Chapter 49: Air & Sea Rescue
The valley of the ruby paragon used to have a lot of trees, but most had been cut down to create a nesting barn for the gryphons.
"As you can see, they are arriving now," said Sidabor off-screen. The round screen showed the vision of Dragon Frost descending from the clouds, his feet clutching a net full of thickly wrapped and padded eggs. A large net of leather strips awaited the eggs he was readying to drop.
More people crowded into the room.
"Irdal, is it ready?" asked Curtis. Irdal checked the back supports of the white-painted board she and Talvas had hastily made and set up.
"It's good," she pronounced and came quickly to Curtis's side and took the mirror/phone from him. She tapped the gemstones, set up the projection function and aimed the face of the unit at the whiteboard. Now everyone could comfortably see what was happening.
Frosty swooped, hovering as low as possible, and dropped his burden ten feet into the waiting net. The carry net opened and released a dozen gryphon eggs from prized lines of the Isles entrusted to Tusair Stormwatch to be raised in Skyrim.
Ex-Captain Tusair Stormwatch of the Dominion Gryphon knights was someone Curtis had met over a year ago at Arcwind Point in The Rift. The knight had been the reluctant commander of the unit sent to Skyrim to raid a tomb. No one had told him about shouting draugr, and the Thalmor officers he was forced to obey didn't tell him Skyrim's undead were so dangerous.
Predictably, the mission had failed, and he'd been deathly wounded. However, he was granted a miracle. The aldarch of a healing monastery he'd long ago saved from a Thalmor execution squad had a vision of his imminent death and sent help. By the time Curtis and his group had arrived, Tusair was hours from his death. In the end, only three others in his unit survived this mission. Two had begged and were granted sanctuary from the Stormcloak King. Tusair and another had family in Summerset they wanted to return to, so they were traded to General Tullius, who turned them over to Lady Elenwen. Tusair's reputation before coming to Skyrim had been faultless, and he successfully argued the mission's failure rested on the Justiciar in command. This Justiciar, he stated, underestimated the dangers and failed to inform Tusair of the most basic facts about Skyrim's tombs and draugrs. Justiciar Ondolemar was already in disfavor with Elenwen, and the argument was successful. Tusair and his subordinate were held not at fault and allowed an honorable discharge from the Dominion air force so long as they kept silent about this whole fiasco.
As if it never happened. The taste of that in his mouth was foul. How was he supposed to look in the faces of the families and friends of the dead and say he couldn't tell them how or why their loved ones died because the whole mission never happened?
Then a Bosmer scholar visited Gryphon Aerie, stopping at the feed store where Tusair worked after his forced retirement from the air force. He said his name was Gelebros.
The Bosmer knew all about the Arcwind mission. He knew about Thalmor Command's plans for experimental breeding with the gryphons to force more majicka into their creation to outfly and outmaneuver Dragons. Hundreds of gryphons would be sacrificed just in the initial experiments.
Tusair didn't need proof from him; he already knew of families under pressure or arrested for defiance.
The deal the Bosmer forwarded was if Tusair could provide air support for a raid to rescue the imprisoned nobility of Firsthold, then a new home would be provided in Skyrim for gryphons, their riders, and the immediate family of the riders. It would also mean cutting off all contact with Summerset. It was a mad gamble. There was no information if the new home would be suitable. As for who was promising this deal, the Bosmer invoked Curtis's name and House Felix. Tusair had learned after his return to Summerset that Curtis was a Dwemer specialist of Winterhold College. He was also responsible for the disappearance of a Justiciar and the ship and marines of his command. House Felix, a house of merchants and entrepreneurs, were enemies of the Dominion and the family of the next Emperor.
Once the eggs had been removed from the net, Frosty swooped down again. This time it was to let Tusair jump off his back. Tusair curled into a ball and bounced a few times. One of the Dwemer used telekinesis to bring him off the net and to the ground.
"Eggs and advisor have arrived safely and intact. Stage Two of Operation Kitty-Hawk completed," stated Sidabor. "I've already spoken with Master Tolfdir at Winterhold. The gryphons and riders have arrived safely and are resting atop the archimage's quarters. Jalen reports he has completed the guidance and tracking devices; a private courier should deliver the units the day after tomorrow. If things go well, even with the winter storm front moving along the northern coast, they should arrive here in three to four days to complete Stage Three.
"The families of the riders have not yet arrived at Winterhold but are expected tomorrow morning. As arranged, they will stay in Winterhold for a week until the SS Pearl arrives to take them to Solitude."
"Any further instructions, ser?"
"No. I know you've got things locked down," said Curtis. "But check in same time tomorrow; I'll probably have other ideas to run past you."
"Gods. Nations would go to war for such devices," said Alveru.
"Yeah, we know. All the units have a self-destruct function if anybody tries to take it apart."
"Can it kill anyone who tries to mess with it?"
"Nope. But you can get a nasty burn if you're holding it while it goes into meltdown."
"How—"
Neloth, passing by, slapped the back of Alveru's head. "Shut up. Don't pry into anything he hasn't volunteered to talk about."
"Yes, ser," Alveru mumbled.
"And you. You should be more discreet about your power and devices. You put yourself at unnecessary risk of exposure."
"Um, yeah. Right," Curtis said humbly, ducking in case the irate wizard tried to strike him also.
X—X—X—X—X—X—X
He stood knee-deep in the water, staring at the towers of Nchardak. Curtis had vague memories from Dumac's long-ago one-time visit to the city. The battle between two dragonpriests had ripped up Solstheim and sank the land bridge to mainland Skyrim. The devastation in the Dwemer towns and cities was horrible. Dumac had come with emergency supplies, two medical units, and three construction battalions. He remembered awe at the insane logic of flooding one's own city to deter invaders. He still felt that same awe. Those systems still functioned despite soaking in seawater for thousands of years.
Irdal, Severus, and the Adrevanni brothers had ventured into the ruins a week ago because Irdal wanted to take a quick look around her old home. She'd salvaged some items to add underwater functionality to their armor to become atmospheric diving suits (ADS) good to at least fifty meters underwater. Anything past that and water would start leaking in. Eighty meters maximum for land armor retrofitted for diving is as far as she could guarantee her work. A true ADS armor could go to one hundred fifty meters. She claimed a purpose-built deep dive suit (which, honest-to-gods, looked like a glass lobster from her sketches) could go to one thousand meters. Those should be stored in the lower levels, which they would be trying to access today.
He'd be happy with just two or three retrofitted centurion suits for the Winterhold Shoreline Project. Excavation of the old city was getting dangerous. Most of the exposed ruins had been searched and cleared. Digging deeper was getting too hazardous for the Argonian workers with minimal safety equipment and measures. Working in an active earthquake zone would be marginally safer than in a place subjected to pressure and mass movement of tides. And trying to compensate with non-Argonian workers had its own cost and toll on workers' long-term health. Drugs and magic could only do so much.
And, if one looked objectively, Winterhold was doing fine as a college town, rebuilding its wealth and influence in the new generation of master crafters. Digging for gold in the old ruins was returning less profit for the increasing effort and dangers.
But did he really want to bring Dwemer tech into this? It would only garner more unwanted attention.
Fuck all that. He just wanted a lobster suit, his own personal bathyscaphe, because it was cool.
The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake. You dream about going up there, but that is a big mistake! Just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor. Such wonderfuls things surround — what more is you lookin' for?
Under the sea, under the sea…
Most of the population of Raven Rock were lining the docks to watch the Ash Runner from Port Velothi float to the dock. The ore ship floated remarkably well even after a week underwater, having floundered and sunk two days after leaving Raven Rock during a recent storm. Four mages, two Telvanni and two from Winterhold College, clad in Dwemer armor, had marched underwater to retrieve the ship. A ghost ship with its load of ebony ores and destitute of crew, most of whom had managed to float back to Raven Rock on emergency rafts. The four patched the ship with sailcloth and glues, floated the ship up with waxed sailcloth bladders of air while pumping water out with Dwemer devices, and dragged the ship with rope and telekinesis back to dock so that more permanent repairs could be made.
It was a good test of the construction ADS Curtis and Irdal had retrieved from Nchardak. Six suits had been recovered. Three would be loaned to Winterhold for at least a decade then returned to House Morvayn. For the rest of the month they stayed there, Curtis and Irdal would be writing repair and operational manuals and training divers. There were heartstone deposits underwater, of course, and Morvayn would like as many dug out to encourage the local fish population recovery.