Chapter 7 Meritorious
Chapter Seven
Warmth flooded the tent that Dane’s captors dragged him into, filling every nook and cranny with prickling heat. Frozen flesh began to thaw, his chattering teeth the only noise as one of his captors kneeled in front of him, holding out a three pronged machine that had glowing golden lights on it. The native leaned back, wide ears swinging back and forth as a hardly audible clicking sound emanated from the back of its throat.
His initial captor strode into the tent, blowing past the fabric entrance in a blitz of speed. Its black and gray digital armor struggled momentarily with the bright interior before turning pure black. Golden eyes rolled up and down Dane inquisitively, the moment stretching out as the native stood above him without a word.
The moment stretched on further and further and the original kneeling native looked up towards the bigger combat oriented native. They had a moment of silent conversation before the first one snorted loudly before rising to its feet and walking out of the tent.
“The golden barrier. How do you pierce it?” The sawdust and woodsmoke scent was back as the creature talked to him.
“You don’t. They’re impenetrable. Until the System drops them anyways.”
“The System? This is what sent the message to the planet?” The creature cocked its head to the side like a dog. Flat features were hard to read, the tight skin offering no movement aside from small wrinkles around its eyes and lips.
“Yes. The Incursion System.”
“What is it and what does it want with this planet?”
“It is…the System. It binds the heavens, the hells, and every mortal realm together. It is sentient, at least it’s theorized it’s sentient, and omnipresent. It sees all, knows all, and categorizes all.”
“What does it want?”
“To grow. To see growth…continuous, violent growth.” The native growled at that, a deep machine-like grumble deep in its chest. Outside a half dozen more of those grumbles rose up in a tide that filled the air.
“Our planet is just another conquest then?”
“Or you defeat the incursion forces in five years.”
“Five years?”
“System Standard years. Not your solar years,” Dane quickly clarified. He was quickly getting used to the psionic conversation.
“And how many of our years is that?”
“I don’t know. Won’t know till the System connects.”
“How many invaders are there? Incursion forces you called them.”
“Could be hundreds, but likely no more than sixty. We won’t know until the System connects and announces what the contest will be.”
“There’s different types of contests. Not just a pure war of conquest?”
“Oh, sure. The System believes in growth at all times. Which means competition. There will be some sort of evening of the playing field to ensure the natives have at least a sliver of a chance.”
“You’re quite liberal with your information. Your leaders would not care about you discussing all of this?”
“I am a Shadow. Nothing I can do can bring shame or honor. I am outside of the bounds of hierarchy.”
“I do not understand this. It is not translating for me.”
“I am an outcast.”
“This I understand.
“As such, I will do anything to survive.”
“Even betraying your own people?”
“Even that. Besides, soon it won’t matter. I know I said that the System would make it somehow an even contest. But in our long, long, long history no natives have ever fought off an Incursion.”
“So it matters not that you spill secrets to your enemies.”
“I told you I am an outcast. I have no allies.”
The native leaned back, the low rumble changing into something smoother and steadier, a thrumm that was pleasant to hear.
“Is this an opening for me to ask you to ally with us?”
“In this instance, against the Aji-Abami, yes.”
“We have managed to repel the dog men with ease. Our weapons are vastly superior to theirs. Their primitive weapons can’t pierce our armor.”
“When the System arrives, there’s a massive burst in power. Mana will flood the planet causing massive changes to the geography, flora, fauna, and even to the natives here. You.”
“We will change?”
“Possibly. Some will die instantly, their bodies ill-suited for mana consumption. Others will grow sick and weaken as mana poisons them. Others will become twisted and ruined creatures by the massive infusion. I only hope that you will survive it.”
“You will be fine?’
“I grew up in mana infused environments. There’s an outside chance that the connection infusion that will hit the planet will warp something inside of me. But it’s very, very, low.”
“This information is disturbing. You are not the only scout that has been apprehended. If your information doesn’t match what the others have offered, there will be repercussions.”
“I accept that and have told no lies.”
“You can not lie to our kind. But you can be misinformed.”
“And what do you call yourselves. Your kind?”
“Those Who Are Beneath. And I am known as Meritorious Service Through Valor.”
Dane paused as he mentally figured out what the native had really told him. His mind was translating the images the psionic pushed into his brain and he was trying to fully understand what his mind was telling him.
“I assume then, that there are more of your people here? Different natives?”
“There are three sapient races here. My people are Those Who Are Beneath. We serve Those Who Command.”
“And the third group?”
“Those Who Stand Apart.”
“Contention between your three groups?”
“Yes. Those Who Stand Apart are numerous but are not connected. They are often assigned drudgery work. This had caused civil unrest and violence over the last two centuries. Even some of my own people have joined in these separatist movements. It is unfortunate.”
“And your name is due to your actions?”
“Names are signifiers of actions done for our society. I am a warrior, but deeds are meritorious and valorous. Thus my name,” Meritorious said.
“Names aren’t very unique here then?”
“Names are a newer thing amongst our people. Scents are much more able to signify individuality.”
Dane hummed and leaned back and Meritorious’s large golden eyes blinked twice and then he rose up. Dane had taken control of the interrogation in a matter of moments and had done it subtlety enough that Meritorious hadn’t noticed for minutes.
Instructor Jane would have said that was passable.
Thinking of his old counterintelligence instructor would have brought a smile to his face if it hadn’t been wildly inappropriate in the circumstances. Nothing said something was amiss like smiling during an interrogation.
“You will stay here while I give my report,” Meritorious fled out of the tent and a pair of his armored soldiers walked in and took position on either side of the tent. For a minute Dane thought he was going to be left alone, but a minute later a third walked in.
It was half the size of the larger soldiers and had short golden fur and a wide flat face with a black nose that twitched back and forth as it slowly walked toward him. It had a cane of beautifully carved wood, stained nearly black with silver inlays showing a myriad of wildlife on it. The cane thumped the ground and Dane felt a ripple press against his mind.
Meritorious had arrived like a sudden fog. Irresistible but harmless. This creature arrived like a thunderstorm. Dane could see it coming, thick clouds with bright light illuminating the depths of it, violence imminent by its very presence. Sweat beaded on his neck and trickled down his back as a chill ran down his spine as he stared at the small creature.
“Hello.” The voice consumed his mind, filling every crevice and not allowing him even the courtesy of a lie that his mind was a private place. There was antiquity in the voice, timelessness that stretched from beyond the horizon, of the crypts of a thousand generations, of ancient empires that had crumbled to dust and had been lost to history before Dane’s first breath.
“I listened to your conversation with the servant. It interests me that you say these things. For too long my people have stagnated under the pinnacle of this world. Even this…uprising…hardly interests us. The lashing out of a group of angry children.”
The arrogance in the creature was astounding. With his mind under the full power of its presence he understood its arrogance. It was arrogance born of millenia of domination. Of an age of peace and stability that stretched back so far into the past that written word had barely been invented. Warmth trickled down his nose, over his lips and tickled his tongue, iron and salt.
“I wonder if I will survive it? Do you think I have a chance?” the ancient being asked.
“Chance as good as anyone else.” Dane couldn’t speak the words aloud, trying to press them against the pressure in his mind was the best he could do. It was like a toddler competing against a parent, but the horror of it being perpetrated inside of his own mind.
“I can feel your fear and rage. All the survivors of this planet have adapted to our method of speaking. Even I was not born before the rest of them had developed their abilities. I will try to moderate myself so that you do not expire.”