The Hunters

[thisDerius]

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823 A.S. - Planet Cambridge - One Week After Gran Canaria

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Planet Cambridge had always felt like an enigma to her. It was a world of scholars, researchers, and intellectuals, where science reigned supreme over politics and war. The cities reflected this—a quiet efficiency built upon structured streets, pristine architecture, and an air of sophistication that made it feel disconnected from the chaos of the rest of Sirius.

Yet, beneath its cultured exterior lay a different reality.

The slums of Cambridge—the underbelly of academia—were just as dangerous as the lawless stations of the Omicrons or the criminal-infested worlds in the Border Worlds. Illegal experiments, black-market trades, and people who had slipped through the cracks of high society lurked here, living in the shadows of a world that otherwise prided itself on intelligence and progress.

Tia wasn’t here for the sights, the clean air, or the scenic hills.

She was here to hunt.

She had followed whispers across systems, chasing leads that had brought her to this place. Nikolai Arlov. He was supposed to be her next target, a link in the chain that connected Joker to something much larger than just a criminal empire. A name spoken in hushed tones, always with an air of caution.

She hadn’t rested since Gran Canaria, but exhaustion wasn’t an excuse to stop now.

---

It started with old contacts. Favors she had called in. A few bribes here and there, enough to keep information flowing without alerting the wrong people. She was careful with her questions this time—after what had happened on Gran Canaria, she wasn’t about to get careless again.

The trail eventually led her to a safehouse in the suburbs.

She approached cautiously, her instincts screaming that something wasn’t right. The place was abandoned. No recent activity. No signs of forced entry. Just an eerie stillness.

She swept the interior, finding little at first. A few scattered belongings, dust settling in corners untouched for weeks. But then, in a hidden compartment beneath the floorboards, she found something—fragmented data. Half-burned papers, encrypted messages, and personal effects belonging to Nikolai Arlov.

Tia’s heart pounded.

This was it. He was real. And he had been here.

But the more she examined, the more it felt like she was only scratching the surface of something far bigger. The notes contained references—half-legible mentions of the artifacts, of Joker, of a larger plot at play. It was all scattered, fragmented, incomplete.

Then, a realization settled over her like ice.

This was too easy.

The safehouse had been compromised long before she arrived. The information hadn’t been hidden—it had been left for her to find.

And she wasn’t alone.

She had felt the presence for a while now. A shadow moving at the edge of her vision. Someone had been tracking her since she arrived on Cambridge.

She needed to leave. Fast.

---

The information led her to a storehouse deep within the Cambridge slums. A place deeper than she had ever ventured before.

It was enormous, more of an abandoned industrial labyrinth than a simple warehouse. The halls twisted and stretched like veins through a decaying corpse. The air was thick with moisture, pipes dripping condensation onto rusted floors.

Tia moved carefully, keeping her weapon at the ready.

Every instinct screamed that she was being hunted.

She found more traces of Arlov—this was the place. But it was empty. He was gone.

Instead, all that remained were more scattered documents, a workstation with encrypted files, and a sense of something larger looming just out of reach.

She had enough. She gathered what she could, placing data chips and notes into her pack. Before leaving, she did one last thing—set the entire place ablaze. If she wasn’t going to get everything, then neither was anyone else.

The fire spread fast, consuming the abandoned lab in an orange inferno as she made her escape back to the surface.

That was when she realized she wasn’t alone.

---

She had been careful. Had taken a different route to throw off any pursuers.

But somehow, he was already there.

Joker.

He stood at the other end of the alley, just beyond the flickering glow of a broken streetlight. The fire from the storehouse illuminated his dark silhouette, his coat shifting slightly in the wind. His hands were casually tucked into his pockets, yet there was nothing casual about his presence.

She barely had time to react before a bullet snapped into the ground beside her.

A sniper. Arlov.

Joker’s voice cut through the air, smooth, unwavering.

"I wouldn’t resort to violence just yet, Tia."

She didn’t move. Not yet.

Joker took a slow step forward. Deliberate. Unafraid.

"Hand over the data." His voice was calm, but there was steel beneath it. "I can’t let you run around with it. You’re free to go after that. Or..." He tilted his head slightly. "I can scrape it off your corpse if that’s the way you want this to go."

His hand extended toward her, expectant.

Tia’s grip tightened on her weapon, but she didn’t draw it. Not yet.

"You and I both know neither of those outcomes will happen," she said, her voice steady. "And we both know I won’t be killing you today either."

Joker smirked. "I came here knowing that, Stormclaw. But by having Arlov as my sniper and you trapped in this alley, you thought you had the upper hand?"

Tia exhaled, lowering her stance slightly.

Then, with a flick of her wrist, several small metallic orbs dropped to the ground between them.

Joker’s eyes flickered in realization just a second too late.

A second later, smoke bombs detonated.

A thick, suffocating cloud engulfed the alleyway, swallowing them whole.

Joker cursed under his breath, stepping back instinctively. Arlov hesitated—his scope was useless now. Shooting blindly could hit either of them.

By the time the smoke cleared...

Tia was gone.

Not just from the alley.

Not just from the undercity.

By the time Joker’s men started combing the area, her ship had already left the atmosphere.

Joker exhaled sharply, staring at the empty space where she had stood. A slow, knowing smirk crept across his face as he adjusted his coat.

"I might’ve trained her a bit too well."

---

Tia didn’t waste time. She reviewed the data as her ship left Cambridge’s orbit.

Arlov had vanished.

But the pieces she had found... they pointed toward something much larger. Something buried beneath the chaos of Sirius.

She had to keep moving.

Gallia. That was her next lead.

And she wasn’t going to stop.