Dignity

"Navy's also planning some new changes," Commander Ford reported. "We are looking at replacing our current hulls with all new constructs, which will improve our capabilities on the sea."

"Not only that, the amount of maintenance, repairs, and a whole of other issues will drastically be reduced," Ford said. "As of now, the main naval fleet is barely mission capable with all its leaks and problems."

"The main issues being our current fleet of wooden ships are not strong enough to withstand the stress of our weapons and engines," Ford explained. "The keel of the ships we got are not built to withstand the firing of the cannons and even speed our engines are putting them on. They are not like our Age of Sail ships, which was built to withstand cannonade fire, these ships only have ballistas and catapults, which means the keel is structurally a lot weaker and they are breaking apart."

"So what we got now is just pretty much useless hulls sitting in the docks," Ford said. "Oh, we run drills and training exercises on board the UNS Matador and UNS Floatin' Wreck but other than that, they are grounded for now."

"So how will we deal with the Goblin Pirates?" Someone asked.

"We are using the PT boats to run interference up and down the straits," Ford replied. "The boats only have enough range to cover the Straits, and that's it."

"For now they are enough to handle whatever raiders roaming the straits," Ford said. "We just need to hold till winter comes and the Straits will be closed."

"In the meantime, we will try to modernize our fleet of large surface ships," Ford sat down after he finished.

"Alright," Blake nodded. "Let's end it for today. Next meeting in a week's time. Dismiss."

As the room slowly emptied out, Chief Engineer Matt stopped by Blake and said, "Sir, I think you need to make a trip down to Ordnance for a look."

"Something interesting?" Blake raised an eyebrow at Matt's words.

"Yes, Sir," Matt nodded. "I guess so... I can't make a decision on it..."

"Okay, I will be there after lunch," Blake promised.

Matt gave a salute and exited the conference room, leaving Intelligence Officer Lt Tavor behind with Blake. Lt Tavor closed the door behind Matt and placed a tablet on the table before Blake and stood on the side at parade rest.

Blake picked up the tablet and thumbed the security lock and he skimped through the contents. "So the opposing faction against Lady Titanna are headed towards the next Imperial city by road..."

"Yes, Sir," Lt Tavor replied. "They will be out of our FB - 1s stationed at Orwell's Point bombing range in roughly six hours."

"Hmmm..." Blake tapped his fingers on the tabletop as he pondered on whether to kill off the Imperial Loyalists.

"Lady Titanna's two brothers are also in the convoy," Lt Tavor said. "She let them go in the end and they joined up with the opposing faction."

"Sir, we have a very small window here," Lt Tavor said. "The bombers will take about five hours to get into position."

Blake frowned as he looked at the top secret report displayed on the tablet. "No... Let them go."

"Sir?" Lt Tavor was surprised. "They will bring trouble to us in the future."

"I know," Blake sighed and put down the tablet before turning to look at Tavor. "But they also have several hundred civilians traveling with them. And our bombs are not exactly very precise."

"I understand, Sir," said Lt Tavor. "Then, I will propose we move another Battalion to reinforce Orwell's Point. It also about the time the Empire will be responding to the defeat of their troops by our hands."

Blake nodded, "Who do you recommend will make a good governor for Orwell's Point? I can't keep having Joseph to govern the city and ignore his duties as CO of 2nd Battalion."

"Hmmm..." Lt Tavor frowned as he recalled the intel of the city. "There aren't many good choices for the post of governor. Almost everyone in Orwell's Point is biased to either the pro slaves or ex slaves."

"Not to mention, the leaders we are trying to cultivate will happily sell you off in a heartbeat if they can get more benefits," Lt Tavor shook his head. "But... maybe..."

"Maybe?" Blake waited for Tavor to continue.

"We can try putting Lady Titanna in place as governor," Lt Tavor suggested. "First, she is well known by the locals. Secondly, she's quite capable in the management of a city. Third, she's more or less on our side. And lastly, she is quite fair and won't play favorites to the factions."

"And of course, giving her a high ranking position will quiet down any dissent from her people," Lt Tavor said. "Makes it less chance of her people rebelling."

Blake nodded, "Good idea. I will talk to her regarding this and see what is her reaction."

-----

United Nations, City of Haven

Titanna felt like she was transported to another world, as she craned her head left and right constantly, trying to catch a view of her surroundings. Towers taller and larger than the Citadel in Norshelm and even the Magicians Towers in the Capital.

Each square faced tower was covered with dark glass, while the streets were filled with strange carriages that rumbled loudly or move so quietly that it could only be made and powered by magic. Clothes and dress wore by the citizens of the city were so colorful and well made, that Titanna looked upon them with envy.

And best of all, there wasn't any sewage smell from a city of this size! Normally the larger the town or city, the smellier it is! Magic was used to remove the smell from the streets but still, there will still be a stench remaining behind, but the smells of this city were in fact the other way around! Instead, smells of mouthwatering food and flowers filled the streets.

Mills sat next to the curious Titanna who was like a cat at this time, as she tried to take in everything at the same time. He kept the speed of the Jeep low, to allow her more time to take in the sights.

He had taken her to have breakfast at the hotel which was specially built for overseas guests coming for the Wedding. After the breakfast of bread, pancakes, eggs, ham, bacon, hashbrowns, and sausages which she had tried every single item on the buffet table before she's satisfied, Mills had taken her to meet his old friend, Bartley.

He purposely drove the scenic route, letting her see the residential areas and farms on the way to Bartley's place and now, he took her to visit the city's commercial and business districts. "How is it?"

"It's amazing!" Titanna replied in wondered. "How? How did you all build all these? Magic?"

"Magic?" Mills laughed at Titanna's question. "Well, I guess it can be considered some kind of magic."

"See!" Titanna said in a smug tone. "I knew you all had very powerful magic! Yet you all keep saying you don't know magic! If not how can you explain how a city of such magnitude be built!"

"Haahahaha," Mills kept laughing and shook his head. "Well, it's true we do not know any magic!"

"Still not telling me the truth!" Titanna hissed. "Whatever!"

"Hahaha, don't be angry," Mills coaxed Titanna. "You will understand it in time."

Titanna rolled her eyes at Mills and turned back to view the magical scenery and ignored Mills.

"So are you hungry?" Mills finally asked as he was unable to coax Titanna.

Titanna rubbed her tummy and nodded. "YES! You better bring me to eat something nice! Or I don't talk to you!"

"Haha, sure!" Mills grinned and drove the Jeep towards the one place he was very familiar with and not long, he turned the Jeep into the parking lot of the Burger Shack.

Titanna nodded in appreciation at the glass walls covering the cheerful decored restaurant, "Not bad, at least this place looks like it has some class!"

Mills kept his expression neutral as he nodded in a wise way, "Of course! How could I bring you to a low class place for food!"

The glass doors automatically slid open on their approach to the entrance, and Mills grinned while making gentleman's gesture. "After you!"

Titanna smiled and waltzed in with Mills behind her. She looked around the restaurant and felt something was wrong. There were colorful booths, square tables, and long tables with seats and the entire restaurant were almost filled with people.

"What is this place?" Titanna asked Mills. "I thought you were bringing me to some fancy restaurant?"

"Oh, this is better than any fancy restaurant!" Mills reassured Titanna. "You can't find anything like this in the entire world!"

"Come," Mills pulled Titanna to a small square table with two seats and quickly sat her down. "Wait here! I shall order some burgers for you! Trust me, you will love it!"

"Ah?" Before Titanna could say another word, Mills had already left her alone at the table and headed to a queue that was formed in front of a counter with several large signboards displaying colorful images of some kind of food.

She took her time to observe the people in the restaurant and to her surprise, she saw Orcs, Goblins and even some Islanders having their meals here! What kind of place is this?

Not long, Mills carried a tray stacked with wrapped balls and two large cups. He triumphantly placed the tray down on the table and started to introduce the strange wrapped balls. "Muffalo, wyvern, fish!"

She watched Mills unwrap the balls and a kind of bun or pastry was revealed, with a patty of sorts. She followed his actions and took a small bite and was surprised at how tasty the 'bur girl' was.

"Good right?" Mills grinned and push a plate of cheese fries before her. "You should try this too!"

Titanna took a mouthful of the fries covered with oozing cheese and bacon bits and felt it was very tasty too. "What is this made of?"

Mills pointed to the long golden fries and said, "Potatoes and cheese."

"Po ta to?" Titanna was confused by the word. She had never heard of such food before.

"Oh, you won't be able to find this in this world," Mills said. "We brought in from a place that's very far away from this world."

"I se-" She barely finished her sentence when a shadow fell over the restaurant and she felt the ground shake slightly.

Following everyone's look, she turned and looked out of the glass walls and saw two massive dragons folding their wings and lumbering their way over like oversized wyvern birds. "Dra- Dragons?!"

"Wait!" Titanna frowned as she stared at the reddish scales of the red Dragon behind the other blue red scaled Dragon. "That dragon... looks very familiar..."

"Oh," Mills scratched his head sheepishly. "You... caught her once..."

"Caught her once?" Titanna blinked her eyes in confusion before realization struck her. "OH!"

"It's that red dragon!" Titanna exclaimed in surprise. "Wait... what are they doing here?"

"Erm..." Mills gave a dry laugh, glad that she did not know that Mills was the one who rescued Rastraz and blew up her ship. "Them dragons love the food here..."

"What?" Titanna looked down at her half eaten burger and cheese fries. "They partake in food like these?"

"Yes," Mills nodded. "They love cheese fries... I mean, that was how we tamed the Rastraz..."

"Rastraz is the red dragon?" Titanna narrowed her eyes and gestured to the plate of cheese fries. "Are you telling me that you people tamed a red dragon with... this?"

"Ah huh," Mills muttered with his mouth full. "Yup!"

Titanna felt like her concept of the world crashing down on her. She could not believe that such a proud dragon was tamed with such a small thing this like! Where has the dignity of a dragon gone to?!