Chapter 260
Days passed in a blur as Kyle and C.H.A.D.D. continued their journey across the plains and rolling hills of Er’Mithren. They were making good time, only stopping for a few hours of rest each day. The location of the shrike nests they’d cleared out on their first journey to Resistance territory were only about a day’s travel away, with the remaining distance easy to cross in just a few hours if he pushed himself.
With C.H.A.D.D. preoccupied refining the Chaddling design, travel was relatively quiet, leaving Kyle plenty of time with his thoughts. His extraction would be coming soon, and convincing D’Oillelat to come with him was his only shot at salvaging the mess this job turned into. While he and C.H.A.D.D. would be able to provide some of the notes and scans from Railen’s Folly and the hidden village, those would be far less valuable to the Verdant Republic than the presence of an ancient goblin variant.
Beyond that, he truly believed that D’Oillelat’s best chance for survival would be aligning with the Verdant Republic. For all of their administrative frustrations, Kyle was confident that they would provide her with opportunities, resources, and support. He suspected that, if she wanted, they would even help her assume leadership of Er’Mithren. Ultimately though, he expected that she was less interested in taking over than simply giving her people a chance to survive.
The biggest question for Kyle came down to how to position his argument. He saw how protective she was when it came to her people, and leaving them to fend off Pall’Eth and the current government would undoubtedly be a major sticking point. Maybe I can lean on Drokh’s support, Kyle thought, considering what the ogre may say. He was protective of D’Oillelat, and was likely to be sympathetic to Kyle’s arguments. Ver’ah and Hanastrel were in the same boat, gladly willing to risk their lives if it meant protecting their queen. She’s certainly got a great team around her.
The more Kyle pondered on it, the more the plan started to come together. The case had to start with buy-in from the people around her. D’Oillelat was equally as protective of Resistance leadership as they were of her. If he could convince her that leaving the planet, at least for a while, would reduce their danger, she would go. At the same time, if they felt that D’Oillelat would be safer off-planet, they would support it, too.
His train of thought was interrupted when his nav bracelet let out a series of chirps. The sound startled him, and a broad smile crossed his face when he saw that it wasn’t an archived written message, but an incoming live communication from Suierrillax.
“Hey Suierrillax, it’s been a while. How are you?” Kyle asked, feeling C.H.A.D.D.’s attention shift back to him.
“You mean other than having to deal with whatever hornet’s nest you kicked up? Fine,” Suierrillax said. “By the way, once you’re back and the dust is settled, I’m going on vacation. With pay. So you’re going to have to clean up your own messes for a while.”
Kyle winced. “That bad, huh? What’s the situation?”
“Too much to unpack right now, but I’ll give you the high points. Then we’ll need to get down to the logistics of getting you out of there. Basically, the Verdant Republic was very interested in your report, but had to reconcile it against a report from one of the Council members who said that you launched a full-scale attack against their capital. The details got a little fuzzy from there, but ultimately they were trending toward siding with you, particularly when it comes to the mention of the daughter of the deposed monarch being a unique variant species.
“We were planning a standard extraction, as of the last meeting we had. Then something happened. I mentioned a weird disturbance a while back, and a bunch of the higher-ups got all sorts of agitated about it. The Collective authorized resources to set up relay stations nearby, and to get you out.”
“That’s a lot to take in,” Kyle said after a moment. “So the Collective is involved now?”
“If it makes you feel better, I don’t think it’s because of you,” Suierrillax replied. “Or the princess, or anything else, really. I think it has more to do with the anomaly they picked up. That’s all I can say about it at this point, at least. Now, let’s talk about what we’re going to do about you. How soon can we get a shuttle down?”
Kyle took a moment to consider his next steps. “I’ll probably need another two days. That should give me time to get to D’Oillelat and organize things with her.”
“That’s a tall ask, Kyle,” Suierrillax said. “We’ve got a ship heading into the system in about 12 hours. They’ll want to get you out and then retreat as quickly as possible. Nothing good comes from lingering.”
“How much longer can you buy?” Kylel asked. “I can push it to get to D’Oillelat faster, but 12 hours will be tight.”
Suierrillax was silent for a moment. “I can get you 24 hours. There’s enough attention around the system that anything more than that will draw too much attention.”
“Thank you, Suierrillax,” Kyle said. “I’ll do my best to get her out as well.”
“Do what you can,” she said. After a moment, she continued, her voice losing some of its usual snark. “And Kyle? How are you? Really.”
Kyle sighed. “I’ve been better. Once I’m back and things have calmed down, we’ll have a lot to talk about. Still, things could be worse.”
“You have a habit of getting caught up in the middle of these messes, Kyle. You’ve got a lot of people asking for you when you get back, but consider taking a vacation of your own,” Suierrillax said. “Remember, you need to rest sometimes, too.”
[I CONCUR, DR. MAYHEW,] C.H.A.D.D. interjected. [I WOULD ALSO LIKE A VACATION. THAT SOUNDS LIKE A WONDERFUL TIME.]
“See?” Suierrillax asked. “For nothing else, do it for C.H.A.D.D. By the way, I’m glad to hear that you’re well.”
[LIKEWISE, SUIERRILLAX. FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH, DR. MAYHEW IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE ISSUES WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED. ONLY A FEW OF THEM.]
“I’ll take your word for it,” Suierrillax responded with a chuckle. “As soon as you have an answer about whether the goblin princess will be joining, let me know. Be safe in the meantime.”
“Will do,” Kyle said. “Thank you, for everything.”
“Don’t mention it, Mayhew. I’ll keep you updated on the shuttle status.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “And Kyle, if you can’t get the princess to come along, just leave. There’s no shame in that.”
The connection ended, and Kyle considered the path ahead. Even with the delays Suierrillax could buy him, the timing would be tight. He would need to push Ignition hard to get to the Resistance before the deadline. Even then, there were no guarantees that he would beat the shuttle’s arrival.
[ARE YOU TAKING SUIERRILLAX’S WORDS SERIOUSLY, DR. MAYHEW?] C.H.A.D.D. asked.
“I’m certainly not planning to get stuck here,” Kyle replied with a snort, already pushing nearly 20% more mana through Ignition.
[I MEAN ABOUT THE VACATION, DR. MAYHEW.]
“Of course you do. We’ll see what we can do, but there’s a lot for us to get done, C.H.A.D.D.”
[MAY I BE SOMEWHAT DIRECT, DR. MAYHEW?] C.H.A.D.D. asked, a sense of trepidation making its way through Pack Leader’s Instinct.
“What’s on your mind?” Kyle responded.
[I GET THE SENSE THAT YOU ARE GROWING INCREASINGLY INVESTED IN CIRCUMSTANCES OUTSIDE OF YOUR CONTROL. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE AT THE CENTER OF ALL OF THEM. SOME REST AND TIME AWAY WOULD DO YOU WELL, I THINK.]
“And we’ll get time to rest. Once we’re done with this job, we’ll get our paperwork done, make a quick trip to visit Marcus Kulhavey, assuming he’s free, and then we’ll take some time off.”
[I BELIEVE THAT YOU BELIEVE THAT, DR. MAYHEW. YET SOMEHOW, YOU CONTINUE TO FIND YOURSELF IN THE CRUX OF UNPRECEDENTED SITUATIONS.]
“Look, C.H.A.D.D., it’s a big universe. There’s bound to be events like this happening all over the place. It seems like a big deal now, but it’ll settle down.”
[CURRENT EVENTS WILL SETTLE DOWN FAR MORE EFFECTIVELY IF YOU STOP INJECTING YOURSELF INTO THEM, DR. MAYHEW. THE INTERACTION WITH ZIERLAN WAS TRAUMATIC, AND TAKING TIME TO REST AND PROCESS IS WARRANTED. INVOLVING YOURSELF IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE VERDANT REPUBLIC UNNECESSARILY IS UNLIKELY TO BE BENEFICIAL.]
Kyle felt the sincerity and concern behind the drone’s words, choosing to stay silent as he pushed Ignition to 35% beyond its base. Adaptive Regeneration was doing a good job keeping up with the strain, and the mana drawn in continued to fuel Tenacious Vigor, finding an equilibrium. He’d need a couple of days to recover once he was back at the Hub, but it would be worth it if he could get to D’Oillelat in time.
“I’ll do my best, C.H.A.D.D.,” Kyle finally said. “Once things settle down –“
[FOR THINGS TO SETTLE DOWN, YOU HAVE TO STOP STIRRING THEM UP, DR. MAYHEW. YOU HAVE SPENT THE LAST YEAR WITH THE COURIER’S GUILD DOING NEARLY NONSTOP JOBS. BEFORE THAT WAS YOUR STUDY FOR THE PRACTICUM, AND BEFORE THAT, NEAR-DEATH AFTER NEAR-DEATH BACK ON EARTH.] Exasperation and resolve came through their bond in equal measure as C.H.A.D.D. continued. [YOU HAVE GROWN POWERFUL AT AN ALARMING RATE BY EVERY MEASURE THAT WE HAVE FOUND. AT SOME POINT, THE STRESS OF THIS CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT WILL HAVE NEGATIVE EFFECTS. IT IS MY PROFESSIONAL OPINION THAT YOU NEED TIME TO PROCESS, REST, AND RESET. PLEASE, DR. MAYHEW, TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.]
Kyle wanted to argue, to push back, but he saw the wisdom in C.H.A.D.D.’s words. Still, for some reason, the thought of stopping, stagnating, frightened him. The scars on his stomach ached, as tension seemed to build in his shoulders. The flash of a single, violet eye appeared in his mind, and he held back a shudder. “I’ll try, C.H.A.D.D. I’ll try.”
They traveled in silence as Kyle pushed himself at his top speed, careful to maintain the equilibrium he found. The difference was stark when compared to his first real experimentation with Ignition during his Practicum, covering ground with ever-increasing efficiency. He reflected on the drone’s words as he ran, until a ping on C.H.A.D.D.’s map revealed great news. They were in familiar territory.
[DR. MAYHEW, THE SHRIKES NEARBY SEEM TO BE MOVING,] C.H.A.D.D. noted, previously highlighted nests lighting up on the map as Kyle blazed across the landscape.
“Keep me posted if you detect any alphas moving this way. I’ll go out of my way to avoid them, but we’ll ignore the others.”
Kyle knew they were getting close to the wall, a feeling that was confirmed when he crested a small rise and saw the wall in the distance. Last time he’d crossed it, the field was empty, nothing but gently rolling hills and stones. Now, large tents and camps dominated the space. And these aren’t refugees, Kyle thought.
[THAT IS A LOT OF SIEGE EQUIPMENT, DR. MAYHEW.]
“It is,” Kyle said, continuing unabated toward the wall. This is better, Kyle thought. This is something I can handle.
[ARE YOU GOING TO STOP?] C.H.A.D.D. asked.
“No,” Kyle said, blowing past the startled goblins and trolls in the nearest camp. Despite himself, he felt himself begin to smile. No life or death. No crazy C Grades. Just another obstacle course to run.
[IT APPEARS THAT THEY WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE YOU TO, DR. MAYHEW,] C.H.A.D.D. supplied.
Kyle activated Repel toward a nearby ballista, smashing the construction and vaulting over the ruined weapon. “Too bad for them. We’re on a schedule.”
A general outcry was erupting throughout the camp, but Kyle continued unbothered. He took out trebuchets and ballistae that were in his way, quickly closing in on the wall itself. A volley of arrows with a few sheets of ice rained down from atop it, which prompted Kyle to respond with another blast of Repel, dispersing the attacks like gnats in the wind. Another use from his feet propelled him over the wall, and he shouted at the guards below. “Get a message to your queen! The Courier is on his way!”