Chapter 24: Chapter 24

MIKHLAS

Mikhlas debated whether to stay silent as much as possible, but knowing Vayth ensured their privacy with a sonic screen of pleasant music allowed him the freedom to break from his role.

“My name is Mikhlas, Fleet Captain of the starship ~Koentra~. Commander Remkin asked me to consult with you about the disappearance of Governor Givan Bala.”

“He felt you might be able to shed some light as to whether the Governor has been embraced by Morkai and who might be responsible.

“This is my First, Silian, and for now, I’d like to keep the identities of these ladies on a need-to-know basis.”

“Oh, I guess I don’t ~need~ to know,” Vayth replied looking somewhat downcast. “Mikhlas. Fleet Captain Mikhlas. I’ve heard of you. So, this is business, not a social call. In that case you’re definitely buying a round of drinks.”

Vayth turned toward the bar and only his sensitive hearing allowed him to know that Vayth threw his voice out to the cyborg barman.

“Quarma, give us five sonic blasters, if you would. Oh, and you’d better make me a Spyritus too, while you’re at it. Thanks, doll.”

Mikhlas sighed and produced a credstick, surprised at the hefty toll of the five drinks.

After the barman delivered the beverages, Vayth raised the fruity one in salute and busied himself sucking down the potent alcohol and pressed juice combination at speed.

“Ahhh, Quarma makes a sonic blaster that will take you beyond the veil and back.”

“Go easy, Priest. We need you conscious to tell us what you know.”

“Actually, you don’t. You need me half-conscious,” Vayth replied, using one set of arms to help raise his chubby body off the floor and collect the steel cup containing his second drink that reeked of a strong distillation.

“Aware of a higher state of being and open to the mysteries of the Universe, and that means enough ethanol to float a ship. Everyone wants to talk to me about death, because I’m the head of Morkai’s order.

“Of course, my usual stock in trade is people asking me who is going to die in the fights. As if I’d know that. Still, it keeps the drinks flowing, I suppose.”

“I would have thought you liked talking about death,” Silian said.

“Why? Because technically, I feed off dead and dying organic matter? Hardly. It just gives me an appreciation for the whole circle-of-life stuff.

“Death is a beautiful experience, and matter simply changes from alive matter to dead matter. But what Morkai does isn’t make you dead. Something else does that.

“When you die, he chomps down on the life experiences of what some people call the soul and then passes a clean slate to Garia to use.

“That’s why my species all turn out to be Morkai worshippers. We take in death just by breathing and produce something clean.

“But the reality is we’re all born in the heart of stars, and at some point, we will all return.

“I assume you want me to lift the veil and ask Morkai whether this Givan Bala’s found himself in a shallow grave? I hate this necromantic crap.”

“Can you do it?”

“Of course, I can, fun buns, I just don’t ~like~ doing it. Morkai’s been a depressed sod for the last couple of years.” Vayth fixed Mikhlas with a look, and his small mouth gave an expressive twist.

“Probably something to do with the Fleet being a bunch of ravenous Xinthas, eh? He’s taken a lot of souls he maybe didn’t really want to. Before their time. He’s probably putting on weight.

“Of course, officially, Morkai thanks you for your ~abundant~ donations over the last couple of years. Well, bottoms up.”

Mikhlas hadn’t known the head of Morkai’s order was such a talkative being and just wished he’d get on with it.

As he lowered the steel cup, Vayth gave a whole-body shiver that blew out a series of discordant notes from his tail.

“Erg. Bracing. Givan Bala, wasn’t it?” At a nod from Mikhlas, Vayth closed his eyes and started a new series of notes, the complex melody rising and falling as he swayed on the spot.

“These are good,” Izzy said, taking a sip of her drink.

“Here, have mine. I don’t want to dull my senses,” he replied, passing her his untouched glass.

Aside from the strange atonal music coming from Vayth, Mikhlas noticed they were getting some looks from the other patrons in the bar.

Several men gave admiring and speculative glances toward Amy and Izzy, and he turned his dark gaze upon them, shaking his forearms to warn them to not intrude.

After a minute, Vayth opened his green eyes and looked at Mikhlas. “Well, he’s dead. Givan Bala has passed across the veil.”

~Damn it.~ “Any idea as to who is responsible?”

Vayth shrugged. “Whoever tossed him out of a moving transport. Gravity is a bitch like that. I can’t tell you exactly who, but they were Fleet, and Givan trusted them.”

Vayth’s eyes flicked to the entry of the bar before he turned back to Mikhlas. “Speaking of Fleet, my appointment is here, so you lot should probably push off. Thanks for the drink.”

Mikhlas turned to look and saw Kasana striding across the floor toward them, Vayth’s voice thrown out to greet her. “Kasana, you gorgeous thing, come sit on my tail and tell me what a naughty boy I am for not calling you back.”

Mikhlas’s sudden clenched fist at her appearance almost triggered his force projector, and he settled for clenching his jaw instead. ~She’s the reason for Morkai’s abundance of donations. I just follow orders I despise.~

“You’re lucky I don’t have you thrown in the pit,” Kasana snarled as her armed guard fanned out behind her and scanned the room with aggressive eyes.

“Sedentary species, Lady Justice, and Quarma make the best sonic blaster you’ve ever tasted. Why don’t you have one with me?”

As Kasana stopped, she flicked her red hair away from her face and transferred her hostile gaze to the group. “Who are these…beings, and why are they not showing the proper respect?”

Mikhlas crossed his arms across his chest and inclined his head instantly, knowing Silian would do the same, but he worried about how the women would respond.

Slowly, Amy and Izzy stood from their chairs, and glancing at Mikhlas, copied his actions, except for Amy, who didn’t turn her eyes to the floor.

~Oh no.~

“Are you mocking me, you little slut?” Kasana stepped forward, getting close to Amy and staring balefully at her. ~Don’t react, Silian, you’ll get us all killed.~

The tense moment extended as Amy opened her mouth and then closed it.

“Oh, don’t worry about these two, Lady Justice,” Vayth said, chuckling.

“They are just a couple of bumpkins from J’Selnik who thought they could finagle a winning wager out of me. Probably never been out of the home cave before and have no idea how to address such an august presence as yourself.”

Vayth leaned forward and gave a conspiratorial whisper. “This one’s afraid of looking at the floor. Petrified of heights, apparently, from all those years of living in a cave. Probably why she didn’t lower her eyes.”

~Thank you, Vayth.~

“J’Selnik? I didn’t know they produced such scared runts. Would have been better to drown such uninspiring specimens at birth.” Kasana leaned down until her face was inches from Amy’s. “Go away, you pathetic waste of life.”

Mikhlas held his breath before Amy lowered her eyes to the floor. “My apologies, Lady Justice. We’ll just go.”

Amy stepped back, bumping into her chair, and headed for Silian. Mikhlas could tell she fumed, although no hint of it hit her face. She strode confidently across the glass floor toward the door.

Izzy came to his side a little shaky, and as he turned to leave, Vayth spoke up. “Ahh, fun buns, aren’t you forgetting something? You promised me another drink for my…help.”

Mikhlas silently cursed the greedy priest and tried to disguise his voice as much as possible.

“Sorry,” he said, tossing a credstick onto the top of the bar and catching the quick frown on Kasana’s face as he turned to leave.

As he hurried for the door, his sensitive hearing picked up Kasana speaking to Vayth. “Something about that Amphibian is very familiar.”

“Bah, they all look alike,” Vayth said.

AMY

“What’s a slut?” Amy asked as she paced down the frosted glass corridor leading to the travel lanes.

Silian winced, feeling the mask pull on his facial muscles. He didn’t really have a choice but to tell her the truth.

“It’s an animal that eats excrement.” He hoped his voice conveyed just how angry he felt over that remark. He knew his eyes would be blazing red beneath the black lenses that covered them.

Just hearing Kasana call her that made him want to do violent things. Now that he needed to explain it to her, that feeling intensified.

“I see,” Amy said as if storing that injustice away on a list somewhere.

“Does it not bother you?” he asked, surprised at her calm tone.

She stopped, and he planted his foot so as not to run into her. “Of course, it bothers me a bit, but being insulted like that says more about the person doing the insulting. She’s a nasty piece of work, isn’t she?”

Amy turned to Izzy and Mikhlas, who trailed a few steps behind them.

“I think some changes to the management are in order when you-know-what happens. She’s in the military, I’m sure they have toilets that need cleaning ~somewhere~ in the Realm.”

“That sounds surprisingly like justice,” Izzy replied, nodding.

“My father always said the measure of a person is not how they treat their equals or superiors, but how they treat their subordinates. She’s a nightmare.”

Izzy turned to Mikhlas, crossing her arms. “Why do you put up with that?”

“She’s my superior officer. No matter how much I may dislike her personally, she just follows orders too.”

“Well, that’s going to change,” Izzy said with a firm cast to her jaw. “You can’t have someone like that in command. It undermines everyone’s confidence and just makes life shit, having a boss like that.

“Let’s get back to the ship and get out of here. I’m starting to see what you were talking about, Mikhlas, if she is an example of your leadership. I haven’t even met this Zaftar person and you had unkind words about him.”

Silian wondered what the captain had said regarding the Doge.

~Probably the suspicion that he’s been leading the Fleet for the last several years rather than the King. All these violent rebellions we’ve been putting down can be laid at his feet.~

As the group moved onto the descending travel lane, he caught sight of a group standing at the mid-level entry.

They followed their progress with angry eyes, and Silian realized they were Boliths, and remembered the longstanding tension between them and the Amphibian race.

~Damn.~

He shook his force projectors and heard Mikhlas do the same, yet the reaction from the Boliths just intensified.

With much grunting, they shook their arms, and the smell of the rotting and semi-charred remains of previous scalps wafted up the travel lane.

“Ugh, that’s disgusting,” Izzy said, covering her nose.

One of the Boliths took exception to her words, stepping onto the travel lane ahead of them.

With two quick steps, he placed himself in front, giving an aggressive double nod.

“What you say to me?”

“Back off, now,” Silian demanded.

“Ugly Fishy no tell Gronar what to do. Heard her squeak. What she say?”

~He’s not going to back down. He’s just looking for a fight.~

Silian debated the merits of just sliding forward and killing the Bolith, yet without Prime able to teleport the women to safety until they cleared the nanite jammers, he didn’t want to start a brawl.

~Maybe I can end this with words, or at least limit it to a single fight.~

“She said you stink like the week-old corpse of a Chana victim.” Silian knew that calling the brute a victim of a creature that liked to fuck its victims to death leaving them stuffed with larvae would incense him.

~If I’m lucky he’ll take an unauthorized swing, and I can just kill him.~

“You funny, Fishy. You want to fight Gronar? You ranked?”

~Shit, it didn’t work, and not telling him I’m ranked is a crime.~

“We’re not here to fight,” Mikhlas said. “Just here protecting the ladies.”

“Don’t care. Gronar c—”

“Before you try that, you might want to find out if we are ranked first. We could be ranked much higher than you,” Mikhlas said. “Your promising career might be snuffed out in a second.”

Gronar sucked on his black tusks with a disgusting sound before he nodded. “Fishy smart. Gronar check. Then decide if gut Fishy.”

The other Boliths grunted, one of them pressing a call-up button, and a bot hovered into view.

“Check ranking,” he grunted at it, and the silvery machine maneuvered over to hover in front of Gronar, who spat nonchalantly into the machine.

“Gronar. Rank 5,087.” The Boliths cheered at the ranking of their packmate, who hammered a meaty fist into his chest.

The machine floated over to wait in front of Silian. He would normally have used a hair, but with the mask on, he was forced to copy Gronar’s disgusting action and spit into the receptacle.

“Silian. Rank 4,921.” The Bolith group went quiet, muttering among themselves about whether Gronar would try to take on a fighter ranked so close above him.

Gronar gave Silian an appraising look, as if doubting the machine. ~But he doesn’t know that was only the highest ranked fighter of the three I fought at once defending Mikhlas.~

The machine then wandered over to Mikhlas, who sighed and spat.

“Mikhlas. Rank 141.” Utter silence from the Boliths at the revelation that Mikhlas stood among the top two hundred fighters in all the Realm.

Gronar looked shocked at the pronouncement, frowning at Mikhlas, his heavy brows making a deep crease in his brutish features.

“Satisfied, Gronar? Just let us pass, and you don’t need to die today,” Mikhlas said.

Gronar shook his head. “I not fight you, Mikhlas. Gronar challenge Silian,” he said, smirking toward Silian at the loud cheers of his packmates.

At these words, the ranking bot glowed blue and Silian smiled. ~This fool has no idea why my ranking is so low.~

“But for you, Mikhlas Fishy, I tell my friend Jounan you’re here.”

~Shit.~