Tor looked around and found the scared noble girl that still clutched her arm and looked to have taken a pretty hard beating already. He pointed at the girl.
“Her first. She was with the agent that did this. That doesn't mean guilt, but…” Tor just kept pointing as Kolb went for her. She tried to run first, which got her knocked down, shield or not, when the weapons instructor used an imploding weapon to hit the ground to her right, taking the stone out from under her. It wasn't anything he'd made at all. He didn't think, except, when he looked at it, he realized it was. It just wasn't a weapon. It was a stone concentrator, for turning rock and sand into a single piece. It was just a totally unexpected use for it.
Tor smiled as the girl fell to the ground and floated over, turning her shield off. It wasn't a good sign, running away, but when they questioned her, the light stayed steady the whole time, glowing away merrily.
“Then why,” Kolb asked her, suspicious still. “Did you try and run.”
“Because you're scary.” This came out in a tiny voice, slightly high pitched and very youthful. It wasn't a lie.
Kolb just chuckled.
It took a bit to secure the town, but they had about fifty people in the commons, waiting to be questioned when the military showed up. Half flew, half came in transports, but none of them were people Tor recognized. All tall, so special elites of some kind, most likely. He expected problems. The man in charge was older, over fifty, but thin and with a lot of black left to his hair still. He was also a bit of a jerk, yelling at Kolb's people to drop their weapons, which presented a problem. They really weren’t going to do that at all.
Tor waved the man over, hoping it wouldn't come to a fight. They really didn't have time for it.
“I'm Torrance Baker, Magics Counselor for the kingdom, yes it's new, and yes, you and your men are military. I'm working directly for Smythe of Westend however and will contact him right now, so we can settle this. But for the time being, could you deploy your men and work with the people who already have control of the situation please? You have my word that their solid.”
The man stopped talking for about fifteen seconds and just glared at Tor as if he was suggesting they eat a live cow together. Finally, going narrowed eyed he spoke, his voice suspicious.
“I haven't heard anything about any of that. I was just told to take control here.”
Tor shrugged, “things changed after you were in the air, because I was already here and had assumed control. Odds are you'll be in control anyway, but I have a communications device and it will take just a few minutes, trust me it will take a lot longer to try and fight these guys, since there already spread out all over town.”
The man glared and then just… Harrumphed.
“Good point. Alright.” He called out for his people to work with Kolb's, who were all in dark fighting leathers that matched, using their amulets just for that. It worked in this case for sure. As good as an official uniform.
The men deployed rapidly, as if they had a plan for something like this. If they did, Tor would gladly give over control. As long as the plan didn't involve smacking him in the back of the head for an hour or anything.
That was the nice way of explaining what had happened the last time he'd been taken in by anyone. That time was for “questioning” and was just the Capital city guard. Tor hated to think what the elite forces would do if they had a chance.
Connie answered almost immediately, sounding less tense this time, which Tor took to mean that everyone else was probably safe. She didn't mention that specifically, but, to his great relief, Tor could make out everyone talking in the background. Ali called out hello even, which was happy making.
“Good, it seems like that part is going well. Not to be annoying and have you playing servant, but is Smythe of Westend around? I have his…” Tor had no clue what to call the man in front of him and went quiet for a second. Well, the rule was to promote up, when in doubt, right?
He hoped so.
“I have his elite forces general here, his best man, but we need to get the orders straight. We've secured the town already, as best we can.”
Connie murmured “one moment” and there was a rustling from the device in front of him after less than a handful of seconds Smythe's voice came from in front of him, sounding very professional.
“General Teller is on hand?”
Tor nodded, then had to fight blushing, because that couldn't be heard. Duh.
“Yes Sir. He's right here.” That got the guy waved over, to stand next to him so that they could both speak. The guy was so much taller than Tor that the device had to be held up a little for comfort.
For some reason the man seemed really uneasy suddenly.
“Lord Smythe. This is Teller. As reported the situation is secure and we were about to consolidate that with military forces. The school personnel and students… Actually seem to have the situation in hand remarkably well, to tell the truth, right now the… Magics Minister is in charge of the situation. Is that correct?” Small beads of sweat broke out on his forehead then, tense and like he really didn't want to be talking over a magical device to his boss or something.
There was a pause, finally Smythe came back, sounding genial.
“Well, one minister can't over rule another directly. By preference I'd feel more comfortable if the military was in charge of security at the moment, but I can only suggest that…”
Tor shrugged, bobbing a little, his mind having started to integrate the Not-flyer controls to a much finer level of control.
“Alright, Um, Instructor Kolb, if you'd call your people in? I'd like to do the first round of questioning? We probably shouldn't bring anyone else in until we know for certain that there aren't more attacks coming.”
It didn't take long for Smythe to agree. A deep voice came over the device, sounding calm and commanding, but Tor thought he caught a fine tone of worry too. The King.
“Tor… Be thorough and keep us in the line of communications, will you please?”
“Got it… Rich. Oh, just in case it comes up…” Tor explained the shield building project, and the expected numbers. There was a gasp from the people on the other end of the device and one from Teller who openly stared at him.
The King chuckled though, “Very good. Outfit the forces there first please?”
“Of course.”
They'd have to, if nanos were involved. The elite forces had no more than class four shields and sometimes less than that. Class two was still the military standard, but some had managed to get their own. The first ones that stopped death dust were six's. Tor was wearing an eight himself. Most of the kids had sevens, the only difference was that his would resist being turned off remotely. That was why it had taken Rolph half a day to get it done even at close range.
The effort for that must have been nearly superhuman. Rolph wasn't even a builder. Frankly, if he could do that though, the man could build too. At least copy. Tor decided to bring it up with him if he got a chance. It was a handy skill to have if nothing else.
When they got off the line Teller sighed.
“I'm… not a General you know. Just a Major. I just happened to be on duty when the call came in.” He sounded guilty.
Tor smiled as he walked over to where the people to be questioned stood waiting, “Well… I don't know if the promotion will stick or not, but until told otherwise, you're a General. I don't want the Queen to think the military isn't taking this seriously. Notice, Smythe backed it with the royal family in the room. What that means for your weekly pay remains to be seen. Can't hurt though.”
Kolb had gone to get his forces back which took runners, or in this case, two of the military flyers along with Judith, who was sent to actually get the people and pass the code phrase along. It was a slower way of doing things than they should be using, but no one had made them a communications device yet. Since he was the only one that knew how so far, that oversight was all on him. No one mentioned it, thankfully.