Chapter 202 - Plans Within Plans (Patreon)

Note : Chapters 206 and 207 have been written and added to the queue !

Chapter 202

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

In Flight above the city of Rebirth

"Impressive ship, Crystal." Said Allya as she strode onto the deck, trying to look as if she hadn't already seen every nook and cranny of the vessel already.

"Thank you baroness." Said the golem onboard. Had the thing been able to show facial expression, Allya would have been sure it would have worn a grin capable of devouring an entire sewer's worth of excrements. She knew the dungeon core well enough she could almost hear it in her voice.

And she could see why. Starvak looked like someone had shoved something long and spiky up his rear, and Dominique wasn't much better. Oromar looked more curious than anything, and Micro was studying the weapons of the marines with considerable interest. The various members of her council were strewn in between, with Eismi and Ellyana particularly looking a bit worried.

As they should, after all it was the steel making techniques they'd given Alexandra that had enabled her to build it all.

The ship, the raider-class Vertung, was safely attached to the docking tower, and its entire complement of golems was arrayed in a parade formation on the main deck. It made for an impressive sight, she had to admit. Especially with two more vessels, circling lazily around the tower in a guard formation.

"I must admit, I expected something…smaller." Said captain Calder as he looked around the ship. He made his way to the railing, patting it pensively, before looking over his shoulder. "There's no chance I might get one of those, right?"

It was obvious he meant it as a joke, but Alexandra simply tilted her golem's head.

"Actually, I would not be against it. Right now these vessels are meant for combat, true, and are too badly needed to consider anything short of immediate deployment, at least after a small shakedown cruise, but I would most definitely appreciate what you and your crew could give in terms of feedback for the next batch. I would be more than happy to compensate you for that by handing you one of the ships later down the line."

That seemed to catch the orc off guard, and Starvak was turning an interesting shade of red, before just…deflating, and slowly shaking his head as Dominique looked at him.

Interesting. Seemed like the guild master was keen on keeping a low profile.

That, combined with Oromar's unexpected arrival, was starting to paint an interesting picture.

"Oh…well, then I will consider your offer. After conferring with you of course, milady." Answered the orc captain as he looked at the baroness.

Allya was about to open her mouth when it hit her.

The ships. Alexandra would like having some people with experience to help her with building them. But she could also use some expertise for the raiding operations.

And Sylvia still owed her a favor from giving her Aline.

She knew how to keep that traitorous bitch chained to Rebirth for a while. And as a bonus, she'd still have the other solutions they'd come up with to keep them penned up for when it was over.

"Milady?" Something must have shown on her face, as Allya shook her head and cleared her throat.

"Apologies, I was just thinking. You have my tentative approval, captain Calder, though I must admit I am surprised, especially as you had a new vessel commissioned already."

"True, but the Alberta II is not very far along in terms of construction…And quite honestly, I am considering having it refitted here regardless, given how thoroughly competent lady Crystal has proven so far."

Crystal's golem struck a pose, and Allya had to stop herself from sighing.

"Well, I suppose that's a fair point. And if nothing else, you can always sell the ship. You'll find plenty of willing buyers, I'm sure. Not least of which me."

"I promise to make you a friendly offer." He said with a tooth, or rather tusk, filled smile.

She chuckled.

"I appreciate that very much. Now, Crystal, you said you wished to take us for a small voyage?"

"Yep! Prepare to undock, let's give it a spin!"

*****

"So, satisfied?" Said Alexandra as Allya sat down in the dungeon's conference room. It was becoming surprisingly familiar, with its vast arrangement of food, which Emilia was already busy plundering. Mostly the sweet stuff, Allya noted. And what wasn't sweet, she was quick in making so. Sweet Gods, who poured honey on ham?

"Very. But I could have done without the drop when you cut off the balloon." She smiled at the maid as she accepted a drink from her. She sampled it warily, before blinking in approval. With Alexandra it was always a coinflip when it came to alcohol, since the Earth-born didn't seem to care much about those kind of beverages, and neither did her girlfriend/advisor. This one was a surprisingly good brandy, at least by the standards of the stuff she expected from the dungeon core. Not excellent, but decent.

The dungeon core had the grace to look sheepish at her comment.

"Yeah…sorry, I forgot to fine tune the handoff sequence. But it worked!"

"After we dropped a solid meter."

"Well, you can't have everything."

"Uh uh. Anyway, I had something I wished to talk to you about."

"Figures, given how you'd asked for the meeting."

"Right. Sylvia. We need her to hang around, but there's only so much we can do. I realized that there may be something we can do to keep her on hand for a while, without arousing too much suspicion."

Alexandra leaned forward, and Allya had to stop herself from swallowing. The Earth-born's avatar was very tall, and it was impressive how intimidating she could be, especially once you knew what controlled it.

"Oh? Do tell."

"We can have her accompany one of the raiding fleets, the one where Calder would be, as an advisor, with her crew dispersed as 'experts'. They're pirates after all, they have to know a thing or two about commerce raiding they can pass on, especially as you're intending to take some of the cargoes."

"I doubt she'd accept an employment offer like that."

"Doesn't have a choice." Allya smiled as Alexandra gave her an odd look. "She owes me."

"And? People can forgo repaying favors you know. Go back on their word."

"Not on this. She owes me for giving her the prisoners from the Scarlet Swords. Aline, especially. If she refuses? I'll simply have the prisoners back. She can't protest, because then it would become far too suspicious, as to why she's so clingy of some prisoners and ratings."

Alexandra and Emilia exchanged a look.

"What?" Asked Allya.

Alexandra cleared her throat.

"We've just gotten an intelligence update, from the stealth golems I sent out. Whatever is going on, Aline is definitely in on it."

"Shit. Are you sure?"

"Certain. That girl has a subvocal microphone in her rings, uses it to give status reports. To someone called 'Command'."

"You managed to intercept a message?"

"Only one, and even then just partially. Had a laser microphone that picked up the vibrations on her throat, but she was moving, in a crowd to boot, couldn't keep the laser constantly on. Her quarters have the same protection Sylvia's do now. Can't approach."

"I see. Shit."

"It's better than what we previously had at least. But yeah. This could make it…dicey."

"Yeah. She's definitely not gonna give Aline up, but so much so that things might go violent if I push too hard."

"Yep. I'll back you up if the shit hits the fan, obviously."

"Thanks." Allya genuinely smiled, before rubbing her eyes. "I'll have to phrase it carefully. Make it clear I'll raise a stink if things don't go my way and she refuses to give them up, but won't just throw the guard at them. If it looks like just a risk of being exposed, or becoming the talk of the town, she'll reach for the path of least resistance, instead of gearing up for a fight. I hope."

"She probably will. Spies think that way. If you make it look like it's likely to end in violence, they'll try to exfil immediately or power through, but they're more afraid of having their future operations inconvenienced. Not very logical, after all they sure as hell would be inconvenienced if they fucking died, but I guess having more suspicion on them would put future operations at risk of unraveling their organization."

"Yeah. Probably should wait a bit."

"Let everything sink in, make it look like you're panicking and reaching for every advantage you can?"

"Something like that. Or that I'm looking into building my own raiding fleet."

Alexandra grinned.

"Oooh, that's sneaky. I like it. And can be arranged."

"For now I'm more concerned with keeping my city safe."

"Yeah, but once we have Erakis and Darthar…"

"I suppose the options will be open. But one step at a time."

"Long term planning is everything. But fair enough. Let's not sell the bear skin before we've slain the beast. Alright, I'll get Calder in here and start making him a ship, since time is probably going to be of the essence."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you. She's not your enemy, she's mine."

"She's ours. We're allies, aren't we?"

They exchanged smiles, and Allya felt herself relax subconsciously at how genuine both of them were.

"Yeah. Yeah we are."

*****

"So, guildmaster." Said Allya with a smile as wide as it was fake as the guildmaster entered her office. "I wasn't told you were leaving."

The dwarf carefully grabbed a seat, looking weary. Drained, even.

"My apologies baroness. With everything going on, it had slipped my mind." It was a bald faced lie, and they both knew it, but Allya didn't press him on it. She simply gazed at him, making it clear she wasn't fooled for a second. "It was…discourteous of me." He countered, and she nodded. The warning was implicit, the guild didn't report to her, this was just pure courtesy. But courtesy was important. After all…she could deny the guild operation in her town, or make their lives hell. At least of their local branch.

"Apology accepted. So, I assume you will pack up, back to Darthar?"

"Indeed." He nodded vigorously. "My old second has done a splendid job there, filling in for me."

"No hard feelings having you back?"

"I doubt so. The job has gotten…quite stressful lately, or so I've been told."

Allya remembered the guild hall in Darthar, which had more in common with a fortress than a place of business, and nodded. The city was a powder keg at the best of times, and that was before Sunrise was gleefully throwing lit matches in it.

Or before the Duchy surrounded the city with torches, just like it was now. Latest news was that the enemy army had reached the line of fortresses protecting the city, and were deploying to besiege them.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be up to the challenge. But Oromar…?"

Starvak took her meaning at once.

"Do not worry, he will manage. I am also leaving most of my staff behind, they will ease him into it. Young Dominique will continue being the local representative, and will do her utmost ensure a smooth transition on your end."

"I see." Clearly her fondness for the young woman had been noticed. Unsurprising, since they'd literally done a dungeon delve together. "And what about guild policy?"

Starvak met her gaze, and time seemed to stop. He knew why she was asking, and for a single second there was adamantium in his eyes. Then he blinked, and made a small nod.

"That will be Oromar's duty to interpret at his leisure, I'm afraid."

"Of course. Hopefully he will put an end to the recent…troubles." Which was a considerable understatement. Under her and Trira's careful ministrations and flame fanning, the guild was on the verge of an outright civil war.

And Starvak's side was losing. At least in terms of popular support. The attendants all followed him, but most of the adventurers weren't, and some of the higher ranks were starting to pick sides.

If something didn't happen soon, it was bound to get ugly. As in "let's call in the dungeon forces as peacekeepers" ugly.

Which probably explained Starvak's haste to get replaced, and the secret surrounding it. He was intending the shock to give everyone pause, long enough for Oromar to get his feet, or hooves, under him and start dealing with it.

"He will. Trust me lady Allya. He will."

There were layers of meaning within his sentence…and a hint of regret and defiance in his eyes.

Allya made careful note of that. Maybe the guild wasn't down for the count yet.