New Friends
Derelik Region — San Matar constellation
Tanoo System — Planet V — Moon 1
Ammatar Consulate Bureau
4 September YC 127
“It’s done,” I said walking into Dovirch Anselm’s office. “Now, tell me where I can find Dagan.”
I was pretty annoyed by Anselm’s so-called mission — it made me feel guilty. I was sorry that I unknowingly killed an innocent person, but that was an honest mistake. The agent said as much but nevertheless he pressed me into delivering Mizara’s doll to her parents as if it was a penance. I deeply disliked the man and wanted to conclude my dealings with him as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Anselm deemed it necessary to regale me with Mizara’s life story, intermingled with many pauses and thoughtful stares.
In short, I learned that Dagan was Mizara’s tutor many years ago. He was the one who taught Mizara to pilot combat ships. For reasons unknown, or delicately withheld by Anselm, Lord Taphos and Dagan had a falling out after which both Dagan and Mizara had fled. They fell in with smugglers and lived on the wrong side of the law for a few years until Mizara was captured by Ammatar security forces. She faced severe punishment but Lord Taphos used his influence to obtain a royal pardon in exchange for Mizara’s cooperation. Thus, she became Ammatar undercover agent within the smuggler cartel. Anselm started telling me about Mizara’s exploits in that capacity but I had had enough and interrupted him.
“But what about Dagan?” I asked impatiently.
After a pause, the agent said, “Dagan was part of the cartel at that time. He and Mizara…”
“I am not asking about the past,” I said through gritted teeth. “Where can I find Dagan now?”
Another pause.
“I do not know,” said Anselm finally.
I gaped at him.
“You don’t? But you said you would help me find Dagan!”
“That I’ll do. I know a man who brought Dagan to my lord’s attention — an archeologist of some respect, by the name of Doctor Canius. I believe that his association with Dagan has been uninterrupted all these years. If anyone knows how to find Dagan, it is the doctor.”
Finally, something, I thought.
I stood up and said, “Thank you for your help, Agent Anselm. Please send Doctor Canius’s location to my navigational AI. Have a good day.”
Before I could leave the office, Dovirch Anselm said, “Please sign here,” and moved his datapad across the table.
“What’s that?” I asked suspiciously.
“It’s a mission.”
“What mission?”
“A simple one — you need to report to Doctor Canius.”
I blinked in confusion, “I was going to do it anyway. Why the mission?”
“My lord wants to provide an incentive for you to continue the investigation and find Dagan. Lord Taphos has… a personal interest in this matter.”
I wasn’t one to say no to a pile of kredits, so I shrugged and pressed my thumb on the sensor, accepting the mission. It had, I noticed, a six-hour deadline for the time bonus.
As if I needed any more encouragement to leave that place, I thought with a wry smile and went to the docks.
Recovery
Devoid region — Kisana constellation
Lisudeh system — Planet IV — Moon 4
Theology Council Tribunal station
It turned out that Doctor Canius worked as a Distribution Agent at Theology Council Tribunal, just three jumps away which I completed post-haste. The Tribunal resided in a magnificent gilded station which, no doubt, was intended to symbolise God’s glory. I squinted unhappily at the sun rays reflected from the polished walls and asked for a docking permission. The permission was benevolently granted.
When I entered Doctor Canius’s office, I expected to see a pompous ass who used his doctorate to obtain a sinecure at a distribution department. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that he was anything but. For one thing, he was a Khanid. The Khanids were less religious and more cosmopolitan than the mainstream Amarr society from which they originated. As a result, they didn’t treat citizens of all other empires as infidels who, at best, must be pitied and, at worst, must be “reclaimed”.
Doctor Canius greeted me with genuine interest and firmly shook my hand. I found him shrewd, energetic and (what a relief!) fast-talking.
“How can I help you, Captain Korff?” he asked when the introductions were over.
I briefly told the doctor a story of my investigation and how it led me to his door.
“Dead, is she?” Doctor Canius sighed and shook his head ruefully. “Shame. I was fond of her, and not in Taphos’s way, mind you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Honestly?” the doctor scoffed. “What do you think? That he was purely her protector and patron, to mold her and shape her for a life of dedicated service to God and Empire?”
“Um… So you’re saying that when Dovirch Anselm called Mizara ‘mistress’ he didn’t mean it as a title, like ‘Mrs’?”
“Of course not! Listen, I’ve been studying human history for a long while — after all, I am an archaeologist — and I can tell you that a platonic patronage between a ‘Lord’ and ‘Mistress’ hasn’t happened since the time when Reclaiming involved simply stabbing our heathen neighbours with pointy sticks.”
“Hmm…” I mused. “That explains Taphos’s ‘personal interest’ in finding Dagan. By the way,” I added innocently, “where is he now?”
“Ho-ho. Not so fast, my friend. If you want information, you’ll have to do something for me. Don’t worry, it’s really simple.”
I winced, “Maybe I can just pay you for the information and you will hire someone else to do that something for you.”
“I tried but all my previous contractors failed. I’ll tell you more — if you succeed, I will pay you!”
“Not so simple then,” I chuckled. “Okay, spill it.”
“Now we are talking,” Doctor Canius grinned rubbing his hands. “Look, you may think that I just warm a chair here but, in fact, I continue my archaeological research. Not far away, I have found a site which contains an artifact from some of the first Amarr space lanes. I hired several teams to extract it but each of them was driven off by pirates. I need someone who can stand his ground. Have you got a combat ship?”
“I fly a destroyer.”
“Excellent! For you, it will be a walk in the park. All you have to do is go in, get that artifact, and return it to me without dying. One more thing: are you any good with a Relic Analyzer?”
I remembered my time at Signal Cartel and smiled, “Yeah, I’ve used it once or twice.”
“Awesome! I’ll send one to your hangar. Don’t forget to fit it before undocking.”
With that, Doctor Canius enthusiastically shoved his datapad at me and all but pressed my finger against the sensor to confirm that I had accepted the mission.