Winter’s Return

About the Author

Jack Barton lives with his girlfriend, now fiancé, Jamie and their cat, Baron Von Fluffington, in Chorleywood, Hertfordshire, where he is a long time Season Ticket Holder at Brentford Football Club and is almost always watching something nerdy, such as the influences for this book that is only the first of many.

Dedication

For my wife-to-be, Jamie, to compete with the many stories she loves so much, maybe eventually climb the ranks to the top.

Copyright Information ©

Jack Barton 2023

The right of Jack Barton to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398441743 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398455535 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

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E14 5AA

Prologue

The room was completely silent. This was once a classroom in a popular school at the heart of the Capital City, now though, it is little more than a dark, hollow shell where no happiness or learning could ever return to that could possibly bring back the light. But while it was silent, it was not still. For in the shadows of the long hallways and vacant classrooms still adorned with the cheery messages of hope for young minds and the joy of their imaginations, were the spectres of the once denizens of this city, and the mindless monsters that some of them had become.

Those that had been trapped in the Capital City when it had sealed shut that fateful day, those who were fortunate to have died, wandered the places that they had known so well as non-corporeal shades of those they had once been, colourless in their being, cast in a grey hue. They stalked their former homes and once regular places, silent as the grave in the literal sense. Here in this once house of learning, the spectres of the children that had attended this place still trudged through their halls or skipped merrily from one room to the other, while others stood mindless and expressionless in the peripherals. Those affected in a violently different way clung to the corners out of sight, scurrying across the dusty, degraded floors, scratching their way through the ceilings and walls. These were conscious-less beasts, they were degraded in their human form, some on all fours, some shambling on shattered limbs, their bodies inexplicably still standing, still moving.

The only thing these remnants of people feared were the roaming security bots, hovering on thrusters, despite their flaming appearance they produced merely a whisper as they left blackened streaks on the once red floors caked in dust and debris. These machines bore arms as a human but while one hand was reminiscent of life-like, albeit metal and menacing, the right consisted of an automatic gun giving sign of its hostile design. They were manufactured of a deep, dark black metal, hard and robust, with a head at the top of a chest piece that allowed the bots to see with luminescent blood-red eyes. The lifeless monstrosities had a strange profound fondness for the shades of their once neighbours and friends, fellow citizens of this ruin of a city, yet they avoided the bots with haste, tangling with them when no other choice was allowed, lest they be utterly obliterated.

The once grey walls were decorated with celebrations of the Crimson conglomerate that rules this region as the Board’s representative, children’s depictions of the workers of the companies, from humble farmers on distant worlds to the formidable soldiers portrayed as their valiant protectors. The tables and chairs where they would receive the limited knowledge and skills allowed to them were mostly still in place, only some overturned in the chaos that was the brief window of evacuation that signalled the start of the Capital Collapse.

Some of these seats were taken up by the ghosts of the little ones that had once come here so routinely for learning, that in death they followed the same pattern, never late for a lesson that would never come. They wore their uniform still, never able to change for the clothes they died in, a simple combination of black jacket and trousers, matched with what once would have been a red shirt that indicated the company that owned them. For these children, like all who had been born in the three settled systems under the Board’s rule, had given a drop of blood at their birth to a contract they had never been given the chance to give consent to, a lifetime bond that sealed their purpose in life to the design of others.

A screen at the front of the classroom flickered on at the same time it always did, the signal for the lesson to begin, only there was no teacher to grant it as there hadn’t been for nigh a decade. Prowling across the screen in a physically illuminating projection that gave true dimension to the image, was a ginger cat in a red trench coat bearing a black hat perched over one ear. He calmly strode to the centre of the screen and stood up on its hind legs, before giving a wink to the camera and lighting up a thick cigar that it then proceeded to smoke. The image blinked on and off as it struggled to maintain itself and when the recording spoke, the audio was distorted with a fuzz and the pitch warped occasionally so the hologram was rarely playing as it had in its hay-day.

Boys and girls, welcome to school, I’m Crimson the Crime-Fighting Cat, and I’m here to get y’all prepped for the day ahead, a day chock full o’ learnin’ and graftin’, the only way to be, to be a good and loyal employee of our generous Crimson Overseer Coalition. Today’s lessons will be hard and some o’ y’all will hesitate to fully commit your stunning young minds to this mighty fine essential teachin’s but all o’ you listen to me good and proper. The ginger cat said, speaking to the empty classroom in a calm yet hoarse voice, an authoritative tone.

But I promise, should you leave the wisdom and guidance of our great Coalition, you will be tagged as WIDOWs, that’s Workers In Deviation of Work-Orders, and me and my Obsidian folk and my brothers and sisters in the Stalwart inquisitor and enforcers will track you down and end your miserable lives. Break the contract and we all suffer, young ones. But maybe y’all don’t believe your cunning friend, Crimson the Crime-Fighting Cat, so today’s lesson is history, so let me fill y’all in on everything that built the system that protects and sustains ya, keeps the worlds on tickin’. The cat flicked off the burnt end of his cigar before snapping some furry fingers together and the image changed over to a video presentation with a different voice narrating:

The year is 2304, and the Earth is gone. The rule of governance and the order of their law, the currency of their realm, the capitalism, socialism, communism, dictatorships, however they chose to rule, they all crumbled under the prelude to harvesting the world’s natural resources too greedily. Even the institutions of religion collapsed as societies that had existed for hundreds of years crumbled, that which had been the bedrock of many people’s moral compass, leaving anarchy and cold-blooded measure in its wake. The narrator was female, speaking over an image of a world of green and blue slowly turning red and ashen grey, steadily becoming covered in satellites and space stations.

No world leader or government official was strong enough to stop the tide and the whole world suffered as a result. This was the sum of all failures that came from casting the veil of a great lie, granting the illusion of a vote and a choice, but instead those that were given power succumbed to its grand allure, gave into their selfish greed. But not our founders, not the first members of the Board. They looked to the stars with opportunity, with a future for all humankind, and they built the tri-systems for which all of you now work to contribute to the survival of us all. The voice beamed of a strong belief in what she was preaching to the empty stares of the spectres of the children that did not so much as register the appearance of the illuminated image before them.

And so the terraforming of planets began, and it was fiercely competitive before the first Chairman was elected, and the Board given form, to maintain balance and control of the three settled regions of space, far away from the failures of the past. These systems are the Crimson, the Sapphire and Emerald regions. The lifetime contracts were installed so that every living person could have equal access to clean drinking water, to food and medical care, to a safe place to sleep and opportunity to provide for one’s family. The woman said, over the crackling image of space where an animation of rockets flew to the points of a triangle that lit up in the colours of green, blue and red.

And what did we find when we settled into our new homes? New friends and colleagues in the X-Human species, a species much like our human ancestors, except for the wonderful bejewelled eyes they bear of colours across the spectrum, and the exquisite shine of their skin. Male X-Humans exhibit a golden gleam, while their female counterparts are glistening with the silver glint on their skin. Yet we were not so friendly to begin with, and we found growing a relationship between our two humanoid kinds extremely difficult. The animation switched over to an image of a male and a female with the features the narrator described, the male had bright eyes in the colour of rubies, while the female had radiant, purple ones. The screen carried on playing into the vacant classroom as if there were a full roster of children to watch and hear its propaganda, no matter which species of human they belonged to.

These new people, alien as they were, were never hostile, and showed no resistance when we sent down our colossal machines to change the planets to help us breathe our kind of air, to warp the atmosphere to our needs, even though we were unsure of their continued survival once we did. Yet we had no way of talking to them about it for they were silent, and a tight knit community, building a cross-species relationship was neither quick nor easy. But eventually our X-Human brothers and sisters relented to us and began to communicate. They began to learn English and so we settled on speaking that language, and they explained the truth of how they communicate with one another. Telepathy, the secret of their race. Speaking mind to mind in utter silence, the secret surrendered by the one they identified as their leader. Once we were able to confer, the Board labelled them as X-Human and welcomed them into the fold, as workers among us and to live with us as equals, and to have the same rights as those that arrived from the Old World. Next on the stuttering imager was the picture of a human woman and an X-Human man standing side by side, holding hands with smiles, and a child emerging between them, a blend of the species.

We taught each other much. The X-Humans were without advancements, they lived in caves, harvested food from the land, and so were grateful when we welcomed them into the fold, put them to work and gave each of them a purpose to fulfil. And in return, they offered us an alternative to the faiths we had all left behind with the Old World. For our new family worship and study the sacred starways, the alignments of the stars that grant prophecy and wisdom to those skilled in the study of reading their meaning. But our society that we work so hard to maintain and build, is a fragile one, and is under threat every single day. WIDOWS, Workers in Deviation of Work-Orders, are everywhere, seeking to sow the seeds of chaos and ruin our fine region with destruction. And should they succeed? An image of a group of silhouettes throwing fire bombs into buildings illuminated the screen, a violent depiction of what the COC wished to portray.

‘If we do not work, then we do not contribute to the Board. And then we will all pay’, says our Section Chief, Roderic Thorne. These WIDOWS are selfish and they jeopardise everything we have been working toward. They could be your neighbour, your family or your friend, you could have passed them on the street this morning, they could be sitting right next to you, right now, waiting to grow up and betray you, to rain havoc across our glorious Coalition. The fact of the matter is this: do your job, do it well and we all reap the benefits of a fine and exquisite life, whether your future lies on the farms on Scarlet or on the golden roads of this Capital City, or we will all pay the price of disloyalty to the Board. So, where will you work? Four names appeared, each turning larger as the narrator explained them.

Will you stand up for others and police the Crimson? Are you willing to participate in protecting people? Maybe we won’t give you a choice in the matter however, as we all need people to keep us safe. These are the best men and women from our region, head to toe in the most robust black armour ever known, visors of Crimson for being vigilant to any threats to you, armed to the teeth to maintain proper order. And if you show exceptional potential at a good and true young age, then you could be lucky enough to be inducted into the academy to become a member of our Elite guard, a most beneficial position under the command of our finest servant, Commander Winter. Welcome to Obsidian, if you are brave enough.

Or maybe you are more suited to what comes after WIDOWs are caught, because there is a company for turning those degenerates into the core workforce for the region. We need people to seek out these WIDOWS, to investigate and track them down, to rein them in and put them to use. Stalwart Ironworks is the industrial backbone of the Crimson, forging the equipment for all of our workers and maintaining them so that we are as independent as can be to not be a burden on the Board. These fine men and women are the ones you see in the all grey armour and the green coats, they are the ones walking your streets and gauging your neighbours, they are the watchful eyes of the community. Welcome to Stalwart Ironworks, if you have the iron will to forge the future of our conglomerate.

Stardust is our family and friends, they keep us informed of all we need to know and care about as well as managing our entertainment sector and education, they are the caring heart of our Crimson conglomerate, its beating centre. Welcome to Stardust, just be ready to heed our Section Chief’s word to spread it to the people, it is he who dictates our past, present and future, after all.

And of course, we must produce our contribution quota, we must meet profit projections and satisfy the Chairman, and for this we have two companies. If you’re in a red jumpsuit and layered in the mud and dust of the land, then you are in the proud company of Crimson Sun, and you are one of the prestigious engineers of our artificial food that is sent to all corners of the Board settled tri-systems. If it is a black jumpsuit you find yourself in, then you are a smart one, for Ruby Consolidated Systems only takes on the best and brightest for the design and manufacture of our ingenious technological advancements.

Although, while they do offer the best benefits in reward for the ideas that we can ten offer the Board, they do insist on one tiny small thing, a branding, just on the wrist, just to ensure those benefits go to the right person. Welcome to Crimson Sun, you are sowing seeds of our illustrious future. Or, welcome to Ruby Consolidated Systems, you bring about the advancements to herald a new era for the Crimson Company.

The presentation ended with an image of a flame burning proud and strong with the golden letters of the COC standing tall at the fore, before the ginger cat with the trench coat and hat re-appeared. He confidently swayed on all fours over to the tall, shining characters before standing up and leaning against them, taking a puff of his cigar before turning his hat so it showed his face in full. So there it is, kiddos, work hard and all you’ll see when looking at one of the fine men and women of Obsidian is a brave and noble protector, instead of death with an assault rifle. The cat produced a black pistol from the inside of his coat and gave the barrel a stroke with a grim, cunning smile. Keep to your purpose, boys and girls, and whoever you so choose to be, because if we do, then we will all live long and glorious lives.

The words rang out into the vacant, perpetual shadow of the forgotten classroom, they rolled over the doodled-on desks, over the discarded toys and dented lunchboxes for the ghosts of the children to ignore or not have the senses to hear. One ghoul of a child sauntered forward; unlike the grey spectres behind her, this one still had her body, despite her uniform in tatters and rags, barely clinging onto her. And when she reached the imager, she picked it up and cast it across the room to an echoing bang, followed by her reaching down deep into her collapsed lungs and broken ribs and screaming at the top of her voice.

The scream pierced the loom of silence and ran through the labyrinth of corridors and lifeless rooms that formed the school until it passed out of the windows and doors and into the darkness of the streets beyond, and the city shouted its response, fuelled with tortured agony and hate.

Chapter 1

Unlike all the other settlements under the Crimson Overseer Coalition brand, the Forerunner was a space station rather than a terraformed world and it held no loyalty to a singular company within the conglomerate that owned this region of the settled tri-systems. Named for being the first non-terrestrial live-in/work-in space station constructed in the region, it had been designed as a launching point for the Coalition’s product sent away for their contribution to the Board. However, there were unforeseen costs after its inception into the Crimson conglomerate’s operations, the costs of having their freighters wait in line to be loaded with the goods that needed transporting first to this way station proved too high.

And it was the Section Chief twice before the current that saw the opportunity for a landmark facility where all the companies under the Board banner could merchandise and promote themselves, as a competitive marketplace. A unique spot where no particular brand dominated, instead they had to innovate their product, challenge themselves to convince workers to shift loyalties to them. On the whole, it was a success in its hidden intention, to create a battleground where these brands might compete, and right under their noses, people outside of the system could have access to trade routes, communications, damaging the Board’s operations. For that, once Section Chief had had their fill of the brutal network of Board rule, and set the rest of their life to being a prickly thorn in their side, their legacy attracting, inspiring and protecting WIDOWs from all across the tri-systems.

The largest of the structures onboard in the main lobby area was that of the COC embassy, a foreboding building set all in a smooth black metal with red and golden trim, armed soldiers in the black armour and red helmet visors of Obsidian standing sentinel. With the docks at one end and the embassy at the other, in between was a vast variety of stalls selling all sorts of wares and trinkets, bars where workers from all of the worlds sought some rest and relaxation, stores bartering out-dated Obsidian and Stalwart Ironworks weapons and armour. Some advertised different walks of life, opportunities to move within the Crimson owned companies and those beyond in the Sapphire and Emerald systems. All except Obsidian, for when they recruited, it was for life, never to leave or transfer, and only on off occasion did they take on fresh recruits by their choice. A hospital was one side, run by the Stardust company where any and all could receive medical care, and aboard the Forerunner, where security was nowhere near as strict, this centre was known to look after WIDOWs as well.

Either side of the stairs leading down to the lower levels were holographic advertising boards, lighting up the entire central avenue, its voices and music ringing out into the crowds shuffling around the different stores and bars. All the different uniforms were present here. Farmers from the Crimson Sun planet of Scarlet where the red star of the Crimson system shone bright and burned the skin like acid, they bore red jumpsuits that took on more of a maroon shade from the constant mud and muck they had waded through. Men and women in tight black variants of the uniform walked this level as well, the burnt skin on the inside of their right wrist in the shape of RCS not wounding their pride as they strode with heads held high, knowing full well their lives were better than others.

At the COC embassy were the guards in black, workers of Obsidian bearing powerful rifles, staring down any who strolled by too close from behind the red visors on their black helmets, standing as resolute, intimidating figures. In the crowd were the ones in the light grey armour with green cotton jackets on top, the emblem of a hammer and the company name on their shoulders as they walked among the teeming masses, Stalwart Ironworks inquisitors, searching relentlessly for WIDOWs. Milling around them were people in grey over orange; operating the stalls as Stardust workers. Most prominently were the women in grey lingerie with orange trim enticing the visitors to the station to the private lobbies that could be reached with the stairs and elevators at either wall to access the top level. Bodies are cheap and easy to maintain but the rewards for allowing the customer to do as they wished with them were vast, both monetary and as a boost to the morale of the worker who pays who then produces much more for the company to which they are employed.

The currency of the tri-systems under the control of the Board was credit. Four different values, all cast in small metal bars used for the purchasing of goods and the payment of services. Platinum bars were rare and of the highest value, never seen outside the possession of the highest levels of management and the directorate that runs the COC. Gold bars were paid to RCS key workers as they produced the best goods for the conglomerate, while the silver and bronze bars were the most commonly seen use of the currency.

Not that the currency was always spent wisely. Workers from across the Crimson came to the Forerunner, not just for commerce where they could pick up food and supplies, upgrades for their armour and weaponry so they could better survive the more anarchic system than the conglomerate advertised. But for the gambling and drinking, the debauchery that raised their spirits from the sunken place that their work left them in.

Oi, you. Yeah, you there pal, wake up. Yeah it’s me, Crimson the Crime-Fighting Cat, big deal, yeah I know, best day of your pitiful life, right? Seeing this sexy piece of tail, but please, relax just for a second or this will get even more embarrassing than it already is, said the ginger cat in the red trench coat scampering across the handrail to the stairs down. The holographic image was life-like except for the colour being too strong on the red, and the light casting it shining down from the ceiling above. Now, listen. Head over to your nearest Stardust stall and check out the new Mark 2 Obsidian Enforcer Pistol, now with .44 calibre round magazines! The best thing for keeping your family safe from WIDOWs, that is, if I don’t catch ’em first!

Along with the prowling cat in the coat and hat, other holographic hoardings shouted out into the crowds, trying to entice them into this business or that. A man in the attire of a Stalwart enforcer, clad in their armour, wearing the mask of their soldiers, light grey with white eyes, stood with his boot on the neck of a man wearing random bits of leather and furs, nothing like any uniform in the corporate owned regions. You wanna be on top? Or would you rather be the one under the boot of civilised society? Join Stalwart Ironworks today!

An image of a blonde-haired woman in stockings and a corset, all in grey except for the orange that ran along the crest of the cleavage, wove her way around the crowd, the latest in holographic technology as the artificial woman was able to stroke the shoulders of those she passed, feeling real for all the worlds. As she passed those who admired her exquisite look, she would whisper in their ear to tell them to look over in the direction of one of Stardust’s girls who could take them to the upper level, or to usher them to one of their bars.

The floors, walls and ceiling were all aged and grey, lit up bright as the hordes of people crossed the station, taking in all the stalls and excitement on offer, making the most of their time away from the work rotations the best they could. Music played, almost deafening, a slow melody of instruments as a backdrop to a woman singing about the hope that brought the founders of the system here, to find shelter from the greed that had swallowed the Old World. Weaving through the crowd was a young woman, her head covered by a black hood from a cloak that she wore over the top of her jumpsuit of the same colour, making her anonymous as she passed through the lobby area to the bar next to the entrance to the docks where she had come from. This bar was the furthest establishment from the COC embassy, a fact that this woman was all too aware of as her aim was to not be noticed by the Obsidian police, or the Stalwart inquisitors observing the crowds.

With the wing of a once Obsidian fighter-craft acting as the bar-top, this woman took a seat on a stool there, at the edge of the Starcrest bar, waiting patiently for the bartender to notice her appearance as she knew he would. She was confident that now she was inside, no one would take particular interest in her, they would be too distracted by the drinking, by the roulette wheels, by the card games, and most of all by the girls on stage dancing to the music, entertaining the patrons. This place was darkly lit but for the wild spotlights of all the different colours touching random areas at a time, lighting up the girls, then the depressed lone drinkers at their tables then the ones too distracted by their games where they risked their wages to feel something more than the hardship of their work to notice the light on them.

Dazzling beams of red, blue, orange, green, purple, yellow, all the different colours, lighting up each spot in turn except for those they didn’t that were left in the murk of shadow, which this woman knew all too well. Pulling back her hood, the woman revealed the brand on the inside her right wrist and she rested her elbows, propping herself up and crooking her head at the bartender in a sarcastic attempt to gain attention.

Yeah, I see you there, Cait, give us a minute to wrap things up here, the bartender said as he finished serving his customers with a chuckle to himself.

Cait Jxinn was a 26-year-old X-Human, with brunette hair tied back in an especially long ponytail that dangled behind her cloak that was over the top of her RCS jumpsuit that clung to her body, perfectly sized, with leather shoes installed into the fit. Two piercing purple eyes shot out from a face that she had often been told was pretty, and her lips were a soft pink. She nodded when she was taken notice of then spun on her stool to take in the atmosphere of the bar and to peer over at the stage. On stage, she recognised the star attraction instantly as the one at the front of all the other dancers hoarded all of the attention from those present as she danced to the rhythm of the music with irresistible allure.

She had juicy, vibrant red hair that she flicked this way and that as she moved her body expertly in the grey corset she was wearing teamed with stockings and leather thigh-high, heeled boots. She strode across the edge of the stage, spinning on a heel, returning to the centre, raising her hands to her head, shaking her hips as she dropped near to the floor before rising back up. Then she went onto the tips of her toes before leaning all the back until she was on all fours backwards, before balancing onto her hands and flipping herself up to stand again, slowly with one leg rising at a time.

The crowd loved it, cheering every move the X-Human made, the lights reflecting off her shining silvery skin, her emerald eyes scanning over the crowd, flailing her arms out to the music but pointing here and there with hidden meaning. With a flick of her red hair over one shoulder, she stood side on, dropping into a crouch, she looked out over the crowd with a green eye surrounded by mascara and the masterful use of eye shadow. While she was down low, one of her dancers from behind her pranced from one side of the stage to the other, picking up an oversized red trench coat from the edge before she made her way to centre stage, wrapping it around the redhead while she remained down low.

Suddenly, seemingly without moving her hands that appeared to be holding up the coat as her back-drop dancer retreated, all of the lingerie she was wearing dropped to the floor. The corset, even the stockings and boots were left on the floor as she stood up and took a step back, holding the coat around her as the drunken crowd whistled and cheered. Male and female dancers stepped forward from behind a curtain, replacing the ones that had been on the stage, and these were in costumes in a homage to the kind of armour that Obsidian soldiers wear. They circled the red-haired woman dressed only in the crimson coat in a protective circle so that the crowd could no longer see her, and at the drop that marked the end of the song, the red coat fell as the Obsidian dancers faced their weapons out into the bar to the cheers and shouts from the people clapping their performance.

She puts on quite the show, doesn’t she? Xin Zorkeefa exclaimed, placing a customary double shot of whiskey in front of Cait, his own X-Human eyes measuring her s. His were of a rare trait, Xin bore shining black jewelled eyes, standing out from the golden shine on his skin marking him for a male member of his species. This eye colour was seen as a beneficial trait to be born with, the stars decreeing for it to portend the bearer to have wise insight into matters and to be a natural leader, fearless in making decisions that could have dramatic, violent reactions. So he needed to be, in being a Stardust supervisor leaking information to known WIDOWs.

No one owns the stage as much as she does, yet I gotta wonder if they’d be cheering as loud if they knew she was a WIDOW, and that she was using the stage to point out marks for Sam to steal from, Cait smirked.

These guys have drunk enough that tits and legs are more than enough for them, and to be frank they’ve earned it. A lot of the workers here tonight have come fresh from Scarlet where they’ve increased output on the fake food they grow by one hundred and thirty percent, they must have gone through some kind of trauma to earn this time away. Xin replied, gazing over his patrons, catching hardly a glimpse of the thief Cait spoke of before he lost him in the crowds for where the thief was the master.

Thorne wanting to increase the contribution or something?

No, my sources say he is trying to make the Crimson more self-sustained than ever before, there is tension between the Section Chief and the Chairman, they say, Xin scorned, as if the sentence had left a bad taste in the mouth. Foul cunt doesn’t care for the ones who have to sacrifice to build that grander form of empire he wishes to create.

While the middle-aged Xin Zorkeefa was among the management ranks of the Stardust Corporation, he had no love for the Crimson Overseer Coalition, and Section Chief Thorne, the one at the top of the hierarchy, in particular. He did his job and was most certainly a company man, but that didn’t stop him using position to access information that he then passed onto a group of WIDOWs he had come into contact with to disrupt the Section Chief’s operations. Yet he was a heavily private man, and while he took incredible risk in what he was doing, he never revealed his reasons why or anything about himself personally. It was in the value of the information he provided that allowed the hunted few to trust him and what he told them.

Yeah, well, is what it is, right? Cait dismissed, taking her whiskey in a single go, placing down the empty glass without too much care, letting it clank loudly. She wasn’t fond of Thorne either so the subject didn’t interest her, it would just be the two of them agreeing.

Maybe not, Xin said, picking up a bottle from under his bar and refilling the glass as his eyes caught a familiar figure approaching, which made him wince involuntarily.

Hey, Sam, Cait welcomed the thief who took up the stool at her left side. Sam Cal was human with brown hair that was immaculately combed to a fine peak, a perfectly trimmed beard of the same shade and sharp eyes to match. He was wearing the red jumpsuit of a Crimson Sun farmer but the emblem of the company, a sun setting over a field with a solitary worker tending it, was missing from his chest. He also bore a Stardust jacket over the top, grey with an orange fringe at the zip that went up from right hip to left shoulder, the emblem here also missing, where there ought to be a five-pointed-star in front of a male and female silhouette holding hands.

While it was a risk to wear multiple uniforms as it was common for WIDOWs to clash company colours as they didn’t identify to a brand, Sam knew he wouldn’t simply be arrested on sight for doing it, after all the vendors sold the items for a reason, to advertise, but he simply liked the style of his lucky coat. Although it did attract the interest of Stalwart Inquisitors who had picked up on the trend.

Didn’t think you were leaving the ship tonight, Cait. What brings you out? Sam asked, shuffling the weight in the pockets of his jacket to make himself more comfortable with his takings from the evening. His voice was only this soft when speaking to Cait to which he had become an adopted older brother, despite his conscious reluctance, his usual self-serving nature dormant where she was concerned. He was 34 and had taken the young roguish woman under his wing, trying his best to teach her the lessons he had taught himself, the caution of mistrust that had helped him survive his years.

Xin messaged me to come, he has something for us, Cait replied, looking at the bartender who was glaring at Sam.

Cait is a pleasure to have here, while you, Sam, are a stain on my establishment, Xin retreated from his position leaning on the bar and stood with his arms folded, not taking his eyes off from the other man.

X in, charming as ever my dear friend, and a worthless bartender, to boot, for here I am sitting at your bar, without a drink, Sam grinned sarcastically, spreading his arms wide to display the empty section of the bar before him.

And I’d happily serve you, if you stop stealing from my customers.

You invited me to steal from the management that visit your bar, Sam shrugged exaggeratingly.

I could see where Lena was pointing, and you strayed a little, don’t lie to me boy, but as you’re with this darling girl, you get one, and you’ll drink what you’re given. Xin grabbed a glass and poured vodka into it unceremoniously, sliding it over to the other man.

Guilty, Sam winced with a mocking smile. But I saw some scores I just couldn’t ignore. So what’s this about calling Cait here, why not Tomen if you have something for us to go on?

If there was a leader to their band of WIDOWs, Tomen Malshux was it. A 35-year-old human, former Stalwart Ironworks enforcer turned rogue against the Crimson conglomerate who brought all of them together in the first place. Usually when Xin had something to tell them, Tomen would be the one to hear it.

Because I’m not entirely sure I could be the one to convince him to look into this particular piece of information that I acquired. It’s big. Far larger than anything else I’ve given to you to look into. But look, before I get ahead of myself, I have to ask something, I have a need to be cautious here. Xin looked around, he made note of the Obsidian guards at the entrance and exit, he clocked the Stalwart Inquisitors taking interest in a rowdy group of RCS workers crowded around a game of roulette, and settled on being out of ear shot.

Never before had Xin admitted to being cautious. It was such an obvious fact that they all had to be cautious in these treacherous times that it never needed saying aloud, so for Xin to do so, it meant to Cait that this was unlike any other time they had interacted, and this was something to be heeded carefully. What’s got you so rattled, mate? She downed her next lot of whiskey, thinking she would need its courage.

There’s been a lot of chatter on the Obsidian channels coming out of the listening post orbiting that fortress of theirs on Carmine. Chief Thorne sent a team to try to breach the Capital, and they succeeded, why, I don’t know, but they got inside. However, only one survived. She made it out and sent out a distress call that the listening post somehow found amid the signal buffer the sealed off city casts out, and they brought her back there, to the listening post. Now, I’ve heard the message that she sent. She spoke of the horrors that wiped out her team but she made a point of saying that she had found what they had been sent in to find, that she had located what she referred to as the vault, and that it was intact. Xin spoke quietly so that Cait and Sam had to lean in to hear properly, all the while the bartender would cast his gaze over their shoulders to make sure the Obsidian guards didn’t strike up an interest at anything they may have heard.

What vault?

That’s just it, I have no idea. I’ve been in management level for some time, from just before the Collapse and I never heard about some vault in the Capital City. I have no idea what’s inside it, but I have a feeling what could be.

You think there could be some kind of proof there? About what really caused the Capital Collapse, don’t you? Cait’s interest had peaked. I mean, come on, they said it was a group of WIDOWs operating out of Dunnfink that poisoned the water supply and that’s what set off the general evacuation alarm that triggered the sealing off the city, but there was never any evidence, they killed anyone that could have given testament otherwise.

Exactly, we’ve never had a sure reason for what caused Rose City to fall, Xin continued. But if some evidence does exist, then surely it has to be in a facility that is under some kind of secrecy or never been considered before. I think it’s an Obsidian facility, maybe a cross-venture with RCS to design it, but whatever it is, the fact that it’s new, means it has to be worth finding out everything to do with it.

Yes but the city is sealed, Xin, under a dome of solid metal, it’s impenetrable. What do you expect us to do, waltz up to the front door, give it a ratta, tap, tap and when they ask who’s there, just explain our intentions calmly and whoever remains will simply let us in and kindly provide us with a map to tell us where to go, and have a description for what exactly it is that we would be looking for? Sam put in, swigging his vodka and laughing. Stick to pouring drinks, pal, leave the conspiracy theories to the drunks at your tables. The Collapse happened eight years ago, fella, get over it.

People died there, Sam. Families were torn apart, don’t you think if we have a shot for learning why, that we should take it? Cait argued, turning to face Sam.

And we will die there too, the second we step foot in that accursed city if half the rumours about what lives in that city are real. I’ve heard stories about ghosts, the bodies of those who once lived there still walking, tearing anything living apart, not to mention that the city’s security is still online, they would obliterate us in a heartbeat. Good intentions keep you warm and snug at night I’m sure, but they don’t stop a bullet, Cait.

I wouldn’t have said anything if I didn’t think there was a chance that the truth of the Collapse was in there, Xin carried on. If you and your team can reach this vault, then I’m sure you’ll find something. I mean, look around you, consider what that truth could do for these people. He raised a hand, indicating over to the ones drinking at the tables, those lost in gambling away the means that they would pay for food and water, to those mindlessly enjoying the entertainment on stage, enjoying the bliss of the moment before the agony of their lives was to resume. People in the Crimson are at breaking point, and Elias Thorne has been pushing them there ever since he took over as Section Chief five years ago. I’ve even heard that there are splinter groups within Obsidian itself doubting the man, doubting his father too, who was Section Chief at the time, now their Director, as they think something more happened. Who’s to say how they’d react when handed the truth of it all?

What are we talking about? The dancer from the stage approached the three and sat at Cait’s right side, seemingly bearing only the red trench coat to cover herself up with, and she pulled her hair so that it all rested in front of her right breast. She was barefoot as she stepped up to sit on the stool, her smooth leg rubbing up against Cait as she budged the stool closer to the group to better hear the conversation. Two emerald green eyes peering across the group before settling on the bartender. Couldn’t get a cocktail, eh Xin? Anything fruity would satisfy.

Hey Lena, looks like we could have a big job on the horizon, Cait answered her friend who was just a little younger than herself, turning to her and smiling at the joy in those fields of green in the orbs of her eyes. By the stars, look at you, you’re a little sweaty there, mate, get a little carried away up there?

Mmm maybe, Lena replied, running the fingers of her right hand through the ends of her hair, grinning to herself as she closed her eyes for a moment, letting in the feelings she enjoyed so much before meeting Cait’s gaze. But can you really blame me? Over a decade as Stardust’s finest product, now I’m finally free, my body is completely mine to do with as I wish, and baby, I love the stage, the music, the clothes I get to wear to show all this off, the body I own.

Looks to me that under that jacket, you’re not wearing any, Cait smirked, jokingly eyeing her friend up and down, and what a fine body you have, she winked.

Easy there sugar, any more ‘an lookin’ and you’ll need be payin’, sweetie, Lena smiled large, her teeth showing as she then chuckled when Xin placed a drink in front of her with a luminescent yellow drink inside.

We done with the foreplay, you two? Xin raised an eyebrow, almost disapprovingly. I’m trying to run a respectable establishment here, there’s a level of depression here that I demand that all my patrons meet and you two are dangerously above the line. So maybe we should get back to the matter at hand?

Yeah, sorry Xin, so saying we go after this vault, how do we even get inside the Old City to begin with? The whole city is locked under an armoured shell, the evacuation alarm that cleared the city in the Collapse also sealed it up tight. The shell was meant to preserve the assets within, they didn’t give two shits about any life caught up inside. I mean, even Obsidian can’t penetrate it, well I guess, now they have but how do we? How did they do it? Cait turned back to the bartender across from her, she was excited about the prospect of learning what really caused the Collapse but she needed more details to let herself feel any more exhilarated for the plan forming in her head.

Obsidian got inside using the river that flows from the lake outside into the city. The shell covers the entrance and exit of the river but it seems like they found a way under it, but I wouldn’t recommend that way.

Why not?

Because in between the screams and howls of pain coming from the sole survivor from that team, the woman grumbled out mumbles of what they found there. Seems as though there were creatures in the water that ambushed them as soon as they got inside, so I think taking that route would be suicide.

So how do we do it? Is there a secret knock? Or do we just ask them nicely to let us pass? Sam put in with a mocking grin. This idea is ridiculous, it can’t be done.

What’s wrong, Sam? Lost your balls for the biggest score of your life? Nothing is more valuable than information. Xin teased the thief, knowing which buttons to press to frustrate him while at the same time enticing him into the task he wished to set before them.

Life probably is, Sam shrugged disinterested and with a sideways glance to Cait but all he got in return was a disapproving glare that shut him down.

You get in, with a landing key, only thing that will allow access for the docks to open, Xin said.

Where do we get one? Cait asked, somewhat disappointed that Sam couldn’t see the value of what they were being given the chance to do.

There’s only three in existence, by way I hear it. One is in the executive office of Elias Thorne, aboard that station of his, Arcadia. Another is in the Embassy, here on the Forerunner, at the end of the strip, but it’s locked up tight under the protection of about a dozen Obsidian Elites and RCS drones. And the last one was stolen, during the chaos unfolding immediately after the city fell, the Obsidian Police Captain took it, I suspect, as a bargaining chip for his life given his colossal failure that day. This Tobias Willis keeps the key to their secret buried, and they leave him alone, is how I would wager that being.

And where do we find this Captain?

Well, I took the liberty of looking into that for you before I presented this information, and my sources found him. He’s hiding out on Scarlet, in a colony away from the more built up corporate areas, he’s got his own farm out that way.

I know Scarlet like the back of my hand, not that I’m overly keen on going back there, Sam added.

Should be sufficient motivation for you, though, for this job, Cait crossed her arms and leaned against the bar, staring at her friend.

I’m not like those pathetic fools that are stuck on that burning hot planet, hands in the muck, degrading lives, all roads leading to leaving no mark on the starways more than simply shifting a small mound of dirt that it takes to bury them. But there’s a lot of smaller farms away from the industrial fields where the majority of the synthesised crop is planted, you got a name for the one he’s hold up in? Sam scorned, shoving down the memories of his upbringing, taking a long drink of vodka to stomach remembering what he had learned in order to survive.

Fifty-one dash F, you know of it? Xin replied, surprised that he was finally hearing something resembling intellect from someone he had long since deemed to be lacking it.

Southern hemisphere, fantastic, that’s the side most exposed to the red star. I don’t know it exactly but I can guess the nearest dock and town we can head to and seek directions from there. But say we find this guy, am I safe assuming the plan is for me to nick it?

Could do, or you might use the other component you’ll need in order to get the key. Xin took a step back so he could lean against the cupboards behind him and drew a long breath, folding his arms.

What other component? Cait asked.

Well, it’s not like once you have the landing key that you can simply stroll through the city and the vault doors will be open to you. You’ll need a guide for one thing, I don’t know where the vault is within the city. And this guide ought to be a solid fighter too, as not all of your crew are built for a fight. Lastly, they will need an Obsidian employee passcode sanctioned enough in the hierarchy to access a facility at the highest level, which your Captain will also have, and two are needed if the usual protocols apply here, for locking up a COC location.

And why do I sense that you already have someone in mind? Cait mused, used to the way that Xin always prepared his own research before giving away any aspect of information for her and her team to work with.

I do, Xin raised his eyebrows in a flash of considering whether he should really relent this grand idea that could so easily blow up in his face. I found him. Truth is I’ve been searching for him for years but only now have I been successful, the stars must have aligned on cue for the timing is perfect. I have the location for Commander Nathan Winter, the once leader of the Obsidian Elite Division, before he turned his back on the company in the immediate aftermath of the Capital Collapse.

And why would the Commander of the Obsidian Elites help us and not kill us where we stand?

You guys are insane, Lena laughed. "Talking