"We can't tell Niylah."
Those were the first words the fell, instinctively and entirely without her input, from Ontari's lips, even before she had fully absorbed the immense gravity of what she had been told. Klark was the Sky Princess? Pretty, awkward, inexperienced Klark was the hero, the queen, she had spent her whole life preparing for? Kind, gentle, oblivious Klark?
"Why?" Kostia blinked at her, surprised, and more than a little offended from the looks of things, which made plenty of sense given the fact that she was friends with the Trikru tradeswoman. "They obviously care for each other, I've never seen a domina and thrallina bond so quickly, and they clearly both trust one another!"
"Yes, they do, which is why we can't let Niylah know. Klark is either completely unaware of the implications of her heritage or, far more likely, is at lest partially aware and doesn't know that we are. I don't know her nearly as well as the pair of you, but it certainly looks to me likely she is deliberately holding things back and has been scrupulous about saying anything to identify her as the Sky Princess." The Azgeda Chosen agreed immediately, holding her hands up in a slightly pacifying gesture. "We will, eventually, have to reveal that we know. She might not be happy about it when it happens, especially after the reveal you gave her today. There should be at least one person in her closest circle that can be completely genuine with her. Niylah met her first, and the very bond and trust that you mentioned is exactly why that person should be Niylah. Besides, risking breaking their bond doesn't sit well with me."
"You believe that Klark will react badly to us discovering who she is?" Leksa asked, arching an eyebrow, though Ontari didn't get the impression that her sister agreed or disagreed, but simply wanted to know her reasoning.
"I think that she is keeping herself a secret for some reason, and I think it has to do with something she expects to find here in Polis. The whole reason she left her home in the sky was because it was dying, right? And she told Niylah she was on a pilgrimage to Polis?" Ontari asked, the questions semi-rhetorical as she sought confirmation of what little information she now possessed about the whole situation, and both women across from her nodded. Holding her hands up in a classical 'there you are' gesture, she continued. "There must be something in Polis she needs then, something that she can use to tell her people that Earth is safe to live on. Otherwise, she already would have, and she probably wouldn't be here now."
There was a long, long moment of silence before Kostia and Leksa turned their heads to look at each other, matching thoughtful expressions on their face, before they looked back at Ontari, similar gleams of satisfaction and approval in their eyes.
"Well reasoned, and something neither of us had considered." Leksa told her, sounding almost proud of her, and despite herself Ontari felt a pleased flush touch her cheeks. Drumming her fingers on the table, Leksa cast her gaze towards the windows overlooking the city. "It makes sense. This was a prominent military academy of the Old World, and it is where Aleksia Pramheda decided to establish her capital as she tried to rebuild from the ashes of the war. The ORACLE is here, and that, we believe, will be capable of helping quell the storms and make more of the world safe to live in. Kostia, didn't Niylah say something about the storms…?"
"She said that Klark explained that her wrist device, paired with her head device, would let her 'talk to someone living on the moon', if it wasn't for the storms, yes." Kostia answered promptly, frowning thoughtfully. "Presumably, the place the Sky People live is closer than that, so if she uses The ORACLE to get rid of the storms, she can tell them Earth is safe to live on."
Ontari nodded slowly, processing this new information. "So, we can assume that she's here to find The ORACLE, but doesn't want anyone to know her true identity. That makes sense. If word got out that the Sky Princess was in Polis, it could cause chaos. People might try to use her for their own gain, or worse. Not to mention, and I'm sorry to say this, but she…that is to say…"
"She isn't ready for the expectations or the responsibilities, I agree. That's one reason we proposed training her, to start getting her ready. It's one reason we went along with her touring the city as well. Get people used to seeing her, get her familiar with people on a personal level." Leksa finished the thought for her, nodding in acceptance without any sign of anger or distaste. "Of course, her not living up to the dreams everyone has built up of her is an issue, but we also need to consider how much things will change when the rest of her people come down."
"The entire balance of power between the clans will be disrupted, severely. Klark will be heavily biased towards her own people, of course, which could lead to poor leadership decisions on her part, even unconsciously." Kostia added, but Ontari frowned and shook her head in disagreement.
"I don't disagree that it will cause some upheaval between the clans, and I'll freely admit that Queen Nia will certainly be the source of plenty of that, but I don't know that Klark will be too heavily biased towards them. They killed her father, locked her up, planned to kill her, and sent her on what amounted to a suicide mission." she said, tugging on one of her braids thoughtfully. "She might be softer towards the common people, who I'm sure will be even more…what is the phrase I heard a Floudakru use one…'fish out of water' than Klark has been. But I think the issue when it comes to the people from the Sky will be from their leaders, not from Klark."
Leksa nodded slowly, her brow furrowed in thought. "You make a good point. Klark's experiences with her people's leadership have clearly been... traumatic. It's possible she may even view them as adversaries rather than allies, once she has saved her people. From said leadership's poor decision making, I might add."
"Which could create its own set of problems," Kostia mused. "If Klark is openly hostile to her own people's leaders when they arrive, it could cause a rift between the Sky People and the Coalition before we even have a chance to establish relations. Maker knows Klark could well be our only chance at establishing positive relations with them."
"I agree, but I think we're getting ahead of ourselves." Ontari interjected. "Right now, our priority should be helping Klark find and activate The ORACLE without revealing that we know her true identity. We need to earn her trust completely before we can even think about addressing these larger issues."
Leksa leaned back in her chair, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
"I don't disagree, not entirely. But the fact of the matter is, once The ORACLE succeeds, the rest of the Sky People could come down very, very quickly. A framework needs to be established to prepare for that possibility. Now, I don't imagine she will try to seek out The ORACLE during the Conclave, if only because we can easily keep her busy. That will leave us four months -three, to be safe, since we have no idea how long The ORACLE needs to do it's work- to see how gently we can lead things in that direction. Agreed?" she cautioned, and Ontari frowned thoughtfully. She could see her sister's reasoning, and it made sense, but it still felt…wrong, somehow. Still, Heda was Heda, and Maker knew that Kostia and Leksa not only knew Klark better than she did, but doubtlessly still had Chosen secrets to dispense to her.
Ontari nodded slowly, conceding the point and acknowledging the wisdom in Leksa's words, even as a part of her rebelled fiercely at the idea of manipulating her future wife and ruler. "You're right, of course. We need to be prepared for all eventualities. But we should tread carefully. Klark seems…sensitive, especially in matters of loyalty. If she ever suspects we're manipulating her, the damage..."
"She won't, because it's not true." Kostia said firmly, cutting across her fears like a blade. "We're not manipulating her, we're guiding her, helping her, protecting her. There's a difference. We want what's best for her and for our people. Those goals align."
"For now." Ontari muttered, less than convinced Klark would care much for such distinctions in the height of emotion, but nonetheless nodded again. "Alright, with that being the case, what's our next move?"
Leksa drummed her fingers on the table again, her green eyes distant as she thought. "We continue as planned with her training. We use that time to further gauge her abilities, her knowledge, and her intentions. We also need to learn more about the Sky People and their technology. Kostia, you're closest to Niylah and the most familiar of we three with Klark. See what you can subtlety get out of the two of them. Ontari and I can talk to her more about The Conclave when we take her to the events, see how much she might now about what they mean for us and for her. Ease her into the idea of leadership, make it clear how important it is to us to support the Sky Princess."
"You think she'll open up to us instead, like she did today, if she can see that we're on her side." Ontari guessed, and Leksa nodded in confirmation. Humming, Ontari tilted her head as she considered the idea. "It could work. And we can use the events of the Conclave to get her more used to our culture, introduce her to more of the ambassador's and people of influence as well. Not as the Sky Princess, of course, but as an honored guest and personal friend."
"Exactly," Leksa nodded approvingly. "We'll introduce her gradually, let people get to know her as Klark first, before her true identity is revealed. It will make the transition smoother when the time comes. Make it easier for people to accept her and be comfortable with her."
Kostia leaned forward, her brow furrowed in thought. "What about her training? Should we focus on anything specific, given what we now know?"
Leksa considered this for a moment before responding. "We should continue with the basics - combat, strategy, diplomacy. But perhaps we can add in some lessons on Coalition history and politics. It will be crucial for her to understand the dynamics between the clans if she's to lead effectively, and can easily be explained by the fact that she has told us she wants to find out if it's safe for her people to live here. We know she means on Earth, but if we allow her to think that we think she means in Coalition lands, she won't question us educating her on those that her people will live alongside."
Ontari nodded slowly, absorbing the plan. It was clever, she had to admit. Teach Klark what she needed to know without revealing that they knew her true identity. It still felt... deceptive, but she couldn't deny the necessity of it, or it's potential to be wildly effective.
"And what of her... abilities?" Ontari asked hesitantly. "The legends speak of great power and otherworldly talents wielded by the Sky Princess. Should we try to... test her, somehow?"
Leksa and Kostia exchanged a meaningful look before Leksa spoke. "We must be extremely cautious in that regard. If Klark possesses abilities she doesn't fully understand or control, pushing her too far could be dangerous. For now, we observe. If she shows signs of anything... unusual, we'll address it then."
"Agreed, of course." Kostia added. "We don't want to risk exposing her or ourselves. Though I think we've all already seen one such ability: the rate at which she healed. You all heard the fisas. No one else they've ever seen or heard of has ever healed so quickly, especially not from such serious wounds."
There was quite a bit of sober nodding at that, and they sat in silence for a long, long moment before Kostia clapped her hands and grinned at Ontari with an expression that immediately had the Azgeda's danger sense screaming at her.
"Now, Ontari, let us discuss your sexual experience…and, for that matter, how you felt about watching Niylah pleasure Klark. We're all going to be sharing a bed together, someday, so I think it's very important that we get familiar with talking about such things, don't you?" she purred, and Ontari blushed crimson, a desperate look at her sister-Chosen confirming that Leksa wouldn't be rescuing her from this conversation. Quite the contrary, it seemed, actually, for the interest and arousal lurking in Leksa's eyes was all too clear.
"Oh Maker…" Ontari whimpered in dismay, resigning herself to a long, long conversation.
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Cage Wallace was not, to use the age-old saying, a 'happy camper', and once again it was his father's fault. His naive, idealistic, would-be paragon of virtue father, who seemed dead set on forsaking any potential advantage in their long war of attrition against nature and savages alike. His father who had refused to let him use the technology that they possessed to force the PROJECT: ARK reentry pod to land closer, an action that had doubtlessly cost them a potential ally and resource. Not for the first time, he wished that he had enlightened his father with the ideals of the Templar Order, the way that Doctor Tsing -the way that Lorelei- had enlightened him. That would certainly have prevented this particular disaster, but unfortunately it was impossible. His father would never support the kinds of acts necessary to save humanity, the kind of dedication and moral compass dictated by the ideals of the Knights Templar. Even Reclamation was something he had only ordered and allowed reluctantly, and not a week went by where he didn't lament it to Cage during their private family dinners.
So, he found himself near-constantly having to work around his own father, the man who led their civilization, in his attempts to find a solution to their problem. A problem inflicted upon them by that unmitigated cunt of an Assassin, Alexia Griffin, when she had provided the savages with the injections they needed to survive the toxic atmosphere of Earth without any form of protective equipment. Injections specifically designed to pass genetically and not to be something that bone marrow harvesting could be used to transplant into his own people. Every attempt to accomplish that little feat had ended disastrously, usually killing the survivor that was on the receiving end of the transplant, and the results made it quite clear that she had to have used some manner of Isu artifact in her efforts. Humanity certainly hadn't possessed the technology, or the knowledge, necessary to so finely tune genetics and medicines. And what few attempts had been made to introduce those genetics into the population in more primal and natural ways had failed more often than not as well, for reasons that Lorelei was still trying to determine. Frustrating as their ignorance was, the resources they possessed were highly limited, and even more limited was the time and privacy that she and those loyal to her -and 'in the know'- had in order to perform such experiments.
He paced his office as he considered the situation, considered how best to move forward from here with the not-insignificant powers that he possessed. Despite not being President yet, everyone knew that he would be when his father died or stepped down, and he had long made a point of ingratiating himself with as many of his future people as possible. Even the fucking 'rebels', the idiots that routinely killed themselves by refusing anything but the bare minimum of transfusions, had a decent opinion of him, which just went to show how stupid and naive they were. Still, they were useful, at times, and had proven to be pivotal to his plans more than a few times where he had to appear far more moderate than he actually was. Yes, he had quite the power-base, and a broad range of supporters and resources that he could call on when necessary.
The problem was, of course all of those allies and resources were functionally useless when it came to addressing the problems before them. None of that helped them escape Mount Weather, and it didn't help them survive inside of it either. It didn't help with the food shortages, or the trouble with the filtration systems for water and air. It didn't help with the slow, implacable encroachment of lacking genetic diversity and physical degradation that was starting to seep in after a century of living underground without fresh infusions of genetic material. Oh, it would be sometime longer before anything truly negative began to crop up with any frequency, but the last thing he wanted was for the decline to have already begun before they managed to escape and find other non-savage survivors. Which there had to be, even if any attempts to communicate with them had thus far failed thanks to the storms so severely disrupting radio signals.
A knock at the door drew his attention away from his ruminations, and he allowed himself a small smile as he turned to face the visitor as they opened the door and slipped into the room. Lorelei Tsing was a beautiful woman, both physically and in her devotion to their cause, with soft brown skin, dark hair, and a tongue that was as wicked and cutting as it was talented. She was also a daring temptress, as he had quickly discovered when she had begun to express her interest in him, and as he couldn't help but swallow in appreciation as she shed her knee-length doctor's jacket to reveal that she was wearing nothing but extraordinarily lacy lingerie underneath it. Which was likely a violation of many health and safety standards, but as long as she came to him looking like that and her choice in clothing didn't compromise her experiments or procedures, he wouldn't so much as imagine a complaint. Padding across the carpeted floor to press herself against his chest, she rubbed his pectorals through his shirt and gave him a peck on the lips, smirking slightly with a gleam in her eye as he promptly -as he always did- dropped both of his hands directly to her plush ass.
"You're looking stressed, Grand Master, and worried. Plagued by anguish over the foolishness of old men and by the predations of the savages." she purred, looping her arms around his neck and leaning back as best she could to prominently display her cleavage to his approving gaze. "Why not let your dutiful subordinate easy your suffering, hmm?"
The invitation was an obvious one, and his answer was equally so. Picking her up and laying her across his desk, he pressed the button that would activate his security systems -rendering the cameras inert and the door locked- until he pressed it again. Smiling up at him coquettishly from beneath her eyelashes, Lorelei undid her bra and allowed her perfect breasts to bounce free. Burying his face in them and fumbling with his belt, Cage allowed himself to be swept away in his lover's arms yet again.
Fifteen minutes later, thoroughly sated and quite pleased with himself, Cage sat -slumped, really- into his chair and admired the sweaty, disheveled form of his lover, spread out across his desk and leaking a thin trickle of cum from her folds.
"Feeling better?" she finally murmured, sitting up on her elbows and regarding him with dark eyes, and he couldn't help but let his admiring gaze sweep over her body again. She really was exquisite, utterly exquisite.
"Yes, thanks to you." he smiled briefly, before sobering and getting down to business. "Have you made any progress on subverting the jamming systems? We can't afford to let my father's soft-heart get in our way again if more Arkers come down. We have to be able to redirect any more landings."
"Not my field, but I have people working on it. It should be ready in a month or two, and any redirections will -I've been assured- look completely natural. Of course, our plan is predicated on the assumption that more Arkers will come down." she confirmed, shrugging lightly, which did lovely things with her breasts, even in her current position.
Cage nodded, his brow furrowing in thought. "They will. The Ark is dying, it has to be. It was never meant to last much more than a century, a century and a half at best. If they sent that pod, and whoever was in it, down now, it can only be because they recognize that they are starting to run out of time and are trying to find out if Earth is survivable. More of them will come, either because their compatriot is able to call them down or out of desperation to find the answers to their questions."
"And when they do, we'll be ready, and we will finally be free of the mountain." Lorelei said with a predatory smile, eyes cold and hungry. "Free of the mountain, and ready to rebuild mankind in accordance with our vision. The vision of the Knights Templar."
Cage nodded, a matching smile spreading across his face. "Indeed we will. And when we do, we'll show these savages what true civilization looks like. We'll reclaim what was stolen from us. No more living off of scraps and savage flesh, no more fear of contamination or vent breaches. This world is ours!"
Lorelei sat up fully, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "Yes! Just imagine it, Cage. A world where we reign supreme, where science and order triumph over chaos and barbarism. We could reshape this planet in our image, bend all of humanity to our will!"
"And we will," Cage affirmed, standing up and beginning to redress himself. "But first, we need to focus on the immediate future. Have you made any progress on improving the Cerberus program?"
Lorelei's expression sobered slightly as she too began to dress. "Some. The latest batch of Reapers is stronger and faster than the previous ones, but have tendency to die from heart failure far more quickly as well. I'm looking for solutions, of course, but it may come down to you deciding if you prefer longevity or capability going forward. Just keep in mind that we need to be careful about over-harvesting the local savages, or we might actually push them into abandoning their settlements on this side of the capitol ruins."
"Which would prove…problematic, to say the least, I agree." Cage acknowledged with the grunt and a frown, drumming his fingers on his desk as she reached out to help him adjust his tie. "We can't afford to lose our supply of test subjects and genetic material. Perhaps we need to expand our reach, start harvesting from clans further out?"
Lorelei shook her head. "Too risky. The further we venture from here, the more likely our men are to be spotted and intercepted. Not to mention we will have to use more vehicles, which will increase our fuel and energy expenditures significantly. The cost to men and materials wouldn't be worth the potential returns. If it was capturing Arkers for their bone marrow, I would support it, but for savages? No."
Cage nodded reluctantly, acknowledging the wisdom in her words. "You're right, of course. We'll have to make do with what we have for now. Perhaps we can find ways to be more... efficient, more productive, with our harvesting."
Lorelei's eyes lit up with a cruel gleam. "I have been working on some ideas in that regard. If we can refine our extraction processes, we might be able to get more use out of each subject before they expire. It's a delicate balance, though - push too hard and we risk losing them too quickly. Keep them too long, and the…end result of the Reclamation process could lose too much quality."
"Do what you can," Cage instructed. "And keep me updated on any breakthroughs. Now, about this Arker that landed... do we have any leads on their whereabouts?"
Lorelei shook her head. "Nothing concrete. Our scouts have been searching, but the storms and the savages make it difficult. We know they didn't die anywhere in the immediate vicinity of the landing zone, and we know that they didn't die in the crash itself. It's possible that the savages found them and dragged them off somewhere, but I think we're both aware of how unlikely that is. Even as degenerated as they are, they wouldn't bother dragging the Arker all the way back to their shit-hole villages instead of simply killing them on the spot."
"So, they're either dead outside of the areas we've searched so far, or are alive but in the wind. If so, they might stumble across one of the other bunkers or survival shelters. I want people monitoring all relevant systems just in case. If we can pick them up and somehow convince them to call the rest of the Ark down where we want it to, all our problems will very quickly be solved. Take what marrow we need, integrate any survivors into our own population, and wipe the savages out once and for all." Cage ordered, getting a nod of submission from his ally.
Much like the father he had mocked, it never occurred to him -nor to Lorelei, not yet- that the situation might not be so simple as they imagined it. That the Arker might not be killed on sight by the Clans, that she might be a young woman with a talent for friendship and gathering people around herself. That she might possess allies and information beyond their own knowledge, expectations, or even imaginations. They saw another piece on the board to manipulate for their own purposes, no different from their contemporaries on the Ark.
A dangerous assumption to make, in a changing world.