Hunting Party

                                    

                                          
 The walk through the streets was quiet and quick, with the non-amaranthians following Octavia through the streets. To them, it was a dull affair; row after row of symmetrical grey buildings on the paved ground – but to Octavia, the streets they passed were filled with lights, sounds, and colours. A steady feed of faint music and ambiance bled through Octavia's neurolink, providing a lively and cheerful atmosphere as they made their way towards the planetary administration complex. It was a welcome break from the monotonous metal hallways and service tunnels that made up Federation warships, and she was glad to be back among her people even after the short period spent away.
	"So, you have to tell me – what's it like being a Guardian? Are all the stories of the heroics true? What about your armour? Is it true that it takes a year to build a single Guardian suit? Do you really have upgrades that speed up your perception of time in combat? Have you ever killed anyone?" Arcturus prattled on as he walked a foot in front of Octavia, his head turned to look over his shoulder as he walked and talked.
	"No, yes, yes, no," Octavia replied with a faintly amused tone, rolling her eyes as she did, "You'd be better off asking Vita if you want the unabridged version."
	"Octy doesn't like to brag," Vita remarked playfully as she skipped ahead to walk alongside Arcturus, "She doesn't think being a Guardian is a big deal, believe it or not," she added, shooting Octavia a teasing glance over her shoulder as she continued.
	"Not a big deal? Are you kidding me? Being a Guardian is the dream of every amaranthian in the Empire!" Arcturus exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air excitedly as he spun on his heels to face Octavia with wide-eyed disbelief, back-peddling without breaking his pace.
	"It's not as glorious as the holovids make it out to be," Octavia remarked, offering a dismissive shrug, "It's a lot of repetitive exercises and standing on parade in front of the Empire complex," she admitted awkwardly.
	"What the hell are you talking about now?" Jace asked with an annoyed sigh, "Are we there yet?"
	"He's very impatient, isn't he?" Arcturus noted curiously, his holographic gaze shifting over towards the human in the back of the column. He rolled his eyes after a moment with a scoff before turning and gesturing, "That's where we're going!"
	The building he had gestured to was a grand affair, its digitecture sculpted to look like a grand complex of finely carved sandstone, complete with decorative columns and a wide set of stairs leading up to ornate double doors. More banners hung off of the front of the building bearing the sigil of House Tiberius, fluttering in the wind as they approached. Ambient fanfare was emitted from the complex, sounding like several traditional Imperial court songs on repeat so the streets surrounding the complex were never without the sounds of horns and strings.
	"Private conversation, Jace," Octavia remarked dryly before pointing to the building they were approaching, "That's the one we're going to. Almost there."
	"How can you tell? It looks exactly the same as every other building on the street," Alex asked curiously, jogging a few steps to catch up with Octavia as she peered at the building in question.
	"What you're seeing is just the physical structure – we decorate our buildings with digitecture to give each a unique appearance," Octavia explained, giving Alex a sidelong look, "It's something we'll have to keep in mind when hunting the Ais; if they've cracked into the local network they could be using digitecture to hide."
	Alex hummed curiously in response, nodding in thought. She said nothing though, content to sit in silence for a few moments as they finished crossing over to the building they were approaching. The rest of the squad were similarly silent as they followed their amaranthian guide, lost in the symmetrical and featureless city without access to the local network.