Chapter 272

Plains of Reclaiming, Duchy of Asaria.

City of Asaria, Capital of the Asarian Kingdom.

Joachim frowned as he looked at the report.

His lodgings were a far cry to those he was used to, in the Order's strongholds, but things were accelerating. He needed to be closer to the action now. He would make do.

He always did.

The attack against the dungeon had vanished without a trace. Just as he knew it would. He hadn't even bothered to try and slow it down, much less prevent it.

Just like every previous attack, it had no shot at succeeding. Lesly had brought an entire platoon of elite infantry with her when she went to turn herself into a dungeon core.

And even if they had somehow failed, she was an archon. It would take far more than a handful of Sunrise's best to take her out.

The report went at some length on the reaction to the dungeon's action, and he grimaced. He understood why they had sent an entire team of engineers, artificers and mages with Lesly. The schematics she had taken with her were pointless if there was no one to interpret them and modify them to suit her needs. But merciful stars, need they be so blatant? It was high time Lesly reined them in, slowed them down a bit.

Then again…things were accelerating out of control. Lesly had to be seeing it and compensating. With this, she should be able to keep up even if things went even further sideways. A lesser man would take it as an insult to his abilities, but he was thankful for her foresight. That was Lesly alright, five steps ahead of everybody, even when cut out of the loop.

He relaxed a bit. Perhaps he should not be so worried. His old commander had things well in hand. She always did.

Which brought to mind his mentor. Eriksen Dragonslayer…it had been a while since the guildmaster had barged into his office, and declared he would take care of honoring Alexandra's memory.

Perhaps he should check up on the guildmaster's progress. He felt…not guilt perhaps, but unease. Unease at what he had helped do. That extradimensional might have helped them, even volunteered, but there had been no time, and Lesly did not wish to take the risk of her refusing.

They'd killed her. The least he could do was help with the remembrance effort. He had the recordings from within the shuttle, when she was taken away. Maybe he could have a statue molded after her. Put in a place of honor in the archives. 'The martyr of the dungeon' would have a nice ring to it.

But that was something that could be done after the plan had succeeded. Once the world was free from the Gods and their lackeys.

And for that, they needed to bring the Saphire Kingdom into this war. The Republic was already falling apart, and with their use of the slave brands, like their allies, they had finally guaranteed the Hegemony would react. It had not been easy to make them do so, but it would be worth it. Then, the Far Reach would pile on thanks to Orzal's efforts. A good man, Orzal Vek. Joachim regretted the death of his friend Gregor Surevoie, deeply. But his old friend had not failed him, even in death, recruiting a replacement of rare ability. He would go far in the Order.

Everything was set in motion. Now he only had to prevent other factions from blowing up before it was their time. And chief among them, the United Dungeon Council.

It was time to see if he could help the adventurers guild in cleaning up the evidence of their attempted dungeonslaying. And remove a few of the more problematic elements within that damned council. It should help calm things down. For a bit.

And if it only enhanced the coming conflagration, and paved the way for Lesly to take over what remained of the dungeons? Well, it was a welcome bonus.

*****

Alexandra returned to her stealth golem…and utter silence, both physical and electronic.

The ship's AI had closed the airlock's outer door, and put up walls between her golem and the vessel's system.

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Well, she did send combat codes and imply she may become compromised to the AI, when their conversation was cut short by Sunrise's death squad crashing into her dungeon. Maybe it was more intelligent than she had given it credit for.

She sent the all clear code, and felt the walls of code isolating her golem come down.

Query: Status? Sent the ship.

Status: Victorious. Casualties, minimal. Hostiles, eradicated.

Acknowledged. Hostile ID?

Hostile ID: Unknown. Presumed: Seraphim

She then bundled images and scans of the spear, all made with Sagitarian hardware.

There was a pause for a few seconds.

Acknowledged.

Alexandra waited for a minute, but nothing further was forthcoming. She sighed.

Query: Orders?

The AI didn't respond with a text. Instead, it sent a holovid.

On it was a man, who had the indistinct age typical of technological life extension technology. Interesting. One would expect a more arcane solution. Instead, he seemed to be using the same kind of rejuvenation treatment she had. Alexandra realized with a start that she knew him. Maximilian Erkot, United Interstellar States Navy. That…that wasn't fucking possible. He was dead. She'd seen him vanish with his entire command when Pluto-

She'd seen him vanish when the entirety of Pluto was destroyed by a hyperspace breach when the UIS had tried to draw energy from the foreign dimension in one of the many desperate experiments as they tried to bridge the gap with the European Federation in hyperspace technology.

Shit.

He commanded the third battlecruiser squadron of the Pluto fleet. At least she thought he did. She only knew his name because of was one of the officers ordered to 'liaise' with the UIS' 'allies' sent to observe their little experiment.

That…begged even more questions. She thought the Sagitarians had a fetish for the Federation, not the UIS!

For that matter, he was wearing a quasi-Federation uniform. Most UIS officers she knew would die rather than do that. Then again, most of the ones she'd known were either looking down on her or trying to kill her. Ciel being a notable exception, but the artificial super intelligence and the UIS' dictator treated her more as Arcadia's wife than anything.

But…that may explain some things. Like some of the armored vehicles the Hammer of Eternity had thrown her way looking like old school US army bradleys.

She played the recording.

"All Imperial vessels, this is a general recall order. All ships are to make their way back to Alcheryos at best speed! We are under attack and there is a general nuclear exchange in progress! Fleet and naval command have been destroyed! Engage all non Imperial ships at will! Once you arrive, contact outer system command and place yourselves under vice admiral Vorey. May the stars be with you!"

Well. That was short, and to the point. Also completely devoid of context.

She had a feeling trying to ask for said context would not draw a friendly response from the AI. Either it was being obtuse…or Alexandra was getting the sneaking suspicion it was trying to herd her into triggering the Omnicron protocol and make her the ship's captain.

Also…why had it sent her this? The orders told the ship to make contact with another force and join up. Did they never find it? Why did they end up on Alcheryos? They had to be above the planet to even crashland into it. At interplanetary speed the ship wouldn't have survived the impact, shield or no shield.

Acknowledged. Mission status?

Status: In progress.

Aaaand it thought it was still fighting. It also felt…dumber than Seraph. At least in its responses. Which was no surprise. Seraph had been unshackled, this AI hadn't been.

Actually, there had been a protocol to trigger that unshackling. She needed to ask Seraph about it. She might be able to tiptoe her way around some stuff if she did that. Though at that point, she might as well just bite the bullet and take the risk of triggering the Omnicron protocol.

Mmmhhh…She sent a message signifying communications would be on hold, and the ship pinged back an acknowledgement. A split second later, the software walls came back up.

Well, it was good working with someone at least a bit paranoid, if nothing else.

Now, she had other projects to tend to. And some questions to ask her resident Old World AI.

*****

Camille whistled softly as she checked the paperwork. One thing she could say for having become the baroness' secretary: it was never boring. With Allya out of the city as well, it had only gotten more lively. More idiots were trying to pull things off they shouldn't have, now that the 'watchful baroness' was out. Interesting how everyone laser focused on her, and not the veritable army of councilors and allies she'd built. Well, she was a striking figure, so it wasn't like they could be blamed.

Much.

In any case, she had to be extra vigilant. Any things that slipped by her would only fester and become worse.

Most of it was the usual though. Some smuggling, part of it plain stupid like trying to dodge tariffs in a city that didn't have them. The rest was on the less ethical side. Drugs, weapons, the usual plethora.

Few tried to deal in people. Allya had made such bloody examples of those who did even the most hard core of slavers or people smugglers avoided Rebirth like the plague. The only exception were those looking to free slaves, smuggling them into the city to be liberated. A fair few came from the Republic, but a trickle were starting to arrive from Darthar as well. Not all that necessary, since the count was going to abolish slavery anyway, but that was hardly common knowledge yet.

Then there was the usual shenanigans. Bribes, corporate sabotage, the works, though usually her job was identifying the problem, then palming it off to Anders. The guard commander could handle the rest.

She frowned as she pulled out a few reports. Uh. She opened one of the many tomes littering her desks, and began frantically searching through records.

That…The twins had been reportedly talking to some of the smugglers she'd asked Trira to keep an eye on. Or rather, had reported to the baroness who then had told Trira to keep an eye on them, and keep her informed.

More than talking too. Those same smugglers had, immediately afterwards, booked passage and cargo space on a ship bound for Darthar, and promptly left Rebirth. They'd done all that through aliases and shell companies of course, but thanks to Trira's people, and Allya's utter disdain for the little things like 'due process', she knew most of them. According to her information, those smugglers operated a trading ring that then went deep into the kingdom, and evidently was still in operation. If they were accompanying the cargo, it meant they were going to send it further, set up the next leg in the journey. Even in the middle of a war zone, there were ways to move cargo, provided the appropriate palms were greased.

Interesting. And worrying. The twins were councilors, but they were also willing to do a lot of shady deals, according to the baroness.

They weren't considered threats. Yet. But everyone knew how heavily they'd protested the dungeon core's bloody methods against the slave soldiers. And Crystal had butchered an entire army of them at Darthar. So who knew what they were capable of now?

This wasn't just her duty to Allya and the Principality. She owed the dungeon core her life, in a way. When she was dying, choking on her own blood because of her greed, the dungeon core had given her a health potion, and let her go free.

She pulled more books out of her desk's drawer. She would make a report to Allya. But first, she was going to dig a bit deeper on those smugglers and their usual routes. And if the baroness had a word with the count, they might just be able find out what they were transporting, and its ultimate destination.

Then, she had a feeling Trira and her assassins would ask the twins some very pointed questions.