“And if I want to join you, but not take the oath?”
“There is no joining without the oath. And I’d have to wonder if I can trust you. At least initially, you’d be living in your own Stronghold as an ally, not one of my people. You feed yourself, level your own people, buy your own weapons and defenses. I would agree not to hinder you, but I also won’t do a whole lot to help you until we establish a mutual trust. You would, of course, benefit from being protected inside my City walls, especially after we’ve cleared all the buildings and made the streets safe. And we’d be open to trade with you, and share whatever knowledge we’ve gained that will help you thrive.”
“And my people?”
Allistor tilted his head. “Your people? I don’t follow.”
“It looks to me like you’re trying to steal some of my best people.” Jesse accused, his face finally showing some emotion.
“Well, I was hoping to recruit all of you. So, yes, I’ve encouraged them to look around and ask questions. I’ve treated them just as I’ve treated you. I’ve not suggested any of them leave you, nor would I. But they’ve seen what they’ve seen, and my guess is they’ll spread the word among the rest of your people. If any of them come to me asking to join up, I’ll not refuse them just because they’re yours.”
Allistor saw Juanita walking their way, and added one more comment. “I will tell you that your people think the world of you, and showed exceptional loyalty when I asked about you.”
That was all he had time to say before Juanita was within hearing range. She joined them in the sitting area, and Allistor just nodded, waiting for one of them to speak.
Juanita was first. “This place is pretty amazing, Jesse. Those teleport pads. With those things, we can leave here and be on a beach on the west coast in a few minutes. They say they have some fishing boats out there, and there’s a damned sea monster roaming around near their island. A friggin’ sea monster! And have you checked out the gear some of these guys are wearing? It’s all crafted by their own people.”
Allistor nodded, looking at Jesse. “I’ve spent a small fortune buying skill scrolls and spell scrolls as well as materials to help my people level up their crafting. We also have the ability to copy most of the scrolls we loot, so that more than one person can learn what’s in them.”
He saw Ramon talking to one of the visitors, and waved him over. “This is Ramon, our Librarian and Chief Scribe. Don’t let the description fool you, though. He’s the most badass among us. He has to learn each of the spells in order to make copies of the scrolls. So he knows more magic than any of us! Also, he seems to have captured the heart of one of the loveliest ladies around.” Allistor grinned at his friend.
“He’s right. All mere mortals should fear me!” Ramon used his deepest voice and struck a god-like pose. When Jesse didn’t laugh, he lowered his arms and looked disappointed. Juanita reached up and patted him on the back in consolation. Ramon shook his head and excused himself, going back to his previous conversation.
Allistor watched Jesse for a few moments, then got to his feet. “I get the feeling you’re not interested in joining us. But please, look around, talk to folks. Don’t take my word for all that I’ve shared with you today. You and your people are welcome to stay for dinner, which should be any minute now. Or you’re all free to leave if you prefer.”
Just then, Harmon came walking in through the rear lobby door, which led out to a courtyard with a sunken garden, beyond which was his newly claimed building. He waved to Allistor as he approached, ignoring the sudden wariness of the visitors.
“Allistor. I hope you don’t mind, but I decided to return for more of Lady Meg’s cooking!” The orcanin grinned as he took a seat.
“Harmon, this is Jesse, leader of a Stronghold that is now within my City. And one of his people, Juanita. Guys, this is Harmon, the merchant who sold me most of our weapons and vehicles. He is an orcanin. I know what you’re thinking, and they really do not like being called orcs, for future reference.”
Harmon stood up and offered a hand to Jesse, which the man shook. Then he kissed Juanita’s hand, making her very nervous as the sharp tusks got so close to her skin. “Pleased to meet you both. Jesse, if you have a need for weapons, vehicles, or specialty items, I am at your service. I’m establishing my first Earth location right next door.”
“Uh, sure. Thank you.” Jesse was clearly still taken aback by the orcanin’s appearance and the contradiction of his genteel manners.
Meg’s voice rang out over the loudspeaker. “Food’s ready! Get it while it’s hot!”
“Ha! Perfect timing!” Harmon turned toward the lobby and noted the general direction everyone was headed. “The first thing people always learn is where the food can be found.” He chuckled as he motioned for Juanita and Jesse to precede him across the lobby. Allistor walked beside him, the two of them discussing their new buildings and getting settled while they followed the crowd to the dining area.
It was larger than Allistor expected, but he realized with a building this size, they had the room to create facilities that would serve much larger numbers than usual. All the people present filled only about ten percent of the tables once they’d received the food and taken seats. He was glad to see that Jesse’s people had mixed into several tables with others, rather than clustering alone in their own group.
Chapter 5
After the meal was over, Jesse took his people and departed, saying that they would talk things over with the others and get back to Allistor the next day. Allistor wished them well, and watched them leave. A second vehicle showed up after being called on the radio, and they were gone two minutes later.
As it was still early in the evening, Andrea and Bjurstrom both took a group of humans and a couple hundred droids and teleported to the old fort where they loaded into the yacht. Helen tagged along to contribute her knowledge of the local parks. Shortly after they left, Nigel connected Kira to Allistor.
“Invictus One ready to depart, boss. We’re gonna swing down to DC to drop off the first group, at the Library of Congress. Then down to Florida for a beachside resort or two.”
“Invictus One? Really?” Allistor rolled his eyes. “Okay, please call me if you have any trouble. And be sure our people let the battle droids take the heavy risks.”
“Got it, boss. See you later. Invictus One out.”
Amanda, who had been standing next to him, put an arm around his waist and leaned into him. “I meant to ask… Invictus?”
“You don’t like it?” He walked back inside with her and they took seats on a sofa. Several of the others were gathered there to socialize.
“No, I do. Invictus is a cool name. Just wondering where you got it.” The others perked up a bit and listened to Allistor’s answer.
“Well, it’s from an English lit class during my first semester at college. In Latin it means unconquered. But there’s a poem called Invictus, written by William Ernest Henley. It spoke to me the first time I heard it, and has been a favorite ever since. I think it applies to us, in our current situation.”
“I’ve heard of that.” Ramon offered. It’s the one Nelson Mandela used to read while he was in prison. The one that says, ‘I am the captain of my soul’ right?”
Allistor smiled at his friend. “That is correct, oh wise and knowledgeable Scribe. Though the part that has the most meaning to me in this instance goes like this:”
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
There was a long moment of silence as people took in the words. Amanda was the first to break the silence. She leaned in and kissed him, then declared, “You’re right. That’s perfect for us. I approve.”
The others began to clap, and Ramon reached over to offer Allistor a fist-bump. He shouted, “Invictus!” and the others echoed it back. “INVICTUS!”
Ramon got out pen and p
aper and asked Allistor to recite the entire poem, taking it down. When he had it all, he moved over to the wall directly in front of the main lobby doors, where a reception and security desk had been located. He spoke quietly to Nigel for a moment, and the entire poem appeared, etched into the stone in large letters. The author’s name was etched underneath.
Again there was applause, and a shout of “Invictus!”. People from all across the lobby drifted over to read the inscription, nodding their heads and smiling. Several gave Allistor a thumbs-up.
More than a few had tears in their eyes.
*****
An hour later, Allistor and Amanda were up in their quarters. Their suite was on the penthouse level of the high rise, and took up a quarter of the floor. Which meant it was a quarter city block, all by itself. The rest of the floor was set up with a huge conference room, a full kitchen and formal dining room that could seat twenty-four, and a large lounge area with a bar and several seating groups. These spaces were all meant for entertaining other Planetary Princes or similar guests. The level below contained a dozen luxury guest suites, one of which Helen claimed for herself.
Allistor spent some time with Nigel, working out authorizations for his people to be able to create Citadels, Strongholds, and Outposts in his name. He used up a whole hour making modifications to the high rise, adding in shops, crafting spaces, a movie theater that doubled as an auditorium, and other spaces he thought his people would need. There were already a couple of restaurants in the building, and he left those alone, thinking some entrepreneur might want to open and operate one of them later. There was also a well-equipped gym already in the building, as well as a swimming pool.
He created a huge infirmary for Amanda, which she immediately went downstairs to customize.
The fifth through twenty-fifth floors he set aside as residential. Each floor had twenty or so apartments with a mix of one, two, and three bedrooms. That would allow him to house a large number of citizens here. There was a shorter building next door, between the high rise and Harmon’s building, that was going to be all residential once they’d cleared it. It had several terraced levels, the building narrowing as it rose upward, allowing for many of the future apartment units to have walk-out terraces. And there was a large space above the twenty-third floor for a rooftop pool overlooking the courtyard and sunken garden below. While he was thinking about it, he asked Nigel to put him in contact with Prime. When the connection was made, he asked his general to detail some droids and have them ready to clear that building. Then he contacted Sam.
“Hey old man, feel like running some low level folks through the building next door? The droids will do all the heavy lifting, but it’s a good chance to level a few people up, and maybe get some more good loots. Prime will have a droid contingent waiting out front.”
“You got it! Anybody in particular in mind?”
“Nope, I’ll leave that to you. Round up maybe ten folks total? Low enough to benefit from killing mobs at level fifteen to twenty, I would think. Feel free to bring them from other Strongholds. If you’ve got a good healer, maybe bring Cody along and level him up. Seemed to go okay with Chloe this morning.” He felt a little twinge, but pushed past it. Meg and Sam could decide for themselves. The thought of the kid reminded him of something.
“When the building’s clear, I’ll turn it into apartments. There’s going to be several penthouse level suites, if you and Meg want to claim one. Or maybe a poolside suite?”
“Sounds good to me, boy. I’ll grab Meg, the boy, and a few others, and we’ll go while we’ve still got buffs from dinner.”
With that detail taken care of, Allistor moved on. He took the elevator to the roof, which had previously been covered with giant fans for the building’s ventilation. Whatever tech the system used to heat and cool the building now, those weren’t needed. So he had nearly a block of available roof space, minus some solar panels atop the elevator machine room.
With defense foremost in his mind as he looked up at the darkening sky to see more ships coming down, he placed the largest available shield generator in the center of the roof. Next he added an anti-aircraft battery at each end of the block, and two plasma cannons along each side, one set overlooking the depository, the other the courtyard between his building and Harmon’s.
With those in place and activated, he requested a dozen droids be stationed around the rooftop. Then he added a sun deck with a small wading pool and a wet bar. The rest of the space he used to create a large greenhouse. He told Nancy it was there, and she said she’d check it out in the morning, as Chloe was already asleep.
He stood for a while, watching the descending spaceships as they moved past him. Some were far away and headed west, others came down closer. A few even landed within the city, though outside his walls.
Ramon’s voice coming through Nigel surprised him out of his contemplation. “Hey bud, I need to talk to you. Mind if I come up?”
“You don’t need an invitation my friend. You are welcome anywhere, anytime.”
“On my way.”
Allistor moved to the sundeck and took a seat near the bar. He found himself wishing it was already stocked. He had some wine in his inventory, but no booze. What he really wanted was an ice cold rum and coke.
Ramon arrived a few minutes later, taking a moment to check out all the changes. “Nice, man! This place is going to be popular.” He took a seat.
“So what’s up? Your voice sounded like there is a problem.”
“No, not exactly. Just a question that needs to be resolved. You know, today’s invasion day, and we’ve been focused on that all day.”
“Yeah…?”
“Well, it’s also the day that all us humans get to claim our piece of land. Everybody but you, mister Prince who owns half the country already.”
Allistor was shocked. He’d completely forgotten about that. And here he’d spent the entire day monopolizing his people’s time.
“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry, man. You and the others probably want to go out and pick your spots.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of why I’m here. Lots of folks have asked their various leaders about claiming the land right around the Strongholds. Especially the Bastion, Citadel, and Stadium. The message we all got was that we could claim up to ten acres. Some want farms, others want shops, et cetera.”
“And all of them are going to need help clearing buildings.” Allistor finished.
“Not just that. They want your permission. In case you have plans to expand, or something.”
“No, no. Holy shit, I’ve really screwed this up.” Allistor took a deep breath. “Nigel, please put me on loudspeaker, everywhere. All the properties.”
“Done, Sire.”
“Hey, everybody. Allistor the Inconsiderate here. I want to apologize to all of you. I got all caught up in taking another gold depository in New York, and that sort of snowballed into a … well, that doesn’t matter. Except that now we own the lower half of Manhattan. But in the process I totally forgot about all of you being able to claim your own land today. I’m so sorry. Some of your questions have been forwarded up to me, and I thought I’d get the answers to you all right away so that you can act.” He took a moment to breathe.
“First, you can absolutely claim land adjacent to or nearby one of our facilities if you like. I’ll extend the protections to cover your homes if you plan to make them there. And of course you’re all welcome to continue to live inside the walls where you are now. Or move to one of our other properties. Whatever you like. The teleports make commuting to work fast and easy. For those who need help clearing buildings, we’ll get droids or other survivors to help you as quickly as possible. For right now, pick your spot and claim it if you can. If you can’t because there are critters inside, let Nigel know. He’ll keep track and coordinate with Prime to get battle droids to help. And please, don’t waste any opportunities to help each other level. If you need to clear a building, take some low level folks with you and get t
hem some experience if you can.”
He paused to catch Ramon’s gaze. “Let’s see, I think each human is entitled to their own land, right Ramon?” His friend grinned and nodded. “Ramon’s shaking his head yes. So let’s assume that each of you can claim your own land, not just one piece per family. So take your kids along and claim one big space, or several scattered small ones. If you need to use the teleport to accomplish that, then please do. We’re also claiming some more Strongholds on the east coast, in DC and Florida this evening. So folks who have an interest in those places can probably stake a claim tomorrow. There will be more cities in other areas in coming days, and it’s up to you how long you want to wait. I can’t see the messages you guys got, so I don’t know if there’s a time limit?”
Ramon shook his head no.
“This time Ramon’s shaking his head no. Not real talkative, this guy. So it sounds like you have some time to decide. Just keep in mind that other humans are doing the same, and aliens are landing every minute.”
“Again, I’m sorry for my oversight. If you have any questions I haven’t covered, shout them out to Nigel and he’ll give them to me one at a time. Ready… go!”
He waited a few seconds for Nigel to process questions. The first one was “Can we build our own Strongholds?”
“As far as I know, you can do that, assuming you have enough resources. Or your local leaders can give you authorization to build an Outpost of their Stronghold. That still gives you protective walls, et cetera. I’m not sure if the rules have changed, or how much, since Stabilization is over. I’ll be able to answer that better after one of you tries it and reports in.”
Shadow Sun Rebellion Page 9
