Mercenaries’ Tale – 3.06 Bowels of the Plant
They eventually landed on top of the lift, the platform fading from existence. Gratin nearly doubled over, breathing heavily, beads of sweat running down his jawline.
“You alright there mate?” Doug inquired, patting the mage on the back. Gratin straightened himself up, nodding despite his breath yet to even out.
“Fine. Today has simply been very taxing,” the statement was simple but caused a great deal of concern from his companions.
“You let us worry about pressing forward from here, you hear? You conserve whatever you’ve got left,” Doug ordered firmly, human hand clasping Gratin’s shoulder, “you’re the big gun we use in case of emergencies, got it?”
“I do,” the mage nodded, Doug grinning in response before busying himself with opening the hatch built into the roof of the elevator. A moment later and they had all exited into the bowels of the Power Plant.
“Right, where the fuck are we?” questioned Doug as he attempted to get his bearings. The others looked to Harper who shrugged.
“We’re off the map now! Very few people have the clearance to be in the basement levels! All I really know is hearsay!”
“How many ways are there down here?” Kate asked as she reloaded her rifle.
“Um… there are more elevators on the opposite end of the building. There should also be some emergency stairs that empty out close to the parking bays that are only to be used if the power source goes critical as far as I know but I don’t think they’re accessible from this floor…” Harper’s brow creased in thought as she considered the question, “on the bright side there’s next to no security personnel down here as they’re all stationed up top. It’ll take them a while to find anyone with clearance to get down here.”
This was good enough for the trio of mercenaries, Blaise returning her rifle to her back and drawing a pistol to guard Harper with. The boys took to surveying their surroundings, Gratin’s head bobbing around as his senses spread out to locate the nearest life signs whilst Doug shifted his focus to some nearby signage.
“Ore processing and refinement? Chemical synthesising?” he read aloud, his tone quizzical. This piqued Kate’s interest.
“Ore?”
“That’s what it says,” Doug jabbed a thumb in the direction of the sign hanging on the wall. Kate sidled up next to him, brow furrowed as she read the words before she turned to glimpse down the corridor, a stern expression set into her features, the conversation continuing around her.
“So the power source is some kinda ore?” Doug was asking Harper, who merely shrugged.
“I dunno, all I do know is we get shipments of ore from some mine out on the plains pretty regularly. No idea what it is though,” came the reply. The conversation was halted when Kate suddenly strode past with determination, pressing forward.
This floor consisted of one lone corridor which connected one elevator to the other. The left side of the corridor was dominated by a window which looked in on a laboratory. People wearing light blue protective coveralls were hard at work within, milling about between the workbenches, working the centrifuges and mixing various chemicals together.
The right side of the corridor housed a railing which overlooked the ore processing department. Kate approached the railing for a better look. Here, more of the coverall clad staff were working with silver rocks that were gradually turning jet black once exposed to the air. They were chipping pieces off and inserting them into a machine which further broke the pieces down, the resulting dust being delivered to the other room via conveyor belt. It was the rock that the gunslinger was focused on, watching it like a hawk. So preoccupied was she that she didn’t even notice Doug approach, the red head in a world of her own.
“Kronnie1 for your thoughts?” McCracken stated, leaning on the railing next to her. Kate blinked, having been lost in the past. She realised Doug was staring at her, her body shaking. She eased up her grip on the railing, taking a deep breath in an effort to calm down.
“Sorry. A few too many reminders of times gone by…” she muttered.
“I’m all ears if you wanna get them off your chest,” he replied. Kate closed her eyes, finding herself chuckling.
“It’s funny, I’ve spent the last few years trying to forget…just trying to move forward and now here I am, staring down at the cause of everything,” she explained, removing her hat so that she could run a hand through her fringe. Doug glanced down at the lab.
“You mean the black rocks? What are they?” he asked, curious.
“I believe that’s mythril,” Gratin interjected from behind them. He was keeping a close eye on Harper, who had taken to leaning against the corridor’s glass wall, arms defiantly crossed over her chest. Kate frowned.
“Mythril…how do you know that?” she asked. Gratin shrugged.
“I’m a Fire Mage. I studied a number of ores and culinary practices before choosing my vocation. Mythril was one such ore, although it is quite rare. I was not aware that Lusinia had any deposits,” he told her.
“I remember them saying…” Kate muttered, rubbing her face.
“Dad discovered a lump of this stuff when he was working on the ranch one day. Apparently our home and fields were built on a sizeable deposit. It attracted all sorts of attention from loads of different companies. They were all practically beating down our door with offers to buy the land up but dad wouldn’t budge,” she found herself chuckling again.
“The ranch hands and all of Dad’s friends thought he was mental turning down all the offers. He could have been rich but he was very sentimental. He had spent the entirety of his marriage in that house and all his kids were born in it, myself included. Mum had spent her last moments there… He thought moving away would be like leaving her; he couldn’t do it, which was fair enough. Sadly, not everyone was as understanding…” She sighed, Doug watching her carefully.
“Salmanic Inc?” he guessed.
“Salmanic Inc,” Blaise affirmed, “they were the last company to send representatives to speak to Dad; a couple of slick assholes with their heads up their own arses. Over confident, treated Dad like he was too dumb to know what was good for him. One did all the talking while his buddy acted sullen in the corner and kept playing with a lighter. Dad wasn’t particularly impressed and we both forgot about them the moment they left. Wish I paid them more mind now,” she sighed again.
“One of our horses was sick. I was worried about her so I slipped out to spend the night with her in the stables. Everyone thought I’d grow up to be a vet back then, funny how that turned out…” a sad smile flickered across her face.
“I must have passed out ‘cus the next thing I remember is being woken by the sound of panicked horses and the smell of smoke. The front of the stable was on fire…I was trapped in one of the stalls…the horses were roasting…I could hear them…screaming…” she was shaking now, struggling to keep her voice level. Doug wrapped his human arm around her, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
“It’s alright, you don’t have to go on if you don’t want to…” he told her, causing her to shake her head.
“I’m okay…I’m okay,” taking a deep breath, she plunged on, “I was clawing at the walls to try to get out, screaming at the top of my lungs for help. One of the panels must have been loose because I fell through the moment I pressed up against it. I tried to scramble to safety but there was nowhere to go to…the house was on fire…Dad and the boys…” she buried her face in her hands, trying desperately to cling to her composure. Doug stayed silent, his arm still around her. She lent into him, taking what comfort he could offer.
“The arsonists were still there, out in the distance. There were two of them, one watching as the other did the work. I was terrified… took off in the opposite direction, through a copse behind the barn. Needed to get away…but the copse was full of men. They looked like men anyway, acted more like robots. They all wore armoured suits under their coats…”
“Sounds like Salmanic guards,” Doug muttered, Kate nodding in agreement.
“Yeah, they were probably there to stop anyone escaping or snooping around. They’re terrifying when you’re a traumatised eleven-year-old suffering from smoke inhalation. Especially when they overhear you throwing up and start chasing you; it was a miracle that I got away.”
“How did you?” Doug asked. Kate shook her head.
“It’s all such a blur…sometimes I’m not sure if I really did; that night still haunts my nightmares. I remember making it to the main road and hiding in the back of a truck…I woke up in Galmanoc a few hours later,” she told him, “god knows what the guy at the delivery depo thought when I burst out of the back. Didn’t stop long enough to find out. After what I’d been through…I was too afraid to stay around other people for too long.”
“…Did you get help?” Doug asked, concern evident in his voice.
“Not for a year or so,” she responded.
“A year?!”
“Mmhmm. I lived on the streets for a while, eventually New Dawn found me and took me under their wing but that’s a story for another day,” she gently pushed away from him, replacing her hat and taking to staring at the mythril processing system once more, “right now I’m more curious as to why Salmanic needed this stuff. Do you really think it’s part of the power source?” she wondered.
“Doubtful. Mythril is a material that has aether resistant properties. It’s usually used in the production of magic-resistant armour and weapons,” Gratin explained from behind them, causing a memory to stir in Doug’s head.
“Now that you mention it, I think the PSF started using mythril plating on some of their more important spacecraft. It can’t be too easy to come by else they’d have rolled it out across the entire fleet,” he recalled. Blaise’s brow creased as she took this in.
“Why would Salmanic need something that blocks magic?” she asked.
“You mean aside from defending against Dark Worlder attacks? Gods knows,” Doug shrugged.
“Hmm…I want to find the main power room. Bet the answer’s in there,” she announced, turning to face her friends with a look of pure determination set on her face.
In the centre of the long corridor was a spiral staircase which led up to a small lobby. This small chamber’s westerly and eastern walls were dominated by large blast doors. This would have been a dead end if not for the eastern door having been left half raised, enough space for a person to duck under. An out of order notice had been hung over the keypad besides the door.
“Well that’s oddly convenient…” Kate muttered upon laying eyes on it. She inspected the paper as Doug stuck his head under the door to check what was up ahead.
“For Faust sake, that’s a security breech waiting to happen!” Harper moaned, seething. It was clear that she was hoping the trio would have been forced to turn back and take a route through the building that was more heavily guarded. This didn’t bode well for her.
“Coast is clear! Best not look a gift horse in the mouth, eh?” Doug informed them before scrambling across the threshold. Kate waved her pistol at Harper, indicating for her to follow their scarred companion, she and Gratin taking up the rear as they all crossed over into Salmanic’s biggest secret.
The mercs stared at the chamber before them, mouths agape at the expanse. They had stepped onto a balcony overlooking a massive chamber 20 stories high and lined with pods. Each pod contained a humanoid figure hooked up to the machines interspersed between them. Every so often, a giant robotic claw would descend from the ceiling, select a pod and transport it skyward, through a door which led to the next chamber.
Gratin’s jaw clenched as he silently took to the air, performing a lap of the chamber, stopping every so often to inspect a pod. Kate glanced at Doug.
“Watch her,” she stated, jerking her head to indicate Harper. Doug nodded and removed his pistol from its holster, Kate putting hers away and making her way to a terminal embedded in the railing that lined the balcony. It utilised a touch screen, her fingers gliding across the surface as she inspected the various menus and data contained therein.
“They’re mages. Powerful ones, not a single one that’s under grade 6 according to this,” she announced, glancing up towards the pod people. Doug was dividing his attention between watching Harper and Gratin, glancing up at the mage as he progressed along the line of his peers.
“What are they doing here?” he asked, a deep frown set into his features.
“They’re the power source,” Kate solemnly reported. Even Harper seemed disturbed by that piece of information. She was taking in the expanse of pods with wide eyes.
“They’ve all been chemically lobotomised by the looks of it. The mythril is being used to make the drugs more effective against mages as normal drugs don’t work. They’re being kept sedated while being stored here, waiting for the next stage where they’ll be…be…” Kate looked sick as she relayed the information but was unable to finish the sentence. She stepped away from the terminal, a hand clasped firmly over her mouth and her eyes closed. Doug watched her, stone faced. He knew that she was thinking about how her family were murdered to make this possible. It left a nasty taste in his mouth.
Gratin finished his lap and landed a little further away from his friends, his back to them. Doug turned his attention to the mage. Gratin looked tired, he stood slightly hunched over, his shoulders drooping. He reached up and removed his mask so that his free hand could rub his face.
“They are mostly Dark Worlders,” he informed his companions. The others looked at the pods, a fresh wave of horror washing over them.
“How many…?” Doug asked, a hint of anger in his voice.
“Hundreds,” Kate stated.
“The war…” Doug growled.
“Our targets,” Gratin placed his mask back onto his face and turned to face his friends, “their goal wasn’t sabotage; they were looking to find this place and free their friends and family. That woman…” his fists clenched at his sides as he entered a stare-down with the floor. He was shaking.
“She told me her father was taken. I thought she meant he was killed in the war but now…” he couldn’t finish the sentence. A small voice in the back of his mind couldn’t help but wonder which pod contained the man that woman had hoped to rescue…
Doug and Blaise shared a concerned glance. It was Kate that stepped forward to place a comforting hand on the mage’s shoulder.
“You didn’t know. None of us did. Nobody would have thought Silverton was capable of orchestrating this,” she told him.
“No, not Silverton. He’s probably just been going along with it ‘cus it keeps him in power. His whole fucking family is responsible for this,” Doug angrily corrected her, glaring up at the victims of the Salmanic dynasty.
“You think this is what caused the war,” Kate observed.
“You don’t?” asked Doug.
“Oh I agree with you. I always suspected Salmanic had a hand in the war’s inception but this…there isn’t a word for it,” she replied.
“I can think of a few…” Gratin muttered, seething. Kate could feel the air around him heating up and decided it was probably a good idea to give him some space. She started walking back towards Doug.
“So if this is just storage, what’s the next stage…?” he asked uneasily. Kate glanced past him, at a door on the far side of the room.
“You don’t want to know,” she said quietly, her voice trembling. She turned away and shut her eyes. Doug looked from her to the door and back again, his stomach beginning to knot up due to her distress. He began to march towards the door. Gratin followed.
“No, wait-!” Kate began but she was too late, the boys crossed the threshold, a short corridor connecting up to the true power source.
The chamber they found themselves now in was a mirror of the last in terms of layout but instead of the walls being lined with pods, there were seven large columns that dominated most of the space. These columns had dozens of sockets embedded in them that pods could plug into, various cables and complicated looking machinery running out of each socket and winding back up the column like hundreds of tendrils working their way up into the ceiling. All the sockets were full, pods bulging out of the columns like boils on a limb.
Some floating platforms were parked on the gantry the mercenaries stepped out on, the platforms being available to help reach the various pods and perform maintenance on the variety of machines that sprouted out of the structures.
As Gratin entered the room he stretched out his senses to “see” what made this chamber different from the last. A fresh wave of horror washed over him, the mage turning to Katherine for confirmation, the redhead watching solemnly from the doorway. This was lost on Doug, the soldier marching up to the closest collection of pods for a good look.
The mage inside the first looked healthy enough. The monitor attached to the top of the pod displayed strong vitals belonging to the occupant. The mage inside was a naked Dark Worlder, roughly in their mid to late thirties, various tubes and cables plugged into her and an oxygen mask strapped to her face so that she could still breath in the unidentified viscous liquid that she was submerged in.
With an unnerved grunt, Doug stepped to the next pod. This one looked far more horrific, the mage inside’s skin leathery and shrivelled, their features gaunt. For a moment Doug thought someone had mistakenly dumped a mummified corpse into the container but a quick glance up at the monitor affixed to the top of this pod revealed that the poor soul inside was still alive, a weak heartbeat barely registering.
“What the fuck…” Doug began, as he took in the shrivelled form before him. Kate silently stepped up besides him and swiped a finger across the screen, more information about the occupant displaying. Male, 42, Twigarnian, integrated 462 days ago.
“He’s only ten years older then me, why the fuck does he look like that! What the fuck are they doing to him?! To all of them?!” Doug was getting angry now, his face turning red as he tried to wrap his head around what he was seeing.
“It feels as though these machines are forcing the inhabitants to produce a low level magical field which is slowly being syphoned off and converted into power,” Gratin stated, unsure. Kate nodded to confirm.
“That’s the gist of it from what I read on the other monitor. The machines are keeping them alive but they’ll take everything eventually, the mages burning out over time. Some only last a few months, the stronger might last years. Sooner or later though…” she gestured at the mage in front of them.
“How does this get this far? What kind of sick fuck would let this happen?!” Doug was yelling, unable to keep quiet. Kate wrapped her arms around herself, staring into the face of the victim in the pod.
“The world was a very different place when Salmanic first set up. The Fourth Galactic War had just ended and Lusinia hadn’t fared very well; we were on the losing side afterall. Infrastructure was falling apart, the economy was in the tank, the government barely holding on as it looked like we were moving towards a civil war due to how crap everything was. Then Percival Oudart Salmanic stepped forward saying he had a brand new system to keep the lights on that was cheap and fully renewable. He could save Lusinia so long as there were no questions asked. The government at the time thought it was an offer too good to pass up,” she sighed, placing a palm on the glass of the pod, “months after the power plant was built, The Dark Planet started attacking Lusinian spaceships and ports but at that point those in charge were in too deep to start asking questions. Salmanic was holding all the strings and was well on the way to becoming the first megacorporation. They’d won before the fighting had even started…” her words were little comfort to Doug, the soldier on the verge of an existential crisis.
“I was fighting to protect this shit show! All my mates… my fucking Granddad was a war hero fighting to protect Lusinia!” he was running his hand through his hair, his eyes wide as he contemplated not just his entire career but those of his friends and family. A fresh wave of rage washed over him, Doug spinning on his heel.
“And you had the fucking gall to call these cunts the good guys!” Doug roared at the spot Harper should have been standing in only to find her absent.
1Kronnie (ky) is a smaller denomination of the Kronz (Kz) and are very-nearly-silver pieces. Ten Kronnie pieces make a Kronz. Other denominations include the Kronet (kt) – a bronze coin that’s worth one tenth a Kronnie – and the Kronzalt (KA), a platinum coloured banknote worth one hundred Kronz. Most people only handle Kronz though, Kronzalt being a currency for the rich, Kronzalt notes being a rare sight.
Post by Sam | September 17, 2022 at 12:01 am | The Mercenaries' Tale | No comment
Tags: Aether, Blaise, Dark Worlders, Doug McCracken, Gratin, Jessie Harper, Kate O'Donnell, mythril, Percival Oudart Salmanic, Power Plant, Salmanic Incorporated, the Mercs, Twigarnians