Misbegotten Memories

Lydia arrived with another member of the family council – one too young for Volithur to ever have met – and Matthias engaged in halfhearted negotiations. Everyone remained enamored of Hector's tales of war. Eventually, Matthias stopped playing the role of merchant altogether.

"Our family used to have a martial tradition," Lydia said. Her features were wrinkled and sagging in a sign that she was aging less gracefully even than many mundane humans. A lack of body enhancement combined with a stressful life, no doubt. She'd been promised everything in her youth and received none of it. "We are descended from the Lord General."

"I have met Thrakkar," Hector said.

Lydia's gaze turned suspicious. "You met the Lord General?"

"At a cookout hosted by Lord Zara. By tradition of the Shaocheth family, we used no titles."

His words inspired a sour expression. "You say Lord Zara? The third daughter?"

"Zara is a lord for a couple of decades now. I have worked with her a few times." Hector stopped speaking abruptly. Talking about the woman who had humiliated Lydia in her youth was unkind. "Anyway, the Lord General told me he has done a few tours of duty with the Coalition. Though I have heard from other sources that he tends to get bored and wander off with his army if there isn't enough fighting."

"Hector rode War Barge Kevin," one of the youths repeated an element from his tales.

"And he gets wine from Tian every time he goes on an Aes patrol," added another.

Lydia frowned, highlighting the lines crisscrossing her features. "Are you here to inquire about matters of trade or to recruit away impressionable youths?"

"My friend is a trader," Hector said. "I'm a warrior on holiday from the Reconquest. The children asked for stories."

The younger member of the council who had accompanied Lydia was more open-minded. "Those resources are available to anyone who volunteers?"

Lydia sighed and shook her head, but she didn't say anything.

"It's available to all Xian volunteers, yes." Hector had not intended to recruit anyone, but Transit had seemed open to the idea when they were experimenting. The fate of humanity hung in the balance and volunteers were thin on the ground.

The young council member nodded eagerly. "Resources could save us. Our strength declines every year that passes. If a few of our number grew strong enough, we might even surpass our previous heights when we were an auxiliary household."

"Unlikely," Lydia muttered.

"Why unlikely? Back then our best were taken away to Tian." The middle-aged level five man looked enamored of the prospect. "If we managed to gain some strength, we could use that to grow the rest of our number. This is our salvation."

Matthias shot Hector an expression that very clearly communicated 'you ruined my game'.

"I would be irresponsible if I didn't point out that Aes is a war zone," Hector said. "Soldiers risk their lives there. While Xian are less susceptible to miasma poisoning than other types, most of you have no body enhancement to speak of."

The council member shook his head. "Is death so much worse than poverty?"

Hector shot back immediately. "It's a hell of a lot more final."

"I'll go with you, master warrior," the councilman said.

That began a chain reaction of volunteering. A full meeting of the family council was called to determine who would be allowed to offer their services to the Reconquest. Hector attended as an honored observer, but rose at one point to speak. Every eye turned towards him with obsequious interest. So different than what Volithur experienced. Time truly made it a different place.

They accepted his restriction that only those level four or above would be taken. It aligned with the opinions of the more rational members, anyway. A modest meal was brought to them so the council could continue their debate. At the conclusion of the meeting, Matthias and Hector were offered rooms for the night after decisions were reached.

"Not that I care much, but you're leading many of these kids to their deaths," Matthias said.

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"I hope not. But the Reconquest needs bodies. It can offer the wine they think so highly of, so I'm not cheating them."

"They're not going to grow strong with one bottle of wine a week."

Hector nodded. "At least they might make a difference. The war goes poorly, Matthias."

"It's always going poorly."

"It might stop going altogether in just a few months," he said.

"Then maybe you shouldn't be bothering with all of this."

Hector couldn't share what he'd learned from the System. He didn't really think it would matter anyway. People were incredibly good at ignoring and disbelieving inconvenient truths. Matthias didn't want to place himself at risk, so he wouldn't. The remnants of the fifth household wanted resources badly enough to walk into a meat grinder to get them.

"Are you going to have enough energy reserves to transport twenty men to Aes?"

"I won't be able to make a full sized sphere. At best I could take one or two if they are willing to squeeze in tight." He spoke and then waited for Matthias to make an offer.

"Just take yourself. I'll follow with the rest of them."

Hector gave a small bow in gratitude. "How are you able to follow through chaos?"

"You need to sense the ripples in chaos through your externality. It's not as hard as you might expect. Put some effort into it and you'll eventually learn the trick."

"I have zero talent when it comes to senses," Hector said.

Matthias shot a look at him. "Are you practicing any sensitization techniques?"

While Hector was trying to compose an honest response that justified his lack of effort in that area, the other man continued.

"You're not. Look, Hector. You're not Volithur. He might have been shit at everything else, but he was a one in a million talent when it came to how his mind handled cosmic energy. You will never reach his level of proficiency. Never. But if you do enough mental training, you will see progress. Don't half-ass a technique for five minutes and decide it's not working because Volithur was an instant expert when he did it. Your memories are going to be a poor guide in that area."

The message stung a bit. In truth, Hector found comfort in the belief that he lacked talent with his mental sense. That meant he didn't have to deal with the frustration of struggling with something he recalled as profoundly simple. He'd justified ignoring that aspect of his training because his efforts got a better return on investment in other areas, but how was what he did any different than the excuses of the guys who skipped leg day?

He'd just have to start dedicating time every day to mental exercises. For the moment, though, he needed to fill his reserves a bit more. Hector skipped sleep that night to get ready to travel. They ate a modest breakfast of eggs over flatbread before moving to the front of the building to wait.

Twenty Xian emerged and took their places around them. Matthias summoned his transit sphere, then Hector did the same, pausing his own at a small size. Then it was off to Aes. Hector placed his point of entry near the command center.

When the nearby guard saw a second sphere appear, he began to look nervous. "I recruited reinforcements," Hector called to head off any unpleasantness a foreign invasion might provoke.

Matthias ditched his charges and escaped before anyone could look twice at him. Then the Xian milled about until the sergeant major appeared. "What the hell is this? You're bringing recruits directly into the Stronghold now?"

"They are from a former satellite world of the Amaratti. Transit said he wanted to recruit Xian, didn't he? Well… here they are."

"A large group of unknowns." The sergeant major squinted at Hector. "Can they fight?"

"Assume that all their experience is from sparring practice."

The sergeant major looked like he was about to explode. "I'll put them in an empty bunker. You're responsible for them, Hector. I don't want any incidents."

"I promised them wine once a week as their wages."

"I don't care, Hector. We have hundreds of cases of the stuff and it is going to be abandoned with the Stronghold if we don't close that rift."

"Is Purification awake yet?"

"She is not. Sergeant! Assign these Xian to a bunker and then gather some basic intake information."

So Hector found himself in charge of a group of eager Xian. After they settled into one of the bays of the bunker, he gave them a tour of the facilities and then stopped at the supply depot to get resources for everyone. They cradled their bottles of wine like newborn babes. At his insistence, they adulterated the liquid with the vinegar and sugar.

Everyone happily imbibed and promptly became drunk. Hector put them to bed and made it clear that they could be cut off from further wine if they vomited. That switched them from giddy to serious faster than anything else he had said. Hopefully reusing that threat wouldn't wear it out too quickly. He didn't have time to focus on maintaining unit discipline.

Finally free, Hector began to cultivate with his domain.

Days passed. Hector set a brutal schedule for himself, alternating between working with his domain, mind, and externality. He placed his subordinates into a slightly less uncomfortable schedule. He told them they were doing the equivalent of closed door cultivation and he expected them to increase their energy reserves.

Their patience was wearing thin by the time Purification woke. She visited him in the company of Colonel Quinn. "Did you miss me, Hector?"

"Very much, Leah."

The colonel studied the messy bay and the undisciplined Xian. "Is this supposed to be your retinue, Lieutenant Hector?"

"These are the Xian recruits we're going to power level with converted miasma, colonel."

Colonel Quinn shrugged. "I honestly don't care if they live or die. My Stronghold is at stake, lieutenant. We're doing a test run tomorrow to get a feel for what tactics function best with the miasma mitigation method. I intend to close the rift in the next five days."