Again, apologies for this being late. I got sick yesterday.
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Chapter 225
When she finally came face-to-face with the two women, she wound up freezing. They looked a lot bigger from down on the ground. Also, the purple-haired woman had red eyes.
"Yes?" The bigger woman said, in a voice that was deep enough to be shocking.
"Uh, Ridget wants to see you." Tally said, recovering her frayed nerves.
"Alright then, we'll be on our way." The woman said, and then she and her companion walked off.
"Hey, wait, don't just run off!" Tally said. She sprinted after the women with unfairly long legs.
"It's not like we're going to get lost." Said the purple-haired woman.
"Oh really?" Tally said.
"There are three hundred twelve semi-fastest routes that we could take to get there. If I stop to describe them to you, it will take hours." The woman replied, not breaking stride or looking back.
Tally squinted at the woman while running to keep up.
It didn't take that long to make it to the central ship, where the two women navigated through the crowds with ease. It did probably help that they were taller than anyone else around. They took the ladders in the bridge tower two steps at a time, too.
Denelle took a moment to wave them back. As the two women slipped through the door, Tally could see Ledo was already there. Tally ducked out of Denelle's sight, and wedged her ear against the bulkhead of the office.
"-dget, Captain of the Gargantia. But I assume you already knew that?" She could here Ridget through the walls.
"Yes, you are correct. I am Penny Polendia, Exile commander, and this is my partner, Rachel Ezros, also Exile commander." That was the taller woman.
"Before we get down to business, there is one bit of housekeeping we need to take care of." Rachel said, and Tally heard boots thud against the deck.
Then a hand gripped down on her shoulder like a vice, and she was yanked off balance from her hiding spot.
"Evesdroppers." Rachel said, and swung Tally around into view of everyone in the office.
"Hi?" Tally squeaked. Ridget gave her a flat look, while Ledo was studying something behind them intently. Penny didn't look surprised and just gave her a warm smile.
Rachel set Tally on the ground. "So, while I have no problem with eavesdropping, I'd ask that you not talk about anything we say in here, capiche?"
"Why do you have a fang?" Tally asked immediately.
"It looks cute." Penny grinned.
Oh. Tally realised. They had meant "partner" like that. But why not "wife" then? What was their fleet like that they wouldn't be able to be officially recognized like that? And they were two of the more powerful figures in the fleet, as well, if they were here to negotiate something. Wouldn't that mean they could be officially recognized?
And where would they do it anyway? If they -.
"Anyway, do you agree to non-disclose?" Penny asked, interrupting Tally's line of thought.
"What?" Tally said. "Sure, yeah, I won't say a word!" She waved her hands.
"Great, then let's get down to business." Penny said turning to Ridget.
"So what are you doing here? I don't want people meddling in my fleet."
"I can understand that, especially given what's happening now." Penny said. "And to be fair, that's actually why we're here."
"And what do you mean by that?" Ridget almost snapped out.
"The circumstances in which the belligerents joined your fleet are ones that the Exiles must take responsibility for." Penny said. "However, due to a lapse in proper data collection, we do not have enough information to devise a method of defusing the oncoming storm. Therefore, we decided to visit for an information-gathering mission. In addition, it would put us in contact with you for when we actually figured out a solution."
"But you weren't expecting us to know that there was something up about us, did you?" Ledo asked, his eyes still narrowed.
"Not with this haste, no." Penny shrugged. "We knew we'd be considered eccentric, but you figuring out that we 'undervalued' all our trades and were fishing for information right after we left was not part of the plan. But since returning quickly would be more obviously aberrant behavior, we did have plenty of time for adjustments."
"Still, why are you trying to mess around with my fleet?" Ridget asked.
"Because we'd rather not see a civil war get started, especially in the largest fleet on Earth." Rachel interrupted. "Yes, we can end one, but we'd rather one never get started."
"You still haven't explained why we should trust you." Ridget said.
"Because we're trying to help?" Penny said.
"Also, we brought some nice, expensive gifts." Rachel added. "A nice desalinator, many panes of glass, a new weapon and shield for Ledo and Chamber, a thorium boiler, and a few other things."
"The gifts are rather immaterial to this discussion, though. We'll share our information now." Penny added. "After all, that is one of the steps.
"Alright." Penny clapped. "We have eighteen different groups, working in relative cooperation at the moment." Penny gestured, and a glowing net of connections appeared in the office. "First is one of the engine gang leaders, Halo. She wants your job, and is currently cooperating with the newcomers to get it. Next is…."
Tally's eyes started wandering before long. She glanced behind her, and noted how intently Ledo and Ridget were watching Penny. After another moment, she decided she'd slip off while no one was looking and get back to work. All she'd have to do is go out the hole she was yanked through-
There was no hole.
"Bweh?"
"Something the matter?" Rachel asked quietly.
"What happened to the hole?" Tally hissed.
"What hole?" Rachel smirked.
"When you dragged me through the wall!" Tally hissed.
"What makes you think there was a hole?" Rachel kept the smug expression on her face.
Then Tally blinked as the realization hit her: if there was a hole, then there would have been the sound of tearing metal. There was a patch on one of the larboard hulls' deck where Chamber had busted through about two and a half years ago.
So how then…?
