Imperium

Chapter 25: The Head that Wears the Crown

He may have been skeptical at first, but Regan is already starting to feel more comfortable in Fulminare. He's actually able to work with another academic, and on a big project like this no less. The Beacon plan may be a shot in the dark, but he can't deny the authenticity of the schematics and the construction process.

He was expecting Proctor Quintus to more or less treat him like an intern, but he's actually listening to his input and trusting his judgment. Regan has made a few observations about various ways to improve the transmitter, and the old man seemed almost impressed.

Regan fastens some wires into place, meticulously poking into the metal panel on the side of the relay dish. This thing is going to take a considerable amount of power, and he doubts these people have access to an energy source strong enough to light the Beacon.

He still finds it strange how open these people, the Old-World Coalition have turned out to be. With how paranoid they came off as with the initial meeting of Lucian and Giovanni, he was expecting more strict entrance procedures, but maybe the fact that they come from another continent just like Elder Haegen makes them somehow more trustworthy.

Whatever the case may be, he's certainly not one to complain.

They've been hard at work on finishing the Beacon all day, and at the rate they're at, he estimates it'll be done by some point within the next two days.

"Hey, Reuben. Mind passing me the biometric scanner?" Quintus holds out his hand without taking his eyes off his end of the dish.

Regan sighs and hands it over to him. He gave up on trying to correct him on his name after he called him 'Ron'. At this point, he accepts this as a part of the job.

He wonders how Reela is doing right now. She went to spend some more time with Jewel, so he knows she's fine, but he wonders what exactly they're off doing in the lab. It's starting to get a little late, so hopefully this stage of the construction won't take too much longer. He knows that while Reela told him she will be fine to sleep alone tonight, he still wants to be there to tuck her in.

He snaps the front panel back into place, covering up the control console.

"Any insight on what we're going to do about the power? This puppy is going to require a lot of juice, so what's the plan to get the Beacon running?" Regan asks, peeking his head around the large dish to look over at Quintus.

The proctor sighs and nods. "The city of Riven is more or less the 'outlaw' city of Eutria. Wrightendell is up there as well, but Riven is where we can find one of the Imperium's power plants. So, that's where we'll be sending the spies once we're ready. To get the transmission to reach all of Eutria, we need the power source they've got just sitting beneath the plant."

"Wait, you mean we're not using the power plant itself? Something under it? What could be below the ground that's that strong?"

"Not sure exactly. But Elder Haegen seems confident in whatever it is, so I am as well. He seems insistent on keeping knowledge of this on the low burner. I think only he and the spies are to know what is down there, since they'll be tasked with setting it up and securing it," Quintus explains.

Regan nods slowly, uncertain on how he feels about all of the secrecy but trusting that the big man has got his reasons for keeping some things to himself and the people directly involved.

The old man groans and finishes up on his end. Regan stands up and checks the time on his watch.

"Eight o'clock already? Darn, I missed dinner. Ah well, there's always tomorrow."

He walks over to Quintus and offers him a hand, making the old man gruffly chuckle and let him help him up, dusting off his robes.

"I'll be damned. Someone around here with manners. The world must be ending," he murmurs.