chapter three

Kiera woke to the sound of swords clashing that night. She stood up and got dressed, she'd warned the servants about dueling in the ballroom. A sixth sense told her that it would probably be wise to bring her sword, never know when things might get out of hand.

As she put the sword on her belt the door to her room was thrown open.

"The palace is under attack milady! We must get out of here."

Kiera looked at her maid dismissively, "What do you mean 'under attack'?"
"The Ga-Vok milady, they're rioting. A large mob has stormed the palace. If we don't get out they may try to kill us, or worse."
"Very funny Doris."
"Oh milady, I wish it was so."

At that moment a Ga-Vok appeared in the door way. Kiera had never seen one so heavily armored, and there was blood dripping from his katar.

"Doris, get down!"

Doris stopped, startled by Kiera's outburst. Before Kiera could react, the warrior ran the hapless maid through. Kiera stood stunned. She'd never encountered death before, except in the media and a few stories Callin had told her.
But even startled as she was she was able to deflect the slashing blow of her furry assailant. Her training took over and her sword effortlessly passed through the warrior's unarmored throat.
She quickly crouched over Doris' fallen body, shaking her gently. A quick pulse check confirmed her fears.
Rising she stepped into the hall outside her room; servants ran about in a panic as a few guards tried to stave off the throng of Ga-Vok that were rampaging about the chamber.
Recognizing a guard sergent in a far corner of the room she dashed across the room; cutting down a second Ga-Vok as she went.

"We have to get out of here."
"How milady? They've taken the main gate."

She paused, the only other exits she knew of were the one under the throne and the one in the library. She muttered a brief curse at whatever fool had built a palace with so few secret pasages.
"Have they taken the library?"
The sergent paused.
"I doubt it madam; they seem more interested in hunting us than in taking control of the building."
Finally, a stroke of luck in an otherwise bleak day.
"Gather everyone you can and follow me."

She didn't know why the palace was under attack, but she'd have time to worry about that once she'd escaped ths uncharacteristicly fierce mob.

chapter two

"Enge."
"Yes captain?"
"You remember how you asked me what kind of woman I look for?"
"Yes captain, but that was nearly eight years ago."
Daniel silenced his first mate with a quick gesture; and quickly pointed at a woman across the market place.

"Her"
"Captain, I didn't realize you were into older women."

Daniel grabbed him by the scruff of his beard and pulled his companion's head in
line with his finger.

"No. Her."
"The one in the yellow?"
"Yes, that one"
"Ok, that makes more sense. She is a rather attractive woman; not the most striking I've ever seen, and yellow is clearly not her best color."

Daniel let go of Enge's beard and turned to face him.
"It's not about how she looks. It's how she carries herself. You can see just by watching her walk, that Girl's got Class coming out the wazoo, is educated enough to know what a 'wazoo' is, and probably knows enough about etiquette to tell you the social situation in which displaying a 'wazoo' would be considered acceptable. "
"Ransom on a girl like that is probably worth putting up with her for a few weeks" Said Enge as he reached for one of the knives in his boot.

Captain Stone stopped. Enge was right, class and etiquette were usually good signs of good ransomability. Education on the other hand was generally a good sign that the victim would put up a solid fight. And then there was the middle aged woman accompanying her.

He had recognized her as an imperial guard immediately. But as he glanced back at her he realized how close he and Enge had been to losing their lives.

"Enge put the knife away."
"Cap'n?"
"That older woman, she's a bodyguard"
"And that's a problem how?"

For all his faults, Daniel couldn't help but like Enge. He had guts, experience, and absolutely no ambition past the next bar.

"Enge, this is exactly why I keep you around. If you were any smarter I'd have to keep you from wearing weapons around me."
"That hurt Captain."
"It hurt less than it would have if you had gone after that woman. That bodyguard has placed in the Imperial mixed-arms competition for over the last hundred years, 17 times the winner. She's a corporal in the Imperial guards."

Enge glanced at the woman again.
"So? Just magic her away or turn her into a newt or something."
"Show me an imperial guard who doesn't know magic and I'll show you an Imperial guardsmens corpse."
"Oh."

Daniel kept watching as the pair turned the corner and passed out of sight.
"She's local. We'll get her next time."
"If you say so captain"
"Come Enge, there's a good pint of warm mead waiting for us back at camp."
"Yes sir!"

Daniel thought about that woman the whole rest of the evening. He'd known a lot of women in his day, and as far as he was concerned it was his day, but that girl was the first one he wasn't able to simply forget. He made up his mind then; when he retired from piracy he would find her and he would make her his.
Now if only he could figure out what age would be a good time to retire.

and without further adieu; chapter one.

"Father"
"Yes Kiera?"
"Can I go into town?"
Lord Lathorian of Anatolia carefully studied his daughter's face.
"Why would you want to do that? We have plenty of food and the tailor is already working on your gown."

Kiera sighed, "I know, I wasn't going to buy anything. I was just hoping I might have a chance to...mingle with the populace."
"Were you really? If you wish to understand the troubles of your future subjects; I'd be quite willing to let you sit in while I hold court."
"It's not that."

Lathorian stood up and walked down to his daughter. He'd suspected this might happen one day; After all he had met the Lady Lathorian in rather similar circumstances. That aside, there was no way he would let his daughter go and...I mean he could hardly afford to have his heir run off with some commoner. He knew full well that there were to many men who would want her only for a chance at his job, and he would not let that happen to his daughter.

"You can go..."
"Thanks Dad!"
"...If you take Callin with you."
"but dad."

Callin was one of the imperial guards assigned to the Anatolian nobility. She was one of the most experienced guards in the empire and had never failed to place in the Imperial martial mixed-arms competition since she was 27, some hundred and thirty years ago. Rumors abounded of why such a talented guard had been placed on a backwater like Anatolia. Some said she had been reassigned by the direct orders of the empress when she was caught having an affair with the emperor; others said she had requested it as a self imposed exile for allowing the death of a fellow guard. Lathorian wasn't to certain himself why she was here, but he was the sort of man who was willing to forgive whatever she had done to deserve the post and praise the gods for blessing with such an able servant.


"You summoned me milord?"
"No, but I was about to. Callin, would you escort my daughter down to Ankra. She wishes to mingle with the people."
"I'll be fine on my own dad, I can protect yourself."

Callin glanced at Lord Lathorian. She already knew why he wanted her to escort his daughter, Lathorian was a good ruler but he had never possesed any skill at guarding his mind.

"This seems like the sort of task for a brother or maidservant."

Lathorian may not have known why Callin was on his planet, but he certainly knew why she was only a corpral. Callin was a masterful fighter, but she never seemed to have even the remotest intrest in keeping her thoughts private.

"I'll expect you both back by the 19th hour. Callin, don't let her out of your sight."
"Dad, I'm not a child. I can take care of myself; I don't need to be nannied around."
"As you wish milord"

Kiera let out an exasperated groan.
"You're no fun at all."
She turned and walked out, Callin close behind her.

"I hope she finds someone she has to spend as much time chasing as she's made me." Said Lathorian to no one in particular.

note, and the game plan

I'm going to try dialogue in the next few installments. I'm warning any of you who might read this because I don't normally do dialogue. I always enjoyed backstory and a narrative perspective when I devloped the Nielda; and still do. That said, dialogue is much more interesting to read.

I'm an amateur; so please don't blame me when the result of this attempt is miles short of Tolkeinic fantasy or Asimovian Sci-Fi.


The game plan is to work semi-chronologically. I'll start with Daniel and the Anatolian resistance through phase three; a period lasting about sixty years and will probably take me a week at the minimum to do justice but may last as much as several months.
Then I will revert to Alicea and the Gascan resistance; which will probably not take as long but is equally important.
After that I will finally cover the epic phase seven; which really can not be told(partially because it will make more sense, and partially because no one could possibly be expected to care if they didn't understand the state of mind that exsisted in the major players at the time) until at least the Anatolian affairs are explained, though Alicea also plays an integral part. After that I'll sum up the state of affairs for both the Ga-Vok confederacy and Daniellandish empire at the end of the great war.

The great war

I'm going to give a quick summary of the Ga-Vok war.

For many years historians would consider each of the seven phases of the so called 'Great Ga-Vok war' to be their own seperate war. As the conflict would refuse to subside, the various wars began to be condensed into larger meta-wars.

The first phase of the war started when a new leader or 'Alpha' came to power. Using the strength of his clan along with skillful words he subdued the other Ga-Vok clans and brought them under his leadership. He convinced the tribal chieftans and the mystic shaman of the stone circles that the Nieldic galaxy was their birthright. He spoke to the people of the hunting grounds that awaited them on the other worlds; and convinced them that the Nielda were purposefully keeping them from these lands and must be purged.

Three worlds were atacked in the same hour by the combined forces of the new Ga-Vok confederacy. The small Nieldic colony on Decidua was masacred before days end; the colony on Burgun fared no better. But Anatolia, a minor colony neighboring the Ga-Vok homeworld of Decidua would prove to be the focal point for the entire war.
It was mostly luck that Anatolia survived. An aliance between the Anatolian resistance under the daughter of the lord of Anatolia, lady Kiera Gansfeld; and the head of Daniellands leading (and only) guild of criminals, Captain Daniel Stone, the pirate. I'll be touching on this situation in considerable detail as the two of them play a critical role in the Great Ga-Vok war.

The second phase consisted of several new Ga-Vok invasions as well as an additional unsuccsesful assault on Anatolia. After this phase the Daniellandish began settling soliders in order colonies in case of future wars.

Phase three began exactly like phase two and proceeded in exactly the same manner. However, at the end of phase three the Nieldic colony on Gasca found itself under Ga-Vok ocupation. A former army Captain, Alicea Stone(only distantly related to the forstated captain Stone), took charge of the local resistance and through clever use of magic, brilliant strategy, and ingenuitive use of technology was able to take back control of Gasca. This to will be covered in greater detail.

Phases four through six saw the continuation of the invasion-defense pattern set in the previous phases. Over the course of the sixty years from the first phase and the conclusion of phase six The Nieldic Galaxy saw the development of the first naval craft(Nielda and Ga-Vok; though both used spacecraft in battles prior to the formation of navies), the first cavalry(Nieldic and Ga-Vok, tough in all fairness the Ga-Vok only used stolen Nieldic tactics and vehicles), and first usage of mages integrated into standard military forces in the universe.

Phase seven will have to wait until after I've gone into greater detail on the personal matters of the Ga-Vok war, as they have a very direct impact on the final phase of the war.

Ga-Vok, continued

Sorry to leave off like that.
Now where was I?


Right.



First real contact with an alien race for the Nielda came in rather a reversal compared to what most races experience. Rather than a 'modern' or 'newly spacefaring' race encountering an experienced spacefaring race; the Nielda encountered the medieval culture of the dog-like Ga-Vok race.

With no prior experience dealing with other cultures, the Nielda reacted swiftly with disatarous results. No, they didn't attempt to commit xenocide. After nearly a thousand years of peace the last thing on the collective minds of the Nielda was war. Instead they introduced the Ga-Vok to space travel; giving them access to every technology that would be available to their own people. The result would define both cultures for milennia to come.

Ga-Vok

In the thirty-second year after the establishment of the Nieldic colony on Tara; An exploration team arrived on a heavily forested world in the north-eastern part of the Nieldic Galaxy.

I feel like I should explain Nieldic star maping before I continue this post.
Danielland is positioned at the center of the Nieldic galaxy, two major spacelanes intersect perpendicularly, the colonies; Tara, Medea, Kanto, and the twin worlds Arden and Rhinsla, are used to line up a compass on the Nieldic starcharts, with the twins as north, Tara as east, Medea as west, and Kanto as south. I'll go into more details on the Nieldic Starcharts when there is more to be charted.

Sorry about that.
They named this planet the world of seasonal leaves, or 'decidua'. But after several weeks of exploration, and subsequently three months of colonization, the Nielda were completly oblivious to the planet's secret.

to be continued...
Brain going a little slow right now.