Steel Wolf

More Than Irked

Tanaya leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table, interlacing her fingers; deep blue, soul-searching eyes locked on those of General Ivett Hollander, Grand General of the Regular Military.

"Let me get this perfectly straight in my mind," she said in a menacing voice. "The former capital city has been destroyed by the Hand of Five; the city of Goxell-Galbria lies in ruins, devastated by the Hand of Five and its minions; the Hand of Five left its mark on the Queen's fucking chamber door in one of the most well-guarded buildings on the planet; a shadow dragon has been reported several times within one hundred miles of this city; AND YOU DON'T KNOW A SLAG-DAMN THING?!?!"

Queen's Guard Regimental Commander Hodges and his Regimental Second, Commander Bethanne Prin, stiffened slightly in their seats. Both had known Tanaya for years, yet had never seen her totally lose her cool demeanor. They'd seen her slightly miffed, sure, but not like this.

"As you, yourself, just said, Highness," began General Hollander, "the Hand of Five left its mark on Queen Serenna's door. I'm curious to know what the Queen's Ga---"

"We're not talking about the Queen's Guard, General." Tanaya hammered a fist on the table. "They're in deep enough sheep shit. It's your turn. I want to know about your reconnaissance efforts; your watchtowers; your outposts. Someone, other than farmers and merchants, has to have seen something. Did no one, in four slag-damn years, report the fact that seven orcs were spotted roaming the country? That's almost a full squad. A possible recon patrol. For the Great Deity's sake, they were camped less than five miles from Goxell-Galbria. Nobody in this room is innocent, here. Even me. Every single one of us got lax in duty. How large is the military as a whole?"

"Two million, eight hundred sixteen thousand, and change, Highness," spoke Colonel Duntree. "That includes the Queen's and Royal Guards, adjusted for the Battle of Goxell-Galbria."

"Almost three million souls, dedicated to serving this country and her people, and not a peep about a. Giant. Fucking. Shadow. Dragon."

She wheeled around to spear Hodges with her stare.

"And a mark of Evil on the bedroom door of the most powerful person on the planet. Just...just THINK for a minute how easy it would have been to breach the queen's door and kill her."

"Yes, Your Highness," replied Jarek. "That thought is foremost in my mind every day since that incident."

"Here's what will happen within the next month," Tanaya said to the room. "Regimental Commander Hodges will trace the background of every single person under his command back to their first year of primary school. General Hollander will choose ten people out of every two hundred to form reconnaissance patrols from every installation and outpost. These patrols will cover every inch of ground to the halfway point of the next installation or outpost. Installations with more than twenty patrols will set sectors and extended-range patrols."

"Your Highness, with respect, you can't make those orders stick," General Hollander said. "The Ministry of the Protectorate has to review implementation and make feasibility studies. Only then can---"

"General Hollander, do you know who the Protectorate Ministry answers to? In case you have any doubts, General, I suggest you read Article 92 of the Constitution. However, we can play it your way. Six months from now we'll have an answer from the Ministry," replied Tanaya smoothly. "In the interim, I'm going to temporarily transfer one hundred and twenty of your troops into the Queen's Guard. As well, twenty of your intelligence division are hereby transferred to the Queen's Guards and will assist Commander Hodges in his background checks."

"You absolutely cannot do that!" shouted the woman general, standing so quickly her chair fell over. "You have no authority ov---"

"Uh, Ivett?" Colonel Duntree broke in. "The Queen Consort can make minor adjustments in military standing as long as those adjustments do not directly affect more than one thousand personnel for a period of not longer than one year. It's in the Constitution. Article 92."