Arthur’s superior dropped a small pile of files onto her desk, sitting back and gesturing forward, “These are all of the ones I have for you. Pick one and I’ll hand out the rest to the next few Inquisitors who come back from a mission,” she said, “Go sit over there while you pick,” she added, pointing at the table with the chairs around it, the ones over the carpeted section of her office. Arthur nodded, picking up the stack of files and bringing Kelish over to the table. He laid the pile out on the table and Kelish took the initiative to take the top one and skim over it. Arthur felt a bit of pride at her initiative, but he shunted it to the corners of his mind and focused on his task. He took the second file from the pile and opened it. It was eerily similar to the file for his previous mission, with the victims suffering from post mortem cybernetic alterations instead of genetic ones yet being drained of all blood. The thing that he noted, though, was that one of the enhancements was able to enhance the sense of pain someone felt. He shook his head and put the file down, picking the next one up. The next one was, again, similar, but with parasites burrowing into the body after death. The next one was another genetic manipulation case. The one after that, however, gave Arthur pause. The victims had expressions of anguish on their blood-drained faces. According to the local Esper, they suffered a psychic attack that shattered their Minds. A violation of basic mortality, if not a violation of the TRC’s, and by extension the Inquisition’s, rules.

Arthur put that one aside as well. He continued to sift through the cases, and he found case upon case where odd operations were done on the victims. None of the cases had more than three victims, which was much smaller than the six from the previous mission, but still unnerving. After a few moments of taking it all in, he eventually turned to Kelish, “You find anything extraordinary in these?” he asked, looking at her pile of ten cases; a bit less than his fifteen cases looked at, but it was extraordinary progress. 

Kelish looked through her cases once more, then turned to Arthur, shaking her unhelmeted head, “Nope. Nothing that interesting. Unless you want the one with the most victims so far, which is three for me.”

“The same for me…” Arthur replied. One did not need to be an Inquisitor to smell a rat in these cases. They were… far too numerous to be a coincidence. Gene splicers, chimerists, and selective bio breeders were rare, even among the usual lineup of suspects the Inquisition tackled. Despite that, among the twenty five cases, fourteen of them involved wounds either caused by genetic splicing or chimera-like creatures. There was something going on, and Arthur did not like it. “We’re taking this one,” Arthur said, pointing at one on Kelish’s lap. The mission was in the Moskt Belara system, a mining solar system where three victims had been found.

“Hmm…” Kelish hummed, looking at the file, “I was thinking this one, but this works too,” she said, showing Arthur another file. It was similar, the only differences coming from the post mortem procedures, which were cybernetic alterations, and the location, which was an asteroid mining astrodock in the Closh system. “Your choice,” Kelish added.

“In that case, our sights should be set on the ones that were filed first,” Arthur mumbled, looking at the filing dates of each mission, “The mission on Moskt Belara II was filed before any of the others, so whatever is going on there is likely the furthest along of them all,” he reasoned, showing Kelish the dates on the files. She shrugged, nodding with his reasoning. With Kelish convinced, Arthur stood, piled the files together neatly, and walked up to his superior’s desk, “We’ve chosen,” he said, handing her the file for their mission. She scanned the file for a moment, then nodded.

“If you’re going here, then I will have to recall your mentee’s station,” his superior said, “The closest branch location is over a hundred light years away and few trustworthy merchants would be willing to bring you to your destination.” She turned to Kelish, giving the Seeker equivalent of a smile, “Your station will be brought here at eleven UNET standard time tomorrow. You both have between then and now to rest up and prepare for this mission. You are dismissed.”

Arthur and Kelish gave salutes and left the office, the door closing behind them as they stepped out into the hallway. They were not alone, however, as a familiar face was waiting. Cramps, in his gun mettle Inquisitor power armor astrosuit with the Assault Unit Regalia on his heart, with his pair of Vikshe companions, both with nearly identical armor, were leaned against the wall, chatting, as Arthur and Kelish left the office, “Little Obby!” Cramps greeted jovially, “Haven’t seen you around the canteen for a while! How’s it been?”

“Doing good, Cramps,” Arthur chuckled, giving a smile, “I was hanging around over the last week, so you should’ve seen me.”

“Oh yeah,” Cramps groaned, his two companions, Cliff and Jilke, groaning with him, “We got stuck chasing pirates for a piece of forbidden tech for that week. Bastards were going all over the sector, ferrying it between asteroid caches and throwing us off just enough to slip away. Damn stain on my reputation, I tell you. Anyway, who’s she?” he asked, “You finally pick up a partner?”

“No, I didn’t,” Arthur replied. He prefered working alone most of the time, though he had precious few chances to. After Kelish became his mentee and he had to look after her, however, he was happy to have the company, “No, she’s my mentee.” The three in front of him stared at him with confusion written plainly on their faces, “Orders from on high,” he explained, “Even if I didn’t like it, I’m stuck with her.”

He felt an elbow jab through his armor. It was even hard enough for a twinge of pain to slip through the cerasteel plating and his undersuit, “Yeah, act like I don’t make your life easier,” Kelish teased, turning to the Inquisitors opposite them, “Kelish Balak. I’m a former bounty hunter and asteroid miner.”

The three turned to Kelish, then Cramps turned back to Arthur, “I knew Maya kept going on about you being on the higher ups’ radars, but this is getting out of hand. I haven’t even gotten offered a mentee…” he griped.

“That’s because you’re a shitty teacher,” Cliff laughed, his helmeted face conveying a great deal of emotion for being nothing but carboglass all around his head.

“Cliff has a point,” Jilke added, “You are not the best teacher.” 

Cramps raised a finger to argue, but he knew better than to argue an incorrect position, so he lowered his finger, “Fine, I’m not the best teacher. But what about you?” Cramps asked, pointing a finger to Arthur, “I can’t say anything about your teaching abilities, and yeah, you may have gotten through your training at record-setting speeds, and sure, you don’t have a single mission failure under your belt, but why do you get a mentee so early.” There was a moment of silence between them all, then they started laughing. The laughter continued for a while, with Kelish looking between them as if looking at madmen, before they stopped.

“Good one, Cramps,” Arthur chuckled breathlessly, “This is probably why you haven’t gotten a mentee yet.”

“He would make them like him,” Jilke agreed, “If we had any more of him, even more of us would have to babysit him.”

“Hey! What do you mean ‘babysit me?’” Cramps refuted.

His teammates eyed him for a long moment, “Who was the one who broke the containment tanks for all of those biocontaminants?” Cliff asked, his hands on his hips like a disciplining mother.

“And who was the one who ran off and avoided the paperwork?” Jilke added. “And who was the one who kept getting distracted and missing the tech we needed to secure?”

“Wait…” Arthur said, looking over to Cramps, “Didn’t you say that they were the ones who broke that container, Cramps?” he asked, making Cramps flinch a bit. Arthur swore he could have seen buckets of sweat pouring down his forehead.

“H-Hey… why don’t we just drop this one and talk about something else? What about you, Arthur? How’d your mission with your mentee go?” he asked, nervously laughing and putting his hands up.

Arthur, Cliff, and Jilke stared at him for a long moment, “So much for keeping our fuck-ups on the down low,” Arthur muttered. Cramps had a galled expression on his face, pursing his lips and looking for a way to refute Arthur, “But our mission was good,” Arthur said, “You guys are going into the boss’ office?”

The three nodded, Cramps huffing a bit before, “We are,” Jilke replied, “We were given a bit of downtime after our… How do you humans say it? Wild goose hunt? Whatever the case, we were given time off and now we are back on deck.”

“What she said,” Cliff helpfully added, getting a little glare from his teammate, “Why? Something big happening?”

Arthur and Kelish shared an uncertain look, “Maybe,” Kelish replied, “Depends on if you have to deal with some cult. Maybe. It might be a coincidence-”

“Kel,” Arthur interrupted, “There were over two dozen separate missions that said the same thing. This isn’t a coincidence,” he said. As much as it irked him to admit, the crazy Oni was onto something. She was likely lying about the way the sector-spanning cult was created, but it was nonetheless a widespread problem.

Kelish shrugged, “Whatever,” she sighed.

Cramps looked between them and laughed a bit, “Kid, you’ve grown so much…” he said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye, “Anyway, we’ve gotta get going. Maya might be back ‘round, so go tell her how you’ve been doing. Alright, see ya, Little Obby.” Cramps and his team nodded to them, then entered Arthur’s superior’s office.

Once the three Assault Unit Inquisitors left, Kelish turned to Arthur, “They seem fun,” she said, “Do a lot of people work in squads?” They began to walk towards the canteen as Kelish asked her question, helmets under their arms.

“Not many, overall, but a fair few in the Assault Unit specifically. One Assault Unit Inquisitor is worth a dozen Guard breach and clear teams, so having more than one makes most missions trivial. Still, it’s better to go into a battle with too much firepower rather than not enough-- especially if you aren’t spreading yourself thin in the process,” Arthur explained, “Though, the Investigative and Assassin’s units have some squadrons as well. Those are more transient, though; too many cooks in the kitchen and all that.”

Kelish nodded a bit, “In that case, will there be a chance you and I will stay together after my training is over?”

“Kel, I already told you I’m not interested,” Arthur replied, his poker face almost cracking when Kelish fumed at him, “But to answer your question, maybe. At first, it won’t be possible. It’s tradition for newly-graduated Inquisitors to spread their wings a bit and do a couple solo missions before they team up. Granted, my situation is a bit… special… but if you want to team up with me, then you’ll need to be more independent.”

Kelish did not reply, and instead fell deep into thought. Arthur was happy with such an outcome, as he wanted her to think more about her future. By his reckoning, she would not be an initiate for long. They eventually made their way to the cafeteria, where all of the usual suspects hung out when they had downtime. Generally, Inquisitors worked on the 3-2-1 system. Three missions, two days of downtime, and one session down with the kids at the Foundry to maintain their equipment. Arthur was, thankfully, not due for a session with the kids for another mission-- even with the grazed shot on his arm-- but he would have to teach Kelish about it.

Thankfully, Arthur did not have to worry about the kids, and could, instead, hang out in the cafeteria. He and Kelish waited a few minutes in line, got a nice variety of food on their trays, and found one of the four-person wall booths open for them. They sat down and began to eat in silence, but it was not five minutes later when another familiar face decided to make a presence, “Arthur!” Maya boisterously greeted, walking beside another familiar face, “Helix and I were just looking for you!”

“Looks like you’re already making friends, Obby,” Helix added with a chuckle. Arthur turned to give Helix a smile. He was an average Seeker man; four arms, dozen tendrils for a lower half, eye in his head-sized mouth, and stone-gray skin. The thing that most Seekers used to differentiate each other was the colors in their eyes, and Helix’s had golden irises with blue sclera, “And, from the look of it, you’ve had a good scrap on one of your missions,” he chuckled, shaking Arthur’s hand and sitting beside him.

Maya huffed a bit and sat beside Kelish, “So, how’d you two meet?” she asked, turning to Kelish, “I’m his old mentor, by the way. Just so you know. Because I’m sure Arthur mentioned it, right?” she teasingly asked Arthur.

“Yep, I mentioned it. Something about how you dumped the responsibility of teaching me investigation techniques onto Helix,” he said, giving her a deadpan expression.

Maya pouted, turning away and looking directly at Kelish, “So, how’d you two meet? Bumped into each other in the hallway, accidentally shot at each other at the firing range? Oh! You needed help with a mission and Arthur was sent as backup!”

Kelish looked overwhelmed, and turned to Arthur for help, but he just shrugged. She would need to learn how to deal with her more… hyper colleagues before too long, and Maya was nothing if not hyper. Kelish looked back at Maya, giving a smile, “Arthur recruited me,” she answered, “And he’s my mentor.”

Maya tilted her head while Helix blinked in confusion, “Ha! You owe me fifty bucks, Helix! I knew he was important!” Maya nearly shouted. No one paid her any attention, though; she was so well known as rambunctious that there were rumors that she never actually did her missions in stealth. Arthur, though, knew that she was just letting out the energy she kept in when she snuck around.

Helix sighed, forking over his comslate and transferring fifty dollars into Maya’s account, “I know you betted on it, but you couldn’t have really believed it, right? I mean, it’s been over a millennium since the Inquisition was created, and something like this hasn’t happened once! I’m just perplexed why it’s going through despite him not even having his badge for a month…”

“Well, he’s right here and you don’t have to talk about him in the third person,” Arthur said in response, “Besides, I’m apparently qualified well enough if I’m being chosen. They don’t make mistakes often, and we all know it.”

“I’m not saying you aren’t, but I can’t be the only one who’s a bit curious about it,” Helix said right back, “But that’s plenty about your great future, kid. What about your missions? Have you solved any good mysteries yet?”

Arthur and Kelish shared a look. They had solved a mystery, but it had unsettling implications, and they would likely not know what in the world the Oni was doing with all of the blood until the backup Inquisitor found whatever lab the madwoman was using for her cruel experiments. “Well… we found an Oni lady who was probably part of a cult trying to summon some ‘Great Gods’ or something. Apparently, that meant that she needed to inject some fancy gene juice into them,” Kelish explained.

The two looked quite obviously confused, “She was using a gene-altering substance to experiment on the dead. She then drained their blood and brought it somewhere; we had to bring the madwoman in, so we could not find the lab, but, as Kelish said, she was doing some sort of religious ritual. Thankfully, an Archivist Unit Inquisitor will be sent to take care of it,” Arthur more thoroughly explained.

Maya hummed in thought, “Damn, that’s messed up. I just got sent to a small cave where four guys were trying to make an army of genetically altered dogs.” They all gave her confused looks, “It would have made more sense if you saw what those things looked like. They were twice as big as I was, and there were a hundred of them. It was not fun,” she sighed, “So, if we’re going around, why don’t you tell them about your case, Helix?” she asked in an amused grin.

The Seeker groaned, “Do I have to? Just explaining it makes me angry…” Maya just nodded and Helix groaned again, “Fine, fine. Basically, long story short, I had to deal with some rich guy who thought that making his cutlery out of highly unstable molecular alloys would be a wonderful use of his money. And that was after I had to stop a rich drinking club from antagonizing the Bulwark by copying their AI code. It wouldn’t have even been my problem if they didn’t try to blow up the star they are around. It was madness…”

“Okay, You didn’t tell me that part,” Maya said, “I thought they were just trying to use some Esper magic, not blow up an entire fucking star as well!”

“Oh, yeah, I completely forgot the fact that they were going to use a psychic to attack the Minds of those machines… It’s been a long two weeks, alright?” Helix sighed, “So, I’ve paid my debt for two rounds of this game. Maya, you’re up.”

“Hey, wait a minute! It’s the kids’ turn,” Maya refuted.

Arthur sighed, “I already have my badge, you know,” he said, “I’m not a kid here. If anyone, it’s her,” he said, nudging his head towards Kelish, who rolled her eyes in response, “But we don’t have any other joint missions to talk about. Unless you want the confusing circumstances in which we met.” Arthur almost immediately regretted saying that, as he could see the little glimmer in Maya’s eyes that told of her interest, “Alright, fine. Kel, you’re starting the story, since you had more investment in your wanderings than I did.”

Kelish pursed her lips as she tried to think of a way to explain her goals pre-Inquisitor life, “Okay… In that case, should I mention that the first time we both met was when you tied me up and knocked me…” she held the word, showing a massive grin, “Out?”

Arthur just stared, sighing, “Sure, go ahead. I’ll have to explain it better, anyway, since you’re making me sound like a scumbag…” he replied. Kelish nodded and began to explain how their first real meeting went. She did misrepresent Arthur as a bit more sure of himself than he was, but he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. After Kelish was finished with the story, and mentioned how they first met in passing, Arthur sighed, “It was a bad situation, to be honest. I couldn’t wait, but I didn’t want to start a gang war right there.”

“But it sounds like they were going to cause one anyway,” Maya replied, “You did better than most would in your situation. Case in point, Helix here,” she said, turning to the man, “And before you start fighting me on this, tell me you couldn’t have gotten an arrest warrant on that rich guy after he was done at the opera. Yeah, you can’t.”

“You did not give me a chance to defend my position,” he replied, raising a finger, then dropping it, “I… don’t. I was tired and wanted to get it over with. At least his fancy forks and spoons did not explode.”

Maya rolled her eyes, turning back to Arthur, “So, yeah, case in point,” she reaffirmed, ignoring Helix’s numerous statements to the contrary, “I think you did fine. What I’m wondering about is if finding this knucklehead was worth getting on the shitlist of this mob family,” she continued, turning to Kelish, “Was it?”

“I don’t know,” Kelish replied, “I probably didn’t need to bother, seeing as I was being scouted by the Inquisition anyway.”

Helix shook his head, plucking a vegetable from Arthur’s plate and throwing it into his gullet. That was something Arthur always found odd about the Seekers; they had perfectly usable teeth but just threw food down their throats, “Don’t think like that. It’s only because you went on whatever adventures led you to that nightclub that you were put onto the Inquisition’s radar. Understood?” Kelish nodded without interest. Helix sighed, “At any rate, what else has been going on for all of you?”

The next hours were filled with conversation, light argument, and laughter. Some of Maya and Helix’s friends came over and joined the conversation for a while, all leaving because they had to get ready for a mission. Eventually, Maya and Helix had to leave as well, “Looks like it’s about time for me to get going,” Maya said, “I’ve got a mission to hunt down some pirates-- ‘cause it’s always fuckin pirates-- that have some Espers enslaving people. I’m working with another Esper, Arthur, so you don’t have to worry about me. Anyway, I’ll catch you all later,” she said, walking away in her black astrosuit.

Helix stood up right after Maya left, “I should go as well. I’ve got an appointment with the kids down at the Foundry and they’d fill my helmet with glue if they had the slightest reason,” he said, “Good luck on cultist hunting!” he said, waving his head and walking-- slowly-- towards the Foundry. 

After another moment of silence, Arthur stood as well, “Seeing as we’re the only ones left, let’s head to bed; we have a busy day tomorrow.” Kelish simply nodded, shrugging, and followed Arthur out of the cafeteria.

 

*=====*

 

Arthur rubbed his chin as he looked at Kelish’s station, “So… this is your station?” he asked, “Don’t you think it’s a bit… heavily armed for a mercenary vessel?” He really wondered how she was able to travel around without being stopped constantly with the weapons she had on her station. It could fit in a thirty foot cube, with the habitation ring taking up two thirds of that space in the form of a fifteen foot wide and twenty foot tall cylinder. The cylinder was horizontal relative to the pylon holding it, and had a quintet of braces around it, with a few rings connecting them to the habitation ring, hosting a truly absurd number of weapons. He counted ten beam arrays, five plasma missile bays, twenty dorsal railgun turrets Arthur assumed were automatically operated on the habitation station, and a singular chempowder cannon held in between two of the surrounding braces. He could only guess as to what they could be used for, as fire does not burn in the vacuum of space, “Your files never mentioned your… surplus of firepower,” he said. Perhaps it was his fault for not looking into exactly how much weaponry she was carting around with her, but he had assumed that she had some. Not a literal arsenal.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” she replied, beaming proudly as she hooked her feet into the handholds on the floor, making sure that she did not float away. They were in the hangar of Fortress Gamma, which was about ten times as large as the hangar in the BV-X9V astrodock, the station he ended up in on his first solo mission. As such, there were Inquisitors flying around, working on their stations, and chatting while repairs were done. It was quite a bit more orderly than usual, as the more ‘inventive’ kids from the Foundry already had their one mad science project per week. From what Arthur heard, they tried to use an expanding foam to insulate a habitation ring, and ended up coating a good chunk of the hangar in that foam. They had to get pickaxes out to break through it, from what Arthur heard. Kelish rolled her eyes as Arthur continued to stare at her station, “Is it really that surprising? I’m only twice as well armed as your weird human marines.”

“First of all, it is that surprising, and second of all, the Marines are the most well armed non-government funded organization in League space. The fact that you outclass them ton to ton is a surprising fact,” he replied, shaking his head, “You have a dropship, right?” he asked. She nodded, pointing at the back of the station. It was of a similar model to Maya’s dropship, with a saucer-like design and twin electromagnetic flak cannons. The only difference was that it was painted dark blue instead of black.

“I don’t mind what they did with it,” she continued, pointing to the large Inquisitor’s Regalia on the side of the habitation ring, “But they could have finished the paint job.” She did have a point about that, Arthur thought. Her station was mostly blue, but the station yards began to paint a set of reddish purple accents, similar to the ones on her armor. They were only halfway done, though, so it did not look the best, “Still, I think it’ll look good if or when it’s done.”

“It’s better that it’s functional than pretty,” Arthur replied, launching himself forwards, “But I do agree that it will look good when they finish the paint.” Kelish laughed a bit and followed him into her station. She led him to the airlock, which always went through the dropship, and brought him inside. The inside of the dropship was… a bit messy, with boxes floating around and bumping into things. That was not uncommon, though, as she had not had the chance to clean her station for over a week. That, and she was in the middle of living out of it when she met Arthur.

Kelish soon brought them into the main habitation ring, which was actually quite clean for a lived-in station. Maya’s station was just a bit cleaner than Kelish’s, with the occasional floating crate making the difference. Once they packed all of the crates into piles, the station would be a nice home. Kelish smiled as they walked into the habitation ring, “Well, here we are. Home sweet home. It feels pretty nostalgic here,” she laughed, “Anyway, let’s get the artificial gravity going and we’ll be off!” She slammed a button on the wall at the same time, and Arthur had only a moment to grab onto the ground, where he suddenly began to spin. Apart from the odd box floating in the air, everything was bolted or strapped to the ‘ground’ and spun with them. After a few dozen rotations, the simulated gravity, with a generous helping of a few electromagnetic fields, took effect.

“Give me some warning next time,” Arthur groaned, shaking his head, “Anyway, once we get Exo in here, we’ll be off,” he said, taking his comslate out from his wrist mounted slot and holding it in front of him, “Exo, you there man?” he asked. There was a moment of silence, and no answer came. Another moment passed with no answer, then a third, “Exo! We’re about to head off!” he nearly shouted into the device. Volume did nothing to change the quantum broadcast, but it did convey the relative urgency.

“I apologize,” Exo finally said, “I was in the middle of a meeting with my superior. I hope that I did not inconvenience you too much.” A moment later, his waveform disappeared from Arthur’s comslate, “I am in and ready to pilot this station,” he then said from Kelish’s station’s internal speakers, “Though, I have to wonder why you called this station the ‘Love Muffin.’”

“Oh yeah, that. It was part of a bet with this old human guy. When I first got her, he made a bet with me. If I won, I would’ve gotten enough money to refit the entire station to my liking. If I lost, I had to call it the Love Muffin. You can guess who won that particular game of poker.”

Arthur was not knowledgeable enough about pre-invader terran culture to understand that reference, but he did not have any reason to comment on the station’s name, “Whatever it’s called, this is where we will likely be working out of for the foreseeable future. Exo, set our destination to Moskt Belara system, please.”

“Understood loud and clear,” Exo replied, “Coordinates set. We’ll arrive at the destination within three days. I suggest getting comfortable, as this will take a while, and there will likely be little to do during the journey; we are traveling far from any known pirate stomping grounds, so the chances that we are pulled out of the wormhole is low.”

“Thanks, Exo,” Kelish said, smiling, “Welp, I can show you to your room?” she asked, turning to Arthur, “I’ve got a guest room with all the basics to it. No decorations, though, so you’ll have to do something about that.”

Arthur nodded, gesturing for Kelish to lead, “I do not think that I will have long to make this room my own, seeing how you are taking to your training,” he said, smiling, “You may be rid of me sooner than the higher ups thought.”

Kelish sighed, “Yeah, but I think we make a good team,” she said mournfully, “Well, that’s far enough off to ignore. Anyway, here’s your room,” she said, gesturing to the door they reached. Half of the habitation ring of the station was walled off, used for living spaces and other amenities. The open area was where the supplies and the control console was, with a large window on the ‘floor’ in front of the console. Arthur did not know what the point of that window was, seeing as how it would be constantly spinning, but he did not point that out. Instead, he followed Kelish into his room, which was just as undecorated as she said. There were the basics, like an all-purpose terminal, a desk and chair, and a bed, but there was also a nice chair in the corner with a small table beside it, with a lamp. Though the room was undecorated, it was nice, “Well, here it is. This good for you?” she asked.

“This is plenty,” Arthur replied, shaking his head and taking his pack off. He put it on the ground beside his bed, put his helmet on his end table and looked at the wall, “Exo, I think we’re ready to get going. Kel?” She nodded, leaning against the doorframe, “Yep, we are.”

“Understood,” Exo replied, “Worm drive charged up. Wormhole created. Crossing the event horizon in three… two… one.” As soon as Exo counted to one, Arthur felt the isolated feeling he came to associate with entering a wormhole and stretched a bit, “We are on our way now,” Exo said, “I will be running the station and will be available if you require assistance.”

“Thanks, Exo,” Arthur said, turning to Kelish, “Now that we have time to burn, I think it’s about time to resume your education.” Kelish pursed her lips, seemingly debating something, then finally nodded, “Good. I’ll send you a list of things to read while I read up on our destination. Read those by tomorrow and I’ll test you on it. Good?” he asked.

“I’m fine with that. Do you want to cook or should I?” she asked.

Arthur raised his eyebrow, “You didn’t bring precooked rations?” he asked, “Where’d that come from?”

“First of all, I don’t bring them. I bring fresh ingredients. And secondly, it's a Kragak custom. There was an ancient custom where they would cook their meals as they traveled in order to not degrade the bonds between battle siblings.” Arthur nodded at that; the Kragak had a generally similar perception of eating together as humans did, though they actually had fewer poisonings in their history due to politics, “I liked it, as well as the good food, so I adopted the custom. So, who’s cooking?”

“I will,” Arthur said, “It won’t be the best, but I know a few recipes. I’ll be here if you need me, but you should start your reading.” Kelish nodded, looking at her comslate as she walked away, shutting the door behind her. After a moment, Arthur picked himself up off of the bed and sat down at the all-purpose terminal, “Exo, is this connection secure?”

“Secure enough, though I am doing some upgrades. The quality was quite good, even for a bounty hunter’s vessel, so I just updated the code a bit. I suggest that you route your connections through your comslate nevertheless. Inquisitor Balak had little need for the security and secrecy that we require before now,” Exo answered, “I am available for any assistance, if you require it.”

Arthur nodded, “Thanks, Exo. I won’t bother you too much, but could you just bring up a few good sources about the culture on Moskt Belara? I would appreciate it.” All Inquisitors needed to do research before missions, as it reduced the likelihood of any errors. In Arthur’s case, he needed to understand how the people he was investigating thought. A large part of that came from culture, which helped in other ways. Of course, such research was not always possible, which was why AI assistants were given to most Investigation Unit Inquisitors. Arthur, though, had some time to burn and he was happy to spend it researching.

As it turned out, doing his research was the right decision. The Moskt Belara system had a single habitable planet, with oxygen gas, dihydro monoxide, and carbon dioxide. The only problem, though, came from the planet’s proximity to the sun. The planet, just outside of the planet’s goldilocks zone, was a bit too close to the sun to support surface life. That, however, made the subsurface caverns verdant with life; it just so happened to have one of the most diverse biospheres in the known galaxy. The planet also happened to have a high concentration of C8H18, named crude oil by pre-invader Terran societies.

The oil was useful for many things, such as manufacturing plastics required in electronics production, but it was scarce in the galaxy as a whole. It was possible to synthesize it, but doing so was costly and time consuming. Thus, when crude oil was found on planets without intelligent life, like Moskt III, a black gold rush began.

For Moskt III, miners were unable to settle on the surface, due to the solar rays, but had an easy time living in an astrodock above the planet. The problem, though, came from the wildlife. The main problem came from the Hlaphids, a group of species of blind insect-like mammals with many similarities with ants. They had queens, workers, and soldiers, but also had more specialized castes, like the Cataphractus Hlaphidius, Stratiotaius Hlaphidius, or the Pronoiarus Hlaphidius. Or so they were called by biologists. They were all stronger than Arthur thought possible from a naturally occurring species, but it soon became clear why they were never exterminated.

Biologists had lobbied for the planet to be classified as a ‘joint extraction-research planet’ by the Territory Management Bureau of the League Parliament, which meant, while oil could be taken from the planet, the biosphere could not be utterly obliterated. Which exterminating the Hlaphids would do. Even if it was allowed, they were a tenacious species, and would require no less than the annihilation of the planet to render them extinct. And that would garner the attention of the Inquisition and, much more terrifyingly, the tax department of the TMB.

Arthur read a bit more, comparing it to the case files, and found out that their destination would be a small outpost within the planet’s crust, where the murders had taken place. Once he was done with his research, he stood and stretched; he had a meal to cook, after all.

 

*=====*

 

“Good,” Arthur said, “What else?”

Kelish rubbed her temples and pursed her lips, “The Flesh Wave incident on Vlave IX. About 5 million people died and it needed multiple thermonuclear warheads to be dealt with,” Kelish recited. Arthur was proud of her, seeing that she managed to remember twice as many incidents as he had when he first began to study. She also managed to remember almost all of the major incidents, which was very good. Not the record for number of incidents memorized, but still very good. She also had a good sense of where the Inquisitor response fell short and how those incidents could have been prevented. It was wonderful progress, Arthur knew.

“And that’s all of the major ones,” Arthur said with a smile, “You also understand them well, but, with all of them in mind, what can you conclude about them?” That question was the true test in the lesson, and Arthur had a feeling that not even Kelish would get it at first.

“Hmm…” she hummed, “Okay, I think I’ve got an idea. The main problem from them all came from having too little information to react effectively.” Arthur had to work quite hard to keep the surprise from his face when she said that. Most initiates assumed that the problem came from the failure to properly counter the calamity involved, such as when the Inquisition struck the Flesh Wave with plasma bombs in an attempt at burning the flesh to ash. The only thing that was able to stop it was the concentrated use of DNA disrupting particles. Such as those in nuclear weapons. “If the Inquisitors dealing with the disasters had any amount of information about the threat, then they could have been handled by less destructive means. The Nanite Swarm of Javis IV could have been disabled before they consumed half of the planet, or the Flesh Wave could have been destroyed with concentrated blasts of nuclear energy before bombs were needed.”

“That was good,” Arthur said, “Actually, you did better than most would when asked that question. There are actually a few schools of thought when you ask that question-- and yes, there are actual schools of thought at play-- but they mainly boil down to two opposing beliefs, one saying that the problem is a lack of information and the other saying that the problem is a lack of speed in trying new things. The latter comes from the idea that Inquisitors should be ready to throw anything and everything at a problem until it is fixed.”

“That sounds stupid,” Kelish said, “Why would you waste time and resources without having a single clue about what you’re doing?”

“Well, I never did say the two schools of thought were equal in number. The overwhelming majority of Inquisitors believe that the first is the correct answer to the question, but there are enough people who believe in the second that the debate never ends.” Arthur had made the mistake of trying to convince someone of his point of view before, and he would not be letting his pupil make that mistake, “Either way, everyone still agrees that knowing about the threat and stopping it before it becomes a problem is vastly preferable to having to deal with a gray goo scenario. That’s why you need to-” Before Arthur could finish his lecture, alarms blared from the speakers around the habitation ring, ringing off of the metal walls irritably, “Exo, what’s going on?” he asked.

“We are being drawn into a Wormhole Disruptor. It can’t be called elegant, so the likely suspects are pirates,” Exo answered, “Prepare to cross the event horizon!” Arthur braced as soon as Exo warned them, and he was not a moment too soon, as the distant echoes of Minds lightyears away greeted him. “I’m bringing the source of the disturbance into view. Please stand by.” Arthur shook himself awake and waited for Exo to perform his task. A moment later, the window that seemed so useless before suddenly glowed with a viewing screen. They were drawn close enough to the wielder of the disruptor to see them with light alone, and what they were met with was a small fleet, ten stations in all, surrounding and blockading a single station. Arthur could not see the blockaded station, though, which did not help with his estimation of their chances.

“I got this,” Kelish said, stepping up to the control console, “Exo, connect me to all those pirates. I’ll give them one warning and if they don’t heed it… well, they’re blocking our way, aren’t they?”

“Understood,” Exo replied, “Connecting now.”

After a moment, the connection clicked into place and a voice came from one of the speakers, “Lookie here, the prey comes to the predator” the masculine voice mused. Arthur was trained in vocal cords enough to tell that the voice came from an Ukalan man, “I see those guns you got, whoever you are, but you can’t match us. We’ve got twice as much firepower as you do, so just give up and stay there; we’ll deal with you after this one here.”

“I did not call to negotiate,” Kelish said, tone harsh. Arthur nodded, she managed the Inquisitor’s tone well enough, “We are passing through on official Inquisition business, and you are obstructing our mission. Continue, and you will be dealt with.”

There was a moment of silence, then laughter, “Even if you are Inquisition, dead men tell no tales, you hear? We’ll turn off our magnet, and you can go about your ‘important business’ while we get paid. How’s that?”

“Wait, Inquisitor!” a high pitched, familiar voice shouted through the radio, “Saltless help! Help Saltless, please!”

Kelish blinked, turning to Arthur, whose face became ugly with disgust. He leaned forward, close to the microphone, “Your charges include attacking a civilian trading vessel, disrupting Inquisition business, and threatening the safety of two Inquisitors repeatedly. Surrender, and your lives may be spared,” he ordered. 

Another moment of silence passed, before the Ukalan on the other end growled, “You’re gonna regret that, watcher,” he said, cutting the connection. A moment later, sirens screamed across the control console.

“You know, you could have warned me a bit,” Kelish said, tapping many buttons on her console at once, “I could have blown them to bits if you didn’t make them shoot missiles at us. Exo, I’m leaving point defense to you!”

“Roger that,” Exo replied.

“If you were to do that, then you would have broken more than a few laws, and you would have lowered the reputation of the Inquisition by attacking, technically, unprovoked,” Arthur replied, his tone the same whenever they were having their classes.

“You know, now’s not the time for a lesson on reputation or whatever!” Kelish shouted, tapping the numerous buttons, twisting the numerous dials, and fiddling with the numerous sticks, “We’re in the middle of a battle!” Arthur merely shrugged, watching the battle as best he could.

The problem with most station-to-station battles was the movement involved, or, more accurately, the lack of such. At most, stations needed small thrusters to move through wormholes, correct their orbit around a planet, or avoid breaking anything while in an astrodock. With the warm up required of a worm drive, and the commonality of wormhole-prohibiting devices, such as inhibitors or disruptors, the only way to dodge the enemy was to either use a dropship as a fighter, which was a death wish at best and a death sentence at worst, or be far enough away that small adjustments in velocity would let a station dodge projectiles.

Obviously, Kelish chose the latter option, and Arthur immediately noticed twenty plasma missiles rushing towards them. Those missiles were far from the fastest things available, but they were some of the most powerful. They could blow entire stations up with a single well placed shot. Kelish, though, was obviously knowledgeable about station combat, as she had Exo destroy every missile long before it posed a threat to their well being.

The next step for their would-be killers was to try to dogfight with beam arrays. Arthur was no expert, something he felt like he could actually call Kelish when it came to station combat, but the pirates stood no chance if they were to come closer. Kelish had them outgunned, especially if they made the mistake of approaching close enough to be raked with railgun fire, and their only advantage was in numbers. But Kelish had ten beam arrays. Enough for each and every pirate.

Even before they came close enough to meet beam fire, one of the pirates suddenly exploded in a large cloud of plasma. Arthur looked to Kelish, who was grinning, “Not many people realize that plasma missiles don’t need to be propelled by ion thrusters. Use a bit of gas, and they’ve got a bit of velocity. Combine that with a proximity trigger, and it’s a missile that looks dead, but is really a time bomb,” she expained. Arthur nodded, looking back to the battle; he was not so prideful that he could not learn from his student, so he did exactly that. 

Kelish kept her distance from the approaching enemies, keeping a few of her weapons on each of the pirates as she maneuvered around them, slipping through the sloppy encirclements they tried to trap her in. It was only after the third attempt at encircling Kelish that she finally struck. One of the pirate stations drifted a bit too close, and was immediately targeted by most of the beam arrays, receiving six shots all at once. The pirate stations were far from the most armored of stations, and could do nothing to avoid its destruction. All six shots hit within a foot of each other, and it punctured the armor. The shot continued, hitting some station component or other that was explosive. A large blast erupted from the pirate station, and all that was left were jagged scraps floating in space.

“Nice shot there,” Arthur said, “There are still eight more to go, so be careful.”

“I know, I’ve been doing this for years,” Kelish replied, chuckling a bit, “Anyway, do you want to know another cool trick?” she asked. Arthur nodded, “Well, think about it like this: if chempowder doesn’t burn without oxygen, what happens when you add that?” she asked. Arthur gave a smile and she laughed, “So, all we need to do is divert a bit of the pressurized atmosphere into the chempowder cannon, and watch the fireworks,” she said.

With the press of a button, the Love Muffin vibrated with a powerful blast. Arthur watched the video feed as a large, narrow shell slammed into another pirate station, ripping it in half before it even exploded. The two halves of the station were sent speeding in opposite directions, one of them crashing into yet another pirate station floating nearby and leaving it disabled. Arthur did not know if that station was able to continue the fight, but Kelish did not seem to worry about it. The next pirate station met the same fate as the second to be destroyed, being targeted by over half of Kelish’s beam arrays and immediately destroyed.

With half of their number out of the fight, the pirates pulled back, and the Ukalan man spoke over the radio once more, “You might have gotten us this time, but we don’t forget. Hear me? We won't forget!” With that, the pirates all began warming up their worm drives, creating the wormholes they planned to use for escape. Kelish shook her head, hitting one of the buttons on her console. The station vibrated again, and a cannon shell slammed into one of the retreating pirate stations, turning it to scrap and closing the wormhole with an almost audible pop on the quantum radio.

Despite that, the other four were able to escape before Kelish got close enough to unleash her other weaponry, fleeing through their wormholes faster than they were moving before. Once they were gone, Arthur turned to Kelish, “Why didn’t you shoot at them with your beam arrays? You could have hit them and done some damage.”

“Damage means nothing if you don’t destroy them. Sure, it’ll hurt their wallets a bit, but if you don’t destroy the stations, they’ll just come back. Better to just not bother and focus on destroying one than damaging ten. So, who’s this Saltless character?” she asked.

Arthur was about to reply, but he noticed something moving in the floating scrap heap outside. One of the beam arrays, a trio of smaller beam emitters combining to create a station-class beam, was shifting, swiveling around and aiming towards them. He looked towards Kelish’s command console and lunged forward. He was too late, as alarms echoed through the habitation ring. Before it could shoot again, Arthur locked it into the targeting computer and watched as the disabled station, the one hit by the large chunk of debris, was torn to shreds. There was a moment of silence between the two-- more like three with Exo around-- of them as the station’s molten armor cooled, the only sound being the alarms blaring. Arthur turned to Kelish, “Looks like we need to go over the principle of double tapping your enemies,” he said, “Just because they’re down doesn’t mean that they’re out.”

Kelish stared at the floating wreck of the last pirate station and frowned, “There’s a principle around double tapping?” she asked.

“There is. It goes like this: if they were willing to kill you in good health, they’ll be even more eager if they’re on death’s door,” he answered, “Most times, you don’t need to worry about it, since a beam to the head can put anyone without armor six feet under. When it comes to those with thicker skulls, or those with armor, employ the principle of double tapping.”

It was clear that Kelish was unsure whether or not the principle was a joke or not. It was not, since most initiates were less willing to make sure someone was dead than just shooting them. Either way, the radio soon popped with a connection, “Ah! Friends! Thank a lot! Friend Arthur too! Thank you! Where you go?” he asked.

Kelish surrendered the console to Arthur, taking a step back, and Arthur took her up on the offer, “We’re heading to Moskt Belara. You don’t happen to be going to the same place, do you?” he asked.

“No, go to Vlachac VII, big foundry planet. Make metal,” Saltless replied, “Shipping metal-rock. Have twenty yearlights to go. Urgent. Need run. Thank friend a lot! If see at pier, we have drink!” Saltless said, and Arthur noticed his worm drive begin to ignite. A moment later, the wormhole opened, and Saltless flew into it, disappearing a moment later.

“So, a friend of yours?” Kelish asked, “Or a fan?” she asked with a chuckle.

“Friend and work partner. Ah, that’s another one you need to learn: who to trust and who you want to work with. The short version is that you want to trust the Gilvans. They love the Inquisition for whatever reason, and they are more than happy to help us out if we need it,” he explained, “But we can go more into that later. For now, what do you want to do with the wreckages out there?”

Kelish’s eyebrows raised a bit, “Wait, you’re letting me choose?” she asked, “Don’t we have a mission?”

“Well, they were pirates,” Arthur began, “And thus the spoils of their defeat goes to the one who defeated them. You know that much. And whatever they have in there might be a help. But it might not, which is the trade off. Do you get it?” he asked. She nodded in response.

“In that case, we can leave it. If they’re so desperate that they’re raiding Gilvan trading ships, then they won’t have anything worth taking,” she said, turning to see his questioning expression, “Pirates have this nasty habit of ignoring Gilvan traders because it makes people think that the trade routes they go through are safe. It causes a lot of problems, as all of the Gilvan traders will say that the route is safe just for pirates to pick off one or two. Those are the smart ones, anyway. The ones with more than a pair of stations in their fleet.”

“I never knew that,” Arthur said, nodding, “Smart, but still reason enough for people to investigate, once people start noticing the lack of traders making it to their destinations.”

“I’m not complaining,” Kelish replied, waving a hand and pressing a few buttons on her console, “That means that I know roughly where the bastards are. Well, knew. Seeing as how I got a promotion and all. Anyway, I’m opening the wormhole now… And we’re crossing the event horizon in five… four… three… two… one…” Arthur felt them crossing into the wormhole, internally sighing in relief. They could have spent a few more minutes scrounging around the wreckages, but he was just as happy to get on their way.

“So, where were we?” Arthur asked, trying to remember the lesson he was teaching Kelish, “Oh, yeah, I remember. We were talking about the ways to prevent large scale incidents. We might as well sit down for this, though.” Kelish nodded, following Arthur to the kitchen, which was a small, homey place. When they sat at the table, Arthur continued, “Basically, the reason why most incidents happen is because the Inquisitors nearby don’t know about it until it is tearing things up. Now, if you can remember, what was one of the main, common details from the incidents?”

Kelish thought for a moment, “Recent Inquisitor activity,” she stated, “More specifically, violent activity. Which means that fear reduces the chances of people notifying the Inquisition if someone notices shady things going on.”

“Exactly. That’s why you should be selective when you make shows of force. For my first solo mission, for example, I was on a newly-terraformed planet. There was a… traitor in the midst of the colonists. He confessed, mostly to keep his friends, who were willing to fight an Inquisitor to keep him safe, out of it.”

Kelish winced, “And I can guess that you…”

Arthur nodded, “I did. It’s the law. He confessed to helping a group of chimerists murder people. I delivered the punishment. Besides that, I doubt it would have been long before the crowd ripped him to shreds anyway.”
Kelish frowned, “Did you need to?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied, “Unless we have a reason to take them as prisoners, those who dabble with forbidden technology at the loss of life of those around them are to be killed. No matter what. Understood?” She just nodded, “Good. In that case, I think you’re good for lessons for the rest of the journey.”

“Cool,” Kelish replied, “But what are we going to do for the rest of the trip? We’ve got another day to go, so…” She looked at him with an odd look, one that he could not place, before sighing to herself, “Hey, Arthur.”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“How invested in this teacher-student thing are you?” she asked.

Arthur had a sudden, bad feeling, but he was not about to lie to her, “Kind of. I’m proud of you, Kel, and I’m sure that it won’t be long before you have your first solo mission. You’re learning at a faster rate than anyone else I’ve personally heard of, so I have plenty of reason to be proud. Why?”

She pursed her lips, looking away with her face a deeper shade of blue than before, “I still like you,” she admitted.

Arthur stared at her, “Kel, I already told you that you didn’t know me. I was just a person who coincidentally saved you from your binds. That’s it. You don’t have to feel any way towards me, so-”

“Stop right there,” Kelish interrupted, “I might have agreed with you back when the most I knew about you was your face,” she said, pausing for a moment, “Your true face, anyway. But I know you now. Not just your face, you. You haven’t hidden much of anything from me once I agreed to join the Inquisition, and I think I have a handle on your personality. And, because of that, I can say that I want to go out with you, without hesitation.”

Arthur and Kelish stared at each other for a long moment, Arthur shrugging, “I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m not going out with you. Not right now, anyway,” Kelish nodded, as if expecting the answer, “At the very least, you need to become a proper Inquisitor and past the point where I’m your teacher. After that… we’ll see.”

“I just wanted to… get that off my chest,” Kelish said, sighing, “Alright, I’ll cook tonight, even if that roast you made was pretty good…” she muttered looking away, then pulling her comslate out of her dress uniform’s pocket, “And it looks like it’s about time for me to get started. I’ll be out in the storage area, planning the meal if you need me,” she said, walking out of the kitchen, leaving Arthur alone in the kitchen with his thoughts.

His feelings were complicated, really. He did not reflexively dislike the idea of being involved with Kelish, but he had not really thought about her in that way before. The only time he even touched on that subject was when he was first given the task of recruiting her, after all, and that was only because he did not want to get wrapped up in the mess that were his and Kelish’s previous interaction, though he obviously failed at that.

He would have to think about it. He liked her, but in the way that a neighbor likes the spunky kid next door who latched onto whatever he was doing. He did not know if those feelings would translate into romantic attraction, but he was confident that Kelish could respond to his answer, whatever it was, with maturity. She had earned that level of trust from him at least.

 

*=====*

 

“We are arriving at the Moskt Belara astrodock,” Exo said over the internal speakers. Arthur was sitting on one of the empty crates, showing Kelish how he cleaned his equipment, when the warning was given. He and Kelish shared a nod, and they donned their respective helmets, stepping over to the command console. Arthur felt them crossing the event horizon of the wormhole, and the window turned into a screen once more, showing a large, circular astrodock, very similar to the one where he met Saltless, if a bit smaller.

“Damn,” Kelish said, “That’s actually a bit smaller than I was expecting. You said it was the center of a black gold rush, but it looks like a normal trade station.”

“The reason for the astrodock’s small size is because of the high number of stations shipping resources to and from the dock. They have little need for storage space, as most of what they need or have is used or sold as soon as it arrives there,” Exo explained, Kelish nodding in response, “By the way, we are receiving a connection request from the astrodock.

“Okay, thanks Exo,” Arthur said, accepting the connection with the console, “Greetings, I am Inquisitor Wan. Is there an available docking pylon for us?” he asked. Obviously, he could have demanded a spot, but he had just taught Kelish the day before about not bringing too much stress onto the population, so he would have been a bad teacher to not practice what he preached.

“Greetings,” a deep voice returned, its owner trying hard to keep it from shaking, “We do have a pylon available. Before that, we have news about your case.” Arthur waited for a moment, and when the man realized that he was to continue, he did so, “We have another victim down in the crust. We… need you to get started as soon as possible. Please.”