Chapter 10

HK’s feet hit solid ground after at least roughly an hour of continuous flight. Soluna’s enlisted few briefly gazed in the direction of the Gatekeepers, but then resumed their duties.

The gatekeepers stood before a closed gate made of what could charitably be described as, “scrap metal and whatever else they could throw in that wasn’t nailed down which can be flattened into makeshift sheet metal.” Twin towers stood on both sides of the gate, while a wall of scrap surrounded the settlement. Atop the towers, she could spot the barrels of what she could guess were gun emplacements to stop threats. Not that she knew what kind of threats they were likely to face.

The air felt tense, like everyone was on edge, as if they were waiting for something to happen. Like they were so wound up that anything could set them off and turn this area could soon become a battlefield.

“Someone built their own mini-fortress right out in the middle of nowhere.” Irene chimed in while pulling up a window which, presumably had data on the settlement. “Records indicate that this town’s main export is minerals found deep underground and subterranean flora.” She seemed to have noticed the carbon scoring on the scrap wall. “The walls are pretty good for a scrap job, but this location isn’t great as a defensive position. See, look,” Irene projected a Three-Dimensional Model of the town to HK as the group waited by the gate. “Over there you’ve got one hostile nation, and then over there a second, and then right over there is other neutral towns, and right behind us is Soluna itself.”

“Have we ever fought them?”

“Us Gatekeepers specifically, no. But despite the treaty we have with this place, there’s been several skirmishes and border disputes. Sometimes people died. They’re not too friendly with us, is all I’m saying, we should be on our guard.”

“Eh, you worry too much,” said Kumoko nonchalantly, “Their guards are carrying old, beat-up rifles, I’m pretty sure that their bullets will just bounce right off us.”

“Even a cornered rat will still strike a predator.” Irene recited. “Basically, don’t underestimate them just because they’re weak.”

With strained creaking of metal moving along rusted hinges, the gates slowly opened; from out of their scrap-covered maw, stepped a company of soldiers and at the head of the pack was a tall, stocky man dressed in full military regalia which looked practically brand new compared to the dirt, grime, and battle scarrings of his entourage’s attire. His eye-catching cape billowing in the below-freezing winds, the colorful metals pinned to his chest made it seem like he was a distinguished military man, but there was a noticeable difference in how he carried himself compared to the soldiers surrounding him. He reached for the brim of his hat, and took it off as he approached the Gatekeepers.

He stopped in front of the group, scanned over each of them with his glowing mechanical eye, before settling on Sofia. HK couldn’t help but feel her skin crawl as the red light of his eye scanned them over once. Twice. Three times.

With a superior smirk, he held out his arm, and within moments a datapad was placed in his palm by one of the guards in his retinue. “Gatekeeper 1st-Class SO… uh…”

She held up her hand to stop him, “Sofia is fine. And you are-”

“I am Commander Cassius Ironsides of the 47th Legion, and this is Ironsides Brigade, welcome to the front line… Ms Sofia.”

There was something about the way he said that which made Sofia visibly uncomfortable, made that much worse when he forcefully shook her hand and held it just a bit longer than was acceptable.

She’d have likened him to a pig stuffed in a poorly-fitted uniform, but that was unfair to pigs. Pigs were at least cute.

In the corner of her vision, blinked a message from Kumoko, shared with everyone except for Sofia and Claire — who seemed to still be angrily sending messages about her desire to purge the world of leviathans who may or may not have been in the void.

HK opened the message and was greeted by a less-than-flattering caricature of Cassius as a cowardly pig, stuffed in a military uniform so tight it was about to burst, he stood atop a castle while pointing out into the horizon sending his battle-weary men to fight on his behalf. A word balloon had been drawn coming from Pig-Cassius which read: “Many of you may die, but that is a sacrifice that I am willing to make.”

Apparently, Mariposa found it humorous enough to chuckle in offline space along with Kumoko.

Sofia shot them a stern side-eyed look, and the two sisters straightened up immediately.

Unfortunately, Cassius took notice. “Your… soldiers, seem a bit relaxed, eh, Ms Sofia? I suppose time stationed at the Steel Curtain would break down military decorum.” He sauntered over to stand beside Sofia, and snaked his fat arm around her shoulder. “Maybe, if you like, I can have a joint training session prepared. Remind your ladies how to conduct themselves in a military unit.” He clearly tried to pull her in closer, yet Sofia refused to budge. “I’ve heard many things about your war record, it’s quite impressive, I have some stories of my own if you’d like to… listen to them, perhaps later, in my private quarters?”

It was in that moment, that HK could see the gears turning in Sofia’s head as she was most likely running through hundreds of simulations on whether or not she could get away with chopping this man’s head off right here and now. The other girls in the group as well, as unprofessional as they were, this man was still talking down to them as if they were just playing pretend soldiers. This man looked like he hadn’t seen a day of combat in his life, and he had the nerve to try and straighten them up.

Sofia, like a saint, showed remarkable restraint and removed Cassius’ hand from her shoulder. She shut her eyes and smiled a deceptively sweet smile. “Commander Ironsides, you requested the presence of Sparrow Regiment for a ressupply run and general assistance, my girls and I are quite busy, so if you’ll kindly point us to where we can drop the supplies, we’ll do our jobs and then get out of your hair. I’m sure a man as busy as you are doesn’t have the luxury of time to… entertain guests.” Sofia was trying to be diplomatic, yet there was a clearly noticeable acid in her voice as she was clearly rejecting whatever Cassius might have been implying.

He didn’t seem pleased by these rebuffed advances, so to save face he turned away, swishing his cape back, probably hoping that it would’ve hit Sofia in the face but the cold wind just made the gesture of displeasure useless. “Well, enough with the pleasantries, if you’ll follow me we’ll be heading to the meeting-”

“Excuse me, what meeting?” Sofia’s restraint cracked.

“Oh, you’re to take part in the negotiations. These villagers require Soluna’s military for protection, so an agent of the council has been dispatched to negotiate on our behalf, and I’m here to make sure the 47th Legions interests are prioritized.”

“Excuse me,” Irene stepped forward, pulling up a holo-window, “The mission was a Code 10-47-RSP, that’s an urgent resupply code, not a negotiation or security request.”

He just hand-waved away Irene’s point, “battlefield conditions change all the time, I’m sure you know that. As the highest ranking military official here, security is at my discretion and I’m allowed to change things whenever I see it. This mission is of the upmost importance to Soluna’s interests, as such I feel it is within the best interests of the state if you ladies stayed for the negotiations.”

“Well good for the council and your ever growing list of accolades. However, we operate under the discretion of the Ministry of War, so unless we get an order from them-” A message suddenly pinged on all the girls’ systems. There’d been an update to the mission parameters.

Cassius stood there with a smug look on his face, while Sofia just sighed to herself and muttered several indecipherable threats under her breath.

“Well, it seems orders have changed. So, where are these negotiations taking place?”

“Oh it’s not far from here. Come along, ladies.” He turned and walked while his crew followed, and unfortunately,.. so did the girls. Also, only at that moment did Claire realize she had been muted that entire time.