Aleric, stop with the bouncing." Thul said.
I stilled my leg again, forcing myself to calm down. It'd be fine; the worst was over. Not that helped me. Snuffles lay out cold on the table, cut open while Thul installed the bionics. One thing constant, gratuitous violence did was desensitise you to it. I remember being very squeamish in my last life. Not the case in this one.
I'd watched the entire procedure as Snuffles was cut open and the tech installed. Not flinching once. Well, maybe once or twice, but I'm only human. But the worst was over now. The MIU was installed deep within his skull, the auspex sensors next to it. The subdermal armour and vox had also been installed, so all that was left was to close him up. Still, it'd been hours, and my nerves were shot.
"Alright, that's him done." Thul said, finishing the last stitches and smeared some gel over it. He stepped over to the sink and washed his hands in a sonic bath—which reminded me I needed to get a look at that to see if I could make something similar. I was tired of feeling dirty all the time.
"Cheers, Thul. How long will he remain out for?"
"Several more hours, but you can wait here; I have nothing else for the day."
Smiling at someone I considered a friend by this point. "Thanks. How did the sensor machine work for you? My calibrations help any?"
"Oh, like you wouldn't believe. Come on, I'll show you. He is all hooked up to the monitors so we'll know if anything changes." With not a small amount of reluctance, I left Snuffles sleeping peacefully and entered Thul's lab.
"What were you trying to prove anyway?"
"I'm isolating a protein I reckon will be a big boost to my supplements."
Snorting, I asked, "Which ones?" The longer I got to know him, the more I realised just how many pies he had his bloody fingers in and how lucky I was to befriend him. Combat stims, recreational chems, supplements, boosters, and pharmaceutical drugs. He did them all. From the steroid-like things Snuffles had to berserker stims. I'd stayed well clear from them; they did give a huge boost to strength and regeneration. It just came with, as the name might suggest, an uncontrollable rage for the duration of the drug.
Not for me, but I knew several who had started to use them extensively, even amongst the champions.
Impressive to watch, sure. But I valued my mind too much to ever use it.
I sat chatting to Thul as he worked, lending a hand now and then while I waited for Snuffles. Several hours in and just as Snuffles was due to wake, a banging on the outer door disturbed us. Grumbling, Thul checked his cameras and then opened the door. "What?" He said rather waspishly. He never did like having his research disturbed.
"Is Aleric in there?" Came a voice from down the hall. I blinked—recognising it from the weekly meetings. Hann. A lieutenant ran the Fortress and everything around it.
I stood to greet him at the door. "Hann? How can I help?" I'd only run into him now and then and never had many reasons to interact with him past that. But from what little I saw, he was a tough old ganger.
"Good, you are here. Got a minute?"
Glancing back at the still sleeping Snuffles, I shrugged, "Sure. As long as I don't have to go far."
"No not at all." He waved me into the corridor and shut the door to the still grumbling Thrul behind me. "Was it your dog that had the fight this morning?"
"I would hardly call it a fight, more of a scuffle. Just some boisterous playing."
"Boisterous playing?" he said deadpan. "Your mutt nearly ripped another's jaw off."
"So he got a bit excited." I said with a shrug, supremely unconcerned. The others started it, and I was becoming more comfortable with my power in the gang.
"Regardless, the handlers have complained."
I waited for him to continue and get to the point, but he was lost, staring at the far wall. Getting impatient, I asked. "And?"
"Huh? Oh—sorry, lost in thought. I don't give a shit about that. What matters is I asked around, and yours was the runt of the litter just a few months back and is now a powerhouse. So, one: I wanted to ask how you did it and two: see if you would take over the dog training? As again yours seemed far better controlled than theirs, not to mention they aren't truly part of the gang."
Now that did catch me off guard. I hadn't even thought they'd complain. They treated the dogs more as tools to throw away than as actual animals and companions. Then they wondered why the dogs didn't follow instruction. Obedience born from fear never lasts. Not with dogs. Not with anyone.
Besides, they were researchers first and dog handlers maybe a distant second, but more like hundredth.
"Not sure. It would pull more time away from my other roles."
"But you're not against me raising it at the next meeting?"
I tilted my head, thinking it over. "No, as long as I have full control to run it my way as well as be able to recruit others to work for me. I'll also need funding."
"That should be fine. Good. I'll raise it, thanks." He said offering a handshake.
Shaking it, I returned to the surgery just in time for a very groggy Snuffles to stir.
I stroked him gently, calming him down. "Hello boy. How are you feeling?"
He stayed gorgy for a while but was calm and relaxed. "May I?" I asked Thul, nodding at the rather vicious-looking machine off to one side.
"Huh? Oh, be my guest." Thul muttered, eyes glued to his work.
Nodding, I pulled the machine over and got to testing Snuffles new augments. We'd already run some checks before he was closed up, but I want to run a couple more. I had some more specialised tests in mind when I got home, but this would do for now.
The main thing was to make sure the sensor unit was behaving.
A few hours later, we finally headed home, Snuffles back to his cheerful self, tail wagging like mad. Most of the bionics were still powered down. I'd slowly bring them online over the next few weeks, ramping them up as he got used to them. I was particularly looking forward to the vox and the programme I had made linking to it.
I'd also need to iron out the kinks in the software going in the other direction, so Snuffles could communicate with me through the vox. I still wasn't sure how it would actually work, having partially copied the designs from my fragments and then used my rather extensive knowledge to tweak it.
Either way, it'd be fun to tinker with.
---
As promised, Hann brought up the idea of me taking over the cyber-mastiff programme at the next meeting.
"Anything else?" Selina asked the room.
Hann raised his hand, stepping forward. "Yes."
Selina nodded. "Alright, what is it?"
"I'd like to request that Aleric take on managing the dog breeding and cyber mastiff initiative?"
Blinking, Selina asked, "Why?"
"It's come to my attention how much better his is, both stronger and healthier, but also better disciplined. I think his input could significantly improve the programme."
To my surprise, Zardelle spoke up in support. "I agree. I've seen him at work, and Snuffles is miles ahead of the other dogs I've observed."
"Snuffles?" Lanto asked, smirking.
"Don't look at me." Zardelle said, pointing at me.
I fought hard not to blush and just shrugged as laughter echoed around the room. It was right about now I was regretting such a silly name. But it's far too late to change it.
Selina snorted, "Naming aside, Zardelle, Orleth thoughts? It's his time under you that would be affected."
"Things have calmed down," Zardelle said. "We're getting fewer crucial missions now. As long as he keeps up with his training and commitments to the unit, I've got no issue."
Orleth sounded less certain. "He's taken on a lot of the larger, more complex jobs; losing even a bit of his time would put them back significantly."
"No one else can cover for him?"
"No, really, he is the best we've got."
"Hmm. Well Hann, how would you expect this to work?"
"Errm," he said, clearly unsure how to answer.
Rescuing him, I stepped forward. "If I had the resources and freedom to train a few people to work for me, it wouldn't eat up too much of my time. Even less when they are fully trained."
"So that's what you'd need, Aleric?"
"Yeah, some recommendations for people willing to work with them. The resources to pay for food and supplements, and then finally the authority to change the programme as I see fit."
"Hann?"
"Fine by me. The cyber mastiffs haven't impressed me so far. I say go for it."
"Any other objections?" When no one spoke up, Selina nodded, standing. "Good, then we have a plan. I'll leave that with you all, but keep me in the loop."
With the meeting wrapped up, some people left, but most hung around chatting. These weekly meetings were a prime time to get some networking done. I found myself cornered by Hann, Zardelle and Orleth.
"How much of your time am I losing?" Orleth asked.
"Not much, it'll be heavier at the start, sure, but once my team's trained, the time sink drops right off. Long term, it won't make much difference."
"So, what kind of people are you looking for?" Peggi asked over my shoulder, slipping into our circle.
I greeted her with a nod. "Empathetic."
"Empathetic?"
"Yeah. They need to actually get on, and like the animals, otherwise it just won't work."
"Okay, anything else?"
"Smart, hardworking and take orders from me."
"That last part won't be a problem. But why smart? What are you actually planning?" As she asked, several of the nearby groups quieted down to listen in.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. "It'll be in several stages. First, I need to go through the dogs and probably cull a few of the ones to feral to learn. I've seen the conditions they were in. Once that's done, I'll start from scratch. The goal is that in a few years, the gang will have cyber mastiffs that will be well-trained, properly bonded and equipped with bionics for a range of roles—alongside trained handlers."
"So what exactly are you planning to teach them?"
"First up—basic care. Grooming, feeding them and some simple commands. Sit, stay, that sort of thing. I will also teach them about things to look out for, injuries and the like. After that, it will be more advanced training and technical knowledge. How to maintain and look after the bionics once they're installed. Finally, I will need some help from the more experienced Court members. I want the dogs and handlers trained with some of their specialised knowledge. For example, scouting and hunting, or guard work."
"Impressive, you've actually thought this through. I've got ten names in mind. I'll send them over by the end of the week." Peggi said.
"Cheers."
"So, planning to dump most of the work on your underlings?" Zardelle asked half grinning.
"Eventually. I want them to manage the day-to-day and in time, nearly all of it. That will be a few years off, but if I can find a few trusted people, that would be a good start."
"To answer your question Orleth, yeah, it'll take up most of my time at first. But once things are set up and running, that should drop off, and with people trained, it should drop even further."
---
As promised, three days later, fifteen people turned up outside the doors to the puppy pit.
As I'd feared, most of the older dogs were too far gone, feral and only responded to violence and fear. Lashing out at the smallest perceived weakness. Just looking away was enough to have one lunge at my throat. That was even with Snuffles riding herd on them. It was sad, but I put them down.
I couldn't risk that behaviour spreading to any of the other dogs. It also wasn't safe for the trainers. So, with a heavy heart, we injected them. With them gone, I overhauled the diet of all the dogs, making sure they were fed properly and exercised regularly. I combined this with some training, getting them used to commands. Of course, it had only been three days, so I hadn't made much progress.
I also put a stop to the puppy farms, pumping out as many dogs as possible. I wanted actual high-quality dogs, not any old ones. I would be far more selective in my breeding. It would stop until I found some that I wanted to breed, and when they were the right age, rather than as soon as possible.
The ten recruits were young, most with similar ages to me, 14 to 15 years old, although a few were younger. "Good, you're here. Come in and take a seat."
As they filed in, I looked them over. I'd had some information from Peggi, but I wanted to form my own opinions of them where I could. Six girls and four boys, most stick thin, which wasn't surprising.
But they were all hardened with that wary look, like they were expecting the worst. Which again, wasn't surprising.
"I hope it has been explained to you what you will be doing here."
One of the older girls said. "Looking after and training the dogs."
"Name?"
"Skyla." The dirty blonde-haired girl said defiantly.
"Correct Skyla. Over the next few months and years, if you stick around, I'll be teaching everything you need to know about how to train and care for these dogs."
"How are we gonna get any respect from that?" A dour boy said.
"In time, you'll go on missions with the dogs."
"Do we have to?" asked a large boy. He was my age, but already well over six feet tall and still growing.
"To what?"
"Go on missions. Can we just stay looking after the dogs?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Sure, no one will force you to go." Not entirely true. If things went the way I planned, I'd have the capital to keep that problem handled. But if it flopped? They'd all get reassigned.
The other boy snorted, "How are you ever going to get respect if you don't wanna fight?"
"I'll learn your name over time, but let's get to work. First, let me show you around, and then we can get to cleaning." I said, cutting him off before they could start arguing.
"Cleaning?" I could already tell this kid was going to be a problem, and if he didn't get his act together was not going to be with us much longer. The others, at least, looked willing to learn, and some even had a hopeful looks in their eyes.
I gave them the tour, the training yard, breeding pens, kennels and food halls. It had taken a lot of work to get it all moved around, and had several construction teams coming in to move some walls around.
Some of the kids were keener than others. I was getting tired of the grumpy boy, whom I learned was called Merek. At least until I showed him the puppies. He was as taken with them as the others, even if he tried to hide it behind a tough exterior. But it was actually the labs that truly sparked his interest. Explaining what they did and what they might learn there.
I'd brought in Thul to help me. He grumbled at first, but with more funding to try things and a few extra hands, he came around real quick. Marek took to him fast. Within a week he was his unofficial apprentice and spent most of his time learning from him.
Which suited me and Thul just fine. I got another person I could trust looking after the dogs, and he got to offload most of the grunt work. A win-win.
I did lose a few of them over the weeks and months, until I was down to five. The bold girl, Skyla, who had slotted nicely in and was now my second in command. Surprisingly, Merek, who was looking to be our vet and techy.
Gwen was a quiet girl, who I'd had no doubt would stay after the first week. She just had a way with the dogs. Far better than me, honestly, even with all the knowledge I had. She'd become the unofficial head caretaker or den mother as we had taken to calling her. Not the best trainer, too soft with them at first, at least until I showed her a few tips and tricks, which helped her along nicely.
We also had Drezla, a small black-haired tough no-nonsense girl, and then Fluella, an extrovert. Enough said. Finally, there was Aleberd. He was a funny one, a lovable goof and not the brightest bulb in the draw, but he got on well with everyone, especially the dogs and was great at training them.
I still spent most days at the dog facilities, which were still called the Pit, but I could see how quickly they were settling in and hoped I could take steps back by the end of the year, which was far faster than I had expected.
I'd taken some time to write some guides, with everything I knew, which was an abject failure when I realised none of them could read or write. Another thing added to their workload. An hour of learning every day. They grumbled about it, but it was for their own good.
To keep things going, I converted the lot into audio. Not perfect, but decent enough until they could read it properly.
---
Things settled into a routine, with time flashing past. Missions with Zardelle and maintaining their gear. Something I'd slowly been doing more and more of. I'd even stepped into the quartermaster role for the unit, keeping track of supplies. Mostly to help Zardelle, since she was getting more involved with leading the gang.
I still kept my hours with Orleth, maintaining machines and gear. And of course, then there were the dogs. They'd come a long way. With proper meals and Thul's supplements, they had all exploded in growth. Thankfully, my team had stepped up.
In the end, the only thing I really to suffer was my free time. I was doing less of the tinkering than I had before, at least at first. I was hoping to get back to it, but I needed the dogs to be successful. Not just so they survived, but also it would help me climb the next rung of the ladder.
Time passed so fast in fact, that the spark signalling another year had passed took me by surprise. At fifteen, I didn't feel any different, but my knees were grumbling; I was going through a growth spurt. As I'd promised myself, I used the spark to plan ahead and dig deeper into how the sparks worked.
When the spark slotted into place, I got the usual rush of knowledge, only far smaller than I was used to. Truth be told, I learned very little. I did learn that whatever was giving me this power was called the Akashic Throne and that it wasn't corrupting me with chaos. Which was a relief, but beyond that, I still knew next to nothing about what the Akashic even was.
Or what it was meant to do. Or even why I had it.
The second part was more useful. It explained the fluctuation in my shards. At first, it strengthened my being so I could actually contain them. This was what was happening for the first six years of my life. A side effect of this was that it fixed any mutations or diseases I might have had. I was very thankful for it, but what it had actually been doing was strengthening my being or soul, if I understood the information right.
Once that reached a threshold, the sparks started coming. But they slowed down again once I began to hit my capacity. After that, most of the energy meant for new sparks bled off, back into me, to toughen me up for the next burst.
My Self spark had seemingly sped that up, strengthening myself so I could start getting a handful every year. Probably by the time I was thirty, if my gut feeling was right. But the Self spark had pushed that forward by Emperor knows how much. From there, it'd follow the same pattern: sparks, then a slowdown, then more build-up.
Which made the Self spark even more important, as if it wasn't already.
It also confirmed that this pattern would eventually end, but not for at least another hundred years. Still, I needed to plan ahead. There was a definitive end, with only milestones giving me boosts from that point onwards.
The last bit of info I got was about the tiers. They went up to six, possibly seven. Although tier six was ridiculous enough, in the league of Necrons and Old Ones, technology. The Old Ones I didn't know much about, but the Necrons I knew of. Not loads mind, but it gave me a useful ballpark. I would need at least 60 sparks to ever reach that tier, but if I ever did…
Shaking my head, I turned my attention back to Peggi. She'd called a meeting, so here I was. "…more connection for my team. But mainly, I'd like a way to send messages through the network and a way to access the spires' networks."
My brain was already spinning with ideas. "The nobles should be easy. I'll need some hard-to-get components, but with them I should be able to knock something out that'll get us access. Downside is, it'll have to be manually slotted into their systems."
"That's fine, I can get one of the girls to handle that."
"Good. I'll get you the list later. As for the communication. I might be able to whip something up. It won't be fancy and only in short bursts. The messages would need to be in code." I stumbled a bit, about to say Morse code, then remembered she'd have no idea what that meant, so I explained the gist.
"That should work, and if you can put together a booklet, I can get a few agents to learn it. How would it work?"
"It's a system, separate from the main networks. I'll house it here, in our HQ. Our people plug into any cogitator hooked to the hive systems; it doesn't matter where, run a simple command or slot a data-stick, and they can send a short coded message. Fast, quiet, and buried deep enough not to be noticed. But it will be limited capacity."
Grunting, she noted it all down, "That'll work. It's mainly for priority messages or emergency calls.
"Then it'll run fine. But too much traffic and it'll start to run into issues."
"I will keep that in mind."
Back at my workshop, I got to work on the connector I mentioned. Getting the components I needed was a dream; I just had to ask for them, and bang, they turned up a few days later. The rarer stuff needed a week or two, but either way, I got them pronto, which was pretty damn nice, I had to say.
But getting the damn thing to work was a fucking nightmare. Building it was easy, but a) it was too large to sneak in and b) not strong enough to hold a proper connection.
It took a ton of trial and error. What helped was the inspiration gained from the high-tech vox that was housed in Snuffles. Once it was finished, I washed my hands of it.
For all of a week. Then she wanted to do the same for the other hives. I almost protested, but the truth was, I wanted access too. The data they held was so damn useful. So useful that I was planning to skip some of the sparks I'd been planning.
Sure, some of it was probably biased, but most of it was gold. Stuff like how the Imperium's really structured, the high lords, full maps, even basic things like the actual date and notable names like the current Master of the Administratum.
M36.198, Goge Vandire