Chapter 395 - Symbols

Note : Chapter 396 has been written and added to the queue !

Almost to the novel's word count, and now I realize...I have no idea how long the ending is going to take. So, uh, yeah, we shall see where inspiration takes me XD

Also apologies for the slightly late upload, I got distracted.

Chapter 395

Red Sands Desert, Aurorean Empire

Capital City of Rebirth

"You were right." Said Elkaryos in hushed tones, as they walked through the corridors. Technically a lower voice volume wasn't going to change anything, if someone spying on them could pierce through the Empress' portable privacy field they sure as hell could boost the audio a little, but some instincts were hard to override. "The safehouses have been coopted by...someone."

Allya flicked a glance at him, and kept her pace without faltering.

"Can't tell by whom?"

"No." Elkaryos shrugged as she glanced at him again. "I spoke only to lower level people. If there were traitors, chances are they'd be in those managing the safehouses, not the contacts keeping them stocked up."

"So as not to warn them you were digging."

"Exactly. I've been more aloof these last few decades, but in the lower dregs my name still opens some doors it shouldn't." Allya nodded, as if she hadn't received an extensive briefing about Elkaryos' past from the Crown and their majesties' Shadows.

"Locations?"

He slipped her a document. It was ostensibly about building new Rapier Industries and Omega Consortium munitions plants, but the marked coordinates were smack in the residential sector.

"Three for certain compromised, at the top. Two that should be, I repeat, should be, clear at the bottom."

Allya had to stop herself from whistling. Five separate safehouses? Alfyris had been busy.

"If they're clear they won't stay so for long." She glanced at her tablet. The crystal thing felt ungainly compared to Alex's tech, which she was kind of getting used to. She'd petitioned the dungeon core for some of it, or even some implants, and been joined by Emilia and her maids on the latter. It was, apparently, on the dungeon core's to-do list, for whenever things stopped exploding. Or, more accurately, for when the levels of explosions and clusterfuck was lower than normal. "I have a meeting with the representatives of the Imperial nations. You should probably go."

"That I shall." The dark elf bowed and veered left, walking into a side corridor, and she arrived at the council room shortly after.

It remained substantially the same as last time, but her and the Empire's heraldry were more prominent. Slowly but surely, it and the entire manor were transitioning into an Imperial Palace worthy of the name.

"Your Imperial majesty." Said the three representatives as she entered.

The royal magistrate, the ambassador from Tark, and Malcom, stood up and bowed. Technically there should have been a fourth, from the province of Eternity, but they'd delegated their authority to the latter two delegates.

"Sit down, representatives." She said, though she noted none of them moved to do so until she was down on her own seat. "I was given to understand you wished to meet with me?"

"Yes." Said the ambassador. "We have all three been discussing a great deal many subjects, for a variety of reasons. One of those was symbolism. An important subject, given the new birth of the Empire and the need for it to be in people's minds."

Allya nodded, and saw Malcom open his mouth. Oh good, they'd even coordinated their little speech. Gods she had so much more important shit do deal with right now.

"Given our current situation as well, we felt that simple declarations would not be sufficient for every subject. Especially the one of military command."

The Empress blinked.

"You have delegated it to the Empire and its ministry of War." Defence would have probably been more appropriate, but Alexandra had been very clear that sooner or later they wouldn't just be reacting to things and instead begin kicking down some doors of their own. "Insignias and chains of command will change, to some extent, which is potent symbolism on its own."

Military insignas and, especially, the banners of different units were core to their identity. She'd yet to see a single soldier who wouldn't rip another guts' out for disrespecting their regimental standard.

"Perhaps." Said the Royal Magistrate. "Nevertheless, we felt something...more, was needed." He reached under the table, and pulled out a package. Given the face of the guards around the room, they'd known about it and checked it beforehand, but Allya couldn't help but tense slightly. "It is a long held tradition in the Kingdom that command of the armies should not always be their majesties'. As such, the Kingdom possesses a mace. The Mace of Command. It is given to a High Marshall of the Royal Host when they are given supreme, and unquestionable authority to direct the Kingdom's armies and call its lords to war." He unwrapped the package, revealing a golden mace. One...that did not bear the Asarian Kingdom's heraldry, and looked brand new. "It is, however, obsolete now. Yet it can be given new purpose. The mace has been remolded and reforged into this, with the help and approval of the Hegemony and the New Republic. It is the Mace of Alliance." He grabbed it, and formally walked to Allya, quickly joined by the other two representatives, bowing as he presented it. "It represents the right to command our warriors. The armies of the nations of the Empire, from the Western Baronies to the ash fields of Tark and the Western Wildlands, are yours to command, your Imperial majesty. Now and forevermore."

Allya looked at them, then extended her hand and grabbed the mace.

"It's...heavy."

"Such is the weight of responsibility." Said the Magistrate as he straighted up. "It is also very much a practical weapon."

"While being made out of gold?"

"It may be gilded, but adamantium shines underneath."

Oh.

That's why they made such a big deal out of reforging it.

Those were the thoughts going through her head.

Alongside:

Holy crap. They just gave us adamantium. I have to call Alex RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

Because given the solemn looks the three representatives were giving her as the materials were described, they knew exactly to whom that mace was going to.

*****

Starvak set down the paper.

"How confident are you?"

The vampire gave him a mirthless smile.

"Enough to come see you in person instead of just sending you the damned letter."

There was a short silence as they stared at each other.

"So she's making her move."

"Moves, you mean. In case you haven't noticed, she just unified the damned continent." The vampire leaned forward, putting her hands on the guildmaster's desktop.

"Nations come and go. But this..." He tapped the document. "Folding the dungeons into the nobility? This is madness. It will change the world forever."

The vampire stared at him.

"It will. Which is why I brought it to you. Do you still think you can stop this?"

Starvak stared into the vampire's eyes, remembering the footage sent by the expedition team. The sand, kicked up into the skies, the dunes shaking and trembling at the kraken's approach...

"I do."

"Without killing Emilia?"

"We have stockpiled weapons and have personnel ready to use them specifically to get her out."

"Enough to get through Crystal's defenses? Enough to overpower her maids and her, nonlethally? Then extract her safely?"

"Yes."

There was a long silence as the vampire stared at him.

"I hope you are right. Because if she dies, all hell will break loose."

Hell has already broken loose.

And the guild was a goner anyway.

Still, he couldn't afford for them to think that Crystal was the lesser evil and tip her off. So he needed to placate them.

He was under no illusion that it would earn him an enemy forever if his people succeeded. A dungeon advisor would never, ever forgive the death of their core.

"Our purpose is to prevent this from escalating further." Said the guildmaster, diplomatically.

"Good. This madness has gone on long enough. With Crystal gone, both sides of the UDC will see reason."

Or, at the very least, the main driver for this war would be gone.

That would have to be good enough.

They exchanged a few more words, and the vampire left.

Starvak looked at the souvenirs around his office. Weapons, artifacts...Some from a bygone age, others almost painfully new.

He sighed, and slowly stood up.

There was no point in staying here. He was dead anyway. The guild keeping what they've done a secret would be almost impossible. And once word got out, everyone would come for him.

And he'd rather die axes in hand than executed by a newborn Empire, already in its death throes before it fully even came into its own.

At least he'd have the satisfaction of putting a blade through Crystal's core. Something he should have done long ago, instead of helping that abomination.

*****

"Alright." Alexandra closed the fuselage, and stepped back. "The drone is ready. Golems are a go as well. How are we doing on the communications?"

"New ECCM emitters are up and running, and we're reinforcing field communications." Said Ghost.

"Good." Alexandra smiled at her other self. From being a project lead and a quasi-pariah, she'd become a good wartime executive officer. "Let's launch, then."

"One second. I've been crunching some numbers, and I think there's also an alternative payload we should consider. As a backup solution."

Alexandra blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"If we strip out the power core, run the drone purely off of the capacitors, then rip out all the sensor packages, we get a pretty good payload capacity."

"That's not a damned drone, it's a fancy drop pod at that point."

"Or a missile." Ghost gestured, and a hologram appeared in the workshop, showing a rotating cylinder, covered in warnings.

"...It can carry one of our nukes?"

"Yes. Not for very long, nor very far. But it can do it, perfectly stealthily. An armed fission bomb is a lot easier to hide than a live fusion reactor."

"Until you pull the trigger."

"No kidding."

"How do you even intend to drop it if there's no sensors? There'd have to be an accompanying drone."

"Who said anything about dropping? We get it to the right altitude and we detonate. We can have the second drone, if we want one, come in later to do a strike assessment. Takes care of the evidence too, no one can trace it back to us if it's reduced to atoms. You know it's a risk with the stealth golem. Self destructs aren't perfect."

"...If I'd wanted everyone to know, I would have broadcast footage of what the guild is doing out there. You know I'm not because of all the problems it create." Like how she knew where to look, how she'd taken that footage...and people would wonder if she'd somehow taken control of the sand kraken if her plan worked. She raised her hand as Ghost opened her mouth. "And before you say anything, I'm not sure this will kill the sand kraken. Shit, I think the very reason these things burrow like that is you can't just nuke them into submission. Mass really is the best defence sometimes."

"It might not kill the thing, but it'll destroy that little expedition."

"And cause everyone to ask questions. Plus, will it stop the kraken from coming? Imagine it sees a squadron of allied forces get nuked. That's about the best way to get it to override its-" Alexandra froze. "Oh shit. Oh FUCK!"

Ghost flinched, startled, as Alexandra grabbed her forehead with a shaking hand, having sudden flashbacks to when they'd realized Emilia was the final self destruct failsafe of the dungeon cores.

"What?"

"The stealth golems couldn't find many illusion or communication devices in the wrecks we're sweeping, because they're not how they're going to get the kraken to come in. It's just to set the stage! Remember how the battle with the Hammer of Eternity ended?"

Ghost's eyes went wide as she realized.

"Oh shit. They rigged the reactor cores to blow."

"Turn on, then blow." Alexandra's eyes went unfocused as she stepped away from the avatar. "I'll retask the golems. You go dig up the maintenance manuals from the database we stole from the supply ships. I need the schematics." There would probably be an emergency override for stopping the self destruct like last time, but there was no guarantee the guild hadn't messed with it. Nor that it would work properly, after so long and the damage the ships had taken.

Besides which, if she was the guild, she'd have secured engineering for this, or at the very least booby trapped the reactor cores.

"Got it."

Of course, that was the precise moment when they both received the notification that Allya wanted to talk to them, urgently.