Roman met us on the other side of one of the arches and smirked as Harper passed him. He was dressed in black again and looked like an unnatural shadow against the bleached stone. His pale eyes were covered by dark sunglasses that made his eye sockets into pits.
"I see you've had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Schrader," he said. "Glad that you were able to work out your differences reasonably peacefully."
"He thinks we're after his job," I commented. "That's not what you have in mind us for, is it?"
His attention seemed to be divided between something that was going on behind us and the conversation, so I followed his stare to see what was happening. A group of Props were leading a line of shackled men out of the main gate but when I turned back, Roman was looking at me and I realized that I probably missed something he said.
"I'm sorry?" I asked, feeling a little self-conscious.
"I said that operatives are overqualified for guard duty," he repeated. "Mr. Richardson wants to put your talents to a better use."
"What specifically does he want from us?" K'rth asked, stressing specifically. Even though Nix and I were almost panting in the heat, the Shaktar was oblivious to it and kept his composure.
"Security and enforcement as I said before," he answered. "Specifically, you'll be tasked with the detection and elimination of internal threats. We have someone working against us from the inside and I would like for you to take care of it. There will be other duties, but nothing I want to go into right now."
"You mean you want us to act like Cloak?" Nix asked, putting stress on both 'us' and 'act' like she had just learned the words. "We aren't all I&I."
"No doubt," he laughed and I saw Nix stiffen. He ignored it and continued. "But you have the advantage of being new here and there's less chance that you would be 'biased' in pursuit of your duties."
"So the regular grunts aren't trustworthy," I commented. Granted that a Prop's loyalty follows a cash flow, anyone that keeps them around usually has the sense to keep them happy - at least until you can get them killed off. That meant that even out here in the middle of nowhere, the job pool was a lot wider than we were aware of. That meant we had options and I felt my spirits lift.
"Not to the degree that we require, no," he answered. "Most of them, such as Mr. Schrader, are simple mercenaries and there's a finite limit on how far they can be trusted."
"What makes you believe that we would be more reliable?" K'rth asked.
"Because I can offer you whatever you are here for," he answered. "I don't doubt that you encountered Dark Night, but there had to be a stronger reason for you to be here than the one you've given."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"A Shaktar doesn't don a ceremonial scarf without an oath and a very good cause," he said. "Tracking a load of shoes or a new variation of Karma 'never-wipe' baby diapers isn't worthy of that level of commitment."
"You've got a point," I chuckled to myself. I had completely forgotten about the scarf on K'rth's braids even though it had been on since before we left Mort's orbit.
"Until we're sure what the situation really is here, there really isn't that much to talk about," K'rth said. "You know enough about us already and we know nothing of you or the loyalties of your organization."
"You have to come to trust me enough to establish a working relationship," Roman said, brushing aside K'rth's comment. "We have the resources to assist you with whatever the BPN you are on requires but I need to know what it is you're after."
It was tempting to interrupt him with a "we don't have to trust you period," but that wouldn't have gotten us anywhere and I kept my thoughts to myself.
"We'll take it under consideration," I answered. "What do you want us to do first?"
Roman passed out what looked like laminated company ID badges to us, each with a stylized logo that said Hard Rocks and a large yellow number three across their width. I turned it over in my hand before clipping it onto my shirt as he indicated.
"This is our equivalent of an ess-see-ell card," he said as he handed the last one to Nix. "This gives you a security level that will let you go wherever you need and do your jobs. You'll be answerable directly to Mr. Richardson or myself."
"How does this stack up against the Props?" Nix asked. It was a good question since none of us wanted to take orders from someone like Schrader.
"Completely different chain of command," he said without looking at her. "Do you have any-"
"Hey Johnny," a female voice called out from beneath the archway behind us, interrupting him. I looked back and cursed under my breath because it was that woman Goya walking up to us. Roman didn't seem particularly pleased to see her, meanwhile she seemed absolutely elated to have interrupted when she did. I wondered if it was luck or just timing.
"Oh yeah," she continued. "Don't forget to tell them that you aren't the only one who relays Boss's orders, okay? Wouldn't want them to think that you run the place all by yourself."
I looked over at K'rth and back at Nix and saw the same expression. Was everyone here jockeying for a power position? Was it the heat or something in the water?
"One more thing," Goya said as she turned back and looked at me. "There's a show about to start and you guys ought want to see it. It's got the last guys that had your jobs."
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