Capítulo 23: Chapter 23: Sword and Shield
"Um, okay…so how am I supposed to keep you? Is there a scabbard for you, Arondight?"
We were back in the tent that the Order had lent us, halfway on our journey back to their home fortress. Apparently, the forest in which Carleon Castle was located was pretty far away. Which made sense, considering that the Knights of Romulus weren't stupid enough to set up a base anywhere near their greatest enemy.
And even so, they were still annihilated by the Order.
After leading his knights to a great victory, Lionel Johansson had commanded us to return home after razing the fortress and leaving no trace of it. The trip back home was estimated to take several weeks, and as such, we often had to stop and set up camp. I felt a little regretful that we wouldn't get to see the fortress, for the Crusader was about to make translation from the warp and set up geostationary orbit above the world of Carmarthen the next day.
Lin Xue and I would go home after that. There was no reason to delay. I was concerned about my family. Even though the Department of Strange Phenomenon and Radically Unusual Encounters would help us create a cover story to assure my parents and allay their worries, it wasn't good to spend too much time away or they would get suspicious. Also, Sprue probably didn't know what had happened to us, and I bet our colleagues were just as concerned.
Colonel Shang Xiao was most likely up in a frenzy trying to locate us. However, given that we had successfully rescued the archeological team and sent them back safely, he shouldn't be too worried. He would know from that that we were able to take care of ourselves.
Right now, I had more pressing concerns. I was wondering where to store Arondight. Even when deactivated and bereft of the devastating disruptive field that sliced apart targets at the monomolecular level, the edge of the hi-tech blade was still dangerously sharp. If I was unlucky, an accident would see me inadvertently cut off my fingers. Or an entire arm.
Even during military training, soldiers were taught to always keep their weapons on safety and never point their guns at anyone they didn't intend to shoot. It was the same principle here. I needed a safe method of carrying Arondight around. I couldn't exactly bring him around while he hung from my waist, not unless I was willing to risk getting a leg or two cut off.
And that was if I was lucky. If I was unlucky, I would be bisected at the waist if something went wrong and he was turned at the wrong angle.
"None of these scabbards are durable enough to store you," I muttered, staring at the ruined sheathes that were distributed across the floor of the tent. I had borrowed a few from Anthony McCosker, but Arondight's unusually sharp blade cut them to shreds whenever I tried to slide him inside them. Yeah, he was that sharp.
"The solution is easy," Aegis said. "You can sheathe Arondight in me."
"Correct," Arondight confirmed. "Aegis can double as a storage device for weapons such as myself."
"Oh? Okay, thanks."
I watched in amazement as a central component of Aegis unlocked and opened to reveal a long, narrow compartment along her length. Gratified, I picked up Arondight and inserted his blade inside her.
"Ah!"
"What the fuck?!"
I was so shocked by the sudden cry from the both of them that I reflexively withdrew Arondight and jumped back, looking around.
"…"
For a few seconds, neither Arondight nor Aegis spoke, despite me staring intently at them. Shaking my head, I wondered if it had been my imagination. Yeah, it definitely was my imagination. AIs and machines don't make those kinds of noises.
Scratching my head, I sighed and thrust Arondight into Aegis again.
"AH!"
"What the fuck?! Stop moaning like that, both of you!" I flinched and stumbled away, this time leaving Arondight sheathed to the hilt in Aegis. The both of them were vibrating and…making weird sounds that made it seem like they were reveling in the pleasure of becoming one. Burying my face in my palm, I sighed. "You do realize that we are rated General Audiences, right? Keep it PG, for heaven's sake, and stop coming up with those suggestive innuendoes!"
"I apologize, Commander," Aegis said, but her voice sounded far from remorseful.
"We simply couldn't resist the entendre, Commander," Arondight admitted.
"Please," I begged. "No moaning. It's worse because Aegis sounds like a woman and Arondight sounds like a man."
"We were programmed with those voices," Aegis replied.
"Our creators were the ones who decided to arbitrarily assign us gender roles based on stereotypes," Arondight elaborated.
I had to wonder what kind of civilization the Holy Terran Empire was. Evidently, their engineers had a twisted sense of humor.
Before I could complain, though, I heard a rustling outside my tent. I glanced up warily.
"Who's that?"
"It's me."
He offered no name, but from the deep, imposing voice, I could tell that he was unmistakably Lionel Johansson. Even without the voice, I could already sense his noble, almost overpowering presence. I didn't know what they did in the Ares Program, but they certainly lived up to their name.
"What's up, Lord Johansson?"
"Please, let us dispense with the formalities." Lionel Johansson strode into my tent, his immense bulk suddenly making the interior feel claustrophobic. Even out of his archaic armor, he was enormous, over three meters in height. He nodded respectfully, which was odd, given that he had no reason to defer to the likes of me. However, his next statement shocked me. "We are of the same rank."
"What? Of course not. You're the Knight-General of the Order, the lord of thousands of knights. I'm just an ordinary teenager from a peaceful world that has rarely been at war. Our statuses are worlds apart. And I don't just mean literally."
"You need not be modest," Johansson said. "Whatever you might think of yourself, you have proven your strength and skills in combat against the Knights of Romulus. You and Lady Lin Xue both."
"Um, thanks."
"But I mean to come to you as equals, for the both of us are commanders in the Holy Terran Empire."
My heart skipped a beat. I stared at him, wondering if I had misheard.
"No, Lionel Johansson is correct," Arondight affirmed. "The transhuman soldiers of the Ares Program were designed from conception to serve as commanders for the Holy Terran Empire."
"Ah." I nodded slowly, and then I frowned. "But I recall earlier that you wanted nothing to do with the Holy Terran Empire? You said something about not knowing and not caring."
"I didn't say that exactly, but my stance has changed." Johansson was grim. "From what I hear in your conversations with your technological relics, it appears that though Carmarthen is out of danger at present, it will not remain safe for very long. There exist threats other than the Knights of Romulus in this galaxy. Alien menaces seeking to hunt down the scattered fragments of the Holy Terran Empire and utterly ground them to dust to prevent us from ever reviving again and threatening their domination."
"You surmise correctly," Aegis said. "And given Carmarthen's location along the galactic northeastern plane relative to Earth, I estimate that it will not take more than a few years for one of the many scout battlegroups of the Alien Alliance to find you."
"I do not know what level of technology these alien foes possess, but judging from how they were able to defeat the Holy Terran Empire despite it having access to advanced armaments and AIs such as you, I have reason to believe they at least have similar levels of technology. That being the case, Carmarthen and the Order as they are right now will not be able to resist an alien invasion. We will be annihilated in a direct war."
"The probability of that being the case is 97.82%," Aegis agreed.
"I wish to do something about that," Johansson growled, his enormous fists clenched at his sides. "Even if it means submitting to the authority of your…broken Empire."
"You will accept the role of Commander in the Holy Terran Empire then?" Arondight asked.
"If that is what it takes. In return, you provide me what I need to defeat whatever alien enemies that come to invade Carmarthen…no, any alien foe that threatens humanity. I will form a protectorate. And we will begin our comeback from here."
"That is acceptable." Arondight's hilt flashed. "Your prodigious strength, tactical ingenuity and superlative skills are very welcome to our objective."
"We appreciate having you onboard," Aegis said.
"So how do we do this?" I asked uncertainly. "Is Lord Johansson going to follow me back to Earth and join me in my journey to recover lost ancient technological relics?"
"I would prefer to stay here and restructure my Order to better counter the alien threat," Johansson said firmly. "What I need though are technologically appropriate armaments, equipment and vessels to at least bring us on a fighting par with space faring foes. Obviously, you cannot expect much from us if you leave us with nothing but sticks and stones to throw at an enemy wielding laser and beam weaponry."
"Commander Johansson is correct in his assessment," Aegis said. "The optimal method is for you to raise a legion on your home world of Carmarthen. Turn your knights – your Order into a legion capable of fighting large scales war on foreign planets and in the void. Commander Li Tian Xing, I recommend you proceed with your original mission and recover and reunite relics and ships."
"Our priority is to locate an armory world," Arondight added. "One with the industry capable of manufacturing the arms, vehicles, armor and equipment needed to fight intergalactic wars."
"And where am I supposed to find one?" I demanded, annoyed.
"You have a warp-capable ship, Commander," Aegis reminded me. "You will have to explore the galaxy. Do not worry. The Crusader's navigation charts have mapped all the existing worlds of the Holy Terran Empire at its prime. Of course, the maps are now outdated by millennia, but you will have to make your own judgement on which region to explore, and which armory world is most likely still intact."
They were really putting quite the tremendous pressure on me…
"Am I really supposed to explore the galaxy alone?" I complained, glancing at Johansson. "Surely, I could use Lord Johansson's help. And a crew."
"Individual commanders have their own specific roles and optimum functions," Aegis replied. "Judging from your Soul Imprint, the Commander from who you have reincarnated is famed for his exploratory deeds and void warfare. On the other hand, Commander Johansson is more suitable in training and raising a legion of soldiers and leading them on planetary surface deployments."
"Additionally, having two Commanders share command of a single mission is not ideal," Arondight pointed out. "There has to be a clear hierarchy for each individual task, and having two equally ranked leaders come into conflict over how it should be accomplished would be counterproductive."
"Fine, fine." I sighed and turned back to Johansson. "Then I'll leave Carmarthen and the raising of a legion to you, Lord Johansson. Let us work together for the greater good of humanity."
"Same here." Johansson nodded. "And please stop calling me lord. As I said, we are equals. I am not your lord."
"Knight-general Johansson, then."
He smiled. "That is an acceptable compromise, I suppose."
"Speaking of optimum functions, I was going to ask you to be my mentor. I want to learn those sword techniques you used against the mutated beasts and the Knights of Romulus. The problem is that you aren't a beautiful European styled dress wearing blond princess named Sandora Kelvie Eulasis."
He was blond, though, but he wasn't a beautiful princess. He wasn't a prince either, but a warlord. A god of war.
"…I have no idea what you're talking about." Lionel Johansson stared at me sternly, not wanting to waste any time with my nonsense.
"Never mind. I was just trying to be funny. Evidently, I watched too much Xyrin Empire."
Johansson ignored my mumbling. "If you wish to learn swordsmanship from me, you're more than welcome to. We'll set up the portal and you can come anytime to seek my tutelage."
"All right, I will do that. Thank you very much. We'll stay in touch. Once the Crusader is in orbit, Lin Xue and I will return to Earth. You're transporting the portal Aegis located in the forest to your fortress, right? I know the nanotech will do all the work of setting it up, but it'll still take maybe a couple of weeks."
"That's right. I'm sure your device will let you know when the portal is completely set up. I shall see you then. Hopefully, you'll have some good news regarding the armory world and new equipment."
"On that note," Aegis began. "The Crusader has just warped into this system approximately one point eight two five seconds ago, and its sensors have just picked up a frigate drifting at the far edge."
My blood ran cold. "Is it the enemy?"
"No." If Aegis had a face, she would be smiling. "I have good news, Commanders. It appears that we have an intact Empire frigate left floating around and collecting dust in this system for millennia."
Status de energia semanal
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-- Pedra de
Poder