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2024-10-29 19:42:56On the other hand, not every youngster was huddling in a cavern creche with Ruth.
There was a difference, a huge difference, between the children who grew up in the Wildlands and the refugees who arrived from the Midlands.
For example, 6-8 year-old ordinary, refugee ex-Midlander children were barely brave enough to do household-chore type Adventurer Guild missions after school for some ‘pocket money’. 9-10 year olds might take missions on the farms, or help paint someone’s wall or any number of deliveries and message bearing. Even the 11-12 year olds seldom ventured far from town, only a rare few ex-refugees going out to the outlying villages, and even then mainly sticking to the roads. Only teenagers would venture off-road and take on ‘real’ adventures.
But the children who grew up at Fort Troas or those of the Sea People like Alani who migrated here long ago were not like that. These were more adventurous sorts who ran around the forests armed and armored o
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Kingdom of the Weak 403. The Wind Emperor
In front of Kara-Goth, a huge figure emerged in the darkness. White stripes in the vague outline of an absolutely colossal tiger became visible. The Wind Emperor had arrived. “Here they come!” George shouted. “Darian!” “Wind Emperor!” Darian shouted, forming a six-feet Psi-blade. “Back off or else!” To that, the Wind Emperor merely roared and charged. Darian likewise charged straight for the gigantic tiger. A huge claw slammed down; Darian zipped to one side, then fired off the Psi-Blade like a lance of light stabbing out at the feline face. The other forepaw knocked the energy blade aside, and then towering teeth snapped at Darian, who dodged. The snapping teeth caused a shockwave that stirred his hair as he swung around and formed another Psi-Blade thrice his size. Meanwhile the citizens of Kara-Goth hunkered down in the tunnels. The winds were so strong, the lightning so indiscriminate, George outright forbade anyone other than Darian to step out f
Kingdom of the Weak 404. Third Time
After what felt like a year of dodging, Darian finally received a break when a weird metallic cart that moved by itself shot out of the experimental train from Craggy Falls. On it was Remian, hanging on to the bulbous engine in the middle as if for dear life. [Remian Vin.] The Wind Emperor recognized him with a low growl. [Have you bathed today? I don’t want to taste dirt when I sink my teeth into you. Humans tend to be so filthy, my friends worry I might get a stomach ache.] “Hey, Wind Emperor.” In contrast to the tiger’s hostility, Remian’s tone was easygoing, despite him still clinging on to the central engine of the prototype car for dear life. “Have you eaten breakfast?” [I had about a dozen of your human scouts over the past few days, but don’t worry, there’s always room for one more.] The tiger’s smiled, baring his fangs widely. “Great. Or rather... oh, crap.” Remian said out loud. There was a brief pause, and then a strange, roiling th
Kingdom of the Weak 405. Funeral failure
“Fuwaah!” Remian suddenly sat up gasping. Screams burst out in all directions. Remian looked around to see himself sitting in a coffin, surrounded by lit torches and people in black clothes. There was George, with a shovel in his hand, gaping at Remian with a pale face. There was Darian, with Damien and Lisa and Sabriane and Eriane, all seated at the front line of the congregation. Sitting yet towering over a wooden pulpit was Kairos, looking ceremonious and solemn as he conducted the funeral only to have it abruptly interrupted by Remian’s resurrection. “What happened... where’s the Wind Emperor?” Remian asked, blinking. Eriane pointed and solemnly declared. “Ghost!!” Sitting in a wheelchair with casts around both legs, Wulfgar turned to Lydia pushing it. “See? I told you the funeral was taking too long. I said it already; at this rate, we’ll never get him in the ground. Now it’s too late.” “Hmm. This seems to be a problem.” Kairos said, look
Kingdom of the Weak 406. Space Dogs and Space Cats
At this point, they needed to buy food from elsewhere and they had only two viable options; the Dragon Empire, or Xiao Yan’s world. Since the war started and the Dragon Empire went on an all-out campaign to conquer the whole world, food prices there had skyrocketed and generally been comandeered for the army. Prices in Xiao Yan’s world, however, remained stable and cheap compared to cultivation resources. A few million Black should be enough to fill up all those airships with rice and beans. The difficult part would be getting the food through the Portal, which wasn’t large enough for airships. They’d have to cart it all through. Poor Mindy was going to have a shock when the bulk of the Navigators suddenly arrived through the Dragon Capital Portal. Remian and company watched as most of the functional airships left at Craggy Falls took off and headed east. Their mission was simple; get food, get back, fast. George went along with them. The guy always did have a heart
Kingdom of the Weak 407. Sneaky Business
[Such fools.] Dark Forest twitched, his nose unable to keep still despite his years of stealth training as one of the Saeki Nin. Under his face shroud that covered all on his face except a narrow slit around his eyes, the Meorin Ninja Captain slowly stroked a sharp claw against a mark on a map that indicated his prey. [Come, Captain Three Paws. Come closer into our net, our bait has been waiting for such a long time...] Dark Forest purred. Captain Three Paws was ranked 3rd on the Sorrel Star System Most Wanted List, a list which contained the most valuable targets for assassination among the Woofers and their allies. 2nd on that list was Colonel White Whiskers, commander of the Woofers Moon Howlers Expeditionary Fleet, the very battle fleet that currently orbited Sorrel II. As for the top spot... number one on the Most Wanted List was Remian Vin, High Level Psionic. Of course, Dark Forest wasn’t stupid or greedy enough to
Kingdom of the Weak 408. When Cats And Dogs Fight
The Meorin had somehow landed heavy infantry units on Sorrel II. There were at least two hundred space cats running around in advanced power armor, shooting plasma weapons at anything that moved. When they first pounced on Kara-Goth, George and his crew were celebrating the cease-fire with the Wind Emperor while trying to confirm the death of Remian Vin. They waited until the Wind Emperor wandered away in regret over Remian’s death. Then they started firing. George was one of the first to be shot at. A certain girl in an Armored Frame noticed as the barrage began and threw herself in the way. She was blasted directly in her back, and sent flying. George didn’t see the first part, only seeing the girl coming at him rapidly. Half-stunned and his mind whizzing over completely unrelated issues, he securely caught her and momentarily wondered if he was dreaming, with her in his arms and... Spewing blood over his shoulder. Eww. Rather than say something romantic, w
Kingdom of the Weak 409. Rescue Teams
“Here they come.” Remian released earth magic and stopped his tunneling when he sensed at least ten Meorin minds closing in from above. They too had some sort of tunneling equipment and were making a beeline for his position with a whole lot of hostile intent. At first, he tried to dissuade them with psionics. He wasn’t entirely confident in his illusion abilities, but this was the perfect time to use them. Unfortunately, the Meorin had some sort of psi-defenses. Sensing them wasn’t hard; trying to affect them, however, was like trying to push through glass. Remian gave up on trickery. Gathering his psionic powers into a powerful blow, he hammered at the nearest one in an assault with direct force. He felt the Meorin’s psi-shield crack, and there was fear in the cat’s mind, but it didn’t deter them from burrowing closer and closer. On top of that, he sensed two other Meorin teams tunneling toward him from separate directions. “Okay, that’s eno
Kingdom of the Weak 410. Conflict in the tunnels
Remian’s warning was the first indication Tim got that somehow, something had gone wrong. “Wasn’t I sneaky enough?” Tim protested. Mikai shrugged and shook his head helplessly. And then the cats were upon them. Three ninja cats pounced from the shadows, claws glittering in the dark. Tim ducked, spinning low a knife appearing in either hand as he swiped at his attackers. Claws and blades met with brief clashes and sparks, and then Tim leapt back while lynxmice lunged into the fray. Another shadow-cat dropped down from above. Tim raised his knives only to have them tangled with the latest attacker’s claws. Their weapons tangled as the cat itself crashed upon Tim, both of them tumbling onto the floor while more yowls, squeaks, shrieks and hisses filled the tunnels. Mikai jumped onto Tim’s attacker, clawing and biting at its neck in a flurry. Blood and fur flew as the cat hissed, trying to tug its foreclaws free from the tangle with Tim’s
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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
