Welcome to the new age.
The world warfare technology has changed.
The emergence of the IS has cause a shift in how things would get done.
A once male dominated society now under the boot heel of women.
Well at least on paper.
Somewhere in the Yucatan Peninsula
June 7, 1890
Walter was not happy. The Doc had dragged him from one end of the continent to the other chasing one hint or another about some relic from a bygone civilization. Though the Doc seemed happy like as of he was close to finding what he was looking for. Damn, it's humid though. It is the jungle, but still with all of this walking boredom sets in fast. All he could do was complain, but still he and the Doc walked on. This job has be odd from the start, first off the US Navy was funding this voyage. Second it has become apparent that what they are looking for is a mass of precious metal unknown to people of the outside world. Thirdly he had never seen this many mosquitoes in one place. The two had just reached a clearing, those damned things buzzing everywhere. The Doc was ready for everything from Mexican bandito to cutting his way into and unexplored jungle, meaning these sad insects could not match this man preparations. Within minutes a small fire was burning as the Doc piled on what could easily be identified by its smell as sage. The swarms ran at the smoke and only a few fools remained. With that done they walked through the now sage air. Walter now had one more thing to whine about as they hiked through the terrain. Then the Doc stopped, Walter walked up next to him and looked in the direction the boss was looking in, and before them a great valley untouched by man for ages. Ruins could be seen poking their heads out of the canopy.
The two had be walking in silence for miles now and in unison the exclaimed a simple word, They both held the ow for a few seconds longer than they had breath. To them, people of the city, this jungle view was more pristine and awe inspiring than any skyline of any city they have been to. A few feet in front of them the earth dived down straight into the valley, it would not be an easy task getting down. Thought when Walter looked at the Doc there was no feeling of worry or fear, but only that of glee and excitement. Next thing Walter saw was a pack being thrown at him, inside being a parachute.
"You're crazy, you know," Walter mumbled to himself as he followed the orders of the Doc and put on the pack. Then after they were firmly harnessed in the Doc took a few steps back and ran. With a leap he jumped of the cliff a floated down to the jungle below them. Walter looked out again at the view and readied himself for the fall. He took five steps away from the edge and with a deep breath took off in a sprint. With that he hurled himself of the cliff and dived for the ground below. The few seconds he was in free fall were enough to take his breath away. A quarter of the way down he spotted the Doc's shoot and opened his own to start gliding his way down. The Doc had landed in a clearing directly below the rock face. Walter hit the ground and landed on his rear, another thing to complain about. After they had packed up both shoots and ate some lunch, even though the sun itself was still rising, they continued onward in the general direction of the ruins that had shown themselves before they had made the jump.
Once again they walked on. The Doc with a machete in one hand and in the other a crudely drawn map of the lands around surveying the land before him. Walter stopped being surprised about the things that the Doc could do, that most likely not the best thing that could have even happened he thought. Walter right now would not be surprised if the good doctor had some past in the military. Actually the funding from the navy would seem more logical then if that was true, but how would that affect the job, or what is the item we are looking for. Walter looked ahead and noticed that the Doc was no longer in sight but a swath of jungle had be opened up by that man's knife. Walter started to jog to catch up with the Doc, but at the end was another clearing, a large one at that, with a ruined building in the middle. Walter smirked and sighed, he walked from the path into the ruin a peaked inside. There was the Doc kneeling next to an idol that was laying on the ground. Walter took a step in and stepped onto a stone slab. It sank into the floor below. Walter jumped back immediately out of fear of being hit by whatever trap lay there. A small mechanical sound could be heard, but no poisoned arrow flew passed him. The good doctor looked a Walter now cowering in the entryway and let out a great laugh. Walter seeing the scenario that he was in joined the Doc in his fit of laughter. After the feeling of a near death had passed and the two were about to contain their giggles they exited the ruin, and marched onward once again deeper into the center were their true objective lays.
It was Walters turn to cut through the jungle, honestly he enjoyed the change of pace. No longer was he in the back left to think about his crazy theories, but was free to let out his energies on the poor plants before him. The Doc began to hum a tune, and Walter started to swing his blade at the tune tempo. This went on for many hours, every so often the tune would change and so would the pace of advancement. Under the canopy when night fell darkness was there, so think in its blanket that even the the torches the Doc held the men could not see more than a few feet ahead of them. Then the good doctor let out a loud yawn, he had stop walking forward, but infact had turn around and with his knife started to cut the foliage around and made a large enough clearing to set up the tent to sleep in. Walter had lost track of time as he continue cutting his way forward that when he hear the Doc cry out for him to come back in was as quiet as a whisper. Walter trekked back and saw the Doc sitting by a small fire cooking a can of what smelled like chill. Doc tossed a piece of bread to Walter as he sat down by the fire. After all the eating was done they went into the tent and fell asleep.
Morning did not come for the two under the trees. All that was there was the same dim light as they had been in since they left the ruins. The torches were the only light they heads and the flickers that they gave off were not enough to properly see. For now the Doc took point slashing his way through the jungle. Walter could only hope this purgatory of a jungle would give way to a heavenly paradise where their objective lies. Walter did the math in his head, he remembered how far the large ruin was from the cliff they jumped from and about how long they walked. With those in mind he guessed they would arrive soon at their destination. But the walking and slash was taking too long. Walter thought he need to get out back into the open soon or else he might go mad, but remembering that it was only his second day out and his first real expedition. Walter then heard a sigh, it was the Doc. He was standing a the newly created threshold to a clearing. This one was much larger than the one before. Walter looked up at the break in the canopy and could see the open sky, it was almost noon. They had finally reached their objective the untouched ruins at the center of the jungle. Walter looked down again to see the Doc climbing up on the ruin. From the cliff he was not see it, but the ruins were a pyramid shaped complex. Walter saw the top of the pyramid and saw a temple on it which the Doc was halfway to.
"Why did he climb up the side when there are stairs?" Walter wonder out loud attracting an unimpressed look from the Doc. Walter saunters over and starts up the the stairs. The two meet at the top, with the Doc having a very disapproving look on his face.
"It's a matter of principle, not efficiency." The Doc stated. Walter leaned up against the temple.
"So what are we here for?"
"An object of wondrous power, or so the relic says."
"Sounds like some fiction book."
"Ah but this one it happen in front of you." The Doc walked into the temple and looked around. "It appears we are not the first, though I think we will make it out alive." Walter walk in and on the opposing side of the room a skeleton with a brown hat and a worn duster on.
"Yes or we won't get paid,". Walter noticed the writing on the wall. "I am going to guess you can read this."
"Huh?" The Doc had a notebook out and and was off in translator heaven. Walter sat down in a corner and pulled his hat down over his head and fell a sleep. Walter awoke to see the Doc writing away in his book. Walter stood up and looked around for another thing for him to do. A sound of glee can from the Doc.
"You're finished?" Walter yawned as he walked up behind the Doc.
"Yes! It's amazing." The Doc could not sit still, "Our objective is nearby."
"The wall told you all that." Walter deadpanned. The Doc looked at him quizzically. Walter yawned once again. With that the Doc laughed.
"Oh were you asleep that entire time, haha, I left to explore and got an idea where the object is. I had just come back to take notes in my book." Doc shuffled around in his bag a pulled out a crystal," From what I can decipher this is the key to unlocking the 'true power' of the temple."
"And... What does that mean?"
"No idea. But this story just keeps getting better." The Doc went over to the wall and looked at the wall. "According to this text, the true power is the temple of the Gods. It can throw lighting and fly like a cloud."
"Ok. What exactly is it?"
"Again no idea." The Doc looked at the wall a bit longer, "Though I think I know where it is." The Doc exited the chamber and went outside. The light was a bit dimmer, but dusk had not set in. Walter followed as they walked to the other side of the ancient complex. On a smaller building a soft glow could be seen escaping from the entrance.
"Yes you might be onto something," Walter watched as the Doc walked in the old temple. The Doc motioned for him to follow. As they entered the building the glow dimmed, to a soft radiant light. The two walked farther in and the weathered stone walls were replaced with a soft, metal. The path way turned into a catwalk suspended high above the ground below. Metal poles holding it into the ceiling. That only was not even the most intriguing item in the room. On the ground below them an object of massive size sat on the floor. It was slightly aged but no visible rust.
"Doc, what is that? It reminds me of a naval cruiser, but that thing is easily over two hundred yards long and does not have a deck." Walter gazed down at this behemoth with excitement and fear. Along the sides of the object, which of a purposes for Walter was a ship, he saw constructs that looked like cannons. They were much bigger than anything he had seen before.
"Well that explains the part about the sailing through the void." The Doc looked around for a way down. On the far side of the catwalk there was a stairwell down to the ground. "Let's go and take a look at it up close." The two finally finished the last few steps on the stairs and enter a room. Many strange mechanism were in the room.
"What are these?" Walter looked around a saw a button. It seemed important, alone away from anything else. He thought it would do no harm to touch it. For being here for so long it was easy to push in. Nothing happened, Walter thought it must have done nothing, but where it was looked special. As he lifted his hand from the button, he felt a slight click and then a small rumble resounded of the walls of the large chamber outside. Then the stairs collapsed and the catwalk fell.
"What did you do Walter?" The Doc looked around for an exit strategy. "Follow me." The two ran out into the chamber with the ship and crossed a short bridge to enter it. They entered it just as the ceiling burst open and water crashed down and started to fill the chamber. Doc and Walter closed the hatch they entered from. The chamber was almost full and the northern wall crumbled revealing a long tunnel. The ship pushed by the water moved through the tunnels like an oversized raft. Some how the duo made it up to a room that, the Doc thought he would call a command room. Viewport on the front of the room allowed them to see outside.
Meanwhile on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula a group of naval ships sat anchored off the shore. On the command ship of this flotilla a man stood waiting.
"Where is he, he's a day late." The man lit up a cigar and started to smoke it. An hour later a seaman approached him
"Admiral Weir, we have spotted something of the port side, it's massive." A seaman reported in. Weir exhaled a plume of smoke.
"Finally he's here it's about time, damn it." Weir walked out of the bridge and looked off the port side of the deck. "My God!" The Admiral stared at the ship. From the roof of the ship a red flare flew skyward. "Doc what have you pulled out now." The ships from the flotilla went alongside the new behemoth in the water. A hatch on the side of the large ship opened and from there the Doc stood waving a the ships passing by.
"That lunatic he found it the temple of the Gods, their city."
The ship was towed to a secret base hidden within the Bermuda triangle, hidden from prying eyes. The navy used it to research new technologies for combat and armor. New systems were unlocked over time and it's true purpose was revealed to the navy's researchers. The ship was for space travel, they estimated that it would take nearly a half a century to cross the galaxy using the distortion engines that were installed eons ago, it predates every civilization on Earth and has vast stores of knowledge hidden away. They started to restore each system one by one a long and difficult process that would take decades. Around 2005 they successfully restored the ship to its original capacity and christened it The USS Odyssey. It set out for its first stop, code named Omicron-Delphi system.
2028
BBC TV Broadcast
"With the emergence of this new technology Japan has been put on the forefront of technology. Although with the Alaskan Treaty everyone shares in the knowledge. What I find most odd is the Americans avoiding this new tech like the plague. What do you think as an IS pilot for Britain." the anchorwoman asked her guest.
"Well either the American's are too stupid or the have an ace they have not shown to the world yet." She replied. "But then again they are ruled men and we all know how that wor-Click" the TV switched off.
Washington DC USA
"Today I announce to the world and the people of these Untied States that our long running enemy and rival on this world Russian has sign a Treaty with us creating the first ever sense of true peace between our two nation. With the knowledge that both our countries have we both respectfully decline any offers of IS cores. The cultural chance we have seen horrifies us. Men and Women are equal and it does not matter the technologies they have or what works for them. I digress, the US-Russa alliance, by agreement by both sides will be know throughout the world as the Earth Defense Pact. And now ladies and gentleman of the press a present to you the Pact flagship the USS Odyssey!" Behind the podium where the President was speaking a shimmer revealing the ship in all it's glory and power.
IS Academy Japan
Chifuyu Orimura sat. She and the her other coworkers stared dumbfounded at the TV. Chifuyu knows her own strength, but this is more than she could handle. She knew the IS nations would panic at this new Anti IS block that was forming. If the US and Russa go next would be South America and even with the power of the IS no one, but the pact knows what else is hidden from view.
