The Fractured Empire: A Tale of Downfall

Chapter 59

We made little time hurrying back to our transport. In about twenty minutes, my crew and I were piling back into the hover bus.

"Leeet's see..." Boreas murmured, kneeling beside me while I got to work firing up our ride, "Will the on-board AI actually be helpful...?"

"Oh, do you require assistance?" the AI inquired.

"Um, yeah. Can you direct us toward the central hub on Ouro'Boron? We have a...meeting to attend."

"Ah, you wish to go to the central trading hub? I will gladly lead you to your destination."

Once again, I felt the controls work against me, so I let go of the steering wheel and leaned back. "That wasn't too hard."

"No, no it wasn't," Boreas murmured, "Howerver, we aren't exactly sneaking around anymore. Soon enough, we'll have hostiles coming after us. I just hope we'll be ready to deal with them."

"I'm sure we will be..."

"Hey, you good, man?" my old friend prompted me, "Not to sound like a prick or anything, but you've been behaving erratically."

"Yeah...I know I have been. Sorry...I've reached a sort of...impasse."

"I can tell. Old age is getting to you, isn't it?"

"I'm only thirty-nine."

"And yet you've been pursuing bounties since you were eighteen," Boreas reminded me, "You may only be thirty-nine, but this shit wears people out–hell, I've watched it wear you out. Don't feel bad for being tired of this shit: I only started joining you on your hunts less than a year ago, and I already want to throw in the towel . How the hell have you managed to do this for two bloody decades?"

"When I was younger, hunting targets was the only thing I was good at: after my father's death, I drew attention from people I would've been better off avoiding, but I was stupid back then. Mostly, I turned heads from those who were stiffed by my father's shifty dealings, so naturally these same people hired me to take out their garbage. Since I needed money back then, I happily obliged them."

"Things changed when you met me, didn't they?"

"Yep. Turns out, I was hired to kill your old boss by a disgruntled affiliate. Apparently, they didn't like the fact he wasn't sharing in the wealth earned by the blood of you and your friends."

"Ah. See, I never knew that. I just thought you were bored and decided to murder my boss in cold blood."

"Why did you think we got away scot-free? My client made sure we were able to get off Du'vuna without getting decimated."

"...Huh. Fair enough," Boreas mused, only to frown down at the hover bus's dashboard, "Alright...looks like we're getting close to our destination–damn, we wouldn't have needed a GPS to find the central hub. Look ahead of us, Cylus."

Following his advice, I couldn't help but agree: While it was hard to tell, it looked like we were in a major commercial district of Ouro'Boron. The buildings below were more densely-packed together, and several different holographic signs that hovered in front us advertised a multitude of goods. Getting past all that, what caught my attention was a massive clearing in the middle of this district. If I were to guess what would've been here, I would say this would be where smaller stalls and temporary businesses would set up and sell their wares.

However, this area was occupied instead by a massive crowd of people. A stage was set up before this crowd, and I was able to spot a few individuals on top of the metal stage. I obviously couldn't hear what they were saying, but I knew enough.