“No, that’s stupid,” Jinx said firmly and stared him in the eye. “You honor no one by rushing to your death. We are going home.”

  Luke stared back at her, fist clenching and unclenching. “They killed her. Not because they had to, but as a last gasp attack filled with hatred. If that’s what these people are really like, then it’s my duty to fight them. You don’t have to come with me.”

  “We are bound together for life, Luke.” Jinx said slowly. “Not just the magical bond that lets us understand each other, but also the bond of years of friendship. You are my human and I... I am your cat. If you fight them, I will fight with you. But... please don’t. You’re emotional right now, and I don’t want you to sacrifice yourself to hurt them. Please. You are a War Machine without your machine. Build a better suit of armor so that when you fight them, they are the ones that die, not you.”

  Luke took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That was probably the longest she had ever talked in her life. He wanted to argue with her, she didn’t understand what Kruro had meant to him. She was his first and best Kalibutan friend. She taught him runes and helped him design the mech that let him gain his class. These asshole soldiers, the Empire’s military, couldn’t be allowed to get away with this.

  He looked at the dark night sky. He had already told Jinx all that. Repeating it wouldn’t change things. The fire inside him burned bright, but he could bank that fire. For now.

  “Alright. I’ll get you home safe first. But I won’t forgive them for this. I think it’s clear by now that the Triumvirate is planning on attempting invasion again. I’m going to be there on the front lines to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Thank you.” Jinx said.

  She shoved her head under his hand, insisting on pets. Luke indulged her. They had left the immediate area around the city before they had this conversation, so he could afford to take a short break to give her attention.

  As he pet her, the anger started to fade. Tears welled up and dripped down his face as he started to deal with the loss of a good friend.

  ???

  The last few days had been hell, grieving Kruro while living off the land on a foreign world. Luke’s mood improved slightly by imagining what the Norfolk Complex Marine guards must be thinking when they saw him appear in the portal room.

  The last few weeks must have been boring. Despite rumors of war, life and trade had continued. Power loaders carried cargo there and back. The Monster Jaeger company went in and out of the portal daily, no new designs from Luke to surprise them.

  Then, halfway through their shift, they see a jet-black housecat, larger than a panther. It had walked all the way through the portal, but they had only now noticed it. Some of the more astute soldiers would realize it was the cat’s magic skill that caused their attention to slide off it before.

  Even stranger was the man in ripped and tattered clothing sitting atop the cat. He was dirty and disheveled with a gaunt look. His leather bag was bulging with round objects that the smarter marines would recognise as monster cores, millions of dollars worth.

  “Halt!” one of the marines yelled out. Since he was manning one of the machine gun emplacements, Luke stopped immediately.

  He slid off Jinx’s back. She had suggested using her new skill, Perception Fade, to get past the guards on the Kalibutan side. He had needed to ride on her back to get the effect to transfer to him too. She had run out of mana halfway through the portal, but the danger was past.

  “Who, who are you?” the soldier said.

  “Relax, private. This is Mr. Moore,” the taxman said. He stepped out from behind his desk and said, “Are you doing ok, Luke?”

  “No, I’m not, Hector. But thanks for asking. I’ve got some cores to declare,” Luke said tiredly. He realized he must really look like shit for the antagonistic IRS agent to ask after him.

  Hector nodded and went back to his desk in the corner of the portal room. His eyes grew wider and wider as Luke placed core after core on the table. There were all the cores he had sent ahead with Kruro and then twice that number from killing monsters in the wilderness. Luke was able to quickly settle up by handing over a portion of the cores. There was the nice side benefit of getting a good estimate on current market value for the mana cores, he had brought home twenty-one million dollars worth.

  It wouldn’t be easy to sell them, since it would take time to find buyers willing to spend that much on magical baubles, but it was still nice.

  Luke decided to head over to the company warehouse to drop off the cores. Then he would head home and shower and take a break. He wanted to sleep for a month before he got his revenge for Kruro.

  As he walked into the building, there were several shouts of joy and surprise from Monster Jaeger employees. Angela and Bumblebee had been inspecting power armor and they ran over to him as he walked in.

  “Yo, bossman! It’s been too long. You aight? Not to be mean, but you look like dogwater,” Bumblebee said, concern clear on his face.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “I’ve had a rough few weeks. I’ll tell you all about it after I’ve had some time to recover,” Luke said tiredly. “I should probably tell you the worst news now though. Kruro is dead.”

  “What? No!” Bumblebee yelled.

  “Why? How?” Angela asked.

  Luke slowly shook his head, looking down at his bag. “They were after me, after this runebook I think, and they abducted her to lure me in. When I almost had her rescued, they killed her out of spite.”

  “Those bastards,” Bumblebee said, slamming his fists down on the desk. He left a dent in the metal table.

  “What was so special about the rune book?”

  “It’s got the holy grail. The shield rune. I’ve tested it and everything, the rune works.”

  “No cap?”

  Luke rolled his eyes. “No cap. In fact, we should spread the word, Bumblebee. My phone was destroyed, so I can’t do it myself. Will you please take a picture of these two pages and upload them to WikiRunes?”

  Bumblebee shrugged. “Ok, bossman. It won’t be up long, but I suppose I can tell the NPCs to download it. At least we know the stans will peep it before the site goes down, I guess.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “WikiRunes is going down today right after the hearing. Isn’t that why you came back?”

  “I forgot all about that. I’ve had other things on my mind. When is the hearing?”

  Angela shook her head. “It’s in an hour and a half drive to Denver. You’d have to leave right now to get there in time, but I don’t believe they’ll let you in, looking like that. You don’t have to go though, Allen left an hour ago, he’ll be there for the hearing.”

  Luke thought about it for a bit and dropped his bag on the nearby table. “I think I’ll go anyway. I have an idea that might keep the site up. You’re right though, I can’t go looking like this. I’ll have to fly there.” He pointed to the bag. “Angela. Please get those cores in magnetic shielding and put them in the bank. Bumblebee. I want you to photograph the rest of the combat runes book, but don’t upload anything but the shield rune. Most of those runes are pretty dangerous.”

  They agreed and Luke hurried off. He hopped over the fence and walked directly home. Jinx beat him inside, having phased through the door. After a quick shower, Luke dressed in his nicest suit. Jinx decided to stay home when he explained where he was going. He walked outside and then turned around and walked back inside. He didn’t have a phone, so he needed to look up directions to the US District Court on his computer.

  Thankfully the directions were simple and easy to memorize even without enhanced Memory. He walked outside again and summoned a runic heli. He hopped inside as soon as it finished forming and threw a soul inside.

  Alpha, reporting for duty.

  Luke smiled. At least he still had Alpha. “Take to the air and head south. Remain below 400 feet so we don’t get in trouble. As long as we stay out of controlled airspace, they shouldn’t be able to charge me.”

  The runic heli shot into the air and sped south. The courthouse was in the center of Denver, about seventy miles away. Thankfully, his heli flew fast enough that it only took half an hour to get there.

  The runic heli flew silently, but he still got some looks as he zoomed by. He might make the evening news with his flashy display of magic. Still, he believed it was important he got there before the ruling. He wanted the shield rune to stay up as long as possible.

  He ran out of mana about four blocks away and had to walk the rest of the way. That was probably for the best though, he didn’t want the security to think the courthouse was under attack.

  When he finally saw his destination, it was a bit of a letdown. The building looked like the rest of the concrete high rises downtown. It didn’t look stately and regal, it didn’t even have a dome on top. It was just another office building.

  He hurried inside and breezed through security since his pockets were empty. The attendant at the front desk was very helpful and he made it to the correct courtroom before anyone walked inside. Standing near the door was Atticus Adelson and eleven lawyers. Allen stood on the other side of the hallway with a single lawyer of his own. It wasn’t a David vs Goliath situation though, Allen had made sure to get the best law firm specializing in international patent law, Kaufman & Dix.

  “Mr. Moore, what a surprise. Mr. Conrad said that you were still off planet,” their lawyer said. She extended her hand to shake.

  Luke took it and said, “Mrs. Ziegler, good to finally meet you. Yes, I was on Kalibutan until two hours ago. I would have stayed home and let you handle this formality, but I had an idea for this hearing I wanted to run by you.”

  She looked at her watch and said, “I’ll listen to your idea, but I will probably reject it. This isn’t the place for drama, despite what television has told you. Judge October doesn’t have the time in her schedule for frivolities.”

  Luke nodded. “We choose you to represent us because you are good at what you do, I won’t presume to know better than you. I just wanted to make this suggestion.”

  He explained his idea and she asked a few clarifying questions. The courtroom doors opened then and Mrs. Ziegler started walking in. She said over her shoulder, “Entertaining idea, but you won’t be able to do it in court. I’m the only one that talks to the judge. Still, I think I’ll work it in.”

  Luke smiled and nodded. They all filed into the courtroom. To his surprise, they weren’t the only ones walking in. There were other cases before Judge October, and their case wasn’t first. He didn’t mind waiting, but was surprised Atticus hadn’t used his billions to get them first on the docket.

  Eventually it was their turn and everyone walked up to the front of the room. There were several minutes of legalese before Mrs. Ziegler made her move.

  “Your honor, it is the position of my clients that no one on Earth can own the patents for these runes. They were invented on Kalibutan and Kalibutan Law must take precedence in the matter of runes, as per our treaty. The Cambodian Accords state that deals struck by Kalibutan aristocrats must be honored. One of my clients, Mr. Moore, is an aristocrat of the Empire of the Rising Dawn. He was given the title Luke of Machines and all the rights and privileges of that station. He is claiming all runes on Earth are free use, and he is willing to litigate the manner in the Kalibutan fashion, either a glory trial in the capital city, or a trial by combat on Earth.”

  Judge October stopped and pulled her glasses down. “Are you saying that the defendant is suggesting a duel to the death with the plaintiffs?"

  “No, your honor. My client is challenging the plaintiffs to a duel to the death, and asking if they have a single Kalibutan aristocrat that can answer that call. If not, then we suggest the case be dismissed.”

  Luke raised an eyebrow and turned to the other side. Had any of them bothered to become an aristocrat on the other planet? He was certain that some of them had classes, maybe one of them had gotten a title too. He would love it if they accepted the challenge. He needed an outlet for his pain and anger over Kruro’s death.