Strong Alone, Stronger Together

Arcanist Hunt (Part 1)

"Owen? You need something?"
"What are you talking about? I just got a message from you saying to meet at the forge"
"I didn't send anything...why would I want to meet up here? Something's not right"

A female speaks up from behind me. I almost jump as I turn around to look at her.

"We need to speak in private. My name is Tassyn"
"Do you always travel with a security escort?"

I look beside her; a javelin stands watching our every movement. It's painted differently to the ones I've seen around the fort.

"Not really. But sentinels have their uses"
"Well, you make one hell of an entrance. I'll give you that"
"I have a contract for you, Freelancer"
"I like to know who I'm working for before I take a job"
"Really? Huh, from what I heard the two of you will take just about any job you can these days"

Tassyn looks at the sentinel before turning to look at my rusty old javelin, Owen follows her as she examines it. I stand with my arms crossed wondering what the hell is going on, do I really have to do all these missions again? Why did I decide to start a new pilot and redo everything for fun, now I'm stuck here.

"What's the job?"
"An Arcanist has gone missing"
"Missing? I thought Arcanist just hung out in labs studying Shaper relics"
"Matthias Sumner was investigating some relics near the fort. I need you to find him and bring him back home safe"
"If he's still alive"

Tassyn rolls her eyes at Owens comment, I chuckle a bit. Of course, Matthias is alive, that Arcanist can survive anything.

"No one knows more about the dangers of the Shaper artifacts. I'm confident that knowledge – and his own resourcefulness – will keep him alive until you find him. What do you say, Freelancer? I'll make it worth your while"

Tassyn tilts her head towards my javelin, hinting that she'd buy us a new one in return for rescuing Matthias. Owen looks at me before looking back at Tassyn and the old javelin.

"Owen...looks like the Freelancers ride again. Well us anyway"
"Excuse me, I just gotta... that is excellent. I will run my diagnostics. Let me know when you're ready to leave. It was a pleasure"

Owen shuffles past Tassyn and heads towards me, stopping for a few seconds to tell me he will be ready when I am, before heading back to the enclave. Tassyn begins to walk away.

"On behalf of myself and Matthias, thankyou for doing this"
"Uh, okay. And if I have-"
"Find Matthias. Trust me, I'm a person you want to know"

Tassyn and the sentinel leave the forge, I look back to my old javelin, sure it's been a while since its been shiny, but it's not that bad. Ok it is, I don't particularly like her, but if Tassyn is willing to get me a new javelin I'm willing to go find Matthias. I hope I can pilot a javelin like I can in-game, I should just ask Owen for help. I walk off of the forge and head to Zoe for a final check on my old javelin.

"If it isn't my favorite Freelancer. I hear you've been busy"
"You know how it is Zoe"
"What have you done this time?"
"Nothing! My javelin's fine. Probably, I hope"
"I'll run you some maintenance checks. Only the best for my favorite Freelancer"
"Thanks Zoe"

I leave Zoe to check my javelin and head down to Owen in the enclave, he is going to get a laugh out of this. The Freelancer asking how to pilot a javelin, at least he knows I'm not the Freelancer he's been around for the last two years.

~~~

After Owen laughing and telling me how to control my javelin, Yarrow joining in after hearing me asking and wondering why I don't know how to fly a javelin. It took Yarrow five minutes to stop Owen from laughing and the two of them to explain everything. As I stood there listening, memories flooded my mind, and it was like some of mine were replaced with them.