Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  He smiled as they worked through how to hook up the automated system to the equipment and then to the radio station. He had explained to the lords that eventually they wanted them all automated and hooked up through the Wi-Fi but they were still short on parts.

  It was imperative though that they begin to build up the data on the conditions now, so they could eventually predict the weather in the future better. The cautious optimistic response he had received had allowed him to move forward with project.

  Of course, they couldn't shift around priorities without hurting other projects and their schedules. So far, they had only managed to get a few kits distributed before winter.

  The last thing they did was add a security system. There were two, markings warning everyone not to touch under penalty of severe punishment. But there was another he was testing out, an electric zapper fence. It was thin and light. It had only three wires and wrapped around the facility. He hoped it wouldn't interfere with the signal or draw lightning onto it.

  The other problem was power, but he had that one partially licked with the addition of a second wind turbine his students installed. When they were finished, he tested it, shaking his hands when he got zapped. "Yup, it works," he said, swearing as his students laughed.

  He flexed his hands as they tingled. It had given him quite a jolt, enough to make his heart jump. Hopefully, it would serve as a deterrent to any man or beast that came by.

  Hopefully.

  "Okay, that's done. We've got two more mines and one more station and then we're home so let's get moving," he said, waving the group back to the vehicles.

  "Make sure you check your inventory of tools and gear before we leave!" he called out in warning. The students waved but a few looked abashed and scrambled to check. He rolled his eyes and decided to give them a few minutes to be sure.

  ~~~^~~~

  Imperium Capital

  When Max returned to the capital, the first thing he did after checking on Cecily and the twins was check on the locomotive production line. They had the latest generation of steam locomotives running freight on the track to villages near the copper and iron mines. The damn things needed water and coal every few miles though, another thing he hated about them.

  They did look cool though, like a throwback to history, all black and brass with a cow catcher on the front to clear the tracks of beasts, debris, and snow.

  They were terribly inefficient though and the infrastructure a problem. One train a week had to go out with supplies just to resupply the water towers and fuel bunkers. At least they now had four switches and two sidings to divert trains onto when the trains were running at the same time. He'd pulled the oldest train from service with the intent of upgrading it and then selling it to Haiat when the duke finally got around to adding his own train line next spring.

  The tracks were still an issue. Keeping them level, a good bed, and of course building bridges where required. All of that took time. At least the investment was finally paying off. He still wasn't happy though.

  The real problem, other than the pollution, was the problem of power. Steam power was horribly inefficient in his eyes. The standard configuration of trains lost speed on inclines due to the dead weight of the cars. Mixing that up with a pusher locomotive in the rear did little to solve that. It was just another reason why he wanted to eventually shift to electric motors in each of the trucks in the cars to allow a consistent speed.

  He had the same problem with the steam powered vehicle line. They had one base model power plant that he'd finally signed off on. That unit was used as a generator to power everything from pumps to fans to actual vehicles. The capital fire department had one and were about to receive delivery of another. The castle had two generators, one that pumped water and another that powered an AC generator for backup power.

  There were more in the works, and some of the rich merchants and lords wanted one. He had thrown everything he could at the tech but batteries were still a problem. He really needed to get Charlie on board with making them.

  The next generation of engines had yet to pass muster. They had fuel for the few remaining Terran vehicles made from the biodiesel plant. He had a foundry that could do sand casting for many of the parts, but the fine machining was still a major hiccup. It was one thing to have slop in a locomotive piston, you could shim and brace around it. It was quite another to have slop with pistons in a block. The tolerances were far more demanding there.

  His two biggest problems were that his existing machinery couldn't support the depth he needed, and he lacked the proper gauges to measure things accurately on a consistent basis. Okay, there was a third, he still lacked trained help.

  He sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He turned to shoot the block a sour look and then away. At least this one hadn't eaten itself. No, instead it had frozen into an inert lump. His people were tearing it down to see what went wrong and where they could fix things.

  "It's always something," he muttered as he went back to work.

  ~~~^~~~

  Deidra was involved in the justice system. She was still unsure of the outlandish idea of an independent judge and jury but she watched as the pirates were tried. The evidence was laid out and she was impressed by how impartial the proceedings seemed to be. Not that anyone doubted the guilt or innocence of the accused. All got the same sentence, guilty. Each was condemned to death. They appealed the sentence. She denied them.

  She did force herself to gravely listen to pleas and her people took in information they provided about their people. She delayed the sentence of anyone who bartered for time in that way. But eventually they were one by one sent to the block.

  They started with some of the bottom rankers, publicly executing them in job lots of six or so depending on the weather. When they got midway through, she alerted her husband.

  ~~~^~~~

  When Eugene got the final report on the pirates, he decided he needed to have a little chat. He had heard that one of their number was from Patria , Earth. Apparently, the Terran was trying to use that as a way of appeal to him and to her majesty.

  On the evening of the next batch of executions, he headed down to the dungeons. He heard someone speaking English words.

  He nodded to the warden and guard and then went down the row of empty cells to find the last four occupied. One had a man on his own.

  "Who taught you that?" he asked, coming to a stop.

  Cao had heard they had an important visitor coming when the guards had woken them and told them to clean themselves up and their cells. He had been ready, putting on his best poor, pitiful abused sailor display.

  "Me," he said, raising a hand. "Hansan Cao."

  "Ah, Hansan is it?" Eugene asked, playing along.

  "Pease, I from Patria . Earth too," Cao said. He had watched a few English movies before he'd come to the world and had heard Americans speak in bars and in shops when he'd been young. But it had been a long time, and he'd never tried to learn the language.

  Eugene took a device out and hooked it over his ear. "Translator," he said, pointing to it. He cocked his head and then tried a few languages starting with mandarin.

  Cao stared and then realized the man had some sort of translator. That might make it easier he thought as his mind raced. When the king tried Malay, he snapped his finger and then started to go on about his fictional life story and how he had gotten there.

  Eugene had him slow down and then take it from the top. He did so and then asked for a drink. Eugene motioned for a guard. The guard grimaced but handed over a flask. The wine was tepid and near vinegar, but he drank it anyway.

  "All right, try again."

  He went on to tell the king about how he'd been a simple fisherman when he'd gone through the portal. He'd been taken by the pirates and pressed into service.

  Eugene nodded when the story finished.

  Cao wasn't sure how to react. The American didn't seem moved to tears as some of his people had scathingly said abou
t them in bars and brothels.

  "Yeah, the thing is, you were found guilty of piracy. And we've already identified you as the leader of this motley crew," the king said mildly.

  Cao's eyes widened in shock.

  "Oh, sorry, you didn't know?" Eugene smiled coldly. "One of your people ratted you out. Actually, more than one. They told us your name and where you were from. I was just waiting for when you'd want out." He turned to leave.

  "But … you are an American!" Cao said, rushing to the bars and clutching at them until a guard slammed a truncheon at his fingers. He darted back, clutching his hands to his chest, eyes wide.

  The king turned and looked back at him. There wasn't an ounce of pity in his expression. Far from it. "Yeah? So? Pirates are murders, rapists, and thieves. I also believe in the death penalty. And if anyone's earned it, that's certainly you."

  Cao shivered and looked out the window to the block. The gallows stood above it, but some of his people had asked to have their heads chopped off rather than be hung and then fed to the beasts.

  He hung his head, knowing his last-ditch strategy to survive had failed.

  ~~~^~~~

  Sue checked on the administration side of the hospital and then turned her attention to the learning side. Working in the hospital had its own rewards; she loved to see people come out healthy. She especially loved it with the kids and occasionally toured the small but growing pediatrics wing.

  She was still having problems but was slowly but steadily making minor but seemingly important improvements to surgical practices. She wanted to severely reduce the number of amputations by the end of the next winter. She shivered. One way to do that was to introduce the natives to better winter wear, but that was the queen's bailiwick, not her own. Too many people, including children, had lost a finger or toe or worse due to frostbite and gangrene.

  She also wanted to get a proper optometrist and eye surgeon and invest in dental surgery. She had heard of several people who had died from infection from an abscessed tooth. She had yet to set up a medical review board. That was also supposed to be on the agenda.

  She looked out to the square where the last of the pirates was being executed and shivered. Damn them, and damn whoever thought it was a great idea to do it in full view of the hospital.

  "What passes for entertainment in these parts sucks," she muttered as she went about her rounds.

  ~~~^~~~

  From time to time, Eugene checked out the market. He always liked to see the changes. From time to time he was on the lookout for something for Deidra or Hermione. He'd surprised Deidra with fresh cut flowers twice, much to her delight.

  He'd surprised their daughter, who had just started to teethe, with a new stuffed animal. She had quite the menagerie going, much to her mother's mock annoyance. He had also gotten a couple of plastic teething rings out of Max, and they cycled them through the freezer to help the baby deal with her aching mouth. She loved the car key ones of course.

  Her mouth wasn't the only thing aching; she'd recently received her latest batch of vaccination shots too. He was heartily glad about that and even more grateful to Sue for putting her foot down and demanding mandatory vaccinations for all children.

  It was a busy, bustling day in the market, the harvests were coming in steadily, and he knew his entourage made an impact, depressing some of the sales in the area. Twice someone got past his alert guards while on an errand or some other thing. He'd carefully stepped out of the way, but he knew his people needed to be retrained.

  The cry of a thief made the guards on point look up. Then someone fell and a woman screamed that he wasn't breathing.

  While they were fixated on that, a guy in a dusky brown cloak came from a tight alley on Eugene's left and hit him in a solid body blow. He'd initially thought the guy hadn't been looking where he'd been going.

  Eugene had an armored vest on under his jacket as required by his wife and security. He had almost forgotten the thing, but when he felt the pressure of a knife stabbing at him and was turned by the chicken plate inside the armor weave, he felt intense relief at their prescience.

  He snarled, grappling with the would-be assassin. That alerted his guards around him.

  His snarl returned as he and his guards wrestled the weapon out of the man's hand and then wrestled the assassin down. One of the guards repeatedly clubbed the attacker until he lay senseless on the ground.

  "Careful, sire, the blade has a strange liquid on it. It could be poisoned," one of the guards said as he whistled for the capital police and then knelt on the back of the attacker and secured the man's hands.

  Eugene checked himself but the blade hadn't penetrated. He was careful not to touch the liquid on his shirt, pulling it away from the armor and his skin. One of the guards helped him by removing the garment.

  The attack didn't go unnoticed by the crowd. The crowd looked ugly, and it took Eugene a moment to realize he wasn't the target of their ire. They were angry at the attacker, and he felt intensely grateful over that.

  He looked over to the guard captain who was making a radio report. "Okay, people, shows over, time to calm down and get back to our lives and jobs," he urged, waving for them. "I'm okay, and we'll make sure this one sees justice."

  There was a brief smattering of applause but then some of the hot heads called for him to be hanged from a lamppost right then and there.

  "Sire, we need to leave. Now," the guard captain urged.

  Eugene noted that reinforcements were coming in and they weren't being gentle about moving citizens out of the way to get to the site.

  He also noted that two people were fighting the crowd to get away. One of them had been the woman who had screamed; the other a man who had cried thief and then fell.

  "There! Stop them!" he said, pointing to the duo.

  The duo looked back fearfully and then split up, intent on running.

  The crowd turned on them and rushed them. The woman whimpered, cornered, but then tried to fight like a cornered rat. The man tried to fight but then turned to run. He was knocked down by a clothesline arm when he tried to round a corner. A baker stepped out and kicked him in the balls.

  The duo tried to fight back but the crowd piled in and the duo were beaten to the ground and kicked.

  Palace Security managed to get to them after a few moments. When the crowd stepped back, they found that the man was dead; the woman was badly hurt.

  "Take them into custody. Take the body too, search it but carefully. Be mindful of poisons," the guard captain urged. He turned to the crowd. "Check yourselves carefully, be mindful of poisons," he urged.

  That earned a gasp of consternation and then some shucking of clothes from those who had been involved in the take down and beating.

  Eugene felt bad; he wondered if he had reacted badly and in haste and had gotten an innocent man killed. But security confirmed the man had a dagger too.

  "This was a concentrated effort to kill you."

  "Shit."

  "Time to go, sire. No argument. The queen's orders," the guard captain said after receiving a radio call.

  "Right," Eugene replied with a tight nod.

  ~~~^~~~

  Eugene was surprised to see Deidra react badly when they were alone. He knew she needed to vent in private but seeing her upset, angry, and ranting in hysterical anger had him taken aback for a moment.

  In order to quell her fear, he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. He hugged her and refused to let go until she surrendered and hugged back. Something in her let go then and she felt him tremble a little, which made her fearful and then allowed her to realize he too understood the risks.

  When she calmed down, she realized that he too had been scared and angry but hadn't shown it as she had.

  "I didn't know you cared," he teased, stroking her honey blond hair.

  "Oh, shut up," she murmured as he took her head in his hands and kissed her thoroughly. She suddenly felt better; he was there, alive, unhurt.

&n
bsp; "I'm sorry," she murmured.

  "It's okay. You needed to vent," he said. "I'm just glad that wasn't directed at me. Did anyone tell you it’s fun to watch you storm like a hurricane as long as they aren't in the path?"

  She gave a watery chuckle. "Yeah, I think you said something about that before. Sue and Charlie call it being all hot and bothered."

  "Actually, there are different versions of that. I prefer your other version," he said with a leer.

  "Oh, you," she said, gently smacking him on the arm.

  He chuckled.

  "Well, you were right; I admit it. I needed the guards, and I need to be more careful," he said with a rueful shake of his head.