Notes : Chapter 436 has been written and added to the queue !
Well, the ending seems worse than 435. Also...I might rewrite 432 ahead of it being posted due to some travel issues.
In general, I'm getting pretty burnt out on TFW, and I'll probably switch over to MFR in a bit, then come back once I'm recharged to finish book 11. The construction is finally ending, neighbours are supposed to be moving in tomorrow.
Edit : Sorry for the late upload, I literally forgot to hit 'schedule' on the chapter.
Chapter 431
Red Sands Desert, Aurorean Empire
Trade City of Erakis
Calling Erakis a 'trade city' had been something of a joke, the admiral had been told. Compared to Darthar, the place had been puny, though it had a fair bit of activity. Unlike the former city state, it didn't have an Old World shield to protect it from attackers or the elements, and though the trade route was prosperous, most settled for less sandy and hazardous pastures.
That joke was lost on anyone now. Erakis deserved its title at last. The city was expanding in every direction, and the bustle of activity was downright frenetic.
"You can see why we asked you to stay on the outskirts." Said Calder, and the admiral turned towards the orc, her fakest smile pasted on her lips.
His words implied her fleet had not been invited to berth at the city because of the economic and military activity. But she knew it was bullshit. It was important that he knew she knew as well.
"Of course. We wouldn't want to disrupt trade and logistics at such a critical juncture."
And if 'avoiding disruption' placed her and her fleet under the guns of the dungeon fortress, well, all the better, right?
Of course, she didn't care. As an Erisian Admiral, she was outraged.
As an agent of the Order, she knew that under Lesly's guns was the safest place to be on this exploding powder keg of a continent.
"I am glad you understand. You will also be delighted to hear that you have been cleared to proceed to Rebirth.'
'I am, indeed, delighted." Calder's pathetic excuse for a fleet -a squadron of escorts, really-, couldn't have stopped her. But then again it wasn't meant to. Sending a handful of ships to 'show her in' was a calculated insult, showing that she was so insignificant she wasn't worth real warships. Plus, Calder's ships didn't need to stop her, at least not from his or his sovereign's point of view. The missile batteries 'Crystal' had built inside her branch office would have made any attempt to leave without her say-so extremely hazardous, if she even managed to get out of range of the conventional guns before she started firing. "Shall we be off, then?"
"No liberty for your skyers in this fine city?"
The admiral smiled, this time with a hint of genuine mirth.
"I know trade cities like this. They're designed to wring out every single scrap of mana out of passing crews. I don't need my men to return to my ships in a wheelbarrow or bow-legged. They can do that just fine in the capital, where it won't delay my mission."
Not that there was much point. Had she known Lesly would allow the summit to be this short, she wouldn't have dallied as much. Fucking up on purpose to stop the Eris Empire from derailing the plan was one thing, but if she slipped up too much she would be replaced, or at the very least given an 'assistant' watching her every move who would make things considerably more difficult.
Calder smiled back.
"So be it. Then yes, let us be off."
*****
Aline smiled as the maitre d' showed her to the table, and she bowed briefly, before sitting down.
"Merchant Drevon. Thank you for meeting with me." She didn't look one bit like the bored adventurer she had at the previous bar. Instead she was the picture of a practical business lady in the wasteland. Both outfits could be dragged into battle, it was simply that this one was missing the bloodstains for now. "I apologize for the short notice."
"My arrival in Rebirth was not exactly telegraphed. So I do not mind." The extradimensional smiled at her, and the Order agent hid a shiver.
His eyes...there was something wrong with his eyes.
Something in the expression maybe?
No.
No something was physically wrong with them.
Implants. Terran ones. Had to be.
The thoughts ran through her head as she nodded.
"Indeed. Your arrival was most unexpected. Had we been aware of it, we would have sent our proposition earlier."
"Speaking of, what is this proposition you speak of?" He smiled lazily. "I assume it involves your boss' privateer license."
Aline froze. She hadn't told him she was meeting him on behalf of captain Sylvia. She'd used one of the shell corporations they'd set up in town.
His smile widened.
"Of course I knew. The merchants guild knows many secrets. And given my current business dealings, I could not afford to jeopardize them by meeting with unknowns." Wait, what? What business dealings? With whom? "But nevertheless, I suppose I can hear you out. Let it be known that I am not one to shy away from the odd act of privateering, so long as it remains on the right side of the Empire's laws and within acceptable deviations of morality."
She smiled with just the right amount of tension, while her mind had gone cold and calculating.
"Well, my boss had a proposal that went a bit higher than mere acts of privateering. In fact, it related to a broader...organization."
He raised an eyebrow, then shook his head.
"A shame then, truly." He grabbed his glass, something that looked alcoholic but which the agent's instincts told her almost definitely wasn't. Appearing to drink while not doing so. That extradimensional certainly wasn't a fish out of water, desperately waiting for someone to rescue him from this new world. "I must decline your proposal."
She'd expected many things, but not to be turned down flat. She opened her mouth, and he raised his hand.
"It is not that I am not interested." He cautioned. "But currently, I am overwhelmed by a variety of dealings and still finding my footing within the Merchants Guild. I will be certain to contact you once I have, but for the time being, I simply have too much on my hands." He smiled ruefully. "Suffering from success, one might say."
Well...no one said recruitment was going to be easy. And pushing further probably wouldn't end well. Her two fellow agents already had enough heat on them as it was. If he started getting prissy, this meeting might get the intention of the Empress and she couldn't afford to get the authorities interested in her. Her colleagues being kept under a tight leash because that horndog tried to seduce the Empress' wife was enough problems, thank you very much.
"Of course. My apologies."
"But do stay for the meal. I am so fascinated about Alcheryos, and I do like pleasant company."
She gave him her best smile.
"Of course."
*****
"To give them credit where it's due, the Order moves fast." Said Ghost, and Trira nodded.
"One would think a secret organization would be more ponderous. Via compartmentalization, if nothing else." Added Rebirth's spymistress.
"Technology can cover a multitude of sins." Alexandra leaned back into her seat, as she gazed at the assembled people. Allya, Pyn, Trira, Emilia, and her gaggle of AIs. "But everything seems to indicate the Order was unaware of his presence here. Which could be accounted by compartmentalization, but our little gaggle of agents clearly called home before trying to approach him. And it seems like they were trying to recruit him to boot."
"How sure are we that they called home?" Asked Allya.
"Very. Seraph intercepted cover comm traffic from their new ship. And just so you're aware, we were only able to get hints of it because we had them under tight surveillance and Seraph has all of the Sagitarius Empire's covert communication protocols." In fact, it was the AI's primary purpose, since Seraph-4 had been the Old Empire's strategic communication hub. "They received an answer and only started making their move after they got it." Alexandra shrugged. "Of course we can't know for certain, but this is as close as we're going to get, short of being able to sneak a golem into their cabins."
Which just wasn't possible currently. Whatever anti-stealth field these Order bitches were using, it was beyond her capacity to pierce or neutralize. At least not discreetly.
The hilarious thing was, they'd known about the meeting in time to listen in on it because the Merchant had warned Ella about it, apparently having heard some level of Sylvia's disfavor with the government and anxious not to jeopardize his deal with 'Crystal' by talking to the wrong people. They'd okayed it, of course.
"I wonder what they need him for, though." Wondered Emilia, and Alexandra smiled.
"Another sacrifice, maybe?"
Allya shivered.
"Gods I hope not. I don't want to see what happens if the guy who managed to kill you is put into a dungeon core."
She doubted the Order had intended for her to be in the dungeon core either. Everything pointed to the fuckers who had sacrificed her having had a rather terrible encounter, though for some reason the Order didn't seem aware of that.
"Neither do I. Push comes to shove, I'll railgun him to paste and soul seal him before they can get their hands on him. But nevertheless, we have to move fast. The Order attacked me with mercenaries within days of my arrival. Rebirth is on high alert because of what happened with the guild, but if Starvak was able to sneak entire infantry platoons past us, we have to assume the Order can too." The investigation into how the guild had managed that was still ongoing, but the current assumption was that they'd snuck the people in as cargo past the checks, somehow. "So our window of opportunity is going to be very short." She turned towards Allya and Trira. "We need to have a smokescreen, if the Order is eyeing him up. You girls need to feed those adventurers enough morsels to get them to attack him, and my strike force will nab him."
Said strike force had been meant to do a false flag attack against her vampire guests, before she went with a softer solution. The advantage was that, even if this all went to shit, they'd still get the blame deflected. And units meant to penetrate her own defenses would have no problem at all moving through Rebirth discreetly.
"Honestly, just telling them he's planning to buy from and sell stuff to you directly should be enough." Said Allya. "You're basically the...what do you call it on Earth? The antichrist? That, to them. A way to strike at you, on something the guild would have considered forbidden and basically sacrosanct? They'll pounce on it."
Alexandra snickered. Sacrosanct. As if Starvak himself hadn't broken that rule in exchange for her reconfiguring step for the assault guild.
"The irony is palpable, given the deal their good guildmaster did with us. But alright. Just make sure you know when they make their move."
"We have them under a tight watch." Said Trira, before grimacing. "But this is a bit early. There might be stragglers that haven't been pulled into their conspiracy yet."
"Any way to speed it up?"
"Well...They're adventurers. So, money, mostly. But we can handle that."
Alexandra looked at Allya, and raised an eyebrow. The Empress sighed.
"We haven't drained all of the guild's accounts yet. The ones whose information we recovered in the hall. They were too useful as deniable funds. So, we can leak that to them, and they'll pounce on it."
"Do so. I'm sorry to ask for you to rush this, but the clock is ticking now."
"It's fine. We'll manage." Allya smiled wryly. "Honestly we got more time than I expected."
Alexandra's eyebrow rose higher.
"I am vengeful and I do hate that bastard, but I am nothing if not methodical, you know that."
"I do. But you usually go more quickly."
Alexandra wanted to protest, but she'd been here a little more than two years and she'd already created an empire and toppled an organization so old its founders had met the God of Fire.
"Yes. In this case however, I want it done right. If you need a delay, tell me. We can try and mitigate the risk of the Order attacking. Or at least delay them."
Allya and Trira shared a look, and the spymistress shook her head.
"We should be fine. The cleanup will take a bit longer, but the money will grease the wheels where rhetoric failed. For all their big talk about the guild and its ideals, they do remain adventurers, and mana makes the world go around." Trira smiled, and Alexandra returned it.
"Good. Then let's be about it people! We have an extradimensional to catch."
And some very important questions to ask him.