Captain Taneka burst through the door, all but out of breath. “Ambassador, you need to come with me now. We’ve got a situation.”

Genvass was instantly on alert as he joined her. “What’s going on?”

“No time to explain,” she grunted, grabbing his bicep and all but dragging him out of the barracks. “Things are gonna get ugly unless you can stop it.”

“Stop what?” he demanded, but the captain was focused on physically transporting him to wherever the problem was, not answering his questions. He could barely keep up with her fervent strides as they dashed across the compound, drawing looks from passersby. The sound of muffled shouts reached his ears as they entered another prefab building, identical to the others. He skidded to a halt, staring in shock at the frozen tableau before him.

It was obvious at first glance the oversized room’s occupants were divided into two camps, but it was what both sides were focused on that had his immediate attention. A man sat tied to a chair, a fellow Dharmist, by the looks of him, and he’d been badly beaten. One eye was swollen completely shut, while blood trickled from his split lip. He sat hunched over, likely from blows he’d taken to the torso, moaning in agony. That was bad enough, but far worse was the individual standing over him, their fists bruised and bloody, while they prepared to strike him yet again.

“Rúna?” He stared at her in disbelief as she whirled to face him, her chest heaving from ragged effort. “Holy Mother Terra… what are you doing?”

“Stay out of this, Ambassador,” she warned, “it’s none of your concern.” Behind her, Remi and the squad held back a growing crowd of angry individuals, many of whom bore marks of violence themselves.

“STOP THIS AT ONCE!” he shouted, moving between her and the injured man. “Have you lost your mind?”

She turned to face him, her hands still clenched into fists by her side. “You don’t know the full story,” she said coldly, “and trust me… you don’t want to. Go back to your barracks and forget you saw this. You’ll sleep better that way.” Her message now delivered, she shoved him toward the door, before returning her attention to the now weeping Dharmist. “Now talk,” she ordered.

Genvass forced his way back to the man’s side. “This ends now,” he thundered, the sheer vehemence of his words surprising even him. “What gives you the right to do this to an innocent victim?” he snarled, “and by whose authority?”

“Innocent?” Rúna came to an abrupt halt, glaring at the broken man. “He’s no innocent. He’s a goddamn Quisling,” she spat, “and he’s going to tell me what I want to know… one way or another.”

He stepped in front of her until they were mere centimeters apart. “Tell me what the hell is going on,” Genvass insisted, “unless you’re prepared to do the same to me.”

“Please,” the man whimpered, “make her stop, I beg you. I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

“Liar!” Rúna shouted, lunging forward and grabbing his hair and jaw, forcing him to look up at Genvass. “Tell him. Tell him what you did.”

“Nothing!” he shrieked, terrified out of his mind. “I did nothing!”

Roaring with fury, the Valkyrie aimed a haymaker and threw her whole body into the punch, breaking his nose with a sickening crunch and knocking the chair backward, toppling onto the floor as the man cried out in agony. “TALK!” Rúna screamed at him.

“That’s enough!” the ambassador roared, and before he realized what he was doing, his own fist came up and nailed the Valkyrie squarely in the jaw. She’d been so focused on the bloody-faced Dharmist she hadn’t seen it coming, likely the only reason it had landed at all. It was the first time in his life that he could recall hitting someone in anger.

It hurt. A lot.

Rúna slowly turned to face him, and with a sinking feeling he realized the blow hadn’t fazed her in the slightest. He swallowed hard as she now gave him her full attention.

“Is that the best you’ve got?” she sneered.

Obviously, some quick fence-mending was in order. “I’m sorry I hit you, Rúna,” he apologized in a rush, “but this has to stop. If this man has done something wrong, then tell me. I swear to you, we’ll address whatever’s happening here, but this is not the way… and deep down, you know that as well as I do.”

Time seemed to stand still for a moment as her eyes narrowed. He’d always known she was a warrior, that she’d faced and defeated countless foes on the battlefield, but until that moment he hadn’t realized how truly scary she could be. Genvass felt as if he were being sized up for her next sparring partner, yet he refused to show fear. Standing his ground he demanded she listen, without saying a word.

Her nostrils flared as she stared at him, and he could see in her eyes just how badly she wanted to strike him down. The adrenaline coursed through her veins like quicksilver, and there was a primal edge to her rage that bordered on madness. Seeing Rúna like this scared the ever-loving shit out of him, and he knew he’d be seeing that face again in his nightmares.

And yet still he stood his ground, waiting for her to respond.

She was still breathing hard, winded from both her anger and beating that poor man to a bloody pulp, but as the seconds ticked by, her respiration slowed, growing less haggard and more controlled. The blazing inferno in her eyes cooled, though not quite going out entirely. Somehow she clawed her way back from the brink of insanity, though he realized it had been a hard-won fight indeed.

“He was going to tell the guards our escape plans,” Rúna said at last, her words sounding almost normal again. “When I confronted him, he refused to say who he’d spoken to, or what he’d said, and it was too fucking important to leave to chance.” She glared at him once more, his prone body still tied to the chair. “He’s a Quisling,” she repeated once more, “and I learned a long time ago how to deal with traitors.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Well, that certainly cleared up a few things. Given the stakes involved, he understood why she’d reacted the way she did, not that it made it right. Searching the crowd surrounding them, now hushed as he fought to wrestle control away from Rúna, he focused on one individual in particular.

“Captain Taneka,” he said as calmly as he could manage, “please find the Grand Master and bring him here immediately. Tell him that it’s an emergency.”

Nodding in receipt of his instructions, the Corsair exited the room while he turned his attention back to the Valkyrie. “Help me sit him up,” he ordered, bending down and grabbing one side of the chair. She hesitated for a moment, then with a grimace did likewise, the two of them lifting him to a sitting position once more. His head lolled, with the injured Dharmist hovering near unconsciousness.

“Now cut him loose,” Genvass insisted.

“And let him escape? Not happening,” Rúna fired back.

“Damn it, look at him,” the ambassador said in frustration. “Do you honestly think he’s going anywhere in his condition?”

She spared him a brief glance, and in mute acknowledgment, produced a crude knife fashioned from some discarded bit of metal, cutting away his bonds and freeing him. As the ropes fell away, he pitched forward, almost landing on his face before Genvass and Rúna caught him, easing him back into the chair.

“... thank you…” he whispered, the blood making tiny bubbles that frothed against his lips and nose.

Crouching beside him, Genvass said gently, “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I told you what happened,” the Valkyrie growled.

The ambassador shot her a look. “I’m asking him,” he snapped. “Do you mind?” Shaking her head in disgust, Rúna refrained from further comment. “Why is she angry with you?” he continued.

To his dismay, the man began to weep. “Please… I have a family…” he sobbed.

“No one is going to hurt your family, I swear,” Genvass promised him, only for the man to gaze up at him in despair.

“... it’s too late… you can’t help them…” he blubbered, as the ambassador’s confusion grew.

“I don’t understand,” he said after a moment. “Where is your family now? Are they here in the camp?”

The man hung his head in shame. “They have them,” he whispered.

“Son of a bitch,” Remi swore, as realization struck home. “The bastards are holding his family hostage. Probably using them as leverage to make him do their bidding.”

“Then I was right,” Rúna said in vindication, “he did betray us.”

Genvass whirled to face her as his own emotions took hold. “And what would you have done if they were threatening your family?” he demanded. “How far would you go to protect them?”

The Valkyrie grimaced, looking away and saying nothing in return. The door burst open moments later as Captain Taneka returned with Grand Master Makar in tow. The senior Knight knelt beside the man and began assessing his injuries, opening his bag and removing gauze and antiseptic.

“This man needs immediate medical attention,” he informed them. “Is there someplace close by where I can treat his injuries?”

“There’s some bunks in the next room,” Becca spoke up, shooting her commander a look.

“I’ll need help moving him,” the Knight explained, as the sergeant grabbed Arthur and moved to assist. They each took an arm and gently lifted him up, guiding him out into the hallway as he stumbled his way to the door, each step accompanied by a moan of pain. Genvass watched them leave and then turned to the others.

“I never want to see anything like this again,” he said, his words taut and clipped as he clamped down hard on his emotions. “If there is a problem, you will bring it to me. Is that understood?” The others in the room stared awkwardly at one another, many of whom suddenly had difficulty looking him in the eye. “I said, is that understood?” he repeated, raising his voice for emphasis.

A subdued chorus of murmured assent was his reply. Under the circumstances, it was likely the best he could hope for. “Captain Aukes… with me,” he ordered, switching gears and exiting the building as she followed behind him. Neither said a word as he led her to a secluded spot before finally coming to a halt and facing her. As he did, Rúna braced herself, automatically snapping to attention and staring pointedly at a spot somewhere above his head.

“Did you even ask him?” he said quietly. “Or did you just start beating it out of him?”

“Yes, Sir,” she replied. “I did ask him. He denied any knowledge of what I was talking about.”

“But you didn’t believe him,” Genvass surmised. “Why?”

“Because I had two eyewitnesses who saw him speaking with one of the guards, people I trust implicitly, Sir,” she informed him.

“You’ve spoken with the guards,” Genvass reminded her. “How do you know he wasn’t doing the same thing you did? Or even just trying to swap his own chronometer for some more food?”

Rúna met his gaze. “Then he chose the wrong guard,” she said curtly. “Sir.” The “Sir” was an afterthought, and dry as the southern desert.

His eyes narrowed. “Explain.”

“We’ve been watching the guards since Day 1,” she explained, “trying to establish who we can approach and who we need to avoid. Most of them just want to do their jobs with a minimum of hassle, while some are looking to fill their pockets. Others enjoy their newfound positions a little too much… and then there are those who are obvious plants, with ulterior motives.”

“And the guard he spoke with falls into the latter category, I presume?” he pressed her.

“Yes, Sir,” Rúna agreed. “He wears a corporal’s uniform, but he’s no corporal. My gut tells me he’s an officer in disguise, looking for any scrap of information he can use against us. He’s a rat,” she hissed, the disgust plain in her voice, “and everyone knows it. If you go to him… then you’re a rat, too.”

Genvass spent some time digesting that. Finally, he shook his head. “You heard the man. They have his family.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she fired back. “The potential damage he could have done was too great to ignore.”

“So, the ends justify the means, is that it?” he said bitingly. “No crime is beyond the pale, if your cause is just?”

He suddenly had her full attention. “This isn’t the first time someone asked me that,” she replied, “and I’ll tell you what I told him. When the stakes are this fucking high? You’re goddamn right they do.”

The pair glared at one another, neither of them budging a centimeter. Finally, Genvass spoke. “Then answer me one question,” he said. “Why didn’t you come to me?”

She blinked at the question. “There wasn’t time,” she said finally.

“Bullshit,” he snapped. “You’re telling me you couldn’t have stashed him somewhere until you talked to me?”

“It was a very… fluid situation, Sir,” Rúna mumbled.

The anger just seemed to drain away from him. Looking at her, still standing at attention like some raw recruit, all Genvass could feel was bitter disappointment. “Since that day we met on Gyrfalcon,” he said at last, “I think this is the first time you’ve ever lied to me.”

For the first time, her resolve wavered. “Sir,” she began, only for him to wave her off.

“We both know why you didn’t come to me,” he sighed. “You were afraid I’d tell you ‘No’. That I’d prevent you from using… extreme measures, to learn the truth.” The Valkyrie fidgeted as he continued. “And you would be right. I would have stopped you.”

“We had to know,” she said with sudden feeling. “If the clan leaders learn what we’ve been up to, it could spell disaster, and you know it! This isn’t the time for half-measures. Everything is riding on this, the entire future of humanity is at stake! Tell me how anything is more important than that!”

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul?” Genvass quoted softly. “How we conduct ourselves in pursuit of our goals is just as important as the goals themselves. Perhaps, even more so. It’s the difference between us… and them.” Suddenly, he felt old; old, and weary. “You dishonored yourself, Rúna, and by extension, you’ve dishonored me. Somehow, I will learn to live with that.” His eyes met hers. “The question is, what will you do to make this right?”

And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving her struggling to respond.