Chapter 388: Face to Face

Sera found Tohu waiting near the outer recovery line.

He was studying a live map of the fog routes like he owned the chase.

That put teeth in her jaw.

"You crossed my command line again," she said.

Tohu didn’t look up. "Your command line lost them. I am not going to wait while you pretend the hunt is yours alone."

"They broke from my coverage. That does not make them yours."

"One of them carries residual from my early work. That makes him my problem." Tohu turned finally. "You held that group as leverage. Then you lost them. Now you want me to be polite while scavengers come along? No."

Sera moved closer. "You abandoned that design. You left it. You do not get to reappear because the leftovers are convenient."

"I left a finished assignment. I did not leave you a free claim on my residue." His voice was unchanged. "You should have told me the moment you pulled them out. You stored them and moved them and tried to deal from cover. That was your choice. This is my choice."

"You want Zeus."

"I want the residual from him. If the rest come with him, fine. If they fight, that is their choice."

Sera laughed once without humor. "You talk as if you are the only one with something to lose. I spent extraction authority on that group. I burned political cover so they would not go to the open board. I will not hand them over because suddenly you care about old work."

"Then keep up," Tohu said. "Because I am not waiting for your pride."

The map between them was lighting up with new movement in the fog routes. They both studied the display. There were still nine ahead and moving without being caught.

Sera indicated the screen. "Your pressure is forcing them to run harder. Every time you apply from the flank, they dump residual in the trails and change cuts. You are degrading my net accuracy."

"And your net made them run in the first place," Tohu said, crossing his arms. "If you could hold your own screen, we would not be talking about fog."

"Say that again."

"I will. You lost them. Own it."

Silence stretched for a moment. Local operators remained well back from the discussion, picking up the density rising off both higher beings and not interested in being caught between them.

Sera broke the silence first. "We split recovery. You want Zeus. I want the full group returned under my claim. Parallel lines. No interference."

Tohu shook his head. "No. Parallel lines produce collisions. I take lead on the residual trail. You clear what your recovery teams can pick up. When I have Zeus, we negotiate terms."

"That is not a split. That is you taking the only piece you care about and leaving me the scraps."

"That is me refusing to let the only piece that matters to me be erased or stolen while you defend a broken claim."

Sera’s gaze narrowed. "If your people cross my recovery teams, I will consider it an attack on my authority."

"Then keep your teams out of my way."

"You are in my territory."

"I am in open Continuum lanes around a failed holding action," Tohu said. "Call it what you will, but the result is the same. The group is loose and I am not leaving without the residual force tied to Zeus."

Sera moved forward until only the map light remained between them. "You think I am going to accept that?"

"I think you already lost the clean option. Now you have recovery and competition. That is the board you chose."

Her voice dropped. "I should have erased the defect the moment it was logged."

"Yes," Tohu said. "You should have."

The argument stayed fixed between them. No movement. No agreement. Only two hunters refusing to yield while the trail ahead led through blackout fog.

A local attendant came up from a safe distance and halted. He waited until Sera’s gaze shifted to him.

"What?" she asked.

"Priority contact at the outer markers," the attendant said. "Not Compact. Not minor House. Formal presence request. The signature is Jehovah’s."

Both Sera and Tohu went still.

Tohu spoke first. "He is here?"

"He is requesting direct entry," the attendant said. "And he cited Tohu’s name in the request."

Sera looked at Tohu. "Did you call him?"

"No."

"Then he picked up your noise."

Tohu’s jaw tightened. "Of course he did."

Sera turned back to the attendant. "Let him through."

The attendant left at once.

For a brief time the two of them stood in silence again. The map continued to update minor fluctuations in the fog routes. The nine were still not caught. That fact remained between Sera and Tohu as they stood motionless.

"He will not come to help," Sera said.

"I know," Tohu said. "He will come to ask why this old assignment is loud enough to reach him."

"And what will you tell him?"

Tohu watched the outer approach lights begin to change. "The truth. I left residue. You gathered it. The residue ran. Now everyone is paying for the sequence."

"You make it sound simple."

"It is simple," Tohu said. "You just do not like the part where you share the blame."

The far screen opened.

Jehovah arrived without escort and without hesitation. White seat authority accompanied him here as well. The local density adjusted itself to him before he spoke.

He surveyed first Sera and then Tohu, and then the unfolding map of the hunt.

"So," Jehovah said. "Explain this to me."

Neither Sera nor Tohu answered. Inside the blackout fog the nine continued to move toward one hunter while the other came up from behind.

And now the third on the old names had come to ask why the leftovers from a forgotten design were suddenly worth this much trouble.

A/N

Thanks for reading this far, I know it’s mid, but this is the best I can do with the little time I have.

I Will try in the future to do more better when I have free time.

Now I’m back and will be active and will try to make the novel now interesting to the best of my ability.