A Couple Hours Later

“Hey, Kevken… Old man.”

“It’s good to see you, Davídrius!” Kievkenalis remarked as he flashed a smile at the Tresédian Dean.

“As irreverent as ever, I see,” Pallan replied in kind.

“Tch…” Davídrius snorted derisively, adjusting his weight on the crutch he held under his left arm. His leg remained heavily bandaged from the wound he had sustained during the raid on Tresnon, but the injury didn’t stop him from meeting with Pallan and Kievkenalis near Compound Tresnon’s jail. Bright early-afternoon sunlight shone down on the group… as well as on the fourth individual who accompanied them.

While clearly a woman, the fourth person bore a much more significant difference from the three Nimalian men: her legs had a second knee, bending in the opposite direction of her first knee such that her legs appeared to form a tilted ‘N’ shape, or a lightning bolt. Even without fully extending her legs, she stood just slightly taller than Pallan and Kievkenalis, aided by her impeccable posture. Of all the races in the allied galaxy, only Siions and Dra’kis bore such a leg configuration — and the woman’s five-fingered hands showed quite clearly that she was a Siion. Rounding out her distinctive appearance was her naturally tan skin and bluish-silver hair, tied back into a ponytail… as well as the Black Suns uniform that she wore.

She stood at attention beside Davídrius and offered both Kievkenalis and Pallan a nod. “Dean Yumach, Archoné Culana,” she greeted.

“Ah, Krydonin!” Kievkenalis remarked. “It’s been a while!”

“Master Colonel Sinstis Kryodnin, I do believe?” Pallan commented, bowing his head respectfully toward the Black Suns officer. “The head of the Black Suns detachment here in Tresnon, yes? It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“You, as well,” Krydonin responded in kind, her hands clasped behind her back. “I stand here in place of Tresnon’s Head of Defense, Selind Condsa, while she recovers from her wounds.”

“I had heard…” Kievkenalis said. “I’m glad to hear that Selind is recovering, though.”

“As am I,” the Black Suns officer replied, her eyes flicking over to Kievkenalis. “…That aside, I see that Riverana has yet to secure its Ayas.”

“Ah ha ha…” Kievkenalis laughed sheepishly. “That easy to tell, huh?”

“Wait, are you still in the Chaos State?” Davídrius questioned incredulously. “Didn’t that shit go down months ago?”

Kievkenalis sighed. “Rebuilding the labs was simple enough, but properly securing them is impossible until we know how the intruder got past security in the first place. And now that we know that the SFC was actually behind the intruder, we need to figure out a new security force. Until all of that’s done… well, the Ayas is safer with me.”

“I’m surprised that the NSD has let you hold onto it for this long,” Krydonin commented. “Seems like a security risk.”

“My complaints about the SFC are well-documented, as is the fact that Riverana’s Liépen forced the SFC onto YCUR. So the NSD isn’t holding me or my school accountable for the security breach — only the SFC. In the meantime, they’re letting me hold onto the Ayas.”

“Sounds like a real fuckin’ pain,” Davídrius deadpanned, his gaze slowly turning to Pallan. “A pain that wouldn’t’ve happened if your fuckin’ government wasn’t so dirt-damned lazy.”

“Don’t look at me,” Pallan replied. “I may be the Archoné of Riverana, but I have little power over who the Liépen contracts with as a military.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that your military has fucked us over.”

“I cannot deny that…” Pallan nodded toward Krydonin. “But it is good to see that the Black Suns reinforcements arrived in time to prevent significant damage to Tresnon.”

“’Significant’,” Davídrius echoed incredulously. “People have fuckin’ died, here, you know. If the Suns had showed up any later, then I would’ve lost half my students, too!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Krydonin replied. “When my forces arrived, the enemy already appeared to be routing, at least in part. I think your students may have spooked them more than you think, Dean Wrikax.”

“Were any of the students injured?” Kievkenalis questioned.

“Of course,” Davídrius retorted, as though the answer were obvious. “They got themselves into a fight with fuckin’ Bleeders and trained soldiers! Not to mention those Rokres dumbasses. That said… none of ‘em actually died. Injured, yeah, a lot of ‘em. Some of ‘em crippled, even. But no deaths.”

“Well… at least none of them died, right?”

“Would’ve been better if this raid hadn’t happened in the first place.”

“Nevertheless, we can’t change the past,” Krydonin interjected, and then nodded toward the jail building that they stood in front of. “Moreover, I believe we gathered here for a reason, yes?”

“Right…” Davídrius grumbled, his irritated gaze lingering on Pallan for a moment before turning to the jail, and the door to the inside. The Dean slowly stepped forward, leaning on his crutch as he opened the door and then led the others inside. “…Strén, Feral, and Shade got away, and the Bleeders we captured seem like low-level grunts. There’s a few Rokresians in here, too, but the biggest prize…” He paused as he stopped in front of one of the cells in the jail, hosting a light-skinned, blond-haired man inside. “…Is this guy. Seems to be the leader of the SFC forces.”

The man glared up at Davídrius, and then at Krydonin. “You can’t prove that,” he declared.

“Quite the contrary,” Krydonin countered. “You failed to scrub your identification tags before being captured, so I can quite confidently say that you are Major Rivas Orana, member of the Stealth and Force Corps.”

“Bah,” the man spat. “You’re just a Sun! You’re lying.”

“The fact that she is a Black Suns officer has no bearing on this matter…” Pallan replied, as he and Kievkenalis stepped forward to look down at the captive. “For it was I who processed the information from your ID tags. I merely passed that information to the Master Colonel, here.”

Upon spotting Pallan and Kievkenalis, the man balked. “A-archoné Culana…!” he spluttered out, “and Dean Yumach…!”

“So you do recognize ‘em. Great,” Davídrius growled. “That makes this a lot easier.”

“Y-you still can’t prove that I am who you say I am,” the man retorted. “I say I’m with Rokres. Can you prove that I’m not?”

“You sure you wanna claim that?” Davídrius replied, leaning forward to glare through the cell bars at the captive. “If you’re with Rokres, then that means that your interrogation’ll be handled solely by Tresédians.” A dangerous grin spread across his face. “Is that what you want?”

“Uh…” The man stared back at Davídrius, only to cough, as if clearing his throat. “…Right. I was… just testing you.”

“You admit to being with the SFC, then?” Krydonin pressed.

“…Yes.” The man sighed and shrugged. “You’ve already figured out that much, so I’ll admit it. My name is Rivas Orana, and I’m a Major in the SFC… but you’ll get nothing more out of me!”

“Says who?” Davídrius snarled.

“Says Riveranian law!” Orana replied. “I’m a Riveranian citizen, and that means that I’m entitled to all protections afforded by law to Riveranian citizens!”

“Yeah. But you ain’t in Riverana, right now. So what makes you think that ‘Riveranian law’ matters?”

The Major stared incredulously at Davídrius, only to glance over at Pallan. “A-Archoné, you know the law! Tell him!”

“What you say is indeed true…” Pallan admitted, clasping his hands in front of him. “But as a member of the SFC, surely you should know that Riveranian law applies to Riveranian citizens outside of Riveranian soil only on officially-sanctioned operations.”

“What?!” Orana exclaimed. “You— a-are you really going to leave me to the Tresédians? To these… dirt-eaters?!”

“Keep talkin’ like that, and I won’t be the one eatin’ dirt, here,” Davídrius growled.

“However, to the point…” Pallan said, “Major Orana… you’ve committed a grave offense, here, on behalf of the SFC. In most circumstances, I would be quite content to leave your fate up to Dean Wrikax and his compatriots — they are the ones that you’ve wronged, after all. However…” He gave the SFC Officer a grave look. “If you agree to cooperate, both in regards to your raid against Compound Tresnon, and in the ongoing investigation into the SFC, then I pledge to offer you the full protection of Riveranian law, even here in Treséd.”

“…Really…?” Orana questioned, only for his eyes to flick uneasily over to Davídrius. “…Does he agree to that?”

“Depends on how cooperative you are,” Davídrius retorted. “Over the past several months, a lot of people have died or been wounded, all because of the tech that you gave to the Bleeders. If you hold anythin’ back, then I’ll be more than happy to show you just how easily a Tresédian forgives. Here’s a hint: we usually don’t.”

“You… you wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

The Major stared at Davídrius for several moments, as the Dean glared back, a dangerous smirk playing on his face. After another couple of seconds, Orana finally looked away from Davídrius, and coughed again. “Ahem… well… I suppose… if the Archoné himself is offering to help… I might as well accept…”

Pallan smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Beside him, Krydonin shook her head in disappointment. “I’d heard from Savénos about how weak the SFC supposedly is…” she muttered, her voice quiet enough such that only Kievkenalis could hear her. “But for a Major to break this easily… it’s convenient for us, but a terrible sign of the SFC’s competence and integrity.”

“Now you know how I’ve felt for all this time,” Kievkenalis replied.

“Now…” Davídrius spoke up, his attention focused on Major Orana, “…let’s start from the top. Why the hell is the SFC workin’ with the fuckin’ Bleeders, huh?”

“Well… if you want a full strategic overview, I’m not quite the man to ask…” Orana said. “You’d have to ask High Command.”

“All of High Command?” Pallan questioned.

“I don’t know. Maybe. My orders come down from Lanius, at least.”

“We already knew that,” Kievkenalis whispered to the other three.

“Right,” Davídrius deadpanned, and then turned to glare at Orana. “You sure that’s all you know? ‘Cause I distinctly remember you specifically tellin’ your folks to try an’ capture WCU.”

“O-Oh, right…!” The Major offered a sheepish smile. “…Now that you mention it, I do remember some things, ha ha…!”

“Remember, Major…” Pallan said, “…full cooperation.”

“Ahem. Right,” Orana replied, and then heaved a deep sigh. “…You’re sure this won’t come back to screw me over?”

“You not talkin’ is guaranteed to screw you over, I promise you that,” Davídrius declared.

“If you fear retaliation from your superiors in the SFC,” Pallan said, “then I can assure you that you will be safe. The SFC is already under investigation, after all; any untoward actions by your superiors would surely… reflect poorly on them, to say the least.”

“I see. Well, if I have your word, Archoné…”

“You do.”

“Ahem. Right. Well, then…” The Major took a deep breath. “…I guess I don’t really have much to gain by hiding anything at this point, then, huh? I’ll tell you what I know, then.”

“Great. Get talkin’,” Davídrius urged.

“Alright. Well…” Orana began, “to make things clear… I was never a fan of working with the Bleeders. They’re nasty brutes, the lot of them, so if it had been up to me, we never would have aided them.”

“You’re in a PMC, Major,” Krydonin retorted. “You aren’t even a Chaotic. You could have quit. Or blown the whistle.”

“Yeah. Don’t think you can butter me up, besides,” Davídrius declared. “Stick to the facts.”

“R-right…” Orana muttered. “Well, um… anyways, the reason the SFC decided to work with the Bleeders, was… well, we wanted Treséd’s land.”

“Why? It’s a fuckin’ wasteland.”

“Yes, but Lanius seemed convinced that there was something important, here… a-and I really don’t know what!” Orana quickly added when Davídrius began glaring at him. “Really! I have no idea what Lanius expected to find!”

“That can’t have been the only reason that the SFC made moves on Treséd,” Kievkenalis said.

“Well, no…” Orana admitted. “The continent is a wasteland, but all that space is still good for testing, and for other activities. No one pays attention to or cares about Treséd, after all. So if the SFC was somehow able to get control of the continent, then we’d have a lot of space, all to ourselves. And since no one cares about Tresédians, then no one would care what happens to all the Tresédian Chaotics that’re around here…”

“You fucking what?!” Davídrius snapped.

“I should’ve known…” Kievkenalis said with a sigh. “The SFC has had trouble with their recruitment numbers for years. I shouldn’t be surprised that they’d try to shore up their numbers by kidnapping Chaotics from Treséd…”

“T-to be clear, we didn’t intend to kidnap anyone. Not at first…” Orana replied. “We tried approaching various Compounds to make deals with them. Getting control of the land in exchange for protection, and such. Offering recruitment to Tresédian Chaotics, so that they’d have a chance to see the world outside of Treséd… but no one accepted our offers.”

“No shit,” Davídrius snarled. “It was clear as day that y’all had some hidden motive. Fuck, you even tried to take advantage of the fact that most of us can’t leave the continent on our own!”

“Yes…” the Major replied uneasily. “W-well… that aside… when it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to make deals with the Compounds, the leadership decided that we’d get control some other way. That’s when we decided to start giving tech and resources to the Bleeders. We thought that, if the Bleeders were to overrun all of the Compounds, then we could swoop in afterwards and kill them all. That way, the Compounds would be out of the picture, but the public would still be on our side, because we took care of the Bleeders.”

“Even though you’re the ones who made them a fuckin’ problem in the first place,” Davídrius retorted.

“Well, yes. But that’s why we provided them with Black Suns parts,” Orana said, his gaze flicking over to Krydonin. “Black Suns sell their tech on the market, so we thought that buying some second-hand and donating it to the Bleeders would make it nigh impossible to trace the tech back to us.”

“I can’t deny that you made things very difficult, for us…” Kievkenalis admitted.

“Can’t believe I was fuckin’ right about this, either…” Davídrius muttered. “Fuckin’ hell. So y’all must’ve been the ones to bring Strén and Feral back, too, right? How did y’all even find those two?”

“I don’t know how we got the Bleeder ringleaders on board. Honest,” Orana insisted. “I just know that leadership hoped the ringleaders would wipe out the Compounds. But, after they tried to attack Tresnon back on Hunger’s Bane and failed, leadership decided that we needed to take a more direct approach.”

“That’s why you decided to team up with the Bleeders for a joint assault?” Krydonin questioned.

“Sort of,” the Major said. “Initially, we were planning on dropping the Bleeders entirely. They had failed to do everything that we wanted them to do. They failed to steal the Ayas from YCUR, they failed to properly attack Treséd…”

“And they failed to do anything of substance to the Academy in Relédiaka, either…” Kievkenalis mused.

“Actually, we didn’t order them to do that,” Orana replied. “Or at least, I’m not aware of any such order.”

“Hold up,” Davídrius questioned incredulously. “Are you sayin’ that the Bleeders attacked Rebehka’s school all on their own? Just ‘cause they wanted to?”

“As far as I’m aware, yes. However, I suspect that they were motivated at least in part by the Academy being attached to the ‘Wanléon’ name. As I understand it, Strén and Feral suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of one Siyuakén Wanléon, and they wanted revenge for it.”

“That tracks… what about Shade’s appearance on Nayasis, then? She attacked me, Christeané, and the Keys. Almost killed us. Was it the SFC that got her onto Nayasis?”

“Yes…” Orana admitted, his gaze averted from Davídrius’s. “We had hoped that she would, uh… remove you from the picture.”

“’Course you did.”

“The Bleeders were convinced that you and the ‘Ghost of Light’ were the linchpins of Tresnon’s defense,” Orana continued. “Strén and Feral wanted to fight you, of course, but that was too risky for our liking. So we sent Shade to take you out while you were away. If she had succeeded, then Tresnon would only have one of its two big protectors left, and the Bleeders would have a viable second chance at taking the Compound. She ended up failing, as you can tell, but before we actually had a chance to stop backing the Bleeders…” He glanced over at Kievkenalis. “Well, that’s when Dean Yumach suddenly showed solid evidence of everything the SFC’s been up to. Lanius immediately cut ties with those of us left in Treséd, to try and save his own ass. So we were left to finish up the SFC’s plans on our own.”

“You said it yourself — your leadership abandoned you,” Krydonin interjected. “And you’ve also claimed that you didn’t want to work with the Bleeders. Why, then, did you feel compelled to continue your mission?”

“Well… that’s because of the shield-breaker.”

“You mean, the bomb you used to take down our shields?” Davídrius questioned.

Orana nodded. “That’s right.”

“I’ve heard about that from Savénos…” Krydonin mused. “Shield-breaker tech is bleeding edge, right now. The Drakkars have only started using it recently, and no one has been able to reverse-engineer a mass-producible copy, yet. As far as I’m aware, the Suns are leading the field on this particular piece of tech, but our designs are mostly speculative. So how the hell did the SFC get their hands on a fully operational shield-breaker?”

“I’m not actually sure of that, myself…” Major Orana replied. “I just know that leadership insisted on keeping the tech hush-hush. Supposedly, the bomb they gave us was their only working prototype, and they told us that if anyone discovered that the SFC had it, then we’d all be screwed.”

“Sounds like they just wanted to scare you into silence,” Kievkenalis suggested.

“Maybe, but I wasn’t taking any chances,” Orana continued. “I’m not a techie, but even I could tell that that bomb was way more advanced than anything the SFC has ever produced itself. So, I thought that we had stolen it from somewhere, hence the warning. But when Lanius dropped us, we were basically trapped in Treséd, with this thing. So we thought… if we have to get rid of it, we might as well use it for its original purpose: to break Tresnon’s shields.”

“Which is when you decided to team up with the Bleeders, instead of dropping them,” Krydonin said.

Orana nodded. “That’s right. My plan was that, if Tresnon fell, then my forces could immediately turn on the Bleeders and kill them all. We’d then claim that it was the Bleeders who used the bomb, having received it from Lanius — and try to leverage us stopping the Bleeders to get out of any charges that the Riveranian government would throw at us.”

“How… shrewd,” Kievkenalis remarked.

“Yeah, if not for the fact that you put thousands of innocent lives on the line, all just to save your own ass,” Davídrius snarled. “Hell, if you wanted to paint yourselves as the heroes, then why did you even team up with the fuckin’ Bleeders in the first place, huh?!”

“We just… wanted control of the story,” Orana admitted. “We felt that would be easier to do if we joined the attack, to stop the Bleeders from getting out of hand…”

“You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ me.”

“But, to get things straight…” Pallan spoke up, “this shield-breaker bomb — that was supplied to you by Varifun Lanius, correct?”

“Well, not directly by him, but by people higher up the chain acting on his orders, yeah,” Orana replied.

“That’s another problem to look into…” Kievkenalis muttered.

“And how do the Rokresians fit into this?” Davídrius questioned, his attention still focused on the SFC Major.

Orana shrugged. “They were opportunists. I knew that they had a history of disliking the Compounds, so I sought out their help. That’s when I found out that they blamed Tresnon for an attempted assassination of their leaders. I didn’t really care about the specifics, I just wanted to make sure that Tresnon was defeated, so I asked if they wanted in on the attack. They were wary of me at first, of course. But after hearing that some of the people they were after were Earthian, I offered to give them some RTA translation implants, so they could actually talk to their targets. That was enough to tip them to our side, so… here they are.”

Davídrius shook his head in disbelief. “Fucking hell…”

“This is all quite damning…” Kievkenalis remarked, “but, Major, there’s still one thing you haven’t explained: why did the Bleeders have access to infected creatures?”

“It’s true,” Krydonin added. “The Bleeder ringleaders unleashed the infection on the Compound to cover their escape. We got it under control, fortunately, but it’s my understanding that the infection isn’t endemic to Treséd. So those creatures had to come from somewhere else.”

“Th-that…” Orana squirmed uneasily. “…The SFC gave them the specimens, yes.”

“You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ me,” Davídrius growled. “You damn near doomed the entire fuckin’ continent!”

“I-it wasn’t my idea,” Orana insisted. “The specimens came down from Lanius’s command! I didn’t have any say in the Bleeders having them! I didn’t even know they had the specimens until we were planning our attack!”

“Bullshit,” Davídrius snarled. “After all, it wasn’t just the Bleeders — the Rokresians had an infected animal, too. And from what I heard, they were tryin’ to ‘test’ the infection on one of my students — on a ‘Key’. You expect me to believe that they came up with that idea all on their own?”

Orana continued to squirm, his gaze averted from Davídrius. “W-well… …it’s true that I wasn’t the one who gave the animals to the Bleeders. Honest! I have no idea where they came from! But… once we learned that the Bleeders had them, we thought, well… might as well use them, right?”

“I can’t believe this…” Kievkenalis replied in disbelief. “Major, you do understand that the metallic infection is an existential threat to the entire galaxy, right?”

“Well, sure, but… it can only spread through living creatures, right? And, well, Treséd is a wasteland. Barely anything lives out there. Even if the infection consumed Tresnon, it wouldn’t have been able to get much farther than that, so it would be self-contained, in the end…”

“That’s no reason to use the infection as a fuckin’ tool!” Davídrius snapped.

“Um… right…” Orana muttered, still unable to make eye contact with any of his interrogators.

Seeing this, Pallan released a deep sigh. “…The information that you’ve just shared with us is most grave, indeed…” he said, his eyes falling on Major Orana.

“W-well, yes, but—!” the Major began, only to be cut off as Pallan spoke once more.

“I will hold to my word,” the Archoné declared. “As long as your information lines up with our investigations, I will see to it that you and your SFC compatriots are protected by Riveranian law. But just as it protects you, it will prosecute you, as well. In exchange for my graciousness, I fully expect you to take responsibility for your actions here in Treséd.”

Orana looked down, crestfallen. “…Right. Of course, Archoné…”

“I still have more questions for you and your bastards…” Davídrius muttered, “…but those will have to wait. For now, Pallan, Kevken, Krydonin, let’s go talk outside, yeah?”

“After you, Dean Wrikax,” Krydonin replied, making way for Davídrius to limp his way out of the jail. Pallan, Kievkenalis, and then Krydonin herself soon followed the Dean, none of them paying any heed to the SFC Major left to stew in his guilt within the jail of Compound Tresnon.

---

*

“A’ight, so… what’re y’all thinkin’?”

“I’ll admit, the Major seemed sincere…” Kievkenalis mused, his hand on his chin in thought. “Especially after you and the Archoné badgered him into talking. But, having said that…”

“There are still things that don’t add up,” Krydonin asserted, her hands clasped behind her back. “Such as where the SFC obtained the shield-breaker from. Or why the soldiers stranded here in Treséd decided to go forward with their mission, even once it was clear that they no longer had the support of High Command — or even the law.”

“That’s to be expected from the SFC, I’m afraid,” Pallan replied. “I can’t speak to the shield-breaker, but on your second point, the SFC are an unscrupulous lot. I believe the Major was telling the truth when he told us his motives.”

“Ya don’t say…” Davídrius muttered, leaning on his one crutch as he stared at the ground in thought. After a moment of contemplation, he looked up, glancing at each of Kievkenalis, Krydonin, and Pallan while the four stood outside of Tresnon’s jail. “…What’re the odds that the Bleeders still have tech the SFC gave them?”

“Not very high, I would think,” Kievkenalis replied. “Given the kind of pressure the SFC was under, I don’t see any reason for them to have held back during the raid two days ago. What they used then was probably all that they had.”

“Many of the Bleeders that fled had powered armor,” Krydonin pointed out. “So that will still be a problem. But I very much doubt that they have any more shield-breakers or submarines, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Let’s just hope that’s true,” Davídrius muttered, and then cast a side glance towards Pallan. “And what about Riverana, huh? What’re y’all gonna do about the SFC?”

“It is abundantly clear that the SFC has abused the trust that the Riveranian Liépen placed in it,” Pallan declared. “While it is true that I have little actual power over the government, I do still have some pull with members of the Liépen. I will see to it that the SFC loses its contract.”

“Even if the Liépen fails to show sympathy for Treséd, there’s still the fact that the SFC betrayed YCUR,” Kievkenalis pointed out. “Matters of the Ayas are of the utmost security importance. If Riverana fumbles this, then the Nimalian Union government will take the Ayas and put it somewhere else — and I can assure you that the Liépen wants anything but that. They’ll sever their ties with the SFC in the end, I’m sure.”

“I suspect that Archoné Ledkia, of Relédiaka, may have some choice words for me once he learns that the Bleeder attack on the Academy was aided by the SFC, as well. Even if only indirectly…” Pallan remarked. “I’m sure the Liépen will take the necessary steps to avoid a diplomatic incident with Relédiaka. However…” He then sighed in resignation. “It truly is a shame, what things have come to in Riverana… We were once a respected nation, under the aid of the upstanding RPF. But ever since their decline, it would seem that Riverana itself is following…”

“Or you could consider uncoupling your government from PMCs,” Krydonin suggested. “And I say this as a member of a PMC, myself — I’ve always thought your government was a flawed one.”

“That may well be…”

“As long as the SFC doesn’t cause any more trouble for Treséd,” Davídrius interjected, “I honestly don’t care what Riverana does about ‘em. That shield-breaker, though… I don’t like that tech. I don’t like it one bit.”

“I admit, it’s a very concerning development, coming out of the Drakkars…” Krydonin replied. “But they’ve only been using shield-breaker gauntlets against personal shielding, so far. Even they haven’t attempted something on the scale of breaking spacecraft or fortification shielding. Which makes the SFC’s use of a shield-breaker bomb all the more concerning…”

“True. Basically every piece of defensive technology in the galaxy assumes that energy shields are a viable defense all on their own,” Kievkenalis mused. “If that turns out to be wrong, then… well, that’s a problem.”

“It isn’t the only problem we have, right now.”

“Hmm…?” Davídrius glanced to the side, watching as Kaoné, Rebehka, Saito, Hackett, and Kirstin rushed up. “Kaoné? Rebehka? What’s goin’ on?”

“Ah, Deans, CSF-1,” Pallan greeted, turning towards the group and bowing his head in greeting. “Apologies for not coming to see you sooner, but there were pressing matters to—“

“What do you know about the Fog Islands?” Rebehka interrupted, her attention focused squarely on Pallan.

The Archoné drew back in surprise and bewilderment. “…The Fog Islands?” he echoed, his expression eventually recovering — and settling into something unreadable. “…What is there to discuss about them?”

“What’s going on, guys…?” Kievkenalis questioned, warily glancing between Kaoné and Rebehka.

“This have anythin’ to do with the SFC?” Davídrius added.

“No,” Rebehka replied, taking a moment to acknowledge Davídrius and Kievkenalis with a glance before turning back to scowl at Pallan. “But it does have something to do with the metallic infection. And this bas—ahem… Archoné… has been holding out on us.”

“Reeeaaally,” Davídrius drawled, turning to give Pallan an incredulous look himself. “Ya don’t fuckin’ say.”

“I do not know what you are talking about,” Pallan declared. “All I know of the Fog Islands are the rumors and myths surrounding them.”

“Rebehka… is this about what I think it is…?” Kievkenalis questioned.

Rebehka nodded. “It is. Pallan, you’ve found something on the Fog Islands, haven’t you?”

“A preposterous claim,” Pallan retorted. “On what grounds do you accuse me of this? Especially after all I have done to aid your infection research?”

“That in itself was suspicious,” Kievkenalis spoke up. “You’ve never contributed to scientific efforts before, after all. So, a year or two ago, Rebehka asked me to look into where you were actually getting your research from. And I traced your route all the way back to the Fog Islands…”

“That’s not all,” Major Hackett pressed. “SERRCom found information from an Aldredian cache of tech that points to there possibly being something of value on the Fog Islands.”

Pallan regarded the Major with an uneasy look, only to shake his head a moment later. “…I do not know anything about Aldredian technology,” he insisted. “My contributions to anti-infection research have been driven by information from the Oraculm, and little else.”

“You can’t be serious!” Rebehka exclaimed. “Pallan, either one of two things is happening, here: you’re lying to us, in which case, you’re an asshole. Or the Oraculm really does have valuable information about stopping the infection, that you’re withholding from us — in which case, you’re an asshole!”

“Rebehka…” Kaoné said.

“No no, she’s got a point,” Davídrius remarked.

“I understand your frustration,” Pallan replied, “but your words change nothing. Foretellings of the future are not something that the general public can handle. Besides, am I not contributing to your research? What makes you think I am holding something back?”

“You—! Tch…” Rebehka glared at Pallan, and then gestured back at Saito. “Colonel, tell him!”

“Well, not sure if it’s worth anything…” Saito said as he eyed Pallan uneasily. “…Recently, SERRCom engaged EA in combat. Have you heard of him?”

“Hmm, yes…” Pallan nodded sagely. “The Oraculm speaks of him, actually, as the clone of the Ayas Imperium. I find his existence most… interesting. Why do you bring him up? Has he done something?”

“It’s more about what he said. He claimed that you know a way to cure the infection… and that it’s tied to the Fog Islands, somehow.”

Pallan’s expression darkened. “…He said this? About the Fog Islands, specifically?”

“If you want his exact words,” Saito replied, “then I believe they were something along the lines of telling you that he knows about the Fog Islands.”

“Does he, now…” Pallan muttered, his gaze falling to the sand-covered ground.

Kaoné stared at the Archoné in surprise. “Are… are we actually right, about all this?”

“You have to tell us,” Hackett insisted. “Our squadmate — our friend — is infected, right now. The only thing waiting for him, now, is death. But if you know of a way to stop that, Archoné, and you don’t tell us…!”

Pallan looked up at Hackett, meeting her eyes as she remained fiercely focused on him. He then glanced over at Rebehka, and her impatient scowl; and then around at everyone else, finding that they were all looking at him expectantly. A moment later, the Archoné heaved a sigh of resignation. “…Very well. I suppose I cannot hide it any longer.” He then drew up his posture, standing straight and adopting a serious expression as he continued, “yes… it is true. I know of a secret stash of Aldredian technology, hidden in the Fog Islands. This is indeed where much of my ‘research’ has come from.”

“Well, hot damn,” Davídrius remarked incredulously. “Y’all actually got the old bastard to admit to somethin’!”

“I-is there a machine there that can, um, c-cure the infection?” MacTavish questioned.

Pallan glanced her way. “…There may well be.”

“You bastard!!” Rebehka snapped, “you knew, all this fucking time, and you withheld this tech from us? You found a fucking cure machine, and you hid that from us?!”

“I said that there might be,” Pallan countered. “I have found no such machine, myself. Only bits and pieces of ancient Aldredian research in regards to the Nanocreatures — or ‘Morenal’, as they called it.”

“What did you even find?” Kievkenalis questioned. “And how has no one else found it?”

“An ancient Aldredian outpost, dating back many thousands of years,” Pallan replied. “I found it only through the Oraculm’s instructions. The Fog Islands themselves are a massive maze of spacetime, crafted by the Aldredas in the hopes of preventing the Nanocreatures from finding the facility.”

“Maze of spacetime…?” Hackett echoed cluelessly.

“That is the simple explanation,” Pallan said. “In short, the Aldredas set up a variety of technology around the islands to warp spacetime itself, such that anyone who simply wandered onto the islands would get hopelessly lost and eventually return to where they started. Only by following a very specific, convoluted, and twisting path can you find your way to the center — to the ancient outpost. Such is why navigation tools fail, as well. And I suspect that beaming tech would not succeed, either; space is simply too twisted on the Fog Islands.”

“So the myths aren’t just myths, then…!” Kaoné remarked.

“And the fog?” Kievkenalis questioned. “Is that the doing of the Aldredas, as well?”

Pallan nodded. “Yes. Intended as a tool to mask the warping of spacetime. Once you reach the center of the maze, the fog ceases to be an issue, although it is replaced by pitch black darkness.”

“And you found an Aldredian outpost, there…” Saito mused. “Some kind of research outpost, I take it?”

“Yes,” Pallan said. “With the aid of existing technology to interface with old Aldredian equipment, I was able to access much of the outpost’s computer systems. Not all of them, mind you, but many of them.”

“And you decided to keep this a fucking secret,” Rebehka replied. “Why?!”

“To keep the information out of Nanocreature hands,” Pallan stated, as if such a claim should be clearly obvious. “The information I found would be devastating to the Nanocreatures. The more people who knew about it, the more likely the Nanocreatures would learn of it. And if they did, then I have no doubt that they would stop at nothing to destroy or assimilate that information. And if that happened — if they found a way to patch up their weaknesses — then we would have nothing.”

“Shrewd…” Krydonin remarked. “…But when it comes to the metallic infection, it’s impossible to be too cautious.”

“Bullshit!” Rebehka angrily retorted. “Kaoné and I, and others, have been studying the infection for years. I’ll admit that it seems capable of behavioral adaptation, but thanks to our research, we’ve been able to keep up with it, mostly. And yet, if we were to follow your reasoning, then we’d know even less about the infection than we do now! At the end of the day, knowledge is vital to countering the infection, no matter how much the infection itself knows!”

“Eh… I hate to say it… but I kind of agree with the Archoné,” Kievkenalis admitted.

Rebehka whipped around to glare at Kievkenalis in surprise. “Why?!”

“Well… there’s just too much that we don’t know,” he replied. “We know that the Nanocreatures are malicious, and that they don’t behave like a normal disease. But we don’t actually know much more than that. We don’t actually know for sure that we’re making discoveries faster than the infection can adapt. I mean, we don’t even know for sure if Morcii is truly dead!”

“Exactly,” Pallan declared. “Letting too many people know about anti-infection information — or even the potential existence of a cure — is too great of a risk. That is why I withheld information from you, Dean Tchiréon.” He then passed a wary glance toward Saito. “However, if the clone claims to already know about the Fog Islands… then I suspect it would only be a matter of time before he did something brash, did I not share with you now what I know.”

“And all of this, because of the Oraculm…” Saito shook his head in disbelief. “…Well, Archoné. Your reasons for hiding this aside, I think it’s time we took a little trip to this outpost.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Kaoné added with a firm nod. “Both Luke and Liask are at risk of succumbing to the infection, and soon. But if we can save them, then…!”

“And not just them — anyone who falls victim to the infection,” Rebehka declared. “It’s our duty to help the victims out any way that we can. And the more victims we can cure of the infection, the less it will spread, as well. Isn’t that what we want, Pallan?”

The Archoné released a heavy sigh. “…Very well. I will take you all to the outpost.”

“Well, hold on, now!” Davídrius quickly interjected. “I mean, Rebehka, Kaoné, I totally get why y’all wanna see this place. And you Earthians — I totally get why y’all wanna go, too. But Tresnon is still recoverin’ from the raid, and Strén and his cronies are still at large! You can’t all leave!”

“My forces and I will remain here, of course,” Krydonin asserted. “You can count on the Suns to protect your home.”

Davídrius passed her a glance before looking back to Kaoné. “Yeah, sure, but…”

“If it will help, I can have the Eximius Vir remain behind,” Saito offered. “The four of them should be more than enough to fend off any further attacks, even if the Black Suns weren’t here.”

“I guess it’s better than nothin’, but…” Davídrius looked uneasily between Kaoné, Rebehka, and Kievkenalis. “Y’all are really goin’ off, just like that, huh…?”

“I should probably return to Riverana, actually,” Kievkenalis remarked. “Someone needs to report back to the Liépen about the SFC, and if the Archoné is taking you all to the Fog Islands, then that ‘someone’ probably has to be me.”

“But I’m coming along to the islands, for sure,” Rebehka declared. “This is potentially a monumental breakthrough in our infection research. I can’t possibly let this slip through my fingers!”

“And if we fail to find a way to cure Luke or Liask, then I need to be there, as well,” Kaoné said. “I’ve never cured a human before, but if it comes down to it, I’ll just have to try. And I’m not confident that Luke or Liask have enough time for me to just wait for you all to return…”

“I’d request that CSF-1 join you, as well,” Saito added. “Not only is Travis one of ours, but our information helped to uncover this little secret of yours. We deserve to see it, too.”

“Of course,” Pallan responded. “We should bring the Keys, as well.”

“We should? Why?”

“This matter involves them, as well, does it not? The Omni Key is friends with the Tresédian girl, and the Ayas Imperium is the Captain’s nephew. Besides that, I believe there is information on the islands that only the Keys will be able to access.”

“More Oraculm shit, huh?” Davídrius deadpanned.

“I’ll take what we can get, at this point,” Hackett insisted. “But if we’re really doing this, then we should get going as soon as possible. It’s as Dean Densalin said — we don’t know how long the Captain has.”

“Indeed,” Pallan replied, already turning to head off towards the Tresnon airport. “We will be taking my personal ship to the islands. Gather the Keys, and anyone else you feel may be appropriate to bring along; we will be leaving by sunset. And within the day… I will show you the answers that you seek.”