Chapter 260 - Ominous Tidings

Chapter 260

Simulation One

Alexandra popped into the simulation, and sat down in her usual couch.

The fact that said couch had an extremely soft, borderline cloud like air pillow in her usual spot for her to sit upon, or that it was mercifully cool and soothing was something she very deliberately did not remark upon.

They could be teasing, but push came to shove her and Ghost would stand together.

"So." Said Alexandra, adjusting slightly and wondering why, oh why, did some of the sensations of her avatar still carry over when she was out of it. It had to be some kind of failsafe or alarm, like 'hey, your avatar is in danger', but right now she really could have done without. "The warhead is complete."

"Yes. When the shit hit the fan, I rushed final assembly."

"Delivery vehicle?"

"I used the medium range ballistic prototype you made."

Alexandra sighed.

"We…shouldn't have considered using it."

"No, we shouldn't have."

They both stared at each other, and Ghost sighed.

"We came too close. Seeing CQ like that…"

"We almost snapped."

"We did snap." Corrected the apparition.

"No. If we had that missile have been launched. Seriously, this was…monumentally stupid."

"I agree."

Alexandra sighed.

"Is the warhead as we discussed?"

"Implosion warhead, one hundred kilotons. Can be scaled up to a basic teller-ulam configuration, if we get the thermonuclear mix. Then…depends on the warhead size. One, one point six megatons? Somewhere in that range, if we want it to fit on the missile."

"Right." One hundred kiloton could be considered significant overkill for a first warhead, but it was as Ghost had said. They'd only get one shot at this.

That's why having even considered using it was stupid beyond measure.

She also…wasn't certain how effective it would have been against the city's shield. It could take one hell of a pounding, and was impenetrable with conventional weapons, according to various records. How much of that was deterrence and boasting was impossible to say, though Sunrise was convinced.

The Erisian Skyfleet had tried to pound it into submission once, and failed. Of course, the Erisians said they'd only sent a gunships squadron, while Darthar maintained it was the entire Erisian fleet, but the answer probably laid somewhere in the middle. The problem is that it had been millennia ago. Back then Darthar was a pseudo tributary, oft rebellious city state within the Saphire Kingdom, and the Eris Empire was still trying to figure out what the hell a steam engine was.

"I'll start production on a second warhead soon. I haven't quite hit my stride yet, but each new weapon will accelerate the pace."

"I know. Any thoughts about that fortress?"

"Railguns."

"That's…that's it?"

Ghost sighed.

"Yep, pretty much. We have no clue about their capabilities, especially in terms of point defence, so missiles are right out. Beams are hell to use as surface to void weapons, but even if we did it, then what? You heard Allya, there are arcane shields that can protect against those kind of attacks, it's why everyone isn't running around with broadsides of power beam guns for their airships."

"So, high velocity railguns?"

"Relativistic, if possible. Slower and they might actually be able to deflect it."

"Relativistic weapons can be deflected. I mean, that was the entire point of the missiles in the bunker!"

"I know. But you need to detect it, plot an intercept and carry it out. Point is, that takes time. That fortress is too close for that. Hit it with a planetary defense railgun like those in Frankfurt's PDC, and it won't be able to react. Or rather, if it has the technology to intercept that, then nothing we can come up with will hurt it."

"I assume you've already come up with some ideas?"

"Yeah, but we'll never be able to afford it. At least not with the fabricators still locked down. I'm working on it, even with everything else going on, but whoever made these things was a paranoid fuck."

From any Arcadia, let alone her, that was saying something, and they both knew it.

"At least we'll have a power source."

"Right, yeah, the fusion reactors." They had gotten them working now. Not gotten them miniaturized, but there were other priorities. They weren't exceptionally vital so far anyway, what with the obscene energy storage capabilities magitech capacitors had. "But energy isn't everything. We'll also need ammunition."

"We have tungsten."

"That's not going to cut it for something that'll fire from the atmosphere." Especially not at relativistic velocities. You'd need metamaterials for that kind of railgun, something as dense as physically possible, maximum mass and resilience for the smallest possible surface area.

Hell, back on Earth the material difference between a railgun slug and the ship's armor they were trying to pierce tended to be academical. Just like during the twenty first century, with depleted uranium, what made a great kinetic armor material also made it an excellent kinetic projectile.

Wait a minute…

"I know, but it's a start." Answered Ghost.

"Hold on." Alexandra snapped her fingers. "Remember the combat units? What about their armor tiles?"

Ghost suddenly looked thoughtful.

"I hadn't considered those. They're obscenely expensive, but it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"It definitely is." Alexandra stretched, and yelped as it pulled on some rather painful areas. "I should be on my way. I really need to talk to Allya. Now that she's available, I mean."

Ghost raised an eyebrow, but declined to comment on Alexandra's own lack of availability.

"I'd advise making it a private meeting."

"It will be. I don't think I'd be able to keep a straight face in front of the council. Anything before I go?"

"Yeah. Remember Glitch?"

"I do. She was with me for the fight. Her avatar…"

"Well…" Ghost sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. "I think we may have rendered her a bit…unstable."

"Ah. Inertia?"

Ghost nodded.

The lack of inertia is what made AIs so sensitive to their early experiences. Inertia in this case meaning memories, experiences, all the stuff that tended to keep one moving in a particular direction, mentally speaking. Alexandra had always suspected that one of the reasons Arcadia integrated people into her hivemind was to nudge the entire network's inertia towards a desired direction.

And that meant that Glitch's formative experiences…and been a full blown panic effort, followed by several battles, scholar's work and military intelligence efforts.

Oh boy.

"I'll have a talk with her." Said Alexandra. They could modify her code, but there was no telling what the effects would be on such a young AI. Furthermore…she wasn't willing to do that except as a last resort. Seraph had been a sad necessity, but every Arcadia was a sibling, in a way. It'd be like messing with Emile or Leah's brain. She felt a pang of sadness as she thought about her brother and sister in law, but banished it.

She had a family right here, right now, that she needed to defend.

However, uh, enthusiastic one particular member may prove in expressing their displeasure upon certain parts of her anatomy.

"Good. I've also made some time in my schedule to take a look at the sand kraken repellent or whatever the hell it is Coledar sold you."

"Excellent. It's, well, critical."

"I don't think the krakens would attack automata, but you know, better safe than sorry. Anyway. Have a nice meeting!"

"Thanks."

Alexandra vanished, and reintegrated her avatar with a wince.

Okay, the pain was worse now. Along many, many other sensations.

She should have gotten some kind of painkiller, but she wasn't sure if they'd work, and if it would draw even more ire, by weaseling out of it.

The Earth-born took a deep breath, and rolled off the bed. She had work to do. And her armor to put on.

She winced.

That…wasn't going to be a pleasant experience.

*****

Elkaryos watched as Sunrise's army prepared to depart.

Looked like they weren't going to take Crystal's deal, given how the slave soldiers were moving to march out. Not that anyone was being left behind. They were even stripping some of their fortresses of raw materials. Probably planned to use them to repair the ones they'd wrecked on their way in. For what little good it would do them.

He almost pitied the poor bastards. At that point, you had to be mad to believe you could outrun the dungeon core's retribution.

He did pity the slaves. They had done nothing to deserve this.

At least some of those that fell would live. Removing the brands was a time consuming process, but at least the resurrection orbs brought by the dungeon core had completely removed the resurrection bottleneck. Well, not totally, they still had a limited throughput, and they wouldn't be able to bring everyone back, but as much as one in ten, maybe even one in five, of the slaves that had fallen would live.

Sunrise's nobles and elite troops could rot there however. They weren't going to execute those captured alive, but Crystal had simply told them that if they wanted to spend their resources resurrecting monsters instead of the innocents, they were welcome to. But they'd be on their own.

No one had argued with her. He didn't think anyone had the balls to even talk back to her about anything. The count was oscillating between awe and terror whenever he interacted with her. He used to be intrigued, but that was before witnessing the bloodbath the dungeon core had unleashed without even blinking.

With the knowledge that only lack of resources had prevented the dungeon core from spilling more blood. And that lack was soon to disappear.

"So. They've chosen death." Said Philia as she joined him on the tower.

"I continue to be amazed at your capacity to find me, knight-commander." Commented the merchant.

"You're one of the most famous individuals in town. And with the dungeon having rescued us, many are blessing your foresight of having funded the dungeon town. Rebirth is a corporate dominion after all."

Unspoken was that she almost certainly had some of her men reporting in on his whereabouts, if not alright tailing him at all times.

He wouldn't take it the wrong way. It was the sane thing to do. Especially as he eschewed more traditional protection, besides his butler.

Of course, that's because he didn't need it. He wouldn't have made it this far as a member of the merchants guild without a full deck of aces up his sleeve.

"The Principality status overrides that, actually. But yes. My best investment yet it seems."

"Probably, yes." The knight-commander sighed. "Now that they're pulling back, the baroness will come here."

"It'll be good to see her again."

"It will. Though our reunion will be fleeting." Philia shrugged as the Master merchant looked at her. "I have been ordered to move out as soon as possible. Or rather, as soon as I can convince lady Crystal to move out with me."

Ah. So that's what this was about. Her oblique way of leaking tidbits of information to him she had been told she shouldn't divulge, but was certain he needed to have.

"The capital?"

"Eventually, yes. But first, their majesties want this army destroyed, and its ashes scattered to the winds."

"The siege isn't going well, is it?"

"I…cannot say."

Elkaryos nodded, and didn't press further.

Her refusal was all the answer he needed.

Except…except that she wasn't leaving. In fact, she looked like he had missed the message.

"Yes, knight-commander? Something else?"

"There have been rumors. Unsettling ones. About the United Dungeon Council."

Elkaryos shrugged.

"Far more than rumors at this point."

"It is said that the UDC has begun discussing restraining lady Crystal, blaming her for escalating the war and accusing her of mass murder."

Oh shit. Thought Elkaryos.

He glanced at the knight-commander, but she was already leaving.

Her message had been delivered.

The UDC…They couldn't, could they? They would never be able to swing that by a vote.

Except…except that Eternia had already acted unilaterally against the Republic. Or at least prepared to.

Once that taboo was broken, and with Crystal preparing to march her army north…

If other dungeons threw their hats into the ring, then all bets were off. Because just like some hadn't let Eternia get away with her stunts, others would rush to Crystal's defense.

He needed to start digging on which dungeons belonged to which faction. Quickly.

And, more importantly, he needed to find out if Sunrise's dungeon would follow their surface dwellers into this fight.