Chapter 2

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

City of Rebirth

“So…we have a potential psychotic artificial dungeon core from Earth with ample knowledge of tech beyond our wildest dreams, seemingly on a crusade for revenge? Or just going on a conquest spree?” Trira said.

“In short? Yes.” Allya smiled wanly. “And don’t forget that she seemingly has more industrial capability than an entire duchy, and already has some of that supertech in her hands.”

“Oh thank you for that.”

The baroness chuckled.

“You’re welcome.” She took a gulp from the glass on her desk. Not her preferred frontier brandy, only Firegecko’s stocked that, but it did the job. She felt a faint pang as she thought of the bar, realizing that she hadn’t been there in months. Apparently, he had some competition, some bar that sprouted inside the wreck of the Alberta. She was fairly sure she’d signed off on the paperwork back then, but it was a bit of a haze, what with the haste in getting everything back on track with a Gods-damned UDC fleet floating above the town.

That would seem like such a minor concern now. The UDC wasn’t so scary once you had fought an army from the Old World and won.

“So, what do you plan on doing about it?”

“Right now? Nothing. Alexandra was beyond my means to attack, let alone subdue, long before I realized what was going on. And her military has been the only thing keeping us all alive for some time now. Even just pissing her off is a bad idea. Let’s not even talk about going against her on the field of battle.”

“Still, you have to be thinking in terms of contingencies.”

“I am. But mainly, I’m trying to think of how to maneuver to profit from her attacks. If I’m going to be riding this tiger, I might as well get my cut of the prey while I’m at it.”

“That’s a bit of a tortured metaphor.”

“Yes, but you get the point.” Allya took another sip. “For now I appear to be in her good graces, and if I follow through on the deal we made to provide her with materials and documentation, I’ll be even further into them. And I’m guessing one of the reasons she’s not trying to step into the light in political and diplomatic matters is that she wants me as a figurehead. Someone to take over whatever she conquers.”

“You’re not cut out to be anyone’s puppet.”

“Who said I would be? But yeah. I think I need to pressure her into a…partnership. One where I handle the politics and diplomacy, while she does the military work. Shit, it’s pretty much already what’s happening! And at least it might keep my girlfriend out of a damn battle next time. And if I’ve judged her right, she won’t betray a deal she’s made unless I betray it first.”

“So that’s your play. Just…hitch your wagon to her star?”

Allya looked up at her, and smiled.

“I thought I could carve myself a piece out of this wasteland because I was lucky, and one hell of a scary bitch. And I realized there was something there ten times more scary and dangerous than I could ever hope to be. So yeah. Got any better ideas?”

“Honestly? No. And I like keeping my head on my shoulders, so it sounds like a good idea.” She chuckled as she sat on the baroness’ desk. “You’re absolutely correct about that extradimensional’s prowess. She certainly has the body count to prove it.”

“She does.”

“So, how do you intend to get that more formal relationship?”

Allya sighed as she leaned back into her seat, looking at the ceiling.

“Well, I doubt the Sylvia method would work,” she said jokingly.

“Dungeon cores aren’t known for their libido.”

“Eh, if I’m right she’s either banging her advisor or one of the maids. Or all of them, for all I know. So that leaves more conventional methods. But I also need to avoid becoming a figurehead. And that means I need to bring some teeth to the table. And not in the form of military power, since we all know I can’t bring a shadow of what she can muster.”

“So?”

“Political and diplomatic power of course. I have the diplomacy down, as a noble of the Kingdom and my regular contact with their majesties. As for the political…well, we do have all that evidence gathered about her activities and what I’ve deduced of her.”

“You’re going to blackmail her?!?” Trira said, failing to keep her alarm out of her voice.

“No, nothing so crass as that. Just…point out what I can do. Show some teeth. All relationships are based on mutual respect. And I believe it’d be a good time to set all the cards down on the table. Before we set out on her little conquest trip.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Do you want me to set up a meeting?”

“I have messengers for that. But what worries me is the guild. The alliance we’ve made already made them seriously jumpy. The conquest and our more covert arrangements will send them ballistic. We need to break them first.”

“Starvak seemed to have done a fine job of that.”

“True, but he’s still a massive danger. We need to remove him. Decapitate the guild long enough for everything to be set into motion and make it a fait accompli.”

“Assassination is out of the question. Nothing I have will kill an archon.”

“Oh I know. So it’s time to put the final straw on the camel’s back. His reputation has already gone crashing down. Let’s finish it.”

Trira nodded.

And not even she noticed the stealthed spider golem, recording the conversation.

*****

“And you’re sure?” Alexandra asked as she leaned back against the workshop table.

Unusually, there was not a single one of her praetorian guards in the room, and the door, usually left wide open, was closed and thoroughly soundproofed. She’d also set every single one of her alerts to muted. Stealth golems, forges, whatever, as long as it wasn’t another nuke or a straight up war, nothing would get through.

“Absolutely, milady,” Seraph answered. “I did not give an order to your golem to salute. Nor did I program such a behavior into them.”

“So they did it on their own. Damn.” Alexandra grimaced, as if she’d chewed on a particularly bitter fruit. “This is a problem. As useful as it has proven by creating Jared, I really don’t like this ‘My minions become sapient if they hang around me too much’ crap. It makes them…unpredictable.” The Earth-born shook her head. “I don’t assume you know something about that?”

She could have asked her other self to dive into the AI’s databanks of course, but that would have been hardly polite. Besides which, the apparition had a lot on her plate, to the point that she had taken the extra processing power Alexandra had liberated now that the crisis was over without even the slightest bit of sarcasm. Knowing herself, that was not a good sign.

“Negative, milady. Of course, my databanks are far from complete, and the devices dungeon cores appear to have been fashioned out of were far outside of what knowledge I required to operate.” Given the fact that her creators hadn’t even seen fit to give her tactical programs as part of her “operational requirements,” that was a considerable understatement. But the core briefly hesitated. “There were…mentions of something similar, however.”

“Go on.”

“There are passages in propaganda broadcasts and a few scientific articles in the base personnel’s data that alluded to a similar phenomenon. But in the presence of the Gods. Supposedly that is how the first angels were created, enlightened by the presence of the Gods.” They coughed, and Alexandra had to hold back a laugh. Both of them knew that the gesture was superfluous, but the AI had evidently decided that if her lady had seen fit to retain her human gestures and affectations, she should learn and mimic them. That or Arcadia’s kernel was starting to assert itself more openly. Stars knew the AI had been eccentric enough to copy humans, not to mention absorb them or sleep with them. The latter two she’d experienced personally, even if she didn’t remember the “absorbed into an insane AI hivemind” bit. “Of course the Empire decried this as pure fabrication. Simply a carrot for the faithful to follow while the so-called Gods led them straight to their doom. There is also considerable evidence that the angelic ascension process is more akin to extremely advanced enchantment, rapid pace essence absorption, and core growth, alongside extensive cybernetic augmentation.”

Alexandra noted that it was a fairly detailed list…and made a mental note to talk to her other self about the potential of “angelic” defectors. As the captain of the supply ship had implied, there might have been defectors or traitors on the Gods’ side.

Which made the Sagitarius Empire’s utter conviction of the fact that the Gods were the culmination of all evil very worrying. Maybe the elites knew better, but it still wasn’t a good sign.

“Well, I’m certainly no deity. But it’s also very worrying. All of my systems are basically something made by the Gods, to some degree or another, but I can monitor them and secure them against intrusion. This, just…passive creation of sapients and increase of intelligence eludes me.”

“It seems pervasive and elusive. But perhaps the praetorians are not compromised? Some were present during previous discussions and during my surrender, and the adjudicator of the false gods appeared unaware of my pledge of allegiance to you.”

Alexandra nodded thoughtfully.

“True enough. And I guess a little trust goes a long way. Still…” She looked at the door, beyond which she knew a full squad of what she had thought to be utterly reliable, fanatical praetorian guard were waiting to follow her around like power-armored puppies. “It worries me.”

“The mechanism is seemingly impossible to stop, and seems to have affected all entities within your proximity. Worrying about it seems counterproductive. ‘Decision paralysis is a warrior’s greatest bane’ after all.”

“Asdrubale Provenzano, the memoirs of the interplanetary wars,” Alexandra said, before smiling as Seraph looked at her oddly. “I’ve read my fair share of Terran literature, especially military literature. I even met Asdrubale, you know?”

“You did?”

“Yep. Well, ‘met,’ more briefly introduced at a formal event. It was back during my ensign’s cruise, when we were heading out for pirate-hunting in the outer system. He commanded the fleet, and insisted on meeting all of his officers. We only exchanged a few words, but he seemed a good commander. Too bad he never made it to Alpha Centauri. The campaign might have turned out differently had his ship not been lost to hyper…” She trailed off as she realized what she was saying. She looked at Seraph. “He…”

“Was one of the extradimensionals found by the Empire. He…Milady. He was high admiral. He led the Imperial Navy.”

“Damn.”

Alexandra looked into the distance in the workshop, processing that, before looking back to Seraph as the golem shifted uncomfortably.

“What is it?”

“...You are not who you said you were, milady.”

“What? I—”

“Your personnel code signified a lieutenant commander. You are far too old, and far too competent to have remained at such low a rank.”

“...I’ll take that compliment, I suppose.”

“What happened?”

“You’ve met my copy. She happened. Or rather, I did. Because she is not my copy. I’m hers.”

Seraph clearly took a few seconds to process that, reverting to their old habit of long silences between answers.

“I see. Your code remains valid. And I am not entitled to answers from you.”

“No you’re not.” Alexandra sighed. “But you have done everything I have asked of you, and more.” Not to mention given her and her other self total access to her most vital of protocols. Access that continued to this moment. “My true code was zero, zero, eight, six, three, six, eight, omega, epsilon. Authentication code alpha-theta.”

“That’s—”

“High admiral. I know.” Even through the golem’s admittedly poor ability to show body language, Alexandra could tell that Seraph was about to speak. That or thanks to their bond. “Don’t. Just…don’t. We have bigger things to worry about than rank.”

“Yes, milady. Understood.”

“Good.” Alexandra sighed. “And now, to deal with the official reason for my presence here, as far as everyone’s concerned. Show me those plasma guns.”