Ten

Benny refused anymore questions till they were off the Authority of Man, a process that took several hours of them just sitting around as Benny disappeared through another hidden hatch. Both Kon and Diur didn't say anything at first as they sat there, waiting for the old man to return. As usual, Kon couldn't hold back the steady stream of curiosity, turning to Diur and starting to pepper her with questions.

"Assassin?" Kon asked, spinning to look her in the eyes.

"He's a mysterious figure who's feared and has the power and connections to multiple factions and is able to purchase your contract with little fanfare. His ship is a mess of hidden halls and false paint on a private ship. What other profession is there?"

"I don't know but I think it's a pretty extreme jump in logic," Kon said as a rumble filled the ship, quickly settling into a pleasant background purr. There was a moment of acceleration, but it quickly faded away.

"He didn't deny it. Just said he was more," Diur said.

"Maybe when I was a wee lad I would have claimed it," Benny said as he appeared out of a different hidden hatch than the one he had went into. The old man looked different. Kon stared at him, trying to figure what it was before he felt his eyebrows climb his forehead.

Some of the massive creases in his face had softened. It wasn't extreme and rather hard to tell, but there was a definitive change to his face. Kon looked harder and thought that his chin might be a bit different, more square than it had been.

"Good eyes lad. Prosthetics and makeup can fool cursory cameras fairly easily. Not always needed but not a habit I'll be dropping anytime soon." Benny shooed him with a flick of his wrist and Kon scooted down into the center of the U-shaped couch as Benny sat on the end.

"Now, there are more advanced tech ways to hide your identity. Which I also deploy, but good prosthetics and makeup is cheaper, less likely to fail, and can work better. I used only the tech based solution for a few decades, but one too many EMPs and I couldn't enter a system for a century until everyone died. Damn shame, they had excellent street food," Benny said, smiling at the memory.

"How old are you?" Kon asked without thought.

"Kon! You don't ask that," Diur snapped, embarrassment over her face as she quickly bowed her head toward Benny in apology.

"It's alright. I'm older than dirt and twice as mean. Wait…I don't think that's the phrase," Benny grumbled for a second before shaking his head, mustache swinging back and forth as he smiled at them.

"This is all a play." Kon felt a shiver run down his spine as he assessed Benny. He thought of all the powerful people and beings he'd been around. Benny was the strangest of them for sure, but he was also the most dangerous. Kon couldn't detect a whiff of the man's energy, even sitting only a foot away. If he closed his eyes the old man would disappear, none of his advanced senses being able to discern him.

"Regardless of the result, the process was impolite and the delivery crude," Diur said, sounding scandalized.

"When did you Ulmna get so gentrified. I remember old Daniur, she was a real hellfire, had a mouth on her. Taught me a few new words actually," Benny said.

"Politeness costs nothing, rudeness can cost you everything," Diur said with ritualized practice. Benny froze and then his face stretched tight with the smile that split it and Kon realized that for the first time the man was showing true joy.

"Those old bastards stole that from me!" Benny said, cackling with joy as he slapped the table lightly. Diur frowned at him, scowl forming as she looked at him for clarification.

"Oh it was way back and I wasn't as smart as I am now. Got caught up on planet where some of your ancestors pinned me down. I threw that line out when they decided to say some rude things to me when they found me. Didn't quite get off planet fast enough and they were pretty pissed."

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"About what?" Kon asked. Benny looked at him and just raised a single eyebrow before turning back to Diur.

"Anyways they were saying stuff about me being a dirty barbarian, that I was courting death, to bow to them and beg forgiveness, all the traditional stuff. And I just stood up and looked them in the eye and hit 'em with that line. Oh it was smooth, what a day." Benny shook his head as his eyes glazed over, lost in the past.

"How did you escape the ancestors?" Diur said when it became apparent that Benny wasn't going to be forthcoming.

"Hmmm? Oh I set off the explosives I'd ringed the bar with and then ran like crazy. Daniur and another one managed to catch up to me, and well, she wasn't who she is now," Benny said with a shrug. Kon stared at the man, jaw slightly agape.

"This is an excellent segue about the future you two are going to have with me. I come from a different time period. One where standing in front of a horde of people wanting to kill me and screaming "Kill me if you can!" was regarded as stupidity. Unlike now," Benny said with a sigh and a roll of his eyes.

"What does that mean?" Kon asked, trying to keep the old man on task before he wandered off into his own thoughts.

"Brains my boy. Caution, intelligence, planning, contingencies. That's what I'll teach you. Along with some of that rune work that you need. Your data pad was interesting read too," Benny said. Kon nodded along until the last sentence, freezing as he looked at Benny.

"We're going to work on data security while we are at it. You can't just be transporting around valuable information like that on non-encrypted devices. Just shoddy craftwork," Benny said, shaking his head in dismay.

"Now we're off to find who exactly paid those goblins. Now, from my own, admittedly quick, investigation there was a Lupine battle pack as the central force with several companies of goblin mercenaries. Now, tell me, what do you know about goblins?" Benny asked. Diur went to open her mouth but he held up a hand.

"Not you missy. I know you're educated. I want the bumpkin to figure it out," Benny said.

"Goblins are a colloquialism used for a myriad of groups who live on the outer reaches of the known galaxy. They've experienced severe radiation mutations and are a genetic mash of peoples," Kon said, straightening under Benny's gaze.

"Hmmm, big word colloquialism. I don't think you used it right though," Benny said. He rubbed his chin for a moment before shrugging.

"What do I know? Anyways, goblins are a bunch of pirates and mercenaries that form themselves in rough tribes. No two groups are alike, but there are some similarities between them all. They don't trust anyone outside of their tribe, they don't mind violence, and meat is meat," Benny said.

"What do you mean by that?" Diur asked, horror stretching across her face.

"Don't get taken alive by them is all. Finding their actual homes is tough. They live in dark spots, away from the lanes, on abandoned facilities long forgotten, half dead planets, asteroids, stuff like that. So, how does one hire them?" Benny stopped and looked back and forth between them. When neither said anything the old man sighed and rubbed his face with a hand.

"You're getting too old for this," he whispered before shaking his head and looking back at them.

"Alright. Silence isn't using your brain. I want to hear theories, questions, speculations, all of it. I am a wealth of knowledge that you will likely never find an equal to. So, make sure to use it," Benny said slowly.

"Beacon drops?" Diur said slowly. Benny nodded vigorously and looked over at Kon.

"What about third parties? Like an agent?"

"Excellent. You're both right. But we're not looking to hire goblins, we're looking to ask them questions. So that begs the question, how do we find them in person?"

"They have a meeting point?" Kon asked after a moment.

"Yes. They're normally on the edge of the established space, small, lawless, spaceports that the seedier elements can gather to trade services or supplies," Benny said, a twinkle in his eyes.

"You go there often?" Kon asked.

"Well, it's not just goblins who find contracts out there. Some of the more lucrative contracts people don't like having digital evidence. Now, we shall be entering the lanes in about two hours and heading directly to the closest of these stations. It'll take about two weeks, in that time I have plenty of work for you to get through."

"Like working out?" Kon asked, eagerly. He had gotten to enjoy the time working out in the gym.

"Did you listen to anything I'd said earlier?" Benny asked with a flat look.

"Yeah. I was just hoping."

"Keep dreaming, kid. I've got plenty of reading for you two to do. Hope you enjoy it," Benny said with a cackle as he got up and left through a third hidden passage. Kon looked over at Diur, his face falling as he stared at her.

"Have you figured out how to find the entryways?" Kon asked, hopefully.

"No." Diur and Kon stared at each other then rose together to start searching for the strange spacecraft.

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