Catalyst straightened his collar before entering Solomon’s apartment. He and Sensus were standing by the window. There was a faint distortion between them.

“This apartment is an insult,” he said as the door closed behind him.

Sensus turned. “I like it.”

“It’s a cage in a zoo,” said Solomon, not moving.

“And you’ve brought an animal in,” said Cat.

The Shadow Child laughed.

“You’ve got your spies in place, then?”

Solomon nodded.

“Captain Patal made it back,” said Sensus, “in case you were wondering.”

He wasn’t, but he nodded. “The data’s still decompressing, but I grabbed what we were looking for before Forge could see it.”

“Thank you,” said Solomon. “Was it just a number? Or was it a phrase?”

“A phrase, and coordinates. He handed Solomon the data rod.

“Would you like a drink?” The mentor asked.

“Make it stiff.”

Sensus sat down on a nearby couch, then gestured for Catalyst to do the same.

Solomon handed him a tall, thin tumbler filled with blue liquor.

“It’s a maman drink. It tastes like fruit infused vodka.”

Cat sniffed it before taking a sip. It wasn’t bad. He down half the glass and closed his eyes as the liquor soothed his nerves. He saw another tumbler filled with a bright yellow drink floating in the air above the couch opposite him.

“That isn’t going to help him hide,” Cat said.

“Sensus has been working on his aura of discretion,” said Solomon. “He’s proving as adept a pupil as ever.”

“As are you, Cat,” Sensus said.

“I understand partitioning information,” Cat replied. “But I don’t like it.”

Solomon balked at his comment. “You’re not supposed to like it. There’s something wrong with you if you like it. But don’t snivel about it like a child.”

There was a tense moment of quiet, broken at length by Sensus.

“What can you tell us about these tekes?”

“They are nothing.” The floating glass was now empty by a third.

“They’re telekinetics are considerable,” Catalyst elaborated, “but I think we can learn to defend against them.”

“The one Baitazahn left alive has stabilized,” said Solomon. “You should be able to train against it in a couple of weeks.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“You’ve never heard of them?” Catalyst asked.

“It’s a bug universe, Cat. And no. This species is new to me. I want to discover what energy they channel, and the relationship that energy has with their physical form.”

“Could it be similar to ours?” asked Sensus.

Solomon sat down on the couch closest to the window and shook his head. “These creatures are not radiant. Their energy is… something else.”

“Cheap tricks.” The floating glass was emptied by half.

Catalyst rolled his eyes. “Have anything useful to say, Baitazahn?”

“They rely on sight but have no eyes. They should be easy for you to defeat.”

Catalyst pondered the Shadow Child’s comment, surprised by its profundity.

“Those organs on its head,” said Sensus, “I doubt they’re vestigial. I’ll be curious to see the medical report, because they looked sensory to me.”

“While you study medical reports, I will be studying star charts,” said Solomon. “I’m curious where they came from.”

Catalyst finished his drink. “And what will my team and I be doing while you two are killing time.”

“Easy, Cat,” said Sensus.

Cat looked at him sharply. “No, Captain, it’s not easy. In the same breath as you gave me command of the team, you instructed me to lie to them. That has me questioning a lot of things right now.”

“Did they question you when you briefed them on the mission?”

The captain’s question was too logical for Catalyst to argue any further, which upset him. He rose and went to the bar.

“Where’s the blue stuff?”

“Try the yellow.” The floating glass was now empty and hovering to the bar. It hovered still over the counter, then began to rock expectantly from side to side. Catalyst took it and filled both their glasses from the bright yellow bottle.

He looked at his glass after his sip. “I have nothing to compare this flavor to.”

Baitazahn went back to his couch and began working on his second drink.

Cat followed, and the two older men looked at him patiently. He made sure to keep a hard edge when he spoke. “I refuse to run fetch quests for the Quorum. I know this last op served a relevant purpose, but they didn’t. Harbinger One may be diminished in number, but we are still the flagship team.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” said Sensus. “We’ve been discussing your next op, and we’ve decided on a rescue mission.”

“You mean…”

“You’re going after Revol and Haruspex,” said Solomon.

“How will we find them?”

“There is a way. Sensus will brief you on it.”

Sensus put his empty glass on the end table, then leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “It won’t be easy, Cat. And you’ll be away for some time. I wouldn’t recommend expressing this to the team, but in addition to reuniting our family, it will be good for the team to be away from Albion for the next several months.”

“You’re keeping us away from the politics.”

“Yes. The less the common people see Harbinger teams as a political instrument the better.”

“Trust me, Cat,” said Sol, “we’re doing you a favor. I wish I could come with you.”

Cat nodded. He knew coming back had been difficult for Solomon. “Is there anything we should be looking for while we’re searching for Reev and Ru?”

“Nothing specific,” said Sol, “but you have the right outlook. Everything I have learned, Cat, I learned out there. We need to be out there, where the truths are hidden. Not here, where we can hide behind our comforts.”

“When do we brief?”

“Seven hundred. You’ll brief the team at thirteen hundred.”

“Can I tell them in advance what we’ll be doing?”

Sensus looked to Sol, who nodded.

Back in their dorm, Catalyst told them the news, and they all expressed the same heart. It made him happy to see, but he couldn’t shake the thought that there would be a lot of information he would be keeping from them, which caused him to wonder how much more the captain and Sol would be keeping from him.