Chapter 26
TASK
SFS POLARIS
What the hell was that? Task wonders, sighing loudly as he weaves down the hallway toward the hangar.
It slipped off his tongue before he could stop it.
So much for a hard facade, for keeping a certain lightness to their relationship.
He’s mortified, actually, that he’s been incapable of keeping his emotions under control, this latest verbal outburst a clear indication that he needs to take a step back from Kit.
For that reason alone, he’s looking forward to going to Aquidium with Voss and Caelinus, assuming he can convince them. It would not be a small thing, though he’d made it seem that way to Kit.
Aquidium is largely unknown, a reclusive planet that keeps to itself. It rarely participates in Consortium convenings, nor is it particularly clear what powers Aquidians possess, if any.
Task has been only once, with Draven, almost five years ago now, just after Draven had officially named him his Hand.
They’d met with the governor, a small, spritely woman with blue hair that flowed down her back in waves, dressed in a slick green wetsuit.
She’d seemed unimpressed and unflappable, completely disinterested in the goings-on of the Consortium.
And yet, Draven had prioritized making a trip there.
He still feels he missed something essential on that journey, something unspoken that he should have picked up.
And it’s a risk, making an uninvited trip to a planet — a potential diplomatic incident — though Draven seems to be unconcerned with diplomacy at this point, solely focused on getting his hands on a Vitalis. On Kit.
Task has been mulling it over, trying to ensure that they don’t inadvertently create a crisis, while still getting Kit what she needs. And of course, there’s the question of Alexander Caden, Draven’s attack dog. He’ll immediately run to Draven if he finds out what Task is planning.
He finds Voss in the hangar with Caelinus, working on a Hopper that looks entirely charred on one side. “That salvageable?”
Caelinus grimaces, wiping his hands off on his trousers. “Not sure yet. We rescued her from a debris field south of Etharia. She took quite a beating.”
Task raises his brows, wondering how exactly Caelinus convinced the captain to stop to collect a damaged Hopper.
But then, he shouldn’t. Caelinus is a powerful Enchanter.
He’s always used that to get what he wants.
He shoots a look at Voss, who merely says, “It’s good to have an extra one aboard.
You never know when we’ll have need for it. ”
The way Voss says it makes Task feel like he’s reading his mind, somehow. As if he knows what Task is about to ask. He looks again at the Hopper, frowning. Caelinus clocks his stare, says, “Most of it’s cosmetic. Just had to replace a few wires and the air filtration system on the right side.”
“Right,” Task nods, frowning as he walks around to where Voss lays, hands still stuck in the belly of the ship. He shoves Voss with his foot and his friend scoots out, rolling his eyes as he sits up.
“Can I help you?”
“I need to talk to you both,” Task says, trying to keep his voice level but commanding. He knows he’s about to ask something big, and he’s tried to think of several different arguments he can use to persuade them.
Caelinus grins, shaking his wavy golden hair out of his face as he removes his oily gloves, dropping them onto the metal table next to the Hopper. He claps his hands together. “This sounds good. You have that gleam in your eye, Canmore.”
Task glances around the hangar, making sure there aren’t other engineers or members of the Force hanging about, potentially eavesdropping.
“Kit and I were researching —”
“You and Kit were alone together?” Voss cuts in, a devilish smile sliding across his face.
Task huffs a breath. “We’re alone together all the time. I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
Voss shoots a look to Caelinus, widening his amber eyes and raising his brows, as if continuing a prior conversation that Task was not privy to.
“When we were researching,” Task continues, trying to get the two Guardians back in line. “We found a trial from a Lumarian healer stationed on Aquidium.”
“Aquidium?” Caelinus cuts in, frowning.
“Yes, just listen for a second, will you? He used pagadium, a rare mineral only found on Aquidium, and combined it with pink salt. He was able to draw out a black magic curse, curing the affected patient entirely.” Task prepares to launch into his argument, looking between Caelinus and Voss.
Both seem to at least be paying him some attention, which is a start.
“Kit is working on a cure every day, but she and Oswald haven’t made enough progress. The ambassador remains ill, and now Knox is sick too. Since the quarantine ward was breached, none of us are safe. We need the cure more than ever.”
“What are you proposing?” Voss asks carefully. He shoves his sleeves up his forearms.
“We go to Aquidium to get enough pagadium for Kit to work with,” Task says simply, though this is anything but simple.
Caelinus’ jaw drops, and Voss brings a hand to his mouth, squeezing his bottom lip between his fingers as he thinks.
Task realizes the proposal is a bit unhinged. Well, more than a bit unhinged. Entirely idiotic. Risky as hell. If Draven finds out they’ve gone off-ship on an unsanctioned mission, they’re fucked. If they get caught stealing by the Governor of Aquidium, they’re fucked.
If they don’t get the pagadium, they’re also fucked. So really, they might as well give it a shot.
“So to be clear, you’re asking us,” Voss gestures between himself and Caelinus, “to break quarantine and go with you, to Aquidium, to retrieve this…pagadium?”
“Precisely,” Task replies, careful to keep his face neutral.
“We’d have to do this under the radar, obviously.
Get out without Caden noticing. Convince one of the healers to perform a Defendis on us all before we go, but keep quiet about it.
” He’s not sure what he’ll do if they say no.
He can’t go by himself — that would be a suicide mission.
But if he at least has Voss, a Time Warper, and Caelinus, an Enchanter, they have better odds.
Still tough ones, but better. “Think about it. Tell me tomorrow. But if we do this, we need to go soon.”
“I’m in,” Caelinus says.
“You’re sure?” Maybe he shouldn’t be surprised. Caelinus has always been an adrenaline junkie, and although he’s an excellent engineer and strategist, Task can tell he’s been bored and craving adventure.
He still remembers when they were at the Seminary, newly friends.
Caelinus had disappeared for four days, and turned up outside of Xaria with the head of a wanted mercenary.
To this day, he’s shifty about how it all went down, but it solidified his place in Draven’s inner circle, made his father’s position on the High Council unbreakable.
If Task has learned anything since he joined the Force, it’s that it’s the quiet ones, the thinkers, that have a sneaky bloodlust.
“I’m sure.” A sly grin spreads across Caelinus’ face. He looks to Voss. “Voss, you in?” It will be the first time they’ve gone on a mission together — albeit unsanctioned — since the Avernian Uprising.
Voss hesitates, his eyes flashing. He needs to be in, and Task thinks if he just says “please,” it will probably push him over the edge. But he waits for Voss to think it over, not wanting to unduly influence him.
“You know this is incredibly risky,” Voss says, slowly. “If we bring the Fever to Aquidium… Worse, if we’re caught…”
“I’m aware,” Task says, voice hard, trying not to give away his own anxiety. “But this could be what they need to get the Fever under control. And if it is, it could be what heals Remulus. And if that happens, we’re off the ship sooner. We’re back home sooner.”
Voss lets out a long-suffering sigh, which Task knows means he’s about to agree. “Fine, Canmore. You’ve convinced me.”
“Have I?” Task asks, still skeptical.
“Yes,” Voss says, definitively. “You’re my friend, Task. And you make some good points. I’ll help you.”
Caelinus pumps a fist in the air, and Task tries to stop himself from smiling. They’re going to Aquidium.
One day later, and Caelinus has managed to talk Axel Thorleye, a young airman that Task remembers from his time at the Seminary, into captaining the Hopper for them.
Task is almost shocked to see him here, the skinny kid with the blue-black hair who he was certain would not make it out alive.
Yet he's become a full-fledged member of the Nexarium Force, a decade rendering him almost unrecognizable.
No longer that skinny kid, he is tall and broad, winding tattoos crawling over his hands and up his neck, silver piercings dangling from his left ear and nose.
Task wonders what Caelinus promised him in exchange for this, whether Axel can really be trusted, but pushes the thought from his mind.
They’d sent a missive to the Governor of Aquidium, establishing their visit under the guise of diplomacy, though Task knows it was a risky move.
Word will likely get back to Draven at some point, but it was the most straightforward option given the circumstances.
They’ll leave late in the evening, when Caden is off shift in his quarters.
By the time he realizes they’re gone — if he realizes they’re gone — it will be too late.
Task lingers in the doorway to Kit’s lab, his fingers tapping the rosy stone in the underside of his ring, hesitant to make his presence known.
They’re supposed to depart for Aquidium in twenty minutes, yet he finds himself here.
He watches her leaning over a vessel of something that’s emitting curls of smoke into the air.
Watching her work from afar is mesmerizing.
It puts him in a bit of a trance, unable to pull his eyes from her.
He recognizes after several minutes that this is perhaps a bit creepy, and clears his throat.
Kit jumps, almost dropping the canister and putting a hand to her heart. “Task! Aaris. You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he grumbles, leaning against the frame as she moves toward him. “Door was open.”
“Everything alright?” Kit asks, looking up at him.
Task feels naked under her stare. He’s not sure why he came. Perhaps because he’s now feeling how risky this mission is. Wants to tell her goodbye in case they don’t make it back. “We’re leaving for Aquidium in twenty minutes.”
“Oh! Well. That’s great, then.” She smiles, and it lights up her features, makes her glow. “Thank you, Task. For doing this.”
I would do anything for you, he thinks as he looks at her, the thought startling him as it flits across his mind.
The intensity of it scares him, and he wonders if it’s true.
He wouldn’t really, would he? But he only says, “You’re welcome.
I should be getting to the hangar now. Keep this to yourself, alright? ”
“Of course,” she says. “Of course.”
“I’ll see you when we’re back. Hopefully it won’t take longer than a few days.”
There’s an awkward tension in the air, and Task doesn’t know how to cut through it. He suddenly feels hot, his collar scratchy around his neck. “Alright, I better be going.”
“You said.” Kit raises her eyebrows, gesturing to the doorway when he still doesn’t move from where he stands. What in Odite’s name is wrong with him?
“Right, well. Goodbye, Kit,” he turns on his heel, feeling a blush creeping up his neck.
He’s an idiot. A prize idiot. He shouldn’t have come here.
Once again, letting his fucking emotions get the better of him.
He’s in his head, berating himself as he steps towards the central vestibule when he feels her hand on his arm, sending both a jolt of pain and a flutter of nerves through him.
He loves it when she touches him, even as he hates it.
“Task,” she says, her voice catching in her throat as he turns his head to look at her. “Be careful.”
“You won’t be rid of me that easily, Hart,” he says, jokingly, though he means it. He’s not letting go of her.