Fifty-Seven

"Sit," Bosch commanded as they entered the small room. Kon looked around himself as they stood in the doorway looking at an unarmored Evelyn Bosch. Without her armor the Knight was still tall, broad, and muscular. But no longer did she resemble some metallic god of war dredged from the history books of old earth.

She was a younger woman, though older than Kon, likely somewhere in her late twenties. She stood as they entered, waving a hand at the chairs in front of her small, clean desk. Kon looked over that desk and saw the gleam of well oiled wood. Regardless of how fresh the base was, it was clear that Evelyn Bosch took care of her belongings.

Diur nudged him and Kon stepped through the doorway to look at the small chairs Bosch had. They were little more than stools, offering no back support or padding. Sitting on them let him look Bosch in the eye as she settled on her chair to look them over slowly.

"I must ask for your forgiveness. I failed in my duties, as did the rest of our Chapterhouse in failing to protect you. As a cadet to our Chapter, you should have been able to rely on the protection we offered," Bosch said with a slow bowing of her head.

They all sat there in silence as Kon waited, not knowing why he was there. Diur nudged him again, sharply, with her elbow and dipped her own head in a mimicry of obeisance.

"No apologies needed, Knight Bosch. It was circumstances beyond your control," Kon stammered out as he looked over the older Knight. The woman snorted gently and closed her eyes slowly before opening them again. There was a hint of humor in her amber eyes as she looked at them.

"We'll work on that. As working Knights, the gentle play of words and manners matter little compared to those stationed amongst the World Ships or the higher echelons of the fleet, but they still matter," Bosch said. Kon nodded at her, head bobbing up and down wildly as his mind fluttered with thoughts.

"Why does how I speak matter? There's non-working Knights? Is she offering mentorship?"

"I am not Alice Roose. She was a true prodigy when it comes to the martial aspects of Knightly life. Unfortunately that's where her brilliance ended," Bosch said, the words harsh, but her tone kind and full of reminiscence.

"She seemed one who lived for the blade and not the ponderings of the universe," Diur said.

"That is one way of looking at it. Alice Roose is, was, not a dumb woman. Far from it. She just didn't like playing the game. That's why she had Leo. It's a tragedy she was recuperating from her injuries instead of being fully healthy. Many of our current problems would not have arisen if Alice Roose had her armor when we were boarded," Bosch said.

"How'd you know Alice?" Kon asked. The holopad in his pack, now somewhere in the camp, was a weight on his conscious. It was loaded with information that could help progress humanity, help stabilize the Chatperhouse, and help Kon further his own growth. Or it could lead to him disappearing and his holopad being presented as someone else's.

"She was a cadet while I was a Squire. I'd like to say I was a mentor figure for her, but that'd be a stretch," Bosch had the humility to give a self-deprecating smile at that. She shook her head slowly, eyes clouding with memories. She banished it nearly as fast as it had arrived.

"Now, I will be going to explore that plateau the moment this beast is dealt with. I would like for you two to help me form a rough map of the area and where exactly Alice fought," Bosch said. She reached inside of a drawer and pulled out a blank piece of paper. Diur leaned forward and quickly began to describe the plateau while Kon sat quietly.

"Here?" Bosch asked, pointing to a spot she had marked with an X. Diur looked at it and frowned as she looked over the map again.

"It appears correct, Knight Bosch. That is where the battle began anyways. They were both moving at speeds that could quickly traverse the area," Diur said.

"A peak D-Grade cultivator. You're sure his core was cracked?" Bosch asked.

"That appears to be true. He was burning his own cultivation to finish the fight and escape the insect that followed us off the plateau."

"Is that what all that black light was? In his aura," Kon asked, turning to look at Diur.

"Likely. Each cultivator's journey is their own, but something like that speaks of despair, desolation, nihilism. It is not one that someone could base a cultivation style around, at least one that would last long," Diur explained.

"We've seen it before often enough. If Alice didn't kill him, then he'll be dead soon enough. Now, I have something a bit more personal for you Diur. I understand it was one of your ancestors who established this base?" Bosch asked. It wasn't a question.

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"That is correct."

"Is this ancestor on planet?" Bosch was looking at her with a mix of hope and fear. Diur slowly leaned back, sitting straight on her stool with her fingers clasped together as she looked at Bosch.

"I…assume so. It is hard, she isn't one to stay in one place long, but from what I understand, there was a hunting spot nearby where she could reliably cultivate and gather resources," Diur spoke slowly and carefully, eyes locked on Bosch's without blinking. Kon could feel the tension rising in the air as he looked sideways at Diur. She normally wasn't one to play wordgames.

"So I shouldn't expect a pissed off old monster to come storming through my camp killing everything in her way on her way to rescue you?" Bosch asked. Diur immediately relaxed and Kon wondered what it was that had made Diur so tense.

"No. If she was close by, then the destruction of my clan would have brought her attention to the area. She may believe in letting us find our own way, but I can not believe she would allow her descendants to be slaughtered without intervention, unless she was otherwise occupied or out of range," Diur said.

"No rescue for us from that direction then. Now, this leaves us in a bind. The creature is a pseudo C-Grade. I am the strongest active Knight on planet and I'm hardly into the D-Grade range. If we go by cultivation standards. In my armor I can fight up to Upper D-Grade. With a full hunting party of Knights we could have killed a Peak D-Grade. A C-Grade, even a pseudo, won't go down easily. A monster as vindictive as the one you described won't leave us alone either. Not after interrupting its ascension." Bosch looked them over, neither of them bothering to speak.

"Our cannons should be able to kill it. Should. Issue is we'd have to lure it here to accomplish that task. In the meantime we are burning through our supplies and can't bring resupply from our main base. Communication is down as well. I must ask something that is unfair." Bosch steepled her fingers and leaned in to look over them.

"You need a runner," Kon said suddenly. Bosch blanched and had the grace to look ashamed before nodding again.

"Not all the way back to our homebase. But to Camp Bravo. At the speeds I believe the two of you can reach, I think you can do it in about six hours," Bosch said.

"Why us?" Kon asked, feeling angry and excited at the same time.

"I saw the pace you set. None of the Squires can match you and honestly, I can't spare a Knight in a run to Bravo. Especially since there wouldn't be much of a difference in speed."

"If it needs done, then we shall do it," Diur said eagerly as she leaned over, the move masking her hand grabbing his knee and squeezing gently to stop him from speaking out.

"It does. I will find you some armor and weapons. But I need Camp Bravo alerted to this threat as well as sending for reinforcements." Bosch grabbed a small pad of papers and wrote down a quick note on it, tearing it free from the pad and handing it to Kon.

"Give this to Mathis. He'll escort you to the armory and get you situated." Kon took the paper and folded it in half before tucking it into a pocket on his fatigues.

"The commander at Bravo is Knight Rudd. He's a good man. They also have a radio relay close by. Ask him to send a team of technicians about seeing if they can provide limited coverage for us as well as his sector. Actually," she stopped in mid sentence and grabbed her paper pad again and scribbled a fast note on it. When Kon risked a glance at it, he saw that he didn't recognize any of it.

"Basic cipher that Knights use. If you lose this, the message is Green-Break. You remember that?" Bosch said as the second note entered a second pocket. Kon nodded, mind swirling as he tried to figure out what had just happened.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some planning I need to accomplish and be done with quickly," Bosch said, dismissing them with a gentle wave of one hand while the other shuffled through another drawer to withdraw a sheaf of papers she spread out in front of her.

Kon and Diur left the room, Kon managing to keep his tongue till the left the building itself. He turned to look at Diur who's eyes were darting back and forth with a feverish light.

"What was that? We just got here and you're accepting a mission immediately?" Kon asked. He was a bit upset, but mostly with the fact she hadn't asked him his opinion about it.

"Kon, the radio relay. I didn't think about it when we first heard of them, but she mentioned my ancestor and it all clicked for me. We can message her," Diur said in a rushed whisper. She grabbed his arm and led them toward the mess hall that Mathis had shown them. The bald man had disappeared since dropping them off.

"Ok, and?" Kon asked.

"Kon. Don't be dense. She's a powerful C-Grade cultivator. Her presence alone will guarantee our survival if she arrives."

"How do we know she's on planet anyways? Or hasn't figured out, you know, the whole thing," Kon said waving at the camp. Diur slowed and looked at him with a confused look.

"It's not like we were subtle. We went down with a fight, a lot of explosions right above the planet. We landed on her world and established a large scale operating area with a multitude of camps and radio relays all around. How would she not know we were here?"

"I have to try Kon. You have found your people, help me find mine," Diur said, ignoring everything he'd just said. Kon did see a note of apprehension in her features that hadn't been there a moment before.

"Of course. We're in this together," Kon said. He clasped her on her bicep, feeling the iron bar she called muscle. He gave her a reassuring squeeze as she nodded to him gratefully. There was a flicker of something else in her eyes besides relief, but it happened so fast that Kon couldn't parse what it was.

After their time on the plateau and then alone in the forest, he felt more comfortable with the UImna woman than he did with his own people and their murky politics that he didn't understand.

"How was it easier when we were stranded and alone?"

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