Arrakis Factions

[Dante]

OOC: Dante, my man... thanx for letting me out.

I just got bored waiting for you to do it yourself...

When is the mystery event?

@ Dante, My point being was that 70,000 fremen warriors was a small amount compared to 10 million.

And ten million is substantially less than eighteen billion four hundred and thirty thousand nine hundred and fifty two. Nevertheless, it's not a good number. Same applies.

"I was rather hoping that Ek- Ekaka- ... Ekakatarrreeree- ... My sister might have refrained from breaking her house arrest for a while." Aleksandr muttered, his voice and posture tense as he sat before his desk. "That slaughter in Arsunt was completely unnecessary."

"I know." Orianna shrugged. "Since when has that mattered?"

"Since innocent people died." Aleksandr said stonily, resisting the urge to thump the table. He didn't feel safe as it was, even behind his desk and with four guards in the tent with him. Orianna was completely relaxed, leaning back in her chair and staring at nothing.

"Ekaterina," Orianna smiled as she watched Aleksandr twitch, "decided that she wished to express her anger. And she did so. I should point out that there is no law, as such, against this."

"There are several." Aleksandr shot back. "Murder being chief among them."

"Ah, but wouldn't you know it? After they died we found a horde of melange nearby! Amazing, isn't it?" Orianna smirked. "I'm sure the Emperor will be glad to hear that we have apprehended such smugglers. ...As will the Baron."

"The Baron placed me in charge." Aleksandr told her. "Go back to... your mistress, and inform her that any further actions of this kind will result in her deportation to Giedi Prime."

"You think so?" Orianna tossed her blonde hair back. She eyed Aleksandr for a moment, before standing up slowly. "Well, I'll be sure she gets your message." She smirked, leaving the tent with a flourish.

Aleksandr continued to sit at his desk  staring at the various pieces of paperwork before him. It was unnerving. Very unnerving. Ordinarily he would have taken care of this matter in private, ordering various penalties on his sister's household... But of course the Duke had to notice, and intervene... The Governor frowned. He didn't dislike the Duke, but he would have prefered it if the man had kept himself uninvolved. Hmph, too late now. And it wasn't as if Aleksandr had any technical legal control over his sister. Only the Baron really had that. He sighed again.

Time to put this out of mind. The feasts were going to begin in mere hours... Time to get ready.

[Beonid]

Seth and 20 highly trained warriors traveled to Arakkeen for the festivities.

[Dante]

Aleksandr Harkonnen stood on the balcony of the new Harkonnen residence in Arrakeen, smiling down at his subjects below him. On his left stood the Ixian mentat, Eeemis Telron, who was watching the crowds carefully. On Aleksandr's right stood the Duke Trebeis, waving to the crowd that his supplies had helped to support.

The governor had just finished his speech for the official rebuilding of the city. He had tactfully avoided mentioning the exact method of the old city's destruction, steering around the conflicts, and especially the name, of his sister. He had specifically thanked the Ixians, Trebeis and fremen, all of whom had donated something towards the rebuilding of the city. Now the crowd cheered its appreciation of the three men on the balcony, waving torches in the night air. Aleksandr could see dancing, people playing music, and tables of food that he had paid for personally. The fountain in the middle of Harko square was pouring forth water, and a few brave people were even paddling in it. The governor smiled. It may have cost the price of a small palace to maintain, but it was worth it.

One final wave, and the three retreated from the balcony. Vail watched from the crowds below, smiling quietly to itself. Turning from the fortress, it slipped among the revellers to the fountain, where it drank from one of the extra pipes. The water was cut off after a cupful had passed through the pipe, and it moved away to another crowd, subtly shifting as it did so to resemble a slightly deformed young man. Vail watched as the fireworks started, and smiled to itself.

"Finally, the city is finished." Duke Trebeis beamed, glancing from a window as he passed it.

"A city is never finished, Duke." Eemins said, "It is always expanding, growing, changing..."

"The city is rebuilt, then." The Trebeis replied huffily.

"And not before time, too." Aleksandr smiled, heading off any ill feelings between his two guests. "Perhaps you will join me for a drink?" He indicated a servent with a tray of drinks, standing beneath a small poison snooper. The man walked over, pouring the wine as he did so.

Eemis sniffed his wine carefully, closing his eyes for a second. He opened them in surprise.

"Caladan!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, I had to pay quite heavily for it." Aleksandr smiled sadly. "I don't know why the young Duke decided not to press charges against the Baron, but he certainly charges me for the wine."

"No expense spared." Duke Trebeis nodded, inhaling the aroma of his own glass.

"To Arrakeen." Aleksandr raised his glass. "Long may she last."

"To Arrakeen." The other two chorused.

[Barbarossa]

Stepping into the cabin of his personal Ornithopter, The Duke inquired "Well Qapmoc, notice any unusual behavior tonight?" Looking up from his place by the entrance hatch, the Nokker Guardsman replied, "Not much from the ordinary, There were more Freman then expected Including our old friend Seth and 20 of his best. Besides that, not much..... Except one man that intrigued me..... He dissapeared." Looking slightly dubious, The Duke said "What precisly do you mean by Dissapeared?"

"Well, I followed him from the fountain, into a thick group of people then I lost him. I did see a younger man with the same outfit, but with that many people, it's to be expected."

Sighing, The Duke nodded agreement, although on the inside he knew this man would not "Lose" anyone, never the less it was none of his buisness. Then, with a lurch The Craft suddenly rose and shot off into the night, trailed by three escorts.

Message to Aleksandr:

[hide] I apologise for my rudeness the other day, and would like to say that I loved the cerimony. I once more applaude your leadership and I hope to meet with you again soon.[/hide]

[Dragoon Knight]

The first night of celebrations at Arrakeen was drawing to a close.

[Beonid]

As soon as Seth saw Trebeis, he started making plans. And everything had gone correctly.

When Trebeis was about to leave, a squad of the best of the fremen warriors attacked the craft that Trebeis was using with AA technology. Trebeis was succesfully captured and taken to one of the remote sietchs. Trebeis was stripped to the scin and searched for bugs and placed under heavy guard. His guards had been killed, so there would be no rescue for the Duke. The rest of the fremen that had not come with him to the banquet rejoined Seth to guard Trebeis.

'There'll be no rescue for you, my Duke. First, you will be tortured for infomation, but the rest, we will not tell'......  said Seth.

[Barbarossa]

OOC:Vacine, are you suggesting that some of the 20 men your charecter brought took down trebeis's THREE Orni's each full of guards? When the Orni's were over the city itself as Trebeis  was heading for his base in arakeen. If you are, that means your warriors hid AA equipment in arakeen without Harkonnen troops noticing, Shot down 3 ornis and overcame an entire routenue of Nokker Guardsmen with less then 20 men. Rediculous. besides which I thought there was rules FORBIDDING one post battles? No offense but I don't accept that action as legitimate and will continue posting as such, if you have a problem with it, take it up with Dante as he's the most active participant in here.

Arriving at his base in Arakeen the Duke immediatly set about preparing a gift for the Governor. Entering a workshop, he ordered a craftsman to immediatly begin carving a bust of Aleksandr to help decorate the new Harkonnen palace in Arakeen. Meanwhile, Qapmoc and 100 other Nokker Guard Spec Op Specialists equipped with the Ixian PluStillsuits and Project Eagle Equipment Followed the Freman at a respectful distance to make sure they made it home all right and did not seek any trouble on the way. After watching the freman enter their Sietch and being transported back to base by Frigate, Qapmoc had the fun time expected from a de-briefing to look forward to.

[Dante]

Aleksandr watched the dawn from a small chamber in the new palace. He sat curled up on the floor, wrapped in a blanket and holding a hot mug of spice coffee in his hands. He sipped it carefully, looking up as an ornithopter passed overhead. It turned around lazily and flapped off towards the North East. The governor shrugged, and pulled his blanket tighter. It was heating quickly outside, but in the stone walls of the palace it was still cold. And Aleksandr prefered a blanket to just having the room heated; there were still problems with various bits and pieces. With another day of celebration ahead of him, the governor began to plan a message in his head...

To Ambassador Relnev:

You are hereby invited to the Harkonnen palace in Arrakeen, in order to discuss expansion into the desert and terraforming of the equator. That and I thought you might be interested in a small lump of gelid green putty that I found under a chair this morning. It bounces. And don't say you're busy, I know that smuggler hasn't made up his mind yet.

Sincerely, Aleksandr Harkonnen, of Arrakis (please excuse the green stains).

In other news, the guard of Arsunt is now directly under the control of Aleksandr Harkonnen. They are instructed to break up any and all violence.

[Barbarossa]

Looking apon the Statue, The Duke was rather unerved at the likeness of the man it was for. Reaching past it, He picked up a pad and began composing another message to Aleksandr.

Message to Aleksandr:

[hide]Dear Aleksandr, I wish to meet with you again to discuss my expanding back into trade, I would like permission to build a few production plants within arakeen. I have in the past produced weapons

[Beonid]

OOC:I didn't see any rules about one post battles. And anyway you are guilty of that as well, Barbarossa. At the top of page five, when you took over the Water Extraction Facility. Also, the fremen can beat sardaukar so your troops would be easy.

Message to Duke Trebeis

[hide]Beware Duke, we are watching, just for an opportunity to kill you.[/hide]

Since the attack on Trebeis had failed, assasination was still an option...

OOC: I am not called Vaccine

[Barbarossa]

OOC: If you had actually spent time in the Fan Fiction area you would know that it applies to all fanfics, one post battles are unfair. The battle I had to gain control of the WTF was not against another charecter, so naturally it could not go on more then one post. On the matter of my gramerical and spelling errors, I type quite fast and I assumed no one on here was still immiture enough to point that out. As for your men being better then my Nokkers, I said before in posts of mine that they spent a decade in training and were quite capable of handling saudukar which would put them at an even ground with your "Best".

[ordos45]

Mod OOC:  No one post battles guys.  It's in the fanfic rules. 

[Beonid]

OOC:In your message to Alexsandr, you put:

Since the attack on Trebeis had failed, assasination was still an option..."

I ask you, how would the Duke know what Seth had said?

Excerpt from Seth's Journal

A few caves were found near the Mt. Idaho base today. I ordered the fortification of them and work has begun. Yesterday, I recieved a message from one of my spies in the Trebeis base in Arakeen. The Duke is planning a meeting of some sorts. My spy is working in the hangars at the base, so he could sabotage the air protection. Unfortunatly, I can not slip many men into the base. Possibly it would be better to have him plant explosives around the base...

Later that day, ornithopters were seen flying over the city to a certain building..

***

'Well', said Kirt. 'This shipment will make me rich for life,' he said to himself. 'May I ask what you are doing with this shipment?', he said to the shadowy figure in the sidestreet. 'No, I will not tell you.''Why not?'You have asked too many questions. Now you must die.' With a gurgling scream that reached over the rooftops of the buildings, he fell to the ground. Out came the absorbant coth, soaking up all the blood.'This blood shall go to the tribe' Gast thought. Picking up his transmitter, he said 'I will have completed my task by dusk', 'Good, when you have done it, come back to the safe house.' Switching the transmitter off, he sat down to think about how he would go about his task...

[Barbarossa]

OOC:In your message to Alexsandr, you put:

Since the attack on Trebeis had failed, assasination was still an option..."

I ask you, how would the Duke know what Seth had said?

OOC: You have your spies, I have mine.  ;D P.S Are you going to join my Star Wars Fanfic when it is finished?

Walking through the hangers of the Trebesian Air Force in disguise, Qapmoc noticed some strange behavior. One darkly complected man in a mechanics uniform was working on the Duke's aircraft, when only the Duke and Qapmoc himself were allowed to perform any maintenance. Walking as quietly as his training allowed, The Nokker Guardsman headed toward the man. Nearing the "Mechanic" Qapmoc felt a change of atmosphere and lept to the side, just as a volly of 'Flechette projectiles whizzed past. Standing, he was shocked to find the man charging him down- with a Crysknife! Only then did Qapmoc understand the implications of what was happening. Fremen. Drawing his own weapons- A Kinjal Dagger tipped with a fast acting parylis-toxin and the Nokker's speciality, A delicate weapon simular to the ancient Katana. A No'Kar'e Sword. He dropped into a fighting stance and faced the charging enemy, but then to Qapmoc's horror. A man rounded the corner behind the Fremen. It was the Duke. The Fremen, having also noticed skidded to a stop and turned toward the new arrival, and smiled. Hefting the crysknife and heading towards the unarmed Duke, the man laughed maliciously and said "It's time to meet Shai-Hulud off worlder, and I shall see to it...." He did not get to compleate his sentence for as he said "It" the thrown Kinjal from Qapmoc buried itself into the Fremen's unprotected back.

The Duke was outraged. Sweeps of the base were conducted, and a surprising number of infiltrators were discovered, 57. Naturally none of these men gave up and killed on average 2 infantry when discovered. The Few infiltrators that did not fight to the death were handed over to the Harkonnen.  Also found were explosives, alot of explosives.  "Well, thats takes care of that menace" said the Duke. "But were not finished yet. I want ALL natives removed from bases belonging to House Trebeis. I also want ALL defenses put on high alert, De-Meks to be activated, Project Eagle equipment to be handed out and all Aircraft to be searched for sabotoge."

The Duke also sent a communique to the orbiting Observation Frigates.

Captains of Recon-Force, I want all observation equipment to be put under use, Every square inch of desert is to be kept under survalence!

He also wrote a few messages.

Message to Aleksander: (EXTREAMLY ENCRYPTED)

[hide] I have found more evidence of Fremen Activities, in fact We cleared out nearly 60 infiltrators. One even tried to kill me! Also found were massive amounts of explosives. I know you are a peaceful man, And I to profess to be one. But if these damn Sand Rats make one more move of this order,I will be forced to respond in overwhelming force. You know I have tried peace with these people and still to no effect. I've even made plans to make a living for my House producing items for trade, And still they refuse to leave me in peace. It is as such that I request that you come to my Arrakeen base to hold the meeting due to the threat on my life. Further more, Might I request some of your fine Troops to help with my defense?

I look forward to your response and even more so to our meeting- I still have that Surprise gift for you.

There is also the possibility of a Summit meeting between meyself and the Fremen Seth. I would appreciate it if such a thing took place.

-Duke Trebeis, Leader of House Trebeis on Arrakis.[/Hide]

Message to Relnev: (EXTREAMLY ENCRYPTED)

[hide]Hello Dear ambasador, I send this communique to inquire as to when Development on Project Silence will compleate, The trouble with the Fremen has begun again and the new equipment might be helpful. Furthermore, as we seem to share problems with the Native desert dwellers. I would like to propose an Allience in case of an attack on either ofour respective organisations.

I await your reply. -Duke Trebeis, Leader of House Trebeis on Arrakis.[/Hide]

Message to Fremen.

I have today discovered your elaborate espionage attempts. I am rather aggrieviated at these developments as I was actually hoping for peace between us. I consider this still possible, if you would consider ending hostile activities against me, I would be willing to do likewise. If you do not end your attempts at my life though, I will consider our respective organisations at war and will act in a manner befiting such a thing. If you are intrested in peace I wold like to hold a summit meeting with myself, erm. my advisors the governor and you and your advisors.

Please respond. -Duke Trebeis, Leader of House Trebeis on Arrakis.

[Beonid]

OOC:As you might have noticed, Seth set aside the idea that he would sabotage the ornithopters, so how could you find someone in the hangars? I might goin your SW fic but I don't know much about star wars.

Watching the Trebeis base from far away, Gast saw huge explosions rip entire sections out of the base. Ah, Trebeis must have found the explosives. Luckily, they weren't the Ixian explosives! The Ixian explosives were much more powerful than the fremen ones...most of the infiltrators had got out. A minority were caught by security forces. The naib would be pleased.

***

Intercepting a communique from Trebeis to his obsevation fleet, Seth smiled. The message was not going to reach the fleet, and even better he was going to start a duplication programme to duplicate his surface to orbit craft many times over.

Duplication Programme 10%, 10% per post

[Barbarossa]

I might goin your SW fic but I don't know much about star wars.

OOC: Thats O.k I'm going to try to make it as easy to pick up on as possible.

[Barbarossa]

Intercepting a communique from Trebeis to his obsevation fleet, Seth smiled. The message was not going to reach the fleet, and even better he was going to start a duplication programme to duplicate his surface to orbit craft many times over.

---

Duplication Programme 10%, 10% per post

OOC: No offense man, but we once again come to the topic of technoligy. The Freman don't have the resources neccisary to pull something off like that. If you had the Ix build something to intercept the messages- well that would be a whole differant story but as is.... It could not be done. ;)

Trebeis was a little aggrieviated. The explosives had not done any substantial damage as they were mainly centralised in the Arts workshops formerly used to house weapons, "Well no more statues for the Governor" Mused the Duke. The other explosions had unifortionately damaged the Gardens, which meant no fresh vegitabals for the guards. That ment lower moral.

Of coarse the incedent did not count toward the peace offer sent to the Freman as the explosion was the fault of a amature engineer not well versed in Freman Explosives. The offer of a peace conferance still stood. Meanwhile, The Observation Fleet had begun sending it's reports, not much was happening. "I just hope Seth accepts my Cenferance offer" Thought the Duke.

[Beonid]

OOC:Why couldn't it? I already have one surface to orbit craft.

Slipping through the security barrier of the , Gast walked through the building with 10 elite fremen following him. No one seemed to be around. Then Duke Trebeis came around the corner, with 2 guards in tow. The guards were killed and their water taken for the tribe. The Duke was spared and left with a message.

Message from the Fremen

Trebeis, we are not around to make a truce, we are here to get all the offworlders off OUR planet.

Duplication Programme 20%

[Barbarossa]

OOC:Why couldn't it? I already have one surface to orbit craft.

OOC: Thats exactly it, The Freman are excrutiatingly low-tech. Their weapons are Maula pistols and crysknifes, The communication they use are ancient transmiters stolen from weather observation posts. They would never be abled to Intercept High-tech transmissions or have Surface to orbit craft. I can get some book quotes if you want.

After the attack, The Duke started a few precautions. For starters, He began carrying weapons in which he was quite proficiant (Of what type I will disclose later) His guard rotenue was beefed up to twenty Nokkers, all of which were rather well known for their "Talents". These included Qapmoc who was renowned for having killed 10 sadukar during the invasion of Athalon before being felled by a poisen dart. The De-Meks were also activated and with their fierce Armor and armaments, Would surely deter any attack. As a sort of cruel joke, One of the freman infiltrators was rather painfully killed and his Remains were uncerimoniously hung from the only entrence to the Arakeen base. That was Qapmoc's doing. He rather liked the way the Freman looked and even climbed up on a ladder

to artfully if not lewdly arrage the dead man's limbs. 

[Beonid]

OOC:Actually, when I started posting, I said that Seth's fremen had a surface to orbit craft. Nobody objected. Anyway all the frmen escaped unscathed

[Dante]

Stop it, both of you. Geez, I take a few days off and look what happens...

The Fremen can have a surface to orbit craft if you really want, Omnius, though it's not exactly canon. But they most certainly do not have the capability to duplicate technology. Where would they get the raw material? The parts? The fuel? The tools? These are a tribal people that you control.

Regarding this attack, "They all died" "No they didn't, and some Fremen died" "No they didn't" "Yes they did," this isn't going to get us anywhere. I think it would be best to say that the Fremen never entered the camp. The Duke has defences, after all, which should be taken into account.

I'm leaving you to it for a bit longer. Not only do I have other things to do right now, but I'm waiting for Dragoon to post an event before I do anything. Which probably means that he's waiting for Davidu. Typical...

[Dragoon Knight]

Ornithopter after ornithopter moved across the skies of Arrakis; all of Ixian manufacture, all headed to the same destination: Mount Idaho.  They flew in the slightly erratic manner of all ornithopthers, eventually coming within visual distance of the place that would be the site of the new Ixian outpost.

"Sir?" came the voice of Eemins through a radio communicator attached to Relnev's wrist.

"Yes, Eemins?" Relnev asked, sounding slightly impatient.  Carth still hadn't made up his mind.

"There are some problems at the landing site on Mount Idaho, sir."

"What problems?"

"Fremen, sir.  They scattered when they saw our ornithopters, but they can't be too far away."

"Bah." Relnev huffed.  "Leave them to their pitiful espionage.  Make preparations for construction, Eemins."

"Yes, sir.  What of Aleksandr Harkonnen's invitation?" Eemins asked hopefully.

"Tell the Governer that I shall be over presently.  Some subordinate nurse can take care of our indecisive friend, here." Relnev said, motioning towards Carth.

With that, Relnev left for Carthag, to visit the Harkonnen governeor.  At Mount Idaho, the Fremen were now in hiding, and the Ixian construction teams were getting ready to construct the new outpost.

Message to Duke Trebeis:

[hide]Project Silence is finally complete.  The device shall be delivered to you presently.  I would advise extreme caution when using it, however.  The device operates by creating ultrasonic waves of a random nature, mimicing the erratic movement that the Fremen use to cross open desert without attracting a worm.

This device has not been tested in real-life conditions, and some of the theories that Project Silence is based on are only that: theories, Duke Trebeis... not solid fact.  Having said that, the device should work well, provided the ultrasonic waves can mask the rythmic movement made by whatever is being transported.  Therefore, I would advise that no heavy machinery or large groups of troops be transported at any one time.  You have been warned.

Head Ambassador Relnev of Ixian Outpost 9.[/hide]

[Beonid]

As Seth watched the sun rise, he thought,If the Trebeis are destroyed, will the fremen benifit? And if they do, in what way?...

***

Midday. The sun is shining brightly. A fremen is running away from the worm he has been riding.

He runs up to Seth. 'Sir, we need to build spice storage facilities in the WTF district.'said the messenger. 'Ok, is there anything else the bases need?'. said Seth. 'Well, we need more harvesting equipment and more building materials. Also, scouts have been seen around our spice fields. When they are spotted, they run away, heading for the WTF.'I will request more harvesting equipment and building Supplies from the Ixians. And, more troops will be sent to the bases. I want you to build villages near the bases, so that they are under the protection of the bases. I will populate the villages with men and women. When a child is born, it is raised so it is well educated, also I want the child to be trained for military purposes.''Yes sir.''Oh, and send down some of the spice, I will need it to pay for the harvesting equipment.''Yes sir.'

Message to the Ixians

[hide]We need miltary supplies, melange harvesting equipment, building materials, basic aircraft parts, and 200 ornithopters and 10 of you PluStilsuits.

Payment is 15,000 kilograms of spice. If you want more melange, just ask.

The Fremen[/hide]

Message to House Trebeis

[hide]We offer a cease-fire. Terms can be negociated later. The Frmen.[/hide]

Since the was not enough supplies to build any more, the duplication programme was cancelled. The Fremen had made about 10 more surface to orbit craft before supplies ran out.

Duplication Programme-paused

Transporting Melange- 2 days (2 posts)

OOC:

OOC: Thats exactly it, The Freman are excrutiatingly low-tech. Their weapons are Maula pistols and crysknifes, The communication they use are ancient transmiters stolen from weather observation posts. They would never be abled to Intercept High-tech transmissions or have Surface to orbit craft. I can get some book quotes if you want.

Seth obtain lasguns and other weaponry from the Ixians. Oh, and as I said before NOBODY, I repeat, nobody complained when I said I had one surface to orbit craft. And, as I thought you would have realised, these are not the books. I know, I quoted something from dune messiah some time ago, but those are principles. The fremen can't just not have surface to orbit craft because it's not in the books. I know, this Fan Fiction is based on the books, but it is not the books. :P

[Davidu]

Carth accepted this "method" of supressing the poison, though he knew he would be at the mercy of the Ixians. Not a good idea to be at the mercy of anyone.

After the capsule was set in carth asked:

- Well, tell me how much do I owe you. And how much would it take to give me the "recipe" for the supressor? I'd like to have my life in my own hands.

(OOC: sorry I can't post more often: i've got some internet problems right now...)

[Dante]

Oh, and as I said before NOBODY, I repeat, nobody complained when I said I had one surface to orbit craft. And, as I thought you would have realised, these are not the books. I know, I quoted something from dune messiah some time ago, but those are principles. The fremen can't just not have surface to orbit craft because it's not in the books. I know, this Fan Fiction is based on the books, but it is not the books.

Yes, yes, you can have your single surface to orbit craft. Duplication, on the other hand, isn't really justified.

"The Ixian Ambassador has departed to meet you in Carthag." An aide bowed to the governor of Arrakis.

"Gosh, really?" Aleksandr looked bemused. "Well that'll be pretty interesting, since I'm still in Arrakeen."

"As you say, governor." The man bowed again.

"Poor Relnev has been out of the loop for a while..." Aleksandr mused. The aide, for lack of anything to say, bowed. "But then, he has been working very hard recently..." Bow. "Maybe the stress is getting to him..." Bow. "I suppose I should make it easier on him." Bow. "I'll fly back to Carthag." Bow. "Do stop bobbing up and down like that."

"Yes, governor." Bow.

"I'll fly immediately." Bow. "Best not to keep him waiting." Bow. "See to it." Bow. "And send a message to the Trebeis, with my-" bow "-appologies." Bow. "Turn ninety degrees to your left." *crack* "I knew I had that pillar put there for a reason." *Whimper* "Yes, you can go see the nurse."

* * *

"Hmm, seems that the ambassador has his eye on another location." Aleksandr noted a few minutes later. A swarm of ornithopters was just leaving the Ixian base, turning to the North East and making a beeline for the horizon. "Where are they going?"

"Mount Idaho, sir." Another aide started to bow, before realising that someone had stapled the back of his jacket to the seat of his trousers. He attempted a complex spinning manoeuvre for a second, before giving up and resorting to leaning forward on his toes. He promptly fell over.

'Mental note: Find brighter and less smarmy aides.' Aleksandr thought to himself as he boarded the ornithopter.

Message to the Trebeis:

Sorry I can't be with you right now. Have to go meet Relnev in Carthag. I'll try to be back soon.

A.H.