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2024-10-29 19:42:56From that point onward, things became even more confusing.
Asda sent her forces after the lynxmice, screaming that it was them who were at fault. This basically meant they went around chasing lynxmice in all directions, often without any actual lynxmice running in front of them.
The lynxmice attacked the palace and chased the Crown Prince and the palace guard around in circles.
The confused forces supposedly on defense duty in the city received direct orders to attack Asda.
The police shut down the marketplace and imposed martial law.
Two generals defected on the spot and proclaimed their support of Asda and fought against the police for control of the marketplace.
Three generals opposed them and surrounded the marketplace, then attempted to seize control of the airport.
The crown prince fled to the airport and found it half-controlled by military forces. Assuming the worst, his palace guard immediately began to assault the air
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Kingdom of the Weak 155. New industry in Fal’Herim
“Germat bought your Forge and then invited you over?” “Not quite. Germat invited me to join them, but the one who forcefully bought the Forge was a local.”” Andros told Remian. “They call him the Underground King.” “The Underground King?” Remian repeated. That phrase sounded familiar. Wasn’t that the guy the lynxmice said Tim was looking for? The so-called ‘True King’ of Fal’Herim? “So… this Underground King… he’s here? You’ve met him?” Remian pressed. “Uh… no. I met one of his lieutenants, Steeljaw Sarlash.” Andros shivered. “He’s… not the kind of guy you want to meet. He’s not the kind of guy anyone wants to meet.” They were starting to draw attention. Casting spells and raising energy barriers in public locations tended to do that. It wasn’t hard to guess that Andros was being held against his will; airport security was already alerted, but for some reason, their response time today was dismally slow… Given all the chaos goi
Kingdom of the Weak 156. The First Wasp
Days since last Beast Tide: 28. Current Kill Count: 875 (34 since yesterday). *** “Careful, now! Careful!” Arnold beckoned slowly. Mindy slowly eased the magic drive forward, carefully regulating a steady, small flow of mana. Bit by bit, she drifted toward him. They were testing the half-built prototype of the new Wasp fighter while waiting for the docks to load Fire Copper and Flaming Bronze onto the Red Fang. It was a tense day for Mindy; that batch would be the last batch she needed before she’d be able to afford the second-hand Sky Galleon she’d targeted and still have money left over to buy metals from Kara-Goth to trade. In order to keep her mind off the tension, and her teeth off her fingernails, Mindy went over to find Arnold to distract herself and eventually ended up testing the much smaller airship. The Wasp had three main sections, a forward pilot’s station, a central power unit, and a rear gunner’s station. By right, the corvette should be crewed by three people, pref
Kingdom of the Weak 157. Anti-magic for the Pit
“Take her up slow.” Mindy ordered. Talia sat in the pilot’s seat of the not-quite-completed Wasp prototype, sweat dripping down her face as she pulled back a handle, tilting the maneuvering thrusters so that the airship would be pushed upwards… “Not that slowly! Faster!” Mindy barked. Talia threw up her hands off the controls with a squeak. “I’m sorry!” “Don’t let go of the controls!” Mindy yelled from the basket tied to the turret frame at the back. “Izhan! Power it up! Bypass the controls and directly take us up six inches!” “But…!” Izhan gulped. “Just do it! We haven’t much time!” Down below, roars and neighing sounded. Max was shouting orders to the legionnaire trainees, changing their formations to better channel as many horse-type Wilds as they could into the smoke-hidden Pit. All around them, above, below, and to the side, ballistas and crossbows were firing. Mindy’s and Arnold’s simple preparations had taken a lot longe
Kingdom of the Weak 158. Handling the Underground King
Don’t tell Mindy, but she actually botched the job. But then what happened to the horses? How did they get freed? Well, while Mindy was wrestling with anti-magic in a swinging basket, Tim had found the Underground King. Then began an epic battle, the likes of which need not be described… Oh? You want to know what happened? Might I recommend we not go there? Do we really need to go through exactly what happened and how? I’ll confess it. The fight was not actually glorious or epic in any way. In fact, I’d go so far to say it was downright dirty. I don’t think you want to know what happened… You still want to know? You really, really want to know? Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. This was NOT the kind of fight you want to tell stories about. This was a fight between lynxmice and beggars, between bandits and spies, between a crime lord and a desperate tweenage boy. There was nothing glorious, nothing dignified, nothin
Kingdom of the Weak 159. Tipping point
It was a time of great upheaval. Many boars were about to lose their jobs at the farm, to be replaced by harder working, less rude, less greedy and far friendlier horses. The average price of grub in the farm market was soon to halve, while the prices of oats doubled. The price of honey-roasted oatmeal tripled. Huge swathes of land around the farm were cleared but left fallow, or given to open fields where horses could roam and graze freely. Acres and acres of new farmland was dedicated to oats and barley. The number of random Wilds attacks upon the farm and the protectors of the farm (mercenaries and adventurers on patrol, mostly) rose steeply as the western forest shrank and shrank once more… the Wilds of the western forest began to gather in groups. Farmers began to fear a large scale attack in spite of Doom’s orders in the past. Meanwhile, George was drowning in the sudden inflood of new population. There were roughly six thousand freed slaves arr
Kingdom of the Weak 160. Burdened Wings
Days since last Beast Tide: 32. Current Kill Count: 1065 (44 since yesterday). *** Getting a larger crew was easy enough. Unlike certified magi, Adventurers from the Guild still accepted Guild Points or Lir in payment. Mindy put up missions for round trip crews (from and back to Kara-Goth) offering 1000 lir for a week, six hour shifts, three-shift rotation. She got so many applicants, they had enough crew to manage a four-shift rotation. “Can we really put that many people on board the Red Fang?” Izhan shook his head. “Even Izak’s coming along, now.” “Both you and Talia are on board. What did you expect your brother to do?” Mindy shook her head. Fifty-two crew members were able to form four shifts of twelve each (under normal circumstances, battle situations was different). The engine room only had so much space, after all. Twelve people around the power core was already a squeeze. It went with the saying ‘many hands, light work’, but Mindy ac
Kingdom of the Weak 161. Downtime (1)
Remian opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar darkwood ceiling. He felt movement; the bed he was in, in fact, the entire room and the floor, was moving… “An airship?” Remian guessed. Squeaks sounded. There were two lynxmice in his room. One of them sent out a message. [He is awake!] “Where am I?” he asked. The other lynxmouse approached and scratched itself behind one ear. [I don’t know. Here?] “Where is here…?” Remian shook his head and changed his question. “Are we in an airship?” [Yes! We’re in the new airship! Uh… the old one. The new old one!] the lynxmouse struggled to explain. “This is the new second-hand Sky Galleon Mindy bought?” Remian guessed. “Mikii!” [Yes, yes!!] “Which means… we went from Fal’herim to Ashdale, and then left Ashdale… have we taken Iron Legion trainees on board?” [Not yet.] “Fresh out of Ashdale, then, and en route to Itarim.” Remian figured. “So… what am I doing here?”
Kingdom of the Weak 162. Downtime (2)
Remian stretched, feeling oddly good as he ate. He yawned. “Goodness, that was a good night’s sleep.” “More like three days, but yeah, I’m sure it was.” “Three days?” Remian blinked. “George too?” “George came in yesterday. He got even busier when we brought you in here on a stretcher, and…” Mindy shook her head. “Speaking of George, he got you something pretty nifty. He used it to keep running around long after he was exhausted on the last day.” Remian stared. “What did he use? Some kind of stimulant drink? Coffee?” “Not quite.” Mindy pointed to some weird metal heap at the side. “He used a ME-Frame and got you one too.” “What’s a ME-Frame?” “A Motion-Enhancement Frame. It’s the grandson of your prosthetic.” Mindy barked a laugh. “It’s a full-body exoskeleton. There’s an armor version for combat, and a frame version for adventurers. This is the frame version. It helps with everything, walking, mining, hunting, foraging… all so
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523. Comms
Somewhere along the line, he’d lost consciousness. George only realized it when he woke up to a splitting headache. “Ow.” He groaned. “What... where...?” “We’re on the way back to Sorrel.” Grace told him, appearing by his bedside. And it was a bedside, he realized. He seemed to be in the Kara’s Medical Bay. “I’m sorry. We had to retreat.” “Our... people?” George managed. “The HAC Troopers made it back. The Mechs... did not.” Grace paused. “We have the refugees though. And the Robotic Assembly Plant for Mining Drones. That’s all they managed to grab.” George slurred. “Mech pilots?” “Alive, if battered.” “Good. Alive is good.” George sighed. “This... didn’t go so well.” “Hey, at least we got the guys we were trying to save, and some machinery on top of that. You might say it was a success. A costly one, but a success.” “Casualties?” George asked. “Plenty of injuries to go around, but no deaths. So far.” Grace paused. “Some of the really badly injured might change that before lo
- Kingdom of the Weak
522. Second Aid Mission
“Were these really the best you could do?” George asked, eyeing the six hulking figures in front of him hesitantly. “Mmm.” Juni grunted. In front of them were six brand new Mechs. 2nd Generation products, they were armored weapons platforms on legs, with jumpjets for the signature ‘jumps’ that earned their generation the nickname, ‘Jumpers’. Or were they? George wasn’t entirely sure. When he looked at them, they really looked more like 1st Generation Walker-types. Those Jump Jets seemed to be an afterthought, an added equipment haphazardly strapped to their backs. “Would they really work right?” Juni shrugged. Given the time and materials he had to work with, George supposed he couldn’t expect better. He had only just received 2nd Gen tech. Until now, he’d been working with 1st Gen expectations and schematics. One of these Mechs seemed a bit worn, evidence that it had been built quite some time ago, and only recently been modified for George’s requests. “Fusion Cell for power, Pu
- Kingdom of the Weak
521. Next Step
It turned out that they also needed to acquire salvage rights to haul away ‘scrap metal’. Fortunately, that was a simple affair now that they had local currency. 50 USD and the matter was done. Grant, being the nearest specialist on matters of scrap to their location, graciously offered to transport their ‘scrap’ directly to their vessel out of sheer goodwill. Finally Benny and Sam went to try out the barbecued skewers. At Grant’s recommendation, though, they didn’t go to the Starport roadside stall. They ended up at another roadside stall run by a ‘foreign refugee’ someplace downtown not too far from Grant’s workshop. There, each skewer was loaded with rows of thick, juicy beef sausages, and only cost 20 USD for 10. Benny stretched. “Not bad for our first day. We’ve got three days here, don’t we? But we’ve already got half of what we wanted.” “What’s the other half?” Sam asked. “Technical manuals on engineering, power and propulsion. Tech, basically.” Benny yawned. However, whe
- Kingdom of the Weak
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
- Kingdom of the Weak
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
- Kingdom of the Weak
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
- Kingdom of the Weak
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
- Kingdom of the Weak
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
- Kingdom of the Weak
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
