Chapter 13 – My Brothers!

            The conversation, if one could even call it that, on the way back to the ship consisted almost entirely of Alos assaulting the other three with questions. He made it clear that he felt completely out of the loop and had no idea what was going on. What were they talking about when they said “Ritual”, “Stability” and “Council”? Most of all, why the hell did they go through hell to get there, then take an elevator straight up to the surface on the way back? Unfortunately for Alos, his questions were answered with only the empty sound of his own echoing voice and the occasional snicker.

            Beams of light flashed by as the platform rose up to the surface. At the center of the platform was a large green orb which had a distinct shifting glow. The light from the glow cast up onto the crew and then off their assorted metal parts and Xri’s black leather trench coat. Alos squinted. He was pretty sure it was leather, but at a closer inspection he wasn’t so sure. It looked too… soft. Alos stretched out his arm and squeezed Xri’s coat between the fingers of his good hand. It was too soft to be leather.

            “Easy there tiger, don't get too excited now.” Xri said, receiving laughs from both Dardaños and Levitas.

            Alos ignored the remark. “What kind of material is this?” The coat not only felt soft, but it was lighter than a feather; it felt as though it had no weight.

            “Oh, are you not familiar with spider silk?” Xri reached down grabbing the seams of his coat with both hands. “It is made by a variant of the very same spiders you were riding earlier. Aye, some would say it is the strongest material in the world, and it is easy to see why.”

            Xri stretched the fabric taught, muscles shaking from exertion. Alos grimaced half expecting the coat to rip into two pieces at the seams but sure enough, Xri’s motion was stopped flat by the strength of the material.

             “Bulletproof, slash-proof, force resistant and heat resistant even to most plasmas; the stuff is nearly indestructible.”

            Alos looked skeptical.

            “If it is really as amazing as you say, how come I’ve never heard of it? Why isn’t it sold as some sort of wonder material? Where do you even get the stuff from?” Glancing around at the three members, Alos could see they were all smirking.

            “Magnams.” The three answered simultaneously.

            Before Alos could continue with his barrage of questions, the platform had reached the top of the elevator. Above, the ceiling opened up and the cogs connecting to the platform came to a slow creaking stop. They had emerged in a small alcove just large enough to accommodate the platform, which was cut out of the side of a mountain. Down below and to the right was the vast forest shifting between needle and leaf trees. To the left, far in the distance, Alos could see the border of the UDA.  A collection of airships could be seen buzzing around like small gnats above the port, going to and fro forming vertical lines of intersecting traffic. He realized that if they had entered and left through the same platform, the ship would have been spotted and then flagged by the border police, most likely leading to a fair amount of conflict. It made sense to him why they took the back entrance and went through all of the near death experiences now. Well, kind of. After second thought, Alos decided he would have much rather dealt with the UDA border police, as militaristically empowered as they may be. At least then he wouldn’t have had to deal with monster spiders.

            The ship floated down gently until it was just outside and over the alcove. The four watched as the boarding platform extended downwards from the hull of the ship. Xri, with a small leap, easily cleared the distance, landing on the platform. He was followed by Dardaños and Levitas who also cleared the four foot gap with apparent ease. Then it was Alos turn.

            Alos staggered over to the very end of the alcove, peering over the edge. The area he was standing on was on a lip that stuck out a few feet from the mountain, and he could see that the drop was over a mile straight down. A painful gulp passed through his throat as he looked back up at the others waiting for him on the ship. He took a deep breath. These people were his new family, his only friends. Even though they dragged him along through the most ridiculous ordeals he thought possible, he knew that they weren’t just going to dump him off somewhere to die in the cold. It was time he got used to this sort of danger. With a second deep breath, Alos took a few steps back and gauged the distance. He let his shoulders relax and his breath escape. Then, with all his might, he ran towards the edge and leaped. Time stretched, slowing to a fraction of its normal flow, as he sailed through the air. His heart pounded in his chest with and the sensation of his blood thickening passed through his body. Then, as if it were no big deal, Alos landed on the platform of ship. The three not even acknowledging the amount of fear Alos just had to overcome.

            “Alright den I’d saye wee are all in need of some grub.” Dardaños said as the platform rose up into the ship.

            “I think I’m in need of some sleep.” Alos said pinching the bridge of his nose. He raised his nubby wrist up, “So when are you going to get this fixed anyways?”

            Xri looked over at the stub. Compared to the original charred, inflamed, half-infected piece of meat, it actually looked a lot better.

            “We’re heading over Circin right now to meet with the rest of my Non-States Resistance. They should be able to help us, and more specifically you. It’s going to be quite a few hours though, so if you want to sleep you should do it now.”

            Alos left the three talking and immediately took the chance to go find his chambers. Along the way he took a few wrong turns; the ship still being a little foreign to him, but eventually managed to stumble across his room in the process of getting lost. As if it were giant pool of water, Alos dove head first onto his small bed, immediately becoming comfortable and giving in to the sweet embrace of sleep.

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            Over the course of the night, strange dreams of discomfort and anxiety plagued Alos. It began with Alos walking through a park with Mari, hand in hand. They would look into each other’s eyes, unable to help themselves from smiling. At the end of the park, was a tunnel extending into unknown darkness. Glancing over at Mari, Alos unconsciously shrugged off the darkness and they casually entered in. With each step her grip of his hand grew tighter until she was fully wrapped around his right arm. Then, with a sudden jerk, Mari was ripped off of Alos, being swallowed back in to the darkness, as her blood curdling scream echoed through the tunnel. Her scream was then slurped up by the abyss.

            Alos snapped upright out of sleep. Sweat dripped from his face dampening his clothes and sheets. His breathing was short, erratic, and gasping, practically swallowing the air with each gulping breath.

            It was just a dream, but Alos couldn’t help but feel disturbed. Thoughts of Mari had become less frequent in his mind, and for such a random influx of negative thoughts to occur, he couldn’t help but feel depressed. He would have rather just forgotten about her than have had such terrible dreams about her. The worst part was that whenever he had thoughts of her, his stomach clenched into a powerful knot of homesickness and guilt. Today was going to be a long day.

            Alos wasn’t sure where they were headed, nor did he care. He was just happy that they were finally going somewhere where he could get his hand fixed up. The tip of his arm where his hand used to be felt puffy and inflamed and when he pushed in on the end of his nubby wrist, the sensation of a phantom hand filled the space. It was as though he could still feel his hand when he pushed on the remainder of the nerve endings in his wrist, wriggling and writhing for an existence it once had. Whatever it was, Alos thought he should go see Bert about it.

            Down the corridor leading around the ship, Alos walked over to Bert’s room. The light outside the door was green, indicating Bert was available, so Alos gave the door a knock. From outside he could hear the sound of a high powered plasma torch cutting through something. The sound then suddenly stopped and after a brief silence, the door slid opened.

            Inside Bert was hunched over his work desk, his mask extending up over his face as he held a plasma torch in massive hand. On his desk was a baseball sized cube with an outer shell-like layer of the cube sitting beside it in two connectable pieces. The edges of the shell looked soft and the air around it was distorted by heat.

            “What are you working on there Bert?” Alos asked as he stepped into the room.

            Bert brushed the shell to the side of his desk as he reached over into a drawer pulling out a new one. He inserted the cube between the two parts and snapped them together. With the new completed cube in hand, he turned around in his chair holding it out.

            “This is a hyperconductor; a super battery of sorts.” A large metallic vest sat over beside his desk which he picked up. In the back of the vest was a diamond shaped slot, containing small rotating gear clips on each corner. Bert placed the cube into the slot, and with a sharp shove, it snapped into place. On both shoulders of the vest, flexible display gauges ran from the middle of the shoulders halfway down the sides of the biceps. These gauges filled up with small red rectangles until finally the gauge was full. He placed the vest back down onto his desk.

            “What do you need?” Bert asked his large brow draping over his eyes.

            “I woke up a few minutes ago and my injury looks pretty inflamed.” Alos stuck out his nub. “Also, I noticed that if I push on the end, I get the feeling that my hand is still there.” Bert nodded at Alos’ words, his eyes fixated on the wound.

            “Is this normal?” Alos added.

            “Sit,” Bert said as he took a small screen with a point at the end from off one of his shelves. Alos took a seat on the medical bed. “This measurement will take several minutes.”

Without notice, Bert stuck the device into Alos arm which he answered with a tensed yelp.

            Alos gazed around the room eyeing all the random gadgets and contraptions. He sat and watched Bert go back to fiddling with something on his desk, waiting for an answer about his arm. Bert really wasn’t kidding when he was saying it would take awhile.

            “Hey, so Bert, how did you manage to get involved with these people anyways?” Alos asked, hoping the conversation would kill the time.

            Bert’s arched, fidgeting head paused, before turning around to Alos. His mask retracted back into place as he turned, the small graphical displays minimizing with the mask.

            “I was with Xri, when he first set out to start this.” He leaned over Alos’ arm and pulled the device out, causing Alos to squirm in his chair. “Xri grew up within the southwest Magnam tribe, where as I come from Optimaris as you do. I stumbled across the tribe after leaving the UDA.”

            “Why did YOU leave Optimaris?” Alos asked as he flexed the muscles in his stub. “You really don’t seem the type.”

            “I am from a family that owns much of the medical industry in the UDA; you are familiar with Dimun Med?” Bert asked as he inserted the device into a slot on his desk.

            “Yeah of course, that’s the company that did my nerve implants. Wait… your family owns Dimun Med!? Dimun is the biggest corporation in the world!”

            “Ownership of Dimun is segmented into specific allocates of the company. An exclusive group of individuals own the entirety of Dimun, with each branch of the company being typically owned by one family. My family owns the medical branch.” The device popped back out of the desk, and was snatched by Bert’s surprisingly quick reflexes. He placed the device down and then reached over, grabbing a syringe and a vial containing white liquid from out of his drawer. The syringe was stuck into the vial and the contents sucked up into it and then with a slight flick of the syringe, turned back towards Alos.

            “I left Optimaris to escape the corrupt confines of my family inheritance. Along my journey into the wilderness, I walked into Magnam territory. The Magnams would have killed me but Xri was with them. He ordered them to spare me for reasons I still do not understand. The tribe shaman allowed me to live and stay with them under the condition I was bound to Xri in ritual. So I was, and here I am. Xri is forever the holder of my life-debt.” Alos was still hanging on the words of Bert’s story when he felt the pinch of the needle insert his puffy nub.

            “Ow! At least give me some warning! Have some decency.” Alos shouted shaking his head. Alos’ injury felt numbed again, with the tip instantly lacking any sensation. He pressed the tip against his leg and was unable to feel anything. Bert turned away, back to his desk, where he picked up the hyperconductor and returned back to work.

            “The chemical will reduce swelling and numb the area. You are done.”

            Alos got up and walked over to the doorway. “Where are we headed anyways?”

            “Circin.” Bert was still facing his desk as he spoke, his deep voice bouncing off the wall and filling the room.

            “Oh that’s right.” Alos started to ask another question but decided it would be better to just leave him work. “Thanks again Bert, we will have to chat again sometime.” Bert didn’t budge.

            After leaving the medical room, Alos went down the hall back to the main room. Inside, sleeping on the couch was Dardaños, snoring loudly with his arms thrown up over his head to hang off the couch. His massive cybernetic arm sat pressing in against the edge of the couch creating a deep indentation matching its shape. On the floor beside the couch was the controller for the large display screen, which had been left on during his drift to sleep. The display was set on the same network as before, so Alos grabbed the controller and took a seat in the room.

            Sitting there, staring off into space gazing through the display, Alos realized he felt weird. His body had a minor twitch to its movement, and his vision appeared to be focused inwards, blurring out his peripherals. Glancing down at his arms, he saw his hair standing on end, extending down into small bumps covering his arms. Thoughts raced around randomly in his head unwilling to hold long enough for him to actually to grasp hold of any them. With an exaggerated yawn, Alos realized he was furrowing his brow. This was completely unintentional. Why was his body acting this way? Was it just his nightmare affecting him? Was it the overload of shock from the previous day? Then, with no ability to do otherwise, Alos fell asleep.

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            With the sudden jolt of being lifted into the air and shook, Alos jolted awake. Levitas had him lifted up into the air with only one hand grabbing the collar of his sweater, and was shaking him around as if he was weightless.

            “I’m awake! I’m awake!” Alos blurted out as he squirmed around in the air.

            Levitas quite literally flicked his wrist out, sending Alos flying through the air and onto the couch. He landed with a bounce before bouncing off, and then landing on the floor. Grabbing the back of his neck, Alos looked up to see Levitas, joined by the rest of the crew standing there laughing.

            “You guys are some kind of superhuman freaks. I swear to god.” Alos said shaking his head as he pushed himself off the floor and too his feet. “What’s your deal?”

            “And yeh considehr yerself normal?! Yeh went and chopped yer own frackin’ hand off!” Merick shouted, accusation resonating through his voice.

            “He’s got a point.” Levitas smiled through his deep raspy voice, placing his hand up onto Alos’ shoulder, nearly causing his knees to give out from the weight. “C’mon kid, we’re all gettin’ off.”

            Xri led the crew down the stairs to the exit room, where they all took the hydraulic platform down. The ship was stationed in a hangar along with nine other similarly sized and designed ships and a few smaller cruisers. At the other side end of the hangar, coming out of one of the ships, was another crew walking down their off-ramp.

            “Well I will be damned,” Xri started, nodding towards the crew walking down from the ship, “Even Stephen and his gang came.”

            Levitas cleared his throat with a loud crunch. “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.” He ducked his head to the side and spit out onto the ground.

            “Who are they?” Alos asked, quickening his step to catch up to Xri.

            “They are brothers in the Resistance.” Xri smiled.

            “The Non-States Resistance?”

            “Indeed.” Xri’s smile widened his head slightly nodding. “We have operated all around the world since our formation in the last war. Keeping the Non-States independent requires that we do so.”

            “And everyone is just willing to do so?”

            “You saw how much money we made from the auction, some of which you will get when this is all settled.” Xri tilted his hat towards Alos. “This is our job. Most of us were slaves at one point, so we are more than happy to give back.”

            “I can’t believe I’m working with UDA outlaws. My parents would go ballistic.”

            The crew arrived at the doorway leading in from the hangar. The door had hinges at the top covered by a thick metallic manifold. The bottom of the door sat inside the floor with rods on both sides sitting in carved out ruts. When the door opened, it swung upwards and inwards from the bottom and the crew stepped down into the ditch and then walked under the door. Alos looked back at the doorway, curious of its bunker like setup.

            They walked down a long narrow hallway which eventually opened up into a large circular room, with three other hallways branching out. On the side of the room, climbing up and around the wall, was a curving set of stairs, which led up through a cutout in the ceiling.  Alos followed Xri up the stairs with the rest of the crew and into the next room.

            “Look who finally decided to show up.”

            The room was a giant dome completely composed of a one way window which overlooked the entirety of the city with the view even stretching as far out as the forests. At the center of the room was a circular cutout with a fire pit at its center and a large smoke funnel descending from the ceiling. Around the edges of the cutout, cushions shaped to fit into circle, were covered with the most unusual assortment of people Alos had ever seen.

            In the center of the cushioned ring was a monstrous creature. By Alos’ knowledge, or lack thereof, he made it out to be a Magnam. While he had grown up hearing about them, he had never actually seen one, and honestly, he thought they were made up. People often told tales of the center of the continent being unsuitable for civilization, occupied by accursed beasts and a bunch of other jibber jabber, but Alos thought they were just old wives tales. Exaggerated stories from before people knew better, if you will. Yet there before him, stood a ten foot tall, humanoid bear, speaking in common. Alos’ jaw nearly hit the floor.

            The Magnam was wearing a black suit, clearly custom made for his size, his thick brown fur sticking out from the wrists and collar. Bulging from his back was a backpack of sorts, emerging from the suit which fit snuggly around it. It was clearly electronic but as to what was inside, or why the suit was tailored to fit around it, Alos had no clue. From what he could tell though, there was a handle at the center which locked something into place.

            From the top of his head, long braided tufts of hair fell down his backside, braiding into a larger knot just above his backpack. Rubies, diamonds, emeralds, amethysts, and sapphires were laced into the braids, forming elaborate spider web like patterns. At the center of the braids was a golden medallion, etched around its perimeter with the same runic language Alos had seen on the platform and at its center, a sphere containing a dancing flame. It was the same type of sphere placed into the sides of Levitas’ visor, but about three times as large. It shone outwards, flickering light off of his shiny hair.

            “For calling this meeting, you sure are late.” The Magnam was talking to Xri, his hands (or paws, Alos wasn’t quite sure) folded out in front of his chest. Just then, Stephen and his crew joined them.

            “Be patient brother.” Xri responded, glancing around the room at those who just joined them. “Aye, that looks to be everyone that's coming. Let us begin then shall we.”

            “Excyuse mee Xri, but shouldn't Yacapo bee hyere?” A tall Lycanian spoke, interjecting.

            “I agree with Derekeñius, Yacapo is often the only one who speaks sense in emotional times like this.” The Magnam said in agreement.

            “John, we will have to visit him privately after. We all want him to be here but he is not, so let us continue without him.” Xri shrugged to the Magnam, hoping to dispel some of the anger already forming in the room.

            “Alright then Xri, why exactly are we here.”

            Xri began explaining the events of Zeith’s capture to the group of people. He told of the auction and their success, and the subsequent invasion of Captain Van the following day. When he said that Zeith was taken and without much resistance at that, the whole lot of people flew into a frenzy of mumbling questions. They began talking amongst each other in serious tones, questioning the validity of Xri’s story, with a few even believing it was just some impractical joke. Over on the couch, Alos noticed Frank, was here at the meeting.

            “Wait wait wait, so you’re saying Van, CAPTAIN Van of the Rashakaan, came and snatched Zeith?” Frank blurted out, the deep seed of paranoia growing within his eyes. “I can only imagine what Divimatia wants with him…”

            “It is nothing good that much is certain. To make matters worse, the Guild may also be in desperate need of him. There are rumors of war.” The tone of Xri’s voice was calm, but with a distinct measure of urgency. Alos knew nothing good was coming out of Zeith’s untimely capture but the way everyone was reacting only made him feel more uneasy. He would have never thought such an obviously insane person would be so important.

            John spoke, eyeing everyone in the room but paying special attention to Xri, “What the Guild needs is none of our concern. Divimatia has been trying to get a hold of Zeith for years to weaponize his knowledge and now they have him. We need to find him and get him out of there as soon as possible.” 

            “And how are we supposed to find him!? For all we know he’s already in a cell at the bottom of their experimental prison receiving neuro-extraction!” Frank shouted, directing his anger towards John.

            “WHICH IS WHY WE NEED TO FIND HIM IMMEDIATELY!” John’s voice roared, silencing even the smallest sound of breath within the room. “The longer they have him, the worse it will get.”

            Frank shook his head, looking at the others in the room. He retook his place on the couch, disapproval spelled out across his face.

            “We need Yacapo; he’d know what to do.” Stephen added, his arm hanging around an exotic looking women. “Until we know where Zeith IS, all of this bitching is pointless.” Stephen had a solid black bandana tied over his head, tightly conforming to his apparently hairless head. He had large round blue eyes, and a small turned up button nose, surrounded by a thinly defined jaw line covered with reddish brown stubble. Around the ring finger of his left hand, was a solid gold ring, matched by an identical one worn by the woman his arm was wrapped around. Alos thought it was strange for a married couple to be involved in this sort of political revolution business.

            The woman spoke up in a long voweled accent, “Once they go see Yacapo, they can give us a ring, and then maybe we can help.”  She had wavy black hair, also tied up in a solid black bandana, flowing out from the back and over her shoulders and down her back. She had a light toffee colored complexion with a small black mole just below her left eye. Her eyes were razor sharp, each pupil encircled by a ring of yellow tinted caramel. She had thin black eye brows, and soft swollen lips. Across the bridge of her rounded nose was a scar reaching from the beginning of one eye to the beginning of the next. Something about her stuck out to Alos, yeah she was very pretty, but that wasn’t it. She wore the demeanor of someone who had seen a lot of shit and been through even more.

            “Deb speaks the truth. I apologize for any wasted time.” Xri said bowing his head to the crowd of people before him.

            “It’s okay Xri, this is something we all needed to hear, face to face.” Stephen added, nodding his head. “Most of us wouldn’t have taken you seriously if you told us over the net.”

            “If that is it then, everyone who needs to leave, go ahead. We will contact you if and when we need you.” John waved his arms out towards the exit.

            “We have pulled jobs like this before,” Xri started, raising his voice above the others.

            “This will be difficult, but it's necessary and we can do it. At the first chance my crew will do whatever it takes to get him back, so do not worry and please just relax until you are contacted. We are the Resistance my brothers!”

            Four people got up from the couch and left, but the majority of the group stayed, continuing to talk amongst each other. Xri walked over to Stephen and Deborah and began talking with them, joined by Levitas and Bert. Merick and Dardaños walked over to Derekeñius and began talking with him. Over from the side of the room, Frank joined by another that Alos didn’t know came walking over.

            “How’s the hand?” Frank asked with a tremor in his voice, still a little on edge from the prior conversation.

            Alos pulled his stub from his sweatshirt and showed them. It was still the same charred, mutilated nub it had been, though noticeably less inflamed. Frank cringed at the sight of it.

            “God man, I still can’t believe you did that.”

            Alos laughed, rotating his arm around to show off just how decrepit it looked.

            “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

            Frank stood shaking his head, smiling in disbelief.

            “This is the kid I was telling you about Mahkel. Crazy mother fucker is a legend in the Omninet.”

            The man standing beside Frank, was slightly shorter than Alos, standing at about six foot if he had to guess. He wore a massive grin, displaying his yellowed, cluttered teeth. Mahkel had a nose like a fist, large, bulbous and with several indentations resembling knuckles. His small eyes hid under his thick bushy black eyebrows, Alos barely being able to make out the green irises.

            “Anyone crazy enough to cut their own hand off to avoid getting snatched is someone crazy enough to be a friend of mine.” Mahkel stuck out his right hand to shake. Alos looked down at the gesture; he didn’t have a right hand to shake with. Surely the guy knew that after JUST seeing his lack of hand. Frank and Mahkel erupted with laughter.

            “I’m just playing, kid,” Mahkel said sticking out his left hand to shake, “My name is Mahkel, it's very nice to finally meet you.” Alos laughed and shook his hand. It was the first time someone had made light of his hand-less predicament and he was okay with it.

            “Alos, and I don’t know what Frank told you but I’m no legend.”

            “Don’t listen to him,” Frank smiled, “this kid single-handedly infiltrated corporate real estate, dismantled the security, disrupted their code sequencing, and got me that data on Dimun Med awhile back. Data valued in the hundreds of millions. He is hands down the best user I have ever seen.”

            “Wow, it's suiting that you ended up in C4 then, particularly onboard Xri’s ship.” Mahkel was unconsciously nodding his head, his lips pursing into an impressed expression. “I’ve been telling them to get a user for years.”

            Frank added, “Xri being lady luck’s lover, one of the best users of all time falls into his lap.”

            Alos’ cheeks felt warm, such earnest praise felt good, especially since he had only ever received hateful comments from his parents about his time spent on the Omninet.

            “Well, I’m still new to all of this,” Alos waved his hands out motioning to everything around him, “and still don’t understand how everything works yet.”

            “Perhaps we can be of some help then.” Frank suggested. “What all do you want to know?” Alos’ eyes squinted momentarily as he pondered the question. Then the obvious question came to him.

            “What’s the purpose of all this? Like what is your goal as the Non-States Resistance?”

            Frank and Mahkel paused, looking at each other, both looking unsure of where to begin. With a pat on his back, Frank stepped behind Mahkel.

            “I think he’ll be able to explain it a bit better.” Frank said, the corner of his smile peeking out from behind Mahkel’s head.

            “Alrighty then it looks like the honor is mine.” Mahkelbowed sarcastically to Alos.

            “Where to begin, where to begin.”

            Xri had just finished talking with John and the others and decided to join Alos’ conversation. He stood off to the side listening.

            “So back in 1992, the UDA got the wise idea of invading the western most tip of the Non-States. You probably weren’t even alive at the time let alone remember it, but I’ll tell you; it was a mess. Due to the poverty in that region, they swept in with their Marines with next to no resistance, and secured the region. The Non-States being the governmentless anarchical state that it is had no designated military force to respond with. So that’s when we showed up, or more specifically, Xri, John and Bert. They gathered a force, the lot of us you see here plus a few others and formed the Non-States Resistance to defend the invasion of their home. We are split into four different cells, or collectives, each with its own divisionary duties, for example I am a part of the second cell, acting as a spy in Divimatia that keeps tabs on the underbelly of my specific assigned region. Whereas Xri here,” Mahkel’s long winded explanation halted as he motion toward Xri beside him, before continuing on, “is part of the fourth cell, operating as captain of his airship and crew. He goes out on designated missions and punches holes in the infrastructure of the enemy.”

            “Is that what the slave freeing is all about?” Alos asked, trying to keep up.

            Xri’s hat tilted back revealing his ever facetious smile.

            “Precisely. What better way to attack the enemy than to remove their workforce and tear a gaping hole in their economy, and if we make a buck or two at it, all the better.”

            Mahkel nodded, “Yeah pretty much. At the time, cell four, or C4 if you will, dismantled the forces along the border, while simultaneously cutting off their flow of resources and production. Eventually, with the help of some small scale mercenary forces, the UDA was pushed back and forced to retreat and the Non-States had won.”

            Frank stepped back beside Mahkel eager to add to the conversation.

            “And ever since then we've stayed operational, to make sure it doesn’t happen again. That’s why I stopped being able to go online 0rnj, I got reassigned to that Elixer in Southdrem.”

            “Wait hold on,” Alos sounded puzzled, still fighting to put all the pieces together.

            “If you were trying to fight the UDA invasion, why was freeing slaves a priority? Slavery isn’t even legal in the UDA. Also, how did you guys manage to do any of this before I got here? Granted the Omninet had just come out at that time, but even so a few years after that and EVERYTHING was secured though it.”

            Xri’s smile widened.

            “Who is responsible for the manufacturing within the UDA? Dimun, and a few other corporations. Operating within the UDA, they cannot utilize slave labor but they are an international entity and can dodge the laws by operating within the Non-States, and then shipping their product over. It's rather ironic that borderless corporations are responsible for the UDA’s economy but it's true nonetheless. As such, they were a threat to be dealt with.”

            “I assume then that your guys’ operations in Divimatia are proactive then? I suppose that makes sense.” Alos spoke, answering his own questions, talking to himself.

            “But that still doesn’t explain how you managed to get through security later on.

            The three looked at each other smiling. Xri turned, facing Alos, his teeth actually bearing out from under the shadow of his hat.

            “With a lot of booms.”