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2024-10-29 19:42:56[Tim?]
[Yes, Darian?]
[Can you go check on Mindy? I have a bad feeling.]
[She said she’s fine.]
[She always says she’s fine. Do you always believe her?]
[Usually. She’s a tough girl.]
[I know, but…]
[Darian, in case you didn’t notice, I can’t fly. Without Khar’al-dras, I’m just about useless in a fight of this level. Even if I went over and left Khar’al-dras here, there wouldn’t be much I could do.]
[Bring the dragon.]
[And leave the Wind Emperor alone without any correspondent? Are you serious?!]
[Okay, that would be a bad idea. He’s liable to comandeer the entire defense line and have them all charging the enemy blindly.]
[You mean, like George is doing right now?]
There was a short, awkward silence.
[I’ll bring the dragon.] Tim concluded.
[No, don’t. Keep an eye on the Wind Emperor. I’ll go see if George can muster up some backup for Mindy.]
***
[Backup?
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Kingdom of the Weak 289. Pierce
[Guys… I’m sorry.] [Mindy? Mindy!] Darian called. [Darian. They’re coming. Two Tier 8’s. Sharphorn and Three-Arms are headed straight for you.] [Blast!] Darian would have spewed bad words if he hadn’t been considerate of Mindy’s state of mind. [Gary! Hurry up!] [We’re going as fast as we can!] Compared to Mindy’s mental voice, Gary’s was tiny, like a little squeak. [Kor’ag! We’ve got incoming!] Darian warned. Kor’ag-dras roared, filling the skies with fire, but it was already all he could do to hold back the swarm of Tier 7 flyers. Adding another two more Tier 8’s on top of all this… [Tim! George! We need backup!] [We’re already throwing everything we’ve got at them!] George’s answer was filled with frustration. Then, there was a short silence. [Tim?] Darian dared ask hopefully, even as Three-Arms and Sharphorn approached. [I’m sending over the Wind Emperor.] Tim said at last. [Can you manage?] D
Kingdom of the Weak 290. Forward
“Forward!” Max shouted. With Marcus and Gaius injured and recovering in the Medical Tent, tonight it was his shift for command. “Iron Legion, forward!” “Ho!” Surrounded by untold numbers of hostiles, even the Iron Legion was flagging. Even as they ran forward, they did so cautiously, and thus, lacked the full might that should have been in their charge. Like this… mankind’s central forces failed to make any headway into the Spectres’ army. With a single glance back Max could see George at the end of his wits. As the battle wore on and the Flame Emperor fell, even more people began to hold back, and withdraw, and skirt the edges. Some squads even fell back. Max finally raised one hand, clenched into a fist. “Iron Legion, halt!” “Ho!” the Legion stopped. Max gritted his teeth. This could not go on. In that moment of silence, Max grimly held out his shield, and beat the flat of his sword against it. Clank! The sound was a lonely o
Kingdom of the Weak 291. Cost
In the skies above the central zone, Mal’thor-dras brawled with a shell-like Tier 8 Spectre spouting a dozen tower tentacles. To one flank, Tim and Khar’al-dras skirmished and tried to evade two Tier 8’s all by themselves. To the other flank, Mindy and the Flame Emperor had already fallen and the Red Fang had gone off to rescue them. The advancing party had Kor’ag-dras and roughly ten surviving Pale Dragons tangled up in a dozen Tier 7 flyers, Three-Arms and about one third of the ground Spectres’ adding their long-range attacks. While at that altitude the lower Tier Spectres simply couldn’t reach them, anything above Tier 5 still posed a deadly threat. Meanwhile the on the ground, the Iron Legion drove deep into the Spectres’ ranks and were engulfed. To George, it was almost as if the massed ranks of Spectres were a single huge beast that had opened up its maw and swallowed the sortie forces whole. He almost called them back at once, but thin
Kingdom of the Weak 292. Cost to come
Meanwhile, Remian had run into a most typical problem. “I need a what, now?” he stared blankly. “The Nine Dragon Jade Cauldron.” Professor Qin smirked. “Buy that for me, and I’ll give you the cipher.” That cipher, incidentally, was the fruit of Professor Qin’s thirty years of research into the ancient formation’s symbols. It was practically a dictionary and covered the remaining one third of the symbols that Remian hadn’t managed to decipher with the other professors’ help. Well, fine. The man wanted payment for his work? Remian could accept that. “Where would I buy something like that?” “That’s the thing. It’s only available in a students auction, and teachers are not allowed to participate.” Professor Qin explained. “Otherwise, I’d have bought it myself.” “Can’t it be found elsewhere? Another city, or some global delivery service?” Remian asked weakly. “A what?” Professor Qin blinked, then shook his head. “This cauldron and a
Kingdom of the Weak 293. Rising Costs
As lot after lot was auctioned, the bids rose ever higher. “Three hundred and forty one thousand!” That was the concluding bid of Lot 15. “Sold!” By the time Lot 16 came around, Chen Ho had basically already spent his entire budget. Ming Ye was down some 375,000 Black and by his own estimates, had 125,000 Black remaining to spend. Wu Tian, however, since raising his earlier spending limit, still had some 300,000 Black available. This made him the only remaining threat to Remian winning Lot 17. Hmm. Maybe he could just sit back and let things be… chances were, Wu Tian would pass over lot 17 and save the remainder of his already-extended budget for the Most Important Final Lots. Then again… was it worth the risk? Remian sensed out Wu Tian’s thoughts. The guy had no intentions for Lot 16. He wanted to save his money for the later lots. Did those later lots include Lot 17? Remian had no idea, and apparently, neither did Wu Tian. He was going to wa
Kingdom of the Weak 294. Leaving
Of course, it wasn’t as simple as packing up and saying goodbye. For instance, there was a very indignant Student Affairs Officer who rattled off something about required courses and assignments and field work to complete… Remian wasn’t actually trying to become a qualified formation master, so he totally ignored all that from the beginning. Was it important? Maybe, but he was a lot more concerned with going home. Not that he told that to Student Affairs. There were other issues to settle. Dorm fees, exit permit, traveling rations, souvenirs that they wanted to buy… Actually, no forget all that. Whatever would he need a permit for? What was the academy going to do, penalize his grades? Remian simply slipped out with Xiao Yan that evening, summoned the pod from its hiding place, and set course for Scorched Earth City. *** Meanwhile, George had all his allied forces retreat. With Tang Yin’s group safely back at Dragon Lak
Kingdom of the Weak 295. How To Seal A Spatial Rift
“What do you need to seal that Rift?” This was the biggest question on everyone’s minds as they met at a grim dinner that night. Tang Yin ventured an answer. “A couple of red mana crystals would be great…” “We don’t have any of those. Blue is as good as you’ll get and only a few are on hand.” George grimaced. Tim spoke up. “I have some, but we’ll have to fetch them from Fal’Herim.” “That would be great.” George said, in relief. Tim nodded and sent a message. “Then there’s the other question.” “What question?” “How long would it take?” “Four hours? Give or take.” Tang Yin suggested. “Give or take what?” Gary prompted. “Give or take another four hours.” Faces fell. The mood, already gloomy, dropped further. “Are we going to have to go through that again?” George groaned. “No, the scanning is already done. We don’t need those delicate intruments any more.” Tang Yin assured him.
Kingdom of the Weak 296. Adventurers Raid
While the battle raged on at the front, Mindy and George held a private conversation at the back. “You want me to do what?” Mindy stared at George blankly. “Get Tang Yin safely to the Rift and guard him for eight hours.” George repeated. “Didn’t we just do that?” “That was to scan the Rift. Now we need to get him there to seal it. Him, and enough crystals to support a spatial loop.” George explained. Mindy hesitated, then looked away. “It’s better to ask Darian or Tim. Someone with a Tier 8 comrade and enough power to get the job done.” “They’re busy fighting the Tier 8 Spectres. We don’t need overwhelming power for this job. We need stealth, and we need someone with knowledge of the terrain.” George paused. “That means you.” “But… but I’ve lost most of my powers. I’m not much stronger than an average Legionnaire and far less skilled with weaponry and Frames and… and…!” “It’s not about combat ability.” George shook his
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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
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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
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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
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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
