Tomorrow, there would be a reckoning.

They were committed. Things had been put in motion which could no longer be reversed, the boldest of which were the false orders that Kobe would be sharing with teams on dangerous missions.

It had been a tough decision, but she was sure that without that final push, without that clear sign that people's security was not guaranteed under this corrupt military leadership, their plans might fail. She had to make sure.

Dericka felt resolved as she made her way around the campsite, walking in long strides with her head held high as she greeted people left and right. There was no greater purpose than to protect those dear to oneself, and that's exactly what she was doing. If she had any regrets, it was only that she hadn't been able to share the full truth.

Kobe wasn't aware of all the risks involved in failing those Quests. He and some of the others might grumble, later, but they would see that it had been necessary, that she had been protecting them. That they still needed her.

"Father Gabriel," she called out, "I can see that your center of worship is coming along nicely."

"Ah, Dericka!" The tall man turned around to face her in his usual unhurried manner. "It is indeed. A hopeful start for what will eventually become something grand. As our resources grow, so does my flock. More souls join the path to salvation each day."

"Happy news indeed! Then I assume tomorrow morning's sermon is expected to have a large audience?" She said, pivoting directly to the reason why she was here.

"I expect so," he nodded, smiling. "And as we discussed, I will be addressing the injustice your Party has faced, and sharing instructions for those willing to seek redress."

She returned his smile. That was exactly the confirmation she was looking for.

"It would be prudent, I think, to aim for 1 o' clock, right after the… proceedings. Regardless of how they go, it will be important to show that the masses still hold power."

"Agreed."

They said their goodbyes and Gabriel turned back to oversee the set up of his new building, where they would feed the poor, hold sermons and where he would be able to take confession.

Dericka continued her journey through the camps, talking to people about her cause and detailing the same instructions the priest would be sharing in his morning sermon, until she spotted Joseph.

"Joe! How goes the building?"

"Bah, always more work. I'm surprised you got that building for the fancy priest over there approved. But I ain't complaining. The boys are in a great mood, what with all the booze and food you've been sneaking over."

"Always welcome," Dericka said with a bright smile. "By the way, have you given any thought to what I asked you the other day?"

The man scratched at his curly black hair with dirty nails. "The thing with the votes? I don't know Dericka… I talk a big game about sharing everything and seizing the means of production and whatnot. But I'm not political like that, you know?"

"This is simpler than that," she said, her smile fading as her expression turned serious. "This is about justice, Joe. It's about accountability. They came after one of my Party members, an innocent woman who'd done nothing wrong except make a discovery. What if they came after one of your boys?"

She knew that she'd hit the right note with that when she saw how his face darkened. Time to seize the momentum.

"This is how it always goes, Joe. It starts with one transgression, something they think they can get away with simply by denying anything happened. Then they always go one step further, until one day, you wake up and realize you've become nothing more than a prisoner."

Joseph sighed as he scratched at his chin. "Listen, I'll pass the message on, alright? I'll tell the boys what you told me, and I'll give them the instructions. But it's up to them if they want to act on it."

Dericka nodded.

"Good man. That's all I can ask for. You'll be there tomorrow? As an observer?"

"I will."

She thanked him and then she was off to find Elza and Marie.

"So the idea is that we'll be handing out food and drinks to anyone who follows those instructions? But how do we verify that they did it?"

"I don't think there is a way to verify it, really. Some people might take advantage, but that's fine. At least it'll help to spread the word and bring attention to the problem. Anyway, it would be best to set up shop in the late morning. Any remaining guards would likely be in the town by then."

That brought her to the next task, which was to coordinate patrols around the camps with some other Parties. A few days before, Major Russo had suddenly announced that due to short staffing, he would be withdrawing the army patrols. Dericka thought it might be part of a larger scheme to increase recruitment, but for the time being, it was playing right into her hand.

The hours flew by as she spent the rest of the day running around to get the necessary preparations in place for the meeting tomorrow. After a restless night, she rose feeling anxious but determined.

"How are you feeling?" She asked Tasha on the way to the town gate.

"Fine. Prepared," she said absently, blinking slowly as she looked at Dericka. "As prepared as I can be, at least. I put all my Value into PE Capacity. They'll regret it if they try to come after me again."

Judging from the time it took her to answer and how she spoke, the woman was already under the influence of the extract. After the failed abduction, she'd been taking it very regularly.

Dericka gave a slow nod as she looked Tasha over with a concerned expression. She wore a padded jacket with various hidden, small pockets, which Dericka knew were hiding needles steeped in different substances. There were several things that they really needed to talk about, things that Tasha would have to properly process, but it would all have to wait.

They met with Dmitriy on the way there. The man was still unusually quiet and hadn't expressed many opinions after learning about what had happened, instead choosing to spend all his time either training or 'hunting'. She missed his old, spirited behavior. Another overdue conversation. But that, too, would have to wait.

After days of lobbying the Major through all available channels, he'd finally agreed to a meeting, though Dericka had wanted to label it a trial. People who'd witnessed the soldier's confession would be there. There was enough support that she thought it would be hard for Russo to sweep it under the rug.

Even if he did, it wouldn't matter as long as her plan succeeded. After her disastrous meeting with Russo and Garfield, Dericka had been racking her brain for ways to reduce the power they held. The solution had come after much digging around in the Party system. It had been clear that most people in the settlement were part of what was, in essence, a very large Party, led by Russo. Just like her, the Major had at some point been chosen by his then potential Party members.

Deep in the Party system settings, there was an option to trigger a re-election. When one person did it, nothing happened, but after testing it out in her own Party, she had found that as soon as a majority would select the option, the Party leader would lose control.

As it turned out, the majority of people in this settlement were not part of the military. Just the builders and religious group taken together should be enough to outnumber the military branch, so it was with those people that she'd spent most of her time since the meeting, building relationships and making deals.

If everyone followed through, Major Russo would be ousted as Party leader this afternoon. That would be followed by a re-election, which she was not hoping to win herself. It would be enough for the power to allocate Value to go to someone outside of the military.

She had no idea how the Major would react to that. A large part of why she'd orchestrated a few failed missions was to make sure he'd be too short-staffed to consider violence as an option, but by the few guards that remained in the town proper, that had hardly been necessary.

Dericka nodded at the guards by the gate as she walked through, back straight and jaw set, Dmitriy and Tasha following in behind her. Gabriel was already at the open area in front of the MAFT, flanked by a pair of assistants, gazing up at the sky as he liked to do. She spotted Deborah and nodded at her, the woman giving only the slightest nod of recognition in return.

There was barely any talking as a few more people trickled in to witness the event, and everyone went silent as Major Russo and Captain Garfield walked up from their office, a handful of soldiers in tow. Dericka noticed how Tasha tensed and gave her a reassuring squeeze to the shoulder. As she looked through the faces of the soldiers, though, she noticed that the man who had tried to take Tasha wasn't there. He was supposed to be a witness.

Into that tense silence walked Major Russo, taking in the faces one by one. She thought he looked annoyed.

"Many familiar faces. When I ask for more fighters, I only get silence or excuses, but for this you've all found the time. It seems you've not yet understood the situation we are in," he said with a shake of his head, then continuing more loudly before anyone could object.

"But that is another matter. I have been asked to… adjudicate a case," he raised his head and clasped his arms behind his back as he spoke. "Allegations such as the ones made against Captain Garfield would be traditionally handled in military court. But our circumstances do not allow for that, so I will hear and address the allegations myself."

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Dericka had pushed for a tribunal, but she did not think now was the time to object. It was not a battle she could hope to win.

"Captain Garfield stands accused of ordering the abduction of a young woman, a recent addition to the R&D department, as I understand it."

There was a nod from Deborah as he looked over at her. He then turned back and despite herself, there was a flutter of nervousness in her stomach as the Major's dark eyes locked onto her.

"The one bringing this charge and having requested this adjudication was not the victim, but Miss Dericka, who I understand is her Party leader?"

"That is correct," Dericka answered, content with how steady her voice sounded.

"One of the perpetrators was killed by the victim. There was no need for adjudication of the remaining man, as he was caught red-handed. He was summarily executed."

There were some murmurs in the audience. Dericka immediately objected.

"Major Russo, that man was supposed to act as a witness-"

Major Russo held up his hand as he cut her off.

"You are not at court, Miss Dericka. We do not have the infrastructure to hold prisoners. I have heard from Deborah what was said in the so-called confession and interrogated the man myself before he was executed."

Dericka grit her teeth. If she was honest, she had expected this, but still it wasn't fair.

"If the Captain was found guilty, what punishment would you seek?" The Major asked, dark eyes fixed on her face.

She hesitated for only a short moment.

"The same. Execution," she said firmly, holding the Major's gaze. To her surprise, the corners of his mouth lifted up as he nodded, like he was approving, but then his face went hard again. There were more murmurs from the audience, louder this time.

"With no more evidence than a blabbered confession from a criminal who was drugged to the gills, you demand the execution of my Captain."

Dericka began to protest, but he spoke right over her, raising his voice.

"A man who has been loyal to me for years, even long before Earth was destroyed and remade. A man with the kind of skills that are sorely needed in this new world. What a terrible, terrible waste that would be."

He shook his head with such a deep grimace that she thought he might spit on the ground. Before she could find the right way to say that it didn't matter, that he had committed a dreadful crime, the Major went on.

"It's obvious that this so-called Reset has brought death and hardship, but it is my belief that it also brings an opportunity. That humanity can come out the other end, much stronger than before. It's my belief that we must be our very best selves and rise above our limitations, if we're to have any hope to survive. We have to fight," he paused for a moment to glare at Gabriel and Joseph, "even if we don't want to. We have to adopt new technologies, faster than we thought possible," he said with passion and conviction and paused to look around, meeting people's eyes.

It was a fine enough speech, but she wondered why he was giving it now.

"It's also my belief that we must band together. We cannot be wasting time fighting amongst ourselves. There cannot be any more tolerance for crimes committed against other humans. Which is why I looked into Captain Garfield's actions myself."

He turned to face the Captain, who was standing straight-backed with a neutral expression, staring into the distance. Dericka frowned, not sure what was going on.

"My loyal Captain believed that Miss Dericka and her Party had no place here, as she'd refused to go on a critical mission. He believes them to be leeches, and if they're not with us, they can only be against us. So he took it upon himself to send two of their Party on what was essentially a suicide mission. Later, he decided to abduct another member, who had come across information that would be of great value to the army."

There was no change in the Captain's expression.

"When I looked into it, what did I find? The two men he'd sent on a mission had fought their way here through a Citrine zone and were both defensive specialists of a high tier. They had both decided on their own accord to join the military not long after arriving. One of them died on the mission."

Dericka glanced over at Dmitriy, whose face carried a hard expression, but she didn't see any rage there. Knowing his drive to challenge himself, he probably didn't believe there was a problem with the order itself, only that they had been too weak.

"Then there's the matter of the abduction. The intended victim this time was a young woman who had unlocked a highly valuable Ability and had already offered to share the information with the R&D Department," he raised his voice at the last part, a bit of anger leaking through.

Dericka looked between the faces of the crowd, finding only confused expressions. What was happening? He wasn't planning on covering it up?

"Do you deny any of this, Captain?"

"No Sir!"

There was still no change in the Captain's expression. Major Russo looked resigned as he nodded at one of the soldiers, who pointed a pistol at the back of the Captain's head. People in front of the Captain hurried to move out of the way. It was all happening so fast that Dericka felt like she was reeling and needed to catch up.

"On your knees."

The Captain went down on both knees, arms behind his back, jaw set. The Major bent down to whisper something in his ear, too quiet for anyone to catch it, except for Dericka who was standing close and had brought her Senses up to twenty.

"Don't you dare scream."

Her eyebrows lifted and she took a step back as a dark suspicion grew within her. It was soon confirmed when she noticed a slight ripple in the air as the Major looked down at the Captain with cold, hard eyes. She took another step back as she felt the temperature rising.

There were a few confused murmurs at first, followed by gasps and a moment of shocked silence as the Captain's skin began to turn red.

The air rippled with heat and the man began to shake, veins standing out in his forehead from the effort of keeping still. Dericka could see how his jaw muscles tensed, thought she could hear his teeth cracking and grinding as he fought not to scream.

Her mouth opened as blisters began to appear on the man's skin, but no sound came out.

"Stop this!" It was Dmitriy who broke the silence first. "This is wrong!"

Major Russo ignored it, looking at something in his hand. Was that a stopwatch? She thought there was a look of satisfaction on his face. He's fucking enjoying this.

A rattle sounded from Garfield's throat as his whole body began to shake. The smell of cooked flesh rose in the air and people cried out in disgust. She could hear the wet sound of sick falling to the dry stone ground.

Dmitriy stepped forward, grabbing his mace, but stopped as four soldiers pointed rifles at him.

"I've got your back," Tasha whispered from behind him.

The Captain's lips peeled back as he shook ever more violently, eyes rolling to the back of his head. The choking sound was rising into something like a wheezing grunt as he fought against the pain. Dmitriy took another step forward but then the man's mouth opened.

"HRRGGGAAAA-"

BAM!

Before it had a chance to build, the primal cry of pain was cut short by a gunshot. The rising clamour of screams of protest stopped altogether and in the sudden silence, Dericka could hear a faint sizzling sound coming from the Captain's corpse. She heard more sounds of vomiting from behind as smoke rose from the body and blood pooled underneath its head.

"For such bold transgressions, it was necessary to set an example," Major Russo said, without any trace of remorse on his face. In fact, Dericka thought there was something like satisfaction there, as if he'd proven a point.

"I trust that with this punishment, the matter is settled?"

Dericka didn't answer, looking instead at the Captain's hands, which had been behind his back the entire time. Now that he'd fallen forward, white bandages wrapped around his left hand became visible, which was the final piece to complete the puzzle that had been on Dericka's mind for days.

"You enjoy this," She said quietly, then looked up to meet the Major's eyes. "You sick bastard."

His lips thinned and he gave her a dangerous look.

"Unproven allegations are nothing more than slander. I'd advise against that, Miss Dericka."

She had been quiet, taken off guard by the course of events, but now she felt hot anger flaring in her chest.

"You think we need this, don't you? That among all of us, you're the only one hard enough to recognize that truth and act on it."

"If you have nothing more of substance to say-"

"Is this what we want from our leader?" She shouted, looking at the people around her. Gabriel was looking at her with interest, while Joseph was still staring at the smoking corpse with a look of horror on his face.

"A man who would torture his closest allies? Who believes that torture is a necessity?" She gestured at the Major, who was looking unimpressed, then paused briefly to let it sink in.

"We should not, cannot accept this. A change is due. We should not be ruled by the military, and certainly not by a damn psychopath. We need fighters, of course, but every country in the free world has had the military answer to elected, civilian authorities. It's time to bring that system back."

There were some looks of confusion as she looked around, but she also noticed some nods. A glance at the clock told her that it should be time.

"Your liberal ideas belong to the old world, miss Dericka. First, we must learn to survive. Luxuries come later. But I will not waste my time debating this with a Party leader without any authority. If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to making sure this settlement survives," he said, then turned on his heel and began to walk away.

"The people are the ones with the authority, and they have spoken."

He kept on walking, ignoring her comment, but after a few more steps, he came to a sudden stop.

Dericka wasn't part of the settlement Party, so she didn't get the notification, but it was clear from people looking wide-eyed at the air in front of them that it had come. Most of the people around her had expected it, but from the reaction of the Major and his soldiers, they hadn't seen it coming.

"Sir?" One of them asked, as they hesitated, giving each other questioning looks.

For the first time, there was undisguised anger on the Major's face as he pivoted and strode back to face the small crowd.

"You fools. You ignorant, weak-willed fools. You have no idea, do you?" He looked at each face in turn with a sneer. "When I received reports that people were gathering votes, I dismissed it. Do you know why? Why you were allowed to plan and campaign without any resistance?" Nobody answered.

"Because I was busy KEEPING THIS TOWN ALIVE!" He roared the final part as he cut his arm angrily through the air, spittle flying from his lips.

"All my forces are out fighting Quests! And what are you doing in the meantime? Coordinating a smear campaign. Politicking!" He spat the last word, then stood, taking large breaths as he looked around with hate in his eyes.

Dericka said nothing, just as the others. She kept an eye on the soldiers in case any had thoughts of violence, then waited as Russo's breathing slowed and his face gradually calmed.

Something in his eyes changed then, and she thought he had come to some decision. She frowned as his lips first curled into a smirk and then he began to laugh. It was a mirthless laugh. A nasty, vengeful laugh, the kind that never reached the eyes and was reserved only for the misfortune of someone you hated.

"Very well. You reap what you sow. If you want this burden, then take it. Tomorrow, I will leave this town behind and any who are still loyal will follow."

With that, he simply turned around and walked away, his men falling in behind him.

"Well. That could have gone a lot worse," she said in a low voice. When no reaction came, she looked around and noticed the shocked faces.

"Gabriel? What's wrong?"

The man said nothing, instead seeming to busy himself with the System. When she got the shared notifications, the colour drained from her face.

Attention! Until the next Settlement Leader is elected, the Quest overview will be shared with each Party member.

Attention! All Quota Extensions have been used up. Any failure to deliver Quota will result in a Settlement Challenge with x10 multiplier!

Quota Status: 15/15 (Tier 2)

12/12 (Tier 3)

6/10 (Tier 4)

Time remaining until next Quota is due: 30 hours

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