[ Emergency quest activated! ]

[ Save Pax and Akash ]

[ If this quest is failed, both Pax and Akash will perish ]

[ Rewards are as follows:

Reward 1 - 10,000 XP

Reward 2 - ??? ]

I swallowed hard and pushed off from the wall. That was that then. Neither myself nor BB understood this part of our system, but it hadn't been wrong so far and had already shown reality-warping effects far beyond that of manna's usual effects.

To put it simply, if I didn't manage to save Pax and Akash they would die.

By the time I had reached the central plaza of the Guard headquarters once again, Yr'Arl had clearly caught up to Fal and had managed to convince them not to go on a one-person war against Clan Pren.

"Fal, we're going to get your partner back," I said as I drew closer to the pair. "Squadron Leader Belana has said that our mission parameters have changed. We've gone from a recon squad into a rescue squad. We'll get Pax and Akash both back, I promise."

Fal looked up from where they sat, head buried in their hands, and fixed me with a burning stare.

"It's about time," they said. "Your pet Uler here wasn't going to let me go without a fight."

<That's the species Yr'Arl belongs to, the Uler. They're big on religion, believe that all manna in the universe was gifted by some supreme being and that they'll all return to it some time down the line. With your memories from after your death, I doubt that's even too far from the truth.>

"If you had ventured from this place alone to take on Clan Pren then we would have been bringing you back in a body bag, if at all," Yr'Arl said.

"Whatever the case, Fal, thank you for waiting," I said, to only a nod in response. "Right, lets go over what we know so far, yeah?"

"Pax and Akash have been taken from us, our current presumption is that this act was done by Clan Pren, as they are the owners of the fighting rings that yourself and Lara first discovered the Null Space Invader," Yr'Arl succinctly summarised.

"In that case, we need to find more out about Clan Pren and their base of operations, and we need to do it fast," I continued. "Fal, do you happen to have any more underground contacts that could help us out?"

Fal was silent for a moment.

"There's one lead that we could chase up, but I don't like it," they said.

"You don't like it?" I asked.

"When you save a kid from that sort of life, it's not the sort of thing that you want to drag them back into," Fal replied with a sigh. "But if it's to save our partner and your… associate, then I have no choice."

xXx

As Fal led us back through the winding streets of the mega building they told us the story of the kid that we were looking to meet.

When Fal had been a rookie initiate to the guard, long before they'd even met Pax and bonded to them, they had been stationed on Prespian City.

They had been sent to patrol the commercial district of the very same building that we were now in, and eventually had run across a kid ferrying drugs from one place to another. That kid was an orphan, his family had died in a gang attack and the gang members had taken her in.

The kid had grown up as part of that gang, Clan Pren, but it hadn't been a happy childhood. They abused her every single day, and had told her that if she had ever tried to leave they wouldn't just kill her, they'd make her hurt every single day until she wished she was dead, and even then they wouldn't let it end. Clan Pren were nasty pieces of work.

But Fal had managed to save the little girl from her slavery.

They took the girl away and brought her into a Guard run program for kids that wind up in situations exactly like that one. They gave her a new name, a new identity, and set her up with a brand new family.

For the first time in her life, the kid had been safe, she didn't have to worry about being attacked or hurt anymore.

And now we were going to ruin her life. We were going to show up and drag her back into that world. It made me feel sick to my stomach, but it was something that needed to be done.

Fal led us to a bar, one of many in the commercial district by the entrance of the building. It seemed that no matter where you went and no matter what species you were having a drink after a hard day at work was pretty much the done thing.

We sat and Fal ordered us three drinks, none of which were alcoholic. That was probably for the best, considering we were currently on duty as part of a mission that could literally lead to life and death.

"We keep tabs on all of the people that go through the witness protection program at the Guard. After work, at around this time every day, Krisn will come here to flirt with one of the barkeeps and have a drink," Fal said. "This is where we're going to intercept her."

"Isn't that a little mean, springing up on someone like that in a place they usually come to relax?" I asked.

"I would agree with this statement, Jacob Lyre, but in this case we have no true alternative," Yr'Arl cut in, nursing his own drink.

"If we want to save my mate and Akash, then this is the first step to doing it. She's going to be here, and we're going to get her to help," Fal said, an edge to their voice.

They were right, of course. This was the only way to save them. I just hoped we weren't getting someone else killed in the crossfire.