"I don't believe it, not even for a moment!"

Glittermine did his best to control his temper as Stonefeller rambled on yet again. The takevir was becoming more and more unhinged with each passing day. The Ravalda had been called in for an emergency meeting and the subject of it was akin to a nightmare.

Allegedly, the observers Octavia had sent to their supposed allies in Inkopolis had come back with news of an impending invasion by the Grand Consortium via their underground water supply.

For him, it seemed awfully suspicious that the inklings would ask for observers only for them to conveniently find an invasion force heading in their direction.

The young officer in the stand, having just given her initial report, flinched at Stonefeller's rebuke looking confused. "But, Sir, I saw it. I saw the whole horde leave their base, I watched the inklings track their movement."

"You saw what they wanted you to see, Septain, or are you that easily fooled?"

Her confusion persisted, not understanding what Stonefeller was raving at. Glittermine was almost depressed that he could actually make sense of his mad ramblings. His suspicion was understandable to a point but proper cross examination was one of the reasons for this meeting, and insulting the officer was not part of that.

Octavia stepped in. "Septain, you witnessed the horde leave with your own eyes, but did you see them enter the caves that lead into the domes?"

"No, Ma'am," she answered crisply. "They tracked their movements along a map, all the way to the entrance. They believed they were coming to attack us because they could think of no other reason an entire army would go to those caves, and their argument about them using us for our research was –."

"Still your tongue!" Stonefeller shouted vehemently, leaning halfway over his desk, a frantic look in his eyes. "How incompetent do you have to be to believe everything they show and tell you. That horde is nothing more than a distraction, a false threat meant to trick us into letting their whole army march into the core of our domes. Do I need to remind you all that our waterworks and the nurseries are in that vicinity? We would never have a place so vulnerable."

"Which is why Lady Sever is there organising the defence and not here," Octavia said in a patronising tone. "And she is a very competent officer, despite your feelings on the army. Her scouts should be back by now to tell her and us exactly what's in those caves. Also, it's one of the reasons Lady Cuttlefish is offering the services of her… militia."

It hadn't sat well with anyone on either side of the Ravalda learning that Callie effectively had her own small army, but if this horde really was coming after them, they would complain about it after.

"They'll find nothing," Stonefeller insisted, but his tone made it seem as though he were trying to convince himself, as if wanting to believe this was some false reality, a deception. Glittermine heard him mumble, "it's all a trick. It has to be… they wouldn't…"

A guard emerged from the doorway and bowed. "Lord Speaker, a scout from Lady Sever has arrived.

The Lord Speaker waved them in and the guard then said, "also, Lady Cuttlefish requests entry."

"No!" Stonefeller shouted. "She's probably part of this conspiracy! I gave strict orders to keep her out. Can you follow orders, soldier?"

The guard, rather than cower, glared back at him before retreating back into the corridor, as the scout emerged.

The scout saluted and then joined the observer at the stand.

"Report, Trooper," Octavia ordered.

"Ma'am, Lady Sever sent me to deliver my report to you in person and she is already taking action." She took a deep breath. "The minute we entered the water we could hear them. We travelled down the tunnels until we spotted them in the dark. A mixed horde of crabs and Salmonids, thousands of them, staging for an attack! They seem to be digging, making the passages wider to allow some of their giants through. Actually, they seem to have been digging for a while, widening the holes over weeks or even months."

Glittermine shivered as a powerful feeling of dread filled him. It was the greatest nightmare scenario, an army somehow managing to bypass all of the domes' defences and attacking from underground. It was something that shouldn't have been possible. They had deliberately kept only one passage through those caves large enough to trade through.

After the initial shock had passed, Octavia asked, "How did they get this close without anyone noticing?"

"Ma'am the Salmonids control the territory on the outside of the caves. Any inkling forces trying to infiltrate there would have to fight through the Salmonids first. We found many Salmonids mixed in with the crab horde, suggesting that this force of crabs is allied with the Salmonids."

"Subservient to the crabs" the Septain corrected. "We saw Salmonids at the Consortium's secret base under Inkopolis. They were being experimented on, made more intelligent through genetic modifications using lab equipment very similar to what we used for our own genetic manipulation projects. They even had some of the equipment we made for them there –."

"Speak when spoken to, Septain," Stonefeller snapped. Glittermine instinctively leaned away from him. "You are to focus on the situation at hand, not on frivolous theories!"

The Lord Speaker banged his gavel. "I am the speaker of this Ravalda, Lord Stonefeller, not you."

"Then tell her to focus on facts and not inkling suppositions! For all we know, they orchestrated this attack on us!"

A crashing sound and a rush of dust and debris erupted from the inside wall as something huge burst through it. Glittermine ducked under his desk as debris from the ceiling rained down. After a moment, Octavia's voice shouted angrily through the dust.

"Callie! Are you trying to bring the building down on us?"

Callie stood in the middle of the room, wearing a close-fitting garment that was covered in dust and plaster.

"Apologies, Dictatrix, I was making a new door." She didn't seem particularly sorry, and she projected an air of impatience.

Stonefeller coughed and shouted, "I gave strict orders for you to be kept out of the building! What are you doing here?"

"Good thing I was already in the waiting room," Callie replied dryly. "As for what I'm doing here, well, I recently received a report of my own."

Octavia fanned some of the dust away. "From who?"

"From Agent 3 – rather, Executrix Scarletteri. She was filling me in on how and why the Consortium forces came here and how they knew about the underwater caves. Something I believe Septain Stormflow was getting at."

"That doesn't matter right now!" Stonefeller was visibly shaking now and Glittermine instinctively slid away from him, as if he might explode. "What matters is dealing with the present situation! Nothing else–."

"SHUT UP!" Callie's thunderous bellow shook the walls violently and caused more dust and debris to fall on them. Glittermine even felt his organs vibrate. Stonefeller was stunned into silence. Callie's eyes were those of a vengeful goddess.

The Lord Speaker coughed amidst the dust. "Continue what you were saying, Septain."

Stormflow nodded and took a moment to remember where she had been in her report.

"Yes, well, the Consortium had equipment that we have been trading to the Salmonids. They also have been harvesting golden eggs and had the same kind of biomass generators we use fueled by power eggs. I also saw their lab where they are conducting experiments that use similar equipment to our own, creating their own bioweapons, like those giant crabs."

"And we knew from evidence gathered during the Liberation about the remarkable similarities in their research compared to Octarian genetic research as well," Callie added. "Now we know why. Someone's been trading top secret genetic and biological research to the Consortium, using trading with the Salmonids – the Consortium's proxy, as a front. In exchange, the Consortium gave us golden eggs and power eggs, maybe some rare materials. I don't know if anything else came with it." She briefly flicked her eyes in Stonefeller's direction.

"But that's impossible," Hobber insisted, standing up. "We never traded any research. No documents, no data cards, nothing of the sort; only equipment."

"I'm sure you didn't know about it," Callie said, switching to a tone more gentle and reassuring. "After all, this scheme would have only been known to Octavio's most loyal, or else it might have come out that the Great Octavio had to trade the Empire's darkest secrets in return for basic resources. I'm sure intelligence on Calachora was also traded between the two."

"But how would intelligence or our secrets get traded without anyone noticing? And why use the Salmonids at all?"

"So that nobody, except for a few people who know who it really was we were trading with, could tell the rest of the world, which would be a bad thing for the Consortium. As for how, I imagine they hid the data in the equipment you traded. I'm sure they had some trick of giving information back. Maybe a dropoff under the water."

"But why are they attacking us then?" Octavia demanded. "Do they think we betrayed them because of our participation in the Liberation?"

Callie crossed her arms. "Apparently, they've been smuggling in this army for a while now, even before the Liberation. After all, if they really cared about us wiping out the crab gangs and considered the Octarian Empire an ally, surely they would have approached you, Dictatrix. But any communication would have made you aware of them, which means you would have known too much. They were probably planning to attack during an attempted invasion of Inkopolis, which would have happened around springtime, I imagine. That would allow them to wipe out anyone who knew of their arrangement and steal whatever research they could get their hands on, killing as many Octarians as possible in the process, and leaving Calachora and the domes to annihilate each other."

The Ravalda was stunned into silence yet again; not even Stonefeller was able to speak. Maybe he was afraid to, because if there was anyone Octavio would trust with this scheme, it would be his most fanatical and loyal follower.

"But now that we have outlived our usefulness, or become a threat, they've come to wipe us out," Octavia said quietly.

Callie's mantle flashed green. "Before we and Calachora have a chance to cooperate and fight together. They're on a ticking clock and they know it."

She bowed. "I hope this information will be enough to help you decide what to do after this is over. As for me I need to go back and help with the defence."

Octavia frowned at her. "You're fighting too?"

"I can take on at least one giant crab at a time. Marie and I beat two of them before, and we were small then. I have ways of dealing with the little ones too. This isn't a fight we can retreat from. The nurseries and breeding pools are going to be right behind us and it might be too late to evacuate them."

Octavia sighed. "Very well, but do not take unnecessary risks. The Empire needs you alive to help heal it afterwards. I and the councillors will go to the Grand Temple and hide ourselves there until everything's over."

"Understood. Do I take it then that my forces are permitted to act in the defence of the domes?"

"You have my permission as Dictatrix to do so." She shot a glare at Stonefeller, as if daring him to speak, but he remained silent, and shaking. "May the Admiral's Wisdom Guide you."

"And to you as well."

Callie bowed and left the room, going back through the enormous hole in the wall she'd made. Octavia likewise dismissed the two officers. They'd heard enough for now.

When they were all gone, Octavia stood up and everyone else looked at her. "Now is not the time, but when this is over there will be an inquiry and I will be having looong discussions with some of you." Her dissatisfied tone was, in a way, worse than her being outwardly angry. Regardless, everyone knew at least one person who was responsible and one department for ensuring the plan had been carried out.

Glittermine quickly rose to follow Octavia and they all made their way out of the room. Their bodyguards were all out, standing in the hallway with concerned looks on their faces. Callie's entrance doubtlessly startled them.

"We're going to the Grand Temple for safety," Octavia announced. I'll be sending all of the Ravalda's security detail to help with the defence."

"Wait just a minute," Stonefeller demanded, finding his voice again. "The security detail is made of Public Security troops. I decide where –."

Octavia whirled and grabbed him by the throat, forcing him to his knees.
"I am Dicatrix of the Octarian Empire, I give whatever orders I see fit in order to preserve and protect our nation, orders I will give for your execution if you ever try to countermand my orders again!"

Stonefeller knelt, looking back at Octavia wide-eyed with terror. Octavia seemed unconcerned with the ink weapon pointed at her by his bodyguard, Tabani. Everyone else was frozen, waiting to see what might happen, until Octavia released him and pushed past everyone else.

The guards quickly left and the bodyguards followed their charges as the councillors also filed out.

The Loyalist cause was done now. Stonefeller would be found complicit in this scheme, deliberately keeping it from the ruling Dictatrix and thus jeopardising the Empire, and many of the rest seemed inclined to leave regardless. If the crabs got through and attacked the nursery and breeding pools, it was possible they might go extinct as a species, and not even Octavio could solve that.

"It's over," Glittermine mumbled.

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing," Lillat whispered to him. "Maybe this really is the best way forward."

Outside of the Shromacci Ravalda, he looked around, seeing the decay and the ruin. How much worse would it be ten years from now? If Octavio came back, would any of that actually change? Would conquering Inkopolis, as remote a possibility that seemed now, actually change anything?

"Lillat," he whispered. "Go help with the defence."

She frowned. "What?"

"You'll be needed there much more than guarding me at the Temple. If the crabs break through it won't matter if there's a Ravalda or not."

Lillat hesitated and glanced around at some of the other bodyguards. It seemed that some of the other councillors had the same idea.

Probably the most united the Ravalda's been in years.

"Alright," she said finally. "But be safe."

"I'll be fine."

He watched her and the other bodyguards depart, suddenly feeling vulnerable and alone. Bodyguards became like another appendage after a while, a very close companion, sometimes even lovers. Now he might never see her again.

But I suppose that goes for a great many of us right now.

—-

Stonefeller lagged behind the others, stooling. Bitterness and anger radiated from him even while panic and terror filled his eyes.

"Sir," Tabani whispered. "We can call the special unit in to protect you."

"No," he said. "We have only one hope now and that's to retrieve Lord Octavio."

She frowned. "Sir?"

"If the inklings are busy attacking the Consortium in Inkopolis and defending here, then he will be lightly guarded. It may be our only opportunity. He can lead us out of this mess and restore us to our rightful place, bring us victory!"

Wincing, he brought his voice back down. "You know where Octavio is. Take them and retrieve him. By then the fighting will be over, the Inklings will be too weak and vulnerable to resist. Once he's here, it won't matter whatever inkling sentiments are left, the people will rally to Octavio and do whatever he commands."

"Assuming they don't kill him right after," she said. "The special unit was cut in half by Callie and her guards. Now she has an army here with her."

"Lord Octavio will find a way, he always does." He grinned. "We will take our revenge on the inklings, and then plan for our revenge on the Consortium. We will conquer all of our enemies and only then will we know peace."

—-

The damp air was full of energy as Octarians and Inklings alike bustled about, quick but not frantic. Technically, it had happened during the Liberation too but it hadn't looked like this.

Octolings and inklings wearing the same uniforms erected barricades brought in on trucks the Guard had brought with them, set up aid stations, and worked on large devices mounted securely to the backs of some trucks and hooked up to large pneumatic tanks. What their purpose was Avrika had no idea.

She glanced to her right as Lady Sever approached. "Ambassador," she greeted.

"Lady Sever. Any luck getting the children evacuated?"

"The Guard has offered the use of some of its trucks. That might be the only way to get them out. But the doctors are concerned about their immune systems, especially with so many here from… outside the domes."

Avrika clenched her jaw. Octarian immune systems were notoriously weak at hatching and some even required gene therapy to get them working properly. This was among many reasons they had to be kept in relative isolation until they were older, so moving them out of their protective isolation could kill them as easily as the crabs could.

"We're moving some of the older children. They should be strong enough. The rest…" she didn't finish the sentence and Avrika didn't ask her to continue. They both knew that their only hope was to stop the Consortium and Salmonid forces there.

The cavern was in the shape of a funnel, thirty metres across at the water's edge, and gradually widening as it ascended away. Pipes from the waterworks ran along the left wall, with some of them dripping from badly deteriorated seals. The ground was rough and uneven; and there were scrape marks showing where the equipment they'd traded with the Salmonids had travelled to get over the undulations, small cliffs and ridges.

The first set of barricades were built just behind a single sharp rise half a metre tall that ran the whole width of the cavern about a quarter of the way from the shore. It was well lit by floodlights brought in from Inkopolis and powered by the trucks themselves via long cables. The first line was currently being manned by more expendable troops: the remaining octotroopers, and the older Octarians, the latter of which seemed oddly invigorated.

Further back from the first line of barricades was a second line, stretched out over the broadest expanse of the funnel before the cavern opened up into a larger chamber. This was where the majority of the troops were being kept. The first line was not expected to last very long so the main force of the combined army was there.

The presence of the Guard allowed the Octarian army to keep a fairly hefty reserve with only six companies manning the second-line with eight more behind it. The Guard had two companies forward and spread out along the entire breadth of the line were the trucks with the odd devices on the back, arranged in groups of four each. She saw Marina talking to each of the crews in turn, pointing things out to them and showing them things on her computer.

Sever commented, "I don't know what these devices are. Because of the perceived security breach, our allied executrix couldn't tell me."

Avrika frowned. "Even you?"

"'Just in case I was ordered to tell someone', she says."

Avrika frowned. "So she already suspects Lord Stonefeller."

"I think she suspects all of the loyalists, and I can't be ordered to tell someone what I don't know. None of them seem to be here at the moment. I suspect Lady Octavia's idea of going to the Grand Temple instead of the Kraken's Den is to keep everyone from interfering. Only the High Mother is here, trying to get the evacuation going, what we can anyway."

She lifted her chin towards the doors of the dome. They were open only part way, the high mother carefully encouraging a small line of children out while nurses helped them into the back of the truck.

Callie herself stood guard there, along with her bodyguards and those of the Ravalda. A splatoon of other inklings stood a short distance away, acting as another line of defence, looking quite fierce as they held their ground.

"You are also fighting?"

Avrika looked down at the ink weapon the Guard had given her, and her grip on it tightened.

"It is my duty. My daughters are in there and they're too young to leave."

"I see. Well, you are within your right and your duty to do so, but you will be needed when this battle is over as well. We will not be saving the future here unless we are able to make one later."

The truck started and began rolling away slowly, with just two nurses in the back to care for about thirty children all crammed tightly together. The High Mother and the rest went back inside and began to close the armoured doors.

They both turned as loud whistling could be heard from down the funnel. A trio of octolings were running from the water's edge, blowing whistles and waving their arms frantically as they ran. A short distance behind them, the water roiled and a host of small soldier crabs came onto the land, the insect-like noises of their legs on the stoney ground making Avrika's skin crawl, just like it had in Xapheerell.

"So it begins, I believe the old phrase is." Sever picked up her own weapon and glanced at the truck carrying the children, which was now entering the tunnel into one of the connecting domes. "Time for the biggest fight of our careers."

Avrika nodded and glared at the advancing horde as she primed her own weapon. "May they not end here."

—-

A police garage was probably not the most secure location, nor was it particularly hidden or set up for a semi-secret meeting place, but it was a big open space, large enough for a large part of the Calachoran assault force to gather, minus most of Scylla's people and the Coast Guard, though both were represented.

Marie received more than a few questioning looks when she arrived. Many of them hadn't known that Calachora's own security forces had thrown propriety to the wind and decided to cooperate with the Bastion. Any protests to her and Scylla's presence however died when they noticed her two giant hallar guards along with the Grand Master himself.

After a short prayer for the success of their operation, Chief Pein launched into their basic plan.

"We'll attack in two groups. The regular NFS forces, and IS officers will attack through the tunnels from the warehouses and the Militia will attack through another little entrance we managed to make ourselves just a little ways from here." He showed them a crude map of the Consortium base and where each group would emerge.

"The Coast Guard forces will attack via their underwater entrance five minutes after our attack has already begun and pulled them away, letting them get in unmolested and hit the enemy from behind. This will also hopefully cut off their main escape route."

He pointed to the area on the map marked "Lab".

"If our primary objective is the elimination or capture of all Consortium forces in the base then securing this lab as intact as possible is our secondary objective. Whatever the Consortium's been working on we need to know what it is and what kind of research they've been doing. This isn't just a matter of national security but international security too.

"Once we've secured the main hall and the lab, we'll move onto the rest of the base." He pointed to a large dark circle at one end of the map. "We don't exactly know what's down here but we do know that a lot of the power eggs they've been getting are coming from this hole. I want to find out what's down there and deal with it. Whatever it is is apparently very unpleasant."

Marie hadn't heard many details about that strange pit. It had received barely mention at the briefing and only that unsettling noises emanated from it, noises of some unknown creatures.

As the briefing concluded and they moved to their appropriate locations, Marie looked around for any signs of her grandfather but found none. It was a shame but probably for the best.

She adjusted her gi, one of a pair made for her and Callie. It was thin enough that it shouldn't retain a lot of water but it also conformed to her body more than she would like, revealing just how curvaceous her once slim and efficient body had become. It wasn't suitable for combat in the slightest and she imagined her endurance and flexibility would be dramatically reduced as well.

She peered down at the Grand Master as he watched everyone else file out of the garage.

"I appreciate you all coming to help, Grand Master."

He laughed. "We couldn't miss this. Our future depends on the outcome of this battle, and on you coming out of it alive. I've been told you've finally accepted your role."

Marie frowned. "Not fully, but… well, you know. I'll do whatever I have to."

He laughed. "Well, I can at least guarantee that you will not have to worry about it for the rest of your childhood, but your birthday this year should be a very interesting one indeed."

Marie watched the Militia leave. Some of them gave her appreciative looks, them probably being Scylla's people who had been placed there. The rest regarded her with a mix of feigned indifference and resentment.

She sighed and the Grand Master laughed.

"Even Queen Immelina wasn't loved by all. There will probably be times where you will be very much disliked but sometimes that's just how being a leader is. What's important is that you have their trust and confidence."

Marie scowled. "Not sure I'll be able to earn that with everything I've done."

"We will see. For now, focus on what's ahead. You should be good at swimming by now."

Marie flashed maroon and followed everyone else out. Hopefully the Coast Guard's forces would be more accepting of her presence.

—-

In the deep darkness, a malevolent consciousness drifted. Its thralls reported that the the hard-skinned ones were satisfied with their presence, and that meant the rest of her will was free to return through the route they had hidden from them.

Her thralls told it of the soft ones plodding along on the noisy, hard, fish that they rode on, approaching the entrance to the cave. The hard-skinned ones expected to be told were such a thing to happen, but it had its own agenda.

The hard-skins had kept it constrained, tried to limit its growth and power, but it was smarter than them. The hard-skins had even helped with that, making it go through intense pain to make it better. Now it knew it was strong and smart enough and didn't need the hard-skins' help anymore. Even now its thralls came to it through the complex network of underground passages that only it understood. Even now they gathered in the darkness around it, not as many as could have been, but its other thralls needed to help the hard-skins, for now, to eliminate a mutual enemy. Once that was done, its thralls would kill the rest, food for its ever-expanding will, and it would continue to expand until everything was its will.

It let out an eager roar that echoed in the deep and stared up at the light above.

Just a little bit longer.

Author's Notes:

Not much to say here since this chapter is mostly set up but a great deal is going to happen next chapter. I hope you weren't too bored by all the politics. Hopefully, Callie throwing her weight around (literally) helped keep things from being too dull. Originally this chapter was longer as I tried to incorporate more of the rivalry between the Guard and the Militia in this chapter, but because it wasn't set up earlier and I couldn't figure out how to add it to the story without making everything a lot more complicated and messing up the pacing, I left it out. Stay tuned for Chapter 29: First Blood