Sweet Water Harbor III

(Recommended Song: FreQuency – V)

"We are clear, ready for the party to start" Jorge reported as Selene held her breath for a moment and looked at Hrist, nodding. All the maiden had to do was give the order for her empress. The raven-haired woman looked at her sisters as they nodded to her in support. Snipers took beads on heads as tanks prepared to go full throttle towards the gate, with six of them targeting the giant bolts and pivot points to smash through. Artillery was lined up and tracking, with fighters about to dive in. The fleet above as well as the water pulled in a little closer for support. Soldiers piled into APCs as the doors closed up and got ready for a dash through the soon to be blown up front entrance. There were even paratroopers ready to drop in.

Hrist looked at Selene gave her a reassuring smile. "Go."

The first few rounds thundered off as the shells slammed into the ships from the Frigates, the tanks rolling into full speed and knocking out the gate almost instantly. Snipers performed a synchronized shot across all towers, killing all pirates ready to set off alarms at the same time. The tanks rolled through the shambles of the entrance and fired coaxial machineguns and pin point lasers as the APCs behind them rolled in and dropped their bay doors, with automatons jumping out and kicking down doors, aiming their rifles in a complete sweep as ECM troops came up behind and checked for any pirates hiding out amongst the people.

They were absurdly efficient, moving from floor to floor, building portable checkpoints for civilians to be herded towards as not one single fire was started from the siege.

Completely different from what you would see from a pirate movie. Usually some of the buildings were burning down.

The Valkyrja were very surprised at just how frighteningly effective the automatons were, moving from building to building and cleaning them out. The whole siege couldn't have lasted more than ten minutes tops, if that. "Your automatons are… very… proficient…" Skuld commented as she tried to find the words while watching from afar. The only time they had seen them fight was when they were breaching the Artinian fort before, which made them feel like a fifth wheel. A drone fighter flew over the city and performed a clean strafe run, wiping out a line of pirates trying to make a mad dash to a dingy, the main ships already sunk.

Selene brought up a small display showing what some of the military teams were doing inside, with one soldier kicking a pirate through a wall and flying out the other side. The pirates were scared shitless of the mechanical soldiers taking them out, showing no mercy and only allowing the ones that immediately surrendered without a fight to live, handcuffs placed on them as they were dragged to one building now secured as a temporary jail. One scene was of a pirate attempting to ambush a soldier, but it quickly rifle butted his face after dodging and double tapped after. Why it allowed the pirate to attack so close without shooting through the wall he was hiding behind they had no idea, probably because it considered him easily dispatchable.

"Reports are coming in, almost no loss of civilian life. Very few if any were trampled or killed by pirates in attempt to get human shields. We did good" the empress told them with satisfaction in her voice. Hrist let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, with Bryn slapping her on the shoulder and chuckling.

"The plan worked" Skuld said as they watched the city, the sounds of gunfire dying out to almost nothing. They got up and finished the hot chocolate, folding the blankets and got ready to head into the city themselves. Once packed, they flew in and landed, with the mayor waiting with two Mediums flanking him. Hrist stepped out along with her sisters as Selene came up behind them along with her guard. The people behind the mayor were in awe. They had heard a few rumors there was a goddess empress taking over Artinian and free cities, bringing them under her control and providing brand new lives in the utopias she built. While most of those stories were far fetched and exaggerated, some of it had to be true for them.

"I believe you are in charge here?" Selene asked as she stood in front of the little man. He barely reached up to her chest in height as he rubbed his hands together in worry.

"He… uh… that man… I am the mayor, yes… but…" he started to say as he couldn't find the words, his voice a little nasally. The few people that were wounded were quickly healed by auto docs and nurses looking out for them. He looked over his shoulder at a man pushed onto his knees with a slew of tattoos on his arms and grimacing.

"Oh, I see, he was in charge over you before" she replied as she nodded in understanding. The empress walked over to the man as he swore and yelled at the automatons holding him down and pulled her sidearm, aimed, and fired. She had just executed the pirate lord of the city in front of everyone. A few people screamed at the gunfire in shock. The dev walked back over to the mayor and holstered the weapon.

"Not anymore he isn't. This is now my city. I am Empress Selene of the Clockwork Empire. You are all now my subjects, taken away from being used like animals by pirates and treated like trash by Artinia. For the privateers that surrendered, I offer a chance to change your employment quickly or face the consequences. To others, if you had family held captive on those ships, they are being returned shortly without harm." Security teams were quick behind the military, setting up auto turrets and having ornithopters swoop in to track the streets. Dredging submarines were already working alongside the Corvettes to pull the wreckage of sunken ships out of the harbor to a waiting recycler platform.

"Ub… bu… of course… uh, your majesty, yes of course. Um… we uh… we… welcome your rule?" the mayor asked as he tilted his head up at her while hunching over. He stopped immediately as he realized she might be just like King Teiyan and averted his gaze from her gold polished armor.

"Ma'am, Orlo believes there is a dungeon in the city for prisoners by the looks of his scans. There may be some miscreants even the pirates didn't like around" Jorge reported over coms.

"How many?" she asked.

"Roughly about a dozen, not a large amount." She thought for a second as the mayor stumbled through his happy speech that she was taking over and that her reign be as long as possible, trying to kiss up any way he could.

"See to your citizens and make sure they are taken back to their homes. I'll have the bodies removed from the streets. There will be changes happening here, for the better I can assure you. If any of the buildings are too damaged, we can provide temporary living accommodations until repairs are complete." The mayor nodded in acknowledgement, his head rapidly moving up and down.

"Yes, yes of course, hehehuahua… yes…" he made a weird noise as if he was trying to speak a few words mixed together and laugh at the same time, his hands rubbing together. The mayor ran towards his people and waved his hands around, explaining to the civilians they could go back to their homes, no one was going to harm them and that they were now citizens of the Clockwork Empire. Whispering could be heard as people talked to each other wondering if it was really true, that the stories had finally become real. Apparently, Selene was a bit of a legend spoken under breath by the people. However, she was until now just considered that, a legend.

"That little man kind of gives me the creeps…" Selene whispered to Hrist who nodded in agreement. He was odd, quite odd. They had no idea why he was the mayor of the city. It almost felt as if he was undressing her with his eyes, making her shiver in disgust. "I'm heading to the dungeon, give me the coordinates and meet me there" she said via coms to Jorge.

"Copy that, sending coordinates now" he replied as a marker showed up on her Hud. It was incredible that she didn't need any electronics or Augmented Reality visors to see the marker, it just showed up when required in her eyes. They started walking away from the spot and headed through the city to the water line as the city folk stared at her in awe.

"Why are you seeing prisoners?" Hrist asked as they continued on.

"Going to see if any of them are good upstanding folk who just had a run in with the pirates and didn't concede to their leadership."

"But aren't they criminals?" The maiden countered.

"Politics sometimes play more of a role than you think they do Hrist; if they don't like someone, regardless of what they did or didn't do, they might have been dropped in a cell to die. It happens sadly." The Valkyrja were surprised mortals would do that to each other without proper cause, only to further their own agenda.

I'm going to have to build a prison eventually, there's just no way around it. Some people can be redeemed, while others the death penalty is the only way. I'm not about to make it seem like tax money is going to take care of serial killers, but it could go to help rehabilitate minor thieves just trying to survive in a cruel world. Oy… I just remembered this place probably has a red-light district… that's going to need some monitoring and laws to get under control… probably medical… it's oldest job in history after all…

They finally reached the entrance to the dungeon and opened the double doors. The winding stairs twisted downwards as they went underground a good five floors before they reached the iron wrought gate that Jorge ripped off the hinges. As Selene walked up and down the cells to observe the people there, two stuck out, a few of the others might be just political prisoners. One of the others seemed to be looking worse for wear, needing medical attention. One was a woman leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest, her ragged hairstyle and fiery red hair and dirt on her face seeming to run through it told her that one wasn't going to be nice. Her clothes seemed like she knew how to fight, with what looked like a small spot for a cutlass now removed. Her gut was telling her trouble was behind that cell door.

The second one was a man, or she thought was a man, laying down on his metal bed that was chained to the wall, his body rolled to face the wall, a ragged blanket wrapped around himself. He didn't even move given the sounds of explosions outside, just continued as if it was just another night. His haircut seemed familiar to her, as if she had seen it before…

Selene grabbed the cell gate and slowly pulled with one hand, her own strength already bending the metal and prying it open. She didn't need her troops or Hrist to open anything for her with the armor as well as her psionics, no consumables needed. As she slowly entered and looked down at the man, he spoke.

"If you're going to end me, do it quickly, I'm tired." That voice was the same voice as the General who sold her Asterion.

"General?" she asked softly as she peered at him curiously. He rolled a little and looked up at her. His mustache was unmistakable, if quite overgrown with a rough beard now.

"You… I sold you… Asterion…" he almost whispered out. "Wha... what… w-what are you doing here?" he asked as he slowly sat up with her backing up a little to give him room.

"I'm Empress Selene of the Clockwork Empire. I've taken over Sweet Water Harbor as of tonight. There isn't a single pirate left alive in this city."

"I find that hard to believe!" they both heard from the woman in the other cell as she laughed and stopped leaning against the wall, proceeding to lie down on her metal bed and look up at the ceiling. Selene glanced at the wall that sealed the cell off from her, then back at the General.

"Empress? You're an empress?" he asked as he furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes in confusion.

"Yeah. Long story. I… I kept my promise. Aster isn't exactly a horse anymore though…" she replied as she scratched her chin and looked away from him. The General looked over her shoulder at Hrist and the metal man standing behind her, massive in size. Jorge could easily break through every wall in the dungeon without a single issue.

"Is… Aster here?" he asked quietly.

"Um, Aster is a Pegasus now, and no, he's back at the castle. He's the mount of my General, Hrist who is standing right behind me." She motioned towards the Valkyrja as she stepped forward in her armor.

"Aster… a Pegasus?"

"He is well taken care of, a noble steed and one of the fastest Pegasus I have had the honor to fly with" Hrist told him as she looked down at his sitting and feeble form.

"But… how?"

"Hrist is a Valkyrja, a bringer of the slain. She provided Aster the gift of becoming a Pegasus. Now, he has wings and flies faster than most creatures in the skies. I doubt a gryphon could come close to him" the empress told him. He half chuckled and stopped, then looked between both women and continued in full laughter.

"He really? He's a Pegasus now? Oh, my friend, you have risen to the task haven't you…" he gazed at Selene and smiled. "It is good to know he is happy with his new owner, an empress no less."

"Well, he is living a good life, which is more than I can see from you right now. What the hell happened? I thought you paid to get on a ship and leave the continent? You were supposed to be on some other land retired. By the way… what is your name? I feel like calling you General is a little odd given there are two in this cell right now." He chuckled a little from that.

"My full name is Antoine Falksworthy, I forgot you never asked me that before when we first met. As for what happened… they took the gold bars and knocked me out, captured me and sold me to the pirates here. Apparently, I had cost quite a few of them friends on land when they tried to smuggle, so they made me fight in arenas for money. I've survived up until now, but I was about to give up. A miracle you showed up… unless… you are here to end my suffering?" he asked.

"What? Oh, hell no, of course not! I wouldn't do that. You're one of the few people I've seen with honor and a conscience. Definitely better than Artinia by a long shot." He scratched at his dirty cheek and smiled at that compliment.

"Thank you, but it's not as if the compliment will change what Artinia is." Selene looked over her shoulder for a moment at Hrist and smirked.

"I have something to tell you. We're at war with Artinia right now. We've already taken Eld Horn, Glass Dale and Gold Pine, with just tonight Sweet Water Harbor." Antoine gawked at her for a moment as he glanced at Hrist as if she was talking nonsense.

"You… you're at war with Artinia? Then… you… y-you've taken some of the towns already? But… King Teiyan… he'll send armies to defeat you… he'll send… he'll send those… those creatures… by the gods the princess might be in danger…" he spoke as the words stumbled out of his mouth in a haphazard fashion.

"Slow down, you mean the Halivast fort and the five thousand men sent to attack Gold Pine? That's two armies already wiped out to the man. Ghost's Ashes are also no longer among the living, Artinia's assassin's I believe." Antoine almost jumped back from shock. He looked up at Jorge who was still outside the cell.

"You… I can't believe it… but how? How… your army… is it comprised of… those?" he asked as he pointed at the leader of Bronze Team. She nodded.

"I'm the Clockwork Empress after all. My army is full of automatons… er… metal soldiers." It was the only way to explain the situation to him in a way he'd understand. He nodded slowly as if understanding what she was telling him. "What's this about a princess?" she asked, trying to dig for information. He sighed a gravelly sigh as he then cleared his throat.

"Princess Nia Erelius, one of two sisters to King Teiyan Erelius II. I… I rescued her from the imperial city once Teiyan… he…" Antoine almost couldn't speak as he balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the bed, making Hrist step forward a second as if to protect her. The empress put her hand up to stop her as he looked to be almost about to cry.

"That mad man bred his older sister all to use her in a ritual, just as his father had once done to a mistress. Once the ritual was complete, he killed her. The problem was the summoning… was not what he wanted… he got the sister, Xaxara, summoned instead…" Selene held her breath as she was dumbfounded by what he was telling her. The king of Artinia was pure evil to do that to his older sister.

"This ritual, it didn't go as planned?" she asked quietly. He nodded as he rubbed his beard and tried to keep the tears from flowing.

"She didn't deserve that… when she gave birth to a daughter, he was outraged as the ritual was already halfway complete. It required a sacrifice, no matter what it was, even if it was his own body. He took out his anger on his sister with an axe, then… he sacrificed the newborn to summon Xaxara."

"Who is Xaxara? And she has a brother?" she asked.

"A demonic goddess that has had her following wane in the past few decades. He much rather would have had her brother who is much more loyal and more… violent… in hopes of using him to quell any uprisings as his enforcer. Xaxara is… deviant, manipulative and has a silver tongue. While her brother is straightforward a warrior and berserker that was worshipped by those who were driven by bloodlust and the fight, she was the embodiment of lust, sorcery and corruption."

So not just a demon, but an evil goddess… oh shit, we might actually have a fight on our hands…

"This goddess, Xaxara, she's helping the fucked-up ruler of Artinia?"

"Against her will, yes. I do not have much information beyond she was chained up with imbued manacles to keep her locked away. That was all I needed to know, especially finding out… Princess Arilane was… was… damn him… damn him to the darkest pits of hell…" he replied.

Or not… very little following plus chained as a caged animal, still probably helping through knowledge or weird magic… definitely need to take this son of a bitch down… Xaxara might still be a threat, but a caged threat. I can deal with that.

"You said there was another princess though? Two in total?" She handed him a handkerchief which he rubbed his eyes with as the tears flowed. He must have cared about the wellbeing of that princess.

"Yes, um… she… when I found out about the ritual, I wasn't about to let him do anything to his younger sister, Lady Nia. I stole her from the palace and secreted her away in Silvinholm with some of my most loyal men guarding her. Last I heard, they had bought an estate to hide her in with some of the stolen treasury while I acted as a decoy. It might have worked, I do not know." His lips trembled as his eyes were red from crying in front of her. A small sniffle escaped as he rubbed the back of the cloth over his nose.

"So, there is hidden royalty? Is she like her brother or…?" Selene asked as she patted him on the shoulder.

"Of course not! They were both… rays of sunshine to all who laid eyes on them. I have no idea how such a vile pedigree could create such incredible women. In all my life, I have seen many a man be evil beyond contempt, barely to the point of sprouting horns from their forehead and snarling like beasts, the same being the line of Erelius. And yet, those two girls… their mother… it must not have traveled down the line of the ladies of the royal line." Selene committed this to memory as much as she could, slowly standing up.

"Are you planning to take Silvinholm?" he asked up at her as she glanced at Hrist.

"Yes, eventually. I'm trying to wrap the empire first beyond the Azaltos Mountains and down South. It might take awhile as each time we take a town or city we make sure the citizens are safe and secure, ready to be a part of my empire." He nodded in understanding.

"I can tell just by looking at you that you have what it takes that the Erelius line could never hope to be. Those… explosions… that was done by these metal men? Will that be done to Silvinholm?" he asked.

"Possibly. We have to take out the Artinian army stationed there. Any information you can provide? Any knowledge you'd be willing to share?" she asked him. He grabbed her hands and held them, with Hrist instinctively twitching and about to strike.

"Please, try and be diplomatic with them. Silvinholm is not what you expect of an Artinian city. The nobles, at least not all of them, they aren't completely connected to King Teiyan. They want a productive city to make more money, which is to say they don't always want slave labor. Well paid workers are hard workers in their eyes, at least most of them. It keeps the economy moving if they have money to spend, making the city productive. Some of them… I care not what you do those wretches, but please at least talk with them, they may join you without a single fight. Also, there is no army there."

"Ok, I'll try talking with them, but what do you mean no army? No guards or anything?"

"I mean to say they are mercenaries hired by the nobles to keep the peace. Crime is bad for business, so they hire their own city guards to control their sections. I am unsure how effective they are at their jobs though… there might be some criminal actions by the mercenaries themselves…" Falksworthy licked his lips as she motioned for Ethan to open a thermos and pour him a cup of clean water. He walked into the cell and handed it to him, who drank it quickly.

"Please… I know I have no right to ask of this, but would you do an old man a favor and check on the princess? I beseech you to look out for her, as I barely could do." Selene opened her mouth to say something, but nothing escaped, just a soft sigh.

"I'll… I've never seen her before, who would I be looking for? And aren't your soldiers looking out for her? She's… probably fine, I'm sure of it."

"Teiyan would not stop if he doesn't get what he wants. If even one hint appears for him to find, he will have his men investigate… her life could be in danger. Please, if you are heading to Silvinholm, he'll send some of his forces to look into rumors and intelligence" he begged her. She looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes. He was right, if they did anything, that put more pressure on the security force for the princess.

"Fine, how old is she, what does she look like. We'll check up on her, do a little reconnaissance, I can't guarantee we'll do anything, but we'll see about what's happening." He clenched his fist in accomplishment.

"Thank you, your majesty, I am so very grateful. She is no more than fifteen, with long blonde hair. She… tends to keep it in two long ponytails on the sides with blue bows, it's her favorite color. She tends to… she is quite meek given the state of the royal family. The estate… I…" he stopped as he tried to figure out what it looked like. "I'm sorry, I… I only know she is being protected in an estate they bought."

"Well, that's not a huge amount to go off of. The city is a big place and she's probably cooped up in the house… is there a symbol your men use, like a tattoo or something we can look for?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her ample chest. He pulled up the worn sleeve of his dirty shirt and showed her a tattoo on his wrist of a helmet with a sword on the back, two arrows and a shield half covering the helmet.

Yup, tattoo. So if some assassins come from Artinia looking for her, all they gotta do is look for the dudes with that on their arms. USE RINGS! AMULETS! SOMETHING YOU CAN TAKE OFF!

"If you see this, they are from the 12th Legion, my best soldiers. No one could best them in combat."

Antoine, you haven't seen what my automatons can do, let alone myself or the Valkyrja…

"Alright, we'll try and keep a lookout for them and track their movements. I cannot guarantee anything will come of it, but we'll do our best, alright?" he smiled up at her as his eyes sparkled.

"Bless you your majesty, bless you for humoring an old General and for taking care of his friend. I cannot thank you enough." The empress furrowed her brow with a small smirk crawling on her mouth.

"You were a General, so you must have experience in many battles like you had told me, right? The stories of your accomplishments in the tavern?" she asked. He looked a little confused.

"Yes, I mean, those are old war stories. Do you want to hear them again?"

"No, I mean, you have experience, real experience." He leaned back on the metal bed, trying to figure out what she was getting at.

"I'm no longer meant to be a General your majesty, there is no point in asking me if that is what you are thinking. I'm… I'm tired of fighting now, tired of seeing armies rush towards each other with weapons ready…" he told her as he sounded exhausted.

"I wasn't thinking of you being my General, I have two already, very fine Generals behind me, another just above us on the docks. I was going to ask if you could share your experiences as an instructor, in hopes that those students would turn away from following down that corrupt path. One of my Valkyrja is the head mistress of an Academy, we're looking for new instructors, teachers and professors of all arts, martial or otherwise. You would be a great boon to the next generation, I'll pay handsomely." He gawked as she told him this, looked at Hrist and blinked.

"You… you want me to… I… I don't know how much it would be worth, my experience, my training… there are many who could prove better at instilling common sense and teaching than me…"

"If there is one thing I've noticed, common sense isn't so common. How about it? Get you out of this cell and into a classroom with students willing to learn what not to do, how to act and stand tall, to right the wrongs they see? It's a good life, you'll be well taken care of, colleagues to talk to that are like minded, and you won't be considered a traitor in my empire" she asked. Silence consumed the cell for a minute as he thought and pulled on his mustache a little. A light chuckle escaped his lips as he gazed into her blue eyes.

"You have yourself a deal, your majesty." He slowly got off the bed and kneeled in front of her.

"You trust him?" Hrist asked.

"Yes, I got Asterion from him after all." She patted him gently on the shoulder to rise. He stood up and saluted her with his hand on his chest like lightning, showing his conviction and how he thought of her already. Ethan escorted him out of the cell with a clean blanket around his shoulders. The maiden watched as he walked out of the cell and slowly down the dungeon hallway. That man was the reason Aster was the way he was, why he was such an incredible steed.

"Perhaps it would be wise to let him see his old friend once more?" Hrist asked.

"Yeah, probably a good idea. Seeing him cry for a different reason would be alright." Selene walked out of the cell and stood in front of the one with the red-haired woman. The supposed criminal looked up at her from her bed and rolled over. The dev wrapped her fingers around the cell door and slowly pulled, the lock groaning and breaking open finally, startling the woman as she stared in awe.

"D… don't believe for even a second this means I'm a part of your empire! I'll never submit!" she snapped. Selene sighed and shook her head. As the woman had spoken, she was missing a few of her side teeth. In a world of magic that could heal, that seemed a little odd. There were probably no magicians or wizards that were in the city at all.

"Jorge, open the other cell doors and get an EW trooper in here to check on their loyalties. Any really nasty-" The woman in front of her rushed forward with a concealed shiv to attempt to stab at her. Before Hrist could even respond, Selene's hand shot out and snapped her wrist, grabbed her neck and twisted. It seemed so fluid as the woman just dangled there in her grip before being dropped on the ground.

"As I was saying, see to it that there aren't any other psychos in here, then get the ones that aren't back topside. I wanna know if there are any political prisoners here that we can get some intelligence off of. Orlo can help with that." Jorge acknowledged as she stepped out of the cell and went back upstairs away from the grungy dungeon.

"You knew she was going to attack you" Hrist stated as she followed behind her.

"Yup. I could pretty much tell she was put in there for a reason. Her clothes looked to have plenty of hidden pockets, so I assumed assassin or serial killer, maybe kleptomaniac. That's probably why she was there in the first place, probably killed someone that the pirates liked." They both continued up as Brynhildr stood on a dock and surveyed the harbor. There were multiple berths everywhere for large ships, but almost none of them could fit more than a Corvette from Selene's fleet. "This place is going to need a lot of work…" she sighed out as her eyes saw just how ramshackle the houses were. One strong storm and a good portion would collapse, some sitting on top of each other with stilts. There were ladders everywhere, with only a few roads. "Place should be ripped down and built back up, this is just… sheesh…"