Misbegotten Memories

Chapter 296

It took several days after arriving on Terra before anyone saw fit to transfer Miracle Squad from the cramped shuttle bay of War Barge Maria.  During their stay, they had to deal with the constant activity as shuttles arrived and departed at all hours.  They were brought meals at irregular intervals.  Their only escapes from the corner of the shuttle bay were trips to the adjacent sanitary facilities.

Tempers flared regularly, but the heat was directed outwards.  Hector fumed silently, knowing that the Jinn crew members weren’t responsible for the cluster fuck that the operation was.  Ajax had no such restraint.  He loudly rumbled insults that were impossible to ignore – though their hosts did a good job pretending.  Esther went on regular missions to find officers and lodge complaints.  It was the equivalent of demanding to speak to the manager.  The Sage of Piercing threatened to put a hole in the deck a few times, which got them the entirely wrong kind of attention.  Isabel summoned her spear externality to hover above her while she practiced her glares.  Only Restoration managed to keep her peace, though she often placed herself in high traffic areas in a passive-aggressive gesture of defiance.

Hector didn’t try to rein in his squad’s behavior.  Though he didn’t wish to blame the low ranking Jinn they had access to, the truth was that every day that passed they could have been doing meaningful work on Aes.  They were a critical resource for the Reconquest.  On Terra, they were just in the way.  It seemed to Hector that having war barges on site made everyone else superfluous.

Finally, a lieutenant marched up to their small corner.  “Pack your gear.  We’re moving you to an aerostat habitat.”

Esther took the opportunity to vent.  “Why so soon?  We just got here… four days ago.”

The harried lieutenant stared down his nose at them.  “This is the most firepower ever assembled for a single battle in the history of the multiverse.  A hundred generals from fifty nations on three different worlds are fine tuning the battle strategy and troop placements.  There are war barges, gunboats, orbital citadels, Sages, Xian Lords, and Arahant ritualists to consider.  Your little crew of miasma resistant fighters is at best an afterthought.  We’re only moving you now because we need this space for antimatter containment units.”

They wound up being shoved into a single shuttle, which was a tight fit with a Titan among their number.  Blue sky was the background of the view through the windows, but they could barely see it due to the congestion.  Hector almost forgot his annoyance.

Ajax asked the question on everyone’s mind.  “How many ships are out there?”

“Twenty war barges,” the copilot answered.  “I couldn’t tell you how many gunboats and cruisers are there at any given moment – many hundreds.  There are also four aerostat cities.  They’ve been evacuated of civilians and packed full of ritualists for a containment ritual.”

The shuttle touched down on the roof of one of those aerostats.  Oxygen masks were offered to them for the short walk to the entrance.  The two Sages accepted, but Ajax and the three Xian didn’t bother.  Hector ignored the chill and the thinness of the atmosphere to study the tableaux above him.  There was so much metal floating on gravitonics six miles above the surface of Terra that it felt surreal.

A door rolled open to admit them into the aerostat, then closed again behind them.  Thick, warm air vented into the space and a gray-haired Jinn woman met them.  “Hello, I understand the six of you are going to be stationed here for protection.  The ritualists you are officially assigned to guard aren’t interested in your services, so you’ll be reporting to me while you’re here.  I’m the minister of security for Ten K Aerostat.  Though mostly my job is to stay out of the way.  Which, to be clear, is also going to be your primary responsibility.”

She guided them deeper into the immense facility.  “Couple of ground rules.  This city is an aerostat, meaning that it floats due to being less dense than the surrounding atmosphere.  At the moment we’re using gravitonics to rise far above our normal altitude, so we’re technically closer to a vessel than an aerostat.  But our infrastructure is all designed to be light-weight.  There is an aluminum frame, but most of the outer walls are synthetic fiber filled with aero-gel insulation.

“We’re fragile, is what I’m trying to tell you.  A couple of tears won’t send us crashing.  With the gravitonics the military installed, I don’t think we can crash.  But all of you should understand that this isn’t the kind of place you can spar each other or whatever your type do when you’re bored.  I have you set you up with a penthouse apartment.  It has six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a fully stocked kitchen, and an entertainment facility.

“Before you avail yourself of the video library, though, watch the daily briefing.  It’s a half hour program that keeps everyone updated on the battle plan.  Watch it every day.  A lot of the material repeats, but if the strategy changes that is where you will learn about it.”

The minister of security opened the door to their apartment and waved them inside.  “I’ve got things to do now, but if you need to get in touch the apartment has a digital assistant.  Just ask to speak to me and we’ll be connected.  You’re not restricted to the apartment, but don’t interrupt any of the Arahants.  They’re the star players here.  The rest of us support them from the background.”

When the door closed behind the minister, Ajax looked down at his feet and issued a sigh that sounded like an air brake.  “Hector, I don’t see us contributing to this battle in any way.  Would you consider carrying us back to Aes?”

Hector winced.  “We can’t leave, Ajax.  Even if we ignore the potential repercussions of desertion, we still agreed to come here.”  He rushed to clarify.  “We may have been drafted to serve, but none of us made an effort to get out of it.  Now it’s too late.  Aes won’t fall in a week or two.  We’ll be back there soon enough.”

They did a quick sweep of the luxury apartment.  Esther remarked that at least they would be kept in style while doing pointless guard duty.  Bedrooms were claimed.  Restoration squealed from elsewhere, causing people to rush to her location.

“Look at this hot tub!  We could all fit in here.”  Restoration glanced towards Ajax.  “Most of us, at least.  You can dip your feet, Ajax.”

Piercing chuckled.  “A group bath party would certainly be interesting.”

“Not happening,” Esther snapped.

Isabel turned on the television and received a prompt to watch the daily briefing.  Everyone gathered around, somewhat curious what the program would show them.  It began with a diagram of what was being called ‘The Snare’.  A voice-over explained that predictions from the Sage of Foresight consistently reported the same emergence point, allowing for a potent ambush.  The primary elements of The Snare were described.

First was the ritual of containment to lock the Dragon in place.  Four aerostat cities had been repurposed and lifted above their operational range using gravitonics so that they could serve as the four corners of an elaborate ritual.  If successful, the ritual would contain both the Dragon and a good portion of its miasma.

Next were the designated attackers.  The primary limitation on how much firepower could be brought to bear at one time was avoiding friendly fire.  To this effect, there were lanes set up.  The initial attack would have three schism beams, a chaos bolt from the Lord Annihilator, an attack from the Sage of Arrows, and a lightning strike from the Sage of Thunder.

The schism beams had their power ratings classified, but the program described them as ‘current top of the line models’.  The Lord Annihilator and War Barge Elliot were mentioned as two of the three humans credited with killing the previous Dragon.

Should the initial attack fail, there were plans for follow-up attacks.  The Sage of Conflagration and the various Sages of Swords attacked from too close to engage the enemy while schism beams were carving apart space itself, but they would attack if the Dragon looked like it was close to escaping containment.  A ridiculous amount of antimatter was ready to be deployed if necessary.

By the end of the program, Hector found himself awed by what humanity could accomplish.

Piercing snorted.  “I almost feel sorry for the damn Dragon.”

That caused Isabel to snap.  “Do not make jokes about Dragons.”

“I’ll joke about whatever I want to,” Piercing said.

“Not Dragons.”

“This one is a dead serpent the moment it surfaces.”

Isabel’s hand twitched, so Hector stepped in before she could summon her spear.  “Piercing?  Maybe let’s have some respect for all the humans who have died to Dragons.”  He used a firm tone so that the man would understand the suggestion to be more along the lines of an order.

The program ended by presenting the various ways that people could learn more.  It contained a countdown to the Dragon’s emergence.  Just over two days in the future.

They dispersed to their rooms after a quick meal of Jinn stew that came from a large can that proudly proclaimed the flavor as ‘meat-like’.  Hector collapsed onto his bed, happy to finally have some privacy.  There wasn’t another group of people he trusted more to have his back against a wave of monsters, but his squad certainly could test his patience at times.

He unwound in the bedroom for a time before returning to his training.  A little bit of cultivation, then a little bit of domain training.  For the next few days, Hector spent much of his time alone.  The team ate questionable things from cans at meal times.  They also watched the daily briefings together.  Those didn’t change much.  The broad outline of the plan had been set in stone by this point and the minor details were forgettable.

It seemed that they wouldn’t have any part to play in the upcoming battle.  Either the Dragon would be slain soon after arriving, or everyone was doomed.  No one explicitly stated the two options, but Hector could read between the lines.  If this Dragon proved to be a match for the trap laid out for it, then there really wasn’t anything more to be done.

Hector resolved to take his squad to safety in his transit sphere if things started to look bad.  He’d just have to place his trust in the people in charge.  The generals no doubt had a lot of experience.  And they were being guided by Evelyn.  The romance he’d once imagined with her had vanished from his thoughts over time, but Hector could never forget how she’d reunited him with Darius.  No matter the limitations of her predictions, he would choose to trust her.