Info you'll need to know...light machine gun = 20 mm/heavy machine gun = 50mm/ and heavy rifle = 100mm with a 6 shot clip for heavy mechs

medium mech = assault /Heavy mechas are a more modern version of ours here, with a pilot in each one and armor with bionic joints made from artificial tendons and muscles that give them fast maneuverability and human like reflexes.

Science: For the Masses

chapter 1: The Cutting Edge

Doctor Rita Solus was hard at work, hell, she always was. Her colleges were washed away by her long hours and many, sometimes unthinkable experiments, but when even the Science Council asked her what she was thinking she answered calmly: “Science is for the good of all, if we have to push things a little then that just means that we're in new territory.”

That answer didn’t always suit the council members that had a long list of rules and regulations they had to go by, so many of her experiments went unnoticed, thankfully, by them either out of her careful planning or from shear fear on their parts not to upset her. Her ideas had covered the spectrum from interstellar travel, many times faster than current ships, to calculations on what it would take to destroy the universe, and that one got her thrown out of the Council itself.

“Its not like I'm going to do it...” she complained as they threw her and her research material from her offices there,” I just thought someone might want to know.”

“Some things are better off not known.” was their answer as she looked sadly at them and went away. Now she had her own research labs, several actually, on different worlds with many long term experiments going on at a time. She made instruments that watched worlds from a distance, and she saw many new civilizations getting ready to join the Galactic Council with their technology, and she saw some that could, in the future if things went right, and she thought about giving them a push to get them started but had refrained from doing it so far.

“I'm in enough trouble now.” she thought and left it go for a while yet.

She looked at the time and decided she needed to return to her labs on Atria, she lived with a family there and they thought her experiments were just fine, and she tried hard not to upset them too much. It was nearly dinner time there and they'd be coming into her lab looking for her and at this moment she wasn’t even on the planet. She turned to her controls and opened a dimensional door and walked through it, and she was there, as she walked out the other side into her lab and checked to see, she was still a little early, so she turned on her scanners and looked around to see where everyone was and what they were doing.

The ladies of the house were getting dinner, as per usual and she saw them giving lessons in cooking to the youngest, Sara, as she was rapidly approaching adulthood and would be thinking about boys soon. It was a sort of Bridal training, and she smiled that she had grown so very much in the last few years.

Now on to the men and that was the easy part, there were only two... the family’s son and a cousin that always hung around together. They were working in the fields, raking and hoeing and making sure the family had lots of vegetables for their winter and she smiled.

This was the perfect people for her to be around. The family had been on this world for a few decades now, but had originated on another, far away. The grandmother was once a Queen on her world, but a greedy family member fixed that and when her husband died at their hands, she escaped to this new world, on the far side of the galaxy, and here she found new love and started a new family and her Royal heritage was forgotten , for now. But that was only the tip of the iceberg, this world was a heavy gravity world, perfect in every way except that it had several times the gravity of some of the more civilized worlds she had seen, but the air was pure and the land fertile and the people born here were strong, so terribly strong that she felt she had found a formerly forgotten experiment of someone else's, but she just smiled and watched over them as the men did their work and started back towards the house.

“You need to do more, your not doing your share.” she heard as the younger man looked at his older cousin with distaste for a second.

“I kept up with you, so what more do you want?” he demanded and the fight started from there and she shook her head. The two of them were always fighting about something and that wasn’t good, since their amazing strength meant something was going to be destroyed before it was over and she sent a small, round globe, a hologram of her face and she scolded them for fighting as they turned to see it floating there and they dropped the objects they were using and smiled.

“Hello Doctor,” Brian said as she smiled and nodded and he dropped the tree truck he had been swinging as if it were a twig, and she looked sourly at Phillip as he dropped a metal sign he was using as a shield,and apologized for getting into trouble again.”We promise, no more fighting, its dinner time anyways.”

“I swear, someday you'll kill each other, or destroy a good part of the planet.” she said as they both smiled, to hear her say that made them happy, that she thought they were so strong, being strong was all they lived for and she saw it clearly.

On their old world, their race were monsters with massive abilities and speed that rivaled the wind itself, so here these young ones were just learning their true potential. ”Now get back here and eat.” she said as they decided to race to the house and they were gone in the blink of an eye and she laughed at their antics, as young men they were exceptional all around and she never tired of watching them, but what she said was true, they grew more territorial all the time and she saw they needed some distance between them or they really would end up killing one another, or others nearby one day, and she saw that as the ultimate sadness for their massive strength, trying to subdue their raging emotions that popped up almost too often now that they were both becoming adults.

Chapter 3: Relocation

“That...” Rita started, “could be a problem.”

“Surely there are other worlds where one or the other could live happily.” Helen asked as Rita nearly fainted, she really was asking her the impossible, at least in her mind.”Let me explain...they are both living happily right now but as Alpha males in our family, they will soon be thinking about female companions. On my world the males are born only 1/100 compared to women, so this is the way of things. They take a harem and live happily making other women and men to keep the family going, but they are too close together here and this world is not home to us. The rules are different and harems will definitely be frowned on. Brian has accepted this and has chosen, I believe, a female and she him but Phillip is much like me, he has all the families heritage inside him, and he will not settle so easily.” She said as Rita nodded she understood.

“Brian’s power is still getting stronger and someday he will be the chosen champion of this world and he will help and protect it. What I am asking is this...can we find a world for Phillip that he will be happy on, and safe as well?” Helen asked as she waved towards the machine Rita was watching and she smiled and nodded they could, if they took their time.“Then let us begin.”

They spent a week going over different worlds and a few popped out at possibilities. But Rita dismissed a few as too primitive and Helen dismissed a few as too warlike. They worked looking for the best combination of their ideals and good technology, and soon they settled on one small world on the underside of the galactic core.

“Planet Gemini...” Rita said showing their culture and machines. “ They have good technology, mostly based on a strange gas-like substance that is emitted by the planet. It powers everything for them even the war machines they use in battle. They have several types but nothing too impressive to us, the most impressive is the robot armor suit, nearly 20 feet tall, it is a combination of both machine parts and organic parts, it literally is a living machine. To get it to work, they need people with strong wills, and the natural gas on the planet causes a spiking in their natural mental abilities, so they use this is a control mechanism.” She went on as Helen listened and nodded from time to time.

“They believe that pilots with this rare ability should be honored and through this a sort of class has emerged, they call this the Pilots Class, or 'Geminists' Meaning someone who controls the world. They also saw long ago that only a tiny handful of men can withstand the pressure of mentally running these machines and those that have low resistance, will find themselves getting physically ill very quickly if they try to force themselves, so they are all tested and trained according to their abilities, but women rule as pilots there, and men with any good amount of mental power are sought after and bred as champions.” Rita went on as Helen smiled widely, it sounded perfect.

“And can Phil use these machines easily?” Helen asked as Rita ran some tests and smiled back at her.

“How well do you want?” she asked as they both laughed and it was done. They set up a plan and Rita watched the planet for a few more days and added some little touches of her own. After all this was as close to family as she had ever found and her 'nephew' wasn’t going to be just anyone on this new world, she'd see to that.

“Phillip, come here,” Rita called as he walked in asking what she needed. She sat him down and slid over a tray full of test equipment and he rolled his eyes, it seemed like he was going to be her experiment again today and he sat there looking thoroughly bored as she took some blood and added something to it and injected him with it again, and then scanned him for results.

“I have work,” he insisted but she made him sit, and in a few minutes his grandmother walked in and took Rita to the side for a second.

“Hows it going?” she asked as Rita smiled and nodded and said it was doing well, and she leaned in close for a minute to whisper to her.”I want his memory wiped, not all but he needs to think he's a real native to this new world.” she said as Rita looked sad she could do that.

“And family?” she asked as Helen smiled wide.

“Just his memory of this world, I wouldn’t want to have him forget us forever, or the rest of his family here, just 'confuse' his memory’s of where 'home' is. We'll watch him from here and when the time is right, we'll tell him the truth.” She said as Rita smiled, so all she wanted was for him to feel at home there and she agreed.

“An hour or so yet,” she whispered as Phil looked around at them standing there staring at him.

“Am I in trouble?” he asked as they both laughed and he felt better for a minute but the tests, and scans, went on and soon he felt like he had enlisted in the military, since he had a lot of questions and no one was answering any of them.

Chapter 5: Power Struggle

The Franklin laid in a course that left them use the natural power source known as Alo to run the ships systems almost indefinitely. They'd fly from valley to valley and special channels that were man-made to keep a steady flow of the heavy gas entering the engines vents. It was an efficient way of doing things and very cheap over the long run helping them not only stay aloft, but speed towards their destination well above the forests below,but they had barely escaped the city limits when alarms went off, and they found they were being pursued.

Phil was dragged out of bed by alarms and he got dressed and ran to the deck to see what was going on, and there stood the Prime Minister very full of himself and demanding perfection from everyone at once. Phil had not met the man personally and didn’t know why he was here now but it was soon to be made clear as they got a briefing that a terrorist group allied with the new Queen had stolen a battleship and was trying to escape with it.

“I want them dead, every single one, no exceptions..” he went on as one older officer raised his hand to ask a question, but was slammed down immediately and told to shut up. “You are soldiers there should be no questions just action!” he demanded as Phil decided that he really didn’t like this man much so he stepped forward and asked the one question they all were wondering about himself.

“Surely if they are allied with the new Queen this isn’t an attack. Why don’t we just ask her why this is happening?” he said as many there mumbled agreement.

“You don’t answer to the Queen you answer to ME!” he demanded again as a few people there looked a little surprised. He was all but declaring himself her superior and they had just watched her  coronation as their new Queen, something was terribly wrong.

“I see,” Phil said seriously as Garish looked a little shocked , he expected unquestioning allegiance and he wasn’t getting it, and that bothered him.

“Anyone who doesn’t follow my orders will be shot,” he said finally as two soldiers stepped forward with machine guns in hand,” and then their families will be shot for their insubordination.”

Phil could see it now, this mans fear, he needed absolute obedience and without it he would fail, so this threat was no laughing matter.

“Well it looks like its time to get some target practice then.” Phil said with a huge grin and Garish smiled widely, he had won this round but he'd remember that Phil was the only one strong enough to step forward and question his orders, and he'd pay for it later.

They ran to their bots and jumped in and as the hatch closed around him, Phil's big smile faded and he took control of the machine and turned to go as his unit joined in behind him.

“Remember, not a single survivor, or your family’s will pay.” they all heard and Phil's minor dislike for this man jumped to new heights and he started seeing that he and his friends were just going to be used and thrown away after the job was done, and he had a good idea what this job REALLY was.

They launched and flew towards the large ship and when they approached it was easy to see two robots standing on the deck armed with heavy rifles and they opened fire as soon as they got close enough, but Phil held back while the rest of his team ran in and got hit with weapons fire.

“Can we just talk about this?” he called as a coms link came on and the Admiral's face looked very tense indeed.

“There's nothing to talk about, your attacking the Queen and her personal ship!” he declared as Phil's eyes dropped in sadness, he thought as much.

“It appears that we were lied to,” He called as two of his fighters stopped for a second a safe distance away from the ship but two others demanded the attack go on.”we were told that the ship was being stolen by terrorists.”

“Do I look like a terrorist to you?” he heard as he looked up to see a young blond woman standing there looking very serious indeed.

“Queen Katherine I presume? I'm sorry I wasn’t allowed to come to your coronation..” he started as a voice came on the coms link.

“Kill her, kill them all or your family’s will suffer.” they all heard as many turned back towards the ship and started their attack once more, but Phil took careful aim and fired a shot to disable one machine and then turned on another, making sure not to do anything life threatening as they dropped away from the battle. “Your dead, I don’t care if you were sent from the Goddess herself, your a dead man and your family with you!”

“I have no family here,and as a representative of the Church, I strongly doubt that you have the right to command me, oh Traitor of Glen.” He said as even Queen Katherine looked surprised.

“A messenger of the Goddess? How is that possible?” she asked as Phil got a quick laugh.

“I think that explanation can wait just a little longer,my Queen.” he said as a few shots went zinging by his bot and he was forced to defend himself against his own men, but he was careful too, and all the bots he disabled saved the women inside from possible death, and even the Prime Minister couldn’t hold it against anyone that lost a battle if they did their best, or at least he hoped not.

Chapter 7: Friends

“That's exactly true,no one should expect respect without earning it, we seem to agree on that.” King John said as Phil just sat back smiling. The King sat there for a few minutes more then laid the notepad down and smiled. If even half what that said was true, then he was in the presence of a new religious icon, but he'd have to wait and see if any of it was true or not.

“You know...” started the king as Phil looked up from his tea, “we are having a festival soon, tomorrow actually, and we'll be doing a remake of our favorite game, the long distance obstacle course. It's a  little dangerous for most newcomers, but if you'd like to join I can make the necessary arrangements.”

“What's it like?” Phil asked without hesitation and King John smiled widely. He explained that it took place in 4 different and separate parts of the forest, and each part got progressively harder up to one that had checkpoints, armed guards and traps for the careless.

“I will say a few people have been hurt by some of our traps, its not for the untrained.” he added and waited while Phil thought it over and finally he said he'd love to and the king called in his adviser and had his name added to the list.

“But your Majesty...” the man said as King John waved him away.

“It'll be fine,” he remarked as the man took the information and went his way. Phil could see that something odd was happening but he left it go until after when no one was around and he leaned in towards the king as he sat his empty cup down.

“I cant help but feel there's something more at stake here,” he said softly as the king smiled, he had good instincts at least.

“I'll be taking part in the race myself and, as with other races we've had, if anyone can beat me, then they get my daughters hand in marriage, and become Royalty here in Glade.” he said with a slight wink as Phil looked surprised.

“You'd risk so much?” Phil asked almost not expecting an answer.

“Only someone who's capable of beating ME is worthy of my daughter.” King John said seriously, and Phil smiled and nodded he understood, “but as you can see I'm not feeble yet...and I've never been beaten.”

Phil smiled and agreed, the man was very well made, strong and tall, with good muscle tone, undoubtedly he worked out constantly and with the odd exception of larger than average and somewhat pointy ears, he and his people looked all the part of the healthiest civilization Phil had yet seen. Perhaps it was living the simple life out here in the forest or maybe it was genetic, but everyone he had seen out here looked like that, like tall, strong elves or something but certainly not weak by any ones standards.

“I get offers all the time, for my daughters hand in marriage,” John said leaning in as Phil smiled, “but none could beat me and they knew it. Politics is fine but family is forever, and Cara is a beautiful girl much like her mother was at her age,” He said sliding into a daydream for a second,” I'll not give her up to just anyone.”

“Well said, like a good father should.” Phil said as John smiled and offered him more tea just as the girls came back into the room.

“I hope my father hasn’t been boring you with politics,” Cara said as Phil gave her a good look for the first time, and she seemed to notice as Cybil walked quickly over and slapped him to make him stop staring and answer, and he smiled and shook his head.

“He's a good host, and he offered me a place on the race team tomorrow, it sounded like fun so I accepted.” he added as Cara looked around at her father with some embarrassment.

“But father that’s for Glade natives only, as you've said in the past.” she said looking a little shocked but he just smiled and handed her Phil's files to see and as she looked her eyes popped open in shock.

“I decided to make an exception in this case.” John said as even Kate got a huge grin. It seemed his reputation had preceded him, and she couldn’t wait for the games tomorrow, she might even make a little wager, considering what was at stake and who was entering. In the last 5 running’s of the Great Race, no one had beaten the king and for good reason, he had his daughter to protect, and while Cara was a full grown woman now at the age of 18, she had never had or even dated a man, because of her fathers strict policies about there not being anyone worthy of her.

“I expect a good race tomorrow so I'll have someone take you through today so you can see for yourself,” The king added as Phil nodded ok..”and any questions you have they will answer, so please feel free to ask them anything.” he added as a team of men took Phil and left as the room full of people watched on.

“But father, he's not even one of our men,” Cara said seriously as John laughed and she looked embarrassed.

“He's young, strong and a religious icon, not to mention perhaps the strongest man I've ever met, short of me of course.” he said as even Kate and Cybil got a good laugh but Cara was beyond laughter right now, her entire life was on the line and she wasn’t sure she liked it.

“He's also a kind, smart and gentle man,” John went on repeating what he had learned sizing Phil up while they talked,”if he has what it takes, then perhaps the Goddess sent him here for you, since you've been so lonely here with me stopping you from finding anyone, maybe even that was for a reason.”

“We'll see...” was all she would say and John sat back smiling. He had seen her give Phil a good long look as well, he was handsome in a way, not as tall as them, but not bad, and she had been waiting a long time,perhaps he had been wrong by being so harsh on her or maybe, just like he had said, there was a higher power at work.

heres a Christmas gift...more chapters..

Chapter 9: Messenger

A few days later and Kate saw Cara getting some bags ready for a trip.

“Going somewhere?” she asked as Cara looked surprised she could say that.

“Vacations about over, we need to get back to the school right? We only have a few days to report.” Cara reminded her but Kate just wasn’t in the mood for school right now.

“I have a war to plan for, I cant afford time off for school.” Kate argued as Cara nearly laughed at her, she always hated school and getting her to return after summer break was always hard.

“Let planning the war up to father, he's good at it, you need to concentrate on looking like a real Queen being honored and being respectful of your elders, things the people would expect.” she said as Kate looked more upset by the minute but she had to agree.

“It will take a long time to gather support from other country’s, and there might still be people willing to follow me back home, and we need to get messages to them.” she said but she knew this was not her expertise.

“Already done, father is doing his best for you and you need a safe place to stay while the planning goes on, and with the Geminists Training Camp there, and over 20 working robots at any one time, that’s the safest place for us all. It has the firepower of a small country.” Cara said as even Kate had to admit that no one in their right minds would attack the school and she finally agreed.

“I'll have my things sent to your ship, we can take that to the University, they have docking even for ships of that size.” she mentioned as Kate agreed and a servant took her bags away. “ and besides, the Church runs the School, and they have their own military, and no one will dare cross them. Not to mention they have sent messages asking how soon we’ll get there, they want to have some sort of ceremony for Phillip, they seem to have some formal proceedings they must do there before he can attend.”

“The Church, of course... I almost forgot about them.” Kate said looking sad as Cara smiled, she better not forget, she might think Phillip was her personal property but he was first and foremost a high ranking member of the Church and this Naming Rite would prove just how high up he was considered to be.

“Your right, I'm sorry,” Kate said finally as Cara smiled, she did it, managed to remind her that school was about to start, so now they just needed to get the ritual over with and then they all could get back to a more normal life.

They left later that afternoon and was docking at the school a day later. The band played and Kate got off to cheers in her Royal best. She thanked them for supporting her in her hour of need and many cheered and yelled that they'd support her forever, but that was just the people talking. Friends she had known since she started school here, the real power was the Church and they held power over everything and seeing this little gathering, offering her help and good will, meant the church supported her too, at least to a certain extent, and that meant a lot to her. The real surprise was when Phil walked off the ship with Cara next to him, and servants carrying their bags. It became known immediately that he had gotten her hand from her father and that made him a Prince as he walked off the ship for the first time. The Church representatives were right there, with a greeting party and welcomed him 'home' and he thanked them and they opened a document to announce their findings and the name they had accepted for him. The speaker looked at the pages of parchment making it a big deal that this was an official announcement and then read.

“The Church of Gemini has thought long and hard on our new messenger and what his name might mean or what his place is in the Church, we researched names of visitors from the past and found many that were named for what they were meant to do here, and so after much consideration...we decided that the name given him by Queen Katherine of Glen should stand, ladies and gentlemen, Phillip the Inquisitor, High Priest of the Church of Gemini, Prince of Glade and Messenger of the Goddess.” He said with a flare as Phillip all but burst into laughter but he saw people were serious and he held it in. The band played music and the Representative gave him a medal like decoration for his cloths showing the icon the Church used on everything, and sighed sadly at the cloths he was wearing.

“I'll see to it you get proper attire for school and ceremonies.” he whispered as Phil wondered what was wrong with his normal cloths, but he thanked him and they shook hands to the cheers and music from the waiting crowd. Phil just hoped they could shorten that name up a bit, or he'd never get anything done at school.

After the ceremony, Cara went her way to get her room ready before classes started and Phil was taken away by members of the churches High Council, they asked him questions and tested and retested him and finally seemed ok that he was the real deal and they set him up in a small house with servants just off the side of the campus and he asked why he wasn’t in the dorms like everyone else.

“Unthinkable!” He was told,” first your Royalty in the Church and with your job of  Inquisitor you have much to do outside of class. The last Inquisitor changed the Church forever and weeded out crooked priests and officials everywhere he went, making the Church more humble to its surroundings and much more efficient, since many of those were scamming the church for their own needs. Not to mention, that some might try and harm you to stop your work, and this way no one is in the way of these attacks but you, and we have faith that you can defend yourself easily.”

Phil nodded and tried not to worry, they basically gave him his own little mansion so that he didn’t  get others tangled up in his 'work' and while he never said he was here to clean up the church, they seemed to think it needed it, so he just left it go.

A few doors down,Kate and Cybil were also getting settled in, as a Queen she also had a small mansion to live in, the government wouldn’t have it any other way. The 'commoners' that attended the school had someone to look up to, and they had people that they could show their skills to and possibly get jobs with after graduation. As Geminists they would be the first line of defense in any war and country’s the world over needed skilled people, and this school was front and center for those skills.

Chapter 10: Acceptance

Classes started a few days later and as the students walked from class to class they stopped often to see the local 'celebrities' on campus. First was the Queen of Glen, Kate walked around with her head held high and her bodyguard by her side, sporting a small but always shiny sword that only she and a few others like her were allowed to carry here.

Next was Princess Cara of Glade, with her picturesque form and tall slender body she always wore the nicest looking cloths and some a lot more revealing than many here dared to wear. She was the epitome of grace and unstoppable even in sports where her people excelled above all others. Forest people were incredible athletes and she was no exception, and physical education classes were always packed by onlookers who just wanted a glimpse of her as she made everyone else look weak by comparison.

And now the newest celebrity, the Inquisitor, a small young man less tall than Cara but still well built. His abs and shoulders rippled with power and while he didn’t look too massively strong, he could do things that put just about everyone to shame, as they found out during his first physical education class.

The teacher had asked for everyone to come to the field and they gathered and lined up. He saw the new student and since he had no clue what Phil was capable of, he had him come forward to test his abilities.

“This weighted ball is to show how strong your arms and shoulders are...” he started as Phil nodded and he pointed to a long thin area marked out in feet and inches and two young men waiting by ready to mark his throw. Phil picked it up and tossed it into the air and smiled at the feel of it, they obviously didn’t know him very well here and he smiled as the teacher looked surprised.

“How far do you want me to throw it?” Phil asked with a huge grin while the class gasped at his confidence and the teacher tried to regain control of the class and made them be quiet. Some other people... students from the class next door that were waiting their turns turned to see as well and one young man, the best track runner in the school laughed at the display, this new man was giving the teacher a hard time, but he'd pay for that later, as he waved for a few of his friends to look as well. Phil walked up to the spot required and looked down the track at the former positions thrown by others. He smiled a wide smile and took careful aim, and easily threw the ball a meter or more further than the furthest mark made and the teacher cheered for him as the class applauded his first attempt.

“If you can do that again we might have a new athlete here, with the regionals coming up this will help a lot.” he declared as Phil just smiled and they brought the ball back and he threw it again, just a tad further than the last time and the teacher was thrilled beyond reasoning. “Bravo! This will help our team greatly...you will participate wont you?” he asked sort of after the fact and Phil smiled and nodded and the class cheered for him, his first day he made a team, and that said volumes.

“Now to the next test...” the teacher said as Phil nodded and he stood, waiting on the track as the other students gathered around to see what he did this time. “I want you to run, as fast as you can, around the track one time. Starting here and ending here, don’t hold back I want to see what kind of stamina and speed you have.” Pill looked around the track and nearly burst into laughter, they had to be kidding, but he knew that they had never met anyone like him before, so he had to go easy on them or they wouldn’t let him play with them anymore.

“Go...” the teacher yelled as Phil took off, he ran around the track and back in little time at all,but also much slower than he ran when playing around with family. He watched as he ran and when it looked like they were getting too impressed he slowed down just slightly but he still was making a small dust cloud when he passed the teacher again who looked like he'd faint. “ a new record..” was all he could say and Phil nearly choked, he had overdone it even like this...and he started to think that athletics on this world needed some serious help. But the young men from the other class were not as happy as the coach had been, they were track 'stars' and this man had made them look like fools the first day.

“We need to keep an eye on him,” the one said as the others agreed and they left class silently sneaking away, to see what else this new person would do. By now the teacher/coach was ecstatic, this was a coaches dream and he led Phil to the next 'challenge' and handed him a long stick and Phil looked it over carefully.

“A spear?” he asked as the class chuckled and the coach just smiled.

“You have never thrown a javelin before?” he asked as Phil admitted he hadn’t. “but you did spears?”

Phil thought of all the times he remembered training with family and throwing things and he felt that might count for this and he said he had as a few people in the class got some odd OOOH, sounds at the thought of him training for combat so young.

“Same idea, see how far you can throw it, that way..” The coach said pointing and Phil looked down that direction and some distance away he saw targets standing in a row and he nodded and took careful aim and made the throw, a long throw, as the coaches eyes were so very wide and his mouth nearly touched the ground as the javelin landed right beside the target....on the archery range next door.

“Dang, I missed it..” Phil said as he turned around and the entire class stood there, mouths gaping open and the coach was literally on his knees in shock. “what?” Phil asked as the crowd started to applaud and the coach jumped to his feet and embraced Phil with all his might.

“We're going to the Championships!!” The coach yelled as everyone cheered and Phil looked a little surprised but he applauded right along with everyone else and they all seemed really surprised that he didn’t see what incredible things he did.

Chapter 12: Competition

Back in the capitol of Glade the king was working to gather support for an attack against Garish to help return Kate's country to her rule. He had several good leads and some country’s, while abstaining from offering troops, sent supplys that were stacking up. He was pretty happy the way things were going and he sent word to Kate that things were coming along well, and she thanked him for his help. She also sent messages to her home, demanding that Garish step down but they all seemed to fall on deaf ears, so it was more or less a stalemate, and that made the thought of getting her lands back seem less and less likely without a fight and she finally decided that war was inevitable, and she threw her total support to King John who thanked her and said the war would be a short one, and they would try to get it over quickly so as not to damage the country too badly.

Garish, on the other hand wasn't a bit worried about a war, he had plans of his own and Glen was just the first in a line of stepping stones for him towards gaining control of the whole planet, so deep was his foolishness, that he didn’t see for an instant that even his own country wasn’t happy with his rule, but he had an iron grip on the media, and military and the people started thinking, as he forced them too, that other country’s, lead by King John were getting ready to invade them. A slight exaggeration, but true enough that the enlistment offices were overflowing with new recruits and he did the unthinkable, he started mass producing heavy robots for combat, something against every law made by the Church, who limited combat vehicles to all countrys, as a way to try and avoid costly wars. If each country had the same number of combat vehicles then no one had a real advantage, and while Geminists were actually bred together for more stamina, and important family names and bloodlines had been created, this had been the only way to make a stronger military,until now. Garish set up an entire economy of illegal production and started offering them to other countrys nearby, if they would ally themselves with him, and a few did, but the biggest problem he'd have hadn't found out yet, and he rushed to get into a better position for war before the Church found out what he was doing.

Meanwhile the school was having some inter-school meets to give everyone some practice before other schools started coming for official track meets later in the year. Phillip was right up front, more than holding his own against everyone else, and he smiled a lot, having to be very careful not to hurt too many feelings and actually letting someone beat him occasionally so people didn’t start hating him and his abilities. He felt badly doing this but he wanted to fit in, so he limited himself to being just a little bit better than most others, and he still managed to win his share of meets while letting a few of the old team members get a few wins as well. If he really tried, there wasn’t a person here or perhaps even on the planet that could touch him, but knowing that would just isolate him from everyone else, and he didn’t want that.

He won the first match, by a second or two and then tied the second, letting his pace equal the fastest man on the track team. The coach was still thrilled, since his team had two massively talented players now and he saw trophies coming to him soon. But the real fun wasn’t until the mixed team matches, where the girls team and boys team ran against each other and Phil was just limbering up when the crowd watching started to cheer and ohs and ahs were heard and he turned around to see Cara walking in wearing her running cloths, long platinum blond hair waving as she walked, and her shorts didn’t begin to do her justice as he smiled widely, and she laughed and waved.

“Looks like we'll be competing against one another,” she said as people cheered for her as she walked over and pictures were taken with her and Phillip standing together on the side of the track.

“Sounds like fun, but we don’t have the distance here for a real competition like at your home.” he added as she laughed and agreed, but it would be a good chance for them to have a little fun while the coaches watched and got their times averaged out. “should we really give them something to watch?” Phil whispered as she smiled and looked away. It had always been obvious to her he was going easy on the track team. His time at Glade was much faster than this.

Phillip smiled and threw a wink towards the photographer who immediately got ready and he slid his arm around Cara's waist as her face went red instantly and many girls nearby seemed to get very excited seeing them like this in public.

“You look really good in those shorts,” he whispered as her face nearly exploded in flames and the people around them got a good chuckle at her expense.

“You don’t look so bad yourself,” she managed to whisper, while the coach yelled for them to behave while on the field and Phil laughed and ask loudly if everyone didn’t think Cara looked great today and even the coach couldn’t stop the applause that followed as she smiled wide and thanked everyone there.

“Alright, that's enough, line up at the starting line, we have other pairs to run today.” he yelled but he too was smiling wide, all this was great advertisement for the team and he hadn’t seen this many observers for an inter-school meet in ages.

“Ready....go!” he yelled as the gun sounded and Cara was away like a shot even surprising Phillip who had to work a little harder to catch up. But he did and half way around the track they were neck in neck as Phil made comments all the time to make her as embarrassed as he possibly could.

“Shame on you, using such cheap tricks to make me lose concentration...” she said as she still chuckled at half of what he said and ignored the rest.

“We haven’t spent much time together since we got here so I have to get my comments in when I can.” he said just as they entered the last corner and she actually looked his way for a second to see if he was serious or not, and at that, he jumped ahead just a little and she smiled that he had fooled her into slowing down just a touch, and he won easily.

“Cheater...” she whispered as they had some more pictures taken together and Phil laughed.

“I'd be willing to run along behind you all after noon, though,” he said as she looked at him oddly while some others waited to hear, and he gave them all a very obvious wink,  “seeing you running just out of arms reach is quite stimulating.” With that the people around them burst into laughter and Phil gave her a quick kiss on the cheek to the happiness of many people there taking pictures and she, for just a minute there, found herself speechless as the coach called for the next pair to run and Phil and Cara walked off the field towards the showers, to the cheers of spectators all along the path.

Chapter 14: War Starts

The Church got the message just about the same time as King John. They were livid that any country could blatantly ignore rules set up over decades and they started getting ready to assist in the war. Such insubordination would never be allowed, and since the Church literally owned or operated several small countrys they were not to be trifled with. They called a meeting at the school and many important figures came to discuss better what to do and as they entered the conference room, Phillip was seen walking among them meeting new people and saying hello to others. He was there to tell what he had seen so far, and to meet important church members that he had not met before, but there were rumors that as the Inquisitor he was there for other reasons and a few tried hard to ignore him and keep him at arms length and it was clear to see right away.

“Watch for those that are afraid of him,” The High Priest mentioned as one man started taking notes, “there is only one reason to fear the Inquisitor, so we will investigate those to see what they are hiding.” With that the man went away and the meeting went on until an agreement was reached and Phillip asked for a minute to speak to the assembly and they gave it to him.

“I ask, as your representative, that we support Queen Katherine of Glen, financially as well as militarily. I just found out that Garish has frozen all her assets and without them her and her staff will be out on the streets in no time. That would be both wrong and demoralizing for her followers. It will be a small cost, but worth it, if we can make Garish look even more foolish, and show the rest of the world that we support those that have rights, from all evil.” Phil said loudly as many there jumped to their feet and applauded while a few looked much more serious about it. They obviously didn’t agree but they dared not say so right out loud after such a compelling plea.

The vote wasn't even close and after a small discussion, a number was agreed to. Phil was given a copy of the decision and he took it back with him after the meeting and made the official announcement to Kate and her staff that after noon, while many there kept their cool hearing it, Kate was obviously very relieved that they were helping her in her time of need.

“Thank the church for me, we humbly accept.” Kate said very officially as Phil nodded and went away and she stood there looking at the announcement. It took a lot of weight off her shoulders and right now that left her worry about her grades and the war instead of where their next meal would come from.

As the first few skirmishes started, a few people loyal to the Queen defected, right there on the battle field and when the fights were over, her own private little army started taking shape. First one then another joined her side as the church got very happy to see she still had the support of many people in her kingdom. They gave them places to stay,and store their machines and mechanics to help repair them and Kate started her own little force that fought in her name during some of the first small battles and word of their successes got back home, and with careful planning a few others defected as well. This gave both the allies and Kate more confidence and things started going a little better, and volunteers started joining the military to help with the war, but war has a way of looking one way and being another, and a week later, a pair of silent shadows slid around the little mansion where Kate slept and started looking for a way in.

Security was minimal, mostly because of the massive security that everyone had to go through just to get in the school, and Kate never thought to add more security around her home, since the school was already a secure facility. The two looked around silently and finally found one window on the bottom floor that wasn't locked. One stood on the others shoulders and opened the window and slid in and a minute later reached out to help her friend get in as well. It was very dark and they didn’t see or hear anything, but a second after their feet touched the floor of the living room there was a whirl of movement, and they found themselves laying, on top of each other unconscious never knowing what had really happened.

The lights came on a second later and Kate and Cybil, with her sword in hand ran in and there stood Phillip looking all too smug as Cybil saw the two laying there and her face grew red.

“Didn’t I mention this?” he asked as Kate gave him an argument in defense of Cybil who did mention adding more security before this but was told they didn’t need it here. “ Check them out, I'll bet their a team that came in with your 'defectors' and just waited for their chance to get in.”

Cybil nodded and she walked over and removed their masks, they indeed were people that they had seen around the mecha storage area just a day ago and she looked upset she had not seen it coming.

“Hey wait, we lock every window, every night how did they get in without breaking the glass?” She asked as Phil laughed.

“Sometimes it's necessary to give something to get what you want.” he said as he walked out and Cybil stood there shocked. He left them in, opened a window and left them a place to enter, of course he was waiting as well, and she saw that Phil wasn’t as stupid as she had always said he was, a little arrogant perhaps, but not stupid.

“I'll place some guards around the mansion every night after this,” Cybil said as Kate agreed, “then we'll start doing background checks on any 'defectors' that come to us, it's obvious we cant take anything for granted.”

“I agree, put them in a lockup until tomorrow, and then we can question them properly, now lets get back to bed, it'll be light soon.” Kate said as she walked back towards her room, but Cybil wasn't going back to sleep tonight, and she took the first watch over the mansion just as dawn started to break over the nearest hill.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.