For a moment, nothing happened, and I found myself worrying that it wasn't going to work and we were going to have to resort to elaborate charades.
Then their comms network lit up, and I, metaphorically, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Text message? Why don't they just speak?"
"Who would actually contact us? Those Dosers don't bother talking."
"Narrowband transmission. Source... from the Grid. Can't tell you anything more, ma'am."
It took them a bit to sort themselves out, but after about twenty seconds, I got a message back. Theirs, of course, was an actual audio transmission.
"This is lieutenant Panosian of the RLF Sixteenth Operations group." A voice answered. Female, sounding a little rough. There were a million and one possible reasons for that, so I couldn't even begin to guess why. "We're here for Doser criminals trying to escape from the consequences of their crimes. Who are you? Our records mention no others active this far out in the Grid network."
Not immediately jumping to us being Dosers ourselves, despite the fact that there really weren't any other factions on Rubicon... My, my, I am impressed. Flatwell does run a tight ship.
"We are new arrivals to this area. You may refer to me as Drich. As to the matter of the Dosers you're hunting, they're dead."
A moment of silence, and then another uptick of their own communications.
"Dead? That was nearly thirty MTs!"
"Who the hell are these people?"
"I've got no matches or records on any 'Drich'. We're dealing with unknowns here, ma'am."
Mmm. It sure is nice to be able to listen in on these conversations. But, also, the RLF really needs a security update. I know I'm not exactly running around with the worst comms interceptors -my codebreaking tech is RRI and they were no slouch- but still...
"Your doing, I assume?" Her voice took on a slight edge, tense and concerned.
... And I think I could feel their heartbeats picking up. The Coral, flowing through veins, just a bit faster than before.
"Yes. Please do not worry, however, I have nothing against the RLF and my fellow Rubiconians."
"Fellow Rubiconians... Wow, that's a solid misleading." Ezra chuckled.
"I think I'm clever." I smiled back.
"Those Dosers are good for no one. Especially not groups that seemed to have been coming from raids."
Another set of 'internal' comms, before the lieutenant responds. "Glad to hear it... With that said, please understand that I can't just take the words of unknown as absolute truth. We'll have to confirm it."
The tram wasn't much further out. A few minutes at most. It was even arriving at roughly the same location, just a single bay down. "I don't mind. And I don't believe you'll have any trouble confirming the truth."
Okay, I definitely could feel their heart rates ticking up.
"Well that's fucking ominous."
"Even if it is creepy, shut it."
"Everyone on alert. I don't like this."
Panosian didn't say anything. I let the silence persist. After a few minutes, the tram sailed in, slowing as it arrived at its destination.
The doors opened. There were a lot of mechs inside, forty three in total, split as evenly as was possible by weight between the two trams; two Heavy MTs and scores of well armed, obviously maintained Light MTs equipped with full weapon arrays. More than enough to scuffle and wipe out the previous Doser gangs.
Of course, the doors being opened and me being able to see in meant that they were now able to see out.
"Fuck!" One of them said, because they were immediately in front of the previous battle site, where a ton of mechs had met a very rapid end.
"Laser damage, bullet damage- There's an entire line of MTs cut in half!"
"The only thing that could do this is... an AC."
The entire group spread out, advancing away from each other while keeping within line of sight. Smart. Minimising the potential damage.
"I see you were very serious." The lieutenant spoke, over the public comms, her voice only barely betraying a hint of nervousness. "I- Rubicon thanks you for services."
I laughed. Not that they could hear me, of course. "It is my understanding that the RLF maintains a bounty program."
"They're a bounty hunter?"
"This far out in the middle of nowhere? Not a chance."
"Not so simple."
"The Liberation Front does still have active bounties." The lieutenant begins, with a practised manner that spoke of training on this specific matter. "We, currently, do not have the resources or COAM to supply it to you, however. We would have to contact command-"
"Hold. It's not resources or COAM I'm after. Truthfully, I don't care about the bounties at all, and I'm willing to waive the rewards on one condition."
A pause. More chatter among the RLF. They were a little disbelieving. The lieutenant didn't let it show, at least. "... And that condition is?"
"I need a message passed on." I smiled. "Quietly. There is a person among the RLF that I wish to contact. A family member. The problem is, there is only one person who I believe is in contact with them, and I cannot quietly pass a message to them. Too many people listening in, you understand."
"Are... you serious?" She sounded incredulous, as did most of the rest of them.
"It is important to me. I am willing to pass up sixty thousand COAM worth of bounties for the sake of it, after all."
"Sixty-" She cut herself off, breathing in. "You can't be talking about an easy person. Who do you need it passed to?"
And here we go. "Thumb Dolmayan."
"You want a message to Father himself?!" The response was immediate, anger leaching into her tone. The RLF held a great respect for Dolmayan.
"Correct. And, I will be clear; It cannot pass through unsecured air. I am not willing to risk the safety of my family in that matter, and Thumb Dolmayan is in contact with one of them. Of that much, I am certain."
A wordless noise went across the airwaves. Something like a growl and a sigh. Anger and frustration, both.
"I am not asking for anything further." I 'typed'. "I do not wish you to arrange a meeting, or some form of communications. Simply make sure that Thumb Dolmayan receives the message, privately. It's a bargain, isn't it? Sixty thousand COAM for a single message?"
The sound of her drawing in a breath is so quiet that it must be right on the edge of her microphone not picking it up. "I... suppose it is a reasonable request. Especially for a task in lieu of the bounty reward."
"My thanks." Woo! Hard part, out of the way!
I sent a handshake protocol, preparing to transfer some files. "First, the message. Relatively simply, all told. You may also wish to keep a copy of this entire conversation on hand. I would wager that Dolmayan would be interested. Second, however, is additional proof. Another gang of Dosers, which you know as the 'Walruses', attempted to make their way through here recently. None of their MTs have survived in recognizable form. This, however, is camera footage of them being melted down, coupled with communication logs. Such would be of interest to the RLF I assume, but don't worry, I've no intention of claiming anything from it."
After a few seconds, she accepted the handshake, and the files were transferred across. "Thank you for the information." She muttered, tone more like it was an automatic response.
"You are welcome." I replied. "Do stay safe on the way back, would you? I would highly prefer not to see all this effort wasted."
"Right..." She said.
"You should head back." I told Ezra.
His AC finally moved, turning around and boosting back out of sight. Only a single MT happened to catch a glimpse, mostly because it was angled in just the right way.
It turned to face upper areas, silent for a few seconds. "Ma'am? There was an AC watching us the entire time."
The entire group shifted, some pausing, some moving suddenly, some launching scans.
"... Fuck it. We're not staying here any longer than we need to. We've got confirmation that all Doser elements have been wiped out. Everyone back to the tramlines, we're leaving."
Most of them seemed pretty happy about that, and honestly, that was fair. I sure as shit wouldn't want to hang out around an unknown AC either.
They piled onto the trams and were leaving within the next five minutes.
"Well, that went pretty well."
"It did." I agreed. No gunfire, no (intentional) insults, and our message was now on its way.
Even if they didn't actually deliver the message, chances are it would reach Dolmayan regardless. ACs are a big enough thing that the RLF's command elements had to be told about it. From there, they'd go over every scrap of information, looking for anything, everything. Dolmayan was part of that command element, and an AC pilot to boot.
Not that I thought that they wouldn't actually deliver it. They had no reason not to.
"Alright." I sighed. "Back to work. Let's see how much we can get fixed up before the next thing comes our way."
A day passed, and then another, and then another, and then even more.
I ended up melting down most of the MT wreckages from the Dosers. Most of it was BAWS MT Frame components, old and not incredible. They ran on generators that required fuel and needed Coral interfaces to actually get working for us properly. They weren't great, even outside of that.
Replacing my losses took time, but I had the resources for it. They had been very generously provided to me by the Dosers.
I was lucky in that most of the more exotic stuff that I would have required could be substituted or replaced because of Coral. The ability to just say fuck it and ignore fuel, computer processing, and energy requirements was truly incredible, and its only limit was the amount of time required for my mass to self-propagate. Something which I had already maximised as best as I could.
It would last my current setup indefinitely, barring some major outliers in Coral usage. It wouldn't last if I expanded production too much, though. I'd need to set up better propagation spaces for that.
That was a problem for significantly further in the future, though.
I needed a bit more security around here if I was going to do that- and I wasn't even sure if I was going to set up here indefinitely.
I was going to get some better chemical production going, though. I needed some better weapons for the AC, and that generator could handle the energy load of a full laser setup with little problem. I could make the guns perfectly fine right now, I just needed the coolant...
Well, that, or I'd need to reconsider using AC rifles.
Eventually, ten full days had passed, and I had all of my wrecked MTs back to functioning. I was still replacing some drones, though. The bastard things were tiny, but they were complicated pieces of machinery, and most of the ones that had been destroyed hadn't been so kind as to leave behind a reasonably refurbishable husk.
But aside from that, things had been going great.
So, naturally, that was the point where what few of the remaining long-ranged sensors of the Grid I'd been able to tap into detected something moving in- and fast, at that, moving at four hundred and forty kilometres per hour.
It was small, too, and for something moving so quickly, pretty stealthy as well; I only detected it when it was less than fifteen minutes away.
It was heading directly for the vertical catapult at the base of Grid 097.
I accessed the cameras, scanning for the thing. At a distance of over a hundred kilometres away in the middle of the day against the dusty, windswept landscape, I hardly had the best view, but I could see enough.
A flare of red light, silhouetting a roughly humanoid shape.
"That boost exhaust..." Ezra wondered. "That only comes from one type of generator."
"And there's only a few people who have access to them aside from us." I agreed. "Only one of which has a reason to come here."
I let my mind quiet, reaching out.
Faintly, I felt the buzz of Coral.
Fainter still; a wave within it.