Notes : Chapter 132 and a lore file for The Fallen World have been written and added to the queue !
Sorry for the late chapter upload, was resting. I have fifty billion medicines to take every day but at least I'm doing better.
Sadly however, I am on the veryyyy edge of the measurements for asthma, so I'm going to have to jump through a bunch of hoops for my allergy treatment, to avoid, y'know, killing me by accident while trying to help me.
Chapter 131
Aurore Hills, Frostlands
Western bank of the Iceborne River
Captain Gerard Crozier, of the thirty-first Royal Infantry regiment of the Kingdom of Turlor, would not have described himself as an impulsive man. A decisive one, certainly, but not impulsive.
It was an excellent thing for an officer to have. Particularly one staring at a superior wishing they could wring their necks and then toss their bodies to the Bane.
That way, said superior would become a hindrance to the other side.
"My lord, I beg you to reconsider." Said the captain. "Surely, we have the resources-"
"Captain." Lord Carel's mustache caught the light as he spoke. It looked like much of his personal heraldry and noble house: a relic of the past, encased in resin and desperately waxed and made to shine to try and preserve its dying glory. "Our orders are to hold the Bane at the river. Nothing more. Even presuming your report from that magistracy troll you have," The captain had to stop himself from striking his superior. That 'troll' had lost several men getting that message across, and got crippled in the process! "if there are troops stuck in Starfire Pass, then they are surely what has drawn troops away, and will serve to lower the pressure on the siege." He grabbed a pipe, and drew a long breath, the runes engraved on the wood flashing with energy as it ignited the tavro leaves, before puffing out a small cloud of smoke, glittering in the cold air. "That is the end of it. Is there anything else?"
Gerard bowed his head.
"No my lord."
"Then you are dismissed."
The captain saluted, turned around, and left.
He stalked through the camp. Barracks were being erected, but most of the troops still lived in tents. Those that did not know him paid him little heed.
Those that did saw the thunderclouds above his head and went in another direction.
He had to remind himself that, though he was a stuck up arse of the kind of nobility progress was busy feeding to the woodchipper, Carel did have some qualities. Notably, unlike many of his peers, he was actually camping out with his men, regularly went to see how the frontlines were doing, and actually stood his damned ground instead of 'moving to a better command position' the second things were going sideways. Having him hold the siege's northern flank and prevent the Bane from crossing the Iceborne river to encircle Exacor made sense.
Unfortunately, he also disdained anything that wasn't as anchored in the old history of the Kingdom as he was, and he considered the Magistracy and its troops to be little more than remnants of histories if not outright barbarians.
He arrived next to his own tent, and paused as he saw the NCO lounging by the flap.
The sergeant didn't even need to ask how his meeting had gone. He knew Gerard better than any person alive. And that included his family.
The captain stormed in, and the sergeant followed.
"Next move, sir?"
Gerard sighed, and sat down in front of his old, storied field table.
"We obey our orders." He drummed his fingers on the tabletop, and grimaced. "And we do a little planning of our own."
"Sir?"
"Our lord won't send backup or even kick it up the chain as more than a footnote in the report, I'd wager. But if there's someone tough enough in Starfire valley to draw troops away from the siege, we have every interest to help them." He paused, as he fetched a flask from one of his pockets. He wasn't even done that the sergeant had already two battered tin goblets down on the table. The captain grinned, and poured a little in each. "So, we go to our old friends in the Consortiums. I'm sure one of them has got an airship being prepped for some venture or another. If the army ain't gonna do what makes sense, we'll have to do it via private enterprise."
"Sure that's wise? The Consortiums..."
"Aren't well known for their charity. I know. But I've accumulated enough favors doing their dirty work to bend some arms. Besides, I'm sure there's some young welp they're eager to send off to somewhere they won't get in the way of pillaging our 'allies'." He downed his drink, and grimaced. Blood and fire, that fucking drink was made to try and kill you rather than go down. But soon enough the liquid fire faded as it reached his stomach, and a pleasant glow replaced it. "Best I can come up with. It'll have to do."
"Well, I suppose getting a Consortium to try and nickel and dime you for all you're worth is better than being turned into meatshields by the Bane."
"Some might disagree with you, but let's hope. Let's hope."
*****
Sapphiria barely had a second off the snowpiercer before Kalia enveloped her in a hug.
The AI froze for a split second, then returned it.
"I'm fine." She said. "Just some grandstanding by the other side."
Kalia chuckled.
"Which other side? The Hand's or the Nineteenth's?"
The AI smiled.
"Both." She gently separated from the squishie, before grinning. "But on the plus side, I got away with it!" She gestured, as the cargo hold was opened. "Behold, my booty!"
Kalia gave her a look that said a thousand things, the foremost one being 'really?'.
Of course Sapphiria was probably the only one who could feel that one of the mage-magistrate's hands had shifted lower, and probably would have delivered a squeeze had the AI not been wearing power armor.
The message was clear: her gf already had all the booty she needed.
"Well. It's certainly a lot." Said Kalia, as she gazed at the pile of scrap, before wincing. "You're going to need help sorting through it, aren't you?"
"I think we can enlist some other hands as well as yours."
Kalia nodded in understanding. They'd discussed it a bit when she was being taught, and her admitting she didn't know Imperial runes should be fine. After all, she'd implied that she predated the Eternal Empire's supremacy, why would she have learned it?
"Let's then." She raised her voice. "Gregor! Would you mind sending someone to fetch Ramina?"
The old skeleton saluted, and promptly detailed one of the guards that kept gawking and didn't take the hint to get back to work as a courier.
"Thanks." Said Sapphiria, as her bots started to unload the vehicle. It would have been more efficient to do it at the construction hangar turned warehouse back at the tunnel entrance, but she had promised Kalia she'd stay the night. Plus, everything she didn't want or need she could give to the squishies. The more intact hardware would certainly come in handy, and it might get Ramina off her back for a bit. That girl was relentless when it came to technology. "I also have a few questions."
"Can they wait until tomorrow morning? I don't want to get bogged down in long talks."
The AI smiled.
"They can wait."
******
Sapphiria leaned back to allow the bot to set down the bundle of salvage in her intake pile, and sighed.
"Should be enough for now. We don't want to work too late after all." The AI glanced at Ramina, who looked like she was about to protest, and continued on before she could open her mouth. "I believe we all have other plans tonight."
The artificer closed her mouth, perplexed, while Malry shot the AI a grateful look.
"Besides which, this is really tedious. And that's coming from me." Said Gregor, and Sapphiria nodded with a grimace.
All three of Astralis' mages were present, alongside the old skeleton. The mages for obvious reasons, to sort what everything did, what still worked and what didn't. Thankfully, with the Bane's weapons depending on the undead wielding them to serve as a power supply, none of the items were live or fed by damaged crystals, something that Kalia had taught her was a considerable hazard on battlefields.
Gregor on his end knew the equipment. He'd worked with it before, and seemed fairly nostalgic about it in fact.
The reason this was tedious was because they couldn't tell what enchantments worked and what didn't without interfacing with each one. And it wasn't like something the squishies could tune out and do via muscle memory either. Each enchantment required a slightly different approach, and they had trouble interpreting the data coming back. She could code a macro for it, already had in fact, but though she knew Imperial runic almost as well as Kalia thanks to her teachings, she still wasn't familiar with it, and the way the data interfaced with her systems was still uncomfortable as all hell. A squishie probably just felt a prickling at the edge of their mind, for her it was more like someone started poking her internal organs, trying to tap morse code. It was deeply bizarre in its own way.
She wasn't physically twitching every time it happened at least, but she certainly couldn't zone out and do something else, which was why she was very grateful for the idle conversation.
"Worth it though." Commented Kalia, before tapping the small pile of functional items she had sorted through. "The shields and armor will certainly come in handy."
"As will the weapons." Agreed Gregor, before taking a glance at Sapphiria. "I assume you have no problem with me and my men taking them?"
The AI shook her head.
"None at all." She could still make more riotbots to fight in CQC, but that was...limited. Granted, Sarcher's forces had proven that a force to hold off the enemy in hand to hand combat was invaluable, but so long as she had his admittedly depleted troops to do the job, it would be an outright waste to make more. Besides, even if she couldn't count on the undead to hold the line, it was generally better to hold the enemy at a distance and shoot them before they get to you, and have melee as a backup. Perhaps she should look into bayonets.
TO-DO LIST UPDATED
Right.
"Thanks. Your turrets are defending the town no problem, but we still have to head out for woods. And I fear the monsters are growing cautious again. We've seen signs of some moving about, but keeping their distance for now."
Sapphiria grimaced.
"I'll see about doing a bit of hunting again."
"I thought they would be attracted to your tower." Said Ramina. "And that outpost is fortified to hell."
"It is, but these things are tough to kill, and the last thing I want is a group of monsters wreaking havoc in my artillery battery when I need it the most." Had that happened during the battle of the the Pass...She shivered.
They would have been overrun, and the Nineteenth would be butchering its way across the valley now.
"Couldn't you make a decoy?" Asked Malry.
Sapphiria paused, and looked at her.
"A what?"
"A decoy. A bit that's just there to attract monsters and kill them."
"I..." Could she do that? Honestly, she had been panicking about reinforcing the pass before the Nineteenth came back for another go, but it didn't seem like they were in any state to do that. Even without the Dominion and her forces apparently on the other side, they seemed to barely have enough to give her howitzers something worth shooting at.
Truth be told...this might be the only reprieve she was going to get.
"I'll take a look." She finished. "No promises, especially not in the short term."
Because if this was the only breathing room she was going to have, then she needed to have a talk with Cia.
"Of course." Said Malry.
"I'm still beating myself up not realizing you didn't know Imperial runes." Said Ramina. "Why didn't you come to me?"
Wording, thought Sapphiria. Given Kalia's sudden strangled sound, she had the same thought.
"Because Kalia was less busy, and I believed you focused more on technology than magic." Said the AI with a warning tone.
Thankfully, the artificer wasn't dense enough to miss that hint, especially with a glare from Kalia to help, and subsided.
If she interpreted it as her wanting an excuse to spend time with Kalia, and not the fact that she was the only person she had trusted with the truth that she didn't know magic at all, all the better.
Eventually, Ramina and the others would have to be told what was actually going on, but in the meantime, there would need to be smoke and mirrors. Just, not outright lies.
After all, she did want to spend more time with Kalia.
Just as soon as she was done sorting through all this loot.
She sighed, and picked up the next item to interface with.