It was more than she ever would have asked for, and it made her want to help more. To somehow do something else for them – though nothing came to mind. Maybe she could fix the synthesizer so it didn’t make crappy food anymore. Or maybe she could clean everyone’s room. Anything to show her appreciation to these guys that accepted them just like that.
Garnet shared a look with her sister, and something similar flashed in Goldie’s eyes. She wasn’t oblivious to what they said either. Or what it meant.
“This is King Gissrn Rudimint of Pod Qarall,” Tanin continued, the holo changing as he moved on like he hadn’t just casually dropped something that had touched them to the core.
This time, it depicted a tall, handsome, peacock of a male. He was the same species of Neelai, but they were obviously two very different creatures. The holo showed Gissrn smirking in a particularly obnoxious way as he managed to look down his nose at the camera. He was wearing a suit of gold, the jacket of which literally shined, positively dripping in platinum jewelry. He was even wearing a cape over one shoulder that appeared to be a rainbow fur of some kind.
He went right past tacky and straight into kitsch. It was a lot. Entirely too much. Combined together with a completely punchable face that made her lip curl with disgust.
“Officially, King Gissrn has never been charged with a crime of any sort. Not since we reported him, and nothing beforehand,” Tanin said. “Unofficially, he has a reputation that, while not directly connected to his name, does get a little too close to him.”
“He has a harem,” Alred said. “It’s filled with females of many species and races. All beauties. It’s well known, and, while not illegal, it’s certainly not a popular choice among his people. As far as I’ve been able to tell, none of them were captured and collared the way our females were. However, I will say that there is a rather large turnover for the members of the harem, and finding information on previously known females within it is… difficult.”
“They tend to come from poor areas,” Tanin said. “He offers money to their families. Something like a bride price, but it’s very clearly a purchase. Whenever a female leaves him, there’s usually a small announcement made, and there’s a story about him setting her up for retirement somewhere nice. However, Alred has yet to track any of them down.”
“Staying in the harem comes with many restrictions. No male friends or relatives, they have to maintain a certain standard of beauty at all times, and they are not allowed anything without permission. Also, most stringent, is that they are not able to leave Gissrn’s palace. Ever. They may not be kidnapped and chained, but it does not appear that any of them have any sort of freedom while they’re there.”
“Nothing can be proven. But it’s a safe bet to assume that he picks poor females because he knows he can maintain control over them. Furthermore, despite the size of his harem and how many shinuk females are in it, Gissrn actually has no younglings of his own. Females don’t tend to last that long in his care.”
“I’ve a few ideas about why. None of them particularly good.” Alred added. “I feel it is most likely related to his clear and unhealthy obsession with the concept of beauty. Something with happen to his females making them lesser in his eyes, and suddenly they are no longer worth his care or affection. They are then disposed of.”
Garnet was frowning. Looking at the holo of the guy, she could understand what they were saying though. The gold bedecked male clearly had a flare for the ostentatious. She imagined he would only accept the most beautiful of females at his side.
But if one were to age or maybe gain or lose weight or even just cut her hair in a way he didn’t like…
She didn’t know him, she didn’t know how unreasonable that thought might be. Or how accurate.
“There are rumors,” Tanin said. “From people like us. The authorities won’t hear them, but the underground always talks. It’s known that he purchases concubines, and those who sell their daughters or sisters or themselves know they won’t ever return. No one ever hears from them once they’re gone. It might not be an immediate death sentence, but people know better than to take him up on the offer if they care for their family at all.”
The underground people like them. Garnet knew he meant criminals, the lost, the forsaken. Those that no one cared about, so they had to take care of each other. If they were warning each other away from the king, it was because it was the only way they could escape his reach. The authorities couldn’t, or wouldn’t, do anything about the king, so they had to spread the word of warning amongst themselves. In that way, it was almost more trustworthy than if the authorities declared him a criminal outright.
What would have happened, Garnet wondered, if Tanin hadn’t found them? If he did, but delivered them anyway? What would have become of Garnet and Goldie? Once they began to wrinkle with age, or if they got fat and heavy with a baby, or they tripped and fell and ended up with a scar? How ‘imperfect’ was too much for him?
Or, worse, how would he make them suffer for actually being beautiful? The things he could do to them…
Her stomach turned as she was assaulted with the possibilities.
“This is our enemy,” Tanin was saying, looking at the others with that same calm, steady energy that always comforted her so easily. And it was still working now as his tail whipped up, striking the back of the hologram king. “He is wealthy. He has a lot of influence. For some reason, the peacekeepers haven’t come after him despite the evidence we have provided. And now, he’s put a price on our heads. Not through official channels, and not with his name attached. No licensed bounty hunter will touch this hit. But it’s high enough that some will try. We have to be ready.
“Here’s our plan moving forward. First, we’re going to re-scan the females. I know we’ve done it twice already. But we have to makecertainyou don’t have anything on or in you that might be tracking us. Second, we will do the same to everything you came here with. The chest you were in has already been surrendered to the peacekeepers, but your clothes, your shoes, even the gemstones we have left. Bring them to Alred and Sway so they can analyze them. We need to make sure that there is absolutely nothing that can track them here.
“Which brings me to the third thing: We’re going to have to look through the entire ship. Top to bottom. Inside and out. We have to look everywhere for possible tracking equipment that might be on us somewhere. Vytln, Rok, Sorbet, Tebros; you four are in charge of that. Look everywhere, in everything, in every room. Got it?”
“Aye, captain,” they all intoned at the same time.
“Once everything is clear, if we still don’t find anything, we’re going to have to go to a new station. If he follows us again, we set up a trap and catch him. Don’t kill him without my permission but do whatever it takes to restrain him. Got it?”
“Aye, captain,” everyone called.
“Good. Let’s get to work. Garnet, Goldie, with me. Everyone else, start searching the ship. Coordinate with Alred to get it done.”
Garnet and Goldie stood, approaching the captain slowly as the rest of the guys filed out, each of them with a serious look on their face. Like they were going off to battle.
“Captain,” Goldie started cautiously, “We’ve already been scanned twice. At this point… what are the odds that the mediring will find anything?”
“Low,” Tanin admitted. “But I want to check again. And I want you two to do a physical scan as well. I want you to feel every part of your own bodies to see if you can detect anything under the skin. If you’re being tracked, that’s most likely where it would be.”
Garnet shivered, hating that idea, as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I thought that scanner thing could see down to, like, the cellular level.”
