29 - Mother’s Blade
The screaming of metal, machinery, and the cursing of men and women filled the Dock as Maya opened a doorway into it. The stench of hot oil, gasoline, smoke, and other exhausts filled the air. Orders were being shouted, announcements were being called out via intercoms that now worked, and officers and engineers roamed the area, yelling, pointing, or checking lists.
Maya stood there for a while taking the sight in. Sixty vessels filled the Dock that had been created in the Cage. Fifty three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers. There were two dozen other ships that had been rescued from the seas, each carrying weapons and munitions, but Maya had decided to keep those on standby.
The Aegis combat system that the United States Navy and some of its allies used was what sealed the deal for Maya. System tech computers could easily overwrite and stomp on anything humanity had programed or created. When Izumi and Inez had been pulling data from salvaged computers, media disks, and servers, it had shown how pathetic human encryption was.
Roci and Inez and Izumi had gone through all the vessels that were deemed shoot-worthy for the battle and had overridden all their computers. It had shocked the former commanders and engineers of the ships, realizing that the ships were technically no longer under their control. ‘Advanced’ human technology might not work in the new Integrated multiverse, but the crews still knew what kind of devastation that their missiles could inflict. Allowing that much power to be relinquished into the hands of aliens and civilians did not sit well with anyone.
More politics, more arguments, and once people saw that their old technology could be used again, they were clamoring for her to use it to help them. It didn’t matter if she kept telling them that it was impossible, as the only reason that human tech could work was because she had removed all the ambient mana from the Dock. They didn’t understand that once the missiles re-entered the Integrated Multiverse, it would stop working once more.
It was only a month after Integration, Maya had to keep telling herself. For Maya it was nearly a standard year she had been exposed to system and rogue tech. She had gotten used to it, but the people of Earth were still in the process of mentally changing the way they thought about things. Seeing missiles test fired and old computers running again brought back the nostalgia of yestermonth and brought back the dreams of being the dominate species on Earth.
She didn’t blame them, but it was hard to constantly smash down their hopes and dreams, their belief that all the modern equipment they were surrounded by wasn’t just trash. Maya sighed.
“Heavy is the crown,” Bell said beside her.
Maya snorted. “Heavy is the bullshit these people spout,” she responded. “I’m about to toss half of them out the threshold and the other half… well, they’re cool.”
“It is interesting technology,” Bell said. “Overly complicated and vastly inferior to system tech, but still interesting. There weren’t many examples of pre-Integration technology on my homeworld. I believe we were in what you would have called your iron age.”
“Really?” Maya asked.
“Several thousand years ago, yes. I suppose it would be far easier for a less technologically advanced species to survive Integration than one that was connected by a vast web of non-mana technology and logistics.”
“Yeah, that’s always the case in apocalyptic fiction,” Maya said. “The fear that we’re just too big to survive when all the shit hits the fan. I guess they were right.”
“Well, if not for your human technology, we would not have much of a defense agains the Tarvana army,” Bell replied.
“Actually without the tesseracts we wouldn’t have much of anything,” Maya said. “The tesseracts are allowing the system tech tablets to function in that zero mana environment, it’s allowing them to override the computers and plug in our own sensor data, allowing those ships to fire their missiles using system tech sensors. If we didn’t have tesseracts, none of that would work.”
“I suppose Roci is owed a raise. Without her we would not have the refined black goo and without the refined black goo we would not have tesseracts,” Bell said.
“Well, I mean, I’m the one who saved the roach rogue AI that Roci was originally formed from. So, if thanks are required…” Maya grinned.
“All thanks to Roci,” Bell continued, also giving her a grin.
“Yeah, yeah.” Maya turned to look back at the work being done on the ships. There were over two thousand people moving around and more coming every hour. With the president’s approval, a lot of the sailors and commanders that hadn’t much to do in San Diego and Hawaii had leaped at the chance to fire off the last salvo from the mightiest of human made weapons.
“Truthfully,” Maya said, “I’m not totally convinced that this will all work. It’s like a Hail Mary pass and now we’ve used far too much mana to just scrap the project.” Maya sighed. “I’m hoping that the mana purge is reducing the abilities of the high-leveled Tarvana. Without ambient mana, I’m really hoping that they’re one and done in their Skills. How much mana can they maintain with only consuming mana stones?”
“Ironwatcher’s reports show that the Tarvana they have brought with them are not entirely absent of their abilities. Some are, but for most, they’re still generating mana enough to use simple Skills.”
“Sixty ships, with about five thousand five hundred missiles they’re able to launch, let’s just hope we can bury them in fire and death before they can retaliate.”
It was the combination of the Aegis combat system and the vertical launch system that had Maya give favor to the US Navy ships. It wasn’t that the US was the only nation using both, but there were far more US Navy vessels and crews than there were of others. The two dozen other ships she had rescued could fit the bill, but their crews had suffered major losses and their equipment was in tatters.
It was also far easier to coordinate with the US military due to her new agreement with the president. The stockpiles and caches of munitions locations had been given to her and then quickly emptied by Roci and Tender. They had enough munitions to slag an entire nation and Maya hoped it was enough.
Maya watched as George rubbed his face, the man looked exhausted and harried. Hanna and George were Maya’s representatives, tasked with dealing with all the crap that was being thrown up by military leaders and anxious crews. She was glad they were there as a buffer, she had been harassed hourly by the new captain of the carrier Nimitz about launching his planes into sorties against the mana mutations.
Trying to explain to him why that wouldn’t work had only caused the man to dig in his heels and make more demands. Maya had finally just ignored him and assigned Hanna and George to deal with the people. She would have had Roci or Yosi do it, but apparently humans were still nervous around non-humans. Well honed and trained responses on not allowing anyone foreign to look through their ships and computers was one of the issues, the other being humans were just plain old xenophobic sometimes.
“A few more days,” Maya said, looking out onto the ships. “A few more days and we’ll see if the Tarvana back off or not.”
***
Maya walked down the corridors of the Hanganathorie with a Tender substitute. It was a thin and gaunt looking ant drone that had suffered some damage, but was still functional. Tender was seated in his special chair, commanding the scores of drones around the ship and in the hiveship.
Upon the back of the drone was a massive cylindrical tank of black goo. Maya frowned slightly at the sight, it was a sign they were running low on power. Tender and Roci had figured out that tossing large cylinders of black goo back in the multiverse would also charge them up. There was enough ambient mana to go around and there was also enough black goo to be used in its non-netting state. Scotty had been manufacturing more black goo than they could turn into black goo netting.
Maya looked upon the drones wandering around the Hangy and outside of it, she could see they all carried massive packs of black goo on their backs. It was a stop gap measure as the black goo packs weren’t anywhere near as good as a tesseract pack, but for now they could keep the drones moving for nearly a standard day before they had to be recharged.
There were other changes going on that surprised Maya somewhat. Tarvana were wandering the ship, moving quickly and carrying loads of components or bits of machinery. They gave a slight bow to Maya and then hurried on.
“What’s up with them?” Maya asked.
“They’re working,” Tender responded. “Scotty and Ironwatcher, with BadBlood’s blessing, have been using the non-combat Tarvana to assist in the manufacturing process.”
“Wait, no one asked for my blessing?” Maya asked.
“I believe Scotty’s base programing stated that he had authority to do what was needed to increase efficiency and manufacturing capability.”
“Right,” Maya grinned. “What are they being paid in?”
“Experience,” Tender said.
“That’s some sweat shop payment,” Maya said.
“They are also getting food, medical treatment, and are going to be defended by you and the weapons you are bringing.”
Maya sighed. “You’re a board member of the 3S, Tender. You have authorization to create an employment contract with these peeps. Make sure we’re not taking advantage of them and see to it that they are paid for the work and hours they put in.”
“I shall,” Tender said. He was quiet for a moment. “Are you sure? We are losing lot of credits these days with the Emporium’s sells being suspended.”
“Yeah, it’s just credits,” Maya said. “We have a lot of stuff we can sell to raise more credits, it’s just that right now we don’t want to piss off the people helping us.”
“I have seen your negotiations with the United States President,” Tender said.
Maya shrugged. “I lost my temper there. Afterward we got into some decent negotiations. People…” Maya paused, “no, leaders on Earth are still stuck in the old paradigm of pre-Integration. I don’t blame them. But they’re still a chore to work with. In a few months they’ll be fully into Integration lifestyles and habits. Right now, we just gotta slog through all their bullshit to get where we want.”
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“I shall pay the Tarvana,” Tender said.
“Thanks, buddy. I appreciate it.” Maya took a side corridor and reached the airlock Bell, Tender, and she had put in long ago after the Roach King attack. She paused at the open airlock and had to smile at the shoddy work. She could see all the places that needed to be redone and all the wiring that was abysmal.
The darkness of the RSH was no longer absolute. Generators and lamps had been brought in from Earth and now were being used to cast light around work being done. Bad Blood and her fighters were digging trenches, creating walls of earth and metal, and fortifying areas that needed it.
The Tarvana were miners with earth moving Skills. A third of their dietary requirements consisted of mana stones, condensed mana that had become… stones. That external mana was what had kept them from all dying when the mana purge occurred. The consumption of stones brought them out of the sickness caused by depleted mana.
Maya had once made an agreement for trade of mana stones as it was one of the ingredients necessary to make black goo. That trade agreement had stopped when Whiteclaw, the former Tarvana leader, had died from rogue AIs and the mana purge was initiated. Bad Blood had then taken over and led her people back to the Motherland, where all this trouble she now faced began.
Mana stones for the five thousand plus Tarvana now camping around the Hangy wasn’t too much of an issue. Maya had put a stop to their mining for stones under the ship, not wanting to have any tunnels around her base of operations. In the bed of what was once a mana lake, the ‘earth’ had been all turned into mana stones. It was kilometers long and wide of pure mana stones. That had been a resource she had begun to mine to make the black goo after Bad Blood and her people left. She still had a small mining operation in the bed of the lake, using the threshold to bring in some stones when they were required.
The purer stones Maya had given the Tarvana which boosted them into working harder and longer. They were able to use their Skills longer without needing to replenish their mana stores. That made their work more efficient and of better quality.
Maya was happy to see defenses finally going up around the Hangy. Although she had defense turrets of railguns, canister turrets, and a few more gun turrets; there was something more comforting about massive walls. Things felt safer behind walls.
Having the machines or SIL to labor for her had been the bottleneck that Maya had never been able to fully solve. With returning to Earth, her entire industrial capability was fairly small, even with Scotty running everything she couldn’t produce more than a modest sized factory back on Earth. Maya looked on the thousands of Tarvana moving about and felt a twinge of hope. If she could keep the Tarvana here, if she could defeat the Blood Harvester Army, she could finally build something in the RSH.
That had been her original plan when meeting Whiteclaw’s tribe. She had wanted to use their abilities, skills, and knowledge to build more stuff that she could then use to help Earth. Yet, the hiveship, Bad Blood, and the mana purge had put a stop to that idea. Now, though… now Maya saw that her old dream could come true. She could build up the Tarvana and increase her own industrial capabilities.
“Of course, telling the System what you want will only cause ‘em to fuck it up,” Maya said.
“Ah, your hopes and dreams for what may come if we win this battle?” Tender asked.
“You know me too well, buddy,” Maya said.
She made her way out of the Hangy and proceeded to Bad Blood’s command tent. It was odd seeing a tent in this world, as there was no weather to speak of. Well, besides the mana purge that had plunged the world into a wintery landscape a few days back. Now the weather had retuned to its balmy room temperature.
Maya felt like she was traveling through time as she entered the Tarvana camp. The high technology of the Hangy was replaced with what would have been modern tech back before Integration. People were clustered around industrial lamps and machines powered by gasoline generators.
The noise of several ATVs and motorcycles filled the air as messengers and couriers moved around. There were a few trucks that had been imported and were carrying cargo around, helping the drones move equipment or devices out of the hiveship and into the security of the Hangy. Maya watched it all, impressed.
Although she had her issues with Bad Blood, the woman seemed to have a keen organizational mind. She had managed to get her new people out of the Motherland and back to the Hangy without the trouble of them all starving like the Blood Harvester Army. She knew logistics and how to plan, that in itself made her a decent ally. Although Bad Blood’s general disdain for life and its value was still something that Maya had to come to terms with.
Maya was happy to see the vehicles moving around. It reminded her of the early days in the RSH, just her and the food truck, Bonita. They had several weeks together until the old truck had been killed by the rogue AI Big Snake.
“What do you want?” Bad Blood asked as Maya entered her tent. It was the woman’s version of being polite.
“Just seeing how things are,” Maya said.
“We told your pet rogue AI already. Do you not believe him or do you not believe us?”
“Neither, but I prefer to see with my own eyes,” Maya said. The smallish Tarvana woman had a resting asshole face, it seemed always displeased and angry. Maya chalked it up to stress. Some SIL didn’t do well with stress. “Well, we’re gonna be ready to hit the army in a few days. How ready will y’all be?”
“We shall be completed with our defenses within the next standard day,” Bad Blood said. “It will do little against the higher leveled of the Army, but we hope to be able to hold the lower-grades back while you deal with them.”
Maya nearly grimaced at that remark. Sixty thousand Tarvana and hundreds of mid-grade and high-grade combat orientated SIL. The thought occasionally made her regret deciding to defend Bad Blood and her group. Although, she knew she would always have agreed, the thought of just ditching the woman and letting this little civil war pass her by was a fantasy she had been indulging in lately.
“We’re banking on the lack of mana to lower their combat abilities,” Maya said.
“They have our tesseracts, I believe.” Bad Blood said, her face becoming more annoyed and angry. “All we sacrificed was taken from us.”
Maya kept her mouth shut. What did the little Tarvana expect? Her entire culture was built on the strong surviving, in the mana purge that was afflicting the RSH, holding onto what amounted to eight billion gens of useable mana was riches beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
“Won’t the Mother keep that for her own uses?” Maya asked.
“It is something we do not know,” Bad Blood muttered. “She is smart and she might have given some of the tesseracts to her generals, so that they could use their powers in this attack.”
“It’s what I’d do,” Maya said.
Bad Blood snorted and gave her a condescending look. “Then she will perhaps do the opposite,” she said.
The roar of a motorcycle filled the air and Maya peered out of the tent, seeing a Tarvana scout racing back. She was disheveled and bleeding, but frantic as she ditched the bike and rushed into Bad Blood’s tent.
“Mistress!” the Tarvana cried, dropping to the floor before Bad Blood. “We have been summoned. The High General Deathblade demands an audience.”
Bad Blood stroked her chin. “Perhaps this can be solved diplomatically,” she said.
“Yeah, no,” Maya said. “You head over there and meet this Deathblade SIL and you’ll just end up dead.”
“The High General would not call an audience for no reason. He is too proud and too much a believer of the Mother,” Bad Blood said. “They must be suffering casualties from their poor logistic network.”
“Or they want you to foolishly walk into a trap,” Maya said.
“Ultimately this fight is between me and the Mother,” Bad Blood said. “I shall make the decisions here.”
“Bullshit,” Maya said. “You’re outnumbered twelve to one, you barely have any weapons, and you brought ME into this fight. You think your little general buddy is gonna leave me be? After you’ve spilled the beans on what I have and what I command?” Maya shook her head. “As the one with all the guns and the power, I’m putting my foot down. Ignore the asshole, let his army starve, and then we’ll mop up what’s left.”
“Do not order me about, SIL,” Bad Blood hissed. “I shall make my own mind up on these matters.”
“Jesus, not only are you a thankless asshole, you’re also probably the dumbest Tarvana I’ve met,” Maya snapped.
“Dumbest?” Bad Blood growled.
“The High General wishes a response quickly,” the scout said, fear in her eyes. She glanced at Maya and then at Bad Blood.
“It’s no,” Maya stated flatly. “The High General can go fuck themselves.”
Bad Blood hissed again, but didn’t say anything.
“That is the message I shall return?” the scout asked.
“Yeah,” Maya said.
The Tarvana scout began laughing, a slow cackle that shook her shoulders and then she tossed her head back, laughing hysterically. Bad Blood frowned at her, her face contorting in rage and anger once more.
“You had only the one chance to be forgiven by Mother,” the scout said.
Maya watched in fascinated horror as the woman began to warp and change, the minimal mana aura that Maya had felt suddenly exploded outward, nearly filling the tent with power that had been condensed and hidden. Maya realized this wasn’t the low leveled scout that had been sent out.
Bone Blade
Level 72
[Mother’s Blade] Level 50
“All enemies of Mother shall be destroyed!” the scout screamed, a long blade appearing in her hands.
The blade flashed between the distance separating Maya and the Tarvana scout turned not a scout. All of Maya’s survival instincts were screaming for her to defend herself or run. She did the former and summoned her armor around her.
She was too slow.
Being Tier 2 and Level 100 did not mean she was invulnerable from weapons or injuries. When she was pricked, she did bleed. The blade slashed up her unarmored arm, almost without resistance it cut deeply into her skin and up, slicing through muscle and then stopping abruptly against the bone. That’s when the pain hit Maya, an explosion of intense agony that started a heartbeat before the blade was wrenched free. She watched in horror, it wasn’t the first time she’d been injured or injured badly, losing and eye, a hand, major burns across her body, and nearly having her brain explode, those things were all apart of the job. It didn’t mean she was used to it though.
Crimson poured down her arm and the armor finally finished summoning, staunching the wound and sealing it up. The HUD lit up, screaming about injuries and the auto-injector of a low-grade healing potion was pumped into her veins. She felt the potion going to work, a slight burning sensation that traveled across her body and into her arms.
“Fuck!” Maya finally screamed, an axe forming in her hand.
The figure of Bone Blade appeared again, her knife flashing and screeching against Maya’s armor. Maya staggered back from the strike, grunting in surprise and slight pain, her HUD once again screamed that there was damage. This time the armor itself, not her. She looked down to see a long jagged slash across the breastplate of the armor, nearly cutting through it and into her flesh.
“That’s a sharp blade,” she muttered, moving back.
Bad Blood was shouting something and the guards that were protecting her burst into the tent. They were big and they were armored well from Maya’s stock to complement their levels and abilities. They died within moments, the figure of Bone Blade flickering about in the semi darkness of the tent and drawing jagged cuts across necks, arteries, and into the base of heads. The four guards flopped to the ground barely eliciting a cry.
“I am the Mother’s Blade,” Bone Blade hissed. “Know who has killed you.”
“I ain’t dead yet,” Maya snapped and threw herself forward.
Bone Blade flickered from her position, vanishing from sight, but Maya could feel the dimensional space around her warping, making way for the Tarvana as she teleported. It was an interesting Skill, Maya thought, as she pivoted from her strike, bringing the axe in an arc that swung into an empty space to her right.
Bone Blade appeared, parrying the axe strike with her blade. The weapon Bone Blade carried bit into the axe, nearly lopping the axe head from the weapon. Maya was impressed. That was obviously a decent quality dagger. Once Bone Blade was dead, she could probably sell it for a decent price.
Bad Blood wasn’t standing around in the fight, she snatched up a sawed off railgun that had been set on a chair. There was a boom in the tent as the railgun spat its only shot. With the mana purge, the railgun was a single shot weapon now. It barely had enough power to be fired and had to be modified with an external black goo pack.
Bone Blade was fast, but she wasn’t fast enough to dodge a railgun slug. The slug clipped her left arm, the force behind the slug ripped off the arm and sent the assassin spinning. Maya followed, slamming her armored boot down on the woman’s wrist and shattering the bone. The blade clattered from her hands, but she didn’t scream or cry out in pain.
Instead the assassin stared up at Maya, blood pouring from her left stump, and a wild look in her eyes.
“My life for the Mother.” She began laughing and then she exploded.