"400 Hexites"
"..."
"450 Hexites"
"Poor attempt, pun intended. Try again."
Jun-ko's fingers slid the coin purse across the wooden counter, her voice honeyed and imploring,
"500, final price. Enough for three days' rations. Come on, can we please pass through now?"
The guard's thumb popped the purse clasp, his lip curling at the meagre silver inside.
"Three days' rations? All this buys you, is a boot print on your back, not passage."
He shoved the purse away rudely, chainmail clinking as he turned towards the other travelers, waiting for their entries to be denied.
Inazo's calloused hand clamped the guard's pauldron, spinning him around.
"Badge 4737," he whispered. "How far do you think the protection of your insignia goes?"
"Are you threatening an officer-in-charge?"
Jun-ko stepped between them, palms raised. "Hey, hey! There's no need to spill blood over just paperwork."
Her eyes flicked to the guard's badge, voice dropping to a blade's edge. "But the Ironclad General does love his morning reports. Shall we detail how often you 'lose' gate logs after... charitable 'donations'?"
Inazo flashed the House of Cygnus' insignia on his waistband, almost on cue, complementing Jun-ko's angle.
The guard's laugh cracked like dry kindling. "Desperate predicaments call for desperate measures, don't they?" He yanked the gate chain, rust flaking onto his gloves as he chuckled dryly, dying down midway.
"Please enjoy your stay in the prosperous lands of Equilibra."
As they slipped through, Jun-ko murmured to Inazo: "Observant, much? How'd you know his badge number?",
"Déjà Vu.",
"Why? Ever seen him before?",
"Felt like it...",
"Weirdo..."
-----------------------
The ship glided through the Arborea's pulsing astral pathways - a living network of luminescent energy channels connecting Equilibra's orbital cities. Jun-ko's hands tightened on the navigation console as speed warnings flashed crimson.
"I caught an escape pod's signature near the Ninth Transit," she said, voice cutting through the engine hum.
"Tracked it to your little... float through the Arborea's upper boughs." Her eyes narrowed at the scanner feed. "Care to explain?"
"I cracked a bean the old man gave me, if that's what you're talking about."
"Just great..."
Inazo hovered near the viewport, observing the luminescence. "Arborea," he repeated, watching the vehicle speeding through space. "You say that like I should know what it is."
"You should."
"I don't... Elaborate."
"It's like a tree, but the branches are highways to different planets."
"Where are we right now?"
"On a minor branch called Vias Plexus right now."
"The marble yarn ball?"
Inazo looked up towards the rear-view while asking the question, sensing the sudden curtness and discomfort.
"That's the Terminus, also the toll gate, and our destination is the residential area called Domus. That should be enough for a new-born."
"New-born?"
"You sure like to act like one."
"Hmph."
Jun-ko was frantically tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. Crossing his arms, Inazo casually spaced out, looking outside again.
-----------------------
The Arbor Dock sprawled beneath a lattice of radiant astral highways, its structure a fusion of utility and cosmic elegance. Suspended in vacuum, the dock's platforms pulsing with the soft blue-white glow of energy transfer conduits.
Cargo drones zipped between berths, trailing lines of light, while suited workers rushed past in all directions, tending to repairs and guiding arrivals with practiced gestures.
Inazo drifted along the main promenade, boots magnetized to the deck. The airlocked tunnels were busy with travellers, engineers, merchants - each passing through security gates and scanning their credentials at fully-automated kiosks.
The distant hum of scheduled announcements mingled with the clang of tools and the hiss of pressurized doors cycling open and shut. Above, the great arteries of the Arborea shimmered, threading the station into the heart of Equilibra's orbital cityscape.
After a while, Jun-ko found him, her earlier tension replaced by a jubilant tempo in her footsteps, as she grinned. "Come on now," she said, her voice lighter, "Don't be mesmerized by the view just yet. This is a mere dock."
The pair walked down the echoing hallways of entrance, the sound of their footsteps in synchrony, his beat steady, hers syncopated.
Jun-ko's voice had lost its edge, a touch nostalgic.
"I have odd memories of this place," she admitted. "Running wild-I'd chase the cargo drones, beg for snacks, even steal lunchboxes of the workers here, sometimes..."
Inazo watched her, a small, unexpected smile tugging at his usually stern mouth. For a flicker, he let himself imagine this girl as a child, sprinting through these very halls, fearless and bright.
She slowed, turning to face him.
"All this while I've been talking about myself, I never really asked about you,"
"...Couldn't tell you, even if you asked...", he muttered as his eyes dropped.
"Huh, what did you say?"
"Never mind"
"Like you came out of an abandoned zone alive, you were floating through the Arborea, and now you're seeking audience with the general. Like who even are you, and how is your life so eventful? It's actually unfair. Where do you..?"
As Jun-ko rambled on about how mundane being a cop is, Inazo spaces out. His eyes drop, losing its glimmer it had earned for a while. Jun-ko's voice filled the corridor, light and lively, she was alive in a way he wasn't, radiant with stories and moments that clung to her like a second skin.
He felt the weight of his own silence. No memories to chase, no stories to tell. Just an empty ledger of errands and forgotten faces. The dull ache of envy settled deep in his chest.
"When was the last time I laughed like that?"
The question hung unanswered, swallowed by the cold stillness inside him.
After some consideration, he vowed internally,
"Once I'm done with this errand, I'll go out on an epic journey and make tons of memories to cherish."
His external appearance stayed just as stone-cold as ever, as he entertained his "childish" musings. As he was submerged in his thoughts, a discordant echo filled the tunnel. The rhythm of their steps broke.
He kept walking , not noticing the sudden discordance. Jun-ko gasped, eyes wide. Her mouth opened to speak, but only a thin strand of air left her lips. She staggered forward-and Inazo turned back, realizing the abrupt absence.
He watched, with creeping horror, a deep wound, glistening down her back, blood welling up and splattering her boots.
It pooled on the floor, droplets spraying. A grotesque, many-jointed arm withdrew into a closing portal, the edges of space itself warping and sealing shut.
He lunged, catching her limp form. Panic surged as klaxons blared and the dock's artificial gravity flickered. He cradled Jun-ko, bolting toward the city's emergency corridor.
He gathered her body which was falling apart, against his chest.
"I'm here," he choked. "Stay with me. Hey-just hold on- ok?"
His feet dug into the loose soil of the No-Man's-Land, as he sprinted with Jun-ko on his back. Overhead, the sky tore open: multiple slits in the star-speckled sky, leaking a viscous fluid onto the ground.
A fluid that Inazo wasn't unfamiliar with.
Rotspawn Ichor.
The stench of corruption flooded the air as war horns sounded, and the ground trembled beneath the oncoming thunder of galactic cannons rolling into position. The No-Man's-Land outside the city was about to rain hellfire on the eternal tide of Rotspawns. War was impending.
"Fuck, gotta rush-"