“The Sagittarius Sector is but a vine detached from her roots. Without the Federation, and without an iron fist, it would wither and die—eventually.”

- Jose Leon, 14th Federation Task Force, 8th Cycle.

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Jahellios System

New Krakow

Artowisz City

1st District

The Fleur Estate

“Did you kill?” I could overhear Juliett’s question, as I inspected the battle damage inside of the building. The walls that led to, what appeared to be a massive kitchen that their staff must have worked on, were blasted open, almost burned from the outside. There were a lot of bullet marks, and it was almost as if someone had indeed attempted to really kill her and her brother.

“I…I did. I had to,” Louise’s voice was tiny, almost holding her tears as she spoke. “I used my System Arts to drive them off. I tried to get my brother…but…but…”

“It’s alright, we’ll deal with it.” Juliett soothed, as I continued checking the damage in the kitchen. “We’ll make sure of that.”

I stepped on something. It seemed to be an insignia of some sort. Naturally, I kneeled down to pick it up. It was color blue. I turned it around, checking its designs, until it struck me. The symbol…it was…it was almost familiar.

No, in fact, it was familiar. Too familiar. A torrent of past images, mostly faint and blurry, of me and my father, washed through my mind as I looked at the insignia that I held in my hand.

Father?

Why? Why was this thing here? Why did I remember something similar to it? I looked back at my memories. Father…he was holding something similar, which he pinned on his wallet. It was just as confusing, as the imagery was too blurred. I didn’t remember the details properly. I didn’t even properly imagine it.

But…it feels, no, it seems similar. It has to be.

It couldn’t be anything else. I didn’t really have that insignia of his, as he kept it to himself when we were separated. But…I had to be right. I saw it. I had an inkling inside that it must be that. It was blue, and it must be of a similar design. And…from what I remembered, that insignia of his was the same thing his organization used.

The same thing they used when they were tracking the ‘Voidqueen’.

What…who? Did Louise’s family have any connection to this? No, did those who took Louise’s brother have any connection to this? My mind was now being stormed by all thoughts as I stared at the insignia. No, there had to be something. An explanation. For all of this. For all that happened. For…

Jonathan! Remember your vow! A distant voice from my mind warned. You will cease your search for vengeance in that world.

But I couldn’t simply accept that easily. This…this was perhaps one of the few leads I had found. My search in Loran was leadless. All of it. All of it meant nothing, for I had always found nothing but ghosts, and red herrings, all through people who wanted nothing but to disrupt every effort I took at finding those answers.

But…now, I have Juliett, Harold, and his crew, all of us with a greater mission than whatever this was. People who would be in danger if I pursued this. Didn’t I preach that mantra to them? That revenge was nothing, and unworthy?

I felt someone pat my shoulder.

“Jonathan,” Juliett said, breaking me from my stupor. I realized that my hands were almost shaking while holding the insignia. “Jonathan, are you…alright?”

I…Father…

“I am,” I said, taking a deep breath to myself. I immediately pocketed the insignia to hide it when I stood up and turned to the both of them. “It was nothing. Anyway, did she find what she was searching for?”

“I did…” Louise said. “I found the datapads containing the access codes. I…I also retrieved the cards holding our emergency funds. Everything.”

Now, that was good. A part of our escape plan was to get Louise into her own personal ship that their family apparently acquired before all this crap happened as a sort of “last resort” option. Now, while I wouldn’t place it on an eighteen-year-old teenage girl to pilot a spacecraft, she already explained that she had trained for it before.

Would I trust that? I didn’t know. But this was her and Ms. Kalista’s grand plan. I was just here to execute it and bag the money and Ms. Kalista’s favor. Whatever happened afterward, I told myself, would be Louise’s and Louise’s responsibility alone.

“Good,” I said. “Now all that’s left to do is to find your brother. The question is, how the heck are we even going to search for him?”

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

Both of them looked down. I myself didn’t really have much of an idea how we would approach this situation, as I wasn’t a native of Artowisz. The city seemed elusive to me, and so far, I had only relied on the official navigational maps that the city provided for non-locals. And I still had no idea about the ins and outs of every place on it.

“Are you really sure that they took him?” Juliett asked, and Louise shook her head in response.

“I’m not. All I’m sure about is that I was separated from him during the scuffle. I tried to search for him, but I couldn’t find him. I…I just assumed that he’s captured, or worse.”

“Let’s not go for the worst-case scenario yet,” I said, gaining the attention of the two. “If he’s, as you said, also capable of ‘arts’, then it would not be in the realm of impossibilities that he escaped.”

“That’s a possibility we should account for,” Juliett said, looking at Louise. “Say, do the two of you have a normal meeting place outdoors? Like…hmm, I don’t know, a place where the both of you would go to should an emergency happen?”

“We do, but I already checked,” Louise said. “He wasn’t there. It was the first place I went to after this entire thing.”

“Well, that removes that potential lead then…” Juliett dissapointedly said.

“What about other places? Any other place you think that he would possibly go to?” I asked as Louise fell silent, thinking deeply about my question. Before she could answer, however, I felt my senses flare up. Someone’s tracking us.

In lightspeed, I pulled my pistol from my holster and placed a bullet on a vagrant that sneaked through the estate. I didn’t even see his face, nor his figure, all I followed was my pure, sharpened instinct in the years I spent in the Von Wicht Gang. The man dropped as if he was a ragdoll. My pistol, completely suppressed, didn’t produce much of a sound, merely leaving a faint trail of smoke for a few seconds once the business was done.

The two of them, Juliett and Louise, were silent. I didn’t feel anything after doing that. Merely the cold rush of my analytical mind, as I ran through every possibility of why this man would sneak through this roughed-up estate before my mind came up with one cold conclusion.

“Just a criminal,” I said, my eyes looking at his cold dead figure before I turned to them. “Gonna be a lot more looters as the time passes.”

“You…you just…” Juliett almost seemed pale, as she stared at my eyes. Even Louise’s eyes were shaking at what she had witnessed.

“And he saw us here.” I coldly said. “I would have to tie up this loose end regardless. This mission of ours requires extreme stealth. We cannot let anyone know.”

I fully turned to both of them.

“And…you should both know this already. I’m not a good man. I kill when I have to.”

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Jahellios System

New Krakow

4th District

“The Revolution is soon here!”

The megaphones from the crowds blared out all forms of pro-socialist propaganda. I could see many of them sporting red flags, all while displaying holographic projections of pro-revolutionary messaging that broadcasted every scathing remark against the “FEG Junta”, the “Imperial War Machine”, the “Blue-Blooded Pretenders”, or the “Fat Bourgeois Spacers”. While it was mostly just shouting, with some burnings here and there, the Artowisz Riot Police merely watched from the distance, their shields raised in a blocking formation, their empty, hidden faces staring at the people of the 4th District with their visors down.

“Well, it seems like this place is indeed less stable than I thought,” I remarked, as we stayed out of the way, near an overpass that overlooked the main avenues filled with protesting crowds below. “I suppose that’s to be expected, the FEG is practically being opposed at every level.”

Louise frowned. “They deserve it. These…tyrants. All of them. I know the people of New Krakow hate my family, but if they remove those tyrannical scum off this planet, I would say they deserve it.”

“I suppose…” Juliett said. “You have a point, yes. But the FEG is the only remnant of Federation rule in the Sector.”

“The Federation is dead, Ms. Juliett,” Louise said. “The FEG is merely its zombified corpse. Consuming the people of the Sector like a parasite just to prolong their agonized death. If they just allowed all worlds to be free from their iron-fisted rule…”

“Humanity can’t be fractured,” Juliett said. “It can’t be fractured. It would only spell doom and disaster. I…I know that.”

“Why?” Louise asked. “Why would you know that? Don’t tell me you trust their propaganda. That all emergency measures are ‘for the defense of humanity’. It’s all a lie! All of it! A lie to keep us all down!”

“The two of you, we don’t need a political argument out of nowhere right now,” I said, cutting them off. “We have to keep moving. While that guy was not anyone, someone might still be tailing us. We need to hasten our search before they find us or find your brother.”

The two of them nodded, looking away from the commotion below, and walking after me. We made our way through District Four’s slightly busy streets. While security was tightened, evidenced by the tense-looking police barricades in some of the roads, or the organizing protestors that distributed leaflets, posters, and other anti-FEG propaganda while defacing walls, buildings, and establishments with graffiti, for the three of us, we mostly blended in as unassuming citizens just minding their business.

I looked up however at a defaced poster on a streetlight pole that held what appeared to be an old pro-FEG military recruitment poster. The poster depicted what appeared to be an old mustached Admiral, pointing at you.

I want you! Join the FEG Navy! Restore the Federation! Nearest recruitment center.

The poster was however defaced by a massive x, alongside a red sprayed “Bloodthirsty Pig!” on it. Perhaps, the political situation in this colony was indeed, not at the best time. But, I suppose, really, what world of the Sector wasn’t in political turmoil? Division, hate, and fury from all sides were the norm in almost every section of whatever remained of this society.

Even back in Loran, I could still remember how we would pose to be a “part” of anti-royalty demonstrations, just to blend in and raid high-value targets easier. Or helped stoke said instability by being involved with local politicians. Briefly, I almost felt at home upon seeing all of this.

Street politics and gang warfare. I smirked a bit as I followed Juliett and Louise, looking at some of the policemen who watched every citizen passing through the roads with bored gazes. And the law close by, but too weak to truly prevent it all.

But most importantly, a burgeoning fire was being lit up in my mind. A new goal. A new path, for myself. To find answers again for the loss of my father. I already closed that chapter of my life in Loran, but now that I was here…it felt as if I was returning to that same chapter.

The only question was…if I should once again pursue it.

And sacrifice everything just to reach it.