Galactic High

“Can I ask you two for a favour?” Kizzarith weakly asked Jack and Kritch as they waited with the Anicite before he was brought in for another round of surgery. The insectoid had already undertaken a few rounds of surgery to keep him alive and preserve his vital organs, and the medics were shocked that Jack had managed to save his life. However, even if Kizzarith had been brought back from the brink of death, they still had a long way to go until they would recover.

“Of course,” Jack softly replied, keeping his eyes on his friend's face and not on the nasty burns, cuts and missing body parts. “What do you need?”

“So…like…I can’t ask the others to do it since we dorm together in Red Legion territory and it’s against regulations to have some of the stuff I’ve got, but I have no idea how long I’m gonna be here or if I’ll even be alive. Can you delete my browser history for me and pick up a few things? I heard the Red Legion territories got hit bad so they’ll want all the aspirants to stick around to secure it, and there’s no way in hell I’m brave enough to ask the girls.”

“I know the way and I can wipe it no problem.” Kritch nodded.

“Give me a list and I’ll get the stuff,” Jack agreed. “Though I’m assuming we’ll need permission from whoever is in charge?”

“Vaal will let you in, he's technically an officer so he’s got clearance to let you have access to my dorm if you’re just there to pick up some stuff.” Kizzarith sighed as his voice grew weaker still. “Hey guys….if I don’t make it through….”

“Hey, don’t say things like that,” Jack snapped, putting his hand on Kizzarith’s shoulder to keep him awake. “You’ve survived the worst of it, so now you’re doing exactly what you should be doing. Hang in there.”

“I just hope the Red Legion won’t send me away…” The Anicite sniffed. “I’m useless to them now…”

“No! You’re not!” Jack reassured his friend. “This is tough, but you’re tougher. The Red Legion would be dumb not to see that! You’re going to recover and come back stronger than you were before!”

“Heh…” Kizzarith smiled back. “Thanks, Jack…”

“Sorry boys, but we’re prepped and ready,” one of the doctors informed them as they and several nurses quickly moved around the gurney Kizzarith was laid on to move him to their temporary operating theatre.

“Understood.” Jack nodded, giving a quick shout of “Good Luck!” to the Anicite before he and Kritch left the room to stand out in the corridor. Though Kritch had only taken superficial wounds, Jack was still badly hurt from before and yet he still didn’t have anyone to help mend him. He was worried the medical staff were severely overestimating how effective his biology was, and he repeatedly checked his bandages to make sure he wasn’t bleeding too heavily.

“We won’t need to do that immediately,” Kritch finally sighed. “Kizzarith will be out for a few days after this round of healing. I heard they’re gonna try and save what they can. Clan Bharzum brought a team in just for him, especially since he apparently was lucky enough to save one of their daughters. I’ve gotta say, they must be going all out with their finances, so I hope they can take the hit without cutting costs. Honour and reputation are more important to the Hoduth Clans than money, after all, but if they enter the red at a time like this they might end up collapsing, or someone might try and take advantage of the situation and strike against them…”

“Do you think Clan Bharzum can handle it?” Jack asked.

“Under normal circumstances, yes.” Kritch nodded. “In a chaotic time like this, it’s less likely, but maybe they know things I don’t and they’ll be fine. There will be many that try to take advantage of the chaos for their own benefit, so maybe this is also meant to be a show of strength from Clan Bharzum to ward off any that might want to make a play against them.”

“And what about your family?” Jack asked. “Will they be okay?”

“Oh, they’ll be fine!” Kritch grinned. “My clan is too small for a ring-wide threat like the Killer Klown to bother targeting. My grandfather will know how to play this to his advantage and keep us all safe.”

“That’s a relief, I like your clan’s tea garden and they seem like good people.” Jack grinned. “Helping our party avoid an obese moron causing a scene is certainly a good way to get into our good books!”

“There you are!” Ivar Bharzum called out, sighing as his eyes wandered to Jack’s injuries. “I told the medics we needed you healed up as a priority, we have inquisitors that need to talk to you about what you encountered. I gave my report but they want to verify everything you told me and get you to recall any information you may have missed.”

“Sure, Captain.” Jack tiredly nodded. “Are the medics able to heal me up while I talk?”

“Probably.” Ivar shrugged. “They’ve already spoken to a few others who might have seen things, but aside from those who aren’t conscious, they want to talk to you, the Nirah, and this ‘Rena’ you told me about as soon as possible. Can’t find the other two for the life of me, so congrats, you’re up. We’re starting to notify households and factions where applicable for those that aren’t hurt, but we’re happy to put you guys up for as long as it takes.“

“Hopefully not during school time, otherwise we’re fucked,” Kritch muttered, before he looked up at Ivar’s raised eyebrows. “Sorry.”

“I’ll let the Elders handle that shitshow in the making.” The Captain shrugged. “After the donations our Clan has made to them over the centuries, I’m sure we can lean on them to go easy on you. Anyway, you coming or not, Outsider?”

“Let’s go.”

*****

Pain. Darkness. Alive?

The thoughts of Nya coalesced, registering bare whispers of sensation, until finally her mind became whole enough to become fully aware. The ability to dream lucidly had been something her masters had taught her from a young age until she did it reflexively, every single night, without thought. With it, she concentrated and gathered her power until she was able to astrally project out of her body.

Moaning slightly in pain with the effort, she manifested above her body and slapped her hand over her mouth in shock as she saw the physical state she was in.

"Hello!"

Nya snapped round in shock, not expecting to be addressed on the same plane of existence, suddenly panicking as she cursed her recklessness. If Svaartal had found her and taken her alive, of course he would place some guardians around. His familiar was right there, idly looking her way but otherwise not taking any action.

"Hey Nya! It's okay, you're safe!" the voice spoke again, and this time Nya focused her astral senses to make out the figure.

"Svaarti?" Nya asked, taking a sharp intake of breath at recognising the Nirah's own astral form. "You…"

"We're being looked after by Clan Bharzum, they got us out, though I don't remember much." Svaarti floated towards Nya and gently placed her hands on the Stygian's shoulders with the intention of calming her down. "T'Chika told me I was treated at school before I was brought here, and that you were brought here by Jack and one of the response teams."

Yes, I remember now. Nya thought to herself. Jack found me, he must have got me out after I reverted to my natural form. I don't think I'm compromised. Good thing my astral signature changes too…

"I…don't remember too much," Nya partially lied, recalling much of what had happened but having definite gaps in her memory. "I do know the Klowns were portaled in."

Indeed, Rena had gone to stealthily investigate before she informed Nya and their masters that not only had Dr Reyazz Grine made an appearance, but that he had assisted the Klowns in taking out the security nexus, and he had a powerful wizard working with him. It was that information that led her to confront Svaartal, partly to wring out what he knew of Dr Grine's dealings with House Mal'Kar, but also for the excuse of making him pay for the way he always treated her.

Her masters would ream her severely for this, and Rena too. Somehow Jack had seen the Vulsta when she shouldn't have been seen at all. And now questions would be asked.

Hopefully her masters would know what to do.

"That would make sense, Svaarti agreed with Nya's account. "When I was able to breach through the suppression field, I was able to exploit vulnerabilities to pull it off and link a focus to Svaartal's school locker. At the time, I thought it was down to the Klowns, but if exceptions were made for others it would explain how we were able to do it much quicker than expected."

"That's an amazing thing to be able to do," Nya asked, thinking quickly. "Is that why you're in the same position as I am?"

Svaarti nodded. "That and the barrier I'd summoned to repel as many of the Klowns as I could. I've never been able to cast something as powerful as that before so I'm surprised I'm not as hurt as I thought I would be. I certainly didn’t expect to be aware enough to be able to astrally project…"

Nya looked at Svaarti for a long moment, and she didn't get the sense that the Nirah was lying. Such a claim was far too bold to be false. Rena had claimed that there were reports from Clan Bharzum responders that there was an extensive magical defence protecting the front as well…

"That sounds amazing!" Nya smiled. "How were you able to pull it off?"

"The staff my brother gave me when we joined House Mal'Kar!" Svaarti beamed. "He told me it belonged to our mother. I'd been practising with it all week, but this is the first time I've used it for anything complicated. It enhanced the spells I used to attack the Klowns, so I thought I would use it for a weave. But when I began, it was like I knew fully what my intention was and I could recall the knowledge to optimise and strengthen it into something powerful. Same with breaching the field."

"Maybe you did that on your own rather than with the staff's power," Nya pointed out. "You've always been a great mage."

"Thanks!" Svaarti shyly smiled. "But it was definitely the staff enhancing my abilities."

No doubt about it. The staff is what I think it is, though I never expected it to resurface like this. Nya thought to herself. Svaarti is probably innocent of all this, but where did Svaartal get it? A gift from the Mal'Kars? Or did he steal it himself?

"What about you?" Svaarti asked Nya after a long pause. "How did you end up like this?"

"I ended up duelling a mage and I lost." Nya sighed. "I was stupid and I'm lucky to be alive."

"I'm sure you did what you could," Svaarti replied, comforting the Stygian. "I hope nothing like this happens to us again, but if it does, we'll learn from what happened here and do better."

"You're right." Nya nodded in agreement.

"Next time."

*****

"They tried to, but they didn't…" Vanya sobbed as Alora leant the Chuna a shoulder to cry on. "I feel like I should have died…"

"I'm sorry, Vanya," Alora soothed as she rubbed her friend’s fur. "It's over now, and we're all going to help each other heal, ok?"

Vanya nodded. "I should have stayed with Svaarti. I knew this was the first time she came to a party, but I encouraged her to mingle with some of our classmates, and now she's…"

"None of us could have seen this coming," Alora slowly replied, emphasising her words. "This lies entirely at the feet of the Killer Klown. He will pay for what happened."

"I hope so…" Vanya sighed. "I just…I don't know what to do."

"Here's what you're going to do," Alora spoke assertively. "You're going to move in with us and stay for as long as you need. You told me you got some words with Jack, so when you're up for it, you get to fully interview the rest of us."

"I don't want to be a burden…" Vanya tried to start, but Alora wasn't having any of it.

"You're never a burden and we're happy to have you. I've told the others and they fully agree that all our friends are welcome to stay with us. We're secure and secluded, so you'll be safe. We'll fetch your stuff when we can, but we have plenty of spare clothes you can wear in the meantime."

Vanya made an expression as if to try and argue, but Alora was patient, and gave her friend all the time she needed to accept the help they both knew she needed.

*****

"Damn joints are stiff. It's even worse after the Pallid Pit run," Nika groaned from sitting up on the makeshift bed the medics had ordered her to stay laid down on. "But yeah, don't worry about finding a place, Zayle. We've got more than enough room to put you up, Alora's already given us the go-ahead."

"And room for Rayle too once they get better," Sephy added with a grin.

"Thank you, friends." Zayle shuddered with relief from the side of Rayle's bed, which had been placed next to Nika's. "Rayle and I could barely afford paying our dues as it was, and the Laird has been increasing them in response to recent attacks, or so they claim. Ever since The Killer Klown’s first attack breached part of their territory they’ve been seizing assets from anyone they can by making up pretexts and threatening tenants not to leave. Rayle and I have been wanting to move for a while and had plans to try and offer our services for residency in a safer district.”

This Laird sounds like a nasty piece of work. Chiyo finally ‘spoke’ up. I would suggest we secure your belongings as quickly as possible before they realise you are leaving.

“Under normal circumstances I would agree with you.” Nika sighed. “But even I think we’re way too hurt to come with you and make the attempt. Realistically, I would expect a local lord to be on high alert immediately after and during a major city-wide attack, so it might be better to wait for things to calm down before trying to recover your things. Either way, you’re not going back alone. At least some of us will need to come with you just in case things get worse.”

You’ve both stayed with us overnight before without any issues. Chiyo pointed out as one of the nurses quickly walked over to Nika and gently pushed her back down, saving herself the trouble of repeating her order to the Kizun. While I don’t suggest we go right now, a day or maybe two at most should be fine.

“You may be right.” Zayle sighed nervously, shaking at the thought.

“Don’t you think you might be overthinking this kind of stuff?” Sephy asked as another nurse quickly checked her bandages. “It’s not like this is a Run. We’re just going to pick your things up, do you really think it’s gonna be that bad a situation that we’ll need the entire group kitted up like we’re going back to the Pallid Pit? If a few of us come with you would anyone even give us any trouble?”

“That is a valid question.” Nika shrugged, fluffing up the sheets as she remained lying down. “Asshole landlords aren’t exactly uncommon, and I’ve heard all kinds of stories from mild to terrible. You know best, what do you think? Just how bad is this guy?”

“It wasn’t always this bad,” Zayle admitted. “The Laird was never particularly great to begin with, we only stayed within his territory initially because we needed a place quickly and the dues were cheap at the time. The buildings are somewhat shoddy and the facilities are poorly maintained, but at least security was up to standard, and once we knew when brownouts would occur we could work around them. However, he kept charging us and the other residents for any infractions and kept increasing the rent, citing that he needed to hire more security. But the worst thing was when Rayle’s Watcher Spirit notified us that they’d snooped in our home and stole some things. After that, we hid our valuable belongings in the ground underneath using an Earth Spirit.”

“Damn, that sounds awful.” Sephy was the first to speak, likely talking from experience. “We have some spare clothes and other things Jack and I….came into possession of that you can have in the meantime that can serve as replacements."

If you’ve buried your belongings safely underground, then perhaps we don’t need to go to your home itself. Chiyo reasoned. You can order the Earth Spirit to shift it all underground, right? Maybe bring it up in a nearby district?

“This is true, though not all of our possessions are buried,” Zayle clarified. “If it’s made too obvious there are ways of wresting control of the spirit. Instead they have no idea it’s there. Though it’s not absolutely necessary, I would like to obtain the rest of our things if we can. The Laird has taken too much from us already, and I don’t want to leave him anything I could otherwise take with me.”

“That’s reasonable.” Nika grinned. “Though it’s a shame we won’t be able to use our new toy. If we fixed the shuttle up even a little bit we could hover over in the middle of the night and load it up, but depending on what you have we may need to leave some things behind, unless your Earth Spirit can swallow the furniture too?”

“Not necessarily,” Zayle slowly added. “Rayle and I had a plan. The Laird has a vault with confiscated valuables, including where our Watcher Spirit told us he’d taken our things.”

“Now that’s interesting!” Sephy grinned as she realised what Zayle was hinting towards, though Chiyo and Nika needed a brief moment.

“Wait, are you proposing we…”

“Yes.” Zayle gave a sly smile. “I want you to help me steal it all right from under their noses!”

*****

“Can anyone corroborate your account that Dr Reyazz Grine was present during the attack?” one of the Inquisitors, a reptilian Red Legion representative, asked with a curious gaze.

“I saw him on the cameras in the security nexus, and that is what led me to chase him,” Jack replied, trying his best to be patient, but getting frustrated with the constant questions that raised doubt among those gathered. “Just bring up the logs from when I turned it all back on and you’ll see it.”

“I took the liberty of backing up the logs the moment I got there myself,” Sigrin Bharzum added. “I’ve made copies for each of you, feel free to verify for yourselves. The murder scene also perfectly lines up with what we know of Grine’s capabilities. It is our belief that he somehow was able to infiltrate the party and access the security nexus, killing all those on duty. Once that was accomplished, he likely held his position until the Klowns attacked, and he had an exfiltration set up.”

“That matches what we know of Grine’s operational planning,” Inquisitor Faegleal raised her voice to grab the attention of the rest of the room. Jack was glad for a familiar face in the hearing, and having the representative from the Church of Astara move things along was very welcome. “I’m sure the surveillance from before the attack will turn up something we can use to work out how he did it. We may very well have never discovered his involvement without Jack, though his involvement with the Killer Klown does raise concerns.”

“Is it possible that he’s feeding the Killer Klown’s army with his experiments?” another inquisitor spoke up, and several murmurs could be heard pondering the question.

“Perhaps we should stay on topic?” another spoke up. “What happened when you caught him?”

“I fought him.” Jack shrugged. “Wasn’t able to kill him.”

“Jack, we need more details than that and you know it,” Inquisitor Faegleal spoke up, not unkindly. “What happened when you caught up to Grine?”

“He led me into an ambush, there were Klowns there.” Jack recalled the details. “He ordered them to stand down for a moment, I think to examine me or something. We said some things, I can’t remember what exactly, then I attacked. I was able to take down the Klowns before they could get me, then I fought him.”

Jack stopped there as the inquisitors began whispering to each other again. He knew how it ended. He had to tell them about the mage at least, but there was no way he was going to tell them how he had planned in that moment to kill Grine by sacrificing himself in the process.

“What can you tell us about the spellcaster that came to the assistance of Dr Grine?” another inquisitor asked him.

“He wasn’t there for long.” Jack sighed, trying to remember as much as he could about the mage. “Black robes, I think he had a golden-scaled claw though I wasn’t really paying attention to the amount of fingers.”

“Would you say he was subservient to Dr Grine?” Faegleal asked.

“No., Jack replied, a little uncertain. “I got the impression they were partners based on how Grine spoke to him, wanting to leave instead of fight.”

“Is that all they said?” the Red Legion inquisitor asked.

“I…” Jack began, then stopped. “In his anger, Grine yelled something at me that very few people here know about.”

“Here in this room?”

“No, as in this worl- I mean the Ring.” Jack sighed.

“Jack, now is not the time to be withholding information.” Faegleal stared at him with an unreadable expression.

“Fine,” Jack replied, trying to keep his voice calm. “He told me that he knows about the Spawn of Nekdon, and the one who summoned it wasn’t exactly happy about that.”

Faegleal closed her eyes for a moment and nodded, subtly motioning with her hand for Jack to hold back on elaborating as everyone else in the room looked around, confused.

“We had planned on making a statement about this,” Inquisitor Faegleal spoke up, so the room immediately gave her their attention. “The Church of Astara sent Jack and his party of mercenaries to investigate rumours of dark activity to the North, where they encountered and eliminated a Spawn of Nekdon. The Church of Astara has secured the site in cooperation with our brother and sister faiths from the Temple of Hope, and we are still investigating the scene.”

“A Spawn of Nekdon!? Here!?” the Red Legion inquisitor exclaimed. “How is this possible? Nekdon is dead!”

“That is what we wish to find out, but sadly we know little.” Faegleal sighed. “What we do know is that thanks to Jack’s report, Clan Bharzum was able to find the room the mage appeared in and were able to make preliminary notes on their astral signature. Whoever the mage was clearly had skill in masking their power, as there wasn’t much to be deduced. We can conclude that whoever they are, they are very powerful, and there are few mages known to us with that level of potency. If Grine can’t be found, this mage may prove an easier target. As for whoever summoned the Spawn, it could very well be a bluff. If not, then right now we have nothing to go on, so I suggest we investigate Grine, and the other attacks where third parties could have been involved.”

There were several nods of agreement from around the room.

“I think there’s nothing else that we need from you for now, Jack.” Faegleal smiled sympathetically. “You’ve mentioned this ‘Rena’ individual as having met you afterwards, so I think we will speak to her next as soon as we are able, so we can get an understanding of her perspective.”

“Come on.” Sigrin patted Jack on the shoulder as he got up and was escorted out of the room.

“Well you’re full of surprises,” she snorted as soon as the door was fully shut. “A Spawn of Nekdon of all things? I need to get out in the field more! Would you like some food or drink?”

“A tea of some kind would be great.” Jack sighed as he leaned against the wall in exhaustion before something caught his eye. “Huh, those guys don’t look like medics to me?”

“Where?” Sigrin asked, not seeing where Jack was pointing. The robed figures were walking quickly down the corridor, though as Jack looked, he could see various passing figures not even turn their heads to acknowledge them.

It was like they didn’t notice them.

“You really don’t see them? Guys in robes?” he asked, only for Sigrin to suddenly blink her eyes in alarm, before perking up and nodding.

“That’s strange. I swear I couldn’t see them before! Let’s stay on their tail while I raise the alarm, it looks like they’re heading to where we have the magical coma patients!”

“Understood.” He unholstered his gun as Sigrin quickly spoke into her comms. “I’ll follow them, if you subtly raise the alarm we can get the drop on them.”

He wasn’t going to be happy if these guys were up to no good…