Chapter 3-8: An Average Family Dinner, Part 1

What were my family dinners like? Crabbutwhole, I know that you have been here for years, so you should know what my family was like, but I will humor you since you donated the amount for an honest answer.

Chat, have any of you been in a hover vehicle that is way past time for an inspection or has not had any mandatory maintenance for a while? And you are stuck in traffic when an alert sounds that you really should not ignore, but you have to because your paycheck hits tomorrow and you might be able to afford that sketchy third-party repair place on your floor? That feeling of anxiety and doubt and fear that your car will simply plummet out of the sky? Imagine that feeling exists every time you go to sit and eat, except that the alert is every member of your family staring at you, waiting for you to make a mistake to tear you out of the sky.

That was my life for nearly twenty years before Bo kicked in my door and changed my life forever.

-A clip from Samurai Red Menace’s Subathon, 2049

Victor

When I had requested that we do these weekly family dinners a few weeks ago, it was because I had a hard time finding the time to even exist near my family outside of work. It was conceived to be an event that would allow us to talk about our week, plan for the future, and to simply exist with each other. And, as it was a family dinner, that meant the AI commanders would attend, as they were basically family as well, which also helped them give updates on their own projects and such. With just us, the table had gotten decently big but was still manageable, not to mention that Buddy and Baba Yaga enjoyed cooking for everyone.

Then Alice learned about them through Aunt Cassandra and demanded to join, followed by the rest of the puddle and their parents and siblings, as they, too, were family. And even though they came from Samurai households, free food was free food, after all. Opal’s mother, Melena Andino, said that she looked forward to the social portion of the dinner, as it was a nice distraction from the worry that her husband, Heracles, gave her by being on Mars and not even sending her a message. Her smile when she said that gave me a vision of the Reaper, and I prayed to the Sands that he would survive.

Finally, for those who had partners, like Roger and Outsider, they brought them along to join in on the revelry. The table was quickly replaced with free standing chairs and hard-light tables to allow for everyone to sit with whom they wanted, while the food was laid out buffet style. Rogal had petitioned last time to allow the company commanders to join as well, yet Horatio rejected it when asked, stating that a clear hierarchy for the PMC was required to function and that having the Generals fraternizing with those below would only cause problems.

Well, with Wanda being the obvious exception to that, as she was both married to my brother, as well as irreverent to any traditional forms of hierarchy. Her company was composed of nearly feral undercity residents, “problematic” troops from other PMCs, and a number of rescued experimental subjects from the Bestlé facilities we obtained. The company were trained to solve problems creatively, and while they could follow orders, they only did so from those they recognized as stronger than themselves. Team leaders were routinely challenged by their squadmates, section chiefs held weekly sparring matches to keep their titles, and even Wanda’s direct squad of lunatics had to maintain their slots constantly. Yet Wanda had only been challenged twice, with each battle ending brutally and requiring the challengers to receive major reconstruction surgery afterward.

I thought I might become overwhelmed by the amount of people, yet I was pleasantly wrong, especially since all of the people who attended were family. It was just enough to not become a problem for me, as even with all of my enhancements, my social battery was still frail. I did wish Alice’s younger siblings didn’t request so many selfies with me, though. I was flattered, sure, and telling children no for what was a simple request wasn’t something I would do, but the poses and filters they used made me question the tastes of their generation. Not that I had room to talk, considering my tastes sat solely in the pre-twenty-thirties.

As the first part of the dinner, the actual dining and socializing portion, wound to a close, Bahamut began the second portion of the dinner, the serious conversation portion. It was decided early on that the talking order would have to be determined randomly, both to abolish any sense of hierarchy in this chaotic family mess, while also to try and give everyone a fair chance to speak. Everyone had a twenty-sided die appear in front of them and had the option to roll it if they wished to speak or ask a question to the group, yet the actual number generation was handled by a complex algorithm Synaptic had called “Fair Randomness.” It was designed to be truly random while also not spitting out the same numbers that could cause rerolls.

As the chairs were moved to be set around a massive round table, the hard-light dice were generated in front of each person. As I didn’t have anything specifically to talk about this week, I let mine fade while also deliberately not checking to see who was rolling. I liked to be surprised, after all, and this was one that was pleasant most of the time.

“And the order is set.” Said Bahamut in his deep, gravelly voice. I opened my eyes and saw him smirk in satisfaction, the order known only to him. “And it seems as though I get to go first.”

Bahamut placed his paper fan on the table as a holographic map of New Phoenix appeared above us, with the Wall that surrounded the city being marked in green, as well as a few other Plates within the city proper, all of which were surrounding the Tower we called home. “As of now, our first batch of recruits have finished establishing themselves on the Wall, as have the logistic lines to support them. The three PMCs we absorbed have also finished reorganizing and upgrading themselves and have successfully renewed their contracts with their clients, aiding in our efforts to restabilize the city. With this, we have finished the first step in the plan to reinforce the security of the city and can now move onto step two.”

A number of areas within the city were marked in yellow, namely the surface streets and many megabuildings that were known to be public access points for foot traffic. Along with the yellow, there were patches of orange and red scattered around the city, with the largest patch covering the entire undercity. “Through the efforts of the Ravens and their Keepers, we have discovered the areas that need reinforcing the most, as well as areas that are at a high risk of harboring unstable elements. I have already put out a call for the next wave of recruits and with the training data I obtained from the first batch, I can confidently say that we can cut the training time down to six weeks. The largest issue being, of course, permission from the Mayor’s Office to conduct street patrols, as well as obtaining some form of cooperation agreement from the undercity’s gangs.”

I took a look over the orange and red areas and noticed that they were all either abandoned corporate buildings filled with unhoused civilians and gangs or places that had dubious surveillance reports from inspectors that obviously never went inside to get an accurate picture. I recalled a few of those dubious places being hidden warehouses or bunkers my family and I had infiltrated years back and smirked. All of those places were not on any official blueprints and most certainly did not have permits to exist, so they should be great places for our troops to get some live urban combat experience with no legal repercussions.

As for the undercity…

“We might need to hold off on any actions involving the undercity.” Aunt Cass said. “They are essentially a different city, with different values and social structures than we have up here. Even Bub had to work for years to get a few bots down there to do structural repairs to the pillars and streets, not to mention getting the water treatment plants and HVAC systems set up to try and deal with the toxic chemicals down there. If you tried to butt in with troops or weapons? No matter the reasons or justifications, that would lead to open war with civilians, which is something we should try to avoid.”

While I didn’t care for the undercity, as the few jobs we had to do down there left nothing but bad memories for me, they were still humans, and humanity was a resource that I, as a Samurai, was expected to care for. The Faction that was Samurai was required to protect the resource that was humanity. Even without the optics issue that was leading an armed, hostile raid on civilians, even undercity ones, open warfare would only strain our already limited troops. Tactically, dealing with the undercity with any amount of force was not worth the effort, and I was thankful that Aunt Cass gave us a good excuse to push off dealing with them.

I saw Damian, Alice’s father and the Samurai High Noon, nod in agreement. “The gangs down there are fiercely territorial, and their political situation is no less complicated than the one corporations exist in. Thankfully, they at least work with the sewer divers in a cordial manner; otherwise, I can only imagine the number of hives that could have gone unnoticed, Like what happened to Oxford in England years ago. It might be better to simply keep an eye on things with the ravens rather than-”

Wanda spoke up just then from her perch on Buddy’s lap, having just swallowed her bite of naan and goat. “You’re supplying the undercity with nearly free food and medicine. Give them a few months and you can request cooperation easily. I know a few leaders down there and can set up meetings.”

I could see Bahamut’s thoughts spin up as he eyed Wanda, having just added her to his calculations. I felt a bit sorry for her as I knew that Bahamut would pester her for details later, but I also knew that she was only docile towards Buddy and would not simply be used. I had seen her training sims and the amount of explosives she used liberally to solve problems, as well as her personal weapons, after all.

As Bahamut had checked out to recalibrate his expectations for the future, Synaptic’s avatar, a large eye surrounded by void-like tentacles, floated over to take move the conversation along, as she had access to the talking order. “Cari, dear, it is your turn.”

Cari smiled as she addressed the table. “In regards to the Mayor’s Office, my meeting with them went well. We officially have the contract for the antithesis defenses on the Wall, as well as permission to expand our forces and business to other sections of the city. The office is also truly thankful and confused as to why Roger has decided to pay nearly as many taxes that he does, yet they didn’t question it and have instead taken the stance of being very helpful to our cause. However, I ran into an issue with allowing for street patrols as well as dealings with the police in general.”

Cari waved her hand and a holo-text document appeared in front of everyone. “Per section nineteen, subsection D seven of the Independent City State of New Phoenix’s constitution, any action that affects the police’s ability to function must go through the Police Commissioner and obtain their approval. And per section fifty-six, subsection A one, any proposals to the Police Commissioner can only be given during one of the quarterly Charity Galas and only by someone with a VIP entry ticket.”

I sighed slightly as I read the sections, knowing that I would be dragged into a new social situation soon. And as if to validate my feelings, Cari placed a hand on my shoulder. “The minimum party size for the gala in two weeks is four, and as I am certain that Roger will want to attend with Daliah, we meet that minimum. I have also spoken with Black Log earlier and secured a VIP ticket that is normally reserved for Doma, so we do not need to bid for one. That said, if anyone else wishes to attend, you are more than welcome to join us.”

Roger’s normal lazy smirk gained a hint of sharpness to it as he glanced at Daliah, who also looked excited to attend. I saw a few others mull the offer over, yet the only one who I kept an eye on were Outsider and Gimbal. Mostly Gimbal, as her reaction to something Outsider said confirmed that they would be attending.

“For those interested,” Cari continued, “please RSVP to my message before the end of the week, as that will be the last time I can purchase the entry tickets. The dress code this quarter is red, white, and gold and is themed around a masquerade.”

With a new event added to my calendar, Bahamut cleared his throat and motioned to the next person on the list to speak. “Lady Gimbal, it is now your turn.”