On the way back to pick up Taiwo and Aelara I ask Kael something that’s been bothering me.

  “What’s the benefit of seeking out situations where we enforce the Protocols?” I ask him. He stops in the hallway and turns to me; it’s clear I’ve gotten his attention with this question.

  “You mean… besides ensuring all people have opportunities to advance and that the strong who look to bully and take advantage of the weak have someone to stand against them?” he asks.

  “It feels a bit embarrassing to ask the question when you put it like that, but yeah,” I answer. “What’s in it for me personally compared to just focusing entirely on finding alternative planets for humanity? That’s a billion people I could potentially help with what I’m doing. It sounded like a good idea to combine the missions, but now that I’m waiting for a list I feel like I want the list of planets to be based solely on the planet’s suitability for human settlement. What if the top planets don’t make the list I get because there aren’t any suspected or known SSA Protocol violations on them? It’s the difference between finding problems as I go along as a High Enforcer and changing my path to seek them out.”

  “I understand more fully now. Thank you for explaining,” Kael replies and his stance shifts a bit in a way that I interpret to mean he’s more relaxed. “I agree.”

  That surprises the hell out of me.

  “You agree?”

  “Yes. If your primary current need and focus is finding a new planet for your species to settle on, then that’s what you should do. Of course, if the suitability of planets is similar and you have the chance to do some Enforcement work versus not, that might make sense. So you should at least consider it.”

  “You don’t think that’s… selfish of me? Or something that a ‘real’ High Enforcer wouldn’t do?” I’d like to know what the implications are for any choices I make, even if I make ones that have negative consequences.

  “Bronwic, I’ve been doing Enforcement for over 200 years. There are seasons of high focus and lower focus for each Enforcer, and that’s expected. You must know that lifespans for some species and certainly for Ascended Class individuals are very long. There could never be an expectation of taking SSA assignment after assignment for tens of thousands of years with no breaks, no other goals. All Enforcers, even High Enforcers, have other interests they pursue from time to time. And of course, sometimes to take on more challenging assignments Enforcers need to spend time training or building new skills, or they need to buy more powerful equipment. All of that takes time and nobody expects that an Enforcer, let alone a High Enforcer, would grind out hundreds or thousands of missions for no XP gain other than the XP awards for completion. There are a few extremely conservative High Enforcers who take that route, but it is rare.”

  It makes sense when I think about it this way while we resume our trip through the corridors. My old frames of reference just don’t make as much sense now. Maybe LIrathel had more quality thinking to offer me than I initially realized. My irritation toward her dials down slightly from 100% to 99%. As we turn the next corner Kael breaks the silence.

  “Now that you have been properly Initiated, this is something you can declare in the High Enforcer tab of your Mana Interface, and it will affect the kind of assignments you are offered including difficulty and duration,” Kael adds. “In case you had not yet seen it.”

  “Wait,” I say, stopping again. I look up at his sunken eyes with the glow that sits far back in them, almost like his brain emits bioluminescence that glows through his skin. “There’s a High Enforcer tab in my Mana Interface?”

  He waits patiently while I check my SMI and see that of course, he’s right, it’s something that’s just been added. I open it up and see that I can find assignments by filtering and also update my goals. I can note down things I’m pursuing so that the AI can suggest appropriate activities for me, and it looks like they don’t necessarily need to involve Protocol enforcement.

  “This a benefit of being a High Enforcer? To be able to use the AI for more… personal activities, as well as official High Enforcement business?” I ask Kael as I update what I want through my Interface.

  “Absolutely.”

  I’m still not super clear about why I might spend time doing missions as a High Enforcer while there are other issues I’m taking care of, but for now if they can merge while I’m trying to achieve my main goal it feels like a win. It’s not long until we exit into the waiting area. Taiwo and Aelara are both flicking through notifications in comfort. As soon as we emerge Taiwo leaps up with a grin and significant interest.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “What happened?” he asks without any preamble.

  “Properly a High Enforcer now, finally…” I answer. “Thanks for nudging me to do this. We’ve got a little bit of time before the suitable planet analysis completes.”

  “What’s a proper High Enforcer? And what’s Judgement’s End? Sounds ominous,” Taiwo asks, clearly curious.

  “You can catch up at Judgement’s End,” Kael says to me. “I need to speak with a couple of the Enforcers there. It shouldn’t take long.”

  Aelara joins us while Kael guides us to the Club. As I’m about to answer Taiwo, I suddenly pause and look at Aelara. How much I know her, really? How much does Taiwo really know about her? Adding someone to my Party that specializes in technology is a great move, but having her as a potential Deputy? Involved in what I think is important to the future of humanity? I guess there’s nothing happening right now that seems consequential and there’s no requirement that I Deputize her. There’s no real reason to worry right now , but I do have it in the back of my mind when I reply.

  “Just a Club where Enforcers hang out. I’ll tell you about the rest later,” I say to Taiwo.

  “You have to be a member to get in?” Taiwo asks Kael. I wonder how many all-access passes Taiwo has up his sleeve to places that most people don’t know about, or don’t have access to. Definitely more than me, although maybe my KCT win and High Enforcer status could get me into a few places he couldn’t.

  “High Enforcers can bring guests, although I suggest you remember almost everyone in the Club will be an Enforcer before you interact with them,” Kael declares.

  It doesn’t take us long to reach the large, semicircular entrance with a bright red door that’s rimmed in purple. It’s an odd color combination. Like all doors and room dimensions in Galactic areas like this, everything is oversize to accommodate for the differing size of Galactics.

  “Are there planets and Enforcer Enclaves that have dimensions a lot bigger or smaller than this, Kael? I can imagine not all Enforcers are 2 or 3 meters tall?”

  “Indeed, Bronwic,” he answers as we stop in front of the door. There are no guards so I wonder what he’s waiting for. “It is highly recommended you visit the ones meant for larger species to get an idea of the breadth of Enforcers across the Universe. You will see some design alterations for that here on Driivekthar. I would recommend the ones meant for smaller species, but neither of us could even enter.

  As he finishes speaking, lasers spear out from around the door and flash across us in a pattern up and down. I find it confusing. Kael must notice the expression on my face.

  “The scan you’re seeing is a physical one, much easier to fool than Mana signature or many of the other identity and biometric tests.”

  “Why have it then?” asks Aelara. “I can sense all sorts of scanning going on here and I don’t know whether to block it or not.”

  “It’s a reminder to people that enter that they’re being scanned and should behave themselves, since Enforcers often bring guests,” says Kael flatly.

  Message received.

  The door opens and the four of us enter. The ceilings must be at least ten meters high and there’s an eclectic collection of furniture to suit all shapes and sizes. Even from the entrance I can see there are several areas including one to pick up food and drink. Next to it is an area with dozens of large semi-circular booths, each able to fit at least 6 people of Kael’s bulk. At the far end of the room I can also see an ominous, sturdy door with a sign on it that my SMI translates into ‘Dispute Resolution”. I can’t help but be curious at the same time that I resolve internally to try not to find out.

  The place is maybe half full. Most of the Galactics are vaguely humanoid with only a few serious oddities. We get a little bit of attention as we enter, but within a few seconds we’re part of the furniture and nobody that I can tell is paying any attention to us. My Danger Sense is silent.

  “Make yourself at home,” Kael says. “I shouldn’t be more than a couple thousand UTUs. There is always a Shop at any Enforcer-related Club.” He points to our left and I can see Taiwo is already looking there, no doubt always aware of any Shop orbs nearby.

  “I could use a Shop visit,” says Aelara.

  “No problem,” I say, a bit relieved, and she flows off toward the Shop orb. I hope Taiwo stays so we can discuss a few things. Kael also leaves us and strides toward the ‘Dispute Resolution’ door. Part of me wants to follow him or at least use Omnipresent to spy on what he’s doing. I glance over at Taiwo, who is still eyeing the Shop orb, and see when he looks back at me that he’s made his decision.

  “If I leave you here by yourself, you’ll definitely find a way to get someone killed,” he says in a long-suffering way which I know means he’s not too serious, and I laugh which draws a couple of glances.

  “I’m not that bad. If you really need to visit the Shop, go ahead. But if you can stay, there are a few things I’d like to run by you, just the two of us.”

  “Bar or booth?” he asks.

  I like the look of the bar better. More open and easy for my Perception to pick out heaps of conversations if I choose to. However, for this chat being a bit more private might be good.

  “Booth,” I decide and Taiwo nods. Biggest decision of the day made, we slip into a booth and immediately I notice that sounds from the outside are heavily muted. I turn my Perception all the way up to maximum and can still pick out a few things, but there is definitely some kind of dampening. A droid-type machine enters our circle of privacy and takes our food and drink order then leaves.

  Now… I just have to figure out how to bring some things up to Taiwo in a way that doesn’t burn any bridges.