Songs: The Wailers - Get Up, Stand Up

"This is where we're going next." I heard Mordecai's voice behind me. I was sitting at a data terminal, quickly scanning over information that might be useful, while Mordecai was off looking for some information on his younger brother. Anouk had echoed us earlier saying we might find something here.

At the moment we were in Arkalyk, another massive city. I wasn't sure whether it was smaller or bigger than Vavozh, honestly it could easily be about the same size. The buildings did look a whole lot fancier, though.

"Where we're going... what?" I asked Mordecai, turning around to him. He held up a holo map of a planet called Persephone.

"After we're done with the Vault here and everything. This is where we're going next." he repeated.

"Why are we going there?"

"Because that's where my brother is locked up. And I intend on getting him out. He apparently got framed for murder, because he was organizing protests against the government of the planet."

"You think it's a good idea to come waltzing in there when you're his brother?" I commented. It seemed like a bit of a suicide mission, if I was being honest. We hadn't heard anything about the whole situation until Yolanda, Mordecai's mother, had mentioned it while we were on Artemis.

"It's probably not a good idea. I'm going anyway. Anouk mentioned that she might be able to get me in contact with the leader of the resistance and the protests there, so we could possibly go and help them break my brother out of prison. I uh... I'd understand if you didn't wanna come with me, though. That's fine." he said, seeming a little taken aback by my lack of enthusiasm.

It wasn't lack of enthusiasm. If the plan was to break someone out of prison, I was all for it. The thing was that it came as a bit of a surprise at that moment. I hadn't really expected this to come up for a while, even though I knew that Mordecai was eventually going to look for his brother.

"Hey, of course I'm coming with you. Jeez, what do you think of me? I'm just trying to make sure we somewhat know what we're doing. I was stuck on Pandora for years because I had no idea what I was doing with my life." I replied. He nodded solemnly and sat down next to me.

"That is a fair point."

"So, a prison break, huh?" I asked. I don't think I had ever attempted breaking someone else out of prison. I know that Mordecai had me broken out of prison that one time when Hyperion was just starting out on Pandora. That all seemed like an eternity ago. So much had happened since then.

"Yup, a prison break." Mordecai agreed.

"And Anouk can get us in contact with the resistance there? I assume that your brother is associated with them in some way?" I wanted to know. Mordecai nodded quickly and handed me the data pad.

"He is. There is a bunch of stuff on them on this pad. It seems that Vladof has supported them in the past by supplying guns and funds to their cause. Maybe that's why Anouk can get us there and can get us in contact with the resistance." Mordecai explained, as I skimmed over the data.

"You think because that would be in line with what Vladof wants?"

"Yeah. If it wasn't I don't think Anouk could do much for us. And I also don't think we'd be able to find a lot of information on them here. Anyway, we'll see how everything goes here first. Did you find anything on the Vault Key piece?" Mordecai wanted to know, changing the topic, before we got too far away from what we were looking for. The Vault Key piece was our priority after all.

The thing was that I hadn't really been too successful. All I had gotten were hints on what families had owned it at some point and were involved in its disappearance. It was a terribly long search and the results were only meager. I sighed, before shaking my head with disappointment.

"I didn't find much at all. I think the only way for us to find this thing is to infiltrate the loyalists and get close enough to a few certain families. Family names are the only things I could find out here." I explained.

"Which means that Brick and Tina will have to do it." Mordecai replied. I gave him a confused look.

"Why is that?"

"Well, they already know our faces. More or less. The two of us and Anouk have been in too much trouble with them at that stage. I'd reckon only very few would be able to identify Brick and Tina, however."

"That makes sense, actually. Jeez, why can't things just be easy for once? It's like everything is easy until the final bits of the way and then everything suddenly stops working out. It's grating."

"I know, I know, chica. But hey, we'll pull through somehow. We've always pulled through until now." Mordecai said.

"What if this is the one time we don't?"

"Well, then there's nothing we can do, I suppose."

I laughed to myself a little. Of course, there was nothing we could do, if this time we wouldn't make it. It just seemed like such an unlikely thing to happen. After all the stuff we'd survived it would be weird to not make it through some political cat and mouse game. It would feel pretty ironic.

"We're being negative today, huh?" I asked him, laughing a little again. I would be more surprised if we weren't being negative.

"You started it!"

"Did not! ... Well, actually I did. Should we call it a day for today? I've got a good few names and if we have to send Brick and Tina in to get some information, then we have a lot of work ahead of us." I said. The thought of Brick and Tina going into enemy territory and trying to be sneaky was giving me nightmares.