"The problem was that the Republic had been keeping a close eye on the nobility back then for 'subversive activities.' And when his mistress brought him to the transcon station, a bunch of police officers were waiting for him, along with her youngest son. It turned out that he'd known about their relationship from the start -little kids see everything, I guess-, and had told on them when his mother started making plans to steal him away.
"Skori hasn't been too clear on the details after that, and I don't blame him. But what he managed to say was that before he had a chance to come to his mistress's rescue, she shoved him into the train just before it departed. The last thing he says that he saw was her falling to gunfire."
"Well, now I understand my conclusions a little better," Aldrec said, wiping the moisture away from the corners of his eyes. "That's a lot of guilt and anger he's got bottled up inside, Meri. I think that it's only his programming that keeps him together."
"Please don't talk about Skori as if he's some kind of nut," Mericlou said, sounding very hurt. "You don't know him like I do … like my family does. He's the glue that holds us together. He and Sedriil started this family. And frankly, he's the one who keeps Sedriil from dismantling Alaema while my back is turned. If it wasn't for him, I don't think our family, or business would even hold."
"I didn't mean it the way it sounded," Aldrec said contritely. "I wasn't trying to insult him, or your family. I was only saying that he's got a burdensome past to deal with. I'm well aware of his position in your family, Meri, and all things considered, I greatly admire the job he's done. But tell me, where does his past cross with Sedriil's, exactly?
"Oh, that," Meri said, searching the air for where to start. "I already said that Sedriil's an enigma, and I meant it. He's the closest to me of my brothers … or at least, he's the one I feel closest to, even though Skori talks to me more than he -Sedriil, that is- ever has. It's more a feeling than anything else, actually.
"But anyway, there isn't much I know about him, and he's hardly said anything about his past before Skori. What I do know is that he worked with the Android Equality Force as a wraith, erasing the pasts of the androids they rescued from cruel masters or unfair dismantling. And he was one of their best, as Skori tells me. You were right, Aldrec, in saying that their pasts are intertwined. Skori met Sedriil shortly after arriving in Garushnit. Because of his combat programming, he used to do the dirty work for the AEF, like extractions. He'd go in, get the android out, and Sedriil would cover him by giving data, hacking into surveillance systems, and such. I guess they made a good team, because the Garushnit government hired them for a lot of top-secret assignments. I heard them talking about it once; Skori nearly had me dismantled for eavesdropping. But whatever these assignments were, they were very good at them, and they ultimately served Garushnit in the Liberation War. Afterwards, when the Androids Rights Act was passed, the AEF was reorganized into the Android Task Force, Sedriil and Skori retired and settled into the private sector. Noroa was an android they saved from an abusive master awhile back, and who had nowhere else to go. They -my brothers, I mean- still talk a lot in Skori's room, and I'm sure it's more of whatever top-secret business they had in the past; I'm only guessing. As for Sedriil's life before the AEF … your guess is as good as mine."