Chapter 374: An Immediate Choice

Chapter 374: An Immediate Choice

Forty students filled the First-Class briefing room on Thursday morning. Crowe had barely reached the front when conversation began dying away.

"Rank-Two practical examination," he said. "Live capture."

The screen behind him displayed twenty numbered spaces.

"You’ll work in pairs. Each pair draws a target by raffle. Every target is Rank Two, one-Star. That does not mean every target will be equally easy to catch."

A few students exchanged looks.

"Finding suitable ground, arranging transport, capturing the beast, and bringing it back are your responsibility. No instructor will accompany you."

Rowan raised her hand.

"When does the clock stop?"

"When you deliver your target to the Academy’s stable office for verification. Alive and in acceptable condition." Crowe tapped the screen. "The common start is six tomorrow morning. Catching something and leaving it in a crate halfway across Hollowmere does not count as finishing."

Jin wrote down the time.

"Your target also has to survive the journey," Crowe added. "Choose your containment accordingly."

Two columns replaced the numbered spaces.

[Group A]

[Group B]

"Assessed practical standing. Field results, controlled combat, instructor evaluations. Each pair must include one student from each group."

Jin found his name in B. Lucian was in A.

Around him, students began looking from the lists to one another. A tall boy near the front already had two people waiting beside his desk.

Jin was considering whether to get up when Lucian sat in the empty chair next to him.

"Hauler or Academy transport?" Lucian asked.

Jin looked at him.

"You haven’t asked."

"Do you want a different partner?"

"No."

"Good. Transport?"

Jin laughed despite himself.

"That was quick."

Lucian shrugged. "I’ve worked with you. I know how you think."

"Unfortunately for you."

"You usually notice when a plan’s stopped working." Lucian glanced towards the growing knot of students at the front. "I’d rather have that than spend the morning comparing talent grades."

Jin hadn’t realised he wanted to hear that until Lucian said it.

"We should book a hauler," he replied. "One with a trailer rated for Glitch. I know a driver."

"Good. I’ll look at carriers."

Their raffle result appeared less than half an hour later.

[Pair 11: Vale / Astor]

[Target: Shaleveil Marten]

[Combat Rank: 2 — 1-Star]

[Habitat: broken rock, scree, cliff ledges]

[Noted traits: stone camouflage, rapid movement, use of narrow crevices]

[Handling warning: escape-prone]

Someone behind Jin made a sympathetic noise.

A girl from the flight yards leaned forward to read the screen.

"My cousin tried catching one of those for a bounty," she said. "He came back with a sprained ankle."

"Did he get it?" Jin asked.

She shook her head.

Across the room, the tall boy glanced at their result and bent towards his partner. Jin missed the words but recognised the small, pleased smile.

Lucian exhaled through his nose.

"Well. We should probably read more than the handling warning."

The equipment store was crowded by ten.

Glitch waited in the corridor while Lucian signed out a padded, ventilated capture carrier. Kite occupied a perch rail beside the door, watching students manoeuvre crates past one another.

Jin stopped beside her.

The lightning markings along her wings had grown denser since he last examined her properly. When she adjusted her footing, a dry crackle passed through her feathers.

"Has she changed again?" he asked.

Lucian looked up. The pleasure on his face was immediate.

"She’s Gold Low now."

Jin turned.

"Really?"

"Near the upper end, according to the clinic. Not Middle yet." Lucian joined him by the perch. "She’s getting close to two-Star as well."

"You said the Rank breakthrough hadn’t changed her Quality."

"It didn’t. This came afterwards." Lucian stroked a ruffled feather flat. "The woman who recruited me promised a resource if I reached Rank Two within her deadline. I managed it."

"And she gave it to you?"

"Sent it. By mail."

Jin waited while Lucian checked that nobody was trying to get past them.

"She came to Shelter Seven," Lucian continued. "Young woman. Said she was a Meridian instructor. Her identification was genuine, and so was the admission letter. That part all worked."

"That part?"

"I’ve never seen her here. There’s no instructor under the name she gave me, either."

Jin looked towards the store entrance, as though the answer might walk through it.

"You checked?"

"More than once."

"But the resource arrived."

"Exactly. Suitable for Kite, properly documented. I had the clinic check it before using it." Lucian rubbed the back of his neck. "I’d like to know who she actually is. Mostly, though, I’m glad she kept her promise."

Kite leaned into his hand.

Jin watched her feathers settle. He could understand being pleased. He could also imagine checking the staff directory a fourth time.

"Was Meridian what you expected?" he asked.

"Better." Lucian glanced around the store, where the keeper was demonstrating a latch to an increasingly worried student. "I thought I’d spend most of my time wishing I’d gone somewhere bigger. But the people here pay attention. Kite’s stable technician notices things before I do."

Jin nodded. He had several names of his own he could have added.

They carried their equipment out before the queue trapped them against the perch.

The afternoon went into research.

Jin opened recent Association reports while Lucian compared habitat notes with the map. They found a cluster of sightings around the rocky benches near Hollowmere: enough to be useful, recent enough to justify the journey.

"The open ground looks good from above," Jin said.

Lucian enlarged a photograph.

"And terrible once you’re on it."

Broken shale formed ledges and shallow overhangs across the slope. Dark cracks interrupted what had looked, at first glance, like a nearly continuous surface.

"Kite can watch the wider area," Lucian said. "But if we keep her directly overhead, the marten may stay under cover."

"Flicker can work closer."

"Can she keep up with it?"

"Probably not in a chase."

Lucian looked up at that, then nodded.

Jin continued checking the road access. He had used the Hollowmere route before, and Okonkwo’s trailer could carry Glitch without difficulty. They would need a return arrangement flexible enough to accommodate an uncertain finish.

The carrier required just as much thought as the journey.

"Cab on the way back," Jin said. "Secured where we can watch it. Glitch stays in the trailer."

"And we check every latch before moving," Lucian added. "Twice."

They chose a box trap for the first attempt, with a net as backup. Their notes grew crowded with questions about approach routes, bait, and what happened if the animal refused to enter.

By late afternoon they had a destination, transport, and a plan that Jin could explain without skipping the difficult parts.

He saved the sighting reports.

Lucian was testing the carrier door again.

"It’s going to be annoying, isn’t it?" Jin asked.

"Very."

Neither suggested changing partners.