Maybe it was showing off a bit to flaunt ice at the humans. But there were more ways to demonstrate power than accidentally dropping rocket boosters on a city from hundreds of kilochooms away. But I wanted them to know our technology wasn't limited to weapons and war machines, and that it wasn't just dressed up Ifrit or Midnighter tricks. We were doing with know-how what they could only do with magic. At least, unless I decided to share the compression chiller designs.

We returned to the bivouac, which my goblins had effectively turned into a small fort by the time negotiations concluded. I walked beside Dame Redfang.

"What did you tell your boss?"

The dragon knight looked down, head tilted at an angle for a moment before answering. "I told him of the rocketry. That you have bottled the air and climbed higher than wings can carry, and that even now, your goblins ride the newest star in the evening sky and look down upon us all."

It was true. Our first astronauts were currently enjoying life in a very basic space station. We had radio comms with them for about 20-30 minutes every hour and a half, either directly or relayed through our other satellite. The next launch would be sending up more modules for the station, more goblins, another satellite relay, and weapons. I didn't know how sentient the null devils were, but I imagined they wouldn't take kindly to us trying to wake up their food source that the space parasites had been keeping asleep for centuries.

"Did he believe you?"

Redfang snorted. "He would not question my sincerity any more than I would his. 'Tis my honor as a knight, after all. I told him that, had you wished it, you could have destroyed Habberport whenever you desired by turning your rocket into a 'ballistic missile'. But such things…" she shook her head at the end of her long, sinuous neck. "They must be witnessed to truly comprehend. You cannot ask even a dragon to imagine a tower of steel taking flight without magic. Nor imagine that you would have this power and not desire to use it against your enemies."

"He's welcome to come watch the next launch," I said. I looked over my shoulder at the walled city of black stone and peaked rooftops. "Any of them are. It's theirs for the asking. They're not my enemies." I turned back to the dragon. "Is it so strange that I don't want to cause needless death and destruction simply out of convenience? I'm not a warlord or a general. I'm not a conqueror. I'm an explorer and a scientist. I didn't come here to fight, though Lanclova seems intent on forcing just that. I want my legacy to be one of creation, not destruction."

Here men from Earth set foot on the moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.

I looked up at the pale, pink orb of Raphina. What would my plaque say when placed upon those coral sands? What words would I impart for those who came after?

Even if the dragon knight, Gyrfax, didn't believe right away, could his words sway the prince? Could they give enough pause at least to finish my work?

A curious shrill tone cut through the air. At first I mistook it for one of our jets having engine trouble. But moments later, a bright flash erupted in Habberport. I stared as a cloud of smoke and flame broiled up from within the city.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

The goblins around me were rushing to the barricade closest to the city to watch. In the air, a black streak split the sky, arcing down toward the city. It met a bright blue barrier and flashed into a roiling cloud of black flame. Moments later, the thunderclap of the shockwave met us, and I pressed my hands to my ears to dull the painful noise.

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When it cleared, I whistled for attention. "To the choppers!" I shouted. "Everything we've got, in the air now!"

Goblins squawked and started to run every which way. Armstrong rallied his secretive service.

"King Apollo!" yelled Redfang, "tell me true, is this your doing?"

"Of course not!" I shouted over the clamor of goblins finding their stations. "I wouldn't sabotage my own peace talks. Besides, it's coming from the sea, not the interior!"

The dragon knight cast her gaze between the smoke rising from the city and Gemini-II. She looked at me with desperation. "I believe you. I hold my oath of bondage. But… there are innocents in the city," she said. "I have a duty that pulls me elsewise to them."

"Go!" I said, waving her away. "Get your knights in the air and figure out what's going on. We're right behind you."

With a subtle nod of thanks, she spread her wings and surged into the air—her wing all but healed as she rushed toward the walls to meet the other winged knights beginning to circle above the city.

I growled to myself as we rushed toward Gemini-II. All my efforts at deescalating the situation with the humans seemed to be going up in smoke. Ahead, another lance of magic pierced through a barrier and, though diminished, struck within the city. I wasn't sure who would be stupid enough to attack Habberport directly, but there was no way I'd be taking the heat for this. And there was no way I'd sit by and let it happen, either. Not when I had the means to put a stop to it.

We climbed the ramp to the airship, whose turbines were already warming up. The gas burners for the flight envelopes had never gone dark, so as soon as our pilot put the turbines above idle, we started to lift off and join with the choppers and fixed wing craft already in the air.

I made my way to the control center and took one of the radio sets.

"This is Apollo aboard Gemini-II, what's the situation?"

Chuck's voice came over the circuit. "Boss! Good to hear from you. We're holding south of the city, looks like more of those big boats we saw last time, only these ones look different."

"Different how?"

"They're all black and spindly."

The pilot started to angle us toward the city, where the mages must have rallied because they were casting more than just defensive magic, now. I smacked him on the back of the noggin. "Not through all that artillery! We'll be right in the crossfire. Take us around."

The pilot squawked in annoyance but angled the controls so that the heavy airship banked to the right. We flew over the javeline encampment and skimmed the outer wall of the city until we hit the coast. Free of the rising smoke and dust from the wizard battle, I could see the attackers for myself. The fleet of black, spindly ships seemed to stretch on without end, dozens upon dozens of vessels. Maybe hundreds. Flat, narrow barges with peaked roofs led the charge, with larger ships behind them. Further back still were the ships casting the artillery spells that arced up and crashed back down against the defensive barrier of Habberport.

I pulled my spyglass from my pack and angled it down at one of the ships. The black sails had the same sigil as the envoys who had approached Canaveral not so long ago.

"Midnighters?! Are you kidding me?" I shouted to no one in particular. The damn Midnight Queendom was attacking Habberport. I snapped my fingers at one of the other radio teams, and the taskmaster saluted. "Get Cla'thn on the line," I snarled.

Your attempts to make peace are the hope of fruit from a barren tree.

Damn it. She knew. Even then she knew. Before we'd even met, she knew. I didn't know how far away the Midnighter homeland was, but this fleet didn't muster and cross the ocean in a day. This was an effort of months—possibly a year or more. And it was here for one purpose: to stop the humans of Habbe from interfering with my work. The same way they had stopped the eclipse lizards. They'd seen the landed dragon knights coming, had already known something would happen here that caused the humans to panic and import more muscle. And they'd decided the only way to put a stop to it was wipe Happerport from the map. How could a group that could read the future be so short-sighted?

"Boss, what are your orders?" asked Chuck. Ahead, the dragon knights had taken to the air, and I could see their white-hot flame breath jetting out amongst the flying cavalry of the Midnighters. The dragon knights might have had their own mounted mages, but the bugs had anti-air sorcery shooting up from the capital ships.

I pressed the handset to my mouth as I pushed the other hand against my temple. "I can't believe I'm saying this," I said. "But we have to defend Habberport."

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