Chương 20: Arrival arc

"Leadership desired is the bane of all men." Starspawn saying Mat woke up with a start, not remembering going to sleep. Jason and Tobi had been helping him to his cell— his old cell —and then… and then nothing. Blank. Oh, right, his hand. He snapped down to look, bringing the limb up in front of his face. No hand. Shit.

"It'll grow back," Nova said, sounding vaguely distant.

"Your internal injuries were of a higher priority, and you've been spending medibots like they're going out of style. Did I use that right? Style? Human clothing confuses me. You're afraid of being naked, then you're not, and then everyone is very happy all of a sudden. Hormones. Terribly inefficient, not to mention disgusting." He rose from his bed, surprised to find Jason lounging on the outside of the cell. Mat shook his head, cutting the man off.

"How long was I out?"

"Bout half an hour. They got you good, eh? The old bait and switch. Bea looked positively disgusted you fell for it, though that was kind of hard to tell from her usual expression. Maybe she was swooning with concern."

"And maybe I wake up one of these days, content and fat and happily complaining about mundane things," Mat muttered. He shook his head, finding his things on the table. No stool. No stool?

"Where's Reg and Tobi?" Jason jutted his thumb out of the cell and down at the common area.

"Talking with the other shot-callers. Asked me to send you there when you woke up." Mat nodded, cracking his neck. Untiring was a background perk, but a half hour nap after all the craziness over the last half hour shouldn't be nearly enough to perk him up. Yet all the same, he felt mostly fine. Physically, that was. Mentally he could sleep for a week. He moved out of the cell, Jason a few steps behind, whistling a toneless tune. Mat shrugged. He could see the crowd already, and the open door behind it.

He paused, a light smile crossing his face. The open doors. The domus was no longer a prison, and if he had anything to say about it, it never would be again. That smile froze when he passed Darion's cell, finding his friend lying on one of the beds, eyes closed and chest still, peaceful if not for missing half his skull. Another two were inside as well, both equally stiff, though he didn't know them. Jason peeked past, his whistle dying.

"You knew him?" Jason asked. Mat nodded.

"I'm sorry." Mat shook his head, suppressing the instinct to look away. He did that. He had started a revolution, and no revolution in the history of the human race had been bloodless.

"I fought a four against four with him. We were the only two survivors. He liked to cheat at poker and wouldn't stop tapping his leg." Jason opened his mouth, but Mat moved on, burying a flare of rage. He might have started the revolution, but Obedias made it necessary in the first place. Mat would take his pound of flesh, and then the rest too. Down the stairs and into the domus, a large table had been set up, a group of five around it, Reg among them.

With Noah off causing chaos and assaulting the remaining two domuses, Reg seemed to have fallen into a leadership role. Good. A map had been spread over the table, presumably of the ship, and Mat almost snorted when LandTech's logo was stamped on the bottom right. That man and his birds. Fucking everywhere. Reg turned, Mat having apparently arrived during a lull in conversation.

"Good to see you well, my friend. We were just discussing our next steps. You probably have more experience running through these halls than the rest of us put together."

"Take the armory," Mat supplied with a shrug. He tapped the papermap, though he had a far better one thanks to Nova. Still. Paper. It felt great, usefulness aside.

"We have, what? A hundred fifty weapons? Two hundred? We'll need twice that just to arm everyone here, let alone when we break open the other domuses." One of the other men, one Mat only knew by sight, crossed his arms.

"Aint that easy, kid. We sent some people to take a look, and one of them tripped over a landmine. Obedias' people are setting traps."

"That ain't no kid, pissant," Jason drawled.

"Unless you've already forgotten who broke your domus free, and mine besides. Bit of respect stops assholes like me from taking teeth." The man paused, and Mat was too busy being surprised to smooth things over. Reg was suspiciously silent. Finally, the bladeslave raised a hand.

"I meant no offence. You did us a solid, true as glass, and I'm thankful. We all are." Jason shrugged, seeming satisfied, though out of the five—from which he only knew Reg by name—two seemed anything close to grateful. The others were either wary, tense, afraid, or a combination of all three. How close are you to taking over the ship?

"I took most of the important stuff," Nova replied.

"Self destruct functions, docking doors, that kind of thing. Oh, good news on that front. We're docked on a Starspawn mining station. Could be better, if this was a Federation station all I'd have to do is make a call and we'd be free in an hour's time, but not bad either. If we take the ship, no one will come running to Obedias' rescue, nor can the man simply fly us into the nearest sun as a final fuck you." Mat smiled. That was good news.

"We're docked on a Starspawn station. If we take the ship, we'll be home free."

"And how would you know that?" one of the men asked, disbelief deep in his tone.

"Reg, I like this kid, I do, but—" He interrupted before Jason did something rash.

"I've got an allied AI taking over the ship's systems. It's how I pulled the trick with the droids. But you do have a point. Reg, what's next? Do we go for the armory?"

"I was waiting until you woke to discuss that very point," the man replied, an easy smile on his face.

"I claim no experience running military operations, and none of the men around this table have the necessary combination of fame and personal power to unite the four domuses." Mat held up a hand, alarmed.

"Neither do I, Reg. If anyone here does, please do speak up. I haven't exactly been guiding us like a master strategist."

"We don't have time to bicker," one of them cut in, speaking for the first time. Mat really needed to ask for their names.

"If you think Mat can lead us through this, Reg, then I will trust in that belief. He has not failed us yet." Reg gave a firm nod, and that seemed to have settled the debate. Six people turned to look at him, and Mat pulled on an old skill to overcome surprise. Just roll with it. Yeah. This is fine.

"We take the armory," he said, tone firm to hide any hint of hesitation.

"I have a method to detect traps, but it's short range. With that and my AI, we should be fine. I'll need a team to clear the way, and then I need everyone else to secure the hallways we cleared. I don't want to get shot in the back because we missed some asshole hiding in a supply closet." Jason shrugged.

"Me and Bea would be happy to volunteer for this highly dangerous and possibly life-threatening mission."

"Tobi and I make five," Reg added.

"That should be large enough to overcome resistance, but small enough to be mobile, especially with Bea on our side. Not that I will claim to know her. Where is she?" One of the men shrugged.

"She went out to secure the perimeter."

"Recall her," Mat said, only turning that into an order at the last second. Worse than being forced into command was to hesitate now, and probably kill hundreds more because of it.

"We'll need armor. What do we have?" Reg ran his fingers over the table, tapping them in a seemingly self-soothing rhythm.

"Five sets shouldn't be hard to scrape up. Dassium, would you mind? Nothing too heavy. Speed will be our ally." One of the men, who had first voiced support for Reg, nodded easily, already turning away. Mat glanced at his friend, trying to decide if it was worth even trying to find out what he was thinking. The most logical thing that came to mind was that Reg was setting him up as a puppet king, but that was both wildly out of character and wouldn't really accomplish anything.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Most bladeslaves, being professional fighters, respected strength. Oh, and friendship and money and loyalty and all of that, but mostly strength. Hell, Mat himself did, what with his spat with Noah. He shook his head.

"Go prepare your people, and don't use the weaker fighters as meat shields. I'll be displeased." One of the men snorted, but the group broke up, leaving him with Jason and Reg. Jason waved, earning himself a nod from Reg, but that was all. Mat watched his friend, eyebrow raised. Finally, Reg deigned to respond.

"You'll be good for these people," the man assured.

"And I have no desire for leadership."

"Neither do I."

"Which is why you're perfect for it." Mat rolled his eyes.

"Fucking hell, Reg. Any other massive burdens you'd like to shove onto my shoulders?"

"Not at the moment, no," Reg replied smoothly.

"Jason, let me introduce you to Tobi. Mat told me a lot about you, and I think you'll get along quite well." Jason shrugged, then followed when Reg led the man away, leaving Mat alone. Cool. He'd just… go make sure Bea was being fetched. Yeah. That was what being in charge was all about, right? Making sure things were getting done? I suck at this. Nova didn't reply, and honestly, that was worse than any mockery the AI could have come up with. The armor was pretty good.

Nothing that would stop a moleblade in its tracks, but then it was always easier to kill someone than to protect them. And the stuff was pretty light, so in combination with the phase shields, he was more protected than ever. Mat nodded to himself, then froze. They'd only been in so-called hostile territory for a few minutes, but now local omniscience was screaming at him. Or more accurately, he was screaming at himself. A section off the floor had been cut away, then hastily glued back in.

Wiped clean on this side, but the break was easy for his perk to see. Jason paused behind him, with Tobi at his right. Reg and Bea took up the back, since Mat was needed at the front. He took a step closer, then very carefully took a few steps back.

"Grenades in the floor. They drilled a tiny hole in the wall and attached a laser pointer, which I'm guessing will set off the explosion."

"Sneaky," Bea muttered, a vague note of approval in her tone.

"We're still blind to the cameras?"

"We are."

"Good, or they might have set it off remotely." She moved up, nodded when Mat pointed, and then sliced her blade through the floor. Mat jumped back, eyes wide, and only Reg managed to keep mostly cool. By some miracle, the grenades didn't go off and instead Bea reached through the hole she made and plucked them free.

"Good find." Mat glared at her.

"What the fuck was that?"

"Strategic ordinance reallocated," she replied, tone flat.

"This is quick work done by people who don't know what they're doing. Failsafes would have been unlikely."

"And if you had been wrong?" Bea raised an eyebrow, then snorted at his glare.

"Then nothing. We're wearing phase shields. At worst we'd have had to pick ourselves up from the floor. Let's go. Obedias will be reinforcing the armories as we speak, if not emptying them wholesale."

"And he's also increasing patrols," Nova muttered.

"And feeding his AI computing power. Christ— I'm picking up bad habits from you, Mat, cursing with long-dead religious founders— this is getting harder. Uuhm, ETA about thirty seconds." Mat cursed.

"We have a patrol coming. Thirty seconds."

"Corner," Bea said at once, pointing. She moved, and Mat followed, the rest of their team close behind. It was a sharp turn right, and Bea stacked up, back flat against the wall.

"Burn enhanced movement when they cross." He supposed she was talking to him, since he was the only one with a speed biomod. In fact, among the bladeslaves, he was probably one of the most well kitted fighters they had, if not the most. The guards never even knew they were there. Hell, despite burning his perk like Bea had said, he barely even got to do anything. A six-man team rounded the corner, tense but clearly not expecting an ambush, and he slipped between them like a ghost.

One second lasted much longer when everything moved so damn slowly. Mat brought his moleblade to bear, and it wasn't like he was missing his right hand. The edge passed through one neck and then a second before his speed ran out, and he watched the group reel back in horror. Bea killed three more, with Tobi claiming the last. The first corpse had barely fallen before the whole thing was over. A host of dead bodies, and two more deaths to his name.

Mat had no idea how close he was to another perk, and he didn't really care, either. He wouldn't need one to win this. Jason was staring at the corpses with a strange look on his face, and even Tobi seemed mildly disturbed. Reg simply looked calm, while Bea flicked the blood from her blade in a seemingly unconscious motion.

"Let's continue," Mat said, mostly to fill the silence.

"We're almost there." Almost there, it turned out, proved to be the right turn of phrase. Not five minutes later did they arrive, only to find the armory already under siege. The strange whoomp noises of gunfire was rapidly filling the hallway, and Mat could hear the screaming from here. He resisted the urge to speed up, needed as he was to test for traps, but even then it only took moments to reach them. One more corner they rounded, and then Mat saw Gabriel stumbling out of a doorway, a hole through his chest.

Mat hadn't spoken to Gabriel in a while. They'd had a few fights, mostly civil, and he recalled they'd fought to a draw when they had first met. Boisterous and dismissive, with a surprisingly strong sense of honor. Now Gabriel dropped to the floor, dead before his head hit the tiles. The armory was behind the door he'd moved out of, Mat knew that much. Nova had shared schematics. The choke point would be brutal, and he spotted a clearly overwhelmed phase shield on the man's hip.

Mat heard dozens more still fighting, and he finally closed the distance. Inside was chaos. The other bladeslaves had clearly taken the initial entrance, but from the door the armory spread outwards, clearly built to withstand attack. A gated, sectioned off portion ran across the widened space inside, which his fellow slaves had already taken, but another gate was deeper in. Mat ducked inside, joining eight others already behind cover.

Four shots pinged off his shield while he did, and a single glance told him all he needed to know. At least ten mercs, well fortified and behind cover of their own. Worse, most of the bladeslaves he could see were only armed with moleblades. Good for cutting through flesh and obstacles, but not helpful when they got killed long before reaching the second gate. Bea joined him, sliding down with a mildly bored, mildly annoyed expression. She threw two grenades with one hand, barely even looking, and Mat ducked lower.

The explosion ripped through the space, and Bea rose, advancing like she didn't have a care in the world. Mat joined her, pushing forward and weaving wildly. Bea merely leaned aside when the defenders resumed firing, and four droids moved to create an impromptu wall to block them. Nova?!

"Not mine. Busy." He cursed and activated speed, ducking down to avoid a grab. Mat didn't question the shouts of rage and fear as the other bladeslaves joined him, nor why he didn't see Reg, Jason and Tobi among them. Instead he sliced the droids apart as quickly as he could, focusing mostly on their legs. His speed ran out at the worst moment, and Mat was a moment too slow to dodge. A metal fist slammed into his shoulder, the shoulder of his one remaining arm, and bone splintered under the force.

He screamed, spinning wildly, but his weight shifted almost on its own. Bea had already moved past them, slipping between two attacks to engage those behind. Mat rapidly lost track of her, too busy thanking god for the existence of armor. The droid might very well have torn the entire limb off without it. Well, that and screaming. Attached or not, his arm hung limply at his side, and Mat managed to just barely push past the pain. No arms left, his moleblade gone and low on medibots. Triple fuck.

The droid loomed over him, arm snapping back to prepare another blow. Mat prepared to dodge, only for two bladeslaves to fall on the machine, moleblades cutting through metal with a disconcerting whine. One of them, he saw, was Sury. The woman he'd met during that live performance thing months and months ago. She stuck out a hand, her lips moving into a mocking smile. Then her head was gone, torn apart as the last droid slammed its fist into her from behind.

Mat blinked, shaking his head and using his stump to shield from the gore. Unable to process, he pushed her body aside with his shoulder, then kicked at the man who had been with her. He flinched, snapping to look at them, then seemed to remember they were on a battlefield. The man twisted towards the droid, rage casting his face into shadow. Bea appeared back from the broken, torn gate, covered in blood and not seeming to overly mind. She took one look at him and shook her head, tone raising.

"Kill the rest and secure the armory." Mat watched another dozen bladeslaves stream inside, most of them women. Noah had broken open at least one more domus, then. Good. He tried to nod in satisfaction, and instead fell back against the wall, vision swimming.

"Shock," Bea said shortly.

"It'll pass in a moment." He spat to the side, blood that wasn't his own impacting the ground. Even to himself his voice sounded off. Tinged with pain and an odd flatness "The others?"

"Obedias' people are trying to reinforce the armory. Well, were trying to reinforce. Didn't you look to check before diving into the armory?" Mat wanted to shake his head, then thought better of it. Bea snorted.

"Alright, you need a breather. The others can deal with securing this place." She grabbed him by the shoulder, and despite being a baser, her grip was iron. Mat stumbled when she pushed, even his enhanced balance struggling to keep him upright. Out the armory they went, and as they did, Mat spotted the glassy-eyed, still body of Ryke lying on the floor, his body seemingly intact. That had been, what? Thirty seconds of battle? A minute? Three more people dead. Three that he knew.

A dozen more corpses were littered across the hallway. Mat closed his eyes, unable to spare enough mental energy and force himself to look at them all. Afterword Patreon (No current advanced chapters for this story) Discord