The noble families were not happy when they heard how many ships and men they lost.
All the patriarchs had a meeting to discuss this problem and it wasn't a peaceful one.
-How the hell did a bunch of exiles not only escape but get their hands on a heavy cruiser?
Eduardo Garcia raged.
Not only did he lose some ships and men but some of the exiles were sent there by his family and they might hold a grudge.
-We don't know the details but our hypothesis states that it was probably Thomas Zieliński who discovered the drug and with the help of MD.Alice Green they found a way to get rid of its influence.
As to how they got the ship that's easy they either repaired one or built it.
Arnold Henderson answered.
Everyone looked at a big hologram in the middle of the table displaying the images of the people he just mentioned.
-I have read all the files of the exiles that managed to escape and there are some very interesting people there.
As a general rule we sent the people that could potentially bring us trouble to the blue section.
And that worked for many generations but now that they managed to escape and arm themselves we have a big problem.
Most of those we sent there are a very competent bunch, some are even geniuses like Dr.Green and now they might want revenge.
Arnold finished.
-From the intercepted communications we know that Thomas Zieliński is the captain of that ship of theirs and they call the ship a Star of Vengeance so in my book that is all the proof I need ,to know that they will attack us.
Said Adam Vermont, the patriarch of the Vermont family.
-What do we know about this man?
Asked, Liliane LeBlanc the only matriarch among the nobles.
Arnold clicked some buttons on his console.
-I just sent you his full dossier,and if he is their leader then my family might be the first target.
Everyone started reading the file that was sent to them.
Ten minutes later they were all shocked.
-Arnold, care to explain why this monster was sent into exile?
Liliane asked.
-His sister was a match for my daughter and they refused to comply when I sent people to convince them.
Then I sent a team to capture the girl but he interfered and together with his best friend they killed more than 50 of my men and injured several dozen others.
In the end his ex-fiance sold him out to us and we were able to capture them,
his friend died,and he was sent into exile.
Arnold told everyone the story.
-Well of course they would refuse that surgery is a death sentence.
Liliane said with a matter of fact attitude.
-Did it at least work?
-Yes, Elli is now healthy again.
At least it wasn't for nothing. I just hope that he never gets close to her,if what is written in this file is the truth then when angered this man will kill all of his enemies without mercy,and i think that he is furious right now.
Also what happened to his sister after the procedure?
-She survived and slipped into a coma.We keept her for half a year as an assurance but when Elli was confirmed to be fully healed we sold her for organs so i'm sure she is dead by now.
-You did what!
Everyone shouted at the same time.
-If we had the girl we could still negotiate but now you better pray that he doesn't hear about it.
Adam said with anger in his voice.
They all understood that it was now impossible to negotiate and that monster was out for blood.
-Arnold i suggest you hide Elli somewhere safe until we can deal with this crisis.
She is probably on the top of his target list and I don't want to lose a niece.
Liliana said with some worry ,she was a sister of his wife and elli's aunt.
-Don't worry she is in a safer place than even my home,she went to visit princess Aurelia a few days ago.
-Enough about your daughter we need to find and kill them before they start causing us real trouble.
Adam raised his voice in annoyance.
-They destroyed 30 ships in one day. What do you call that if not real trouble?
Eduardo asked, also annoyed.
-What do you expect when destroyers and frigates go head to head with a cruiser?
-Calm down everyone.
An old man didn't even raise his voice but all of them immediately shut their mouths.
That man was Theodor Von Magnis and he was the oldest among them.
No one dared to interfere when he spoke.
-The people that escaped are all dangerous to us especially this young man,
According to these documents he was a part of the Dragon star team of mercenaries and you can't get into that group without all the members agreeing.
And the prerequisite to even be considered for membership is having some kind of special ability.
He was accepted at the age of 20 years old which makes him the youngest member ever.
We all use their services and we all know what they're capable of. It's also a known fact that they defend their own so does anyone want to guess why they left him to die?
-They probably don't even know that he is in trouble.
Liliane immediately connected the dots and she didn't like where this was going.
-That is also my conclusion but imagine if he contacted his team mates and asked them to help in avenging his sibling.
Everyone shuddered at this possibility.
The Dragon star team was renowned for their abilities and spotless record,every mercenary in the whole of the empire worshiped them as gods and even an opportunity to work alongside them was an honor not to mention being invited into their ranks.
They were also powerful enough to challenge even the nobles if they wanted.
This was a real disaster.
-Then what do you propose, Elder?
Arnold asked respectfully.
-I would like to avoid an all out conflict with the mercenaries and there is a small chance that they will be able to convince Thomas Zieliński to give up on revenge so i propose to send an envoy to them and explain the situation before it gets out of hand.
In the worst case scenario we can at the very least keep them from escalating this conflict,and in the best case we may be able to convince them to meditate for us and we can offer the exiles freedom and compensation that way we won't lose much and this crisis will be solved.
-But will the exiles even listen to them and that's if we can even convince them to mediate?
-At the very least Mr Zieliński will listen,I don't know if they can convince him to abandon his quest for revenge but that's the best idea i have right now .
The other one is to send a fleet to find and destroy the exiles but right now we don't even know where they are headed.
-Then let's try diplomacy first and if that fails we can always use plan B.
Liliana agreed with the elder.
All of the nobles nodded in agreement.
We will gather again after we contact the mercenaries.
Everyone agreed and left the room.
Liliana was the only one who stayed behind.
-Did you want to add something.
The elder asked after everyone else left.
-Elder be honest with me.How high is the chance that your plan will work?
-If it's the part about convincing the mercenaries to not interfere then i think we have at least 75% chance to do that.
But convincing the exiles to accept compensation and abandon their revenge will be extremely difficult especially the young man who seems to be their leader, in the end his sister was his only family and the Hendersons killed her to save their own daughter and even when she survived the procedure they still disposed of her.
If they kept her then our chances would be higher and don't forget that his best friend died as well,in light of this all i just don't see him forgiving anyone at this point.
There is however a small chance that his team mates will convince him to stop,it's a small chance but it still exists and I hope that this young man will accept our compensation,because if he doesn't then we can expect heavy losses before we will be able to stop him.
The Elder explained and left the room.
She hoped that this plan would work,otherwise there was a good chance that she would lose some of her family and she didn't want that to happen.