Embers After Flames, Chapter 10.7 (Patreon)

10.7

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I didn’t bother to stick around for what would come next. I just gave them their privacy and left them to it.

Perhaps this was foolish. This entire group had come here with the ultimate plan of setting the Coral alight again, after all. Leaving them to do their thing was, by most definitions, not exactly a good idea.

Honestly, though? It didn’t really matter. Even if I wasn’t there to keep an eye on their chats, Ayre was, but even if she hadn’t been, it was impossible for the group to actually move without me noticing.

Their conversation was the only thing that stayed private.

I still had a few things to do, anyway. Monitoring the movements of the PCA, Arquebus, and Balam is something that requires consistent effort. Predicting their next course of action based on their current ones requires actual data, after all, and even I wasn’t capable of magicking that up out of thin air.

The rough shape of things had already been set in stone, but the details were just as important. For the plan, achieving as large of an effect as possible was very important.

What was surprising to me was how quickly they got back to me.

Eight whole hours.

Not a very long time at all, all considered.

“Drich.”

“Carla.”

The woman breathed in slowly, before letting out an equally slow, steadying exhale. “We’ve made our choice.”

Ah... here it is. The moment of truth. “And what is your verdict?”

“It stops.” She states.

“Ayre?”

“They cast a vote.” My daughter speaks. “She’s telling the truth.”

It is... difficult to describe the feeling of relief that passes me at hearing that.

Overseer is one thing. Knowing that I won’t have to kill a bunch of people who I’d known relatively well for a few decades is... quite nice. If they’d actually been the maniacs that they presented themselves at, that would be a different story, but I knew better.

“Thank you, dear.”

Even more reliving is knowing that 621 won’t be an enemy.

“Good.” I said, after a moment. “I understand that this couldn’t be an easy decision for you.”

Carla scoffed, and like that, the serious moment was over and done with. “‘Course it wasn’t. Fifty damned years getting ready to commit to all this all over again and we’re stopping. A lot of people died for this whole thing, both us and... not us.”

“Acutely aware, yes.” I allowed my tone to dip for moment. “Even so.”

“Hah.” I heard Carla sigh. “Alright then. Now what happens?”

“That, Carla is a very good question.” I spoke. “And like many very good questions, it has multiple possible answers. If you and yours are giving up on your goal, then you’re free to decide on any other decision.”

“... What, that’s it?” She asked, sounding confused. “You don’t have a plan for us?”

“Why would I have plans for you?” I asked. “I have literally spent decades supporting the independence of Humans, and providing them additional choices. The only reason you factored into it was that you were planning to burn the Coral. If you’re not going to do that...”

“It can’t be that easy.” Carla said. “We could end up causing you problems! We know the secret you’ve been keeping.”

“Meh.” I made sure that the word was pronounced clearly.

“‘Meh’?” Carla asked, nearly offended. “You- Wait. Hold on. You... You’ve got something planned, don’t you?”

“Oh, do I.” I chuckled. “But aside from that... Carla, the ‘secret’ of our nature is not as much of a secret as you might be thinking it is. Basically the entirety of the RLF’s upper echelons knows about us, and most of them have a fairly close relationship with at least one member of my family.”

“... Then why bother keeping it a secret at all?” She asked- but this wasn’t actually a question. No, her tone told me that she was just speculating aloud, now. “Wait, it’s the PCA, isn’t it? They know where the supercolony is. They have access to it. That’s not a revelation, we always knew that, but you’re worried about them trying to handle that.”

“Ah, there you go.” I said. “Literally, that was the only thing that stopped me before now... And to be honest, even then, it really hasn’t been stopping me. Dolmayan’s been telling everyone for decades, you know.”

“Coral Mysticism...” She breathes.

“Hits a little different when you know that yes, the Coral is with you, huh?” I laughed. “But, we’ve gone off track. Back to that whole thing about you and what you’re going to do now... You can do whatever you want, Carla. You want to keep being black market arms dealers? Go ahead. RaD is running profitably, and you’ve even got Megacorporate deals going on. You want to just stop? There are civilian zones all over Belius, there are established protocols for letting outsiders in, and you even have the benefit of being affiliates. You want to leave? Go ahead. It’s a big galaxy. Just pick somewhere else and go. I won’t stop you.”

“... And if we feel like seeing this whole thing through?” Carla asked, carefully.

Would that I could smile right now. “Then I would give you the advice of getting ready really quickly. Things are going to be coming to a head pretty soon, after all.”

“Huh.” She said. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.” I said.

“... After everything we did?”

“If it’s really such a concern for you...” I sighed. “I was there watching when Nagai convinced you all. You did not do what you did out of malice. What happened was still abhorrent, and the blame for the current state of Rubicon can be laid almost entirely at the feet of Nagai and everyone who worked with him... but that’s something you lot have to live with.”

For fifty years, they had held themselves together based on the thought that their ultimate goal had been necessary, that the Coral posed a threat that couldn’t possibly be averted.

They had chosen to stop.

It was a brave choice. It was confronting themselves and saying they were wrong. It’s not an easy thing to do.

When it really starting sinking in... There was nothing I could do to them that was worse than what they would do to themselves.

I was going to have make sure somebody kept an eye on them. Make sure they didn’t do anything... particularly self-destructive.

“Right...” Carla sighed. “Well, whatever, that’s me. Do you have anything else?”

“Not from you.” I said. “I do need to have a conversation with Walter and 621, however.”

“Hmm? Yeah, fair enough.”

We said our goodbyes, and she closed her connection. I meanwhile, opened another to Walter.

“What did you need to discuss with us?” He asked.

“621, of course.” I said.

“Hmn. You realize that the entire reason I got into this business was to try and find the Coral, yes?”

“I am, and I am also aware that if you’ve decided not to go through with it, then you’ve also got no reason to keep being a Handler.” I said. “However, that’s your reason for being a Handler. You brought 621 in under the notion of getting enough COAM to undo the Augmentation surgery, and being able to live a normal, comfortable life. While 621 has earned quite the paycheck so far, the vast majority of people in the galaxy with the ability to undo it would demand more, either in COAM or in service.”

Walter made a displeased grunt.

“There is an additional problem, of course. Removing the surgery would remove what allows 621 to exist in Contact with Ayre.” I stated. “I am making an offer to yourself and 621. I have the experience and ability to modify the Augmentations that 621 has received. I can fix the issues that have arisen, without breaking the Contact. 621 would therefore be able to live comfortably, which is much better than how things are currently.” This was admittedly not difficult to achieve. “That, however, is a decently time-consuming process, and as far as things go, 621 is a little too effective to just let lay on the side. It’s a waste.”

“Make your offer. 621 will decide on it.” Walter states.

“I would like 621’s service for a little while. Not long- I doubt it will take more than a week or two now.” I stated. “In return, I will offer the standard compensation of COAM, and a free-of-charge bespoke Augmentation modification procedure.”

“You wouldn’t do that anyway?” He asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

“I would.” I admitted. “But 621 strikes me as the kind of person who would prefer things this way.”

“You always seem to prefer the direct side of things.” I told 621, directly. “Am I wrong?”

“… Hmm. Well, 621? It’s your decision.”

“Whatever your choice, Raven, I’ll support you.”

It didn’t even take a full second before I received a message of acceptance.

“Well then.” I hummed. “It’s good to have you, 621. I’ll contact you once I’ve got something worked out.”

I said my goodbyes, again, and closed the channel.

It didn’t even take five whole minutes before someone pinged my systems.

I would have raised an eyebrow at who if I’d actually had them.

“Well, this is an unexpected surprise.” I said once the connection had been made. “It has been a few weeks, dear ideologues.”

“Drich.” Raven’s Operator addressed. “My apologies, but this isn’t a social call.”

“Of course.” I said, and switched tracks. “You’re after 621, no doubt.”

“The last few weeks have been... spectacularly informative.” The Operator briefly hesitated. “You were right to tell us to wait to judge.”

“I had the benefit of seeing 621 in action.” I answered. “It was enough.”

“Indeed. That is why I am making a request to you today.” She began. “Raven has decided to test the Hound’s skill. I can assure you that my partner is not interested in taking back the license-”

“- but you do want to be sure that it’s not some gigantic fluke.” I finished for her. “Your time frame?”

“We are currently free.” The Operator stated. “And by ‘we’, I mean all of Branch.”

I chuckled. “Ah! A fight that approaches fair.” Though they could do with a few more ACs if they really wanted to get parity. 621 has been chewing through them, after all. “Well, in that case, I might be able to sort something out for you. You’ve made your way to the Ice Field, of course?” I didn’t need to ask that question. King and Chartreuse hadn’t been as subtle as they could have been when they made their way across. Raven... admittedly had been, actually.

“Yes.”

A few years ago, she might have been a bit less willing to give an answer to that question. After so long engaging in open and honest manners, however, they had by now figured that I was on the up and up, and keeping my word was something I tried my best to do. Not seeking to harm my allies, as distant as they tried to be, was one of them.

“Most excellent.” Hmm.

This… was actually sort of a problem.

I liked Branch, and 621 is the kind of stupidly dangerous that you have to get lucky to survive. A battle between 621 and Branch was probably going to end in death, because Raven had not, at any point, indicated that the idea of ejection was something that had passed through Raven’s head.

Chartreuse and King might be able to get away with their lives, but that’s only if they actually listen when I told them how dangerous 621 is. Which, if they’ve been watching 621, they should already know admittedly.

Maybe… if I made the request to 621…

“A moment, please.” I told her, right before sending another channel request to Walter and 621.

“As it turns out, it might be a bit sooner than imagined.” I said when they answered. “Something came up, and it’s unavoidable now, 621. The choices made have now come back home to roost. There’s a rather very straightforward way to deal with this one, though.”

I looked over the map for a moment, checking the terrain and searching for the proper areas to host this.

I chuckle, after a moment. “Got a job for you, 621.”