The Respite, A Dive Bar In Boomtown, Emape
Date: 1083-245
Present in this bar are the bartender Nostrum; Jerdehl Nishka, age 13; and a person identified as Birien Lenka, on record as being a suspected recruiter for the Ine Givar terrorist cell, deceased.
Lenka looks at the barkeep. "Nostrum, gimme one of your boilermakers, and a sodapop for the kid." Lenka sits back in his chair, across from Jerdehl. "You're way too young for a place like this. What the hell are you doing here?"
"I followed my older brother here."
Lenka: "And who would that be?"
"Enos Nishka."
Lenka: "And why were you following him?"
"I thought it was drugs. I thought he was getting into drugs."
Lenka laughs. "No, he's not got into drugs, I assure you."
"Then what the hell is he getting into?"
Lenka: "I'm going to tell you a little story. Have you ever heard of the Pauline League?"
"Not really, no."
Lenka: "Good thing, too, because they were wiped out. They were a bad crowd. Really bad."
"In what way?"
Lenka: "They were vigilantes. They spent their days hunting down people whom they called undesirable. Psions, LGBTQ+ people, someone who cut across them at the drive through. Always furious, always snarling, petty, cruel. Banal as evil can get. And for a time, I was a member."
Lenka: "So one day, they had been raiding someone's home. It turned out that they were minor psions. A telepathic family. The fire team went in, and I was sitting with the two ringleaders in a van outside."
Lenka: "We heard gunshots coming in over the comm. Every time we heard someone yell target eliminated I heard those two jerks beside me cheer in triumph." Lenka pauses. "And then there was the child."
Jerdehl gasps.
Lenka: "And so I sat there, and I caught sight of this kid running out of the house, pursued by Linkon Visitor, the team leader. His face mask was off, and I could see he was really enjoying the chase." Lenka paused, looking straight into Jerdehl's eyes. "And I saw the girl's face. And you know what my two colleagues said?"
"No."
Lenka: "They were yelling We've got the creature cornered! and Finish the beast slowly! and I saw the cruelty in their faces, which had been hiding behind their public masks of righteousness."
"And what did you do?"
Lenka: "I handed in my resignation note to them both ... written on a bullet. And my last act as part of that group was to finish off the rest of the team. I made certain there would not be so much as a single living member of that team, to pick up the reins and get back on that crusade."
"And what's that got to do with today, and Enos?"
Lenka: "Oh, that's easy. I was lost, for a time. I no longer had a cause. Not one which was worthy, at any rate. But then I met Kem Fuller, and he restored my faith, and gave me a new cause to follow. And I helped your brother Enos to get his focus, and to join something that is bigger than he is." Lenka takes out a pamphlet and slides it across the table to Jerdehl. "You can join us, too."
The pamphlet is a recruiting leaflet for the Ine Givar.
