The doors burst open and a squad of Builders rushed in. The leader gave a shout of alarm when he saw Gigolo's blackheads and drew his weapon.

'Don't shoot them!' Andreus shouted urgently.

Either the squad leader didn't hear or didn't care. He opened fire with his rifle and shot the Blackheads down. Shaking slightly he went to Andreus.

'Is Thompson... is he dead?'

'He is,' Andreus replied. 'Which means that I'm now the one giving you orders.' He put his hands on the Spartan's shoulders and brought his knee up hard. There was a crunch, and the builder collapsed to the ground. 'Orders which you disobeyed. Get out of my sight.' The other squad members hurriedly picked up their leader and pulled him away.

Andreus turned away, disgust on his face. 'Useless morons,' he spat. He regarded Thompson's body with a critical eye, and then walked out of the room, beckoning for Gigolo to follow.

Elesa was stood outside, panting slightly. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she saw Gigolo was unharmed. She gave him a quick embrace.

'I came straight here,' she said, glancing past Gigolo. 'Is Thompson...'

'He's dead,' Gigolo confirmed. 'Not that Andreus seems to mind.'

Andreus had walked on without them, barking orders at the Builder troops who were arriving. Seeing that Gigolo had stopped, he turned around.

'What are you standing around for?' he shouted. 'We need to find some Blackheads before these retards kill them.'

Gigolo hurried after Andreus, Elesa following close behind him.

Why would he- oh, no...

'What are you planning to do with the Blackheads?' Gigolo asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

'For revenge, of course,' Andreus said without glancing back. 'We can't let these Northerners get away with killing Thompson.'

'Which Northerners?' Gigolo asked.

'The backstabbing bastards we tried to negotiate with,' Andreus replied. 'I see now that there is only one sort of negotiation they listen to.'

'Actually, I don't think they were responsible,' Elesa said carefully. 'On my way over I saw them being attacked as well.'

'They were probably just a rogue element,' Gigolo added. 'I doubt that the clans of Nasces would be so stupid as to attempt to assassinate Thompson together.'

'When I want your advice, I'll ask for it,' Andreus snapped. 'For now, you're trying my patience. Shut up.'

Gigolo followed in silence. Why was Andreus so sure that the clans of Nasces were behind it? Did he know something?

Andreus led them straight to the area where the Nasces clans were based, picking up a few more Builders along the way. Gigolo soon realized where Andreus was leading them; the Auditorium, where a number of the Northern delegates had chosen to stay when the talks ended.

Inside, a group of delegates were huddled talking, their soldiers standing nervously around them. Corpses of Blackheads were scattered around, though there didn't seem to be any Spartan fatalities.

Andreus walked straight up to the first delegate he saw and grabbed him by the arm.

'What is the meaning of this?' he shouted. 'I thought you smarter than to try something like this!'

'I don't...' the delegate said desperately. 'What are you talking about?'

'You agreed to this meeting specifically to try and kill the Builder's leaders, didn't you?' Andreus shouted. 'You're nothing but a bunch of backstabbing swine!'

The other delegates and their guards had seen the commotion and began to walk hurriedly towards Andreus. The Builders arranged themselves in a line between them and Andreus; the two groups stared each other down for a moment.

'We're not responsible for the attack, Andreus,' one of the delegates said calmly. Gigolo recognized the man as the delegate who had spoken up frequently during the talks. 'We believe them to be the work of a rogue organization within the city, and are working on finding those responsible.'

'Bullshit,' Andreus said, taking his hand away from the other spartan. 'How on Earth would a rogue group have the ability to control blackheads like that? This has to be the work of a powerful alliance- yours.'

'Please don't jump to conclusions,' the delegate said quickly. 'As you can see, we were attacked as well.'

Andreus wasn't listening. 'If you think I'm just going to let you northern pricks get away with terrorism, you're wrong. From now on there can be no peace between the Builders and the clans of Nasces.' He turned and walked away, his guards following. Gigolo and Elesa stood still for a moment, not quite sure what had just happened.

'You're northerners, aren't you?' the delegate said to the pair. 'I'm Dean, second in command of the Serpents.'

'We're...' Gigolo couldn't think what to say. Was he still a northerner? His thoughts were interrupted by Andreus yelling at the pair of them to hurry up. With a last regretful glance at the Nasces Delegates, he walked away.

9

Even after seeing them at the Maire Valley, Vivian couldn't quite believe that anything so large as the Vultures could possibly fly. Every time she glanced at them from her cockpit she expected to see them falling from the sky, presumably due to physics having finally noticed their grievous transgression against gravity.

Regardless of their plausibility, their combat prowess was undeniable. In the tight spaces of the lower Maire valley their missile volleys were frighteningly effective, cutting down swathes of Blackheads. She and the other Sparrowhawk pilots had long since decided not to bother shooting at the blackheads; next to the Vultures their contributions looked miniscule, barely worth the bullets they expended. Vivian wasn't entirely sure why they were even there in the first place; the mission briefing she'd been given simply said that they were to try and defend the Vultures against any possible attack from another clan.

'Did you hear?' Tomalon asked from the seat behind hers. 'Lucas and Midori's pelican disappeared.'

'Were they attacked?' Vivian asked, concerned. She'd already had one squad member vanish; many more and there wouldn't be a squad left to speak of.

'Doesn't seem like it,' Tomalon said. 'They were supposed to be out scouting the western edge of the continent. No Blackheads out there.'

'So they've gone AWOL?' Vivian sighed. Now that Gigolo and Elesa no longer had to answer to her- she wasn't even sure if she'd outranked them in the first place since nobody had bothered to give them proper ranks- it was just her and Tomalon left. Their little group of survivors was getting split up further.

'That would seem to be the case,' Tomalon said, sounding distracted. 'Uh... you'll want to hear this.'

'What?' Vivian asked, certain she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

'The talks in Nasces were attacked by Blackheads,' Tomalon said. 'Thompson is dead, as are a number of important clan leaders.'

'Blackheads?' Vivian asked, surprised. 'How?'

'The message doesn't say specifically,' Tomalon replied, 'But I'd guess Gigolo's skill isn't as unique as we'd thought. But that's not the most disturbing part. Andreus is blaming the attack on the Nasces clans. He's declared war on them all.'

Vivian saw the Vultures begin to pull up and turn around. A message flashed up in her HUD; an order to turn and head back to Solidade.

'Looks like we're being recalled,' she said. 'I can't imagine what for.'

'That doesn't make any sense,' Tomalon muttered. 'Even if the Nasces clans ordered the assassination- and I doubt that any of the ones in the discussions did- it's very unlikely that all of them were involved in it at once. So what is Andreus doing?'

'But isn't he a bit of a psycho?' Vivian asked, pulling up and following the rest of the squadron. 'I've heard that he's got quite the temper.'

'Yeah, but he's not an idiot- Thompson wouldn't designate a moron as his heir, or even someone who lets anger cloud their judgment so much.'

'So what, you're saying that there's something else happening here?'

'I don't know,' Tomalon said, sighing. 'It just seems weird.'

'What doesn't?' Vivian asked emptily.

10

The Northern and Central continents were separated by the Solar straits, a channel of water that ran along the more or less completely east-west divide. They were at their thinnest between the twin cities of Nasces and Solidade, connected by the 12 mile long SolNas bridge, and widened out into the ocean to the east. To the west they opened up into the Tepid Sea where both continents shrunk away from each other like out of phase sine waves, before closing in again near the free merchant city of Oaktier, the last independent city on the central continent.

'It looks no different to Solidade or Nasces,' Midori complained as it came into view. 'If anything, it looks like even more of a shithole.'

'That's because you're just seeing the docks,' Lucas said, pulling the pelican up out of range of the anti air defenses on the coast. 'They're larger than any others.'

'So the rest of the city is nicer?'

'I'm not sure there is much else,' Lucas admitted. 'I've never been here before, but supposedly the docks make up a good two thirds of the area. Shipping is their biggest industry, though.'

'Exciting,' Midori said, rolling her eyes. 'So what's the plan?'

'We'll find a place to stash the Pelican and head to a pub,' Lucas said. 'There will be people we can ask about finding Atlas all over.'

Lucas landed the pelican inland, on top of a deserted building that looked ready to collapse. The pair of them walked into the city then took a cab to the nearest bar, The Profit Margin. The bar was at the top of a corporate building, and supposedly a hot spot for backroom deals and shady business. Lucas and Midori found a table in the corner and sat down.

'What now?' Midori asked, craning her neck to look around the bar. 'How does this help us at all?'

'Just wait,' Lucas said. 'There are certain rules of etiquette to deal with. Someone should contact us shortly.' He put an arm on Midori's shoulder. 'And let me do the talking.'

In the end they had to wait almost an hour before a man walked up to their table and took a seat. He fixed Lucas with a piercing stare.

'How can I help you?' he asked, his voice hard.

'We're looking for someone,' Lucas said. The man nodded and reached into his bag, pulling out a laptop.

'I'll need details, anything that could identify him,' he said. 'My fee is 25000C, non negotiable, with extra if the job takes more than a week. Is that acceptable?'

Midori hissed when the broker named his price. Lucas just nodded. 25000C was a lot of money, as much as most Spartans could hope to earn in a year. Both he and Midori had a substantial amount of credit saved up, but he'd been hoping to use it for other things. They didn't have much of a choice though, as there were very few information brokers in Oaktier willing to work for outsiders.

'That will be fine,' Lucas said. 'We're looking for a man named Atlas. Midori?'

'He's 34 years old, about 5'11, with blonde hair and brown eyes,' she began. 'He's got a small scar on his left arm and a circular birthmark on his right leg.' She and Lucas had gone through all of his defining features; anything that could identify a Spartan from the crowd.

'Clan?' The broker asked, typing on his laptop.

'We don't know,' Midori replied. 'He used to be in Aspertias, and I think before that he was in Knossos. He left Aspertias just under a week ago when it fell to the blackheads.'

The broker nodded. 'Armor? Any particular weapon choices?'

'His armor was white and blue, full pilot set. He used a DMR and plasma pistol.'

'Where was he headed last time you saw him?'

'South from Aspertias,' Midori replied. 'He had an unmarked Pelican with him.'

'He was probably searching for work,' Lucas added. 'He might have gone for a courier job, for example.'

The broker nodded and folded away his laptop. 'My fee?' He asked. Lucas silently transferred the money and the broker stood up. 'We should have the information you seek within a week. Come and find us then.' Without another word he left, vanishing into the crowd.

'He was pleasant,' Midori said with a grimace. 'Do you think he's likely to find us the information?'

'Probably,' Lucas replied. 'These people are professionals- they know what they're doing. He's unlikely to double cross us either, since most of them live off their reputations.'

Midori nodded. 'So what are we going to do for a week? Can we stay in Oaktier?'

'Maybe,' Lucas said. 'First we need to-' Seeing a Builder walking confidently towards their table he cut off abruptly.

'Are you members of the Black Runners?' The Builder asked, stopping next to Lucas.

'Yeah,' Lucas said warily. 'Can we help you?'

'As a matter of fact you can,' The Builder replied. 'Come with me.' She turned and walked a few paces away, then turned back when Lucas and Midori didn't follow her. 'Is there a problem?'

Lucas looked into Midori's eyes, seeing her confusion and surprise mirroring his own. Neither of them were used to being ordered around by a total stranger. Still, the Black Runners are all but a vassal clan of the Builders nowadays... Lucas stood up.

'Let's go.' He held out his hand to Midori and she followed him after the Builder.

She led them impatiently out of the pub and down into the city.

'I won't ask what you're doing here,' she said when they'd been walking for a while. 'But you should tell whoever sent you to brush up their security; it was trivial to track your pelican.'

'Uh, sure,' Lucas said. 'Thanks.' The Builder gave him an playful smile. Lucas really hoped she'd stay silent. He knew nothing of internal Builder politics, and it seemed she'd assumed he was a part of them. Though, she could tell us something useful.

The Builder led Lucas and Midori at a jog towards the coastline and into the port district, eventually arriving at a large warehouse on the coast, next to the massive port. The Builder unlocked the door and led them into a dark, cavernous space. Lucas followed her as she walked confidently towards a shadowed shape in the center of the warehouse; as his eyes adjusted to the gloom he saw that it was a Pelican in the early stages of loading, with piles of crates stacked around.

'You need us to lift those for you?' Lucas asked, a little put off.

'Not physically,' the Builder said with a laugh. 'There's supposed to be two shipments here, but I can't fit them both into my bird. You don't mind transporting some of these to Daath, do you?' She gave them both a meaningful look, continuing, 'It didn't look like you were doing anything important...'

Lucas sighed, shrugging. 'Yeah, that's fine,' he said, figuring that it was safest to just go along with the Builder's plan.

'I thought you'd agree,' the Builder responded. 'Load up the ones marked with BEA-COM first; we'll ferry those out to your pelican and then you can take them on to Daath.'

'Lucas?' Midori asked hesitantly. She gestured around her, confusion on her face. 'Weren't we...?'

Lucas walked over and took her hand. 'Just play along for now,' he whispered. 'We'll get back to our mission soon enough. Besides, haven't you always wanted to see Daath?'

Midori nodded glumly, and the pair walked over to the pile of crates. Lucas took hold of a small one and picked it up, immediately surprised by its weight. 'These are bloody heavy,' he said, struggling to push it into the Builder's pelican. 'What's in them, rocks?'

'A good guess,' the Builder replied. 'But they're much more valuable than that.'

'Must be golden rocks then,' Midori muttered loudly, heaving one of the smaller crates into the Pelican. The Builder laughed.

'These are core components,' she said. 'An upgrade for our friends in the Citadel.'

'And those?' Lucas asked, nodding to the crates the Builder was stacking next to the Pelican.

'It's some new weapon we're working on,' the Builder replied. 'They call it the Harpoon; it's being fitted onto the Anchor within the next week.' The Builder pointed upwards. 'Powerful stuff, or so I'm told- supposedly when it's installed it will be able to flatten a huge area of Blackheads.'

Lucas nodded as if he knew what was going on. The Builder seemed to assume he knew what any of these things were- the Anchor, or these Harpoons- and asking might make her suspicious of them. For once he was soundly out of his depth, and resolved to keep his mouth shut and just play along.

11

Despite having been fighting them for several weeks now, the Spartan clans knew very little about the Blackheads- where they came from, why they were attacking, or even anything about their physiology- it was assumed that they were the same as Spartans, but since their bodies evaporated within an hour of death, nobody really knew. One of the few things that the Spartans did know was their running speed- they could average 15 kph almost indefinitely, and had been seen to reach almost 40 kph when sprinting- faster than the average Spartan could run for any long period of time. With the Maire valley barely 2000 kilometers north of Nasces, there had been but one calculation on everyone's minds for the past few days.

'Unbelievable,' Andreus breathed as the Blackhead horde came into sight of the Vulture. 'It's massive. They truly are a force of Nature.'

Who the hell is he even speaking to? Elesa looked around the Vulture's cockpit. The nervous looking pilot was the only other occupant barring herself and Gigolo, and Andreus had made it quite clear on several occasions that he didn't expect either of them to keep up with his 'Intellectual mutterings.' She ached to thump the little brat- since Thompson's death he'd become insufferable, insulting everyone around him and acting like he knew everything.

'I have to hand it to those Northern swine,' the Builder continued. 'I'd probably not have thought of capturing Blackheads to use as a weapon.'

'Is that what we're here for?' Gigolo asked suspiciously. 'I've told you before- I'm not going to use my power to kill people.'

'We need them for defense,' Andreus replied unconvincingly. 'A disaster like yesterday cannot happen again. The only way to prevent those Northern terrorists from attacking us is to be able to retaliate on a larger scale than them.'

Elesa snorted quietly. Bullshit. It was clear what Andreus intended to do with them. Given Andreus's apparent lack of concern when Gigolo had stated his refusal to use Blackheads against any other Spartan, he probably had other ways of using them to his own ends.

'We're over the Blackhead's front line, sir,' the pilot said nervously.

'Keep us just ahead of them,' Andreus ordered. 'And keep the Vulture steady- if you mess this operation up, I will personally seen you thrown straight into that horde.'

'Yes sir,' the pilot replied quickly.

Andreus pointed at Gigolo. 'Come with me,' he ordered, walking out of the cockpit. Gigolo and Elesa followed him through the bowels of the huge aircraft, into the open bomb bay at its base. The bay had been expanded, and sections cut away in the hull to allow it to hold a huge container.

'How many do you need?' Gigolo asked, looking at the container with dread.

'As many as you can control,' Andreus answered. 'Can you reach the blackheads from here?'

Gigolo opened his mind, his third eye seeing through the ghostly walls of the Vulture and out into the world. The Blackheads below him stood out clearly, their simple minds ready to be taken. Tentatively he reached out, forcing his will upon them. A few responded, but they were sluggish, and not nearly as many as he knew he could manage.

'Not quite,' Gigolo said. 'We need to get closer.'

'We're not going any further down,' Andreus said firmly. 'You'll have to ride down with the container.'

'Fuck that,' Gigolo replied. 'I can't control the entire horde; they'll kill me for sure!'

'You managed earlier.'

'I was a good 20 feet above them then, not 2,' Gigolo said. 'It's not happening.'

Andreus sighed. 'We'll attach you to the chain a few meters up from the container. Is that sufficient?'

It wasn't, but the look on Andreus's face convinced Gigolo that declining was not a safe answer. He nodded silently.

A minute later he was clinging for dear life as the container was lowered slowly from the belly of the Vulture. Making sure his actual eyes were facing directly upwards, Gigolo reached out with his mind and took control of the Blackheads directly beneath him, guiding them away as the container hit the ground with a thud. Slowly he maneuvered them into the crate- no easy task with the constant flow of Blackheads running southwards. None of them seemed interested in him, but just to be safe he reached out and checked the minds of a few of those he didn't control, and noticed something strange.

When he'd taken control of the Blackheads at Nasces, he'd been ripping them away from the control of somebody else; a strange sensation that almost allowed him to feel the mind of the other Blackhead controller. Now as he reached gently into the minds of the passing horde, he felt the faintest touch of something similar- a huge, yet somehow tiny mind, slowly and weakly enforcing its own will upon the blackheads. Gigolo checked more, and found that now that he knew what to look for, each Blackhead had traces of that same mind hidden within it.

It didn't take a genius to work out what he was feeling.

With rather more nerves than he'd been feeling before, Gigolo moved as many Blackheads as he dared into the container and made the signal to be lifted away.

Back inside the Vulture, he stopped Andreus as the Builder inspected his new weapons with awe.

'I think I felt something down there,' Gigolo said.

'Uh huh?' Andreus muttered, disinterested.

'It was like another mind was controlling the blackheads,' Gigolo continued. 'Like some sort of controlling consciousness, or something.'

Andreus turned to him, a hard look in his eyes.

'You must be mistaken,' he said firmly. 'The Blackheads are just animals. They have no minds, no intelligence; you felt nothing.'