D'Jarric and Hrake were on their way to join the others in the galley when a tall, broad Raki in technician's gear stepped out in front of Hrake. His stalked eyes were level with Hrake's as he stared the Hrudukite down.
Hrake stepped back slightly, a confused look on his face. "Is there problem?"
The Raki stepped forward again, his face inches from Hrake's. "You show up, and suddenly people start getting their skulls caved in." His eyes went to Hrake's hammer. "I don't know what Dritch did to get you riled up but it ain't happening again."
He reached for Hrake's hammer, and Hrake took a defensive posture, raising his hammer slightly. D'Jarric moved to get between the two, putting a hand on both. The Raki shoved D'Jarric's arm out of the way, and Hrake raised his hammer in response, bellowing out a challenge.
"Enough!" shouted a firm voice.
D'Jarric spun to see Captain Fenrik marching out of the galley, pushing past the growing crowd of observers. He was a head shorter than Hrake and the Raki, but didn't think twice about walking straight up to them, pointing clawed fingers at them.
"You and you can go straight to the brig," he snarled. "There's no fighting under Admiral Jasken's command."
Fenrik flagged down two soldiers and ordered Hrake and the Raki to turn over their weapons. Hrake was hesitant, but D'Jarric nodded to him and he relinquished his new hammer.
"Captain, I would like to accompany Hrake to the brig," said D'Jarric. "I'm supposed to be staying with him.”
"Fine!" said Fenrik, throwing up his hands. "Anyone else want to go to the brig!?" he asked the crowd. When no one responded he cleared the hallway, ordering the soldiers to escort the three troublemakers to the brig.
***
Krum-Bahk sat by the ramp of the Gladius, sweating in the heat of the Krauqian tropics. Krauqia was both his ancestral planet and his birthplace, but Griffonia was his home.
While Griffonian summers could be hot, especially near the equator, it was significantly cooler than Krauqia. True, there was a kind of haunting beauty to the swamps, wetlands, and rivers of the more populated regions of Krauqia, but Krum-Bahk would rather be home.
He heard an approaching vehicle and squinted, looking up the road. Soon the hazy blob on the horizon sorted itself out into Chully and Huluna’s hovercraft, and Krum-Bahk stood to greet them.
“What did we find out?” he asked cheerfully. They had been investigating Hoon-Kra’s passport information, trying to determine what he’d been up to.
“That’s confidential RIS information,” said Chully disdainfully.
Krum-Bahk raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond.
“We’ll have to debrief our boss, Krum,” said Huluna. “You’ll know soon enough if he sees fit to send us anywhere.”
“Fair enough,” said Krum-Bahk, stepping aside to let them pass by and up into the ship.
Chully headed straight for his comm screen, with Huluna following behind. They called up Hetford, who answered with surprising swiftness given the time of day it was on Griffonia.
“What do you have for me?” he asked, adjusting his glasses.
“Looks like Hoon-Kra has gone to great lengths to cover his tracks,” said Chully. “Technically, none of it’s illegal. More like creative uses of bureaucratic red tape. As long as he stayed on Republic worlds, we don’t have a right to know without a warrant, which we don’t have grounds to get as of now.”
“However,” said Huluna, “it looks like he’s purchased a property on Kirakna in the recent past. It’s an interesting choice of world, given that the Cornucopia Cluster is thought to be located in that direction.”
“Alright,” said Hetford, “then you’re off to Kirakna. But remember what you said: you don’t have grounds to get a warrant yet. I don’t want Hoon-Kra’s lawyer friend filing a religious discrimination case against us, so give Hoon-Kra plenty of breathing room.”
“You got it, boss,” said Huluna. Chully nodded his assent and they ended the comm.
***
The Raki who’d confronted Hrake sat smoldering in his cell, staring over at the Hrake and D’Jarric. Hrake sat still on the bench, humming a tune softly. D’Jarric stood by, arms crossed, his eyes roving over the brig. It was a small room with a handful of cells, watched by two nonchalant guards. The other cells were empty.
“Teach me song in Talpaertan,” said Hrake suddenly. “Songs good, make time move.”
D’Jarric smiled. “Alright. Hmm. Here’s one. An Aeraten song. The tune is that of an older song, from before they knew about space travel, but they changed the words to fit their new adventures.
“The aether boils ‘neath our hull
Roll, roll ‘cross the aether!
And the engine pounds inside our skulls
Roll, roll ‘cross the aether!”
After the first verse, the two guards joined in. D’Jarric was pleased to hear one of them singing the harmony while the other pounded a steady beat on his desk with a meaty fist.
“We must toil til we die
Roll, roll ‘cross the aether!
Or we’ll never reach our home alive
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Roll, roll ‘cross the aether!
“We hide below whene’er we can
Roll, roll ‘cross the aether!
For-”
***
“The Captain is a wicked man.” Admiral Jasken’s voice was monotone as he finished the lyric. “If you’re finished, I’d like to have a word with the prisoners.”
The guards saluted Jasken sharply, and returned to their posts, standing with a sort of renewed vigor.
“Here’s the deal. I’m ready to let both- all, I suppose- of you out of here, but I need you to listen to me first. Kryk,” he said, looking at the Raki technician, “Hrake didn’t kill Dritch. His time of death has been determined, and Hrake was still on Platnon.”
The Raki reared up, looking ready to smash the cell door in rage. Instead, he rapidly deflated, his shoulders slumped.
“It… it just made sense,” he said lamely.
“I know,” said Jasken matter-of-factly. “Regardless, you are not permitted to enact vigilante justice. No one got hurt, but I will not have this kind of behavior on my fleet, do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” said Kryk, standing up straight.
Jasken nodded to the guards, and they pressed a button, letting Kryk out.
“Two of your fellow technicians are waiting outside to escort you back to your post,” said Jasken.
The Raki nodded and walked out the door without making eye contact with Hrake and D’Jarric.
Jasken turned to them and sighed. “Does Hrake understand why he’s here?”
“I do, Admiral,” answered the Hrudukite. “I raise my hammer to a friend. I apologize for wrong.”
“That will do, Hrake,” said the Admiral. “However, understand that this cannot happen again. If you wish to complete the quest you were given, you will live by my rules.”
Hrake nodded solemnly. Jasken nodded in return. As he left, he signaled to the guards to release the two remaining prisoners.
***
Darvik was just about ready to give up and leave the mansion. Hoon-Kra was taking his sweet time getting back to him, supplies were running low in the safe house, and he hadn't had any outside contact since the first drop-off.
He was looking around the house for anything that belonged to him or that he'd like to belong to him when there was a knock at the door.
After going through the ordeal of remembering codes, Darvik opened the door to the same hooded figure as before, who extended another basket of groceries towards him.
"Hoon-Kra wants you at the spaceport this time tomorrow. The ship is the Swamp’s Pride. You won't see me again. If anyone knocks on this door, kill them or run."
Darvik took the basket and nodded. The figure turned and left without another word. He noted to his displeasure that there was no rum in this delivery, but there were more pressing matters. Finally, he had a chance to get off-world. More importantly, he'd be one step closer to Vanbrook.
Meanwhile, the hooded figure wound its way through the midnight streets of Kirakna's domed city. Another figure slipped out of a dimly lit alley, following behind the first.
"Hold up there, friend," said the second figure. Agent Chully stepped out into the light of a street lamp, hands in the pockets of his long, gray coat.
The hooded figure bolted, only to have Huluna step out at the next block. The hooded figure swung a wild fist at the agent, which was intercepted by a tentacle. Huluna looked at the arm and noted a familiar shark serpent tattoo on the arm.
"Agent Chully," said Huluna, "I've been assaulted. I think we'll have to take this one in for questioning.”
“Not a chance,” came a raspy voice from under the hood. A cloak was thrown back and Huluna was staring at a set of explosives strapped over the cultist’s torso.
“GET DOWN!” shouted Huluna, diving back into the alley.
Chully dropped to the ground as an explosion rocked the sidewalk.
***
“People are dumb,” said Vanbrook as he walked down the hall with Raivyn.
Raivyn nodded absently, then turned to look at him questioningly. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the thing with Hrake and that tech. There was no real evidence he was the murderer. Why go after him?”
Raivyn shrugged. “People like to find a target for their anger. Remember Hittania? You took it out on me when Traelby invaded your mind. Later, I nearly killed Drixen when I thought he was the saboteur.”
Vanbrook put his hands up defensively. “Hey, I said sorr- wait, you almost what?”
Raivyn blushed slightly. “Nevermind. The point is that’s all water under the bridge, right? It was all just… misplaced anger.”
Vanbrook paused. “Kind of like Darvik killing Wilbis.”
“Yeah,” said Raivyn. “I guess so. That guy’s a special case though. I didn’t know Wilbis well, but I’d still like to be there when they execute his murderer.”
“If they execute him,” said Vanbrook. His eyes took on a steely look that Raivyn didn’t like.
“You worried they won’t find him,” she asked, “or are you hoping to find him first?”
Vanbrook didn’t answer, as Doctors Britkrup and Trembi rounded the corner in front of them, nearly running into them.
“Hey, my two favorite scientists!” said Vanbrook, suddenly beaming.
“Rai, Van, good to see you,” said Trembi, looking at Vanbrook the whole time.
“We were just heading to the galley,” offered Britkrup. “Want to come along?”
“Oh!” exclaimed Raivyn, trying to sound disappointed. “That sounds nice, but we’re on our way to the gym now, we’ll be meeting with the rest of our squad for dinner in a little while.”
Vanbrook shrugged an apology. “Another time, maybe.”
“I’d like that in writing,” laughed Trembi. “I’ve hardly seen you since Platnon.”
“Hey, you know how to reach my comm,” said Vanbrook. “We’ll set something up. Talon Squad usually eats at the same time every day. Meet us a day and an hour from now.”
“Oh, um, sure!” said Trembi.
Britkrup laughed, a reaction that Vanbrook found inexplicable. Raivyn started marching down the hall.
“Let’s go, Van,” she said, sounding irritable. “We don’t have long until dinner.”
Waving goodbye to the scientists, Vanbrook jogged to catch up with Raivyn.
“What was that about?” asked Vanbrook.
“What was what about?” asked Raivyn testily. “I’m just trying to get to the gym on time.”
“So,” Van asked with a smirk, “who are you really mad at?”
Vanbrook put his hands up in surrender as Raivyn shot him a withering glare.
***
Jasken felt good about how the remainder of the jump had gone, all things considered. Tempers had cooled dramatically after Hrake had been cleared of the murder. Unfortunately, the investigation had come up empty so far. After cross referencing security footage and the list of crew with no corroborated alibis, they had not managed to come up with any solid leads. A few people had been interviewed, but they had no more motive to kill Dritch than anyone else.
Now that they’d reached Gri101-WA0.89, Talon Squad would be dispatched to explore the planet. Everyone else, the killer included, would stay on board.
The planet was covered in lush green continents and wide blue oceans. After years exploring new worlds, Jasken found that he preferred the planets that most closely resembled home. While they may not hold as much interest to the astronomists and geologists, they tended to offer the most comfort and resources. If they could catch the killer, Jasken might even give the crew a beach day once Talon Squad secured a landing zone. The Wingspan hadn’t taken on any water since Hruduk and it would be good to fill up the tanks.
“Um, Admiral?” said Mairen from her seat by the comms systems, pulling Jasken out of his daydreaming. She sounded worried. “We’ve got a beacon signal coming from Gri101-WA0.89.”
“What?” asked Jasken in shock. “There are no known settlements in this part of the galaxy.”
“It’s a new signal,” replied the comms officer. “And… it’s Astralbian, sir.”