Chapter 368 - R&R

Note : Chapter 369 has been written and added to the queue !

I was going to try and have this chapter ready for yesterday, but I was really tired and felt like I could use some extra rest, so I took it. Came out really refreshed. Got weird dreams, but refreshed nonetheless.

I hope you'll enjoy the chapter ! Introducing some things and people I really should have in book 9, but I decided to keep the focus tight on Sunrise all the way through, and not dilute it.

Chapter 368

Red Sands Desert, Archduchy of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Command Center

"Alright. Now that we've done our demonstration, run the ships through their final trials and prepare to ship them off." Said Alexandra as she looked at the little knot of AIs, or rather their holograms, gathered before her. "Our infantry should be ready by then. Reminds me, anyone has a report on scaling up the assembly lines?"

Ghost spoke up.

"I do. Fabricators and their databases helped immensely, which is no surprise. We still need to discuss if we want to keep part of our industry 'legit', in case someone tries to take a look at it, but it will take a while to replace anyway."

Alexandra grimaced.

"We're moving all complex systems to fabricators. At this point anyone doing any kind of true inspection will end up on our high tech stuff anyway. Go for full conversion, bar a few demonstration bits. Won't cost us anything but a bit of space to have them dormant."

"Roger that. In any case, infantry production is going through the roof, we're just waiting on the guns and auxiliary hardware to catch up. Focusing on RCUs first and foremost since their guns are the easiest to crank out, and we want raw numbers to replenish the army, though we have a lot of heavies and advanced in there as well. We have some fabricator time to spare."

"What about the branch offices?"

"First set of fabricators will ship out next week. That should start making them less of a drain. In a couple of months they should even start turning a profit."

"That'll be a nice change of pace." To say the least. They were important, but the branch offices in Darthar and Erakis had been a considerable drain on her resources. "What about the NLR Core?"

"Well...the mana we saved up for the next plateau was eaten up making the fabricators, so it's going to be a while. We're also starting to fully eat up its current output, since the fabricators and machinery can use it."

"Damn. There's always one thing...Well, we need to set some mana aside for that. Hopefully we won't have to use it as an emergency rainy day fund again."

"Roger that."

"By the way, did you...make the adjustments for the neutralizers?"

"Emilia's checking them right now."

Alexandra nodded. They had an entire posse of dungeon advisors coming, to meet under the shadow of the summit.

"Good. Because we're going to need them." She grimaced. "I sure hope it works though, if we trip the control programs..."

"We kill our allies. I'm still amazed you managed to convince them."

The dungeon core shrugged.

"They consider me their leader, and after the attempted assassination...let's face it, they're sending their advisors half because they want to meet me and half because they want to send a message." Not to the wider world, who wouldn't know, but there was no way word of this wouldn't propagate through the vampires' own channels. "It's not just to show loyalty to Emilia either. They're pissed at what happened, and even if they weren't, nobody wishes to look like they're indifferent to the duchess' daughter getting almost assassinated by her own people. Not when that duchess is a known war criminal and on the war path."

"Fair enough."

"In any case, I think that's all for now. Back to your stations people!" She clapped her hands, and the AIs vanished as she turned back towards the hologram, projecting a view of the city from the mesa fortress. "Man, this is gonna be a mess..."

She stopped for a few seconds, taking in the sight, before blinking as there was a knock on the side of the door.

"Yes?" She said, turning around to find CQ there. "Heya kiddo! What's up?"

"Hey mom. So, I was wondering..." The boss looked away, then back at her mother. "About that downtime you'd promised..."

"I did, but we're still in full on war mode sweetie."

"But...but...when won't we be!" The boss exclaimed, throwing her arms out. "We won against Sunrise! This is the closest thing to calm we're going to have! And you promised mom! You promised me a beach and everything!"

"I-" Alexandra stopped, and sighed. "You know what? Yes. I did promise. And having always more work is no excuse." She went to her daughter, and hugged her. "I'm sorry, I just...I get lost in the flow sometimes."

CQ hugged her back.

"I know...mommy gets really upset about it too."

"Yeah...she has her ways of forcing me to step back, but I...I'm sorry I didn't take you into account." Or...really anyone for that matter. She'd never had that issue on Earth, someone always pulled her back, whether it was her crewmates, or-

Or Arcadia. Arcadia was always there, with movie tickets, or a restaurant invite, or something. The AI had some kind of sixth sense for when she needed to relax. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Arcadia had a sixth sense for people in general.

"It's oki mom...So, do we get a beach?"

"Yes kiddo. With lots of sunlight, volleyballs and lapping waves." She sighed as she looked at her schedule and the dreaded to-do list. "Let's push everything back. You're right, this is the only moment we're gonna get a chance to truly relax. Everything else is secondary."

TO-DO LIST UPDATED

"Thank you mom! Thank you thank you thank you!" Alexandra smiled as her daughter stepped back from the hug, and began effectively vibrating in place. "I'll start getting some outfits ready?"

"Wait, wha-" But she was already gone, and Alexandra stared at the now empty doorway.

Oh sweet merciful Gods, what had she unleashed?

*****

Glarvistar watched as the last ship finished its ascent, and froze the recording, before turning towards the assembly, arranged around a table made to mimic a dungeon core.

Seven cores sat there. Or rather, their avatars, or holograms thereof.

His colleagues, and fellow 'officers'.

"Does anyone here believe that we possess the ability to be victorious against this fleet in battle?" He said, and only silence answered him.

The avatars before him were hard to read for surface dwellers, but he'd spent centuries in the UDC. He knew how to read dungeon cores. Or, more accurately, read their advisors, whose habits and tells inevitably bled into their assigned dungeons.

They were uneasy. Eight had once stood at this table, until their former comrade had disobeyed the order to retreat during their first battle with Crystal, and was subsequently...removed from the fleet. No one was under any illusion that he and he alone controlled what was left of this force. They remained equals in theory, but all knew they were subordinate in truth.

"Then we are agreed." He said. "We have been forced to separate from our...allies due to their own circumstances. Given that they no longer exist, and the emergence of this new force, we shall now reposition to Tivaro, and regroup there."

If anyone thought it was a remarkably polite way of saying 'we are going to run away with our tail running between our legs', they didn't show it.

Nor perhaps did they think it. They had, after all, witnessed Sunrise's fall, and the might of Crystal's Mackies firsthand.

One of them, however, shifted, and spoke up.

"Once we have regrouped, what is our plan?"

Glarvistar nodded.

"A good question. It is best to keep our options open for now." Like he was. "Especially given the recent developments regarding our forces."

Everyone nodded at that. The newfound cowardice of their own monsters had been a horrific, and sudden, wake up call to the entire UDC, or what remained of it anyway. Even standard dungeon operations had been affected, and several dungeons who had withdrawn from the wider worlds had reopened communications to understand what was happening.

What had happened exactly was still being narrowed down, but the list of suspects wasn't long to begin with. There would be a reckoning.

Of course, the others believed that was his pragmatism speaking. Trying to angle himself to gain greater power. After all, he was in charge because he wasn't a true believer. Loyal, yes, but not driven by ideology or belief, rather following the cold hard truths of the world.

They were wrong. He was a true believer. And that was why he was doing this. He had seen the shift, seen cores voting against something they otherwise wouldn't have. Seen their arms be twisted by an invisible player, driving against Crystal and her dungeon, feeding the flames within the Council.

He was going to find the surface dwellers that had corrupted the UDC, bent it to its will, and then he was going to frame their preserved corpse above his entrance. Like flies caught in amber.

But to do that, he needed to get close to those corrupted, and put an end to this insane conflict with Crystal.

He was lucky that Crystal herself seemed open to ending it as well, though he knew it wasn't going to be an option just yet.

He just had to keep maneuvering in the shadows. Keep the conflict contained, and both sides from annihilating each other.

Until their guns could be turned onto the real enemy.

"Very well then. Let us adjourn, and return to our business. We shall meet once more when we cross the barrier mountains and enter the Sapphire Kingdom."

The avatars departed, one by one, either physically or simply fizzling out, and Glarvistar gazed at the empty meeting room as the door closed for the final time.

He closed his eyes, and withdrew his will and consciousness from his avatar.

He needed to have a talk with his advisor.

*****

"Thank you for attending on such short notice." Said Maes-Khan Trivor, Archmage of the Astral, and by ancient decree, minister of foreign affairs of the Sapphire Kingdom.

"Sure. Though we do seem a few members short." Said Vindal, Archmage of Evocation and minister of war. "What's the emergency?" The 'new' was unspoken. As any practitioner of magic worth their salt, they were still shaken by what had just happened to what they thought were the immutable foundations of their craft.

"Our colleagues will join us later, once we have chewed on the information I am bringing in today." He looked at the other three people in the room. Archmages all, each the head of one of the eight major arcanas and ministers of the ancient institutions that kept the kingdom running. Evocation, Alchemy and Transmutation. Or, in ministerial terms, War, Trade and Economy. "This falls primarily under our purviews, at least for the moment, so I believed it would be best if we were first to process the information."

Which meant trying to get themselves into something approaching a united front, or at least not openly try to be at each other's throats. Given that their interests and goals often, though far from always, aligned, it was the right move to do. His colleagues nodded, with Vindal leaning forward.

"Alright, now that you've got us all worried and ready, what the hell's going on?"

Maes murmured an incantation, and an illusion sprang to life above the table, showing a series of images and texts.

"Oh." Vindal leaned back into his chair as he took the images in. "Shit."

"Indeed."

Trivy, Archmage of Transmutation and minister of the economy, frowned as she leaned forward.

"Are those...airships?"

"They are." Said Jaika, Archmage of Alchemy and minister of trade, before looking at Maes straight in the eyes. "These images, they're from Rebirth, aren't they?"

Maes nodded.

"Yes. From our diplomatic mission there as well as...other assets." Spies, of course, but a certain level of decorum was expected of him. Besides, it was hard to say it out loud when he'd spent his careers speaking in double entendre and dancing around the illegal aspects of his job. "This appears to be a new fleet from the dungeon core."

"...Oh stars." Trivy turned towards Vindal. "Is it bad?"

"Very. That's one of Crystal's siege ships. Plus three escort cruisers." He pointed at the different images. "I think that's a couple of those reconnaissance carriers we've heard about, and then a full squadron of her corvettes and frigates." He looked at Maes. "Do we know their destination yet?"

"No, unfortunately."

Vindal grimaced.

"Well, fuck. If they're heading for us..." The minister of war shook his head. "Things are about to go sideways, hard."