Rise in Revolution (Chapter Forty-Six)
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Chapter Forty-Six
Blood and Clay
Edge of the city, Sector TZI. April 5, 2272. Time instance 842N.
“So what, exactly, is our plan?” Tanadin crossed her arms, looking at the others and quietly reflecting that she was the only female revolutionary leader. Need to remember to bring Emma with me to these damn planning sessions.
“Other than go around that corner and get fucked twelve ways to hell by bullets? No idea.” Geluu leaned back against a tree. “If scouts’ reports are accurate, we’re probably pretty dead. Our only hope is some kind of flanking maneuver, but that won’t work too well considering the terrain.”
“Could we send a flying force through the mountains?” Nine asked.
“Yes, but the ground troops couldn’t go. And if you sent all of your forces they’d just turn and open fire. You’d need someone to draw fire on the front.”
“Obviously. I was thinking of sending a fairly large flanking force through the mountains to wait just out of scanner range. We attack, and then once the enemy is engaged, the flanking force swoops in.”
“Flanking doesn’t work,” Seven said immediately. “It’s not like they’re a big group of cyborgs that can get confused and turned around. They’re spread out and at this point a frontal attack would work better. We should really take out patrols for a few weeks and-”
“A few weeks? Seven, they know where we are. If we move, they will find us. The only thing that killing their patrols will do is piss them off,” Tanadin protested. “They’re just going to keep sending attacks and wearing us down to the point where we will never be able to attack them.”
“They’ll stop sending out patrols after a short time, only attack forces,” Nine added. “We have to strike, as much as I hate to say it.”
“Hmm.” Geluu crossed his arms. “A frontal assault isn’t going to work. We’re just going to lose people.”
“The cyborgs didn’t seem to have any trouble taking on ASQ by themselves,” Tanadin muttered.
“ASQ wasn’t this well defended!” Nine protested. “I thought we were done fighting about this?”
“We are. I’m just mad.”
“I was unaware that you had the capacity to hold a grudge,” Seven informed her.
“I was unaware that you had the capacity to be a dumbass, so we’re even.” Tanadin smiled at him to show that she was joking.
He completely missed the meaning of what she was saying, frowning slightly. “No part of me is any less intelligent than the rest, as-”
“Skip it.” Nine put a hand on Seven’s shoulder. “You misunderstood the saying.”
“Oh.” Seven blinked. “What.”
“Don’t worry about it. We need to figure out what we’re doing.”
“I’d like to get a look at TZI myself, but walking up to it on the ground isn’t exactly stealthy,” Geluu muttered. “Is there any way for a cyborg scout to take pictures for us to look at?”
“Yes,” Seven said carefully, “but we have no means to extract them unless we go back to a control center.”
“Xela’s laptop?” Tanadin suggested. “I’m sure she has something that could connect with you guys, assuming you let her.”
“Let’s try it, then.” Geluu stopped leaning on the tree and made his way into camp.
~~~
“I don’t understand the point of this,” Caroline muttered as Xela plugged a cable into a port that she had opened on her wrist.
“So we can see TZI ourselves,” Geluu told her. “Now shut up and let Xela do her thing.”
“I’ve always wanted to connect to a cyborg,” Xela admitted as she started to work. “It’s really interesting. Geluu, look at all this stuff!”
“That’s great. I have no idea what any of it is.”
“That’s okay, neither do I, but I‘m sure with a bit of investigating…”
“You’re not ‘investigated’ jack shit,” Caroline growled. “Just get the pictures and get out.”
“Okay, okay. Grumpy.”
About a minute of silence passed before Caroline made a disgusted sound. “I can’t believe that thing is one of us.”
Xela glanced up to see Caroline looking in the direction of Cataclysm, who was walking through camp completely oblivious of their presence. She frowned but didn’t speak, not wanting to cause a problem, but Caroline wasn’t done.
“I mean, he’s clearly dangerous- I’m pretty sure that he wears that magic suppressor to keep himself from going nuts and killing everyone. Well, everyone incompetent. That might fix a few problems, actually, now that I think about it. In any case, he’s clearly some kind of fallen angel, and they really shouldn’t live past the- ow!”
Caroline’s right fist had suddenly balled up and swung around to impact her jaw. “Why are you hitting yourself?” Xela asked, baring her fangs in an approximation of a grin to hide her fury and pushing the button again, causing Caroline to hit herself a second time. “Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hit- oh.” Xela stopped as Caroline locked her arm up, re-taking control, and turned to glare at the vampire.
She unlocked her arm and took a swing at Xela, but she raised a hand and caught the first. “I may be a shitty vampire-” she shoved the cyborg back- “but I’m still a vampire. Don’t fuck with me.”
“You’re the one that resorted to force!”
“You insulted my friend! I’m not going to stand for that!”
“Boo fucking hoo.”
“In a second I’m going to have to ask Geluu to send a different scout to get pictures because you’re going to be in pieces.”
“Oh, yeah? I’d like to see you try.”
“Stop it, you two. Caroline, behave. Xela, don’t hit her unless it’s necessary.” Tanadin stepped between them, avoiding the cable.
“It was necessary,” Xela informed her matter-of-factly.
“I know. I just had to reprimand you to make it even.”
“Fuck off!” Caroline barked. “No one asked you!”
Nine strode forward and grabbed Caroline’s arm, twisting her around and forcing her to look at him. “Respect. Her.”
Caroline looked away. “Yes, sir,” she mumbled. Nine released her and stepped back.
Xela finally extracted the photos and sent Caroline on her way before opening the files and scrolling through them, noting vague numbers and placement of cyborgs. The others crowded around her to see.
“Wait, hang on. Go back.” Xela went to the previous picture and Tanadin pointed at a vague shape. “Is that an earth elemental?”
“I don’t think so. It looks more like clay than rock.” Xela blinked. “Wait. Clay?”
“A golem,” Seven decided, standing up. “They have golems.”
“Golems? Where did they find a golemancer?” Xela demanded.
“The fuck is a golem?” Tanadin asked, looking wildly between them.”
“A golem is an animated, usually humanoid, creation made from materials such as clay to fight and do basic tasks depending on what you need them for. I’d assume that the Mainframe is using them for manual labor,” Xela explained. “But where they found a golemancer…”
“There was a golemancer living in the area before the invasion,” Geluu said carefully. “I had assumed that he’d been killed or relocated since then. I never met him, but I heard that he was fairly reasonable. Kept mostly to himself. Would occasionally make golems for people if their need was great enough.”
“They could turn the tide of battle,” Seven mused, “if we could get them on our side. We could send someone in- a regular human, maybe, to slip through the cyborg line without being suspicious- and they could find him and attempt to convince him to turn the golems on the Mainframe. It would be enough of a distraction that we could charge in and destroy them.”
“Or we could send Jase,” Tanadin suggested. “I mean, she is a shapeshifter. What’s suspicious about a bird flying into the sector? Nothing. They’d probably want to see a human’s ID and anyone’s here would not read TZI.”
“Is Jase diplomatic enough for this?” Seven asked.
Tanadin and Xela exchanged glances before bursting into laughter.
“No, but she’s our best bet,” Tanadin told him once she recovered.
“We’re dead,” Xela clarified. “Let’s ask her.”
~~~
Well, shit, they keep asking me to do things.
Jase dipped her wings to descend from the sky, flying easily into the city and looking at the buildings she passed. She had no idea what she was looking for or where the golemancer might live, so she was left to search practically the whole city.
Great. Her favorite thing.
After an hour an a half of no luck, Jase landed on a rooftop and clicked her beak in frustration. She wasn’t ever going to find someone like this! She shook herself and puffed up her wings before settling in to rest for awhile, watching the passerby. Many of them had anti-magic collars around their necks, so TZI seemed to have a high magic user population. If they could take the sector, that could help them out immensely.
The if bit of taking the sector was the main problem, though. Jase continued to watch the street, hoping to see some sign of the golemancer while she let her wings rest, but to no avail. She was about to take off when she heard the sound of aven footsteps behind her and turned, cawing and spreading her wings.
“It’s okay,” the aven assured, squatting down to her level and tilting his head slightly. He spoke in the language of the aven, a language also understood by birds. It was some kind of magical ability, Jase was sure, as she normally couldn’t understand a damn word of what the aven cawed. “You’re safe with me.”
Jase folded her wings and took a moment to get a look at him. He was tall, like most aven, and had lovely tawny gold and tan feathers. He seemed to be some kind of eagle, with dark amber eyes that shone with a light of humor.
Jase tilted her head, weighing her options. He seemed friendly enough, and she badly needed help finding the golemancer. She looked around, and, not seeing any cyborgs, looked back at the aven and transformed back into a human.
He cawed in surprise and fell backwards, flapping his wings and quickly getting to his feet.
“Calm your shit, dude, I’m just a shapeshifter!”
“Don’t do that!” he protested. “At least warn me!”
“How?! I was a bird!” Jase crossed her arms.
“Tell me?”
“I don’t speak bird, you asshole!”
“You don’t?”
“No! I’m a human- well, kind of- and we don’t usually speak bird!”
“What are you even doing here?”
“I’m looking for the golemancer but this place is too fucking big!” Jase kicked at the ground. “Do you know where he is?”
“Okay, okay, woah. Let’s slow down.” The aven held up his hands, talons glinting. “My name is Goldtalon. You are?”
“Jase.”
“Okay. Jase. You’re a shapeshifter- which, by the way, most people don’t think exist- and you don’t have a collar?”
“Right. I’ve been in A4 this whole time.”
“Okay. And you’re looking for the golemancer...why?”
“To convince him to turn his golems on the Mainframe so we can take the sector.” Jase crossed her arms. “This isn’t a difficult fucking concept.”
“We? The revolution?”
“Obviously.”
“It’s real?” Hope spread across Goldtalon’s face. “The rumors were true? Are the central sectors really free?”
“IAL, SOV, and ASQ,” Jase confirmed.
“That’s...that’s wonderful! I can’t wait to tell everybody! We will help you in any way we can, and I’m sure Mark will as well. He’s been looking for an excuse to turn the golems on the Mainframe.”
“Don’t tell me that the golemancer is named Mark.”
“It’s not like his parents knew he’d end up being a golemancer! They couldn’t name him something more fitting!”
“Mark. That’s a really shitty name for...anyone, really.”
“Look, do you want to find him or not?”
Jase rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Can you lead me to him?”
“Yep. Transform back into a bird and follow me.”
Jase nodded and shifted back into a shikra, watching Goldtalon climb down from the roof and start down the street before following.
He led her to the other side of town, to a nondescript building. He motioned for her to land on a piece of fence that was still standing before knocking on the door.
“What?” The door opened moments later to show a short, dark-skinned man in his forties with splatters of clay on his clothes. “Oh, it’s you, Goldtalon. What’s going on?”
“I have someone you need to meet. Jase, come on.” He stepped past Mark inside and Jase fluttered through the doorway after him, perching on the back of a ratty old couch. Mark shut the door and stepped forward to look at her oddly.
“You want me to meet...a bird?”
Jase transformed back into a human, still sitting on the back of the couch, and rolled her eyes. “A shapeshifter, actually. I’m with the revolution that’s just outside the city. We need you to turn the golems on the Mainframe forces. They’ll cause a distraction or something and then we can kill the cyborgs and take the sector.”
Mark blinked. “The revolution...is real?”
“Ha!” Goldtalon pointed a finger at him. “I told you! I told you it was real!”
“I thought it was just a rumor started by hopeful dreamers,” Mark admitted quietly. “So there truly is hope for us…”
“Obviously. Will you help us or not?”
“Of course I’ll help!” Mark looked at her with a sudden furious fire in his eyes. “I’ve been looking for a reason to strike at these fuckers since the day of the invasion. I’ll be glad to have my golems used by people who deserve them and not the Mainframe.”
“Great. I’ll go tell ‘em.”
“When do you want me to turn them?”
Jase shrugged. “Hell if I know. I’ll be back with details. We weren’t even sure I’d be able to find you.” She jumped off of the couch to her feet. “Thanks for leading the way, Goldtalon, and for listening to me, both of you. It’s a nice change.” She shapeshifted back into a shikra and flew out an open window without another word, marking the location of the house before flying back towards the revolution camp.
That had gone better than expected.
