Chapter 78: Delivery

"Lus," Sous Chef Crrn said, stepping up to the counter where he worked.

"Yes, Chef?"

"Put together a tray with soup from last night and salt crackers. Senator Grwtln's grandson Trwq isn't feeling well, but he needs food dropped off," Crrn ordered.

"Yes, Chef. I'll do that immediately." He dropped the rag back in the bucket and turned to the large nitrobox. Will the golem be delivering it?"

"No. The golem has other tasks. You'll take it to him. I trust you know where to go?"

Lus nodded. "Of course, Chef." All employees were required to memorize the manor's layout, including whose room was whose.

Lusac heated up the soup in the microwave and then set the bowl, some crackers, and a glass of water on the small tray before covering it with a metal protector. He was almost out the door when Crrn cleared his throat.

"Apron," the sous chef reminded him.

With a sigh, Lus found a stable place to set his tray and then pulled the apron off and ran it back to its appropriate spot at the hook near the other door. He didn't understand why they couldn't wear their aprons outside of the kitchen, especially when he was getting pulled to do something in the middle of cooking, but he had long since learned to stop complaining during his time as a servant.

It was strange to think that it'd already been three weeks of this work, and Lus found himself in a comfortable rhythm, even during his shifts working as a waiter instead of a cook. It helped that he and the others were done with all their punishment cleaning received during training, so he had a lot more free time during the day to work on his real mission of scouting for the artifact.

Despite the numerous hours he'd given to secretly scouring the mansion, he had yet to locate the piece, and given Vlqtrn's equal lack of success, he was starting to doubt that the artifact was here at all. He didn't know how they got the intel about the piece being in Grwtln's collection, but he believed it must have been a faulty source, something that made him a little bit angry after all the time he'd been wasting here when he should be back on the Argo doing something important and meaningful rather than cooking for the upper class.

With his tray back in hand, Lus stepped out into the grand hallway and quickly made his way towards the stairs. Trwq's room was on the third floor in the right wing of the manor, a solid ten minute walk away with all the stairs involved.

Lus passed other servants as he went, but he paid no mind to any but the security, his mind always mentally mapping out how often he passed the uniformed mercenaries. Knowing their schedule and general layout would be important when it came to get the artifact out, assuming they ever found it.

Even if they didn't, he and Vqltrn would want some kind of quiet escape plan of their own to avoid drawing attention to the fact that they were both hidden Runners.

He also kept his eyes out for the mysterious cleaning woman Shelbs. He hadn't confessed the entirety of the situation with her to Vlqtrn during one of their few exchanges, but he had warned his teammate that there was a timer on this mission in which he couldn't predict when things would come to a sudden and explosive end.

Fresa-Ersht's faithfully [Invisible] guards were still around too, and that cut into Lus's plans as well since he couldn't always sneak off when he wanted to without being caught by one of them. Xllq had fulfilled her promise to keep an eye on him, so it was typically only in the evenings or early mornings that he got to make his excursions out to the hallways in his cleaning disguise.

Thinking of everything that was covertly happening in the mansion, Lus again thought of his unfinished [Quest]. Since he hadn't run into any new secrets since Shelbs' reveal, he still hadn't completed it, and that worried him. What more could be hiding in this building, and how was it going to affect the mission? All he wanted was a stupid pottery piece anyway. Why did this have to become so complicated?

His inner musings were cut short as he reached Trwq's door. He hushed his thought monologue and focused on maintaining perfect decorum while in the presence of one of the oh-so-important household members.

Straightening his shoulders, Lus held the tray in one hand and knocked on the door with the other.

A hoarse "come in" sounded from the other side, and Lus opened the door and slipped into the bedroom.

"Your soup, sir," he said to the young Kremel still laying in his bed.

"Oh good. Wentworth said he would send for some. Bring it here."

Lusac did as he was told, carefully walking across the fancy carpet with both hands planted firmly on the tray. He was not going to spill. He reached the large bed and gently slid the tray onto the Kremel's lap as he sat up.

Lus pulled the tray cover away, revealing the small meal, and Trwq's grin turned to disgust.

"What is this?" he exclaimed, digging the spoon into the soup. "I wanted Creme Soup, not this garbage."

"I'm sorry, sir. This is the only soup we have on hand. If you'd like, we can make the other one, but it will take more time."

"I refuse to wait. Send someone with the correct food immediately." Trwq picked up the soup bowl and threw it at Lus, dousing him with the steaming broth. "And take this trash with you."

Simmering with rage, Lus picked up the fallen bowl and set it on the tray as he pulled it from the spoiled Kremel's lap. He was at the door when he heard the boy on his comm unit, speaking to his personal assistant.

"Wentworth, send a cleaner. The kitchen boy made a mess in my room."

Lus gripped the tray so tightly his knuckles turned white. If he didn't have that blasted mission to worry about, he'd teach that brat a thing or two. He was only halfway down the corridor when he bumped into one of the cleaning people he rarely paid attention to.

"Should have known it was you. You are always there when problems arise, huh?"

Lusac glanced back to see that he'd run into Shelbs all geared up and on her to where he'd just come from. "Ha. You're funny. Good luck with that one, by the way. He's in a really good mood today."

"Oh, I'm sure." She remained where she was, facing Lus as though she meant to continue chatting with him even if he was drenched in soup. "How is your side project going anyway?"

Lus scanned the hallway, his eyes briefly passing several security cameras. "Fine. How's yours? It's been a while since we got to catch up."

"It's alright. Still waiting for the right moment to present itself, you know?"

He nodded as he stepped closer, lowering his voice to barely a whisper. "You don't happen to have a timetable of some kind, do you? I'm a little stressed just trying to finish my project before you finish yours since we both know yours is going to cause a real mess around here."

Shelbs smiled. "You're exaggerating. My target isn't going to cause that much of a fuss, not in this mansion at least. Our tasks don't have as much overlap as you think, thief boy." She waved at him. "It was good seeing you, but I should get going. Wouldn't want our managers to think we're slacking, now would we?"

Lusac waved back as he returned to walking down the corridor, his mind replaying their whispered conversation over and over. What did she mean by that? If she wasn't after Senator Grwtln, who could she be here for? None of the Senator's family members were powerful outside of their connection to him, according to Fresa-Ersht at least.

He returned to the kitchen the tray, and Crrn gave him a dubious look, taking in the empty soup bowl and Lus's wet uniform.

"I take it Trwq wasn't interested in the Kechin Broth then?" the sous chef asked.

"No. He wants Creme Soup, and he wants it now, even though I told him we'd have to make it up and that would take time." Lus set the tray next to the sink with the other dishes to be washed. "So I'm not sure what you want to do about that. He didn't seem in a waiting mood."

Crrn chuckled. "I'll show you an old trick I learned at my first ever job serving a politician's family." The sous chef went to the stuffed pantry, reached up to the top shelf in one corner, and returned to Lus with a can of Creme Soup.

"Won't he notice that it's not fresh?" Lusac asked.

The Kremel laughed again. "Whatever these guys like to pretend, their palates aren't that refined, especially if he's sick. I'll get this heated up and then send someone else with it. You should clean up before we need to prep for dinner."

"Yes, Chef." Lusac ducked his head in appreciation and started towards the door just as his [Sixth Sense] went off and Fresa-Ersht entered the room.

"Good timing, Fresa. I have a job for you," Crrn said.

Lus exited into the hallway and silently laughed at her poor fortune, knowing how often she complained about actually having to do the "degrading" tasks like serving the food instead of just making it. Who knew? She might even run into Shelbs on her way and that would…

He stopped walking. Shelbs… Fresa…

Shelbs had said that whoever she assassinated wouldn't cause big problems in this mansion, which implied there was a mansion out there which would mourn the passing of whoever she killed.

A mansion like the one Fresa-Ersht lived in back on Quosh with her mother who was some important representative.

Of course. It all clicked in his head. Shelbs was here to kill Fresa-Ersht, not the Senator.

The problem was that Shelbs didn't know that Fresa had a whole team of [Invisible] bodyguards trailing her every move. But even then, if Shelbs was as good at her job as she led Lus to believe, maybe she did know that.

Suns, maybe she didn't even need to know that. Maybe she would be able to complete her job anyway. And if Fresa died, those guards would look to him as the problem.

Worse still, he'd lose a friend. He'd had a hard enough time justifying the coldblooded murder of a Senator he had no opinion of, but could he really stand by while someone he called friend was killed when he had the power to prevent it?

With these thoughts whirring through his head, Lusac changed directions. He would catch up to Fresa on her way to Trwq to escort her there and keep Shelbs from having a clean shot. Not that he believed the woman was going to not take her shot just because he was there, but he did have [Dash], and if worse came to worst, he could always signal the [Invisible] guards for help.

His [Quest] hadn't completed itself at his realization of Shelbs' true target, but he chose to believe that was because there were other secrets out there, not because he'd made a mistake in his logic.

Lusac strode through the hallways quickly and with purpose. He'd have to be careful if he wanted to save Fresa and keep himself alive all while not revealing Shelbs. If she got caught, he had no doubt that she'd turn him over too. Somehow this whole thing had become an even bigger mess, and as stupid as it was, Lus was going to dive head first into it, regardless of the outcome.