Spoiler alert: This is the first draft of the ninth book in the Reckless Faith series. You can start with the prologue here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2024/10/17/reckless-faith-ix-prologue/

The conference room on the Kestrel was crammed to capacity with people. Captain Strouth was there, along with Madet, and a few others from his crew. Also present were John, Ray, Richter, and Vecky. Lastly, Malthus sat at the conference table, nursing a glass of brown liquor and holding a cold pack to his face. Strouth and his crew had barely separated him from the mob before they tore him to pieces, but other than a black eye and a few abrasions, he was unharmed. The captains of the other three functional ships had been summoned, as well as the rest of John’s contingent, but they hadn’t arrived yet. Once Malthus had stopped trembling, Strouth spoke to him.

“How did this happen?” he asked.

“I have no idea,” replied Malthus, shaking his head. “I was just sitting in a sandwich shop having some dinner. Some guys were in there, giving me some serious side-eye, and talking to each other in low tones. The next thing I knew, they’d grabbed me and hauled me out to the concourse, screaming about how they’d found the saboteur and threatening to toss me out of an airlock. Thankfully, as people gathered to see what was happening, a few with cooler heads were able to convince the instigators to have me brought here instead.”

“And you didn’t do anything to set them off?” asked John.

“I hadn’t uttered a word the entire time.”

Captains Shijiu, Alrisha, and Riel entered, along with Cane and Kyrie, further cramping the room. Strouth brought them up to speed on the situation.

“The rumor mill is out of control,” began Madet. “Every day I hear crazier and crazier shit on the concourse.”

Strouth nodded. “I don’t need to tell everyone that this situation threatens to destroy one hundred years of peace on the Serpent. We’re going to have to get more aggressive with our investigation.”

Alrisha said, “How? Our power has limits.”

“I’m confused,” began John. “The four of you are in charge here, right?”

“We’ve an advisory council,” replied Strouth. “We help make decisions that are for the greater good of the Serpent. We don’t act as a law enforcement entity.”

“Then how were you planning on arresting the actual saboteur, once they’d been found?”

Strouth seemed irritated by the question. “That would be an obvious exception, Mister Scherer. Also, our evidence of their guilt would have to be incontrovertible. That’s the challenge here. I just don’t see how we can maintain the mission statement of our community while also finding the guilty party.”

“Are you suggesting that we assert ourselves as despots?” asked Shijiu. “That will make the situation worse.”

“There has to be a middle ground,” said Riel.

“I’m sure you’ll figure out what’s best for your people,” said John. “For now, everyone in this room knows that it’s impossible that Malthus is guilty. You need to make an announcement, and ensure his safety until we get to Tengshe.”

“I will,” said Strouth. “Mister Brewer, you’re welcome to stay on the Kestrel until then.”

“I emphatically accept,” replied Malthus.

“As for the rest of you, I suggest you limit your interactions with the public for now.”

“That won’t be a problem,” said John. “Malthus, we’ll bring your stuff to you later today. Captain Strouth, is there another way off this ship? It’s not exactly a secret that the rest of us are associated with Malthus. I’m not sure we’re going to make it back to the Tempest tonight without shooting our way there.”

“There isn’t another way out. Come with me to the concourse, you’ll be safe. I’ll make that announcement. That should mollify the populace for now. Meet me on the causeway in a few minutes, all right? I’d like to talk to the other captains for a moment first.”

John and his team exited to the corridor.

“I was sorely tempted to use this opportunity to ask Strouth to take us to Caracal or Tengshe,” he said. “Now that we’re causing problems for them, perhaps he’d be more willing to consider it.”

“That won’t solve their saboteur problem,” said Vecky. “Unless they blame one of us after the fact. But then they’d need to explain why we weren’t punished.”

Cane said, “I think blaming us is actually a pretty good idea. Our punishment could be banishment. If one of their SRC transceivers could be miraculously fixed, then they could plop us back on Ibnal’saffar and call the Reckless Faith to come get us.”

“I don’t think we should discuss it further here,” said John. “These walls have ears.”

The team made their way to the airlock causeway and waited. Soon, Strouth arrived, carrying a small speaker attached to a hand-held microphone. Entering the main concourse, they discovered that the majority of the mob that had gathered was still there, though considerably calmer than before. Strouth set up the speaker and tested the volume.

“Y’all good in the back?” he began. “Citizens of the Serpent, I’m disappointed in what has happened here tonight. For a hundred years, we have maintained a peaceful society, able to solve our differences amicably, or serve the interests of justice when necessary, without a formal police force. I can see now that recent events have escalated to our first real existential crisis, so I’m here to clear the air. Yes, the water storage tanks on the Fortuna were indeed damaged by an act of sabotage. I have my best people working the case to uncover the person or persons responsible for it and, I assure you, they will be dealt with. For now, I want to assure you that the people standing beside me were in medical quarantine at the time of the incident, and could not be the culprits.

“Malthus Brewer, the man who was unjustly attacked, and his friends, John Scherer, Ray Bailey, Chance Richter, Kyrie Devonai, Reveki Kitsune, and Cane Venator, are innocent. Any further attempt to blame them, or any action taken against them, will result in immediate reprisal by me, personally. And none of you will like what that means. Until our arrival at Tengshe, where they will disembark, they will have the same privileges on the Serpent as any other citizen. If anyone objects, speak your mind now.”

No one said anything, and the crowd began to disperse.

“I like your style,” said Cane.

“Come on, I’ll escort you back to the Tempest. If things stay calm for a few days, I’ll bring Mister Brewer back to you, if he’s willing.”

“We’ll keep our head down, too,” said John.

_____

Helena Cygnet sat at her bar, deep in thought. Her two employees had just left, having finished their usual closing and cleanup routine, and she was alone. Normally, she would take a quick shower and go to bed, but on this night, she was waiting for company. She was having second thoughts about her invitation, and had poured herself a glass of whiskey to help calm her anxiety. Though she wanted to get more information out of the Terrans, doing so might reopen old wounds. Adding to that, meeting the girl, Kitsune, had invoked an uncanny feeling, something Helena recognized.

At some point, Kitsune had communicated directly with a Kira’To. It was an experience they shared, she was sure of that. In Helena’s case, what had happened to her was strange and terrifying. On the Swan, only Acolyte Dann was supposed to have that privilege. Of course, there were rumors of others, but those were dismissed as fits of insanity or outright lies. After the death of Cygnus, and the collapse of the SCC, her world was further shattered to learn of the existence of the Eagle asteroid, what happened there, and how common psychic contact with that Kira’To seemed to be. Perhaps not all of the souls on the Swan who claimed such contact were crazy after all. The thought had first chilled her blood, then hardened her heart. As for Kitsune, it was a name she’d heard before, and she was intensely curious to know the girl’s lineage.

Helena’s train of thought was interrupted by a knock. She got up, and crossed to the heavy hardwood door. Peering through the warped, amber glass set in the top half, she saw Scherer, Kitsune and Richter. She unlocked the door, and let them in. Both men nodded at her as they entered, and doffed the hoods they were wearing. Helena gestured at a table, and grabbed her glass from the bar.

“Can I get you anything?” she asked, setting her drink down.

Scherer took off the jacket he was wearing, and draped it over a chair. “I wouldn’t mind more of that dark lager.”

“I don’t think alcohol would be a good idea for me at this hour,” said Kitsune.

Richter sat down. “I’m good for now.”

After filling a comically-large mug with the requested beer, Helena brought it over and sat down. “Your other friend couldn’t make it?”

John said, “After today’s incident, we thought it best to keep a low profile out there.”

“I suppose that’s wise. So, thanks for agreeing to meet me again. I’m interested in hearing more about each of your stories, but I must confess, I’m most interested in talking with Miss Kitsune.”

“You can call me Vecky,” she said.

“Okay. Here’s the thing. I know you’re not Terran. Were you really abducted by Cygnus?”

John said, “I didn’t mean to imply earlier that all of us were. Ray Bailey, who you met yesterday, and Kyrie Devonai, another with us, are Terran. Vecky, Cane Venator, and Malthus Brewer are not. They all fell into our group at different times before we ended up together on Caracal.”

“I see. Vecky, would you mind sharing your story?”

Vecky glanced at her companions, then nodded. “All right, I’ll try to give you the short version. I was a farm girl on Primus, about to graduate from school. My uncle Miya, captain of a freelance ship called the Fox, came to visit me and my dad, Aoba. During a tour of his ship, Aoba was killed in a horrific accident. Of course, we were in shock, but Miya was compelled to tell me that Aoba was actually another uncle who raised me as his own child after my mother died, and that my real father, Tomoyaso, abandoned me as a baby. Are you following me so far?”

“I think so.”

“Okay. So, of course this was a lot of information to take in at once. After some time on the Fox, it was revealed that me, my mother, and all three Kitsune brothers were born on the Eagle asteroid, which had been slowly passing by the Primus system for a few decades. I wanted to learn more, so I traveled to the Eagle, met their leader at the time, Daimyo Yurishi, and demanded answers. On top of all of that…”

“Wait,” Helena blurted. “I’m sorry, but you were born on the Eagle? That means you and I have a very special bond.”

“In many ways, yes. So, on top of all of that, Yurishi revealed that my mother was in fact alive, and confined to the Eagle’s sanitarium for an apparent mental illness. Her condition was so severe that I was taken from her shortly after being born, and since my real father wanted nothing to do with me, Aoba adopted me. He moved from the Eagle to Primus, started a farm, did a stint in the Camphustian military reserves, and raised me. At first I was angry that I had been lied to my whole life, but after learned of the circumstances, it was easy to understand that he had done so to protect me.”

“I can certainly understand that, too. How resilient you must be to have your entire life turned upside-down so quickly. I’ve had to find an inner reserve of strength myself after what happened on the Swan.”

“I had to grow up fast, to be sure. Anyway, I wanted to stay on the Eagle, at least for a little while, and try to communicate with my mother. Though Yurishi allowed me to stay, he forbid me from seeing her. I might have left never knowing any more, except that’s when the mercenaries attacked. I believe you know what happened next.”

Helena felt the blood drain from her face. “Aquila was freed from his prison.”

“Yup, I was there for that; the attack, the coup, the destruction of the reactor, everything. Shit sucked. After all of that, I decided to seek my fortune elsewhere in the galaxy. It was all too much.”

“I know exactly how you feel. I apologize but, I’ve been dying to ask you: are you related to Daiymo Kitsune?”

“He’s my real father. He took advantage of the mercenary attack to stage the coup. He tried to befriend me, but I don’t want anything to do with him. I left, and haven’t spoken to him since. After a long journey, I made my way to Leda and… you’re not going to like what happened next.”

Helena considered Reveki’s words for several moments, then drew her pistol and pointed it at her. She and the others froze.

“No,” she replied. “I imagine I won’t like it at all.”