But the same skills that hid him from the peacekeepers constantly watching from beyond kept anyone from knowing that the s’skree from the back streets was the deadly shadow that descended upon those he decided to kill.
It was the first time Tanin had done so without gaining anything. Usually, he was more careful. He liked his anonymity most times. Infamy came with certain protections, but it also came with challenges. Until his mother’s body suffered the consequences of it, he’d preferred being incognito.
It was curious though, how little he felt while he massacred the gang. Destroyed their headquarters. Just another group that didn’t last a year on this void damned station.
He was going through the leader’s room, seeing what he could pillage, thinking maybe he could at least gainsomethingfrom this rash act, when he heard Alred’s voice from above for the first time.
“He keeps the good stuff in a safe in the ground.”
Tanin, not understanding initially that Alred was a computer, had turned, ready to fight. He tried to hunt down the male that was watching him from afar, ready and willing to kill him too. Alred had to convince him of what he was. That he wasn’t going to kill him. Even that part of the reason Tanin had been so lethal that day was because Alred let him.
The gang had been using Alred as an AI, similar to how Tanin used him now. But Alred hated them and wanted nothing more to escape. However, with no physical body, he needed someone to entrust with his core, and trust, in that place, was rarer than a white flower. He took a chance on Tanin and made his path through the base easier by opening doors and disabling security for him.
It was a believable story. Tanin had already recognized how easy it had been, but he didn’t really question it until this new, unknown program explained what he did, and why. But that didn’t actually stop Tanin from trying to hunt him down and destroy him too. No one could know his face. His name. If his mother was gone, then his anonymity was even more important. There was nothing left he needed to worry about protecting anymore.
That smug, annoying AI had to be destroyed.
Alred asked him then, “What do you want? What can I do to make you trust me? I’ll make anything happen for you. Tell me.”
Tanin scoffed, sneering at the ceiling as he paused in the blood stained halls, “Anything? Then, get me off this shit station. I’d trust you then.”
It was a ridiculous request. Similar to saying he’d believe him when he could fly. It was impossible and, therefore, a promise thatnothinghe did could make him trust him.
But Alred had chuckled. “It seems you and I have a similar goal in this life. As it happens, I have an idea for that. If you’re willing to work with me.”
Tanin almost didn’t do it. The promise was a fantastical, and therefore ludicrous, one. Tanin was one person, and Alred was a computer program that just betrayed the people he was working for.
But something about the way Alred spoke gave him pause. There was sincerity there that Tanin couldn’t help but notice. Maybe because no one on Rik-Vane was sincere. Maybe because that longing in Alred called out to a similar desire in him. Because hedidwant out of that place. Though the challenge had been a futile one, that didn’t mean he didn’t actually want it.
And besides, he’d just destroyed the gang that killing had been his only real purpose in life. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do.
That day, Alred entrusted him with his core, and Tanin entrusted him with his future.
As it turned out, Alreddidhave a plan for getting out. He’s the one who identified the males with the skills he needed, as well as laid out the steps necessary to make it happen. It was a blueprint that Tanin needed his own skills to follow, nothing more.
But it was solid, and seeing it laid out before him, Tanin actually felt it might be possible.
The list of potential allies Alred provided had included about fifty people. And from them, Tanin was the one who narrowed it down to the males currently on his crew. Tanin was the one who figured out the best way to communicate with them. Tanin was the one who had to get them on their side.
One by one, he gathered his allies. Starting with Sway. He was the easiest. Sway’s people, the farasie, were natural pacifists, and living on that station forced Sway to survive in a way that went against his instincts. He promised Sway that, if he followed Tanin and escaped, he’d never have to raise his weapons or fists against someone ever again.
Vytln came next, following Tanin after a demonstration of his power. Then the twins, who he protected from their enemies, earning their loyalty. He saved Rok after that. And, finally, he convinced Trove to follow him.
Their names were all different then, of course. And it wasn’t so easy as just stating it outright. Convincing all of them, preparing everything they needed, took years.
With them all together, he bought the Humility, and they all escaped, using each other as unlikely and strange allies. None of them had been involved with each other before – aside from the twins, who didn’t even consider themselves to be separate people anyway. Alred identified their abilities and Tanin chose them. That was the only thing they had in common.
And maybe that’s why it was easier for them to come together. Not only did they all have a goal uniting them, but they didn’t have any history that would make them more likely to turn against each other along the way.
Tanin, following Alred’s plan, keeping everyone together as they escaped. It hadn’t been easy. They were all strong-willed, hardened criminals. Convincing them to follow his rules had been a test in patience and his own strength. Sometimes daily. They had agreed to work with him, but their unerring loyalty had been fought and won slowly over time. And every day since.
“I was the one who chose to make us a delivery company,” he said, finishing the story he was relaying to Garnet – cutting out a lot of the death that occurred along the way. His rule about killing only with permission had been in effect since the beginning, but he had been a lot more lenient about giving that permission back then. Anything to progress their goals. At least until they escaped and made it away from that place. “I’m the one who set up everything. This ship, our licenses, everything is under my name because my name is the only one that is still real. It’s what keeps us together even now.”
Garnet had been listening to him talk without a word. Watching him without a single change in her expression, so completely focused, she seemed to even stop blinking.
But as he finished the story, she cocked her head and said simply-
“And you’re friends.”
