Chapter 11: Get your Dress Blues.

It was good to finally be in a different change of uniform. I've worn those fucking Camo fatigues for way too long now. After a good bath and a change of uniform I felt ten times better.

I was in my dress blues, the formal uniform of the US Navy and currently in the medical wing of the building. My nose apparently broke after Wardes head butted me, but it was straight now, it looks good now but it's still tender. Guess I shouldn't complain, there are dozens of men here with severe burns from the battle. luckily though, for some of them the wonders of magical medicine is amazing. They'll be scarred but alive. Most though, may not make another day.

After getting checked up I went down to the throne room where the meeting would take place. It had been 3 days since the battle and NATO soldiers made a camp out in the castle courtyard. For the sake of diplomacy the soldiers were forbidden to leave the courtyard and the servants were forbidden to talk to them.

Captain... sorry, newly appointed Rear Admiral Walker came up to me. He's been working for months to get a promotion and he finally got one, thanks in small part to me. The 40 year old Officer walked up to me and shook my hand.

"Good to see you again, how have things here treated you?" His uniform was a bit different, even though we were told to be formal he got out his kilt anyway. He is from a long line of Scottish ancestors going back to the days of the vikings. He is very passionate about his heritage. His uniform was exactly like mine, just that he had a kilt instead of pants. There are rumors going around that he doesn't wear underwear but I never wanted to find out, some things are better kept secret.

"Only easy day was yesterday, so not bad." I replied. Walker was always a very inspirational and charismatic man. After all, he trained me since I first got my Trident. He was a Commander back then and took me under his wing in ST10, he showed me the ropes and taught me lessons you don't learn in training. Our tough Military respect hides the years of admiration I've had for him. He's like the father I never had... whoa, too much information. No, I'm not saying anything about my home life.

"Well, you are officially a Captain now, we'll give you the ceremony when we get back home but there are more important things right now." I nodded. Being the highest ranking US Officer here he had full control of the US forces. Since I was right below him I was his second in Command.

"No problem, I'm personally glad I don't have to go through the wetting ceremony." I laughed. Long story, I'll explain later. I met the 2 US representatives, John Fitzgerald and Winston R. Portsmouth. NATO decided to send 3 main Representatives. Walker was one of them, he would handle all negotiations of the UN Military presence in Halkeginia, Fitzgerald was a US politician and he would handle the Economic trading negotiations. Lastly, the British politician, former SAS and Fleet Admirable, Winston would handle the civilian relations and the relationships between the 2 worlds.

"Good day to you sir." Winston shook my hand.

"To you as well." I said. I also greeted John but he didn't say much.

"OK Captain, I hope your ready for this." I nodded. The servants had arranged a long rectangular table to be placed in the room to allow seating accommodations. The newly appointed queen Henrietta is sitting on her Throne on the far end of the table. She had a look of grace that many royals had.

I took my seat next to my reps and took a small breath to calm my nerves. DEVGRU was now fully outfitted with armor and weapons and acted as a security detail. They had ballistic helmets, sunglasses and all had multi-camo BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform).

"Everyone, please take your seat and we can begin." Henrietta said in a powerful yet soft voice. Everyone took their seats and there was a moment of silence. I noticed that some of the Nobles looked familiar. There was Duke De La Valliere who I later found out was Louise's father, Duchess Karin Desiree De La Valliere, Louise's mother, and General Gramont, Guiche's father. The other Nobles were more or less faceless to me but they all had a purpose. "So, I believe you would like to start Admiral?" Henrietta pointed to Rear Admiral Walker.

"That's Rear Admiral miss, there is a difference." Walker cleared his throat. "As you know, we are a new Nation here in these lands. All we seek is peace and maybe some trading. For all questions about our Military presence here you will refer to me, for questions of economic importance you will refer to MR. John Fitzgerald. And lastly, to deal with public relations you will refer to Mr. Winston R. Portsmouth." Walker got into a brief description of our organization. "We are 3 countries from NATO, which stands for the 'North Atlantic Treaty Organization'. I am with the United States of America, arguably referred to as the strongest Military might of the world. Canada, which also has a good Military and the United Kingdom." Walker pointed out which rep was with which country.

"Mind if I ask what kind of Mage you are, Rear Admiral?" A Noble asked.

"Pardon?" Walker didn't quite get what he meant.

"What kind of magic can you use?" The Noble asked again. Walker thought for a moment, thinking carefully of what he was going to say.

"Until the Captain arrived here, the idea of magic has been considered false and a story. That being said, the idea of magic is still foreign to our Nations and so I am not a Mage and can not preform magic." Silence. Everyone looked shocked at the information, I could tell things were going to get complicated.

"You mean to say you are a Nation of Commoners!?" The same Noble yelled. Henrietta looked surprised as well, she seemed to be a bit angry at me lying to her about having magic.

"Well, if by Commoner you mean someone who can not preform magic then yes, we are commoners." Walker said with conviction.

"Your highness, you can not allow something like this to go on." Another Noble called to the Queen.

"I personally would like to see that." I spoke up in a sarcastic tone. "Let's not forget that we used up some of our resources in order to help you in the invasion, without us you would all be dead most likely." I said with an irritated tone.

"We would have managed just fine, we do not need the aid of some commoners, especially a Nation run by them." He spat in my direction.

"That is enough!" Winston stood up from his seat. "We are what we are and if you have any ideas of declaring a war with us then you are more than welcome too, but we will not simply sit here and be insulted by you. We have clearly demonstrated our Military might and we will soon have more soldiers on the way. For what Albion did, attacking the soldiers who arrived here," I kind of turned my head. "and their refusal to answer our calls for a truce we have had no choice but to declare war on them. If anything we are Nations with a common interest and enemy. We shouldn't squabble over status or reduce ourselves to racism but instead for an alliance in order to combat this threat to both of us." Winston spoke with such power it was hard to not respect him. His 30 year Military lifestyle made him into a powerful leader.

"I agree fully to that." Fitzgerald stood as well. "There are many things our Nations could offer each other, it would be unwise to refuse us, even more so to attack us and declare war." Fitzgerald wasn't as powerful as a speaker. He seemed more like an executive, he had a smooth way of talking and had a look that said he wanted to cash in on a good deal. He was a former business tycoon and at 1 point had 3 major companies before moving to politics. He looked like the kind of guy you wanted to work with, but didn't trust.

"And what do we have to fear from Commoners such as yourself?" The Noble laughed.

"Enough, everyone sit!" Henrietta said loudly. "Despite their Heretic ways." I couldn't help but thing, what a bitch. "40 of their soldiers defeated hundreds of Albion's Elite Dragon Knights, without losing a single man. Their should cannons completely destroyed the Albion ship in seconds. Despite how they may run their Nation their is no mistake that this Military is strong. If we declared war on them it would no doubt mean the destruction of Tristain." Henrietta said.

"But your highness, you can't possibly be thinking of allying with these commoners?" A Noble said.

"We have no choice, the only way to defeat Albion is with their help. Without them, we will all fall." Henrietta said with a sad look. "What are the terms of this treaty Rear Admiral?" Henrietta turned to Walker.

"For our Military, we simply seek a bit of land until we find a more permanent settlement. Also, in the event that Albion falls and we succeed we also want to have Albion as our own. A land where we can set up a permanent settlement here for future trading and negotiations. We also request some other rights, such as the rights to recruit Tristain citizens into a sort of mercenary military to aid us in the fight since our government is using minimal resources in this war. That is essentially what we want, I will document it and give the paper for you to read over later but that is the basic outline." Walker said.

"And what do we get in exchange?" Henrietta asked.

"We are willing to give you, if you so desire, more knowledge in medical, biological, technical and astronomical sciences. This could help improve the lives of citizens here, not to mention the tradings of metals, resources, supplies and the knowledge to create things like plastic, rubber and other man made materials. For obvious reasons we will not under any circumstances give away any Military weapons, technology or tactics. Finally, we are aiding you in this unprovoked war with Albion so the Albion land and a few other things would be greatly appreciated." Walker said.

"I see, until you get official documentation down I will consider your request." Henrietta said. "Now about the trading agreements..." She looked to Fitzgerald.

"Yes, well." Fitzgerald began. "for the trading agreements I would suggest the trade of resources. We give you resources and you give us resources. Our country isn't doing the best financially so in exchange for metals and supplies we request gold. It's a fair enough agreement." He said.

"I believe that will be helpful, Tristain is not the wealthiest country but we can use gold as a commodity. Get it written and we will sign for it." Fitzgerald nodded. "Finally, I would like to know what would happen if any of your people attacked mine?" Henrietta turned to the British politician, Winston.

"Personally, given the Caste System you have here I am more concerned for my own men. I suggest that we deal with our criminals as normal. If one of your men attacks mine then you may punish him as you see fit, as long as the punishment matches the crime. This will also work in reverse." Winston said.

"How do you deal with your criminals?" Henrietta asked.

"Simple really. For the moment you will only have Military personnel and scientists. Depending on the severity of the crime it could be a night in prison, dishonorable discharge or execution." Winston said. "However my men are authorized to defend themselves, if attacked with lethal force they are ordered to shoot. As long as they are not attacked their will be no problems." Henrietta nodded.

"I believe that is all we have to discus. General Gramont, you will speak with Rear Admiral Walker and Comma... Captain Riptide about the Military accommodations." Henrietta continued and appointed jobs for her Generals and Nobles. "Lastly, before we make this treaty official you must write up an official paper stating your intentions, what you want and willing to give. You will present this document tomorrow and we will meet again to discus it. If everyone is satisfied we will make up an official final draft, sign and the treaty will be put into effect." Everyone nodded. "Before we end this meeting there is one final thing to discus." All the Nobles nodded their heads but all the Earthlings had no idea why.

"What's this about?" Walker asked.

"We must set up marriage arrangements." Henrietta said with no hesitation at all. If we were drinking water at the time I have no doubt we would have started choking right now.

"Excuse me?" Walker asked, I turned to him.

"It's a marriage of convenience to strengthen ties between Nations. You know, like back during the Victorian or Elizabethan age." I said.

"You miss understand your Majesty, we do not negotiate like that. Marriage or not we will honor the deals we made. Besides, I can not force one of my own men into a marriage like that." Walker said.

"So you would ruin centuries of tradition? Commoner filth." A Noble spat out from the other side of the table.

"And you would put us in a position we can not work with? You have your traditions and we have ours." Walker said.

"But you are Commoners, you should listen to your superiors." He retorted.

"You Highness, if we are to be insulted like this at every turn than I fear we must call off the peace treaty and try our luck on our own." Walker turned to the Queen.

"My apologies Rear Admiral." She said, she turned to the other Nobles. "I said that is enough. We need their aid against Albion. If anyone else speaks out against them they will be disgraced and lose all Noble privileges." The room quieted down instantly.

"Then that is it, we will continue this tomorrow once we have made up the Document." Walker stated. At that, everyone left. As we headed out the door Walker came up to me. "Hey kid, you look beat. Go take the day off." He said. "You've earned a breather." I nodded. The thought of a good days rest sounded good to me.

I wandered the hall for a moment, trying to find my way to the courtyard where the NATO guys were until I saw Henrietta walking up to me with an angry look on her face. Got to admit, she looked cute angry.

SLAP!

"Ow, the fuck was that for!" I said, my cheek still stinging from the painful slap.

"For lying to me!" She tried to slap me again but I ducked it.

"Is this because I'm a Commoner." She got even angrier at that.

"How dare you accuse me of unprovoked hatred!" She yelled. She sniffed a little, trying to hold back some tears. "I would have been fine if you were a Commoner from the start. I still would have aided you and have met your people, you did save my life. But you lied to me and betrayed my trust!" Seriously, why is she freaking out like this!?

"I'm sorry, but seriously where is this coming from? I know I lied but I was on a mission." I said trying to defend myself.

"Mission?" She looked really hurt. "You lied to me for that? To me? Have I not helped you out when you came to me? Even if you didn't save my life I would have still aided you. You didn't need to deceive me like that." She said angrily.

"I had a job to do, I'm sorry but I needed the information and to avoid trouble." I said with my arms raised in case she tried to hit me again.

"Just leave me alone." She turned and left me alone. Before she did I saw a single tear escape her eye.

"You came up to me and slapped ME. Seriously, what the fuck?" I said as she left. I just stood their in a daze for a second, my mind slowly registering what just happened. I had no idea why she reacted like that. Sure, I lied but it's not like I meant any harm. Man my cheek stung, how can someone so small hit that hard?

Getting that moment out of my head I continued to the courtyard. There I met Saito and Louise. They were watching the soldiers with interest. Well Louise was, Saito was kind of bored. Can't blame Louise though, the weapons, outfits, lingo and everything was completely foreign to her. I doubt anyone here has ever seen something like this, these men just hanging around, cleaning their weapons and making the tents.

"How you kids doing?" I asked.

"Pretty good, you." Saito said.

"Riptide, what are they doing there?" Louise said as the Royal Marines were doing suicide runs.

"They're exercising, it keeps the blood flowing." I answered.

"Eugene?" I heard someone say. "Eugene Leckie? That you old friend?" I turned to see one of the Army Rangers coming up to me.

"Rob Sledge?" I replied to him. We went up to each other and gave each other a hug.

"Your name is Eugene?" Saito snickered. "Man, that just blew your bad ass image." Saito laughed harder.

"Don't remind me, I got picked on enough in middle school with that name." I said with a downcast look. "How you been old friend?" I asked.

"Me and Rob go back, we met in high school and became good friends with our interest in the Military. He wanted to join the Green Berets but unlike the SEALs you need some years in service before you can even go into training. So he opted for the next best thing, the Army Rangers. "How you been Private?" I asked.

"Excuse me, it's Staff Sergeant, so I best see a salute." He laughed.

"Well, I'm a Captain, so I outrank you." I laughed. A Staff Sergeant is one of the lower ranks in the Army. Normally, a Sergeant first class has command of a Platoon but in some cases, in the absence of a SFC a Staff Sergeant can have command of a Platoon.

"Yea well, fuck you. So what are you doing here?" He asked me.

"I was the first one in, I had to scout out the area and do some... well, that's classified. Anyway, I had to go into low Earth orbit and do a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) jump from 40,000 feet. Damn near killed me." We shared a laugh. "Tell you the truth we weren't expecting any intelligent life here, imagine my surprise when I found out that there is intelligent life here." He nodded.

"Well shit, it's good to see you though. You heading home?" He asked.

"Most likely. Personally I want to get back ASAP. This place is nice and all, but I think I like the idea of using a car better than a horse." Rob nodded.

"If you get back, tell the old lady I said hi." He said.

"I will, when you get back you have to come over, we'll go to a bar, watch the EAGLES game, all that good stuff." I said.

"Fuck the EAGLES, COWBOYS all the way." We pounded our fists and he went back to the drills for the Rangers. I decided to get some shut eye so I walked over to a nice shady spot on the ground and closed my eyes.

I awoke the next morning with a minor crick in my neck but otherwise good. It was dawn and the sun was almost above the horizon. Nothing like a good 12 hour nap to cure the mind. All of a sudden I saw Agnes run up to me.

"We need your help." She said reluctantly.

"What's up Athos." I said.

"It's Agnes, but listen the Queen was kidnapped last night." I was up in a heart beat.

"What? What do you mean kidnapped?" I said.

"What it says, she's gone and last seen being taken by some man in a blue outfit." Agnes repeated.

"You're her body guard, weren't you supposed to be watching her!?" I began to yell.

"I tried, but she ordered us out for the night, said she wanted to be alone for a bit!" Agnes yelled back.

"Damn!" I cursed. "Where did they head off too?" I asked.

"They headed east from here, I know the road. If we hurry up we'll be able to catch up to them. Saito is using the Robe of the Dragon to catch up faster." I nodded. I ran to the tent where Rob was, he was doing some morning push ups. When he saw the serious look on my face he instantly got up.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"The Queen has been kidnapped. I'm going to go get her but I need a gun. You have any I could borrow?" Rob nodded his head.

"All I can spare is my .45." He said as he dug through his trunk.

"That will work just fine." He handed me an old Military M1911A1 pistol. He always like the .45 caliber round, an the mags he had could put in 8 bullets, not just 7. He gave me it and 3 mags, which I pocketed in my coat pocket. For the record, I'm still wearing my formal dress blues but there was no time to get ready. Agnes lead me to the horses and I hoped on as quick as I could. Right before we exited the gate Walker stopped us.

"Captain, what the hell is going on?" He asked.

"The Queen has been kidnapped and I'm going to go get her." I said in a hurry.

"Hold it, we'll dispatch the Rangers to do a sweep of the area." I waved it off.

"There is no time, we have a lead and if we wait to regroup the tracks will go cold, me and Agnes can handle this sir, trust me." Reluctantly, the Rear Admiral nodded and I was off. I followed right behind Agnes with her Musketeer guards right next to me. Each one of them carried 3 muskets in a bag on the horse and had 3 pistols strapped to their bodies. Agnes had a look of absolute hatred and determination in her eyes as she road to catch up with the kidnapper.

I don't know what it is but I feel as though I have to save the Queen. This goes beyond the fact that she is our main link to the population of this world but there is something else forcing me to do this. Personally, I think I'm over thinking this. I just feel guilty is all, if she hadn't been sad this never would have happened so I can't just let her get taken like this. Or at least, that's what I told myself.

End Chapter 11

OK, I had to do a bit of editing. Thank you too my reviewers for helping me out, I really appreciate it.