Hunter Or Huntress

Chapter 127: Forceful Acclimation

Working with the investigator had not been a pleasant experience for Tom, despite her friendly demeanor. She was constantly asking questions they didn't know the answers to while refusing to tell them about what she knew. Aka, the stuff that might have made it possible to figure out what it was you were looking at down there. And if you tried to not answer her, she would just very kindly make it clear why that was a bad idea.

They had found some interesting things to be sure though. Mostly on mining, though there were some very handy things on metal refining which Tom hadn’t really considered yet. Then again, heavy industry was not really something they could do at the keep. At least not without some really damn big upgrades to the space available. There was definitely money to be made on that though. Assuming the inquisition didn’t decide to fuck it all up.

The complex beneath them though was huge, and it was indeed a mine. They had found all the schematics on it early on. There were cargo hangars, forges, warehouses, shaft upon shaft of mining corridors, and accommodations for hundreds if not thousands of people. Funnily enough though, they had been revised quite extensively. The revisions added ‘garrison hangars’ as well as ‘garrison quarters’ and several layers of defenses all centering on the vaults, which seemed to be the center of the entire operation along with the accompanying workshops, and several ‘research facilities’ whatever that entailed. Whatever it was, it had clearly been important to them.

The conclusion had been that it must have been a conversion from mine to a military installation, at least partly, which would explain why there were blueprints for weapons and ships in the vaults. In Tom’s mind it sounded a bit like a blacksite of some kind.

Glira and Baron had checked on the locations where the openings and hangars should have been, but they had found nothing but old rock. Not even a tunnel leading further into the island. Everything had likely collapsed or eroded away a long time ago. One part, at least according to Zarko, was outright missing, as in a part of the island must have fallen off. That was disconcerting to say the least.

It had also become clear that the odd fish people had indeed built this place. But they wrote draconic, at least mostly. According to Linkosta, it was tricky as hell to read, especially when more technical words were thrown in which simply held no meaning in modern draconic. Even the investigator admitted that the bugs to the south didn’t speak their language, though that might have more to do with them not really being able to make those kinds of sounds.

When Tom had pushed for more, she had simply stated that was outside her repertoire and he should get back to work. He had managed to ask Linkosta in private at one point though. Not that she was much help either. All she knew was that they were bug-like people that lived to the south, they were exceedingly hostile in 99% of situations, and they were very territorial. There had been clashes along the borders, which almost universally ended poorly for the bugs, but assaulting a hive was considered suicidal due to the sheer numbers involved. The result was a near-complete stalemate, with neither side seemingly interested in taking ground.

The worst part of the last week, though, was when the investigator went to the keep. The subject of discussion inevitably fell onto his stuff. Funnily enough, she didn’t seem to care much about where he was from or what he brought, only what he knew and specifically what he knew how to make. This was, of course, rather complicated by the fact that she didn't want to tell him exactly what it was she wanted made unless they had found it already. So it kinda devolved into a guessing game of him trying to figure out what she was on about.

He had done his level best to limit what he told her to the same level as what had been found in the vaults. That idea crumbled in his hands when Holdey asked if they could watch another movie today. In hindsight, he really should have seen that one coming.

“What is this, movie?” the investigator questioned in a friendly tone, looking to Holdey who happily replied.

“Moving images on the wall. Sound too. You can come watch.”

“I would very much so like to,” she responded, looking at Tom with a piercingly curious expression and a slight smile still on her face.

“I guess it’s movie time then,” Tom just went with a nervous chuckle. “I’ll go get the projector”

“I take it you brought this film projector with you?”

“It’s not quite a film projector… I’ll just show you,” Tom replied, gesturing towards the door. ‘Oh god, what to show them?! What the hell is both kid and Inquisition friendly!’

Tom had moved them all to the children's bedroom where his cape was hung up on the wall. Much to the investigators' bemusement. “I’ll just go get it real quick.”

He had ever so slightly expected Paulin to protest, but she seemed sufficiently busy with the fact she was currently in a room full of kids who found her very interesting. ‘thank god for kids.’

Tom just heard Wiperna ask “Is it true you kill people when you are bored?” as he shut the door, making his way down the corridors. As luck would have it, he ran face-first into Rachuck, coming the other way almost immediately.

“Quick Rachuck, what kind of movie do you show an inquisitor!?” Tom went, grabbing the surprised guard by the shoulders.

Rachuck just blinked a few times, looking at him like he had just asked him why the moon had fallen down.

“Like alone to herself or what?”

“No in a room full of kids!” Well, that turned Rachuck’s face into one of near enough total horror.

“How the hell should I know? Just think of something!” he countered, looking at Tom wide-eyed.

“Right, okay… You got to keep them entertained. I’ll be right back!”

“Wait! Why me?!” Rachuck shouted out as Tom just bolted down the corridor. ‘Okay kids movies… Not Nemo, we found fish people and ocean scary… Cars...? fuck no too many questions, do I even have that? Atlantis maybe? No, submarines would scare shit out of the kids. Fuck!... Treasure Planet. Yes, that will work, god it’s almost too meta. Screw it, I must have that somewhere!”

It took some digging on the hard drives, but eventually he found the precious file. “Awesome! Right, that should fit right on. Even she must be able to tell that it’s just fiction… Fuck I hope so… Oh well” Tom went to himself as he packed up what he needed.

When Tom made it back to the kid’s room, he found Rachuck in the middle of planning strategies with the investigator on the floor, kids arguing wildly as to which side would win a given encounter.

“Uhm…”

“Tom, even you would know this. You can't just put militia bowmen in a parapet and expect them to keep firing after their friends are overrun. They would break.” Rachuck went, looking up at him with genuine fire in his eyes.

“No, because they know that if they run they will all be executed,” the investigator countered. “Which means the dragon you landed is gonna be taking a pounding as it breaks down the gates.”

“It’s supposed to be Heron and Balethon. Believe me, they will run.”

‘What the fuck is going on?’ Tom went to himself in disbelief.

“Hi Tom, we are playing defend the keep. She has all of us and Rachuck has the Royal guard,” Kiran clarified.

“Put Tom in parparet, then dragon is dead!” Kiran shouted out, knocking over the blue wooden block that was apparently a dragon.

“Glira is a tough old bastard, and they don’t have heavy weapons,” Rachuck countered, putting the ‘dragon’ back upright. “Even if they stayed, the damage would be light."

“This is true… I guess the gate falls then,” the investigator went, removing a block.

Tom just went to stand in the corner and watched. Every second the investigator wasn’t asking questions was gold in his book, so might as well just let her be distracted.

“So, are you gonna advance and take the keep?”

“No, Glira is ordered to retreat and get back in the sky once the gate is down,” Rachuck replied, moving the blue block back.

“Why? The way is open, my defenses have been swept aside,” Paulin went, leaning back, seemingly waiting for him to get on with it.

“Rule seven, if your attack is going well it’s an ambush.”

“What rule?”

“Murphy's laws of combat. Don’t worry, I’ll make you a copy, it’s not that long.” Well, Paulin certainly looked curious at that statement before turning suspicious again as she looked back down at the ‘keep.’

‘Well someone is bonding?’ Tom concluded, watching the odd spectacle with a smile.

“Now, Glira is carrying a full barrel of flash powder. And that’s a torch she dropped,” Rachuck went, pointing to the wood splint lying in the middle of where the gate had been.

“Oh, you sly bastard,” the investigator went as Rachuck put on a show for the kids of Glira, coming back around for a bombing run and letting the barrel go. “So what were the casualties?” he then questioned, expectantly.

“Lady Nunuk, Jackalope, Dakota, and Tom,” the investigator went dejectedly. Kiran clearly was not pleased with that result, though a fair few kids cheered for Rachuck.

“Why would you put me indoors?” Tom questioned, looking at the investigator. “I have range.”

“I read the reports. All of them. They said you were an animal in close quarters… Lost the ‘fire mage’ to fire… Gods above… Right, I want to see this film projector. No way the keep will stand after that defeat.”

“Right, we are gonna watch a kid’s movie. I hope that’s okay. It's very good though, I promise. Oh and it’s in my language, so just lean back and watch the pretty pictures,” Tom went in his most diplomatically convincing tone.

“Do I look like a child to you?” the investigator questioned, looking very unimpressed.

Tom took a second before answering that one, looking at her… sitting on the floor, next to a pile of wooden play blocks. “No, definitely not.” That was probably not the most convincing thing he had ever said, but he needed to set this up. The investigator seemed more interested in the projector than any perceived insult, so at least that was good.

“No film rolls?”

“Uhm no… it’s... digital.” ‘What the fuck? She knew what a film projector was? As in what one looked like… shit.’

“Digital?”

“Right… Gotta be honest, that’s a bit beyond what even i understand. It's essentially a thinking machine that runs on lightning… It’s very complicated.”

“So little like an automata in a sense?”

“A what?”

“Hmm… I guess not. Let’s see this thing in action then,” the investigator went leaning back. “Nothing then.”

‘What the hell does she mean automata...? Oh shit,’ Tom thought to himself as he diligently worked away. ‘These guys really are steampunk.’ No matter, if they had steam-powered robots he would find out when going through all the records down below when she was gone. Or someone else would find it for him. Right now it was a matter of crossing his fingers really damn hard this worked.

The kids had absolutely loved the movie, though the Investigator’s expression was more of star-stricken awe. She had even stopped asking questions on how it all worked when Tom kept replying “It just does,” or “It’s just a movie.” It had felt quite good to use her own poison against her though, without being hit with implied threats in return.

Tom made a note to remember to show the rest of the keep dwellers this movie at some point. It was rather enjoyable after all. When the show had come to an end, the kids had all cheered, the investigator getting up, dusting herself off and leaning in for a whisper to Tom.

“I want a meeting, you, me, and the old red. I believe we have something to discuss.”

“Okay?” Tom had replied suspiciously as the yammering began if they could see it again, some of the kids, of course, beggin for red tails one more time.

“Nothing nefarious, I promise. Just a little chat.”

‘Yeah, your promises don’t mean much to me woman,’ Tom cursed internally. He knew he should have gone with Thomas the Tank Engine instead.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Well, whatever Tom had shown the investigator, it had certainly had an effect on her. ‘Why for the love of all that’s holy did he have to show her a movie,’ Saph cursed as she cut away at the freshly slaughtered deer that was gonna be cured and smoked in preparation for the festival. It was his own fault, though, that he had now become the personal escort of an inquisitorial agent so she could get what she wanted out of him before her imminent departure.

The investigator had eased up somewhat on the implied threats though, so there was that. Probably because the investigator had finally figured exactly how useful Tom could be. If that rubbed off on the rest of them, Saph wouldn’t mind. But if he became too useful, it might just be worth it to snatch him away. Hell, that was probably already the case. Dakota had theorized that Tom’s reputation probably had something to do with the fact they hadn’t tried to take him away already. A weak-willed academic would be a lot easier to bend to your will than a fearsome warrior after all. That and convenience if what the investigator had said was true, obviously.

On the convenience front, Maiko had proven remarkably handy. Saph almost felt a little bad about having a Royal Guard do her dishes for her, while she was busy teaching Bo and Pho how to properly butcher a deer.

“I think I fucked up again,” Pho went from where she was working next to Sapphire.

“Right, let’s see then,” Saph replied, looking over. “Nah, that’s fine, we are cooking these whole. You did kinda ruin a nice cut of rump though.”

“Well we can’t all be perfect,” Pho protested as she stood back to let Saph try to fix her mistake. ‘The least you could do is pay attention.’

“No but it pays to try,” Saph replied with a sigh. “Now we need to get all those membranes off. They taste nasty. Your go.”

“You mean like when we start hunting with the shotguns and fill the meat with metal?” Pho replied as she slowly set to work removing the membranes.

“We aren’t gonna be hunting with them. Lead is bad for you. Maybe when Tom figures out how to make steel shot. Now don’t push it in, you’ll knick the meat. Drag the knife… Is that thing even sharp?”

“I’m doing it, and yes, of course it is. Do we get to use the guns on the investigator?”

“No, of course not. And she will be gone before they are ready. I don’t know if they are gonna give some to Deriva though… probably not yet though,” Saph replied, taking the knife to Pho’s evident annoyance. “It’s not sharp… and you burred the edge, honestly?” Saph went, lowering the blade with an exasperated sigh.

“Fine, you sharpen it then,” Pho replied grumpily, crossing her arms in protest.

“No, you do it. Here's the stone. Now do it right. Or were you not paying attention?”

Pho didn’t reply as she took the sharpening stone and sat down on a stump to try again, roughly running the stone down either side of the blade.

“Don’t let Shiva see you do that. Be gentle with it. It's a precision instrument, not a club,” Saph went, her patience straining a little. Pho just grumped some more in reply as she at least tried to do it more gently.

“Why won’t we give them to Deriva… or well, sell them?” Bo questioned from her station where she was making excellent progress.

“Because they are all gonna die and give them to the enemy. And they are fucking broke,” Pho added as she checked the edge of the blade… incorrectly.

‘For fucks sake,’ Saph cursed to herself. “Right. Firstly, those are not only people but friends you are talking about. Secondly, learn to check a damn edge! It’s not hard.”

“What? I’m doing it.”

“Like this,” Saph went, holding the end of the knife. “Against the side of the edge, not along it. If you actually managed to sharpen that thing, you would cut yourself.”

“That’s how you know it’s sharp?”

“For the love of all that’s holy…” Saph caught herself from launching into a lengthy tirade, instead just taking a deep breath. “Try mine. Feel how it digs into the skin when you do this… That means it’s sharp. Yours is not.”

Pho tried it with both knives and reluctantly handed back Saph’s blade and went back to her own, going more slowly and carefully.

“Right, there you go. I’m gonna put in a vote that you join them in fighting next time.”

“Why, do they need a hand?”

“No, but you sure as hell do. And it feels like you need to learn it the hard way.”

“Oh sob sob.” Pho replied sarcastically, still looking down at her knife.

“Yes, you will be, all night long. You better pray there’s someone who loves you at that point or else it’s gonna suck a lot.”

“I got Bo.” Pho replied seemingly not worried in the slightest.

“I will take on no such responsibility,” Bo replied as she was finishing up her deer, Saph going back to her own. “If you break down, I’ll get you into bed, that’s it.”

“Aww, I love you too.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

The investigator had gotten her little private conversation with Tom and Baron. That is to say, the three of them were currently in an open field away from just about everything.

In a move that had surprised exactly no one, well at least not Tom, she had just started asking questions about some of the designs they had found below, a few copies had been brought up under the supervision of the Investigator. Interestingly they were all ship designs. What caught Tom off guard was when Baron joined in. He just asked question after question about what it was they were looking at on the various sketches. Curiously, the dragon seemed to know more than Tom on some points, correcting him on the propellers having reversible pitch on one of the ships depicted. He also stated that they were capable of much higher degrees of elevation than Tom had thought possible. Then there was the fact that the dragon clearly preferred one of the drawings when it came to asking questions.

“You’ve seen one haven't you?” Tom finally asked, crossing his arms refusing to answer more questions.

Baron seemed less than pleased with the question, averting his gaze before looking at the investigator, replying with venom in his voice. “I’m not allowed to answer that… I think.”

“You may answer. I think Tom here might know more than even you on this particular subject. It would seem his people have also dabbled in airships.”

‘Oh, you have gotta be kidding me,’ Tom cursed to himself. ‘I showed you a goddamn kids movie.’

“Yes… I have seen one,” Baron replied reluctantly, looking back to Tom.

“Hang on, you are like what, four hundred and something right?”

“Four hundred and seventy-eight,” the dragon replied pointedly.

“These are supposed to be thousands of years old?” Tom went trying not to sound too confused, gesturing at the drawings.

“I am aware.”

“Someone built one?” Tom questioned. He couldn’t see how that could be possible, unless the dragonettes had regressed a lot over the last few hundred years. It hadn’t sounded like that though. Either that or they were lying about what kind of infrastructure was available in the capital… No, Saph and the others wouldn’t do that.

“No, they found one. Or stole it, I don’t know,” Baron replied, getting up and turning his back to Tom. “They are machines of death, I will give you that.”

“I have only read the reports and some of the fairy tales that resulted from that incident. I would love to hear a first-hand report,” the investigator added, rather leadingly.

“Well then, you better go look for someone to give you one. I’m not discussing that day with the likes of you,” Baron replied, swinging his head down to stare at the investigator. “I have kept my promise to you for centuries. I have spread your lies. You can’t have both that and the truth.” That certainly rubbed the investigator the wrong way, though she did not protest. “Earn my respect and you might get to hear that one. For now, do your job and do it well.” the dragon finished raising his head up to loom over them once more.

“Understandable. I guess I’ll do the honors then,” Paulin replied, turning away from the dragon to look at Tom. “A bit over four hundred years ago, if my memory serves, a ship came down from the north in the middle of a large-scale war with the forces of the dark. Original reports indicated it was made of metal and fire. Most believed to be some kind of infernal machine forged with heat and hate far beneath the waves, but we knew what it was. It carved a path of destruction heading for a place it could not be allowed to reach. Baron was sent as part of the force to stop it on the brink of its destination.”

“So you wanna share some secrets but not all of them?” Baron questioned, sounding exceedingly unimpressed. The investigator looked almost equally annoyed as she scowled at the dragon for half a second.

“It was headed for Cartahega, our most northern city. Specifically, we believe its destination was the inquisitorial vaults beneath the city. With only six cities standing, we have had to make use of what we have available.”

“Sounds like you used to have more.“

“We did. There used to be dozens. We lost three in that war, including Cartahega. That is the only one we have managed to fully resettle since then.”

“Why? It sounds like you have plenty of people.”

“Yes, and what happens when you send thousands of people to a place with no food and little shelter?”

“Right… So make food and shelter?” Tom questioned with a shrug. Surely that couldn’t be that hard, they had literal dragons, and they could fly themselves. How hard could it be?

“We are doing that. You need the keeps before you can re-found a city. A city needs food in large amounts, and that means large keeps well situated to provide food reliably.”

“Right… Gotcha,” Tom replied. He wasn’t entirely convinced, but who was he to judge.

“We lost a lot of records to that attack, though it is fervently believed the enemy failed to procure anything of import. Most were evacuated or destroyed.”

“Except now they might have found something.”

“Indeed, that is our fear,” the investigator replied with a strained expression, before looking back down at the drawing.

“Based on our dear veteran’s reaction here, I believe this might be the vessel that led the charge on Cartahega. Even if he won't tell.”

“It was,” Baron responded in a very plain voice, not shifting his gaze.

“No such ship had been seen in centuries before if not millennia, so we assume they found it somewhere and miraculously managed to restore it to working order.”

“Just like that… they just fixed up a centuries-old airship, with guns, what look like bombs, rockets, possibly guided for all I know, and a fighter deck in the rear? No fucking way.”

“Either that, or it was found in working order. There is no telling. I can tell you that some of the vaults beneath the capital could probably house a vessel of this size.”

“I’m guessing you don’t just happen to have one though?”

“No, we do not. If we do, that information has been kept even from me. Which I find rather unlikely.”

“I know we lost such a vessel under the rule of a mad queen centuries before the loss of Cartahega. That whole situation resulted in the execution of the Lord Inquisitor.”

“I’m guessing that’s the one in charge?”

“It was. Now we are ‘led’ by a council consisting of all the fully-fledged inquisitors. It is rare for them to convene though, and they rarely achieve much.”

“Well, that sounds depressingly familiar. So the rules have been broken before?”

“They have indeed. We are technically beholden to the crown and the church. I believe that particular queen managed to get the church under her thumb, so to speak. Combined with a… sympathetic lord inquisitor, that led to our order being forced into giving her what she wanted.”

“So how did that go?” Tom questioned, hoping for grand tales of progress.

“She attacked a city that had attempted to rebel against her tyrannical rule. It led to a full-scale civil war. The vessel was destroyed in the skies above the capital when the weak-minded head of the church finally did the decent thing and died in bed. His successor was not of the same opinion regarding the queen’s use of holy technology, leading to the weapons meant to defend the city being turned on the ship.”

“Hang on, your church is armed? With something that can bring down a ship like this? ... Oh, the defenses Nunuk talked about,” Tom went, realizing the subject matter.

“I don’t know what you know about those defences,” the investigator responded, narrow-eyed. “They are relics of an ancient time; the church claims them to be conduits coming straight from the gods. I have never seen one fire, but most cities used to have such weapons, relics of days past. Today only the capital and Bartelion still possess theirs. Our last two undefeated cities.”

“Well shit… I’m guessing you all know what they are?”

“We are well aware. The weapons are maintained by the inquisition and the church, though constructing new ones is quite beyond us at this time.”

“Until you open those vaults again.”

“That is the whole idea of this operation after all.”

“Right, gotcha. Jeez, that’s a lot to take in in one go.”

“Indeed, I believe you understand this doesn’t leave this little meeting?”

“Yeah I get you, Fuckin hell this is a lot of secrets. I still don’t get how you keep something like that a secret for this long.”

“You don’t, you make sure that the people who find out, either go missing, turn crazy, publicly denounced by the church, or just learn to shut up. The things that make it into public knowledge are to be repressed until it slides into legend. Books going missing, reports classified.

“You know when trying to make people trust you… saying things like that like it’s perfectly normal doesn't help.”

“Mind your tongue. I do not wish harm to come to the people here, and if everyone cooperates none will come.”

‘There it is again’ Tom cursed to himself, why did he say that? “Anyway, the size of this thing,” he replied, looking back down to the drawing. ”It says frigate, right? I would say somewhere around fifteen hundred tonnes.”

“More like a thousand. It’s lightly built with good range, according to the manual. Apparently it could stay airborne for over a week without refueling.”

“Is that good?”

“I have no idea. As you probably guessed, we cannot just open one of our vaults to have a look. We must protect the contents; breaking the seal is highly detrimental to that."

“Right… I guess that’s the price you pay for 2000 years of storage life."

“Indeed. Now what I want to know, and what I’m sure our uncooperative friend would also like to know: How do you kill something like that, should we ever face another?”

“Without the god-powered lasers.”

“I have no idea what a lasor is.”

“The weapons in the capital.”

“Right, yes, without those.” Paulin replied clearly not impressed with him. He could play that game too, and he had over 35 tons of murder lizard on his side it seemed.

“I’m not sure I wanna tell you.”

“I have just shared with you some of the most intimate secrets I have to offer. Things that would most likely have me executed had I told any regular citizen.”

“To gain his trust I presume,” Baron added in his deep monotone.

“Think whatever you want, Dragon. We need to be ready. If the enemy has found another vessel like this, then we are facing the largest threat in recorded history. We are weaker than ever, and the enemy may be stronger than ever before. I beg of you, help us win.”

“You do your job, I’ll do mine. Or try to at least. There is no magic way to defeat a vessel like that… well there might be… You get what I mean, I’m not your guy for that. It’s a matter of weapons and firepower, tech which you are hoarding, as am I. I can’t help you even if I wanted to if the result is the inquisition coming after us here. And even with assurances that we will be left alone, it will still take a lot of time to get ready for it. That's what we have been working on after all.”

The investigator stared at him for a few seconds, a slight twitch in her left eye, before her shoulders sagged for a second as she regained her posture. “No, in that sense you are correct. May the gods bless us all. We are going to need it.”