AN: This story is based off of a story idea that I first saw in Abelextra's story "you got a sword i got a gun", which is still quite short but looks like an excellent story to watch over. Thank you, Abelextra, for permission to use a similar plot to yours.

These events take place during 'Eldest', roundabout when Roran is leaving Narda.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Inheritance cycle characters, locations, etc. All of that is under the noble command of Christopher Paolini, although he owes us for selling the movie rights to 20th Century Fox. Seriously, that movie got 16% on rotten tomatoes.

Chapter 1: A Brave New World

The U.S.S Mojave was a state of the art multi-function ship. It was the first of it's kind, being a mix of aircraft carrier and cargo hauler, able to be used for either both simultaneously or one individually. It excelled at all testing, and was expected to arrive back in America from its testing in China on the eighteenth of July, 2019.

On the sixteenth July, 2019, a minor glitch in the navigational drive caused the ship, and it's entire crew, cargo, and the contingent of soldiers who had been training on her,to slip into the Bermuda Triangle, where it lost contact with the naval base in Oregon. After a brief spurt of panic in the naval base, the Mojave was deemed lost, and all crew were considered lost at sea, and the funding for that strange half-breed type of ship was cut.

However, on the Mojave, no such thing happened. They sailed on, oblivious to the panic they had left behind. Indeed, they only noticed something was wrong when a storm blew up. They tried to contact base to find out why they hadn't been informed of the storm's approach, at which point they realised that they had lost all contact with home base, while still able to tap into international radio stations. Without any specific orders, the captain, a British exchange officer by the name of Connor Sharp, made his decision.

Running up to the intercom, he briskly yelled "All hands secure cargo, payload and aircraft, and brace for stormy conditions! Drop anchor, cease engines, and lower the flag!"

The ship became a flurry of motion, as crewmembers dashed around securing things, moving things, and getting into position for what looked to be an imminent hurricane.

When the storm hit, it really rocked the boat. While the weight of the cargo and planes kept it mostly down, there were occasions were they could have sworn the boat left the water completely. Lightning flashed everywhere, causing eerie bursts of light followed by rolling thunder. As the captain looked out at the storm, he saw strange shapes in the dark, and heard odd noises. He would have discounted it as his imagination tricking him, except the other crewmembers on the bridge were equally disturbed. "Captain,I don't think this is a safe place for us." The first mate said.

Before the captain could reply, the ship gave a loud groan, and lifted clear out of the water, briefly throwing everyone around. It flew for a few moments, before crashing down in the water again. As it hit, there was a blinding flash, and the storm disappeared. It didn't just cease, or drift away, the entire storm disappeared into bright sunlight. Here one moment, gone the next.

The crew shakily withdrew from their various nooks and crannies, and began to take stock of the damage. Except for some superficial damage, and the loss of one of the troop carrier planes, the ship was mostly fine. however, there was absolutely nothing on any radio frequencies. No background chatter, no overlap, not even conventional radio stations. As well as that, their navigation system was malfunctioning, so they had no idea where they were.

The inquiry into that was soon abandoned, as the radar picked up a landmass to the east. Upon arrival, they found that in the middle of the island was a circle of semi-active volcanoes. The captain sent out a team in a helicopter, to see if there was anything on the other side. What they found shocked them.

"U.S.S Mojave, come in, this is the search team. Captain, you won't believe what we're seeing. There are these huge skeletons, they look like something out of legend. Call me crazy if you will, sir, but these look like the bones of…dragons."

"Well, Lieutenant Brake, given our situation, I think we can take our version of reality and stuff it. Return to base, we'll give a better investigation on the morrow. Over." Dragons. What in the world had happened to them? The captain's versatility, a virtue that had led him to be a master at all forms of strategy, now led him to accept that maybe, just maybe, they were dealing with forces they could not understand.

While still shocked by this revelation, Lieutenant Brake gave another message. "Search team to Mojave, recommending that we set an eastern heading. There is a considerably larger landmass there, according to what we can see. Over."

"Roger that, search team. Intercept us ASAP, we'll begin moving now. Who knows what terrors lurk in these unknown waters, so we want to be safe by nightfall, hopefully near civilisation."

The captain barked the orders to the helmsmen, and they struck up a course. After a couple of minutes, the search helicopter rejoined them. A couple of minutes after that, the bridge got their first view of the mainland. As they got closer, they noticed a few things through their binoculars. The first was smoke, but contained like you would expect in a mediaeval city. Second was the city itself, a collection of wooden huts clustered together. Then as they got closer, they saw a mass of people on the beach getting onto what looked like a trio of wooden barges. As they neared to the point where they would soon be spotted by the naked eye, they halted. The captain felt that their strangeness would almost definitely provoke attack, and while it looked like they could be easily take them out, he saw no reason to risk it, as any place that had dragons would almost definitely hold other tricks up its sleeve.

So after the barges pushed off, the Mojave moved in close enough to drop off a recon squad, dressed in what they hoped would help them blend in. Although they had no intention of raising Cain, they were sure to insult someone, so each person took a handgun with them.

The squad was surprised to see the captain get in the boat with them, and even more surprised that the gun he brought was Angelica, his prized 454 magnum revolver (With attached 30mm grenade launcher). As they walked up the beach, and neared the town, they saw the people grow more and more hostile to them, even spitting at their feet. WHen they reached the town centre, they saw the reason why.

A corpse lay in the middle of the road, its skull caved in, while another had a spear wound in the throat. Given that the gallows were empty, Captain Sharp postulated that the killer was one of the men seen leaving on the barges, and the town was too full for them to be regular citizens of the town, so they were visitors as well, explaining the bad attitude towards any other new people.

They walked up to the message board, and began to read it. They continued for a bit, until a man with a sword strapped to his belt and a crimson tunic with a flame embroidered on it strode up to them, and said "And what do you bloody think you're doing, swaggering into town with your fancy clothing, without weapons, and just reading our noticeboard? You got some nerve right there you blighted son of a b— " before the man, who the captain theorized was a soldier of some variety, found himself on the flat on his stomach, with another one of the American soldiers on his back keeping an arm around his throat, and using the other to restrain the man's right arm. "What are your orders, Captain?"

"Leave him alive, he did us no wrong. After all," he said bending down to talk to the floored soldier, "merely yesterday a group of strangers, pretending to be your friends, came in and slaughtered two of your comrades, before sailing away in your own boat. I would be more than angry, I would be incensed, I would be irate, and I would hunt them down until I found them and killed them. Tell me, what do you know, of the island to the west?"

The soldier visibly paled, both at the astute guess of the captain, and also the fact that they came from the west. The other people also paled, but were able to draw weapons. As one, the six men not otherwise occupied tensed, and their hands drifted to their weapons.

The captain stayed where he was. He calmly lifted his soldier off the strange one, lifted him up, and said "What is your name, soldier?"

"Hendrick. Hendrick Garnsson."

"Well, Hendrik, how about I offer you a chance to avenge yourself of your friends dishonour. I will personally hunt their killers down and make them pay. And all you need to do, is tell me everything you know about this country. See, I'm new here, just came from across the sea, and I have no idea where I am."

And his men watched as with barely a few sentences, their captain had gotten a hard-bitten, strange soldier to spill all the details they needed to get by.

They learnt how the King, Galbatorix, came to power by slaughtering all the dragons and Riders. How, with thirteen other evil Riders, he had subjugated the land, and how the breakaway states were the lands of the Elves, Dwarves, and the swarthy Men of Surda. Also how the only open resistance came from the Varden. They learnt of magic, and its users, and that all the Empire's soldiers were bound in oaths in a strange language, oaths that could never be broken. All this and more they learnt. When the man finished speaking, the only thing that the captain did was pull his men aside, and whisper "Kill them all."

"Captain?"

"They know we are not from around here, and that we have come from across the sea. From how we've seen these people react, that is highly unusual. If this king of theirs is that powerful, and that cruel, then what reason do we have to believe that he will not capture and torture us. I find this just as detestable as you do, but these people's oaths will make them go running to the king to report us. Do you think we could overcome an unknown threat?"

"No sir."

"Then this must be done."

As one they swallowed, pulled their guns from their hiding places, and murdered the town of Narda.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading. Please review, or PM me. I don't care what you tell me, I can stand to bear it.