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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
Kingdom of the Weak 512. The Guardian is back
Xue Wushuang dodged, slipping to one side to avoid an ambitious bone spear as she charged toward a formation of Undead. Unlike lower Tier Undead, this Tier 7 bunch had seen fit to gather strength and numbers before attacking the human settlements in the Wildlands. There were nine of them attacking together now, and the defenders of Craggy Falls had turned out in force to stop them. Five of them never got past the perimeter defense cannons. One more was tangled with Xue Mengli over on the far left. Wushuang occupied the last three, luring them away from the defenders in Armored Frames shooting at them with gauss rifles. She darted in, slashing low to hamstring one skeleton knight that strayed a little too far from the others. Then, she leapt back to avoid their counterattack, zipping left and right as they hurled more bone spears at her. “Fire!” the defenders unleashed another volley, their combined firepower causing the skeleton knights to stumble, buying Wushuang an opening. She s
Kingdom of the Weak 513. It’s gone
Remian and Phoebe took some time to get dressed in modern local fashion. What was modern local fashion? Armor and hand weapons. Everyone wore those. Remian easily found a fitting suit of black leather jacket and pants at a Starport shop. Phoebe had a bit more trouble since the shop assistant kept crashing into things and forgetting what he was saying, but ultimately she managed to get a matching suit of black leather, except with a skirt attachment on top of the pants. For a hand weapon, Remian did indeed strap on the Sword of Truth to his side, although he felt it was redundant since he could form Psi Blades at any moment. Phoebe picked up a tripartite staff, conveniently slotted behind her waist in the form of three smaller parts linked with chain. They also bought new Visors and comms lines with X7K connectivity speeds, with which they could finally see the myriads of Augmented Reality advertisements, flashing signs, street signals, incoming messages, etc. Compared to the clean
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
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 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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- Kingdom of the Weak 523. Comms
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- Kingdom of the Weak 521. Next Step
- Kingdom of the Weak 520. Uber States Colony
- Kingdom of the Weak 519. Scoop
- Kingdom of the Weak 518. We should call Remian
- Kingdom of the Weak 517. Objectives and Objections
- Kingdom of the Weak 516. Changing Gear
- Kingdom of the Weak 514. Out there