The Beast

The Beast - Part 51

Gabriel hadn't been tired but leaning against the wall with dimmed lights and the sleeping body of Tac on his chest made him fall asleep anyways. He awoke when the weight rolled off him. As he was waking up he felt a scally finger run across his right eyelid.

Tac mumbled to herself: "How?"

Gabriel answered instinctively: "I wouldn't die even if I tried killing myself." Elle had never explicitly stated so but he knew it.

Tac's voice was still shaky but at least she was speaking to him: "Are you seriously expecting to score sympathy points?"

'Patience and communication' He reminded himself of his mothers advice before answering: "Do you remember why I came to you? I need someone like a princess to run this place for me."

She chuckled in distress as tears started forming in her eyes again: "Like a princess. I'm not a princess anymore. I'm not even a daughter anymore. Do you remember why?"

He could vividly recall decapitating her father: "I'm sorry. Yo-"

She interrupted him, pissed for an unknown reason for him: "Shut up. I'll take the co-queen job but please just shut up and leave me alone."

He left after suppressing the urge to mention manners. The hall made him realize just how much her room was different to the bright beautiful outside. However there will be other days to enjoy this beauty. For now he had power to consolidate.

Gabriel spent the rest of his day working through Gorf's to-do list. First was accepting oaths from the inner guard. He learned during those hours that he was not comfortable in the slightest with the endless bowing, kneeling and swearing. One funny thing was when they offered him their best warriors as bodyguards. As battle hardened as they looked they were only Skiks, the mere suggestion made him laugh out loud. He knew in hindsight that his reaction wasn't polite and their faces showed that. After giving it a second thought he accepted them under the condition they'd split up equally between Zuski and Tac.

Next up was cleaning the mess in the city. The city was laid out as a series of large compartments carved out of the meteor, which were joined together by tunnels and the supply corridor leading outside. The two issues on hand were the remaining militia forces hiding in the tunnels and the generall fear about what was to come now that power had fallen into new hands. The city's economy ran because it was the only viable resupplying station in the system. Not lifting the lockdown he had ordered when taking power created lingering unease. Gorf informed him very adamantly that word was spreading quickly to avoid the Stahlring. Being seen as unreliable could cause serious long term damage to their economy.

He deemed this problem would be a fine task to test how Zu and Tac would fare. While they worked out a way to save face, he hunted down the remains of the militia with the aid of the inner guard. His hunt wasn't particularly interesting, just exhausting and more of the same. It made him almost wish for a proper fight. One that wasn't decided before it began but he shut those thoughts down.

When he returned, Zu presented their results. Tac left when she heard that he was about to return. They decided that waving the docking fees of everybody that had been trapped plus paying per hour forcefully spent on the base. This would be bearable on the finances while also showing their commitment to improve. He found no flaw in their logic so the decision was put into effect. Only time would tell if they found a correct solution or not.

Two problems solved but much more to go. While he didn't consider himself a lazy person, the worst was dealt with and he was tired so he called it a day. On his way back he was intercepted by Zuski's energetic voice coming from behind him: "Where are you going?!"