“Tell me how you became an Espenian soldier and military instructor.” No Peak had already investigated Sunto’s background, but Hilo believed you could always learn more about a man by hearing him talk about himself.
Sunto Jimonyon had been born in Janloon and raised by a single mother. When he was six years old, his mother remarried and his stepfather moved the family to Espenia. Sunto, who did not get along with his stepfather, left home at seventeen and joined the ROE military, where he was fast-tracked into IBJCS training and the Navy Angels. During his second tour of duty in Oortoko, he was injured by flying shrapnel and sent to Euman Naval Base to recover. While there, he took on duties training new cohorts of Angel cadets and became a well-regarded instructor. Facing reassignment at the end of the Oortokon War, Sunto resigned from the Angels, electing to stay in Kekon.
“I was tired of being ordered around,” he explained with a shrug. “I wanted to spend more time living and training here, until I figure out what to do next.”
“You were allowed to keep your jade,” Hilo observed.
Sunto put a hand around his dog tags. “It’s not my jade,” he said. “It was issued to me by the Espenian government and I have it on indefinite loan because I’m still a contracted IBJCS instructor at Euman Naval Base. I live in officer’s quarters when I’m over there, and I’ve got an apartment here in the city the rest of the time.”
Hilo tilted his head curiously. “You don’t want to duel for any green of your own?”
Sunto’s eyes flicked down to the ample line of jade studs visible between the open buttons of Hilo’s collar, then back up at the Pillar’s face. “I was taught to carry only the jade I need,” he said. “All of IBJCS is based on stripped-down methods—the most simple and effective reconnaissance and combat techniques that’ll work for special forces soldiers equipped with the same standard issue of bioenergetic jade. Any more than that is an unnecessary risk.” Sunto frowned as he turned his glass of beer, widening a circle of moisture on the table. “Some of the guys I was with in Oortoko, they aren’t doing so well now. Mental illness, drug addiction, falling into unTruthful habits. I’m lucky to have Kekonese genetics on my side, but I don’t need more jade just to show it off.”
“That’s true.” Hilo’s expression remained neutral as he stubbed out his cigarette. “You’re a foreign serviceman, after all, not a Green Bone.”
Sunto eyed the Pillar with caution and impatience. He pushed aside his beer and crossed his arms on the table. “Look, I know what a big deal your family is,” he said, in a matter-of-fact tone that made it clear he was not stupid, that his lack of deference was not out of ignorance, but because he was an Espenian soldier who did not answer to any Green Bone clan leader. “I’m not in Janloon to challenge your men for jade or cause any trouble. My word on the Seer’s Truth. I’m here to mind my own business and to make some decent money, that’s all.”
Unexpectedly, Hilo decided he liked Jim Sunto. Protected by his Espenian citizenship and military status, Sunto was an aberration in Janloon. He could wear and use jade, but he had no allegiance to any clan and took no shit either. A man who could kick the Pillar in the groin without fear of death was refreshing. It reminded Hilo of a much earlier time in his life, when he was not yet the Pillar or even the Horn, when anyone could challenge him and he had to earn respect daily with words or fists or knives. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said, with a growing smile.
“Well then,” Sunto said, finishing his beer and shifting his chair back to stand, “now that we’ve both had a chance to clear things up, I assume we’re done here.”
“Sit down, Lieutenant.” Even though Sunto was no longer an enlisted officer, military rank seemed the most appropriate way to address him. “Do you think I’d go to the trouble of finding you in person just to growl at you like a big dog?” Hilo pointed the man back into his seat. “You said you’re here to make money. I have a way for you to make a lot more. Do you want to hear about it or not?”
Sunto was not the first man to be startled by the Pillar’s sudden change from relaxed good humor to pointed authority. He lowered himself warily back into his chair.
Hilo had the manager of the Two Tigers Taproom bring the man another beer. “What do you know about the Kekonese military?” the Pillar asked.
“When I was in the Angels, we did some training exercises with the Kekonese army. They’re not shoddy, exactly, but underwhelming for a country with the most bioenergetic jade in the world.”