Jade Dancer by DezoPenguin

Chapter 4

Malcolm Tane's residence unit was about what Jade had expected to find. The decor was very simple and utilitarian, but there was something in its placement that, though she wouldn't call it homey, didn't have the impersonal feel of a workplace, with the exception of half the main room. The large benchlike table contained a number of tools, tubes, and bottles which she guessed were used in the maintenance of his weapons. The guns themselves were secured in plastiglass wall cases; some looked like Photon weapons while others did not, though Jade couldn't identify any by name. Two sheathed swords with curved blades and chisel points were the only weapons not secured; they were hung one above the other, convex side up, on the wall. Jade had seen a similar arrangement in Aaron Yoshida's training hall.

She looked back at Tane, and then in one voice they said, "I'll take the couch."

"Tane, I'm already taking advantage of you," she said. "I'm not going to throw you out of bed on top of that."

"You're not. I've got work to do out here, and I probably won't get to sleep until late. I can see from here you're bone-tired, though."

It was true. She was tired from dancing, tired from the fights, but most of all tired from emotion. The stark fear of the Ranger's attack, the horror of killing and of seeing death all around her, the struggle with the android, and then opening up and spilling her whole twisted life story on Tane, it had all added up to wearing her out.

"All right," she said reluctantly.

"The bedroom's back there, the bathroom off that little connecting hall, and if you like you can swipe a robe. Take the one in the linen closet, though; it's clean."

"Thank you."

She took a long shower, not because she really needed it but because there was so much on her mind. She had no idea what she was going to do with herself, what her status was, and what there even was to be done. Everything she'd known was gone. Always before there had been someone else wielding control over her life, giving her direction. That control had often been unpleasant, especially early on, but in a strange way it had also been reassuring. At least her life had had certainty, a weird, dysfunctional security. Now, even that was gone.

Now she had freedom, and not much else. She had a life to lead, and nothing to lead it with besides the charity of a man she hadn't even met two hours ago. What were his reasons? Did he want something from her? If so, what? She didn't have anything to offer—well, anything beyond herself, of course. There was always that. Jade dismissed that at once, though. Tane was putting way too much of himself into this if that was what he was after. No, either she had some specific value to him—perhaps concerning whatever his business with Vanis was?—or else there was something deep and psychological going on. The first she could accept. Value for value, fair enough. The second...

That idea scared her more. She'd never been indebted to anyone before. She'd felt like it with Vanis in the past, when she'd given Jade some kind of special consideration, but even then she'd had the awareness in the back of her mind that she really didn't owe Vanis anything. Their respective positions negated that.

This was different. Tane had saved her life in the hall, cutting down the Force. Maybe she could dismiss that as an extended self-defense, but she couldn't escape what had happened after. He'd helped her get away from the club, offered her his expert skills and high-grade firepower. She'd helped him against the android, yes, but the truth was Tane might have been able to win on his own and Jade definitely would not.

So, he'd saved her. He'd gotten her out of a death zone that was none of her own making. He hadn't abandoned her afterwards, either, but had instead taken her with him. Malcolm Tane was her only lifeline to the future, any future.

If it was because he had something to gain, she could accept it. Their arrangement would be settled.

But if it wasn't, could she deal with it? Could she handle charity?

Yet if it was, then what was left for her? How could she face the huge blank space that was her future?

There were too many questions and not enough answers. Maybe some of the questions weren't even the kind that could be answered.

It was no surprise that when she finally did drop off on Tane's bed, her sleep was less than pleasant.

"This is a foul-up of epic proportions," Ralin summed up the situation as he looked over the remains of his operation. Leon, a male Newman with short, spiky dark hair, was the only intact one. That was because he hadn't been on-site, but in charge of shutting down the power to Vanis's Photon suppressors. The powerful devices, similar to those used in and around the Hunter's Guild deck, completely negated the release of Photon energy into the open environment, including from weapons and techniques both. Leon, though, was a wizard when it came to electronics and circuitry, and though it had taken nearly two full days to sleaze out the system installation details so he could know how to shut it down he had pulled it off to perfection.

Ralin supposed that Leon could be forgiven a little resentment so long as he didn't push it—and so long as he recognized that it was his tail on the line as much as anyone's.

Ralin and Elysse were considerably the worse for wear. While the Force's Resta technique had healed their injuries, it hadn't patched up their scorched and torn outfits, nor repaired Ralin's armor, which had been wrecked in the blast. Still, they were lucky to be alive; they had dived behind Type: D in the instant they realized what was coming and the RAcast's bulk had served as a blast shield, saving them. Zayora hadn't been as lucky; she'd been exposed and even though she'd been at the edge of the office she'd still been left on death's door. She'd have died had Elysse's Reverser tech not plucked her back from the edge and she still looked drawn and pasty from the shock to her system.

Reverser worked on machines as well, so long as they were Photon-powered like a modern android, but there were limits. Type: D had been basically scrapped by the explosion; he'd gone over the edge and there was no coming back from that fall.

Then, of course, there was Jast's Team B. Four-for-four had been the body count there. Ralin didn't feel anything resembling grief for them, but he had plenty of regrets for blowing the job. His intel had been that Vanis's security didn't bother with Photon weapons with the suppressors in place, and Ralin's own fights had verified it. He'd have never gotten to the boss-lady without going through her best, and that best had been barely adequate. A few scrappy androids and club bouncers, though, would never have taken out a hunter team. So who had?

"What are we going to do?" Zayora whined. That wasn't surprising; the RAmarl was a wuss—except when actual fighting was going on, when she was as cold as ice.

"Our employer has a very low tolerance for failure," Leon echoed.

"We don't have the data," Elysse said. "Plus, Vanis is dead, and that isolates the seller. We don't even know who he or she is, so there isn't any way to recover."

"Which means, we're dead," Leon concluded. "We hosed the objective, and the job was so public it will bring down all kinds of heat on us and our employer. Taking us out provides cover."

"Obviously, we need a new employer," Ralin spoke up. The others turned to him in surprise.

"Someone took out our second team. Who? Not Vanis's people. Probably a competitor. One who might be very interested in some of what we have to tell."

"If we can find him."

"Elysse, he's probably looking for us."

Malcolm Tane's desk unit was similar to that found in most of Pioneer 2's residences. It combined the functions of computer and data-link, with visiphone capability and access to Net broadcasts. A hacker colleague of his had, however, enhanced his software to resist most standard probes and traces. It wouldn't turn aside a hardcore attempt by a net-dancer to hack his system and listen in, but Tane figured that he'd probably know if anyone was getting that serious about his activities.

The net result of it was that he felt relatively comfortable discussing business over the link, as opposed to insisting on face-to-face meetings or resorting to BEE-transmitted simple mail, which was considerably harder to tap.

He had a couple of calls to make. Professionally, he had a report to give his client on the night's activities, with a request for further instructions. His client probably had contingency plans, backups, and Tane might figure in them.

Despite that, the city directory listing he accessed was entirely different. Personal matters were coming first.

Why is that? he wondered.

"Aaron Yoshida."

The face on-screen was of a man around sixty, with bright blue hair cropped short in military fashion. His features were sharp and angular, his eyes almond-shaped and an unusual shade of gold.

"Good evening."

"Do I know you? No, wait...ah, yes. Malcolm Tane, is it not? One of Garthan's students, the one with the interest in antique weaponry?"

Tane nodded.

"You have a good memory, Master Yoshida."

"Not Master to you. That's for the training hall only, and it would hardly interest you anyway, being a Ranger as you are."

"I know I'm not your student, but it seemed natural to use the term anyway. I'm calling because of one of your protegees."

"Oh? Whom?"

Tane grinned.

"I hear you're giving up the sword and teaching Newman girls to dance," he joked.

"Ah, Miss Jade. I am surprised she mentioned my name. Or was it Vanis?"

"It was Jade. The topic came up after I watched her take out an armed and armored man while wielding a towel rack."

Yoshida chuckled softly.

"I wish I could have been there to see it. Is she all right?"

Tane nodded.

"I got her out of the fire zone, with some help from her in doing that. Just how good is she?"

"Better than you might expect. Her mastery of katana technique is well-advanced. Of course, she lacks even elementary combat seasoning or training in fieldcraft or tactics. One-on-one, she..." He paused, then smiled broadly. "In practice, she occasionally scores a point off me. Then again, I'm not so young as I was." He winked. "Why, I haven't made a single pass at her, and with a girl that pretty, I must be getting old!"

Tane didn't respond to the jest, and Yoshida's next words held no humor.

"Now, Tane, are you going to explain your interest in Miss Jade's level of skill?"

"Protective of your student?"

"The relationship implies a measure of responsibility for her well-being."

"If that's the case, then why the hell didn't you report that she was a slave?"

Yoshida didn't try to deny his awareness of the fact.

"She is an unregistered citizen."

"Meaning no legal existence, and no legal rights."

"You understand me, then."

He did. A colony spaceship on a two-year journey didn't play games with the population count. A genuine stowaway could get bounced out an airlock easily enough. Although Jade's history—with witnesses to back it up—would keep any sane court from treating her as a spy or the like, there would still be a denial of all legal status. The government could be extremely draconian about that kind of thing.

"You thought she was better off at Vanis's than without anyone to protect her."

Yoshida nodded.

"The choices were not good ones."

No, Tane thought, they weren't. Security and safety, but in captivity, or else freedom, but with uncertainty and suffering. In truth, only Jade herself had the right to make that choice for herself.

"Tell me, Yoshida, why did you teach Jade real swordsmanship?"

He shrugged.

"Why not? What will teach better control of a weapon than actually learning to use it? Besides that, there was always the hope that...but I think you realized it already, or else you wouldn't have been quite so curious about her skills."

Tane nodded.

"I thought of it, and so I'll say it straight out: is she good enough to stand on her own as a Hunter?"

"As I said, she knows nothing of how to work in a team, or to deal with questions of terrain in the field. However, I believe her personal competence is good enough to overcome that in the examiners' eyes."

"Good. That solves one problem at least."

"How are you going to arrange for her entry into the Guild?"

"That's a different problem. One at a time. I'll let you know if it works out, though."

"Good luck then, Tane."

He nodded again, then hung up.

"What are you planning to do with me, Tane?"