"... It looks bad out there.""Yeah, they"ve allocated even more s.p.a.ce to build new crafts since last time we were here. It looks like the Emergence is winning."
"All the more reason we need to get that idiot back."
Having arrived at the galactic empire"s capital Ra and Mu both had grim looks on their faces, the reason for that being the unusual amount of automated dry docks that had replaced the normal residential mega blocks and worked around the clock to make wars.h.i.+ps, a clear sign that the galactic empire was losing crafts faster than they could replace them. Moving closer to their destination the automated dry docks and residential mega blocks became an ever rarer sight as the ground gave way to ma.s.sive, so called cloud ripper 920 mill railguns which extended skywards, they were also something the two Avoaxian sisters really hoped to not have seen, as their presence demonstrated the very real possibility that the imperial capital might come under siege at some point in the near future.
With the disappearance of most of the 125th h.e.l.lwalkers, the war of eradication between the Emergence and all other intelligent life moved to a standstill for almost 100 years, but the self aware artificial intelligence had started gaining the upper hand as it slowly learned about its opponent, leading to the fall of the first populated world about 20 years ago, since then it had only started gaining momentum.
Arriving at the centralized imperial navy command centre Ra and Mu donned their Lazarus executive vacuum suits as they exited their transport, leading to quite a few surprised people when two executives of the most powerful weapons developer suddenly visited without an appointment.
[Is the h.e.l.lwalker command in?]
Having made their way to the reception disk at a brisk pace, Ra asked one of the receptionists a question she could find out herself faster than asking, something she did purely out of courtesy.
"Y-yes! Allow me to show the w-"
[No need, we know the way.]
[Thanks for your a.s.sistance.]
Dismissing the overly nervous receptionist Ra and Mu started making their way through the command centre, finding it to be in a state of uproar, something had definitely happened on the front lines.
[01, I"ve accessed the surveillance system, it seems she"s in the 5th war room.]
[Mmm, then let"s make our way there, we don"t have a moment to waste.]
Making their way deep underground the two sisters reached the 5th war room with only a few people who didn"t know who they were trying to stop them, walking into the room as if they owned it (which they kind of did) the two Lazarus executives created quite a commotion.
"Hey, is that?"
"Yeah, it is, you better not speak to them."
"What the h.e.l.l are those Lazarus people doing here?"
"Maybe they"ve come to take more of our money."
"Shh! If they hear you you"re going to be in big trouble."
With most of their contributions to the war effort cla.s.sified, most of the imperial navy viewed Lazarus industries as a leach with friends in high positions which should be purged after the war was over, normally such comments didn"t really bother Ra or Mu, but it seemed that the officer"s luck was quite bad.
[Oi, you over there. What the f.u.c.k did you just say?]
As Ra had spent the past 200 years without a single break working to increase the galactic empire"s chance at victory, such a comment came at a very bad time. Walking right through the ma.s.sive holographic display in the middle of the war room which displayed critical information, Ra managed to gain the entire room"s attention by the time she had made her way over to the officer who had spoken ill about her.
"I said you should p.i.s.s off miss Lazarus. We don"t need you here."
[Oh, is that so? Is that an opinion which is shared by the room?]
(Oh s.h.i.+t, big sis is really p.i.s.sed off now…)
Seeing where the situation was headed Mu quietly made herself a part of the room, the way things were going her sister was going to do something bad.
"Yeah it is b.i.t.c.h, we"re sick of your people coming here and sucking away our resources for your own benefit, while you may not have noticed from your own little luxury apartment we have a war to fight, you"re not needed."
Facing off against the officer Ra glared at his overconfident smirk for a second before she acted.
[Is that so? Then I guess you don"t need the architecture I developed and gave to the navy for free.]
"Like you did anything like that, don"t threaten navy personal, that"s a crime."
[ICI, master override: Disable module 6-3-2 delta.]
[EXECUTIVE COMMAND IDENTIFIED, PROCESSING REQUEST…]
While most of the staff officers had been confident that the Lazarus executive had been bluffing up until that point, the cold and unfeeling voice of the tactical ICI unit proved that they were dead wrong.
[MASTER OVERRIDE CONFIRMED, DISABLING MODULE 6-3-2 DELTA, PRIVILEGES REVOKED. SCRAMBLING QUANTUM COMMUNICATIONS.]
With a single sentence, Ra crippled the entirety of the central navy command centre. From one second to the next the data line to the galaxy wide quantum communications net was severed. Without that line of communication, information which would reach the command centre in a matter of seconds would now take days, if it even managed to make its way there at all.
"Now now, 01. I"m sure he didn"t mean it like that so there"s no reason to take away all the toys you gave him and his friends."
Stepping in before things could get any worse, the h.e.l.lwalker Phillipa appeared to rescue her subordinate.
[If you say so. ICI cancel the previous order and restore privilege 6-3-2 delta.]
Having calmed down slightly Ra realized her mistake and enabled the communication once more, making Phillipa give her a warm smile before she turned to the staff officer with an entirely different kind of expression.
"You just insulted the foremost expert on quantum communications and weapons development in the galactic empire. Standing behind her is the person who developed the current generation of faster than light travel and s.h.i.+p design"s the navy currently operate, do you have anything to say for yourself, Lieutenant?"
With the colour quickly draining from his face, the staff officer quickly realized what he had just done while he was subjected to the full brunt of bloodl.u.s.t from the commander of the 125th h.e.l.lwalkers.
Saying he had f.u.c.ked up didn"t really do the situation justice, this was something several magnitudes worse.
"MA"AM YES, MA"AM! I SINCERELY APOLOGISE FOR MY RUDE BEHAVIOR!"
Bowing down so deep that he almost smashed his face against the floor, it took only a split second for the rest of the staff in the 5th war room to repeat the apology with a similar amount of vigour.
"Good, now get the f.u.c.k out of my sight lieutenant!"
"MA��AM! YES, MA"AM!"
Having disciplined the staff officer Phillipa turned to Mu with a wry smile on her face.
"So? Why are you two here?"
[We need you to take an urgent leave of absence.]
"Then I"ll do that, what are we doing?"
Instantly understanding that the two avoaxian sisters needed her for something important, Phillipa established a private line of communication between the 3 of them before asking about the specifics.
[We"re going to collect a certain idiot before beating him to death with a blunt instrument.]
"What? I think I misheard sorry."
---
While Dax would have wanted to continue the relaxing days with Solaris, Alice and Lilly forever, the day of the operation to retake the imperial continent was quickly approaching. In just a few days Dax would leave the planet for a raid on the lost sanctuary, while he didn"t really want to acknowledge the fact, there was a very good chance he was going to die soon. His operation relayed completely on the element of surprise, if the Elders saw him coming he was dead, if he miscalculated the approach angle he was dead, if-
"Dax are you okay?"
Being snapped out of his thoughts by a certain elver who was sitting next to him, Dax put on a bright smile as he tried to rea.s.sure her.
"Yeah, I"m fine Lilly."
"... Be honest with me."
But alas Lilly had seen through him completely, something Dax found had been happening more and more lately with the girls, it seemed spending a lot of time together they learned to decode Dax"s different idle expressions and habits.
"I"m just thinking a bit about the upcoming operation. Even if we do our jobs perfectly a lot of people are still going to die… As a seasoned commander I should be used to this already, but it still somewhat bugs me everything I think about it."
"I think it"s natural that it would, if anything it just shows that you"re softer than you look."
With a rea.s.suring smile on her face, Lilly started patting Dax"s head, making the person in question quite embarra.s.sed.
(Why the h.e.l.l those she need to act mature now of all times!?)
"Am really soft? I still decided that sending those people to their death was the best option."
"Yeah you are~ But enough talk about that, how"s Lux and Terra, didn"t you go see them yesterday?"
Pus.h.i.+ng Lilly away because she was annoying Dax"s smile disappeared as he turned a bit more serious.
"Terra is tense, as expected of someone leading the kind of operation she is. As for Lux, she"s way more used to this kind of thing so we just talked a bit before exchanging wills along with letters to our friends in case we die."
"A will… What did you write in yours?"
While Lilly didn"t really like the subject she had more or less come to terms with it, as for Dax he wasn"t really that bothered by it as he had gotten used to writing his will a long time ago.
"Just where I would like to buried if there are any remains left and who should inherit my fortune with a short apology to my family at the end."
"Your family?... The two sisters?"
Having heard a tiny bit about Dax"s family Lilly knew that there were only two people she hadn"t met yet.
"Yeah, although if I did die they would most likely figure out a way to bring me back just so the could beat the s.h.i.+t out of me."
"That doesn"t really seem like what family would do in case they died…"
"Trust me, that"s exactly the kind of things those two would do… We have orders for deployment."
Mid sentence Dax received orders to sortie from ICI, everything else would have to wait, now it was time for a war