Pop quiz time!

The best time to research the probable severity of pitchfork wounds is:
A. right before bed
B. right before dinner
C. none of the above

As it turns out, if the tines make it through the skin, things get nasty fast.

Chapter 10
The Present

Jade's face burned with the heat of her blood, and her jaw ached from being held so stiffly. So focused was she on Pey'j that she nearly jumped when a female voice interjected from behind.

"Yes, Chief – I think we could all benefit from that explanation," Meï echoed softly. It was then Jade realized that the entire IRIS cell was there. Nino was standing with his mouth agape, holding a transistor absent-mindedly. Hahn and Peepers were crowded around a small table, and

Meï was sitting nearby with a massive tome open in her lap, a notepad covered in meticulous notes, and reading glasses sliding down her nose.

Hahn pushed out his chair and stood. "I, too, am curious to hear those revelations." He held up a hand as if to forestall Jade from interjecting. "However, we have a more...immediate problem."

"Ming Tzu, yes, we heard," Jade interrupted impatiently, in spite of Hahn's gesture. "But I..."

"We've been tryin' to get a hold of you all afternoon!" Pey'j cried out of the blue, as if suddenly released from paralysis. "Why didn't you answer yer messages?"

"Messages?" Jade furrowed her brow. She reached down to activate her SAC, but it was dead., one of the wires pulled completely loose. "That evil little man must have broken it when he stabbed me."

"Stabbed you?" Nino took a step towards her and reached out a hand, his face full of concern. "Jade, are you..."

"I'm fine," she snapped, tossing the broken SAC on the table and turning to stare at Pey'j. "Which is exactly why I want some answers!"

With that, the room was still. Before everyone could begin to babble again, Hub stepped forwards. "Since we are all here, perhaps it would be best for us to discuss our security breach."

"But –" Jade gestured at her stomach with impatience written on her face.

Hub squeezed her shoulder gently. "We will get to that, Miss Jade. I give you my word I'll see to it." He searched her eyes for approval. She nodded slightly, conveying her tacit acceptance.

Hub glanced around the group of comrades. "Now, what has already been discussed?" He pulled out a chair for Jade and perched himself gingerly on a rickety wooden stool.

Hahn sighed deeply. His face was pulled with stress in a way that magnified every wrinkle. He hadn't shaven in several days, and some of the hairs at his temples was coming in gray."Ming Tzu was the main distributor of our newsletter for Canal City. Practically everyone in IRIS on this side of Hillys has gone to him for information or supplies. Any one of them could have betrayed him, or it's quite possible that an outsider found him out."

Meï nodded, closing her book. "There's no way to narrow it down. It could be absolutely anyone."

Jade pursed her lips in frustration – she and Hub both knew that, far from being utterly unknown, the traitor was either the Governor herself or someone in this very room. She glanced at Hub. He met her gaze and made the subtlest of gestures, moving his head minutely from side to side. She frowned, but nodded faintly to acknowledge his desire to keep their knowledge unspoken.

"You should've followed my damn advice," Pey'j exploded, his ire focused on Hahn. "If you'd've followed some basic secrecy procedures, we wouldn't be in this draz-gatted mess, and Ming Tzu wouldn't be in jail!"

Hahn sat unnaturally still, the tension around his mouth visible. "So you've mentioned. Repeatedly. But that mistake is not one we can fix at this point." His voice was cool, but tinged with a hint of sorrow.

"Vorax-flogging bumbling Hillyan hicks," Pey'j muttered underneath his breath.

Peepers snorted around his pipe. "Well, it doesn't take a blind man to see that we've been a bit ham-handed with our security..."

Pey'j looked offended. "Ham...? Hey!"

Feigning obliviousness, Peepers continued, "...but as Hahn said, it's too late to fix past mistakes. What we need now is some damage control."

"As I've said, this may be an isolated incident." Meï capped her pen and shifted in her chair to a more comfortable position. "Our security hasn't been the best, true, but Ming Tzu was the only IRIS contact some of our operatives had. We have extremely strict standards for people we trust with the identities of our agents," she paused and glanced at Jade, "...with very few exceptions." Jade felt her ears going red and her stomach flipped uncomfortably.

"You can't be...are you accusing Jade?" Nino stared at Meï incredulously. "She's been invaluable to us!"

Meï rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I'm not accusing anyone."

Hub cleared his throat. "It certainly seemed like you were implying –"

"I wasn't implying anything!" Meï spat bitterly, turning on him. "But you know as well as I do that she didn't go through the same process as –"

"Enough!" Pey'j bellowed. "I raised Jade m'self. Any questions pertainin' to her character can be raised to me. Any of you geniuses got an actually useful idea, or should I send you housewives home?" He stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the sea of shamed faces before him. No one spoke. "That's what I thought. Now if y'all don't mind, I'd like to speak with my niece alone," he announced, gesturing at the door.

Meï took a deep breath. "I really think it would be best if we all heard this explana–"

"I said, I'd like to speak with my niece. Alone."

So dismissed, the core Canal City IRIS members began to shuffle out of the room. Hub rose to leave, nodding a farewell to Jade. She grabbed his hand as he passed.

"Please stay," she whispered. Hub glanced at his chief. Pey'j rolled his eyes, but grunted an affirmative. Hub settled himself in a chair, and the three of them sat silently as the others filed out.

Once the workroom door had closed automatically behind the last to leave, Pey'j opened a drawer underneath his workbench and withdrew a small, wrapped package. He held it out to Jade with a nervous grin.

"Happy birthday, li'l miss."

Hub looked startled. "It's your birthday, Miss Jade?"

"Not 'til tomorrow." Jade glared at Pey'j and made no move to accept the proffered box. "Don't change the subject, Uncle Pey'j."

Pey'j harrumphed and dropped the gift unceremoniously into her lap. "I'm not," he snapped. "Open it."

Jade examined it for a moment, then tore away the wrappings with a single violent motion and opened the small box. She held up the picture frame within, and gasped. "Are these..."

"Yer parents, yes. Adam and Hanna." Pey'j paced the room several times, swallowing nervously. He wrung his hands and rubbed his left palm absentmindedly as he began. "I met them nearly thirty years ago on Sagittaria, through IRIS. Me'n yer father took to each other real quick – we were both mechanics, and we worked together on a bunch'a projects. Before too long, we were workin' on things together outside of IRIS too."

Jade tore her eyes from the picture of her parents and set it in her lap, her fingers lingering on the cool metal frame. "Like the Beluga?"

"Yes indeed, missy. The Beluga was our finest creation. Yer da got a real bug up his butt about makin' a spaceship 'bout the same time he joined the Order."

Hub jerked slightly, a look of wonder rushing over his face. He leaned forwards intently. "The Order? Would that be...the Order of Damocles?"

Pey'j turned his attention to Hub. His eyes narrowed as he responded, "Now where in tarnation would you've heard that name?"

"One of the IRIS field agents I used to work with. He was a little odd in the head, and I thought his stories were just that...stories," Hub marveled. "He spoke of a highly secretive organization that existed to keep some powerful weapon out of DomZ control."

"Well, that's disturbingly accurate," Pey'j grumbled. "Is he dead?"

"Yes. He was one of those that died in our first attempt to infiltrate the factory."

Pey'j nodded. "Good."

"Good?" Jade grimaced and sat bolt upright. "That's heartless!"

Pey'j studied her briefly before responding. "I dunno how that particular waste of breath found out about the Order, but if he was goin' around spoutin' that stuff, I cain't even begin to tell you the damage he could'a done."

Jade let out a disgusted noise. "Okay, well, clue me in. Why's this damn 'Order' so important, anyway?"

Pey'j heaved a great sigh, once again nervously rubbing his palm. He had been scratching it so roughly that the center of his hand was red and swollen. He looked Jade directly in the eyes and braced himself against his workbench. "Because the Order of Damocles exists to protect you."

"What?" Jade's eyes betrayed a mix of anger and disbelief. "I thought you said they were hiding a weapon from the DomZ!"

Pey'j sighed deeply, his shoulders rounding and his eyes falling to the floor. He rubbed his head self-consciously and began to talk, not meeting her eyes. "I don't know it all. There are questions yer bound to have that I ain't going to have the answers to. But I guess it's only fair that I tell you what I know. Jest...try not to hate me too much."