Chapter 170 - The First Domino

Note : Chapter 173 has been written and added to the queue !

Chapter 170

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, R&D Facility Delta

"Well, at least we know the teleport redirect works." Said the apparition as her hologram sat down on one of the workshop table, clipping through the clutter on it. Alexandra could feel her disapproval over the deal and the risk taken for someone they, all in all, barely knew, but the Earth-born knew the apparition wouldn't fight her on it either. There were some things she wasn't going to bend on, and that included helping the team who had been in this mess because they were trying to protect her and save her life.

"Yes. A rather spectacular demonstration." Answered Alexandra as she gazed at the pillar.

The apparition had begun work on assembling the prototype for the teleport redirect as soon as the shit had hit the fan and Alexandra had sent Sarah and Seraph to reinstall the teleport jammer down into the command bunker. Better safe than sorry, and if they were going to need it, they would need them badly. It hadn't been tested yet, or rather Eismi had become the first one to test it, as Seraph had simply powered it and observed any potential meltdown, since Alexandra's creations had a tendency to fail…spectacularly when first brought online. Which incidentally, was why there was an extremely powerful ward of protection surrounding the pillar.

"At least Seraph didn't just shoot the artificer on sight."

Which reminded Alexandra that she needed to have a talk to Seraph about her habit of taking her cue from holovids and shows. That string of contradictory police style instructions were straight out of a low quality series, and she'd rather avoid an incident where the AI didn't realize they made no sense and opened fire.

"Yes, I should probably plan some protocols for the redirect chamber, at least give the enemy a chance to surrender, and make sure that we don't just massacre our own allies by accident. Not that many of them would have reason to teleport here unannounced. Speaking of, the teleport talismans? The ones that would bypass any jamming?"

"Not 'any' jamming, just the one they seem to use. And the prototypes are ready." The apparition gestured at a table, and Alexandra made her way there. The table was laden with heavy talismans, their steel outer casing hiding the sliver of mythril within. They looked ornate, but not ostentatious enough to dwell on. "They're one use. Even mythril cannot take that kind of punishment without damage. But at least it won't just explode."

"How can they be triggered?"

"Three ways. One is to crack the outer casing. Since it's tougher than the armor on the spider tanks, I assume anyone we brought back that way would be a corpse to resurrect. The other is to speak a series of code words. They don't have to be in particular order or uninterrupted, you just need to say all of them inside thirty seconds. That would allow someone to teleport away under duress, and avoid drawing suspicion while they do it. Hopefully."

"Good. I assume the last is way is a remote trigger?"

"Only on the variant for our people. But even then, only if they're inside your influence." Alexandra gave her other self a sharp look, who simply shrugged. "It's the only way I could do it without leaving a backdoor someone could find their way into."

"Alright, fair enough. Try to expedite the test. I have a feeling that we're going to need them quickly. I'll prepare the ground for giving them to the baroness."

"Sure. Just…don't expect the tests to be clean."

"I have rebuild the testing room from the ground up every week. There's a reason it exists after all. Just get it done. I have to go meet Emilia." She held up her finger, stopping the apparition before she could speak. "To work on new prototypes. And only that."

"Damn. I didn't even manage to open my mouth. We really are the same person."

"Guess so. Alright, I'll be going. And do try not to eavesdrop too much."

"No promises."

*****

"So why a missile? I mean, isn't that a bit overkill against just those aircrafts?" Said Emilia as Alexandra tinkered with the artillery rocket.

"Because missiles are flexible. As demonstrated by our good friends, the robots trying to kill us, even anti air missiles can be used to attack ground targets. Plus, if I manage to load them with a golem's intelligence…"

"They'll become smart weapons."

"For some values of smart, but yes. And on top of that, they're guided weapons. That means a much greater effective range against a moving target. That's the reason why I didn't rebuild the Bertha. Well, that and it's too damned fragile against those enemies. At any range the Bertha wouldn't get obliterated by even simple anti tank weapons, their vehicles would probably get far enough from the impact point to survive the blast."

"If they don't just charge blindly forward."

"Yes, but that will come eventually. And I'd rather keep the enemy as…inflexible as possible for as long as we can."

"Let them underestimate us. Their stupidity is our greatest ally. My oldest sister says that a lot."

Alexandra blinked.

"You know, you never talk much about your siblings."

Emilia sighed.

"It's because we're not really…close. I mean, we're siblings, but we were also born centuries apart. Mom and dad are millennia old after all. So I don't have a lot in common with them when you think about it. But they're still family."

Alexandra nodded.

"I know what you mean."

"...Did you have any siblings?"

Alexandra stopped, and gripped her tools as she felt…waves of anguish, fear and hatred from her other self. And, as little as she'd like to admit it, herself.

"..Alex?" Called out Emilia, after a few seconds of silence. "If you don't want to you don't have to-"

"No, no, it's fine, just…old memories." Alexandra sighed. "I had a brother. Emile. His wife…well, she might as well have been my blood sister. I loved her and treated her like one. She was called Leah. They…they both died in the lead up or during the second battle of Alpha Centauri." Part of the reason she'd pushed so hard during that battle…and won because of it.

"I'm sorry."

"It was decades ago. I've learned to live with it. Just like I learned to live with my parents' death."

"Right…Must be tough, having everyone around you be mortal."

"Yeah…" Alexandra sighed. "But it wasn't what got my parents."

She continued working for a minute, before sighing once more. She could feel the vampire's curiosity through their link…but also her determination not to pry further. She might as well pull off the entire bandaid. Better to make it quick and done than a festering wound.

"They lived through the Terran Hegemony War. They were both environmental engineers, originally working on fabricating systems for space stations and the lunar colonies. When the war went nuclear, and the Hegemony began releasing bioweapons, they got drafted. Began repairing and building shelters. Eventually worked their way into making the new arcologies. They served with distinction, but, well…" She shrugged. "Even the best protective equipment pales in comparison to the fallout from cobalt bombs and tailored pathogens. They had access to the best medicine the Federation had to offer, but their DNA was so damaged…they didn't even have an immune system anymore, just various medical nanotechs. Once I came back from Alpha Centauri, and I got transferred to the office of logistics, they figured I'd be alright. Emile was happily in one of the ships that had kicked the ever living shit out of the UISN, and Leah was a quartermaster on a fleet collier, hardly in any danger. They were worried sick about me when I got dropped onto Centauri, but I'd realized that a bit of ribbon and shiny medals weren't worth all the shit I went through. So once I was safely in the shipyards, they got everything in order, and they decided to end it."

The silence was almost deafening.

"I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm still sorry, Alex."

"I know you are." Alexandra sighed once more. "Can we change the subject, please?"

"Sure."

"So…" The Earth-born cleared her throat. "Have you watched the battle?"

"Yeah. Our dear adventurers didn't really cover themselves in glory."

"That was kind of expected. And given what I've received in terms of messages, Allya has been using that as leverage to grab their balls and squeeze."

"She's strong arming them into her army?"

"Pretty much! That and declaring martial law."

"That…I'd say it seems excessive, but this is pretty bad. Although we're not exactly worse off than when the Republic was clawing at the gates. From their perspective at least."

"I think she's worried about what's happening inside her town. We did steal an entire cargo of guns from people who were pretty clearly going to use them against her. They have to have recovered by now."

"If there's a war on two fronts, it won't be pretty."

"No it won't. But push comes to shove, well, we can pull out all the stops and ride to the rescue."

"Ah yes, the gallant dungeon core coming to save the princess in the nick of time."

"Technically she's baroness, the frontier principality doesn't make her a princess."

"I was just making fun of the idea."

"I know. Besides, if I tried to do this, I'd need a white steed."

"We have white paint, we could change the color of a spider tank."

"I don't think a tank classifies as a steed."

"How about the manticore then?"

"And I don't want the baroness to die of a heart attack either."

"Why? I thought freaking her out was your favorite pass time."

Alexandra winced.

"Touché. And I really shouldn't have gone so hard on her. Besides, my favorite pass time is you."

Alexandra waggled her eyebrows, and Emilia chuckled.

"Oh I do hope so, but don't think it'll make me go easy on you!"

*****

"My lady, the preparations are complete." Said the spymaster, as he kneeled before the duchess.

"Then it is time for us to move. I assume you had no trouble with our allies?"

"They required some convincing, but ultimately, they see a great deal of reason in the new plan. They will endeavor to speed up their own operations to meet us, although they have warned us that they may be behind schedule."

"Good. Then let us proceed." The duchess smiled. "At long last Asaria will be free from the crown's tyranny. And under my enlightened rule, and with our allies…my, I believe we even may be able to make the Saphire Kingdom fall for good."

"As you say, milady."

"Indeed. But one thing at a time. Make sure our manifesto is distributed as broadly as possible, their 'majesties' are sure to attempt to suppress them, so we must ensure others will copy and spread it for us. Then order the armies assembled and send them forth."

"Yes milady. What are our targets?"

"At first? As we have agreed with our allies. Asaria, and Darthar. All those in our way will either submit or join the slave legions. Send word for our agents to begin their uprisings. Let the kingdom burn."

*****

"And the first domino falls." Said Joachim as he laid the report onto his desk, before sighing.

This had been close. Far too close. The drone had done its job, and despite the unforeseen presence of the strike crafts, it had managed to crash into Lesly's dungeon. The High Commander would get rid of any remaining evidence. She had to.

Hopefully the God of Fire and his servants would be too busy with the continent coming apart to investigate the chaos unfolding in Rebirth. Especially as it seemed at least agent Iknor had survived, and probably agent Salter and Serabor as well.

He briefly toyed with the idea of eliminating them, before dismissing it. The Order only went after its own in the most dire of circumstances, and while those qualified, assassinating them would only draw attention that he would rather avoid.

He'd need to cook up an escape plan for them however. They'd been written off and assets moved to fill the gap, but they needed to be extracted sooner or later. Not to mention contacted to get a full report on what had happened.

Everything had come so, so close from coming off the rails…but it looked like things were back on track. Next they just needed to begin shifting things in the Republic again. They were moving to attack prematurely, which was good, but he needed to ensure general Amelia's execution. She would become the martyr the revolution would coalesce around, with the generous help from a certain dungeon core…

Yes, it was finally coming together. A beautiful puzzle of chaos and power. One that would finally free humanity from its shackles and enable mankind to walk the stars once again.

It only needed one last push to be ready. To make sure the dominoes were perfectly aligned. And for that, he was going to need the Eris Empire to fall.