Chapter 16 The Last Laconian
[Author's Note: Mild Disturbing content in this chapter.]
Contaminated City – Southern Belius / Tuesday, Tiberius 6th, 3175 (R799)
It had taken nearly a week, but Tessa finally had found some evidence that they were definitely on Rubicon, and where they might be heading.
For the first few days, she tried to keep low, and discover where from the long-range freighter her favorites had gone, only to discover that they had gotten off the Canterbury a bit earlier…
After tracking down the ejected cargo pod, she found some of their footprints…or peg-prints, which indicated that N, J, and V were on Rubicon, and with a Worker Drone in tow.
Still, even with that knowledge, she was at a severe disadvantage, only able to walk when her favorites could fly. That was highly inconvenient.
It eventually led her to the Contaminated City, an abandoned residential area built before the majority of the Grid Sectors began to dominate the surface. In this particular area, there were the corpses of at least two thousand Worker Drones.
"…" Tessa grimaced, saddened to see that more of these innocent and ignorant machine lifeforms were being cut down. Curiously, it seemed as though her favorites were not responsible for this massacre. The damage to the remaining corpses was too extreme, and the spent munitions were too large…this was the work of an Armored Core.
"…Shit." Not good. Not good. Armored Cores were the tools of mercenaries. If one had been sent to slaughter Worker Drones…it meant that certain fractions were still carrying out Sol's accursed decree. None of her favorites were safe. She wasn't safe either.
Fortunately, she had at least some semblance of an idea as to where they were going. She found a journal that appeared as though it had been left here after that Worker Drone her favorites had baffling left alive had looked through, left on a page which mentioned a location known as The Wall.
It was as good of a clue as any. Still, she stood out too much, and had too much JCJenson paraphernalia on her. Though it pained her to do so, she would have to part with her baseball cap and name tag. Either was enough to mark her for death.
The Wall – Central Belius / Monday, Tiberius 12th
She was two days behind her favorites. She was losing her lead. To be fair, she had to rest much more where those four machines would not, and was concerned about supplies. She had just about run out of supplies from the skiff she'd crash landed, and would need some way to come by some scrip, just to survive. Fortunately, she'd stripped her landing skiff of whatever salvage she could carry, so hopefully she could trade it at The Wall before she resumed searching for her favorites.
There was just one small problem. The Wall was under Arquebus occupation. Though not as controlling as the PCA, Arquebus was, perhaps, the third worst fraction on Rubicon, after the PCA and the Junker Coyotes respectively. Arquebus soldiers and MTs patrolled the street, reminding those citizens couldn't afford to leave who their new masters were. Tessa was fortunate she'd gotten a cold weather cloak to mask her form. A woman wearing a pressure suit on Rubicon was all the more suspicious because of the lack of spaceship traffic. Maybe she should look into getting some different clothes as well at some point…
One thing at a time.
Unfortunately, because of the aforementioned Arquebus occupation, many small businesses that would take her scrap for scrip were closed. Arquebus themselves would be too dangerous to trade with, as they were more inclined to just steal what they could from some nameless wanderer like herself.
She did find one shop, near the back the city, that hadn't quite closed just yet.
"Uh, hello!?" Tessa called out.
"Oh, sorry, we're closed!" A voice called out to her from the back.
"Umm, please! I have some good quality scrap to trade, and I am desperately low on scrip and supplies. I…really need to make a trade." Tessa begged urgently.
She heard what sounded like a sigh, followed by a single-eyed machine in a brown coat coming from the room behind. "Alright…what do you got?"
Tessa eagerly opened the other bag she had carried with her from her skiff. Other than a few survival supplies, she'd stripped the skiff down to the bults for any intact components that could be sold. She offered this large bag to the machine, who inspected it curiously.
"Interesting…" The machine noted. "You have almost the whole flight computer to a long-range exploration skiff here. I take it you just come down the well?"
"Y-Yes!" Tessa confirmed desperately. "I'm a prospector from out of system. Decided to do the long burn out to Rubicon, hoping to make it big!" That was her cover story. If she even mentioned the name Laconia…she could be put to the sword like so many of her countrymen.
"Well, alright." The machine shrugged. "For the whole set of parts I'll give you 20,000 Coam."
"Ah, I was wondering if I could trade some of that for information?" Tessa requested.
"Sure, what kind of information were you looking for?" The machine wondered.
"I wanted to know if you had seen any…" Tessa had to be extremely careful about how she approached this subject. "…Jenson model androids around here, or where they might have headed?"
"…Maybe…what's it to you?" There was an accusatory tone in the machine's voice.
"I was…hoping to maybe capture one, I hear there is some value in those machines." Tessa suggested.
"…Hmm. You're a terrible liar, you know?" The machine accused.
"Mmm!" Tessa panicked, but played it off as embarrassment. "Okay, you caught me. The truth is I've always found those machines sort of cute as a child, so I've wanted to meet some and maybe try to make friends with them?" She suggested casually.
"…Better." The machine shrugged. "It will cost you a thousand Coam. Still want to know?"
"Yes." Tessa agreed.
"There were four here two days ago. Three Disassembly Drones and one Worker Drone."
"Oh! That's great!" Tessa hid exactly how ecstatic she was. She was on the right track. "You wouldn't happen to know where they went, do you?"
"Mmm, for two thousand I do."
"Alright, yes please."
"I saw them walking north, towards BAWS territory." The machine answered.
"I'm sorry, did you say walking?" Tessa requested.
"Yes, you heard right." The machine confirmed.
"Thank you very much. I'll look into that." Tessa said politely, but was jumping with joy inside. She was on the right track! She was just two days behind them, and on foot too!
So, she took her 17,000 in scrip and walked north, until she was out of sight of The Wall, and started running.
"Hold on guys!" Tessa shouted. "I'm coming for you!"
BAWS Arsenal No.2 - Northern Belius / Saturday, Tiberius 17th
She was too late, by just a few minutes.
The further north she travelled, the closer she got to her favorites. She could tell by how increasingly fresh their tracks were. Curiously, she rarely noticed the footprints of the Worker Drone with them, meaning they were probably carrying it. Odd.
The Arsenal itself was a vast and imposing structure, built into the side of a cliff at the edge of a shallow ocean. Not nearly as massive as the Grid Sectors, but certainly a large building of significant bulk.
The structure was partly heated, meaning she no longer had a snow trail to follow. Wandering the massive and seemingly abandoned facility, she called out to her favorites.
"N! J! V! Where are you!?" Tessa called out. "Do you guys remember me!? Hello!?"
There was no answer in the loading area of the facility, so she moved forward, past the loading area and into an open factory for building large conduit sections.
There, she caught sight of several MTs armed with heavy electric stun weapons, firing on a lone figure, a figure with wings.
"Wha-" Tessa realized as the figure was struck with an energized bolt who they were. "J! No!"
Hit with a high energy round, J was knocked offline, and quickly collected by one of the MTs.
"No! Come back!" Tessa yelled after the machine, but she was more than a kilometer away, such was the size of the Arsenal that she'd never catch up.
Despite following the MT with J, she came to a kilometer deep pit in the Arsenal, and used a set of binoculars to look down the shaft. The MT with J had convened with another unusual machine, which was standing guard over the still forms of N, V, and a purple haired Worker Drone. The two large war machines loaded the four unconscious androids into a transport chopper, which quickly took off.
"No! No!" Tessa cried. "Come back! Come back with my friends damn you!"
But Tessa was small enough to ignore, and went unnoticed. What were they doing here anyway?
Needing some clues to continue her search, she took an elevator down the large shaft, finding a wreckage strewn battlefield, scattered across a water reservoir, which itself was contaminated by dilute traces of Coral.
Had they come here looking to profit off the Coral? They must have been desperate, and to travel with a Worker Drone as well…
Near the spot where N and V had collapsed, she found a weird, green and black energy rifle. Strangely, the gun had a sixty-four hour recharge rate. If nothing else, it might make good scrap to sell off…
Just something to keep her going, until she could figure out where her favorite little Drones had been taken.
Grid 072 – Central Belius / Auction / Wednesday, Tiberius 21st
After selling off the weird gun for a measly thousand Coam in Grid 073, Tessa had wandered the Central Belius Grid Sectors aimlessly, searching for any clue as to what had happened to N, J, and V.
It was then that she had heard about an auction for Worker Drones, being hosted by some business consultant to the local AI network. Among the available products, were her three favorite Drones.
She had of course gotten to Grid 072 as quickly as she could, but knew going into it that she wouldn't be able to afford any of her Drones. The starting bid for each of them had been 100,000 Coam, and she had only 15,000 left after her expenses.
She had no idea that combined, her favorites would go for nearly eight million Coam, with the vast majority going to J and V.
"No no no no no…" Tessa quietly panicked at the prospect. She wasn't stupid, she knew exactly why those two feminine machines had gone for so much.
While slavery was not uncommon on Rubicon, most humans or machines in shackles were expected at least a modicum of respect as living, sentient beings. However, the Jenson model androids that were left existed in complete black, not even a shade of grey concerning their rights. People could acknowledge them as living, sentient beings, but that was besides the point. Sol declared all Laconians, and by extension, all Jenson model androids condemned to death. What happened to them or how long it took them to arrive there was of no concern.
Tessa kept watch from a distance, trying to figure out what she was going to do next. She hated to admit it, but even among her favorites, there was an order in which she cared most about them. N was by far her number one favorite, her good-hearted best boy. J was her second favorite, as her first true friend in her life. V was…not as much fun with her as the other two, but she was sweet and kind, and well behaved to boot.
As she watched, it became apparent that her favorites had been split up. She was surprised that N, V, and a purple haired Worker Drone all belonged to one master, a woman, but, if her demeanor was anything to go by, a mercenary.
While the thought of N and V being thrown into heavy combat disturbed her, a mercenary was less likely to use them outside of their intended purposes, being either combat or maintenance duties. Plus, that woman allowed her new property to walk beside her, a sign of respect, even if a small one.
J on the other hand was kept in her cage, put on a truck, and was sent to a distant Grid Sector. That did not bode well at all.
Leaving N and V to whatever fate came of them didn't feel right to her…but she knew that J was going to be in much more peril. She made her choice.
Grid 079 – Central Belius – Residential Sector / Sunday, Tiberius 25th
It had taken a couple of days, and most of the scrip she had left, but Tessa knew where J was, and had a plan.
It wasn't a good plan, mind you, but given her desperation, it was her only plan.
Apparently, J was getting passed around from one master to another, being used up for however long they desired, then sold off at a considerable high price to some other master. Tessa was fortunate that she'd managed to catch up to J's location, but had to be quick about it.
Walking the interior of a megapillar, in a ramshackle residential sector, Tessa found a flophouse reasonably put together. There were some lightly armed guards outside, Coral Tweakers of the Junker Coyotes.
"Hey, hold up, what are you doing here, little girl?" One of the guards stopped her as she approached.
"…" It wasn't so much that Tessa looked young, she was most definitely an adult, but she was short for her age, standing at five feet, one inch tall. Her growth spurt had hit her late, and pretty much stopped when she was eighteen. She just hoped that they wouldn't search her before she managed to get inside. "I'm here to see Filat Kothari, about an item he's recently acquired."
"Kothari not here." One of the guards advised. "He's gone out for a bit."
Kothari was a medium level Lieutenant in the Junker Coyotes, and J's current master. Him not being there wasn't a problem in Tessa's plan.
"That's alright, I was hoping then at least to see the merchandise, and maybe make an early offer?" Tessa suggested.
"Okay, go on in." The guard shrugged, and Tessa was allowed through. Inside she found a packed living room being treated as a club with music, with people eagerly watching the large television. On the screen, a greasy, sweaty man in a space helmet was smiling madly, while orbital trajectories plotted a dangerously low periapsis around the planet of Caesar.
On the screen was his name, and how long ago this was recorded.
Bizi Bitiko: 22 Minute Delay
"…that puts me at twenty-nine days, seven hours, and thirteen minutes on tea-kettle, unpowered flight." Bizi laughed. "I carve it up around the big-gas, then load up more spin, going 'round for the Ringer. It's only three million clicks of hard vacuum…to hit a bull's-eye smaller than a mosquito's ass..." He laughed again. "…and fly my way into the record books."
"Huh…slingshot club." Tessa realized.
"Hehe, yeah!" A man stood and greeted her. "Good betting tonight, sasa ke!?"
"Ah, no thanks." Tessa shook her head. She didn't know Belter proper, but common phrases like "sasa ke" she knew, as that was essentially, "you know?". "I'm here about a Drone…something Kothari picked up yesterday."
"Oh, okay." The man nodded. "Kothari not here, but maybe you get a look at the merchandise, yeah?"
"Yes, that will be fine." Tessa agreed.
"Okay okay, but give us a sec, lot of scrip riding on this one kopeng, to pochuye ke?" The man gestured to the screen.
"Watch the way it's done." Bizi said on screen, as he breathed heavily, excited as he made his low approach to Caesar. "Sabaka!" He cheered.
"Sabaka!" The crowd cheered in response as Bizi entered the upper atmosphere of the gas-giant. "Bizi! Bizi! Bizi! Bizi!"
"Come on, come on, come on!" The man by Tessa prayed.
On the screen, Bizi's ship started to shake violently as it was buffeted by the upper atmosphere, shaking the man in his restraints. Then the bright flare of plasma on his craft shone across his face through his window as the ship dropped deeper into the planet's turbulent storm filled sky.
The screen went white hot as Bizi's ship was surrounded by plasma, and the connection cut to static.
Some of the crowd cheered, and some sighed tiredly, lamenting their losses or cheering on their gains, depending on if they had bet for or against Bizi.
"…" Tessa sighed. Bizi Bitiko was dead. Or, more accurately, had been dead for over twenty-two minutes because of light delay. Damn, she could have bet against him, and made some easy scrip.
"Shou-da bet. Shou-da bet." The man by her side playfully mocked.
"Mmm, yes." Tessa reluctantly agreed, feigning disappointment. "Now, I would like to see about that Drone?"
"Sure, sure, come on this way!" The man gestured for her to follow into a back room.
It took every ounce of Tessa's willpower to not scream out, or jump the gun on her plan.
J was face down on a bed, stripped bare, while…while…
"As you can see, Jenson pashangwala got upgraded, so no gots to cut a hole into it each time it's used." The man oh so helpfully pointed out. "Pinche puta's been thoroughly broken in. It's good for whatever you have planned."
"…" Fuck it. Tessa hissed as she took off her coat.
"Hey~! You want to jump in there too?" The man enthusiastically looked her up and down. "Maybe this night wasn't a totally loss-loss-WHAT THE FUCK!?"
The man was screaming because Tessa was wearing over ten pounds of C4 high explosive on her body. A suicide vest.
Naturally, the Junker Coyotes took offence to this, and anybody with a gun pointed it at her.
"Hey! Hey!" Tessa shouted while holding a button at the end of a wire. "Nobody fucking move! I've got this bitch rigged to blow seven ways to Sunday! Deadman's switch! Heartbeat sensor! I speak a word and we all go together!" She wasn't lying either. She'd used up almost all her scrip building this suicide vest to leave no possibility that she wouldn't go out on anything other than her own terms. In the worst-case scenario, she and J would die, freed from the pain of living in a 'verse that had completely abandoned them.
Still, Tessa had no intention of allowing herself or J to die in this shithole.
"So this is what's going to happen! I'm taking the Drone, and I'm going to leave here without getting followed, and then none of us gets turned into spaghetti!" Tessa demanded.
"Okay…okay…" The man who had been speaking to her reluctantly agreed. "Fucking crazy bitch."
Tessa ignored his comments and reached down to the bed, dragging J by the arm until she was standing. The little machine was essentially catatonic with shame and fear, and had been ignoring her surroundings up until she was forced to stand, and look at the woman who had grabbed her.
"T-…T-Tessa…?" J's yellow eyes brightened with hope and surprise. "Tessa!" She lunged at her old master, and wrapped her arms around the woman, burying her face in her neck. "Tessa!"
"I'm here. I'm here." Tessa whispered down to J, hugging her back for a moment. She then reached into her pocket, and attached a magnetic device to J's control collar. It was a miniature jammer, which would allow J to move without being noticed by her current master, and prevent him from sending override controls to it. "We've got to move, okay J? Stay close to me."
"Tessa…" J was openly crying, holding onto Tessa desperately. "Tessa…"
With one hand on the trigger, and her other arm wrapped around J, Tessa backed out of the flophouse, with the annoyed and agitated Coyotes close on her heels.
"You aren't going to get far, bitch. Coyotes gonna fuck you up, and take back what's ours."
"I'd like to see you try!" Tessa hissed back. She whispered back down to J. "We've got to run now J. It will be okay now, we just have to run from here."
"…Where are we going?" J wondered back worriedly.
"I uh…hadn't thought that far ahead." Tessa admitted. "Just stay close to me okay? Let's go!"
Tessa and J ran together, hand in hand, with no idea of where they were going, and now with the Coyotes on their heels.
Grid 082 - Western Belius / Monday, Tiberius 26th
Someone had been following her, and she'd managed to notice in time. Tessa wrapped her arm around the man's neck, as she tried to choke him into unconsciousness.
In response, the man elbowed her in the face, and broke her nose. Still, Tessa fought through the pain, and tightened her grip.
"Ghuh! Help-!" The bounty hunter tried to call out, only for Tessa to fight him to the ground, where she managed to force him to pass out.
"…Fuck." Tessa cursed as she rolled herself out from under the bounty hunter, sitting up painfully.
"Oh Tessa…" J had been watching fearfully, apprehensive and anxious. A part of her had been broken down, left indecisive and terrified. As much as she wanted to be of more help to her old master…she was simply too scared to intervene. She cupped Tessa's face, trying to wipe away the blood.
"…" Tessa was not doing too well. She'd been without sleep for over a day now, keeping watch and mobile while she did her best to accommodate and protect J. She was currently going barefoot, with J wearing her boots, a cloak, and goggles in an attempt to hide the fact that she was a Disassembly Drone, and also now prone to violating certain sensibilities regarding modesty. Because one barefoot woman and one cloaked woman was far less suspicious than one of them being a nude android.
She was cold, and tired, and basically out of scrip. She'd sold her suicide vest for a handful of scrip, but was nearly out since she'd spent most of it securing discreet transport into this Grid, but they were still deep in Junker Coyote territory. The set of bounties out demanding either their capture or death certainly didn't help, as low-level bounty hunters now tailed them around every corner.
"I don't…I don't know what to do." Tessa admitted. "I'm sorry J…I don't…I don't know what to do now…"
"Don't say that!" J argued. "Things are bad, yeah, but we'll figure it out! We'll get off this rock and we'll find some new home! And…and we'll get V and N back as well. I know you will!"
"It cost me everything just saving you, and we're still not even safe." Tessa checked the jammer affixed to J's control collar. It only had enough battery charge for another day and a half. "I don't even know where N and V are…and…even if we could leave, there's no where we could go J. No one in the universe who doesn't want us dead."
"That's…that's not true!" J argued. "I heard my master planning some operation against a woman named Carla and her Drone Sanctuary. Think about it! If she's willing to take in Workers, maybe she'll take us in too!"
"…It won't be that simple J." Tessa explained. "You're stollen property, and I…my name is marked for death. She'd have to stick her neck out pretty for just for one of us." Even as she denied it, she considered her options. She considered what she wanted, and what it might cost. "But it is our only hope left."
Standing painfully, Tessa kept J close, as she looked up where to find this Carla woman.
"Just…it's going to cost us. It's going to cost us everything." Tessa grimaced.
Grid 086 – Reuse and Development Headquarters – Western Belius / Tuesday, Tiberius 27th
It had taken another day and change to get to Grid 086. The corpse sun was down, so the only light came from various industrial activity in the Grid Sector.
Just outside of the main headquarters to RaD, Tessa pulled J aside, frowning as she held the hands of the android girl.
"Tessa…?" J wondered what had her old master so worried.
"J…no matter what happens in there, let me do the talking okay?" Tessa hadn't told J her plan. "And…I want you to remember, that you and N and V are my favorites. I loved you all the most." Tessa had to pull J down slightly to kiss the android on the forehead.
"Tessa…you're scaring me." J shivered in her grasp.
"Everything will be okay J. Just trust me." Tessa smiled painfully, squeezing J's hands.
Together, Tessa and J stepped back out and walked towards the headquarters building. She made contact with the RaD soldiers guarding the front, and announced her intentions.
Tessa had managed to secure a meeting with Carla by offering to sell a rare Laconian relic. As such, she was led to a combination hangar/office space, and found the woman with bright red eyes, smiling eagerly. Her second in command, "Chatty" Stick, right behind her, the AI Armored Core watching impassively with it's seven triangular eyes.
"Welcome, welcome." "Cinder" Carla waved invitingly. "I have to say, you've got me curious. A face-to-face meeting with me personally for the sale of a Laconian relic?"
"Yes…" Tessa breathed deeply to keep herself from getting too anxious. This had to be perfect. By her side, J was holding her hand tightly, looking between Tessa and Carla worriedly.
"And I take it this is the little cutie that's up for sale?" Carla gestured towards J curiously.
"Actually…" Tessa hesitated. "I wanted to make a deal with you. You see…the Laconian relic for sale…is myself."
Very slowly, Tessa pulled her sword from her back, noticing how "Chatty" Stick reached towards his master protectively, but patiently, waiting to see what Tessa did. With sword in hand, Tessa threw it to the ground. She repeated the motion with her revolver, slowly unholstering it, and tossing it towards Carla's feet.
"Tessa! N-No!" J argued, trying to pull Tessa away from this deal. Tessa fell to her knees, and bowed her head shamefully.
"My name is Tessa James Elliott, only daughter of the Elliot family, majority shareholders of the corporation JCJenson. And I was born on Laconia." Tessa declared. "I am begging you…to take my life as payment, to keep this little Drone safe."
By all rights, Carla should cut Tessa down where she stood, to fulfill Sol's decree of justice in the universe.
"…A Laconian corporate princess…" Carla realized. "Well…today is just full of surprises!"
"Please! Miss Carla! Please don't hurt Tessa!" J begged, hugging both arms around Tessa protectively. "She's always been good to me and mine! I-! I really don't know or understand why all Laconian's were sentenced to die, but I promise that Tessa is a good girl! Please spare her!"
"I'm curious…Laconian…why surrender yourself to me?" Carla requested sweetly. "Surely there are easier ways of dying?"
"I am…all out of options." Tessa admitted painfully. "I watched my world burn and be torn asunder, spent years in the black, on the float and on ice. Chased the only three beings I could ever hope to call my friends for centuries…and been brought here at my lowest point. I've stolen from depraved criminals, and am actively being hunted. I'm living in a world that condemns me to death for my very name, and I have no hope of seeing tomorrow. If I…If I could give my life to save my very first friend…then…that will have given me some purpose in life."
"T-Tessa…!" J cried, holding Tessa close to her. "Please Miss Carla! Please spare Tessa! I just got her back! I don't want to lose her again!"
"Alright, alright, I get it." Carla shook her head. "Please stop getting all emotional here. No wonder the Laconians were wiped out, you were all so overly dramatic." She sighed as she thought about the offer, before offering a wide smile. "Alright Laconian, you've got my attention, and you've endeared yourself to me by stealing from the Coyotes. Tell me, can you fight?"
"If-If I must, then I will fight." Tessa answered.
"Good, so this is my offer." Carla announced. "You see, I just lost myself some very valuable personnel today, and while I have some temp help, I could always use something a bit more. I'll take your life, but not to kill you. Rather, you'll pay me back as my personal Hound."
"As…your Hound?" Tessa looked up, confused and hopeful.
"Yep! And I'll even reprogram your little Drone's collar, so that you'll be her master instead of some dirty Coyote. Tell me, Tessa James Elliot, will you take my offer?" Carla presented.
"Y-Yes! Yes I agree to be your personal Hound!" Tessa answered excitedly. Offering her life had been an act of desperation. She really didn't want to die.
"Good! So, you're going to need this…" Carla found a simple Coral control collar, and offered it to Tessa. "I don't need to explain what comes next, do I?"
"T-Tessa…no…" J tugged on her worriedly.
"It will be okay J." Tessa assured her. "Even if this seems scary, this is even better than we could have hoped for. If giving up my name and my freedom is the price I have to pay to keep staying by your side, then…"
With the collar in hand, Tessa secured it around her own neck, and locked it in place. Carla activated something on her hand terminal, which bound Tessa to her for the rest of her life. "Now, Tessa is a fine enough name, but the rest of your name is one marked for death. From this moment forward, you are simply Tessa, Hound of 'Cinder' Carla."
"T-Thank you…master." Tessa bowed her head, and pulled on J, prompting her to bow as well.
"Thank you, Miss Carla." J also bowed, thankful that Tessa was allowed to live.
"Uh…If I may, master Carla…I was hoping you might help me find two other Disassembly Drones who are also on this planet?" Tessa suggested hopefully.
"Hey, don't go weird on me now with that whole master shit." Carla pointed accusingly. "Just call me Carla. As for other Disassembly Drones, it's funny you should mention that."
Author's Note: Just a short little chapter getting Tessa...that is, human Tessa introduced into this story. Things got a bit ugly there for a bit. I know J isn't everyone's favorite character, but she didn't deserve that. Well, at least she is back with Tessa now.
Tessa's role in this story is to fill the gap that "Invincible" Rummy left in defending Grid 086. She's basically just going to be another important side character like Walter, Carla, and Rusty.
So I finished chapters 20 and 21. I will definitely be interested to seeing everyone's reaction to those chapters. Pretty damn far off the story of AC6, Murder Drones, or even The Expanse. Just...something to look out for.
My future upload schedule is to release chapters 17, 18, and 19 to coincide with finishing writing 22, 23, and 24. Act 2 basically ends with chapter 24, and there is so much content for act 3 that I need to take a step back and properly plot it out. Roughly 17 AC missions and another 20-ish ideas of mine worth their own chapters...this is going to be a long fucking story, and I'm excited to get there.
I would have gotten this chapter out last weekend, but I'm fully into moving now, so I will be spending the next two weeks going through all the crap I've accumulated in five years to toss or move. After that I can get back to putting significantly more effort into this wonderful and exciting story.
Anyhow, that's all I've got for now. Stay tuned mi beratnas, and abide with Rubicon!
To undead3: Lizzy is definitely a character I'll have to make plans for, especially considering how she stepped up at the end of episode 7. Some of the other side characters already have a fate assigned to them, but that's not going to happen until act fucking 5. As far as killing of Emily without even giving her scene time, that was just to show how barbaric and cruel Rubicon can be to these little Drones.
To Alphasdragon: Thank you very much! I hope to keep surprising you with the many changes I have planned! Things haven't even begun to get exciting yet!
To Lord-of-fate: A lot of their fates will be revealed as time goes on. Things will be very surprising indeed! And of course Strayed isn't forgotten at all, their actions are still be something to be remembered and feared. As far as the month of Thermidor, that's just a weird thing I do since in ACfA we get the date of 13 Thermidor (July 31st) from the French Republic calendar, so it's a permanent part of my AC stories now. And more information about the Sol-Laconia War will also come about, and 621's role in that war.