Waterstrider

Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fifthmonth, 1634 PTS

If there was one thing I appreciated about Tseludia over Canvas, it might be the spread of information. Even without asking Rachel or waiting for mail, I could check out events from across the station by simply watching a news station. When I had mentioned this to Rachel, she had told me that this was possible in some parts of Canvas, but the Crucible, and particularly the Downpour, simply lacked the infrastructure for it. Even if we had installed it, I wagered that Sunlit Hall would have probably made it a priority to knock it down, anyway.

The anchor for the program was an attractive sei woman wearing fine robes. The way she was dressed almost made her look like a courtesan, her robes tight and stretching the bounds of decency. I wondered whether she was a branch member of the Hadal Clan. Or perhaps she was largely unrelated, but the program itself was simply under their control. I would have been surprised if the truth was not one of the two. It did not particularly matter at the moment, though, given how the information I was looking for was so unrelated to the clan. I relaxed as I listened to her narrate the information I wished to know.

“...Events in Otan have heated up further, with the other Queendoms calling the takeover a grand display of disrespect to all Exid within the system. Four have already declared war against the Sikreis Queendom and the Heirs of Ottrien, though military action has yet to expand beyond skirmishes between rival worker drones at Queendom borders with the district. Worries about the potential damage to the industrial district and loss in productivity have reduced the stock of various corporations which rely on the products of the station’s industrial district.”

After our surprise at Rachel’s claims of war, it had quickly become apparent that the situation was not yet in such a state. However, I thought, if it would benefit us, it was not impossible for us to stir the pot. Perhaps if the Heissix Corporation were to go bankrupt or die, we could buy back our own debt for cheap.

On the other hand, to become involved was to earn the ire of any corporations who relied on the district’s factories. Luckily the Venin Group manufactured its own products in another district, so this matter was unlikely to make our situation worse if we chose to ignore the matter.

“What are your thoughts?” I asked, my words echoing into the empty room. As expected, Rachel appeared before me, sitting down in the chair across from me. She shrugged.

“If we wished to become involved, I’d say our best bet would be to assist the Celans in maintaining their territory. I suspect at least one of the queens will resort to force if they can’t pressure them to sell the corporation to another Queendom.”

I nodded hesitantly. It made sense, though my understanding of the intricacies of Exid culture was still lacking.

“...Let’s put that to the side,” I said. “Before that, how have Jihan’s preparations gone?”

“He’s gotten his men fully equipped and they’ve moved to the staging area higher up the stack from the target.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Who did he choose to bring with him?”

“Just the Lee Clan soldiers.”

“No Reth?”

She shook her head, frowning slightly.

“I was slightly surprised as well, since they would certainly be both useful and willing. It seems that he sees not involving them as part of his duty to protect them.”

“I suppose that’s fine,” I said. “We can save their reveal for another day. They’ll be more effective if no one expects them.”

According to Rachel, Irid and the others had on multiple occasions asked if there was anything they could do to assist us. We had given them some useful mundane tasks, but hidden as they were in the depths of the sect, there was little they could do. I was sure that they would soon have an opportunity to both leave the sect and to assist us. First, however, we would need to solve the problem of feeding them.

“By the way,” she said, taking a sip of an illusory cup of tea. “How has it gone with your disciples?”

“They’re doing fine. In just a few days they’ll finally be ready to take in miasma. But... I suspect you’re already fully aware of this. What do you really wish to discuss?”

I clasped my hands together as I stared at Rachel. She gave an awkward smile and scratched the back of her head, uncrossing her legs.

“Am I really so easy to read?”

I didn’t respond, merely silently watching her until she got around to the matter in question. After a silent sigh, Rachel finally explained.

“I’m still concerned about that Shade.”

My brow furrowed, but the topic was not all that surprising. Just thinking about the other Shade caused me some stress, as we still had no clue what its aims were on the station. It had hindered and assisted us in equal measure, and no particular goal could easily rationalize its behavior.

“Have you not found any of its traces?” I asked.

“It’s not that I’ve found none of them. I had suspected it was one of the Celan Shades, and that seems to be confirmed by how it has fortified the Heirs’ servers and operations. We won’t be able to ambush the Spider again unless their Shade allows us to.”

“So you’re worried about how it is assisting one of our enemies?”

Rachel took another sip of her drink. My instinct was to call it a delaying tactic, but I knew that she could actually taste it, so it was hard to say whether it was intentional or instinct that remained from her once-mortal mind.

“I’m concerned because I believe I may have pieced together at least one of their goals,” she said.

“And what would that be?” I asked. It was starting to feel to me like she was dragging this conversation out on purpose. Perhaps she really was nervous.

She eyes flicked forward, matching my gaze.

“I believe they still want me. When I was overexerted and passed out, they stopped hindering us and assisted you in escaping. I think this might be because they felt that it would be more difficult to capture me from the Pantheonic Government than when we’re on our own.”

“...That could be,” I said, considering the matter. It would certainly match up with some of the Shade’s actions. “But then why would it have warned you of its presence in advance? Wouldn’t it have been better to surprise you?”

“I… don’t know. I can’t be sure of any of this, actually. I still don’t know which of the Celan Shades it even is.”

I leaned back in my seat, already exhausted by the conversation.

“I suppose this means we’ll need to be extra careful about the Heirs. Should we not assist them in Otan, then?”

“About that…” Rachel’s expression was very uncertain, as if she had yet to fully think through what she was about to suggest, though I knew she had to have thought it through extensively before even bothering to bring it up. “I think it’s important to understand that the Heirs of Ottrien are not the Epon.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well,” she continued, the corner of her lip beginning to raise slightly, “My impression of their activities since the time you rescued me is that they were scared about failing the task the Epon had assigned them. They’re not known for being the most forgiving of groups. After continued failures, they must have become scared. They killed the Epon representative who arrived to receive me, but then a Shade arrived. Perhaps, rather than being dedicated to confronting us, they wish to escape a bad situation of their own.”

I couldn’t help but lean forward, a beginning to grow a smile of my own. Her logic was sound, and I really liked the idea that she was presenting.

“So if we were to find a way to speak with them without the other Shade finding out, we could reduce its influence and gain a new ally to help us capture or destroy it,” I said.

Rachel’s lips had curled up into a full-sized grin.

“That’s my thought. And we can start by working with them in Otan, to build connections in a natural way, and let them know we don’t need to be enemies. We can kill two birds with one stone.”

It was an odd saying, but easy to comprehend, and I quite liked the sound of it.

“Alright then,” I said. “We should get started. See if you can get me a meeting with their Leader, or at least someone high ranking.”

“You’ll want to speak with their Vice-Leader for a matter such as this. I’ll send in the request through digital channels so only our two organizations will be aware.”

I couldn’t help but feel the storm rage in anticipation. Two of our greatest problems stood before us, and if we could grasp this opportunity, they could both be wiped out in one fell sweep.

Canvasian Technological Distribution: [Due to their exposure to aliens with higher technological bases, the Canvasians who live away from their home world tend to have a far greater comprehension of technological principles. Many areas of their homeworld have only relatively recently implemented electrical infrastructure, and due to the wars ongoing, a great deal of this is destroyed on the continents of the Crucible and Bounty. on Sunlit Hall, however, the technological base has been steadily rising, as more advanced energy generation and utilization technologies are continually developed. This has resulted in rampant industrialization, particularly with the assistance of alien technology that Sunlit Hall's off-world branches continually send home. It is expected that within less than a century, most of Canvas will have fully developed according to the norms of interstellar civilizations, capable of building its own ships to colonize its area. By this point, Sunlit Hall is also expected to be in full control of all habitable continents on the planet's surface unless the situation changes. Sunlit Hall is rumored to be concerned that their surrounding star systems will be secretly colonized by the Staiven before this point, rendering them trapped within their system unless they become true vassals of the Pantheonic Government or travel so far away into the vast that they are unable to maintain a uniform civilization with those who remain on their homeworld. The Pantheonic Government claims to have no such interests, but has made no promises not to do so.]