"Mono/Dialogue"

  'Inner thoughts'

  Narration

  [Message/communication apparatus]

  Date: November 1091

  Location: Wilderness west of Wdirosa, Cordelian Mobile City (tentative designation.)

  POV: Narrator

  “Maintain present course, we will reach our destination in a few more minutes, just passing over the valley up ahead.” A bridge officer announced as he controlled the lumbering but rapid metallic beast of mankind’s ingenuity over the waste. Beside him was Lina, the de jure highest-ranking authority. The bridge is off-limits to civilians and refugees on the lower deck, meticulously checked and separated into distinct categories.

  Wdirosan, Kazimierzian, foreigners, and those infected are not present out of malice but rather out of a simple necessity to manage the situation. Recently, news surfaced about an unknown attacker who bombarded the vilge, and reports continue to come in about an additional problem.

  The VTOL cannot provide any support as it is trying to find a stable point of contact to restore the communication link, or that was the st known communication. In that regard, Lina had also been informed of the dubious alignment of their potential foes. Immanuel had alluded to the fact that their enemy is not merely Ursus, but someone or something else.

  When she inquired further, he firmly yet gently told her to cease and never dig deeper. Not as if she has many resources, but his tone set a level of danger and uncertainty that is best left untouched. It is amusingly ironic to see how often each side hides critical information due to its hazardous nature, but if life could be so easily solved, none of this nonsense would occur in the first pce.

  Next, he then details the state of the vilge through a garbled communication line. Long story short, it was horrible out there and evacuation was done as fast as possible. Vilgers were forced to leave behind many of their belongings due to the potentiality of deadly catastrophe from ambient Originium contaminations. Direct infection probability is low, thankfully.

  Lina is now confronted with how severely undermanned she is. If there’s no tension along the border, she could have more people at her disposal, but that isn’t saying much because Nyx has many enemies who would surely pick a fight with her fall from grace. The Grey Serpent allocated most of her networks and spy rings to keep an eye on them. She cannot be negligent, but even her best had produced that catastrophic incident in Wdirosa.

  Lina wonders if the people have begun hating her mother for bringing trouble to their soil, especially from the unaffiliated victims caught in the crossfire. She turns to an Efian by her side.

  “Um… Lady-” The Efia cut her off with a hand wave.

  “Don’t use dy, miss, or whatever on me, just call me the same way your mother did. She’s a real troublemaker, you know? Even her Handsome Wage Sve in a neatly dressed coat more or less begged us to help because he knows just how much of a mess your mother shall leave behind her, she’s a real pain in the ass.” Eyebrows and disapproving frowns began to surface, but the older woman didn’t seem to care. Her attention is solely on Lina.

  “O-Oh, um… Ok… So um… Kalinia… what will happen now?” She gestured vaguely at the real-time defensive parameters made up of drones. They provide eyes for this humongous vessel, allowing it to remain somewhat cognizant. Yes, cognizant, which is such a bad situation for something of this size.

  “We had done all we can, Nyx had set aside a lot of the more trained personnel for you. Talk about being overprotective… hah… live would have been so much easier for her if she was just a humble doll or shawl maker while moonlighting as a writer…”

  She looked around the bridge, noticing the more militaristic order and commanding chain reminiscent of Victoria and Columbia. Not only are they trained in combat, but these people could have left Cordelia and found themselves steadily climbing the hierarchy of any nation’s armed forces that has little qualm about where someone is coming from.

  The fact that they sided with Nyx, who is pgued by controversy, spoke volumes about her impact on their respective lives. Gratitude certainly pys a part, but Kalinia doesn’t believe that is the whole story.

  “She isn’t exactly charismatic, but awe is a quality forged slowly… Nyx knows how to create an army from scratch; even those within our brotherhood learned much more refined military tactics through her.”

  “You did?”

  “Her thinking was revolutionary. Instead of timing assault after barrage, she showcases that it is possible to move with us hounding over artillery barrage to fill in the gap immediately.”

  “I suppose so… Mama had also taught nearby forest rangers, not just from our vilges, to identify tracks better. She had introduced ideas or reintroduced vague ones over the course of her time here. Mama’s understanding of… how to kill… seems to be refined through more than just one lifetime.”

  “Oh? More than one lifetime, you say?” Her curiosity is unmistakable, but her expression soured into confusion upon seeing Lina mirror her own. The Kuranta unconsciously brought a hand to her temple.

  ‘What in the world was I saying? More than just one lifetime? I… spoke strangely again. The dreams are… vague but feel… real. Some I know, some I cannot fathom… most are eerily tangible…’

  “Something else on your mind?” Not the smoothest transition ever, but Kalinia has a feeling that neither of them should discuss it now. Some personal family matters aren’t for discussion. Lina briefly blinked before catching onto the lifeline that was extended to her.

  “Uhm… uh… Oh! Mama even wrote a whole book detailing her experience back in the war.”

  “Which book?”

  “The one titled ‘Perspective of War by a Non-Native Actor.’ Heard it was a popur read in Victorian and Gaulish Academy…”

  “She did? Wait, Nyx wrote that book? I thought for sure she wouldn’t be letting that kind of knowledge fly onto public radar willy-nilly… I swore she only wrote weird pseudo-historical fantasy or outrageous science fiction…” The Efia’s genuine confusion made Lina put her face in her hands. She cannot believe that her mother has been hiding something so mundane, or perhaps she just doesn’t bother to crify and acts as if everyone can follow her convoluted scheme.

  Seeing their confusion at her silence, Lina smiled a dazzling smile that should have banished the dark. Yet those nearby felt as if the temperature had dropped a notch, but surely that’s just their imagination from working nonstop.

  “… Moving on, after we arrive at the destination, we shall take everyone left there on board and head toward the outskirts of Kjerag as Mr. Adenaver proposed.”

  “Disregarding that it can count as a felony, you think the central government will let us go just like that? Last time Nyx tried to undercut them, she got thrown into their smmer.”

  “Seeing that we technically had been abandoned by the central, it is fair for us to raise a compint through Cordelia. I doubt that they want to risk setting an ‘inconvenient example’ for tripping in corporate politics while staying blind to others with simir sins… It is not all that strange for settlements to be wiped off the map…”

  “It’s Wdirosa we are talking about here, how is that not strange?” the Efia uttered while poring over documents strewn across the table. It is a collection of the test reports from the frontline; Ursus is serious. She sifts through aerial photos taken by specially made drones to spy on rows of nd battleships preparing for what is to come.

  She waited for Lina to speak, and the girl did so after exhaling.

  “… I wonder how deep Mama had structured this whole pn… It is not fwless, I can tell you that much, but surely… there’s more at py, right? She had prepared such a massive vessel beneath anyone’s notice… this will surely shake those insolent ingrates who keep dismissing her values…”

  “Your mother won’t like that; hate that even, losing one of her charming fa?ades will sting in the long run if we see how she has been operating.” Kalinia paused, remembering the many fake smiles (or very much real predatory grins) Nyx had pstered on magazines. Nyx even stared at the cover of Pyboy magazine a few times… the royalties for that must have been expensive.

  I wonder if he was livid seeing his Nyx like that… Seeing the bastard idiot twist into silent anger and jealousy would have been the highlight of our lives…’ She chuckled, imagining a certain Nearl who might be sporting such a nasty expression upon seeing it. Regardless, she returns her mind to the topic at hand.

  “Nyx prefers being seen as just another call-girl with a bit more spine but ultimately meek and easily bends when fshed with cash. She acted more true to herself when she had someone to cushion her attitude with.”

  “I say she is performing that role perfectly… perfectly until that mess at least… Mama… Just what on Terra are you thinking?”

  She turns her attention back to Lina, whose eyes are muddled with an expectant gaze but show a wholly uncertain shift in her body nguage. From the looks on her face, the girl’s attention will no doubt be on Nyx… hoping that she can somehow be the answer to a variety of problems, as always…

  “…To you, what is Nyx?” Her question confused the younger Kuranta. Her head tilt looked quite cute, but she wouldn’t voice that.

  “Um… she’s a reliable woman. She is always there when I need her, well most of the time. She is very attentive, going out of her way to-” Kaliana rolled her eyes with a sigh. The shorter woman crossed her arms beneath her chest and knitted her brows.

  “Not that, you naive doofus. What is Nyx to you not as a parent, discard that familial piety and looked at her like the troubled and hardheaded bitch that she is. Look around you, does everything happening up to this point scream ‘just as pnned’? Were those deaths within her calcution? What are we then? Are we helping or detracting from this disgusting shit of a game she is pying?” Her flippant tone and disrespectful choice of words made several ongoing personnel stop and gre. The guards tching onto Lina’s sides even sport looks that can kill a person.

  Interestingly enough, Lina doesn’t seem provoked. She rested one hand beneath her chin to contempte. The girl genuinely struggles to separate Nyx from being anything less than her mother. Sure, Nyx hides many things, but after learning what she was forced to contend with from her tentative subordinates, it paints a grimmer picture.

  “… She’s a conniving serpent of a woman who thinks of herself as the sole antidote for every problem.” Her voice froze the command bridge, while her bodyguards were left to grapple with their emotions. On one hand, she disrespects Nyx too, but Lina is the Grey Serpent’s daughter. Rather than trying to correct her, everyone around her listened raptly in lieu of their duties.

  “Mama… she’s the worst possible wannabe hero on a bad day or the best possible choice between worse alternatives during a good day. She keeps championing that she respects our choices, no matter how stupid…” She sighed, weariness and realization morphing into one whole picture.

  “Thinking everything over these past few days, those choices were built, influenced, upon foundations she had id. She’s a control freak, but she doesn’t know it…”

  ‘I hope so; I desperately hope so…’ She thinks back on the present situation on her mother’s side. She’s a convenient jack-of-all-trades and strictly professional when it comes to business. It is essentially an unspoken trait that she never minded being used while she simultaneously used her contract partners as they had done.

  It streamlined the cessation if she found her potential business partner undesirable. Of course, the opposite is also true. Her business partners had seemingly elected to disavow her completely due to this scandal and desert her to be torn apart by public infamy.

  Nyx had lost two-thirds of her contracts when the news of her incarceration under suspicion of high treason came to light. It caused massive panic among the corporations, especially those who value her profitability first and foremost. It is a big deal to gamble on trust, and Nyx's gamble doesn’t seem to pay off.

  It remains unclear why she takes such an extreme stance or how she could recover. Perhaps she never wants to, or perhaps she merely rides the wave she was swept upon and pys whatever cards she has.

  ‘She had meddled, willingly or otherwise, with incidents spanning over Terra.’ Kalinia thought bitterly, but also felt somewhat amused. Her sister-in-arms picked a fight and was defeated… but this is Nyx; the next part is still pying out somewhere.

  The Grey Serpent holds an honorary title, a baroness without territory, in a hierarchy that shows trends of weakening over time. Nyx has been extending her residency ID since arriving in Kawalerielki more than a decade ago. The origin of the Troublesome Pythia is unclear, leaving her without support for extradition or deportation.

  “I managed to piece together an idea based on what the people here had told me. To me… Mama maniputed them… Mama had even maniputed her so-called lover… and even me…” Kalinia's grin grows, she is starting to like this girl. She can see the situation objectively when push comes to shove.

  “She did yes… but to me as well… she did it after looking through numerous possibilities. She charts the way for us to get away with what we do without attracting unwanted attention.” Lina squared her shoulders and raised her voice to be heard by everyone present.

  “It’s not hard to see how she had been using Cordelia to extend her information web, first example. Cordelia had recently pulled away from Ursus, leaving a final branch office in Chernobog, and completely abandoned its ambition in Siracusa due to constant harassment, the second example with flexible decision making.”

  “For a girl mostly taught about how to py nice like a nun and caring big sister, you’re surprisingly bright and quick on the uptake.” Her comment made Lina quirk her brows in displeasure, but she didn’t escate her response.

  “Mama- no, my Dearest Mother foresee a moment where Wdirosa’s position will reach a point that it cannot be ignored anymore. She had been steadily, subtly, telling me in between our talks that the frontier is slowly tightening to encircle us.” Her next words brim with confidence… but also hurt.

  Hurt that her mother, as always, never cared about herself.

  “She goads this situation to occur. Mama precisely dragged those wretched bastards who had been wishing for Wdirosa, and maybe Cordelia as well, towards an unavoidable downfall. Margaret Nearl’s action had forced her hand, but the fact that she pulled through regardless meant she had made peace with the reality that we would be on the run soon enough.”

  “And why is that?” Kalinia challenged her.

  “Simple. No one will respect a meddling, dubiously neutral entity. Mother Dearest gives these vile snakes all the excuse to hunt her down but not without showing why she’s a serpent amongst mere snakes… She is willing to die, and worse…” Her voice lost its momentum by the end of it. Lina colpsed into her chair, one hand propping up her chin. The bitterness in her eyes, the exhaustion and hurt… all pin to see.

  The bridge is silent. It makes perfect sense. Nyx had seen when all the parts began moving, and she merely used it to her advantage. The world has always known her to be a wildcard, and this accusation gives her the perfect excuse to sever ties cleanly without worsening the wounds she has inflicted, while also preventing those who bet wrong from losing face.

  She let herself burn to keep the situation as stable as possible. Unbeknownst to them, Kiril Nearl is the first person to seize the initiative of what Nyx tried to do and rides the wave immediately, much to his shame and reluctance.

  “…More shall follow? And all they need to do is to be silent or condemn the Grey Serpent to keep this farcical opus going.” One of the officers connected the dots and shared their theory.

  Everyone, including Nyx, had been dancing in this messed-up, improvised, absurdist opera. Lina will certainly want to spout an insult or two at the screenwriter and director of this mess…

  “It doesn’t expin why Wdirosa suffered little… If what you say was true, I see no reason why her foes could be so inept for half-botching the surprise attack. Let’s say you got wounded, or worse… Nyx will go apeshit. I don’t think she is so blind to miss this particur point.” Cordelian PMCs are starting to get fed up with the Efian’s blunt honesty. The woman doesn’t care; it’s not the first time she has done something like this… Bme Nyx; this is too effective.

  “… I’m not sure about that as well. Mama had spent time and made meticulous preparations for many evacuation scenarios. Mama even outlined the potential scenario that the Victorians would enter the upcoming Civil War from day one… On a smaller, but no less important, scale, imagine my surprise that she had separate convoys on standby, moonlighting as trade caravans simply because she had favors to burn. Her cautious approach made it easier for us to haul everyone to safety.” Lina made a mess of her hair; this whole thing is no different than a yawning abyss.

  “Mama knows how to counter whose’ moves, but even she cannot predict an outsider's meddling.” She pauses, weighing how much she can and should say before crossing into a topic she might have difficulty expining. What makes it worse is that the Kuranta tries to fish around in that abyss, hoping to snag something in the dark.

  “Examples, perhaps Yan is behind this through some convoluted 3rd party hijacking to get a feel of Ursus’ motive? Perhaps the Higashinese still harbor negativity despite winning the war and thus goad Ursus to do something? It is more than possible that Mama might need to bring Columbia to the table so their demand, no matter how outrageous, can be tinkered with and deftly mitigated… Now compare that to small but powerful hidden actors behind the scenes. She has no information to derive countermeasures from.” Her unspoken message rang true in Kalinia’s ear.

  ‘So Nyx understands the aims of Columbia, Victoria, and Leithanien regarding cooperation while anticipating the inevitability of Ursus's next incursion one way or another… What Nyx cannot truly tinker with is the sudden entry of actors that weren’t in her calcutions. Fair enough, because how is she supposed to know that?’ Their deliberation was cut short when the communication officer announced their destination was close by.

  With that, everyone returned to their duty, cognizant of what was going to happen from here on out. War would be the least of their interest, but sometimes… it happened just with a different name.

  “Unknown contact! Bearing Zero-Two-Two! T-They are showing up passed the 3rd defensive ring!” The communication officer’s announcement shocked Lina, who remained unresponsive until it clicked.

  “Fold the outer parameters and bring back our drones! We must-” An explosion rocked the bridge, nearly throwing Lina off her feet, had her hands not found purchase on the table. Others weren’t so fortunate, with a few suffering mild concussions from hitting an equipment or two.

  Kalinia didn’t waste time and strode towards them.

  “This is Kalinia to everyone on board!” She takes the microphone from the concussed officer’s hand, demanding attention for what she is about to say.

  “We had detected unknown signatures breaching past our defensive parameters! I repeat we had detected unknown signatures breaching past our defensive parameters!” She soon hears a flurry of movement from the lower decks. Armed PMCs spread around the ndship, preparing to cover the many blind spots that dotted this metallic beast.

  Kalinia handed the microphone back to the comms officer who promptly executed his duty.

  “How many men can we spare?”

  “Not much, our ten roaming teams consist of 8 PMCs with 4 drones each. Most of our noncritical defensive points are manned by the Sargonian Blood-Debtors. The Blood-Debtors numbered around 400, give or take.”

  “Can they be trusted?”

  “Mama knows what is at stake, so I believe she had taken effective countermeasures.”

  “… Let’s hope you’re right.” She shakes her head and leaves the commanding bridge to rally her brothers and sisters.

  -

  -

  -

  -

  “What in Terra’s name is this?!” A hidden scout can do nothing but excim his outrage and terror. “Fucking piece of junk! We should have left the backdoor open, but no! That damn Cyclops and those damn CMs just made it hard for us! Why in hell did Commander Veron listen to them?”

  “The fucking Sarkaz lied! I know it, I just know it! We shouldn’t have fucking trusted them! Sarkaz are even worse than infected, and Commander just has to believe that bitch’s nonsense.” His fellow beside him screamed too. This development could potentially tear their pn asunder, and there’s not much time left.

  “Get command on the line! Tell them that it will be better if we cut our losses.” His colleague shrieked in complete horror as he frantically tried to reconnect the communication lines. None of them were equipped to siege, let alone ‘fight’ something of this magnitude.

  They were expecting to see a convoy or two passing the projected point where their target would arrive and be vulnerable… Now what is happening? A veritable, gargantuan fortress made of steel is carving through the earthen valley, trudging and chugging along as it destroys everything beneath its colossal threads.

  The monster he beheld was none other than a mobile city that had never been seen before. It appeared ancient yet alive with a primal might that spoke of tales long forgotten and legends shrouded in mystery. Aside from its withered and old-looking hull, they could not discern any weakness, and the sight of state-of-the-art battleship cannons affixed at its cardinal directions promised nothing less than painful retribution.

  “Yes sir, we had detected a huge deviation in our pn an- What?! Sir, with all due respect, our units aren’t equipped for this! Sir, we had lost a lot of our assets from the previous attempt to overwhelm Wdirosa.” As his colleague barely managed to keep his tone level, he returned to observe the humongous engineering marvel that came out of nowhere.

  He takes notes on its gun batteries, which look new and well-maintained. The hull is painted in a pattern he does not recognize, consisting of squares in various sizes and arrangements. He takes notes on the armored citadel, riddled with what appear to be automated guns, with several armed personnel patrolling outside.

  He then spots various groups of people running around the decks and outer perimeters. They wore the signature keffiyeh and hood, particurly reminiscent of the Sargon Bedouins. He sighed when he noticed the red marks on their necks and hands.

  ‘Fucking great… the mobile city got Blood-Debtors as security… they are gonna fight to the death. Commander, just why in hell did you pick a fight with a motherfucking Grey Serpent!’

  Moving his binocurs to sweep the upper decks, his expression grows grimmer. Fleets of dormant attack drones intended for the military stand by. These drones aren’t just your run-of-the-mill scouting cameras or lightly armed peashooters; they are cannons on rotor bdes. One of the rger drones is the size of a small burdenbeast, which is either designed for a C&C rey point or armed with even sharper teeth.

  “Even our Columbian guns are- B-but… Y-Yes sir! Understood!” The scout smashed his headset as he hung up.

  “We are fucked. We are so thoroughly fucked…”

  “Boss said no?”

  “Worse, assault as pnned. He said that the city shouldn’t be all that intimidating, otherwise the Grey Serpent would have parked it somewhere close to Wdirosa two-four-seven.” He paused, his jaw clenched tight.

  “We could expect some help from our colborators, right?”

  “They promised us rotorcrafts and infiltration equipment.”

  “Deniable assets?”

  “Plenty, and not just our pets too. Nyx had pissed off a lot of people for a decade…”

  “… No choice then… Guess even when blinded, the Grey Serpent can and will prove difficult to contain…” He nodded grimly and input another set of codes. His fingers trembled, but they grew more resolute from sheer helplessness in the situation they were facing. As the input code was inserted and confirmed, a separate team began operating their secret weapon.

  “Time to pull back, watch my six.”

  “Wilco.” The scouts retreated from the incoming catastrophe. Not long after their departure off the high ground, bluish and purplish lights shine through the darkness of the night. This brought arm to the mobile city, with combat drones immediately taking to the skies to perform CAP.

  As the rearguard provided overwatch to his colleague, he looked at the Mobile City one st time… and grinned with an unreadable expression.

  One thing is assured, the shambling Mobile City shall be baptized in fme to either prevail or be reduced to cinders.

  [END OF CHAPTER]

  Author’s Note:

  Yo there, this is me, myself, and I, the author of this unfolding madness.

  Sorry for the te update, especially the Regalia one, because I have both the case of PC having a stroke and depression myself.

  Update number two… I had made an announcement using the good old Announcement Chapter.

  Ciao