The Great Panic in Port Gaul

In the morning hours, the city of Port Gaul was relatively quiet. The fishermen had left at dawn to get their daily catch, and the markets were still empty waiting for the fishermen to return in the afternoon. a few big trading ships were at the docks loading or unloading but very few people were out walking the streets. Along the city's northern walls soldiers walked in a slow and lazy manner, the men manning the gates saw a few merchant traders and farmers bringing in goods to sell, but everyone knew that until the midday bells rang the city wasn't worth the trip. It was then that the first soldiers noticed the great black airship dropping down out of the clouds. Soon terrified shrieks came from people as they pointed up at it. Even soldiers who had seen bloody battles ran from their posts afraid that the gods had descended to give out final judgment. A few of the more knowledgeable commanders who knew of the existence of the great skyships from Connaissance were momentarily frightened as the massive ship emerged from the clouds at full sail. Looking like a great beast mixed together with a massively sailing ship.

The sails started to drop and the great steam horn sounded like thunder over the sleepy city. The leaders of many nations who had come for the council came racing outside with their advisors just to see it with their own eyes. The great flag of the Empire of Connaissance flew behind the ship as it did a circle around the city to bleed off extra speed before slowing to a crawl above the plains just outside of the city gate.

The great basket was lowered from the ship a dozen soldiers with Hornets along with Cardinal Pujols and Cardinal Gibson were lowered down first. The Cardinals walked up to the gate and said, "Chief Cardinal Pujols from our Lady of Connaissance, the Church of the Risen Son here for the Council of Port Gaul. I'll need two carriages for the rest of my entourage and Empress Connaissance and her Entourage."

The guard stiffened and said, "I'm sorry your Eminence, who did you say?"

"Empress Connaissance. Do you see that hanging in the sky? That's the Empresses' ship." Cardinal Pujols explained once more.

The guard jogged over to one of the nearby soldiers and spoke quickly to him. He ran off as the guard walked back, "I'm sorry your eminence, we were expecting you of course, but we were not expecting the Empress, I had to ask for permission. "

Cardinal Pujols who was smiling suddenly lost his smile. "Permission? Do you understand you who you are disrespecting young man? What's your name?" Two carriages came trotting up to the gate from the city and an officer on horseback galloped in front of them sliding to stop behind the guard.

The officer jumped off the horse and fell to one knee, "Your Eminence I'm terribly sorry for the confusion, the carriages you asked for are here." he looked up and yelled out, "Open the gate!"

The guard who had been stalling them slipped away as quickly as he could as the massive gate opened and the two carriages pulled up beside the groups that had just come down from the airship. In the background, the great basket dropped down from the airship once again with Emily, Grace, another dozen soldiers, and Cardinal Gibson. Emily, Grace, and Andrew boarded one of the carriages as the soldiers moved her baggage to the carriage. Cardinal Gibson got on the other carriage as Cardinal Pujols did as well. The soldiers trotted alongside the carriages with their Hornets at the ready. Once the Empress was safely inside the gates, the great basket lifted back up to the airship which once again started to drift in a slow circle around the city. Its massive weapons seemed to always be pointed toward the city itself like it was ready to destroy Port Gaul at the slightest provocation.

Emily's carriage followed behind the Cardinal's as they moved through the city, Emily looked at Andrew and asked, "Have you ever been this far south?"

He shook his head and said, "When would I have had a chance? Injia was the furthest I had ever been."

Emily nodded and then asked, "Have you ever met with any of these leaders before?"

Andrew nodded, "As have you, Emperor Bertrand from the Slavistan Empire came to visit your father once, and that King Rolf of Hispainia was the older one that kept asking for your hand in marriage when you were twelve."

Emily made face full of distaste, "I remember him. He kept telling me I would be a world toppling beauty when I grew up."

Andrew shrugged, "He wasn't wrong."

Emily smirked and then asked, "Why do you think they would not want to invite me?"

"You are a believer in Langlish Law, which they find distasteful. They don't like the idea of giving mere merchants any power above the nobility. Allowing the merchants to own their own businesses is a threat to these old noble houses. Even if the monarchy isn't affected directly, the noble houses these men represent do not like such ideas." Andrew looked out the window and said, "It seems we have arrived. I recommend that you push them harder than they push you. Even if we only have two dozen soldiers with us, we hold all military power over this city with the Smith in the sky above us."

Emily nodded and said, "I was thinking the same thing. I'll be counting on you should some of their knights take the bait to act aggressively."

Andrew laughed, and said, "Of course, I have my Tesla Wasp just like you. Swords are too old fashioned."

Emily rolled her eyes and pointed to his waste, "You're carrying your sword right now, aren't you?"

Andrew replied almost immediately, "What if I run out of wasps?"

Emily shook her head and said, "You're stupid." She laughed and then asked Grace, "When do you need to get over to Mia's shop?"

Grace smiled, "Oh it's not important, I'll go after the meeting lets out for the evening. The store will be open for me."

Andrew was looking out the window and shouted out, "Down!" He grabbed Grace and Emily pulling them down to the floor of the carriage as the sound of Hornets being fired sounded around them.

Shortly after soldiers could be heard shouting, "Clear!" "Clear!" "I have the archer!"

Andrew held Emily and Grace down as he looked up scanning the rooftops, he shouted out, "Eastside rooftop!"

Another round of Hornet fire and then two more shouts, "Clear!" "Another archer!"

Andrew called out, "Signal the Smith! I want eyes on these rooftops!" He spoke softly to Grace and Emily, "I'm sorry if I hurt you, are you alright?"

Emily looked startled as she saw an arrow stuck into the seat where she had been sitting. Andrew pulled it out and said, "Poisoned. Did either of you take even a scratch from this?"

Emily shook her head no and Grace looked at Andrew with big eyes, "You save our lives!"

Andrew looked smug and said, "Of course, why did you think I was here?"

Grace shrugged and said, "I thought it was a nepotism thing, honestly."

Emily couldn't help but laugh even as she was still shaking from the adrenaline of the near-death experience. "Who would want me dead? Or know that I was in this carriage to assassinate me?"

Grace frowned and said, "I'll know soon. Your Majesty, if you don't mind could you let me off here. I'll go ask some people who might know some things."

Emily nodded. "Driver, stop the carriage."

Grace hopped out and then disappeared into the now forming crowd.

Andrew blinked and said, "Who is that woman? I lost sight of her as soon as she walked into the crowd."

Emily waved her hand, "She's one of Teslaimia's assistants. Andrew, check to see if this carriage has a mark on the roof."

He slipped out the window and then crawled back in a moment later, "You're right, the carriage is marked."

*****

Grace walked a few blocks and saw someone wearing a hat and veil she recognized, "Excuse, me, that hat, it's from the Mia's Secret store, right?"

The woman looked proud and smiled, "Yes it is, do you like her clothing too?"

Grace showed off her dress and then asked, "I wonder, do you know how far from here it is? I am a little lost."

The woman giggled and said, "It's on First Street, this is First Avenue, you need to turn right at the corner and walked down three blocks. It's on the corner there."

Grace took her hand in both of her hands and said, "May Lord Léon Jean Reno bless you, I thought I was going crazy." Grace quickly followed the woman's instructions and quickly found the store.

She walked in and the pretty girl at the counter warmly welcomed her, "Welcome to Mia's Secret, how may I assist you today?"

Grace walked up and said, "I need to see the Winter collection."

The girl quickly rang a bell and an exquisitely dressed older woman walked out from the back with a smile, "How may I help you?"

Grace walked up to her and said, "I need to see the Winter collection." The older woman waved to the girl at the counter and took Grace into the back office.

She closed the door and said, "We just received the message by pigeon before you arrived, I am afraid I don't have much to work with just yet if you can give me a few hours I will have more to give you."

Grace looked her in the eye and said, "Someone just tried to attempt an assassination of Mer Majesty, Emily. We came directly from the north gate by carriage."

The older woman got up and called out, "Wanda, get me the north gate guard rotation, I need any anomaly, Susan, go find out who rented two carriages less than an hour ago to the north gate." The older woman walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out a folder and sat back down. "Port Gaul is run by King Snegg in the minds of the people, but behind the scenes, the ones running it are really the White Shark gang. The White Shark gang wouldn't get involved with something like this which means it's someone in the government for sure. Most likely one of Snegg's people."

Grace took a look at the folder and tapped on a name, "Lord Geoff Caster, I know this name. He came to visit Connaissance recently, which was not an official visit. He just came ostensibly to visit a certain Noble, Count Leo Harmon."

The older woman took a look and said, "Lord Geoff Caster is one of the Nobles backing the Dane West Injia Company one of the large trading groups that is based out of Port Gaul."

Grace nodded, "That's our assassin. Look into him for me, if I am not mistaken he should part of this council."

The older woman nodded and said, "Yes, he is, it was his company that made the trip across the Galactic Ocean and discovered the western route to the east."

Grace swore softly, "Can you get me over to the Council's meeting? I need to inform Her Majesty."

*****

Andrew and Emily walked into the Council's meeting room and found that all the chairs were taken. Cardinal Pujols stood at once and said, "Empress, please have my seat while they correct the mistake." He quickly turned and glared at King Snegg who shot a look at his advisor. Emily walked over and sat in the Chief Cardinal's seat at the head of the table. The men in the room suddenly felt a heavy pressure as she looked around the room to see who it was that was most upset at her appearance here.

Emily turned to the Cardinal and said, "Thank you, Your Eminence." Chairs were suddenly rushed to the table in order for Andrew and the Cardinal to be seated to her left and right.

One of the leaders at the end of the table cleared his throat and said, "Must we repeat all of that introduction for the ears of this woman who couldn't be bothered to arrive on time? Start this meeting already."

The Cardinal slammed his hand down on the table and sent a death stare down to the man and said, "Be sure you understand who you are speaking to before opening your mouth at this table." He turned to Emily and said, "Empress Connaissance, please forgive his rudeness, he has no idea."

She waved her hand dismissively and said, "I agree, start this meeting. I don't care to know the leaders of these backward nations."

A tall dark-haired skinny man stood up and laid out a map on the table and said, "We have long known that it should be possible to sail west and reach the east as the fact the Hanston is in fact a sphere. Easily proven by looking from the top of any tall peak. My Dane West Injia Company has proven this theory to be true. We sent a well-funded expedition from Port Gaul to the northwest and finally had a successful landfall three months to the west of the Chadtom Empire. Based on our best guess mapping, we believe that our ships landed here, in what we now call the Dane West Injia Company islands." He clapped his hands and several short dark-skinned women wearing only necklaces made from animal teeth and twine along with short loincloths were brought in carrying baskets full of strange fruit Which was placed on the table.

The dark-haired man gave one of the women a squeeze on her butt which caused her to look terrified as he smiled and said, "I know what you are wondering right now, where is the gold?"

He brought out another basket himself and dumped it on the table. There were many large gold nuggets in the basket and one melted lump of black metal which Emily reached out and picked up. She smiled and asked, "Was there more of this?"

The dark-haired man sneered at her and said, "Oh? That junk rock, that was placed in with the gold on accident. It's too light and melts too easily to be useful so we just left it there. There was a lot of it, but thankfully there was enough gold to make up for it."

Emily handed it to Andrew who asked softly, "Harbenite?"

She nodded and then said, "Looks like we'll need to send an expedition to the west." The other leaders only had eyes for the gold which didn't interest Emily at all.

A few moments later Grace jogged in with a folder and handed it to Emily before stepping back and standing against the wall like some of the other advisors. Emily read through the report and cut off the Dark-haired man and asked, "Which one of you is Lord Geoff Caster?"

The dark-haired man smirked and said with his voice heavily laced with sarcasm, "Empress... Connaissance, you arrived late so of course you don't know this, but you see, I am Lord Geoff Caster."

Emily looked at him and asked, "Why did you attempt to have me assassinated?"

His smarmy smile slowly left his face, "You have no proof!"

Emily sighed, she pulled out her Tesla Wasp and fired it right into his face causing all of the tribal girls to scream as his head exploded and his body collapsed to the floor. Emily stood up and said, "Let me make myself crystal clear. Threaten my life or the lives of my people and I consider that an act of war. This, piece of crap, tried to have me assassinated on my way in here. So now he is dead. I assume that he is not the only representative from the Dane West Injia Company present?" Everyone's eyes turned to a blonde man sitting at the other end of the table.