Chapter 141

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

Dungeon Factory, Command Center

Alexandra sighed as she sat down in her chair in the command center.

The visit had been interesting. The baroness was clearly no dungeon expert, but she'd had fascinating insights nonetheless. Besides, she had immensely relaxed at the sign of trust, as she clearly considered being able to visit a floor before it was open to the public one. Which, to be fair, it was, although Alexandra wasn't about to extend an invitation to come and inspect her core fortress!

Still, the baroness' reaction had proven that the basis for the floor was sound, which was something she'd been worried about. And she'd seemed really interested in all the plants growing on the pyramid, which clearly showed that there would be some adventurers eager to gather ingredients, and hopefully be distracted by them, once it was open.

Now, there only remained the matter of the boss. Afterwards she could move onto the fourth floor. She had some ideas, but-

Alexandra blinked as the command center's blast door slammed shut, with the definitive muffled bang of the lockdown's charges blowing the opening motors to smithereens.

Since there were only six people that could trigger the emergency lockdown, four of them were busy, and one was her, it wasn't exactly a mystery as to who did it. Furthermore, she had gotten quite good at 'feeling' where her subordinates were, for the lack of a better word.

"What can I do for you Sarah?" She politely asked the vampire maid, as she readied the command that would blow the false ceiling up and rain down an entire squad of praetorian guards down on them. Plus preparing to simply absorb the blast door, letting through the entire platoon that was massing on the other side.

"Well, you could cut the bullshit for one."

Alexandra's eyebrows rose as the maid strolled over and sat on the holographic projector.

"Bullshit such as?"

"That we're building up to defend the dungeon against the Republic. Or that you even have the slightest intention to keep to yourself afterwards. I'm no logistician, but I recognize an offensive buildup when I see one."

"Ah. Those."

There was silence for a few seconds, then the maid leaned forward.

"Does Emilia even know you're planning on invading the Republic?"

Alexandra stared at her, then slowly nodded.

"Yes. Yes she does. In fact, she's been instrumental in planning it."

"And when were you planning to tell us?"

"When we were sure you wouldn't simply rat us out to Etheria, and take an…unwise course of action."

"Unwise like trying to get Emilia away from you, and end up on the wrong side of the praetorian strike teams no doubt preparing to breach the blast door?"

"Something like that. Although in this case, I can assure you-" Alexandra's eyes flashed with power and the room seemed to fill with her presence as she knowingly briefly triggered the crimson veil, keeping a firm hold of her emotions as she felt unnatural hatred attempt to take over. "-that I wouldn't need them."

The maid almost flinched, before slowly nodding.

"I believe you. So…what now?"

"Now? That's up to you. I will not try to silence you, Sarah. Emilia loves you, and I have grown to like you and your colleague. Furthermore, I absolutely refuse to lower myself to the standards of the dictatorial scumbags I've spent my whole life fighting against. So I will not take 'preemptive measures'. If you wish to warn Etheria, by all means do so. If you want to leave, the door is open. And if you convince Emilia to go with you…" Alexandra took a deep breath, and continued in a diminished tone of voice, almost a whisper. "Then she can go with you. I will not go against her wishes." Her eyes hardened and her voice was suddenly filled with steel. "But if you try to take her against her will, the fires of all your hells will have nothing on my fury. I will carve a path through this entire damned planet with fire and sword if I have to to liberate her."

The maid stared at her for a few seconds, then smiled.

"Good answer." She got up from the holoprojector, and started walking towards the door. "I…have my doubts about your endeavors. So does Ella, although she thinks killing everyone who could even harm the young lady is a good course of action. But you are right, her lady can be impulsive. And she has ordered me to look after her daughter." She looked over her shoulder. "And I know that the only way I'll take her away from here is by knocking her out and killing her wife. And that's not 'looking after her', is it?"

"Etheria might not forgive you."

"She will forgive a lot. Especially when it comes to her daughter. And I believe that you will be convincing enough when the time comes that it will not come to…'unwise courses of action', was it?"

"I hope that you are right." Said Alexandra as she recreated the motors that would enable the blast door to open -and automatically raise it for that matter-, and ordered her praetorian guard to disperse to their old guard positions.

"I am. Of course…" The maid smiled deviously. "Making her a few more grandkids shouldn't hurt."

"I'll get on that as soon as I have new boss slots."

"There are other means for that milady. And I insist that you hurry, lady Emilia is practically climbing the walls."

Alexandra sputtered as she heard that, but before she could retort the vampire maid disappeared through the opening blast door.

*****

"Alright people, listen up!" Soldiers and 'auxiliaries' alike stopped as the commander spoke, slowly gathering around her as she spoke. "I know the last few days have been chaotic, but I can confirm that our contract with the town is unchanged, and so are our bonuses. But I have also been contacted by the baroness, she wishes to avail herself of our auxiliaries' 'technical expertise'. Since that would obviously be a horrible idea, I deflected as well as I could. But that means that the baroness is aware of them, and that some idiots might come ask questions. So if anyone asks, deflects, or come to a superior officer. No one, and I mean no one, tries to make up half baked bullshit, understood?" Everyone nodded. "Good. And as for our dear auxiliaries, if one of them somehow gets in, simply tell them it’s a restricted area, and keep your mouth shut otherwise. We'll take care of it. And remember to keep your tattoos and brands covered. Same for the bracelets." The commander gazed at her troops for a few seconds, especially her glorified slaves. She didn't utter threats. She didn't need to. They all knew what would happen if they told the government what was truly happening there. "Alright, if everyone's got that memorized, then you're dismissed. Get back to work!"

Everyone nodded, muttered, or signaled assent by whatever means they thought appropriate, and left.

None of them saw the stealth golem on autonomous mode, faithfully recording everything it saw as it shadowed the mercenary commander.

*****

"So, you found them?"

"Yes." Simply said Alexandra as she gazed at the screens, her hands behind her back in the traditional 'ship captain' posture.

Emilia knew her well enough to know that was a bad sign. Alexandra fell back on her old military mannerisms only when she was extremely serious or incredibly angry. And she had a feeling it was both, in ample quantities.

"Any plans?"

"Well, my first reflex was to bust down the door with the new templar tanks, my praetorian guard in tow and give these assholes a mouthful of tungsten. But I suppose that would be, ah, lacking in subtlety."

"That's an understatement."

"So, I decided to take a page out of you girls' book." Alexandra turned around, facing her assembled subordinates, and nodded towards the vampires.

"What kind of book?"

"The book of being sneaky creatures of the night. I had the materials to create photographs from what the stealth golem recorded. And I assembled a detailed map of the town." She smiled, deviously. "And with the help of our stealthy friend, all of those are going to be assembled in a nice package, which will be delivered to the adventurers guild."

"Despite being generally protective of their members, the guild isn't just going to bust down doors and start kicking ass." Said Emilia a bit worriedly. She was sure for one that if the guild wasn't going to do it, Alexandra would, lack of subtlety or not. It was flattering and reassuring to see that over protectiveness used to shelter her, but very, very scary to see it turned on someone else. "Especially if those members were, well, 'legally' acquired. There are laws you know."

"Oh I am aware. Which is why I am going to deliver them to Dominique's desk. She worked with my party and I, and according to Allya, she's the guild officer on the town's council. The guild might hesitate to act, but she will take it to Allya if it doesn't."

"And then all hell will break loose. You do realize she doesn't actually have the firepower to arrest them? The royal knights won’t intervene in an internal matter. Her other allies might not anyway, especially not on an issue as…sensitive as slavery."

"Oh I am aware of that. In fact, I am counting on it."

Emilia looked at Alexandra worriedly. She knew that tone of voice. Alexandra had the same when she'd ordered the Republic's army obliterated under a hail of rockets.

"Why?"

"Because the baroness is going to try regardless. And once she does…I will charge in to the rescue. Our alliance doesn't specify if we were to stand together against internal or external threats, and I will err on the side of caution."

"That's a bit too…rash."

"True. But I can spin it as trying to get brownie points while attempting to get my hands on all the gear. Which will kick the adventurers guild into action, if only to keep it out of my hands." Which she was willing to let them do. She'd like to have the commander's head and weapon as a trophy, but she'd settle for her very definitive death. Emilia had not been happy when teaching her the soul sealing spell, but she had understood that the Earth-born would have not rested until she'd gotten it, and it avoided having her do something more reckless. "Given the fact that everyone sees me as a maniacal murderer, if only for now, I doubt I'll have trouble making it stick."

"You know, having people thinking you're a psychopath is usually not a good thing."

"It is better to be feared than to be loved, or so they say. I'd rather angle for loved, but I am fairly sure that I can be both, and in this case I am playing the cards I am dealt."

"The cards you dealt yourself you mean."

"I'd prefer to say I had them up my sleeve. If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying hard enough after all."

"Right. So, steer them into a collision course, intervene, and then what? You'll need to rescue your teammates."

"We have several options on that front. And there will be several pitfalls. First and foremost they'll obviously try to hold the auxiliaries hostage. We need to prevent that. If nothing else I don't expect them to be stupid enough to do it without some way of preventing them being resurrected. Next the baroness might try to work out a deal to get the mercs to leave intact, as long as they free the auxiliaries. No way, no how, I need those bastards to answer for what they've done, and tell me who they were working for. And lastly…lastly there might be a case where the baroness just attacks head on, figuring out a surprise assault would give her the best chances. If that happens, we drop the bullshit, send in everything and we'll bother picking up the pieces once the ash settles."

"Save them at all costs, uh?" Said Sarah. "We could help with that."

"With respect, you-"

"Are in no state to do it?" Said the maid. "I beg to differ. I've recovered plenty. So has Ella, although she's always been more fragile." The vampire maid shrugged. "I'll admit, that damned neutralizer did a number on me, and I'm not quite back up to strength. But, if you detach Jared and a couple of the heavy hitters to back me up…"

Alexandra blinked, idly noting that the maid hadn't mentioned the Earth-born dropping the entire dungeon on her, and gazed at Emilia. The vampire girl appeared conflicted about sending her maids into danger again, but she nodded.

"Alright then. It's decided. Sarah and Jared will lead the failsafe team. Should everything go to shit, your orders are to get my teammates and as many of the auxiliaries as possible out. I'll handle the mercenary bitch myself."

"Yourself?"

Alexandra smiled. It wasn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a nice smile.

"Yeah. It's been too long since I've killed someone in CQ's body. And I'll have the entire royal guard to back me up. Sorry kiddo."

CQ smiled.

"It's alright mom! I understand. Besides." Her smiled turned a bit more crooked. "I want to destroy those who have hurt you. Even if only indirectly by you possessing my body."

"Thank you. Alright then, ready up people! If you have any resources that you wish to requisition, any item you want me to make you, now is the time! I'll drop the message off at four hundred tomorrow sharp. After that, be on stand by for one hell of a fight!"

*****

The inquisitor gazed at the converted warehouse.

The rafters weren't meant to hold human beings. But they had been seeded with enchantments anyway just in case someone tried to use them as an observation spot.

His own magic and the blessings of the God of Fire shielded him from such pitiful attempts at detection.

He slowly scanned the giant space. He was sure he'd found a hint of…something. An Old World system of some kind. It was what had lead him here in the first place, although it had been only the faintest whisper, and only dumb luck had him pick it up at all. None of his comrades had reported anything after all, which meant that whatever the source, it had to be incredibly stealthy.

Maybe this was the source of the old world technology the adjudicator had been worried about. In which case he would have to search the area carefully and-

His head snapped onto a person, moving around in the white robe of a healer, like a cyberhound tracking prey.

The target recognition program, embedded in his cybernetic implants, flashed as it recognized the young woman.

And returned a green icon. Friendly.

Alyssa Mournfallen, novice of the temple of Fire. Marked as MIA, ran away from the temple.

And now held as a glorified slave. And if her missing arm was anything to go by, these…mercenaries' plaything.

His eyes flashed, and he retreated back into the shadows.

Time to warn the adjudicator.

And bring down the God of Fire's cleansing flame onto the wicked.