Nine

"Now, my name is Knight Benjamin. No Chapter, no Order name, but you can call me Benny," the old man said, not removing his arm from Kon's shoulder as they walked through the halls of the dreadnought. Kon struggled to match the old man's long strides, the deceptive speed of the walk catching him off guard.

"Now, I am welcome on the ship, but…well I'm not encouraged to stay long. So, go and grab your gear and meet me in Hangar Bay 32-C." Benny slid away from him and into a lift before Kon could say a word, just left standing in front of another lift with Diur staring at where the old man had been.

"Was that strange?" Kon asked her.

"I'm not fully accustomed to human interactions but it seemed rather tense between him and everyone else," Diur said.

"Come on, let's go grab our stuff. I don't know who'd we even ask since it was Jurgen who released us," Kon said as they hopped into the lift and selected the correct level.

"Mathis?" Diur offered up as a choice as they were whisked to their bunk level. It was a short walk from the lifts to their bunk and even faster packing everything up. The holopad with all of the rune data was carefully put away in Diur's bag, though they had copied the information onto a portable memory stick that Kon carried on himself. It was a fairly basic, standard encryption memory stick, but it offered more protection than the cheap holopad did. Whatever it was that Jason Thierry had managed to convey had prevented their goods from being searched as they had boarded the Authority of Man.

Kon grabbed his personal holopad and quickly typed in Mathis's communicator number and called the older squire. The screen went black for a moment before it snapped into being, showing Mathis's face and little else.

"Kon? This had better be an emergency," Mathis whispered. There was a sense of movement and then Mathis spoke again.

"I'm at my meet and greet and just ran away from a bunch of Knights who may wish to have me squire for them."

"I'm sorry, Mathis. We got picked up by an old man and we're on our way off the ship now."

"Old man?" Mathis said, instantly seizing the part that had been worrying Kon's mind since Benny's arrival.

"Ancient. Looks like a piece of leather that got chewed on for a few years. Also, Jurgen was scared of him. Or at least wary," Kon said as they gathered up their duffel bags, slinging them over their shoulders. Diur wedged herself against him and looked over his shoulder to see Mathis's face.

"What's his name?" Mathis asked, looking up from his own holopad for a moment before ducking back down to their call.

"Just Benny. Not part of a chapterhouse or order he said," Kon responded. Mathis grimaced at the news.

"Independent knight and one who looks visibly old? He's going to be weak or truly ancient and the really old knights are dangerous Kon. Beware the old man in the profession where men die young," Mathis said.

"What?" Kon asked, confused as they left their room and headed toward the lift.

"Knights die on their feet Kon. That or they retire to the World-Ships or become trainers or shit like that. Active duty old Knights are rare. I've never seen any or heard about any. So either he's so weak that he can't afford cellular rejuvenation, or his body can't regenerate itself, or he's that damn old. And if Jurgen seems wary of him, I don't think it is an age thing," Mathis said. Kon felt a hole starting to open in his gut.

"Why can't I have ten minutes of peace?" The thought rang around in his head but the spark of excitement in his gut belied the lie he told himself.

"Alright, we're going down to his hangar bay right now. Mathis, it has been a pleasure to fight beside you. May we meet again," Kon said, a bit of sadness piercing through the excitement and anxiety. The older squire had been a good source of information and a steadying presence while they waited.

"To you as well. I am sure we will meet again. The galaxy is big, but the Knightly orders are small. Good-bye," Mathis said, snapping off the link before Kon could say anything else. He put his holopad in a pocket right as the lift settled down, opening its doors to let them out on deck thirty-two.

"Hangar C should be that way," Kon said, pointing to their left. Diur followed after him, looking around wide eyed as they were finally able to leave the small bubble of rooms they had been kept trapped in.

There were a multitude of workers dressed in different uniforms walking around, some on holopads, some with tool belts sagging under the weight of their tool collection, a few walking by in ship security uniforms. Those were the ones that gave Kon pause, a fate for all those who didn't become Knights. Internal security for the fleet was handled by the washouts. More than a few of the cadets and squires who had survived Crucible would be finding themselves in the gray uniforms of ship security in a few years.

"There," Diur said, pointing at the big red letter C painted next to a wide open hangar door.

"See you've been learning more than just the spoken language," Kon commented as they strode through the doors and into a nearly empty hangar bay. Only a single hundred meter long ship was nestled in the half kilometer bay.

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"That's his ship?" Diur asked in disbelief. Kon just stared at the rusting heap of metal that looked like it was being held together with thoughts and prayers.

"I don't see any other ships," Kon whispered, looking around desperately before glancing back to see if they had somehow entered the wrong hangar.

"They have me all by my lonesome," Benny said, appearing next to them silently again. This time Diur gave a little gasp as her head snapped toward the old knight, eyes widening in shock. Kon was certain he saw a glimmer of enjoyment in Benny's rugged features at their jump.

"Kids these days, y'all are so jumpy. Now, time to go. It appears that you were the only jewels in the pig sty this time around. Damn Knights all appear to have the tactical sense of a blob. Walk in front and get hit. Hit them back harder. Repeat," Benny said with a derisive snort.

He wrapped his arms around both of their shoulders and started toward his pile of rust that was imitating a starship.

"Sir. Is that ship…space worthy?" Kon asked slowly. Benny laughed loudly, a deep basso sound that rang out and bounced off the walls.

"She's the Puca, boyo. She's more than meets the eye, but that'll be for later. Her hull will keep you nice and warm, no worries about that," Benny said as he released Kon to pull out a small remote, clicking it to lower a ramp to the ground. Kon saw that the ramp's lifts were shining steel with a gleam of being freshly polished.

"How does something rust in space?" Diur said as they got closer to the ship. Kon swallowed as he realized that the ship wasn't rusted, but rather that there was a careful application of paint across its lean mass.

Diur saw it a second later and her lips thinned as she looked over at Benny. The old man led them up the ramp, not giving them time to say anything or talk to each other. Silently the ramp closed behind them, clicking closed with an audible thump of locking mechanism.

"Now, there will likely be a few questions and maybe some early hypothesis. But first, Diur, your ancestor bids you well and that you should study and continue your work here with me," Benny said as he reached to his thigh, a small tray breaking free of his dented armor to show a trio of memory sticks. The old man pulled them free and handed them to Diur.

"You know my ancestor?" Diur asked, half in wonder-half in challenge. Benny's smile never wavered as the old man stared at them with his warm brown eyes.

"We were closer to equals back then. She was a freshly minted elder I think when I met her. Opposing sides on that one. She was out of your home system for some tournament and was on her way home and had stopped at a refueling station in deep space the next time I met her. Lot less blood that time," Benny said with a wry chuckle.

"She's a hoot, Daniur. Full of piss and vinegar. Reminds me a bit of me when I was younger," Benny continued as Diur stared at him with challenging eyes. The moment he said Daniur, Diur relaxed slightly.

"The mail that was awaiting me wasn't what we needed, but rather a wait and be patient message from my clan," Diur explained to Kon.

"Yes. That. Now to you boyo. I know. All of it. Daniur witnessed what you went through and her curiosity has been raised and she's willing to lend you knowledge."

"Wait. She knows?" Kon asked as he looked between the old man and Diur.

"She's a B-Grade and you were doing this all nearby with her descendant where she was trying to ascend. Of course she knows," Benny said, shaking his head and making his mustache waggle in response.

"Now, onto our more stick in the mud comrades. We're going to keep this from the Inquisitors for now. They can be a bit orthodox at times." Benny turned and waved at them to follow him as he led them away from the entryway.

The Puca was a narrow ship with tight halls and few rooms. Kon looked around but everywhere he stood just looked like more unvarnished bulkheads. Then Benny pressed his hand against a piece of the wall and the door slid back noiselessly and Benny darted in. Diur and Kon hurried after him, neither of them noticing what exactly Benny had touched to activate the door.

"Are we doing something illegal?" Kon asked, worried about Alice's warnings of orbital bombardments and star killing.

"More like frowned upon. The upper echelon of our fair orders can be dogmatic at times. So entrenched in their own ways and power that they can be a bit hasty in their decisions. Better to have a fully realized product and methodology that can't be swept away and murdered in its crib. So to speak," Benny said as they entered a wide room with bolted down couches around a large table.

"This is the prep room. Currently you two are my only squires, but there's room for more if I find anyone interesting. Now, individual rooms are down the hallway on the right," Benny pointed to a blank wall. Kon stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out where the control panel was. Benny noticed and offered a sly smile before chortling.

"Ahh. Yes, that. Well, you'll figure it out when you need to use the head. Nobody likes a pissy pants now."

"Who are you?" Diur finally asked the question that had been gnawing on Kon's mind for the better part of an hour.

"Told you, I'm Knight Benjamin."

"I don't believe you," Diur said, her head tilting as she narrowed her eyes. Kon stiffened, ready for action if Benny took her words poorly. Instead the enigmatic old man chuckled.

"Points for that. My issue with the current iteration of Knights right now is they're more inclined to try to hit something to death than use their brains. I can see it on this one already," Benny said, wagging his finger at Kon.

"My generation wasn't quite the powerhouse that we are now. Had to be a bit more discreet than walking in the room and shaking your hips to show you have the biggest package there is," Benny said as he flopped on the sofa. Diur and Kon followed after him, sitting at the far ends of the U-shaped couch while Benny was in the middle.

"We required discretion to finish our contracts. That is what I'll be teaching you two. How to accomplish a mission without the whole damn planet knowing you were there." Diur sucked in a breath through her teeth.

"You're an assassin," she said, accusation bright in her eyes. Kon slid a bit further away from the Knight who had just bought his employment contract.

"Oh lass, I am so much more than some paid gun," Benny said with a shake of his head and a wry smile.

"He didn't deny it."

"Now, I have a few questions of my own that I feel you two would enjoy having answered. Like who paid those goblins to blow your ship out of the sky?"

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