'I assume they are all getting this.They have never mistreated us, that is why I am out here. To think Amrita Sedai sympathizes with us,' Kirin thought. He felt guilty about misappropriating equipment at first, but the present circumstances were emboldening him and enforcing his belief that what he was doing was righteous. Cheers resounded as the sky was cleared of ships as a temporary reprieve. An emergency alert sounded in their heads. The cheers stopped.
"They have safely evacuated." Kirin said with tears streaming down his face emotionally. That clan was fighting for them all along, they did not deserve to die. He knew Kadir Quill personally. His daughter was the serene side to the bubbly Sirona Quill. He was a huge fan of Astra. He felt empowered to protect the Clan, especially if Kadir had endorsed her by being in his Bind. The future seemed hopeful the date he came home after a bind with his Matriarch, a smile plastered on his face. He knew that boy would not bind himself, that smile was hope for him. Northern culture became popular in the years afterward, and the new Dissent was born shortly after the heirs of Halid were born. The burns on his arm from melted silica stung. He wanted to celebrate, he should seek treatment. They, along with some Droids, had eliminated twenty-six ships and ten thousand soldiers.
"A new stream is up. They want us to fall back to safety", Jengo said, interrupting Kirin's thoughts.
'There is no one inside. Oh god.' Nora screamed in her head. Streams on the social networking platform had come up of men defending their building with improvised weaponry. These people called themselves 'The New Dissent.' Nora watched in horror as men cheered as they took down a ship. The ship careened into the residential family building not far away from their building, where ten thousand people lived. The building erupted in flames. It was not a fault of the construction, but the high energy weaponry of the ships fired by the involved clans. More ships were descending from above. Solina was instructing people from above.
"Stop watching, this is not your fault." Kai pleaded with her. Nora shook as men screamed in horror. Her vision was tight on the AR screen in front of her. "Can you close her screen, Talan? She cannot hear me." Kai said with tears in his eyes. He had seen this in men before.
"No, grab her wrist, you will have to do it manually because of her privacy settings. You should be able to feel a small bump, about the size of a seed. Press and hold on to it, it should close at the count of three." Talan said.
"One, two, three. Take deep breaths", Kai counted aloud as he pressed down on her wrist and shut off her access to the Interface. Nora trembled like a leaf. Liem took a cylinder out of his pocket, parted her dress and injected a dose into her thigh. Her head lolled back. "That was much too strong for her," Kai said. Nora's body snapped back into awareness with a gasp.
"I have to tell them to stop and leave, we are not there and our studio does not matter. They will stand no chance against them." Nora said sadly. She had to go on a stream to tell the men to stop defending the building, but she could not stop shaking after she saw a beam take a man's legs off in a sweep. It was gruesome.
'The optics would be better if we told them we evacuated. We can use the momentum from them feeling like they have defended us to steer them towards aid instead of creating a controversy by not immediately telling them.' Liem thought. He walked to Nora and dosed her with another sedative. He received a dirty look from Solina. He shrugged it off. He heard Kadir and his mother talking in the background.
"We can go make a statement and ask them, just breathe." Liem added. Nora was going to be rightfully angry with him later. She was dazedly looking around.
"Sedai should send some completed units off the line to assist the citizens with resistance and ask them to back off. When we are collected enough, we can record a stream for broadcast. Talan, can you send out the first batch of Droids to Sedai and Allari? The next batch will be completed in time to attack the incoming troops," Kadir said decisively.
"Already on it. Thirty ships have entered orbit and are heading to intercept them. Hurry. We may need incomplete units as well", Talan interrupted, serious about his work. He was currently working quite hard using the requested physical Matriarch station for its ease of access. He knew that this was going to be a very difficult day, and he needed something that he could work quickly on. He was the expert on everything that connected to the Interface software, Kadir was a great engineer and entry-level programmer. He would be occupied in thinking about those Thirty Sedai S Class ships that were on route to destroy their factory.
"Allurai, can you send a public alert to redirect displaced civilians to the old Hudai building after medical treatment. We can house at least one tower there. I have locked off the server floors." Talan said. Allurai came to her senses quickly as she sprung to action. It was not him who asked her, but she was glad she was being utilized.
'I will release my own statement condemning the attacks and violence on the public and Clan Quill. Remember to talk about the tragedy happening to the public first. Optics, optics, optics.' Allurai thought.
"There is no need for them to defend our empty housing. We can rebuild it." Nora said. "I wish there was some way to get rid of those ships." Nora finished.
"Wait, direct those Droids in the building to a transport and send them north. Plot a course underwater." Kai said. Talan could assign new identities to their interfaces if it was necessary. They had the power. Currently, they rely on alternative means. Right now, it was just a slight delay as the drones were the last hop in providing them a buffer.
"A diversion? Wait, I see the strategy." Kehye said, feeling proud of his son's tactical decision.
"Do you think they'll believe that we have secret housing, or I am going back home?" Nora mused, still dazed. "It is such a good plan, Kai." Nora said, slurring. Their interfaces connected to the Droids. The interfaces in the Droids connected outside to the general population and sent out requests and communications. There was a slight latency. It was a concept she explained as a part of the network privacy and anonymity of her home planet, called a Virtual Private Network.
"It would be best to record the statement inside a transport and delay the broadcast. Can someone call one down from storage?" Liem said. He pulled Nora up, who had just calmed down into a princess carry. Nora had a far-off look in her eyes. His dosage was way higher than what Janel would ever prescribe her. Her eyes felt really heavy, and her thoughts were delayed. She felt him lift her suddenly, she felt resentment towards him.
"I am on it." Cerez said, looking at Liem with slight aggravation. Nora's head was obviously still reeling from the medication and shock of seeing all those people die. "Fathers, can you stay with the children and distract them from using Feather for now?" Cerez asked. Ahnil, his father nodded reassuringly. "Did you have to use yours? You are almost twice her size." Cerez tutted at Liem. Liem looked at Cerez and back to Nora.
"I am sorry about the shot. Sometimes you know what someone needs without them saying it." Liem said, swallowing a lump in his throat as she met his eyes. It had been days since their last embrace. He hurriedly carried her through the decontaminator. "I know you will have your qualms with misleading the people, since they are defending us." Liem said as he struggled to explain his concerns.
'He seemed to have a plan formulated. Did he strategize and predict this outcome? ' Nora thought as he carried her. He was making a real show of things. Nora had her doubts about Liem.
"But to keep us safe, I have to say we have evacuated so they can follow our identification north. Did you forget that I was there, Liem? It will also make it seem like they were not killed in vain," Nora said, surprising him. Something had changed in her in the past few minutes when they had been dealing with the crisis. She had a bitterness to her. "One thing, you forgot to bring one of the streaming staff along," Nora said.
"Oh." Liem faltered for the first time in years and had stayed oddly quiet. He twisted around to turn back to find Cerez following behind them. Cerez raised a hand quietly.
"Cerez, you always think ahead." Nora cheered, wiggling. Liem struggled with her. "I can walk by myself," Nora said. She struggled more.
"Put her down, Liem," Cerez said, narrowing his eyes at Liem. He cannot believe he had the nerve to dose her like that. If she was going to hurt herself, Janel was right there and could have easily. Liem looked back at him, his eyes widening.
"There is no time for this." Liem said. "Look at her, she was so drunk earlier, now she could fall." Liem said, trying to rationalize to his friend. Cerez's face changed into a look of disgust.
"And who do you think is at fault for that? You are never around, you have not contributed what you think you have to our relationship, you are distant, until all of a sudden hard work is done, you have to show yourself as the leader. She leads us. You use us." Cerez spat bitterly.
"Do not fight. People are dying." Nora said. She flailed around again. Liem's grasp on her tightened defiantly.
"I am the whole reason you are here. She did not choose you. We had to choose you." Liem bitterly said back.
"What do you honestly think Allari and yourself have brought in any resources? You have not even brought a fraction of what I have. She told us the truth, you know. About Sirona. Long ago, but you kept it from us. You had every chance to. I would not have cared, Liem. Neither would Kadir. He did not care when he found out, all he was hurt was by the constant lying." Cerez said as he looked bitterly at his best friend. "You planned this, you planned to exploit her all along by getting her pregnant as soon as possible, by using it to pressure her into silence and your mother into allowing us into your Bind." Cerez continued, he spat at the ground.
"It was not on purpose. I swear," Liem said. "We went through a lot together. You don't understand," Liem said in a pleading tone.
"Shut up. You did not trust us? Come on! You are just as cruel as your sister, you are just smarter in the way you planned. This has always been about you, you selfish dick. You forgot the goals and became just like your Mother." Cerez shook his head. He would punch him if he could.
"Put. Me. Down." Nora ordered, tears running from her eyes. Her face was flushed from hearing his betrayal laid out to her. Cerez looked at her crying eyes with sympathy.
"Nora, believe me. I love you. I always have." Liem said. He started to cry. He reluctantly started to put her down.
"Not now. There are men dying. We will talk. Later," Nora said. She was devastated, every word that Cerez had said made sense. The constant sex before they went home. He could have told her that they needed to wait. She would have understood. She was heartbroken, but it would have to wait.
"Hey, Flower, it is going to be alright. It was bound to happen. All of this. Let's go do this." Cerez closed the distance and patted her on the back briefly before urging her on. Liem followed them wordlessly and hopelessly.