Sweet Venom Arc 04

"Well, I don't have any more questions for you! Officially, anyway." The smartly dressed lady on the other side of the video-call smiled, her scarlett-red curls bouncing delicately around her face. "So you can relax now, and please, remember to breathe!"

Liena laughed nervously and did her very best to do as the interviewer had said, inhaling deeply through her mouth. She physically had to force her shoulders down, but no matter how much she wrung her fingers together, rubbed her hands and fiddled with the elastic band around her wrist, she just couldn't stop her hands from shaking. "I-I'm sorry. Interviews aren't really where I excel."

"I understand, I used to be the same." The lady replied kindly. "I have to say, your CV was impressive. We don't get many PhD's out in nomad space."

"It's actually worked against me in other interviews. There's not much need for biologists with a doctorate out here, apparently. I'm overqualified."

"Oh, I promise, there's no such thing as over-qualified with us."

"S-So, you said you don't have any more questions for me officially... was there still something you wanted to ask?"

"Well," The lady busied herself, tidying some papers around her, as though she were almost a little nervous herself to ask. "Just tell me if this is too personal a question, I've always been more nosy than is good for me. But your doctorate, that's from a university in the Draconic Alliance, isn't it?"

Liena shifted uncomfortably, finally deciding to sit on her trembling hands if she couldn't control their shaking. "Yeah, that's right. I'm technically from the DA, I'm not a nomad."

"I was curious! There are more and more czarites coming into nomad space these days, but they're still a pretty rare find! I just... well... and please tell me if I'm prying too much, but... why did you leave? It must have been quite a culture shock going from the Draconic Alliance to this."

"Oh it was." Liena replied. "Everything's much harder out here, so much more... uncertain. Nomad's are a rough and ready bunch. When you're just walking around, I never know if I'm going to get shot or not. N-No offense! A-Although I will say, nomad's aren't quite the savages the DA made them out to be."

The lady laughed. "I can't imagine the DA is too pleased with the number of citizens they've been haemorrhaging in recent decades. It can be dangerous out here though, Liena, if you don't know how to protect yourself. Nomad space is dangerous for a single czarite on her own."

"Oh, I'm not on my own. Me and a friend left the DA together. She's been bread-winning ever since we got out here." She laughed awkwardly. Her fingers were starting to tingle uncomfortably with pins and needles, but at least the shuddering nerves trembling up her arms had ceased.

"Ah, that's nice! Two czarites, travelling together through nomad space. What an adventure! You can watch each-other's backs." The lady smiled.

She's definitely got mine... I try to have hers, I really really do...

"So, how long ago did you leave?"

"Only a few months ago. Although it feels like years. Current living situation is... a bit of a nightmare." Liena gestured to the broken bunk bed frame that was just in view behind her.

"Nomad life is hard. Apologies for the blatant self-advertising, but it's something we pride ourselves on at Synergy. We offer individuals somewhere safe, somewhere more certain to live and to work." The lady said. "Although I should warn you... turnover is high, for that reason. Staff live on site. Within our line of work, we travel a lot, much of what we do is highly classified and the work itself can be hard, with not much opportunity to visit family. Is that something that would be a problem?"

"W-Well... family, no, absolutely no issues there... but..." Liena thought to Seres. While this job, from what little she'd seen and what little the interviewer had told her, wasn't exactly perfect - she hadn't spent the last seven years studying her ass off just to become a generic lab assistant - she couldn't deny how cripplingly desperate a situation they were in. But she couldn't just up and leave Seres, not after she'd dragged her out here. Not after she'd supported this entire endeavour. And the lady was clearly picking up on this hesitation.

"Your friend?"

Lienna nodded uncomfortably.

"Well..." The interviewer looked thoughtful. "Listen, as I said, our company has a pretty high turnover rate. We have jobs going all over, from secretarial staff to security work."

"Security work might suit her!" Lienna blurted out excitedly, then blushed and looked down. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to interrupt-"

"Hey don't worry! We're just chatting now!" The lady said kindly. "We've got a station open day coming up soon. Like I said, we travel all over, but at the moment we're docked at a small planet not far from where you are now. I'm just popping you over the coordinates, one sec..." She tapped her long acrylic nails against her keyboard, the clack-clack echoing through the speakers. "As a potential candidate you'd be invited anyway... but I'm sure we could add a plus one onto your invite." She glanced up at the camera as she said this, her eyes shining kindly. "I've just sent you the email. Do you think you could make it?"

Liena's laptop pinged gently as the details came through. She slid her hand out from underneath her leg and did her best to move the mouse with a completely dead arm. Her adrenaline levels were still off the charts as she tried to skim through the details before her, and the words weren't registering with her brain. "Y-Yeah, that's fine!" She tried to say convincingly. "I'd love to go!"

"Great! I'll put you both down as attending." More tapping. "Oh, and lunch is provided, which it seems like you could do with." The lady winked at her, and Liena blushed red.

"C-Could you hear my stomach rumbling?!" She asked, horrified.

"Only as little!" The lady laughed. "Don't worry, that won't affect your outcome either. I'll send you another email in a couple of days with further information. Our station isn't publicly accessible, so we'll send an escort down planet-side for you, but I'll explain all that in the email."

"Great! I-Is that everything?" Please please please.

"Almost... It's just... Well, you didn't really answer my earlier question."

"What?" Liena panicked. "Which one?!"

"Don't look so worried! The interview is over now, I promise!" She laughed. "I asked why you left the DA. It's a big move, even for the strongest, most steadfast of individuals. There's definitely more career opportunities in the line of work you're looking for there... I'm genuinely curious, why did you decide to leave?"

Liena hesitated. She didn't really know how to explain without sounding like a complete conspiracy theorist. The whisperings, the articles, the old books hidden in the restricted sections of the local library... and the looks. The looks recruiters had given her at her university's career fairs. The way employers had caught sight of her, and in some instances completely cut off existing conversations to make their way over to her. Little, unsuspecting Liena with a folder stuffed with random sheets of paper between her crossed arms that she could hide behind if the crowds got too overwhelming. They would smile and spew straight into their sales pitches. At first she was honest, a straight-A student, the youngest student to be completing a PhD in the last thirty years, and in one of the university's self-proclaimed most difficult courses too, and they were so enthusiastic to have her. Too enthusiastic. She'd started lying as the day went on, averaging a C, might not even pass the year... and the enthusiasm didn't die down. They were all so eager to have her on board, handing her flyers with details, phone numbers, even personal emails in case she was interested. They didn't just take graduates, they had plenty of apprenticeship opportunities that might suit... Liena generally got an uncomfortable feeling off of most people, but this... this was different. There was something in their eyes, an edge to the way they were looking at her, and they were trying so damn hard to have her...

"I'm sorry." The interviewer apologised, jolting Liena away from her thoughts. "If it's personal, you don't have to tell me. Told you, too nosy for my own good!"

"No, no, it's..." Lienna took a breath. "I didn't like the way the DA did things. There's so much secrecy. Even companies in the public eye, it only takes a little bit of research to uncover horror stories, unethical testing, people up and disappearing off the streets... For all the DA has tried to improve its image over the last few hundred years, deep down, it's still the same cesspit that it always has been. And I don't want to be a part of that."

For a moment, the interviewer paused. Her soft emerald eyes changed from kind to... sad. "I... I respect that, Liena... I hope that we can be what you're looking for."

And finally, the call was over. After a polite conclusion of thank you's and goodbyes, Liena sighed loudly and almost melted into her chair. After several long minutes, her breathing calmed, and the feeling returned to her limbs. Still shaking, she stood up and slowly made her way outside the ship, where Seres was waiting. She looked tired, and was still wearing her merc uniform. But when she saw Liena, she smiled.

"How'd it go how'd it go?!"

"Good - I'm sorry you had to wait out here, it went longer on than I thought."

"It's cool! I didn't wanna interrupt." Seres replied. "Now tell me everything!"

"Well I... I might not need to. We've been invited to an open day at the station. You can see for yourself."

"Ooooh fancy - wait, we?"

"I-If you'd like to come." Liena stammered. "The interviewer said I could have a plus one. And they've got a lot of jobs going at the moment, I thought, maybe you'd... like to come with me?"

Seres thought for a moment, then squeezed Liena's shoulders gently with her strong hands and grinned.

"I haven't said no to you yet, I'm not about to start now! Oh this is great! Liena, we should celebrate!"

"I haven't got the job yet!" Liena laughed awkwardly.

"I know, but you've been working so hard recently... I think you deserve a break. We should go out! Get smashed, get laid." She winked.

"S-Smashed?! With what money, Seres?!" Liena stammered. Her adrenaline was building again. Going out, getting drunk and getting laid weren't exactly things that Liena was well-experienced in - or experienced at all in the latter - and she was desperately trying to push her nerves and inexperience down in front of Seres.

Seres raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Liena. We're czarites. We're hot as fuck. Trust me, we don't need money to have a good time."

***

Chapter 6 - Homeward Bound

"It really is you, isn't it?" Wex shook his head in disbelief, a deep smile betraying his feelings to the room. "After all this time... We really don't age. Although I can't say I recall the golden rings in your eyes."

"Nor the blonde in your hair and gold in your ears, captain." Diego chuckled back, thumping his brother in the arm playfully as they took their seats within a more secluded area of the café, raised away from the majority of the seating. A picturesque view of the moon through perfectly clear glass framed the scene as they sat opposite one-another, sinking almost shyly into the well-used red leather seating.

They both took a moment to get comfortable, shuffling about as the leather creaked beneath them, casting a quick look towards their respective crews who were ordering refreshments at the bar. An awkward undertone threatened to overwhelm them, both clearing their throats as hundreds of years of questions bubbled to the surface. It was hard to know where to begin. They both recognised the struggle within the other, and chuckled lightly.

"Do we, uh... start with the hard stuff? Or just...?" Wex asked with a shrug.

"I think I'd like to get it out of the way." Diego nodded solemnly. "They've taken so much from us. I'm not having the anxiety of that... day... looming over us and taking our reunion away too."

"Yeah. Sounds reasonable." Wex nodded in agreement, his eyes drifting to nowhere. "So... how did you..." His voice dropped until it was almost a whisper, "... survive?"

Diego shuddered in his seat, the corners of his eyes twitching.

This had to be done. As painful as it was to recall, the question needed answering.

"You know how the day started, just a normal, average day? I was in college, when the institute called us in for a 'spontaneous psyonic exam' before lunch. It's a bit of a blur, but I remember going into the courtyard and doing some drills... then I heard gunfire." Diego's fingers gripped the arms of the chair lightly, the leather creaking as he swallowed loudly. "I remember seeing students getting executed. Kids. Just shot in the back of the head. It didn't work on me though." For a second, Diego almost looked guilty.

"Wait, you were shot?!"

"...Yeah. Y'know how most psykers discover their powers offensively, spontaneous bursts of fire, explosive accidents and stuff like that, but I always specialised in defence, remember?"

"You mean like how you asked me to push you down the stairs?" Wex asked in a tone that suggested he might have still been bitter about it.

"Yeah, and I was absolutely fine!"

"And how I still got grounded, even though you told me to push you, and you were absolutely fine."

"Yeah... sorry about that." Diego chuckled dryly, before returning to a more solemn mood. "I... I had to fight my way out. Next thing I know, everything is on fire and... uh... I didn't know where to go. So I ran home."

"That was in the morning...? T-That means the institutes were where they started?! They attacked students first?!" Wex spat under his breath, his jaw clenching unconsciously. "Sorry, don't let me take over. I just... I didn't think a genocide could get any worse, y'know?"

"You're fine. Honesty is good. I'm relieved to see it's not just me who's still... angry. About this." Diego cleared his throat, his leg bobbing up and down anxiously. "So. I ran home as fast as I could. Everything was a mess. Must have taken me a couple of hours at least."

"You ran all the way from the institute? You must have been absolutely booking it!" Wex's mouth fell agape as he remained both engrossed and disgusted in Diego's tale. "Dad hated doing that drive."

"He always found city driving so stressful. But uh... yeah. I made it." Diego's hands wrapped around each-other, and he settled his fists into his lap. "It wasn't good. The front door was breached." His fists tightened, his claws pressing into his palms. "Mum was dead at the bottom of the stairs. I'm guessing she tried to stop them from coming in. The twins were shot dead in the front room, their cartoons still playing on the TV. The triplets were executed in their cribs upstairs. The house was the quietest I'd ever heard it. I never thought that quiet could be so haunting..." Diego's voice drifted away at the end of his sentence and he took a slow, choking breath in.

Wex gritted his teeth, holding back his own tears as best he could.

"I must have only been in there for a few seconds though, some of the neighbours came running in and grabbed me. Next thing I know, I'm on an escape ship with a few other people from our neighbourhood. I really don't remember how I got there. I think the shock of seeing... that, just stripped me of my cognition. I remember seeing our next door neighbour at the escape ship... What was his name? Yannear? He got all the stranded folks from our street together and got us on the ship, but they gunned him down before he could board. I kinda go blank after that... " Diego went stiff, his eyes drifting towards the floor. "He was a good man. I wouldn't have survived without him, I doubt. That's all I really remember of the day though... What about you?"

Diego's words were rolling around Wex's head and sunk through him like a red hot poker. There wasn't a way to be comfortable hearing this, but despite the unease, Wex gathered himself sincerely.

"That's... That's horrible. I'm so sorry, man. You... you really saw it all. I, uh... It started later, in the afternoon for me. The fire alarm went off in school and we all lined up outside, but something was wrong, we could see smoke rising in the distance and we could all hear the gunfire. Next thing I know, the teachers started fighting amongst themselves, the gunshots suddenly got louder and everyone ran for their lives. I was about halfway home when one of dad's work-friends saw me and grabbed me. I can't remember his name, I'm not sure he ever told me." Wex cleared his throat, clasping his hands together in front of him on the table. "He tells me it isn't safe to go home and he promised dad he'd take care of me, so I have to go with him. I failed to notice the past tense used at that point, can't say I blame myself though... We ran towards the factory where there were a bunch of others waiting."

Wex paused as he sought for the strength to continue, his own leg now jittering.

"We gathered up and made for one of the warehouses together, they had some cargo ships back there. As we swung by, the dude told me to close my eyes and look away from the factory gates... but..." Wex laughed to himself as glassy tears ran down his cheeks. "You know me! Never did what I was told! So I looked, didn't I? Dad was strung up on a fucking pole. They hung him upside down, cut his belly open. His skin was hanging over his face and branded with their emblem like a fucking animal. And not just him. Loads of the factory workers. Not a single. Shitting. Dragon. Might I add! Th-That image is burnt into my brain. I can never forget it, no matter how hard I try." He pointed a finger gun at his head, pressing his digits against his scales tightly as he snarled. "I will never forgive them, Diego. Never. The only grace was... dad was gone. Some of the others were still wriggling around, yelling for help, having to shout past their own fucking skin hanging over them. But dad's suffering was over."

Wex took another few seconds to compose himself, wiping his tears with a napkin from the table.

"I guess the surviving factory workers managed to route them or secure the area. They found some of the other kids too, and they bundled us onto an escape craft. It was some metal hauling frigate for the foundry. Dad's friends stayed behind to help and... I never saw any of them again. I... I-I remember as the shuttle door shut, the fire-bleached sky closing away, I could hear the dude talking to himself. He said, 'I got one, Marcus. I saved one of your boys.' And then the door closed fully and cut him off. Like you, it's a blur then. We made it to nomad space and... the rest is history."

The two of them sat in silence, just absorbing their feelings for a few painful seconds, all too fast yet agonizingly slow at the same time.

Words would never be enough. They both knew it.

They looked up at one-another as the pain of that day freely washed over them both. Despite the pain of remembering, a small smile found its way onto both of their faces.

The DA hadn't taken everything.

"For a second, when I saw you, I had this crazy idea that maybe even more of us survived. That was a good second." Wex chuckled awkwardly, scratching at the base on his neck. "But... hearing your account... There's only one unaccounted for. I know Elise was deep in the city when it started, so... you know."

"Well, if any of us could have survived, it would have been her. She had her head screwed on the most of all of us. If a couple of dumbasses like me and you managed to scrape our way out, maybe Elise is out there somewhere."

"Yeah." Wex smiled, blinking the tears away from his eyes. "Maybe."