After they were airborne Solae leaned against Rene and closed her eyes. One might assume that a jolt from a stunner would cause a person to be more wired, more energetic, and difficult to calm, but the opposite was true- at least for the duchess. The overloading of her nerves and musculature had taxed her physically. Most of the truck was also coming off the adrenaline surges they had felt while confronting Thorne's forces and evading them. The peaceful quiet lulled her into resting on her lover's shoulder if only for the briefest of respites. Their destination was a warehouse not far from where the Bonaventure had been docked when they disembarked days ago. Neither the Syshin nor the criminal overlord interrupted the silence. All of them had been stung by a stunner before and felt the drowsy after-effects from it draining their strength.

Their arrival at the warehouse was punctuated by the vehicle rolling to as soft a stop as the driver could manage. The loss of the steady vibration woke the diplomat just as Ten was opening his mouth to broach the subject. It had been a silent ride but not uncomfortable. The Syshin were appreciative of the time to gather their thoughts and assess the situation more fully. Ten, who was never idle, had busied himself with planning for once his guests had left Zatis space. He would have to deal with Thorne, regardless of whether or not she suspected his intervention in freeing two slaves, but thanks to Solae's cache he would be far from defenseless. He knew that neither she nor Rene approved of his methods so he respectfully did not divulge them. By the end of the month he anticipated having all of Ralch's supporters under his thumb.

After they landed the truck was unloaded. Criestia, who didn't trust them to not be injured during the daring rescue, and Rosaria, who needed to also be ferried to the Bonaventure, were waiting for the intrepid heroes in one of the offices at the warehouse. Unlike some of the others they had visited while laying low, this one was regularly used by Ten in his day-to-day operations. Crates of illegal cargo, enigmatic machinery, and various types of transport were scattered about in the larger open area. The northeast corner had been sectioned off into the aforementioned offices. It was in one of these the doctor and teenage girl waited patiently in ergonomically designed business chairs sipping a tea that the physician hoped would calm their frayed nerves. Normally she was not quite so invested in her patients' personally to be worrying.

Solae was favoring her 'good' leg as they lumbered to the offices. First Rene, then the Syshin, and even Ten had offered their assistance, but she stubbornly refused. The stunner needle had not left her crippled. It was the bruise that left her sore to the touch and reluctant to shift her weight onto the limb. Given how injured Rene still was she clung to her pride and swore she did not need help; if he was perfectly mobile after nearly dying from being shot in the embassy, she could bear an ache for a night.

"Oh, thank the stars," Criesta exclaimed as they entered the makeshift meeting room. There was a long table, the surface of which was a polished crystalline material supported by wrought metal alloy, covered with various medical supplies she had brought in case of an emergency. Evidently she had prepared for the possibility of needing to operate upon the colonel should he push his limitations too far. "Come sit down and let me examine that leg," she ordered the duchess.

"It's really not necessary, it was just a stunner..." Solae protested with a glance towards Rene and Ten, neither of whom spoke up in her defense. Seeing that the argument was not worth the effort she sat down as Criesta cleaned the discolored flesh with disinfectant and perused her selection of sprays for the one that would be most appropriate for her condition. It was a very minor abrasion in the grand scheme of things, but she her only duty was not just to prevent loss of life, but to improve the quality and conditions of all who came to her with ailments, no matter how small.

"I would like to introduce myself," the linguist said in fluent Syshi as she turned her attention to the two freshly-liberated slaves. She reached up and hooked her fingers under the wig and pulled it off, then the wig cap underneath, freeing her golden hair to fall and tumble around her shoulders in aureate waves. "My name is Mar- no, I apologize, I'm not yet used to my new title. I am Duchess Solae Falia."

"Duchess?" asked 427. Both he and 138 had been surprised by the reveal. Obviously neither thought the blue wig was real, as Solae was not the first 'customer' of Thorne's to don a disguise, but they had taken notice of the unusual hue of her hair. Between them they had seen enough of humanity to know it was a unique shade that was no more natural or common than the blue.

"Yes, but I would like you to call me Solae if you agree," she asked them pleasantly in Syshi. Another lady would have balked at letting her entirely human entourage refer to her casually by her first name. Solae believed that there was no sense in breaking with all societal expectations and norms if she was not also going to breach etiquette. It would be incredibly uncomfortable for her to be sharing a ship with two people who kept referring to her with honorifics. Her goal was to pioneer the acceptance of Syshin within the Stellar Empire with these two men; the least they could do was be familiar enough to dismiss ordinary conventional trappings when practical.

"What are your names?" she asked them in the common tongue so she was not excluding the rest of the room from the conversation.

"Before 138?" asked the one with the matching numerical designation.

"Yes, your true names, the ones your parents gave you," Solae nodded with a gentle smile. Criestia seized the opportunity to spray the distracted duchesss's blemished skin, which was now already a ripe shade of purple where it had not been cracked when she skidded on the floor, with a cool liquid that helped to reduce the swelling and pain. It did not completely escape her notice that the highborn woman had an accelerated healing factor similar to Rene.

"I am Yarue," volunteered 138 immediately, eager to shed Thorne's system that had reduced him to a number.

"I am Dasin," answered 427 with a touch more reluctance. It had been so long since his real name had been used it felt foreign as it rolled off his tongue. For a moment he internally questioned if he had mis-remembered the name that painted his fondest recollections of his childhood.

"As of today I am appointing you both as my bodyguards. This is my... mate, Rene, and the girl I mentioned that will be joining us on our ship off Zatis, Rosaria. Rene will help teach you how to use some of the equipment we're taking with us so you can defend yourselves better from people like Thorne," she told them in Syshi before looking to her fiance. "Do we need to arm them before we leave? I had Ten find a few things that we can use for improvised armor for them, but it'd be easier to assemble it later when time is not an issue."

"Before you worry about getting them into armor, might I suggest that you think of your own clothing?" Criestia pointed out dryly.

Solae blinked a few times, looked down, and only then realized she was still wearing the dress with a plunging neckline and lower hem well above the knees. More of her was arguably exposed than anyone else in the room- Syshin included. "It would take me longer to change," she admitted. The doctor sighed but did not contradict the statement as it was probably true. The scandalous ensemble was a tight enough fit that it had been a challenge to wiggle into. Now that it was damaged from the skirmish in the hotel it would be even more difficult to remove quickly.

"Do we at least an option that gets them out of those ridiculous furs?" the duchess amended her inquiry.