Commander Ford frowned and walked up to the group, "What's the problem?"
The Chief Shipwright turned and saw who was behind him and he stifled up and quickly threw a greeting, "Sir!"
He threw a chilly glance at the group of goblin techs who threw up a crude salute before petrifying into attention when they saw who has appeared.
"So?" Ford demanded as he turned his attention back to the Chief Shipwright.
"Sir," The Chief quickly replied. "The goblins are on strike! They are not willing to continue to work unless we met their demands!"
Ford frowned and he turned to the goblins still frozen in their salute pose. "Is that true?"
"Er... Yep, Sir!" One of the goblins with a welding mask over his head replied. "We work overtime, no extra pay! No fair!"
"Ya ya!" Another goblin wearing a pair of goggles added. "Orcs get combat pay in Marines! We techies no overtime pay! No fair!"
"NO FAIR!" Chorused the rest of the goblins together. It seemed like that was somewhat of a slogan to them. "NO FAIR!"
"Hey!" The Chief Shipwright jerked his thumb behind him, gesturing to the ship and glared at the rowdy goblins. "You were supposed to finish her up a month ago! And since you can't finish your work, you, of course, have to work overtime to finish her up!"
"NO FAIR!" The goblins grumbled. "Not our fault if toopid elves no deliver steel metal and parts!"
Ford vaguely understood what was going on between the Chief Shipwright and the goblin techs. "Alright, enough!"
Both parties stopped their argument and quieten down except for the goblin wearing the welding mask, "Big Chief of Shep Chief! We want justice!"
Ford sighed inwardly, before he replied, "Alright before we decided anything, let me get this straight."
"These two ships are unable to be completed in time is due to lack of materials?" Ford asked.
The Chief Shipwright sighed and nodded together with the goblins. "Our parts and materials we ordered from the factories were delayed."
"Ya! And not all come!" The goblins injected from the side. "Lousy quality too!"
"So, why wasn't this issue brought up?" Ford turned to the Chief. "You had so much time to report this incident to me, why haven't you done so?"
The Chief Shipwright's face turned red, "Er... I had... too many other things to work on... The factories are saying other departments are needing parts and materials urgently and I thought we could pay off the workers in the factories to supply us first... but... we got turned down..."
Ford sighed, "First of all, you are no longer in whatever place you came from. This is the UN! Bribes are illegal! And in the first place, you shouldn't even need to resort to bribes!"
"Chief, I don't care how you used to do things before you joined the UN," Ford said in a serious tone. "I do not want such things to be repeated ever again. Do you understand?"
"Ye- yes Sir!" The Chief's face turned pale while the goblins snickered at the scolding he got.
"And if there are any delays in shipment, you are to report it to your superior or failing that, report it directly to me!" Ford stated. "These issues shouldn't ever be a problem if you had reported it earlier!"
"I- I am sorry, sir," The Chief apologized. "It will not happen again!"
"Make sure that is so, or I will fire you and have someone else more competent to take over your duties!" Ford warned. "And for you goblins!"
The goblins quickly hid their glee and giggles as Ford turned his attention to them. "I will not pay overtime this time around."
The goblins hearing that news immediately was crestfallen. "Awww..."
"But, I will give a bonus if you all could finish up all the remaining work within a week!" Ford said.
Hearing that, the goblins peaked up, "Really?"
"Yes," Ford nodded. "But... Both ships must be ready for ship trials within the week!"
"Aye!" The goblins threw another salute. "We get it done in time!"
Ford shook his head as he watched the goblins drag the Chief Shipwright off towards the ships with great energy and excitement. He frowned as he really needed to complain to Blake regarding the priority and tasking of resources. At this rate, the Navy will really be picking up the leftovers of the Air Force and Marines!
-----
Orwell's Point, SDF City Depot
A newly constructed base for the city's militia was sited just a kilometer away from the city walls. Concrete, sandbag, and razor wire surrounded the green tents and the only permanent structure, a three story concrete building that acted as the local SDF administration offices and command post.
The local CO of the SDF was sweating in his uniform as he stared at the Intel Officer seated before him. "I... I can assure you that there are... are no issues with our inventories!"
Lt Tavor smiled as he propped his shiny black combat boots on the table. "Well, then there is nothing for you to be worried about!"
The CO nodded and eyed the four grim looking black uniformed guards of the Intel Division armed with the latest sub gun which he only heard rumors of. "T- Tea?"
"No thank you," Tavor replied in a lazy voice as he glanced at his watch. "I think my men are about done soon with their auditing!"
Just as he finished saying that, a knock came from the door and one of the black uniformed guards opened the door and admitting in another black cladded officer. "Sir!"
The newly arrived officer bent over and whispered into Tavor's ears. The local SDF CO swallowed nervously as he strained his ears, hoping to catch some of the conversations. Tavor's smile grew wider as he listened to his subordinate's report. "Well, well, well!"
"Seems like you have some issues with you record keeping!" Tavor said. "Come, let us see what is wrong with your records!"
Tavor stood up and gestured for the CO to follow him. He strolled out of the office like he owned the place, while the local SDF officers gave ground to him as they wondered what was going on. Tavor followed his subordinate to a small mound where a concrete bunker was buried under the earth.
There were some of his guards and they opened the steel reinforced door for Tavor when he arrived and upon ending, the smell of machine and gun oil assail his nostrils. Rows and rows of rifles neatly racked on wooden shelving lined the interior. Tavor did a quick mental count, as he scanned the guns racks. "So how many missing?"
'Eleven M1 Magelock rifles and twenty Dragon Single Action revolvers," His subordinate replied off a list. "All of them registered to non existing SDF personnel."
"My oh, my!" Tavor shook his head and looked at the trembling SDF CO. "How did this happen under your watch?"
"I- I swear, I know nothing about this!" The SDF CO said. "I- It must be the armorer! He must have done something!"
"Interesting," Tavor sighed as he took the list from his subordinate. "I have here your signature and stamp..."
"N- no! It can't be!" The SDF CO yelled in his defense. "There must be some mistake!"
"You do know those trading firearms without prior approval from High Command and falsifying government documents is a very serious crime?" Tavor raised an eyebrow at the CO. "And you as an officer had sworn an oath when you signed up for this..."
"It's not me!" The SDF CO fervent denied his involvement.
"Well, I am sure we will get to the bottom of this in no time!" Tavor smiled. "SDF Major Lockard Ro, you are now hereby requested to assist us in the investigation of the illegal sale of firearms. You duties will be temporarily discharged and till proven guilty or innocence, you will remain in custody without bail."
"Do you understand your rights?" Tavor asked and when the CO denied to replied, Tavor shrugged and said. "Take him away."
After the CO and those suspected of being involved in this incident were gone, Tavor sighed and turned the newcomer who just arrived. "Well, the position of the local SDF commander is now vacant. You want it?"
Ex Knight Captain Judis, now wearing the khaki brown uniform of the SDF with the insignia of a captain frowned. "So you want me to clean up this shit?"
"Yes," Tavor nodded. "Since your patron is the city governor here, I thought you might like to take up this offer."
Judis sighed, "So where do I start?"
"Well, we start from the top," Tavor smiled. "Find out who is corrupted from the officers and work our way down to the enlisted."
"You do know this would effectively cripple the SDF?" Judis said. "Especially if a large cadre of officers were suddenly removed, it will leave the SDF without any leadership and also bringing down its morale!"
"Of course I know this," Tavor replied in a dismissive way. "But we need to get rid of this... corruption first before the SDF can be useful. If not, we might as well disband the SDF..."
Judis sighed again. "Why did I choose to join the SDF... I shall have applied to the Marines or something else..."
"Haha!" Tavor grinned. "Well, it's because you can't leave your Princess alone..."
Judis growled, "Enough of that, she is my liege and I had sworn an oath to serve and protect her forever!"
"Well, if only the officers here take their oaths as seriously as you," Tavor shook his head. "We won't have this problem!"
"Anyway, clear out any officers and troops that are corrupted," Tavor reminded Judis. "I will try to chase down those missing weapons!"
Judis nodded, "Don't worry, I will find those... traitorous scum and bring them to justice!"
-----
UN, Haven, National Hospital
Dr. Sharon massaged her aching head. Lately, the voices in her head appeared to have stopped, but recently it started back up again. The constant whispers in an unknown language seemed to be trying to tell her something, but she could barely understand what they were telling her.
She had kept a notebook, writing down the pronunciations as much as she could of the words that were spoken. She had shown Magister Thorn, yet he was baffled by the words and her condition as he too couldn't find anything wrong with her using his magic.
She decided to ignore the words and went about her day, tending patients and teaching trainee doctors and nurses on the art and science of medicine and healthcare. She even pushed away from the negative thoughts on the deaths of one of the human Marines which she could still remember.
She sighed, thinking that this planet might be both wonderful and alien, yet the local conflicts were none the less similar to wars human has waged throughout its history. Luckily there was some good, like the marriage between the Captain and the Princess.
"Hmmm... I wonder if Princess can bore a baby between a human and an elf..." Dr. Sharon mumbled to the computer. "Since our DNA shares close to 99.93% similarities, almost the same as chimpanzees..."
"It should work?" Dr. Sharon frowned. "Since we humans and elves both have 23 pairs of chromosomes..."
"The only issue is that both species can't donate blood to each other," Dr. Sharon continued narrating to her computer. "But if we take the blood serum protein called albumin which both humans and elves have, we technically can use it to save lives."
"We could also use plasma from both species after all the red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and other cellular components are removed," Dr. Sharon said. "But the interesting thing now is to observe if a human can impregnate an elf!"
"Hmmmm..." Dr. Sharon's eyes glittered. "It should be interesting to study the effects of interbreeding between two alien species... I wonder how it will turn out in the end?"