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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The next morning, we pull the senior officers together to tell them what we now know. Admiral Shockpaw joins us, as does Ambassador Dreadthief, who happened to still be on-ship this morning. When they arrive to the discussion chamber together, she’s wearing the same blue dress from last night. I notice Cap grin and give the Admiral a quick wink before inviting them to take seats.

  We quickly relay the new information that we have to the staff concerning the lack of a war and how the declaration message was faked. As expected, Gimmir becomes quite sullen when he finds out the battalion won’t be needed after all, and only slightly brightens when he’s asked to build the security team for the visit to the palace. I feel slightly sorry for the battalion members who are going to have to deal with an unhappy Major today.

  The meeting comes to an end, and Ambassador Dreadthief stands. “Before I go, I again offer you welcome on behalf of Stenchstone and the King. I hope these issues can be resolved quickly, and I’ll make the appointments with the Palace and the Overseer immediately. I also invite your crew to please visit the city while you’re here. My office can provide recommendations and reservations for activities.”

  She smiles and looks down the table. “Zaxn, I’ll tell my sister that you’re here. She’ll be so happy to see you! We’ll have dinner at my house tonight and catch up!” Zaxn smiles back, and the Admiral leads the female goblin out of the chamber.

  When the door closes, Sen’s left arm flies up and smacks the younger goblin in the face. Without looking at him, she scowls. “You’re going to have dinner tonight with that beautiful goblin’s sister?”

  Zaxn’s eyes pop open as wide as saucers. He rubs his face. “Yes, of course! You already knew I was going to see my family when we arrived!”

  The scowl fades and Sen’s head turns to face him. “Your family?”

  He nods, then panics as he notices the rest of us are still in the room and this conversation is the center of attention for all of us. Cap’s grinning like an idiot, Tanna’s looking at me with her ‘juicy gossip’ face, Gimmir appears to be betting with Lada and Simon on the outcome, using Calgonnel as a witness. No one’s able to stop Aelon before he speaks. “Zaxn, buddy… you’re related to that gorgeous green girl?”

  That gets Tanna’s attention instantly, and she swivels in her seat to glare at him. “Excuse me!? ‘Gorgeous green girl’!?”

  Now Cap’s chuckling and Zaxn looks like he wants to crawl under the table. I guess it’s time for XO Westiel to save the meeting again. “Ambassador Dreadthief is Zaxn’s mother’s sister.” Thankfully that was in Zaxn’s personnel file, which I read when I was looking for information on the Ambassador before the meeting last night.

  Lada chuckles at the end of the table. Gimmir and Simon both look dejected. I guess she must have won the bet. Aelon gives Zaxn a thumbs-up, which Tanna rewards with another glare. Sen smiles and pats Zaxn’s hand. “Oh. Her sister is your mother. I suppose I won’t use my special flail on you then. Too bad.”

  That gets the whole table laughing, except Zaxn who can’t seem to figure out if he’s allowed to look relieved or not. After a minute, Cap speaks up. “Alright, fellas. So, the good news is we’re not at war, but there’s still bad news. We don’t know why we’re here or what’s happenin’. For now, we’re gonna stick with the original plan with the trips to the King and the Overseer. Lada and Gimmir, put together a two-squad security team for our trip to the palace. Try to keep it dwarves and elves only. Since we don’t know why we’re here, I don’t wanna risk any backstabbin’. For now, the only goblins we can trust are in this room.”

  The dwarves nod, and Cap turns to Calgonnel. “I’m thinkin’ yer group is fine with just Rylae and Simon. Yer still less likely to get attention that way, even if ya don’t have to sneak through a war now.”

  The three of us exchange glances, and Calgonnel nods. “I agree. I don’t know this new Overseer, but if he has Ambassador Dreadthief’s recommendation then we can assume he won’t be hostile. We’ll stick with a small non-threatening group and see what kinds of questions we can get answered.”

  Cap looks around the room. “As for the rest of ya, I know the offer to visit is a good one, but I want to make sure things are ok before we let anyone out for visits. Tanna, verify our mana reserves and maintenance. Aelon, work with your team and Science to keep updated coordinates ready in case we need to launch with no warnin’. Sen, prepare one of your folk for the field in case we need somethin’ quickly.”

  Those orders passed around, he turns to the youngest goblin. “Zaxn. I need you to do somethin’ too. Go see yer mother. Also, reconnect with folk who may remember ya and see what they know. Find out what’s happenin’ on-world and listen for gossip and rumors. See if someone says somethin’ important.”

  Zaxn glances at me, and I can tell he’s a little scared. I give him a look that I hope is reassuring and nod. He looks back at Cap. “Aye, sir. I’ll see what I can find out.”

  Cap claps his hands once. “Excellent. Then we know what we’re gonna do. Let’s get to it.”

  ««»»

  Shortly after the meeting, we receive a call from the Ambassador letting us know the arrangements have been made. Cap and the Admiral are going to the palace at lunchtime to spend the rest of the day with the King. Kesn tells us that His Majesty completely cleared his appointments for the rest of the day to accommodate their visit, and he’s also inviting other important folk join them for a card game after dinner. Definitely doesn’t sound like a war party.

  Our meeting with the Overseer is scheduled for an hour before lunch, and it’ll take us a little while to get there from the docking pad, so we’ll be the first ones out. I finish putting on my dress uniform and making myself look pretty, then start down to the armory on level 3. We’ve decided to still carry weapons until we find out exactly what’s happening.

  Simon’s waiting outside of the armory when I arrive, wearing leather armor over a standard uniform. We half-salute to each other, then he hands me a belt with a holster and some sheaths on it. I put it around my waist with the holster on my right hip and the sheaths on my left, then buckle it behind me. The entire thing is unnoticeable under my uniform jacket.

  Calgonnel walks up at that point, and Simon hands him a different belt. This one buckles in the front, and has a single holster in the center. Once he puts it on, the holster sits at the small of his back. Since he’s not a fighter, we decided in training that the single spellshooter was Calgonnel’s best option, and this lets him look like he’s unarmed during discussions to keep everyone at ease.

  We walk over to the cases of spellshooters. Simon picks one out for each of us and hands them to us. “Calgonnel, if you need to shoot something, we’re in deep trouble. But you’re not as well-trained as I’d like you to be for an area-effect spell to get us out of that kind of trouble. This shoots force missiles. Aim for center mass and pull the trigger. Should hit hard enough to cause some damage and knock back anything smaller than a dragon. Your main job is to keep yourself safe, not us.

  “Rylae, you’re trained better but you haven’t been in a real fight since Firefork. If things go bad, you need options. Your spellshooter has two spells – a spike shot and a lightning ball. The spike shot is precise and sharp. It’ll puncture most armor. Use that when you want to take someone out. The lightning ball is area-effect. It’ll stun anyone in the blast, and hurt anyone wearing or holding metal. It’s not lethal, though, so use it when you think it’s best.” He points out the switch on the side just above the trigger to change the spell.

  I place the spellshooter in my holster and notice Calgonnel does the same. Simon then hands me two daggers from a box I know well, as I keep it down here for my own use. Each is about 8 cm across, with a 10 cm hilt and 15 cm blade. One has a wide flat hilt and was made for throwing. The other has a round hilt with a slightly curved crosspiece for parrying. Both
hilts are wrapped in leather straps. I place them in the sheaths on my left hip.

  Simon then grabs a brace of daggers, which he straps across his chest. He follows this with a belt that has a short sword scabbard on the left, two spellshooter holsters on the right, and a clip next to the buckle at the back. He pulls a sword from the rack, tests its weight in his hand, then places it in the sheath. Next he reaches for a short mace and attaches it to the clip behind him.

  He grabs two spellshooters and turns to us. “Acid and Fireball. If we’re in it so deep that I need to shoot something, get the hell behind me.” We nod and he holsters them.

  Satisfied that we’re ready, he turns to us. “Let’s be clear again. My job is to protect Calgonnel and Rylae. Rylae’s job is to protect Calgonnel and Rylae. Calgonnel’s job is to protect Calgonnel. It is no one’s job to protect Simon. If Simon can’t handle it, then Rylae and Calgonnel get the hell out of it. Understood?”

  I turn to look at Calgonnel with a grin, and I can see we’re thinking the same thing. I turn back, and we both snap into a full salute to Simon. “Yes, sir,” we say in unison.

  Simon scowls, then grunts. “No need to be so flashy. Let’s just not get into trouble. Think you two can do that?”

  I nod and smile. “We can try. Thanks Simon.”

  He shrugs. “Whatever. Let’s go figure out this Overseer crap.” He walks off toward the bay doors on the first level. I turn to Calgonnel and shrug, then walk off to follow. I can hear him trying to hold back a chuckle behind me.

  When we get to the staging area, I see that the bay doors are already open and two squads of fighters are outside of the ship. Lada is in front of one squad while Gimmir is in front of the other. Each squad of nine is a mix of dwarves and elves, with no goblins in the group. The twenty fighters look formidable, dressed in full steel battle armor while practicing formations. The red coloring of the Giantbasher Elite is on each of them.

  Lada sees us, motions to Gimmir, and the two break off from the group to come into the ship. They stop and salute, which we return. Lada grins. “We had this idea to help cover ya when ya leave. You’re gonna walk with our squads while we walk over to the landcraft storage area nearby, then ya can grab one and we’ll walk back. We don’t need to hide ya from an army anymore, but we don’t know what else is out here.”

  Gimmir chuckles. “Even if something is out here, it won’t mess with my elites! You’re safer today than you’ve ever been before!”

  Simon rolls his eyes and shoves past him. “Obnoxious dwarf. Get your kittens to form up. We’ll play along with you now, and be safer after we’re not surrounded by a bunch of jokers who only think they can fight.”

  Gimmir turns to the squads and whistles. Instantly each squad of nine forms a tight square with three on each side and one in the center. We follow Gimmir to the space between the squares, where he lines up at the front, Lada lines up behind, and the three of us left form up between them as best we can.

  After a fast survey of the area, Gimmir stomps. “Half-march!” At his command, we all start walking slightly faster than a normal walk. I try to match my steps to the elites, which is only a bit of a challenge while we’re only moving a bit quickly. About five minutes of marching and a few turns later, we arrive at the landcraft storage area, an open field with about a dozen landcraft of multiple sizes and a small metal shack where a goblin is seated at a holoterminal.

  Simon steps out of formation and walks to the shack. He exchanges a few words with the goblin in charge of the area, who leaves and quickly returns with a standard-size landcraft. Simon checks it out, puts his approval in the goblin’s terminal, then waves us over. Gimmir gives a quick look around, then steps out of the way so Calgonnel and I can pass.

  Once out of formation, I turn to the group and salute. The entire formation salutes back. Gimmir stomps again. “Reverse march!” Each warrior in the formation spins in place to face the opposite direction and begins marching faster than when we arrived.

  Simon motions us into the landcraft. Calgonnel and I take seats in the back, while Simon takes the control seat. After looking for traps under and around the seats, he sets the destination in the terminal and the travel to the Overseer’s office begins.