Chapter Three - Can Juno Come Play?

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  --Game News Now! 2048

  ***

  Delilah and I continued to plot and scheme and drink coffee for a while. The overall plan was pretty simple; if we couldn't get good information from outside of Quebec, then we probably had to go there in person. That kinda sucked, but it wasn't too hard to imagine popping over and checking things out.

  Delilah was of the opinion that we ought to only head over to Quebec once we were ready.

  "I mean, sure, but also, it's only an hour or so away. We can fly there and back in no time, especially with your Fury," I said. "Why go through all of the trouble of doing a ton of prep-work when we don't know if we'll need it."

  "Because it's better to be prepared than not?" she asked. "Obviously. If we arrive there and discover that the situation is bad enough that we have to stay then what are we supposed to do? And what if we arrive and discover that we need certain gear? Or that we've shown up and need reinforcements?"

  "Yeah, but if we show up quickly, then we're less likely to need those reinforcements, right?" I asked. "Reinforcements are for when the shit's hit the fan. For all we know, it's still airborne."

  "A true poet," Delilah said. "What does Lucy see in you?"

  "Nice butt?"

  She shook her head slowly. "Nevermind. My point is, when we get to Quebec, we might want to arrive and immediately set up a base camp of some sort. Even if we only encounter friendlies. And doing that would require, naturally, that we have a place set up already."

  I grunted, but she might have been right. "What sort of place?"

  "I'd suggest a hotel, at the very least."

  I leaned back in the stool I'd taken over, thinking on it. A hotel would be nice. Complimentary breakfasts were cool, and I figured most higher-end hotels would be cool with having a few samurai around, but...

  "What about something less commercial?" I asked.

  "Like?" She asked. "Do you plan on camping in a field?"

  "That's an idea," I said.

  "Really, Catherine?"

  "Not an actual field," I said. "The army has to have some sort of setup near Quebec, right? If Deus Ex is asking for help, then that means that there has to be something going on with the Antithesis, and that means the army."

  "That... is reasonable," Delilah said. She shifted back, leaning against her counter. "There is likely to be some sort of base in the area, either within the city or near it. Atyacus, can you look that up for us, please?"

  It took me a moment to recall that Delilah's AI was called Atyacus. She didn't call out to them... him? Very often. I think I talked to Myalis a lot more. Then again, I wasn't privy to their chats, so for all I knew, Atyacus wouldn't shut up in Delilah's ear.

  "I see," Delilah said. She blinked at me, and my augs pinged as I received something.

  I opened the file without doing a scan or anything. It was a report from the Royal Army of Canada, with force dispositions and locations. "The wall?" I asked.

  "Looks like that's their main housing unit for troops, which I suppose makes sense. There is a headquarters built into the wall. There should be a barrack there, and a motorpool and the usual facilities to take care of things. VTOL deployment space, drone repair facilities, armouries, cafeterias... I suppose everything else that goes with a city's garrison."

  "I'll contact someone. Crap, I'm bad at names, but I know a few people in the army, they might not mind hosting us for a bit. Might not be as comfortable as a hotel."

  "No, but the site security will likely be better."

  I imagined that the bigger, better hotels might dispute that. Celebrities and the one-percenters wouldn't settle for a few bored twenty-somethings with ARs keeping them safe. But yeah, the army would keep most of the media at bay.

  "Lemme give... shit, what was his name? That Lieutenant Colonel guy... tall, dark hair. Looks like he enjoyed filing his taxes."

  "Juno?" Delilah asked. "Why not the Brigadier General? I can't imagine that you don't know how ranks work, but the general outranks the colonel."

  "Sure, but I barely interacted with the general, and he seemed like a hardass, besides. I don't think he liked me. I don't think Juno loved me either, but we got results and I bet those looked good on his record or whatever."

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  Delilah stared for a moment, then shook her head. "The worse part of all of this, is that after spending enough time with you, I'm actually starting to understand some of your underlying logic. You're basically saying that since Juno has more potential to climb the ranks and is more flexible within his rank, he's more valuable to you?"

  "Not in as many--or as pretty--words but yeah." Mostly it was because the general scared me a bit and I thought that Juno was someone I could lead around by the nose if it came to it, but that was also, probably, one of the reasons. "Myalis, think you can find me Juno's number?"

  Sure. Here.

  I frowned. That was easy. Like, suspiciously so. "Is this LT Juno's number? The dude we've worked with before?"

  Yes? You might all look the same, but I can tell two humans apart.

  The number was just sitting there, menacingly. "Gimme a minute," I said to Delilah as I stood up and moved. I wasn't the sort to casually stand still during a call. I stepped to the side, and kind of inadvertently found myself in Delilah and Franny's living room.

  I supposed it was nice enough. They had this old-school minimalism thing going on. Or maybe they hadn't had time to decorate? The couch was this big, misshapen thing that didn't look like too much of a couch, and the TV on the wall looked like it had some dust on it already. I bet they'd never even broken that couch in. There weren't even any dirty clothes left around.

  Shaking my head, I started to pace the room, getting into a groove. The floor was surprisingly smooth, and my socks had a hard time finding traction. Cool, too. Was the tile real marble?

  Pushing stupid thoughts aside, I blinked at the Call command on my augs, and then listened as the phone rang. It went on for a while before anyone picked up.

  "How did you obtain this number?"

  I froze for a moment. The voice on the other side wasn't Juno. "Myalis, what the fuck," I muttered after muting the call. Whoever was on the other side sounded like an older woman, and she had that kind of gruff, no-bullshit voice that made me think of someone who liked to chew glass and make people shit themselves by staring them down.

  I unmuted. "Sorry, must have the wrong number. I was trying to reach, uh, Juno?"

  There was a very loud silence. "Who is this?" Miss Glass Chewer asked.

  "Who are you?" I asked right back. I wasn't going to be cowed over the phone.

  "I'm the one asking the questions."

  "But I asked one first?"

  No, you didn't.

  "Oh, shut up, you. I know you're enjoying this."

  Someone cleared their throat, and I was pretty sure it wasn't the nice lady I'd been chatting with. "Are you alone?" she asked.

  "Bit forward, to ask that, don't you think?" I asked.

  "This is a very private line, to a very private location. Why are we even doing this. Hang up."

  The line went dead.

  I frowned. "Wait, was Juno actually there or were you fucking with me?"

  Oh, he was in that room. It's the only phone in the room as well. All other methods of communication are non-functional where he is.

  What the hell did that mean?

  I dialed again, only noticing after the fact that the number had changed.

  Someone picked up anyway. "Hello," I said before anyone could say anything. "Can I speak with Lieutenant Colonel Juno, please?"

  "Who are you?" gravel-voice asked.

  Someone must have moved, because I heard the distinct sound of a chair creaking. "Ma'am, if I may?"

  "Oh, hey, Juno!" I said. "Good, you're there. Are you being held hostage or something?"

  "Ah, no ma'am," he said. "General, this is Samurai Stray Cat, of New Montreal."

  "General?" I asked. I reached the end of the living room, spun, and paced back. "Cool. I figured I'd have to talk to someone important at some point. You might be saving me some time. Good work, Juno."

  "Thank you?"

  My man! He was probably gonna be in for a promotion or whatever soon. A rank up? Yeah, whatever. Now, had I interrupted a meeting with the brass? That felt like a bit of a faux-pas. But if I'd learned anything in life, it was that apologizing made you look weak and stupid, and barrelling ahead only made you look stupid, so it was technically always usually the better option.

  ***