Callie covered a yawn as they emerged into one of the natural caverns between two of the domes. She was just short enough to be able to walk upright without bashing her head on stalactites.
It was late and she'd had a long day. In addition to everything else she'd been doing, she had gone out after dinner to help the army's band unit with some issues learning new music. She had also supplied them with brand new instruments that could actually play the proper notes, which confounded their understanding of music. She'd spent all evening with them, helping them adjust. They'd made a lot of progress but there was still work to be done.
"Let's not make a habit of working this late," Callie said sleepily.
Lakshi smirked and nodded. "I agree. This is usually when the lights for the domes are also at their dimmest so please make sure you don't hit your head."
"I'm fine. I only have to duck occasionally."
They came upon an S-curve in the cavern, with the rocks of the cavern itself partially carved into and reshaped to allow light vehicles and wagons through. Here, the lights were completely nonfunctional, making it dangerous for most to walk through unassisted. The low-light goggles Octarian soldiers wore, including her own guards, granted night vision, but the goggles also negatively affected their peripheral field of view, so they generally didn't have them over their eyes when they were guarding her. They were just starting to slip them over their eyes when Callie's superior natural night vision saw several small objects arching through the air..
"Splat bombs!"
Callie's shout was like an explosion in the small echo chamber of the cavern, but her guards acted quickly. One of them swung their octoshot like a bat, deflecting one splat bomb to the side. The others were forced to dive out of the way as best they could. Callie was too big to move much in the cavern, but she had other ways of protecting herself.
Her tentacles untied themselves from their trademark bow but it was too late to use them to defend herself from the splat bombs so she slapped them aside with open palms, sending them towards the walls of the cavern, into the shadows. She couldn't stop them all, however, and Callie's robes absorbed one splat bomb, soiling them with toxic ink and creating a burning sensation on the skin beneath.
Ink weapons fired on them from the dark, her guards took cover behind some of the stalagmites and rocks to shoot back, but they were clearly outnumbered and would be overwhelmed if they didn't extract themselves soon.
Callie was hit by several ink shots aimed at her face. The amount of hostile ink she'd already taken would have killed her a year ago. However their attacker's fixation on her allowed her guards to get in closer. Lakshi managed to take one out in close combat, kicking them in the side of the head. Her guards managed to pin down several more, but there were just too many. In such a confined space however, the ambushers had little more room to manoeuvre than the ambushed, and there was more to Callie than just her size.
The beast inside her, already stirred up, was unleashed. Every fibre of muscle and nerve ending charged with energy, her mind focused purely on combat, and the elimination of her enemy.
Callie moved, lashing out with her long tentacles further than her arms could reach. They smashed through the stalagmites and caught the assailants hiding behind them unawares, killing them instantly upon impact and sending chunks of rock crashing throughout the cavern. One ran up to Callie with their octoshot, trying to finish her with a shot to the face. Her guards mowed them down mercilessly, and Callie kept going, ripping the stalactites from the ceiling and using them as projectiles. She kept jumping back and forth, her sudden and large bounds catching her enemy completely unprepared and making them easy prey. They couldn't shoot her enough before her tentacles tore them apart, one being literally cut in half by one of her strikes before their remains became splattered goo on the cavern wall.
The thunderclaps of her tentacles slicing through the air were like death knells, each one announcing the end of at least one more life. Barely two minutes after the attack had started, the cavern was reduced to silence, save for Callie's heavy, ragged breaths.
With intense eyes she searched the cavern for any signs of life, any signs of further danger to herself and her family.
Lakshi limped to her side and placed a hand on her leg. "Ma'am, are you alright?"
Callie got herself back under control, taking slower, more measured breaths.
"I'm fine," she said horsley. Her body shook once and then she forced herself to stand up straight. "How are we?"
Lakshi's face fell. "Three dead, two wounded. All of our attackers have started dissolving already. I doubt there will be anything left by the time anyone else gets here."
Hearing that three of her precious guards were dead hurt worse than anything their assailants had managed to hit her with. It was like a spike being thrust into her chest. These were girls she had gotten to know well over the past number of weeks. They'd become more than bodyguards, they'd been her friends and companions.
"Callie," Lakshi said softly. "We need to get you out of here."
Callie flashed green. "Alright, let's get moving."
There were no more ambushes when they left the cavern, and it wasn't for another two domes that they found anyone else. A regular army patrol was passing by and they were horrified to see the injured guards and Callie's roughed appearance. The patrol went to the cavern to secure the scene but Callie doubted anything of value would be found.
Callie was asked to wait at a nearby army post where a splatoon of regular soldiers was assembled to assist in her escort home. The alarm was raised and all of the domes were put on alert.
"We'll make sure you and your guards get home safely, Ma'am," the Novemtain at the post assured her. But Callie wasn't thinking about that. She knew that there wouldn't be any more ambushes today. Because the population of the domes was so low, everyone knew almost everyone else, which meant that finding disposable troops was no easy task. The only organisations that could manage that were the Army and Public Security.
"I don't think they'll be able to identify the attackers," Lakshi told her quietly as they waited for escort. "If they do then it would point to a rogue operation."
"It wasn't a rogue operation," Callie said firmly. "That many troops couldn't have all taken coffee breaks at the same time. No, this was fixed by someone high up the chain of command who could get that many troops in place."
She met Lakshi's gaze, her eyes like flint. I may not exactly know who is responsible, I might never know. But even if you don't know exactly who to blame for something like this, that doesn't mean you can't make them squirm." She lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. "And I'm going to make sure that whoever did this is going to be doing a whole lot of squirming."
—-
Tephy knew something was wrong the instant she saw the guards immediately switch from being off duty to donning their full gear before Callie had even returned. Following protocol, she hurried to the dining room where the rest of the staff was gathering. Yuma arrived moments later.
"There has been another assasination attempt." Her tone was even but there was a slight wavering in her voice. "We lost three guards. Two are coming back wounded. Lady Cuttlefish is suffering from saturation effects. Tephilla, you will get her undressed and wash off the ink. Once we've determined it's safe, the kitchen staff will prepare a proper meal for her and then the guards."
After Yuma finished assigning tasks, they all dispersed. Tephy headed for Callie's room and prepared another outfit for her and made sure the shower was ready. Were this Inkopolis, she would have prepared a bath too, but they couldn't spare that much water, not for someone as big as Callie.
When she heard Callie was arriving, Tephy hurried to the door. Her mistress looked like she'd been in an alley brawl, her garments soaked with foriegn ink and blood, discolouring the fine fabrics. Callie herself had a face of stoic determination, keeping a business-like manner as she removed her sandals and stepped beyond the porch.
"No problems?"
"None," Yuma reported. "But we did get another report from Inkopolis, if that interests you."
"Later. First things, first, I need to get out of this."
Without prompting, Tephy hurried after her, along with two other attendants to help. Callie was walking briskly so they had to jog to keep up. Once they got to the bathroom, Tephy worked together with the other two attendants to remove Callie's garments. The normally fresh and clean outfit stank terribly of ink, venom, and viscera. Tephy examined Callie's naked body and noticed that her tentacles in particular were badly stained.
"I got this," she told the other two and they nodded, putting the soiled outfit into a wheeled bin and taking it out of the room.
Tephy started to undress but Callie was already impatiently entering the shower.
"Wait! Callie, let me help you."
"I'm fine, Tephy. I've been showering myself a long time before I had you to help me." She sat on her seat and turned on the water. The blood and ink started to cascade off her body, creating a swirling dark-purple pool at her feet as it gradually drained away.
"I know you don't need my help anymore, but I want to." She got into the shower with her without waiting for permission and grasped onto the bulb of one of Callie's tentacles to scrub it with a sudsy brush. It was the proper way to remove mantle gloss, which had also acted as a barrier against the ink and blood, letting it all wash off together effectively.
"It's coming off nicely."
Callie only grunted, and Tephy cursed herself. Naturally she wouldn't want to talk about that. The ink and blood on her was from people trying to kill her, from people she had probably killed too. She needed to find something else to talk about.
"Oh, Vella came while you were out. Would you like to hear some good news?"
"Please." Callie's voice was suddenly fragile and pleading. It caught her a little off guard.
"W-well, I haven't read the report myself, obviously, but Vella told me that they've finally found the trail of the Consortium forces still hiding in Inkopolis. They're getting close, very close."
"Finally," Callie muttered. "It's been almost two months since the Liberation. I can't believe it took so long."
"I guess they had a lot of distractions. They did end up having to form a whole new army, didn't they?"
"They did, but that shouldn't have affected Inkopolis Security or the NSF. And what have Scylla's people been doing?"
"I don't know." Tephy frowned as she discovered bruises forming in Callie's tentacles. She would be sore tomorrow. "Right now I'm worried about you."
"I'm not the one we need to worry about. I'm fine, but what about the peace we've been working towards? I have everyone working on projects to improve life here, but it won't last forever. Soon, everyone's going to start wondering what's taking the peace talks so long, and that's when the Loyalists are going to start rebounding, and we'll all be in trouble."
Tephy sensed that further discussion on the topic would not ease Callie's mood, so she focused more on scrubbing, telling her about some of the happenings around the house and good things they'd been hearing from others about the improvements to life in the domes, like the gradually improving air quality and availability of electricity.
After they were finished, Tephy helped Callie into fresh robes and they both made their way to the bedroom where she handed Callie the envelope containing the report from Inkopolis.
"I want to be alone for the next half hour or so," Callie said. "Make sure to tell Yuma."
Tephy bowed and flashed green before leaving the room. She informed Callie's door guards then heard a knocking from the front of the house. Tephy hurried over but Yuma was already there, welcoming in a very shy and timid looking octoling.
"Mansia?"
The blue-ringed octoling locked eyes with Tephy and her cheeks flushed slightly. "Y-yes. I'm sorry to disturb all of you, but the Exarch sent me here."
"For what?" Yuma asked.
"He sensed that something was wrong and sent me here to… to check on you all."
Yuma hesitated before asking. "Why did he send you?"
Mansia flushed darker, her tentacles curving outwards. "B-because he thought you would trust me more. That's what he said."
"She's the last one anyone in Public Security would trust," Tephy offered.
Yuma seemed satisfied with her logic and turned back to Mansia. "You can tell the Exarch that Lady Cuttlefish was ambushed and some of her guards were killed. We humbly ask that he pray for their souls."
Mansia's tentacles began to glow brightly as they flared outwards, her face alarmed. "What? That's terrible!"
"I don't think Lady Cuttlefish wants to speak about it at this time."
"She will be resting alone for the next half hour," Tephy said. She gave Yuma a firm look. She got the message.
"I-I see. Um, while I'm here, is there anything I can do to help?"
Yuma shook her head. "I don't think so, but it is nice to know that the Exarch is thinking of us. Please relay to him our thanks."
"Uh, if it's okay, I'd like to talk to her for just a bit." Tephy's own face flushed a little. She didn't want to sound demanding given the situation, especially after Yuma had effectively dismissed her. "Just for a few minutes. I'm sure Lady Cuttlefish will want me once the half hour is over."
Yuma sighed and, somewhat begrudgingly, ascented. Tephy took Mansia by the hand and began leading her on a tour of the house.
"It's all so amazing," Mansia said in awe, mouth agape as she stared wide-eyed at everything around her. "It's like a whole other world. Was this really just a warehouse?"
"Yeah, it was. Amazing what a little creativity can do, huh? The materials were mostly from Inkopolis but it was all made by octolings. Your people really are amazing."
"You think so? But Lady Cuttlefish has been doing so much for us! The extra water, the better air, electricity, light, and soon, even food. We can't be thankful enough."
So, they were speaking of such things in the temple then. No doubt the Exarch had an information network of his own keeping an eye on things. One of them must have tipped him off. Did that mean he knew who was responsible?
Tephy brought them to the guest's quarters and they sat on her bed. She got out her phone and used it to show Mansia pictures of Inkopolis. "It's mostly Xapheerell Ward. That's where I met most of the people here, but there's also a few pictures of the dockyards and the temple I grew up in."
After a few photos, Tephy realised that Mansia wasn't focused on them. Instead, she seemed to be more interested in her tentacles.
"Is something wrong?"
"You have such pretty colours. It's almost like my rings are your whole mantle."
"Huh? Oh… no, I can't glow like that, I'm a humboldt squid. Firefly squids like Marie can glow like that though. I've seen her do it during a concert. She has beautiful displays."
Mansia gently put a hand on the bulb of Tephy's tentacles and rubbed it. "Ever since we first met, I wanted to see you again. All my life, everyone's kept their distance from me, everyone's been afraid of me on sight. I wanted to ask you why you weren't."
Tephy thought about it for a moment. How supposedly dangerous Mansia was had never really entered her head.
"I guess it's because I didn't know what you were, but it didn't really change anything when I found out either. Think about it, do you think you're more dangerous than Ca– than Lady Cuttlefish?"
Mansia paused. "I… suppose not, but she's nobility. A leader is expected to be powerful."
"No reason you can't be a leader too, and besides, just about anyone could kill someone if they really wanted to. That's something I've learned since I got involved in all this. I saw it during the Liberation; I've seen it here. When it comes down to it, most people don't want to kill other people. Whether you kill someone with your venom or with a weapon, is there really a difference?"
Mansia's tentacles twisted. "I… suppose not. Is it really that simple?"
"I think so. Maybe it's just because I've been around so many people who are considered different – and deadly. I guess I'm just used to it. Being different isn't a bad thing, it's other people who make it seem like it is. Growing up in the temple, I was told that fear is at the root of what makes people hate others."
"I… think I understand. I think my mother once told me the same."
Tephy frowned. "I thought you were an orphan."
"Not an orphan. The temple is the only place that would accept me, because I am a blue ring. An Octarian mother would never abandon her child."
Tephy's hands clenched and she looked away. "Wish I could say the same for us. My mother never even gave me a name. She barely went through the trouble of hatching me."
Mansia stared at her, stunned, horrified. "I… I'm sorry."
Tephy pulsed grey. "I'm over it. I have a new family now." She checked her phone's clock and stood up.
"I have to get back to work. You should head back to the temple too."
"Oh… y-yes, yes, I should report back to the exarch. Um… thank you, Tephilla, for speaking with me."
"I was happy to."
After seeing Mansia out, Tephy returned to Callie's room, cautiously creaking the door open and silently slipping inside.
She found Callie on her chair, staring at the screen showing a blown up image of the papers she'd been brought.
Tephy cleared her throat. "Callie, dinner is almost ready. Would you like to eat here or in the dining room?"
Callie slowly turned her head, and Tephy froze. The look in Callie's eyes was… terrible. She wasn't sure how to describe it in one word. There was anger, frustration, and disgust, amongst a host of other emotions. The even calmness of her mantle was a sign that it was a highly concentrated and focused form of fury.
"The monarch just resigned and it looks like the Assembly would prefer a false peace with the Consortium than a genuine one with the Octarian Empire."
Tephy's jaw fell. She couldn't believe the ludicrousness of what she just heard. "What? But how? Why? It was all going so well! Did having your conspiracy exposed do this?"
"What it did was create confusion and misunderstanding. The Consortium gave Calachora an ultimatum, and if Calachora wants to avoid war with the Consortium, this is their only choice, even if it is a lie."
Tephy felt a surge of panic. "Wh-wha-what do we do?"
Callie stared into her eyes with her own burning golden orbs. "I want you to send Marie a message. Tell her to get her funnel into gear and give me options or everything is over."
—-
"How could you be so stupid? Do you have any idea how poorly this reflects on you, Director? Do you have even the slightest clue?"
Stonefeller maintained the smouldering look he was famous for, remarkably containing his infamous temper even as Glittermine berated him again and again.
"I don't care about your approval, Lord of Culture, or anyone else's except Lord Octavio's."
"Even he would criticise what you did," Lord Ida said through a tight jaw. "Trying to assassinate our biggest asset when the peace talks are on the verge of falling right through, after everything she's done for our nation, you want to kill her purely on the basis that she's an inkling?"
"What better reason do I need?"
"You've failed to provide any other reason," Skywatcher yelled at him. She flailed her arms, her vestments kicking up a small cloud of dust from the table. "Other than your own personal dislike and distrust of her, you haven't given a single compelling reason why she deserves to be killed in spite of everything she's done, everything she will do."
"All she'll do is ruin our nation. Our people are already turning soft." Stonefeller folded his hands and leaned back in his chair. "I can't be the only one who's noticed her rapidly growing popularity up to now. They treat her with more reverence than they do the Dictatrix."
"Doesn't mean that's where their loyalties lie," Glittermine argued. "There's a difference between being popular and being trusted to lead a nation, and Callie has made it clear that she's been acting on Octavia's orders."
"Technically yes, but most of these were her ideas and everyone knows it."
"I frankly don't care." Skywatcher said in a dismissive tone. "If war is forced on us, I'm confident we will win. As long as Callie is here, then her family and comrades back in Inkopolis won't fight us, and Calachora's remaining forces aren't a match for our army."
"If we can rebuild it," Ida muttered. "We don't have much of an army left."
"Which is why we need her, as a hostage, if necessary."
Stonefeller snorted. "Please, even as a hostage she would be given authority and live like a queen, as she has been since she got here. That palace she built right in our own domes is a slap to the face of every Octarian."
Glittermine frowned. Stonefeller would have normally argued that much more vehemently. Why did he seem so calm this time around? What was going on in that dark mind of his?
Ida made a thoughtful hum, even through his scowl. "I can see why you might think that way, but compared to the troops who would end up fighting this war, don't we also live in luxury? Malnutrition was a constant issue among the population outside the core domes until very recently. We've never suffered that."
"But we don't live in palaces."
"True, but most of us aren't the size of a large vehicle. Callie has needs that we simply would not be able to provide. Besides, if we were in her position, I imagine we would like to make our own homes more comfortable if we could too."
"You're making excuses for her."
"If it means she can keep working as well as she has been, she can make whatever excuses she wants." Ida shook his head and his tentacles shrugged. "You can't convince me she deserves to die."
"Or me or the Exarch," Skywatcher added, putting emphasis on the word "exarch".
"I'm not as trusting as you two," Glittermine said. "I don't think I will ever trust her, but if someone were exposed trying to kill her then it would cause a rift among the people when we cannot afford one. We must be united if we're going to survive the storm that's coming. One way or another, the next few weeks will probably determine once and for all the fate of our people and we have to use all means at our disposal, even if it's an inkling."
Stonfeller silently glared back at all of them, his eyes like hot embers. They were not the eyes of a defeated octoling.
He's going to try again, and do something stupid. He had no choice, he would have to tell Octavia point blank that Stonefeller was the one responsible. She suspected him anyway, and if he had to be sacrificed to preserve the Loyalists as a whole, then so be it.
—-
"They acted just like you said they would, My Lord. They've all been taken in."
Brath Stonefeller crossed the dark of his office to sit behind his desk. The badly worn chair was as uncomfortable as ever, a metaphor for his present position.
Tabani, his bodyguard, sat across from him, her purple eyes almost glowing even in the darkness. The eagerness in them was apparent.
"Glittermine will fall in line once he feels safe to do so. The others will all have to be purged, as expected. Ida's loss will be felt, but I couldn't care less about the Ministry of Providence. They're a drain on resources, nothing more. They should have been absorbed into the Ministry of Culture from the start, and as far as I'm concerned, the Exarch is a traitor. We'll deal with him when the time comes."
He lit the small lantern on his desk and began sorting through the pile of datapads. Many of them were barely functioning anymore. No matter, the inklings sounded like they had plenty to spare.
He found one datapad in particular and began to type. "What's the status of the next trade with the Salmonids?"
"On schedule, though, it's smaller than before."
"No matter. We will only need to do this one last time. After that, this farce will be over and things will be as they should be."
Tabani's eyes flickered. "Will Karinkos feel the same way?"
"They will if they want the inklings dealt with and our genoscience. We've fulfilled our part of the bargain while they've yet to give us all the resources they promised." He finished typing and reviewed it before handing it across to Tabani. "When the time's right, you'll have to lead the mission. I want everything in place within a week."
A nasty smile spread across her face. "And will I be able to kill Callie myself?"
"If you get the chance, just remember your priorities."
"The Empire must come first," she quoted.
"Yes, the Empire always comes first."
Author's Notes:
A shorter chapter, here we focus on Callie and an assassination attempt on her. Clearly, the stress of her position is starting to get to her. The scene between Mansia and Tephy was a late addition to this story but I felt it necessary to flush out both their characters a little to make things that happen later on make a bit more sense. There is obviously growing discourse among the Loyalists. Hardly surprising when Callie has been making herself indispensable.
