The girls seemed satisfied. They took themselves off for some shopping therapy, since they were still off duty. So was I, but I had things to do.
I made my way back to the shipyard, and stood at a window looking out at my new ship. The hull was now sporting the extra mounts I’d asked for, and builder droids were fitting the guns. I stood there fascinated for over half an hour, before forcing myself into motion towards Bob’s office. He wasn’t there, but Janine, the shipyard AI, directed me to where he was discussing things with Tanith and the mage team.
According to Janine, the mages now seemed to be focused and enthusiastic. I arrived in time to be stopped at the door and bid remain silent and motionless. Everyone else was as well, while Tanith stood in front of a box with his eyes closed, and his hands resting lightly on the box. Nothing appeared to be happening. But Tanith opened his eyes again, took his hands away, and looked at Bob.
“That should work now.”
“You sure?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Bob picked up the box, and led the way to the small ship dock, where he boarded a Lightning. The rest of us followed. This one was outfitted with chairs like a limo, and the mages took seats while Bob went down to the bottom level to install the device.
He wasn’t long, popping back up and quickly leaving the ship. I looked at Tanith, who shrugged, but he followed me into the cockpit. I sat in the chair, and he pulled down a jump seat. We both buckled up.
“How far do you want to test jump?” asked Jane, from the console.
I looked at Tanith.
“Short hop to start with.”
The Lightning launched, and a screen popped up, showing a spot not far out of the shipyard, and another spot above the jump point to the next system. Effectively, it was a jump about half the length of the solar system.
“I was thinking something shorter than that,” Tanith corrected.
The end marker moved to a safe distance off the next rock out from the sun, which was planet sized, uninhabitable, and further around its orbit than Haven was. Tanith nodded.
“Let’s do it,” I told Jane.
“Confirmed.”
And we jumped. Transition time was so short I felt nothing at all, but suddenly instead of looking down on the lush world of Haven, we were looking down on a frozen rock.
“Spot on,” said Jane. “And no effect on the crystal either. Out to the jump point this time?”
“May as well.”
The same screen popped up, the dots moved, and we jumped again. This time the navmap showed us we were at the jump point. The screen remained, the start point shifted to where we were, and the end point moved to the other side of the jump point in the next system. There was cheering from the seats behind us.
“Jane?”
“Grace?”
“How fast can you jump us to Redoubt?”
Less than a minute later, we were looking at the station which had been five systems away, having made six rapid jumps.
“Wow,” I said, and meant it.
Tanith was grinning.
“Home now?” asked Jane.
“Sure.”
We skipped to the edge of the rift back to Haven, a goose of the engines took us through, and another skip put us just outside the shipyard dock we’d only just left. Jane took us in, and docked the ship.
“I call that a successful test,” she said.
“We just need to recreate it with a much bigger ship now,” I said looking at Tanith.
He nodded.
“The device should work the same on any ship. I guess we test it out on yours when she’s complete?”
“Indeed. But in the meantime, I have another job for you and your happy band.”
“Oh? What?”
I told him.
Seventeen
The king turned out to be a big surprise.
But the city itself was enough of a surprise to start with. Up close, it was even more vertically challenged than I’d thought it was, with buildings pushing out from seemingly sheer cliffs, with no apparent way up or down between them. I assumed there was something internal to the mountain, and eagerly looked forward to what I sincerely hoped wasn’t a hundred thousand stairs.
Along the way, the group continued to grow. What had started out as a platoon size, quickly became a company, and by the time we’d been striding for two days with only a five hour sleep break, was more like a small battalion. Which made more sense if Willow was a colonel.
I wasn’t aware of any communications going on to bring this large group together, and Sim and Gor didn’t bring it up, which I assumed meant they were not aware either. But the way the group formed up as they merged, showed real discipline. All wore the same armour, and very little was said verbally, making me wonder if they had the sort of team coms our teams did, allowing sub-vocalizations instead.
By the end of that second day I was really glad I’d kept up with training. No-one showed any signs of being tired, even at what was a killer pace, and I was determined not to show just how buggered I was getting. Although I suspect Willow knew exactly what my physical state was, given some looks which came in my direction.
Up close the shield over the city was even more impressive, and it rivaled the ones we used for stations. Even more impressive, was when it was hit, it showed it was not a complete cover, but simply came into being wherever it was needed. I thought this might be very useful on the walls in a day or two, or bite them in the arse, depending on how it worked near the ground.
Entrance to the city was made through a cave at the base of the mountain, not visible to anyone out on the plain beyond the walls. The cave wasn’t long, and it was obvious we were inside the walls when we came out in the city proper.
Which was where the next surprise happened.
The people going about their daily lives were all the size of Lufaflufs. As in, humanoid, but dwarf sized to someone my size. Willow was watching me carefully, obviously waiting for the obvious question, but I kept my mouth shut. The Lufafluf soldiers after all had proved to be effective fighters, so size wasn’t one of my issues.
After walking for a good way into the mountain itself, we came across a large area which looked like an elevator reception. The same sort of thing you had at the base of space scrapers on a station like Haven. Willow pushed the up button on one, while the rest of her battalion started lining up at ones on the other side, which all had bigger doors.
The door in front of us opened, a dozen of us got on, they closed, and with a button press by Willow again, started up.
It had elevator musak!
Nothing I’d ever heard before, but close enough to have been from any elevator in our space at any time during the last six hundred and fifty years. Like tea and basic alcohol, it seemed like elevator music was one of the galactic constants.
At the top, we exited onto what could have been a large parade ground. There was no tree, dead or otherwise.
The view was to die for. On one side I could see the titan turret in the distance. On the other side I could see ocean. Behind us was the top of this mountain, and below, when I went to the edge and looked down, I could see where we’d come from, and the large killing ground outside the lower wall. Curious, I went over to the other side, and found a similar killing ground down there, but this one led to a beach instead of forest.
As I watched, the shield came on below me, as hits rained down on the side of the mountain city. When I looked up, the shield was active up above as well. It was a bit weird to be inside such a shield, with no hull between you and the hit. I looked around, and Willow and her two presumably officers were completely unconcerned by the lightshow going on both above and below us.
“Come,” said Willow, and we followed her towards what looked like a medieval castle.
It was a medieval castle, in every respect, including a moat around it, drawbridge, and metal drop gate before the main gates, which were metal reinforced wood. It had archery positions, a
nd everything you’d expect. Although no siege engines of any kind. Then again, with the shield they were using, throwing rocks didn’t seem appropriate.
Inside, we may as well have been on a space station. The change in décor from the expected had Willow laughing at my expression again. A guard post stopped us, and while Willow vouched for us, we were required to divest ourselves of both swords and heavy guns. No-one pointed out we had side arms as well, and no-one asked, given we apparently didn’t have any visible, and given the clothes we were wearing didn’t leave much in the way of hiding places. Or so we looked.
Willow led us in further, and guards stopped us again outside a door. This time one guard was Willow’s height, and the other was a dwarf height. A close look without appearing to be looking, showed me he also had scales on both face and hands. The taller guard was wearing the same armour as Willow, but the shorter one was wearing leather with chain mail underneath.
The short one disappeared inside a partially opened door, and returned a minute later, waving us inside.
Inside turned out to be a throne room.
The King was as short as the guard, and also dressed in medieval garb, mainly leather and chain mail, but also a considerable amount of lace. On his head he wore a gold crown, and as he talked to his court, he was flashing some sort of cloth in one of his hands. The overall look was that of a dandy, and he did seem to be an extrovert. The court was a mixture of tall and short, all wearing the same bizarre mixture of clothes the king was.
For a moment I wondered if I’d gone back in time, but the Queen sitting next to him and down a step caught my eye. She was as tall as Willow. And without armour on, her figure looked completely androgynous, although the face and hair were definitely female.
The king saw us enter, and he stopped talking.
Eighteen
“Bring our guests forward, Knight Colonel.”
Willow started forward, now with her helmet off, and carried under her left arm, but I missed a step. My PC had translated what the King had said this time. I heard language I couldn’t understand, and my PC overlaid it with what I could. There was nothing abnormal about this now, since the Imperium didn’t have a common language, yet, but this was the first time I’d had such a complete contrast where I hadn't expected it. Obviously Arthur had included this language when our translator software had been updated.
Sim and Gor followed me forward, but the rest of my group stayed at the back. I hastily prepared an answer to the obvious to come question.
Willow stopped at the bottom of the steps, and did a short bow of the head, before stepping to the side, allowing us to be presented together. Sim stepped up on my left, and Gor on my right. None of us bowed, although I’d been wondering if we should.
“May I present,” said Willow, “Fleet Captain George Murdock, and his officers, Sim and Gor. They survived the crash we all saw the other day. They come from somewhere called Imperium.”
“Welcome Fleet Captain. We seldom have visitors, and welcome such. But was it really necessary for you to arrive in such a spectacular way?”
He was grinning, and obviously playing to the crowd.
“Necessary, majesty?” I replied, dredging up what I hoped was the expected title for a king, from back when Jon had been hosted by the British Queen.
I was expecting him to not understand me, but he did. I’d have to ask Willow about their translation tech later.
“Not exactly,” I went on. “You could say we had a minor accident in orbit, and had to hurry down here for repairs.”
The king chuckled at my joke, making me feel on a little more solid ground than I had been. The twins were the ones with the gift of the gab. I was afraid I’d say the wrong thing.
“And how do your repairs come along, good sir?”
“Slowly, majesty. Alas, we chose the wrong place to park.”
The laughter was growing. But it cut off suddenly when the king made a gesture with his handkerchiefed hand.
“And what know you sir, of these creatures who bombard us?”
“We fought some on our way here, majesty,” interjected Willow. “They are some kind of tall plant which can walk across the ground, with a stinger they attempt to swat you with.”
“A stinger you say, Knight Colonel? And did you get stung?”
“No, majesty. It seems our armour keeps it at bay.”
“And you Fleet Captain? What have you to say about these creatures?”
“The stinger is poisonous to most animals, including all people we’ve so far met. Stout clothing can keep the stinger out, but if it touches the skin at all, it is immediately fatal. So I advise your warriors to ensure their faces and hands are as covered as the rest of their bodies. Even your knights are vulnerable should the stinger connect through the eye holes.”
“We thank you for your warning, kind sir. Can you tell us more about them?”
“They are called the Trixone in our language, and they occupy a vast area of the galaxy. They recently began a war against all other creatures, which is partly how we arrived here. My people are few in number, but we’ve been able to keep them at bay while other civilizations have been unable to. We seek allies, and try to help those who need our help when we can.”
“And will you help us, Fleet Captain?”
“If I can, for as long as I must remain here. At some point I hope to return home.”
“Are you a warrior, good sir?”
“I am. I trained as a soldier, was promoted and trained to fly a ship, and subsequently fought a war as a fighter pilot. In another war, I was promoted to larger and larger ships, until given command of the ship I crashed in here.”
“So you command many warriors?”
“Not many. Our ships are big, but the crews are small. But my rank is equal to a Colonel who commands a regiment of troops.”
“Do you have many warriors?”
“Here and now, no. I left less than a company to protect my ship. But we have armies being formed from the member nations of our Imperium. So far, we’ve landed troops in support of eight planets. We are spread a bit thin, but the Imperium is very new, and it takes time to mobilize.”
“How long before you leave us?”
I shook my head.
“I am unsure, majesty. But I suspect it could be weeks at least. The damage was severe. And until I know what is to be faced above your planet, I’ll not take any risks.”
“Will you stand and fight with us if this foe decides to come down here in numbers?”
“We will, majesty.”
“Well, that’s a new one,” said Sim suddenly.
“What is?” I asked without thinking, looking at her, but the king didn’t seem to object.
“It’s raining plants.”
“Where?”
“Out there,” she said, pointing back the way we’d come in.
“How many?”
“Enough to cover the whole area.”
I turned to his majesty.
“With your permission majesty, we’d like to offer a small mowing service.”
“By all means.”
“Knight Colonel,” I said hurriedly, “keep your people inside please. It’ll be better if everything out there is a target.”
She nodded, and the three of us began to run out after the combat droids, who were already reclaiming their weapons.
“Forget the swords,” I said, and we all took up our big guns.
Gor moved to the door leading out, with the combat suit and droids behind him, and me relegated to behind Sim on the back end of the line. I noticed Willow and the other guards quickly joining us, but none of them followed us out the door when Gor gave the signal.
It was raining plants. What bothered me most was the shield was still obviously keeping out hits from ships in orbit, but was otherwise having no effect on the falling plants, who appeared to be using some sort of glider arrangement.
“Paratroops?” asked Willow from behind me.
“Ap
parently. New to us, but we can handle this. Please stay in the doorway.”
“Fine with me. I’ve told my people not to intervene unless I call.”
“Good.”
We moved out to the other side of the moat.
“Firing line,” called out Gor, and we quickly formed a line so we pointed towards the worst concentration.
“And, fire,” he finished, opening up with his gun, at the same time as the combat suit Sim was running.
The rest of us pulled the triggers on our lighter guns, and held them down. Gor sent us firing angles and targets, and we systematically covered the entire area with pulses.
Shredded foliage began to cover the ground.
The plants kept coming, and we kept firing. Since we were mainly firing upward, we weren’t damaging anything. Yet. Certainly not the non-existent tree.
When we stopped firing about ten minutes later, there was a deep silence. The entire area was covered up to knee depth in green and brown.
“They stopped,” said Sim.
“I can see that.”
“No, I mean they stopped the orbital bombardment.”
We all looked up. There was nothing to see.
“Does that mean they’ve gone?” asked the King, who was now standing in the doorway behind us.
“No, majesty,” I told him. “They’ve decided we’re too hard a nut to crack.”
“Isn’t that good?”
“No, not really.”
“Why not?” asked Willow.
“Because now they’re definitely calling for reinforcements.”
I looked at Sim.
“I give it a day,” she said.
“For what?” asked the king.
“Until they bring a full fleet here,” I responded, “and blast everything to kingdom come. Including this city, and all of us.”
“Not on my watch,” said Willow.
“Nor mine,” I added.
Imperium Knight Chaos Rising (The Hunter Imperium Book 6) Page 8
