“Luke! Hey, Uncle Luke! You in there?”

Austin paused for a moment, listening for any kind of response before knocking on the door in front of him once more. Even after that, though, there remained no reply. “Sheesh… where’d he go?” Austin muttered to himself as he idly glanced left and right; he currently stood in the first-floor hallway of the WCU dorms, waiting impatiently outside of Luke’s room.

With a weary sigh, Austin finally turned away from the door to head back to his own room — only to stop as Luke’s door creaked open. “Damn, sure took you a while—“ Austin began to say, only to freeze in surprise as he noted who was peering through the cracked door at him: not Luke, but a short young woman with pale skin and brown bangs with a messy ponytail. “…Um…” Austin stared at her in confusion, and then in recognition. “Wait… you’re one of Luke’s coworkers, right?”

“Uh… y-yeah…” came Kirstin’s awkward reply. “I’m, um, o-on CSF-1…”

“Kirstin, right?” Austin then looked past Kirstin and into Luke’s room, where he could see an extra laptop open on top of the bed. “…What’re you doin’ in my Uncle’s room?”

“I-it, um, i-it’s quieter around here th-than, uh… th-the tavern,” Kirstin responded meekly, her gaze diverted from Austin’s. “S-so, um, w-well… L-Luke let me, uh, use his room…”

“Oh. Huh. I take it Luke isn’t here, then?”

“N-no… sorry…”

“Uh… it isn’t your fault,” Austin replied, warily eying Kirstin as she herself refused to make eye-contact. “Do you know when he’ll be back?”

“Um… no… s-sorry…”

“What? Why’re you apologizing?”

“Uh… s-sor—“

“You know what, forget I asked,” Austin quickly interjected, making to turn away from the door. “I’ll just, uh, come back later.”

“O-okay…” Kirstin mumbled in response, watching Austin take a few steps away. As he stopped in front of the door to his own room, however, Kirstin recalled something Saito had told her a few months ago:

 

Or maybe you could talk to the new recruits; they’re all your age, I figure you’ll get along fine.

 

“…Um! W-wait!” Kirstin called out, opening Luke’s door just enough to squeeze out into the hallway.

“Huh?” Austin passed her a confused look. “…Did you need somethin’?”

“N-no, but, um…” The Researcher fidgeted uneasily before stiffly extending her hand in front of her, toward Austin. “H-hi! I-I’m Kirstin!”

Austin continued staring at her in confusion, his gaze switching between her outstretched hand and her face. He then approached her, taking her hand in a handshake — one of the limpest that he had ever experienced, in fact. “Uh… hi,” he said. “I’m Austin.”

“R-right! I-I, um, knew that.”

“…And I already knew your name,” Austin responded, withdrawing his hand from Kirstin’s.

“O-oh…” Kirstin’s shoulders slumped, her gaze diverted. “R-right…”

Austin watched her uneasily, unsure of what to make of her. “…Did you want something from me?” he asked again.

“Uh, w-well, no, I just… um…” Kirstin fidgeted uneasily. “Th-the… w-weather! It’s, um… hot, huh?”

“Uh… yeah. We are in a desert.”

“Y-yeah… right… …um… p-pretty dry, too…”

“…Hey, look, I don’t really know what’s goin’ on, but don’t feel like you have to force yourself to make small talk.”

“O-oh…” Kirstin responded, her shoulders slumping again.

Austin remained silent for a second, still watching her. She’s… really awkward, huh? he thought to himself, and Luke works with her? Man, I’m not sure how he does it. Is she trying to make friends with me, or something? What do I even do, here…? Hmm, it seemed like she had her laptop out, right? Maybe there’s something there. “So… I noticed you had a laptop, out,” Austin remarked, drawing Kirstin’s attention as he took charge of the conversation. “Lookin’ at anything interesting? Find anything cool on the Relaynet?”

“Uh…” Kirstin glanced away. “J-just work…”

“Oh… I see. Well, then…”

“R-relaynet is, um, r-really slow out here, a-anyways…”

“Heh. Yeah, it really is, isn’t it? I guess that makes sense, since we’re practically in the middle of nowhere, but having slow-as-shit Internet and Relaynet is still a real pain, you know?”

“Y-yeah…” Kirstin nodded in agreement, the faintest of smiles crossing her face.

“Personally, I miss Earth’s Internet… Nimalia’s seems really tame, by comparison. Like there isn’t as much stuff on it.”

“I-it’s all, um… AR.”

“Wait, is that really it? That’s the reason I can’t find anything on my laptop? Well that’s a pain…”

“Y-you can still, uh, see the Relaynet boards, though…”

“Sure, but those are all just message and image boards, you know? The latency on the Relaynet is too high for anything else.”

“B-because it, um, spans th-the entire galaxy…”

“Yeah, I know that. Something about the different nodes having to use the Gates and the Transpaces to update each other. It still means that it could take hours or days to get a response from somebody, or to see someone’s response. That’s so slow!”

“T-true… b-but seeing how, um, o-other people in the galaxy interact is, uh… k-kinda fun…”

“You know… I never really thought about that. I’ve never tried looking at any of the non-Earthian boards, aside from checking out some of the Nimalian ones when we first got here. The Nimalians are real flowery on those things.”

“Y-yeah, but… I-I like how, um, n-nice they are…”

“I guess they were, now that I think about it… it all seemed so insincere, coming from Earth’s Internet. Hell, even now it kind of does. The Tresédians aren’t really ‘nice’ all the time.”

“Th-they’re probably not, um, o-on the Relaynet, either…”

“Ha! Yeah, true. I guess the Nimalian boards are filled with Nimaliakians and Tekdecénians or something. Would explain how much they talk about nature and touring and stuff…”

“Y-yeah, ha ha…”

“Didn’t think I’d run into someone else who liked checking out the Relaynet, though. Most of my friends don’t really care about it. What’s your ID?”

“W-what?” Kirstin stared at Austin, wide-eyed. “M-my what?”

“Your… ID. Your Relaynet ID,” Austin reiterated, a frown overtaking him as he noticed Kirstin’s uneasy response. “Uh… if you don’t want to share, that’s fine, too.”

“N-no, it’s, um, i-it’s fine,” Kirstin quickly responded. “I, uh, I-I just h-haven’t, um— m-my ID is, uh—“

“Well, this is a pair I didn’t expect to see!”

“Oh, Luke! There you are!” Austin remarked, half-turning to be able to see both Kirstin and Luke, who approached from down the hallway. “Where were you?”

“Just a quick meeting with Selind and Gavon,” Luke replied, stopping just short of Austin. He then glanced between his nephew and Kirstin, an amused smirk upon his face. “And what do we have here, eh? You making a new friend, Kirstin?”

“U-um, w-well…” Kirstin responded uneasily, her gaze diverted as she fidgeted in place.

“We were talkin’ about the Relaynet just now,” Austin said.

“The Relaynet, huh? Heh. Makes sense,” Luke commented. “Should’ve known the two of you would find common ground, there.”

“Y-yeah…” Kirstin replied sheepishly.

“Anyways… Austin, you said you were lookin’ for me? What for?”

“I just wanted to see if you were free, really,” Austin answered. “Thought I might take you up on the ‘hang-out’ offer.”

Luke grinned, immediately reaching out to ruffle Austin’s hair. “Alright! Finally comin’ around, huh?”

“Hey, hey!” Austin retorted as he batted away Luke’s hand. “I’m not a kid anymore! Hell, I’m taller than you are!”

“Only just barely. Anyways, I have plans to spend the afternoon at the range with Gavon, but I have a few hours free, right now. We could grab lunch, it’s about that time.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“And what about you, Kirstin?” Luke glanced her way. “You in?”

Kirstin looked uneasily between Luke and Austin. “Um… I… I-I’m fine…”

“You sure?” Austin questioned.

The Researcher’s gaze lingered on Austin for a second, only to suddenly divert her attention to the ground as she fiddled with her fingers. “…Uh… is it… r-really okay?”

“C’mon, Kirstin, I wouldn’t be asking you if it wasn’t,” Luke replied.

“…O-okay, then…”

“Alright! Fantastic!” Luke nodded resolutely, smiling as turned to begin leading Austin and Kirstin down the hallway to the dorm exit. “Let’s go get some grub, then!”

---

*

“Aaaah… finally! To be out and about like this, again… it feels so good!”

“That it does,” Spike replied, watching with a smile as Sky navigated the narrow rocky trail ahead of them. “Don’t get a lot of opportunities to go hikin’ in Tresnon.”

“Well yeah, it’s all just flat desert over there,” Sky replied, ducking around a tree branch before stumbling out onto a slightly wider path. She paused for a moment to make sure that Spike was keeping up with her, at which point she turned back around and began maneuvering up the steep rocky trails. “Here, though… I knew there’d be some proper hiking in Nimaliaka, based on how huge the mountains looked from the city!”

“Hey, we went hikin’ back on Sikalia, didn’t we?”

“Sure, and that was cool, too, with the big tree and the rock pillars and all. But it was no mountain trail!”

“Ha… fair.”

A few moments passed in silence as the couple continued making their way up the mountain trail, surrounded by cliff faces and trees on both sides. The two had been hiking for nearly two hours now, with the sun about halfway through its morning march. Both carried with them backpacks with water and lunch. The pack’s extra weight was practically meaningless to Spike and his supernatural strength, and as he carefully eyed his girlfriend, he noted that she seemed to be faring just as well as he — if not better. I guess all that physical training back at Tresnon is paying off for the others, Spike thought to himself. Not that Sky ever had trouble hiking before, but I expected her to be having a harder time, with that arm…

His attention fell on Sky’s right arm, which still bore the cast from days prior. The way Sky was moving, it seemed as though she didn’t even remember she had an injury, despite having to rely entirely on her left hand for balance and to clear debris. When the two arrived at the trails earlier that morning, Spike had suggested taking an easier path for the sake of Sky’s safety, but she had insisted that she would be fine — and that they should take the hard path that brought them as close to the summit as possible. At the time, he had his doubts, but watching Sky move now… Guess she really is fine, huh. Spike mused. This must be thanks to that Nimalia medical tech, or something, right?

“Ugh… the peak’s still so far away!”

Spike turned to look farther upwards, at where Sky was looking. While the cliff faces that surrounded them were beginning to fall away, the absolute peak of the mountains adjacent to Nimaliaka Central were still quite a ways away.

Turning back to his girlfriend, Spike replied, “well, yeah. You read the brochures, right? The peaks around here are as tall as Mount Rainier. We’d need multiple days to hike up there.” He then looked back to the peak, noting the snow that covered it — as well as the slopes a fair way down. “…Not to mention how cold it’ll be up there.”

“Oh c’mon, I’m a Pyrotechnic, and you’re a Forcetechnic,” Sky countered. “If anyone can stand up to the cold, it’s us!”

“I dunno if Forcetechnic durability applies to temperature…”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out, right?”

Spike passed Sky an incredulous look, having just now caught up to her. “…We ain’t out here for a multi-day hike,” he stated. “The plan all along was to go as high as we could by noon, then take one of the splits to hike back to the city.”

“Yeah, but…” Sky turned eastward. Bits and pieces of the city of Nimaliaka Central could be seen to the east, but most of the valley and the sea beyond was blocked by hills and trees. “I wanted to be able to see the city. The way these trails are going, it seems like we’ll have to be here for more than a day to get that!”

“Then we’ll remember that for next time. But until your arm is fully recovered, we’re not stayin’ out here any longer than a day.”

“Aw, spoilsport.”

“I’m just lookin’ out for your health. The last thing you want is for your arm to break, again.”

“I guess. …But…”

Spike glanced at Sky again, noting that a look of awe-filled realization had filled her face. Tentatively, he questioned, “…what?”

“You know…” She met his eyes with a mischievous grin. “We do both have ways to get to the peak, today, without having to worry about my arm!”

“What…? Oh, c’mon—!”

“Last one to the top has to give the other a back massage!” Sky declared as she dashed forward, reaching a part of the trail sufficiently separated from the tree line. As soon as she did, she leaped into the air — and then blasted the ground beneath her feet, launching herself skyward, where she began propelling herself through the air towards the mountain peaks with jets of flame.

“You—! …Well, I can’t lose now,” Spike muttered to himself while crouching down — and then, with his boundless strength, leaped upwards in an incredible arc. In that one leap, he easily cleared a couple hundred meters of terrain before crashing down to the ground again, where he readily launched himself into the air once more in pursuit of Sky up the slopes of the mountain.

*

“…Oof! Hoo… there we go…”

With a few deep breaths, Spike was able to even out his heart rate and stand up straight again. The race up the slopes had turned out to be easier than Spike expected, at first; while he knew that he was capable of massive leaps, he had never really attempted to see just how far he could jump, or how much ground he could cover by doing so repeatedly. His strength indeed served him well there, but what he soon realized was just how much he had underestimated the distance to travel. The peaks west of Nimaliaka Central were over 2700 meters above sea level, after all, and that was just the vertical distance to cover.

In the end, after nearly an hour of endless jumping and intermittent resting, Spike had indeed finally made it to the highest peak. Now at the top of the mountain, he found himself surrounded by snow and cold air — yet, Spike felt just fine.

“Oh, c’mon! You weren’t supposed to beat me!!”

At the sound of Sky’s shouting, Spike turned around, just in time to see her flying up behind him. With one final blast of flames, she rocketed herself up to cover the last few meters and land on the ground next to Spike — where she then stumbled, clearly off-balance. “Hey, careful!” Spike quickly called out, reflexively reaching out to catch Sky before she fell over.

“Ah ha ha… oops,” she laughed uneasily, “guess that took more out of me than I thought…”

“You really are reckless…” Spike muttered as he carefully sat her down on the ground and brushed her off. “You sure you’re fine? Is your arm okay?”

“Everything’s fine, don’t worry, I just… need to catch my breath.” Sky clutched at her chest while taking deep breaths.

“At least you’re fine now, but remember that we still gotta go down. Bet you didn’t even think about that before you started this race, huh?”

“You didn’t say anything about that, either. Besides… just look! This view was definitely worth it!”

Spike turned to look east, in the direction that Sky was excitedly gesturing. From their massively elevated positions they could see the towering mountain range than ran to the north and south, the rolling foothills to the east, the sparkling blue waters against which the hills terminated… and the sprawling majesty of Nimaliaka Central amongst them all. Only from this height did the true span of the massive city become apparent; it blanketed the many dozens of foothills that stretched between the mountains and the coast. Far to the south, Spike could see the mountain range curve eastward and eventually meet the coast itself — and nestled right up to the mountains was the southern part of Nimaliaka Central. It was only to the north, where the foothills running parallel to the mountains disappeared over the horizon, that the city seemed to taper off.

While Nimaliaka Central had countless skyscrapers to speak of, it stood unique among large Nimalian cities in that only a handful of its towers reached above one kilometer in height. Of those number, only one reached two kilometers, a massive block of shimmering glass, wreathed in the faint telltale signs of open greenery every few floors. Tiny colored dots occasionally shone in the distance, flying through the air between all of the city’s skyscrapers like colored flies, sometimes masked by the billowing white of slowly drifting clouds that had formed over the eastern sea. As if in defiance of the flying cars, speedy trains could be seen rushing along the ground in between buildings and down specialized corridors, transporting countless passengers in a sprawling mass transit network — and at the end of that network was a massive facility to the south, nestled into a narrow valley between two particularly tall foothills. The facility’s gleaming windows shone brightly in the late morning sunlight; it was too far away for Spike to make out any details aside from its size, but he could still tell enough to know that it was Nimalia’s Gateport, the center of the planet’s Interstellar Transportation. The vast variety of aircraft that landed and took off from the facility, taking interstellar passengers to destinations all across the planet, was enough to tell that.

As his gaze slowly swept across the view in front of him, taking in the shining city, the surrounding mountains, and the endless blue waters to the east, Spike couldn’t help but smile. Nimaliaka Central wasn’t home, but the city filled with greenery and surrounded by snow-topped mountains felt oddly comforting to behold regardless.

“…Wow. I don’t think I’ve seen you smile that big in months!”

“Huh?” Spike looked down at Sky, who was now standing close by as she looked up at him.

“Figures you didn’t notice,” she replied with a smirk, and turned to look out over the city herself. “…You never were much good at watching out for yourself.”

“I can handle myself just fine.”

“Physically, sure. But that’s not what I’m talking about. You’ve been kinda cagey ever since SERRCom picked us up, you know.”

“I—…” Spike began, but faltered when Sky passed him a concerned look. “…Is this about the touching, again?”

“Well, I’d like to talk about that, too, but that’s not what I meant,” Sky replied. “C’mon, Spike. This whole time we’ve been with SERRCom, I feel like you haven’t complained at all. Definitely not as much as me, or Austin, or even Twy. Certainly not as much as Pierce or Phoenix. You’ve just  kinda been… there, rolling with the punches.” She paused, a frown on her face as she attempted to sort out the rest of her thoughts; a second later, she turned to face Spike fully as she said, “for a while, I didn’t really think much of it. But then that Bleeder attack happened. I remember what you said before we all went to fight the Bleeders… ‘If we’re able to help defend the city, then we should help defend the city. It’s only right.’”

“Guess I did say that…” Spike muttered with a sheepish smile. “But I took it back the next day. We weren’t ready to help out in a fight that big.”

“No, but that’s just the post-adrenaline-rush clarity speaking! In the moment, you wanted to go help. You thought it was your duty to help. At the time, I didn’t really think much, ‘cause, well… I was all caught up in the moment, too. But I realized something later… you’ve been doing this all along, haven’t you? Putting everyone else ahead of yourself. That’s why you don’t ever complain, or why you were so quick to apologize to Twy when she got mad at us for fighting!”

“Well, Twy was right.”

“I know, I know, but that’s not the point. Look.” Sky grabbed Spike’s hand, clasping it with her left hand as she looked up straight into his eyes. “Just think about it. I’m right, right? This comes down to that whole thing with you refusing to touch me, too! I know you’re holding back, but you think that if you don’t, you’ll hurt me… so you hold back anyways, because you think it’s for the best. Because you’re trying to protect me. That’s the way you’ve always been.”

Spike’s expression clouded; he left his hand limply in Sky’s own, but he diverted his gaze, idly looking out upon the vast city below. “…What’re you tryin’ to say, exactly?”

“I’m saying that it’s alright to live a little, you know? You don’t have to think about everyone else, all the time! Sometimes, if you feel like complaining… just do it! Sometimes, if you want to do something… just, fucking do it!”

“But if I—“

“You won’t hurt me,” Sky insisted. “You’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with your own strength, you know? I don’t think you’ve noticed it, but I have. I mean, just now, when I landed on the peak and almost fell over — you caught me before even thinking twice.”

Spike stared at her, dumbfounded. “…Oh. Huh. Guess I did…”

“And while I wasn’t conscious for it, I know you carried me and Austin back to the campus after that fight with the Bleeders. Twy told me,” Sky continued.

“True…”

“See? When it actually matters, when it comes down to your reflexes and doing what you really want in the moment — when that happens, you’re perfectly fine with touching me! And you haven’t hurt me yet, despite those moments being the ones you’re so afraid of!”

“Well… two instances don’t make a trend.”

“Oh, it figures you’d be like that…” Sky muttered with a scowl, making to pull away from Spike.

“Wait,” Spike quickly replied, softly grasping Sky’s hand before it left his own. She looked down at his hand in surprise, and then back up at him, at which point he continued, “…I think I get what you’re sayin’. You took a while to get there, but I think I get it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know I tend to ramble…”

“But that’s what I like about you, how you always say what’s on your mind. You don’t hold anythin’ back. And… I think I needed that.”

“…Oh.” Sky promptly straighted up her back and adopted a proud smile. “Well, I do try my best—“

“But this is a two-way street,” Spike interjected, staring Sky in the eye with a serious expression on his face. “I appreciate that you want me to care more about myself. And I think you’re right, I could probably stand to do more of that… but half the reason I worry so much about your safety is because of how reckless you are.”

“I’m not—…!” Sky began to retort, but trailed off after Spike nodded toward her casted right arm. She fidgeted uneasily, suddenly unable to meet Spike’s eyes. “…Okay… I guess you have a point.”

“So, let’s make a promise. Right here, right now,” Spike insisted, releasing Sky’s hand to instead gently push her chin up, so their eyes could meet again. “If you promise to work on that reckless streak of yours… then I promise I’ll get better about lookin’ out for myself. And, um… ‘doing what I want’.”

“Seems like you’ve already made some good progress,” Sky remarked, a pleased smile on her face as she leaned into Spike’s hand like a cat seeking pets.

“Sky…”

“Sorry! Sorry. Ahem…” Sky withdrew from Spike and quickly cleared her throat before looking him in the eye once more. “…You drive a hard bargain, but I promise!”

“A hard bargain?” Spike echoed incredulously. “Replies like those don’t exactly fill me with confidence…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! Anyways, I promised. Do you?!”

“Yeah, yeah… of course I do. Now you better stick to your half, got it?”

“Got it!” Sky exclaimed as she dove forward to tightly hug Spike with her one good arm.

“Oi…” Spike regarded her with exasperation, only to sigh in resignation and begin lightly stroking her back. “Look… I’m willin’ to acknowledge that I can handle my strength better than I thought, but don’t think we can just go from 0 to 100 immediately.”

Sky eyed him mischievously. “So you’re saying you need a little ‘warm up’, is that it?”

“That can be taken at least three different ways, and the fact that I honestly can’t tell which one you meant concerns me.”

“What if I meant them all, hmm~?”

“Oi, oi, oi… what am I gonna do with you?”

“Love me to bits?”

“…You really are unrelenting.”

“I know! And you love me for it, don’t you?”

“Heh…” Spike chuckled to himself, looking down at Sky with a smile before they both turned to look out upon the vast mountaintop view before them. “…That I do, Sky. That I do…”

---

*

“Ah… here’s to a nice evening after a relaxing day out!”

“Cheers!” Luke happily replied, clinging his beer mug against Gavon’s before the two took deep swigs of their drinks. They then set their drinks down on the counter in front of them, their postures relaxed as they enjoyed the chill evening atmosphere of one of Compound Tresnon’s bars.

“Ugh… Tresédian Ale is every bit as bitter as I remember,” Gavon remarked with a grimace.

“It certainly does seem pretty bitter,” Luke responded as he eyed the golden-brown liquid in his mug. “A little on the strong side, too… but then again, why bother drinkin’ beer if you don’t want to get drunk, I always say.”

“Fair enough. Personally, I’m more of a whiskey person, but there isn’t much of that around here…”

“Guess the hardness of life around here also extends to the Tresédians’ palettes, heh.”

“Suppose so. Most Tresédian food seems decently flavorful, though.”

“True…” Luke commented, and then passed Gavon a glance as the officer took another deep swig out of his mug. “…Stressed, much?”

“A little, I’ll admit…” Gavon replied, his voice low. His gaze briefly swept across the rest of the bar, and the handful of Tresédians enjoying themselves there.

Upon seeing this, Luke released a wary sigh. “…This about the Bleeder attack?”

“In part. I was responsible for the two Bleeders who we let in, after all. For them to be able to run amok, under my watch… I really underestimated them.”

“It seems like everyone did. Selind said that the Defense Force was on alert the day of Hunger’s Bane, after all, and even then, they were caught by surprise. Just goes to show that the Bleeders are a bigger threat than anyone expected.”

“Indeed. The Tresédians do at least seem to be taking this seriously… Davídrius and Selind both have been leading Defense Force raids on any Bleeder encampments they can find. They haven’t yet found Strén, Feral, or Shade, though. Or any of their more advanced equipment…”

“Yeah…” Luke muttered wearily. “I offered to help out on one of the raids, but Selind just told me to stay here and keep watch of the Compound…”

“She told me the same,” Gavon replied. “As casually as she acts, she does seem to take her job seriously. Still, to be left out like this… I suspect the Dean distrusts me, now. If I were him, I absolutely would.”

“C’mon, man!” Luke patted Gavon on the back. “Give yourself more credit. You were important to stoppin’ the Bleeders, too. After all, if it had just been me and Selind who found Feral in that armory, then we’d both be dead, right now!”

“I suppose. But it still remains that I’m with the Black Suns, and much of the armor the Bleeders have appears to be Black Suns models. I would be very surprised if the Black Suns themselves were behind the Bleeders, but I can’t deny that the link would look suspicious to anyone else.”

“Well, Black Suns armors are available for commercial purchase, right? Anyone could’ve bought some and handed them over to the Bleeders. I’m sure Davídrius and Selind know that.”

“I suppose… I guess if they truly didn’t trust me, they’d have thrown me out, by now.” Gavon chuckled bitterly to himself. “Still. It’s the same situation now as with SERRCom. I want to improve Black Suns relations with the members of the galaxy, I want to show them the good we can do — but it’s so hard when the Suns’ own policies result in their resources being used against the people of this galaxy. Even if only indirectly.”

Luke wordlessly watched Gavon take another drink from his mug.

“…But, I guess that’s on me for joining a PMC, huh?” Gavon continued with a resigned smile. “Ha… this damned galaxy, of ours.”

“You thinkin’ about quitting?” Luke questioned.

“No. …Not seriously,” Gavon responded. “Chaotics — well, Nimalian and CSA Chaotics, at least — are mandated by law to be in a military. So for me, it’s either the NSD, or some PMC… and the NSD would never have let me help out in Treséd. Can’t say I really agree with how the Knights do things, either, and the Keepers are too passive, for my liking. At the end of the day, Sector 1 of the Black Suns is where I belong… I just hope we can rescue the organization from itself.”

“What about smaller PMCs?” Luke suggested, “I don’t know many, but maybe the RPF, or the SFC?”

“Ha!” Gavon loudly scoffed. “The RPF is a shell of its former self, barely limping along after its over-sized interstellar arm was absorbed by the NSD. Besides, for a group that called themselves the ‘Riverana Protection Force’ to expand so heavily into interstellar activities… I know most Riveranians had a high opinion of the RPF, but that kind of scope-creep expansion leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And don’t even get me started on the SFC… those third-rate fools survive only on funding from the Riveranian government. They can’t set competent standards for themselves to save their lives.”

“…I suppose they do seem kinda incompetent,” Luke responded, thinking back to the SFC’s failure to protect the Chaos Ayas in Riverana.

“Bunch of war profiteers, too…” Gavon grumbled. “I won’t say the Black Suns are completely guilt-free of that, but the SFC is just so disgustingly blatant. Just yesterday, I saw two SFC officers approach Davídrius about a security contract. They thought he’d jump at the chance after that Bleeder attack, but, ha! Oh, how wrong they were…”

Luke eyed Gavon again, watching as the Black Suns officer just stared down into his mug. “…Sounds like you have it rough,” he eventually commented, unsure of what else to say.

“Oh, damn, I’m complaining, aren’t I?” Gavon offered Luke an apologetic smile. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s kinda… well, sorry if this sounds ignorant, but it’s kind of eye-opening to really hear just how few options Chaotics have for competent employment…”

“It’s true. It’s hard. But with far less than one percent of the galaxy being Chaotics, well… the majority just doesn’t care. It doesn’t affect them.”

“…”

“Not to say that I dislike the Black Suns, though. Or, well, I do dislike parts of the Black Suns… but I like my job just fine. I like Sector 1 just fine…”

Unsure of what to say, Luke simply resorted to offering Gavon another reassuring pat on the back. “…You’re not the only one with complaints about your job,” Luke eventually commented. “Not sure if any of mine would stack up against yours, though. Since I’m not a Chaotic, and, you know…”

“No, no, it’s fine. All the complaining’s been one-sided, so far. After all, part of the point of drinking with friends is commiserating over miserable jobs, right?”

Luke smiled in amusement. “Heh, fair enough. Still, I don’t actually have that many complaints about my job… the first I can think of is basically the same as your situation. You know, with the new recruits that SERRCom conscripted.”

“Ah, yes. SERRCom chose to follow in the footsteps of all the other militaries in this galaxy… I’m disappointed, but I can’t say that I’m surprised.”

“Makes it all the harder to argue against the conscription, too, since everyone does it. And now my nephew and his friends are getting thrown into danger because of it.”

“It really is a cruel place, this galaxy of ours…”

“Yeah…” Luke muttered, and then released a dejected sigh before taking a drink out of his own mug.

Gavon eyed the Captain for a moment, waiting for Luke to place his mug back on the counter before asking, “if you don’t mind a subject change… one of those recruits is your nephew, right? Austin, I believe. What’s the relation, exactly? He doesn’t seem too much younger than you.”

“He’s the son of my older brother,” Luke replied. “There’s a ten year gap between us.”

“Between you and your brother, or you and Austin?”

“Austin. There’s a bigger gap between me and my brother, heh.”

“Ah, so you’re a youngest brother, I take it?”

“Yep…”

“I don’t have any siblings, myself… I’ve always wondered what it was like.”

“Not sure I could tell you. I have three older brothers, but the youngest one is still 10 years older than me. I might as well have been an only child, growing up.”

“I see. I guess we’re alike, in that regard.”

“Well, we’re also both marksmen,” Luke pointed out. “So that makes two things we’re alike in.”

“And we’re both stuck here in Treséd, tryin’ to help out some people who see us outsiders… so that makes three things,” Gavon added, a slightly drunken slur beginning to take to his words.

“And we’re both military men, with complaints about how the galaxy treats Chaotics… uh, though I’m not one, myself…”

“Ah, that still counts as four. Let’s try for five…” Gavon side-eyed Luke. “Hmm… you single?”

Luke replied with a sheepish laugh. “Unfortunately, yep. Have been for a while…”

“Then that makes for similarity number five.”

“So you’re single, too, then, huh?”

“Most Chaotics are. Hard to find someone who can really understand you, given the unique positions we find ourselves in…”

“What about a relationship with another Chaotic?”

“It can work, but… ‘s hard,” Gavon grumbled. “There aren’t too many Chaotics, after all. Only one in every 40 thousand Nimalians is a Chaotic, after all. Less than that for the Citans, Siions, and Syraus. Sure, being in the Black Suns means I still meet and work with plenty of Chaotics, but the pool is still… limited.”

“Wait, are you saying that you’re fine with a non-Nimalian partner?”

“Why not? Don’t really want kids.”

“Fair enough. And neither do I, really…”

“Ah, six things!” Gavon remarked, clinking his now-empty beer mug against Luke’s. “We’re more alike than I thought!”

“Does seem that way,” Luke replied. “Gotta say… I never really expected to be getting along with a Black Suns officer. Hell, we only just met a month and a half ago, or so…”

“Sometimes, you meet someone, and things just kinda click,” Gavon said. “It’s rare, but it happens. All that’s left then, is to take what you have and try to run with it, see if it flies.”

“Heh, yeah, suppose so…” Luke responded with a slight nod. He passed Gavon a quick glance before going to take another drink — and then perform a double-take, his eyes wide. “Wait, hold on… are you… flirting with me?”

“Ah ha ha, finally noticed, eh?” Gavon remarked with a smirk, only to frown a second later. “Or maybe I was just bein’ too subtle…”

“Uh… w-with me, though? You, and me? I, uh… I dunno…”

“Don’t feel pressured. I just saw a shot, and I took it, like any good marksman. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“Well, hold on, I’m…” Luke trailed off, his gaze diverting to the remaining golden brown liquid in his mug. A second later, he found himself chuckling sheepishly. “…Sorry. I’m just not used to being propositioned, heh.”

“Oh? Does that mean you’re interested?”

“Well… yes and no. I mean, it’s not that I’m not interested, it’s just… well, to put it plainly, we’re officers in two different, non-allied militaries, you know? Militaries that have recently clashed, at that…”

“Remember, officially, the Suns you faced on Sunova were a rogue element,” Gavon pointed out. “…But even so, I can see where you’re coming from.”

“Yeah.” Luke nodded. “With how things are between SERRCom and the Black Suns, at the moment, I’m… I wonder if a relationship is a good idea.”

“Fair. If it helps, several of my colleagues are involved in cross-military relationships.”

“Really? Isn’t that a security concern…?”

“No more so than when a couple works for two different, competing companies, I’d say. Remember that, small clashes aside, most of the militaries in our galaxy are allied. We don’t fight each other. We mostly fight Drakkars, Riaxen, or criminal outfits.”

“True…”

“Personally, I’m just happy you’re at least entertaining the thought. I was afraid you’d shoot me down right out of the gate.”

“You do seem like a pretty nice, straight-forward guy, I’ll say that, but…” Luke pursed his lips, mulling over his thoughts for several seconds before looking toward Gavon again. “…I would like to get to know you better, Gavon. But, for a relationship… I need to think about that one.”

“Perfectly understandable. You’ve raised a fair concern, after all,” Gavon replied. “And regardless of whichever way you decide, I hope that we can keep developing this friendship — both between us, and between our respective organizations.”

“Yeah… same. Not every day I get to go shooting with someone of my skill level, heh.”

“That’s certainly one thing I like about you. But, having said all of that…” Gavon stood up from his seat and passed Luke a nod. “I think I need some fresh air after that drink, so I’m off for a walk. I’ll talk to you later, Luke.”

“Yeah… see ya later, Gavon,” Luke responded, watching the Nimalian leave the bar before he turned back to his own drink, preoccupied by his thoughts on his conversation with Gavon.

---

*

An unnerving nighttime quiet — punctuated only by loud snoring — permeated the air within the Fort Rokres jail house. Utter darkness accompanied the sounds, allowing Pierce to just barely imagine that he was at home, or in his bed at WCU… if not for the physically irritating straw that he laid upon, and the foul stench of urea and feces that hung in the air. Pierce had taken to clogging his nose with part of his shirt in an effort to avoid the smell, and while it had worked the previous night, now Pierce found himself suffering from a dry mouth and hunger pangs.

Attempting to put his misery out of mind, Pierce rolled over and tried his best to fall asleep — until Liask loudly snored once more, echoed by Obra’s own. “Fucking hell…” Pierce muttered, sitting up in frustration to glare over at the two sleeping Tresédians. “How the hell are you guys—?” he began to question, only for his attention to drift; the jail house had no artificial lighting indoors, but despite that, Pierce could see a flashing light coming from one of the other cells.

From Shade’s cell.

“The fuck are you doing?” Pierce hissed, turning to try and get a better look at Shade. While the light was faint, it was enough for him to see that the Bleeder was hunched over near the imprisoning jail cell bars, with her left hand held open toward one of the bars. In fact, on a closer look, it appeared that the light he was seeing was actually a small blowtorch, firing out of her palm to cut into the metal bars of the jail. “The hell?! You have a fucking blowtorch in your hand?!”

“Shhh,” Shade replied, just as she finished cutting through one of the bars — it began to fall, but she quickly caught it and gently set it down next to her. “…So you were awake,” she then commented as she moved her hand to another bar and began cutting through it with her palm blowtorch. “I’m impressed, outsider. I legitimately thought you were asleep.”

“Damn it… Liask! Obra!” Pierce shouted, kicking at the bars imprisoning him in an attempt to create some noise. “Guys! Wake up!”

“Don’t waste your breath,” Shade replied, still casually cutting into the jail bars as Liask and Obra continued snoring away. “I hear that Tresédians tend to sleep heavily. Especially the ones that snore.”

“Are you even Tresédian, yourself?” Pierce countered, watching as Shade removed yet another bar and moved to cut through one more. “Your vocabulary seems a lot better than most Tresédians I’ve met, and more importantly than that, you have a damn blowtorch in your hand… that means it’s a prosthetic, right? Since when could the Bleeders afford that?”

Shade chuckled to herself. “Wouldn’t you like to know? But I must say, that line of thinking is certainly very useful to us. As is your presence, here!”

“What?” Pierce responded incredulously.

“Indeed.” She finished cutting through another bar, gently setting it on the ground with the rest before deftly maneuvering her lithe frame through the new opening she had created. Now free of her cell, she turned to look at Pierce once more; in the darkness, he couldn’t see her face, but he could swear that she was grinning. “The plan all along was to kill Chief Kores, but once I heard that you outsiders were here… well, let’s just say that the opportunity to pin the death of Rokres’s leader on Compound Tresnon and the Earthians is an opportunity that I can’t ignore!”

“What…? Wait!” Pierce shouted as Shade moved over to the jail house door to begin fiddling with the lock. “Your plan won’t work!” he insisted, “seriously! You just told us the entire plot! We can warn Rokres, you know!”

“And you expect them to believe you? Ha ha ha!” Shade laughed to herself as she successfully picked the lock and swung the door open. “They can try to stop me, but they won’t succeed. The important part is who they think did the deed, and on that, they’ll never believe it was Bleeders. After all… Bleeders can’t afford high-tech prosthetics!”

“You—!”

“I must say, nameless Earthian… for your role in furthering Strén’s plans, you have our utmost gratitude!”

“What?! No! Hey! HEY!!” Pierce shouted after her, but just as soon as she had finished her sentence, she had disappeared through the door, slamming it shut behind her. “Fucking…!” he muttered to himself, left alone in his jail to glare after Shade… and contemplate just what the next day would bring.