“You’re certain!” Lord Vik’t hissed in annoyance.

“Yes, my Lord,” Ashlam said from his kneeling position.

“This should have been expected, but this was too soon. To think the man already figured out how to make a flying ship.”

“Ahem,” Ashlam coughed, drawing his Lord’s attention.

“Speak.”

“We believe he has had this technology for some time, my Lord. But we have only recently confirmed the rumors ourselves.”

“What rumors,” Lord Vik’t demanded.

“Some people from Houston said he had a flying fortress made of stone. But those were dismissed as some sort of illusion. There were also these barges but they were said to only glide a few meters above the surface and moved quite slow. They also didn’t carry any weapons that we were aware of. So they were deemed unimportant.”

“Unimportant,” Lord Vik’t said coldly. “Do you know how difficult it is to make an object float? No, of course, you don’t. And why didn’t that idiot in Houston relay this information to me on my visit?”

“I am not sure, my Lord. Perhaps he was unaware?”

Lord Vik’t snorted, “more likely he kept me in the dark on purpose. But I will deal with that fool at another time. Go to the Guild headquarters in the Bazaar and have them send over some shipwrights. We can’t let this upstart town keep its tactical advantage for too long, they may get ideas.”

Ashlam swallowed, knowing the cost of sending shipwrights over this soon would drain most of the current city funds. “What about the army?”

“Release them for now. This information changes our plans slightly. I will also have to delay funding for a strike team. Send out some patrols to look for more resource locations, we need to recover these costs quickly if we wish to proceed with my plans.”

Ashlam saluted and left on his assigned tasks.

Lord Vik’t sat there, dropping his fake outrage. This actually worked in his favor. The council had denied him additional funds to obliterate the offending town, deeming it excessive and wasteful but if he used his own funds, they couldn’t deny his request.

Hearing about the flying ship had been surprising but not as much as he let on. But this may be a way for him to gain more influence and power within the Guild. Instead of being relegated to some backwater world as the Lord of a single town. If only he could secure this man, there was no telling what might be produced through his personal guidance. Not that the man was likely to enjoy the experience but that hardly mattered. He needed to get his hands on the man or eliminate him and learn his secrets.

***

The flight of the Retribution across the Horn had been uneventful and swift. I tested the maximum thrust of the ship and was able to push it above one hundred miles per hour for a short time. The only noticeable issue was Ska, gripping his chair so tightly he bent the arms. Apparently, he wasn’t a fan of the see-through floor.

“Is that better?” I asked as I turned off the wall transparency.

Ska rumbled grumpily. “It is disconcerting to feel like you’re on the verge of falling hundreds of feet.”

“Fair enough,” I said. But honestly, the fall probably wouldn’t harm him much if at all. I think he was more terrified of flying over open water while seeming to float in the air but I didn’t bring that fact up.

I turned toward the remote viewer and pulled the articulating arm it was mounted to toward me so I could still see where I was flying. I did need to reduce our speed further though, as going the normal full speed of around eighty was too fast to react to what was displayed in the orb.

Our flight took us past Houston and not much had changed as far as I could tell. It seemed the city was less lively though. And you could see more campfires burning outside the walls. I think I saw more mana cannons along the interior wall as well but it was dark so it was hard to tell.

Our passing went unnoticed as we were cloaked through the entire trip. One other thing I did notice is power was now only available inside the inner wall. That was a change since the last time I had passed by. I shook my head, that Edward Rosewell must be setting himself up as a proper dictator, big emphasis on the dick part.

I followed the instructions the Marshall had sent me and set the Retribution down on an abandoned runway a few miles from the ranch. Like the fortress, this ship had landing skids. As I got close to the surface, I extended the four skids and set the ship down. The skids made it so the bottom was four feet off the ground. It was designed that way to prevent the weapon systems on the underside from being blocked when we were landed.

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A group of men appeared from a nearby hanger.

“You recognize any of them?” I asked Ska

“Yes, I have worked with at least a few of them when I hunted with the Marshall’s men.”

“Good enough for me,” I replied, extending the ramp from the side of the ship.

I had recognized a few as well but it was always good to verify. The side hatch ramp clanked against the crumbling tarmac of the runway and the men jogged over to get on board.

“Let's go meet them at the hatch,” I said, getting unbuckled from my chair.

***

The first man aboard held out his hand for me to shake, “Jim Mors, Mr. Fuller, I am the Marshall’s second in command.”

I shook the man's hand but frowned in confusion, “I thought he had another second in command?”

“He did, he was killed on a patrol when we ran into elves.”

“Sorry to hear that. So the elves are still a problem up here?”

“Not so much anymore. They tried to assault the ranch but weren’t expecting the mana cannons. A lot of Elves died that night and the attacks ceased. But there are still small scattered pockets of them. They usually just flee when our patrols enter their territory but one decided to fight it out. We managed to eliminate the group responsible but not before they killed three of ours.”

I nodded solemnly, “well, thanks for joining this strike team, did the Marshall tell you what we are about to do?”

Jim nodded, “we are going to retake Houston. I wasn’t sure how we were going to go about doing that with only this small group but seeing this new ship of yours I think it's doable.”

“Oh? But you don’t even know the ship's capabilities,” I said as we moved down the corridor.

“I was in the Marines before returning to civilian life, Mr. Fuller, I can tell a warship when I see one, and while I may not know its capabilities, I can guess if you only needed this many men for this trip, that the ship is likely strong enough to deal with the big issues, such as the enemy weapon emplacements and shield.”

“Fair enough,” I replied. “Do you want to sit in the command room?”

“No, I would only be in the way, besides, someone has to keep these idiots in line. I do have one question, how are we deploying from the ship?”

“Well, I can hover or land. Both put us at risk.”

“Too slow, that hatch would be a killing box. Any other way?”

“The deck is flat, people could jump from that if they have the skills.”

“That sounds doable but we're gonna need you to drop us in the town before you assault the main fortification. Can we do that without being seen?”

I smiled, “Yeah, I think I can accommodate that. I will send a ship-wide com when we are nearing the city.”

I showed him where the deck hatch was and he nodded, getting his people secured as close to the hatch as possible.

“You want to join them on the ground?” I asked Ska as we reentered the command room.

“Not for this attack. My only goal is to deal with the father.”

I nodded, “Everyone onboard and secured, we are taking off. The trip will be approximately two hours,” I said over the com.

“All secure, Mr. Fuller, and thanks for the ride,” a reply came in.

I should have figured Jim would find the radio.

I lifted off and got us turned back toward Houston. We had work to do.

***

Edward Rosewill was annoyed this morning. He had to attend breakfast with that asinine Guild representative. It may not have been so annoying but the man resided outside the inner compound. Edward didn’t trust him inside. The man always lorded his position and levels over Edward but those were quickly vanishing. Thanks to the dungeon the Marshall had found, Edward had managed to increase his level to sixteen. One more than that pompous windbag. He was looking forward to lording it over the man during breakfast when there was a flash of blinding light.

Edward spun around and his eyes went wide. Something was floating in the air and firing beams of energy at his compound shield. The shield quickly failed and the beams sliced straight through his building. There were explosions as the building came crashing down, filling the city with dust and debris.

“Sir, we have to go!” his guard said urging them on.

Edward protested but knew his guards were right, whoever just attacked had been aiming to kill him. His guards all had weapons out as they cut their way through the panicking civilians. There was another burst of light and explosions as the walls around his compound were fired on by this strange flying vessel. He saw a few weapons fire from atop the walls, in response, but a shield flared around the ship to intercept the attacks.

His security team came to a stop at an intersection.

“Why have we stopped!” Edward demanded.

Edward looked to where the guard was aiming his weapon. Standing across the street, looking bored, was the bastard that killed his precious daughter.

“What are you waiting for? Kill him!” Edward screamed.

“I knew you would flee,” the creature hissed proudly, stepping away from the light pole he had been leaning against and walking towards them.

A few of Edward's guards ran toward the creature but Edward blinked and the men were down. He hadn’t even seen the overgrown pussycat move, yet he had crossed the distance in a heartbeat, killing three men with ease.

This wasn’t a beast, this was a god damn monster. Edward ran, leaving his guards behind to hold this thing at bay.

Edward heard the screams and ran faster. He was just about to round the corner when something grabbed his shoulder with an iron grip. He was wrenched backward and tossed to the ground.

Looking up he spotted his attacker, it was the cat man. How had he dealt with his guards so quickly, no this couldn’t be. Edward scrambled to his feet and produced his own weapons, two enchanted hand axes.

The creature growled in approval and waved him forward. Edward wasn’t a fool though, he used Identify and paled when the results came back.

Ska | Grimalkin Hunter/Warden | 20/12

The beast was twice his level, but how. Edward knew he was outmatched, he needed to flee for the Bazaar. He whipped his enchanted axe at his opponent, hoping he would dodge it or it would injure him enough for Edward to escape.

No such luck. The beast’s hand snapped out and grabbed the weapon from the air. He growled in annoyance and slammed the weapon into the sidewalk with enough strength to bury half the head, then he pounced.

Edward screamed and tried to chop the creature apart with his other axe but the beast ignored the attack, letting it land as he slammed into him, knocking him from his feet.

***

Ska grunted in annoyance as he stood back up. He had hoped for a decent fight but the guards and this Rosewill fellow had been a huge disappointment. The one attack the man managed to land did a pitiful amount of damage and was completely healed by his return attack. Ska had even tried to keep the man alive but he was so weak that one set of attacks had killed him. Oh well, Ska hefted the corpse up and stuffed it into his storage. He would join the others for the assault on the inner compound, maybe someone in there would be a challenge.