Collection 72 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 72

-VB-

Edward Arlaoskas

Victoria Fortress Station “The Crown Jewel,” Arlaoskas Union

3008 February 19th

A hundred screens played out scenes from all across the Inner Sphere and the Periphery, and thanks to a number of cybernetic augmentations and even internal improvements, I could keep track of it all. 

But I could do so only on this chair in the deepest part of the Victoria Fortress Station while connected … way too many wires, pumps, and connectors. On this chair, connected to not just the station but the entire network made by my AI children, I was a god. 

A weak god, but a god nonetheless. 

… But that was my dramatic need fulfilling itself. Maybe I’ll draw a webtoon for myself where I’m the god at the start and end with an ironic twist: I become a greater god but lose everything that makes me “me.”What would be the point of godhood if I’m not even there, right? 

I sniffed as I watched battles between the Steiner troops and Kuritan troops. Between the Davions and Kuritans. Between the Lyrans and the Steiners. All across the vast theaters of war, my warmachines roamed the battlefields. And they served my eyes. 

Of course, no one but my children and I knew about this. How the hell would they even detect things that were skirting laws of causality? Paracausality, as a study and practical application, was bullshit like that. Aside from the Printers I sold, which I sold because I knew for a fact that none of the Great Houses would be able to reverse engineer its “tech,” this “spy network” was the result of properly applying Paracausality. Since the information the mechs and ships gathered would reach me anyway, why not “shorten” the time spent collecting the information? 

Of course, the actual mechanics of how it functioned was more complex than how HPG worked, especially for the network’s ability to handle near instantaneous, multiple, and continuous transmission of large volumes of data better than HPG. 

I hummed as I pushed those thoughts aside to focus on what the Inner Sphere presented to me.

The Great Houses and their vassals were quick to pick up on my weapons than my tools. 

That was fair. Humans don’t change and we picked up weapons far faster than we picked up tools of peace, even when times were peaceful. 

Speaking of which, the League and the Federated Suns finally formed a five world border near Terra: Tikonov Commonality was all but gone now. The Capellan Confederation was being squeezed so hard that I didn’t expect it to last more than five years at this point. 

And, of course, I’ve heard the secret conversation the Liao father-daughter duo had. 

And I had, in my generosity, allowed the “St. Ives Compact” to exist without revealing that conversation to the Inner Sphere. I wasn’t against the Capellans trying to survive with their own way of life, though the now “President Candace Liao” also knew that I was not keen on slavery, formal or unofficial. As long as she changed that and made it permanent, which she seemed to be doing, I would turn a blind eye and let them buy from my businesses. 

While everyone continued to fight, I would continue my own projects to try to keep human civilization from falling apart. 

Speaking of civilizations, I wondered what the Clans were doing right now.

… It doesn’t matter. If they came early, if they came late, or if they came on time -.

They would feel defeat, regardless of their readiness. 

In fact, I expected to invade earlier. After all, Jaime Wolf should be going out to meet with his superior soon, if he hasn’t left already. 

Because once they learned about what the Inner Sphere had available, they would not be able to help themselves. 

One-track minded warriors were like that. It wasn’t that they were dumb; I doubted that the forefathers of the Clans would have intentionally made their warriors dumb. 

No. It was the fact that warriors could not help themselves. They lived to test themselves. To throw themselves at challenges and grow stronger for it. 

If they learn that I could offer them youthful immortality, I wondered what they would offer. 

… I snorted. 

The Clans would not offer; they would come to take. 

And that would be the reason why I would thoroughly defeat them when they came. 

But only after they tossed around the Great Houses. 

“Father.”

I turned my attention away from the screens toward one of the AI assistants.

“Yes?”

“Your new body is ready.”

I stared for a moment.

And then I grinned.

“Finally.”

-VB-

Colonel Jaime Wolf

???

3008 May 8th

He stood at attention.

They would soon be in reach of the HPG relay that would connect them to the Homeworlds. 

“... So did you think about what you’re gonna tell him, colonel?” Natasha Kerensky asked from across the room, almost lazily laid out across the table with a cup in her hand. But he knew better than to assume that she wouldn’t be standing at attention if he called her to. Not that he cared to.

“I will tell him the truth,” he told her. “Tell him what we saw. Tell him what is happening on the other side of the Inner Sphere. Tell him that things have changed in the Inner Sphere.”

She snorted. “You mean how, in the span of a few years that we were there, some rando came out of the periphery, set up shipyards every other year, beat the Capellan Confederation, and then created his own nation out of Sian Commonality before utterly flooding all markets with his advanced technology that not even the Star League could have had? Like the Metalmark in our cargo hold? You know, the invisible mech that the elite mechwarriors of the League fell in love with?”

“It’s only temporary invisibility,” he replied. 

Before she could say anything, his own brother spoke up. “You must really be nervous if you are using contractures.”

Joshua turned to look at his brother who was entering room, which was the HPG chamber aboard the Aegis-class Heavy Cruiser Alexander. 

“... Maybe I am,” he replied. “I am simply contemplating the enormity of my role and how best I will convince Khan Ward of our findings.”

His little brother hummed as he came around and stood by his side. “It is a big responsibility. If you fail, then the Khan may doubt our abilities and recall us. If you succeed, then it will cause such a ripple in the Clans that they will have no choice but to come to the Inner Sphere before the Clan’s technological base becomes completely obsolete,” he laid it out. 

“Yes,” Jaime confirmed. 

“And the Crusaders will be most vocal about this.”

“Yes.”

“And the Wardens, like we, our Khan, and most of our Clan, will have no choice but to allow the Crusaders to try their luck.”

“...Yes.”

“And they will die. Entire Clans might be wiped out.”

“I know.”

“But we cannot lie to our Khan.”

“No. I refuse to. I have a duty to my Clan and my Khan.”

“I do, too. Which is why I advised that you bring only Metalmark of the Dragoons to prove our story.”

Jaime pinched his nose. “I am aware, and I am glad that I listened to you.”

Joshua snorted. “You did not need much convincing.”

“Right? He was so quick to agree with you!” Natasha chuckled from the side. 

“The characteristics of the Metalmark does not integrate well with how most of our units operate,” Jaime explained, again. “We bought its license and one of the mechs to have a sample of what we might encounter, considering that the Federated Suns is now bordering the Free Worlds League.” 

Their plan to rotate around the Inner Sphere’s Great Houses as mercenaries was quashed by the fall of the Capellan Confederation and the wave of new technologies and battlemechs that outperformed their own clan mechs. It had become clear to everyone in the Wolf’s Dragoons that they now only had skill advantage… but even that was mitigated by the introduction of machines and artificial intelligences that thought and acted faster than any of their meat brains could. 

Fleetmaster Arlaoskas had made that clear when he introduced those cyberwares and other things, some of which were sold and licensed out but others, like the Goblin and artificial intelligences themselves, weren’t. 

Even now, Jaime found the idea that a power armor was capable of indirectly hacking the sensors and electronics of mechs that shouldn’t be hackable. How the hell could mechs be hacked when there were no access ports for data cords except inside the cockpit where the pilot was?! 

That particular display of technological bullshittery almost had the entire mechwarrior population of the Inner Sphere up in arms. What do you mean that little barely armored power armor could move their mech against their controls or even turn off their mechs in the middle of a battle if it really wanted to?! 

He let out a sigh.

And then there was a ping on the HPG.

The only communications officer in the room who’d been silent so far finally spoke up. “We have confirmed the linkage, Star Colonel.”

He nodded. “Then we wait for Khan Ward to contact us.”

So much to say. 

So little he controls.