Furrowing his brow in concentration, Nick went over every interaction he’d had with Nero. Nick’s mind was a powerful tool, and he focused the entirety of his energy into analyzing the past few days. Every step of the way, there was a logical progression. At no point did he feel he was tricked, or manipulated. Yet now, he was sitting in an army gate command center, while looking at a deal that gave Nero everything he wanted, while all Nick received was the ability to monitor Nero’s star usage. Star usage was already a comprehensively studied field. Aside from being able to publish his finding concerning Nero’s, admittedly interesting, feat of using 3 stars in succession, Nick had to admit to himself that he had made a really bad deal.
The commanders were looking at each other in concern. The man sitting next to Nick asked quietly, “Is everything alright Mr. Salvatore? Is there an emergency that needs your attention?”
Nick looked up, his face showing confusion. “Huh?” he said.
Looking around he realized everyone in the room was staring at him. Visibly marshaling his features, he resumed his professional demeanor. “Everything is fine. Nothing to be concerned about. One more moment please,” he said.
Nick decided that Nero was more clever than he thought. Perhaps all the idiotic blathering overshadowed a deeply devious mind. In the future, he would have to be on his guard.
Taking the opportunity, Nick sent a quick ping to Vera explaining that he was fine, and informed her of the purpose of the meeting. He also told her to be wary of Nero, the boy was smarter than they had assumed.
Now composed, he was ready to return to the meeting. Smoothing his robes, Nick addressed the room, “Concerning Mr. Walker. The young man is a very interesting contradiction. The Captain is correct in his estimation. While seemingly an idiot, Mr. Walker does tend to view things from a profoundly unique perspective. At the moment, I don’t follow the line of logic that leads from missing links to an impending invasion, but I’d prefer to hear what the boy said in detail. Do you have the memory of the conversation available?” he asked.
“Yes, I took the opportunity while this meeting was gathering to prepare a mind print of the conversation in question,” Captain Angelton said. He then waved his hand to bring up a hologram showing Nero sitting at table, slouching, and with his robes incorrectly tied.
‘He really does look like an idiot,’ Nick thought.
As the conversation played from the beginning, everyone leaned forward and paid close attention to what was being said. The entire projection was from the perspective of the captain. So it was easy to see when something caught his attention, as the projection would snap to Nero whenever the boy said something inflammatory. The meeting room was quiet, with some occasional blinking on the temples of the commanders, as they would comment to each other concerning some particular point.
When Nero started talking about using the links to ‘implant thoughts into the populous’, the entire room started chuckling. As Nero’s theories spiraled into the truly ridiculous, Nick’s head fell into his hands, and he thought, ‘How can such a clever boy be such a gods be damned idiot.’
When they heard Captain Angelton’s theory, they all nodded, as that was much more likely. It could be the reason the Gurs bothered to raid a merchant train. It wasn’t definitive, but it was much more reasonable than any of Nero’s ideas. Nero’s quick response caused them all to freeze in their chairs. As they heard the captain demand how Nero came to such a conclusion. They all watched in anticipation.
The hologram projected Nero’s uncomfortable smile. The Captain’s scrutiny seemingly causing Nero to wilt in his chair. The boy’s quiet voice rippled out through the room, “Um… it’s always some rich asshole. And the only reason a traitor would care if he was discovered was if he were someone important. You said the Icelanders shouldn’t be here, so someone had to help them get here. Also, what’s the point of sneaking in one raiding band. No one would pay for that, they’d pay to get an army. And the only people that fit all the plot-points are rich noble douche-bags. Why do people with power and money do anything… well, for more power and money. What’s going up for a noble? Killing the nobles above them and getting a promotion.” Nero finished quietly. “Um… not that I condone that type of behavior or anything like that… um… sir.”
The commanders all leaned back in their chairs. One pointed out, “That would explain how the mages were unable to scry for the band that we found.” Another said, “It is conceivable that a local portal mage was able to get through the wards, if he were already familiar with them.” Suddenly, a loud gruff voice silenced the room.
“Quiet! I want to see the rest,” the general said with his hands folded in front of his face. When Nero was asked about the game, he raised his eyebrows at Nero’s response. As the general watched Captain Angelton offer the boy training at the Gate 7 compound, he nodded along with the decision. Soon, the recording ended, and the hologram returned to Nero’s intake file.
“That was good thinking captain. Going back to re-interview the boy was smart. You noticed how he is intuitive, but doesn’t have the necessary information to make an educated deduction. That’s command level thinking right there,” General Branson said.
The general leaned back in his chair, seemingly in thought. The whole room patiently waited to see if he was done talking. Just as Commander Graves was about to speak, the general looked at Nick and said, “You’re probably the smartest man in this room. What would you say about what you just saw?”
Nick’s face had an ashen tint. “In short? I’m worried. Granted nothing of what Nero fears they’ll use the links for is possible, at least I don’t think it’s possible. That being said, he makes a compelling argument for a noble traitor and an impending invasion. Did you really want my opinion on a military matter?”
The general replied, “You’re here. You’re smart. I’m not going to ignore a powerful mind because he’s a scientist. I want you to take a minute, and think it through. Our analysts have nothing but questions, and I want answers,” he finished with a growl.
“Very well. Forgive me, but I think better standing up,” Nick said as he stood up from the table and started pacing. He put his right hand to his chin, and his left behind his back as he walked along the side of the table.
“Starting with the facts we KNOW are true. A raiding party attacked a merchant caravan using Islangur weapons. They efficiently killed everyone, and then took their supplies, money, and links. An Islangur war band should not be this far north. It is hundreds of miles to the front, and there have been no reports of activity hinting of their travels?” He paused and looked around the room.
“No, they appeared out of nowhere,” someone said.
Nick nodded, and resumed his pacing. “That’s it for incontrovertible facts. Not much to work with. What was found when the band was apprehended? What facts were obtained from the prisoners? Any documentation or material of interest?” Nick looked around, but kept pacing slowly.
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Captain Angleton spoke up, “Nothing was found. There were around 100 men, and every one of them either died or detonated their center to avoid capture. All of the stolen supplies were recovered. However, the stolen links were all destroyed. At the time I thought it was so they couldn’t be tracked. There were no powerful mages, and the fight was relatively easy. Nothing of note was recovered. The victory was hollow.”
Nick nodded, as he paced and assimilated the information. “So facts and questions. They didn’t have a powerful mage. So how did they get there? The only thing they did with the supplies was destroying the links. Why? They made sure to leave no survivors. What were they worried about us finding out?” Nick kept pacing and thinking. The room was silent as everyone tried to work through the problem.
Captain Angelton said, “That’s why I felt I didn’t have enough information. I figured that when you hit a difficulty in your path, the best thing to do is back up until the road was clear and see where you went wrong. The first thing that I encountered during this investigation was the boy, and I hoped he had something I missed.”
“Hmmm,” Nick muttered. “OK. My conclusion based on the facts at hand.” He stopped pacing and stood behind his chair. Placing his hands on the backrest, he looked at the general and began.
“I would say that you have someone teleporting Islangur troops into the area, or at the very least a well funded army masquerading as Islangur troops. That someone must be either part of a group, or capable on their own of shielding a significant area from scrying. It is conceivable that they are being supported by an individual of enough importance that the Thought-hub tracks their location for their safety. Most people of significant office are actively tracked so that immediate help can be teleported on site, in case of emergency. So, if one of the links from the caravan had reported contact with said person, then a flag would be sent to control and an investigation would have started. Without any other recourse, a small portion of the troops was sacrificed to eliminate any evidence and preserve the fiction that the raid was simply one of opportunity. Since the raiding party was not insignificant, it follows that the main force is not small. With all that being taken into account, the only people in Dorchester who would have the resources to do this would, in fact, belong to a powerful noble house. Mr. Walker made a solid argument.”
Everyone sat in silence, contemplating the repercussions of what they just heard. The general broke the silence, “Although nothing is confirmed, I’ve heard enough. This is a viable threat to the safety of the city. Upon returning to central command, I will be issuing orders for a quiet increase in our cities defenses. We’ll use the cover of a beast tide preparedness drill.” He pointed at the people on Nick’s side of the table. “Everything we discussed here is NOT to be spoken of by any of you. Understood?” he demanded.
“Yes Sir,” Everyone but Nick said. Nick merely nodded.
The General stood up, and everyone in the room followed suit. With steel in his voice, he said, “Alright men, we have a rat to find. I don’t want him getting spooked, so we need to keep this quiet. I also want to find out who is impeding our mages. Hiding an army is not easy, I want to know how they’re doing it.”
Nick interjected, “I’d recommend looking for a large warded area that is isolated and outside the city walls. There is no way to portal unknowns within the city walls, at least not without throwing up flags they couldn’t handle. And hiding that many people would take a great deal of essence. A large scale ward is the only logical solution. Perhaps an isolated, large, noble estate?”
The General nodded. “Good point,” he said.
He looked over to a particular commander and said, “Look into that. Let’s get started.” He then started walking out of the room with everyone on his side of the table hurrying to collect their papers and effects.
The General then stopped at the door and turned around. “Captain Angelton. I want you to follow through with that kid’s training. Even if he isn’t joining the military, Oglivarch could use someone like him. Work with whoever his advisor is at the Center and see if you can reach a consensus on how to best help him with his path. With minimal information, he got to where we are in seconds. I want that talent nurtured. Understood?”
Captain Angelton stood up, slammed his fist to his chest, and said, “Understood Sir.”
The general lazily returned the salute then turned back to the exit. One of the aides held the door for him as his retinue all left. The remaining people in the room all collected their things. As everyone stepped away from the table, the holograms in the room went out, and the lights raised to a pleasant level. The wood room returned to a beautiful, medieval meeting hall.
Nick made sure to catch the captain’s eye and imply that they needed to talk; the captain nodded in understanding, while giving Nick a look of confusion. The other meeting attendees left one after another to get to whatever duties they put off so they could attend the emergency session.
As the only two people left in the room, Captain Angelton stood patiently and waited for Nick to speak. Nick walked up, while trying to choose his words carefully.
“Captain. I have been working with Mr. Walker since he was delivered to the Center. He will be one of my lab-assistants under a work-associate placement. I have been preparing a specialized syllabus for him to follow to make the most of his… unique… mind. As he hasn’t technically joined the center as of yet, he hasn’t been assigned an advisor. In the meantime, I’ll be happy to have one of my assistants contact you about what training options you’d like to offer young Nero,” Nick said with a congenial smile.
The Captain was much taller than Nick, not to mention a great deal wider, so his physical presence seemed to dwarf the scientist. Even so, Nick was not intimidated and spoke to him as if the captain were a young man that Nick was interested in helping out.
Unfortunately for Nick, The Captain was actually not much younger than Nick. He was not a simple meathead, and didn’t fall for the artificial tone, or Nick’s soothing psychic presence.
“Mr. Salvatore, My curiosity was piqued when I read the intake form for ‘young Nero’. Imagine how I felt when I saw that the freshly awakened young man I dropped off at the center had an intake form signed by the director of Gate 7 research,” Captain Angelton said, and then smiled and crossed his arms.
“I was preoccupied with the Gur raiders, and wasn’t paying attention when I first met the boy. Now I’m paying attention. So I’ll ask you if you can explain why you were the one to do his intake testing? Is he perhaps special in some way? Come to think of it, how is it that a boy with no memories is qualified to be a lab assistant for the head of research?” The Captain asked.
Nick’s smile broke, and he gave a heavy sigh. Offering the captain a wry grin, he asked, “Do you have any dinner plans?”
Confused at the sudden change of subject, the captain replied, “Nothing I can’t move, why?”
Nick chuckled and turned toward the door. “Come along, I think you better meet my wife. I’ll walk you through how I came to know Mr. Walker. You’ll also learn that he is a swindler and opportunist. Maybe you can get a better deal than I did when it’s your turn,” he said with a jovial tone.
The Captain followed him out the door, still confused.
As they walked and talked, Nick was recounting his interactions with Nero. The captain was shocked when he heard what Nick agreed to do for Nero in order to be able to use his data (without getting into the details of what that data actually was). Nick paused in his steps as he got another urgent ping.
‘Hey Nick,
Did you know that your Essence Forge could have killed me?!? You owe me. I filled out the paperwork for the job. It’s official, I’m employed. So what do you want me to do with my star? Also I need you to show me how to ‘focus a stream’. I was learning a gust spell for sweeping the floor and the end table in my room broke. The station said that it will just charge the room for the replacement, so you’ll be getting a bill for that. I listed you as both my advisor and my emergency contact. You weren’t on the list for the available advisors, but it let me write you in. Also under the account information section, I just used you as my point of contact, then left the rest blank. I need you to set up an account for me, and do I get paid for being your lab assistant, or is it just the room and board, along with the other stuff? What am I saying, of course I’m getting paid. Anyway, I think that’s it. I’m eating right now, but I’ll ping you tomorrow if I don’t see a ping in my inbox when I wake up. Oh, Mrs. Salvatore was worried about you getting arrested. I can’t help with bail money but let me know if you need anything. What did you do to get arrested? You should be more careful, Mrs. Salvatore is going to be pissed if she has to keep bailing you out of trouble. Anyway, good luck, ttyl.
- Nero’
Nick stood in the middle of the hallway surrounded by military personnel going about their day. Captain Angelton had also stopped to see what had Nick so agitated. “Are you alright Mr. Salvatore?” asked the captain.
“I’m fine. I’m just looking forward to what you’ll have to promise Nero to get him into one of your combat classes,” Nick said.
He then resumed walking, while he forwarded Nero’s ping to Vera. He figured she’d get a kick out of it.