As Emery headed into the wilderness dubbed as the Wasteland, Julian went back to the main colony's main building and made his way to the prison where the captured rebel leader was being held. He wanted to ask some things to the magus.
"Tell me! Who do you work with? How did you manage to steal the Replicator from the station?" Julian demanded in a harsh tone. To his surprise the man laughed at the question.
"Hahaha, you don't have to act like this. I will tell you either way." With a smirk on his face, Stildar said something that surprised the Roman. "I'm telling you... most Nexus' new generation are fools. They are complacent and easily manipulated... those precious items are lying around free to be taken!"
The rebel leader, Stildar Quatermain, being one of the only dozen or so magus of the Nexus faction, possessed more access than any other normal Nexus officers. Even so, Julian could not believe the matter to be as simple as the man explained.
Unfortunately, even though he managed to get the magus to spill some information, Julian still did not fully grasp the whole picture of the situation.
On the other hand, Thrax, along with Otto and Shane Quartermain, watched closely the whole progress of Julian's interrogation from another room behind the one-way glass. When Julian finally came out of the room, the minister spoke to the Roman.
"If there really is someone helping him on the space station, we'd be able to find them. The entire space station is monitored by the faction, so I'm sure there's footage of the culprit somewhere."
Julian didn't respond right away. He was silent for a moment, seemingly in contemplation, before saying, "I think I need to take a look at the place where the Replicator was stolen to fully understand the situation, Minister."
With this, Julian affirmed his decision to return to the Nexus space station. Of course, he would bring the magus captive along, as he needed the latter to explain how he managed to pull off the heist.
Hearing this, Shane stopped him. Faced with the questioning look from the Roman, he quickly said, "I also have my share of experience with the space station's security. Take me, I can help you."
Before Julian could say anything, Otto spoke again. "It's been twenty years since you were posted there. A lot has changed."
Shane Quartermain could only look towards his brother in silence as he understood what the minister said was true. Julian, however, seemed to have a different opinion as he fell in thought.
He turned to the old man and said, "You can come as well. I will allow you."
Despite the disapproval Otto showed, Julian was still adamant because he had decided to go with his guts. Seeing the resolve written on his face, the minister eventually agreed, albeit reluctantly.
The reason Julian allowed Shane to follow suit was because he and Thrax had little to no knowledge of how things were done in the Nexus space station. Hence, he felt they needed someone who was not under the Nexus faction's payroll to accompany them.
The group swiftly departed. It took about two hour for the Interceptor to arrive and dock at the Nexus space station.
"Ah, nice to meet you. I don't think I've met either of you before?" Julian said with his smile.
Unexpectedly, the one who revealed the identities of the two people was not themselves, instead the prisoner the Roman had brought with him.
"Hahaha, Rodrick and Wildon! It's truly an honor that you two were waiting here for me."
Julian could see the faces of the two people scowling at the rebel leader's words.
Otto introduced the two to Julian and Thrax. Rodrick Flynn and Wildon Weiss, two of the 10 magus the Nexus faction had within its ranks. Using this opportunity, the minister also introduced the situation of the Nexus magus.
Apart from Stildar, whose status was removed for obvious reason, among the ten Nexus magus, five were sent to the frontlines, one stayed close to guard the Principal, while the final two were away on mission.
The two magus nodded respectfully towards Julian and Thrax, before the one named Rodrick stepped forward. Ignoring Stildar's attempts to get his attention, the man said, "Envoy, we are here to escort and keep an eye on the prisoner."
Julian didn't find the magus' words strange. He understood that with a magus-level prisoner, it was only to be expected for security measures to be tightened. In fact, he would find it strange if no action was taken.
"Alright, now let's see how it happened."
Under the lead of the minister, the group headed to where the Replicator was placed.
As listed in the Nexus data, there were only four Replicators owned by the faction. three were installed in the strategic facility of the space station with one was put into storage as backup. The latter was the one stolen by Stildar.
Julian was then shown the place and part of the security camera footage when Stildar snuck into the storage room together with Burdock – the man wearing a unique device on his eyes. Together, they stole the Replicator.
Looking at the footage, it was undeniable that Stildar did steal the Replicator with his subordinate. However, Julian still kept asking more questions, he felt there was something more to this.
"May I know who was in charge of monitoring the security that night? I would also like to speak to those who were supposed to guard the place."
However, instead of receiving an answer to his request, he received something else.
"Envoy, the Principal would like to speak with you right now," said one of the magus, Wildon.
Even though he was suspicious of the magus' change of topic, Julian looked away from the screen and nodded his head. "Alright."
Leaving Stildar under the two magus' care, Julian and Thrax headed to the Nexus' main hall where once again the Principal was seen sitting on his throne, with his magus bodyguard standing right beside him.
After some formalities and pleasantries, the Principal finally spoke out his intention.
"Envoy, once again I want to thank you for helping our problem. You have done more than enough," the man said with a smile. "We will take the matter from here, so please contact your other companions. We will immediately send a ship to pick them up."
Julian was silent as he fell in thought. He looked at the Principal and said, "Can you give us twenty-four more hours? There's stil–"
The Principal did not give him a chance to continue explaining, "It seems that you have misunderstood, Envoy. This is not a request." Looking at Julian, the man spoke in an indifferent tone. "I believe you have crossed your jurisdiction. It's best for you and your companions to return."
The reaction certainly took Julian by surprise, but then there was not much he could do if the leader of the faction didn't allow them to continue. After all, this was not their territory. So, in the end, he just nodded promising he would do as asked.
However, what made matters even more confusing was that he and Thrax were forced to stay in a guarded room. The two of them were told not to go out while the Nexus faction picked up their friends.
"What the hell is going on!?" Thrax turned emotional.
It was when Julian and Thrax were inside the detainment room that a green bird spirit came to the former. It was the message from Klea about the orcs. At that moment, as if the missing piece of a puzzle appeared, everything became clear for him.
Julian immediately turned to his Thracian friend saying, "We have to get out of here."
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