by Alex Knight
Someone laughed at that but Kaiden continued as if he hadn’t heard it.
Come on, build some steam. You gotta wrap them up in this. Sell them on it.
“For too long, the injustices of the Party have run rampant and unchecked. For too long, those in power have done whatever they want to whoever they want and faced zero consequences for it. That ends today – or it can, with your help.”
Good, good. Now keep it going.
“You see, my friends—er, the group I represent has taken possession of a database chronicling all of the Party’s injustices as well as the full scope of its corruption. The Party fears this database so much that they’re willing to kill to get it back – and have several times already. I’m here today to ask for your help because with it we can reshape the world.”
Nice one. Dramatic. All right, now let’s ramp it up. Really sell it to ‘em!
“It’s a rare day when the power to completely remake the world falls into your lap. Some would say an impossible day, but I’m telling you right now, that day is today. In this moment, you have that power. Or you can, if you ally with me. The group I represent has formulated a plan that, with the help of this database, will do no less than bring an abrupt and final end to the tyranny of the Party. And you can be a part of it. You can make history.”
He was hitting his stride now, could feel the momentum building. Maybe he was cut out for this leader stuff after all.
“This is the chance of a lifetime. A chance to change the course of history. To correct a generation of injustice. Gentlemen, I’m talking about doing no less than reshaping society as a whole. This wouldn’t just be a service to every person who’s ever felt the sting of the Party’s cruelty; no. This would be a service to the entire world. Ally with us, lend us the strength of your forces in Nova, and together we’ll end the Party once and for all. Together, we’ll unite and bring about a better future for all of humanity.”
Silence followed his words, and in that silence, Kaiden allowed himself a small smile.
Not bad for having such short notice. Not bad at all.
The silence continued for another long moment until the speaker in front of one of the booths echoed out into the room.
“I have a question.”
Kaiden turned toward the booth and focused on the opaque glass, making it seem as if he could see who he was speaking with. He couldn’t see them, but they could see him. He tried to look at where he figured their eyes would be.
“Please,” he said with a small nod. “Ask away.”
“Yeah, that plan of yours sounds good and all. Grandiose and dramatic and all that. But what’s in it for us?”
What’s… what’s in it for you?
Kaiden tried to formulate a response but the words caught in his throat.
“What’s in it for you?” he finally managed.
“Yeah, exactly.”
I covered this, didn’t I?
“Together,” Kaiden said, speaking a bit slower, “we’ll bring down the Party and make a better world for everyone.”
“Yeah, no. I got that. But like, monetarily, and in Nova, what’s in it for us?”
Kaiden opened his mouth to respond but found himself at a loss.
“Well, uh…” There wasn’t any monetary profit in the plan, but he suddenly had a strong feeling that wasn’t going to be an acceptable answer.
“Without the Party, the Warden Corps would falter,” another booth said. “If we position ourselves correctly, there’s something to be gained from that.”
“But enough to justify the effort?” another booth questioned.
“And to openly defy the Party?” More voices were joining in now, throwing questions back and forth amongst each other, then arguing their merits. Questions of investment, of expenditures and profits.
“Excuse me,” Kaiden said, but no one was listening to him now. “Listen to me!” he shouted above the noise. That got their attention. “This isn’t about profit,” he said, appalled by the thought. “This has been my life for too long now. A life of being on the run, of making sacrifices, of doing everything I can just to keep myself and my friends alive. We haven’t done any of this for money or personal gain. We’ve done it because it’s the right thing to do. Because people are suffering – people we care about and people we don’t even know. Because the Party is a corrupt oligarchy and someone needs to do something about it.” He stood up tall, puffed his chest out. “I’m that someone. I’m going to do something about it, and I’m asking for your help.”
Silence, for a long moment. And then someone coughed.
“Uh, yeah. I’ve got better things to do than this. Hard pass.” A general chorus of agreement followed and Kaiden’s hope came apart at the seams.
Chapter Forty-Five
“Well, that went freaking great,” Kaiden said and punched the bulkhead of the Borrelly as he walked up the rear ramp.
“Hey, hey, hey! Be nice to my girl,” Ellenton shouted from the front. “Else I’ll dump you back into the water.”
“Sorry,” Kaiden said, shaking his head. “It’s just that…”
That I failed miserably? That I was laughed out of there? That they shoved us all on to an elevator and ejected us back to the surface so fast it near killed us?
“Shit!” he shouted. “That was our chance. That was everything we’ve been fighting for. And I blew it. Again. First with Odditor, now with The Syndicate.” He laughed bitterly. “Damn it. The Party couldn’t do a better job stopping us than I have. I’ve ruined every chance we’ve had. At this point, your best chance at succeeding probably involves just locking me in a closet or something so I can’t do any more damage,” he said, looking at the others as they boarded behind him, sopping wet from where their elevator had sprung a leak.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, man,” Titus said. “You win some, you lose some.”
“No, Titus. This wasn’t a fight we could lose. You all put your trust in me and I screwed it up. It’s simple as that.”
“If you couldn’t do it then this wasn’t a fight we could win,” Zelda said. “None of us could have. We didn’t know what The Syndicate was like. We were totally unprepared for them. You took a good approach, appealing to their humanity like that. We just got screwed because they apparently don’t have any humanity.”
“All right, calm down, everyone,” Thorne said as she walked up the ramp. “This isn’t the end of the world. A setback, sure. But PlayaSlaya’s still with us. That’s something.”
“Are we sure?” Kaiden asked as the ramp whirred closed, sealing them all in the shuttle. Ellenton eased the throttle up and carried them up toward the atmosphere. “After that display, I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to back out. Hell, the rest of The Syndicate would probably laugh him out of the group if he teamed up with us.”
“It’s not about that,” Zelda said, her face serious but contemplative. “PlayaSlaya lives for PVP combat, right? For the next big thrill? Well, we’re promising to give him the fight of a lifetime by raiding Warden HQ. He wants that too badly to back out. I don’t know how far we can trust him, but we can trust that he wants something we can give him.”
“She’s right,” Thorne said with a nod and sat down beside Kaiden.
“I told everyone about the database and about our plan to use it to bring the Party down, though,” Kaiden said, cursing his idiocy. “How long until that gets out? How long until the Party gets wind of it and starts to prepare? They don’t know what we’re trying to do with the database, but now it’s only a matter of time before they find out. We’ve lost the element of surprise.”
“No. Not yet.” Titus leaned against the wall and rubbed his chin. “But we are on a timer now. We can still catch the Party by surprise at Warden HQ. We just have to move quick. We should talk with PlayaSlaya. See how soon he can have Maximus ready to launch an assault.”
“It doesn’t change anything,” Kaiden said. “Maximus is big, but not big enough to take on the Ward
en Corps and guarantee a victory. We’ve only got one chance at the AFBS. This plan is too important to risk on a gamble. When we hit Warden HQ, we have to do it with overwhelming numbers.” He clenched a fist and cursed. “You guys put your trust in me and I blew it. I’m sorry. I screwed up. I wasn’t good enough.”
“Cut that shit out,” Titus said and punched him in the shoulder. Hard enough that it wasn’t playful. “I don’t want any of that defeatist bullshit. I’m not out of this fight until I stop breathing. We’re far from done.” He looked over to Thorne. “How about you?”
“Till the last,” she confirmed with a nod.
“Ellenton?” he asked next.
“I know you’re just asking for dramatic effect but of course I’m in to the end. And Dawson, too. Not to mention all the free wardens he’s been recruiting. I think you’ll be surprised how many out there share our cause.”
“And Zelda?” Titus turned to her.
“Stupid question. Of course.” She nodded, but she sounded distant. As if she was distracted by something.
“Great,” the big man said, then looked back to Kaiden. “Everyone else is still dedicated to this, dude. So stop moping. We lost this battle. So what? We’re not done. Are you?”
Kaiden sucked in a deep breath.
He’s right.
“I misjudged The Syndicate,” Kaiden said, trying to puzzle out where he’d gone wrong, and how he could avoid it in the future. “They value their accounts more than they care about the injustices of the Party.”
“Hold up,” Zelda said all of a sudden. “Say that again?”
“I misjudged The Syndicate…?”
“And ‘they value their accounts more than they care about the injustices of the Party.’” She said the words like there was some deeper meaning there. Kaiden certainly hadn’t meant any.
Zelda suddenly shot to her feet.
“What?” Kaiden asked, looking up at her.
“Ellenton, can you reach the Veritas II? Tell them to set course for NC451 and be ready to go the moment we dock.”
“On it,” she said from the cockpit.
“NC451?” Kaiden asked. “That’s Odditor’s moon. Why are we going back there?”
“The Syndicate won’t work with us, but he said he’d be willing to.”
“Yeah, but he wanted the database as collateral. We can’t risk it, you know that. And besides, even if we did, someone still has to run his labyrinth.”
The labyrinth that no one has completed since... since I don’t even know when.
“Yep.” Zelda nodded.
Kaiden scrunched up his eyebrows.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’d never risk the database,” Zelda said. “You know that.”
“Then why is he going to let us run the labyrinth?”
“Because you just gave me a very good idea,” she said. “One that might just work.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Just because they were level fifty didn’t mean it was time to stop grinding. And considering the odds of them having to storm Warden HQ with an underpowered force, Kaiden made sure they picked up every mission they could on the way back to NC451.
They ground them out, rescuing hijacked ships and crews, shooting down pirates, and even making a quick stop in an asteroid field to eliminate a makeshift raiders’ nest that had been set up. The ship and crew still needed to be leveled as well, and between the missions and the random PvE encounters that always spawned on a trip across the universe, everyone picked up a fair bit of experience, all the while plying Zelda for information on what she was planning. But by the time they arrived at NC451, no one had managed to get anything out of her.
“S.S. Andronicus,” the voice of Whenstone, Odditor’s constant companion, said over comms. “Have you reconsidered Odditor’s terms? Ready to take a shot at the labyrinth?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Zelda said back as she boarded the Borrelly.
“Buckle up,” Ellenton said and Kaiden knew all too well to listen to her. Her flying had been tamer of late, but that didn’t mean he was planning on risking anything going squish.
“Odditor says he’ll see you, if you’re ready to accept the terms he laid out during your last visit.”
“We’ll be right down, then,” Zelda said. “And this time, we’re not fighting our way through the jungle for your amusement. If he wants to speak with us, he’s going to open a landing pad directly at his base.”
“The Madhouse,” Whenstone corrected, a note of annoyance in his voice.
“If you’re not going to tell us your plan, maybe the least you can do is not antagonize them?” Kaiden said to Zelda, careful not to broadcast it over comms where Whenstone could hear.
“Trust me on this,” Zelda said. “I know what I’m doing.”
Kaiden wanted to push back on that, but considering how things had gone with The Syndicate he wasn’t exactly in any position to bash someone else’s plan. After all, they were all in this together. If they didn’t trust one another, then what did they have? Common purpose, he supposed, but after everything they’d been through, he liked to imagine they had a bit more than that. He’d trusted Titus to take down Maximus’ tournament and he’d done exactly that. Was now the time to trust Zelda to carry the group for a bit?
“You’re cleared for landing at pad oh-six,” Whenstone said after a long pause during which Kaiden was sure he’d been speaking with Odditor. “That’s at the base of the Madhouse. Odditor requests your pilot is careful on approach. Any damage to the structure or surrounding jungle will be most displeasing.”
“We’ll be down in a minute,” Zelda said back, then gave the sign for Ellenton to undock from the Veritas II.
“Ah, so I see, uh, I see you’re back,” Odditor said, stumbling over his words in that way of his like he was constantly editing what he was going to say. Couldn’t settle on one way to say it. He had no trouble settling on a smarmy smile, though, as they all walked into his office.
“I had, had a special show planned for today’s stream but, well, I suppose I could bump it if…” He trailed off, then waved his hand. “If, you know…”
“If I run the labyrinth,” Zelda said.
He smiled at that.
“I thought I might see your little, uh, group again,” he said, then frowned in the least genuine way Kaiden had ever seen. “After what happened with the... the…” He paused, then looked back to his ever-present companion, the turenoid Whenstone. “What are they calling themselves these days?”
“The Syndicate, sir.”
“Yeah! That’s it.” He turned back to them and resumed his fake frown. “After what happened with The Syndicate.”
Kaiden felt his cheeks grow hot at the memory of the embarrassment. It was so recent he could still feel every bit of its sting. It reminded him all the more why they needed a win here today.
“I’d be willing to bet you were there,” Thorne said, giving Odditor a sharp look. “Officially, you’re not affiliated with any faction, but we all know that’s just on paper.”
Odditor just gave her a smile with his mouth half open by way of a response. Thorne didn’t seem to know how to respond to that and Kaiden didn’t blame her. Zelda cut back to the chase, though, mind on the goal as always.
“You offered the piece of the database Bernstein lost to you. If I complete the labyrinth, I want that piece and to have a reasonable discussion about your support of our efforts. We don’t know the extent of your resources, but adding them to our growing alliance is a chance I don’t think you want to miss. It’d be a shame to watch from the sidelines as we make history without you.”
Odditor giggled at that.
“My dear,” he said to Zelda. “Watching from the sidelines is, uh, exactly what I do.” He gestured down to the labyrinth, then lowered his voice and leaned in close. “And I think we, think we all know the only reason those,” he waved his hand as if tossing away something disgusting, “those Maximus
brutes are on board is for the chance to bust some warden heads. You haven’t convinced them of the, the, what it’s called? The worthiness, yes! The worthiness of your cause.”
Nando might disagree with you on that account. Kaiden stepped forward, commanding Odditor’s attention. The man turned to him, eyes still a bit distant as if he was on the verge of being lost in thought.
“Are you in or not?” Kaiden gestured back to Zelda. “She’s ready to kick your labyrinth’s ass.”
“Ha, heh. Well.” Odditor shrugged but seemed pleased at the thought. “Many have tried. Maybe you’ll join the few who, who actually have.” He looked to the holotable that seemingly controlled the labyrinth and began interfacing with it, flipping through screens and menus at an impressive speed.
“Whenstone will serve as the middleman for our antes.” He tossed the padlock he’d shown them last time – the piece of Bernstein’s database he’d had all this time – over his shoulder with a casualness that pained Kaiden.
The turenoid caught it without looking, then extended a hand toward them.
For the database. For their sole leverage over the Party. The best chance they had at changing the world.
Kaiden looked to Zelda, but as he did, he felt no concern. ‘Trust me,’ she’d asked, and trust her he did.
“I can’t offer the database,” she said.
He had his back turned, but even still, it was impossible not to see Odditor’s shoulders slump and hear his sigh. When he faced them again, he was pinching the bridge of his nose and there was a pained expression plastered across his face.
“I have something else to offer,” Zelda said before the man could protest. She drew in a breath, hesitated for the slightest of moments, then spoke. “My account,” she said and swallowed hard. But her eyes were determined. There was no doubt in her mind.
There was plenty in Kaiden’s, however.