Chương 85: Interlude - At Your Service - Part Two

Sonic paused by her seat, the lesser of the two placed across from each other on either end of the lone coffee table in the room. Dedicate Kirkland moved to the larger, more plush of the two seats, then carefully gestured for Sonic to sit. She sat. The older woman smiled and adjusted her robes while sitting. Then she started a simple tea ceremony. There was a clink as she tapped out an appropriate amount of tea leaves into a glass device.

"How do you like yours?" she asked.

"Plain," Sonic replied. She had long ago lost her stomach. For that matter, she had no oesophagus or even a mouth. All the speaking she did was through a core that allowed her to manipulate sounds. She thought that she might regret the choice, but it was surprisingly easy to grow past the need to eat or drink. In any case, there was no point in wasting more than just one cup of tea. The Dedicate poured two cups, then carefully moved one of them with her second set of arms so that it rested before Sonic.

"There," she said.

"Whenever you're ready, sister." Sonic nodded, then carefully adjusted her sitting position and swept her hands down her lap to press out any unsightly wrinkles in her skirt.

"Is there a particular place you want me to begin?" she asked. The Dedicate shook her head.

"We have access to your reports up to the entering of the ship known as the Held Together. Afterwards, nothing except for a letter informing the Martian Admiralty of your prompt and imminent desertion."

"Ah, I see. How did they take it?" she asked.

"All things considered, rather well," Dedicate Kirkland said. She took a sip from her cup after blowing across it.

"The... circumstances allowed for a great deal of speculation amongst the few members of the brass who are cleared to know them."

"And the Ordo learned of my circumstances how?" she asked. That was her one point of contention in all of this. She hadn't informed the Adeptus Ancillia. They had simply known. Though to be fair, the Dedicate here was a high-ranking member of the organisation, and she had no reason to believe that things had spread beyond that.

"We have... friends, in many organisations around Mars. But a lot of what we do know comes from MINT. Not through spies or people who spilled secrets, but as a direct warning." She shifted in her seat slightly and gave her teacup to two of her metallic hands.

"They warned us not to interfere the moment your desertion came to light. We asked for more, and they provided." Sonic nodded slowly. She'd... almost forgotten about all of that. She was, technically, no longer a member of the Martian navy. Ivil has forced her to sign away that belonging. And now her own brothers and sisters of the Adeptus Ancillia didn't know where they stood. Hence... this very moment. She thought back to the moment where she'd agreed to serve the Empress.

Had there been anything about keeping her secrets? Technically, no. She'd merely told Sonic that she didn't want someone whose loyalties were split. And so Sonic now had to choose what to say. The truth wouldn't be breaking any rules, but it would spit in the spirit of what the Empress had asked. No one survived spitting at the Empress. So Sonic started to dance.

"I was ordered to leave the service of the Martian navy," she said.

"By whom? And why, if I may ask, did you choose to obey such a thing?" Sonic turned her head away from the Dedicate and instead faced the painting on the far wall. It truly was a masterwork. Had the painter been there? She narrowed her vision down to a plaque beneath the image. It dated it to half a decade after the third Inter-System war. So perhaps not an eye-witness's art.

"I believe that, were I to report this, I may well be ordered to leave the Adeptus Ancillia as well." The Dedicate sat a little taller.

"You would abandon your oaths and maidly way of life?"

"No, I would not," Sonic said.

"But I would abandon the organisation in order to better conduct myself as is appropriate for a member of the Ordo." The Dedicate stared for a long time, her lips drawn into a thin line. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"It's a beautiful painting," Sonic said.

"Is it? I've studied it for some hours. It's not... realistic, of course. The real battle happened across hundreds of thousands of kilometres. The image squeezes in the Earth Alliance fleet far too much."

"Indeed. I'd suspected as much. The Empress was quite different back then. Now she seems far more human. Did you know, once you talk to her, you discover that she has... scandalously human desires. No, don't scowl at me. This is no blasphemy. She is the Empress still. As poised and regal and deadly as ever. But she has the wonts of... a person, nonetheless. I suspect that her return to a human form after... the tribulations of the early and late A-Class have encouraged her to rekindle her humanity.

It's quite beautiful."

"Is it?"

"It is," Sonic said.

"Would that she had a member of the Ancillia close to her now, to serve and protect."

"Ah," the Dedicate said. She settled her cup into its saucer. The rim clattered slightly. She placed it onto the table and folded all six hands over her lap, fingers intertwined.

"How can the Adeptus Ancillia help?" A sudden change of pace, but one that removed a weight of stress from Sonic's back. She welcomed it.

"Interference at this time may be... unwise. However, there is opportunity." Sonic leaned back and considered how to handle this for a moment. Ivil may well be irate if the Adeptus Ancillia broke her cover with her... potential mates. That would be the first hurdle. Could the Ancillia help beyond keeping its distance? It was very likely. They had little influence here, around Jupiter, but little wasn't none. The Adeptus Ancillia also had a decently strong military capability.

This ship alone was large enough to deter most pirates, and it wasn't the jewel of the Adeptus Ancillia fleet.

"The Empress is being subtle. Moreso than ever before. I am acting as her liaison but I believe that she doesn't want the fact of her existence here to be known by any."

"I understand, and I will endeavour to make the rest of the Ordo understand as well," Dedicate Kirkland said.

"It may be best if instead of making them understand, the truth was simply kept to as few as possible," Sonic said.

"I am risking much by admitting this already."

"I see. Your bravery shan't go unnoticed."

"I appreciate it, Dedicate." Sonic clasped her hands together and made a small sign of reconciliation and then shifted into the sign for a change of subjects. This didn't go unnoticed to the Dedicate, who had likely gone through ten thousand such ceremonies.

"There is someone I met that might be of minor interest to the Ordo."

"Oh?"

"Two people, actually, with potentially a third... or fourth. It's a complex matter. But the one I wish to highlight is a young woman, a Saturnian by birth and upbringing."

"We have few members from Saturn, though it isn't unheard of," the Dedicate said.

"Culturally, they tend to chafe under the strictness of the Ordo."

"I can see that, yes. The young lady I speak of may also have some difficulties in adapting. But I think she's worth the Ordo's time. She has a brilliant mind."

"And she has interest in becoming a member?"

"I don't believe so. She does have a single core at the moment." The mandate of the Adeptus Ancillia was to assist those with cores. But, generally speaking, they tended to assist those with more cores more often than those with few. A single core would barely put someone on the Ordo's metaphorical radar, though it would earn their attention.

"I think it may be wise for the Tech Maids of Mars to assist this young woman with her further education, outside of the bounds of the order itself. Perhaps seeding her into one of the Martian engineering colleges?"

"An interesting request, and certainly something we could accommodate. But why?"

"Because doing so would give you an excuse for being there, and a reason for me to be speaking to you now." The Dedicate stared, or so Sonic chose to believe, her eyes were still hidden by her cowl.

"Very well, then, consider it done."

"Thank you. Now... there are a few more minor requests that I believe may be helpful..."