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Except, one spot was empty.

Amal stared at it listlessly as the others talked about their future, and where they were headed.

“Are you absolutely sure no-one can eavesdrop on us here?” asked Claire. “Been extra paranoid since that Lucifer person told us that the Peacekeepers were surveilling us. And I know what kind of equipment they’re likely using.”

“I am 99% certain,” replied Miko. “My drones have swept through everything.”

“You said they found a bunch of devices, right?”

Miko nodded a single nod.

“Hai,” she said. “Over one hundred separate surveillance devices. A few are nanoscopic in nature, and virtually impossible to detect without special equipment.”

The sheer number Miko reported absolutely staggered the other Ravens. Half of them shook their heads in disbelief. Xylo and Claire were both particularly disappointed with what they were hearing.

.....

Both were born and grew up in the Federation, on Helios itself. Most of the Federation did. In any case, both had always seen and experienced easy, conflict-free lives for most of it. All they saw was the abundance that the Federation provided its citizens.

But knowing the full extent of the Federation’s encroachment on everyone’s lives... And combined with their unjust laws, warmongering, and profiteering, the two had grown to become wholly disillusioned with the nation.

They were certainly ready for things to change.

“By the way,” added Miko, “I did not disable any of the devices. Instead, I have intercepted their storage and signals, and have injected some code that alters it.”

“Wait, you’re saying there’s still a hundred or so devices in here, right now?” Kali said.

Miko nodded again.

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“Unfortunately, the Federation has a lot of powers it can extend,” said Claire. “Especially against felons like Eva. That means anyone she knows gets put under the microscope, too.”

“Which means us, I guess,” said Kali.

“Hold on,” Xylo interjected. “You knew the Federation does this sort of thing? And you never once thought – hey, this sounds bad. Maybe I should say something?”

Claire was immediately taken aback. And she got defensive as a result.

“I-I did know,” she said. “But I never thought it was this intrusive until now. When I saw it applied, it was with hard criminals. Killers and rapists and thieves. They were connected to other killers and rapists and thieves, so the surveillance worked. Really well. I just didn’t realize that it affected others too. People like us.”

“Oh, and that makes your ignorance okay, then?” Xylo shot back.

“You didn’t know until now, either! And it’s not like you’re much better – you’ve killed people at the behest of the Navy. Did you know if they were guilty of anything before you offed them? Or did you just do what you were told because you thought it was the right thing?”

It was Xylo’s turn to be taken aback.

And what Claire said rang true to her to some degree – there were times when she thought that her orders weren’t on the up-and-up. But she did them anyway. In the end, she did one too many and ended up leaving the service.

But she didn’t do anything to change things, either.

“Let’s all calm down, alright,” said Amal. Her voice was soft and soothing, and helped calm the other two down greatly.

“There’s no need for us to fight,” she continued. “Especially over the Federation. They’re corrupt, alright? I think we can all agree on that now. No use saying we could’ve done something about it, when the reality is none of us can do anything. We’re tiny compared to it.”

Xylo and Claire looked down in shame, then at each other. They had all been in life or death situations, and no-one else had their back more than each other. They realized that their defensiveness was a result of their own guilt over inaction. And that they took it out on each other for no reason at all.

The two quickly made up and apologized for losing their collective cool.

“What next?” asked Kali. “Do we trust Lucifer and go with the plan she suggested?”

“I do not believe they are completely trustworthy,” said Miko. “However, they have certainly lived up to their part of the bargain and freed Eva. That must account for something, neh?”

“And we did sign a contract with her,” added Amal.

“Sure, but who’s gonna enforce it?” asked Claire. “The Federation?”

The others quickly grimaced at the prospect. Even if Lucifer decided to renege on the contract, there was no way they could follow up on it. If ze decided to simply take their money and fly to the opposite end of the galaxy, they would be utterly powerless to respond.

It wasn’t as though they could approach the Peacekeepers to demand justice. What would they even say?

“Hello, the contractor we hired to forcibly and illegally remove our friend from your custody has refused to perform their end of the bargain. We are beginning the process of suing for breach of contract, please assist us in their arrest.”

The idea itself was utterly absurd. How they fell into the debacle was curious, too. Lucifer seemed to be extraordinarily persuasive in person.

“Like it or not, we gotta trust her,” said Kali. “And honestly, I trust her way more than I trust the Federation. And that’s not just the remnants of my ‘education’ talking.”

“I really don’t know who to trust right now, honestly,” said Xylo.

“If anyone, trust in us,” said Amal. “We’re always here for each other, and you can count on that.”

The others quickly agreed with Amal using nods and murmurs and smiles. Claire playfully nudged her with an elbow.

“I do trust all of you,” Xylo replied. “I’m more hung up on the rest of the galaxy... Anyway, what’s the plan? How’re we gonna get rid of the Peacekeepers? Or, at least, how’re we gonna stop them from following us all over the galaxy?”

“We can do as Lucifer suggested,” said Miko, “and simply live boring lives for a while. They will lower their guard, and we can slip away while they’re not looking.”

“That’s gonna be tough no matter what, since they, you know... with Amelia,” Amal replied.

“Not only that, but what about after?” asked Xylo. “Do we end up in marauder country? Live out our lives as renegades? I’m definitely not staying in the Federation after all this, but not sure living the raider life is what I want, either.”

“I don’t think any of us want to either,” said Claire. “But we can figure it all out after we get Eva back. Then we can vote on it properly.”

The others murmured in agreement.

“I suggest we split into two teams,” said Miko. “This will cause the Peacekeepers to also use more resources on their end. I personally wish to find ways into their databanks, so I can attempt to manipulate their information.”

“I’m definitely helping you with that,” said Xylo.

“I’ll do the boring work,” said Amal. “You know, like chat with contractees, explain why our services are... a bit frozen. Possibly indefinitely.”

She sighed deeply after she spoke.

Breaking ties was the last thing she wanted to do, but it was the best thing to do. Not just to make sure any open contracts were closed amicably, but to lower the Peacekeeper’s guard, too.

“I’m going with you,” said Claire. “I’ll take care of the paper. You just convince them to stay nice.”

“I suppose I’ll be your security detail,” said Kali with a grin. “No way are we gonna let the two of you go all over without anyone to protect ya.”

“I am sad, having to split from everyone,” Miko finally said. “But we will see each other again soon enough.”

~

The group of Peacekeepers who escorted Eva sat in the rented hab, here, there, and everywhere. Two sat at a table, while another sat on a seat in the corner. Yet more were in different rooms altogether.

In front of each one were transportable terminals, which had a number of external devices attached to them.

Most of them were hyper focused on what was on their screens, even as the captain walked around the hab in between them. He peered over their shoulders and tried to glean whatever information he could get from the screens.

“Anything good?” he asked. “Or at least, different?”

“New yes, interesting no,” said one of his officers. “They’re just talking about visiting friends and family and whatnot. Just to talk about what’s going on with one of their partners.”

“Maybe they’ll even ask for help,” added another. “Could be a problem for us if they do.

But a third one only chortled.

“Far from it,” he said. “It gives us more people to watch. Helps widen our net. The more we see their social network, the better for us.”

“And then,” said the first, “when she shows up at any one of ’em, we’ll be the first to know.”

“Keep it up,” said the captain.

“Yessir!”

Seraph was also among the Peacekeepers surveilling the Ravens. He glanced out the window to the apartment building across the way. Although he couldn’t see past the privacy windows, knew exactly where each of them were.

He didn’t really chat much with the others about the Ravens, not because he wasn’t interested in catching Eva. Rather, he was focused on a completely different conversation altogether.

–

B: I have some data you may wish to review.

B: Regarding your hated Freya.

B: Interested? Yes? No?

Seraph: hell yes

Seraph: how much you want for it?

Seraph: im guessing a fortune...

B: It will be free.

B: Except for one condition.

B: Agree? Yes? No?

Seraph: whats the condition?

.....

Seraph: cant say yes or no if i dont even know

B: You must kill your target.

Seraph: i was gonna do that anyway

Seraph: or did you mean kill fast instead of slow?

B: Irrelevant.

B: There is a more critical element.

B: You must also eliminate her partners.

B: This includes her current one.

–

As they spoke over DI, Seraph received two dossiers from the Benefactor. When he opened the first one up, the images of every Raven appeared in his DI. The second one had Lucifer’s information in it.

He grimaced. That was going to be a tough job.

–

Seraph: might need help

Seraph: those broads are no joke

Seraph: and i cant just kill people with peacekeepers around me

B: I will engineer an opportunity for you to gain those powers.

B: I will also send you some additional collaborators.

B: They will assist you without fail.

Seraph: you must really hate the Ravens, huh?

B: False. I respect them greatly.

B: However, they are a potential danger to my master’s designs.

B: As a result, they must be nullified.

–