1:3:5 Syndicate (Part 1)

Coughing. A split second timing failure sent a needle into Lore’s lungs. A mouthful of Rexel’s smog was extracted and vented behind them. The clones turned to head back to The Destiny, leaving Lore, Char and Blue to begin their mission. Rexel Five may not have been the largest settlement on the outer rim but, its verticality more than made up for it. Towering buildings linked by an intricate network of skybridges. After recovering from the extraction, Lore signalled that they were ready to proceed. As they began, they noticed the paths and streets were empty.
“Again, where does everyone go?” Lore looked to Blue. They then looked to their Breacher.
Rather than the time, they were greeted with a flashing light. “Connection lost. Update paused.” The light on Lore’s Breacher flashed twice.
“Well, I am really glad we decided to prep The Vengeance then…” Lore sighed.  “I’m not liking the idea of being without a Breacher.”
“You’ll be fine. Granddad managed to survive countless missions worse than this without a fancy watch. Plus, where you’re going, you’re not going to need to tell the time.” Both Lore and Char stopped and stared at Blue.
“You do know what a Breacher does don’t you?” They spoke slowly.
“It’s a portable teleporter. Like those Shredders you gave me for Illia.”
“Not quite… Breachers allow the wearer to teleport sure but they also allow for time travel.” Lore rattled their wrist.
“Piss off.” Blue scoffed.
“Shredders were just an early version. The first Protectorate made, portable time machines. It might not have been too far but you’ve travelled in time too.”
“No.” They couldn’t believe it. “The Protectorate has only just started phasing in teleporters to their ships and inner rim planets.” Blue shook their head. “Time travel’s still a ways off.”
“Your base is built under a building that’s centuries old… How did you think it got there?” Char glanced over them, making sure they weren’t being affected by the smog.
“Well, obviously that’s time travel related but…” Their voice trailed off.
“Have you ever heard of the Inquisitors? Crait?” Lore was beginning to sympathise with Blue.
“The Inquisitors are a myth. Something the Military Guild use to scare a confession out of you and a crate, well, a crate is a type of box used to move big loads?”
Silence.
“How about the Temporal Sciences Guild?” Lore thought rephrasing the question would help.
Blue thought for a moment. “Aren’t they the nutters who fired a dog into a sun on the streams? Yeah, they tried to send a dog into the future by firing it into a sun. Obviously that wasn’t going to work.” They chuckled.
“They have no idea…” Lore turned to Char. “How is this possible?”
“We could find out.” Char gestured to a nearby hardware shop. Used and refurbished terminals blinked in the window.
The only terminals in the showroom that actually worked were solely for customers to view and manage their orders. Blue changed that. With a couple of nudges and by putting a specific combination of items in their basket, Blue was able to reboot the terminal, allowing them to access the wider internet.
“Right then. Let’s start with the Guild.” Lore looked over their shoulder and searched for the Temporal Sciences Guild. Their eyes narrowed as they scanned through the results. They very quickly reached the end. “Is this it?”
“What were you expecting? Like I said, nut jobs.” Blue pointed to the third webpage. “That should give you a list of everything they’ve done.”
Lore opened the encyclopaedia. There were three sections: Background, Notable Events and Controversies. Lore headed straight for the controversies. As they scrolled they noted that it was nearly thrice as large as the other two sections combined. “So it seems like they don’t do much until people start complaining about missing taxes and then they do something utterly insane.”
“After members of The Protectorate high council were pressured into asking about the tax money sent to The Temporal Sciences Guild, The Guild responded by performing one of their most infamous experiments, sending a dog into brief orbit with the sun before the dog was incinerated.” Char read. “The dog’s gravity path appeared to have been calculated to allow for as little tolerance between the capsule and the Sun resulting in the slingshot manoeuvre performed failing, thereby catapulting the dog into the sun.”
“So, the average person on the street has no clue that there’s a time travelling group just casually changing history and making it a little more human.” Lore shook their head.
“Try searching Crait.”
Their face filled the screen.
“Hang on… You two are trying to tell me that this is the leader of a time travelling illuminati?” Blue’s laugh turned the heads of the shopkeeper.
Lore scanned Crait’s entry looking for anything that aligned with what they understood to be true. “No parents…Transitioned young… Vocal supporter of Null rights… Councillor of Faendrosis?”
Blue just continued laughing. “So, the guy responsible for giving us rights and is the Councillor for one of the most peaceful mid-rim planets. By the gods, they even negotiated peace between the Aetar and the Soluss. They’re a gods damned hero.”
“Why would they do that?”
“The Omega Outcome.” Lore whispered.
“The Omega Outcome? What’s that got to do with it?” Char was trying to answer her own question but came back blank.
“The four species. Crait got rid of the Quatarrians, they’re human so the only two left were the Aetar and the Soluss. Make sure they’re friendly and servile and you’ve got control over most of the Outcome. Kind of weird that they’d have their public persona as a councillor rather than a member of the military guild though.”
“As interesting as this is, it doesn’t really help does it… Let’s get going.” Blue led the way.
The smog immediately fogged up their masks. They walked blinded for a moment but quickly adjusted. Thankfully it wasn’t much further to The Syndicate’s headquarters. The smog combined with the verticality of Rexel had Lore’s claustrophobia on edge. Char and Lore nearly walked past the entrance until Blue stopped them.
“In here.” They gestured to a building Lore had dismissed as being abandoned. “They’re actually in that building over there but… You’ll thank me later.” Blue pointed to a building across the road from the one they were entering. A network of bridges connected the two at various different points as they climbed into the mists above.
For a mining company with their own building, Lore had expected The Syndicate’s main office to be on the ground floor however, according to Blue, that wasn’t the case.
“They’re all the way at the top?” Char was winded by the sight of the stairs they had yet to climb.
“The boss likes the view… I guess.” Blue opened the doors and revealed the true extent of their pain. A spiral staircase wound round and round but it appeared to come to a sudden stop. “We can take this staircase two thirds of the way then we have to cross into Syndicate territory. We should be fine but watch out for the indentureds, they can get a little handsy.”
“I hope that’s a joke.” Char’s glare wounded Blue.
They climbed and the sudden stop came sooner than Lore and Char were expecting. To continue up the staircase they would have to shift years of rubble. Their other alternative was the first floor. After a set of long stolen doors, they were faced by a pair of heavy fire doors that stood nearly a foot taller than any member of their party. Thin, hair-like strands of webbing surrounded and attached to the top of the door at its lintel. Char approached the door and rested her hand against it, feeling its mass.
“Rexian fire defences don’t mess around.” Her ring collided with the door but instead of a light ring, the tap let out a dull and full thud. “That’s solid.”
“Laminated Tungsten – Titanium. About twenty five ish centimetres thick. Has to be like that. This was a research lab before The Protectorate pulled out. Them gone, so was the funding.” Blue rifled through their pockets. “There we are.”  They produced a battered key card with a partially removed photo on it. “Only one I know of that’s left on Rexel.” They smiled as they swiped the card in the neighbouring reader. The doors retreated into the ceiling, creaking and grinding as it climbed. A pair of large locking pins slid under the door holding it open but ready to close in a heartbeat.

The corridor had definitely not been used since that card left its previous owner. They advanced into the room but were unable to progress much further as their way was once again blocked. Webs. Each strand two times thicker than any Earth spider’s and shimmered with a silvery golden shine as the facility’s emergency lighting kicked in. Lore immediately recoiled back to the staircase. Char bounced back with them.
“How many people did you say you’ve taken to The Syndicate?” She waved her wrist at the corridor then showed the results to Lore. The only living thing was Blue.
“I’ve actually only used this once or twice. Not a fan of the spiders. Good for a quick retreat or making a quiet entrance but not much else. I thought you’d want to minimise your time in The Syndicate’s quarter, especially with those masks. They’d fetch a fair price.”
“Point made. How much of Syndicate territory are we skipping?” Char crossed her arms.
Blue squirmed. “Four floors.” They mumbled.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“Four floors… Out of seven!” They were quick to follow up, trying to justify their extended route.
“Just over half then…” Lore watched as Char and Blue duked it out in a war of words.
“The worst half I’ll have you know. The closer to the mines you get…” After that, Blue and Char devolved into a full on brawl, shouting at one another in an unintelligible mess. Lore just waited. The noise was getting to them and because of the smog, they couldn’t put their Sonics in. Two became four became six and with each new fighter, the room got louder and louder until they couldn’t take it anymore.
Without making a sound, Lore screamed at them. Their arms flapped at their sides like an angry penguin, their fingertips dug into their palms; white energy snaked around their hands and down to their wrists. Blue and Char continued unaware until the energy build up became too obvious to ignore. Char stopped almost immediately before lunging at Lore. She silenced Blue and gently rested her hand on Lore’s shoulder. Her hand temporarily phased through their skin, wreathed in the same white glow. The energy started to dissipate into the atmosphere, clearing a small area of smog around their hands.
“Let’s get going.” Char gestured for Blue to move on. Not wanting to find out what the hel just happened, they obliged. “You alright?” Char whispered.
Lore nodded.
“You sure?” She tightened her grip on Lore’s shoulder so as not to cause damage but to adequately reinforce her concern.
“Just a little bit stressed.” Lore whispered back.
“What was that?” She pointed to their wrists. Lore shrugged. “Reminded me of Illia.” Lore again, shrugged. “Okay.”

They walked in silence. The emergency lighting flickered as they continued; it cast a warm white glow on everything it touched, shimmering on the surface of the silver threads. Char made sure to periodically update her life sign scans, keeping Lore appraised to reassure them that they were still the only life forms in the corridor; despite the reassurances this brought, they were still concerned that the web’s architects were absent. Progress was slow with Blue at the front, their pistol poorly optimised for cutting through the webbing but it soon sped up when Char took the helm. Her pistol fired a fine golden beam that cut through the webs like a pair of scissors through silk. Ten minutes ahead of their original estimated time of arrival, they arrived at a set of stairs. Blue gestured for them to go up and so they did. Three more floors and then Char let Blue retake their position as navigator. Left then right then left again and then they were faced with another fire door. Blue swiped their card. For a split second, Lore and Char were back on the cable car, on their way to meet with Silus. The smog that filled the windows was sucked away as the vacuum of space filled the void. Blue took their first step and they returned. Unlike the cable car, the skybridge appeared to be in much better condition. The view may have been something to marvel at if the smog hadn’t been so thick. Devoid of webs, devoid of smog, it was one of the cleanest places they had seen on Rexel so far. They lowered their mask.
“Don’t get used to it.” Blue smiled. “Calm before the storm.” They opened the door.