* * * PARTHIA – ROY ANDERSON * * *

Roy and Gunny were leaning on the ship’s rail by the bow as they slid down the river. He looked down in surprise as what looked like a gunport opened.

“Hey! Don’t look directly at the beam you idiot. I thought you came from Earth,” said the cargo master from behind. Roy looked back at the small man.

“The bandits have a ballista in those bushes, the ones with the wilted pink flowers.”

Roy looked back just in time to see a hole punched through the indicated bush by what looked like a powerful laser beam. Beside him Gunny cursed, and cursed again as the ship’s marines appeared to line the rail carrying HK G3s. On the bank a band of ragged individuals could be seen running. That didn’t stop the crew from trying to kill them.

* * *

As they left the delta and headed out into the ocean, Gunny said, “Hey Roy, any idea why they are using the older version assault rifles, they seem to have access to newer gear.”

Both men jumped and whirled around when a girl’s voice replied in a broad New Orleans accent, “The marines say the new gun’s pussy rounds can’t put down the higher level threats.”

Mrald grinned at them showing her multitude of needle sharp teeth. “I speak good, no?”

“Um, yes. So where did you learn English?” asked Roy.

“In Louisiana,” Mrald leaned her head to one side enquiringly. “Frog gave me a skill crystal.”

“You mean you’re from the US,” asked Gunny. “How did you get here and why are you with that cat man?”

“Na, ’m from Conimbriga on Tarifax. They chucked us into Frog’s dungeon, and he sent us to Earth rather than do the nobs the favour of killing us.”

“Kill you? But you’re a kid,” exclaimed Roy.

“’Bout eleven in human reckoning. Was an orphan. Not worth anything so expendable. Papa ’dopted me.”

“Anyone else speak English?” asked Gunny.

“Yeah. All the techies at least,” replied the goblin girl with a grin.

The leopard beastfolk kid wandered over. “Hey Mrald, stop bothering them,” he said in the local tradetalk.

“I’m not bothering them Han. I’m not, am I?” she asked Roy and Gunny, still in English.

Roy and Gunny shared a look and shook their heads. Then Roy looked at the leopard boy suspiciously. “You understand English, don’t you?”

Han grinned showing his fangs. “Yes I do, can’t have big sis speaking a language I can’t,” Han replied, his English had a Hawaiian accent. “Oh and you got ripped off Gunny, the enchantment on that knife is very shoddy.”

Gunny fingered his knife, “And I suppose you can do better?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure, but papa can without trying,” stated Han before grabbing Mrald’s hand and dragging her off.

* * *

Varina’s Beach reminded Roy of one of those Hollywood gold rush towns. Lots of new construction, mostly featuring wood from the surrounding forests. The place was full of low level adventurers due to the local dungeon.

From what he overheard the dungeon was about one year old, but it had changed a month or so ago, and now it was giving the delvers lots of surprises. The new monsters were strange and unique, such as the turtle men who had the strange habit of wearing a cloth band type mask. Additionally the treasures were much improved. Explaining the rush.

He followed the other soldiers, specialists and agents into the old tavern. The taproom was a bit smoky and smelled faintly of fish. Roy suspected that this had been the fishermen’s tavern before the village had grown into a small town.

They pushed a couple of tables together and dragged over another bench. They ordered several flagons of ale for their table and served themselves.

Captain Shultz looked around the table. “I’m fairly certain we won’t be overheard here. So is there anything any one wants to say or report?”

“Several of the crew speak English, as does that cat guy and his kids,” offered Gunny.

Roy nodded and added. “The goblin girl, Mrald, mentioned she came originally from Tarifax – another world apparently. Oh, and she got here via Louisiana with the help of someone or something named Frog.”

“Captain, did you note how the ship’s marines all produced weapons from storage devices. And the laser beam...” offered Gunny.

After a short silence, the padre rather hesitantly said, “Tomcat is a senior priest. He represents Ocidon’s consort. I overheard him referred to as a Bishop. He presided at a well attended ceremony in the consort’s shrine in the temple of Ocidon.”

Cass nodded, “Also, the local temple of Ocidon is being renovated and expanded. I understand Ocidon and his consort are gaining adherents hand over fist ever since his followers destroyed the temple and shrines of Vortexius Blackbeard. The local merchants and seafarers appear to be all in favour, they claim Vortexius is the god of cutthroats, pirates, bandits and thieves.”

“Humph, superstitious claptrap,” snorted Markowitz. “However, it must be said that someone understands propaganda, and we must tread warily. This is a rich world with lots of potential, we don’t want to lose access.”

“Many rulers of countries in Earth’s history have been considered gods. So there is nothing unusual here. As much as it irks us, Ms Silvestre seems to control access to Parthia and Fragatta, so like Mr Markowitz says, we have to tread warily,” said Shultz.

“Be careful with your assumptions,” warned the padre. “Don’t forget I have been unable to enter some of the temples and shrines. This suggests the local gods are real enough and far more active than our Lord.”

Captain Shultz nodded thoughtfully. “Good point padre. But I can’t accept that a girl that was born and bred in the US, and lives with her mother can be a goddess. I suspect that she is favoured by this Ocidon, which is troubling enough.”

* * * PARTHIA – MARY * * *

Mary sat in the comfortable armchair in the lounge of the house she had gifted her mother with. She grinned as listened to the phone she was holding. With a wide grin she set it to speakerphone mode and winked at her mother and Flip. She listened to the assorted clicks and chuckled.

« Hey Mycroft, can you kick in their best encoding and add a little bit extra so this call is private? »

« Yes Mother. » Agreed Mycroft somehow managing to sound hard done by.

“Hello, is this Ms Silvestre?” asked a familiar voice.

“Yes Mr President. What can I do for you this fine morning?”

“My people tell me you are not being particularly attentive to our attempts to communicate.”

“Why Mr President, I am more than willin’ to talk. But like you I seem to find the deep state full of enemies. I have reams of data regarding their intrigues against you for instance. Me I’m having it easy compared with yourself. Use the Navy or the Coast Guard to communicate with me. After that bullet in the shoulder I want nothing to do with Homeland, and the various alphabet agencies haven’t endeared themselves to me either.

“Tell you what, I’ll put everything I have on the peeps plottin’ ’gainst you on your private server. Um, maybe not as that would be illegal, where do you want the data?”

A little later Mary ended the call with a broad grin, which turned into peals of laughter at the look on the faces of her mother and brother.

« Mycroft... »

« Already done Mother. You do know what you’ve done. The data is ironclad... »

« Yes. A confusion to my enemies. Get ready to dump the rest of the dirt into the appropriate so called news agencies. I’ll leave it to your and Moriarty’s discretion as to when. »

Flip was fiddling with his smartphone, “Damn it sis. Now I absolutely have to check out twitter.”

Mary laughed again.

Flip glared at her then his eyes opened wide. “Oh my god, Mycroft dumped the files into the President and the AG’s computers. The SS are going to have kittens...”

« Yes Flip, what did you want, » asked Mary with a straight face, before laughing yet again.

* * * EARTH & PARTHIA – MEADOWS * * *

Captain Meadows put down the phone’s handset, carefully, as if it was made of gelignite. He looked up at lieutenant commander Partlow. “Anna, that was the President. Apparently the navy is in charge of liaising with the Tyrant of the Isles. He said she seemed like a sensible person. Very helpful...”

Anna met his gaze, “Mary... Helpful?”

“Yes... And we have the go ahead. We are cleared to move to Parthia ASAP.” Meadows sounded stunned.

* * *

With authority from on high Meadows’ expanded detail moved through several portals and made their way to Maalea Two. They were met and welcomed by the dungeon’s Voice.

Alessandrina was just as Meadows remembered her, though this time she was flanked by two huge savannah cats, and by several other priests and guards. She led them to a large mansion or small palace set in the middle of a mid sized garden. The garden was surrounded by a one-meter high wall.

“It’s all yours. Several of the other mansions along here will be handed over to other nations for their use. You can upgrade the wall and install defences – within reason naturally.”

Meadows and several of his detail watched as Drina headed off. Then they turned and went to explore their new home – embassy.

* * *

The following day Meadows returned from a meeting with Mary. He cornered Anna, “I spoke to Mary; she seemed amused about something. When I asked about the President, she laughed, and told me she gave him a bomb for use against the alphabet agencies and some of his opponents in Congress.”

Anna sighed, “She is finally cutting loose, isn’t she.”

“I’m afraid so,” agreed Meadows.

Anna smiled sympathetically. “Well, I have another potential headache for you. There is a Mr Vincent Jacobson waiting to see you. He’s a Canadian but as we are the first diplomatic presence on Parthia he’s come to us.”

Meadows gestured helplessly and headed for the office he had claimed as his. “Well send him along Anna, do you think you should be present?”

“I see no reason for that. I’ll send him along.”

* * *

Meadows had barely settled himself behind his desk when there was a knock on the door, he looked up as a tubby middle-aged man was shown in.

“Good afternoon Mr Jacobson. I’m captain Meadows. What can we do for you?”

“Thank you for seeing me captain, especially as I am a Canadian. I wonder if you could help me. While I am extremely grateful to the Mother of Monsters for rescuing me and the twins, I wonder if I am in trouble on Earth.”

“Rescue?”

“Yes. We were on holiday in Kenya when we were captured by Somali pirates, or terrorists as the case might be. There seems to be very little difference. I expected we would be held for years, but I hadn’t counted on my twins having apparently converted to the worship of The Mother of Monsters. She slaughtered those pirates and fetched us away. I, I also wonder what happened to the other hostages the pirates were holding.”

Meadows felt as his world was shifting. He had heard of the rescue and slaughter from the news. The mercenaries who had been hired to fetch away the hostages had not been shy in telling their story to all and sundry. So it wasn’t the Russians.

“Your children, they are David and Rebecca, correct?”

“David and Becky. Yes.”

Meadows looked at the man for a moment before reassuring him. “Well, the other hostages were collected by some mercenaries hired for the occasion and taken to safety. They are all safe, and they asked about you. Where are you staying sir?”

“We have been given a small house in Silverton. The twins are having a great time in the kids dungeon, and swimming in the lagoon. Can you let my government know we are safe?”

“Certainly. But haven’t you got phones, then you could contact your family and friends yourself.” Asked Meadows.

“Phones? But we are on another world,” objected Vincent.

“Mary, Ms Silvestre has that sorted. Any mobile will work to speak from Maleea Two. Sat phones work anywhere on the planet.”