Chapter 305: Radio Ga Ga (Patreon)

So far, so good. Could this guy move any slower though?

I try not to show my impatience as I float Alec after our guide, deeper into the Voidcannon’s bowels. While I’m confident we’re still on schedule, I really don’t want to risk any delays in our plan.

Kaitlynn’s Trial should have started by now. According to Sudo, that'll give us about two hours.

Frankly, it feels like too little. But starting too early would’ve been risky as well. The longer this ‘inspection’ takes, the higher the risk that word of it travels up the ranks and reaches somewhere problematic.

What should help, though, is that most of the Council of Stars is attending the launch party, and will therefore be hard to reach. An unexpected benefit to Kaitlynn’s trial getting pushed back this far.

Finally, after hallway after Darksteel hallway, we arrive at a hexagonal door with above it some of the Peilor’s markings that read, ‘Communications.’

The door opens, and my guide floats aside.

“Thank you,” I chime in a voice that’s like mine, but Peilorised. “Now, I’m sure you have other business to attend to, so go on ahead.”

He clearly doesn’t need to be told twice, and offers only some insincere platitudes before hurrying away from the scary Starshade Agent.

I float us towards the door and it irises open. We enter, and I set Alec down. A network integrated in the floor provides relatively weak Gravitational Energy that allows hosts to walk, saving their Peilor some effort.

As expected, there are only two communications’ officers on duty in the relatively sizable room, its walls lined with gleaming buttons and glowing crystals that project holographic images. Their Hoig hosts both turn around upon my entry, revealing one red and one blue crystal.

Thankfully, their Espir Pools are both relatively small. The blue Peilor has about 2600 motes, and the red one a mere 2200. Lucky! Still, two of them is one too many.

“Ehm, excuse me, but,” the red Peilor chimes, “what are you doing here?”

“Jax, be polite!” the blue crystal chimes. “Apologies, dear guest, my colleague here can’t help it; he came to be in a detention centre. How can we—”

“What? Olaf!” Jax chimes, cutting him off. “Why are you blabbing about that to a stranger?! I told you that in confidence! Just because you grew up in an art gallery—”

“Enough!” I bark out. “I’m Agent Em, and I’ll be commandeering this station for the duration of my mission.” I give Alec a subtle mental nudge as I say it, prompting him to produce our copy of the metal plaque with our inspection permit.

“Oh, wow,” Olaf chimes after a moment. “Do you see that, Jax? Orders directly from the Council of Stars!”

“Of course I see it! What kind of question—”

“I’m going to need one of you to stay here to help me with the controls,” I continue, ignoring their bickering. “The other may leave for the break room, or wherever it is you go to take breaks.”

A short silence follows my statement.

“Ehm,” Jax chimes, sounding suspicious. “Our operating procedures specify that there have to always be two—”

“And there will be two, namely me and your colleague,” I cut in. “You’re dismissed, soldier.”

At this point, it’s clear to me the blue Peilor will be much easier to work with, even if he’s Yin and has a slightly bigger Espir Pool, so it’s an easy decision.

“Why me?” Jax asks, still sounding like he doesn’t trust me.

I don’t say anything. I just wait. This is one of the tricks Sudo revealed to us Starshade Agents are taught: there’s nothing more unnerving than a silent agent.

After a moment or two of this, it proves effective.

“Jax,” Olaf chimes in a whispered tone. “Just go! She’s here on orders of the Council of Stars!”

After a final moment of hesitation, Jax’s Hoig starts hopping. The door opens for them, and they leap out without another word.

Excellent.

“Now, Olaf, was it?”

“Yes ma’am! And may I just say, it’s an honour to assist one of the famed Starshade Agents!”

“That’s very kind of you, Olaf,” I chime. “Now, please seal the door. I don’t want any interruptions.”

Also, Jax appears to be hovering outside, and I’d like to keep him there.

It takes a bit of doing, but with the help of my most excellent assistant Olaf, I manage to make it so that there are no connections to the outside possible from anywhere within the Voidcannon except for this room.

Of course, we can only do this because the system is already wired in such a way that all of the communications to outside are routed through this room in the first place. As it is, we only had to change the permissions of the Espir-based communications network.

Also, I have channels open with both the Command Centre and Engineering, where Suri has already arrived. Right now, she’s receiving a tour, waiting for the lockdown to be initiated before she makes her move with the device in Dave’s special Hydrum-lined bag.

Sudo and Farouq took a bit longer to arrive, but I hear the former barking orders at the staff in the Command Centre now.

“Agent Em reporting in,” I chime over the channel Olaf activates for me.

I haven’t made any moves to try and Command him yet, as he’s currently following my orders anyway, and I don’t want to risk prematurely setting off any alarms.

“Go ahead, Agent Em,” Sudo’s reply comes.

“External communications have been successfully restricted,” I chime in a perfect monotone, despite my nervous anticipation. “I’ve laid contact with Agent Ri in Engineering. We’re ready to commence.”

I listen carefully as Sudo goes about shutting down the captain and, gets him to obey. And finally, it happens. A deep, powerful pulse of Spatial Energy passes over us, pulled from the Voidcannon’s reserves, and a field hums to life around the Voidcannon. It’s not a pocket dimension, but it should prove equally effective for our purposes.

Much of the size of the Voidcannon is actually taken up by huge, artificial Spatial Energy Crystals, used to store the massive amounts of energy it requires for the incredible feats it can pull off. Not that it can do much without a controller; from what I understand, this defensive measure is one of only very few things the Voidcannon can do autonomously.

Essentially, the Voidcannon is now surrounded by a shell of Spatial Energy that stretches the space around it to an insane degree. From the outside, it must now look the size of a marble, for in order to reach or leave the Voidcannon, one would have to fly thousands of miles.

Of course, one could try to degrade the field with Gravitational Energy or try to burrow through it with their own Spatial Energy, but the Voidcannon is no pushover. I’d like to see any single being try.

Starmother might be another story, of course.

However, while I’m marvelling at the installation’s power, a second wave passes over me.

Except this is a wave of Espir, rather than Spatial Energy.

All the alarm bells in my head start ringing as it somehow moves into my Spiritform, and I slam down a wall of Mental Fortitude to keep it from reaching my Core.

I manage to deflect it, but frankly, I’m not even sure what it was trying to do. Somehow, it didn’t feel hostile at all, which might explain why my spiritform didn’t automatically resist it.

Whatever it was though, I have a nagging suspicion something is off.

<Alec, are you all right?> I quickly send.

He shrugs. “I think so? It was a little weird but—”

He cuts himself off, slapping a hand in front of his mouth, wide-eyed.

My stomach drops when I realise the Commands I put on him... are gone.

Oh shit oh shit oh shit!

“Oh yeah,” Olaf chimes, as his Hoig looks around curiously. “That always happens when the emergency protocol is activated—though we’re not supposed to talk about it. I guess you know about it now any—”

“Connect me to the Command Centre!” I demand.

“Yes ma’am!”

His Hoig startles and fumbles for a moment before he manages to push the right button to connect us to the Command Centre.

“Agent Su, status report!” I shout into the voice-recording crystal the moment it lights up. “Agent Su?!” Overlapping, frantic voices come from the other side, followed by a thump and a familiar sounding ‘Aack,’ and finally, silence. “What the heck is going on over there?!”

“Well, it kind of sounds like combat,” Olaf chimes. “If you ask me, that is. Were you asking me? You probably weren’t, I’ll just—”

“Shut up!”

“Yes, that.”

Another voice comes in over a different channel. It’s Suri.

“Agent Ri reporting in,” she chimes, sounding terse. “I’ve deployed the device, and Engineering is being secured as we speak. Is everything all right on your end?”

“Everything under control here,” I reply the moment Olaf’s Hoig pushes the right button. “But we’ve got a situation in the Command Centre! I fear Agent Su may have been... compromised by that wave of Espir.”

It only strikes me a moment later that I’m actually not worried in the slightest about Suri’s loyalties, even though I can’t sense the Command that forces her to keep her promises to me anymore.

“Oh dear,” Suri chimes. “What about Agent Fa?”

“I don’t know yet,” I admit. “I would hope...”

“What? Farouq’s totally on our side!” Alec protests. “More importantly, Emma, shouldn’t you be keeping an eye on the Peilor? I think he’s doing something...”

My attention swivels to Olaf, who’s moved over to a nearby panel.

“Who, me?” Olaf chimes in surprise. “Oh, I was just going to let Commander Haron know about—”

“YOU WISH TO CEASE ALL ACTIONS,” I Command, pitting the full force of my over 10.000 motes strong Espir Pool against his measly 2600.

Thankfully, however that earlier wave worked, it doesn’t seem to be affecting my ability to place new Commands. And this one passes though Olaf’s innate resistance like a bowling ball through a house of cards. I immediately follow up by extending a tendril of Devouring Energy into his spiritform and entering his Core. There, I place a quick series of Commands that we’ve prepared for this mission, which ensures compliance and makes it so no contrary actions can be performed.

As I work, I hear an angry shout coming from outside the door, followed by pounding.

Looks like Jax felt me place that first Command. Well, no matter.

We’re well past subtle, by now.

In fact, at the moment, the powerful beings that have descended into the Engineering section of the Voidcannon should be doing to the engineers what I just did to Olaf. The problem is the Command Centre. We need control of that, because it’s the only place from where the Voidcannon can be activated.

Come on, Jacob...

With Olaf sorted, and Jax still locked out, I quickly resume my conversation with Suri.

“Should we send word to the beings gathered at the other portal to come to mine?” Suri proposes. “It’ll take them a minute or two, but at least they’ll be deployed.”

“I don’t know,” I reply with a sigh. “Let’s hold off on that for a bit longer, until we’re sure that—”

“This is Agent Fa, reporting in,” a voice suddenly chimes from the Command Centre.

Despite his earlier assurance, Alec sucks in a breath.

“Go ahead, Agent Fa,” I reply.

“We ran into some trouble,” he chimes dryly, “but a certain Hoig saved the day. We had a couple of runners, but the device has been deployed and the area is secure.”

Alec lets out a deep breath of relief.

“Agent Su had to be... neutralised,” Farouq continues with a hint of melancholy. “But the others are all fine.”

Sudo’s dead?

Despite the clear animosity she always displayed, it’s a jarring thought, a jarring idea. In the end, even if she held different beliefs than us, she was still a sapient being.

I quickly shake it off, and open both channels at the same time. “Proceed as planned. Suri, get the modifications started as soon as possible, then make your way to the command centre. I’ll stay here to monitor. Oh, and Farouq... thank you.”

“I figured I was neck-deep in it anyway,” he chimes cheerily. “In for a penny, in for a pound, as you humans say. Besides... when am I ever going to get a chance to help take down Starmother again?”

“Never, because after today, there’ll beno Starmother,” I reply confidently.

“Hah! I sure hope so.”

And with that, we hang up.

“I told you he was on our side,” Alec says obnoxiously the moment we do.

“Yeah yeah,” I drawl. “I could tell how tense you were just now, you know?”

“Because I was worried about Jacob and Loudmouth!” he protests.

“Right, worried about your boyfriend,” I tease.

He blinks. “What? What are you talking about?” But I can feel his heartbeat accelerate.

“Ehm, Miss Em,” Olaf chimes at that moment. “Commander Haron keeps trying to contact us. He’s being very persistent.”

I sigh, emerging from my crystal so I can crack my neck. “All right. Put him through.”

Time to do my job and stall. Let’s hope those engineers don’t take too long...

Author's note:

Thanks for reading! ^^