Chapter 36 - Final Preparations

Note : Chapter 37 has been written and added to the queue !

Almost there ! Only two or three chapters to go before book 1 is complete !

Chapter 36

Starborn Mountains, Starfire Valley

Old Imperial Road

"Mage-magistrate!" Sapphiria looked up from the claymore she was planting, almost head butting Ramina in the process, as a messenger came sprinting out of the underbrush and ran towards Kalia.

Gregor, seemingly automatically, put himself between the young woman and the arriving soldier.

"What is it trooper?" He said, as the man came to a halt.

"The...the scouts have just reported in!" He took a second to gulp in some air. "The Bane...they've received reinforcements!"

Kalia looked at the messenger, and then Sapphiria.

"Go!" Said the AI. "We'll continue setting up here."

The mage-magistrate nodded, and gestured at the messenger.

"Take some rest here. Catch your breath. I'll be back."

She left, Gregor in tow, and Sapphiria looked back at Ramina.

"She'll tell us what we need to know. In the meantime, we need to continue. Ready to handle some on your own?"

"It's plant in the ground, remove safety pin. Anyone can do that." Said the artificer, a bit testily.

"No, it's planting it on the ground at a precise angle, so that we're not firing half the payload over the heads or into the forest." Chided the AI. "Also, they're, uh..." Sufficiently rushed to production they probably qualified as IEDs. "Not exactly paragons of stability. I'd rather have someone qualified putting them down."

The artificer nodded, apparently mollified.

"Right, I understand."

"Good." The AI nodded towards one of the crates. "Then start on it."

"Right away!" The artificer stood up, dusting her outfit, and made a beeline for the explosives, as Sapphiria ran some estimates.

The scouts had previously reported only one maniple was preparing to move out. That was far less than what they'd expected. Which meant that the Hand might have been expecting the reinforcements...and was planning to use them for this.

She really should make some recon of her own. A bit late now, but for later...

TO-DO LIST UPDATED

Mmmmhhh. It had been a while.

She quickly checked the claymore again, and stood up.

Only a few more to go on this side. Then she could move on to the landmines. She could have gone faster by using her junkbots and other automata, but if she had the time to do it right, she would.

She realized her palms were sweating, underneath her armored gauntlets, and sighed. Sometimes, she wished the engineers who had made them had gone less far in their pursuit of imitating squishies.

She dove into the options, turned off perspiration, at least for a bit, and went back to work. Those mines weren't going to plant themselves!

*****

The sun was well on its way towards the horizon when Kalia came back, her face grim.

"They got some kind of...horde. According to the scouts, they were mostly workers. Probably intended to start up mining operations. But they're preparing to move out." The mage-magistrate looked at the sky. "I'm guessing they're going to try for a night attack."

"Most likely. Darkness doesn't impair them as much as it does you." Answered Sapphiria.

"How are we on preparations?"

The AI looked at the road.

"Ninety percent done. Just got a few more of the standard landmines to plant, but it'll be done in time. You?"

"Got everyone who can fight grabbing their weapons. If we fail....they won't go down without taking some of the bastards with them."

"We won't fail." Said Sapphiria, her tone brokering no arguments.

And for that matter, they wouldn't.

Her HUD, and the big 'INITIATE ARMOR SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE' red button on it would make sure of that.

Because push came to shove, she would turn this side of the valley into a radioactive crater before she allowed the settlement to be completely overrun.

"I admire your confidence." Kalia grimaced. "It's going to be a long night."

"Yes. It is."

"I'll reinforce the perimeter, and send everyone else to take a bite to eat and some rest. I fear we're going to need it."

"Yep. Actually, uh...how are you going to fight in the dark?"

Kalia smiled.

"We won't. We don't have much mana left, but if there's a moment to use some of it, it's now."

"Right." Note to self: next time, pack some floodlights. "I'll see about getting everything I've got ready."

"Of course."

The mage-magistrate threw an almost passable salute, before moving towards her people, as Sapphiria turned back towards the almost empty crate of mines she'd been about to draw from.

"Cia." She said inside her helmet. "Status?"

"Expediting assembly on the final junkbot. I...don't believe we'll be getting any more in time."

"Good enough." With their rushed production, that made fifteen junkbots, including three machinegun teams, each composed of a gunner and an assistant, whose job it was to feed the gun ammo, clear jams, everything so the other bot had only one job, 'shoot things'. The assistant still had its carbine as well, just in case. "Get them topside ASAP. And then...then we wait."

*****

"You could join us, you know."

Sapphiria looked up as Ramina walked to her, and sat down beside her.

"I could." She looked over her shoulder at the camp. They couldn't have fires, to avoid being spotted, but they were still doing their best to get comfortable. "But I'm still preparing."

"How?" The artificer pulled out another one of those ration bars she'd been eating in the council room, and after some hesitation, extended it towards the AI. "Want some?"

"Just a nibble will be fine." The artificer broke off a bit of the bar, and handed it over. Sapphiria popped it into her mouth, and blinked. Sesame and honey. It wasn't...bad, actually. "I thought you guys were down to nutrigel?"

"I kept some treats set aside for when I needed them. I don't have much pasteli left." She tapped the bar. "But I felt I might as well now."

"I see. And to answer your question, I'm...planning. Running through scenarios and contingencies in my head."

"Right. You're not...you're not just an artificer aren't you? You're a leader too. An officer, I mean."

The AI froze.

"Why would you say that?"

"You behave like you're military. You know enough about strategy and tactics to make even Gregor second guess himself."

"And what if I was?"

The artificer shrugged.

"Then I'd say we have a better chance of getting out of this alive."

"...You're really not afraid of me?"

"I'm not. Neither's Kalia. Malry and Gregor...well, it's their job to worry, you know? They don't believe you will, but..."

"They can't afford to completely trust me."

"Right, exactly." She bit into the bar, and began chewing thoughtfully. "What do you think of our odds?"

"For this battle?"

"Yeah."

"Better than even. If the scouts are right and they're sending a horde with the maniple. I'm a lot more scared of their organized troops than their mob."

"Yeah, Gregor said something like that. He's always going on about discipline and how it made the old legions so great and everything." She grimaced. "It was more inspirational before those old legions came to kill us."

"I imagine, yeah. But discipline..." She sighed. "It's not really discipline. It's more what I'd call coherence. Not getting in your allies' way or leaving them open to the enemy."

"Like autocarriage and roads? Everyone staying in their lane so you can move?"

"Kind of, yeah. Because if you start randomly switching around or just varying your speed without warning, you can cause traffic jams, or accidents."

"I see." Sapphiria gave the artificer a startled glance. The bar she'd been holding was almost gone. The girl was practically inhaling that thing! "Thanks." She sighed, as she popped the last bit of the bar into her mouth, and started licking her fingers. "I should probably head back. I'm going to need some rest."

"You've got time. The scouts haven't reported they've set out yet."

The artificers giggled.

"Yeah, but if I'm going to die in this fight...I'm not gonna spend a lot of this rest time sleeping."

"...Oh."

"Shouldn't you do the same? I'm sure Kali-"

"Ramina?"

"Yes?"

"Stop talking."

"I'm just saying, it might be your last ch-"

The artificer's sentence died as their gazes met, and she took a step back.

"This won't be my last chance. I can promise you that." Said Sapphiria, softly.

Ramina swallowed.

"I'll...take your word for it."

"Good." The AI looked back at the ambush site. "Now, go." She waited for the artificer to start moving away. "Oh, and Ramina?"

"Yes?"

"Do keep it down. The others will need to sleep."

She couldn't see the artificer, but her sensors did register the abrupt heat spikes on her face.

"I-I will."

"Good girl." She leaned back a bit. "I'll keep up my vigil."

"Maybe you should get some rest too."

"Don't worry. I'm a past mistress at napping with my eyes open." Partially because she couldn't sleep. Not as squishies understood it anyway. "Just make sure you at least get shut eye."

"I will. Good night."

"You too."

Sapphiria watched her leave through her sensors, before pulling up her simulations again.

"Ma'am..." Said Cia. "Perhaps you should follow her advice. Obsessing over the battle is not a good idea."

"If even one of them dies when they didn't have to because I failed to plan for it...I won't be able to forget myself."

"And if one of them dies because you weren't at your best, and had been nervously overloading yourself?"

The AI glared at the simulacrum's avatar as it popped into her view.

"You're overstepping yourself."

"I am not. I am merely advising you."

Sapphiria closed her eyes. Not sapient didn't mean not intelligent. She needed to keep that in mind.

The AI took in a deep breath.

"Right. And what would you recommend then?"

"There are still things to design on the to-do list. Perhaps these could be addressed?"

She knew the simulacrum was tempting her with something she found relaxing and therapeutic. It was transparent as hell. But...well, Cia was right. If she just agonized constantly...

She didn't need rest like the squishies did, but she did need sanity.

"Alright. What's the first item?"

*****

She was still in her design programs when her sensors pinged her.

Single heat signature, moving fast.

She intercepted the messenger, and had to slam her hand on his mouth as he almost screamed. Right, she was basically invisible for him.

She deactivated her camouflage and retracted her helmet. The moonlight brought a surprising amount of visibility, all things considered.

"Calm down! It's just me." She took off her hand as she saw recognition in his eyes, and he gasped.

"Lady Sapphiria! I'm so glad to have found you. The Bane, they're marching out! I ran here as fast as I could."

"Thank you." She gestured in the distance, while wondering how he'd slipped by the perimeter. The Murderbot Diaries were right, squishies really shouldn't do their own security. "You should be able to find the camp over there. Rouse the mage-magistrate, then the rest. It's showtime."

"Yes my lady!" The messenger took off again, as Sapphiria pinged her bots and minefields.

Everything responded ready, and she began the final checks. The forest filled with the soft clicks of junkbots checking magazines, chambers, and overall making sure the enemy would be the ones losing their heads when the trigger was pulled.

That, and the voices starting to come from the camp finally drew a response from the perimeter, as one of them came running towards the camp, before doing the opposite a few minutes later, looking rather sheepish, and very nervous.

At last however, the voices were replaced by the sound of metal against leather, and the sotto vocce swearing of soldiers trying to put on their gear, and Kalia appeared on the road, Gregor in tow.

"Sapphiria?" The AI stepped onto the roadbed, shutting down her camouflage again. "Everything ready?"

"As much as we're gonna be." She said simply. "You?"

"Our people are arming up. They'll be there when we need them." She coughed. "Having some trouble finding Ramina and Malry though."

"Oh. Uh...they might have...gone a bit away. I'm sure they'll turn up."

"If you say so." The mage-magistrate grimaced. "We're gonna have to stew and wait for them to show up, aren't we?"

"Hurry up and wait is a military saying for a reason. Ninety nine percent mind numbing boredom, one percent absolute terror."

"I could do without either." She sighed. "But it's not like we have a choice, now do we?"

"We could do a heroic charge."

The mage-magistrate chuckled.

"Yeah. If we survive, I'm sure the bards will say we did anyway. Waiting around wishing for them to get here already doesn't make for good song material."

"Probably not, no. Though you'd have to admit, it would make a pretty unique song."

"That it would, that it would..." She sighed. "Alright. I'm going to try and lift some spirits back there. Signal to us when the enemy arrives."

"Will do."

The mage-magistrate nodded, and moved to leave, before stopping.

"Oh, and Sapphiria?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay alive, okay?"

The AI smiled as she tried not to melt.

"I have no plan to die."

"Good. Keep it that way."

Sapphiria looked as the woman left, before pulling her design files back up. Except that this time it wasn't to distract herself from the battle.