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The hanger of the Cohort cruiser was not designed to accommodate land vehicles, especially not ones as large as the mega truck that was now jammed lopsidedly into an unoccupied shuttle cradle. All things considered Paul was proud of their parking job. Maneuvering the giant vehicle essentially blind was no easy feat, though they felt that with enough practice they could become quite good at it.
The truck's sudden arrival had caused a great deal of chaos in the hanger bay. An alarm was sounding and through the cracked and smudged windshield Paul could see a group of crimson clad cohort soldiers racing to surround the truck. Some had weapons drawn, others were speaking urgently into comms. All were staring in complete disbelief at the gigantic vehicle.
"Well so much for a stealthy entrance." Pyrrha said.
"This thing doesn't really do stealth." They replied.
"The shipsmaster is going to have a fit. These ship cradles cost a fortune and they take forever to install," Crown said, looking out at the bent arm of the cradle.
From outside they heard a voice yell, "Attention! Identify yourselves and state your intent! Be advised this is an imperial military vessel and we are authorized to use extreme force to maintain it's security."
Paul and Crown looked to Pyrrha. She squared her shoulders and stiffened her posture.
"Right, time to see how long we can play this." She strode over and heaved open the truck's heavy side door.
The soldiers all stiffened. A woman at the head of the group cried, "identify yourself and- oh!" She stopped dead when she saw Pyrrha.
"Stand down lieutenant," Pyrrha barked, sounding unusually gruff and clipped.
The lieutenant goggled at her for a moment then remembered herself and sprang into a salute.
"Sir! My apologies, we... we weren't aware you would be, uh, coming aboard."
"My presence here is need to know," Pyrrha said, "nothing you or anyone here should concern themselves with."
"uh, alright, uh, sir, I-" the lieutenant's eyes flicked to Paul and then to Crown where they widened in shock. "Is that-!?"
Pyrrha cut her off, "Whoever you might or might not think she is is none of your concern," she leapt and dropped the considerable distance from the truck bed to the ground. Paul and Crown followed. The lieutenant snapped her mouth shut but continued to stare at Crown, who gave her a winning smile as she straightened up.
"Now, we need a secure room and-" but it was Pyrrha's turn to be cut off, this time by an incredibly unwelcome voice which came lashing across the hanger like a sudden hailstorm.
"Oh of course it's you two, was it too much to hope that you'd both been ripped apart on the ninth?"
Paul's stomach clenched. Next to them Pyrrha and Crown both stiffened. They heard Crown's breathing pick up. The three of them all turned to see prince Ianthe Naberius striding towards them. She stopped and surveyed their group with a look of bored annoyance.
"Hello Sext, Duty minus Duty," she inclined her head to both of them with mock politeness, "and Corona, darling I knew you'd come sooner or later."
"I didn't come for you," Crown said, sounding a bit choked.
"Oh come on baby, we both know that's not true," Ianthe crooned, "you know I can always tell when your lying, even if you can't. You get all pouty and your face goes red."
Crown quivered.
"You can all scram." Ianthe said gesturing to the assembled soldiers, "go polish your swords or scrub down the galley or whatever it is you do."
Many of them looked uneasy but evidently no one was interested in disobeying an order from the Saint of Awe. They scattered, clearing the space in less than 30 seconds.
"That's better," Ianthe looked around the now empty hanger her eyes lighting on the truck crammed into the shuttle cradle. "Well you've certainly made a mess in here. Whatever happened to taking a good old fashioned shuttle?"
"We were short on time," Paul said. They were studying Ianthe carefully. She was putting on her usual carelessly bored demeanor but there was something distracted and anxious in the tilt of her head and the tap of gilded finger bones against her pommel of her rapier.
"Don't tell me you brought the whole Sixth House family reunion with you," she said, eyeing the door of truck.
"No, the oversight body is in a secure location."
"Whatever, no one really cares about them anymore. I never did and the emperor is a bit preoccupied at the moment. Don't worry we'll come scoop them and then rest of your horribly tedious house up eventually, but for now we have a whole ocean of larger fish to fry."
That confirmed to Paul the suspicion that had brought them here.
"So she is here then," they said.
"Who? Oh! You mean that thing you idiots let out? She showed up and caused a real ruckus all while dragging poor Harry around like a sack of potatoes. Didn't help that the crown prince was bobbing along after them making even more of a scene."
"So that's where Nav went," Pyrrha said, "how the hell did she beat us here?"
"No idea," Ianthe shrugged, "not that it really matters. You've missed them now anyways."
"What?"
"They're gone," she said, one of her eye's twitching, "John, Alecto, Harrowhark, and prince Kiriona Gaia, the whole blasted lot of them, talk about cursed family reunions by the way, they've all vanished off who knows where and left me dealing with the mess here."
Paul and Pyrrha looked at each other.
"Any idea where they went?" Paul asked.
"No, and I don't have much interest in finding out frankly. That's a mess I do not want to be involved in."
"Of course, that leaves you free to get up to whatever nasty little thing you want to here," said Pyrrha.
"If you think all of this has been anything other than a gigantic pain in the neck for me then you're sadly mistaken." Ianthe snapped back. "This entire thing is a complete nightmare," she momentarily sounded uncharacteristically petulant. "I've spent months doing damage control for the emperor's post betrayal breakdown, and taken point on the offensive on Antioch meaning I've had to deal with Cohort imbeciles everyday and now God's gone and completely lost it and fed Kiriona some line about being his cavalier so she'd open the tomb. Why? beats me to hell. All I know is now I've got to figure out if we even have the man power to send back up to the Ninth. I'd blow the whole place up from orbit if it were up to me but I just know John will get all weepy and sentimental about it. Not to mention the Fifth, Fourth, and Seventh houses chosen this moment to send official inquiries about the deaths of their house heirs. Like this isn't the most inconvenient time to suddenly start raising a fuss.
That peaked Paul's interest. "Official inquiries?"
Ianthe rolled her eyes, "Leave it to you to zero in on the least consequential thing. Yes, someone on the Fifth has got their undergarments in a twist about the whole thing and of course they've dragged the Fourth into it."
"And the Seventh?"
"Oh who knows what got them riled up. Septimus was on death's door anyways so why should they care?" Ianthe made a gesture as though to swat away the Seventh House's concern like a fly.
"This happened recently? Paul pressed, their mind was whirring around this new bit of information.
Ianthe huffed in annoyance, "look none of this is important right now nor is it any of your concern. You three strode onto my ship uninvited and now I have to sort out the ruckus you've caused. Corona!" she beckoned her sister towards her. "you're coming with me of course, but that leaves the question of what to do with you two. I can't just let you two gallivant around this ship like kids on a school trip. Technically Camila is a wanted fugitive and I still don't understand quite what you," she gestured to Pyrrha, "are, but you are evidently in league with the rouge Sixth House element so you've also got to be dealt with"
"I'm not Camila," Paul pointed out.
"Oh whatever, like it really matters. That's her body anyways and at least some part of her is mashed up in there. Good enough for me."
"Legally speaking, if there is a warrant for the arrest of the individual Camila Hect then it is now void since that person no longer exists." Paul took a good deal of pleasure in seeing Ianthe grit her teeth in irritation.
"No one gives a damn about the legal minutia, least of all me. I am an extension of the emperor's will, I don't need a warrant to arrest you or to kill you right now for that matter."
Paul's fingers twitched towards their knives. They hoped to not have to face off against Ianthe but it had been a known possibility when they decided to board the ship.
"I'm not sure John would like you killing me," Pyrrha said, casually. "I am one of his oldest friends and it's been quite awhile since we caught up."
"He's had some bad luck with old friends lately I don't think he'll mind, and if I toss you out an airlock what he doesn't know about it won't hurt him. But I am feeling especially generous right now so I'm willing to offer a less lethal resolution. Unless you're absolutely dying for a rematch," she said nodding at Paul.
"You fought Camilla," Paul corrected her, "you've never fought me before."
Ianthe scowled and Paul thought they caught the slightest shiver of disquiet pass through her. "Hectus, to no one's surprise you are a tediously pedantic pain in the ass. The point is I don't have the time or inclination to get into it with either of you. So my current offer, take it or leave it, is I toss you both in the brig where you'll be out of the way and you can sit and think about the gigantic headache you caused me."
"What if we resist?" Paul asked, putting on an air of polite curiosity.
"Well then I suppose I'll have to kill you, which I should probably do anyways but I just changed and I'd rather not get blood on another shirt."
"Not sure you can take both of us?" Pyrrha goaded.
Ianthe's nostrils flared, "Don't try me Spare Parts, I'm in no mood. You both have ten seconds to decide whether you're going to come quietly or make things difficult."
Paul looked at Pyrrha, she was poised, her weight rocked forward on the balls of her feet, her body coiled like a spring, her hand at her hip ready to go for her gun. She met Paul's sideways glance. They tilted their head in a gesture they hoped she would recognize as "stand down". She must have caught on because she shot them a questioning look. They flashed her their palm, "trust me," Pyrrha looked extremely dubious, but she relaxed the slightest bit, though her hand stayed where it was.
"I suppose we'll go quietly then," Paul said.
Ianthe's eye brows shot up in surprise then dropped right back down in to narrow her eyes in suspicion. "Really? no grandstanding? no dramatic wagers?
"It's been a long day." Paul replied. Ianthe narrowed her eyes even further, then she shrugged.
"Well that makes things easy. Now," she raised a hand and lengths of sticky, yellow adipose whipped out and lashed themselves around Paul and Pyrrha's arms, covering them from wrist to elbow and binding them behind their backs. "Just to ensure you don't get up to any funny business."
Ianthe marched them through the corridors and to a large lift. Crown kept shooting Paul anxious looks. They tried to give back a reassuring gesture but it was difficult with their arms bound. They all rode down a long ways in silence. When the door finally slide open two soldiers looked up then jumped to attention when they saw Ianthe.
"These two are high security prisoners," she told the guards. The guards were a bit slow on the uptake, both likely having not expected anyone to disturb their shift let alone one of the emperor's fists and gestures. They seemed to have been in the middle of a card game. One guard ducked down hurriedly, rummaged around, and pulled out a stack of paper from under the guard station desk. "We'll just need to fill out intake paper work for them and then-" "Oh don't bother with all that," Ianthe snapped impatiently, "B-but..." the guard quailed under Ianthe's acid gaze. They nodded and shoved the forms back under the desk. Ianthe watched and smirked as Paul and Pyrrha were both patted down. The guards took Pyrrha's gun and most of Paul's knives though they missed their holdout and both their decoy holdouts. Then they were bundled rather unceremoniously into a cell. "Well have fun down here," Ianthe told them, "I'll see you both never, if we're all lucky," she turned on her heal, followed by her sister. The door swung shut and they heard the lock click and whir into place. Ianthe and Crown's footsteps echoed away into the distance.
There was a beat of silence then Pyrrha said, "Not that I don't trust you to have a good reason, but why the hell did we just let her lock us up?"
"Because it was the easiest way to get in without a drawn out fight we couldn't be sure of winning. Also because getting out of here won't be especially difficult, they have these same kind of locks on restricted archives on the Sixth," they gave the cell door a tap, "this will take me ten minutes tops."
"You knew they would have the same locks on a military holding cell that they had on some old books back home?"
"Not for certain but it was a pretty safe guess. There's only been one supplier of high security locks for a few decades now, since the two other manufacturing plants were was blown up and abandoned in a planet evacuation respectively. So any new-ish lock anywhere in the nine house is likely to have the same design."
Pyrrah still looked dubious, "You don't think the two of us could've taken Ianthe?"
"I never said that, I said I wasn't absolutely sure we could. Avoiding a direct conflict is the smarter move, for now at least."
"Yo- I mean Camila held her own against her, while injured, I think you and I would give her a run for her money now."
"We could, I'd just rather not until we have to. Right now she's distracted and running scared, it makes her unpredictable and that makes her even more dangerous."
"True enough. I'd give anything for another herald bullet."
Paul nodded in agreement as they set to work on the lock.
"I still don't feel good about bringing Crown along," they said after a moment, voicing an anxiety that had been needling at them.
"Her being there probably went a long way towards Ianthe's lenient mood," Pyrrah said, "She's proven already to be an excellent distraction where Ianthe is concerned."
"Dragging her around like a piece of bait doesn't sit well with me,"
"Well too bad, that's the game, and Crown knew what she was getting into."
"Every moment she's with Ianthe it becomes more and more likely we'll lose her completely," Paul said, "and you know she's not capable of keeping anything from her."
"We Suffer wasn't an idiot, anything Crown knows isn't going to be worth squat to Ianthe. BOE are masters at controlling information. Even the highest ranked members know only exactly what they need to. And I don't think you're giving Crown enough credit, she's saved our asses once before."
That, Paul had to concede, was true.
They fell into silence as Paul continued to work on the lock. It only occupied about half of their attention so they caught the multiple sidelong glances Pyrrha made towards them. This was, they realized, the first moment they had been alone together since the tunnel on New Rho. It felt like a lifetime ago despite it in reality being less than 24 hours. They could tell Pyrrha felt very unsure around them. It was understandable but still caused a strange dissonance. They knew Pyrrha. They had months of memories of her, conversations, arguments, quiet moments. They had an amalgamation of two people's feelings toward her. But to Pyrrha they were new, a stranger carrying reminders of people who were now gone. There was a wall of grief and awkwardness between them that nothing but time was going to be able to dent. Paul tried to think of something to say. Something that might start to chip at the wall. Nothing that crossed their mind seemed quite right or like something Pyrrha would be interested in hearing.
"So what's the play once we're out?" Pyrrha asked after awhile. "We try to figure out where Gaius and the rest went?"
"I want more information about the Houses making inquiries about what happened at Canaan House." Paul replied, "Why it's happening now and who specifically is spearheading the inquiries. It's a delicate business but if people in other houses are questioning things it might be in the former Sixth House's interest to make contact with them."
"That's a risky game that might not lead anywhere," said Pyrrha, "It can't possibly be worth fucking around in restricted areas of a high security Cohort ship. We came here for Harrowhark and to assess the..." She paused, "situation. Getting sidetracked now opens us up to a lot of unnecessary risk."
"It's very hard to make contact with anyone from the installation without risking giving away our position. We have almost no information on what's been going on with the other Houses since we left. I promise I wouldn't take the risk if I didn't think it was important."
"And if we get caught and bring Ianthe, plus every Cohort solider on the ship down on ourselves before we even have a chance to complete our original objective?"
"Didn't you just say you thought we could take Ianthe?" Pyrrha gave them an annoyed look, "We'll be careful," Paul promised, "We'll just slip in and out and then get back on our way."
Pyrrha grimaced, "Fine, but if things look like they're going wrong we bail immediately and refocus."
"Deal,"
Paul almost had the lock, a few more clicks and they felt the mechanism give way. "There, the Cohort should really invest in some more robust security."
"If Ianthe really wanted us to stay put she would have put up wards and shackled us at the very least. She's either losing her edge or she wants us out."
"Or she's just arrogant and thinks it doesn't matter if we escape." Paul mused. "Either way it works in our favor, now lets go."
There was no one outside of their cell. They moved cautiously down the corridor, on high alert for guards, but they encountered none until they reached the two stationed near the lift. There was no way to sneak around with out them noticing but they had their backs to the hallway and hadn't seen them yet. Paul and Pyrrha paused and looked at each other. Pyrrha nodded to the one closest to her then gestured to herself. Paul nodded back. They crept up together, matching each other's movements. With another nod they struck in unison. Paul clapped one hand around the guard's mouth and the other around their chest. They struggled but in the same moment Paul sent a surge of neurotransmitters through their nervous system, momentarily overloading it, they made a muffled gasping sound then went limp. They eased the guard to the ground and turned to see Pyrrha letting the other guard drop in a heap. She seemed to have taken the more traditional route and chocked them out.
"Here, we'll lock them in there," Paul said, holding up one of the guard's key rings and gesturing to a nearby cell.
"That puts us on a time limit before they're found and raise the alarm. Would be smarter to just take them out,"
"I would rather not, I'd like to avoid killing if it's not strictly necessary." Paul replied, Pyrrha grimaced.
"This isn't really the time for principles, it's not pleasant but that's the way it goes." She looked at Paul then threw up her hands. "whatever, we'll waste more time arguing about it."
Once the guards were safely locked away they retrieved their weapons then called the lift.
"Any idea what floor official documents would be stored on?" Paul asked Pyrrha as they looked at the bank of buttons for each floor.
"Why would I know? We never had ships like this in my time. A higher floor probably, wherever the officers have their meeting rooms and offices. Guess it was too much to hope there would be a directory in here,"
"If any floor is going to have a map it'll be the hanger floor, lets head back there." Paul reasoned.
"Good thinking," Pyrrha hit the button for the eight floor. The lift glided up. They braced as the door slid open, on alert for anyone who might be around, but the corridor was deserted. Sure enough they found a floor directory near the lift. Paul scanned it until they found the "high command offices" on the tenth floor.
"Seems like a likely place to start with," they said, tapping the label. They rode the lift up again and again found an empty corridor. There was a sign with an arrow pointing them towards the offices. They started down in that direction. At the end of the corridor they took a right following another sign. They were halfway down that corridor when they heard a sudden commotion a ways away. The sound of voices and a general sort of cacophony reached them from a corridor to their right. They paused.
"That sounds like Alecto," Pyrrha said, cocking her head to listen,
They looked at each other, suddenly caught between the reason they had made this dangerous trip in the first place and their new objective.
"Go," Paul said, gesturing towards the voices, "see if you can get eyes on Harrow. I'm still going to go ahead and see what intel I can get. This might be the best distraction we are going to have."
Pyrrha looked like she very much wanted to argue but she held off, "watch yourself, if things go completely south do whatever you can to extract yourself. Don't worry about coming for me, just get out."
"Right," Paul replied, largely to humor her. "let's try to rendezvous back in the hanger in an hour." Pyrrha nodded. They parted ways with a general air of unease, neither of them seeming especially confident in their chances.