Industry & Intrigue (58 page)

“
That’s the
point
,” said
Kendrick. “The dust is designed to explode upon contact. It creates
a burning flash, hence why her skin looks like a cooked lobster.
But the damage is minimal and she should awaken within a few
hours.”

“
Good
,” said Fiona. She holstered her gun.
“Tie her up and bring her over there.” She pointed at another
factory with a condemned sign.

“
Th
en what?” asked Tel. Kendrick pulled
out rope and bound the woman’s hands.

“
We’re going to get
answers,” replied
Fiona. “Anyway we must.”

Chapter
57

The last rays of sunlight were
slowly fading on the horizon.
A man in the resplendent black and red officer’s
uniform of the Alkon Imperial Army stood at the entrance of his
tent and watched it go down, enjoying the view. He sipped water,
refreshing his thirsty throat. It had been a dry autumn and the
recent weather pattern had pushed a dry wind through
today.

The
three red saltires on his right
shoulder indicated his official rank as general and the commander
of the First Army of Alkos. It was a prestigious position, sought
after by many high ranking generals. The First Army dated back to
the reformation period under Emperor Sidcairn and since then had
served as the elite vanguard of Alkon’s military might.

His
midnight black hair was cut short and
he had a neatly trimmed beard. The beard helped to cover up the
large burn scars that extended from his left cheek and jaw and
around his neck.

Ian
Munro had certainly well-earned the
position. He was young for a general, but he had a keen tactical
mind, commanding units in Naikos and during the brief War of Quartz
Bay in 1722, when he rose to prominence for defeating a superior
force at the Battle of Deepmist Isle.

The Silunders had been holed up
in their fortress on the island, waiting for
Munro
’s
force to come at them. Such a move was foolish, so he devised a
different strategy.

He sent a small party of men to scale the
cliffs north of the fortress to take out the gun emplacements. Once
that was done, the rest of his army ascended by the easier path and
were in position to cut off the defenders supply lines. The
Silunders had no choice but to send out troops to engage his
force.

While still outnumbering Ian’s force, the
Silunder defenders were at the mercy of his cannons and had not
been able to bring their own; their heavy guns could only be moved
at a slow pace. The frontlines of the overconfident Silunders had
been ripped to pieces and they had quickly scattered in a rout,
after which Ian easily seized the fortress.

O
ther commanders thought he took
unnecessary risks, but that wasn’t true. He took small risks and
relied heavily on intelligence to gain an advantage over the enemy.
His victories only looked like risky maneuvers to conservative
minds. And now he was the one in command of the First Army. It was
too bad that all he could do with right now was to sit and
wait.

With the sun
down, he went back
into his tent and sat at his table, examining the map of the
border. His army was currently camped around a valley entrance on
the road between Sethain and the town of Rampart. He had been
deployed here as a precautionary measure while the emperor
negotiated with the Galrians. He was simply waiting for a message,
something to tell him what to do, instead of twiddling his thumbs
here.

His second in command,
Colonel
Steven McGregor, walked into his tent. Steven commanded the
First Infantry Division and the First and Second Artillery
Regiments. He had a hot temper, but was good and loyal officer. He
had a bright mane of red hair and was short, but had an imposing
presence in spite of his height.

“
Any news?”
asked Ian. He poured a mug of
beer for the other man, who sat down opposite him.

Steven
shook his head before grabbing the
mug and taking a large swill. He wiped his mouth and let out a
belch. “Absolutely nothing,” he said. “I would’ve thought by
sundown, we’d either be standing down or going to war.”

“
As
did I,” replied Ian “The Galrians
must be willing to accommodate than they acted.”

That brought a laugh to
Steven
’s
throat. “The Galrians accommodating? You mean like when they
threatened to start a war over one of their precious military
carriages? Or the time they moved half their cannon units from the
east to the border forts in response to us conducting a training
exercise.”

He took another drink from the
mug.
“The
Galrians have filled their military with nothing but paranoid,
pig-fucking cunts. Not that surprising, from what I hear that’s the
exact words to describe their king.” He laughed loudly.

Steven
always had a crude mouth, but most
southerners were like that. Ian came from Caer Rinn where language
of that sort was less socially acceptable. But since joining the
army he had adjusted to all the differing people and cultures of
Alkos. Southern officers usually felt entitled to a certain freedom
to speak their minds as they saw fit.

“
Emperor Lawrence must have
convinced them to back off from their ultimatum
,” said Ian. “He has a sharp
and keen mind, our emperor. Trust me, a few more days and the
Galrians will back down. It’s this damned waiting around that I
can’t stand.”

“
No, you’ve never been one for
standing still have you
?” said Steven. “Still it’s served you well. You
know how to use your aggressiveness and eagerness for a fight to
your advantage. Unlike some idiotic arsehole generals whose names
are best left unsaid.”

Ian detected
emotion behind that
insult. “There must be story behind that,” he said as he took a sip
from his own mug. “Let me hear it. There’s nothing else to do in
this boring valley.”

The red haired man
po
ndered for
a second. “Alright sir, to stave off your boredom. I’ve served
under two commanding officers who let their arrogance get in the
way of good sense.”

He took another drink, before
letting go of the mug. It was empty. Ian refilled it, while
S
teven
carried on with his story, “The first was twenty years ago, when I
received my first colonial rotation in Hidan. Fucked if I wasn’t
excited as all hells. A young man coming from a family with long
military history and I was going to be the first McGregor to serve
on the new continent.

Anyway, my first deployment was
near Rothbria. Back then it was little more than a village with
wooden stakes for a wall.
The colonists had been attacked several times by
Minakayan raiders. They had tracked them to their base further down
the coast, but they didn’t have a large enough militia to take them
on, so they requested our help.

Our
captain was a high-bred fuckwit from
Daltilloch…you know I can’t even remember his name. Got promoted
through his family connections. He was far too eager to confront
the raiders. Whatever you may have heard about the nobility and
code of honor of the Minakayan kitsune lords, it sure as hells
doesn’t apply to their criminals and outcasts. They were brutal
pirates, but far better organized than they had a right to be. The
captain couldn’t see that though.

So we made our way down
the coast during
the night. He hoped it would hide our presence. Fat fucking chance,
they were following us offshore in a boat, so all it achieved was
the opposite. It hid them from us. We get to this cove with several
ships anchored in the bay and a small camp on the beach; none of
the raiders in sight. The fucking idiot of a captain thought they
were scared of us.

H
e orders in a big charge at the camp. He’s
right at the front yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs
for the raiders to surrender. As soon as we hit the camp they
ambushed us and cut him to pieces along with most of the other
officers. Saw those raiders cut off the captain’s ears and take
them as a trophy. I was lucky to only receive a graze on my
shoulder. Spent a month as a captive until I was ransomed back
during an exchange off the coast of Lothian.”

Ian
had known officers like that himself,
though none of them had ever done anything so profoundly stupid as
what Steven described. Steven took another swig of beer before
continuing.

“
The second time was under the
command of Colonel Fergus Craig in the Kalagee War. Nothing but a
fucking pissing match between us, the Kordatians and the Silunders.
And for what? A slimy swamp filled with fancy minerals and plants.”
Steven was underselling the Kalagee swamp. It was a resource rich
region, which was why it had been fought over so often.

“
Craig was hoping to ambush a
Silunder troop that was rumored to be reinforced with the natives
they were working with. It meant they outnumbered us by ten to one,
but he dismissed the natives. Normally I would have too, but we
didn’t know the Silunders had put guns in their hands. We found
them alright. They were operating out of a large clearing in the
southern part of the swamp. Craig ordered an attack. It went well
at first, they weren’t expecting us. Then the Silunder officers
gathered their wits together and directed their men and the natives
at us.

Four hundred of us trying to
take on three and a half thousand, ha! I was lucky to escape with
my life. If it hadn’t been for a merciful Silunder
office
r, the
natives would’ve gutted me along with the others. Less than a
hundred of us survived that fight, a third of which died from
tropical infections before making it back to
headquarters.”

Ian sipped his beer,
only
to
suddenly realize it was close to empty. Steven’s war stories had
made a good distraction. He was deciding on refilling or calling it
a night, when his aide, James, entered the tent. The man was
panting slightly, as if he had run to get here.

He saluted and
spoke before either
of the officers could salute back, “General, sir, there’s something
you need to see.” There was concern in his voice. It must be
serious, normally his aide was unflappable.

“
What is it?”
asked Ian, his
voice carrying a hint of irritation. He stood up, and walked over
to the entrance, Steven following.

James held
up the tent flap for the both
of them. “There’s something in the sky sir.” The man pointed
upwards.

Ian
heard cries of excitement from other
men as well. The news had spread around the camp. “Hand me a
telescope, James.” His aide fetched one from the tent and passed
into his hands.

Ian held it up and moved it
until he had a good view of the objects.
There were around a dozen of them,
large oblong shapes floating in the air and drifting towards the
camp. By their direction it looked like they had come from the
north.

“
They look like
o
bservation
balloons, though there’s a slightly odd shape to them. Less
spherical than any balloons I’ve seen.” He looked away from the
objects and back at Steven and James. Steven’s brow was furrowed.
“What is it Steven?”

“
Do they have any markings on
them?” he asked.

Ian shook his head.
“
It’s too
dark and they’re too far away to tell.”

“
Sir, I would suggest you put
the army on
alert.” Steven’s face was a wall of serious.

“
You think
it’s the Galrians?” asked Ian.
“Even they wouldn’t be so bold as to cross the border before
declaring war.”

“
Sir, may I?” asked
Steven, holding his hand out. Ian put the telescope in his hands.
He adjusted it slightly and looked towards the balloons which were
much closer by now.

“
Fucking hells!”
Steven’s reaction
had him worried now.

“
What?” he
asked.

“
Those
dirigible
s
are lining up for a bombing run. We need to clear out of their
path. Now.”

“
How do you
know-”

“
General, please I’ve studied
Galrian tactics carefully and I’
d bet my left nut-sack they’re preparing
to bomb us.”

“
But there’s been no declaration
of war, they can’t…” Ian’s voice trailed off as the rest of the
sentence died in his throat. Could the Galrians be as devious as to
attack without offering a formal declaration of war? He didn’t
think so, but he wasn’t going to sit by and risk his men’s lives to
find out.

“
Fine. General McGregor,
carry out an
evacuation along the line of the balloons. Whether it helps or not.
And get our long range snipers ready, I want to be able to hit the
bastards back if they do bomb us,” he commanded.

“
Yes sir
,” replied Steven and went off to
carry out the order. Ian continued to watch the dirigibles. His
dread increased as they drifted closer and closer. They were lined
up directly to pass over his army.