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2024-10-29 19:42:56The demonstration went well, with an abundance of cheers and applause. Mindy, Candice and Denise showed off the performance of the Foresight in motion, the XL Ballista, and the height advantages of a crossbowman on an airship.
The important thing was, the Foresight could fly and could shoot. There were a few unexpected wobbles, but the XL Ballista proved capable of accurately spearing wooden targets from 300 meters away. The shots not only hit the targets, they struck with enough force to tear right through them. At 400, the accuracy dropped and the targets were hit off-center, but still tore through the wood like nothing. At 500, half the shots were glancing blows, but even they managed to knock the targets over sideways. At 600, Candice began to miss, hitting three out of five, and there the demonstration shifted over to Denise.
Shooting one of Candice’s high-powered crossbows from 100 meters in the air, Denise actually managed to hit a target 500 meters away. She
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Kingdom of the Weak 58. Tim’s Day Off
First of all, one had to know that Tim was already at the East Side when the alarm drums sounded. No, wait, before that, it should be made known that Tim actually wasn’t supposed to be on the East Side. Remian had quite specifically told him that this would be his day off and to take it easy and go someplace safe or join the defenses as he liked. But to Tim, the safest place there was from an enemy attack would be the enemy’s own base; he wouldn’t attack himself, right? More importantly, there was still a lot of money in the money pool that he hadn’t stole- ahem! Appropriated for the Espionage Department yet. Since these gangsters were really their enemies, taking their resources and using them for your own side was simply sound military strategy; like Markus taught all the trainees, strategy was an important part of war that they had to learn. The amount of coins in the pool could flood the Lynxmice with cheese for generations to come. Already, Tim h
Kingdom of the Weak 59. Remian’s Left Foot
The wise and brave self-proclaimed ‘king of the Wildlands’ peeked his head out of his private den to witness a scene of absolute chaos. People, his people, were running around everywhere. “Aiiieeee!!” There in front of him was Abdul, garbed in only his underwear, running down the street yelling at the top of his lungs, being followed most earnestly by a Darkbok Antelope with its head humbly down and the pointy ends of its horns targeted most faithfully upon Abdul’s hinter areas. “Auuuu!!!” Beyond Abdul, the captain of today’s guard shift ran the other way, shrieking as he was similarly followed by a ‘faithful’ manticore. One ran left; one ran right – the pair of them crossed each others’ paths and did not so much as greet each other in passing. At least their pursuers were polite enough to pause and greet each other before pouncing upon their prey and… CHOMP. RIP. The ‘king of the Wildlands’ turned away, grimacing. The following scenes of nature in action were a little too natura
Kingdom of the Weak 60. Lynxmouse Going Down
“UWAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa…” Unknown to Remian, one of his people was still on the East Side when it fell. Or rather, one of his Lynxmice. Mikai was the fastest Lynxmouse in the Miik Clan. He knew it, and everyone knew it, even Tim. That was why, when Tim needed someone to send the magic crystal to the Fishing House kitchen, it was Mikai who was immediately dispatched. Mikai was a good Lynxmouse. He was not just fast, he was smart too. He buried his droppings and cleaned himself in a catlike manner every day like a good little Lynxmouse should. So, why? Why was this happening to him? There was a reason for it. He knew there was, and he tried very hard to think of it as all hell broke loose and everyone near Mikai screamed in his ear as they dropped hundreds of feet straight down. Okay, maybe there were good reasons. For instance, after leaving the crystal at the Fishing House kitchen, Mikai did not run straight back to the western settlement.
Kingdom of the Weak 61. Deals at Breakfast
“Tim?” “Yes, Remian?” “How much tunneling did you guys do on the East Side? The whole thing broke apart…” “Quite a lot.” “One more thing.” “What?” “We need to spy on Fal’Herim.” Remian rubbed his forehead back at the Adventurers Guild Hall, sitting with Tim, George and Mindy for breakfast. At the next table, six Lynxmice appeared to be listening to one hero Lynxmouse chitter over a stack of cheese, and at the table after that, five wolfcat cubs appeared to be minding their own business chowing down on their own food, but their ears kept twitching as the Lynxmouse told his stories. Fal’Herim; that was what the Secret Waves chief said. His claims were backed by Fal’Herim. Why of all places, did it have to be the nearest and only city for a thousand miles? Fal’Herim was practically Frontier Town’s lifeline. One look at a map could tell anyone that the Desert King’s citadel controlled Frontier Town; Remian just hadn
Kingdom of the Weak 62. Expansion
Charlie’s next shipment brought in no less than four tons of cheese as per Tim’s earlier visionary request. With such resources made available, Tim suddenly became the most powerful figure in Frontier Town.In a matter of hours, twenty squads of Lynxmice were dispatched from Miik’s Clan and three other friendly clans, loaded on board Charlie’s airship bound for Fal’Herim. No less than forty squads were dispatched to help the miners at Kara-Goth. They were better diggers than the workers of High Rock and Desert Moon clans; pretty soon Remian had his workers shift over to clearing the rubble of Frontier Town. Tim set twenty more squads of Lynxmice to help the workers with the rubble.Remian had never seen so many Lynxmice in his life. They were everywhere, digging, salvaging, sorting, chomping up whatever they found that could (in their estimation) be eaten (even stuff everyone else honesty thought were inedible). Everywhere he went, whether
Kingdom of the Weak 63. Onto the Sky Barge
“What to do, what to do?” In a high tower, a man paced to and fro in front of a large crystal, muttering to himself.“Master?” a voice came from the crystal, uncertain.“Just… do the usual.” The man waved his hand. “I don’t want to bother the king about this little… hiccup. We’ll simply have to find new agents at the target point.”“What sort of creatures should I target this time?” the voice at the other side of the crystal asked.“Just… pick the strongest creatures you can get your sights on.” The man waved dismissively.“The strongest creature? Are you sure?”There was a short silence.***When Mindy and the twenty scroll-students helping her finished the first Sky Barge, the final results did not look like the drawing she showed Remian weeks ago.“We still get Guild Points for it, though, don&rsq
Kingdom of the Weak 64. Approach
The High Rock clan boarded the Sky Barge. The Desert Moon clan, however, refused. They wouldn’t leave the farm. “This is our home now. At worst, we'll just scatter and come back later.” Maybe it was just as well. The High Rock clan seemed to have an astounding amount of stuff to evacuate. At this rate, they alone would fill up the entire Sky Barge to the brim. “Are you sure? There’s still time. We can make room for you on the Sky Barge.” Aren offered Taj. “I am sure. This is it. Here is where we make our stand. Live or die, tonight is when it all changes.” Taj drew a deep breath. “And should we survive this ordeal, should we be tempered by this darkness and emerge intact to greet a new day… it would be a new clan who greets the sunrise tomorrow.” “Charlie is almost here.” Mindy reported. “What about the Sky Barge?” Remian asked. “The evacuation is almost done!” Zania replied. “You’ve been saying that for the past half h
Kingdom of the Weak 65. Damage
“We need more speed!” Remian called to Charlie across the deck of the Roving Albatross. “Spike’s headed straight for us!” “This is as much power as I’ve got!” Charlie panted. “The magic drive is going on full, and I’ve already exhausted most of my mana fusing that Tier 4 spell! I can’t boost it by much more! Don’t you realize how much weight we’re towing?!” “How can I help?” Remian asked. “Don’t! Your powers are too unstable! A sudden super-boost like yours could totally wreck my engine!!” Charlie gasped. “Don’t try it!” Remian growled. He glanced at the cannons. “NO!” Charlie barked at once. “You might very well blow us all up!” “There has to be SOMETHING I can do!” Remian grouched. “Use your Light Barriers.” Charlie suggested. “They could protect the ship if Spike starts roaring at us.” Remian clambered to the deck as Spike neared. The Tier 5 lizard was completely ignoring the town under reconstruction and seemed to b
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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
