“Are you serious about this?” Mirage asked. The first thing I did after leaving my eting with Helen was contact Broodmother in order to update the Family, and other local samurai, about the situation. That resulted in getting pulled into a bloated conference call with pretty much every samurai in the city.
“No. I just thought it would be funny to make up a story, and bother every other samurai in the city with it. Of course I’m being serious, jackass,” I replied. I was currently sitting across from Sharron, on one of the couches in her RV. This was a samurai issue, and if I went inside the residence, I’d probably end up ranting loud enough for the rest of my family to hear.
“Evelyn, I realize you’re stressed right now, but your sarcasm isn’t helping. You said you managed to get Helen to agree to avoid your section of the city, and back down once you could protect the entirety of the undercity from the antithesis. Do you think we can trust her to keep her word?” Broodmother cut in, before Mirage could retort.
“I don’t know,” I said after a few seconds. “She didn’t seem eager to carry out her plans, but resolved to carry through if the situation ca to it. Would she be willing to co into conflict with another samurai in order to carry out her goals? Maybe.”
“We should get rid of her. She’s a threat to the city,” soone said. I didn’t recognize the voice.
“Settle down Zero, it’s not that simple,” Broodmother said calmly. “If Helen is using influence tech, her followers are probably fanatics. If she disappears, or dies, they’ll just carry out her plans anyways. If anything, that could aggravate the situation.”
“Why the hell did you make that agreent anyways?” Mirage asked angrily. “You can’t protect half the city with thirty bears, how did you plan on tricking Helen into believing you could protect the entire thing?”
“I have two hundred and four bears, that’s seventeen full squads,” I replied quietly, “and I’m producing twelve a day. In addition I have several hundred surveillance bots combing the area, so if there’s an incursion my troops could react fairly quickly.”
The call went quiet for a minute, long enough to think I might have been disconnected, before Whisperer spoke up. “Holy fuck. I knew you were producing troops in Seattle, but I didn’t expect your production to increase to that level.”
“It’s still not enough to fully cover the undercity. It’ll take months to produce enough troops to station bears in every sector. Plus, I’m keeping all my transports on standby, in case Helen actually starts sothing.”
“You don’t plan on abiding by the agreent then?” Broodmother asked, surprised.
“Fuck no!” I replied, “I made that agreent to keep things cordial while the two of us were eting, but that doesn’t an I’m going to let her start a fight that may kill a bunch of innocent people.” Sobody on the call snorted in amusent. “Anyways, now that everyone knows the situation, is there anyone that can help deal with this ss?”
“You can count on ,” Sharron said through the call, even though she was sitting only a few feet away. “Unfortunately I don’t have a ton of utility, only direct damage. I can help you put down an attack, but not much else.”
“Oh oh oh, !” I’d recognize that voice, and enthusiasm, anywhere. “I can send you more surveillance help,” Angeline declared proudly. “I’m not great at direct combat, but I can help offload so of the strain of keeping an eye on the entire undercity.”
There was another mont of silence before Broodmother spoke up again, “Most of us are light on the utility, heavy on the combat potential. Stalker is our local stealth expert, but she’s currently up in Edmonton, on a business trip. We’ll ask her to investigate Helen’s operations when she gets back. If she can find a way to shut down Helen’s operation, without massive fallout, we’ll put together a strike team.”
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“What about Barricade? Building so of the shelters down here would really help stabilize things,” I asked.
“That’s what he’s been doing, ever since you brought the situation to our attention,” Mirage said, with a sigh. “After he finished rebuilding your little headquarters down there, he started working on the other registered shelters. It’s been slow work, he’s only managed to get two more operational.”
“I thought he was working on projects topside,” I replied in surprise. “If he’s setting up more shelters, that’ll cut down on the number of troops I need in the long term, but it’s not sothing we can rely on in the short term.”
“True. I wish we could provide you with more support in the short term, but I think the best we can do is make our presence felt, and dissuade Helen from taking any rash actions. I’ll arrange for a couple of us to make forays into the undercity over the next few weeks. Encourage Helen to keep her head down,” Broodmother said. “Anyone else have suggestions on how to improve the situation?”
“We could contact so of the other cities, see if they have a couple specialists they could spare,” Whisperer suggested. “If we can get the shelters up and running faster, or get Teddy so more backup, it would certainly help stabilize things.”
“I’ll make so calls when we’re done here today,” Broodmother replied, “anyone else?” The call was quiet, so she continued. “Very well. It’s not ideal, but at least we’re aware of the situation, and have made an initial plan of attack. Evelyn, I’m sorry, but it’ll be on you to manage the situation for now. We’ll get you extra support as soon as we can, just keep us inford.”
“Yeah, sure, no pressure,” I said, sarcastically.
“I’m sorry we have to leave this all to you, my dear, but you’ve proven yourself multiple tis now. We have faith in you,” Broodmother said, before disconnecting.
One by one the other samurai disconnected from the call, until it was just Sharron and I, alone in her RV. “So, I have the faith of the other Samurai in the city, but what I don’t have is the resources, and troops, to actually deal with the situation,” I said, laying back on the sofa.
“We’ll do what we can now, and hopefully hold out long enough for the reinforcents to start rolling in. Do you have a plan?” Sharron asked.
“I can’t fortify every sector, so I’ll start deploying squads in central locations,” I said, trying to work through the logistics in my head. “Since I only have a handful of IFVs, I’ll have to set up so quick response teams. If there’s an ergency, and the foot troops are out of position, I can send the cavalry.”
“What about Helen?” Sharron asked, as she leaned back into her chair.
“As long as she doesn't make any hostile moves, I’m content with leaving her and her little cult alone for now,” I replied. “You heard Broodmother, killing her may just trigger her followers to act. I think the longer this stalemate lasts, the better my position will be. I just need more ti to produce squirrels, for surveillance, and troops. If she makes a move, I’ll do my best to counter it, but without knowing exactly what her plans are I think trying to be proactive is a bad move.”
Sharron nodded. “Sounds reasonable. Just let know what I can do to help.”
I lay there quietly for a minute, before sitting up and looking Sharron in the face. “Actually, what I really need is for soone I trust to keep an eye on Jane, Alan, and the kids. I’m keeping an eye on everything with my squirrels, but I have so much on my plate that I’m afraid sothing might sneak through.”
“You think Helen would actually try sothing?” Sharron asked.
“I don’t know. I got the feeling she was willing to do whatever was necessary to get the job done, and if I’m in the way… she may try to kidnap my family in order to have leverage over , and I’m NOT going to let that happen.”
Sharron sat forward. “Hey, no problem, you can count on . I’d hate it if sothing happened to those kids.”
I slowly stood up, and looked towards the residence. “And don’t ntion this to the family for now. I have enough problems right now, I don’t need to deal with them panicking.”
“You’re going to have to tell them sooner or later. You may not be aware, but you’re not the most subtle person. They’re going to know sothing’s wrong,” Sharron said, standing up to join .
“I’m sure I’ll think of sothing to say, just later,” I replied, heading towards the RV door.
The fight over the undercity had just begun. I just hoped it ended up being a long, and ultimately boring one.
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