Royal Bluff Resort, Mercuria
Planet Irkalla, Survivor’s Refuge
4452.2.24 Interstellar
Janus, Lira, and Mick sat at a large round table along with Trace, Micah, Old Frey, and a wayfinder who introduced herself as Aurelian. Janus was holding an ice pack to the back of his head, and Micah’s shoulder was wrapped in bloody bandages, but their group was otherwise none the worse for wear.
“There are going to be consequences to all this,” Micah said.
“There were always going to be consequences,” Old Frey answered. “Everything went as planned. We just had to move a little early because of our aspirants, here.”
Janus frowned.
Trace looked at him. “I know you meant well, Janus, but Micah tried to get you to drop your little rescue operation. We were planning on moving ourselves.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t,” Lira mumbled.
“Excuse me?” Trace said in a sharper tone of voice.
The wayfinder cleared her throat and said, “I disagree. This little diversion was exactly the catalyst needed to effect change, and isn’t that what aspirants are for? To be catalysts?”
“I’m not getting into a religious debate with you, ’Rel,” Trace said. “And you!” she said, glaring at her son. “You were supposed to keep them out of trouble!”
Janus and Lira both looked at Mick, who grinned at them. “They look all right, don’t they? I mean, aside from being off their rockers on Hunter pharmas.”
Trace shook her head.
Janus took a deep breath and said, “Could someone just explain what’s going on? I understand we’re late to this party, but I’d like to understand what we did, right or wrong, before I pass out.”
“I have a room ready for you,” Old Frey said.
Aurelian raised a hand to quiet the others. “Janus, the people in this room have been watching things get worse in Mercuria for, oh, the last ten years or so. Most of us have reasons to stay neutral in the squabbles between the gangs. I, for example, need to minister to all the people of Mercuria, including those members of the Pit Vipers and their affiliated smaller groups.”
Trace rolled her eyes. “Some of us would toss the lot of them out of an airlock, if it wasn’t for the Hunter’s Truce.”
“I’m fine with my biases,” Micah said.
“As am I,” Old Frey said. “We thought my little defiance would precipitate the kind of situation we saw today, but the Vipers were too clever for that.”
“I’m not sure ‘clever’ is the word I’d use,” Trace said. “Even a trilith knows to hide from a full caravan.”
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Lira cleared her throat. “So, what you’re saying is, all your plans didn’t work.”
“Yes,” Aurelian, the wayfinder, answered before the others could protest.
“But you’ve created a problem for me, personally,” Trace said, looking at her son.
“We broke Hunter neutrality,” Janus said, crossing his arms.
“No, we didn’t!” Mick said, standing in protest.
“She’s not talking about the fight,” Janus said, looking at Lira.
“The filters,” she said, her eyes widening. “You put us in touch with the Electronaughts, and they gave us up to the Vipers. How else would they have known what we were planning?”
“Oh,” Mick said, some of the fire leaving him.
“That’s likely a correct assessment,” Aurelian said to Lira.
Temper showed on Trace’s face like the beginnings of a quake. “If my son would just stop and think sometimes, maybe you could have avoided the ambush instead of fighting through it!”
“Mom!” Mick said.
“He could come with us,” Janus said.
“What?” both Mick and Trace said. Out of the people across the table, only Aurelian seemed unsurprised.
Janus looked out the armored glass that flanked the conference room. They were ten sublevels down, and the window looked out into the chasm that backed the settlement. Trash fell from upper levels like hail and snow he’d seen in documentaries of days when his species had lived on worlds with atmospheres. “I can recruit him into my team. If he was part of the Trials, he wasn’t acting on the Hunters’ behalf, and traveling with us will put him beyond the reach of any revenge plots.”
Trace looked uncertain. “That’s… remarkably well thought out for someone who’s in your state of mind.”
“Not really,” Janus said. “We need someone like Mick. I realized that hours ago. This is just a convenient excuse to get someone like him for free.” That, and Janus had recently been in a position of having to escape from reprisals himself, until it turned out he was being made an aspirant instead of scapegoated for Craig’s mistakes.
Trace looked at Aurelian. “No Hunter has competed in the Trials for…”
“A very long time,” the wayfinder answered with a mischievous grin. “Still, it’s not against the rules.”
“Is anyone going to ask me what I think of this plan?” Mick asked.
Everyone in the room looked at him.
“I mean, of course I’m game for it,” Mick said with a grin. “First Hunter to run in the Trials since forever? That’s a no-brainer. I just wondered if you were going to ask.”
They discussed a few more details after that, but Janus couldn’t bring himself to pay attention. Old Frey took him, Mick, and Lira to their room, a suite with a locking door that Mick barricaded. As soon as they’d stripped off their suits, cleaned themselves and their equipment, and eaten, the three of them fell into a deep sleep.
***
Wayfinder Caravan, Headed North from Prime Dome
Planet Irkalla, Survivor’s Refuge
4452.2.24 Interstellar
“How is our boy, doing?” Nikandros asked, putting a hand on Ryler’s shoulder. “He should be reaching Mercuria tomorrow, shouldn’t he?”
“He’s already there,” Ryler said with excitement. “I have the report from Wayfinder Aurelian, if you’d like to go over it.” He pulled it up on his terminal.
Nikandros scanned it with the frightening speed of a man who was more machine than meat. “Aurelian seems impressed. That will carry great weight with the neutral factions.”
“I told you he’s the one,” Ryler said, and then he winced as Nikandros raised an eyebrow at him.
“I share your enthusiasm, son. But remember, our fight is not a new one, and it may take more than a few air filters to change the structure of the cult. Our adversaries have had the Survivor’s ear for a long time.”
“Yes, of course,” Ryler said, appropriately chastened.
Nikandros got a very human glint in his eye. “But he could be the one. Recruiting a Hunter is a promising development, and don’t think we’re the only ones who will have noticed that.”
Ryler beamed.
Nikandros squeezed his shoulder and walked toward the crawler’s cockpit. “You can confirm Gemini as our destination, brother. I’m very interested to see how all this will end.”