An Untitled Novel

Basil stepped out of the gunship, tired and bloody, but as soon as he turned to leave ACE spoke. “Basil, while we were busy, Gina from the coastal federation attempted to contact us. She is attempting to reform their organization and requested your presence.” Basil sighed, feeling even more exhausted at the suggestion. “Alright, ask them if tomorrow works or something.”

“She is having a meeting in a couple hours, she specifically requested you be present because she wanted to thank you for saving their organization and wanted your official recognition of their new government.” Basil laughed. “My recognition? The fuck is that gonna do?” Spiro also laughed, but seemed to be directing his laughter towards Basil’s response instead of the request. “What do you mean ‘The fuck that gonna do?’ You helped take down an Elthrice invasion, became one in the process, and have the ear of three of the four major governments. Not to mention you’ve got a gunship now. Your presence there would mean almost as much as if the Redcaps themselves arrived during the negotiations and said ‘This new government is under our protection.’”

“What’s the gunship looking like?” Basil asked ACE. “It sustained minimal damage; we can hold off installing the weapon systems and fly it straight to Domum’s coast.” Basil nodded. “Alright, what do you think we should do?” Spiro looked as if he was about to speak, but ACE responded to the question Basil had directed towards ACE. “We should go. The Coastal Federation is in a strenuous position and there are no risks to us by dropping in, we can either have an ally or, most likely, a dead stranger if we do not visit.” Basil nodded. “Alright. Just let me go get cleaned up first.”

Basil stepped out of the gunship, walked down the opened ramp, and stopped right before the ramp changed to ground. The foliage was dense, even denser than the western regions of the Redcap’s territory, but the area seemed freshly cleared, and in it, a mostly constructed wooden building lay ahead. A soldier, at least what he assumed to be a soldier, began approaching; holding a spear to his side. “Greetings, Basil. Please surrender your weapons to me, and I will escort you to the great hall.” Basil shook his head. “Sorry, nobody’s getting my weapons. I’ll wait here, why don’t you go check in with Gina.”

“That was a federation order, and not up for debate” the soldier replied, switching from cheerful to menacing instantly. Well, Basil figured, the soldier at least probably thought he looked menacing. He stepped forward and off the ramp and wrapped his fingers around the spear’s tip. As the spear’s edge locked within his hand, millimeters away from touching his skin, the soldier tried pulling it away from Basil’s grasp but failed. A familiar surge of energy hit him, though muted from the day’s earlier injuries, and as the soldier began to pull back, Basil wrenched it out of his hands and struck the soldier in the chest with the end of the handle. He dropped to the ground, clutching his chest and gasping for breath. Basil scowled.

Gina ran towards them with another soldier by her side. “What happened?” the other soldier asked, nebulously directing his question towards both Basil and the soldier on the ground before quickly bending over to inspect the one on the ground. “He tried to disarm me, then found out it takes a lot more than a spear to do that” Basil replied in a monotone voice that, even to him, felt oddly relaxed for somebody who had been in an altercation. “You told me to disarm them” the soldier on the ground wheezed, seemingly catching his breath as the other soldier helped him to his feet. “I told you to disarm the negotiators, Basil is not a negotiator. You’ll be fine, he just hit you in the sternum, I’ve seen worse wounds from training.”

“Get him inside” Gina commanded the soldier who had originally accompanied her. The soldier looked hesitant, but Gina continued with a relaxed expression. “If Basil were dangerous I wouldn’t have called him here.” As the soldiers left, however, Gina’s relaxed facial expression changed to one that looked as if she didn’t know what to think of the altercation, seeming to imply she had faked the earlier expression to get the others to leave. “Sorry, I think I was a little too hard on him” Basil said as he and Gina began walking towards the entrance of the building. They continued in silence for a short distance until they stepped through a large wooden door.

“We’re just finishing up, you can wait around here until we’re done” Gina said, gesturing to what looked like a makeshift waiting area in the corner of the large open room. All eyes turned to him, and from the tone of the following negotiations, it seemed apparent that his presence was being used as a bargaining chip, even if it wasn’t said out loud.

“Sorry about the wait” Gina said as Basil noticed the room was clearing out. “Turner, go fetch us some wine from the storage room.” Basil watched as the soldier that originally had followed Gina grumbled about being the head of their armed forces and doing a cook’s work, leaving Gina and Basil the only two in the room. As they waited for the wine to arrive, Gina filled Basil in on the state of things. With the ongoing turmoil in the Redcap and Lizard kingdoms, the various coastal city leaders had begrudgingly agreed to re-attempt a unification under a loose centralized power. While choosing a leader, Gina convinced them that she had the outsider’s support and the debt of the Redcaps. Basil’s presence in the meeting sealed that belief and helped force some more favorable terms.

Basil found himself feeling oddly refreshed as Gina explained everything bluntly. The Redcaps, the Lizard King, and Amigoso officials always had an air of bullshit to their speech; even as he began to know them personally there was always double speak and reading between the lines. Right now, he was bluntly being told he was present as a political bargaining chip, and it felt oddly pleasant to be told that, as sad as he figured it was. He was also, however, alarmed to hear that the Redcaps had fought a few skirmishes with what sounded like guerilla forces of an unknown allegiance within their capital city. He was aware of vague ’troubles,’ but apparently news was slow on the Akepello and he wasn’t kept in the loop by the Redcaps themselves anymore. Basil put down his glass, yet another glass of wine consumed.

“Well, perhaps you could come out of retirement to become my most trusted advisor and the second most powerful person of this nation” Gina said, suddenly shifting the conversation. Basil laughed at the absurd proposition. Under the (Old Elthrice) he would have had near limitless power and freedom to raise armies, everybody afraid to disturb the power behind the (object)s that revived somebody for a particular purpose. Here, he was offered a bureaucratic position in a barely iron age nation whose subjects mostly did not even know that specific government existed yet. What little aptitude for adept and respectful conversations Basil had, however, had alerted him to play off the laughter as if it was related to what he was about to say.

“Funny you should mention retirement. The Elthrice attacked again today.” Gina returned a laugh, seeming to think Basil was joking. “There’s still blood on my boots from an Orbital” Basil replied while gesturing to his shoe. Gina’s face changed from intoxicated amusement to a suddenly sober look of concern and fear. “What? Where?” Basil sighed. “Today, against my people. I beat them back, but conflict with my people prevented me from killing their leadership.” Gina responded confused. “You tried to kill your people’s leadership?”

“No, I tried to kill the Elthrice leadership, but my people tried to kill me and it turned into a huge mess.” Gina kept alternating between worry and confusion. “Why were you fighting your own people during an Elthrice invasion, and do they have the same weapons as you do?” Basil replied, suddenly sounding worn out. “They saw me as an Elthrice, which is pretty much correct at this point, but we were fighting before that too. It’s a long story.” Basil paused, before remembering there was a second question. “But no, while some of my technology is from my people, the stuff you’ve seen today is only held by the Elthrice, though some of it is even lost to them.”

Gina seemed to pick up on Basil’s fatigue and began to pivot the subject. “Well, if I can’t offer you a position, what can I offer you, Basil? You saved the lives of me and my most loyal allies, and I would like to repay you somehow.” Basil pondered momentarily, not aided by his intoxication, before finally settling on a response. “Right now, I just need an ally or two I can trust to have my back with an army if needed. Things are starting to heat up and my relations with every nation minus the Arkepello have been strained. Although with what you said earlier I’m sure the Redcaps will be requesting help from me soon if things continue the way they’re going. But if things get bad there and I need a few guys with guns they’re not going to be able to help me on that.”

Gina laughed as if she had just uncovered a truth, intoxicated amusement returning. “So, I take it the reputation of Arkepello soldiers being shit is correct then?” Basil responded with a laugh, confirming the stereotype. “Yeah, they’re good people, but most of them couldn’t hit an unarmed asshole standing ten feet away.” Gina responded again, this time answering Basil’s original request. “Well, I can grant you that wish, you’ll have an ally in the Coastal Federation.” Before the conversation could continue, however, Gina pivoted it yet again. “Well, I’m glad to have had this meeting, but I must get going now. I have some diplomatic meetings to attend that will involve some long boat rides, so I don’t have much time to waste.”