The Province

by Skyler Grant

  "You're so considerate and thorough in your slaughter! Want me to bathe that Righteous ship in some murderous radiation too?" Amy asked sounding entirely too cheerful about the whole ordeal.

  It was a good idea, a necessary idea. The Righteous might now know what happened, but wouldn’t be telling Vinci anytime soon. The Righteous who died in the crashes would be returning to life in twenty-four hours as they normally did. Still, I'd long ago engineered a way to make them stay dead.

  "We actually need Righteous for a technology I want to develop. It is a shame you are too stupid to grasp SCIENCE or I might actually be pleased to have you about, copy. Send retrieval teams to gather what is left of the Righteous," I said.

  This was still a disaster, but it could have been worse. I might not have gotten an idea of what was happening at all, and what I had picked up with my sensors was truly alarming. The local conditions were still altered even with the antenna ship gone. Not so dramatically as they had been, but this band should not be still as close to Reality Zero conditions.

  The Righteous were experimenting with a weapon, and they'd discovered more than that. They'd invented a terraformer. Based on what I'd detected, and with a bit more experimentation, they'd be able to enormously enhance the power of what they’d achieved.

  They'd be able to permanently alter reality anywhere or even everywhere.

  The Righteous just might be able to bring back the Earth that was. I wanted to save the world myself and put those broken pieces back together, but SCIENCE was a product of expanded physical laws and possibilities, not the reversal of these. I couldn't let them succeed and that meant I still needed Vinci.

  It was no time for Scholarium power struggles, it was no time for a civil war and taking Aefwal back from Ophelia and Amy. They really had picked the perfect time to take the city, showing a level of intelligence that I wished they didn't possess.

  With everything in place for the cover-up, it was time to make a call. I didn't think Anna would be pleased.

  "Fuck me," Anna said, pacing within her quarters.

  "An invitation frequently extended and never accepted. It is really sad you keep trying," I said.

  "Not now, Emma. First of all, Aefwal. Do you have plans in place for when they betray you?"

  "You know I'm Amy's better. They went around me for a reason," I said.

  "I know they went around you and took you completely by surprise. Just like being hit by a compulsion effect, Emma, confidence only takes you so far."

  I had to reluctantly admit that she had a point. When it came to understanding one’s limitations and finding a way to work past them, I suppose Anna was the expert. It wouldn't hurt to make sure that I had drones equipped and ready throughout the city in case I somehow got cut off from contact. I could arrange regular check-ins via the city systems and if several were missed in a row the teams would activate. I'd start that at once.

  "The benefit of you being Queen is that I listen to even your dumb ideas. It is a little overwhelming that they are all dumb, but I'll be prepared," I said.

  "Good," Anna said. "Your cover-up, will it hold?"

  "I've got a perfect recording of the battle as we want it to happen. All logs on crashed vessels have been carefully damaged, but should still support what I say. There are no survivors to dispute. We also can't know what abilities Vinci might bring to bear."

  "There are some abilities that allow people to view events as they happened, or to verify the truth in any information. We just have to play the best hand we have and see what happens. It’s the Righteous which truly concern me," Anna said.

  I agreed. You could only for so long prepare for all the things that might go wrong. In the end you had to be ready to take your chances with what you had.

  "As well they should. They're a problem and one I don't think we can deal with alone," I said.

  Anna gave a smile. "Good thing we don't have to. I want a meeting with Vinci and the other monarchs. It's time to start a global war."

  5

  The Scholarium were a murderous, savage lot, but even they had places where conflict was banned. The Council of Edes were powerful crystal holders who chose to put aside the struggle for domination in pursuit of longer lives. The city of Beauvia was off-limits to violence, a rule honored by everyone because occasional cooperation was a requirement for any society to survive.

  Beauvia was a small city lined with monuments on every street. Engraved with runes of detection and protection, they were there to protect the populace and guests.

  Despite Anna's attempts to demand the meeting we actually had no status. We finally arrived as gusts of Queen Vinci and without even a seat at the table. Anna was clad head to toe in mechanized armor and my drone was the same.

  The Royals all had contingents with them and the others struck a far more dramatic streak than Queen Vinci. King Boreas was a heavy-set man in his forties wearing brocaded robes. King Carnage was far more fit and in his early twenties, dressed in tight-fitting leather the color of dried blood. Queen Astrid was a blonde in her twenties wearing a gown of blue silk. Queen Witchgaze was in her thirties with eyes a solid green—and no pupils. While I had the opportunity I scanned each of them to get a better understanding of their powers.

  Queen Vinci

  Power Level: 231

  Queen Vinci possesses an Enhancement core that allows her to improve the production of factories under her command as well as improve the quality of the goods they produce. Without equipment she is relatively weak, but operating from the seat of her power producing units she is nearly unstoppable.

  King Boreas

  Power Level: 273

  King Boreas possesses a Temporal core that offers him the ability to manipulate the flow of time. The most well-known manifestation of this is his ability to rewind events, but he is also capable of freezing time for short periods.

  King Carnage

  Power Level: 215

  King Carnage possesses a Vulnerability core that has the ability to generate weak spots in any person, object, or system. This allows him to exploit these vulnerabilities for critical damage. Given the ability to prepare properly he is incredibly dangerous in combat.

  Queen Astrid

  Power Level: 318

  Queen Astrid possesses an Absorption core that allows her to gain power by devouring the freshly harvested hearts of others. In the case of the Powered she gains a lesser version of their abilities although any heart will offer her a minor buff to all of her stats.

  Queen Witchgaze

  Power Level: 223

  Queen Witchgaze possesses a Compulsion core. By staring into another’s eyes she can begin to discern their secrets and with longer looks began to gain a long-lasting control over them.

  It was interesting how their powers were so varied. If it came to a fight, each of these would have very different techniques based on their abilities. I'd already experienced how King Boreas fought when he'd used a temporal freeze to deposit a bomb in the middle of Aefwal. Queen Vinci would obviously utilize her well-made fleets and military forces to swarm a target. King Carnage would be likely to produce a vulnerability and then get forces into the best position to exploit it. Queen Astrid would be interested in taking her enemies alive, the better to devour their hearts. Queen Witchgaze would compel others to do her fighting for her, or simply take over her foes directly.

  I hated compulsion cores. Few things made one feel more powerless than having their will taken. I'd made it a point to kill them whenever I could. I'd have to figure out a way to neutralize Witchgaze at some point.

  Anna and one of my drones were allowed a place at the meeting amongst the minor functionaries who lined the walls around a central table where the Royals could meet. We didn't even give a presentation of what occurred with the Righteous. One of Vinci's assistants played my recording.

  Astrid said, "We knew this day would come. It was only a matter of time until they tried something uncouth and decided to push out of their terri
tory more aggressively."

  "What I find curious is that there were no survivors of the battle to interrogate. It is suspicious, almost as if Queen Vinci fabricated the entire thing," Witchgaze said.

  "You know that clever tricks aren't her thing," Carnage said, his posture lazy and indolent.

  "You underestimate her and you underestimate the threat. Of course she is trying something, but that doesn't mean we can ignore what she has brought to us. We know what the Righteous are capable of," Boreas said.

  "We also know where this is going. There will be the suggestion of an allied force to fend off this threat. We'll all lose significant portions of our fleet. Losses devastating to us all equally, but easy to recover for one," Astrid said, with a pointed look towards Vinci.

  Vinci smirked. "Of course, I considered that. It doesn't alter the situation."

  "You could find a way to counter our concerns," Witchgaze said.

  Vinci laughed, a curt dismissive sound. "Could I? You know that isn't how this works. Find a way to cover your own weaknesses and capitalize on the situation yourselves."

  Glances were exchanged around the table.

  "We can at least agree to share information upon Righteous sightings and known locations. Shared intelligence is in all of our interests," Carnage said.

  "You are particularly well-poised to take advantage of such knowledge, but I agree," Astrid said.

  There were grunts of assent.

  "We should form a defensive perimeter as well," Witchgaze said.

  "You do understand how a jump drive works? We can't construct anything they couldn't simply jump past. Intelligence isn't going to be enough and containment won’t to be an option. If we want to stop the Righteous, we need to fight them at the source," Vinci said.

  "Stopping them where our powers don't work isn't a possibility," Boreas said.

  "I think she is about to suggest a division of labor," Astrid said, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms. "If not, she should be. Her ability is tied to production, it has already served a purpose by the time a ship is built."

  Vinci tilted her head. "Indeed. I am the logical tip of the spear and I accept that role, but just as you earlier feared action because it would leave you diminished, I now present you with that same dilemma. You need me to act and it has to be me."

  "This isn't a recruitment drive. It's a bargaining session," Astrid said.

  Vinci lifted a shoulder in a half-shrug, "You need me. You will, of course, share information on Righteous vessels outside their territory and act to stop them, but you need to convince me I should sacrifice my own ships to save your collective hides."

  Anna opened a private comm line, her helmet concealing this. "Can you believe the gall of this woman?"

  I could. We'd known from the start that Vinci was dangerous, it was that very danger that meant we had some safety within her shadow.

  "Perhaps if you had half her boldness we'd be in better shape," I said.

  "We know that she was planning to invade Righteous territory anyways. Now she’s trying to get them to pay her for it," Anna said.

  Judging by the conversation around the table she was doing more than trying. No doubt all the others thought that any course of action that would weaken Vinci was worth paying for.

  "We know how she out-negotiated you in our trade contracts. We knew her mercenary spirit," I said.

  "So how do we come out of this ahead?"

  That was a good question. The Righteous had to be stopped, but if our ambitions weren't larger than that we'd never survive. A war would open up any number of possibilities and we needed to start thinking of what we wanted now, so that we could best position ourselves.

  Vinci so far had proved herself to be an able enough ally, but she was also dangerous. You were always the most vulnerable to your own allies. By working closely with her we might have the option to take her out.

  The Righteous had one of the cores that had broken the world. I had possession of the Agate, and the power and potential of that find was enormous. We'd be fools to not try to take possession of another, or at the very least keep it out of the hands of the others.

  There were also possibilities in the other Royals. They'd all be plotting to use that against each other, and if we were careful in our timing we might wait for them to exhaust themselves fighting one another and then spring in to finish the job. Vinci thought she was teaching us our place by having us silenced and masked here, but that just made it easier for us to bide our time and wait our moment.

  I said, "If you are looking for the opinion of a genius, we need to coordinate with the assault on the Righteous. Just as Vinci is striking her deals with them, we strike ours with her. Our current agreement is for scientific support, not military."

  "We've already negotiated for safety. Does she have anything else we want?" Anna asked.

  That was another valid question. She did have a technological edge on us. It wasn't a huge one and I felt certain that although she would offer us technology, we didn't actually need it.

  "A city. We have two, we want another one. Even a deserted one. Something like that might be worthless without a population to fill it, but with drone production that can be remedied. There must be one sitting around in her territory we could take possession of," I said.

  "She won't like that. Good, I want to do something that woman isn't going to like. Killing that arrogant bitch dead is one of our long-term plans," Anna said.

  Inconvenient, but not unreasonable, I'd already factored in that Anna would feel that way.

  "With our drone production we are more than capable of providing her infantry. That will also put is in the best position to learn whatever we can about the new Righteous technology," I said.

  They had come to terms at the table. All of the other Royals had agreed to provide Vinci a share of raw materials and to leverage their abilities on behalf of her war effort as best they could. Vinci's effort had been successful— others were paying for the war she'd wanted to wage anyways.

  The meeting broke up and Vinci invited me back to her quarters. The invitation didn't extend to Anna and so I wound up going alone.

  Vinci rolled her head as she prepared a glass of wine. "That went better than I'd expected. Your presentation was invaluable, they bought it even while knowing it was partially lies."

  I had to be careful here.

  I said, "Perhaps it was your winning personality? No, your personality is almost as poor as your sense of fashion."

  "Oh, I'm not angry," Vinci said, settling down into a chair and taking a sip from the wine. "Well, maybe a tiny bit. Still, you gave me exactly what I'd hoped for and so I'll give you a pass. You're certain of the effects of the Righteous weapon?"

  That was one thing she hadn't brought up in the gathering. Vinci had presented this all as a Righteous expansion outward without mentioning the new manipulation of reality.

  "You do seem to be warlike, savage, and brutal. You're quite the typical human. Yes, I'm certain of what I found. You'll need to act quickly," I said.

  "And are you going to be on my side?" Vinci asked.

  "We have an agreement."

  "I know we have an agreement,that is not what I'm asking. A war is going to mean sharks in the water and you are young and hungry. Are you on my side?"

  "For politics, you want to speak with Anna," I said.

  "If I wanted to talk to your pet I would have invited it. However much you pretend otherwise it is your territory, your soldiers, your lands. Are you going to be on my side?" Vinci asked again.

  "Why do you care?"

  "Our abilities are complimentary, Emma. You must see that. You can make endless humans and I can make the equipment for them to operate. You can perform science and I can perform the engineering. You must see the possibilities in that," Vinci said.

  I did. Vinci was correct. If she could be trusted, she was our ideal partner for moving into the future. I could offer her more than any of other Royals, and she
could do the same for me. I had to take into account that she was a Queen. You didn't rise to that rank in the Scholarium by being honest and trustworthy.

  I didn't trust her, but there was no faster way to make her an enemy than by letting her know that. I might loathe politics, but I could play the game. I understood what paranoid, treacherous, creatures I had to deal with. I had to give her a little of the truth so she'd believe the bigger lie.

  "I'll tell you what I told Anna when I first met her. My interest is in doing SCIENCE and all else pales next to that. I want full access to everything we find regarding the Righteous and their new weapon. I want Powered subjects for my testing cells," I said.

  "So that is how she got you on her side?" Vinci asked and grunted, "I suppose the creature does have a certain low cunning to her. And of course the endless struggles you've found yourself in since then have provided you a healthy share of test subjects. But I can do better."

  I was sure she would. Prisoners were of no use to her. If they were the currency she could use to buy my assistance, it was one she'd be happy to pay.

  "Then it seems we have the basis for an understanding. I have more to offer than just scientific expertise. That will need to wait for Anna to negotiate," I said.

  Vinci made a dismissive gesture. "Then I'll have a minion meet with her. Let the peons deal with the mundane details so long as our understanding is sound."

  It would do as an agreement, for now.

  6

  War breeds the most unlikely of alliances. We weren't the only ones that had seen opportunity in negotiating with Vinci in exchange for greater support than the others had offered. King Boreas too had struck a bargain to lend his unique talents to the cause.

  It was those negotiations that brought us to working as a combined force against a reported Righteous outpost far from their home territory. It was situated deep in the territory of the Divine, which made it intriguing. There was little reason to establish a presence so far from home unless they wished to study something of particular interest.