Grif and the other man they had picked up downtown stayed at the mansion when they left. After a few quick stops at the Wayfarers Guild and a few warehouses around town, including an AG warehouse, the only thing left to do was return French to the Crows’ nest.
On the drive back out of the city, they passed by the local CES branch. The doors were open, and a line wound around the block. People walking out of the branch were eating out of bowls and chewing on bread. A tent city had sprung up around the branch, which was even odder than the line to the soup kitchen. There were even some shelters resting directly against the walls of the CES’s building, which had been a big no-no in the past.
Maybe the insufferable Jake had finally been promoted out of Aba, and someone else had taken over? While Thorn was curious, he wasn’t going to waltz into the building and find out. He’d sunk down into his seat as they’d passed the branch, as if anyone could see him and tell he was a rogue Integrator loose on the streets of the city.
It was the middle of the afternoon when Thorn stepped out of the armored vehicle, back at the Crows Guild.
French exited the vehicle, led by Sergeant Lee in the direction of the briefing rooms. She had a quick word with Sedge, handing him a small pouch, before following after.
Thorn and Kels gathered around Sedge, who dug into the pouch and handed out a few cores to each of them.
“Sergeant says French is meeting with the Quartermaster, but the rest of us are done for the day,” Sedge said. “Our official pay for the mission will probably release within the next day or so… but here is ‘a token of appreciation’ for our good work today, as well as ‘a reminder that the client enjoys our discretion.’”
Thorn tried to hide the grimace on his face. He liked being paid, of course, who didn’t; but being “paid off” didn’t sit well. And since French was going to meet with Hubert, he had some concrete ideas about what French specifically wanted their discretion for.
“Is this normal?” Thorn asked, pocketing the cores.
“Normal?” Sedge answered. “No, at least not for regular clients, so don’t get used to it. But is it an awesome perk?” he smiled. “Hell yeah. It’s why some of the contracts that pop up are immediately filled; once word gets out, we all scramble over the opportunity to fill them. It’s a way for the real highfliers with more quints than they know what to do with to buy a little extra loyalty from the rank and file of their merc contracts.”
“I see,” Thorn said.
“Now that you’re in the know, don’t go telling everyone you meet,” Sedge said, and slapped Thorn on the back. “No need to give ourselves unnecessary competition.”
Thorn tossed a wink at Sedge and mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key.
“Y’all want to get a bite to eat?” Kels asked. “I’m starving.”
“Sure, after I finish dropping off the vehicle at the motor pool,” Sedge said. “Meet you in ten?”
“I’ll see you there,” Kels said. Thorn nodded as well.
The two of them dropped their weapons off at the armory and headed to the cafeteria. Thorn thought about checking in on Korakis, but decided not to. He’d left him alone for half a day, how much trouble could he have gotten into while he was gone? He’d pick some food up for him and take it back, and not have to worry about Korakis stealing stuff off his plate when he wasn’t paying attention.
Thorn wanted to talk to Lief about the whole French-Scrivler-Hubert-glitter farm connection. He was likely the only person he could talk to about this and get advice, and Lief might know more from taking the initial contract from Smithson.
The cafeteria was mostly empty at this time of the afternoon. How many times had Thorn delivered supplies for the place, walking by and smelling what the elite of the Crows Guild ate on a daily basis? And now he was one of those elite. It still felt surreal.
Sedge joined Thorn and Kels in the cafeteria, and after a few more minutes, Lief walked in. He was dressed in the informal uniform of black and gray fatigues most Crows wore around base, but his sleeves were rolled up, and Thorn could see the tell-tale line demarcating his organic skin from the prosthetic on his left arm. The difference was faint, however, and it was the only clue to the fact that Lief hadn’t been born with that arm.
“Looking good, man,” Thorn said when Lief walked up.
“Always,” the older man said, then curled his new arm and flexed his bicep. “Better than new and worth every last quint. The new limbs even came with a few new tricks that ought to be useful the next time we get in a tight spot.”
“I’m jealous,” Thorn said, and meant it. He didn’t exactly want to lose any of his limbs, at least not with the level of machine tech integration his System gave him, but his imagination raced with the possibilities.
“A natural reaction, and one I’m familiar with.” Lief grinned and winked. Sedge chuckled at Lief’s bold proclamation.
“Lief, these are Kels and Sedge,” Thorn said, pointing at each in turn. “We just finished up an escort mission down into Aba.”
“Sounds good,” Lief said. “Let me get a plate and you can tell me all about it. I’m starving.”
After Lief left, Sedge glanced over at Thorn and held up a finger to his lips, as if to remind him not to mention the extra tip they had gotten at the end of the mission. Thorn rolled his eyes and shook his head.
Thorn was mostly quiet as they ate. Lief asked about their mission when he came back, but was immediately sidetracked into one of his ridiculous stories. He listened with half an ear as Lief waxed eloquent about a long and complicated escapade regarding one of his ex-wives, a pet goat, and a gardening implement that may or may not have been a metaphor; Thorn wasn’t paying close enough attention to tell. Lief was just getting to the finale of the story when Sergeant Lee sat down next to him and he stopped paying attention altogether.
“Good work on the mission today,” Sergeant Lee said.
“Thanks,” Thorn replied.
“Just a quick question before I go finish some System work,” she continued, taking a bite out of the dinner roll she held in one hand. “One of the women our client met with… you seemed to recognize her. Was that right?”
Thorn froze. He thought he’d kept his expressions neutral when he saw Grif, but Sergeant Lee must have picked up on it.
“If I did, why would it matter?” Thorn said.
“Humor me,” Sergeant Lee said, taking another bite.
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Thorn sighed and frowned. He belatedly realized that Sergeant Lee had also specifically tracked him down to ask him this question in person, instead of over comm. Was it to see his facial expressions when he answered? He took another bite of his grilled humper steak, then a bite of rice, buying time to formulate an answer.
“She’s a local fixer. Usually has some muscle following her around. I’m not sure who she’s working for, although I suppose I could find out…”
“How do you know her?”
Thorn did not appreciate the direct questioning. His gut soured. He’d liked Sergeant Lee so far, but if she was asking about this, then she had to have a deeper connection to French and the defunct glitter farm. If she didn’t, why would she care?
“Look,” Thorn said, setting his fork down and turning to Sergeant Lee. “I pissed someone off. This was before I joined the Crows. That Grif bitch and her goon squad made my life hell for a week. She recognized me, but it’s all in the past now, okay?”
“Oh man,” Lief interjected. “You saw Grif again today?”
“Yeah,” Thorn said.
“Okay, so get this,” Lief said, leaning in over the table. “This goes back a while, but it’s a good one. Thorn’s got a set of balls made of titanium alloy, I tell you what…”
He then went on to describe how Thorn had found an ex cheating on him, and in an excessive display of revenge against the man who’d supplanted him, stalked the young scion of a merchant family around the city, vandalizing the man’s vehicles and calling tow companies on him non-stop for a week. Lief, the voice of reason, had tried to talk Thorn out of his disastrous course of action, but was unsuccessful and eventually, Thorn was caught by none other than the infamous fixer, Grif Scrivler. In this fictional retelling, Grif took an immediate liking to the irascible Thorn Farmer and instead of subjecting him to the tender mercies of the local authorities, she subjected him to her own, less tender but mutually more enjoyable mercies until Thorn, in an act of supreme willpower, eventually broke off their sordid liaison.
When Lief had finally finished waggling his eyebrows at his enthralled audience, he had gone from colorful details to embellished half-truths and then to complete fabrications, complete with lurid exaggerations in regards to Grif and Thorn’s imagined proclivities. Thorn never corrected him.
Sedge was buckled over in laughter, wiping tears out of his eyes. Kels was blushing, and Sergeant Lee had a look of mild distaste on her face as she took smaller and smaller bites out of her piece of bread.
“I see,” Sergeant Lee eventually said. “Well, I can understand how you might be reticent about such…” She searched for a word. “… dealings, but as you said, it’s all in the past now. Thank you, um, both, for the explanation.”
Thorn glared at Lief as Sergeant Lee walked away. “Did you have to do that?”
“As your friend, yes, I did,” Lief said. “If there is ever an opportunity to tell an embarrassing story about you, then I am System-bound to take it.”
“Half of what you said wasn’t even remotely true.”
“Bah, only the parts that you wish were true,” Lief said. “I know if it’d been me—”
“Enough,” Thorn interrupted. He glanced at Kels; she was taking a sip of her drink, and still red-faced with second-hand embarrassment. “Kels looks like she enjoyed that last part just a bit too much.”
Kels choked on her water, spewing it across the table and hitting Lief in the face. She apologized profusely as Lief sputtered and then roared with laughter.
Thorn smiled and handed Lief a napkin. Revenge was a dish best served immediately, and the pettier, the better.
The four finished up their meal without any more interrogations or character assassinations. Lief asked the more experienced Sedge and Kels about the Crows, and any tips or tricks they might have. Kels had a few tips on checking out the inventories of different branches for harder to find machine tech components, as it was fairly easy to hitch a ride between nests and sometimes the prices and availability were quite different.
Sedge’s advice was a bit more chilling, put into the current context: find a rich client swimming in the quints and do whatever it takes to stay in their good graces. Or in his more colorful, profane imagery, “grab on to that teat don’t let go. Suck ‘til you can’t suck no more.”
It was surprisingly honest advice, but it made Thorn immediately wonder if there was a limit to what Sedge was willing to do for a client, and if that was the predominant attitude amongst the Crows.
“So what was it you wanted to talk about?” Lief asked. He and Thorn were outside in the courtyard, walking back to the barracks.
“Partly about running into Grif today, which you heard about,” Thorn said.
“Okay,” Lief said. “And by the way, here’s some free advice. First, whatever paranoid delusions you’re having about Sergeant Lee’s motivations, just give ‘em a rest. She’s just asking about stuff on behalf of her client. Secondly, if you get pinned like that again, being interrogated about something or someone in your past, don’t do what you just did.”
“And what did I do, exactly?” Thorn asked.
“Exactly what you’re doing right now,” Lief said, exasperated. He turned and poked him in the chest. “Don’t get all defensive, like you’re hiding something. Even if you are. Especially if you are.”
Thorn frowned and rubbed his chest where Lief had poked him. He had a point. Quite possibly a good one.
“I don’t know why the Sergeant was giving you the nth degree over some two-bit hustler with poorly-disguised kinks, but those types of questions are never for a good reason. In those cases, you need to be casual. Disarming. And then lie. Lie like your life depends on it.”
“Lie?”
“Absolutely. But in a plausible way, with enough pieces of the truth that its broad shape still stands up to scrutiny.”
“Hmm,” Thorn said. “You seem to have a lot of practice at that kind of thing.”
“I have my talents.”
“Is that particular talent one that you developed because of your ex-wives, or did it cause the wives to become your exes…”
Thorn’s question trailed off as he opened the door to his room. As he stared inside, he almost dropped the plate of food he’d filled with all of the nice things that he knew Korakis liked to eat.
“Korakis, why is there a bunch of dust in the room? Why are there pieces of rock lying around? Why is there a hole in the wall?” Thorn’s voice kept rising.
Korakis’s head was under his wing. He peaked his eye out, glanced at Thorn and dismissed him, then placed his head back under his wing. Thorn set the plate of food on his desk.
There was a faint buzzing sound and a drone flew into the room. It weaved around Lief and Thorn to stop directly in front of Korakis.
“Is that your drone?” Thorn asked Lief.
“Nope.”
Thorn didn’t know whose drone it was, but they were in the Crows Guild barracks; small drones like this were not an uncommon sight, making deliveries or cleaning or performing small maintenance tasks.
A hatch opened on the bottom of the drone, and a glimmering core fell out and rolled to rest up against Korakis. The hatch closed, and the drone sped back out of his room. Korakis shuffled his wings and the core disappeared beneath him.
“What…” Words failed Thorn. “Who? Why?”
“Do we even want to know?” Lief asked.
“…Maybe not.”
Setting aside the matter of a mysterious core delivery, Thorn walked over and bent down to examine the damage to the wall. There was a hole leading downwards carved through the rock, and he could barely make out the edges of a maintenance shaft at the end.
“Did you do this?” he asked and was ignored. Of course Korakis had done it; Thorn just wanted him to admit it.
“Well, looks like you’re gonna be busy for a while, so…” Lief said, and started heading out the door.
“Nope, you stay,” Thorn said. “You’re helping me with this one. And I still need to talk to you about something really important. But first we gotta cover this up or fix it or something. There’s no way I’m paying for these damages.”
Lief sighed. “You do need some help decorating.” He gestured at Korakis’s messy corner, then the hole in the wall. “Can’t say I like what your roommate is doing with the place.”
“Hilarious. Go find a broom or something,” Thorn said, before stalking over to get some answers out of Korakis.
“Hey,” Thorn said, poking the raven on the wing. “What did you do?”
“Corrrrs.” Korakis stuck his head out. He glanced at Thorn’s pocket, where he still had the cores that French had given him, then fixed his eye on Thorn.
“Yeah, I can see you somehow got yourself a core delivery service. Can you explain that? And then tell me why there’s a hole in the wall?”
“Crkkk crkk, hrrrkk.”
Korakis appeared to think for a moment, then shuffled a bit in his nest. A core appeared from underneath his body; Thorn had a glimpse of more, forming a pile that he rested on top of. Korakis pushed the core towards Thorn with his beak.
“Corrrrs, hrrk crkk.”
Thorn threw his hands up in the air. He just wanted some answers, and instead, his pet beast was trying to buy him off. Just like everyone else today. And the most infuriating thing was that it might be working. A core for a single hole in the wall of his room? Tell him where the next hole needed to be and he’d get started chipping away.
“Hey Korakis, do you want to come and renovate my place?” Lief asked, a smirk on his face. It seemed like Lief had the same idea.
“You found a broom yet?” Thorn asked.
Lief laughed and walked out in search of cleaning implements.
“Ugh.” Thorn took the core and put it in his pocket, alongside the ones he’d gotten from the mission today.
Another drone buzzed into the room, this time coming up through the hole that Korakis had made. It deposited another core for Korakis to collect.
“More? What the hell is going on?” Thorn asked the raven, who continued to studiously ignore him. “Whose drones are these? Why are they giving you cores? How many cores do you have now?”
Thorn didn’t expect an answer, and so he was surprised when he received one. A mechanical voice spoke to him from the drone.
“Private Farmer, I see that you may require a small measure of explanation. If I may?”