Astral Realms - A New Dawn

Although he had known him for more than two months now, Vindril couldn’t help but admire the sheer amount of presence that person seemed to radiate with him in every single moment he carried out. Even the simple act of entering a bar, like in this case, was more than enough to attract unwanted attention that was for sure going to follow them for the entire duration of their visit. Vindril laughed. First, because Warbren had taken the clue to leave him at record speed; second, because he couldn’t help but find the irony of that whole situation…hilarious. They had told him to meet in there to discuss something about that file in complete quiet and peace. At least, that was the context of the message they had left in his room. Instead, murmurs and laughter were reigning in that bar, creating a merry atmosphere that evidently wasn’t all that to their liking seeing their body language. The more he thought about it all, the more he laughed uncontrollably.

“…Cease you laughter.” they said in the same monotone voice he had grown accustomed to hear during their stay. “We have things to discuss.”

“Sorry about that. It’s just…” his hazel eyes darted around the room, scanning the entire crowd. Another pulse of laughter risked to overwhelm him, but he fortunately managed to suppress it at the very last moment.

“…What?”

“Out of all the places we could have set up this meeting, did it really have to be in here?”

“Yes.” they stated.

“…”

“It’s full of people, inside the Academy’s perimeter, and right next to one of the guards restrooms. Nobody would suspect anything. Not even the Instructors are that paranoid about security. However, it’s better if you don’t attract unwanted attention. So cease your foolishness.”

“…You’re the one that has barged in here wearing that, and I’m the one drawing attention?”

“Yes.”

Vindril blinked. Even if he could understand the reasoning behind it, he still couldn’t phantom how they could still keep on stating that, disregarding the current circumstances they were in. How in the outer space were they supposed to have a conversation when they had all eyes on them? It was just outright impossible, not to mention dumb, to try a thing like that. But then again, they had never given Vindril reason enough to doubt their intelligence. If they had chosen that place, they must had a plan in mind. Right?

“Follow me.” they said without missing a beat. “We can’t talk in here.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s the point. How in-wait. Did you just say “follow me”? Where? Where are we going.”

“…Behind.”

“Behind? Behind what? What are you even talki-”

“Shut up and follow me.”

Vindril was quickly led behind the counter, right inside the back room the staff used. Of course that person gained access to it by kindly gifting Sully with an unspecified sum of coins, but that was irrelevant. In it, bottles upon bottles, both empty and full, were lined up to the right wall, waiting to be used or thrown out. Next to it, a small robot no bigger than a box, was waiting lifelessly for orders to diligently carry out. To be honest, Vindril found those round holographic lens it had mounter on the front to be creepy. He knew they were just its “eyes”, if you could describe inorganic projectors that way; still, he couldn’t help but feel that way. There was just something in them that-

“Sit.” interrupted that person. By following the direction they were pointing to, he saw a couple of beaten-up chairs that looked ready to collapse at any given moment.

Vindril considered disobeying just out of spite. Who the hell did they think they were to boss him around like that? Had they been in a different situation, he wouldn’t have hesitated a second to voice his utter refusal to being subjected to such an unfair, and utterly maddening, treatment. He had endured too much shit, continuing to go forward when all he had wanted was to turn back, to let a stranger disrespect him like that. But he let it go, even if only in the name of cooperation. That file, and whatever was hidden in it, was much more important than his hurt pride.

“I have managed to crack it open.” stated that person after grabbing a wooden chair nearby, only to sit on it. The old, time wore wood creaked in protest at the sudden added weight. But it didn’t give out. Yet…

“That’s good news.” said Vindril smiling. “Very good news. After all this time, I was starting to worry we had just wasted time that night.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I would have never let that file unopened.”

“So I can see.”

“…Anyway, things have turned out to be…more complex than anticipated.”

“What do you mean?” said Vindril alarmed. Had someone caught wind of what they had stolen? Was said someone tracking them down? Panic, as visceral as it was true, began to spread out inside him.

“The file is encrypted in a code that I’ve never seen before. Even the most advanced tools I have at my disposal weren’t able to decipher it completely. What I have is barely a portion of it. And even getting that has proved to be a challenge.”

“Have you tried a multicoder? Maybe that could work.”

The person shook his head from left to right. “No, it couldn’t. You could try brute force, trying to bring down the firewall that’s protecting it from outside interference. Or you could try to bypass it, if you’re smart enough. Things would end up the same. It’s just that complicated.”

“So why call me out then?”

“I told you. I’ve cracked it open.”

Vindril’s eyebrows shot up. Were they able to decipher it or not? He was getting more confused by the minute. “W-What are talking about? I don’t know the kind of face I’m making right now, but I’m getting reaaaally confused here, you know?”

A sigh came out the distorter mounted inside that silver-coloured helmet. “I was able to partially tamper with it. Albeit, at a far less scale than I would have liked. C’mon. It’s not that difficult to understand.”

Ah! Now they were even insulting his intelligence? Good god how much he wanted to punch them in that moment. It didn’t even matter they were wearing an armor so durable that it would have shattered his bones. If he only could sneak in a punch, it didn’t matter where, he was sure it would feel really good afterwards, no matter the consequences.

“If we’re done with that pointless discussion…”

“By all means.”

“Good. Then, as I’ve told you before, I’ve deciphered some portions of it. Firstly, right in the middle of the text, there are some repetitive numbers. What are those, I cannot say.”

“Could they be-”

“Anything. So it’s even pointless to argue about it.”

“Well, alright. If you say so.”

“Yes. It’s like that. Trust me. Secondly, I noticed some mentions to a certain EXILE. Whatever it’s a person, or an object, or anything else really, I cannot say. It could even be a bomb for all we know. However, I’m pretty sure it’s an important piece of information we managed to recover.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I don’t know. It’s just the context of it all that makes me say that. It would be pretty strange to mention said thing in such a well-protected file if it’s not important. Also, keep in mind how maddening complex that damned code is. Whoever decided to go to such lengths to keep whatever is in there well hidden, did so for a reason. So yes, you can bet your ass that EXILE is important.”

Vindril nodded. That made sense. It would have been pretty…unusual, to put it mildly, if the one who had gone to such lengths had decided to include completely irrelevant information inside such a thing. And the Empire, with its strict hierarchy that did not forgive even the slightest error, did not tolerate such fools. No. If that name, or nickname, or acronym, was put in there along other relevant information to safekeep, there was a reason for it. Problem was, they had no clue about any of that.

Sure, now they were aware that the Empire had something called EXILE. But what could they gain with such a marginal piece of information. Well, for the time being, absolutely nothing. No one in their right mind would have been interested in just a name, no matter how secretive said name could be. No. They needed to find out what that was. Or, if that wasn’t an option, they needed to discover what was linked to it. Under no circumstances could they remain empty handed. That…Exile…could really well be their trump card. And God knows how much they needed one.

He sighed. Of course he couldn’t take it easy for once. He had known this for days, but now he had received the definitive confirmation. The next few days were surely going to be a mess.

Still, he had to marvel at how that person was even able to penetrate into that file, no matter how little information they were able to extract. If his mind wasn’t paying him any tricks, the sheer complexity of that code was something that he had never seen before in his life. Not even when he had served as a technician aboard one gigantic ship of the Istreom Kingdom, the Kligtrik, he had seen such complicated codes. And the Istreom Kingdom was renowned galaxy wide for their mastery of keeping things hidden and secure against anything or anyone. So who was the creator of such a thing? Could the Empire have “hired” one of the top firms in coding?

For a supposedly top power in the grand galactic scheme of things, the Empire was certainly capable of obtaining every single little thing it desired, even at the cost of starting a war. Its military prowess was on par, or was close enough to that level, with the other galactic powers, so even a forceful action, like the one Vindril was picturing in his head, couldn’t be ruled out. But then again, if that was indeed the case, his contacts would have told him some time before this meeting. He was sure that, if the Empire had kidnapped a top technician from under the nose of the Istreom Kingdom, the underworld would have surely known. There wasn’t a thing, no matter how well safe kept and guarded, that was out of the immense reach of the underworld’s dark and perilous net. There just wasn’t.

At the very least, Vindril could rule out that possibility. The Empire wouldn’t have risked engaging in another war when its forces were already busy with the military campaign against the Triumvirate of the Northern Stars, a reign where power was held on equal footing by three figures. Especially if the state of the war was as precarious as he had heard in the past months.

A couple of minutes later he just gave up. No matter how much he wished to, or how much he tried to squeeze his brain to the outmost max, there was just no solving that unbelievably complex dilemma they had just gotten their hands on. Honestly, at that point he even doubted there was just a solution. The sheer complexity, if not outright nonsense of that code, seemed to tend towards the latter after all.

“There is also another thing.”

Vindril blinked away all the thoughts that had occupied his mind in the last few minutes. Lowering his gaze to the empty glass in front of him, his throat only seemed to further constrict as thirst slowly made its way to his mouth. Without wasting even a second, he pulled out a few coins and ordered another one. Sully immediately rushed to the back and took away his money, nimbly pocketing it. Vindril didn’t know how, but it was like that half man could perceive money no matter where or what he was doing. He smiled. Now, that is super power.

“…Some of our…companions, if you could call them that way-” they said in their classic monotone voice. Though Vindril could have sworn he had just perceived a faint hint of disdain with how the word companions had rolled of their tongue. He shrugged. Maybe he had just imagined it.

“-have started to look suspicious. Way too suspicious, even for them. I think they are up to something.”

As Vindril took a mouthful of the cold drink that was just handed to him, feeling the heavenly sensation of bliss fill his throat, he raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t we doing the same? I think that we are. Or do you think that code doesn’t fall into the up to something category?”

For the first time since they had known each other, so to speak, the person grumbled out loud, venting out all their frustration. “That’s not what I’m talking about!” they silently screamed.

“Then be more specific. I cannot help but be confused if you’re that vague about it all.”

That person looked around. Then, when he realized the coast was clear, he launched into an explanation.

“I think they’re doing some kind of side deal with the Empire. Or with the Instructors. Or the Academy. You know, the type of deal to screw some of us over. Who, I cannot say, but I think us both are clearly the right candidates for that.”

“And why is that?”

“…Are your for real?”

“…Yes?”

They sighed. “…You look like you could be dealt with without any problem whatsoever. To put it blatantly, you look like a novice.”

“W-What?!”

“I, on the other hand, have always maintained a distant and completely diffident relationship with everyone. They must think me a potential obstacle to their planning. Anyway, I doubt they’ll be dumb enough to strike at us now, inside the Academy’s perimeter. No. They’ll wait until they have the perfect chance…”

Vindril clenched his fist around the glass. It was fortunate it didn’t have cracks in it, or with how strong he was gripping it, it would have surely exploded into a thousand pieces. After a short while, he managed to calm down enough to relent the grip. “…When do you think they’ll strike?”

“…I don’t know for sure. But, were it up to me, I would wait till we leave for the Plains of Desolation. That would be an ideal ambush point.”

A glass fell on the ground shuttering into tiny little pieces. The person suddenly got up in a hurry and bid him goodbye, leaving Vindril alone with his drink. Not that he particularly cared for it. With the way that whole mess was prospecting to turn out, he needed some time alone to process it all.

And what else did he need? A nice alcoholic rush to sweeten the deal. So he took the glass in his right hand and began to drink its contents. Perhaps later he would wish he hadn't. But for the moment he was quite satisfied.