Dead Star Dockyards 219 Doorknocker

Thirty people. The Arboreal Maiden could count the heads as many tis as she wanted, the number would always be the sa.

Thirty people from the Sanctum, herself not included, would be attending Donovan's little demonstration. She didn't know whether or not she should be considering that a large number, but it most certainly wasn't small. Hopefully Donovan wouldn't mind the increased presence, he had gone to great efforts to keep his military status secret.

"My Lady, all participants are here and accounted for." The Captain, the person holding the position most synonymous with her personal attendant, attaché, or secretary, bowed as he confird what she already knew. "Our retinue consists of myself, the Scholar, the Grand Elders, Admiral Kilm, twelve captains to serve with Admiral Kilm during the operation, four Enforcers here at the Librarian's request, four Esteed officers at the Marshal's request, and four library staff to record the events of this demonstration for posterity's sake. If we include you, the total cos to 31 individuals."

"Thank you, Captain. You may take your leave and join the Scholar. I know that the two of you have been . . . excited . . . for this event."

"Indeed. Ever since Donovan made ntion of this 'gunpowder' we have been suprely curious. You might imagine how hard it is for the Scholar to contain himself right now, his very first words to this morning were about how he wished to see this wonder the Terrans warned us to be so dangerous."

"Yes, well, make sure that he does exactly as Donovan tells him. I don't think he will jump out of his chair, but the steel plates we installed weren't just for show."

"Steel plates?"

"Yes. One of the weapons he plans to expose to us can apparently cover quite a sizable area at longer ranges. He insisted we set them up so that nobody gets injured or killed."

The Captain bit his lip, so of his eagerness and curiosity dying down with the Arboreal Maiden's warning. "Is it really as deadly as Donovan claims? I know you wouldn't lie to without reason, but can this gunpowder really be so dangerous that people may be killed by accident?"

"Captain, I ask you to take whatever level of danger you assu gunpowder to represent and raise it two strata at minimum. In the right hands, in the wrong hands, gunpowder threatens to overturn the entirety of the current social and political order. Keep this between you and , but gunpowder represents a level of danger that I can neither contain nor control." The Arboreal Maiden noticed a level of incredulity in the Captain's eyes at this admission of defeat. "Once this beast is let out of its box, there is no stuffing it back in. Am I understood?"

"Y-yes my lady."

"Good. Now, let's be on our way."

- - - - -

Donovan paced in front of the stands, tapping away at the tablet in his hand, calibrating it. It was unfortunate, but there wasn't a purpose built control surface for him to maneuver the Pegasus and its weaponry with. Regrettably, he was going to have to rely on Arc to be his pilot for most of this.

"Lord Strauss."

"Prince rndil." Donovan nodded to the Bulsarzian crown prince as he approached the front. "I believe we've gone over this, but I prefer to be called Donovan."

"My apologies, but I cannot fulfil that request in a public setting. I especially cannot do so in front of the Arboreal Maiden."

Donovan paused before looking into the stands. Was it really that big of a deal? Wasn't she a neutral party? Shouldn't the phrasing of his words be irrelevant to the implication in front of her?

"Well, whatever. It isn't like we'll be talking much anyways." Donovan's eyes searched around for Satie, the woman who was almost glued to him. "Is Satie not back yet?"

"Not yet. She should return soon unless she ran into so sort of trouble."

"Hm. Go take a seat wherever you feel like it, but make sure you aren't sticking out in front of those walls. I don't want to risk you losing a foot."

". . . Very well. I shall position myself sowhere in the middle of the stands."

Donovan nodded in response, watching the final guest of the day take his seat. He didn't start imdiately though, giving everyone a courteous amount of ti to get comfortable while he got the last of the controls taken care of . . .

"Okay, alright, hello! Hello hello!" A few quick expressions of greeting to catch the attention of the audience. "Greetings ladies and gentlen, and welco. For those of you who were not introduced, my na is Donovan Strauss, one of the last Terrans. My fiancé, Diana, is sitting over in the corner there. What we are doing today goes by a few different nas back on my ho planet, but for now you may call it by a more familiar na to you all, a Demonstration of Arms. Before we begin in full, I will once again ask all of you to take a seat that is safely behind those big tal plates you see to your left. That ans you, the one on the edge."

Donovan pointed to one of the Enforcers, a bigger man who had evidently chosen a spot away from the middle out of courtesy.

"While those plates might be a quarter of a ter thick and one hundred percent steel, sorry, swordstal, they will not protect you from what does not make contact with them. Where you are sitting right now is dangerously close to not being within the protective canopy. One bad bounce and your leg is history, move."

Donovan gave the man ti to get to a different seat before continuing.

"Very good. Now, for the sake of ti and secrecy, I will not be giving you a particularly detailed explanation right now. Instead I will be telling you which of the vibrantly painted ships you should be paying attention to at any given mont. We will start with the farthest ship, the bright green one, and move our way inwards as the Pegasus and foundry make their approach. At the sa ti, I would suggest all of you keep an eye on the white one way up above. We will have two different weapon systems on display today, and the smaller of the two will be giving it a work over as the larger one works its magic. Questions?"

Donovan gave his rapid presentation ti to settle in the audience's minds before continuing.

"Very well then. The first shot will be from a range of 50 kiloters . . . starting now. In approximately one minute, a volutric cloud of tal spheres will make their way to the target, the green ship, at an average of two tis the speed of sound. They vary in size, from about one to five pounds, and can carry with them enough force to punch through almost eight inches of solid steel at most. Those plates are about ten inches thick, and have a ten milliter thick spall catch liner to make sure none of you get hit by shrapnel. Regardless, where we are right now is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous places in the entire galaxy you can be, the business end of a 500mm shotgun. Even worse, we are so far away that we are, technically, within the theoretical range of spray. That ans that if-"

PAAANGGGGG

"That ans that if you hear that, we got unlucky. Not many of those spheres are actually going to make contact with the target unfortunately, and as you can see, the green ship still looks like it hasn't been touched. I can assure you, the sa will not be the case for the other six. Any questions yet?"

The ears of the attendees were undoubtedly ringing, whether or not they could hear him was the real question here. Either way, soone raised their hand.

"Can I go change my underwear real quick?"

"Unfortunately, I will have to say no to that in the interests of safety. Now, if all of you would like to turn your attention to the white ship above us, you will see splinters coming off of it. The 100 milliter rifles are getting to work." Donovan gave them the opportunity to get a good look at the specks of light that were coming off like clouds as they dispersed into the eternal night sky. "As I said, that will be going on for the rest of the demonstration. Feel free to take a look at it between shots to see its progress. Next up is the red ship, which will be shot at from a range of 25 km. Theoretically, we should be out of the range of spray at this angle, however I must once again ask you to stay safely within the canopy of the steel plates."

"Um, what size do you think that ball was?"

"I can't say, I haven't really been shot at like this before, but if I had to wager . . . probably one of the three pounders? We can take a look after this is over." Donovan watched more than just a few of the mbers of the crowd shiver in fear. If that was a three pound ball, what would a five pound ball sound like? "Either way, the next shot is incoming . . . now. Feel free to cover your ears again, I won't be talking, just keep your eyes on the red ship."

Donovan, keeping his word, shut his mouth and turned around. It should take about thirty seconds to impact from now, so all he had to do was wait for the splinters.

krakrra krk kraaak

Three balls made impact on the Great Csillacra's branch within visible range, ripping up a streak of bark before bouncing off. Almost imdiately afterwards an appreciable cloud of red and brown could be seen wafting away from the red ship. it hadn't so much as shaken from the impact.

"A little underwhelming, but that's okay. We still aren't within what we consider to be our standard engagent range. the next shot will be taken at the limit at that range, about ten kiloters. Any questions yet?"

"Yeah, uh, how does. . ."

- - - - -

The Arboreal Maiden felt strangely uncomfortable as she watched the show go down. Perhaps it was the fact that Donovan was nonchalantly speeding through an explanation of what might be the single most lethal weapon currently in existence, maybe it was because of the tone set by the impact at the beginning. It didn't matter what it was really, it had introduced a mild fear of death into her heart.

She wouldn't die to this blunderbuss contraption. She couldn't die to this blunderbuss. She was of the Velar, and also a goddess. Those two traits imparted a level of immortality that simply couldn't be overco by a steel ball. Still, this was sothing she had never really had to face before, the fact that she was powerless to stop sothing.

If Donovan so pleased, he would be able to play keep-away forever. She would never be able to catch him, never be able to stop him, which was a foreign concept to soone like her. She may not act on that ability with other people, she upheld her identity as a neutral entity as best she could, but she lived with the knowledge that she could if she so pleased. This was different, here she did not have the ability.

She was consoled, at the very least comforted, by the aspect of their relationship that implied an alliance. Of course, there wasn't actually any alliance there, but for the intents of purpose of avoiding trouble with Donovan they may as well have.

"My lady, are we certain it is a good idea to allow this?" The Marshall had leaned close in order to voice his concerns. He was in charge of the Sanctum's military matters, so it should have been no surprise he was opposed to giving up the Sanctum's status of superiority in the naval field. "Certainly this is a threat to our authority, isn't it?"

"Threat or not, there is nothing we can do about it except adapt. It is for that very reason that we are assisting them as we have. I am certain that we can secure so form of arms and training deal with Donovan, likely by way of putting us in his debt."

"You would . . ? No, I agree. That is the correct course of action." The two of them looked out into the space that contained the targeted ships. The one that had been fired upon at a range of 10km had survived largely intact, however one of the masts had been snapped by a steel ball and was slowly drifting away. The 5km one had a sizable chunk of the stern taken off and the main hull perforated. The 2.5km ship had simply been ripped in two, the halves lazily spinning in place as they separated.

Now they were waiting on the Pegasus to get to the 1km mark, a distance marker they didn't feel needed a demonstration. Once you split sothing in half, it really wasn't worth trying to get closer. What were you supposed to do? Split it in half harder?

Regardless, everybody present would remain seated up to the point where Donovan gave them the word that it was safe.

- - - - -

Crown Prince rndil had been dazed ever since the doorknocker. The noise, loud and unexpected, had stupefied him. He could feel it rip into that steel plate, and he could easily imagine it doing worse to him. He was so out of it that for a while he hadn't even recognized the damage being done to the rainbow of ships before him.

Shivers went down his spine once he understood what was happening out there, but for now he was focused almost exclusively on the disaster that could have been. He could have died, leaving the throne to his brother. That was simply unacceptable, but while normally he would threaten soone for endangering him like that on principle, he did not do so now.

True, Donovan had put him in danger, but had he really placed him sowhere dangerous? No. In fact he had gone through the effort to ensure his safety in spite of the danger. Donovan himself was in that sa danger, as was Diana, and Titanyana, and the Arboreal Maiden and all other manner of important individual. Donovan had taken the proper precautions, which spoke to the levels of danger that he and his people were familiar with.

All of the sudden, rndil understood why it was Diana had invited him. Even now, her eyes seem to say:

"If you ever need a little help dealing with your brother . . ."

He had to admit, she made a pretty compelling case.