Chapter 73: Splinter / Attrition
Subject: Vera Location: Vera's Domain
Vera felt a little self-conscious, what with the way her guests were shamelessly gawking at her new form. But she needed something from them, so she would endure it.
"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but what does the Luminary need from us?"
The speaker was perhaps the most important entity in this small bubble. She was calling herself Sylvia of late, and her current form was modeled after a species inhabiting the locus world from the last operation their faction had undertaken.
It had been a harvesting mission. That meant many things, but it was different from the harvesting undertaken by the other factions. Siphoning information, small quantities of resources, and then leaving discretely. They took an "alternative" approach, a sustainable existence. That was all thanks to the selfless genius of this one here.
If Vera were to describe her comrade's form, it would have to be a wiry automaton from Caim's planet. An assembly drone from the dominant corporate state, perhaps? Eight delicate limbs, ending in myriad ways. Peculiar evolution, but Vera's comrade Sylvia favored it due to her questionable preferences.
It stood out. She'd sent brief transmissions with this individual, but she hadn't stood face to face in a very long time. And now that she was, she couldn't help but wonder why she thought it was so strange.
They were free to take whatever form their technology could produce. Perhaps it was the antiquated notion of using one's own body to do physical labor? Or, could Sylvia's original body have been anything like this?
Enough. You need her for this.
She recalled what she'd meant to comment on. The strange way Sylvia referred to her: "Luminary".
"I don't recall that being one of my names..." Vera finally replied. "What is a Luminary to you?"
Of the others, Two took a more typical form, and the last might as well have done the same, having likely modified the same base template most used. Vera's reasons were easy to understand. She had been very literally stepping into the skin of the target. Humans had been her targets, and she only made decisions to deviate from the template that a human was unlikely to have a problem with.
Sylvia was a special case, and that extended further than her appearance. She was a bizarre kind of genius. She had strange preferences... she worked best using her own limbs. For many, it helped them think, but this was another level of fanaticism.
"Do you dislike it? Using only your name seemed disrespectful, considering the occasion. I don't know what titles they use in other factions, but we can't very well use ours own."
"That's right!" Remi exclaimed. "None of us deserve to use your name."
She was bouncing with energy. Vera glanced at Felicity, who was vigorously nodding along.
Sylvia spares the faction from reliance a convenient and gruesome path, saving an untold number of species in the process, and these dolts dimwits take this attitude with Vera instead? Unbelievable. Oh, but it gets better! Sylvia is among the fools!
"Just what do you three thing we're doing here?" Vera demanded, thoroughly confused.
Sylvia twirled around and pointed up with every arm just as she slowed to a stop.
"To Splinter, obviously."
The word that only meant one thing: to branch off and establish a new faction.
"Has our leader treated you poorly?" Vera inquired.
"No, but she refuses to take defensive action. We thought you would agree that it was time."
This was news.
"Defend herself from what?!"
"She doesn't know?" Felicity asked.
"She doesn't know..." Remi murmured back.
"You mean to tell me you haven't contacted the outside world since your assignment ended?" Sylvia realized, shocked.
What was there to know? They always stood apart from inter-faction politics. That had always been their way.
"Who would I contact? I have no allies out there. Why would any faction care what we are-" Vera started, but then she stopped.
What changed? Or, could it be...
There were many reasons for the others to take interest in their little experiment. It had curious aims, it was undertaken by a strictly neutral and uninterested party, and there was that small matter of the recent infighting. If word got out that this close-knit community was turning on its own, interested parties would send out feelers.
But that was all just minor squabbling, right? It would die down, and their leader would take firm control of the situation. She couldn't ignore it. Winning over her underlings was a small matter.
And besides, nothing here should be that interesting! Except for the territory, maybe? No way.
"The planet she chose for our experiment... The Primals claim she hoped to reclaim derelict technology left behind by their faction, reverse-engineer it. She disagreed, but they've brought the matter before The Collective," Remi explained.
The inter-faction government? That Collective? Why would they listen to something so outrageous?
"The Collective didn't entertain the accusation, obviously," Felicity added, "but they've permitted a limited expedition to 'recover' whatever was left behind."
"But that would-"
"That's right. That would interfere with whatever is happening down on the planet. In The Collective's ever-helpful way, they've similarly allowed us to defend our claim."
Vera paced forward, deep in thought.
"And what 'defense' are we "permitted" to mount?"
"Left to interpretation," Sylvia confirmed grimly.
What's so important on the planet that The Collective would allow this?
"They think we can't defend ourselves, but do you remember what you did for us way back when?"
"Don't speak of it," Vera ordered, surprised at the venom in her own words. "I'm different now. Our leader is different. She made me..."
"Different? And our leader, the wonderful person she is, is also flawed. She is strong-willed We know better than to try convincing her," Sylvia astutely articulated.
"Has she forbidden us from taking action?"
"No," Remi and Felicity replied in unison. "She's only implied that it would be foolish. We might start a war that we can't win."
"She's right. We can't win a war."
"So you agree with her?" Sylvia asked.
Vera ignored the question, but she may as well have answered.
Might as well give them what they want.
"A war is unlikely. The Collective would step in before it got that far. What matters is protecting our investment. This experiment is too important to interrupt. It must be... otherwise she wouldn't be acting this way. Listen here: our leader is not weak nor is she small-minded. Her genius shines through our independent actions. I will not lead a rebellion."
They silently drank in the orders they'd been yearning for like ambrosia. She hated herself for assuming this stance the moment the pressure was on. But she could resist her worst temptations.
"We obey our leader."
They all nodded, but Sylvia's body language was the most emphatic.
"Make contact with our kin, discreetly, and see who threatens to compromise our bond. Report them to me and I will judge for myself. In the meantime, I have other orders. I originally called the three of you here to discuss the experiment."
Surprise spread throughout the group.
"What about it? Isn't your assignment over with?" Sylvia, the quickest of the bunch, asked.
"Officially, yes, but I have a lingering curiosity."
It's safe to tell them, but only them. That's why I invited them here.
"I have assets on the surface. I wish to support them."
"And risk the integrity of the data?"
"Well put, but I'll answer with a question. Do you really believe the experiment was designed to study those small creatures? In my time among them, there are many things I've learn, many doubts I've entertained. I believe our leader is looking for deeper insights. Those insignificant lives are not worthless as subjects, but they are small parts of a whole. I just don't know what that whole is yet."
The surface of Sylvia's body shone blue.
She had three basic modes. There was relative disinterest. There was this one, curiosity. Finally, there was obsession. That last mode would win the day. Vera merely needed to reign in her ally's more destructive impulses.
"Sylvia: gather what information you can about the planet. Be discreet. Favor caution over results."
"Count on me!"
"Remi: find those weak links I spoke of earlier. Remember, you are to report them to me, nothing more."
"Yes, Vera."
"Felicity: I need your help looking into the history of the planet. Additionally, I'll need you to contact your allies in the other factions. If this comes to a purge, I do not want us to fall silent without bringing the wrath of Pulse down on the enemy. It won't come to that, but we will prepare for the worst."
Vera's body felt hot. Charged. Physiological ripples reacted not to normal, human homeostatic processes, but to something else. Something she couldn't place. Perhaps she was overworking herself? Hopefully that was it.
"No. It can't come to war. We need to snuff out this matter before it grows."
This wasn't like the other factions. Normally, they wouldn't care what they did as long as they kept to themselves.
"You're dismissed."
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Subject: Knight Eris Location: Arlcada Territories - Count Kylant's Settlement
The heft of the battleaxe was increasingly tiresome. And Eris had always taken pride in her exceptional stamina. Boosted as they all were by Lucrue's concoctions, they were only mortal. This battle of attrition was longer than any of them dreamed it would be.
The surroundings were a blur with seemingly endless numbers of false and genuine spinners. They clashed all over the compound, a violent spinner cacophony likely horrifying the civilians still taking refuge in the makeshift shelter. It was the only remaining structure. All others had fallen to a mixture of flame and spinner's webs.
After using Luc to create her false brood, Fragmata had, without a word, rooted herself to the ground and locked herself in a sort of "conjuration trance". Shimmering air birthed more of the nightmarish brood into the waking world. This flood created somewhere between two and three hundred of the spawns. Stunned to silence, the knights had lost count.
"Hanging in there, sis?" Noa asked, simultaneously announcing her presence to her comrade from a distance so as to prevent a mishap, all the more likely in their fatigued states.
Noa's twin shortblades hung lower in slackened muscles. Her body was nimble, but the penalty of the small knight making a mistake was greater than it was for Eris, well-built as she was. Eris's armor deflected fang and barb, but Noa's hidden armor was not as weighty as the perpetual illusion around her form made it first appear.
Do I still resent her for receiving such a gift from our lord? Her tired mind wondered. What am I thinking? I've never admitted that to myself... not once. I need to concentrate on staying standing... focus on earning her favor.
"Yes. They don't end, do they."
Where was I when I first learned of Noa and Klyto's secret? Eris's thoughts rambled on. It was back when they acted more proper, and after I'd already fallen for the way her lord does things. Even so, it came as a powerful shock.
"No, they're still scaling the walls, and I'm doing all I can to stop them from piercing the barricades. These sticky spinner are making unwanted advances. I wish they'd stop being so clingy~."
She pointed up, and Eris realized that Weavers had woven a web-work canopy, spanning across the tops of the walls. Dozens of Weavers were using their high vantage to prepare for a mass descent.
Eris smiled at her companion, and Noa smiled back. It took less time for Eris and the others to accept the pair than it did for them to feel like they belonged. The only reason they stuck with Fragma was because the secret was out, and Fragma told them they had to obey her or lose her protection. An easy choice for a pair just trying to survive in a world perpetually against them.
The Weavers were a problem, though. She hadn't even noticed them before, and it seemed like a more hopeless situation now that she'd been tipped off. They the lethally venomous ones, yes? Eris believed so... but she didn't know how lethally venomous your average Weaver was.
Rapid human footsteps sprinted up to meet the two of them, still catching their breath.
"Got any more of the good stuff?" Noxianna, the new arrival, inquired.
Noa shook her head. Eris shared that she was also in need of more stimulants, just then realizing that they had been talking about something else. Noa and Noxi shared that they had been given a healthy supply, but that they would need their last doses soon.
Luc was over in an instant, before anyone could call out to him.
"Sorry for the delay, but these fresh circumstances both require and inspire novel solutions," he cackled.
Silvery gel oozed from a container and onto a cloth. He wiped the cloth on their blades, and they stared at it suspiciously. Eris cut down another crawler and engaged a Wounded that was lasting a little longer than it's peers.
"It is, among other things, a stimulant," he explained. "I know your special blades aren't meant for this," he addressed Noa, "but I assure you it will be much more effective in this fight."
Luc reached for Noa's blades and began applying his newly prepared toxin. Disturbed by what he was doing to her weapons with this unknown substance, she held her tongue nonetheless.
Their needed reprieve had allowed the surrounding spinners to repopulate.
"Uh... everyone?" Eris called out. "We're not going to be safe much longer!"
The sound of her voice drew Hexknight Fragma, who danced on an endless reserve of frenetic energy, feet tapping to a soundless beat. Eris wordlessly thanked her with a nod, and she smiled back mercifully.
Even Hexknight Fragma understood that her squad had bit off more that it could chew. This came from a lack of understanding of spinner ecology. Add to that their unfamiliarity with the region and it's abnormal infestation, and you have this moment.
Fragma's blade was a blur. It wasn't just her speed... She'd cast some kind of enchantment on the metal, allowing it to cut more than one vital point on a spinner at once. None of her knights had seen this before either. One slice produced three to six incisions.
"Alright. You're done too, Noxi," Luc declared.
He reached into his pocket and flung a handful of vials in the opposite direction from Fragma. They burst into colorful sparks with a *pop*, followed a *sssss*.
The allied spinner swarm was thinning. Eris didn't know how fake spinners could die, but she didn't know how they could kill, either. That behavior was more in the domain of summoned entities.
What was stranger, was that she got to see firsthand what her lord meant by "poisoned fruit". When the transient spinners died, they were consumed by hostile spinners, as spinners were want to do with their prey. Feeding spinners slowed, grew bubbling boils across their exterior flesh, and eventually died. Usually, a knight would get to this easy prey first, before the slow death overtook it.
What were they going to do when the last few dozen allied spinners died? Could their lord produce more?
The fighting continued a while longer, deeper into the night. The knights weren't tired, owing to Luc's sleep-warding brews. Even so, this was a losing fight. Sooner or later, they'd make a fatal mistake.
"They aren't ending..." Fragma sighed.
She tossed a sidelong glance at the wall, where more and more spinners continued to skitter over. Some of them were crawling over their brethren, knocking them to the ground below, and more than a few had been trampled in the process.
Eris looked up at the Weavers, still waiting for the perfect time to strike. Fragma seemed concerned by them too, but then she noticed something.
"Wait," she mumbled. "They aren't just following our lures. Those were spent three hundred spinners ago. And they aren't just looking for fresh territory to expand their brood. This new wave looks like they're fleeing something!"