The Star 19

In the ensuing chaos, while the still living Eclipse employees worked hard to play the good guys, saving lives and secretly disposing of evidence, Sonny sneaked off to a bathroom with a reeling Grant in tow. In time, using methods the young adept wasn't certain about, Cole managed to join him there. Summoning out Corvinus, he started playing some real shifty business.

Once he threw another wild disjunction out, Sonny got busy stuffing supplements into their faces. In a minimalist and somewhat reckless way, he brought Corvinus down to teenager looking while raising Grant up with Long Day's Night, coincidentally helping the guy recover much more firmly. Cole was around where he needed to be.

A part of his plan hit a small snag when he tried to use Corvinus to return the 'superior self' pattern the more experienced Corvinus/Regen combo had given him. It almost failed. But touching another aura through the Centerland soldier, he felt a strange connection to an artifact like presence surrounding his greater self, a spiritual area he couldn't reach. As soon as that happened, he saw the confident form he held on the VR Enigma Plains slap away the inferior pattern young Corvinus was about to give him and replace it.

He immediately went into a dive of supplements to dial the age 'appearance' back a tad. It was important that they all be seen around but not much past the exploitatively lowered majority of fifteen to sixteen. He had no desire for he or his friends to get 'too young to be independent'ed or 'too old to be top choice'ed into crappy situations.

To finish off the adjustments, he popped the one time uses of the two existence faded but still functional 'five gem' books for a beef up of Cole and Corvinus' supernaturally lacking physiques. By the time a Territory Affairs officer leading the sweeping team found them, what she saw was a collapsed and miserable pile of barely coherent or unconscious teens surrounded in poorly digested stomach contents and shed layers of slightly filthy skin.

It appeared as if they had been cruelly dumped out of recovery tanks, then used to dispose of questionable supplements and that's how it was reported. With so many dirty deeds to record and very little official documentation surviving, small details weren't really that important. Except that later, a few would for restitution but those details were controlled by Sonny's sly drawing of attention to them, both real and faked.

It was a simple thing to pass the nearly uncaring screenings of the Territory Affairs team. Sonny had his three friends say they were from the baronies outside of the colony and he was upfront about being artificially aged both mentally with VR training during induction and physically with questionable goods. They were more than happy to approve the subtraction of one less legal minor from their list of burdens, especially when he was more 'put together' than some of the adults.

His greatest challenge came in the form of jockeying for civilian colony management rights. Cassandra wasn't qualified and Rupert wasn't particularly up to it but Sonny forced him to step up. To shore the chances, Sonny helped him cheat a few tests and had Cassandra adopt some younger kids from the facility, alleviating the strained response team of their care. He wasn't the only one to see the opportunity but he was in a prime position to gather intelligence and help his mother and stepfather make smart choices.

The whole time that he was practically dragging Rupert, kicking and screaming into privileged responsibility, he was dealing with nearly daily short session meltdowns from his mother. He felt touched she cared so much about his perceived losses but it was also trying. He was being stretched thin.

He wasn't only trying to improve his family's situation, after all. He was also trying to open opportunities to himself and his friends. When he wasn't kicking Rupert's rear end, he was intelligence collecting in the guise of the helpful 'little boss'. With the assistance of his friends, he organized youth teams to streamline odd jobs and distracting mundane tasks for the officials. They knew what he was doing but he was proving proficient enough that they were amused, even mildly impressed, rather than annoyed with his brown nosing antics.

Sadly, he was neither the most efficient nor the greatest manipulator of situations at the facilities or colonial management offices. That title unsurprisingly went to Glenn. More than once, the young adept had to step in and provide a shunt for a shovel of misdeeds and damning questions to not land on Uno's or his groups' shoulders. He felt like an average high school student forced to play chess with a grand-master. There was no winning, only losing less horribly.

The thing was, he didn't necessarily have to play by the rules whereas Glenn had to toe certain lines as a representative of Eclipse. The man may have had the backing of his company as a 'Crow', an internal investigator, but he wasn't clear of local suspicion. Occasionally, Sonny found ways to distract the man and knock a piece off the board or move one to keep from allowing the man to maneuver some bad situation for the young adept to have to disarm.

The sad thing was, Glenn wasn't even really after him, he was only trying to pile blame off of Eclipse as possible while shoring company losses until the legal team could arrive. Dull Eyes even showered a little galling amusement and faint praise at him. Had Glenn gotten serious about causing him problems on purpose, there was no doubt how Sonny would fare.

After a few crossings, they drew an acceptable line between them. Sonny would only nudge here and there to keep his small circle out of harm's way. In return, Glenn wouldn't shovel any dirt in his direction faster than he could spread it out. After all, if the young adept got too desperate, there was no telling what he was truly capable of and that was enough to give the old monster pausing appreciation.

The only non-stressful part of his life during that tiring couple of months was his little brother Vincent. To help ease the burden on his emotionally frayed mother, he would volunteer to feed, bathe or even just spend some time reading and playing along with the toddler. It took some convincing but his mom and Rupert even let him give his brother a single ear piecing to hold an ear stud with a one dark and one brilliant gem chip in it.

Using his skills in secret, he made an entire set of jewelry to be given as birthday presents over the years, even some for a potential second sibling which made both Rupert and Cassandra smile nervously. Each was mystically locked with stronger and stronger seals that would slowly break down and steadily release the energy trapped within. In a code of silence, the two parents pretended not to notice the occasional bit of silt in the bath tub or the strangely appealing aromas that sometimes came from Vincent's plates, cups and bowls after meal time.

As the investigation drew to a close with order restored, Eclipse's restitution wasn't great but quality of life in the colonies improved dramatically. As far as individual compensations went, Sonny and his crew poured all of theirs into bucking for Alliance citizenship. They paid for seminars, tutors and even a few sly bribes to get through educational requirements. Glowing, if rather insincere, recommendations from the major in charge of the Alliance team, squeaked them by the sponsor requirements. They still needed gainful employment, however.

The answer came from an interested third party who was in the process of dropping off equipment and parts for the colonies. Due to Sonny's team having a decent spread of skills and abilities, Timbol Salvage was willing to hire them as independent contractors. Rental fees on equipment would be deferred for one active year, meaning active work and not in transport stasis. If it wasn't exactly generous terms, it was comfortable and unconfined. The catch was that the company assigned sites and took a thirty percent cut of hauls with a minimum rental fee that wasn't particularly cheap.

The reputation was relatively clean for a salvage company and they had corners in some lucrative but somewhat dangerous places. That was to be expected, however. It's not like there was going to be much valuable salvage in peaceful places. Alliance and Union government had direct claim on those.

When the transport arrived to take them to meet their new contract manager, the major stopped by to say a few words. "You boys keep your noses clean. I still think you would have bright futures in the armed services but not everyone is cut out to be soldiers. Damn my eyes for thinking that's exactly where you belong, though.

"Send a thank you note to my boy, Oliver, one day. If the little troublemaker hadn't cut his virtual training session early to go snooping in my study, we wouldn't be here right now. If I didn't think his curiosity was because he admired and wanted to follow in the footsteps of his old man, I would have tanned his hide a shade darker than it already is."

Sonny respectfully thanked the man for his consideration and guidance.

While the major walked away, he turned to Corvinus and said, "I know you've been sitting on the fence. I'm not going to be mad if you want to go a different route. You're just as welcome to stay. I'm only wanting to make sure you're not following me because you feel like you have to."

The ex-Centerland soldier gave him a small, pained smile. "I went into military service for the wrong reasons the first time. They might be different this time but they'd still be wrong ones."

Pointing at the young adept's chest, secretly referring to his spiritual connection to something within, he added, "I took a vow to serve and I get rewards, in a way, for keeping it."

Sonny chuckled, "I regret being so melodramatic when I rescued you....Don't get me wrong. I'm not mocking your honor or anything. I appreciate the consideration but don't forget to live for you too. This was never meant to be some kind of forever servitude type thing."

Corvinus gave a crisp chest pounding salute and said, "Duly noted, sir."

For some reason, the young soldier got some sort of kick over making him feel awkward with ill timed moments of overly serious subordinate behavior.

"He probably wouldn't act so weird around you if you hadn't had that dumb heart to heart with him. Some people are a lot more private by nature. He doesn't want to be understood... Which is kind of dumb too but it's his life," Cole said after the 'soldier boy' loaded up in the transport shuttle.

Sonny shrugged. "I don't get the feeling we're on the same wavelength sometimes. But if he doesn't want to be understood, I guess that makes sense."

The feline young man rubbed his chin and said, "Not to make things too deep before you say your third 'final goodbyes' to your mom but... There was this street rat I used to run with in Sek. He had a crush on the baker girl. I didn't get it because she was kind of mean to him but who knows? Maybe she gave him a treat on a bad day, was nicer when her dad wasn't looking or something.

"Anyway, some thug looking for protection gold was trashing their store and he got in the way of the the thug grabbing the girl. He took a couple of shanks to the ribs and bled out right there in front of her. You know what his last words were? 'You're such an annoying b*tch.' Didn't want her too feel bad about it, I guess."

The young adept was waiting for a punchline to the grim tale.

Cole rolled his eyes and said, "I think Corvinus is kind of like that. Knowing that you care about his feelings and stuff, he keeps a distance so that when he gets to go for his big sacrifice moment, he can tell you you're a d*ck or something and die without you having to feel that bad about it."

Unsettled, Sonny tried a hollow chuckle on for size. "Figured he'd be kind of 'sacrificial hero'ed out after nearly dying once already."

Cole shrugged back. He liked to act as if he didn't care that much. After he strolled into the transport shuttle, he sat down right next to Grant and then pretended like the guy wasn't there. Not that the perma-frowning guy was bothered by it. He was rarely talkative and had skin thicker than a lead vault when it came to being teased or lightheartedly picked on. It nearly drove Cole insane.

Cassandra lingered like a ghost next to the shuttle. Sometimes, it felt like she tried so hard to show her love because she wanted to prove it or convince herself. Such thoughts made Sonny feel terrible. He knew she cared but the false sense of distance created by the mental time spent in deep VR made it hard for him to want to reconnect when he knew he'd only have to let go again.

For her sake, he put on his loving and sensitive son face to give yet another emotional farewell. In the end, she had a family and security. She'd paid her dues and Sonny was the ghost of that emotional debt for her. Helping her to feel good so she could let go was the best thing he felt like he could do for her. She had a chance to live a relatively full life and enjoy proper motherhood with Vincent in a way she hadn't been able to with the young adept.

And although it caused him a sting of guilt, he was more than happy to leave them to it. It would have warmed his heart to have had the chance to grow up with Vincent and be that happy-go-lucky toddler's doting big brother. But, his presence was discord to that happy family image and an unpleasant reminder of painful things that weren't old enough for them to pack away. Yet, they were too old for him to feel the emotional energy to tiptoe around.

When the shuttle finally took off after the workers returned from installing a refurbished hyper pad salvaged from a dead colony planet not too far away, Sonny alternated between relief and self recrimination. Grant reached across Cole to give him a single shoulder squeeze. Looking like he wanted to chew through that arm until it was retracted, the young feline man took a turn distracting him by trying to deliver bruising pokes through the thick seat harnesses.

Catching the amused but slightly judgmental look that Corvinus threw them across the isle, Sonny stopped trying to horseplay back and said, "Raise your hand if you think you're the oldest person here."

Playing along, Corvinus raised his hand and so did the middle aged worker seated not to far away. "If you go off of parts rather than the whole, Grant is older than all of us combined."

The taciturn young man nodded his head in silent confirmation.

Flashing a friendly and welcoming look at the older worker, Sonny busted out some snacks and played at making logic twisting questions designed to produce surprising results, happily getting the workers involved as well. He wanted, craved the distraction. A new beginning was upon them and he was hell bent on not making it some gloomy affair.

And for the few hours shuttle and long range transportation took to get them settled in, he was relatively successful. Left with his own thoughts for the half hour prep to stasis, his thoughts began drifting to depressing and unavoidable truths, however. The vast universe didn't give much care to the fragile and finite lives of its inhabitants. World-side lives were brief flickers of passing sparks in comparison to those who traveled deep space. And for those who did, their lives and deaths could pass in a myriad of nearly meaningless and madness inducing ways with none to notice save the cold, celestial darkness.

***

In a deep, mindless slumber, the young adept's consciousness was stimulated by the washing of expanding energies that was followed by another. While his physical body was drawn elsewhere by a powerful force that should have awakened him, he was pulled further within instead. For a brief moment, he saw the great ocean blue star of a soul that represented his whole and complete self.

Surrounding that star was a ring of delicately worked artistry in a dizzying array of materials that reached into layers of dimensions his senses couldn't comprehend, only acknowledge. Faint echoes of blended spiritual essence ran along its magical circuitry, regulating the glacially slow release of its binding. He could feel the strengthening of connection between himself and that overwhelming existence and realized the importance of that strange ring.

He didn't know how he had gotten to that place within himself but he didn't know how to leave it either. And he could feel, it was very important that he left as quickly as possible. The strain of his presence there was a danger to him and the ring. If overcome, the ring would be destroyed with him following right after it.

As an extension of its purpose, it moved him towards a thread of connection leading from itself to the outside. Wasting no time, he latched onto it and followed that thread out through a hellish landscape of alien geometry choked with thick and violent energies. All the while, thickening threads of his connection to that great soul thrummed like strings on a music instrument, threatening to shake him apart until he made some symbolic distance again.