Valiant: Tales From The Archive

[CURSEd #36: Joint Operation]

Log Date: 3/12/12765

Data Sources: Darrow Bennion

Event Log: Darrow Bennion

C.V. Justice: Intelligence Center

5:39pm LST

“I would like to state, before we get started, that this briefing will be focused on our upcoming deployment to the Losinadae Nebula, and the current events that are related to it.” Nazka begins as the rest of the Peacekeepers find their seats within the intelligence room onboard the Justice. “We will not be fielding questions on Kasvei or the Administrator. If you need any information about that, you can read the statement that the media office released on the matter; that is the organization’s stance and it is the only comment that we have on the matter at this time. This is not up for debate.”

Nobody says anything; we all know it’s pointless to try and argue with Nazka, but it doesn’t mean we’re happy about it. I see plenty of folded arms and disgruntled expressions around the room; most of us were expecting that we’d get a separate, more detailed explanation than the one that was being given to the public. Most of us felt like we were owed that, since we’d been getting our orders from Nova all along, and never knew it.

But it didn’t seem like that explanation would be coming any time soon, and CURSE was throwing another assignment at us to keep our minds off the galaxy-shaking revelation. As the lights dim down, the main holoarray shimmers to life in the center of the room, casting an image of a world that’s been making the rounds on the news in the recent days. It’s a Collective planet called Juncosa, and apparently, it’d gotten the same treatment that Tirsigal had: full destruction, no survivors.

“As many of you have probably seen, the Collective has suffered another planetary catastrophe on the scale of the Tirsigal catastrophe.” Nazka says, starting to bring up other images and reports from the Juncosa event. “The world in question is Juncosa, located in the Junondon System. The damage here is more severe than Tirsigal, largely on account of the population difference. Juncosa had a population twice as large as Tirsigal.”

Surge gives a low whistle. “That’s, what, over ten billion people?”

“13.7 billion, according to the publicly available numbers.” Nazka says. “Which brings the total combined losses from Tirsigal and Juncosa to slightly over 21 billion casualties. As you can imagine, the Collective is not taking this well.”

“Yeah, boohoo, cry me a river.” Whisper says from where she’s sitting beside me, with Kwyn on her other side. “They’ve been doing the same thing to the rest of us for thousands of years. That number might be big, but it doesn’t even begin to approach the total population losses due to Collective assimilation over the last millennium.”

Nazka purses his lips, and though he does not directly reply to Whisper’s remark, it’s obvious that his words are aimed at her and anyone else that feels similarly. “I suppose we may as well discuss this now, since we have you all here. I understand that some of you have… certain feelings about the Collective, and how they should be dealt with. Feelings that are doubtless shared by large portions of the galactic population. We are not here to litigate the validity of those feelings, and we will not be inserting ourselves into that conversation in the public sphere. When questioned about these events in public, you will state that you are not allowed to comment on the matter, or you will direct them towards CURSE’s media office. The organization is in an extremely difficult time right now, and we do not need our situation worsened by flippant or ill-conceived remarks that are then disseminated across the galaxy as unflattering sound bytes or compromising clips. Is that understood?”

“So what is CURSE’s stance on the Collective, then?” Headache demands. “Because we deserve to know what people are going to be thinking about us, and what they think we’re supporting.”

“Yeah.” Surge agrees. “And unlike the Nova thing, there’s no reason to keep this secret. We deserve to know what we should be prepared for, and whether we’re going to be catching any flak for CURSE’s stance if we go out in public.”

“In brief, our stance is that we oppose the Collective’s assimilation campaigns, but we do not condone the use of weapons of planetary destruction. Which brings us to the core of this briefing.” Nazka replies, moving the image of Juncosa to the side and bringing up another image of the Losinadae Nebula beside it. “While we still cannot confirm with certainty what happened in Tirsigal, in the Juncosa case, the picture has become increasingly clear over the last several days. The intelligence coming out of the system, and assembled by various agencies around the galaxy, has indicated that a weapon of planetary destruction of deployed against Juncosa. Our own intelligence seems to indicate that the point of origination may be in the Losinadae Nebula — some of you detailed, in your after-action reports, that that we were invited there by the Maskling that stole the Dragine artifact on Svyash.”

Kwyn sits forward at that. “Wait, this has to do with the Maskling that beat us senseless on Syvash?”

A chill goes down my back as I straighten up as well. “He did invite us to come to Losinadae to see what he was going to use the artifact for… and we would’ve taken him up on that if were weren’t chasing the Valiant to Kasvei.” I say, wiping a hand over my mouth as the implications start to sink in. “If we’d known that this was what he was planning…”

“It was a Dragine artifact! We should’ve chased the Maskling down anyway, but no, we had to indulge Tenji’s obsession with the Valiant, and now we know why she was pushing us to go after them instead.” Whisper says, throwing a hand out. “Her vendetta with Songbird is clouding her judgement, and has been this entire time, and we’re only just now seeing it because now we actually know who she is!”

“The past is the past. It cannot be changed.” Ironfist says before Nazka can come down on Whisper. “You make a valid point, and questions do deserve to be raised about whether Tenji’s personal grievances are compromising her ability to lead CURSE as it should be led. But for the moment, we must focus on what is now before us. Whatever this Maskling has done with the artifact, we must figure out what he's doing, and put a stop to it.”

“Look, far be it from me to claim I’m the smartest person in the world, but have we stopped to consider that this Maskling is doing the galaxy a favor?” Gossamer speaks up at this point. She’s been slouched and sullen in her chair for most of the meeting. “I am the last person that wants to stand up for a Maskling, but if he’s using that artifact to roast Collective planets, maybe we just let the guy do his thing for a little bit longer.”

“Are you insane?” Kwyn demands. “Twenty-one billion people dead in less than two months and you want him to do more?”

“Don’t come at me with that, rookie.” Gossamer retorts. “Those aren’t people. Those are parasites, and if it’s parasites killing parasites, nobody’s gonna shed a tear. Your pretty little human head wouldn’t know it because your lifespans are so short, but the Collective’s been nibbling away at the edges of other nations’ borders for thousands of years. It’s how they work, and Whisper can back me up on this. It might be a little bloody, but all this Maskling is doing is a bit of hedge trimming. Paring back the ivy before covers the house.”

Whisper makes a face, something that indicates that she’s disgruntled about partially agreeing with Gossamer. “I won’t say you’re right, but I won’t say you’re wrong.” she mutters.

“As heartwarming as it is to see two old rivals agreeing with each other, I will take the opportunity to remind all of you that despite our galaxy’s dislike of the Collective, CURSE does not condone genocide in any form, even for a nation that is universally despised.” Nazka says frostily. “And if we discover anyone has been expressing such an opinion in any public space where a representative of the organization could be seen as supporting the deaths of billions of mostly innocent individuals, there will be consequences. Is that clear?”

Nobody tries to fight it, but the silence in the room is sullen. It’s clear that this is a touchy topic for a lot of people, and there are a lot of strong opinions about it. When there’s no resistance to his order, Nazka continues with the briefing.

“Now, as we had mentioned prior to that tangent, the point of origination is believed to have been in the Losinadae Nebula, which the renegade Maskling has invited us to visit.” Nazka says, enlarging the image of the nebula. “The nebula belongs to the Confederacy of Original Systems, and the white dwarf it contains is the site of their ongoing project to build a ringworld with long-term sustainability. It is assumed that the superweapon, whatever it may be, is housed in this ringworld, which is still under construction.”

“Whoa, hold up. Does this mean the COS is working with the Masklings?” Headache asks.

“We have not ruled out the possibility.” Nazka says as the ringworld around the white dwarf comes up on the holoarray. “With the loss of Mokasha in the past year, there appears to be precedent and motivation for the Confederacy to be involved. I do not find it likely, as a state-sponsored planetary genocide is essentially unheard of, with the exception of the wars between the Venusians and the Viralix. But improbable does not mean impossible. We must remain open to the possibilities until we have more information to guide our conclusions.”

“So what’s our move when we get there?” Ironfist asks, leaning forward and resting his forearms on his knees. “Will we be providing advance notice of our arrival?”

“We will not. If the Confederacy is complicit in the destruction of Juncosa, we do not want to advertise our arrival ahead of time, lest they panic and try to conceal or destroy evidence of their involvement.” Nazca answers. “They will find out we are there when we arrive. Should they deny or defer our request to dock and inspect, we will have established the first indicator of guilt.”

“Assuming they don’t, and we’re able to freely inspect the ring installation, what are we looking for?” Surge asks. “Do we know what this superweapon looks like?”

“We don’t. But a device that can render this level of destruction is likely large enough to require installation into an existing structure in order to provide the power and support it needs to function.” Nazka says, pointing out the regions of the ring that are still under construction. “So our search will be seeking anything that looks like it has the capability to propel an object to relativistic speeds and deploy it to a target with an exceptional degree of accuracy. Losinadae is over a thousand lightyears from Junondon, so whatever the device is, it likely made use of warp dilation or tunnelspace transit; those are other mechanisms we will be considering as we search for the weapon.”

“Hate to be the killjoy, but isn’t this something we should be leaving to the Vaunted?” Whisper asks. “Don’t they usually handle the policing for this sort of stuff?”

“Normally we would defer to them on a matter such as this, and only contribute if we were invited to do so.” Nazka says. “However, the present state of CURSE’s reputation has put us in a position where we need to demonstrate our value to the galactic public, and we need to do so quickly. We have been getting hammered on the public relations front, and the Valiant have been merciless with the attack ads. The data team in the media office is showing that public sentiment has dropped across the board, especially among older demographics. The statement that CURSE has released will not be enough; we need to pair it with concrete action. Hence, the importance of this deployment: if we can locate the weapon used to destroy Juncosa and impound it, we can shore up our credibility with the public.”

“Aside from the fact that some of the public would prefer that the weapon keep firing.” Gossamer mutters.

“That sounds great and all, but you’re leaving out one important detail.” Surge says at this point. “I’m pretty sure the Valiant were headed in that direction when they left Kasvei. And they left before us.”

Nazka’s lips draw into a tight line. “I am aware.”

“Okay? And what are we going to do about it?” Headache demands.

“As has likely become evident to everyone in this room, Songbird appears to be… for the moment… an individual that is…” Nazka’s words slow down as if he was searching for a way to phrase what’s clearly weighting on his mind. “…for lack of a better way to term it, he is more powerful than anyone that we currently have on our roster.”

I find myself shifting uncomfortably in my seat, partially because I know that, as the one with the Spark, I was supposed to be the direct counter to Songbird. But that discomfort isn’t just restricted to me; everyone in room is unsettled at Nazka’s prognosis, because it is a blanket statement. It’s an admission that no one at CURSE can beat Songbird — not even Nova.

“This is a fact that I have mulled over for several nights in a row.” Nazka continues. “And after appending much thought to it, I have come to the conclusion that if we arrive to find the Valiant already in the Losinadae Nebula, instead of confronting them, we will propose a joint operation for the disabling and recovery of the superweapon.”

Everyone straightens up at that. Gossamer practically jerks forward in her chair. “What?! Are you out of your damn mind? A joint operation with the Valiant?!”

“You can’t be serious!” Whisper hisses. “Doing this with them, it, it would— you’d be validating them! We’ll never get rid of them at that point!”

“I am aware of the risks of what I am proposing.” Nazka answers firmly. “Trust me, I do not enjoy this any more than the rest of you do. It is why I have spent so long ruminating over it, and what is to be done. No matter how long I contemplated it, and the various solutions I concocted, there are a few incontrovertible facts that I could not dispose of. The first is that in a given fight with the Valiant, we are likely to lose. I can no longer deny that or pretend otherwise after what I saw on Kasvei. We all saw with our own eyes what happened; we all know this truth.”

“Yeah, but… like… even if we can’t win… isn’t working with them, like, giving up?” Headache says as a distraught silence grips the room. “We’re basically admitting there’s no point to fighting them… like, we don’t have to fight them if we’re obviously going to lose, but we don’t have to help them either, right? We can just go around them, or not engage them…”

“Perhaps. But if the Valiant is aiming for the same goal as us, we will eventually come into contact with them.” Nazka says. “And when that happens, a confrontation will occur, and we will be at a harsh disadvantage without Tenji here to contend directly with Songbird. Which brings me to my second point: we do not have the bandwidth to undertake a policing action and contend with the Valiant at the same time. Attempting to do so will leave us overextended and place our assets at risk. I would much prefer to eliminate one of the potential threat dimensions so we can focus on the superweapon, and whatever force may be guarding it.”

“Yeah, but what if the Valiant turn around and stab us in the back afterwards?” Whisper demands. “If this fight over the superweapon leaves us weakened, they might try to finish the job!”

“They will not do that. If we ask to partner with them and they agree, they will not take mercenary actions afterwards.” Ironfist says, his thick fingers laced together. “I’ve met Songbird in battle. He is a man of integrity, and someone with that much power exerts some level of influence over the people around him. If we enter into a temporary truce with the Valiant, I believe they will keep it.”

Gossamer gives him a disgusted look. “Really? You’re complimenting him now? You do remember what side you’re supposed to be on, right?”

“I speak from my experience with him. I know what I felt; I know what I saw. He may be our enemy, but he is an honorable one, and I respect that.” Ironfist says firmly. “Besides, what we are doing here is bigger than the Valiant; it is bigger than petty rivalries. Someone is utilizing a weapon of unspeakable power to kill billions of people. We intend to stop that, and if the Valiant intend the same, I see no reason not to put aside our differences for a little while to accomplish that goal.”

“Which happens to be my third point: perspective.” Nazka says. “Ironfist is correct, and I had come to the same conclusion in my ruminations. No matter how I choose to approach this, I could not set aside the fact that this is a matter of planetary genocide. Our disagreements with the Valiant pale in comparison, and to squabble with them in the shadow of something so colossal would only further degrade our image in the eyes of the public. We need to show the galaxy that we can rise above our vendettas and meet the moment when it calls. It will demonstrate that CURSE can put aside their differences and focus on the things that matter, and it will allow us to claw back some of the moral high ground that we have surrendered recently.”

The mood in the room has sunken to something approaching defeat, in part because none of us can really argue against the points that Nazka has made. It’s obvious that he’s thought this over quite thoroughly, and the arguments he’s made are well-reasoned and stand up to scrutiny. The bitter taste that most of us have in our mouth comes from the fact that we are having to concede that the Valiant have the better hand, and will beat us in most encounters where they bring Songbird with them.

“I think we should do it.” Kwyn says, breaking the silence. “This is the kind of work we’re supposed to be doing anyways, right? We don’t exist to fight the Valiant; we exist to help keep the galaxy stable and help people that need help. This is the kind of work we’re supposed to be doing.”

Ironfist looks at Kwyn, tilting a finger at her. “It is. You’re right. This is what we do.” He looks around the room. “We keep citizens safe. We maintain order. That is what we are: Citizens United for Responsible Safety Enforcement. Not Citizens United for Hunting Down Challengers and the Valiant.”

Headache shakes her head. “I don’t like it. But with the way things are, I suppose we don’t really have a choice. I hope it pans out the way you think it will, Nazka.”

“And what about Tenji?” Gossamer cuts in. “Is this the direction she wanted to take this in?”

The tension in the room immediately ratchets back up. Eyes go to Nazka, who, to his credit, does not fold under the pressure. “The Administrator has much on her plate right now with handling the response to the Kasvei incident. She is busy reassuring CURSE’s partners and running point on damage control; it is our job to ensure that she has positive material to work with. If we provide CURSE with a victory on a matter of objective merit, that will provide her with ammunition for rehabilitating the organization’s public image.” Nazka answers calmly. “If you are not comfortable with that, then I can remove you from the roster for the upcoming assignment.”

I swear I can hear Gossamer’s teeth grinding from across the room, and my eyes flick to Whisper. We both know the subtext here; Nazka has not cleared this with Tenji, and is assuming executive control over the Losinadae assignment. And it’s hard to tell why he’s leaving Tenji out of the loop — whether he’s making a power play, or if he’s sincerely concerned about CURSE’s survival on the galactic stage; the man is impossible to read. But whatever the case, he’s spinning it as something that will help Tenji, and the logic behind his rationale isn’t entirely unfounded.

“Keep me on the roster.” Gossamer growls, leaning back in her chair. “Let’s get this over with. The whole mess is going to leave a bad taste in my mouth.”

“A good compromise leaves everyone angry.” Nazka replies drily, turning his attention back to the holoarray. “Now, for the timeline. We will be arriving at Losinadae in roughly two days…”

Press Release from the CURSE Media Office

Official Statement on the Kasvei Incident

In the interest of dispelling misinformation that has propagated since the incident on Kasvei, Citizens United has decided to release a statement on the return of Nova.

It may come as a surprise to many that the Challenger known as Nova is still alive, and has been leading CURSE for the last fifteen years. We understand that many are wondering why this was kept secret for so long, and why she has not operated in a combat capacity since her presumed death. We would like to assure the galactic public that this secret was maintained for the safety of Nova herself, and in the interest of stabilizing the galaxy after the collapse of the Challenger program.

Very few individuals were aware of Nova’s survival, as it was of the utmost importance that her new identity was not compromised to ensure her safety. Almost none of the staff at Citizens United were aware of this secret, and we ask that you do not harass them, as they cannot provide the answers that many of you are looking for.

Regarding CURSE’s decision to deploy Nova in her full capacity to Kasvei, this decision was made as a last-ditch measure to interrupt an illegal Valiant operation taking place in Selbaredo under the cover of night. The counteroperation prevented the Valiant from fully raiding the Epperson Institute, and minimized the gains from their hit-and-run. Citizens United remains dedicated to enforcing the galactic order and the rule of law, and will continue to oppose any and all Valiant operations that violate the rights and territory of sovereign nations.

We understand also that many in the public have questions about Nova’s welfare and her personal life. We assure you that Nova is being provided with the best medical care in the wake of the Valiant raid on Kasvei, and remains dedicated to the core mission of Citizens United. She will not be able to take interviews or personal questions at this time or in the near future, as she is diligently working on helping bring the Valiant to heel.

Citizens United remains dedicated to the greater welfare of the galaxy, and in preserving the peace that was established after the collapse of the Challenger program. Our mission remains the same: to protect and serve, and with your support and understanding, we will continue to do so.

Signed,

The CURSE Administration and Media Office

Event Log: Darrow Bennion

C.V. Justice: Hallways

3/13/12765 9:02am LST

“Did you see the way she was looking at him yesterday? She was steaming.” Whisper says as we make our way back from the mess hall. We’d just finished up breakfast together, and the rest of the day ahead of us was reserved for doing equipment checks and ramping up to operational readiness before we arrive at Losinadae tomorrow.

“Yeah, she was pissed something fierce.” I agree in a murmur. We’d gotten on the topic of Nazka and Gossamer’s clash as we were dropping off our trays for cleaning. “I don’t think she would’ve minded as much if he had just come out and said that he wasn’t gonna clear the assignment plan with Tenji. But the way he responded, he basically backed her into a corner and made it look like she’d be making things harder for Tenji if she went against his plan.”

“Hell of a power move. Makes you wonder if he’s planning something.” Whisper says, keeping her voice low as other crew pass by us on their way to the mess hall. “Nazka never struck me as the sort to try and seize power, but maybe something’s changed after Kasvei.”

“He does seem more… I dunno. It’s hard to describe it.” I concur. “I want to say he’s more independent now, but it’s a… weird sort of independence? Like, he’s asserting more control, but in the name of protecting the organization and making Tenji’s job easier. It’s like he wants to keep Tenji in charge, but expand the amount of control he has at the same time.”

“I don’t like it.” Whisper mutters. “I don’t like the idea of Nazka being in charge, but now that Tenji’s shown her hand, I don’t like the fact that she’s in charge, either. Is that even her name? Tenji? That can’t be her actual name, right? Should we just start calling her Nova?”

“I dunno. The press release didn’t help clear anything up.” I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “Think the whole reason she went back to the HQ while she sent us to Losinadae is so that she wouldn’t have to deal with any of us hounding her for answers. Plus it bought her time to figure out her answers when we do come back and get around to asking her why she kept it secret for all those years.”

“I mean, it doesn’t really matter what the answer is at this point. She lied to all of us; there’s no getting around that.” Whisper shrugs. “Only thing left to find out at this point is if she’s going to give us some bullshit excuse, or if she’s going to come clean about why she did it. I’m not holding out hope for the second one.”

“Do you think she’ll deploy against Songbird again if she gets the chance?” I ask as we start to come up on the intersection in the hall where we’ll be making our turn.

“I wouldn’t know. I never went on any missions with Nova because we were in different departments back in the day, so I can’t say what she’ll do if she gets another chance at Songbird.” Whisper says. “But I’m pretty sure CURSE doesn’t want to be throwing the head of the organization into the field too often. If she dies or gets seriously injured, it’s going to seriously disrupt operations— oh hey! Yeah, you with the face!”

Whisper twists around to look at someone that just rounded the corner of the hall, and I turn to see it’s a young-looking human that doesn’t stand out too terribly much. Brown hair, blue eyes, decently tall — I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I can’t quite place it. Hearing someone call at him, he turns around and looks at us, pointing to himself.

“Yeah, you.” Whisper says, coming over to him. “You’re the mole that we had with the Valiant, right? Callsign was Frequency, wasn’t it?”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s me. You can just call me Quincy, though.” he says as I follow over behind Whisper. “You’re… Whisper, right? I think I’ve passed you a couple times during covert ops training.”

“Yeah, that’s me. We probably haven’t crossed paths often because I’m on the stealth track and you’re on the infiltration track.” Whisper says, clapping a hand to his arm. “Good job on gettin’ that deep into the Valiant. You put one hell of a wrench into their operation on Kasvei, and I heard you brought back some pretty spicy intel about their internal operations.”

He gives a smile, though it seems tinged, very slightly, with discomfort. “Thanks. It wasn’t easy to go that deep. I hope the intel I brought back will be useful.”

“I’m sure it will. Gekku could probably stand to learn a thing or two from you.” Whisper says, before motioning to me. “You ever met Axiom before?”

“No, I’ve never had the chance.” Quincy says, turning to me and offering out a hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. Everyone’s heard about how to broke the Katakoa Cartel on your own.”

I take his hand and give it a firm shake. “Just doing my job, same as anyone else here. You seem pretty impressive yourself; I imagine there’s a promising future for any operative that managed to go deep cover with the Valiant.”

There’s that smile again, polite with just the faintest hint of discomfort on the edges. “I’m glad to hear it. I’m guessing, based on where you were coming from, that you two just left the mess hall?”

Whisper grins. “And I’m guessing, based on the direction that you’re going, that you’re headed that way.”

“Yeah. Woke up a little too late to avoid the breakfast rush, so I’ll have to get in line with everyone else.” he says bashfully, rubbing the back of his neck.

“We won’t keep you, then. I’m sure you’re hungry.” I say, making a motion down the hall. “Get on with your bad self. Main dish is sausage and eggs this morning; I think they’re trying to load us up on protein before we deploy to Losinadae tomorrow.”

“Oh, that sounds good.” he says, starting to back away from us as he heads in that direction. “It was nice meeting you — have a good day!”

As he heads off in that direction, Whisper and I turn and continue on our original path. It isn’t until we’ve rounded the corner again that she speaks. “Didn’t seem like he was too proud of what he did.”

“Oh, you saw it too?” I say, glancing at her. “I was wondering if I was just imagining it.”

“It was like someone was touching a fresh scrape every time we mentioned it.” Whisper says. “I wonder how deep he went. I imagine he had to be embedded pretty far down to have stayed that long and to have sabotaged the Valiant’s Kasvei operation that badly.”

“There’s a danger in going too deep, isn’t there?” I ask, having a general idea of where she’s going with this.

“There is, yeah. You run the risk of getting attached, or losing sight of your assignment.” she confirms. “Infiltration and deep cover isn’t for everyone. In covert ops, the running joke is that an assassin might kill you without a sound, but a good infiltrator will talk you into offing yourself before the assassin can get around to it.”

“So a good infiltrator is a sociopath?” I guess.

“A lot of them are. Obviously there’s no data to back it up, but you gotta be good at manipulating people and not feeling bad about it.” Whisper explains. “Anyone that spends any amount of time in infiltration has to be good at dissociation and pretending to be something they’re not. Because if you can’t dissociate… well, your stint in infiltration isn’t going to be very long.”

“And you don’t think Quincy’s that type.” I surmise.

Whisper shakes her head. “I wasn’t getting the vibe off him. If I’m being honest, I don’t think he’s long for the job. Either he went too deep on that last assignment, or he’s just not comfortable with what he did. If he can’t cut it on the infiltration track, they’ll probably have to transfer him to another department.”

“Might be better for him.” I say, tucking my hands in my pockets. “He seemed pretty young. Barely in his twenties.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too. He’s even younger than Kwyn. Just a kid, really.” Whisper agrees. “Speaking of Kwyn, though…”

I can already tell from her tone where she’s going with this. “Look. I know I forgot to turn on the sound damping; that’s my bad. Trust me, everybody on the Peacekeeper hall has let me know it. It won’t happen again…”

Whisper can’t suppress her toothy grin. “I wasn’t gonna mention it.”

“Sure you weren’t.”

“I was just gonna say that I’m proud of you. Picking the petals from a new flower is quite the achievement, especially after the dry spell you’ve had.”

“WOW. Just wow. That is the most backhanded compliment I’ve heard in a while.”

“But am I wrong?”

“No comment.”

“Heh. Has she asked for an encore since then?”

“…”

“Oh, she has? Oh ho ho! You must’ve left quite the impression!”

“I mean, I’m probably nothing special; I’m her first, so it’s not like she has anything to compare me against, so it’s probably just… that, y’know…”

“Oh, don’t be modest. Women know what’s good, whether it’s their first or fiftieth. If you weren’t that good, she wouldn’t have come back for more. Honestly, I should be mad at you for setting the bar so high. How am I supposed to top that whenever I get my claws into her?”

“I— wh! Don’t blame that on me!”

“Hahaha! Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to make my own impression… but I’m glad that you’re taking care of her, Dare. First time can be rough if you don’t have an understanding partner. From what she’s told me, it sounds like you did right by her.”

“Wait… how much did she tell you?”

“Calm down, she didn’t give me any of the deep dark details. You know how shy she is… let’s just say she’s happy she spent her first night with you.”

“Oh, good. I can’t tell you how much of a relief that is…”

“And while we’re on the topic, when do you plan on taking me for a test drive?”

“Look here, you little gremlin…”

“Hehe.”

Event Log: Darrow Bennion

C.V. Justice: Bridge

3/14/12765 8:55am LST

“Breach in five, all stations go red. Non-crew personnel, return to quarters until further notice. I repeat, breach in five, all stations go red.”

I arrive on the bridge, with Kwyn following me, right as the adjutant is finishing his message to the rest of the ship. Everything is busy as Markos presides on the bridge; the other Peacekeepers are here as well. We’re about to arrive in the Losinadae Nebula, with the full expectation that the Valiant are already going to be there ahead of us.

“Over here, Dare.” Whisper says from off to the side, near one of the bridge stations inset into the wall. I move over in that direction, as does Kwyn; the other Peacekeepers have likewise found places to stand out of the way, while Nazka and Gossamer are flanking Markos’ chair. Every now and then, bridge staff will call to each other as they work through their screens, while the adjutant keeps everyone and everything in line, and moving along.

“Tactical, the point defense array needs to be up by the time we breach. Main weapons stay cold for now, but be ready to bring them up if the captain says.”

“Acknowledged.”

“Comms, first priority after the SGT sync will be reestablishing a secured connection with HQ. Second priority will be a status check on local system comms. If you hear anything of merit, flag it my way.”

“Acknowledged, adjutant.”

“Navigation, I want you to remain on your toes. I expect you to be working on exit solutions until red alert is rescinded.”

“Acknowledged.”

“It’s impressive watching them work.” Kwyn murmurs to Whisper and myself. “They’re so… precise. Efficient.”

“They have to be. The lives of everyone on this ship hinge on them. If they make a mistake or miscalculate, everyone on the ship dies, and a ship worth hundreds of millions of credits gets damaged or destroyed.” Whisper murmurs back.

“For the record, Deputy Administrator, I’d like to state that I am not a fan of this plan of yours.” Markos mutters aside to Nazka. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him since the incident on Kasvei, but I can only imagine what’s going through his conspiracy-addled mind ever since he’s found out that Nova is still alive. “Working with the Valiant—”

“Your objection is noted and duly discarded, Captain.” Nazka says coldly. “The course has already been decided upon; the risks have already been weighed against the needs of the organization. You are not to bring this up again until the conclusion of our operation in Losinadae. Is that clear?”

Markos clearly doesn’t agree, but Nazka isn’t someone that you argue with. “Then I hope this goes the way you think it will.” Markos says, returning his attention to the forward window. Outside, the tangled web of tunnelspace is starting to converge towards a twisted knot of dark matter that will eventually become our breach point, leading back into realspace.

“Do we have a plan for if they don’t decide to work with us?” Headache asks from her spot on the edge of the bridge. “The ship they’re in is the Prominence. It’s a proper Challenger battlecruiser; it’ll have us outgunned.”

“That’s why navigation is going to be working on exit solutions while we’re on red alert.” Markos says. “I’m not going to charge my ship in there trusting to the goodwill of the Valiant.”

“I am trusting them to be reasonable, and to put the welfare of the galaxy above their animosity. Just the same as we will be doing.” Nazka says as tangled knot of dark matter starts to spiral open ahead of us, revealing the star-speckled sky of realspace beyond.

“Return to realspace is underway. Tactical, begin local scanning the moment we are clear of the breach.” the adjutant orders. Around us, there’s a low, bassy thrumming as vibrations run through the hull, marking our departure from tunnelspace. Off in the distance is Losinadae’s white dwarf, a bright point of light that’s ionizing the many shells of gas that radiate away from the system, glowing for a few lightyears in every direction.

“Scans underway; we are returning no contacts within near range.” the tactical officer answers. “We are broadening the sweep now.”

“SGT sync completed. Working on establishing a link with CURSE HQ. Establishing contact with the local system relay.” the comms officer says. “I am picking up noise on encrypted channels, likely originating from Losinadae’s ring installation. Would you like me to feed it through to our local SCION instance?”

“Do it. Might as well give him something to do while he’s waiting to link up with his main version back at the HQ.” Markos orders. “Anything yet, tactical?”

“Still nothing. I’m not picking up the Prominence anywhere near us.”

“They’re probably already at the ringworld, considering how far ahead of us they were.” Gossamer says. “I don’t see any reason they’d be hanging this far back in the system.”

Markos looks at Nazka, who gives his order. “Proceed to the ring installation with the appropriate precautions. If they are not here, then that allows us to proceed with our original assignment without interference.”

A nod from Markos sets the rest of the bridge crew to the order, and the Justice is soon heading towards the white dwarf at a low warp factor to cut down on what would otherwise be a long trip. Even so, it’s still a bit of a trip, and only broken up when the comms officer speaks up again. “Captain, the onboard instance of SCION has finished syncing with the HQ SCION. He just let me know that he’s broken the cryptokey for the encrypted channels we were monitoring, and is running analysis on that traffic right now. Evidently the Valiant are present; the Prominence is parked about seventy miles outside the ring. It appears that local defense forces refused to let them onto the ring for an inspection, and they are now panicking because the Valiant countered by threatening to bring one of the Bastions to this system. Outgoing traffic seems to be directed towards the Confederacy, possibly requests for support and reinforcement.”

I push off the wall where I’d been leaning. “They’re threatening to bring one of the Bastions here? How long would that take?”

“A week, if not more. But it’s still a powerful threat.” Gossamer says, looking at Nazka. “I’m not a fan of your plan, but if it’s going to work, we need to get over there and make our proposition to the Valiant. If they bring a Bastion to this system, they will have all the leverage, and they will not want or need our help. In fact, they’ll probably be able to conduct their investigation and chase us off at the same time.”

“Agreed. We enjoy the distinction of having the authority of the Colloquium behind us, at least for the time being.” Nazka concurs. “CURSE’s orders are backed by the force of galactic law; the Valiant do not have that legitimacy yet. Where the ring’s defense forces might resist the Valiant, they are obligated in some situations to defer to CURSE’s commands. We can use that as a bargaining chip to force the Valiant into working with us for a time. Markos, would you be able to speed this up a bit? Time is of the essence.”

“We can make that happen. Navigation, you heard the man. Double up the warp factor. Comms, prepare a channel to engage with the Prominence once we’re in local transmission range. Make sure it’s encrypted; we don’t want the ring eavesdropping on this.” Markos commands.

Markos’ orders are fulfilled almost instantly, with the space outside the Justice lensing a little more as the warp around the ship is adjusted. It only takes another ten minutes for us to reach the point where the ring around the white dwarf is starting to become visible, and for us to come within local transmission range of the Prominence.

“Captain, the Prominence has accepted our channel offer.” the comms officer reports. “I am ready to open the channel at your order.”

“Before you do, sir, our extended scans show that they do currently have weapons hot and shields fully powered, and we are coming in a little fast.” the tactical officer states. “It may be worth putting the brakes on.”

“Fair point. We don’t want them on edge while we’re trying to talk to them.” Markos says. “Navigation, let’s go to coasting. Should help with the transmission anyhow. Deputy Administrator, this is your plan, so it’s your party. I’ll open the channel and make introductions, but after that, the rest is on you.”

“I am prepared. Open the channel when you are ready, Captain.” Nazka orders, keeping his arms folded behind his back.

Markos nods, turning his head back to his officers. “Comms, put it through.”

One of the panes of the forward window turns opaque, instead presenting a video view of what’s clearly the bridge of the Prominence. Songbird is there, along with Kiwi — the two seem inseparable — in addition to Sierra, Jackrabbit, and Valkyrie. In essence, all the big names.

“Well, well, well. Isn’t this a surprise.” Sierra says, folding her arms. “CURSE, talking first and shooting later? Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Hello, Valiant.” Nazka replies coolly. “We thought it would be prudent, given recent events, to reevaluate our approach to our assignment in this particular system.”

“Oh, the Juncosa thing? Should’ve figured y’all would try to shove your nose into that as well.” Sierra says. “So what, you’re here to play the heroes and arrest whoever fired the big gun that toasted all those Symbiotes?”

“I could say the same thing of the Valiant, given your presence here.” Nazka points out calmly.

“We don’t like doing it, but whatever happened here is bigger than our little spats.” Gossamer says. “A weapon that can be used to sterilize a Collective planet can also be used against other planets, regardless of whether they have a Symbiote population or not. We’re not saying that we owe the Collective any sympathy after everything they’ve done, but we’re also smart enough to know a gun like that can point in a lot of directions.”

“Are you… asking for a truce?” Valkyrie speaks at this point, narrowing her eyes at us.

“Temporarily. This would not be a permanent cessation of hostilities; it would simply be putting a pause on our conflict while resolve this… situation.” Nazka says, motioning to the ringworld that we’re drawing closer to. “Once we have detained those responsible and dealt with the device responsible for Juncosa’s destruction, we will go our separate ways from this system, and resume our conflict as necessary.”

“So are you asking us to stay out of the way while you do that, or are you asking us to work with you on it?” Songbird speaks up. “We’re not dumb. We know you’re partially motivated by the fact that Makalu may have used a Dragine artifact in the weapon that destroyed Juncosa. Disabling the weapon would give you the opportunity to try and salvage the artifact from it.”

“We do not know that with certainty.” Nazka replies. “If you would like to be the ones to locate and dismantle the weapon, though, we will allow you to handle that part.”

“What?” Whisper hisses. “You can’t do that; what if they get their hands on the artifact?”

“I offer it, because I know that where the weapon is, Makalu will likely be as well.” Nazka replies. “My understanding is that he has been a rather difficult opponent when encountered in the past.”

“Oh, so you wanna use us as meatshields to put between you and Makalu.” Sierra surmises. “Good to see nothing’s changed.”

“Nobody wants to deal with Makalu.” I say at this point. “But if he’s responsible for this, then we’re gonna have to. And if an artifact was part of the weapon, we’re gonna need to figure out what to do with it, because one of our sides will have to walk away with it. It seems fair that whatever side goes up against Makalu gets to claim the artifact afterwards. So do you all want that, or not?”

“I mean, we were going to do that anyway, so I don’t see why not.” Jackrabbit says. “We don’t need your help for that.”

“So you claim, but we have reason to believe that you would already be inside the ring now if you were able to.” Nazka points out. “We have been monitoring the communications in this system. It seems that the local defense authorities are somewhat recalcitrant to let you dock.”

There’s a bit of shifting and looks exchanged on the bridge of the Prominence. “So what are you offering, then?” Sierra says, pulling a lollipop out of her uniform jacket and starting to unwrap it. “Because it sounds to me like you’re saying you can get us onto the ring.”

“We can provide you with legitimacy. Agree to the truce and work with us, and we will tell the ring’s defense forces that this is a joint operation backed by the authority of the Colloquium.” Nazka proposes. “You will be able to board the ring along with us, assuming they cooperate.”

“And if they don’t cooperate?” Valkyrie asks, her eyes still narrowed in suspicion.

“Having two ships’ worth of firepower is better than one, and I believe we would be within our rights and obligations to utilize it in the service of investigating this matter.” Nazka says. “It would, of course, be limited to destroying defensive emplacements and disabling other obstacles that would otherwise prevent us from docking at the ring.”

Looks are again exchanged on the bridge of the Prominence, with Jackrabbit giving a shrug as she looks to the others. “Man’s got a point. The Prominence has some pretty impressive guns. Be a shame not to use them if we have a good reason to.”

“So let me get this straight.” Sierra says, licking her lollipop as she hands the wrapper off to some sort of catboy that’s loitering around her. “You finally want to ease up on trying to kill us for a little bit, and you’re agreeing to help get us onto the ring so you can throw us at Makalu. And you’re willing to let us walk away with the artifact if we find that it was used in the superweapon; the only work we’d have to do is beating Makalu. That sounds pretty good to me… almost too good to be true.”

Gossamer snorts. “Oh, trust me. This wasn’t our preferred course of action, and most of us were against it. But we’re being told the welfare of the galaxy comes first, or some shit like that.”

“As much as I enjoy the intellectual discourse taking place,” Nazka says with a side-eye at Gossamer. “we are on a timer. Weapons such as the one that destroyed Juncosa typically have multiple uses in them, and it has been at least a week, possibly more, since it was last fired. It could very well be ready to fire again in a matter of days, if not hours. We need to come to a consensus on this soon, before it has the chance to do so.”

“And how do you know that?” Valkyrie counters. “Or are you merely saying it to pressure us into a truce with you?”

“I don’t know it. But I’m not willing to risk the lives of another six, seven, ten billion individuals on it.” Nazka replies crisply. “One thing I do know: if a person has the means to fire a weapon like this, and they have the conviction to kill billions of people with a single command or press of a button, they will not stop at doing it once. They will fire it as many times as they are allowed to do so before someone puts a stop to it. And with the Collective being as large as it is, this person has many, many targets they can point this weapon at.”

“We will call the truce and work with you for now.” Songbird replies softly, breaking his silence before any of the other Valiant can reply. “If you break this agreement, I will be coming over to express my displeasure in person.”

He turns without another word and departs the bridge, Kiwi giving us a lingering glare before she turns and follows him. There’s something chilling about the way it was delivered, quiet and polite and understated. It’s as if he knows he doesn’t need threaten anything in particular; the prospect getting a personal visit from a disgruntled Songbird is more than enough, after what happened on Kasvei.

Gossamer sucks in a deep breath, and blows it out as the door spirals shut behind Songbird and Kiwi. “Ooookay. Well then. I guess that settles that.”

“There are still some things to settle. Mutual understandings that should be in place prior to deploying our assets in a shared area.” Nazka says. “We can begin discussing those now, if you have the time.”

“As you said earlier, time is of the essence, so let’s get this sorted out as quickly as possible.” Valkyrie says, moving forward to take the center of the bridge. “In the interest of avoiding friction, I believe our general forces should be kept separate. The only assets that should be working in close proximity to each other will be the elite units. Special Agents in our case, and Peacekeepers in yours.”

“Agreed. CURSE would also like to reserve the right to deploy armor and support elements if we find ourselves in direct conflict with the ring’s defense forces…”

Event Log: Ilyana Kemaim

Losinadae Ring: Hangar 2

1:21pm SGT

“Still can’t believe we’re doing this.” I mutter as we come down the ramp of the Justice’s cargo bay, disembarking behind a couple of our lightly armored combat vehicles. “I know Nova’s not here, but practically all the other Peacekeepers are. We probably could’ve taken the big Maskling.”

“Maybe, if we had Ripple and Tic Toc here as well.” Dare says as he clomps down the ramp behind me in his power armor. “He’s way too strong. Honestly, I don’t mind letting the Valiant take a crack at it; I’m worried we’d lose people if we took a swing at it. Better them than us.”

“I mean, if we worked together with the Valiant… we could probably take him on without any casualties.” Kwyn suggests meekly.

I don’t reply to that. I don’t agree with her, but I don’t have the heart to squash her suggestion. She always tries to pick out the silver lining in a bad situation, and while it’s not always practical, it does require a certain amount of mental strength to maintain that kind of optimism. Instead, I turn my attention to the hangar around us — it’s a massive affair, one that’s  standard for superstructures like this. There are multiple piers for ships running down the length of the hangar, which itself is more than a couple miles long. And those piers are large — the one next to us is able to dock the Prominence, and we can see their forces unloading just the same as ours are. Past the ends of the piers are the entry ports through which vessels enter the hangar; most of them are closed and sealed behind massive hangar doors, but the ones for the Justice and the Prominence are still open, screened over with an energy shield that prevents atmosphere from escaping.

“It goes without saying that I expect you all to be on your best behavior.” Nazka says as we reach the spot on the pier where the other Peacekeepers have congregated. “A joint operation requires cooperation between the involved parties. There will be no snide remarks, no passive-aggressive asides — you all will conduct yourselves as professionals in the presence of our enemies.”

I check my wrist pistols as I come to a halt next to Headache and Surge. “And if they try to stick a finger in our eye?” I ask.

Nazka’s cold grey gaze slides towards me. “I trust your ego to survive any targeted remarks from the Valiant, given how impervious it is to constructive criticism from your superiors.”

I narrow my eyes at him, but don’t push it further. Nazka’s clearly not having it today, and picking a fight with him is a game that’s not worth playing this close to a high-volatility assignment. “I assume I’ll be spending most of the operation under cloak and watching for signs that they might turn on us?”

“You will, yes. If your intervention is needed, you will be called on.” Nazka confirms. “Axiom and Ironfist will be our spearhead; Surge, Headache, and Kwyn will be our followup. Gossamer and I will be providing long-range fire support.”

“They’re coming.” Headache mutters, her eyes fixed on the dock. I glance to see that the Valiant group are making their way in our direction, almost all of them in their black field jackets with the holographic chevrons on the shoulders and backs. It’s the first time I’ve seen them making an effort to bring some uniformity to their ranks, and there’s something about it that just leaves me unsettled.

“The markings on their jackets… some of them are in different colors.” Kwyn observes softly. “Do you think it means anything?”

“They probably set up color-coded departments.” Dare says. “Jackrabbit, Kiwi, and Songbird each have red highlights on their jackets. The two young ones have orange highlights; maybe that means they’re in training or something…”

“Frequency probably knows. We can ask him about it later.” I say, leaving it at that as the Valiant close within earshot.

“Valiant.” Nazka greets with no apparent enthusiasm.

“CURSE.” Valkyrie responds with equal chill as the Valiant come to a stop about ten feet away. “I presume we’re now waiting on the ring commander.”

“We are, yes. He indicated a desire to come speak to us directly.” Nazka says. “I understand he should be here shortly.”

“Very well. Do we know anything else about the weapon? Where it might be located, and whether Makalu is here?” Valkyrie asks.

“We do not; however, the ring commander indicated a willingness to provide us with that information upon speaking with us.” Nazka says.

“He did?” Valkyrie says, her brow furrowing. “That’s unusually… cooperative of him.”

“Indeed. It raises questions as to the situation here on the ring.” Nazka says, looking across the docks to the entry to the ring proper. The tunnels are heavily guarded by the ring’s local defense forces, who have been keeping an eye on us ever since we docked and disembarked. “It seems to me that the ring commander has the ring firmly under his control, but perhaps there is information we are not privy to.”

“Information we might have soon.” Gossamer says, making a quarter turn to nod towards an armored escort make its way along the dock road. “I assume that’s our man.”

It isn’t long before the armored van and the escort ATVs reach us, pulling up about thirty feet away. The soldiers remain in their ATVs, but the armored van opens to let out an older human man in a simple uniform, along with a couple of aides. They waste no time in making their way over to us, with the uniformed man coming to a stop at a point slightly closer to the CURSE group. “Deputy Administrator Nazka. I am Commander Bronston, of the Losinadae Ring Local Defense Group. And I assume these are the Valiant?” Bronston says; there’s a rasp to his voice, as if he’s been vaping for a long time.

“This is a joint operation, so you can put away the deference. They aren’t in control here.” Kiwi says, moving forward. “This is a working partnership for now, so you’ll be addressing both of our groups, not just them.”

I can read some displeasure from Bronston’s expression, but whatever might be going through his head, he doesn’t say it, possibly because of the way Songbird looms behind Kiwi like a particularly intent shadow. “I see.” he says, nodding to his aides, one of whom opens a briefcase and starts taking out little modules from within in. “In that case, understand that what we are about to discuss is in confidence. I am sure most of it will make its way out into the public eventually, but I would prefer for the situation to be resolved before it does.”

“Understood. I assume this is a portable static screen?” Nazka says as the aides start placing the modules in a wide ring around all of our groups.

“Correct. I would’ve preferred to have this talk in my office, but I wouldn’t have been able to fit all of you in there.” Bronston says as the aides finish setting up the modules. Once they’re all in place, one of the aides clicks a remote, and a pale blue screen springs up around our groups, linked along the modules and keeping our conversation from carrying from this area. “I won’t mince words or give pretense. We all know this is about the strike on Juncosa and the weapon that was responsible for it.”

“Then you know where this weapon is, then?” Valkyrie says.

“I do. Though I will say that I was not aware it was a weapon prior to its firing, and I don’t believe anyone else was aware of it either.” Bronston says as the aides return to his side. “The weapon is what appears to be a large tube built into the ring’s superstructure. I was told at the time that it was to be a mass beacon-enabled launcher for a new type of bridge transit through tunnelspace. Evidently it was supposed to help get large freight vessels to their destinations faster, which in turn would help make Losinadae a new trade hub in this part of the galaxy. The increased traffic and trade would’ve helped pay off the centuries-long cost of assembling the ring. The group that financed and installed the launcher requested a test run about a month back, and I gave my approval.”

“And it didn’t occur to you that this thing was actually a weapon?” Gossamer asks.

“With respect, Peacekeeper, the weapons we procure and install here are generally not twenty miles long and three miles across.” Bronston replies. “It was only after Juncosa was struck that some of my engineers started putting together their suspicions, and came to me with their concerns. I took it upon myself to confront the project leader about the findings of my engineers; he readily admitted that the launcher was a WPD. When I asked him why he concealed this from me, he said that it was deemed necessary in order to ensure the firing of the weapon was not interrupted.”

“Who is this project leader?” Nazka demands.

Bronston turns his attention to Nazka. “A man by the name of Thomas Aberdini. He’s an ecclesiarch for the Church of Anaya. Very high-ranking in that organization. He’s been helping the Confederacy with recruiting since the loss of Mokasha, and he has been very effective, which has given him considerable pull with the COS military.”

“Thomas Aberdini…” Dare mutters, his brow furrowing. “Why does that name sound familiar…?”

“Because that’s Prophet.” Songbird says; the moment the name had dropped, he had perked up, and is now making his way to the front of the Valiant group, staring intently at Bronston. “Tell me you detained him.”

Bronston squares his shoulders as he turns his attention to Songbird. “I tried, but it seemed he had been prepared for that. There was an… altercation that left several of my men dead, and I barely got out alive. Since then, he and his men have been holed up in the control complex for the launcher. We have tried to force them out, but they are armed, trained, and Mr. Aberdini seems to be in possession of some sort of energy-based artillery with apparently infinite ammunition. The losses were getting too high for me to justify an aggressive approach, so I ordered my forces into siege posture, out of the range of Mr. Aberdini’s weapon. Since then we have been trying to starve them out.”

“Well, well, well.” Sierra drawls, her crimson eye turning to us. “Look who’s been letting their dog run loose.”

“Oh, don’t even, Nympho!” Headache snaps at her. “You really think we would’ve let something like this happen if we had known about it?”

“Considering you all were hiding the fact that Nova was alive all along, I wouldn’t be surprised.” says one of the younger Agents with the orange highlights on his jacket — I think his name was Ridge. “If you guys were lying about something that big, who knows what else you’ve been lying about?”

“If I were you, I’d be careful about throwing around those kinds of accusations.” Gossamer rumbles, glaring at him.

“Why, are you afraid they’re gonna be true?” Kiwi retorts.

“Enough!” Nazka orders, his cold glare quelling the rising restlessness on our side. Once it’s quiet, he returns his attention to the Valiant. “We were under the impression that Makalu was responsible for this, not Prophet. This is new information to us as well.” From there, he turns his attention to Bronston. “So control of the weapon is still, at present, in the hands of Thomas Aberdini. Is that correct?”

“It is. We have been hoping he and his men would fold, but the people following him are zealots.” Bronston answers. “Whatever they believe in, they are willing to die for it, and take other people with them. They’re dug into the complex, and have fortified their positions there. Rooting them out is going to be difficult.”

“Do you know how long it is before the weapon can fire again?” Nazka continues.

Bronston shakes his head. “I don’t. But he will fire it again if he has the opportunity to do so. I asked my engineers if we could cut power to the launcher, but they said the primary mechanism draws energy directly from the white dwarf. They were going back over the blueprints we have access to, and they are saying that the launcher was designed to operate independently of the ring to provide ‘continuity of service’ in case the ring itself ever had a power failure.”

“Which was basically just an excuse to make sure they could still fire it even if you tried to cut the power.” Sierra surmises.

“Correct. They cloaked the entire endeavor, from the proposal all the way to the construction, in the language of good intentions.” Bronston says.

“That’s how Prophet does things. In his eyes, everything he does is an act of benevolence, carried out in the name of Anaya.” Songbird says, looking directly at Nazka now. “The mission remains the same. The weapon needs to be disabled; the only difference is that we’re up against Prophet, not Makalu. Are you and your people still going to be able to hold up your end?”

“We will still be able to fulfill the arrangement, though, considering the information now at our disposal, we expect the Valiant to provide more front-end assistance with the storming of the complex.” Nazka replies. “While Prophet is a formidable opponent, he is not to the level that Makalu is at. You should be able to devote more of your assets to the general assault.”

“Well hold on just one second—” Ridge begins.

“We will dedicate more of our forces to helping you with the general assault, yes.” Songbird cuts him off. “In exchange, the original arrangement holds: the Valiant will deal with Prophet and the decommissioning of the weapon. Do you agree to these terms?”

Nazka doesn’t answer right away; I can see his head turn, ever so slightly, to Gossamer.

“If it’s Prophet, not Makalu, then we can probably deal with him ourselves.” she murmurs to him.

Kiwi snorts. “After you all have spent the last year and a half working with him? Siccing him on us like an attack dog? Yeah, I don’t think so. You all can’t be trusted to bring him down after how long he’s spent working for you.”

“They can deal with him. The question is whether or not they should.” Sierra says, pulling her lollipop out of her mouth with an obnoxious pop. “Even if they can bring themselves to do it, it’s gonna raise a lot of questions if the rest of the galaxy finds out that CURSE had to put down the pit bull they had on loan from SCORN. Why don’t y’all let us handle that part for you. The Valiant can take him out behind the shed and put a stop to his genocidal rampage, and CURSE can wash their hands of this little mess. Say that you helped disable the superweapon while the Valiant can take the credit for hunting down the mastermind behind the evil scheme.”

“Nazka.” I speak up at this point, albeit quietly. When he looks back at me, I go on. “This might be our only chance to cut this tie. If this stone goes into the ocean and the rope is still around our ankle, CURSE is gonna drown.”

I don’t say anything more than that, but I can tell that Nazka gets the message. CURSE won’t be able to survive another hit like the Nova revelation. If people find out that we were working with the guy that nuked an entire planet of people, the organization is good as disbanded. I can tell Gossamer knows it as well, because she reluctantly nods when he looks at her. The last person he looks to is Ironfist, who has been listening to all of this with a troubled face, but hasn’t said anything so far. When Nazka’s gaze turns to him, he takes a deep breath, then nods. “Let them have it.” he says.

“Very well.” Nazka says to Songbird. “We agree to your terms. You will dedicate additional assets to the general assault, and in return, we will leave the exclusive handling of Prophet to the Valiant.” At this point, Nazka turns his attention to Bronston. “Commander, I will emphasize your efforts, and sacrifices, in trying to wrest control of the weapon from Prophet, and how terribly clever Prophet and his cronies were when sneaking the construction of this weapon into the ongoing assembly of the Losinadae Ring. I will conveniently elide your negligence in having allowed the installation of this weapon in the first place, and in return, I expect that you downplay or deny knowledge of any apparent affiliation or connection between Prophet and CURSE. It would be most unfortunate for both yourself and CURSE if certain facts about this event made their way into the public sphere.”

Bronston’s eyes flick from Nazka, to his aides, then to the static screen, before he answers. “Yes, I think we can all agree that the wool was pulled over our eyes quite neatly. One may even suspect that Prophet might’ve had help from some of the hawkish powers-that-be within the COS. After all, he has done much to champion the anti-Collective agenda after the loss of Mokasha.”

“I’m glad to see that we’re all on the same page.” Nazka says. “Now, we are going to need to know where the weapon and the complex are, and we will need to expedite our transit to that location. I trust you can help arrange both.”

“Indeed. We can also provide you with the sector layout and block planning for that entire region of the ring, so you can plan your approach.” Bronston says. “Anything that you need in terms of logistics or comms support, we will be happy to provide. I can also have medical teams on standby outside of the perimeter to help triage any units that have to retreat if they are injured.”

“We’ll take all the help we can get.” Nazka says, turning his attention to the Valiant. “We will need to start planning how we will break Prophet’s fortifications. CURSE prefers to keep its personnel losses to a minimum, and I assume the same holds true of the Valiant.”

“It does.” Kiwi says, sauntering to the front as the static screen lowers and Bronston’s aides start collecting the modules, loading them back in the briefcae. “And I’ve actually got an idea about how we can pull it off…”