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Kingdom of the Weak 504. Sky Haven
When Benny first entered his new home, he suddenly felt quite lost. Right at the front door, inside a comfortably carpeted living room. Inside was a full-wall high resolution display showing the most popular view of Craggy Falls, with the water constantly flowing down, making it feel like the entire living room was just a balcony facing the waterfall. Cool air blew in from what appeared to be the main viewscreen and it even had a slightly moist feel. There was a moving machine vacuuming the carpet, disc-shaped and roughly a foot in diameter. But Benny didn’t hear the sound of vacuuming. What he heard was the distant sound of falling water. There were large leather sofas, deep brown and slightly wrinkly, as if they were well-worn, but they had that new-leather smell to them. They were arranged in a semi-circle, with a smooth oval table in between them. The table had strange metal fixations beneath it; Benny had a strong suspicion that it was more than just a table, or at least, would b
Kingdom of the Weak 505. Return to Sorrel
During one breezy morning as Remian was planning some happy times with Phoebe, a shocking announcement arrived across interstellar net. “Attention, all star nations of the Indigo Star Cluster. Due to the Mitigok advance, Gate Warp functions in the following territories will be discontinued; Quarin Coalition Southernmost Territories, Draconian Dominion Tail Tip Region, Woofer Packs United, Meorin Ascendency, Tau Confederacy Eastern Stars, the Uber States, Kanonasia, and all surrounding star systems. “As per security policy, all Gates in these territories will self-destruct to prevent Mitigok Infestation and Gate Network Infiltration. The Gate Supervisory Committee will not accept enquiries, complaints or interviews at this time. “To all those in the affected regions, you have two weeks to exit before the Gates close for good. “Good luck.” Then there was silence. It was like someone hit the mute button on the entire elven world. For a minute, maybe two, it seemed not even the birds
Kingdom of the Weak 506. Changes in Sorrel II
Seven Years after he left for Elenath Edhellen, Remian returned to Sorrel II. The first thing he noticed was the blooming infrastructure in space. “We have a space station!” Remian gaped. “There’s an Orbital Shipyard right next to it, and they seem to be building a Class 4 Turtle!” Seven years! Ermine had taken huge steps forward in those seven years. Remian saw satellites, drones and shuttles flying about between the moon and the space station and couldn’t help feeling excitement. They were doing it! They were really colonizing local space and becoming a Class 4 civilization! “What’s the power source of that space station?” Remian asked. Phoebe checked the sensor readings and answered. “They’re using fusion power. Triflux.” “Seriously?!” “There’s no question. It’s not basic nuclear fusion or even plasma fusion. It’s genuine Triflux.” “Awesome!” There were a few soft beeps. “Incoming comms. It’s the space station.” “Let’s have it.” Ermine came on the viewscreen. “Well, hello
Kingdom of the Weak 507. Xiao Yan got married
When Xiao Yan appeared on screen, that scrawny girl who followed him around was gone. In her place stood a nineteen year-old supervisor with a datapad in one arm, a purple-framed visor over her eyes, wearing a stunningly well-filled white blouse and a formal dark blue skirt both threaded with silvery veins. Next to her stood Tim. He’d grown tall, and had filled out with muscles, though not as heavily as George. Also, the background looked like a comfortable living room, not an office. There was a comfortable couch, and framed pictures of both Tim and Xiao Yan… “So I hear congratulations are in order.” Remian smiled. “Well done.” “Thank you, thank you.” Xiao Yan bobbed her head. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Xiao Yan always did have a thing for freeing slaves, and when it comes to that, there’s nobody in this world who can compare with you.” Remian reflected. “Maybe, but even without that, we get along very well.” Tim mused. “Half the time it’s like she can read my mind, and t
Kingdom of the Weak 508. Space Operations
Predictably, the chat was followed by calls to George, Alani, Sabrina, and Darian. George had the defense well in hand. The Undead were stronger than they’d ever been, and even Tier 7’s were Rising these days, but their forces managed to keep pace until now, especially with air support. Raven actually had several fleets occupying the skies between Kara-Goth and Nightshade City to provide bombardment or sniper fire as necessary. George had a weird look on his face when he talked about Raven, but he didn’t mention anything personal in his report to Remian and Remian didn’t bring it up either. Also, the New Dragon Empire was technically an ally, but they didn’t actually offer much help. If anything, they seemed to treat the Draconian Quarter at Craggy Falls as a holiday retreat. Regardless, George didn’t really mind. Trade was booming and relations were amicable. What more could he ask for? Remian didn’t ask for more either. Eventually, George passed the call to Alani, who was excited
Kingdom of the Weak 509. Building Fleets
Talking to Ermine about it was the first thing he did upon arriving at Sky Haven. Remian brought it up before they even left the docking bay. “It wasn’t me.” Ermine said half-defensively. “It was those scholarship students of yours.” “Scholarship students?” “Why, yes, these are the children who studied starship engineering through your scholarship. While it doesn’t actually make any difference, technically they’re now working for you, not me. I set them up with their own shipyard, gave them a whole lot of space and some funding, and let them run their own shipbuilding company. They called it Starbright Shipyards.” “Their own company?” Remian eyed her sideways. “I was trying to raise them the way you would. That’s your style, isn’t it? Let them start their own gig and then support them from behind?” Remian thought about it for a moment. “Okay. But we can’t just leave them to their own devices completely. We need to provide oversight.” “Oh, I do keep an eye on them. I also offer t
Kingdom of the Weak 510. Remian, meet Benny
“Staff meeting at 1900 hours. Top Priority. Everyone needs to be there.” Benny was pondering over the power connections for the Long Haul Transport when Ermine called. He glanced at the clock; it was almost time. Whatever was so urgent and important? He found out soon enough. At 1900 hours, Benny, Amber, and the rest of the Eight arrived at Ermine’s place only to find her seated across from the biggest Lynxmice she had ever seen. This one was easily twice the size of a normal lynxmouse, head-sized rather than hand-sized. Also, this one had white fur, wore a white blouse and even a red skirt. Ermine didn’t waste any time. “Amber, meet Miko. Miko is the representative of the Lunar Lynxmice here on Sky Haven.” “Lunar Lynxmice?” Amber blinked. “Yes, after a few generations on the moon, the Lynxmice there have developed quite differently from the planetside Lynxmice. As you can see, they’re bigger. What you can’t see is that they’re also smarter. A lot smarter.” At the same time, it
Kingdom of the Weak 511. Arrival at Craggy Falls
There was quite a bit of panic among the young entrepreneurs of Starbright. To begin with, up till now, they hadn’t actually completed a single truly functional Space Turtle. In theory, and according to computer simulation, their designs should be fine. Physically building the ships, however, was a whole different story, and there was always something somewhere that went wrong. “That’s why you need a professional crew.” Remian summarized. “Meanwhile, you guys need to focus on the designs, adaptation of technology, and such.” That last bit was a bigger pain in the neck than Remian cared to admit. Putting together different parts from different manufacturers within the same civilization required a lot of adjustment, tinkering and know-how. Putting together different parts from different civilizations was nothing short of agony, in his opinion. Given the time limits, it seemed likely they would have to reverse-engineer entire components and design poor imitations that would be compatib
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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
- 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
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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
- 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
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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
