MBGSP chpt 165-167

Hey everyone! Just as a reminder, I'll be taking a 2 week break from updates starting this week as the story on Royal Road just hit the end of the penultimate arc.

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Please enjoy the chapters!

Chapter 165 - Preventative Measures

The dragon knight was healing quickly, thanks to a magic skill inherent to dragons. But she still couldn’t fly all the way to the coast on her own. The only things we had capable of carrying something of her size were the command jet and Gemini-II. Since there wasn’t an airstrip at Habberport, that left the dread-naughty. I had the airship brought over, and since I was going myself in hopes of opening some sort of dialogue, that meant we were rolling deep with choppers, jets, and nearly a thousand goblins who would accompany Gemini-II in some capacity and wait outside the walls.

Yes, it was a show of force. Even with an olive branch in one hand, it can be useful to have a big stick in the other, and the more visible the better. Let the Habberport prince decide which one he wanted. But it would take him more than a few dragon knights and mages to sweep us out of the jungles, hills, swamps, and plains of Lanclova. The interior of the continent that had rejected humanity? We’d flourished in it. Not smoothly, per se. But after a fashion. And we were much tougher than anything that had pushed the humans out before.

Dame Redfang watched the tilting turbine engines on Gemini-II as we crossed over the chilly mountain passes. We’d had to strip the lower deck in order to make room for her to board, and it turned the airship into something somewhat resembling a flying aircraft hangar. I had a thought of deploying jets, choppers, or bi-gliders from it. But there was little point since they were more efficient flyers on their own than the would-be flying aircraft carrier.

“These ‘turbid engines’,” she said. “They are like your rockets? No magic?”

“No magic, but different principle,” I said. “They use compressors, like we use to bottle the air. Only these ones combine it with a fuel that burns quickly, and the resultant expansion of gas is expelled out the back. All the jets that engaged the dragon knights were equipped with them.”

“Not unlike my own fire breath, then,” she said. Her chest puffed, and I saw a series of slits along her throat and flank open up, along with the hiss of air. The slits closed, and small muscles along her chest and back tightened. She dug her claws into the deck, opened her mouth, and spat a bar of white flame out into the air, causing every goblin on the deck to squawk in alarm.

I held my own hand against the heat and the glare, watching as the equal and opposite reaction pushed Redfang back against her grip, as well. Interesting. I had assumed it was some sort of magic attack that only looked like fire breath. But she did seem to have a mechanical component that functioned similar to a compression chamber to build up internal air pressure. I’m sure an actual biologist would have been far more keyed in on the biomechanical intricacies than I was.

“Boss, boss!” one of the scrappers from my secretive service ran up to me. “Lookouts seen three dragons northeast, patrolling.”

“If we’ve seen them, they’ve definitely seen us,” I said. “Gemini-II isn’t exactly subtle. Alright, let’s go say hello. Dame Redfang, how are your wings?”

The dragon knight stretched them, twisting her own neck to look at where the membrane was kitting back together from where I’d hit her with a magic-seeking missile. Satisfied with what she saw, she strode to the front of the airship and launched herself into the sky. She still favored the side with the damaged wing, but she was at least airborne.

The other dragons approached warily, and some exchange passed between them before Redfang returned to the flight deck. Two of the knights stayed in our vicinity, while the other turned and flew back north to report.

“They are surprised and relieved to see me alive,” said Redfang. “But understandably wary at sight of this fleet. We are to approach no further without invitation or chaperone.”

“Very well,” I said.

It was some time before one of the dragons returned with clearance to continue under escort. Once down and over the lake, we were joined by several more dragons, and I began to realize that I really had only seen a portion of the mainland forces.

I had thought the space outside the city walls was being cleared and cordoned primarily to deal with the beasts and creatures of Lanclova. But it was also a mustering ground for troops that simply wouldn’t fit inside the city. I spotted camps of javeline mercenaries, ordered rows of tents belonging to soldiers, temporary stables, support groups, and supply points.

“Is this all for us?” I asked, heart thumping.

“It is all for the prince’s interests in Lanclova,” said Redfang. “But, after a fashion, yes. Habberport began mustering martial power when the Javeline were nearly wiped out. But the landed dragons weren’t summoned until the elves stopped sending messenger birds. The prince would have sent out his legions sooner, but for the strange artifice that flew over the city. That stayed his hand, for a time, so that he might confer with his lords. But the rising star and the boost’ems forced his hand.”

Redfang looked up at one of the jets in high formation overhead. “The compromise was sending my clutch to reconnoiter. It’s clear now that he was right to do so.”

“It certainly wouldn’t have gone well for anyone if he’d sent ground forces straight in,” I said. I sighed. “It would have been a complete mess, and we never would have got things deescalated.”

The airship  pilot followed the dragon escort down to a clear area well outside the curtain wall. Troops were already mustering on top of it, manning the battlements and pulling cloth covers off what looked to be ballistae and trebuchets. Escorted or not, beyond the walls or not, this was still a ton of goblin artifice packed with blue, furry maniacs. The airship touched down, and goblins spilled out to stake down the corners as the pilot spun the engines down. Dozens of choppers set down near us, spilling forth hundreds of goblins. All of them were armed and armored, carrying rifles and ceramic plate vests.

Armstrong came up with a sparker, listening to a call from outside.

“Landin’ zone is secure, boss. Your secretive service detail got it down. Trust. If the big jobs cause a row, get to one of the choppers.”

“Very good, Armstrong. Nice work,” I said. My scrapper chief beamed as I stepped past him, then he fell into pace behind me as we walked past a trio of orcs coming onboard to help goblins unload equipment. “I get why the Ifrit are here, but why is the Flock?”

Armstrung shrugged. “For the lark. Ain’t ever boring where you’re at, issit? Maybe they’s lookin’ to scrap.”

I walked down the ramp beside the dragon knight and her mysterious, simpleton mage, still idly wondering what she’d meant by the phrase dangerous geometries. From this angle on the ground, most of what I could see of Habberport was the wall itself, broken occasionally by a black-tiled spire jutting up into the sky. The sky was, blessedly, clear. None of their wizards were summoning thunderstorms this time. Though, we had apparently flattened one of their towers. I could see its conspicuous absence on the skyline of the city.

My goblins weren’t just securing a perimeter around the vehicles, they were erecting a temporary bivouac with material they hauled off the choppers and Gemini-II. Barricades, temporary shelters, a maintenance area, and of course, a kitchen. Goblins, orcs, and Ifrit in war forms took position throughout the temporary camp, making sure no stone went unturned and every meter of the wall had guns ready to be pointed out. Overhead, one wing of the fighters returned to Bluff Apollo for refueling while the other continued circling overhead.

Beyond the temporary camps, the javeline mercenaries, and all the intervening territory, the gate on the walls began to rise. A delegation of some sort was coming out, a few dozen men on horses, and a dragon, as well. When they got closer, I could see that what I’d taken for a spare mount in fact had a diminutive creature high on a small chair aboard its back—an elf. I felt my lip curl up in disgust.

They had soldiers with them. Heavily armored men at arms with spears and shields that looked like they might be able to block a rockette from a small goblin rifle. But I had gunners on Gemini, and I could see the barrels of recoilless rifles and self-loading guns tracking their approach. All in all, we had nearly 900 goblins on the ground and another 100 still in the air above us. The humans might have been large, fast, strong, and high-leveled, but we still wouldn’t be easily swept aside.

The delegation stopped maybe 200 chooms ahead of us, and I saw a wide shade erected. Most of the soldiers backed off to a respectable distance, leaving only what I had to assume was the unfortunate noble sent to bandy words with goblins.

“Well,” I said. “Let’s go meet the neighbors.”

Chapter 166 - Howdy Neighbors

The human side of the pavilion had chairs and shade and servants to fan the delegates—including a small fan the size of a playing card for an elf. I suppose a full-size one might have blown him away. None of them tried to hide their disgust as my own group approached, which included Armstrong, a dozen secretive service members armed with rifles and plate carriers, a canoneer, two Ifrit, three orcs, and a dozen random other goblins whose curiosity could not be assuaged. And Dame Redfang, the landed dragon.

I was a little surprised to see the humans sweating so. While I knew Lanclova must have a tropical climate, it hadn’t ever felt sweltering to my goblin body outside of the salt flats. I waited while my own attendants arranged chairs and a small table before climbing up into a temporary throne that put my eye level just above that of the diplomats opposite me—a fact which they noticed instantly. I was, after all, an emperor. It said so in my job description.

As I took my seat, I took the time to examine the humans before me. As with the mage, they were subtly different. Something in the space of the eyes, the color of the blood under their skin, it all rubbed me the wrong way.

System, these aren’t actually humans, are they?

<These humans share a 99.4% physical trait overlap with your previous body.>

Does that include 99.4% similar DNA/RNA?

No answer. So I was right. They might have been Rava’s equivalent to a human, but they weren’t my humans.

Why didn’t you reincarnate me as something that had 99.4% physical trait overlap? Why a goblin?

Again, the System didn’t answer. But it didn’t need to, I already knew. I was critical to its self-rescue scheme in conjunction with the Midnighters. If I had been born again as a human prince, I would have lacked access to the Goblin Tech Tree that allowed for such rapid advancement. Even with the foreknowledge of my previous life and the influence of a duchy, it would have taken slow-moving human society years longer to reach a similar point—years System might not have. Being a goblin king granted me both access to the tech tree and an unyielding work force. Which told me one thing: System probably didn’t have years to wait.

I waited, watching the delegation with my arms crossed, until the human in charge finally broke the silence.

“I suppose we ought get this farce underway. I had come to demand the return of our landed dragon, but I see now that she is free.” He raised his voice. “Dame Redfang, return to the rookery at once.”

“I cannot,” said Redfang.

“I’m afraid Dame Redfang is held by bonds stronger than rope or chain,” I said.

The other dragon tensed at wording, lifting his serpentine neck to look at what I assumed was his underling. A subtle question and answer passed between them.

“Ah, so you can speak,” the diplomat hissed.

“So can you,” I said, shifting in my seat and feigning surprise. “Between the paladins and the dragon mages, I was beginning to think every human was either a tongueless mute or a simpleton. But you seem to have forgotten to give your own name, in any case. I’m Apollo.”

To my surprise, the elf belted out a high-pitched chipmunk laugh and said something to the human in his own tongue that cause the human to go a bit red in the face and grit his teeth. So, the elves were equal opportunity jerks. Admittedly, that made me hate them a tiny bit less.

“Why offer name to insult by speaking to an invalid lackey? Do your masters fear meeting face to face?”

“I have no master,” I said. “So, I could say the same of your prince.”

“His highness does not debase himself by treating with lying vermin making outlandish claims.”

One of the delegate’s attendants leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. I assumed it was something like Rufus’ ability to tell the truth from fiction, from the way the delegate’s brow pinched together.

Might as well assuage doubts. I looked up. “System, share the details of our little organizational structure, if you would be so kind.”

The eyes of the human delegation glazed over as System granted them a glimpse into the empire that included the Flock, the Ifrit exiles, Ringo’s tribe—and me, sitting at the top of the pyramid with the job title of Goblin Emperor.

The delegate tried to appear nonplussed, but underneath it, he was rattled. The elf merely sat back and considered. Finally, the delegate ground out a proper introduction between clenched teeth. Talking to a goblin really was like pulling fingernails for him. “I’m Count Karlo of Harcowl Bay. With me are Sir Gyrfax, landed dragon of Habbe, and the high druid, Keb.

“Much better,” I said. “Now, you’ve all been quite rude sending javeline and druids and dragons uninvited to cause problems for my tribe. While I’m focused entirely on scientific advancement, you’re trying to start a ruckus I’ve got no interest in. Despite all your misplaced aggression and fear mongering, my goal is to be left alone to the interior of Lanclova. Heck, I’d even welcome trade and commerce. The Ifrit and the humans at the southern coast are already trading for our products.”

The dragon knight, Gyrfax spoke for the first time. “Trade, is it? Peace? Fine ideals, yet you still hold one of our own hostage.”

“True enough,” I said. “She said she’s entitled to ransom, so let’s negotiate. At least one of you is civilized enough to take these talks seriously instead of just offering insults.” I nodded to the dragon. “I’ll trade her for getting my boosters back—those metal tubes. They were never supposed to fall in your territory to begin with.”

“This is all you wish?” asked the knight. “Not gold or silver, but hollow metal?”

I nodded again. “Dame Redfang can fill you in on why, later—as well as why peace is absolutely in your best interest.” I glanced at the delegate and the elf. “I have a feeling trying to explain it myself would fall on deaf ears.”

“Those pillars killed a senior wizard and four dragon tenders!” spat Karlo.

“That was an unfortunate accident,” I said. Though, admittedly, I didn’t much regret taking out the wizard that had tried to lightning strike us out of the sky. “Like I said, those were never meant to come anywhere near the city. And you can ask your truth-tester if you don’t believe me.”

The attendant started to lean forward, but the head of the delegation waved them off.

The elf, Keb, said something I couldn’t understand, and the dragon knight followed up. “He speaks the truth. What use have we for empty metal shells too soft to be forged into shield or sword? What are they weighed against a landed knight of Habbe?”

The delegate shifted uneasily, face growing darker. “This whole mess is preposterous. Entertaining the very idea…” he glared at Redfang. “How could you allow yourself to be captured?”

I just grinned. “The real question is why did I let the rest of the knights get away?”

The human sputtered, but the elf guffawed and the dragon knight puffed a column of smoke from his nose. “It is true you bested one of our number—no small feat,” he said. “And only the Midnighters shadowed our retreat. But that does not make you mightier than the knight corps or our mages. You seem to think yourself capable of anything, little goblin king.”

“Oh, I’m full of surprises. Hot today, isn’t it?” I asked. I leaned back and whistled. One of my goblins came up, hefting a chest overhead, followed by three others carting a table and a smaller chest. They set the table up and pulled a glassware cup from the first chest, then squirted in water from a skin. Lastly, they opened up the chest and scooped a healthy serving of ice into the glass. The delegate stared, sweating, at the glass of ice water you could have gotten in any kitchen in the US—an impossible luxury in Lanclova. But compressors and heat exchangers opened up a world of possibilities in Rava.

I picked up my glass and slurped loudly. “You’ve heard my terms.” I rattled the ice in the glass. “I’m more than comfortable waiting for you to discuss them. Take them back to the prince if you need approval. Take all the time you need.”

Karlo looked at the ice in my glass and licked his lips. While his attendants fanned him, sweat still beaded on his face.

“Perhaps, count, we should retire to discuss these terms,” suggested Gyrfax.

Karlo nodded and seemed to come back to himself temporarily. “What? Oh, yes, perhaps that is prudent.”

The count got to his feet and shuffled off, muttering. The elf turned his mount and trotted away, while Gyrfax stood and stretched. He was larger than Redfang, darker and higher-leveled, too.

“I request leave to speak with your captive charge, o’ king,” said the dragon knight. “I would like to ensure her wellbeing before I offer my counsel to the prince.”

“By all means,”  I said, gesturing to the dragon at my side who, thus far, had been every bit the picture of chivalry. The two of them trotted off a short distance to confer in private. I had no doubt she was currently telling her boss about the rockets and other technology she saw. Hopefully Gyrfax had as much sense as his underling. I turned to Armstrong. “Let’s settle in. I think we’re going to be here a while.”

Chapter 167 - All for Nothing

Maybe it was showing off a bit to flaunt ice at the humans. But there were more ways to demonstrate power than accidentally dropping rocket boosters on a city from hundreds of kilochooms away. But I wanted them to know our technology wasn’t limited to weapons and war machines, and that it wasn’t just dressed up Ifrit or Midnighter tricks. We were doing with know-how what they could only do with magic. At least, unless I decided to share the compression chiller designs.

We returned to the bivouac, which my goblins had effectively turned into a small fort by the time negotiations concluded. I walked beside Dame Redfang.

“What did you tell your boss?”

The dragon knight looked down, head tilted at an angle for a moment before answering. “I told him of the rocketry. That you have bottled the air and climbed higher than wings can carry, and that even now, your goblins ride the newest star in the evening sky and look down upon us all.”

It was true. Our first astronauts were currently enjoying life in a very basic space station. We had radio comms with them for about 20-30 minutes every hour and a half, either directly or relayed through our other satellite. The next launch would be sending up more modules for the station, more goblins, another satellite relay, and weapons. I didn’t know how sentient the null devils were, but I imagined they wouldn’t take kindly to us trying to wake up their food source that the space parasites had been keeping asleep for centuries.

“Did he believe you?”

Redfang snorted. “He would not question my sincerity any more than I would his. ‘Tis my honor as a knight, after all. I told him that, had you wished it, you could have destroyed Habberport whenever you wished by turning your rocket into a ‘ballistic missile’. But such things…” she shook her head at the end of her long, sinuous neck. “They must be witnessed to truly comprehend. You cannot ask even a dragon to imagine a tower of steel taking flight without magic. Nor imagine that you would have this power and not desire to use it against your enemies.”

“He’s welcome to come watch the next launch,” I said. I looked over my shoulder at the walled city of black stone and peaked rooftops. “Any of them are. It’s theirs for the asking. They’re not my enemies.” I turned back to the dragon. “Is it so strange that I don’t want to cause needless death and destruction simply out of convenience? I’m not a warlord or a general. I’m not a conqueror. I’m an explorer and a scientist. I didn’t come here to fight, though Lanclova seems intent on forcing just that. I want my legacy to be one of creation, not destruction.”

Here men from Earth set foot on the moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.

I looked up at the pale, pink orb of Raphina. What would my plaque say when placed upon those coral sands? What words would I impart for those who came after?

Even if the dragon knight, Gyrfax, didn’t believe right away, could his words sway the prince? Could they give enough pause at least to finish my work?

A curious shrill tone cut through the air. At first I mistook it for one of our jets having engine trouble. But moments later, a bright flash erupted in Habberport. I stared as a cloud of smoke and flame broiled up from within the city.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

The goblins around me were rushing to the barricade closest to the city to watch. In the air, a black streak split the sky, arcing down toward the city. It met a bright blue barrier, and flashed into a roiling cloud of black flame. Moments later, the thunderclap of the shockwave met us, and I pressed my hands to my ears to dull the painful noise.

When it cleared, I whistled for attention. “To the choppers!” I shouted. “Everything we’ve got, in the air now!”

Goblins squawked and started to run every which way. Armstrong rallied his secretive service.

“King Apollo!” yelled Redfang, “tell me true, is this your doing?”

“Of course not!” I shouted over the clamor of goblins finding their stations. “I wouldn’t sabotage my own peace talks. Besides, it’s coming from the sea, not the interior!”

The dragon knight cast her gaze between the smoke rising from the city and Gemini-II. She looked at me with desperation. “I believe you. I hold my oath of bondage. But… there are innocents in the city,” she said. “I have a duty that pulls me elsewise to them.”

“Go!” I said, waving her away. “Get your knights in the air and figure out what’s going on. We’re right behind you.”

With a subtle nod of thanks, she spread her wings and surged into the air—or, as best she could manage with her injured wing. Though it healed unnaturally fast, she still slightly favored one side as she rushed toward the walls to meet the other winged knights beginning to circle above the city.

I growled to myself as we rushed toward Gemini-II. All my efforts at deescalating the situation with the humans seemed to be going up in smoke. Ahead, another lance of magic pierced through a barrier and, though diminished, struck within the city. I wasn’t sure who would be stupid enough to attack Habberport directly, but there was no way I’d be taking the heat for this. And there was no way I’d sit by and let it happen, either. Not when I had the means to put a stop to it.

We climbed the ramp to the airship, whose turbines were already warming up. The gas burners had never gone dark, so as soon as our pilot put the turbines above idle, we started to lift off and join with the choppers and fixed wing craft already in the air.

I made my way to the control center and took one of the radio sets.

“This is Apollo aboard Gemini-II, what’s the situation?”

Chuck’s voice came over the circuit. “Boss! Good to hear from you. We’re holding south of the city, looks like more of those big boats we saw last time, only these ones look different.”

“Different how?”

“They’re all black and spindly.”

The pilot started to angle us toward the city, where the mages must have rallied because they were casting more than just defensive magic, now. I smacked him on the back of the noggin. “Not through all that artillery! We’ll be right in the crossfire. Take us around.”

The pilot squawked in annoyance but angled the controls so that the heavy airship banked to the right. We flew over the javeline encampment and skimmed the outer wall of the city until we hit the coast. Free of the rising smoke and dust from the wizard battle, I could see the attackers for myself. The fleet of black, spindly ships seemed to stretch on without end, dozens upon dozens of vessels. Maybe hundreds. Flat, narrow barges with peaked roofs led the charge, with larger ships behind them. Further back still were the ships casting the artillery spells that arced up and crashed back down against the defensive barrier of Habberport.

I pulled my spyglass from my pack and angled it down at one of the ships. The black sails had the same sigil as the envoys who had approached Canaveral not so long ago.

“Midnighters?! Are you kidding me?” I shouted to no one in particular. The damn Midnight Queendom was attacking Habberport. I snapped my fingers at one of the other radio teams, and the taskmaster saluted. “Get Cla’thn on the line,” I snarled.

Your attempts to make peace are the hope of fruit from a barren tree.

Damn it. She knew. Even then she knew. Before we’d even met, she knew. I didn’t know how far away the Midnighter homeland was, but this fleet didn’t muster and cross the ocean in a day. This was an effort of months—possibly half a year or more. And it was here for one purpose: to stop the humans of Habbe from interfering with my work. The same way they had stopped the eclipse lizards. They’d seen the landed dragon knights coming, had already known something would happen here that caused the humans to panic and import more muscle. And they’d decided the only way to put a stop to it was wipe Happerport from the map. How could a group that could read the future be so short-sighted?

“Boss, what are your orders?” asked Chuck. Ahead, the dragon knights had taken to the air, and I could see their white-hot flame breath jetting out amongst the flying cavalry of the Midnighters. The dragon knights might have had their own mounted mages, but the bugs had anti-air sorcery shooting up from the capital ships.

I pressed the handset to my mouth as I pushed the other hand against my temple. “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” I said. “But we have to defend Habberport.”