Princess Rescue Inc (101 page)

“And
what will you do? It's not like you can stop us," a young lord said
snidely from down the table. Heads turned in his direction.

“Simple,
we leave,” Ryans said giving them all a look. “And we take everything we have
with us.” He glanced at the others who nodded. He caught the gleam of
satisfaction in Rojer's eyes. He realized suddenly that he'd been set up.

A
few of the lords looked amused. A few others looked appalled. “No one has ever
gone back through the vortex,” a lady said fluttering a fan and looking
slightly triumphant.

“Then
again, we could always go to another country if we can't get back through the
vortex. Start over there,” Perry said toying with a knife. Someone down the
table hissed as that hit them. He smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile.

“I
think you'd find that hard to do," a lord said darkly.

“No,
no I don't,” Waters said smiling grimly. The lord put his hand on his belt
knife. “I wouldn't son,” Waters said very softly. He took out his Berretta and set
it on the table in front of him. The lord froze at that.

“If
I die you're going with me,” Waters said eyes cold and dark. The lord looked to
a nearby guard.

The
Queen cleared her throat. “There will be no violence to the gaijin. On
my
honor
and the honor of the Imperium. They have full immunity to do and go
where they will,” she said. She eyed the lord. “That means they have the right
to do as they please including killing you if it pleases them.”

“And
you agreed to this?” a lord asked surprised and dismayed.

“Of
course. It was a part of the price we had to pay for their cooperation,” the
Queen replied. “Our Imperium was imperiled after all. You yourself signed the
agreement.”

“Ah,”
the lord nodded. “And not going to war is another?" he asked.  He
clearly hadn't read the document or understood it Ryans thought. Then again he
could be one of Duke Emroy's lesser lords.

The
Queen nodded. “Of course. The House of Lords can look over the treaty again at
their leisure. I believe we've copies. After all, with the exception of Duke
Emroy and those lords embattled by the siege, each of the high lords signed
it,” she smiled grimly as that shot went home. “Duke Sung just sent back his
signed copy as well. All have signed it,” she said. “Even the lords of the
Duluth,” she said, watching as they stared at her. “Including you, dear brother
in law,” she turned a wintry smile on Duke Rojer.

“I
do believe I am excessively wearied by all these high spirits. I think we
should get some air,” she said getting up. The Terrans instantly got up. The
lords were slow to follow. “Coming?” the Queen asked, hand on Ryans' arm.
Deidra had her arm on his other arm. Zara had Perry by the arm. Galloway bowed
to his dinner companion and then followed the Sergeant and Sue as they left the
table. Together they walked out.

 <==={}------------>

“That
didn't go well,” the Queen murmured to them quietly as they walked through the
halls.

“Ya
think?” Waters grumbled. He looked away as she gave him a shut up look. “Sorry
ma'am,” he mumbled.

“Quite
right. You should be. You do need to keep a rein on your temper,” the Queen
remarked. Her lips pursed.

“Yeah,”
Perry sighed. “I've done better, sorry your majesty.”

“That
was some funky fruit punch,” Waters said tottering a little.

Perry
nodded. “Yup, I know we needed to unwind, but I think we're three sheets to the
wind and lost it in there. At least you have that excuse. Shit.” He sighed
shaking his head. “We were set up.”

“He
baited us. Rojer. He set us all up. He set that entire thing up to drive a
wedge between us,” Ryans said looking at the Queen. She nodded looking away. He
glanced at Perry and Galloway. Both looked thoughtful and then grimaced.

“You're
right. Damn. I didn't see it,” Galloway growled, “sneaky.”

“You’re
not used to dealing with politicians face to face,” Waters growled.

“Well,
what's done is done,” Ryans replied. “Get some water and aspirin, all of you.
And check the troops,” he ordered. He shut off his blue tooth for a moment and
leaned over to them. “Go to standby Omega protocols just in case someone
decides to kick things over,” he ordered.

“Right,”
Waters said nodding. His body flushed with adrenalin. The alcohol was still in
his system but now he was more alert.

“Omega
protocols?” Deidra asked. He gave her a look then walked off.

“Just
some precautions like doubling the guard,” Perry said dragging Sue off in a
different direction.

 <==={}------------>

“Well!
That went very well! Very well indeed!” Serena said, grinning. Her husband
chuckled. “Though I'm concerned about the gaijin's threats. Could they do
something as drastic as all that?” she asked pointedly.

He
frowned, humor and relief that his little ploy had worked suddenly forgotten.
“That I'm unsure of. I believe they've tied themselves to the Queen so much
that it will be difficult to untangle.”

“But
not impossible,” she murmured.

“No.
Which is something to consider before we move again,” Rojer replied
thoughtfully.

  <==={}------------>

“We're
going to have to keep most of the war making materials and machines under wraps,”
Ryans said in the meeting the next morning. “Perry and I are switching to Omega
one protocols on our data. We're locking that down and other things. All IT
devices will be password and biometric security enabled as of this afternoon,”
he said firmly. He gave them a cool warning look. “That means you've got till
dinner to set it up. Sydney here will double check to make sure it works.”

Sydney
looked surprised and then shrugged. He knew better than to argue when the boss
man looked as grim and determined as that. “Anyone who forgets will have their
ass in a sling, so get it done. It only takes a couple of minutes,” Ryans
growled, shaking his head.

“What
the hell happened?” Wanda asked, eyes wide.

Sue
grimaced. “Warmongers in the cabinet, that's what, the lords want to use us to
go play conquistador.” Quietly they took turns relating the story, including
being set up by Rojer.

“Oh
hell no,” Wanda sighed, head bowed. “Fuck no,” she said in pain, shaking her
head back and forth vehemently as she clutched at it.

“Yeah,
my sentiments exactly,” Sue said. Others nodded.

“It's
not going to happen,” Ryans said determined to end it before it began. He then
touched his phone to open all channels. Not everyone was there of course. “All
personnel, this is Six. I want an inventory done by 1800 as well. Focus on IT,
weapons, and vehicles. We can't put the genie back in the bottle but we can
damn well keep more of it from getting out if we have to. Let’s hope we don't
have to.”

 Perry
grimaced. “We're going to go into the buddy system like we did when we first
got here. Don't screw it up. Keep your eyes and your ears open for trouble, but
don't jump at shadows,” he warned. “Locked doors, keep everything of value
under lock and key. Prop a chair under your door at night or sleep in the
camper. Guard on all vehicles and equipment. We're going to have a hell of a
time if this gets any uglier,” he said. The others nodded, cold sober.

“What
is going on?” The centurion who acted as the senior aide to the general asked,
looking at the men. All were gaijin; all were taking notes of the armory
inventory.

“Oh
just doing inventory,” Edsfield said looking over the crates. He was checking
the serial numbers Max had thoughtfully incorporated in every crate, weapon,
and round. It had helped them get rid of a bad batch when they first started
production.

“Oh?”
the centurion asked suddenly uncertain.

Edsfield
shrugged. He was famous now because of his shot. “Yup. You know how it is with
the brass. Gotta get the paperwork done, the boss wants it ASAP.”

“Oh.
Carry on then,” the centurion said walking off, confused.

“Anything?”
Lewis asked.

“Nope.
We've got everything that's ours and we've got a hard count on what's left.
Time to move on,” Edsfield said. “The rockets?”

“Disabled,”
Patterson replied. Edsfield nodded. “Wouldn't want them blowing up after all,”
she said mockingly. He snorted.

  <==={}------------>

Serena
smiled at the other Dominas as they sat and gossiped while doing needlepoint.
She usually detested such endeavors, they served only limited purpose, or so
she had thought. Rojer had gently reminded her years ago the dual purpose the
gossip sessions were for. In exchanging gossip one could start a rumor that
would buzz around the castle and lands... whether true or not. She grinned.
“Yes, I dare say Rojer was a bit put out over being denied glory in that
battle,” she said, looking at her stitching.

Domina
Jericho looked up in surprise. “His grace as well? Why my Jericho fumed for
days over being denied battle!”

“My
husband as well,” Domina Byron said in agreement. “Though I for one was
relieved that he was not killed in some foolish charge,” she murmured. The
other wives nodded thoughtfully.

“But
none benefited,” Serena murmured.

“None
but the gaijin,” Domina Jericho said snidely. She pecked at her stitching,
angry at something or other.

“I
bet they did it on purpose! To hog all the glory for themselves!” another wife
said. Her teenage daughter nodded, face set.

“It
may be true,” Serena said seemingly reluctantly as the other wives began to
cluck and chatter about that. She hid a small tight smile as she rocked; glad
her seed had been set.

  <==={}------------>

“So
we're shifting focus here to agrarian and mining needs now that the war is won.
We need to get the economy jump started to pay for the toys we've built not to
mention make up for the lost planting time,” Max said looking around at his
native assistants. “We've got a long hard winter ahead of us folks and not a
whole lot of growing time left to make up for it,” he said. The workers nodded
soberly. They all knew how hard the winters were there.

“This
latest batch of rifles will be the last. Tomorrow we'll retool the factory to
build some parts for the machines we'll need down the road. Anything that we
can't adapt we'll store,” Max ordered. “That includes the rifling benches. The
copying lathes can work on other projects...”

  <==={}------------>

“Are
we going to work with the Barrett today?” a soldier asked. He was pretty
excited about handling the thunder stick.

“Ah
no, we're going to work on marksmanship with the Springfield. Since inventory
pointed out we're low on fifty cal ammo,” Edsfield said looking away.

“Why
not the Barrett?” another student asked.

“Because
we've got a limited number of rounds, like I just said,” Edsfield replied, tone
cooling. “We did an inventory and the brass heads said ixney.” He frowned as he
looked back at them. They were looking confused. He rumbled a sigh. “Look they
said since we're low on ammo and can't make more of the special types for now
we've got to conserve it for emergencies. Sniper ammo is a bitch to make.”

“Ah,”
a student said. “For the new war?” he asked ingeniously.

“God
help us no,” Edsfield muttered. “Better hope not.” He shrugged, “not my
problem.”

“When
can we expect new rounds?” the blond student asked.

“Not
for a looong time. Wanda's is up to her neck in other projects and making the
special gunpowder is hard and dangerous. She's put it off for now,” he said and
then shrugged. “So, let's take a look at the Springfield. Right now we've got
ladder sights, so we'll have to work with what we've got. I'm not sure when the
rest of the optics will come in so let's squeeze off a few shots and see how
you do..."

  <==={}------------>

Rojer
looked up, pursing his lips in irritation as Dominus Pettigrew and Pemerson,
and Jericho came in, barging past Rojer's steward and manservant to enter.
“They dare!” Permerson said, shaking his head. Pettigrew was fuming as well,
red in the face. Rojer sat back, hands in his lap.

“Oh?”

“The
gaijin! They dare!”

“Dare
what, may I ask?” Rojer asked simply, staring at the three men. Baron Pemerson
paced, flouncing his yellow cape about in his anger.

“The
gaijin,” Pettigrew said shaking his head. He couldn't speak, just repeat
himself. He seemed stunned.

“Oh?
And dare say what are they up to now?” the Duke asked, hiding a smile.

“They
have stopped making weapons and cut back on training,” the general rumbled from
the doorway. They nodded as Pendragon entered. “Sorry to barge in like this
your grace but...”

“You
are rightfully furious. I don't blame you,” Rojer said smiling in sympathy.
“Cannot we just order the workers to make more weapons?”