Bryce

Sora had insisted on making drinks and soon enough, all four of us were gathered on the comfortable couches with glasses in hand.

“Okay, we need to discuss complications, then we’ll need to talk about our current job,” I explained. “And then we’ll need to talk about what we’re going to do after that, assuming we all want to stick around.”

“What do you mean by complications?” Samira asked the first question, looking nervous while nursing her beer.

I shrugged as I sat back in the chair, taking a sip of my wine.

“I’m assuming that the two of you didn’t end up on New Eden, working for a gangster, as your first choice. I already know that Thea is here hiding, and I was hoping to continue working with you three after this job, but in order to do that we need to trust each other and trust aside, we can’t allow ourselves to be blindsided by each other’s past.”

I watched for everybody’s responses. Sora and Samira looked towards each other with a shared concern and Thea just took another drink from her whiskey bottle before nodding. I wasn’t looking forward to this next part, so I finished my glass of wine before continuing.

“I’m going first, my past is the reason we’re even in this situation. Besides, I doubt anybody's story will be worse than mine, so hearing it will hopefully make it easier to share your own.”

Thea scoffed, Samira looked first surprised, and then concerned. Sora contained their reaction as they sipped their martini, which I took as a signal to continue, so I did.

“In another life, I was the head professor of arcane research and casting, at the Drania Academy, on Para Prime.” Sora and Samira didn’t seem to recognize the name. It was probably before their time. “While there, I developed a spell that would draw ambient mana from the air, increasing my capacity at a steady rate indefinitely.”

I lifted my glass to my lips with shaking hands, only to find it empty. Thea must have noticed because she walked across the room and refilled it with some of her own whiskey before sitting next to me and leaning against my arm for support.

“The first time that I cast the spell, I thought nothing had happened. I couldn’t have been more wrong. When it was in containment, all the spell did was drain my mana and direct it right back to me, effectively nothing. But when I left containment, it jumped from me to my assistant, then it replicated and spread.” What Thea had given me was probably pretty good whiskey, but I could only feel it burn down my throat as I drained the glass again. “By the time I realized what happened, the spell had spread past the academy, and by the time I developed a countermeasure, it was already off-world.”

I couldn’t look up from the empty glass as I added one last nail to my proverbial coffin.

“38,916 people died in under a week. By the time the federation arrived, I was the last living person in the system.”

“That is… a lot.” Sora was the only one to speak and after a beat of silence, they continued. “I don’t mean to be insensitive, Bryce, but that doesn’t explain how you went from genocide to executive.”

I flinched at their phrasing and I felt Thea’s grip tighten on my arm, so I placed a calming hand on her knee.

“After the federation picked me up, they found me guilty at trial, and then three days before my execution, a representative from EVI corporation made me an offer; they would fund my escape and hide me if I agreed to continue development on the spell under their employ.”

“So they just bought a planet and installed you as the executive?” Samira didn’t sound convinced, but Sora put the pieces together.

“The spell must have worked, at least, the mana increasing part.” Sora continued after I nodded. “Which means you have the mana capacity of 40,000 people. A planet would be a small price to pay for that kind of knowledge, assuming they could actually reproduce it.”

“Gathering ambient mana would never have worked." I explained. "The spell needed life force in order to increase my capacity and not just outright kill me with mana sickness. There’s no way to do it without killing people. I spent 30 years forging research to guarantee no corporation would get their hands on a similar spell."

“That brings me to the complications.” I continued. “There's a warrant out for my arrest with the federation and it’s just a matter of time until the corporation realizes I’m still alive and wants me back. So, the Fury is currently registered to Captain Bryce Virra who is wanted for genocide by the Federation and breach of contract by the corporations.”

“One of those things is a lot worse than the other,” Thea said.

“And it’s not the genocide,” Sora said. “At least from a practical perspective.”

“Okay, none of that is a problem for us. I just don’t understand why you’d blow up your own station and run away,” Samira said. “It seems like you had a pretty good deal going.”

I stared back towards Samira with stunned silence. What does she mean? None of that’s a problem? I killed nearly 40,000 people and I’m wanted by both the Federation and the corporations. Which meant that with my name registered on the ship, we wouldn’t be able to dock at any station that was officially recognized by either of them.

“Don’t give me that look. You didn’t mean to kill those people and besides, you’re obviously pretty shook up by it.” Samira took a quick drink from her beer before she continued. “Most of what I’ve been doing on New Eden has been spoofing ship registrations, as long as nobody gets a look at the individual part IDs we won’t have to worry about a 30-year-old warrant, and it’s not like I’m letting another mechanic touch my ship. Seriously though, why leave?”

Huh. That’s pretty convenient, but I guess it made some sense. Both Sora and Samira had been working for Teolix for years, and I imagined all of Teolix’s mechanics were pretty used to faking a ship’s registration.

“Somebody found out who I was and tried to kill me. I’m still trying to figure out how they found out or why they wanted to kill me so badly, but it was pretty clear I wouldn’t be safe any longer. Also, if EVI corp suspected that somebody had leaked my identity they would likely purge the colony to hide any evidence of them harboring me.”

“Is that why you sold Teolix your override codes?” Sora asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I figured he had enough external motives that the corporation wouldn’t suspect a leak.” He was also holding my money hostage, but I didn’t feel like I needed to explain that part.

“None of that explains why you’re sleeping with a demon,” Samira pointed towards Thea with her bottle. “Where does she come into all of this?”

“I’m not a demon,” Thea’s response just caused Sora to smirk back in disbelief.

“Thea is a devil, not a demon, she can explain the difference later. It’s important, but not for this discussion.” I interrupted Thea before she could explain and waited for her to stop glaring before I continued. “One of the people that came for me was a warlock and tried to use me as a sacrifice in order to summon a powerful demon. They summoned Thea instead, and she took offense to that.”

“Their screw up worked out pretty well for me though,” Thea punctuated her statement with a long draw from the whiskey bottle. “I had just pissed off a pretty powerful demon and didn’t have a way out. Not to mention if they had actually summoned Lilith, then she probably would have destroyed the colony out of spite. She’s not really the forgiving kind.”

“So we need to add an angry demon to the list of people who are after us?” Samira’s statement sounded more entertained than upset.

Thea shrugged. “Sort of? Malvoch isn’t the kind to just attack you directly, and he’s patient. I’m not actually expecting to hear from him for a few decades unless I go looking for trouble. Besides, with the pact Bryce made with me, I would probably win if it came to a fight.”

“So, that’s it for our stories. What about you two?" I asked. "You’re both pretty young to be working for Teolix and there aren’t many Kitsune on New Eden.”

I looked toward Sora, but Samira was the one who answered. “Not much to say about us, we grew up on the streets and got recruited young.”

“You’re lying.” Thea spoke with no accusation or malice, just a statement of fact.

Samira turned towards Sora in a panic, but they just calmly sized up Thea before speaking. “What makes you think she’s lying?”

“Call it a hunch or call it a talent. Either way, don’t lie to us again. Bryce was right when she said we need to trust each other.” Thea had lost her usual jovial cadence and I could hear the ice in her voice.

A tense silence hung in the air until Sora broke it.

“Samira and I were given as a gift to a syndicate lord. We bought our freedom together about six years ago.” Sora’s explanation lacked their usual flirty or playful tone, almost sounding deadpanned.

The temperature in the room began to rise and Sora’s ears stiffened as they quickly stood, realizing something was wrong.

“Sora, I like you and your sister, but if you lie to us again, I’ll kill both of you.” Thea had gone completely still with her eyes locked on them, and I could feel her muscles tensing in preparation to make good on the threat.

“Thea, it’s fine. If they don’t want to talk about it, then we can just part ways after Teolix’s delivery, no harm done.” I placed my hand on Thea’s shoulder to pull her back onto the couch, but she wouldn’t budge.

“It’s fine Bryce,” Sora must have been lying again because Thea narrowed her eyes. “I can understand your concern, Thea, but-”

“Thea!”

“Sora!”

Samira and I both stood and shouted, but it was too late. Thea was already across the room with her hand gripped around Sora’s throat. A thin line of blood dripped down along the curved edge of an elegant blade as Sora held it just below Thea’s chin.

“Finally, some honesty.” Thea tightened her grip and Sora put more pressure on the blade.

“Wait! Please, Thea, I promise I can explain everything. Please, just let Sora go.”

Samira was panicking, and I was shocked.

Thea’s entire body was being reinforced with my mana, that included her skin. A normal blade shouldn’t be able to cut her. Hells, small caliber bullets shouldn’t even leave a mark on her, and it didn’t even seem like Sora was applying that much pressure to the knife.

There was something going on with Sora or possibly with their blade, but I couldn’t feel any sort of magic coming off of either of them.

There had been no killing intent in Thea’s charge and unlike with Teolix, she hadn’t used her claws, but also unlike with Teolix, I felt like Thea was in real danger.

“Well, what do you say softie, do you want to discuss this like adults or should we listen to your little sister?” Thea asked.

Sora was maintaining their composure, but I could tell they were straining against the pressure on their neck. I wasn't sure if they could actually speak. Thea smiled at the lack of response, which must have been enough to warn Sora because the blade disappeared and they held up their empty hands to placate the grinning devil.

She released them and took a step back, which allowed Samira to run to Sora’s side and for me to step up next to Thea.

“You’re fast.” Sora’s voice was hoarse, and they were rubbing their neck, but they wore an appreciative smile.

“Yeah, you too.” Thea wiped the blood off her neck and was inspecting the red smear on her thumb.