John Ringo - East of the Sun, West of the Moon

“Yes, sir,” Destrang said, nodding.

“Celine’s involvement means there will be some of her monsters, but that was obvious. What they will be we have no idea. One of my analysts who specializes in trying to read her insane mind believes that they will be some sort of arthropod mod, similar to the scorpions that attacked Megan Travante. This is based upon her habit of… patterning in development. She tends to work in one particular kingdom or genus and then move to another. She initially centered around mammals, humans and elves along with a few others, there are some creatures we haven’t seen here in Norau that were used in the Sind wars, then moved on to upsizing reptiles and now seems to be working with arthropods, apparently having overcome the structural and metabolic issues with them.

“But he’s been wrong before. There will assuredly be orcs, but Reyes’ involvement means that they will probably be Mod Two form orcs, you know the difference?”

“No, sir,” Destrang admitted.

“Data on Reyes Cho, what we have, and on his Mod Two orcs will be forwarded to you and Herzer by courier. They’re referred to as Durgar for reasons that are too complicated to bother explaining at this time. Basically, they’re physically lighter than Ropasan orcs, darker of skin and use different weaponry. They have some elven mods, but they don’t have elven speed, strength or gaslan . They are a tad faster fighters and highly mobile on foot, not that that should be an issue on the ship. We have an unconfirmed report that some of them are being fitted with space armor. I’m working on getting more confirmation and, hopefully, a schematic of the armor, before you leave.

“On the subject of Reyes, he’s almost as much a mystery as everything else,” T admitted. “He was recommended by Paul Bowman to replace Tetzacola Duenas who was killed in the initial council fight. But he was not an associate of Paul’s prior to the Fall so someone else must have recommended him. He was one of the generals in the battles against Ishtar in Taurania, specializing in hit and run raids.

“Physically, he is described as good looking and is generally a blond. He has brutal tastes in women and maintains a harem, as Paul did, but no one comes out of it alive. His orcs are, if anything, more cruel than the Ropasan version. Letting any members of the team be captured, alive, would be unwise.”

“Yes, sir,” Destrang said, gulping.

“Now to what we don’t know and why we don’t know it,” T said. “Celine has taken the domain along the Nira River, and it is now referred to in internal documents as ‘Stygia’ which is simply an ancient word meaning—”

“Dark or darkness, sir,” Destrang interjected. “One of the rivers of Hades, if I recall correctly.”

“You do,” T said. “The river is flanked to the east and west by desert. To the north is the Toran Sea and the south is Frika, which is Chansa’s domain. Crossing deserts is no problem; there is an animal called the camel that can cross them quite easily. So, to find out what was happening in ‘Stygia’ I sent a team on camels to reconnoiter, infiltrate and, hopefully, develop intelligence on her monsters before they hit us. The team did not return. Comments?”

“Various reasons, sir,” Destrang said, shrugging. “They could have been intercepted on entry, rolled up inside, etcetera.”

“So I thought,” T admitted. “So I sent another team, telling them to be more careful on entry, the previous team had masqueraded as traders, be cautious in developing information and what have you. They never reported back. Comments?”

“Ouch?” Destrang said.

“Ouch, indeed,” T said, his jaw flexing. “So I sent a third team. This one wasn’t supposed to penetrate at all. It was just supposed to find out what was stopping the other teams. Since it wasn’t there for intelligence gathering, I could choose virtually anyone. So I assembled a team of rogues, mercenaries, cutthroats, most of them convicted criminals. They were given the promise of freedom, and gold, if they just made it back with any information. One did. One. And he frankly admitted that what he did when they got hit was run like hell. So, what does Celine produce?”

“Monsters,” Destrang answered, shaking his head. “Sir.”

“Monsters,” T replied. “What they got hit by was a pack of very large, poisonous snakes. The agent reported that they were larger than anaconda, partially armored, and their fangs appeared to be metal since they went right through the unit’s armor. They attacked from within the sands, apparently lying in ambush having determined the team’s direction of approach.

“Why the monsters do not wipe out the inhabitants is the question. And there are inhabitants. The Nira River is a trade route to inner Frika. Various materials flow down it, somehow, and it produces a surplus of food which is sent to the various New Destiny regions. It even trades with Ishtar’s Tauranian domains. Caravans cross the desert. The caravans are guarded by very large… probably not Changed. They look to be uplifted gorillas or baboons, heavily modified to survive desert conditions. Extremely vicious and incredibly strong. Anyone or anything approaching the caravan other than through permitted lanes is killed without warning.”

“Uplift is proscribed, sir,” Destrang noted.

“A proscription that the New Destiny Council has apparently overridden,” T replied with a shake of his head. “None of the caravan drivers interact with anyone outside the caravan. The only contact is the caravan master and his assistants who are acolytes of Celine. I tried to penetrate the delta at the head of the Nira River using delphino and selkie. They survived, but only because the delphinos turned tail when they saw that the region was populated by very large sharks and something that they said looked very much like an extinct pleyosaurus. I haven’t tried through Frika, yet. I’m almost afraid to think what she has there. That, of course, is where the Stanel reactor resides. I can imagine what she guards that with.”

“Yes, sir,” Destrang said, sighing.

“They also use ships through the delta,” T noted. “We managed to capture one of the sailors. However, when we started to interrogate him, a mark on his forehead flashed red and he died, rather horribly.”

“Shit,” Destrang said, shaking his head.

“So, tell Herzer that it’s unlikely that I’ll know what she is going to throw at him until, maybe, the last moment. I have observers around some of the reactors that they will use for extraction, but reporting back will be difficult. I will try to get the information, but I have a finite number of teams that are capable of what these men do and I won’t throw them away lightly.”

“Yes, sir,” Destrang said.

“Stygia is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle,” T mused. “I have no idea where Celine resides, where her labs are or, for that matter, how the place is organized. But I suspect the answer is: Horribly.”

“We’ll know when we win, sir,” Destrang said.

“Yes,” T said. “And I suspect we won’t want to. We’re done here, get back to Herzer. All of the information is his or Miss Travante’s ears only.”

“Yes, sir,” Destrang said, standing up.

“The colonel will show you out.”

“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said, then paused. “Sir, is he a real colonel?”

“He is now,” T replied. “I had him appointed when he got back from the recon mission in Stygia.”

“I’m glad there was a portal,” Megan said as they stepped through the mirrorlike doorway.