(Unova Syndicate- Planet Xerciam Prime)

(Outskirts of a Mining Colony)

Sophie had immediately left the mining colony after briefly kidnapping and interrogating a few random aliens for information.

Fortunately, it seemed that the layout of the major cities on the planet was not a closely guarded secret and in fact several of the residents were actually carrying maps.

What she found truly shocking was the spatial coordinates of planet Xerciam Prime.

Planet Xerciam Prime was in the outer regions of the Unova Syndicate and at least two thousand light years away from the Earth Federation border.

This distance may seem vast at first glance, but warp drive technology meant that the journey would take no longer than three weeks.

The main problem was the fact that the border was currently an active war zone and the only ships travelling to this dangerous area were generally military vessels or private starships carrying mercenaries.

Sophie needed to somehow sneak onboard a military starship or temporarily join a mercenary crew and fight on the frontlines.

Well that was an issue to think about once she solved the immediate threat of pursuers.

Right now, Sophie was currently resting in a hidden cave that she found while running through the forest.

She was also tending to Lily to make sure that the little girl would be able to sleep peacefully.

This cave was about ten kilometers away from the mining town so hopefully it was far enough to rest temporarily.

Sophie just needed a thirty-minute break to change her outfit and make sure that Lily was recovering properly from her ordeal.

The Unova Syndicate was only loosely governed and especially on a remote colony like this

It was unlikely that she would get in any sort of legal trouble for killing the innkeeper.

She just needed to avoid whatever hidden power was backing him.

Sophie was snapped out of her daze by a soft sound and some rustling from Lily who was being held in her lap.

Lily opened her eyes with a painful groan and felt a pair of warm arms holding her gently.

This embrace made her feel very safe and protected but Lily had no idea who this mysterious person was.

She was a bit afraid to look up just in case this was a dream brought on from her days spent in the light cage.

The surrounding area was quite dark and Lily's cultivation level was not high enough to allow her to see through the darkness.

""Urghhh wha where?" Lily spoke softly as she didn't know where she was.

The last thing she could remember was attending the banquet with the kind big sister and then she was somehow on the floor of a room.

Lily had tried to communicate with the scary looking blob-like alien who was also in the room, but he just imprisoned her inside a tiny light cage.

She was terrified of being trapped in a room full of dangerous alien captives like herself but no matter how much she begged and yelled for help

No one came.

Lily shivered slightly as she recalled an unpleasant memory of seeing the blob-like alien punish one of the alien captives who spat on him during feeding time.

"Oh? Are you awake?" a soft voice sounded out from above Lily's head.

Lily looked up slowly and saw the face of the gentle sister from the banquet!

"Big sister!" Lily jumped up from Sophie's embrace and rushed to give her a big hug.

Sophie quietly waited as Lily snuggled tightly and tried to push her small body closer.

"I I was so scared!" Lily cried painfully as she held on to Sophie as tightly as she could.

She needed to double check that this was not a hallucination or a strange dream.

"There there I will protect you," Sophie cooed lightly and stroked Lily's hair that was now a bit messy.

"Are you okay? Were you hurt?" Sophie asked a few questions once Lily calmed down.

Lily teared up once more and a storm of complaints came out,

"No the big bad guy just put me in a cage and left me alone forever! I was going to die!"

"He would do some weird things with the other prisoners that I didn't understand."

"And. and I didn't have any food. and. and. I had to poo... but the scary guy didn't let me go to the bathroom!"

Yep.

Sophie was well aware of that fact.

There was a reason why Lily and she were now wearing completely new outfits.

It was just that she didn't want to embarrass the little girl when she woke up, so Sophie had tried to avoid the topic.

Luckily, most of Sophie's clothes in her storage ring were made from smart morphological material that could auto adjust to the size of the wearer.

She had also injected Lily with a mild healing serum and fed her one high class nutrient vial that would allow her body to recover from days of starvation.

It was fortunate that the enhanced physiques of noble children were generally quite sturdy, and they would not easily die of thirst or hunger.

"Big sis... big sis. where are we?" Lily asked curiously with squinted eyes as she tried to peer through the darkness.

Sophie frowned for a moment and sorted her thoughts before telling Lily everything she had found out,

"I don't know what happened but right now we appear to have been teleported to a planet in the Unova Syndicate."

"I haven't seen any other nobles from the banquet nearby so it either means that we are all scattered around the planet or the warp circle transported us to random spatial coordinates."

"You were in my arms when the jump happened so maybe that's why you teleported so close to me."

"But generally, warp circles bring everyone inside them to the same location, so this situation makes no sense"

Sophie continued to explain her various theories and explanations for ten minutes straight until she realised that Lily was just looking at her with a blank look.

"Cough cough basically I can get us out of here, but it may take a few weeks," she reassured the cute girl.

Lily nodded slowly and wanted to ask a few more questions but a wave of drowsiness caused her to fall back asleep.

Sophie smiled gently as she saw the exhausted girl sink back into a deep slumber, restoring Lily's body mass using nutrients vials would cause the girl to feel a bit more tired during the next few days.

"Alright let's go," Sophie whispered softly and rose up from the ground with Lily in hand.

She carefully placed a hooded outfit on Lily's body and made sure that she was completely covered.

Staying in the cave was only a temporary measure and the number one priority now was to keep moving away from the town.

Humans were bound to attract attention in the Unova Syndicate, so it was important to disguise Lily's appearance.

The nearest spaceport was on an island that was only accessible from a naval base located north of the mining town.

It was time to begin the long journey home.