Her eyes returned to Srit, and she resumed her conversation.
Srit nodded her head to whatever question Thana asked her. Her own figure could compare directly with Thana’s, though she was much taller in height. She wasn’t as political or savvy as Thana was, but Srit had a computer for a mind. Nothing escaped her scrutiny, even if she didn’t understand the implications of it. Srit happened to also be the thing nightmares were made of.
A sentient AI who’d conquered the dominant species of Earth and held Runner’s ship in her thrall. He considered her a trusted friend, and feared her not, even though most everyone else did.
Runner let his eyes leave those two to seek out the next. Faye and Sophia were at the side table, loading their plates as well as discussing something.
Faye, his erstwhile enemy become personal tactician and general, scratched at the side of her head. She displaced her short blonde hair with her fingers, making the already unruly pixie style more disarrayed. She was no pinup model hopeful like Sophia, though she had her own charms.
She had a sharp mind that adapted to every situation very quickly. Eyes the color of a gray sky, like charged lightning, gave everything an intensity that could be unsettling. She could pick apart a strategy or tactic given enough time and provide a suitable response. Runner had only been able to beat her by breaking the rules. In a straight-up even odds battle, he wasn’t sure he could prevail against her.
The woman standing beside her couldn’t be more her opposite. Sophia was built like a man’s most ridiculous fantasy, even putting Thana in second place. She was a Sunless sorceress much like her racial sister and shared similar features.
Perhaps not as quick-witted as Thana or as tactical as Faye, Sophia had her own mental strengths. She could evaluate and react to immediate situations while keeping her primary focus in mind. She was the head of his personal guard. The royal guard captain.
Sliding in next to the two women, Isabelle and Hannah started to dig into the food as well.
Hannah casually slid the bacon from Faye’s plate to her own and nicked the baked potato from Sophia’s. As an afterthought, she added a few things from the table and turned to find a seat.
She was a lovely woman in her own way, a half-breed mix of her parents’ races. Sunless and Human. She would always give him the dark alternatives to his problems. Her life had been one of strife and conflict. Her mindset reflected that. There was an inner softness to her though. Of everyone in his company, she had a maiden’s heart.
Isabelle, acting contrary to Hannah, had replaced Faye’s bacon and Sophia’s potato with neither being the wiser they had ever lost their food. She was the enchanting elven ranger he hired on a whim and dragged around the continent of Tirtius.
He had forced her to become Nadine’s assistant during their travels. She had learned everything Nadine taught her and took it to heart. She wasn’t the little merchant queen, but she definitely wasn’t far off. The comparison wasn’t fair to Isabelle, but the fact that she had blonde hair and green eyes, exactly like a certain deceased merchant, didn’t help.
Runner’s head was pulled back, and he caught a glance of Katarina’s face before she kissed him firmly.
His knees felt like they had been loosened as she smashed any and every thought clean out of his head.
Pulling back from him, the redhead gave him a feral smile.
It wasn’t until she smiled that her dark black eyes and face lit up.
“Good morning, love. I’ll get your plate. Preference?”
“I dunno, how many of you all can fit on one plate?”
She had been terribly shy about their new relationship. Right up until he proclaimed exactly what they had done the night before in his room to Katarina’s mother, all of the noble peerage, and countless strangers. He still was expecting a beat down from her for that one.
Lately she took his teasing in kind and had gotten better at firing back.
At his comment, Katarina grinned widely at him. Tilting her head to the side, she pretended to contemplate his question.
“Maybe me, one other. Tight fit. Preference on who?”
“You decide. Tomorrow is your night to watch over me, so you have a day to decide. All joking aside, bacon and a potato would be fantastic, Kitten.”
Katarina nodded her head and left him standing there. The tall red-headed Barbarian woman could only be described as blunt and reserved at the same time. She was as bright as Thana but only applied that intellect to things that interested her.
Blowing out a quiet breath, Runner reorganized his thoughts. Katarina had a talent for driving him to distraction. Looking to the table, he caught Hannah looking away from him quickly. Apparently she had been watching.
Runner decided to leave her alone; teasing her would only serve to embarrass her and he didn’t want that. Instead he pulled out the chair next to him and gestured at it while meeting her eyes.
He did promise that she would be sitting next to him for breakfast.
Hannah narrowed her eyes at him, clearly contemplating disobeying him. He quirked a brow at her and then let a slow smile grow.
Pressing her lips together tightly, she picked up her plate, stood, and moved to the other side of the table, where she sat down next to Runner.
“If you try to feed me, I’ll break your fingers.”
“Hanners, my thorny little rose, I’ve already hand-fed you before. Pretty sure I took a screenshot, even. Wanna see it?”
“You didn’t. I’ll murder you in your sleep. Bastard.”
“That’d require you to be in my bed at night. Might be worth it.”
“Fuck you.”
“Well, yeah? I mean, that’d be the point if you were in my bed at night.”
“I hate you.”
“No, you love me. But you’re scared. You’ve been hurt in the past. I won’t pressure you in any way, shape, or form. I won’t harm or hurt you. When you’re ready, I’m ready to talk, be there for you, or whatever it may be,” Runner promised, all hint of his teasing tone gone.
Reaching out, he lightly brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear and patted her shoulder. Then he left her alone. He had already pressed hard on her damaged psyche and feared to do more.
Everyone was accounted for, which meant it was time to hold a “staff meeting” so to speak. Runner ticked off the subjects in his head that he wanted to cover and passed the time while he waited for everyone to get their seats.
Katarina set a plate down in front of him. Then she went to take a seat next to Srit and immediately jumped into the conversation Thana and she were having.
Shaking his head, Runner smiled sadly and lifted a piece of bacon to his mouth.
Nadine loved meals with everyone.
Clamping down on that thought, he struggled to force his mind back on track. He could grieve for her later. Tonight in fact.
Jacob.
Runner’s smile turned cold as he contemplated what he would do to Jacob tonight. Another night in the drowning box seemed ideal to him. Jacob’s vital signs always were the worst when he was subjected to the drowning box.
Which makes it the best.
Eventually the hate washed through him and left him feeling wrung out. His “hell” sessions with Jacob made him feel stained, but in the same breath, vindicated.
Coming back to himself, he found he was staring into Isabelle’s face directly across from him.
She gave him a toothy smile, completely unshaken by his vacant stare.
“Welcome back, my lord. I believe we can start when you’re ready.”
“Uh, oh. Yeah. Thanks,” Runner mumbled. Clearing his throat, he stood up straight to address everyone.
“Officially, welcome home, Sunshine. I’m glad you’re back. First order of business. Our armed forces. Sparky?”
The general nodded her head, finishing the mouthful of food she was working on.
“Everything is in order, Lord Runner. All of the mercenaries Miss Isabelle hired are form
ally part of the armed forces now. The special ordnance team has been cannibalized and put into weapons teams at a platoon-level basis.”
She paused to take a sip of her water.
“By my own counting we now have a combined force large enough to fill out two brigades worth. Roughly five thousand. I’ve split them evenly. The first and second respectively. Contract and pay are all hammered out and taken care of as well as health and death benefits. Based on our current budget and allocation, we can operate effectively without concern.”
Runner took that in with a slight nod of his head.
“Good. Keep increasing it until you push the budget into the red. We’ll discuss the costs at that time and probably increase it. Let’s make sure we get the Tirtius Campaign medals delivered this week.”
Faye nodded her head and it seemed like she wanted to ask a question. Runner could actually guess her thoughts for once.
“I plan on being able to reconquer Tirtius should the need arise. I also want to be able to pose a threat to the mainland. Moving on. I’ve finished up with all my personal guard’s needs. Get me a requisition form of everything you need today, and I’ll get to work on that.”
His statement about posing a threat to the mainland was new. It also promised a lot of changes that would need to take place. The island of Vix would become an island of soldiers if it tried to house and support that number of troops.
“Thank you, Lord Runner. I’ll come by later tonight.”
“Promises, promises. Right, then. Kitten?”
“City guard is prepared. Budget is good even at double the head count of original need. No requirements at this time. They’re doubling as the police. With that in mind, I feel it would be wise to triple their number from the current number.”
“See to it, but don’t get into a fight over recruits with Sparky, Kitten. I expect you two to work out some kind of recruiting scheme that gives you both an even chance at the population.”
Both women nodded their heads in agreement.
“Grace?” Runner asked, turning his head to look at the buxom Sunless woman.
“We’re beyond cared for at this point, sir. Each and every person in the guard is wearing more wealth in their equipment than you’ll ever pay them in salary.”
“So? I’ve said it before, will say it again. Their lives are worth more than the paltry cost of gear. There’s always more gear, only one of them. How are your numbers?”
“Full, and then some. The standard complement you requested of two hundred and two, and then that number again of reserves. I was hoping to outfit them the same as their active counterparts.”
“Hm. That’s fine. I made triple the number of full kits you asked for as backups. I’ll get that squared away and delivered this week.”
Sophia shook her head, pressing her fingertips to her brow.
“What? I wanted to make sure you had what you needed. What else?”
“You asked me to look into the morale as far as their sleeping arrangements go. Everyone I’ve talked to has no concerns, and they in turn have heard no concerns from anyone. Truthfully said, the bedrolls you made are wondrous. Those who have a bed apparently are electing to sleep on the ground in the bedroll instead.”
“Weird. Well, I’m glad they’re happy.”
“To that issue, you need not worry, sir. Lastly, they want to name themselves and have chosen a suitable moniker. They wish to call themselves ‘Norwood’s Own’ rather than guard or anything of that ilk.”
“Okay then. I have no complaints. Get me a sketch together and I’ll make the first banner for them personally. Then they can be Norwood’s Own by Norwood’s own hand.”
“That was fucking horrible. Just, stop trying to be funny. You’re so disgustingly awful.”
“Love you too, Hanners. Beloved Lady Death?”
Thana gave him a small smile as she dabbed a napkin at her lips.
“We’ve received no recent word yet from Tirtius but we expect to. We surmise they’ll be brokering for who will be the host nation for the assembly. While it will take a toll on whoever hosts it, I honestly believe it’ll also stimulate the economy as well.”
Thana paused as if carefully selecting her next point of interest.
“Priests of the Triumvirate have been filtering in for days. I can’t put a finger on it but something is going on. I would appreciate it if you could pump one of them for information, dear heart.”
“Consider it done. I planned on stopping by the temple anyways. I did speak with the wild one this morning, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I’ll try to pin down Brunhild.”
“I’m sure she’d like that,” Hannah muttered beside him. Other than Isabelle, with her elven hearing, he doubted anyone had heard her.
Runner reached over and poked Hannah roughly in the side as he continued. She squirmed away from him and swatted at his hand.
Feisty today.
“Do we want to put ourselves in the selection for the host nation? I’m of mixed views on it.”
“It wouldn’t hurt,” Thana conceded.
“Mm, I’ll think on it. Thank you. Belle?”
Isabelle looked like she had been eating a lemon when he came to her section.
“If I did nothing but keep our income ahead of our spending we’d be well off for a century, my lord. Nadine… she made deals and trades that I couldn’t even imagine. She bought every bank on Tirtius and a good number on the mainland. To that end, I’ve been taking the investments she made and reinvesting in ourselves for now. It’ll be a money pit for a while but in time it’ll provide a stable foundation for our economy.”
“Got it. I’d like to also expand our benefits to fallen soldiers, city guard, and Norwood’s Own. Since our finances can take the weight and I’d like to increase our recruitment capacity.”
Faye nodded her head eagerly. Benefits to the fallen always helped with recruitment.
“Right now we’re offering a three-month sign-on bonus and ten years of pay if they die while in service, is that correct?”
Isabelle thought for a moment. “Seems about right. Faye?”
“Yes, that’s accurate.”
“Bump the sign on to six months and thirty years of pay for the life insurance.”
Isabelle stared at him without saying anything.
Faye coughed once and shifted in her seat. “Are you sure? That’s quite a hefty sum. It’d make recruiting far easier, but that’s… it’s a lot.”
“Would it hurt us at all, Belle? Honestly?”
Isabelle slowly shook her head as if she were running numbers.
“No. The payments would be made monthly, not in a lump sum. I already moved a very sizable sum to cover losses and started investing it into low risk easy return type purchases. I’ll have to keep ahead of it, but it shouldn’t be an issue.”
“Good, then I’d like to do that.”
Runner found that he was at the end of his topics for Isabelle.
“Is there anything else you need or any concerns you have about anything else?”
“None, though I would prefer it if we left the North Wood alone if possible. I know we cleared out a large section for a defensive perimeter and that it was necessary. It’s just such an ancient and old forest, it would be a true waste to take it from the world.”
“I agree. The forest is a resource we must husband carefully. Draw up the appropriate documents that would ensure its protection and get a forest conservation department put together. I expect you to handle this in addition to your current workload until you can hire someone to maintain it. The goal is that we plant as much as we harvest. Start by having teams scour the wood for previously fallen trees and begin replanting on the furthest side.”
“It’ll be my pleasure, my lord. Thank you. Thank you!” Isabelle gushed, leaning forward towards him as if she would leap across the table at him.
“Hanners?”
Hannah grumped and leaned back in her chair, looking up at him.
A soft snickering sound filled the room.
Hannah eyed the ceiling as she adjusted herself to a normal sitting position.
“We have too many new people coming in and not enough agents to work through it all. Though we’ve not found any plots, we’ve been ending any and all organized crime before it starts. I figure we set up our own organized crime guild and use it as a recruiting center for the Intelligence division.”
“Smart. I imagine that’ll be an expansion of your budget as well. Put it together and get it to Belle. Consider it approved contingent on a workable plan and financial outline.”
Runner looked to the door as it swung open. A young woman in traveling leathers stepped in, a messenger case clutched in her hand.
He was surprised his guard allowed it. They normally stopped messengers and brought the letters in themselves.
Must be important.
A knife embedded itself to the hilt in the woman’s gut. Before he could even think to ask Hannah what she was doing, a wave of fire spread from Sophia’s hands and washed over the woman, scorching her.
A bright blue bubble enveloped the woman as she raised the message tube to point at Runner.
Dark shadows leapt from everywhere to drag the woman to the ground. The bubble wavered and vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.
Runner hurried around to the other side of the table only to find the woman was dead.
Chapter 2 - Shadow and Flame -
9:34 am Sovereign Earth time
12/21/43
Runner looked from the body, then to Sophia and Hannah.
“No one is allowed in here. The only way she’d be in here is by force, sir,” Sophia explained even as she yanked open the door the woman had come through.
Sprawled out in front of the door was one of his guards, unconscious but alive. Whatever complaint Runner might have had died unspoken.
Otherlife Awakening: The Selfless Hero Trilogy Page 2