The Forges were about the same as Shen had left them, with crafters doing their thing regardless of whatever happened in the rest of the mobile fortress. The glaring exception was the absence of Lieutenant Specialist Aimer Genmenor.
Shen had previously guessed the B-rank had thrown him in the vault to protect the C-rank, not because he had found the experiment. The evidence supported the theory. He might be mistaken, but there was no point second-guessing how comprehensive his contextual knowledge was. He would continue with the belief that the asshole, whoever they had been, hadn't been in on the Void business.
As soon as he stepped out, the system bombarded him with belayed notifications. Almost every one of them was a message asking where he was and pointing out they had fugitives for him to pass judgment upon. His absence was deemed critical around five minutes after the first C-rank failed to contact him, and less than a minute later, Rayna took over.
| You have temporarily lost command of the 7th Exemplary Brigade
| The 7th Exemplary Brigade is now under Staff Lieutenant Rayna's command
Shen had never stated which of his helpers should replace him if he disappeared or was considered unfit for duty, but she was the obvious pick. She was stronger than Luthdel and not a high elf in a place teeming with people from that race. Drow and high elves were allies, but she was still the best pick.
After she took over, he almost exclusively got messages from her, with the odd one here and there from Alicia and Luthdel, both very worried about him. Sai sent him only one message, and Martino a few asking to meet with him.
| Acting Commander Rayna (C): Commander, I have taken control of the Brigade and will continue to enact your orders. I'll keep the fugitives locked up and waiting for you. I'll wait for you for half a day before convening with all C-ranks to discuss the Brigade's future.
| Acting Commander Rayna (C): Fugitive Aithlin Sylren, D-rank, found.
| Acting Commander Rayna (C): Fugitive Ruven Caitris, C-rank, found.
| Acting Commander Rayna (C): Fugitive Kushvar, D-rank, found.
| Acting Commander Rayna (C): Fugitive Nesterin Ilibalar, D-rank, found.
Rayna kept Shen informed of what was happening without going into much detail. She could always give him the full report later if he returned. Moreover, he was missing, possibly compromised, and she wouldn't want to leak critical information before she knew why.
Before doing anything about that, Shen said, "I was pushed into a vault containing a Void tool by a B-rank. I request access to the local recordings to identify the perpetrator."
| Report sent
| Request denied
After the underwhelming response from his earlier report, he expected such an answer. Shen had a tiny hope that the vault had been blocking the system from saying anything, but that wasn't the case. He would try again after he was far from this place, but he was sure it also wouldn't work.
Whoever had almost killed him had friends in high places.
That was pretty weird considering the zero-tolerance policy in the Void Tide, but no matter how dire the situation, those with enough power or the right connections would always have a way around the rules.
"Send a message to Lieutenant Rayna: I'm back. Send me your coordinates."
They would need to meet in person so she could assess whether he was fit for duty after disappearing. In theory, if the system wasn't worried about him, she also shouldn't be, but the military wouldn't trust the system with such things. Rayna even had the right not to return command to him, in which case he would need to find his superior and hope they intervened. Shen would rather not take something so pathetic for the General to deal with.
| Acting Commander Rayna (C): Samir-7's entrance
Her reply was still straight to the point, not saying anything she shouldn't. It was a textbook interaction with a commander who returned after a while.
Shen rushed there. On the way, instead of absolute chaos, he encountered organized tension. His predictions about what would happen had been spot on. The weak and poorly connected Bounty targets were gone. The remaining ones were protected by peers or superiors who, while forbidden from directly interfering, were willing to break the rules to protect their people or promised payback later.
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There would still be some shakeups here and there as adversaries or enemies grouped to deal with those people. New Bounties were also still appearing, and it might affect everything. But order had mostly returned.
Multiple times, Shen went through checkpoints. People wanted to stop him so they could review the currently small Bounty list, looking for his name. He dealt with them all the same way.
He yelled, "I'm deployed! Get out of the way!"
Everyone immediately complied. The recent mayhem had taught them some lessons about not tempting fate by breaking any rules.
The entire Exemplary Brigade was waiting for Shen by the fortress's entrance. They had formed ranks. Rayna, in front of everyone, lorded over the captured fugitives, all unconscious on the ground. The two C-ranks were kept in commoner garments and locked by expensive B- chains that prevented them from garnering energy or using their Path outside themselves. They might break the things if they wanted, but it would be treason and cause their unarmored and weaponless selves to be immediately put down.
The 7th Brigade's haul hadn't been as bountiful as the one Shen almost got at the vault. There were only a little over thirty fugitives there. Still a good number, all things considered.
Shen ignored them at first and approached Rayna. "Acting Commander Rayna," he addressed as he should. "I request you relinquish command back to me."
Everyone was looking at Shen. The Brigade's C-ranks analyzed him using whichever tools they had. Rayna made system queries, and all used their senses.
"First Lieutenant Shen, before anything else, go through a B-tier identity check," Rayna replied after a few moments, pointing at the fortress's entrance.
He nodded and did as told. The system went through his True Self as soon as he walked through the threshold, coming from the outside. He felt like he could block it with his domain if he wanted.
The scan was painless. Mana watched over him and poked a few places in his body, mind, and soul. He then returned to Rayna.
She immediately said, "I return command to First Lieutenant Shen."
| You're now commanding the 7th Exemplary Brigade
"Thank you," Shen replied.
Finally, he looked at Luthdel, Alicia, and Sai and nodded. The first two were very relieved at seeing him alive and well. Sai also was, but it was less emotional. For him, it was a practical matter; it was better for him for Shen to be alive.
He had kept himself from interacting with them as a "deposed" Commander because it would look bad on them if he were deemed compromised. Considering the B-rank who had thrown him at the vault, that had always been a possibility, regardless of the truth. They shouldn't even send him messages, but it wasn't exactly against the rules; it was only poor decision-making. It could hurt them and no one else, as Rayna had access to all messages they had sent him in that period. They could've been branded traitors if they said something other than asking him where and how he was.
Rayna also relaxed slightly after she relinquished command to him. "Glad to have you back, Commander."
Shen nodded. "Glad to be back. I see none of us got a Bounty on their heads," he said, glancing at his subordinates. "Acting General Long Hei did a good job selecting us."
"Indeed, Commander," Rayna replied.
He noticed five people missing and checked the Brigade's logs. They were dead. Two E-ranks and three D-ranks had passed in mere hours.
Speaking of which, now that Shen had his authority back, he checked Samir-7's Guardian populace.
Eighteen percent of Samir's Guardians were either dead or in jail.
Such a percentage was crazy to Shen. It was close to one in five people dying! Sure, people liked to use whatever resources they had available, including any illegal deeds' quota, but to think that many people had walked that close to the line...
He checked the list of recently completed C-rank Bounties and lower, which he only had access to because this was the military and he was a Brigade Commander. A quick scan revealed over one-third of the casualties were in jail or dead because they tried to protect those they cared about. The little episode back in La'sing after the expeditionary training, where the girl got upset her brother was killed, showed people could act with little to no self-preservation, and this was no different. After years of fighting the Void on the front lines, plenty of Guardians had saved each others' lives and grown close. Also, debts needed to be repaid. Promises needed to be kept. Plans for the future, which depended on the interested parties being free, needed to be preserved.
Many non-guilty Guardians had also died seeking Bounties. The Brigade had gotten it easy. That, too, showed their quality, not only in strength but also in knowing when to engage or retreat. His orders should also have assisted them so they wouldn't be caught alone.
However, either his orders were insufficient, or they disobeyed him. And if the dead had disobeyed him, so had, potentially, whoever was supposed to stay around to protect him.
"Explain to me how we lost five people," he commanded Rayna.
She did. Shen felt bittersweet by the fact that, indeed, four people had disregarded his orders and died because of it. The fifth had just gotten greedy and reached further than she should have.
"...and the four were under Battalion Commander Vinamour," she concluded her report.
Shen waited a moment, but she had indeed finished. He raised an eyebrow at that. "Didn't you investigate the matter?"
"No, Commander. I postponed it until the meeting later in case you didn't return."
It had been a safe move. Rayna didn't want to mess with someone stronger than her unless she had no alternative. She also would rather not pass judgment that Shen might disagree with. Lastly, her life might depend on Vinamour one day, so there was no reason to get at odds with him for something she didn't need to touch if Shen returned.
"Very well," Shen replied and turned to Vinamour, who stood a dozen yards behind her. "Explain."
The guy had been ready for the demand. He looked firmly into Shen's eyes and said, "I'll postpone any comment until the end of the current mission, Commander."
It was a smart move. If Shen thought Vinamour had messed up badly, he could demand the guy to answer now. It was a potential time sink, though, not to mention Shen might need to punish Vinamour in a way that made him temporarily unfit for duty. Debriefing him after they dealt with the fugitives was better for the mission. All things considered, five deaths was an acceptable rate.
Yet, 80% of the deaths had been from the same Battalion Commander. That suggested a systemic failure that might cause much worse casualties in actual battle. Shen refused to continue without fixing that, which required him to investigate the matter.
"You have until the end of the fugitives' trials to think of what you'll say," Shen replied, much to the guy's surprise. He was going beyond the call of duty of even an Exemplary Brigade.
Shen turned to the first chained C-rank and checked his system records. He was a traitor; no need to waste time with questions. He executed the high elf with a spear strike and checked the next fugitive.