Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  A lot of his gay childhood was gone. She couldn't return it. She no longer blamed the Imperium for the loss of him, his brothers, or their father though. They had shown mercy when they need not have. She could at least try to do the same.

  During the winter, she had come to realize that she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Nay, she was trying to walk a tight line between her desire to remove the princess and Imperium presence from her lands while on the other side having her gratitude and stated debt for returning her youngest son.

  And there was something more, Duluth needed leadership. They needed what the Terrans were giving freely. They needed it badly, far more than the Imperium did. So, perhaps the princess could stay … for a time.

  And then there was Domina Rasmussen though. She had heard about the ambush, and although her neighbor had not told her what she'd intended with the draft of men she'd requested, she could very easily guess who and who had been behind the ambush. It was leverage, something she'd have to be very careful about using lest they end up going to war with each other.

  She was certain that neither of them wanted to draw unwanted attention. For the moment, it was best to let things lie and work on rebuilding their domains. For now what had happened could remain in the past, safe … for the moment.

  ~~~^~~~

  Count Mallory considered again how to beat the enemy. At the moment, he couldn't even see the princess as the enemy. She had helped his people and continued to help them despite the invasion into her lands. His people were scattered, in disarray, out of hope and starving. She was working to change that. He couldn't fault her for that quest.

  And yet, she was there, in his lands, taking over. Many resented it. He heard the whispers. But they could not stand up against the Imperium Legions. They just couldn't, not with the infernal Terran weapons. That left one choice, if they can't beat them join them, which led to the natural conclusion that marrying the princess and then taking control of Duluth back slowly over time was their only option.

  The boy though, Siegfried. He wasn't sure how pliable he was. Obviously, Farragut had his hooks into the lad. He needed to explore that, and how to replace Farragut, break the chains he'd forged and replace them with his own.

  If the boy was not malleable, he'd have to find a replacement though, one even more suitable.

  He made a note to look into that carefully. The boy was younger than the girl, perhaps someone slightly older? Someone she could look up to? Tall, relatively handsome? He frowned.

  He had spent only a short time in his lands before returning to the capital when Skadi had begun to ease her grip on the land. He had another trip soon; he might be able to find a lad for his purposes.

  He intended to find out.

  Chapter 3

  Iset was on the pier, seeing off her mate as he left with the morning tide when she heard soft voices out to sea. She tried to see through the morning fog, tightening her shawl and wondering if they were coming back because they'd forgotten something again.

  It was always something; Julius would lose his head if it wasn't attached.

  She couldn't see through the gloom though. There was some light, and she definitely wasn't imagining it.

  She was getting the lines ready when she saw a prow pierce the morning fog like a beast rearing up out of the sea. Her eyes widened in shock. It had the carving of a beast, one she'd heard only tales of. That was not Julius!

  She slipped but managed to scramble to the bell and ring it loudly several times even as the ship pulled up to the pier. Another was coming up behind it.

  " Pirata ! Pirata ! Pirata at the wharf!" she screamed as she ran, letting her shawl fall on the pier in her terror as she raced for the fishing village and safety.

  She heard a guttural laugh behind her and kept pumping her legs, running through the village, pounding on doors and screaming her warning.

  She had gotten halfway through the small village when she saw a pair of beasts chasing her. She wailed in terror at the six-legged Garmr, each black with spiked collars. Their split jaw opened, and their juices slavered as they gave chase.

  She stumbled on a loose cobblestone and fell, trying to roll as she did but the beasts were upon her, tearing her to pieces even as the rest of the sleepy village woke to additional terror in their midst.

  ~~~^~~~

  Imperium Capital

  Eugene Ryans, Terran King Consort to Deidra wondered about the recent twists and turns in his life—married to a younger woman with a history and who was now very pregnant. They were about to start a family.

  He shook his head in wonder.

  He had been a successful billionaire inventor and business owner on Earth before he'd gotten into finding and trapping a wormhole that prowled the planet. He'd gotten scoffed at by many until they'd actually done the deed and shown it to the public. After that everyone had wanted a piece of the pie.

  He had insisted on taking a team to see what was beyond the portal. They'd come with a military team and fully outfitted with military, scientific, and survival gear, expecting an empty planet. Instead they'd found a civilization in the process of being invaded by another.

  They'd tried to stay out of it, but he'd dug himself into the mess when he had instinctively rescued Deidra and Zara. He still regretted not getting there in time to prevent their rapes and the death of their little brother Balthazar. He had no regrets about saving the girls, though they hadn't exactly been grateful.

  They'd had a series of adventures trying to return them to their people. Along the way, he'd lost a few people on his team due to the alien beasts or the invaders. He'd had to rescue the princesses a few more times before they'd gotten to the capital. There he and his team had realized they were stuck. Between them and the gate to home was the invading army. Their only choice was to help the natives fight them off.

  Turning lose their bag of Terran technical tricks had been what had turned the tide in the invasion. They had been careful to restrict the technology flow. Along the way, they'd decided to help the natives in different forms. Some of their living conditions were appalling.

  He'd found himself more or less roped into a relationship with Deidra along the way. He'd gone along with it initially out of political expediency and to shore up her base of support for her house when her father had died.

  He'd thought that he could return with the others once the war was won but found complications along the way. One of them being the sorry state of affairs in the Imperium and Duluth. Another had been a minor plague and then the unexpected death of the queen mother.

  That event had more or less sealed his fate. Deidra and Zara had clung to him, and he'd realized he couldn't abandon them in their hour of need. He'd come to admire both ladies for their passionate tempers and beauty. Deidra most of all. He'd seen that hot temper aimed at him too many times, but he'd also seen her other side, the empathy for her people. Had he left, her last support would have crumbled under her, and she wouldn't have lived through the winter.

  Or, some lord would have forced her into an unwanted marriage, and she would have been bitter, dying once an heir had been secured.

  So, he'd stayed. Along the way, he'd come to realize that her hot-tempered passion against him had morphed into something else. He'd been uncertain of it for a long time even as he'd seen the majority of the survivors from his team home.

  He had expected a few like Max to remain since he'd married a native, but Doctor Carter and the others had shocked and floored him.

  "Eugene! Can you watch the radio install?" a familiar voice bellowed. He turned, orienting on it until he found Max. Speaking of the devil he thought in amusement. He cupped a hand to his ear.

  "The install. I've got to handle a problem," Max said, first pointing to the team on the tower lifting the new antenna farm up piece by piece, and then pointing to the capital.

  Eugene nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.

  Max shot him a jaunty salute and then took off.

  That
was another thing, courtesy of Deidra and Zara. Despite everything he'd done, he had become more or less resigned to being called by his hated first name. His wife and sister-in-law had led the charge, perversely using it. His friends had eventually followed suit. He'd wanted to wring all of their necks but had more or less given up. He'd come to realize the more he tried to fight it the more perverse pleasure they got out of twisting his tail over using it.

  He had gone by his last name, Ryans, his adult life. Eugene had been a relic but Deidra had insisted on using it though and he'd eventually given in to her steely whim.

  It was that or sleep on the couch, and he had no intention of doing that.

  He turned from watching the Flying Legion drill to check on the install team. So far so good. He used his binoculars to get a better view. Yeah, they got it he thought. The team was making the right connections. They'd know for sure once it was all set up.

  As they readied another piece to the puzzle in the rigging, he turned to look at the drill.

  The new cavalry unit was called the Flying Legion. The plan was for the cavalry unit to have multiple outposts around the Imperium in order to respond to emergencies quickly and efficiently.

  For the moment, they had to rely on animals for movement, most common were branacks. The bipedal beasts were light and fleet of foot but had a limited amount of endurance and could only carry light loads long range.

  But Max was looking to change that. He was working on building native vehicles. Ideally, they'd be outfitted with their own LAV or other vehicles or APC. But he'd settle for dirt bikes if it got them to where they needed to go in a hurry. Hell, he might even eventually get a parachute division going if the bigger planes took off.

  He made a mental note to have someone look into better padding for helmets.

  ~~~^~~~

  Imperatrix Deidra looked out at the capital of the Imperium from the balcony in her castle and noted many of the changes wrought by her vitas sodalis and his people. She rested her hand on her gravid belly. She was fulfilling one imperative of the royal line, to provide an heir. She had become pregnant in the early fall and was heartily tired of the state, though many said she glowed.

  She hated her girth, her clumsiness, though she secretly loved and hated how others fawned over her. She ran a hand through her blond locks and smiled as she looked down and caught sight of her husband.

  The early morning breeze made her adjust her shawl for more coverage and warmth. She knew from her classes with the medicus Carter that she would not catch a cold from a chill, but she still didn't want to get cold.

  Eugene and his people had wrought major changes to her people, and they were making even more now as the spring came. He was stubborn, strong, and every digitus a leader. She had initially resented him, resented that he had saved her and Zara but had failed to save her brother. He had saved them several times, and her late parents had insisted they marry.

  It had been cold political calculus; she knew it. They'd desperately needed Eugene and his people's treasures. And they had come through. She could have discarded him then but political expediency had forced her to his side. She'd resented it for a long time but had realized that he didn't lord over her. Quite the contrary, he deferred to her judgment on many things, especially when it came to politics.

  None of her people would have treated her like that. To them she would be nothing more than a brood mare, a way to power for their bloodline, to be used to cement alliances and then eventually discarded. His approach was a refreshing change but one she was still trying to understand.

  She had been fearful he would have returned with his people once the gateway was open once more. But he'd decided to stay by her side to aide her. She had been intensely grateful for that.

  He had given her space to come to terms with all of the changes in her life. She'd found she hadn't wanted it; she'd wanted, nay, needed family. She'd clung to him as a crutch to support her house and her nation and herself. She'd come to rely on him. A part of her had resented her dependence on him, but she'd buried it. Eventually, she'd let it go.

  When the morning sickness had struck and Doctor Carter had confirmed she was pregnant, Eugene had turned tender and attentive, another change from the normal males in the Imperium. Along the way, she had come to the startled realization that she did love him dearly.

  Even if from time to time, she wanted to strangle him. She was pretty sure he knew it and acted up on purpose too.

  Her lips pursed in amused annoyance at that thought as she turned away and got back to work.

  ~~~^~~~

  Eugene watched as the workers finished setting up the enlarged HAM radio antenna farm on top of the tower. Each of the men and women wore hard hats and safety harnesses. They had learned after a couple of slips and near falls to treasure the Terran's insistence on safety.

  With the new antenna, they could hopefully contact Kattegat, the Duluth capital, on a more regular basis.

  That was the plan at any rate. He had to remind himself though that they had more access to power in the capital. It meant they could transmit a powerful signal but not necessarily receive the weak signal from her easily. Max had worked out a series of relay stations to the border, but they were still a work in progress.

  He hoped everything was okay. He was well aware that Duluth was a big problem. They needed to get a handle on the agricultural issues there. He was tempted to send Nate and Mary, but they were stuck on the whole science expedition.

  He frowned. Enticing them with the idea of going north and getting samples along the way, while also gaining access to trophy rooms and the libraries in Duluth had come to naught. They'd have to figure something else out or just let them go.

  They had improved on the road east through Emory. A rail line was going out in all four directions, but most of the work was on the northern line at the moment. A majority of their construction budget had gone to building three new forts, one at the border to the badlands in the north, another on the other end of the pass, and a bigger fortress at the gateway plateau to protect the gate and equipment there.

  They didn't want any power grabs from the Grand Duchess of Caliope. She was reported to be a wily one. That was why there was a large detachment of troops at the fort with more modern weapons as a deterrent.

  Each fortress was a frontier one, though they intended to make them more permanent with stone and concrete in time. They had one thing frontier forts weren't known for though, a runway. They were dirt strips, but they too would be improved in time.

  He looked over to the balcony and noted his wife there but she was turning away before he could wave. He shrugged off the missed opportunity. There would no doubt be plenty of others in the future.

  ~~~^~~~

  Doctor Nate Billings checked on his assistants and then nodded. He was bored, getting more bored by the day now that most of his duties in the capital were just about done.

  He had finished cataloging the library and scanning the contents into their computer databases over the long winter. His assistants had scanned all of the books, scrolls, maps, and other material within the capital as well. They had even set up a 3D scanning station to scan all of the animal trophy heads. He had a database of them, measurements of skulls, and other data. He'd even talked Max into making a handful of 3D prints to have hands-on models of the scans to show his students.

  He had overseen changes to the stables as well as the local farms in the area. Some of his students had gone out further afield to propagate those changes further and further afield to eventually cover the entire Imperium. He was anxious for a new challenge and the promise of going on the delayed science expedition.

  The imperatrix, queen in English, had promised him and his colleague Mary that they could go as soon as the planting was complete. Together they had continued to plan the expedition while doing that and lending a hand with setting up libraries, schools, and the college. He didn't mind teaching animal husbandry classes at the college; he'd pick
ed up a few good students there, students he intended to bring with him on the expedition. He was still uncomfortable with the veterinary work though.

  Mary continued to counsel him to remain patient, but it was hard, so terribly hard when there was an entire world out there to explore.

  ~~~^~~~

  Eugene ran the usual daily gauntlet of servants and ladies trying to seduce him. He was pretty sure by now that it amused Deidra, though there had been a time initially where she'd been possessive and rather jealous. She had a similar problem though but had calmed down when he hadn't taken the bait.

  She occasionally got a bit jealous whenever a woman wanted his time, even if they weren't flirting with him. Like when Domina Pallin wanted his attentions. He was pretty sure the woman was aware his wife was watching and liked to cause hate and discontent as part of some political ploy.