“I’m not trying to join Maximus,” Kaiden said, brushing off the attack on his ego. Only level thirty-three? Come on, man. I know that’s not anywhere the level cap, but I worked hard for this! “My friends and I, we need to talk to your guild leader. He’s going to want to hear what we have—”
“Nah, he’s probably not,” Recruz cut him off. “Anyway, good talking to you, Kaiden. Send us an application once you hit level fifty. We’d love to party up sometime and gank some wardens or something.”
“Wait, Recruz! You—”
The call ended abruptly. Kaiden looked up at the others who’d been gathered around watching the call.
“So... that didn’t exactly go to plan,” he said.
“You kind of failed to mention the part where we’re in possession of a top-secret database and on a mission to bring down the Party but need their help,” Zelda said.
“Yeah, well... he failed to let me get a word in,” Kaiden retorted.
“Hold up. I’m gonna call his ass,” Titus growled, then started a video call.
“Yo, what’s up?”
“Listen here, punk. You just hung up on my friend, but if you know what’s good for you, you’re gonna listen to what he has to say.” Titus gave a stern look, then moved toward Kaiden as if to include him in the video call.
“Nah, I’m cool.” Recruz ended the call.
Titus cursed, then a moment later, cursed again. “He blocked me!”
“Yeah, kind of saw that one coming,” Thorne said, grimacing as she leaned back in her seat. “Those Maximus guys don’t take well to authority. Only really listen to orders from their guild leader and his officers.”
“Oh, so you’re an expert on them, then?” Titus retorted, but there wasn’t much malice in it. Seemed the big man was more embarrassed than anything.
Thorne raised her hands in a gesture of peace.
“Just trying to help,” she said.
“Then help us figure out what to do next.” Titus turned toward the others. “This guy’s not listening to us. We should go around him, find another way to set up a meeting with Maximus’ guild leader. What was his name again?”
“PlayaSlaya,” Kaiden answered, calling the popular figure to mind. Aside from being the founder and leader of Maximus, he was one of the game’s most successful PVPers. Drew in a big audience with the weekly tournaments he’d once fought in and now hosted. Not to mention the massive PVP battles.
“Look, this isn’t anything new,” Thorne said, rising from her chair and beginning to pace around the room. “I ran into stuff like this all the time as an agent. Being a representative of the Party, no one wants to talk to you. But sometimes you have to talk to them. So you go and find them. Calling someone is one thing, but a more personal touch tends to work wonders.”
Kaiden frowned at her words. “You want to go find this guy in real life?”
Thorne burst out laughing, and for the second time in the past few minutes Kaiden found himself nursing a wounded ego.
“No, nothing like that,” Thorne said. “Where’s Maximus located? I’m saying we should go to their guild base. They can hang up a video call but they’ll have a bit more trouble removing us in person. Or, in-game in person, I guess.” She waved her hand. “Whatever you want to call it.”
Hmm. Well, I don’t hate the idea. There was some value in just cutting right to the heart of things. And besides, this meeting was too important to just let go.
“All right, I’m down,” Kaiden said with a shrug.
“Agreed,” Zelda said. “But let’s grab a bunch of missions on the way. It’ll be a bit of a flight over to Maximus’ guild base. They’re, what…” She checked a menu visible only to her. “Three systems away. We’ll cover that distance quickly in a light cruiser like the Veritas II, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make the best use of our time.” She rose from the table and turned toward the cockpit. “Recruz mentioned leveling up, anyway. If we show up stronger than we are now, maybe it’ll buy us a bit more legitimacy. Probably won’t, but we need the grinding anyway.”
Practical as always, Kaiden thought. She was right, though.
“Sounds good,” he said. “We’ll check the major stations on the way, see what we can—”
“Captains!” Acton shouted from the cockpit. “We have something of a situation brewing here.”
Kaiden frowned as he jumped from his seat and hurried toward the cockpit. Zelda beat him there.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“A Warden Corps ship just pulled up outside the station. It appears to be scanning the ships in the area.”
“Looking for us?” Kaiden asked.
“If they aren’t, they will be once they scan this ship.” Acton strapped himself into his seat.
“Ah, crap,” Thorne said, joining them at cockpit entrance. “I should have realized this sooner. I was tracking you pretty successfully when I was in the Corps. We need to change this ship’s information. It’ll take a black-market mod, but I’m sure we can make a pit stop. Won’t be cheap, though.”
“Yeah, we’ll do that,” Kaiden said. “But first we need to get out of here.” He leaned down and peered through the windshield. Turen drones were still buzzing around the outside of the Veritas II, putting the finishing touches on the new hull
