"Jezol! I could have sworn I heard battle horns, but I think it was all a dream. What are you doing up at this hour?" Gur asked, as he gazed quizzically at his First Advisor who was smiling almost softly at him with an expression he had never seen Jezol use before.
"Well, I'm afraid you did hear battle horns."
"What," gasped Gur?
"All of the tunnels and the gates have already fallen. We severely underestimated Jack of Ashton and they are rapidly taking the city."
"What?" cried out Gur then raised his voice even louder. "Sound our own battle horns. Men to defend the city and its walls and all available assassins to kill any of the enemy they find!" He finished by staring out a nearby window and was about to walk closer when his First Advisor spoke again.
"Oh, I found an Assassin you will appreciate," murmured Jezol, as Gur turned to him in surprise. Then his eyes widened as another figure walking silently, took the first advisors place. With a move too sudden to actually be seen, the blade entered the side of Gur's neck and then twisted outward, almost decapitating the ruler as the assassin stepped back, bowed to Jezol and walked away.
"Guards, attend me and bring the scribes. We need to send off peace missives to Ashton. Profess our support and incorporation into their ranks and while you're at it, tell the guard to stand down and surrender," Jezol shouted, as he took over Gur's desk and pulling fresh parchment and a quill and bottle of ink, proceeded to write up a letter of unconditional surrender to the Ashton Alliance. He would have an unarmed man carry it to he whom he knew was commanding these forces, Jack. "Oh, and get someone to clean up this body and blood," he commanded.
*****
Chapter 26:
Jack surveyed the seeming endless vista of prairie as he stood beside Griff and together they nodded before turning back to the host arrayed behind them. That was not the entire host. Simply the large assemblage he currently led. They had both survived whereas others had not. Jack lamented the loss of life that did happen although it was not as great as it might have been, especially with the help of the Gentes. Between the ideas of the Gentes and Jack and his people, the original two and a half year unification process had been completed in just under two years as of right now. Jack just received the last City State signature and would be departing for home shortly. There was even a stealth single personnel drone waiting somewhere nearby. Griff would stay behind to see a garrison's built and the lads broken up into smaller pieces and only then would he proceed back to Ashton.
Home, that was the current sticky, that and a great many other headaches. The Paradise Federation Council wanted both Jack and Carthius to relocate to Bristol, the capital city of that region of Andreas, the continent Ashton resided in. The problem with this was that neither Jack nor Carthius wanted to move even though the council already voted, approved the funds and had grand residences built for both Jack and Carthius, along with a new administration and council center. They solved that problem by the simple expediency of refusing to move there. After all, Carthius still had a city to run and most of Jacks friends were there. Jack did consent to a new residence in Ashton as a consolation. He needed more room with Ivy and his other responsibilities anyways. Still, a great many members of the council were still upset about their decision.
It did not end there. The council was too large. So large nothing was getting done. There were over six thousand cities on the continent of Andreas alone. Other continents had many more, although some less. with an approximate total of somewhere over forty thousand city states, the council had grown out of control and a tell tale sign of that was it only took them just over six months to make the Bristol decision and it was the only agenda item they actually completed. While both Carthius and Jack were wondering if they could get away with assassinating the ruler of every one of those forty thousand plus, Henricus solved the problem for them.
Essentially, the Captain of the Odyssey conferenced every single Potentate, King, Queen, viceroy, whatever the ruler was called, and told them the treaty would have to be amended to only one council member per continent. When the howls of disagreement and rage began, Henricus point out the fact that the Galactic Federation only had 15 councilors for over three hundred planets. He also informed them that unless they reduced their council down to nine, they would not be accepted. He also told them 'good luck in one thousand years, before he disconnected. It took them almost a year to agree to it but they finally did.
Jack thought back to that second day after the pillage of Turnin. Gur was dead and when they finally found him, they put Jezol to the sword. The quantum computers about the Odyssey were extremely good at deciphering peoples intentions and with Jezol, the maniac had so much gold hidden away it was impossible to assume he would stay in a collar for long. All the highborn were enslaved of course, and the guard indoctrinated into the federation along with the people of the city who were overjoyed at the change of leadership.
Now, Jack was the Warlord of Paradise with over thirty million guard under his control, stationed all over the globe in various garrisons. They were available and immediately squashed even the hint of an uprising. A task made easy by over a million AID's that eavesdropped on any potential troublemaker in every city. The little constructs were a godsend and Jack knew his job would have been impossible without them.
As he and Griff looked at the vast expanse of prairie before them, it was decided that this vista totaling millions of square miles would be their primary training camp for the guard that would act as pacifiers out amongst the stars. It was big enough and had the perfect climate. Henricus and the Paradise council agreed with Jack's plan as the area was currently unclaimed by anyone. He knew within days, the first slabs of plassteel would be poured and the thousands of barracks, equipment sheds, mess halls, administration buildings, to name only a few would also be laid in within a matter of weeks. The Gentes worked fast. They would not need it all but did take about a third of it to total nearly a million square miles. That should be plenty. Another nice fact about the prairie was that it was on the continent of Greenton which lay directly east of Andreas and was its closest continental neighbor.
"Quit wasting time, Jack," growled Griff, causing a sign to erupt from the Warlord before nodding.
Jack pressed his ear bud once to activate it and spoke the words. "Henricus, it's done!" Almost instantly as far as the eye can see, bright flashes illuminated the upper atmosphere as Malum Sentry Drones were instantly destroyed and when the end of their world did not arrive, Jack knew they were successful and smiled.
"Sentries destroyed. Time to get to work, Warlord," replied Henricus, before he signed off.
It was a new start, a new beginning a new age that would be full of wonders and surprises and more death and bloodshed. Jack grinned in excitement as the drone materialized in front of him.
*****
The End
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Defiance Page 25
