The Arcana Group: Discard and Draw

[Thexare]

While a gym facility is technically not standard on an Oasis, they're common enough they may as well be. Without proper exercise, lengthy travel through space could leave someone severely out of shape, and jogging through the halls is obviously inconvenient to the other passengers. Even the prison ships make use of gyms, both to keep the guards in shape and because a tired prisoner is a compliant prisoner.

It was also occasionally useful to settle a disagreement, as was currently the case aboard Rotella di Fortuna. Two men were sparring. One, a Kusarian man, 5'10" and 160 pounds. Masayuki was not a large man, but he was in very good condition and a trained fighter. The other one was a dark-skinned Libertonian, Oliver's chief of security Raymond Curtis. At 6'2" and 190 pounds, Ray certainly had the edge on reach and brute force, and was keeping up with his smaller opponent quite well. He had taken several solid hits, but was tough enough to simply power through and keep going. Masayuki meanwhile had been winded pretty badly by the one direct hit he had taken.

But in one move, Jacob saw the end. Ray overextended on a punch, Masayuki ducked just inside, and it was over. First a hard punch just below the ribs winded Ray, and as he doubled over Masayuki flipped him over his shoulder and pinned him by the neck. This was a familiar move to every one of the former Eighth Arcanum staff; Masayuki always favored a decisive counter.

"I'm impressed," Masayuki said, helping Ray to his feet. "Have you ever had any training?"

"Nah, but I've broken up bar fights at Bethlehem, Freeports 1, 2, 5, 6, and 9, and Aland. 5's the easy one, by the way. Aland, though, that one was mean. Kruger and BMM. Honestly got no idea what they were doin' there to begin with."

"Well, you know how to throw a punch. Interested in learning more?"

The fight talk continued, but Oliver pulled Jacob aside to a quiet corner of the gym. Security staff were lifting weights at the far corner now that the show was over, and Jacob recognized some of the kitchen staff on the treadmills. The exercise bikes were largely unused at the moment, though a complete lack of dust told him that either the cleaners were impeccably thorough or they were used by other crew.

"That was a quick turnaround on the Order. Something you're not telling me?"

Jacob sighed and shook his head. "Well you certainly get to the point, don't you? Honestly, I've been away from the Order for a long time. Normally they try to maintain regular contact with their infiltrators, or at least obvious monitoring. You know, 'we're still here, the all-seeing eye sees all', and so on."

"'The all-seeing eye?'" Oliver repeated.

"Some Order agents like being 'mysterious'." The tone he used for the word 'mysterious' was not a kind one. "Not that I can say much with my old fortune-teller routine, but my excuse is that was part of my disguise. So glad I could get a haircut finally. You spend enough time away, you start to question. Alicia first, she's always been suspicious of authority. Literally any authority. But I kept up with the news as much as possible. I have friends around the Freeports, reliable contacts. I was hoping to meet one when I ran into you, actually, Lloyd Black."

Olver nodded in recognition. "Aye, I know that one. Decent enough sort when he wasn't ticked off. Which he was usually."

"Yeah, that's Lloyd. Anyway, everything I heard pointed to The Order becoming more and more aggressive. More distant from their original mission. I had kept some hope of changing things, but..." He shook his head and sighed. " I can't fix that. It's too much. I can do field work. I can lead a small team. The Order is too much."

"Then what's your plan? Cut and run?"

Jacob smiled. "I remember the mission. As a part of the Arcana Group, we'll run defensive and observation operations." He paused, and nodded. "Athame. A good name for it." Seeing Oliver's look of confusion, he explained, "It's a ceremonial knife, in more recent traditions not used for actual cutting. A good reminder not to be too quick to strike." Oliver still seemed confused. "Something wrong?"

"Oh, I just thought you were glad to not be running the whole mystical occultist witch routine."

"No, no, I just hate having long hair. Such a pain in the ass to keep clean. And have you ever tried getting it into a full flight suit?"