“This is the place?”

“It is…” Ralak responded quietly as she brought the vehicle she was driving to a stop. She glanced over Saito through the passenger-side window, where a run-down stone building stood at the end of a short street block. Much like in Compound Tresnon, the local buildings seemed to be constructed entirely of stone and were covered in a thick layer of sandy dust, while a tall guard wall could be seen at the end of the street. The local town was clearly much smaller than Tresnon, however — the town’s front and back gates were both easily visible at either end of the main street, no more than two kilometers apart.

“So this is Compound Falnon, huh?” Captain Travis remarked as he and Hackett carefully disembarked from the hovercar. Researcher MacTavish began to disembark as well, but Saito quickly spoke up to stop her.

“Not all of us are going in,” he declared, gesturing for MacTavish to remain in the car. “MacTavish, keep an eye on our equipment. Give it all a once-over, make sure it’s all ready for use at a moment’s notice.”

“Um… o-okay,” the Researcher quietly replied.

“As for you two…” Saito climbed out of the vehicle himself to turn toward Hackett and Travis. In the waning light of sunset, few people were out and about on the main street — and more importantly, vehicle traffic was basically nonexistent, making the hovercar stand out. Ralak and CSF-1 themselves didn’t stand out too much; Ralak had provided them with Treséd-style desert robing, such that they were all draped in beige clothes and a cloak. All that stood out were Hackett and Travis’s insistence on wearing their SERRCom-issued desert camo billed caps, which the Captain even wore backwards — for “style”, in his own words. The fact that the whole team were actively wearing powered armor and carrying their rifles was partially hidden by their cloaks, and even further disguised by the fact that many locals openly carried guns, as well.

Nevertheless, their arrival by hovercar was drawing attention, and as the team was transporting a fair amount of equipment with them in the car, Saito was wary of any attempts to steal or destroy it. “…Major, Captain, I want the both of you to keep watch around here while Ralak and I are inside.”

“Understood, sir,” Hackett replied with a firm nod.

“Falnon should be safe,” Ralak stated. “We may be a day’s drive northeast of Tresnon, but they’re still aligned with us.”

“I’m not doubting that,” Saito replied, “but given the enemies we’re up against, it can’t hurt to stay vigilant.”

“…Alright. You got a point.” Ralak offered a nod toward Hackett and Travis as she walked around the car to grab a crate from the back. She hefted it in her hands before turning back towards the building, saying, “we won’t be long.”

“I’ve been wondering what that crate’s for,” Travis remarked.

“Captain, let’s leave the frivolous remarks to a minimum,” Hackett ordered, her voice low. “Remember — not only can the locals tell we aren’t speaking their language, they’re also not fond of ‘outsiders’.”

“Oh. Right. Oops.”

Saito shook his head in exasperation before turning around and following Ralak into the run-down building they had parked in front of. Ralak pushed through the front door without so much as knocking or announcing her presence; the Colonel quickly followed after her. Once inside, the small mechanical devices lining a handful of shelves made it apparent that the small building was a shop — and as Saito closely inspected some of the devices, he quickly surmised that it was general repair shop. Many of the devices were actually parts for larger machinery, or tools to aid in the maintenance of large machinery. Furthermore, lights and sparks characteristic of power tools emanated from an open door in the back, a door that Ralak readily approached after setting her crate down beside the shop’s counter. She peered through, and then seemed to nod at someone before gesturing for Saito to come closer.

The Colonel cautiously followed Ralak into the back room, all while keeping a cool outward demeanor. Once inside, he noted that a bed and a small, austere living area was on his left, covered with empty bottles and dirty clothes. And to his right was a small machine shop, as well as a lone man currently welding a couple of pieces of metal together. Saito looked away and shielded his eyes from the welding light for the couple of seconds it took for the man to finish, at which point he set down his welder and wiped his hands off on a nearby rag. Now able to get a better look at the man, Saito quickly took note of his short, stocky, and somewhat overweight build. A second later, the man removed the welding shield that covered his face, revealing his broad, tan-skinned face bearing the wrinkles of a man getting on in years. He wore a white and beige bandanna over his head, lending him the air of a grizzled shopkeep, contrasted by how casually he sat down in a nearby chair and nodded at Ralak.

“I was told someone from Tresnon was comin’ by…” the man remarked in a gruff voice, while bearing an amused smirk. “But imagine my surprise when I see it’s the Willthief, herself.”

“Olkath…” Ralak greeted tensely. “…You know I don’t use that name anymore.”

“Oh ho, does it remind you too much of your Bleeder days?”

“Two can play at this game, Butcher of Rek.”

The man, Olkath, released an exasperated sigh as he made a show of shrugging. “Sure, sure. But I never used that name for myself; it’s corny as dirt. You, though… you actually introduced yourself to me as ‘Willthief’, all those years ago. Can you blame me for usin’ the name you, yourself, gave me?”

“Call me Ralak,” she growled.

“Or what?” Olkath challenged. “You’ll finally take those gloves off?”

The two stared at each other in silence — Ralak, with her brow furrowed in frustration; and Olkath, his arms crossed while wearing a challenging smirk. Saito eyed the two, carefully maintaining a neutral expression himself while he thought internally, so I take it this guy is a former Bleeder, too, then. “Butcher of Rek”, huh? He’s right, it does sound corny — so does “Willthief”, really. But I’ve heard about what went down the last time I was in Treséd, with that Bleeder who called herself “Feral” — and her name, corny as it might be, sure didn’t mean nothing. He warily glanced between Ralak and Olkath. So what the hell did these two do to earn theirs…?

The Colonel’s thoughts were soon interrupted, however, as Olkath broke into boisterous laughter. “Oh ho ho!” he chuckled to himself, “still as stiff as ever, huh, Ralak? Still haven’t changed, there.”

“And you still like to piss others off…” Ralak responded with an exasperated sigh. “You should change that.”

“Heh. I’m workin’ on it,” Olkath replied, and then gestured toward Saito. “Who’s your friend?”

“He’s just here to help,” Ralak said, offering Saito a brief glance before turning back to Olkath. “As for why we’re here—“

“Hold on, let’s hear it from the man himself,” Olkath interjected, his attention fixing on Saito. “What’s your name? Where ya from?”

“Don’t be an ass,” Ralak countered. “He’s with me, and that’s enough.”

“Aye, but you vouched for those two Bleeders who fucked up Tresnon, too, didn’t ya?”

“After you referred them to me.”

“Did I? My, I must have forgotten,” Olkath remarked, though his tone oozed with feigned ignorance. “…But I’m just askin’ for a name, here, Ralak. You gotta know how important tradin’ names are, in this business.”

“Tch—!” Ralak scowled and made to retort, but Saito held his hand out in front of her. She gave him a doubtful look, at which point the Colonel leaned in close to her.

“We’re clearly going to have to give him something,” Saito whispered. “He’s an old friend of yours, right? Would it really hurt for him to know I’m an outsider?”

“He knows you’re an outsider, that’s why he’s pressin’ the point,” Ralak countered, her voice similarly low. “This is all a game to him. He… ‘dabbles’ in intel, so anythin’ we tell him…”

“I see…” Saito nodded in understanding. An information broker, huh? And he’s the one who referred Feral and Shade to Ralak, as well. Sounds like we can’t count on him being on our side.

“I hope you ain’t tellin’ him anythin’ to smear my dashin’ image!”

“There’s nothin’ ‘dashing’ about you to start with,” Ralak declared, in response to Olkath’s chide.

“I think the way I can down five beers and still slap out a dozen repair jobs in an afternoon is quite charmin’, personally!” Olkath remarked with a grin.

“Don’t play stupid,” Ralak replied with a scowl. “We ain’t here for your repair skills.”

“Oh trust me, I know.” Olkath then eyed Saito up and down before continuing, “well, I’ll just drop the point of your name, then, outsider. That little conversation told me everythin’ I needed to know.”

“Which was?” Ralak prompted impatiently.

“That you still don’t know your way ‘round gettin’ intel. You’re lucky you came to me, first, Ralak. You tried goin’ to any other intel trader ‘round these parts, and they’d have shot you for marchin’ in on ‘em with an outsider and refusin’ to give up so much as a name.”

“We ain’t here to play nice. We’re here to stop the Bleeders. And if we’re done with your useless games, then I’d like to actually talk about that. What do you know?”

“What do I know? About the Bleeders? You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“We’re looking for anything. Anything you know.”

“Anythin’, eh? Well… did ya know, that the Bleeders are a gang of lawless criminals that—?”

“Don’t be an ass. We don’t need the basics.”

“Whoa now,” Olkath replied, drawing back in what was clearly feigned surprise. “You’ll have to pardon me, Ralak. Without knowin’ what you know, I don’t know where to start.”

…The man certainly likes playing the intel game, Saito mentally observed, and then glanced over at Ralak, who was scowling with impatience. …And he’s clearly better at it than her. It definitely didn’t help that she brought me along — if I’d known we were dealing with an information broker, then I would’ve stayed at the car. As is, my presence has only given Olkath leverage over Ralak. Damn. I wish he could understand me, so I could actually contribute to this conversation…

“…Strén’s back,” Ralak eventually said. “But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

“Strén… now there’s a name I ain’t heard in a looong while,” Olkath remarked.

“Don’t play dumb. There’s no way you haven’t heard about his attack on Compound Tresnon, back on Hunger’s Bane. He has two other Chaotics with him, goin’ by Feral and Shade — the same two you referred to me, in fact. And they kidnapped a student from Wrikax Chaos University, too. The student’s name is Minilas. If you’ve heard anythin’ about any of this, then tell us.”

“I ain’t lyin’ about when I last heard Strén’s name. I’m an old man, after all, and my memory’s gettin’ all hazy in my age. If I’ve heard anythin’ since, then chances are, I done did forget it. Unless you got a way of remindin’ me…?”

Ralak released an exasperated sigh before retreating through the open door into the repair shop. A few seconds later, she returned, once again carrying the crate that she had brought in from the car. She unceremoniously dropped it in front of Olkath, at which point she stepped back, her arms crossed. “Take it, you ancient ass,” she said.

I wondered if that crate was meant for something like this, Saito mused as he watched Olkath pry open the box and begin rummaging through the contents. Even then, though, I can’t say I expected to run into an archetypal information broker out here in Treséd. Someone who won’t freely give out information, even on a group like the Bleeders. Those types really do exist all over, eh?

“Oh ho ho…” Olkath smiled to himself as he looked down at the crate contents. From where Saito stood, the crate merely seemed to hold a bunch of different pieces of machinery, but whatever they were, they clearly pleased the old man. “Remembered that I was lookin’ for new generator parts, huh? Ralak, you never disappoint. Huh… with this, I could maybe get my old aircraft goin’, again.”

“Is this enough to ‘remind’ you of what you know?” Ralak challenged.

“Hmm, lemme think… huh, yeah, actually, somethin’s comin’ back to me,” Olkath remarked. “Speakin’ of aircraft… I hear the Bleeders got some of their own.”

“What? How?”

“That, I don’t know. I ain’t laid eyes on ‘em, myself, so I couldn’t tell you the make or model even if I wanted to. But the way I hear it, the Bleeders are keepin’ ‘em at a new base of theirs, about a day’s drive north of here. Rumor is, they’re preparin’ for somethin’ big.”

“Don’t be vague. How big?”

“Well… hard to say. But I think they’re preparin’ for another go at Tresnon.”

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s obvious, ain’t it? 20 years after he ‘died’ at the hands of the Sentry’s friends, Strén is back. That bastard ain’t been subtle at all about how much he wants to kill the Sentry and ruin his legacy. You remember the kind of things Strén was always goin’ on about, right? About how ‘power is all that matters’ and ‘outsiders are gonna kill Treséd’ and all that. But there’s somethin’ more, this time around…”

For the first time since the beginning of their discussion, a genuinely troubled look crossed Olkath’s face. Saito and Ralak exchanged a quick glance before the latter prompted, “what is it?”

“It’s about that student you said they kidnapped,” Olkath said. “Well, not them specifically. But, word is, the Bleeders have been makin’ off with entire Compounds, lately.”

“We already knew that.”

“Sure, but did you know that the Bleeders are keepin’ everyone they kidnapped at that base I mentioned earlier? The same one with the aircraft?”

“What? Are you sure?!”

“Well, these are just things that I’ve heard, of course. I ain’t checked it out, myself. But if it’s true, then somethin’ smells rotten. The Bleeders ain’t never kidnapped massive groups like this, before. And definitely not with this level of organization. The last time I’ve seen the Bleeders be this organized was… well, 20 years ago, ho ho!”

“What do they plan to do with the victims? Do you know?”

“No, I don’t. But it’s gotta have somethin’ to do with where they got those aircraft, and those armors they’ve been paradin’ around, lately. More importantly, whatever they’re plannin’ to do, they’re gonna do it soon. Strén, and those Feral and Shade folks — way I hear it, only reason they finally announced their presence was ‘cause they’re at the final phase of whatever the hell Strén’s plan is.”

“Final phase?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t tell you what that is, but it probably involves Compound Tresnon. That Hunger’s Bane attack — that wasn’t a ‘real’ attack, so say my sources. That was just, uh, what do the military folks call it…” Olkath shot Saito a quick glance before returning his attention to Ralak. “Recon in force, I believe…? Yeah, that’s it.”

Ralak’s brow furrowed. “You’re sayin’ that a bigger attack is comin’?”

“That’s just what I’ve heard.”

“Damn. How the hell did they organize so quickly? It ain’t even been a month since Hunger’s Bane…”

“That, I couldn’t tell ya. I’ll even give you a freebie: by the sounds of it, ain’t no one knows where in the dirt Strén and Feral disappeared to durin’ the past 20 years. Seems like they just showed back up in Treséd one day, a few months ago, and they just had that cloaked woman with ‘em. That Shade woman. She’s even more mysterious… everyone I’ve talked to seems damn sure she’s an outsider, and yet, she seems like she’s Strén’s second in command, next to Feral. Ain’t no one knows where she came from, or what her connection to Strén and Feral is.”

Probably a plant, by whatever organization is backing the Bleeders and providing them tech, Saito thought to himself. What is that org getting in exchange, though? Are they really the reason the Bleeders are kidnapping people?

“So Shade’s an outsider…” Ralak mused. “Kinda thought that, myself… she talked too good for a Tresédian.”

“She’s still Nimalian, most likely,” Olkath remarked. “She speaks the same language as us, after all. Unlike your silent friend over there.”

“What…?” Ralak glanced at Saito before turning back to Olkath. “How—?”

“Oh ho ho ho! Well, it was only a suspicion!” Olkath replied with a hearty laugh. “Why else would you refuse to let ‘im speak?”

Saito released an exasperated sigh. “Seems the cat’s out of the bag…” he commented to Ralak.

“…Huh. That really does sound weird,” Olkath said as he stared at Saito. “…I’d heard that Tresnon had some Earthians with ‘em. Can’t say I ever expected to see you goin’ ‘round with some, Ralak, but… here we are.” He then continued staring at Saito for a couple seconds. “…Huh. You really do look just like us Nimalians, huh?”

The Colonel offered only a resigned shrug.

“Tresnon really is desperate, lately, huh…?” Olkath mused, his attention finally shifting back to Ralak. “Did that attack on Hunger’s Bane finally bring y’all down to the level of the rest of Treséd?”

“…It made us realize that the Bleeders were better organized than we expected,” Ralak admitted.

“You don’t say,” Olkath responded dryly. “…Still. You’re gettin’ careless, Ralak. Walkin’ around with these outsiders… and, more than that, lettin’ someone tail ya on the way here.”

“What…?” Ralak and Saito exchanged a wary glance. Saito then reached up to his ear to activate his comms, so as to contact Hackett and Travis — though Travis beat him to the punch.

«Uh, sir?» came the Captain’s voice over Saito’s comms, «there’s something you might want to hear.»

Saito looked uneasily toward Olkath before turning away. “…Say it, Captain.”

«Well, as part of keeping watch, I thought I’d go up on the wall. You know, see what’s around,» Travis replied. «The guys from Tresnon’s Defense Force that are here let me up. So I did a quick scan of the horizon with my binoculars, and I found something. There’s a car, way to the south, just… idling.»

“There’s a car? How far south?”

«Far enough that you wouldn’t be able to notice it without binoculars, sir. Especially not my good ol’ SERRCom pair, heh. On top of that, though… I think I recognize the two in the car.»

“You recognize them?” Saito echoed, looking at Ralak as he did. “Who are they?”

«They look like two WCU students I’ve seen hanging around the Keys. Mostly around Pierce and Conrad.»

“…He says the two in the car are students,” Saito relayed to Ralak. “Ones that have been hanging around the Earthian students?”

“Who…? Oh, damn it…” Ralak held a frustrated hand to her forehead. “It’s Liask and Obra, isn’t it? Here to try and save their friend, I’m sure.”

“Sounds like the Sentry’s students are just as foolhardy as he once was,” Olkath quipped.

“Is there anything else to report, Captain?” Saito asked over the comms.

«No… that’s pretty much it, sir,» Travis replied. «They’re just camped out way south of here, and don’t seem to be moving at the moment. I’d bet money they tailed us here.»

“I figured as much. Keep an eye on them, and let me know if they move.”

«Understood. Travis, out.»

“I should’ve known they’d be this reckless, after their stunt in Rokres…” Ralak muttered.

“Rokres?” Olkath leaned forward in interest. “I’d heard that somethin’ went down in Rokres, recently. What do you know?”

“I know that it ain’t relevant right now,” Ralak replied. “…Still. Liask and Obra… they’re damn fools for followin’ us, that’s for sure. I can’t say that I’d have done any different, in their place, but they’re still bein’ stupid. We need to go confront them before they do somethin’ they really regret.”

“We’d only loose time,” Saito countered. “If they really are trailing us, then they’d be able to see us the moment we started heading back for them, and they could turn around themselves. We’d never catch them before we reached Tresnon. It would lose us at least two days.”

“True…”

“In my opinion, I think we should leave to scout out that Bleeder base tomorrow morning. We only just learned about it from your friend, here — there’s no way those students would know where it is. If we find it first, scout it out first, then we can double back and grab the students on our way back to report to Tresnon.”

“Tch…” Ralak frowned, but a second later, she nodded. “…Alright. You have a point. And if the Bleeders really are preppin’ for an attack on Tresnon, then we need to scout out this base as soon as we can. All that said…” She turned back to Olkath. “How the hell did you know we were bein’ tailed?”

Olkath shrugged. “Call it a lucky guess.”

“Olkath…”

“Oh ho ho! You know I can’t just tell ya all my secrets. Let’s just say that I got eyes everywhere, and leave it at that, huh?”

“Major, Captain, watch out for surveillance cameras…” Saito quickly, yet quietly ordered over the comms.

Ralak, meanwhile, simply responded with a resigned sigh. “…You’re a real pain in the ass, Olkath.”

“Well, you know what they say: old habits die hard,” Olkath remarked.

“I’m sure,” Ralak drawled, and then nodded toward Saito. “Let’s go. We’ll do as you said: early tomorrow mornin’, we’re leavin’ to scout out this Bleeder base. Make sure your team’s ready.”

“Oh we’ll be ready, I can assure you,” Saito responded as he and Ralak finally left Olkath and the repair shop. “After all, this is what we’re here to help with…”