Chapter 10
After a quick trip up to the conference room to meet with Selby and share his latest round of fame and infamy awards, Allistor moved to the rooftop lounge area for some privacy. He checked in with Bjurstrom and the other raid group leaders to confirm they’d be ready to go after lunch.
“Nigel, please ask Master Longbeard if he’s available to meet with me? If he is, ask him to join me here.”
“Of course, sire.” There was a brief silence before Nigel added, “He will join you momentarily. Also, Master Daigath has returned and has claimed a small suite in the main tower at the Wilderness Stronghold.”
“Great! Thank you Nigel. I have another task for you. I need you to privately notify the parents of any children under level fifteen, that I am inviting their kids to join this afternoon’s raid. The kids will stay on board the Phoenix, completely safe. They should receive enough experience points to level up several times, as well as receive a quest and the loot that comes with it. Have them bring the kids to Invictus Tower for lunch.”
“It shall be done, sire.”
Master Longbeard got off the elevator and joined Allistor in the lounge area, hopping into a chair without ceremony. “Ye did good convincin’ Master Daigath ta join ya.”
“Yes, I think his presence here has already been very helpful. I’ve learned quite a bit this morning, including a few new spells and a skill. Speaking of which, I would like you to take the lead on recruiting our little army of class trainers.”
“Aye, that be easy enough. Just a few questions that need addressin’. First, d’ye want to contract with a trainer’s guild? Or hire ‘em individually?”
Allistor considered for a moment. “I think individually if that’s possible. Ideally, I’d like to recruit them as citizens of Invictus, have them take the oath, and stay here. Bring their families if they’ll swear, too. I intend to keep them busy, having a whole planet’s worth of humans to train, as well as our non-human citizens. I’ll pay them a salary, and we’ll work out some affordable fee they can charge each client for training above that. If they wish to sell their services to non-human non-citizens, like members of some of the alien factions, they can charge more. Since, as I understand it, those factions would have charged us a great deal for access to their trainers.”
Longbeard snorted. “That might earn ya some enemies, but I like it!”
Allistor wasn’t really listening. His mind was reeling with visions of ferrying a small army of class trainers around the globe, finding human communities and helping them level up their class abilities. Once his own people had been thoroughly updated, of course.
“What would you consider an appropriate salary for a trainer?”
The dwarf stroked his beard for a moment, considering. “Some be more expensive than others. Rare classes, and trainers with higher levels, cost more. But on average, ye might pay a million klax per year. A bit less if ye allow ‘em to charge fer services as ye mentioned.”
“Nigel, how many different classes do we need trainers for at the moment? Include all citizens, human or otherwise.”
“There are currently one hundred seventeen different classes among your citizens, sire. I can provide the list to Master Longbeard for his convenience.”
Allistor’s eyes bulged for a moment. The number seemed high to him, until he thought it over. While the system that now governed their lives was much like the VR games he’d played, it was also much larger and more intricate than any game. It stood to reason that instead of the few dozen class options most games offered, there might be hundreds or thousands of them in the real world.
“Okay, let’s say just for rough budgeting we’ll have a hundred and fifty trainers, at one million klax each.” Allistor paused. “We’ll need to build some kind of housing and training facility for them.”
Longbeard nodded, “That be a common practice. Some nobles keep barracks fer trainers, with arenas and practice facilities. If it be yer plan ta provide housing and food, ye’ll likely get a discount on the salaries.”
“We can build that. Somewhere here close to the tower. But let’s sweeten the offers this way. If they are willing to become permanent citizens, I’ll award them the same ten acres that our other citizens are entitled to. Either here on Earth, or on Orion. They can choose some of the parkland I own, or if they hurry, I can claim some other land and gift it to them. That should have some value.”
“Aye! If they be lookin ta purchase permission to claim a plot here on Earth through the normal system channels, it’d cost em ten years’ salary at least.”
“Good. Then make them that offer. Get as many as you can, as fast as you can. Needless to say, no goblins. Or other races you might consider hostile or unfit. Like… races that might find us tasty?”
Longbeard chuckled. “I’ll get on it right now. And while we’re on the topic of citizenry… there be a significant number o’ dwarves what have asked about pledging to ye. The crew that performed yer planetary survey on Orion spent some time on the planet, and on the trade station, and spoke to yer beastkin citizens. Word got back that ye be a good Emperor, and that be a rare thing.”
Allistor nearly smacked himself. “The survey! I completely forgot about that. When did they finish it? Do you have the results?” He paused, a sly grin appearing on his face. “Did they manage to find someone to ‘leak’ the reports to?”
Longbeard’s face went flat, thinking Allistor had ignored his question about dwarven immigration. “Aye, the survey be finished. I expect results later today or tomorrow. And they’ll have no trouble findin’ buyers, don’t ye doubt.”
“Great!” Allistor hadn’t noticed the look on his analyst’s face. “As for the dwarves, of course they’re welcome. As long as they’re willing to swear the oath and become citizens like everyone else.” Allistor paused. “Uhm… how many are we talking about? And which planet do they want to live on? We’re going to need more housing.”
The smile returned to Longbeard’s face. “A few hundred o’ me own clan. And maybe five thousand others, so far. As for which planet they’d prefer… I’d like ta bring my family here, to Earth. The others, I be thinkin’ most will feel the same.”
“Well then, let’s do it! We’ll get together tomorrow afternoon, and go over the survey results. You can update me on more specific details on the dwarves, and the class trainer hunt. Feel free to bring in the other analysts to help with the trainers. And speaking of the other analysts, do they also have families they wish to bring?”
Longbeard nodded. “I know Selby be considerin’ it. Though I think she be waitin’ to see if ye survive the next lil while.” The dwarf grinned at him. “The others have no’ spoken about it either way.”
“Ha! Well please let them know their families are welcome as well. In the meantime, lunch should be about ready, and then we’ve got a goblin horde to deal with.” Man and dwarf rose and boarded the elevator, riding together down to the lobby level. As soon as he reached the lobby area, Allistor was flooded with greetings from scores of children and their parents. Many of them from among Remy’s people. Fuzzy was in the middle of the large space, being petted and scratched by more than a dozen kids, randomly victimizing a kid here and there with a lick to the face. From the looks on those faces, his breath was as foul as ever.
“Welcome, everyone! I’m glad to see you all here. We’ll be having a quick lunch to get everyone well fed and buffed, then heading out to the Phoenix and Opportunity to…” his voice trailed off as a question occurred to him. “Hey, I see a bunch of you from Remy’s Stronghold. How did you get here? He doesn’t have a teleport pad as far as I know?”
A woman with a small child, a girl maybe six years old, stepped forward. “We drove over in a couple of school buses. It’s not far, only a couple of miles straight down the FDR and then across on Liberty, and only took about twenty minutes.”
Allistor cringed. “Well… I appreciate your enthusiasm! But we haven’t cleared all the area inside the walls
yet. Next time, please just let Nigel know you want to come, and we’ll arrange to stop and pick you up. We’ll be flying right past your Stronghold on the way there anyway.” The woman, and several others in her group, nodded their heads.
Allistor’s pulse slowed a bit as he calmed himself. “Alright, here’s the plan. You kiddos will be part of the raid group, but we’re going to keep you on the ships during the fighting. In fact, you’re going to get a little training as ship’s crew. How does that sound?”
There was jumping and clapping and cheering from the mob of kids. Several of the parents, who’d been looking less than enthused, relaxed a bit.
“We know from past battles that the kids will receive a share of the experience even though they’re not directly participating in the battle. They’ll be safe behind the shields, and the pilots know to bail if anything goes wrong. Any questions?”
Another woman, this one with a boy maybe ten and a smaller girl, asked, “Can we go with them? Not that I doubt you, Prince Allistor. It’s just that, I haven’t let them out of my sight hardly at all for the last year…”
Allistor smiled at her. He understood completely. “I’m sure that between the two ships we can find room for parents too, if you’d like to accompany your children.” Most of the heads nodded, several smiled in relief and appreciation. The fact that they’d been so worried didn’t go unnoticed.
“Uhm… guys, you all know that this is strictly voluntary, right? I had Nigel extend the invitations so that we could level up the smallest and weakest among us. But it’s only an invitation, an offer, not a demand. Any of you who felt otherwise, I apologize. You’re free to bail without any repercussions.”
A man holding his daughter in his arms stepped to the front of the crowd. Allistor thought he recognized him from Cheyenne. “We understand, Allistor. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we want our young’uns to get stronger. And this seems like a good, safe way to do that. Not like when you killed that void titan at the Citadel, and little Pip here leveled up. I was on that wall, watching that thing come for us, and for a while there I was sure we were all gonna die. So yeah, I’m here to sign her up for this, and I have faith you’ll keep her safe. But that don’t mean I won’t worry a good bit till it’s over.”
Allistor smiled at the man. “Thank you for that. And I know how you feel, to some extent. I don’t have kids of my own, but I’ve made myself responsible for all of you. Also, have you met Bjurstrom and Goodrich? They’re like two twelve-year-old kids in full grown bodies. I’m worried about them every time we go out. Luckily, I have Fuzzy there to look after them.”
Fuzzy grinned at him, tongue hanging out one side of his mouth as people in the crowd chuckled and patted his back.
“Any other questions?” He waited for a moment, and when nobody spoke up, he said, “Okay let’s get everyone fed, and we’ll get going.”
Ramon, Nancy, and Chloe joined him at his table while he was eating, followed by his raid leaders and core group. Gene, Kira, and their girls showed up with Gralen, who’d brought Gene’s bombs along on the Opportunity, which was now waiting at Battery Park. More than a hundred raiders who were high enough level to participate in the fight joined them for lunch, along with Gralen’s beastkin crew and Kira’s human crew trainees.
Meg had recruited Addy and Sydney to buff the food during prep, so when everyone finished eating they had buffs of ten percent to both health and Stamina regeneration, as well as +3 Strength, +3 Constitution, +2 Stamina, and +2 Intelligence for six hours.
The crowd adjourned to the lobby, where Bjurstrom and the raid leaders organized everyone into groups and sent out raid invitations. Meg and Sam passed out jerky and water bottles to everyone as Nancy and Chloe handed out health, mana, and cure potions.
While they were doing that, Allistor opened his interface and created a couple of quests. The first was just for the kids.
Quest: The Prince’s Pirates
Board one of Prince Allistor’s ships and assist the crew during the raid on the goblin horde. Keep to your assigned station, and follow orders. No leaving the ship!
Reward: 50,000 Experience, 5,000 Klax, plus a share of the loot!
When he finished that one, he included the parents and allowed them to accept on behalf of their offspring, not being sure whether all the kids could read. There was a general wave of laughter among the parents, and squeals of joy from the kids. The next one was for everyone.
Quest: Finish Them!
Seek out and destroy the remaining occupants of the goblin horde’s nest.
Reward: 500,000 Experience, 100,000 klax.
Allistor knew each raider would also get their share of the kill xp plus a share in the monetary value of the loot. This was just a little icing on the cake, mostly for the kids, ship crews, and parents who would be remaining on board.
With everyone organized, stocked, and properly motivated, they headed for the ships. Gralen assigned a few of his crew to supervise and ‘train’ the half of the kids that would be on the Phoenix, then took the rest through the teleport to Battery Park to board the Opportunity. Allistor had Remy’s people drive the busses into the Phoenix cargo bay, since they’d be stopping at Remy’s Stronghold to pick up his raiders anyway.
*****
They made a short stop at Remy’s Stronghold, dropping off the busses and people, picking up raiders. Remy informed Allistor that all but ten of the holdouts had decided to join. The two of them quickly made arrangements for supplies, and a droid platoon to escort those ten safely outside the walls of Invictus. Allistor ordered Prime to keep the droids with them until they had established a Stronghold of their own.
By one o’clock they were ready to begin the attack on the nest. One hundred thirty human raiders, forty orcanin, and one grizzly cub, stood in the cargo bays of the spaceships as they hovered high over the Con Ed plant. Prime’s droids formed a wide perimeter, keeping watch on the exits they’d found from a distance that would keep them safe from the detonations to come.
Aboard the Opportunity, Gene and his techs had rigged two of the pressure wave bombs that they were now calling gutbusters, as well as a half dozen conventional bunker-buster type bombs they’d claimed from the air force supply in Cheyenne.
The kids had all been assigned various sections of their ships, a few on the bridge, others in the galley, engineering, and such. Parents stood nearby, observing as patient beastkin crew members gave the children basic instructions and simple tasks to complete.
When Bjurstrom reported to Allistor that everything was set, he said, “Let’s do this!”
Kira landed the Phoenix directly onto the FDR freeway, outside the brick wall that separated it from the Con Ed plant. The ship’s guns blasted a small hole in the wall, maybe ten feet wide, reducing the brick to dust that quickly drifted away on the breeze. Allistor and about half the raiders stepped down off the cargo ramp and moved fifty yards closer to the wall, waiting for the goblins to emerge. When they didn’t show up right away, Fuzzy let out a roar of challenge.
That did the trick.
First a few goblin heads poked out from either side of the gap in the wall. There was shouting, the clamor of weapons, then a fireball shot up over the wall from inside, arcing through the air toward the raiders.
“Back inside the shield!” Allistor ordered, casting his Barrier spell directly in front of the fireball while it was still high above them. As soon as he cast the spell, he turned and ran to catch up with his people. The invisible barrier from his spell lasted just long enough to disrupt the momentum of the fireball, causing it to drop harmlessly onto the road between the opposing forces. The raiders held up about ten yards in front of the cargo ramp, inside the shield that Kira had pushed outward from the ship.
Fuzzy let out another roar, and the rest of the raiders joined in. “Rawr!”
Several of the tanks started shouting insults at the goblins, taunting them as best they could. “Your mother was a horny toad!” made everyone
laugh even as more fireballs emerged from inside the walls to splash against the shields.
Amanda, standing next to Allistor, observed, “It really does seem like this horde has a lot more shamans than the others we’ve fought. Even the developed clan on Orion.”
Allistor nodded, answering as he tested out one of his new spells, using Shatter to cause one of the loose bricks near the gap to send shrapnel into the enemy gathering there. “You’re right. And we need to identify them as quickly as possible. Burn them down before they can cast that enraged-explodey spell they use.” Bjurstrom heard him and began to broadcast instructions through raid chat.
The goblins continued to gather inside the walls, but none had ventured out so far. The shamans continued to lob fireballs, and seemed content to try and wear down the ship’s shields. Deciding they needed some motivation Allistor counted the spells. He saw five fireballs shoot up over the wall within about three seconds, indicating at least five of the shamans hiding back there. Doing his best to follow the arc of the last one back to a spot behind the wall, he took his best guess and called down a column of fire using Flame Shot. When nothing happened, he did the same for the next fireball he saw.
That one worked.
There was screaming, then increased shouting for a moment, and small green bodies waving clubs and spears began to pour the gap in the wall. The raiders opened fire with spells, arrows, and guns as the creatures emerged. Allistor cast Identify on a few of them.
Goblin Scout
Level 45
Health: 19,240/23,000
Goblin Warrior
Level 43
Health: 22,900/30,000
These goblins were higher level than the ones that had perished outside Remy’s Stronghold. Allistor began to be concerned about taking his people, most of whom were lower level than these enemies, into the nest.
Shadow Sun Progression: Shadow Sun Book Four Page 16