Sam gripped the girders tight, holding still as the catwalk he’d been scaling till the guards were gone. He swung up quietly and crouched behind the guardrail. Below him the Warren Four Presidio buzzed. Support crews loaded munitions onto armored transport frigates while soldiers gathered by the battalion.

“Stirring, isn’t it?” asked Needle.

Sam looked around for him, but saw nothing. He was about to resume his recconnaissance when Needle dropped down from the girders above. His hyperfiber body seemed to make no sound at all.

“You’re a beautiful species, by the way.”

Sam narrowed his eyes. “Thank you.”

“I’ve been watching all the exos on the ship since I came back. There’s more each time. Some of them are hideous, but you mamani are gorgeous. So ethereal. So serpentine. And so seemingly close to death. You scurry like roaches from a distance, but when I drop down to walk among you you surprise me with your brilliant sense of order.”

“There’s a lot of activity down there.”

“Don’t interrupt me, Sam. You’ll find I really don’t like that.”

Same squinted more, bringing the labels on the munitions into clarity.

“And I especially dislike being ignored.”

“When I work,” Sam said through a clenched jaw, “I focus.”

Needle chuckled. “Well don’t let me distract you, then. Don’t wanna get in the way of a man workin’.”

Sam opened his left eye and activated his implant. See truth, he thought.

Walls disapeared where he willed them, except for where special sheilding was installed to protect from the extreme energies stored by some of the warheads. He turned his eyes to where he could see, where he needed to see; the people.

“I see nothing strange,” he told Needle.

“And how would you know that?” Needle was near Sam, leaning over the rail on crossed elbows.

Sam scanned the Presidio hangar again, but every person he saw showed with a hundred subtle tells that they belonged where they were. “I see only military personell.”

“That’s because that’s whose here.”

“And why are we?”

Needle shoved himself off the rail and began to pace. “What is the price of Experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street?”

Sam kept his watch, but Needle’s words floated in his head. A moment went by, and Sam grew impatient. He’d dealt with difficult bearaucrats, even politicians, and he cared nothing for people who spoke without meaning, mostly because he craved closure. “Shouldn’t we be observing Samhadi?”

“What for?”

“To find...”

“The agents of Ulro? See how annoying that is? Sam, I’m observing you. Do you think a professional would work with someone they didn’t know without learning at least a little about how they worked?”

“Then this whole day has been a waste of time.”

“For you, maybe. But not fo rme. Sensus treats me like a soldier and the duke like a jealous suitor. But here, I can see everything I’m no longer being told. The troops are mustering for war, eager to support their Harbinger heroes on the frontlines. I mean, look at this guy over here. Not him, the bald one. Use that sneaky eyepiece of yours and look at his wings. Brand new. You can tell by the corners. See the conviction in his eyes? What a precious moment. Makes you wonder how many newly promoted officers there are. See the girl commanding the squad two lineups north? How old do you think she is? What does this tell you, Sam?”

“That Albion is not prepared for the enemy they’re fighting.”

“And why would that be?”

Sam tried to keep his eyes fixed on the hangar, but Needle’s voice had a strange allure. He turned to see the Sentinel hovering right over him with his arms folded. Sam held back from flinching. “I know very little of Ulro or Tangents, but it seems that no one can be prepared for this opponent.”

“What was a very measured response. Now tell me what you really think.”

Sam turned back to the hangar. “That they’ve become complacent.”

“Ah. Poor guardians indeed. I’ll say one thing fo rthem, though. When they first learn they could be destroyed, I thought they would shrink back and hide. But they’re taking the Archeus head on. I’m impressed.”

Sam turned his head again. “Harbingers can die?”

Needle shrugged. “Well, sorta. The Archeus Knights can manipulate their radiance once their bodies are broken.”

“What are Archeus Knights?”

“You know, I forget sometimes that the Verge appeared on the other side of the galaxy last time. The Archeus aren’t much different from the Harbingers as far as I can tell. Some inexplicable energy stored in a body that isn’t really theirs. Sam, do you really not understand what you’re doing here?”

Sam looked back down at the hangar. The soldiers were now filing into the transports. Non combat staffers hurried out of the hangar bay after securing all loose equipment for depressurization. The bay doors then opened and the artificial atmosphere, one of the many fabeled technologies of Albion, opened for the transports to disembark. One by one the hulking craft lifted slowly and left the blessed ship. Once the bat was repressurized, the non-coms came back in and began what Sam guessed to be their more routine duties.

“I see a threefold purpose.”

“Go on,” said Needle.

“You wish to observe my technique.”

“Naturally.”

“And I am new to Albion, and need to witness what is normal here before seaeching for what is abnormal.”

“Good. And the third?”

“You like to talk, but prefer an audience of one.”

“Guilty as charged. However, that’s not the third reason. That is.”

Needle pointed downward at an empty acorner near one of the offices. A faint beam shot out of his finger so Sam could see exactly where he was pointing. At the end of the beam was an all too familiar sight. They came behind the civilians during the evacuation, but thanks to Sam and his colleagues, they never made it on the ships.

Needle turned off the beam and Sam was again looking at an empty corner. He looked up at the Sentinel.

Though his features did not shift, he somehow conveyed a feindish grin. “Albion has a bit of a teke problem.”

Sam willed his implant to spot the creature. Hunched, furtive, small and barely perceivable.

“I don’t suppose you recognize this little fella?”

Sam sighed. “They were once a threat. When my people decided their vaulted morality prohibited completing the act of genocide, these creatures sold themselves to the kzin as privelaged slaves. They played the role of hounds when the kzin took our world.”

“Sounds like they’re still a threat. Don’t be dissapointed with your people, Sam. They do have a reputation to maintain.”

“The purge was a long time ago.”

“I’m sure it was. We’re done here.”

The tantalus waited invisible till a group loitering workers were shooed back to their duties by a foreman, then scuttled up the wall they were leaning on and vanished through an air duct.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Sam rose and followed Needle to a remote ladder. There they began a quiet descent along the shadowy scaffold where buildings supplies were accumulating.

“What do you suppose they’re building?” Needle asked.

Sam had firgured that out before ever entering the empty hangar adjoining the one he was tasked with observing.

“Clever vantage point,” Needle said.

“Thanks.” Sam found a place he expected to be more difficult on the way down than the way up. He dropped, caught the highest rung on the ladder opposite with one hand while bracing his foot on the side he dropped from.

Needle dropped and caught himself effortless on the ladder several meters lower. “Don’t get me wrong Sam. I don’t blame your people at all for wiping out the tantalus. They’re a downright menace. Invisibility, telekinesis, remote viewing; we can’t have such a powerful species running amok through the cosmos. Just think what would have happened had they achieved faster than light travel.”

Sam paused for half an instant, then played at looking for a foothold before droopping to the last platform. “And the Harbingers? Are they a menace then?”

“Ho hooo yes. But they’re Albion’s menace. Sadly though, an even bigger menace than them is on the field now. Holloway doesn’t seem to understand that. He’s worried about the ship. Everyone’s worried about the ship. They don’t realize what’s at stake. We need to gather menaces, Sam. Not stop them.”

“We have you.”

“Hah. My people were menaces. Now they’re kittens.”

“I said you. Not your people.”

“Oh, Sam.”

Once on the floor, Needle froze, his mechanical form almost perfectly still. Sam slowed his already faint heart and held his breath. Hugging the ground with his soft feet, he slid between two closely placed uprights and blended with the scaffolding. When the doors opened and three laborers in smoke grey coveralls walked through, Needle’s body projected a distortion field so finely woven that even with his occular implant, Sam could barely see him.

The workers waited for another two to come through the door with a dolly. The dolly utilized anti gravity technology of some sort.

“How can you say that?” asked one of the workers, a female with a tail of red hair poking from under her cap.

“We found it,” said a smallish male with thin lips and patches of facial hair.

“And what if someone else had found it?” she retorted.

“Again?” asked one of the ones guiding the dolly.

“But they didn’t,” said the smallish man. “Let the exos complain all they want. Albion belongs to humanity.”

One of the first workers to enter laughed. He was the largest of them, and had the same dark skin as the Harbinger general.

“So you plan on kickin’ all the exos out?” said the big man that laughed.

“We should.”

“Uh huh. So what you plan to do about all us humans who disagree with you?”

“Kick you out too.”

The prattle stopped when they reached the scaffolding and had to offload the dolly onto a shelf near the piled munitions racking, then resumed once they were on their way back out.

“Lovely,” said Needle when the door had shut behind the workers. “Makes you proud.”

“All societies have such schisms.”

“No. Not all.” He returned to the visible spectrum.

Their next location was the very place Sam first met Holloway.

“We’re about to blow our cover,” Needle said as they sat at the bar. He flagged down the bartender, an male exo Sam didn’t recognize. Needle slipped the man a handful of bills in a denomination Sam hadn’t seen. “I’m something of a talent scout. I may stop by now and then to ask questions about tour patrons. Nothing intrusive of course.”

The ursine bartender shrugged. “Whatever you wanna know, captain.”

“Thank you. In fact…” he reached in his pocket and gave the man a small blue crystal in the shape of a flower. “You should be able to pawn that for a good price.”

The bartender slitted eyes widened. He whistled through his pointed incisors, then ducked below the bar and rose with a bottle of the same glowing pink fluid Needle drank while they watched Needle’s favorite film. “Anything you want, Captain, you come to me.”

“Excellent. My associate here may come without me. Treat him the way you’d treat me, uh...”

“Svaduk. Fhassahali Svaduk.”

Needle folder his hands on the bar and leaned forward. “You’re a babadonian, aren’t you?”

“The name give it away?”

“And the teeth. Tell me, Svaduk, you seen any new escorts last couple of weeks?”

“Yeah. A few. You wanna meet ‘em?”

“Well that depends. Are they any good?”

“Well, I got a husband, so I couldn’t tell you personally, but I hear good things about one of the new girls.”

“How good of things?”

“Pretty good.”

Needle nodded. “And the others?”

“Not so good. It’s a shame, too. These kids got nobody. If they can’t pull this off…” He shrugged.

“Which is exactly why I’m here. You never know what a desperate orphan is cut out for. I’m sure I’ll find them work. I’d like to meet this girl, though.” He took a long swig of his nepenthe.

“Sure thing. Come back same time tomorrow.”

Needle nodded, then dropped some more money on the bar and ordered Sam a drink. The bartender got called to the other side of the circular counter and stepped away.

Sam drank deep of the cold pilsner Needle bought him. The music thumped through every surface like a heartbeat. He scanned the room, matching the tempest of squirming dancers and half-bored socialites against his last visit.

Needle gestured to the bartender. “You familiar with her species?”

“Her?”

Needle chuckled. “You should see their men.”

She was a powerful beast. Broad shouldered, thick limbed and sinewy. Sam saw no signs of the female organs he was accustomed to showing through her clothes. “Are their males smaller.”

“Oh no. This is one demograph I keep on my good side. They have great hunting instincts too. As sharp as the left head on a vid’reda. She’ll be a useful asset.

Svaduk turned to the shadows and lifted her arm. Sam pierced the dark with his implant and saw that she had a vam on under her sleeve. She spoke into it briefly, then came over to them.

“I’ll need a name, Captain, or she won’t come.”

“Well, my name’s Needle. I’m a tier one Regimental Reconaissance Beraeu operator acting on behalf of General Sensus and Duke Hector Salamanca.”

Svaduk was motionless for a moment. “You military?”

“Oh, I’m a little of everything. Sam here is a civilian contractor under my direction.”

“That explains the big bills. Allright. I appreciate you being upfront.”

Needle turned his palms upward on the bar. “I hope we can still be friends.”

Svaduk nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, this is good.” She went back to her patch of darkness by her transaction recorder and lifted her forearm to her furry mouth. Same activated his aural implant and heard only her breath. “Three days from now, after we close,” she said on coming back to them.

Needle reached across the bar and gripped her massive wrist. “I can’t wait.”

Outside the dance club, Sam recalled a mark who led him on a wandering chase for months, plodding through the most cosmopolitan cities first, remote farmlands next and finaly in a massive refuse processing field. Meanwhile Needle engaged in the smallest of talk with vendors lining the broad concourse of what Sam had learned passed ror a city on Albion. No more than two thousand people lived in its apartments and houses, but within the confines of a ship, it seemed properly metropolitan. They called it Medina.

“You look bored, Sam.” Needle had finished a conversation at an industrial clothier’s kiosk.

“I’m content to observe for now.”

“Uh huh. And how long will you be content with contentment?”

Sam folded his arms. ‘I’m being patient.”

“And I forgive you for that. One more place, and we’re done for the day.”

From the secretive vantage Needle led him to, they looked over all Medina, safe from view on a gantry high above the habitats and manufacturing facilities. In the center of the city was a coliseum capped by a translucent green dome.

“These factories...” Sam began to say.

“Conventional manufacturing. Albion’s more advanced facilities are limited to the higher echelons.”

Needle, leaning over the rail on folded arms, stood suddenly and turned towards Sam. “I’m sorry, Sam. I... I interrupted you. It’s an awful habit, isn’t it? Please forgive me.”

Sam, standing upright and alert, shrugged. “Allright. You forgave me for being patient.”

“I did. But I haven’t forgotten. Sam, do you truly not know the power in your hands? Do you not feel the flame that you hold?”

“Maybe you can enlighten me.”

Needle chuckled. “It just so happens that’s my specialty. If I had Solomon’s gift I’d float above the ground and glow, but I’m going to have to draw this out of you manually. I have to know one thing if we’re going to work together. What are you afraid of Sam? Please tell me. You have my word that I’ll use the knowledge for your benefit.”

Sam was quiet for a long moment. When he met Holloway; The Human, Sam saw the fear the man had lying always thinly veiled beneath his distring dialogue and well poised bravado. This is how it went with strong and capable people. Only the very dangerous hid their fear entirely, or lacked it altogether. This Needle creature did not show the slightest trace. He reminded Sam of the people he had hunted. Still...

“Boredom,” he said.

Needle nodded. “It’s a burden nobody should bear. I’ll work with you any day of the week, Sam. Will you have me as a partner?”

“As a civilian contractor?”

“Oh, stop.” He reached out with one hand. “Well?”

“Are I not already working with you?”

“I’d hardly call the little fetch errands Holloway likes to do work.”

Sam was still for some time, then took a deep breath and clasped Needle’s hand.