Clone Girls

Dawn.

Ticia and the others had gathered in a room around a huge table.

Rika, the twelve Null CGs, Bronz, Emily, Riley, Nathalia, Chloe, Otto and the other clones were all present for this meeting. For this meeting would confirm what direction and actions they will be taking moving forward.

The room was quiet and all eyes were on her. Ticia felt immense pressure as the one responsible for gathering all these people together.

She received a small nudge to the shoulder. It was from Rika, who sat right next to her. When she glanced over, Rika had the tips of her lips slightly raised. Clearly, she found Ticia’s distress amusing.

Ticia wanted Rika to take the lead in this meeting, however, Rika refused. She told Ticia that SHE was the chief now and that she should lead such big meetings. There was no reason to hide behind her this time.

Ticia took a long breath, calming herself before looking straight ahead.

“Then, we shall begin our meeting now.” She declared in a clear voice.

“Yes, let me begin from our side.” Rika followed by raising a stack of papers in her hands. “Here are the reports of what happened during your absence. Please take a look.” She said, giving the stack of papers to Ticia.

As Ticia read them, Rika explained to the others the content of the report.

“Everything went as usual within the academy. The Nulls continued their training as usual and no disturbing event happened.”

“The training within the academy is coming to an end soon, isn’t it?” Ticia asked, to which Rika nodded.

“Yes, the lessons will end in a few months’ time. After that comes the field experience.” She said.

“I won’t be sending my daughters to random units.”

“I got it covered, owner.” Atrax-ia said. “All Null CGs as well as ECGs will be attached to General Rika as ‘special staff’. There were some people protesting, but we’ve already dealt with them.”

“Understood.” Ticia nodded before looking towards the Null CGs. All of them were looking at her with serious faces, which told Ticia they were taking this meeting seriously.  “Anything you want to report to me?” She asked them.

“Yes, may I?” Ria raised her hand. Ticia nodded, giving her the right to talk.

“I believe you already know about Willia’s gang, Mother?” Ria began.

“Of course.” Ticia nodded. Truth be told, she already knew what Ria was about to tell her, but Rika had insisted they needed it to be reported for everyone to hear in this meeting. With this, they would avoid any possible mistakes and misinformation.

“Under Eldest sister and my leadership, we have begun extending the influence of the gang outside of the academy. We’ve made contact with other surrounding gangs and there have been some conflicts.”

“We have eliminated troublesome elements and integrated those who were possible assets while neutralising any possible risk of rebellion against us.” Licia added.

Ticia read the report. It appeared her daughters had taken control of all the areas surrounding the academy, which had created a filter and resulted in less dangerous encounters for her daughters. As for the integrated elements, all that was said was that Ticinia and Lidia took care of their loyalty. 

Ticinia probably used her ability to ensure their loyalty, as for what exactly her seventh daughter took care of, it was simply stated in the report that those who were interrogated by Lidia either came out scared to death and filled with bruises or completely changed persons…

The report also stated Willia shaped the gang members into trained ‘walking muscles’, for whatever that meant…

“Next up, we are planning to extend our influence and begin our take-over of some businesses of the underworld.” Ria stated.

“Don’t go too far into it. Just teach a lesson to one or two of them.” Ticia warned. She knew well herself how the underworld worked. 

It was better not to be too menacing to existing forces of the underworld, else they would do everything to eliminate you. Sure, some had support from senators, but so long as their business were not at stake, they would not move seriously against Ticia and her group.

Besides, she doubted her daughters would agree with what it really meant to ‘lead the underworld’. Such a filthy place was unfit for them and Ticia simply refused to see her daughters sink too far into it. The only thing they actually needed to do to ensure no interference from the underworld was to send them a message, or rather a warning, not to mess with them.

The underworld’s leaders would understand the rest. They would not lead the underworld if they did not understand after all.

“Mother, I also want to request something.” Ticinia said.

“Go ahead.”

“I would like to build a propaganda bureau.” She said.

“Propaganda?” One of the clones raised an eyebrow. He could not stare at Ticinia long however. Emily had made sure the Nulls controlled their aura a bit but the clones could still feel it to some degree. It would take a bit longer for the Nulls to control their auras.

“Mother, I believe you know how important public opinion is. We absolutely need to keep it in our favor.” Ticinia insisted, a serious look on her face.

“I agree.” Riley said from the side. “We lack both manpower and resources right now. The last thing we need is for an angry mob to come at us.”

“Rika’s popularity among the masses has been our main support, but we can’t keep relying on that. Opinion changes fast. You don’t do anything for a day and people have already forgotten what you did the day before.” Ticinia continued.

“Understood. Then we’ll have to allocate both resources and people to that plan. Atrax-ia, Rebot-ia, can I leave this matter to you?”

“Yes, leave it to me! I’ll publish ads here and there putting you guys in a good light and shitpost on your enemies social accounts!”

“I’ll divert some funds from the academy.”

“Also, mother. Please allow me to learn how to sing and dance.”

“Eh? Why?” Ticia asked, that part was not in the report!

“We need a figure that the public can reach out to and idolize. Rika is a figure people respect and trust, but that’s all. And I am guessing us clones in general will be seen as unreachable beings that bring fear and death. We need to show them how good we clones are.” Ticinia explained. “I want to become that person.”

“In other words, she wishes to become an Idol. That might be a good idea.” Riley added, nodding in understanding.

“Aren’t you already really busy?” Ticia asked, hints of worries clear on her face. She had read through all that Ticiania had been doing. As a logistic officer, Ticinia was extremely busy. Ticia did not want her daughters to overdo themselves.

“It’s alright. I can manage, mother.”

“I’ll help.” Riley added. “I know a lot about tendencies after all.”

“...Very well.” Ticia accepted her daughter’s request. “But it must not take over the time we have together.” She said the last part in an extremely serious tone.

““Agreed.”” Ticinia’s sisters, Rika and Emily said in unison, baffling the others.

“Fufu, of course.” Ticinia smiled.

“Ahem, now for the next subject…” Rika fainted a cough to concentrate again on the meeting. “Funds.” She said with a straight face.

“Ugh.” Ticia grunted. “How much money do we have left?”

“Not much.” Rika admitted with a serious look. “I’ve used much of my money. We’re basically broke.”

Rika had been paying the troops from her brigade, even though she was not commanding them right now. While she was not exactly poor, she could not be said to be rich either. Relying on her funds any longer would be both irresponsible and unwise. The clones needed an independent source of funds.

“I would love to help on the matter, but I cannot divert too much funds from the academy’s budget.” Atrax-ia added. “Those annoying senators, when it comes to them it’s alright to embezzle, but when it’s someone other than them, they placate you!”

“We need to find a source of funds for the quick future then. Any ideas?” Ticia asked around. The clones shook their heads. They were helpless for this.

“The idol project might work in that direction, but it’ll take a while before it can bore any fruits…” Riley said from the side, grunting.

“I can’t ask the gang to take money. That’s against my ideals.” Willia added.

“That would go against our ‘good people’ image anyway, so that’s a no go.” Ria shut the thought down for good.

“Then how about opening a new business?” Emily suggested.

“What business exactly? Can’t say I have any merch.” Chloe said sarcastically.

“We do.” Emily said back, a confident smile on her face. “We have tech.”

““!?!””

Everyone opened their eyes in surprise. None of them had thought of that!

“It is a good idea, but what exactly do we have?”

“Actually, you’ve got quite a lot of good stuff.” Nathalia commented. “Those upgrades you’ve put on my ship. People definitely want that.”

“Certainly. We can also ask the clone engineers for their knowledge.”

“Let me do it! I’ll make a full detailed report on everything we have access to, from what we can actually build with our current resources to what we can sell!” Nia raised her hand, volunteering herself. Ticia couldn’t help but smile. Of course her tech-crazed daughter would want to be part of this.

“We need to be careful about what we sell though.” Rika warned, a serious look on her face.

“Then how about beginning a contract with my allies within the navy? You can refit their ships but can keep a certain degree of advance for yourselves." Nathalia suggested.

“Would that be alright?” Ticia asked back, to which the woman nodded with a small smile.

“Anything that annoys the Commerce Guards and puts me in an advantageous position within the navy is fine!”

“Great. Then it’s settled. We’ll talk about prices at a later moment.” Ticia agreed pretty quickly. They would be forced to release the technology for traveling in space faster at some point anyway, so that was for the best.

“But in the end, it’s just a stopgap measure. We need a safe, continuous flow of revenues. How about investing somewhere?” Ria added with a thoughtful look on her face.

“About that. My mother has a request for you, Ticia.” Rika suddenly said, making Ticia and the others frown.

“Miss Meiko? What is she up to?” Ticia asked. Meiko Eiko, Rika’s mother, had been moving in the shadows for a while now, preparing for her own personal revenge against the Doesson family.

“Her plan for revenge is progressing smoothly and now that the Doessons are on Borkian Prime, she said she’ll make a move soon and will need us.” Rika said back. She did not precise what the plan was about, but Ticia already knew it. Meiko had told the both of them personally after all. 

Still, now she had to think about it from a benefice perspective….

“What’s in it for us?” She asked Rika.

“Not only Mother told me she would give me half of the ownership of Eiko excavation, she also said she’ll be putting new business ventures under our joint names.”

“Really? But will it work though?” Ticia could not help but doubt. Eiko excavation being a mining empire for raw minerals, it obviously was a ludicrous business. Would Meiko really cede half of its revenue to them?

To her worries, Rika smiled impishly.

“She already got enough money to give pocket money to your daughters in the four digits.”

“Eh!? That much!?”

“Isn’t she spoiling my granddaughters too much!?”

Not just Ticia, but even Emily reacted to what Rika just said. Ticia was not even able to give her daughters pocket money right now and yet here was Meiko, giving away so much money to Ticia’s daughters!

Emily suddenly felt slightly threatened. Was her place as grandmother really already taken!?

Rika chuckled at their reaction.

“Not all of them use the money from Mother. Nicia for example gave the money back to me.”

“I earn my own pocket money after all.” Nicia said, a proud smile on her face.

Ticia already knew that her Medicine oriented daughter had been gaining her own money by doing medical work at the academy’s hospital, so it was not much of a shock. She should feel proud but for some reason her pride as a mother had been wounded. 

Was she such a bad mother she could not give her daughters some pocket money herself?

Rika looked at Ticia with a wry smile, not exactly knowing what to say. Meiko gave money to the Nulls out of generosity and because she liked them. She herself had tried to say something to her mother but Meiko would have none of it.

“Can’t we rely on that person for money then?” Chloe asked, but Ticia shook her head.

“Not yet.” Rika added. Not until Meiko’s plan had been put in place at least. Besides, neither Ticia nor Rika wanted to be financially dependent on someone.

There were also other solutions they could use, like asking for a lease from a bank or asking some people from their faction for money, but indebting themselves at this point was not really a good move.

For similar reasons, they did not ask money from the Mayers family, the Phillian empire or the Borkian Confederation’s president. The two first because both had their own problems to deal with and gaining money from a foreign source was a risky move, they could be  accused of being nothing but puppets from a foreign nation. As for the president, using his powerbase would definitely solve some issues, but Ticia and Rika still had doubts about the deal he suggested to them and whether they could trust him. 

In the end, they only had one solution…

“Then I guess we’ll have to settle on selling UFG era technologies for now. Next subject on the agenda : housing. Atrax-ia, is everyone settled?” Ticia said, flipping to the next page of her stack of papers that seemed to never end.

She sent a sharp look towards Rika, who feigned ignorance. Rika had definitely put so many papers on purpose…

“I have space for the ten thousand clones or so you are bringing, most of them will be settled underground in my old complex, but we might need to do some clean up. It’s a bit messy down there…”

“Eh, that’s not a problem at all. We can clean that up ourselves.” Otto hmmmphed, not bothered at all by the problem the AI raised.

“I’ll be able to take all the clones you’re bringing in due time, owner, but I’m afraid extensions will be limited… Borkian Prime is quite filled already underground…”

“Understood, we’ll deal with that when the time comes.” Ticia nodded. Space would indeed become a problem if more clones joined them later on, not counting her own daughters…

It had already been decided that the clones would be housed underground, within the old clone facility. However, as Atrax-ia indicated, Borkian Prime was an old city with a huge population. Its underground was probably as full of infrastructures as the surface level of the city…

“We have another more urgent problem anyway… Food.” Ticia raised their next problem.

“We can do the military rations on our own, but we need a reliable supplier of raw ingredients.” Otto pointed out. Within the list of clones that had joined them, there were some cooks, so cooking food was not the issue.

“Mother, I got the right person for the job.” The fourth Null CG raised her hand.

“Nillia? Who do you have in mind?” Ticia asked her daughter.

“It’s Bianca Renard.”

““Bianca!?”” The other Null CGs jumped in surprise at the person’s name. What did Bianca have to do with all of this?

“Didn’t she present herself as the heiress of a food production company?” 

““Ah!””

When Nillia pointed this fact with her eyebrows raised as if this was old news, the Null CGs all let out a small stupid sound.

“...Why am I the only one remembering this?”

“W-well, Bianca’s been sticking to you recently…”  Licia gave as an excuse, which made her little sister grimace.

“Ugh, don’t remind me of that, it gives me chills…”

Ticia had not interacted with Bianca many times. All that she knew was that Bianca was one of the closest humans to her daughters, but also a really weird girl who seemed obsessed with other girls for some reason… 

It reminded her of Laura, the girl from the Phillian empire she had met and made moves on her.

“The food production company held by the Renard family is a small business, isn’t it?” Ria expressed her doubts.

“Small by army standard. They have control over an entire planet that they use as a huge farm.” Mia replied after checking information on the net with her tablet.

“Wow, that means their stuff isn’t lab-made? Pretty fancy…” Licia commented, making Ticia wonder, had her girls become foodies?

“And costly, can they really supply us at affordable prices?” Ria said, making some calculus on a small note.

“Well, Bianca did mention the reason she enrolled in the first place was to get some contracts within the military so…” Nillia said back.

“We can try our luck, I suppose…” Ticia concluded. “Speaking of, any talents we can get on our side?”

“Evelyn!” Licia said happily.

“...Aside from Evelyn.”

“Oh…” Ticia’s eldest daughter quickly sat back with a sad look, making Ticia roll her eyes. Licia’s obsession over Evelyn Mayers truly was incredible.

“Well, all of our classmates are prospects. Some have already expressed their wishes to serve with us later.” Ria took over, ignoring her older sister’s state.

“Some even directly asked me. I can vouch for them.” Rika added.

“Outside our class, well, I guess there are the members of Willia’s gang as well as Nillia’s fan club.”

“Wait, fanclub? You mean the girls that keep calling me their ‘prince in shining armor’? Anything but them!” Nillia protested, her face pale.

“But isn’t Bianca their leader?” Ria pointed out, a frown on her face.

“Ugh… Don’t talk about that…” Nillia hugged herself, her face red. She was half disgusted, half ashamed. This made Ticia wonder what exactly Bianca Renard did to Nillia…

“I can make a list of prospects to recruit if you want.” Atrax-ia proposed, to which Ticia nodded.

“Please do that, Atrax-ia. And since we’re on the subject of allies, let’s talk about that. As you can see here, we have about ten thousand clones from the old times coming to help us.” Ticia presented the clones in an official manner since they had not done so before.

“And me!” Emily pointed at herself happily.

“...Yes, and mother comes along with them.” Ticia said back, trying her best to keep her face neutral over her mother’s obvious attempt at gathering attention on herself. “Otto and Chloe here are their main leaders.”

“I believe we’ve already presented ourselves, but I’m Otto, one of the two leaders selected by Her Perfection to help you in our common goal.” Otto presented himself, showing respect. Had Ticia not spent a bit of time with him beforehand she would be baffled at his change in attitude compared to within the clone prison.

“The name’s Chloe.” Chloe simply said, in complete contrast to Otto.

“She’s your great-aunt, girls.”

“Wha-, sis!?” Emily’s side comment shook Chloe however. Now the Null CGs looked at Chloe with renewed interest. Vinia's curious gaze was particularly intense…

“Let’s keep the family matters for later okay?” Ticia intervened, letting out a small sigh. “Otto, if you could please make a report on the current forces we have.”

“Certainly.” The clone nodded. “There are currently ten thousand clones within the mercenary group and the proceedings to register all of them in a private military company have been completed. We have all necessary personnel to work independently from any other entities, whether it be cook, craftsmen, engineer, laborers and soldiers. Two thousand have descended upon the planet right now and are on their way here while the rest are currently stationed within allied naval vessels.”

“Also, we received our first transmission from ‘the others’. They said they are ready to send in the next batch at any time…” Chloe added. 

The ‘others’ referred to the clones left behind on the frozen planet. They had finished organizing themselves and were now ready to send the next batch of volunteers.

Ticia was not in such a hurry though. Gathering so many troops at the same place would be seen by others as a threatening move after all. For now, their allies within the Phillian Empire were helping them protect the clones. 

Ticia nodded. Everything matched up with the reports. 

“For now we should put that on hold. Let’s focus on building up our base before expanding. That’s all for the clones. What about our human allies?” She asked Rika.

“I’ve got confirmation from Berdo that he received orders to be relieved by another division. Same for our other allies on the frontline. It looks like Mr. President and Field Marshall Twill kept their promise.” Rika said.

“Good to know. Anything else?”

“My family is keeping their neutrality, you won’t see them make a move towards us I’m afraid.” Riley added. 

Ticia was not surprised, Riley had already told her a long time ago how her family worked, so she was not expecting anything from them.

“As for me, you already know my demands.” Nathalia said with a smile, to which Ticia nodded. 

“Yes, I’ll get to it later in this meeting.” Ticia said to Nathalia. Although she was a bit reticent, a promise was a promise and Nathalia had helped her a lot recently.

“Ah, now that I think about it, Evelyn seemed troubled recently…” Licia said with a troubled tone.

“Something might be happening to the Mayers.” Rika said, a stern look on her face.

“Got it, I’ll have Rebot-ia investigate.”

It might sound rude to investigate their allies, but Ticia had no ill will. She simply wanted to verify no unexpected dangers came her way. If there truly is something troubling the Mayers, then Ticia would ask them what it was in person.

Then came the problem of the ‘hidden backer’, the person who had given Ticia the opportunity to temporarily settle on Borkian Prime in exchange for Rika’s support in the next presidential elections.

Up to now, their only contact with this mysterious person was the cavalry captain Rowla. This backer was suspicious to say the least and Ticia had worries over how to treat that person from now onwards.

Her worries were unexpectedly solved however…

The ‘hint of goodwill’ from George Roller gave away the identity of this mysterious person. Ticia still had to verify it, but according to the intelligence Atrax-ia had gathered after hearing the hint, it was very likely him. The only thing left was to confront the said person… which would come sooner rather than later.

Not soon after Ticia’s arrival on Borkian Prime had gone public, Rika received a notification from Rowla. It was a summon to meet the backer.  

The meeting continued. They talked about all matters, even the little ones and tried to answer all concerns from the participants. Ticia was growing tired. She did not like such long meetings, but since Rika kept sending her a knowing side smirk, she hid her tiredness. Her personal pride refused to give in as a result. Ticia knew that were she to express her tiredness, Rika would tease her for a while…

They were now at the end of their hour-long meeting and only two subjects were left on the table…

The first one was about George Rollers, the president of the Borkian Confederation…

“Should we accept his offer?” Rika asked.

“I don’t know, do you want to be a president, Rika?” Ticia said teasingly.

“Give me a break, Ticia.” Rika sighed, smiling wryly. “You’re the leader here, not me.”

“I think we should accept the offer, mother.” Licia suddenly said.

“I agree.” Ria said.

Ticia looked at her two eldest daughters. Both seemed extremely serious.

“Hmm, I think you’ve got nothing to lose?” Emily said from the side, a thoughtful look on her face. “He basically gave you support with the condition that you ‘save what can be saved’ of this nation, right? In other words, nothing ties you up once he dies.”

“...” Ticia remained thoughtful. This was a major decision to take, but she honestly agreed with what her mother said.

The problem was with their ‘secret backer’, Ticia was worried this would anger him, but then again she could just switch to the president’s faction, or so she thought, but it was more complicated than it sounded. Ticia was no political fox.

She looked around to see what the others thought. Rika looked back at her with a small nod. She was in favor, but would agree to anything Ticia decides.

While Licia and Ria showed how much they wanted their mother to accept, the other Nulls remained silent. Most of them did not want to express their opinion on the matter, trusting in their mother.

The ECGs remained quiet, having no opinion on the matter, as for the regular clones, they seemed to leave everything to her. 

Although the subject was about the future of the Borkian Confederation, both Riley and Nathalia remained quiet. Riley was stuck on this ship anyway, so she had no choice but to follow along. As for Nathalia, Ticia did not know what went through her head, but the woman seemed more concerned with keeping her own sphere of power within the navy. What state she served did not seem to matter to her, and Ticia believed she had forged a strong friendship with the woman.

Finally, Ticia’s gaze landed on Emily, her mother. Emily smiled at her.

“This is a gamble Claudia would take.” Emily said back, citing Ticia’s biological mother with a hint of nostalgia.

Ticia closed her eyes, weighting the pros and cons. She came to one conclusion: the offer was too good to be true, like a god-sent gift. 

Sure, there would be a lot of work to do afterwards, but should they play their cards well, Ticia would not have to worry about her daughter’s safety anymore. She could simply leave the power to someone she trusts and live her peaceful life somewhere like she wished.

“...Alright, let’s go with it.” She finally said, coming to a decision.

Everyone nodded, this was the path their leader had chosen.

“Now onto the final subject…” Ticia said, changing her tone.

Out of all the subjects they talked about in this meeting, this was the one Ticia was most centered on. This was her own project after all. The Null CGs also sensed what this was about. Their expressions were ones of expectations, weighing even more on Ticia’s conscience.

“Atrax-ia, I want to proceed with the creation of clones. How many can we create?”

“Understood.” The AI said. “Originally, your plans were to create around three thousand clones, but you’ve changed the numbers, right?”

“Yes, if possible, I want to create a small brigade with more than five thousand manpower. Can you do that?”

“It is possible. At first I thought we wouldn’t be able to get so many pods in a working state, but with Nia and her friend’s support as well as Mia’s input, we managed to double the number of pods.”

“...Really?” Ticia frowned, looking towards the concerned Null CGs. Her tech crazed daughter scratched her cheek, slightly embarrassed. Mia on the other hand smiled back at her mother.

“We simply followed Second sister’s orders.” Her tenth daughter said, making Ticia look towards Ria.

“I thought it was necessary, mother.” Ria answered Ticia’s questioning look.

Ticia was not convinced by this answer. Clearly, her daughter had done this for some other reason, but since the result was beneficial to her, she remained quiet. She would ask Ria later though.

“...Still, Nia’s friend? Is she that trustworthy?”

“She is!” Nia jumped, as if offended by her mother’s off-hand mutter. “Lotte is more of a genius than me!”

Ticia stared at her daughter for a moment. Being a genius did not mean being trustworthy, but since it was rare to see Nia so adamant, Ticia decided not to delve further. She thought either Ria or Lidia would have dealt with Nia’s friend if she was untrustworthy.

Still, Ticia was curious. She decided she needed to meet this friend of her daughter…

“Anyway, since we are going to extend the family, I’ll need you guys’ opinions on how to proceed, and the training.” She said, addressing the regular clones in the room.

“When it comes to the creation side, I’m afraid we won't be able to give much advice.” Otto chided in. “We might be clones, but none of us are cloning specialists. The siblings I knew who were specialists in that subject were either executed or sided with the radicals…”

“I see…” Ticia nodded. True, it would make sense for the radicals to eliminate clones with such knowledge…

“But you can train my daughters, right?”

“Sure can do.” Chloe answered instead.

“When it comes to clone creation, leave it to me and Rebot-ia, owner.” Atrax-ia declared proudly.

Ticia nodded. The AIs knew what they were doing.

The discussion continued. In the end, it was decided that Rika, with her experience at the head of a brigade, as well as Ria, Mia and Nia would help in deciding what gene modifications would be needed.

Riley would be in charge of teaching etiquette to Ticia’s new daughters while Emily-

“I’ll have a long discussion with the ECGs.” Ticia’s mother said, smiling. 

The ECGs that had followed Ticia were still in a slightly depressed mood. Emily had said before to Ticia that she would deal with it, but she had not expected Emily to deal with it now.

“Nathalia, out of this batch of new daughters, one hundred will be ‘leased’ to you.” Ticia said to the woman from the Borkian Navy. Her eyes shone at her words.

“Then with that, we’ve finish-”

“Wait a minute Ticia, you’ve forgotten something.” Rika interrupted, pointing out at the small scribble at the end of the page.

“...Oh.”

It said ‘Ionian Prisoners’.

Ticia had completely forgotten about them.

These guys were responsible for so many of her daughters’ wounds. When she captured them, she wanted to kill them, but their leader said he would gladly exchange information in exchange for their lives. However, with all that happened within that clone installation, Ticia had completely forgotten about them. They had probably been loaded on Nathalia’s ship and brought back on Bronz’s orders, but by that time, Ticia had forgotten about them.

Were it only her, Ticia would have quietly dealt with them when no one was paying attention, but the fact that Rika had brought them up meant that she wanted to do something with them.

While Ticia absolutely hated these Ionian Comandos, she trusted Rika more, which was why…

“I’ll leave all the matters of the prisoners to you Rika?”

“Eh?” Rika did not expect this answer, but Ticia smiled impishly.

“What? Was it not what you wanted?”

“It is but… Are you not gonna ask what I want to do with them?”

“I don’t care.” Ticia said, putting a hand on Rika’s shoulders. “I trust you’ll use them in a beneficial way for us.”

“Really…” Rika sighed, smiling wryly. “Are you saying this because you truly don’t care or because you just want to be done with this meeting?”

“W-who knows?” Ticia sweat bullets, her former commander knew her too well…

“A-anyway, the meeting ends here. Atrax-ia, prepare the pods, we’ll begin in three hours.”

***

The room emptied itself until twelve girls were left in the room…

“Hehe… I’m so happy.” Vinia said in a good mood, which was echoed by all her older sisters. The reason was, of course, Ticia’s last announcement.

“I’m glad mom is holding true to what she said before leaving, but five thousand? That’s more than I thought.” 

“We’ll need to prepare, I have a feeling their ‘birth’ will be pretty chaotic.” Nicia voiced her concern.

“You think so?” Willia tilted her head.

“I mean, it’s mom we’re talking about. She struggled to give equal attention to us twelve, do you believe she’ll be able to do so for five thousand sisters?”

“No…”

“We’ll just have to help!” Nia declared confidently, which made Nicia scoff at her.

“My, judging your past record, I’m not sure mother needs your help.” 

“Ugh! That’s mean! But also true!”

“Calm down, you all.” Ria said, silencing the chatter between her excited sisters. “I know you’re all excited, but we have something serious we need to talk about.” She said in a serious tone.

All the Null CGs looked at her and Licia with a serious look.

“What’s the matter? For you and eldest sister to ask all of us to remain after the meeting, it’s something serious, isn’t it?” Lidia said out with a frown, speaking up for all her sisters.

Licia and Ria looked at each other, before nodding.

“I’m sure you’re all aware of mom’s goals by now, aren’t you?” Ria asked everyone, to which they nodded.

“A house.”

“For all of us.”

““To live in peace.”” The twins said.

“Exactly. However…”

“That’s impossible, isn’t it?” Licia said, finishing her sister’s words.

““...”” The other Nulls remained quiet, their expressions one of either anger or acknowledgement.

“Why would you say that?” Nillia asked in an angry tone.

“Do you seriously believe we would be left alone after ‘taking over a country, then bailing out’?” Licia asked back.

“I mean, why wouldn’t we?” Willia asked, tilting her head.

“Silly, did you forget what we are?” Nicia sighed.

“Exactly, so long as we’re clones, we won’t be left alone. More so with so many ‘cousins’ now around us.” Ria said, calling the regular clones their ‘cousins’. She was acknowledging the link with regular clones yet putting some distance from them. Her sisters agreed with that denomination.

“...Let’s not forget what happened to Miria and Tiria too.” Lidia added, making the twin’s faces darken. 

The Nulls had faced human greed personally. A few events had marked them, but none were as traumatic as Mia and Nia’s kidnapping as well as what the twins went through. 

While they usually were open to humans and had some they could call friends and allies, they still held slight resentment towards some humans and were wary of human’s volatile personalities. 

Although they had not expressed it directly to their mother, they were pretty sure she had sensed it. 

“...If we cannot avoid the greedy ones, then…”

“It’s better to either exterminate them or be in a superior position to them.”

“Which is why-”

“We should rule over them.”

The atmosphere within the room was heavy. Each clone weighted what their older sisters just said.

Even Willia, Ticinia and Vinia, who had more lenient views towards those who committed evil, did not object to the words said by their sisters. But this did not mean they were convinced.

“...Tell us more, sisters.” Surprisingly, the one who asked with a serious tone was Willia. Her sisters had rarely seen her with such a serious, pressuring look…

“The way things are going, we are on track to possibly take control of the Borkian Confederation, or at least what remains of it.” Ria said.

“We could shape this state into our own domain.” Licia continued.

“Our own kingdom…” Nillia muttered, seemingly already convinced.

“It does not mean creating a monarchy, dictature or something like that, but a state with our own rules. Surely this would be safer than living off in a small clone installation somewhere, right?” Ria argued.

Willia seemed thoughtful for a while, before nodding. “Alright, I’m in.” She said. “So long as this new ‘state’ is fair to everyone.” 

Some Nulls also nodded in agreement with what their oldest sisters suggested, but the four last Null CGs remained indecisive.

“Let’s not forget what information mom brought back from her trip, sisters.” Licia said, using her last convincing argument. “That Warmonger and the Radicals… They are somewhere within this galaxy… and they’ll come for us…”

““...”” This worked. Nia, Mia, Ticinia and Vinia all had grim looks. Based on the information they got and what the ECGs told them, this was no small threat.

“We all agree on building a force strong enough to fight against this threat then?” Licia asked. No one said anything against it. “Good, then we’ll build our own state to fund this army.”

Everyone nodded back, conviction in their eyes. They would not let any threat confront their mother. They would keep her and their family safe, whatever means necessary.

“My, that’s quite the plotting we have here.”

““!?!””

Taken by surprise, all the Null CGs turned towards the owner of the voice.

“G-grandma…” Vinia said in a voice half fearful, half filled with guilt. Emily was smiling, but she let out her aura as an Eve-class clone, making the Null CGs sweat bullets.

“I hope you all understand what you are doing right now? Plotting behind your mother’s back is a bad thing.” Emilly said sternly, yet still smiling.

““...”” None of the CGs answered.

Emily sat at the table. She looked at all the Nulls, her granddaughters. Although she was pressuring them, she could tell it was not as effective as it should be, in fact, some of the Null CGs instinctively fought back against her aura. This was a result of their own constitutions.

“...Grandmother, let us explain.” Licia managed to say.

“...My…” Emily let out, impressed. Both Licia and Ria looked back at her despite the pressure.

“There’s no need to explain. I understand your points, darlings.” She said with a smile. “However… this isn’t something that should be talked about behind your mother’s back, is it? Isn’t she the most concerned one?”

“T-that is…” Licia hesitated.

“Mom is tired of fighting. She has no wish to fight all her life…” Ria expressed what her older sister thought.

“And is it a bad thing?”

“N-no, just…” Ria was out of argument. For a moment Emily stared at the Null CGs to see if one would speak up, but none did so.

In the end, she sighed. She released her granddaughters from her aura.

“...What you are suggesting is not a bad idea. In fact, I’d say this is a pragmatic outcome.” She said matter of factly.

““!!!””

“However!” Emily interrupted the nulls before they could get their hopes up. “This cannot be done without your mother’s agreement, nor her closest allies. Founding a country isn’t a joking matter. You can't do it just like that.”

“But how do we convince mom?” Ticinia asked.

“It’ll be easier than you think.” Emily smiled. 

After a couple of weeks passed together with Ticia, Emily understood her daughter well. Ticia had inherited all her fighting prowess, as well as its flaws... 

Emily was a clone built for combat. Although she acted quite normal in peace time, there was nothing better for her than the thrill of war.

She was pretty sure Ticia was in the same category as her…

“So be sure to talk to Ticia about what you want to do from here on.” Emily said with a smile. At this, the nulls were filled with conviction. They would form their own state after getting their mother’s agreement.

“Now then, I believe you all have something to do?” Emily said with a smile, watching her granddaughters share between themselves plans for the future. At her words, they all stopped and nodded, moving out of the room brimming with motivation.

Emily watched their back, remaining silent. Her happy smile slowly faded and a sad, melancholic look replaced it.

“Look at these girls…” She sighed. “That’s the same energy we had back then, isn’t it?”

Emily smiled bitterly as she remembered the past. There was a time when her loved one told her her plans to begin a career in politics and lead the UFG. At the time, the both of them excitedly went over what they should do and planned their taking over.

“In the end, it all failed, but this time, it’s up to me to make sure no drastic event happens…” Emily said, a determined look on her face. You cannot control everything, but you can deal with the consequences in a way that would lessen the overall damage… Such was her role now.

“...Still, these two…” Emily thought of Licia and Ria’s faces. Both of them showed determination. Whatever Emily said to them, they would still try to move on their convictions.

Emily had seen such a look before…

“Really… they are perfect images of your younger self, Claudia…”

The words filled with nostalgia resonated within the now empty room, not heard by anyone…