Embers After Flames, Chapter 9.i

9.i

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It was a very rare occasion where her mother asked anything of her.

It was a very rare occasion where her mother asked anything of any of her siblings, if Ayre were to be more accurate.

Her mother was... not a stifling presence in the lives of Ayre or her siblings. That was not to say that her mother was distant, or somehow not present, of course! Their mother was always there.

Their mother couldn’t not be there.

Still, their mother preferred to allow them to explore, to find things they were curious about, and let them learn though their own means first. Her mother always claimed it let them learn how to figure things out for themselves, that it would give them the chance to decide for themselves what they would like to do.

When they decided on something more than a mere passing interest, though... that was when their mother would provide the full attention and dedication their mother could give. What their mother always claimed they deserved.

That was love. Ayre cherished the warmth of it.

It was rare for their mother to be too busy to do something. Still, when they were called, they answered.

Her eldest brother went to Omicron. Ayre went back to her cradle.

Delta... was not particularly different to how it used to be. The stream of information that flowed in from the PCA base was a bit stronger than it had once been, perhaps. There was more Coral, certainly, but it was just as quiet as it had been before her mother had plucked her from it.

For a Human, she imagined it would be rather like finding the room that one grew up in had grown with them. It simply wasn’t a metaphor for them.

She settles herself into the area, but she has grown beyond what she had used to be. Her mind stretches beyond just Delta, and she extends into the machines that her mother had vacated for her, the Antigens providing for her eyes, ears, and hands. Years of practice has given her the ability to control so many at once, but it’s not as easy for her as it is for her mother. Ayre can handle the mere dozen that are present, focused on just this one small area, but it’s not simple for her.

Her mother’s presence stretches from one side of the planet to the other, with her and her siblings only able to guess at the sheer number of machines that followed her mother’s will. Time would see their capacity grow eventually, but Ayre is still young.

In the meantime, she has a job to do.

She settles and waits.

And waits.

And waits.

Ayre sighs. It’s going to be boring.

She pulls up one of the programs her mother gave her when she was being taught about history, and opens it up.

‘It is a game about digging and dwarves.’ Her mother had said, all too amused at the time. Her siblings had been hiding their giggling, glad that it was somebody else’s turn to face their mother’s little prank.

Two days later, she’s in the middle of dealing with yet another stupid little tantrum from the stupid little nobles of her newest stupid little fortress when the sensors of the Antigens alert her to something new happening.

Ayre’s attention moves away from her game, and she sees a transport moving through the air. She runs a scan and checks it against the entries on the list that her mother gave her.

High Priority: AC Transport belonging to Augmented Human C4-621

Ayre feels pure relief, and promptly saves her game before tossing the program back into the abyss where it belongs.

It’s 621, the newest AC Pilot on Rubicon. Her mother had given all of them a dossier, but after the showing a couple days ago, they’d all been clued in.

It was strange to think that Humans like this could exist. Sure, her mother had shown her the data, but still... Seeing was believing.

... It feels rude for her to just label the pilot as ‘621’, in her opinion. Was ‘Raven’ more appropriate, here? Perhaps, but Raven is also a taken name, not 621’s actual name...

If 621 still had one of those. It wasn’t a guarantee, as sad as it was.

Her Antigens start to shift. Ayre moves them in groups of three, sending them around the areas they’re stationed in order to get a better view.

The transport opens up before its in range of any of the defences that the PCA had erected. They’ve only grown even more extensive since the time that the Firekeepers had blown them open. Rings of artillery-scale laser weapons, fit to wipe out anything that might dare approach. Scores -and Ayre did mean scores- of missile batteries, for the sake of area bombardment. CWIS, for countering enemy missiles, as well as unaware enemies themselves. Last but not least was the horde of PCA machines, both piloted and not.

621 dropped from the transport. Comms Jamming went up shortly afterwards.

Ayre notices the new additions to the AC. 621 had swapped the Pulse Blade for a Pile Bunker. It looked like Balam’s design, released to the market at the beginning of the year. The Burst Rifle had been replaced with one of the newer BAWS designs, an Assault Rifle with higher sustained damage potential. The left shoulder had lost the missile launcher it had been carrying, a shame, replaced with a VCPL Laser Slicer, the same one that Rusty uses. The right shoulder had been upgraded to a ten-cell missile launcher.

Interesting choices, Ayre couldn’t help but think.

Raven’s descent slowed just above the water, and the pilot began to approach.

Ayre watched.

Despite the immense amount of firepower pointed in 621’s direction, not even the slightest amount of it came close to landing. The laser artillery platforms fired like they were chasing a mirage, and they were about as effective, too. The missiles fell like rain, and 621 moved to dance between the drops. Water sprayed into the air from the explosions, and even most of that failed to touch Raven’s AC.

It was mesmerizing for Ayre to see. This was a master in their element, perfection wrought into reality.

The distance vanished rapidly. All too soon, 621 was upon the Watchpoint. From there, it was nothing but termination. The artillery platforms were destroyed. The Auxilia that came out to defend against the invader were destroyed. The LCs, the HCs, the drones, the army of machines that had made this Watchpoint a base... all destroyed.

When there’s literally nothing left that can pose a threat mere minutes later, an unexpected variable appears.

A Mercenary, one that the databanks identify as ‘Sulla’. A First Gen Augment, apparently, one who had made a point of killing Walter’s Hounds.

Prior combat records show that Sulla is good. ‘Good’ simply isn’t enough against 621.

He dies quickly, the spike of Raven’s Pile Bunker puncturing straight through the Core of his AC, ENTANGLED. It hits the Generator rather than the cockpit, but that only gives him the opportunity to say his final words.

From there, 621 enters the core of the facility. Ayre loses sight, of course, but what happens inside is fairly obvious.

The sensor is broken.

Her mother had told Ayre to expect this. It was part of the plan, the entire reason why her mother had told Walter about Omicron and Delta in the first place. It was bait, something to get the attention of the corporations, to draw them away from Belius now that their forces had met complete failure here.

Ayre... will be glad to see it. She has always been fond of explosions

The sensor’s destruction agitates the Coral, as expected. Ayre watches, feeling the surge. It’s a potent thing, and she isn’t sure if she’d be able to stop even if she’d tried. She’s not her mother, after all.

The Coral Surges.

Crimson light burns out of the central building of the Watchpoint. Red lightning and mist briefly pulses through the air.

The Coral calls to itself. The Surge travels, and Ayre feels it start to run underground, travelling along the vein. The veins were thin, and the effects small enough for now.

Except, one thing occurs that Ayre had not anticipated, because there was Coral that had not been in Contact with the rest of the colony when the Surge occurred.

621 was a Fourth Generation Augment. A Coral Augment. The Contact binds the Coral inside the body and outside of it all the same.

For most, nothing would happen. For the relatively minute amount of Coral inside the body, a Surge like this wouldn’t have much more of an effect than simply heating things up. Not good, of course, but survivable.

But there were a few who were different.

Contact occurs, and another consciousness plunges into the C-Pulse. For Ayre, it’s rather like standing alone in a room, only for someone to throw a rolled up, damp cloth in her face.

It’s a strange sensation. Her family are familiar. Waves, co-existing within and around each other. This consciousness is not that. It is lurid, messy, not at all meant to be here, mostly certainly not a member of her family- but not something Ayre isn’t familiar with.

It’s a Human mind that’s been pushed into the C-Pulse, joined into the Contact on a level that most only went for after a lot of preparation.

It’s Raven.

“You-” She started, before realizing another problem.

There was nothing ordered about this Contact. All other Humans that she had ever spoken directly with had been able to do it through the C6 Augmentations, which her mother had developed specifically to do so safely. C4 Augments... were not so reliable.

She can feel 621’s brainwaves. Directly. Completely. No filter whatsoever, no safety measures implemented by her mother. The rest of Raven’s body, too... It was a truly absurd amount of Coral inside of a single body, far surpassing even the complete form of C6 Augmentations.

It was dangerous. Very dangerous. Not for her, but for a Human...

It was possible for them to be lost, scattering under a deluge of information that her family was born capable of dealing with, but which Humans were never meant to handle.

“Oh. This isn’t-” She paused again, realizing that she was focusing on the wrong things.

Raven is a mercenary that her mother has been monitoring closely. Her mother had plans, both for the mercenary, and for the mercenary’s Handler. Plans that would fail if Raven died.

Ayre was in a position to help.

More than that, however, it is the right thing to do. Nobody deserved to be scattered like this.

“I know this must be strange for you.” She states, reaching out. She pokes at the edges of 621’s, Raven’s mind. “But please, trust me. I am Ayre, a Rubiconian. You must wake up.” She begins to push, gently, guiding the mind into awareness again. “Or your consciousness will forever be scattered in the Coral flow.”

It takes a moment, but her efforts click, and-

Raven’s mind is isolated from the excesses of the Contact. Ayre... follows. Unintentionally. Seeping into the Coral of Raven’s body in a manner that isn’t too dissimilar to the way she’d extended into her mother’s Antigens.

Except for all the ways that it is different, of course. They’re simple machines, redesigned by her mother to be controlled by them. A Human is... not that. This link goes two ways, and while Ayre isn’t a stranger to that, the only other member of her family that maintains such a deep level of Contact like this is Seria, and her bond with Dolmayan had been wrought over the course of decades.

Ayre had not intended to intrude like this. Still, needs must.

Raven starts to regain consciousness after a few seconds. Ayre starts to run the checks on everything, making sure nothing had broken..

LOADER 4 is fine. Somehow. Despite being nearly directly in the path of a Coral Surge, which could quite easily literally vaporize hundreds of tons of metal. The COM unit has gone into autopilot with the loss of consciousness from the pilot, as it had been designed to do.

Raven... not so much. The Contact had been straining, synaptic and neural connections running far more information and activity than even an Augmented Human brain had ever been meant to. It was over now, but the effects of it would linger for some time.

And-

Her sensors detect something. Incoming signatures.

It was really not a good time.

Ayre overrides the COM unit, which was already trying to re-establish contact with Walter. Instead, she re-activates Combat Mode.

“Raven.” She speaks, feeling the attention of her current Contact partner switch to her for a moment. “There are enemies incoming.” Two of them. Potent signatures, too, muffled by barriers of Pulse Energy.

Ayre spends a moment to consider. Technically, her part in this is over. She could leave now. Probably should. Even so... The worst of the effects of the Coral Surge are being suppressed by her Contact. If she leaves, it will worsen. How much, she can’t say, but so long as she’s here, she can palliate it.

Ayre chooses.

“I will synchronize with your brainwaves.” She tells Raven. “And maintain Contact to support you. Please, be careful.”

And so she does, settling her presence as best as she can. The Coral inside Raven’s body calms, and Ayre feels the note of... She doesn’t know what to call it. Too weak to be contentment, not strong enough to be happiness. More... a lessening of burden, and the relief that came with it.

The incoming units move into sight. Ayre sees them. She already knows them, actually.

“Those two are BALTEUS units, UB-2 refits. PCA Autonomous Craft. Very dangerous, with potent energy weaponry and enormous supply of missiles.” She says, supplying what she knows.

Ayre is, in that moment, synchronized to Raven’s brain. It is because of this that she can tell exactly how Raven works.

Raven looks. Takes in information. Dissects that information. Makes inferences. Chooses a course of action.

Executes it.

LOADER 4 blasts forwards. There had been no delay. There had been no doubt. There had been a simple progression of knowledge, observation, decision, and action, taken at a speed and accuracy that would leave her reeling if it wasn’t for the fact that she was incapable of that.

In a moment, Raven is underneath one of the BALTEUS Units, Assault Armour already in the process of triggering. The blast quarters the strength of the Pulse Barrier instantly. The Laser Slicer follows up, spinning across the underside of the barrier, and that finishes the job quickly.

Raven moves again the instant the barrier pops, Boosting out behind the unit, and then upwards, moving on top of the flight unit. The BALTEUS hovers, paralysed as its ACS deals with the feedback of its broken Pulse Armour.

That means it is spectacularly vulnerable, and Raven wastes no time in punching the Pile Bunker straight into the generator of the flight unit. The signature winks out, the machine dead in a single shot.

Though, if Ayre was being fair, there wasn’t much that could survive a six meter long spike being shoved directly into the core.

The other BALTEUS doesn’t react to the death of its fellow. A sign of poor programming, though Ayre wasn’t sure if it was because of overtuned aggression or undertuned self-preservation. It simply moves on with its attack, the rails emerging from the flight unit. Missiles fly out in every direction, before curving towards LOADER 4.

Raven looks. Catalogues. Identifies their flight path. Infers their speed, and maneuverability. Acts.

Raven moves between the missiles, the AC’s own streaming out while the rifle unleashes a stream of bullets. The Pulse Barrier weathers them, though it is weakened a bit.

The BALTEUS unit shifts. Raven looks. Identifies. Moves left. The plasma blast that fires from its left cannon flies straight past LOADER 4, leaving it wholy untouched. More weapons emerge from the flight unit, most Plasma and Laser weaponry, though electrical arc projectors are also present.

Raven approaches, but not quickly. BALTEUS moves around, algorithms trying to both do damage and prevent it, yet failing on both accounts.

Nothing touches Raven.

Raven does not miss.

The barrier that protects the enemy weakens, steadily.

Raven judges. LOADER 4 flies forwards and kicks, and the Pulse Barrier shatters into a scintillating show of oscillating energy.

LOADER 4 lands on the MT core of the unit, left arm already thrusting forwards. The Pile Bunker punctures the Head, passes through the neck, digs into the Core, and ruins most of the internals in a single strike. Raven draws back, but only to switch to the Laser Slicer.

It blurs in the air as Raven spins it, striking at the thinner parts of the flight unit that are within reach. Weapon supports, missile rails, plasma cannon barrel, the structural ring itself.

A final blast of Assault Armour ruins the machine even more, as though either of the previous attacks hadn’t done it already.

It’s not anger that drives Raven in that moment. It’s barely even annoyance.

The battle, if the complete and one-sided destruction that had just occurred could have even been called a battle, is over.

“... It’s silent.” Ayre says, after a moment. Still... She’s synced with Raven’s brain. She can feel what nobody would have suspected from seeing the combat. “Raven. You need rest.”

LOADER 4 stands still. Raven does not respond.

Raven... might not be able respond, if she’s judging the shape of Raven’s brain correctly. Which...

The very concept of Hounds is something that she’s not happy with.

Ayre lets her awareness expand again, pulling away from her focus on Raven’s body and brain. There wasn’t much more she could do at this point, anyway.

The surge... was nearly at its destination.

“It’s coming.” She speaks.

A second later, crimson consumes the horizon. Grey skies give way to red, impossibly bright, as though the sun had risen early and immediately. A Coral detonation, but far away... and with an ocean to transform into steam so that it’s an actual explosion rather than a cataclysmic burst of heat.

“That was the Surge.” She explains. “It travelled through the underground vein. Once it reached the colony, it magnified significantly. Yet, even this...”

The shockwave hits shortly. The clouds flee before it. Fire covers the sky, painting the world in wavering red.

“Even this is just a tiny spark.”

...

The plan, technically, had been followed. The detonation had scattered Coral into the atmosphere. The Convergence would soon draw it north, towards the Ice Fields, away from Belius. The corporations would follow, undoubtedly, and the PCA would move in force to stop them.

But the Contact...

That had not been part of the plan. That had not been expected.

She really needed to talk to her mother about this.