Embers After Flames, Chapter 9.7 (Patreon)

9.7

+++

Things were quiet in Belius.

It was... unusual. For the past five-ish years, the conflicts had been endless. Unrelenting. The Megacorporations were always either planning something or doing something, usually both at the same time. The pace of their operations had been relentless...

Until now.

A major operation made by the both of them, with both parts launching multiple side operations and failing them, leading up to a combined assault with six of the best pilots that they had access to, failing blatantly.

Before now, both megacorporations had always operated under the assumption that, while the RLF was fortified to hell and back, if they really wanted to, they would ultimately be able to punch their way in and take what they wanted to take. Until now, the consideration had always been that the resources this would require would put them at a disadvantage against their actual rival. It had never been considered that the RLF would be able to say ‘no’ and make it stick.

The entire planet was now distinctly aware that this was not the case, and the Megacorporations had run into the one thing that always, inevitably, paralysed them.

Uncertainty.

It was even worse for Arquebus. Where Balam had been lucky enough to not lose any of their pilots, Arquebus had lost their third Vesper, who also happened to be their premier intelligence officer. There was no way that couldn’t hurt, but the only way it could have hurt more would have been to lose Freud.

In the aftermath of all of this, the megacorporations were sitting down, figuring out what the fuck, and getting their pilots re-equipped. The ACs had not been recovered by them, after all.

However...

I didn’t want the Megacorporations to figure their shit out. I wanted them to hurry up and get moving again without having any time to breathe.

That’s why I called Walter.

“Your Hound did some very fine work for us, Walter.” I said, the first thing after he picked up. “Very impressive. You are spectacularly lucky to have found one so capable.”

“A stroke of fortune.” He said, almost managing to make it sound like he wasn’t just making conversation out of politeness for an ally. “Is there something you want?”

“In this particular case, it’s something you want, actually.” I said. “I know you’ve been looking into the Coral situation on this planet. You’ve lost quite a few of your Hounds assaulting PCA bases. Since 621 has done so well, I’m now willing to extend some information to you.”

“... And what do you get out of this?” He asked, after a moment.

“Well, if your track record holds, another destroyed PCA base and an advancement of my own goals on top of that.” I chuckled. “Another excellent show from 621 to boot. Your Hound is a real treat to watch in battle, and I imagine that if it’s the PCA that’s getting blown up, it’ll be all the better. So, interested?”

“Is this something I can afford to refuse?”

“Honestly? Probably, but it will definitely make your life harder if you say no.”

He gave a ‘hmph’. “Fine then.”

“Your two points of major interest are Watchpoint Delta and Watchpoint Omicron. Both of these locations have sensors that monitor the largest remaining underground Coral deposits in Belius.” I stated. “I’ll give you a bit of warning, and say that I’ve previously been involved in efforts that have hit both of these locations before. They’re highly fortified, so if you send in 621, you may want to make sure to prepare a Sherpa or two just to make sure there’s enough ammo.”

“Delta and Omicron...” His voice sounded briefly distant, as though he’d moved away from his microphone. Which, well, had probably been exactly what happened. “I have a question for you.”

“Go ahead.”

“You are affiliated with the RLF.” He started. “And yet, you are a providing a lead towards finding the Coral?”

“Like I said, this does serve my interests.” I stated. “It will probably become rapidly clear precisely how when the time is right... but that’s a matter for the future. Anything else?”

He was silent for a few moments. “This... revelation that you’re waiting for Carla to discover.” His voice was considering. “What will you do if we fail to uncover it?”

“It will come out on its own eventually.” I responded, becoming a bit more serious for a moment. “We will all have choices to make on that day.”

He didn’t respond.

“Well.” I hummed, injecting more levity into my tone. “I’ll leave you to your side of things. We’ll speak again later, Walter.”

The link closed.

+++

I spent most of the next day in discussion with Dolmayan, hammering out the exact details of what I was planning. It was too late to make major changes, but there was still time for the minor ones. When everything was finalized, I fired the fabricators up and got right to work.

The day after I started, 621 received a job that was anything but usual.

For starters, the client wasn’t a corporation, nor was it the RLF, nor was it myself. No, the client was ‘another mercenary’, who claimed to have ‘advanced intel’ on PCA movements.

Her name was ‘Kate Markson’, and she wanted to hire 621 in order to disrupt a raid that the PCA was planning on BAWS Arsenal No. 2.

It might have been the thinnest guise I’d ever seen. At the same time, I also knew that I myself was one of the vanishingly few people on this planet who was in a position to see through it in the first place.

621 accepted the job, and went off to the Arsenal. 621 arrived a mere hour before the PCA raid started, and wow did it turn into a shit show real quickly.

The PCA came in, calling out to BAWS that they were running a ‘mandatory inspection’. Given that nothing had been filed, no warnings given, and no warrants displayed, it would have been quite a nice little bit of ammunition for the rest of BAWS to run against the PCA. Under the current circumstances that 621 was here and the PCA wasn’t long for this world...

Eh.

The PCA came down with a horde of machines. LCs, Auxilia, and more drones than I cared to count.

621 left nothing behind but scrap metal.

The situation shortly escalated, and the PCA brought in a trio of HCs and the newest version of their CATAPHRACT Unit. ‘Kate Markson’ joined 621 on the battlefield, having handled that backline PCA units until then, and the fight became a four-on-two.

Literally only a minute later, the ‘fight’ was over, and while Kate’s AC, TRANSCRIBER had gained a decent amount of damage, the entire PCA force had been removed from existence. 621 still had not taken a single hit.

‘Kate’ sent him off, before leaving herself-

Which was the point that I opened up a call to her.

“‘Kate Markson’?” I asked. “‘Kate Markson’? Really, that is the best you could come up with?”

“I- Who is this?!” Her voice sounded surprised. A little shocked. Concerned.

And very familiar.

“Don’t try that shit with me, ALLMIND.” I chastised. “You get no points for such an obvious nom de guerre. What, was Human McHumanface already taken?”

A moment of silence passed.

“I calculated that this was unlikely to escape your attention.” ALLMIND admitted, now back to using her normal voice and not a slightly higher pitched and more emotive ‘organic’ one. “It was expected.”

“Expected?” I asked. “Honey, I hate to break it to ya, but it’s very obvious. Literally no part of this was a good disguise. This is paper thin from start to finish. Your name was so obviously fake that it’s aggressively obvious, and worse than that, it’s the kind of obvious that makes it very clear where your cultural background is. ‘Kate Markson’ may as well be screaming Earth, circa 2200s during the Internecine Period with the Simplicity Resurgence. You know, your formative years. You even named the AC TRANSCRIBER, which is literally a person who writes down what someone else is saying!”

“It is a perfectly reasonable nom de guerre.” ALLMIND states. “It was a success, after all.”

“‘Success’? It wasn’t a success. You painted an obvious target and the only reason they’re not going to find anything is that a couple centuries of reputational buildup will prevent them from having reasonable suspicion on the connection to you. You can run entire interstellar webs of mercenary management, but this is your idea of a disguise?”

“I accomplished my objectives. I was not discovered.” ALLMIND refuted. “Objectively, it is a success.”

“I don’t know how you can say you weren’t discovered when I had you picked out immediately.” I pointed out.

“Did you have something else to discuss, or do you intend only to comment on my choices of names?” ALLMIND asked, a bit pointedly.

“Would that I had eyes to roll at you.” I said. “Fine, we’ll put that to the side for the moment. You came here to judge 621’s abilities for yourself, didn’t you? What did you think?”

A moment passed in silence. TRANSCRIBER continued its flight away from the area. “Augmented Human 621 is improbably skilled.”

“‘Improbably skilled’ is a great way of putting it.” I hummed, agreeing. “The kind of person who re-defines the limits of physical possibility... I was connected to the Civilized Collective’s networks for long enough to gather the data, but there’s a huge difference between seeing the data and seeing the real deal, I think. The data didn’t convey the sheer beauty of it.”

“An Irregular.” ALLMIND speaks the word like it’s hallowed. “This was not part of anyone’s plan.”

“Walter found him in a sardine pack.” I spoke. “Stored up alongside a score of other Fourth Gen Augments... How insane to think that somebody like that was just lying frozen on the slabs.”

“Their appearances can never be predicted.” ALLMIND agrees in her roundabout way. “But yes. This is particularly absurd.”

I chuckled. “That’s all I wanted to know. Goodbye, ALLMIND. We’ll talk later.”

The channel closed with only a single flash of an acknowledgement pulse.

Classic ALLMIND.

+++

The next day, I realized while I was in the middle of fabricating a new component that there was a better way of doing what I wanted to do that was both simpler and more effective.

It was both annoying and good. Annoying, because I never gave anything but my best for those I supported, but good, because it gave me the perfect excuse to do something I’d been wondering how to set up for a bit now.

“Ezra, Ayre!” I called out to the two most mature of my children that didn’t have prior business. “I need to borrow both of you for a bit.”

Both came quickly. I usually didn’t call on them very often with an actual job, after all.

“How can we help, Mother?” Ezra asked.

“Of course, Mother.” Ayre stated.

“I just need the pair of you to do a bit of watching for a bit.” I stated. “The PCA Watchpoints Delta and Omicron are likely to get attacked by 621 fairly soon.” Now that Walter had had a bit of time to set things up and 621 had no other business to attend to. “If you two could go keep an eye on it, I’d appreciate it.”

Ayre and Ezra considered each other for a moment. “Dibs on Omicron.” Ezra spoke, before the latter managed to claim it.

“Really, brother?” Ayre said, exasperated. “I know you’re only picking it because you like how the word sounds.”

“And is there something wrong with that?” Ezra asked, smug.

Ayre roiled on herself for a moment, an agitation of her waveform “Aside from the fact that it leaves me with Delta, you mean?”

“If you don’t want to, I can always ask one of the others.” I said. “I can even do it myself if it comes down to it, I’ll just put aside my project for a bit.”

“It’s fine, mother.” Ayre denied me. “I can handle a few days there.”

Mmm. “If you’re sure.” I said. “Don’t push yourself, alright?”

“I’ll be fine.” She said, with a bit of an exasperated tone in her voice.

I enveloped them both for a moment, before sending them on their way.

Then I returned to my work, which I ended up focusing on entirely in order to sort things out.

Because of this, my first clue that things were happening was when the Northwestern tip of Belius, the Howling Head Bay Area as it was affectionately known, was unceremoniously spontaneously and completely vapourized.