2035, Heising Estates, The Moon

A heavy adding machine smashed into the ground at the feat of Watch Captain Kojo Pierce as he walked up the bright grassy path to the von
Heising Estate. Looking up he saw a cleanly broken window directly above him, the glass as neatly gone as if the window had never been there. Kojo found the silence eery. The grounds had suffered the brunt of the attack - the machine looked dirtied but not even dented. The captain, his blue greatcoat almost comical looking in the spring sunshine, rubbed his hands together and cradled the machine, so big he could barely see over it, and thanked the hours he spent building strength in his younger days. Trudging to the door, he briefly considered decorum before tapping the door with the toe of his left boot. He struggled to enjoy the nice weather, the presence of birds in the stately maples that lined the various paths within the estate walls, and the modestly gothic archetecture which hid the fact that construction on the mostly-empty home had just finished. It may as well have been here for ages. Counting leaves of ivy crawling up the doorframe rather than fingers going numb, the time managed to pass until the door opened.

Marcus Chevalier piqued an eyebrow at the sight of a six foot tall adding machine on the doorstep of his lady's estates. Not wishing to offend the man behind, he approached cautiously. "...may I help you?"

"Damn it Marc, it's me. Let me in before I drop this thing!"

Briskly stepping aside, he gestured to a stout table with a mirror in the entryway. "Of course, Captain Pierce. Right this way."

His face dark with the exertion, Pierce very nearly dropped the heavy machine and turned to the Valet. Marcus Cavalier was a tall man with pointed features and a pale complexion. His white hair was immaculately groomed in a manner which suggested that, perhaps, he was in need of more trying duties. He took the Greatcoat from the Captain, keeping it at arms length from his own black suit, and hung it in the adjoining closet - a facility prepared to host great parties and currently quite empty.

"I am confident Madame von Heising should appreciate the effort, Captain, but I assure you the formal dress is unnessesary. This is, after all, a simple luncheon meeting - not a military tribunal."

Chest shining with brass and silver, Kojo smiled in his sharp but admittedly fading military dress. "Trust me, Marcus. I'd much prefer to be on the wrong end of a lawyer than Miss Heising. How is your fencing arm?" Kojo took off his leather holster and offered offered his pistol to Chevalier, who immediatly waved it away.

"I should think Madame has sufficient trust in your moderated temper. After all, if I cannot trust the Captain of the Watch in Madam's estate I think we shall have no luck at all so far away from Ivansburg. Please, follow me." The Valet set off at a healthy clip up a carpeted flight of stairs. He thought, briefly, to stop the Captain from carrying the Adding machine but decided against it.

Moments later, Marcus Chevalier opened the doorway to Madame Emma von Heising's study. "Watch Captain Kojo Pierce, with Adding Machine." From behind her desk, the noblewoman looked darkly at her sarcastic Valet over her reading glasses and gestured lightly to send him off.

"Bit of a draft in here, or is it me?" It was hard to tell if the Captain was smiling over the adding machine as he set it down heavily on top of a priceless Turkish office desk from the early twentieth century. "If this is a bad time, I can come back later. Not often I have an excuse to bring out the old dress uniform."

Lady Emma von Heising, in a flowing white dress, turned her furious gaze at the dark skinned watch captain. "I called you here to discuss the nature of the Town Watch's future, but if you'd prefer to joke..."

Kojo bit his tongue. An informal luncheon indeed.

"We just recieved the last shipment of lead plating for the reactor interior. In a month, last brick for the cooling tower will be complete. We have the appropriate storage facilities for waste, and ours will be the first viable source of energy for this entire quadrant of the moon that doesn't come from a watermill within the month." her fingers made a steeple over the vast bog of paperwork. "It has been a very busy day."

"Well, um, congratulations Madame. I'm sure the power plant will be a great success." The Captain sat, unable to find comfort in the lush chair which held him.

"A great success indeed. If everything stays on schedule the Heising Electric Power Company is going to be printing money, not only for my estate but for Shaniko as well." She leaned back. "I have just agreed to power the town for free in exchange for the right to base all levels of operation away from the plant. As soon as people catch wind, they're going to flock to the city. In droves. And I don't think your town mayor appreciates that fact, and I don't think he's prepared for it. I'm also fairly certain he sees me as a giddy socialite."

Dismissing the look of concern on Captain Pierce's face, she continued. "I'm digressing. The fact is, none of this can happen if the power lines aren't safe. There are bandits out there, Pierce. There are dozens of people who want to cut into what will be my power plants territory, though sabotage or whatever else they can think up. There are honest people who want free power for their little settlement, and I can't have any of those.'

"Let me stop you right there. Lady von Heising, I'm sure you appreciate how hard my boys work to keep the town safe, but there's no way at all they can keep your lines safe. And if the town is going to have as many people coming as you say, I'm going to need every last one of them." Captain Pierce started to stand up.

"You don't understand, Captain. I don't need the town watch. I need an order of knights. Based in the town, patrolling the territory, and I will be their patron so they'll take extra care of my power lines. But I need a military man to start one. Someone like you."

Captain Pierce sat back down and leaned in. He almost whispered across the desk, "I don't think you understand what has to happen for someone to start an Order of Knights. First of all, you have to be a Knight-"

"-and to become a knight you have to be a noble. And for you to become a noble you'd have to marry one. Which is why we are going to be married next week."