Princess Rescue Inc (80 page)

“Ah.
Well, that explains it,” Waters said nodding. There was a big rule within the
military ranks. Don't sleep with another man's wife. Trust was a big issue; you
needed to trust your chain of command and the men and women around you.

“Broke
the fucker's jaw,” Perry growled.

“Good.
Good for you sir.”

“Damn
right,” Ryans agreed nodding. “Now, if you'll excuse me the royal cabinet has
called me in for a meeting. They want to discuss forming a new government.”

“In
the middle of a war? Are they nuts?” Waters demanded.

Ryans
chuckled as he got to the door. “You're just now noticing Master Sergeant?” he
asked as a parting shot.

<==={}------------>

“The
problem is where and how to start. Do you have a plan?” Duke Troy asked amused.
He nodded politely to Ryans as the gaijin followed a page into the room. Ryans
took the indicated seat and nodded to the others around the table.

Ryans
looked amused as he entered the room. “It's the beginnings of one, several
actually,” he sighed. “For government? Set up the same as the British crown, a
constitutional monarchy with all the trimming.”

Troy
cocked his head, eyes narrowed suspicious. “And that entails?”  Ryans had
to remind himself that the man might be young and a crown supporter like Duke
Pryor but that didn't mean he was going to rubber stamp anything that took away
power from himself and his progeny.

Ryans
smiled tiredly. “A parliament for one, dual chamber. The first is the House of
Lords.” He gave a polite nod to the Duke. “Second is the house of commons.” He
winced, expecting a blow up.

The
Duke scowled for a moment then nodded slowly. “There are merchants who are
worthy. And others too.”

Ryans
smiled, gratified that the other man didn't shoot it down immediately. Of
course it didn't mean he agreed, but at least he was keeping an open mind.
“People like the da Vincis although they would be better spent working as they
are now. But as changes filter through to the populous, they will eventually
desire a voice. By giving it to them as a right now, it should forgo any nasty
revolutions or other mischief down the road.”

The
Duke nodded. “Wise, though it will be difficult to get the other lords to
accept.”

Ryans
smiled. “If I can get one reactionary old reprobate to do it, I'm half way
there,” he smiled as the Duke chuckled. “Education, both public and advanced
education will be a must. As will changes to farming, water... and other
things.” He shrugged. He wasn't ready to broach civil rights quite yet. The
princesses had done that already by returning the tablets to proper viewing and
reminding the lords of them.

“Tell
me; is it true that a person can farm an entire region on your world? On their
own? A peasant farm is only a couple of acres, and it takes up to eight to farm
it properly,” the Duke said studying him.

Ryans
nodded. “Farms, at least large farms are measured in thousands of hectares
where I am from actually,” Ryans chuckled at the Duke's shocked expression. He
wasn't sure if the translator got the scale right but it was apparently getting
the point across. “That's oh, millions of acres and yes, a handful of people
can manage it with the right equipment. Once we get the factories going and
equipment comes out, you'll be amazed.”

The
Duke nodded. “And medicine...”

Ryans
nodded as did the Queen. “A healthy well fed populace is key to preventing
problems and revolts. I want Doc, Wanda, Charlie, Tau, Senji, and Angie as well
as the others to get started on a child immunization project as soon as they
can hand off their current duties to their deputies.”

“Immunization?”
the Queen asked wary.

Ryans
smiled. “Curing or preventing many ailments, Chicken pox, measles, mumps, small
pox to name a few. Polio I heard is a bad thing here. On my world it was cured
over a century ago. It works best if done when a person is young so their
bodies can adapt easily. Many illnesses like polio strike when a person is
young. We also have some means of fighting off influenza and the common cold,
or at least making them easier to weather,” Ryans explained. The Queen and Duke
were wide eyed.

The
Duke looked away for a moment. “If you can do that,” his voice was husky and it
faltered. He paused and took a sip of alcohol. “If you can do that,” he
repeated then shook himself. The Queen rested her hand on his. He patted it
gently. “I lost my wife and son to a disease. If you can...”

“We
treasure our children. Each loss is heartbreaking,” the Queen murmured.

Ryans
smiled softly. “We'll do our best sir. You have my word.”

The
Duke nodded. “I'll support you.”

<==={}------------>

When
the meeting was over he met with the others. “So far so good, I'm really
surprised the Queen has thrown her support behind this project,” he said. Which
was true. He had yet to work anything out with the Queen but so far she was
supporting him on this. Deidra had been quiet, busy with her own political
dealings.

Today's
discussion with the Duke was the first salvo in this project. He'd given the
Queen a lot to think about, and apparently Sue had primed the pump with
discussions of the British monarchy and how the United Kingdom and other nations
were set up. She'd apparently even given the Queen translated copies of the
British constitution. One of which had notes comparing the document with the
tablets the Imperium government had been originally based upon. He could see
Sydney's hand in that, obviously.

“Meddling?
Or something else?” Perry asked.

Ryans
smirked. “No the other one.”

“Ohh...
Yeah. Don't you remember it's a woman's prerogative to always be right...and to
change her mind?” Perry asked smiling to Sue. She stuck her tongue out at him
and he chuckled.

“Yeah,
I think I remember that from somewhere,” Ryans said dryly. “Typical female
logic, doesn't make any sense.” He shook his head mockingly.

Each
of the girls gave him a dirty look. He shrugged it off. “It makes perfect
sense,” Wanda growled dangerously.

He
held up his hands. “If you say so,” he said. “Of course you being female we're
back to that first part of that statement aren't we?” he teased. She glared. He
held up his hands smiling.

“That
I do,” she said giving him a knowing sniff then turning her back on him. He
made coo coo motions with his hands. Perry smirked. “I saw that,” Wanda
growled.

“Anyway,”
Ryans said, tom foolery settling down. “Troy is on board; he really liked the
provisions about the child immunization. I never knew he had a first wife and
son,” Ryans said shaking his head. Sue nodded.  “Pryor is on the fence.
She hadn't broached the subject with Rojer yet, and of course not with Duke
Emroy or Duke Sung.”

Perry
nodded. “And?”

“And
for now I'm going to try to keep a light hand on it. Just guide it but let them
deal with the nitty gritty on their own. Not be the tyrant forcing them to do
this in other words,” he said.

“Okay...”

“I
want to see just how committed they are to this. Besides, I've got other
projects,” Ryans replied.

“Including
a certain princess?” Wanda asked slyly. She'd finally caught on that the two
had not only broken the ice but had finally fallen for each other. Fallen
hard.”

“Maybe,”
Ryans replied with a chuckle.

“We've
got another problem,” Perry said.

“Oh?”
Ryans asked.

Perry
scowled. “Dragon,” he said, pointing up as a shadow and flapping wings
thundered overhead.

“Shit,”
Ryans said looking up in annoyance.

<==={}------------>

Wanda,
Perry, Ryans, and others quickly hatched a plan to use fireworks to knock the
dragon from the sky. The giant flying predator had competition,
wyverns
both big and small had arrived to scavenge the area.

They
set up on a hill, and during the dusk raid by the dragon fired off the
fireworks over the animal's head. The fireworks popped over head, forcing it
lower in surprise and confusion. Perry launched a Greek fire mortar; it arched
overhead and then burst above the dragon. It was sprayed with flaming tar.
Screaming in pain it fell to the ground as its wing sails and soft skin caught
fire. Grim and still terrified men of arms moved in to kill it by hand but
Perry waved them off. He tapped his radio and told Edison he was on. The sniper
took aim and carefully shot the dragon in the eye with his fifty caliber
Barrett rifle.

Brain
matter vomited out it's ears and the back of its skull. Its once great head
flopped to the ground as its body moved like a chicken with its head cut off
for a brief moment as its nervous system realized the central brain was gone.
Finally the dragon's thrashing settled to quivers as its body relaxed in death.
Footmen moved in to make sure, and then celebrated when they found the brain
matter and blood.

“Not
bad and we didn't have to use a modern rocket,” Ryans said smiling as the men
celebrated around them.

“It's
a lot better than trying to loft that net up with rockets like you planned,”
Perry said nodding.”And it gave us a chance to test the first mortar,” he said.

“True.
But I've got another idea for that,” Ryans said. He waved to the others. “Let
them take what they can, like the skull and trophies.” He turned to a nearby
assistant. “I want poles rigged with block and tackle set up here around the
carcass.”

“Ah.
I see what you have in mind,” Perry said nodding as the man ran off.

Ryans
nodded. “Good. I think it'd be a good idea to keep an eye out for anything that
comes knocking till we're ready,” Ryans replied watching the men. Some were
cutting into the carcass, severing claws while another group used a giant
lumber saw to cut through the neck. They were hacking and slashing, splashing
blue blood everywhere. The area was quickly swarming with flies and a reeking
stench.

“Yuck,”
Ryans said watching the men get blood splattered. Already the local insects
were swarming in thick clouds. “Nasty.”

“Wonder
if it tastes like chicken?” Perry asked. Ryans snorted.

<==={}------------>

When
the
wyverns
were sighted overhead they pulled the men back. The poles
had been set up and lines run, all was set. The first beasts circled warily,
and then came down as the fires ebbed. They flapped their wings as they landed
on the carcass and then cawed and pecked at it. It reminded Ryans of oversized
buzzards fighting over a carcass.

“Let's
see how many we can get,” Ryans said watching the others circle. “Looks like
they let a small one land first to test it out.”

“Yeah.
Smart, let the young and stupid go first,” Perry said watching through his
NVGs.

After
an hour the carcass was swarming with insects and
wyverns
. A few were
fighting over choice bits. “Boss... I think we've got as many as we can
handle,” Perry said. He wasn't at all certain if this was going to work or not.

Ryans
nodded unseen. “Yeah. Let's do it.” He patted Answorth next to him on the
shoulder. The page turned and cupped his hands to his mouth to make a cawing
sound. He changed it to a hoot and then two caws.

“There
they go,” Perry said watching the lines go taught as they raced through the
block and tackle. Under the main lines the net spread out. It flew over the scavengers.
A few looked up at the growing menace, hissing and cawing. A few of the smaller
ones took wing. One got caught in the net and started to thrash. The thing was
an oversized upside down purse net, sealing them in.

“Coming
down,” Ryans smiled as the net got to its release point and then dropped. The
beast thrashing in it toppled onto the savage creatures below. The drawstring
tightened, enclosing the animals.

Alarmed
they tried to take wing but were trapped by the embrace of the net. Men raced
forward, some holding mallets, others stakes or spears. One ground a stake into
the ground waited for a man to hit it, then turned and looped the nearest
section of net around it.

One
man near a
wyvern
clawing it's way free of the net turned and slammed
his sledge home right on its skull. It was squished. Blood and brain matter
splattered the area. He grimaced but turned back to the stakes around him.

“Not
bad. Looks like the knight's creatures have enough food for a while...” Ryans
said with a grin.

“And
that should thin out the aerial menace until we can do that again,” Perry said
nodding. Ryans nodded and then yawned.

“Me
I'm off to bed. Most fun I've had in a while though,” he said. He was fairly
certain Deidra was probably pacing in his quarters thoroughly pissed and
worried. He smiled and waved to the men. “Good job!” he called as they cheered.
Grim men and women were already moving forward with sharpened knives,
pitchforks, and spears. Yup, he definitely didn't want to stick around for that
he thought as he and Answorth left.