Several hands went up, and Allistor invited them forward. One at a time they stood next to him and spoke about the dead. Funny stories, sad moments, or just hopes that they’d found happiness wherever they were now. Almost an hour later, the last of them had spoken and stepped down. Allistor bowed his head for a moment, saying nothing. When he raised his head, he found he had no words.
Finally, he simply called out, “Let these be the last of us to perish through greed and stupidity. May they be the inspiration that leads us to a better life of service to each other, and to all humankind!”
He turned to face the building, and channeled as much power as he could manage into a Flame Shot. A white-hot column of fire blasted down from above, incinerating many of the bodies, and catching the building alight.
Allistor stepped back into the crowd, which also moved back a ways to avoid the heat of the flames. The building burned quickly, the brick walls keeping the flames contained since the roof was already collapsed. When it had burned down to guttering coals, the street had mostly cleared, the humans filtering back to the high rise, and the meal was served.
It wasn’t the festive welcome feast that Allistor had planned. The mood was reserved, though there was much talking, and even some laughter here and there. More stories were told of those they’d lost, both that day and through the previous year. Juanita’s people bonded with Allistor’s over the tragedies they’d suffered, and their desire for payback.
There were many compliments on the food, and Allistor noticed that the buffs were greatly increased. He assumed that was due to the sisters’ influence. The normal buff time was extended from four hours to six, and the increases were an extra point across the board. The meat, regular beef from the cattle herd at Cheyenne, normally carried a +2 Stamina, +1 Strength, and +2 Health and Stamina Regeneration. Today the buff was +3 Stamina, +2 Strength, and +3 Health and Stamina Regeneration. Beer was served along with water and soda, and somehow all three were buffed with a +10% boost to Morale.
There was a great deal of discussion around land, with Juanita’s people questioning Allistor’s, who confirmed that what he’d said was true. They had all claimed their ten acres, several had received loans, and Allistor had indeed personally fought to defend Michael’s Stronghold when it was attacked. These discussions went a long way to improve the mood of the newcomers, and when the meal was over, many of them asked to visit other locations through the teleporter.
Ramon and his people exhausted their supply of scrolls, handing them out to a little more than half of the newcomers. The rest were promised theirs within a week, and only a few complained. Ramon and his people retreated to the library to resume production immediately. Before he left, he handed Allistor a ring filled with scrolls. “These are the higher level spells, like Erupt, Vortex, and Mind Spike. Twenty of each. I figured you’d want to decide yourself who gets these.” Ramon turned to walk away, then stopped. “All of our people who have the stats to use them already have them.”
“Thanks, man. You’re the best. Can you hang out for a second?”
Ramon nodded and took a seat next to Allistor. “What’s up?”
“You’ve worked your ass off since the day we met at the Warren. You’ve helped every single one of us to improve ourselves and our chances of survival. I can’t think of anyone who’s done more. And you haven’t asked for anything in return. I’d like to reward you, somehow. What can I give you, or do for you?”
Ramon blushed, a sheepish smile on his face. “Aw, shucks. You luuuuuv me!” He blew a kiss at Allistor, who blew one right back. “I don’t know, man. I haven’t really thought about it. I’ve been having a blast in the library, learning new stuff and helping others research what they need. I don’t really want a Stronghold of my own. Haven’t even claimed my land yet, either.”
Allistor raised an eyebrow. “What are you waiting for?”
“Nothing in particular. I’ve just been busy. The way I figure it, Nancy and Chloe and I will always have a place inside the Citadel or one of the Strongholds. We haven’t made it a priority to stake a claim somewhere else.”
“Nancy and Chloe haven’t chosen a spot either?” Allistor shook his head. “Alright, how ‘bout this. I told all Juanita’s people they had to claim space outside the walls. But how bout I give you, each of you, the opportunity to claim your own places here inside Invictus’ walls? There are several small parks, and you could claim a building or three adjacent to a park. That way Nancy can do her herb and gardening thing, you’d have space to create your own library if you want, and you’d have property to leave to any uhh… additional kids that might come along.” He winked suggestively at Ramon. “Or if you don’t like the city, I’ll give you guys a park anywhere you like, and you can claim acreage next to it as your own as well. And I’ll pay for your Stronghold myself, and assign enough battle droids to defend you. You’ve all more than earned it.”
“Wow. Thank you, Allistor. That’s very generous. I’ll need to talk to Nancy about it…”
Allistor held up his hands. “Of course. And if you both want to talk to me some more before you decide, I can call Helen in to give you info on what parks are available and where they’re located. Whatever you need. Just let me know.”
Ramon shook Allistor’s hand, then pulled him in for a bro-hug. Without saying anything further, he turned and joined his scribes, disappearing through the teleporter.
Amanda, who had snuck up behind Allistor without him hearing, wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. Whispering in his ear, she said, “That was nice of you. And you’re right, they certainly have earned a reward. Nancy and George helped feed everyone through the winter with their greenhouses. In fact, there are lots of people who’ve gone above and beyond that deserve some acknowledgement. If it’s okay with you, I’ll make up a list. We can randomly surprise them with rewards. Do it publicly, and help boost morale.”
He turned to gather her in his arms and kissed her forehead. “Already thinking like a Princess. What would I do without you?”
“Oh, there are plenty of women who’d jump at the chance to take my place.” She flashed a wicked smile. “I’m having to drive them off with sharp sticks and veiled threats.”
“Ha! Well, keep doing what you’re doing. I’m only interested in one Princess, and that’s you!” He kissed her on the lips this time, and held the kiss long enough that other people in the lobby began to cheer and golf clap.
*****
Allistor spent the next few hours on administrative items. He retired up to his office and called all of the raid crew leaders to join him. All except the Vegas crew had returned. Using his desk to pull up a 3D map, he had each of them point out the locations of the new Strongholds, and describe the area around it, why they chose it, and what else they found.
The most intriguing of the reports came from Bjurstrom, who led the DC group.
“We made the W Hotel our Stronghold. It’s within sight of the White House, and covers an entire city block. Restaurant, big ballrooms, and shops downstairs with its own parking garage beneath. There was evidence someone had previously tried to clear it. There were some bones with military gear mixed in. Helmets, radios, weapons, even a set of Army dog tags. The upper levels were standard mobs, level fifteen to twenty. The battle droids tanked for us, and we made quick work of them. The lower level mobs were up to twenty-five, and we took some damage, but nothing we couldn’t heal through. The boss was a level thirty canid alpha female with a bunch of pups. We tried to spare the pups to see if we could bond with them like you have with Fuzzy. The mom was huge, twice Fuzzy’s size, and I figured the little ones would eventually be the same. But they kept fighting, and we were forced to kill them.” Bjurstrom shook his head in sorrow. “That was hard.”
“Anyway, we claimed that as the Stronghold. Then we made Outposts out of several of the monuments, including the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington. You already own the parkland along the mall, so it just sort of incorporated itself.
Then we cleared the Library of Congress and Smithsonian buildings we found and put walls around them, too.”
“What about the White House? Is the President still in there?”
“We don’t know who’s in there. It has clearly been claimed, and has a wall around it. Once we claimed the hotel, we walked over to say hello, and snipers shot at us. Not warning shots, either. Two of us got hit. So we backed off, healed up, and stayed clear. I didn’t want to identify myself as Air Force in case somebody inside decided to order me to join them.” He looked apologetic.
“No, you did the right thing. Absolutely. I’m just glad nobody was killed.”
“I think it might have been the battle droids with us that set them off. Maybe if you approached alone, or with just other humans, you’d get better results.” Bjurstrom’s eyes went wide as he remembered something. “Oh! And fyi… the Pentagon is a huge Citadel now. Like, bigger than ours. It has fifty-foot walls bristling with guns, and the building is now a high rise. Hard to tell exactly, behind those walls, but at least seven or eight stories tall. Plus all the underground levels.”
“Good! I’m glad to hear that. I’m hoping they’ll help stabilize things, assuming whoever is in charge isn’t like the colonel at Fort Knox.”
“Also, there’s a wall around the National Cathedral, that we could see from the top of the Washington monument. I made that into a defensive tower, by the way. With a pair of cannons at the top. Anyway, it makes a good observation point. From there we could see there’s another Stronghold to the southeast on the rise across the Anacostia river. Looks like it used to be several high-rise apartments. And another Stronghold across the Potomac in Rosslyn. But the only people we saw were the snipers that fired on us. Not that I actually saw them, but we know there are at least two of them.” He shook his head, remembering the panic when his people got shot.
“Last thing is I think somebody made the old RFK stadium into a Stronghold too. I saw lights at night and smoke during the day. But we didn’t go to investigate.”
It was mid-afternoon by the time Allistor had heard all the reports and asked questions. His mind kept going back to DC and the White House. If there was still some remnant of the former government alive and kicking, maybe he could help them reassert some control. Nothing about DC had been mentioned in any of the group radio conversations with his allies across the continent.
But at the same time, he needed to be careful. He’d kept the Silo mostly secret, and the nukes inside completely secret so far. As well as the dragon eggs. And he didn’t want some cabinet secretary or senator trying to lay claim to any of it.
“Who wants to take a road trip to DC?” He asked the group. “Well, not road trip. You know what I mean. Anyone wanna walk up to the White House and get shot at with me?”
There were chuckles from most of them, and every single one stood up to volunteer. These were among his most experienced and highest level fighters. He’d trusted them to lead raid crews because they were the best.
“Great! Grab us… at least four healers. And let’s say twenty-five battle droids, including Prime. Nigel, please ask Harmon if he’d like to visit our old capital and possibly meet whomever’s in charge there. Might mean more customers for him.”
“Certainly, Sire.”
“Alright, let’s get this clear while we have some privacy. All of you who were active duty military when the world ended, keep to the back and quiet. Bjurstrom is correct, I don’t want you to have to deal with any kind of conflict in loyalty. And nobody mentions the Silo, or the gold reserves, even under torture. Clear?”
There were several grins and knowing smiles. “We got ya boss. Don’t want the Pres knowing you’ve been stealing his cookies. Roger that.” McCoy gave him a thumbs-up.
Andrea smacked McCoy on the back of the head. “We all swore an oath to you, Allistor. On our lives. As far as I’m concerned, the government we swore our previous oaths to is dead. Otherwise why would the system have allowed us new oaths? And if the government were still in place, why haven’t they reached out? A missile silo would be a priority facility to secure.” The others nodded.
“Well, we’ll find out soon enough.”
Thirty minutes later they had a raid party of twenty-five humans, one bear, five orcanin, and twenty-five battle droids gathered at the gates outside the W Hotel in DC. Bjurstrom had included the small park to the south of the hotel inside the Stronghold walls, which Allistor appreciated. They exited out the gates, which faced south, onto Pennsylvania Ave. Turning west, their view of the White House was blocked by the massive treasury building that looked like a fortress itself. Reaching the fence and guard station that had blocked off E Street since right after the 9/11 attacks at the turn of the century, Bjurstrom hissed at Allistor, who halted the group.
“This is where we got fired on before.”
Allistor motioned for the orcanin and droids to move back behind the corner of their Stronghold wall so that they couldn’t be seen. Looking carefully, he saw nobody in the guard shack by the gate. This ‘gate’ was a simple car barrier that could be raised to let vehicles through, with a four-foot metal fence running on either side up and down 15th Street.
Allistor cast Barrier in front of himself, and immediately received a notification.
Spell Level Up! Your Barrier spell has increased to Level 10!
You may now choose between two specialty paths for this spell.
He quickly waved the notification away as he raised his hands and stepped forward. “Everybody else, stay back. You too, Fuzzy. And I mean it this time! Healers, please be ready to save my ass?”
Stepping forward with his hands still up, he ducked under the barrier arm and took a few more steps. A bullet struck the pavement just in front of him right before he heard the crack of the rifle shot. Stopping immediately, he turned in the direction he thought the shot had come from. At the same time, he whispered, “Hold.” into his throat mic.
Yelling as loudly as he could, still with his hands up, he identified himself. “My name is Allistor! Prince Allistor, now. You may have seen notifications about me? We’ve just established the Stronghold next door, which makes us neighbors! I was hoping to say hello to whomever is in charge here! I mean no harm to anyone, I swear!”
A voice from a bullhorn called down from the treasury building rooftop. “Don’t move! One more step and the next round goes through your head! Someone will be with you in a minute!”
Allistor started to drop his arms, then wondered if that would count as a ‘move’ and get him killed. So he kept them up. “Thank you!”
He waited, and slightly more than a minute later several men in black combat gear appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Every one of them had an assault rifle or shotgun pointed at him. One stepped forward and pulled his hands down, securing them behind his back. Another searched him extremely thoroughly, getting quite personal for several seconds.
As they searched, he said, “Guys, I’m in radio contact with my people. I’m going to tell them to chill, so there’s no misunderstandings here, okay?” After a second, the man standing directly in front of him nodded once.
“Andrea, Prime, I’m good. These guys are just being careful. Hang tight. Nobody do anything crazy. I’ll shout if I need help.” He smiled at the man in front of him, who again nodded just once.
“Who are you, and why are you here?” the man asked after the other two stepped away.
“My name is Allistor. I’m from Wyoming, but I’ve been expanding my territory over the last year. I sort of accidentally became a Planetary Prince recently. You should have seen the system notifications?” The man nodded again, not a big speaker, apparently.
“Anyway, I sent a group here a few days ago to claim some important monuments, the library, museums. I wanted to preserve our heritage and keep the aliens from claiming the buildings and destroying our history.” He waited for any kind of reaction, but got none.
“My crew reported that when they came by here, two of
my people were shot without warning. I came to find out who’s here, whether we still have some kind of government, and see what I might do to help.” He paused to take a breath. “I don’t suppose the President is still alive in there?” He motioned toward the White House with his chin, not wanting to move his hands and get shot.
“How do I know you are who you claim?” The man lowered his weapon slightly.
“I swear by the system that I am Planetary Prince Allistor, Prince of Invictus. And that I come with peaceful intentions.” A golden light swirled around Allistor, an indicator that he was telling the truth.
The man apparently knew enough about the new rules to recognize the indication of truth. He lowered his weapon and nodded for his men to do the same. Stepping forward, he offered his hand. “I’m Colonel Chapman. Good to meet you. We’ve heard a great deal about you. Mostly from monitoring radio traffic.” The man let go of Allistor’s hand, and his face grew more serious. “Now tell me who you’ve got with you.”
“Oh! Sure. There are twenty-four more of my people, along with twenty-five of my battle droids, for security. I wasn’t sure if you were going to shoot first, again.” He grinned at the man, who cracked a slight smile. “Also, I have four orcanin with me. Aliens that look like what you would call orcs. But they consider that name an insult, so please call them orcanin. Harmon is their leader. He’s a merchant that sold me all my weapons and vehicles. I thought if there’s still a government here, you guys might want to upgrade your gear. He’s friendly, and I’ll vouch for him.”
The colonel looked toward where Allistor’s people were gathered, clearly already aware of what and where they were. “And the bear?”
“Oh! Fuzzy is my companion. I adopted him a few days after the apocalypse. Are you a gamer, colonel? He’s like my bonded pet. Won’t hurt you if you don’t try to hurt me. Sorry, I forgot to mention him. I’m not used to this kind of thing, and frankly, I’m a little nervous. I’ll call him over if you’d like to meet him.”
Shadow Sun Rebellion Page 16
