“Before you ask, I wouldn’t know where to begin looking for this Vikram fellow your brother is so obsessed with,” Hiran said immediately, lying through his teeth. “And I’m not interested, either.”
“Elliot isn’t obsessed with a person.” Mirabelle retrieved Elliot’s sword, walked over to her brother, and sheathed the weapon. She then hoisted his bulk over her shoulder with ease. “He’s obsessed with completing contracts, no matter how risky they are or how badly they pay. Like you said, he’s the diligent sort. And that wasn’t my proposition anyway. You’d be stupid to go after Vikram. He’s one of those Ghandarnian cultivators, which means he’s as formidable as a Starforged Enforcer at the very least.”
“Alright. Go ahead, then,” Hiran said. “I want something that pays well.”
“As I was telling you, there’s nothing like that to be found on the Bureau’s contract bulletin for fifteenth rankers.” Mirabelle turned and walked to the edge of the rooftop. Then she glanced over her shoulder at Hiran and beckoned for him to follow her. “But there’s money to be made sub-contracting for a third ranker, such as me.”
The mercenary leaped off the roof, her back-jointed legs propelling her through the air. She soared across the street, over the row of shorter storefronts, and toward the roof of another four-storied building.
The arc of Mirabelle’s jump reached its zenith far short of where she’d seemingly been aiming to land, and Hiran thought that the mercenary would plummet ignominiously to the ground, where several Ghandarnian and Shanian pedestrians were looking up, pointing with one hand at her while shielding their eyes against the midmorning sun with the other.
Instead, streams of ionized gas gushed from vents located in her shins. Mirabelle’s slender form ascended once more, its skyward momentum refreshed by her augmentations.
A moment later, she landed on the rooftop. It was the corporate office of some mid-sized company, Hiran figured, as he read off the broad metal sign riveted onto its frontal wall. It was also nearly sixty feet away.
Hiran couldn’t help but click his tongue irritably. Mirabelle was testing his capabilities, and she was doing it after he’d beaten her brother into unconsciousness. Or maybe she just wants to see for herself what kind of augmentations I have. Well, the joke’s on her, because I don’t have any.
He cycled as much Aether as he could into his Sun Circuits. Power coursed through his limbs. Hiran crouched down, bunching the muscles of his legs, and took a deep breath as he placed his palms on the rooftop.
Aether swirled from his palms, before coalescing into shock-absorbing nets beneath his boots. It was the Wind Wall technique from [Woven Cloud]. Hiran hadn’t been quite sure he could pull it off yet, given its complexity. He grinned at his success.
Then he pushed Aether into his heels, holding them in readiness for dual Contemptuous Comet techniques from [Stride of the Conqueror]. Lastly, he held some Aether in reserve in his midsection and his upper thighs for Sky Dance, one of the most advanced techniques in [Darkened Mist].
Here we go! Hiran unleashed a shout of effort as he kicked off the rooftop with enough power to cave in at least a foot of solid steel. The downward impact would have collapsed the rooftop and severely damaged the building, but the Wind Wall absorbed it all, before spreading it out in a circular shockwave from the point of his ascent.
And he did ascend, arcing rapidly upward until his Sky Dance technique came into play, bringing his body through a series of muscular contractions that repurposed his airborne momentum into a straight flight through the empty space between the building he’d leaped off of and the one he sought to land upon.
Mirabelle stared in obvious amazement as Hiran ended his leap with a front-flip and touched down on the roof ten feet away from her. There were cobwebs of cracks upon the synthcrete beneath the mercenary’s hoof-like feet, which meant that her own landing hadn’t nearly been as graceful as his.
“I didn’t know Ghava MK. IX augmentations could do that,” she said quietly. “But then, I wouldn’t, because I couldn’t afford them, not even as a third ranker affiliated with the Ashen Guild. Funnily enough, that begs the question as to why someone who has so much money would take on a two-hundred credit contract and is so eager to take on more.”
“Maybe it’s because I spent all my money on these augmentations?” Hiran ventured, wincing at his utterly unconvincing tone. He grunted in frustration and clenched his fists. “Damn it. I don’t want to do this, but---”
“Hold on a minute!” Mirabelle raised her free hand in a forestalling gesture. “I don’t care what the story is behind those Ghava MK. IX’s. I just care about making money.”
“Well, me too, so you’d better start talking,” Hiran said, cursing himself inwardly for his choice of holographs for his disguise. Lila wouldn’t have known any better, either, since she was as new to Shrava augmentations as he was. I should have checked with Maxwell, but he left before I got up this morning.
“I mentioned subcontracting just now,” Mirabelle said. “That was what I had in mind. I have a contract I really don’t feel like taking on myself, but my guild pushed it on me, so I couldn’t turn it down. But what I can do, however, is subcontract it out to someone exceedingly formidable, such as you.”
“I’m not too keen on doing your dirty work,” Hiran said. “Maybe you should find someone else.”
“Or maybe I will start talking about a new fifteenth ranker with very strange augmentations and who can also use Martial Forms,” Mirabelle retorted. She tapped her temple and grinned. “Incidentally, my Ajna Interface is now linked with the mainframe at the Guild Hall. The moment I die, everything I see before the end of my life will be transmitted to its servers as a visual recording.”
Hiran used Blind Stride, an advanced technique from [Darkened Mist]. His footwork carried him several steps in one direction, while also moving his upper body in slight but subtle motions that caused Mirabelle’s gaze to involuntary lock onto his silhouette. He then blitzed in the opposite direction, his footwork carrying him past the mercenary and spinning him around, so that he ended up standing directly behind her.
He placed his hand on the back of her neck. Mirabelle gasped as her metallic skin flexed beneath his grip.
“I can incapacitate and blind before I kill,” Hiran said. “How long will that visual recording be? One hour? Two? Maybe even ten? I can afford to wait.”
“Let… let’s not make any hasty moves,” Mirabelle stammered, keeping her free hand out to the side and far away from the submachine gun belted to her right hip. “Both of us stand to benefit from coming to a mutually acceptable arrangement.”
“I’m listening, for now,” Hiran said, tightening his grasp slightly. “You’ll know right away when I stop.”
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“Alright.” Mirabelle took a deep breath before she continued talking. “As a third ranker affiliated with the Ashen Guild, I can delegate my contracts out to lower rankers. This is called subcontracting, but I think you’ve figured that out already.”
“I have.” Hiran feigned a very audible yawn. “Get to the point.”
“Subcontractors get forty percent of the contract fee, with the other sixty percent going to the original contractor,” Mirabelle went on. “This is attractive to unaffiliated low rankers like you because they would be able to take on contracts otherwise unavailable to them because of their rank or lack of guild connections.”
“That makes sense. So this contract you have in mind… how much would it be worth to me?”
“Twenty thousand credits,” Mirabelle replied right away. “And since you’re unaffiliated with the Ashen Guild, you won’t have to worry about any guild fees at all, which means that amount will be a flat one. All of it goes into your credit chit.”
“That sounds quite nice, but also very risky, otherwise you’d just do it yourself and pocket the full fifty thousand credits. I’m not very keen on throwing my life away, so I’m going to need a few more details.”
“As I told you, this contract was pushed upon me by my guild,” Mirabelle said. “I hate this kind of work, especially when engaging in corporate espionage or assassinations for the Shanian syndicates all across Madhya pays so much more.”
“And the exact nature of this work is…?” Hiran shifted his grip, causing the skin of her neck to creak and flex. “Just so you know, I’m about to stop listening.”
“A habitation block in the southernmost residential sector of Pragha has gone dark,” the mercenary explained hastily. “As in, no one has been seen coming out in several days, and everyone who’s gone in to find out what’s going on hasn’t returned. The local levy guardsmen are concerned enough to set up a cordon around the block, but they don’t have any intention of investigating themselves, not when there are mercenaries so readily available to do their work for them.”
“The Ashen Guild has a direct line to Nehma, the Bureau Chief,” Mirabelle continued. “Unfortunately, this line works both ways, so yesterday, Nehma gave the Ashen Knight a call, and the Ashen Knight picked the unluckiest two out of his best to handle things.”
“Let me guess,” Hiran said, chuckling softly. “Those two are you and your brother.”
“Actually, no. He wasn’t chosen. That’s why he’s got so much free time this morning to come after you.” Mirabelle laughed nervously. “I got picked, yes. The other one is a second ranker named Cao Xian, a Shanian merc. But the thing is, he’s dead. He ended up in some kind of tussle with a Starforged, of all things last night, and he got his head cut off.”
“This Ashen Knight you mentioned… he’s the leader of your guild, I’m assuming.” Hiran frowned. “I don’t think he’s going to seek any kind of retribution from this Starforged.”
“Of course not.” Mirabelle grunted. “Anyway, this leaves me in a bad spot. I don’t want to walk into that building myself. In fact, I don’t want to go in at all. I don’t want to subcontract out to a bunch of weaklings and send them in to die, either. It’s very bad for my record, you see? But you’re obviously not a weakling.”
Hiran released the mercenary and let her stumble forward a few steps. If she reached for her weapon, he’d still be able to punch a hole through her torso before she could draw it.
“Does anyone have any information about what happened to the people in that habitation block?” he asked. “Are they still alive?”
“The levy guardsmen did a bunch of biometric scans,” Mirabelle said, turning around slowly with her free hand still held out to the side. Draped across her shoulder, Elliot twitched, but he didn’t awaken. “All they could tell was that there is lifesign in the habitation block, definitely enough in terms of strength for the seven thousand or so people who lived there, but the readings are also very odd.”
“Odd as in how?” Hiran pressed.
“Seven thousand people will give off seven thousand distinct lifesigns. But the readings taken from the block suggest that there’s only a single large one. This doesn’t mean the people in there are dead or… eaten by some kind of strange Star Beast. A reactor might have malfunctioned, sending out all kinds of radiation that will throw any scans off. Or there are issues with the wiring, or…”
“You know none of that is likely,” Hiran said in a quiet voice. “But you’re right. We can’t be sure the people in there are already dead. They might still need help.”
“That’s where you come in. Go in, find out what’s going on, and bring any survivors out. If there’s a threat, neutralize it. I have a feeling you’d be very good at that last part.”
“I am.” Hiran clenched then unclenched his fists and looked down at them. “Twenty thousand credits, you say? And this contract needs to be done now, I assume.”
“It does.” Mirabelle nodded. “I was going to ask my brother to help me, only to find him wasting time on idiotic contracts. He confronted you before I could yell at him, but I think in the end, it turned out to be a good thing, after all.”
“Did it?” Hiran arched his brow as he looked back up at the mercenary. “I haven’t agreed to this yet.”
“You will.” Mirabelle grinned. “I had you pegged as one of those ethical, heroic types, and I wasn’t wrong. You didn’t slaughter those idiots in the street, when you would be well within your rights to do so, and you didn’t hurt my brother… well, not too badly, anyway. I took a risk by egging you on about your so-called augmentations, but you didn’t kill me.”
“That was a very stupid thing to do,” Hiran said somberly. “If we’d met at an earlier point in my life, your head wouldn’t be attached to your shoulders right now.”
The mercenary laughed nervously again. “But it is, which goes to show just how good I am at reading others. And you’ll accept the subcontract, knowing that there are people who need help.”
-“If I do this for you, you’ll watch your mouth, right?” Hiran asked. “Because if not--”
“Done!” Mirabelle cried immediately. “Not a word about your augmentations will pass my lips, I promise. But a word of advice… quit flashing Ghava gear on your frame. That’s ridiculously high-end stuff. The Ashen Knight is decked out in the best of the best from Ghava Incorporated, but he can afford it.”
“Thanks.” Hiran sighed. “Now tell me where to go. If you can write down the address for me…”
“Write down? Address?” Mirabelle blinked in astonishment. “Uh… why don’t I just carry out the subcontracting procedure right now, and you’ll find all the details in the contract itself?”
Right. The Ajna Interface. That’s how things are done these days, Hiran mused, feeling like a complete idiot. And probably a hundred years ago, too. I was too complacent to learn how the galaxy works and too narrow-minded to care about my ignorance. I won’t make the same mistake this time around.
His Ajna Interface chimed, then. A notification appeared in the corner of his vision. He focused on it.
Mirabelle Smith (3rd Ranker, Ashen Guild) has offered you, Hiran_15613 (15th Ranker, Unaffiliated) a subcontract.
Investigate habitation block #111374-SEN-PRAGHA; eliminate all threats; retrieve and evacuate any survivors.
Priority: Immediate
Subcontract fee: 20,000 credits
Accept Subcontract?
Hiran willed his assent.
Subcontract accepted.
Time frame: 7 hours 57 minutes remaining
“Completing this contract will skyrocket you all the way to eighth or ninth rank in a single go,” Mirabelle said. “It will also put you in the good books of the Ashen Guild, so when you apply to join our ranks, you’ll find yourself in very good standing for consideration to be accepted.”
“Why would I want to join your guild?” Hiran scoffed. “I don’t even know who the members of the Ashen Guild are, except that at least some of them engage in assassination and corporate espionage, while others go around harassing and attacking strangers.”
He pointed to Mirabelle, then to the unconscious Elliot as he spoke.
“Touché.” Mirabelle smiled. “Guild membership comes with many benefits, and the bigger and more powerful the guild, the better those benefits are. We can talk more about them later, if you so wish. Meanwhile, I believe you have business to attend to.”