Galactic High

The light of day had begun to shine brightly, piercing through the closed curtains and slowly creeping across the living room before it landed on Dante. Stirring awake from a deep, relaxing sleep, the ‘dog’ slowly sat up, their wounds having fully healed on their own.

“Hey.”

The ‘dog’ heard the quiet whisper from behind as they got several comfortable scratches behind the ears. They turned around to see that Jack had also woken up, likely by Dante’s movements. They were smiling at him, and Dante smiled back with bright eyes in relief that things were okay, and was glad that they didn’t detect any pain in Jack’s dreams last night.

“Let’s get you some fresh air, but you’ve got to be quiet, the others are still resting,” Jack whispered, gently moving up off the sofa and quickly checking to confirm that nothing was wrong with the others. Confirming all was well, he and Dante snuck down one of the corridors to use an exit that wouldn’t wake anyone else up.

It was a bright day outside, with no poor weather to marr the dawn of the new day as Jack walked around in bare feet to loosen the stillness in his legs, feeling the blades of alien grass slip between his toes, massaging them from the stress of the previous day as he casually strolled around their land, Dante happily hopping alongside him.

He looked at the ‘shuttle’ they had acquired the previous night, and once again wondered how they were even still alive. The ribcage-like chassis with engines still had the makeshift rigging of rope Jack had tied to it, the lifelines still tied onto the thickest parts. According to Nika the engines weren’t that great, being quite slow and inefficient, and wouldn’t be suitable for anything long distance, but they would have to do a more thorough check when it came to doing work on it.

Jack eventually came to sit down against one of their district walls, Dante plopping down next to him. Honestly, with the amount of funds and assets they had all received, they could probably easily put a few benches around and not even notice the cost. Looking around at the abandoned buildings, it would certainly be worth the conversation with Alora, who owned the district. Certainly they had to spend their ill-gotten gains on something more than just a hot tub...

Apparently there were local contractors willing to do the tub, but the group had held off while Jack’s bounty was so high. It wouldn't be hard for a hunter to disguise themselves, after all.

“You seem to heal quickly,” Jack whispered to Dante as he took a good look at the ‘Dog’, noticing no scars or cuts remaining.

“Woof!” Dante replied with a happy bark.

“I wonder if they make translators for magical space dogs of dubious origin?” Jack asked rhetorically as he scratched the ‘dog’ behind the ears.

Dante made a confused whine as he cocked his head at Jack in reply.

“Probably not.” Jack shrugged. “But I can guess you want some of those space-sausages Nika made for you?” he asked teasingly, knowing Dante could understand. “Extra portions for everyone after last night, plus we have a party later! There’s gonna be food there for you too, since you’re coming with us!”

“Woof!”

“Alright, guess I’m cooking.” Jack sighed as he got to his feet. He had rested enough, there were things to do!”

“Have you ever had pancakes?” he asked the ‘dog’.

*****

Alora woke up after a long rest to a faint sound of sizzling in the background and an oily smell in the air. Feeling comfortable and content, she lazily looked over to see Jack working in the kitchen on something, with Dante next to him, looking at him with a wagging tail. Jack saw her and gave a little wave, pointing to the others who were still asleep - even Nika, who was usually the first up, seemed to enjoy the rest after the busy night that they had.

Alora just sat there, happy to remain snug and content as her mind started to fully wake up. Her healing magic had been completely expended the previous day, and as a result, she was still rather drained mentally. At least she wouldn’t need to cast any immediate healing spells, as her friends seemed to be at peace.

“Here you go!” She suddenly noticed a tray being thrust into her hands, not having been alert enough to notice Jack silently walking up with whatever he had been cooking, which looked like some kind of thin, pan-fried dough with some powdered sweetener on top.

“What are these?” Alora asked.

“Pancakes,” Jack answered with a smile. “Well, technically they’re probably crepes based on how they look, and the ingredients are different, but they’re still good. This is just more of a pick-me-up, I’ve got a pile of others in a stack that we can all take from, with some toppings I found in the cupboards.”

“Say no more…” they heard a faint voice from the side as Sephy stirred and began to move.

“Yeah those smell good!” Nika sprung up off the sofa and began to stretch.

You definitely planned this. Chiyo grumbled as she floated up, still wrapped up in her thick blankets like a grumpy burrito as Dante bounced up and down trying to poke her with his nose.

“Chill out, guys!” Jack laughed. “I’ve already made plenty for everyone!”

*****

Thank you Jack! Chiyo gratefully acknowledged the human as he passed around several streaming mugs of tea for the group. Alora had quickly cast several healing spells on anyone who was still even remotely hurt as they all gathered back on the sofa with trays, having moved the stack of ‘pancakes’ and all the potential toppings to the coffee table where people could help themselves.

“So,” Alora began. “We probably should have debriefed and planned for what we do today last night, but we were way too tired to do so. Anyone need or want anything before we do it now?”

“Is it too late to go to the bathroom?” Sephy joked.

“Great, gotta love the company meeting.” Nika sighed before nodding to Alora, knowing its necessity as part of the post-run ‘wind down’ process, and for making sure the facts were reviewed and understood.

“First things first,” Sephy began. “Sorry about my contact being a snitch, he was the best choice at the time and I did my research, but nothing at the time indicated he’d turn on us. When Devil’s Daughter told us we had a leak, I thought it would be Rena.”

“Same.” Jack nodded in agreement. “Don’t know what her problem is but she’s always been suspicious to me.”

“Well, regardless, it wasn’t her.” Nika nodded. “And even if it was her, she probably wouldn’t have been able to do it without Nya knowing.”

Nya is trustworthy. Chiyo added. Her association cleared Rena of involvement in this case.

“Well at least we’ve sorted things with Tagrilla now,” Sephy pointed out.

“Tagrilla?” Nika asked. “Is that his fucking street name?”

“Yeah.” Sephy sighed. “We took what remained of his shuttle as hush money and our paths might cross again under better circumstances, so we might as well get used to being on a name-to-name basis. Regardless, he won’t be betraying us again. The dirt I got from him will see to that.”

Are you sure? Chiyo asked.

“Yes I’m sure!” Sephy snapped back, annoyed. “He cited the drow throwing their weight around as a reason, who’s to say they won’t try and turn our friends? Svaarti’s already compromised!”

“We’ll address the drow and the shuttle in a moment,” Alora acknowledged, raising her voice to head off the incoming argument. “Remember, we want to do this in order. What happened next was our arrival outside the Pallid Pit when Nya dropped us off.”

“She got us pretty close,” Nika pointed out. “Meaning we could avoid the Drow’s attack on the surface.”

Thank goodness for that! Chiyo pointed out. Nya’s very good with her sorcery and knew that time was of the essence, so she took a risk getting us close.

“Then we got closer and found a welcoming committee,” Jack added, remembering The Butcher.

“One of the leaders of the Cult with an entourage and a death wish.” Alora nodded. “Claimed The Prophet told him we’d be coming and tried to take out Jack in a suicidal attack.”

“I’ve put a few feelers out on him for curiosity’s sake if nothing else,” Sephy spoke up. “Someone like that’s got to have shown up somewhere. I have less hope for the other two leaders though.”

Someone that bloodthirsty wouldn’t look out of place in the Red Legion. Chiyo concluded. Though I doubt they’ll be forthcoming about their former troops.

“We then had a lovely little stroll through the Pallid fucking Pit.” Nika gulped a large swig of tea at that. “Nothing particularly notable up top, not even the place where Jack remembers awakening. It had suffered a recent cull, so it wasn’t too wild, and any attempt on us failed miserably. We figured we had to go underground at the same time the drow arrived, and those assholes were definitely special forces.”

The most notable stuff occurred underground. Chiyo pointed out. Though I could discuss at length the strangeness of the Gloom Paths, it was when we split up where I think we need to look at most.

“Yeah.” Jack nodded. “The drow split us up, but what were the monsters they had with them? We didn’t see them on the surface.”

“Nothing I’ve ever seen before.” Alora shrugged. “Chiyo?”

Nor me. Chiyo shook her head. Though Devil’s Daughter did mention the involvement of Dr Reyazz Grine with the drow. Did they have any particular weakness?

“They were tough to beat, but point-blank annihilation seemed to work,” Alora grimly confirmed. “The majority came after Dante, Chiyo and I, and we were able to defend ourselves with heavy use of magic, though they clearly had some kind of resistance to it. Devil’s Daughter somehow found us and helped us with the rest before we teleported to you. Again, I have no idea how she was able to pinpoint your location, I just told her roughly which direction you went in.”

“That’s spooky.” Jack shrugged before looking to Sephy and Nika. “You were able to find me after a while, what happened with you?”

“We fought the second cult leader!” Sephy spoke up excitedly, as Nika shrugged with a grin, letting her friend brag on their behalf. “Nika and I kicked her ass!”

“Who was she?” Alora asked.

“Called herself The Trickster, she was an undead gunslinger,” Nika confirmed. “Could have come from any of the undead enclaves dotted around, maybe even the Vile Fleet. It’s all speculation.”

“We have her shit though!” Sephy smiled wickedly. “Jack, you fought the drow, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Two of them you thought were the nobles in charge. Brother and sister, both very dead. I picked up some interesting things off of them before linking with Sephy and Nika, where we found a massive ritual chamber of some kind before we pushed to the inner sanctum.”

I’ve seen the ‘flamethrower‘ you picked up. Chiyo raised a finger as if considering something. It wouldn’t be too hard to combine its functionality with your shield gauntlet if you just assign another command word to it. I can do that a little later for you.

“Sure,” Jack agreed. “If the rest of you are cool with me keeping it.”

“And then we all convened on the Stygian leader, who most of us initially assumed to be Devil’s Daughter, but of course we now know she was most likely The Prophet, the third leader of the Cult of the Destroyer there,” Alora concluded. “And multiple individuals we believe to be behind the Skinsaw Slasher murders.”

“Hell of a hard fight,” Nika added as everyone nodded. “You should all be proud.”

“And we came out with a lot of good shit and a lot of answers!” Sephy grinned.

And more questions! Chiyo cautioned. There was a very faint resonance of the Gloom Cauldron down there, though we do not necessarily know where Dubakuu picked it up or if the Cult of the Destroyer even knew about it! He couldn’t have picked it up at the Pit since it would have had a stronger presence if it was there. The possible link to Jack is too much of a coincidence to ignore.

She looked to Jack as everyone else listened intently.

I have no proof, or any understanding of how, but I believe the Gloom Cauldron has a direct link to Jack’s arrival in the Pallid Pit, but not on its own. There must have been other factors in play, and for now we don’t know what they are.

“We haven’t gotten rid of the Gloom Cauldron yet, have we?” Nika asked, and Alora shook her head. “We should keep this piece of the puzzle around for now. If anyone that knows asks, tell them we gave it away and don’t elaborate.

“Agreed.” Alora nodded reluctantly as everyone else who was hesitant fell in line. “The Cult knew a little based on how they wanted Jack to be The Destroyer’s active hero, but clearly not enough. Not only would Jack never do that, The Destroyer has never knowingly responded actively to worshipers, and many of their prophecies are falsehoods and wishful thinking.”

“We have a few positives from this whole thing though!” Sephy perked up, trying to make everybody feel better.

“Yeah.” Jack smiled. “Malakiel is off my ass and House Mal’Kar lost a bunch of their elite soldiers, and possibly a few family members.” His expression then turned serious. “But personal issues aside, we took down a lot of bad people, and I really hope it’s made a difference.”

“Speaking of that, we’re heading to some shrine in a few hours,” Nika replied, addressing the others. “Designated neutral territory for representatives of several parties to look over the physical evidence we gathered on the Skinsaw Slashers and report back on the scans we’ve sent them.”

And here I was hoping for a longer lie-in… Chiyo grumbled.

*****

“At least this place has a good cafe.” Jack shrugged as he ordered another of his new favourite drinks. It was a very milky concoction with faint hints of coffee, white chocolate and a smoke grenade.

It was some good shit!

The area they were in was simple. Apparently, over centuries, this area had once been situated on a major crossroads, and pilgrims would erect and maintain simple wayside shrines to honour their gods to and from conducting business. In more recent times the area had been adopted by a multi-faith family who ran the cafe and tended to the shrines, honouring the gods of all who came by, even commissioning the construction of more shrines if representation was missing. Good, bad, and in between were all welcome, and the rule of neutrality was exactly why this was a popular meeting place.

The squad had arrived with about ten minutes to spare, and the representatives they were here to meet were ten minutes late. The representatives had at least booked a private room to use, along with a waitress to take their orders.

“These assholes better at least pick up the tab,” Nika grumbled as she fidgeted in her chair “At this rate we’re gonna be too stuffed for the party tonight!”

“Can’t wait for that!” Sephy grinned. “We should totally buy outfits while we’re out!”

“You don’t already have any?” Jack asked, trying to head off the potential torture of clothes shopping with a gang of girls. “Won’t it be too late?”

Alora smiled. “What are you talking about? There’s plenty of time! We can totally buy some new outfits!” The girls all nodded in approval at the wonderful idea, while Jack screamed internally.

Don’t worry, Jack! You can help us pick them! Chiyo tried, and failed, to cheer Jack up.

But before he could diplomatically try to negotiate his way out of the shopping trip, they heard movement outside, before the door was unceremoniously pulled open without any knocking as an array of various people of all sorts of species stormed in. A few of the group were about to say something aggressive, and Jack had even expected an attack before the figure at the front embraced him with furry paws.

“Thank you! Bless you!” the old woman clutching him sobbed. Indeed, many others had similarly embraced whoever they could get to. Chiyo quickly backed away and floated to the top corner since she was furthest away, completely confused by what was going on. Even Dante got plenty of hugs, though they didn’t understand why.

“Looks like you’ve been busy,” a familiar voice called out from the door.

High Priestess Cornelia was smiling faintly at the group, through her eyes gave Jack the sense that he was in trouble about something.

“High Priestess!” Alora called out, being the first one to regain her wits. “I wasn’t expecting you to attend in person.”

Her smile grew warmer “It gave me an excuse to leave the temple, and I had to come down. And for goodness sake girl, we’ve been on a first-name basis for a while.”

“This is the group?” another voice called, female and more professional sounding, as a quadruped being with red feathers and a sharp beak came into view behind her.

“Paladin Jadirel,” Sephy acknowledged, not sounding too amused.

“Sepharina?” the Paladin queried. “It’s been a while.”

“No thanks to you,” she almost spat before Jack placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. The human was careful not to make any big movements as he kept his other hand politely wrapped around the shoulder of the old mammalian still sobbing into his chest.

“I think an explanation is needed,” he cordially proposed, while he stared the paladin down.

“Agreed,” Cornelia spoke up as she motioned for everybody to sit down around the table. “Some of the representatives are still to come, but based on the data package you sent us about the Skinsaw Slashers, several of our inquisitors have been connecting the dots overnight, and have resolved in full several of our previously ongoing cases. The Church of Astara, the Church of Tyrus-” She nodded to Paladin Jadirel in acknowledgement. “-Along with several of our other partners contacted the families of several of the known victims to inform them that their loved ones have been avenged, and we agreed to their requests to find closure and meet you.”

Chiyo immediately looked ashamed at backing away as she had, but how the hell was she to know? Some advance warning would have been nice, but perhaps it was for their sake as much as it was for the families of the victims. They had done some genuine good here, and these were just the cases the inquisitors had confirmed closed based on the data alone. The Ilithii had always been one of the more cynical members of the group, but she had to admit, it felt righteous in a warm, fuzzy kind of way.

Still awkward as fuck, though at least she didn’t have anyone bothering her.

“Woof.” Dante looked up at her from where he’d walked under the table.

Nevermind…

“My granddaughter was only 9 cycles old when she was taken from us,” the old woman told Jack, who just didn’t know what to say. “Thank you for avenging her…”

“She dances among the celestial skies, Leski,” Cornelia gently pulled her away and led her to her seat as more people arrived.

There wasn’t much for the group to do. Mainly recite their story of the previous night, and tell the representatives how they came to encounter the Skinsaw Slashers, minus the reason for them being there in the first place.

Despite already being informed in advance, several of the people around were shocked to learn that there was more than one, and while the link to the Cult of the Destroyer was long known, the extent was not, and there was shock and horror at how insidious it was.

“Perhaps this means the Pallid Pit has finally been cleansed.” One of the corporate representatives rubbed their hands together. “If it could be developed…”

“That would not be wise,” Cornelia acknowledged the speaker with a nod. “And that is not the reason we are here. We are simply here to hear their account of what happened and obtain the physical evidence, nothing more.”

“And you are sure they can be trusted, High Priestess?” Paladin Jadirel asked Cornelia, not so subtly indicating Sephy. If it hadn’t been for the family members of the victims being present, the Skritta knew she would put the zealous paladin of Tyrus on blast.

“I trust them explicitly.” Cornelia simply nodded diplomatically before addressing Alora. “I would imagine several news outlets will want to contact you regarding this once the story gets out. Be careful before you get involved with them, and think about how you go about it first.”

“We will,” Alora agreed.

The friends stayed there for a while, occasionally answering questions and confirming speculations before they left with the victim’s loved ones. The committee stayed behind to discuss the rest of the details among themselves after Nika left them the bag of knives, masks and DNA scans they had recovered.

They had stayed with the others that had left with them, consoling the victims and walking among the shrines with them, before they all gradually began to leave, much more at peace than when they had arrived.

Leski was the last to leave, having reminisced to Jack about her granddaughter as she stared at the simple shrine of Astara they were sitting at. As he got up to properly say goodbye, she grasped his hand with a strength and intensity he didn’t think possible of the old woman.

“Your spark of courage will be the torch to ignite the fires of hope,” she said with a nod of wisdom.

“What?” Jack asked, a little taken aback.

“Oh?” Leski replied with a look of slight confusion. “Did I say something? I’m sorry, in my old age I sometimes ramble on and forget myself…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jack smiled as he led her to Cornelia, who had just exited the meeting.

“Everything seems to be in order,” the High Priestess greeted them. “Let’s get you home Leski. Jack, I’ll need to speak to your group later. Don’t do anything wild until I do!”

“No promises!” Nika joked as she walked up to Jack, seeing that they were finally done.

“I’m serious,” Cornelia replied with a grim expression. “You need to be very careful.”

“Alright,” Jack agreed, “I guess we can talk about that later.”

*****

“What do you think of this one, Jack?” Alora called over to him, walking outside the changing rooms. She was wearing a long, white, glittery dress that flowed down to the ground with a faux fur scarf and handbag for decoration.

“It looks exactly the same as the last one you came out in!” Jack grumbled, not even having anywhere to sit, and trying his best to lean against the racks of bras outside the changing rooms of the boutique store they had been at for several hours without looking or feeling like an absolute perv, though the way Sephy had tried to get him to pick a few for her had left him with an awkward feeling.

“Really?” Alora asked, pondering something as she looked herself over. “Maybe you’re right...”

We’re picking up some nice shoes after this, aren’t we? Chiyo called back.

“Definitely!” Nika called back. “Some new trainers and combat boots would be really good!”

“That’s not what she meant and you know it!” Alora called back as the girls all laughed. “And yes! It’ll only take us a few more hours to get some really good ones!”

Jack fought with all of his willpower to maintain his neutral expression, though his mind was screaming all manner of curses and vitriol. He would much sooner fight to the death with Svaartal again than put up with any more of this nightmare! He was so focused on what Alora was saying he hadn’t even noticed Chiyo floating to him in a short pink dress, and the Ilithii stared at him wide-eyed in almost horror as she read the emotions of his mind.

“We should get some nice-looking jewellery too!” Sephy poked her head out from behind the curtain, clearly not wearing anything behind the thin material. “Jack, which did you prefer? Green or gold?”

Jack heard a small whine from his feet, as Dante looked up at him with pleading eyes.

And just like that, Jack had his sliver of hope!

“Sorry guys! Dante’s getting a little restless!” he called back to the others with a smile, as Chiyo tried desperately to ask Jack for his opinion. “I’ll take him for a quick walk while you guys finish up!”

“Finish up?” Alora asked, confused as Jack hurriedly led Dante away. “We’ve only tried a few so far!”

“I’ll be back soon!” Jack lied as he and Dante quickly left the store, getting several strange looks from the staff.

They trotted a safe distance before they both sat down at a fountain that was making shapes in the air with squirts and sprays of water.

“You are so getting some nice sausage and bacon from me later!” Jack tiredly sighed as he scritched the ‘dog’ behind the ears. “Good boy!”

“Woof!” Dante happily barked back.