Post by badwolf on May 2, 2019 7:06:34 GMT
Port Procel-6 in its near perfect mechanical design holds a few flaws for those not Codded Settler. Stalwart Knight of the first mark Aelius Ianto Krimwell makes his way through the streets seemingly aimlessly as his searching gaze would suggest. He stops by a merchant stall of Codded settlers to ask for directions and they quickly point him Northward. He arrives before the port authority and Thane office, the grand structure of iron and stone surrounded by a pavilion of battered white stone had a stairway where Settlers of high authority were gathering and passing. Atop the structure were defensive cannons the size of a small house. The guards of the building in their machina armor met Aelius as he approached stopping him by barring the path with their spears. Aelius presented a crest on the collar of his military Knights uniform and they stood aside instantly granting him access. Aelius climbed the stairs bowing his head in respect to any Settler who met his eyes. Reaching the top of the large stairway Aelius came to a pair of massive iron doors, one being open to allow entrance but guarded by two more Settlers in armor. To any casual visitor the sight of these massive steel and wood men inside of machina armor was quite intimidating, to Aelius who was a seasoned soldier they are soldiers like any other he’d seen.
Entering the structure revealed the artistry of the Coded Settlers, the walls were decorated with iron inlaying depicting oil rivers. In the rivers the Codded Settlers are reaching up to the benevolent hand of Battai. Some of the settlers come out in machina armor and look like they are giving praise to Battai. Aelius proceeds past a crowd of Settlers towards a wooden desk where sits a rather old looking Clerk with reading glasses. Knowing full well that Settlers life span was indefinite as far as anyone knew this man must have been birthed this way. The elderly looking Settler looked up at Aelius adjusting his glasses.
“Yes, how may I help you lad?”
“My name is Aelius Krimwell, I’m with the Red Crown fleet. I uh.”
The clerk cuts him off.
“Ah yes, your ship is leaving port soon I see, going to make your rounds hm?”
“Indeed, is my crew accounted for?”
“They all signed in and the registry is confirmed.”
“I’ll be heading aboard now then; can you have the sail sequence ready please?”
“It’ll be ready young knight don’t you worry.”
Aelius makes his way to the port and along the boardwalk to the HLV-Northwind; the Northwind being a large military class frigate. Two crewmen that guard the ship stair access salute Aelius as he approaches and step aside. Aelius proceeds up a small set of stairs until he reaches a lift, the lift brings Aelius all the way up to the top of the ship; the bridge where gathered his council. Kesola Maceysmyth a rather tall, strong and fair red haired woman that towered over all others on the bridge; Junsan Harthe Culli a bald man with a fit physique and piercing yellow eyes; Romali Quinzin a small woman in stature with dishevelled black lochs and pale skin; Loray Cealphane a woman with reptilian skin, a fierce serpents face standing strong with a stern look and M'Celfur Shiliam; A tan skin man with short curly brown hair and slim physique. As Aelius enters the room Kesola stands at attention and announces the captains return in a strong authoritative tone.
“Commander Knight aboard! Stand tall!”
The entirety of the bridge stands up and wraps their right arm around their chest bowing slightly before him. Aelius waves his hand before the display.
“Stand down, as you were. Prepare for departure Helmsman, the launch sequence is incoming.”
“Yes my liege!”
The bridge crew returns to their positions and awaits the confirmation to set sail as Aelius and his council of Knights gather around the briefing table and take their seats. The holographic projector in the center of the table hummed with energy waiting to spring forward with imagery, the sound of that buzz somewhat comforting setting the mood for the room. The background noises of consoles, chatter and other devices made a sort of curtain between the briefing table and the rest of the room with sound. Aelius pressed a few buttons on the holographic display and it begins to show a series of large asteroids in deep ocean territory between Procel-6 and the Remmington alliance colony of Regios-Reming.
“There are a series of asteroids here we are tasked with patrolling for the day. We will be in a patrol group alongside the HLV-Vorten and Ocean piercer. There’s no reason to believe we’ll run into any trouble as the alliance is already in open conflict with Gastel, and we know how those bloody chip heads hate to stop fighting. We’re not taking the ships into the asteroid field because of the smaller debris, no need to stress the shields. Kesola and M’Celfur will take their company into the field and scout it out; make sure there are no Alliance dogs fuckin about, or sensors.”
“Yes my liege.”
“Yes my liege.”
“The rest of you will remain on stan-by in the armor docking bay, should something happen I want a quick response understood?”
Everyone bows their head and nods.
“To your tasks then.”
Not a half hour latter the Northwind launches from the port bound for the asteroid field at half speed, launching immediately behind them are the mark three frigates Vorten and Ocean Piercer. The ships form up and proceed onward through the Ocean. Inside his captains quarters Aelius sits in a chair facing a series of monitors and two of them are active. On one is an middle aged woman in a Knights uniform with shoulder length blonde hair, on the other is a younger man with Jet black hair in a crew cut and dark skin. The woman speaks with Aelius in a rather frustrated tone.
“My lord if we increased the sails to full we could be at our destination ahead of time, if the Alliance was planning anything and knew our patrol schedule we could catch them off guard arriving early.”
“I must agree with Lord Urmai.”
The younger captain chimes in.
“The Alliance will not be an issue, honestly there is no need for over zealous behaviour here. We will continue sail at half speed until there is reason to alter speed and course. Let it not be said I am unreasonable though… If your worry is so great then I will allow you to send forward a machina company each to scout our way.”
Aelius eyes shift between the two of them awaiting their reply. Aelius though a seasoned knight was not the stereotype of knights, he was not so rigid and stubborn as to not take council from others even of lesser rank. The woman bowed her head and smirked at Aelius.
“As always, your choice is wise my liege, I shall send forward a light company of machina to secure the way. So is this your experience with diplomats in use Lord Aelius?”
Aelius smirks but gives no response before turning to the younger male captain.
“Reever?”
“Y Yes my lord, I shall send a company along with Lord Urmai’s soldiers.”
“Excellent, now that we have all of that cleared up I have business elsewhere on my ship. If you have nothing else, to your tasks Knights.”
“Yes Milord.”
“At once my liege.”
The screens shut off as Aelius leans back for a moment. He reaches into one of the pockets on the breast of his knights long coat pulling out a small silver case no bigger than his hand. From inside he takes out a cigarette and holds it before his face simply looking at it as one would a long-lost memory. He slides it between his lips before lighting it and getting up to exit his room. The long red and white halls of the frigate gave an image of pristine order until occasionally coming upon an open floor panel, exposed wiring or some other worn-down part. Aelius couldn’t help but admire all the disrepair and beaten parts believing that it gave the ship some character and age. The Northwind had served the Crown for half of a decade now under Aelius and he knew her inside and out quite well. As he passed by all crewmen practically on instance stood tall as Linemen should, showing their respect but also honoring a captain as per code.
Back at the port authority in Procel-6, Paladin of the second mark Grellian Kobrish Corgsied sat in an ornate wooden chair in an equally well decorated room. His face was sullen and aged but still giving off a hint of stern military strength. His hair though thinning somewhat, and gray was well kept and proper as can be. The sharp blue eyes of the old Paladin thoughtfully stared across to the man sitting in the clearly larger and more opulent chair. A Settler male by the name of Switcharle-8 garbed in fine robes and jewels, his metallic and wooden flesh looked like it could shine through the inky black of the Ocean itself; also made him look rather soft and pampered. Corgsied shifted his body weight uncomfortably as he looked at the time displayed on a screen on the wall. Clearly, he was thoughtful of the time and wanted to be out from this place.
“My lord Corgsied you seem to be unsettled, is there an issue at hand? Did you not properly ready supplies and supply chains when departing for Procel-6?”
“Our supply route was recently attacked by those pirate guild dogs, they caught one of our freighters and took the whole damn shipment of supplies.”
“I cannot simply give credit to you or sell you the supplies you need at reduced price, besides the inescapable fact I’d be tried and have my position as Thane revoked, I also have economic problems of my own.”
“You do know that the Pope himself is enroute to this port yes?”
“H How? How do you know the Pope is scheduled here? I thought that was solely for the Papal knights to know?”
“I was granted this information by Empress Theodara’s royal hand, it was given by the Pope himself as he intends to make a spectacle over the cooperation of the Crowns fleet and Port Procel-6. A good moral campaign you see, problem is I don’t think it will be seen well if the Thane of Port Procel-6’s economic district is being so conservative with his resources hm?”
The Thane Switcharle-8 lays back in his grand chair letting out a frustrated yet defeated sigh fully understanding what a happy visit from the Pope could mean for the economy and tourism. Having the ruling body of the entire Promised Kingdom come to visit was a grand occasion Thane Switcharle had been planning for with his advisors. Indeed the old Paladin knew how to pay his cards with subtlety and Thane Switcharle reluctantly agreed to at least sell the Paladin what he needed at half price. The catch to this was the port itself did not have the resources on hand to supply the Crown ships, they would have to wait for a freighter or other trade ship to come in from the Girderoth-2 colony. At full sail with a fast galley would still take three days which meant the Crown fleet would remain low on water rations and ammunition for the ship weapons.
“It will take five damned days until a Galleon makes it there and back, why can we not take provisions you have already?”
“Well my Lord Corgsied unless you plan on going to every merchant and explaining why you’re taking supplies already bought, paid for and in their stores, I think you’ll have to wait. I trust your patrols are still well stocked?”
“Yes at the moment the ships on patrol are set for two weeks… I suppose I will then, let us hope our patrols don’t encounter any strong Alliance forces. Well for now will you at least send a shipping type galleon?”
“First thing when we are finished with this meeting, although we have no shipping type Galleons left available. I’ll have to use one of our military vessels it seems… Unfortunate.”
“The Crown fleet is already on patrol keeping guard in key areas, if it’s security your worry for then I assure you the Alliance nor pirates will be a problem.”
“The Brimstone is the only military vessel we have not in repair at the moment so you can understand my hesitation.”
“I assure you my men remain on guard for your Port and people Thane Switcharle-eight.”
“I take you at your word Lord Paladin.”
On the next day the Northwind patrol group circles their way around a destroyed and fragmented Ocean copper mine, the chunks were large enough that navigating past them was not too difficult. The formation of the ships was more loose give the terrain but close enough to stay in visual range. Aboard the Northwind in the armor docking bay Kesola Maceysmyth sits in a steel chair on one side of a steel table. On the table are two small stacks of gold coins and a few precious and well-cut gems. Approaching the table is a young and fit looking female lineman of the second mark, a nervous yet determined look across her face. Kesola looks upon the approaching Lineman with casual disinterest and yet pushes out the chair so they can have a seat. The Lineman sits down and faces Kesola now with a slightly shaking hand.
“It’s one ruby a pop love, wanna have a go or you gonna lose your nerve?”
The young Lineman puts her arm on the table in an arm-wrestling manner.
“They really don’t teach you grunts much at the academy concerning Gen mods, alright let’s do this.”
Kesola meets the Linemans grip and they both begin to wrestle.
“Ha I was the strongest Lineman in my class ma’am, forgive me but I think tales of your strength are a bit overstated. And it looks like this match is going to be mine.”
The Lineman gains the upper hand against Kesola pushing her hand nearer to the table with great strain and a fierce look, Kesola on the other hand is barely paying attention as she looks over to her armor in the docking bay. The bright red armor was a bit of a standout from the others around it due to it’s size and complete red colour as oppose to the rest that were red and gold. The dent, cuts and burn marks stood as proof to her veterancy in the Crown military and prowess on the battlefield. Kesola wasn’t born to the life of a soldier but the longer she spent in that armor, in this military as a soldier; the more she felt the old desires of her life slip away and her battle spirit flourish. Her mind snaps back to her ongoing match as a loud grunt gets her attention.
“Oh right you…”
Kesola practically lifts the woman off her chair when throwing her hand down on the table with a loud smack.
“Ah!”
“Leave the money on the table, good try love.”
Kesola gets up and walks over to her armor while she also grabs one of the engineers by the shoulder, she begins pointing out various parts of her suit directing the engineer to make some alterations here and there. Standing in the large hallway before the entrance to the docking bay Junsan watched the bay crew go back and forth doing their duty before he laid his eyes on Kesola. The council of Aelius had been created over two years ago and the knights had gotten a little familiar with each other. Junsan approached Kesola and stood behind her as she continued to boss around the engineer.
“Getting ready for your scouting mission are you?”
Kesola turns her head slightly.
“Oh… It’s you.”
Kesola’s tone giving off a hint of discomfort at Junsans presence.
“Uh yeah, Sorrow wind seems to long for combat.”
“Sorrow wind you say? Is it Sorrow wind that longs for combat?”
“Stop, not another lecture.”
“It is no lecture but words of wisdom, Lord Veah only wants peace for your heart as she does all her children. Do not be consumed by combat but fight for the love of Veah.”
“Is this you questioning my devotion? Again? You know I put up with a lot of your!”
“Please Kesola I mean no offense. I am merely a servant of Veah looking out for the soul of a good friend.”
Kesola looks at Junsan’s seemingly genuine smile and lets out a sigh.
“You Veilkin I swear, anyways… What are you going to be doing on your off time after this tour?”
“Oh well I’ll be going back to the Cathedral on Copperloam, Father Brithsbane and I will be doing some charity work for the destitute paupers. It is a great feeling to help those of the lower class unable to help themselves. It also help to spread good will towards the military”
“Always working for the greater good I see.”
“And you? More work on your galley yes? What did you call it? The Wake?”
“Yeah! Me and my friend have been working on it for a long time trying to buy or have the parts crafted we need. It’ll be good to see her again… My ship I mean and my friend of course.”
“Yes I imagine, I.”
As Junsen began to speak the armour warden sent out the launch siren. Immediately Kesola’s head jerked to the sound as did Junsen.
“Well I suppose it’s time for you to clad yourself, go with Veah as your shield friend and good fortune.”
“Uh thanks, and you as well. It’s a simple scout op, I doubt we’ll run into anything.”
Junsen bows his head before turning away back down the hall to leave the docking bay. Racks of armour descend from above on steel cranes as masses of soldiers hurry to their positions dawning their armour with the oversight of the engineers and technicians. Before the assembling soldiers the ships bay doors open wide as a shield replaces them keeping the air and gravity stable. From inside one could still see the glimmer of the primary shield behind the air shield like pale green water. Kesola took her position alongside M’Celfur holding her rather large and foreboding hammer, etched on the long poll were the words Nécuul ef-gor or Scorch and smite in Celesavice the Solar tongue the common language of the Linked. M’Celfur dawned a light armour, red with gold streaks; there was a light shoulder mounted ion turret on one side and a light rocket launcher on the other. In his arms he carried an plasma based sniper rifle that was clearly on able to be held because of the armours AI assistance. M’Celfur turns to Kesola smiling behind his helm.
“So! Ready to go explore some vacant rocks?”
He sarcastically yet cheerfully bellows in his unique accent rolling his R’s
“Right? There hasn’t been any assignment lately with some intrigue. It’s been a fucking age since I’ve had a challenge.”
“Ooohhhhhh feeling the warriors longing do yeh? I thought that was taboo for you Forged.”
“It’s not like that, I just don’t like to get rusty is all. I’m not here craving a skirmish but I’ll happily practice on you big boy.”
“Who the hell are you to call me big she giant? You could swallow a moon like a vorpal beast.”
“Come again? You ugly, hairy little barbarian. Your mother spat you out her cunt like a dog in the woods.”
M’Celfur looks at her with a daring glare, a second later changing to outright laughter and playfully punching her arm.
“That’s why you’re ma favorite. I swear my kids would love to see ya big fucker, you should come and visit meh sometime. Wife makes a passable roast cuu if you like that.”
“And have your bear of a wife maul me hm? Heh yeah when we get leave I might take you up on that.”
“You two finished? Get moving.”
Aelius voice interrupts the two reminding them of their current task.
“Yes my liege, launching now.”
Kesola, M’Celfur and their company take flight into the abandoned mine ahead of the ships, their max speed exceeding the speed of the ships at half sail. The mine was broken apart and as such was a bit trickier to navigate in armour, the leftover machinery was inactive and decrepit floating around threatening to give someone a nasty bump. M’Celfur checked inside while Kesola kept her company on the surface checking for traps and evidence of any recent activity. As expected, there was nothing of interest at the mine, the whole area was just junk debris from a past age. M’Celfur moved deeper and deeper into the asteroid with some of his soldiers, he had it in his mind that there might be some left-over material or tools that he might find useful as relics. He found a certain charm in artifacts of past ages and like to preserve them if he could. Of course, he masked this search of his as making sure the mine was vacant.
“You two check the generator room down the hall tell me if uh yeh find anything worth pickin up ya know, like old tools and such”
“Right away my lord.”
“As you command.”
“Oh and be careful, this place is pretty shaky as it is and you never know what kind of foul things lurk in dark places heh heh heh.”
“Eh right, as you say Milord”
The two soldiers proceed down the hallway towards the generator room following some decrepit yet still legible maps on the walls.
“Valia.”
“Hm?”
“What do you think the commander meant by that? You think there are vorpal creatures here?”
The young lineman utters in a hushed voice, his head shifting to look at every open door and wide space. His hands gripped the hilt of his sheathed blade with every look around a corner.
“In this region? Between the hostile forces of the Promised Kingdom and the Alliance? Don’t be such coward.”
“I am not a coward, wouldn’t you want to know if there was some hungry beast phasing in from another plane. They could be right above us as we speak.”
“Shut it.”
“Oho now who’s afraid.”
The two soldiers come to a door with a broken computer console before it and marked “Mine generator room”. The door control being inoperable as it obviously was made opening the door a chore of physical strength, the two grab the door and pull it open with little strain. The room like the rest of the facility was pitch black, the torch lights from their machina pierced through the dark revealing the age old machinery. The two soldiers took a good look around from the entrance before venturing in further.
“Wow look at this old thing, wonder if it still works?”
“Even if it does, I don’t think there’s any fuel Gevin. Let’s just have a quick look around and get the fuck out hey?”
“Yeah, could be ‘foul things’ lurking down in here… Lord knows. Hm? What’s this now?”
Gevin saunters over to the far-right corner of the room seeing a steel crate partially open, there was something very shiny reflecting his torch light with a blue hue. He reaches the crate and lifts the lid seeing a solid mass of lyre, the fuel for ships and machina as well as a host of other vehicles.
“Hey Valia look wha.”
“GEVIN GET BACK!”
Before the young man could even react a floating red light slowly glides towards him from the dark, it was no more than six feet away and began blinking. Gevin pushed off the ground thrusting at max speed away back to the entrance but it was too late. The Explosion rocked a good portion of the facility, the blue and white energy pulse revealed it to be an ionic proximity mine. The generator room was destroyed and warped from the intense heat, luckily Valia was able to put her shield up and mitigate the explosion letting her and Gevin to survive.
“Gevin… ugh, my arm. I think I broke it shit! Gevin you there buddy? Come on say something. Gevin come on don’t go all quiet on me now… Oh shit.”
Looking closer at Gevins machina armour she notices a tiny breach on the left side of the torso, the suit is still functioning but the oxygen cells are draining fast and the recycling unit is going to burn out at this rate. Over her communication line M’Celfur comes through after a little interference.
“You… Situation… Again, are you alright? What’s your situation?! What was that explosion report!”
“My lord I’m alright, just a bit banged up. Gevin’s suit is breached and he’s losing air, gotta get him out of here fast. It was a mine milord, the facility is mined it’s a trap.”
M’Celfur broadcasts to all his men and Kesola.
“Stay on guard, the facility is boobytrapped. Ran into a mine and we got two injured soldiers need takin back to the ship. We’ll keep communications ongoing as we proceed is this heard?”
Kesola as well as a group of high-ranking linemen respond with “affirmative”.
Searching one room after another M’Celfur and his soldiers find a few more mines and use their EM weaponry to disable the devices before they detonate and disarm them. Disarming them was a surprisingly easy task as it appears these mines like the mine, they were in were quite old. They were not as old as the mine but old enough to be out of date weaponry. Left over from an old war these ionic mines were easily handled by anybody on their guard. Ultimately relieved but still a little sad he hadn’t found anything worthwhile including the mines M’Celfur communicated with the Northwind.
“My liege, incoming from Lord M’Celfur.”
“On screen Mr. Lirran.”
“My lord Aelius we’ve run into a bit of a situation down here, seems that there’s some old active weaponry down here. Some old I-D seven mines down here, got two of my linemen injured and they’re on their way back. We’re sweeping the facility with EM weaponry to clear em out but might need a bigger crew to deal with all of this.”
“I see…”
Aelius face turning into a pensive stare downwards.
“This requires our attention; we will bring the ships in and assign a larger crew to deal with the mines. It wouldn’t be right if someone else inadvertently ran into these things.”
“Aye milord, shall we continue our efforts?”
“Yes, keep sweeping the facility and make sure to rely on your motion sensors.”
“Thy will be done milord.”
The three ships move closer to the facility anchoring just outside, crews inside their machina armour descend to the facility and begin to purge the mine of its old ion explosives. Aboard the Northwind the Sensor lineman picked up a signal on one of his monitors. A small object no bigger than a head was slowly approaching the ships… No wait two. It was four, nine, twelve, twenty, forty. The sensors were lit up with movement heading towards them.
“My lord Aelius! We have inbound. The sensors indicate ionic explosive weaponry, their numbers are in the thousands!”
“I suppose there were quite few of those things hanging around, no matter. Bring the ship weapons online and target the incoming mines, they shouldn’t be much trouble even at those numbers. Relay those orders to the other ships… I find it a little odd these ones came from so far to solely target the ships, let’s keep an eye out for anything weird.”
“Aye milord.”
From over, under and around the asteroid mine fragments come a large wave of bug like mines slowly approaching the ships. The ships open fire in a hail of ordnance hitting the cloud of mines detonating them in the dozens and hundreds with chain reactions. The waves came at the ships for a good few minutes being wiped out all the same, the onslaught seemed to be thinning out and the cloud was nothing but stragglers. Aboard Lord Knight Urmai’s ship the Vorten the Sensor Lineman noticed something peculiar in the cloud of mines he thought he had imagined. One of the signals wasn’t moving, there was a stationary object on one of the asteroids slightly larger than the rest.
“My lord Urmai, something strange here on the monit.”
In that instant three massive rockets fly from the inside of one of the asteroids towards the Vorten. They slam into the side of her violently one after the other tipping her over and the final one striking the engine directly. The Vorten I struck with secondary explosions and the ship is torn asunder in a great and terrible display. Just like that the ship halves fly apart, some of the debris from the explosion hitting soldiers on the surface of the mine. From his ship Aelius stared out in shock and horror, the whole crew was in despair and the sight of their sister ship suddenly and with such violent force destroyed. For a few moments there was no communication as few could summon words. Kesola herself gripped her hammer tight in her fist staying off any sadness for anger, anger which was shortly to be given a muse and outlet. From a cloaked position near where the late senor lineman had spotted the strange reading appear three pirate vessels flying pure black sails, faithless pirates devoted to no Solar lord. The pirate vessels poured out machina armoured soldiers as the sped towards the Crown ships at full sails and guns ready. Outnumbered, soldiers scattered in the mines and moral declining this was turning into a nightmare quickly.
Entering the structure revealed the artistry of the Coded Settlers, the walls were decorated with iron inlaying depicting oil rivers. In the rivers the Codded Settlers are reaching up to the benevolent hand of Battai. Some of the settlers come out in machina armor and look like they are giving praise to Battai. Aelius proceeds past a crowd of Settlers towards a wooden desk where sits a rather old looking Clerk with reading glasses. Knowing full well that Settlers life span was indefinite as far as anyone knew this man must have been birthed this way. The elderly looking Settler looked up at Aelius adjusting his glasses.
“Yes, how may I help you lad?”
“My name is Aelius Krimwell, I’m with the Red Crown fleet. I uh.”
The clerk cuts him off.
“Ah yes, your ship is leaving port soon I see, going to make your rounds hm?”
“Indeed, is my crew accounted for?”
“They all signed in and the registry is confirmed.”
“I’ll be heading aboard now then; can you have the sail sequence ready please?”
“It’ll be ready young knight don’t you worry.”
Aelius makes his way to the port and along the boardwalk to the HLV-Northwind; the Northwind being a large military class frigate. Two crewmen that guard the ship stair access salute Aelius as he approaches and step aside. Aelius proceeds up a small set of stairs until he reaches a lift, the lift brings Aelius all the way up to the top of the ship; the bridge where gathered his council. Kesola Maceysmyth a rather tall, strong and fair red haired woman that towered over all others on the bridge; Junsan Harthe Culli a bald man with a fit physique and piercing yellow eyes; Romali Quinzin a small woman in stature with dishevelled black lochs and pale skin; Loray Cealphane a woman with reptilian skin, a fierce serpents face standing strong with a stern look and M'Celfur Shiliam; A tan skin man with short curly brown hair and slim physique. As Aelius enters the room Kesola stands at attention and announces the captains return in a strong authoritative tone.
“Commander Knight aboard! Stand tall!”
The entirety of the bridge stands up and wraps their right arm around their chest bowing slightly before him. Aelius waves his hand before the display.
“Stand down, as you were. Prepare for departure Helmsman, the launch sequence is incoming.”
“Yes my liege!”
The bridge crew returns to their positions and awaits the confirmation to set sail as Aelius and his council of Knights gather around the briefing table and take their seats. The holographic projector in the center of the table hummed with energy waiting to spring forward with imagery, the sound of that buzz somewhat comforting setting the mood for the room. The background noises of consoles, chatter and other devices made a sort of curtain between the briefing table and the rest of the room with sound. Aelius pressed a few buttons on the holographic display and it begins to show a series of large asteroids in deep ocean territory between Procel-6 and the Remmington alliance colony of Regios-Reming.
“There are a series of asteroids here we are tasked with patrolling for the day. We will be in a patrol group alongside the HLV-Vorten and Ocean piercer. There’s no reason to believe we’ll run into any trouble as the alliance is already in open conflict with Gastel, and we know how those bloody chip heads hate to stop fighting. We’re not taking the ships into the asteroid field because of the smaller debris, no need to stress the shields. Kesola and M’Celfur will take their company into the field and scout it out; make sure there are no Alliance dogs fuckin about, or sensors.”
“Yes my liege.”
“Yes my liege.”
“The rest of you will remain on stan-by in the armor docking bay, should something happen I want a quick response understood?”
Everyone bows their head and nods.
“To your tasks then.”
Not a half hour latter the Northwind launches from the port bound for the asteroid field at half speed, launching immediately behind them are the mark three frigates Vorten and Ocean Piercer. The ships form up and proceed onward through the Ocean. Inside his captains quarters Aelius sits in a chair facing a series of monitors and two of them are active. On one is an middle aged woman in a Knights uniform with shoulder length blonde hair, on the other is a younger man with Jet black hair in a crew cut and dark skin. The woman speaks with Aelius in a rather frustrated tone.
“My lord if we increased the sails to full we could be at our destination ahead of time, if the Alliance was planning anything and knew our patrol schedule we could catch them off guard arriving early.”
“I must agree with Lord Urmai.”
The younger captain chimes in.
“The Alliance will not be an issue, honestly there is no need for over zealous behaviour here. We will continue sail at half speed until there is reason to alter speed and course. Let it not be said I am unreasonable though… If your worry is so great then I will allow you to send forward a machina company each to scout our way.”
Aelius eyes shift between the two of them awaiting their reply. Aelius though a seasoned knight was not the stereotype of knights, he was not so rigid and stubborn as to not take council from others even of lesser rank. The woman bowed her head and smirked at Aelius.
“As always, your choice is wise my liege, I shall send forward a light company of machina to secure the way. So is this your experience with diplomats in use Lord Aelius?”
Aelius smirks but gives no response before turning to the younger male captain.
“Reever?”
“Y Yes my lord, I shall send a company along with Lord Urmai’s soldiers.”
“Excellent, now that we have all of that cleared up I have business elsewhere on my ship. If you have nothing else, to your tasks Knights.”
“Yes Milord.”
“At once my liege.”
The screens shut off as Aelius leans back for a moment. He reaches into one of the pockets on the breast of his knights long coat pulling out a small silver case no bigger than his hand. From inside he takes out a cigarette and holds it before his face simply looking at it as one would a long-lost memory. He slides it between his lips before lighting it and getting up to exit his room. The long red and white halls of the frigate gave an image of pristine order until occasionally coming upon an open floor panel, exposed wiring or some other worn-down part. Aelius couldn’t help but admire all the disrepair and beaten parts believing that it gave the ship some character and age. The Northwind had served the Crown for half of a decade now under Aelius and he knew her inside and out quite well. As he passed by all crewmen practically on instance stood tall as Linemen should, showing their respect but also honoring a captain as per code.
Back at the port authority in Procel-6, Paladin of the second mark Grellian Kobrish Corgsied sat in an ornate wooden chair in an equally well decorated room. His face was sullen and aged but still giving off a hint of stern military strength. His hair though thinning somewhat, and gray was well kept and proper as can be. The sharp blue eyes of the old Paladin thoughtfully stared across to the man sitting in the clearly larger and more opulent chair. A Settler male by the name of Switcharle-8 garbed in fine robes and jewels, his metallic and wooden flesh looked like it could shine through the inky black of the Ocean itself; also made him look rather soft and pampered. Corgsied shifted his body weight uncomfortably as he looked at the time displayed on a screen on the wall. Clearly, he was thoughtful of the time and wanted to be out from this place.
“My lord Corgsied you seem to be unsettled, is there an issue at hand? Did you not properly ready supplies and supply chains when departing for Procel-6?”
“Our supply route was recently attacked by those pirate guild dogs, they caught one of our freighters and took the whole damn shipment of supplies.”
“I cannot simply give credit to you or sell you the supplies you need at reduced price, besides the inescapable fact I’d be tried and have my position as Thane revoked, I also have economic problems of my own.”
“You do know that the Pope himself is enroute to this port yes?”
“H How? How do you know the Pope is scheduled here? I thought that was solely for the Papal knights to know?”
“I was granted this information by Empress Theodara’s royal hand, it was given by the Pope himself as he intends to make a spectacle over the cooperation of the Crowns fleet and Port Procel-6. A good moral campaign you see, problem is I don’t think it will be seen well if the Thane of Port Procel-6’s economic district is being so conservative with his resources hm?”
The Thane Switcharle-8 lays back in his grand chair letting out a frustrated yet defeated sigh fully understanding what a happy visit from the Pope could mean for the economy and tourism. Having the ruling body of the entire Promised Kingdom come to visit was a grand occasion Thane Switcharle had been planning for with his advisors. Indeed the old Paladin knew how to pay his cards with subtlety and Thane Switcharle reluctantly agreed to at least sell the Paladin what he needed at half price. The catch to this was the port itself did not have the resources on hand to supply the Crown ships, they would have to wait for a freighter or other trade ship to come in from the Girderoth-2 colony. At full sail with a fast galley would still take three days which meant the Crown fleet would remain low on water rations and ammunition for the ship weapons.
“It will take five damned days until a Galleon makes it there and back, why can we not take provisions you have already?”
“Well my Lord Corgsied unless you plan on going to every merchant and explaining why you’re taking supplies already bought, paid for and in their stores, I think you’ll have to wait. I trust your patrols are still well stocked?”
“Yes at the moment the ships on patrol are set for two weeks… I suppose I will then, let us hope our patrols don’t encounter any strong Alliance forces. Well for now will you at least send a shipping type galleon?”
“First thing when we are finished with this meeting, although we have no shipping type Galleons left available. I’ll have to use one of our military vessels it seems… Unfortunate.”
“The Crown fleet is already on patrol keeping guard in key areas, if it’s security your worry for then I assure you the Alliance nor pirates will be a problem.”
“The Brimstone is the only military vessel we have not in repair at the moment so you can understand my hesitation.”
“I assure you my men remain on guard for your Port and people Thane Switcharle-eight.”
“I take you at your word Lord Paladin.”
On the next day the Northwind patrol group circles their way around a destroyed and fragmented Ocean copper mine, the chunks were large enough that navigating past them was not too difficult. The formation of the ships was more loose give the terrain but close enough to stay in visual range. Aboard the Northwind in the armor docking bay Kesola Maceysmyth sits in a steel chair on one side of a steel table. On the table are two small stacks of gold coins and a few precious and well-cut gems. Approaching the table is a young and fit looking female lineman of the second mark, a nervous yet determined look across her face. Kesola looks upon the approaching Lineman with casual disinterest and yet pushes out the chair so they can have a seat. The Lineman sits down and faces Kesola now with a slightly shaking hand.
“It’s one ruby a pop love, wanna have a go or you gonna lose your nerve?”
The young Lineman puts her arm on the table in an arm-wrestling manner.
“They really don’t teach you grunts much at the academy concerning Gen mods, alright let’s do this.”
Kesola meets the Linemans grip and they both begin to wrestle.
“Ha I was the strongest Lineman in my class ma’am, forgive me but I think tales of your strength are a bit overstated. And it looks like this match is going to be mine.”
The Lineman gains the upper hand against Kesola pushing her hand nearer to the table with great strain and a fierce look, Kesola on the other hand is barely paying attention as she looks over to her armor in the docking bay. The bright red armor was a bit of a standout from the others around it due to it’s size and complete red colour as oppose to the rest that were red and gold. The dent, cuts and burn marks stood as proof to her veterancy in the Crown military and prowess on the battlefield. Kesola wasn’t born to the life of a soldier but the longer she spent in that armor, in this military as a soldier; the more she felt the old desires of her life slip away and her battle spirit flourish. Her mind snaps back to her ongoing match as a loud grunt gets her attention.
“Oh right you…”
Kesola practically lifts the woman off her chair when throwing her hand down on the table with a loud smack.
“Ah!”
“Leave the money on the table, good try love.”
Kesola gets up and walks over to her armor while she also grabs one of the engineers by the shoulder, she begins pointing out various parts of her suit directing the engineer to make some alterations here and there. Standing in the large hallway before the entrance to the docking bay Junsan watched the bay crew go back and forth doing their duty before he laid his eyes on Kesola. The council of Aelius had been created over two years ago and the knights had gotten a little familiar with each other. Junsan approached Kesola and stood behind her as she continued to boss around the engineer.
“Getting ready for your scouting mission are you?”
Kesola turns her head slightly.
“Oh… It’s you.”
Kesola’s tone giving off a hint of discomfort at Junsans presence.
“Uh yeah, Sorrow wind seems to long for combat.”
“Sorrow wind you say? Is it Sorrow wind that longs for combat?”
“Stop, not another lecture.”
“It is no lecture but words of wisdom, Lord Veah only wants peace for your heart as she does all her children. Do not be consumed by combat but fight for the love of Veah.”
“Is this you questioning my devotion? Again? You know I put up with a lot of your!”
“Please Kesola I mean no offense. I am merely a servant of Veah looking out for the soul of a good friend.”
Kesola looks at Junsan’s seemingly genuine smile and lets out a sigh.
“You Veilkin I swear, anyways… What are you going to be doing on your off time after this tour?”
“Oh well I’ll be going back to the Cathedral on Copperloam, Father Brithsbane and I will be doing some charity work for the destitute paupers. It is a great feeling to help those of the lower class unable to help themselves. It also help to spread good will towards the military”
“Always working for the greater good I see.”
“And you? More work on your galley yes? What did you call it? The Wake?”
“Yeah! Me and my friend have been working on it for a long time trying to buy or have the parts crafted we need. It’ll be good to see her again… My ship I mean and my friend of course.”
“Yes I imagine, I.”
As Junsen began to speak the armour warden sent out the launch siren. Immediately Kesola’s head jerked to the sound as did Junsen.
“Well I suppose it’s time for you to clad yourself, go with Veah as your shield friend and good fortune.”
“Uh thanks, and you as well. It’s a simple scout op, I doubt we’ll run into anything.”
Junsen bows his head before turning away back down the hall to leave the docking bay. Racks of armour descend from above on steel cranes as masses of soldiers hurry to their positions dawning their armour with the oversight of the engineers and technicians. Before the assembling soldiers the ships bay doors open wide as a shield replaces them keeping the air and gravity stable. From inside one could still see the glimmer of the primary shield behind the air shield like pale green water. Kesola took her position alongside M’Celfur holding her rather large and foreboding hammer, etched on the long poll were the words Nécuul ef-gor or Scorch and smite in Celesavice the Solar tongue the common language of the Linked. M’Celfur dawned a light armour, red with gold streaks; there was a light shoulder mounted ion turret on one side and a light rocket launcher on the other. In his arms he carried an plasma based sniper rifle that was clearly on able to be held because of the armours AI assistance. M’Celfur turns to Kesola smiling behind his helm.
“So! Ready to go explore some vacant rocks?”
He sarcastically yet cheerfully bellows in his unique accent rolling his R’s
“Right? There hasn’t been any assignment lately with some intrigue. It’s been a fucking age since I’ve had a challenge.”
“Ooohhhhhh feeling the warriors longing do yeh? I thought that was taboo for you Forged.”
“It’s not like that, I just don’t like to get rusty is all. I’m not here craving a skirmish but I’ll happily practice on you big boy.”
“Who the hell are you to call me big she giant? You could swallow a moon like a vorpal beast.”
“Come again? You ugly, hairy little barbarian. Your mother spat you out her cunt like a dog in the woods.”
M’Celfur looks at her with a daring glare, a second later changing to outright laughter and playfully punching her arm.
“That’s why you’re ma favorite. I swear my kids would love to see ya big fucker, you should come and visit meh sometime. Wife makes a passable roast cuu if you like that.”
“And have your bear of a wife maul me hm? Heh yeah when we get leave I might take you up on that.”
“You two finished? Get moving.”
Aelius voice interrupts the two reminding them of their current task.
“Yes my liege, launching now.”
Kesola, M’Celfur and their company take flight into the abandoned mine ahead of the ships, their max speed exceeding the speed of the ships at half sail. The mine was broken apart and as such was a bit trickier to navigate in armour, the leftover machinery was inactive and decrepit floating around threatening to give someone a nasty bump. M’Celfur checked inside while Kesola kept her company on the surface checking for traps and evidence of any recent activity. As expected, there was nothing of interest at the mine, the whole area was just junk debris from a past age. M’Celfur moved deeper and deeper into the asteroid with some of his soldiers, he had it in his mind that there might be some left-over material or tools that he might find useful as relics. He found a certain charm in artifacts of past ages and like to preserve them if he could. Of course, he masked this search of his as making sure the mine was vacant.
“You two check the generator room down the hall tell me if uh yeh find anything worth pickin up ya know, like old tools and such”
“Right away my lord.”
“As you command.”
“Oh and be careful, this place is pretty shaky as it is and you never know what kind of foul things lurk in dark places heh heh heh.”
“Eh right, as you say Milord”
The two soldiers proceed down the hallway towards the generator room following some decrepit yet still legible maps on the walls.
“Valia.”
“Hm?”
“What do you think the commander meant by that? You think there are vorpal creatures here?”
The young lineman utters in a hushed voice, his head shifting to look at every open door and wide space. His hands gripped the hilt of his sheathed blade with every look around a corner.
“In this region? Between the hostile forces of the Promised Kingdom and the Alliance? Don’t be such coward.”
“I am not a coward, wouldn’t you want to know if there was some hungry beast phasing in from another plane. They could be right above us as we speak.”
“Shut it.”
“Oho now who’s afraid.”
The two soldiers come to a door with a broken computer console before it and marked “Mine generator room”. The door control being inoperable as it obviously was made opening the door a chore of physical strength, the two grab the door and pull it open with little strain. The room like the rest of the facility was pitch black, the torch lights from their machina pierced through the dark revealing the age old machinery. The two soldiers took a good look around from the entrance before venturing in further.
“Wow look at this old thing, wonder if it still works?”
“Even if it does, I don’t think there’s any fuel Gevin. Let’s just have a quick look around and get the fuck out hey?”
“Yeah, could be ‘foul things’ lurking down in here… Lord knows. Hm? What’s this now?”
Gevin saunters over to the far-right corner of the room seeing a steel crate partially open, there was something very shiny reflecting his torch light with a blue hue. He reaches the crate and lifts the lid seeing a solid mass of lyre, the fuel for ships and machina as well as a host of other vehicles.
“Hey Valia look wha.”
“GEVIN GET BACK!”
Before the young man could even react a floating red light slowly glides towards him from the dark, it was no more than six feet away and began blinking. Gevin pushed off the ground thrusting at max speed away back to the entrance but it was too late. The Explosion rocked a good portion of the facility, the blue and white energy pulse revealed it to be an ionic proximity mine. The generator room was destroyed and warped from the intense heat, luckily Valia was able to put her shield up and mitigate the explosion letting her and Gevin to survive.
“Gevin… ugh, my arm. I think I broke it shit! Gevin you there buddy? Come on say something. Gevin come on don’t go all quiet on me now… Oh shit.”
Looking closer at Gevins machina armour she notices a tiny breach on the left side of the torso, the suit is still functioning but the oxygen cells are draining fast and the recycling unit is going to burn out at this rate. Over her communication line M’Celfur comes through after a little interference.
“You… Situation… Again, are you alright? What’s your situation?! What was that explosion report!”
“My lord I’m alright, just a bit banged up. Gevin’s suit is breached and he’s losing air, gotta get him out of here fast. It was a mine milord, the facility is mined it’s a trap.”
M’Celfur broadcasts to all his men and Kesola.
“Stay on guard, the facility is boobytrapped. Ran into a mine and we got two injured soldiers need takin back to the ship. We’ll keep communications ongoing as we proceed is this heard?”
Kesola as well as a group of high-ranking linemen respond with “affirmative”.
Searching one room after another M’Celfur and his soldiers find a few more mines and use their EM weaponry to disable the devices before they detonate and disarm them. Disarming them was a surprisingly easy task as it appears these mines like the mine, they were in were quite old. They were not as old as the mine but old enough to be out of date weaponry. Left over from an old war these ionic mines were easily handled by anybody on their guard. Ultimately relieved but still a little sad he hadn’t found anything worthwhile including the mines M’Celfur communicated with the Northwind.
“My liege, incoming from Lord M’Celfur.”
“On screen Mr. Lirran.”
“My lord Aelius we’ve run into a bit of a situation down here, seems that there’s some old active weaponry down here. Some old I-D seven mines down here, got two of my linemen injured and they’re on their way back. We’re sweeping the facility with EM weaponry to clear em out but might need a bigger crew to deal with all of this.”
“I see…”
Aelius face turning into a pensive stare downwards.
“This requires our attention; we will bring the ships in and assign a larger crew to deal with the mines. It wouldn’t be right if someone else inadvertently ran into these things.”
“Aye milord, shall we continue our efforts?”
“Yes, keep sweeping the facility and make sure to rely on your motion sensors.”
“Thy will be done milord.”
The three ships move closer to the facility anchoring just outside, crews inside their machina armour descend to the facility and begin to purge the mine of its old ion explosives. Aboard the Northwind the Sensor lineman picked up a signal on one of his monitors. A small object no bigger than a head was slowly approaching the ships… No wait two. It was four, nine, twelve, twenty, forty. The sensors were lit up with movement heading towards them.
“My lord Aelius! We have inbound. The sensors indicate ionic explosive weaponry, their numbers are in the thousands!”
“I suppose there were quite few of those things hanging around, no matter. Bring the ship weapons online and target the incoming mines, they shouldn’t be much trouble even at those numbers. Relay those orders to the other ships… I find it a little odd these ones came from so far to solely target the ships, let’s keep an eye out for anything weird.”
“Aye milord.”
From over, under and around the asteroid mine fragments come a large wave of bug like mines slowly approaching the ships. The ships open fire in a hail of ordnance hitting the cloud of mines detonating them in the dozens and hundreds with chain reactions. The waves came at the ships for a good few minutes being wiped out all the same, the onslaught seemed to be thinning out and the cloud was nothing but stragglers. Aboard Lord Knight Urmai’s ship the Vorten the Sensor Lineman noticed something peculiar in the cloud of mines he thought he had imagined. One of the signals wasn’t moving, there was a stationary object on one of the asteroids slightly larger than the rest.
“My lord Urmai, something strange here on the monit.”
In that instant three massive rockets fly from the inside of one of the asteroids towards the Vorten. They slam into the side of her violently one after the other tipping her over and the final one striking the engine directly. The Vorten I struck with secondary explosions and the ship is torn asunder in a great and terrible display. Just like that the ship halves fly apart, some of the debris from the explosion hitting soldiers on the surface of the mine. From his ship Aelius stared out in shock and horror, the whole crew was in despair and the sight of their sister ship suddenly and with such violent force destroyed. For a few moments there was no communication as few could summon words. Kesola herself gripped her hammer tight in her fist staying off any sadness for anger, anger which was shortly to be given a muse and outlet. From a cloaked position near where the late senor lineman had spotted the strange reading appear three pirate vessels flying pure black sails, faithless pirates devoted to no Solar lord. The pirate vessels poured out machina armoured soldiers as the sped towards the Crown ships at full sails and guns ready. Outnumbered, soldiers scattered in the mines and moral declining this was turning into a nightmare quickly.