Ravens of Eternity

The drones were palm-sized lenses that were ringed with electronics and dotted with small hover jets. They instantly transmitted their footage through the pair’s DIs, and immediately recorded on storage devices that they both wore.

Not only did the footage go through their DIs, they could even directly control them with it. They had even spent a little time practicing how to properly maneuver them with just a thought.

Although, it was hardly necessary. The drones also had a robust AI module, which gave them the ability to act independently. Or at least semi-independently. The drones had the ability to react to the two of them, and act based on their set preferences.

Considering Eva and Miko often got into dangerous situations, the two of them modified their EyeCasts’ behavior. They wanted to make sure that they got some great views of the action.

While they were on foot, the drones simply hovered around them. If they were focused on a task, the drones made sure to capture them. If either one pointed, the drones would turn to look.

Gradually, the two of them trained their EyeCasts to behave exactly how they wanted them to. They were akin to little pets that fed on moments rather than food.

While two of the EyeCasts focused on Eva and Miko, the third often roamed slightly further away. Its goal was to capture a larger view of the area, or observe the situation from a higher standpoint.

.....

Film crews often called it the B-roll camera. Its job was to take establishing shots. For example, if Eva and Miko were to head into a building, the drone was programmed to focus its camera on the building itself, rather than the two of them.

Most critically, if they entered any violent situations, the drones distanced themselves or took cover, but ensured they still captured the action. Although the drones weren’t expensive, it wouldn’t be any good if they were shot out in every encounter.

The drones out in space was a far different issue altogether. Even though the EyeCasts were great on foot, they were practically useless in open space. Their little jets just would never be able to keep up with any spacefaring craft.

But they could be in the cockpit, or attached to the chassis outside.

Once the two of them were comfortable with their EyeCasts, they went on a few jobs yet again. They took some great footage as they blasted their way through bandits and pirates and everything in between.

Making their ‘cast was great fun, but it took a great amount of time and effort to put together. It wasn’t as though these videos popped out of nowhere – they had to be made step by step. They purchased some good music, editing modules for their terminals, and even finished up the paperwork for their company.

Regardless, they had fun, filmed it all, cut it together, slapped some music on it, and then published it. They even did so under the channel name Conspiracy of Ravens.

The ‘cast got some views, plus a few favorites and comments. But the reception wasn’t anything noteworthy. They wondered if it was their footage. It might not have been the most amazing, but it was definitely exciting enough and featured plenty of gunfights and explosions.

People loved that, right?

Neither of them were entirely sure why they didn’t get much of a reaction, so they decided to check out the competition.

When they browsed through the available omnicasts for mercenaries just like them, they found hundreds of thousands doing the same thing.

Their faces darkened when they saw all those entries.

How were they going to compete against that? They would have rather faced down a thousand enemy mecha than competition of this scale.

While Eva thought of ways to break through the noise, Miko read the ridiculous titles on all the mercs’ ‘casts.

[EMPEROR STYLE] Mercenaries Destroy UGFP Base

Pirates Attack Gerrado Merc Fleet And Get PERFORATED

Wrecking Shop With The TNM Type F Mecha (3rd Gen)

“We have underestimated the popularity of violence,” said Miko. “There is too much garbage.”

~

Eva sat down at her terminal and massaged her neck as she considered what she was about to do. One of their EyeCasts hovered in front of her, its lens gleamed at her in anticipation. She looked over at Miko who sat off to the side, just off camera.

She gave Eva a smile and a double thumbs-up.

Eva was not looking forward to this, but it was something she absolutely had to do. There were people in both of their old lives who they just couldn’t abandon, and now they had an opportunity to do something about that.

Except the NEET, ignorant, self-centered Mack was in the way. He was literally their only barrier.

Eva needed to get over her issues with him. She needed to put it all aside, no matter how he made her feel. There were far more important things in life than her own pain.

She had suffered far worse, and Mack’s bullshit wasn’t any different. No way was it harder than dealing with Sunflower’s loss.

But it came close.

Eva rallied herself as she opened up a stream through her DI. However, she used the drone’s camera instead of projecting the ‘inner Freya’ like last time. That was a little taxing to maintain, which no doubt contributed to the raging fire that resulted.

When the video chat started, Mack was nowhere to be seen. But there were a number of things on his desk – empty bowls, soda bottles, snacks. The usual slovenly gamer environ.

“Mack,” she said, “if you’re around, can you come talk, please?”

She faintly heard an ‘ohshit’, followed by some stumbling around, then heavy footsteps headed towards the computer. After a moment, Mack came into view and plopped down on the chair.

His hair was damp, and the clothes he was wearing were relatively clean. He even shaved a bit.

Eva quickly surmised that he had just taken a shower, which she felt was a little out of the ordinary. She quietly noted his effort.

“Sorry,” said Mack. “I was just, you know, cleaning up a bit.”

His eyes then darted around on the messy desk, and he quickly cleaned up his trash. Or, at least, he moved them out of the camera’s line of sight.

“It’s fine,” Eva replied. “I wasn’t expecting you to be around anyway, figured I’d just leave a message. Anyway, since you’re here, let’s have a talk.”

Mack nodded. She was rather angry last time and pretty much ragequit their conversation. This wasn’t the first time this had happened between them. They’d have an argument, she’d get too heated, and subsequently storm out when she couldn’t take any more.

He always thought of her as too angry, and never really connected it to his actions. It took him too long to realize that he was the one who caused her anger.

Even longer to realize that he was the only one to affect her in that way.

“First things first,” she continued. “Did you steal my computer?”

Mack’s blood drained from his face momentarily, then he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He knew how protective she was of her rig. She had built it herself from scratch and babied the hell out of it.

“Ah, yes and no?” he said. “Your grandparents didn’t really know what to do with it, so I offered to take it off their hands. I asked for it because... Because I wanted to have something of yours. They agreed, said they hoped it would help me out.”

Eva sighed.

Her grandparents were very kind people, and they too liked Mack. Much like her, they had overlooked many of his flaws and chose to see his potential instead.

She found it a pity that he couldn’t ever live up to it.

“You had better not wreck it, or I swear, I’ll-”

“I get it,” he interjected. “I’ll keep it clean. I know how you used to open it up every weekend and flush out whatever dust.”

“You’re gonna do more than clean her! You’re gonna treat her right, dammit! Regular software updates! Daily malware checks! Keep her running smooth and clean!”

Miko watched the two as they talked. Or, rather, she watched as Eva beat up that boy Mack with her words. She was as vicious with her tongue as she was with her trigger finger.

She could tell from Eva’s tone at how irritated she was, and how much she was hiding most of it. It gave her a better sense of Eva’s emotional state when it came to Mack.

It was clear how she was easily unbalanced by him, just by his presence alone.

This version of Eva was completely different from the Eva she had come to know. This Eva was actually vulnerable.

“Look,” Eva said. “I want to talk to my grandparents, can you please organize that?”

“Okay,” he replied.

“Not a week from now, not a month from now, I mean right now. Do you understand?”

“Okay.”

“We both know how old they are, so take extra care of them, you hear? Do whatever it takes to get them in front of this computer carefully.”

“Okay,” he said. “Should... should we try for Friday? I think that’s plenty of time, yeah?”

Eva’s nose crinkled. She didn’t know when Friday occurred any longer, or really when any of those days occurred. But it didn’t matter.

“There aren’t any day or night cycles out in space,” she said. “Instead, just figure out the best time, and then send me a message how many hours away it is. I’ll do my best to stick to that time. I’ll let you know if we have to change or rearrange.”

“Okay.”

Eva was taken a bit aback by Mack’s behavior. In the past, he would have fought tooth and nail to avoid doing any work. And suddenly, he was being genial.

Well, he had always been rather agreeable when he felt guilty about something. It usually didn’t last, and Eva didn’t expect him to actually get any of this done in any reasonable amount of time.

He had always put things off until the very last minute, and everything took him an inordinate amount of time.

‘Busy’ was his typical excuse. Laziness was the reality.

She sighed inwardly, and hoped he had the sense to actually do any of this quickly.

“Also,” she said, “I’ve got some people you need to reach out to. My friend Miko – she’s got fam out in Japan. I want you to find them and let them know about us, that we’re alive. Maybe we can get into a call with them?”

Mack paused for a moment. Find people in Japan? Hell, talk to people in Japan? He had no idea how he was going to do that. Just as he was about to ask how, Miko walked into the camera’s view and waved.

He was surprised at how young she was. He was even more surprised that Eva had made friends with someone. She always found it tough to do, and ended up alone most of the time.

If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t have anyone to hang out with at all.

“Hi,” he said. “You’re... friends?”

“Yes,” Miko said, “We are also sisters and business partners.”

Mack’s heart sank a little when he heard that. Eva had wanted to build something with him as well, but he was too negligent to actually be there for her, to help her out.

.....

It ate away at him at how foolish and wasteful he was towards her. His inaction caused him to lose the possibility of building something really great with a person who loved him.

“I will send you some information,” she continued. “You will need it when you reach out to them. Do not worry too much about the language barrier. My mother can understand a good amount of english as she translates books for a living, but my father only understands a conversational level of it.”

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll take care of it right now.”

Right now? Really?

Eva didn’t believe him at all and audibly scoffed.