Here we go

Cover Art: Jack Wayne

Chapter 144

Harriet didn't make much fuss of them sharing a hotel room. The Specialist undressed while his back was turned, and he did the same. Bootcamp must have drilled into her the lack of concern for her or his body. They were just two soldiers getting dressed in the morning. The two single beds were neatly made, the window open to let in fresh morning air.

"That Terra woman was awkward around you, sir."

"There's no need to call me sir. I'm not a Specialist."

"If you say so." Harriet shrugged on her uniform top and sat on the bed to tug her boots up. "General Ironwood goes on about you enough that you might as well be a part of the team. Some unattainable bar none of us can measure up to."

He didn't note any real bitterness there, only frustration. "Sorry about that."

"Drill instructors are always like that. If there's one thing I'm curious about, it's whether there's any truth to the heights he holds you to or if he's exaggerating."

"I'll try and prove myself on this mission."

Harriet paused and looked up. "You expect something to happen, then?"

"Didn't General Ironwood brief you?"

"Only that I was to be assisting you in what you believed may constitute an attack on the CCT. That kind of thing is always open to doubt."

"Expect the worst-"

"And you'll only be pleasantly surprised," she finished. "I'm a soldier of Atlas, sir, I always expect the worst."

"I told you it's not sir. Call me Jaune."

"Ashari," she compromised, picking the name James so often called him by. She'd probably heard him referred to that more than she had his actual name. "And you didn't answer about that woman being awkward."

"Wouldn't you be awkward if two strangers were dispatched by the biggest military on Remnant to investigate your workplace and your bosses tossed you in front of them?"

Harriet shrugged. "Not really."

That spoke more of her confidence than anything. Jaune rolled his eyes and dragged on his long, white coat, then fastened the tan Ashari-style scarf around his neck and chin. The last piece of clothing was the most important, a bandolier of dust canisters on his left hip, a handgun on his right and his sword belt, strapping Crocea Mors above the canisters. Fitting all that together was as much work as it was getting dressed in the morning.

"I happen to look very much like her father-in-law." Jaune explained. Harriet leaned forward, interested. "I happened to meet him before, and we could be brothers."

"Are you?"

"No."

"You sure? Villages go so often and so fast that whole bloodlines can be lost-"

"Maybe we are and maybe we aren't, but it doesn't matter at the end of the day. All you need to know is she feels like she's talking to the father of her spouse, and that's probably making things a little weird for her."

/-/

The CCT was technically a public building accessible to everyone and anyone, and that was likely the explanation Terra would have given for why she'd brought her wife and child. At least, she might have explained that away if she wasn't busy looking like she wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Evidently, this wasn't her idea.

Saphron always was stubborn. I'm more surprised to see Terra looking like this.

She'd always been cool and collected around him before, casually relaxed and acting like some awesome big sister who couldn't be phased by anything. Had she put that on to specifically try and impress his younger self in front of Saphron? That was kind of sweet, really.

"Wow. You're right." Saphron whispered loud enough for them to hear. "He looks just like him!"

Harriet spared him a grin.

"Mrs Cotta-Arc." Jaune greeted Terra, then nodded his head at Saphron. "And Mrs Cotta-Arc, I presume. This could get complicated."

"Y-You can call me Terra, sir, and this is Saphron-"

"Hi." Saphron bounced Adrian on her hip and smiled prettily.

"Ganpa!" Adrian gurgled and his little hands reached out to grasp in Jaune's direction. "Ganpa! Ganpa!"

Jaune's eyes closed and he sighed. Terra squawked and probably turned bright red, while Harriet laughed and Saphron gasped, quickly shushing her child. "Adrian, no, that's not grandpa."

"Ganpa!"

"I'm so sorry!" Terra whispered.

"It's fine." Harriet answered for him. "Cute baby. What's his name?"

"Adrian."

"Hello there." The Specialist leant over in front of the baby, taking his full attention. She flashed an over-the-top smile and poked at him with a finger. "Boo. Peek-a-boo."

Adrian gurgled happily.

It was just like James to push his soldiers to be friendly to babies. Image was important after all. Jaune rolled his eyes and let it happen, sparing Terra the misery of answering to him even as he felt Saphron's eyes on him again. His big sister was a smart one for sure but even she wouldn't be able to put all the pieces together this time.

"Ganpa! Ganpa!" Apparently bored with Harriet, Adrian was reaching out to him again.

"You should just hold him, sir. He won't quiet down otherwise."

Terra choked. "You don't have to-"

Sighing, Jaune moved forward and into the baby's reach. Saphron handed him over with an innocent smile, making to teach him how to hold a child before she realised he knew. Jaune set one arm under Adrian's behind for him to sit on and then fastened the other around his back for balance.

"Ganpa!" Adrian gurgled and picked at the edge of Jaune's scarf, and then, like many babies, instantly decided the correct place for said apparel was in his mouth. Harriet snickered.

"That's not food." Jaune said, tugging it out.

Adrian giggled and leaned into him, cuddling his neck. Apparently, he couldn't tell the difference between Jaune and Nicholas even up close. To be fair to him, Argus was a long way from Ansel and probably only saw his grandpa a couple of times a year, the rest over the scroll. The thicker beard and different clothing Nicholas wore would seem like such a small thing to a child his age. The smaller differences like their brow and nose would be all but indistinguishable.

"He's not normally so calm around strangers," Saphron said.

"Well, he doesn't see me as one."

Jaune rocked him a few times. He'd never had much time to get to know his nephew last time. This time wouldn't be any different unfortunately. At least neither he nor Terra or Saphron had died the last time, though with Atlas ruled over by a crueller Jacques and Mistral's huntsman population gutted, he wouldn't have guessed at a safe future.

"You're good with children," Saphron said.

"I have two daughters." He watched her eyes widen and could take a guess as to why. He looked old enough to have children, but she'd been thinking of him as a long-lost uncle. "Has your curiosity been satisfied? I'm afraid that any resemblance I have to your father is just that."

"How can you be sure? We could do a blood test-"

"And what would the point of that be?" he asked, handing Adrian back. The baby had fallen asleep and fit into his mother's arms perfectly. "Even if we assume for a moment that your father and I are distantly related, it wouldn't change anything. Family is who you grow up with and love, regardless of blood ties." He tapped Adrian's sleeping head. "I'd think you would understand that perfectly. He is your son after all, no?"

Saphron hugged Adrian tighter. By blood, he might not be hers but just as Jaune would not give up Emerald or Vernal, she wouldn't her baby. "I'm his mommy." Her lips curled up. "One of his mommies."

"Precisely. As for me, I am Jaune Ashari. That's all I will be. Now, Terra, about the system changeover?"

His other big sister caught his hint immediately. "Yes sir. If you'll follow me. Saphron, I'm sorry, I have to work now…"

"It's fine." Saphron leaned in to kiss Terra's cheek and then waved with one hand at him and Harriet. "It was nice to meet you. Thank you for putting up with Adrian."

Terra opened an employee-only door for them to step into and beyond, taking them out the pristine corridors of the CCT's commercially accessible side and into the messier inner workings, where computers and boxes were stacked up all over the place, some brand new and yet to be opened. The new models were stacked neatly in a pile by the entrance, while a far less neat pile further on must have been some of the terminals that were being gotten rid of. They looked to be in good condition on the outside, but the internals must have been worn after goodness knew how long in operation.

"I'm sorry about Saphron," she said when they were alone. "I only mentioned you in passing and she was determined to see you with her own eyes. I didn't think she'd push anything…"

"It's not a problem at all. I take it these are the new units?"

"Yes." Terra breathed out, relieved with the change of subject. "Argus' CCT is too important to let the machines work until they break down. We have to switch them out for newer models regularly. Some of those are being exchanged now."

He could see that. Engineers were working busily to extract huge units some of which were two metres tall. They wheeled them out on trolleys and set them down, carefully plucking wires out the back and attaching little white labels to them, so they'd know where to insert them into the next machine. The air was hot and heavy thanks to all the computers warming it up, and that heat made the smell of sweat and coffee mingle in the air. An extractor fan was doing its best to take that away, but it could only do so much in the overpopulated room.

Jaune and Harriet ignored the smell, both having experienced worse – Jaune in Beacon's shower rooms and Harriet in any bootcamp. They followed Terra past all the working engineers and to another doorway, this one leading into an empty control room of sorts. Circular desks ringed a holographic display of the Argus CCT's range. It hung in the air, glowing a pale blue with all the computer desks facing it.

"As you can see, the connection is clear right now. We're being boosted by the Mistral CCT. This lets us see at a glance where there are any blind spots and dispatch people to investigate."

The map was centralised around Argus, with numerous holographic lines arching up like shots from a mortar, curving through the air to touch down in what Jaune assumed were other towns, villages and settlements within its catchment area. It didn't just reach them, of course. The signal was more like a circle, allowing anyone with a scroll to access its network.

"Any and all calls made are sent to the CCT, processed into radio waves and then sent internationally by our powerful systems. They'll then be intercepted by another CCT, parsed back down into data and send to the recipient's scroll if they are in its area. Without this, Mistral would be cut off from the world."

Terra sounded proud, as well she should. Working at the CCT was akin to working at a hospital in terms of the good it did society. Huntsmen couldn't even operate would good communication. Without the CCT, Remnant would be in trouble.

Which is what makes it so strange Watts is targeting it now. The Mistral CCT wasn't tampered with last time and not enough has changed. Salem isn't even aware Cinder is a maiden yet, so she should still be planning the fall of Beacon.

"Is it possible for someone to shut the CCT down?" Jaune asked. "In a malicious attack, I mean."

"It would be very difficult. The CCT is essential, so we run numerous closed-loop networks to bypass that. One might be attacked, maybe even two, but they'd have to infect a total of five networks at once to truly take us down. Communications would be slower if we lost one or two, but we can theoretically run on just two networks. Even if they took us down to one, we could still operate, just poorly. We'd have to ask Mistral to boost us again while we dealt with the problem."

"But the CCT would still be active?"

"Absolutely. Even if someone bombed Argus off the face of Remnant, it wouldn't stop the CCT. It would interrupt services and cause terrible delay for international calls, but Mistral and Atlas could pick up the slack until repairs could be made."

"Sounds like you've thought of everything," Harriet remarked.

"Someone certainly did. It's all about redundancy here. There's always a failsafe to prevent us falling. My work is mostly dealing with minor complaints and fixing those. Poor connection, lost service to a small village, Nevermore damaging the towers. That kind of thing."

"Attention. Argus CCT commencing planned broadcast handover in 30 seconds. Services will be disrupted in this brief period. This is a planned maintenance. Handover in 20 seconds."

"It's about to start." Terra said. "Here. Watch."

Jaune counted down in his head but he needn't have. The second the timer hit, the holographic image in the middle of the room turned a terrible red. Worse still, all lighting changed in the room, bathing the floor, walls and consoles in an angry blood red colour. A big light on the far wall started to pulse and spin, and he had the feeling a siren was supposed to play. Luckily, someone had pulled a wire out the side of it, leaving a hastily scribbled note saying "fix after" underneath it.

"Dramatic." Harriet said, holding a hand up. It was bright red. "Especially for maintenance."

"This is meant to warn of a crisis scenario," Terra said, laughing faintly. Her fingers flew over a keyboard as she spoke. "If this ever happens, it means our entire CCT has lost its ability to broadcast. That would be a huge problem if we hadn't already asked Mistral to cover for us. The `red alert` is just trying to let us know. Ah. Here we go."

With the push of a button, the alarm light stopped spinning and the room turned back to a neutral colour. The hologram in the middle was still red, with numerous "!" marks on it to represent lost connection.

"That's just this tower's connection, right?" Harriet asked.

"Yes. Those settlements won't have noticed anything wrong and they still have ways to contact people. This just shows that we're not providing it. Now, the teams just need to set the new computers up and then I'll start installing the software. If all goes well, we'll be up and running again in six hours."

/-/

For hours later had Harriet sat on a spare chair and Jaune tiring of his constant pacing. He wasn't the only one getting tired because Terra kept looking up with irritation. I warned you it would be boring, her expression seemed to say. It was boring. Greatly.

Had Tyrian lied to get him out the way? Was Watts even here?

Maybe. There was no denying he couldn't trust Tyrian, but other than getting him away from Vale, there wouldn't be much point of that. It was more likely that whatever Watts was doing, he was doing subtly. The man wasn't like Tyrian, smashing his way in and leaving bodies behind. If Watts was here, he'd be in and out quietly and without a fuss.

There were no missing key cards though. No one absent from work. The records from Terra's boss came back squeaky clean. Jaune drummed his fingers on his arm, watching Terra keep working. If there was a virus then she would hopefully find it, but his man purpose for coming wasn't just to prevent that.

"Harriet." His voice had her looking up. "I'm going to take a walk around and check out the other engineers. Stay here and keep an eye on Terra. Make sure no one interferes with her work."

"Yes sir."

He let himself out and paused in the hallway. By now, most of the heavy lifting was done and the new units were in place. People were more focused on transporting the old ones out or making last minute adjustments.

If Watts uploaded the virus onto those in advance then he'd not be here at all, he thought. That wouldn't fit with what Tyrian said, however. He'd told him that Watts himself would be in Argus. Not necessarily in the CCT, but close to it. Could he be planning to break into the system remotely?

If so, he'd still be in Argus, but he could be anywhere. "Damn it."

Walking down past teams of engineers, Jaune inspected the face of each, making more than a few nervously look away and some even get indignant at what they saw as the military intruding in their work. Jaune didn't waste much time with each, instead checking every person he could find. No Watts. Then again, if Watts didn't have an ID, then he wouldn't be getting back here – and he didn't need to. Cinder only had to insert her device into Beacon's CCT, and it did the rest on its own.

Stepping out of the isolated areas, he moved back into the public corridors and rooms. The lights were on and the steady hum of conversation continued unabated. Mistral's CCT was covering for the loss of service admirably. Argus wasn't as big a town as Vale, obviously, but it was easily the second largest settlement in Mistral, so the amount of people visiting the CCT wasn't to be sniffed at.

Watts could be anywhere among them, he thought. Worse still, I stand out like a sore thumb. If he sees me before I do him, he'll slip out and report to Salem. Should I go back and use the camera systems instead?

"Ganpa!"

"Adrian." Saphron chastised her child with a fond smile, moving over to speak with him and to calm her baby down. "I've told you before, that's not – oh, you're not even listening, are you?"

"Mrs Cotta-Arc," he greeted again.

"Call me Saphron, please. It's strange for you to address both Terra and I by the same name. Speaking of which, is everything okay on her end? She wouldn't tell me what was going on other than security business."

"That's all it is. Your wife is fine and working alongside my partner. I'm taking a breath of fresh air." His eyes scanned left and right again but Watts could be in any of the sealed off privacy booths offered for important calls. His current position wasn't bad for seeing those, and Saphron was ironically enough offering a screen to obscure his uniform.

"Ganpa! Ganpa!"

"Adrian-"

"I don't mind. May I?"

He offered his arms and Saphron accepted with the tired smile of a parent only too eager to rest her arms. Adrian reached out and Jaune took hold of him again, cradling the child against his chest and further concealing anything from view. His face was distinctive, but not so distinctive as to scream out at Watts from a hundred other faces. His uniform on the other hand would.

"Do you mind if I ask why you were so eager to find out my parentage before?" Jaune asked, both curious and to keep them close. "I expected the curiosity but asking for a blood test is a little out of the blue."

"That probably was a little much." Saphron offered a small smile as an apology. "I'd actually heard about you before now. Mom and dad told me how my little brother went missing and was later found. Dad couldn't help but mention you."

Nicholas was the curious one? He hadn't expected that. "Did he ask you to speak to me?"

"No. Dad doesn't even know you're here, not that it's a big deal. I don't think he cares at all. The thing is, I know dad has other family. I used to ask if I had grandparents when I was younger, and dad would always dodge the question. One day mom told me that I shouldn't ask because dad's parents and he weren't on good terms and he abandoned the family to be with mom."

It was rare for something to shock him nowadays – knowledge of the future would do that to you – but this news had his eyes widening. He'd never heard of dad having family, though obviously he hadn't sprouted out of nowhere. Jaune had always assumed they'd died or that dad was a survivor or orphan from somewhere.

"You thought I might be from that family?"

"Mom did, but then your name is `Ashari` and not `Arc` so that probably doesn't fit. I just wanted to know if we had more family out there we didn't know of. Even if it was from that part of the family dad hated, his parents would be dead by now. If you were dad's brother, I thought it might be good to give you both a chance to reconcile…"

"I'm sorry," he said. "I've never had a brother. Sisters, yes, but no brother."

One of the private rooms opened. Jaune's eyes zeroed in on it before an older lady of some fifty years stepped out with her husband. A tired-looking man in a black suit with a briefcase hurried in after, closing the door behind him. Jaune did another quick scan of the people present, looking for anyone who might be working on a computer or looking at their scroll suspiciously.

Unfortunately, looking at one's scroll was common in the middle of the CCT.

"You could still be distant family we never knew existed!"

"Still on this?" Jaune chuckled. "What if I was? Like I said before, it wouldn't make much of a difference."

"It would! Adrian would have a… grand-uncle…?" Saphron recovered quickly. "And I'd have an uncle. Or a cousin. Besides, it's not like being related means you'd have to move in with us or change anything. Wouldn't it be fun just to find out? You can't tell me you're not curious why you look just like my dad."

"I'm not."

"You have to be! Anyone would be!"

Anyone who didn't already have an answer, sure. You're really persistent, Saph. Glad to see becoming a mom didn't change that about you. As much as he wouldn't have minded a chance to interact with his family, even if it was a fake relative, he couldn't let a blood test show just how similar to Jaune Arc he was. Those kinds of questions would be difficult to handle.

A sudden high-pitched ringing sound blared out over the CCT, making several people jump and Adrian start crying. Jaune soothed him instinctively, rubbing his hair as he looked back and up toward the fire alarm ringing in the upper corner of the main room.

A fire? Not impossible with all the overheated computers and the installation going on, but convenient timing. If Watts was here and wanted in, this would be his chance.

"If everyone can please make their way outside." A beleaguered CCT employee called out from behind the main counter, her brown hair tied neatly into a bun. "There's no drill planned today so this may be real. Please head outside in an orderly fashion."

Jaune only just avoided swearing and pushed Adrian back into Saphron's hands. He made to rush back to the employee-only section but was stopped en route by the clerk.

"Sir, you need to evacuate the building-"

"I'm with Atlas military. I have authorisation to be back there."

"Sir, everyone has to leave in the event of a fire," she said tiredly. "That includes the engineering teams. Please, sir, I'll have to call security if you won't."

Security wouldn't stop him, but it would only give Watts more time. Jaune growled and hurried out after the other visitors, letting the clerk follow behind. He had his scroll out on the way and messaged Harriet asking her status.

"We're being sent out as well," she replied. "There IS a fire. Small one. We're round the back at an employee fire escape."

Outside, people were gathering on the grassy plain beside the car park, where people working at the CCT were explaining the situation and offering complimentary bottles of water from an exterior vending machine. Low sirens could already be heard in the distance.

Breaking away from them, Jaune left Saphron with Adrian and hurried around the back of the building, quickly spotting the gathering of engineers on a different patch of ground, off by a back exit flanked by several skips full of old electronics.

"Sir!" Harriet raised her hand, and he came hurrying over. Terra was with her, looking somewhat annoyed. "The alarm went off about an hour from completion."

"It could still be running while we're out here," Terra complained.

"I told you we're here on information of a possible attack." Harriet said. To him, she explained, "I had Terra close down the system before we got out. If someone is trying to use this as a distraction to hack in, they won't be able to."

"Good thinking, Specialist. Any news on what caused the fire?"

"Not yet but it happened inside the employee area from the sounds of things."

"It might have been an overheating server." Terra said. "It wouldn't be the first time the smoke has set off the alarms."

"Would hey be hot now? Aren't they turned off while Mistral handles the load?"

"Not off, but yes, they shouldn't be heating up right now…" Terra suddenly looked a little nervous. "In fact, there shouldn't be much chance of overheating at all. Not unless one of the new systems was faulty and exploded. We'd have heard that though, or there'd be someone explaining it to us right now."

Jaune looked back at the building and hissed through his teeth. He wanted to go running back in and find Watts, but if the man was in there, the cameras would find him. He doesn't need to be in there. This is probably just to get people away from their computers so he can crack into them.

The scroll in his pocket vibrated. Distractedly, he picked it out and held it to his ear, accepting the call without thought. "Ashari here."

"That is the problem, isn't it?" a suave and cultured voice teased. "You're not supposed to be `here` at all."

Watts. The screen was blank – scrambled – but the voice was clear as day. Jaune nodded to Harriet and moved quickly away, keeping his voice even. If this really was a trap, Salem might well be listening.

"I'm here on business from General Ironwood."

"Is that so? Then you won't mind me asking why you're snooping around the CCT, will you?"

"Not at all. With the Vytal Festival coming up, Ironwood wants us to run a security check on the new equipment coming in. Are you here?" Jaune pressed. "I wasn't told there was any reason why I shouldn't take this job. Sorry if I'm stepping on your toes."

"So polite. A change from what I heard before. Salem was quite upset with me, you realise. I had to deal with her displeasure." His voice dropped. "I didn't much appreciate it."

"I didn't much appreciate your attack on my fiancé!"

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about." The chortle that followed suggested otherwise. "I can see you by the way. Why don't you wave for me?"

Jaune's eyes slid left and right. No one stood out, but Watts was always more of the electronics kind of guy. On instinct, he glanced to one of the CCT's own camera feeds and raised his middle finger. Sure enough, Watts responded.

"How rude."

"Rude is wasting my time with a fire alarm. Childish, too. What are you doing here, Watts?"

"Our lady's business, Ashari. If she hasn't seen fit to inform you then I can only imagine you don't need to know. My work is all but done anyway. Unlike you, I am rather efficient."

"Where are you? In the CCT?"

"Why ask? Interested in a face to face meeting?"

"Very much so."

"Alas, I am not. I'm a busy man, Mr Ashari, and I have places to be, people to see. I'm sure you understand. I'll pass on news of your interest to our lady when I get back. Oh, and do say hello to Winter for me. It's simply `terrible` what happened to her." The man laughed and Jaune's hand gripped the scroll so hard it began to creak. "Oh my, you look so angry. Is it something I said? Or perhaps you're realising how impotent you really are."

"Goodbye, Watts."

Jaune hung up, clenched his fist and took a deep breath. Anger could wait – would wait – until there was a better time for it. He rounded on his heel and marched back to Harriet instead.

"Problem?" she asked.

"The CCT is compromised." He didn't wait for Terra to finish gasping. "The attacker has made contact. He's somewhere in Argus. I want every way in and out closed immediately. No one leaves without being documented."

Harriet saluted. "Sir. Yes sir!"

Jaune's scroll vibrated again. On it, was a text message. It was from a "W".

"Do you really think that will stop me?"

"You can hear me…?" Jaune stared down at the device, eyes narrowed.

Another text came.

"Hear. See. Smell. Taste. I can reach out and touch you if I really wanted to. Argus is one of the most technologically advanced settlements outside of Atlas itself. All your skill, speed and strength means little here, Ashari. Let me give you a little demonstration, shall I?"

Suddenly, every scroll, every screen and every billboard on the outside of the CCT and in Argus itself went black. Since everyone was gathered outside, there were no shortage of people staring down at and shaking their scrolls angrily, wondering why they weren't working. Jaune checked his own.

No signal. None at all.

It came back before he could comment on it, and soon engineers were laughing awkwardly. "It must have been a blip," one said. "Maybe the Mistral servers have their own problems."

Maybe, but not text message came through.

"You're out of your depth this time, Ashari. Rescind your order and let me go or a lack of signal will be the least of your – and Argus' – problems. Push me and I shall send this settlement back to the stone age."

Busy night tonight. It's the last territory war of the season in the game I play on the side, our last chance to take and defend our lands to get the end of season rewards. We have a lot of enemies and it's going to be tough to handle it. Well, I've a lesson before then and some of Arcanum to write for tomorrow. Fun, fun, fun.

Next Chapter: 6th March

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur