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Kingdom of the Weak 309. A week in the Dragon Empire
Upon hearing that he was coming from the Dragon Empire, Remian’s parents both gave him shopping lists. “School supplies?” Remian blinked. “You want me to bring books and stationery from the Dragon Empire?” “Yes, we’re almost at the point of scribbling on leaves here.” Lisa Vin’s voice came back patiently over the communications crystal. “School, huh.” Remian thought for a bit. “Dad, Mom, there’s some stuff I’d like everyone to learn. I think we should make some changes to the school and the learning systems.” “Great. Let’s have a meeting when you get back.” Damien Vin’s voice replied. “Just hurry back, all right? I don’t think your Mom or Phoebe can stand to wait much longer.” Phoebe, it seems, had become a lot closer to his parents while he was away. With a rueful half-smile, Remian finally ended the call and put down the communications crystal. His hand had been holding it so long, it felt numb. Then, looking at the crystal, Remian s
Kingdom of the Weak 310. With the Song Clan
The Song Clan estate was more like a separate town than a housing compound. It had its own shops, its own hospital, and several restaurants all of whom were open to the public at the entrance plaza. It also had its own school, its own library, and its own herb farms, among other things, which were not open to the public. In between what was open to public and what was not (sometimes physically) was the Song Estate Security Force. The captain of that security force was a grizzled veteran named Song Han. This was the guy Song Chen told Remian to look for. He eyed them with a frown. “Oh? What brings you to the Song Estate Security Center? You’re not just running in here from the rain, are you?” “I rather like the rain, actually.” Remian mused. “It’s like it has its own thrumming melody.” There was a short pause. Then, a small smile appeared on Song Han’s face. “Well, then, it seems little Song Chen has been making friends.” “How did you know it was Song Chen?” Remian marveled. “Does
Kingdom of the Weak 311. New Goals
Three hours after landing, reuniting and chatting with his parents and Phoebe, Remian finally sat down with George for a serious conversation. “You want me to plant… what?” George stared blankly. “These. They’re the seeds of Lenisu Vines. They’ll take about three years or so to mature before we can harvest Lenisu Bulbs.” Remian looked at him seriously. “These Bulbs are extremely important, George. I honestly believe they are the future of our world.” “Are they good to eat?” George asked doubtfully. “Or some sort of medicine?” “Better. They’re an energy source, like mana crystals.” George gaped. “We can grow mana crystals?!” “Not exactly. They produce electricity, not mana. Think of them as super-lemons.” “What do lemons have to do with electricity?” “Uh… someday, I’ll have to show you with a couple of wires. Just don’t try it with Lenisu Bulbs; you’ll die.” “But these… these are alien plants, aren’t they? Can they even survive on this world? Can they survive competing with the
Kingdom of the Weak 312. Choked
“Tim, I’ve brought him.” Mandy told Tim over the comms the next day. “He’s here.” “Professor Marakovichi, I presume?” Tim said politely. “Pleasure to meet you. We were hoping to consult you on a little project in the Wildlands…” “What sort of project?” “We want to develop a society that doesn’t rely on magic.” Professor Marakovichi choked. *** While Tim was dragging the unsuspecting Marakovichi into the maelstrom of change that Remian and George were floundering in, Aren, Zana, Taj and Nadia were setting about expanding the Kara-Goth settlement all the way to the Amber Gorge and the Misty Mountains. Since they now enjoyed peace with the Wilds and the Spectres were beaten back, they figured they didn’t actually all need to squeeze into underground quarters any more and could quite feasibly spread towns all across Shadowflash Fief. In fact, Aren went so far as to consult Lockjaw and Bright to see whether they would allow human se
Kingdom of the Weak 313. Worldwide Chaos
While Remian was engrossed in dreams of a brighter tomorrow, leaders across the rest of the world were engulfed in a nigtmare today. Over the week in which Remian was sleeping, the world was in tumult. As mana ran out everywhere, entire economies and industries began to shut down. Without crystal power, a huge amount of magic devices were rendered useless and even those which could be powered manually by mages began to go unused as hiring mages became more and more difficult and expensive. Some managed to pull together and adapt peacefully, giving up on power and luxury and magic, all but returning to the iron age. These were mainly small nations like Kiwi Ko, the Northern Sea People, the remnants of the Midlands Sea People, and half the East Sea People, those in the southern seas. The other half of the East Sea People (of the islands off the northern coast), along with many larger nations, turned to martial law to maintain order. Practically all of the
Kingdom of the Weak 314. Unaccepted
Remian soon learned that the reason why train parts were so expensive was that his ex-wife beat him to the punch. Jim explained it like this; “Tim called Mandy and Mandy called Marakovichi and now Ashdale is buying tons of stuff from Libertaria.” Also, “I’m pretty sure that Ashdale’s neighbors would soon discover what they’re up to, and will make moves to do the same. Libertaria knows that too, and fully expect demand to rise accordingly.” At this point, the countries of the world had four options to deal with the present crisis. First, do nothing and descend into anarchy. Second, revert to the iron age or thereabouts and settle for a life without modern amenities. Third, buy mana from the Dragon Empire, which was really expensive and would usually only be feasible if you were willing to either become a vassal of the Dragon Empire in exchange for your crystal supply or join the Dragon Empire outright. Fourth, they could race to adapt to steam-engine technology. This was best achie
Kingdom of the Weak 315. Influx
There was one thing that Isabella noticed most prominently when she joined Club Faith back at Ecclesia’s Magic Academy. There was a clause that in doing so, she also joined the Church as a registered Member. Upon joining, the Church promised this; their members would never go hungry. They might ask some work of her, and they had plenty of gardens in need of tending, plenty of floors that needed sweeping and lots and lots of stained glass windows that could use cleaning… but the point was, no matter how poor or badly off, an accepted member of the Church would be at least given food if they were ever in dire need. When hungry, they would be fed. When thirsty, they would be given a drink. When naked, they would be clothed. When sick, they would be visited or outright tended. Of course, of whom much was given, much would be asked in return, for the laborer was worth his reward; and the promise was specific to Church Members, not the regular Church-goers. Simply going to
Kingdom of the Weak 316. Rising Strength
Twenty thousand people. In the three weeks since Remian returned to the Wildlands, the population of Kara-Goth more than quadrupled. Construction was underway for major mining towns, Remian’s Craggy Falls, Tim’s Nightshare Farm and Song Chen’s Great Docks, but until they were ready, the masses crowded Kara-Goth and the Encles settlement. Campsites spread around the hills in every direction. Massive amounts of food had to be imported from Three Pines despite the Farms’ best efforts. Darian had a hand in helping with that, having elephant-sized fish brought over from Dragon Lake daily. The new immigrants were given nothing for free. They were given work, and accordingly were paid generously in order to keep up with the sudden spike in food prices. The highest paying jobs were to be found in Sabriane’s hospital, where the need for healing magic and medical skills were at an all-time high. Roads leading from Kara-Goth to the Amber Gorge mining towns sprouted up w
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- Kingdom of the Weak
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
