Chapter 21: Packing

“Igitur quī dēsīderat pācem, præparet bellum (“Therefore let him who desires peace prepare for war.”) – Vegetius

York, Great Britain. December 1072

After hooking up the battery, Luke flipped the switch and gave himself the best Christmas gift. His diesel engine finally roared to life after sputtering a few times. What Luke thought he would be done with in July had taken him another five months to get it working. Ultimately, Luke had to re-engineer most of the engine’s support systems, with the fuel system leading the list of problems.

His first attempts at the fuel system failed because Luke had problems getting the fuel to atomize properly. Until his latest test, the fuel hadn’t atomized, thus preventing the engine from starting.

With the engine running, Luke began running tests to see if he could get enough power to be economically feasible or if he would have to return to the drawing board. To Luke’s surprise, his power predictions were on track, meaning he could start more complex testing. He knew he didn’t have a finished product yet, but he was on the right track. While testing, Luke decided not to waste the power and used the engine to turn a generator. The generator was powerful enough to provide all the power for the palace and was usually powered by a steam engine. After crunching the numbers, Luke found his new diesel engine could do the same job for roughly 25% less fuel while delivering almost instant power instead of waiting for the water to boil.

Pollyanna walked by Luke’s workshop and heard the strangest sound she had ever heard. Trying his door, she found it locked, but that didn’t matter since she had a key. Polly unlocked the door and reached for her hearing protection since the noise level had increased drastically. It didn’t take long to find Luke, and in finding him, she answered her question about the strange sound. It was his diesel engine. Polly knew what he was trying to do, but she hadn’t believed him; now she did.

When he heard the door open, Luke smiled, seeing Pollyanna come through. She was essential for what Luke was planning in many ways, and he wouldn’t have accomplished what he wanted without her.

“Hey, Polly,” Luke shouted.

“Hey, I see you got it working.”

“Yep, although there’s still work to do. There’s too much smoke, meaning the engine isn’t hot enough.”

“How do you plan on getting hotter combustion?”

“Better compression. I think the first thing I will try is shoving more air into the pistons. I also intend to run trials with different atomizer designs.”

“Need help? It sounds like you’re going to have some fun.”

“Of course.”

Luke couldn’t help but smile. Pollyanna was too easy to predict. If there were a complex engineering problem to be solved, she would want to be involved. It didn’t take long for Pollyanna to be wrapped up in solving the various issues with Luke’s engine. While Luke worked on the atomizer, Pollyanna worked on a better compressor.

To help build depth to the army command structure, Luke took random days off to work in his workshop or spend time with his children, especially his newest ones. Makayla MacDougall was born to Alice in September 1072 and, like the rest of Alice’s children, had her mother’s red hair. Makayla also had her father’s blue eyes. Mark MacDougall was born to Gabriella in August 1072 and had his father’s blond hair from childhood. Luke’s hair didn’t turn brown until he was well into his teen years.

Marion sat at her desk and read a report from Gretchen. One of her spies in Frankfort had been caught, and Gretchen was worried the man might turn. If he turned, the damage caused could be traumatic to her spy network in central Europe.

“How are you going to protect your people, Gretchen?”

“I have already sent a small team to try and rescue my man. If that is impossible, they are to kill him.”

“Do you think that might create an international incident?”

“You sound too much like Luke, Your Majesty.”

“He is my mentor. The question still stands. Given what you know about Henry, will your move provoke him into doing something against us?”

“I don’t think so. As long as the team sticks to their mission.”

“And if they get caught? From everything we have seen, Henry’s new wife is incredibly intelligent.”

“She’s the wild card. Until I can meet her and judge her for myself, I just don’t know.”

“Okay. Next time, though, ask for approval before doing something like this. Your office is in this palace, so asking me will only take a few minutes.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Now, what is all this about Philip getting restless?”

“He’s pissed your interest on the loan you gave him is draining his treasury at roughly the same rate he brings money into it. He is also looking to expand at the empire’s expense.”

“He’s the dumbarse that lost his throne to a madman. He should be glad I let him have it back.”

“I agree. I can only tell you what my people tell me.”

“I know. Do you think Philip can win a war against Henry?”

“Under normal circumstances, no. But Henry invaded Poland, where his army is bogged down in a war of attrition. Under the current circumstances, Philip might be able to win.”

“Thank you, Gretchen. If that is all?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Marion nodded, and Gretchen left Marion’s office. Once Gretchen left, Marion turned to Gabriella.

“What are your thoughts?”

“I think Philip will go after Burgundy first. That land was only recently captured by the empire, and retaking it would give Philip access to much better ports on the Med. I can’t see him trying for more because he would be, in effect, biting off more than he can chew. If I were him, I would attack along the Mediterranean coast after sending specially trained men into the fortified cities with orders to open the gates when his army got there. This way, he could capture several cities before Henry learned he was at war.”

“And how would you respond if you were Henry?”

“I would ignore the action along the Med and attack Paris; try to cut the head off the snake. This would also interrupt Philip’s loan payments to you, thus drawing us into the conflict.”

“Shit. Well, let’s hope Philip behaves or Henry is an idiot. Maybe Philip will wait until he has repaid his loan?”

“Marion, what if Philip attacks us instead?”

“With what? He doesn’t have a navy, and he doesn’t have the shipyards to build a navy that could threaten ours. Even if he did, he doesn’t have the iron mines or steel mills to create a modern ship. He can’t try to sneak an invasion across the channel because we will see his ships gathering long before he could launch such an attack.”

“Just don’t get overconfident, sweetie.”

“I know, Gabby. But in this case, Philip really can’t do anything against us. Now, the empire might be able to do something in a few years. They have the iron and the engineering to potentially cause us problems.”

“What about our captured spy?”

“Spying happens all the time in all kingdoms. I think Gretchen is overreacting, but she feels responsible for her people. You can’t fault her for that.”

“No, I can’t. I just wish she would have cleared it with you first.”

“What’s that saying my Luke has? It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission,” Marion replied. “Which works fine until it causes bigger problems.”

“And if she would have asked, you would have given the mission you’re blessing without much thought.”

Marion sighed, “You’re right, Gabby. But still.”

Marion shook her head and returned to her paperwork while Gabriella did the same. In many ways, Gabriella was almost Marion’s co-ruler. Marion liked it because it reduced her workload and gave her someone she could leave in charge in case she had to visit other kingdoms.

Marion’s position getting ready to enter the year 1073 was remarkably secure. Her military was loyal to her and had the best weapons and training in the world, bar none. The citizens of Great Britain were mainly faithful, and the ones who were not weren’t numerous or organized enough to cause any problems. She had finally reached the point where she felt secure enough to visit nearby countries for face-to-face meetings with their leaders. Luke would accompany her for these visits to give her words more weight. He was also decent at reading people, although Gretchen was much better. The only question was, where to visit first?

By the time the annual Christmas Ball came around. Marion knew where she wanted to visit. Her first overseas visit would be to Norway. She wanted to meet with Queen Ingegerd and learn firsthand what kind of ruler she was. Marion was becoming disturbed by the constant expansion of the Norwegian Empire, even though Luke wasn’t concerned.

Luke knew Scandinavia couldn’t produce the kind of empire that could seriously threaten Britain. The climate was terrible for large populations, and few natural resources outside of iron, copper, fish, and wood that could be tapped with their current technology. Luke knew the region was extremely rich in minerals, but mining them wouldn’t happen for the foreseeable future. Since wood couldn’t be used to produce the volume of steel needed to build a steel warship, Norway had little hope against British warships, which were all constructed of steel.

While there is coal in Norway, it’s located well north of the Arctic Circle, where the technology didn’t exist to mine. Nobody but Luke and Marion’s innermost circle knew about the vast energy reserves under the North Sea, and Marion wanted to keep it that way. Not only was there no drilling technology but there was also no way to deal with a spill.

With winter approaching, Marion wasn’t about to visit Norway until the weather turned in the spring. There was no great hurry, so there was no need to take a risk they would be met by a storm. Although Luke was used to sea travel and was quite at home on a boat, Marion hated being on a boat on a freshwater lake, never mind the North Sea.

Luke could enjoy the Christmas Ball since he didn’t have a sore nose, and Marion had no assassins after her. He also got a present from Marion when she informed him she was pregnant again. It seemed like Luke was always becoming a father. Luke barely reacted since he had nine children. Thinking of his next child with Marion made Luke remember Edhida, which tempered his reaction to his new child. Marion saw his response and hugged Luke. She knew what caused his response, which reminded her he wasn’t of her time.

After the ball was over, it was time for everyone to return to their regular jobs. Luke ran his business empire for a few weeks while Bard took his annual vacation. Marion and Gabriella worked on Marion’s travel arrangements, which would take time since everything had to be mailed and the weather during the winter wasn’t ideal for travel. Alice started teaching medical classes in the spring semester, and Pollyanna began teaching engineering classes.

Pollyanna was new to teaching and only began because Osbeorn was running her business interest. To her surprise, she found that Osbeorn was good at running the business, especially the newspaper. He had already increased circulation by 10% and found half the increase was from overseas readers. That was made possible by faster and more reliable shipping between Britain and the continent.

While the adults were busy building the nation, the children were learning to be productive citizens. All the children over five years old attended the nearest public school. Marion’s sending her children to public school was part realpolitik and part good press. When the people saw the queen’s children attending public school, they were much less hesitant to send their children.

Another reason for sending her children to public school was Marion recognized that one day, one of her children would be the ruler of the country. Having them interact with normal children early would help keep them grounded in reality. To Marion’s surprise, her children loved attending school and couldn’t wait to leave every day.

When they came home from school, the children showed their mom and Luke what they had done in class. Once their homework was done, Luke checked it to make sure it was done. What he didn’t do was point out his children’s mistakes unless they were serious. Luke knew that if he helped his children, it would put them at an unfair advantage over other children.

Thanks to the rapidly improving mail network, Marion had her travel arrangements by late January. Her letter to Ingegerd was more personal than the letter to Henry IV. Gabriella would stay behind to watch over the nation for Marion, and Luke would travel with her. Marion’s guards would be commanded by Major Abigail Salomon, one of Gabriella’s most trusted subordinates. Although Abigail commanded a battalion, she would only take a company with her for this trip.