Hey, it's Maggie again. You guys were really nice to me last time! But I'm doing a lot worse than yesterday. Something happened and I don't know how to say this but I guess I'll just start at the beginning.
First off though, some of you asked me a few things that I wanna answer real quick. I wanted to talk about them anyways so it's good you brought those up.
Yes, there are mirrors here but only in the bathrooms. My room doesn't have one so I have to use the one accessible to everyone from the hallway. Dad says never to look at my reflection too long though. He says girls worry too much about their looks and that I shouldn't be like that, and I always do what Dad tells me.
As for my age, I don't want to say how old I am exactly because it's the internet and it scares me. Also, I've always been living here at the hospital. I don't know if we've ever lived anywhere else, but I can't remember. I also don't know anything about my mother and I've never wondered about her. Dad's here for me, I'm not missing anything.
So anyways, I had to talk to Dr Ellie for two entire hours this morning. She was being really nice about the whole picture thing but I kind of hated telling her about it. It made me think of that person again and I just wanted to forget about them. At the end of our session, Dr Ellie asked me something very strange though.
"Have you ever heard of something called Operation Magpie?"
I frowned. Something about these two words resonated with me but I had no idea what they meant.
"It sounds familiar but I don't know what it is."
"Alright. Well, I just thought… maybe." She sighed and buried her face in her hands for a split second.
"What is Operation Magpie then?"
"Please, forget I ever said anything," she muttered. With that, she sent me off.
Dad wasn't outside the office where he had dropped me off. I felt incredibly lonely after last night so I went to look for the next best person to keep me company I could think of. Jonah was in his room, sitting on his bed and staring up at the TV. His room is very much like mine, the same bed, closet, small table and television. I came in without knocking, a bad habit of mine, but he didn't tell me off for it. Even though he usually does.
"Hey, Maggie," he said quietly. "A buddy of mine told me what happened. How are you?"
"Better," I said, climbing up to sit next to him on top of his pillow.
"I'm sorry I didn't come to see you. I wasn't sure if you wanted to talk to anybody."
"I do, just not about the picture."
"Oh. Alright then." He fell silent and we watched TV for a little while. There was a rugby match on. I didn't really care for it.
"Jonah, what's Operation Magpie mean?"
My friend flinched. He flinched so hard he dropped the remote onto the floor beside the bed. "You remember Operation Magpie?" he stammered, in his eyes a mix of joy and disbelief I couldn't place.
"No, but Dr Ellie mentioned it earlier."
Jonah deflated. "Oh… well, um. I'm not supposed to say." He sounded disappointed.
"Why not, who's keeping you?"
"That would be your Dad."
"What?"
Jonah shrugged. "This is not easy to explain. I could try to talk around it now but… okay. Let's say Operation Magpie had to do with my job. And by extension your Dad's. But that's all I can tell you."
"You're not making any sense. At all."
"I'm sorry but how am I supposed to say this? I want to tell you, I do, but I can't." Jonah's voice was low and empty. I still had no idea what he was saying but there was a feeling of dread rising within me that I simply couldn't shake.
"Maggs, your father is a genius. My leg is his doing and he's made so much more like it, so much more complicated stuff. You should know that this kind of technology, the way we can replace parts of the body here, hardly anybody outside these walls has access to that sort of thing. And we have your Dad to thank for it. I mean, not only him of course, there's the other doctors and nurses and they're all doing amazing work here but the prosthetics… they're mostly Jack's thing."
My jaw must have dropped. Jonah went on. "He drafts them, he oversees their development, he does a lot of the engineering that goes into it and he made it possible to cover them up with realistic-looking skin. He's the most intelligent man I've ever met."
"Then why do you hate him?"
"Because he's also the craziest. He's messed up in the head."
"And why does he hate you?"
Jonah sighed. "Look, Jack and I have something of an ongoing feud. He's done something I don't agree with, something really bad. There's hardly anyone who confronts him about it but I do. He knows that he's wrong but he keeps trying to justify it. I give him the truth but he doesn't want to hear it and… that's why."
"Yeah, but what did he do?"
"I said I can't tell you, okay?" Jonah groaned, wiping his forehead. "I'm sorry. You're gonna have to leave me alone about this."
I hated giving in like that but I didn't want to argue with him either. I stayed in my friend's room for another hour, trying to make small talk and watching the game with him. Eventually I fell asleep and Jonah had to poke me in the arm until I woke up again.
"You should go to your room if you want to sleep," he told me. "It's bad enough you come in here without knocking, I'm not gonna let you take over my entire room."
I told him I was sorry and he just laughed and said I was acting a little bit like a cat. I made my way out into the hallway and back to my room. I wasn't sleepy anymore though for some reason. I hadn't seen Dad all day and I couldn't stop wondering why he hadn't showed up to look after me at least once. I was starting to get a little worried. After further futile attempts to try and occupy myself, I gave up and got on my way to start looking for Dad in his office.
Walking down the corridor, I noticed it was oddly quiet that day. That was why I jumped when I heard a door slam and the loud clacking of heels approaching. I saw Dr Ellie walk towards me from the very back of the hallway–where Dad's office was located. As she came closer, I realized she was sobbing quietly. Her shoulders were trembling and she was wiping her eyes. I stopped in my tracks.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"Maggie!" She sounded like she hadn't noticed me standing there until I'd spoken up.
"What were you going to my Dad for?"
"I… we had a pretty big fight, your Dad and I. You won't be seeing me around here anymore."
"Why not? Did Daddy make you cry?"
She sniffed, stifling a chuckle. "A little bit."
"What did you fight about?" I took a step towards her and searched my pockets for a handkerchief for her but couldn't find anything. "I don't get it, everyone's got some kinda problem with Dad."
"Your Dad does a lot of stuff that makes a lot of people very upset. Me too. I've tried to talk sense into him but… well. He's finally made good on his threat. He always told me he'll have my job if I don't stop pestering him and now, now he's actually having me fired."
"No way I'm telling anyone about my nightmares but you! I'm gonna talk to him."
"That's sweet but… I doubt it'll help."
I shrugged. "I'm just gonna try, okay? No harm in trying." I went past her and into Dad's office. I came in without knocking again. He was sitting at his desk and at first, he didn't seem to notice me at all. He was staring at something that was lying in front of him. I couldn't see it since it was obscured behind all the other stuff cluttering the workspace, but he was moving one of his arms over the thing, almost like he was petting a kitten. His eyes were so fixated on the object that it felt like he wasn't present at all–his mind was miles away. It almost looked a bit creepy.
"What do you have there?" I asked.
Dad flinched as his head jerked up and he let out a tiny gasp. In a matter of seconds, he'd torn open the upper drawer of his desk and dropped whatever he'd been stroking inside. He slammed it shut. I was confused; why was he in such a hurry to hide this thing from me?
"Nothing," he said. "You really need to learn to knock at a door before coming in. It's rude and you know, one day you might see something you don't like."
"Like what?"
He threw his head back and sighed. "You're killing me. So what is it?"
"You didn't come to see me all day. Were you busy?"
"Yes. Sorry. You didn't get lonely, did you?" He waved me over to him and patted his leg. I'm a little big for sitting on his lap but he says that's okay. He says he dreads the day I outgrow him. So I sat down and hugged him and he asked how I was feeling and all that. We talked but I was staring at the drawer the whole time. Dad noticed. "We should go. Let's grab a snack or something."
Just as we were getting up, one of the nurses came rushing in. He looked panicked and seemed to be in a hurry. "Jack, you've got to come over to the B-station, there's been an emergency and we need an extra hand."
The B-station is another wing of the hospital, one where I'm not allowed to go on my own. Dad immediately followed the nurse out the door, dragging me along with him and apologizing over and over for having to leave me to myself again. He dropped me off in the mess hall and told me to get something to eat myself. All I could think of though was that he hadn't locked his office door on the way out. Once he was out of sight, I turned around and walked all the way back into the section with the researchers' workplaces.
I was all alone in the hallway, but knowing I wasn't supposed to be there still made me feel watched somehow. I quietly pressed down the handle of my father's office door and slipped inside. Without Dad in it, the room was kind of oppressive. The walls seemed high yet way too close at the same time. I sneaked over to the desk and opened the top drawer. When I laid eyes on what was inside, my heart sank.
It was a bone. It was smooth and white and almost slender in its shape, one end broken off and splintered. I slammed the drawer shut and stormed outside, closing the door behind me–and colliding full force with someone right behind me. I whimpered and spun around to find myself face to face with Jonah.
His jaw dropped when he saw the look on my face and he immediately rested his hand on my shoulder, awkwardly trying to comfort me. "What's wrong?" he asked softly. "What happened?"
I took deep breaths, but they came too fast. It was hard squeezing words out in between. "There's… a bone. In Dad's office. It can't be from any kind of food, it's too big and too clean."
Jonah's face fell but he said nothing.
"Why is it in there?" I panted. "Jonah, what's going on?"
"How'd you find it?"
"I saw him… like, play with it earlier but when I came in he put it away."
"Okay, calm down. We should leave here." He reached for my hand and I let him pull me along back into the section of the station intended for us patients. "I don't really wanna be seen running around back there. Jack's always looking for an excuse to give me hell, I don't wanna serve it to him myself. I just saw you walk back there and thought I should check on you."
My breathing slowed and I nodded at him. "Thanks. Hey, you don't have your crutches anymore," I remarked but he ignored it.
"Look, there's something I need to talk to you about. I can't really keep it in any longer and I don't want to, so… I can't just bust out a whole story here but I'm not the only one who tried to give your memory a little shove in the right direction."
"My memory?" I was puzzled.
Jonah groaned. "Nevermind. But there's one thing I want you to think about. You've seen my leg, yes? Notice how I didn't have a single hair there?"
I nodded wordlessly.
"Apart from your eyebrows and lashes and that on your head, do you have hair anywhere on your body?"
"Rude," I said.
Jonah let out a forced laugh. "You don't get it, do you?" He grabbed me by the arm and without even giving me the chance to protest, he dragged me down the hallway and into one of the bathrooms. It was the ladies' room, but there was no one else around who saw us so it didn't matter. Inside, Jonah ushered me over to one of the sinks. "Give me your hand," he ordered. I hesitantly reached out and let him position my arm over the edge of the sink. Then, he pulled something small and shiny out of his pocket. It was one of those tiny knives surgeons cut you up with. My stomach sank and I immediately tried to turn around and make for the door, but Jonah's other hand was wrapped around my wrist before I knew it and he pulled me back.
I opened my mouth to scream, but Jonah shushed me. "Quiet! This isn't gonna hurt, I promise. I really need to show you something."
I was trembling and already feeling tears in my eyes, but I obeyed. I didn't want to risk him taking that scalpel to my throat. Jonah slowly brought the tip of the tiny blade down on my lower arm. He'd been wrong, it did hurt, but oddly enough not nearly as much as I'd expected it would. It was almost unnoticeable. Still, I squirmed in his grip and whimpered like a crying puppy, but it was more due to fear than actual pain. I turned to look away, I couldn't bear to watch. Finally, he sat the knife aside and I risked a quick glance–there was no blood on it. Frowning in confusion, I looked down at my injured arm. Jonah had cut out an unfinished square. I could see the three lines the scalpel had left, but without the anticipated red drops protruding from them.
Jonah carefully shoved the tip of his finger underneath my skin. I gagged when I watched him lift it up, press his thumb against it on the other side and then cautiously peel it back.
I thought I had been horrified when I'd seen the picture of that mangled body in my room, but when I laid eyes on what was underneath my skin, a new kind of shock took a hold of me. The inside of my arm wasn't red, veiny and meaty as I'd always thought. It was black, smeared with some sort of slimy, transparent glue, but still shiny. Almost exactly like Jonah's leg before it had gotten its coating.
I had never questioned the workings of my body. This was me, this was my shell, these were the legs that carried me and the arms I used to carry food to my mouth. I had always felt like myself, unrestricted by any bodily ailments, free to move however I wanted. How would I have known there was metal inside me, or plastic or whatever this was?
I think I fainted because I can't remember anything after that sight. I woke up in my bedroom though. Jonah had probably brought me back. My head was reeling and I only got up to grab my trash can because I needed to hurl a little. When I was starting to feel better, I sneaked off into the computer room and that's where I am now. I don't know what to make of this yet. Dad has to have known about my arm. But I keep wondering if my arm's where it stops. What if I'm all plastic underneath this? What Jonah said really made me think. I actually don't have hair, like... anywhere?
I searched the web and as it turns out, kids my age normally have body hair, even if it's still really thin and almost invisible. I don't have any of that. Nowhere. It's just smooth, hairless skin. What scares me even more is that I searched my face for it as well and apart from my brows and eyelashes, there was absolutely nothing.
But that's not even all. Something else doesn't add up here. Dr Ellie found me in the computer room a little while ago. Our exchange was short but it weirded me out nonetheless.
"There you are. I've been looking for you. Is everything alright?"
I didn't want to tell her about my arm at first but she knew already, seeing as she went on with, "Jonah and I talked. I know what he… showed you. I have to be frank with you, I've known for a long time." She took a few steps towards me and then leaned in close to speak into my ear. "Don't tell your Daddy what you found out just yet, okay?" I felt her slide something cold and smooth into my hand. "This is the key to my office. They won't clean it out until tomorrow night but I won't be in ever again. So tomorrow, it's all yours; there's a lot for you to see in there. Be careful though. Jonah will help you if he can, you can trust him."
"Where are you going?" I asked quietly.
Dr Ellie drew back. "I'm gonna look for somewhere else to work, I guess."
"But I can still try and talk to my Dad! I'll get him to–"
"Sweetie, it's okay. I'll be fine. Now, you're about to find out some stuff if you go in there tomorrow, and you may not like it. But please, don't resist. Just let it come back to you." She gave me a sad smile. "I'm sorry for what you're about to see and I'm sorry for the role I've played in it. I hope you'll forgive me."
I hugged her. I'm not supposed to hug her but I didn't care. Now that she was leaving, it wouldn't matter anyways. I don't know what she has waiting in her room for me or what her conspiring with Jonah means but I'll find out. Tomorrow, I'm going in.
X
Update—Part 3
Update–Part 4

If you're a new to Warhammer, or prefer your historical titles, but want to learn about what the Daemons of Chaos do and what to expect from them, this is the wall of text for you! Don't worry, I'll try to keep it brief.

General Stuff

Warhammer Hell, i.e. the Realm of Chaos, is smeared onto to the tops and bottoms of the Warhammer world, like if Happy Feet became Event Horizon the further you walked. The Realm is home to four wacky gods: Khorne, god of war; Tzeentch, god of magic, deception, and change; Slaanesh, god of excess and pleasure; and Nurgle, god of disease and decay. The more of their respective gimmick there is, the stronger they get. Each of them plays the others in a Great Game in the Realm of Chaos, with "Great Game" being a euphemism for an endless war that any other battle is peanuts to.
Each god has 3.5 subdivisions of daemons under their command: random daemon monsters, lesser daemons (grunts), Heralds (grunts that got promoted, act as heroes), and greater daemons (gigachads). In more accessible, Skaven terms: beasts are Wolf Rats, lesser daemons are Clanrats, Heralds are Chieftans, and greater daemons are Warlords. Daemons need a constant magic link to stay in the real world, since they're basically magic incarnate. Without that sweet, sweet magic fuel, they pop back into the Realm of Chaos. Also, with the rare exception of getting vaporized with pure holy power, daemons don't die, they just respawn after a while.

Khorne

Khorne is all about honorable combat. Unlike that nerd Khaine, Khorne would be pissed if his servants started throwing civilians or babies in boiling oil, since they didn't work to shed that blood.
Lesser Daemons
Charming little fellows called Bloodletters that you saw an abundance of in the trailer. They march in orderly rank until battle happens, at which point they go apeshit and turn anything they can find into a puree with their flaming greatswords. Mean little infantry mashers.
They can also choose to hitch a ride in two sweet chariots: the melee-focused Blood Throne (a favorite of Heralds of Khorne, like the one in the pic), and the long-range Skull Cannon. Both are covered in the skulls of their victims, and very angry.
Beasts
Juggernauts are the cavalry of Special K, and were also in that pretty trailer. They have skin of brass, molten fire for blood, etc., and are only really used as mounts for Bloodletters or particularly slick mortals.
Khorne also loves doggies! Flesh Hounds, specifically. They're the finest hunting hounds around, with an unlimited tracking range and a magic-proof collar.
Greater Daemons
Bloodthirsters, one of which makes up half of that lovely promo image, are constantly FUCKING PISSED and are partial to using whips and axes. Oh, and fighting everything. EVERYTHING.
Lore of Khorne
Joke's on you, Khorne thinks magic is for cheats and pussies. No magic, fuck you.
Special Characters
• Ka'Bandha is a vanilla, really strongk Bloodthirster. Nothing really of note.
• U'Zhul, better known as 🔥SKULLTAKER🔥, is a mortal-turned-daemon (better known as a Daemon Prince) Herald of Khorne ^{the wiki lied to me} who goes around the world 1v1-ing every hero he can find, before decapitating them, burning the skull clean, and moving on. So, basically Scorpion.
• Skarbrand is a big, bad Bloodthirster who got b8ed into attacking Khorne, which did nothing. Special K reacted accordingly, before yeeting Skarbrand into the next dimension. The resulting brain damage turned Skarbrand into a mindless killing machine. Great plan, Skarbrand, you idiot!
• Valkia the Bloody is a Daemon Princess, and also Khorne's waifu. She goes around killing fools, and letting awesome warriors into Khorne's realm, where endless battle awaits. So, basically a valkyrie.

Tzeentch

Tzeentch likes nothing better than magic, and changing things. Imagine a really tricky wizard who gets bored easily. He's also the god with the most monkey's paw-esque pacts. Watch out!
Lesser Daemons
Pink Horrors are cheerful balls of pink spaghetti that enjoy throwing fireballs at range. They split into two grumpy Blue Horrors when killed, who in turn split into angry Brimstone Horrors.
There are also Flamers of Tzeentch, who are like those car dealership inflatable tube men with flamethrowers taped to them. The fire can do anything from burning up souls to making bubblegum-scented crystal. But that's all part of the fun!
Horrors or tube men that have reached Herald status can soar into battle on Burning Chariots, where they can comfortably cast spells while thumbing their nine noses at the Brettonian knights chasing them.
Beasts
Screamers of Tzeentch are angry manta rays. If a Herald or sorcerer needs a ride, a Screamer gets turned into a Disc of Tzeentch, which would probably make a handy pet.
Greater Daemons
Lords of Change are what happens if Big Bird goes down the wrong road. Wizards par excellence, and you'll likely recognize Sarthorael, Mr. KFC himself, as one of their number. They also like bamboozling mortals into pacts.
Lore of Tzeentch
Arguably more focused on direct damage, fire-based nukes than the Lore of Fire. Cook your enemies in multicolored style! Or don't, since the randomness of Tzeentch means you sometimes heal them.
Special Characters
• Kairos Fateweaver fell into a super-special hell well that gave him unlimited view of the past and future, even beyond Tzeentch's knowledge. Also comes with two heads, for twice the voice acting. Or something.
• The Changeling is the greatest shapeshifter to ever exist. Simple as that. Tzeentch gives it free reign to more or less do whatever it wants. It even has its own theme song!
• Egrimm van Horstmann was once a Bright Wizard prodigy, until he figured he liked Tzeentch better. The wiki article I linked to is super long, so just trust me when I say he does all sorts of cool stuff, like chit-chat with a Shaggoth.
• The Blue Scribes were made to collect every spell in existence, but Tzeentch put in a failsafe: P'tarix writes the spells down but can't read, and Xirat'p (yes, their names are backwards of each other, which is why I love them) can read the spells, but don't know what they are. The result? Random spell mayhem!

Slaanesh

The god of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Slaanesh is all about feeling the greatest sensations, whether it's from a great meal, a hard-won victory in battle, or copious amounts of blow.
Lesser Daemons
Daemonettes are evil crab biddies who've existed on a sliding scale of NSFW for decades. Specialize in melee-mashing and making Reiklanders reconsider their life choices ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
As for rides, Daemonettes and their Herald bosses get two choices: Seeker or Hellflayer Chariots, both of which are more or less lawnmowers. Seriously, the latter was initially used for body disposal.
Beasts
Fiends of Slaanesh are anteater-scorpion-giraffe-lizard monsters that fill a similar role to Flesh Hounds. There's also Seekers of Slaanesh, which are literally just Fiends without the stinger, and act as the mounts for some Daemonette cavalry.
Greater Daemons
Keepers of Secrets are very visually diverse, and exist on the battlefield to make the enemy go nuts with lust, etc. They also have smooth moves and disorienting spells. Pretty much a grab-bag of skills, even down to their eclectic appearance.
Lore of Slaanesh
Do you like combat and leadership debuffs? Then you'll love the Lore of Slaanesh!
Special Characters
• N'kari is a Keeper of Secrets with a massive hate boner against the Elves. She dueled the first Phoenix King and was trapped in the Vortex for a spell, so she kills pointy-ears whenever she can.
• The Masque of Slaanesh is a Daemonette who, due to being in the wrong place (Slaanesh's quarters) at the wrong time (Slaanesh was pissy over Khorne figuratively bending them over), was cursed to dance for eternity. Her dances are often prophetic, and always deadly. If you're going to fight her, use protection. Gromril protection.
• Sigvald the Magnificent, who needs no introduction except his own.

Nurgle

The friendliest god in Warhammer, he insists that his servants call him "Grandfather", and wants to do nothing less than spread his love. His love being disease-induced stagnancy and decay. Thanks, Gramps!
Lesser Daemons
There's actually two this time: Plaguebearers are mortal souls claimed by Nurgle's diseases who now grumpy, durable disease accountants; while Nurglings are cheerful little mini-me's of Nurgle that are basically little toddlers. Cute!
Particularly lazy Heralds of Nurgle are brought into battle on Palanquins of Nurgle (images of these things are hard to come by), which are more or less an easy chair propelled by a small mountain of Nurglings. Comfort before speed, I suppose.
Beasts
Rotflies/Plague Drones (functionally identical) are what happens when a Beast of Nurgle becomes so bitter it turns into a bug. They act as flying steeds for Plaguebearers, or aerial attackers in isolation.
On the other end of the mood scale are Beasts of Nurgle, giant slug-puppy things that cuddle everyone and everything with love and kindness. Unfortunately, all that love tends to liquify people, no doubt breaking the poor Beast's heart.
Oh yeah, and Plague Toads are here too. Nurgle likes to stomp on them because they pop. That's really everything of note.
Greater Daemons
Great Unclean Ones are also mini-Nurgles, albeit much larger than the tiny Nurglings. Their notable trait, besides the fact that every single one has their intestines oozing out, is being NIGH UNKILLABLE. Seriously, they can eat a Luminark to the face with naught but a hearty laugh to show for it.
Lore of Nurgle
All about defensive buff and damage. Think Lore of Pestilence, but with more emphasize on healing and making your dudes durable, since durability is Nurgle's shtick.
Special Characters
• Ku'Gath Plaguefather was a Nurgling who drank Grampa's cauldronfull of mega-plague, which turned him into a Great Unclean One. Nurgle thought this gluttony was hilarious, but Ku'Gath's guilt over drinking the plague turned him emo, so now he's trying to find a replacement for it.
• Epidemius is Nurgle's head bean-counter. A Herald like no other, the sourpuss goes around the world cataloging information about every disease that exists. Since battlefields are a hotbed for Grandfather's testing, Epidemius often shows up in battle, which is bad news for him since he just wants a quiet place to keep writing. Poor guy.
• Tamurkhan is a mortal who turned into a body-hopping maggot. No, I'm not kidding. Similar to Egrimm, he has a sweet dragon mount and mountains of lore.
• Festus the Leechlord was an Imperial plague doctor before Nurgle tried to help him out by giving him knowledge of the causes and cures of every disease. All that knowledge made him go nuts, so now he's doing mad science bioengineering in Nurgle's name.
• There's also a big bunch of dudes, like the Super Glottkin Bros. and the Maggot Riders, that got introduced in the End Times, but my fingers are too sore from typing to elaborate. Just read the articles, mmmkay?
^{Oh yeah, Furies exist. They're shitty, non-aligned gargoyles that exist to be bullied by lesser daemons.}

So then Time to see how our two lovebirds got on. Don't worry to those that didn't read 90.1 reminiscing will be kept as light as I felt I could get away with.
Once again the editing duo of UnvavoringGray and Twoflower68 need a shout out for their amazing work, in helping me get this out to you guys. Those two fucking rock.
Aside from that, I don't have much to say, so let's get on with the story
ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned.
Sapphire
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Chapter 91: You Will Tell Us
There was a knock on the door, a voice Tom didn't recognize yelling from outside, “Breakfast is on, if you want any.”
“Coming,” Tom replied, stretching out lazily. His head didn’t feel too bad though it was definitely throbbing slightly, he felt a little sick too and he was quite thirsty. So nothing out of the ordinary. Noting the absence of snoring from his right, he poked at Jacky a bit, to try and see if she was awake.
“Tom?” the long drawn out reply came. “I feel like shit.” Short on ways to articulate ‘breakfast time,’ he just patted her on the side as he got up, hoping she would follow along eventually.
He only got on the essentials, leaving the armor off for the time being. He had to admit, he too felt rather stiff and sore. As he was doing up his boots he blinked a few times, his eyes messing with him and refusing to focus. All in all though, he was doing fairly okay. It was pretty clear the same couldn’t be said for Jacky, as she still laid sprawled across the mattress, buck nude and unmoving.
“I don’t want to go, everything hurts,” she protested, reaching for the blanket lazily, not even managing to grab it.
“Oh come on you lazy sod, can't be that bad,” Tom went as he grabbed her by the shoulder, rolling her over. She just flopped onto her back like a ragdoll whining loudly. “Please don’t dude, that hurt.” He picked up her arm, also not receiving any resistance, dangling it around a bit. He let go, watching it bounce off the mattress as she let out a distressed groan.
“You are a fucking mess arent you?” he questioned, giving her a light smack on the butt, as he started gathering up her clothes and laying them in the bed for her.
He picked up her crown, putting it on without much success. It was sort of on there but it was more laying on top of his head. Looking to Jacky she was at least looking at him now as he struck a pose for her, doing his best to look like a girly idiot. It did land him a chuckle from her as she slowly began moving. She winced as she sat up and began stretching everything that could be stretched right down to her toes.
Getting up, she scooped up his helmet and placed it on her head, even if the horns did kinda ruin the experiment. The tip of the helmet fell down in front of her eyes and made her look like an absolute idiot. “Look I’m the crazed killing machine. YAHHH, bang, bang, bang,” she went, doing the finger guns, pretending to be firing around the room, though she was still rather lacking in the enthusiasm department.
Tom really wanted to reply, shoulders sagging a bit at the thought that he couldn't. Jacky took off the helmet and continued doing stretches even if it was clear from all the wincing and slow movements that she was not enjoying it. “How can a night with you leave me in worse shape than the most insane battle I have ever taken part in?” She went with some annoyance in her tone.
Tom scratched the back of his neck, trying to look innocent, as he went about inspecting a very interesting wooden figurine on the window.
“Screw it, that was so worth it, it’s ridiculous. Now small steps Jacky,” she continued as she started to walk over to the washbasin. She looked truly ridiculous as she inched forwards bow legged. Tom eventually grew sorry for her, going over to lend a shoulder. “And of course you're completely fine. I don't like not being the awesome one you know that… and that’s mine,” she playfully protested, taking the crown and putting it on. “You are just a copper, remember?”
‘If only you knew how awesome you are, miss silvered huntress,’ Tom thought to himself with a smile as he helped her freshen up a bit and get into her clothes. After she had gotten ready and he got everything he didn't need sorted and stowed away they set off, making it just shy of the stairs.
“Oh this is gonna suck,” Jacky let out, stopping. Tom pondered the situation for a second before picking her up in a bride carry, going down the stairs with her as she slung her arms around his neck.
“...Just for today I will allow this,” she went, sounding more than a little sarcastic as they made it to the hall. Most of the people were well into their breakfast, though nearly all eyes turned to the two of them as they entered.
“Morning,” Tom let out, staring back at the mixed collection of faces. Some looked curious, others uncomfortable, one guy gave them a thumbs up and a smirking nod, and Jarix looked like he wanted to be somewhere else while also having several questions. ‘Oookay,’ Tom thought, screaming internally. He had guessed someone would have heard them. This was a lot worse than even he had thought; this was catastrophic.
Looking around, Zarko had her face buried in her food, sitting at the table closest to Jarix. Unkai looked away when Tom caught him staring. Going over, he deposited Jacky next to Zarko before getting some food for the two of them.
He came back with a plate of mostly smoked and salted meats with bread and some fairly nice smelling cheese. Jacky dug in with a voracious appetite, Tom joining her and trying to ignore the people who were staring.
Silence reigned at the table until Zarko elected to open the conversation, for once.
“So, feeling well-rested?” she questioned. Her expression perfectly plain as she continued eating.
“Yup, feeling much better. Weren't you supposed to be on the wing by now?” Tom replied, trying to seem nonchalant about it.
“Yes, but the lady overruled me, apparently her precious little huntresses need a good meal before such a flight,” she replied, seeming none too pleased as she scowled at the kind old lady before turning to Tom. "She still can’t hear us, right?”
“Nope. Deaf as can be sadly.”
“Excellent, let me give you a bit of advice: whatever you did to her, you might want to consider telling her to quiet down a bit… somehow,” Zarko continued, getting eye contact with him then looking Jackalope over, clearly thinking. “I wanna ask a favor.”
‘I do not like where this is going,’ Tom concluded, rather desperately looking around for a way out of this. Zarko clearly figured out where his mind had gone at that, her expression turning to one of disgust.
“No, you idiot. I want the most dangerous person I know to owe me a favor… In exchange for not letting a certain someone know what happened here, and embellishing some details.”
‘Godfucking dammit,’ Tom cursed to himself, looking at the now grinning second lieutenant. He did not like the prospect of what would happen if Zarko just started telling stories back at the keep. “What kind of favor are we talking?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I’ll think of something… eventually” Zarko replied, seeming very pleased with herself. ‘Oh god damn you,’ Tom cursed.
“Fine, don’t keep the deafness a secret though that’s just too obvious.”
“I won’t don’t you worry, but I gotta ask. What the hell did you do to her? More out of morbid curiosity than anything else.”
“And why would I tell you that?” Tom replied in an annoyed tone.
“Well I might be persuaded to keep those two from blabbing too loudly as well,” she replied, pointing at the two huntresses Tom suspected were gonna be joining her.
Looking around, it was clear the battle of this not being a topic was lost in advance. ‘Screw it, might as well have fun with it, Shiva is gonna try and kill me anyway,’ Tom mused to himself, looking to Zarko.
“Well, there is not much too it, I just rode her for all she was worth” Unkai nearly choked on his food at that.
“I think they heard us last night,” Jackalope tried to whisper as she leaned over to Tom, of course doing so loud enough that it wasn’t hard to hear for anyone at the table. Tom cracked a smile at that, trying to not laugh, nodding slowly while looking down. “Dammit, I even tried screaming into the pillow and everything,” she continued, looking around at the people staring. Tom wasn’t sure if she believed she was talking to herself or what. He gave her a little poke to the side, earning him a wince in response, “Please don’t, that still hurts.” Tom patted her on the back a bit to say sorry.
“I will try to keep her more quiet next time,” Tom promised as he looked to Unkai, who was sitting across from them. The healer damn near had his head below the edge of the table, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“For the record, I think whatever you two did was counter to my medical advice,” he peeped out after Tom stared at him for a bit.
“I was fairly gentle with her, I didn’t want to open up the wound on her back… You might need to take a look at that actually… She got a little... carried away.” If the dragonettes could blush, he was damn sure Unkai would be competing with Jarix for most blue individual right now, his ears completely flat against his neck.
“Sure thing.”
“That was gentle?!” Jarix finally broke out, looking at Tom with disbelief. “Do you know how you two sounded? I could hear everything godsdammit!” The dragon shuddering as he said that. Well, the few faces who hadn’t been giving them weird looks before sure as fuck were now.
Tom had to give it to the dragon, he hadn’t thought of that. “Sorry not sorry, I can try to make you some earplugs if you want, we can’t be the first ones you have heard,” he tried with a shrug. Jarix opened his mouth to speak thinking better of it.
“I would like that actually,” the dragon replied eventually, his expression rather ashamed as he looked away.
Looking back to Unkai, Tom asked the healer. “In your experience how bad it is when you people get hot… like you know, too hot?”
“I mean hot enough will kill you eventually, you faint long before that though.”
“Just checking. Getting that hot a few times in a row, is that bad?”
Unkai gulped, as he stared at Tom. “I don’t think I would recommend it,” he finally went, sounding ready to bolt.
“Noted,” Tom replied, putting an arm around Jacky’s waist.
“How did you manage that? I mean you were going at it for a while, but you held breaks, we could hear that much. How did she get so hot so fast?” Zarko questioned.
'Were you standing outside the door or something?’ Tom cursed, debating whether the comeback to that was worth the possible fall out with Jacky. ‘Yeah sure, this ship has sailed,’ he concluded.
“Oh, those were when she fainted, or you know just locked up completely. Then she needed a bit of a cool down.” That finally got a reaction from the normally stoic Zarko, as she turned to look at him wide-eyed. Jarix’s jaw hung open looking like he just witnessed his parents having sex, and Unkai froze in place as if something just broken inside him.
“What did you just say?” Jackalope questioned looking to Tom, clearly picking up on all that. She did not sound entirely pleased either.
‘Right, that’s fair,’ Tom concluded to himself, getting out the notebook, pondering how to spin this. He couldn’t outright lie, and she definitely knew what the subject was currently.
“That you are the most awesome thing both in the sky and the bedroom,” Tom wrote down, feeling proud of himself, doing his best Fengi impersonation as he showed her, trying to look cute.
Jackalope looked at the notebook slightly skeptical for a second or two, eyes flicking between it and him. “I’m on to you,” she finally replied, going back to her food, Tom letting out a slight sigh of relief.
“More like on top of you,” he retorted, chuckling at his own joke.
“Oh god, Tom please,” Jarix protested, sounding more than done with this conversation.
“Come on, you’re eighty and a combat vet now. Deal with it,” Jarix just stared at him, looking distinctly unimpressed as Tom just leaned on Jacky with a shit-eating grin on his face and went about his food. Ironically enough though he was struggling a bit with his appetite, having stacked up a sizable plate. Jacky eventually nicked a few things from his plate, much to her delight.
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The questioning of both the man and woman they had captured had proved fruitless. They hadn’t even gotten a name out of them. Eventually they had just given up, leaving the city guard to it.
Sapphire and Dakota had been given bunks to sleep in at the Stockade on account of Sergeant Lanok having grown a lot more confident since Victoria departed. He refused to let them leave. Even if they weren't really locked up, it was still pretty damn annoying, not to mention belittling. It was a fine enough place to get a few hours of sleep though.
Maiko had woken them up a while later, Sapphire blinking the sleep from her eyes. This was not enough sleep for a night. Judging by the sun outside the window it was very early morning. “That was quick,” Sapphire noted, rubbing her eyes.
“Well we have a job to do, and possibly people trying to outrun us. So let’s go, chop-chop,” Maiko replied, yanking the blanket of Sapphire. “Seriously?” Sapphire protested, looking up at the bemused corporal who just moved to Dakota and repeated the maneuver.
They got up, donning their armor, and collecting their things.
“Do you think she found some village crazy woman?” Sapphire questioned, glancing at the equally sleepy-looking Dakota.
“No idea, we better not be late though. Let’s get down there,” Dakota answered, getting to her feet. Sapphire noticed a slight smile on Maiko’s face as they made their way to the interrogation room. Both of the kidnappers had been brought in there, the city guard sergeant joining them shortly after they arrived. He was suddenly looking very nervous not saying a word as they waited.
It took a few minutes before a tall slim woman, clad in the Hashaw family uniform, stepped into the room. Victoria followed behind her flanked by a captain of the city guard.
“Meet Inquisitor Joelina Hashaw. She has agreed to assist us moving forward,” The Colonel went in a distinctly smug tone as Sergeant Lanok stared in awe.
“I agreed to interrogate your prisoner, Victoria, nothing more, I have work to do” the tall woman replied in an ice-cold tone. “And only because the Lady required it. Tie them down tight, suicide is not acceptable.”
“Oh fuck me,” the female kidnapper let out as they began strapping the two of them to their chairs with leather straps and rope. Sapphire had no clue how many inquisitors there were, but they were rare as could be, she knew that much. 'Yup, they're fucked,’ she concluded, not sure if she wanted to watch this.
“Before we start you should know, I will learn what I want to know, so you might as well make this easy. If you don’t I won’t be able to guarantee your safety. I’m sure you don’t want to end up a drooling mess. Of course, you could just tell us right away.”
“She’s joking, don’t tell her anything.. ahrg!” the male let out, thrashing at his restraints. As the inquisitor dug her claws into his skull and squeezed, the guy’s head snapped back to look her in the eyes, pupils wide. She was clearly concentrating, her eyes burning vivid green as she stared into the guy’s eyes and began speaking.
“Let’s see here. Oh stop thinking about your crush that won't help you, she’s not even pretty… Who sent you?... Hello. You look familiar, so you worked for Gyros then? Noted… You didn't question someone willing to pay that much for a kidnapping job? Good god, you’re an idiot. Yes, yes, you lost three friends. I don’t care. Where were you supposed to deliver him?... I see.” The inquisitor let him go with a dejected sigh, the guy’s head slumping over to the side, a distant expression on his eyes as he twitched a bit.
“Well that was disappointing, so little discipline,” she went, taking out a notebook. “His name is Hinato, he was contracted through a gentleman named Gyros, whom I know rather well, by an anonymous beneficiary. Their destination was an abandoned warehouse where they would hand off the target to said beneficiary. Here it is, they met there yesterday day to discuss things you're looking for a woman in a hooded dress, her face was covered” She continued, tearing out a page from her notebook and handing it to Victoria. “I say you hurry up and pray they are waiting confused that their shit mercenaries haven't shown up yet, and remember Victoria: favor for favor.”
“This is on my mother's orders, take it up with her,” Victoria responded, inspecting the piece of paper. “You know this would have been so much easier if you had woken up when I told you to.”
“I still have a day of work ahead of me, speaking of which, let's see what she knows.”
“No need, I’m fine to talk!” the woman let out, looking terrifiedly at the guy strapped down next to her. “I’m Thalrex. I have been with this company for 2 years. I was paid 63 silver for my share, which is the most I have ever been paid for a one night job. We were waiting outside the window for half the night, we were supposed to be back by sunrise and the guy who got away is called Hjortun, he’s a coward, I have a flying lizard named Skitters and I swear I don’t know anything else!” Sapphire was wondering whether a fresh set of undergarments would be necessary for the mercenary, but she certainly put on a convincing performance if she wasn't actually scared shitless.
“Were you the ones who tried to scare the shit out of us at the tavern a few nights ago?”
There was a bit of a pause before Thalrex answered. “No… We just had to kidnap a dude for ransom” She sounded genuinely confused at that so she might actually be telling the truth.
“Ransom?” Dakota questioned, thinking for a bit. “Never mind I get it, drop the charges and we get him back” She continued, nodding to herself
The inquisitor looked back at them, looking very smug. “Anything else I can do for you?”
“No, I think we have places to be. I do owe you for this.”
“I’ll be sure to cash in when I need a place burnt to the ground... Toodeloo,” she went as she waltzed out the room. The City Guard captain followed her out, asking questions about if she could be persuaded to help with some of his other prisoners.
“Thanks for your cooperation,” Victoria went, looking at Thalrex. “They’re all yours Sergeant.”
“Wait, you promised to pay for my jail time. I don't want to be a slave!” Thalrex protested, fighting her restraints.
“And I didn’t want to be indebted to the inquisition, we can't all get what we want,” Victoria replied, turning to leave. Thalrex continued to protest loudly, sounding ready to break down completely as the door was shut behind them. Victoria turned to Sapphire and Dakota, her expression turning worried from her previous stone-cold professionalism.
“You two okay?”
“We're fine. Balethon is a bit worse for wear. He's being looked after though,” Sapphire replied, trying to hide the shock of what she had just seen.
“Actually he should be up and about by now. The poison should not last more than a few hours,” Dakota interjected. “We might need his nose for this. That snout of his is good for more than helping with cooking after all.”
“Let’s go pick him up then, we have transport on the roof. Don’t worry he doesn't stain. He’s just the sweetest in fact, so try to be nice,” Victoria replied, before making for the infirmary.
The rather bewildered Balethon was indeed up and about, even if he still looked a little stiff in his movements. The mercs had actually been very professional with the poison, only giving him a shallow cut to the base of the neck where it would act quickly but heal easily.
Making it to the roof, it was indeed Tiguan who was sitting perched on the landing platform. Sapphire knew he was on their team, but the sight of a jet black dragon sent shivers running down her spine. She stopped in her tracks for a second before forcing herself to move forward. Even if he shone like obsidian, clearly freshly polished, everything in her was screaming ‘RUN!’ at the sight of him.
“Yilditz, we have a warehouse that needs a visit, double time. The bastards we need might still be there,” Victoria shouted out as they made it out onto the roof.
“Roger that. See, I promised we didn’t just have to sit around and look scary,” Ylditz went in an encouraging tone, clearly directed at the dragon.
“Yeah yeah, that’s me, look scary and run errands.”
“Oh come now, you were the one who wanted some actual work,” Ylditz replied. “I’m sure you will get the chance to do some good today. Right, Victoria?”
“Well, we are chasing kidnappers. It doesn’t get much more pure-hearted than that”
“I thought you caught them?” Tiguan questioned, sounding more interested as Victoria helped Balethon aboard, the guard clearly struggling with what he was climbing upon. Tiguan seemed too distracted to notice though.
“We did, and now we are after the ones who hired the mercs, a proper bad guy just like you wanted.”
“I see... Well, let’s go then!” The dragon let out, jumping off the roof, suddenly in a big hurry, his crew plus Balethon and Victoria aboard. The rest of the dragonettes on the roof took to the sky under their own power.
“This day is getting strange real quick!” Sapphire shouted to Dakota.
“Just go with it. Not like we are gonna be attacked in this formation.”
“True, people tend to steer clear of me, now let’s go see about fucking up some bad guys!” Tiguan shouted back to them.
“Hear, hear!” Echoed out from a fair few of the other people in the formation. Not counting Tiguan and his now 5 person crew, they had half a dozen dragonettes here, seemingly all members of the family or guards from the estate.
The sun was still low in the sky as they soared over a not so desirable part of town. The skies were still quiet, most people weren’t gonna be up for at least a few more hours. They eventually found a building that matched the description, A large squat wooden warehouse, the number 6 marked on the roof, even if the paint had started to fade.
Tiguan had started relaying orders from Victoria so all could hear.
“Victoria is running interception with all loose flyers, in case someone runs. I will smash in the front door and give them a bad day. All good?” the dragon questioned, looking about the formation, receiving thumbs up all around. “Good, let’s go be heroes!” Tiguan let out with considerable enthusiasm as he went into a dive.
Victoria had disembarked, taking the lead of the dragonette formation, leading them down over the warehouse. The black dragon went into a steep dive with his wings tucked in, pulling away from the formation. Sapphire could just about make out someone shouting on Tiguan's back as he sped off; it sounded almost like Ylditz. “No, we can’t do that!”
Sapphire had expected him to land and then perhaps knock in the doors, but he didn’t do that. He was apparently very confident that this was the right building as he let loose a stream of acid aimed at the roof, covering it in the sickly gray gooey substance that quickly began eating away at the wooden structure. He spread his wings to slow down before landing on the roof, smashing through it with a resounding crunch of snapping wooden support beams.
“Well that is one way to do it,” Sapphire let out, staring in disbelief at the sight of the ruined building.
“Godsdammit Tiguan!” Victoria shouted out from ahead loud enough that it carried.
“Hands where I can see them and wings folded!” the dragon roared out from inside the warehouse, Sapphire not able to see anything through the hole except a cloud of dust slowly rising.
Victoria ordered the formation broken up into three wings and placed Dakota in charge of the third. Victoria taking the first wing inside with two and three holding the perimeter.
“Uhm… No one here,” Tiguan eventually bellowed out from inside, sounding more than a little disappointed.
“I am not paying for this,” Dakota stated disheartedly. “What does a warehouse even cost?”
“More than a few dencils I’m guessing,” Sapphire replied, shaking her head.
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Okay then. Tom and Jacky appear to have survived the night not some better than others. Sapphire and Dakota are thoroughly on the offensive even if they have ended up mostly just coming along for the moment.
As always do let me know what you thought down below, as we maintain course heading for number 100. that's is gonna be quite the occasion.
Until next time, have an awesome day.
​
ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned.
Sapphire
Wiki Discord
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So another round one, chapter 90. Only 10 to go for the big number, this actually also marks 1000 novel size pages of story-making just over 277.000 words thus far O_o For comparison, the lord of the rings is 576.000 so damn near halfway there... Holy fuck that is a lot of writing in just over three months. To mark the occasion this one is a special one. at some point, during today's story, there is going to be a fade to black and a little link (If you are speed machines please have patients it's coming ASAP)
Now in there, you will find nothing but gratuitous pancake, this is so that you have the choice, you may skip the standalone chapter and I promise you are not missing any of the actual story, at least as little as I could manage. for the rest of you Enjoy,
With the semantics out of the way, I say we get on with the story,
ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned.
Sapphire
Wiki Discord
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Chapter 90: A Bad Night
Luke had returned with a gaggle of kids, who all looked rather overwhelmed by what they saw coming out. There were a lot of them, Tom counted twelve in total. All of them rather young; he guessed the oldest one looked about nine.
“Look, dragon!” a young boy shouted, running over to Jarix with a few others on his heels. Some were looking around, clearly searching for people who might not be here anymore. Others stood staring at Tom.
The sight of other kids also caused a fair amount of excitement, Luke ushering the more timid kids towards the ones from Hylsdal.
Tom just stood there putting a hand around Jacky’s waist, looking at the best reason for doing all this. He chuckled as Jarix elevated his head just out of grabbing range as the more excitable of the kids tried to touch his face. He had a smile on though, even if he looked a little unsure of what to do. Zarko was on hand to help though, telling off the kids who tried to climb up the wounded dragon.
It took some coaxing, but in the end, most of the kids had been convinced to start playing with each other, though some were still around sitting either crying or just keeping to themselves. Lothal was doing his best to try and console his friends and doing a remarkably good job of it. Tom couldn't decide if he was proud or sad at seeing an eleven-year-old acting like an adult.
Dinner was nothing special, just some more of the stew from earlier with some rather stale tasting bread. Jacky, Tom, Zarko, and Unkai had sat together with the lady, Luke, Requi and the healer who was sort of conscious for the moment. She was apparently called Quin, at least for short. Unkai too was sitting rather slack-eared, clearly having been put to hard work already.
Jarix was given some cuts of cured meat. The lady had brought out both some decent ale and even some wine, which was passed around the table. Tom had never tried dragonette wine before, so, despite his reservations about mixing alcohol with blood loss, he poured a cup for himself. That was an old student tactic, after all, to donate blood before a night on the town. It made things a bit cheaper.
“We might not be able to put together a feast, but we can do this, a small token of thanks. Luke, if you wouldn’t mind,” The Lady went as she took her seat, Luke standing up raising a glass.
“To the heroes in our hour of need!”
Tom damn near stood up to join Luke, Zarko grabbing him by the shoulder to keep him seated. As the assembled dragonettes of the keep gave a toast. Tom didn’t really know if he felt proud or just uncomfortable at this point. On one hand, he could look around the room to see many faces, most of which appeared happy. On the other hand, many definitely weren’t: a lone wounded father with a sobbing kid; the kids from Hylsdal; the countless wounded, some looking like they might not fly or even walk properly again.
“To the crazy bastard who made it possible,” Jackalope went as she raised her cup looking at Tom, apparently figuring out what was being toasted.
“Hey!” Jarix let out, clearly trying to sound offended. “To the crazy bastards who made it possible,” Zarko corrected, raising her cup.
“To wiping those fuckers off the map,” Tom joined in, feeling a little left out.
“Cheers to that,” The silvered huntress replied without much enthusiasm, slamming her drink down in one go. She was joined by the others. Tom took his time with his wine though. As expected it was rather sweet, definitely not bad though. They hadn’t made a huge thing out of the meal, it was just stew and bread after all, even if their drinks were well above average.
It had been a rather awkward meal though. Jackalope couldn’t partake in the conversation unless Tom or someone else wrote down for her what was going on. They all did their best to avoid the more depressing subject matters, but it was pretty damn hard to avoid them in their current state. Quite a few of the others had taken to drinking rather heavily. Tom could hardly blame them, but he kept it mild for now. Jacky, though, did make a dent in the ale supply. She didn’t get piss drunk, but she was definitely inebriated by now.
“You know, I’ve never been called a hero before,” Jacky went, leaning on Tom after they had finished the meal. “You still got the ace though… You always get the ace… Why are you so damn good at killing?” She questioned hanging on his shoulders.
Tom didn’t really know how to answer her on that one. “You know what,” She went, pulling back and poking him in the chest with a finger. “You get to teach me how. You’re not getting the ace next time,” Tom pondered for a second if that was a smart thing to agree to. It was likely going to happen though, so why not.
“I guess that’s the smart part about being deaf, I can’t hear if you're protesting, so I’m just gonna say you agreed,” Jackalope continued before he managed to nod his reply. She poured a fresh mug for the both of them, snickering. Tom debated getting out the notepad to try and tell her he needed to be a little careful when it came to alcohol right now. She beat him to it though. “You’re not drinking like last time; afraid we might do something stupid?”
Unkai damn near choked at that one. Zarko just shook her head, looking a tad embarrassed. ’Remember the angry smith Tom, Remember the angry smith,’ he repeated to himself. He got out the notepad to write down a response. Tom made well sure no one else saw what he wrote as he showed it to Jacky.
“I’m wounded, also your mother,” she pulled back a bit, looking a little annoyed.
“She is not here nor will she be... Hey Unkai! Can you give him a check? He claims to be wounded; I don’t want him dying on me.” She went, sounding entirely inappropriate.
Even Zarko had to suppress a slight laugh at that, Unkai looking like a deer in the headlights as Jacky’s attention switched to him.
“I mean sure. I’ll just finish this,” the healer replied, gesturing at his cup.
“I can’t hear you,” Jackalope reiterated with a side to side head bob. Unkai looked very embarrassed, just giving her a thumbs up instead.
‘Oh boy,’ Tom thought to himself, shrinking down.
“I think he needs more liquid courage to handle me though. Watch closely Unkai, you might learn how to grow a spine. Even if it’s only for a bit,” Jackalope continued, laughing at her own joke as she poured another drink for herself and refilling Tom’s cup.
“The man who went toe to toe with a small army and he needs help to handle you. What does that tell you?” Zarko let out, looking at Tom, seeming very pleased with herself.
“Don’t let them get to you Tom, you're braver than her,” Jarix added, ensuring that everyone in the entire hall was now invested in the conversation.
Tom just picked up the mug of ale she had poured for him. Jackalope excitedly raised hers as they knocked them together. ‘May the hangover have mercy on my soul,’ Tom thought to himself. He had been saved after a few mugs by the lady declaring that they needed to save enough for a proper feast when they could manage it.
The result was a nice buzz and an even cockier Jackalope as they left the table. Perhaps it was her time for some healing following that whole shit show. He had never seen her as distraught as she was at Hylsdal. Not to mention the expression on her face when Zarko had carried the body of the dead girl away after they landed.
Apparently, alcohol had at the very least helped her think about something else, as she was spouting funny stories and, of course, boasting about how amazing she had been in the battle. That had led to a hasty explanation about how Tom had let her borrow some of his power during the battle. He wasn’t entirely sure if any of the locals bought it, but they were way too polite to question the explanation though. Or possibly scared, or just didn’t care, he wasn’t quite sure.
Unkai had gone over Jackalope first and deemed her as fixed as she could be right now; he didn't dare try to fix her ears, claiming that to be way beyond him. He sounded confident that Nunuk might be able to put them back together again though. Jackalope let out an annoyed sigh at the news, though the part about Nunuk did help.
It was clear Jacky and Tom had received priority when it came to getting fixed up after the battle. Unkai had put in some work on Tom, mainly putting his effort into the stinger wound on his side. Tom had him check his neck wound as thoroughly as he could manage. But Unkai claimed that was as good as it was going to get, though he recommended some resting time.
“Fuck, I took painkillers earlier,” Tom let out as Unkai touched the stinger wound, which didn’t hurt as much as it should have.
“Is that bad?” Unkai had questioned, looking at the wound.
“I drank alcohol too, you're not supposed to mix those.” Unkai looked at Tom as if he was expecting more than that.
“Well don’t look at me, I don’t know how they work,” he finally responded, Jackalope’s face growing worried at the exchange, her gaze breaking as she looked to Unkai.
“He’s fine, right? He’s been stung before. He’s tough on that front even if his skin is soft like a kid’s,” She asked with worry in her voice slurring slightly, Tom taking slight offense at the last part. Unkai turned to her, giving her a thumbs up and a smile before looking back at the wound.
“Anything we can do about it?” the healer questioned, clearly trying to not look worried this time, for Jacky’s sake.
“Don’t think so. I guess I’m just gonna cross my fingers and wait it out,” Tom answered truthfully. He had no clue what the actual effect of that might be. He felt fine though. He was a little weird in the head, but that was honestly to be expected in his current condition.
“Well I don’t think you’re gonna be sleeping alone anyway, but consider it medical advice to have someone look after you,” Unkai replied trying a sly smile, which just looked wrong on him.
“Tom the hot stone reporting for duty,” Tom joked back as Unkai went about reapplying the bandage to the wound. Jacky’s gaze switching back to Tom seemingly excited, the edges of her mouth curling into a slight smile.
The young woman who had washed his clothes earlier had shown them up to the bedrooms after the quick check-up.
“We have a few rooms which weren’t in use before, don’t worry it’s not… someones. I'm sorry if they are dirty, but you can have one each if you want.” She sounded really rather uncomfortable. Tom could get why. He could see the number of rooms and there had to be at least a few that had owners until recently.
“This is very kind of you. Thank you,” Tom replied, the woman giving a curtsy before making her way back down the stairs rather hurriedly. Tom got out the notepad to ask Jacky if she wanted to share a room. Thinking back, that wasn’t at all necessary; he just felt like it was the right thing to at least ask.
Jackalope though didn’t bother to ask him. Taking him by the wrist rather firmly, she led him into the first room the young woman had shown them.
​
The Pancake Chapter: Pancake!
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Balethon now safely in her grasp, Sapphire circled back the way she came. She almost wanted to tell him to enjoy this since she was likely not gonna be carrying him again, not to mention at night in nothing but her underwear. The dude had already had a remarkably shitty night though, so she refrained.
She spotted the large disorganized group which had been supposed to keep the tavern safe. They had set down in a square and were looking around confused as Sapphire came in to land. She was quickly greeted by a near-hysterical Haiko who looked ready to drop his mace as he nearly trod on Balethon in an attempt to hug her faster.
“You’re okay, right? Nothing wrong?”
“I’m fine, the bastards couldn’t shoot.”
“Oh thank whoever cared,” he let out, squeezing her tightly.
“Where is Dakota?” Sapphire squeaked out from his embrace. He let go of her taking a step back looking around.
“Not here. Neither is that Maiko guy, and he damn near caught up to you before you shot off into the darkness. You haven't gotten any slower, have you now?”
“Not by much, no,” she replied, looking down to her stricken cargo. “Let’s get him to sit up somewhere. Any of you got some water?” she questioned, looking to the other guards. Her eyes landed on someone being bound up. She assumed it was the mercenary who had tried to attack her. “You're a shit fighter, I hope you know that,” She shouted out, glaring at the arsehole, who just stared at her with clear contempt.
Draki had come over with a canteen of water, looking up to Sapphire and looking a bit strained in the face before he turned to Haiko.
“I owe you two silver, don’t I?” the diminutive guy asked, seeming rather annoyed.
“I told you, she’s the fastest woman you ever saw,” Haiko replied with a smile, trying to fold out Balethon, eventually giving up. “Grab on, let’s put him on that bench over there,” he went, grabbing Balethon by the legs, with Sapphire taking the shoulders as they carried him over. He was stiff as a board, though the panicked look in his eyes was at least sort of gone.
“You put a bet on me catching them?” Sapphire questioned as set him down. She wasn’t sure if she should be flattered or angry. Haiko held up his hands defensively, shaking his head.
“No no, Draki just didn’t believe all the stories, so I put two silver on the stories being true. Easiest bet ever.” That was more to Sapphire’s liking, and she gave him a slightly wicked smile. “You know we used to get a slice of the bets back then.”
“Hey, I got you your own personal protection service,” He replied, gesturing to the motley collection of dragonettes mulling about the square.
“That’s a word for it, I guess,” Sapphire replied, not overly impressed. It wasn’t like they had done much good tonight. “Take good care of him, I have some questions,” she went, leaving Haiko and going over to the now thoroughly tied up dragonette who had attacked her, the questioning already underway. Someone let out a suggestive growl as she walked by. The fact that she was wearing nothing but her underpants in the middle of the street dawning on her.
“Do that again and I’ll kill you,” she snarled, not sure who the offending member was, before turning her attention to the mercenary. “So… You thought kidnapping one of my friends was a good idea? How well would you say that went?” She questioned looking down at the piece of shit.
“Fucking brilliantly,” he responded angrily. “I ended up with a nice view if nothing else,” he continued with a shit-eating grin.
“How hard may I punch him?” She demanded, looking around at the guards. Most of them just looked confused at each other.
“As hard as I say so,” Maiko bellowed out, coming down alongside Dakota, who was carrying a very large unconscious female dragonette with an arrow sticking out of her back.
“Not your best shot, but it did the trick,” Dakota let out, unceremoniously dumping the dragonette on the ground before setting down. “Tie her up too, she won’t be out forever.”
After a bit they got the both of them tied up at about the same time as a contingent of city guards arrived, demanding to know what was going on. Sapphire cursed the fact she likely wouldn’t be allowed to beat the shit out of them now, as they began asking some very pointed questions.
“Oh yeah sure, a group of armed what was it... Tavern guards? Out at night with a pair of half-naked women and a dude who claims to be Royal Guard. And why has she been shot?!” the lead city guard questioned, looking around at them.
“Because she kidnapped him after stabbing him with vargulf poison,” Sapphire let out, wide armed. “How the fuck is that hard to understand!?”
“Calm down woman, who shot her?” the man questioned pointing at the female mercenary.
“I did and two other pieces of shit who tried to kill us!”
“Right, you're all coming with us. We need to know what happened here. Manacles,” the City Guard replied, snapping his fingers over his shoulder and receiving the item in question. Sapphire’s heart sank; she had never been arrested before. Closest she had ever gotten was being given a stern talking to for sneaking into the training fields.
Dakota looked ready with a reply, when Maiko beat her to it.
“Listen up you little shit-eating ground rat, see what this is?!” He went, holding up his sword, which true to form bore the royal insignia on the crossguard. “I will make a cape out of your fucking wings if you don’t man up and do your fucking job. These bastards attacked a tavern in the middle of the night, attempted murder, managed a kidnapping, then had a go at murder again during the desperate chase to catch them and your useless ass turns up just in time to insult the Royal Guard and be useless.”
“I’m gonna have to ask you to...” the city guard attempted to protest, though seemingly with a growing sense of apprehension.
“No, you may not. You are outranked! Or do I need to get the colonel to inform her the city guard is aiding an enemy of the crown? That would lead to some serious fucking cleansing of your unit, I can assure you of that!”
“In that case, I say we take you to the stockade and send for this colonel of yours, perhaps letting her know someone stole a blade from the Royal Guard armories.” Sapphire expected Maiko to explode at that insult, though he just pulled back with an evil smile.
“Very good sir, let’s go. Though I would appreciate the opportunity to get my uniform before appearing before my superior. You may escort me to the tavern in question if you wish.”
“That can be arranged, I assume you two wouldn’t mind getting dressed either, though I must insist on you accompanying us. Don’t we have a blanket or something?” he asked, looking back to his unit, eventually procuring a pair of thin woolen blankets.
“Bloody brilliant sir, how exactly do we fly with these?” Dakota questioned sounding very unimpressed.
“Uhm…”
As they were getting ready for takeoff Sapphire heard someone get a smack to the back of the head as she moved to check up on Balethon. Looking back, a slightly ashamed looking tavern guard was rubbing the back of his head, a very unimpressed woman standing next to him. ‘God fucking dammit’ she cursed to herself.
The ones who had woken up in the middle of the night broke off, going back to the tavern to get dressed in preparation for a long night. They wanted the bastards interrogated immediately anyway, even if getting interrogated themselves hadn't really been the plan. If this was the work of the Flaxens they would be doing their best to cover their tracks as soon as they learned of the mission's failure, so speed was of the essence.
“Why can’t we just be left in peace!” Dakota snapped as they were getting dressed. “Please let it just be the Flaxens so we can get them dealt with already.”
“Of course it’s them, who else could it be?” Sapphire dismissed her as she strapped on her greaves. Sapphire had a feeling Colonel Hashaw would not take kindly to this attack so she was bound to be there, therefore she needed to look proper in case they got fine company at the stockade.
Maiko had gone on to the Hashaw Estate to report back on the evening’s activities and hopefully convince Victoria to make an appearance. So Sapphire and Dakota found themselves standing in front of the stockade with a city guard escort.
It was a large, ugly building, looking like a place you wanted to avoid at all costs with its rough grey stone and metal barred cell windows lining the walls. “May they rot in here forever,” Sapphire let out as they were shown inside. She and Dakota were taken to different interrogation rooms. They were civil about it though, not even tying her up like she had feared.
The guy who had ‘caught them’ as he claimed was apparently in charge of this case. He formally introduced himself as Sergeant Lanok and set about asking questions, not many of which were intelligent. Where they were from, what they were doing here, why they had an armed escort in the middle of the night despite not even being properly dressed at the time.
He of course didn't believe most of the answers he was getting. Especially the part about being in the employ of the king at the moment, nor the whole Flaxen situation.
“What? You claim to be the target of a kidnapping attempt by a noble family, one on the council at that?! Give me a break,” Sapphire had to fight really hard not to slap him, but she didn’t want to end up in manacles, so she just stared at him contemptuously. Then there was a deep thunk that shook the building followed by creaking wood from above.
“This should be good,” Sapphire let out, leaning back with a smirk, relishing in the confusion on the guy’s face.
It took a bit longer than Sapphire had anticipated, as she refused to answer further questions, but there was eventually a knock on the door, Sergeant Lanok getting up to answer it. He was confronted by a very pissed looking Colonel Hashaw in formal uniform, Maiko and Yilditz at her back.
“You seem to have attempted to arrest one of my men and two people you really shouldn’t have. Not to mention waking both me and a decidedly grumpy 10 ton black dragon currently on your roof.”
‘So it wasn’t Baron then,’ Sapphire concluded. She doubted very much he could have been roused for this anyway, it also made sense to bring a black, they liked the night anyway. Maiko had been decent at laying out a string of insults, but Hashaw was clearly the source of his talent, as she chewed out not only the sergeant but anyone dumb enough to make an objection or not make themselves as small as they could including the captain of the Stockade much to Sapphire's horror.
It definitely helped that she was flanked by Ylditz, the person who had been tasked with finding out who the mercenaries were, as well as a few other family members. The dragon in question was apparently Tiguan, one of Jarix's training buddies. Sapphire guessed he was here just as much for a bit of experience then.
“Is there anyone dumb or useless enough in here to have anything more to say...? Very good. Where are the two who ‘actually’ need questioning?”
The tavern guards had been allowed to go, though Haiko had stuck around. The Sergeant was now looking very small as he took them to the room where the one who hadn’t been shot was sitting. The woman who had been carrying Balethon currently being treated.
“Do you have even the slightest idea how much you fucked up tonight?” Hashaw asked as she strode in the door, the sergeant holding it open for her.
“Pretty fucking badly I presume, but what the hell are you gonna do, huh? Gonna execute me, perhaps clip my wings? Doesn't matter if you’re Royal Guard or tavern guard the punishment is the same. So you don’t scare me woman or should I say… oh, Colonel, wow I really did fuck up, huh?” Well, Sapphire had to give it to him, he was taking the news that he was likely done for rather well, or perhaps he was just in denial about the whole thing.
“Oh, I can do worse than that I think. Sapphire, you wouldn’t happen to have learned a thing or two from our friend?”
“Might have done,” she admitted, thinking back to what she could remember of Tom’s escapades.
“Sergeant, what is the punishment for his crimes?”
“Well, he failed to kill anyone, hence he is charged with attempted murder and attempted kidnapping. So indentured servitude for quite a while. Unless he could pay for a prison sentence of course.”
“Right then, how about this? Tell me who sent you and I will pay for your prison time,” the colonel then went, looking to the perp. “I know you were hired to do this, so while you may be a piece of shit it’s not you that I want. Alternatively, I could start pulling strings until we get some alone time with you and make your life really fucking unpleasant.”
Sapphire looked slightly nervously to the sergeant, but he was still cowering, so she guessed Hashaw got away with threatening to break the law inside the stockade. It was a generous offer too. If this guy was going away for a long time, paying for it wasn’t gonna be cheap.
“You know my choice is death or slavery here. You can’t be dumb enough to believe they will let me live if I talk.”
“That depends on who sent you, because if it is who I think it is they won't be around to send someone to kill you after this.” Again Sapphire was fairly sure they couldn't condemn the entire Flaxen family for something like this, but hey if it works it works.
“You seriously think we take jobs directly? It’s not the client that will kill me dipshit. My boss would.” Hashaw was very clearly not pleased with that answer, as she turned to the sergeant.
“Would you agree this man is guilty, on the word of both independent tavern guards, the Royal Guard, and our two huntresses of the noble Bizmati Keep? Or do you insist on a mock trial for this piece of shit?”
The sergeant looked a tad bewildered for a second before nodding. “Yes ma’am. I’ll have him sent off to the deepest mine I can find tomorrow.”
“No, I want him handed over to the Royal Guard so we may question him as an enemy combatant.”
“You cannot do that and you know it,” the sergeant replied, finally standing up for himself. Clearly to Hashaw’s great annoyance.
“Then I want you to get me a telepath. Am I correct in assuming his rights on that matter are no longer in place even if I can’t pull his claws out?”
“Yes, but we don’t have one, ma’am. You must understand, a criminal’s mind is not exactly the kindest place to be.”
“Weak-minded cowards,” Hashaw cursed, looking away pondering. “Fine keep him here, you may continue with your excuse for questioning. I’ll be back, luckily not everyone is as weak of spine.”
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So then We have prisoners to work with once again. hopefully, they will fare a little better than the last one. then again... Maybe not. As always do let me know what you thought down below be it good bad or just generally hilarious.
until next time, have an awesome day.
​
ko-fi For having more pretty pictures commissioned.
Sapphire
Wiki Discord
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Just in case you missed it, the pancake chapter: Pancake!

Beginning | Previous
Chaos.
At least that was what it appeared to be from Amahle's seat aboard the bridge of the UWEM Horizon. In one moment, they were making their way from Earth toward their rendezvous with the XiZ, and then the there was a brief wave of nausea followed by a series of lurches throughout the ship. Once they acrobatics had stopped, the bridge flared to life with a jumble of voices, alarms and activity. Everywhere she looked, hands were swiping and jabbing, sorting through screens as they conducted a running stream of back-an-forth with their teams. It looked like someone had come along and kicked a bee hive and then thrown an irate badger into the mix.
As Civilian-in-Command and the Administrator of the Exodus Mission, she had access to the bridge channel, but it was clear her involvement would only confuse matters further. Confused was a word she hesitated to apply to the professionals around her, but it was quite apparent that they were having difficulties understanding exactly what had transpired and what their present status was.
From what she could gather, a few things were clear.
They had left Earth.
Wherever they had arrived, it was not their intended destination.
They were not alone.
The last bit was the most concerning. With each passing second, new unidentified callsigns populated on Amahle's display, which had been twinned to the Captain of the Horizon, Eshe Amin's. Eshe was bouncing between updates on the ship's status, the status of the crew, updates on stellar cartography and any number of other items, but she never dropped the view depicting the hundreds of unknown vessels surrounding them. The only familiar callsigns were the three other UWEM vessels, the Fortune, Destiny and Path, which had apparently made the trip along with them, though delayed by a few seconds. If there was good news, it was that all four of the vessels appeared to have made the transition without casualties or significant damage to the ships themselves.
Everything else looked like bad news.
Stellar cartography had no firm grasp of where they were located beyond a generalized sense that we were substantially closer to the galactic core and outside of Sol physics. There was an incredible concentration of nearby stars and planets behind them, and local space was thick with radio activity, much of which appeared to be generated from those planets and stars. There was an effort to parse the information, but pulling apart alien broadcasts was not a function the Horizon had been designed to pursue.
The navigators had figured out one mystery: the lurches they had experienced were due to rapid reductions in speed caused by an unknown force. In a relatively short period of time, their ship had decelerated by approximately 80%. The decelerations were sufficient to overpower the ship's ability to compensate, but not enough to reduce them all to paste. With the Horizon's fusion powered engines burning, they were regaining some speed, but it was unclear whether they would suffer additional slowdowns.
Eshe issued an order to maintain course and burn before swiping and moving to the next update. A sudden wave of apprehension welled up within Amahle and she stole a quick glance at Eshe, whose hand was frozen in the air in front of her as she stared at the status prompt from the Ops Lieutenant.
Inbound message. Utilizing First Contact Channel.
Someone or something was attempting to utilize the same communication framework the Combine had deployed during Humanity's initial interactions. It was also the same framework Humanity had built upon to maintain its dialogue with the XiZ, and each colony vessel had been installed with it in order to coordinate with the Collective.
Eshe pulled her standby comm link with Amahle up. "Administrator? How would you like to proceed?"
"Open the message. We can determine a course of action from there."
Eshe's hand jabbed forward with two fingers and a thumb. The message appeared, utilizing the same text interface they relied upon with the XiZ.
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: Human Vessels, we are a collection of species known as the Sclintern Amalga. You are now present in Pelageo, a place where over two thousand sentient species find their home. This is our dearest secret and we offer it freely to you. There is much to explain. What follows will be difficult. Take solace in the fact that you are one of many species remnants to face these difficult choices and many have survived them to join the Amalgans in the cause of overthrowing the Tyrants.
We regret to inform you that your species is in the process of being cleansed by our forces pursuant to a duly authorized Cleanse Contract with the Pan-Universia Combine. The act of cleansing a species is not one the Amalgans cherish. If we possessed a viable alternative, we would pursue it. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Tyrants' control over this portion of the galaxy, Humanity's extinction is required to obtain the possibility of altering the present state of affairs. If it serves as a consolation, the death of Humanity is in service of a much broader good.
Our contract obligates us to exterminate all members of your species. All need not be lost, only most. We are capable of appearing to complete our responsibilities to the Tyrants without fully destroying a species. We have done so before, though it comes with considerable risks. This is why your vessels are now present here. Within Amalgan society, you are now designated a species remnant. We have brought you to Pelageo in hopes of preserving a future for your species. In order for that to occur, you will be required to cooperate.
We understand cooperation under these circumstances is difficult. The majority of species are unable to overcome the desire to resist or take revenge upon their attackers. We caution you. The Sclinter Amalgans have been obligated to cleanse 9,871 similarly situated species. In all cases, the species was entirely cleansed except for those instances where we successfully obtained a species remnant. In those cases, the all members of the species outside of Pelageo were cleansed. Humanity will be no different.
If you do not undertake action against the Amalgans, you will be supported. If you actively cooperate and pursue the outcome of resisting the Tyrants, your species will be given elevated status. Elevated status confers many benefits and allows your species to become a part of a powerful whole. In many cases, species remnants have gone on to progress well beyond their pre-Cleanse circumstances.
This opportunity is offered to each of your vessels separately. If preferred, we can offer processing on an individual level. The actions of one vessel or one individual will not be immediately conferred upon all others, though reprisal may be visited broadly where it is logistically difficult to disentangle the negative actions of one from others.
Your vessels now occupy a portion of Pelageo that has been designated for the Human remnant -- the dimensions of which will be supplied to you. So long as no adverse actions are taken, you will be permitted to occupy this space in perpetuity. Unless you actively cooperate, you will not be permitted to exit this designated region and you will only be provided with the basic supplies required to sustain your population and spaceships. If you elect to cooperate, you will earn the right to extend your territory, including access to a habitable planet. As cooperation increases, Humanity will earn access to Amalgan trade networks, technology sharing, and society the benefits of which are considerable.
You are welcome to communicate with us as you see fit. We will supply what information we can.
A small contingent of our vessels will maintain an escort until the cleanse is completed. Afterwards, you will be monitored but isolated unless you elect to cooperate or act in an an adverse manner.
We apologize for the destruction of Humanity.
Amahle finished reading the message. She swallowed, her mouth dry. She reread it, taking care with every word, trying to untangle the knot. After decades of service in the most tangled corners of Human diplomacy, she had thought herself hardened and prepared for whatever might be thrown at her, but the galaxy continued to deliver new twists. At least the Combine's rejection of Humanity following the arrival of Joan and her doom brigade had made sense. This document...it operated on a different plane of existence.
Polite but lethal.
Welcoming but hostile.
Orderly but insane.
More and more, Amahle was coming to terms with the fact that Humanity did not appear to be a model for understanding the nature of the rest of the galaxy. Perhaps the space amoebas should have been an indicator, but she couldn't help but feel hopelessly naïve given this cordial death notice.
At least they'd qualified for into the endangered species program.
"Administrator, what is this? A joke?" Eshe asked. She had taken the time to lean out of her chair and take a gander at Amahle directly.
"No. I don't believe it is," Amahle replied, steepling her hands and tapping her fingers against her chin a few times. "I think it's exactly what it purports to be. A notice that Humanity is about to be destroyed and we can make the best of it die along with the rest of the species."
"I see," Eshe replied, her voice flat.
"It's a bold opening gambit for a negotiation," Amahle replied.
"Is that what we're doing? Negotiating?"
"Unless you tell me otherwise, I don't see us fighting out way out." Amahle broke her steeple and swiped both hands along either side of her head. "We talk. Maybe we learn something. Maybe we just buy ourselves a bit of time. There's not a lot else we can do."
The Captain shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation. Like most of the Exodus ship leaders, Eshe came up through the United World Defense Force. Sitting back and talking wasn't their default posture. But there were in charge of civilian vessels on a humanitarian mission now. They needed to be reminded of that before someone did something unwise.
Amahle pulled up the fleet command channel and pushed her voice to priority. "To All Exodus Captains: I expect you have reviewed the inbound transmission. As Civilian-in-Charge and Administrator, I will be taking lead on discussions with the Amalgans. You will each be provided with regular status updates. However, in the interim, you are to undertake no actions that may be construed as hostile to the local inhabitants. We need additional information and time."
Another voice began to speak up, but Amahle spoke over it. "This is not subject to debate. This is a direct order. These are extraordinary circumstances, and until we have a clearer picture, you are to maintain formation. Captain Amin will provide a rendezvous point shortly."
Amahle pulled up the channel with Eshe. "Captain, find us a place to hold in place while I try to get some answers."
"Yes, Administrator."
There was no guarantee the Captains would do as they were told, but they had been selected for their steadfastness by the Secretary General himself. She needed to have some faith in them if there was going to be any chance of navigating through this mess. Perhaps Humanity could even be saved if things didn't deteriorate further.
Deteriorate further. Her exhale was half snort. Who the hell was she kidding?
After rubbing sweaty palms on her thighs, Amahle pulled up the communication prompt with the Amalgans, searching for the right words. She had a thousand questions. Wanted to say a thousand things. But she needed to be focused. Every word counted, and this was her opportunity to try and reach some peaceful resolution.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: Is there a way to avoid the destruction of Humanity?
The response appeared almost instantaneously.
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: Cooperation.
Amahle's hopes spiked. That single word offered an opportunity. Where a will to compromise existed, the possibilities were endless.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: Humanity will not be destroyed if we cooperate? What is required?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: The Human remnant will be offered an opportunity to rebuild within Pelageo if they will actively contribute in the effort to overthrow the Tyrants.
And now Amahle tumbled back down to Earth, assuming there still was one. Her counterparts had taken her usage of the term Humanity to literally mean any Human as opposed to the species in general. Given the borderline legalese in the initial message coupled with the reference to contracts, Amahle suspected specificity was going to at a premium with the Amalgans.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: My apologies. I intended to seek a way to preserve Humanity more broadly rather than just a remnant within Pelageo.
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: Apologies are not required. The situation is difficult to accept. Unfortunately, we cannot further the goal of eliminating the Tyrants without completing the Cleanse Contract.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: Why? Perhaps Humanity can assist you in overthrowing the Tyrants. We would be a powerful ally.
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: This option was considered. Humanity possess various unique attributes that make them a desirable ally. It is due to this assessment that we undertook the effort to secure your vessels prior to the commencement of hostilities. However, these unique attributes are not sufficient to overcome the substantial obstacles erected to defend the Tyrants.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: The Combine?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: The Combine is a protective shell, wrapped around the Tyrants. Because of Humanity's actions within Halcyon, the Tyrants are now exposed. We are thankful for this. Should the Human remnant elect to cooperate, this will be taken into account and credited to Humanity.
Amahle was not looking for a pat on the head, and it grated on her that Joan's actions in Halcyon might somehow be redeemed here and now. If she had just given Amahle the chance to talk with them, to reason with the Combine, then this Cleanse Contract wouldn't even exist. Still, she was going to play for any advantage that was handed to her.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: That is not enough to save Humanity?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: We are organized in pursuit of the destruction of the Tyrants and the liberation of the galaxy. Humanity is not capable of providing that outcome by itself. Humanity's prior actions that assisted our goal will be credited, but the objective cannot be lost for the sake of a single species. Many species have been sacrificed.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: What are you receiving that Humanity cannot provide?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: Additional means of circumventing the wormkey restrictions. Access to the Tyrant's home world. These are things only the Combine can provide.
Amahle's hands froze above the keyboard, seeing new possibilities emerge. The Amalgans were wrong. Assuming the Tyrants were the Evangi, which seemed fairly clear at this point, Humanity did have access to those things. She had sat in on the conversation between Damian and Joan when Kai Levinson's fate had been discussed. Kai was desperate to reach the Evangi homeworld, and the wormdrive retrofits to the Alcubierre were only possible due to the encryption key in Kai's possession.
The confluence of events was improbable, but she was not going to say no to fate lending a helping hand for a change. So long as Kai remained in the solar system and alive, there was a chance of finding a diplomatic solution. Still, she needed to know how best to maximize Humanity's leverage here.
Confirmation on the particulars was an important starting point.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: Are the Tyrants the species known as Evangi?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: No. The Evangi are their creation. Their servants.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: The Evangi and the Tyrants are from different home worlds?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: The same.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: If Humanity possessed a means of providing the same things the Combine could provide, a means of breaching the wormkey framework and reaching the Tyrant homeworld, would you accept that as an alternative?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: Species regularly attempt to offer what they do not possess in hopes of stalling their destruction. We do not see a benefit in extending false hope. The execution of the Cleanse Contract provides the most certain path to obtaining our desired outcomes.
Never simple. Never ever simple. Every time she managed to stack one block on top of the other, someone came along and kicked them over. The constant build up and let down was excruciating, but it was also her stock and trade. The bitter sting of foiled progress was a familiar companion now. She had spent years in the ruin of South Africa following the Automic Wars, painstakingly trying to reassemble a nation between the craters and destruction. Day-by-day, the blocks had been stacked upon one another, and day after day, they had been knocked over.
But she had never given up. Her roots ran deep in that land, her family had given its blood over to it for generations, and she would not fail those who had come before her. Perseverance, regardless of the obstacle, was required to build a future. There were rarely simple solutions to complex problems. She had learned that the hard way, but, in the end, she had found success. From the ashes of Old Earth, a new nation had been born and risen to a key contributor to the United World.
Ubuntu.
She hoped she would see it again.
She just needed to figure out how.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: What if we could prove we possess an encryption key and an Evangi who knew the location?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: It would not matter. The encryption key is not usable without an Evangi. An Evangi will not provide a direct means of reaching their home world. We have been offered guarantees by the Combine on this matter, and our interests are aligned.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: And you trust the Combine to deliver upon their promises?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: They cannot afford not to.
Amahle wanted to scream.
Instead, she focused on moderating her breathing, slowly drawing breaths in and out as she searched for some gap. There seemed to be no way to convince them she was anything other than another in a string of species that had offered the galaxy to be spared.
She had to try. Even if she was repeating herself, she had to break through. Had to throw it all at the wall and hoped something would stick. If they wouldn't take the carrot, maybe they would respond to the stick.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: Humanity is new to this galaxy, but in a short time, we have accomplished much. We arrived utilizing a form of faster-than-light travel that circumnavigated the wormkey restrictions. A science vessel of ours destroyed a Combine ship with a single shot after we were threatened. When we returned to Halcyon, we took the encryption key, captured the leading Combine Overseer, and then destroyed their capitol with a weaponized artificient. Do you still believe it is wise to follow in the path of the Combine?
For the first time, there was a pause before the response appeared. A tentative smirk crossed her face as she pondered how her last message was being received.
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: Does this signify your intent to not cooperate?
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: I am providing you with facts so you can come to your own conclusion on how best to proceed.
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: We thank you for this information.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: Then you will reconsider?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: No. You may provide us with additional information on Humanity and its assets if you so desire. It will be credited as cooperation; however, this is not required. We do not ask Remnants to actively participate in the cleansing of their species.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: Why won't you reconsider?
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: As stated above. The information you have provided is confirmation of previously held suspicions. It re-orients our strategy in certain respects, but it does not change the overarching calculation on the best path to proceed. Cooperation with the Combine provides the optimal opportunity to remove the Tyrants. We are sorry.
[Humanity][Administrator Mandela]: You are not the first to underestimate Humanity.
[Amalgans][Unidentified]: We will be the last.
-=-=-=-
The Zix Collective swirled in a maelstrom of riotous interaction.
Only the deft actions of the Threaders under the watchful cilia of their Grands had managed to save the Collective from a mass-merge. Given the gravity of events transpiring within Halcyon, the behavior was understandable, but it posed a considerable risk to the cohesion of the Collective. Many a Minor had mingled with one another, seeking solace in the comfort of intertwined cilia. The clustered network that had rapidly evolved during the secluded deliberations amongst the Grands was an unstructured Moot, empowering and inciting the Minors and Superior involved into a frenzy.
A First Cascade could create dangers such as these. That this Cascade involved the reemergence of singletonism and artificients simultaneously was enough to cause even the Grands to imbibe fluid and curl cilia. Still in their thought-ring, the Grands agreed that these perilous flows must be addressed lest they all be swept away.
Consensus was quickly achieved that something must be done, but there was little agreement as to how these currents might be resisted. Some argued that they must escape Halcyon immediately, but others argued it was only their continued quiet presence that had allowed them to evade detection by the artificient. If they attempted to engage the float colony's wormdrives, they may draw the attention of the artificient.
The Observer Grands warned that any attempt to even actively monitor the artificient may trigger a response. This heightened concern considerably until it was realized that the Zix had not been pulling active data since engaging in their Moot. Indeed, no Zix was doing anything of any note beyond residing in the central tank and awaiting direction from the Grands.
This information was digested and considered by the Grands. Action carried risks. Inaction, thus far, appeared to have been a highly successful strategy. Indeed, the Grands of the survivalist purpose-specialization attempted to argue that this had been their intention from the outset. Other Grands objected to the characterization. Indeed, all of the Grands had been in a thought-ring and therefore the strategy was clearly the product of reasoned consensus, unless the Survivor Grands meant to suggest they had acted unilaterally. The behavior had the flow of singlemindedness.
The Survivor Grands, Left and Right both, expelled considerable fluid, shriveling up to humble themselves before their counterparts. They offered additional cilia so they could convey their deep shame at seeking to elevate themselves in such a way.
The Grands were mollified, but only with the understanding that the Survivor Grands' activities and thoughts would be subjected to a thorough investigation by a committee to determine whether the Survivors had thought themselves above the will of the Collective.
While the committee was investigating the matter, the Grands elected to continue with their highly successful strategy.
Consensus was reached.
The Collective would continue to do nothing.
The Minors and Superiors, upon receiving this news, rejoiced. They were much concerned that the swirling tempest within the central tank had been the result of a lack of foresight among the Grands. It was quite reassuring to know everything continued to go according to plan.
-=-=-=-
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Book 1 of The HEL Jumper
Year 2 of The HEL Jumper
Year 3 of The HEL Jumper
-----
Previous | First | Patreon
Thanks to Big_Papa_Dakky, Darth_Android, bloblob, AMERICUH, Ironwing, Krystalin, Mamish, Vikairious, Sam_Berry, KillTech, LilLaussa, Daddy_Talon, Gruecifer, Gaelan_Darkwater, Konrahd_Verdammt, red-shirt, DaPorkchop, Benjamin Durbin, Siddabear, and everyone supporting me on Patreon.
-----
“You alright? Physically, I mean,” Russell asked as he and Thantis returned to the village alone on the shuttle that had brought them to the Forge. “The old ticker’s not going to give out or anything?”
Thantis blinked a couple times as he extracted himself from the depths of whatever train of thought had occupied him for some time. Needless to say, the trip back had not featured lighthearted education regarding the nature of Mara’s core. “It was certainly a stressful situation, wasn’t it? I thank you for doing all of the heavy lifting, Winters.” He left out the fact that they both knew he’d have been left behind otherwise.
“Don’t mention it. That’s literally the sort of thing I trained to do and you’re lighter than a fellow soldier. Would have been really nice to stick around and take a dip in the hot springs, but something tells me that goes against the new ‘don’t interfere with the planet’ policy.”
‘Not that you didn’t enjoy them to your fullest before the rest of the crew got here,’ Io reminded him with a pointed gaze. Russell cleared his throat and let that particular memory lay dormant.
“A day of rest will be more than enough. But you’re sure everything’s alright on the inside, Thantis?”
“You are kind to ask, Winters. Thankfully, my difficulties at the moment remain in the realm of the mental and spiritual. Much happened that I am having difficulty making sense of.”
“You’re not the only one,” Russell assured him as the shuttle shuddered almost imperceptibly, a friendly reminder that they were traveling through air instead of gliding through space. “At least we didn’t break the place.”
‘On the outside, you mean,’ Io clarified in an agitated tone. She was equally as upset about the day’s events as Thantis. ‘We have no idea if anything is left standing on the inside, not to mention that the robot will likely never re-activate even if the facility didn’t self-destruct or otherwise dangerously terminate its own functions. This is the worst day for science since the Lancer was lost. And that was a very bad day for science!’
“You mean other than the fact that we can get home and tell the rest of humanity what happened here, along with everything else we’ve discovered?” Russell observed sharply. “Let a team of archaeologists deal with it. Later.”
Io, who was using the B-MASS in order to be present for both Winters and Thantis, looked to the side and let out a long breath, acknowledging that the current moment might not have been the best time. ‘Yes, later is a good idea, sir. I think we should all give thanks that we will not be giving Veera or Gentia any reason to weep this evening.’
Russell and Thantis shared a look, agreeing that even if Io’s words were true, that wouldn’t be the end of it. The Jumper cleared his throat. “Yeah, no tears. But that doesn’t mean she won’t be mad as hell.”
“You are forgetting a healthy helping of ‘I told you so’,” Thantis added, finally allowing a real smile to shine through the clouds of his tested faith. “A word of advice, Winters?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Cave early and cave often,” the Cauthan said with a wink, giving Russell a hearty chuckle as Io nodded approvingly. “Among other things, I find that’s been a constructive cornerstone of my long life with Gentia.”
‘While I’m very much in agreement regarding the capitulation to the needs and wants of the important women in one’s life,’ Io began, batting her eyelashes at Russell as though he needed some sort of reminder that she was such a woman. ‘Gentia and Veera may need to wait. I just received word from the Admiral, sir. He’s on his way to the village and intends to meet us there.’
“For what purpose?” Winters asked curiously. Io made a little show of opening a letter and reading the message within.
‘In his words? Examining primary sources.’
-----
True to his word, Natori was there to greet them when Russell and Thantis’ shuttle set down just outside the western gates. Thanks to his arrival there was already plenty of commotion, adding to the hectic Cauthan harvest season as males and females both hustled to and fro in the fields, plucking ripened produce just before the point of spoilage. The tall, ebony skinned human offered his hand to Thantis as the shuttle’s doors opened upward with an audible hiss. “I am glad to see you are well, my friend. Would you believe that our esteemed colleague Qul’Roth sends his regards and wishes you ‘good health in the name of the Order’?”
‘I wouldn’t,’ Io replied immediately, nevertheless allowing Thantis to answer on his own.
“That is very kind of him. If you would convey my thanks when you return?”
“Happily, Thantis. It sounds to me as though the two of you had quite the little adventure. Lieutenant,” the Admiral addressed Russell and the two men exchanged salutes.
“That’s certainly one way of putting it, sir. What can we do for you?” he asked, waving to a villager who called out in greeting as he passed, a wooden tool for unearthing dato in his paws.
“I believe we speak to Antoth first. I admit that I may have spooked him a little by returning to the village so soon after my last departure. All that I could tell him was that something unexpected happened at the Forge, but that the two of you were unharmed. While I wait on the lead researchers and Lance Corporal Mendes to pen their official reports, I figured it might be wise to hear of events the old fashioned way. Shall we?” he suggested, sweeping an arm behind him towards the village. A particular striped Cauthan was, of course, awaiting them there. She was not pleased.
“Ah, perhaps an explanation for your wife is in order too?” Natori suggested, understanding that his presence was likely a significant contributor to Veera’s serious demeanor.
“If it’s the same to you Admiral, I think it’s best I handle this alone,” Russell replied, leaving Thantis’ side and walking up to Veera. She tilted her head slightly to maintain eye contact, her expression one of expectation as she waited for him to begin. “Listen Veera, I know it looks bad but-”
“Did you know that Fenrir’s figured out where all of the meat is stored?” she demanded suddenly, causing Russell to stick his neck out and cock his head in confusion.
“I’m sorry, he what?”
“He found me on patrol this afternoon with a chesko sausage hanging from his mouth and a very pleased expression on his face,” Veera explained, a hand on her hip. “I had to go to the temple of Valta and compensate them!”
“Oh boy. I’m sure Ratha was thrilled,” Russell responded, a nervous pit in his stomach as he considered how much mayhem Fenrir could get up to.
“She’s going to kill him if this continues!” Veera insisted. “Just please tell me you didn’t teach him to do this!”
“Why would I teach Fenrir to steal meat from the one place in town that would get him riddled with arrows?!” Russell demanded, feeling he had some small, slight justification for taking offense.
“Because sometimes you do silly things!” Veera replied as though it were obvious before visibly deflating. “We have to do something, Russell.”
“We will, sweetie. We’ll give him a bit more food at meals and maybe see about keeping some sort of muzzle on him when he’s around town. I can take him hunting again soon too,” the human suggested, silently forgiving his wife her mild hysteria. Ratha’s opinions regarding Veera and hyrven were both well known. His proposal mollified her, and she embraced him to welcome him home.
“I knew everything was alright the moment you and Thantis showed up unharmed. I suppose the Admiral being here means you will have some meeting with Antoth, but I’m glad you’re alright,” she told him. He hummed in her ear and left a quick kiss on her cheek.
“Yeah, things didn’t go as planned but everyone made it out safely. If it’s all the same to you, I think when this is done I’d much rather focus on making sure our pet doesn’t become a pelt,” he replied.
“As long as you admit that I told you so,” Veera said. “That place was obviously nothing but trouble from the very beginning.”
‘Are we going to continue overlooking the part where we can safely travel back to Earth now?’ Io demanded, having observed the married ‘spat’ for long enough. Veera’s eyes widened in surprise.
“We can… you did it?” she gasped.
“I sure as hell didn’t,” Russell clarified quickly. “But something happened that deactivated whatever process was going on in there. Io’s right. The warp point is clear and at some point soon I have to imagine Natori is going to take his ship home.”
Veera found herself caught flat footed by the news, looking down at the earth beneath her feet as a sudden trepidation struck her. They had talked about Russell’s eventual departure many a time over the seasons she’d known him, but it was always a hypothetical, an occasion far down the line. That line seemed soon to end. “So I… have to leave?” she questioned.
“Veera, I need to go meet with Antoth and the Admiral. When I’m done we’ll sit down and have a long talk about this, ok? If things have changed and you really want to stay, there may be a way to do that,” he explained.
“But your family! Your parents!” Veera exclaimed before cutting herself off, noticing Thantis and Natori waiting at a polite distance for them. “You’re right. Please don’t take long.”
“We won’t. Where’s the little troublemaker now?” Russell wondered.
“I sent him off into the forest after his little snatch and grab. So he’ll probably be back for dinner.”
“Count on that hyrven to never miss a meal. Alright love, I’m glad you and he are ok. See you soon?”
Veera took his hands in hers and nodded. “Offer Antoth your guidance, Russell. You are the only human he can trust.”
Though Russell’s first inclination was to protest, he couldn’t help but acknowledge the fact that even someone as forward and open as Natori could possess his own interests and agenda. He hummed low in his chest and agreed with a nod of his head. “I will, Veera.”
-----
“Walk me through it one more time?” Antoth requested, running a hand through the feathers atop his head as he, Thantis, Russell, and Natori were seated within the temple of Kel. Xan was there too, finding himself in the position of scribe as Thantis was an involved party in the Forge incident.
“As I said, Antoth, the Cauthan made from metal visited us while we were exploring the main chamber,” Thantis recounted. “It was clearly female, given the plumage, but how such a thing could possibly exist is beyond me. I am unsure whether it was a servant of Kel, Tyrdus, or neither. While there were many of us there, it chose to approach me specifically and attempted to communicate. I, regretfully, did not understand anything it said to me, either with its voice or its feathers.”
“Yes, I got that part,” the chieftain clarified in a patient tone. “It is what comes afterward that puzzles me.”
“You’re not the only one,” Russell agreed before allowing Thantis to continue the tale from his perspective.
“I attempted to speak to the metal being, requesting information about its nature, which of the gods it served. I believe I mentioned Kel and Meylith specifically, Antoth. When it replied to me it was no clearer than when it first spoke, but I do believe it was a reply instead of some unrelated statement.”
“Because it repeated the word Kel to you,” Antoth finished.
“Precisely. That is when a great many things began happening all at once. Spirit Io tells me that some sort of invisible disturbance began within the Forge, something powerful. The entire place began to shake violently, and the great weapon that the humans believe was causing the corruption plummeted into the abyss below. It was then that the metallic being collapsed. I attempted to revive it, or at least ascertain what had happened but the humans deemed the situation too dangerous at that point. Winters carried me from the facility as I was unable to move fast enough.”
Antoth glanced over at the Jumper. “I find myself in the position of thanking you yet again, Winters. However, given that Thantis would have never been in danger in the first place if not for your discovery, I will not go so far as to say either of us are in your debt.”
“That’s the least of my worries, Antoth, but thank you,” he replied as Natori spoke up.
“Antoth, I believe that certain subjects we have discussed in the past must now be brought to the fore again. While departure is not imminent, as soon as my crew determines we can safely leave your planet we will begin preparing a timetable to do so. Assuming your invitation to my crew regarding your harvest festival still stands, I think it would be a crime to pass up such an opportunity for cultural exchange. Once it is concluded, I cannot envision a scenario where we remain much longer.”
“I understand,” Antoth said, adjusting his posture as he stretched and stood sternly near one of Thantis’ many shelves full of dried herbs and scrolls. “My invitation to your people remains, however I reserve the right to revoke it at any time if I feel there is a need. I think we should table that discussion for another time. Right now I need to ruminate on the situation at hand. Kel refused to open his gate to your people, even Winters, but he did so for his servant among our own. This is… a curious omen.”
Russell shook his head in discomfort as Io began to practically vibrate with excitement, causing a bit of feedback in his earpiece. Having dealt with her, he addressed the two leaders. “Antoth, I’m happy to stay if you wish but I should get home if not. It sounds like Fenrir was up to no good today.”
“I don’t know about it and assuming the situation is under control I’ll be happy not to know about it,” Antoth replied, making it clear in his tone that he expected Winters to exert said control over the situation. “If Thantis and I need to speak with you we will find you.”
“Understood. Admiral Kaczynski, sir?”
The Admiral instead looked at Antoth. “Is there anything else you wished to discuss so long as I am here?”
“The food situation,” Antoth replied immediately, glancing at Xan. Natori nodded.
“I must admit that over the short period of time since we last spoke I have not received any updates myself. However I would be happy to escort Xan or someone else from your village up to the Event Horizon to inspect the current crop personally.”
“Then you should go, Xan. If we will not receive armor or weapons we should at least ensure this food is suitable when grown far from Mara’s soil. Will there be any issues?” he finished on a considerate note.
“No Antoth, I’d be happy to. I should grab a couple of things and let my family know where I’ll be though,” the young scholar explained.
“Very well, you are dismissed.”
“My shuttle will be waiting at the western gate,” Natori advised the young Cauthan. “First Lieutenant, I do not wish to keep you too long but I would appreciate it if you and Io would accompany me that far.”
“Yes sir,” Russell replied, seeing no reason to protest. “Selah, Thantis. Today was quite the adventure.”
“I shall remember it for the rest of my life,” Thantis agreed, his customary demeanor returning as a ‘smile of knowledge’ spread across his muzzle. “And while that may not be a particularly strong statement, I am sure that you will as well. Go in peace, everyone. Selah. Shall we summon the others, Antoth?”
“Not yet. Let us speak privately,” the burly Cauthan requested, indicating that he no longer needed the other three individuals in the temple. Xan packed up the scroll he’d been scribbling on and departed for his family’s home to the north while Russell and the Admiral headed west.
“Is your wife the only Cauthan with an understanding of English?” Natori began.
“So far as I know, sir,” Russell replied in a guarded tone.
“Excellent, then we can dispense with some of the secrecy. What is your opinion on taking this village back to Earth with us?” he wondered. Io was visibly restraining herself from answering for the both of them, but her opinions on the matter were obvious. Russell was more defferential.
“I think that’s a little bit beyond my pay grade, sir. On that subject, however, I need to know if there will be any problems in taking my wife aboard when we leave.”
“Yes well, if we take them all along with us I see no reason she couldn’t come too!” Natori replied in an almost obnoxiously upbeat tone. “The formalities and paperwork will be handled either way in her case, Lieutenant, I assure you. But I do not wish to discuss formalities and rules today. I can do that with men like your father once we return home, and I get the sneaking suspicion there will be quite a few of those conversations. Your gut feelings on the situation will suffice.”
“I’d be worried about them if we left them here and I’d be worried if we took them along, assuming such a thing is even possible and they agree to it” Russell replied. “For every Cauthan like Gentia or Thantis who might jump at the idea, there will be Cauthan like Ratha who will surely object.”
“Undoubtedly,” Natori agreed. “But the conditions are such that they will be forced to answer that question, assuming my staff comes back to me and deems such a mission possible. From a human perspective, it is a clever workaround of many of the objections from our Ghaelen guest, objections that will be more difficult to ignore once he is returned to his people.”
‘Since simply removing the village from existence was his enlightened idea in the first place,’ Io quipped, using vicious air quotes to append the word ‘enlightened’. Natori chuckled heartily, waving cordially to a couple of farmers who looked their way at the noise.
“In defense of Emissary Qul’Roth, I am not sure I want to know what happens to Ghaelen who defy the Order,” Natori suggested. “But per your evaluation, Io, I see no reason not to make it our enlightened decision instead.”
“A decision to do what, exactly? Take them home and just turn them loose in a random city? Keep them in an HEL compound for years?” Russell demanded. Kaczynski stroked his chin.
“I need a shave I believe. And count on the Jumper to immediately identify all the ways in which a situation could go wrong. Before you object, I approve of the approach. Though if you’ve already moved on to that point I presume you would generally be in favor of the translocation?”
Russell organized his thoughts as the two men passed through the central square of the town, considering what it might look like in various settings he’d visited back home. “At least if they came with us and needed help I’d be able to do something.”
Natori looked at Winters out of the corner of his eye. In truth, the Jumper was not used to speaking with people taller than him. An uncomfortable reminder of days gone by being scolded by his father gave way to a desire to see the man again. “May I ask what you were planning to do upon returning to Earth, Lieutenant? If you remain at your current post I’m not sure you would be any more able to aid these Cauthan than if we left them here.”
That feeling of familial absence returned as Winters shook his head. “I didn’t give it much thought when I was aboard the Lancer, sir. Once I was here, worrying about it seemed pointless. I guess now’s the time to think about it again, but life’s already moved past that. Not sure I’ll leave the HEL, but when we get I’m going to turn in my wings, so to speak. The Jumper corps don’t need fathers. Doesn’t mean I’m not proud to have served as one of humanity’s most heavily armed bachelors.”
Natori laughed earnestly at the description. “Children really do change everything, don’t they?”
“You would know far better than I, sir. I’m just making assumptions. I want Veera to come with me, and that if she does I need to come home each night for several reasons. I normally wouldn’t talk to someone like you about these things, but I’m sure you’ll be in charge of accepting or denying that request when the time comes,” he added, trying to keep his tone from being standoffish. Natori seemed to find the comment entertaining, so he figured he’d succeeded.
“Yes I suppose it was a deviation into rather private affairs. You have my apologies, Lieutenant. You and your sister are so different, but I can see your father in the both of you. I cannot make any guarantees, but I will do what I can if you’ve decided that your future lies outside of the Jumper corps. If things play out the way I expect them to, you and I and Io may have a mutual interest in such an arrangement, lest you think I’m somehow trying to play father.”
“Thanks for the assurances, sir,” Russell replied shortly, only broadening Natori’s smile.
“Youth is wonderful, is it not? In any case, you have something like six months to consider these questions, plus however long it takes us to get our affairs in order and depart this planet. With the threat from the alien installation apparently gone, my curiosity as to its nature has only increased.” Natori paused for a moment before snapping his fingers as he remembered something. “I need an after action report from you within the next twenty four hours, Lieutenant. I am aware that you have duties that go a bit beyond those of the average Event Horizon crew member, but given the magnitude of the event you just bore witness to, I need to review evidence from every angle, every perspective. There is no telling what the twenty or so of you might have seen or not seen.”
‘Done,’ Io replied, making a show of procuring the necessary video and audio files along with a written report that literally materialized atop her open palm. ‘Anything else?’
“You’ll let me review it first before it’s sent to the Admiral,” Russell insisted in no uncertain terms. “And later, I want you to make sure Xan is alright when he’s aboard the Event Horizon. Veera and I need to talk things over.”
‘Yes I suppose you do,’ Io agreed, filing away the materials she’d produced for his review. She waved politely at Natori. ‘Admiral, I will speak with you again some other time.’
“A pleasure as always,” he replied before her projection winked away. “Thank you for your time, Lieutenant. I will be fine waiting for the young apprentice before heading back. In the coming days and weeks I hope you will keep in mind that I value your opinion as an expert on the Cauthan, even if I make decisions that conflict with your sensibilities.”
Russell took a moment to think through his reply, knowing well enough that the Admiral was not trying to patronize him. Natori took that time to look up at the gatehouse, nodding appreciatively at the construct of wood and packed dirt. “As long as you aren’t making decisions to appease the Ghaelen, sir, I can’t see myself raising any objections.”
Kaczynski hummed shortly in reply. “Fair enough. You’re dismissed, Lieutenant.”
Winters saluted silently and turned to head off along the road to the north, wondering how many more times he would walk along the rows of crowded homes, blockhouses, and rough drainage trenches.
----
The evening’s dinner preparation was a mostly silent affair. The crackling of firewood and the sound of a knife against wood, vegetables, and meat were comforting as he reviewed the full contents of Io’s report on the Forge incident. Every so often he made annotations, correcting Io’s propensity for flourish and embellishment. It had been a long time since he’d had to deliver such a report, and Io obviously found military language to be boring and trite. Between the two of them they soon had an acceptable product to send up to Natori’s bridge, along with the footage from his helmet cams. Task completed, Winters was free to address the question that had been hanging over both him and Veera for the entire afternoon. She was clearly as eager, or perhaps as nervous, as he, and he found her scrutinizing him from over the cooking pot.
“Hey there, I’m all finished,” he began, standing and moving to her side. “Do you need any help?”
“No, all of the heavy lifting is done. Just need to let it simmer for a while,” she told him, knocking a wooden spoon on the rim of the pot before taking a seat on one of their chairs. He joined her. “Your people will leave soon, and you’ll have to go with them.”
“Yeah, they will,” Russell agreed, taking her hand in his and giving thanks that they wouldn’t be beating around the bush. “I do want to go back, Veera. I haven’t seen my parents or my two other siblings for…”
Veera watched as her mate fell silent, his face looking far older than his actual age of twenty five as he counted the months. “It’s been too long, hasn’t it?” she asked compassionately.
“The Admiral managed to get them here in about three months, but I don’t think he would push things that hard on the return trip. All told, even if we left tomorrow and didn’t make any detours, it would probably be more than two years total by the time I get home. And for at least half of that time they’ll have lived without knowing whether I’m alive or dead.”
“It was clearly very hard for Alice,” Veera agreed, recalling the tearful scene from the bridge of the Event Horizon. “And she got to see you long before they will. You know I’ll still go with you, my love.”
“I know,” he affirmed, looking at the flames as they licked at the blackened exterior of the pot that had served them well for many months. “But I know things have changed here too. I know there’s a lot you would leave behind now so… I think we should talk.”
“About what, Russell?” she inquired. “I’m happy to talk about anything with you. We even vowed to do so in sight of the Mother, but it sounds like our path is already set.”
“Maybe, but when we get to Earth things need to change,” he explained. “I can’t… I won’t get sent off on another mission like this. Even if you weren’t pregnant there would be a question, you know? But now there’s no way I want you following me around on military ships, and no way I’m going to leave you after you give birth. So… I’m going to have to figure something else out. Even cabins in the mountains don’t build themselves, and the life of a recluse isn’t the sort of thing I’d want for our kids.”
To Russell’s surprise, Veera purred and nuzzled his cheek. She teased him gently. “Look at you trying to plan out our entire lives. I would never say no to you being in less danger.”
Russell placed an arm around her shoulder and rested his head against hers. “Is there a ‘but’ in there somewhere?”
“I was trying to be accommodating,” Veera pointed out. “But I would feel awful if you gave up something important on account of my pregnancy. It’s not like we planned for this.”
“No, we didn’t,” he agreed seriously, sitting up in his seat and rubbing the back of his neck. “But that doesn’t change the fact. Besides, there aren’t many people who remain soldiers forever. Even people like my father eventually take non-combat roles and desk jobs. It might not go exactly the way we expect, but I’m sure I can work something out within the HEL if the civilian life just isn’t for me.”
“Then it sounds like we don’t have much to worry about in terms of our family,” Veera summarized in a relieved tone before casting a glance at their entryway. “I will miss them, though.”
Russell exhaled and looked over at Io, taking up her usual perch at the foot of their bed. He raised his brows at her and she shrugged in return. “I might as well ask your opinion on it then,” he said.
“On what?”
“This is something Io and I have been thinking about for a while but never with any seriousness. Apparently Alice started thinking the same way and made a proposal to both Natori and Antoth the last time the two of them met.”
“Is that where you were called to?” Veera wondered quietly, taking a spoonful of stew and blowing on it until it was cool enough to taste. Satisfied with the blend of flavors, she grabbed two wooden bowls and began serving them both. “What is it that Alice was contemplating?”
“From the sound of it, taking you and every single Cauthan in this village back home with us to Earth isn’t a flight of fancy,” Russell explained. Veera paused with a ladle full of stew halfway between the kettle and her bowl.
“I- what? Is such a thing even possible?” she demanded aghast. Russell nodded, propping up one ankle on the opposite knee.
“Way I understand it, the Event Horizon is running with a skeleton crew, at least so far as non-military personnel are concerned. When they learned they were coming after me, that my ship had been lost, a lot of people who could chose to stay behind. There’s plenty of space so long as your people can handle space travel. Obviously we’ve already experimented with that a bit.”
“But why would they take us in the first place?” Veera asked suspiciously. “Here, eat while it’s hot.”
“Smells wonderful, thank you,” Russell replied, making sure to take a large bite and savor it for her edification before going on to explain some of the reasons humanity might see a vested interest in taking her village along. “From what I can tell it would actually resolve a sticking point with the Ghaelen regarding human influence on the village. The other reason, honestly, is that we want to.”
“And when we can no longer feed or clothe ourselves because we have left Mara we will be at your mercy,” Veera pointed out suspiciously. Io felt the need to step in at that point.
‘That is true, Veera. However what humanity can offer you in exchange would far exceed what you would lose. Imagine a world where one Cauthan, in someone like Anita’s position, could grow enough food to feed the whole village!’
“That sounds like a good excuse to sit around and grow lazy and fat, just like Vash,” Veera spat. Io recoiled indignantly as Russell waved his spoon her way.
“She’s got a point there, you know. Hey boy, get over here and sit! I heard you were bad today!” Russell commanded, distracted as none other than Fenrir chose that moment to arrive home, having no doubt followed the smells of cooking fires throughout the village. He ruffled the hyrven’s fur roughly before providing him with a plate of pre-cut chesko meat. It was a bit bourgeois to cut their pet’s steak, he knew, but both he and Veera considered bite sized pieces preferable to Fenrir flinging his dinner about the house like a barbarian intent on painting the walls red.
‘Now that the beastie has his dinner and I can defend myself, I can tell you that many humans choose to work jobs like those found at the temples of Tyrdus or the Twins, making things instead of growing things. That might not be a difficult transition. Even more choose to live like Thantis or Alice, devoting their lives to knowledge and its pursuit. And yes, per your conversation with Russell all the way back when you first met, there are some who engage in creating pornographic material and every other profession in between. Based on the amount of garbage I’ve scrubbed from the Event Horizon’s intranet there will be a market for Cauthan smut when we return to Earth one way or another, but I’d rather space my main processors than ruminate on that for too long. You are right, Veera. Being lazy, indolent, and fat is a temptation when you live in a land of plenty, but I think it is better than starvation, death by raider, succumbing to treatable illnesses, or freezing to death.’
“Not to mention there are plenty of human communities who prefer to keep to what they consider to be the ‘old ways’,” Russell added. “I’m not saying anyone’s given the logistics serious thought, but the idea is out there now and it’s not just me and Io who would want to see you all paid back for letting me live here and keeping me alive.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that we would be giving up our freedom and putting our lives in your hands, Russell,” Veera pointed out. “I choose to do so on account of our bonds of marriage and because I consider you to be a male who does not think in such terms. That doesn’t mean that this village will be treated the same way.”
Russell was unable to brush her concerns away, knowing that he was far from the most senior HEL individual in the system anymore. He didn't foresee any issues with the Admiral honoring the union he shared with Veera, but he hadn't exactly married the rest of the village. "I know, but it's not like Io or I would abandon them. I'm not worth much, honestly, but you've seen what Io can do when she doesn't get what she wants."
'I resent that,' she told him. 'You act as though I saw the Event Horizon and thought give me the shiny ship.'
Russell and Veera looked at Io quietly, chewing over tenderized pieces of chesko. She eventually backtracked. ‘Well don’t blame me for having the ability to do both at once! Besides, it’s not even that shiny.’
Veera laughed pleasantly as she reached over to scratch Fenrir between the ears. Between the slowly waning cooking fire and his dinner the hyrven was already headed for dreamland. “I appreciate the sentiment, Io. I know that you and Russell would not abandon us, but that will not make it any easier, especially for people like Ratha and Antoth.”
“That’s a bit of an understatement. I wouldn’t be surprised if it proved necessary to drag Ratha kicking and screaming into a shuttle,” Winters added, finding the image amusing. “Ah well, like I said it’s really not a decision that any of us get to make. I just wanted your perspective. I guess it’s probably a scary concept more than anything.”
“Yes, it is,” Veera agreed quietly. “And unlike me, they do not have someone like you to lean on.”
“Fair enough. Hopefully we can get a few set up like Xan, familiarize themselves with the ship at least. Sounds like Natori could use help and you all have five fingers, an opposable thumb, and are of approximately human height,” Winters reasoned. “Speaking of which, why don’t you head on up, Io. He should be aboard already. I think we’re just going to clean up dinner here.”
Veera waved her feathers in understanding as Io nodded and killed her projection. ‘I suppose I could check back in on my various VI monitoring subroutines as well. As you say sir. I will return later tonight.’
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“By Kel this place is big,” Xan complained, walking through corridor after corridor aboard the Event Horizon. He’d returned to his normal weight so he figured he had to be somewhere close to his destination, but with every turn he only seemed to find yet another sign featuring vibrant green and yellow symbols showing him the way to the hydroponics bays. The Cauthan let out an audible groan of relief when he stepped into a larger hallway and found a sizable green arrow pointing at a set of bulkheads several times his size. He could not yet read the human runes painted within it, but he recognized the location well enough. Clearing his throat and composing himself he walked up to the doors and made to knock, but found his plans foiled as they simply opened on their own and a synthesized, female voice faintly reminiscent of Io’s own welcomed him to the hydroponics bay. “Hey, Anita?” he called out, facile enough with English to use at least one word. He smiled as she poked her head around the corner of the door to her office, her long ponytail hanging most of the way to the floor from her seated position. She was confused to see him, which confused him in turn.
“X-Xan?” she stuttered. “What are you um, doing here?”
The Cauthan leaned heavily on his cane, putting two and two together before letting out a long sigh of realization and clicking a talon on the floor. “You know, if you’d prefer to work for someone who doesn’t enjoy surprises, Antoth would be happy to have you if you can grow food for us. He’s a similar color too, so that wouldn’t be much of a change, right? He wanted me to check in and see how things are going up here. Guess Natori didn’t give you a warning?”
“No, he didn’t,” Anita confirmed quietly, unsure whether to find humor in the idea of working for Antoth or trying to explain to Xan that it was the height of rudeness to remark on someone’s skin color in such a way. In the end she sat in silent embarrassment as her stomach betrayed her and growled audibly. Even with his mangled left ear Xan was able to pick up on it just fine.
“I have a place to sleep up here so maybe let’s get food first? Not like I’m in a rush or anything. Well, I actually can’t rush much of anywhere these days,” he quipped, pointing to his gimped leg. “I don’t really know my way around so… or was I interrupting something?”
Anita couldn’t bring herself to say no, so instead she zipped up her jumpsuit, grabbed her tablet, and ensured the automated subroutines were all green before tucking her chair neatly away at her desk. “So, ah, how have you been, Xan?” she asked politely, leading the way from her usual haunt to the hallways that would take them to the civilian canteen. The Cauthan kept a sure pace, his cane accentuating his progress. He chuckled to himself as he summed up the events of the prior cycle in one word.
“Busy.”
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