(Multimage Chronicles, Set 1, Chapter 25: Empires Forged Unto The Future)

(1 August 2049, 0700 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Government Building, Yuhua, China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)

General Kim Yang stood passively by and watched the unfolding spectacle here in the main office of the Premier. It was a sight to behold, he thought with acidic sarcasm. A temper tantrum of this caliber he had not seen since his youngest daughter was two.

"The SHEER ARROGANCE of this — this — CREATURE! This DEGENERATE! How fucking dare he threaten to dethrone me! I put this nation back together, and I will NOT see it torn to shreds on the whim of an ancient sky-worshipping CULT LEADER!" Premier Yu alternated between a maniacal bent of normal volume and raw shouting in his tirade.

"This is not good," the Corporal serving as General Yang's aide and security / protection officer voiced his opinion to his protectee in a directed whisper.

"Not at all," Yang answered knowingly.

"We NEED some kind of MAJOR response for this grave insult!" Premier Yu continued his raging as he paced back and forth across open territory in the chamber.

"You could nuke him, sir," one of the civilian yes-men aides suggested.

"I could — wait, what did you say?" Lim Jia Yu slowed down his pacing long enough to glare at the aide. "Ah."

"Sir?" the aide asked after a moment.

"I think it is time to put his own damnable words to the test. He has sworn he cannot be touched, but I would put that to the test before we call it holy writ." The Premier looked to General Yang, and in an instant Kim knew what the Premier was referring to. "General, after the threats we just heard on national television, would that constitute a clear and present danger to the nation?"

Hells no, General Yang thought but would not say. Atrebas had gone out of the way to declare that he had no intention of targeting civilians or industries, which meant that Atrebas could not be classified as an existential threat to the nation. Of course, according to a Party Apparatchik, the Party was the Nation and the civilians were expendable. So long as the government survived, that is what would count to the Party.

(This train of priorities discounted the fact that without the civilians, there was no structure for which the Party could stand on as continuance of government and nation. And, all arrogance aside, if the Party 'expended' twenty percent or more of its civilians for any reason, it would result in either a nastier rebellion or an exodus out of Southeast Asia.)

"Highness, that is your call to make, by law," Yang hedged the question. In reality, any such decision could be reviewed by a military tribunal, and certainly would be reviewed by the Divine Mage after the fact. Premier Yu's hopes notwithstanding, Yang had no expectation that Atrebas would be slain by a nuclear strike, mainly because he had no particular reason to doubt the Mage's prior declarations on the subject. "If you believe Atrebas is an existential threat to the Nation as a whole, then it is in your authority to act."

"Indeed," Premier Yu said casually. "If you would bring the case over here, we should begin."

It was as clear an order as anything else. General Yang looked hard at the sky and said a quick prayer in his mind to Hachiman that this did not end in a complete clusterfuck. Strictly speaking, he wasn't sure which God or Goddess would have command over this kind of situation, if any at all. All things considered, one did not normally discuss the dominions of divinities in the same sentence as nuclear strike authorization.

Yang's perception of sound quieted as he placed the Strike Authorization Case on the table and opened it, to the point that he could hear his heart hammering in his chest. When Premier Yu broke open the polymer protector around his nuclear launch codes, he could hear the plastic splintering in slow-motion, such was the skew of his perception from stress and adrenaline. The acknowledgement card came out from the Premier's Communist Primer Book that he kept in his suit jacket, and all the elements were in place.

"General Yang, please initiate the call," the Premier requested.

Yang did not hesitate in pressing the connection toggle, since he knew this was well outside his hands and only the men at Strike Command could stop it now. Delaying would cost him dearly and achieve nothing at the end of the day.

The small monitor in the suitcase popped on, showing an immediate view of a large room with multiple command posts for several different groups of what used to be Chemical Warhead ICBMs, refitted into Nuclear Warhead ICBMs by Sasaki after the war.

"This is Strike Command, Marshall Yuzuki Yamaguchi," the commanding officer for the facility said. "Premier Yu, we have witnessed the unprecedented speech given by the Divine Mage. What are your intentions?"

"Marshall Yamaguchi, I have determined that the intentions of the Divine Mage present a clear and present danger to the Democratic Republic," Premier Yu said clearly. "As he has proved more than once that he cannot be stymied in conventional warfare, I have no choice but to resort to strategic arms to extinguish this threat. What are my options?"

"Sir, our only available option at this time are the land-based missile systems, as we do not have any nuclear bombers available for launch. Do you intend to strike, Highness?"

"I intend to launch missiles against the Multimage Academy and against any other location where the Multimage may be or is known to be residing at this time," Premier Yu said. "Are my instructions understood?" he asked.

"Yes sir, all instructions heard clearly. Under the three-man rule, I require another person to authorize the strike. General Yang, are you willing to authenticate?" Marshall Yamaguchi asked.

Yang considered his next move carefully. He thought back to the briefing he had received on the Multimage Academy, and knew that even a light Nuclear Strike would annihilate it. On the other hand, one line from the briefing stuck out, that Major General Pevlekov of the Soviets had stood on their bank of the Amur and had a shouting conversation with Atrebas not long after the Russian academy opened. Such a short distance (shouting distance) meant that any kind of nuclear strike at one camp would certainly annihilate both — and if the Russkies found out the Southeast Asians had eradicated their best man for Infantry Armor as a collateral casualty, the Soviets would come south in force — and under the present conditions, there would not be a damn thing that could be done to stop them. Same result, different actors, he concluded.

Now it is time to lead the conversation, he decided after a second. "Marshall Yamaguchi, what is the smallest nuclear payload we have available?"

"150 kilotons, General Yang. 8 such warheads on a single Dragon's Breath II missile."

"The minimum kill radius on one of those warheads is roughly 6 kilometers, correct?" Yang asked in series.

"We could fuze it for a lower-atmosphere detonation, close to ground level, which will reduce the blast radius, why?" Even Yuzuki wasn't quite sure where this was going, until she looked closer at the map of the requested strike area. After a moment, she gasped. "Oh, shit! I forgot about that!"

"Forgot about what, Marshall?" Premier Yu asked in confusion.

"The other side of the Amur, the Russian base. If we fire on the Multimage Academy, you can kiss both facilities goodbye, and the Russians do have both chemical and nuclear warheads."

"I did forget about that," Lim Jia Yu admitted.

"Invalid strike request," Marshall Yamaguchi said. "Any other strike location intended would be inside the borders of the Democratic Republic, which I cannot accept, Premier."

"You cannot accept a lawful order to strike?" The Premier asked in a very dangerous tone.

"An order to fire on our own civilians is not a lawful strike order, and constitutes a war crime under laws you signed, Highness." She looked down to the floor for a moment as she dropped to parade rest rather than stand at attention. "Permission to speak freely, Highness?"

"Watch your step, Marshall, but go ahead," Lim Jia Yu said in the same dangerous tone as before.

"I'll be the first to admit that I don't like Atrebas. I think he's playing someone else's very dangerous game for nebulous reasons, and we're only incidental to whatever that game is. That said, the Nazis had a habit of nuking their own held territory when things got out of hand, and all that achieved was to bring down the divine wrath on this planet. I don't like the bastard swordsman turned wizard turned general rebel, but I won't deny the fact that he did the world a damn big favor knocking down the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese. This strike order you just gave us was an exact echo of their failed policies. I know you want to suppress the rebellion already coming alive in the nation, Highness, but if you fire nuclear arms at your own territory, regardless of who has territorial control over those lands, you will triple the rebellion and sentence us all to a very bloody execution at the end of it."

"So, what would you classify as a legitimate strike request?" Premier Yu asked in clear shock after he realized what road he had just sprinted down.

"If you have a verified strategic threat from an external aggressor, Strike Command will repay them with our best and let the Gods sort out what remains. I acknowledge that Atrebas is an existential threat to the government, he said just that much in his speech, but he is neither an external threat, nor is he an existential threat to the nation as a whole or an existential threat to the people." Marshall Yamaguchi said in clear defiance of the sniveling bureaucrat on the far side of the video link from her.

"Then what the hell is he?" Premier Yu asked in a rush.

Marshall Yuzuki Yamaguchi took a few moments to compose what she wanted to say, then began. "Atrebas is an echo of the will of the people, the same people your corporate comrades have been trying to terrorize into submission. Watch, for he will walk amongst the people without a fear of retribution from them, because it is not his guns slaughtering them, it will be his spellcraft healing them and giving communion with the deceased. I don't like him at all, Highness, but I cannot fault him. And because of that, I could never justify firing my weapons on the people of this nation in a vain attempt to silence him. As he said, we will be judged both here in this life and in the hereafter, and right now I don't have any reason to doubt the Gods would take a dim view on slaughtering thirty million civilians just to silence one wizard. Never mind what the Soviets will throw at us if we incidentally nuke one of their bases."

Premier Yu sighed and slumped. "Abort the strike request."

"Acknowledged, Highness, Strike Command will do nothing," Marshall Yamaguchi said.

"What do you recommend, Marshall?" Lim Jia Yu asked candidly. "Since you are being blunt about the matter, I will listen to your recommendation."

"Honest recommendation, sir? Atrebas gave you about the best offer you're going to get out of this fracas. If you pull the plug now, chances are good that he will let you walk away alive and relatively unharmed. If you wait or try to stop him, going from context you're not guaranteed a way out. And if the street rebellion captures you, no telling what will happen, Highness. We'll do what we can to protect you, as is our sworn duty, but Atrebas has already collapsed two Empires far larger than ours. In no fashion are these odds in our favor."

"I cannot surrender," Premier Yu said. "I will not surrender."

"We will do what we can, Highness, but there is no assurance of survival on this campaign. Do you have anything else for Strike Command?"

"No, thank you," Premier Yu said after he realized that she had just talked him down from an effective case of suicide-by-rebellion or Suicide-By-Soviet-Union, depending on how one wanted to view the matter.

"Strike Command is signing off. General Yang, please stand down the briefcase and issue the Premier a new launch code pack." Marshall Yamaguchi came to attention and saluted before the screen shut off.

-x-x-x-

(1 August 2049, 1000 Hours Lima (UTC+10))
(Fujioka Automotive Restoration, Nagano, Japan, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)
(Coords: 36°35'2.95"N, 138° 9'0.09"E)

Sōchō (Sergeant Major) Mu Fujioka had watched the speech given by the Divine Mage just the same as that of his workers, and so far as he could tell, not one of them disapproved. Naturally, all of his workers had watched it live, queued into a major happening by the rat-line they were all connected to, but it had also been thoroughly disassembled and hashed out by the pundits and talking heads on the networks in the hours since.

Regardless of what it meant to a camera-facing airhead, the real world knew it was a declaration of war from the Divine Mage, and former Sergeant Major Fujioka was ready to give the order when it came down.

"What's the over-under on the call?" Mu asked as he entered the staff lounge. He had eight vehicles on the racks right now for work, and not one of them was being serviced because of the giant clusterfuck that had just emerged in the world of Southeast Asian politics.

"Thirty minutes," his XO answered. Before he could wave a single bill for a bet, her cell phone rang.

"So much for that one," Mu said. His 'XO' actually outranked him, she was a former Shōsa (Major) of infantry, whereas Mu had been a section lead for a logistics maintenance group. The difference was, he had bought the building and hired her on to work on cars (which she was perfectly capable of doing after some training).

The Major answered her cell phone by speaker so the entire bay could hear it. "Hello?"

"3237 reactivate immediate, how copy?" the lady on the far side of the line said.

"Copy all," Major Megumi Kita answered. The call disconnected after a moment, which was her signal to make the next call in the chain, this time to STA 4403 as was listed in her phone contacts. With one speed dial, Megumi had connected her phone to not another cell phone, but to a phone extension dial-down in the ISF headquarters that had been shanghaied from a captured cell phone that the intelligence experts figured was some kind of rat-line network. STA 4403, a naval lieutenant from a missile cruiser, had been killed during one of the earlier protests some weeks ago; though suspected of treasonous plotting, they had not been able to learn anything from her about it (she was dead prior to identification).

The number was entered in such a fashion that it would trip deliberate roundabout call pathing in the phone network, a holdover of the IJA telecom system to prevent spies from being tracked by their numbers. Because of the double-length dialing schema in use for this call, the exact nature of who was placing the call was obscured to the network (the call log would show 1111-11111 when reviewed by intel analysts in an hour, as they were checking dozens of these calls now).

"Hello?" the person on the other end asked.

"4403 reactivate immediate, how copy?" Megumi answered the greeting.

"Copy all," the person on the far end answered. Megumi killed the call, then disassembled her phone and dropped it in a tank of boric acid used to acid-scour car parts. The phone would cease to exist as an identifiable object in 35 minutes, well before anyone came looking specifically for her or her phone.

"There you have it, people, we're in the shit now," a former Private of signals said. "About damn time."

"We had to relearn the lesson," Mu said phlegmatically. "In our haste to be rid of the Imperial Japanese screwups, we picked a fresh megalomaniac with corporate sponsors. Even Atrebas was powerless to stop his ascendancy, such was our lust for something different."

"Now for something completely different," Major Kita said with a smile.

"Yeah, no shit different. The Press can't find enough people who don't want Atrebas to take the post to fulfill their propaganda quotient," a commo officer said.

Major Kita's smile broadened. She rather liked the thought of a Magocracy (a government commanded by a wizard or wizards). "Your turn, Sōchō, time to get ready for imminent action."

"Hai," Mu said with a smile. "Troops, clear the golden road! Move the cargo truck into bay nine!"

The order to 'clear the golden road' was one they had been anticipating for weeks now, but now was the moment of action. In an industrial garage or automotive garage, between the vehicle bay doors are series of dead zones where equipment and material inevitably piles up. This shop was no different, but knowing this was coming, the troops made sure to minimize such clutter for what had to happen. First, they closed down the garage bay doors, then cleared out a perfect lane to drive a truck down the line of bays. The movement of a vehicle in this specific direction would be needed for a very specific purpose.

The parts truck was normally parked in a side-shunt in the garage over a metal plate that doubled over as a load plate for testing weights. Mu backed the truck off the weight plate after the road was cleared, and three of the men flipped the ten-ton-capacity weight plate up on its edge to reveal another metal plate, this one inset into the concrete. Major Kita climbed partway up an access ladder to the roof, connected a five-ton-rated block-and-tackle to an inconspicuous hook hanging from a truss, then fed a steel cable through the block and down to the waiting men on the ground.

The cable, also rated for five tons, received two locking hooks. One of the hooks was attached to a tow point on the front of the parts truck, the other hook was attached to an eye-bolt one of the younger mechanics had screwed into a threaded hole on the plate. Once Sergeant Mu gunned the engine, the pickup truck was easily able to clear the plate out of the inset recess and allow access to the hidden room below.

"Let's get everything loaded up and ready to roll," Megumi said. "Start hocking equipment! Don't want to be late to this war!"

As the first battle rifles and munitions bandoleers came up from the storage hole, shit became all too real in their minds. This was the real deal, what they had sworn their loyalty to for the Emperor. Even if Manahito was dethroned and Torahito would likely never rule, they would fight for him, they would fight for the people of the Empire.

Silently, they were willing to admit that they would accept a new Emperor. None of them put voice to it yet, but the thought was there.

-x-

(Same time as above)
(Hara, Japan (Suburb of Tsuruga))
(Coords: 35°39'21.87"N, 136° 1'52.44"E)

This time, there was no driving in. The Shrine Maidens were now all but considered a rebel party, and for all intents and purposes Hitomi was one of the most famous of them.

Sayane gated the two of them into the yard in front of her house, and from there was only two steps to the doorway. "Leave the Gate?" the wind mage asked.

"Yes." Hitomi knocked three times.

"Who is there?" Her father's voice shouted from the far side of the door.

"Your eldest daughter, father," Hitomi answered a bit archly. In her estimation, this wasn't the time for movie theatrics.

"Oh," she heard a grunt from the far side of the door before he opened up. "You weren't followed?" he asked, continuing the theatrics.

"I hope not, we came out of a Gate from the command post. If the Internal Security Force has their own Gate Mages, it's news to us," Hitomi waved a finger at the gate hole in question.

"They're not smart enough to discern that trick, not yet," Takari Takamichi said as he opened the door fully for the two Shrine Maidens, both in battle gear, so they could enter the house.

After they were inside, Hitomi noticed something she did not immediately expect. "You, father? You were reactivated?" She had to admit that she was rather surprised to see her father in full battle dress uniform and under arms.

"Station 7872 was reactivated 20 minutes ago," Shinn said from the dining room table. He was holding up what looked like a cell phone that had been blowtorched roughly in the center of it. Probably Yoshi's doing, Hitomi figured. After he sat it down on the table, only then did Hitomi realize that Shinn and Yoshi were both dressed the part and under arms as well.

"We knew it was coming, so after the speech by the Divine Mage we all started preparing," Kaede Takamichi said from a perch halfway up the stairs. She was dressed out in her traditional Shrine Maiden uniform, though unlike Hitomi she carried only a bow and staff. "Why are you here, daughter? I thought you were serving under the headquarters detachment for the Divine Mage."

"I am, though the two of us are technically field officers as Combat Mages, we are more or less assistants to the more senior instructors and the command level," Hitomi admitted. "And that's what we're here for. By order of Marshall Yamamoto, and under your oath to the Emperor, I am here to reactivate you, father, and you, Shinn, to report directly to the Marshall for duty post in the command section."

"Whoa," Takari gaped. "Was not expecting that."

"That said, since we're all geared up, we're all going," Hitomi said. "We can find plenty of things for two recruits to do just the same."

"Then let's get moving," Hitomi's mother said after she descended the stairs with a travel suitcase. Takari, Shinn, and Yoshi each had their own barrel bag with necessary sustainment supplies as well as a rucksack for immediate gear needs.

"I have a Gate waiting outside, all we do is step through and we are at the command post," Hitomi waved them to the front door. Outside, the group of six persons exited the house, locked up as was prudent, and simply stepped through the gate to another part of the world. "Step lightly! We have other Gates here, bringing in other personnel for the headquarters," Hitomi cautioned them.

"Hai," Yoshi answered his older sister.

"Damn, this is a level of logistics I couldn't even wet dream about back when I was under the Emperor. To go from Tsuruga to northern China in two paces is insane," Shinn declared after they had cleared the gate assembly area.

"It's what makes Mages such feared combatants. Not only can we blow stuff up with spellcraft, we can shift forces thousands of miles with no advance warning to an enemy."

"Like you did in Hawaii with the LOSAT assault on Pearl and Hickam," Hitomi's father said.

"Exactly," Sayane acknowledged the point before they approached a tent.

"I've got this," Hitomi said as they ducked under the canopy. "Marshall Yamamoto, reporting with requested personnel and two more, sir!"

"That was surprisingly fast, Hitomi," Akihito said. Takari was surprised to see him in his own set of Japanese Infantry Armor, in fact the same armor as one of the two troopers who had preceded the Divine Mage out of the academy, but considered that the armor was the wave of the future — inasfar as magic didn't cover, that was.

"They were geared up and ready when I arrived, sir," Hitomi said. "Presenting Major Takari Takamichi, Corporal Shinn Takamichi, and recruit Yoshi Takamichi, and Shrine Priestess Kaede Takamichi," Hitomi introduced her relatives dutifully.

"Thank you, Instructor. I'll take it from here. The Boss has something for you two, may want to slip in after he's done speaking to Marcos."

"Sir!" Hitomi and Sayane both came to attention, turned smartly, and headed down the command tent toward the Divine Mage himself.

"Your daughter did misspeak on two points, though," Marshall Yamamoto said. "As of right now I'm commissioning you into the force as a Lieutenant Colonel, and you Sergeant, are hereby recommissioned as a Warrant Officer. Shinn Takamichi, your post is under Lieutenant Maiso as security detail for the command section. His CP is the God Track over there. Report in for assignment."

"Hai!" Shinn said.

"Dismissed."

"And what are my orders, Marshall?" Takari asked.

"My prior artillery officer went full fucktard at the end of the last war, he's presently serving as a General in the SEAM southern cordon. He knows the big guns and knows how to support troops, but he doesn't know the proper methods of running a combined arms unit. More on him later, but for now I need a new artillery officer. Your record shows you know what direction the business end of the guns should point, and you made the right noises about your command staff when they failed rather badly in the last war. Willing to take a shot at doing it right for new management?"

"Yes sir, with pleasure sir!" Takari said immediately.

"Excellent. Grab yourself a computer and get to work assembling our fire support doctrine. You're already in the system, biometric access. And start training your youngest in on it as well, the more the merrier."

"Sir!" both Takari and Yoshi answered.

"And myself, sir?" Kaede asked. "Where do you need field nurse support at this time, sir?"

"So far, we do not," Marshall Yamamoto said as he watched the husband and youngest son move over to an unused table to begin their work. "I thank you all for joining the effort. It's going to take everyone we can muster to do this, and maybe a miracle or two."

"The corporations, isn't it?" Kaede asked.

"Hai, sadly so. Now that they have had a taste of corporate oligarchy, they will fight their damndest to resist relinquishing power. We're going to have to do some dirty deeds to break them, but we will fight as clean as possible to achieve the mission."

"Very well, sir, what are my orders?" Kaede asked in roughly the same fashion as her husband had.

"Report to Master Specialist Instructor Ichida for posting. Hotaru is handling all the incoming Shrine Maidens and getting things organized, you'll receive your duties and any needed gear there," Yamamoto said.

"Thank you, Marshall. Off the record, sir, almost the entire contingent of Shrine Maidens are with you on this action, and at least three of five average persons on the street either agree with you, or are willing to openly support you."

"That's good to know, Shrine Priestess. That's damn good to know. Thank you for it."

"Good luck, sir." Kaede bowed formally, turned, and exited the tent.

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)

Diana Atrebas watched the movements of the Stellar Map in the new Northern Star Temple. As the stars were different on each side of the planet, so had to be temples in different locations, but for today this was sufficient.

"It is always a wonder, to know that sometime in our lifetimes we shall be living amongst the stars," Kiona said from the gallery behind her sister.

Mikka snorted loudly. "The wonder is what we have accomplished here, on this world," she said in rebuke.

"So, we're all here," Diana acknowledged the fact that Kiona had called them together, a rare happenstance these days, with them split across many locations to administer what was an effective empire.

"Sisters, it is time to make a decision. What we choose next will change the dynamic of our Empire, or determine if we even have an empire or if we give up command," Kiona said.

"Start talking," Diana said.

"As I see it, we have three options. One, we walk away, let others take the command, and we support the growing nation."

"You fucking kidding me? These jackanapes and power-sluts would assassinate us and completely fail to push for the objective," Mikka answered immediately.

"I agree, Kiona, that is a complete no-go, not happening. If we want this job done, we are in command as we have rightfully earned," Diana said. "Next option?"

"Option two, we expand as we have deigned possible among the stars," she waved toward the ceiling above them, and the star map contained on it.

"We did determine many worlds exist as livable with no major changes to world or to person," Diana pointed out fairly. It was the expected direction they would expand, given they had been making noise about it for years.

"Option three, we expand by crossing dimensions, taking and holding new instances of Terra," Kiona pointed out her idea of the third option.

"That's different," Diana admitted after a moment to consider it.

"Same planet, so we know exactly what we are working with, but different cross dimensions," Mikka pointed out her first thoughts.

"So, what shall it be?" Kiona asked.

"You were right, this decision will set policy going forward," Mikka answered.

"The choice is simple. We do both," Diana said. "Parallel dimensions are infinite, but we need not limit ourselves to just that dynamic. There may be more throughout the many worlds that will bolster the effort. And the experience of setting not just new lands, but whole new worlds, it shall harden the people."

"Both? What is the method?" Kiona asked. "We are already stretched to the limit of our ability to rule."

"Then we need to increase the layers below us," Mikka stood up and started pacing. "We have county magistrates below the governors, so we should start thinking about a continental rank, and a planetary rank." Kiona did not miss the value of the thinking process, and was taking notes as quickly as her enchanted pen could do so.

"And for that we will need a rank to cover regions of planets," Diana continued. "All will, naturally, report to us. We will need to ensure that we stay ahead of the lower ranks, lest we become compromised."

"And we also shall need to ensure the lower ranks are sated with spoils, profits, and opportunities," Kiona threw her suggestion in. "A population sated is a population not inclined to rebellion."

"And, most of all, we ensure no outside groups strive to stymie the efforts we put into stopping the end of Existence," Diana concluded. "If we must become demons ourselves, we will ensure the duty sworn is completed."

In one sentence, Diana had set the tone for the Empire, and it would be a tone that echoed in conflict wherever they marched.

-x-x-x-

(1 August 2049, 2240 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(IJA Armaments Geocache Bunker, 26km west-northwest of Gongrencun, China, Southeast Asia Democratic Republic (disputed territory))
(Coords: 50°22'50.70"N, 125°23'21.73"E)

An odd echo of fate had introduced Shōsa (Major) Hibiki Abe to an affectation that had been mostly limited to the Divine Mage, and after acquiring copies from Atrebas, he had quickly come to love it.

The savage humor of it had not taken long to infuse his subordinates. Infect them, thoroughly, as had the rest of the music of the same group. Much as Japan had demanded conformity, so had the SADR, and none of the IJA holdouts had any desire to conform to Premier Yu's aesthetic. Metal music, though not specifically denied to the nation, was still considered taboo. And it had exploded in popularity.

" 'I killed them all to save my own,' " Hibiki chanted as he continued shoveling out the area in front of the door.

" 'Cut me free, bleed with me, oh no, one by one, we will fall, down down,' " his A-team chanted with cheer and gusto.

" 'Pull the plug, end the pain, run and fight for life / hold on tight, this ain't my fight,' " the B-team troops finished the chorus, still digging to prepare the access ramp for the troops that would extract gear from the bunker.

" 'Deliver me from this war,' " Hibiki continued the body of the song, pausing briefly between the stanzas to heave out a shovel of dirt. " 'It's not for me, it's because of you,' " he did the next line of the song from memory.

" 'Devil's Instant, my eternity,' " the Cell XO (A Warrant Officer) continued, but didn't get to the next line before:

"If I remember correctly, the next line should be 'Obey to kill to save yourself,' " a voice not in their group said. All eyes immediately went for the speaker and more than a few hands went for sidearms.

"Damn, ISF thugs," Hibiki grumped when he had an idea who it was that had snuck up on them.

"Where, exactly, Atrebas picked up such a disgusting habit as loud banging trying to pass for music is beyond me," the ISF special action squad commander said coldly. "Worse still is that it is spreading. Cultural rot, distracts from the greatness of the Premier."

"Did I just hear him right?" a Sergeant asked the Corporal next to him.

Hibiki was not the first to start laughing at the ISF troops' asinine declaration, but within seconds his entire twenty-man team was in stitches from it. The sheer absurdity of calling someone who had thrown more than one public temper tantrum 'great' was far too much for the IJA soldiers to consider straight talk. More disconcerting to the ISF squad was that they kept laughing for over a minute, and roughly a third had laughed themselves to the point of collapse.

"Oh, Good Gods, 'greatness of the Premier'," the unit XO said between gasps of breath.

"That's some comedy material right there," Hibiki gasped out between chuckling fits.

"Golden comedy, at that," a commo specialist said.

"Okay, okay, you've made your point, you can shut the fuck up now," the Captain in charge of the ISF squad said.

"Okay, okay," Hibiki mostly calmed himself down.

"Shit, that was not in jest, I was being serious, what the hell is wrong with you? I'd expect better from former Imperial Japanese," the ISF Captain said testily.

"Kid, the Premier you venerate so highly is unqualified to wash Emperor Manahito's jockstrap, and mind you that is after the Divine Mage dethroned Manahito. I don't care if you intend to kill me or hold me for torture, but at least do me the favor of not bullshitting me here forward, clear?"

"Whatever," the Captain grumbled. "And, for the record, we have orders to shoot you on sight so — "

"Sir, trouble," one of the other ISF troopers said.

"What?" The Captain looked up from the access dig area to where the heavy weapons specialist was looking. "Oh fuck."

"Yeah, that's about the size of it at this point," the ISF unit XO answered his commanding officer. "That is an Armored Infantry Transport Trailer."

"What do we do now, sir? We are hellishly under-equipped to fight them," the heavy weapons trooper asked.

"Not a damn thing we can do," the ISF Captain responded with dejection. "Might as well wait for their pleasure. Come on out, Major, your backup just arrived."

"We were pretty much done digging anyway," Hibiki said as the A troops climbed out of the hole to see who was coming.

It wasn't until the last few meters of the convoy's approach that they recognized who was on the transport semi. "Holy shit," Hibiki swore after he caught sight of the shield devices.

"Oh, yeah, definitely not equipped for this scrap," the ISF Captain said before the semi-tractor came to a stop within ten meters of the bunker. "Just not a good day."

"Never is, when you find yourself on the wrong side of the battlefield from this crew." Hibiki said quietly, then braced to attention. "DIVINE MAGE ON DECK!"

Atrebas took the lead in approaching the group, though had no arms visible. His subordinates, however, had their choice light machine guns at the ready. "This is a bit of an unexpected scene. Major Abe, what is the status of the bunker?"

"Entrance is cleared, ready to open and extract gear, highness," Hibiki answered immediately.

" 'Highness'? Serious?" the ISF Captain asked.

"And what makes you think he's going to dethrone Premier Yu just to let another fuckup do it again?" Hibiki asked the smartass Captain.

"True," the Captain groused.

"Lim Jia Yu was the corporate gambit at control, an empty mouthpiece they could fill with their interests," Atrebas amplified on the Major's point. "Now the people have determined their interests align elsewhere, and for that I answer their call. Captain Jann, what call shall you answer?"

"My loyalty is to the Premier, nothing else," he answered defiantly.

"One cannot be faulted for their oath of fealty, but one can be faulted for following blindly the edicts of an empty vessel," Atrebas said. "Is this the legacy you seek, to prop up the flagging decrees of the most transparent of corporate mouthpieces on planet?"

"That's just conspiratorial bullshit," ISF Captain Jann answered with contempt.

"Occasionally the conspiracy theories are true, Captain," Atrebas held out a small amethyst crystal to him. "This is a Memory Charm, a recording of telepathic scrying as Sun Yoo Jiang, the corporate sponsor and kingmaker behind the Premier, discusses worldly affairs with ten other persons involved in shaping the world. It is your choice if you shall know the depth of their depravity, or not."

"You have telepathic evidence?" Captain Koshi Jann gaped.

"Good Gods," the ISF Heavy Weapons trooper gaped.

"The pitiable part of their conspiracy is that their ambition is near nonexistent. I have spoken repeatedly of the ability to traverse the hideous void of space by mere spellcraft, and still they only concern with confining themselves to this one planet. Even have they curtailed the space programs of the world to prevent expansion. Their governmental mouthpieces act to suppress and contain as a planetary policy, driven by one soured woman somewhere in the Americas. People do not wish to be contained any more than they wish to be slain by their so-called 'betters' in governance. You have sworn fealty to Premier Yu, does that oath include Sasaki Megacorporation? Are you sworn to faceless apparatchiks on the far side of this planet? Shall you go forward from today and tell your fellow citizens that they are not good enough to reach for the stars, Captain?"

The hand that held the Memory Charm was still extended, and Captain Jann decided to touch it. The transfer of the memory was instantaneous, though the memory was vivid and known to him in proper time and frame, and to understand it he needed only a few seconds.

In the seconds thereafter, the other ISF troops and a goodly portion of the IJA leftover had also touched the crystal, each one receiving the memory that Daniel Porom had recorded within the charm for posterity and evidence. Each trooper that touched it was greeted by the same scene, and the memory, even if not theirs, was embedded in their psyche forevermore.

"Damn," Jann said after staring past the Mage blankly for roughly fifteen seconds. "That is… nightmarish. A real-life conspiracy to fuck over a whole planet."

"And they have achieved their primacy, but their ambition prevents them holding primacy. In due time, a nation willing to act with life and honor shall easily overtake them all. How valid is an oath of fealty to a man who knows not how badly fucked he is by his own kingmaker?" Atrebas asked simply.

"Honestly, it doesn't mean shit after what I just saw. They're not in power to fix what the Nazis and IJA fucked, they're in power to do it again under the guise of being kinder and gentler. And they also mentioned they had false-flagged the protests that went bloody, so there's that," Jann groused. He had lost a buddy to one of the early ones, a couple of his drinking compadres last week, and his younger brother had been swept up earlier this week in such an action.

"Make your call, Captain," Atrebas said.

"My team walks. We're not ready to choose sides, not so soon after this," Koshi Jann said.

"Very well. Kari, forward and stand to," Atrebas said.

"Sir!" Telepath Specialist Kari Porom stepped up.

"Extract from the Captain a memory of his home, that I may Gate him there. I will not ask him or his men to chance falling afoul of the rebellion on their way home," Atrebas requested.

"Done," Kari said simply, then relayed the thought to the Divine Mage.

Atrebas focused on the thought, then pointed the flat of his right hand to open air. "Gate to envisioned location," he chanted, which caused the air in front of his hand to distort and give way to a slice of spatial entropy, beyond which rested his home and his wife. "If you change the leaning of your heart and soul at a later time, Captain, you know where to find us."

"Hai," the Captain said simply before he waved his men through the portal. After they were through, he stepped through himself.

"Stang Backluckan," Atrebas said, which was a command to close the gate. "Now, Major Abe, let us secure arms and munitions for the coming campaign, no? Not every enemy we face will be so reasonable as he."

"Too true, Highness," Hibiki said. He had seen the memory just the same as the others, and knew what they were fighting for now.

Within an hour, the convoy would be on the move again, now better armed than the regional forces could hope to match.

Captain Jann and his troops would go through a case of beers, four bags of potato chips, and various sundry snack foods before daybreak, trying to hash out their loyalty between them. It would be midday the next day before they made their call.

-x-x-x-

(2 August 2049, 0415 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(National Military Command Center, Government Building, Yuhua, China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)

"Sir, I've been on the radio to the 38th Regimental Combat Team for an hour, they're not responding," the Captain manning the radio console for that region said.

"Any record of contact?" Marshall Yijun Liao asked.

"No sir, no reported contact, and the beacon signal for their RCT Command Post is still active."

"Maybe they simply dropped dead without being physically destroyed? Atrebas can do that, he did do several groups of troops in that fashion back before the first rebellion," Marshall Liao pointed out. He had studied the likely foe thoroughly, even to include the investigations against him before the world knew what manner of horror they had called upon.

"Possible, or something else," the Captain waved him over to the console. "Here, here, and here, sir. Three RCT formations, all have failed to answer a callback. This fourth entry, a Brigade formation, was co-located with a separate Regiment of Military Police, and the Brigade recon battalion reported that the Regiment pulled out of camp with no orders to do so."

"Initiative?" the Marshall asked with forlorn hope. The more likely guess was…

"Desertion, sir. Not everyone in the Regiment went, the remaining couple platoons of troops folded into the Brigade, but for all intents and purposes, the 66th Military Police Regiment is AWOL in the face of imminent contact."

"Did the remaining troops have an explanation as to where their comrades went?" Yijun asked.

"Yeah, they said the Regiment voted to defect rather than disband after the dishonorable revelations of false flag attacks on protests," the Captain said.

"Watch your step, Captain," the Marshall said darkly. "You can get away with that to a degree, but say something like that in the presence of the defense minister and your family will receive a bill for the bullet used to execute you."

"Look, sir, I have my opinions, but I'm on this side," the Captain said. "Anyway, that's the long and short of the 66th. And we have formations that have flat failed to respond, some with and some without loss of their command post beacon. I don't know all of what is going on, but it's not looking good. Either we're getting hit hard with surprise attacks, or we're being hammered by defections and desertions, or both," he concluded.

The Marshall stared into the status screen for a few moments, then to the large map of the nation on the command screen wall for almost a minute. Formations that had not yet reported back from recent commands to mobilize or general communications requests were highlighted in red, and were dispersed throughout the nation seemingly at random. There was no particular rhyme or reason to it, on first glance.

The next action Yijun took was by rote. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat; if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle, he remembered a critical lesson of Sun Tzu's Art Of War. Even if the book was millennia old, the lessons therein were still very critical and could decide the fate of a campaign if used excellently or ignored.

The Marshal picked up the desk phone and entered the command for the NMCC public address speaker. "Attention all command boards, begin an immediate verification of all ships and formations. I repeat, begin an immediate verification of all ships and formations. We have multiple Regiment-level formations that have gone MIA or AWOL, we need to verify our entire force at this time. As you make contact, issue orders to lock down the formations and await further orders."

"This is starting to look bad," the Captain said.

"I doubt today will be marked in the books as a good day for anyone," the Marshal said as he moved away from that command panel.

-x-

(45 minutes later)
(Same location)

The phone extension for the Defense Minister's office was one he knew well, and dialed by memory.

"Minister Kaite's Office," the secretary answered.

"Marshall Liao for the Minister, this is a priority one call," Yijun said.

"Acknowledged, one moment while I break into his present call." The secretary put him on hold, which revealed a rather annoying buzzing sound in the phone system. Probably radio interference on one of the lines, he figured. It also gave him one last opportunity to read over the numbers, see if there was anything the report he had compiled had to say that was good.

The wait was only ten seconds. "I have the Premier on hold on the other line, Yijun, what's such a priority?" Marshall Yijun Liao's direct CO asked.

"Sir, if my math is correct, in the past 24 hours roughly a third of our standing military has evaporated."

The line was silent for roughly ten seconds. "Say that again, please?" the Minister asked in clear shock.

"Minister Kaite, there's no way around this one. We've lost positive contact with some twelve Regiments, one Brigade, two Divisions, two Corps, and sundry smaller formations. Total expected losses to MIAs, AWOLs, and similar is somewhere north of 165,000 troops."

"By the Gods, that's the size of a whole army formation, gone before we're even on the battlefield," Jun Kaite gaped. The raw shock was audible even through the piss-poor telephone system in use in the building.

"Yes sir. Some of it is simply missing, we don't know if they've been disrupted, slain, captured, or just disappeared. A few formations, though, we know have gone AWOL as in simply dissolved, and at least two formations — a Regiment and a Corps — have defected to the Mage's banner to the tune of 95% turnover. Please tell me there's some kind of plan coalescing right now, because from this end it looks like our team is de-assing the field before the game starts."

"If what you just said is right, that is exactly what is happening, at the same time the audience is coming out of the stands to mob around the rival team and bolster their ranks."

"Sir?" Marshal Liao asked.

"It's not hit the major news yet, nor has your story, but a large part of the IJA remnant has been operating as sleeper cells around the nation. After the speech yesterday, they reactivated by a rat-line call down tree. Our estimate is that we now have some 120,000 partisans active and forming up throughout the region. We expect they have access to at least four divisions' worth of heavy gear and twice that in small arms, given the IJA stocks that couldn't be accounted for after the war."

"Shit and a shell fragment," Yijun swore. "That's a double punch from which we're not going to be able to recover."

"I need to get back to the Premier. See if you can find out more detailed statuses of those formations. If this keeps up, we may have to vet our own command staffs to ensure reliability. Keep me posted, Marshal."

"Sir," Yijun lowered the phone to the cradle and sighed. "You can breathe now, Colonel Sharpe," Yijun acknowledged the stealthy presence of his Adjutant.

"Sir, this may be the worst news yet, but 7 Corps command post just reported a mutiny in their ranks."

"How bad?" Yijun asked reflexively.

"80 percent or more of the Corps formation is invested. The Lieutenant General in command expects his formation will completely disintegrate within the hour."

Yijun groaned. "If I was a weaker man, I would be nibbling on the barrel of my pistol right now."

"If the ISF pukes don't do you first," Colonel Henrietta Sharpe pointed out the other likely outcome in that direction. "I'll fend the fucks off as long as possible, but even if we win, we're going to have to defend ourselves from the modern-day Inquisition."

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)

Despite her prior position as chief of the military forces, Vala had been reduced to the rank of the effective commander of the Human Realms after the war was concluded. Even still, she had given the world their road forward, and they walked it without hesitation.

Four hundred years had passed on that road, and now the growing Empire had stretched onto two more neighboring planets. There were fears in some of the mystics that the size of the Empire was straining the capacity of the worlds, but every inventory taken showed increasing availability of resources and space. Thus the expansion continued.

Now, with three planets and shifting desires, the future of the Mystic Empire would change on a simple turn of fate.

Three knocks at Vala's door brought her morning workout to a halt. "Who goes?" she asked simply.

"Milady Atrebas, you have a representative of the high council here to see you on urgent business," her attendant said.

"A moment, Brianna," Vala answered immediately. She stood up from doing her morning pushups and immediately threw on her tunic and leggings. Boots were fairly easy to get into, and her personal magicked sword finished the ensemble for now. "Enter," she said.

"Milady," Brianna entered and held the door for two Elven Ranger Lords and a Sylph Mage-Knight.

All three entered, came to attention sharply, and bowed. "Our duty to the Divine Operator," the younger of the Ranger Lords said.

"My duty to the Divine," Vala completed the chant with her own bow. "Well come, Ranger Lord. What brings you here at this ghastly hour?" Vala asked after all three parties had stood properly from the honors. She could see the look of shock on Brianna's face, as it was never known that Humans would receive such an accolade from the nonhumans, which was still a showing of some racism still in play among the groups.

"Milady Atrebas, have you been apprised that Great Elder Leanveros has resigned and named a successor?" the Sylph Mage-Knight asked.

"I was unaware that the Great Elder was even contemplating resignation, he has held the post for roughly sixty years I believe?" Vala indirectly admitted she was a bit fuzzy on the numbers involved, but for an Elven Ranger Lord promoted to the position of Great Elder the expectation was at least 150 years in post and usually far longer than that.

"The Grand Council was convened last week, milady, in which Leanveros delivered the instrument of resignation and named a successor. The appointed person is you, milady," which revelation caused both Vala and Brianna to gasp simultaneously

"Understood," Vala gaped after a moment. "The Grand Council is aware that I am functionally immortal at this time, yes?" she asked.

"The Council members are counting on it, milady. They know not how long to expect you in position, but they are expecting to have you in command of the nations so long as you hold to the duties of the post and to your Commission," the Mage-Knight said. "Will you accept, milady?"

Vala did not need to dwell on it long. She figured the best way to fulfill her commission was to have command of the entire nation. "I shall accept. What is the procedure?"

"Sign and thumbprint this document, milady," The Mage-Knight handed her a linked scroll.

Vala set it on her desk, unfurled the scroll, and read it. True to the briefing, it was a document of succession for the command position. The document had two fields, though, one for her signature, the other for her title. "What is this field of title?"

"The various races have differing titles for their highest rank of authority, though since the peace was won, only Elves have been in the position and they all use the title Great Elder," one of the Ranger Lords pointed out. "I forget what the highest title is here in the Human realms, I believe it was High King?"

"In antiquity, the title Emperor ranked above that of even High King, milady," Brianna pointed out.

"Thank you, Brianna," Vala acknowledged the point graciously. "And the female form of Emperor would be Empress, if I remember correctly," she continued. "That I shall use, then." She signed her name, title, and gave a thumbprint with ink in the requested box. In so doing, the linking magicks on the scroll translated her marks and title to each of nine other copies of the scroll distributed throughout the worlds. A couple wafts of a hand fan and the ink was dried properly to roll it and return it to the Ranger Lord. "It is done."

The Ranger Lord received the document, verified signature and thumbprint, then furled the scroll and took to one knee. "Highness, the many nations are yours to command."

-x-x-x-

(2 August 2049, 0915 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Middle Street Shangquan, China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)
(Coords: 41°48'9.84"N, 123°27'5.26"E)

"We are in Shangquan, sir," a SS Major (Sturmbannführer) answered the call for location information from the command section.

"Open air market," Reichsführer-SS Yvette Arbust pointed out. With the command section having agreed on the next three days of operations, the individual command officers had broken down into teams, with Arbust, Von Stauffenberg, and Torahito grouping in along with Atrebas. Arbust and Von Stauffenberg were also equipped with their own magicked Infantry Armor, but Torahito had refused his own set until after the affair with Yu / Sasaki had been sorted out.

"And trouble in the open air market," Torahito said after it became evident something was going down. "Looks like ISF pukes working on someone."

"Driver, halt the vehicle," Yvette said before anyone else did. "Atrebas, are you awake, sir?" No answer came from the Divine Mage. "Heinrich, wake him up, please."

"Jawhol," the former SS general answered. His preferred method of waking up sleeping Armored Infantrymen was to strike their base plate armor with the butt of a rifle or pistol, particularly if it had a metal butt or stock cap and could make a resounding clanging on impact. In this case, two strikes against the upper arm of Atrebas with the pommel of his broadsword was ample to awaken the sleeping Mage.

"Huh? What gives, Von Stauffenberg?" Atrebas said blearily.

"Caught you napping, sir?" Von Stauffenberg asked. "We've got some trouble. Possible fight going on in an open air market, possible ISF."

The transport lowboy flatbed shuddered as it finished its stop and came to rest.

"Quarters will be too close to properly employ shields," Atrebas figured after he had a proper look at the environs. "Choose your arms carefully, for the environment is very much crowded with non-hostiles."

"Hai," most of the troops answered immediately and with gusto.

Atrebas set down and unlocked his shield, then from the wall of arms that ran down the middle of the lowboy he selected a Thompson submachine gun and a pouch of magazines designed to interlock onto his hip armor. In terms of preference his choice would be the 1911A1 pistol or his myriad of melee weapons, but the Thompson gave him the ready ability to settle the hash of multiple enemy troops quickly, without risking too much overpenetration or the nasty fragmentation habits of smaller rifle rounds.

Naturally some persons in the vicinity would have noticed the tractor-trailer as it stopped, but far more of them noticed when Atrebas dropped down from the lowboy to the ground. What happened when word began spreading of his presence shocked him deeply: the civilians began to clear a path for them and bow to him, with a mixture of 'highness' and 'emperor' said from their ranks.

As Atrebas marched forward into the narrow confines of the market the accolade became a wave amongst the civilians, right up to the point where people who did not were easily picked out and the aberration in the market was readily evident. "What?" the lead Internal Security Force puke asked after the persons around him stopped and cleared away, then bowed towards someone. "What the fuck is going on?" He looked around wildly, until his glance crossed Atrebas — and stopped cold.

The Armored Infantry marched to the scene and stopped roughly ten meters away from the ISF thugs. Their mere presence ended the beating on the civilian, as the five-man 'interrogation' cell were now very acutely focused on what they expected to be their end.

"Well, this is something," Yvette said coldly.

"Have the Internal Security Force troops become so bereft of successes that you now must flay a shopkeeper to notch up a victory for the day?" Atrebas asked as an insult to their dishonorable conduct.

"You're all under arrest," the lead ISF thug said.

"If you want my arms, soldier, come and take them," the Divine Mage challenged his authority blatantly.

"You say so," The ISF trooper hesitated a moment, then approached the Divine Mage and put his hand on the foregrip of the Thompson Atrebas was carrying at low-slung ready. "Relinquish your arms, Atrebas. This has to end."

"Indeed it does," Eric said simply. He gripped the shoulder of the ISF trooper and drew him into a knee strike to the groin. With him disabled, it was a simple task to drive him down to his knees, where Eric put the muzzle of the Thompson to his left brachial plexus and fired a short burst down from his shoulder into the meatiest part of his torso. Four rounds entered and killed him instantly, but none exited the body. When the Divine Mage let go of his shoulder, the body slumped to the side and never moved again of its own volition.

There were some shrieks and screeches amongst the group of gathered civilians, but none ran from the scene. Some stayed out of fear, others stayed out of courtesy, but most stayed because they wanted to see firsthand how the expected-to-be Emperor handled an abuse such as this. More than a dozen recording cell phones were taking video files of the incident, and four live-stream uploads were happening, rendering it impossible for the ISF to stop them all.

Atrebas looked up from the deceased trooper. "You, brown hair and belt, if you want my arms, now is your turn to come and take them," he challenged them.

"No way in Hell, man," the guy in question said.

"Will any of your rank strive to disarm me?" Atrebas asked. None of them responded in the affirmative. "So, am I still under arrest?" Atrebas asked next.

"Uh, no, I think not," the one lady in the five-man team of ISF 'interrogators' said.

"Very well. I now order you four to stand down your arms and surrender immediately," Atrebas ordered of them.

"We can't do that," the lady said. "You don't have any authority over us."

"I have only what authority I can take and hold on the battlefield, but for today your concern is not my team," The Divine Mage waved a finger into the crowd that had amassed around them. Already the people were beginning to stir, makeshift weapons and the odd semi-weapon melee device (an axe here, a sledgehammer there) were starting to crop up in the ranks of the people.

"Oh shit," the eldest of the four surviving ISF agents grumped.

"Inevitably you will have to answer to them, be it today in street justice or tomorrow in the courts." The four were now facing away from the Divine Mage, but all four shot him a look of pure venom. Eric brushed it off; he knew the core of their animus was based on their failing power, not on any sense of propriety of justice. "If you do not wish to thoroughly discuss this matter with the construction worker there, the fellow wielding a twelve-pounder sledge, I advise you reconsider your refusal of a term of surrender," he said smoothly.

"Aren't you under some kind of obligation to protect us from this?" the lady asked.

"Protect what?" Marshall Yamamoto asked. "Four unlawful combatants entrapped by enraged civilians during the commission of a war crime? Why would we have any obligation to defend you under those circumstances?"

"One could make a very easy case for not interfering in such a matter, wasting time, lives, resources better spent elsewhere, ja?" General Von Stauffenberg pointed out.

"All right, all right, you win! We'll surrender!" the lady said.

"Civilians, take their arms, use their own handcuffs to secure them," Atrebas ordered. "Do not strike them needlessly. A surrendered foe shall be given quarter, the courts and the Gods will deal with their actions soon enough."

The four ISF agents were faithful to their change of heart and did surrender properly. There was some horseplay in taking them down, but nothing that Atrebas would have attributed to 'police brutality' by any legal definition thereof. Never mind that this was a military action and such concerns were mitigated to a degree. All four were handcuffed and hauled before the Divine Mage.

"Did you really mean it when you said the courts would deal with us?" the eldest of the four asked.

"Aye," Eric said simply. "There is nothing to be gained by simply striking you down, and plenty to be lost. You will answer for your actions soon enough." Atrebas waved the oncoming infantry forward to his position.

"Highness!" the lead Sergeant said with a quick bow.

"See these four to the Military Police regiment for holding until their actions can be prosecuted. I will submit video records before the end of the day," Atrebas ordered, and in moments the four were removed from the area. The slain ISF trooper was carried out of the area by two other Infantrymen to have his body secured and returned to family.

After the four ISF troops were out of the area, Atrebas approached the downed shopkeeper, who was beaten severely but not dead. A quick round of healing spells (including a regeneration spell) was sufficient to stabilize and correct most of the damage. His daughter and son helped the shopkeeper to his seat, where he quickly regained consciousness amid cheers from the rapidly-expanding crowd.

The one major question on the minds of the crowd surfaced from an ironic source, as clear a nonconformist as Atrebas had seen in these lands. He figured the bright pink hair and over-large irises (some kind of illusion or cosmetic change?) clashed to a degree with the a rather dark ensemble of cargo pants, heavily-adorned bomber jacket, boots, and roughly five pounds of chains as accessories. Such was the ensemble that he figured the person a guy, but was not completely sure until he spoke:

"You aiming for the Premier's spot, big guy?" the teen asked bluntly.

"No, I intend to demolish the Premier's establishment, not supplant him. If the people seek to enthrone a Mage such as myself, I shall do better than simply usurp the existing structure," Atrebas answered.

"Shouldn't be hard, big guy," he said.

Atrebas chuckled grimly. "Aye, Lim Jia Yu has set the bar fairly low for his post, but there shall always be room to improve," the Divine Mage said. "What is your concern of the future?"

"Freedom of expression, of personal conduct," he said simply. "Obviously, freedom of religion is your desire, but the right to assemble is something I would like to see guaranteed."

"Not far from your prior musings on the subject, sensei," (former) Prince Torahito said.

"Aye, and can be guaranteed by legal precedent, but one cannot be divorced from social consequence of their actions." Atrebas jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the direction the ISF troops had been extracted. "The ISF action here is prime example. Legally, what they did was within their right. Socially and morally, it was a terrible wrong. What a government sanctions and what a society accepts are two different things. The government can be kept out of such realm, but it becomes your duty to justify your actions, government cannot force a people to accept something or you end up back at the position of Premier Yu."

The 'rebel' nodded. "9/10, would bang it," he said, which made little sense to Atrebas in context. "Where do I sign up?" he asked, which made more sense to the Divine Mage.

"Speak to the guys with the military police armbands, they shall point you in the right direction."

"Hai, thanks," he was on his way thereafter.

Atrebas decided a change of plans was in order. "While we are here, I think a quick tour of this market area would be proper. What say you, Marshal Yamamoto?" His intention wasn't so much to shop, but to take the temperament of the people.

"I'm in," the former IJA command officer answered immediately.

-x-x-x-

(2 August 2049, 2030 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Black Lotus Security Group, Shatianba (Suburb of Chongqing), China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)
(Coords: 29°44'0.87"N, 106°37'29.56"E)

Every day, Lin Zhen Yu (no relation to Premier Yu) thanked the fortunes of the Heavens that the ISF was wildly incompetent compared to their contemporaries in the Imperial Japanese Public Safety Intelligence Division. Their failures had enabled her to create a security services empire of her own, staffed with personnel they were trying to hunt, and do so in a way that her troops were now ready to act against the government they all disdained.

The end of the war had been mercifully forgiving to the various Black Lotus and Black Willow units of the IJA. Lin's unit had not really migrated from where they had been technically 'defeated' and 'captured', she now lived in a different suburb of Chongquing and was thoroughly enjoying the raw irony of being highly paid for a job technically easier than her work in the Black Lotus spec ops groups.

The true kicker, though, was the fact that her corporation name was 'Black Lotus Security Group', which meaning should have been wildly obvious to anyone with four or five functioning brain cells. Her original surviving team, two platoons of troops, had been joined by another 300 of the Black Lotus and Black Willow troops, and their combined military expertise and assorted special operations skills had parlayed beautifully into a security concern. Persons or corporations with real money and real security interests called her team before they called the government, and the reputation stuck.

"If he's going to be Emperor, he's doing it right," Lead Cybersecurity Director (former Sergeant) Bao Xu tapped the small flat-panel television at her desk with a pen. "He listens to the people, not simply tells them what will happen."

"Hold on, girl, we still haven't confirmed that he's the right man for the job. There's a lot we don't know about this guy," Facilities Security Director (former Private First Class) Fang Ruan said cautiously.

"Or we could do another corporate blowjobber like Premier Yu?" Bao sarcastically asked her comrade and coworker.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Fang answered sarcasm with her own acidic tone.

"Well, if there's a better option, I'd like to hear about him," Aviation Director (Former Warrant Officer) Yuuki Nakahara said. "I've been talking to some of the Shrine Maidens, they're going to follow him to the letter. That tells me plenty."

"That must've been a good night in bed to get a whole order to shift sides like that," Bao grumped. "Why can I never find a guy worth the time?"

"Looking for it in all the wrong places, girl," Fang said. "That, and the whole 'ISF is hunting for us' thing makes the dating scene a bit difficult."

"Speaking thereof," Lin waved a finger at a party that had just came off the elevator. Two were uniformed ISF agents, two were business suit ISF special agents.

"Yeah, this is about to get messy," Yuuki grumped.

"Those poor, sad fools," Fang said with a smile. If ever a case of prey animals unwittingly walking into a lion's den, this was it.

"Stand to for imminent contact," President (former Lieutenant) Lin Zhen Yu said under her breath.

The group stopped at the executive secretary's desk, asked something, and received a pointer to Lin and the other major division heads of the company. In the same fashion as Japanese small corporations, Lin had a low-wall cubicle like the rest of the company and only used closed offices for her business when privacy was a necessity. Hence, the executive secretary simply pointed them to her and that was that.

Bao Xu made sure to send off a general warning message to the company by way of the instant messenger system they all relied on to trade work tips and gossip (more gossip by volume than actual useful material), and around the room Lin could see the telltales of personnel getting ready for action.

"Something I can help you men with?" Lin asked bluntly when the lead ISF Special Agent approached. Bao had made sure to turn off her terminal's monitor, so any replies would not be visible to the ISF troops.

"We need your team's help breaking the network security in use by the Divine Mage," he said. "The Directorate of Military and Intelligence Affairs is willing to pay handsomely for your assistance."

"Hope you have some gold bars in that briefcase, trooper," Yuuki answered for the other corporate officers. "We don't take check," the former gunship pilot explained.

"Since when have you not accepted checks? We paid for your services that way last month!" the agent exclaimed.

"Well, last month you had a raging douchebag problem in the army, but you didn't have a Divine Wizard and a couple hundred thousand pissed-off IJA expatriates hunting your asses," Fang Ruan said archly. "This month you have both of the above. That makes us question your financial solvency."

"And that's why we need the help," the ISF Special Agent in charge said.

"Not happening," Lin put the issue to rest.

"What?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

"I said 'not happening'. Do you need it in writing?" Lin Zhang Yu asked.

"You're pushing your luck," the ISF Special Agent groused.

"And the SA-DR is out of luck, but that's neither here nor there," Lin continued the sparring match. "What possible twist of psyche would lead you to believe that we have any desire to gamble against the Divine Mage?"

"It is your duty as citizens of the Nation to assist in defeating this menace," he said. "It is the law."

"The technical term is 'suicide pact', and I don't remember signing up for one," Fang Ran commented offhand.

"Either you will do your duty — and the offer of payment is now off the table for your obstinance — or — " he stopped after Lin held up her hand for a stop.

"I think we shall take our version of 'or else'." Lim reached out to the desk bell that was at every third desk and rang it three times.

"What's that for — " the Special Agent grew silent after he heard the sound of a firearm bolt, followed by a shotgun slide, though those were the easy ones to recognize. Within a few seconds, the building came alive with the sounds of firearms of a multitude of types, which made the four pistols carried by the ISF agents rather paltry in comparison.

"What the fresh Hell did we just stumble into?" the junior Special Agent asked. Four light machine guns were poised within easy shots of them, not to mention the myriad rifles, shotguns, and pistols in the hands of everyone on the floor.

"The name is not a joke," Bao Xu said with some satisfaction. Four of the troops approached the quickly surrendered ISF agents and secured them with handcuffs taken from the two uniformed troopers.

"Oh, oh shit, a Black Lotus formation," the lead ISF trooper said.

"Aye. The Imperial Japanese disdained us but were all too willing to use us for their bullshit missions. The Democratic Republic actively hunted us, but apparently not very well. We've found a crew that accepts us for who we are, not what, and that puts us in conflict with the Incompetent Security Force. Isn't that right, Instructor Brannoch?" CEO Lin Zhang Yu asked past the shoulder of the lead agent.

"The more standing against this joke of a Corporatocracy, the better," a new voice answered. All four ISF agents easily recognized her from their many briefings on the Mages, but they could do nothing to her given the circumstances. There was only two platoons of firepower on just this one floor of the building, of course…

"Need a new code block?" Bao Xu asked as she stood up and received a package from the Mage. She wasn't wearing armor, but her choice of paired short swords both glowed in the 'prestige' scabbards that were part transparent acrylic beyond the receiving collar for the weapon itself.

"Hai, and any commo breaks you have for the SEAM would be welcome as well," Allie requested. "When will your team be ready to move?"

"Early tomorrow, we're finishing supply and critical equipment gathering. Does your headquarters detachment have enough power generation to run our supercomputers?" Lin asked in counter.

"Yeah, we have the generator vehicles used for powering the IJA mobile SAM radars, that is more than ample for a supercomputer," she answered. "We even have heavy equipment haulers waiting to receive your mainframes, so you can keep up with the command team as we roll. Now, do you need these guys taken care of?" Allie waved a finger at the ISF troops.

"We shall deal with them," Fang said with a rather evil smile.

"Here's your code block and our latest commo information," Bao handed off a pair of data cartridges for it. "Stay safe out there, Armor Technician," she said with a salute.

"You too. Make sure you stay alive, this war doesn't need any more heroes."

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)
(Emperor's Wing, Great Palace of the Dynasty)

Moving out amongst the Stars to worlds capable of supporting life was the easy part.

Finding worlds whereby civilization could flourish with a minimum of having to terraform the world was another story entirely. Of ten that could be used as habitable, only one or two were turnkey-ready. The others all had an acute need of some manner of adjustment. The adjustments had been started by the Dynasty Priests, but actual focus of expansion rested on those worlds which were immediately livable.

The Empire wanted it, the duty of the Atrebas demanded the inevitable expansion, and most of all, the common people wanted the adventure and the benefits of new worlds.

"The expansion has begun, Highness," Priest Lord Badamon said after the Emperor approached the ceremonial fire in his primary chamber.

"The latest reports are in?" Talpa asked for clarification. The initial push on the expansion had begun a year earlier.

"Better still, Highness, they will be returning shortly," Badamon said.

"Or are already here, Master," Dark Warlord Daes descended from the rafters in his usual semi-creepy fashion. The armor set that Talpa had fashioned for him in centuries past had taken the form of his soul's echo, and apparently Daes had more in common with spiders and illusions than Talpa had expected. More was the better that he took to that echo well, as his hanging from the ceiling now proved.

"You sound of being in good spirits, Daes," Dark Warlord Sekhmet said as he stepped through the shadows on the western wall of the room and dispelled his armor. "Master Talpa, news is good from the new world, there is little trouble in the new lands and advancement is at schedule."

"It is hard to be in a foul demeanor with the successes we have had," Daes countered, then dropped to the ground and righted himself expertly. The armor dispelled, reduced to a glyph he had taken into his soul, the glyph of Serenity, which shielded him from several forms of harm and held possession of his armor until he summoned it forth. "The world to which I am assigned is unusually volcanic, which will require extensive capping by Black Ice Magic, but expansion moves apace."

"The opposite holds true on the third world assigned, Highness," Dark Warlord Cale announced after emerging from the shadows on the eastern wall. His armor dispelled into the glyph of Obedience attached to his soul. Much like the armor, the glyphs were echoes of the individual warlord's souls, created on their acceptance of the soul object of the armor. "The climate takes a wild turn in the space of a year, ramping down from temperate to arctic and only barely clawing its way to acceptable again. Still, appropriate magicks make it doable."

"And the fourth world is temperate completely, but thin on metallic resources," Dark Warlord Anubis teleported into the walkway behind Badamon and took a knee. His armor dispelled into his own Glyph, that of Loyalty, and he bowed his head as was appropriate in the court of the Emperor. "If nothing else, Master, the fourth world chosen shall provide excellent ground for expanding the populace, even if material resources turn thin."

"Stand, Anubis," Talpa said. The last arrival was Talpa's wife, Kayura, who teleported in next to Anubis. "Congratulations are in order for all four of the initial expansion projects. The numbers presented by the Head Nether Priests on each world are in excess of expectations, but this is only the beginning. In due time, you each will take command of a holding of worlds, as you build your own command structures under you. The expanding of the Empire demands an expanding order of command and control."

"We serve as is needed, Highness," Sekhmet said graciously.

"For today, focus your efforts into expansion, but be warned: within the decade, our hour of vengeance shall begin. The other nations on this world that have given insult and injury, we have stayed our hands long enough; their decay and rot has exceeded their ability to disguise it, now we are in opportune position to right this dishonor and take the final steps necessary to secure the future. We shall add their Empires to our own and move forward with the intentions."

"We shall relish it, Master Talpa," Anubis said with a significant smile.

"Tomorrow we continue as planned, but for today we celebrate. I believe a round of my special vintage sake is called for." Talpa teleported to his hand a case of sake bottles.

-x-x-x-

(3 August 2049, 1030 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Wazicun (Suburb of Beijing), China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic (heavily disputed))
(Initial Coords: 39°58'45.02"N, 116°29'51.78"E)
(Enemy CP Coords: 39°58'36.31"N, 116°29'42.97"E)

Three days into this 'revolution' and the affair was shaping up into a game of force consolidation. There had been a few battles on the periphery of the controlled zones, even one good regiment-on-regiment scrap (the rebel forces had to withdraw after air power changed the calculus of the battle) but by and large the forces of Southeast Asia had pulled back toward the Communist Capital of Yuhua, while the forces of the Multimage Rebellion were filling in the power vacuum.

The more poignant issue with the force correlation was the amount of forces that had declared themselves neutral in the coming shitstorm, or those that had actively sided with Atrebas. Persons that Atrebas had counted as enemy two years prior were now willing to swear off hostility to him, or even side with him against the immorality of the Communist hardliners. One whit in the Press had made noise that "for every protest Premier Yu disrupts with the Army, another Regiment sides with the Multimage," in something of a flippant commentary on the news the night before. Surprisingly to him (and unsurprisingly to anyone in military circles), the newscaster had been proven right overnight: two protests cut down by the army, two more Regiments under Atrebas' banner.

Thus, when the surging Rebels approached Beijing, the main garrison commander (an old and wizened holdover from the IJA days) declared that the Beijing theater would welcome the Multimage's benevolent reign over the lands. Lieutenant General (Rikugun-Chūjō) Kenta Yoshomura had even taken the time to meet the Multimage at the international airport and officially negotiate a defection for his troops, who had voted to defect to the rebels with a majority (97 percentile across the board). The remaining 3 percent had grabbed trucks, personal vehicles, and what few flights possible to depart the area, headed south by southwest toward the SEA final stand to come.

"This holds far more in common with a political rally or parade than it would some kind of battle action," Kari Porom pointed out.

"You may relax, young one," Marshall Yamamoto assured her. "It is a classic folly of anime and hollywood for the command elements of a formation to routinely engage in direct combat. In real world engagements, if your command post finds itself on the front lines, you've done something wrong."

"Ja, though in this case, we have a command post that is disproportionately more lethal than quite a bit of our front lines," General Von Stauffenberg pointed out the proverbial (and massive) elephant riding shotgun on this truck.

"This is the war that should have been fought those years ago," Lieutenant General Yoshomura said from his new position on the flatbed between the Divine Mage and Von Stauffenberg.

The command post convoy with six Military Police IFVs in the lead had come down the Airport Expressway, though progress was slow — the entire route was being guarded by infantry from the Beijing Corps, and beyond the Infantry was thirty or forty ranks of civilians cheering them on. What it reminded Atrebas most of was the parades at home in celebration of another completed contract for Durgan.

At the number 5 ring-road, the convoy had changed heading to southeast, deliberately headed down into industrial areas for the next leg of the parade. On the major interstate-type roadway, the convoy picked up pace somewhat, but the city peoples still lined the streets and shouted their encouragement to the Mages. While the command post (and specifically the Divine Mage) was winding its way through the east side of Beijing and its suburbs, the rest of Marshall Yamamoto's Corps formation was moving into the city proper to join up with Yoshomura's troops. It was equal parts subterfuge and photo opportunity, he had explained, that the city would be so busy celebrating the arrival of the Mage that they would not notice the increasing military forces in town. The plan was, after a couple days to consolidate, the combined Army would move south as a weighted strike point.

The next change of course, and this time due west, was on Yaojayyuan Road, more of a surface street than any else.

"Look hard and fast, my friends," Lieutenant General Yoshomura said heartily. "Most of all, listen. These people are who the Imperial Japan government plowed under, and who the SEA Communists consider expendable. Thank the Gods that Strike Command is smart enough to deny a request to nuke a city, or we would be in dire trouble."

"Truth," Kari said. "Boss, I'm not feeling anything hostile, except the odd jostling you'd get in a crowd."

"I would expect these people are looking for an improvement to their lot, and playing the dutiful role of a sycophant to the SEA Communists will not get them that elevation," Atrebas said. "A person's survival instincts always point them to the best course of action for self, family, and friends, it becomes the duty of a tyrant to deceive the people into surrendering their interests to secure power."

"Huh, was not expecting you to be this understanding on matters of society, Divine Mage. The intelligence reports I was given pointed to you being a barbarian with a modicum of spellcraft at your disposal," Kenta Yoshomura said. "Of course, the intelligence officer that fabricated those reports has a strong attitude."

"That is a rather artful turn of phrase, Kenta," (former) Prince Torahito said.

"I will admit my own record on the subject is lackluster," the Lieutenant General groused. "It is our duty to do better."

After a southward bend in the road, the convoy took a turn north into the side streets of Yaojiayuancun, Qingnan North Road that lead into the apartment buildings and a university in the area showed a tale that Atrebas wasn't expecting to see this soon after the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese empire.

"I wanted the people to see that you are not a figment of the entertainment industry's imagination, but I also want you to see the most dangerous problem that you shall face in coming months after you have dethroned Premier Yu," Kenta waved a finger to the port side of the convoy, toward a block of apartments north of the still-under-construction Beijing East University.

"Aye, not hard to spot," Atrebas acknowledged the point. "How much do your men figure is starting to fail?"

"You will see more — and worse — north of here in Wazicun, but this is endemic of the issue. We figure mismanagement and underemployment had resulted in roughly 20 percent residential, 40 percent commercial and industrial, and at least 15 to 25 percent infrastructure failures. The Commies don't have enough funds to provide for water and sewer repairs, so my engineer battalions have been working on it in recent weeks."

"And still the people stand to see the man who would tear down yet another failed government," Kari put a rather unusual emphasis on the point. "Now we have to live up to the hype, or die trying like those before us."

"It will take some trial and error, but I have no intention of outright failing the people," Atrebas said as the convoy swung left between blocks of apartment buildings.

The group was silent as the convoy trekked northbound toward the airport expressway they had departed for a circuitous parade route. Atrebas had started this day early, though the official intention was to have a luncheon and negotiation session in the old capital of what was China before the Imperial Japanese had turned this city into one of its many Prefecture Capitals.

-x-

(40 minutes later, 1110L)
(At the initial Coords location listed above)

Even though expected, it was heartening to Atrebas to see and know that at least a goodly portion of the people throughout the city — nay, the area — were cheering for him to succeed. That the people were becoming desperate for change, real change, that they would gamble on an untested and frankly shadowy wizard was simply an underscore on the matter to the Divine Wizard.

"Your truths on the state of these areas are hard to understate," Yamamoto noted to the Lieutenant General.

"Wazicun is one of the three most decrepit areas in the city, and remember that Beijing was the Prefecture Capital when the IJA ruled here. I've done what I can to keep the area afloat, but I'll need more."

"We shall find more," Torahito said adroitly.

"I suspect the first task on the agenda of a new administration is going to be domestic tranquility," Atrebas noted.

"If I may ask, sir, are you bullshitting yourself on this matter?" Kenta Yoshomura asked. "The people are of such a mind about demanding you take the post, they fairly demanded that I side with you or face rebellion from the city and surrounding country."

"You may relax, Lieutenant General Yoshomura," Eric said stolidly. "I am aware of the people's desires on the subject and if their souls hold such position on my dissolution of the failed Communist state, I shall form up the new administration."

"Sir, trouble," Kari announced by radio. "The APCs report someone blocking the intersection ahead with a light machine gun and a flare." She was silent for a moment, though the microphone was still open. "And I'm starting to sense a disturbance to our west, Master."

"The question is not so much a concern of sensing it, for if you look at the buildings due west of us, you shall start seeing crew-served weapons," Atrebas pointed out. "Whose troops are those?"

Kenta climbed up high enough he could look through the cab windows of the tractor pulling the low-boy trailer, then focused between the lead APCs to the troopers in question. "They're not mine," Yoshomura said. "If I had to guess, they're SEA Infiltration Troops — yeah, they're infiltrators, one of them just gave me a good look at her unit insignia, looks like 4th Infiltration Commandos."

"That explains how they got here, and why," Marshall Yamamoto said.

"Start clearing the civilians, unless I can talk them down this is likely to become a battlefield," Atrebas noted the very real possibility that was growing larger by the moment.

"Yes sir!" The low-boy held 20 Armored Infantrymen (including the Armored Mage, Yamamoto, and Von Stauffenberg) as well as sundry other personnel that were riding along. Directly behind the low-boy was a second, loaded with more of the Armored Infantry (these primarily former Imperial Japanese operating under Atrebas' colors), and further back were two troop transport trucks of the Black Lotus Security Group (their main cyberwarfare troops were not part of this parade). The sudden stop and disembarkation of the troops caused a stir amongst the people, and more so when the troops began requesting the civilians to get clear of the area, but it did not result in panic.

Atrebas and Yamamoto went forward with six Military Police escorts to speak to the persons standing in the middle of the intersection. As they approached, the lead lady dropped aside a road flare and all four seemed to tighten up on their light machine guns.

"Tayuma, Captain, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic," the lead operator (the lady that dropped aside the road flare) identified herself.

"Atrebas, Divine Mage Contractor and commander of the Southeast Asian Rebellion," Eric answered the gesture.

"Yamamoto, Marshall, same force structure," Akihito said.

Company command, three platoons, 95 troops total, Kari told Atrebas telepathically, likely having discerned that much from simple telepathic probing.

"We are listening, Captain," the Divine Mage said.

"We are here to request your surrender in the name of Premier Lim Jia Yu. Make this painless, Divine Mage, your purpose is impossible and this rebellion is fruitless," she said rather eloquently. Since she was facing south toward the oncoming parade convoy, she did not notice the camera crew that set up behind her and to her right (the northeast corner of the intersection).

"I refuse," Atrebas said.

She looked aside, down to the pavement, and nodded twice, likely fortifying her resolve. She's preparing her words carefully, this one has doubts in her heart. You can best her without taking a shot, Master. Atrebas figured Kari had a good read on the tango if she was sounding so confident as she did.

The Captain looked back up to the Divine Mage. "My orders were to enter the city while you were on parade and attack the civilians, cause chaos and sow dissent. I will not follow those orders, not because they are unsightly, but because I have listened to your speeches and musing. I suspect you are a reasonable man in an unreasonable circumstance, and are only at this to generate change. This does not have to end how you intend it to," she entreated.

"To the contrary, Captain Tayuma," Eric began, "the assumption that this is my will is only partially correct. I grant the minimum distinction that no man controls my sword-arm except myself, and that a person's actions are solely their own providence and none other. That said, the extent of my actions are only in echo of a far greater, far more vociferous will."

"Whose? The Fates? Other, thus far unseen Divinities of the Norse? Of the Japanese Pantheon?" She asked.

"The Fates have a stake in this only to a degree that my commission demands I take heed of a far greater, far more resonant desire. That desire is easily discerned, even by those who hold no such commission, if you are willing to listen?"

"To who?" The Captain was more than a little confused by the request.

"Look around you. Listen around you," Eric waved a finger into the crowd. "The first and loudest failure a doomed state makes is to fail to listen to the people. And it is by their will that a state rises or falls."

"The people will do as their government tells them to," she countered.

"Aye, for a time," Atrebas said. "Remember that a government is constituted by the consent of the governed, and when that consent is revoked, the state has two options: to attempt to forcibly reassert control and create a state of tyranny, or to acquiesce and allow the people to give consent to a new state. As your command is attempting to do, they intend to force the issue in combat, but the governed parties have only become more resistant to the failures of the State."

"Meaning what? You have described nothing so much as the ebb and flow of history, Atrebas."

"Meaning, simply stated, that your options are twofold: you can either answer to me, today, or you can answer to the people en masse tomorrow. Again, I beseech you, look around yourselves and ask who you are more willing to be the harbingers of your fate, the Divine Mage with a defined purpose, or the anonymous mob seething with a quiet rage against your depredations."

Phrased that way, and with a good hard look into the crowd, Atrebas could tell her resolve had cracked but not yet completely broken.

"Why? Why would people walk away from what they know? What can provide their needed order?" She asked nobody in particular.

"When all they know is depredation and abuse, first under the Imperial Japanese, now under the Democratic Republic, the survival instinct impulse is to escape the reach of the abuser and to seek shelter in an area where they are not abused." The unstated premise was that the area 'out of reach' of an abusive state was under the umbrella of another government.

"For someone who wasn't born in this time, you have picked up a surprising amount of our language, Divine Mage," the Captain countered as a stalling tactic.

"Such terms were not defined in the same way in my homeland, but the actions and concepts they define and describe certainly existed," Atrebas said calmly. If she was stalling, she was trying to find a way out of the position she had allowed herself to be backed into, Atrebas guessed.

"So," she said, though without any drive to the word, Atrebas knew it was another verbal stalling tactic. "So," she said a bit more quietly. "When does it end?"

"There will always be bad governments, and there will always be bad actors in any government, but somewhere, somewhen, someone shall offer a better solution. My intentions may or may not be that better option, but as I have said in recent memory, Premier Yu has not set a high bar for doing better. Even if only to stand as an interim until a better state is formed, I will heed the call of the people first."

The Divine Mage figured it not impossible in the annals of personal conduct, but he never really expected to see the exact moment when a person's resolve broke. Quickly was it followed by the stages of denial and acceptance of the reality that had been denied.

Still, one question remained in her mind: "Which is it? The people, or the commission?" she asked.

"Your question assumes there is a demarcation between the two, wherein I will eventually have to betray the people to complete the duty. Such deception is in actuality a violation of my commission; to complete the latter, the former must not only survive but must be allowed to flourish. Herein is the most damning nail in the coffin of the Democratic Republic: the only way to maintain the illusion of government solvency is by perpetuating stagnation and conflict in the people, that they are convinced of the righteousness of their misery and the eternal superiority of their overlords."

"Nothing is eternal," Captain Tayuma said. "I cannot order my force to fire on civilians, and I cannot complete my intention, leaving nothing. Will you see to my men properly, Divine Mage?"

"If your force stands down peaceably, it shall be ensured that no further harm befalls your unit," Yamamoto said for the Divine Mage.

"We serve to liberate the people from the chains of the corporate-controlled communist state. Your loyalty is your own to give or rescind as desired, I cannot fault you for that," Atrebas said. "So long as you have done nothing for which your unit would be dishonored, you shall earn no such wages."

Within ten minutes, the parade would resume, this time with another person on the low-boy to see the proceedings at the center of town.

-x-x-x-

(4 August 2049, 1345 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Farmland, back roads, sparse forest area outside Shiwan, China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic (heavily disputed))
(Coords: 32°16'14.13"N, 114° 6'2.78"E)

"Runner! What's the latest news?" Sergeant (Gunsō) Yan Bai asked as the teenager that was serving as the section's runner passed by.

She ran up to the troops at the bivouac, came to a skidding stop, went ramrod-straight to attention, and saluted sharply. "Sir! Headquarters group says we're up to 40,000 troops, and the SAM sites are up and active." She waved a finger at the shield of one of their Armored Infantry. "That's nice artwork, ma'am!"

"Painting is my off-duty hobby, and right now we're not marching or being shot at, so it's what I do," Warrant Officer (Jun-i, technically associate officer) Rin Bai said without breaking her brush stroke.

"That reminds me, I have a question for you, all of you," the teen requested.

"Eh, grab a seat, kid, you've done enough message running for an hour," The Sergeant waved her to his wife's fold-up chair, which she wasn't using in lieu of doing freehand pinstripe painting on the shield of the #3 Armored Infantryman. After the teen took a seat, Yan handed her a can of soda and a protein bar.

"Arigatou," the teen said. "So, I was wondering, since the press can't seem to get the story straight, is this about stopping the government, or instilling Atrebas as the government?"

"Both," the ten troops of this Armored Infantry Squad said almost unanimously.

"Knocking down Premier Yu doesn't mean shit," Yan said. "We boot his ass out the door, next week we have an altogether worse corporate lackey in the same damn throne room, only the second time they won't be stupid enough to let us IJA leftovers stew in place. They'll hunt us down and wax us all, just a matter of time, follow?"

"Hai," the runner said.

"So, the job is, toast Premier Yu, then replace him with the Divine Mage. We're not 100 percent on him, but he makes noises like a good leader and he hasn't gone out of his way to be a total dick to anyone, with the possible exception of tearing down Imperial Japan. The Nazis I'm excepting, they earned whatever dick moves he laid on them, probably earned more than he gave."

Rin Bai cleared her throat between pinstripes. "We put him in place, we backstop him, we make sure he doesn't go sour on us," she said, then straightened up. "That should do for this shield. After the stripes dry, I'll put a clear-coat or three on it."

"Loving your artwork, honey," her husband said. "Thinking, after the forces consolidate, maybe we should have you take command of vehicle and armor painting?"

"If they make a position for it, sure," Rin waved the runner down to her chair, and upended an empty ammo crate for her seat. "The only people that properly know what he's going to look like as a leader are the ladies pulling his strings."

"The Norns," the teen displayed some of her knowledge on the subject.

"Right, but when you get down to it, he's still the best we got for what is a shit choice to begin with," Rin continued. "And I'll admit there is a bit of charm to having a hardass divine-level wizard and soldier in command of the nation. Anyone else on planet fucks with us, they're going to have a very bad day," she estimated (not unfairly).

"Okay, that brings me to another question," the teen hesitated.

"Hit me," Yan said after he handed his wife a beer from a cooler he kept next to his fold-up chair.

"If the troops are swearing loyalty to Atrebas, why are you guys still using the old Imperial Japanese sunbursts? I mean, I'd take them over the Commie fuckweasels we've got now, but I don't think the Emperor's going to go for another round after his surrender," she asked innocently.

"Huh," Yan grunted.

"Kid's got a point," Rin said.

"I could go for a change of livery, if we're in it for Atrebas now," the unit recon pointman said. "Here's your knife, Sarge," the pointman handed it back to him after a thorough whetstone sharpening. Rin handed off her combat knife immediately thereafter for the recon trooper to sharpen, given he was the best in the Company for blades.

"I'm going to run this one up the flagpole, see what the brass thinks of it." Rin pulled her cell phone out from her bra and unlocked it. The Lieutenant General in charge of the rapidly-coalescing Corps formation was her uncle, and she a favored niece of his (though not enough to get any breaks in the unit), so she simply texted him the question.

-x-

(20 minutes later)
(8 kilometers east-southeast of the VII Corps command post)
(Industrial zone, Town of Yinjiawan)

Yinjiawan had one of the multitude of old Imperial Japanese Military Forces' contractors for uniform fabrication and embroidery, which gave the city a business to fall back on after the first revolution. What had once turned out sharply-crafted uniforms for the IJA was now doing street clothes in the prescribed plain styles favored by the Marxists for their conservative cut and minimal use of material. After all, if a people looked like they were doing well, that could increase capitalist thoughts…

General Lu Ken Rengen jumped out of the back seat of the utility vehicle (analogous to the old United States Jeep scout cars) and righted himself before he set off for the front door of the facility. Once inside, the lobby only barely concealed the sound of the running machines in the factory floor, but that sound was very muted from what he expected to hear of what was once a bustling factory.

"May I help you?" the American-transplant secretary asked politely.

"Hai, is your facility manager around?" Lu asked.

"He is — "

"Right here," Lu looked to the speaker. "General Rengen! Sir!" the manager came to attention and saluted. "Sōchō Kazuo Mizushima, 3rd Battalion, 58th Paratrooper Regiment," the facility manager declared himself. "I'd've joined up on the call-up, but I have two young children and a third on the way, sir."

The General returned the salute. "Damn good to hear, Sergeant Major, and congratulations on the incoming. Mine are all grown, one was slain in the second protest the SEA military gunned down. Light machine gun from 60 yards," he said.

"Packed civilians, nasty business," the plant manager said. "What can I do for you, General?"

"This facility used to do embroidery and unit patches. Can it still do so?" Lu asked.

"Used to, sir, the Marxists don't like decoration on their workers, might give them bad ideas. Capitalist ideas." The contempt in the manager's voice at such a restriction was evident. "I still have the machines. Something on your mind?"

"I need new organization and unit patches for my Corps. Say, 200,000 sound like a start?"

"Holy shit, sir," the former paratrooper said. "I can do it, but I'll have to reactivate all that equipment and I'll need experienced workers to run the machines, not out there counting bags of rice," he waved a finger toward the north, though was referencing all the farms in the area that had gone to manual farming methods as a way to 'better utilize' a 'proper Communist workforce'. After all, tractors and combines cost money, material, and expertise, whereas there were plenty of suddenly-unemployed workers laying about after the end of the war...

"Here's the design," Lu handed him a sheet of paper. "I want this about the size of a fist. Can you do it?"

"Black symbol, white background?" Lu nodded affirmative. "If you can get some food support in here for the workers, this town will love you for it."

"We're ready for that," General Yengen said. "How fast?"

"Our machines are set up to do ten patches at a time. So, if I made this patch ten centimeters, ten patches in four minutes, one hundred fifty in an hour per machine, I can produce about 3000 patches an hour. We've got the material on hand, but if you could line up some trade goods for payment for this, I can line up suppliers to keep it going."

"If you need transport for the supplies, I'll make transport available," Lu said. "We've been assembling forces for a battle, it is time we properly identified the sides of this battle."

"Damn good, sir. Give me a couple minutes to set up and run you a test batch." The Manager led the General and his MP escorts out into the workfloor area and to a CAD machine. The unit symbol wasn't particularly complex, drawing it out on a scaled grid took only five minutes to tweak and ensure the colors and stitches were proper, then he packaged the file for distribution to the machines.

"Can you give me a copy of that file so we can issue it out to other units?"

"Sure, here," the manager didn't think twice about cutting a copy of the file to a second flash drive and handed it off to the General. The primary flash drive went into the embroidery machine, where he pressed 'read device' on the panel, selected the newest job file, dialed in 1 run, and pressed 'execute'

The machine was a marvel of mass-production. It ran hundreds of passes of the needle in the span of seconds, each punch dropping into the patch fabric and out to punch into a new location. It did a circular field of white first, then the black symbol over top the white, then finished with a gold circle border around the perimeter of the patch area. The last step was for the patch fabric to advance into the machine to a hydrojet cutter array that used high-pressure water to blast the patch clear of the fabric sheet. The conveyor advanced to push the cut and ready patches out the rear and down into a collection bin.

The manager locked out the machine and went behind to the bin to collect the demonstrators. "What do you think?" he handed over the new patches to the General.

Lu checked it front and back, flexed it a couple times, and put it up to his shoulder where it would cover or replace the Imperial Japanese sunburst. "I think it's damn good. You guys?" He handed a pair to each of the MPs with him, who went through roughly the same checks.

"I like 'em," the MP Sergeant said.

"It'll definitely deliver the message to whoever sees them," the other MP (a corporal) said.

"Make it 300,000," General Rengen decided. "Here's my card, give me a call when you have the first 20,000 available," he said.

"Time to get to work," the Manager said, then sounded the air horn used to call a stop to work on the workfloor. He would need everyone working this job, from feeding the machines to running them to counting and bagging. And he would need more personnel, which was his first set of instructions to the shift leaders to go find the prior employees and offer them proper wages.

-x-

(1 hour later)
(Assembly Area, IV Corps (Heavy), outside of Hangzhou, China)
(Coords: 30°20'34.54"N, 119°54'41.15"E)

"Look at that," the Lieutenant in command of the quartermaster platoon said. "Think you can do that, Marv?"

"Huh," Corporal Marvin Greene (a transplanted American that came in with the rebels) grunted at the pictures in question. "Yeah, that's easy, even for stencil work. No way in Hell are we gonna let Seven Corps outdo us on this one. Question is, what are the regs for decals on Armor?"

"Well, by the book, shoulder boards have to have organization symbology, but shields can be customized or use standard symbols," Captain Conyers explained what he knew of decals for the Armored Infantry.

"Okay, then, we have the plan," Marvin said. He looked up to a squad of troops marching through the area where the Armored Infantry Repair Group had set up. "YO! TROOPS!" He shouted, which brought the group of five to a dead halt.

"What gives, Technician?" the squad Sergeant said.

"C'mere," Marvin waved him over toward the paint bay for the units. "Got a new SOP from Seven for decals on the Infantry Armor sets. You guys happen to be the testbed," he said. "Smitty, get an acetylene torch set over here, we'll need it to harden the enamelling after application." Said quartermaster simply waved acknowledgement and ducked into the back of one of the cargo trucks. "Janie, you have the steadiest hands, cut me a stencil about 12 centimeters per side, remember it is equilateral so the stencil is rotatable and reversible."

"On it," She immediately picked up a blank stencil panel and put it down on a table with a cutting mat so she could begin measurements.

"Let's do this right. Ierne, can you score us some of the good jet black automotive paint and some metallic powder to add to it?"

"Easily, I know right where it is," Lieutenant Ierne Watters ducked into an intermodal crate that was marked as containing vehicle paint supplies.

"You said SOP from Seven, are you referring to VII Corps?" the Armored Infantry Sergeant asked.

"Yeah, that's it," Smitty said, then held out his personal laptop that he had received the pictures from the VII Corps Quartermaster on. "New patches and insignia."

"That's...humbling," the Former IJA Special Operations trooper said. "To wear the Divine Mage's symbol when serving his purpose would be more meaningful, if not quite as traditional, as our original Imperial Japanese sunburst."

"It's who we're in under this time around, and damned if he isn't going to be a hell of a lot better than the Commie bastard we've got. Smitty, can you source a vendor for patches around here?"

"Maybe, same design?" he asked after he had the torch ready for use.

"Here, I have the black paint, the gray base coat paint, and isopropyl alcohol to clean their armor before application," Ierne set the supplies down on the table for Marvin to deploy.

"Start cleaning their shoulder plates," Marvin said as he began filling a paint sprayer canister with the necessary gray paint to cover over their existing IJA sunburst with the new symbol.

"Stencil's ready," Janie held it up to one of their shoulder plates. "Fits perfect."

"Good, we'll need it in about 15 minutes," Marvin said. He had been so focused on what he was working on, he failed to hear the commotion behind him. When he finished putting on a painter's jumpsuit, respirator, and goggles, then turned around, he caught sight of another forty or so Armored Infantry who had been led to the paint booth by the commotion. "Whoa."

"Word gets around fast, Corporal," a Lieutenant of Armored Infantry said. "Rotate us through, keep that paint gun going, and you can do this as an assembly line job," he suggested.

"Yes sir!" Marvin pulled down his respirator, opened the pressure valve on the handle of his spray gun, and took a blank square template to the shoulder plates of the Lieutenant's armor to clear the Waffen-SS flag he had on his armor.

By the time he was done with these forty, there would already be an established schedule to do every vehicle, tank, and Infantry Armor set in the Corps. Thankfully, there were also a lot of very willing volunteers to learn the art of automotive painting, to take the load off the Quartermasters.

And their Corps wasn't the first or last to get the hint. By the end of the day on 6 August, wholly 97 % of the forces would be under the new colors, with patches, flags, banners, t-shirts, and paint jobs to match.

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)

Crystal brought her preferred melee weapon — the Macuahuitl — around and down on the shoulder of the less-properly-defended Turkish Janissary. The 'obsidian sawblade', as had been dubbed by the Europeans they had subjugated, was a fierce and bloody weapon preferred by the Eagle and Jaguar Warriors for its ability to disable or eliminate most man-sized targets in a single stroke, and for its ability to bludgeon an enemy with the flats of the blade. The trooper she struck went down immediately, his left deltoid shredded by the passing jagged obsidian edge.

The Janissaries were good, and certainly brave troops, but the Eagle Warriors were the best Medium Infantry on planet and Crystal intended to prove it. After her initial target went down, hard, with his shoulder sawn in half, the Divine Priestess reached past him to the next foe in line with her gauntleted left hand. "Halting touch," she said to activate the enchantments on her gauntlet. When touched, the enemy received a cocktail of three spells at once: Paralysis, Sleep, and Energy Drain. Any of the three would have been a show stopper to an infantryman caught in close quarters, but the combination of the three ensured that all but a lucky one-in-ten-million would be crippled and could no longer resist being captured.

The Eagle Warriors and Jaguar Warriors were quickly becoming one of the most cosmopolitan forces of combat anywhere in the world. The two groups had diverged to a degree, the Eagles preferring long-range combat while retaining the ability to shred enemies in close, and the Jaguars specializing into close-quarters combat with some ranged ability. Crystal and Melane were technically above the fray, but in practice Crystal served most with the Eagles and Melane with the Jaguars. One thing was equally and fervently shared between the two groups, though: an absolute love of magicked weapons and armor pieces, especially rods, staves, gauntlets, shields, bracers and bangles enchanted to disable persons for easy capture. Melane had started the trend, but it blossomed across the forces from there.

Granted, since the reforms put in place by the Divine Priestesses there had been a bit less influence for the Eagles and Jaguars within the military, but that did not last long. What was once the duty of capturing enemy persons for the purpose of sacrifice to the Gods had now become capturing for the purpose of resettlement and indoctrination into the new ways of the Aztec. And the two special operations groups of the Aztec Empire were excellent at making the captures necessary to advance in rank; after all, entry into these elite groups still required a warrior-brave or warrior-priest to capture twenty in battle and conquest, not a simple task in and of itself. (As to ritual sacrifice, the Gods had made it known that sacrificing capital criminals was perfectly acceptable as a substitute, even if reduced in number from prior policies. And with the massively expanded Empire, there were more than a few crims to chop up in honor of Tlaloc.)

Beyond the now-paralyzed and drained Janissary, only the Prince remained with his personal guard of four. He was not making to retreat, for there was nowhere left to run — to the east resided the Mongol hordes, to the south were territories already held by the Aztec.

"Highness! Allow us!" a fresh squad of Eagle Warriors moved forward and leveled their arms against the Janissaries. Each of the four remaining honor guard had two wheel-lock pistols to use, and the shots were leveled properly, but at the twenty yards and with even more of the frontline being downed, their accuracy was abysmal. Eight shots, two hits, and only one was an arm wound.

The retorted defiance from the Eagles shook the air around Crystal. Her personal escort of ten carried the latest firepower innovations, a shoulder-carried one-inch rifled wheel-lock cannon, and with it ten simultaneous shots could rattle the teeth of most persons, much less the belch of gunsmoke and the terrible effect downrange. Trained to strike man-sized targets at ten times the range they had traded shots, none of the Eagle's rounds failed to strike, and three were slain before their bodies properly fell out of the saddle. The fourth of the honor guard took two wounds, serious and debilitating but not fatal. Immediately they fell back behind the Eagle Warrior frontline to reload, which involved changing out the breech-block for another loaded breech-block and re-prime the weapon.

"Yield, Prince Kiman. There is nothing left; you have nothing to gain by casting yourself onto my blade as your father ordered," Crystal said after the last few Janissaries surrendered, an uncharacteristic action for their ranks.

"I will gain my place by his side in heaven!" the Prince leveled his shamshir at Crystal and spurred his horse into a charge.

Crystal counter-charged, her obsidian weapon aimed not at the rider, but at the horse. At a point Crystal had learned from trial and error, she dive-rolled forward and at an angle to the side, to clear the charge path and the rider's sword, but her own strike of the blade was true. The Macuahuitl was not strictly designed as an anti-cavalry weapon, but the Aztec had quickly found it to be a superb weapon for slaying horses just as quickly as the troopers on the horses. More than a few examples of Aztec troops chopping through the neck of a horse in one fell swing and sawing action had been recorded over the campaigns in Africa and Europa, and even the limited Mongol encounters had taught those nomadic raiders to stay well away from a Jaguar Warrior swinging the traditional weapon.

Crystal's strike was one of expert timing honed over decades of frontline combat. The tip of her weapon grazed the outside of the horse's front left leg, but her main strike was leveled at the knee of the left rear leg. Though the blades were simple Obsidian, the frame of her weapon was built of strong Redwood taken from the nomadic northlanders (1) assembled around a bronze bar and the frame was enchanted Vorpal to give it damage resistance par excellence. The Obsidian blades were deliberately left replaceable and unenchanted to prevent overkill against her targets, but in this case her strike would be fatal, not outright lethal.

With the horse now bereft of a leg, it sailed past her for ten yards before its body bottomed out and the rider was thrown. "Strike down that horse, but leave the rider! He is mine!" Crystal said. An Eagle Warrior who had captured a Swiss Halberd and enchanted it used the ax blade of the weapon to decapitate the horse and put an end to its thrashing.

Crystal marched past the now slain horse and toward the rider, who was now just coming to his feet after the rough landing. His landing rattled his composure and his control, so for Crystal it was incredibly simple for her to simply bat away his sword with her much heavier Macuahuitl. With that done, she brought the weapon around in a circle and down onto the Prince's shoulder, the flat of the weapon more than enough to drive him to the ground as it broke his shoulder in three places.

"The savage mercy of the Divine Priestess!" one of her Eagle Retainers shouted. The assembled Eagle Warriors cut loose with a falcon screech that would later be recorded as having been heard some eight miles away.

A quick lift and twist was all that was needed to lay out prone the Prince, and a quick flick of her wrist was ample to pull his belt of arms out from under him. The Divine Priestess tossed aside her weapon and straddled the Prince, then crouched down over him. "What will you do with me now, divine wench?"

"Have not decided on your final fate, not yet, but for today you shall begin your journey in learning," Crystal said.

"I have nothing to learn from you! I know more of the Heavens and Earth than your backwards tribe shall ever know!" Prince Kiman shouted in frustration.

"A cup full of burning oil can neither accept new knowledge, nor provide sustenance to its holder. It simply mesmerizes and creates a foul odor. You will learn to hold an empty cup soon enough, for our 'backwards tribe' is within two decades of holding the world. I don't see the Turks vying for half a planet, now do I?" Crystal asked calmly.

"Do your worst," Kiman said. "I fear no death!"

"I will teach you how to embrace life," Crystal reached to his forehead with her gauntleted left hand. "Halting Touch."

-x-x-x-

(6 August 2049, 0730 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Government Building, Yuhua, China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)

"In recap, sir, we have lost Japan, the Phillippines, India and everything on the far side of the Himalayas, The Korean Peninsula, everything north of Beijing, and, well, no way to dodge the truth, sir," Defense Minister Jun Kaite sighed deeply. "The only territories we reliably hold as our own are Hunan Province, Guizhou Province, and Jiangxi Province. Everything else is either contested, such as the near-border provinces, or completely lost to us, such as everything from Vietnam west and Wuhan north."

"How bad?" Premier Yu asked.

"Sir, I — "

"How bad, Defense Minister?" Premier Yu asked more forcefully.

Again, Jun sighed. "Given the correlation of forces and proximity of hostile territories, my best estimate is 96 hours from when Atrebas jumps off. Our forces are reduced to roughly 100,000 men total, with Atrebas' fighting force expected to be somewhere around 550,000."

"4 days. You're saying that we can only hold Atrebas for four days?" Lim Jia Yu asked.

"No, I'm saying that it will only take Atrebas roughly 4 days to arrive here in the Capital. There is no such thing as 'holding' Atrebas, you don't 'hold' a being that can annihilate 60,000 troops faster than the average man takes his morning piss," Defense Minister Kaite said.

"This is a travesty! And we spent a fortune rebuilding the army!" Premier Yu slammed the conference table with both fists.

"Sir, I think it's time for me to level with you on this matter," Defense Minister Kaite said.

"Watch your step, Jun, — "

"Spare me the idle threats, Premier. I and my staff are the only thing keeping what's left of the Army intact, if we evaporate so does the rest of your force structure. If that happens, it becomes a 72-hour unopposed march for Atrebas to get here. Probably get the same welcoming parade that he had in Beijing. Is that how you want this to end?"

The Premier made to retort the verbal slapping he had received from the Defense Minister, but after a few seconds decided against it. By all truly objective metrics, Kaite was right about the matter — the remaining army were fighting out of fear or out of loyalty to their chain of command, and that chain was easily broken in an atmosphere like this.

In the end, Yu relented. "All right, out with it."

"What's happening right now is the logical conclusion to failed policies, failed governance, and failure to support the people. Even if we win the war by some heretofore unknown miracle, there is nothing on the far side for us. We defeat the standing army, what remains is a billion very pissed off civilians who right now have no love for any person in this room, military, political, or corporate," the last he tacked on as something of a dig at the corporate overseer put in place by Sun Yoo Jiang. "Since this is a discussion in absolution, there is no way in Hell that I can muster a police force to suborn ten percent of that number in the interim, before they get semi-organized and follow in Atrebas' footsteps. The only possible hope we had of winning this shitfest was before midday on the second, before the call-up of skulking IJA personnel went out and before our own armies began turning coat. As of right now, it's already game over, and I guess that makes me the first to tell you that we've already lost, and any posturing we make in coming days will have no effect whatsoever."

Premier Yu looked up to a uniformed officer standing behind the Defense Minister. "Marshall Liao, do you concur with this assessment?"

"My wager on this matter runs under the Defense Minister's assessment, Premier. I think the likely timeframe for Atrebas kicking down the doors here is 72 hours, 48 to 60 if he hauls ass unopposed," the Defense Minister's direct XO answered. "We've got 45,000 troops standing directly between Yuhua and his command post, but the likely bet is those lines will break in an hour of concerted action."

Lim Ji Yu sighed. "Is there nothing left?"

"The cupboard was pretty bare, Premier, and what little was in there Atrebas took the best cuts." The Defense Minister flipped notes. "10 percent of the airpower has fallen behind enemy lines, roughly 80 percent of the army is defected or dissolved, the navy has two thirds of their ships missing in action, the strategic weapons group has reported they are completely at stand-down until an extranational threat is determined, and no, they are not considering Atrebas 'extranational'. You can chop those numbers up however you want, sir, but we're outnumbered 11 to 2 and outclassed by at least 50 to 1, likely more."

Premier Yu sat in silence for over a minute, staring down into the semi-reflective mahogany surface of the conference room table. After his period of reflection was up, he looked up to the Defense Minister. "What are your recommendations?"

"Atrebas offered you an opportunity to surrender and walk away, Premier," Marshall Liao said. "Take it. He will drive you out into obscurity, or probably exile, but he is a man of his word and deed, so the expectation is you will live. Take it, being alive and out in the wind beats the pants off joining a buried terracotta army, sir."

"Concur, sir. Call this madness off before it becomes all-consuming," Defense Minister Kaite said.

"Very well, I will think on the proper course of action. Leave me; return in an hour and I will have my answer for you.

"Yes, Comrade Premier," Kiate and Liao were both out of the room in fifteen seconds. The only person left inside with the Premier was the corporate overseer.

When they returned in the prescribed sixty minutes, the scenario would change to a very massive degree.

-x-x-x-

(7 August 2049, 1150 Hours Lima (Local) (UTC-8))
(Rail Terminal, Xiaogan, neutral territory between SEA and Multimage lines)
(Coords: 30°56'9.77"N, 113°56'40.35"E)

The location for the meeting had been arranged quickly, and the press had been alerted with only a 90 minute window for their syndicated network groups to get in on the action. Whatever it was supposed to be was going to be monumental, they had been told.

The security detail for the meeting was drawn from a company of Southeast Asians and a battalion of Multimage Armored Infantry. This, Eric quickly realized, was a concession of either acquiescence or desperation, possibly both. Still, finding volunteers was no challenge for the Divine Mage, who had sent forward Tabitha Fersner, Kari and Daniel Porom, and the rather infamous duo of Nicole Whitman and Anita Rockholm to provide forward guard and confirmation that the meet was legitimate.

The proof of legitimacy was not overlong in arriving at the station. A bullet train from Yuhua took only 90 minutes to arrive, and was actually a few minutes early to the station. Ten escorting security officer troops exited the train, and after convinced that the arrangements were in order, out came the Defense Minister and his immediate subordinate.

"Cobalt, Origin, eyes on two expected Novembers, repeat, eyes on two expected Novembers," Tabitha said by radio uplink to the headquarters section.

"Cobalt copies," Atrebas answered.

"Cobalt, Planewalker, negative ambush, repeat, negative ambush. No hostile parties sensed within a two kilometer radius."

"Thank you, Planewalker. Raven, Cobalt, what is your status?"

"Raven team here, it's legit, sir. Clear to ingress," Anita gave the final sign-off on the scenario.

"En route momentarily," Atrebas said. Before he made the teleport, his first action was to enshell himself with a protective Double Shell spell, more than enough defensive power to resist the blast from a fuel-air explosive bomb. After that came the teleport.

-x-

"Gods damn does this give me a case of the nerves," Marshall Liao said quietly as they moved to the arranged meeting spot. The presence of the Armored Infantry wasn't the biggest worry, given that the Southeast Asian Army had some of their own (albeit far less than the Divine Made had, natch). The greater creepy feeling was in Atrebas' personal vanguard, Tabitha Fersner, flanked to the left by the Psionics and flanked to her right by the Sniper and Spotter/Apprentice. Whatever else his sins, Atrebas commanded some of the most frightening troops on planet.

"No shit, comrade," Jun Kaite answered his subordinate.

A blue flash in front of Tabitha heralded the arrival of the Divine Mage himself, Eric Atrebas, and suddenly that little lead knot in the center of Defense Minister Kaite's guts tripled in size. The fear factor only increased when they realized that he was carrying all three of his infamous swords and had a right leg holster and his sidearm of choice: A 1911A1. He was not in armor, an unusual concession in this case, which Jun Kaite was thankful for. Any more a fright today and he would certainly piss his pants.

Atrebas moved forward to the center area where they would meet and discuss the matter the Defense Minister had requested a meet over, and was joined by Tabitha Fersner. After a few moments, Kaite and Liao made to step forward themselves and both pairs met at the center.

"Defense Minister Jun Kaite, now acting Premier under orders of succession of the Premier's station during time of war," Jun said.

"Marshall Yijun Liao, acting Defense Minister for the interim," the uniformed military officer said.

"Eric Atrebas, commander of the rebellion forces," the Divine Mage said.

"Tabitha Fersner, commander western army of the rebellion," Tabitha announced her position.

"You called the meeting, and given your title change, I suspect something major has happened?" Atrebas asked.

"Yes, sir," Jun Kaite said solemnly. "The official press release is going out now, but at or around 0845 yesterday morning, Premier Lim Jia Yu was assassinated in his office by a corporate counselor from Sasaki Corporation. We are holding him in maximum security right now in an undisclosed location for further questioning, but the motive is already known. After deliberations yesterday morning, Premier Yu elected to issue a proclamation of surrender to end this revolution peaceably, and this Counselor apparently did not like the consideration of surrendering."

"Understood, Defense Minister," Tabitha Fersner said.

"As a bonafide, I have the signed surrender declaration from Premier Yu here, on which the blood here is that if Lim Jia Yu," Kaite handed Atrebas an evidence bag with a blood-stained document on it. "I trust you will keep this binding order safe for posterity?"

"Indeed," Atrebas nodded twice. "Tabitha, your armored storage case, please?"

One of the first backpack modules designed for the Infantry Armor was a simple armored storage case. Tabitha issued a voice command to open the container, to which Atrebas put in the sealed document and closed it up.

"I also have couriered and electronically sent a copy of the office security camera footage of the assassination to your Black Lotus group, to make sure it is received and known properly. This was not an action of the military, though I will admit the thought did cross my mind more than once in recent days," Defense Minister Kaite commented.

"I will have it archived, sir," Tabitha said. She also intended to cross-deck it to permanent storage media and bury a copy or two for safekeeping.

"So, given Premier Yu desired to surrender but was eliminated for his action, what are your intentions?" Atrebas asked fairly.

"The order was signed under duress that he not engage in the course, and he did so anyway. Immediately after he signed the document ordering our formal surrender, he was shot. As it constitutes a valid and legal order, I have no choice but to respect it. The Southeast Asian Democratic Republic is willing to accept terms of surrender, Divine Mage."

"Very well," Atrebas said, then pulled a metal plate off the side of his belt. After it was in hand, the Divine Mage was surrounded by some manner of light field comprised of many tiny books? "Library plate, eject surrender document portfolio," he ordered, which caused a single object in the array to glow bright, then to teleport into his right hand. The plate was returned to his belt and he opened the portfolio.

"Sergeant, table and chairs for the Defense Minister and the Master," Tabitha ordered.

"Hai!" One of the armored Infantrymen immediately stepped back from the northern line of sentries and headed toward the Mage side of the facility and a waiting transport truck. He was back 90 seconds later with a folding table, two folding chairs, and two technicians to get it set up.

"What are your terms, Divine Mage?" Jun Kaite asked.

"As is spelled out in the document, the main terms are that the Democratic Republic is to be disbanded, all military forces serving under the banner of the SADR are to stand down for review of conduct and eventual disbanding, control of the Republic's area is to be handed over to the rebel forces under my command, and persons jailed for political crimes are to be released immediately. On the matter of SADR personnel, the remnants of the government are barred from future government positions, though in the document legal protections are in place for actions stemming from otherwise legal government actions that do not constitute a war crime under international law," Tabitha explained for Atrebas.

"Protection against reprisal? Was not expecting that," Marshall Liao said.

"Enough persons will pay for the failures and depredations that have already occurred. There is no need to add more," Atrebas acknowledged the point.

The document came in three sets, one for the SA-DR government to commiserate over, one for the 'rebel' (Multimage) faction to keep as their records, and one for public display in a location of Atrebas' choosing in the near future. Given what he knew of the government buildings at Yuhua, he figured the strongest likelihood was to be that he would take those buildings and set them up for the new government and the public copy would be sealed in a display case for posterity.

The first document set — two simple pages — went to Atrebas to sign off on. Though not officially in command of anything more than the overall command of the rebellion, Atrebas figured the will of the people for him to head up the next administration would be sufficient authority to make this action binding. It would be considered controlling by the other nation-states around the world not for any perception of legitimacy held by Atrebas, but out of shear inability to do anything except protest his ascent to power.

"I grew up under the Imperial Japanese, served in that military, was disbanded by your forces once, signed on with the new government, now I am being disbanded again. There is a level of irony here not commonly seen in mortal affairs," Marshall Liao said as his superior signed through the second document set and handed it off to Atrebas for his signature.

"Nothing constructed by the hands of Man shall last forever, even history itself," Atrebas said. "You took up arms for your homeland, Marshall, and though others will fault you for the sins of those states, I shall not. Ultimately the actions of the State are the responsibility of the State, and those who give and maintain consent to govern. What fault exists should start there."

"I know what you mean, Divine Mage. On this, we shall cooperate."

As Atrebas signed off on the third copy of the surrender document and returned it to Defense Minister Kaite, the two soldiers stood up and came to attention. A quick salute was exchanged, and handshakes followed. There was clapping from the assembled onlookers, some cheering, but mostly relief and a new wariness throughout Southeast Asia.

The two, Atgrebas and Kaite, would have speeches to give to the world's press. Neither had much in the way of time to plan a speech, but both had a message.

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)

Time marched on, technology marched on, but the necessities of war always remained the same.

"Commence bombardment," Emperor Diamond Atrebas ordered, still staring through the observation glasses toward the Indian Subcontinent shores.

Admiral Leo Vickers picked up the growler phone and dialed an extension from memory. "Radio, signal STEEL RAIN commence at 0415 local time, repeat, signal STEEL RAIN commence 0415 local."

"Sending now," the radioman answered before the Admiral hung up.

"Hell of a long way from the bad old days of coal-fired ironclads and sail-powered troop ships," Admiral Vickers said as he approached the bridge window.

Diamond grunted. "Farther still to the bad old days of privateering in the Caribbean with a three-mast 40-gun sailing ship under my feet," Diamond said with a chuckle. "At least I got the lesson early on, the big lesson. Took the rest of the world at least three centuries to pick up that memo," Diamond said with a smile.

"Aye aye, sir, no modern force can project power without a navy as its projection backbone," the Admiral repeated the critical and very poignant lesson that Diamond had hammered into his military for centuries.

"Damn good to have you still kicking it for the Empire, Admiral."

"230 years, Highness," Vickers said. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"Commence firing, five seconds, three, two, one, now!" the Captain of their flagship shouted.

The entire ship bucked under their feet, as the four turrets of 20-inch/L55 naval rifles belched 12 shells for a total throw weight of 37,800 pounds of shell headed downrange. The guns were slaved to a radar-controlled analog firing computer two decks below where Diamond was standing, the computer was accurate enough with the massive 20-inch guns to bracket an area (put 75% of the shells within that area) of roughly 500 yards square at the gun's maximum range of 24 nautical miles.

Diamond's ship, the Montrose Rapier, was joined by five other such such ships — Montrose Saber was astern of his ship, Montrose Cutlass stood in front of her, and her sisters — Morningstar, — Falchion, and — Greatsword rounded out the Montrose-class Dreadnoughts. More hellish than simply the existence of six heretofore-unchallenged Dreadnoughts was the fact that Diamond had laid in keels for another nine ships some two years ago, with the first of them expected out for shakedown and commissioning later in this calendar year coming out of the Polyarnyy Naval Shipyards in Russia.

Each ship laid in its first broadside into the shore fortifications behind the beach at Murungavilai on the southern shore of India. The shell flight time was roughly 85 seconds, a nervous wait for the gunnery officers to watch while the gun crews began reloading the massive naval rifles. After the flight time was up, the observers watched the landscape be torn to shreds by the massive explosive shells. "Status of fire?" Admiral Vickers asked.

"Brackets appear on the beach or slightly behind it, into the town area, sir," the Petty Officer in charge of the watch detail answered.

"Lined up the brackets very well," Diamond said. "Hammer on them for an hour, then provide covering fire while the landing ships move in."

"Aye, any longer than an hour and they may stage reserves close enough to repulse our landing parties," Vickers said with a nod.

A separate contingent of Cruisers had been assigned the civilian shallow-water port of Muttom east of their intended assault landing zone, primarily because Diamond didn't want his massive battleship guns to rip up the town and port facilities. The smaller 5" guns on the Cruisers would be optimal for more confined-area shelling, given their 5-inch guns were more analogous to a 160mm field howitzer. Less damage per shell meant they would cause less collateral, and the shorter range would make them more responsive to fire calls from the landing parties.

"Sir, got something here," one of the lookouts said. "Something coming off the shore-side batteries to the port forequarter, Highness."

"Over by Periyakadu?" Diamond swivelled the glasses over that way to see what was coming. "No, that's coming from way down toward Kanyakumari," he said half-breathlessly. "What in the Nine Planes of Hell is that thing?"

The object — moving very fast but decelerating — passed between the Montrose Cutlass and the Montrose Morningstar, still angled in his direction, and came within one nautical mile of the bridge to seaward on the starboard broadside.

"Jesus Almighty, what was that thing?" Admiral Vickers asked.

"Was that a rocket of some kind?" Diamond had heard intelligence reports stating that the remnant British Empire engineers in Australia and India were working on new weapons designed to counter ships of war, and one of those names was rocketry…

"I think that was, sir," the Fleet Intelligence Specialist said. "Metal pipe with stub wings, fire coming out of its arse, aimed in our general direction, it fits the indicators Highness," Commander Ulysses Graves of the Intelligence Secretariat explained his thinking.

"It fits, Highness." The Admiral looked to the Intel Officer. "Any word on payload or lethality?"

"None, sir — " An explosion forward of the Montrose Falchion echoed the several nautical miles to the bridge of the Montrose Rapier.

The growler phone rang, to which Vickers answered. "Bridge, Admiral speaking," he said, then listened for a few seconds. "Acknowledged. Issue order to battle group to retask fire to the rocket battery that thing issued from."

"How bad?" Diamond asked after the phone was hung up.

"The Frigate Piotr Lemonsov took a round just above the waterline. The Captain expects she'll be under the waves in eight minutes at best. Casualties were moderate, but they're working hard to get them out now."

"Aye," Diamond said. "Smash that battery, then mark it for clearing by the intelligence group. There are lessons to be learned here."

The Dreadnoughts were still out of range for a few minutes, but no stationary battery would be able to hold out from the 20-inch gun shelling for more than a few salvos. In that time more of these rockets would be fired, and there would be more lessons learned.

-x-x-x-

(8 August 2049, 0900 Hours Lima (Local) (UTC-11))
(Shimogamo Shrine, northeast of the Imperial Palace, Kyoto, Japan)
(Coords: 35° 2'15.21"N, 135°46'21.78"E)

The Southeast Asian theater had broken out in celebration from border to border with the end of the war the day prior, and now that the region was effectively signed over to the Divine Mage, those who were previously suspect to the SA-DR could now move freely again.

Torahito and Hotaru had returned to the Academy on the Soviet border, under orders from Atrebas to take command of the post and resume class instruction as best as possible. With the old rebellion group (the Sao Paulo veterans) now recalled to serve as Eric's first group of immediate subordinates, command of the Academy fell to the next competent commander with spellcraft skill, and that person happened to be Torahito. (Ami Hidaka and Sayane Toriniko were discounted from that running because they were not command personnel, but they also returned to the Academy to serve as instructors.)

Former Emperor Manahito would eventually return to the Academy to resume instruction in and training of Blacksmithing, and also resume his focused instruction in the art of Relic Enchanting, but for today he had a very different assignment. And that assignment now brought him to the Shimogamo Shrine again, which he last visited to meditate and pray before surrendering to Eric Atrebas almost two years prior. Today, he would meditate and pray for wisdom on a great deal many matters, and that meditation always began for the Emperor at the southern gate of the Tadasu-no-Mori. The 'Forest of Correction' and 'Forest where lies are revealed' would always strip down his thought processes to just what he needed, nothing more, nothing less.

He somehow expected the area to be reasonably empty, maybe a few worshippers here and there, but the on-the-ground reality was far different. The Tadasu-no-Mori had more persons in its borders now than had been here for the protest the day that Manahito had surrendered to Atrebas. The groups were knotted around the various memorials erected to the various segments of the 377th Corps that had been annihilated by Atrebas, now a series of memorials and names held in remembrance for their deaths that had galvanized Japan into finally ending the mad crusade of the 20th and 21st Centuries.

It only took Manahito four paces into the path through the forest to be recognized. The first was a whisper of his name that the Old Emperor had heard, the second was a squeeing half-shout of his name from a young lady in clothing not far removed from a biker gang's attire, and at point everyone in the area knew Manahito was here.

"The Old Emperor is here! Yo, check it out!" the leader of the biker gang shouted at his comrades. It turned out their rank was about 40 persons, roughly split between male and female, and each had some choice improvised melee weapons and some firearms.

"That's not something I expected to see," one of the other biker gang-members declared as the group closed up on him.

"Highness! What brings you here, sir?" One of the young ladies asked. Manahito gauged her age around 25, maybe?

"You do not need to call me that," Manahito said calmly. He had tensed up for a moment, expecting trouble, but it turned out this group was not hostile. "I am no longer the Emperor."

"Sir, all due respect, you will always be Japan's Emperor," the group leader said with clear respect to voice. "When things went sour, you were the one that prevented us being stripped off the face of this world. Can't say the same about that Premier Yu joker."

"Corporate wanker," one of the harder biker troupe said. "Damn good the Divine Mage finally kicked that rotten mess to the ground."

"Hai, and for it, Eric Atrebas shall become the new Emperor of Southeast Asia," Manahito said. "To answer your prior question, young one, I am here to commune with the spirits on my next actions. I have been called to service by the Multimage Emperor, my duty is to assist the new Emperor in setting up the new administration and begin normalizing the day-to-day affairs throughout the region."

"So it is true," an older biker guy said. "There will not be another interim government before the proper ruler takes his position," he said.

"That was a bit disrespectful to have said in the presence of Manahito — " another of the Bikers said, but brought himself silent quickly when Manahito held up his hand. "Highness?"

"In a sense, one could find insult in this gentleman's comment, but I do not." Manahito was aware that the initial commotion was beginning to rope in more of a crowd, and with it camera phones. He had to choose his words carefully, lest his actions cause a schism in the nation-to-be. "I have served under Atrebas for a year, now, relearning my teenage pursuit of smithing and learning fresh the arts of Relic Enchantment. It goes without saying, but the Norns deliberately picked a winner in the Atrebas. The Divine Mage is a natural in the art of command, not because of ambition for self, but for ambition of purpose and the vision necessary to make it reality. I may have been the best man for the trials of the past, but the trials of the future belong to Eric readily."

"What will the future hold for us, Manahito-sama?" A teenage schoolgirl asked, one of five from a nearby middle school that had been released for the day to celebrate.

"At its core, the future is always uncertain. I learned that lesson from the Norns themselves as I began my training. Still, the core lesson is not uncertainty, but potential. When a person says to you, 'the future is what you can make of it', they are being truthful to a degree that most will never understand. All corniness aside, life is not a case of 'infinite possibilities' around us. Regardless of what my heart wanted, I had only one path forward when I was the age of most of you. I will not say it a bad path, but it was the only path I could reasonably take. Each of you will have more options, and better options as the nation coalesces around the Divine Mage, but always remember: wherever you go, you are there and nowhere else. Make the best of where you stand and what you can do, for the world now gives you those options."

"Highness, is it true what was printed in the Tokyo Register last week, that Prince Torahito and his wife are expecting a second child?" a younger girl asked, this one a grade-school student that Manahito did not recognize her uniform. She was part of a class of twenty or so, probably here on a field trip that had become something even more.

The question was rather lighthearted and trivial, very refreshing to Manahito. "If my son and daughter-in-law are expecting a second child, I have not heard of it," he answered truthfully, and made a mental note to follow up with the pair at the next possible. "I would certainly welcome another granddaughter or a grandson, but such is their choice."

"Speaking of choices, Highness, there's a lot of talk about population density and overcrowding on the planet. Should we choose to reduce, or ignore the warnings?" A middle-age man in a business suit asked.

"The Divine Mage will speak further on this subject, and will speak more in-depth on it, but I can tell you those who say the planet is overcrowded are being deliberately obtuse and restrictive. When I was Emperor, the Department of Lands and Resources determined that, of all usable space on this world, not including underwater or space settlement, this planet can support 14 billion people if we aggressively use all of the space on it and properly manage resources. If you include underwater settlement in domed mega-cities, that population figure jumps to 20 billion."

"That's insane! Twenty billion people on one planet?" Someone exclaimed. Manahito didn't catch who.

"Those numbers are pale shadows, echoes of the past where were Humans were confined to just this world. My son has identified four worlds close around us that can be inhabited fairly easily by us, and Instructor Brannoch has confirmed that we can Gate to those worlds right now. What value is population limits and resource conservation when the Stars are within reach?"

Manahito wasn't expecting anything he said to be controversial, in all reality his were just open musings of his own or those who he associated with at the Academy. Certainly, the capabilities of the Mages were not unknown, and thus someone with a brain should have been able to string such plans together.

Still, the sudden, stunned silence of the crowd around him was almost deafening to the former Emperor, and he realized he had just created an instant controversy. It was good for a smile, as how Atrebas would handle such an immediate sharp redirect in the ongoing narrative would show the world what manner of leader they now had in their midst.

-x-x-x-

(10 August 2049, 0700 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Government Building, Yuhua, China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)
(Government Complex Coords: 28° 8'19.90"N, 113° 1'56.40"E)

"Ten days," Atrebas said with some significant shock on the premise. "From a 'stable' government to a complete overthrow in ten days," he said with some reverence, standing in the center of the parking circle in front of the administration campus.

"There is a lesson here, Highness," Marshall Akihito Yamamoto said. "When the people become that pissed off, they can move Heaven and Earth at whim."

"Hai," Kari Porom said. "There is defiance in the building ahead of us, but the wings left and right have been cleared except for janitorial and security."

"Let us begin," a different voice said. Kari and Akihito Yamamoto had to look at the speaker, but Atrebas intrinsically knew the voice. He had heard the voice plenty of times throughout his apprenticeship.

"Welcome, Verthandi," Atrebas said, then realized the others were present as well. "Divine Ones, what brings you here?"

"We are here as representatives of the Gods, to chronicle this day as is our duty," Skuld said. "We will speak more after the coming exchange of power."

"Onward," Atrebas said. Yamamoto and Von Stauffenberg led the way, followed by Atrebas, Manahito, and Kari, then the Norns brought up the rear. As the Norns had been seen in attendance with Atrebas in the past, their presence (and sudden appearance by teleportation behind him) was not challenged by the security detail.

After the group crossed out of the center circle between the building, headed eastbound toward the main administration building, they came to the center grounds area and with it the main flagpoles of the nation. Three flags of the now-defunct Southeast Asian Democratic Republic were on the poles, and the ceremony plan was that the flag of the defunct government would be stepped down and replaced with a singular flag, the standard that the rebellion had adopted in honor of the Multimage.

"ATTENTION!" The master of ceremony shouted, and with that command two companies of Armored Infantry snapped to attention from parade rest. Yamamoto and Von Stauffenberg finished closing up to their planned position, turned to face the walkway where Atrebas was, then snapped to attention themselves. Atrebas, Kari, and Manahito continued forward to their grounds, stopped, and came to attention, completing their part of the ceremony. "STAND TO! STEP DOWN THE STANDARDS OF THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC!"

Atrebas stood at attention and watched every moment of the descent of those three flags. To most the world, it symbolized an end, but to the Divine Mage, it symbolized a promise. He had sworn to the Fates standing behind him that he would find a solution to an impossible conflict, and in his search he had found the solution not in some way to tear down the darkness, but to elevate the light and proper in Existence. That oath of duty now led him here, to step down the flag of a failed State, and to form up his own government based on justice and elevation of the people, not control. (Objectively, Atrebas knew he would need to exert a modicum of control, but after consuming every possible tome on natural philosophy and governing philosophy and history he could reasonably find, he had a plan for the future.)

The flags came down and were folded in the brief tradition of the SA-DR: each flag was folded into a square where only the traditional Communist Sickle and the Star was visible in the center of the top of the square fold. Everything was done properly and commensurately, and the honor guard of the defeated Southeast Asians marched to the three officers with the flags.

"Master Eric Atrebas, I hereby surrender the main Flag of State of the Southeast Asian Democratic Republic to the Divine Multimage." The Master Sergeant said.

"I receive the flag with due honors," Atrebas answered as he took possession of it. The Sergeant Major stepped back and stood to attention.

"Grand Marshall General Akihito Yamamoto, I surrender the standard of the Communist Party to the Imperial Japanese Military Remnant," the second Master Sergeant said.

"I receive this standard with due honors," Yamamoto said. Again, the Master Sergeant took one step back and came to attention.

"Oberst-Gruppenführer Heinrich Von Stauffenberg, I surrender the Flag of the People to the National Socialist Schutzstaffel Remnant," the third Sergeant Major said.

"I receive this flag with appropriate honors," Heinrich said with clear reverence.

"Highness, if I may ask, what will become of us?" the lead Sergeant Major asked Atrebas.

"The future is never certain, Sergeant Major, but it is our duty to do better. For the people, for ourselves, for our duties, always better. This is where it must begin, or this ceremony will be repeated."

"Understood, Highness." He saluted, dropped salute, and turned sharply to the right to march clear along with the other Sergeants Major.

"STAND TO!" The Master of Ceremony shouted. "RAISE THE STANDARD OF THE MULTIMAGE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT!"

For this, only the center flagpole was used, with the single flag produced by the same shop that had turned out the first several hundred thousand armpatches (of which Atrebas, Yamamoto, and Von Stauffenberg were each wearing a set). The flag was the same symbol, the shield device that Atrebas had used since he could first carry a shield, the three triangles (one triangle stacked on the apex of two others) of the City-State of Durgan.

"The flag is set," Yamamoto said.

"And so it begins," Atrebas said pensively. He was looking toward the flag, but not at the flag. Upon the roof of the Administration building, three beings stood, and at distance Atrebas could recognize them as Gods. The center, Odin, he knew by description; the one on the right, Amaterasu, he knew by learning, the one on the left had the appearance of a wizened old man of asiatic descent, but Atrebas did not yet know him. He would learn soon enough.

For now, a ceremonial stand awaited them in the foyer of the main building. In that stand was a total of nine receptacles, one receptacle for each of the three flags of the Empires that Atrebas had brought low, one for each of the blades of the head of state that Atrebas had felled (Premier Yu's contribution was a jade knife just barely more than a foot long), and the third set of three was for the signed instruments of surrender for those same three Empires.

The three sets, flag, blade, and document of surrender, would become a major tourist attraction in years to come, visited by foreign dignitaries, tourists, and schools the world over.

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)

"TEN-HUT!" The facility master-at-arms shouted.

"Queen Beryl on Deck!" The Colonel in charge of the security detail for the facility shouted after the Queen stepped through the security door.

"Milady Atrebas, welcome to Lunar Station," Lady Katiara Zoisite was the first to greet her officially and directly.

"Thank you, Zoisite," Beryl said graciously. "Colonel Jarvis, much obliged for the honors."

"A pleasure, Highness," he said graciously.

"Do you have a formal ceremony planned, Colonel, or shall we get started?" Beryl asked.

"Nothing formal, my Queen," Emilio Jarvis answered. "This is not the most apt location for formalities."

"But the view is absolutely awesome, as is the duty load," Zoisite said with a devilish grin. "Follow me, Highness."

Colonel Jarvis took a moment to stand down and dismiss the honor guard, but was quick to catch up to Zoisite and Beryl.

"This is weird, I knew the gravity here on the Moon was fractional compared to Terra, but this will take some getting used to," she said. "And given how much my pants are trying to remain elevated, this is a wildly inappropriate area for formal dresses or loose skirts."

"Too true, Highness," Zoisite said. "We always send warning to school groups coming up for a tour to ensure they do not wear loose skirts for just such a reason, but someone always misses the memo."

"And thereafter becomes rather infamous in their peer group for inadvertent exhibitionism," Colonel Jarvis said. "Turn right here, m'queen."

"So, where do we begin?" Beryl asked after the arrived in the central hub of the facility.

"Four destinations, Highness. First is the Observation Dome, everyone wants to see that first, but Terra won't be properly visible to us for another few hours. Second, we have the star-scope array. Third, the staging facilities for the Pathfinders are always a hit for tour groups, but you might not be as interested given you've sent teams off before," the Colonel said.

"From Terra, sure, but I've not see the new facilities set up for the Pathfinders up here, so I will want to take stock of that today."

"Certainly, Highness. Fourth destination is Project Star Scry, they have a separated wing to help minimize psionic interference while they are doing their duty routine."

"We'll start with the latter, Colonel. I promised the Star Scry group I would visit their facility promptly when I arrived, and I wish to see what environment they are billetted in," Beryl said.

"Definitely, Highness. Please follow me," Colonel Jarvis led the way toward the separate wing for the Star Scry Psionics.

"By the by, Zoisite, how goes the search?" Beryl asked as they entered the causeway toward the separate wing.

"New candidates are starting to become scarce here on Terra, my Queen, but I've noticed a bit of a spike from New Earth and Oceania (2), from the colonies there. I'm beginning to wonder if Psionic talents are genetic as well as trained?" Zoisite wondered aloud.

"Worth tracking, see if we can use family lines to tell of the talents to come," Beryl suggested. "Of course, no forced or arranged marriages. I would not subject anyone to such vile pairing in the name of 'progress', nor allow it."

"On, no such worries, this group is perfectly capable of finding their own ways through," Katiara Zoisite acknowledged the point in a diplomatic fashion.

"Hope they realize we're coming," Colonel Jarvis said.

"Yeah, they do tend to run a rather informal atmosphere in there," Katiara allowed judiciously.

Queen Beryl stopped her approach after a moment. "How informal are we talking here?"

Jarvis and Zoisite looked to each other, then shrugged. "Some of them are known to wander around in swimwear, though they do have an indoor pool in here."

"That's it?" Beryl shrugged. "I've done worse back in my days as a harlot."

"Then this won't be any manner of surprising," Colonel Jarvis said before he continued the jumping lope down the hall to the Star Scry Wing. At the end of the corridor, Colonel Jarvis scanned himself in and led the entourage into the wing.

Inside the wing, Beryl was first assailed by the smell of baking cinnamon bread, which she did not expect in the slightest. The front lobby area had a good cross-section of persons around, though all immediately visible were dressed in what the Star Scry personnel had laid in as their unofficial uniform: dark purple cargo pants, dark purple BDU shirt, and boots.

It also did not take them more than a full second to realize who had just walked in. "QUEEN BERYL ON DECK!" One of them shouted as he came to standing.

"As you were," Beryl said immediately. "No need to jump to, just conducting a review of the Star Scry program," she said.

"Wow, wasn't expecting you here so soon, Highness," Lead Scry Misty Kates said as she approached with a tray of cinnamon-raisin bread, fresh out of the galley. "A slice?"

"Certainly," Beryl wasn't adverse to a slice of fresh-baked goods whenever one was available. As she had done back in the days of tending to the Atrebas siblings and her comrades in the brothel, she did still enjoy cooking and baking (especially as a way to relieve stress and give a bit back to her staff). "I know you described the overall concept and work flow of the program when we spoke on Terra last month, but if you would be willing to step me through the operation completely?"

"Can do, Highness," Misty said with some cheer. "Harvey! Yo!" She waved one of the other Specialists over.

"Highness," Harvey came to attention and bowed formally, which was about as much as Beryl had set for custom for rendering honors. Her rise to power was at the behest of the people, and to do so she had knocked quite a bit of the arrogance out of the nobility, even if they still existed on paper and in the circles of power. "Need me for something, Lead?" He was a bit taken back when Misty shoved the tray of cinnamon-raisin bread slices on him. "Distribute to the team?"

"And make sure those llamas on D team don't lift any. I've offered to train any of them how to bake, so it is their fault for not taking the offer up."

"Will do," Harvey again bowed (without dropping any of the bread) and departed.

"Highness, if you'll follow me into the map room, we'll start here," Misty waved her into the working area of the facility. The wall of the room was covered in a map of the Galaxy, with a pedestal to control the map. "This is where we catalog searches, determine next targets, and have access to the permanent records of our findings," Misty explained. "Every shift, the team meets in here to determine what world we want to do next from a list of candidates."

"Let's see where we're at, please," Beryl waved to the pedestal.

"One moment," Misty took control of the map and zoomed in to the area around Sol (the star around which Terra orbited). The map scaled was shown to be roughly 200 light years to maximum viewing angle. "We're in the center, Highness."

"Good word," Beryl gaped. "We've only officially named six exoplanets, and put boots on four of those, but you have scanned this far already?"

"The radius is deceptive, Highness," Katiara answered for Misty. "Once a week, the team will push their boundaries, which is why we have scattered checks this far out," she waved at the peripheral scry results. "Our bread and butter is much tighter in toward Terra, and one of the checks we are doing now is only 41 light years away from here."

"Oh," Beryl gaped. Only 41 light years, she thought inside the confines of her mind with some shock. Astronomical distances had always been somewhat vexing to her, but she was slowly gaining confidence in the thought processes around interplanetary travel, communications, and commerce.

"Here," Misty tightened up the map to ~50 light years around Terra. "The one in yellow is what Charlie Team is working on right now. Follow me, Highness," Misty reset the map, but not before Beryl had a look at the several hundred worlds that had been scryed but not yet approved or classified for colonization or exploitation.

In the next room, the area was somewhat dark-lit and segregated for the individual Star Scry psionics to do their work in relative peace. Beryl ensured she was quiet to avoid disturbing them, as psionic scrying was a delicate art to begin with, and doing so at interstellar distances was very much more delicate than the base pursuit. Misty simply waved them through to the third room.

"We don't normally enter the Scrying Room when a team is in service, so you probably heard some of their internal discussion during the check."

"I heard some," Beryl admitted.

"The operational workflow is six hours scrying, six hours analysis, then 36 hours off-duty to recuperate," Misty explained after the door closed behind them. "This room is where we pore over the scrying records and our mental notes taken about the environment — everything is recorded."

"We're thinking about increasing the amount of teams we have working to increase the rotation period between times on duty," Katiara Zoisite said. "The program has been in service for two years, Highness, but we're already starting to see attrition."

"It's a hard duty, depending on the distance involved, the teams can sometimes come out of the Scry Room in jitters from mental exertion," Colonel Jensen said. "We're thinking six teams is a good balance between operational rotation and recuperation, that'll give 60 hours between duty sessions."

"If you can expand the teams to where 8 teams is possible, 10 teams, I would consider that workable as well so long as results justify the change of pace." On this matter as with any part of space exploration, Beryl would spare no expense. The value in the stars and the planets around them well exceeded any short-term losses to be taken in the here and now. If that meant spacing out personnel duty rotations for hunting planets, such was the price of doing it right.

"Understood, milady," Zoisite answered. "We will make it happen."

"Thank you, Highness. The extra recovery time will be very welcome," Misty said as they moved through the relatively unexciting analysis room toward the next room. It was a billiards and game room, nothing particularly special, though the few persons within came to attention as soon as she entered. "From here, we can go down to the crew facilities, or we can go onward, though beyond this is only the swimming pool and library areas."

"And thus the forewarning of swimwear is justified," Beryl said with a raised eyebrow. "I think the quarters above us would be the most appropriate next location."

"Erm, below us, Highness," Misty pointed downward. "We need an unobstructed path to the night sky, and we have the quarters psionic-shielded to prevent a sleeping Scryer's dreams from interfering with the active team."

I'm starting to wonder if I've created a monster here, Beryl thought but did not say aloud. She would find in years to come that she had not created a simple monster, but a leviathan of no small order. Fortunately, it would be one that proved very beneficial to her Empire.

-x-x-x-

(11 August 2049, 0945 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Sasaki Megacorporation headquarters building, downtown Beijing)

Eric was preceded out of the Gate spell by four Armored Infantry — two IJA Remnant, two SS Remnant — and two of his Armored Mages. A further platoon of military police had followed him out as well, though they were not in armor. Atrebas, uncharacteristically, was not in armor himself for this tasking.

The doors at the front of the building snapped closed as they approached, undoubtedly sealed by security remotely in response to a coming threat. The lead SS trooper tested a door handle and simply hit the locking latch. "Secured, sir," he said.

"Stand aside, trooper," Atrebas said, then closed up on the door when the space was available. "Knock," he finished a pre-chant spell. Within a full second, the entire array of doors shredded apart at the locking mechanisms and flung themselves open to the limit of the mechanical closures, in every case but one destroying those mechanical closures as well.

"Damn I'll never get used to seeing shit like that," the SS lead trooper said.

"You will, if you work with the Emperor long enough," Anita Rockholm said from behind them. "Take the handicapped entrance." Off to the side, the handicapped entrance was a wider berth and provided the Armored Infantry easy access to the lobby, while the military police and the Emperor filtered into the facility through the myriad standard doors.

"HALT! This is private property! You have no business here!" A security officer shouted as he drew a baton and made for Atrebas. It was he who came to a sudden halt after the Emperor drew the bolt back on his MG '42, the same light machine gun he was somewhat famous for using in armor.

"You stand fast, guard. My business is with CEO Jiang, you interfere in this matter at your own hazard, understood?" Atrebas asked.

"Uh, yes, yes sir," he said as he backed off until his rear contacted the reception desk.

"First squad, secure the security center. Military rules of engagement," Atrebas ordered next, given that Sasaki was a player in the war now four days past. The security center was an office area off the lobby, staffed by four guards who did not resist when the facility was explosively entered by nine Military Police officers. Within a minute, the platoon sergeant had exited the security facility and signalled clear.

"What are you doing here, highness?" the receptionist asked.

"There is an outstanding actor from the failed Southeast Asian Democratic Republic that has not yet been neutralized. He resides at the top of this building. I am here to deal with him," the Divine Mage said simply. The fact that she simply looked away in dread, rather than register a protest, told Atrebas that she knew he was accurate.

Her phone rang, and she answered immediately. "Reception." Pause of a few seconds. "Hai," she extended the phone to Eric. "The Master wishes to speak to you."

The Emperor took the receiver by his left hand. "Atrebas," he said simply.

"I have sent my retainer down to bring you up here, Divine Mage. By the time you arrive I shall be dead, but you will want to stand in for me in the upcoming teleconference. Yoshi will vouch for you."

"Understood. Give my regards to Hel when next you awaken, and someday well into the future we shall continue this conversation on the far side of the mortal coil, Mister Jiang." Eric handed the phone back to the receptionist.

"So that's it," the Receptionist said bleakly as she hung the phone up.

"His campaign is done," Atrebas said. "The world shall continue to turn, regardless of the history of its denizens."

The elevator to the penthouse took some 40 seconds to descend from the top level, and much to Atrebas' expectation only one person was within. "Yoshi?" Eric asked after he stepped out.

"Hai. The conference call will begin shortly, Divine Mage."

"What is the load rating for that elevator?" Eric asked after a moment of consideration.

Yoshi cocked his head for a moment, then leaned back into the elevator far enough to see the necessary information placard. "3000 kilograms, sir."

"Anita, loose your shield and join us. Two MPs on me," Atrebas waved them toward the elevator.

"On it, Highness," Anita took only ten seconds to brace her shield and release it, this time without the use of the explosive bolts since this was not a combat encounter. Less than a full minute later, the elevator was on its way up.

"Why the solicitude?" Anita asked the burning question of the retainer.

"The Master knew this day would come after he ordered Premier Yu eliminated for betraying the faith of the Master. That said, Master Jiang wanted to ensure that you go into your tenure as the new Emperor with open eyes and understanding that you are but one cog in a machine that is not under your control."

"Control is such a relative term," Atrebas said. He opened his mouth to continue the thought, but was interrupted by the elevator coming to a stop. "After you, Retainer," Atrebas waved him through the opening door as a courtesy, given the circumstances.

Outside the elevator, the penthouse lobby was occupied by Sun Yoo Jiang's personal domestic staff, and of the eight persons all were teary-eyed. "Highness, why?" the head maid asked.

"A gambit of this nature can only succeed," Atrebas answered calmly. "If it fails, the penalty is either exile or death, sometimes both. Master Jiang took his chance; for that I cannot fault him. The methods and outcomes by which he pursued his gamble, however, are a fault. This is why the people rebelled, and why I sided with the people rather than remain neutral."

"Highness, this way," Yoshi led the group up a short flight of stairs into the main working office area. On the far wall from the elevator was a closed-off high-security room, which Yoshi keyed his way in for the four. "In here is where the teleconference is held."

It was also where they found Sun Yoo Jiang after he had knifed himself in the heart. "Meido, we need a bedsheet or tarp in here if possible," one of the MPs said after a moment looking over the scene.

"I have this," the general purpose maintenance guy in their group said. He ducked into a closet and came out with a sheet for the MPs to properly cover Jiang's body.

Atrebas entered and took seat at the computer bank with the dozen or so monitors. Yoshi closed up on the terminal and readied it for connection. "When we are ready to begin, press the connect button on the control panel, Highness. After the initial reaction, I will vouch for you."

"I am ready, Emperor," Anita said.

Atrebas handed his light machine gun to one of the MPs and steeled himself for what he was about to do. The coming discussion would certainly help determine political affairs going forward, maybe even enough to change or deviate his plans.

After he pressed the connection button, the dozen monitors lit up with ten different persons, one monitor showed an echo of the camera feed coming from their room, and the last monitor was reserved for displays or data. Anita had taken position behind and to Atrebas' left, with Yoshi to his right and the MPs to the right and behind Jiang's retainer.

"What the hell — the Divine Mage!" a pan-European guy said. Atrebas recognized his accent as German, given the amount of SS expatriates he had in his ranks.

"How did the Divine Mage break security — " a somewhat nondescript lady asked.

"I authenticated him to the terminal, milady," Yoshi said. "I am the retainer to Sun Yoo Jiang, and it is by Master Jiang's will that Atrebas speak at least once to the organization. My bonafide is Unassuming Kangaroo," the last part being a predetermined code phrase that would be used in case one of the organization had been slain and his or her second-in-command needed to vouch.

"Thank you, Retainer, I acknowledge your bonafide and I welcome Divine Mage Eric Atrebas to this meeting. For security purposes I will not provide introductions except for myself. I am Helena Kline, and this organization is my construct."

"A pleasure to speak to you in person, milady, but before we begin in earnest I believe a point is necessary. I have known of this organization for over a year, now, even if not through technical means was the security compromised. I will provide three names of the nine extant as evidence, if you deem proof is necessary," Atrebas said.

"I am listening," Helena said, calling Atrebas on his declaration.

"Heinrich Horst, chief executive officer Schlossbank Germany," Eric said.

"Here," the same pan-European guy as who had first objected said.

"Anwar Bin Muhammad, a Mujahideen cell commander of no small rapport," Eric continued.

"A pleasure, Divine Mage," he said with some veiled arrogance in voice.

"Ricardo De La Moros, President and CEO of Prometheus Manufacturing, and chief supplier of Infantry Armor for the South American Alliance. Congratulations are in order for securing that 5000-unit contract last week."

"And I thank you for injecting the prestige into infantry armor that made it possible, Divine Mage," Ricardo answered with a salute of a coffee mug. "We may not particularly like that you now control what should have been Sun Yoo Jiang's territory, but none of us at this table will deny that you did the world a favor twice over by wrecking the National Socialists and the Imperial Japanese."

"Thrice over, if one was to count the Southeast Asian Democratic Republic," Yanwe Londos (South African territory) extended. "Premier Yu was exceedingly vain and corrupt, and did not have control over his subordinates properly. If you did not act, the region would have destabilized."

"Instability is not impossible even now, but the people rally behind the Divine Mage," Helena pointed out. "Yu's reception was indifferent at best."

"The people did not expect much from Lim Jia Yu, and they got pretty much what they expected," Jacqueline Leine (Australia) put a point to the matter. "They are expecting great things from Atrebas, however."

"Maybe too much," Yuri Bugaveso (Soviet territory) said pensively.

"The people ask what their hopes can conjure, and though some hopes are beyond reach, others are attainable with the right skills and moves," Atrebas defused the attempted leading of their statements by both acknowledging and amplifying without being specific. "For I, the challenge becomes in what order do I move on those hopes. And that is where your myriad organization enters the equation."

"I am not seeing how one translates to another, Atrebas," Alazar of the Winds (Central Asia) said.

"Over the past year I have gained a sense of your intentions, which I find easiest described as stabilization through control, infiltration of State, and management of expansion. Of course, there is more nuance involved in each region, but the common threads are present. Speaking as a head of state, I cannot fault you on intention, and I find that someone trying to bring stability and serenity to the world is not an untoward goal. On this, I shall not interfere in your actions so long as those actions are not a net detriment to the world or an undue hindrance to the Empire."

"Finally, someone reasonable in command that isn't going to stick his dick wherever it doesn't belong," Kevin Allison (North American territory) said with some relief. "Much obliged for that."

"So you are going to go with the Multimage Empire?" Helena Kleine asked.

"It is what the people ask for, amongst other matters, and on this the people have asked for a complete change from the abused norms of extant government styles. I see no need to rebuff that desire," Atrebas said. "It will be some weeks before the details are finalized, but the outcome shall be different."

"A Magocracy, the rule of a nation by a wizard or wizards," Horst said. "So, who's next in line?"

"To be determined, but the running is between this lady," Atrebas pointed over his left shoulder, "and Tabitha Fersner. Still, secession in case of emergency is only the matter in question, as my intention is to hold post as long as the people will have me."

"Wait, are you saying you're immortal or something?" Helena said.

"When last I spoke to the Norns, Verthandi pointed out to me that my exertions on this world have had a magnifying effect to my personal power, enough to push me into the lowest tier of Transcendence. In absolute terms, I now rank with the Demigods, and thus confers a resistance to the flow of aging. Spellcraft will help me maintain my physical status where pure distortion of space and time does not do so. My commission to the Norns, and thereafter my duty to the Empire, is now a permanent posting. The successors chosen by your successors shall have to deal with me into the indeterminate future," Eric said with some humor to voice, primarily derived from the looks of dismay worn by all of them.

"We may never be rid of your machinations, then," Jacqueline groused.

"A point of order, milady Leine. You need never draw my ire to begin with, which would preclude suffering the machinations of a wizard such as myself or my subordinates in the entirety. Or, as is stated in the wisdom of a Black Lotus operator, 'give no shit, receive no shit, scrub no mess'. It will be a difficult temptation for your organization, but I can commit to taking no action where no action is warranted if you are willing to extend the same courtesy."

"I think that is actionable," Helena Kleine said. "Put it to a vote, people. Hands off the Multimages in exchange for the Multimages not trying to overthrow us. Yea or Nay?" Within five seconds, each screen had a green light come on. "Unanimous result, Atrebas. You have a deal."

"Then we are in accord on the major point," Atrebas acknowledged the point.

"What's next for the Mages? And what of the Shrine Maidens, they're all over the place." Helena asked more out of idle curiosity than any actual attempt at steering the narrative.

"I shall field the second question first," Eric said. "The Shrine Maidens are not part of my organization, contrary to popular opinion. I do not have command over the Master High Priestesses to any more degree than I have command over the average Empire citizen on the street. They are a religious organization that has chosen to follow a path between their old ways and the tenets of the Multimages. Those of the Shrine Maidens in my structure are in such position as part of their duties to the Mages, nothing more or less. I would ask you extend the same courtesy to them as any other church in your territories."

"Should not be a problem, so long as they don't do anything stupid," Kevin Allison said. Atrebas made a mental note to forward word of the arrangement to Master High Priestess Eri Kitamura without naming the players.

"As to what stands in the future for my organization, I will work to stabilize the nation and normalize relations with the rest of the world. After that, the future is no more certain than the weather forecast, but my duty controls and that is the intention I shall follow."

That phrase — '…my duty controls and that is the intention I shall follow' — would be heard by every successive generation of the Organization to come, and it would be a phrase that haunted them all for centuries to come. Their desire for control required limitation, a limitation that would put them in direct conflict with Atrebas often enough. The matter would be settled many decades into the future, but not before their limits of control were stressed beyond the snapping point.

-x-x-x-

(Elsewhere in Existence…)

As was tradition amongst the soldiery of Durgan, there was no salute exchanged. The former Mayor-General Edgar Caecilius came to attention, to which the new Mayor-General snapped to attention in response and rendering of honors.

"Damn good, Son. You've earned it," Edgar clapped his son, Gerard, on the shoulder. "Keep the tradition, and Durgan will persevere."

"I will do my duty as is appropriate," Gerard assured his father.

"Who will you nominate for the post of Captain-General?" Edgar asked.

"I can think of only one soldier in my peer group worthy of the position," Gerald turned partially and looked to the man in question. "Stanythe, will you accept the position of Captain-General of the Mercenary Forces?"

Stanythe looked to his wife, who nodded, then stepped forward. "I accept the call to service, old friend."

"Step forward, Stanythe Agrippa," the existing Captain-General said. This was a ritual that repeated every decade for the Mercenary City-State of Durgan, the transfer of power to the next generation of veteran troops. The generation of troops currently in command would elect the next Mayor-General, who would in turn select the next Captain-General and Garrison-General.

Stanythe approached the existing Captain-General and snapped to attention smartly. "This position requires foresight, skill, and will, Stanythe of the family Agrippa. Are you sufficient to the position?"

"I will watch forward unto the day of my death or whence the Mayor-General finds someone better," Stanythe answered. It was not the traditional answer, but this generation was not a traditional construct of the city. Edgar had seen to the divergence when he ordered Stan, Gerard, and two others (deceased) to execute an innocent man for the sake of political expediency, though he never quite knew the depth of his folly in so doing.

The present Captain-General nodded twice, removed his ceremonial cloak, and wrapped it around the incoming Captain-General. "It is done," he said simply, then snapped to attention. "May Tyche guide your search for fortunes, and Nike guide your blade to victory."

"Thus remains the position of the Garrison-General," Edgar said. "Do you have a choice, or shall the peer group decide?"

"My choice is the undervalued stalwart of my peer group," Gerard said calmly. "I need a stable, strong-willed soldier at my back to ensure the safety of the city. Kargen Minos, you are summoned to service."

"Sir!" Kargen, the younger brother of Lars Minos (deceased) by a year, stepped forward and came to attention in front of the Garrison-General.

"Kargen, this duty requires tenacity, skill, organization, and stolid disposition. You are responsible for the well-being of the nation in times of war and in times of mercenary campaigning. Are you sufficient to the duties you have been summoned to?"

"I have lived in service to Durgan, I shall die in service to Durgan as is needed," Kargen said, again a nontraditional response.

Again, the Garrison-General nodded acceptance of the answer and doffed his cloak so he could affix it to the soldier in front of him. "It is done," he said after the cloak was settled. "May Tyche guide our defense of fortune and Nike ensure victory in all matters of the Garrison."

"The transfer is done," Edgar Caecilius said. "What are your orders, Mayor-General?"

Gerard had something he wanted to say, but decided better for it. There was a serious skeleton in the closet he needed to drag out into the sunlight, but now was not the proper time to do so. Another day, Gerard figured. The proper tale of the Atrebas would be told another day, even if it cost him his position — or life.

"The order is, starting tomorrow at sunrise, command positions for the Lieutenant-General slots will be competed in both blade and sand-table exercise. Tonight, prepare a bonfire and sufficient mead, we shall drink to fallen comrades and a future that no mortal eyes have seen, but a future that mortal hands shall shape," Gerard Caecilius declared.

"SIR!" The assembled Durgan citizenry all snapped to attention, a sound that rattled the ground. The assembly around the ceremonial fire pit would distract them from noticing that their assembly was being watched by Nike, their patron Goddess, who would raise a silent toast to both her greatest success story, and to the city that spawned them.

-x-x-x-

(1 August 2050, 2130 Hours Lima (UTC+8))
(Emperor's Quarters, Government Building, Yuhua, China, Southeast Asian Democratic Republic)
(Government Complex Coords: 28° 8'19.90"N, 113° 1'56.40"E)
(1 year after the Multimage Revolution)

"Absent comrades," Division Commander Tabitha Fersner (Civilian and Electorate Affairs) hoisted her tumbler, to which the other officers around her did the same.

"Aye, absent comrades," Atrebas said heartily. "Carlos Sandeira, Katy Hoyos, Eri Kitamura, we have buried a few stalwarts in the past three years." Eric took a slug of his sake. Katy had been slain in a freak accident not long after the completion of the revolution, a container stack lost structural integrity and collapsed on her. Eri Kitamura had been slain by a raging psychopath supporter of the Yu Regime, but had not accomplished much more than that. "Still, we shall remember them, venerate them, but ours is not the purpose to live in the past and pine for it. Our dominion is the future."

"Hai," the entire group (sans Atrebas) answered.

"What is the plan going forward, Highness?" General Heinrich Von Stauffenberg asked.

"For the next few years, we are in a period of wait-and-see pertaining to our international affairs. Yamamoto, given those affairs are your dominion, I recommend you take profit where we can, but be cautious in all endeavors. Follow?"

"Hai, Atrebas-sama," Division Commander Akihito Yamamoto (International Affairs) said after a sip of his own sake. Eric had assigned the former Grand Marshall General of the Imperial Japanese to the post of DC International Affairs because, barring Emperor Manahito, he was the best of the best for the duty.

"Tabitha, your draft plans for expansion are authorized. Begin at earliest possible."

"Will do, my liege," the former commander of Atrebas' rebel cell said.

"Torahito, the populace demands increased access to wizardry classes. I want plans for two more Academies to be laid in starting in Spring, on my desk no later than end of day tomorrow."

"I have them already," Division Commander Torahito (Training, Education, and Sciences Affairs) said. "You will have finalized recommendations by lunchtime."

"Lastly, Anita, we must begin preparing units both for extended maneuvers here on Terra as a precaution against hostile actions, and we shall need preparation for exoplanetary operations on the new worlds we shall expand to beginning later this year."

"Hai, sensei," Division Commander Anita Rockholm (Magic and Military affairs, also the de facto 2-I-C of the Empire) acknowledged the orders.

"Remember, strike the necessary balance between the military and the civilians, and ensure all tenets of your dominion are serviced. Our duty to the Empire and the people is paramount."

"HAI!" The assembled officers said.

"Dismissed." The group filed out of the room, leaving only two within the Emperor's parlor, one of which was not known to the others but was known to Atrebas. "Milady Skuld, welcome."

"Eric," Skuld said as she emerged from a magical concealment in the shadow behind his personal combat Infantry Armor.

"A round?" Eric waved to the sake bottle.

"Not tonight," Skuld said. "I come bearing news."

"News is always welcome. I am listening," Atrebas answered her as she took a seat across from the Emperor.

"First, your affairs have not created a ripple that shall sink your intended goals at Ragnarok."

"That's good news," the Divine Mage said.

"The downside is that the path going forward will be chaotic," she admitted.

"Not so much good news," Eric admitted. "Still, it bears asking if you are willing to answer: is the concept going forward beginning to change the outcome?"

Skuld sighed. This was a question that she really should not answer, but she was also very wearied of losing so she had committed herself to 'cheating' to achieve the results. "Begun to change it? Yes. Properly changed the outcome? No. The actions of the Atrebas groups have not yet completely outpaced the expansion of the Eternal Darkness. You are close to parity in a few locations, but more is needed."

It was Eric's turn to sigh. "There will always be a need for more. Still, the more I expand, the more necessarily I have to relinquish direct control."

"Control is not the method to move forward," Skuld put words to what she had seen. "If you let them loose to their own devices, the people will venerate you for it."

Eric didn't take more than a few seconds to see through her phrasing. "Planetary level?"

"Aye," Skuld said. "I have seen civilizations flourish with decentralization to that level, and such groups exist in other dimensions today. You will need a new model, but one that can work at that level is not impossible."

"And interdimensional?" Eric continued his thoughts. "Since you are willing to break all the old legendary norms of seeing into the future, might as well find the walls."

"You can begin interdimensional expansion, but communication and logistics become the hindrance. Into your future you shall find ways to bypass those limitations. Same premise of command applies."

Eric nodded, already with an idea how to make planetary authority workable. The standing highest level of military authority below the Division Commander posts was General. Above that, he figured a post of Marshal was workable for planetary command.

"Remember, the future is always uncertain, but it cannot be corrected if we don't try." Skuld leaned back and sighed again. Her thoughts shifted to another topic on her mind: "There's a lot you will need to know, but the world is not yet ready for it. Urd and I are in the middle of an argument as to whether anyone, mortal or divine, is ready for it."

"So who is winning the argument?"

"Her, so far," Skuld noted.

The Divine Mage snorted. "For what it is worth, I have long maintained the value of time in sorting out an argument. Granted, we do not have an infinite span of time, but the necessary premise that one truth and time shall lead to the next truth is not an impossible way to look at this."

Their conversation would dance around between topics for some hours to come, but it would not be until well into the months to come that Skuld realized she had been genuinely surprised by the philosophical and patient bent of their disciple's position. Verthandi had been the first to twig to Eric as a worthy operator to take a chance on completing their design for permanently ending Ragnarok, but it would be this conversation that gave the Norns heart that Eric had both the plan and the patience to do the job. And now that he was identified as a Transcendent (along with the remainder of the Atrebas siblings), he had the time to spare the necessary patience.

The true shape of the future was always indeterminate, even to the Norns, but the visions that the Norns would see, massive armies technologic and magical, fleets of ships in the cold void of space, the most mythic of monster and demon slain at the hands of the Multimage Empire, these were visions that she could not help being haunted by — and visions they would all draw courage from.

Still, she could sense one truth: they would need more.

Author's Chapter Afterword:

So ends the first of eight planned sets of the MMC. If I expect to complete these before my Social Security kicks in, I need to pick up the pace. (Beta's Note: SN- No shit. Looking back, I'm surprised we managed 1 a week for as long as we did before we slowed to a crawl.)

Still, this is not the simplest story to tell, given the combination of elements and the winding narrative. It's not exactly easy covering geopolitical politics and warfare that are not grossly dumbed down as you tend to see in anime. For whatever issues one could find fault in them, Tom Clancy's books did a wonderful job covering the political and military aspects of life on this planet. And then I intend to not only throw in politics and warfare on not just an interplanetary scale, but soon to come, interdimensional. The scale of conflict does not absolve one of covering the necessary detail work, and I intend to see this through to the letter.

Now, onto the matters of the Set to come. First off, the divisions around the world will not survive entirely intact into the future. Even the Multimage Empire will be a bit different in those days, but what Eric threatened the 'Organization' with, his continued stand against their machinations, will definitely come to pass. Hell, the dice checks for the coming decades didn't do much in the way of cause hazard to the Mages, even. Things will start getting dicey here in about 400 years as Atrebas predicted. When the fractalized nature of human society starts conflicting with the Mages' massive progress in colonizing other worlds, there shall be a reckoning on old Terra.

That said, the nature of Multimage society will be the keystone to how Set 2 unfolds, and those necessary changes will govern how the rest of the world reacts when things start exceeding reasonable control for the political paymasters involved. Only one thing will be said about this matter: much as is seen throughout history, greed can be a very ruinous emotion when exercised at the nation-state level, and it won't be the Mages that suffer the heaviest toll thereof. As Emperor Manahito pointed out in this chapter, what value is limitation when the stars are within reach?

Still, the outstanding question that has come to me more than once: when will the Multimage Empire meet the Inner Sphere? Properly answered, that happening will be cataloged in a side story that occurs between Set 2 and Set 3. The initial encounters between the IS and the Mages are actually rather inconsequential in terms of immediate impact, but very critical for events going forward past Set 3. And, more to the point, the Mages have only the advantage of their wizardry at this time, it won't be for another few hundred years before the Empire is technologically ready to go toe-to-toe with the denizens of the Inner Sphere. Soon enough, though, it will be a dinner party the likes of which the Inner Sphere is wildly unprepared for.

Only thing I have outstanding in comment is that this chapter did not flow as I intended. Strikingly, I envisioned a much more dynamic and action-packed chapter than happened, but it turns out this was more of a match with grossly mismatched teams than anything else. The dice sometimes say things I don't particularly intend, but after a fashion this result makes sense in context of the history involved. The commencement of hostilities is less than two years after the prior war ended, and the memories of that war are still very fresh in everyone's mind. Much as was pointed out by Defense Minister Kaite, the forces of Southeast Asia were pitted against a foe who was well known to annihilate enemy formations wholesale, which even if an engineered contrivance is still an exceedingly frightening chance that most common soldiers would not want to take. Doubly so when the only persons know to stand a remote chance of stopping Atrebas would be his own subordinates.

More to the point, the SEAM found itself in a position where its only loyalty to the communist government is a loyalty borne of fear of the State, which is itself not a very strong esprit de corps when one looks at a sliding scale of reasons to fight. True loyalty to the Yu regime was nearly absent from the force structure, and most of that loyalty which did exist was centered in the Internal Security Force. The combination of lackluster loyalty, near-nonexistent morale, and the specter of facing off against veteran troops in the Multimage Rebel Forces — to say nothing of facing off against the Armored Mages themselves — was enough to break the forces before combat was met. Classic case of common wisdom: breaking a soldier's morale is far easier than breaking their bodies.

At this point, I have said what I have to say. The Mages will return for their next round, as well as the other Empires of the Atrebas, but the look into the other Empires will be a lot less comprehensive going forward. The specter of the Empires meeting up will make for a good series of stories to come, as will the actual circumstances thereof.

As to my next writing, I am moving back into Sigma for the next chapters, to work on writing motivation in the doldrums of winter after the New Year 2018. This year has not been unkind to me, 2017 was actually damn good from a real-world perspective, and I see the coming of 2018 as not a bad thing. In fact, if I crack Set 2 of the MMC next year, I think I'll have some parallels to draw between my home nation and IRL principles. As always, I still have work to do in the Jokers Wild series (I want to wrap Set 2 up and begin Set 3, there's real noise to be made in the Cosmic Era) and Archangel's Amazing Adventures forever looms over my writing.

The Multimage Chronicles is the story I began writing fanfiction for, as this story has existed in my mind in one form or another for over two decades, now. Jokers's Wild may have a bit more mechanized warfare action, natch, and Archangel's Amazing Adventures is the story that most of my readers come for, but this is where I began building the concepts of interdimensional journey. This story is what has driven me to the keyboard, time and time again, to put my thoughts to writing and to tell a tale impossible and yet not far from what might be, if Existence had more of a sense of humor in the here and now. This is the tale that rests at the heart of every person's imagination at some point in their lives, that there are men and women out there in Existence who are willing to do the right thing against impossible circumstances. And trust me on this if nothing else, the coming Sets of the MMC and the sub-stories Sigma and Jokers Wild will push the bounds of how bad things can get when solid men and women move forward to do the job.

For tonight, I wish you all a Happy New Year, as this story ran a little too long in writing to be ready for the Christmas season.

NEXT STORY: Multimage Chronicles Side Story: The Bridge Over The River Amur. What began as a project between the two Amur Valley Academies (Multimage and Soviet) would become symbolic of the camaraderie and rivalry between the two premier Academies for Wizards and Armored Infantry on planet. And, as these things happen, would also become the scene of a rather shocking custom of competition between the two groups…

Review Replies:

No reviews for the prior chapter.

The Gripe Sheet:

No complaints from the prior chapter, due to the above reason. Much thanks to Takeshi Yamato, Sieben Nightwing, and Necroblade for keeping this story straight.

Footnotes:

(1): This refers to the areas of what is now Southwest America, specifically the Great Redwood Forest in what is now California.

(2): Oceania is the Negaverse name for the planet Carver V in the Battletech universe, which is far more water than land by surface area.

Included Works:

No further included works in this chapter.

Spell Registry:

No new spells used in this chapter.