Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale. There will probably be changes in the first hour or so as I proof read it as well.
They'd been getting messages from their people in New Orleans to say that the more dirt they were digging up on Merriweather and Keller, the more trouble John was having with holding back from going after them. As Sarah, Hattie, Chuck, Tom and Hank represented the most experienced people they had after John, they really needed to get back there.
As speed was a priority over stealth in this, Uncle Sam had them allocated a private train that was made up of a nothing but a powerful locomotive with one Pullman's Private car and a baggage car hitched to it to get them back to New Orleans as quickly as possible. This train would stop just short of New Orleans and they'd be met by wagons to take them the rest of the way in.
By noon the next day, Chuck was laughing at the irony of their situation. He and Sarah had been arguing bitterly against taking any risks just the day before, but now they were on a train that was charging over the questionable old Confederate tracks that made up the shortest route back to New Orleans at breakneck speeds.
On the first segment of the trip, down through Virginia and North Carolina where the tracks were better, he knew that they were already setting speed records, as he had been calculating their speed from the mile markers they passed and they were averaging more than sixty miles an hour. But the engineer didn't slacken the pace as they headed down through South Carolina and Georgia and the tracks deteriorated, and the train was rocking so much as it charged through the bends that they thought it was going to leap off the tracks.
Whenever the train stopped for coal and water, they all got off, just to feel solid ground under their feet. The sight of Hattie sprawled on the ground clutching at the grass on one stop made Sarah burst out laughing. They all looked at her, waiting for an explanation, and when she had control of herself again she answered them.
She waved at Hattie and said. "For years, people have been debating just what it would take to frighten Carina Miller, because no matter how dire the situation, she would just laugh it off. They would never have believed that all it would take was a train ride."
Hattie responded heatedly from her position on the ground. "This is not JUST a train ride and you damned well know it! You felt that damned car tilting as we raced through those bends back there as well as I did, and I saw your face, you were scared too Sarah Walker! You were holding onto your big strong husband like a terrified little girl. Don't laugh at me!"
Sarah went to her and knelt down to embrace her, and after a long, whispered apology they hugged and kissed each other on the cheek. Tom came forward to pull Hattie to her feet and embrace her while Chuck did the same with Sarah.
As they stood there, looking at each other, Chuck snorted. "Well, I'm not ashamed to admit that I was scared back there!"
Tom added. "And nor am I!"
Sarah reached out with a smile to grasp Hattie's hand. "Oh, we were all scared all right, and I'm quite certain that that engineer belongs in an insane asylum, it was just that, after everything that Hattie has faced without turning a hair, and just watching some of them terrified me, for it to be a train ride that made her admit to being afraid just struck me as hilarious. I wasn't laughing at Hattie, I was laughing at the situation."
At that moment, the train's whistle tooted, so they quickly made their way to board the carriage, Tom and Chuck hoisting their wives and Adele up onto the observation platform and following close behind. Hank, Weed and the troopers who were still on the ground quickly clambered up as the train started to move.
The train ride was too precipitous for anyone to try cooking anything along the way, so all they'd had to eat was bread and cold meats, but they'd been begging alcohol from the locals at every stop, as what stocks they'd had in their car had been consumed quite early on.
They'd had many more close calls by the time they reached New Orleans, but they did arrive intact. As soon as the train pulled up outside New Orleans, they tossed their bags off and tumbled after them as quickly as they could. That was an experience that they never wished to have again, but the trip was certainly one for the record books, as they'd travelled from Washington to New Orleans, over twelve hundred miles, in less than a day!
John wanted to know why they were all so white, but they just hustled him into the carriage and told the driver to go, waving quickly to the engineer as they passed the locomotive. John looked at them in confusion again and asked. "When did you leave Washington? You must have headed back when you got our first messages to get here so soon!"
Chuck shook his head. "We left less than a day ago!"
John snorted. "Twenty four hours? That's not possible."
Hattie looked him in the eye and snapped. "Why don't you go back to Washington with him" (jabbing a finger back at the loco) "and see for yourself?"
John looked confused now, so he asked Sarah and Tom. "Are they serious? Surely not?"
When the two of them just nodded grimly, he turned to look back at the train in amazement.
They were all still rather subdued when they got into New Orleans. The carriage pulled into Andre's house (as it was his carriage) and they alighted in the courtyard. Andre was waiting for them and Sarah went up to embrace him and kiss him on the cheek, which of course made him ask why she was shaking.
Sarah waved it away, saying. "Oh, we just had a rough train ride Oncle Andre, I will be all right once I go" (waving at the door into Casa Memphis) "and sit down for a bit..." she rubbed her stomach as she added "I could do with something to eat too."
Adele said that she'd go get something ready for her but Andre cut her off.
"Non! You are no better than Bella mon cher. Monique, please have the cook make up something for our guests."
Monique nodded and headed off to the kitchen. Adele went to argue, but Chuck pulled her close to quietly ask her to take Sarah to their room and try to get her to have a lie down until the food was ready. She nodded to him and took Sarah by the arm, leading her into Casa Memphis.
After watching them go in, Chuck nodded to Andre, saying "Merci Oncle Andre, if someone could some and get us when the food is ready, that would be wonderful. Please tell them that there is no hurry." quietly before heading through to Casa Memphis.
Andre looked at John and asked what was wrong with them, but John shook his head, saying that he didn't know, just that they were sprouting a lot of crazy talk about getting there from Washington in less than twenty four hours. "Under twenty four hours, but that is impossible!"
John nodded emphatically but Tom, who'd been collecting their bags from the carriage, slapped something against his chest and headed into Casa Memphis without a word. John looked at the note that had been slapped against his chest and then silently handed it to Andre, stunned.
The note was the last telegraph that he'd sent to them in Washington, less than a day ago. Once Andre had read it, he and John just looked at each other, trying to accept this proof that what they had, and still did, believed was impossible had actually happened.
In Casa Memphis, Chuck ignored questions about the trip and demanded to see what they'd put together while he was up north. He made notes on what he was given, and the recollections that came up as he was going through it, then put it aside for Sarah to go through after she'd had a rest and something to eat as he asked the others what was going on with John.
What came out was that every time John saw Merriweather, he'd start muttering about how he could have rescued Kathleen if that bastard hadn't blocked his every attempt, and every time he saw Keller, the muttering would be about being abandoned (as Keller had been leading the patrol the day that he was shot off his horse and left for dead). They'd also found others there who had been involved in the whole affair.
Chuck had to talk to Sarah about this, but it was obvious that having to deal with this situation and not be able to do anything about it was harming John, so he needed to get away from New Orleans until they'd dealt with Merriweather, Keller and the others. Chuck felt that the obvious way to handle this was to find a reason to send John north, and send Mei along to help him deal with it. He talked to Mei, and she agreed on both points, so he was just waiting on Sarah, and something that they could use as a reason for the trip north.
When Monique came through about forty minutes later to tell them that their food was ready, he went upstairs to get Sarah, Adele, Hattie and Tom. Sarah and Adele were looking so peaceful that he didn't want to wake them, but a decent meal would do them the world of good, so he made himself do it. On the way downstairs, he quietly told Sarah his thoughts on the situation with John, and she agreed with him and Mei.
After eating and thanking Andre for the meal, they all went back upstairs to get some rest, because they hadn't had any with the constant fear of death on that terror ride from Washington.
When they woke, they discussed the plan to get John away from the impossible situation he was in. They had been wracking their brains for a few days, looking for a plausible reason to send John north, when the solution was dropped right in their laps, in the form of a telegram from Uncle Sam.
It turned out that the horse scouts had been keeping tabs on the best offerings for most of the things on Chuck's list, hoping to anticipate the next unusual request that the President sent them. As a result, they were able to put most of them together within days, and the Frisian breeder had in turn pointed one of them to what was probably the best Belgian draft horse breeder in America.
The postscript added to the telegram 'Remember what you asked for with the draft horses' made them wonder what Uncle Sam was talking about, but they sent John and Mei to collect the breeding stock, along with the mares from General Cranston's farm, and take them back to the hacienda.
The note they got from John when he collected the draft horses just said. 'What do you want with these monsters?'
A request for clarification revealed that Goliath, the stallion, stood nineteen hands high and one mare, Bathsheba, stood eighteen and a half hands. The other two mares, Jezebel and Salome, 'only' stood eighteen and a quarter hands high. When they read that that, Sarah and Chuck looked at each other and had to laugh, as they'd certainly gotten what Chuck had asked for (they had no doubt that these horses were just as strong as they were large).
When they'd asked John to go up to get their breeding stock and mares and take them back to the hacienda, they hadn't fooled him for a minute, but he knew as well as anyone that it wasn't healthy to be constantly seething about the two men who had done so much damage to his life, and he appreciated them handling the situation in a way that let him hold his head high. He did try to tell Mei that she didn't need to come, but she shot that idea down in a heartbeat, so they packed their bags and headed off to collect the horses and donkeys.
While they had a strong case against Merriweather and Keller, trying them in court would have tied up the core team for months, not to mention exposing their identities and sabotaging all the other work they were trying to do. They all knew what the most logical solution to the issue was, and also that they'd just sent the best person for the job away because the turmoil of dealing with the situation there was effecting him too much.
Not wanting to act without authorisation (assassinating a currently serving General and Colonel would have significant ramifications), they sent the information they had through to Uncle Sam. They got a telegram back a few days later, directing them to deal with the matter as they saw fit, but do it quickly. There was no question that they were being ordered to get rid of the two as soon as possible, the only question was who was to do it.
When Sarah said that she was the one to do this, it wasn't possible to tell which of Chuck, Ellie and Hattie shouted it down first, as they spoke as one. When Chuck said that he'd do it, they had the same situation with Sarah, Ellie and Hattie shouting him down. Then Ben stepped forward and cut across all the arguments. Ben pointed out that he was the best sniper after John, Sarah and Chuck, so he was the logical one to do this job. His point was valid, but they knew that he didn't want to do this any more than the rest of them did, he was just doing what John so often did, taking the killing on himself to spare the rest of them the burden.
When Chuck stopped to to think about it though, he and Sarah took Ben aside for a quiet word. They let him know that they appreciated him being willing to take this on for them, but thought that John deserved the opportunity to deal with his demons personally. The three of them agreed that Ben would remain as the backup plan, but when they had everything ready to go forward, they'd offer John the chance to deal with Merriweather and Keller himself.
With that, they had to come up with a plan to execute the task in such a way as to ensure that the finger of blame would be pointed at one of the other groups involved in this. Their being invisible to the rest of the players in New Orleans simplified this, as they could slip in to plant evidence without the other side knowing, The evidence would show bribes going to Merriweather and Keller from the political splinter group that they were working with, along with notes that indicated that to do the things that were being asked of them, they were demanding more money.
Information would also be planted about what was to be done, and to and by whom (they wove a web of intrigue and murder whereby Merriweather and Keller were allegedly using killers for hire from the military (others who were working with Merriweather and Keller) to kill off the opposition of certain parties in the political splinter group. Some of their targets were part the splinter group, some were 'legitimate' politicians, while others were parts of the Mafia who had been opposing involvement with the splinter group.
They had every expectation that the assassinations of Merriweather and Keller would kick off a widespread bloodbath of strikes and retaliations throughout the political splinter group, Mafia, and the parts of the military down there that Merriweather had corrupted. They were, however, hoping and expecting that this carnage would be restricted to the corrupt ones, because there was no value in meaningless violence against outsiders as that would only bring more attention down upon them than they wanted.
When Chuck and Sarah laid out their plan for the others, the awed expressions around the room said that this was far more devious than anyone would have expected from them, even by Sarah's old standards, this was a devious plot. When the others had gone, Sarah turned to Chuck and asked.
"Just where did this come from Chuck? This is twisted, far beyond anything I've ever seen before."
Chuck pulled her close with a smile and kissed her. "My Daemon remained in Italy throughout the late fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries because it was embroiled with the Borgia family, Machiavelli and their like. It delighted in the intrigue and mayhem, and decadence, that was prevalent then, and in fact it drove much of it."
"It seemed only fitting to turn those machinations loose on the same type of people, and with any luck it will save us the fruitless battle of trying to take them down through legal means. If they all kill each other, so much the better I say."
She looked up at him with a smile. "Do you remember how you called me devious when I came up with that plan to make Devon propose?"
Chuck nodded, looking puzzled. "Well I've got nothing on you, my husband!"
She went up on tiptoe to kiss his lips and then they went off, arm in arm and laughing, to bed.
On the way, Sarah told him how her Daemon had also gravitated to Italy in the same period for similar reasons, but more for the decadence, so it had witnessed some parts of what happened, though it had missed many of the twists of the plots because it wasn't part of the game.
As soon as they'd fabricated and organised to plant all the evidence, Chuck had wired John fill him in on their plan, and point out that even if he chose not to handle Merriweather and Keller himself they'd need all of their best people there to take advantage of the mayhem that they were confident would follow along from the assassinations.
In John's mind, there was no question of anyone but him doing this and he and Mei were there a week later. By that time they'd planted all the evidence needed to kick off Chuck's plan and they were ready for him. When they were filled in on what was planned for Merriweather and Keller and their associates, Mei and John's reactions differed quite a bit, as Mei looked disturbed by what they were planning while John looked quite impressed. Chuck tried to explain their reasoning to Mei, but John took over from him. One thing that he asked Chuck and Sarah for was the dossiers that had been compiled on all the people involved. He had to go through this anyway to prepare himself for his part in this, so putting Mei's concerns to rest was a side benefit for him.
John did a very good job of showing the justification for what they had planned, calling for the records of the actions and associations of a given person when they came up, and asking Chuck and Sarah to explain how they were connected to each other. By the time they'd finished, Mei was looking as though she was feeling more comfortable with this, and she understood that there was a good reason for it and that the outcome would be better for just about everyone. She also had a good grasp of all the players in the game and how they fit together after it was explained.
With that, John assassinated Merriweather and Keller and they watched the dominoes fall. Chuck's plan played out much as he'd intended. When the various players saw the 'proof' of plots against them, they attacked those they believed had been trying to have them killed. If the attacks succeeded, that took put some of the players and created an opportunity for them to go in and hunt for more evidence, if they failed, their targets would generally attempt to retaliate against those who they believed to have tried to have them killed. They had to finish some of the assassinations themselves, but the other side did that for them in most instances.
The cascading retaliations were actually proving to be even more useful for Chuck's plan, as they removed more players from the field (dealing with them quite effectively and giving the team more opportunities to collect evidence), and they quite often uncovered other players that the team hadn't identified yet.
One thing that Chuck was very pleased to see was that very few people outside of the players in the game were harmed in this orgy of violence and killing that he'd kicked off. That was what he'd been dreading, seeing innocents caught up in the carnage that he'd created, and if that had happened he would have been tortured by guilt. It had played out just the way he'd planned it though, and the attacks had mostly been very precise, using a bullet or a knife (generally a knife), so only the intended targets or their would be assassins were harmed.
By the time the dust settled, the corrupt military, political splinter group and Mafia in the region had been all but crippled by their losses. They had also started a Mafia war as they'd used the same tactics they had against the Tongs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, raiding Mafia locations that had been weakened by the attacks and cleaning out any valuables (they also picked up some wonderful horse stock and nice carriages that way) and information that they could find and leaving the dead with signs that they'd been killed by signature Mafia methods (Zondra was quite helpful here as she apparently started out fighting the Mafia in New York). This in turn led to the Mafia families those locations belonged to attacking other Mafia families who they believed had been trying to take them down while they were weakened.
All in all, the operation was a resounding success, it had removed large numbers of nefarious individuals who would have been all but impossible to remove by legal means (it would have been a protracted, expensive and largely ineffectual exercise which would have both tied up the team for some time and exposed them to the other side), and allowed them to gather a mountain of evidence that would help further the campaign against the larger organisations that the ones in and around New Orleans had been associated with. And the identities of their team had not been compromised. Yes, all in all it was a resounding success!
All this had taken nearly two months to complete, so when Uncle Sam called for them to come to Washington for a debriefing it was decided that Jerry and nineteen of the troopers would take the horses, carriages and the like that they'd taken from the Mafia back to Los Angeles while the others went to Washington. Once their meetings with Uncle Sam were done they would visit with family up on the East coast until the Memphis Belle was completed and then depart on their voyage down around South America and back.
The arrangements were made, and they slipped out of New Orleans by horse, carriage or train to meet up where their trains were being put together. Jerry and the troopers with him would be heading north through Memphis on a train that was made up of a Pullman Hotel car, a few horse cars, a few flat cars and baggage car, taking their spoils back to Los Angeles while the rest of the party would be heading east through Mobile on their way to Washington on a train that had their Pullman Hotel cars attached to it. This time they would be taking over three days to cover the same distance that they'd done in less than a day in their mad dash to New Orleans.
When they saw Uncle Sam, the first thing that Hattie asked was whether that lunatic train engineer had been locked away yet? (Obviously, she wasn't prepared to forgive and forget for that train trip that had all but scared the life out of her.) Uncle Sam chuckled and shook his head, saying.
"Not at all. Thomas is the best train engineer that I know of, and the fact that he managed to keep the train on the tracks on that trip of your's proved that. Now I will admit that he may have been over zealous on that trip and gave you a bit of a scare but in his defence, I did charge him with getting you back to New Orleans as quickly as possible even if he did, perhaps, take his orders too literally."
Hattie fumed at that, but wasn't quite ready to speak her mind to the President, no-one but Sarah was likely to get away with that. They spent the next few hours talking through the reasoning behind the operation in New Orleans, and what had come out of it. By the end of it, Uncle Sam was shaking his head at the twisted plot and the results that it had reaped, saying.
"I know that I ordered you to handle the situation as you saw fit, but I could never have expected anything like this!"
He looked at Sarah. "However did you come up with such a tangled web of deceptions?"
Sarah smiled as she shook her head. "Oh it wasn't me Uncle Sam, it was all Chuck."
That statement had everyone in the room staring at Chuck in shock, because they'd ALL presumed that this devious plot had come from Sarah, their spy and femme fatale extraordinaire. As everyone in the room was in on the Daemons' secret, and most of them were well educated, Chuck just explained as he had to Sarah, that his Daemon had been behind much of the Borgias' and Machiavelli's twisted machinations in Renaissance Italy, so he had the road maps for creating a web like this in his memories.
Uncle Sam agreed that it had certainly been most effective and added that, as they'd provided enough material to keep the Secret Service, Marshals, and the rest of the forces at his disposal occupied for quite a while, they were free to go back to Los Angeles and build their empire there for a while, with his thanks.
Chuck and Sarah looked at each other, and he nodded for her to respond to Uncle Sam. "Well, actually Uncle Sam, we're planning on heading off on a voyage."
"Voyage, what do you mean? Are you going to Europe?"
"No Uncle Sam. Do you remember how Chuck mentioned that he wanted to go on the maiden voyage of the Memphis Belle so that he could pick up extra breeding stock for us in South America?" (Uncle Sam nodded) "Well the Memphis Belle is the boat he, with Scottie and Tom's father, designed for us to get to and from the hacienda better. It will also take us to San Francisco quite easily, so we won't have to rely on chartering steamers when you call for us, with all the exposure that that entails. The Memphis Belle's been being built since we were here last time, and she's almost finished, so we're all going to go on her maiden voyage down around South America."
Uncle Sam stared at her, a little shocked, and slapped his palm to his forehead as he remembered that he'd been too caught up with that matter of Chuck, with the font of information that they relied on in his head, running right through the middle of a gun battle to think to ask about this ship that they were talking about, and it had entirely slipped his mind afterwards.
Now that he recalled the discussion, he turned to Tom. "Major Paterson, is this 'boat' truly safe? What can you tell me about it?"
Tom nodded. "Yes Sir, nothing can ever be guaranteed of course, but my father and Scottie have been overseeing the construction of the ship's hull, and Scottie and his team have built the boilers and engines to his and Chuck's specifications. They will be the ship's master and ship's engineer, and they have more confidence in her now than they did at the start, when they just had the designs to base their opinions on. As for what the Memphis Belle is, she's a hundred and fifty five foot long ship of a new design that they all agree is quite seaworthy. Her boilers and engines are also a new design, but Scottie has assured us that they will be fine and that's as good as a guarantee as you can get in engineering."
Uncle Sam nodded again, feeling a little more comfortable with the idea of his two critical fonts of information (not to mention his ward and her unborn babe) sailing off on this ship, boat or whatever they wanted to call it. With that out of the way, his expression turned thoughtful. Sarah and Chuck caught that and looked at each other, waiting for the request that they knew was about to come.
"Would you be able to look into a few things for me while you're down there? We have questions about our relations with some of the countries down there, so it would be a great help if you could get a good read on the situation and what they're up to for us."
Chuck looked at him and asked coolly "Are you telling us that you want us to go into and investigate possibly hostile countries in South America for you Mister President?" Uncle Sam winced when he said that, as Charles only called him that when he wasn't happy with him, and he was also highlighting the risk that he was putting them into.
Uncle Sam sighed. "I suppose I am Charles, I don't want to put the two of you, any of you, at risk, but we really do need to know which direction these countries will jump if anything happens."
Chuck looked at Sarah, leaving the decision up to her. He could see that she didn't want to do this, any more than he did, but after deliberating for a while, she sighed and nodded. "All right Uncle Sam, we'll do it."
There was silence after that, but after deliberating on something for a few minutes, Chuck gave Uncle Sam a very hard look and started speaking. "If we're doing this, I need you to get us fifty thousand rounds of Forty Six Forty ammunition, a hundred thousand rounds of Forty Six Eighty ammunition, six thousand rounds of the most powerful Two and a Quarter Inch, Six Pound self contained exploding cannon shells, four thousand rounds of the most powerful self contained Three Inch, Fifteen Pound exploding shells, a thousand rounds of the most powerful self contained Four Inch, Thirty Five Pound exploding shells and a thousand rounds of the most powerful self contained Five and a Half Inch, Sixty Pound exploding shells made up as fast as possible, and get me immediate access to a tenth as much of each of those cannon shells and an armoury that has the capability of producing both cannons and Gatling guns in steel. And while we're at it, I'll need another thirty cutlasses made up to my patterns. Memphis Trading will cover the costs of the ammunition so you won't need to justify the funding."
The President bristled at being ordered like this and growled. "Would you care to explain just why you believe that you need enough ordinance to start a war and access to an armoury Mister Barton?"
Chuck looked him in the eye, not backing down an inch. "If you're going to send us into potentially hostile countries to do what could be well construed by them as an act of war, I'm going to do what I can to try and give us the fire power we may well need to get us out of whatever situations that may arise as a result of that. SIR!"
"That will mean making up Gatling guns and Six Pound cannons for close quarters engagements, along with other Six, Fifteen, Thirty Five and Sixty Pound cannons to be mounted on the Memphis Belle to cover our escape if needed."
Uncle Sam deflated at that, as he realised that Charles was right, what he was asking of them could very well result in armed confrontations. He wanted to withdraw his request, but this was much like the first time he'd sent them to New Orleans, he had to know which way things would go down there in the event of conflicts if he was to make the necessary plans, and only these people in his office had any real chance of getting him that intelligence. He sighed again and called for the people from the War Department that he'd need to organise this.
The others were just staring at Chuck throughout this. Sarah, John, Tom, Sam and Uncle Sam had all seen Chuck like this before, but they'd never expected to see it again. For the rest though, watching him ordering the President about like that…. Well for all the family connection via Sarah, they were expecting to be hauled off to prison, if not worse.
Sarah and Ellie had faith that Chuck knew what he was doing and John, Tom and Sam had seen him make the President back down before when he felt this strongly about something. Even so, they were all worried about what was going to happen here, and were surprised to see that Chuck got exactly what he demanded from the President.
While they were waiting, Chuck pulled out a set of the drawings for the Memphis Belle and her ship's boats (he'd brought them along to help convince Uncle Sam that the Belle was safe) and quickly marked up the mounting points and storage locations for Gatling guns and Six, Fifteen, Thirty Five and Sixty Pounders (taking into account the range of the derricks that they'd added to the Belle, to ensure that they could be used effectively to lift the bigger guns into position) and their ammunition. He also changed the specifications for the elevators in the fore and aft turrets.
He included precise specifications for how the mounting points were to be constructed and reinforced. As soon as they were done in Uncle Sam's office, he sent these off to Pittsburgh with Tom to get Joseph to ensure that these modifications were done before the Memphis Belle was launched, because many of them required structural changes to the Belle. He knew that Tom would explain what happened to his father and Joseph would understand what was being added to the Belle. He was also banking on Joseph knowing where to find the necessary additions to her crew to effectively use what was being added.
When the War Department people arrived, the President started barking out orders, quickly overriding any and all arguments and questions and ordering full compliance with Colonel Barton's requirements.
Before they left Uncle Sam's office, Chuck begged Sarah to reconsider coming on this voyage (knowing full well that he was wasting his breath) and asked her to try and get as many of the group as she could to sit out it out. He also asked her to get the troopers who'd gone to Los Angeles back across to the east coast as soon as possible, as they may well need them on this adventure now.
Sarah told him that she'd do what she could with the others, then she'd join him up at the armoury. When he opened his mouth to object, she stilled him with a look that brooked no argument.
Once he'd given in, she told him about and drew up some new designs for revolving cannons and new breech loading and recoil reducing mechanisms that some of her Daemon's victims had been looking into. The revolving cannons, recoil reducing mechanisms and the gun mounts that they would require meant that amendments had to be made to the specifications for the mounting points and storage locations on the plans before he sent them off with Tom, because they changed the size and weight of the guns, but the advantage they gave meant that he would most definitely be using them. He also multiplied all his cannon shell requirements and storage by one and a half to cater for the expected increases in the fire rates of the guns.
With a goodbye kiss, Chuck took John, Moses, Ezra, Boris and Rick, plus a few of the other men and went off to build weapons of war while Sarah went to handle everything else.
A/N: If anyone wants images for the ones going with Chuck, Moses is Mr Colt, Ezra is Dwayne Johnson and Boris is a young fit Dolph Lundgren. ;^)
