Chapter 1388 (2/2)

When he returned to his shack, Randidly didn’t even let himself go inside to be tempted into doing a small amount of work. He knew himself better than that. He made a few mental notes on the Engravings that he had seen then he sat down to meditate. Truly, he had tirelessly been improving his plans for too long. Even if it was relaxing, the effort was starting to dull his edge.

So he settled down to wait until the Xyrt Brigade finished their preparations in left. Once they were gone, Randidly planned on once more putting his and Neveah’s plan into action to draw out and defeat Kaan Swacc. Perhaps even more than the Xyrt Brigade itself, this was the threat that Randidly felt was the most pressing.

Because even if Octavius told him that the Smog Clan wasn’t sympathetic to the Swacc Family, could that be true of each one of its members? Even if it was just a report of Randidly’s activities sent out to the Swacc Family…

Kaan might currently have lost his support of the Xyrt Brigade, but that didn’t mean that the Swacc Family had forgotten about its enmity with Randidly. So what Randidly planned on doing was eliminating the source of that information before the Swacc Family could find a new way to move against his home planet.

*****

Richter looked up from his training regimen and frowned at the individual who was standing in the doorway to his room. The soldier shifted uncomfortably underneath Richter’s gaze. “President Greyman asked for me? Is she…?”

Richter didn’t bother to finish the question. Since receiving word about the sudden destruction of Mjolnir two days ago, Theodora Greyman had literally thrown her desk through her wall and then refused to meet with anyone, claiming that she was engaging in ‘strategy meetings’ with her staff.

This was news to her staff, who decided that it was best to go along with the claim and refuse to comment until the President herself made her official announcement on the sabotage of Zone 1’s greatest weapon. This, in the midst of the impeachment proceedings for how Theodora Greyman had handled the treatment of refugees from the borderlands, made most of the people currently employed by the Zone 1 administration believe that this presidency was on its last legs.

Not that any of the senators who were sniffing around the Presidency really cared about the treatment of refugees. Even Senator Firefly had softened some of his open border stances as the number of people flooding toward the established Zones from bubble cities rose by a factor of ten. No, all they really cared about was the scent of blood in the air.

Theodora Greyman, the woman who had done everything right for a world before the System, had not been able to keep up with the changes the System demanded. As such, she was becoming the scapegoat for the fact that Zone 1 hadn’t lived up to the lofty promises it had given its population of its own superiority.

The soldier who had come to Richter’s room with the summons seemed more confused than worried. “Honestly… she… seemed completely normal. Like the past two days hadn’t happened at all.”

To Richter, that was more disturbing than if she had continued to unleash a tirade of racial slurs and broadly-aimed expletives that the entire staff had heard when she threw her desk through a wall. But orders were orders.

Wheeling himself forward, Richter followed the guard through the maze of hallways to arrive at Theodora’s personal quarters. As he rolled over the heavy lip of the threshold into the room, Richter couldn’t suppress a wince. Despite the fact he was paralyzed from the waist down, his recent training had made his legs extremely sensitive. But only in all the wrong ways. The jolt was agonizing.

As the soldier had indicated, Theodora Greyman glanced up at Richter from her paperwork. The only evidence of her previous explosion was the fact that her desk was different. Compared to the grand thing that she had shattered to pieces, it was plain. All the different folders and stacks of paper made the desk seem cramped. “Ah, good. Please, come in. I would like to discuss something with you.”

Richter wheeled himself another few meters forward and then waited for President Greyman to begin. But even if she had come to some magical realization, not everything had changed; she made him wait for a while before addressing him.

President Greyman’s hands were like a machine, methodically signing the papers on her desk and then moving them over to a different stack. Likely this was the work that had built up in the time when she was isolating herself. But while she dedicated herself to the task, it gave Richter the chance to carefully examine his employer. Both with his eyes and with his delicate image senses.

What he immediately noticed was the determination and peace in her expression. Her image was still weak, but it shared a similar fatalistic acceptance. Whatever had changed with Theodora Greyman, it seemed she was finally was willing to work on her own power.

Eventually, the papers ran out. President Greyman looked up at Richter. “Okay, finished. Let me give you your next assignment. After receiving a tip about the location of the Runic Tablet, we will be cooperating with Zone Seven and King Phirun. You will be Zone 1’s representative while I stall the impeachment proceedings. When you locate the Runic Tablet… you and the others that have had such impressive results with the unusual Skills will slaughter the others and seize the Runic Tablet for Zone 1. With that victory, I have no doubt that the impeachment proceedings will sort themselves out.”

Richter suddenly felt very cold. “You want us to… betray the other Zones? If word gets out-”

“Words only matter between two parties of similar power.” President Greyman said. Her gaze was very steady. “That is what I have learned from Randidly Ghosthound. Those deviant Paths your group has taken… its only been a few days, but I’ve read your reports. The results are very impressive. The joint venture will meet in eight days, assuming other information regarding the Runic Tablet doesn’t appear in the meantime. You have that time to make sure you are a dominant force.”

“The power of Nether…” Richter thought about the ache he felt in his legs any time he jostled them or activated the power. “It has a high cost. In such a short time, others will… succumb to the pain. And that’s setting aside the problem of giving that energy a portion of your body in exchange-”

“Richter.” Theodora tilted her head to the side and regarded him curiously. As though he were a math problem that she didn’t quite understand. “Our way of life is threatened. The rights of our people are being suppressed by foreign powers because we are weak. Of course there will be sacrifices to change that. But what choice do we have?”

President Greyman steepled her fingers. “One more thing. If you need more bodies… just send word. The Order Valorem is very interested in our current experiments. You are dismissed.”