Nakera shimmied up the ladder to where the Security Conduit access was.  She reached up to the metal plate on the side of her head and disengaged a number of skull shunts before connecting them with the ports on the wall.  The runes marking them would make no sense to anyone, but with her knowledge of the Divine Lexicon, she could easily find the A/V ports, as well as the Neural Control data socket.  Connecting to them, she felt her eyes roll into her head as images were sent directly to her occipital lobe.

Grainy pictures showed dozens of soldiers breaching via drop capsules.  They sliced through the skin of the Colony and very easily vented their troops into the chaos created by the impacts.  It was painful - watching the hundred some security monitors at once.  She tried to follow as much as she could.  Xenos, raiders, pirates - this group was a mixed bag.  She watched a quilled Xenos roughly the size of a man barrel down a hallway into whatever opposition waited for him.  Another with a massive cybernetic arm dropped into the fray.  Even an Eldar - something she never imagined she'd see - dropped down from a hatch as if it were merely a step.

She clicked between images of death and carnage at the speed of thought.  These soldiers were far better trained than the pirates who captured her.  They were practically professionals.

Another click showed her the galley - full of the refuse of months of unattended parties and drunken revelries.  She remembered hearing screams - likely of women violated in that very room - in the first week or so of her capture.  She feared joining them and couldn't have been happier to have been left alone.  Not too long ago, she thought herself absolutely gorgeous.  A princess suitable for a grand husband.  Once she figured out how boring that life would be, she did all she could to get away from it.  What better way to deter marriage than a massive cybernetic overhaul?

She watched the yellow haired man butcher the pirates.  Whatever weapon he was using interested her enough to rewind and rewatch the footage.  She didn't have any datachits, or else she'd save a copy.  She also realized that he was heading her direction.  She switched over control of the feeds and simply let one eye keep watching his movements as he entered the detention cells.  Scooting up a bit, and stretching the length of cable attached to her head, she found the port for the intra-station communications system.  It took a quick plug and a few dozen guesses before she figured out the pattern of the Mercenary's Vox Caster.

By then, he was already looking for her.

Her voice popped out of his Vox unit, metallic and grainy with the thought-to-impulse conversion.  "Oh good.  I was just getting lonely in that cell.  Figured I'd go for a walk."

As he looked around, she had no doubt that the large, red paneled access hatch would stand out to him.  He had no way through it unless he blasted it open or had a maintenance key.

"Feel like being a gem and share why you're here?  Maybe then I'll let you know where I am."  Her heart beat hard in her chest.  She was only glad she could sound flippant over the Vox.  Mainly because it didn't let her nerves fuck up the words with her vocal chords.

Kaicero was surprised when his micro-bead sprang to life and relayed the synthetic voice of the escaped prisoner. He whirled around, looking for her, when his eyes fell on the red hatch. He looked back at the open steel door. If she'd escaped from there, the hatch would have been the first thing she'd see. Kaicero strode over to the maintenance access and looked for a latch or a handle but saw no such thing, only a lock of some kind that was far beyond his understanding. 

"Very well, clever girl," Kaicero said and took a few steps back. If the prisoner was in control of a vox system somewhere he wouldn't be surprised if she was also making use of the colony's cameras. Unsure of where the camera might be, Kaicero slowly turned on the spot while he tapped the Arachnosaur crest of the Ordos Thran pinned to his coat with two fingers. "Assuming that you can see me, this is the sigil of one of your colony's benefactors, the Ordos Thran. We have been hired to liberate you and your kin from the pirate scourge. If you come out now, I will personally see to your safety," he finished with a smile and a theatrical bow, oblivious to his Eldar compatriot hiding in the shadows.

Nakera gave his proposal some thought.  If they were sent by the Colonial Exchange, then maybe her luck wasn't so poor anymore.  On the other hand...she had seen him take very specific pleasure in killing.  How could she know she could trust him.  She needed to make herself valuable.

"If you're here for the colonists, you're too late.  Most were sold...the others were...used up.  I'm all that's left here...apparently I was more useful alive and...unspoiled."  She contemplated for a moment.  She still had access to the Colony's personnel database...assuming she could get to it.  One thing they'd had her do was update the Personnel roster with who the colonists were sold to.  It could be valuable information if he was telling the truth.  It was still good if he was lying, because she could extract the buyers data from the records.  That would lead to some hefty bounties...if saving people wasn't this man's primary motivation.  "That said...if you can get me to Operations Control...I can fish out some nifty details on where the colonists went and what scum bought them..."

"Oh my dear, how horrible," Kaicero said in the same lilting tone of voice as before, without a single trace of genuine empathy. "I know for a fact that the trader-generals of the Ordos Thran will be absolutely heartbroken by this news. Perhaps your idea is a good one, my dear, and we should soften the blow by sending them a list of the cruel degenerates that have ruined their colonial efforts so that vengeance may be quickly exacted. If you would be so kind as to guide me to the operations control room, we shall get that business sorted immediately," he finished. Another mercenary would never consider giving up such information for free, but Kaicero wasn't in it for the money. Perhaps the Ordos Thran would send them on a merry goose chase throughout the local systems to hunt down all the names on that list. How much fun that would be! 

Nakera hesitated.  He seemed...trusting.  That said, if he was sent out to help the colony, then why should she fear him.  "Wait there...I'll be down in a minute..."

She unhooked her cranial shunts and let them spool back into their compartment.  Once they were stowed, she performed the Rites of Thanks to the series of ports.  Hopefully the other machine spirits would be as willing to help.  She couldn't imagine that the pirates kept up with the duties and blessings while they occupied the place.

Climbing down, she opened the access hatch and very carefully stepped out and up to Kaicero.  She was filthy - covered in a month's worth of unwashed humanity and wearing a threadbare 'robe' that was little more than a sack with a thin belt that barely came down to her knees.  She had cut a hole in the back of it, allowing her cybernetics to hang out of the robe from her lower back.  Even the mechadendrite looked worn and neglected.  She couldn't see herself, obviously, but her lack of regular, full meals had an effect on her already thin frame.  Around her wrists and ankles there were ugly, red sores where the iron shackles had sat against her skin for so long.

She stepped out with her hands up and open.  "D..don't shoot..." she said, her voice nervous and worn.  "I'm...Nakera...Nakera Kaas."

The contrast in the appearance of the two humans standing opposite each other couldn't possibly have been greater. Kaicero looked flawless and unblemished with his graft-sculpted face, radiant blue eyes, neatly trimmed golden hair and pearly white smile. His outfit seemed to have resisted all the grime, dust and blood that covered every surface of the colony, from the shiny leather of his gloves to the steel toes of his combat boots. 

He kept his death-arc lowered and tutted at the sight of Nakera. "My, my, look what these animals have done to you, Nakera. My name is Apollyon Kaicero. The pleasure is entirely mine. Lead the way." 

The young woman gave a little nod, not noticing the Eldar nearby.  She turned in the cellblock and oriented herself with where they were in the colony.

"Uuuum...th..this way..." she said, taking a few cautious steps before ushering the man with the gun forward.  She gave brief, simple instructions on where to go, and mentioned that there may be some doors, but she should be able to operate the manual override sequences.

As he advanced, she stayed a number of steps behind him, giving short verbal cues as to where he was heading.  Unarmed, unarmored, and exhausted from captivity, Nakera knew she wasn't going to be any good in a fight.