"There you are!" Yuugi greeted Ryou enthusiastically upon his return to the cockpit. Because of the limited space, he sat next to Atemu or rather, almost in his lap. Both of them seemed to be very comfortable with the close proximity, even though Atemu wasn't paying attention to Yuugi at the moment; he was busy with the launch procedure, communicating with the Vertregg 12 Tower. "You can sit on the fold-up chair," Yuugi said apologetically. "Or would you rather like to sit here? We can change seats if you want to!"
"No, I'm fine, Yuugi-kun," Ryou thanked him. He didn't want to spend the entire flight so close to Atemu, even though he couldn't describe exactly why. Sitting on a fold-up chair would make for a rough launch, but actually he didn't care that much. It wasn't like they were going on a ten-hour trip, he could handle this. As he sat down, he heard music and for a moment, he couldn't identify where it came from. Ryou felt pretty silly when he saw Yuugi pull out his PMA, the ring tone increasing in volume.
"Jii-chan," Yuugi said out loud. "No, we're still at the spaceport, why?" He listened and then turned red in embarrassment. "Oh! Oh, I see!" He squirmed in his seat to turn around and face Ryou. "We forgot your overnight bag! Jii-chan asks if he should bring it over."
Ryou experienced the same embarrassment. He'd been so occupied, that his luggage had been the last priority on his mind. To think that an elderly man would have to travel to the spaceport to bring him his bag... "No, I'll go and pick it up myself," he said.
"How long will it take?" Atemu asked, his voice curt.
"A little under an hour," Yuugi answered before Ryou could. "The public transport connection between the spaceport and the Game Shop's district is okay, but slow. I'm sorry for the delay, Atemu-kun…" He listened to his grandfather again. "Oh, he says that Anzu-chan will come over." Now he blushed even deeper. Ryou didn't know Anzu, so he arched an eyebrow. "My fiancée," Yuugi whispered and Ryou's eyebrow went even further up. Yuugi focused his attention on the conversation with his grandfather. "Anzu-chan is at Madame Korishnova, I don't want her to miss out on her ballet lesson… what do you mean, jii-chan, she's at the Game Shop? Oh… oh, I didn't know! I totally forgot..!"
"Atemu-san, everything all right?" Ryou asked when he heard the other vividly communicating with the tower.
"There seems to be some kind of misunderstanding," Atemu said, frustration audible. "The Datura is 'locked'. I do not understand. All the tags and codes I used are correct! I have never had trouble with launching or docking procedures before."
"'Locked'?" Ryou didn't have much knowledge about spaceflight, but he assumed that with such a lock, a ship was prohibited to take off.
"I have to go down to the spaceport's central office to clear this up personally," Atemu said. "Perhaps it is for the better to delay our trip until tomorrow."
Yuugi finished the conversation with his grandfather, catching the last of Atemu's sentence. "What? We're not going? I just agreed that Anzu-chan would come over to bring Ryou-kun's bag," he said, trying to withhold his disappointment.
"If I go down the central office right now, I doubt it will take me longer than an hour," Atemu said, reassuringly. "If you just wait here?"
"Sure, we'll wait," Yuugi said. "I'm sorry, Atemu-kun."
"There is nothing to be sorry about." He showed Yuugi a soothing smile, but as he turned around, he caught Ryou looking at him and he drew his lips into a tight line. His eyes went over Ryou's PMA, prominently on display. "I will be back as soon as possible."
Malik didn't need to look at the monitors to know that the course to Vertregg 12 was plotted perfectly. In another hour, they would arrive at the planet widely known for its bureaucracy. Malik got up from his chair and went to search for Marik, who had left the cockpit a while earlier. Wandering through the corridors, he wondered, as always, why the October was so huge. It was officially registered as a cargo ship, but Marik had never taken in cargo, let alone deliver any. Cargo would be a profitable business; he didn't even know where Marik's money came from. So many secrets, so much mystery…Malik found him in one of the engineering rooms, surrounded by tools and objects to work with. The door was open, which was strangely inviting for Marik.
"I 'informed' the Vertregg 12 tower of an illegal pilot," Malik said. "I scrambled the tags for the Datura a little bit and now they put a lock on the ship. It probably won't take them more than a few hours to sort it out."
"It's the few hours we need." Marik grinned, but he didn't look up at Malik. He held a synthfuser in his hand, the backside open, showing the intricate insides. Malik grabbed himself a seat.
"You're going to give Bakura a new one?"
"His old one is definitely broken, it doesn't respond to anything. If we want him to be around… and he needs to be around, so far… then he needs this to live."
Malik had never understood Marik's technical and engineering abilities, wondering how the other could be so knowledgeable about it. The Ishtar tribe lived fairly modestly and had never had access to such technology or expertise. To be able to build a ship like this, to pilot it and create devices that kept not-so alive people alive… it was too weird to think about.
"Where do you think he is?"
"I don't know. Altana was too much of a risk. If we want to find his Other, we have to think of another way to approach the planet. It's a moot point now. We have a bigger chance of finding the Pharaoh and his Other. He's like clockwork on that."
"You can be eerie telepathic when it comes to the Pharaoh," Malik said.
Marik didn't answer. The lights on top of the synthfuser lit up, blinking rapidly. He used the small screwdriver to make some minor adjustments. Malik just watched. It was a very rare moment that neither one of them was angry, irritated nor frustrated. These rare moments were the ones he lived for: often he would get some information, finding out more about what was going on.
"Don't you think now is the time to tell me more about the Pharaoh, before I actually meet him?" He asked. "You keep telling me to hate him for what he has done to our family, to our tribe, but you never… well, you never elaborate."
"I forget," Marik said.
"What?"
"I forget a lot." Marik didn't show his usual, diabolical grin: he was serious. "What I never forget, is my hatred and anger for the man who took everything away from us."
"What did he take away from us?"
"Our lives." Marik closed the synthfuser and stared at the device. "It all started out as a game, but the stakes got higher and higher, until the world itself was at stake. Dark games, shadow games, and the Tomb Keepers were caught in the middle. The Pharaoh died."
"He died," Malik repeated. He should've known better of course, with Marik around and knowing that he wasn't… real…
"He died."
"But how does Bakura fit in the picture?"
"A royal tomb has guardians to protect it. A royal tomb has thieves to plunder it. Bakura is the King of Thieves, and he was renowned in the ancient kingdom for his… audacity. He broke his neck when cleaning out a tomb."
"The one of the Pharaoh?"
"Probably. Our tribe had already left Egypt by then. I don't know why he's still around. I guess he made his own pact with the devil or darkness."
"Marik." Malik sat on the edge of his seat, as he was about to ask a dangerous question. "How come you're still alive? That anyone of you is still alive?"
The lack of anger on Marik's face was almost unnerving. Such a rare moment, but it was cut short abruptly. "Because we died in darkness," he said. "Now go back to the cockpit. We're going to land soon."
Yawning, Honda straightened himself before leaving the Time Wizard. In his hand he held the controller of the mechanical transport cart that hovered above the ground thanks to its artificial propulsion. The cart allowed him to move the large, heavy boxes of the EMETS along with the crates with weapons and armor all at once, instead of carrying it by hand. Otogi walked behind Honda, holding his bag with his laptop and other computer equipment. Jounouchi brought up the rear, empty-handed; it was good to be the team leader so he could delegate all the mundane chores. At the bottom of the ship's ramp, a medical team was waiting for them, a gurney in their midst. A man in a comfortable suit stood out, as he went to greet the arriving bounty hunters.
"It's been a while, Jounouchi," he said.
"Indeed, Isono." Jounouchi recognized Kaiba's right hand. The man doubled as bodyguard, personal assistant and all-around handler of shady business; when he was around, one could be sure that some serious shit was going on.
"Welcome to Yllsen Volta V," Isono continued. "As you know, this is a research facility with limited resources. Please take into account that not all utilities can or will work properly."
"Duly noted. So we can't take a shower all at once, can we?"
"If you're willing to share one and the same shower, yes you can," Isono answered dryly. "Just be considerate and don't waste or spill. Now, I was informed that a passenger was in need of medical attention?"
Jounouchi nodded. When asking for docking permission, Honda had given out brief information about Bakura - albeit withholding his name - and requested a medical team upon arrival. It was better and safer for Bakura to be looked after in the sickbay than to remain on the ship. "Unconscious male, hit by a taser attack," he explained. "He sort of shut down, after that."
Isono's facial expression didn't change. "I'll have the medical team examine him."
"Bring everything he carries onto him, to us."
"Very well. Master Kaiba is waiting for you." Isono snapped with his fingers and the medical team pushed the gurney onto the Time Wizard's ramp. Otogi tapped Jounouchi on the shoulder.
"You want us to come along?"
"Yeah," Jounouchi said. "Leave your stuff here for now, we'll pick it up later. We have to talk strategy with Kaiba. We still have time, right?"
"More than enough," Honda answered. "The October doesn't have the same speed as we do."
"Right." Jounouchi gave a technician the command to refuel the ship. This was something he rather did himself, as he didn't like foreign hands touching the Time Wizard, but right now, he had to talk to Kaiba and not waste precious time. Honda parked the transport cart next to the ramp and shut the propulsion system down, so the cart would rest on the ground instead of hover in the air. Otogi added his bag but took his laptop out, not wanting to part with it. They took the ziplift to the upper floors of the research facility. The general offices were situated way up higher than the research labs. As they walked through the hallway, Jounouchi spotted his boss's secretary first.
"Hey Rebecca," he greeted her, grinning as usual.
"Jounouchi, what are you doing here?" Rebecca had heard the tower's notification that the Time Wizard was on its way, along with a passenger in need of medical attention.
"We have important information for Kaiba," Jounouchi said. "He's waiting for us?"
She frowned at him, her glasses slipping from the bridge of her nose. "Yes, ever since he learned that you insisted on coming over here without giving a satisfactory reason. Now you're telling me you've got important information? He's very frustrated at the moment."
Jounouchi heaved a sigh. "What's new?"
"Don't annoy him, Jounouchi," Rebecca said, a warning tone in her voice. "Something's bothering him as of late, and it's not about KaibaCorp.."
"Don't tell me it has something to do with his emotions or feelings? He doesn't have any," Jounouchi retorted. He saw an angry flush on Rebecca's cheeks and took pity on her. Working for a demanding boss like Kaiba had to wear the young woman down, but she was still dedicated enough to notice something was off. "Mokuba there?" he asked, realizing that some of his information wasn't meant for smaller ears… then again, Kaiba shared everything with his brother, who was officially the vice president of KaibaCorp..
Rebecca shook her head. "No, Mokuba's with a private tutor. You can go in."
"I don't have time for you," was the first thing Kaiba snarled while he stared at his laptop screen.
"Then this is the perfect opportunity to free up some time for us," Jounouchi replied. He knew he shouldn't be too sassy with the CEO, but frankly, he was getting fed up with how Kaiba treated him. Seeing as Mokuba wasn't around, Jounouchi felt much freer to talk back to his boss. He didn't want to be rude around the kid, even if Mokuba was practically seen as an adult. He got the desired effect though, as Kaiba looked up from his beloved laptop, frowning and narrowing his ice-cold, blue eyes.
"What did you say?"
"I need your full attention for this." Otogi and Honda were standing left and right from him, and Jounouchi was glad to have their backup. He could deal with Kaiba, no matter the consequences… he had hit rock bottom before and he had crawled back from the gutter, but it was very nice to have the support of his friends. Kaiba swiveled his chair, still frowning, and stared at Jounouchi.
"All right, you have my attention. Tell me the reason for this visit."
"Pull up a vidscreen of the sickbay."
Kaiba did as he was told and after the feed had settled, the image of the private room Jounouchi had requested was sharp and clear. The CEO looked confused.
"Why did you bring Ryou Bakura to Yllsen Volta V?"
"Take a closer look," Jounouchi said. "This guy might share the same physical features as your new assistant, but he's far from being nice and pleasant."
Kaiba took his time to study the feed. Bakura lied in a hospital bed, eyes closed and as still as a corpse, hooked up to several IV's. From all the systems surrounding the bed, Jounouchi only recognized a heart monitor, showing an inhumanly slow heartbeat.
"He looks barely alive," Kaiba said, rubbing his chin. "And older, somehow. What have you done to him, Jounouchi?"
"Nothing in particular. We used a taser to take him down after he was caught one door next to your office back at Altana. We just didn't know his body would react like this."
"What?!" Now that got Kaiba's interest. "Why wasn't I informed of this?"
"The distance between Altana and here is too big," Otogi spoke up. He had taken the liberty to boot up his own laptop. "It'll get here in due time. I have the reports, if you want to read them."
Ignoring Otogi, Kaiba looked more upset by the thought of his office being broken into, then that someone had ended up comatose after being worked over with a taser. He drew his lips into a very thin line, his eyes glued to the vidscreen. "So you brought him here, deliberately putting four people in a ship build for three. Why shouldn't I fire your sorry ass for breaking every regulation known to space travel?"
"Because he identified himself as Ryou Bakura and had the tags to prove it," Jounouchi said curtly.
"Well, kudos to you for finding someone who managed to exploit a glitch in the system," Kaiba said. "I don't like to admit it, but the system is apparently not infallible. I'll look into it immediately when I get back to Altana."
A silence fell, interrupted by Rebecca who carried a tray into the office. Apart from Mokuba, she was the only one who was allowed into Kaiba's office, at all times, without having to wait or to be announced.
"At Jounouchi's request," she said as she put a large ziplock bag on the desk. "The belongings of the… patient."
"Thank you, Rebecca," Jounouchi said. She didn't respond and handed Kaiba a hot cup of tea. She didn't ask or offer the others anything. At a nod of his head, she left with the empty tray. Kaiba picked up the ziplock bag and opened it, sprawling the content all over the desk.
"Nothing much," he said, "some tokens, some genz, nothing personal."
"What are these?" Otogi asked incredulously, pointing at some foreign looking tools.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say those are lock picks," Honda said. "I've seen them before. It's a very old-fashioned way to open a door."
Otogi snorted in disbelief. "Almost every door has an electronic lock these days."
"Almost every door, yes," Honda said, unperturbed.
"Enough." Kaiba picked out a flat, rectangular device from the clutter on the desk. "What's this? It smells burned."
"We think that's the thing that short-circuited him," Jounouchi said and he summarized the interrogation and what happened next to Kaiba. The CEO studied the device, unsure of what it was.
"This is strange technology," he said. "I don't recognize it at all."
"We don't know why it responded to the taser the way it did." Jounouchi pointed at another device. "This is also interesting. His alterfactor."
"So this 'Ryou Bakura' is a thief, a criminal," Kaiba said disdainfully. Alterfactors were used by people to change their appearance, a technology not invented by KaibaCorp, but he knew about it, of course.
"I tested it on board the Time Wizard," Honda said. "It's exceptionally strong, with a particular wide reach. With this baby, even you can get out on the streets without being recognized at all."
Kaiba touched the alterfactor with newfound respect, intrigued. Not even his own scientists had been able to amplify the alterfactor's reach and cloaking ability in such a way that his appearance was completely concealed. "We have someone with serious engineering skills on our hands," he said. "I wonder though, why he chose Ryou Bakura's identity to assume as his own. You better hope he wakes up, Jounouchi. I'd like to ask him some questions."
"You be careful with that," Jounouchi warned him. "Or he'll start talking in a funny language, right after he threatens to kill you and unleashing Darkness all over the world."
Kaiba arched an eyebrow. "A criminal lunatic with engineering skills," he said. "Interesting. And what more do you have for me, that is so important?"
"Malik Ishtar and his ship, the October. Remember that Otogi's contacts told us about Malik and his weapon-crazy friend, forcefully bringing this Bakura on board of their ship? We thought that he was financing his business with the ransom money of his kidnappings at first."
Kaiba nodded. "I remember," he said.
Jounouchi continued: "Apparently, Bakura escaped somehow, otherwise we'd never encounter him on Altana. However, the next thing we know, is that the October is on course to Altana. This man," he pointed at the vidscreen, "let's just keep calling him Bakura, means something to them. Perhaps the Ishtars are some kind of bounty hunters on their own. I don't know how they figured out Bakura's whereabouts, but like I said, they're on their way to Altana. They're going through a helluva lot of trouble to retrieve him."
"So what you're saying, is…"
"Malik Ishtar and the October will come to Yllsen Volta V as soon as he finds out Bakura isn't on Altana anymore. They're coming to get him. We want to set up a trap here."
"Are you nuts? This planet is a research facility, not a military fortress." Kaiba sipped his tea. "You're going back to Altana, intercept Ishtar and pick up your bounty, as agreed per your contract."
"The Time Wizard isn't equipped with cannons," Jounouchi said sarcastically. "Look, it's just a matter of time until they'll learn of Bakura's new location. May I remind you that the guy traveling with Malik Ishtar wears four weapons on display? Altered weapons? Who knows what else he's carrying. Every second we speak, we waste time."
"Idiot," Kaiba grunted. "Fine. Enlist the help of the local security guards, but we don't have much in terms of guns or armor lying around here. Evacuate all the other personnel. As soon as the October lands, seal off the docks."
"We brought everything we need," Honda said. "Leave it to us."
"Fine." Kaiba picked up his cup of tea and typed something on his laptop. "Otogi, what was the tag for the October?"
Otogi named the tag and Kaiba keyed it in. The communication line took a while to get established and Honda, in a hushed tone of voice, started the discussion with Jounouchi about where to set up the EMETS. Otogi listened in, as he was the master strategist. Just as he was about to offer some comments, Kaiba spoke up. "According to the data, Altana Tower gave the October permission to dock, but they aborted the request."
"All right, so they already learned that Bakura isn't on Altana."
"Excuse me," Otogi said and used Kaiba's laptop to type in another command. The CEO didn't object. "I've got their trajectory course… yes, they're moving away from Altana."
"Good." Jounouchi checked his watch and executed a quick calculation in his mind. "Which leaves us… less than ten hours to get fully prepped and catch some sleep before they arrive here."
"I don't think so," Otogi said. He frowned. "The trajectory isn't to Yllsen Volta V."
"What?" Jounouchi paled.
"I knew this wasn't much of a plan, as usual when it comes from you," Kaiba said harshly. Otogi clicked more and more keys. "It looks like they're going to the Zikloid System."
"Zikloid? That's totally the opposite direction!"
"Wait a minute." Kaiba all but shoved Otogi out of the way. "According to his previous update, Ryou Bakura is on Vertregg 12."
"That's in the Zikloid System," Otogi said.
"Then they must be after him," Jounouchi concluded, flabbergasted. "Ryou Bakura, not the Bakura in the sickbay."
Kaiba was irritated. He couldn't make heads or tails out of it, and he didn't like it. "Who are these people?" A 'ping' sound alerted him to an e-mail. He had several personal accounts that he managed himself; Rebecca was the wall between him and the outer world when it came to his business mail accounts. Not bothered by Otogi standing next to him, Kaiba opened his mail program.
"What a coincidence, a message from Ryou Bakura," he said.
Jounouchi turned his head around. "What?"
"He sends pictures and some information…" Kaiba scrolled past the text, until one sentence caught his immediate attention. Possible owner of a God Card. His heart immediately beat faster. He quickly clicked the text away and opened the attached pictures, displaying them on the vidscreen. Otogi had no difficulties to identify the model of the ship.
"It's a LAV called the Datura. It looks in excellent condition, quite a unique model. I've never seen a blue color like that on a LAV before. I'm not sure what it says under the ship's name, though… it looks like gibberish."
"What are you talking about?" Kaiba said impatiently. He squinted a little. "It says "Vessel of the son of Ra, holy son of the Gods, Exalted Pharaoh and King, all life, prosperity and health for eternity.". What a pompous prick." He sipped the last of his tea.
"Jesus fuck, Kaiba!" Otogi's exclamation startled everyone in the office. It was very rare for Otogi to swear and three pair of wide eyes stared at him.
"What? What's going on?"
"Those are hieroglyphs!" Otogi pointed at the picture. "Kaiba, since when can you read Ancient Egyptian?"
For the first time in their lives, they watched their boss spit out his tea when the realization hit.
Chapter 14 | Chapter 16 |