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2024-10-29 19:42:56The day before Alani’s thirteenth birthday, Prototype Mouse Raft 19 passed final test runs.
It had been a long and difficult journey, much longer and harder than anyone anticipated, but at last, the first Sorrelian-built spacecraft was ready to launch! After many revisions and failed designs, the Mouse Raft ended up looking less like a crate and more like an egg with ears. It wasn’t thrown into the air, or hauled up by airship; instead it was lowered from a crane at the Starport loading dock directly onto Zor’khan’s back, strapped on securely by people in industrial Hauler Frames, and only when the technical crews announced it was ready did the Mikkika Lynxmouse Clan finally board their destined transport.
The launch was scheduled for evening, on a day when the moon was up, so as to make it easier for Zor’khan to head directly to it.
By then, Mikkika was a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather or something like that. His clan of thirty had grown to nearly
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Kingdom of the Weak 434. Incoming and Income
The mice on the moon and the mice who just arrived on the moon met at the entrance of the tunnels protected by Lu’na-ris. “Mikwiiiwii?” [You the new guys?] “Yiikii?” [Yeah? Why?] “Sii-eeekii!” [This place is all yours! Now give us the suits!] That was the entirety of the handover from the old batch to the new. At long last! They could return to their home on the surface of the planet Sorrel II! It had been a nervous, adventurous, and sometimes tedious couple years or so of living on the moon cut off from home suddenly thanks to the Meorin expedition... but at last, they were going home! For a dragon, a couple years was nothing, a mere eye-blink in their lifespans. For a human, two years was a maturing youth leaving home for college or an extended expedition worthy of a distant voyage. For a lynxmouse, two years could practically account for entire generations. More than half the returnees had been born and lived most of their e
Kingdom of the Weak 435. Tuskans
On the one hand, having an expected fleet delay their arrival forty-six times in the past year was really, really annoying. On the other hand, the many delays gave Remian ample time to prepare. Back when Darian was hiring moles to dig tunnels and Eriane was badgering Ermine for a railgun sniper rifle, Remian had taken a whole week to explain ultrasonic sterilization to Jim and the importance of its role in the new massive sewage treatment plant. This, and nine different kinds of processing involved in the treatment were all crucial to handling interstellar guests when those other trading ships arrived. “The Tuskans alone might bring all sorts of bugs and bacteria from their homeworlds. They like moist worlds, wetlands, shallow freshwater bodies... the very kinds of places where microbes thrive.” Remian explained. “What are they like, these... Tuskans?” Jim ventured a query. “How do I put this...?” Remian scratched his head. “If Woofers are dogs and Me
Kingdom of the Weak 436. Better Tournament
It might seem strange, but the sudden announcement of a tournament actually brought a sense of normalcy to Xue Mengli. The past couple of years had been downright crazy for her. Back in her homeworld, she had learned that humans were actually losing the war against the Ghosts and Demons and they were soon going to lose their world entirely. Lem Yan and Xiao Yan gave them a way out and very quickly her entire clan had moved to this new world. This new world likewise made her head spin. Humans had befriended supersmart versions of Beasts (called Wilds here) and they bonded as Comrades. They used strange devices that used a weird power called technology that relied on physical qualities instead of Qi formations or arrays. Mengli herself had learned a bit of their ‘education’ and had to admit, learning technology arts was far more complex than learning martial arts. Both were endless oceans of learning, but on this world, Qi was thin and so technology was more important.
Kingdom of the Weak 437. Electromagnetics
Some people might look at her oddly, but Ermine loved wandering around this fresh, bright world. She got lost almost every time, and spent hours having little or no clue where she was headed, but Craggy Falls was a quaint, optimistic little settlement that was only so big. Even if she was totally lost, she’d eventually reach the end of it, and then she could simply circle around until she found a main road and regained her bearings. Meanwhile, she’d enjoy the clear blue skies, the fresh, clean breeze, the soothing sounds of the waterfall and the low hum of new machinery. This place had the potential to be a superb vacation spot. It had plenty of nature, and if they put in enough tech to make life here convenient, it could really become an ideal holiday spot by Tau standards. If there wasn’t an imminent threat of Mitigok hordes bearing down, or an out-of-the-way location at the dangerous borders of Quarin and Draconian territory, Ermine might even have wanted to sell tickets
Kingdom of the Weak 438. Tuskan Dropships
In a world where most humans still hadn't heard of calculators and were only just starting to figure out electricity, the appearance of electromagnetic weaponry seemed to be a very big jump in technology, but while most humans on Sorrel II were stumbling around the industrial age, the Woofers had brought the wolfcats, wolves, foxes, and other canines of the Wildlands straight into the information age with smartphones, tablets, eye-tracking, microcameras, wireless communication and wireless charging ports all paw-and-bark compatible with heavy claw protection. Whether they used their paws, noses, barks, or tongues to interface with these relatively high-tech devices, the canines and semi-canines were rapidly developing over each generation (which, for common Tier 3 wolfcats breeds, only took two years, thus an entire generation had already matured and birthed their own children in turn since the Mice Raft Project began. Bigger Tier 4 wolfcat breeds, however, took 6 years to fully mat
Kingdom of the Weak 439. Bison Tribe
Five seconds passed. The other four incoming dropships high above were still arriving in flames. The hustle and bustle around Craggy Falls and the Draconian Quarter were still ongoing. But in the starport and the immediate surroundings, all the world was still. Then with a sudden surge like a ripple of meaning itself in the air, motion resumed. The Tuskan Dropship plopped down on the tarmac unceremoniously and landed with a thump, but nowhere near the kind of devastating velocity that it had moments ago. There was a tremor in the ground as it landed, and a good deal of cracking concrete, but that was the worst of it. Meanwhile, people in the starport were still in a flurry. “I thought we were going to die!” “He... he just...!” “I’m too old for this sort of excitement!” Sior’khan-dras himself was all but dripping with sweat. “Since when did you have that sort of power?! I thought you was just some average rich guy supporting the
Kingdom of the Weak 440. Tuskan Contestants
Kae-Taur was the minotaur boy in an orange-and-black t-shirt. Sal-taur was wearing the sleeveless khaki vest. Chi-taur was the girl in the tube dress. All three looked very bulky and easily twice Remian’s height and four to five times his size. Being children of the prestigious Banner clan of the Bison tribe, the Taur children put on good, dignified behavior in front of Remian. “Welcome to Sorrel II.” Remian cleared his throat. “We’ve done our best to prepare accommodations and refreshments for you. Please let us know if there’s anything specific you need or have trouble with.” “Indeed, we do have to trouble you for a few things.” Bak-taur nodded. “I brought my children out for experience and tempering. They need to see the world, and face many challenges and seek their own opportunities. I understand that some sort of tournament is to be held soon?” “As your captain requested, yes. It’s become something more of a mixed contest, including a Forest War
Kingdom of the Weak 441. Tuskans vs the whole world
Since it was supposed to be a trip for tempering, most of the Tribes sent just the younger generation so that they would learn how to handle themselves in foreign worlds. Bak-taur’ul was the only adult who landed on the surface with his children (the logistics officer and his crew didn’t count since they returned as soon as their dropship was loaded with their supplies). This also seemed to have made him the default caretaker of the entire group while they were on the surface. After lunch, they went on a tour of Craggy Falls. “What a quaint rural countryside town.” Brittany commented on the most advanced settlement in the world. They couldn’t be bothered to waste time flying around the Wildlands on airship, so they wanted to take the Bison Tribe Dropship to tour the other sites. This presented a problem since they absolutely refused to let primitive natives (like Remian and his crew) on board their advanced spacecraft, which meant they would be wandering arou
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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
- 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
