“You’re saying we need to make bringing down the Party profitable?”
“Yeah, probably. If we want The Syndicate to work with us.”
“Well, we did that once, in a way, with King Street,” Kaiden said. “Maybe we could do it again here?”
“King Street only manages to operate because the Party doesn’t crack down on them. These Syndicate guys sound like they operate in spite of the Party. Hell, it almost sounds like they’re running the show in Nova. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to convince people like that.”
“You’re probably right.” Kaiden shook his head. “But we gotta try. We’ll figure something out. We always do.” He faced Marty again. “I can’t thank you enough. You’ve done good here today. Really made a difference.”
“What I’ve done is put my neck on the line talking about things it’s better I shouldn’t,” he said. “But I have a soft spot for my star. Still keeping hope alive that he might return for another performance, perhaps.”
“I don’t—”
The door hissed open.
“Take them alive!” A shout burst into the room and Kaiden flung himself to the side. At almost the same moment, a Burst Arrow whipped over his shoulder and exploded just above Marty. The NPC was thrown to the side, his health bar flashing and dropping well into the red.
“Get out of here!” Kaiden shouted at him. “And keep your head down!”
Marty didn’t hesitate, crawling behind the counter then sprinting out of a side door. Once he was clear, Kaiden spun around and activated his shield. Too slow, though. Another Burst Arrow exploded into his chest, dropping his health down to eighty-eight percent.
Twelve percent damage from one attack? Kaiden swallowed hard at that as he worked his way over toward Titus and raised his eyes to their attackers.
The first of them was all too familiar. In looks, at least, if not in level.
Werner10
Warden Captain
Class: Blast Warden
Faction: Warden Corps
Level: 53
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Jonduu, huh?” Thorne said as the pilot set their ship down deep inside the icy cave. The turen ships that had escorted them in hovered for a moment, then turned to depart, heading back toward the frozen surface of the planet.
“Been a long time since my last visit,” Thorne continued. “Though I never had a reception quite like this.”
In front of the ship, a gathering of turen was forming, the aliens dressed in flowing robes so light and soft they almost seemed to float in the relatively low gravity of the planet.
“They, uh, didn’t do that the last time I was here either,” Zelda said, looking at them quizzically for a moment before shaking her head and making for the ramp out of the Veritas II.
They’d deactivated their transponder on the way in, flying under the ship’s true name so as not to arouse any thought of deception. Zelda and the others’ prestige with the turen was through the roof, so even though they were all wanted fugitives, Thorne had been confident the locals wouldn’t turn them in. Better, then, to be honest about their ship. The turen were notoriously intolerant of ‘mistruths,’ as they called them. Lies, really, but anything factually incorrect was just as bad. A transponder broadcasting a fake ship name would be a double affront to their sensibilities – inaccurate and deceitful.
“Honored friend Zelda, you are welcome on Jonduu,” the foremost of the turen greeting party said.
“Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be back?” Zelda said, seeming taken aback, but adjusting quickly. “We’ve come seeking knowledge and would like permission to use your archival facility to attain it.”
“The council of Jonduu has declared our archives open to all who seek to better themselves through knowledge.”
“Yup,” Zelda said, nodding. “That’s… exactly what we’re here for.”
“I’m not sure we’re technically planning to better ourselves by learning about some all-powerful criminal organization,” Thorne said through private comms. “Particularly one that doesn’t exist.”
“We’re... better preparing ourselves to resist the Party. So, you could say our overarching goal is to change the world for the better?” Zelda replied, seeming to think it up as she went along. “That’s close enough to bettering ourselves, yeah?”
The turen crowd had parted now, revealing a path through the cavernous space of ice and snow toward one of their smooth, rounded buildings.
The foremost of the turen gestured toward it with a graceful sweep of her hand.
“You are familiar with the archive, Zelda. It is at your disposal. We do not know your friend, however.” The lead turen seemed to squint at Thorne a moment. “If you vouch for the goodness of her intentions and the purity of her mind then she may accompany you. But know that any action of hers will reflect on you, as well.”
“I don’t know,” Zelda said through comms and threw a smirk at Thorne. “Can you be trusted? You gonna break something in that archive and get us both thrown out?”
“Oh, you know me. Walking disaster,” Thorne laughed back. “Tell ‘em I’m pure of mind, or whatever. I’m with you, after all, so I can’t be that bad, right?”
“Yeah, just an outlaw terrorist wanted by every member of the party,” Zelda said with a chuckle, then switched back to proximity chat. “Thorne’s with me. She’s all right.”
The lead turen looked confused at that, like it hadn’t made any sense.
“I fail to see how her wellbeing is relevant in this matter,” she said.
Zelda muttered at that, then tried again with only a bit of a mocking tone.
“Thorne is pure of mind and has only good intentions. I hereby vouch for her.”
“So it is.” The lead turen nodded, then looked to another in the group. “Elistar, I will ask you to assist our guests.”
“I will do so.”
Thorne squinted at Elistar. For the most part, he looked similar to those around him. Slits for nostrils, four eyes, and a tall, slender frame. He did look a bit... bookish, though. Given, one could describe just about all of the turen as bookish, what with their gentle demeanors, slow, measured speech, and
