A Train Over Iradath
— — 0225 Mid-Morning, 33 Talorihi, 3 Cresoukim, 2469, 10th Age — —
Kaewer sat near the front of the train, near the broad front windshield that had so far revealed nothing but tunnel. She was enjoying the small bubble of space that her jacket and feather companions created, even in a train as busy as this one, and browsing the pulse net on her Interface when the tunnel ended in a flash of light. The tramway rose out of the ground and into the ground level madness of the capital. From the air, Iradath took an erratic homogeneity, it had the appearance of a mad dream of a forest with pillars of greenery, steel and glass rising high into the sky, surrounded by the small sprouts and shrubs of other buildings. From the ground, Iradath was ever-shifting, changing depending the street, block or district you were in at any given time. The districts surrounding the spaceport were a melange of architectural styles that included not only the last thousand years of draiker and Imperium sensibilities but the styles of a half dozen client cultures. Drailleon-styled building, built in spirals of interconnecting circles, ovoids and curves and with natural elements flowing in and out of them abutted and intermingled with raised tangle web of halinwas structures and the heavy squat buildings of the vzeon. The parks and greenways that marked Imperium sensibilities spread through and over all of, blending the foreign with the familiar. Kaewer relaxed in her seat as the tram raced its way above, doing her best to soak in the million greens that undertoned everything on Iradath. Kaewer had visited dozens of worlds and scores of cities in the Imperium and Union in her short life and she’d yet to find one that gave as much meaning to the word green as her home city did.
(Rel)
Farther from the spaceport, the districts lost the wild mix of cultures as they were older and more drailleon. These districts were built around themes that reinterpreted the curving and spiraling architecture that was inherit to drailleon buildings. These themes ranged from a district of little more than water features to a district that emulated the plains. The endless greens and blues were interrupted as the tram raced over a street festival. The cityscape became a riot of colours and a seemingly endless mass of sapients. Kaewer grinned as the train slide into a station almost in the middle of the festival. The dizzying array of food smells, rumble of people and pounding of music filled the car as people boarded and disembarked. The ravens chattered and complained as they watched the festival blur away. They argued for several minutes, debating the merits of a street fair and the foods and baubles they might’ve found.
“Emerald Rust, I want a (fried bread analogue)!” Pitch complained, finally seeming to have decided on the best food. He hopping in an angry circle, feather fluffed out. Kaewer chuckled, rubbing the irate bird’s crest. Pitch immediately crooned and nuzzled her fingers. That sparked a short competition for her attention from all three birds that distracted everyone.
“Maybe when we get home, I’ll have Raseffe order some for the whole flock,” Kaewer finally offered in raven, fingers spread to rub all three birds. That caused a ruckus as all three ravens shouted their agreement. Kaewer turned to apologize to the other riders, an embarrassed grin dying as she turned to face an empty car. Kaewer frowned and glanced out the window. The view outside districts seemed to be race backwards through time. Much of old Iradath had been demolished and replaced with modern high rises and monolith towers but the closer to the palace district one got, the more ancient designs dominated the view. Skyscrapers of steel and brick from the late 8th Age mingled with the small stone ‘high rises’ from the early 8th and late 7th Age. Most of the buildings were replicas, built in more recent millenia to replace time ravaged originals but the historic district served as a living reminder of Imperium history. This district was as vibrant and bustling as any other part of the city, many draikers were as comfortable living among the relics of history as they were living in high-tech monoliths that scraped the sky itself. Despite their archaic designs, these districts were heavily populated and the Eternity line was a major route in this part of Iradath, there should’ve been at least a few other people in her car. In fact, Kaewer thought she remembered seeing at least on passenger unpacking a late breakfast only a few minutes ago.
Kaewer reached out through her Interface to the Pulse Net, the telecommunications network which intermeshed the entire Imperium, looking for the security alert. Occasionally, tram security would enact “quiet” evacuations where commuters received a Pulse Net or Interface message informing them to disembark. They were supposed to be a simple facet of Interface and pulse net interaction but her own highly secured hardware might’ve prevented her from receiving one. Her interface was magnitudes more advances and complex than the standard Imperium civilian’s and the Fragment Intelligence, FI, built into it could’ve squashed an alert by accident.
Kaewer gave the usual mental reach, focusing on a local emergency notification got… nothing? Kaewer blinked and reached again. No alerts were waiting, which didn’t surprise her, but neither was anything else. Various programs reported Pulse Net connections but offered no data when queried. A deeper search, this time less of a mental reach and more of an expansion of her senses, revealed nothing. Her FI reported a connection to the pulse net but nothing was coming across the connection. Kaewer hopped repeaters, trying several of the nodes on the train and a few in nearby buildings got the same result. Complete network isolation. Her blood froze in her veins and miniature arcs of lightning danced in her hair as the implications sunk in.
The Pulse Net didn’t go down. Ever. If there had been a cascading systems failure in the train car repeaters, her automatic connection programs should’ve reached out to a different repeater node. It wasn’t like her Interface didn’t have the range to find another signal. If there was a working connection to the pulse net anywhere in her quarter of the hemisphere or orbiting over head, she’d be able to reach it. Barring a catastrophic planetary systems failure, the effects of which should would’ve noticed, this was an attack.
Kaewer took a deep breath and her frown deepened at the thought. To this day, despite assurances of defense planners and technology companies, broad spectrum signal interference could and did disrupt Pulse and Legion network functionality. However, something like that in Iradath was unthinkable and she would’ve immediately noticed that sort of jamming. This had been something different. She could only think of it as a vacuum. Her signal had come back empty not overwhelmed, disconnected despite the getting a positive connection reading.
The next station was already coming into view and Kaewer felt herself tensing. She had a feeling that was the last stop for this tram. The station looked like a classic Iradathian station, all open air spaces and small canopies. It would be easy for her ravens to simply fly away, assuming the enemy hadn’t strung up more traps than she hoped.
“Imugemare, assuming this thing stops at that station, I want you and the boys to be ready to run. I’m going to assume this is an attack unless proven otherwise,” Kaewer snapped as she opened her kit bag and pulled out her pistol harness. Her ravens knew their way home almost instinctively and they weren’t too far from the palace district. Kaewer was fairly confident they had the range to make it home in sufficient time. The harness went on with practiced ease and she pulled out a hardshell case sealed with her own wards.
A quick push of energy released the wards and she slid two sleek semi-automatic pistols out of the case. The custom Mark 17 Varkantis Fractures weren’t the heaviest pistols or the quietest but she’d found their balance just right. She loaded a full power pack into each and armed both. Five extra energy packs went into various pockets in her jacket and harness as the tram jogged into the final, decelerating turn. Kaewer took a deep breath and resealed her bag. She wedged it under a seat and hoped she’d get it back. There was nothing of a sensitive nature in it but she did have several presents and her dress uniform. She switched the Fragment Intelligence in her Interface over to electronic warfare mode. She prioritized getting an emergency signal to the Jirvaerka House Guard, her parents or the Kidorlus and let the military grade psuedo-sapient software of its leash. The FI, more of a fragment of the full military grade Artificial Intelligence housed in her armour than a simple Fragment Intelligence, began to assault the strange blank wall of connections, scrambling for any weakness. Her FI would eventual tear its way through the blocking software and anything else that appeared to be a threat, trashing potentially innocent code and infrastructure in the process. If she was wrong, if this was some sort of system error or misunderstanding, she would be hard-pressed to defend her reaction, especially if the FI trashed a city block or two worth of network infrastructure.
But, Kaewer thought, pulling energy around her, she didn’t think she was wrong.
“Wait for my signal, and then fly head for home.”
Ambush in Matagin
— — 0241 Mid-Morning, 33 Talorihi, 3 Cresoukim, 2469, 10th Age. Matagin Crossing — —
— Need a note that the goons are of different species — (done)
Kaewer had considered trying to sneak off the tram as it slid into the station but decided against it. Anyone with enough technical control to lock her out of the Pulse Network should have complete control over the local security infrastructure as well. She wouldn’t be able to hide and might give her opponents an opportunity to blindside her, rather than line up in front of her.
So, as the tram slide to a stop, Kaewer wasn’t surprised to see a dozen goons waiting. They were wearing an odd mixture of military surplus and civilian-grade armour. Their guns, on the other hand, looked depressingly modern and well kept. She stood in full view, arms propped on her hips as she waited for the tram door to open. Several goons yelled something but the door didn’t open. Kaewer let out an exaggerated sigh and glared at the groups of goons. She spotted a number of draikers and sidhe, a fair few migeyusma and… Kaewer frowned. Was that a troll? She hadn’t seen many of the tall gangly species. She finally got tired of waiting and cut loose with a small spell. The reinforced safety glass windows of the tram suddenly shattered as they froze then superheated repeatedly in the span of about two seconds. She then simply hopped onto a chair and stepped out of the suddenly empty window onto the platform, waving one hand at the goons.
“Freeze!”
“Stop right there!”
“Hold it!”
“Easy,” Kaewer said holding up her hands. “The doors didn’t seem to be working and I was really sick of sitting in the tram. You know how public transit is.”
“Kaewer Jirvaerka, you are going to come with us,” A tall, really tall, draiker said. They didn’t carry a rifle and wore a nice (dress) with plates of low-profile body armour visible beneath it.
“And you are…?” Kaewer said, voice slow and drawling. She knew a nactvin when she saw one. Even though they’d abandoned the long robes millenia ago, non-military mages still liked to stand out from the rank-and-file goons. It was stupid but tended to make her job easier.
“The people you are going to cooperate with, if you know what is good for you.”
“Let me get this straight,” Kaewer said, dropping her right hand to her hip. “You actually know who I am?”
“Kaewer Jirvaerka-Croinac. Kidorlus Lieutenant. Nactvagia. Bearer of an Irant.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s all on my (wikipedia) page,” Kaewer snorted. “I meant, you know who I am and you’re still trying to what? Kidnap me? Do you have a death wish?”
“We simply want to have a discussio—”
“If you’d shown up with less of a goon squad, a (dumb animal) might actually believe that,” Kaewer took a deep breath. “Look, I’m in a good mood. If you all walk away right now, I’ll give you a two day head start before I turn over the recordings to my uncle. Otherwise, I’ll let my father, you know, the Wolf of Tempests, hunt down the few survivors I leave.”
“That is very generous,” The tall draiker sneered. “But I think we’ll do this our way.” Crimson-flecked gold magic erupted from the ground and engulfed Kaewer for several seconds. As it faded, Kaewer let out a yawn and stumbled to the side.
“Stupid (leech),” The tall draiker snorted as Kaewer settled down on knee, head hanging low. “Did you really think we did not bring more than one nactvin?”
“Well,” Kaewer said sleepily. She turned an expression only the most naive would relate to a grin on the tall nactvin. “I’d was hoping you’d have brought better ones.”
Floosh! The covered waiting area to her right exploded in a blast emerald fire and figure came stumbling out of the sudden pyre, screaming as spellfire burned through enchantments, flesh and bone alike.
“Now!” Kaewer screeched in raven, emerald light swirling into shape as she lunged upward.
“Get h-” The tall draiker’s order turned into a gurgling breath as Kaewer slammed an emerald blade into their throat, the point of the light dagger slamming out the back of the nactvin’s skull. Then she was racing past the crumpling body as the armoured goons reacted with belated shock. Energy bolts filled the area as they laid down a barrage of panic fire. She responded with a rippling staccato of emerald lightning that blew holes in at least three and sent the rest scrambling for cover. She continued hammering the station with emerald lightning as her ravens raced out the far side of the tram before breaking for the exit.
She vaulted the turnstiles that marked the edge of the station and hit the broad stairs at a run. More energy bolts buzzed around her and a cluster of goons on the stairs were shouting at her and raising their rifles. They were spreading out to take cover behind the myriad of decorative planters and water features that descended the stairs. Kaewer jerked to the side, leaping over a safety railing even as she threw a rapid spell in their direction. Screams of pain and the crackling of rapidly forming ice came from the goons direction as she landed in a roll onto the accessibility ramp that zigzagged up the stairway.
She took advantage of break in contact to wrap herself in a simple defensive illusion. Her form fuzzed and suddenly it seemed like a dozen echoes of her were running for the exit, each echo juddering to the side and then snapping back into the confusion around her. She cleared the low wall of the ramp to skid down another section of stair. And tossed another bolt of lightning at a pair of sheltering goons. One went down convulsing even as the other scattered shots around her, unable to get a clear shot. Before Kaewer could close, a scythe of hardened air slashed into her. She managed a defensive ward at the last second and the blast merely tossed her down the stairs instead of cracking ribs. She rolled painfully down several stairs and scrambled into cover behind a planter on instinct. Now that she was paying attention, she could hear the chanting of several mages. She flung her nactvagian senses out and grimaced as she felt a number of spells forming like weaves in the fabric of reality all around the plaza. The tall nactvin hadn’t been lying, they’d brought a lot of mages to take her down.
The scythe of air had provided one advantage, it’d knocked her further down the stairs, which had been her goal from the start. Now she considered the large hexagonal plaza before her with a frown. While Matagin Plaza had enough trees, flowers, sculptures and hedges around it to break up sightlines, it was still open ground. She could see several air skimmers, well outside of official skylanes dropping reinforcements into the plaza and at least one group moving through a dense picnic area in the near side of the plaza.
Kaewer took a deep breath as she felt the enemy spells taking shape. She was running out of time and options. Her best option looked like a break to the left. There was a skyscraper under construction, probably an old building being rebuilt to modern standards. If she could get to the construction site, she could probably hold out until emergency response arrived. Regardless of any fancy hacking, this much combat magic being would draw attention. It wasn’t a particularly clever plan but she didn’t have time for clever, only for action. Decided, she reached out and tore the air mage’s spell with mental talons as she started running again. The plants she’d been sheltering behind suddenly leapt to life, lashing and reaching just inches behind her.
Phoom, phoom, phoom. Energy bolts filled the air as goons opened fire on the mass of echoes that broke from cover just as a sudden vortex of air formed on the stairs. A draiker in low profile body armour let out a surprised shout as their spell misfired and the vortex tossed them several feet before fading away. They landed hard next several goons and Kaewer lobbed an emerald fireball their way. The concussion shook the ground but Kaewer didn’t waste time waiting to see if she’d killed the mage or not, she was already hitting the bottom of the stairs and plunging into the picnic area.
“Sura!” She spat as a hailstorm of multi-coloured aeythric bolts hammered in around her. She caught the worst of it on a plane of defensive magic, a basic and inefficient shield that kept her mostly safe but huddled against a small tree and hedge. One blast came in at an odd angle and hit her in the chest with a powerful thump. Her jacket’s wards took the worst of the impact but she could feel the bruises adding up.
“Fre-!” Phoom! Phoom! Kaewer’s left hand snapped out nearly on it’s own, a pistol appearing in her hand almost by magic. She put two energy bolts through the face plate of the goon who’d rounded the corner of her hedge before they could even finish the word. Their partner had time to squeeze off two shots as Kaewer faded around the body and came up inside the goon’s rifle. She slammed her palm into their stomach and let her magic pull the heat from them. They collapse screaming as a quarter of their innards turned to solid ice. She tossed the freshly compressed heat into the face of the third goon in the group, an emerald green blast of fire that melted their helmet and seared flesh. Kaewer left him writhing as she tore deeper into the picnic area. Overhead, she hear air skimmers maneuvering for a better view on her and she spared a second to hope they didn’t have a mage riding along up there. She was forced to trade scattered gunfire with goons that were pushing into the picnic area, as well as deflect more hails of aeythric bolts. Twice she had to freeze or burn plants that came to life with lashing branches and grasping vines.
At the edge of the picnic area, Kaewer slid under the cover of a sculpture consisting of large stone mushrooms with several whimsical-looking halinwas in the middle. She’d finally caught the plant mage unaware and plastered their position with lightning and scatter the last goon squad with a volley of gunfire. Now she lay panting against one stone mushroom while her enemies scrambled to pinpoint her location and wished she’d thought to grab her water bottle from her bag. Instead, she checked her FI’s progress and frowned at the lack of progress. Whatever they’d done to her Interface, it remained terrifyingly effective and she hoped someone thought to get her uncle on it if she didn’t make it out. It was the kind of weapon that threated the Imperium. She took another shaky breath and put the greater Imperium out of mind. She had immediate problems to worry about.
The construction site was only about twenty-seven feet away, just across the broadway that rimmed the plaza but that was the problem. This was her last piece of cover or concealment until she reached the construction site. By now, her enemy knew what she was trying to do and would be position everything they had to stop her. Whoever they were, they seemed to be trying to take her alive but the goons she’d been tearing through were carrying real rifles and seemed to be firing with true intent — and well, she’d kill a bunch of them—. She wasn’t going to bet that preferring her alive was the same as needing her alive. So how to cross a twenty-seven foot kill zone without dying?
Kaewer steadied herself and let out a quiet groan. She had an idea but it wasn’t a good idea. Her Kidorlus squad would’ve called a Jirvaerka-special and started praying to their gods. If the kidnappers had really read her file and prepared for everything, this wasn’t going to work but she didn’t think they had. They’d brought a large force to attempt to intimidate her and given her time to talk rather than just hitting her with a missile or enough magic to paralyze an entire city block right up front. You didn’t do that to a Jirvaerka if you were really thinking things through.
She took a deep breath focused on the spell she wanted. As a nactvagia she could cast a spell as fast as she could think, rather than needing words and gestures but sometimes even she had to slow down and work. As a Kidorlus, she’d joined the community of the Imperium’s elite shock troops and had focused on the combat magic that entailed, letting her other skills wane. She was regretting that right now. Back in her school days, this would’ve been a simple spell. Now it took her precious seconds to craft it correctly. When the spell was finally ready, she flicked her right hand out and summoned a blade of hardened-emerald light around the outer part of her forearm. The blade, a modification of it’s typical profile, extend several inches past her hand.
Then she activated the illusion and a roiling bank of fog swept over the battlefield and was immediately filled with vague shadows darting every direction. For Kaewer, the illusion was little more than a ghostly afterimage but to anyone else not wearing TrueSight goggles, the entire area vanished into a white haze of dense fog. Kaewer pulled a pair of defensive wards around herself as she took off at a dead sprint. Several aeythric bolts and a icicle of dull red and white shattered her first ward as she plunged into the chaos of the killing zone. Every goon and surviving enemy mage was cutting loose in bid to hit her by sheer luck. Her second ward collapsed as she hit the construction site’s security gate and brought down her emerald blade down hard on the cheap chain holding it shut. The hardened emerald light cut through the steel with a sharp crack and she plunged into the half built lobby of the sky scrapper as something hit her left hip hard from behind.
“Sura!” She snarled as she spun with the force and felt the familiar searing pain of a energy bolt shot. The nerves screaming and then going quiet as shock and adrenaline overrode the pain for a moment. She caught her balance and stumbled as her hip protested. Moving hurt but she could still walk. Whatever had hit her had lost a lot of its energy somehow. That was good because she was going to be busy very soon. Kaewer cut the illusion and slapped a basic healing spell, little more than a magical bandage, on the gunshot as she turned her attention back to the skyscraper. She almost noticed the gossamer threads magic woven across the lobby in time.
Instead, she found herself suddenly hanging in the middle of the lobby, bands of khaki energy suddenly pulsating all around her. Kaewer tried to shake her head but found her body suddenly heavy and slow to respond. The whole world seemed muted and as she reached out with her magical senses she found them similarly muddled. She could see vague shapes gathering around the edge and someone approaching through the confusion. Kaewer let out a grunt that seemed in slow motion and her mind raced. This was a very elegant and well crafted capture spell that was probably supported by at least two mages. Against most nactvin, it would easily have been enough to neutralize them but against a nactvagia… well it muddled magical and physical senses but not her brain. However, whoever was approaching would have a more permanent solution, be that a stunner, sedative or bolt to the temple so she didn’t have time actually break the spell. That left… a messy option.
Kaewer’s dangling form suddenly began to burn with emerald fire that forced the approaching goon back from the heat. Emerald lightning crackled down khaki lines, turning the lobby into a some sort of holodrama power room. People were shouting at each other to “Stun her!”, “Shoot her”, or “Take cover!” when the fire compressed into a disk around her and exploded outward as the electricity exploded from everywhere at once.
Spellfire was a nasty thing. It was capable of burning in vacuum and consuming metals for fuel and depending on the strength of the spell, it would demonstrate all kinds of properties. The wave of emerald fire was closer to a disk of plasma than simple fire and it simply melted its way through everything that got in its way. Flesh, wooden walls, body armour, (steel) beams simply sagged and melted under the intense heat. The enemy who were too slow to dodge it didn’t even have time to scream as they were simply cut in half and carbonized along contact. The storm of lightning that rippled out across the lines of the restraining spell tore through those who had dodged the fire, striking with enough energy to melt the body armour of the goons. Two particularly strong bolts found the mages anchoring the restraining spell and blew through their wards. Both shuddered and shook as Kaewer poured a stream of power into them, forcing the connection to stay open until little more than smoking husks hit ground. Kaewer hit the ground in a heap as the spell cut and reality snapped back into focus. Fire, smoke and screams created their own confusion as she sucked on choking air and tried to muster enough strength to stand. And then the ladishi building collapsed.
Chaos in the Kitchen
(Late Morning - 0452)34 Cresoukim(3), 2469
— — 0437, 33 Talorihi, 3 Cresoukim, 2469, 10th Age — —
The mountain of a draiker ialar jerked in her seat, spinning to face her open office door at the sudden cacophony that erupted from the kitchen beyond. Her staff’s shouts of alarm mingled with the that frantic screeching of ravens and the rattling clatter of metal on stone.
“What in the name of the Ancestors is going on out here?!” She boomed, stalking around the corner. “Pancake! Aruto! If you two are causing trouble in my kitchen, we are going to find out exactly what rust raven stew taste likes!” The scene in the kitchen was worse than she expect. No less than three ravens had swept in through the open door and landed with a careless clatter amid the largest stacks of bowls and pans. They were chattering away at the non-ravens around them, feathers puffed out and wings held wide. The remnants of lunch were scattered everywhere, half cut fillets of fish and vegetable were scattered everywhere and an entire half-rinsed pot of rice was dribbling down the side of one counter. In the middle of it all was a very familiar raven, one lacking the rust-red crest of it’s species.
“Pitch!” Oroda boomed, her voice smashing through the cacophony with the force of a thunder clap. Everyone except the bird in question jumped and turned to face her. Her face was dark with anger as she took in the disaster the birds had wrought of her kitchen “I will have your —” Her face paled until the mute gold of her skin seemed sallow and dull.
“(Kitchen assistant 1), go and get the communication board,” Oroda said her voice level but quivering. “I don’t care about the mess! Go right now!” She barked when the migeyumsa hesitated. The large reptillian flinched and scampered out of the kitchen, dropping down to all six limbs to sprint faster.
“Criwas, get me Captain Chivin,” Oroda said to the air and paused. “Actually, forget that and get me Aroven.”
“Vinialor Jirvaerka is —”
“I don’t care. I need to be talking to Aroven right now. And set Condition Ember for the Estate.”
“You do not have the authority for such — ”
“That is bird is Pitch. Use your fancy logic circuits and tell me what that means.” Oroda snarled and turned a glare on the rest of the wide-eyed kitchen staff. “Someone turn on the newsfeeds!” An ochre light started flashing in the corner, throwing out a dull brown-yellow flash every few seconds as the kitchen’s limits dimmed. Someone scrambled to turn on the holo-set in the corner of the kitchen.
“Alert. Condition Ember. Repeat, Condition Ember.” Criwas’s voice rang from out from overhead speakers.
“Alright, Pitch,” Oroda soothed, approaching the birds slowly. “I get it but we’re going to need you to calm down and tell us what happened. You know how the board is, I’m going to need you to work to be clear.”
“Boss, I’ve got something on the news! Some attack in (district name 1), lots of damage and some kind of disruption to local Pulse Net infrastructure.”
“Alright Pitch, Imugemare and Furigido,” Oroda crouched in front of them, expression grave. “I need you to tell me what happened. What happened to Kaewer?”
