FFM 2025 18: Connecting

Continuation to FFM 2025 16: The Return, continuing Steirdrar’s POV! Almost done with catching up too!

Oh, and this one went to 1083 words in the first draft. It was a pain to prune.

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“It’s not like I could do anything beyond intimidation that they’d eventually figure out is empty threats since, obviously, infighting is the last thing we need.”

“But if you could?” Steirdrar asked out of morbid curiosity.

Agent Ket shrugged. “Probably thwack them. Or hang them upside down for a while. Something petty like that.”

Milder than Steirdrar had expected, even considering the setting. “I see.”

“What about you? What would you have done, if you could do something about them?”

“Demote them,” Steirdrar told immediately. “That or assign them on the lousiest duties on-base. It tends to work in military settings.”

“Makes sense. Though, in all honesty, the AIRF has deteriorated from military into guerilla forces, so your mileage may wary with that.”

“You think things are that bad?”

“Yeah, compared to how it started out, at least. It was a properly organized military, if a little strained for everything except rations compared to what we were up against. It’s a shell of that today.” Agent Ket leaned her chin on her hand, her fork dangling from the fingers underneath it. “With how unbearably long the war has lasted, it’s gotten hard to recruit, let alone keep people, and at this point just about no one can spare people or supplies from their reserves without becoming vulnerable to the IR or the underworld.”

Steirdrar nodded. “I can imagine. War recruitment has started to slow down in the IR too since people are growing tired of endless war and death. A few systems have had to resort to conscription to keep filling the ranks.”

Agent Ket sighed. “It’s a cold comfort that they’re having trouble getting combatants. Feels like nothing sort of a complete revolution will end the war.”

“Either that or a successful assassination of those in charge. On either side. Preferably the IR’s.”

“Yeah. I doubt there’s gonna be another assassination attempt against the IR after what happened to Clan Narlanita’s survivors, though… Maybe if we’d been able to assemble before those fools rushed into it, it would’ve worked out…”

“Would you have been there?”

“Every able-bodied Eskel-Zai with access to sufficient armor and weaponry would’ve been there, given enough time to arrive at the staging ground. The call for cherava adan relatanaia fera was that widespread. Many would’ve brought friends from the merc circles too. QWERTY was trying to rally Guild hunters to our cause when we got the word that Clan Narlanita had gone ahead of everyone and been subdued by the IRS.” Agent Ket chewed her food for a while. “The security level got so much higher after that that we would’ve faced unsustainable losses regardless of whether or not we’d have been successful. Everyone who was enraged enough went on to hunt the Enforcers who were on Thyrif instead.”

“I remember that. I was part of that added security detail until the IRS concluded that the government was no longer in danger of retaliation for Thyrif.” Steirdrar watched Agent Ket’s reaction carefully. He got only an understanding nod. “What the higher-ups did to the survivors… it’s one of those things that made me question my trajectory.”

“I can imagine,” Agent Ket said softly. “It must’ve been rough for you too, all that shit that the IR did when you were there.”

Steirdrar weighed his words. “It was. My family has served the IR military proudly for generations. I thought that I and my descendants would do so too… but it’s not the republic my parents enlisted in, much less the one my grandparents and great-grandparents served, anymore.” He looked up from where his gaze had fallen. “What about you? You strike me as clanless but that can’t have been your plan when you became an Eskel-Zai.”

“I’m not clanless; I’m a clan of one. QWERTY, though, ae wants to be clanless.”

That information surprised Steirdrar. “But you don’t?”

“No. After Clan Frula withdrew from the AIRF, I decided I’d make my own path with QWERTY. Ae didn’t want a new clan, though, so we’re more of a ragtag pair now. You’re right that I didn’t plan on losing my clan. Not that anyone foresaw anything about this war, honestly.” Agent Ket shrugged. “It couldn’t be helped, what happened. Clan Frula was closing in on the brink of extinction and QWERTY and I couldn’t leave the battlefield. Chieftain Frula had her duty to her clan and we had to follow our moral compasses. Maybe one day we can return to them but… we’ll see. I might just continue as a clan of one while QWERTY goes back to Clan Frula.”

Steirdrar digested the information for some time. When she let her guard down, Agent Ket looked so tired. No wonder she was a loner.

“As I’m sure you can imagine, what’s left of my biological family is stuck behind the IR lines on Pryzia,” Agent Ket said. “I haven’t talked with them ever since the war broke out. It’s too risky.”

“I’m sorry,” Steirdrar murmured. “Were you close with them?”

“Not particularly, especially in the later decades… Let’s just say a lot of things hit the fan when I was growing up and visiting is always a bit of an ordeal. It’s easier to stay away and not have to deal with being treated like a broken child. Were you close with yours?”

“I was, yes. I would’ve wanted them to leave with me too, but I think they would’ve turned me in as a traitor instead of understanding where I stand. I’m the only one who’s been anywhere near the atrocities, so between their ignorance and all the IR propaganda, they’d probably think I’m trying to spread enemy propaganda if I were to tell them what I’ve witnessed and done.”

“I’m so sorry,” Agent Ket murmured.

Steirdrar shook his head. “It can’t be helped. The best I can do is to do my part in trying to end the war the right way.”

“That’s the best any of us can do at this point…”