Home / Sci-Fi / Kingdom of the Weak / 101. George’s Plan
101. George’s Plan
Author: VicL
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56
George walked out of the Guild Hall feeling like the world had been swept out from under his feet.

“It can’t be! I won’t let it!” he vowed inwardly. “Remian can’t just die like that!”

Growing up with the Circling Ravens, he had always had to stay indoors or closely under the watch of a slayer, because outside, there were slavers who kidnapped children. A lot of his friends disappeared over the years that way. The outside was a scary place, and that’s why food was scarce, and expensive. George longed to take care of his friends, to plant food in a garden and provide for everyone so that they would never have to go hungry again. But he couldn’t leave. A little herb garden in Mandy’s kitchen was the best he’d been able to manage. Going out was impossible and far too dangerous.

Until Remian arrived. Suddenly, they weren’t afraid to go out any more. He was an agent of the Iron Legion! As long as he was there, as long as they were with him, nobody was afraid to leave the tavern, to leave
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  • Kingdom of the Weak   103. Deepsilver

    The Black Depths Lake was a deep, dark mystery. While most lakes would seem friendly, like shimmering curtains, or clear like a mirror, the Black Depths had dark green waters that swirled ominously, as if daring a young, clueless boy to brave its depths. George was not that daring. All he wanted to do was stay in his nice, safe, farm and grow cabbages or some other edible foodstuffs. Diving into the Black Depths to meet with the Deepsilver Lord was not his idea of having fun. Given a choice, he did not want to go into those waters. “Um… hello?” George tried. [Anyone there?] In the deep, something stirred and shifted. A sparkle of silver flickered. [Hello…?] Geroge tried again, really, really not wanting to go down there. In the darkness, light sparked. A single, radiant flash, sending untold numbers of fish and water spawn fleeing in all directions. Meanwhile, George sat down at the lake glumly. “What am I even doing here? What

  • Kingdom of the Weak   104. More Deepsilver

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  • Kingdom of the Weak   105. More… well, just more.

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  • Kingdom of the Weak   107. Vin

    Mindy’s first question; “Are they… all right?” “Bueeehhh!” the younger boy threw up on the spot, and the younger girl, the youngest of the lot, looked green enough to join him at any moment. “I need a toilet. Fast.” The older girl, the teenager, added hurriedly. “And I need a place to rest.” Remian’s mom looked pale. His dad, a wrinkly, kindly faced man with graying hair, smiled and said, “Don’t worry about us, we’ll manage…” “My carriage is over here.” Remian pointed. “I have a suite in the Adventurers Guild.” “I think we can give them rooms of their own.” Mindy mentioned. Remian considered briefly. “True. But I’ll pay for their rooms with points.” “No time. I really, really need to go, now!” his sister squirmed. “FDF camp. That way.” George pointed. “Airport inn. Over here.” Mindy gestured. “Bucket?” Tim offered. The second sister grabbed the bucket and used it the way her brother earli

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  • Kingdom of the Weak   109. To Learn

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    523. Comms

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    522. Second Aid Mission

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    521. Next Step

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    520. Uber States Colony

    “Black Fang, you are cleared for docking. Follow the designated path and welcome to Trifer, colony of the Uber States.” Benny stood on the observation deck of the Black Fang below the bridge, listening to the conversation between the comms officer and the dock authorities. He eyed the massive sprawl of structures and smoke emitted below and wondered. “This is what they call a ‘small’ colony?” The colony was bigger than Craggy Falls, Kara-Goth and Nightshade City put together. “Just how many people live here?” Benny asked next. “According to our sensors, about half a million.” The bridge crew told him. Okay, that was less than the human population of the Sorrelian Migration, which, after including the Cumin survivors, was over 800,000. They shared the sensor feed with Benny, Sam and Foxy. Looking at the scope, Benny realized that most of the colony below consisted of machinery and robots. Furthermore, what he saw on the surface wasn’t even half the colony. The entire complex went

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    519. Scoop

    That evening, Benny and Sam left with Tim’s battle group, headed for the nearest Uber States outpost with medicine in the cargo holds. This left only one freight galleon to ferry materials and regretful space miners from the surface to Sky Haven. “It’s going too slow.” Remian decided. “I need to call Raven.” With Mindy busy trading across star systems, Raven had inherited (bought over) her airship fleet and company on the surface. They built more gunships and scout ships than freighters these days, mainly focused on providing recon and fire support to ground forces fighting Undead. But it was those freighters Remian needed now, the bigger the better. “We need them refitted for extreme high altitudes, as high as they can go.” Remian explained. “Also we need them spaceworthy, at least up to low orbit.” “You want our airship freighters to fly into space?!” Raven spluttered. “Yes, but not on their own. I want them to haul cargo and passengers as high up as they can. Around 30km woul

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    518. We should call Remian

    “Relax, I’m not asking you to build them from scratch. You’ll need to remodel a Galleon and a trio of our current Dropships. We do want proper Mech Carriers in the future, but for now, we need to deploy urgently, so we’ll just remodel what we have.” Ermine brought up some projections. “The Mechs in question are going to be Light Walkers, designed and built by J-Armory. Juni’s had a workable prototype for a long time, but it’s never been needed until now. Live testing is scheduled to start in three days. They’re powered by Fusion Cells, the kind that looks like dustbins, so you won’t need to worry about fuel lines, just cell-swapping. You won’t need to worry about replacing the He3 in the Fusion Cells either; spent cells will be sent back to J-Armory for recycling or refueling or whatever it is they do. Same goes for the weapons; Jamie’s J-Arsenal will handle maintenance and replacement and all that. The ship only needs to carry the Mechs, deploy them, and run basic maintenance. Repai

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    517. Objectives and Objections

    They met online the next day. Remian opted out, letting them handle it. Upon bringing up the subject of the Woofers’ request for more aid across different planets… Ermine snorted. “I refuse.” “What?” George stared. “I refuse to help them.” Ermine said stoutly. “I know that you guys all have some sort of savior syndrome, and it’s something that Remian seemed to have passed down from the very beginning, the sort of meddlesome hero complex that has you all trying to save the world at personal cost, but I’m no hero. I’m Tau, and we’re practical survivalists. We simply can’t afford to go around saving everybody. We need all our strength and resources to save ourselves. As for the Woofers, as a collective, they are a Class 5 Star Civilization, a whole class more advanced and stronger than us. They have their own governments and their own fleets. Let the Woofers help the Woofers.” Xiao Yan cut in. “As you say, they are a Class 5 Star Civilization. Since you’re talking about praticality, t

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    516. Changing Gear

    “Go, go, go!” green light flared in the bay of the Dropship as the floor fell away. George and twelve other figures were unceremoniously dumped on the ground nine feet below. They landed with heavy impacts. George staggered, realizing the gravity on this world was at least twice what he was accumstomed to back home. For a moment, he regretted leaving his Frame back on the ship, but they were here to clear the bandits out from a city center, meaning tight spaces, narrow access points, and needing to take care to avoid civilian casualties. Or at least, that was the plan. George and his squad had been deposited on the outskirts of the city, at the very border of a suburban district. “Incoming!” someone yelled. George crouched as something exploded; the ground shook and chunks of dirt flew through the air. “Get to cover! Return fire!” George called, even though he wasn’t entirely sure where the attackers were, exactly. The guys diving behind nearby garages and a public toilet clued hi

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    514. Out there

    Quite predictably, the first of those calls to reach Sorrel II was from their dear friends, the Woofers. Three Paws explained it. [This is from Kelso III. It’s an agrarian world, roughly eighty hours’ flight from here for our fleet. Local gang bosses have titled themselves warlords and suppressed the citizenry with brute force. They take whatever they want, and demand whatever payment they like, on pain of death or torture. Local law enforcement has been completely overrun and even planetary militia couldn’t save the settlements under their control. The best our local paws could do is contain the situation and prevent it from getting worse.] Remian sipped hot coffee. Eighty hours flight for the Woofers Fleet should mean a bit less than seventy for the Tau fleet. “That’s rough. But what’s the point of calling us here to tell us this?” [We can help them. Just one division of your fleet could make a huge difference against these local gangs.] At the moment, the Sorrelian fleet consist