Magnus
“Anyone ever been to Bosworth?” The Prince asked the briefing room filled with the squadron.
No one said anything, and Magnus looked at Major Oldseal. He saw the eyes of a dozen other members of Green Squadron move to the Major at the front of the room conducting their normal morning brief.
“Doubtful anyone on the ship has been to this world, much less heard of it, or the dozens like it along the border,” the Major replied. His family had ruled the world of Steadfast for two thousand years during the time the Furse invaded the Dragon’s Head Nebula after the Fabian Withdrawal.
“Than what the fuck are we doing here?” Sub-Lt Emmett asked with a tone of dismissal.
“If you and these other dumb fucks would shut the fuck up, maybe you will find out,” the Major countered, and everyone quieted down.
Major Oldseal waited for the noise to finish completely before he continued. “Thank you,” he said sharply. “The world of Bosworth was hit by those corvettes we spotted.”
The chatter and noise picked up again, and Magnus heard the mutters. “Fucking Tutha scum,” he heard more than one person cry out.
“I said shut the fuck up,” the Major said forcefully and stepped forward from his position at the front of the room next to the display. “You think the Captain wanted to let them go? We have rules, and we have orders, and we have limits to what we can do, but that doesn’t mean we just stop doing what we can do.
The noise in the room died down once again. Magnus knew that the Major knew how warfare was fought on the Walhaz border with the Commonwealth of Drala better than most people, but even he respected Captain Hull and his leadership above even his own.
“Bosworth was hit, and for a world it’s size, was hit hard. Almost a hundred people were taken. Likely to be sold and used as thralls or worse. More than twice that many were killed, and the world is going to have a rough time getting enough harvest to replace their stockpiles of food which were stolen along with the common things like rare metals, gems, credits, and other items of wealth.”
Major Oldseal let out a loud sigh, but was silent for a moment. The Bosworth System was one of many minor sub systems along the Commonwealth of Drala border with Walhaz Space. A sub system sworn to the wealthy and powerful System-lord Harald Oldseal of the Steadfast System. Elder brother of Major Oldseal.
Magnus could see that the Major took the attack on his brother’s vassal world almost personally, but it wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last time.
“Captain Hull brought us here to render aid, gather intelligence, and plan his next moves,” the Major said as he clicked a button on his small remote that controlled the large display to bring up information on the minor system.
“How do we help the world when we can’t even engage the Tutha?” Magnus heard his own Lt Ronda Yoke ask.
“The Greymark will deploy several of its units to help repair vital systems, and aid in the harvest. Captain Hull has also decided to transfer several of our military equipment to the world to help them get through the coming winter. Generations, portable shelters, landcraft, aircraft, and the such.”
Magnus nodded to himself. Most ships wouldn’t even respond to such an attack once it was over. Captain Hull made it his mission to help those he could, when he could, and he earned the respect of the many nobles that served on his ship for his actions. He also knew the captain would likely be sharply criticized by the Admiral of the Task Force for not just using military equipment but granting them.
Bosworth, like many of the sub systems along the border often suffered minor raids from the Tutha of Walhaz and Eriu, had long before the Furse arrived in the Dragon’s Head Nebula centuries ago to raid and conquer. It had none of the wealth or strength of it’s overlord, who benefited from the vast trade which came through the Gap of Starholm and into the Void of Eriu.
“While the Greymark is in the Bosworth System, Green Squadron, along with the rest of the starfighter command will be on non stop patrol missions on the edge of the system,” Major Oldseal said.
“Great, long dull days of looking at nothing,” Lt Emmett said.
“Why doesn’t System-lord Oldseal send supplies and support to the system?” Prince Edwyn Gisking asked the Major.
The Steadfast System had grown powerful and wealthy from the trade through the Gap of Starholm, as well as trade entering into southern Walhaz Space. That trade had meant that the system and surrounding systems were constant targets from the Tutha, Furse and other raiders which preyed on the ships entering and leaving the Void of Eriu.
The Major looked at the young prince for a moment before he spoke. “Because the System-lords can’t send their fleets out every time a world is raided. That would leave the major systems open to attack themselves. Rest assured that System-lord Oldseal will send supplies when he is able, but word has likely just reached the lord, and it takes time to gather supplies. If the Steadfast system doesn’t face threats from elsewhere.”
The Steadfast System, like the other major systems along the border, were too strong a target for direct raids, but the worlds and systems that surrounded them, and sworn to those lords were easy prey. Raiders who could slip across the border undiscovered, and back before word of an attack reached the System-lords along the border. No system fleet could be everywhere at once, and few lords would risk their home fleets outside their own systems.
Magnus knew they could spare a few ships, but few lords would risk losing ships patrolling against raiders when the Commonwealth Forces could do so at no cost to them.
“Why don’t the System-lords garrison Uhtred’s Line?” the Prince asked another question.
“Because,” the Major said, and Magnus knew from his tone that such a subject had been talked about before. “It costs too much, and on top of that is seen as an aggressive act against our Fabian Tutha brothers and sisters in Walhaz.” Major Oldseal finished, with contempt in his voice.
Magnus heard the contempt in the other pilots from their seats in the briefing room. It was common to hear such contempt when the Tutha were brought up, even if some in that room's own ancestry were that of the Tutha who once ruled all of the Dragon’s Head Nebula before the Fabian Conquest.
The systems along the border of the Commonwealth and Walhaz were defended by the ancient defensive line of fortifications, space stations, outposts, and other defenses built by the long dead, but great king of the old kingdom of Warwick which the sector took its name from. King Uhtred Redmane had given his name to that defensive line which had long since fallen into ruins and abandoned.
The powerful king had spent decades building small outposts, bases, fortified positions, stations, weapons and more to defend his western borders against Tutha raiders in what was now Walhaz. Almost two thousand years later those same defenses still stood in one form or another, and acted as the border between the Tutha kingdoms of Walhaz and the Commonwealth of Drala.
Uhtred’s line was a testimony to the strength of that mighty king who had come closer than most to uniting the various Old Blood kingdoms into a single nation until the rise of the Commonwealth of Drala under Clan Gisking thousands of years later. It had taken the Furse to bring down the Old Blood Kingdoms but for the kingdom of Daxholm before that dream was realized.
Uhtred’s line might have acted as a border but the strength and protection it once provided had long disappeared. The Bosworth System might once have been protected from that defensive line, but like many other systems along the border often suffered attack from Tutha raiders who sought quick and easy targets, and now used that defensive line as staging points.
Even so Magnus knew that compared to most places in the Dragon’s Head Nebula, those attacks from the Tutha of Walhaz into the Warwick Sector were minor, small, and often not as common as they once had. Walhaz suffered their own attacks from Furse raiders who operated in the Void of Eriu, as well as attacks from the Tutha of Eriu across the western void and the Tutha of the United Worlds of Kaledon in the north of the Dragon’s Head Nebula.
The lords of Warwick would also launch their own raids and attacks in Walhaz to punish the Tutha or just to gain their own loot, riches, and thralls. It was a never ending cycle but it was in recent years also one of the more peaceful areas of the Commonwealth and worlds of the Dragon’s Head Nebula.
It was cold comfort to Magnus though. People were being killed, enslaved, or if they were lucky enough forced to flee while their livelihoods were stolen from them, and they returned to nothing but to look forward to a hard winter and hopefully enough supplies not to starve through it.
“Look,” Major Oldseal said. “I know we would all rather be somewhere else doing something we consider worthwhile. We have our orders, we have our mission, and we will discharge those orders to the best of our ability. Take solace in the fact that Bosworth, unlike a dozen worlds like it, at least is getting aid, and we are making some difference to some of the survivors.”
Magnus was glad that the ‘Greymark’ and other ships of Task Force Delta were there to protect the world, but he also didn’t see how it would help the other worlds of the sector from further raids. He wasn’t even sure how it would help Bosworth from further raids. It wouldn’t surprise him if they learned in a year that Bosworth was raided for the very equipment the Captain planned to hand over to the minor world.
“Any other questions?” Major Oldseal asked the room as his eyes scanned them all.
Magnus wasn’t surprised when no one spoke. There wasn’t much to ask about standard patrol missions, and they had bitched and complained enough for all of them to get their fill.
Bosworth might be safe with starships from the Task Force in orbit, but the Tutha would raid other worlds. It was also unlikely for the world to come under attack again so soon after an attack. If those three corvettes came from Bosworth, Magnus wasn’t sure what they hoped to learn other than giving aid.
Magnus would rather be out there searching for them instead of hiding and watching them flee. He wanted to kill them if that’s what it took, but the Tutha were clever at avoiding contact and King Oswald refused to allow Commonwealth Forces to cross the shared border of Uhtred’s Line.
“I want everyone on the flight deck in an hour for the first patrol. System information has been sent to your Datapads. Dismissed.”
