Chapter 108: Get In Gear

Tom had been wondering just how to get back out of the circle of people which had formed around them when Glira craned her head down in front of him and Jacky.

“Well hello there,” the dragon questioned, flicking out her tongue within inches of him. “You smell nice. I love the smell of flash powder in the morning.”

“Hi,” Tom replied, not quite sure what else to say to that, as the dragon looked him over in detail.

“Now, no need to keep secrets. I swore an oath coming here, as has everyone else present… So what are your rates, and what can you make?”

“My rates?” Tom had to question with a head tilt, Jacky letting out a snicker at his side.

“You are no mage, so you must kill with weapons. I know every artisan worth knowing when it comes to things that can kill you or keep you from getting killed. Except you… What are your rates?”

“Uhhhh.”

“He doesn't work like that, Mom,” Jarix interrupted as Tink came over with who Tom assumed must be his son, Junior.

“She pays very well, if you can sell the idea,” The inventor let out excitedly, pushing Junior forward. “Meet my son, Tink Junior.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Tomas Hansen. Call me Tom,” he went as he shook the young dragonette’s hand. He was best described as somewhere between star-struck and embarrassed half to death at the moment.

“What do you mean he doesn't work like that? Is he one of those uptight assholes who thinks they're too good to make some heavy equipment?” Glira protested, looking to Jarix.

“No, he promised to make me a machine gun, if I pass his tutelage.”

“His what? And what is that?”

“He has been trying to teach our son how not to go off and get himself killed,” Archeon interrupted before Glira got the chance to ask more questions. “With mixed success.”

“What did you want me to do, Dad? Let them die?” Jarix protested. Tom was trying to work out just how to add his piece to this conversation. As far as he was concerned, they had taken a risk that was worth taking and come out on top.

“At least wait till morning. You don’t fight the forces of the dark in the dark. That’s fairly self-explanatory,” Archeon replied condescendingly.

“Without the dark taking out their light forces would not have been possible,” Tom added. “And without Jarix’s cover I had no chance of escape. Sure it didn’t go according to plan, but that’s war for you.”

“You were on the ground?” Glira questioned, with a head tilt, before Arch got in his protest.

“Yeah, can’t really fly,” Tom replied. ‘Like really, come on.’

“Oh, I thought you were fighting from my son’s back. How did you survive down there? I tried having crew on the ground to distract the enemy… It didn’t go well?” The dragon replied, looking to some of her crew, a few taking off their helmets for a second before putting them back on.

“A little luck, good camo, some air support, and this beauty,” Tom replied, giving Jacky a firm slap on the back, the huntress reciprocating a little more harshly, making him stumble half a step forward.

“He blew the shit out of them. And then we murdered anything left standing,” Jacky replied proudly. “Grenades and guns. I have to tell you, that fucking works.”

“So… What are your rates?” Glira tried again, rather more pointedly this time, pupils dilating slightly.

“My weapons are not leaving the island for the time being. And I’m very much booked for the foreseeable future,” Tom replied, hoping that would at least temper her enthusiasm. She was technically here to defend the keep. At least sort of. But he was not looking to set up a weapons factory for the Royal Guard here. They just needed defenses.

“Back of the queue, Mom,” Jarix replied, seemingly pleased with himself.

That clearly rubbed Glira the wrong way as she looked to Jarix. “I can be patient. But I will have whatever he’s making.”

“Not with that attitude,” Jarix replied, receiving a smack to the side with her tail, Tom noticing the vast spike affixed to it, though it had been with the flat side and likely little more than a hard lovetap.

‘Jeez, okay then. What the fuck do I do now?’

“What is that?” Tink added in, pouncing on the lull in the conversation, pointing at the revolver on Tom’s thigh. “Is it some kind of tool? how did you get that finish?”

“Aww yeah this thing,” Jacky replied, drawing the weapon, which Tom had checked that morning, was indeed unloaded.

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“Gosh, there are so many people here,” Ray went as she walked up next to Sapphire, clearly slightly overwhelmed.

“Yeah, don’t worry, this ain't normal even around here. Everyone is just very happy,” Sapphire replied, looking over to the group of guards, Wiperna and Raulf coming over to say hi. “Tell you what, let’s start with the introductions. That’s Wiperna and that's Raulf. They handle our farms around here.”

“Hi. Ray,” she went with a curtsy to both of them.

“Did Dakota skip on the meals? You’re skin and bones,” Raulf replied, taking Ray’s hand, joking as ever.

“NO! She has been incredibly kind. I haven't eaten this well in years,” Ray protested, voice growing worried.

“Nah, don't worry gal. I’m just messing with yah. We will get you into shape in no time. No one goes hungry around here. I make sure of that.” Sapphire cleared her throat rather harshly at that. “In addition to our lovely huntresses, of course,” Raulf corrected himself with a smile as Wiperna gave Ray a firm handshake.

“Good to have you on board. I promise we won’t work you too hard.”

“No, I can pull my weight,” Ray protested again, but this time with a smile, seemingly catching on rather quickly.

“That’s the spirit. Hey Dakota, how’s it hanging?” Wiperna questioned as Dakota came walking over.

“Very good,” she replied in a hushed tone, ushering them all a bit closer. “Right, so we need to get the big box. You two know what I’m talking about. Come on. Shiva is over there trying to get Glira to talk, and Tom has Jacky occupied.”

“Yup. Let’s go,” Sapphire replied as they made their way over to Archeon, Shiva luckily succeeding in getting Glira’s attention. The dragon currently distracting her by showing off the collapsible blades on her forelegs. They unloaded the crate with the armor in it, with a hand from Vulzan. They carried it out into the open, Dakota getting up onto the box.

“Listen up folks. It’s good to be home, but we have a bit of work to do. But First, Shiva, get your ass over here. We’ve got something for you,” she shouted out, everyone gathering around, Shiva coming over to take a look. Tom and Jacky stood in the crowd. “This one is for you,” Dakota went, getting off of the crate and handing Shiva the crowbar. The confused smith took it to the lid, popping it off with little problem.

“What the hell?! No you didn’t… HOW!”

“There we go, that's a smile,” Dakota let out proudly as Shiva frantically gestured Jacky over, Tom following along. “We couldn’t let them have it, that’s for sure.”

“I didn’t know where it ended up. That’s it. It’s my mother's armor! Oh, look at it.”

“Wait, that's Kalbida’s?” Jacky questioned, looking into the box confused.

“Yes, by the gods, yes!” the smith replied, rifling through the crate, picking up the helmet and inspecting it. “And it's perfect as ever. The Flaxens had this, just sitting around?!”

“Yup, pretty much. They had a fine collection. Not so fine anymore now that we got the crown jewel, of course,” Dakota replied with an evil chuckle.

“Oh you magnificent little scoundrel, come here,” Shiva let out as she damn near crushed Dakota in a hug. Jacky seemed mesmerized as she took out some pieces to look over. “This is worth more than my entire smithy.”

“The smithy isn't yours either,” Nunuk interjected with a grin, coming up to pat Shiva on the back. “But there are only two people here who can fit that.”

“And I am no longer fighting fit,” Shiva replied, looking down to her peg leg, her expression sombering before turning to Jacky. She had a gauntlet on by now, playing with it like a kid with a toy. “Quit playing with your armor, you’re not a little girl,” Shiva teased, the wide smile returning to her face.

That clearly got Jacky’s attention, as it clicked she turned to Tom grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking hard enough Sapphire was honestly concerned for him. “I got enchanted armor! I got my grandmother’s armor! I’m gonna be a knight!”

“Tha… vre.. nic. I hap,” Tom tried to reply before she let go, the poor dude nearly falling over backward.

“Oh, all the stories. You need to hear about the battle for the tri peak. Or the raid on Jortun Keep, the defense of Bartelion. This was there for all of them!” Tom, seemingly now recovered from the little shake, moved up to the crate, taking out a few of the bits to look at, Shiva keeping a watchful eye as he did. By now everyone who had yet to see the armor had their noses in the crate to see what the fuss was about, at least until Dakota cleared her voice again.

“One more thing. Rachuck, do you solemnly swear to get good enough at hand-to-hand combat to at least stay on your feet during a fight?”

“That wasn’t a fight, that was a greeting,” the guard captain responded with a grin.

“Very well.” Dakota reached into the crate, pulling out a long rectangular box and presenting it to Rachuck as agreed upon. The captain was clearly rather skeptical, though when he opened the box his expression was best described as ‘you’re fucking with me, right?’

“Well go on, it’s not cursed… too much,” Dakota egged on. Rachuck picked up the scabbard, slowly drawing out the blade. His expression grew incredulous, staring at the sword in disbelief.

“It doesn't weigh anything… It’s like it’s made out of paper,” Rachuck swung the blade around a little, trying to get a feel for it.

“And yet it hits like a mallet,” Dakota replied, crossing her arms, seemingly rather smug. “So how about a proper greeting?” she certainly got her wish as Rachuck delicately put the sword away in its box, giving his sister a long tight hug.

Looking around, Sapphire saw Ray seemingly still rather overwhelmed by all this. Though she was smiling wide as she herself was looking around at everything going on. ‘I guess a bit more help is in order.’

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Incredibly, the armor was apparently just gonna be given to Jacky. Or well it would be the keep’s, but for all intents and purposes, it was Jacky’s new armor. And it looked nice. It wasn’t as intricately decorated as Nunuk’s, but it was a masterpiece for sure. Jacky had excitedly launched into a series of frantic retellings of various stories Shiva had told her when she was a kid. Quite a few details were seemingly missing and Tom was fairly sure at least a few ended up mixed together, but he didn’t care. She was beside herself with excitement, and for good reason too it would seem.

Some of the feats described had to be exaggerated, but still, taking a blast from a red dragon, even if it likely had only been a glancing blow, was still incredibly impressive. Tom was very happy too. This likely meant that, even if she did feel like getting a little enthusiastic in battle, her chances of surviving a fuck up had just increased by a lot. And he knew better than to try and tell her not to fight, so that was one hell of a plus.

As Shiva set about trying to figure out what adjustments the armor would need to properly fit Jacky, Sapphire had come over and poked him on the shoulder.

“Got a second?”

“Yeah sure,” Tom replied, turning around to see yet another dragonette standing with her, looking rather timid. “I’m guessing you’re Ray. Tiguan said you're worth knowing.” Tom held out his hand with a smile. The dragonette courteously took it, giving it a delicate shake.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Well he only had nice things to say, so I’m guessing you are gonna fit in nicely. There’s certainly plenty to do. In time we might even get you back in the sky,” Tom tried. He knew of her little problem, and he could certainly see what Tiguan had been on about. She seemed sweet as a peach, but damn she was timid. There was a lot happening right now though, so that might not be helping.

“Really? I mean they told me, but really?” Ray replied very cautiously, clearly wanting to believe it.

“Just steal his parachute,” Jacky shouted over as Shiva was holding up pieces for test fitting.

“Or, ask nicely,” Tom interjected, with a slight grumble. He wasn’t giving it away, but what could lending it out for a few goes hurt. “I mean, I have no clue if we can fix your wings, but there are many ways to fly. I’m sure we will figure out something more permanent too.”

“I… I,” Ray tried to respond, locking up completely. Sapphire put an arm around her as the very scrawny-looking dragonette started to sob, looking at Tom.

“See? I told you,” Saph went as she gave Ray a little squeeze. Tom looked around a little uncomfortably. It hadn't been his intention to make her cry or anything like that.

“Well done,” Jacky joked, Shiva ordering her to stay still. Tom moved up to give Ray a shoulder pat. Thus far that had been mostly successful for him when dealing with new people. Ray responded by jumping onto him, latching on tightly and not letting go, still sobbing slightly.

“I think you made another friend,” Sapphire joked, standing back with her arms crossed, chuckling.

__________________________________________________________________________________

There was a lot of stuff to unload, but the sheer number of hands made quick work of it. The idea of having a separate place to store all the dangerous shit did help ease Sapphire’s worries a little, even if it sounded to her like having more than one would be better. Tom had spent most of his time overseeing what was going on and instructing everyone on what to do and more importantly what not to do. To Sapphire’s relief, Tink had pretty much been glued to Tom for the time being, the explanation of what a computer was having taken up nearly an hour.

Junior was helping out though, and Ray was once again working to the point she would likely be asleep for dinner. They hauled crates, boxes, and jars into both the bunker and the keep itself. Jarix and his crew had set off with his mother to score some dinner for tonight. They were gonna do their damndest to put on a proper feast, but the five dragons were gonna need to bring their own, so to speak. That was rather beyond what they could manage.

Saph had ended up on kitchen duty after the unloading was complete. Tom had grumbled something about wanting to help out, but by now Linkosta had gotten over the shock of returning home and had gotten her claws into him. And Tink, of course, refused to leave him alone too, so they were currently in the library. Jacky and Shiva were in the smithy, going over the artifact of their past. The mood was high all around, Esmeralda starting up Tom’s little music box and singing along. They fired up the oven to make some nice fresh bread for the meal. With all the extra mouths here right now the bread was gonna be needed to save a bit on their fresh meat supply. Then again, they had enough hands to replenish in a hurry now if they needed it.

“Are you singing in English?” Sapphire questioned with a laugh as Esmeralda tapped her foot to the music.

“I’m walking on sunshine whoaaaa, I’m walking on sunshine whoaaaa and it’s starting to feel good hey,” Essy responded, matching the voice singing damn near perfectly.

“That’s cheating and you know it,” Saph protested as she tapped her tail to the beat, swaying from side to side a bit. She tried her hand at a bit of the chorus, but it just didn’t sound right. Not that she had ever been able to sing, but the soft dainty language didn’t help either that was for sure.

__________________________________________________________________________________

“You brought a telescope?” Tom questioned as Linkosta had set about unpacking the sizable amount of stuff she had brought, much of it apparently borrowed from the academy where she studied.

“We call it a heaven watcher. It allows us to glimpse into the world of the gods. I was hoping you could show me some of yours if they are up there.”

“Mine…” Tom replied, not quite sure how to respond to that. Thus far when it had come to gods he had pretty much been branded a heretic, though they didn’t seem to take it that seriously out here as long as he didn’t do something they didn’t like.

“Well you have gods, right?” Linkosta questioned, with a confused head tilt.

“Yeah, we do… oh boy.” Did he tell her about a lot of gods… maybe some old ones that seemed to line up a bit better with their view on things… Or just go “fuck it” and spread the good word of Jesus Christ to a new world? ‘Fuck, am I gonna be a missionary?” Tom questioned himself, chuckling a bit at the absurdity of that statement. He was most definitely not a religious man. Linkosta just looked a bit confused at him at that, seemingly waiting for something worth noting down.

“Do you have a god of construction?” Tink questioned. The inventor was clearly trying his best to contribute to the conversation. Tom was rather certain it was mainly to get him to talk about various machines and inventions or other such stuff not that he really minded.

The inventor and Linkosta were an odd combination. It almost felt like the first time he could actually talk with dragonettes about technical stuff. Sure Shiva could manage metal stuff and it wasn’t like the others were stupid or anything, but these two really wanted to learn just for that sake of learning. That applied for Dakota too of course but she was mostly about tactics and logistics and Apuma just seemed to want to preserve every scrap of knowledge he could get his hands on.

Linkosta was no engineer or even mechanically inclined, but she was clearly highly educated and well versed in the scientific method much to his surprise. Tink on the other hand positively reeked of self-taught shed inventor. His decades of experience were hard to miss though, and he clearly knew what he was talking about when the subject didn't stray too far into the realm of high tech. Some level of formal education did seem to be in there somewhere as well.

Tom had to make a note to scold Sapphire or Dakota for rather blatantly ignoring his request of ‘not a crazy one please,’ but it seemed they had at least gotten a useful one. And Junior did seem more safety-oriented. The kid was another interesting proposition. He seemed geared almost specifically to keep his dad in check, but he was skilled that was for sure. It almost made Tom ponder the merits of getting an assistant or apprentice himself. Maybe Kiran one day, ‘You never know’

“I honestly don’t know if we have that… someone might… actually I’m sure we probably have a few We can’t really agree when it comes to god's back home.”

“Wait… what?” Linkosta questioned, clearly not understanding that. “How do you fuck that up?”

“Uhm… I’m not sure gods work the same way where I’m from… How do you know yours are real?” Tom questioned, weary of the possible religious flame war he might have sparked. She had asked though so she couldn’t be too mad.

“Well we can look at them for one,” Linkosta replied as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. Tom was about to counter-argue that well planets might look like gods, when she cut him off. “In times of struggle and need we might even get to see one up close.”

“I’m sure... What did you just say?” Tom had to question, incredulous.

“During a time of great need, a god may decide to protect their subjects. It’s rare of course, but it does happen.”

“Okay… Yeah, they work differently here than back home… Unless the Vikings weren’t actually that high on shrooms.”

“I’m not sure what mushrooms have to… Are you claiming I’m lying?”

“What? No, it’s just that at home some people claimed to have seen gods from time to time and all of them a long time ago. We don’t believe that. Not really at least… I mean, I’m sure some do.”

“Well, we better get this setup then. This should be an interesting night. Let’s just hope the sky stays clear.”

“Can’t you wait for tomorrow, and enjoy the festivities tonight?” Apuma questioned as he helped her unpack some of the very fine-looking equipment.

“It’s not like the heavens are going anywhere, Why don’t I show you the workshops instead?” Tom replied, the inventor perking up.

“Oh, that can wait” Linkosta replied, “I’ll just get it set up for tomorrow then.

“You are gonna want to see that too” Apuma added, looking to his daughter. “I’m sure I can figure out this thing.”

“Please don't, Dad. It’s very delicate. I’ll be back,” Linkosta replied with a slightly pained expression as she went to follow Tom out the door, her father flattening his ears a little as he put down the piece he was holding.

“Right, so this is gonna become the lathe. Those are the plans for it, and that is for the mill. We haven't gotten started on that yet,” Tom explained as he showed the three of them around.

“And it just shaves off metal?” Junior questioned, looking at the drawings for the tools for it and their mounts.

“Pretty much yeah. You are gonna love it.”

“Seems awfully wasteful,” Linkosta remarked as she studied the drawing for the motor, comparing them with the mostly finished unit that was sitting on the table.

“You just re-melt the shavings, so it’s not actually that bad. It’s just time-consuming for sure, but then again so is forging.”

“Hmm neat.”

“So you can make something both perfectly flat and perfectly round… This changes everything,” Tink let out. “You could make bearings, hollow axles, Cogs, anything!”

“And with enough precision to make it all fit together nicely. Which means spare parts. Threading too. Have a look at this,” Tom replied as he chucked a bolt and nut to Tink.

“How do you do that?” the inventor questioned incredulously, showing the assembly to Junior as he screwed in the nut. “It fits so perfectly”

“Precision and this,” Tom replied, gesturing to the lathe. “We can make threading tools with this. Or just thread it directly, and with all the materials you brought back home we can make all of this stuff.”

“Oleg be praised. You might not believe in him, but I reckon he’s gonna like you,” Tink let out, running his fingers over the threading.

“He is working in one of his workshops, so…” Linkosta added with a shrug. “Doesn't that constitute worship for him?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Tink replied, nodding.

Tom just shrugged himself. He could live with that no problem, so long as they didn’t fuck up enough to need divine intervention or something.