Chapter 20-8 A Playground for Tyrants (I)

Chapter 20-8 A Playground for Tyrants (I)

Approaching, infiltrating, and overthrowing an enclave is built on information.

Information regarding what we know about the governing Fallwalkeror Fallwalkers.

Information regarding the environment, the localized anomalies, the factions at play, the key holders of power, and the general socio-structural aspects of such homesteads.

So, today is going to be a special day, boys and girls. Today, youre getting your sequences updated free of charge. Youll be getting the latest phantasmics and memory updates our Necrojacks can provide, and Omnitrech and the No-Dragons have also graciously provided some of their implant-based neurosofts to keep both Meta and meat extra aligned.

You all will also have three hundred hours of vicarities to draw from. Memories so thoughtfully provided by certain FATELESS refugees. Aint they kind? Youll be able deep-sim yourself in their sequences. Learn about the routes they took. What the Scar Charts for the Sunderwilds look like. What kind of fucky-wuckies you might run into. That kind of stuff.

Oh, and when youre done, you will be planning the route. Not us. Dont look at me like that. We already did most of the hard thinking for youyou have to be tested on something.

Honestly, you juvs have no idea how nice you had it. Back in my day, DRTIO [Deep Rupture Tactics and Infiltration Operations] had us do our graduation ceremony by detonating a Rendbomb over a Syndicate and having us storm-jump into that mad house. Youre getting to raid an Enclave. Hells, youre getting to assassinate a Godclad.

Just think about that. Aint that fun.

Anyway. Heres your capstone operation to show that we didnt waste all those phylacteries and bodies on you half-strands.



Look through the mem-data. Figure your approach. Topple that regime. Snuff that Clad. Come home alive.

The host that kills the Clad gets preferential deferment for their initial theater of deployment. The ones that make it back graduate and just jack and shit else.

Remember kids, dyin doesnt make you a Reg. Snuffing the other fucker does. So dont die.

Anyway. Happy flying.

Dismissed.

-Drill-Master Millenau Daanouriks, Regular

20-8

A Playground for Tyrants (I)

The light from the distant watchtowers speared through the miasma. Lanes were paved in the darkness, and the shadows were held at bay by a constant stream of radiance.

Casting his Skimmer high into the air with an eruption of thought-fire, Avo surveyed the emerging route.

It was as if a constellation had been carved out from within an ocean of darkness, the interconnected paths running from lighthouse to lighthouse, beams of radiance relayed from lens to lens.

The grand architecture of this place was still in the process of unveiling itself, a clear shape was beginning to form via each installation of illumination

The nearest watchtowers came righter in something of a V-shape before the cadre, but by the third tower at approximately twenty-four kilometers away, the trail of the light grew unnaturally curved, spiraling inward along a wall of arcing lens that unveiled themselves with the receding dark.

Condensation clung to the glass, and Avo sampled its material structure using his Woundmother.

There was a touch of the unnatural upon itsome kind of amplifying resonance to its shine that only triggered when graced by light.

This was beyond Dices memories. Avo had followed her recollections thus far to chart their travels back to her home, but she was entrapped in the bowels of her masters vessel along with the other lesser members of his retinue.

She knew not the design of the world beyond her walls, only that demons lurked in the absence of light, that the master was the pillar of the divine, and that only he could keep them safe from harm.

Yeah, that's a reflection, but theres somethin up with the light A frown adorned Draus face as she vitrified some of the ground at their feet and levitated it up before the cadre. The glass cracked slightly, and Avo glimpsed the armored form of the Regulars Simulacrae Replica with its blade raised, shield forward, and wings flexed. A flash of resplendence resonated from the shard and the shine of the lighthouses quivered. Somethin giving anything that shines here more kick. I can feel it boostin my Domain.

Metal slugs sailed slowly through the air. Fangs gnashed at parting flesh. Bone-made shivs opened throats and ended lives.

Thaums began to flow over into Avo, unbeknownst to the inhabitants of the enclave.

Avo channeled Skimmer through his Sanguinity and burned these details into his phantoms as well. Draus

Yeah, the Regular said, her mind focused as if she was the one locked in battle. Im inside too. I see em. Looks like we came back just in time for a civil war.

Civil war? Dice said, taken entirely aback by the situation.

Pockets of moving bodies battled each other. It took scant effort from Avo to distinguish the factions. One side was fewer but formed in orderly lines, holding key junctions and chokepoints. The others were a swelling mass, pushing hard to break through fortifications.

And then, in the distance, Avo noticed a series of flickers pulsing from each of the lighthouses. A repeating series of winks traveling through the shadows from afar.

{Hm. Some kind of crude code,} Calvino said. {Would you like me to attempt an extrapolation?}

The ghoul grunted. +No. Have another way of understanding the situation.+

Calvino understood in an instant. {Ah.}

+Dont worry. Will burn only the ones engaged in active violence.+

Avo tried not to laugh as the EGI formed a frowning face at the heart of its nanomolecular avatar. {Do be restrained.}

+Yes. Going to be important moment for Dices self-shaping as well.+

{Why cant you just say growth.}



+Because that entails something that just happens. The world inflicts on you sometimes. This is. This time she moves first. Matters more.+ Rising back to the real after his inner monologue, Avo checked his Rend and prepared himself. Draus. We enter through the ceiling. Incogs active. Going to subsume a mind before we engage.

Synced, Draus said. Her shard expanded outward into a sheet, forming a wide passageway into the enclave. Reckon the flickerin just now was a signal. Like how theyre under attack. They might be assumin their Fallwalkers come back to save them.

Avo gave a bemused chuff. Godclads coming. Yes. Fallwalker? No. He gave Dice a final look. Are you ready?

Both the girl herself and her template shivered. No.

Good, Avo replied. Awareness of uncertainty is better than blind certitude. This could be good for you. It could be painful. I can mend whatever damage it might inflict. But that will be up to you. He paused, considered his words, and let out a breath. Our pasts are rarely what we think they are. Our owners often lie to us. Our purposes are poorly conceived. The past hurts. Always. Because we know what was lost. The past is lost. But you are now present in motion. Future still definable. Do you want to see what you might become?

A moments hesitation followed. Then, a soft whir sounded from the Railjumpers triangular sensor module. Yes.

Good, Avo said. Me too. So. Take your step. We will follow.

The girl was done lingering now. Strings of apprehension still pried at her insides, but her route was chosenand pointed not the one offered by her masters lighthouses. Peering past the light, Avo sneered into the brightness, hoping strangely that there was something after, that the now-dead Fallwalker could see what was being done to his favorite dog.

+Taken her from you,+ Avo taunted, casting his ghosts out down into the lanes of light. +Not yours anymore. You thought you knew power. You thought you had control? This is power. This is control. Is. Is not. Absolute. I am the more impressive god. Such cannot be denied.+

Pockets of disbelief exploded across Avos many templates. Corner laughed. Abrel gawked. Template-Draus snorted with derision. [Jaus. Weve finally reached terminal shit-talk. Told you to stop tauntin and torturin half-strands and now youre mocking them in the Big Nothing. Fuckin incredible.]

Avo cast the template's words over into real-Draus Neurodeck and she gave a low guffaw. Dice stepped through the glass, not noticing the moment shared by ghoul and Regular, the twosome holding a moment longer.

{Oh, look, Captain Draus. Character development.} Soft sarcasm clung to Calvinos every word and Draus just shook her head.

Frankly, if this stops him from doin stupid shit in the middle of a firefight, Ill take it. Way things are going, though, I think Dices old master got lucky: if Avod snuffed him, hed probably be gettin these speeches on the daily inside the Conflagration.

Bitterness metastasized inside Abrel. [Yeah. Fate-fucking-worse than death.]