It’s kind of impressive, but mine’s bigger.

-Warspite, while touring the naval dockyard in Seattle for the first time.

—

Stepping onto the pier was a little intimidating. The Redemption was surrounded by a sizable group of Cascadian security officers, led by a handful of people wearing suits. “And you were afraid you wouldn’t fit in,” Skyler whispered to me.

“Yeah, with the other samurai, not the security detail,” I whispered back.

As we approached the boarding ramp everyone turned to look at us. A couple people in the security team started to raise their weapons, until a man with salt and pepper hair, and wire rimmed glasses stopped them. “Put down your weapons, they’re samurai,” he yelled, before stepping forward. The older man bowed low before standing up straight and folding his hands behind his back. The way he held himself, reminded me of a butler.

“You young ladies are Meiyo Aru Kaze and Cleansing Rain, correct? I’m Albrecht Muller, and I’ve been assigned to escort you through the Redemption,” he said before stepping to one side and gesturing to the Redemption’s gangplank with one hand. “I assume you’re here for the meeting, if so we should head inside. It’ll be starting in a few minutes.”

“Thank you Mr. Muller,” I said politely, before heading towards the ship.

As we passed the older gentleman he fell into step with Skyler and me. “We have quite the full house this evening. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a samurai awaken, and from what we’ve been able to tell there were no less than five awakenings today,” Albrecht said.

“During a single incursion? Isn’t that a lot?” Skyler asked as we stepped on the gangplank. As soon as we did, the floor beneath us began to move, propelling us slowly towards the ship.

“It’s fairly normal in the megacities, where most new samurai don’t survive their first day, but in Cascadia it’s practically unheard of. Our samurai tend to have a much higher survival rate, and therefore, a lower rate of awakening,” Albrecht explained. The moving floor paused as we entered the Retribution, and Albrecht punched something into the pad on the wall. As soon as he did, the floor started moving again.

“Do you think it’s because of the global incursion? Or that some of the more experienced samurai are planning to leave the planet?” I asked. Albrecht looked over at me, with a raised eyebrow. “I’m sorry, was I not supposed to share that?” I asked.

“No, it’s quite alright. Although most of the Family are aware of the Mars situation, I wasn’t aware that anyone had shared it with you,” he replied. “It wasn’t in my notes. As for why we’ve had so many new samurai today, we simply do not know. Protector AIs are notoriously tight-lipped about the requirements for someone becoming a samurai, so despite the numerous studies done around the world we still have no clue what the requirements are. Many suspect it’s completely up to the AIs on discretion.”

The moving hallway stopped for a moment at an intersection, allowing someone coming down the other hallway to pass, before continuing.

“So what exactly is the Family about?” Skyler asked after a few seconds of silence. “What do you do? I’ve heard of you, but I’ve never thought I’d have to deal with your organization, so I never bothered doing research.”

“Understandable,” Albrecht said, before turning to face us. “Most people prefer to just see us as an extension of the samurai, and in many cases they’re correct.” He cleared his throat, and took a deep breath in, like some sort of lecturer. “The Family is a group that was brought together with the sole purpose to provide support to its samurai members. When one of our members needs specific resources, or wants to sell some of their points, we will connect them with interested parties. We connect the locals with other samurai around North America, when they need to find specialists, and we provide logistical and clerical support when the samurai start side projects.”

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“Sounds pretty useful, so why don’t more samurai join up? I heard that most don’t like to,” I asked.

Albrecht gave me a pained smile. “It’s mostly because the Family doesn’t require membership in order to provide support against the antithesis, just to gain access to our support functions, and the Cascadian government provides similar benefits to locals,” Albrecht explained. “Some would even argue that with the subsidiaries there are even more benefits to side with the Cascadian government.”

When he saw my thoughtful look Albrecht held up a hand. “Although no one will be expecting you to make a decision right now, I expect both factions will send someone to talk to you both over the next few days, and try and bring you on side. I would recommend doing a little research yourselves, before that happens. I find a little impartial information goes a long way.”

“That’s quite the suggestion, considering you represent one of the factions involved,” Skyler said suspiciously.

“It’s because I believe if you examine the situation impartially, you’ll come to the right decision,” Albrecht replied.

The moving floor brought us right up to a large set of double doors somewhere in the bowels of the ship, then stopped. Albrecht motioned towards the door. “This is the main boardroom, where the local samurai are meeting. I’ll be waiting nearby, and once it’s done, I’ll escort you out again. Good luck ladies,” he said, before bowing slightly. Without another word he punched something into a panel on the wall, and was carried away by the corridor without another word.

Skyler and I exchanged a quick glance before I pushed open the doors. The room must have been completely soundproofed, because the instant the room was cracked open we were assailed by an ocean of noise.

There had to be over a dozen people inside, most of them dressed up in bizarre combat armor or costumes. The only ones I recognized were Grey, who was wearing a comfortable looking jumpsuit, and Velvet. The two of them were sitting at the front of the room along with a massive, opposing man wearing what appeared to be a black naval coat covered in medals and a captain's hat. He had a massive grey, bushy mustache which he was constantly rubbing, and matching eyebrows. He vaguely reminded me of an old military commander from the movies.

To his left was an elegant looking woman with long black hair. She sat quietly to one side, legs crossed, hands resting lightly on one knee. Her cool look as she slowly surveyed the room reminded me of my mother, she probably wasn’t a stranger to the corporate boardrooms. The only thing that would have kept her out of my mother’s office was her outfit. It was vaguely reminiscent of a modern scuba suit, but with a layer of flexible armor plates covering her vitals. She caught me looking at her, and nodded slightly, before she went back to looking over the room.

Skyler silently nudged me, then pointed towards a pair of chairs along the wall. They were close enough to provide a good look at the room once the meeting started, but weren’t right next to anyone else. I nodded, and the two of us headed that way.

As we slowly made our way along the outside of the room, I spotted a couple other interesting faces.

One was an absolutely massive man. I don’t mean he was six foot six, or large for a human, I mean he was way beyond human norms. He was at least eight and a half feet tall, and built like a bodybuilder. He sat there in a muscle T and loose pants, talking to the much smaller man beside him. Once in a while he’d burst out laughing, his voice loud enough to shake the table.

The last pair I only noticed because they were camped out in the opposite corner to Skyler and me. The first was talking animatedly, bouncing in her seat. She wore a bright red dress, with an apron down the front, and had massive black glasses. The girl next to her was tiny, barely five feet tall. She had a light sundress on, which flowed off the chair, but I couldn’t see any legs. Instead, I swear that I could see a fishtail poking out from underneath. The two girls paused their conversation, and waved slightly when they noticed me watching. I just waved back awkwardly.

Next to me Skyler was bouncing in her seat. “I can’t believe we’re in the room with all these people! I’ve spent years hearing about their escapades, and now we’re in the same room,” she whispered.

“I have no idea who any of these people are,” I admitted quietly. “Besides Velvet and Grey.”

Skyler leaned closer eager to tell me, but before she could the older gentlemen in the naval coat up front stood up and yelled. “Alright you lot settle down! We have a lot of things to discuss today, and not a lot of time to do it, so let's get started.”