He pumped a fist into the air, and hundreds of fists joined his as feet pounded the floor and every human voice raised a chant. “Invictus! Invictus! Invictus!”
Attribute Level Up! Your Charisma Attribute has increased by +1
He let them chant and shout for a while, then raised his hands to quiet them down.
“I want all of you to take the day to prepare yourselves. Some of you will be coming with us to the goblin’s homeworld. We’ll be taking… three hundred volunteers. I’ll need the rest of you to be prepared for an attack while we’re gone. I’ll be placing the safety of all of our friends and families in your hands, and I have complete faith in you!” He took a deep breath, giving himself a few seconds to think.
“Advisors, meet me on the roof in ten. The rest of you, decide whether you want to stay or go. If you want to join the mission, let Nigel know. We’ll choose our fighters in a couple of hours.” He looked around the room, spotting Michael. “Crafters! Pull out your best gear! Finish whatever you can by the end of the day. Invictus will pay you double the value of whatever you have that can help protect our people, or make us more deadly!” Another roar from the crowd.
“Any of you who plan to join the mission, no more hoarding attribute points. Assign everything you have. I don’t know what we’ll find when we get there. They might outnumber us a thousand to one. They might be higher levels than us. I need every single one of you to be at peak performance. Same goes for those of you staying here to defend our homes.” He let his shoulders slump a bit, and lowered his voice before continuing.
“Many of us who go out there might not come home. Based on the goblin horde we fought the other day, these things are no pushovers. If you don’t feel you’re ready for such a fight, I don’t blame you. I’m scared, myself. Scared of them, scared of letting all of you down. But I’m not going to let that stop me. I’m tired of being scared!”
He waited as they clapped and cheered, walking forward through the crowd as they patted him on the shoulders and back, or held out a hand for him to shake. He kept a ferocious look on his face as he passed through the back edge of the crowd and boarded one of the elevators. Amanda, Helen, Fuzzy, Prime, and Ramon joined him before the doors closed.
Up on the roof, he paced back and forth as he waited for his advisors to gather. Just as he stopped and turned, a thump behind him had him spinning back around, sword drawn. On the ground in front of him was a coconut, rocking back and forth. “What the…?” He looked around, then upward, just as a swallow fluttered down to land next to the coconut. The exhausted bird ignored him, closing its eyes and leaning its head against the hairy shell.
“Huh. Weird.” Something in the back of his mind told him there was some significance to this, but he couldn’t quite place it.
When his people all arrived, he sat down and bid the others to do the same. A few of them noticed the sleeping swallow and coconut, and gave Allistor a questioning look. He just shrugged.
“Alright, first things first. Prime, I need as many battle droids as we can fit on the three ships along with the crews and three hundred fighters, as well as supplies and ammunition. And vehicles. We should bring a few vehicles. And Sam, George, bring your Howitzers. Prime, don’t pull droids from our defenses, just purchase more. And get them the first level upgrades.”
Prime saluted and stepped to one side. Allistor continued. “I don’t know what to expect here, so I’m going to ask Harmon, Gralen, and our analysts to give us their best guess as to what we’re facing.” Information gathering on the Borzgl goblin clan was the very first task he’d given the analysts upon hiring them. Followed by background on the Or’Dralon elves.
For the next hour the alien advisors offered up facts, figures, and best guesses as to the size and capabilities of the enemy target. The clan was not clustered in one Stronghold, they held an entire small planet. It was originally owned and mined by dwarves, but had been abandoned when two factors combined to make the planet unattractive. First, the dwarves had mined out most of the valuable resources. Then a shift in gravity destroyed much of their infrastructure and killed a significant number of the planet’s inhabitants.
The goblin clan had settled there nearly three hundred years later, moving into the ruins and mining what meager resources remained. There were three main settlements, and a few smaller ones scattered around. “Well, that part’s not good news. If they occupied the mines, then we won’t be able to just crush them from the sky like we did with the horde. There will be a lot more face to face fighting in the mine shafts.” Allistor mused.
“Maybe we could draw them out, somehow? Get as many of them on the surface as possible, then blast them?” Helen offered.
“Worth a shot. We’ll call that Plan A. Let’s see what else we can come up with.” They spent another couple hours creating and discarding ideas, making backup plans and backups for the backup plans. Gralen and Harmon were especially helpful, both being veterans of many battles. They would be taking all three ships. Allistor and about one third of the raiders would be in the yacht, along with fifty or so battle droids. Harmon and fifty of his warriors would accompany another third of the humans in the colony ship with two hundred droids, the vehicles, and the Howitzers. Allistor had arranged for a special surprise for Sam, and had been hiding it in the colony ship’s hold since he had purchased it.
Gralen and his crew would take the remainder of the humans and droids in their ship. The division was more about the journey to the goblin world than any strategy for when they arrived. If they ran afoul of hostile aliens in space, Allistor didn’t want to lose his whole force with one destroyed ship. For that same reason, he asked Amanda to ride in the mercenary ship, being his official heir.
Plans made, they ended the meeting by choosing the raid leaders and groups. Nigel provided a list of the volunteers, of which there had been more than two thousand. Many weren’t qualified – either too low-level or without much raid experience – just enthusiastic citizens wanting to do their part. Those were eliminated right off the top. Some of the most qualified were designated to stay behind as well. Allistor didn’t want to leave his home any more vulnerable than necessary.
Since they had the space, the group decided to up the number of raiders to four hundred. They would take along some ‘support’ teams of lower-leveled citizens who would remain on the ships where things would, in theory, be safer during the main assaults. Much like they’d done with Rhonda’s people, they could be part of the raid group, and would receive experience from the kills. This would quickly level them up, and make them strong enough to participate in the cleanup fighting at the smaller settlements. They could also assist with the transport of wounded if necessary, and the looting after.
Among this group would be George, Lilly, Bob and Virginia, Maggie from Santa Barbara, Sydney and Addy, and several of the scribes who’d been too busy making scrolls to get out and fight. Also William, who flat out refused to be left behind. He’d convinced the girls to help him with research on the duties of a squire in medieval times, and as a squire, vehemently demanded to be with his Prince. Allistor finally relented, on the condition that William would not leave the bridge. He threatened Kira with dire consequences should the boy get hurt. She just snorted at him and promised to look after William like one of her own.
The rest of the day was spent preparing. It didn’t take long for the raiders to get their gear together. Some spent the time with family and friends. Others used Nigel to record formal wills, or messages to be sent if they didn’t return. Most of the Strongholds held a feast of some kind to celebrate those who would be going off-world.
Crafters worked through the night, trying to create just one more item that might save a life. Though the offer of double payment from Allistor was a good motivator, all of them were more interested in protecting their people.
Allistor’s sleep was fitful, his dreams kept showing him Mira’s eyes as she asked to die.
Chapter 23
Morning brought a solemn
air of fear and suppressed excitement. For nearly everyone who was undertaking the mission, they were going into space for the first time. Not only that, but traveling to an unknown world to pick a fight with aliens.
Some acted brave, pretended to have no fear. Others simply waited quietly for instructions, or hugged loved ones and spoke softly with them. There were more than a few tearful goodbyes within the various Strongholds.
Allistor had left instructions that everyone be fed a good breakfast, more for morale than any physical need. They’d be eating a few meals onboard their ships before arriving at the goblin’s planet.
Gralen and Gene had explained to him that his yacht and the mercenary ship could both make the trip in a matter of a few hours. But the goblin ship, with its weaker drive, would take more than a day. And that was with the upgrades they were able to install during repairs. Gralen guessed that the attackers’ trip from their world to Earth had taken them several days.
The teleport pads began lighting up at about 8:30am as fighters and support people from across the nation moved to either Denver, Cheyenne, or Invictus City to board their assigned ships. Prime had obtained his troops and cycled them through their upgrades, then boarded them during the night.
By 9:00am, their designated departure time, Nigel reported everyone accounted for, and the three ships were ready to go. Allistor stood in the yacht’s cargo bay with the bulk of his people, forgoing the opportunity to increase his piloting skills on the bridge. He felt it was more important to help put his citizens at ease, maybe boost their morale.
He started off with a couple of names, and having Nigel transmit his voice to the other two ships.
“Thank you all for volunteering for this mission. I know you’re all a little scared, I can see it on your faces. I’m scared too. Only a fool wouldn’t be. But all of you, despite your fears, stepped onto this ship today. And onto the Opportunity, and the colony ship. Which reminds me, two of our ships need names of their own. I’ve opted to call the colony ship the Bellerophon! After a Greek hero who captured the Pegasus and killed several legendary monsters, including the Chimera.” There was some light cheering and clapping, mostly transmitted over the loudspeaker. Allistor assumed it was from the newly named ship.
“As for the yacht… I was leaning toward simply calling her Invictus One.” He grinned as people groaned and rolled their eyes. “But I’ve decided to name her Phoenix! All of us here, within her hold, we’re rising from the ashes of the apocalypse and bringing fire and destruction on those who tried to destroy us!” This time the cheers were louder, and came from everyone on all three ships.
“This trip is going to take a while. Feel free to spread out and get comfortable. There are some crew quarters with beds, a couple dining rooms, and those crates over there contain hammocks that you can set up and relax in. There are some rooms down on the engineering deck where you can do some crafting if you like. We’ll be serving in-flight meals at normal times, and should arrive at our target world sometime before lunch tomorrow.” He gave them a wave and turned to head for the bridge.
They were already out in space by the time Allistor reached the bridge. The viewscreen showed him the Bellerophon ahead of them and to their left, at the tip of an arrow formation. The Opportunity was directly to his left, keeping pace with the colony ship. Harmon had joined the crew of the Phoenix to make sure the trip went smoothly. The two faster ships were matching their speed to the colony ship, rather than leaving them behind. Even with repairs, they could not trust the light drive to operate without ripping the ship apart. It was a little frustrating, but they had no choice.
Allistor chuckled to himself. “Look at me, complaining about it taking a whole day to travel to a planet most of a solar system away.” He shook his head and moved to stand next to Harmon.
“Thank you for agreeing to join us.” He looked up at the big orcanin’s face. “Your experience goes a long way toward easing my nerves.”
“Ha! When my warriors heard you would be attacking a whole clan of tasty goblins, there was no way I could refuse them the chance to join you. The only thing that would excite them more is a chance to slaughter the porcine race known as the Muc. They are considered a special delicacy among my people.”
“So… this is just gonna be one big smorgasbord for your warriors.” Allistor shook his head. “Well, whatever the reason, I appreciate your help.” He held out a hand, which the merchant gently shook.
“What will you do with the planet once it’s yours?” Harmon asked.
Allistor’s eyes widened, and his heartrate increased. “What?”
“Once the clan has been eliminated, the planet shall be yours. You will be a Prince of Earth, and the Emperor of whatever you call this planet.” Harmon grinned at him.
“Oh, no. No no. Not again.” Allistor groaned. While the title of Emperor would sound attractive to most people, to him it just sounded like a great big target on his back.
Clearing his throat, Harmon spoke in a lowered voice. “Might we go someplace and speak in private?”
Allistor led him off the bridge to the captain’s quarters, where they sealed themselves in and took seats. Harmon took up the entire sofa as he made himself comfortable.
“In regards to Lady Amanda. If your intentions are to make her your permanent mate, your… wife? I would undertake to make that happen sooner than later, if I were you.”
Allistor stared at the orcanin for a long moment. “What?”
“You are a Planetary Prince. Quite a popular one, at the moment. And if things go well in the next few days, you will also be an Emperor. Which will only increase your reputation with many of the factions. Very soon you will begin to receive… offers of alliances.” Harmon stared at Allistor, waiting for him to make the connection.
“Alliances sound okay, as long as the analysts agree with them, I don’t see why…” His voice drifted off as he realized where Harmon was headed. “Marriage alliances.” he said glumly, his shoulders dropping in defeat.
Harmon chuckled. “Most would be thrilled at the prospect of bedding some of the elite females of the various factions. You look as if you’ve just been sentenced to death.”
“Some? As in, more than one?”
This time Harmon gave a full-throated laugh. “Monogamy is rare within the Collective, Allistor. It is common for a Planetary Prince to have more than one wife. And it is, in fact, uncommon for an Emperor not to. Alliances are formed in this fashion, and heirs produced.”
“So if I marry Amanda right away, I’ll receive fewer of these offers?” Allistor sounded hopeful.
“No, you will still receive them. But a new bride gives you an excuse to delay in accepting any others for a time. One universal constant is that new wives demand a considerable amount of… private attention. While an Emperor may take several wives, wise ones only take new wives after a period of several months, or years. This is common practice, and will not be seen as offensive.”
Allistor was relieved and terrified at the same time. After their year together, he knew he wanted to marry Amanda. So did everyone else. But he hadn’t officially asked her. And now, if she got wind that he was rushing things to avoid potential polygamy… “Well, shit.”
Harmon laughed again, louder this time. “Do not worry, young Prince. I have seen the way Lady Amanda looks at you. She has claimed you as her own already. Marriage is just a formality.”
Allistor shook his head. “Maybe. But there are a lot of traps wrapped up in that formality. Including, but not limited to, how I ask her. Why I ask her. Whether I disclose the upcoming offers of more brides…”
“Don’t forget the offers of simple procreation contracts.” Harmon added helpfully, grinning widely.
“Whaaat?” Allistor drew out the word as he imagined what the term meant.
“There will be those who offer great sums for you to father a child outside of wedlock. Your bloodline will quickly become desirable to certain races and factions that will wish to furthe
r their ambitions based on having a leader of your stock. They will provide a genetically superior female for you to impregnate, then install your progeny as their future leader. They will be educated and trained to be rulers in their own right.” Harmon was clearly enjoying watching Allistor squirm.
Allistor, for his part, was conflicted. As a virile young man, the idea had a certain physical appeal. But the thought of having to explain all of this to Amanda, let alone Helen, Nancy, Meg, and a few of the other powerful ladies in his life, had him sweating slightly. He found he was very glad Amanda was riding on the Opportunity just then.
As his mind spun with visions of beautiful alien Princesses, Harmon reined him in.
“But let us return to the disposition of the planet. Will you colonize it? Or offer it up for wider colonization, much as Earth has just been made available?”
Allistor blinked a few times, forcing his mind to change tracks. “Is there anything on the planet to make it worth colonizing?”
Harmon shook his head. “We can certainly investigate that, but it seems unlikely there would be much in the way of rare and valuable resources. However, as you are learning, land has value. The planet is habitable, with an atmosphere that will allow farming and the raising of livestock. That alone will attract factions wishing to obtain a viable food resource. And there may be mineral resources that were not considered valuable by the dwarves or the goblins. One never knows.”
Allistor thought it over for a moment. “Like… maybe there will be a large forest that the Or’Dralon would be interested in? So that they would help me defend the planet if their own people lived there?”
“Now you’re catching on!” Harmon shot him a middle finger, then realized he’d chosen the wrong human gesture and switched to a thumbs-up, making Allistor laugh.
“I should have brought at least one of the analysts with me.” Allistor mumbled.
Harmon shook his head. “They are not computers, Allistor. One of the reasons you have them is that they can anticipate your actions and their consequences, and advise you of them. I am sure that they have already considered the possible paths for you, should you conquer this world.”
Shadow Sun Rebellion Page 39
