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2024-10-29 19:42:56The most obvious change to Fal’Herim was that Lynxmice were everywhere.
Before, they lurked and watched from the shadows. But now, they ran out freely, playing with the children on the streets, sunbathing on the rooftops, frequenting the shops with their new human Comrades…
Oh yes. Remian recognized Comrades when he saw them. Lynxmice sitting on people’s shoulders or helping them fix things in places hard for humans to reach… somehow, over the past week or so, Tim had managed to introduce Comrades to Fal’Herim, even though most of them were Field Lynxmice or Desert Lynxmice.
“We’ve taken over everything.” Tim assured Remian. “Underground and above ground alike.”
“Yeah, you’ve even taken over the royalty.” Mindy shot Asda a dark look.
“Pretty much.” Tim shrugged.
The industrial district likewise had undergone huge changes. Tim had brought them underground to protect them during the Beast Tide, and afterward, they decided to stay there.
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Kingdom of the Weak 328. Finding One’s Own Answers
Time was the deciding factor. Remian’s plans went like this; following the most reliable escape route, they would need a fully functional Warp Gate and a massive evacuation fleet within two hundred years. The Warp Gate alone could take fifty years to construct, depending on the equipment and manpower available in space. That’s right; in space, not on the ground. Something that big could only be constructed in zero-gravity, and would need to be assembled by colonists living in space. An entire generation could be born and grow up their whole lives doing nothing but building that Warp Gate. If they had trouble, or things slowed down, they might need two generations or even three. Why fifty years? Well, getting the materials for the Gate alone could take decades. It would involve mining asteroids, and mining ships could take years to make the trip out, extract the ores, and return. Using ion propulsion, it could take some five years just to make the trip to the asteroid belt. Actually
Kingdom of the Weak 329. North and South
They split up. Alani, Gary, Jamie and Juni would go to Dragon Lake to scavenge parts, while Isabella and Siti went north to Kara-Goth to procure supplies and find suitable convoys. “Ask Mindy if we could borrow her Kara-Goth workshop and tools. We’ll meet up there.” Alani suggested. “See if you can move the Lockjaw from the docks to the workshop while you’re at it.” The north team didn’t have much trouble. Most of it was math and arguments over spending. Isabella, in charge of logistics, wanted to save as much of the budget as she could. Siti wouldn’t hear of it. “A balanced diet is a must! That’s a basic for health!” “It’s just a weekend…” “It’s a big weekend! The bigger the weekend, the more important it is to keep everyone in good health!” So despite Isabella’s complaints, Siti made sure everyone had more to eat than just biscuit rations. Meat, vegetables, fruit… she bought them all in precise proportions, according to everyone’s he
Kingdom of the Weak 330. Comparison
Around that time, a ten year old girl was lost in a mall in Ashdale. One of Mandy’s group, she had gotten left behind during a shopping trip. Alone and frightened, she stayed right where she was crying for the better part of four hours, much to the dismay and the souring of moods of many perturbed shoppers. At last, she was rescued and spent half the day moping around being comforted with treats and sweets and still sulking through the day, as if blaming everyone for herself getting lost and left behind. Those adults around her merely shrugged indifferently. After all, she was just a little girl. She was only ten years old. *** In those four hours, ten year old Alani crossed continents. “Land ho!” the call rang out from the lookouts at the front of the convoy, passed along ship to ship, and then officially announced via comms crystals. “That’s the Midlands.” Isabella informed them. “What you’re looking at it either Itarim, the
Kingdom of the Weak 331. The Reef
With the extra weight on her, Alani saw fit to activate the extra Feather Fall Scroll as they went down. Splash! They landed in the water. Alani, Moonlight and Flare surfaced in rapid succession, gasping for air and paddling in the open sea. Alani looked around for land, but couldn’t see any islands nearby. “Oh, scrap…” Alani gasped, suddenly seeing an immense flaw in her weekend plan. “Yip!” Moonlight called her. [Over here!] Alani turned around. “What?” “Yi!” [This way!] Alani swam over easily, almost at home in the water as she was on land, feeling the ebb and flow of the waves deeply familiar. “What is it?” Suddenly, her foot felt something. Something solid. Alani stood up, and then stumbled as the waters somehow seemed to recede, leaving her standing on… “A rock? A reef?” Alani stood there in a daze, feeling heavy after leaving the water so suddenly. “Wait, what just happened? Why is the water receding…? Is it… a t
Kingdom of the Weak 332. Group 2 at the Midlands
“Alani!” Isabella was half-crying when they found her at the bakery. Heads turned the moment the locals heard that cry. “Alani? That’s the name that thunder was calling for?!” Alani half-blushed, half-grimaced and turned to look at the ceiling with an innocent whistle. “I don’t know these people…” But alas, she could not escape. Jamie jumped on her, grabbed her up and squeezed her so tight she thought she would pop. “I thought you were done for!” “We came looking for you. Even before the storm properly ended, we were already descending.” Siti told Alani. “I told you to leave me behind!” Alani protested weakly. “We had a vote. Your proposal was outvoted five to one.” Gary informed her. [Six.] Ember added. [Seven.] Crimson voiced. [Eight.] Moonlight wagged her tail. [Nine!] Flare joined in. [And ten.] Grandpa Reef added, just for good measure. Alani looked at her friends around her, five hu
Kingdom of the Weak 333. Remian’s disappearance
Alani was making fast friends with the winged horses in the Neutral Zone. “Ponies!” the little girl was thrilled. “With wings!” “Uh…” the dignified Lord of the Wilds representing the Pegasus King found himself abruptly hugged by a giggling child and fawned over despite his best efforts. She immediately tried to decorate him with a crown of flowers, and then while he was seriously discussing matters of state and territory with the Emperor, she painted his hooves pink. [Where did that nail polish even come from?!] spluttered Summer Rain, Prince of the Pegasi, second son of the Storm Pegasus King, and Lord over the southern region of the Neutral Zone. It was NOT dignified! But what could he do? Standing before the Deep Emperor on behalf of his father, Summer Rain could only bemoan his poor timing and having gained the unfortunate attentions of the Emperor’s new Comrade. [One last thing.] The floating little avatar of the Deep Emperor inst
Kingdom of the Weak 334. Practicing Psionics
In a certain disreputable looking building in the slums of Fal’Herim, a young man lay tied up in bed, with the air shimmering around him. He had been locked into the room by his captors while three of them and Steiner kept dashing out to the toilet and the fourth guy wanted lunch. For the time being at least, Remian was left alone in his little jailroom. Psionic power flared. Anyone with decent psionic senses could point straight at him with their eyes closed, regardless of what walls lay between them. This was the very first thing Psionically-gifted children in the Conglomerate learned, something every Class-1 Psionic began with. Parents had their children practice this so that they could locate them at all times. In the Conglomerate, these things were practices meant for four or five year-olds. It was called the Psionic Beacon. [Here.] Remian told Carrie. [THIS is where I am.] [We’re coming!] Carrie assured him. [We’ll be there in a minute!]
Kingdom of the Weak 335. Silhouette
In Sorrel II, the world Remian was from, Silhouettes were typically formed from a mix of Psionic energy, Magic, and Qi. In many ways, they were customized to fit each person and were frequently unstable, requiring a constant rebalancing and adjusting if any of those three powers were to shift the original balance and essence of their forms. Otherwise, their Silhouettes might fall apart or explode or otherwise not even take form any more. This, predictably, caused no end of troubles for those Temple Knights who used Silhouettes while mana in the world was drying out. They had to adjust their Silhouettes practically every morning before they could use it reliably for that day. But the Conglomerate’s Psionic Training pack taught how to form a Silhouette out of pure Psionic energy. These had a way of shrinking or growing in accordance to the user’s mindset and development, but generally maintain their form and function without breaking apart. On top of that, a skilled Ps
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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
