ACT 1 – DISCOVERY
Chapter 10 – Surprises
There were now three sets of figures at the centre of the tactical display table in front of Teyla. One, the ship's current time – currently confirming that they were in the depths of the night – and the second was the countdown of the Transport Craft's flight through hyperspace to arrive at the near-edge of the target asteroid field. After a belated Late Meal with Si in the Canteen, Teyla had visited the Transport Bay to see Nalla and her team off on the mission to deploy the sensor satellites. The back section of the Sythus' slightly larger second Transport Craft had been gutted out, leaving only the enclosed tiny toilet space. Even the benches had been removed, which meant that, other than those sat in the front Piloting section, the remaining small number of crew had only floor cushions to sit on during the voyage. Even then, once the Transport Craft had been filled by the Sensor Platform Ship with the satellites, there had apparently been barely any space to move. It would not be the most comfortable two-day trip for the crew, but with each satellite that was hopefully deployed in the asteroid field, the more space would become available in the back of the Craft.
Nalla had seemed very enthusiastic, almost eager to Teyla's eye, for the mission. Teyla hadn't been sure if that was due to honest eagerness to finally start exploring the target asteroid field, or whether it had been to escape the rather noticeable tension between her and Halling. As tense as it had been at times, the two of them had been good friends for a long time, so Teyla felt almost certain that they would be able to move past this difficult period. They were both clearly trying very hard to treat each other as before, even if that currently came across with an awkward discomfort for them and anyone else close by.
So if Nalla wanted some time away and the chance to entirely focus on her work while on the mission, Teyla entirely understood. She knew well the value of the distraction of her work when it came to dealing with her feelings, which was part of the reason why she had insisted on keeping to taking Lead on tonight's late shift. With Nalla now off the Sythus and Seifer still aboard The Valse in the other half of the Hunt Fleet, Elite numbers were now down to five on the Sythus. Given Oneakka was back home recovering, they were already one person down, so the rotation duties would normally be shifted. But, she had insisted the tired Si go sleep and, after seeing Nalla off, she had come back up here to Central Station and taken the late shift, sending Halling to his own bed. It left just her and Isen as Elite on Central Station duty, while Jobrill was still leading the boarding parties on the drifting Salvager ships. Ultimately it all provided Teyla with good opportunities to focus on her work and not think about John.
What had also helped her tonight was that her stomach had finally entirely settled again. Her Late Meal with Si had settled the last niggling sensations of rebellion in her stomach and she now felt full of energy and focus. Plus having Isen here also gave her the opportunity to share her experience with him. With newly graduated Recruits, it was usually Oneakka who took Lead in looking after them, which often rather terrified them, but he had always been an excellent teacher who brought out the very best in young Elite. Still, it was always important that all members of the mission help train and impart knowledge and experience to junior members, and Isen was good company. He was quiet and unassuming, but quick to ask questions, which were always astute. She enjoyed his occasional question across the tactical display table as they oversaw the investigation of the latest drifter, and it also helped keep her mind from wandering to thoughts of John.
And stop her focusing on the ongoing desperate ache of missing him.
Though she was feeling well, the late hour on top of a full day on duty had made her legs feel rather tight, and she shifted her weight off one leg to the other in hopes of teasing the tension. As she did, she recorded confirmation into the record that all data had been received from the boarding party on this, number twelve of the drifters so far investigated, and then glanced to the final third set of figures set centrally on the tactical display table. It displayed the time of hyperspace flight it would take to reach the other half of the Hunt Fleet led by The Valse. With each drifter that had been detected, the distance between each dead ship had grown, so that the two halves of the Fleet were now a little over two hours of hyperspace flight apart. Then, once The Valse's group finished off its current investigations of #11 drifter, they would leapfrog past the Sythus' half of the Fleet, to #13 drifter, which was currently only a small dot on the sensor chart. That would only increase the distance to…she tapped onto one section of screen, running the calculation. It would add another half hour to the distance between the two halves of the Hunt Fleet.
She sighed faintly. She was starting to agree with Si' view that this trail of abandoned ships was a very good way of distracting the Fleet, or perhaps leading them into a trap. Yet, with the Transport Craft now on its way to the asteroid field, these drifters still needed to be checked. Despite the fact that none, so far, had held a single useful clue, including this current #12 drifter. Teyla watched the sensor readings showing that Jobrill was currently leading her boarding party back onto the docking freight vessel attached to the drifter, samples taken from inside and from the hull of the ship, but Teyla had little faith they would provide anything. #12 drifter was another bulky but basic Salvager ship, designed to be loaded with raw ore from the Salvagers' mining operations and flown to processing ships. The walls inside the large back section of the small ship had been coated with years' worth of layers of ore dust and scratches, leaving no useful evidence. Just the absence of the usual: computer core ripped out, screens torn out of the walls, and sections of consoles and their innards looted.
No clues.
But, that could change eventually. It might take only one drifter that hadn't been so thoroughly cleaned out to provide a vital telling clue…hopefully.
She watched the screens as the docking freight detached from #12 drifter and started back towards the Sythus. Once the team were back onboard, Teyla would need to assess the timing and distance to the next drifter. If The Valse hadn't finished its investigation of #11 drif-
"Honoured Elite!" A technician called abruptly, a split second before the ship-to-ship high alert flashed across the tactical display table. "Sensor Platform Ship is requesting urgent link."
Teyla quickly tapped the link open. "What is it, Commander Teije?" She asked rapidly, cutting to the point and saving the Commander the usual honorific greeting to start.
"Sythus, we have detected two Hive ships," Commander Teije's voice replied hurriedly.
Without waiting for more information, Teyla reached out and triggered the Sythus' ship-wide Wraith alert, the corresponding alarm immediately ringing out behind her in Central Station and out to the other ships in the Hunt Fleet.
"Where?" She asked Teije as she watched the Sythus' sensor readings flooding into a display screen, the Wraith alert having automatically triggered and commandeered all sensors from any other work to run a full spectrum sweep.
Nothing was showing, only the two halves of the Hunt Fleet and the identified drifters within range.
"They are well beyond main sensor range, but our gravitational sensors detected two – no, now three – Hive ships have arrived out of hyperspace."
"All close together or spread?" Teyla asked.
"Reasonably close together," Teije replied. "These sensors are attuned only to detect displaced gravitational fields of Hives ships, so if there are any smaller ships with them, we cannot detect them at this distance."
"So you are unable to detect any Skerti drive radiation at this distance?" Teyla checked her understanding.
"We are too far away, Honoured Elite," Teije confirmed. "The readings are changing…the Hives appear to be moving closer together."
"To fight?" Isen suggested.
"Or a gathering," Teyla considered. "Where are they specifically, Teije?"
"They are a week's flight from our current location, almost on the edge of our sensor range."
A week's flight? Teyla felt her adrenaline lower. Though, if they were Skerti-held Hives, then perhaps that did not matter given the Skerti Drive tech's ability to jump Hives great distances! And the two halves of the Hunt Fleet were currently two hours apart from each other…
"We have fed the gravitational sensor data into usual sensor systems and are sharing with all the Fleet now," Teije continued, other voices close to him clearly updating him in the moment. "We can't patch you directly into our specialised sensors, so this is the closest we can do."
"Understood, Commander," Teyla replied.
"Data coming in now," Isen reported efficiently and Teyla watched as he slid the sensor data onto the display table's central chart.
Teyla leaned forward a fraction. The Hives were indeed very close together but they were all a great distance away. She watched as Isen expanded the chart to bring it into clearer relation to the rest of the local systems.
"We are updating the scan data you are receiving as quickly as possible, but it is not in real time."
"Understood, Commander," Teyla replied to Teije. "Could your other sensors pick up indications of weapons fire at this distance?" She checked.
"No, but if a Hive were to explode, we would detect that very clearly."
Teyla nodded, studying the display. The three Hives were in truth far closer to the Alliance than the Hunt Fleet were currently, so the threat level was perhaps reduced.
"They've stopped moving," Isen noted.
"A gathering then most likely," Teyla considered. "If they were engaged in battle, they would be manoeuvring offensively and defensively."
From Teyla's left, Halling and Si abruptly rushed into Central Station.
"The Sensor Platform's gravitational sensors have detected three Hive ships holding close together in a sector a week's flight away and in the opposite direction to our heading," Teyla updated them quickly as they slid into place around the tactical display table. "Other than their location, they are too far away for any other readings to be detected."
"They are just outside range of the Alliance border sensor platforms too," Si noted as he frowned at the chart.
"They arrived two together and then one other, then moved closer together and appear to be holding position in that formation," Teyla added, as she saw on her display that the docking freight was back onboard. Good, Jobrill would be arriving up here soon then as well. "The latest #12 drifter has been thoroughly searched and boarding team have arrived back onboard; nothing significant to report. The sensor readings you're seeing of the Hives are delayed in from the specialised sensors from the Sensor Platform."
Teyla reached out and expanded the link with the Sensor Platform to call in The Valse into the discussion. "Valse, this is the Sythus."
"Reading you, Emmagan," Seifer was the one to answer. "We are receiving the Sensor Platform's data in now too."
"Hives appear to be holding position, no other readings possible at this distance," Teyla updated Seifer.
"If those Hives are Skerti controlled…" Halling uttered worriedly.
She nodded to him, noting that he had clearly thrown on his clothes quickly after being woken by the alarm, his hair a little messy.
"Commander Teije," Halling asked into the air. "What is the delay between your readings and what we're receiving?"
"One to two minutes at most, Honoured Elite. The Hives have not moved and appear to be holding close formation."
"So friendly Hives then?" Isen asked.
"At least initially," Teyla nodded. "When they do gather, this is how it starts, holding close formation as the Queens talk over link or meet on one designated Hive. Though that can descend into a battle." Which had been an old tactic of the Elite: to sneak aboard one Hive and use it to target another, sparking off battles between old rivalries among the Hives.
"But if they are Skerti held…" Halling added again, pointing out the possible flaw in the assessment.
"Then we cannot accurately predict their behaviour yet," Teyla nodded.
All eyes focused down on the chart with its two minute delay of the Hives.
Nothing changed for several more minutes.
"We are detecting no motion at all, Honoured Elite," Commander Teije added over the link.
"If they are Wraith held," Si intoned with his deep thoughtful voice, "then their gathering could last hours."
"And more could arrive," Teyla considered.
"It's interesting as we've had no intel of anymore Queen gatherings since our victory over the Nest System Queens' coalition," Halling considered.
"When such gatherings fall, it leads to more infighting among the Wraith," Teyla reminded Isen stood directly across from her, his eyes meeting hers. "They often go through more civil war battles, believing cooperation leads to failure."
Isen nodded. "Which is why we have been striking the Hives closest to the border lines near the Nest Battle?" he checked. "Picking off isolated Hives."
"Yes, and to sweep up any lost Cruisers, Fighters or lone Wraith on planets and moons where there are Human populations to feed on," she nodded. This was basic work for the Elite and it was good for Isen to see it all practically applied.
"So this is unusual for them so soon after the Nest Battle victory," Isen frowned down at the chart, the three Hive dots still in exactly the same formation as before.
"As soon as we believe we can predict Wraith behaviour without question, is when they will start to adapt and change," Si added to Isen, quoting an old Elite warning.
Of course, from her experience, Teyla knew that most Wraith were actually very predictable, though some occasional Hives had shown surprising levels of adaptation in trying to fight the Military Fleet and the Elite. Still, as a whole, the Wraith were usually predictable in their behaviour.
"So these Hives could be Skerti held," Isen said thoughtfully. "Or this is unusual Wraith behaviour."
"Perhaps there is a new pressure driving these Hives to gather," Teyla considered.
"Skerti threat perhaps?" Halling suggested.
"Or perhaps Atlantis may be battling the Wraith while we have been away?" Isen asked, the sudden mention of John and his city rather jarring for Teyla, not that Isen's point wasn't valid.
"Perhaps," Halling was the one to reply to Isen. "Though with us out here in this sector under silent running from the Alliance, we have no idea what might be occurring back home either. And Atlantis is practically on the furthest side of the galaxy from here."
Still faintly thrown with the sudden thought of John being engaged in a raging battle with the Wraith, and the rather depressing reminder of just how far away he was, Teyla made herself focus on a text link showing on her screen. "Jobrill reports the docking freight is being checked and prepared for the next drifter. All samples they collected are on the way to the lab for analysis," she relayed to the others.
John was an excellent warrior; she was sure he was fine….
"Ultimately, we can only wait and watch for now," Si added from the other side of the table.
Teyla looked across to him and nodded, focusing on the here and now. "I suggest both halves of the Hunt Fleet hold position and observe the Hives."
"Agreed," Halling nodded. "Wraith cannot detect our hyperspace windows at this distance, but we know nothing of Skerti capabilities."
"Commander Ara is due back on duty soon," Seifer added over the link, "and we are only halfway through investigating this latest drifter. We can focus on it for a number of hours, though nothing seems promising so far."
"Agreed then?" Teyla looked to Si and then Isen, both nodding to her. "Both halves of the Hunt Fleet will hold position and run analysis of all the data we have gathered so far."
"Agreed," Seifer stated over the link.
"Commander Teije?" Teyla focused on the Sensor Platform again. "Keep updating us on the Hive positions in as close to real time as you can."
"Of course, Honoured Elite. We are also still running deeper analysis on the latest hull samples; see if we can narrow down the weapons damage a little more."
"Excellent," Teyla smiled. She glanced at her screen again. "Jobrill is on her way up to Central Station now. I will update her, if some of you want to go back to bed?" She asked Halling and Si.
Both males smiled back and Halling started smoothing his hair a little.
But they stayed, all eyes on the sensor chart, watching the three dots.
Waiting to see what would happen.
And her mind slipped back to John without warning; hoping he was safe and well, and not locked in a desperate battle for his life against Wraith or Skerti.
0000
From the minute she'd woken up this morning – sleepy from lying awake late into the night thinking about today's visit – Seeal had had to admit that she was properly nervous about meeting Jin again. She wasn't all that sure why exactly, since all her memories of him were positive.
There had been very few positive memories from her childhood, but Jin had always been an untarnished truly pure good thing that had happened to her. Such things in life were very far and few between she'd found and, thinking about it, she could count their number on one hand. And of them, Jin had perhaps been the most transformative force in her life. If he hadn't blindly had such strange faith in her to introduce her to the pit fight runners, she was afraid to think what might have happened to her. Living on the streets of various towns across various worlds had been dangerous anyway, but, as a female, the dangers had only increased the older you grew. But, thanks to Jin's intervention in her life, she had developed the skills that had kept such threats at bay and had kept her alive all these years since.
So it was odd that she was so nervous to see Jin again, after all every occasional time she'd seen him after her first pit fight – which had also been her first win – he'd always been kind and smiling. He'd even given her a knife for protection after that first fight, which had turned out to an Ugun guardian knife, forged by none other than Oneakka's own father. It was a bizarre twist of fate that linked her and Oneakka, and that had made possible today's visit to see Jin again.
Whether Jin would remember her though was another question.
And it was a question that had turned round and around in her head as she'd gotten showered and dressed this morning, going from one minute dismissing the importance that he might remember her, to the next worrying that he wouldn't. He'd always recognised her in the pit fights, even as a handful of years had passed, but she had still been in her young teen years back then. She could rather embarrassingly remember that, each time she'd seen him, that she'd gone bouncing up to him, excitably telling him her fighting statistics since she'd last seen him. She'd been so eager to please him, the male having taken on a little too much of a father figure in her head, that it all seemed rather cringe-worthy now with adult eyes. Still, he'd always been kind to her, behaved as if her fight stats were amazing, before disappearing off again on his trading work. He had used to say that the life of a Trader was always one in motion, and Jin had clearly been a very successful Trader given where he'd retired.
Such a long and successful career must have meant he'd met a lot of people over the years, including plenty of fighters he must have introduced to the pit fight runners and sponsors, so it was very possible that he just wouldn't remember her. After all, just because his arrival in her life had changed everything for her, didn't mean it had made as much as an impact on him. She might have been just one child among thousands that he'd helped find their way out of poverty.
So she had prepared herself that he wouldn't remember her, after all she suspected she'd not be able to recognise or remember fellow pit fighters from back then if she met them again. So…it was fine and no need to be all nervous about it.
The self-talk clearly hadn't worked though, as she'd caught herself dressing in her best clothes for the trip, wanting to present herself in the best light to Jin. Then she'd gotten the distinct impression that Oneakka had been able to see that she was nervous, which was embarrassingly annoying, and that he'd not drawn any attention to it suggested that she was not looking as in control of herself as she'd hoped. Still, seeing Bakhau for the first time and enjoying the trip to Jin's house with Oneakka had been nice and distracting…except then they were arriving, and then they were outside Jin's house…Oneakka pushing open the front door.
Leaving her outside by herself, and a crazy part of her considered leaving. Which made absolutely no sense, but then her instinct to run had always been strong. After all it had saved her from the Glisi on that fateful day Father had been murdered and she and Ulfur had had to run for the Portal, escaping the mob that had been out to kill them.
But not today, there was no threat but that in her own head… She just wasn't sure that made it any better.
If Jin didn't recognise her it wouldn't ruin her life.
Or what if he'd somehow heard about her working on Dreamstation? What if he judged her badly for that? What if he didn't want her in his house?!
Okay, she needed to calm herself.
She watched as Oneakka's back disappeared inside the open door to Jin's house, heard him call out Jin's name with such strange familiarity that she found she was stood gripping the long trail of her hair over her shoulder with both hands. Honestly, what was with her? She had been the Security Lead of Dream and she'd recently touched fish…
Jin's voice responded to Oneakka and she was suddenly thrown vividly back into the past. She moved closer towards the open door, Jin's voice so shockingly familiar despite all the years that had passed. If anyone had asked her before today what his voice had sounded like, she'd never have known, but she knew she would have instantly recognised it today. It was a loud, endlessly cheerful voice, which had always bubbled with enthusiasm and confidence in everything – which was all still there and currently focused on telling Oneakka that he was underweight and needed to take care of himself. She covered a hand over her amused sniggers as she moved right up close to the doorframe, listening to Oneakka now asking Jin about his health; his tone suggesting he worried for the older male.
And the nervous worries all slid aside as she listened to the two males talking. Though it was such a strange combination, her past and present clashing in a shocking but lovely way. She leaned her back against the cool shadowed stone of Jin's portico and remembered the very first time she'd seen Jin. He'd been tracking down Ulfur and had found her and Ulfur, along with six other street kids, all living inside a draughty broken abandoned section of a barn. Jin had just walked in cheerfully in his big Trader's coat with the big fur-lined collar and started trying to convince Ulfur that he could make currency as a pit fighter. That hadn't worked, so Jin had turned his charm and confidence on her instead. Offering her an opportunity that had allowed her to be able to properly eat, to buy proper clothing, and eventually pay for two beds in a large crowded bunkhouse for her and Ulfur to live for awhile.
And now here she was, stood outside what had to be an expensive beautifully kept house and garden on an amazingly secure and wealthy planet; the two moments could not be further apart from each other, yet it also felt like no time had passed as she listened to Jin's voice insist that he had no more debts to pay.
Then the moment arrived as she heard Oneakka call for her.
She stepped round the doorframe and walked into Jin's house, the nervousness now overwhelmed by a happy eagerness.
It was darker inside, so it took her eyes a few seconds to adjust, but Oneakka came into view as he stood aside to the right, and, past him, was Jin.
She would have recognised him anywhere though he did look much older. Still, he wasn't the white-haired bent-over male she'd prepared herself to see, instead he stood tall, his skin was flush with health and he wasn't short of a few meals. Abruptly she remembered that he had been a little large around the waist when she'd been young, though of course all her memories had been from looking up at him, so she'd just assumed that had altered her perception of him.
She stopped a metre or so inside the house, Oneakka just to her right, held her chin up and looked into her old hero's eyes.
Jin frowned at her. "And I don't owe you currency?" He asked with no small amount of suspicion.
She scoffed at that as she crossed her arms. "Typical Trader, everything's about currency. No, Jin, you do not owe me anything. If anything, I owe you."
Jin's frown deepened instantly and he took a few steps towards her, peering intently at her face.
She realised that they were the same height, which was a faint shock considering how big he'd seemed to her back then.
He took another step towards her, his eyes shifting from her cheeks to her chin and then down to her tail of hair before lifting back to her eyes. "Glisi girl?" He asked.
Shock almost stole her breath for a second, but then the delight took over. "Yes," she confirmed.
"No!" Jin said forcefully but he was smiling now.
"Yes," she repeated unable to stop herself from grinning back.
"No! Glisi Girl?!" He exclaimed again, grinning as he moved right up to her, his hands reaching to her arms. "Look at you."
His hands were warm and squeezed her outer upper arms tightly, and she reached up gripping his elbows in turn.
"How are you here?" He asked, still seeming shocked.
"Oneakka mentioned you, and I wanted to see you again."
"Actually you mentioned him first," Oneakka noted completely unhelpfully, so she gave him a quick 'not now' glare and looked back at Jin.
Only to find that Jin's eyes had turned massive, moving from her to Oneakka and back. "Akane Son and Glisi Girl…?"
"Are friends," Oneakka stressed rather too quickly, not that it wasn't accurate.
"I'm doing some work for the Elite," she explained to Jin. His hands slid down to hers and she gripped them as tightly as she felt safe given his age.
"Seeal actually helped save me during my recent injury," Oneakka put in.
Jin looked impressed and then focused back on her. "Seeal?" He repeated her name, which she'd not used back when she'd known him. "A far better name than the ones the Glisi gave you."
She felt a rush of the old hurts, the memories of the way she'd been treated by her people. Jin had traded with the Glisi, had seen her as a child in the snow there, so he knew how she'd been treated. He was unique in that way, she realised, and she felt oddly vulnerable by that fact as well as strangely grateful. Someone knew what her life had really been like back on the Glisi world. She nodded back to him and watched as the sympathy shifted over Jin's face as he looked at her, his thumbs stroking the backs of her hands as Father had used to do.
"Seeal," he repeated. "It means 'freedom'?"
Could today get more surprising? "Free One," she corrected, but he had been shockingly close. "I didn't know you new Glisi names."
"I learnt a few over the decades," he replied. "And you are still free of the Glisi, yes?" He asked with a tone which suggested that, had she said no, he might have a lecture waiting for her.
"I am," she confirmed firmly.
"Good," Jin smiled again. "And what happened to that useless brother of yours?"
She liked Jin even more now. "He and I took separate paths as adults," she summarised. "But I believe he recently returned to the Glisi world."
"Mmmm," Jin frowned with disapproval as he squeezed her hands and then let go. "He was always trouble that boy. Come, both of you, sit." Jin turned away, heading towards the wooden table ahead of him, on which were plates, a full jug and a large bowl of bread pieces. "Akane Son," Jin looked over his shoulder to Oneakka, "would you get another plate and cup for Seeal?"
"Yes, Jin," Oneakka agreed with a grace she'd never seen in him before at being ordered to do anything. Unfortunately, he turned away quickly into a doorway before she could send him a teasing look.
"I have bread, kita juice, and some lovely Spring Nut spread," Jin continued on towards the table. "Seeal, come sit here across from me, so we can catch up."
She nodded as she headed towards the bench he indicated. As she passed by the open doorway into which Oneakka had vanished, she peered through to see Oneakka stood in the middle of a clean and tidy kitchen, a high cupboard open out of which he was picking out the requested tableware. Clearly he spent plenty of time here to know where everything was. She continued on to the dining table, amused despite herself, and slid onto the bench.
"Ahh that brother of yours," Jin was still muttering as he eased slowly down onto the bench opposite her. "I imagine his life took a dangerous path after he left your care."
"I have heard that it did, but he's gotten his wish now, to return to the Glisi," Seeal replied, rather too pleased that Jin had known that she had been the one actually taking care of Ulfur, her older giant Glisi brother.
Jin had finally settled onto his bench, but was adjusting his position with the carefulness of one with painful or aching joints.
Movement to her left was Oneakka's arm and she watched him set a plate in front of her, then a cup and, finally, a knife onto the plate for her. She looked up at him. "Thank you, server," she smiled teasingly up at him. She was pretty sure, given the way Jin had talked to Oneakka earlier, that informality was the rule in Jin's home, so she took that as free rein to tease Oneakka a little.
Oneakka responded with a lifted eyebrow, which confirmed to her that the informality was fine here, and he headed towards his seat at the head of the table, which put him between her and Jin.
She turned her attention back to Jin, who was reaching across the table, setting a small bowl of bright green spread in front of her. They had Spring Nut spread in the Canteen at the Facility and she loved it, so she reached for a big slice of bread from the central bowl and, using the knife Oneakka had fetched for her, started spreading the green goo on the slice.
"So," Jin started, as he picked up his own slice of bread while, to her left, Oneakka had lifted the jug of kita juice and was filling Jin's cup for him. "Thank you, Akane Son," Jin smiled at Oneakka and then focused back on her. "Tell me, Free One, how you came to meet this one? Did he save you from a Wraith or other vicious danger?" He asked with an all too obvious a sparkle in his eyes. The sparkle was just like Massa's, as was the subtle tone in Jin's voice, which clearly meant he had not believed Oneakka's summary of them being just friends.
"He arrested me," she told Jin plainly; hopefully that would kill any silly romantic ideas he was having.
Jin looked surprised, but Oneakka interrupted before Jin could say anything. "That wasn't the first time we met, that was the third time," Oneakka commented as he started pouring juice into her cup for her.
"Arresting me was the time that made the most impact," she informed him before looking back to Jin, which had been somewhat stretching the truth. Oneakka always made an impact. "I was working security for a particularly dangerous place, which resulted in me being, incorrectly, labelled as a criminal in the eyes of the Elite," she explained to Jin.
"Working for the pit fights still?" Jin asked as he spread the bright green spread on his slice of bread, seeming completely unfazed by her story.
"No, I left the pits in my early twenty yearly cycles," she replied as she chewed on a good yummy mouthful of the bread.
"Good," Jin nodded with approval. "I didn't have much involvement with them, as you know, but I always looked out for your fighter number when I was near one. In fact," he paused in chewing, "I am pretty sure I have some fight posters in my storage collection; I'll have to have a look through for you."
She remembered the old posters that were plastered up the day or so before a fight, the events always moving around to keep away from any planet's policing forces or political pressure.
"Which brings me to an important question, Jin," Oneakka stated, his tone serious now and his frowny face was back. Though his tone and frown were a little undermined by the fact that he had a piece of green smeared bread held partway to his mouth. "Why exactly were you introducing children to pit fighting?" He asked sternly.
She just knew he'd get to that question all too quickly, threatening the jovial mood.
"Oh I rarely did any introducing," Jin waved a dismissive hand at Oneakka, seemingly immune to the big Elite being cross with him. She wondered how he did it. "Besides," Jin continued, "I only introduced those who were already fighters."
Seeal frowned at that. "I wasn't a fighter before then, Jin. You introduced me to my trainer after my first fight."
Jin pulled a bemused face at her. "Being a fighter isn't just down to being trained; you should know that more than most. You already had a reputation among those orphans living in filth, poor things. You were already a fighter. I saw you punch a boy in the mouth so hard one of his teeth fell right out."
She screwed up her face, confused. "I did?"
"He'd been trying to steal something from one of the other kids," Jin stated before he took another mouthful of bread. "That kind of natural reflex and power was a talent to be used," he said around his chewing. "Focused. And directed away from misuse and less productive means," he added, gesturing firmly at her with his bread, his eyes boring into hers over the table.
She paused, considering his point. She had always assumed her fighting skills had come purely from her trainer's teaching and practice in the pits. Though her memories from back then were admittedly less clear due to having been young, she did remember there had been fights breaking out quite often on the streets - did vaguely remember being in some - but mostly she remembered running from them. But Jin had seen her with far clearer adult eyes back then, and she did remember standing up to bullying behaviour from the older and bigger street kids, seeing in them too much of how the Glisi had treated her. Clearly that had gone far further than just stubbornly having an argument and occasional shoving and pushing like she remembered.
She had always thought that, had she not found the pit fights, she would eventually have ended up dying from sickness or been killed on the streets, but Jin was implying something else. That she'd have ended up, as so many did, using her fists to get her own way and dominate others. Would she have ended up more like Ulfur? Channelling frustration, anger, and grief into aggressive selfish behaviour? Or could she have ended up as Madesh had done for awhile, used by others and lost in self-destructive despair, with only drugs able to numb the pain?
It all put a strange new slant on her memories of those old days.
She glanced at Oneakka, but he was spreading more Spring Nut spread on a new slice of the tasty bread. She wondered what he thought of that revelation and if it changed his opinion about her, but she couldn't see any clues in his expression.
"And that brother of yours," Jin muttered again, "he was only going to head towards far more trouble. He wouldn't listen to me to try pit fighting. His size would have been a proper draw to the fights and he would have gotten good currency for you both. But, no. Besides, you had the natural talent, and we all know that skill – trained or natural – always outclasses simple size and weight," he added with a grin from her to Oneakka.
"And the guardian knife?" Oneakka asked, still in his serious interrogation tone.
Jin's expression shifted to confusion.
"That you gave Seeal," Oneakka continued. "From Father."
Jin's expression shifted instantly into recollection, his eyes moving back to her. "I did," he said softly. "I remember that, after your first fight?"
She nodded. "And I kept it safe all these years."
Jin smiled at that only for the smile to abruptly drop as he glanced at Oneakka out the side of his eyes, a guilty wince crossing his face.
"It was my understanding that guardian knives were never traded and rarely given away?" Oneakka asked a little more than he stated.
"Blade spirits," Jin muttered as he sat back a little in his seat and set his half-eaten slice of bread onto his plate. Seeal watched his frown twist into abrupt painful grief. "Poor Akane," he uttered, blinking rapidly, the tears obvious in his eyes as he looked at Oneakka. "Your father was always trying to give me a blade spirit to 'look after me in my travels'," he seemed to quote, a small smile inching into his sadness.
Seeal had to work to control the urge to get emotional herself to see such blatant grief…to know it was about Oneakka's own father. She kept her eyes on Jin though, not wanting to risk seeing what might be on Oneakka's face.
"For my people," Jin continued, his expression forlorn as he watched Oneakka, "such things are considered…" he sighed. "We were brought up to be afraid of spirits, of evil things in the dark forests or that which might draw the Wraith to us. As much as I respected Akane and your people's beliefs, I could never quite feel comfortable with his offers to take an Ugun tool with its imbued spirit."
"So you believe in spirits, just not benevolent ones?" Seeal asked, curious at the belief structure.
Jin shifted his eyes to hers, his sadness shifting in to a slight smile. "We were always taught to steer clear of all, to be safe."
She nodded and Jin looked back to Oneakka, his upper body turning towards him now. "For all those years, I turned down Akane's offers of any metal tool of Ugun. Then, there was a festival on Ugun, not sure I can remember which one, but by the early hours after we'd drunk," he sighed with a smile, "far too much, Akane insisted I take one knife, one of the guardian knives. He said I had to take it as it was one of the best batches he'd ever made." Jin's gaze slid to his plate and his abandoned bread, grief deepening all the lines of his face. "He insisted one be mine and I said yes. It was a great honour, from my friend." He paused, blinking again, clearly lost in memories.
Seeal had to look away, focusing on her own bread as she forced down her own reaction to cry for him and for the loss of the Ugun who had made her knife and had helped create Oneakka.
"I carried that knife with me for…." Jin looked upwards as if scanning his memory, "maybe half a trading cycle, but such things were not my way. So," his eyes moved back to her, "when I saw you win your first fight, saw the potential in you but also the dangers around you... I had to leave to make a shipment, leaving you on that backwater, dangerous planet. So young with no home."
"You thought she should have a Guardian," Oneakka finished for him.
Seeal finally risked looking round at Oneakka, but gone were the frowns and there were no tears, just a soft understanding smile directed towards Jin.
Jin reached across the corner of the table, his weathered hand tight on Oneakka's pale forearm. "Yes," Jin replied, his relief obvious in his voice and across his face as he smiled tearfully at his lost friend's son. "And when Akane saw me without the knife on my next visit, I told him I had given it to a vulnerable child who desperately needed its protection."
Seeal smiled as Jin glanced at her. It was oddly nice to know that Jin had mentioned to her, even just vaguely in passing, to Oneakka's father.
"He understood," Jin added, but his expression and tone told Seeal that he wasn't sure, but that he hoped it was true. "But now," Jin added, cheerfulness returning as he squeezed Oneakka's arm again and released him, "I think Akane would have been even more pleased with my decision."
"I am very grateful," she told him. "You changed my life by introducing me to the pits, and in giving me my knife," she glanced at Oneakka to find him watching her, so she looked back to Jin. "It lives in my quarters now, watching over me as I'm sure Akane would have wished."
Jin smiled but then frowned a little. "Blade spirits," he shuddered and Seeal chuckled as she reached for a new piece of bread.
"Plus, that guardian knife has been handled by Akane's own son," she added with a smile as she reached for the nut spread.
"Ahhh," Jin grinned. "The circles of the wind."
She frowned up at that. "Sorry?"
"Circles of the Wind," Oneakka was the one to reply. "It was Ugun belief. The winds move constantly around the planet, touching all things eventually, connecting everything."
She rather liked that concept.
"There was a massive temple on Ugun to the Circles of the Wind," Jin told her.
"Really? They worshipped the winds?" She asked.
"Not directly, more the principle," Jin replied, but his head lowered and his eyes shifted to Oneakka. "But let's not talk of such things." She understood the warning, that talking about Ugun in detail was, understandably, taboo around Oneakka.
She glanced to Oneakka to see him focused on his food with far too much attention, a subtle tension emanating around him.
"But can you talk about this one?" She asked Jin, keeping her tone cheerful as she gestured to Oneakka with her spread-covered knife. "You knew him as a boy?"
"Oh, I knew him before he was born," Jin replied, clearly eager to talk about this subject. "When he was just a bump, growing inside his lovely mother, Alcinoe."
Alcinoe. It was the first time she'd heard Oneakka's Mother's name.
"And after he was born," Jin continued, his warm affectionate gaze moving to Oneakka, "I held him when he was only a few days old."
She looked to Oneakka, seeing a real smile again, the former tension gone.
"But," Jin added as he leaned towards her across the table, "he was littlest thing, the smallest of Akane and Alcinoe's young. But, my, did he grow! Every time I visited, he was noticeably bigger, practically growing in your arms as you held him."
Seeal laughed at the story. Oh, Jin was clearly going to be a wealth of information to use to tease Oneakka.
"I think that's a slight exaggeration," Oneakka added, but she could see the playful smile across his face that told her that he rather liked that part of his history.
"No it isn't," Jin insisted.
Seeal considered Oneakka and his renewed muscular shoulders and arms following his recent near-fatal injury. Massa and Halling had both told her that Oneakka recovered very fast, which she'd now seen for herself, but it seemed that perhaps that had always been a skill of his. He'd told her previously that he had been taller than his next brother up, that he'd grown faster than his peers, and that had been one of the reasons why he had caught the eye of the Elite. And why his people had thought him the reincarnation of his heroic ancestor Akireu. But to hear that he'd actually started out a very small baby was an interesting twist to the story. She imagined that perhaps he'd been impatient in the womb and had been born early so he could get on with the growing.
"You were constantly splitting your clothes apart as you grew," Jin added. "You went through more clothes than any other child on your world."
"Again, I think that's an exaggeration," Oneakka argued.
"Shh," she waved a hand at him and focused back on Jin. "So you were saying that he was a tiny little bitty baby…?"
Jin grinned back at her. "Yes, but he was always determined in everything he did."
"No change there then," she grinned at Oneakka. "Did he used to scowl at everything too as a boy?" She asked.
"Not at all," Jin replied surprisingly though. "You were always a happy boy," he smiled at Oneakka. "Just determined in everything you did. Whatever it was," Jin turned to her, "he had to do it just right. I remember at one point he used to sweep the forge floor in the evenings, and he would do it ten times through at least, only satisfied when there wasn't a speck of dust or soot on the floor. Akane and I used to sit out in the air and watch him working away inside."
"He's not that much different now then," Seeal considered, grinning towards Oneakka again. "He has very strong opinions about dust." After all one of their worst fights had been sparked off by her dusting the shelves in his quarters.
Oneakka met her gaze, his fourth piece of bread held just shy of his mouth. "Don't make me use that word you hate again," he retaliated, clearly remembering the fight as well. "I think we've talked enough about me as a boy."
She grinned at his self-consciousness and turned to Jin. "Just one more question. So you've known him that long, and clearly you have a good memory for the meaning of names…so you probably know what his name translates too in Ugun, right?"
Jin worked to suppress his smile as he dropped his head and looked at her from under his brow. "Oh, I'm not allowed to talk about that."
She sighed at him. "Damn it," she muttered, but she should have known Oneakka would have warned Jin not to share whatever his name meant. She glanced at Oneakka, who gave her a very victorious grin as he chewed on his food.
"Fine," she conceded. "We'll talk about him more as a boy later," she told Jin.
"I am far more interested to hear about your life, Seeal the Free One," Jin stated as he tapped the table with both hands. "Tell me of your life after I last say you. I want to hear all of it, as I can tell it is going to be a very good story," he smiled at her.
"I wouldn't call it the best story," she winced a little.
"Oh, but the best stories are never straight-forward or easy," Jin countered. "And when we run out of time today, you must come back and visit me again until the entire tale is told. And then, in return, I will regale you with tales of a certain young Elite boy."
"You have a deal, Jin," she grinned across at him.
"Do I have a say in this?" Oneakka asked.
"No," Seeal told him plainly.
Blue eyes held hers, a low level glare in play, but she could tell it was playful only. In fact, she suspected she saw that he too was pleased with how her reintroduction to Jin had gone. She certainly was.
She looked away to Jin. "I believe the last place we saw each other," she tried to think of the planet's name, "was on Ephesus?"
"Ugh," Jin scoffed, "their Traders were so difficult to deal with. But I remember where the pit fights were there, the entrance under that big old stone bridge?"
"That's the one," she smiled, rather liking being able to talk to about those old pit fighting days. "Well, after that last fight session where I saw you, we had to leave Ephesus quickly as Ulfur had upset someone, I can't remember exactly why, but a fast exit was required past the guards at the Portal…"
0000
TBC