ZQ-Z3Y
CATCH REGION

“What do you mean there’s an abandoned Abaddon in front of you, Wieler?” the Ushra’Khan Fleet Commander asked again.

“I’m telling ya, I’m less than 20k from it, angling in cautiously on an escape vector, just in case.” I replied, skepticism in my own voice.

“Do you require backup?” the fleet commander repeated.

“Negative. You know what they say when things look too good to be true…”

I continued my slow approach, constantly checking my ship scanners for any signs of incoming warp signatures. There were none. I maintained a calm, practiced heart rate, though I fully expected a Curse to decloak at any moment to be quickly joined by an Amarr gank fleet.

It wasn’t meant to happen that day. My Jaguar, the Ripsack, remained docked alongside the Abaddon for hours, while my small team explored the abandoned and derelict ship.

Every moment was a nerve-wracking adventure, both for the team expecting danger around every corridor corner, and for me, constantly on watch for any sudden unwelcome guests.

There was nothing out of the ordinary to be found once the initial sweep of the vessel had been completed. My tech specialist downloaded the computer’s core data onto our ship, and I quickly had Aura scan through the immense amount of data, flagging anything out of the ordinary.

It didn’t take long to get a hit.

My eyes widened slightly as I read what she had discovered, old memories flooding the forefront of my mind. I quickly recalled my team, followed up with my fleet commander, then took leave of this region of space, making full haste towards a place I hadn’t been in a very long time.

Joining the Federation immediately after its founding, the Intaki remain one of the largest ethnicities of the nation. Exceedingly gifted communicators, the Intaki are today very prominent among the Federal bureaucracy. Though Gallentean culture has permeated their society to some extent, they still cling to their cultural identities and beliefs, most notably their unusual theories regarding the human life cycle – in particular, death and rebirth. These theories give them a unique outlook on life and the living, and many attribute the Intaki’s stoic nature to this philosophy.

LISUDEH SYSTEM
DEVOID REGION

“Haven’t heard from you since you killed Taphos in the ritual duel, and to be honest, given your well publicized hatred of the Amarr, I never expected to.” Doctor Canius said through the comm.

It had been over a year since I been in touch with Canius. He was my best lead when I trying to discover the whereabouts of Dagan for Sister Alitura and the Sisters of Eve. I had given her my word that I would find him and bring him to justice. At the time, my infamy as a Republic War Hero made it virtually impossible to travel through the Amarr systems without getting shot on sight, and in fact, I had lost several frigates in my attempts to make good on my promise.  Eventually, the Republic demanded more of my priority on the front lines of the war than in humouring the Sisters of Eve, and the memory had faded.

It was the Abaddon that had rekindled my interest.

While scanning the databanks of the ship, Aura had flagged Society of Conscious Thought, and that sparked my memory of Dagan, and my promise to Sister Alitura. I didn’t know whether the derelict ship had been there for over a year, or if Dagan was still at large.

The only way to find out was to pick up where I had left off, and that meant Doc Canius. It was unsettling in some ways to travel unmolested through Amarr space. It was as if I had been forgotten…

“Yeah, it’s been a while, doc. Couldn’t be helped. Listen, I need some information.” I said.

“Of course you do. Why else would you come back from the dead to bother me?” Canius replied. I was confused by his comment, but attributed it to a phrasing analogy I simply didn’t see applying.

“What do you have on Dagan and the Society of Conscious Thought?” I asked bluntly.

“Geez, didn’t you resolve that months ago?” Canius replied.

“It’s been over a year actually, and no; there was a war and all…” I let the rest of the sentence hang unspoken.

There was silence on the comm for a while before Canius finally started transmitting data.

“You were lied to, Roc Wieler. I had initially assumed you knew, which is why I hadn’t heard from you, then with the reports of your death, I filed this away, figuring it would never be needed. I was going to delete this information in a few days, so you’re timing is quite fortuitous.”

Again he had mentioned my death. At the moment I was more concerned about the lying part.

“Who lied to me, Canius? What are you talking about?” I asked, urgency entering my voice.

“The Sisters of Eve, Roc; Alitura. They’ve known where Dagan has been all along. They played you.”

Each of us has triggers to our anger, some more than others. There are degrees to these triggers; some slightly flustering us while the extreme others instill in us a blinding and uncontrollable rage. At that moment, I was closer to the latter; dangerously closer.

“Thank you … doc.” I squeezed out through clenched teeth, transferring a small sum of ISK to Doctor Canius’ account as a token of good will for hanging onto this information for so long.

I laid in my next course … Arnon. It was time to say hello to an old friend.