As Matthew stared at the holographic display that showed the Beastmen’s former capital city nested on top of a mountain peak with their holy machine nested in an artificial cave at the very top, he had only one thing to say
“... Why can’t this fucking ball of dirt be fucking normal for once… Zombies? Really?”
The Beastman capital itself was nothing special, sure the homes, streets and outer walls carved out of the mountain was cool, that wasn’t the problem here, the problem was the massive population of vaguely humanoid shaped… Things, that roamed around the general area, their bodies were covered in spots of gleaming silver metal, from the observation the surveillance drones had done of them so far, they ripped apart anything that moved that wasn’t the same monstrosities while moving around in packs of 5 to 20, Matthew closed his eyes and massaged his temples with closed eyes as he once again asked, hoping he had heard Aea’s report wrongly
“How many did you say?”
[Around 2000 have been logged so far, the population density increase towards the west and the Turman kingdom]
Matthew’s eyes remained closed for a few moments longer as he passed his turn and got past his ‘bitching about’ phase and swiftly moved into his ‘dealing with’ phase
“Alright, send in the androids, keep your distance, after that secure some contained samples and ship them to Doc for analysis… As for the rest of you…”
Matthew looked around at his gathered troops, the 4 Haliea’s had landed in a clearing while the scout drones had taken a closer look, but with the new information he had to call it
“We’re suspending the operation, I am not sending any biological soldiers near a clearly active transmittable bio-contaminate until we have a treatment available, or we have absolute assurance that we won’t get infected”
Most of the Beastmen looked somewhat disappointed that they had to wait to reconquer their homeland, however none spoke out against Matthew’s decision, but one Beastman that continued to stare at the image of the biological zombie-like horrors on the holographic imager voiced their collective doubts
“... Can that even be cured?”
Matthew raised an eyebrow and asked
“What’s your name?”
The beasman woman kneeled down and lowered her head as soon as Matthew addressed her, before she spoke respectfully
“My name is Kura, Major”
Matthew showed a grin and spoke
“Well then Kura, that is now your problem to solve”
Kura raised her head and looked at Matthew in confusion before she asked
“...Pardon? My problem?”
Matthew nodded, but hid away his shit eating grin before Alina could slap the back of his head as he explained
“Congratulations, you have been promoted to medic, of course I am not going to handle that alone, I am reassigning you under the single most dangerous woman in our merry group of misfits… Aea, ship her South along with the samples and have Doc give her a crash course”
[Confirmed]
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
-
Waking up once again proved to be a dreadful experience, forget your run-of-the-mill hangover, this kind of hangover would have even a freshman collage student swear of booze for at least 2 months, alas this was nothing much to Doc that had lived her long life in search of the ultimate chemical high
“...Run a Detox routine, Aea”
[Confirmed, running detox…]
Doc closed her eyes again as the nanites worked their magic, she was sprawled out on a king-sized double bed wearing a large loose fitting t-shirt and a pair of distinctly unsexy panties, her figure was the very image of early stage cat-lady, only without any of the fury critters around, 4 empty bottles of high proof liquor lay mostly empty on king-sized bed along with various half consumed drinking snacks, one might scold Doc for her messy room, but she wouldn’t really care because she were officially on vacation
[The detox routine have been complete, however I suggest you consume some solid food and drink some water]
“Sure… When I feel like it…”
A smile formed on Doc’s face as she began planing what she would do for the rest of her 2nd vacation day when Aea’s voice once again echoed out
[I have received a message from the Major, I am afraid that your vacation have been shortened by 2 days]
Doc’s eyes opened wide, she continued to stare at the ceiling of her room in stunned silence for a few moments before she covered her face with a pillow, then she began screaming into said pillow for a solid minute, this was followed by a few minutes of silence before she spoke
“...Hit me with a double dosage, Aea”
[Confirmed, administering dosage]
Silence followed for a few minutes longer before Doc removed the pillow from her face and sat herself up on the bed and looked around for her tablet, which she found just out of her reach, flopping over on the bed again she unlocked it and looked over the message Matthew had sent her along with the attached data before she flatly declared
“Fuck that”
Rolling around on her back again, Doc continued staring at the ceiling before she asked
“How long until the transport arrives?”
[Accounting for local temporal disturbance, anywhere between 20 and 27 hours]
Doc let out a sigh before she finally got out of bed and walked towards the shower as she ordered
“Restock reagent A4, D109, O19 and K81… Then compile a virtual training package for my student and set a timer for 1 hour and 30 minutes before the transport touches down”
[Orders received]
“...Oh, and warm up my wings, I’ll take a flight to clear my head… I am making the most of this last vacation day, Aea”
[Confirmed, shall I log a complaint?]
“Log 2, one for cutting my vacation short, and one for shoving me more work in form of a student”
[Complaints have been logged]
-
Having had his entire operation ruined, Matthew sulked for a couple of hours before an unwelcome guest began knocking on their security perimeter. Laying on his stomach as Alina had ordered so she could massage his back, Matthew looked sideways at the live drone footage of the army that were intruding on his territory
“I really just want to pound them with artillery and call it a day…”
Alina that worked on his very stiff upper back responded to his idle musing
“Then why don’t you?”
Matthew continued staring at the footage for a few silent minutes before he let out a sigh and sounded out an order
“Aea, contact the leadership of the intruding Willmir army and inform them that I will have a remote meeting for diplomatic mediation… Send a battalion of drones and the former Willmir citizens to oversee the op… Leave it hands off unless something goes very wrong”
[Confirmed, operation assigned, logistics constraints dictate launch of operation in 20 minutes, raising Basecamp alert level]
Alina continued massaging Matthew’s back as she poked him once more
“You still haven’t answered my question, Matthew”
Having it pointed out Matthew answered at once
“Because I can’t be bothered, all that mattered to me about the Willmir empire was your captivity and the threat to our continued operation in the region… Now that both have been solved, I am left with the same feeling of indifference I would have if I saw a small street dog growl at me”
Alina nodded, she was touched by Matthew’s care for her, but at the same time she felt a little disappointed by his lack of anger towards the empire that had imprisoned her, so she asked
“And if that street dog bites at you?”
Matthew continued staring at the army that were matching towards their location with clear hostile intentions and spoke plainly
“Well, I’ll kick it aside and snap its neck”
Even if she wanted to argue, Alina knew the apathy Matthew was experiencing well, it was the same she had felt in her deathless state watching the seasons continue to pass by. Matthew had lived too long to care too deeply about things that no longer mattered to him
‘...Maybe I will feel like that someday too’
Alina had wanted to get back at the Willmir nobility and upper class that had gawked at her in her imprisoned form, she had wanted to trade places with them, to imprison them like they had imprisoned her. However now that she had been freed from her crystal prison the burning desire of revenge had almost disappeared
‘Presented with the choice of a lengthy, meaningless conflict for minimal gain and simply spending my time with my beloved like this, revenge really does seem meaningless…’
Alina gazed at the display Matthew continued to stare at in his daze for a bit, then she concluded
‘I am not as indifferent as Matthew… If this falls through, and they continue to annoy us, it would be better to crush the problem entirely, what do you think, Aea?’
[I agree Mistress, I believe Master also is thinking along these lines. Should I start getting things in order for that goal?]
‘Yeah, go ahead Aea… Just don’t brother Matthew about it right now, it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten him this relaxed’
[Confirmed, please enjoy your rest]