“If we spread the design of jet bullets to every station we visit, each station lord and every Hayajiro crew can start killing the Kabane beyond the walls,” Ayame stated. “Killing them, not just driving them off. The Kabane are many, but they are not infinite. If every station can kill the Kabane that approach their walls, the walls will hold. If every Hayajiro can kill the Kabane that attack it, they will survive. Travel will become easier. Trade will be easier. If we make that happen – then we will be able to gain the resources and supplies to reopen Aragane.”
“Lady Ayame.” Kurusu, silent and steady behind her. “The stations hold many who are brave. But as many or more who are frightened, to the point of abandoning all honor. Simply trading the design for jet bullets will not be enough.”
“No, it won’t be,” Ayame agreed. “Not without an example.” This. This was the moment that might break everything. “What if the folk of the Koutetsujou became that example? What if we – all of us who are willing to live beyond walls – keep traveling?”
“Lady Ayame?” Shimizu started, as the other Elders muttered. “Those of Kongokaku would never agree to this.”
Which, as Ayame was sure everyone could guess, was exactly why none of them were here. “Elder Dogen Makino has expressed to me his doubts of some of our fighters,” Ayame said neutrally. “He wishes to remove his folk from the Koutetsujou at the next station that will harbor them. Given his rank in the shogun’s court, it is likely any station lord would agree to take them in. I intend that we honor his request.” She gifted them all with a smile. “We could use the room!”
That drew a few chuckles, even as the men looked thoughtfully at each other. “Food will still be a problem.” Mura frowned, and crossed his arms, obviously remembering three horrible days in Yashiro Station, hoping beyond hope that a Hayajiro would arrive to rescue them in time. “What we’ve gathered so far helps, but… land foraging is risky. And odds are, bridges won’t always be safe.”
“We need more of the bikes,” Kurusu stated. “And their fuel. If we can send out enough outriders to screen hunting and foraging parties, the Kabane will be less of a threat.”
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
It begins.
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You forgot to add the daatic music in the backdrop there. Terrible oversight 17th.
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Lack of ability, in this case – no choice but to rely on you the other readers to edit in the BGM mentally.
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*G*
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Hmm, that’s a whole new thought for how humanity can be wiped out. I doubt they can do much regular maintenance to the tracks, and without that, the Hayajiros can’t travel…. eventually the stations will die out. Stations focused on mining will starve while stations focused on farming will eventually be overrun as they run out of metal to patch the walls and maintain their weaponry.
Wonder if Biba was thinking that far ahead? If so, maybe that helped push him off the slippery slope into his cannon mindset.
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Track maintenance would be a very necessary thing, yes.
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It’s a good thing this isn’t set in Japan. Earthquakes.
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Um, is that supposed to be Irony? Because Kabaneri IS set in a Version of Japan.
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It’s a bit of a reference to an earlier topic on this site, where you change a few things in reality and run with it. So yes to irony, but also, ain’t they so lucky? Cuz it could be worse.
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Oh, it’ll get worse. 😉
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I sense an irony in the Force…. 😉
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…will that take care of some of the wrinkle in the force?
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Anakin, straightened out by irony. I love it.
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I think I may have asked at some point why a skilled Kabane hasn’t been cutting or blocking tracks?* Cause there had to have been an awful lot of Civil Engineers turned.
*Then there wouldn’t be a story.
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Kabane aren’t individually intelligent enough to think of something like that.
Even Wazatori are only dangerous because they’d survived long enough, and have accrued enough experience, to have taught themselves how to actually FIGHT, rather than just mindlessly hurling themselves at opponents/targets/meals.
Still, that doesn’t stop things like accidents or natural wear and tear or the elements from taking their collective toll on the rails.
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Pretty much.
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Mechanism behind Wazatori seems unclear. If they are smart enough to figure out how to swing a sword without breaking it first, it should be possible for one to be smart enough to figure out where the job the civil engineers did stabilizing a hill above the tracks can be simply and easily undone. Okay, extensive earthworks to generate and direct flooding is reasonably beyond even Wazatori, but the rest? Now, ‘stop train, get delicious blood’ might be more foresight than Kabane are capable of. Especially as energetic crashes might not be the best way to harvest blood. But I dunno, not having seen the show.
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They’re really more mimics than smart. See human do something, imitate it. Which is exactly what the Kabaneri draw on for some of their more interesting feats. Ikoma and Mumei just also have a human brain to apply what they mimic.
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See, here’s the thing. In the first episode, Aragane is wrecked because Kabane managed to take over a Hayajiro and drive it into the front gate. If they’re smart enough collectively to 1) drive the train and 2) keep the train running, they’re certainly smart enough to block off or destroy the tracks. That might even be how they took the train in the first place… block the tracks, eat the crew when they come out to clear the wreckage, then steal the train. Thing is, Kabane are only smart in groups. (And we still don’t know how that works. Do they collectively pool their intelligence? Are they controlled by some naturally-occurring Nue-esque queen, even if we don’t always see the black smoke? Does having more Wazatori in the group make the group collectively more intelligent? How much independence does a Wazatori have?) Just because the protagonists aren’t seeing it, doesn’t mean it’s not already happening
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I’m leaning more toward they jumped it in the mountains and just kept trucking in one direction. Though I do have in mind something specific for what happened to Aragane when I get that far in another fic!
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Because so far as we can tell, their brains are pretty much dead above the brainstem.
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