Chapter 75: Book 1: Chapter 27 (Part 1 of 5)

The Marena’s Mercy glided silently into the bay on the southern end of Mackinac Island around mid-morning.

We moored up on a large concrete dock that had been built for the ferry service.

One of the ferries had been in port during the integration. It was tied up to some metallic bollards that had been painted black. Where the black paint had chipped away there was a sheen of rust beneath.

We saw a few people aboard, working hard to try and get her going, to no avail it would seem. One of them, a man with a weather-beaten face who looked to be in his sixties, looked up from his work and spotted our arrival.

“Oi!” he shouted. “Ya can’t moor up there. This jetty is for the ferry service only.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I muttered, loud enough that my people heard me but not the clown across from us.

Anastasia snorted her derision. Shana attempted to be a bit more politic about the situation. “Some people take comfort in regulations in times of crisis.”

“Fine, I’ll try not to be rude, but we aren’t fucking moving to make these asshats happy,” I declared.

The taffrail parted and the black gangplank descended onto the concrete jetty, and we walked down.

“Hey!” the old man bristled.

I waved him off. “We won’t be long. And more to the point there is a damn apocalypse in progress, you must have noticed. The ferries on the mainland are in no better shape than the one here. Nor will they be for some time.”

Then added. “And a word to the wise, don’t get any ideas about boarding my vessel while I’m gone. It’s protected and I will know.”

“That’s my line,” Anastasia grumped beside me.

“Why you…” the old man started, but he was halted by a firm hand on his shoulder by one of his fellows.

The other man whispered in his ear and the old man’s eyes widened, taking in the heavily armoured state of my company of four, perhaps for the first time, and the imminent danger he was in finally clicked in his head. He backed down and returned to whatever it was they were working on, muttering angrily to himself.

With that settled, we set off down the quay and into the small town.

We visited my new podium before we left Stormblade Harbour, rounding out any armour gaps and making sure they were at least regular quality. Anastasia had changed out of the school uniform outfit and into Jeans and a white T-shirt with sparkly patterns. They were still figure-hugging and sexy but didn’t stand out quite as much as before.

The small community here on Mackinac was remarkably similar to what St. James Township had looked like before we took it over and the Shattered Goddess had landscaped the place. Mostly a single Main Street that ran around the bay with a few roads that led deeper into the island.

The biggest difference between the two was that Mackinac clearly hadn’t had the misfortune of crystals disgorging creatures as dangerous as the Fomorians right on their doorstep. The island was only a couple of miles from the mainland and there was the much larger and mostly uninhabited Bois Blanc Island maybe a mile further south.

That island would likely be more dangerous than this one by a fair margin.

Which wasn’t to say there weren’t any signs of damage or monstrous incursions. Several buildings had been heavily damaged, a couple even burned down. That could have been looting, I supposed, but the people on the street seemed too organised and cooperative for that to be the case. That and there were visible armed patrols.

Once we made it to the street, we were challenged by a group of fellows who had taken combat classes and had been patrolling the streets. “Halt and identify yourselves!” the leader of the squad yelled unnecessarily loudly.

My eyes flicked towards the sandy-haired man in his late thirties and analysed him.

 

Sgt. Calum Macdonald (Human)

Knight (U) 3

Character Aptitude: Moderate

Loot Value: Very Low

Threat: Very Low

XP Value: 1,120

Current Affiliation: Michigan National Guard (Michigan State)

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The current affiliation box was new and communicated this patrol was made up of national guardsmen. That surprised me, I doubted they had a base on Mackinac Island, but not being from America my knowledge on that was spotty at best.

The patrol wore a mixture of leather and chain armour, but now that I examined them closely, I could see they had rifles strapped to their backs as well as an array of melee weapons. Calum held the best class amongst them, but they had all gained several levels, which indicated they had seen plenty of action over the last week.

My instinct had been to dress Sergeant Calum down for his temerity, making such demands of me like I was some common street hawker, but I tamped that down. We weren’t here to make a scene, not if we could avoid it.

<It’s not too late to change your mind> Quixbix egged me on, probably detecting my indignation. <Go in weaponry swinging, cut the chaff before you down, and force the Governor to give you what you want at sword point.>

I had quizzed the imp extensively last night about how the Framework organised the power structure on integrated worlds. The information had been revealing and convinced me to try a diplomatic approach initially. There were several things I could offer Governor Reynolds that I suspected he would be interested in.

Enough to get me what I wanted at any rate.

Plus, Tricky Dicky Two was as bent as a nine bob note and being on friendly terms with the likes of him could pay greater dividends down the line. I explained that to the imp and my crew when we set out this morning.

Then I had to explain what the phrase ‘bent as a nine-bob note’ meant. That Tricky Dicky Two was as corrupt as they come because none of them understood the British idiom.

Quixbix had not been shy in expressing his disappointment at my decision to not rock up and cut our way through to Tricky Dicky. At least, he pretended to be disappointed. Personally, I think he was a shade embarrassed that he hadn’t thought about the long-term benefit of having a crooked state leader working with us rather than against us.

Which brought us here, to this moment, where I forced a winning smile on my face and responded as reasonably as I could. “I’m Captain Carter and this is my crew. We’ve just arrived.”

“Crew?” Sergeant Macdonald said at a regular volume. His eyes roved over Shana, Anastasia, and Jackson and his eyebrow curled upwards with doubt.

“Like what you see, perv?” Anastasia snarked at him.

Sergeant Macdonald ignored my dungeon’s sass and turned his attention back to me. “You came in on a sailboat?” he asked, doubt in his tone. “Most sailing vessels and dinghies have run into trouble with monsters in the lake if they stray more than a hundred yards from the shore,” he clarified.

“Not exactly,” I replied, answering his first question. “The seafaring class I received from the Framework allowed me to convert a wreck into something more sizable that works using a new power source.”

“Really?” Sergeant Macdonald said with surprise. Then he glanced down at the marina and spotted the sleek black lines of the Marena’s Mercy. “In that case, by order of Governor Reynolds we are commandeering that vessel into service for the great state of Michigan,” the sergeant spoke with surprising zeal.

Clueing him in to my ship’s presence hadn’t been an error on my part but had been a tactical ploy.

Richard Reynolds as Governor of Michigan state, regardless of what class he took, would be granted some localised abilities, similar to what Luca Gattosi had, to assume control of state-owned or recognised institutions. Institutions like the Michigan National Guard. It didn’t quite work the same way as it did with Luca; individuals could choose to abandon their affiliation to those organisations rather than accept the influence the Governor would have over them. But once they accepted then it wasn’t as easy to pull away.

As these guys were still part of the National Guard meant they hadn’t forsaken that affiliation. And a man like Richard Reynolds wouldn’t hesitate to apply his influence on the locals if he could.

I had been under no illusions that whoever was in charge here would make a play for my ship. This just sped up the process and confirmed that Governor Reynolds was indeed here or had been very recently. Had it been some other dipshit in charge then we would have simply advanced to the violent alternative to negotiations that would have inevitably occurred.

I smiled widely. “Governor Reynolds. Excellent, he was just the man I came to see. We have a mutually beneficial arrangement to discuss. Please lead on sergeant,” I said, blithely ignoring the man’s ‘claiming’ of my ship.

Sergeant Macdonald wasn’t very happy at the turn of the conversation and gave me the military stare. I didn’t flinch and simply projected unabashed confidence.

“Oh, just get them out and measure them already,” Anastasia griped irritably.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Ana? Getting another eyeful of the Immensity,” I shot back at her with a wink.

Jackson and Shana chuckled while Anastasia stuck her tongue out at me.

Our display of a complete lack of concern about the armed and armoured soldiers in front of us unnerved said soldiers somewhat. Then, with a grunt, Sergeant Macdonald conceded to take us to the Governor’s residence and find out if he would see us before they seized my property, but he offered no guarantees in that regard.

We had to wait a few more minutes as the sergeant used a battery-powered radio to call in some backup. Two more patrols to accompany us and a third to stand guard by the Marena’s Mercy.

That was twenty men, and sergeant Macdonald hadn’t batted an eyelid about summoning that many. I doubted they would leave the mansion undefended, therefore presumably Governor Reynolds must have had a significant number answering to him, at least a hundred.

I issued my warning once again not to try and board the ship and then the sergeant led us from the dock area.

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