“Damn, looks like someone killed a bunch of Voidborns here!” Kaytee explained as he parked the Thantir Three. “Lots of gold blood.”
“Why do they have gold blood?” Ret asked from behind the captain’s chair.
Kaytee shrugged. “No fucking clue. Sometimes they mix it up by having silver or black blood, or no blood at all, but I can tell right now, that’s at least three Voidborns’ worth of blood.”
Retvik didn’t comment. As soon as the ship was parked. Retvik got up and headed outside.
The scene wasn’t particularly nice. A ship called The Third Chance had quite a few dents in one side, and, next to it, a second, much smaller ship had its windows and some of the consoles in the cockpit broken. Both of them only had small splashes of blood. Mostly because the three dead Voidborn shells were taking up most of the floor space, and the entrance to the little pub had been completely smashed to bits. A lot of the tables and chairs inside were also broken.
Kaytee and Ret also inspected the scene somewhat, then got to work. Kaytee started working on the smaller ship, assessing the damage. Not quite sure what to do, Ret moved the corpses into a neat pile, then headed to the back of the Thantir Three to start unloading the items they had bought earlier.
Standing in front of it all (but behind the dead Voidborns) was Letharus, an old friend of the Thantir, and he turned around to greet Retvik.
“Are you well, Letharus?” Retvik asked.
“Not really, no…” Letharus frowned. “Normally there are not any Voidborn problems here.”
Retvik glanced around. “I am surprised you do not get more trouble. The Ventra Expanse is an odd, lawless place.”
“Hmph. It is. Which makes me glad that I could kill those three Voidborns without any hint of fear or confusion.”
“Understandable. What do you need help with?”
Letharus grunted. “Moving the debris is the first step. We need to move all the broken wood and stuff before we can start rebuilding. I assume your little friend Kaytee will work on the ships?”
“Kaytee has already started.”
“Good, good. Let me check with-”
Letharus paused. So did Retvik. But for some very different reasons.
“Vick, I told you to stay in bed!” Letharus exclaimed. But Vick wasn’t paying much attention to Letharus.
The strange staring contest was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of someone else.
“Kyr Retvik,” Ret gently asked. “Where do you want me to put all these chairs?”
Retvik didn’t answer. Ret turned to one side, then realised why Retvik wasn’t responding. It seemed that Letharus had also worked out what was going on. Not enjoying the silence, Ret decided to introduce himself.
“Hello! How are you all doing and how can I help?”
Retvik and Vick continued staring at each other. Getting sick of being ignored, Letharus poked Vick in the arm to get him to respond. Vick shook his head, then grunted.
“If you’re not Flamebearer, I’m a yellow and black dinosaur.”
Retvik also snapped out of his trance. “I am, yes.”
“You’re called Retvik, yes?”
Retvik nodded. “My full name is Retvik Rethianos, codename Flamebearer.”
Vick bowed his head slightly. “My casual name is Retvik Rethianos, codename Shieldbearer.”
“Are we having a party of Retviks?” Ret hesitantly interrupted. “Because I am also a Retvik Rethianos, but my codename is Lightbearer.”
Sensing that something very weird was going on, Kaytee peered around the corner, then tried very hard not to make a stupid comment. Kaytee definitely didn’t try hard enough.
“IT’S A RETVIKONING!” Kaytee laughed. “A reckoning of Retviks! Also, uh, the shortest Retvik here is from the same universe as me…” Kaytee’s giggles faded for a moment. “Hang on… is it a law that every single person called Retvik has to have a boyfriend who is a stupidly powerful Psion with fangs?”
Ret shrugged then glanced at Letharus. “Kyr, are you a Psion?”
“Little one, my name is Letharus, and yes, I am a Psion.”
Ret nodded, but quickly paused. “Am I really the little one here when you are the same height as me, and Shieldbearer Retvik here is shorter than me?”
Vick turned to Ret. “Really, you’re going on by height?”
Ret shrugged. “Well, it is true. There is nothing wrong with being short though. My little sibling Relkir is very short, and my middle sibling Rethais and I are both the same height.”
Vick stared at Ret some more. “You had two siblings?”
“Yes.”
“And one of them was called Rethais?”
“Yes.”
Vick grunted, then turned to Retvik. “I had an older brother called Rethais. I am going to assume you did too?”
“I did, yes.”
“And we’re all called Retvik Rethianos.”
“So it seems.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Ret asked. “Arkay told me about big flamey Retvik, but he never mentioned bulky shield Retvik.”
“Probably because Vick does not remember, right, dear?” Letharus suggested.
“I don’t remember, no. I just recall being shot out of the universe inside some sort of cryo-chamber by some shapeshifting blue guy, then getting picked up by the Ventra.”
“By someone called Tenuk or Tahnaiious, yes?” Retvik asked.
“Yeah… how… how did you know that?”
Retvik grunted. “I have met quite a few folks from your universe. Including Kaytee here.”
Vick glanced at Kaytee, then back at Retvik. “Really?”
“Yes. I seem to have a knack at running into people who knew my partner when he was mortal.”
Vick raised a finger, then paused and thought for a moment. “I thought we all had psionic partners?”
“I have two. One of them is a Psion.”
Vick blinked a few times, then suddenly exclaimed. “Fuck, you are one of the Missing! You and whoever Souldrainer and Deathbringer are, you’re a Hidden Named Trio!”
Retvik nodded. “Indeed.”
That awkward silence returned as everyone trailed off. That was, until Kaytee started talking again.
“Alright, you three!” Kaytee exclaimed as he nudged Ret somewhat. “You all sit in what remains of this nice pub and have a nice chat together. Letharus and I are going to try and fix your ships. Right, Letharus?”
Letharus half-heartedly nodded, then followed Kaytee back to where the damaged ships were parked. But the three Retviks all remained silent for a bit longer.
“Well, excuse my language, but this is really fucking weird…” Vick muttered as he led the other Retviks inside.
“Oh, very much so!” Ret smiled a little. “But it will be interesting to see how we differ, right?”
“Yeah… Right…”