Tyranny of Steel

Honoria stood side by side with her crew of privateers and the Austrian Marines who had secured the beachhead, as well as the campsite. Behind the makeshift defenses, a group of rifles, with bayonets attached, pointed in the fog's direction, where they knew the enemy waited. 

The Byzantine Princess gazed over at the crew, who handled one of the few Schmidt guns they had brought with them on this journey and nodded her head silently. This was the signal to open fire. While she had initially wanted to conserve ammo as much as possible, Honoria did not expect for her crew to be attacked so soon after landing, and under such debilitating circumstances. 

This was quite the different scenario from when she and Berengar had landed in New Vienna. Upon seeing the commander of this operation give the signal, the man in charge of operating the Schmidt gun rotated its crank. After a few seconds, thunder echoed in the air repeatedly. With each rotation of the weapon's crank, lead flew out of its ten barrels, piercing through the thick fog. 

Though the operators of the mechanical firearm could not see what they were aiming at, the wailing and wheezing that resounded in the shadows was enough to signal that they were in fact hitting something living. As the marines gazed in awe at the massive volume of fire spit out of the crew manned weapon, Honoria caught their attention by lifting her revolver into the air and firing blindly into the fog. 

As she did this, the marines and privateers snapped back to reality and followed her actions. With each shot, a flash of light filled the foggy night sky, and thunder echoed. The sailors stationed on board the fleet's vessels could not see the situation on the beaches below, but they could hear the sounds of conflict.

If only this dense fog did not exist, they could provide support in the form of a coastal bombardment onto whatever hostile forces the landing party had encountered. Thus, they could only gaze on in silence as they waited for the battle so subside, and prayed that their comrades were alright. 

By Honoria's side Elfrun pulled out yet another one of her stick grenades and tossed it into the fog, though she did not know whether it would kill or maim a native warrior, she truly did not care, the young woman only cared about the explosive blast that would occur. 

Eventually, the wailing of the enemy and the fire of their arrows ceased. When Honoria noticed this, she quickly issued orders to the landing party.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!"

As these orders were reported throughout the Austrian soldiers' ranks, they quickly halted their defensive actions and gazed into the fog, shuddering at the thought that perhaps the enemy was lying in wait for them. 

Honoria holstered her revolver before unleashing her naval cutlass. After doing so, she motioned for a squad of her girls and two squads of marines to follow her into the thick fog to investigate the situation. 

<br/>There was no hesitation in the eyes of the Marines and Privateers alike as they followed their commander into the thick fog. If not for the light provided by the oil lanterns, these brave souls were liable to get lost. However, they could see a few feet in front of them, and when they finally approached the area where the enemy ranks had formed, they witnessed a ghastly scene. 

Dozens of native warriors lie dead on the ground with their torsos and skulls blown apart. Others were missing limbs or outright turned into mincemeat from the explosive blasts of the grenades. There was not a single living soul, nor was there an intact corpse. More often than not, one could see fractured rib cages protruding through the shredded chests. 

Despite such ungodly carnage, Honoria was unphased. Instead, she spit on the ground in disgust at the native warriors who had so boldly attacked her crew, and the men beneath her command. She silently followed the trail of bodies. Each corpse she passed by was in worse condition than the last. If there was one thing she was certain of, the power of these .45-70 Spitzer cartridges were truly overkill. 

Eventually the Byzantine Princess had seen enough of the blood that was shed under her orders and returned to the encampment, where she issued further orders to the men and women who lie in wait, prepared for an enemy attack at any moment.

"Tonight, we shall stay on guard. When the sun rises and the fog disperses, we will clean up the battlefield. From what I have seen, not a single body of the enemy remains intact. However, we are a far away from home, and surrounded by hostile natives with plenty of unknown variables. It is best to act with caution."

After saying this, the soldiers quickly switched their safeties on their rifles, and stayed at their positions behind the makeshift palisades. It would be a long and dreadful watch on this night. Luckily, they had enough adrenaline and endorphins pumping in their blood to keep their minds active.

After several hours, the sun rose in the air, and like Honoria had claimed, the fog dispersed to reveal the brutal carnage of the previous night's skirmish to all the soldiers who dwelled within the encampment. They could hardly believe how effective the Schmidt guns were. After all, these improved models had seldom seen service outside of New Vienna and Egypt. 

It was a massacre the likes that few men had ever witnessed, and unfortunately, these men and women had to clean it up. While Honoria issued orders to several units to begin "sanitation operations," she gathered the builders and issued orders to begin construction on the settlement. 

It was only the third day since they had landed, and she wanted to establish a permanent colony in as little time as possible. After all, there were matters at hand that needed her attention. While Honoria was working with the engineers to ensure that they could establish a port colony in the region. Elfrun approached her captain with a shocking discovery.

"Captain, look what I have found!" 

The young women held onto a few pieces of intricately carved gold scraps that the Austrian marines had scavenged from the native warriors they slew the night before. When Honoria gazed upon the gold, she suddenly expressed her thoughts.

"Are you telling me there is gold here?"

Elfrun nodded her head with a radiant smile as she tossed the golden scraps over to her captain so that she could more inspect them.

"It appears so. In my opinion, we should capture some of these natives and interrogate them about the origins of this jewelry!"

Honoria sighed when she heard this. Though it would be a good idea to find out just how much gold was in this foreign land, and where such deposits were located, the girl's suggestion was simply not feasible at the moment.

Not only were the natives inherently hostile to their arrival, but they didn't even speak the same language. It had taken months for Berengar to train a translator in New Vienna, and that was a woman who was gifted with languages. Honoria simply did not have such time to waste. 

Still, the investigation of the origins of this golden jewelry had now become a priority for the byzantine princess. If this land was actually rich with gold, then she was certain that her husband would reward her for stumbling upon such an important discovery. Thus, Honoria issued her orders to Elfrun.

"For now, we will secure this area and establish our defenses. After we have done this, I will dispatch scouts to search for the gold deposits. It is simply unfeasible at the moment to communicate effectively with these savages."

Elfrun pouted when she heard her ideas dismissed so quickly, but nonetheless she obeyed her orders and nodded her head in agreement. 

"As you command, Captain"

After saying this, the girl departed from the area, leaving Honoria by her lonesome to ponder upon this discovery in silence.

If there really was a massive gold deposit in this territory, then Austria could stimulate its stagnating economy with it. In truth, there simply was not enough gold in Europe to sustain the rapid growth of the Kingdom's economy.

When Honoria reflected on this, she immediately became suspicious of Berengar. For quite some time now, the woman had the feeling that her husband knew more than he was letting on, especially about the existence, size, and value of the lands within this New World. 

In fact, he had even explicitly dispatched her to this region, giving her the proper sailing routes to arrive. Was he aware that there were gold deposits here? If so, how could he possibly know such a thing? Before Berengar had insisted that Vinland was real, and manned an expedition to find it, Honoria had not heard a single person speak of it. 

Not only did the Austrian King prove that his madness was reality, but he seemed to know about important information regarding valuable resources and where to find him. Just what sorcery had he conjured to know about such things? Perhaps the Catholics were right, and he had struck a bargain with the devil to gain unlimited knowledge about the world and its many mysteries? 

After entertaining this thought for a mere second, Honoria giggled before a fierce look of determination formed in her eyes. She doubted such a scenario was reality, but she was now determined to learn the secrets that her husband was hiding from her.