“About two weeks.” Sato sighed and looked around Councilwoman Wong’s office. As they had come to work closer, he had come to call her Diana. There were few people who knew the stresses he was under, one of them being Diana.
“I can give you three weeks, then we need to start looking around. For too long we’ve been hiding on the outskirts of this system. We need to show the people that we are pushing forward, not just surviving,” Wong said.
“First, I want them to do full system scans, reposition sensor buoys. Nothing big—we show that we’re getting out there and it’s not too far that if something does go wrong, that we’ll be screwed. Then, and only if everything goes perfectly, will I send the recon corvette toward the nearest Jukal controlled system. If we can confirm that the telemetry information we have been given by Dave, Bob, and Shard is correct, then we can establish just what threats are around us.” Sato held Wong’s eyes.
“Okay, okay.” Wong held up her hands to placate the leader of her station’s military forces. “What about Emerilia?”
And now she gets to her real question. Sato waited a few minutes, collecting his thoughts.
“If everything checks out and we can confirm the accuracy of the information we have with a dozen different points, then I will send Captain Adams to perform reconnaissance on Emerilia. If there are people on the planet, then we will do what we can to aid them as long as we don’t endanger ourselves. Bob didn’t fully tell us about what is on or around Emerilia, but it seems that there are some kind of defenses in place. If the people of Emerilia ever became a problem, the Jukal Empire needed a way to destroy them. That could be nukes in the mantle, or orbital artillery—we just don’t know,” Sato said.
“Okay. We just need to show that now we’ve got these capabilities, we’re not going to just sit here.”
“Slow and steady—sure, it isn’t flashy, but it will keep us safe. Edwards is coming up with more wonders every day and Bob did promise to have a meeting with us next week. There’s plenty going on. We’ve increased our mining, growth of food; we’ve got technical magic—literally magic—at work with our systems. We’ve never been better,” Sato pointed out.
“I know. It’s just that if all of this is true, could it be true that there is a whole race of Humans and different subset races—that could be billions of people. We have less than a million here and Dave said that the majority of people were ten to twenty times stronger than normal Humans.”
“I know, but think of how strong we’ll be in just a decade. We’re increasing people’s life spans by years every day. The more people we have with these implants and interfaces, the stronger we can become,” Sato said.
“You want one of them.” Wong smiled at Sato.
“I won’t say I’m not jealous because I can see just how my people are benefiting in a big way from it all. Though I understand why I can’t get the tech yet.” Sato sighed.
“Who would have thought that we could have created super Humans from alien technology?” Wong laughed.
“There was probably some book or comic about it.” Sato smiled.
Wong snorted and sighed. “Okay, I’ll run interference. You get me those recon corvettes, and get them training. I want Adams to be as ready as she can as soon as she can.” Wong stabbed her finger into her desk to emphasize her point.
“I’ll have them ready as soon as possible,” Sato agreed.
***
Dave appeared in his chair and promptly rolled down a ramp, using his feet to brake himself.
“What the hell?” Dave looked around the rather large and empty room.
“Welcome to my home.” Bob changed from his Gnome body into one of a wolf Beast Kin, one that bore many similarities with Anna.
Dave had become used to people changing their appearances; instead, he studied the seat that Bob was sitting on. It wasn’t a recliner, but a proper command chair. There were screens, buttons, and all kinds of controls on his armrests. There were three other seats before him and a sloping U-shaped command area.
“This is a command center? Is this the command center of Emerilia?” Dave asked.
“Kind of. It certainly acts like it for me. Though it’s really just part of a much larger network. Come with me.” Bob walked out.
Dave rose from his chair and looked at the symbols around him. They were written in Jukal; he knew their shapes from the runes that he’d carved into multiple different items since coming to Emerilia. Dave walked through the halls. The lights turned on as they came through. The air was a bit humid but warm.
“Is this some bunker?” Dave asked, feeling enclosed in the halls as he followed.
“You’ll see,” Bob said in a smug voice.
Bob entered a lift. Dave joined him. They traveled upward through a few dozen levels.
“So, are you going to tell me where we are, and why I’m here?” Dave asked.
“Well, I’ll show you where we are because I haven’t been able to show anyone this place, ever, really. Also, you’re here because I know you can use what I have here to greater effect than I can. Also, you’re my backup plan if anything goes wrong.” The lift stopped and they stepped out.
“Anything goes wrong?” Dave asked as they stepped into a room. Chairs were all looking outward into a plain metal shutter.
“Want to see one of the best sights in the universe?” Bob smiled and opened his interface.
The shutters moved quickly, opening up to the observation deck Dave was standing on.
“Wow.” Dave looked through the thick polycarbide material that made up the observation bubble. The interesting material didn’t distract him as he looked down at Emerilia. He could make out Ashal slowly turning around and into Gudalo. Weather systems moved through the air; whites, greens, browns, and blues showed the beauty of the world below. That shining, beautiful and intricate marble rolled beneath as a vista of stars framed the planet.
Dave looked to the sides, noticing cannons, hangars, and anti-fighter batteries. “This is a warship and we’re in space?”
“This is an imperial carrier, six hundred years old and works as well as she did the day she was turned into my prison and home.” Bob rubbed a seat he stood next to affectionately.
“I should have thought of this. It makes perfect sense—need some kind of fail-safe in place.” Dave looked at the monstrous sides of the carrier. It must’ve been kilometers long and he couldn’t see how wide it was with the curved side of the craft.
“The ever-living caretaker.” Bob looked to Emerilia as one of the moons and sun appeared in their view, the observatory’s glass darkening.
They stood there for a while, just admiring the beauty that they were able to see in their lifetime.
“You know, I had so many people working up in space but I never got up there myself,” Dave said.
Bob held his comments, letting Dave talk.
“I always wanted to go into space. I never had enough money for the hotels in orbit, or even the balloons that would take you up for a few hours. Then, when I had enough money for it, I was an uninsurable nightmare if I wanted to go where my people were. I was worth too much to risk going into space.” Dave snorted derisively.
“Well, now here I am, actually over a planet. Kind of weird knowing that I will never see Earth. I thought of it as my home, but now I know that Emerilia is. There’s a rare beauty to seeing a world from on high.”
“It makes one feel protective,” Bob added as they continued to orbit Emerilia. “For many years, I deceived myself, thinking of myself as just some kind of preservation nut keeping alive a species for the sake of it. One day I was in here, strung out and tired by it all. I was crying actually and Anna found me. She asked me what was wrong.” Bob took a breath. “I said that I was tired of seeing so many of my Humans die.”
Bob turned, looking to Dave with his silver eyes. “Do you know what she said? She said ‘It’s always hardest for parents to see their children die before them.’”
Bob look
ed back to Emerilia. “That was the day that I realized that I didn’t think of myself as some manager of a zoo. I thought of myself as a surrogate father.”
They stood there for a while.
“Come, Dave. I have something to show you.” Bob moved away from the observation dome. The shutters started to close again as Dave followed Bob.
They took a short ride on the lift and appeared in a hangar. Instead of rows of fighters and smaller craft, there were rows upon rows of shelving and boxes all neatly stored away.
“This is my gift to you,” Bob said.
Dave checked a prompt that appeared off to the side of his vision.
Class: Friend of the Grey God
Status:
Level 3
Effects:
+30 to all stats
Access to hidden quests.
Access to the Imperial Carrier Datskun
Class: Bleeder
Status:
Level 2
Effects:
+20 to all stats
Ability to disable Jukal Link
Dave waved the prompts away as he felt as if something was connecting to his mind. “What the hell?” Dave scratched the side of his head.
Bob stopped and turned around. “Oh, that’s the Datskun’s systems connecting to you. I gave you commander rights to the carrier.”
The itch faded away and Dave looked to Bob.
“Think of turning the lights on and off.”
Dave did so and the room’s lights turned on and off in time with his thoughts. “Okay, that is seriously weird,” Dave said.
“Welcome to Jukal technology!” Bob laughed and moved to a box.
“I also got told that I can now disable the Jukal link,” Dave said.
Bob paused with his hand on a box. “Yeah, so, when you want to, you can stop the Jukal from watching through your eyes and using systems located within your own body,” Bob said.
“Devices in my body?” Dave asked.
“Questions later. Let me show you something cool first.” Bob heaved on the door handle of the box. It opened to reveal ingots stacked upon one another.
Dave’s eyes went wide with what he was seeing. He picked up one of the ingots, feeling the textures of the white metal in his hands. His Touch of the Land scoured the metal and assured him that his eyes weren’t deceiving him.
“All of this is Mithril? This is more than a yearly output of Mithril from all the Dwarven mountains!” Dave said.
“In here, I have the highest quality materials from across Emerilia—from pelts, to wood to metals and soul gems. I’ve even replicated a few of your vault-classed soul gems.” Bob led Dave through the racks.
Dave’s senses were pushed out, finding materials he didn’t even know of around him. It was more than a treasure trove; it was unimaginable to his mind.
Bob showed off different items he had: weapons that came from every aggressive species, books on their language, entire shelves that recorded species that had been killed off. The history and resources of Emerilia’s six hundred years was held in those shelves. They passed through holding areas that might have been filled with food, weapons, parts and fuel for the imperial carrier. They had been stripped away from the ship, giving Bob plenty of room.
Dave followed along, in awe of Bob’s collection of resources. “Bob, what is this all for?”
“Well, recording the species that have been destroyed—there is always something to be learned from them. The materials I’ve kept in order to have something ready if I ever needed it. Though since you’re here, I can gift them to you to be used,” Bob said, never stopping his stride.
“You’re going to gift this all to me? Why?” Dave asked.
“No one can really understand what the coming war will mean or what it will turn into. Dave, when I said that we’re fighting for the future of Humanity, I damned well meant it. Emerilia might be changed forever and the Jukal Empire can’t see what they’ve done. They just want to be entertained, given the next thing to talk about with their friends, to make bets on and suck their life away as they live their stagnant, boring lives. These creatures they’re letting out are more powerful than anything I have ever known. I can’t even compare them to a Jukal company, platoon, or brigade. They’ve never fought one another and the Jukal see Emerilia as someone else’s issue. It’s like news back on Earth: you see something and think that couldn’t happen to me and go about your lives. Well, here it is going to happen to them and they don’t even know it, just blindly wandering forward without a thought to what they’re playing with. If we survive all of the armies thrown at us, then we’re going to have to survive the aggressive species. If we can do that, then Emerilia’s people are going to be stronger than ever. What do you think the Jukal are going to do when they realize any of this?” Bob asked as a new door opened for him.
“Nothing good,” Dave said.
“They’re going to do everything they can to regain control of Emerilia, through whatever means necessary and then start it all over again.”
Dave looked around the new room. His eyes landed on rows of event horizons at the end of the room. Through many, he saw massive warehouses filled with materials and goods.
“You’ve started the basis of one of the strongest alliances on Emerilia. I need you to succeed and I need the armies that stand with you to be the strongest possible. All of this is for your use,” Bob said.
“Bob, those are portals…to other warehouses,” Dave said.
“Yes, they are. Didn’t you think that I would skim off a few goodies from the seeders? At first, I just wanted to get around easily, doing experiments and getting Emerilia up and running. Then it turned into stocking materials and items for trade or use when they were necessary.”
“This is incredible,” Dave said.
“Yeah, though how the hell you’re going to move this all I leave up to you,” Bob said.
“Crap.”
Chapter 33: Streamline
Dave appeared back in his experimental warehouse. He started to walk out, but as he looked around, he felt something was off.
“Bob! Need my chair back!” Dave yelled into the room.
A second later, his rolling chair reappeared.
“Thanks, dude!” Dave made to leave again, before he turned around and grabbed the carvers. He put bands of different metal into the burner, conjuring metal over his own hand to protect it. Dave didn’t have the time to experiment with the rings. He finished off three rings in ten minutes and put them into his bag of holding. He took off the amulet Bob had given him and put it into his bag as well.
He formed Mithril on his fingers and grabbed a section of Mithril. His runes lit up as his eyes turned to silver. Mithril, ebony, silver, and pieces of soul gems were integrated into the band. Dave put it on his hand, pulling heat from the fused metals.
Dave pointed his palm at a wall; a spearhead exploded on the Mana barrier.
Dave turned one of the three bands that made the bracelet as he started to walk out. He was getting a large Mana headache but he had a lot to do. Dave quickly exited the seeder and sprinted for the smithy. It took him just a few minutes to reach it. He found Kol not long after.
“I thought you were experimenting tonight,” Kol said.
Dave looked around, noticing that it was nighttime. With his night vision, the colors of day and night were just slightly off from one another.
“I was supposed to, but now I’ve got something I need to do. This is a gift for you.” Dave pulled out the carvers and put them on a workbench.
“What are they?” Kol asked.
“They’re carvers. Spin really fast at one end—will allow you and the rest to engrave metals much easier. I’ve got a factory making them downstairs. Right now I need to get off to Devil’s Crater, then Alephir, and the guild,” Dave said in rapid-fire.
“Everything okay?” Kol asked.
“Uh, well, kind of. Just need to make sure that some things are taken care of. Just got a b
ig helping hand on the supplies side.” Dave made to leave, paused and looked back to Kol. “Talk to Deia and see if she knows some bow makers. Oh, and we’re going to need Dwarves who know how to build artillery, the new titanium artillery. If you can find any of those people, then get me some plans on what they would need to set up a factory. I’ll see if I can’t get some Aleph to help speed up the process.”
“What do we need that all for?” Kol asked.
“The coming war,” Dave said, remembering Bob’s words when they’d passed through a portal into one of his massive warehouses. This might look impressive, but the creatures I have in holding take up nearly twenty times the room and are more deadly than anything your current group of Players have ever seen. The look in Bob’s eyes more than his words had gotten across to Dave: Bob was scared by these creatures.
It was past time that Dave got to working on making sure Emerilia was ready for what was to come.
“I should be back by tomorrow.” Dave opened up his interface as he ran out of the smithy, toward the teleport pad.
“What about the new smiths and Ukon?” Kol yelled.
“Hire everyone you think is worth the investment. I might be back in time to talk with Ukon!”
Dave sent messages to Alkao, Hamdir, and Jesal. It was going to be a busy night, just not in the way he was hoping. Jesal was the first to reply.
Private Message
Jesal> What’s up?
Dave> I’ve just come into a windfall of materials. I can’t use them all and I am willing to sell them to the Dwarves, but with the condition that they are to be used for updating the armor and weapons of the Warclans.
Jesal> We’ve got a lot of projects going on that would need those materials. I know the Warclans are a big priority. Though I can’t make that commitment without more reason.
This is Our Land (Emerilia Book 5) Page 32
