Rikas Marauders
Page 80
“Lightwand,” she said.
“Looks more like a light sword,” Rika replied, and Tanis laughed.
“Yeah, well, I wanted to make it longer. The wands are standard issue for our Marines.”
Rika glanced at Tim and saw that the major was practically salivating. “I’ve heard of those,” he said quietly. “Though never understood how they worked.”
Tanis shrugged. “Standard stuff. Focused electron beam that hits a reflector held in place by a carbon nano filament. The beam reflects back, and the wand—or sword, in this case—reuses the energy to keep running. This one has a fairly small battery, so it’ll conk out if you hack and slash with it for extended periods.”
“ ‘Standard stuff’,” Rika mused, looking at her GNR-41C and the amount of hardware it required to fire its electron beam. “I’m starting to understand why you consider me archaic.”
Tanis disabled the light wand and slid it back into her thigh. “You’re not archaic, Rika. Your tech is. But as a part of the job, we’d also upgrade your mechs. The offer to revert any who wished it would still stand when the mission is over.”
Rika worked her mouth as she tried to imagine what life would be like with a fully human body again. As she thought about it, something occurred to her.
“How human are you, Tanis?” she asked.
“Human?” Tanis cocked an eyebrow. “That’s an interesting way to frame the question. If it were anyone but me you were talking about, I would assume the question was about how organic I am. Is that what you meant?”
Rika blushed and nodded. She hadn’t considered the possibility that Tanis really wasn’t human anymore, regardless of how modded she was.
“Less than forty percent of my body is organic,” Tanis replied equably as she looked down at herself. “But even then, there is no part of me that is vanilla anymore. I’ve been modded so many times that my mods have mods, and those mods were modded by other mods. There’s no completely original DNA in my body, either.” She placed a hand on her thigh and patted it lightly. “Pretty much every cell in here has been altered in some way.”
Rika whistled. “I have to admit, getting remade like you would be something I’d sign up for.”
“Oh?” Tanis asked, gesturing for Rika to elaborate.
“Well,” she began slowly. “Before I was mechanized, I was at the mercy of anyone bigger than me that could catch me. I was weak…I was helpless. The best thing about being a mech is that I am not helpless; now I don’t even know the meaning of the word ‘weak’. I don’t know if I’m stronger than you, Tanis, but it takes an AM-3 to beat me in an arm wrestling match.”
“I respect that,” Tanis replied. “I can’t say you’d get to be exactly like me, but it’s not off the table, either.”
“I’ll admit,” Tim spoke up as he handed Tanis her sword back, and he and Rika watched in awe as the admiral slid it back into her arm, revealing no hint that there was a weapon tucked inside her body. “Uh…where was I?” he asked.
“ ‘I’ll admit’,” Rika supplied.
“Right, yeah. Well, I have to say that getting mods like yours would appeal to a lot of us. The best of both worlds: the power of a mech, and the appearance of a person.”
Rika was surprised that the words didn’t sting. Either she was handling small slights better, or she had just written off Tim as an unredeemable ass.
She leant forward and handed Tanis her sword while asking, “Compensation and mods aside, what form would this mission to topple Nietzschea take? A single, decisive strike to kill Emperor Constantine?”
Tanis shook her head. “No, our analysis—though in its early stages—suggests that there are so many power hungry admirals and oligarchs in Nietzschea, that killing the emperor would do little to slow down their advance. Stars, it may speed it up. Something that the alliance is being very careful to avoid is creating massive power vacuums as we take out our enemies. Swift strikes at the top may work in the short term, but in a lot of cases, they make life far worse for the general population.”
“That’s an astute observation,” Major Tim said, nodding slowly. “We’ve seen that a lot in our work.”
Tanis winked at Tim. “Well, I’ve been around for a bit.”
“So, we need to tear Nietzschea down brick by brick?” Rika asked.
“Well, we can work at the level of star systems, not bricks,” Tanis said with a wry grin. “And even then, we don’t need to take them all. We just need to take out a number of military facilities across Nietzschea, then seize control of a few key systems. Once that’s done, it should be possible to re-establish the governments of the former nations that the Nietzscheans defeated. Most appear to have active resistance movements. The only problematic area will be the core Nietzschean systems; we’ll have to put that whole place under martial law for a while.”
“Forgive my impertinence,” Tim began, and Rika held back a groan, “but how do you have this much intel on Nietzschea?”
“Remember when I said we opened up the Foehammer’s archives? It seems that General Mill had been working on this plan for some time. He had contacts in many of the systems that need to be taken down, and even a proposed order; though at a certain point, there will need to be multiple coordinated attacks.”
“We’ll need that intel, as well,” Tim said, his voice carrying a sharp edge.
“Of course,” Tanis nodded, flashing a smile at Rika’s torso. “We’ve already opened it up to Niki, the AI living somewhere in the vicinity of Rika’s stomach.”
“You have?” Rika asked.
Rika felt a surge of jealousy, wondering what she’d been left out of.
Tanis seemed to pick up on Rika’s reaction and spoke up. “Angela and I are talking with Niki about all this in a separate stream. That conversation is moving a bit faster. We’re also discussing Niki’s other activities, and the League of Sentients.”
“League of Sentients? Are they a part of the AI rebellion?” Rika asked.
“Much like we have at New Canaan and in the ISF,” Tanis added. “We have people out there working with the League, as well.”
“How do you manage all of this?” Rika asked. “I can barely fathom the logistics of the battle we just fought, but you’re doing this everywhere.”
Tanis shrugged. “Well, not everywhere. I don’t think we’re quite fighting on a thousand fronts yet—though I suppose that depends on how you qualify a ‘front’….”
No one spoke for a moment, and Rika was grateful for the reprieve. She felt like she’d need days to make sense of all this new information.
However, Tim broke the silence. “I’d like to send a message to Marauder HQ and get their thoughts on this.”
“And also inform them about General Mill’s passing.” Rika shot Tim a quelling look. “Speaking of which, have you found the general’s body yet?” Rika asked Tanis.
Tanis shook her head. “Not yet, but—sorry to say it—there are a lot of casualties to go through. It could take weeks or months. His body could also have been destroyed.”
“Did you find the shuttle?”
“Yes. There was no sign of him.”
Tanis rose from her seat, and Rika followed suit, as did Tim. “Prepare your missive,” Tanis said to Tim. “I suggest that you gather your entire force here in the Albany System. Whether you accept the mission in Nietzschea, or any other job, the ISF is now your number one customer. And if you’re not working for us directly, it won’t be long before Septhia has fully joined the alliance, and you will be working for us through a proxy.”
“Your alliance feels so nebulous, Tanis,” Rika said. “Does it have a name?”
Tanis chuckled. “Well, technically this is all built on an alliance with Scipio, but there
are a lot of people who won’t join the ‘Scipio Alliance’.”
“Perhaps something like the ‘Alliance of Free Peoples’?” Rika suggested. “You get AIs and humans in there, then.”
“So long as we don’t have to get into existential discussions about the nature of ‘freedom’,” Tanis said with a wink, and Rika realized that Niki must have shared some of their prior conversation about whether or not anyone was truly free.
“We’ll avoid that if we can,” Rika replied with a small grin.
Tanis returned the expression, but then it faded, and her expression became businesslike as she turned to Tim. “Major. Rika and I have a personal matter to discuss. If you wouldn’t mind?”
Tim glanced at Rika, and his eyes narrowed before looking back at Tanis. “Uh, sure. Rika, I’ll see you aboard the Golden Lark afterward.”
“Certainly, Major,” Rika replied equably.
“Admiral.” Major Tim extended his hand, and Tanis shook it. “It’s been an honor.”
“Indeed it has,” Tanis replied, and walked Tim into the hall before returning a moment later and gesturing for Rika to follow her. “Come, let’s go onto the back deck. A change of scenery for a new topic.”
Rika followed the admiral wordlessly and found herself on a wide, wooden deck overlooking an extensive orchard.
“I’m sure you hear it all the time,” Rika said as she glanced up at the lake four kilometers above her head. “But this place is amazing. And on a warship, no less.”
Tanis shrugged. “Wasn’t always a warship.”
“What about the Carthage?” Rika asked. “From what your Captain Mel told me, it was a purpose-built warship, yet it has these same cylinders.”
Tanis leant against the railing and turned to meet Rika’s eyes, a wry smile on her lips. “Well, we’re nostalgic. And stubborn—at least, I am.”
Rika walked to the railing, but didn’t lean against it. Smashing the admiral’s deck was not on her list of things she wanted to do.
“What is it you wanted to talk about?” she asked.
“What you saw,” Tanis said without elaboration. “And what you heard.”
Rika nodded slowly. “You mean about your ascension.”
“Yes,” Tanis replied. “You must have questions.”
“Ha!” Rika barked the word. “My questions have questions. Not to be too impertinent, but are you human—anymore, that is?”
“I am,” Tanis replied simply. “My mind has slowly been intertwining with that of Angela, the AI with whom I share headspace, for some time. Down on Pyra…something happened, and our two selves truly became one. The mechanics of that are complex, and I won’t get into them right now, but Priscilla introduced an agent into our mind that pulled us apart and kept us from fully ascending.”
“Ascending…is that why I was having trouble holding you?”
“I assume so.” Tanis turned and leaned her elbows on the railing, staring out over the orchard. “From what we know, ascended beings—at least, the ones we’ve encountered—have moved into additional dimensions. They occupy more of space-time than normal three-dimensional beings. But there’s more to it than that. It comes with the ability to see into things more…”
Tanis’s voice had grown distant, as though she were only partially present. Then she shook her head and glanced at Rika.
“Like you, Rika. I can see parts of your mind just by looking at you.”
“My mind?” she resisted the urge to step back.
“Well, not your thoughts, per se. It’s more like reading expressions. Except now I can see the ones on the surface of your thoughts, as well as the ones on the surface of your skin. It’s honestly a bit confusing at times.”
Rika chuckled. “Of all the things you’ve said today, that’s the one that is confusing?”
“I can see Niki’s mind, too,” Tanis continued, ignoring Rika’s comment and glancing at her stomach. “I think you two should be properly connected. Mind to mind, rather than the close Link tap you have now.”
“Closely connected like normal AI embedding, or like you and Angela?” Rika asked.
Tanis’s eyes narrowed. “Why, do you want to become like me and Angela?”
“Uh…” Rika stammered. “I have no idea.”
“Good answer,” the admiral laughed. “And no, I was referring to a ‘regular’ embedding. You two would become a more efficient pairing, and it would improve your chances of success in Nietzschea.”
“You speak as though our acceptance of the mission into Nietzschea is a foregone conclusion,” Rika replied.
“I do.” Tanis nodded. “I saw your mind well enough when we spoke inside. You have a good poker face, but your mind doesn’t lie. You want to lead that mission.”
Rika felt a little unnerved at the thought of this woman intimating her internal thoughts. Still, she wasn’t wrong.
“Go? Yes. Kick Niet ass? Absolutely.” Rika said a moment later, “Lead? I think there are a lot of people who are more qualified.”
“We can train you,” Tanis replied, her eyes unblinking as she continued to regard Rika. “And we can provide you with advisors and tactical AIs. But what we can’t do is take a regular person and make them a born leader. Those we have to find and select very carefully.”
“I think you must have me mixed up with someone else,” Rika laughed nervously. “I’m just a street rat from Kellas.”
“And I’m just a girl from Mars who joined the military to spite her father,” Tanis replied. “But your origins don’t define you.”
She took a step closer and reached out, touching Rika’s forehead. “It’s who you are in here that matters.”
As Tanis’s finger met Rika’s skin, the most curious thing happened: an image entered her mind. It wasn’t over the Link, and it wasn’t really a vision—not that Rika really knew what those were supposed to look like, anyway.
No, this was different. It was more like an impression. It was how Tanis saw Rika.
“What…what are you doing?” Rika asked, unwilling to pull away and not certain she could even if she wanted to.
“This is who you are,” Tanis said, and Rika saw a tall, proud, and decisive woman in her mind.
The woman was a mech, but that wasn’t the focus of the image. Most apparent was the blend of compassion and understanding wrapped around an iron will. It was the impression of a woman who was a rocky outcrop, standing amidst a storm. A rock that so many others took shelter around.
Rika’s breath quickened, and her chest heaved as she struggled to maintain her composure.
“No,” she whispered. “That’s not me…”
An image of a young girl, hungry and alone, stealing food on the streets of Tanner City came to mind. Scared, vulnerable, exposed.
“No, this is not,” Tanis whispered, and the young girl stood up, her back straight, eyes carrying a conviction and purpose none so young ever had. The girl grew taller, a skin of steel spreading across her body, becoming Rika, becoming the iron will, becoming the rock around which so many other sought shelter.
“She’s still there,” Tanis’s voice carried on the wind in the storm that raged around the rock. “She is the heart of you. She is the most important part of you. But she is not that scared little girl anymore. You see that girl as a weakness. I see her as the unassailable foundation for the woman you’ve become, Rika. She’s your heart, and you must keep her safe, but she keeps you alive, and she is amazing. You are amazing.”
Tanis pulled her finger back from Rika’s forehead, and Rika’s vision slowly refocused on the woman standing before her. For an instant, she thought she saw tendrils of light curling around Tanis’s body and a brilliant glow in the woman’s eyes, but then it was gone, and the person before her was just the admiral once more.
Tears were streaming from Rika’s eyes, but she didn’t have anything to wipe them away with. She looked around for something she could use, but Tanis shook her head.
“Not yet, Rika. Be proud of
those tears. You now have a gift few ever have. You don’t need to hide from yourself; you know who you really are, what you are capable of.”
“I still don’t understand,” Rika whispered. “I mean…I do. And I feel it, I feel what you mean, but isn’t—wasn’t—that angst my strength? That fear is where I drew my strength in combat.”
“Oh I know,” Tanis chuckled. “I know you thought that. But your real strength was behind that fear, the worry that you were a fraud, a scared little girl. You thought that if you just fought harder, pushed harder, that no one would know you were so scared and felt so alone. But your fears were a barrier between your actions and your true strength. They were a filter.”
Rika understood what Tanis meant, and her tears dried up.
“I’m not a scared little girl anymore, Tanis. I am strong, and capable. I’m the woman who is going to defeat the Nietzschean Empire, and establish a Genevia where people are truly free and everyone is treated with respect, no matter their station in life.”
“See?” Tanis winked. “I knew it. But I think even now you’re setting your sights too low.”
“What do you mean by that?” Rika asked, a frown creasing her brow.
Tanis placed a hand on Rika’s shoulder and led her down the steps into the orchard. “You and I will have more chats, Rika. When you finish what’s ahead of you with Nietzschea, I imagine we’ll have another conversation. We’ll see what the future has in store for you then.”
Rika glanced at the serene woman next to her. “You really aren’t human anymore, are you?”
Tanis shrugged. “What’s human? I’m myself. That is enough for me.”
FINDING SILVA
STELLAR DATE: 08.30.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: MSS Fury Lance
REGION: Pyra, Albany System, Thebes, Septhian Alliance
Though Major Tim had—not so subtly—requested that Rika meet with him on his ship, she did not immediately venture there. First, she took a shuttle to the Fury Lance and strode through the ship to the bridge.