Steel Ethereal

Ch. 12 Whispers of the Outside

            

Jenna

"How are my eyes and ears, Jenna?" Riley asks me as he enters the sensory room I am occupying. I sit with several others in a circle. Their combined powers along with my own create a powerful combined amalgam of psychic energy. From any distance on our continent could we detect Enochian energy.

I rise from the ground temporarily and remove the helmet from my head. It had left a pressed mark on my forehead. Six hours straight I wore the helmet and sat in the same uncomfortable position. My back screams at me as I stand, but I will not complain.

"Your tone suggests that there might be good news." I say quietly.

"It there then?"

"No, there isn't." I say dejectedly. "Do you still want to hear?"

"Wouldn't be doing my job if I said no, wouldn't I?" Riley says with an optimistic smile. Knowing him, he'd make the burning of Promenade sound like the next step in evolution.

I nod grimly and turn to the projection made by the others still seated.

"There have been several attacks on small colonies and villages. Seven to be precise. Your protégé, his village seems to have been the starting point of this all."

"I see..." Riley says. His glazed over eyes tell me he is deep in thought. "Any idea who's mobilizing them?"

"I have two leads." I say holding two fingers up. I feel annoyance as a strand of hair has escaped my bun and tickles my neck.

"Let's hear them then." He says, clutching his metal tin of coffee.

I sigh, "They're opinions. I don't believe they matter too much."

"Jenna, you've been my second in command for a little over five months. You remember the trials, the wait, the anxiety I'm sure. You went through all that for your opinion to be heard. You're under my command, but I'd acknowledge your opinion as if it were my own. So, let me hear what you think."

I feel taken aback. I waited a moment, weighing my words despite Riley's statement. "The Monarchs. It has to be."

The Monarchs. A group long thought to be weakened from so much war and fighting between ordinary humans. Their quarrel dwelled with ordinary humans. They thrived on their deaths only to further Enochian growth. Seeing as all the settlements destroyed were human it wasn't something to rule out.

"It... makes sense." Riley says in thought. He rubs the back of his neck as he thought further on my words. "But they'd agreed to seclusion. Why peek out from their hiding place to kill a small few in outback settlements?"

I sigh and think a bit further, "Their actions do match their motives. Perhaps they know they'll die out soon and plan to take out as many humans before they're finally gunned down in a dirt field somewhere."

"From that logic, the scope of their attacks should be smaller. Not widespread across the country."

"These are the Monarchs. Everything they do is part of a bigger plan. Every action is done in grandiosity. Dead bodies, towns plastered in blood and guts..."

Riley quiets and looks to the blank slate of a wall to the seeming endless ceiling.

"Sir?" I ask trying to get a response from my boss.

"Just Riley," He says with a small smile, "You know this."

"Sorry, it's just, there's still my other explanation."

"Yes?"

"Well, someone else hired Amethyst's mercenaries to scatter the settlements. Force the survivors to travel to a neighboring colony. The survivors spread word of their fallen colony and that same colony is attacked soon after." I take a nervous breath.

"That's a quite complicated explanation." A look of surprise has crossed his face.

"It's out there, I know..."

"But where would the survivors be scrambled to?"

"I can't answer that, but there's a good chance they're being rallied to Bastion."

"Understandable. I'm assuming you think the Monarchs to be the ones who hired Amethyst and her merry band?" Riley asks raising an eyebrow.

"Like I said, grandiose and with a bigger plan not seen right away. I don't think they were ever above getting help from outside influences.

The room grew quieter with the two of us clawing at this mystery before us. It seemed that even the other sensors ceased their breathing. They perhaps picked up on the tension of our conversation.

"You may be right on both accounts." I duck a bit on his agreement with me, "Call it intuition, I suppose."

"You... You think so?"

"Why not? Destroy a bunch of settlements to thin the population. And with everyone running to what is the equivalent of a large rat trap, you just douse the place in gasoline and flick the lit remains of a cigarette."

"What should we do?"

"Whatever we do next, it's for Apex. Though this doesn't sit well for me, Promenade isn't the type to go out and solve the problems of others. But it is a bit unsettling. I'll bring this information to Aurelius and say that Promenade needs more eyes and ears."

"Sentries then?" I ask. Riley means to go to Promenade's leader and ask to keep an eye on the situation.

"Maybe he'll approve a small group composed of Apex to go under the guise of refugees from yet another destroyed colony. Whoever we send should have a good enough grasp of information gathering. Plus they're probably so overpopulated now that they wouldn't be paying much attention to what is heard or what is said."

"And if it turns out worse than we thought, if Promenade is in danger..." I whisper anxiously. The sensors can still hear my thoughts, I didn't know why I bothered. I knew they also heard my unease and curiosity at Riley's thought. I could have sworn I heard a snicker.

"We step in, dear."

"Alright," I nod, understanding.

"And Jenna?"

"Yes... Riley..."

"You're talking to me, not some higher up. Ease up a bit." He says patting my back. A smile crossed my face at his words.

as more comfortable and relieved.