Building Intrigue 5

 

Chapter 5

 

Corvis cranked the handle the required thirty times and then clicked the microphone three times. After a moment, he tried again. After a moment, the speaker clicked back. He felt relief when it repeated so he hadn't imagined it.

The AM radio worked best at night; he wasn't certain as to why. Each time he cranked the handle, it gave the generator a few seconds of power as the flywheel spun. He began to crank at a steady pace with one hand as he tapped out the message with his transmitter.

Recently his handler had complained that his last four messages had been badly garbled. He was to report in at night at the required hour. His message frequency had stepped up to twice a hafta even though he didn't have much to report.

They wanted information that the Imperium spy wasn't able to gather. He wasn't about to stick his neck out further to get it too. Stuff like the status of the royal family, movement patterns, information about their armies, technology, and so on.

He had confirmed that the spy that had been flushed out and captured had died in an accident. They had passed orders for him to cooperate and not resist if he was ever caught. He hoped it never came to that sort of a scenario though.

He confirmed the previous report he'd made that more spies had headed south some time ago. He also confirmed that other spies were reporting in with things that were making their way across the border. Where he wasn't certain.

It took a few patient minutes to tap the order out. Once he was done, he stopped.

Once his message was complete, he waited for the acknowledgement. It came in with a series of beeps. He hastily used the side of his hand to wipe the slate clean and jot out the response.

He grunted and then tapped out a quick okay and then shut down for the night.

The radio was disguised. He broke it down and hid the pieces under the floorboard and behind a hidden cubbard. The one thing he couldn't hide was the very long antenna. That was tacked to the underside of the eaves and up to the point on the roof. He'd painted the copper wire though so it matched the honey color stone and the wood on the building. He had covered parts of it with trim to hide it further.

Just as an extra precaution, he had tied the end he plugged into to a stake in the ground. If anyone asked about it, he had a ready cover story; it was a lightning rod. It was to ward off lightning strikes.

He hoped he never had to use that cover story however.

He sat back and checked the slate. There were two more spies coming in. Both would need temporary lodging. He was fine with that, though it was hoped that they never came to him and instead went to an inn. There was a lot of safety in not knowing each other and not congregating.

He had a cover story in case they did come to his door; they were cousins looking for work after their farm had burned down. They were going to need a place though … he frowned.

They would hopefully bring that to him, he thought. He grimaced and then went to make dinner.

One of the things that sucked about being a bachelor was being on his own to cook and clean. He didn't like it. He could go to the tavern, but that got expensive quickly. If he was there too often, people started to wonder about his finances. He had to limit his visits to when he had just finished a job or once a mens.

Since he was alone, he took out a block of cheese, carefully unwrapped it, cut off a slice, rewrapped it tightly, and then did the same for some dried sausage. A bit of butter and a couple slices of bread toasted and he had a nice sandwich to eat by the fire as he planned his next day activities.

Of course it all hinged on the weather, he thought with a weather eye to the small window nearby. He couldn't tell. The sky wasn't red so he would only be able to tell in the morning.

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Khalia finished reading the pamphlet from the Imperium University again and sighed. It was a copy and already a bit dog-eared from its wear. She got up, stretched and then went to find her father.

He was watching the grandchildren at play and she smiled. Her possible wedding was on hold; Torinus had fallen ill. She was avoiding his home because she didn't want to catch whatever he had. There had been requests by the medicus for some of the gaijin medicines and knowledge. The duke had not provided any.

She had to wonder sometimes if the alliance was off. Possibly.

Her first marriage had been something of a farce. Her father or someone else, no one had voluntarily come forward to say that they were the guilty party, had arranged her first mate's death. Her lips twitched. His holdings had been looted, and the lands and rusticus returned to the duke's personal holdings since she hadn't born any heirs to the family.

Pity about that, she thought in amusement.

"We need to find a proper tutor soon. One who knows the ins and outs of the new gaijin knowledge," her father rumbled thoughtfully. He nodded once.

She realized that his comment was what she needed. It was the opening to a topic that needed to be broached. She decided to take the plunge.

"Father, we need to do that with the whole kingdom," Khalia said as she sat down next to him.

He blinked in surprise and then one eyebrow lifted in inquiry.

"You know that the Imperium has their universities."

He nodded.

"We need to find ways to catch up. We cannot hoard knowledge; it must be spread about," she said. "Like seeds, we need to cultivate the knowledge or it will be lost. And we need to get it into the right hands so we can make some of the machina that the Imperium is making."

He frowned.

Khalia saw his intransigence begin to build. "We have to match them. We can't do that with some things being in secret."

Her father's frown deeped.

"We have started to make up ground with the medicus and hygiene, but you and I both know it isn't enough," she warned.

He nodded. She had been the one to do a lot there. She had also gotten him to pass laws to ban the pests that were known to cause diseases. Cats and sprays were being used to keep the pests down to a minimum. It was making people healtheir.

"They will find out we have some of this eventually, right? If they have not already? Why not put it out there? Learn from it, figure out what we can, and then sell it to the rusticus?"

"Them?" he asked in distaste.

"Yes! And we can sell it to merchants who will sell it too. Right now they are buying it from traders who cross the border into the Imperium or into Duluth. Why not learn to make it here?" She implored.

He frowned again. He had heard of some things being bought and brought over or traded for the products of his kingdom. The guilds wouldn't like it though.

His duchy's wool exports were not worth as much as it had been. Their textiles too. Metal was highly prized but heavy, and the carters therefore didn't like to haul it long distances. That economic downturn bothered many of his merchants. They wanted improvements.

"Why shouldn't we employ our own people to do the work and profit from it?" she asked as she sened another opening.

Her father grunted. She had a point. After a moment, he nodded.

She saw the opening and smiled.

"You yourself were looking for things to trade with the pirates, right? Things to offset the costs of paying them tribute? Things to get them to give up the secrets of the guns?"

He nodded again.

"They don't need engines or steam engines; they have those from the reports Dominic has passed on," she reminded him. "They have aircraft. They have better ships …"

"You aren't telling me things I don't know."

"I'm listing what they have while trying to look for something that they don't have. Such as the metals we have in the mines around here," she said patiently.

He cocked his head and then made a slight go-on gesture.

"Well, what if our people develop something that they crave? Something important enough to get them to trade the secrets of the weapons for?" she said slyly.

He sat back and stared at the ceiling as he gamed that out. It was a long shot but she had a point. He had been trying to trade them sabotaged copies of material from the Imperium. But what if his people developed the ideas further and applied them here and sold copies of working machina to the pirates? Would they trade the secrets of gunpowder to him? He finally looked at her and nodded once.

"Besides, introducing change isn't a bad thing. If it makes our industry better, that is good. We have better mines, more timber. We have artisans who are the best."

"Were," Harbard stated gloomily from the nearby door.

She glanced at her brother and then back to their father. "Then as a bid for our pride, I say we push to make them the best again. What say you, father?"

He nodded.

Harbard cocked his head slightly.

"The Imperium and Duluth both have these universities, these higher places of learning. Caliope had something similiar. We need to match them," he said slowly. He studied his granddaughter with interest. She gave a bright sunny smile and then went back to playing with the puzzle in front of her.

"Passing on the information to the next generation is imperative if we want to adapt and survive, father," Khalia said quietly.

"She is right," Harbard stated as he turned to see Avery, their steward, arrive with the treasurer, Clive Deluise, in tow. Both men took in the conversation and took on artful thoughtful expressions.

The duke nodded after a moment.

"It will be expensive," Clive warned after a long moment of thought. He knew that it was time to get on board with the plan.

"All endeavors worthy of change are. But they pay off many times the initial start-up costs later," Khalia stated firmly.

"Start small. We will find those who can learn and adapt and others to train them. A … think tank I believe they call it?" Harbard asked. He looked to his sister who nodded.

The grand duke grunted but then nodded. "See to it," he ordered with a look to Avery. The steward placed his bad arm over his abdomen and bowed slightly.

"There are spies coming back with more things from the festival, correct?" Clive asked. "Should we wait until they return?"

"That is a long time away." Harbard stated with a dismissive wave of a hand. "We need to lay the groundwork now for the university. We can start with what we have and identify what needs to be a focus."

"Such as the gaijin weapons," Avery stated with a look to the grand duke. "And ways to stop them. The old armor versus offense battle," he said.

The grand duke grunted.

That had ever been the way with warfare; offense would look for a new weapon to kill and get through or around armor. Then the armorers would see the weakness and find a way to cover it over. Then the whole system would start anew like an ever-rotating wheel.

There had to be ways to defend against the gaijin weapons. They just needed to find them.

"Put an emphasis in looking through the old archives. There are some gaijin who came and settled here in the past. They spoke of such things; there are a few examples. Find them."

"We have looked," Avery stated.

The grand duke frowned thoughtfully and then noted the clock. It was ticking away on the mantle. He indicated it. It was made out of slate and was beautiful. "Perhaps them?"

Heads turned to the clock.

"Find the clockmaker. Ask them what they know. Perhaps the ancestor kept records? Or passed down stories?" Khalia suggested with a nod to her father.

"Exactly," the grand duke said with an answering nod.

"The artisans can be recruited to the university as well," she said.

"Yes, that too," the duke murmured.

"Younger minds are the best. Fresh ideas demand fertile ground and fresh energy," Khalia stated. Her father and Avery both nodded.

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Building Intrigue Snippet 4

 

Chapter 4

 

Grand Duchy de Medicini

 

Grand Duke Lucas De Medicini swirled his drink as he considered his scheming and its latest implications. Things had not gone at all as planned.

He fought a grimace. He knew better; he honestly did. Too many annus of success had made him forget that there was the occasional setback and that not every scheme worked. These two had backfired rather spectacularly in fact.

For many annus, his spies had stolen technology, kidnapped artisans, assasinated people to destabilize a region, or formented war between two dominus to keep them fighting each other rather than look in his direction.

He had paid off the pirates with tribute so they would naturally look to his enemies to prey on for a time. He had no regrets over any of those actions. None at all.

This time though … he downed the drink. This time was a bit different he reflected. This one had the potential to bring thousands of annus of rule by his family crashing down around his ears. And he had only his own schemes to blame.

Well, to be fair he had to work through secondary parties, and he had to rely on the pieces moving in the directions he wanted. That didn't always work out. This time it had and had backfired anyway.

Duluth attacking the Imperium a decade or more ago had been anticipated and even encouraged. He had sat back and thought that the war would run for at least a generation, thus protecting him and his people. Instead, it had gotten the newly-arrived gaijin involved.

Duluth had settled into trying to lay siege to duchy Emory while also looting the countryside. He would have loved to have been a witness to the clash of titans on the battlefield.

He had anticipated the old king to have to rally the other dominus, and his spies had been set to have them bicker and stall while sending forces to the north. Duluth would have dug in, and it would have been a gloriously long campaign.

No one, not even he, could have anticipated a group of well-armed gaijin with technology beyond his people's to come from Patria. Nor could he have anticipated the massive changes that were shaking the Imperium and their world to the core.

The gaijin's influences had allowed the Ianna Imperium to smash the Duluth army. Their infernal contraptions had allowed them to smash the dominus as well. Rather than capture them and ransom them many of those dominus had been killed with their sons.

The Imperium had then taken control of Duluth, sending the young princess there. His spies had a few minor machinations to help prod the surviving Duluthians into rebellion. Rather than smash them again and then spend many annus and fortune guarding the north east the Imperium's gaijin had led a raid and rescued the princess as well as broken the rebellion.

Now instead of looting the fallen country, they were rebuilding it. That had killed a lot of resentment in the rusticus. The peons had taken the food and the aide that the gaijin had offered and were well on their way to converting into loyal subjects.

He shook his head. He'd thought the Duluthians were more prideful than that. Apparently, the giajin's allure had driven a wedge between them and their dominus. Most likely because they had been starving and the war that would have given them food had ended badly. Instead, their so-called enemy had helped them and wanted to teach them … he shook his head. Even he could hardly believe that.

It definitely inspired loyalty, though his spies he had recently sent to Duluth would put that to the test soon.

His latest schemes to destabilize the Imperium had failed. He was still struggling to understand how. Of course the gaijin had a hand in the failure of one. The other, well, that may yet succeed in diverting the gaijin from his borders for another few annus.

He reached over to the decanter and poured himself another drink.

Ever since the war in Duluth had ended, his spies had been reporting that the gaijin had convinced the queen to hold a Harvest Festival in her capital. It was just before the beginning of Autumus, when the largest harvest was finished and the winter crops were put in. Each festival was more impressive than the last. At the festival, they taught new things and showed the rusticus how to make things and of course sold many things as well.

They even had a university, a school of learning to teach such things. He had yet to get a spy in there for long. He didn't have such things; the guilds were jealous over their territory and did not like to share their secrets easily.

His spies had of course come back with many things from the festivals. However, the Imperium's spymaster had gotten wise to their antics. Also, no matter how much gold they offered no one could bribe or steal the recipe for the blasted thunderstick ammunition.

His right fist clenched and then unclenched around his glass. After a moment, he stopped it and gently touched the rim with a fingertip and traced it for a full minute.

The thundersticks and machima had started a race in all of the remaining kingdoms. He had taken advantage of their fear of the Imperium to try to forge an alliance with them. He hadn't anticipated that some would be more able than his own people at implementing the new technology.

One such group were the pirates and slavers off the west coast. He had an ambassador with them paying them tribute to keep them off his shipping. Dominic Cassius was his Legatus, ambassador to the pirates. He was also a spy. Through his reports, the duke had become aware that they were more advanced than he had assumed. But they were wary of him for his machinations and refused to share or sell their new technology.

He grimaced and shook his head. He would do the same if he was in their shoes. In fact, he was doing that very thing. His people had a treasure trove of material from the Imperium. He naturally wanted to keep what his spies had delivered under wraps for as long as possible. But he needed to use it too. It put him on the horns of a dilema.

He was still pushing to have his artisans look at the various things and do their best to recreate them. The weapons were top of the list.

Of course that research and development cost a lot of money. He wasn't happy at the expenses involved. He had been selling the secrets to the guilds but they hadn't been putting them into use much.

Oh sure, they'd made some strides with printing presses but not a lot. He had recently found out that the duchy ones were crude in comparison to the Imperium's. The guilds used wood carvings that were pressed onto paper. The costs had come down a lot for posters and such things but they still take time to produce.

His eyes went to the slate clock on the mantle and then to the map nearby. It studied it with practice ease, eventually shifting to the bottom of their known world.

He was very nervous about Caliope. Word had gotten back to him by ship; Caliope had fallen to the Imperials some time ago. He hadn't anticipated their fall happening so quickly. He'd thought the pass had been impregnable or at least would have turned into a slogging match that would have attritioned each side badly.

He hadn't anticipated the ability to bypass the pass with flying craft. Nor had he anticipated that the Imperials could take it so readily. The details were sketchy; however, his spies in the Imperium had confirmed that there were plenty of news reports stating that Caliope had fallen.

Had the grand duchess' court survivors told the Imperium about the mutual defense deal? How much had she let on to her court? He cursed himself for putting anything in writing. That had been foolish.

He still thought that playing her as a patsy had been a good move. Had he waited until the armies of the Imperium had been committed to attacking Caliope, even during the invasion, he might have been able to get in and take some of the northern reaches away from them.

Maybe. But they and their infernal gaijin would have taken it all back and then come for him next.

The new weapons gave a single man the power of many. It was amazing as to how small their army was and how easily it could break larger more conventionally armed ones. It was also a bit terrifying given that his army was still armed with those now antique and useless implements.

The one bit of good news was that the pirates had played into his hands in a way. The news from the Imperium had reported that they had somehow forced one of the Imperium planes to land in the water near their land. They had taken the people on board hostage.

He had to get a look at the thing. There were no doubt many wonders on board.

More importantly, the downing of the craft and the pirate raid on Nuevo Imperium's coast had fixated both Imperiums on them for the foreseable future. Which meant he might have time to get his people to finally crack the secrets of the thunder sticks and other mechanical marvels.

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Building Intrigue Snippet 3

 

Chapter 3

 

At Sea

 

Captain Chamas saw the trawler and noted it was flying the colors of the Nuevo Imperium. He had the surviving crew tack to get as close as they could while he readied his pistols.

It was late evening; the sloppy crew hadn't even manned a watch in the crow's nest or on deck. He slipped aboard and then took control of the ship.

"Who is the captain?" he demanded.

An anxious lad looked furitively to an old grizzled man with gray hair and beard.

Captain Chamas looked at his pistol and then put it in his waist band and pulled his dagger. He slit the throat of the old man. The old man's eyes were wide as he gargled and fell over. Blood sprayed across the room, getting on the pirate.

The other pirates laughed maliciously.

"Now, I'll ask again, who is the captain," he demanded.

"You," the lad stuttered, pointing to him.

"Better," the captain said. He nudged the body. "Strip that and then throw it over the side," he growled. "Save the boots; they may be my size," he growled.

They had been in the lifeboat a hafta. Their clothes were encrusted with salt. Having a spare set of clothes would be nice. He watched as the lad and one of his sailors stripped the body and then moved it to the stern.

"Tie off the lifeboat; we may need it again," he growled. "Search the ship. Find me some rum," he growled as he heard a splash in the stern. The lad and any other able-bodied prisoners were about to be sold into slavery once they got to the pirate island.

"Let's get this dung heap of a barge squared away and then head home," he growled. The other pirates growled in agreement.

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 Ziyougang City, Pirate Island

 

Dominus Dirk Wheeler had been initially proud of achievements and had taken great pride over the navy. Still worried about what Imperials will do.

He was pushing innovation and the machine shops and shipyards hard to turn out new machines. The research on the technology was tricky, but knowing that it had been done while also having a physical example and paperwork helped immensely in the copying and understanding of the things.

They needed to close the gap on innovation with the mainland if they were ever going to have a chance at survival long term.

As usual there was a need for more iron for steel and more coal of course and so on and so forth. He looked at the pile of notes and shook his head.

"So many calls for iron! From ships to machines to  buildings—it seems that this is getting out of control!"

"It is just moving faster than we ever dreamed," Hala, his mate said with a smile.

"The Gaijin are devils!"

So many things had been learned from the festival spies as well as the captured PBY Catalina craft. Standardized tools, fittings, screws, bolts, so many, many things. Access panels, motors, turbine engines, the lists went on and on. He was sometimes dazed by it all.

His artisans were going crazy with the work. Of course Captain Pasha was smug since it had been his clan to bring the craft down. He was reeping a lot of what the artisan clan made from their research.

Dirk might have complained at an earlier date. Now he didn't care. They were all benefiting from the capture.

His mate ran her hands over his shoulders and then hugged him from behind. "They are just men. They have many annus of change that they brought with them. The plans for it all. We have seen some of it over the many annus, but never understood it all."

"Very little."

"Correct. Much of it lacked the basics on how it works," she said. She looked over him to a sketch and smiled.

There was an exploded diagram of an engine transmission on the paper. The sketch was ingenious; no doubt the concept had been taken from the festival spies but the drawing was new. "For the aircraft?" she asked as she picked the sketch up and examined it.

"And other things. Vehicles, cranes, all manner of machines," Dirk said as he turned to watch her. "It is all about gears and moving them about to find the right size gear to apply just the right amount of power and torque to do the job."

"Ah," she said in approval.

"They have to be made out of the right metals," he warned.

"I see," she said as she laid the paper back down again.

"We have some casting issues but I'm transitioning to diesel and gas. Primarily gas, the diesel engines are still more trouble than they are worth," Dirk said with a grimace. "They are costing a lot so I'm selling the steam engines to the market as they come online."

"Ah?" she asked in amusement. "Should you sell one or two to the duke?" she asked in malicious amusement. "He might pay richly for one."

Dirk cocked his head. "That is a thought," he admitted. He'd probably get two or three times what the market would bear locally if he sold a steam engine to the Grand Duke of Medicini. After a moment, he nodded. "Their tribute ship is due in a mens or two?"

"Something like that," his mate said. "Aren't you going on a trip again?"

He nodded. "Isaac and the others have parts to try in the plane. If they work, we will be slightly closer to replicating more of it," he said. "We leave in the morning."

"Ah. Well then, I have you all to myself then," she said huskily as she climbed into his lap and cradled his face. He smiled as she leaned in and kissed him.

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Domina Ching Abbas had her hands tucked in the sleeves of her robe as she wandered through the alchemy building. Dominus Wheeler was pushing for more change, and she agreed with him. His work and that of the spies had improved their alchemy ten fold in only a few short annus.

She exited the building and went across the street to another which was making drugs. All sorts of pharmacuticals were being made, from medicines to those used for entertainment. She was amused that some of the other dominus like Wheeler were so trusting with her, and others didn't trust her at all. Of course it might be that they were suspicious of her because of her use of poisons. She had in fact removed an annoying dominus recently for his stupidity.

That had actually backfired when he had been replaced by Pasha. Pasha was a chuavanistic fool, a bit of a blowhard. He had youth and energy though, something that Omar had lacked. He was eager to prove himself, which was one reason that fool and the other dominus with him had raided the Nuevo Imperium.

She grimaced and nodded slightly as she made her way through the lab and then out another door and over to her office. She didn't bother checking the massage parlor, which doubled as a brothel, or the medicus building further down the street.

She had hopes that Wheeler would turn up something new for her soon. She also hoped that the Imperium would hold off a bit longer, though she doubted that they would hold out forever.

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