Life2.0 - An "Of Unity" Narrative (Completed)

[CBR JGWRR]

"External Investment"
1st Daas, 10 (2189)
Appia Flavonius​

The holographic room depicts me, Rivkah and three people I want her to meet. I point to each of them in turn. "Rivkah, this is Kuuma Aduluua, Senior Valuations Analysist for the Chisudai."

Rivkah tips her head. The Chisudai looks at her. "Greetings."

I point at the plant-like droid. "This is Unit H4, Partnerships Advisor, FabbiCorp."

The droid rotates various sensors as it looks at Rivkah. Rivkah... Stares.

"And this is Star-Marshal Narvik, Councillor for the Coalition Of Independent Security Solutions."

Rivkah looks down at him. "You look like a bundle of fluff."

He frowns. "My Goodlady, you will either retract that insult, or you will learn manners." He draws his blade. A razor-thin rapier to suit the rather small Turikan; not even thigh high on Rivkah.

Naturally Rivkah has her own out immediately after; black broadsword. I take several steps back as Rivkah bares her teeth.

Narvik responds in kind, leaping to the floor. Rivkah tosses her head back and roars.

The two holograms clash; both blades pass straight through each other, of course. Both recover from the exchange with ease, with Narvik on the defensive, pacing himself as he analyses Rivkah.

Rivkah responds in kind; they circle each other. I look to the others. "Shall we discuss terms?"

Kuuma looks at me. "Turn the safeties off so that they can actually fight. This could be mildly amusing."

I weigh the situation... I need to keep her on side. "Very well."

Narvik opens a ferocious set of attacks as he tries to skewer Rivkah. Rivkah's defence is interesting, it's a mixture of Human and Olinbari forms with tweaks to suit her own nature and the fact she wears... armour at list a fist thick in places. Not including the spikes. She gets a counter-strike in; Narvik flows with the impact and recovers, but he's still flung across the room from where Rivkah hit him. Now he's airborne again, trying to leap over her as she leaps, her head tossing as he passes, their swords meeting as they cross.

Narvik charges again, trying to open Rivkah up, looking for chinks in her armour, stabbing at her, ducking and diving out of her counters.

Rivkah is starting to get annoyed as he manages to be just quick enough to evade. Eventually she changes plan, and begins leaving a gap. Narvik exploits the opening and rams home his rapier until the blade gets stuck in her hips; Rivkah grabs him. He struggles in vain to get free.

I smile. "I believe that's a draw."

Narvik squeals. "I got her first!"

Rivkah laughs. "So? You're a snack!"

Kuuma looks at Narvik. "I'm sorry Star-Marshal, but she has a point."

Rivkah and Narvik look at each other. Rivkah puts Narvik down. He bows. "Well fought, Goodlady."

"Likewise."

Kuuma taps her dias. "Shall we get to our schedule for the day. Appia, you are looking for how much exactly?"

"An extension of further credit to fund the retention of mercenaries-"

The Star-Marshal interjects. "Facing Skrand Sharpbeak carries a very substantial premium Appia. In advance of this meeting I did obtain quotes from my membership, and I've not had a quote less than fifty thousand Energy Credits from a company sufficiently capable of the task. Most declined to quote."

I smile. "Sharpbeak is being dealt with by Life2.0. what I need them for is smashing Septima's stronghold around Cybrex Beta."

All three of them look at Rivkah. Narvik continues. "The Goodlady is impressive, but swordsmanship is rather irrelevant to starship combat. I don't see how she can beat him."

Rivkah smiles. "Skrand has his price, and it's one Life2.0 is able to pay. We just aren't seeking to reveal our hand yet."

I look at Narvik. "If I guarantee your contractors will not face Sharpbeak, how would that affect fees?"

"Without a detailed justification for that clause, I'm afraid it can only been seen by the members as a bait and switch."

Rivkah sighs. "Ok then, then we need the loans to buy conversion monopole grid engines."

Kuuma looks through her system. H4 looks at Rivkah. "We could assist in establishing a production line for the conversion grids."

"That would be helpful, but we need the immediate results."

Kuuma perks her head up. "What sized ships are you looking for?"

Rivkah looks to her left and talks to someone off screen. "We're currently using-" She looks left again. "-twelve Arpharasi Torgaru-Gar engines."

Narvik raises an eyebrow. "Arishkan engines. Interesting."

Kuuma starts looking at her display. "Arpharasi... the Salvager Consortium is listing quite a few ships with those engines, although obviously their ships are of... less certain provenance. The amount Appia would pay for mercenaries would practically buy the stock outright."

Rivkah looks at me. "Well?"

Kuuma puts the display up on the main viewer. I think about it.

 

[HistoryDude]

That's... one use for the animatronics. Why can't Life 2.0 try that to collect multiple bounties?

What's the culture of the Chisudai? Kuuma was being a massive instigator.

Also, why haven't these groups come up before now? Were they in the rewrite that I need to get around to reading?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

That's... one use for the animatronics. Why can't Life 2.0 try that to collect multiple bounties?

It would arouse suspicions. Plus, Thando is nervous about the extent of the checks to verify it is actually the right individual, and not an attempted fraud like this would be.

What's the culture of the Chisudai? Kuuma was being a massive instigator.

If we go all the way back to page 1 - and over a year ago now - there's introduction posts for Chisudai Financial Services and FabbiCorp. (nothing for Narvik's coalition of mercenary enclaves, but mercenary enclaves weren't even a thing a year ago)

Kuuma is meant to be a little more professional than she ended up being, but Chisudai are still monkeys at heart.

Also, why haven't these groups come up before now? Were they in the rewrite that I need to get around to reading?

They haven't come up yet because:

1. In universe, our protagonists have barely encountered anyone outside MSI, who obviously are not going to inform their slaves that other powers exist out of concern for possible uprisings.

2. Out of universe, my intention is that readers of the Narrative will encounter the wider galaxy alongside our protagonists.

3. I'm trying to convey the feel that this is already a long-played through Stellaris game; several recent posts have covered various gameplay events that took place in the past (Cybrex Beta and The Infinite Wheel are the same ringworld, one being the galaxy-wide identity and the other the Kyaese' name, the rise of a great khan has been discussed as a noodle incident, the Prikki recovered from the disastrous end of The Prikki Endeavour to defeat the Unbidden and two Fallen Empires, the Galactic Community has already formed, etc.) that are normally events you play through, and that there's already a high level of development.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Like Mother, Like Daughter"
2nd Daas, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

The Holocron joins us. "There's a few things you should be aware of before you return to normal life next week."

Buri holds me tighter. "How bad?"

"Appia has just spent 10k Energy Credits on engines for Life2.0."

Oh. "Who's paying the debt?"

"Thando."

I'm stunned. "What?"

Rivkah talked it through with Alexandra. Rivkah wants the 10k bounty, Alexandra wants her husband safe before someone else comes to collect now his location is known, Appia needs to look tough to settle internal problems. They're going to send an animatronic of Thando to Appia, Appia will arrange a trial, 'Thando' will be executed, the Galactic Community will release the funds Gnaea Titius set aside. Alexandra and Thando will then have their time in these vats."

"It's a bit drastic. How did they convince him to go along with it?"

"Alexandra."

Buri nuzzles my head. "He loves her."

The Holocron nods. He waves a hand, and our clothes gain a little extra decoration. "Leonardo Veres has developed a new uniform set."

A mirror appears, and Buri holds my hips as I...

Well, I look great in crimson; black and red go together well whether skin or fur. I hold my husband's hips as we swap places - he looks really handsome as his golden brown fur contrasts with his own crimson uniform, the details looking like splashes of something else's blood on my apex predator. I nuzzle his ear. "I like it."

He faces me, pulling me close. "You look..." He purrs as he looks me over. I smile as his eyes feast on me.

"Before you two get carried away, there's more."

Both of us snap to attention. "What like?"

"The developments politically surrounding Grepp's machinations have led Rivkah into a point where she feels out of depth when dealing with so many backstabbers. She would appreciate advice."

Buri and I look at each other as our minds join. Together we think about it. Eventually we reach consensus. "Is she still trying to do everything on her own?"

"Very much so."

Buri nuzzles me. "We never taught her how to lead when not everyone is aligned."

I nod. "We had already settled that complication." I look at the Holocron. "Who is she bringing to negotiations to help her?"

"Herself."

Buri looks at me. I look at him. He doesn't need to say it, and I gulp. "It does seem she's using one of my bad habits..." I sigh. "We need to ensure that she isn't alone. That she has support..."

Buri nuzzles me. "We need another week delay, so that we can help her too."

I smile. "Yes." I turn to the Holocron. "Tell her that she needs to take a week in consultation with other members of Life2.0 and check things over." Buri nuzzles me. "And that she's making her Mum's mistakes again."

The Holocron departs.

 

[HistoryDude]

A second (and preferably a third) perspective would be useful for Rivkah...

I'm kind of surprised that Naomi wasn't more worried about the Thando plan. He is her brother, and he's faking his death. What if things go wrong? What will she do then (and what would Rivkah do then)?

 

[Macavity116]

"Is she still trying to do everything on her own?"

"Very much so."

The fact that Rivkah made it this far without getting backstabbed is commendable... but yeah. It's a minor miracle no one has made the attempt.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

The fact that Rivkah made it this far without getting backstabbed is commendable... but yeah. It's a minor miracle no one has made the attempt.

Yes. But equally, would you want to try to backstab a Xenaya?

A second (and preferably a third) perspective would be useful for Rivkah...

Absolutely.

I'm kind of surprised that Naomi wasn't more worried about the Thando plan. He is her brother, and he's faking his death. What if things go wrong? What will she do then (and what would Rivkah do then)?

Well, Naomi knows Thando can handle himself. I've established that his vendetta against MSI was fought on the basis that nothing is off-limits, so ity probably isn't the first time he's faked his own death.

The only severely fatal flaw with the plan is Thando himself. A psychotic assassin who's been constantly looking over his shoulder... He's kind of gotten used to having nowhere to go, nothing that is his. Hoisting the black flag as he entered the Kidore star system was the first time he had a home in three decades.

He enters a system chasing a fool's hope because of a rumour his sister freed some slaves, having thrown everything he had built up except for one Q ship at a diversion plan just to give himself a chance of making it without detection.

Arrives and finds his sister has a family and leads a civilisation.

Finds a kindred spirit who's as nuts as he is.

And then the worst fear he's faced all his life happens, and it becomes public knowledge that his head is worth at least one Earth-like planet; and, that instead of having to hide again, they celebrate him. And when someone among this ragtag bunch of crazy people makes a uniform system, one of the first things they do is give him a medal for it.

And now?

Thando looks up at the stars, and he knows he's on a planet where his sister has authorisation for hundreds of thousands of nuclear weapons varying from ~1kt anti-PD swarm missiles up to 10Mt city-killers, and wouldn't hesitate for a second to use them if someone did come trying to collect.

He's done with hiding.​

Alexandra is the only compelling part of the plan for Thando, because he knows it isn't just him any more, but them.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"At Waldonice"
3rd Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah of Unity​

Stepping out of the cool desert night into the biggest Thostrunaean settlement on Unity feels strange. It's carved beneath a mountain, and entering a world built for giants...

Everything towers over me. For once, I feel small.

Eventually, I find Shendredie's residence. I bang on the stone door.

A female Thostrunean answers. "Hello Rivkah. Come on in."

I follow. She leads me to an observatory, and she joins Shendredie, runs her hand on his. They look at each other, then he turns to me. "Hello Rivkah." His eyes twinkle. "What do you want my thoughts on?"

"A second opinion on current events."

They sit on chairs. I pounce onto a table. "Um, may I ask who's this?"

Shendredie puts his arm around her. "This is Karlamirie, my wife." He turns to her, runs a finger through her necklace composed of Researcher Green uniform adornments. "And my head of physics research."

"A pleasure to meet you at last Rivkah."

"Likewise. I have a predicament."

She leans forward. "We've been watching. I'm glad we've found a peaceful solution... I've been worried about the alternative."

"We're prepared for that eventuality. No, what I need is a second opinion. Appia for example; would you trust her?"

They hold hands. Karlamirie continues. "She's going through something of a personal re-invention. It remains to be seen if the changes are permanent, but it's looking positive. But the big question is whether she can stay there."

"That's the other bit. Grepp."

"The Prikki."

"Turns out he's had Skrand in his web for decades as a deep cover operative."

She sighs relief. "Oh good. That's a relief." She looks at Shendredie. "I've been worried we'd have to use it."

I look at each of them. "Use what?"

She sighs. "We have been working on a few things."

"Were you guys re-purposing the resources Mum sent for the hyperdrive development program?"

She smiles. "We... Well, a little. The direction of high energy physics has numerous applications, and well, we needed the capability to test and manage gigawatts, and your mother was always open to exploring numerous ideas to keep MSI at bay, so..."

"What are you guys working on, really?"

They stand, and I follow in silence.

We descend deeper into the mountain. Eventually, we arrive at a glass box overlooking a cavern. "This is our solution."

"A disc? What's it for?"

She laughs. "Daas' team were working on ones that could be mounted on a spaceship." I realise what it is. "There's... Hundreds of metres of rock above us. Have you built a radio wave laser? Nothing else would work."

"This test one is good for megajoules per square metre at 300km."

"This one? And that doesn't sound very impressive, Daas has lasers up at terajoules per square metre at 300km."

"Not from under seawater he doesn't - Daas' lasers wouldn't get through the lower atmosphere, and MSI's lasers wouldn't get through the uppermost atmosphere as all their wavelengths get absorbed. We've been working on submarine versions, as reactors that can discharge waste heat to seawater can get very efficient, we have variants of Daas' 1GW reactor for our ships up at 5GW for our submersible lasers. And there are advantages - the diffusion means that the whole enemy ship is bathed in the radio waves, and the materials that are used in the construction of warship hulls and armours especially are generally transparent to or reflective of radio waves."

"That's bad though... The energy needs to be absorbed to damage stuff."

"The radio waves get inside the enemy ship and then bounce around inside it. Crews and electrics don't like being having very high power radio waves bouncing around, gets rather warm and with high induced currents in electrical devices. All while our subs are safe from counter attack under water - their lasers wouldn't get anywhere near our subs, water impact would ruin kinetics, leaving missiles and depth charges that can be intercepted by surface anti-air or outrun by diving."

I sit. I think. "Well... Ok."

Shendredie rests a hand on my shoulder. "You wanted a second opinion Rivkah - here's ours. We have a whole bunch of very imaginative and creative folk on Unity who believe in the vision your mother gave them. At first I didn't, but your mother is... Very persuasive. Maybe Appia's new direction can be trusted, but either way, they need to earn our trust before we cooperate with them."

 

[Macavity116]

"The radio waves get inside the enemy ship and then bounce around inside it. Crews and electrics don't like being having very high power radio waves bouncing around, gets rather warm and with high induced currents in electrical devices.

So, we're gonna microwave the enemy to death?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Sky Full Of Stars"
3rd Daas, 10 (2189)
Alexandra HaMaadimi​

He plays with my hair as I rest my head in his lap. "I can see why Naomi and Buri come here."

"It's a lovely view." He kisses my cheek. "But not as nice as the one I get looking down."

I tsk. "Thando."

He sighs. I shift to sit beside him. "What's wrong, husband?"

He takes my hand. "I don't want to fake my death again." He kisses me. "Not now that I have someone to live for."

I lean into him. "I'm just... I'm worried. The more established we get, the more known you get... There's risks."

He kisses me. Then shrugs. "You get used to it, looking over your shoulder, wondering when you'll get ambushed. Learning to sleep with your eyes open."

"I'm glad you stopped doing that. It was disturbing..."

"But necessary. You have to see it from my perspective... To me, I'm on a world where I no longer have to hide like that. Do you know how freeing it is to finally be somewhere where I know that no one will betray me? Instead, Leonardo gave me a medal." I look at his chest, at the representation of a Dyson sphere. "I finally got to show off my parazonium collection here. I've been building that for decades. And you would not believe how much trouble keeping even that much of the collection was."

I look at his eyes. "There was more?"

"Yeah... I had to go to ground a lot. Not many safehouses on the run, nowhere to store possessions except keeping them on me. And even I run out of room for knives."

I smile, and kiss him. "It was a hard road."

He nods. "And now I'm not alone."

"You had Ming."

He laughs. "Ming... Talks to himself too much."

"Lots of people do."

"A quarter of what he says is for other people. Whole family is dead, and he talks to himself because he misses them." He kisses me. "But I never had anyone, until I met you."

"Kaylara?"

"Professional relations only. Nope, all I had were dreams that maybe one day... A miracle would happen. That I'd find someone, somewhere safe."

He stands, and looks out over Hortensus' Folly. I take his hand. "You found this place."

"And you." He turns to me. "I'm gorydamn done hiding Alex. I have a home. I don't want to fake my execution; death has to earn it's bounties. I told Rivkah that. I don't want to live in fear any more. Sis has half a million nukes she'd use on anyone who tries to take me away, and those people down there? They didn't know at first, but they look at me like I'm a living legend ever since I poured those parazoniums out at Sis' trial. have you and Rivkah considered the morale hit from selling my head?"

I stay silently looking into his eyes. Funny now, we got our missing eyes replaced together... Here, on our adoptive home. He's right. "I'm sorry Thando. I'll talk to Rivkah in the morning."

He lies down. "The only one I see is you."

"What?"

He points up. "Star. You."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

So, we're gonna microwave the enemy to death?

No. It's a radio laser, not a microwave laser.

But as an anology, it's not too far off - microwaves are absorbed extremely effectively by water, which obviously makes the whole idea of sub-mounted lasers that can hide anywhere in an ocean rather useless. (this absorption is why we can cook using microwaves, the water molecules in the food absorb the energy really well and heat up, and heat the food as a result)

Radio largely ignores water, which means the amount of energy someone would absorb on each pass from the radio wave as it gets reflected back and forth inside the hull before it hits something transparent to radio is miniscule; <1% a pass. And well, it's also a very small amount of energy that actually does get inside the ship to be bounced around thanks to diffusion in transit; even km scale apertures will struggle to do better than bathe an entire ship in laser, which is not very effective.

But, you could very reasonably get an awful lot of bounces in when you are dealing with lightspeed waves, and unless your enemy geared up specifically for countering this (the aperture ends up needing to be ridiculously massive because the wavelength is 1m ish, and basically it means a huge net carried between multiple subs. Inevitably, the subs are guarded by surface PD vessels to knock out incoming depth charges, which means an enemy needs big kinetics that can survive atmospheric entry without burning up to take out surface PD, and then hunting down submersible lasers who've dived and fled while they blew up said surface PD that stops you sending your missiles down as depth charges) they basically aren't going to be able to take it down, so, you pour hundreds of gigawatts into them until you run out of fissiles or they die and leave behind a recoverable hull, albeit very likely with totally fried avionics.

Note too that these weapon selections are very much the opposite of the weapons desired for space combat - space combat kinetics become the smallest speck you can accelerate without it becoming a gas that diffuses to maximise muzzle velocity and give it a better chance of competing with lasers, and space lasers themselves rely on the shortest wavelengths you can make to maximise damage to enemy hulls; UV, X-Ray and Gamma ray lasers are all going to be completely useless against subsurface targets.

Blue lasers are of passable utility as they can at least get down to the water surface and potentially counter some surface PD vessels. But they can't hunt the anti-capital laser-subs unless they stay close to the surface, so you'll still need depth charges. Plus, if you turn up with blue lasers to a space battle, then you'll lose to the guy who turned up with UV or better. Essentially, the requirements to secure coverage in a planetary assault amount to bringing two fleets of ships.

Plus, you could of course have blue lasers on other subs to mount as the "surface" PD ships - between the vastly better cooling potential for both reactors and lasers from dumping the waste heat in the sea and that the energy lost to heat isn't unacceptably bad (defining unacceptably bad as the point where defensive lasers fired by the subs only match the offensive lasers fired from the attackers in space) then the "surface" PD vessels could be operated as low as fifty metres down.

Obviously, this needs extreme power outputs; to make this work needs hundreds of gigawatts just to make low orbit safe. Thousands if your enemy is actually prepared to defend against this.

But, as I wrote a brief consideration piece on up-thread, you can use nuclear pulse propulsion for power generation, and kicking out terawatt outputs to funnel onto lasers like this is potentially plausible; and if you are putting terawatts of power into these radio lasers, you can deny your enemy any orbit below 2000km on an Earth-like planet.

---

None of this is actually a new idea, as the core principle actually dates back to WW2, with the development of radar; the boffins were asked to make a death ray, but they found they couldn't actually produce anywhere near enough energy to make a working death ray*, but could make something that can detect aircraft.

* Especially not something like this; we're discussing a laser that quite possibly uses more power than Britain as a country was producing at the time.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Fan Hitting"
4th Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

Strange, no reply from Appia...

Odd.

I review what I have to say.

Alexandra has backed out of the selling fake-Thando to MSI. Problem is, Appia was relying on getting at least that concession...

This could be tricky.

I try again. Still nothing.

After talking to Shendredie's people, I've realised things aren't quite as amicable all round as I thought.

I miss Mum. She's better at getting everyone together than me, me and Dad kind of lead because we're large and in charge, but Mum manages to talk through to people. Maybe it helps that Humans are so flimsy?

I try again. Now I'm looking at...

Oh dear.

I realise that there's bigger things to discuss than Thando. A man lies on the floor, her office is a mess, and her dress even worse...

She's getting her breath, and lets go of the knife in the man's chest.

"Appia, are you ok?"

"Oh, Rivkah... No. No I'm not. Septima has launched her attack... Several bombs have been detonated, and dozens of my staff are dead. Gateway command has been bribed, and are now denying entry to MSI shipping..."

"She's coming."

She trembles as she wipes blood off her stomach. "What will it cost me to ask you to get your entire fleet here before she does?"

"That... I don't know. Transit times?"

"Thankfully the Gateway is on the far side of the system, and the wormhole on the near side."

"And obviously you opened the wormhole as close as you could to us... We might make it."

She runs a medical device over her stomach. "Please try."

 

[Macavity116]

All bets are off now. I imagine it wasn't just Gateway Command getting their palms greased. A lot of money (and loyalties) would have changed hands to make this attack happen.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Appia Calls For Aid"
4th Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

It's been three hours.

She is...

Well. She is maskless; I find myself surprised to see her yellow eyes. She is also naked. Only a belt, a pistol and a parazonium. She smiles as she sits on a pile of several armoured men. "I believe this is how your mother dressed."

"I'm told it is. How bad?"

She frowns. "I've just had the Castra Praetoria blasted from orbit."

The words are familiar... Oh no. "The Praetorian barracks? That is really bad, if they've got low orbit and started wiping out your army..."

She laughs. "No, I have low orbit. The bastard Praetorians betrayed me. My own bodyguard! I've had to start purging the whole unit this morning. I'm winning because my fleet remained loyal, and I have air and space superiority, and the remaining rebels have holed up into the underground vactrain network." She leans forward. "The surviving Shareholders have agreed to accept any reforms to regain order. The situation is utterly dire Rivkah."

"Just how bad?"

She points the view out the window. Black smoke is rising. "After our call, I began trying to establish what the hell happened. The Praetorians took out planetary communications. Thankfully, the fleet remained loyal, and they began rerouting critical governance channels through the navy. Then the bombs started. I don't have full casualty reports, but I'm expecting that millions are dead, Olinbari and Indentured Assets. I know at least a third of the Shareholders are confirmed assassinated..."

"How did you make it?"

The view points back to her. She picks up her sword, bloody to the hilt. "They came for me. I killed them."

"On your own, against Praetorians?"

She smiles. "Rivkah, sweet Rivkah, how do you think I got this high?"

I'm... Thrown by the question. If I was Appia, how would I have gotten so high... "Slept with the boss, I guess?"

She smiles. "Unfortunately most of my bosses on the way up were men, although I did get promoted to Subcommander for sleeping with a Rear-Admiral, so you aren't entirely wrong. No, I am one of the best duelists in MSI. That's how I got some of my now released Companionship Assets and my naval commision. I must confess, that disarming utility it is the second reason I maintain the appearance of a hedonist who loves her ladies."

"Dare I ask what the first is?"

She laughs. "Because I am a hedonist who loves her ladies, obviously." Then sighs. "Thanks for making me laugh, I needed that today..." Her voice trails. "Rivkah."

"Yes?"

"I know you've got a fair few reasons to distrust me, or even celebrate what could easily be my downfall." She kneels. "Please rescue me. Rescue us. I know you'll have difficulty convincing the others, so remind them that we've got lots of Indentured Assets who need saving too. Septima has bribed Gateway Command, and it'll be weeks before freight arrives via the hyperlane network and jump drives. And Brigantia imports food..."

She looks pitiful.

Her eyes fall.

Then she whispers softly. "Vae victis."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"T-246 hours"
4th Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

It's a sunny midafternoon as I gather every possible person for the decision making; out of all the people I want involved, only Appia is missing; necessarily so - she has to be seen as more than just a hedonist flailing for her life, and is hopefully gaining a new reputation fighting a war in the underground vactrains.

I look around the gazebo we've erected on the intersection outside the capital building. Physically here are all Mum's old council, plus Alexandra and Thando, Thando's crew, Grepp, Mei Hua and Ossuhphuhr, Leonardo, Valerius, Agrippina, Caeso, plus my various advisers and scientific staff, plus representatives of all Unity's races, who've all been polled on possible scenarios, plus my military commanders. Present by audio link is Kryydur - he got underway before Septima's revolt shut the Gateway, and is now burning towards Brigantia to support Appia's fleet - Mum and Dad, Skrand, and the Holocron.

And thousands of people watching in person, plus millions across the system watching or listening to Li's broadcast.

"I spoke to Appia two hours ago, and to Appia's staff an hour ago. The latest update I have from Appia's staff is that Appia is currently fighting hand to hand against Praetorians in Brigantia's underground vactrain network."

Thando's eyes go wide. "Fuck that."

I look at him. "Care to explain?"

"That'll be properly hairy stuff. We need to think about what happens if she gets killed... I've hidden down in those vactrain tunnels. They work by sucking all the air out the tunnel so that the trains have no air resistance and can blast at thousands of metres per second to cross the planet in hours. That's going to be a planet-wide battle she's fighting."

It darkens the mood... "Points taken, however, there is some good news in that she retains both her leadership and air and space superiority. Never the less, there are critical issues - Brigantia imports food. There are twenty four billion Indentured Assets on that planet, plus ten billion Olinbari." I look at the Holocron. "Is there any possible way to stop them starving now that they've been cut off from trade?"

"I'm sorry Rivkah. I can design an aeroponics setup to feed that many no problem, but even I can't build it in a day, plus I don't have even a fraction of the necessary seeds as my current stockpile covers my Neumanns and Life2.0 in an emergency, and even if I could plant the several hundred billion plants that would be necessary and used only the fastest growing crops, it would still be three weeks at least in growth plus another six in transit."

"Ok." I turn to my agricultural advisors. "What about harvesting Unity?"

"We have been working on our projections, and we could put together a token effort of aid of food that would last the trip. But there's simply nothing we can do to help so many."

"Well, that leaves the military options." I look at the speakers. "Tryykad, would you care to discuss Septima Severus?"

What follows... Makes me wince.

I gently interrupt when he finally has to breathe. "Suffice to say, she's pure evil, and we do not want her as a next star neighbour. As I see it, the line must be drawn at Brigantia."

Ruki raises a hand. "Possibly stupid question - it is accepted that Septima can't afford to leave our fleet alone, and therefore must carry out an attack on us. But why does Septima need to go through Brigantia to get to us?"

Agrippina answers for me. "Because the wormhole has a remote control emergency shut down. On Brigantia."

I nod. "Specifically, it's in Appia's underwear."

Agrippina looks at me. "How exactly do you know that?"

"I asked Appia about how the wormhole could be secured. She told me. She knows it is risky, but it means Septima has to confront Appia face to face if she wants to stop us or stop Appia using the wormhole as a radiation weapon by deliberately collapsing the wormhole."

Ossuhphuhr stands. "She wouldn't do that... It would irradiate Brigantia. The planet would die."

"As would every ship in the system, including Septima's ships. Appia needs a dead hand weapon, and it is the best she's got."

Ossuhphuhr folds his arms. "I don't like the idea of relying on Appia's luck in a CQC-"

My tutor Titius rubs his shoulder as he stands. "May I stop you right there, Ossuhphuhr. Fighting her is how I ended up in tutoring for duels, she put me out to pasture." He looks at the rest of us. "Don't make my mistake of thinking her weak, especially now she doesn't have Companionship Assets taking up her stamina like she did then."

I nod. "I have to confess my estimation of her has vastly improved since seeing her just after she killed a Praetorian this morning." I look at Alexandra. "Never the less, Appia's fleet won't be enough to stop Septima. She needs us; how many ships can we get to her?"

"That heavily depends on what we leave behind as a rearguard. And who."

Mum answers. "Me and Buri won't be finished for a few more days. We will stay behind."

Tryykad speaks next. "I want every Kyaese armed and ready for battle. I've already mustered Kri-Kyaese-Ci. That bitch must rot in hell."

I look at Skrand. "Your thoughts? You know how ready the Kyaese are better than us."

He wears a grim expression. "I don't believe my operatives have been discovered. I expect she will purge the Kyaese rather than risk revolt... We should not send every Kyaese, just in case that she purges everyone on Cybrex Beta."

Hmm. "Giving up her income stream is hardly wise."

"Think of it as trading one powerbase for a much larger one, if she wins."

"Are we all agreed that we must stop Septima?"

All kinds of limbs rise.

"I'll rephrase that. Does anyone not think we should burn for Brigantia to stop Septima?"

Just a few hands remain.

Odoos has one of them. "What if we lose? What happens if Septima wins in space? What happens if someone stops Appia from destroying the wormhole? If Septima wins... We need to be able to defend Unity."

Mum answers. "Odoos?"

"Yes?"

"We've talked about that, you and I. If we lose, Septima will come to Unity, and enslave anyone who didn't go to fight. The way I see it, this is an all or nothing fight... And we are much better off having that fight in Brigantia orbit than here."

I nod. "Mum's right - splitting our forces means we'll lose both. To me, all that remains is whether we wait for Mum and Dad."

The Holocron speaks first, looking briefly at Grepp. "Since recent information came to light, I revised my construction methods to save some time to get your parents operational faster. At the moment, your Mum and Dad are in the final stages of neural reconection and diagnostic testing inside the vats as I carefully upload them back into their finished bodies. I dare not rush this part of the process, not even for a second. Every single connection has to be duplicated exactly and then verified. I've already shaved two days off the process I use for my Neumanns as it is for this."

"How much longer?"

"I simply cannot do it in less than three days. I don't want to push it below four, frankly."

"So Mum and Dad have to stay behind. Appia's projections are that I only have ten days until Septima's fleet hits weapons range on Brigantia."

Mum and Dad talk in whispers, then loud enough to hear. "What if we accept the risk that we might not be fully uploaded? Lets say you get us finished as soon as possible and we'll fix whatever errors come up later?"

The Holocron takes the longest pause I have ever known him to take. "Six hours."

"Mum, Dad?"

"We'll risk it."

I look at the Holocron. His corporeal form frowns. "I do not recommend this."

"I know. But I need them. Do it." He disappears. I look at the others as I stand. "Tryykad is right. I want everyone except conscientious objectors armed and ready for battle in six hours."

 

[Macavity116]

"I asked Appia about how the wormhole could be secured. She told me. She knows it is risky, but it means Septima has to confront Appia face to face if she wants to stop us or stop Appia using the wormhole as a radiation weapon by deliberately collapsing the wormhole."

Ossuhphuhr stands. "She wouldn't do that... It would irradiate Brigantia. The planet would die."

"As would every ship in the system, including Septima's ships. Appia needs a dead hand weapon, and it is the best she's got."

You know what this reminds me of?

Ever read The Magician's Newphew by CS Lewis? The Queen Jadis had a magic weapon called the Deplorable Word, it would instantly kill all living things except the one who spoke it. She eventually used it to spite her sister (who was victorious in a civil war against Jadis)

Appia's Dead Hand is like that, scaled up in deadlines to be inescapable.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

I had a set of the Narnia books, some time ago... They got lost in a house move. I can just barely remember the scene you recall.

What I actually have in mind though is the Soviet fail-deadly semi-automated nuclear missile launch system.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"T-240 hours"
4th Daas, 10 (2189)
Rivkah Of Unity​

I lock the door to the family caravan. Maybe the last time, I don't know...

Ruki tugs on my dress. "Let's go find Mum and Dad."

We leave the underground parking area, and walk onto New Joshua Nkomo Avenue. The Holocron meets us. "Your parents await you."

The streets of New Bulawayo are packed as the second batch of the Holocron's 400m pusher-plate ships complete pre-launch checks.

As Ruki and I walk down the road we smile and wave to the multitudes, our passage lined by millions of people arrayed in the twelve colours of Leonardo's vision, worn from the smallest Kyaese to the biggest Thostrunaean, and all of them wearing a new medal that depicts a fleet departing Unity.

Eventually, we come to the end of the road.

A menacing black wolf and a golden furred beast await us, their claws entwined, their crimson armour shining in the bright yellow light of New Bulawayo. As we close, we realise they are Mum and Dad renewed.

We run to them and hug, for the first time in what feels like forever. I pick up Mum and spin her around, she weighs at least twice as much as before and looks just as thin.

Mum looks at me, and nuzzles my cheek. "You don't have to be so melancholic."

I shrug. "We go to war. We have no idea what Septima has, we don't know if Appia will even be around in ten days when we arrive, speaking of which we're about to blow up millions of tonnes of uranium to get there as fast as we possibly can... And when we do, we'll still have enough firepower to glass a planet. I'm just left wondering if this is such a good idea now we actually get to the point."

"I understand."

"Maybe we should stay, and build up more..."

"That would be exactly what Septima wants though. She is going to rely on us backing down from trying to aid Appia while she carries out an offensive as quickly as possible, knowing that divided we will fall much more easily - first Appia, then us, then Sharpbeak. With the Gateway out of access we can't link up with Sharpbeak as soon as we'd like, but we can link up with Appia and concentrate Septima's targets on Brigantia. Make her come to us. And after that, we merge with MSI, and then liberate all Indentured Assets. We can make this work."

I suddenly notice that everyone is crowding around us. Mum stands back, then looks to everyone. Her claws run over the parazoniums of Hortensus and Gaius on her belt. The Holocron exchanges glances with her. She clears her throat as I realise he's just linked her to the communications system. "I am Naomi Of Unity, wife of Buri, mother of Rivkah and Ruki, sister of Thando, daughter of Atalyah and Marcus HaMaadimi. I was a Companionship Asset under MSI. Shackled to a wall as a sex slave by Hortensus Dexcius, who I killed and offered myself to lead us." Her eyes pass over the whole crowd. "I might look a little different now, but what hasn't changed is that I believe in us. I believe in what we have accomplished so far. And I believe in our mission. We fly now for the sake of the countless billions of Indentured Assets in MSI space, and for the Olinbari who have been brought to repentance for how they have enslaved them. And once Septima is defeated, we will merge with MSI to guide them back into being who they were meant to be." Her claws wrap around the hilt of her sabre - she draws it, the blade edges glistening brightly in the light. "Break the shackles. Live for more!"

Dad sweeps her off her feet.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"T-235 Hours"
4th Daas, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

I look at the viewscreen's display of a slowly receeding Unity.

The Holocron has been very busy with the logistics of this operation, even with a brain measured in cubic kilometres. We've all known it was coming of course, but we didn't know when, or how many ships would be coming. In the end, we can't take everything; whoever didn't want to join this expedition has stayed behind, and also the Holocron has left some Neumanns behind to look after his permanent assets. Thankfully he hasn't quite got the technology to move a planet. Yet.

And as predicted, there's plenty of people who chose to stay behind from Life2.0; I've never been one to demand conscription, although I have left standing orders that if we lose to Septima, then conscription is permitted.

On the bright side, more than three million people have decided to come. Including every single Kyaese; one of the 400m pusher-plate vessels he's launched is purely Kyaese operated, and is basically a hatchery and carrier.

Up ahead of us is the Holocron's Titan. Formerly an MSI ship, it has been completely overhauled into a sub-brain unit. But it's not big enough for him to transfer everything over to, so the vast majority of his intellect remains on Unity. Out the front of it's immense spinal cannon are the biggest pulse units he's yet made, massing more than a hundred tonnes each, turning the conversion monopoles and antimatter fuels taken from the other ships in the fleet we captured into detonations that blast towards a twenty eight square kilometre puller-plate, with everything that isn't a grid core conversion monopole engine rocket - we can refuel those anywhere after all - tied to the Titan by carbon nanotube tie ropes.

All facing towards Unity, obviously; when each of those bombs is carrying about as much energy as how much Humanity used prior to first contact with MSI, you do not want to be looking at them when they go off. Sure, we have a deflector field - buried inside the 400m ships is a liquid lithium surrounded 12m pusher-plate being used for power generation to run two electromagnetic shields to try to mitigate it, but everyone agrees we'd rather have the pusher-plates pointed towards the explosions and not us.

I decide to try to hail Appia again.

I get her office. "Hello. Naomi Of Unity, calling for Appia."

The Olinbar man on the other end looks utterly confused.

I smile. "Please."

He shakes his head. "Weren't you Human?"

"I was. But I've had a fairly substantial makeover."

He watches me swish my tail. "Right. She's accepting the surrender of the remaining Praetorian Guard, but I'll advise her to get in touch as soon as possible."

"Perfect. How is that war?"

He sighs. "We've had a lot of casualties, but those mosquitoes the Holocron sent Appia as a present did the trick."

"The spy ones or the ChDMY-R45 ones? He told me he sent both."

"Both, although the disease ones were why they surrendered." He looks around me. "Is he there?"

"Nope, he is on that Titan he captured."

He relaxes. "Good. I have to say, that is a horrible way to die."

I nod. "It's a genetically engineered mix of cholera, dysentry, malaria and yellow fever; old family bio-weapon."

He looks at me. He thinks it through. "I'm damn glad we're on the same side now."

He closes the channel.

I recline, and wait for Appia.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"T-232 Hours"
4th Daas, 10 (2189)
Naomi Of Unity​

Appia calls me back as soon as she's in her office; the view connects as she is finishing up putting a dress on in place of her armour. She doesn't put a mask on. She freezes when she looks at me. "Naomi?"

"Yes. It's me."

"Lucius said you had been for a makeover."

"So have you; no mask?"

"Not any more. New me." She taps the implants on the side of her eyes. "Besides, these give all the same information anyway. How are you? Rivkah said you and Buri had a long time away together."

I smile. "Buri arranged with the Holocron to transform us to be like our son Ruki, and well, we made a few other changes at the same time."

She looks at my husband. "I think I can see one, or is Buri just pleased to see me?"

I laugh. Buri growls. I check my husband out. "Nope, it's one of his changes for me."

Appia laughs. "As I've said before, if you are going to have a man, he should at least be big."

"Yes."

"He must split you wide open though."

"He can literally walk around with me on him now it's made of bone."

She laughs again. "So he's a real man with an iron rod?"

Buri looks utterly confused. "But it isn't iron..."

I giggle. "True. He isn't the man with an iron rod."

Appia takes a moment, her face thoughtful. "But I thought Ruki was genetically engineered to have a metal skeleton though?"

"Yes. And so do we. But..." I giggle again. "But we're actually..." Breathe. I've been waiting for weeks to make this joke, come on, I must control myself. I flex my arms, swish my tail. "We're actually made of titanium now."

Appia sees where this is going. Her eyes twinkle. "So, not iron rod, but..."

I look straight at my husband. Breathe again. "Buri is actually the man with the titanium rod." I can't help but howl with laughter.

Everyone is looking at me.

I sigh. "Well, I found it amusing."

Buri nuzzles me. "Yes dear."

Appia looks at me, smiling as she shakes her head. She sighs. "Ok Naomi, let's talk about the task at hand. Those mosquitoes the Holocron sent me to help with a situation like this really did help. Last Praetorian Guard pocket surrendered a little while ago, and we've begun rebuilding efforts. Brigantia's orbital ring and the central dockyards are at full capacity building defence platforms. Septima hasn't yet come through the Gateway yet, but Gateway Command have said if I make a better offer than Septima, they'll let us through."

"Two paydays are better than one."

"I know. Profiteering little tykes." She sighs. "Still, the news you've been waiting for is that the remaining Shareholders after the attempted coup have agreed to free the Indentured Assets. All of them. They do want one thing though - protection from reprisals. We don't know what happened to the prisoners you took from Gaius, but I can't imagine your people were as merciful as you are. They want assurance that they aren't going to get lynched."

"Done."

She looks at me. "Just like that?"

"I might be a wolf now, but I remain open to negotiations. It's a reasonable compromise to make."

She sits. "That's a relief. Next question then - how many ships are you bringing?"

"Two million men and women and children capable of wielding weapons, spread across twelve ex-Arishkan ships, fourteen thermonuclear pulse propelled carriers, eight reactionless drive ships and every smaller ship we can carry."

Her eyes narrow. "And children, you said?"

"Septima has really pissed off the Kyaese; they've all come."

She gulps. "Ok, but I presume the children aren't going to be fighting though?"

Rivkah joins me. "It's war Appia. Men, women, children... We are all on the board."