LIGHTNOVELONLINE 214 Disappointment
"Is that?"
"Yes, Donovan, 'that' is one of the three Jakobi brothers, your subordinates." Montaug sighed to himself as he stepped over the unconscious idiot. "I do believe that I made it clear they aren't the smartest, but I can vouch for their competence as sailors and, what was the term? 'Privateers'?"
Donovan nodded. "That's what we would call them. Government sanctioned commerce raiders."
"To imagine that you actually have a word for that sort of thing. I really want to ask what went on in your history but . . . well, I feel it would be more than just a little bit rude."
"Hm? You don't have a word for them?" Diana seemed a little bit shocked.
"I'm afraid not."
Thunk
A man had jumped from the bow section to where they were standing, landing firmly on his feet.
"Uh, Cayzi? I don't think you need to be told, but don't do that. Walk across the plank, keep out of the way of the men unloading everything, you know the deal."
"Okay!" A young voice responded to him. "Can I bring my books?"
"Ah, maybe only one or two smaller ones to keep you occupied, we'll come back for the rest later. Help her carry her stuff of first though."
"Yes sir!"
The man smiled, nodding his head in contentment as he turned to address the crowd.
"Bishop Kayes."
"Good to see you, Montaug. Same for you Trebar."
"Duel?"
"Later." Bishop Kayes then took a moment to look his previous pupil up and down. "Damn, you've really filled out haven't you? How much fun have you had without me these last few years?"
"I'd say around seven, maybe even eight."
"Scale of ten?"
"Hundred."
"Bastard!" Kayes proceeded to chop him on the head with a little bit of force. "Alright, no crap this time, how've you been?"
"Great. I can't say I've enjoyed having weak rivals to compete against, but it has definitely made my life easier."
"You've been slacking?"
"Not a chance, I just haven't been practicing against my academic opponents." Trebar shrugged, acting cool for once.
". . . the Enforcers?" Trebar shook his head again. ". . . the Marshall?"
"Who knows?" A smug grin.
thwack
Kayes' flick to Trebar's forehead shifted into a bear hug, one hand ruffling his hair. "Atta boy! You win yet?"
"Not a fucking chance! Hell, I haven't even forced him to step back yet."
Kayes released Trebar, taking one last second to analyze the status of his pupil before realizing where he was and what he was there for.
"Ah, uh, ehe, um. My name is Bishop Kayes, pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is ours, Bishop. I am Diana Helmsguard. This is my husband to be, Donovan Strauss. This is his adopted brother, Len Kerr. Last but not least, this is Princess Titanyana Strapper of the Nekh." As rehearsed, everyone bowed when Diana mentioned their names. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Please, Lady Helmsguard, I am hardly the type of person you should be showing such courtesy. I'd much rather your keep it short, simple, and to the point. Getting all wordy makes my head spin." Kayes waved away her pending objection before sighing. "Anyways . . . 'princess' huh?"
Bishop Kayes stared at Titanyana with a somber expression for a few seconds, something which immediately made Titanyana incredibly anxious. She knew it could be for any number of reasons, she had come to understand that her planet wasn't healthy, but she couldn't help but shiver.
". . . I suppose she can handle that part. Would you all like to receive my assessment of the general situation?"
"Yes!" Titanyana jumped at the offer, momentarily abandoning ettiquette. "I, uh, I mean, yes. I would very much like that."
"Very well then. You claimed that Nekh had five years to evacuate before a total collapse, correct?" Titanyana nodded nervously as Kayes closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. Evidently this was going to be some tough news to handle. "It is my personal assessment that five years is an obscenely optimistic estimate - one bordering on the realm of fantasy."
Titanyana's ears flared and the fur on her tail stood on end.
"In fact, I would wager that even three years would be giving you too much time. It pains me to say this, but we are probably only working with half the time you were expecting, possibly less."
Tears began to form in Titanyana's eyes. "S-so that means?"
"We may have as little as two years to work." A deafening silence surrounded the group, everybody who was present to hear the news noiselessly recoiling in some way.
"Haaaaa, fuck." Donovan held his head in his hands, performing some quick calculations. "So if we started now with only one production line . . . about a million and a half? Is that it? 365 times two over twenty five is almost thirty, sum all whole numbers under thirty to find total trips . . . four hundred something? Multiply that by a capacity of three and a half thousand and . . . yeah, right around 1.5 mil. SHIT!"
Donovan had been told that their transit times were unlikely to be that long, perhaps less than half of the 25 day round trip time that was initially estimated, but he wasn't going to base his expectations on a guess. Either way, a fifty percent cut in the time available to them corresponded in a seventy five percent drop in the number of Nekh they could evacuate. This meant that even though Donovan had not taken additional production lines into consideration during his calculations, they weren't going to have as much of an effect anyways.
Titanyana was still coherent enough to parse together his words at this point, and she did not react well to them. Titanyana, ever the attentive student, had remembered how to do basic operations in her head by this point. She had already done the division.
Up to this point, Titanyana had been expecting to be able to save around nine to ten million based on Donovan's worst case scenario predictions, a number she was already incredibly unhappy with. Now she was being told that there was the chance they might only be able to reach a sixth of that? Was that even enough people to survive with? Was it even worth trying at that point?
"Hey." Diana's hand clasped Titanyana's. "We'll do everything we can, okay? We aren't going to let your people go extinct, I promise."
"B-but, at this rate we won't even save ten million!" Titanyana appreciated Diana's attempts at calming and reaffirming her, but they frustrated her immensely. "How! How? How are we going to protect ourselves!? We would have to mobilize at least half of our fighting age men in order to fend off an invasion from a kingdom with powerful nobles! If they all die, what are we to do? Who will work the fields? Who will craft our tools? Who will-"
Diana hugged Titanyana, her clothes muffling the panicking princess and cutting off the rest of what she was going to say. "I told you it would be okay, didn't I?"
"But it's a Verdant Globe we are talking about here! It's inevitable that someone would try to invade, even if the Theocracy is protecting you!" Titanyana pushed herself out of Diana's embrace, desperately trying to get her to understand. The situation they were putting themselves in was impossible to come out of without an insane number of scars, that assuming they made it out at all. "What am I supposed to say to you if this all falls apart after the work you've done?"
"Titanyana." Donovan did not raise his voice, nor did he speak in an angry or otherwise irregular tone, but it was enough to make Titanyana freeze. "While I understand that you are deeply concerned for the safety of your people, I feel ever so slightly insulted by the mere suggestion that I would permit someone to step foot on a planet I control by way of wooden vessels."
"What are you-"
"I will demonstrate at a later date. For now just have confidence in my declaration that nobody - be they a soldier, a king, or even a god - will ever be able to set foot on that planet unless I permit them. Am I understood?" Titanyana's head bowed under Donovan's gaze, uncomfortable with being scolded in such a manner. Had it been anybody else she probably would have stood up to them, she had done so to Diana, however Donovan was a different story. Cautiously, she nodded. "Good. Now, Bishop Kayes, I imagine that there is more you wish to say?"
". . . we have received permission to ferry vast quantities of split crystals to your planet to create a more livable environment, even if that environment is only a temporary one." Bishop Kayes pulled one out of his pocket, and it slowly began to dissappear. "As you can see releasing the split into the air isn't very efficient. I don't think it will matter much though, some split is better than no split."
Titanyana heart sank further.
"I-isn't it going to be expensive?"
"Unbelievably."
"I can't repay you! My people, we can't repay you!" She was beginning to hyperventilate.
"We do not expect you to."
"Huh?! But those are your treasures, your riches! How could you be so flippant with how you give them out!?" Diana hugged her again, from behind this time. "Won't your people suffer for it? For us?"
Silence descended upon them once more, the three men who hailed from the Theocracy exchanging glances. As the time passed without an exchange in dialogue, Titanyana's heart rate began to rise. That said her breathing was becoming calmer, thanks in no small part to Diana.
"I . . ." The Montaug, most likely of the three to have a reasonable answer for the worried princess' questions, faltered before he really even started.
"I think you misunderstand why it is we are doing this for you, Princess Strapper. You see, this is not nearly as much of a selfless act as you may believe. As a matter of fact, I am of the mind that the decision makers were acting with incredibly selfish intent."
"Gawan?"
"Good evening, Montaug. Anyways, Titanyana." Gawan walked to Trebar's side, blowing off his mentor's subtle order to stop before continuing. "We are going to be getting just as much if not more out of 'donating' those crystals to the cause than you are."
"Huh? How?" Titanyana laughed at the absurd proposition, a laugh which rightfully felt hollow owing to her stress. "How could that possibly be the case? I know I don't have a good sense of value for them, but I know they aren't cheap!"
"Cheap they are not, that much is true. However we are not just throwing them away, are we? We are using them, just as you would any other tool, in order to perform a task. In this case, the task is saving your people, the 'saving' part of that task being of particular interest to me and my cohorts."
Titanyana did not respond, but a raised eyebrow indicated she was willing to listen (even if she didn't believe him just yet).
"I don't know if you've heard, but our religion has a few peculiarities. I'll spare you most of the details, but one of our most important tenets is the pursuit of sanctity. The method we are interested in here is 'Sanctity through Salvation in Service of Self', which involves the betterment or saving of another person's life. Now, I know this is supposed to be something of a secret-"
"Gawan!"
"-but we are suffering from something along the lines of a crisis of purpose. Not enough souls to save, you see, so the people clamor for the opportunity to achieve Sanctity through the other method . . ."
"GAWAN!!!"
". . . slaughter."
The hair on the back of Titanyana's neck stood on end.
"Gawan you know how much of a secret that is!"
"And? She falls under protection of the Terrans, who in turn fall under our protection. Given that they are already somewhat aware of our internal problems and have taken steps to plan around them, there should be no issue if she knows as well." Gawan did not falter in the face of the Montaug's anger. "She has the right to know why we are so adamant about helping her."
". . . fine."
"Speaking honestly here, Montaug, I don't really think it matters who knows and who doesn't. At the very least, it doesn't matter at this point." Although Bishop Kayes said that, he kept his voice low and positioned himself so that it would be harder for outsiders to hear. "Anybody who decides to attack us because of it will just become another target."
Titanyana was warm from Diana's body, and yet she shivered when she heard that. The Holifanian's were going to war? The isolationists? The pacifists? Was the galaxy coming to an end?
"Mmmmm. Fine, but keep it to a minimum. I don't fancy our chances against the entire galaxy."
