Arkady shakes his head. "Preceptor, if we drop the trees on the mercenaries, the road will be blocked for a while. Everyone involved in this fight will do best on foot." He glances at the technical, then adds: "I think we should also be putting some very brightly colored armbands and such like on the real knights. It would be a shame for those on the walls to get confused."

Felix thinks, then nods.

"I suppose I can defer to your preferences on this matter. We'll set up discreetly on the battlements and hammer them with our ranged weapons until your Knights close the distance, then pick off any trying to flee. That is, of course, assuming any of them manage to survive the explosions we've setup. The Knights here would also be wearing distinctive colors so we don't confuse them for the fake Knights. Is this plan to everyone's liking, or does anyone have anything else to add?"

Vanire nods. "The column of genuine Pandions all have brightly coloured ribbons which will be tied around their upper arms," he says. He pauses, waiting for further comment; when none materialises, he states "Since no-one has any additional comments or suggestions, we will use this plan as it is."

--------------

Two weeks pass, during which the explosives are carefully prepared and buried...

Felix: Engineering: +5 Roll: +0 Total: +5
Arkady: Engineering: +5 Roll: +0 Total: +5

Nathan sets up the gun emplacement on the battlements, ready to rain down leaden death as and when necessary.

The trigger for the explosives waits next to the gun, a fairly innocuous switch (which, nonetheless, has to be carefully protected from Count Radun's youngest daughter, who is at the age when one develops a fascination with poking at things just to see what they do - fortunately, she is also easily distracted, and spends a fair amount of time playing games with Piper and showing Piper her kitten (without so much as a word, Piper makes it quite clear that she wants a kitten, too)).

The Knights train and practice, sparring with each other and preparing for their upcoming fight. Nathan's the best of the Terrans at one-on-one combat, but on the occasion that he spars with one of the Knights (using blunted wooden swords), he wins only one of their three bouts.

And everyone, in two weeks of downtime, restores all their spent FATE points.

--------------

This is followed by half a week which seems to consist almost entirely of Vanire pacing through the castle, his own nerves worn thin by their enforced idleness, muttering dire threats under his breath directed at the Primate. The Primate himself, by luck or coincidence, never again mentions the plot within range of the radio; but the other radio, the one given to the pickpocket, gives the Terrans a fair insight into the profits of the Cimmuran thieves' guild (higher than one might expect) before getting sold to a gullible minor noble as an Atan fertility charm.

Reports from the ship indicate that things are going well, if slowly. More infrastructure is being built, more food is being grown, and they expect to start waking up some more people well before the diplomatic group gets back.

--------------

Two and a half weeks after the group's arrival at Castle Radun, a column of black-armoured horsemen is spotted, approaching the Castle.

As folks gather on the wall, Arkady asks Vanire "Did you ask your men to make some signal to let us know who they are?"

Vanire narrows his eyes, watching the approaching horsemen.

"I'd recognise my men well before they could get close enough to request entrance," he says. "But these aren't them. Half of them are slouching, most of them don't know how to carry a lance, and those are not proper Pandion warhorses that they're mounted on. How did they get here so fast?"

Sir Ulath promptly heads down off the wall again.

"Also, Sir Parasim's supposed to be leading the real Knights," continues Vanire. "He's slightly shorter than average. The guy in front of this group is bigger than average."

"We'll be sure to ask any survivors how they got here so quickly. In the mean time however," Nate racks the charging bolt on his assault rifle. "Lets see about giving someone a Very Bad Day."

"Felix, Arkady, you ready with those explosives?"

Arkady takes out a few stun grenades, and nods towards the detonator. "Felix, please do the honors when they hail the gate. I will see if I can be stunning the leaders if they are close enough. Easier to capture and interrogate than if Nathan stops them. And if it they're too far, well, the survivors will be stunned anyway."

Felix nods wordlessly, a grim expression on his face. He moves preps the detonator and await the attack.

Felix inserts and turns the key, prepping the detonator. As those on the wall watch, the mercenaries approach the gate...

"Adus," says Vanire, peering out at the approaching leader while trying not to be seen himself. "One of Martel's lieutenants. A brute, very strong, but not very smart. Looks like about two hundred mercenaries with him."

Adus brings his column to the castle gate. He unrolls a scroll and peers at it.

"Greetings to the..."

He squints at the scroll, turns it sideways, and frowns.

"The..."

He nudges the man next to him.

"What's this word?"

"Inhabitants."

"I knew that."

He straightens up in the saddle again. "Greetings to the inhabitants of Castle Radun. Our small column of knights seeks... seeks..."

"What's this word?"

"Admittance."

"I knew that."

"Seeks admittance to the Castle that we may rest and... and..."

It seems that if you wait for him to finish reading his scroll, you're going to be here for a while.

"Do you see Martel?" Felix asks. "If we light this up now, we might not be able to find him in the confusion."

Vanire shakes his head. "If Martel was there, he wouldn't let Adus handle the diplomacy. He's delegated this massacre. Adus will know where to find him, though."

Felix runs a quick estimate and tries to figure out just how many of the mercenaries will be caught in the explosion and whether or not Adus will fall victim to it. He explains the estimates to Vanire.

"Would you care for us to begin? I'm ready when you are."

Arkady pulls the pin from one of his grenades; the men right in front of the gate should be forward of the fragment zone, and in his range. Emphasis on should. He stands back just far enough that a crenelation is between him and the trees...

"Gentlemen, when Vanire gives the word, everybody duck."

"Whenever you're ready, fellows."

Vanire ducks behind a crenellation.

--------------

"...recuperation within the... what's this word?"

"Well then I guess this is it," Felix mutters. "Hold on to your socks."

Felix activates the explosives.