UA3: C40

Chedderfield

Chedderfield and the group walked into the communications hub, which reminded him of a public library. The walls of the building were lined with clean white alcoves separated by partitions for privacy. In each alcove, there was a desk with a holographic display and a seat that was bolted to the ground. In the center of the room was a long table with stacks of papers and books as well as a larger holographic display that showed the nuclear plant and the surrounding area.

The colonel was sitting in a chair, a tall woman in a dusty military uniform at his side. She had a heart-shaped face and high cheekbones. Her trousers were baggy and nondescript, while her sleeves were rolled up to her elbow. Her hair was braided, pulled back, and tucked under her hat.

Other personnel in the nearby alcoves read out emails that were being displayed in front of them. One such email had a tiny picture of its sender, the bastard Chedderfield hated most in life: Brad.

“It seems your scouting report will be needed now more than ever,” the colonel stated, getting to his feet as he saw the group enter the room. “We have allies en route, and we need to find a safe way to get them into the base before the enemy hordes surround us and begin laying siege.”

“Don’t tell me you buy into that whole ‘Humanity’s Steward’ crap,” Chedderfield groaned.

“He’s bringing three hundred well-equipped, well-trained, high-level soldiers to aid us in this battle,” the colonel said with a shrug. “And if it means even one more of my soldiers can live to see another day, I’ll call him whatever the hell he wants to be called.”

“You can’t fault pragmatism,” Archimedes shrugged as he sat down in one of the many chairs in the alcoves, just like the one the colonel had been in. The second his rear hit the seat, a screen lit up in front of him that startled Archimedes enough to get him to jump halfway out of his chair before he stopped and sat back down again.

“Sure, sure, brother,” Chedderfield replied. “You don’t have to convince me. I’ve got your side no matter how jittery you get.”

“You ass,” Archimedes shot back, the two laughing for a moment as they dismissed the screens in front of them and sat in their seats. The colonel’s men started clearing out space and setting up a war table.

The Colonel cleared his throat as he began his address. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure you know why you're here. Your mission was a success and I want to take this opportunity to thank not only you two for completing that perilous task, but each and every one of you for your courage, skill and unwavering loyalty in the face of danger. Make no mistake, though our visage may be one of defeat, our countenance and tenacity through these trying times shall be the backbone of our victory. The skill you showed, the effort you put forth, the way you risked your lives, we will not forget your service.”

As Chedderfield straightened his back a little with pride and feeling, the colonel placed four bronze cards on his desk with a flourish, before continuing with his speech, "These cards will serve as recognition of your work." He cleared his throat and then added, "As a bonus, I have also added two silver cards." Archimedes nodded his head in appreciation at this unexpected gesture as two more cards were placed on the table.

The Colonel paused one more time and looked at each member of Chedderfield's team before concluding with a few final words, "While two of you took on the extra task of gathering intel, you have all done great work here today defending our base and repelling the invaders. Thank you.”

“A fine speech, sir. But would it be possible to get a mission report? I need exact details and numbers,” the female soldier asked.

The Colonel gestured to the soldier standing next to him, “This is Sergeant Maryland. She’s in charge of unit deployment, and I’ve asked her here to get her opinion on how to complete our mission to protect this plant.”

“This is interesting,” Nguyen remarked, gesturing toward the display she asked. “How do I input coordinates here?”

“Just . . . like this.” The sergeant reached over Nguyen’s shoulder and demonstrated how to use the table the colonel’s men had set up. It only took Nguyen a second to figure it out, and a moment later, she had already done the work of noting down all of the enemy troop positions and movements into the device. When she was done, she hit a button, and a large holographic map generated on the table with the details there for everyone to see, prompting Archimedes and Chedderfield, who had only just sat down, to stand up again and join the rest of the group around the table.

“Were there any details or notes she left out?” the colonel asked Archimedes.

“None,” Archimedes said. “In fact, I think her numbers are more detailed and precise than mine would have been.”

“She didn’t add too many, did she?” the sergeant asked, looking a little nervous as she stared at the armies heading toward the base.

“I might increase them by a few here and there actually . . . I think she only put down what she could be certain of,” Archimedes answered. “Our viewpoint atop their blimp-like jellyfish wasn’t precise, so I think she’s being generous. If it were me”—he reached over and pointed at the army heading toward them from the west—“I’d increase this 5% to 10%. I’d also not expect the riverside army to stay there much longer. Even without the builders, they could just create an undead bridge like swarming ants and cross it easily if they give up the pretenses of creating a proper structure. Not to mention, there is no way to be certain the flying troop carriers we just killed were the only ones they have available. If two more show up, it’s not unreasonable to say they could be unloaded at the north side or south side of the base in a few hours.”

The colonel cursed.

“Is it that bad?” Sergeant Maryland asked as she looked at the screen. “I— We can win this, right, Colonel Hooker?”

“We’re looking at the same damn board, Maryland. What do you think?” the colonel replied as he struck the table with his fist like a cheesy 90s police chief.

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“If you’re going to play this game to win, I think I can give you victory here,” Archimedes started, “Though it’ll require a bit of unconventional thinking.” He paused, testing if the military leader would interrupt, but he didn’t and continued, “I think if you join our faction as a vassal, the benefits we’ll get, the buildings we’ll be able to build—it’ll put us that much closer to victory. We might actually be able to stop them. We might be able to walk away with our lives intact and the target defended.” Archimedes paused his speech as he reached out and took the cards in front of him, not breaking eye contact with the colonel once as he pocketed the twelve bronze cards. “I’m sure I can bring you victory here, just like we did at the colosseum, but the question is, are cards the only thing you’re willing to give up, or can you abandon your pride as well?”

What the heck is he doing? Chedderfield wondered to himself as Archimedes and the colonel continued to stare at each other, the whole room quiet, no one making a sound as the two locked eyes. Chedderfield looked over at Danielle, wondering if she knew what was going on only for her to meet his gaze and shrug as if saying, “How the heck did things escalate like this?”

After a few seconds, which felt like minutes to Chedderfield, the colonel broke the silence. “The idea has merit. A kind of alliance for military aid,” he said as if savoring each word. “But why should we come under your group’s control and not that of this ‘Steward of Humanity’? I’m sure he’d be able to bring some of his men to bear.”

Chedderfield could see from the colonel’s pursed lips and steepled fingers that he was considering the new option seriously. “It’s because of exactly what you said: He thinks he’s the savior of humanity. He’s delusional, and his followers are fanatics. Do you really want to give that kind of person control over anything nuclear? Us, we just want to protect this place from the monsters and come out alive.”

“We’ve already shown you that we’re willing to put our lives on the line too,” Emma added.

The colonel considered the reasoning, and then a hearty chuckle escaped his lips as his stony expression cracked, and he stuck out his hand. “Fine, I’ll trust you. I’ve seen a glimpse of what your group is capable of already,” he said, his eyes looking over at Chedderfield and the others, “so I’ll sign up for the whole package, and you can show us a miracle.”

“We’ll do our best,” Archimedes agreed, clasping the colonel’s hand and sealing the deal.

Human Faction: The representative of the Human Faction has agreed to a vassal relationship. No combat phase will be required to prove dominance.

Human Faction Vassal Bonus:

Kingdom will gain a 1% increased tool and weapon efficiency for every 10 cores used in the vassal base. Mammalian lifeforms in the ruling group’s kingdom will reproduce 1% faster and mature 1% faster until adulthood is reached for every 10 cores used in the vassal base.

“Colonel, you can’t just accept a deal like that! That’s ridiculous!” Sergeant Maryland protested.

“Why not?” Chedderfield asked. “We’re six people, and we’ve probably killed more hell-cursed than all of you combined. We’ve saved bases from armies of these bastards before. We’ve destroyed their fortifications. We’ve crushed armies. I think we’re perfectly equipped to handle this.”

“You think he’s just bluffing? That he can’t do anything?” Danielle asked, joining the conversation. “Well, if you want to talk about what will help you guys survive, just look at the benefits yourselves. If you are our vassals, we can bring in allies and resources that will make you faster or heal you when you’re dying, bonuses that will make you harder to kill and faster on the trigger, and that doesn’t even touch on the upgrades we can help you add to this facility.”

“Are you saying you aren’t willing to help us with those things unless we kneel to you?” Maryland demanded.

“Are you freaking daft?” Lucy demanded in return. “Have you not figured out the system at all? Nothing is personal anymore, and we’re saying we CAN’T do those things unless you join the network. Either you become a vassal, or you don’t get the benefits. We’re still here, freaking shooting and stabbing shit either way though.”

“Okay, that’s enough arguing. You’ve all made your points. We’ll join their faction. I can already see the writing on the wall,” the colonel said. “I mean, look outside. Look at the number of people we’ve already lost. Do you think we can survive with the numbers and resources we have?”

Sergeant Maryland looked over at the holographic display, eyes glancing over the hundred of blue dots in the base and the hundred thousand red dots that were approaching from the west. She shook her head. “Even with reinforcements from Humanity's Steward, the adventurers, and every soldier on the walls, it doesn’t look good.”

“Our job is to keep this place from the enemy,” the colonel said with a sigh. “I will do whatever it takes, no matter the cost, to fulfill that mission. If that means we come under the control of these folks so that we have a better chance, then that’s what we’ll do.” He turned to Archimedes and asked, “What do we need to do?”

“Show us to the base core,” Nguyen answered.

With a nod from the colonel, Sergeant Maryland took Archimedes, Lucy, and Nguyen out of the room while the rest of the group stayed.

“You mind if we use one of these communication things to contact our base?” Chedderfield asked.

“No issues here,” the colonel answered.

Chedderfield sat in one of the chairs in an alcove, but this time, he didn’t swipe away the display that popped up in front of him. Instead, he started browsing linked communication terminals around them until he found the one he was quite sure was the aquarium. He noted that while most of the hubs were denoted with a blue dot, this particular one, as well as the one next to it, were green.

At first, when he clicked on it, nothing happened. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but the computer seemed to be lagging. He clicked on the aquarium again, and still nothing happened. “What the hell? How do you put a call through?” Chedderfield asked.

One of the soldiers at another alcove leaned over and pointed at a part of the display. “You just click the dot and wait.”

“I did, but—”

“Have you tried turning it off and back on again?” Danielle interrupted, giggling to herself.

“That doesn’t work for everything. This is system tech. You don’t just turn it off and back on again,” Chedderfield said, turning his head around to appreciate the cute face Danielle was making even as she chuckled at his expense.

“Actually, Mister Chedderfield, that is exactly how you repair system tech that is no longer functioning correctly,” a familiar voice replied from the console, causing Chedderfield to turn back around, where he was greeted, face to face, by Chip.

“I was going to tell you that you have to wait a bit sometimes for those things to work,” the soldier in the next alcove said. “Even if the call goes through instantly, it doesn’t mean there is someone on the other side to pick it up. You still have to wait for someone to hear the call and answer it.”

“Which can take much longer than I did,” Chip noted, “But I was already in the room, talking with my family. We were giving them final instructions for their base preparations so they can join us in this new world.”

“Oh that’s . . . That’s great,” Chedderfield replied, turning to Chip and adjusting himself in the chair. “That’s really great. So that means you have a portal set up in the base, then?”

“Yes, indeed! You would not believe how arduous it was to get all the cores needed,” Chip went on, “but the chosen ones did not stop working until the mission was accomplished. They’re sleeping right now, but they farmed a horde of cards and cores from the nearby Demonic and Insectoid Chimera Faction armies during the day.”

“But you do have a portal then? So if we set one up at this base, you could send us reinforcements?” Chedderfield asked, cutting immediately to the point.

“Send reinforcements? Of course we can! If you have a portal at that base, we can begin sending things right away. And, I say this optimistically, but you would not believe what the Holy Soda Empire has made recently,” Chip answered, and Chedderfield could swear he saw an evil grin across the chipmunk’s face.