Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Not all Knights Wear White

Ryven opened the door, allowing Kaden, the shadowy man who had recruited him only a month or two before, to pass into the dimly lit room.  Ryven had hidden Leela and Zhou in this complex for months, safe and sound, far from the threats against them.  They were away right now, secured against the very real possibility of violence.

Kaden spoke first.  "A bunker.  How cloak and dagger.  I get the impression I am not going to like what I am about to hear."

Ryven closed the heavy door and turned, watching Kaden for any hint or sign of malice.  Finding none, he decided to respond with words.  "That depends on how well you handle breakups."  

Kaden sat down on the nearby sofa, his legs crossed in a relaxed posture.   "I haven't had many experiences of that sort."

Ryven walked stiffly, his left leg still aching from his injury only yesterday.  He had been caught by on site security at a Caldari listening post in Pure Blind.  He had accomplished his mission, but took a round to his thigh.  The security team did not get off so lightly.

Ryven, having reached the sofa across from the one Kaden occupied, steadied himself.  "I can't work for you anymore."

Kaden's eyes narrowed to slits. "Oh, really?"

Ryven maintained a piercing stare.  "Really."

Kaden's jaw was set, his voice oozing shadows of death.  "And why is that?"

Ryven shrugged nonchalantly. "Plenty of reasons.  Love, for one.  Your lies, for another."

Kaden's demeanor shifted to one of incredulity. "Love?!  You have the power to shift the balance of power in the cluster, to usher in a new era of prosperity for all nations and you whimper on about [i] love? [/i]"

Ryven nodded. "I don't expect you to understand that.  After all, didn't you rape and murder your own wife and child when you learned they had betrayed your vision of the State?"

Kaden's face went ghost white.  He trembled, rage consuming him.  His voice came in a quiet fury of hatred and flame. "How do you--"

"Know about that?" Ryven smirked as he interrupted Kaden.  "You are only the thousandth person to underestimate Leela Yttria."

Kaden spat.  "That Matari bitch?"

Ryven's retaliation for that rudeness was swift.  His hand had dipped inside his jacket, drawn, and fired his pistol before Kaden had quite finished the sentence.  Blood now trickled out of the cuffs of Kaden's dark black suit jacket.  It was a flesh wound, but enough to impair Kaden's gunnery.

"My ex-wife, Matari or no, is very effective at finding things people want hidden.  Imagine my surprise, for instance, when she informed me that you operate entirely alone.  You are the top of the organization.  There's no cabal.  There's just you, your massive fortune, and the pawns you employ.  But, your mistake was in assuming I was a pawn."

Kaden spat in disgust, but a hint of fear was edging into his voice and his expression had lost its steel.  He sneered.  "What are you if not a pawn, Mr. Krennel?  Are you free?  You slave for an Empress who doesn't know your name.  For a people you can never belong to.  For a faith not your own, poured into that empty vessel of your mind by a madman right out of a beaker. You're nothing but a pawn, obediently serving your masters!  You're more slave than your Matar ex-wife and her entire race of subhumans!  What are you, if not a pawn?"

Ryven crossed the distance and stood over Kaden, his eyes strangely dispassionate as he looked down at the man, an empty vessel wrapped in black. "That's easy."  He thrust his knife deep between Kaden's ribs, finding and severing the pulmonary artery. "I am a knight."

Kaden gasped as the blade entered his chest, pink froth reaching his lips.  He was doomed, his eyes burning with more hatred than ever before.  His voice gurgled as he spoke.  "Your hands are bloodier than mine, Krennel.  You call yourself a knight?  You're no saint, Krennel."

Ryven shrugged, accepting the truth of the words as he limped over to the door. He opened it and cast a look back at Kaden.  "Not all knights wear white."

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Lessons Emblazoned in Scars

Ryven's mind wandered, a common occurrence during long surveillance missions.  The eyes can only gaze into the depths of space for so long.  The mind is given a choice: Focus elsewhere or court insanity.  The mind is not equipped to handle the sudden recognition of its own inconsequence. 

So, he sat there, jacked in, his mind's borders extended out into the minutia of his Hound-class bomber, unsure of where he ended and where the ship began.  It was a familiar feeling, but one that had not been completely deprived of its alien feeling.  A mind without clear border seems precariously close to overexpansion, an infinite exponential increase in size, coupled with an inverse relation to clarity. 

So, rather than focus on the silence before him, or pondering the existential questions associated with mind-matter integration, he thought of Kat.  He hadn't told her he was going to be away on this op.  The shadowy man, Kaden, had been fairly clear that he could not divulge to anyone what it was he would be doing.  Ryven's side job as an operative was secret even to the State it was purportedly working to protect.  Although, as Ryven and Kaden had discussed, the job was bigger than the State.  It was about the cluster as a whole.  Still, it's easy to be bogged down in considerations of such ideas.  Obligation to something greater than oneself can be a delightful trap, sucking one into it to the ruin of everything else in that man's life.  Ryven had already ruined one relationship due to his "obligations."  Now he was beholden to even greater ones, and yet, his heart bore scars he was not like to forget. 

No.  He was not going to ruin things with Kat.  She had quickly become a central part of his life, having surprised even him in the way she could make him feel.  Apart from his ex-wife, Leela, Katerina was the first woman he'd ever asked to move in with him.  He had already lost control of his suite, but he didn't mind the trade. 

His mind went back to the lessons he had learned.  1) If you're in love with more than one person, you're not in love with one of them.  You may love them, but you're not loving them the way you should.   He had learned that one when he had fallen for Shalee, losing Leela in the process.  He wasn't going to do that again.  2) If you can't tell the person you love what it is you're doing, at least tell them you're doing it and why you can't tell them.  Honesty, with attention to balancing obligations, is the essence of relationships. 

He had to tell Kat.  He made the decision then and there to tell her as soon as he got a chance.  It would be up to her whether she could live with it.  He really hoped she could.  He was happy in a way he hadn't been for some time.

He brought his attention back to the surveillance.  Only 40 hours or so left until he could return to the Manor and see her again.  He suspected they would be a long 40 hours, and he desperately hoped to gain the information Kaden was needing. 

That reminded him of something he had meant to do a few nights prior.  He quickly sent out a message to Kaden detailing the strange appearance of Xolve at the Terrace the other night.  He had simply appeared with no preamble and had seemed as shocked by it as all of the witnesses to it.  Ryven wanted to report on this and also see if Kaden knew anything about it.  Most importantly, Ryven wanted to know if it could be a random occurrence caused by some fluke in astrophysics, or if it was the product of something with will.