26 Reply by Jake Logan

(43 replies, posted in Open discussion)

Chapter 25: Reporting In



King John got the message a day later and he was happy that Phillip had been in the right place at the right time. Maria was safe and another country had finally stepped down from 'sitting the fence' and supply shipments to the front were coming in regularly. He was never more amazed as he was when the report told how Phil had thrown a stone, his only weapon, at an enemy soldier who was shooting at him, and he had killed him with ease. The very thought of it made him feel a lot more secure having Phil on his side, as well as a bit scarey when you consider the speed needed for such a thing to happen, Phil didn’t need a mech to fight, he used one because he liked to, and even on his own empty handed, he was a force to be reckoned with.

The fighting had stalled with both sides taking steady losses but they were holding the line and he knew with enough help that the war would stall as well, but Garish was manufacturing weapons and even the church was furious about that. If he survived the war, he'd likely never see sunshine again, but that was then and this was now, and John made sure ammo was available to all the units under his command, and he looked at the calender. They should be coming back this way soon, finishing their 'good will tour' of other countrys, he missed seeing Cara for so long, but the word had reached him she was a real woman now. It seemed her and Phil had finally decided that they were a couple, and he was happy for her. He had forced her to wait on someone perfect and for the first time, he saw he might have been right.

Garish also saw his reports today, and it angered him more every day. He had planned on a quick sweep of Glen and Glade, adding badly needed materials and manpower to his army, but that hadn’t happened. He had 'loyalists' inside Glen messing with his supply lines and enemys outside cutting his forces down daily. Even his manufacturing was slowed down, with strikes and sabotage happening way too often. He had made a mistake early on, not to ingratiate himself to the people, and it was coming back to bite him now. He was forced to rule through heavy handed means and not through the continued support of the people and that cut his efficiency down badly. He was spending as much time trying to stop inward attacks as he was on outward attacks from the enemy.

Katherine had friends here and they would not allow some old time Prime Minister to take away her rights and country so easily, and he finally had to admit it to himself. If something radical wasn't done, they'd drag him down with them and he set up a small, elite task force to deal with these 'dissidents' no matter who they were or what political standing they held. No one would stand in his way and if he had to rule by force, then so be it, and he made examples of some that stood against him and he opened a new prison, just for those that he needed to control, and after a few weeks, the opposition started to fade away, and things started looking up for him and he wondered why he didn’t think of this before.

Cara and Phillip were almost inseparable now. Everyone saw it and even though he seemed to go on and on about being alright, she worried for him even when there was nothing to worry about. It was a real surprise that she was going to be such an old fashioned wife, and Kate and Maria spent some time teasing her about the sudden change.

“I cant wait to get back home and get the official ceremony over with,” Cara said as they all smiled, they had never seen her so happy,or worried, before. “ I understand as a member of Royalty, Phillip can and will have other wives after me, but I'm his First and that means I will have control over the family from now on. As his 'main' wife running the home and seeing to the political needs of the family is my responsibility, so getting home to make it official is important. Right now we're 'just dating' as many would say and that’s not true it's much more than that.” She said declaring herself Queen long before the actual ceremony took place and Cybil looked shocked to see the change in her from the shy,friendly athlete, to this strong, serious woman, and she could only think that Phillip had a lot to do with it, and she smiled to think one person made such a huge difference.

“You'll be a fine Queen,” Kate said seriously as Cara's serious look softened a bit and she smiled and nodded saying she appreciated their support, and everyone saw the truth, she felt the pressure of being engaged to someone as important and impressive as Phillip for the first time, and she was up for the challenge.

“I'll do my best,” she whispered as everyone smiled, and Maria gave everyone a big wink and asked her when the first child would be coming, and at that, Cara nearly fainted from embarrassment and everyone got a good chuckle at her, very serious expense.

“If King John has anything to do with it, she'd better be ready, he already made a statement that Phillip could unite the world after the war, and that means many more wives to be 'organized and controlled' isn’t that true Cara?” Cybil asked as even Uki who was very careful not to show emotion often, got a chuckle that seemed to fade away as quickly as it came. Cara’s face was beet red now and she demanded that she 'never considered such a thing' even though it was clear she absolutely HAD, She was making it known now, well in advance, that any other women that were interested in Phillip had to go through HER first. Getting her permission and being 'accepted' for the official harem, and that gave her great power over the look of the new world they were creating, and she knew that well.

“So, from now on you'll be Phillip's manager then?” Maria asked smiling widely as Cara nodded yes, but a loud 'ahem' was heard as they looked towards Kate who was all smiles and Cara asked her what she meant by that.

“I'm Phillip's official Manager, my deal with him predates your engagement by days.” she said officially as Cara looked a little upset and demanded who said that, and she said that Phil had ok'd it himself so long as she 'didn’t do anything sleazy' to embarrass him and Cybil smiled and admitted that she had heard that agreement and Cara looked a little shocked and said they'd have to take some time and discuss this and Kate just laughed and waved her away, as Phil walked in and asked what was going on.

“Did you make Kate your manager before we even started dating?” Cara asked as Phil looked a little surprised that she was so upset.

“Kate is in charge of my personal schedule, as it refers to things like making money from videos,pictures,things like that. She's been doing that for a while now and I ok'd it so long as she didn’t get carried away.” he admitted as Cara looked thoughtful for a minute and Kate looked absolutely thrilled he backed her up.

“As Phillips new wife, I'd like to see that contract,” Cara said as Kate's face fell, she never put it on official file it was just between them. “and I want to especially see what percent the family gets for using their name and images.” she added as Kate's face fell to new lows and everyone laughed. Up until now it had all been for fun and a little extra cash but now a real 'manager' had appeared and Kate wouldn’t have her way ever again.

“I'll let you two work it out,” Phil said laughing to himself,as Cara agreed and Kate looked less happy than before, “But Cara...please try not to get so upset about things, I like you the way you are, don’t go changing just because we're going to get married, this hard line person isn’t the one I fell in love with.” he said as he walked back out,with his drink in hand, and Cara seemed to settle back down to her usual self like air running out of a balloon.

“I guess I was getting a little carried away with things, the marriage isn’t even official yet, sorry.” she said as Maria and Kate told her not to worry. Someday those very serious feelings would be needed, just not yet, but someday,and Cara smiled and nodded, knowing full well that Phil's number two might well be in the room right now.

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27 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 24: New Friends


After the dinner they sat and talked about the war so far. Flora had sent some supplys to Glade and King John had thanked her for her support. Phil made a point of saying that she'd not be able to keep her kingdom safe for long, as the evidence pointed to Garish setting up for the long haul and drawing everyone into his plans.

“Our defenses are up and waiting, I dare them to try and overpower us here,” Flora said as Maria seemed sad that she was thinking that way. War was a terrible evil and many would die and she herself had joined Kate in asking for peace worldwide, something that surprised even her mother, since they seldom agreed on anything.

“It's getting late, we can talk more in the morning,” She said as they all were led to their rooms, but Phil wasn't tired just yet and he wondered around the castle, looking out the windows and finally just taking a walk in the garden ,when he heard a slightly muffled sound, and he looked towards it to see three people running towards the treeline some distance away carrying a large bag that seemed very suspicious to him. He started that way and as he approached one man saw him and opened fire with a pistol, and Phil took a slight hit to his left shoulder and that left him know this was not someone that needed to be here.

“We've been seen,run!” was the order as they bolted towards the trees and Phil got up and dashed towards them at best speed and the first person who saw it nearly went into shock.

“It's the Inquisitor, kill him quickly!” He screamed as shots were fired and Phil dodged them all and grabbed a stone and made a quick throw that knocked one person completely off their feet. The others grabbed the bag again and start running but Phil caught them and dove onto the first person and knocked him unconscious while the last dropped the bag, screaming, and ran towards the trees and Phil stopped to see what was in it they wanted so badly. A second later a shot from the castle wall fired and the last person went down as a sniper for the Queen finally saw them and got a shot off. Phil approved of not letting any get away, and as he opened the bag, Maria rolled out and the smell of chemicals was very obvious. They were here to kidnap the Princess and probably ransom her to get the Queens help in their war, the cowards, and Phil picked her up gently and carried her back as the guards ran to meet him and they took over from there while they  led him to the infirmary for some treatment.

The doctor made quick work of getting Maria back awake and after they were sure she was ok, they started on Phil who had lost a little blood and had a small hole burned into his left shoulder but it was a shallow wound and they said he'd be ok in a few days and they gave him something for the pain and left him return to his room to rest.

As he walked out of the infirmary, Cara and the rest of the team were waiting and she rushed over and gave him a hug asking if he really was alright, and the others all smiled at her worrying for him but he said he was and thanked them all for waiting to see him and everyone just smiled and said he had done a great thing and now,Maria was safe. Uki was still unconscious from the gas they used, but she too would be fine by morning,and Cara took his arm and they walked back to his room,where he thanked everyone and said they needed to go get some sleep too, but Cara refused saying she'd watch over him for the rest of the night and Kate tugged on Cybil's nightgown and nodded back the hall and they went back to their rooms while Phil kept insisting he was fine, but as soon as they entered the room and closed the door, Cara burst into tears, and Phillip stopped complaining and held her close, as close as he could wearing a sling anyways.

“You could have died,” she sobbed as Phil gave her a soft kiss on her forehead and she stopped crying for a minute to look up.

“This is a scratch, I've had worse working in the fields.” He said as she finally settled back down.

“It's my duty as your fiance to worry about you, and watch over you when your hurt.” she said stubbornly as Phil just smiled and agreed.

“Well, I'm going to bed, the doctor gave me stuff to make me relax and its working, so you might as well get some sleep too.” Phil said as He started getting undressed and Cara dropped her night gown to show her sleepwear underneath.

“I said I'm staying...” she said softly as Phil just nodded and they slid into bed together and he started to chuckle.

“I was hoping this would be under better circumstances......” he said as he fell quickly to sleep while Cara snuggled up beside him and held him close, she also had hoped for a better time but this was nice too and she soon found that drugged or not, Phillip had wandering hands in his sleep.

The next morning they walked out to get some breakfast, and Phil looked very refreshed and Cara seemed pretty happy as well and no one asked why as they sat down to eat.

“How's your shoulder, feeling any better?” Flora asked as Phil just smiled and said it was alright.”My kingdom owes you a great debt, and you will always be welcome here.”

“Did you get any information from the kidnappers yet?” Phil asked as she shook her head no.

“They're professionals but they'll talk, eventually, only one actually survived. What did you shoot that one person with anyways? The doctor said it had to be a high caliber weapon but we didn’t find any bullet, just a huge,gaping hole.” She said looking shocked as Phil tried to not say but she wouldn’t let it go so he took a deep breath and told them.

“It was a stone,” he said as everyone looked extremely shocked,” I didn’t have a gun and with the excitement and adrenalin going, I threw a stone at him and that was the weapon. I never thought it went all the way through.”

“Well that’s it for my breakfast,” Flo said throwing her napkin down as Phil apologized and Flora did as well, their timing could have been much better and the answer to her question amazed and shocked even her. “That’s one mental picture that I'll not forget for a while.”

“Totally amazing, your strength is even greater than I heard.” Flora said as Phil's face grew red and Cara played the part of the doting wife and made him sit to eat, even though a few at the table looked a little queasy right now.

“No more talk about this now, please lets finish our breakfast and get on with the loading of the ship with your supply’s.” Flora said finally and everyone agreed and after a few minutes talking about other things, even Flo decided that she’d have a little something and Uki finally got to thank Phil for helping Maria the night before, while looking very embarrassed by the whole thing.

“No one could have stopped them, they gassed the room and even a hundred soldiers would have fallen for it, so don’t be too hard on yourself.” Phil said as she nodded she understood but she still didn’t feel too good about how things had turned out.

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28 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 23: The War drags On


They arrived at Florentine a week later and as they docked a middle aged woman and a teenaged girl were waiting on the docks,leading a crowd of workers as the ship docked, and Kate and her team  all walked off the ship. Kate looked disgusted by the whole thing as the lady ran over and gave her a huge hug and Phil stepped back with a big grin wondering what was happening.

“That’s Flora, Queen of Florentine, and Kate's Aunt,” Cybil whispered as Phil just chuckled to himself, it was obvious that Kate wasn’t too happy being treated like a little kid here. “and that's Maria, Flora's daughter,Kate's cousin, they fight constantly about who's the best, most proper Princess. Now that Katherine’s a Queen they haven’t spoken for a while. Queen Flora is a widower, and she takes every opportunity to gush all over people like this, so watch out.”

“Ah, family how nice,” Phil said softly as Cybil smiled at him and almost laughed out loud.

“Not really...” she whispered as Flora finally noticed them standing there after accosting Kate for a while.

“Cybil, it's good to see you, your looking exceptionally well, and this must be the Inquisitor, my what a handsome young man.” Flora said as she gushed all over them both while Maria walked over next to Kate and they stood looking disgusted they needed to be on the same deck together.

“I hope you haven’t been making life too hard for Cybil, the poor thing has it hard enough trying to guard someone like you.” Maria said as Kate gave her a serious stare.

“Watch your mouth, peasant, I'm a Queen now, and your a lowly Princess with an over bearing, promiscuous  mother.” Kate said as Maria nearly grabbed her by the throat but stepped back looking very shocked that Kate had said that, but she thanked her for reminding her, through clenched teeth, and a second young woman ran out and whispered something to her and Maria nodded she understood.

“There's a package for you, Inquisitor, on the lower deck , we'll bring it right up and get it loaded for you.” She called as Phil looked her way and gave her a short bow and thanked her for her kindness.”Oh my what good manners, being on board with this crew must be hard on someone of your good taste.”

With that Kate almost grabbed her as well and you could see the sparks getting ready to fly when Cara spoke up as she walked off the ship.

“Phillip always makes everyone feel at ease, and as my fiance, I must take exception to you saying that the crew here is less than professional.” She said with a grin as Maria stopped her complaining and apologized for what she said.

“You know I didn’t mean you,” Maria whispered as they both got a good chuckle and Phil just shook his head and smiled. It seemed like this was going to be a noisy visit but it seemed warm somehow, like they were enjoying this more than they let on. “Ah here comes the gift from the church now.”

There was the sound of loud thumping and anyone who piloted a mech recognized it as a heavy machine walking on the deck. They watched as the darkness down the hall opened up to a huge lumbering machine, bigger than the biggest heavy mech on board and Cara's face lit up looking at it as it approached and stopped by the door to the hanger and they got a good look at it for the first time. It was huge, a monster of a machine, a good 2 meters taller than anything on board now. It had every weapon it could carry with it and Flo mentioned that some of these were still experimental, and everyone laughed that the church wasn't taking any chances with Phil's life.

It had the same paint job that matched Phil's black cloths and gold trim and he stood there looking up at it and shook his head at the dark and sinister look of it.

“You'd think they'd have better taste in colors, something nice and lively.” He said as even Flora got a good laugh at that.

“It's an official Church machine with your custom paint on it, just the way they ordered it made.” Maria read from the manifest and Phillip laughed right out loud.

“Well, lets get it on board then, I'll have my personal engineer check it out later and make sure its ready to go.” he said with a quick grin and a wink towards Flo who tried to look upset she had become his 'personal' engineer, but she finally smiled and agreed and Queen Flora and Maria saw quickly how easy it was to get to like this young man. He really was as exceptional as the files had said. “and who is this beautiful young lady?” Phil asked as the young girl got very embarrassed and Maria got a good chuckle from it.

“This is Uki, my bodyguard, like Cybil with Kate, we've been together for many years and are best friends.” she said as Uki thanked her for the kind words.

“Glad to meet you,” Phil said stepping forward and kissing her hand as Cara cleared her throat a little loudly and the deck all got a good laugh,”and this is my fiance Cara whom I'm SURE you know by now.” he added as Cara smiled and shook her hand while Maria and Kate both got a big kick out of her suddenly getting mentioned as 'his fiance' and she wasn't upset by it at all.

“Now that the formalities are over, lets have a nice dinner together and you can get some rest while we get your ship loaded with supplys. It'll take a day or two and that will give you time to get to know us all here and we can talk to the Inquisitor and get to know him.” Flora said as everyone saw she was really interested in him in her own way and Cara seemed more and more upset that now that they had time off, she might not have Phil to herself as much as she'd hoped, as Flora took him by the arm and led him inside while the rest of them walked in behind them looking a little shocked by her attitude.

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29 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 22: First Battle



Phil and Flo were going over the targeting for the new guns when the alarms went off, and scanners showed two smaller ships bearing down on them at high speed.

“Escort ships,” Flo said as Phil nodded, “they are faster than us and can carry one heavy mech each.”

“So they caught up with us before we even made it to Florentine,” he said as she agreed. The small ships pulled along side and opened fire on the carrier with their light cannons while two large mechs launched and attempted to board them on the flight deck. Phil was gone in an instant, and his medium mech popped out of the smaller hanger a minute later and he ran flat out, showering the first mech with machine gun fire.

It turned its attention on him, as the second tried making its way towards the hanger doors but Cara walked out in her heavy mech and hit it solidly with a burst from her rifle and the enemy was forced to back up to defend itself. Phil saw she had it under control so he kept going, until the small guns started doing some serious damage to the joints on the mech he was fighting. There were many advantages to having biologic parts on mechs, lighter weight, better control and more flexible joints, but those joints themselves were a weak point that mech pilots had to protect, and the small gun was deadly accurate at this range, and the heavier, slower machine found that it lost control of one leg as the joint there at the knee was blown away by the light weapon, and they had to withdraw, or be captured.

“Get back here you coward...” he heard as the one mech screamed at the other for leaving the battle.

But the ships guns were now online,and they turned and opened fire on the smaller vessels and they too started taking damage and one fell from the sky into the valley below and exploded and the second sent the retreat order, and the mech was forced to leave and she called that they'd be back to finish this and Phil just laughed into the coms.

“You alright, Cara?” he asked as she came on the screen and smiled.

“Scratched a little paint, but I'm fine.” she replied as he nodded and thanked her for showing up so quickly. “I cant let you have all the fun.”

“And thank you, Flo for the assist, those main guns worked well, and we cost the enemy an escort vessel and crew, and we took little to no damage.” he said as Flo thanked him for the kind words.

“I learned a lot from this battle,” she said looking very serious indeed, “ I need to do some more adjustments yet but the guns are operational at least.”

“They did a good job, thank you,” Cara added as Flo just smiled and nodded and she left the link.

“Well back inside, we need to check for damage to the machines and get ready before they try again.” Phil said as everyone agreed and they went inside and started their post battle checks and were very happy that little to no damage was found.

“We proved we can defend ourselves, and the new guns got a try out and got the first major kill.” Phil mentioned as Kate agreed they did well.

“In stead of running down the highways or across country with light mechs to get ahead of us they sent smaller, faster ships, that might be the way things will be going in the future, but we surprised them this time with the deck guns, they wont be surprised the next time.” Flo said as everyone agreed.

“We'll be fine.” Phil said seriously and everyone agreed, wither they thought he was right or not. He had that kind of effect, and people around him just wanted to believe what he said, and everyone smiled to think it, since it was no surprise to anyone by now that Phil seemed to get his way all to often and they went back to getting ready for the next battle and tried to get some rest.

Meanwhile Flo got a message and took it in the engineering bay and she wasn’t happy with the results. It seemed the church was highly upset that Phillip was fighting in such a small and almost helpless mech. She tried to tell them that they had bigger mechs on board but he seemed happy with that one and they wouldn’t hear of it, and said that they'd have something special waiting for him in Florentine and she agreed to let him know as the link went closed.

“You upset some people using that little mech,” she explained at dinner while the rest of the room looked amused.

“It's just the one I grabbed on the way out of the school, it sort of stuck with me.” he said smiling as everyone laughed.

“I checked it over after they called, it hasn’t even been maxed out yet, there's guns that are bigger and more powerful that can be mounted, but they want you to be safe, so they are sending 'something special' to Florentine for you, so don’t think you'll get away with ignoring them or their gifts when we get there.” Flo said as Cybil nodded and gave Phil a hard stare.

“People are worried about you, so try to be a little more careful from now on.” she said as Kate gave her a look out of the corner of her eye and Cybil saw it right away. “The Church, was worried about you, the church was...so be more careful.” with that she got up and walked out as Kate got a huge grin and Cara tried hard not to notice that a little more competition might be on the way.

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30 Reply by Jake Logan

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This story is getting out of hand maybe a 2 parter, hang in there..lol


Chapter 21: Drawing Attention


“Here's the plan...” Phil said a few hours later after they got Cara's things and her personal mech on board. “We'll leave right at daybreak , then head along this valley until we're in sight of the main battle lines, there we'll do a short reconnaissance flight, and then head towards the kingdom of Florentine.”

“Wont we be seen by the enemy heading away from the battlefield?” Kate said as Phil smiled, that was the plan.

“We're leaving information all over the docks that we're headed that way, then we will have their people see us from the front lines and they'll relay that info back to their commanders.” Phil explained as Kate nodded so far. “this way they'll know that we aren't at Glade any longer and their forces will have to split up so some can follow us and some will be needed to hold the front lines. This way King John can get a supply shipment in with minimum difficulty, and we'll just outrun most of their forces while on our way to Florentine.”

“Some medium and smaller mechs are as fast as we are, they might catch up to us if they plan it right.” Cybil said as Phil agreed.

“I didn’t say we'd get there untouched, but we can out maneuver most of their forces, and defeat the lighter ones that catch up with us later.”

“And,” Flo added as they looked her way,” the new guns on the front and back are almost ready, if they attack us thinking we're an easy target, they'll learn the hard way.” She said as everyone agreed, They weren't at full battle strength yet, but they were close and Phil said that they could easily hold their own against the ships that were fast enough to catch them.

“We'll make them pay,don’t you worry.” He added as they all agreed and the meeting was over and everyone went back to whatever they needed to do. Phil went to get a good hot soak, he was exhausted and needed some rest badly, and after he was there for a minute the door opened and Kate walked in wrapped in a  towel and acted very surprised she found him there.


“Sorry I didn’t know you were in here, I can go if it bothers you.” She said and he noticed that she didn’t seem to mind it at all herself.

“If it doesn’t bother you go ahead,” Phil said as she slid into the water on the far side of the large hot-tub and sat there looking embarrassed.

“I should have checked first, sorry,” she said but she didn’t leave and Phil was just too tired to argue so he just left it pass, but a minute later the door opened violently and Cybil stormed in fully dressed and demanded what they were doing.

“Taking a bath...what does it look like?” Kate said as she dragged her from the tub and wrapped a towel around her on the way out.

“What will the people think if they ever find out?” Cybil demanded as they closed the door behind them and Phil could hear her yelling all the way down the hall as he laughed to himself, there was never a dull moment here and he decided to get ready for bed and get a good nights sleep.

As Phil walked out the hall the next morning going towards the breakfast table he could hear the discussion long before he saw it. Cybil and Cara were questioning Kate's reasons for being in the tub last night with Phil and he stood back listening for a few minutes to see what was really going on.

“I'm his fiance and I haven’t taken a bath with him yet...” Cara said as she looked embarrassed and Cybil looked a little shocked she could blurt that out so easily.

“Nothing happened, it was a simple mistake, I walked in without looking first.” Kate said in her defense but Cybil wouldn’t hear of it.

“I believe there's more to this than meets the eye.” Cybil said as Kate looked at her, faking being shocked and Cara looked all too serious waiting to hear. “You didn’t have a camera hidden in your towel did you?”

“How rude of you to ask...” Kate said but she didn’t deny it at all.

“I heard there were offers of up to a thousand credits for naked pictures of Phillip,” Cybil said softly as Cara looked upset and stared at Kate.

“Rumors, nothing more,” Kate said waving it away as Cybil leaned towards her and gave her a serious stare.

“If the people were to find out that their Queen would stoop to such low levels to make a little extra cash you'd be the laughing stock of the planet.” She said seriously while Kate just smirked it away.

“You really didn’t get pictures did you?” Cara asked looking a little embarrassed as Cybil gave her a shocked look as well.

“I cant believe you two...” Cybil said as Kate looked around to see if anyone could see and then opened her notebook and showed Cara a screen shot. On it was Phillip's sleeping face, highlighted by the shimmering hot water and his half naked body from the waterline up.

“Doesn’t he look precious asleep?” Kate said as Cara looked away and smiled, but said nothing.

“Unbelievable!” Cybil screamed as Kate smiled wide and turned it around for her to see and she too smiled and looked a little embarrassed for a minute.

“If you like that one check this out...” Kate said as both women looked at each other for a second then slid over to other chairs to see better. With that Phil had seen enough and fun or not this was getting embarrassing so he walked in as Kate slid the notebook under the table out of sight.

“Give it here,” Phil said reaching out his hand while Kate argued that she had nothing he needed but he was stubborn and she finally handed him the computer while he took a look at the pictures on it and even he was surprised, she had a flare for this type of thing, something a Queen should never admit.

“and the backups.” He said as she looked surprised and Cybil and Cara gave her a serious look until she reached into her pocket and handed over a flash-drive and Phil thanked her.

“We had an agreement, no sleazy pictures for your friends to buy, and I left you do a few others to just play around with before, but this is a little too much, sorry Kate.” he said as she looked absolutely upset he knew her so well, he took the time to see what all she had, deleted a few and then smiled and slid the pad back over to her and she looked surprised as she saw some pictures still on it.

“Those I can let go, but not the others, and no more getting into the tub to sneak pictures, or I'll take some of you,understand?” he asked as she agreed with a smile, she still had something to play with and Phil knew he just limited her a little he never stopped her from doing her little side business.

“We have more important things to do than play around with pictures, it might all be in fun but lets not forget that we're going to be in battle any minute, and this will seem very unimportant when that happens.” He said as Cara and Cybil both agreed but Kate just sat back smiling, she had a great staff and wither Phil admitted to it or not, he'd be there to defend her and the ship and she felt quite safe for the time being.:D

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31 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 20: Slight of Hand


Cara walked down a long hall and stopped next to an open door as Phil went on about the fact that Glade was the main front lines in the war so far, and a little supply clerk was being very apologetic that supplys from the church had been slow getting there.

“King John and I just had a meeting he needs replacement machines at once, he has already lost 6 heavy mechs and hundreds of rounds of ammo, for both heavy and light cannons.” he said as Cara smiled her father had said no such thing and she knew they had only lost 3 mechs so far.

“I need the ok of a high priest to send heavy mechs I cant do it on my name alone.” The little clerk said as Phil reminded him that HE was a High Priest, and the man bowed and apologized for forgetting.

“I'll see they're loaded for departure at once.” he said and the coms link went blank as Phil heaved a big sigh of relief.

“That was quite the story,” He heard as he looked around to see Cara standing there all smiles.

“It's time I start getting things done...” Phil said seriously as he stepped forward and put his arms around Cara and gave her a soft kiss and then looked into her eyes. “I've been told repeatedly lately that I move to slowly.”

“Not by me,” she whispered as he smiled wide and agreed, “ I'm sorry then.” he added as he started to pull away but she stopped him and gave him another soft and quick kiss.

“There's nothing to be sorry for, I was curious as well.” she said and her face burst into the brightest red Phil had seen yet, and he took her hand and they went back to the main room to report the supplies on their way, and everyone noticed at once that they were holding hands and that Cara's face was bright red even though she was smiling wider than ever.

“Sounds like good news,” King John said looking at Car's red face, “all around I see.”

“The church might have misunderstood my request though,” Phil said getting a cup ready as a drink was poured and Cara burst into a chuckle while everyone else looked confused. “I swear I told them you lost 3 mechs, but I think they'll make a mistake and send 6, if they do, its their loss.” he added as King John burst into laughter again, and Kate and Cybil joined in.

“It was a simple mistake, could have happened to anyone,” Cybil said as John agreed and she then looked at Cara who saw it immediately. “I'd rather hear what happened there.”

“Me too,” King John said as Cara looked away and said nothing, but Phil jumped in to save her and they noticed it right away.

“Cara is just embarrassed that she caught me misleading the church on my parts order, shes a very  honest girl.” Phil said and everyone gave him a serious look, there's no way they were going to settle for that but he insisted and Cara sat back looking very pleased that he didn’t brag about what happened. It seemed Phil didn’t 'kiss and tell' like some young men do.

”I guess we'll never know,” John said all smiles but Kate just gave Cara a wicked look and chuckled.

“oh, we'll know, it'll just take us a little time.” Kate said as Cara looked shocked and she knew she was right, Kate would never buy that story but at least they'd talk about it when her father wasn't around.

“And since your new supplys will include light cannon ammo, then maybe you can give us a few more cases while we're here, I have a special project under way.” Phil said changing the subject as Cara thanked him and John agreed.

“Your a good man, Prince Phillip,” John said as everyone noticed Phil had suddenly jumped into Royalty here.

“Father your embarrassing me,” Cara said but her face said it was just a matter of time and everyone saw it.

“Thank you, King John, I hope we get along from now on, and into the future.” Phil added as Kate got a huge grin and Cara said nothing but her father looked more than pleased.

“There is a war going on you know,” Cybil added finally as she stood and Kate had to set her cup down suddenly to keep up as they thanked the King for the meeting and started back towards the ship.

“What's your problem, we were having a nice time picking on Cara and her dad.” Kate said but Cybil just said they had too much work to do to just sit around and after a few minutes Kate agreed and they went back to see how the loading was coming and they left Phillip and Cara to work out the details of their departure with the King.

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32 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 19: Preparing for....Battle?


They docked at Glade later that day and Phillip and Kate went to a meeting to get the latest information about the skirmishes that had taken place along the boarders. The enemy had taken a few losses but so had the friendly forces and they didn’t have nearly the mechs that Garish was producing for replacements.

“So, where will you get replacements?” Phil asked as Kate looked his way and said:

“The church has the only official factories for making mechs, that’s how they limit the size of everyone’s armys.”

“But getting them here takes time,” King John said as everyone looked thoughtful.

“But during times of war, wouldn’t they send extras knowing they will have some being damaged and destroyed?” he asked as John waved the idea away.

“They never have,they think by limiting weapons they limit the size of the war, and it's helped, until now.” He said sadly.

“That's something that most change now,” Phil said to himself while everyone just smiled, the church had never allowed it before but he had a special agreement with them so maybe there was a chance.

“Any help would be greatly appreciated.” King John said as Cara walked into the room and the meeting was dismissed as he got a huge grin.

“So, I hear the two of you are getting along splendidly,” He said as her face grew red, it seemed his intelligence services were watching them the other day. “a young man and a young woman all alone in the forest, on a blanket by the river...” he added with a devilish grin as Cara jumped in declaring that nothing had happened and they just had a picnic while fishing, and he laughed out loud at her expense.

“Oh, really, I didn’t hear about that.” Kate said as the King got a bigger grin, Cara was even keeping it a secret from friends,and he started to appreciate that Phil wasn't a bragging man himself.

“There was nothing to tell, we went fishing and had a cookout. We both like being out doors and away from crowds sometimes.” Cara said stubbornly as everyone there got a huge grin and she got even more embarrassed. “Phil was the perfect gentleman the whole time.”

“So, it's 'Phil' now...not 'The Inquisitor' hey?” King John went on as even Cybil got a chuckle at Cara's expense.

“We had a nice talk, about...many things...” Phil added in their defense, “ and Cara and I both agreed that time will tell how our feelings for each other go.”

“Well said...” King John added as Cara just sat back and smiled.

“Now if you don’t mind, I have a call to make in private,” Phil said and walked away seriously looking angry and everyone knew he was on the way to try and change decades of church law.

“So, when the Franklin leaves for her tour, will you stay here or go with them?” John asked Cara who looked very serious for a minute.

“I'll go along, Garish has attacked our country and done damage to our towns, we can no longer avoid fighting to stop him, and the Franklin will be dead center of the fighting since they are after Kate and Phillip now.” She said looking very intense saying it.

“Very well, I approve, we'll see that the ship is fully loaded for battle before you leave.” He added as Kate and Cara both thanked him ,”your personal mecha will be added to the ships storage for you and we're adding longer ranged communications while your here.”

“BUT, “ He said with a wide grin as Kate and Cybil started to smile at what was coming, “ I hope to hear that you and Phillip make a decision while on this trip, Royal Family’s need new blood to keep going.” He said with a chuckle as Cara's face grew red again, and Kate got a good laugh herself. “and YOU might consider it as well, you are an only child isn’t that right?” John asked as Kate's face fell and her eyes popped out and then even Cara got a big grin from it.

“But we're not like that, I haven’t even... I mean...” she stammered as King John got a big laugh from it.” besides he has Cara, I believe.” As the attention was switched right back but she just smiled and shook her head.

“Phil is Royalty, here and in the Church as such he can have as many wives as he wishes, Katherine,” Cara added as Kate’s face got bright red and the King got the biggest laugh of the day and was a little surprised that even Cybil looked a little embarrassed by the idea.

“I'll check on Phil,” Cara said suddenly and bolted from the room as King John poured himself some more coffee and the laughter settled down.

“When this war is over, I believe this world will be a much smaller place.” John said taking a drink, “ with several smaller countrys being joined together into one, and Master Phillip there will be the main reason.” With that the room got quiet but the girls faces said it all, Phil made friends easily and competition would do the rest.

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33 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 18: A New Kind of War


“Sabotage?” Kate said softly as Phil nodded sitting across the table from her at breakfast.

“It seems they had someone do some special rewiring on major systems, and the only person who saw it was Master Gwen's apprentice, as she went all over the ship.” he said as she shook her head, she should have thought of it sooner, but at least it was getting fixed now.

“Of course, that would be Flo Jansen,” Cybil said checking the duty sheet as Phil smiled, after all their talking last night he didn’t even ask her name and he needed to apologize for that.

“She's very good, I've only met her the once but she certainly has a passion for her work.” Phil said as Kate smiled and nodded agreement, Master Gwen was known the world over for his research and many discoveries that they used every day. If she was his apprentice that said volumes,and she should have had her stop in for tea once she was on board and have a nice talk with her about her work.

“Maybe we can have dinner together and I can thank her for her help personally.” Kate said and Cybil agreed and the message was sent.

“We talked last night about doing some improvements to the ship as well.” Phil mentioned as Cybil looked around right away.

“What kind of improvements?” she asked as he smiled and started explaining and she looked surprised that he felt they needed so much help.

“Wouldn’t that make the ship look like some weird spiked thing with guns sticking out everywhere?” Kate asked as Phil laughed, they weren’t going to be that noticeable on a craft so large so she finally smiled and agreed.

“The big improvement is this: once your robot defenses take damage they need time to repair, then what will defend the ship? If you have this in place then when the enemy thinks they have you cornered you can turn the tables on them. Each gun will have the firepower of the rifles that the bots use now, only these are mounted on the ship itself.” he said as they seemed impressed to think it. “It will add the firepower of another four more robots to the ship without the need for storage of bots themselves.”

“Well, alright, if you think its necessary but we're going to have trouble getting supplys now, so get all you can when we dock in Glade, it might be a while before we get resupplied again. We already know we're the big target, so we agreed with King John not to sit still for long, and draw too much attention to ourselves, so we'll be doing a lot of moving around after this.” Cybil mentioned as he agreed and they finished eating and he went back to seeing about repairs to the combat robot he brought on board and checking to see how well things were going on Flo's side for the new weapons.

“Not good, not good...” Phil heard as he walked into the engineering section, to see Flo looking at readouts on a flat panel in front of her.

“Is there a problem?” Phil asked as she nearly jumped through herself in fright.

“Dang it!” She said with a grin, “I've had cats that made more noise than you.” With that Phil smiled and apologized for scaring her and she just laughed.

“So, what's the problem?” He asked as she stepped to the side and started to explain.

“The engines will take a large amount of the power we generate, once we're in battle that will be a lot, with them running maxed out.” She went on as Phil nodded. “So adding even more load to the power system will be a problem, the guns are each taking power, and while they are battery operated when the mechs use them, here they'll be drawing from the power grid, and may well overload it when in battle.”

“So, we need to use less guns than I hoped?” he asked as she agreed.

“If we use the heavy weapons fore and aft, then we add some serious firepower but along the sides...” she said with a shrug as he nodded he understood.

“What about projectile weapons, they use chemical propulsion and don’t need electrical power.” Phil ask as she thought seriously for a minute.

“There are some light cannons that would help, but we'd have the problem of getting replacement ammo every time we fight, but yes, that’s a possibility.” she added as Phil smiled and thanked her for her hard work.

“NO problem Inquisitor, I love a challenge.” She added as Phil burst into laughter and she looked amused and wondered why.

“You can stop with that 'Inquisitor' stuff, my friends just call me Phillip or Phil which ever you prefer.” he said as she immediately demanded that his station meant he got maximum respect from everyone and he still got a good laugh from it.

“That's the Church talking, here we're fighting side by side, so we dispense with the formalities unless we're doing some high level meeting or something.” he said as she finally agreed and thanked him for being so kind to a mere engineer.

“Hardly,” Phil said softly as she smiled, “ your as important here as me, in battles at least, so don’t think anything of it.” with that he walked away and she stood there smiling to think she was on a first name basis with the churches first Inquisitor in a hundred years, and she shook herself out of it and went back to calculating what power they'd save by adding projectile weapons instead of railguns to the ship.

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34 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 17: The Real War Starts


King John had people running around him like ants gathering food for the winter, if they had the nerve to attack the church’s school and actually took it, then he had misunderstood their power from the start. It had always been about Garish taking Glen and making himself King but this....it showed his real intention, and that shocked even the King. He had made some allies, and now with their help he had gained a massive military base right at the junction of several countrys boarders. That could only mean one thing, he had no intention of stopping his aggression now or ever,and he had to change plans at the drop of a hat and get ready to defend his own country from the inevitable attacks that would be coming.

He saw the reports, Queen Katherine,her staff and the Inquisitor were on their way, not only that but they brought with them a new Robot Carrier, a good ship in any fleet. He also saw that his daughter, Princess Cara was on the way with her private vessel, a corvette design with one main weapon, a large armor piecing cannon mounted on the nose, and he was glad she was safe, and another ship was coming to help. Many of the things he was worried about started getting organized and he started to feel better about it. Now was not the time for panic but good,solid planning and he sent a force with 4 combat robots and two small ships to watch the path between them and the school, and set up a blockade to stop the enemys from approaching their boarders.

Phil sat on the steps of the living quarters on top of the carrier and watched the two massive robots guarding them as they traveled. Something about this bothered him something about such a big ship not having much in the way of defenses, at least to him. He saw, in his mind, guns mounted around the edges, capable of firing at enemy ships and bots that approached close enough, but here, there were none and he wondered why he thought that. He closed his eyes and saw it clearly, weapons firing and enemys falling as the massive ship flew forward, attacking from all sides. It wasn't the usual attack made by robots here but the ship itself , that made it seem right somehow and he still didn’t see where the idea came from but he liked it.

He walked into the ships interior and asked about talking to the engineering department, and they showed him the way and just as he got there there was a 'discussion' going on, so he waited for things to settle down and listened in. A pretty girl with big pigtails on each side was going on to the man who obviously was her superior about the ships power supply. She said, no demanded, that things were not as they seemed and he looked upset she questioned him and the rest of the staff.

“If I'm right, we wont make it to Glade for resupply, the ships been sabotaged, I tell you, just get a team together and check it if you don’t believe me!” She demanded as he started getting angry.

“My team does great work, I don’t care if you are the personal student of Master Gwen, we don’t need someone acting all high and mighty coming in here telling us what to do.” He demanded as she looked like she'd strangle him any second but they both stopped yelling as Phillip stepped in and ask the obvious question that the maintenance manager had failed to ask.

“How do you know?” He asked as they turned to see  him standing there and their mouths dropped open. “How do you know the ships been sabotaged?” he repeated as she stopped staring and explained that as her job there gave her access to a lot of different systems, she was supposed to be checking to see if any of the Masters new systems were compatible with the old,and she found things that were completely out of place, and very dangerous and Phil nodded he understood.

“Show us..” he said as the man with them started to say something but Phil stopped him and smiled, “just to see, maybe its just a simple mistake.” With that he decided it couldn’t hurt and they followed her through parts of the ship where systems wiring and tubes ran and into smaller control rooms that were hardly ever used and she pointed to some things along the way, that had been altered and even the ships engineer looked shocked as she went on pointing here and there and he started to see a pattern.

“Many of these are base systems,” He said looking at the schematic, “ if they all went down in a battle, we'd be helpless, the ship would drift to a stop and we'd fall to our deaths.”

“Your welcome...” She said as he growled to himself and ran back the way he came calling for a team to start repairs at once and Phil stood there watching her as she stood, arms closed and shaking her head. “You'd think I'd get more respect than this. I'm the student of the greatest research engineer on the planet and still these small fry question everything I do.”

“Ego,” she heard as she forgot there for a minute she was not alone, “everyone needs to think they're needed, don’t you agree?”

“Yes, of course, sorry,” she added looking a little embarrassed as Phil laughed.

“A research scientist hey?” he asked as she smiled and nodded, “I like you, come with me we have much to discuss.” And with that they walked back towards the deck where he explained what he wanted done and her face lit up brightly. It would be a challenge but that’s what she got into research for, and she started planning in her mind even while he explained the system he'd like to have in place.

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35 Reply by Jake Logan

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Chapter 16: Hidden Secrets


The two assassins were in cells side by side in the churches security division, under constant guard. They had food and water rationed to them while the church demanded their cooperation, but they refused day after day. One night as the shifts changed, a small noise was heard out side and the two women jumped to their feet as the door opened and several others rushed in.

“Time to go,” One said as the other two laughed. They managed to finally get enough people into the churches fortress, and tonight they turned the tables on them all.

“The charges are set, we have to hurry,” the other said as they agreed and ran out together, they ran down a path into the forest and there, in a clearing sat four robots, fully armed and ready to go. They climbed on board and activated their systems just as explosions could be heard and seen in the distance and they knew that the robot storage area was under attack as timed charges destroyed many of the bots there in the next minute.

“Now they pay...for Glen!” One assassin yelled as the others answered and they ran forward, shooting into the security offices and blowing them to pieces and moving on towards the school itself and the homes of Royalty, and their main mission they had yet to finish.


Phillip was up the second the first blast went off and dressed and out the door. It was clear the war had found them and he saw bots shooting everywhere less than a mile away and he ran towards the storage area to get one for himself to help, but as he arrived there every bot of any size had been destroyed leaving him little to work with. He realized that this had been a plan all along, and he wondered how many spys that Garish had managed to get into the school without anyone knowing, but that was for later as he jumped into a medium combat bot that had been parked nearby for repairs. It had some light guns, machine guns that were used mainly against soldiers and other small bots and he checked that he had ammo, and started towards the Royal residences at best speed, it didn’t have a lot of big guns but these smaller bots were quick, and he ran there while the bigger enemy bots were lumbering that way destroying everything they could as they went.

Cybil also heard the explosions and armed herself and ran to Kate’s room and got the entire staff up and ready to move.

“We're under attack!” She screamed as even Kate jumped out of bed without any further prodding , a real miracle itself.

“Damned Garish, I never would have expected him to attack her, the church will never forgive him!” Kate yelled as she gathered a few things and they called for the ship to power engines and get ready for battle and they started running out the door just as a small bot stopped there and the side door opened and Phil stuck his head out.

“Lets go...there isn’t much time!” he called as everyone who could piled in,until they could barely move anymore, but he closed the door and they started running towards the docks and their best chance of escape.

The closest enemy bot saw them and opened fire as Phil ran zig zagging along the road trying not to harm any of the many students that ran out to see what was happening, but the enemy wasn't so careful and explosions form the big guns they carried killed many who were just getting in the way. Phil turned on the PA system and started yelling that the school was under attack, and that everyone should evacuate, and many that heard it ran for ships either private or government that they had access to, and even the schools Dean heard the call as she ran to see why security hadn’t been doing anything and the video screen showed many people in the security room laying dead with various wounds and she felt she would throw up but she contained it while she ordered all her staff to the churches main vessel and called to have it ready for immediate takeoff, as they like many others, ran to safety wearing whatever they had on and carrying little if anything they grabbed on the way out.

As Phil got to the carrier, they had two heavy attack bots on the top watching and started to fire in their defense as they got on board. The ship launched at once and as the enemy kept firing and exchanging fire with the security crew, the ship took damage but they managed to escape along with several other ships that took emergency steps to evacuate,hauling everyone they could gather in the time allowed.

“Garish, you fool...” Kate said looking at the camera shots that showed his people destroying a good amount of the schools buildings and killing many people who just didn’t escape in time. “In one step, you've made yourself the enemy of the entire world.”

“He must be insane,” Cybil said softly as she stood by and watched as well.

“OR,” They heard as they turned and Phillip walked in looking angry, “he planned all along to try and get more than just your country. This gives him access to the school grounds, and the fortress it was based on. If he rearms his forces there, it will take a huge army to rout them from such a strong place.”

Kate took a few minutes to consider it, and she finally nodded, maybe he wasn’t such a fool after all. He had a few allies, and a small army under his command, now the strongest fortress ever built. It seemed like he was gaining right along and she smiled a small grin hoping no one saw, her opinion of Garish might just have improved slightly at least he wasn't insane, just ambitious.

“How well stocked is this ship?” Phil asked as the servants said that they hadn’t planned on using it for a while so the supplys were thin and he nodded looking thoughtful.

“We need to get to the nearest supply depot then, we'll need a lot of ammo and food before this is over.” He said and with that Kate gave orders for them to fly back to Glade, and she hoped that they would accept her after all had happened and just as she was thinking that, a call came in and she saw Cara sitting on the bridge of her own vessel and leaving the school headed towards them again.

“I'm glad your safe,” Kate said as Cara smiled but only for a second.

“Father is waiting for us, there’s an escort team on its way,” she said as Kate thanked her, “ Garish will rue the day he did this, there's not even an accurate counting of the dead yet and their putting the torch to everything but the barracks and maintenance and repairs buildings, the school as it was, is gone.”

“Once we rid ourselves of this problem we'll rebuild, bigger and better than ever.” Phil said as Cara smiled it was just like him to try and be optimistic under the worst conditions but she nodded agreement, and the link went closed.

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