Chapter 299 – Step by Step

“Really?” Silvia asks, her brows raised in surprise as Emily uses a drop of light mana to write out the cryptic message for her to see. “They’ve managed to get a message this far?”

“Yes.” Emily nods, scanning the transmitted message to try and trace back the path it took to cross several galaxies and reach her. “It looks like they may have modified the transmitter I used to get your attention. The signal has been bounced between several Network nodes.”

“Smart. I wouldn’t have thought they’d have mechanics capable of modifying your creations given the magical nature of the planet.”

“I awakened a few mechanics to get the ball rolling on their scientific development, and, while none of them would be able to recreate the Transmitter yet, linking it to the existing Network would be well within their capabilities, so long as they have another Network-linked device. After all, one of them was particularly brilliant to the point where I fully believe he would have awakened naturally were he born on a neutral energy-dense planet.”

“Wow, a man talented enough to earn praise from you? Should I be looking to recruit when we visit?”

“I doubt he’d be interested, but you’re welcome to try. Now, I should probably let them know I’ve received their message…”

Emily Blinks into The Blade’s underbelly, leaving Silvia alone to watch the horizon for any attacking forces, and settles down before the ship’s main communication relay. She sets both hands against the large device and shuts her eyes, aligning all of her cores on a single purpose and letting her consciousness flow into the Net.

She latches onto the message and follows it back along its path, bouncing between Network addresses. The responding pings take longer and longer to reach her as she travels further, and eventually she makes it to a ghost station near the edge of Guild space with a powerful receiver that plucked the signal out of The Manaless Ring. The station itself is missing from the logs of all those around it, and the only sign of its existence is a steady stream of data flowing towards several nearby planets. Emily manages to detect it by trawling through Network traffic, but she’s unable to get a response or establish a solid connection when she sends requests directly to it.

Instead, she’s forced to search through other Network nodes bordering on The Manaless Ring until she finds one with a sufficiently powerful transmitter. She aligns it to the same frequency as her Universal Transmitter before feeding it a response to fire out towards Ulea:

I’ll claim my robes before the intruders can take them.

She requests the distant station continues transmitting her message for twenty-four hours before withdrawing from the Network, slowly coming back to herself. Once she’s solidly present in her flesh once again, Emily feels the ship around her shuddering, and a quick machina scan reveals the main gun is firing into a swarm of mechanoid ships and troops outside.

She Blinks back out to join the fight, calling on her metal and lightning connections to carve her way through their enemies.

“Hahaha, about time,” Silvia calls with glee from the centre of the swarm, fending off a dozen sixth level mechanical beasts alone. “Did you send your response?”

“I believe so,” Emily responds, throwing a crackling spear of super-charged metal into the back of one of the squid-like constructs trying to restrict Silvia’s movement. “The message has been sent, and now it’s up to them to receive it. I gave no set time for my return, but I implied we’d get there before The Federation begins full integration.”

“Oh, easily,” Silvia agrees, letting a quadrupedal mechanoid close its jaws around one of her legs before ripping out its throat and tossing its dazed form towards Emily to finish off. “I doubt this conflict will run for more than five years unless the dungeon turns out to be an anomaly.”

Emily hums in agreement while ejecting an enchanted blade from her palm and plunging it into the quadruped’s spine, flooding its body with raging charge.

***

They remain to defend the mining planet for a few weeks, fighting off several contingents of Mechanoid forces, though none with as many sixth circle members as the first. The subsequent attacks feel more like probing to work out if they’re still there than genuine attempts to take over the planet. Emily and Silvia leave most of the fighting to other members of the crew and instead spend most of their time sparring or in the Dimensional Factory so Emily can continue the slow process of remaking her specialised troops.

When they finally receive orders to leave their post and head towards another position to defend, Emily slips away alone to visit Elwaine’s quarters. She knocks on their door, and it opens to reveal the elf sitting at a large desk with several rolls of parchment spread across it. The walls of their room are covered in rune-coated sheets that draw Emily’s gaze, most of them half-finished spells.

“Ah, Vice-captain, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Elwaine asks, turning to face her while setting down an enchanted quill and a steaming cup.

“Ugh, please don’t,” Emily rolls her eyes, noticing the mild upturn of the elf’s lips and immediately realising they’re doing it on purpose. “Just call me by my name.”

“You accepted the role, so you’ll have to deal with the formalities eventually. Who am I to take away your chance to practice?”

Emily approaches and conjures herself a metal seat beside them to sit on, looking over the array they’re in the middle of designing.

“What are you working on?” she asks with genuine interest.

“Your recent mutiny has inspired me,” the elf explains, lighting up at the chance to share their work. “The barrier I was forced to use to keep you three from destroying our fleet was crude at best, so I’m working on a replacement. I’m looking to create a stabilising wall instead of a containment field. Through meeting each attack from within with a matching burst of controlled magic, I aim to disperse the subsequent force instead of cancelling it.”

“Fascinating. If you can limit the calculated response variables and ensure it happens fast enough, you should be able to mitigate the spread of damage far more efficiently.”

“Exactly!” Elwaine beams, an actual smile spreading across their usually stone-cold face. They reach for their cup before glancing at Emily with a raised brow. “Would you like a drink? I have a vast collection of brews to aid the mind.”

“I’d love one, thank you! My own collection’s mostly made from Ulean ingredients, so I’ve been looking to expand my horizons…”

***

It takes a little under a month to reach their next post. They’re directed to hide themselves within an asteroid field surrounded by empty space and await further instructions. Emily watches Elwaine work on a cloaking barrier for the larger ships, noting how they tend towards light-bending runes instead of simply wrapping them in darkness, while their smaller ships latch themselves to the surrounding hunks of drifting rock and ice.

With their presence concealed, Emily reenters The Mothership and meets Silvia in one of its training rooms. Unlike the blank void they usually spar in, the space is set up to emulate a sea of trees that reminds Emily of The Glade.

“Looking for a change in scenery?” Emily asks with a raised brow, approaching the base of the tree, looking up towards the vampire lounging in the branches.

“Your tales of conquest and exploration have reminded me how little greenery I see these days,” Silvia replies, slipping from the tree in a falling kick Emily easily sidesteps.

“Was there ever a time you saw more?”

Emily lashes out with a responding punch. Silvia tilts her head to avoid it.

“Many years back, yes. In my youth, I enjoyed walking the grounds of my family’s estates. I must have spent weeks getting lost in those forests, though none of the beasts in the areas I was allowed in were wild enough to warrant caution.”

Silvia sweeps a kick at her legs, and Emily dances back, slipping behind a tree before throwing out an unenchanted knife. The vampire flicks the blade away and catches the punch that follows.

“What about those in the areas you weren’t allowed in?” Emily asks with a grin, twisting her metal arm unnaturally in Silvia’s grip and spinning to drive a kick towards her head.

“Let’s just say my caretaker wasn’t happy when I dragged their corpses back for dinner,” Silvia chuckles, ducking the blow and snaking her arm around the base of Emily’s extended leg to lock it in place.

She drives a heel towards the leg Emily has planted to the floor, but Emily lifts and wraps it around the vampire’s neck before the blow lands, throwing her weight back to try and pull the woman to the floor. Silvia doesn’t budge, grinning down at her and planting a slow kiss on her thigh.

“Nice try. It might have worked if you weren’t so light,” Silvia teases.

Emily releases a flood of sparks from her skin, knowing she’s already lost the warm-up. Silvia releases her and lets her create some distance before letting crimson qi coat her arms.

They kick off in the same instant, but while Silvia moves forward, Emily moves back, ducking behind a tree to break her line of sight. Silvia expects the crackling blade of charge that follows, but she’s caught off guard by the ground giving way beneath her feet as she gives chase, and the flying attack grazes her cheek.

A single swipe of her now-clawed fingers topples three trees, breaking the holographic illusion for a moment to show the shifting system of modular metal plating beneath, exposing Emily partway through shifting it to destabilise more of the ground.

“Modifying the training simulation hardly seems fair now, darling,” Silvia comments, stepping forward with a burst of qi.

Emily deflects a glancing blow from her claws with a conjured shield of wind and grins back.

“You’re the one who wanted more diverse terrain!” She conjures a wall of earthen spikes to stall and creates two metal wolf skeletons before coating them in lightning and sending them off after her partner. “Besides, anywhere else and I’d be able to use one of my elements to achieve the same effect.”

“Fair enough,” Silvia chuckles, shredding the wolf constructs with a whirlwind of sharp qi before throwing several ranged slashes back at Emily.

They continue their high-speed exchange, quickly falling into a familiar pattern and each feeling the other out to look for a chance to draw blood.

“So,” Emily says when Silvia finally lands the first solid blow, carving a thin line beneath her eye, “when are you finally going to stop stalling and tell me what you have planned to help me deal with my mental demons?”

“Can’t you tell?” Silvia whispers into her ear, breaking apart the conjured sword of flames in her grip and leaning in to lap up the faint trail of blood rolling down her cheek. “We’ve already started.”

She leaps back as Emily stomps her foot, turning up the metal panels beneath them and activating an array she placed earlier, swallowing several metres in crackling charge.

“Really?” Emily questions in disbelief, dismissing her failed trap and refusing to take her eyes off the vampire as she begins slowly circling.

“Of course, dear. Think about what you told me when I asked about the scar left by your first attempt to cleanse your mind.”

She keeps circling, passing behind several trees without lashing out, giving Emily time to consider.

“The worst of it faded during our fight with Yorn,” Emily mutters in realisation.

“Exactly!”

She jumps to the side as Silvia kicks an artificial tree towards her.

“Clearly, combat is a good emotional outlet for you,” Silvia explains, dashing after the tree and landing a kick to Emily’s ribs. “We’ll look for other less violent options as well, obviously, since some conversations are best had while not trying to rip each other’s heads off, no matter how much we enjoy it. But, for at least some stages of your healing, we can use this to our advantage.”

“Oh? And what stage of my healing are we using it for now?” Emily asks, opening a small portal to her Dimensional Factory and releasing a flock of mechanical birds, letting Harriet out with a bundle of energy to take control of them.

“Building trust, of course.” Silvia cuts the wings off several birds in one slash, dodging a flurry of lightning-charged feathers in the process. “You may have noticed, but we’ve grown closer and revealed more to each other during our spars than any other time we’re together. I’m sorry, darling, but while faster than the alternatives, this will be a slow process, even if you don’t want it to be. It will also be painful. We’re going to have to talk about everything that’s caused your demons to develop so you can process those events and move on, and it will only work if you’re comfortable doing it.”

“That…” Emily covers herself in shadows, slipping behind a tree and vanishing while Silvia’s gaze is on Harriet’s flock. “Makes an annoying amount of sense.”

“Haha, of course it does.” Silvia releases a wide swathe of blood that grounds all the birds and topples half the trees in the training room at once. “Not everything can be fixed with a spell or a potion, you know, but I’ll be here with you all the way.”