To Feed the Worm God

[Noth Squadron]

---

---

Mercer watched the smoke curl upward as Dirk spoke, as if the man needed something visible to hold onto while the ground shifted under him. The fake smile did not go unnoticed, nor did the way the cigarette appeared too quickly, too eagerly, as though nicotine had become the only thing standing between control and something far less refined.

When the question finally came, not about chemicals, not about leverage, but about survival, Mercer let it sit in the air for a moment.

Four had already committed in his own way. That was obvious. The knife had stopped moving. That meant more than any declaration.

“You’re asking whether we can work together.” Mercer said, not loudly, but with a weight that cut through the smoke. “That’s not the problem.”

His gaze shifted to Dirk, steady and unblinking.

"The problem is that Basel is deciding whether we are noise or necessity, and the Drudes are doing everything they can to make sure we look like the former.”

He leaned forward slightly, forearms resting on the table now, posture tightening the space between them without turning it into confrontation.

"If they want us out, they won’t challenge us directly. They’ll convince Basel that we cost more than we contribute. That we escalate when quiet would suffice.”

There was something sharper beneath his calm now, a faint irritation that had been building since the word leverage had been laughed at.

"You want to prove we’re the best thing that’s happened to this rock?” Mercer continued. "Then we stop thinking like pilots competing for attention and start thinking like a solution they can’t remove without harming themselves.”

He finally allowed his hand to rest more firmly against the case, not theatrically, just decisively.

"This doesn’t exist for spectacle. It exists to shift outcomes in corridors that matter to Basel’s supply flow. If Bretonian patrols start slowing down where Basel needs them weak, and if those patrols can’t quite explain why, then we become useful in a way the Drudes can’t replicate.”

His eyes flicked briefly to Four.

"You want interesting? Fine. It’ll be interesting. These Chemicals aren’t forgiving, and deployment windows won’t wait for second guesses.”

Then back to Dirk.

"You want Altair to allocate more resources? Then give them metrics, not bravado. Patrol delays. Rerouted vectors. Requests for reinforcement. They won’t care how it happened. They’ll care that pressure increased.”

The irritation surfaced just a little more now, not uncontrolled, but honest.

"And if we don’t do it, the Drudes will happily stand there and tell Basel that they can handle everything without us.”

He leaned back again, not relaxing, but resetting.

"So yes. We can work together. The real question is whether we’re prepared to do this carefully enough that no one above us feels the need to ‘correct’ the initiative.”

That last word carried weight.

Not rebellion.

But a reminder that mistakes are not easily forgotten.

---

---

---

〘Recruitment: [Link]〙 | 〘Information: [Link]〙 | 〘Feedback Thread: [Link]〙

---