Regina sat anxiously in the waiting room of the Director Embassy in Bosnacki, awaiting her audience with The Arbiter. This meeting would determine her fate. Walk out, she thought bitterly. That wasn't the right phrase for what happened. Fletcher hadn't just walked out—he had vanished, as if he never existed.

She had scoured every record, reviewed every camera angle, every scrap of evidence, and still found nothing. The only unauthorised ship that left that day was a transport vessel. The crew had claimed it was likely stolen by a Marauder girl they'd kept for labour. Maybe I was too harsh on them, Regina mused, but quickly brushed off the thought. No, the punishment had been deserved. When she learned that an entire crew had let one rebellious girl escape with Finisterra property, she'd been furious. She had made them... no longer an issue.

But the question haunted her—Where could Fletcher have gone?

Now, The Arbiter wanted answers.

The status of an Arbiter was almost as mystical as that of the Supreme Director. They were more than machines—coded in the exact likeness of the Director, programmed to make decisions as the Director would. Regina shuddered at the thought. The Supreme Director, in their paranoia, would never entrust something so critical to a human. People were too easily manipulated, too easily controlled.

Regina had been waiting for hours, and she knew it wasn't because The Arbiter was busy. No, it wanted her to wait. It wanted her to feel small, insignificant. She could feel the weight of its disdain through the walls of the waiting room.

At last, her name was called. She walked through the towering marble doors into the Arbiter's office. The room was cavernous—far larger than her own—and yet, it felt hollow, a space the machine didn't even need. It never moved. It just... sat there, processing.

The pale marble floors gleamed, interspersed with faint blue highlights that only served to make the room feel colder. Both sides of the room were lined with unused bookshelves, collecting dust. Behind the Arbiter were two massive windows that stretched up toward the ceiling. But Regina knew better—they weren't real. Just giant, artificial lights, mimicking natural daylight. Bosnack's atmosphere was too polluted for such sunlight. Even that was an illusion.

Her eyes fell on The Arbiter, and she suppressed a shudder. The thing was unsettling to its core. Pure, un-oxidised copper gleamed across its square frame, a body that sat immobile behind a purely decorative desk. Mechanical arms jutted out at odd angles, occasionally moving with a clattering sound for no reason other than effect.

But it was the face that truly disturbed her. A mould of... someone. No one really knew who. Some whispered it was modelled after the Supreme Director, though Regina doubted anyone had ever seen the Director in person. Whoever the face belonged to, it made no difference—the closed eyes, the expressionless features were what made it unnerving. Why did it even need a face? It wasn't human. It didn't even blink.

Is the face just to unsettle us? she thought. Regina's hands clenched at her sides. It was working.

As the door closed behind her, The Arbiter spoke first. "Sit," it commanded in its cold, mechanical voice. Regina obeyed quickly, acutely aware that disobeying The Arbiter meant defying the Supreme Director. She settled into the single seat opposite it at the desk, attempting to present herself calmly, though her heart raced with terror.

"Fletcher escaped on your watch, Enforcer," The Arbiter stated, stripping her of her identity and reducing her to her title. "I've reviewed the tapes you provided of the man's abilities. He poses a significant danger to Finisterra."

Regina swallowed hard. "It was an oversight, Sir Arbiter. We will find him and detain him," she asserted, her voice steadier than she felt.

"You think you could hold this man? With his abilities?" The Arbiter responded, its tone dripping with incredulity, suggesting it already knew the answer.

"Given the right precautions, yes," Regina replied, trying to muster confidence. Deep down, she felt a flicker of doubt, yet she knew if given another chance, she felt she could extract the information she needed from him.

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"I concur, Enforcer. However, you failed. You had him for 487 days and learned nothing about his abilities or how he acquired such power," The Arbiter responded, its mechanical voice rising in anger.

"Yes, but now we understand where we went wrong..." Regina pleaded, her voice trailing off as the weight of her failure bore down on her.

"You've had your chance, Enforcer. This matter will be passed on to your replacement," The Arbiter declared.

Regina's stomach churned as the lights in the room abruptly went dark. Panic surged through her, and she shot to her feet, uncertain of where to escape. Something cold gripped her torso—perhaps she had been wrong to assume The Arbiter never moved.

The frigid metallic grip tightened around her waist, and she gasped as blood rushed into her mouth. She screamed in agony, a cry that felt swallowed by the darkness.

The lights flickered back on, revealing Regina's body, now lying in two halves on the marble floor, while The Arbiter remained immobile behind its desk, as if it had never stirred.

Servant workers were summoned to clean up the gruesome scene before The Arbiter prepared for its next guest.

A man entered the room, a spark of optimism in his eyes. He had been working under Regina as a Sentinel for years, patiently waiting for an opportunity. When Fletcher escaped, he knew it was only a matter of time.

"Welcome, Sentinel Jax," The Arbiter said, its tone devoid of warmth.

"Thank you, Sir Arbiter," Jax replied cautiously, masking his excitement.

"Enforcer Regina has been disbanded. You will now assume her role here on Bosnack, and I have a special task for you," The Arbiter stated with chilling efficiency.

"Thank you, Sir Arbiter. May I inquire about this special assignment?" Jax asked, striving to remain formal and respectful.

"You will lead the hunt for a man named Fletcher. He possesses a power that could threaten the peace and tranquillity of Finisterra," The Arbiter explained. "I will provide you with the necessary details and resources when you return to your headquarters."

"Thank you, Sir Arbiter. I won't let Finisterra down. Will I be going now?" Jax asked, anxious not to overstep.

"Leave," the machine commanded, and Jax exited, pride swelling within him. All he had to do was find a single man with supernatural speed. How hard could that be? he thought.

When Jax returned to the Finisterra Enforcement Agency (FEA) headquarters, he found that The Arbiter had already sent the necessary files to his new office. He settled behind the desk, a sense of satisfaction washing over him. Regina had always written him off, relegating him to menial tasks and errands. She had been intimidated by his competence, he thought, but today proved that The Arbiter recognized his dedication to Finisterra.

As he sifted through everything Regina had collected on Fletcher, he watched hours of interrogations he had previously been denied access to. This man is a mystery, he mused. Regina had extracted little information from their countless interactions. Jax doubted 'Fletcher' was even his real name; after all, he had no record in any Finisterra system before the day of his crash. Perhaps he belonged to a Marauder ship, Jax considered, but quickly dismissed the idea. A Marauder vessel wouldn't set its escape shuttle's WHIP drive to a location like this.

He briefly entertained a legend of a star system outside of Finisterra's control but shook his head. Such a thing was only a myth. Nothing could exist beyond Finisterra's reach; it just wasn't possible. I need to focus on finding the man. He replayed the events of the day of the escape in his mind. Fletcher had simply vanished from the interrogation room. Shortly after, a report came in about a ship stolen by a Marauder girl. Regina had brushed this off, believing the crew's admission of harbouring the girl for slave labour was enough to discount Fletcher's escape on that ship. She was convinced Fletcher couldn't have escaped the planet.

But what if he was on that ship? Jax thought. He pulled up the old records, discovering that no search for the vessel had been conducted due to its age and the crew's subsequent dismissal. He realised that Regina had likely faced a similar fate.

Determined, Jax resolved to track down that transport vessel, starting with scans of any residual wormhole residue it might have left behind during its escape.

Then he noticed another file sent to him by The Arbiter, marked as "Highest Security." He hesitated, knowing that exposing any information contained within could lead to his death.

Despite his trepidation, he opened the document titled The Topaz Star. It was real. The text detailed a dangerous hive of marauders taking refuge in a distant star system, kept secret to prevent unnecessary fear among the Finisterra populace. The document suggested that Finisterra allowed this enclave to exist to keep all its enemies corralled in one place. But Jax doubted that rationale. Why hadn't Finisterra simply destroyed it? What if they couldn't? The notion of something existing beyond Finisterra's control sent a chill down his spine.

He pushed the unsettling thought aside and closed the document. I must focus on the ship he thought. With a wave of his hand to one of his subordinate Sentinels, he issued the order for scans of the wormhole residue left by the vessel he suspected Fletcher had left on.

We will find you soon, Fletcher, Jax thought.