Amelia Thornheart Chapter Fourteen: Kenhoro

With a hiss of steam and a clunk, the tal gangway ca to a stop. A familiar man in a dark blue uniform was waiting for her. A double pair of small horns crowned his head from which an enormous ponytail flowed. From behind a pair of spectacles, sharp green eyes glared at her, a rare trait that suggested the man had ancestry from the far West.

“Dockmaster Yu. Always a pleasure to see you well,” Serena said smoothly with a smile. She had co to appreciate Shin Yu, the dockmaster of Kenhoro.

“You!” He pointed a finger at her. “Get that ship out of my docks! Go sowhere else! Why co to Kenhoro, huh!?” Shin waved to the east. “The Tanhae docks are over there! Yes, hello!? I can hear them now! They want you to go over there! Shoo! Bye bye!” He motioned with his hands frantically.

Shin Yu spoke Imperial with a thick accent, and much of his native Manwese tone slipped through. He was unbelievably direct when speaking Imperial, lacking the full vocabulary to be more tactful. Not that anyone would criticise him for it. No captain would dare get on the bad side of the dockmaster.

“Co now, we’ll be out of your horns before you know it. A bit of work on the hull, and we’ll vanish like the wind.” Serena flashed her most charismatic smile.

“That ship! Bad luck!” He was wagging his finger at her now. Shin Yu enjoyed expressing himself with his hands. “You! Bad luck!” Serena pondered how she could placate the excitable dockmaster when a pair of figures approached from the side.

“Just the man I need!” Allston, the chief engineer, appeared flanked by his niece. “We need two overhead cranes, thirty ters of two by one girder, eighty ters of half by half. Good man, how many armour plates do you have lying about?” Allston put an arm around the dockmaster and practically dragged him away, ignorant of the noises of protest coming out of the man. His niece rolled her eyes and gave Serena a knowing look before following after them.

Well, that was one problem that was dealt with. Those two would talk over each other for hours. She turned and shouted back up the gangway, “Dagon! Start letting the crew off!” After she heard the affirmative reply, she made her way to the requisition office, where she found a demon lazying around behind a windowed desk reading the broadsheets.

The man did a double take, eyes widening in recognition and surprise. “Speaker Halen! It’s an honour!” He scrambled to his feet and gave her a hasty salute.

“Turn that around, officer. Let have a look,” she said, nodding her head at the broadsheets. The requisition officer obeyed, and Serena read the large block capitals printed across the broadsheet: EASTERN FLEET ADVANCES. The subheading underneath read: ADMIRAL ZHAO EXPLOITS COLLAPSE AFTER KEY LOGISTIC CENTER LIBERATED.

“When was this printed?” She asked.

“This morning, Speaker Halen!” the officer enthusiastically responded. “They say that it was your doing! They’re saying you might be awarded a silver eagle!”

“Who’s saying that?”

“It’s all in there, Speaker Halen,” the demon gestured to the broadsheet she was reading. Serena skimd the contents. She was nad, as was the Vengeance. There wasn’t a picture of the Vengeance; the broadsheets were forbidden from publishing a photograph of the ship. Yet a lack of visuals didn’t stop them from building up the ship as an unstoppable vessel undetectable by the enemy.

Reading further, she found the officer was right and the papers reported that Greatlord Feng - master of Kenhoro, Tanhae, and Ponan - had recomnded her for the dal. Serena wondered if her father had anything to do with that. He could have leveraged the strategic position the war had put their family in for such a cause. Alternatively, if they were planning to honourably discharge her from the Navy, then the dal would be the thod to buy her silence.

“How did the broadsheets find out about this so fast?” She asked.

“Admiral Zhao took a dia team with him. They docked up in the civilian bays last night.”

That would explain it. If the dia arrived at Port Highwind shortly after the fleet did, they would have beaten them back to Kenhoro, especially as her own departure was delayed due to the fighting and the politicking of the Dragon.

“Right,” Serena said, turning her gaze from the broadsheet and to the officer. “You got any raincoats? One my size and one,” she held her palm up flat in level with her eyebrows, “about this size. Get a pair of boots, size seven through to ten, and the socks for them. Find a couple of rainhats as well.”

The requisition officer scrawled down her request and disappeared into the back. Alia wasn’t technically wearing a military uniform as they had ripped any identifying parts off, but it was still republican colours, and she didn’t want to take her out to the city until she was wearing sothing that wouldn’t draw attention. While ntally mapping out the path they would take in the city, a voice called out to her.

“Lady Halen! Is that you?”

Serena turned towards the goatee-sporting demon with a handso face. He wore a uniform that was similar to hers, but instead of gold trim, red thread decorated the edges.

“Aiden!” she exclaid in surprise, recognising the man. She corrected herself after noticing the marks on his shoulder. “Officer Adachi? Congratulations… looks like you found your place in intelligence.” Aiden Adachi stroked his goatee and gave her a grin.

“Took three attempts but got there in the end! When was the last ti we t? At graduation?”

“We saw each other two years later at the shareholder eting in Asamoto. You were…” Serena couldn’t help but form a smile, “Too far gone to recognise . You thought I was my sister and tried flirting with , you bastard.” Aiden’s drinking prowess at the academy was sowhat legendary, and it hadn’t seed to have died down when they had encountered each other four years ago.

The habitual drunk rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “My bad, my bad. You know Nina’s na is cropping up more and more in reports? She’s got a team working for her now. Whatever she’s building, they’re throwing coin at it.” Serena nodded. She didn’t know too much about what her sister was working on currently, but whatever that genius was cooking up would no doubt be a significant help to the war effort and the family.

“We’re all very proud of her…” She trailed off with a cold stare at her old friend, happy to see that she could still make him wither under her glare. “Why are you here, Officer Adachi?”

“They got doing grunt work, stock takes and the like,” Aiden said, shrugging while looking to the side, “You’d be surprised at just how bad the-”.

“Cut the shit, you’re here for the human right?”

“Damn right, I am!” The demon blurted out shalessly, “Can I et her!?”

“... for what purpose?”

“The big horns want to do a personality profile on her. That’s it, honest!” Aidens eyes took on a pleading look. “Co on Serena, this is my big opportunity! I’ve been doing logistics for years now, and I’m ready to pull my horns off!”

“What happens if I say no?”

“Then… I guess there’s an escalation. You know how far they can go. They want to do things quietly and peacefully out of respect for you and your family. It really is just a profile, please?”

“Give a week.”

“A week?”

“Miss Thornheart is sowhat ignorant of things. I’m teaching her a bit of common sense before letting her… roam. Etiquette as well. We’ll be eting my father in Shimashina after the repairs are done.”

“How long are you here for?”

“A month, maybe. No longer than six weeks. Ships got a big hole that needs filling.”

“Where are you staying?”

“... at The Highguard, if they have rooms.”

“Ah, family friend, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Well then… In about a week, the moonrain festival will start,” A glint appeared in Aiden’s eyes, and his mouth ford into a knowing grin. “We could go all out then? Show her a good ti?”

“You an, go out drinking?” Serena sighed. This man never changed. He was an idiot, although a different type of idiot than Alia was.

“They have a street here, half a klick long, you know? I don’t know its Manwese na, but the Imperial translation is Beer Street. Know why? Pubs!” Aiden cast his hands dramatically, “Everywhere! We could do a pub crawl and introduce the human to a proper demon drink! Like we did on those academy weekends.”

“That is a terrible idea,” She shook her head, “We’re not students anymore, Officer Adachi.”

“But!” Aiden exclaid, raising a finger. “We are demons. And I’m still on my crusade to find a human that can outdrink Aiden The Drinker!”

“It was Aiden The Drunk, idiot,” she said, smiling at the academy mories popping into her mind. Maybe it wasn’t a completely terrible idea. As a Speaker, it wasn’t like she or Alia could get drunk easily, and the girl was twenty-five. Serena didn’t want to or plan to treat her like a child. Besides, it could be fun. Perhaps Alia would like to dance, perhaps-

What in the seven hells was she imagining? Serena ntally slapped herself. What dangerous fantasies were creeping into her mind? She tried to push them away but found she was unable to. The image of her and Alia dancing together…

It was nice.

Damn it. Who said she couldn’t have a friend? Who said she had to play the stiff captain all the ti? She was allowed to have fun, right?

“Alright,” she said. “Next week. For the festival.”

“Wonderful! Thank you, Serena! You’ve saved my hide!” He gave her a friendly salute. Serena had an increasing suspicion that Alia and he were going to get on. “Oh, one more thing. So of the prisoners of war from the Port Highwind liberation were intercepted by the enemy. So keep an eye out, alright? We’ve put a team on the both of you, and it’s possible they’ll try to approach the human while we’re here.”

“Republican intelligence is in Kenhoro?”

“Probably not. They don’t have the resources. It’ll be federation boys, which ans if sothing happens, at least try and be a little diplomatic.”

“... Sure,” Serena said, thinking about the most diplomatic way to stab soone.

“You’ve got that old look in your eye again.”

“What look!?”

“... Nothing.”

“Speaker Halen! Here we are!” The requisition officer reappeared carrying a sack. “Two raincoats, four pairs of boots from size seven through to ten. Four pairs of socks and a pair of rainhats. Sign this, please.” He pushed forward a piece of paper and pen. Serena signed the docunt, and the sack of clothes was handed to her.

“What will you do now?” She asked Aiden.

“Well, I should probably follow you, all secret-like,” he shrugged, “but I think I’ll get a drink and start planning the pub crawl…”

“You’re… incorrigible.”

“What does that an?”

“Just one of the many ways you’re an idiot.”

“Can’t be that much of an idiot! I’m an intelligence officer! Although…” a montary pause, “Actually, most of them are idiots. Damn it…”

“Go have your drink, Officer Adachi. I’ll see you in a week.”

“Alright! See you then, don’t do anything stupid while I’m not there!”

“Stupid… like what?”

“Like employ a human speaker stupid, stupid!” He laughed, and Serena joined in. She really enjoyed her ti at the academy; demons like Aiden were the closest she had to a friend.

She waved him off and headed back to the Vengeance. On deck, she found Allston lost in thought.

“Allston?”

“Ah, captain. They have most of the things we need, but the armour plates won’t be here until the Ponan shipnt arrives. So we should be good to go in a month. Thorne's in the armoury, seeing what turrets they have in stock, if any.” That was a relief. The plating was the last work to be done so they could busy themselves with repairing the steel skeleton until the Ponan convoy arrived.

“Good work, Allston,” She said, patting the man on the shoulder. “Try and give your boys so breaks, alright? Have a chat with Tos and see what extra paynt we can arrange.”

“Aye, captain.”

The chief engineer drifted off into his own thoughts again. Serena left him there and headed back into the ship.

It was ti to take Alia out into the city.