Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Two (section)

===Mail Call===

Forgefather Vulkan leaned back against the frame of his balcony door and smiled.  The slate in his hands was downloading a status message from Venus for their trip.  He had just been wondering whether she had arrived safely.  The timing was perfect.

“News?” Leman Russ asked.  He and his wife Gairwyn had come over for an evening supper when the message had arrived.  Fortunately for them both, Lord Dorn had been there for an unrelated strategy meeting at the same time.  All three Primarchs could hear the news.

“Yes,” Vulkan said, thumbing the biometric swipe on the slate.  A decrypted message appeared.  “Excellent.  You want to hear?”

“Sure,” Russ said, walking back into the study.  Dorn was just standing up to go when he returned.  “Hey.  Letter from the girls,” he said.

His white-haired brother turned back.  “Oh?  What do they say?”

“Let’s find out,” Vulkan said.  He sat down behind his desk in the large study and started reading.  “’Dad, we’re safe on Nocturne.’ Safe is in quotation marks.  Wiseass,” he muttered.  Russ chuckled.

“‘The trip was went as well as hoped.  You picked a good ship; Roemer’s a decent officer.  One thing, though: he thought Alex and Jake were Royal family members, even though the manifest said otherwise.  Any ideas?’”  Vulkan slowly shook his head.  “Nope.  Never even met the man.”

“‘The trip was uneventful.  Freya picked the officers clean at the dartboard,’” Vulkan continued.

“Hah!  That’s my girl,” Russ laughed.

“‘Fair warning: some really dumb guy in the gym made a holorecording of Freya and Remilia sparring.  Freya casually mentioned throwing him out of an airlock and he deleted the recording, but it might pop up again.  Thought you might need to know,’” Vulkan read.

“If it does, somebody’s going to ‘volunteer’ themselves to be turned into a combat servitor,” Dorn said darkly.

“‘In that vein, remember Isaac?  He was my old kickboxing instructor.  He’s on the ship, and we sparred today.  Seven years of losses avenged.  Payback’s a bitch,’ and then a whole lot of angry smile emoticons,” Vulkan said.  “Heh.  They’re like an old married couple, I swear,” he laughed.
“When was this sent?” Russ asked.

“A few hours back…which seems oddly fast, but it’s a tiny file,” Vulkan said.  “Anyway…‘Upon arrival, Uncle Ir’Sem’ – my Fourth Company Captain, a very good friend of Venus’ ” he explained – “‘formally greeted me and we exchanged the Icon, then took us on a quick tour of the place.’” Vulkan paused.  “…This next part’s for my eyes, brothers.  I’ll skip ahead,” he said.  Dorn and Russ nodded solemnly.  They understood.  “‘By the time we were finally ready to go, it was pouring acid rain down in Hesiod.  We had to land in the Castle itself, which worked out fine anyway.  Alex and Jake both nearly collapsed from heatstroke, though, Dad, I’m worried.’  That does sound bad…good thing they packed thermo kit,” Vulkan said.

“‘Remilia and Freya are from Inwit and Fenris, so they weren’t much better off.  Iceworlders, what are you going to do?  Fortunately, they’re built for it, and they seem to be handling it well.’”

“Damn right,” Dorn said.

“‘The speech was public, unfortunately.  I thought it went well, though.  I included a recording.  On that note, Dad, holy shit my formal uniform is awesome.  Did you design this?  Next time I complain about the responsibilities of the family, remind me that my formal uniform includes a Conflagration Gun and a Power Rapier.  Plus a crown I could hock to buy my own ship if I wanted,’ and if you ever do, young lady, you’re joining a Penal Legion,” Vulkan added under his breath.  Russ laughed again.

“‘On that note, ''Dad'',’…uh oh, the Dad is in italics,” Vulkan said.  “‘Funny how I had to learn from Fletsun’ – my Master of Sanctity – ‘about our shared gene-core issue.  Why did you never see fit to tell me about it?’”

Vulkan coughed.  Russ and Dorn both looked at him askance.  “…Forget she said that.  I suspect she may have misinterpreted something that happened while she was there,” he lied.  “Skipping ahead a bit…ah.  ‘Today was Jake’s birthday, and it was a lot of fun.  Thank goodness the drinking age here is seventeen...’ oh damn it,” he muttered.

“Drinking ages.  How ‘civilized,’” Russ said sarcastically.

“Bite me.”  Vulkan read more of the letter.  “‘I made him a watch in the Hall of Deathfire, which despite the name, was perfectly safe.  I was vaguely disappointed.’  Har har har,” Vulkan said drily.  “If you had been there three thousand six hundred years back, honey, you would have had to kill a drake on the way to the door.  ‘Freya got him a leather poker set with clay chips, which he immediately put to use by fleecing the hell out of us.’”
“A man after my own heart,” Russ said with a grin.

“‘Remilia got him a gift card to Keller’s Electronics, which is perfect because he was thinking about making a new gaming rig before we go off to school.  Alex got him some…thing.’  She put the ellipsis there, not me,” Vulkan said.  “‘Seriously, I can’t get either of them to tell me what it was.  We played poker until midnight and he kicked the crap out of us.  Remind me to take him with me to Carshim or some other casino planet some time.  And you should see the work he’s putting in at the gym.  I’m so proud.’”

“I think I like this kid,” Dorn said drily.

“‘Before I forget, though, there’s one thing here that sort of bothers me.  Well, two.  First is that people are assuming Jake and I are already married.  Apparently that contract with you he signed to work at Kouthry and live with me was interpreted inaccurately.  We’ve cleared it up, but how did people here even find out?’  Search me, I haven’t even told all of you,” Vulkan said, glancing up at his brothers.

Russ shrugged.  “Who would I tell?”

“I didn’t know,” Dorn said truthfully.

“Hmm.  Oh well.  ‘The other one is sort of more pressing.  Apparently there’s been a huge surge in smuggling, pickpocketing, and armed robbery around here, and the blame falls squarely on foreign tourists and some gang calling themselves The Underground.  Is this something I should address?’  Hell no, leave that to me.  You go have fun,” Vulkan said under his breath.  “‘Apropos of nothing, I’m so glad Remilia came.  She feels a little intrusive here, but she’s so much more relaxed now, and we both feel better than we have since before Morticia.  Speaking of, how is she?  Did she get off to Albiona okay?  How about Angela and that book she was writing?  Is Farah’s little vacation kicking off already?  How about Miranda’s and Hana’s vacations to Carshim and Aldric?’  I should mention that in my reply,” Vulkan muttered.

“Far as I know they all left all right.  What’s this about Angela writing something?” Russ asked.

“Angela wanted to write something as part of the Scholastica’s public school programs, I think, something about how new schools should deal with students’ psychic power manifesting while they’re still students,” Dorn said.  “Ask Sanguinius about it.”

“Hmm.”  Vulkan read down some more.  “‘The people here welcomed me with open arms, Dad.  It’s so nice.  You should return here more often, people are tripping over themselves for a chance to meet the Royal family.  We went to lunch in a nice cafeteria yesterday and people were staring at us the whole time, which doesn’t seem so odd until you remember that the Salamanders live here amongst them all the time.  Freya, on the other hand, was nearly pickpocketed at a restaurant this evening.’”

“What?” Russ growled.

“‘At least, she thinks it was a deliberate bump.  Who knows?  They didn’t take anything.  On a nicer topic, though, two more days in Hesiod, then four in each city until we reach Skarokk.  Six days there, then back on the Tide and off to Fenris.  I know we were going to take a different ship, but apparently the greenskin vermin are pressing the Navy assets along the Void Walks trade lane pretty damned hard, so we’re taking the Tide instead.’”  Vulkan tapped his chin.  “Hmph.  Things are getting worse out there.”

“Perhaps I will take the Phalanx out to those lanes and oversee the efforts of the Navy in person.”  Dorn leaned back in his seat.  “I will await Remilia’s return, though.”

“Good.”  Vulkan read to the end of the message and smiled to himself.  “She included a picture of herself in her formal uniform.  Want to see?”

“Why not,” Russ said.  “Put it up on the screen.”  Vulkan tapped a few runes and the image appeared on a flatscreen on the wall behind him.

She was standing in the hall outside her room, crown tucked under one arm, and her free hand resting on the hilt of the Conflagrator.  Russ looked at the picture.  “She looks good.  It suits her.”

“It certainly does,” Vulkan said with quiet pride.  Her lips were quirked up in a smile, clearly she had been talking to whomever was behind the camera.  He tabbed to the next picture, also of her, this time from the square where she had given the speech.  She was in her crown and speaking, clearly caught up in the moment.  “And she says she can’t speak in public.”

“She’s just modest.”  Russ waved his hand.

“Yeah.  She included a transcript of the speech in here…and messages for Farah and Hana.  And it looks like Jake bundled a message for his parents…and an encrypted file from Lord Regent No’dan for me.  Just routine.”

“Well, it was nice to hear from her,” Russ said, rising to his feet.  Dorn stayed put.

“Anything from Remilia?”

“Not in here.  Maybe you should check your messages when you get home,” Vulkan said, standing as well.

“I shall.”  Dorn heaved himself up.  “Well.  I’ll deliver the files and head for home.  Thank you for your hospitality and the update, Brother.”

“Certainly.  See you at the Palace,” Vulkan said, opening his own transcriptor to compose his reply.

George Seager set his tablet down with a proud smile.  “I’m glad he’s having fun.”

“Yeah.  I wish I could visit Nocturne,” Sandra said, rereading the message.  “Did you see these pictures of Venus he attached?”

“Yes I did,” George said.  He glanced over the pictures of Venus in her uniform and giving the speech.  “Jacob’s got a good eye,” he quipped.

“Any idea when we’ll hear from him again?” Sandra asked.

George shrugged.  “Hard to say, really.  Warp communication is unpredictable.  Probably in another few weeks.”

Sandra looked at his message on the screen.  “Can we send a reply?  I’ve never had to use Astropathy before.”

“We can, but it would be very expensive.  Unless we want to bundle a message with Lord Vulkan’s reply.”  George hesitated.  “We could ask him.”


Vulkan finished his reply and transcripted it.  After attaching a few last words on his various niece’s activities, he encrypted the message and prepared to send it.  His vox buzzed just as he was about to send the message.  The caller ID said that it was Jake’s home line.  Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, he tapped the speakerphone button.  “Hello?”

“Hello, Lord Vulkan, this is George Seager.  Thanks for forwarding that message from Jake,” a somewhat nervous voice on the other side said.

“Ah, yes, glad you got it.  Did you want to reply?  I was about to bundle a message of my own,” Vulkan said.

“I would be very appreciative, sir, yes.  Should I just send it over?”

“Please do.  How is he doing?” Vulkan asked.

“He’s happy as a clam, from what he’s said.  Venus looks amazing in those pictures,” George said.  Vulkan’s slate beeped as George’s message appeared.  “May I ask what exactly she is to Nocturne?  I’m not completely clear.  She never made mention of it around us.”

“She is the Crown Princess.”  The line went silent as George digested that.

“I see.  So…what exactly does that make Jake?” George hesitantly asked.

“Nothing.  She chooses whether to bestow a title upon him.  Which she won’t until after college.”  Vulkan smiled.  “Why?”

“Because, sir, off the top of my head, I can’t recall Venus even tangentially discussing the subject when she was here,” George said.

“Mmm.”  The message finished its load and compressed.  “All right, I have your message, Sieur Seager.  Talk to you when the next message arrives.”

“Thank you very much, sir.  I’ll speak to you then.  Goodbye.”