loyal, you are called into the base to assist
with one of the new prisoners. You are escorted
into the brig. Most of the cells here are actually
fairly humane, all things considered. The peacekeepers
are required to give prisoners of war privacy,
comfortable beds, and meals identical to those
received by soldiers. This is, of course, in
theory. While some of those cells are occupied,
the pilot you captured, the leader, is not there.
She's instead tucked farther back into the facility.
in a place that the soldiers call the Grey Brig.
As you are escorted back, the soldier beside
you briefs you. This one's giving us trouble.
None of our usual techniques are producing any
viable data. We're starting to doubt our leads.
Since you've been recently activated, one of
our guys suggested having you help us out since
you can do that thing with lying, you know? Yes,
soldier. I will do my best to assist. That's
great. Kind of weird, though. But anything that
works for the cause. It's normal for my species.
Eventually, you arrive at the cell, a claustrophobic,
extruded rock container containing little in
the ways of comforts. The teenage girl is strapped
to a metal chair with a variety of IVs poking
out of her arm. Her broken legs are in a couple
of makeshift splints. She's clearly not received
any proper medical attention. Her jaw is slack,
no doubt a side effect of the interrogation cocktail
she's being injected with. The soldier looks
at her in contempt and says, Alright, buddy,
we're gonna go through some questions again.
If we're happy with what you tell us, we might
just let you go, okay? And the girl stares blankly
at you, loyal, and you feel an inch in your mind,
a vague empathetic connection, weak but present.
She's clearly in pain and something deep within
her mind screams out but is muffled by the drugs.
I float into the room. I don't get too close
to her, but I position myself adjacent to, or
as soon as, or like as adjacent as I can in the
small confines of this space and give a little
dolphin nod to the soldier to indicate that I
am ready. The soldier begins the interrogation.
Is your name Maze Mourner? She says weakly. Yes.
She's telling the truth. Are you a member of
the Clusterist Resistance on this planet? Yes.
She's telling the truth. Where is your leader
located? I don't know. That wasn't the truth.
Do you know where any of the remaining virtues
are located? No. That wasn't the truth. Is the
leader of your resistance cell located in the
East City, the Art District? No. That wasn't
the truth. Provided we gave you your freedom,
would you attempt to harm the peacekeepers or
any individuals again? No. That wasn't the truth.
The soldier looks at you again and just, like,
looks back at the prisoner and he says, You're
sure about this? To the best of my ability. He
nods. And he speaks into his radio. Yeah, it's
her. Get the dock. Bring the drill. And with
that, he excuses you. But as you begin to leave,
a voice echoes its way into your mind and says,
Wait, please, they'll kill me. You have to do
something. And with that voice, there are feelings
of fear, resentment, confusion. I stop where
I am. What is the soldier doing right now? He's
just, like, looking at you. Like, why are you
stopped? Do I know this guy's name? Yeah, his
name is Sergeant Wellspring. Loyal says, Sergeant
Wellspring. Could I have a moment alone with
the prisoner? Uh, you sure? Yes. Okay. Do what
you gotta do. And the sergeant walks out and
down the hall. Is she still trying to talk to
me? She's waiting for your response. I turn to
her, and I don't think she would recognize this,
but as far as dolphin body language goes, Loyal
is looking highly uncomfortable when... A dolphin
is upset. They will adopt what is called S -pose,
where his back is arched, his fins are held rigid
in his tank, and he is fixing the prisoner with
a hard look. And in their psychic connection,
he says to her, Child, I must say this quickly,
but you must know it as the truth. Dolphinkind
are not naturally gifted liars. This I had to
learn from man. I am sorry for your pain. I did
not come here to kill children. I hoped to not
kill at all, but it was a naive hope. of a naive
species who had only seen man's wars in history
holograms. I will do what I can to spare your
life, but know this. If you tell them any of
this, I will mark it as a lie, and they will
believe me. Do you understand? She nods. He nods
back at her. and turns to go back out into the
hall where the soldier is, but before doing so,
stops, and she hears a couple of echolocation
clicks and whistles through his tank that are
not being translated, and some images appear
on his tank surface, some UI, and if she can
make out the words, there are some settings there
that say emotional modulator, emotional tone
modulator. And there's a little like toggle that
gets turned off and then all of the UI images
disappear. Soldier just lets you leave, thanks
you for your work. And you see walking down the
hall opposite the way you're going is someone
in a lab jacket with a strange device that looks
vaguely like a drill, but has like all these
weird tendrils on it, which presumably they're
going to use on the prisoner. This is an interrogation
device. It could kill her, but it probably won't.
Probably. I position my very large exopod in
front of them and ask them to stop. What is it,
the doctor says? I think I may have an alternate
way of getting information from the prisoner.
Okay, and that is? I need to speak with her one
-on -one in a better cell environment. You're
being serious. Yes, this is what I was brought
here to do to aid in the war efforts. I can tell
when the prisoner is lying. And I am a skilled
empath. I am able to manipulate the emotions
of prisoners to get information without the use
of, and you can see him eyeing the device, whatever
that is. How long do you need exactly? Loyal
pauses for a moment. I would need enough time
to determine if it would be possible, but it
wouldn't take long. We're on a very tight schedule.
We'd probably give you a week. A week will be
more than enough time. Thank you. And with that,
you stick around for a little bit, and eventually
she is wheeled out of that gray brig cell, and
you see that she's wheeled into one of the more
cushy non -war crime cells. And you'll have to
come back and visit her, find out what else she
has to say. Geist, where do you spend your downtime,
if you have any? I feel like Geist, since his
accident, has become a bit of a workaholic in
the sense that when he's not on mission, he spends
a lot of time with his frame anyways, or in simulations,
or just kind of sitting in his shitty little
apartment, maybe staring at the wall. I feel
like he's going to have to get a hobby at some
point, but right now he's kind of just finding
his place in the world. He lives a very dismal
life. That's fair enough. You receive a message
from Director Jermaine on, I don't know if you
have a phone or if people have phones in the
future, but on whatever device you receive messages
on. And it says, Garrett, report to 8265 Vitruvian
Avenue at 2100 hours. Plainclothes. And that
is the whole message. Is it kind of obvious?
Does it seem like a joke? Like a soldier, I'm
summoning you for like drinks with the boys?
Or is it like, does it seem like something that
would feasibly be like a real mission assignment
I would receive? It's difficult to tell because
I mean, how much do you talk? Have you talked
to Kilo since you served together like six years
ago? Have you really kept up with him at all
since you got out of your coma? I feel like Geist
probably would have at the very least tried to
leverage him as a contact to get himself put
back into active service when that was still
something that he was kind of struggling to do.
But I feel like he probably hasn't had too much
time for he hasn't had really much time to like
kind of like just catch up or like do something
casual. Does it have Kilo's name on it at all?
Or is it just, like, completely just, like, this
is a mission directive? It's from his personal
phone, I would say. Okay. And I mean, if you
go one step further and you basically look up
the address, it's a nightclub. All right. Yeah,
so Geist, he puts his nice arms on. Like, he
gets the good limbs, the ones that are a little
bit less bare metal. I guess it's kind of probably
the equivalent of, like, a dress uniform. less
functional prosthetics um and then just kind
of at a loss for what to do exactly he like looks
into his wardrobe of old clothes that probably
got shipped from someplace and he puts on just
like a pair of jeans and like an old bomber jacket
and looks at himself in the mirror and uh tries
not to think too hard about the fact that he
still kind of looks like a ghoulish robot freak
he kind of pushes those thoughts out of his mind
and uh leaves Yeah, so the address is about 15
minutes from you on foot. It's in the technology
district of the central city. The pilots and
soldiers used to get transports like escorts
anywhere they went. But with the budget cuts
and with the situation being perceived as mostly
stable, you're kind of just on your own either
to hail a cab or just walk there. And at this
time of night, it might be difficult to get a
cab. Uh, yeah, I feel like Geist probably. I
mean, I feel like he can walk pretty fast. It's
one of the advantages of an augmented body. So
he's just going to... He might half -heartedly
try to wave a cab down, but how far is it on
foot in a reasonable amount of time? Oh, yeah,
no, he'll definitely walk it then. So the city
at night is pretty strange. The peacekeepers
have erected these huge floodlights, which make
patches of the city street brighter than they
would be during the day. And all the places where
the floodlights don't reach seem... even darker
than before. And it probably does cross your
mind that like not even a month ago, people were
like shooting each other on these streets. And
it was directly after the takeover. It was very
violent here. Is Geist the kind of person to
to carry? I was actually just going to ask what
like what are the laws like if there are any
like I have the peacekeepers put down like fairly
strict. carry open carry laws to try and sort
of fight the insurgency not for the soldiers
okay cool yeah well i guess whatever you want
guys probably has some identification but yeah
he's just got like a like a handgun like openly
carried in like a probably just a little like
like a quick draw like one of those like magnetic
holsters that you can just like pop the gun right
at the front so yeah he's just got like a it's
a fairly bog standard like a semi -automatic
pistol that he just carries right The street's
pretty quiet. Anyone you see on the street gives
you a pretty wide berth, especially when they
see your piece. Especially, you're in plain clothes,
so it's not even particularly sure that you're
even a soldier. So they're just like, oh, that's
the guy with the gun. I'm crossing the street.
But you arrive at 8265 Atruvian Avenue, about
15 minutes of walking. The address is in between
these two high -rises on this really small plot
of land. It's like a small parking lot size establishment.
It's lit up with all these multicolored lights
and there's a pounding bass coming from inside.
There's some people milling about, you know,
outside smoking space cigarettes and all that.
And there's a large neon sign above them, which
blinks out the name of the establishment, which
is Culture Plague. Yeah, Geist will take a look
at the place and kind of... He feels like uneasy
about it and he's probably like... A little bit
embarrassed at how uneasy he feels because he
was just like pretty recently flying around at
like 130 miles per hour, throwing people into
buildings. But he kind of just takes a deep breath,
kind of internally curses himself for being such
a coward and then walks right in the front door.
The interior of Culture Plague is very lively.
It seems you found a place in the city which
has escaped the oppressive atmosphere of the
post -occupation streets. There are some faces
you recognize here. Military personnel as well
as plenty of civilians and unknowns. And occupying
a corner booth is Kilo Germain, who is halfway
through a glass of some opaque gray liquor. And
he waves at you. Cool, I'll stomp my way over
and kind of sit down opposite him and be like,
How have you been? It's been a while since we've
been able to just talk. I was going to ask you
the same thing. And he kind of like looks at
his drink. He's like, Uh, shit. When did we last
talk? I mean, besides your transfer request,
which unfortunately I had to deny twice before
things worked out. I don't know. A long time.
He kind of looks back down at his drink. He waves
over a waiter who comes up and asks you what
you'd like to drink. Uh, Geist thinks for a moment.
It's not something that he, uh... it's not something
that he really he hasn't really fallen into vice
to kind of like deal with all of his the problems
that have come up from his peculiar condition
but he thinks about it and he orders a um i guess
probably the equivalent of like a liquor cocktail
that's not too sweet maybe something like an
old -fashioned whatever that is entails in this
setting a new fashion A new fashion, yeah. A
new fashion with a twist. That was what he would
always drink back when he was cutting loose with
the... What were they called? The Moon Devils.
Moon Devils, I got it right. He was always cutting
loose with them. He orders one of those. Perfect.
Eventually, when you order your drink, Kilo kind
of looks at you and is like, you can still drink?
With any kind of gestures at your face? Uh, I
mean... Sort of. Geist fumbles in the pocket
of his bomber jacket and pulls out a, it's like
a thick kind of glass syringe with a plunger
on the back of it. But it's like, it's not like
a, it's like a blunt tip needle rather than a
sharp one. And he's like, I have, I mean, it's
not exactly the same. It has to go through the
implants, but it does do its level best to simulate
taste. Damn. I'm glad you can still drink at
least. Well, I'm not supposed to. My doctor would
be pissed if she knew. Dr. Grace, listen, if
she gives you any trouble, just tell her she
reports to me still, and I give you express permission
to get sloshed whenever you want, okay? Thank
you, sir. You know, I just wanted to say, I saw
some footage of your operation, and I don't think
I've been that excited in a while. You still
got it, man. I don't think I have either, sir.
It's just good to be good to be back, back, back
in it. I'm as surprised as you are. I almost
feel bad. I didn't get to choose where you got
assigned. That was kind of unfortunately not
in the cards, but I feel bad putting, you know,
a bunch of random clusterists just doing some
basic city insurgency shit up against the moon
devil. I mean, man, you fucking threw that guy.
Holy shit. I pissed my pants. I still, I mean,
it's taken some getting used to. I'm not as fast
as I was. I mean, you know, like physically behind
the wheel, the rig they got me flying now, it's
really a piece of art. I've never been anything
like that. I'm told that because of the modifications
they've made to my implants, my body can withstand
G -forces that would... put a baseline pilot
out of commission, just trying to make the best
of it. He nods and like swirls his drink somewhere.
And he says, listen, I, I should have reached
out more. You know, you've been awake for a while
and I got promoted to director, got pulled out
of the field. I haven't had time really for myself
or my kids, but I, you know, I regret it. I feel
like we all kind of thought you were dead. And
when you woke up, I don't know if anyone could
have believed it. It was just like a shock. Like
all the other moon devils are all either dead
or off world. They're all new kids now. It's
just, it's just fucking me. It's, uh, I don't
know. I don't know what command thinks it is
that they've accomplished here, but it's not
done. He nods, just like looks around the bar.
It feels a little awkward. I forgot to tell you
when you were in your coma, the paper pushers
and admin pulled your call sign. and gave it
to some random kid back in the reserve fleet.
Can you believe that? Oh, shit. They got somebody
else flying as Jester now. We were going to give
you that call sign back, but when I looked at
it, I had to pull a new one out of my ass. I
mean, do you like the new one? Does Geist work
for you? Yeah. I don't seem to have much to joke
about these days. He kind of gives, like, a nervous
chuckle. At this point, I feel like the drink
he ordered arrived and he kind of just he like
screws the back off of the plunger syringe and
kind of like clumsily pours the drink into it,
maybe even while the waiter is still there and
then screws the cap back on and he lifts up his
shirt that he's wearing under his jacket. And
there's like a series of like little circular
metal ports on like the the automatic metal in
his torso. And he just jabs it in and depresses
the plunger and injects himself with the. The
beverage. Jesus. It's just not the same. He laughs,
but there's not a lot of humor in it. Yeah, the
night kind of passes by. I think there's a lot
of awkward back and forth, some war stories.
I mean, how is that for Geist? Like, I don't
think Geist is probably really socialized since
him being put in a coma. Yeah, it's definitely
weird. And he he tries his best, but he keeps
like fumbling social cues or like he finds himself
kind of like staring off into space. But he does
his best to keep with it. And he would probably
actually kind of try because like he Kilo wasn't
promoted to like a command position when he when
Geist was still in active service. Right. Was
it something that happened after it was after
when you were a coma? yeah so he probably would
have asked about how the hell that happened with
like a kind of like a joking tone of like how
did a joker like you get such a command position
like who'd you have to who'd you have to kill
or whatever you know like but he would be curious
to kind of find out how the hell he got it so
he says well um to tell you the truth everyone
else refused to take the position because uh
i kind of saw the writing on the wall about this
conflict that If you stepped up, everyone was
going to hate you. If you stepped up, you weren't
going to get paid well. If you stepped up, you
would probably get car bombed or something. And
so they tapped me on the shoulder and they said,
hey, you got to do this. Like, you have the experience.
You can direct. And I told them, there's no fucking
way I can do that. I'm just a fucking pilot.
But they pushed for it. And, you know, they promised
me some things. Promised me some things for my
family. You know, they've come through on some
of those promises, and I'm hoping they'll come
through on the rest of them. I'm not really at
liberty to talk about it too much, but, uh, you
know. And he kind of shrugs and orders another
glass. As the night is kind of winding down to
a close, and after Geist has injected himself
with a couple more cocktails, at some point there's
like a lull in the conversation, and he'll be
like, Have, uh... Have they seen him around Intel?
I mean, have they, do they know where he is?
Kilo kind of grimaces, says, listen, I don't
know if it is going to be good for you to talk
about this. Probably right. But yes, he's still
around. He's got fancy new frame, some crazy
shit that we haven't seen before. We had him
cornered once and he's fucking vanished into
thin air. And that's not even hyperbole, quite
literally vanished. Guy just kind of sits. Thoughtfully,
for a moment, but doesn't say anything else.
But I want to fucking know. How are some clusterists
making frames in their backyard out of construction
mechs? How are they pulling this shit off? I
was thinking the same thing. I was hoping you'd
be the one to know. That frame that we cornered,
the one that was piloted by a damn child, that's
more than just some repurposed farm equipment.
It was doing something to the area around it.
I mean, I don't know. You've probably seen the
reports. That was way messier than it needed
to be, and it was piloted by a fucking 14 -year
-old girl. Yeah. I mean, you know how the Clusterists
operate, right? You know how they share information?
Kinda. I never really understood it that well.
They're like insects. They have some fucked -up
psychic traditions. They can offload whatever
biases and experience they want onto their young.
And that's how you get fucking eight -year -olds
doing backflips in the street with all the hatred
and imagined oppression of two generations of
clusterists. It's a messy fucking situation.
Yeah, well, I don't think that kid's going to
be doing backflips anytime soon. He laughs. He
says, yeah, I saw. I was going to say, how did
I get stationed with him? The gearhead, I mean,
the fucking computer program. Why him? We thought
you'd be able to keep him in line. What exactly
are these things capable of? Listen, I'm not
supposed to be talking about this, but you're
my friend. He wants to be called Joseph. Fucked
up, right? He's been here for a few years. The
Black Ops was doing work with him. They would
send him out, wipe some clusters off the face
of the earth, come back, go to sleep. That's
all he's done for the last three years. Immersion
Personalities Division came to me and they said,
hey, you need a pilot? We have a pilot. Put him
in this frame. and see what he can do. If he
gives you any trouble, we'll blow him. But if
I'm to judge by the footage and how he took out
that girl, it seems like it's paying off so far.
What do you think? Seems steady. I'll keep an
eye on him. I mean, I'll do my best to make sure
he doesn't get out of line. I don't know what
the hell they think they're hoping to accomplish
here, but I guess we need everybody in a frame
we can get. You know, another bottle comes, and...
As it does, it's like 2 a .m. at this point,
I want to say. The bar is still pretty lively.
And as your new bottle of alcohol comes, a group
of five people walk up to the table. And one
of them, who's like a young man, grabs the bottle
off your table and takes a swig right out of
it. He points at Kilo and he says, I've seen
you on the TV. You're some important keeper,
right? And Kilo kind of stares blankly at the
kid and shrugs. Which prompts him to turn his
attention to you, Geist. And he says, what about
you, Gimp? You a keeper too? Step on a landmine
while you were pillaging? Something like that.
Geist is just staring at him. He's talking, when
he speaks, it's like with a very flat affect.
Just kind of deadpan. But he's got whole, like
his demeanor has changed. He's now very, very
stiff. And he's just kind of staring at him with
a slight furrow to his brow. Real nice augments.
Real top of the line stuff. You give him a scrapyard?
And he reaches out and grabs your arm. I, as
he goes to reach out, can I just grab his wrist
and like twist it, not break it, but just like
put a little pressure to it? Yeah. The kid winces
a little bit and he says, trying to start something?
Huh? Asshole. I'm just going to stare at him.
I'm not going to say anything, but I still got
his, I still have his wrist and I'm still putting
just a little bit more pressure to it. And he
just says, look, there's two ways this can go.
You just go back. You enjoy your night. We pretend
like this never happened. What do you say? Is
that a command? I guess it kind of is a command.
I mean, it can be whatever you want it to be.
Ooh, I got a five. Partial success, which means
he backs off. He looked at you and he says, whatever.
He pulls back. You see the glistening of a knife
tucked in his waistband, but he looks down at
your pistol as well and kind of understands that
there's only one way this would have gone. But,
you know, he kind of sticks you with a glare.
And Kilo, too. And he just says, I'll see you
around. He just backs out into the crowd. Guy
sits back down. Where the fuck do they find these
rookies? Kilo shrugs and says, I was kind of
hoping we'd get to fight them. But it probably
wouldn't be good for either of us. Broken his
fucking arm like plywood. I wanted to. I think
the knight. It winds down. There's no more action
after that. You don't get jumped, but somewhere
out there is another person who knows your face.
Joseph, you are in one of the Peacekeeper base's
common areas, a small rec room that's reserved
for pilots. It's late, the room is empty, and
you're knelt down under this advanced hologram
chess table. A lovingly crafted device which
depicts each piece as a pilot's frame with one
side being the sole union peacekeepers and the
others clusterists. What are you doing to this
game right now, Joseph? I'm trying to see if
I can make one of the sides, I'm going to assume
the clusterists, sacrifice their king right away
so the game can end early. So as you work on
this, you know, I imagine you are kind of like
knelt down next to this table, like really in
the innards of it. You hear a light switch turn
on and you see the lights come on and into the
room walks a somewhat familiar figure, a member
of your squad support staff who is a young engineer
and hangar assistant who the team calls Gopher.
You've seen him around helping with maintenance
work. He may even have brought you some spare
parts when you repaired your frame after the
last mission, but he doesn't see you. He's carrying
a crate full of what appears to be soft drinks
and alcoholic beverages. and they are blocking
his view of you entirely. What's his actual name?
I'm just curious. We left off with the first
name Mel, last name Vin. Really? Melvin. How
about... Joseph's going to call him Greg or something.
That's what he's going to call him. I think Joseph
watches just for a bit. He probably turned around
slowly to see Gopher walk in and is now just
inspecting him, but he's not making any efforts
to hide himself. He's just going to watch. Sure.
Yeah, he walks behind like this, what I imagine
is like a bar with some like vending machines
behind it, which, you know, because you're a
pilot now, are free. You just scan your ID and
you get any drink. Isn't that nice? And, you
know, he kind of like does a deep private side
to himself. and takes out a little key, opens
up the vending machine, and starts restocking
it with these soft drinks and beers and space
beers and all those things. And he's kind of
mumbling to himself, and you get the impression
he's not happy to be doing this. All right, I'm
going to get up, creep over to him without making
a sound, using my infiltrator background. I'm
going to put a hand on his shoulder and say,
Need any help with that? When you put your big,
scary metal hand on his shoulder, he jumps suddenly.
He knocks over a crate of these drinks. A few,
like, fall to the ground and, like, shatter.
And he, like, skitters back a little bit, and
he sees you, and he's like, Oh my, oh my god!
Jesus! Man, what are you doing here? I didn't
mean to frighten you, Greg. Are you doing your
daily rounds? My name's not Greg. Well, I don't
want to call you Gopher. It is a nickname. You
can call me Mel. That's my name. Mel. Okay. The
guy who used to refill the vending machines,
I think he was a janitor. He got sent home because
of the budget problems. So it's my job now, I
guess, to refill the vending machines. And he,
you know, gestures defeatedly at the vending
machines and the now broken bottles on the ground.
Joseph's going to start picking up the broken
bottles on the ground as he's saying, seems that
they have you doing a lot around here. Yeah,
I guess that's why they call me a runner. He
gives a little nervous laugh and he's... He looks
at you and he's like, why, why are you here?
Were you, were you here when I got here? Yes,
I was just playing with the chess machine over
there. And Joseph points to it. Oh, yeah, I guess
you don't really need to like sleep or anything.
So you can kind of just stay up all night playing
games or whatever. Yes, gives me a lot of time
to test things. And he winks. Test, test things?
Yes, like my strategies through the chessboard.
You play chess, don't you, Mel? Um, you know,
I've played before. I'm not particularly good
at it, but I think the one we have is pretty
cool. You know, they like to shoot. They sure
do. It's like a little image of what we go out
and do every day. That is why I like to play
with it. I feel like I get stronger every time
I win. If you were going to be a piece, what
piece would you be? Joseph, um, he rubs his chin.
He thinks for a bit. And he says, I think I would
be best placed as the king. Huh. I wouldn't have
guessed that. And you, Mel? Who would you be?
Well, if I'm being realistic with you, it seems
like I'm a pawn. Really? They don't really send
any other, uh... Pieces, I guess, so to speak,
in this metaphor, to restock vending machines.
Or bring people snacks. Well, you can't have
an army without the pawns, and they are the first
line of defense. Typically, they're the ones
who get everything done around here. And he points
to the vending machine. Just like you, Mel. He
looks at you. And he's like, okay, yeah. I mean,
someone's gotta do it, right? Surely. Someone
must do it. All right, I'm gonna finish this
up. Wait, you're Barrage, right? You can call
me Joseph instead. Joseph? Wow, I didn't expect
such a, I guess, classical name for an emergent
personality. I respect that. Good on you. Thank
you. Um, classical? Yeah, you know, it's, uh...
You know, it's like an old -fashioned name. And
what is Mel? Well, I don't know. My parents named
it. I don't really look it up. But I think it
means something. Hmm. Sounds new -fashioned to
me. And he winks. Yeah. Yeah, well, uh... Have
fun with your chess game. I'm going to just finish
this up and head out. Do you need help? I can
continue helping you if you need. No, no, it's
fine. You know, you're busy. I'm busy. I'll see
you around. I'll see you in the hangar. You know.
Of course. See you later, Mel. Hex, following
your first operation as a pilot, your co -worker,
or ex -co -worker, Glint, reaches out to you
to get some lunch. But he wants you to choose
the lunch spot. He's being very deferential.
Okay. Is he asking me over email verbally? Like,
what's going on here? Um, I would guess it's
some sort of future email situation. Alright,
maybe some stuff hasn't changed. Well... Harold
just quickly provides a spot, maybe the local
canteen, and a time. So he goes to see Glint.
Yeah, so you're taking Glint to the... Are you
talking about the canteen in the pilot division?
Just whatever that he'd have access to, if that
makes sense. I don't want to... So you have that,
and then there are also cafes and other lunch
spots outside of the base. That have started
to come back now. Like there's actually some
pretty decent dining options. If eating off base
is a realistic option for Hex over here, he's
going to go take his former intern out for coffee,
so to speak. Awesome. So you go to some clusterous,
well, not clusterous, but. Oh, fuck. I knew I
made the wrong choice. I knew it. Which I think
they eat a lot of seafood on this planet because
they have a lot of rivers. Probably a spot like
that. You might even be able to get shrimp. You
like shrimp. Fuck, I love those. They're tasty,
good in a cocktail and in a fish tank. So you
guys get a nice seat outside on the patio. You
get a good view of, let's say, the Brea City
Financial District. You really set me up for
something. I know. When the peacekeepers first
liberated the city, this place was kind of dead.
Nobody wanted to go outside, you know, considering
the streets were an active war zone. But now
things are kind of getting stable again, you
know, with the city being separated. And under
peacekeeper control, there are actually civilians
wandering the street who are wary but willing
to, like, shop and resume activities and actually
go to a restaurant. The waiter comes over to
take your food and drink orders. You know, you've
just sat down. Like, you've hardly been able
to even say anything. And Glint orders, I think,
what equates to, like, a shrimp sandwich. What
about you? Uh, Hex isn't too hungry. He just
gets a coffee. Oh, that's such a burn. If you
did that to me, I'd be so pissed. Hey, he's not
hungry. He's not hungry. He's not hungry. Yeah,
Glint speaks up. Harold, it's so good to see
you. You kind of left so suddenly. Yeah, I mean,
duty called. It's nice of you to reach out again.
Curious, what do you want to talk about today?
It's nice seeing you, though. I just... I don't
know. I wanted to talk about your situation.
Everyone's been talking about you at the office.
You know, like, why did you leave? It's unheard
of. Well, I'm glad to hear I missed, but I figure
my time is better spent here than... What did
you... How did you put it? Double -checking computers?
You have a point there. I think it's a good use
of my skills. Have you been, like... Fighting?
Can't talk about things, but hasn't killed someone.
What the fuck, Glint? Sorry, it's just, you know.
I mean, have you? Listen, Glint, we do what we
have to. You should know what pilots sign up
for. God. I... Wow. I didn't think... It's you,
Harold, it's you. I mean... Come on, this is
crazy, right? Is that all you wanted out of this
meal? No, sorry. Sorry. I mean, it's... Hex is
kind of angrily sipping at his coffee, but he's
not letting it stop him. He's kind of thirsty.
It's good to catch up. I just, you know, I think
I was worried more than anything. I'll be fine.
You of all people should know that. I guess.
They made me take over all your duties. You know,
same pay, twice the duties. They say that they
don't even need to fill your role because of
the budget crisis, but they're also forcing us
to go over all of our assets in a bid to find
supplies that aren't there. I'm going crazy.
You know, I'm one more two -hour conference from
joining the pilots myself. That's typical of
them to do. Sorry to hear you're having to deal
with that, but, I mean, if you stick around,
it could be good for you. You want to be a pilot,
though? I don't know. I mean, is it fun? I don't
know if I'd call it fun. I'm here for a reason.
What would yours be? Better benefits, maybe?
You should do some thinking. He kind of, like,
looks down at his shrimp sandwich and takes a
bite out of it. He says, and he looks up, and
there's, like, some hubbub behind you. And he
says, Holy shit, is that the general? I didn't
even know he went outside the base, like, ever.
And sure enough, you see General Wave, who is
the highest -ranking military official on the
planet, sitting down in this cafe with only,
like, a couple bodyguards near him and followed
by a lot of cameras taking pictures of him as
he sits down. Wow. Hex raises an eyebrow, but
looks unaffected. That's... Wow, I guess he is
here. That's nuts. Is this like... Are they trying
to, like, prove something? Well... You should
also know that optics matter. Now it's a safe
city. Yeah, I guess so. I don't know if it feels
safe to me quite yet. But whatever. Let's talk
about happier things. And he starts telling you
all about his dog. Ooh, what's his dog's name?
His dog's name is Little Bippo. L -I -T -T -L
-E space B -I -P -P -O. Hex lights up at this.
He warms up. Everyone likes Little Bippo more
than Glint in the office. This is just common
knowledge. Does he have pictures of Little Bippo?
Oh, yeah. He's got all sorts of pictures. Fuck,
yeah. Little Bippo just got brand new skin. And
he's showing the great brand new skin. He looks
so young. He looks like a puppy again, Glint
says.