Mistrunner 3 - Chapter 49 - Ingress (Patreon)

Finally creating the working prototype of my armor was a huge moment for me. I knew it wouldn’t really close the gap between Mira and me. But I felt it would make me a little less of a liability. I’m still not sure if I was right or wrong.

Patrick Ward

I pored over the map of Olympus, memorizing my route. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I thought that, so long as Alistaris came through, I had a real shot at rescuing the prisoners. I still had no idea what the Pacificians wanted with all those people – or why they hadn’t simply been copied before sending their braindead bodies up to the moon – but I expected it would be something terrible.

Because it always was.

Just once, I wanted to find some aliens who were actually helping humanity rather than enslaving them. But I knew just how unlikely that was. Even Alistaris and his ilk only wanted to use us to further their own agendas – and that was likely due to the fact that people like me were expendable. It was a firm reminder that, in the wider universe, humanity was only as safe as we were useful.

Or dangerous.

I endeavored to become the latter. When everything was said and done, nobody would mess with me – or Earth – unless they were ready for a knock-down, drag-out fight. Only when that thought crossed my mind did I realize that I’d wholly committed to the war Alistaris had recruited me to fight. And it had nothing to do with him, either. The fact of the matter was that I was tired. Not physically, but I was so done with walking into alien instillations and finding that they’d done something terrible to a group of humans.

The first time I had seen it was outside that very first Rift, when the Castorix had enslaved the local human population via slave implants and skills that had equated pleasure with obedience. Those humans had gone insane when I’d killed their masters, forcing me to kill them. And ever since then, I’d seen one instance of enslavement after another, each more disgusting than the last, culminating with the E’rok Tan keeping people who’d been genetically altered to the point of becoming unthinking cattle.

By comparison, what the Pacificians had done was nothing. It was still horrific, but it was difficult to compete with monsters who literally bred and ate sentient beings.

Perhaps there were good aliens out there. Alistaris and his Ark Alliance very well might fall into that category. However, I wasn’t going to hold my breath expecting them to save humanity. They would oppose the Gomari Confederation, but if it came down to a choice between humanity and achieving their goals, I knew precisely which decision they would make.

Was it fair? Just?

No. Not at all. But that was the nature of the world. And of the universe, it seemed. I’d tried to move away from my pessimistic attitude. Down that cynical road lay ruin. Yet it was difficult to look at the world with any sense of optimism when everything I saw continued to show me just how naïve positivity was.

“You alright?” asked Patrick, who’d spent the night in the Leviathan for once. He slid ito the chair across the table from me. “You’ve been staring at nothing for like an hour now.”

I blinked, let out a sigh. “Studying,” I answered. “I’m tired of going into situations unprepared. The last few missions have been difficult.”

Indeed, they had. For the past few years, I’d tried to be extremely careful, gathering as much information as I could before commencing any attack. But ever since that ill-fated heist with Askar, Isaac, and the others, I’d been forced into one desperate situation after another. And I intended to change that going forward because I knew just how lucky I was to have survived so far.

“You know what I think.”

I did. Patrick had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t really trust that Alistaris and his Alliance had our best interests at heart. I agreed with that assessment, but I wasn’t going to let it dissuade me from doing what I felt I needed to do. Patrick, by contrast, was adamant that we should simply lay low until the end of the Initialization. The moment the Integration dawned and the quarantine dropped, he wanted to leave Earth behind.

Conveniently, he’d neglected the very simple fact that doing so wouldn’t really solve anything. In fact, it would likely create more problems than it solved. After all, where would we go? And more importantly, what would we do once we got there? I was very good at what I’d been trained to do, but I didn’t think I could just settle down and become a shopkeeper or something.

I was a warrior, and a warrior without a battle to fight is, by definition, useless.

Of course, Patrick insisted that we would figure it out. I knew it was all based in a desire to protect me. He’d seen how my various battles had affected me, and he didn’t want me to backslide into the habits I’d developed after Nova’s fall.

I respected that, but I couldn’t let his worries deflect me from my budding purpose. For so long, I’d been passively surviving. I had no issues targeting aliens, but I’d had no interest in fighting a war. That had begun to change. I knew Alistaris had his own agenda, that he was using me, but I could accept that so long as he followed through with his promises of support as humanity fought against the incoming tide of invaders.

They were coming. My uncle had known that. But he’d given up on fighting against them because he didn’t think there was any way to win. Alistaris and his Alliance gave us a chance, and I wasn’t so jaded that I was willing to turn that down.

“I know,” I said. “But this is our shot, Pick. With his help, we might be able to fight the other aliens off.”

“Or we might just be exchanging one set of oppressors for another,” he pointed out.

“I talked to Kith, and she said –”

He raised his hands and interrupted me, “I know what you found out. I read the files, same as you. The Ark Alliance is the real deal. But for all we know, that’s just propaganda.”

“Everything is propaganda, Patrick,” I said. “There’s no such thing as an impartial source of information. Every file we read has some inherent bias. But I’ve got it from multiple sources that the Ark Alliance isn’t interested in colonization or conquest. They don’t try to take a planet’s resources. They don’t enslave its people. Their whole thing is to let each population live on their own terms.”

“From what I read, their whole thing is to oppose the Gamori Confederation,” Patrick said.

“Because they’re the bad guys,” I pointed out.

“Does that make the Alliance the good guys?” he asked.

I shrugged. “The lesser of two evils,” I stated. “I’m not blind, Pick. I know what they are. They might have started out with principles, but the Alliance is just using us. I get that. We’re a means to an end. Earth is just another proxy war for them.”

“So, why go along with it?”

“Because we don’t have a choice!” I said, slapping my hand on the table. “We don’t, Pick. I know you think we can just zoom off into space and leave everything behind. But I know you. I know you could never do that. It would eat you up inside, thinking about what you left on Earth. Because you know what’ll happen if we don’t fight back, don’t you? Maybe they won’t enslave everyone. Not officially. But they’ll bring their technology and equipment and soldiers, and they’ll turn this planet into –”

“I know, Mira.”

“Then why are you fighting me on this? I have to do it.”

“I know that, too.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“You go down this road, I don’t know if you’re coming back,” he said.

“I’ve survived so far,” I pointed out.

“Oh, you’ll probably live. That’s what you do. But you’ll leave a lot of death and destruction in your wake,” he predicted. Before I could counter that, he went on, “And I couldn’t care less about any of them. If you kill them, they probably deserved it. But I worry about you. I worry that it’ll be worse than it was after Nova.”

“It won’t.”

“You say that, but I’m not sure I believe it. You like to act like an unrepentant killer, Mira. And you can be, so long as you’re dealing with the bad guys. But when it comes to…collateral damage…”

“I hate it when you call them that. People shouldn’t be called collateral damage.”

“I know. But you know innocent people are going to die. You’ll probably have to kill some of them yourself. Are you going to be able to live with yourself if you have to make a decision between accomplishing your mission and killing a few innocents?”

“I’ve done it before.”

“And it almost broke you, Mira.”

“It won’t this time.”

He shook his head. “I hope you’re right. I do. I just…I don’t know, Mira. I don’t know the right answer. I just hate that we’re put in this situation,” he said.

I locked my eyes on his. “War isn’t pretty. Innocent people are going to die,” I said. “It’s not about weighing lives. Nobody can do that. It’s about conviction. Commitment to the mission. The aliens need to be stopped, and I’m going to help stop them. Whatever it takes.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

After that, we both went silent. I didn’t know how to respond, and he didn’t have anything else to say. We could have repeated our arguments, but at that point, we would’ve just been talking in circles.

I certainly understood Patrick’s point, and until recently, I had been of a similar mind. But the fact that I now thought there was an alternative, that humanity had an opportunity to fight a war and win, had altered my thinking. Then, once that was combined with the atrocities I’d seen in the past few months, I couldn’t just run away. Not in good conscience, at least.

I hoped he could find it in him to understand.

Eventually, Patrick changed the subject to his project. His recent breakthrough had been just as impactful as he’d expected, and they were nearing the point where a viable prototype could be constructed.

“What combat capability are we talking about?” I asked.

“At first? Not much,” he admitted. “We’ve got to build the weapons systems from scratch, and that means reverse engineering whatever we want to integrate into the armor. Then, we’ve got to make it play nice with existing systems. After that, we’ll have to work out the kinks, troubleshoot any additional problems, and then –”

“You could just say you’ve got a long way to go,” I chided with a grin.

“We do,” he said, returning my smile with one of his own. “But it’ll be durable right out of the gate. So, there’s that.”

“What are you calling it?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Not sure. I think –”

“The Turtle.”

“What?”

“The Turtle,” I repeated. “Think about it. It’ll have strong defenses without many weapons, right? And you said it was slow.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“It is, though, right?”

“I mean, it’s not fast, but –”

“The Turtle,” I repeated once again.

“I’m not calling it the Turtle.”

“So you say. So you say,” I said.

“You’re going to call it that regardless of what I want, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don’t.”

He sighed. “Whatever. Look – I’m going to head back to the shop,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. “But…I mean…just reconsider what I said, okay? Don’t go making any big commitments without considering the repercussions.”

“I always do,” I said.

“You think about how it’ll effect your mission. Or other people. You never think about what it’ll do to you. Just once, I’m begging you to take the time to consider whether or not this war, if it comes to that, is worth your sanity,” he said.

I knew it was useless to argue with him, so I just said, “I’ll think about it.”

“That’s all I ask.”

Then, after leaning in and giving me a kiss, he left the Leviathan.

Once he was gone, I retreated back into my system, where I continued to study Olympus’s layout. A few hours later, I got what I’d been waiting on when Alistaris initiated a connection. I accepted it, asking, “Is it time?”

“It’s time,” he answered. “Do you know where to go?”

“I do.”

“Then good luck,” he said. “In six hours, the shield is coming down. Stay alive. We can’t get any use out of you if you’re dead.”

Even though he couldn’t see me, I nodded and responded, “Pretty sure we’re on the same page about me not being dead.”

“Indeed.”

And with that, he cancelled the connection. I took a deep breath, then went over my last-minute checklist. After making sure that I had my supplies squared away, I initiated a Secure Connection with Patrick and let him know that I was going. We’d already discussed it, so he simply said, “Good luck. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Then, it was time.

So, I headed to the Leviathan’s cockpit, and a few minutes later, the ship was in the air and flying across the landscape. I covered the distance between Fortune and my designated landing zone in only an hour. Then, I activated Bastion before leaving the ship behind. I opted for the Cutter, and soon enough, I was weaving my way through the wilderness as I headed toward Olympus.

It was a little more than two hours before I caught sight of the city on the mountain, and once I pulled to a stop, I gave it a quick once over, establishing that it was almost entirely unchanged from my last stint of surveillance. So, after dismissing the hoverbike, I set off on foot until I reached the outpost at the base of the mountain.

According to the files I’d read, it was sparsely populated with Pacifician soldiers, and it was only intended to serve as the gateway to the city proper. As such, it was well-fortified and manned by cameras, guards, and enough drones to make any infiltration a pain. Thankfully, I had a plan to bypass everything.

It took me a few minutes to find the abandoned well that was a remnant of whatever settlement had existed before the Pacificians took over the area. Once I found it, I didn’t hesitate to leap over the edge and plunge into the depths. I splashed down into ankle-deep murky water.

Then, I ran my hand over the wall, searching for the hole Alistaris’s people had dug. He’d promised to get me into the city, and if I was going to do that, I had to go through the outpost first. So, he’d been obligated to ensure that I did so unseen. Thus, the tunnel that I found only a few seconds later.

I climbed inside and slithered forward. Inch by inch, I covered almost two-hundred yards until I tumbled out into a storage cellar. Looking back, I saw that it had been concealed behind a holographic display. It wouldn’t fool anyone for long, but it didn’t need to, either. Once I reached my destination, it didn’t matter if the Pacificians discovered the tunnel.

In any case, aside from bringing Olympus’s Mist shield down, that was as far as Alistaris was going to go. From there on out, I was on my own. Which was fine by me. I appreciated his help, and it had kept me from having to waste a bunch of time disabling cameras and drones, but I’d always worked better when I didn’t have to depend on anyone else.

Perhaps that said something about me.

In any case, I quickly searched the cellar, finding the stairs that would lead up to the ground floor. When I did, I engaged Stealth and, after using a combination of my {Mistrunner} senses and Observation to confirm that no one was on the other side, I opened the door and stepped through.

What I saw was the expected supply depot that had been marked on my map. I didn’t bother inspecting the crates or boxes. Instead, I quickly crossed the distance to the side door, then headed into the neighboring alley. Cloaked in Stealth, I crept forward and took stock of the situation within the outpost.

As far as I could tell, it was business as usual. Upon learning that the Pacificians were androids connected to a central mind, I’d expected them to act like a bunch of robots. However, what I saw wasn’t so different from any other settlement. For the most part, the Pacificians were just trying to live their lives.

Most probably didn’t even know that they were copies of real people.

Using Stealth, I quickly made my way through the outpost, not stopping until I reached the lift that would take me up the mountain. I only had to wait for a few minutes before it descended from on high. When it did, I boarded alongside a half-dozen Pacificians and a couple of heavy trucks laden with supplies.

Then, it ascended.

This was the tricky part, and I tensed as the lift quickly covered the thousand or so feet to the top. Ahead, the Mist shield loomed, glimmering ominous and blue. According to the schematics I’d been given, it was a very unique shield that never came down. The only people who got through were Pacificians or the ones they’d marked via some unknown method to which I had no access. There were no nearby terminals. No targets to Misthack. And it extended in a dome around the whole city. To put it bluntly, it was impregnable without the benefit of an all-out assault.

Which was precisely the plan.

But first, I needed to get into position. Once the lift reached a certain point, I climbed atop the rail and, seeing a likely handhold, leaped to the nearby cliff face. For a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, I sailed through the air. But then I hit the side of cliff with an impact that, if anyone was paying attention, would’ve been extremely peculiar. Thankfully, by that point, the lift had risen another thirty feet, and the chances of anyone seeing me from the ground were nil.

I hung there, my fingers aching as I clung to the smallest of handholds.

Then, I started to climb.

Five minutes later, I reached my designated position. The shield was only eight inches away from my face – close enough that the Mist practically signed my eyebrows. Then, I checked my timer. I had arrived ahead of schedule.

Twenty minutes.

That’s how long I needed to wait. So, that’s what I did.  Thankfully, my attribute were high enough that I could do it, but no matter how inflated my Constitution was, there was nothing comfortable about hanging a thousand feet above the ground with only the strength of my fingers to keep me from plummeting to my likely death.

Maybe I could survive such a fall.

Probably, actually.

But there was no way I could do so without significant injury. And considering I was surrounded by enemies, the fact that I could live through the fall was mostly inconsequential.

The minutes passed slowly, and I couldn’t stop myself from frequently checking the clock imbedded within my interface system. I tried to distract myself, but that was a tall, nearly impossible task. So, in the end, I just settled on watching for the signal.

I got it nineteen minutes after I’d reached my position. Just on time, then.

The final seconds passed, and I tensed, ready to spring into action. And finally, the time came.

And at first, nothing happened.

Five seconds passed. Then ten. Twenty. And still, nothing.

I was on the verge of contacting Alistaris when I felt something coming. I glanced to the north, and at first, I didn’t see it. And when I did, my jaw dropped.

I had expected a lot of things. Perhaps they’d planted a bomb. Or maybe they’d convinced someone to turn coat and disable the shield. But what I hadn’t expected was to see three miniature suns arcing through the air on a collision course with Olympus.

I closed my eyes, but as they drew closer, I could feel the roiling Mist speeding in my direction. I braced, tightening my grip to such a degree that the rock beneath my fingers started to crack. I didn’t care.

Not with what I felt coming my way.

And then they hit, one after another. The first sent a ripple of Mist flowing through the shield. The second sent another. But the third…the third brought it down altogether. The shockwave of the impacts stripped me of my Stealth, but I couldn’t worry myself with that. Instead, I scrambled forward, leaping from one handhold to another as quickly as I could. In seconds, I’d covered ten feet.

Then twenty. The Mist roiled, heralding the reactivation of the shield.

Thirty. I still wasn’t safe. If it completed activation before I made it to the top, I would be obliterated. The sheer energy of the Mist would tear me apart, regardless of how much Constitution I could boast.

Just as I felt it activate, I dove over the lip and rolled to safety. Immediately, I reactivated Stealth and Camouflage, then looked around. I had reached the top of the mountain. Now, the real work could begin.