Ravens of Eternity

145 The Flow of Coin, Pt Colviss stood in the middle of the gathering hall she had called home for the past few months. She watched with stoic silence as the Drogar all around her packed everything up and got ready to move out.

The many racks of weapons and armor all around their temporary base had some of their contents packed into crates and cases. But the majority of them went directly to their deployment kits, and were being equipped right on the spot.

Among them was Felothi, who was wearing a loose slash-resistant combat suit. He attached a number of blood red armor plates over it, and adjusted their fit using reinforced mesh straps.

He slung one of the many standard rifles over a shoulder, slid a MedGun in his thigh holster, sheathed his blade on his waist, then filled his armor’s container slots with all of the ammunition and medication he could carry.

Next to him was his deployment bag, and it was stuffed with the rest of his equipment – rations, spare armor plates, more ammunition, clothing, more medications, and so on.

He put his helmet on and adjusted it, but no matter what he did, it somehow always looked a little awkward.

All around Felothi, a number of other Drogar suited up in their armor and equipped their weapons. They too had their deployment bags with them, and shared a similar loadout to Felothi. Mostly food and ammunition. Interestingly, most chose not to use a medgun, and instead strapped on their favored sidearm.

They were all clearly equipping themselves for war. Or at least, that’s how they thought about it. How they were told to think about it.

How Colviss had trained them to think about it.

.....

Colviss looked over their equipment and sighed. They were all at least one generation old, and most were configured for civilian use. They could certainly kill, but were far less potent than their military counterparts.

Still, their guns were capable of causing death, and their armor was capable of preventing death. That was good enough.

In contrast, Colviss wore a highly flexible, multilayered mesh suit. It held thin slivers of adaptive armor plates staggered in between each of those layers. Her high-powered rifle hung on a sling across her chest, a baton strapped to her right thigh, and her sidearm in a cross-draw configuration on the left side of her waist.

Cradled under an arm was her helmet – it had the latest in personal sensor and atmospheric rebreathing tech. And just like her mesh suit, it was covered in adaptive armor plating. Without a doubt, she had the most cutting-edge equipment in the room. Probably in the entire district.

As each of the Drogar finished up their gear, they went out into the hallway and deeper into the hall.

Colviss simply watched until everyone had left, and accompanied the last one out. She looked into the large room behind her and wistfully looked at the empty racks. Then, she closed its doors behind her.

She quickly caught up to the last group as they made their way down the hallways and further down the maintenance rooms.

In front of their group were a couple of groups of Drogar, all of whom carried crates filled with weapons, armor, and various scrap metal plates. Many of them felt as though they were marching in a column towards the battlefield, and their footsteps began to match to the beat.

Being a part of that procession seemed to bolster their morale, their reason for being. As though everything they had done and everything they had gone through culminated in this.

As they veered down the hallways, they noticed those around them were still in various stages of readiness. Some were just starting to put their kits together, while others had long since finished.

Those who were done wove their way into Colviss’ column as it marched on by, pride on their faces.

It wasn’t long before they reached the largest maintenance room. It was where all of the power generators and main power control stations were located. The powerful machines lined up along the walls.

In the very center of the room, a 10 meter square hatch had been forced open. Its door had been torn off with great force by some machine, and was set to the side like useless scrap.

When the elevator from the floor below reached the hatch, the Drogar quickly loaded it up with the crates they were holding. Once it was full of crates and people, it sank down to the lower level, where they unloaded everything, and continued their way down darker, mustier hallways.

It took a few trips before the entire column was able to get down. Colviss, of course, boarded the last one in the group.

As she descended, the smell of dust, grease, electrical ozone, and metal filled her nasal cavities.

It didn’t take long for them to hit the bottom, and were able to quickly catch up to the rest of them, which was led by the group with the crates. Although the hallways and tunnels were dark and relatively tight, they were still able to maneuver through them with little problems.

They continued until they reached a large open area, where a variety of gondola were parked everywhere.

This was a tunnel nexus, where multiple maintenance lines converged. In fact, this entire area underneath was the space between Upper and Lower Domes. It was composed of a number of floors, all designed to move water, wind, and power all across the city itself.

Technically, it was an Orange Zone, whose access was strictly for maintenance and security personnel. Not that anyone was going to mess with a whole lot of Drogar wielding a whole lot of weapons. Those who did ended up in one of the many furnaces scattered all over the Zone.

Without the militants currently squatting in the tunnels, it was the fastest and most efficient way for anyone who worked maintenance to move across the city. There were networks of tunnels that led to every district above and below.

Dozens and dozens of Drogar prepped the numerous gondolas for further travel. This was clearly just one stop, and the destination was somewhere further down in the darkness. The gondolas themselves were of various makes and models. There were regular transport gondolas, mass transport, utility, cargo, and so on.

All were being loaded with crates of equipment or people or both.

Some of the Drogar were doing final checks on their own deployment kit, and even helped others with theirs. Others tied down the crates and ensured they wouldn’t move around during transport. Yet others kept a lookout for undesirables. And neutralized them.

Though there weren’t many issues, there were more than Colviss was comfortable with. She didn’t like the idea of killing random maintenance workers.

But she was just one of many, and couldn’t say much. All she did was train most of them, not lead them.

She, along with Felothi and a few of her loyalists boarded one of the gondolas and strapped themselves into their chairs. It didn’t take long for the pilot to ready up, lift off the ground, and zip down a large maintenance tunnel.

They went down with an even, moderate pace. And though their trip was rather uneventful, they often met up with other gondolas traveling in the same direction. Soon, they had become a handful of gondolas of various sizes, with Colviss at the lead.

It was perhaps an hour later when they reached a second, much larger nexus. Colviss’ DI calculated that it was three hundred meters in diameter, and had a ceiling that was around 50 meters high.

Large was stating it lightly.

And the ground was littered with gondolas. Many were clustered around a flat, central building, while the others were gathered around each of the tunnel entrances. It was the best way to keep control of traffic in and out of the nexus.

Each and every cluster was basically a temporary encampment where many of the gondolas had been opened up fully. Red-armored Drogar had set up their tents and camps right on the open gondolas.

Others had begun modifications of their gondolas, typically just welding or bolting on slabs of metal to help armor them up.

They had basically taken the whole nexus over, like some sort of infestation.

Colviss had her gondola parked up on top of the central building, and ordered it to open up like the others and had them set up their camp up there. She then walked over to the edge and surveyed the Drogar around her.

The sheer amount of them covered up almost half of the nexus.

As she scanned, her DI estimated the number of Drogar actually present in the area. It appeared that they numbered roughly two thousand, and continued climbing as more Drogar poured in from the tunnels.

Felothi walked up to Colviss, stood by her side, and looked out to the Drogar around him. He swelled up with pride at the sight.

“This is it,” he said. “We’re gonna finally get to truly reclaim our dignity.”

Colviss sighed at Felothi’s words, but bit back her need to rebut him. His words sounded clever, but empty. They weren’t going to reclaim anything. All they were going to do was pick a fight. A big one. It wasn’t going to change anything, exempt maybe cause a bunch of casualties on both sides.

“Something like that,” she responded.

“I know you don’t really believe in us, what we stand for,” Felothi told her. “But we’re not dumb. We’re Taloren’s Chosen, and we want what’s been denied for us for way too long. A hundred years too long.”

“It doesn’t matter if I believe in you or not.”

“It absolutely matters! You keep saying how the Taloren Prime you came from was rich and lush and green. You should understand more than any of us why we want all this ocean gone, and the Old Taloren back!”

Colviss scoffed at Felothi. His line of logic was just nonsensical. Old Taloren?

“Listen to yourself,” she said. “What does attacking humans have to do with bringing back the way the planet used to be? You’re acting like you’re ushering in some new Drogar Era, but all you’re doing is kicking a few bricks over.”

“Alright fine,” Felothi replied. “Maybe I’m being a little dramatic. Sure, we’re ‘only’ culling the apes who’ve invaded. But it’s more than that. It’s a turning point for us. When people see we’re willing to fight for Taloren, they’ll join us in droves.”

Colviss shook her head in disappointment. She just couldn’t understand why they fell for such rhetoric. Were their lives really so bankrupt that they were willing to believe the flimsiest of lies? All that they would accomplish was to die in droves.

“Just... keep your head on straight,” she said. “Keep your focus on the task at hand. Sure, you can have lofty goals and whatever else you want for the future. But in the here and now, keep your eyes focused.”

Felothi frowned at her.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Sister,” he said. “But you remind me of my wife. I’m not allowed to enjoy anything, or be part of something greater than myself. I know deep down that what I’m doing will help reshape the Empire for the better. So clans just like mine don’t have to keep starving.”

Colviss was immediately angered. More rhetoric, no logic. She grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him violently until he had no choice but to look at her. She yelled at him with all the force she could muster, and told him that he was being used. That his purpose was to die for someone’s greed. She yelled and yelled until he understood.

Except, she didn’t. All she could do was dream of doing it.

The coin in her pocket told her to keep her hands to herself and her mouth shut tight.

Instead, she grimaced at the thought of their deaths. Those who didn’t die in the fight were surely going to be executed for treason.

She was someone who had a violent and bloody history, and lived her life in service of the Empire. She lived through truly tumultuous times. But all those around her in this new universe were just people playing soldiers. They could probably stand up to a unit of hardened professionals, only just. And it wouldn’t take long until they collapsed.

And though she only took the job for the coin, and knew from the beginning that their lives were forfeit, she still ended up sympathizing with them. Not their ideals, but just their lives.

So she couldn’t blame them for their choices. They were fumbling around in the dark trying to grasp power they had somehow lost. They didn’t know that it was actually stolen from them.

She supposed that she lost her power as well. But it wasn’t stolen. Instead, it was purchased. And perhaps that made her worse off than Felothi.

“You’re right,” she said. “This fight does have meaning. And what you’ll do today does matter. So you’ve convinced me – I’ll be joining the skirmish today.”

Felothi’s eyes went wide with happiness. His chest swelled with pride at her words.

“Thank you!” he exclaimed. “Thank you for believing! With you by our side, we’ll have no problems crushing them all!”

“Something like that,” she responded again.