared, and that even surrounded by several heavily ard guards, she was the one that was in control.
"No need to be so tense. I'm just here for a quick chat with your boss. See, I don't even have any weapons, and with my thin arms, I'd never be able to harm any capable fighters like yourselves." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel~fire~net
Delilah's words seed strange to most of her escorts, but they were only intended for one target.
Except, her assurance of how harmless she was only made the security team leader even more nervous.
Delilah was not the type of to fight people head on. No, she employed far nastier thods to either ruin people's lives or just kill them. Never actually getting her own hands dirty.
Eventually, the reached the room that Rook was in, and the guard leader was relieved when his boss sent him away.
He wanted nothing to do with that woman if he could help it.
"What do you want Delilah? I'm not in the mood to entertain your nonsense right now, so I might real just kill you this ti if you're just here to run you mouth." Rook said, fixing his guest with a hostile glare.
"Your harsh words hurt , Rook. Can't I co and visit a friend and give my sympathies for your loss? Your partner has been captured, and so much of your fleet has been lost."
Delilah pulled out a handkerchief and then feigned crying.
The fact that actual tears ca out of her eyes was an impressive trick, but Rook was not impressed.
He got up in a quite rage. His entire enormous body shaking as he walked over to Delilah.
With a single hand, he grabbed her by the neck and hoisted her into the air.
She felt fragile in his grip, and it would be as easy as snapping a toothpick for him to kill her.
"Oh, are you really going to do it? I quite like this model, so it would be a sha for it to die." Delilah said without an ounce of fear.
At this provocation, Rook almost tightened his hand and crushed her neck.
However, he knew the pointlessness of doing so and just threw her back down onto the couch she had been sitting on.
For a few monts she coughed loudly now that she could breathe properly.
Still, when she regained her composure and looked back up at Rook, the perpetual grin she wore that grated on other people's nerves was still there.
"Just get to the point already. Otherwise, I really will kill you. Consequences be damned."
"Very well, I suppose that I still do need your help, and antagonism between us won't do either of us any good."
Letting her actions speak for her instead of using words, Delilah pulled out a disk shaped holo-projector and had it display a series of images.
At first, Rook hardly looked interested in the Alliance police orbital station being displayed, but his eyes widened when a blurry but recognizable picture of Clarien appeared.
"A little bird of mine within the Alliance Police found this for . He's currently being held in a high security detention facility while they try to and siphon information out of him. Fortunately, his implant is working as intended and has counteracted every truth serum they've tried to pump him full of. They can't remove it without killing him either, so they resorted to more barbaric thods. Of course, he won't break easily." Delilah said, providing Rook with more information than he could hope to gather on his own.
Naturally, he was shocked to hear that Clarien was even still alive.
Normally, upon capture, he should have killed himself to prevent the leak of information.
The only reason he had not must have been because he had reason to believe he would be rescued soon.
"I managed to pass a coded ssage along to him at no small expense and trouble mind you. He knows that an extraction is coming, but Adder and I happen to be lacking in manpower to carry it out. That's why I'm here for your help. No one's better in the power departnt than you."
"Hmph! Those words ring hollow from you. I'm not so stupid to fall for your tricks and allow you to manipulate with shallow complints. Obviously, you are either trying to lure into a trap, or there is sothing else you want from . Otherwise, there is no reason you would be doing this." Rook said, remaining cautious and scrutinizing every one of Delilah's words and actions.
"Your so much more cautious now that Clarien is gone. That makes you not nearly as much fun, but, oh well. It's the latter, not the forr. I'd get nothing out of betraying you right now. But there is sothing that I could use yours and Clarien's assistance with. Which is why I want to help you free your partner."
Rook remained skeptical of Delilah, but it was true that there was little to nothing for her to gain by causing Rook's downfall. At least, for now.
"What is it that you want from us?" Rook asked, taking the bait that Delilah had dangled in front of him despite knowing that he was dealing with a duplicitous witch.
"Oh, I believe that it is sothing that you will be wholeheartedly onboard with. My objective is to deal with the major nuisance that played a large part in your partner's failure. He's shown himself to be a problem that can no longer be ignored."
Obviously, Rook knew who Delilah was referring to. The only person that it could be was Avery Asteria.
"So, you want to use my fleet's strength to crush him." Rook said, believing her knew where Delilah was going.
"No, that's far from what I'm planning. After everything, I've realized that he's too difficult to defeat in battle. He's the type that will break out of most traps and leave the forces after him scattered and heavily damaged. His forces only grow every day as well, so it's impractical to must enough power to fight him at this point."
"If you aren't planning to kill him, then what is it that you're scheming?" Rook asked suspiciously.
"It's simple. We just need to bring him over to our side instead. That way he won't be getting in our way."
Rook scoffed when he heard this.
Yes, that was a great thod in theory to prevent Avery from continuing to be a problem, but if they could not beat him in a fight, then how did they expect to coerce him to join them. Plus, Rook wanted the guy dead, not to work with him.
"And how do you plan on doing that?"
"Well, he happens to have two lovely parents that still live on his ho station of Yuson III. I'm sure that they would be able to encourage their son to change his allegiance."
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