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2024-10-29 19:42:56“Well… there go two trees.” George observed as the Feelo-wasps riddled them with holes and turned them into hives. “At least we get honey.”
That was the agreement Remian reached with Bzziezuo, queen of the Feelo-wasps. BZ was newly coronated, and her swarm was actually considered small and weak; given the abundance of flowering plants in the vicinity, she felt this would be an ideal spot to settle down… as long as the Fief’s Lord gave permission.
Also, if the Fire Hornets kicked up a fuss, he was supposed to help her swarm against them. Remian wasn’t entirely sure that was a good idea, but Carrie said that was no problem. Buff alone was more than enough for that sort of mess. Apparently the fourth-tier bear had innate defenses that made him the absolute trump card against bee-type Wilds.
The agreement made with BZ got Remian thinking. He pondered; he consulted Carrie; he discussed with Buff; he spoke with DD; he even had a word with Spike. Afterward, these fo
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Kingdom of the Weak 80. Black Ruins
Tim had to admit, he really messed up this time. “Who sent you?!” they asked for the umpteenth time. Tim braced himself; what would it be this time? The fist? The boot? The whip? But no. This time, they were getting creative. “Talk, or the little monster dies!” Tim blinked, tried to blink through puffy eyelids. They were holding knives against the lynxmouse caught in the cage opposite him. “Squii!” the lynxmouse spoke angrily. He cursed eloquently, cursing their mothers, their fathers, their entire families, their dogs, he even cursed their cheese… But of course, while Tim had a vague idea of what the lynxmouse was saying, their captors did not. They simply started knifing the brave little critter. Tim stared woodenly, mutely. One more hero, fallen in service of the Frontier. It wasn’t the first. At least this one wasn’t falling right out the bottom of the ground and falling down a cliff. Mustn’t show any anger, any pain at the
Kingdom of the Weak 81. Determination
While Spike was stomping about the Black Ruins and therefore taking all the blame for the campsite’s destruction, Remian was listening to an interesting story. “Legend has it that hundreds of years ago, there was a selfish, secretive but highly advanced nation that hid on this continent.” Charlie said in a conspirational tone. “They had technology far beyond anything we have today, used magic that could turn the laws of nature upside down! At the center of their civilization was the Black City; and there, they sought to defy heaven.” “I thought you said there were dozens of Black Ruins scattered all over the Wildlands.” Remian objected. “There are. They’re all too small to be the Black City, though. They’re just outposts or something.” Charlie explained. “The real Black City was supposedly immense, like a mountain.” “Has anyone seen ruins like that? Any explorers?” “Nope. Not a clue. The largest of the Black Ruins are far to the south, and eve
Kingdom of the Weak 82. Frontier Defense Force
During the week, Remian and his friends brought out more firepower to bear than they ever thought possible. First off, with the help of practically all the factions in town, Arnold completed the XXL Ballista with parts from the Tier 5 Burning Bull. This new weapon was instantly nicknamed the ‘Bellower Ballista’ and more than delivered on the 10x power request. According to Arnold, the Bellower Ballista should actually reach 12x. Second, all four major factions of Frontier Town dedicated 25 people to the new Frontier Defense Force. These specialized troops from the Iron Legion, the Burning Steel, the High Rock clan and the Harvest Sun clan trained together under Legion supervision, using Burning Steel gear. All of them were armored in Tier 3.5 reinforced leather armor made from pieces of Tier 3 and Tier 4 Wilds hide. For weapons, the Burning Steel actually made them Bone Spears from the skeletons of Tier 4 Wilds. They also had training in Tier 4 heavy crossbows, but t
Kingdom of the Weak 83. Movements
“Can we build you a home here? Set up a nice cave?” Remian asked. [It’s not the same. Nothing’s the same. And there’s the territory to consider. If I stay away too long, I’ll lose my turf.] “But what if bad men make you crazy and you come attacking us again? You swore fealty on the rocks and Mal’thor-dras. What would happen if you broke your vow?” [Then Mal’thor-dras would strike me.] Spike shuddered. [But you stopped them, didn’t you? That’s why there’s no Beast Wave yesterday.] “Maybe. But I think there’s more of them out there. I don’t think the Beast Waves are going to stop for long.” Remian said. “Tell you what. We can set up a clan of wolfcats to guard you and a clan of lynxmice to stand watch, but you have to come help fight every Beast Wave.” [But it takes so long to get here and back!] Spike protested. “Exactly.” Remian stretched. “It won’t be like that forever, though. Right now, our defense line is moving to Kara-Goth. One d
Kingdom of the Weak 84. The Hunt For Spike (1)
“They’re headed toward Craggy Falls.” Remian and Mindy both agreed as they watched the Desert King’s three Sky Galleons soar south. It was a daunting show of power. Each Sky Galleon was Tier 5.3, commercial grade and respectable in any airport in the world. They could fit DD, Spike, Buff and Carrie together on the deck of any of the Sky Galleons and still have space for Remian and Mindy to join them. Any of those ships could land in between Kara and Goth and immediately become a land bridge across the Pit from one mine to the other. How many troops could the Desert King squeeze into one Sky Galleon? Two hundred plus equipment and supplies? Three hundred? Four, if they squeezed? In other words, three Sky Galleons could very well be carrying about a thousand of the Desert King’s troops to investigate Craggy Falls and why their little secret excavation site had fallen silent. It was a very honest show of the Desert King’s concerns for that site. They were going
Kingdom of the Weak 85. The Hunt for Spike (2)
“They’re coming here?!” Remian scratched his head until his scalp felt sore. Hiding a Tier 5 Spiked-Back Lizard was no easy feat. Removing his trail across three days’ march given the time they had was close to impossible. Now they had the forces of the Desert King on his tracks and those tracks were going to lead them straight to Frontier Town. It was only a matter of time, a couple of days maybe, before they found him. There was no use trying to put him in the hangar now. That might hide him from the airships above, but their ground troops would still follow his footprints. A simple search of the buildings around town would reveal the big fellow in short order. Trying to hide Spike at this point was a fool’s errand. What to do? What to do? “Spike…” Remian said at last, “I’m sorry. We’re going to have to make you suffer.” [Why?!] Spike wailed. “Just for a while!” he told Spike his plan. Spike didn’t like it. He didn’t
Kingdom of the Weak 86. Return to Frontier Town
Mandy had to admit, this was a pleasant surprise. Frontier Town did not look half bad from where she sat. Looking down from the Wind Voyager newly bought and piloted by Lambert Meadows (Charlie’s Dad), the town-in-construction looked lively and new. The airport, for example, was freshly built, with an Iron Legion camp piled with gravel and construction materials at one side, and a brand-new hangar at another. The west side was filled with new structures, many new workers and busy chimneys. There was a bigger Iron Legion camp to the south, where dozens of recruits were training. Not to mention that the entire East Side was gone. Except for the church and the inn and the shops at the central square, almost no trace remained of the slums and despair of the old Frontier Town where she’d grown up. Even those central square buildings were new or newly repaired. The oldest building around still standing was probably the Adventurers Guild, and even that had more new floors o
Kingdom of the Weak 87. From the sea to the river
The airship Kaleo hired from Deutero carried roughly forty people. They looked to be in bad shape, and gazed at everything around them with furtive eyes. “Who are all these people?” Remian asked. “They are refugees from Encles Island. The island has been hit by an earthquake and a tsunami and the has sunk almost entirely beneath the water.” Kaleo said gravely. “What little land remains is not enough for even one house, much less their village. They need a new place to settle down, and I know of no better place than here.” “Nor I.” Remian agreed. “But… forty people? That’s all there is?” “There are more.” Kaleo assured him. “But getting them here is difficult. It is a long journey, and airships are costly.” “How many more do you have?” “Two hundred.” Kaleo cleared his throat. “I would have brought more this time around, but I needed the cargo space for trade in order to cover the cost.” That was the Kaleo Remian knew; wouldn’t t
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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
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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
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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
