The Foundry's heat was more an ambience than a temperature. There were billions of words of 'hot' spread throughout the stars, but there was one colour for it, the bright and screaming red of molten rock. After all, the shields could hold the heat down and turn it into energy, but they couldn't consume the idea of it. Technology couldn't keep the Foundry from feeling like the boiling core of Songlai.

There was a human concept that I'd hadn't been raised with, an eternal hell where people were chained for their sins. Every description I'd read of it matched the Foundry. I'd never believed in it, but it felt appropriate that we were heading down into it in preparation for moving against Jie.

After all, we had to find out where she belonged to send her there.

Victoria and I had bought new clothes as we went off to meet Moldieki; Ovishir traditional wraps like my mother had always worn when she wasn't on the job. In our case, we'd chosen them because they mostly covered us up, and we needed as few rumours reaching back to Jie as we could manage.

But for me, there was also something comforting about wearing something I'd only ever worn before the days on Songlai. It was good to take off the armoured jacket that had carried me through the streets and up to the top at Jie's side.

Either that, or I was getting too sentimental about it, but being here at all was being overly sentimental.

I almost wasn't able to lead us back to Moldieki's little apartment in the corner of the Foundry; after all, he'd chosen the location because it was hard to find. I certainly wouldn't have been able to ever track it down if Sevita hadn't guided us here in the first place.

Victoria led the way as we approached the door to Moldieki's lair, with the purple wraps she'd chosen almost blending in with her silver skin in the shining magmatic light. She had the Mako slung around her back, bright and blatant, an advertisement to anyone who would try and approach us.

She'd said something in the previous conversation, a comment about wanting to do something good in the seconds before she'd corrected herself and told me that 'we' were going to do something about Jie.

If she wanted to make up for something that she'd done or thought she'd done, I certainly wasn't the person to look to for lessons. The Mako on her back was a reminder of that.

Victoria looked back at me for half a breath before tapping on the door to let Moldieki know we were here. Usually, you'd want to message before walking up to a Cartel leader's front door, but considering our situation, announcing anything digitally didn't feel prudent.

The door hissed open, and a wave of steam and heat rushed out of the room, but Moldieki wasn't there. Instead, the hulking silhouette of Sevita was at the door, barring our way in. Rather than letting us in, she took half a step forward and forced Victoria back into me, rising to her full height once she was out in the open.

"Didn't think you were coming back."

"Circumstances changed," I answered as I pulled down the wrap covering my mouth, even though I was still wearing a mask.

"Did they now?"

"Thought we'd talk to Moldieki about their offer."

"I'm sure they'd appreciate the conversation, but" Sevita pulled one of her four arms from out behind her back and revealed the knife she'd been keeping behind it, then made a point of sheathing it. "The boss is off station on urgent business."

"And you're still here as the bodyguard?" Victoria asked.

"Think she's more than a bodyguard."

"Long as he's not around, you're right," Sevita answered, "for now, I'm representing Viedesshai interests on Station 26."

"Are there any interests here?"

"More than you might think, but it also depends on whether you're talking about my interests or the Viedesshai's."

I took a chance on that, "I'm talking to you."

"Well, then one of you chose not to shoot," she pointed out, "which means I owe you, and I don't like owing people shit. It tends to be a bragging point for them, you know, 'I have a rebel queen in debt.'"

"Doesn't Moldieki use you for bragging rights?" Victoria asked.

"He pays for the privilege," Sevita pointed out as she stepped half out of the way and motioned for us to join her in the apartment.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I slipped past the Anteraxi Queen, and it was instantly clear that she had different ideas about the design aesthetics of the room. Namely, she seemed much more okay with the idea of having an arsenal of weapons sitting in the middle of the room, half-disassembled. Most of them were Anteraxi guns that read like a random mess of parts to me, but in the middle, there was-

"Like the Hammerhead?" Sevita asked as she caught me staring, "don't get to use it much on this station, but it's one of the better options for me." As she said it, she unbuckled the sheath and knife she'd been wearing and left it on the ground beside the other weapons. The knife was as big as my forearm.

"Just haven't seen you use guns," I pointed out.

"Don't like 'em for scraps like that. Too likely to hit the boss if I get too into it, and then it's my ass. Better to just get up close; not like anyone on this station can throw hands with me."

Victoria chuckled at the language. I wasn't sure if the translation to Fotuan was similar to the human one, but to me, it just pointed out how long it must have been since Sevita was involved in the rank and file of the Anteraxi.

"She gets it," Sevita pointed toward Victoria with one hand.

"Not sure she does."

"Stronger than you."

That was true by a considerable amount. That was why I'd needed to get lucky against the Hunter the first time.

"I'm not much of a hand-to-hand person," Victoria offered as a cover instead of admitting that she wasn't a fighter.

"I can show ya," Sevita offered.

"Love the offer," I slipped in, "but right now, she and I need to focus on getting in against Jie."

"We ca-"

"More prudently, she wants us off the Station," Victoria pointed out, "or at least, if we don't leave, she's going to be on edge."

"She knows your ship?"

"Jie and I have history."

"Fuck Moldieki would have loved that," Sevita pointed out, "what kind are we talking about?"

Victoria finally stepped all the way through the door and let it close behind her. "Extensive and violent," she answered.

"So, is this shit personal?" Sevita asked.

"About as personal as it gets for me," I answered. Honestly might not have been the best policy, but Sevita seemed to have already bought into the idea],

"And for you?" she asked Victoria.

"Personal to him is personal to me."

"You might be the first Fotuan I've liked," Sevita offered, "no offence."

Victoria didn't confirm whether she was accepting the latter part of that.

"So you want to take a shot at Jie with us," Sevita sat down on the floor and reached out into the middle of the deconstructed guns to pull out a datapad. "But you aren't just a random merc who kept Tash away from me."

"Exactly," I answered.

"To the point where she's going to be keeping a lookout for you," she continued.

This time I just nodded.

"What makes that worth it for us? Considering I don't think we're just talking credits at this point."

"You already reached out to us," Victoria had stayed against the wall and crossed her arms ever since the Fotuan comment.

"Now you're asking for personal help," Sevita pointed out, "that's different. Even if you're good people."

I snorted at the last part despite myself.

"Look, we all got our shit in this line of work," Sevita said as she brought up something I couldn't read on the datapad, "but you didn't take the shot, and that's all the measure I fuckin' need."

"Won't argue against it."

"But we're not talking credits anymore," Sevita pointed out, "you're pointing out that we're aligned, and I ain't about to shell out money on services I can get for free. Long as those are actual services and getting you involved isn't going to fuck everything up."

"It won't."

"So what are you aside from a good shot then?"

This was the part I was hoping I wouldn't have to vocalize, but similarly to how Victoria had pulled the Fotuans here to try and disrupt Jie, there was one thing that we were both very good at. It was just a dangerous line of work.

"Lighting rod."

Sevita chittered and turned the datapad to me, "So you do know what you're good for."

"I have my moments," I answered as I accepted the pad. There was a schedule on it, marking when ships came in and out of the Crash. Specifically, there was a single shift highlighted. "And this?"

"This is how we've been getting people into Station 26 over the past two months," Sevita pointed out, "that kid, Cov-"

"Collings."

"Collings was the only way Moldieki could get here, considering Jie would be on the lookout for a person like him, but we've been funnelling money in here for a while."

"So this-"

"That lets you get back onto the Station without being noticed once you leave the official docks," Sevita verified, "then we can take a swing at Jie's supply lines and piss her off enough until-"

"You try and bait her into something stupid with me and Kingston as bait?" Victoria suggested.

"Moldieki would have been more diplomatic about it," Sevita stood up, "but yes."

"So you'll have some people tied up, but we're still the main fight?" Victoria asked.

"You're free to take a swing at her by walking upstairs right now," Sevita pointed out, "I'd prefer you make it through anything we do, but I'm here for the Viedesshai, not you."

"Tha-"

"Vic," I spoke up, "she's not going to put them in more danger to cover a pair of mercs. Sevita likes us, but we're assets." I turned back to Sevita, "She's new."

"You're not setting a good example, taking up something personal."

"I never said I was a good example. I just said that she was new."

"You're breaking a cardinal rule, kid," Sevita explained to Victoria, "but nobody who follows all the rules of being a gun for hire is worth their salt as a partner. Try and keep that part in mind."

Victoria was busy watching Sevita, so she missed me wincing at the last part.

"Alright then, Vic, let's grab the shi-"

"Hold up," Sevita cut in, "I'm not showing you our list of names and then having both of you take off into space to call Jie and collect a credits for the tip. One of you stays."

I caught Victoria turning to me and spoke up before she could protest, "Fair enough,. I'd do the same thing. I'll go get the ship," I almost passed Victoria on the way to the door and stopped. "Sevita, you've got her if Jie sends people here, right?"

Victoria's nod told me she understood what I was asking.

"I don't think Jie has the firepower to break me." You're good."

I stayed in the doorway for a moment despite being dismissed. I reached out to Victoria and put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay safe. I'm coming back, and we'll do this together."

She tapped the side of her neck. “Etōkiv, dit s’tel na.”

I didn't know what that meant, but I knew what she was saying.