Dragon Age
(A/N: Still working on my Mass Effect 2 Fanfic, but this is a side project. Let me know what you think!)
January 5th, 2015. 1500 hours(military calendar)/ Sol system, Planet Earth, old castle in USA.
The HMMV jolted as we drove to the base. "Damn drive straight," Jake said.
"not my fault. Hey sarge what did HQ find out here?" Jason asked me.
"Some type of energy reading. Base camp is up ahead. Apparently this old castle is emitting some type of energy reading. We're supposed to check it out," I said.
"Why us? Why not some super smart scientists with actual PhDs? Most we can do is… nothing," Jake said.
"We just need to make sure there's no radiation. Make sure its safe to enter without Bio-suits. But we're going in wearing Mark-two Cyan suits," I said.
"Thought we belonged to bad company sir. We don't exactly get access to those suits," Jake said.
"Right but Army's making an exception in this case. Rest of the squad is waiting for us at the camp by the way," I said.
"Sergeant Cortez come in over," said the radio.
"Someone's calling you sir," Jason said. I grabbed the radio keyed the button.
"Cortez here," I said.
"Cortez, your suits are ready. Oh and the others have suited up," base camp said.
"Others? How the fuck are the others?" Jake asked.
"Sergeant Rock, Javie, Old man and Joseph," I said.
"Ah those guys? Why did it have to be them?" Jason asked.
"They're part of the 130th too remember? Plus they're the only the guys willing to this do shit," I said.
"Damn, so we're stuck with four guys that are quite possibly the worst Special Forces Operators on a dangerous mission with untested equipment and practically no hazard pay?" Jason asked.
"Yep," I said.
"Great. This is the shittiest day of my life," Jason said.
"Don't worry we'll finish this up then we're slated for patrol on the 38th parallel," I said.
"Oh good a nice quiet border to watch," Jason said. We all chuckled at that. Watching the 38th Parallel was one easy assignment with little or no injuries.
"Oh man I could live with an easy assignment right here," Jake said.
"Ditto," I said. We drove up to Base Camp and met the rest of our squad. Sergeant Rock was a vet from the European peace keepings. Javie was a former mechanic who put together any kind of bomb. Old Man was another vet but from a war that happened ten years ago. His real name was Victor Sanchez but we all knew him as Old Man. Joseph was a rookie but had some experience in firefights since he was part of the New York Police Department. Jason, our sniper, was an expert math athlete. He knew just about everything about math, science and even old history. Jake, our heavy weapons, was our residence ammo guy. Not only could he effectively take out a tank with old dynamite, but he could actually fabricate ammunition from a list of ingredients he memorized.
"Hey Cortez, why do they call you Cortez again? You're name ain't Cortez right?" Jason asked.
"Cause the D.I. mistook me for a guy named Cortez and the name stuck ever since," I said. I was Sergeant Michael 'Cortez' Reese. But I was either called Mike or Cortez. I was our best rifle and assault man. I was also our resident historian who knew tons on old history. Even old legends like the 'Grey Wardens'. but people called me insane because of that. My dad, the President of these United States, even wanted me to drop all the shit about Grey Wardens and all the old legends. He thought that the Army would straighten me out.
"Hey Sarge. The base camp is up ahead. You ain't going to talk more about Grey Warden shit are you? I told my girl to transfer her and her sister, her hot sister. She kinda has a thing for you and she doesn't know that you are into the ways of the old. She finds out and then you can kiss her good bye," Jake said.
"Corporal, I don't need help getting a girl. Remember when we sent to Iraq?" I asked.
"Sarge, a girl who was desperate and drunk as hell who had a thing for 'dumb' American soldiers doesn't count," Jason said.
"How'd you like to be on KP duty for the next five months?" I asked.
"how about zero and I take back what I said?" Jason asked.
"Deal. And no one says anything," I said. We walked into our tent and saw Joseph cleaning his rifle. On my bunk was a sign that read 'Grey Warden Idiot'.
"Just so you know Mike, we had nothing to do with it," Old Man said. I ripped the sign off my bunk and sat down looking at it.
"Man this shit is getting old fast," I said.
"Just shoot it up with the others sir. I mean plenty of bullets, try to scare some sense into people…" Joseph said.
"True but there's still others out there who think the same goddamn thing. You know sometimes I wish I never heard that story about Grey Wardens," I said.
"Chief who hasn't? you're just the only one who actually researched about them. No biggie," Jake said.
"Yeah and look where that got me. I'm stuck at the rank of Sergeant when others are promoted like crazy all around," I said.
"Hey ixnay on the reyg-ardenw-say," Jake said. Two nurses were walking into the tent as I shoved the sign into my pack.
"Hey Jake," said the first nurse.
"Hey beautiful," Jake said. They hugged and shared a brief kiss. "Oh you've met Jason right?" he asked.
"Yes he's the one who pulled that prank on New Years didn't he?" she asked.
"Hey Jess, I said I was sorry," Jason said.
"I'm only kidding. Now where's the Sergeant?" Jess asked. I stood up and walked over.
"Someone ring a bell?" I asked.
"Good one sarge. Oh shit, this is Jessie, my girl. I think you two met. Either at New Years a year ago or at some other base," Jason said.
"It was New Years, but the person you should meet is someone you might like," Jessie said. She turned to introduce the second nurse. "This is Kimm, she has had a crush on you for some time now. But not sure if you know but she-" Jessie said.
"Jess! Don't!" Kimm said.
"What? You don't know if he-" Jess said.
"Please Jess I don't want him to know," Kimm pleaded.
"Hey Jake what the devil are they arguing about?" I asked.
"Beats the hell out of me. Jessie always said that Kimm had a secret passion for something. She never told me what it is. Probably better to keep your Grey Warden knowledge to yourself. Don't know if her secret passion is the same thing so-" Jason said.
"Yea I get it marine," I said interrupting him. I talked to Kimm for a bit and she took me to her tent. Guess everyone had some dirty thoughts on their mind with that. Cause I heard numerous wolf whistles as I left. We talked abit but she did exactly seem too glad to talk about her secret passion. Eventually I got a call from the camp C.O. about suiting up. "Sorry Kimm got to head out," I said. I went to leave and my hand-book fell out of my pocket. ah Damnit, I thought. She picked it up and found my notes about the Grey Wardens.
"Grey Wardens?" she asked. She looked at me and wasn't exactly surprised nor disapproved. "Pretty cool. Oh by the way, the king at the time of their fourth blight, it was Cailan. Also Duncan was the leader of the Grey Wardens before Aedan," she said.
"How did you know?" I asked.
"Oh um I studied abit. It was for a high school thing. You look like you spend some time studying every chance you get?" she asked.
"Yeah. Now if I could get that back, I really need to go grab my gear," I said.
"What does it mean to you?" she teased.
"It's my good luck charm. Look at the front of it," I said. She did and saw a bullet roughly the size of a .357 round. "I normally have in a chest pocket and it took a bullet for me. A couple years ago on a search and rescue gone wrong. I pushed our team's objective, my father actually, behind us as several terrorists advanced. The first shot was from a .357 magnum pistol," I finished. I took my book back and out it in it's rightful spot.
"Oh well good luck. Let me if the area is radioactive when you get back. Then we'll go… compare notes," she said. She smiled and had a make-out session with me. barely know each other and we're already kissing? Best day ever, I thought. I walked back to the tent and found my team already getting into their armor.
"Anything new?" I asked.
"H.Q. found another energy spot just outside in the forest. Old Man, Javie and Joseph will go to that area with a Stryker and try to see what's there," Jake said. I got into the armor and our squad went separate ways. The quarantine area was clear with tape and the sciency guys. Jason, Jake and I moved through the zone and ventured into the room.
"keep your eyes peeled. No telling if there might anything in here," I said.
"What like Darkspawn?" a tech asked. Several other techies laughed as well.
"Hey shut up before our C.O. decides to let a couple of those assholes your way if find do find any," Jason said. The Techs shut up after that. We approached the center of the room and scanned it with Geiger counters.
"Command we have no readings of radiation. Switching to other readers. Jason? EMW's(electric Magnetic Waves)?" I asked.
"Nothing," Jason said.
"Jake? Anything on the-?" I asked.
"Cap? I'm detecting numerous scans of a mineral we haven't seen since the rainforest war. Three years ago. Um I think it was a blue color… oh Lyrium I think it was once called," Jake said.
"What?" I asked.
"Cap? EMW's are going off the chart. I'm starting to feel alittle funny as well," Jason said.
I tried the Geiger Counter and found it clicking halfway. Either the EMW's were screwing with it or their was some major Radiation going on. Lyrium had been known for barely any radiation or something confused with Radiation. "Troopers! Lets get the fuck out of here!" I shouted. We turned to run and then were blinded by a massive white light. When we woke up we found swords and arrows pointed at us.
"You're trespassing on Cousland territory. Or rather within Cousland Territory," their leader said.