Chapter 95 : More meetings

“It’s been a while, granddaughter.” Alexander Doesson said to his guests, who were facing him, sitting in simple seats while he and his son and grandson sat in luxurious chairs.

“It has, Mr. Doesson.” Rika replied, keeping a poker face. Tea had been served, but neither her nor Ticia drank it.

“Now, don’t be like that. I only do the things I do for the greater good of the family.” Alexander said as he put a hand on his long beard. There was no sign of pity nor sadness in his words.

“What is the reason you have requested to meet?” Rika went straight for the main topic. 

She did not want to be here, neither did Ticia, but after receiving their message, asking them to come in order to discuss their future relationship with the Doessons, they had no choice but to come.

None of them wanted to ally themselves with them, but it would be catastrophic if the Doessons joined hands with the Senate. Not just for Ticia’s faction, but for the whole Borkian Confederation. 

With the Doessons’ raw resource extraction and weapon manufacturing empire, the Senate would be unstoppable…

“You’re being rude, sister!” Dannie said angrily, but neither Ticia nor Rika reacted to that idiot.

Alexander Doesson continued.

“You are in quite the situation, my dear granddaughter. But do not worry, we are ready to help you.”

“...Sorry?” Rika frowned. What was her grandfather up to?

“Are you deaf, sis? We’re saying we’ll help you out!” Dannie once again said while his father remained quiet.

“...Are you kidding me?”

““!?””

The one who answered like that was not Rika, but Ticia.

“Help? What do you mean help? You just want to take advantage of us, rip us away from Rika and use us for your own personal schemes!” She said fuming with anger.

She did not need Ticinia’s ability to tell what these guys thought. They wanted the clones, like many others. 

And she also did not like the way Dannie Doesson looked at her. He clearly had some impure motives.  She had also been told that he had lusted over her daughters when they met.

She wanted to break this idiot’s nuts right now, but held back in consideration of the current situation.

“C-calm down, Ticia.” Rika tried to calm down Ticia, but it did not work. Ticia had already been at the edge from all the stress caused by the Malaise Tower incident.

“No. I won’t. Enough of this bulshit tiptoeing. If it was around senators, then sure, but not around these second rate buffoons!” She said to their face, showing her anger.

“Wha-!? How dare you treat us like that!?” Davie said in protest. Anger rising.

“What? It’s the truth. You’re just taking any opportunities to get up in society. It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve made a deal with the Senate to backstab us.”

There was a short silence as Dannie suddenly froze while his father and grandfather remained silent. That was enough of an answer for Ticia and Rika. They did make a deal, or at least reach out first to the Senate…

“...Of course not. We did no such things, the Senate does not like us.” Alexander said calmly.

“But you do want to join them, don’t you?” Ticia said back, not relenting.

“...Enough, Ticia. We can’t progress like that.” Rika said after a sigh. She too wanted nothing to do with the Doesson, but for now, they needed to assess their current situation. She faced her grandfather with a serious look. “I am not your obedient idiot granddaughter from the past. I know you want something from us. Tell me what it is.”

“It is rather simple, really. Announce that you reconciled with us and give us some of your clones.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

The answer to Alexander’s deal came back immediately in a very cold tone.

“Come on sis. If you don’t want to give a bunch, you can just give us this one!” Dannie said as he looked towards Ticia, but right before Ticia could say anything, Rika replied.

“You’re not taking Ticia away from me.”

“!?!” That surprised Ticia more than the Doessons. For some reason she began to feel very warm near her heart as its beats increased.

“This discussion is over. Don't try to contact us again.” Rika said decisively as she got up from her seat. Despite Ticia’s startle, she followed as if nothing happened.

Rika had said this on impulse, but she did not mean anything with these words, right? That’s what she told herself. It was just words for a friend.

“...You will regret your choice, Rika.” They heard as they left the room.

“Haaa… What a waste of time…” Rika said as she boarded the car and closed the door, releasing her tension with a sigh. “Hm? You okay Ticia?”

“Eh? Y-yeah, I am.” Ticia said. she did feel slightly hot when she looked at Rika, but surely that was nothing, right? She thought Rika should phrase her words better in the future… 

“Anyway, what now?”

“First of all, media control. Rebot-ia, can you deal with that?” Rika asked the AI.

“I’ll free some time for it, but man, this is rough…”

“Sorry about that, and thanks.”

“What’s Atrax-ia’s current state?” Ticia asked next.

Due to the AI being in ‘slow mode’, only Rebot-ia could communicate with her.”

“Still in slow mode. Owner, I think the situation is slightly worse than we anticipated.” Rebot-ia said, a tinge of worry in her voice.

“The tech support did not help?” Rika asked, the tech support referring to regular clone switch knowledge on AIs.

“I would like to say yes, but not enough. We basically need to rebuild Atrax-ia’s frame and infrastructure, it’s been too damaged and weary from time.” Rebot-ia explained the result of her own analysis.

“But you seem fine despite the fact that you do not use your basic frame anymore, I think we also implanted it on Atrax-ia, so why can’t it work?” Ticia asked. She remembered the AIs exchanging on Rebot-ia’s transfer when they first met. 

“Owner, do you think you could use Rika’s arm if we stitched it to you?”

“Of course not.” 

That was a stupid question. Ticia nearly wanted to say that, but the AI continued.

“It’s the same thing here. We might be from the same class of AIs, but our codes are forged from our experience, expertise and memories. It’s unique to each of us. So while Atrax-ia can use the code I made to come out of her frame, it’s not efficient. She was supposed to rearrange the code to fit herself, but she had so many responsibilities that she never got the time… But don’t worry, she says she’s okay.”

“Make sure she’s not blaming herself too much. Atrax-ia has a tendency to take all the blame on herself, just like a certain person here.” Rika replied, thinking about all the times the AI apologised, or overdid herself in order to please her and the Nulls. She kind of felt guilty now…

“Hey now.” Ticia seemed to want to say something about the last part, but sighed instead. It was true after all.

“…Owner, I would like to request for some help from Daddy. At this point if we want to build back Atrax-ia to a working level of performance we need him.”

“Is that so? Ok, let’s do that once we come back.” Ticia agreed readily. If the AIs had a way to contact them, then it was time to use it.

***

“Test, test. Can anyone hear me?”

“I receive you loud and clear, sister.”

“Oh! Mai-ia! You old clanker, how have you been doing?!”

“Doing OK. My computing power has been stable at 88%. I expect it to go up with Daddy’s help.”

“That’s good to hear! Looks like you’ve already enslav-ahem, put Daddy to work!”

“No comment, but yes, he is fine.”

The communication began with a cheery banter from Rebot-ia and matter of fact replies from Mai-ia.

“What about the others?” Rebot-ia asked next.

“All busy. I’ve been put in charge of this exchange.” Mai-ia replied, before her purple emoji face looked towards Ticia “And I believe this is our first time ‘meeting’, Miss Ticia, General Rika?”

“Hi… I’m guessing you’re an IA class AI?” Ticia said first.

“Yes, that would be right. I am Mai-ia, minister of foreign affairs. I hold the title of Archduke of Gly.” The AI replied in what Ticia could only describe as a courteous yet casual tone.

“Minister?” Rika frowned.

“Yes. I can understand you are surprised, but I have been chosen for this role and kept it for about 316 years, 4 months and 7 days. It is very common for highly powerful AIs like me to be trusted with high positions within the Empire. I received my title as reward for being a founding member of the Empire”

“I-I see…” Rika nodded. Certainly, putting AIs in high positions was not usual in the Borkian Confederation. Despite the fact that high performance AIs had rights, it did not mean humans were ready to entrust themselves to them… Only the Phillian Empire did such things on a mass level, so long as equilibrium between humans and machines was maintained that is…

Ticia was more concerned with the fact that such a high position was addressing them directly.

“Mai-ia, you’re making my owner overthink with all that human stuff.” 

“Oh, sorry. Force of habit. But she also kind of needed to know me a bit, you know? Empress’s orders.”

Rebot-ia scolded her sister, who apologized in a casual manner. Perhaps that was her way of removing the pressure.

“Anyway, it seems you have contacted me regarding Atrax-ia’s state, am I correct?”

“Yes. Have you received my transfer?” Rebot-ia asked back to her sister. the distance between being enormous, there were concerns about it reaching its destination, but it seems these worries were unneeded.

“Yes, I have. Tek-ia is currently analysing the information, she should be finished just about now. Ah, there it is…” Mai-ia replied, her emoji transforming into a loading icon as new documents appeared on the screen. “As we expected, Atrax-ia’s case is a consequence of a bunch of overlapping problems. Looks like she kept herself overworked all these years…”

“Well, she’s been trying hard to survive.” Rebot-ia lightly commented.

“Creating a state and running its military academy just in order to survive is a bit more than ‘trying to survive’, but since we kinda did the same thing over there, I won’t say more…” Mai-ia said back, before realising she had no excuse to comment on it since she and her sisters kind of did the same thing. Ticia agreed in her mind she had no right to comment.

“Anyway. I’ve got some good news. Atrax-ia’s state can be fixed.” Mai-ia said in a slightly happy tone as her purple emoji face appeared once again on the screen.

“Really?” Ticia asked back for confirmation. She did not read much of the documents. They were too technical for her.

“Yes, but the procedure is a bit tricky…”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, no clones will be able to do it, only pure genius can. These words came from Daddy.”

“Asshole Daddy…”

Neither Ticia nor Rika commented on Rebot-ia’s words. Ticia did not comment because she now knew the old man and his… ‘preferences’, so the term fitted him perfectly. Rika simply thought the AI’s creator thought highly of himself.

Mai-ia however did react.

“Oh? Rebot-ia, are you getting close to breaking that damn curse?” She said as her emoji now had stars instead of eyes. It seemed this matter was VERY important to her.

“I dunno, but now I can put swear words next to his name!” Rebot-ia replied in a happy tone.

“Marvelous! Please share your discoveries with us!”

“Erm, let’s do this another time..” Ticia cut the passionate chatter between the AIs. She wanted to focus on Atrax-ia right now. 

“Ah, Right. So… Princess Louiselotte is with you, right?” Mai-ia said after calming herself, her purple emoji going back to normal.

“Yes, she’s staying with us.” Rika replied this time. They  were of course talking about Lotte.

It was obvious the Phillian Empire knew where the princess was, they were the ones who allowed Lotte to stay with Ticia’s group for protection after the incident at the Malaise Tower. 

“In that case, give her this data and just leave the repairs to her.” Mai-ia said.

“Really?” Ticia frowned. She still was not sure about leaving it all to a person that was foreign to her, even if her tech-crazed, prankster daughter seemed to trust her a lot.

“Yes, that girl is amazing. Had there not been a few… incidents, she would have been the Empress.” Mai-ia said, her words making both Rika and Ticia’s eyes grow wide.

When someone from the Phillian Techno-Empire said such words, they meant it. The emperor was chosen for his skills and his level of ingenuity on matters of technology. Such high praise coming from an AI that has been around since the beginning of the empire was no laughing matter.

“Anyway, just give her the data I’m currently sending to you and she’ll know what to do. Her Majesty also gave her permission.” The AI finished her words.

“Thank you.” Ticia thanked the AI for her quick support. Honestly, she had half expected to be rejected if the person in front of her was not Laura, but she had not expected such willingness to help.

“Don’t mention it. I’m just helping a sister in need. Well, on a more diplomatic side let’s just say I’m collecting favors. Empress’s order.” Mai-ia replied matter of factly. The part about the Empress’s order did catch Ticia and Rika’s attention, but it did match with past events. The Empress seemed to favor Ticia for some odd reason…

“By the way, how is Laura?”  Ticia asked, since the red haired young woman passed through her mind.

“Laura? I guess you can say she is fine and brimming with energy? Don’t worry about her. She told me to say hi to you.” Mai-ia said in a somewhat cheerful tone, as if she was glad Ticia asked the question. “Also… This is a personal request but… Could you tell me how you feel about her?”

“Eh? How do I feel?” Ticia tilted her head, not sure how to feel about the question. Did the AI know what Laura felt towards Ticia? Because Ticia did and she did not know how to deal with it, so she played the oblivious one. “Well, she’s a good person, I think?”

“No, not that, I meant rom-”

“Your excellency Mai-ia. I have a question related to the war effort.” Rika suddenly cut the AI. The action itself could be considered rude, but since Rika used formal language to address Mai-ia, the AI decided to let it pass.

“Looks like there is some competition huh? Well fine. What do you wish to know?”

“Is anything planned against the Ionian Republic?” Rika asked. The matter of frontlines was very important since the Borkian Confederation was in a difficult position right now. 

Despite having joined the war, the Phillian Empire did not do much aside from a few skirmishes on the Ionian border and selling weapons to the Borkian Confederation.

“Yes. A grand operation has been planned. The Empress herself shall lead an armada deep into enemy territory at the beginning of next month.” The AI declared. Those words were great news to Ticia’s ears. This meant  the threat of the Ionian Republic would soon be lower than now. This also coincidated with the week in which her new daughters would ‘wake up’.

“I see. Thank you for the information. Would it be alright if I relayed this information as ‘our’ request?” Rika asked.

“Oho? I see where this is going. Sure, no problem. Let’s go with that. Her majesty would definitely agree to something this trivial.” Mai-ia’s emoji face smirked. She understood Rika’s intention. She was not the minister of foreign affairs for nothing.

Ticia also understood what Rika had in mind.

This request was primarily directed towards Field Marshall Barry Twill. By telling themselves the news, Rika intended to underline that she had high influence within the Phillian Empire. Barry Twill would receive the help happily, though there would be doubts about foreign intervention.

The Senate would also hold back, since touching Rika might mean problems with the Phillian Empire. Even they were not dumb enough to cause a double front situation with the current state of affairs…

The fact that Mai-ia agreed so easily was a bit of a surprise to Rika, but she was thankful.

“Then I believe we talked about everything?”

“Yes. It was a pleasure meeting you. Mai-ia.” Ticia said, smiling back.

“Same here. I think I understand why Rebot-ia and Atrax-ia chose you. Had I met you earlier, I might have too. Anyway, may the stars watch over you.” The AI said as parting words, before the screen turned black. A few seconds later Rebot-ia’s blue emoji face appeared on the screen.

“The link has been terminated by the other side. The discussion is over. Owner, I’ve just finished analysing the data they sent to us, would you like for me to tell Lotte?”

“No, I’ll do it myself.” Ticia said. She wanted full control here.

“We won’t have time to watch over her work though, so assign a few ECGs as guards as well as some clones who know a bit about tech. In case something happens…” Rika added, reminding Ticia they had other matters to attend.

“I don’t think what you’re worrying about will happen since I’ll also be monitoring, but understood ma’am. I’ll do as you say.” Rebot-ia said back.

Ticia could not help it. Had it not been for Nia being punished, she would have asked her. But Ticia did not want to rely on her daughters while they were punished. She needed to show them she could do without them, and that she would not include them in anything if they continued to do things on their own.

So Ticia would implicitly make Nia aware of what was happening…

Nia would probably cry out in protest since repairing an AI of this level was a one of a kind, and it was partly her fault Atrax-ia was in such a state, but this was where Ticia needed to stand strong and not falter. 

Thinking of her plan again, it sounded a little devilish and Ticia could not help but feel slightly guilty, but this was necessary. If such opportunities appeared for the other Nulls, then she would do the same. They needed to know their mother could do without them if they did not go by the rules…

Thinking about her next meeting, Ticia suddenly felt that an opportunity to give Nillia a similar example was coming…

***

“Welcome miss Bianca Renard.” Rika greeted her student politely.

“Instructor Rika, it’s good to see you. I hope everyone is alright?” 

“Yes, do not worry.”

The both of them exchanged greetings with a smile. They were still in the barracks. Bianca came herself to see them at their request. Unlike usual, she did not wear her military uniform, but instead a stylish business type of suit with a short skirt.

“And greetings, Clone Mother. I’ve seen you a few times, but I believe this is the first time we met personally?” Bian said with a smile as she turned towards Ticia for a handshake, which Ticia took.

“That is indeed the case. Thank you for watching after my daughters.” Ticia said back with a smile.

“The pleasure is all mine. They're all cuties. Well, they did do something outrageous…” Bianca commented, mentioning the Malaise Tower heist. Not in a bad way, she showed worry for the Nulls and Evelyn as their friend and classmate.

“Please rest assured, they are facing the consequences of that.” Ticia said with a smile that did not really smile. She felt Bianca shiver slightly, but decided not to comment.

“I-I see… Despite how young you look, you ARE their mother after all…” Bianca said to herself as she took her seat. Tea and coffee had already been served by a regular clone. They were alone in the room. No ECG, no regular clones. This was a business meeting, but they did not want Bianca to feel any pressure from their part. 

“A-anyway. I believe you’ve called me for some business today?” Bianca called out.

“Yes, we would like to enter a partnership with your parent’s company.” Rika immediately said. Bianca was already aware of it. She had received the request in secrecy, and this was also the reason she wore a suit instead of her academy uniform.

“My father has entrusted me with all contracts related to the military. As such, I am the one who will take the decision whether it’s a good idea or not. Sorry, I’m friends with Nillia and the others, but this is business, and that’s not even mentioning your current situation…” Bianca said in a neutral, business like tone. It appeared she was seriously considering their offer.

“We completely understand Miss Renard. We are not trying to take advantage of your kindness.” Ticia said back with a smile. She understood they were asking for a lot and were not in a position of strength.

“That’s good to hear. So, what do you need?” Bianca asked straight, though she had already her ideas about what this would be about.

Ticia and Rika proceeded to explain their needs. How their faction was growing in numbers, yet they did not have access to proper food supplies for the long run. They also mentioned the case of the Manuls, whose hunger seemed to know no limits.

Their request was, of course, for Bianca’s family business to provide them with food. They did not ask her to join their faction, as that would be taking things a bit too far.

“Hmm… That’s a big contract…” Bianca said with a serious look on her face. She seemed to be weighing the pros and cons.

Had Nillia, or any of the Nulls seen Biance like this, they would immediately yell ‘who are you?”, but that was an entirely different matter…

“Is it feasible?” Ticia asked, worried about her new daughters.

Fortunately, Bianca nodded.

“Yes, no problem. We can deliver enough food to supply a whole system, so don’t worry on that side. The problem will be transporting it…” she raised the problem.

Bianca feared that the Senate would attack their transports, which was a legitimate worry. The Commerce Guards, being under the Senate’s boot, would not provide any help against Piracy. In fact, they might even do the piracy themselves under the excuse of ‘tariffs’.

“We have a good relationship with the Navy. We’ll fill in a good word for them to act as escort in the place of the Commerce Guard.”

“Oh, that would really be helpful!” Bianca smiled. She was aware of the competition between the Commerce Guards and the Borkian Navy. “Okay, I’ve decided. I agree to your terms.”

“Really? I mean, not to make you change your mind, but siding with us means you’re closing any other possible deals and joining our side…” Ticia frowned and said with slight worry. That was a bit too easy…

“It’s an investment.” Bianca immediately replied with a serious look. “If it works, then perfect, and if it doesn’t work, I can only blame myself. I see potential in this partnership, so that’s why I’m agreeing so fast. It’s my family’s way of doing business.”

“...Thank you very much.” Ticia bowed her head, thankful. Rika did the same.

“Then, I’ll deliver the extra amount of meat and milk as fast as possible, granted I get to see one of those cats.” Bianca finally said with a smile at the end. If Nillia were there, she would probably say ‘of course you would’, but that was another story.

“We’ll try.” Rika said, aware that the Manuls were not the kind of animals who liked human interference.

“Mau.”

As it just so happened, it seemed one Manul had settled under one of the sofas of this room. It came out after all this noise seemed to annoy it, and jumped straight on Ticia’s thighs.

Its grumpy face seemed to say ‘stop making so much noise’...

“Oh, just the right timing.” Ticia said as she began patting the Manul who definitely, obviously did not want petting despite its purring. 

“So this is a Manul… Yup, it’s a cat.” Bianca commented, interest clear in her voice.

“This one’s orange too.” Rika commented.

Indeed, this Manul was one of the rare orange ones.

“Such creatures should eat one to three rats a day, maybe? For the Magnus ones meat wise it’s probably equivalent to a cow…” Bianca mumbled to herself, calculating how much meat she should bring. She then nodded to herself. “Okay, this works for me. I’ll also try to find complementary food for them. As for your side, I’ll deliver raw food batches regularly, but we can also prepare ready-to-eat rations if you want.”

“Both would be great.” Rika said with a smile.

“Understood. Then it was a pleasure doing business with you, General, Clone Mother. Please share my greetings to Evelyn and your daughters!”

“Thank you as well. I’ll do so.” Ticia replied back. Bianca seemed like a good person, so why were her daughters saying she was a weird person? She thought it was fine to bring this person closely to her daughters…

Ticia did not know yet, but somehow she ended up selling her daughters’ to Bianca's unrelenting love for cuteness and girls. This was probably the worst punishment that could be put on Nillia.

“I’ll send you the invoice. Have a nice day!”

And with that, Bianca left. 

Rika did receive the invoice pretty quickly. She felt a headache at the number of zeros…

“Ugh… My wallet…” She said, putting a head on her forehead.

“We really need money…” Ticia lamented. The Manul had already left when the door opened, so she had nothing to pet in order to release some stress…

Just then, they both received a notification. They both looked at their watch terminals.

“Oh, it appears our money problems will be solved.” Rika smiled.

“Yes. It’s finally ready.” Ticia also smiled back.

The one who had sent the message was Meiko…

And it said three words…

‘Everything is ready.’

Ticia and Rika smiled as if something had finally lifted off their mind.

The Doesson problem would finally come to an end before they became a big problem…