Ronin woke up in his pod, listening to the hiss as the pressure seal was broken. He’d worked through out the night; helping clean up Charles’ slaves, talking to the new goblins, interviewing Benjamin’s men, checking on the trogs and a host of other things. As the sun rose, Owl two had practically forced him into the pod. Saying that he was too tired to think straight, and he still had to interview Benjamin before Ronin could do anything hasty.
Sitting up in his now open pod, Ronin saw K2 standing guard beside him. he could tell it was K2 because the code name had been added to the heavy metal full plate the Kaldarr warrior was wearing. It was a helpful addition since their armor was identical. Plus, Ronin just felt like it made the camp more professional. He knew it also identified who was who for enemy snipers, but he liked it anyway.
“Good morning K2,” he said. climbing out of the pod, he looked around. the cave was bustling as always. Several of the dinosaur hide houses had been taken down, moved outside into the open valley. The ones that remained held the new goblins and former slaves, while they got used to their new life. The collared soldiers had just been ordered not to leave their tents. Ronin had still been awake for that. only one or two soldiers per tent had needed to get shocked half unconscious before the rest realized that running was hopeless.
The area that had been taken up by the tents was now filled with crates and crates of supplies. It all had to be sorted and inventoried before they did anything with it. Ronin had entertained the idea of returning the supplies to the towns they had been stolen from, but they had too many mouths to feed now for that to be practical.
As he took in his surroundings, a squad of six leather clad goblin women ran into sight from the southern tunnel. each had the word ‘Scout’ emblazoned on their left breast with a number beneath it. Owl five ran at the front of her trainees, shouting for them to go faster. After a round of the cave, they exited again through the northern tunnel, Owl five giving him a small wave before she left, when the scout team wasn’t looking.
“Good morning, sir.” K2 said once Ronin had stopped taking in his surroundings. “Owl two asked me to accompany you today.” He continued, his voice just as deep as K3’s. with a nod to his shadow, Ronin went out into the valley.
There was a giant goat outside being butchered by the towns people. there were a few goblin males, including Guts, assisting in the process. They were being taught the proper way to butcher and process the meat. Seeing Ronin come outside, Guts made to come over, but Ronin waved him back to his task. The Goblin chief loved all things food, so Ronin didn’t want him to miss out on this learning experience. Seeing another of the giant animals of the valley being slaughtered though, Ronin knew that they had to do something different soon.
There was a ton of meat on any one of these beasts, but they bred slowly, and the valley only held so many of them. there was a surplus right now, because the town hadn’t been able to hunt them like they had in years past. So, their numbers had grown without fear of predators. That wouldn’t last for long however, and they needed to find a new source of food. He thought back to the root vegetables in the wagon; he’d read about gardening back on earth, so he knew it was possible. He’d even cultivated mushrooms in the caves. Sighing, Ronin added that to the already miles long list of things to discuss with owl two. He had a lot to do and only four months to do it in. he wanted his valley to be as safe and self-sufficient as he could make it before he left for Leo’s competition.
“… so, of the thirty-three goblins you brought back ten were male. Of those only three are of what I am calling the crafter class. Of the females, only nine were of this class, the remaining twenty-one goblins are of the worker class.” Owl two said, finishing a very long list of updates. Ronin was overloaded with information, but he decided to take the last topic and cover it first.
“Ok, so twelve out of twenty-three are crafter class. That’s like Hunter and Guts, while worker class will be like one ear and broken tooth?” he asked just to clarify. At Owl two’s affirming nod, he asked a follow up question. “What areas do their talents lend themselves?” Goblin naming conventions were very useful in determining how gifted an individual was.
“Strangely enough, the three males are talented at plants and food preparation, while the nine females are all similar to Soft step and Hunter. It seems that the Males mainly just protect the females in their society and the females do… everything else. The males who are good at food preparation, Gained the skill because they like to eat.”
Ronin thought on that for a bit. He needed a way to get new food sources, the goblin males liked food prep. Owl five was making good progress shaping up the scout team, and with a war coming up, he needed more capable fighters.
“Alright,” he said making up his mind. “Have the male goblins get together with Eric and Samantha, and all the freed slaves who are willing, from the farming town to the south. I want them to start farming in the valley. Have the Kaldarr make a fence around the area to keep out the local wildlife. Next,” he paused to gather his thoughts. “I assume that three of the nine new females are with the scout team? Ok, then gather the others and make a second team of six. Owl five has done a good job Training the scout team, she can train another one. differentiate them by colors or something.” What else? He didn’t know what to do with the worker class goblins… “I guess, Have the worker class goblins clear the field and start digging up the ground for the gardens, that will keep them busy short term.”
“Understood sir,” Owl two said. “Now, what do you want to do with Charles’ and Benjamin’s men? Have you thought over my proposal?” Ronin sighed, sitting back in his chair. To buy time he looked around the room. Owl two had a command tent built inside the cave, that Ronin hadn’t been able to find time to visit until now. they had taken Benjamin’s table and chairs along with the kingdom map and his books to furnish the room. For a deserter, he was quite the dedicated military man.
“Charles’ men were all accomplices in his actions, so they stay collared.” Ronin said, deciding to take care of the easy one first. “But Benjamin and his men… are you sure he didn’t know what Charles had been doing?” he just couldn’t believe that a man didn’t know what his own brother had been up too.
“Yes sir,” Owl two said confidently. “He hadn’t been in contact with his brother in years, other than by letter. He was stationed on the wall, fighting the outside threat. When he realized Mountain’s Embrace was doomed, he reached out to Charles who convinced him to Make a run for it. He was only trying to save his men and didn’t know how depraved Charles had become until just hours before you met him.”
Ronin had heard the story before. It seemed unbelievably convenient. Yet it also seemed to be the case. Benjamin was a career military man, a lieutenant. He led his own platoon with four sergeants under him; each commanding a squad of nine soldiers. None of whom had even known they were deserting. Ronin had questioned them himself, they all thought they were on orders from the crown. He would be a very useful member of the team.
“I see your point, but are you sure that using the drone parasite is necessary? We only have two left, and he is already collared.” Owl two had been trying to get him to convert Benjamin entirely, stating how useful a man with his experience would be.
“Sir, without rehashing old ground, let me just say that I think it would be worth it. Yes, he is collared. But that does not make him loyal; besides that, his men are loyal to him. Do you think they would be more likely to help willingly if their leader was collared just like they were or if he was freely participating with you?” they discussed it a little more, but the outcome was hardly in doubt.
“Fine, let’s take care of that after we’re done here.” Ronin said, giving in at last. He hadn’t really intended on stopping Owl two from getting his way, he just didn’t want to be left out of all the decisions. He realized just how much he relied on the android, but he wanted to feel like he was still in charge occasionally.
“It will be as you say sir,” Owl two said. Like it hadn’t been his idea the entire time. “That leaves the trogs, Charles’ men, the rats…” Ronin stopped him with a raised hand.
“I thought we already discussed Charles’ men; they are to stay collared.” Ronin said with some irritation.
“Yes… sir, but what do you want to do with Charles’ ‘collared’ men? Right now, they are just eating our food and giving no benefit for it.” Ronin really hated the android at that moment.
“Oh… well,” he said trying to hold back the embarrassment fueled anger. “We have K1 supervising the six Kaldarr warriors we have collared?” at the affirming nod he continued. “Then, lets have K1 and K2 split them up, three a piece, then give them ten each of Charles men. They can trade off between working them and training them. Maybe if we keep them busy and tired then we can form them into loyal soldiers with a little effort.” Ronin was warming up to the idea, “they can till the fields, cut firewood hell have them dig in the mine if we run out of work. Then, have them running laps and doing drills. Benjamin can assist with that; he was a ranking officer.”
“As workable a plan as anything we have sir,” Owl two said with a nod. “Then how about the troglodytes?” he asked, getting Ronin back on track.
“Right… you said they still aren’t cooperating, and they’ve started laying eggs?” he asked, blowing out his breath in thought. “Let’s give them aggression inhibitors like the goblin’s sexual inhibitors. See if that makes them more pliable. They are very strong for their size and depending on how long it takes their young to develop they might make a good fighting unit or labor force.” Scratching his head, he finally said.
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“The rats, and the worker-class goblins I’ll leave up to your discretion. If you can find a use for the rats, great, if not just kill them. The goblins, we can’t just kill. We need them to live healthy lives. Maybe split them into small groups and try to teach them a trade? I don’t know, you can do whatever you want with them, as long as they’re healthy.” He’d had enough of this meeting already but had one more question to ask before he made his escape.
“Make any progress on getting me new weapons and armor made up?” he asked eagerly.
“Soon sir,” Owl two said patiently. “The fabrication unit is in high demand and large, complicated, pieces take a long time to construct. In the meantime, however, if you don’t have anything better to do I recommend you join K1 and K2, as well as Owl five’s training groups. you could benefit from the basics while the scouting groups are being trained and your armor is being made. Give it, two weeks, and you can head out on another goblin raid much better prepared than before.”
* * *
Ronin rebelled against the idea of training while ignoring the overall picture for almost a day. Once he realized that Owl two had everything organized far better than he could have managed, he finally gave in. what followed was not two, but three full weeks of the worst physical exhaustion of Ronin’s entire life. He plowed the fields with the worker goblins, cut down trees and built fencing under K2, ran laps with the scout teams, fed and cleaned up after the trogs, and ran more laps with the human squads.
He didn’t spend all his time working and running, however. Once he was thoroughly exhausted, quite the task given his cyborg body, they would run him through drills. He sparred with Benjamin, Owl two and K3. Played hide and seek with Owl five, a task that was harder than he first expected, learned how to follow orders under Karr, one of Benjamin’s sergeants, was taught how to use and care for each piece of gear he wore or carried to the point he could do it blindfolded, because they made him do it blindfolded.
They wanted him physically and mentally exhausted, so he was only given an hour of sleep every two days. he hadn’t realized he could even function under these conditions, let alone learn so much. His trainers knew what they were doing though, because he was picking up their training in record time. Ronin was feeling proud of himself after Benjamin complemented him on his learning speed… until Owl two pointed out that with his cybernetically enhanced brain doing all the heavy lifting, he had expected him to be learning much faster.
he blamed his exhaustion for what had happened next, but he had actually attacked the android at that point. Owl two merely dodged his attempts to strike him, and the tin can even gave him pointers on how to strike more effectively at each failed attempt. He’d been contemplating shooting the robot with his railgun when Owl five intervened. She’d pulled him to his feet and set him into the forest, where he had to evade capture by one of her scout teams for as long as possible.
He ran and hid intermittently for what felt like hours but was later told barely exceeded thirty minutes. Then he was turned over to K3 who had him pulling a plow to break ground on a new garden. He was quizzed on his gear and how to properly maintain it while he worked. Whenever he got an answer wrong, a stone was placed into a basket on his back. Before long, it felt like his feet were digging deeper furrows in the ground then the plow he pulled.
When two weeks passed, his new armor and weapon were finally finished. Ronin thought his misery was now finally going to end. Instead, he got to continue his nightmare training routine, only now wearing the heavy armor. The suit was a beautiful collection of overlapping steel plates that provided far more protection than his original scouts armor had. Yet, despite its beauty, Ronin quickly grew to hate it.
He was forced to wear it round the clock, even during his bi-nightly hour of sleep. The only time he was allowed to remove the armor was when he was cleaning and inspecting it for damage. That was such a grueling chore that he wished they’d let him keep it on. Only once the armor had been cleaned spotlessly, was he allowed to put it back on, blindfolded. Any mistakes or wasted time resulted in some filthy chore followed by another round of cleaning. He was intimately familiar with the armor before that third week was over and wore it like a second skin, despite its weight.
“…Good, now follow through on the strike. Keep your momentum up throughout and carry it into the next blow… yes, much better. Bring that shield up… intercept and redirect the blow.” Benjamin had been training him on his new weapon, a flanged mace. It was solidly constructed from a heavy metal that seemed near impervious to damage. It had a few added tech advantages as well, but he wasn’t using them during the spar. His armor and shield had been made of the same alloy.
“That’s enough.” Benjamin called out, taking a step back. “You are getting better all the time, just remember to use the momentum of your weapon to your advantage. Follow through on its motions, don’t fight them.” Ronin liked Benjamin quite a bit after the drone parasite had been implanted. Although his personality hadn’t changed, that layer of uneasy mistrust was gone now between them.
Ronin looked at the older man, who showed not the least sign of the sparring he’d been doing. He was in his early forties and had clearly lived a long life filled with combat. His best days weren’t behind him yet, but Ronin suspected he had peeked. Although his physical abilities might have reached their limit, his knowledge and ability to teach were as strong as ever. Thinking over the last weeks of training he’d received from the man, and how much he had improved, filled him with pride.
“Getting… tired… already?” he asked, gasping for breath. Ronin was exhausted, having been pushed to his limits and beyond so many times that he didn’t even know what his limits were anymore. yet, he’d learned that complaining only made his trainers go harder on him. ‘If you have the energy to complain, then you have the energy to run another lap’ was a common response. He’d learned to push through anything without complaining as a coping mechanism.
“It’s been three weeks, sir.” Benjamin replied with a smirk, “You’ve progressed far enough to put up a good showing in the tunnels. Besides, you need some time to digest what you’ve learned, and put it into practice. before we teach you anything else. That is… unless you wanted to go another few rounds?” his smirk turned into a full-on grin as he said the last part.
“Ah, well…” Ronin was taken aback, three weeks, already? “No, uh, no Benjamin, I think you’re right. I need to put into practice what I’ve learned. Time is running out, and I think another goblin raid is in order.”
“ha-ha, that’s what I thought sir.” Benjamin said with a laugh. “Owl two said to get some sleep in your pod. There will be time to go over everything when you’ve fully rested. Besides, we need to get your team rested and ready to go too.” With a nod, the lieutenant turned and strode over to where a pair of his squads were sparring with a squad made from Charles’ former men and three Kaldarrians. Ronin could hear him shouting encouragement and instructions before he even reached the combat.
“So, I can…just go sleep?” Ronin muttered to himself as he looked around. For the last three full weeks, he’d been constantly hounded by one of his people. Benjamin would force him to spar, Owl five would force him to run and hide or follow tracks, K1 and K2 would force him to work. The list went on, but right now though, he was alone. There wasn’t anyone yelling at him to get moving or to push harder. In an exhaustion drenched daze, he stumbled back to the cave. people saluted or waved to him as he walked through the ever-growing town around the cave, but he couldn’t spare them much attention as he moved.
Reaching his pod, he started stripping out of his armor. Mechanically he cleaned each piece, thoroughly but swiftly, checking for dents or scratches as he went. Done with the armor, he repeated the process with his mace and shield. Wiping himself down with a nearby rag and bucket, he donned the armor again as fast as he could. He waited for the shouts of how slow and sloppy he had been at the task, but they never came. Trying to think through the fog, he remembered that there wasn’t anyone here forcing him to clean his armor. Ronin almost teared up when he realized he could have been in his pod already, before shaking the thought away. He needed to make his equipment his priority, over everything else, it was the only thing that stood between him and death while in the field.
Flopping into his pod, he watched the door slide shut above him. The hiss of oxygen enriched air being pumped into the chamber soothed his weary mind. Each pod was targeted to an individual, they could be used by anyone, but with limited results. They came equipped with multiple scanners and manipulators, along with full body scans of the owner. Once inside the pod, unless someone interrupted or he programed it differently beforehand, he would remain asleep until the unit had restored him to the pinnacle of health. Ronin didn’t understand all the science behind it, but it worked. Taking deep breaths, his tired mind slowly drifted away.
The hiss of escaping air roused him in what felt like no time at all. he woke up fully alert and feeling refreshed. Stepping out of his pod he flexed his body with a few stretches. It was hard to tell, but he thought he had gotten stronger. At least his armor didn’t feel so heavy anymore. instead, it felt like he was wearing a second, heavier skin. turning around to grab is rifle from its charging port, he jumped with a start.
“Good morning, care to grab breakfast with me before you and Owl two start arguing about… discussing the camp?” Owl five said from where she was leaning on the drop pod. She’d been beside him and he’d never seen her. Something he would have to watch out for going forward. if she’d been an assassin he would have likely died just now.
“Sure,” he said with a smile. She was wearing her armor, he’d yet to see her without it, but her helmet was tucked under one arm in a casual grip. With one knee pulled up, foot placed against the pod she cut quite the striking figure. Clearing his throat, Ronin looked back to her face. “Shall we?” he asked, motioning her to proceed him.
“…I’m confident in them, at least for a mission like this anyway.” They were sitting on logs that surrounded a small fire in the cave. it was quickly becoming their customary eating fire, with Guts attending to the food preparations himself. He had added his own comments here and there while Brie brought Ronin up to speed on everything he’d missed in the last few weeks.
“Good,” he said around a mouthful of soup. “Glad the scout teams are working out. My hope is that we can make another one soon. Guts, this is amazing, you really are getting good at this.” He praised his goblin chief after he’d swallowed. Now that they had gotten the goblins in line, Guts wasn’t really needed to personally force them to behave. Ronin was still glad he’d upgraded the goblin though. He was someone Ronin was quickly coming to view as a friend.
“Thank you, sir” Guts said proudly. “There are four goblins in the food corps now, and we are learning everything we can. Eric and Samantha have been a great help, and so have the people from the southern villages.” Ronin was a little surprised at just how into cooking Guts was. He’d participated in some of the training during the last three weeks, but most of his time had been filled with learning everything he could about food. How to plant it, forage it, butcher it and most importantly how to cook it.
“Indeed,” Brie said, suppressing a smile. “Guts will be coming along with us to act as our official food corps representative.” Ronin could tell she found Guts’ love of food amusing.
“Of course, I will be coming,” Guts said puffing himself up. “I am lord Ronin’s personal cook after all.”
“Thank you guts, but there’s no need to call me lord.” Ronin said, feeling a little overwhelmed.
“Might as well get used to it sir. Like it or not, you are the lord of this valley. Sure, Owl two does most of the actual running part, but you are the lord. Everyone outside your inner circle has taken to addressing you that way in conversation.” Brie said as she finished off her own soup.
“Great,” Ronin said with a sigh. “Just don’t you ever start calling me lord, you hear me.” he said in mock anger, waggling his finger at her.
“Of course not,” she said hopping off her log. “Ronin.” She added with a shy smile before putting her helmet back on. Just like that Brie was gone and Owl five was back. “If you are finished sir, we need to get to Owl two’s debrief before we can leave.” She said the last words over her shoulder, already walking towards the command tent.