A/N If anyone thinks Xapferey would not be able to properly pull this off, let me inform you my audience that in the Stargate universe, the USA and several allied nations were able to fund, supply and conduct a secret galactic war. Build multiple starships and supply a colony in the Pegasus galaxy. It's difficult but doable, and theoretically much easier to do with a monarchy.
1) The IDS prefix refers to Imperial Draconian Ship/Starship
2) Draconia has moved to a dollar and "electronic" monetary system through MIRN or rather MERN (Magical Economy Repository Network) similar to Canada and the US. A dollar is referred to as a gold Dragon, a quarter is a silver Drake, a dime is a copper Wyvern, and a nickel is referred to as a Hydra (Hail? :P). For example 3 Dragons, 2 Drakes and a Wyvern would be essentially 3.65$
Chapter 21: Reactions
2 weeks post Allania conquest
Draconia
New Vancouver
Xapferey's private office
The gold Dragon was sitting at his desk with Jebra, along with one of their highest rated naval Commodores. MIRN had selected this Commodore for a special project series based on her personnel file.
"Since Allania has been removed as a problem, we must turn our attention to other matters, namely the orbit and beyond this world. You all have the necessary clearance for our budding space forces. Now, I have decided to discontinue construction of our primary orbital defense platform and repurpose the materials for these vessels, specifically the one I have listed under Project Sovereign," Xapferey said as he began outlining his plans. "We have sufficient materials to complete the ship and several others, including 3 Defiant-classes. Sovereign will be ready in about 8 years."
"What sort of ship is Sovereign?" Commodore Allaris asked.
"The first of her kind, a true battleship, once the weapons load out is decided."
"May we see the preliminary specifications my lord?" She asked.
"Of course," the image of a Sovereign class ship appeared. "The original ship was classed as a heavy science cruiser. We are removing the emphasis on science in favor of battle capacity."
"So, we borrow the ideas of the Defiance, heavy emphasis on protections, armaments and speed." She scanned through the technical data. "I see 16 phaser arrays and 10 torpedo tubes. A battleship should have much more, but also be larger. Hmm, what if we built it up enough? Say, 4,000 point defense, 160 phaser arrays, 25 and 15 torpedo tubes and 150 phaser cannons?" Allaris asked.
"That would be doable, but to accommodate for the carrier add-ons it would need to be much larger than normal, say 2100 meters long. We could increase the width to 355 meters and the height to 125. With launch bays we could fit 400 Valkyrie class attack fighters and retain a standard launch bay for a squadron of Flyer class heavy fighters," Xapferey agreed. "But we will have 16 shield generators, not 4, and 4 matter/anti-matter reactors and we will include… 20 meters of ablative armor plating."
"It's conceivable, we could maintain 3 squadrons of Flyer class, but we would not be able to launch or recover more than 12 at a time. However it would take 12 years to complete everything," Jebra interjected.
"Then we will focus on this project. How many transphasic torpedoes do we have?" Xapferey asked.
"Only 200, we can make 25 every year with our current manufacturing capacity without sacrificing on other projects my lord."
"Then we will relax our other projects. Only battleships and battlecruisers are to have transphasic torpedo capacity for now. Bring our transphasic stock up to 1500 within 10 years Lord General," Xapferey ordered Jebra, despite the seeming harshness of the order, Jebra understood the emperor's concerns.
"Yes my Emperor, as you command."
"Very well, Commodore, this will be your future ship, I have had you quietly transferred to this project from one of our smaller scouting groups so it will cause minimal disruptions. As far as your former squadron mates are concerned, you are testing a new type of vessel."
"Of course Emperor. About my crew?" Allaris asked
"Some have already been selected, but you will have first pick of them. You do understand that being part carrier means we could supply and carry up to three divisions?"
"Of course, which is part of your plan isn't it My Lord?" She carefully inquired.
"Yes, you will be briefed on several species that I believe could be a future threat, I'd rather be safe than sorry… that will be all for now Commodore, report to your post."
"At once My Lord. Lord General," she said as farewell to Jebra. After Allaris left, Xapferey sighed quietly and shifted gently in his chair.
Jebra now relaxed as the formality departed, leaving two old friends in the room. "From what I can see of the species I've been briefed on, I can see why you want so many torpedoes."
"Yup, even threats like the Borg or Zerg would fear these weapons. I'd rather go nuts on a ship like our Sovereign, than skimp on things they may need or slapdash add-ons like the Imperial class Star Destroyers."
"I agree, having seen several fictional ship designs over the past decade, their hangar bays always struck me as a little haphazard. I can see why you would prefer the Federation's designs...though you are much less idealistic than them."
"This is the real world Jebra, not fiction. We are the authors of our fates here, not players on a stage. Idealism has its place, but not everyone wants to give it its place. Sovereign and ships like her are… put bluntly, for when the shit hits the fan. There's a saying I heard once that I think works well. 'Hope in one hand, shit in the other, and see which one fills up first.'" Jebra laughed in agreement as Xapferey poured them each a goblet of a light wine.
"To think I'll be able to see her in her full glory. I look forwards to it… being able to take to the stars, as easily as our people journey from one town to the next," he marveled while sipping his wine.
"It is a sight to see old friend," Xapferey agreed as the two friends talked for a time before Jebra left for bed; he wasn't getting any younger.
The disguised Dragon grumbled under his breath, he knew the alliance with Flaim and Valis was at risk. Draconia was a superpower on Lodoss and far outstripped the capabilities of any realm out there. Moss was still isolationist after the war, needing time to rebuild. Flaim was a secure trading partner with Draconia; they needed sand from the vast deserts to make glass, exchanging food and planting supplies that were sorely needed by the vast desert kingdom. Valis and Draconia mainly traded in luxury items, such as decorative glass, glass, and runecrafted items.
In the South, Beld was trying to negotiate a contract for Draconia to manufacture the tri-shot crossbows for Marmo's army, promising everything from copies looted from the libraries of Allania's mage school to riches like gold and various gems extracted from Kanon's occupied lands. (Gems were important for certain runecrafted projects as energy storage or transfer conduits; and gold was a very malleable medium for adding runes to objects).
The new Emperor grimaced slightly; if necessary he would seal his borders, or reach southwards to unlikely allies. Actually reaching southwards would likely be a better choice, but that would make his current allies more distrusting of him. Problem was, he had broken from canon long long ago. Holding to the alliances had its advantages, and would allow some lives to be saved. Closer relations with Marmo would lead to faster solutions to certain issues. The next summit was an unusual one, as the 2 kings and 2 emperors of Lodoss were expected. Hardly a surprise as this summit was by mutual agreement to occur within one of the three allied capitals in a rotating fashion. This time it was New Vancouver's turn to host the conference.
His border forces had reported that the Flaim delegation had crossed over and were making their way south to the capitol. The Valis and Marmo delegations were about a day away giving the Dragon time to think. He had to be brutally honest with his allies, as they would demand force parity what with the massive showing he had demonstrated.
The fact of the matter was his type of war was expensive. The only reason he could afford such things was the massive economy structure he had built. Taxes paid for government run operations and the wages of those workers. What with Allania now under Draconia's control, construction, foresting, mining, fishing and farming corporations were signing massive contracts with the Draconia government. Meaning that tens of thousands of jobs had been created. Losing his exports would be a blow to the economy, but an affordable one as those exports such as the runecrafted ones could be funneled to the undeveloped markets of the Allanian provinces.
In all honesty, Xapferey was not looking forwards to this. It would likely mean forcing his nation to be isolated, though he could easily trade with the free lands of Raiden. Moss had declined the invitation, and Raiden was too loose a collection of states to send a proper delegation, hence why he hadn't sent an invitation to them. He tallied up his charts, the costs and requirements of maintaining such an army, not to mention the brutal fact of the matter was the population of his empire; there would never be true parity when he had the means to out produce all of Lodoss.
His forces had paraded through the major Draconian cities after their victory and recruitment had skyrocketed. All told after this last batch had been trained and sent to their various postings, Draconia's armed forces would total 2.5 million men of a population of 9.5 million; including the preemptive estimates of Allania's population. The question for the Dragon remained, what to concede on and where to push back? It was all a matter of perspective, and the Dragon had both the advantage of the short term and long term views of the world.
Private office of Emperor Beld
That same time
Beld laughed as he read the report from his spies in Allan. Three days… in three days, that Dragon had overthrown an ancient country, using an armed force millions strong. Estimates of Beld's spies were at least a million and a half of Draconia's soldiers had taken part in the invasion. With weapons, magical machines and tactics never seen before. That Dragon had shattered the old ways of Lodoss in every way and he could see the friendly relationship between Flaim-Valis-Draconia falling apart. Not completely, there was friendship, but resentment as well. Draconia was far richer and happier a country than even Valis.
Beld could see opportunities here; the rebels in Kanon were causing problems for both him and were starting to spill into the segments of Kanon ruled by Draconia. It had been simpler for him to agree to split Kanon with Draconia, as dictated by the treaty signed in NRC 14. Beld knew if it came to a fight Draconia would crush him. Though from what Beld could tell, the Dragon only acted when his seemingly infinite patience was gone. It had taken about 2 years of Raster's unsuccessful harassments of his borders before Xapferey had unleashed his war machines.
Still, if Beld could get Xapferey to either aid in crushing the rebels or engineer a situation where the Dragon would do so of his own accord it would remove a major thorn from his side and possibly open room for an alliance of sorts. Even if he got outdated tanks and other vehicles from Draconia, ones no match for Draconia's modern forces he would be happy. A closer relationship with Draconia was possible; the former Dark Elf noble Pirotess, now the Archduchess of Draconia had an unattached daughter, but that was a long-term plan as Draconia tended to frown on arranged marriages. Also, Pirotess was not exactly welcome in Dark Elf society at the moment. Mainly because she had fallen in love with and married what was considered a commoner human. The fact that that 'human' was now in his 60's and looking as he did in his late 30's and not a commoner was creating a stir in the Dark Elf society.
Now Xapferey Manaweaver, that was a man Beld could admire; born a human, he'd turned himself into a Dragon for love. However that was not the end of the changes he wrought, he brought protection to his citizens, a charter of rights, a constitution; such things were unheard of and some had seen him as weak. Raster was a prime example of people making the error in thinking the Dragon was weak and easy prey. Beld still shook his head at Raster's stupidity; even when he was unaware of Draconia's full capabilities, Beld was well aware of the humiliation Draconia had dealt to Allan when it was a mere 7500 Draconian soldiers versus 40,000 Allanian.
As such, the Marmo emperor had watched and waited for an opportunity. With a more overt war machine, the Dragon had alienated his old allies. Only Kashue was boisterous enough to try and pick a fight to prove a point, and Fahn was generally a peacemaker unless he had no other option.
The question for Beld was how to make Marmo stronger, and Draconia was the answer. Beld could see it, eventually Draconia would take most if not all of Lodoss within the next century or two, and eventually the citizens or the nobles would give the Dragon a reason to enter, either militarily, or politically. But in the meantime, Beld was going to make the best of the situation.
Private office of King Kashue
Blade, Capital city of Flaim
Kashue couldn't help the shiver that ran down his back as he read over his informants' reports of Allan's invasion. If Flaim had invaded Allan, Kashue was reasonably certain he could overwhelm Raster's forces in a few weeks, provided Raster had ridden out for a direct confrontation and Allan surrendered after his defeat.
However Xapferey had invaded, using a heavily coordinated three-pronged attack. Thanks to that mysterious and marvelous MIRN, all of Draconia's forces were aware of what was occurring simultaneously. That Dragon had forces on all three domains of war known to Lodoss. He had faster, and arguably even better air forces than the Dragon Knights of Moss. That music that had played had added an element of terror to their onslaught of Allan that most armies couldn't even hope to match.
Xapferey… Kashue liked the Dragon that was certain, but the King of Flaim couldn't stop the flash of injured pride. The Dragon had gone from the junior in the alliance, to the most senior in 30 years. The Dragon outstripped all of Lodoss in such short time. His lands were the richest in Lodoss, his population and armies were subject to rules that seemed alien, but well thought out. Creating a Charter of Rights and Freedoms and a Constitution, all to protect the citizens if the government trampled their rights? It was unheard of, but it seemed to work.
What really bothered the King of Flaim was how much he had come to depend on the heavy food imports from Draconia. The Dragon had wanted sand for food. Though he could understand, the Dragon was somehow able to mass-produce sandstone and glass from the sands he exported to them. It was a major blow to Kashue's pride that he needed allies to do what he should have done himself.
Though Kashue was not foolish to outright alienate the Dragon. He knew the alliance with Draconia would not survive this summit, but he would do his utmost to kept the trade and friendship treaties with Draconia. He would settle for a non-aggression pact, as the Dragon reacted in kind to diplomatic overtures.
City of Roïd
Capital of Valis
King Fahn's office
Fahn sighed quietly, after this conference he was stepping down as King of Valis and letting Fianna and Etoh rule. Even with the regenerative powers of the Holy Sword of Valis, Fahn was feeling every one of his 82 years. He shook his head as he pondered what to do about the Dragon. Since his arrival on the political scene as an untested general, Xapferey had been making waves. From the meat grinder that was the fury of the Linebreakers, to the utter humiliation inflicted on Allania, to the now sheer decimation of an entire nation in 3 days.
Xapferey was changing Lodoss and making many nobles in the other countries nervous. This empowering of the citizens that Draconia offered meant that there was a chance of revolt and secession to Draconia. As such, to pacify the Valisian lords, Fahn would be forced to break the alliance with Draconia, in hopes that while not having military access to Allania by easy means, it would slow the spread of their ideas and the change they offered. Fahn would however keep the treaties of friendship, trade and non-aggression intact with Draconia as best he could, as Beld was sure to offer Xapferey favorable deals in exchange for access to these new weapons. The problem was, Draconia and Marmo had been working for years on both sides to maintain positive relations and Beld was forward thinking in terms of war. He would want all Draconia offered in as many ways as he could manage.
Fahn sighed again quietly as he didn't want to imagine the trouble this conference could muster. Still, he readied himself and his retinue for the trip to Draconia well aware that it was likely his last time to see the city of New Vancouver; the previous time was nearly 20 years ago.
Three weeks later
All three rulers were in awe of the massive sprawling metropolis that was New Vancouver. Each had arrived from different directions. Beld had come through the port of New Toronto to avoid the rebels. Kashue had ridden from the north, and through Allan's lands. As such only he got to see the developments that were beginning as roads were being paved alongside temporary guard-posts and inns.
Fahn came from the west, through the mountain pass that ran through the small common border shared with Draconia proper and not the Elf forests. As such the King of Valis had an excellent look at how Draconia had tamed the wilderness and made beautiful roads through and towards highly developed cities and villages. Seeing the high walls around Xapferey's cities bordering Marmo's made Fahn nod in approval as his party continued on.
Beld saw the most modernized parts of Draconia and he watched with awe and glee at the many machines for war moving by either on patrol, or for reassignment to the conquered northern lands. He stared at the civilian machines as more and more improvements to the roadways could be seen under construction; along with a massive towering "roadway" of sorts, but elevated in the sky.
Regardless of what they saw on the road to New Vancouver, nothing could have prepared the three parties for what New Vancouver had become. Each of them stared at the sheer number of people around or in the city as they passed by crowded marketplaces as it was far more than they had ever seen in one place. They could see Elves, Humans and half-Elves living out their lives, and the visiting parties could observe practically every profession or activity being done by the citizens as they passed through the City of New Vancouver to the castle.
As the same time the delegations were making their way to the castle, Xapferey was finishing work and conferencing with his Commodore in space.
"We are actually ahead of schedule My Lord, as we have completed 80% of IDS Kingston and laid the keels for IDS Sovereign and IDS Intrepid per your orders. With the men and resources we have on hand, Kingston will be finished in two weeks. Intrepid will be done in 15 months and 7 years for our Flagship."
"15 months for an Intrepid class Heavy Destroyer? I was under the impression it would have taken years."
"From the information you provided us, it normally would have taken at minimum 3 years, but because of our runecrafted shipyards and aid from Advisor Malika, we were able to shorten the timeframe. We are not recovering from a war, and we have little to do up here besides build the ship. Morale is high up here I can assure you Sire, so we are focusing all our efforts and powers to finishing the ships.
"Good, fighter production is on par with their carriers?"
"Yes Sire, with luck we might even have 2 Intrepid class completed by the end of the year."
"Send me the specs for the Intrepid class tomorrow, I want to look over them again. That will be all Allaris," Xapferey said approvingly.
"Yes My Lord," her image faded from the communicator as Xapferey left to meet his wife and daughter on the balcony overlooking the inner courtyard.
The Dragon and Elf rulers of Draconia watched as the three expected parties began arriving. The banners of Flaim, Valis and Marmo could be seen approaching the sprawling metropolis. Xapferey stood with his wife and daughter on the balcony watching the various parties enter the city. With an unheard sigh, the disguised Dragon led his family down to the courtyard to greet their visitors.
"Welcome back my friends, New Vancouver welcomes you," Xapferey said as he strode forwards to greet the kings of Valis and Flaim. He clasped arms with Kashue and Fahn in a friendly welcome. Turning to the Marmo delegation he smiled; "Emperor Beld, Lord Ashram, welcome and welcome back to New Vancouver, if you would follow me, refreshments and a light spread are available and guest rooms to freshen up if you require it."
"A rest would be most welcome Emperor Xapferey, we can begin the conference in a few hours if that would suit your allies," Beld said looking at Fahn and Kashue.
"Yes Beld, I believe that will do," Fahn said as a pair of butlers each came to assist the visiting parties. With the welcomes kept simple, the guests were shown to their chambers for the duration of the conference. A few hours later, the rulers of the three visiting realms and their chief advisor were sitting in New Vancouver's council chambers alongside the Manaweavers and their heir.
"Gentlemen welcome as we begin the 5th council of the Lodoss Lords," Xapferey stated formally to open the conference. "We have gathered to discuss the current events of Lodoss and their effects on our realm; and I can sense the first agenda to discuss is my armed forces, so let's begin shall we?"
"Indeed, while you were in the right with your invasion of Allania, the means with which you overran them has many concerned."
"And rightly so my old friend," Xapferey agreed to mild surprise. "My tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, naval and air forces were never have been seen before and not to this extent. I've broken force parity as my armed forces outstrip the numbers of all your forces combined. My armed forces alone total two and a half million, your entire populations together come close to that."
"Why do you need such… war machines?"
"That's complicated. See gentlemen, I've never come outright and said it, though most of you either suspect, or have guessed outright that I am a plane-walker… a dimension traveler in other words. Look at the screen there so I can show you elements of my old life."
The other rulers of Lodoss turned to the blank wall to see images from Earth, her largest cities, namely Tokyo, Delhi, and other cities. Pictures of Earth's World War's battlefields where the vehicles he used could be seen. Pictures of farms and everything he had done.
"Certainly impressive what your people have created," Beld grinned.
"Thank you Emperor, but that first city I showed you, Tokyo was and is a massive city. In my realm alone, the population is eight and a half million. That city alone at last check was nearly 15 million. The fact of the matter is, the only way to supply my enormous population is with a motorized industry. The old ways simply wouldn't cut it. My reasons are thus, if I came from Earth, others may develop the opportunity to follow, others who would have no qualms about overrunning and ruining Lodoss simply to make a copper at the expense of others. If they came here looking for a fight, rather than mages and medieval militaries, they would find a force that not only had the advantage of experienced magic users, but an army much like their own. My people went through the same times as Lodoss minus magic about 1,000 years ago."
"Xapferey, I've seen much in my long life, but there are those who feel your actions will destroy Lodoss," Fahn cautioned.
"You mean the traditions of Lord and Peasant or Serf?" Fahn nodded. "My friends, I've found traditions can change and still exist. I am the Head of State, and this is a constitutional monarchy wherein the Rule of Law exists and is respected. Especially by me, if a court finds a law I signed unconstitutional then I respect that and seek legal advice from the Supreme Court of Draconia, and the Justices there at our second highest court in the land. I can enact laws with impunity relying on the Notwithstanding Clause in our charter, but even I cannot nor will not interfere in aspects of our Charter or Constitution without a very good reason. Nor do I make any apologies for my changes; I avoided countless revolutions and saved many innocents from having blood spilled. My economy is booming, my unemployment rate is in low single digits as is the literacy rate. Crime is in single digits and less than 1% of my population are below the poverty line."
"I take it those below this poverty line you speak of live in Allania Emperor Manaweaver?" Ashram spoke.
"Indeed Lord Ashram, the poverty line as a clarification for the council is a metaphorical line measured by those who are above or below a certain yearly earning income. The average yearly earning is 60,000 Dragons, plus or minus 5,000 after taxes. Gentlemen I realize that the old ways are and will die, I just hastened their death, and we are actually ahead of Earth and Canada in some respects, I made it my personal quest to eliminate racism in my countries. It is a personal grievance of mine to treat others as second class citizens or outright interlopers by foolish means that they cannot control such as race, gender or skin color. I can say I have succeeded not completely, but overwhelmingly a success. My sister Pirotess can walk down the streets of any city in my old Kingdom and be welcomed by the people there."
"These are all noble goals and you have my congratulations Xapferey, but there are those who look at Draconia now with outright terror and jealousy," Fahn warned as he had heard a few rumblings among his nobles.
"And I know those nobles are likely pushing for an end of our alliance," the Dragon Emperor guessed earning nods from Kashue and Fahn. "But traditions for simply the sake of traditions would have died anyways my friends, the age of Serf and Lord would have passed in time, t was inevitable, I only hastened its fall. The ultimate fact of the matter is that barring violent death, in a century or millennia I will still be here. Ruling as wisely and for the benfit of the vast majority, I offer stability and an immortal legacy through Malkira and eventually her child. I would have seen these ideals rise one way or another."
"Indeed, many of our nobles have been putting pressure on me to end it. They view your militaries and the implicit military access your forces have as a threat," Fahn held up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "I know your forces would recognize Valis' laws above Draconia's on our lands, but they fear having the same done to them without anything they could do about it. But your point is valid even if I worry what it will mean, as change comes to Lodoss, faster than we could imagine."
"Change is a double edged sword my friends," Xapferey agreed.
"Which is why our formal alliance will need to be dissolved at this council," Kashue agreed with a hint of regret.
"I know," The Dragon agreed. "I take it they were not trying to have our treaties of trade, non-aggression or friendship rescinded?" Xapferey asked getting an amused look from Beld and Ashram at the thought of these nobles aggravating Draconia in some way as Fahn and Kashue shook their heads with their own amused looks.
"They outright demanded Valis keep those treaties intact," Fahn replied with a smile.
"Well at least they are not trying to antagonize us. There is something I want to show that will outright terrify you, it has terrified me ever since I came to Lodoss," Xapferey had the screen play the Zerg assault cinematic intro of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm minus Kerrigan's bits, at the same time Abathur came to sit by his master's chair. After watching then staring at the screen in mute horror for several long minutes Xapferey spoke again. "Because of my familiar summoning, it was easy. There was no struggling, no fighting to bring this single Zergling across dimensional realms as I came, meaning the Zerg Swarm is out there, beyond Forceria itself. If they ever came, I wanted to be ready; and have a force that could meet them in battle and not simply be rolled over by the entirety of the Swarm." At their silence Xapferey called a recess for a few hours. "Emperor Beld, if you and Lord Ashram are still willing? There are some old private matters between Draconia and Marmo that need to be discussed."
Beld shook himself but nodded as the other delegates departed for their chambers without much protest. Turning his attentions to the Black Knight and Marmo Emperor, Xapferey raised an eyebrow at Beld.
"Very well, per the advice of your old Agent Seventh Sister, I had spent the decades carefully filtering out the populace of Marmo loyal to me and Ashram or Wagnard. As your spies probably have been aware, we've been moving people and materials from and too Marmo itself. They are vastly Wagnard loyalists there now. Though his actions have been questionable, I was hoping in the sake of our developing friendship that you might enlighten me to why you dislike him so?" He requested. Xapferey sighed quietly as he clicked something on his controls of the screen to show clips of the Record of Lodoss War anime series on it, including his sacrifice attemps of Deedlit and Little Neese to raise Kardis the Destroyer. "Ah," was al the Marmo Lords had to say.
"Those are not the future, but possibilities, as if I know Wagnard, and I've studied his character in depth. The man is a true nilhilist, and would happily raise the Destroyer, thanks to Abathur, his attempt for Deedlit never took place and it's a good thing too as it would have been disastrous for Marmo/Draconia relations."
"To say the least," Ashram muttered in agreement with Beld nodding alongside.
"I was going to show parts of these to the other two, as I have been manipulating events for the better. You are still alive Emperor Beld, and Lord Ashram would not have left Lodoss to eventually become possessed by a demon and slain by Pirotess or whatever she called herself then. But I am asking for your permission to move against Marmo Island itself if Wganard attempts to kidnap and sacrifice one of my citizens."
"That is a lot to ask Emperor Manaweaver, but considering you would do so anyways, nor would there be any hope of stopping you. In the sake of our growing relations and that it would only be those of like mind being in the path of your wrath, I will agree, I will dispatch a messenger pigeon to make my council aware of this agreement."
"Good," Xapferey smiled as alarms began ringing throughout the city. Guards swarmed into the room bearing the crests of Draconia and Marmo as they moved to protect their rulers. One got the report directly from forces in the city where the alarm was sounded.
"Milord, a group of Marmo spellcasters teleported into the city and began casting harmful spells, they were subdued quickly… but not before High Priestess Leylia Starseeker was injured and her daughter kidnapped. According to facial recognition of MIRN it was Marmo High Priest Wagnard," the trooper glared in the direction of the Marmo Emperor and Lord.
"Emperor Manaweaver, I formally assure you I have had no idea of his activities or plans. I am willing to be questioned under a truth spell to this effect. Secondly I formally allow you to act in any measures you deem necessary to recover your citizen or prevent what you warned me of," Beld assured.
"That's fine Emperor, I'm rather certain you had nothing to do with this. Perhaps we should call this summit to a close in light of this emergency I will speak with both Fahn and Kashue before I depart to handle this." The Marmo Emperor nodded, as he decided that he would return to Kanon to settle the rebel crisis and handle any possible treason among his ranks in the face of this crisis." As Beld was preparing to depart, Xapferey headed to Fahn's chambers where he guessed the two kings would be discussing what Xapferey had showed them. "My friends, I am sorry if I could not solve the issues that have developed between our nations or assure you fully of my intentions. But I will cherish your friendship for as long as I live, and that is an immortality I can assure you both will receive," the two smiled and clasped arms in friendship as the Dragon emperor departed to handle the crises.
It was a happy brief moment for the old friends, but it would be tinged with sadness. As a little under three months from that day, King Fahn of Valis would pass softly in his sleep at the grand age of 83. A day Xapferey would mark with a raised glass of wine in toast to his friend and fellow king for the rest of his eternal life. King Fahn of Valis would never be forgotten by the Draconic Emperor, and he would keep his promise and immortalize his ally in the only way he could.
A/N So, Draconia is friendly with all nations but Moss and Raiden, next chapter ends the Lodoss arc as Warchief and I combine our main stories as the Draconic Emperor takes to the stars.
Sneak peek of chapter 22: "Now time to unlock the most secure security code," Xapferey sighed. "1-7-3-4-6-7-2-1-4-7-6-Charlie-3-2-7-8-9-7-7-7-6-3-Tango-7-3-2-Victor-7-3-1-1-7-1-8-8-8-7-3-2-4-7-6-7-8-9-7-6-4-3-7-6-Unlock." Mentally thanking his Dragon enhanced eidetic memory; the hidden locked cabinet swung open to reveal the project Xapferey had worked on for decades until five were completed. Taking one, he locked the cabinet with the same code and strode off…
Draconia Intrepid class Heavy Destroyer specs:
Length: 400 meters
Width 155 meters
Height: 75 meters
Weapons: 25 type-X phaser arrays, 50 phaser cannons, 9 and 5 assault torpedo tubes, 40 Valkyrie class attack fighters, 3 Delta Flyer class heavy attack fighters.
Protections: 2.1 meters ablative armor plating, ablative armor generator, 6 shield generators.
IDS Defiance (Complete - Defiant class heavy frigate)
IDS Starseeker (Complete -Defiant class heavy frigate)
IDS Sovereign (in progress, 2% complete - Sovereign class heavy battleship)
IDS Intrepid (In progress, 32% complete – Intrepid class heavy destroyer)
IDS Voyager (In progress 15% complete - Intrepid class heavy destroyer)
IDS Orion (In progress 80% complete – Defiant class heavy frigate)
IDS Canada (In progress 75% complete – Defiant class heavy frigate)
