“Storage 8 in Salss Fanru,” Vanaka said to the Chainbreakers. “Container 108-077.”

“That is certainly precise,” Unta replied. “You are quite sure of this?”

“I jotted it all down immediately,” she told him.

“Are you sure it’s accurate, is what I think his point was,” Klenna said.

“I am,” she told them plainly and confidently. She was accustomed to being met with a certain amount of scepticism.

“I know what her trick is,” Nara the Warden said, making Vanaka’s heart skip a beat. “It is reliable.”

“Magic, like I said,” Reylo said.

Vanaka kept her face neutral.

Unta consulted an electronic map.

“Salss Fanru... out by the city edge... here it is. Storage 8.”

It was an area where the pillars had been bombed flat, presumably as a statement by some sky-king or another. It was a suitably desolate area for such a wretched business. And for a violent raid.

“We can assault this place with little difficulty,” Nara said.

“Did Thassa say anything about what to expect in there?” Hemut said through Reylo, who once again acted as his translator.

“There are always at least six people guarding the place,” Vanaka said. “Most of the outfit is living there, on cots. The doors are kept locked, and there is a hidden camera above each one.”

“Which is of course illegal here,” Nara said. “It is a shame we cannot simply report them for that, and leave the situation to resolve itself.”

Vanaka couldn’t tell if she was serious or if her humour was just really dry, but opted to just carry on.

“And they have guns,” she added. “As in, real, proper killer guns. Which is illegal too, but then so is slavery.”

“We’ll need to destroy whatever footage those cameras capture,” Unta said. “After we’re done with everything else, of course. Is that it?”

“That is what I could get,” Vanaka told him. The venom made people very pliable, but it wasn’t good for extended, detailed conversation.

“Did you kill her?” Kiris asked.

Vanaka turned to look at her, and didn’t respond right away.

“I don’t do that,” she then said. “And in any event, I would have been arrested within an hour.”

“Fair enough,” Kiris replied, and Vanaka wondered why the sharp-eyed woman had even asked

“There’ll be killing soon enough,” Unta said to the Chanei.

“Killing and murder are two different beasts,” the Warden pointed out and crossed her arms. “And I have a duty to oppose the latter. Are you quite certain the law will not deal with these people once they are exposed?”

Unta leaned back against a wall and crossed his own arms, and Vanaka couldn’t help but feel he looked defensive.

“There are good cops here,” he said with some defiance. “I like to think I’m living proof of that. But they are caught in a system, a river, which there is little point in fighting. If the outfit IS paying them off, then no, I don’t think they’ll ever really be dealt with.”

Nara nodded reluctantly.

“Then that is that.”

“So, we raid?” Reylo asked.

“We raid,” Unta said. “And we do it tonight. Is everyone ready?”

“I will be heading back to my hotel,” Vanaka said. “As I have said, I am a Helper, not a Fighter.”

She saw Kiris at the edge of her vision, but didn’t shift her eyes for a proper look. Somehow she felt reluctant to see what was there in those piercing eyes.

“And you?” Unta said to Losan.

“I stay with her,” the ansoti said.

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“I think your black card here makes the two of us rather irrelevant, anyway,” Vanaka said, and indicated Nara. “I have seen a Warden fight.”

“I am not a god,” Nara said. “But yes, I doubt this raid will be much of a problem.”

“Do you folks need me for anything else?” Vanaka said.

“Well, there is nothing left to discuss except strategy and weapons,” Unta said. “So no, you can head off as far as I am concerned.”

He walked over and put his slab of a hand on her shoulder.

“You’ve done good here today. I don’t know what you’ve done, but it’s good. We will give those vermin a beatdown and set their victims free, and it happens tonight. Because we got the info.”

Vanaka did her best to enjoy this moment without letting it get completely to her head. She put a hand on his arm.

“Thank you. And, I mean, good luck. I will be staying planetside for at least a few more days, and I will want to know how this all went.”

“You know where to find us.”

She said her farewells to the gathered Chainbreakers, shared one last look with the Warden, and then left with Losan in tow.

It was nearing midnight in the city, and so this rather dull border area the meetings took place in was dark and quiet. It felt like a perfect time and place to let one’s mind wander and digest interesting developments.

“So, I suppose this means your reputation is sealed,” Losan commented as they again walked through Nevilis’s unusual cityscape.

“I suppose it does,” Vanaka replied. “At the very least I will have earned trust.”

It was an interesting feeling, but it seemed she really would have to digest it for a while before deciding what exactly it all meant to her. In light of the vileness being fought she didn’t want to feel giddy, but here she was contributing, giving back to the universe. She might only possess a small niche in this civilisation-spanning network, but it was her niche, created by her, with no aid from her family.

They finished crossing yet another bridge and before them was a tunnel carved straight through one of the pillars. Vanaka took out her comm and considered talking to Erine about this whole thing, but the woman was surely asleep by now. But she probably wouldn’t mind that much. But Vanaka really ought to let Erine sleep and not take advantage of her devotion. But she really wanted to talk.

Act your age, Vanaka thought to herself, although she worried she was doing just that. She put the comm away as they entered the barely-lit tunnel, and opted to distract herself by examining her surroundings. She held a hand out to stroke the carven rock in passing, and thought back to that little conversation about the importance of touch as a connection.

She frequently missed the relative luxuries of home, to say nothing of her parents, siblings, friends and cousins, or simply the rolling hills she had grown up in. Her wanderings were uncomfortable and tiring and quite frightening at times, but still... what a boon, to get to see all these worlds, all these people.

Vanaka smiled.

“We are about to be attacked,” Losan whispered.

“Wha?”

Her warrior ansoti was laser-focused on the opening on the other side.

“Ambush,” he said, still whispering to keep his words from echoing. “At least three of them. Maintain pace. Remember your training.”

He drew the stunner with his right hand and the telescoping baton with his left one. The opening yawned ever wider, almost as if it was moving towards her, and this was all very real. This wasn’t just a frightening possibility anymore, it was actually happening.

It occurred to Vanaka to unfasten her jacket for a little more agility. Losan stayed on the right, so the left was hers to worry about. Then they crossed the last three steps and thought moved aside for bestial instinct.

They were on either side of the opening. Losan led with his stunner and pulled the trigger. A buzzing arc of electricity hit a man, illuminating the scene for an instant. Another man came at Vanaka with one of those traditional clubs. She swung her left arm to intercept it, then sent out a boxer’s punch into his chest. Her fist stopped on some sort of hard breastplate, but the impact still knocked her assailant backwards.

A man with a baton of his own swung it at Losan, who parried. Self-defence stunners were not designed for rapid fire, and so the ansoti cracked the man in the jaw with the little weapon, then sent him down with a whack from the baton.

A hulking Kapadian woman thrust a blade at Vanaka, and she hadn’t quite recovered her footing. The knife went along her left forearm, opening both the sleeve and a long, bleeding cut beneath it. The pain barely registered, not when the animal was fighting to survive, and Vanaka sent a simple kick down into the woman’s instep. She wasn’t sure if it was the bone or the shoe that made the cracking noise, but either way the woman faltered and Vanaka caught her knife-wrist and twisted.

The Kapadian hadn’t been ready for a Vylak’s strength and the joint yielded for the moment, giving Vanaka tenuous control of the limb. Losan stepped over and brought his baton down on the woman’s head. There was a loud banging noise, but little visible effect on the grunting, angry hulk.

Losan swung again, but the Kapadian put her free arm up and stopped the blow. Vanaka realised that Losan wasn’t using the stunner because she was in physical contact with the woman, and so she raised one arm and put all her strength into a blow that finally opened the woman’s hand. The knife fell and Losan fired his stunner.

The horrible, crackling arc hit, turning the whole exit area glowing white, but still the Kapadian stood. She took a clumsy swing at Losan, who dodged and wove like the fighter that he was. Vanaka sent a punch into the woman’s liver, then evaded an even less graceful blow. She circled with quick footwork and sent a rapid flurry of strikes into the Kapadian’s lower back, taking her breath away. Losan swung his baton into the side of her neck, and Vanaka grabbed her shirt and flung her into the side of the pillar. She hit it without any sort of control and then slid down.

The one in the breastplate was on his back, groaning but going for some sort of firearm at his hip. Vanaka rushed the distance between them and kicked the weapon as he drew it. It flew off the pillar platform and into the darkness, and Vanaka stomped on his chest. That plate now snapped in two, and the wearer was left a weakly wheezing, coughing mess.

Another shot from the stunner finally got the Kapadian to stop moving. It really did take a lot to put those people down. Vanaka turned in a circle, and then another, looking for more enemies. But that was it. The six of them were alone on this part of the platform.