Dan's eyes landed on the small group standing in front of a certain door. The group had Marcus, Old Raily and Robert. Seeing them turn towards him, Dan greeted before asking,

  "Are they inside?"

  "Yes," Marcus answered, also glancing towards the room.

  "Did you talk to them yet?" Dan asked.

  "Not yet, we were waiting for you." Marcus shook his head. "But from what Old Raily and the others said, they are truly slaves, it seems that what Graham told us should be true."

  Dan held his emotions back and just nodded in understanding. He was hoping that something else was going on out there, that there wasn't a group of innocent people just thrown to the middle of the ocean to quench a man's greed, but it seems that he wasn't that lucky.

  "They are both there?" Dan asked after thinking for a bit, "I expected you to separate them and question them one by one."

  "I would have done that if the other person wasn't just a kid." Marcus shrugged. "I saw how attached he was to the older guy, we would have probably just scared him for no reason at all."

  "That's for the best I guess," Dan said, "Now then, let's head in."

  Sharing a look with everyone, Dan put his hand on the handle and pushed it open after getting nods from them.

  The stressed, nervous faces of their two newest guests met him as soon as he opened the door. The older guy, Arkus from what Dan was told, had a bit of hesitation and worry under the nervousness, while the younger boy was easier to make out, he wore his feelings on his face.

  "Hello, and sorry for keeping you waiting," Dan said with a smile as he entered. He didn't want to put them under even more stress, especially after knowing what they had been through. "I'm Dan, the Captain of the ship you're on. Don't worry, you're not in any trouble, we just want to ask you a few questions, is that alright with you?"

  "Yes," the man answered without any delay. Dan didn't know why, but he didn't like how he did it. It felt as if the man was trained to do so, the way he straightened his back and looked straight ahead as if worried about looking at Dan in the face, it all left him with a bad taste in his mouth.

  "Again, please don't worry, you're not in any kind of trouble." He emphasised that part again. Seeing the man's eyes quivering a bit, he continued, "Now then, let's start, what are you two called?"

  Even though he knew that already, he knew that starting with something simple like that would put them more at ease. As expected, the man answered that they were Arkus and Andre. Dan noted how he answered for both of them, and how the boy didn't seem to argue, he seemed to trust the man from how he acted around him.

  Trying to continue with the easy questions, Dan asked them next if they were a father and son and was surprised to find out that it wasn't the case, Arkus just said that he was taking care of Andre.

  "That's good to know." Dan smiled at the pair. Noticing that they were a bit more relaxed, he decided to move to a more serious question. "Can you please tell me how you ended up on the island? Please be truthful, this is very important."

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Any comfort the pair had felt after the first two questions, left them as soon as Dan finished speaking. He saw them turn rigid as they looked at him with wide eyes. That reaction made him feel sorry for them again, at what they went through and how much pain all those who were still on the island must be feeling too.

  "I was tricked." To Dan's surprise, Arkus managed to calm himself and spoke just a few seconds later. "I was told by the steward of a noble that they had found a mine that was quite far from our town. It would have taken me months to reach there but the pay seemed to be worth it, so I accepted. Unfortunately, I only realised what was truly happening when I found myself forced to board a ship taking us to the middle of the ocean."

  "I was kidnapped..." A small quiet voice was heard, making Dan turn his head to the kid. It was the first time he spoke, his voice was so quiet and gentle that Dan feared the others might not have heard it. "I was a homeless orphan. I got kidnapped from the streets."

  "How long were you there?" Dan decided to go with the remaining questions, it was better to rip those band-aids fast.

  "I don't know really," Arkus answered uncertainly, "Must have been years, but I can't give you a precise number."

  Looking at Andre, he was only met by a shake of his head, deciding that continuing with that line of questioning was useless, Dan went on to ask the same questions they had asked Graham before, trying to double check everything they had got from him, they needed to be 100% sure about their intel.

  "Thank you for your cooperation," Dan said with a smile as he stood up, "Your answers helped us a lot. I will now send you to see a healer before getting sent to rest. I'm sure that we could get you something to eat too after the meeting with the healer, so don't worry."

  "Thank you," Arkus said.

  Dan just smiled at him as he stood to leave, before he could turn around though, he was interrupted by a tiny voice from behind, it was almost too quiet. Looking back at the two, he was met with the hopeful eyes of the young boy.

  "Are- are you with the Imperial Navy?"

  "No we are not," Dan answered truthfully, "But we have worked with the Navy before, don't worry, we will help as much as we can."

  Leaving them with that, Dan turned around and left, the other three following behind him. Once outside, he released a deep breath as he put his hands on the railings and gripped them hard.

  "Are you alright?" Robert asked as he put his hand on his shoulder. Dan could even feel the Voyager sending some concern his way.

  "I'm good," Dan managed to stay, "It's just... I was watching when the fight with the Harvesters was happening at the shore, you know? And what do you think I noticed? The guards were truly using those poor slaves as meat shields, forcing them forward while they stood at the back. It was a massacre, we need to do something, we have to do something."

  "We will," Old Raily said from the side, "We need to be calm and rational about it though, don't let it get to your head."

  "Yes, you're right," Dan said as he turned and saw them looking at him, "Sorry for that, so how are we going about this? Any plans?"

  "Hitting them after their next fight with the Harvesters is the best choice," Marcus said slowly, "They would be tired and they might even lose more of the guards."

  "We can't do that," Old Raily said as soon as Marcus finished speaking, "It's a great idea and strategy, but as Dan just said, they are using the slaves as meat shields. If we wait to attack after another fight between the two, even more of the slaves would die, we can't have that."

  Dan nodded at that, he too wasn't willing to go with such a drastic measure.

  "So, what?" Robert asked as he looked at them one by one, "We hit them before the Harvesters attack next? But that leaves us without much time, it would have to be tonight or tomorrow morning, at most tomorrow night."

  Everyone fell silent as they considered that bit. Even Dan didn't know what the right choice might be, looking between Marcus and Old Raily, he asked:

  "Do you think an attack tonight is feasible?"

  "Maybe," Marcus said as he turned to look towards the island, "I saw the fight too, there were barely 30 of the guards and they were clearly tired and wounded, we can probably deal with them. Their captain though? He was scary, we need to deal with him fast and preferably without giving him any time to react."

  "Okay, we will go with that," Dan said, "We will prepare to hit the island tonight if we can, if it's not possible, let's aim for tomorrow night."

  Silmadrillion and John L!! Thanks a lot for the support!! I appreciate it~

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