Deshima (Part Two)

February 15 - Deshima

Having found release in my tears, the storm of emotions had subsided. I now found myself in another part of the station. This section was home to a tavern called 'The Den'. Ironically, it was located above a night club called 'Blue Sun'.

The proprietor was a transgenic, canid in appearance, of the Vulpini sort.

I chose a corner booth to allow myself the space to analyze the situation and to plan my next move. The required alcohol purchase - a can of beer - sat unopened on the table, doomed to remain neglected.

So, what did we know?

1) Lily was missing. Taken by Reavers. Normally a non-issue. Ms. Zhangsun once told me that Lily had been raised by Reavers.

2) She was injured in the process. Cody Winterwolf found her severed ear on board her ship. Signs of a struggle.

3) Lily and Lynx have been socializing, if that is the word for it. They danced. He touched her foot. She was convinced, at least until recently, that they were to be married.

4) Lynx went missing around the same time as Lily. He has not returned calls. People have not seen him.

That was the limit of certainty.


Given their recent interactions and the accounts of Cody and the Consulari, it seemed probable that Lynx was with Lily when she was taken. I had little doubt that she would do everything she could to protect him from harm.

If he was with her.

If he was still alive.

The danger was not limited to Reavers, particularly if they were on board a Reaver ship. We still had a few patrol boats out Miranda way. A light cruiser on duty cleaning up Reaver stragglers. Blasting them out of the sky.

Too many 'ifs'.

I needed more information.

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I located an out of the way console behind an indoor garden where I could work undisturbed. It was a comforting place. I grew up on a farm.

My fingers danced across the keyboard. Piggy backing on a signal and using UAP encryption, I worked through the night.

The event had not gone unnoticed by our people. According to Alliance sources close to home, there was some suspicion that Lily is, or was, aboard an identified Reaver boat, but there was nothing firm at this point. While this revealed little new information, it did confirm Cody's story.

That left the blockading ships in the Miranda area.

There my search yielded more substantial results.

There was a report of a sighting of a Reaver ship with the name Lily written on it. The ship matched a description of a Reaver vessel sighted two years ago.

Useful and disturbing at the same time.

I sent the information where I thought it would do the most good. Coded and unsigned. If anyone tried to follow the signal back to its source, they would trace it to a water pump on a secondary hydroponic processor, lower level of Deshima Station.