The Martial Unity

Time passed as the five of them began fleshing out the details of their overall business model and strategy. It wasn’t easy accounting for everything they needed, and they knew that they would need to have their work vetted by the relevant experts to ensure that they could maintain OpSec, operational security, to the degree that they needed to.

Once human civilization realized what they were capable of, they knew that every force in the world would do their best to try and crack the absurd rate at which their company found and vetted worlds to be infected, even if they were hidden by manifolds. They would need to go out of their way to make sure that the information didn’t leak, and that required a tremendous amount of preparation and planning.

For one, they decided that it wasn’t enough just to have a handful of patents to their name. People would very quickly realize that these patents wouldn’t be able to serve as effective decoys if the entire world were snooping around. Patent information was publicly disclosed, and even if people couldn’t use that technology commercially, they would be able to privately replicate it, allowing them to discern that the patent was simply a dud or couldn’t be responsible for their success at hunting infected worlds.

In order for technological solutions to serve as an effective decoy, they would have to go the entire way and set up entire research departments that were dedicated to researching infected worlds and detection technology. It would have to be the real deal; it would be very easy to see through.

Thus, an authentic research and development division was also something that they planned. Thankfully, the Esoterist agreed to give them some of the proprietary sensory technology that he hadn’t patented so that it could serve as an effective red herring.

Beyond that, Ria also got involved with day-to-day coordination with the Esoterist and the shipwright team that got involved with the design and manufacturing of her frigate.

She would be sent updates almost every day from the Kandrian Manifold, choosing between several drafts and approving certain design elements. The process was fast, considering that the team had fourteen months to do it, while only one month passed in real time.

Another element of her entire operation was, of course, the need for a portable Samsara Tide weapon that she could carry around that would detonate almost immediately. Without it, escaping the manifold would be almost impossible, and there would be no way to avoid the virus of the infected world. The Esoterist hadn’t included his harvested Samsara Tide poison in the deal, since the superweapon was simply far too important.

That meant that she needed to go to the source and try to broker a deal with the man himself.

”Please, papa?” She tried for baby eyes. ”Please, can you make it so that I can carry the Tide of Samsara with me for every operation?”

In the Royal Office, she sat opposite Rui, leaning forward on his table. The light of the morning sun permeated from the window beside the table, illuminating the entire room. Several two-dimensional digital sheets sat on his table, featuring intelligence reports on several important happenings in human civilization, including preparation for war and, of course, the High Treason trial of the Blood Cult.

He was very busy for the first time in a while.

Yet, he waved his hands, causing the holograms to disappear while smiling at his daughter with a wry expression, his ethereal eyes bearing deep into hers. ”I thought you didn’t want my help with anything? Now you ask me for one of my most important weapons? Tsk tsk.”

Ria’s eyebrows twitched. She didn’t like it when her father teased her; she much preferred it when he fawned over her.

”You’re the only one who can produce the Samsara Tide,” she crossed her arms. ”What do you expect me to do otherwise?”

Rui chuckled. ”Fair enough. Yes, I can provide you with all the Samsara Tide you want, and the non-restricted version too, if you want.”

She raised an eyebrow. ”Non-restricted version?”

”The version of the Samsara Tide that people access through the Gaian Alliance when they encounter infected worlds is a highly limited version that specifically only targets the virus and nothing else. I programmed it that way to ensure that it fulfills a very specific purpose. Otherwise, it can go out of control very easily.”

”I thought the Samsara Tide was an extension of you, or something like that?” Ria’s expression grew curious.

”When I’m within a certain range, it certainly is,” Rui replied. ”It’s how I control it. But when I’m not within that range, it doesn’t have access to my mind or my memories. There is no telemetry between the Tide and me in such circumstances.”

His expression grew to be one of intrigue, however. ”That being said, your state of quantum entanglement with the universalism mensis makes me wonder if I can interface with it at all times. If I can look deeper into the mechanism of the informational entanglement between your mind and the universe, then…”

”I’m not a guinea pig to research or experiment on, Dad.” She frowned. ”I ultimately have come to appreciate your decision to give me talent, but no more of that business from this point on, ok?”

Rui smiled at her.

”Of course. As for the Tide, I’m happy that you have incorporated it into your plans. And giving you a less limited version of it will also give you a powerful weapon if and when you come against a threat that exceeds your ability to handle.”

”Isn’t the poison basically a superweapon? It’s far too dangerous to handle like that, right?”

”It can be,” he admitted. ”But it would be better than being helpless against the virus. You have chosen a path of great risk and danger, and you will find that such paths do not offer you choices of safety and security. If you’re having second thoughts, then now is the time to turn back.”

Her amber eyes sharpened with determination.

”I have no intention of backing down now, Papa. I’m going to see this through.”