Chapter 1054: Arrogance That Would Make Gods Blush (Patreon)

Admiral Aractus Jakaar was an oddity amongst diamond-rankers. Rather than a masterwork of physiological perfection, he was overweight, with a patchy beard, bushy moustache and comical outfit he claimed was used by pirates on his home world. The result was an absurd visage that hid a profoundly dangerous man. Pride was another common trait in diamond-rankers not shared by the admiral. He was an opportunist of base cunning, a bottom feeder of the cosmic community. And like many bottom feeders, dismissing him could lead to an unexpectedly lethal sting.

Cosmic piracy was a tricky proposition, requiring the navigation of inter-dimensional empires, great astral being cults and the other hegemonic forces claiming anything of obvious value. Jakaar’s fleet operated in the cracks, plying their trade in contested borderlands and preying on isolated backwaters. These were the same waters in which mercenary groups swam, and Jakaar knew them well. That expertise served him well when it came to pursuing Team Biscuit.

While Team Biscuit had the unspoken backing of a significant cosmic empire, they couldn’t just call on the Imperium to solve every problem. Cosmic politics were tricky, with the major powers wary of direct confrontation. Instead, a complex series of proxies kept the real players’ hands clean, to avoid triggering conflicts that would drag whole universes into war. Any support given to those proxies had to be done with discretion and care.

An expert at navigating the choppy waters of these clandestine proxy wars, Jakaar knew exactly which rocks to turn over in the hunt for Team Biscuit. His fleet swiftly found the planet on which they were operating and blitzed in to seize control. The team’s dimensional ship was destroyed and their support was forced to withdraw before the Imperium’s involvement was exposed.

The pirates were well versed in raiding backwater planets, seizing the high orbitals and locking down dimensional travel infrastructure. While taking and holding a planet in the short term was something the fleet was experienced at, maintaining control was not. They sought to complete their task swiftly and depart, but Team Biscuit proved frustratingly elusive.

Jakaar’s diamond-rankers swept the planet, but days ran into weeks and weeks into months without Team Biscuit being flushed out. One planet might be small on a cosmic scale, but was more than large enough to hide a small handful of people. The admiral was keenly aware that the operation had a clock on it; his quarry’s backers might have been driven off in the initial assault, but that would not last. No major power would be stymied for long by a pirate clan, and they would find a way to intervene without revealing themselves sooner or later. To accelerate the hunt, Jakaar had taken to personally visiting the various outposts his fleet had taken over, towns and cities seized to act as operation centres. As time went on, his methods of pushing his people involved a lot less carrot and a lot more stick. If his people on the ground didn’t have anything to contribute, they were in for an unpleasant time.

The planet’s population was likewise feeling the sting of Jakaar’s anger. Region by region, city by city, his people were snatching control from local authorities. These were usually mercenary groups that had established or taken over towns or small cities. Not one to waste an opportunity, Jakaar had taken many local mercenaries into his own operation, who joined with varying degrees of willingness. This gave Jakaar access to add numbers and valuable local knowledge to the search.

Buliero was a city in a magic zone of moderate strength. The mercenary group that founded it had retired long ago, making it less rambunctious than many other centres on the planet. The city was large enough that a handful of strangers wouldn’t stick out, and placid enough that they were unlikely to be caught up in unexpected trouble. That made it the perfect place for Jakaar’s quarry to hide. That had made it a priority for takeover operations, but Jakaar had placed one of his less combat-oriented captains in charge. Cunning would serve better than strength for rooting out anyone hiding in the quiet city, something Captain Clintock was known for. Visiting the city, Jakaar sat behind what had once been the mayor’s desk as Captain Clintock gave him a report.

“We found evidence that they did come through here, as few as four weeks ago. From what we can tell, they wanted a quiet location to lay low and regroup after they were almost captured in Callera. They seem to have realised this was too obvious a hiding place, and moved on after resupplying. I’ve had everyone they encountered interrogated and analysts going over everything they gathered or purchased. They were preparing for extreme cold conditions, perhaps in the mountains or one of the poles.”

Jakaar nodded approvingly, to the visible relief of Clintock and the command staff gathered behind him. He held up his wine glass, making a toasting gesture at the captain.

“Good work, Clintock. And I appreciate the wine.”

“It is a local vintage I anticipated you would appreciate, Admiral. I took the liberty of having cases of the better vintages sent to your flagship.”

“I do appreciate a good drop, Captain, but what I appreciate more is a thorough subordinate. Do you think we should start sweeping the arctic and mountain regions?”

“Yes sir, although not with a major diversion of forces. This ‘Team Biscuit’ is elusive, and they could have left a trail on purpose, doubling back into regions we have already search. We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent.”

Jakaar drained the glass, stood up and grabbed the half-empty bottle.

“Good. I’m going to keep you here, Clintock, but I’m going to expand your area of influence and put some of the other captains under your command. Is that something you can handle? They aren’t going to like it.”

Clintock’s slight smile was paired with a predatory glint in his eye.

“I’ll strive to meet your expectations, Admiral.”

Once Jakaar had left the building, a silver lamp emitting soft blue light floated through the rooms and halls of the building. It left a shimmering glow over the windows and doors and drew intricate diagrams on the walls with a blue beam. Covering the entire mayoral mansion took the better part of an hour, for the sake of thoroughness. Once the work was complete, the occupants of the building felt a chill pass through them.

“We’re clear,” Clintock said, now sitting behind the mayor’s desk. His visage blurred, revealing his true form as that of Belinda. All through the building, the staff transformed into the indistinct shape of Gemini, one of Belinda’s two familiars. Even at diamond-rank, Gemini could not produce as many bodies as Shade, but she could not just copy someone’s visage but some of their powers as well. She also had an expert aura masking technique developed over the years by studying messenger auras.

Belinda’s other familiar, an astral lamp named Shimmer, floated into the office after completing her task. She bobbed in the air near Belinda like a puppy seeking attention and Belinda gave her a pat.

“Good girl.”

Belinda made her way through the building to the basement and a large trapdoor covered in intricate magical diagrams, drawn in chalk. Bending over, she used her thumb to wipe a break in the circle before hauling the door open.

“About time,” Neil complained, trudged grumpily up the stairs from the sub-basement below.

“Gee, thanks for cunningly deceiving the cosmic pirate admiral and saving all of our lives,” Belinda said.

“We do appreciate it,” Humphrey said, following Neil. He paused to place a hand on Belinda’s shoulder. “Genuinely, thank you.”

“Yeah,” Neil acknowledged begrudgingly. “I am impressed that you were the first of us to hit diamond-rank.”

Belinda showed an uncharacteristically bashful expression.

“I don’t know what it was,” she said as the rest of the team emerged. “When the pirates swept in and locked down the whole planet, something inside me just said no. I wasn’t going to let them take my team, regardless of what we were up against. But when what we were up against turned out to be a full fleet of diamond-rankers, I knew that there was nothing we could do to fight our way clear. We had to be clever instead of strong, and I knew that I had to do what no one else on this team could. Especially Neil.”

“What?” Neil asked, looking up from the sandwich he’d pulled out.

“After that, it was like something just clicked,” Belinda continued. “Every doubt I’d ever had about what my place in the team and if I really deserved to be here was just gone. I found my place, and it was as if the whole world had been waiting for me to realise it.”

Sophie wrapped her friend in a hug, Stella joining in.

“I’m so glad for you,” Sophie told her.

“You know this makes me a better adventurer than you right?”

“Well, not that glad,” Sophie said, letting go.

“You need to tell us how it went,” Humphrey said. “Do you think you bought us enough time for the Imperials to extract us?”

“Is that really the best plan we have?” Sophie asked. “Sit around and wait to be rescued?”

“We’re being hunted by an army of diamond-rankers,” Rufus pointed out. “The fact that we’ve managed to evade their search is impressive enough. Giving up that minor miracle to go out and fight them will only get us all killed. Our best chance is to hide for as long as we can, unless something very unusual happens.”

***

Farrah, Arbour and Jali Corrik Fen were in the forest city with a small army of messengers. These messengers had been rescued from a transformation zone decades earlier, and had spent most of their subsequent time on Earth. The messengers had been brought from Earth by Jota and Natala, former cosmic pirates who has thrown their lot in with Jason.

They were all gathered in a part of the city with the greatest density of pods growing from the trees and out of the ground. The pods were visibly trembling and emitting powerful auras. Suddenly Jason was there, standing next to Farrah.

“It’s creepy when you don’t at least use a portal,” she said.

“I’m in my astral kingdom; I don’t need one. And how is it different from Humphrey and his teleport power?”

“I’m connected to this place, Jason. I know what a teleport feels like, and what you just did wasn’t that. A portal or a teleport is moving through a fold in space. You stood still and moved the entire universe around you. That’s a level of arrogance that would make gods blush.”

“Thank you.”

“Not a compliment.”

“It felt like a compliment.”

“It really wasn’t. Just hatch your damn eggs.”

“Shouldn’t there be a little more fanfare?”

“I’m assuming that you overheard my conversation with Jota, since it happened in your universe.”

“Yeah.”

“Then you know we need to get moving. Rather than waiting for the cloud flask to complete, we should go in Jota’s dimension ship.”

“Alright. I shouldn’t be here anyway.”

“Why not?” Farrah asked. “New Water has seen people born, but this is the first time they’ll be born of your universe, not just in your universe. Shouldn’t you be here for that?”

“Farrah, I’m going to be a god to these people.”

“You keep telling people that you’re not a god.”

“And to most, I’m not. But we’re about to see people born directly out of my power and into a world I created.”

“I see your point, but why shouldn’t you be here for their arrival in the world?”

“Because I don’t want the first thing they see to be an object of worship. More than anything, I want these people to be free to make their own choices.”

“Then tell them that.”

“Yes, because large groups of people are good at listening and doing the considered, sensible thing. Especially when they’re three minutes old, I imagine.”

“Point taken.”

Jason wandered over to Jota and Natala.

“Hello, sir,” Jota said. “It’s been a while, and there are some things you need to know.”

“All I need to know where my team is. I understand that you can help me with that.”

“Yes, sir, and I suggest we get a move on. They’re being hunted by our old boss.”

“My understanding is that’s been happening for a while.”

“Yes, sir, and sooner or later, he’s going to find them.”

“Alright. I’m going to need you to have a chat with him.”

“I don’t think he’ll be open to anything I have to say, sir. He’s likely as not to kill me on sight.”

“Then we’ll have to convince him not to.”

Jota, Natala, Jason and Farrah all vanished. In their wake, the pods scattered around started to split, spilling clear, viscous liquid on to the ground. From the pods hanging on trees emerged messengers who looked like eight foot tall teenagers. The pods growing out of the ground produced adolescent Lehenik, the rabbit-like species of which Nik Asano was no longer the only member. As they all stumbled about in uncertainty and confusion, Jali Corrik Fen stepped forward to address them.

In the space station orbiting the planet, Jason and his companions appeared in the hangar where Jota’s dimension ship was docked. Jason moved towards it without hesitation.

“Let’s go get my team.”

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