Chương 30: Escalation arc

Don't ask me about the herald, interloper. Don't ask about how the title came to be, or what we had to endure. Don't ask me how many friends I lost, or what I saw that night. The Herald of Blood earned the title ten times over. She will have my loyalty until the end of my days. The response when asked about Missy Moana, and the night of her ascension into legend. Mat had never been on the bridge before. A strange thought, that. He'd been on the Challenger for more than a year, and not once had he been here.

It looked… bridgy. Consoles, screens, four soldiers stationed around the room—probably just there for this event—and Captain Alena standing near the captain's seat. Aside from a ten seconds 'nice to meet you, I'm your boss', this would be the first time he properly met the woman. He appreciated Bea acquiring the biomods, he really did, but it did somewhat move up the timetable. Meaning that he wanted to get the fuck out of here right this second.

The Starspawn weren't particularly against old school justice, but murder was still murder. Bea getting detained for a few weeks would just delay everything again. And if she resisted… Mat honestly didn't want to think about it. A lot of people would die.

"ETA to the Tunnel, five minutes," Ratiana called. The navigator, Mat recalled after some seconds. No faster-than-light travel for every ship, no sir. The Tunnelers were big, expensive, relegated and more than anything else, busy.

"Expected queue timing to be thirty nine minutes." Alena nodded.

"Very good. Keep us on course and take this slow. Herald, it's good to properly meet you."

"Don't call me that," Mat replied reflexively.

"I tolerate it from the rest, but if you and I are going to be working together, you can call me Mat. Or sir, if you must."

"Very good, sir. The Challenger is performing nominally and all tests are green. She's ready for her maiden voyage." Not her maiden voyage in the slightest, but Mat took her meaning. It would be the first time the ship would fly under this captain and crew. The captain glanced at one of the consoles, frowned, then wiped that expression from her face. Mat tilted his head.

"Problem?"

"The ship AI is performing somewhat strangely," the woman replied.

"It's within parameters. Nothing to be concerned about." He closed his eyes, slowly turning to the droids standing silently by the door.

"Nova, what did you do?"

"Nothing," Nova said, his voice echoing through the bridge. There was a long pause.

"The ship AI was suboptimal. I improved it."

"Improved it how?"

"It was insulting me, so I put an axe through its skull." Nova shrugged the droid's shoulders.

"That's a metaphor. I stitched it back together again with the remnants of its predecessor. Performance should be enhanced." Of fucking course. Mat turned back to the captain, who was looking at Nova with some alarm.

"Alena, meet Nova, my True AI. Nova, the captain of this ship, whose property you have attacked."

"Performance has increased," Verma said. The comms officer, if Mat recalled. Christ, so many titles. Leto, the captain's XO, glared at him. Verma cleared his throat.

"Shutting up now." Alena did an admirable job of keeping her tone polite.

"The presence of a True AI onboard this ship was not in the contract."

"It wasn't," Mat replied.

"We like to keep his existence close to home, so to speak. I apologize. Nova won't interfere with your duties from here on out. Will you, Nova?" The droid slowly shook its head, and Mat sent Nova a stern mental image of being disappointed. Nova replied with the image of a kicked puppy, which Mat rolled his eyes at. Ship AIs existed for a reason, dammit. Going faster than light should already be impossible, and he wasn't eager to fuck around with it now.

A large viewport behind the captain caught his attention, and Mat stared for a few moments as Last Point Station came into view. It was ugly, to be frank. A mass of metal only occasionally broken up by windows and the docks. Big, yes, but that stood to reason. Maybe they were already too far away, and fine detail was lost. Either way, it just looked like a big, dark box set in the middle of space, with only a mess of ships to give some shape. Now the ships, those were something else.

Mat watched an entire stream of them coming and going from the Tunneler, though he'd been told arriving ships didn't need them. Nevertheless, already a dozen bigger ships were coming and going, though Nova whispered that it was a relatively busy time to leave. Gods knew how many more vessels were lost in the darkness of space, slipping away without his notice. Holy shit, I'm in space. It was insane. Unbelievable. Impossible. Yet here he was, staring out into that dark, endless void.

The station fell away, and so did the other ships. Just him and the infinite cold, stretching out and out into infinity. Tobi clapped him on the shoulder, tone jovial.

"I see you started without us, oh Herald of mine." Mat shook his head, tearing his gaze away from the viewport. Tobi rolled his shoulder, clearly eager to test out his new kit. Mat had promised to spar, but this was the first time he was really seeing space. And going through a Tunnel, for that matter. So instead of caving to Tobi's increasingly unsubtle hints, he just stood there, clearly irritating the captain. She could deal. Mat wanted to see, even if it meant he was looking over his employees shoulders.

Time crept by slowly. Checks were performed, contact with the Tunneller established, a ten minute delay announced then resolved. A whole show Mat had no experience with, nor really felt like trying to decipher at the moment. One nice thing, at least, was that being accelerated by the Tunneler wouldn't really feel like anything. That he'd already guessed, since the ship would have traveled across half the galaxy during his time onboard. Not once had he felt a single thing.

Of course, he hadn't had a window to look outside, either. Only Tobi had bothered to show up, meaning this likely wasn't anything overly special. But still. Faster-than-light travel. Time trickled by. They got in line. The ships before them vanished like being shot from a massive catapult, leaving nothing but empty space behind. The Challenger inched forward. Half an hour. Fifteen minutes. Five minutes. Then suddenly the ship in front of them was gone, and Mat watched the massive ring grow larger and larger.

Complaining now would be irrational, and he had long since mastered his fear. And still he found himself as tense as he had been during his very first fight. The final-final check was confirmed. The comms official hung up the call with the somethingsomething controller people. Mat hadn't been listening. There was no warning as the Tunneler activated. One moment there was the ring, then there was darkness. No light tunnel? No temporal distortions? Mat blinked, resisting the urge to press his face against the window.

There was just darkness. An endless black void in which they seemed to be standing still. By the fact that neither the captain, her crew, nor Tobi were panicking, Mat supposed that was normal.

"I remember how disappointed I was during my first time," Tobi said, a wishful sigh in his tone.

"My aunt had been hyping it up all week, and then there was just nothing. Eehm, my first Tunnel with a window, I mean. My first time was magical, I tell you. Three women, all of them gorgeous, all dead set on corrupting poor innocent me with debauchery. You won't believe how bendy—" The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Mat grunted, disappointed in a way he couldn't quite describe. But hey, his ignoring Tobi skill was progressing nicely.

"Let's go spar."

"If you'd let me do anything but perks, I could make that a real skill," Nova muttered.

"Probably. Could I? If I twist perception just right without addling the mind while also keeping dormant…" Nova's mutterings faded away, and Mat turned to leave. So much for faster-than-light travel.

"This will be a light contact spar," Reg lectured, looking over the group. Bea looked as tranquil as she always did, while Jason and Tobi shared a hungry grin. He would have to keep his eye on those two. Mat looked vaguely distracted, while Tim wasn't here to begin with. It would have to suffice.

"Mat, Jason, why don't you two start?" Mat shrugged in agreement, stepping into the half finished ring with an easy confidence the man didn't even seem to realize he had. Jason followed, almost bounding after him. Out of all of them, Jason was the one who had most taken to the legend. Herald. Of all the things Reg had envisioned for the uprising, birthing a herald hadn't been part of it. Not that any of them treated Mat any different for it, not even Jason.

Still, Reg had to admit that young Mat could be somewhat intense. He didn't bother calling an official start to the fight. Jason leaned forward, swaying lightly in anticipation, and tackled Mat with an explosion of movement. Reg raised an eyebrow. Trying to wrestle Mat was rarely wise. Mat took the charge and remained standing, one leg shifting back to brace himself. Jason's arms snaked out, trying to lock behind Mat's chest, and Mat punched him in the face for his trouble.

Jason's head rocketed back, and Mat's foot kicked out a moment later. Jason landed hard, then sprung up again. A grin was on his face. A grin stained red. Reg sighed. Light sparring, I said. Jason cackled.

"Just checking if you still had that bullshit omniscience thing." Mat only raised an eyebrow, snorting at something Reg couldn't hear. Nova, most likely. He usually kept it under control pretty well, but Mat wasn't that good of an actor. Anyone who spent more than a few days with the man could tell something was off. Moving forward, Mat closed the distance, leaning aside from a wild haymaker and dodging the actual attack by less than an inch. Jason's foot lashed out, and the blow shot forth, not an ounce held back.

Mat didn't even try to dodge, and his stance buckled under Jason's strength. Reg shook his head. This perk that gave Mat his strength had already been taken for granted. Jason lunged forth, lashing out with a trio of punches, and then his knee kicked out. The clap of flesh was almost sickening, and Mat flew back, landing hard against the wall. Reg winched in sympathy. Omniscience was inhumanly powerful, but only if Mat could keep up with what it told him. If not, well. Jason had a proper kit now.

Mat came again, and this time Jason sped up, fists lashing out with unnatural speed. Mat's own dodge was just as quick, and five exchanges happened in just under a second. The initial strike dodged, Mat retaliated with a low kick, which Jason stepped over. A low blow was slapped aside and Jason followed it up with an elbow strike, which Mat twisted under. Then Mat twisted further, clearly leaning hard on his unnatural balance, and his arms wrapped around Jason's neck.

The man dropped, but that didn't work so well when the arms keeping you trapped held monstrous strength. Mat followed him to the floor, his legs curling up to ward off a kick. Jason grunted, a strangled sound, and Mat released him, springing easily back to his feet. Reg called it there. Fighting was much more exciting than watching someone fight.

"Fucking fuck," Jason complained, rubbing his neck.

"It's been too long since I fought with a proper kit."

"That's why we're here," Reg said.

"Mat needs to get used to fighting against those with strength of their own, and we need to acclimate to our new power. Be glad the surgeries went smoothly." If they hadn't, integration and recovery would have taken weeks, not a day. Not that biomods and techplants of this caliber were too difficult to install. Reg twisted his back, smiling at the low pulse of strength and endurance running through his veins. He'd missed his Spinal Reinforcement and Augmentation Module. He really had.

Mat moved out of the ring, and despite winning, he looked worse than Jason did. Restructured skin, Reg thought it had been called. He was sure the company who created the mod had a proper name for it. All the same, it protected against blunt impact, and less so against piercing or slashing damage. In a bare-knuckled spar like this, or against the concussive blow of a grenade, it worked quite well.

Yet Mat was already healing, whereas Jason would be stuck with most of his lesser injuries unless Mat felt like donating his medibots. Tobi and Bea stepped into the ring, and Reg smiled. It was good for everyone to unwind, even her. With Last Point Station quickly fading behind them, there was time to decompress. To laugh and cry and mourn. Ironblade Incorporated was official, and people were settling in.

Reg watched Bea dismantle Tobi's fighting style like she was dissecting a frog, all cold and clinical, and sent Toncon a quiet, private whisper of thanks. They were alive. Everything else would sort itself out in time. Mat watched the coffins close, knowing Gabriel, Darion, Sury, Cintra and so, so many more were inside. Three hundred and forty two dead, be that while fighting Obedias' guards or because they stepped a foot outside the range of the jammers.

Stef had lined up the entire military force of Ironblade Incorporated. All five companies, standing in rough squares as the list of names slowly scrolled across the screen. Too many to memorize. Too many to care about. But dead all the same. Dead because Mat wanted freedom, and damn the price. It was the right call. It was the logical call. More would have died had he stayed meekly in his cell. But all the same, these men and women were dead, and they were dead now. Not tomorrow, or in a week, or a year. Right now.

Obedias had brought the uprising on himself, but Mat had chosen to start the entire thing. He would not blame himself, but neither could he stand to push it all away. Actions, no matter how noble the intent, had consequences. There hadn't been a speech. It had felt disrespectful to speak of people whom he didn't know, and his quota was already full regardless. No. Mat let the silence sit for another minute, then nodded towards Stef. She nodded back. Her officer barked, and the companies moved, filing out.

One stayed, and the coffins were stacked up and put away, to be returned home or otherwise put to rest once they got to the next station. Noah walked up as the bladeslaves— not bladeslaves anymore —got to work, Stef a few steps behind him. Noah seemed rather somber, while Stef's expression was more blank than usual. They'd both lost friends, just like he had.

"Find out where they came from," Mat said.

"Try to return the bodies if you can, with an explanation. It's better than nothing." The crewchief paused, then offered a nod.

"It's the decent thing to do. I'll have my people ask around. If you can have your AI pull the ship's records, that'll help. We can compile the data and send it once we're out of the tunnel."

"My battle with Obedias' AI erased most of what he had," Nova replied.

"I'll pull up what's left." Mat grunted, both to Nova and Noah.

"Done, but there's not much left. How did the morning drills go, major?"

"They're progressing," Stef replied shortly.

"Proper work will help."

"I'll get us a contract on the next station. Was there anything else?" Noah shook his head, and Stef didn't reply. Good enough. Mat watched as the dead were slowly stacked up, row after row after row, and was more than content to simmer in his own mind for a while. Ruminate and be. Existing without something to distract him from the fact that he was responsible for so many people now. But before too long, he had work to do. Well, not work, but something he'd been putting off.

Back when he'd first become a bladeslave, Obedias' doctors had graciously fixed his body from a long list of potential diseases, and offered to do the same for his brain. Being so freshly enslaved, he'd refused. But now he had his own doctors, and he didn't much fancy the idea of Alzheimer's, schizophrenia, or some other horrific disease. That didn't mean he liked some doctor poking around his head with medical nanobots, but this lot he at least trusted not to rewrite his brain. Mostly.

"What in the hell are you thinking about?" Nova asked.

"That got fixed the moment you got the medibots. What, you think those fix your bones but not your brain? You didn't find those in a combat medkit, did you? No. Your brain is fixed. Or as fixed as it ever can be." Mat paused, opening and closing his mouth a few times before replying. And you didn't bother to tell me?

"I thought you knew!" You're inside my mind, Nova. That excuse doesn't really work.

"Oh, you think I spend all my time reading your every thought? Sorry to burst your bubble, mister ego, but you're not that interesting. I thought you were still sulking about those people you led towards an early grave." Mat closed his eyes, breathing out a surge of anger. Fuck you.

"What? I didn't—" Nova shrunk back, part confused and part hesitant.

"But you— I don't understand. You're killing people all the time." I just buried three hundred and forty two people. Friends, some of them. There's a time and a place, and this was very much neither the time nor the place. Nova's voice was small as he spoke.

"I'm sorry." Mat turned, and while he wasn't sure what kind of expression was on his face, the two soldiers standing near the door straightened just a little too quickly. Nothing pleasant, then. Mat didn't care. He wanted to hit something, and then he wanted to meditate. He liked Nova, on the whole, but sometimes he really wished his mind was his own again. Afterword Patreon (No current advanced chapters for this story) Discord