#frazzled
Siska stilled as the boy burst into tears. “I did not.. know that,” he said as Mav explained. “We are getting him back. Dius is still alive. The Lord will see to that, don’t worry. We’ll get him back and we’ll make mush out of the man who took him.”
Mav had never had Cato clutch at him like this and he realized he’d been neglecting giving him attention and support. Dius wouldn’t have messed that up, he was so fond of the boy… He tightened his arms a little. “We’ll get him… back. Alive.” He promised. “Your father… will make sure of… that. Siska and I… will, too.”
Cato peaked over Mav’s shoulder, his dark eyes still full of tears. “Are you really gonna kill the Lord?” He asked.
“We can’t all be all muscle, no brain, tidbit,” Siska said. “Someone gotta point us in the right direction too.”
Cato’s mandibles quivered and before Mav had even registered him moving, he had his arms full of the sobbing boy. He sighed again and petted down his back. They were all a little over emotional, obviously. “Dius calls him… tidbit.” He told Siska by way of explanation.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t know why-” Cato sniffed and hid his face down on Mav’s shoulder even though he was taller and it left him bent all awkwardly. “We’re get him back. I know it. Dad says so and dad never lies.”
“Not a soldier?” Siska glanced over Mav to Cato. The agent reacted very protective, more than Siska had ever seen him, not that that was saying much. “Then what is he doing here? You know what, I don’t really care. If you’re a friend of Dius’, you’re a friend of mine.” Because Dius picked his friends with utmost care and Siska had long since learned to trust his instincts when it came to that sort of thing. “I apologize for coming on a little strong. It’s been…” He glanced at Mav again. “… a turbulent couple of days.”
“I’m an engineer.” The boy trilled, shrinking back just a little from Siska, but then the big drell calmed. “I forgive you. Really. All of this has been so hard and it’s normal to be angry.” He wound his hands together, glancing at Mav. “I’m mad too. I’m so mad and I can’t even help like you two can.”
Mav’s mandibles shifted, surprised for all of a full minute as Siska pulled a complete turnaround on his temper, and then as he heard all the emotion in Cato’s voice. “You’ve helped, Cato.” He said gently. “In your… own way, you’ve… helped.”
Dius’ friend? Siska silently wondered how long it took his ‘brother’ to get this little thing into bed with him. If he’d stopped now when he was mated. Did that mean Siska and Dius could still sleep together? And that really didn’t matter right now…
Siska shrugged. “He’s in my quarters. And he’s… confined, sure. Let’s say he’s confined,” he said, eyeing Mav before turning back to Cato. “I’m here because you guys fucked up and let Dius get taken by his old master.”
“You’re not Hierarchy, you can’t confine one of our agents.” Cato said at slow length, looking at Mav and noticing all the blood on his shirt and smeared across his face and fringe. He trilled worry and his eyes darted back to Siska at the word master and if he suddenly looked sick, who could blame him. “We didn’t… We’re gonna get him back. My dad says so.”
“Cato’s not a… soldier, Siska.” The smaller agent said tightly, moving up between him. “Don’t talk to… him like one. He hasn’t… done anything wrong.”
Siska leaned back on one hip and eyed the boy up and down. “Yeah, I’m Dius’ ‘brother’,” he said, voice defensive, not having made up his mind about this new little turian yet. “Who are you, kid?”
“I’m Cato. I’m the Captain’s son and Dius’ friend and-” His mandibles fluttered again. “-Mav’s current keeper.”
Mav’s mandibles slanted. “I’m supposed to… be confined to… quarters.” He explained dryly.
“Which you’re obviously not in right now ‘cause the cadet you scared came and told me so and you’ve got to stop scaring them away when they bring you messages or none of them are gonna be willing to do it anymore.” The boy rambled, staring at Siska because he’d never seen a drell before. And because he was Dius’ brother. “Um… why are you here?”
The eyebrow raised again as Mav started saying something. But when the small voice came in, Siska stood and headed for the still extended ramp to look for who was speaking.
Mav followed behind him, frowning deeply as the dark plated boy cautiously stuck his head in. “Cato.”
His mandibles fluttered. “There you are.” He sighed relief and then seemed to actually notice Siska, his head tilting. “Wait. I know you. You’re Dius’ brother.”
“Gods, no one does,” Siska said and didn’t let himself slip into the memory even as he felt it tug at him. “Let’s hope we catch him before we have to put boots on the ground.”
“We’ll try to.” Mav said and finally managed to make his hands let go of the chair completely. “Siska, I-”
“Um, hello?” A small voice trilled from back the at ramp into the ship. “Is um, is anyone in here?”
“Isn’t this kinda what you guys do? Everyone here knows what they’ve signed up for.”
His mandibles shifted. “I’ve been out of…. the field for twenty… odd years, Siska.” He said. “But I remember what…we found at his last castle…. As we cut them down, they… turned on everyone… not holding a weapon. I… don’t want that again, and… neither does the Captain.”
There was an allure to go right now. Charge headfirst into battle. To hurry to get Dius away from the devil. In a former life, Siska wouldn’t have hesitated. He read through the details in the message again. “If we can catch him before he reaches his domain,” Siska said. “It won’t be a problem. We’ll be fools if we didn’t count on him having rebuilt his army over the last decades.”
Mav screen-shot the information and the map and sent both off to the Captain. “He’s in our… net now, he just… doesn’t know it.” He said. “But if we have to… meet him on the… ground, we will… I just worry about… causalities if we… have to…and I don’t… mean just Dius.”
Siska slowly raised a brow. “No shit? That solves that then. How long are you until you’re ready to go?”
He flicked that smile again. The Captain was a good man down to his Spirit and there were too few like him. “If you think… three mechs, a couple… hundred soldiers and a… dozen gunships can… get the job done, we’re… ready now.”
“No, we won’t.” He wouldn’t let them, or himself. “What are your plans?”
“The Captain has… called back every… agent that’s not in… deep cover.” He said. “We have a … number of destroyer… class gunships and… some of the best… pilots. We also… have three… fully functional… mechs and their… operators. Plus all… the usual ground troops. The Captain… is planning a… full scale siege.”
The drell thought on that for a moment. Going over different scenarios in his head. Fingers touching in his lap. But no matter how he turned it over, one question remained. “What about the pretense that you don’t have any soldiers in the Terminus?”
Mav smiled slowly, a predator’s smile. “We’re rescuing… a highly decorated… agent. Pretense can… suck it. The Captain’s… words.”
“No, we won’t.” He wouldn’t let them, or himself. “What are your plans?”
“The Captain has… called back every… agent that’s not in… deep cover.” He said. “We have a … number of destroyer… class gunships and… some of the best… pilots. We also… have three… fully functional… mechs and their… operators. Plus all… the usual ground troops. The Captain… is planning a… full scale siege.”
“Wish we could’ve killed him when you guys attacked the castle last time…” he mumbled, tones tight. “I know it’s been a heavy weight for Dius, knowing the Lord was still out there.”
“We didn’t have… near the force… we needed last time.” Mav said. “This time… we will. This time… we won’t leave the… job half finished.”
Siska’s mouth was a thin line. He could only imagine the terror that must’ve run through Dius. “It’s going to mess him up, being under the Lord’s… Care again.”
The head rest creaked and Mav had to consciously think about loosening his grip. “I know.” He murmured.
Siska brought up a map to the side of the message. “Here.” He pointed. He glanced over his shoulder at Mav. “What happened? How’d the Lord manage to catch him?”
He studied the map. From what he knew, that was within the net the Captain had cast… “He was tying… up loose ends before… he came home.” His hands tightened on the chair, knuckles pale. “He spotted the… Lord and…. He panicked. He was… too scared. He called… me…. he called me and I… told him to… just run. To forget… the assignment and… run. He’d… almost made it, Siska.”
Siska rubbed his eyes and went over there, sitting down in the pilot’s chair. “This is the last sighting of the Lord. A day ago. I can’t guarantee Dius was with him, but if I know him right, he’s not letting Dius out of his sight again.”
Mav came to stand behind the chair, his hands tight on the headrest of it. “He’d said… he wouldn’t, that… he would break… Dius again.” The words dipped into a growl. “We can’t let… that happen. Where… was this taken?”
“I’m pretty sure I did, yeah,” he agreed. “That wasn’t ever going to end well.” And he wasn’t sure if he was glad it hadn’t been Dius that got hurt yet or not. It was difficult not to think that if he had, Siska would still have him. He glanced at the still displaying message on the console. “For now, let me give you what I’ve got, so all this pain is worth it.”
“No, it wasn’t… and it didn’t…” Mav sighed again, glancing over at the console. “Please.”
“Hm,” he puffed. “He took a swing at you too?”
“He might have… felt better if… he had.” Mav said a little dryly. Then he sighed, standing there with his hands on his hips. “I don’t need… you to tell… me what a… mistake that was. I’m… pretty sure you… already did anyway.”
“He’s good like that… He started doing that after the first time he was with me after a burnout.” Siska mumbled, nodding, thinking about that time. “I’d burned him pretty badly in the explosion. But he didn’t care. He just laid there. Talking to me.” The drell still wasn’t looking at Mav again. Trying to choke down the feelings. Mav was one of the last people he wanted to be this emotional in front of. “What about this Crass?” he wanted to know. “Wasn’t that the guy you were fucking?”
He flicked his mandibles again. That was just like Dius. That well hidden well of empathy and understanding. Something he was sure very few people had experienced firsthand… His mandibles pulled up when Siska asked about Crass so callously. “Crass hasn’t… spoken to me in… seven weeks.” He said tightly, all the implications of why laid bare in his tones.
