“This is farewell for the time being,” Arthur said as he stood before the airlock, “Thank you for your assistance, Saltless. If I am in need of transport again, I will see if you are around.”
Saltless nodded, a smile on his trunk-like mouth, “Yes. Goodbye. Maybe all time. Maybe short time. Not know. Farewell, Inquisitor,” he said, turning to tend to his station. Arthur did not linger, climbing into the dropship, strapping himself in, and suffering through the decoupling with the station, the acceleration to terminal velocity, and the landing onto Bexzu Prime. As the dropship landed, he removed himself from the straps holding him to his seat and stood. After another short lift ride, he was on the shippad of the Inquisition branch location. As soon as he stepped off from the dropship, it closed itself up, raised into the air, and blasted towards the stratosphere.
Arthur vaguely waved towards it and turned to the lavish branch location. The whole building was a single, five hundred foot tall pyramid made of stone blocks covered in a layer of titasteel armor. It was, apparently, a local landmark, and one of the Inquisition’s greater architectural achievements. It was a blend of literal tons of mathematical data and hyper advanced materials. The structure was said to be able to withstand anything less than a world-destroying threat without a scratch.
As Arthur began to walk across the shippad on the ground beside the branch location, he took a moment to look around. Plantlife was abundant, but it was a mix of life from every homeworld of the six citizen species of the League, which meant that oak trees stood beside giant mushrooms from the Seeker homeworld and were decorated in sparse lichen from the Ukalan homeworld, among other species. What also popped out to Arthur was the number of people standing beyond the shippad and taking in the branch location’s beauty, on a large stone-pathed area. Their eyes had turned to him once he landed and a sudden stillness overtook them as he looked at them. He had more important things to worry about, though, so he turned away and strode towards the entrance to the branch location.
The entrance, a twenty foot tall, glass-paned wall that curved ever so slightly, was almost entirely empty, with only the occasional clerk going in and out. Arthur strode through the door, returning the occasional respectful salute with a nod, and entered the chamber beyond. The entrance hall was a trove of luxurious paintings, mosaics, and other art made by volunteering Inquisitors. The floor was tiled in a dark polished granite, with red carpets being spread over the most common paths.
The only furniture in the hall was a long desk, pushed to the back of the square room, and with five clerks staffing it, with a door behind it with a tag reading ‘Clerkmaster Archivist.’ Arthur strode up to the closest desk, staffed by a young human woman. She was far more professional than the clerk staffing the branch location in BV-X4Y, giving him a smile almost entirely hiding her nervousness, “Greetings Investigation Inquisitor,” she greeted, “Could you please state your name and purpose of visiting?”
“My name is Inquisitor Arthur Wan,” he replied, “I have been assigned a mission to track down and recruit one Kelish Balak and I need access to the archives to do so. As well as that, I have been assigned an AI to assist me in this endeavor.”
The woman nodded and typed onto her terminal, “Alright, yep, everything checks out,” she said, “Do you require anything else?” she asked.
“I do,” he said, “I have some things from my last mission to deposit in an evidence cache. Do you happen to know where that is?”
The woman gave a smile, but saw the nervousness still there, “Ah, I can take those for you, sir. The Clerkmaster Archivist has personally asked us to take any evidence so he may study them,” she said, reluctantly holding out her hand. Arthur did not argue with her, taking the dozen hard drives, vial of blood, and extra hard drive of his sensor data, and putting it all in her hands. She looked at the small pile of things for a moment, eyes lingering on the blood, before returning her smile to him, “I see. Thank you very much for your duty, Inquisitor. Is there anything else?”
“There is not,” Arthur replied politely.
“Understood. In that case, the archives are through the door on your left.”
“I see. Thank you,” he said, stepping away and walking to the doorway on the left of the desks. He was greeted by a hallway very much similar to the chamber behind him, but with small signs adorning the walls with abstract symbols he had learned to memorize. One of the signs had an arrow pointing forward with a scroll beside it. He followed that sign, passing only a few other Inquisitors on his way, including a small team of Assault and Assassin Unit Inquisitors. Eventually, he found the large doorway with the word ‘Archive’ on it, and walked in a moment later.
Unlike ancient libraries or even modern server banks, the Inquisition Archives were not merely stores of knowledge to be perused at one’s leisure, though some did do such. It was a place where research was completed in the most timely manner possible, where Inquisitors would need tens of minutes instead of hours to research everything there was to learn on a topic or person. It took the form of a large, two storied chamber with rows upon rows of large, dome-like rooms made of glass placed around the room. In the balconies of the second floor, there were rows of simulated books that an Inquisitor on leave could browse at their leisure. Unlike most other archives, however, there were expansive tubes of water flowing around the room and leading into spherical chambers of water.
Just as Arthur was about to step forward, a figure flew through the tubes with blinding speed and stopped in the tube just a few feet away from him. It was a creature very similar to the Seekers, with lower bodies of many appendages and multi limbed torsos, but that was where the similarities ended. Unlike the Seekers, with the massive eye in their heads, the creature in the water-filled tube had two compound eyes, a mouth like ancient accounts of ‘crabs,’ and two long antennae on the top of its head. It had six arms, four of which were remarkably like the Seekers’ while the last two were tipped with blades of bone. It had clothing on its body, with a cap on its head with a pair of Inquisitor’s Regalia adorning its head on each temple. [Greetings, Inquisitor Wan, I am archivist Senira] a feminine voice said to him in his head, [I have received prior notice that you will be using an archive dome today, as well as the fact that you are expecting an AI assistant.]
Arthur gave a smile, sending his own psychic message back to the Cilerian archivist, [I am indeed. Is there an uplink terminal I could use to find my assistant faster?] he asked.
The archivist shook her head, [It is an unfortunate situation that we do not, but your assistant should be able to find you when you are using an archive dome. Whatever your mission, I am sure that these archive domes will be of assistance. If you require any older documents that may not be within the archive domes at this time, a message can be sent to request a scan of it. In my experience, you should be able to receive it within one to two hours of your request. Is there anything else?] she asked.
Arthur shook his head respectfully, [No, I am fine. Thank you for your help,] he replied, watching as she nodded and blasted down the pipes that filled the room. He continued on his way, eventually reaching the first archive dome and stepping into the glass dome. The archive dome was not much from the outside, only being five seven feet in diameter and furnished with a pair of chairs in front of a central metal desk. As he shut the door, the glass darkened until it became as dark as the night sky and a series of buttons appeared on the metal desk in the center.
He sat down and looked at his options. He had a few options, ranging from the pre-invader human qwerty system of keyboards to the Seeker-focused drgyj system. He had been trained in each one, including the difficult drgyj system, but had his favorite, which was the qwerty system. No matter how much time had passed, humans still predominantly preferred the qwerty system to any other, though there were a few groups of people who preferred other styles.
With his keyboard system selected, his desk lit up with different buttons, in the keyboard system he chose, as well as a small simulated notepad beside his keyboard. As he quickly recalled his researching style, the archive dome’s computer system booted up, taking a moment to send him to the search screen, with a million-million options made mostly for AI to use. Arthur, however, was not an AI, nor was his assistant present with him. Instead, he began with the most simple of beginnings. He typed in ‘Kelish Balak’ into the search bar, filtered by ‘most recent,’ and began his search.
The last sighting from any UNET traffic was two days prior, when a few people from a core planet filmed a gunfight break out in a nightclub between someone the system was sure was Kelish and a group of armed men and women. They tore up the club, no one of any party dying, but each retreating to lick their wounds, as it were. That did not bode well for his recruitment. He backtracked, going to the previous mention of her-- the Vikshe appearing in the background of a charity post-- and continued doing the same. He found that she did not have a single account on any of the social media sites most used, which suggested that she was not interested in popular media. That made sense, considering that her supposed career was a bounty hunter.
He eventually ran through every UNET sighting of the woman, finding nothing but her moving towards some destination with a determined smile. The thing that did strike him as odd, however, was that there were no posts about her from before a year prior, which, according to her records, meant that she was isolated from UNET for seventeen years. He shook his head. He could not piece anything together from that, let alone figure out where she was headed. He went back to the search menu and pondered where to go from there.
As he was doing so, a little bell appeared on the glass to his right and he breathed a sigh of relief. He stood and tapped the bell, watching as a waveform quickly formed on that wall. Through speakers hidden in some place or other, he heard a strong, masculine voice speak to him, “Greetings, Inquisitor Wan,” it said, “I have been promoted to be your assistant. My designation is E-X-Zero, however, a nickname will not go unappreciated.”
Arthur nodded, “Good to meet you, E-X-Zero,” he replied, thinking for a moment, “I’m just going to call you Exo, is that alright?”
“Very much so. That was what my previous AI manager called me, anyhow,” it responded, “Ah, and if you would not mind, please refer to me as a male. My siblings may prefer the pure neutrality of ‘it,’ but I prefer what I prefer.” His waveform then flew across the screens and placed itself in the top corner of the search menu, “I see that you have already searched for information about this woman, Inquisitor.”
Arthur laughed a bit, “Not really. I just shuffled through UNET sightings. The only things of note were that she did not have any sightings before two years ago, does not have any social media accounts, and was recently in a gunfight in a coreworld night club. That doesn’t give us much to work with, huh?” he asked.
“I would say so,” Exo replied, “But I believe that there are many avenues that we have not looked into yet.”
“Obviously,” Arthur replied, “Do we know who her parents are? Maybe where she was born?” he asked, “After that, we could dive through official record mentions of her between the Inquisition's incident reports, legal documents, and any acquaintances she might have. Am I missing anything?”
“There are many things you are missing, Inquisitor, but all of those combined would not yield the same insight compared to a single major point. I believe that it is a good list,” Exo replied, the screen in the front half of the dome suddenly switching to a flurry of pages. Some were made smaller and put onto other parts of the dome with headings above each category of research. As Exo searched, Arthur sauntered over to the ‘Family’ section, and red flags made themselves known almost immediately.
Her father was named Hilis Jelka, her mother Jikse Vilia. That signified two things. The first was that her family did not subscribe to patriarchal name transplants during matrimony. It also told him that she was a pureblooded Vikshe, through and through. While that did not tell him much in terms of her personality, it did tell him that she had superb thermal vision, which would be a useful ability were she to join the Inquisition.
That alone, though, was not the problem. The problem was a question: why did Kelish take the last name Balak if her family did not subscribe to the female of a heterosexual marriage taking the male’s name? For that matter, he wondered where in the world the last name ‘Balak’ came from. It sounded remarkably Kragakian, which once again meant that she either married a Kragak, taking his or her last name in the process, or was adopted by one. Checking the numerous documents Exo was sending his way, he found evidence of neither.
As he was browsing the genealogical records of Kelish’s family, Exo zipped over to where he was, a document trailing behind his waveform, “Inquisitor, I believe I have found something interesting,” he said, pushing the genealogical record away and putting the Inquisitorial report in its place. Arthur rolled his eyes behind his helmet, read the title, and recoiled. It read ‘Citizen Report of Technology Regulation Committee Banned Research in the Station in the AC-B9Y system, Above the Planet Known As Maylay Prime.’ As he read, he only became more and more shocked.
In the report he found a retelling of his deeds above Maylay Prime, and he learned a great deal about what was happening around the incident, such as the fact that the astrodock manager was taking bribes from Yeyimat. In spite of that, what he found the most interesting was the name of a certain Vikshe slave girl whom he had met once before, “Wow… even I’m surprised,” Arthur remarked, “I did not expect that.”
“Indeed, neither did I,” Exo agreed, “I believe this works in our favor, though.”
“I know it does,” Arthur cut in, “But I don’t want to use old feelings like that to coerce her into joining the Inquisition. It isn’t right,” he said, shaking his head, “Anyway, are there any older versions of this document? I want to check something.” Exo obliged, producing one multiple previous versions of the document and filtering out anything that did not relate to Kelish. Of the changes, only one applied to her, and that was a change in her last name. Her last name was originally Vilia, but changed to Balak a year prior. Yet another detail Arthur added to the mystery of her name.
As Arthur thought, Exo darted about the domed screen, scanning each document Arthur had looked at and moving to the next. Eventually, he came to a stop in front of Arthur, “Inquisitor, might I inquire as to what you are thinking about?” he asked.
Arthur breathed a sigh and began to pace around the room, “Well, I’ve been stuck on her name, Exo.”
“Her name, Inquisitor?” Exo asked.
“Yeah, her name,” Arthur replied, “Her family did not practice taking the name of another person during marriage, yet her name does not match either. On top of that, her name sounds far too Kragakian to be from a VIkshe family, so I can only assume that she took her new last name from a Kragakian,” he explained, pacing around the room and pointing to each document as he passed the ones he read.
“That would not bode well for our mission, then,” Exo replied, “If she is sympathetic towards Kragakian sentiments, then she may share their poor view of the Inquisition as well. That would almost guarantee her dismissal of the offer to join the Inquisition.”
“Or we could have an even worse scenario where she tries to infiltrate the Inquisition and fails miserably,” Arthur added.
“That as well,” he admitted.
“Either way, what we do know is that she took the last name Balak after our first encounter,” Arthur summarized, “What we need to figure out now is how she went from frightened slave girl to badass bounty hunter.”
“Quite the high praise, Inquisitor,” Exo chuckled, “Do you perhaps have an attraction to Miss Balak?”
“I don’t,” Arthur said with a sigh, “That’s just what the official document said about her. Check yourself if you don’t believe me. Now then… Alright, where did she go after the Inquisitors cleared out?” he asked.
A moment of digital shuffling later, Exo brought up a number of documents and a single video clip, “Unfortunately, after our target was brought in for questioning by both the Guard and the Inquisition, she requested to leave and was never heard from again. At least, not until now,” he explained, “This video here is the only sighting between the years of 3104 and 3105, with clips resurfacing between 3105 and now, 3106.” He played the video and Arthur caught a single glimpse of the Vikshe girl, walking aimlessly through a cargo bay, before the feed cut out and was replaced by what Arthur could tell was a feedback loop. After a few minutes, the feed returned back to its normal feed.
“Exo, why did no one catch this?” Arthur asked, “I mean, finding a single person in a crowd of quadrillions is difficult, but other AI’s take time validating data as a hobby… I’m sure one of them should have noticed, right?”
“Unfortunately not, Inquisitor. As far as my data shows, no AI has validated this station’s recordings. There is simply no point in analyzing video footage for feedback loops for us. Even those of my kind who find enjoyment from data validation,” Exo explained.
Arthur breathed a sigh, “Alright, yeah. You guys aren’t gods of machines. So, new angle; what stations left the dock of that astrodock during that time? If there is only one likely station, then we know where she went for the better part of a year.” Exo brought up the logs for departing stations from the astrodock during that few minute span. There were three in total, one of which was an Inquisitor station, likely an Archivist’s station brought in to analyze the data Arthur let leak during his little heist. The second was a League Guard station making a routine patrol of the local sector. The third and final one was a Kragak station, whose destination was unknown, “Bingo,” Arthur muttered, smirking, “That’s our guy. Who owns this one, Exo?”
“One moment, Inquisitor,” he said, pulling up a digital file, “The owner of this station is named Garab Haarv. He is ninety six years old, a few months away from the Kragak life expectancy, and still performs mercenary work in the outer sectors. Here is a photo,” he said, pulling up a very scarred, very familiar Kragak warrior. He was missing one of his compound eyes, a finger, and a leg, with a black exoskeleton and an annoyed expression.
“Dammit, really!?” Arthur hissed, shaking his head.
“Is there an issue, Inquisitor?” Exo asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
“I met this one on my last mission,” Arthur groaned, “The galaxy is a small place, huh? But that doesn’t bode well either. This guy called me a Seekerspawn, so I doubt she’s going to have a better view of us than that.”
“Perhaps, but the mission has been made clear, sir,” Exo replied.
“I know, I know. Duty calls,” Arthur stated, “But it may not be all that bad. If she left this Mr. Haarv over a year ago, then there is the chance that she disagrees with his views on the Inquisition. Maybe.” He lapsed into a moment of silence as he tried to organize every detail he gathered about his case, shaking his head in frustration a moment later, “Exo, can you take over the notetaking for a few minutes?”
Exo’s waveform zipped over to the unused side of the dome, “Easily, Inquisitor. What do you want to note down?”
Arthur rubbed his armored chin for a while, thinking, “We need a few things if we’re going into this before the day is out. We need a timeline of her life, a set of estimated values, and a list of accomplishments and skills. That should be a good basis to feel her out.” He paused for a moment, “Don’t take that out of context.”
“I already have, sir,” Exo chuckled, “But we have already pieced together the majority of her recent life, so we need to determine her early and teenage years. Her accomplishments are things that we may never be able to discover, and the same is true of her traits. I do not have records of her personality matrix, so any details will need to come from deduction.” As Exo spoke, more and more of his side of the dome was filled with the details he gathered on either the timeline, or the two lists.
“And the values?” Arthur asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine, sir. The only way to determine her values would be to make predictions based on her life experiences, which could have been influenced by many things.”
Arthur nodded, “So we put less effort into values, accomplishments, and skills, and more into the timeline. That shortens our search quite a bit. In that case, where did her parents go after her birth, and what did they do?” Exo immediately pulled up a few documents written in Hilis Jelka’s and Jikse Vilia’s names. They ranged from station fee payments to mining rights charters, and all of them together gave Arthur a clear image, “Space miners, then,” Arthur muttered.
“Assumedly so. According to the League Census Commission, Mr Jeka and Mrs. Vilia were both found to have died during the year of 3099.”
“Seven years ago. Going by our timeline, that means that from 3099 to 3104 Kelish was a slave to Yeyimat. That’s a long time…” he commented, “I’m surprised she survived, to be honest. Pirates are not known for their humane treatment of illegal slaves.”
Exo darted over to the search bar for a moment before dashing back to where Arthur was standing, “I believe that the pirate warlord you defeated happened to be an exception. According to the records, his slaves were found to be in relatively good health, though their mental wellbeing was far from ideal. The total loss of power in their situation seemed to have promoted obedience and discouraged critical thinking. Extensive psychological and psychic therapy was needed to return the victims to a state where they could be deemed ‘healed.’ Notably, the pirate warlord did not allow the sexual assault of any slave owned by himself. This undoubtedly saved many men and women from extreme mental stress.”
“Yeah, great guy. I could really feel his loving personality as he pointed a gun to my head, threatened to kill me, and conspicuously didn’t free the people he actually enslaved,” Arthur quipped, “But this is a debate for another time, though I doubt I need to tell it to you. So, the first twelve years of her life were spent as a child of space miners. From there, her parents were killed and she was enslaved by the ‘kind’ Yeyimat. Once she was rescued, she was taken in by our Kragak friend, Garak Haarv. After a year, they went their separate ways, her being seen by our systems while he was just… other places. From there, she appeared sporadically, making a name for herself as a bounty hunter, and she was seen taking part in a firefight a couple of days ago. Did I mess anything up, Exo?”
“Not to my knowledge, Inquisitor,” Exo replied, “While you have been assembling the timeline, I have been attempting to discover any other clues as to our target’s personality. Apart from the detail that she is always smiling in her sightings, I believe we will be going in blind.”
Arthur sighed, nodding, “Yeah, I figured as much. This whole thing is madness anyway. I mean, since when did humans recruit Vikshe? It’s not like I’m against it, but the whole point of the departments of the Inquisition being divided by species is for the purpose of self regulation. Granted, an Inquisitor from any department is within their rights to check on someone from another species if need be, but…”
Exo’s waveform darted over to the search bar, closing it, then zipped about as he closed every other open document, “Inquisitor, please do not become distressed. We still have our mission to do. If it is any consolation, then please know that good performance is likely to lead to more details of missions being divulged in the future,” he said, closing the last document, “On another note, when were you planning on beginning the contact portion of this mission?”
“Right about now,” Arthur said, “You did get where her station is right now, didn’t you?” he asked.
Exo’s waveform darted towards him on the walls and disappeared, reappearing in his comslate, “Of course. Her station is currently located in AA-U0Z, or Velka to the locals. With a population of one hundred and twenty billion spread across the three habitable planets in the system, it would normally be difficult to ascertain her location. Our job is much easier, however, considering the fact that she went planetside. Her dropship has not left the planet as of yet, and she has not been seen outside of the city sector where our last hit came from.”
“That doesn’t mean that she didn’t leave. It just means she did not want anyone looking to think she did. Wherever she is, she wants people to think she’s still in that city sector. Can you request a worm gate to Velka?” he asked, “We need to move fast.”
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“Already done, sir. It’s ready for your use at any time.” Exo replied as they left the archive dome.
“Good, thanks.” Arthur sent a nod towards Archivist Seivira as he walked through the halls of the branch location. He would have liked to stay for a bit longer, but there was no way to put off his mission. He did not know what he would do during his leave time, but he decided to remind himself to tour the pyramid fortress if there was nothing else to do. He made his way to the worm gate, yet another semi-circular room with the titasteel frame in the back, and stood in front of the multicolored spiral of frothing energy once more, “I’m about to head in. Do you need any time?”
“I do not, though the AI in charge of this worm gate was quite polite. Perhaps I will make her acquaintance in the future,” he remarked.
“That’s nice. A good way to spend our leave, you know,” Arthur chuckled as he entered the portal. Disconnection took him once more and he was left walking through a chaotic corridor once more, “God, that feels weird,” Arthur remarked, “Do you feel it too, Exo?”
There was a slight pause on Exo’s behalf before he replied, “Do you not know the cause, Inquisitor?” he asked.
“No, not really,” Arthur replied, “I never mentioned it to anyone, and Maya said that I would feel it when I went through a wormhole with her, so I didn’t think much of it.”
“A fair enough reason,” Exo conceded, “But the reason for the disconnected feeling is because of your ‘Esper’ powers. All psychically active individuals subconsciously feel the Minds of others around them, and without it, they feel empty and alone. Even the faint echoes lightyears away are so common that their absence is disturbing to you,” he explained.
Arthur nodded, continuing to walk, “That’s interesting. Thanks for telling me that. I always wondered how people could stand going through wormholes.” They, or rather Arthur, walked in comfortable silence for a few more minutes. Eventually, the multicolored soup around him abruptly morphed into another copy of the familiar room. He stepped through the worm gate as it closed behind him and looked around the bulk-standard room, “Welcome to Velka,” he remarked, “No time to waste, then. Let’s go.”
*=====*
A tall, lanky man sat at the bar of a popular nightclub. His skin was pale, while locks of blonde hair fell down his head, past his beard, and onto his shoulders. His eyes, green as grass, nodded to the bartender as he drained his first glass of hard spirits. He wore a long coat, with a pair of jeans and a thick shirt underneath it, all armored to the point that it could stop a beam shot or two. He pulled his comslate out from his pocket and spoke quietly into it, quietly enough to be drowned out by the pounding base of the latest song that was all the rage in the nightclubs of Velka III, “Exo, do you have any visual on her?”
“No, I do not,” Exo replied, “Though, I have seen a number of suspicious individuals moving in on your location. I believe it is safe to say that she will arrive soon. Either that, or you just so happen to transform into someone they want dead.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be my first weird coincidence,” Arthur replied, putting the comslate down to take his second drink from the bartender. He took a hearty swig and set it down on his coaster, “That’s good. Maybe I should get into fine liquors in the future, once I retire.”
“You do realize that our profession is not one of ‘retirement,’ correct? You are much more likely to die than you are to reach retirement,” Exo remarked, “Perhaps a hobby in fine alcohol would be better ignored.”
Arthur scoffed, “I don’t drink on the job when I don’t have to, Exo. If I don’t here, I stand out,” he said as he took another swig of whatever drink the bartender gave him, “And besides, you’re in the same boat as I am. I die, you get stuck on the comslate and you can’t get out.”
“Unless I am on a world with a UNET connection, in which case it would be easy,” he replied.
Arthur chuckled lowly, his Obake-made blonde hair jiggling with his laughter, “I’ve already found one place where UNET doesn’t work, Exo. Don’t put all of your eggs into the same basket.”
There was a pause from Exo, “Our target is coming closer. It is almost certain that she will choose this club to rest at. There are many others following her.”
“I could’ve guessed that much,” Arthur remarked, “Good thing we’ve got backup, though I would have preferred an Assault Unit Inquisitor at my back. Alright, and here’s where it all begins.”
He waved the bartender over, smiling towards the tall Ukalan man who came over, “Can I help you?” the bartender asked. Arthur nodded, beckoning the Ukalan to come closer. The man did not budge, “I will not allow suspicious activity on the premises if I have anything to say about it. If you are trying to do something illegal here, I must ask you to leave,” he said strongly, leaning over the bartop.
Arthur stopped himself from rolling his eyes, fishing his Inquisitor’s badge from his coat’s inner pocket and flashed it to the bartender. Upon seeing the badge, the man stiffened and widened his eyes. Arthur beckoned again and the man did not hesitate to lean in to hear Arthur, “I am on a mission right now, and I am reasonably certain that there will be violence. If the worst were to pass and this lovely nightclub became a battleground, I want you to evacuate the civilians. The Inquisition will compensate you and your employees if your property is damaged or if persons are harmed. Do not let this leak,” he whispered just loudly enough for the bartender to hear.
The man, terror barely contained, nodded stiffly and walked away to serve another customer. Arthur let out a sigh. “That could lead to complications, Inquisitor,” Exo said from his comslate.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m not letting my second mission be the first where people die around me, Exo,” Arthur said, “In this case, it’s a bit unavoidable, but I can still do what I can. Besides, I’ve already prepared as much as possible. What are the odds that the Guard deal with these pursuers before they breach this nightclub?”
“Not high. If they find something wrong, I estimate that they will opt to rush the attack, rather than be captured,” Exo said, “They do not want civilian casualties either, so the more preparations they make, the fewer chances there are for innocents being caught in the crossfire.”
“I know,” Arthur growled, “If only we got here a day earlier, then we could have avoided these constant club-centric gunfights. Have you figured out why this keeps happening?” he asked.
“I believe so, sir. There have been encrypted communications between an unknown source and our target. I cannot determine what was said or to whom it was said, but I believe that there are plans in motion.”
“It might be some sort of meet-up,” Arthur suggested, “Maybe they were supposed to meet up at the nightclub from before, but the hounds were too close to her tail, you could say. I would put my money on these hunters being the thing she wants information on.”
Exo paused, “Whatever the case, she is approaching. She has been let through the door. She should be behind you, sir.” Arthur subtly nodded, turning his head a bit to take a look. While he had seen her face on the files, enough to identify her, he abstained from gathering impressions until he saw her in real life. She gave off an aura of a person determined to get to their goal, with a small smile that, while a far cry from her grin in every photo he found of her, was still bright and happy. She had skin the color of Terra’s oceans, with silver eyes, hair in a ponytail, and with a hardened face. She was six feet tall, about average for a Vikshe, and wore an outfit that covered her whole body. Trench coat, loose hoodie underneath it, and the coat buttoned to hide her legs.
Arthur was an Inquisitor, though, and he could see the faint outline of armor on her body, as well as the subtle limp where she favored her left side. Much to Arthur’s annoyance, she was not there unarmed. From what he could see, she had, at least, a beam rifle and pistol. He could not guess how many other holdout weapons she stashed on her outfit, but the two were already concerning. He downed his glass and stood as she moved to an isolated booth. “Well, at least I get to use the line, now,” he chuckled to himself.
*=====*
Kelish stepped into the unfamiliar nightclub and looked around. No one seemed to be out to get her. A few people checked her out, but there must have been something about the vibe she gave off that dissuaded them from approaching. She took her seat in the most out-of-the-way booth she could find and kept an eye out.
She hated that she was forced to go so far. The plan was so simple, so basic, that she could not even think of a way that it could go wrong. That was, she could not until the crime syndicate she had stolen information from blatantly attacked the nightclub she and her contact were using as a meeting point. Thankfully, no one but the attackers suffered from it. She may have been hit in the leg, but that was a fair price to pay.
Infuriatingly, her contact suggested a larger nightclub to use as a meeting point instead of taking the Omyrtes’ willingness to attack civilian locations as a sign that they were willing to do anything to get the information she stole. She debated threatening them with the information to get them to change the location, but she could not risk the information they had. Not after going so far. Not after what happened.
She sat there for all of a minute before someone, carrying two glasses of beer, stepped up to her table. He was not the most attractive person she had seen-- even if he was, she already had her sights set on one person, and she wanted to see how that went before testing her luck-- but he was inoffensive enough. He had blonde hair, a well-trimmed beard, and green eyes. He set one glass in front of her and sat on the other side of the booth, taking a sip before setting his drink down and smiling at her. It was a predatory smile, one that put her on edge, “You’re a hard woman to find, Kelish Balak. Or is it Kelish Vilia?” he asked.
Her breath caught and she had to use every ounce of willpower to keep herself from drawing her beam pistol right there and then. She glared at the man, “And who might you be? You’re far too informed to be a goon of the Omyrtes, you certainly aren’t my contact, and I can’t think of anyone else who would want to find me. So tell me why you know that name,” she snarled, glaring at the man.
“Why I know your mother’s name is unimportant,” he said,the smile on his face remaining, even softening as he saw her reaction, “Right now, all that matters is you,” he continued, taking a swig of his glass, “Go on, I didn’t poison it, if you’re worried.”
Kelish looked at the glass of beer and grabbed it, taking a swig and setting it down on the table. She waited for a moment, but she felt nothing like a poison, “What do you mean that ‘I matter?’”
“Because, don’t we all matter to someone? Friends, acquaintances, partners. Parents,” he said, “We all matter to someone. I’m sure you have someone you matter to, and who matters to you. If you don’t mind me asking, who might they be?”
She glared at him, “If you’re giving me this spiel, then you already know who that person is. Don’t play games with me. What do you want?” She was close to giving up with him and shooting him in the head right then and there. Kelish Balak was not an angry woman, but there were few things that annoyed her more than someone trying to lord over her with metaphors and riddles.
“You are impatient,” he said with a chuckle, “Let me ask you something, Kelish. Why did you become a bounty hunter? I doubt working with Mr. Haarv was unprofitable, nor were you on unfriendly terms with the Kragak, seeing as how you worked with him for two years. So why leave? Why go off on your own and make a name for yourself?”
Kelish took a breath to steady herself, keeping her eyes on the man the entire time. He knew much. Far too much. He was either going to coerce her into some sort of work, or he was going to kill her. The best case scenario, to her mind, was that he would try to use some sort of information to make her do some job or other. If on the off-chance it was the one thing she wanted… she was willing to stomach a great deal, “I left to find someone,” she said, “I have unfinished business with him. Debts to pay… I left Garab’s gig to find him. Why?”
The man smiled, but it was… strained, “Because I was curious as to what kind of person you were. You see, there is a reason why I tracked you down, Kelish. Do you want to know why that is?”
She reluctantly nodded, “I might as well, since you’re scaring off my contact by sitting there,” she replied.
“Trust me,” he said, taking another sip from his beer, “You won’t need your contact after you know what I am offering. I personally believe that it will be the offer of a lifetime. Now, place your hand face-up on the table, please.”
She checked his face, seeing nothing but the smile he had worn the entire conversation, and decided to take a leap of faith. She placed her hand palm-side-up as the man fished something out from his coat. Her other hand subtly moved to her beam pistol, just in case the whole thing was a complicated assassination plot. He finally pulled something small-- about the size of her palm-- from his jacket pocket and put it in her hand without showing her. It was small, metallic, and had a pin on one side. She grasped the object and pulled it closer, opening her palm to see the Inquisitor’s Regalia badge staring back at her. The Golden Eye.
Her breath caught again. The entire time she had been threatening the man, she had been threatening an Inquisitor. She closed her hand and slowly gave the Regalia badge back to the man.
“Don’t worry,” he said, smiling at her reaction, waving it off, “There are only two reasons we would meet someone like this. The first is if the other person is an informant, but doesn’t want to have a digital footprint leading back to them. Do you want to guess the other one?”
She paused to think of any possible reason for why an Inquisitor could possibly want to talk to her. Then, all at once, it hit her, “Recruitment…” she trailed off, “But… why me? Why not someone else?”
“I dunno,” the man chuckled, “That's one of the few things I can’t predict. So, are you in?”
She paused for a long while to think it over. If she took the deal, then there was a good chance that they knew what she wanted to know. Even if they did not, the tools they had at their disposal could easily find who she wanted to find. Thinking that, however, she thought about Garab. She thought about his utter hatred of the League and its people. The only reason why he spared her a glance was because he thought that she was an abandoned child, left to ‘starve’ by the League. If he learned that she decided to become an Inquisitor, he would hate her for the rest of his days.
Despite that, she did not need to think hard about her decision. He was a hateful person, who wanted the entire League to burn. He wanted her to become that, tried to influence her and turn her into a cold-blooded killer-- though she was not afraid to say that she was a killer herself, she was not the type of person who disregarded the lives of others. That was why she left. He would not stop trying to change her to fit his world view. That, and he wanted her to kill the man she was looking for because he knew of her ‘weakness.’
Opening her eyes, she looked him in the eyes, “I think-” she began, stopping when the man put a finger up.
“Wait for it…” he said, reaching into his jacket once more. She caught sight of a pistol of some sort just as the first shots rang out. Low whines thrummed and the sound of rapidly-sublimating steel and concrete echoed off of the walls. The bartender shot up and began shouting for people to evacuate.
It seemed far too staged, “You set this up…” she muttered just loud enough for the Inquisitor as more and more people ran into the club and the whining of beam guns continued.
“Not entirely,” the man chuckled, pulling out his gun fully, “You were being tracked somehow, and I did not want to just leave a crime syndicate to run about. Sorry, but I used you as bait.”
Kelish took a deep breath, “I’m fine. I would have rather been consulted first, though.”
“What bait would stay in the trap if they knew what part they played?” he laughed, turning toward the now-empty nightclub, “Well, we might as well get some cover,” he said as he sprinted over to the DJ’s booth. Instead of entering the small freestanding booth, he leapt up the metal wall and laid down on its roof, keeping the gun in front of him. Kelish shook her head and ran over to the bar, crouching behind it and keeping an eye around the corner.
She focused her attention on her second pair of eyes, keeping them on the door. Luckily for her, few bothered with thermal-hiding clothing and nothing in the known galaxy was cold blooded. Except for the rare few robot bodies. And bureaucrats. Kelish doubted that either of those things would be among her enemies, though.
A moment later, her second pair of eyes caught sight of the Omyrtes rushing into the club. They brought out the big guns, though. Heavy beam guns, anti-armor refractors, even a plasma launcher were among their arsenal. She stayed silent and still as she watched them pile into the club, “Where the hell is she!?” someone shouted. She turned her attention to the man entering the nightclub and ground her teeth.
He was a Seeker, with his massive eye, teeth, and mouth, not to mention his four arms nor his dozen tentacle-like appendages that passed for legs. He wore a purple robe, inlaid with platinum and gold trimmings along the seams with a gold necklace on his neck. What made her ground her teeth, however, was not what he was, but who. He was Byxl Omyrte, the head and leader of the Omyrtes, and the man who had made it his life's mission to hunt her down for stealing the data she needed. The fact that she also killed his son in the ensuing battle might have had something to do with his hatred.
“We don’t know, sir,” one of the Vikshe men-- the main reason she decided to wear thermal-hiding clothes-- replied, standing at attention, “None of ours said that she escaped with the civilians, so she must still be here.”
“Either that or she escaped,” one of the humans added, “We can’t discount that possibility.”
“Well I don’t care where she is, we’re killing her today!” the Seeker man shouted, “Sweep this place and tell the lookouts to keep an eye out for her!” The men wasted no time in carrying out his orders, spreading out and searching around. One of them began making his way over to the bar, as it was the most obvious place to hide, and Kelish prepared herself for a last stand for the ages.
That was when the crackle-pop of a chempowder gun erupted from somewhere or other and one of the men was thrown to the ground, spasming and jittering. Yelps of surprise and alarm rang out and every single one of them turned their attention towards the DJ’s booth. However, like her, they assumed that the attacker was hiding in the booth. Another crackle-pop of chempowder burst and another man fell, spasming.
That was when Byxl stepped forward, “Whoever you are, get out here with your hands in the air and I might be in a good enough mood to let you go!” he shouted, putting one pair of arms on his hips and crossing the other across his chest.
At that moment, the music that had been playing in the background cut out, leaving the neon light-soaked nightclub eerily quiet. “You do not have the authority to demand anything of me,” a familiar voice said, “If you surrender yourself to the League Guard within the next ten seconds, further actions will not need to be taken.”
Byxl laughed, his eye retracting into his head a bit to let his vocal cords run wild. Kelish knew that pattern of his and knew he was about to go on a tirade, “You’re making demands of me? Me!?” she put her pistol away and began to pull her rifle out, “Do you have an eye in that head of yours? If you don’t then the fact that you’re surrounded by my men should give you reason enough to surrender yourself!” She leveled the gun and aimed it at Byxl’s head, “Get out here and kneel before me, and maybe I’ll let you go with your legs still attached to your-” the low whine of a beam gun rang out and Byxl’s head exploded like one of those terran watermelons being slammed with a hammer.
The men, who had seemed so sure of their odds not a moment before recoiled from the exploding head and panicked. Voices rose over each other in panic and the men began to frantically look around, panicked. None of them suspected that their assailant was simply hiding behind the bar. Before she could take another shot, she heard heavy footsteps erupt from the entrance corridor. The Omyrtes whipped around and backed away from the entrance hallway and aimed their guns towards the narrow corridor.
Right on time, another chempowder explosion erupted and the Omyrte carrying the plasma launcher fell to the ground. Unfortunately, the criminals were far more professional than she expected, and the closest to their fallen comrade dropped his beam carbine and rushed for the plasma launcher. She barely made it three steps before she too fell to the floor, accompanied by another shot from the chempowder gun.
Panic set in instantly. Some dashed towards the exit, others dashed for tables and other forms of cover. One even dashed towards her bar, but fell in a spasming heap before he could see Kelish. That was when the League Guard arrived. They wore red and blue suits of power armor style astrosuits, carrying massive shields and heavy batons and tasers. The Omyrtes put up a desperate struggle, but the ones carrying the anti-armor beam guns were targeted and taken before they could as much as aim at the heavily armored Guard. Soon, all of the Omyrtes were apprehended and the Guard began to sweep the area.
Kelish was torn on what to do. She did not want to be shot at by tasers, but she also did not want to be found and potentially beaten if they thought she was an enemy. She was carrying enough firepower to suggest that she knew what was happening and planned accordingly, so there was no playing the innocent bystander card on them. She wracked her brain, but nothing came to her.
Before she had to suffer through such an experience, however, a familiar face stepped out of the shadows of the DJ’s booth, holding up his Inquisitor’s Regalia for every Guard to see. Some were twitchy enough to point their guns at the Inquisitor, leading to them standing there awkwardly as the man walked into the middle of the dance floor without a care.
The Inquisitor ignored the mortified Guards and made his way over to her hiding spot behind the bar. Kelish reluctantly stood to the astonished Guard and grinning Inquisitor, “Hey there, Kelish,” the Inquisitor said, “Nice shot, by the way. We are matched up for first Inquisitor mission kills. So, what was he like?”
Kelish took a moment to process the question before finally coming up with an answer, “He was… abhorrent,” she said, “Slave trafficking, drug rings, standard fare for these types, but he was also experimenting with parasites, specifically symbiotic parasites meant to strengthen them.” The Inquisitor's smile almost visibly cracked at her words, “Umm… are you alright?”
“Do you have evidence to support this?” the Inquisitor asked suddenly, catching everyone present off guard. Kelish meekly nodded, stepping towards him and giving him the hard drive meant for her contact. He wasted no time in putting the human-finger-nail-sized object into his comslate and scanning over the documents she collected. His expression relaxed soon after, “I see. Guards,” he said in a powerful voice, “Bring them to the Inquisition Branch Location. First, though,” he trailed off, stepping towards her and taking the beam rifle from her hands with such fluidity and casualness that she hardly thought about trying to keep it.
The Inquisitor then stepped toward the human man who suggested that Kelish had escaped, aimed her gun at him, and blew a hole in the man’s head. Then another. Then, as he was stepping away, he shot a third time as if it was an afterthought.
Kelish, along with the Guards, could only watch as the Inquisitor relaxedly walked over to her and handed his gun to her, “Thank you for the information, and for using your weapon. Unfortunately, that man had been far too involved in the illegal experimentation to be left alive. Thankfully, their research was far from creating super soldiers or something similar. Now then, I believe you have not officially accepted or declined my offer. So, how about it? How would you like to join the Inquisition?”
Kelish stood, slack-jawed, for a few moments before seriously rethinking her choice. The man who had been sent to recruit her was a cold-blooded killer. On second thought, however, he was not. But he was. But he was not. On one hand, the man deliberately brought a gun with electro-bullets with him to a deadly shootout to minimize the deaths. On the other, he used her as bait to capture the Omyrtes. On the first again, he went out of his way to take care of them rather than leaving them to fester. But he also endangered civilian lives to do so. Then again, Inquisitors were not allowed to, to her knowledge, take an action that delayed the completion of their missions.
Her mind went back and forth, debating the ethics of the situation, when a single memory outshined all of them. It was of an apologetic, remorseful man putting her into a spare parts container as his face shifted to her own. Every doubt in her mind was washed away and she faced the Inquisitor with renewed vigor, “I do,” she said simply, offering a hand to shake.
“In that case, welcome aboard, Kelish Balak,” he said, shaking her hand. “I suppose it is time to bring you in to begin your training. And before you say it, yes, your station will be taken care of. Cleaned up, that sort of thing. If there is anything you want to be kept untouched, you can tell someone later. Come along, then.” he led her to the door, past every one of the uncomfortable Guards, and out into the everliving streets of Velka.
The walk was both comfortably familiar and distractingly foreign all at the same time. The Inquisitor wore the badge on his chest with pride, which led to quite literally everyone giving them a wide berth as they passed. Looks of fear and, to a degree, thankfulness was present on all of their faces. Kelish wondered if the Inquisitor realized the degree to which he was revered by them, or if he had simply become far too adept at ignoring them to give them much thought.
Whatever the case, he soon led her to the imposing spire that the local Inquisition branch location resided in. She had made a point to avoid the Inquisitors if at all possible across her year-long solo career. It was not that she despised them like Gaarv did, but she knew better than to get in the way of an Inquisitor. Intentionally or otherwise. It was for that reason that she found herself wilting beneath its imposing size and profile.
The Inquisitor, and her recruiter, led Kelish into the building and into a quite lovely lobby. Handmade art was scattered around, giving the otherwise opulent room a good amount of homeliness. Sitting at the front desk was a Meytvani woman, her three eyes scanning the documents no-doubt scattered across her desk. She looked up and saw the two of them approaching and gave a smile, “Hello there. I don’t believe I’ve seen you around today. Did you arrive from orbit?”
“I did. A friend of mine dropped me off while my own station is undergoing a refit. I came here to take the worm gate. And to gather my things,” her recruiter said, passing the desk. The woman gave a smile and went back to her work, sparing Kelish herself an encouraging smile. The recruiter led her through the corridors of the spire, eventually stopping at a door that was, to her, completely indistinguishable from every other door they had passed at that point. “I’ll be in there for just a minute. If anyone asks, tell them that you’re on a plains-clothes mission and that your mentor is getting dressed.”
Before she could reply or say anything, he closed the door and left her out in the hallway, alone. Alone and unmoving, she was really able to appreciate the carpeted floors, the warm lights, and the occasional sculpture or painting hanging from the wall. She had heard a joke from a particularly brave man that the Inquisition was an art studio that happened to regulate the use of technology, and in that moment, she believed him. The paintings were all well-made, with no cheap materials used, and were all framed in hand-crafted wood. It was a thing for her to ask her recruiter. After she asked the other, more important things.
A moment later, the door opened and she turned to see a mostly-featureless helmet staring back at her. With a simple change in outfit, the personable, ruthless Inquisitor with a comedic streak was transformed into a soldier ready for war. Even the carbine on his pack looked better than her own rifle despite being half of the size. Not to mention the underbarrel plasma launcher.
“Let’s go,” he said, his voice a bit distorted from the helmet. He walked forward and she scrambled to catch up. He brought her through a series of hallways that were, to her, only discernible because of the unique paintings hung up on every wall. They eventually reached yet another door, but it was different from the others. Apart from the fact that it was a double door, it was also painted white. Without a moments’ hesitation, her recruiter led her through the door.
Inside, standing at the tip of the semi-circular room was a large ring that she recognized to be a worm gate. They were not entirely uncommon in the core systems, but they were scarce to nonexistent on the frontiers. She had heard rumors that every Inquisition Branch location had a worm gate, but she was not certain.
“We’re here to use the worm gate,” her recruiter said to the obelisk beside the door. Kelish had barely paid any attention to it, instead focusing on the gate, but was surprised when the obelisk began to speak. She did not catch what it said, but her recruiter nodded soon after and stepped beside her as the gate ignited, “Alright, have you ever used a worm gate before?” he asked.
She eyed the multicolored kaleidoscope of patterns, “I haven’t. I’ve mostly used worm drives,” she replied.
“Alright, listen to me and it won’t be too hard,” he said, “Walk forward. That’s it. Let’s go, then,” he said as he strode into the gate without so much as waiting for her. After a moment, Kelish dashed after him.
The walk through the gate was quiet. But it was the type of quiet that came from being in a vacuum, with nothing but the beating of the heart. Kelish was almost bored when they reached the other side.
Stepping through the gate, she could immediately tell the gravity was artificial, from an astrodock. Her recruiter turned to her when they passed through the gate, “Now then, I’m going to lead you to your room and, once you’re there, you have…” he looked at his comslate, “Fifteen hours to relax and sleep. By then, you should have been either put into a class or accepted by a mentor. Or more accurately forcefully paired with a mentor. Your mentor will be lucky, since you’re somewhat competent, but my advice is this: learn, make mistakes, but don’t lose everything in doing either. Now that that’s out of the way, come with me,” he said, leading her out before she could get a word in edgewise.
The astrodock was just as well decorated as the branch location, if much more well populated. As they walked through the station, a few Inquisitors took notice of her, but did not say anything further seeing her recruiter with his armor on. They soon stopped in front of yet another door she could not discern from any others, “This’ll be your room. Rest up, and be ready. If you aren’t in top shape, you’ll have a hard time getting through any of this. Welcome to the Inquisition,” he said, offering a hand to shake. She took it, shaking it with vigor.
She looked at him through his helmet, “Thank you,” she said, “This still feels… so unreal.”
He paused for a moment, “Your welcome. Like I said, get some rest.” With that, he turned and walked away, his gun swaying from his pack. Kelish nodded to herself and opened the door. Stepping inside, she found a nice, spacious room with anything she could need in a personal space there. She opted to instead find the bed, crashing onto it and falling asleep soon after.