(AN: So here is the last part of Road Back, it's a lot shorter than I would like, but I've been suffering from a massive writer's block this week. Thanks to AznMagicman for weapon suggestions, this chapter primarily will set the stage for the coming war with the Reconquista.)
"Colonel Konrad requests your presence in the palace; it is of an urgent nature."
Tebby looked up at the blonde knight.
"Did he say what it was about, ma'am?"
She shook her head.
"No, only that he asked that Corporal Tebby bring his 'shoot-gun', whatever that it."
The corporal wiped grease off his hands with a rag and smiled.
"I think he meant 'shotgun', and yes I can bring that."
He went over to the metal box welded to the floor of the chopper, which served as their armory. As Tebby performed this task, Agnès turned to the young sniper and blushed.
"I-I am sorry for attacking you earlier, sir. It was a mistake on my part."
The sniper shook his head.
"It's no big deal, ma'am. Fog of war and all that."
Agnès looked puzzled. He sighed.
"It means I forgive you, no harm no foul."
She nodded, but was still flushed.
"Could I ask you something, sir?"
"Sure."
"What is your name?"
He paused, and saw Tebby looking at him.
"It's Walker, ma'am, Alex Walker."
A small smile crept across her face.
"Please call me Agnès, I am not your superior."
Tebby grinned as approached with his trusty W1300 shotgun.
"Alright, if you two lovebirds can stop the awkward flirting for a minute, I have the 'shoot-gun'. Ma'am, go ahead and lead the way."
Both the sniper and the knight blushed, and any angry retort Alex was going to say was cut off by Agnès briskly marching off in the direction of the palace.
"I wish to voice my objections to this, with respect, your highness."
Princess Henrietta stopped her discourse with Konrad and looked over to the interrupter. General du Poitiers was an older distinguished-looking noble wearing a highly ornate armored breastplate and gorget over his uniform, topped off with an ermine cape.
"And why would that be, General?"
"Whilst I understand the need to utilize whatever means we have at our disposal, it seems cowardly to use ranged weapons. It takes the valor and honor away from the battlefield and turns it into a massacre."
Before the princess could reply it was Konrad that spoke.
"With all due respect general, we face a numerically superior foe that will not let things like honor and valor get in the way of victory."
Henrietta nodded.
"I can appreciate what you say, General. I have not entertained these thoughts lightly. I have seen what these weapons can do firsthand, and I shudder to think the kind of a world were such weapons are commonplace. But I have a responsibility to look after my kingdom, and if utilizing these destructive weapons means saving lives of my subjects then so be it."
The door to the princess's war room opened, and Agnès entered followed by the other two soldiers. The female knight bowed.
"Your highness, Colonel Konrad, here are the soldiers you requested."
Konrad nodded.
"The princess speaks wisdom, but there is a minor problem. The weapons you have seen us use, such as the miniguns on our airship or the portable machinegun that Sir Crosby wields have very intricate workings."
He motioned over to Bowles, who was standing at attention behind him.
"Lieutenant, may I see your weapon?"
Bowles nodded, and crisply removed his M9 from its holster on his belt and offered it to his CO. Konrad accepted it, ejected the magazine and pulled the slide back into a locked position. He then handed the unloaded weapon to Henrietta, who looked it over with undisguised interest.
"Your highness, this is an M9 semiautomatic handgun. It is a personal defense weapon of soldiers that were under my command in the 33rd. It is a less-sophisticated cousin to the machineguns whose power you have witnessed."
She looked up from the handgun to Konrad.
"That object you removed from its underside, that is where the projectiles are stored?"
"Yes, your highness. Unlike your muskets these weapons fire bullets."
He held one of the 9mm bullets up between his thumb and forefinger.
"These bullets have a self-contained explosive charge within the cylindrical cartridge behind the actual projectile; this combined with the primer allows the bullet to travel at much higher speeds."
He took the handgun back from the princess.
"Combined with rifling within the barrel of the weapon, the semiautomatic handgun has greater range and accuracy than a musket. However, it is also more complex. It uses a very intricate mechanism for chambering each round, one that with the tools and materials available in this world would make it next to impossible to reproduce in the quantities necessary for the war effort."
He put the magazine back into the M9, cocked it and handed it back to Bowles. The colonel looked over to Tebby.
"Corporal, may I see your weapon?"
Tebby handed Konrad his shotgun. Konrad racked the slide, until all eight shells had been ejected, and handed it to the princess.
"This is a shotgun, it uses the same principle as the handgun, insofar as it the firing principle. However, each cartridge or shell is manually chambered by this pump action. It's simple enough to where I think I could reverse engineer it and make a copy of it."
Henrietta examined the shotgun with its sawed off barrel and pistol grip wrapped in duct tape.
"So this weapon is something you could make?"
Konrad nodded.
"I think I can have a prototype within a couple of weeks. We will have to muster every smithy in the kingdom to produce them en mass before the Reconquista makes its move."
He was interrupted by loud voices outside and the door being kicked open. Sgt. Crosby rushed in, reeking of smoke, carrying Louise. The pinkette was covered in soot, barely conscious and coughing. Sgt. Lugo came in after the Zulu Squad soldier carrying Saito, who was unconscious.
"I need a medic or a healer stat!" Crosby shouted.
Henrietta immediately sent her knight to seek out a healer. Konrad helped Crosby set the pinkette down onto a couch.
"What happened, Crosby?"
The old soldier shook his head.
"The Reconquista happened, sir. Sir Percival, the noble we met at the festival, was in your shop when we arrived. He tried to persuade me to switch sides and join his cause. When I refused he seemed understanding. But shortly after that someone threw some sort of Molotov cocktail into your shop."
"How did you escape?"
"Someone, I suspect Sir Percival, left a ladder by the attic window."
Crosby looked down at Louise.
"If it wasn't there we might not have all gotten out of there alive."
Henrietta arrived with healers in tow.
"See to these young ones, please!"
While the healers were busy helping the two teenagers, Konrad spoke.
"Were you able to salvage anything?"
Crosby shook his head.
"Lugo was able to save your metal footlocker and your medals display case. Other than that everything else was torched."
Konrad looked down at the display case, and picked it up.
"I guess that makes short work of my blacksmithing career."
Henrietta approached bowed her head.
"I am sorry for dragging you into this, Mr. Konrad. If not for me you would not have lost your wagon, your shop or your livelihood."
He gave a reassuring smile.
"It's alright, your highness. War is hell and a dirty business, and bad things happen. I am just grateful not to have lost any men in the process."
The princess placed a hand on his arm.
"I have several blacksmiths on staff at the palace here, you are welcome to stay."
"I appreciate that, your highness."
He nodded over to Crosby, who was busy fussing over Louise and Saito.
"From what I'm told the Academy of Magic is already getting pretty crowded."
(AN: And I feel bad since this is such a short chapter. I had churned out like 3/4's of this chapter, but by Wednesday I was hit by the aforementioned block. And it doesn't help that the knucklehead whom I bought the FOZ seasons from is taking his sweet time getting them to me. Not to worry, though, I have the next chapter stubbed out and should have it done by Monday or Tuesday at the latest!)
