Playing the Game - BT/CF SI - Chapter 15

Capital Habitat, Deep Kingdom of Subnautica, Leviathan’s Trench

Novo Franklin, Periphery Space

February 18th, 2981 AD

I watched through the many eyes that the combat drones possessed as the stolen construction drones were finally taken to their destination. The radar system of the construction drones was only a kilometer in range due to not being a combat variant, thus there was a limited picture for me to see, but with four units working in tandem, it was hardly an issue.

As a result of Breeze’s knowledge of Covenant communications technology, which also included FTL communications, our communications range with the drones was technically unlimited due to being limited to this system, and because of that we were given all the data in real time without any reduction in accuracy.

The thieves who fiddled with the drone control systems were allowed to shut them off, but it was all a ruse to imbue a false sense of security upon them. The units, packed and stuffed in wooden crates were completely unaware that they were being watched the entire time.

The wooden creates hardly kept the radar systems from giving us a clear picture of everything within a five-hundred-meter radius of the drones. The only real issue is that we didn’t have satellite telemetry to go with it and actually see where they were from the sky.

Not that it really mattered. When you had the geoscape mapping technology from RobCo, combined with the combat drones designs taken from the T’au construction/repair drone, combined once more with covenant cloaking technology, equipped them with plasma repeaters, and produce six hundred of them…

It was the first time, outside of the time I fought in the mech all those months ago, that I used military force to handle a situation. It felt entirely unfair to be honest. I knew I could roll over the world should I seek to, but knowing, and understanding coming to me as I used that power, were two different things.

Comstar had a fair idea of what I was capable of, as did those who joined my alliance, but they did not fully grasp just how much power I could exert should I decide to be a conqueror instead of a diplomat.

Thanks to the designs of Power Armor from Fallout, the Tau’s Battle Suits, and Alterra’s own database for the Prawn Suit, I can already make Battle Armor that is murderously lethal by Battletech standards. I doubt even the Elemental Power Armor in a binary could take down the suits I am making. Forget my army of mechs, I could send literal millions of Battle Suits across the planet and they would kill pretty much anything.

I shook my head, pushing those thoughts aside and refocusing on the now.

Each of those newly designed drones were…to put it simply, a miniature flying tank. While a standard Battlemech could kill one with a five solid hits from a class-two autocannon, they were small and fast comparatively. The two plasma repeaters were primarily anti-personnel weapons, but when charged up, they fired a single large bolt that did as much damage as a class five autocannon, with a fire rate thirty rounds per minute.

By itself, not all that impressive. In swarm of dozens, a two second delay means nothing.

While I have hundreds of them, I have only sixty on the mission. The rest are being tested in the simulation base against everything I can throw at them, and in conjunction with Tau drone control systems in mechs and combat vehicles so see what works, and on what level.

The sixty followed a column of old trucks that carried local militia, and were guarded by two battlemechs. The same ones that attacked my people before, a Panther, and a Jenner, sporting Kuritan colors and iconography. Both were old and battle scarred, having seen only basic maintenance, but the Panther was clearly being kept in good working order compared to most mechs I had seen thus far.

Not surprising as it was Robert Shiro’s machine. I had learned a great deal about the man and his personal life in the last five days since the Spider Drones infiltrated his compound. I was expecting a LARPing asshole who played Samurai Warlord. Not an actual Samurai who played the part properly. Nor was I expecting the whole compound to look like an old school Japanese fortress out of a Zatoichi movie.

The Spider Drones, little robots the size of a baseball that looked exactly as they were described, wandered all over the place with their cloaking technology active, and took note of the wife and child, the various retainers, as well as the more modern technology the place had in its possession. Mostly weapons and tools, but their presence allowed me to scan a few new items into my database.

While I didn’t get a lot of military intelligence, I was able to get some idea of the man’s life story. I don’t know everything, but I have enough of a picture to get the idea of his motivations. It was his family. His wife and child’s well-being, and quality of life, are first and foremost on his mind. His oath to his father to return to the Combine and live a proper life of a Samurai, to be a proper Samurai, are at the center of his actions.

It gave me many ideas on how to handle this man. I could have just wiped him out, and called it a day, but I’d rather recruit him. I could give him a far better life here on Novo Franklin than he would ever get in the Combine. He wouldn’t really fit in all that much anyways, and more likely would get chewed up and spat out by the Combine in a suicide run against a Lyran Scout Lance. Him and his family. It was a given to me since he is basically Worf from Star Trek.

He read about and was raised on the stories of the Combine and the Samurai, but did not actually have the lived experience for the full context. Thus, this man fit closer to the ideal of the Combine and Samurai than the actual Combine and Samurai did. Like how Worf tried to live up to the idea of a Klingon Warrior, but without the life experience of how things actually were in the Empire.

Minobu Tetsuhara came to mind when I had given some thinking about that. One of the rare few named characters who actually lived up to the title of Samurai, as far as Battletech was concerned. While I did not foresee Robert acting completely like the yet-to-be-born Samurai, I did see he would at least try to live up to the title.

If anyone acted like the Combine in truth, it was the Grandfather. He acted like the typical Combine Samurai from what little stories I was able to hear. Being far and away from the Combine, and thus away from the societal and peer pressure, Roberts Father was free to not act like his own father, despite the passing down of oaths and responsibilities. Robert, unfortunately, hated this world because of the constant fighting over what amounted to nothing but farm land, and living a standard that would have been considered lower-middle class back in 21st century United States. He was poisoned by visions of glory and prestige, no doubt passed down by the grandfather despite the Father’s protection.

So, I had been thinking. He is, for all intents and purposes, a Ronin. He may believe he serves a master, but he is without one in truth. I could easily become that new Lord for him to serve. The Prestige, wealth, and life he wanted to have would be easily achieved. The only issue is it would not be from the Draconis Combine. It’s one thing to serve a worthy lord. It’s another to serve the Dragon.

I turned away from the monitors, allowing the drone operators to continue their work as I returned to the Lab. I looked over reports of the various developments we had been working on since the success of scanning the functioning Architect Phase Gate. We now had the means to reproduce some of the technology from “Natural Selection II”. I was focused specifically on the portable Phase Gate technology that allowed you to traverse from one location to another within a short distance.

While I had designs for Phase Gates that allowed travel across a planet, from one world to another, and from one system to another, the weaponized variant for battlefield use was hard to accomplish with what Humanity and Alterra alone had.

I grinned at the report. We can now do that. With some more work, and time, plus a little bit of Rick Smarts, I can eventually create an engine that would create Phase Gates without needing a pair of portal devices. Mounting such a thing on a vehicle or ship would…huh.

I blinked. “I just realized; I am essentially working my way towards “Homeworld” hyperspace travel.”

Homeworld styled travel is very overpowered compared to Battletech. I would need to scan a Jump Ship if I wanted to actually accomplish that route, or at the very least make Battlestar Galactica styled jumps.

I shook my head and focused back on the report. So personal Phase Gate technology was done. We can implement them immediately in the military and research sites.

I walked into the lab, lacking Emma, Breeze, and Ariel as they had their own duties, and walked into my section where I was able to go all out Rick Sanchez.

“Alright!” I clapped my hands together as a Hologram of data appeared before me.

“Let’s see how much closer I can get to becoming the Xeelee today.”

==

Shiro-Central Border, Shiro Providence

Novo Franklin, Periphery Space

February 22nd, 2981 AD

Robert gazed over the distance. He had accomplished his task, and the contact for the Combine stated he would contact him when the time came. He was always leery of the so-called agent. He had no real proof that the man was actually of the ISF, as he was told, but given he was the only contact to the Combine he had, he had little choice in the matter.

It was the same for his father when the ISF approached his compound so many years ago when he was a child. His grandfather quickly accepted the call of duty for his family, and it had been such ever since. Per haps it was the way of this world, but he never truly trusted the off-worlders completely, despite the code of honor being beaten into him.

Even so, with the presentation of the technology, he had been assured of his reward for his service to the Dragon. A chance to leave this world behind and take his family and possessions to a proper world, and fulfill his duties and family oath.

Despite this however, he felt uneasy. No, more like he felt on edge. Perhaps it was paranoia, but given everything he had heard about the undersea kingdom, and their seemingly magical technology, he had expected some form of retaliation. An ambush, to be hunted down. With his compound in sight, he felt the tension leave him slightly. He still had to maintain a façade of innocence, but it appeared he had succeeded in not only his mission, but not being caught.

“I have returned.” He announced on the radio.

“…Hai Shiro-Sama. Welcome Home. Proceed to gangway two.”

Robert proceeded to walk himself into the small mech bay his grandfather had painstakingly created during his early years of being on this world. It was capable of holding a mere lance of mechs, but for their domain, it was enough.

Exiting out of his mech, he noticed something was wrong immediately. The technicians were stiff. Afraid. Resigned. Some twitching at shadows.

He walked over to his chief technician, who was uncharacteristically grim, looking as if he were about to die.

“…What has happened?” he demanded calmly.

The chief’s face shifted to one of guilt and sorrow, and slowly lowered himself into a kowtow. This shocked Robert.

“I am sorry. We have failed you, my Lord.”

It was at that moment a blade appeared beneath Robert’s neck, and his arms were held behind him in an iron grip. Another blade appeared above the neck of the Chief, with a man staring at him. He wore a grey and black suit of armor that possessed a helmet with a reflective orange visor.

Robert felt rage, and fear, clash within him. It gave way to fear as he watched more and more of the suited men appear about the mech bay near where his people were. Many flinched in fear from their appearance, and he would not hold it against them, as who could possibly be prepared for a foe that can appear from nowhere?

The blade lifted from the back of his chief’s neck to pointing at his face, and then the dark warrior spoke in a reverberating voice that made it inhuman.

“Our Leader, the Sovereign of Subnautica, awaits you. Your family has been hosting him as a guest in your home.”

Robert kept his face as calm as he could, but his clenched jaw caused some pain. He drew upon that pain to remain in control of himself.

“Let us proceed.”

It was not long as they walked out of the mechbay that he saw them. At least a regiment of Mechs and several platoons of Heavy Armored soldiers now in sight. Like the black suited warriors, they slowly appeared into sight from seemingly nothing, watching him as he walked into his home.

His soldiers who defended inside of his compound were kneeling on the ground, with several large suited warriors standing watch over them in a casual manner. With so many outside, they had nothing to fear from his own men. Impotent rage filled him at the helplessness of the situation as he was led into his dining room.

Inside, he was surprised to see a banquet laid out before him. There were white robots floating about with plates and platters floating above their arms, enveloped in a blue light.

He forced himself to look away and to the people sitting about the table, he saw his wife and son, and felt relief fill him at the sight. They were fearful, but unharmed, and calmly following dining etiquette.

There were guards in the room with them, at the corners of the room, ready to act if necessary, but otherwise standing in their dark suits like statues.

At the opposite end of the table, stood a man who exuded an aura of power and nobility. The likes of which Robert had…never felt before. It was strange, but he could tell just looking at this man in his strange suit of white and aquamarine, that this was the lord of Subnautica. A powerful man one could sense by his presence alone.

Robert’s rage suddenly gave way, and fear took its place. The weight of the world seemed to suddenly come down upon him. It stopped the moment the man gave a proper Japanese greeting to him, in Japanese no less.

Gathering what was left of his will, he returned the greeting, and slowly sat at the head of the table beside his family. The Sovereign waited until he had been seated, and then given proper leave to sit himself at the opposite end.

While the man was giving him all the courtesy as the Lord of the Domain, Robert knew it was merely a courtesy. He had no chance to control the situation, or demand anything, even if proper honor demanded it.

The man stared at him, deeply, before finally speaking.

“You know why I have come.”

It was not a question. A mere statement of fact. He did know.

“I do.”

The man closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them.

“The drones you had taken, have been retrieved. They will not leave this world, as the ISF agent you worked for had intended.”

The words hit him like a physical blow. He had failed. He knew it was all going too well.

“The drones you had taken were not mere trinkets, but advanced units that we had full control of even over a great distance. We allowed you to take them, as we decided that ascertaining the truth of your mission was more important than simple reprisal.”

That made sense. If he had such power, he likely would have done the same. Power of which the enemy does not know, is a most dangerous weapon.

“Once you had given the drones to your contact, we shifted our priority from you to him. We learned much once we had captured him and his assets.”

Seemingly from nowhere, a glass pad appeared into the Sovereign’s hand and he pressed upon it. A small device was placed before him, and it lit up in a light that presented a Hologram. It showed the ISF agent in a chair, with wires and a helmet placed upon him. A sinister looking man in a black suit with red trimming slowly paced around the man.

“We already were aware of your intentions. To take our technology back to the Combine. Our questions, which we demand answers for, is what your means to transporting them are. A dropship obviously. A jumpship, obviously. But after that? The who’s and where’s. That’s what we require.”

The interrogator of the recording stopped and lifted the ISF agent’s chin. The eyes of the agent defiant.

“There are also questions about your man, Robert Shiro. Our Sovereign apparently has an interest in him after we gathered intelligence about him. We know of your promise to exfiltrate him back to the Combine…but I have doubts about that.”

Robert felt his heart skip for a moment, as his eyes met the Sovereign’s. What interest did this man have in him?

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A minute twitch, and the man’s eyes blinked, before focusing once more, but now with a distant focus.

Robert felt his eyes narrow slightly before the Hologram blinked and the scene changed, drawing his attention. The ISF agent looked worse for wear, and was breathing heavily. He had no shirt and his torso glistened with sweat.

“-so, what exactly was your plan for Mister Shiro? You have admitted that you would leave this world to present the findings. What was meant to be his fate?”

Robert felt himself suddenly focus more on the agent. His own curiosity, and a small marble of dread, made him hold his breath.

“The…man…was just a tool. Like the claws of the…Dragon…we are…simply…to serve. He…would remain…until called…once more…”

What?!

“So, you had no intention of taking him to the Combine as he wished? My Sovereign suspected as much. It’s also obvious the Combine would likely invade this world for the treasure that Subnautican Technology could give, especially when they learned they couldn’t use the Drones without direct authorization. So, when they came calling in force, he would fight for the Coordinator. Supposing the invasion succeeded, would Kurita have rewarded him?”

The ISF agent coughed, which turned into a laugh.

“The man…is a tool. He knows only…duty. He knows…nothing else. He will be…used…and sheathed…as a tool…is expected to. More…worthy…retainers of the…Dragon’s will…would...be given…this world.”

The rage came back, his hands clenched and his teeth gritted.

“Not even a lordship? Not even a rise in status? Surely he would reward the man responsible for this…unless…you had never the intention of allowing his part to be known? Taking credit for yourself.” The interrogator said, as if knowing the answer.

A small zap of the helmet made the ISF grunt in pain before he Spat.

“A small price! To be given this post, when I could have a greater glory! Panting Why should I give any credit to such a fake Samurai!”

The Hologram went flying as Robert grabbed the projector and roared as he flung it through a window.

His wife and child whimpered in terror before he realized what he had done, and looked over towards the Sovereign, feeling his blood pool into his feet.

The man and his guards, however, simply looked at him, calmly, as if not worried, or taking offence to his action.

Slowly he sat down, looking to his wife, shame in his eyes as the weight of the world came down upon his shoulders. He was disgraced by his loss of control.

“There is nothing to be ashamed about. Your indignation is righteous.”

Their eyes met as the Sovereign spoke with compassion.

“As it was stated, I have come to learn of you, Robert Shiro. Not just of who you are, and what your status in this world is, but also of your life. Your past.”

Rubbing his chin, the Sovereign continued.

“It is a shame upon the Combine, that you are so easily discarded by the greed of one man, whose place is two levels directly under the coordinator. If this is the actions of the most distant of his people, then what does it say about him? The actions of your subordinates are a reflection upon yourself after all.”

His words match the ones spoken by his grandfather, and Father, when instilling his responsibilities. How he must carry himself in his duties, and how his own people’s actions must reflect his own actions. How their conduct is a result of his own.

It burned to hear it. To think about the Combine, its leader. He wanted to deny it…but the ISF were directly under the Coordinator. While the military had a hierarchy of rank, and status, the ISF were the direct agents of the Coordinators will. Despite this…

“He is but a man. One agent is not the will of the greater.”

The man nodded. “You are correct. The opinions of my own soldiers do not mean I share the same thoughts, despite my tolerance of them. That said…what of his superiors? This man reports to a higher ranked agent than himself. He had to get authorization from that one to do all of this. He had to know what his subordinate was going to do and how he would achieve it. This includes your ultimate fate after the task. Which means that his words…”

The sentence was left hanging, but Robert finished them in his mind well enough. “His words, were the words of those above him.” He whispered in anger.

The Sovereign nodded. “Yes. If you go up the ranks, they become more and more casual in their mistreatment of their assets, as the distance makes it about numbers, rather than people. Such is the fate of being the ruler of a realm. It is difficult, but with effort, a ruler can keep themselves grounded. It is easier in a small realm such as ours. At that level? Of the Great Houses?”

He shook his head. “We are but a statistic at such a grand view.”

It was hard, but Robert cannot deny this as a truth. In his own rule, he did such with his most distant serfs. Only the leaders of the villages were people whose names he knew, and only due to their rank under him.

Looking him back in the eye, Robert spoke the burning question.

“What do you want of me?”

The man grinned lightly. It was an amused one.

“So direct. I like direct. My desire is simple. I have come to see…if you wish to join my Alliance.”

He blinked. Shock caused his body to go rigid.

The man just chuckled a little in response. “Is it really that surprising? Before you ask why I would do so when you had attacked me, I will admit, I was fully ready to bury my foot directly where the sun doesn’t shine, and launch you into the sun from sheer force alone…but then I realized, you weren’t my enemy. Your character doesn’t match what I call an enemy.”

He pointed a finger at Robert in a casual manner, with a dry smirk.

“No, I have far more worthy foes in that regard, who I will be dealing with soon.”

Robert shuddered a little. Given the guards in the room, and the army that surrounded his home…

“No…you are the opposite. Do not take what I am about to say as mere flattery. I know of the Combine at large as a result of Comstar. I have learned a great deal about them at large with the payments I made for actionable intelligence via their MRB. What you are? You are the epitome of what a Samurai is meant to be.”

The dining room was steeped in a tense silence. Night had approached, and the warm light of now active lanterns flickered on the polished wooden walls, casting long, wavering shadows. Outside, an army of mechs and power-armored soldiers stood in silent vigil, their sheer presence a weight pressing against the compound. Shiro's eyes swept over his wife and son; they were his reason, his anchor. The fear in their eyes mirrored the turmoil in his heart. He was prepared to die here, for them.

Robert Shiro’s voice was low, rough with a mix of defiance and resignation.

"You come with an army at my doorstep and speak of alliance. Tell me, Sovereign, is this truly a choice? Or simply the prelude to a blade against my neck?"

He regarded Shiro with calm eyes, not a flicker of amusement, but filled with respect.

"I can see why you would think so, and I do not fault you for it. But hear me clearly, Robert—if I had come here to take your loyalty by force, we would not be speaking now. You would be another casualty, a chapter in a tragedy that need not be written, in a story overflowing with them."

Robert glanced down at the table; fists clenched tight enough for his knuckles to pale. The ISF agent’s words cut deeper now than when he first heard them: "a tool... nothing more."

"Your words sound noble, but I have served for and with men who spoke of honor and wielded it like a whip. Why should I believe this alliance is any different?"

Standing up, the Sovereign stepped forward around the table opposite of his family, the hum of power from outside a subtle reminder of the stakes.

"Because I know the weight of that whip, Robert. I know how honor twisted by greed and ambition breaks more than bodies—it breaks the spirit. Your loyalty has always been earned by blood, by sacrifice, and by a duty to protect. But what if that loyalty was given back to you, not as a command, but as a choice? A chance to protect those you cherish and lead them not out of fear, but out of shared purpose."

A spark of doubt twisted in Robert’s chest, fighting against the ingrained loyalty to the Combine. The faces of those he commanded, those who had followed him without question, loomed in his thoughts.

"You speak of choice, yet look outside. Look at the force you’ve brought here. Tell me, what choice do I have?"

The Sovereign nods slowly, acknowledging the force arrayed around the compound.

"Yes, the force is there, and I will not pretend it does not press upon you. But it is there not to demand your loyalty but to ensure that no harm comes to your family or your people while we speak. I am not here to break you, Robert. I am here to offer you what your Combine never would—respect, not as a tool, but as a man who embodies what I see as the true spirit of the Samurai."

The room seemed colder as doubt gave way to a flicker of something more dangerous: hope. His gaze shifted to his son, who clung to his mother’s side, eyes wide and searching for reassurance. The Combine's honor felt fragile, distant, like a memory wrapped in chains.

"And if I refuse? What happens then?"

The Sovereign holds Shiro's gaze, unflinching.

"If you refuse, you and your family will be allowed to remain as you are, under my protection, until the winds of change sweep through this world. But consider this, Robert—refusing is not a path free of consequence. The Combine, nay, the Great Houses will come, and when they do, what will they see in you? A warrior who stood by his honor or a man who hesitated when he could have protected those he loved most?"

The words struck deep. The image of a future where the Combine returned, where the blood of his people stained the ground, haunted him. His Oaths…failed.

"You ask for trust where trust has been betrayed a hundred times over."

"I do. But I ask it not as a conqueror, but as someone who sees the fire of a warrior and refuses to let it be extinguished by the blind ambition of others. Choose now, Robert. Choose not because you must, but because this moment is yours."

The silence thickened as Shiro’s gaze hardened. He glanced at his son, then at his wife, before turning back to the Sovereign, the weight of generations pressing down on his shoulders.

Robert Shiro finally spoke after several minutes of silence. Voice steady, yet tinged with uncertainty.

"If what you say holds true, then I will consider your offer. Not for power or glory, but for them. For those who look to me and see more than a blade."

The Sovereign gave a nod of respect, the hint of a smile. "And in that choice, Robert, you will find that honor need not be a burden alone."