Chapter 30

“About time you’re back! You had me worried sick and what is that abomination you’re wearing?” asked Rendall as soon as Ven walked into his office.

“It was Aaron’s idea,” said Ven as he nodded to William before sitting down in the chair opposite of Rendall’s desk.

“Sometimes I don’t understand that man, but his tastes are the least of my worries right now. What did she want?” asked Rendall.

“Surprisingly, nothing. Just wanted to ask what it was like to be a Knight without a gift and how I managed to pull it off,” lied Ven.

“That’s it?” asked Rendall.

“She did suggest that perhaps my team could be her personal guard instead of Divya’s in the future,” said Ven as he continued to lie.

“Why?” asked Rendall.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t really asking questions, just answering and responding to what she said,” shrugged Ven.

“I don’t like her,” said Rendall.

“To be frank, sir, you don’t like most new people,” said William, interrupting the conversation for the first time since Ven had started coming to Rendall’s office.

“Don’t you have enough work to keep you busy,” said Rendall with irritation.

“I do, sir, just making an observation before you do something rash,” said William as he picked up a file and left the office.

“I feel like it’s the first time I’ve seen him say something not related to work,” said Ven.

“Takes him time to get comfortable around people,” said Rendall, “But that isn’t important, she’s dangerous and I know it.”

“Have you had any ideas about how we are going to do it?” asked Ven.

“Not really, it’s just been a day since our last talk after all. However, I want your team to work with the Knights I trust while we have time. Gather up your team and meet Barbra at this address,” sad Rendall as he passed a piece of paper to Ven, “Try and make a good impression on all of the Knights as you work with them. These are the people who will be supporting you when we go after her.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to pick one of them to do it instead of me?” said Ven.

“Son, you’re giftless, you’re invisible to most people. People don’t see you as a threat. You’re the perfect person for the job, stop trying to find ways to get out of it,” said Rendall.

“What do you want me to do about Audrey?” asked Ven.

“I’ll assign a regular officer as her guard. It doesn’t really matter who it is as she isn’t in any real danger, but we don’t want people to get suspicious. Your main concern right now is getting to know the Knights you’ll be working with,” said Rendall, “Now get going or you’re going to be late.” 

Ven stood shocked as he looked at the huge armored van Frank had shown up in. As he looked towards the rest, he was happy to see that the others were having similar reactions. Everyone had expected to drive to where Barbra was in Frank’s normal car. It would have been cramped, but he was sure they could have managed.

“What do you think?” asked a beaming Frank as he opened the front door and jumped out.

“I didn’t know we had an armored van!” shouted Brutus in delight.

“We don’t,” said Ven as he looked at Frank for an explanation.

“Everyone can thank Eric for this, he’s the one who filed the necessary paperwork required for us to get access to our very own armored van. Now, while I can drive this, I would recommend we get a younger driver on the team. I am not as young as I used to be, and if anything happens on one of your missions, I will be a liability,” said Frank.

“Right, we can talk about that as we drive. Let’s go people, we don’t want to be late for our first mission,” said Ven.

True to his word, Frank knew how to drive the armored van. He backed up and turned around to drive out of the palace in one turn. As everyone got comfortable in the van, Ven turned around in the front seat to address the rest of his team.

“Agni, I think it’s about time you used your mind link, we should try  it out,” said Ven.

“Yes, sir,” said Agni as she got out of her seat and started touching, tapping everyone’s head.

“All of you, just use my name. I am not used to this ‘sir’ stuff,” said Ven as Agni tapped him on the head.

“What do we do now?” asked Natalie.

“Nothing, we’re connected. Just think what you want to say, and the rest can hear it,” said Agni through the link.

“Just be careful what you think, there isn’t any kind of filter on this thing, so everyone can hear everything you think!” said Brutus.

“What’s the range of this link?” asked Natalie.

“If you get too far from me, the connection breaks,” said Agni.

“How far is too far?” asked Ven.

“It was clear up to a kilometer when we tested it, it begins breaking up after that,” said Agni.

“What are its limitations?” asked Nikita.

“The link can be broken if I am knocked out, or if I am under a lot of stress,” said Agni.

“It’s the reason Agni became a sniper, being away from where the fighting is reduces the chances of her coming under attack,” said Brutus.

“Sniping can still be stressful though, but I’ve never broken the link while taking a shot,” said Agni.

“And you’ve never seen real action either, so that isn’t reassuring,” said Natalie as she stated the obvious flaw in Agni’s statement.

“It just means everyone has to still carry a normal communicator with them just in case,” said Frank from the wheel, “Shouldn’t be a problem since all of you are already used to using one.”

“Are you sure you never served in UTF?” asked Brutus as he leaned to get a better view of Frank.

“I’ve assisted Knights and officers throughout my life, it’s the reason I know how to drive one of these things,” said Frank with a laugh as he swerved the van a little for fun.

“This old man better stop showing off before he gets us killed!” said Nikita.

Silence followed these words as the eyes and heads of everyone in the van turned towards Nikita.

“I told you to be careful of what you think, this link doesn’t have any filters,” said Brutus as he started laughing loudly.

“Shut up pretty boy before I punch you!” shouted Nikita out loud.

“Right then, from now on we only talk to each other using the link. We clearly need practice, I for one don’t want everyone to hear everything I think, and Nikita apologize to Frank for what you said,” said Ven.

“No need for that, Sir. The young Miss was right, I was showing off,” said Frank with a fatherly smile.

“Should we use the link even when around the people we are working with today?” asked Natalie.

“It’s probably the best kind of practice if we can switch between using the link to talking to people normally and then back to the link,” said Ven as he scratched his chin, “Brutus and Agni, you two have the most experience in using this mind link, so you’re essentially going to guide us through it. Everyone pays attention to the advice they give.”

“Oh my, I was hoping I was wrong,” said Frank.

“Wrong about what?” asked Ven as he turned around to look at Frank with a worried look on his face.

“You see that red building up ahead, it’s a detention centre. Sometimes I hate this job,” said Frank with a loud sigh.

“That’s not answering the question, old man,” said Nikita.

“You’re probably going to need more time than the others to get used to controlling your thoughts,” said Brutus as Nikita looked at him in irritation.

“You’ll see what I mean, Knight Barbra will most likely explain the details,” said Frank as he started to slow down.

Ven told Frank to keep in touch using the link as they left the van, he saw Barbra standing next to a bus in the middle of a group of soldiers near the entrance of the large red building. She had a scowl on her face and stood with folded arms as she looked at Ven and his team.

“Hi Barbra, everything alright?” asked Ven as he got closer.

“I thought I told you to call me after you made a team,” said Barbra as she pushed her bangs out of the way.

“I don’t like her attitude,” said Natalie through the link.

“Oh yeah, you did say that. Sorry, things have been really hectic, and I forgot,” said Ven with a smile.

“Whatever, did the Knight Captain at least tell you why we’re here?” asked Barbra.

“Nope, just gave me the address and told me to meet you here,” said Ven.

“Ok, have you at least picked a first in command in this team?” asked Barbra with irritation clear in her voice.

“That would be me,” said Natalie as she stepped forward and looked down at the petit Barbra with menacing eyes.

“I would take a couple of steps back, sweetheart,” said a tall Nari from behind Barbra as he pointed his rifle at Natalie.

“I would point my gun somewhere else,” said Nikita as she pointed her shotgun at the tall Nari.

Immediately in response to Nikita, everyone around Barbra and Ven took out their various weapons and stood ready to attack. Ven looked at Barbra trying to figure out why she wasn’t stopping her team. Natalie might have been rude, but it didn't warrant this reaction.

“At least you didn’t pick a bunch of pushovers,” said Barbra, “Everybody stand down, we’re on the same side.”

“So, why are we here?” asked Ven as he signalled for everyone to put their weapons away.

“Our job is to escort the people in this detention centre to their new home,” said Barbra.

“Criminals?” asked Ven.

“I wish, would have made this job easier. No, this lot is a bunch of debtors who couldn’t pay back what they owed,” said Barbra.

“Where are we taking them?” asked Ven.

“Like I said, their new home. We’ll take the highway, it’s the fastest route. My team will drive in front, you'll follow behind their bus. It’s a routine job, let's finish it and get back to the Palace,” said Barbra as she signalled for her team to move out.

“You know what’s going on with these people?” asked Ven as he looked at Natalie.

“Yes, it’s like Barbra said they are a bunch of debtors. The punishment for failing to pay off debt is you must work it off,” said Natalie as she opened the door to their van.

“Sounds fair,” said Ven.

“It would be, Sir, if the interest on the debt didn’t keep going up while you’re trying to work it off,” said Frank.

“That isn’t the worst of it, the debt stays in the family. Which means your children must pay it off if you die. So, if you get stuck in these places it's almost impossible to get out,” said Natalie.

“But the debt stops if you don’t have children?” asked Ven.

“Yes, it does. But good luck getting contraceptives,” said Frank.

“We’ve never heard about this and our uncle worked in the UTF,” said Agni.

“It’s not something everyone knows,” said Frank with a grimace.

“You said it’s almost impossible to get out,” said Ven.

“If someone is found to have a unique gift or skill the UTF can use, they are recruited, and their debt is paid off. It happens very rarely,” said Frank.

“What kind of work do they have to do?” asked Nikita.

“Mainly jobs no one else wants to do,” said Frank.

“Unless they are good looking, then they get taken up and added to a noble's harem,” said Natalie with pure venom in her voice.

“Wait, there’s gotta be a mistake, there is no way His Majesty would stand for letting people do something like that!” said Brutus.

“Do you think people like Quentin are rare in Nagiri?” asked Natalie sarcastically.

“Who’s Quentin?” asked Agni.

“My old captain,” said Natalie.

“Please someone tell me I am wrong, children are born into debt and must work to pay it off their whole lives, this sounds a lot like slavery to me,” asked Ven as he changed the topic back to what they were talking about.

“No no, this isn’t slavery, there is no way His Majesty would allow slavery,” said Frank.

“I would describe it as slavery,” said Natalie.

“I wonder what else happens in this city that we aren’t aware of!” said Ven angrily, “Of all people he should have known better, nothing can justify slavery!”

“Be careful where you say such things, Sir. There are many who would think your words are treasonous,” warned Frank.

“And what do you think, Frank?” asked Ven.

“I try not to think about it, Sir,” said Frank.

The story is really pick up speed now, isnt it? XD

We can finally see Ven being shaken by something to the core, and its not just him - Natalie is equally disgusted by what is going on in the capital. Will this be the needle that breaks the camel's back or just another drop in the ocean? Stay tuned to find out :)

As always, take care of yourselves and stay safe out there

Anderoth