Red sat on the same bench as before. It was an hour after the scheduled time that they informed the Acrux magician of, and Red was now certain that she wasn't coming. Perhaps she hadn't seen the message in time, or she simply didn't want to make contact with Red in the open like this. However, Red felt that out in the open was the safest place for them to meet.

That way, if she tried to kill them, at least they would leave a body instead of disappearing. Captain Dobbs had been informed of the meeting, so he would notice Red's disappearance and follow it up. Or so Red hoped.

Giving up for the day, they rose from the bench and sauntered towards the exit, stopping here and there to stare at a flower or an insect that had been genetically modified to survive in the simulacrum. Red re-framed their situation as a forced break and breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't too much trouble to sit here every day at the specified time until the mysterious woman showed up. It was certainly better than scrubbing footage for her whereabouts and connections, the job Master Eckelt took upon himself after hearing about Red's encounters.

Red took one final look around the park to make sure the magician wasn't hiding behind a tree and left. They headed to the Jhikae Order temple to catch up with Master Eckelt and see if he had made any progress throughout his investigation. When they arrived, they found him hunched over his terminal inputting commands with two fingers, his eyes squinting at the shapes as they moved around in the video footage.

"Find anything?" Red asked, breaking his concentration.

Startled, he jumped back in his chair. "Oh! Red, no, I haven't found anything yet. In fact, it's what I didn't find that's most interesting. Come over here and I'll show you."

Red circumnavigated the desk and stared at the screen of the terminal. "What am I looking at?"

"This is from after quarantine, when you had that contact with the magician. That's you." He pointed to a little dot. "You are very obviously talking to someone here. But there's nobody to be found. So she had to have been using an illusion or something like that. Projecting directly into your brain."

"I thought that wasn't possible with the implant installed."

"Now, I'm no engineer, so I couldn't really tell you how the implant works. It's possible that the Acrux Empire found a route around the implant. As far as I know, it works merely by blocking incoming connections. However, all you'd have to do was find a port that was open and plug in there. Gods and the like, who haven't had time to study anatomy, aren't going to be bothered to do so. They don't want to waste their time differentiating between every individual neuron in the brain. But a human. Especially a scientist? They'll be happy to figure out some way," Eckelt theorized.

"That seems like a major oversight on the part of the Jhikae Order," Red said.

"And that's why I didn't get an implant! If someone can hack into my brain anyway and pilot the body, what's the point of risking a highly invasive cranial surgery!"

Red shrugged, their fingers tracing the outline of the metal embedded within their head. They actually liked the way it felt, despite its awkwardness.

"Did you check our meeting in the park?" Red asked.

"Yes! Same thing."

"Well, that's hopeless then. Thanks for your help, Master Eckelt," Red smiled somberly and left the temple.

They retired to their quarters, committed to returning to the park the next day. Unable to sleep from excitement/anxiety, Red spent the night watching a sports documentary and hoping for Carlyle to respond to their message.

The next afternoon, Red was greeted by the Acrux magician sitting on the park bench where they had sat the day before. Surprised at her arrival, Red awkwardly sat down next to her and looked around the park before speaking. "So, uh, thank you for meeting me," they finally stuttered out.

"Of course, Red. Sorry I couldn't come yesterday. I was very busy. Lots of things are happening, plans finally being executed, that sort of thing. I couldn't get out of the meetings I was a part of. The Acrux military is very rattled by the events that have happened here on Central Station so far, and they're looking for answers."

"So, you're military then?"

"What do I look like to you?"

Red looked at her up and down. She seemed like every other Acrux woman they had ever met. "I really have no idea."

The magician smiled. "And I get paid a lot of money so that people like you have exactly that reaction. Well, since I'm sure you're here to gather intel, I suppose that I will oblige. My name is Eristia, I work primarily in espionage, but as you can probably tell by now I'm a trained magician employed by the military. I was brought here as part of Ambassador Wron's security detail. Of course, that was completely blown when everything went to hell. Now, it's my job to help pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong."

"So you're just a soldier then? I mean, you're special operations obviously, but still. I guess I had you pegged as something more sinister."

"The Jhikae Order has long had it out for our magicians, so it's only natural that you would think that," Eristia replied. "I'm sure that our first interaction would not have led you to believe that I was anything other than dangerous, but I was mainly interested in figuring out the type of person you are. You're probably one of the most dangerous people on board, after all. And you were allowed in the room with the late ambassador! How could I not be worried?"

"So you were just checking up on me, to make sure I wasn't the dangerous one? I guess that's why you're here now, then. A favor for a favor. Well, I'm kept firmly out of the political discussions. We were only brought here to act as overseers should any fighting break out. We certainly don't have a political say in what goes on here," Red reasoned it out aloud.

"You may not, but Master Eckelt does. He actually has a stake in the outcome of any conflict here, after all," she suggested.

"Is he pushing for war? That would be unethical, a violation of his vows at the very least. He'd be deposed on the spot."

"We're far away from our homes out here. He may not feel particularly comfortable without some kind of political support. Need I remind you that you humans have a much different relationship to the mindscape than the other species? You discovered it and immediately turned it into a weapon. However, for us, magic is merely a tool that can be applied to any given situation."

"Magic, itself, is a neutral force. But a skilled magician has too much power to be anything other than dangerous. Even if their intentions are noble, their actions can put entire planets at risk. If you had seen the bloodshed of..."

Eristia cut Red off. "Did you actually see the bloodshed? Or have you just heard the stories?"

Red was taken aback at the implication. "I met monks who had fought in the wars! I heard the stories of the horrors that they witnessed first-hand! What about you?"

"My great grandfather was a healer. He healed the injured and sick in a colony on the border of our two empires. One day, the Jhikae Order arrived on the planet and slaughtered him for being a magician. They didn't have access to medicine because of supply constraints. Dozens of people died because of the Order."

"I can't defend their actions without more information. After all, for all we know he had to sacrifice children to heal others," Red said, turning away.

"You know magic rarely works that way. Or are you not as skillful as you let on?"Eristia teased.

Red sighed, defeated. "Okay, fine. They made a bad call. Are we all supposed to just sit around and let magicians make the rules? What about normal people who get conscripted as acolytes to gods that want nothing more than power?"

"I don't mean to suggest that the Order doesn't do anything useful. I'm sure that you've stopped some really evil people. However, you clearly haven't considered the political ramifications of your place in society. It's as I said, other species view magic much differently than you humans. The Jhikae Order was simply a tool of the Human Empire to assert control over the galaxy. You just didn't use gods to do it."

Red wasn't sure what to say. They couldn't think of how to change the subject, either. There was a long silence. Eristia finally broke it with laughter that came from her belly. "You're just a kid, out here doing battle with the adults. You really have no clue what's going on, do you? Well, I'll tell you a secret, then! What's happening here will change the galaxy forever."

Eristia stood up from the bench and walked towards the exit. Before she left, she turned around and waved, "Make sure you tell Master Eckelt what I said!"

She was gone. Red contacted Dobbs and instructed him to meet them at the temple, where they would explain what just occurred to their two superiors as quickly and succinctly as possible. As they traveled across the station, they recounted the events in their head to keep track of everything that had been said.

They arrived at the same time as Captain Dobbs. Red led him to Master Eckelt's office, where they explained the events of that afternoon. After they finished, both Eckelt and Dobbs looked astounded. "What could she have meant by that?" Master Eckelt wondered.

"Who knows, but we need to be ready for anything. Red, let's go back to the ship immediately. I'm rallying the troops. We have to be on high alert. This could get very bad very quickly." Dobbs barked orders with extreme efficiency, highlighting his skills as a leader.

"Isn't that kind of extreme? I mean, she didn't mention anything specific after all," Red said.

"I refuse to risk the safety of my crew. Master Eckelt, you and the other monks should come aboard the Furious Monkey as well."

A light flashed on Master Eckelt's terminal. "Uh-oh," he began, checking the message. "It appear that an Acrux warship has entered Central Station space."

"Nevermind, we should get moving as quickly as possible," Red started towards the door.