The Tesla Wasp

Teslaimia was laughing and trading stories of the famous within the City of Connaissance when Mr. Murray and Mr. Hudsucked walked into the shop together. Teslaimia motioned with her head, "Speaking of the famous, good morning Mr. Murray I was just on my way to see you. Oh, Dan have you met Mr. Winston Murray and Mr. Norville Hudsucker? When talking about the famous of the famous in the City these two men are right at the top."

The teashop owner smiled at the two men and said, "I had no idea you two gents were so famous!" He looked at Teslaimia and smiled, "These two are regular customers here."

Winston grinned and shook his head, "Hello Princess, yeah Norville and I have been coming here since the day Dan opened. That's why he can afford nice clothes selling dry scones and terrible tea." He laughed and then said, "Dan give us the usual."

Dan laughed and said, "Two dry scones and toilet water tea it is!"

Norville coughed and said, "I'd like what she is having instead please.."

Teslaimia turned to Winston looking dangerously sexy in one of her new dress designs and asked, "How is the progress on my Wasp?"

Winston swallowed hard, his eyes tracing her body from the ankle up before he finally replied, "I'm glad you came over today. We have a couple of prototypes to test fire. Sir Colton is going to be coming as well. I am very happy with the progress we have made. I think we might have exactly what the two of you were looking for honestly."

Teslaimia chuckled as she watched his eyes running over her body. She slowly blinked her eyes and crossed one of her legs over the other before she asked, "What do you think of my new design?"

He swallowed again unsure how to answer as Norville laughed and said, "She means the dress, you idiot. Stop drooling, you are embarrassing us in front of Dan."

Dan laughed as he brought the tea and scones out for the two men, "I had no idea so many famous people came to my shop. I feel dumb for not knowing who you all are." As he spoke a beautiful blonde wearing a black hat and grey very conservative dress walking with a cane walked into the shop and smiled at everyone.

Teslaimia grinned and said, "Emmy! You are coming to see the Wasp as well?"

Emily nodded and said, "Mhm, Sir Colton said this invention will change war forever. I couldn't very well miss such an unveiling now could I?"

Dan shook his head, "Don't tell me you are famous too, Emily? The Princess here has been telling me just how deep the well this frog has been living in actually is."

Teslaimia laughed and asked, "Who is the most famous person in Connaissance, Dan?"

He thought for a moment, "I suppose it would have to be Lady Connaissance, why? Wait... Oh, fuck me. Are you serious? Pardon my language Lady Connaissance." he bowed awkwardly.

Emily laughed and said, "You can still call me Emily, Dan."

Winston asked, "Can I call you Emily as well?"

"I wouldn't worry about such petty things Mr. Murray, I look forward to your demonstration today. It has been far too long since I have had a new product come out of my Company." She gave him a sharp look.

He swallowed hard and then replied, "Ah of course Lady Connaissance. I'm sure you'll all be very excited by today's prototype."

Emily smiled and asked, "I am surprised to see you here as well Mr. Hudsucker, do you think this technology would work for our Airship fleet as well?"

He nodded and said, "We have been looking at possible solutions for ship to ship combat ever since we started selling ships to other nations. While it hasn't happened yet, we know it's a very real threat for the future."

Emily nodded and said, "Well, we should keep business talk at the workplace. Tell me, what's the latest gossip? I heard that our new lower gate captain is going to be married?"

Teslaimia nodded and said, "Jon was telling me that Remus found his fiancé from childhood when he rode out to save Westville. They had been separated for over fifteen years. That seems so Romantic!"

Emily nodded and smiled, "Not everyone is lucky enough to have their true love come barging into their office unannounced."

Teslaimia laughed musically, "Are you complaining?"

Dan smiled happily and then asked, "Oh, Lady... Um, Emily, did you see that the Church of the Risen Son changed its name? They are calling themselves, 'Our Lady of Connaissance' now. Everyone used to avoid it like the plague, but more and more people are starting to visit it now."

Emily's smile froze and then she stared at Teslaimia who grinned saying, "Don't look at me, I didn't say anything to them."

Emily nodded at Dan and said, "I didn't know that, but thank you for letting me know. I'll have to find some time to stop in and see what this is all about."

*****

Amelia rubbed the sleep out of her eyes only to find Nicolas piloting the ship. He gave her a welcoming grin and said, "Ah, Lady Earnhardt, you are awake. Gorki put me at the controls a few hours ago, would you like to have some breakfast before you take over? I made some eggs and toast."

Amelia gasped, "You started the steam engine! It really works?"

Nicolas smiled and nodded, "Ah yes, Gorki is good with these things. You know he is the son of a great blacksmith. Gorki he is a real genius."

Amelia was shocked as she looked at the working steam engine. "Where is all the coal smoke?"

Nicolas tilted his head like he didn't quite understand the question. Then he pointed to the long stovepipe that ran up above the top of the Airship and pointed off to the side. "The smoke goes out there, right? Why would you want the smoke in here where we have to eat and sleep?"

Amelia's eyes widened, "I never thought of doing it that way."

Amelia looked at her map and then checked her compass. She picked up her spyglass and said, "We are making good time. We should be to Langland in three days." She looked at Nicolas and asked, "Why did you help me back there? You threw away your lives just to help me, a perfect stranger?"

Nicolas nodded and said, "Kreussia is a cruel heartless place. You saw the very worst of it yourself. Gorki and I have seen our best friends killed for nothing at all, we were sent out to die for Father Kreussia and all we ever got was medal and thanks for our service. When we saw that they were going to torture you, a single girl who was just lost, well, we said enough is enough. When I found what those... Bastards did to you.." He clenched his fist and a tear rolled down his cheek, "I thought about my own sister and what she must have gone through when she was taken away for speaking badly about the Tzar in public."

Amelia's eyes got big, "I'm so sorry!"

"Gorki, he had the worst of it. They made him watch while they tortured his mother that way. Can you imagine? They kept threatening his mother saying they would do worse to him if she didn't comply." Nicolas shook his head, "I'm sorry, I know that you probably don't want to remember your own experiences right now, let's just say, Gorki and I, we needed to make this decision for our own sanity. You understand?"

Amelia ran over and gave Nicolas a big hug again as she started to cry. Nicolas held her gently in his arms and said softly in Kreussian, "Aw, poor stupid naive little girl. I wonder what you'd think if you knew that Gorki and I ordered those men to do those things to you?" He smiled wickedly.

*****

Sir Colton felt incredibly uncomfortable as Teslaimia stood next to him. She smiled and but would occasionally softly say things like, "Kidnapped any ladies lately, Roger?" While outwardly chuckling so that people would think they were having a nice talk.

Mr. Murray walked into the room and pulled a cloth cover off several weapons. He picked up the smallest one first and said, "Sir Roger Colton came to us and asked for a handheld crossbow that a man could fire continuously without needed to rearm between shots. Our design team had just started this work when Princess Teslaimia Cassandra came to us and asked for a weapon that could be used by a lady such as herself for her self defense. The Princess asked us it would be possible to have a weapon similar to our very successful bee launcher. At first, we thought no, but then inspiration hit and we came up with the Tesla Wasp. He pointed at a human target fifty meters away and pulled the trigger, 'BANG!' The weapon seemed to jump in his hand. They all looked downrange at the target only to see a clear hole appear in the human target's chest.

Mr. Murray waited for the clapping to start and stop before he continued, "So, we did solve the first part. We managed to create a weapon that works like our Beehive system and can be carried in your hand. Sir Roger Colton wanted a weapon that could be fired over and over without reloading, so we did this..."

He pointed the Wasp at the human target and fired five more times one after another, 'BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!' He held up the Wasp and said, "What do you think Sir Colton?"

Sir Colton grinned happily and said, "You have more than outdone my request."

Mr. Murray walked over to the table and picked up another weapon, "After we finished the Wasp, we thought about what our soldiers might want in a weapon in this new kind of war. The Wasp is nice for someone to use as a personal weapon that can be carried in a purse or on your belt, but it needs something more for use on a true battlefield. He picked up the weapon and said, "We call it the Hornet." He pointed it at the human target and said, "Wait, this won't do, in a war, you won't want to be this close to your target. Mr. Pillson?"

Mr. Pillson standing off to the side turned on an overhead conveyor that moved the human target a further 50 meters away. Mr. Murray said, "Sir Colton was kind enough to lend us Mr. Redman, Mr. Redman here is the top archer in the Connaissance defense force. Will you please hit that target with an arrow?"

Mr. Redman had to squat down as he aimed and fired. The arrow didn't have the right angle and fell just short of the target. Mr. Murry then smiled and said, "Watch the Hornet now..." He handed the weapon to the archer and gave him a few instructions. Mr. Redman put the weapon up to his shoulder and then took a stance similar to firing an arrow and pulled the trigger, 'BANG!' Mr. Murray shouted out, "Don't stop Mr. Redman." 'BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!'

Mr. Redman stared in disbelief as he looked at the target, "Mr. Murray, you aren't getting this back."

Mr. Murray laughed and said, "Don't worry Mr. Redman, I have a few crates of these for you to bring back for your unit."

The target rolled back on the conveyor until everyone could see all the holes in it. Emily asked, "What is the big one for?"

Mr. Hudsucker smiled and said, "We asked for a weapon similar to a harpoon for use in ship to ship warfare. It seems that Mr. Murray has created a long-distance weapon meant for killing ships."

Mr. Murray nodded and said, "That's exactly right. Our testing so far indicates it has a lethal range of twelve hundred meters." He picked up the large weapon and said, "We equipped it with its own adjustable spyglass..." He handed the weapon to Mr. Redman and said, "Give it a try tell me with you think."

A fresh target was hung on the conveyor and then sent out two hundred meters all the way out to the end of the conveyor. Mr. Redman asked, "Can you get me something to rest this on? It's too heavy to balance on my shoulder to fire accurately." Two of the designers laid out a rug on the ground and then set down a few Pillson Concrete blocks. Mr. Redman sprawled out on the ground and rested the heavy weapon on the concrete blocks. He made a couple of adjustments to spyglass saying, "It's like I am looking at the target's eyes." He pulled the trigger and, 'BARANG!' Even at the extreme distance, they could see that the target was completely destroyed.

Everyone in the room felt their ears ringing. Mr. Murray waited a few minutes and then said, "We call it the tarantula hawk. It's a single-shot weapon meant to be used against a ship. For our test purposes here, we made it portable. When we build the ship-mounted version it will be able to use a system similar to the Hornet that can fire over and over again. It will also be turret mounted in order to be rotated and angled to hit enemies in a one hundred eighty degree bubble."

Mr. Redman asked, "Sir, would it be possible to have a few of these for the front line soldiers? If I have a weapon like this on the battlefield I could take out the enemy officers before his troops even saw me."

Teslaimia was smiling as she leaned over to Sir Colton and said softly, "Wouldn't that ruin the fun for you if the enemy was killing you before you even got to knock their ladies out and kidnap them?"

Sir Colton finally lost his cool and shouted out, "I'm sorry that I kidnapped you and Lady Connaissance, can't you just let it go?"