Triple Strength

79. Intelligence: Ruku

When I enter Tait’s office, I find he is not alone. I recognise Major Sione from Military Intelligence. He is one of the minority Merpeople in the Kingdom, easily recognisable by the gills on the side of his neck and his bluish skin tone. I had worked with Major Sione before as the Aquatic Infiltration Commandos were a tool commonly employed by Military Intelligence, even though we often complained about their lack of intelligence.

“Ruku!” Tait greeted me coming around from his desk to shake my hand. “We don’t see you enough these days. You’re coming to dinner with the missus and me tonight, right?” I smile and nod. He continued, “You remember Major Sione?”

The Major and I greet each other.

“The Major has a small project for you,” Tait said, nodding to the Major.

“As you know, we try to keep track of various people with affinities,” Major Sione has a higher voice than you would expect. “There is a group of people who recently arrived in the city, and we strongly suspect there is an affinity user among them, and we would like you to investigate.” He pulsed a puzzled tone through his Sonar. The Mer regularly communicate, or enhance their communication, through Sonar pulses, although not generally in mixed company. I picked up Sonar through my bond with Opo, but it has been invaluable when dealing with the Mer.

“That is not my strong area,” I replied.

“We know. I would normally get an advanced warning of an affinity user coming to town, but there is nothing on this one. If it is an affinity user, we want to know how they slipped through the checks and have a threat assessment on them. If they are not an affinity user we really want to know how they are doing what they are doing.” He continued.

“What are they doing?” I asked.

“We think it is some type of Shadow Puppetry, implying a Shadow affinity user, but it is not that simple. Some of it appears to be normal Shadow Puppetry, but others do not, and there is no clear connection with the puppeteer. We haven’t even identified a key person in the group.” He replied.

“Wait up,” Tait said, “are you talking about the new performers at the Bardic Concert Hall? The Comedic Rhythm? My wife saw that and couldn’t stop raving about it.”

“Indeed. I went and saw the show myself, but even with my senses, I couldn’t tell whether it was the Orc frontman, his female human sidekick or a shadowy person off stage that was the main person, or in fact, what they were even doing. It is an outstanding show, and there are layers upon layers of distractions and misdirections there.” He said.

“If your senses couldn’t determine what was going on, I am not sure what you think I can do.” I replied.

“You have a very high Mental Strength, we suspect it is even over 50, but we are not sure.” He was fishing there. “You also have a very straightforward, no-nonsense personality. The Comedic Rhythm travels with a Caravan run by the Elemental Traders. They are a small Trading house out of Jern, and the head trader is called Skygge, a human female with the same build and general proportions as the female sidekick in the show. I haven’t determined if it is the same person yet. We think you would be a good fit to get to know them, maybe attach yourself to the caravan and find out what is going on for us.” The Major was asking for quite a great effort and commitment here. “You would be paid a weekly consultant rate.” He was also apparently willing to pay for it.

“What about the Commando training?” I asked.

“Captain Tait will find someone to cover for you.” Captain Tait was not happy to hear that.

“What information am I getting, specifically?” I asked.

“I want an updated information dossier on all the key personnel and a threat assessment. I have sent for any existing information from HQ and a wider search on any known Shadow Affinity users, but it will be two to three weeks before I hear back. Even if HQ knows about it, they will want updated information.” He replied.

“If they are in a Caravan, when are they moving on?” I asked.

“We are not sure, but we know they will be here for another month as they have sold out shows three nights a week for that long.” Then the Major passed over a folder. “This is what we currently know about them.” Then he passed an envelope. “Two tickets to tomorrow night's show.”

“OK, I will see what I can do.” The Major and I shook hands, exchanging a Sonar Pulse each, and he left.

Captain Tait gave me a big smile. “Two tickets, did he say? You don’t have anyone else to take, do you? And you owe me for all the extra work I am about to have.”

“Alright, you old sea dog. You can come. How are Helga and the kids?” I asked, and the conversation turned to general topics.

I read the information that night. The Elemental Traders took a three-month lease on a warehouse and yard on the city's south side. There was a small Pride of Catkin with an enchanter living there and looking after security with other rotating guards. Most of the others were staying at a nearby inn and using the warehouse for business. The main players were the mysterious owner with an unidentified partner. A mercenary outfit called the Canine Queens consisted of three orcs and two humans, one of whom also ran a herbal clinic. Then there was the Comedic Rhythm with an Orc frontman, Zabavno, a dwarf, two humans and two elves. It was a strange mix and even stranger when you added in the Catkin. At least the Caravan Master was a known quantity, Selma. She was an experienced dwarven caravan master with a known history. Then there were miscellaneous guards, wagon drivers, a beast master and a carpenter, all typical for a caravan of that size.

It was a puzzle how the Elemental Traders pulled together such a diverse group and held them together. The main focus for me was the Comedic Rhythm group.

I decided to move to an Inn on the south side of town to be closer to the action. I wasn’t an actor, nor did I have any special stealth skills, so I would be playing the role I normally played, a retired Marine. There was no point in doing anything else. I bought a new shirt and jacket for the show as the Bardic Concert Hall was a fancier place than I would normally go to.

I met Tait in the bar before the show. Our tickets gave us a small table on the upper balcony area, and a bar was set up there for the patrons on our level. It was amazing how Military Intelligence got such good tickets to a sold-out show. Best not to question these things.

The show was amazing. The rapport between the Orc and the Human sidekick was amazing. The singing and stories all with hilarious sound effects. Then there were the shadows. They had the spotlights coming from different angles and switching on and off, but there was definitely something moving the shadows into different shapes. I tried using my Sense Spiritual Skill as it was at Journeyman Level, and I couldn't figure out how they were doing it. Not that I expected to.

Then we had a half-hour intermission. According to the programme, the second half was an extended story about a barman and a noble's daughter. Tait went to get us some new drinks as I looked at the crowd. Everyone was in good spirits and smiling and having a good time. So why was my Ocean Sense tingling that there was an anomaly in the environment?

Then I spotted him. He was seated on our level at a table by himself, and he seemed almost bored. People were avoiding him, probably because of the snake curled on the table, licking the salt off the peanuts in the small bowl in front of him. It was an unusual bond and unusual to bring a bond to a place like this. I switched to my Sense Spiritual Skill, which clarified that it was not a usual bond. It was a Monster bond. Since my Sense Spiritual had got to Journeyman Level, I could tell the difference between a Monster and an Animal as the Spiritual energy was concentrated around a core of a monster. That had helped me track Monsters in the past, as they often just looked like ordinary animals. Our team had to put down a Bond once after it had gone mad, transforming into a Monster. It had killed its Mer partner and gone on a rampage. One of my squad mates got the Monster kill for that.

Tait returned to the table with two mugs of ale. I grabbed them both and went to meet this strange human, telling a complaining Tait he would need to get another one.

“Hello, I’m Ruku. You looked like you were on your own and could do with an ale.” I greeted the stranger. Up close, he was a lot younger than I initially thought. About the same age as my kids. The snake was observing me carefully. It was almost certainly venomous, but nothing I hadn't dealt with before.

“Thanks,” he said, indicating the spare seat. “I am Sten, and this is Tāoke. Tāoke helps keep my thousands of admiring fans at bay so I can get some peace.” He smiled to show he wasn’t serious, but I understood he preferred to be alone.

I took a chance and used Interrogate Status on him. It was a Skill I needed to acquire to get the Trainer Class, and I used it extensively in training. It was less detectable than Identify and gave more information. It gave the same Class information as Identify, but I could also use it to focus on a Skill or, at Journeyman Level, up to five Skills. When we are training for a Skillset, knowing how the recruit was doing was very handy. In this case, I just set it for the top five skills.

Sten had a strange mix of Classes and Skills. His Specialisations were Monster Hunter, Scout, and Prospector. His Basic Classes were Hunter and Miner. His top skills were Stealth 16, Animal Bond 15, Small Blades 13, Hearing Aid 13, and Hammer 13. Sten didn’t seem to notice the Skill use. Normally it was a sight Skill that reached the Master levels first, not Stealth, and it is unusual to have Hearing Aid as the highest Perception Skill. I could understand the strong Animal Bond with the monster on the table. A puzzle. There was no way I would use the skill on the snake, Tāoke. Monsters seemed to have a natural sensitivity when people interrogated their Status, and I had the scars to prove it.

“Nice to meet you and Tāoke. Are you enjoying the show? You don’t seem as enthused as most of the people here.” I was curious.

“It is a terrific show,” Sten said. “This is not the first time I have seen it. I might ask you a question. Tāoke frightens most people. Why not you?”

“Two reasons. Firstly, I am a pretty thick-skulled ex-Marine, so not much frightens me. Secondly, I know what it is like to have a close bond. My bond partner of thirty-five years passed away two years ago. For what it is worth, don’t take your partnership for granted and make the most of it.”

That stopped the conversation for a bit. The intermission was over, and Sten indicated I could watch the second half from his table. The Barman and the Noble's Daughter was hilarious. They incorporated some common Tavern Songs and got everyone singing, and it was a real puzzle how they pulled it off with so few people. Most of it was the Orc, Zabavno, as the narrator and the Human male, Manus and the human female listed in the program as Princess. It was obviously just a stage name. The rest was clever lighting and shadows with the musicians and singer in the background. They got a well-deserved standing ovation.

Sten had stood and clapped with the rest of us, but while he was smiling, he had obviously seen it before. When things had died down and people started to head to the exits, I asked, “So you said you had seen it before? Are you a big fan, or is there another reason?”

Sten replied, “I have been travelling with them for a while, so I have watched them develop it from a funny story into a full production.”

“Really?” I said excitedly. “So you can spill all the backstage secrets!”

He laughed. “Not likely. That would be worth more than my life!”

“I bet,” I replied. “So what is your role, stagehand?”

“I am part of the Mercenary group providing security. One of us is always here as some fans can get a bit over-enthusiastic,” he replied.

I nodded. That made him one of the Humans with the Canine Queens, although Sione’s report said nothing about a Monster snake bond. “Do you need to head over there then?” I asked.

“The backstage and dressing rooms are fairly secure. It will be a while to get changed and pack up. What brought you along tonight? You don’t seem to be with anyone?”

“I came to town to do consultant work for the Marine Corp. New crop of trainees. One of the other officers had a spare ticket, so I lucked in. There he is now. Tait!” I got his attention, but he was caught in the flow of people to the exit. “I’ll catch up with you tomorrow!” I gave him a wave, and he signalled he had heard me. I sat back down. “I have some time. Do you want another ale?”

“Why not?” Sten replied, and we made our way to the bar.

We got chatting, and I talked about the village I had retired to and the kids there. He was interested in coming fishing with me. He perked up when he heard I had a Master level Fishing Skill and was keen for some tips. He was off duty this weekend, so I offered to host him in the village, and we could go fishing. I warned him it was about a six-hour jog, but that didn’t phase him. I didn’t think it would with his Hunter Class. We set a time and place to meet on Friday and head down together.

I reported to the Navy base the next day and left an update for Major Sione. I then helped Tait weed out some of the less able applicants. I was looking forward to a weekend fishing with some company.