Princess Rescue Inc (25 page)

The
captain nodded. “Yes my Dominus,” he said as the Gunny closed the door behind
him.

Perry
and the other Terrans took a quick look around. Spartan, some sort of office.
White, soot stained plaster walls, wood overhead  forming both a ceiling
and floor for the room above, a stone spiral staircase off to their right and a
fireplace nearby. A desk and chair in the corner that had seen better days.
Stools and a map of the castle were in the center of the room. This must be
some sort of briefing room.

“Ah.
So you've got what? Two hundred forty regulars and about what? Another three
hundred rookies? Not to mention the cavalry you mentioned?”

The
captain nodded. He wasn't happy about admitting it to the gaijin but the King
had ordered it. “Yes my Dominus. And another cohort of men for the outer town
walls and gates. I hope to double those numbers by the end of this fifth day.”

“Ah,”
Perry gave Waters a wary look. The senior noncom nodded.

“Okay,
the men on the walls, they just guard the walls and gates?” Ryans asked.

The
captain shook his head. “Oh no my Dominus, we also have patrols in the town.”

“Ah.
But I saw others in livery doing that as well. In silver I think,” Perry said.
Apparently he'd been a bit more observant than Ryans, Ryans thought with
amusement as he glanced at the lieutenant.

“The
sheriff and his men,” the guard captain's lip curled. “They are good at
arresting cut-purses and other such thieves but they call us in when there is a
punga or occidere.” Ryans frowned. Punga, he checked, Punga meant fight or
brawl. Occidere... occidere meant murder.

“So
he thinks you're SWAT,” the Gunny said amused. The guard captain looked
confused again. “It didn't translate. Never mind. Later,” he said as he waved
it off.

“As
you say,” the guard captain nodded turning back to Perry. “The imperator is
coming soon, Or so I'm told. We received word that he would be coming next
fifth day or the following one.”

“General?”
Ryans asked translating imperator. “Is he coming with an army?”

The
captain sighed. “No my Dominus. He has however three cohorts of men. Footmen
mostly, one score of veteran centurions, with about three knights and their
entourage.”

“Ah,”
Ryans nodded. “Fast reaction force?” he asked glancing from Perry to the guard
captain.

The
captain blinked. “He means, they are a quickly raised force to fight raiders?”
Perry amended.

The
captain nodded. “Yes. But it will take many more to get the Duluth scum out,”
the captain's lip curled again and he spat. “They will be traveling light and
from a great distance so they may need to be outfitted and given time to rest
and recover.”

Perry
nodded. “Yeah, I can imagine. Our recon said they had about ten or fifteen
thousand.”

The
guard captain paled. “Surely not so much!” He sat heavily on a stool. “To bring
that many they would have had to strip their regnum bare!”

“Every
able bodied man and even women apparently,” Perry said shaking his head. “It
looks that way. We've got video you can see later,” Perry said waving. “Now
these regulars, I take it you've never had a larger garrison?”

The
guard captain picked up a horn with a strap on it and uncapped it. He took a
swig of something inside and then offered it to the gaijin. They each demurred
so he put it back down. “No my Dominus. We are laying in stock now. In truth it
has been that way since the last war twenty years ago,” he sighed. “The former
King...” He looked around. “The former rex, King disbanded most of the regular
Centurions after the last war due to lack of need.”

“Ah,”
Perry glanced at the others. The Gunny shrugged. “Well, that sucks. Okay, so
we've got to draft the people we need. I saw some others in the castle.”

“The
country knights, lords, and their guards and retainers,” the guard captain said
with a sniff. He apparently wasn't very impressed with them. “Each Dominus is
entitled to six men in the capital to act as guards and servants while they are
here or traveling between here and their demise.”

“Okay,
can they be counted on to help?”

The
captain nodded enthusiastically. “Of course! That is their purpose.”

“Okay,
and there are what? About forty of them?” Waters asked getting to the point.

“Yes,
about that. Some are poor country lords or lower knights. I was one such until
his majesty tapped me for this post,” he said, lips twisting in a smile. Ryans
realized the man was proud of it, and was extremely loyal to the royal house.
That might be why he was chosen, his loyalty enhanced by being chosen over
others.

“Okay,
so that's another two to three hundred there. Great.” Waters tried not to roll
his eyes. “Outnumbered twenty to one. This is going to be a pain.”

“Yeah
well, think of them as a core group. We've got Max and the others working on
force multipliers,” Ryans answered looking at the master sergeant.

“Force
multipliers?” the Gunny asked, eyebrow raised.

“Our
kind,” Ryans patted his sidearm. He'd talked to Max about it on the way over a
few times but only recently taken the man off the leash and let him have his
head to get the ball rolling.

The
noncoms blanched. “You are not seriously thinking of giving them
our
weapons?” the Gunny said slowly. They looked to Perry.

“No,
we're talking about making more. A lot more,” Perry said nodding to Ryans. “The
boss man has it worked out. Let’s focus on getting the ball rolling and let’s
handle logistics later.”

“Aye
sir,” the Gunny said, working his jaw. Then he looked thoughtful. Waters
glanced at him and they suddenly broke out into small smiles of approval.

“I
for one don't want to try going up against those creatures they ride with a bow
or a sword,” Ryans said shaking his head. The others looked to him. “Seriously,
even a Browning is going to have trouble denting the armor. It's... Think of a
charging rhino, then super size it and make the armor over the vitals about
twice as thick with layers of ceramic.”

“A
fifty cal...”

Ryans
pulled a photo from his back pocket, unfolded it and tossed it onto the table
top. They could see a giant animal there. Waters picked it up, looked at it,
blanched then passed it on to Perry. “Which is what a Browning shoots. Trust
me, it'll take a much heaver round to make something like that drop. Think of
hunting elephants. And we've got what? Four? Five? Not enough against the ten
or fifteen grand people and these critters. Not by a long shot. Which means
we...”

“I
get it sir. We need more weapons,” the Gunny said nodding firmly as he set the
photo down.

“Bows.”

“Bows
take too long. To do them right you have to shape a piece of wood into a stave,
in our case a long bow stave. Then age it just right, and then carve it down by
hand to the final shape. It took about a month or two to do a good bow. One
that will last a campaign I mean.”

“But
some people do have bows already right?”

Ryans
frowned. He'd noted the tech but hadn't really put his thoughts to words until
now. “Most do if the classic yeoman standards translated over here. We'd have
to check that. Hopefully so, and if it held true then they've trained
regularly. But...” he paused and grimaced. “But they will be recovering from a
long hard winter and busy planting so we're not going to get the best.”

“True,
but some is better than none.”

“True.
But remember, arrows are also hard to make and cost a lot. You have to form the
blanks, shave them down... forge the heads, feathers and bones for the rear...”
he shook his head. The guard captain was staring at him. “Trust me, with all
that work you become very careful about firing the damn things. You have to
make every shot count.”

Waters
held up his hands in surrender. “I get it I get it. But what about crossbows?”

“Similar
problem but we might be able to help there. We'd be back at the same problem
though; a bolt won’t penetrate that thick hide. Maybe at close quarters, but
not enough to hit a vital point. Usually they use a ballista.” Ryans shook his
head. “Usually due to the cost you held your fire until you were sure you could
hit a target in medieval times. I... well...”

“Where
did you get all that?” Perry asked, wrinkling his nose.

Ryans
grinned. “History channel thing on Robin Hood a while back.”

Perry
and the other Terrans snorted. “Oh.”

“Damn.
So we're back to guns,” Waters admitted, working his jaw. He knew it'd be a
miracle if they could get them done in time, making rifles too was precision
work, and under these conditions...

“Essentially,
yes,” Ryans said with a head shake. “Iron isn't a problem; they have a glut
right now of that as well as lead, carbon, and copper. Sulfur...”

The
lieutenant nodded. “Talk about the details later.”

“Better
yet, tour the stables they have and ask for a demo of their war mounts, then
come to me about any contamination complaints,” Ryans said shaking his head.
He'd had a quick look in passing and it was enough to give him nightmares.

Waters
met his eyes and then he looked at the photo again. He remembered the
basilisk
thing. That had been alone and it had shrugged off small arms fire like gnat
flies. “Yeah, force multipliers are suddenly appealing,” Waters said after a
moment more of thought.

“I
think an hour or two of Napoleon style shock and awe should even the odds in
our favor,” Ryans said, eyes gleaming as he grinned wickedly. The noncoms
chuckled.

The
guard captain looked from one to the other in growing exasperation. “Would you
please...?”

“Clue
you in?” the Gunny finished. “Sure thing sir. We'll take you and some of your
men out to the courtyard.” Ryans frowned and shook his head at that. “What?”

“Not
the courtyard. There are animals there and people you’re liable to spook. I for
one don't want to be around one of those packs of critters if they stampede.”

Waters
nodded thoughtfully. “Good point. Okay, ah...” Waters gave the Gunny a look.
“Out of town?”

“Good
for me. On the other side of that hill? It'll create a noise barrier,” Paris
suggested. The guard captain looked wary.

Ryans
turned to the captain. “Okay, what we're talking about is showing you our
weapons. These,” Ryans said in explanation. The guard captain looked at the
pistol Ryans was tapping with his finger.

Carefully
Ryans drew the pistol checked the safety then removed the clip and jacked the
slide back. The round in the chamber popped out. The guard captain watched as
Ryans caught it with his free hand. “This is a pistol.” He held up the round.
“This is what it shoots. This is lead wrapped in a copper jacket. It flies so
fast it can tear a person apart. Or at least make a big hole in them.”

The
guard captain's eyes went round. He paled once more. “In veritas?” he asked,
looking from one to another. Perry nodded.

“It
will go through your armor too. Like a hot knife through butter,” Waters said
smiling nastily. The guard captain gave him a look. “Seriously, no shitting
you. It'll rip through most armor like it's not even there, from a distance
too.” He got up.

“We'll
show you in say an hour?” he asked. The captain nodded. “Meet us in the
courtyard, and bring some spare armor. Something you won’t mind turning into
Swiss cheese. We'll take your men to the hill. Ryans is right, we can't fire
them here, the noise is bad. It'll echo like hell off these tall walls. It can
spook your animals...”

“Not
to mention the people. One round sounds like a crash of thunder. Dozens...”
Perry shrugged.

“There
are more?” the captain asked. His eyes widened as Waters hefted his MP-9.

“Yup.
And these are just the close up weapons we carry. The longer range stuff can
knock you on your ass and blow people apart from miles away.”

“Miles?”
the captain asked in confusion.

“Leagues.
Several leagues,” Ryans interpreted for him.

“This
I must see,” the captain said getting to his feet and going to the door. “I'll
inform his majesty and select some men to join me,” he said walking out.

“He's
kinda wary,” Perry said looking out the door.

“Wouldn't
you be?” Ryans answered with a snort. “We're unknowns, and we just asked him to
leave the safety of the capital to see a wonder weapon he's having trouble
wrapping his head around, I don't blame him if he thinks it's a trap. A
possible coup attempt.”

“Crap,
I forgot that,” Perry muttered.

“Yeah
well, I didn't,” Ryans said shaking his head. “Welcome to politics 101. A den
of snakes, or whatever native critter you want to throw in,” he grimaced. He thought
Washington politics were bad. At least there if someone put a knife in your
back it was metaphorical not in reality. Here... “We're going to have to build
trust fast if this is going to work. Once you've shown them the basics I want
you to give them a quick safety course then let a couple of them pop a few
rounds off.”