Chapter 80

Reports of incidents involving Orc survivors were coming in from all over Draenoric. Most showed a lack of response, but some were outright hostile. Where clashes occurred, our teams in particular were now showing discretion over valour as the surviving Orcs tended to be both very tough and always outnumbered the teams. Where we could though, we got any hostages/slaves out and brought them to Esnurr’s estate where Athena’s people took care of them.

The hostages themselves were usually females and, from what we could tell, were ‘breeding stock’ and for the most part had been prepared to put up with captivity to remain safe. In the free Yr’ch society though they were far happier, particularly when they were told they could keep their children until they were fully grown.

The ruling Yr’ch committee were designating the blesséd of Ar-Thenna to take out the more violent of the hold-outs, usually in overwhelming strength. They had already dealt with the unit that had fought my team to a standstill.

On Vultoq, plans were accelerating to remove all the fully souled Yr’ch before removing the Orb influence. Not that we expected it to wipe out the Vultoqi, but we did hope that it would at least knock them back for a while, allowing us to come up with a solution for them. Though then again, we as yet did not have a clue as to how we could limit them to Vultoq in the long term.

Our outposts survived, as yet; but the suspicion was that the Vultoqi were preparing some sort of move against them, what with the army of the Alliance involved in chasing down various adelshaut incursions all over the planet. Arch, Roxanne and Kordanta were firmly of the opinion that they were preparing a massive blow against us and had convinced Crnnch of this eventuality too. Hence we had the Loegrians and Veda fully automating our outpost, whilst Crnnch had moved a cloned horde into his. Currently all the Vultoqi were doing was long range sniping, using some sort of shield-cracking plasma rifle, one we hadn’t seen before and which was quite deadly if it could actually target an exposed trooper or grunt. The Seers and Loegrians were currently working on the problem, but so far couldn’t emulate the shield-cracking ability of the guns which the Seers believed were magically enhanced to do such a thing, though as yet they couldn’t figure out how.

Athena herself was now permanently based on Draenoric, primarily on Esnurr’s estate and, with Gregorius, was using her powers to remove and occasionally restore buildings on the perimeter to enable her followers to move in. Crops were now being planted, or transferred across as several old, now unoccupied, palaces and their grounds were turned into farms. The large plains outside Draenor had a whole bunch of sheep, goats, pigs and wild cattle released upon them. The animals were simply being left alone to breed and grow in numbers for a few years until they could be either hunted or farmed. This was mostly because the Orc had killed off a lot of their native species and we, at this time, had no idea where we could restore them from. Plans were also being made to introduce predators at some stage, though Athena couldn’t give us a time on it.

“My plans, such as they are, will be to concentrate the Yr’ch here initially, with a few outposts on the various continents to grow specialised foods,” she explained at length one day. “I’ve got a few of the naturally smarter ones involved in building wooden sailing ships to transport various goods around the planet, as well as a few fishing boats. I’m not sure how well this will go as frankly they aren’t any too sure of dealing with oceans, but Gregorius thinks they will manage OK once the initial fears wear off.”

“What of the Orcs elsewhere?” I asked.

“Currently we’re aiming for a surplus of foods; we’ll have plenty to trade with, particularly on this European/Asian continent. As the numbers of my followers grow, I’ll be able to deal with the advanced technology the Orcs have to level the playing field down to where the lifestyle my way offers will look very attractive to any who look on. Plus they’ll be down to swords and spears by then.”

“I have Whirric’s people practicing with longbows,” Gregorius added.

“Could take years,” Roxanne murmured.

“Not with a bit of meddling,” he chuckled glancing at Athena and getting a smile in return.

“How many followers do you have now?” Arch asked.

“A million and a half,” she answered. “All of them will be settled here in the next week or so. I’m using my powers to set them up and give them the knowledge and ability to run their own farms, blacksmiths, wood-work shops, builders, thatchers, etc. We’re spreading out down the river here in numbers and so far, so good,” she explained.

“Non-believers?” I asked.

“A few thousand, they don’t get any ‘gifts’ but they are often enough hard working and earn their keep as well as reaping the benefits of this agrarian society.”

“Who do they worship?” Arch asked out of curiosity.

“Beog, mostly. Some are atheists, having rejected gods and Powers, even if I am a bit self-evident at the minute,” she chuckled.

“Will you gradually fade into the background like other Powers?” Roxanne asked.

“Yes, there are rules and no, I’m not allowed to tell you the rules, just that there are rules,” she shrugged.

“Fair enough,” Roxanne replied with a grin.

“Anything on the other Powers that are supposed to be here?” Arch asked.

“Karkol and the Seers are still translating the various tomes found, but it’s beginning to look like Chakra found a way to force a shift in the quantum energy here to banish them, enabling Beog to move in and take over. Beog himself does not appear to be ‘native’ to Draenoric, although there is evidence he took over an existing name,” Gregorius replied.

“Banish them where?” Roxanne mused. “The Outer Realms?”

“As likely a place as any,” Gregorius shrugged. “Certainly the only place I can think of that might hold them. Though how he would have kept them there is another mystery.”

“This Chakra seems a bit of a piece of work,” I murmured.

“I suspect he was a brilliant scientist who managed to come into contact with Beog ... Or perhaps Sarkal, and was kept hidden from the Powers here as he was corrupted into removing them and paving the way for the rise of Beog,” Athena added. “Problem is, I can’t look as I’m being blocked in a similar manner the Powers use to block you from looking at certain events. It’s probably to ensure I don’t learn something I’m not supposed to,” she admitted.

“What if you became a member of the God squad?” Arch asked.

“Then I probably would not be allowed to tell you anyway,” she chuckled, making us all smile.

“Well, let’s hope Karkol and the Seers come up with something that will enable us to fight the Vultoqi and keep them contained,” Roxanne sighed.

“I hope so too,” Athena nodded.

“Any idea why Orc science became so ... skewed?” I asked. “I mean they have genetic adaptation, anti-gravity and partial quantum manipulation; but seem to have missed some obvious tricks like missiles, aircraft ... even tanks.”

“Control, John,” Athena replied after a moment’s thought. “Science was strictly monitored by the ThaumoYr’ch and controlled by the TechnoYr’ch after Chakra’s death. Everything was aimed at stability and maintaining the worship of Beog. That and ensuring they did not over use resources.”

“Yes, I noticed that they recycled pretty much everything,” I nodded.

“True, disgusting to a certain extent that it was. But, that was essentially to maintain a stable population all worshipping Beog on the conquered worlds. Plus, they didn’t really need advanced technology, what with having massed clone armies, particularly as their opponents weren’t that advanced after they took out the magic users, as well as the Powers.”

“Could they have reached our worlds?” Sinnead asked.

“With what I know now, no. But the Vultoqi certainly would have,” Athena replied, grim faced.

“So this essentially was a plan by the Powers to spring the Vultoqi trap when we were presumably in a position to do something about it?”

“I think so, yes.”

“May God preserve us,” Arch grimaced.

“Mortal problems require mortal solutions and the Powers won’t intervene until the moment mortal solutions can’t work.”

“Aye, we kind of gathered that during the Mage wars,” Roxanne nodded.

The following day, my team, accompanied by Abi and Brnnt, were out examining a site which the Seers had identified from the records they were currently translating. From the outside it simply looked like an ordinary estate, if somewhat in disrepair from the Vultoqi incursion.

“No life signs,” Róisín confirmed for us.

“No Klarven either,” Abi agreed. “Though they mostly ravaged the cities and the main bases.”

“Ilzik, could your people maintain a watch for us?” I requested.

“On it,” he replied, before cloaking and moving his team to where they could spot anyone approaching.

“Nell, could your people scout out the outer buildings in case we’ve missed something?”

“Of course, friend John.”

“OK, Abi, do your thing,” I nodded when I received mental confirmation that all was in place.

“Nothing,” Abi finally replied with a frown. “Just an ordinary estate, no signs of any ancient buildings at all.”

“Odd, the writings stated that this was the site where Chakra did some of his research and that some of the lab remained, albeit hidden from view,” Brnnt frowned.

“We know he was a genius, could he have stumbled on something like Heinrich wards?” I asked.

“It’s possible, John, he worked far more with quantum than any of the Yr’ch did,” Abi nodded unhappily as a Heinrich ward could not be detected at all by the Seers.

“Yes, their true high science is very high indeed.”

“What is a ... Heinrich ward?” Brnnt asked.

“A form of shield invented by a Mage called Heinrich to conceal an entrance or opening to a hidden passage or building,” I replied as Abi noted who heard and prepared for some future mental editing.

“So it cannot be detected mentally?”

“Or physically via Sonics and X-Rays as well as a few other scientific methods, as far as we know. We had the Loegrians have a good go at a few examples at one stage.”

“So how do you find them?”

“Old fashioned measurements, comparing the size of one room to another physically.”

“Big estate,” he murmured.

“Yes, and it may not even be here, but somewhere in the grounds.”

“Hmm. I will ask Ar-Thenna if she can remove any and all illusion from this site,” he replied, before formulating a request to Athena, carefully delineating the boundaries of the search.

There was a shimmering over the site and something was definitely different as I could tell from the mental emotions I was picking up from the Drow.

‘Ilzik?‘ I sent.

‘Part of one of the outbuildings has ... expanded slightly. Looks old, very old, ‘ he replied.

“Let’s go,” I ordered as we headed towards the mental co-ordinates Ilzik had sent.

Unlike the modern buildings on Draenoric that used a form of highly insulated and decorative panels to form the outer walls, the old revealed structure was formed of cut wooden blocks, so well-formed that there was no gap at all between the joints. There was also no sign of any entrance, nor could we detect one.