by Skyler Grant
"Did the Graven return?" I asked.
"If so they didn't come here," Mechos said.
Crystal would have taken the controls after I'd lost my connection. If so, she would have wanted to return to her district, but since there was no sign of her something else had happened.
That castle wouldn't hold out forever. Whatever I was going to do, if there was anything I could do, I had to do it fast. Before Wolf turned his attention back to me.
124
I didn't see a lot of options. The plan had always been to seize the city with Crystal and then to use its resources to rescue Sylax and Anna. That plan had failed. Wolf was going to win the day. The only obstacle preventing that was Sylax. If I wanted Anna back, I'd have to go and get her. I didn't have to rescue Sylax too. At this point the difference between her and Wolf was almost irrelevant except that one of them might actually be grateful.
If I was going to affect any sort of rescue I'd need either a ship or control of the transit portals.
I reached out and tried to reestablish my connection with Tara and my drones on the Graven. It was like trying to pick out a whisper in a loud room, but when I finally got a connection everything snapped in at once.
Tara was on the bridge and injured, one arm broken in four places and burns that might prove life-threatening without proper treatment. Oddly enough she was also in shades of black and white. None of my drones were or the ship itself. I had lost eight drones, and the others all had injuries.
I took one over so I could have a conversation. "This is Emma. Status?"
"Crystal blacked out and we have her in a Medbay. Vessel secure. Holding position above the Alivari Ravine. We’ve escaped from that dimension where I was a prisoner," Tara said.
"You're looking rather monochrome," I said.
"Don't have an answer for that. I didn't have coordinates for Aefwal and outside of your control neither did your drones."
Her words matched what I was pulling from my drone’s memory. They'd had a hell of a fight just to get safe.
"Do you want a healing upgrade?" I asked. Righteous tended to hate the Powered, it seemed polite to ask.
"Will I survive until I can get back to one of your Medbays?" Tara asked.
"Probably," I said.
"Then I'll pass."
I cleared an underground hanger and had my drones take over the ship controls. There was a shimmer as I engaged the drive and moments later we were docked.
I sent a medical drone for Tara and my others, as well as replacement drones for those injured, instructing them to man the ship.
Well, now I could get to the Ooze world, but that wouldn't help me to save Anna and Sylax. To do that I'd need the most formidable offensive tool I could get.
I needed Hot Stuff.
Even while I was out my surveillance systems had been monitoring and recording. I had a good idea of what was going on in Wolf's district. It was mostly dense forest and underground bunkers. Using a thermal scan some irregularities became apparent.
Hot Stuff put out a lot of heat, and with the number of Werewolves who now had her ability the systems to vent that heat were straining. One of the underground bunkers had been dug up and a whole new fan system installed through the reinforced structure.
That didn't just compromise the integrity of the building, it gave me a good idea where Hot Stuff was housed.
I wasn't getting any sense of her, but like Tara, it could be possible if I got a ship full of my other drones close—that same cumulative effect. I might even be able to communicate a message, if she was still loyal.
I wasn't going to get any second chances.
Every human drone that I sent to the ship was upgraded with the Fire Matrix. None of them would burn as hot as she did, but it would help to insulate them from her and the Wolves.
When I was ready I engaged the ship’s dimensional drive. Using it for a short range attack like this was difficult, the computations got insanely complex when dealing with such a small scale, but I really was very smart.
The Graven appeared in the air over the bunker. I had her. Hot Stuff was trapped within some sort of energy shielding—it looked like something that Batarius might have made. If I managed a connection it should mean she was still loyal. I wasn't sure I could pull off this plan without her.
I tried to establish a connection with her mind. I didn't think I could get any sort of full message to her, but I only needed one word.
Burn.
It got through, Hot Stuff's skin began to glow a reddish orange as the air around her erupted into flames. The shielding held, it must have been incredibly powerful.
It was fine that it did. I'd rigged the underside of the Graven with a single shot weapon. High melting-point metals that my drones were heating to the very limits. It was a dangerous game I was playing.
Explosive charges detonated and funneled that energy to propel a single massive blast from the ship. The Graven rocked with the force and the hull buckled in three places. The bunker didn't fare as well. Already weakened by the addition of the fan systems the hot metal shards shredded through.
Werewolves inside were cut to pieces. The shards could survive their flames and even the Werewolves’ accelerated healing factor couldn't cope with this much damage all at once. Ophelia could have handled being torn to shreds, they couldn't.
A collapsing roof and a spray of metal tore away the force shield protecting Hot Stuff and met her aura.
Hot Stuff burned hotter than the Wolves. The spray evaporated before it could hit her flesh.
The scene after a few seconds was a massive crater where the bunker had been, and a lone woman standing naked in the middle of it all as flames rippled along her skin.
I brought the Graven low and extended the ramp. Her flames flickered off as she leapt aboard.
Three airships were closing in. Wolf hadn't left his district totally undefended. They were too late. I engaged the dimensional drive and jumped out.
125
I'd set the jump coordinates for where Tara earlier docked the ship. I knew it was a safe place and it gave me time to work out the next step with Hot Stuff.
"Before you make some bitchy comment about how I look terrible, I'm naked and I have an amazing metabolism. I look fantastic," Hot Stuff said.
As if I would ever insult someone based on their appearance. Well, not if they didn't deserve it.
"Your ability to keep the ugly on the inside is legendary. In your absence Mechos has taken up with two women that satisfy him in ways you never could. I have detailed sensors, I know. If we are done with your childish need to be insulted can we get on to business? I take it you didn't cooperate with Wolf?" I asked.
"Did his best to bribe me, then his best to rape me and finally settled for locking me up until he figured out how to jab a needle into me. What took you so long to come to my rescue?" Hot Stuff said.
"Sylax won the city. Then got captured, then there was a civil war. There were grand plans to put things right, but they've all collapsed into ruin like every relationship you've ever had," I said.
"Your usual plans then. I assume your breaking me out is a part of some desperate and unlikely to succeed mission?"
Perhaps she knew me a little.
"I believe Anna and Sylax are under the control of some sort of mind-controlling slime. If we can find their ship, I'm dropping you and some other pyros on board and you're going to roast everyone and everything. Anna can heal and I doubt you're killing Sylax," I said.
"Bitch kicked my ass last time," Hot Stuff said.
"We're hoping she'll be grateful.”
I had the coordinates for the Ooze city. I'd noted these through Anna's eyes when the fleet jumped in. I just had to hope that the Powerhungry hadn't been taken somewhere far. I'd never have a chance to get the ship back.
We jumped.
The ooze hadn't left. There wasn't much of the city remaining after what Sylax had done to it, but a few structures still haphazardly leane
d with their structures drenched in slime.
The airships Sylax took with her were intact, although grounded. Thick layers of slime coated each.
I'd learned my lesson. There wasn’t a crewmember aboard Graven that couldn't ignite a flaming aura. Even if the ooze managed to get aboard it would find us far harder to seize than Sylax's fleet.
I set course for the Powerhungry and opened the ramp. We weren't being overly subtle here. It wasn't Hot Stuff's strength, and wasn't necessary.
When we got close I signaled and she leapt down from the ramp. Her flames ignited mid-air. When she landed on the slime-covered hull it created a swirling cloud of steam and the stench of roasting goo.
Hot Stuff triggered an especially bright flare. The slime rippled in its efforts to retreat from her as the hull beneath her feet began to glow a dull red. She started to melt her way through the thick armor plating.
I sent down every non-critical drone I had. They formed a ring around her, their own flames igniting.
Hot Stuff dropped from sight into the top deck of the ship and my people followed.
The power systems on the ship were dead. Slime dripped on every surface and it surged violently against them. It flung itself against Hot Stuff in an attempt to drown her. A particularly vicious wave quenched one of my drones and my connection was instantly severed.
That was okay. Apart from their ability to flame I hadn't sent them in with any other weapons. If they ignited their flames, they'd simply be burning off the very ooze that now controlled them.
I'd given the slime a useless puppet.
Hot Stuff lead the rest towards the bridge. She was well familiar with the ship. The design had changed very little since Sylax regained control, and the command center remained on deck three.
There was no crew standing in their way. I didn't think there would be. I hadn't observed any population in the city during the initial assault. I guessed that the slime had some sort of acidic property. At first it took control of a host and forced them to obey, but over time it dissolved and transformed them into more slime.
Anna had a healing factor and Sylax was Sylax. I couldn't be sure that as long as they'd been in the slime’s possession they'd both be fine, but I had to hope so.
It was hard to see as my drones moved. Every step brought more steam and clouds of thick oily smoke as slime burned. The corridors were becoming choked and without power there were no ventilation systems.
It was slow-going to the bridge and by the time Hot Stuff reached it I'd lost another three drones to the waves of ooze.
With all the smoke it was hard to tell, but I thought I saw humanoid figures beneath the slime covering the floor. Hot Stuff burned, and burned some more, as the slime desperately tried to overpower her flames. It was failing.
Then I heard a snap of fingers—and Hot Stuff and all the others were aboard the cargo hold of the Graven.
Sylax stood in the middle of them, looking paler and more haggard than I'd ever seen her. A charred body at her feet was slowly working to knit itself back together, Anna.
"You," Sylax said, with a look towards Hot Stuff. "I owe Wolf for this rescue then?"
"Emma," Hot Stuff said.
"Very good," Sylax said, and fainted dead away.
This was the unstoppable force I'd just dared all to rescue. Fantastic.
I engaged the dimensional drive and got the ship back to Aefwal.
126
I returned to find that that our assault on the Ooze world had been time enough for Wolf to finish his assault on Sylax’s castle and to finally claim it for himself. With Sylax back I didn't think that he would be able to claim the central core, and so far it seemed I was right. He held a majority and the central core, but hadn't actually claimed the city.
I began several more upgrades. I wanted to raise my Defense to twenty, but when I tried to do so I got a warning prompt.
Error
Cannot raise another division to more than twice your Utility rating.
It was probably for the best that I raise my last two areas to ten—those I hadn't already. I spent the requisite resources for Utility and Residential.
Upgrade Options
Residential
High
With this option you choose to build towering skyscrapers to help house your people. The views are outstanding and help to improve morale, but these facilities are also more vulnerable to attack.
Low
With this option you choose to expand your residential facilities deep into the earth. This offers some advantages to defense, but also leads to lower morale.
Morale did seem important, I needed my people working as diligently as possible. I was also a part of a city at war and on the losing side of a civil war coming to its end. I needed every defensive advantage I could get. Morale wasn't truly a concern, not now. I selected Low.
Upgrade Options
Utility
Universal
Your utility drones and systems are constructed with a generalist mindset. All building types can be expanded to twice the Utility rating.
Specialized
Your utility drones and systems are constructed with the intent to maximize the output of one type of structure. The selected type can be raised to four times the Utility rating, all others can be raised only as high as utility.
In the past I'd have specialized in Research without question. SCIENCE was unquestionably the most important thing one could do. Yet the exigencies of the moment made me also consider other options. I had to raise Utility right now to improve my Defense rating and with this I could raise it far higher. Yet under Sylax the most important thing keeping me alive to do science was my manufacturing potential.
I was coming to realize that I always had to be prepared to be strong in a host of ways. My ability to do SCIENCE wasn't just a matter of how many labs I could build, but depended on how well I could defend them. I selected Universal and then proceeded to upgrade my Defense.
Upgrade Options
Defense
Powered
Your gain a small bonus to all powers granted to troops. This not only makes their powers stronger, but allows them to be used more frequently.
Equipped
You gain a small bonus to all equipment utilized by your forces. This improves the defensive value of all armor as well as the offensive value of all weaponry.
This one was more complicated. With my research focus I'd already gained a lot of new powers from captured foes and had options there. Time would provide me more. It was obvious that the Scholars as a whole had once chosen this sort of path. While they made use of technology, their focus was on abilities gained from crystals.
I could contrast that with the Righteous who actively suppressed crystal powers and whose airships and gear were top of the line. They were undoubtedly strong, although to date the Scholars had seemed stronger.
I had to go with that observation. I selected Powered.
With this I could double my defensive strength. With enough clones I could perhaps keep Wolf at bay until I figured out a way forward.
And I had help now.
Anna's healing factor didn't act anywhere near as quickly as Ophelia's. Still, once I had her placed into a Medbay it only took a day for her to regain consciousness.
"I don't recommend being burned alive. I also don't recommend being mind-controlled by slime," Anna said, sitting up with a grimace.
"Hot for once in your sad, pathetic, little life and you don't even appreciate the experience. How predictably grim," I said.
"That's me. What is the situation?" Anna asked.
I explained all that had happened during her disappearance.
"Fuck," Anna said, displaying the eloquence I expected from her. "And Sylax is...?"
"Still unconscious. So is Crystal. While I’m not surprised your dull wits can't see it, I expect there is a connection," I said.
"That only makes sense. Wolf didn't accept Ophelia yielding when he could
have. He isn't going to settle for us just bending the knee either," Anna said.
"I wouldn't recommend it anyways. He shares more of Sylax's negatives than we'd have expected."
"It’s the power. The more of it someone gets, the more chance for their mind to become twisted. If he winds up taking the city for himself, his madness will get a lot worse," Anna said.
My mind felt fine for all the power that I'd taken. I was obviously superior to humans. No one could expect me to react the same way.
I said, "I don't have the forces to challenge him directly. I'd hoped to use Sylax, but if she’s out of contention I don't know what else we can do. If necessary we can transfer my core back to the Powerhungry and try to get the ship operational."
Anna shook her head sharply. "That ship is covered in slime. Even if we needed to retreat that wouldn't be an option. It would have to be the Graven."
Logical. However, it was such a tiny ship and I didn't relish the thought.
"You want to stay in that ship long-term? Bit like an elephant wanting to hide in a mouse hole," I said.
"I don't want to retreat. I want to bust some heads. You know the current situation best, Emma. What do you want to do right now?"
That wasn't hard. Most of the crew was back together now. I'd rescued Mechos, Anna, Hot Stuff and even a newcomer like Tara. There was one of my old division heads still in captivity however.
"Rescue Ratticus," I said.
"Then get me some armor, a gun, and a team, and let’s break some skulls" Anna said.
It was good to have her back.
127
Despite Crystal being unconscious her district hadn't actually been conquered. Jade remained under my compulsion, so our alliance right now stood at three members. We didn't have the numbers and with Sylax returned it may be moot anyways. But I still wanted to take away any support I could from Wolf.