Chapter 197 - The Lesser Evil

Chapter 197

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

City of Rebirth

"Ah. My lady. We meet at last." Called out the enemy's leader, as Allya stepped out of the manor. He looked out of place, geared up like a warrior, not a soldier. The same could be said for his 'army', a rag tag assortment of prisoners using borrowed armor, and professional killers and sellswords, who seemed to have been the ones to break them out. The smoke was starting to dissipate, wreathing the battlefield in a strange not-quite-mist that clung to every surface.

"Hello. I'm afraid I do not know who you are. But since you are quite clearly the Sunrise insurrectionists I was expecting, I must say the feeling is mutual, although I was expecting to gaze upon you laying in a cell…or a ditch."

"Ah! You have spunk. A shame you are on the wrong side, you would have made a good officer. I suppose the Empire knows how to pick its knight-valiants."

"They do." Said Allya, coldly, and the warrior shifted a bit, clearly wrong footed and unnerved by her demeanor.

Most people would be begging by now, with him holding a dagger to Pyn's throat, a softly glowing blade that, if she had to guess, was festooned with soul sealing enchantments.

But she wasn't most people.

"I see that you have freed my…guests." She smiled at the commander of the Scarlet Sword, Gothram, if she remembered well.

"Well, they were quite enthused after their long imprisonment, I'm sure you'll understand."

"Of course. That won't be a problem again, don't worry." She saw Gothram nod imperceptibly, as an old woman, that damned swordswoman who had killed so many of Ander's men in the first battle, stepped by his side, her blade at the ready, and Allya's subconscious began screaming that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"No doubt." Continued the warrior. "Nevertheless, they have agreed to my generous proposition, which brings us to here. I want you to lay down your arms and surrender."

"So you can kill us all unimpeded? Never." Said Allya, trying as hard as she could not to look at Pyn.

"Truly?" The warrior pressed his dagger against Pyn's throat, drawing a bit of blood, and Allya's concentration broke, as she glanced at her girlfriend. There was panic in her eyes, but also…determination and acceptance, as their gazes met, and paradoxically that weakened Allya's resolved.

She took a deep breath, and opened her mouth, not even sure of what she was going to say…and the warrior relaxed a fraction, clearly thinking she was about to break.

Which was when Gothram leapt forward, his blade flashing with reflected sunlight.

*****

Sylvia swore as she stumbled back, falling flatly on her rear, narrowly dodging the sword slash, before smoothly drawing her second pistol, and shooting the terrorist neatly in the chest. To her astonishment, he kept coming, and she was about to scramble for her more…secret weapons when a sword flashed and his head flew, the terrorist neatly decapitated in an effortless swipe.

Sylvia looked to the side, astonished, as golems flooded around her like a sea of metal. The rebels, who were trying to delay the reinforcements converging on the manor, weren't even overwhelmed, they were simply annihilated, the lucky ones taking a few golems with them before the sheer mass rolled over them and they were overrun, combat knives and revolvers flashing as the automata swept over them, clearly heading towards a greater objective and intent on wasting as little time as possible, not even deigning to unsling their larger and more unwieldy weapons in their rush.

A particular figure was standing right next to her, having appeared from nowhere, smiling at her, and Sylvia recognized her as the dungeon's boss. Which only exited said dungeon while possessed by the core.

She was at a complete loss for word as she stared at who she thought was her superior.

"Come on captain. Now isn't the time to take a rest. There are foes to slay! Though, I daresay me and my golems have the ground side handled. If you would be so kind to go to the fleet and fill them in on what's happening, I would be much obliged." The dungeon winked, and Sylvia shivered as she saw the…coldness hiding behind it, and she scrambled up.

She knew Lesly, and she knew an order when she heard it…she was also deathly aware that security protocol demanded members of the Order did not interact with the undercover dungeon core, and that she had to make herself scarce immediately, lest she doomed them all.

"Yes, of course!" She shouted as she effectively bolted, and the dungeon boss nodded, before disappearing in a flash of energy.

Sylvia ran towards the docking tower, her mind reeling. She hadn't expected the attack, but if Lesly was on it, then clearly she had. The agent just had to have faith.

******

"NOW!" Shouted Gothram, and the rebels descended into pandemonium. Scarlet Sword mercenaries fell upon the terrorists with a vengeance, and the sound of steel hitting steel, and abruptly cut screams filled the air.

The warrior barely had the time to start looking over his shoulder before the white haired woman's blade fell up his arm, lopping it off. Pyn scrambled away as the blood spray hit her, having the reflexes to run for it as soon as the dagger was off of her throat, and Allya surged forward, letting her into her shield bubble and allowing her to retreat to her line of soldiers, who were now all aiming their guns square at the foe…and holding their fire, clearly confused as to if they should open fire, and if so who to shoot.

Truth be told, Allya had no idea either.

The warrior whirled around, adrenaline flooding his system, and ignored his grievous wound as he drew a second blade, parrying the woman's second swipe. Unfortunately for him, she pressed her advantage, pinning his blade…leaving him wide open for Gothram's own attack.

The warrior screamed as a hundred and forty centimeters of steel slammed home, and he tried to rally…but even essence augmented flesh and extensive combat training couldn't overcome having half of his vital organs punctured and rent apart, and he fell, gurgling as he drowned in his own blood.

His men were having no better luck. To their credit, most of them managed to whirl around and engage the mercenaries, but they were outnumbered ten to one and their individually greater prowess was no match for the seamless organization of battle hardened soldiers, especially not as the Scarlet Sword mercs had dropped their unwieldy muskets and drawn more familiar weapons.

Before long it was over. Gothram looked up at the astonished line of Rebirth soldiers, and tossed his blade to the ground, his men doing likewise.

"We surrender." He said simply.

*****

Alexandra sighed in relief as she saw the mercenaries stand down.

She ordered her troops to alleviate their breakneck pace.

And the praetorian guards in the mesa fortress lowered their railguns, before disappearing back into the fortification. The baroness might have asked for a low profile if possible, and refused high tech equipment upgrades, but Alexandra would be damned if she let her allies go down without a fight.

She had made that alliance, and she meant it, stealth and discretion be damned, if she had to drop an ultima spider tank and a platoon of power armor troops on top of the baroness to save her she would do it in a heartbeat.

*****

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Said Alexandra as she dropped into her now semi-permanent seat at the council table.

"Speak for yourself." Said Allya, bitterly, before sighing. "Sorry, that was uncalled for."

"It's alright. You just had your girlfriend taken hostage. You're owed some leeway." Especially for her remarkably calm reaction.

Last time someone had taken Emilia hostage, she'd blown up her dungeon and caused an earthquake. Not to mention ripped an entire squad to shreds with her bare hands.

Compared to her, the baroness had been a model of restraint.

Especially given the fact that she'd been ready to unleash anti-tank railguns onto the rebels.

"Thanks. Now, what the hell happened?" Said the baroness as she scanned her assembled councilors.

"The failures were mine, my lady." Said Anders, as he leaned forward. "In planning and protocol both. I instructed my troops to prioritize military installations in case of sabotage, which allowed them to use a relatively minor ammunition dump as a distraction to draw off most of our forces. The guard for the prison was insufficient as well, relying too heavily on internal security systems, and with the assumption that any external attack would have to be very small scale without ample prior warning. I also trained my troops to respond to terrorist attacks by riding towards the sound of the guns, so to speak. I never even conceived of the fact that they may have superior numbers and weaponry, despite having already encountered the commandos during the Republic's first attack. I am sorry."

"Some of the blame is also mine." Said Willard, doggedly coming to the commander's defense before Allya could speak. "What stands true for Ander's troops applies to mine as well. And contrary to his, many of mine did not veer off when they realized the attack was actually towards the manor, opting to secure the other arsenals before moving in to help you."

Allya looked at them both, and sighed.

"I…understand. Tarkian weapons or not, we are stretched too thin. Our troops simply cannot go on serving as police, anti-terror troops and military defenders all at the same time."

"Not with our current numbers, no. We simply do not have enough of them to make specialized units, and that means that wearing so many hats, they can all get distracted upholding one of their duties while someone goes for their true targets, pertaining to another."

Allya nodded, and turned towards Alexandra. Several of her councilors did so as well, they weren't fools after all, and all of them had seen the golem patrols.

"Crystal?"

"I thought you'd never ask! I have two full battalions of old musket golems ready for immediate deployment. They're not the best I have, but they will make wonderful shields and force multipliers. Plus, I have a solution for my lack of officers."

"Truly?" Said Allya, as if she hadn't been elbows deep into planning for those when she'd made suggestions for the airships.

"Yes!" Alexandra snapped her fingers, and a golem stepped into the room. "Behold, the radio operator!"

Everyone turned towards the hallway, where a golem wearing a punishingly bulky backpack had just emerged from. Well, 'backpack', it was more like it was carrying a metal coffin, festooned with antennas, wires, handsets and even a few proper headsets.

"You…you have radio communications?!?" Said Willard in a strangled cry.

"I do. I know it is generally considered something of an aberration, even in the Hegemony, given that communication crystals are plentiful and much more secure." Not to mention very, very hard to jam, especially if you didn't want to upset the World Mage Court, who basically maintained the planet's equivalent to the phone network, a task it was more or less founded to accomplish back when there were thousands of kilometers of hostile wasteland between any two human enclaves, clustered around the first dungeons. "But I do not have the know-how to make those crystals, let alone the more complex mobile variants. So radio it is. I will also imminently begin assembly of a transmission tower on my mesa." Hereby neatly dodging the fact that the tower was intended for something else entirely…and banking on their lack of technical knowledge to realize you didn't need a giant metal tower to broadcast in a single city, at least not one of the size she was envisionning. It was so tall it actually rose out of her influence, and she'd have to use her golems to construct it the old fashioned way, at least for the final stages, which was something of a novelty. She also had backups in the form of antennas tied to balloons, a small airship, and a second transmission package which was in the process of being hidden in the docking tower, with Allya's help. "It should be ready shortly."

"I see…" Willard cleared his throat, clearly trying to regain his composure. "Well, that is reassuring news."

"Indeed." Said Melia, the dark elf looking more than a little disheveled, with some bandages peaking from under her collar. She'd been caught in the terrorist attack in the streets, and had proven that civilian or no, dark elves were most definitely bioengineered killing machines. Not to the level of vampires, but far superior to mere humans. "Now all that remains is, why now? Sunrise's rebellions have been going on for weeks."

"Because the Republic's army is getting close enough to support them." Said Allya.

"Or they were afraid that said army's approach would cause you to trigger martial law, and make their plans impossible, like during the attack by the Old World constructs." Added Alexandra, and everyone nodded, including Allya, just as if this wasn't something they'd already discussed in private.

"So we're running out of time." Said Anders.

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Answered the dungeon core, before smiling wolfishly. "Luckily, so have they."

"Why?" The commander was looking definitely a bit apprehensive.

"Because I have finished my airship construction plans, and I have a small squadron ready to launch. I have also made arrangements to possess a golem onboard for command, although I would appreciate some assistance from your own airforce if possible. A few officers to take over should something go wrong would go a long way."

"Of course." Allya nodded. "I'm sure Calder would be more than happy to get into the thick of it once more." In fact the Orc was practically chomping at the bit, especially after having to sit out most of the fight against the Hammer of Eternity and its army. Not to mention that with Alexandra's ever improving mesa fortress, the Dusk Blade wasn't really a threat on its own anymore. "I'll have him reassign some of his crew as well. I'm sure they'll have some things to teach your golems."

"Most probably. It's decided then! It's time to strike at the Republic. And teach them what it means to mess with Rebirth!"

Alexandra drove her fist into the air, and several of the councilors followed suit, alongside Allya and Pyn.

With no one openly questionning why the dungeon was doing all this…seemingly in the 'name' of Rebirth.