Chapter 72 - History Lesson

Note : Chapters 73 and 74 have been written and added to the queue !

Not much to say. Medical stuff was a pain yesterday. Got more next week. Normally, if NOTHING fucked up, I should be done with them for a while.

Hopefully.

Chapter 72

Starborn Mountains, Firmament Hills

Campsite

The snowpiercer was made to carry squishies without needing them to exit the vehicle at any point during the journey, save in case of damage to the vehicle. But it didn't mean that it was necessarily a good idea to get all the squishies cooped up with no break.

Thus, the expedition's crew ate lunch in the shadow of the massive vehicle. It wasn't just a good way to relax and get some much needed outside air, but also allowed them to start practicing being outside with their guard up. Right now Paul and one of the gendarmes were up and about, keeping an eye out for trouble, while Sapphiria and the other trooper were trying to pretend the spiced nutrigel was an acceptable fare and not a psychedelic nightmare, taste wise.

When the time came to start gathering the mana crystals, it would pay dividends to have them used to operate by the snowpiercer and in unfamiliar territory.

"So." Asked Sapphiria, after swallowing a mouthful that tasted like a blueberry had been drowned in a lake of liquid bacon then smoked with cinamon. "Who was Cravh? What happened to his expedition? I know Kalia and you guys mentioned it a few times."

Ramina grabbed a spoonful of her own nutrigel, and a series of emotion passed through her face that were hard to describe, before she set it back in her bowl and swallowed.

One of the good things about everyone believing she'd been cooped up in that mountain for a few thousand years was that they had no problem sharing some history with her. Nor were suspicious about her ignorance.

"Well...where do I start?" She leaned back a bit. "Cravh was a Turlor nobleman. Not the upper aristocracy, but he wasn't just a lowborn knight either. What he did have was a reputation for going where no one had dared before and making off like a bandit because of it."

"Ah. An explorer?"

"Sort of. Kind of a mix of explorer, entrepreneur and mercenary captain."

"I see." Kind of like those half rogue merchants the Federation had during the early ages of expansion, back when getting humanity out into the dark void of space was paramount. Or any protagonist in a Mount and Blade or Prophesy of Pendor title. At least early game. Damn her mom for infecting her with all those twenty first century references. "And he set his sights on Icerend."

"Exactly." She took another spoonful up to her mouth, and then proceeded to do the most masterful bit of getting it close to but not quite putting it into her mouth that Sapphiria had ever seen, constantly using it to accentuate her points. "The Kingdom has a Convergence of its own, Mysdek, which explains how they were able to become such a thorough pain in the arse for everyone else despite their small territory. But even though fully exploiting a Convergence borders on the impossible, it is a better investment to exploit the outer edges of a new one than delve deeper into another, as the further you go in, the more expensive it becomes."

"Because of the danger?"

"And the infrastructure. You need fortified waystations, inns, warehouses and all that jazz. You can't just get to the mana crystals or the condensate, you then have to get them out."

"Oh. Good point." That would be a mess. Because as far as she understood it, mana crystals were both unstable and extremely volatile. Not a good combination given the hellscape the deeper parts of any Convergence were described to her as. "So he decides to open another one up."

"Yep. Well, first, he does a couple of expeditions and a lot of talking about how successful they were, and how much more he could have brought back if his skittish investors didn't hamper him." Ramina smiled. "He may have been making a lot of money, but not 'buy a fleet of ships on my own' levels. It took him several years but he got enough support to begin preparations. Then he goes to Icerend! Big fleet, builds a port called Cravh's landing, starts shipping mana back."

"And everything goes wrong."

"And everything goes wrong." Repeated Ramina, nodding. "Supply ships depart but never arrive. Monster attacks ramp up as winter comes. Logistical and legal hurdles begin to escalate at home. International pressure ramps up as various nations think the Kingdom is looking to build another base to attack more of the continent with..."

"So a confluence of bad luck and geopolitical events."

"Maybe." Ramina shrugged at the AI's gaze. "A lot of ink has been spilled on whether or not some of that bad luck was natural or not. If those ships sank in a storm or if someone with worse intention did it. Like, say, the merchant Conglomerates having a lot sunk into exploiting Mysdek."

Sapphiria winced.

"Oh. I see." And she risked pissing off those same bloodthirsty bastards with her synthetic spices. Joy. "So the expedition retreats?"

"That's the thing. They don't. Cravh is stubborn, and remains behind, even backers pull out and ships refuse to make the journey. Then one day...the next supply ship that pulls into port finds nothing but burnt out ruins and frozen bodies. They just turn around and sail home. There's been attempts to salvage stuff, recover bodies and find out what happened, but..." She shrugged. "It cut the appetite for anyone to follow in its footsteps. Hard to rally investors or popular support when that was the previous attempt, and the Starborn Mountains prevent any overland journey, unless you go through the valley."

"It's the only way through?" Said Sapphiria, blinking.

"Yep! Only one we've ever found anyway."

That was...profoundly unnatural. Especially since the 'valley' had been blasted through to destroy what had to be some kind of Planetary Defense Center.

What the hell was going on with this planet?

"They didn't know that back then?" Asked the artificer, and Sapphiria shrugged.

"It wasn't as well known." Which was about as general as you could get, but Ramina nodded.

"No kidding." Finally running out of conversation, she put the spoon in her mouth, with the same result on her expression as before. "...I think I'll try another spice next."

"Probably for the best."

"How did you even come up with this stuff?" She took another spoonful and glared at the small particles of spice suspended in the clear gel.

"It's the only way to add flavor without making you throw up. Believe me." Sapphiria took another spoonful of her own bowl, and promptly toned down her taste receptors. Merciful stars it did not get better the more you at it. "I would know."

"I'll trust you on that."

Sapphiria smiled, then froze as she received a ping.

A message had come in front Astralis. Tagged urgent.

*****

Unfortunately she couldn't just exclaim 'I got a message'. She was wearing her armor -depriving the snowpiercer of more power but she preferred to have it ready in case something showed up-, but without her helmet up having some unseen communication device would get a bit complicated to explain. There was a head's up display you could use even when you had the helmet retracted, but it was visible in your eyes, and while she could turn on the speakers, she didn't want to risk having some awkward questions to answer if a notification came through that could be hard to explain.

Instead she'd fed a ping through the system, and then pulled up her helmet to 'check her communications'.

The news had caused some consternation among the crew, but she'd managed to keep a lid on it until the lunch break was over, and they lurched back into motion, so she could discuss it with her command crew.

"So the Bane repositioned?" Paul was leaning forward into his seat restraints to look at the hologram. The snowpiercer had a projector in the cockpit in case something happened to the viewport, or the backup screens. It was also very handy for maps and taking a look at the surrounding terrain, provided you weren't having the data just inloaded into you.

"Yep." Sapphiria turned slightly, taking the tree on the arrowhead's side instead of head on. Interestingly enough, they were entering some kind of pine forest, which had pushed her to realize that the leaves on the trees in the valley hadn't fallen, for some reason. "Moved some of the horde deeper into the pass, and concentrated the maniples into a single defensive line. They also pulled their patrols back a bit." Not that they were ranging that far to begin with.

"Why?" Asked Ramina. "I'm no tactician, but it seems stupid to send your troops in front of your fortifications."

"There's some reasons for doing that." Sapphiria blinked as she saw the new sensor report. Huh. With that humidity and temperature, it was going to snow soon. "Hiding behind walls surrenders the initiative, and can cause a lot of problems, especially in terms of mobility. Here, it would surrender the possibility of operating on the other side of the pass. Plus, if someone else takes the other side, they'll be as hard to dislodge as the Bane are on ours." At least by those trying to go through the narrow confines of the scar dug into the mountains. "They might also be trying to prevent infiltrators."

"Infiltrators?"

"You can't guard every approach and every centimeter of every wall. The best way to stop someone trying to sneak in isn't a solid wall of soldiers, it's a diffuse cloud." That was why most fleets had several escort squadrons ranging ahead of them. "The less predictable, the better. That's what the horde is for, I'm guessing. Randomly wandering into the pass, making it almost impossible to sneak through."

"Sounds like whatever they're expecting to fight, it's smart."

"Well, I doubt you need a curtain wall and artillery emplacement to hold back monsters." She said that with a smile, that faltered as she saw their expressions. "You don't, right?"

"Usually not." Simply said Paul.

Fucking hell.

She'd thought her autocannons were clever and would get the job done, but maybe she should be looking at making howitzers. She'd like to see a monster survive a one fifty five millimeter high explosive shell. Or a whole artillery barrage. Dodge this, winnie the aegis. Or whatever that energy shield bear was.

"Well...in any case, they seem to be expecting someone sneaking its way through, and are moving to counteract that. At least that's my guess, and Gregor concurs."

Paul nodded.

"Given his experience with the Empire and the legions, he's probably the authority on the matter."

"Agreed."

"So...what do we do about it?" Asked Ramina.

"For now?" The AI shrugged. "Nothing. If they want to put their attention elsewhere, great. Gives us more breathing room."

"And what they're gearing up to fight?"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend doesn't always hold true, but what are we going to do right now?" Sapphiria leaned forward, and flicked a couple of switches, adjusting the propulsion for the next hill to climb. Technically the onboard computer could do it on its own, the manual controls were only there if shit truly hit the fan, but she found the controls therapeutic, and it was better for the squishies to see her use them. "We'd have to get through the Bane to begin with or take the pass from them. One step at a time. First let's get ourselves topped up on mana and Astralis defended."

"How is that going?"

"Shipments for the first sentry guns have started. The first few should be finishing on site assembly about now."

Ramina nodded.

"I gotta admit, your ability to receive information this far...it's amazing." The hunger was back in her eyes again, and Sapphiria had to hide a shiver. If the artificer knew she was an AI, or inhabiting an android, what would her reaction be? She felt like a juicy steak in a xenohorror pen. "You'll teach me, right?"

Sapphiria nodded.

"I will." She smiled. "So long as you teach me. A lot has passed me by it seems."

"Of course! I'd be delighted to."

"Good. Now, Paul, I believe you wanted to talk about some more contingencies if we get attacked while stopped..."