19 - Who is the Merchant Here

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Maya said entering the tense room. She looked at everyone and then at the two with the weapons draw upon one another. “I’m sure we can measure dicks in a different way, like without shooting one another.”

“This is not a matter of measuring dicks,” one of the men said. Maya vaguely remembered him as a man from Indonesia, one of the small groups that had been given a Sullivan Box, but then immediately made contact and organized several little bands into a settlement. Suharto Panggabean.

And the other was a one of the Chinese delegates that Maya had met, Zhang Bao of what was left of the city of Dongguan. Tow hundred thousand people and still dropping as the mana mutations that had turned the region between Hong Kong and Guangzhou into a death zone. It was one of the places that Maya wanted to evacuate, but there was just so many people and so many monsters.

“Alright, what’s going on?” Maya demanded annoyed by the stand off.

“He called me a dirty foreigner,” Panggabean said.

“I did not know that these translators would translate lesser known dialects,” Zhang replied.

“So this is because you mocked him and it’s gun and sword pulling time?” Maya asked.

“It is a matter of honor and principle. These damn Chinese think they can just walk over everyone, throwing around money-“

“Whoa, hold up there buddy,” Maya said. “We’re all in this together. There is no more super powers tossing about cash and buying off politicians.”

“You are American,” Panggabean said.

“I’m a citizen of the world, Suharto ol’ pal. I just happened to have been born in America. If I were a true blue flag draped American, you think I would be purchasing settlements and sending weapons to the nations? Nope. The US is still in a deep dark pit and so is the rest of the world. I’m not interested in this whole patriotism BS from yesteryear, I’m looking to saving as many people as possible. Once this whole Great Dying is done, then y’all can go back to pissing off one another due to race, religion, and language.”

“I-“

“I’m going to say this once,” Maya said. “Put down your weapons and act like some grown ass adults.”

The two men glared at her, Panggabean faced her with his swords and Maya made a pair of arms reach out from the deck and pull them from his grip. So fast that his hands cracked as they were yanked away from him. He cried out in pain as his twisted hands hung limply before him, shocked that the bones had been broken so easily. It was a bit forceful, Panggabean was level 18 and a level 26 [Swordsman].

Maya tossed one of his assistants a healing potion. “Don’t point weapons at me,” she said. “Sorry I broke your hands.” Maya looked at everyone else. “Weapons away, everybody. You shoot, you try to kill, I’ll know and then I’ll have to stop you. This whole tribalistic thinking is some major BS right now. We have to work together, you have to work together. This Cage is bonded to your settlements and we need to build everyone up with what we have so that we can save as many human lives as possible.”

She slapped her hand down upon the table, startling everyone. “Now. You all have a few days to come to a lot of decisions. Determine what you need, figure out how to solve the issues you face, I will do everything I can to help everyone I can. But there is one underlying thing that you have to understand. I can’t give anything away for free. This isn’t some merchant greed I’m talking about, this is a simple truth of the way things are. I need to purchase goods from foreign parts, I need to buy machinery, and parts, and all that good stuff. That requires credits. If I just give away credits, I can’t buy all that crap that is needed.”

“How are we to generate credits, then?” a woman asked.

“By killing mana mutations,” Maya replied. “It’s honest work and it does need to be done we will gladly buy any of the biomass you want to sell, some can be harvested for alchemical goods and other products.”

“I was a Chemical Engineer,” Zhang said. “You want us to all become hunters to sell to the trading post? Western goods for Eastern resources. It is only desperation that we agreed to the settlement deal. This is a reflection of the past and we all know how that turned out.”

There was a murmur of agreement.

“Yo, I’m not East India Company, alright? I’m just a girl trying to save the world, by buying up as much of it as possible.’

“You have just shown us that you have all the power. We’re just acting out some foolish notion of working together to legitimize your own control of us all,” another said.

May turned to Hanna, George, and Yosi. “See? This is why I said let them deal with it. Try to do some good in the world and every-fucking-body thinks you’re working for America or seeking to build some kind of empire off the backs of the poor.” Maya sighed heavily. “Get your shit together, guys. Don’t kill one another and in two days I’ll return.”

Maya walked to the door.

“Maya!” Yosi called out, but she was already out the door. She shaped the Cage and sank into the deck, a small orb of Cage material moving through the exterior of the Cage and reaching an empty classroom.

She sat down in a chair and leaned back in it.

“Ugh!”

***

“She scares the shit out of me,” Maya said to Asoltolia. The two sat in a patio overlooking Sanctuary Nexus. Hanna had found an architect and they were beginning to reshape some of the buildings, something about making things flow from one area to another to ease congestion and create a more harmonized whatever.

“I would imagine, a Tier 3 Matriarch,” Asoltolia sipped her coffee and looked out over the fake trees and grass. “There aren’t many who make it to Tier 3 in the Union. The Sword of the Universe tends to use them up, fighting and dying in his never ending war against mana mutations and rogue AIs.”

“How are the politics of House Revvena?” Maya asked. “Or is that too personal of a question to ask?”

Asoltolia snorted. “The war continues. We have quadrupled our numbers,” she grinned.

“Really?”

“Yes, some lesser branches left their leaders and vowed fidelity to our branch. We have gained quiet a few soldiers and ships.”

“Can you trust them?” Maya asked.

“Inter-House wars are strange things. They are not fully trusted, but they will fight and die for me,” she said nonchalantly. “A lot of lesser soldiers, although. I would require a lot to train them up. And the only training we can get so far is simple battle or VR exercises. One does not gain Skills and levels from VR exercises.”

Maya nodded. All her hard won Engineering levels were dulled by the fact that a lot of her time was figuring out how to dismantle or rebuild something in the VR gear.

“Yeah, only if you had a Tier 2 planet full of monsters to grind your soldiers levels on,” Maya said, smirking.

Asoltolia chuckled. “Indeed.”

“I’ve been hearing a lot from the settlement leaders I have about the lack of a fighting force to reinforce their own people,” Maya said, thinking back on all men and women who had tried talking to her about giving them the same amount of weapons and gear that she had given to Ko Sumai. It was a difficult discussion, as Ko Sumai was her ‘capitol’ and it was also the testbed to figure out what was needed to make a successful defensible settlement. “Its not that the people can’t fight, it’s that they’re overwhelmed.”

“I have very good rates for mercenaries,” Asoltolia said. “I believe Peg offered our services also?”

“Yeah, when we first met. I didn’t think I would need them, but a few of these settlements are being hit pretty hard. You won’t be pissed about casualties?”

“Death is inevitable,” Asoltolia said. “My men know I won’t just throw their lives away and as long as we have a good logistics network and aren’t thrown directly into a shit situation, we will view it as acceptable losses.”

“One thing I’m truly impressed by from this whole Integration thing, is that people are very adaptable. My world wasn’t as focused on leveling fighting skills as yours are, but we had our fair share of soldiers. Most of the population was in the service industry, retail, or even manufacturing. There were no fears of animals coming out to attack ou at any moment. It was peaceful. But with everything the way it is now, so many men and women have risen to the occasion. With makeshift weapons and sheer bravery, they’re fighting back to regain their homes and nations. It’s impressive.”

“I’ve never seen any newly Integrated worlds, but I do believe that my people would have perished if we were faced with a Tier adjustment to our world.”

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“How many soldiers can I get?” Maya asked.

“Depends on how much you have in credits. 250-300 credits a day for low-grades, 400-750 a day for mid-grade, but those are only for officers and pilots. We don’t really rent out our mid-grade fighters, too much of an investment. The same with high-grades, their skills are needed. We supply our own gear, but you’ll need to supply the logistics network to refuel, rearm, and replace battle damage.”

“Oof, sounds expensive.”

“War is expensive.”

“Discount on allowing them to fight on a Tier 2 world?” Maya asked.

Asoltolia laughed. “Well war-war is expensive. This is mana mutation suppression, it’s a whole different set up and gear needed. A thousand SIL battle brigade will cost you about 360,000 credits a day. With fuel, weapons, and ammo, that’ll run up to nearly half a million credits a day, that’s on you to provide yourself.”

“Still, the System gives out rewards for killing mana mutations, credits, especially.”

“All the cost of doing business, that’s why its so cheap. Would you be willing to risk your life for two hundred and fifty credits a day?”

“True.” Maya sighed. “Can I toss in my own piss poor troops for you to power level?”

“Of course, they’ll all be under the Command Brigade, so they’ll get a share of the experience.”

“How many?”

“With a brigade, I can accommodate up to two hundred non-combatants or two hundred and fifty combatants. Any more and the soldiers get pissy because they’re losing about a quarter of the experience gains.”

“Understandable,” Maya said.

“Also, they’ll have to be lower than the troop average, for a low-grade brigade, that’s about level 10.”

“Think I can find some of those lying around,” Maya grinned. “They won’t cut and run, will they? I mean there are some big ass monsters that will appear from mana renders.”

“If you’re hiring us to secure and support settlements, then we won’t cut and run. We know the dangers of what we’re doing and if it means occasionally we have to stand to the last person, then we will. Being a mercenary in the Union is not just throwing the cheapest soldiers and pulling out once things get hard. We have an honor system of our own.”

“Cool,” Maya said.

“It’s a thirty day minimum contract,” Asoltolia said. ‘We’ll go by relative time, with the platoon lieutenants counting out time. As you know, a day here is just a tad over two hours in the MVT. Haven’t had to deal with something like that, but the multiverse is full of adaptation. Half up front, half when the contract is over.”

“Well, I did spend twenty million on the satellites you sold me,” Maya said. “I think I can spend roughly eleven million to secure some of the hard hit areas on my planet. How long until you’re able to get your troops into the Cage?”

“You’re in luck, we’ve got the asteroid we’re currently occupying filled to the brim. So many families have been arriving that we’re running out of space. I suppose we can release a thousand soldiers and gear within a standard day. If I remember correctly, you were asking about trainers and teachers? I have a few hundred who could teach your people about various trades.”

Maya had to grin. “You seem to always have what I need,” Maya said.

“Who is the merchant here?” Asoltolia asked.

“Right?”

***

Emilia Morales was shoved roughly against the dirty brick wall. She winced at the pain, but that was drowned out by the fear of the man before her.

“That little puta brother of yours is dead,” the man said. “Fucker thought he could fight monsters and level up?” Angel Gonzales laughed, spittle striking Emilia’s face. “Where’s your big fucking mouth now, bitch?”

The Market of Chicago was bustling, but eyes immediately turned away when they saw what was happening. People had survived Integration and they weren’t all that willing to put their lives on the line for a little spat between two people. It didn’t matter if one was a five foot seventeen year old girl and the other was a thirty year old man with the armor and gear of someone who went out to fight monsters.

Emilia didn’t say anything, instead she tried to sink into the wall. Some people had said that you gained various powers based on need. If you were in a tough situation and needed a power to survive, then the System would give you that power. Right now she needed the power to turn invisible and run as fast as possible.

The System didn’t appear to agree.

“I never insulted you,” Emilia said softly. She tried to look him in the eye, but she couldn’t. She could only look that pocked cement and the heavy boots Angel wore.

“You’re one of those little bitches that talk a lot of shit when they have someone to fight for them. You think you can say shit just because you were going to Harvard before all this shit?” Angel laughed mockingly. “Bitch there ain’t no Harvard anymore and you’re just another dumb Mexican slut who’ll be spreading her legs before the week is out. That’s all your cunts are worth.”

Emilia shivered, not looking at him. Gustavo had gone out on a hunt two nights before and hadn’t returned. Everyone knew he was high leveled, that he brought in credits for his mother and sister. Life had been going well since the Sullivan Box arrived, people could now sell the meat they were taking from the kills and sell it to the strange box and buy other stuff they needed.

There was safety in being Gustavo’s sister. Emilia knew that and she had felt bit of freedom in speaking her mind when the Mayor’s goons wandered around. They knew Gustavo and they knew what he did. Hunters were needed, to keep the mana mutations down and quiet a few of them had higher levels and better gear that those asshole cops and soldiers.

“Yo, it’s Angel gonads,” a voice said. “What the fuck you doing out here? You read the sign? Says all dogs gotta be on a leash.”

Emilia looked to see a soldier idly standing there, a tall man with Asian features. He looked Angel up and down.

“What’s going on here? She being paid to look that scared? Because if you all are doing some kind of fucked up foreplay, you know the rules. Keep it to the brothels. There’s scummy little kids running amok out here and we all gotta be thinking about the children.”

“I ain’t doing nothing, Chu,” Angel said.

“Yeah, you won’t be doing nothing.” The soldier replied. “Beat it, small fry. Go pound sand and if your boss gets butt-hurt, tell him to suck an egg.”

“You fucking soldiers,” Angel said, turning away from Emila. “You think you’re bad ass? You ain’t shit.”

“Ow, my feels are deeply wounded. How ever will I continue on,” Chu said. “Get the fuck out of here or your bros will need a healing potion to get your ass home.”

Angel glared at Emilia once more and then stalked off, loudly cursing, but walking away.

“T-thank you,” Emilia said to the soldier.

“No probs, girl. Better get home.”

“Can you accompany me to my home?”

“Sorry, kid. I’m stuck in the Market,” Chu said. “Apparently ditching your CO to have some beers and burgers with the Maya Sullivan is a punishable offense. Or maybe it was getting faced because we had an open tab. We’ll never know. Can’t wait for those fucknuts from the West Coast to arrive.”

“You met Maya Sullivan?” Emilia asked, amazed.

“Yup. Pretty chill,” Chu said. “Kinda crazy though. But you know what they say about the crazy ones… aw, fuck. Sorry about that, just y’know, mouth running and all.”

“I’ve heard worse,” Emilia said.

“That’s the fucked up part of it. All our social niceties go bye-bye once everyone is starving and dying. Real shame.”

Chu pushed his way through the crowds, allowing Emilia to follow in his wake. They approached the Sullivan Box and Emilia came to a stop, a golden window appearing before her.

On it played small video.

Monsters ravaged a city. Humans fled, screaming. It was like a Godzilla movie.

An animated Yosi Sullivan appeared, dressed in what looked like some kind of military uniform. It looked natural on the dinosaur woman.

“Earth is in mortal danger. Every nation, every continent, every place that mankind has called their own is under siege.” She said, her face stern.

She pointed to the Emilia, her long talons gleaming.

“I want you,” she said. “I want you to join the Mobile Infantry. The world needs you. The world needs you to fight to keep humanity alive.”

Yosi was replaced by more monsters and humans fighting. This time a group of well armed soldiers appeared, all wearing a dark armor with hints of purple in it. They carried futuristic weapons and began battling the monsters.

“Do you have what it takes? Do you have the strength of will to join the Mobile Infantry and help mankind?”

Then the commercial ended with a bad rendition of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

‘What was that?’ Emila asked.

“Bullshit recruitment,” Chu said. “Hell, I fell for that kind of shit when I was eighteen. But for the US army.”

“Yosi Sullivan is recruiting an army?”

“Fucking mercenaries,” Chu said. “Gay for pay kind of bullshit. Have some fucking decency, if you’re wanna go and kill some third world country hicks, then join the army.”

Emilia touched the still floating screen. It displayed terms of service and a lot of information.

“Two hundred and fifty credits a day?” Emila asked. “Seems low.”

“Along with a two thousand credit sign up bonus. Then you get free food, clothes, a place to sleep, gear, armor, and you don’t even have to really fight because apparently she’s bringing some aliens over to do what humans should be doing. Kicking monster butts.”

“I suppose it’s a good thing,” Emilia said after a while. “There are a lot of places being ravaged.”

“Yeah. We barely even know what the hell is happening in the next state over, but they’re thinking about what’s happening in China or Africa.”

“Africa is not a country,” Emilia said automatically.

“I can see why Angel gonads was all up in your business,” Chu replied.

Emilia ducked her head. “I don’t see anything truly wrong with what she’s doing,” she said.

“I don’t like mercenaries,” Chu said. “They’re in it for the money, that’s cool. But then they start saying they’ve been in the shit like it means anything. They’re fighting for dollar signs, not something real like the Constitution.”

“They say that if the government didn’t offer the GI Bill and healthcare, most people would not join the military,” Emilia said.

“Oh, hey look at that. My shift if over. Good luck finding your way home, kid.”

“No, wait. I’m sorry.” Emilia said quickly.

“Everyone’s got their reason for joining the military, but in the end, they did it voluntarily. They did it because they believe in it,” Chu said.

Emilia manage to keep her mouth shut as she looked at the information displayed before her.

“They say that time is different in that Cage place,” she said.

“Oh, totally. I spent a week there, came back and only fourteen hours had passed. Was bullshit because it counted as my leave.”

“It says that time in the Cage will count as time in the real world. So you’ll still get paid if you’re in the cage. If you’re in the Cage, then that’s what? Twelve days for our one?”

“They do that weird ass standard days that the System runs on. Thirty hours or so.”

“Still, that’s nearly ten days, so two thousand five hundred credits.”

Chu shrugged. “I ain’t saying it’s not a good deal. I’m just saying: fuck mercenaries.”

Emilia looked at the golden window.

“It says you gotta be less than level ten.”

“Yeah, good luck finding quality folks who are less than level 10 nowadays. Anyone with any sense who survived is beyond level 10. They’re casting a wide net, trying to scrap the bottom of the barrel. You know what that means. It’s gonna be like the Marines. Buncha yokels staring down the barrels of their railguns and talking about what a fine piece of ass their cousins are.”

“I’m level six,” Emilia said.

“Oh.”

Emilia touched the screen and accepted the terms and conditions.

“You just signed up?” Chu asked.

“Yes.”

“Cool, say I was a referral,” Chu said. “Corporal Daniel Chu.”

“What? I thought you hated mercenaries.”

“Yeah, yeah, but for every referral, I get a five hundred credit bonus and an exclusive George Hazel plushie! And it dances!”