Misbegotten Memories

Chapter 294

Though he doubted any Xian would be stirred to action, Hector passed a message to Zara through Wayne.  Isabel left a hand-written message addressed to a senior member of her sect with him as well with the hope Zara could deliver it.  Then Hector settled in to finally complete his body enhancement.  His statistic in the System’s survey results had been at seven for a while now, but Hector felt the change when he reached the peak in truth.

It was time to return to Aes.  He sent a message to Ajax informing him of their decision.  Then he sighed and looked to the ceiling.  “System, could you put me in touch with Darius and Riley?”

You are asking for a video call?  I can do that.

“Yeah.  I need to figure out what is going on with them.”

My assessment is an unproductive courtship.  I will connect you now.

The outline of a screen appeared before his eyes and inside of it a window to another room.  Riley was trying to bounce a rubber ball into a cup while Darius watched from the side.  The two of them stopped suddenly to stare before them.  Then Darius spotted the virtual window and looked directly at Hector.

“So you do have a special relationship with the System.”  The eunuch’s words were smug.

Riley, meanwhile, had gone red.  “Why didn’t you tell us about this?”

He sighed.  “I’m sorry, but I gave my word to not tell anyone.  You know how I can get about moral issues like that.  What I think is more important to talk about is what the two of you are doing in South City.”

Darius snorted.  “Running away from Siegfried, obviously.”

Rather than respond to the question in any way, Riley sat quietly.

“Do you want me to talk to Siegfried?”

That got her talking.  “No!  I will talk to him when I’m ready.”

“If you are spending some time on Union Central, you can join us here,” Darius offered.

“Can’t.  I’m leaving for the Reconquest again in a few hours.”

“Riley misses you,” Darius accused.

That caused the woman to fold her arms.  “Can’t you just tell him how you feel?”

Darius waved away the question.  “Hector and I understand each other.”

“Then tell him you miss him.”

Hector spoke to ease the tension that followed Riley’s command.  “I have missed both of you.  But I’ve saved a lot of lives on Aes.  Casualties dropped to zero for months before the last big mission.  I’ve reached the peak of seven in mind and body.  I hope to finish my aura and domain in the next few weeks and advance to level eight.”

“Meanwhile I am still at six,” Darius said.  “Riley has advanced to five, by the way.”

“Darius!  I should have been the one to tell him!”

“Congratulations,” Hector said.

“I was so tired of aperture training by the end.  Then it took forever to get enough energy since the other cities don’t have anywhere selling resources.  Hector, half the places we went didn’t even speak our language.  It was very intimidating.”

The three of them chatted for close to an hour before Hector had to say goodbye.

While he packed, he spoke to the System.  “Are there going to be any problems on Union Central with Svarga pulling out?”

Any problems will be minor.  The exodus of Svarga and troop reduction of Mercom combined does make it a challenge to supply the Reconquest with troops.  I only have so many combat ready Users to deploy.

“What is going on with Terra?  You alluded to problems there before but never gave details.”

Massive Dragon attack.  The fracturing Coalition Army seems like it is holding together long enough for a final joint operation.  The Dragon situation should be under control.  This will be the greatest concentration of human destructive power ever assembled in one place.  What happens after that is the true concern.  If the Coalition ends, I do not know how the overall threat to the multiverse can be managed.  None of my Users are able to travel between worlds yet.

Hector sighed.  “Humanity is always moving in the wrong direction.  We just have to do the best we can for as long as we can.  I’m grateful for everything you’ve done, System.”

It seems premature to trade heartfelt farewells at this time.  Aes is better defended than it has been in years and Terra is swarming with powerful warriors.  The fall of a true world is by no means immanent.  I predict the doom spiral will last for years to come.

“That’s right, stay positive, System.  Whole lot of doom spiraling still to come.”

Ajax waited for them at the staging grounds.  The four of them joined the line waiting on Transit.  They continued to wait for quite some time before the man arrived.  He stalked forward and opened his gate without a word, then began pulling key personnel aside to have quick conversations.

Eventually, Hector had a turn with the Sage.  “There is a lot of pressure being placed on me to support a situation on Terra.  I’m staying out of it, but it’s possible there will be consequences.  It’s likely Union Central will be our only source of support going forward.  If things become less comfortable in the near future, that is why.”

“I understand how it goes, Transit.  You don’t need to worry about me.”

The man stared Hector in the eyes.  “I’m telling you this because a lot of people trust you.  If they ask for an explanation, you now have one to give.”

“Understood.”

They were through the gate a few minutes later and reporting to the command center.  Colonel Quinn gave them a few hours to settle in before they had their first patrol to escort.

When they assembled before the gate, the sergeant major appeared with a tall, thin man whose long hair was pulled back into a thick braid.  The non-athletic man had a sheathed sword on his back and walked with a swagger that immediately annoyed Hector.  He made finger guns at them as he approached.

“Congratulations, my new besties, Miracle Squad is going to start living up to its name.”

The sergeant major looked like he was about to start chewing gravel.  “This is the Sage of Piercing.  He’s been assigned to your escort team.”

Isabel’s response came quick.  “We do not want him.”

“You do not have the option to refuse his assignment,” the sergeant major said.  “Despite his poor first impression, Piercing is one of the top performers in the entire Reconquest.”

Hector nodded at the new guy.  “Welcome to the team, Piercing.”

“I’m sure you’ll be happy to have me, mister muscles.”  The guy scratched the stubble on his chin before smirking at Esther.  “And we got a missus muscles, too.”

“Usually it takes me at least a few minutes to figure out I hate someone,” Esther said.

Restoration had been sitting on the back of Fred, playing one of the electronic games she liked.  As the vibe shifted, she jumped down and came forward.  “Still haven’t figured out how to make friends, Piercing?”

The Sage of Piercing winked at his peer.  “Looking fine, Restoration.”

“Stop being an asshole.  You’re ostracizing yourself.”

“Hey now.”

Restoration turned away from him to face the rest of them.  “He’s got a moral component to his insight that makes him unable to respect boundaries.”

“Ain’t no moral component.  I just act authentic and don’t care who gets bothered.”

“It is definitely a moral component,” Restoration assured them.  “He can’t help himself.”

“Hey, fool, think whatever you want.  I don’t care.”

“He does.”

Isabel began to laugh at the back-and-forth between the two Sages.  To Hector, however, the verbal sparring held a hint of something else.  They were opposed on a conceptual level.  He could just barely detect the dissonant resonance patterns.  Neither held something close enough to his own insight for him to get a clear read, but he suspected their contrary natures would make it hard for them to back down from each other.

One driven to heal.  The other… to violate?  That wasn’t quite right.  Hector stepped between the Sages.  “Let’s calm this down.  I’m Lieutenant Hector and this is my squad, Piercing.  The rover Sergeant Fred is my second in command.  Do you have a problem following orders?”

Piercing smirked.  “No, sir.  Just telling me what needs killing.”

Hector held himself back from an immediate reaction.  After a few moments, he decided on a response.  “Your attitude, soldier.”

“What?”

“Kill your attitude.  We’re not here to pump up our egos.  We’re serving the people who patrol with us.  It’s a purpose all of us are proud of.  Your options are to act respectfully to every member of the team or to keep silent.”

The Sage of Piercing leaned back from Hector and looked around to see how the rest of the team was reacting.  Seeing he had no support, the man shrugged.  “Guess I’ll bite my tongue.”

“Fine by me.  Let us know if you change your mind.”

Their newest member didn’t speak again until after they set out with the group on patrol that day.  Piercing spent some time with the regular soldiers, alternating between bragging and making rude observations.

“This is not a positive development, Fred.”

“But think of all the patience you can learn.”

Hector ignored the quip.  Fred was a source of good advice on leadership, though typically there were a few jokes before he’d share anything productive.  “I’m concerned this guy is going to destroy the dynamic of the team.  Short of running to Colonel Quinn to have him removed, what can I do to salvage the situation?”

“Couple things I can tell you,” Fred began.  “First, the person on top sets the vibe.  That’s you, not Piercing.  You did a good job establishing boundaries.  Based on Restoration’s reaction and his Sage name, I bet he doesn’t respect them for long.  You need to be ready with a response that will steer him back on course without going too extreme.  Second thing:  the easiest way to reform a problem soldier is to give them responsibility.  Piercing thinks he’s hot shit, so first time he does something halfway impressive you can assign him front position like it’s a great honor.  He’ll eat it up.  Meanwhile you give the rest of us some quiet time.”

“I like that second idea.  I don’t know what kind of punishment I should use when he breaks a boundary I establish, though.”

“Not a punishment.  A response.  I’d figure out a way to take away any enjoyment he gets in being the rule breaker.  Do it in a way that feels like a natural consequence instead of you fucking with him.  That way it’s not a battle of wills.  Let me give you an example.  There was this Orisha girl on a team.  She flirted with the guys instead of working.  So of course everyone is failing to get work done.  My first thought was to punish her.  Plenty of ways to do that.  All of them likely to backfire, though.  Instead, my response was to make whatever guy she distracted do his work and her work.  The girl at first thought she was getting away with everything.  Pretty soon, though, no one wanted to flirt.”

Hector pondered the matter for a while.  He needed a way to ruin Piercing’s fun without making it personal.  He just had no idea what that would look like.