- Chapter 72 -

Tony stood next to his small forge in his foundry and smithing workshop. The forge was built into the center of the back wall. Off to the side was his anvil. Bins for raw ore, ingots, alloying materials, as well as shelves for his tools, some molds and anything else he needed lined the walls. He had a white, sleeveless undershirt on. Below the shirt was his normal jeans, leather belt and sneakers. The intense heat of the forge sent sweat running down his skin. The dark goggles over his eyes kept the intense heat and sweat out of them. In the tongs in his hand were the new metal traces for his satellites' solar panels. The panels were based on the star sails that the Elder Realms used. However, this was an experimental build. He hoped that by coating the traces with the crystal solution just after they came out of the forge, it would help harden the crystal more evenly.

In front of the wall by the door to the room was a large holographic screen. It was projected down from the ceiling. An image of Earth with his seventh chain of telecom satellites moving around it was displayed on it. Jarvis was aligning it with the other chains. A small button with 'Initiate' flashed near the screen's bottom. The numbers 88%, 100% and 98% sat just below the button in small red print.

.-.-.-.

Arching an eyebrow then, Frey looked at the screen. He leaned forward to rest his forearms on the table. The small sails that Anthony's devices were sporting were easily recognizable. Every ship in his fleet had them. He was surprised to see them on a Midgardian device. He didn't know why Anthony had them. They were far too powerful for any Midgardian device. Loki gave him these. She must have. Frey smiled at that. Loki loved to support of husband's craftsmanship. She was quite proud of him.

It was with a distinct displeasure that Odin looked at the image of the Midgardian device. It had a blunt, long, rectangular, body with wires and other smaller boxes on it here and there. It was the wing-like appendages on the back of it that were displeasing him. They were clearly star sails. This was something else that no Midgardian should have. He turned to look over his shoulder at Frey who looked mildly amused. This wasn't amusing. "Did you give him star sails?" he asked quietly, a sour tone in his voice.

"No, Loki probably did," Frey replied quietly. Odin's sour tone amused him as well.

"Why would Loki give him these?" Frigga asked. "What could a Midgardian do with them?"

"Anthony is a Master Craftsman of Midgard and an armor smith. It wouldn't surprise me if she gave them to him to support his craftsmanship," Frey responded.

That wasn't an answer Frigga liked. Why Loki gave a Midgardian star sails was a curiosity. Midgardian craftsmen weren't up to the standards of the Elder Realms. 'Supporting' one of them would require doing it all for them. They weren't intelligent enough to work with the Elder Realms' tools.

"Do you mind if I ask what star sails are, sir?" Bruce turned to ask King Frey. The satellite's wings looked like a thinner, more flexible type of solar panel.

For a moment Frey looked over the mortal before answering. He saw no harm in answering the curious mortal. "They collect the light of the stars and both condense it down into power for ships to use or use it themselves to propel a ship short distances through the void."

"Solar Sails," Bruce looked at the solar panel looking wings on the satellites. "Real Solar Sails. Wow. Thank you, sir." He knew that the applications of solar energy were wide ranging, he just didn't know it could power and propel something as large as a spaceship.

Using the camera on his phone Director Fury discreetly took a picture of the satellites' wings. They looked like odd solar panels, but still made him smile. If it was in orbit, then SHIELD could retrieve it. They're powerful enough for spaceships. We definitely need that, he thought. He knew all about Stark Industries getting into the telecommunications business. The Stark phone was now standard issue for every SHIELD agent, along with the Glock 19 and security badges. He smirked some as he looked down at his phone. It was one of Stark's phones. Director Fury didn't worry about the phones like he did about the rest of Stark's tech. The phones were better than the rest of their competitors, but they were still just phones. The designs were thoroughly dissected by SHIELD personnel before they became standard issue. The satellites were something they hadn't looked into. He would never have guessed they were so important. They looked ordinary.

On seeing Director Fury's smile McCorrmick shook his head slightly. These things were nothing to smile about. What Stark could call down with them had never been seen before. Were he to call it down, it would never be seen again.

They're part Asgardian? Pepper looked over at the image of the satellites. They were another project she took the time to personally oversee hoping to work closer with Tony. They were supposed to give Stark Industries the worldwide coverage it needed to be competitive in the telecommunications industry. Tony was always insistent on having that worldwide coverage. He kept putting more and more satellites into orbit so that he could have it. The Stark Industries engineers assured her that they already had enough satellites. Tony still wasn't satisfied. She almost smiled when she remembered him telling her that he wanted to be able to reach the bases in Antarctica. Pepper laughed and asked him why he wanted to call the penguins.

.-.-.-.

As the metal turned white he pulled it out of the heat to take it over to the small bench where he had the compressed-air spray gun. It was filled with the liquid crystal solution. Tony sprayed the white-hot metal down, coating both sides cleanly. Once he was satisfied with the coating he took the metal back over to the forge. It was held in the heat for just long enough to harden the exterior of the crystal coating before pulling it out again. Afterwards the metal traces were set on his anvil to cool. Quenching them in cool water caused the crystal to crack, so he was trying other methods.

Pushing the goggles up onto his forehead, Tony looked over the cooling crystal-coated metal. He smiled as he watched the crystal harden. It was helping the metal cool faster by transferring the heat into the anvil. "Beautiful," he muttered. A small beeping behind him drew his attention to the holoscreen. 'Alignment complete' flashed at the bottom of the screen. The seventh chain of satellites was aligned with the other six chains. They would all work together.

"This isn't necessary, sir," Jarvis said quietly.

"Yes, it is," Tony said somewhat offhandedly before he frowned. He didn't feel like having this discussion again.

"The satellites have enough power with the existing sails. There's no need for additional power," Jarvis replied.

"I want them to move faster, J. You know that," Tony reminded him. "They don't have enough power yet. I need to keep working on them until I can increase their base output by at least four hundred percent. I'm almost there."

"You don't want to do this, sir," Jarvis reminded him quietly, because he and his creator had enough discussions about ethics for his creator's opinion to have been observed and recorded.

"No, but I still have work to do. It's going to get done," Tony turned back to the traces sitting on his anvil. It was time to put together another test sail.

"Sir, you didn't ..." Jarvis began his oldest objection.

.-.-.-.

The screen displayed an 'End of Reconstruction' message then. The young corporal closed the message down. "That concludes this file. The next file is complete," he said. He worried then because he could see that the Director didn't understand what he was seeing. Telling the emmika what they needed to know seemed like the most honorable course of action. They were all in danger. None of them knew it. It seemed dishonorable but there was nothing else McCorrmick could do besides show them. At least the song being sung by Thor's hammer was calming if nothing else.

Another small spike of pain lanced through McCorrmick's head before he heard Skuld's voice whispering through his thoughts. In the seeing of this is their punishment, my Truthkeeper.

A growing exasperation caused Odin to raise an eyebrow at the screen. Stark clearly didn't know what he was tinkering with if he thought that he was going to be the one to increase the amount of power that the sails produced, or if he thought that they couldn't produce enough power for some little Midgardian device. He hasn't an idea of what it is he's playing with. Odin's displeasure grew as he decided that they were going to have to be removed from Stark's possession. Even if Stark didn't know how to properly use them they still couldn't be left in Midgardian hands. Other Midgardians might be harmed if he failed to act. Once he returned home then he would send a ship to collect them. One of his scout ships ought to be enough. It was something he could easily remove without having to worry about going against Loki.

Once again Frigga frowned at the screen. Stark obviously didn't know what he was dealing with. Loki gave him something that he clearly couldn't use. All he was going to do with those was hurt himself. Did you bully these from Loki as well?

Anthony looked very much like Brokkr at work. Frey smiled as he watched his nephew-by-law working, He thought that maybe he should speak with Loki about introducing the two of them. Anthony obviously didn't understand the power he was playing with. A single Star Sail was more than powerful enough for some odd Midgardian device. Using four of them on any Midgardian device was ridiculously excessive. The odd machine couldn't make use of so much power. Anthony was still trying, despite not knowing what he was doing. A little smirk crossed Frey's lips. Meeting Brokkr might do well for Anthony. Brokkr had much to teach, and he knew that Anthony would enjoy learning from a master dwarf. Frey always enjoyed the mead his dear friend kept chilled in his workshop. It would be a pleasant visit for everyone.